Businessmirror November 09, 2018

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

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Friday, November 9, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 30

In a briefing on the thirdquarter performance of the economy on Thursday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia said the “Build, Build, Build” (BBB) is a priority of the Duterte administration and thus will not easily be sacrificed.

“We haven’t made that decision

to slow down on the Build, Build, Build. Even with the suspension of the excise tax in 2019, we consider the BBB as a primary priority program,” Pernia said.

“As we said in our earlier press conference, after the DBCC [Development Budget Coordination Committee], we are going to follow

this hierarchy of essentiality: the least essential will first be cut and the infrastructure BBB program will be among the high-priority programs,” he said.

Neda Policy and Planning Staff Director Reynaldo Cancio added that continuing the BBB is a step toward the right direction because

it is the government’s way of investing in future economic growth.

Cancio said investing in infrastructure is needed to improve productivity in the economy and allow Filipinos access to economic opportunities they need to lead comfortable lives.

He said the BBB will also help make various economic goods— including food items—cheaper Continued on A2

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EFORMS on foreign equity and tax structure are needed to build the country a strong manufacturing base, which, in turn, can sustain GDP growth, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez put forward on Thursday.

On the sidelines of the 3rd Philippine Construction Industry Congress, Lopez said he is satisfied with the country’s 6.1-percent GDP growth in the third quarter. This was in spite of its slowdown from 7.2 percent during the same period last year, and the 6.2 percent in the second quarter.

“I would consider sustained momentum over 6 percent. [The third-quarter figure is] 6 percent still, although it is a little over 6 percent,” Lopez said in a mix of

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@BcuaresmaBM

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UNDERSECRETARY and head of the Philippine Statistics Authority Liza Grace S. Bersales shares a light moment with Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia at a press briefing on Thursday on the 3rd Quarter 2018 performance of the Philippine economy. The PSA reported the GDP grew by 6.1 percent in the third quarter. NONOY LACZA

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.9920

English and Filipino.

What matters to the trade chief are the strides made by the manufacturing sector. He said a strong production base will result in better exports and lesser imports, and will reflect on the country’s GDP. “I have been saying that we really need to connect our capacity to export by having also a bigger manufacturing capacity.

To have that, we have to pursue the investments [needed] that, thankfully, we are also getting right now,” Lopez argued.

The numbers are in favor of Lopez’s desire, as Manila’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) breached a 10-month high in October at 54, from the 52 PMI in September.

The PMI measures the health of a country’s manufacturing sector, and is computed on a weighted See “Manufacturing,” A12

With 3rd player, telcos brace for cash burns

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

By Bianca Cuaresma

See “GDP,” A12

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

The proportion of the country’s imports accounted for by capital goods, sparking the view that the “Build, Build, Build” program was playing a key role in the widening of the trade deficit

‘Disappointing Q3 GDP to halt BSP rate hikes’ HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to hold off increases in monetary-policy rates during its upcoming meeting after the country’s GDP grew at a slower-thanexpected pace in the third quarter.

In an analysis following the government’s announcement of a 6.1-percent growth in the third quarter, ING Bank Manila senior economist Nicholas Mapa said the Monetary Board (MB) may be looking at keeping the rates unchanged in its meeting next week.

“The disappointing growth print may give some ammunition for the doves to call for a pause at next week’s November 15 MB meeting,” Mapa said.

‘STRONG MANUFACTURING BASE RESTS ON REFORMS IN TAX, FOREIGN EQUITY’

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HE national government remains firm in its resolve to carry out its infrastructure program even if it is contributing to the country’s widening trade deficit, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda).

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Despite huge trade gap, infra still priority–Neda 30.2% T

By Cai U. Ordinario

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

NCUMBENTS are ready to do battle with the future third telco player, bracing themselves for the expected cash burns and the projected tempering of revenue growth as the newcomer is expected to compete through a price war.

For fixed-line king PLDT Inc., Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said his group is prepared to spend as much as P60 billion in capital expenditures (capex) to further improve its network, especially since it is now piloting its first 5G initiative.

“It will probably be similar to the 2018 capex—around P58 billion to P60 billion—most likely,” he said in an interview.

For mobile titan Globe Telecom Inc., Spokesman Yolanda C. Crisanto said her group has reached a certain scale in terms of capital

“Cash burns have always been along that level [setting aside 32 percent of revenues for capital in 2018] in terms of projections. Our capital expenditures have always been for improving our network.”—Crisanto

outlays, setting aside 32 percent of revenues for capital in 2018 alone.

“Cash burns have always been along that level in terms of projections,” she said via phone. “Our capital expenditures have always been for improving our network.”

The two officials were responding to a Fitch Ratings note that predicted that the third telco initiative will “raise the capex pressure” on the incumbents, as the provisional

n JAPAN 0.4668 n UK 69.6209 n HK 6.7681 n CHINA 7.6562 n SINGAPORE 38.6521 n AUSTRALIA 38.5623 n EU 60.6281 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.1278

See “Telcos,” A12

Source: BSP (8 November 2018 )

News

BusinessMirror

A2 Friday, November 9, 2018

‘Trabaho’ bill’s pre-Christmas OK dim, but early 2019 likely

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By Rea Cu

@ReaCuBM

HE Department of Finance (DOF) is optimistic that the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program will be passed under the 17th Congress, even though a number of other major bills will have to be passed at the Senate level.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick T. Chua said the department continues to hold dialogues with various stakeholders to point out the benefits of the bill, dubbed in the House of Representatives as the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho).

“We remain optimistic. The key is continuous dialogue and communication, so that people can see the benefits. So I remain optimistic that this is something worth pursuing, and when they see the benefit, it is something they can consider sooner,” Chua said at a briefing to update journalists on developments in the tax-reform program.

Asked if the bill can be passed into law this year, he acknowledged that

is currently focusing on are the rice tariffication bill, as well as the tax amnesty measure, among others.

Fears disputed

time had been cramped because the election campaign season is about to start, and the Senate is focusing on other important bills, including the 2019 national budget, making passage by Christmas bleak.

Earlier, the BusinessMirror polled senators on the chances of the bill’s passage before the Christmas break, and most of those interviewed doubted that happening.

Still, Chua held out hope it could hurdle Congress early next year.

“We are short on time because we only have eight weeks before the campaign season starts, so we are working double time.... This year I think it’s very difficult, but I think within this Congress the chances are still good,” he added.

Among the bills that the Senate

CHUA explained that Trabaho will help generate jobs and investments in the country, clarifying notions that businesses won’t invest in the Philippines due to the lack of incentives.

He explained that investors are on a wait-and-see stance, since they still don’t know if the bill will be passed or not, and not because of the lack of incentives.

“A lot of investors are waiting for this bill to pass, and that is for them the No. 1 uncertainty. It’s not precisely the contents of the bill, it’s just that if its not yet passed, they don’t know the final incentive package, and they cannot invest.

So that makes them prolong their wait-and-see,” he said.

Last month the DOF reported that it expects the creation of around 1.4 million jobs between 2021 and 2029, when the corporate-income tax (CIT) will have been cut to 20 percent under the Trabaho bill.

Based on DOF estimates, the proposed lowering of the CIT by 2 percentage points every two years starting 2021 until 2029 will create over a million jobs by freeing up more capital for firms to invest

commodity prices is not automatic. He noted that household consumption, even food consumption, remains positive.

Sta. Ana added that wage employment has increased and this could help lift poor Filipinos from poverty. Nonetheless, he said, the country could have done better in terms of economic growth.

“What we can safely say is that some households are worse off because of food inflation, but it’s also possible that increased employment has lifted others out of poverty.

But the point is, 6-percent growth can be poverty reducing, though we could have done better,” he said.

University of the Philippines economist Toby Melissa C. Monsod also pointed out that while consumption slowed, it recorded positive growth. She said this is largely due to higher commodity prices.

However, Monsod said the government cannot intervene when it comes to maintaining consumption growth at certain levels.

Ang agreed and said insofar as government efforts are concerned, the administration has already done its part by reducing taxes and granting wage hikes. He also said that the situation does not merit any increase in programs like the Conditional Cash Transfer.

“Supply is what is needed, the government should ensure ample supply. In a way, the government has already intervened by granting a wage hike and tax cut, these are the only things the government can do. It cannot continue to subsidize,” Ang said.

The National Economic and Development

Authority’s National Planning and Policy Staff Director Reynaldo Cancio also pointed out to the BusinessMirror that consumption remained positive, albeit, weaker than in recent years.

Cancio said that while the government is concerned about this, the country’s economic growth since the last Family Income and Expenditure Survey in 2015 and modest inflation in 2016 and 2017 will allow the country to still see an improvement in poverty reduction in 2018.

Ang also said the Philippine economy was only growing according to its current capacity. He said he is not worried that a slower economic growth rate would lead to dire consequences for the country. “Growing at a faster rate than that could result in problems such as resorting to measures that could lead to more debts on the part of the government,” he said.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia told reporters that the only setback with a 6.1-percent growth is that it will make the Development Budget Coordination Committee growth targets“more challenging.”

Pernia said the economy needs to grow by 7 percent in the last quarter of the year in order to attain the low end of the government’s growth target of 6.5 to 6.9 percent growth for the whole of 2018. He also said the government is concerned about the slowdown in consumption.

“We are not exactly exuberant about the 6.1-percent growth rate, but still comforted that we remain one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia, next to Vietnam at 7

Poor. . .

Continued from A12

Purchasing power

BASED on the estimate of the PSA, the Consumer Price Index in October was already at 119.8 since the base year used is 2012. Using this base year means that the value of Filipino’s P100 in 2012 is now only P83.

The PSA said Filipinos need to shell out an additional P17 today for every P100 they used to spend buying various goods and services six years ago. This also means that P10,000 in 2012 is now only worth P8,300 due to the increase in inflation. The value that was lost in terms of purchasing power due to high prices is P1,700 in six years.

“It’s important for the government to protect each household’s command over goods and services by protecting and enhancing purchasing power. The reduction of absolute material poverty depends on this,”Terosa said.

“It’s a big factor, since consumption spending is at least 60 percent of total spending in the economy. The government has to persistently ensure that prices of commodities do not trend upwards by ensuring enough supply, dispersing accessibility of basic commodities, and widening their distribution,” he added.

‘Not automatic’

HOWEVER, Action for Economic Reform Coordinator Filomeno Sta. Ana III said increasing poverty because of high

“A lot of investors are waiting for this bill to pass, and that is for them the No. 1 uncertainty. It’s not precisely the contents of the bill, it’s just that if its not yet passed, they don’t know the final incentive package, and they cannot invest. So that makes them prolong their wait-and-see.”—Chua

and hire more workers.

Jobs, jobs, jobs

FINANCE Assistant Secretary Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II said that once approved by Congress, the law will create an estimated 113,944 jobs in 2021 all the way up to 1.4 million in 2029.

For instance, at a 26-percent CIT rate in 2023, an additional 171,940 jobs will be created: with the numbers increasing to 252,031 in 2025; another 361,767 in 2027; and 511,021 more in 2029, or a total of 1.4 million jobs over the 10-year period, according to the DOF. Under the proposed bill, firms outside Metro Manila and adjacent urban areas are entitled to an additional two years of incentives on top of the regular five-year maximum to promote inclusive growth and rural development.

percent, China at 6.5 percent and way ahead of Indonesia at 5.2 percent,” Pernia said.

“We are concerned, because the reason for the slowdown, among others, is the slowdown in household consumption, particularly the marked slowdown in the household spending on food and other basic products,” he added.

In order to address the situation, Pernia said Congress should pass the rice tariffication bill, which is expected to reduce rice prices by P2 to P7 per kilogram. He said the country’s agricultural development program can be funded from these tariff revenues.

Pernia added that the full implementation of the Ease of Doing Business Act will streamline procedures and processes and encourage investors to set up business in the Philippines.

This, apart from the proposed reduction of corporate income taxes and the streamlining of fiscal incentives for those who need them, as well as the liberalization of foreign participation in areas/activities through the 11th Regular Foreign Investment Negative List.

The PSA said that, among the major economic sectors, Services recorded the fastest growth at 6.9 percent, followed

by Industry, which expanded by 6.2 percent. Agriculture production declined by 0.4 percent.

Net Primar y Income rose by 5.6 percent, resulting in the 6-percent hike in gross national income. With the country’s projected population reaching 106.6 million in the third quarter of 2018, per-capita GDP grew by 4.4 percent.

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DOF, Jica sign ¥38-B loan for rehab of MRT 3 T HE Department of Finance (DOF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) signed on Thursday a ¥38.1-billion loan accord for the rehabilitation of the country’s Metro Rail Transit (MRT) 3 Rehabilitation Project.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, on behalf of the Philippines, and Jica Senior Vice President Yasushi Tanaka, on behalf of Japan, signed the accord for the project, which aims to improve the safety, reliability and level of service of the 16.9 -kilometer light rail system with 13 stations spanning across Edsa.

The board of the National Economic and Development Authority chaired by President Duterte gave the go-ahead for the project on August 22, which was then followed 77 days later by this afternoon’s signing of the loan agreement. “ This is by far the fastest loan processing we have completed. I would like to assure our harried commuters that we will rebuild and reinvent this vital rail service as quickly as possible,” Dominguez said.

The finance chief pointed out that the MRT 3 will not only be rehabilitated, but its operations will also be expanded and modernized with the help of the official development assistance (ODA) loan from Japan.

In his statement, Tanaka said the implementation of the project “is good news for the Filipino commuters, so they will have improved access to safe and reliable transportation while also meeting the Philippine government’s priorities to reduce traffic congestion in Metro Manila, attract investments and improve the quality of life of the people.”

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. and Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda had signed the Exchange of Notes on the Japanese loan for the MRT 3 rehabilitation project.

The MRT 3 rehabilitation project will cost a total of P21.96 billion, or approximately $413 million, of which ¥38.1-billion, or about P18.76 billion will be funded by an ODA loan from Jica.

The remaining amount of P3.19 billion or about $62 million, will be funded locally.

The loan bears an interest rate of 0.10 percent per annum for nonconsulting services and 0.01 percent per annum for consulting services, with a maturity period

Despite huge trade gap, infra still priority–Neda Continued from A1

China Telecom. . . senators asked, adding: “Masabi lang [All just to be able to say] that the government went through the process?

The opposition lawmakers recalled that, in December 2017, the Duterte administration declared that it wants the government to ensure that China Telecom can begin its Philippine operations by the first quarter of 2018.

“Is this it?” the senators asked.

The lawmakers said the Duterte administration “should be transparent about these matters because allowing the joint venture to enter the industry means giving them access to our daily communication activities,” stressing that it “involves a security issue for our country and our people.”

Think tank MEANWHILE, an infrastructure-oriented think tank is calling for the disqualification of the Mislatel consortium as the new provisional third telco player

Continued from A12

due to the failure of its telco consortium partner Mislatel to comply with a key requirement of its congressional franchise: joining any securities exchange like the Philippine stock market five years from receiving its franchise in 1998.

“Risks are everywhere, but we have regulators precisely to manage those risks,” Campos said.

“Besides, both PLDT and Globe are already at least 40-percent owned by foreign entities,” the lawmaker added.

According to Campos, First Pacific Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong and NTT Docomo Inc., the dominant mobile-phone operator in Japan, have large direct equity stakes in PLDT while Singapore Telecommunications Ltd., the largest mobile network operator in Singapore, also has a substantial stake in Globe.

Following a bidding process, regulators on Wednesday declared the Mislatel consortium as the provisional

third player in a market long accused of being uncompetitive and ruled by the duopoly of PLDT Inc. and Globe Telecom Inc. The consortium is composed of local tycoon Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. and subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., in partnership with China Telecommunications Corp. and Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. Inc. “We are absolutely convinced that the consortium is in a solid position to compete with the two wellentrenched players in the market.

The group has all the wherewithal needed,” Campos said.

“We are counting on the newcomer to compete brutally with the nation’s two dominant players in delivering faster mobile Internet connection speeds at a lower price,” Campos.

The Mislatel consortium has committed to invest up to P257 billion over the next five years, and to deliver a minimum average broadband speed of 27 Megabits per second in its first year of operation and 55

Mbps by the fifth year.

It expects to provide network coverage to 84.01 percent of the population by the fifth year.

Disqualify IN a statement, Terry Ridon, Infrawatch PH convenor and former member of the House committee on legislative franchises in the 16th Congress, said the franchise of Mislatel consortium is nonoperational.

Ridon said it was automatically revoked in 2003 for its failure to join the stock market. “We have checked the list of companies currently in the PSE, there is no publicly traded entity named Mislacom.”

Ridon said Section 16 of Mislacom’s congressional franchise requires the company to “offer at least 30 percent of its outstanding capital stock or a higher percentage that may hereafter be provided by law in any securities exchange in the Philippines within five years from the commencement of its operations.”

of 40 years inclusive of a 12-year grace period.

“This is by every measure a very soft loan that will enable us to address a very pressing problem,” he added.

The rehabilitation will include the replacement of all worn-out tracks, upgrading of the train’s obsolete signaling system and general overhaul of the 72 light rail vehicles that are already 15 years old, with the view to expand the MRT’s current degraded capacity and modernization of all its subsystems.

The Department of Transportation (DOTr), implementing agency, expects the number of operating train sets for MRT 3 to increase from 15 to 20 at peak hours, with intervals of train arrivals reduced by half: from seven minutes to only three-and-a-half minutes. The MRT 3 is also expected to increase its train speed from 30 kilometers per hour to 60 kph.

According to the DOTr, it tapped the ser vices anew of Sumitomo-Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), the original maintenance provider of MRT 3.

Sumitomo started on October 15 even before the loan agreement was signed to help accelerate the process of rehabilitating the rail system.

From servicing 500,000 passengers per day in 2012, the MRT 3 could only accommodate 388,000 passengers in 2017 owing to the deteriorating condition of the system, plagued by train stoppages, system failures, engine breakdowns and faulty air-conditioning units.

MRT 3 stations are on North Avenue, Quezon Avenue, Kamuning, Cubao and Santolan-Annapolis, all in Quezon City; Ortigas Avenue in Pasig City; Shaw boulevard and Boni Avenue in Mandaluyong City; Guadalupe, Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue (Buendia), Ayala Avenue and Magallanes Avenue in Makati City; and Taft Avenue in Pasay City.

Transportation Undersecretary Timothy R. Batan said the rehabilitation will take at least 26 months, with the project having a contract period of 43 months.

“The first 26 months is for the rehabilitation of the entire system.

The balance is going to be used for the completion of the general overhaul of all the 72 trains. So we need that additional time because, as we’ve explained before, we are going to keep operating while the rehabilitation is ongoing,” Batan said. Rea Cu

and more accessible, especially in far-flung areas nationwide.

“I think it’s even more important that we invest in infrastructure considering that inflation is really coming from the supply side. So the more we build infrastructure, we improve productivity, improve mobility in the regions,” Cancio said.

“It will be better for our economy.”

On Wednesday data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed the country’s trade deficit increasing 124 percent to a $3.93-billion deficit in September 2018, from the $1.75-billion deficit in September 2017.

PSA data showed total imports rose to $9.75 billion in September 2018, from $7.77 billion in September 2017, or a growth rate of 26.1 percent.

A third or 30.2 percent of the country’s imports was accounted for by capital goods. The value of $2.95 billion accounted for 30.2 percent in September 2018. It went up by 25.4 percent, from the Sep-

tember 2017 import value of $2.35 billion.

Pernia said the growth in imports was largely due to the BBB program, since the country needed to import construction materials for the Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure initiative.

The Neda disclosed earlier that the government will be spending P7.74 trillion for infrastructure, projects in the medium term.

Of this amount, around 64 percent or P4.97 trillion will be allocated for transportation projects. A far second is social infrastructure which will receive P1.01 trillion in the medium term.

This includes 75 flagship projects worth P1.881 trillion. Around 32 projects are going to be completed within the term of the administration.

Around 43 projects will commence under the Duterte administration but will be completed after the President’s term. Pernia said that, currently, 24 projects are undergoing pre-investment studies, 44 are already under implementation and seven are being review.

A4 Friday, November 9, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug

Economy BusinessMirror

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Marina submits Emsa ‘proof of compliance’ on seafarer education, training, certification

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By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

HE Maritime Industry Authority (Marina) has submitted its “proof of compliance” with European Maritime Safety Agency (Emsa) standards.

Marina Officer in Charge Narciso A. Vingson Jr. said the submission aims to “close the gap” on the noted areas in the country’s maritime education, training and certification system of Filipino seafarers.

He noted that the submission, which listed the actions that were undertaken to address the findings noted in the European Commission (EC) Assessment Report in 2017, was done before October 21.

Vingson, who was just appointed as Marina officer in charge,

added he is confident that the Philippines has successfully addressed the challenges on the country’s maritime education, noting that the “proactive approach” of the agency will “ensure the continuous recognition” of the Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping (STCW) certificates of Filipino marine officers.

“This is how confident, serious and committed we are in dealing with the Emsa issue. Failure is not in our options,” he said.

Among the documents transmitted to Emsa were amended leg-

islations, interagency cooperation initiatives, and good governance measures on the administration of maritime education and training programs, assessment of seafarer competence and the issuance of STCW certificates.

Vingson added that part of the major actions taken by the Marina was the extensive review and revision of seven existing national legislations and the development of six training course packages, all of which are ready for implementation.

He also cited the “active collaboration” with the Commission on Higher Education, Department of Health and Philippine Coast Guard in reviewing the existing policies, standards, and guidelines governing the Bachelor of Science in Marine Technology and Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering programs.

The interagency task force also evaluated the compliance

of maritime higher educational institutions on the trainings and courses offered to aspiring Filipino mariners.

Another document sent to Emsa was Executive Order 63 and its implementing rules and regulations. The order essentially mandated Marina to establish policies and mechanisms to promote the well-being and competency of Filipino seafarers being deployed here and abroad.

Vingson added that the government “has intensified its efforts to prepare for the independent evaluation on the country’s implementation of the STCW Convention by the International Maritime

Organization [IMO].”

This, he said, will help keep the Philippines in the so-called white list of countries that successfully comply with international standards.

As this developed, Vingson announced that he has already created a task force on STCW mandatory independent evaluation. It will be “responsible for the conduct of an internal audit or self-assessment on Philippine compliance before the actual conduct of the said independent evaluation between January and March in 2019.”

The government aims to submit its compliance report to the IMO on or before September next year.

This is how confident, serious and committed we are in dealing with the Emsa issue. Failure is not in our options.”—Vingson

Caap says new system ensures full coverage of PHL air space

By Recto Mercene @rectomercene

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HE Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (Caap) has announced the impending integration of its Area Control

Center (ACC) and Air Traffic Management (ATM) system with Clark air traffic operations.

“This is an initial test, after which some of the country’s distinct and separate Approach Control Center would be under the

Area Control Center-CNS/ATM [communication, navigation system/air traffic management],” the Caap source said.

T he P13 -bi l l ion endeavor, which has suffered numerous delays, is finally set to be inau-

gurated by December.

This early, the Caap said, it will issue a notice to airmen (Notam), requesting the local air carriers to reduce arriving flights starting November 15.

“This is the first time the new ATM would be integrated with Clark so there would be adjustments as air traffic controllers try to [fine-tune the system],” the Caap said.

The state-of-the-art, cutting-edge technology, was initially inaugurated

by President Duterte last January.

The Caap said the system has been undergoing evaluation and testing for months before it was deemed completely safe to operate on its own.

The Caap would then junk the old and breakdown-prone radar system that has been in use for decades.

“The CNS/ATM would be made operational before the end of the year,” the Caap source said.

T he satellite-based system promises better air traffic flow and space management, which will optimize airport capacity, thus reducing congestion.

“The efficient use of airspace would minimize delays by helping aircraft operators meet their departure and arrival schedules,” the Caap source added.

The CNS/ATM project started in 2009 but, due to delay in construction and other issues, it did not hit its target completion in 2016.

When Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade took over in 2016, there were only three radars covering the entire country; one at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport; one at Clark International Airport and the other in Tagaytay.

The whole set up covers only 30 percent of the Philippine airspace.

Today, under the new scheme, there are 13 radars and a radar sat-

ellite link that provides 100-percent coverage of the entire Philippine airspace, the Caap said.

In response to the government’s request for airlines to reduce their flights as part of the transition phase, Philippine Airlines (PAL) and Cebu Pacific have canceled several flights within the month of November.

“PAL will cancel some 72 domestic flights from November 15 to 20, 2018 and 46 international flights from November 14 to 18 2018,” according to PAL Spokesman Cielo Villaluna.

She said affected passengers who have provided their e-mail addresses when they booked their original flights will receive notifications of cancellation.

“We are advising affected passengers to rebook their flights within 30 days from original travel date; rebooking fees will be waived.

Other options available are rerouting and refunding.”

Villaluna also advised affected passengers to call PAL Hotline (02) 855-8888 for the rebooking of their tickets.

PAL said it will post periodic updates, as needed, on its Official PAL Facebook Page and on its web site www.philippineairlines.com.

Meanwhile, Cebu Pacific has also announced adjustments of their flight schedules “in line with operational requirements from 12 a.m. to 6 a.m. from November 12 to 17, and 19 to 22, 2018.”

“We are seeking the understanding and cooperation of our passengers as we carry out these operational adjustments in support of the transition period toward the full modernization of our country’s air navigational system,” PAL and CEB said in separate statements.

Cost of medical cure raises health awareness of most Pinoys–survey

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HE cost of sickness had made Filipinos more conscious about their health.

This may sound like a no-brainer, but results of a survey done by the Hong Kong-based AIA Group (AIA), Philam Life’s parent company, showed that 84 percent of the 750 Filipino respondents from Manila, Cebu and Davao are not satisfied with their current state of health.

The survey, done this year not just in the Philippines but also in Australia, Cambodia, mainland China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam, revealed that because the Filipino respondents were not happy with their health, they spend more time engaging in fitness-related activities.

From 2.1 hours per week based on the 2016 AIA Healthy Living Index, the respondents said they now exercise 3.7 hours per week.

The reason for this longer period spent working out is to “have more energy,” 66 percent; and to “live longer” and “reduce common illness,” 56 percent.

Amid the increase in time spent trying to be more fit, this year’s survey, which is the fourth since 2011, showed that 46 percent of the Filipino respondents maintained their diet programs after starting one.

Why do they eat healthy?

ABOUT 60 percent of the respondents said they want to “reduce common illness,” 58 percent said they want to “live longer” and 53 percent said they aim to “reduce risk of critical illness.”

With sickness comes financing woes, they said.

Thus, 86 percent of the respondents said they are concerned about the potential cost of critical illness, with 81 percent fearing cancer the most in part because of the cost of treatment, which is the highest rate in the region for this year’s survey.

Also, 75 percent of the Filipino respondents admitted they may not be able to afford cancer treatment, while the financial gap for heart disease is 67 percent and for diabetes, 55 percent.

Most of the respondents, or about 78 percent, expect the government to cover the cost of critical illness, while 56 percent leans on charities or trust.

The survey results also revealed that 27 percent of the respondents said they will use their personal savings for the treatment, while 19 percent rely on insurance plan.

These figures resulted in the increase of the Philippines’s index ranking across the region from 61 to 66, the highest increase among the covered countries.

In a briefing on Wednesday, Philam Life Chief Marketing Officer Leo Tan said the financing gap that was seen in the latest survey is the reason Philam continues to introduce health and wellness products.

“So, just in case someone gets diagnosed, aside from the government’s support—that’s still important—we have a particular amount of coverage that can augment the savings that they’ve set aside,” he said. PNA

ECC reopens payment of ₧2.52-B death benefits

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

O

VER 28,000 beneficiaries of public-sector workers, who died from work-related accidents from 2006 to 2012, could finally claim their death benefits from the Employees Compensation Commission (ECC).

The ECC issued Board Resolution 18-04-15 allocating P2.52 billion for the “retroactive payment” of the suspended EC death benefits.

ECC Executive Director Stella Zipagan-Banawis said they opted to temporarily stop the distribution of EC death benefits from 2006 to

2012 due to concerns over the longterm sustainability of the funds of the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS).

ECC gets the EC funds for its clients from the private and public sector from the Social Security System (SSS) and GSIS, respectively.

“The fund of the GSIS is now in healthy status so the [ECC] board decided to approve the retroactive payment,” Banawis told the BusinessMirror in a phone interview. She said the GSIS already started informing the affected beneficiaries since last April.

However, the ECC official said interested beneficiaries should have been unmarried or a jobless single

during the six-year period to qualify.

Under ECC rules, EC death benefits can only be claimed by surviving legitimate spouses of the covered members, who did not remarry; and/ or dependent children, who are single, unemployed, not over 21 years of age or over 21 years of age so long as they are incapable of self support due to a physical or mental defect.

“If they were unable to meet this qualification, they would forfeit the death benefit,” Banawis said.

ECC is an attached agency of the Department of Labor and Employment that provides assistance to employees who suffered work-related accidents or sickness.

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Friday, November 9, 2018 A5

Rebel leader Ladlad, 2 others nabbed for illegal possession of guns, ammo

By Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM

& Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

A

JOINT team from the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested on Thursday a topranking communist leader and his staff following the alleged seizure of an arms cache in a raid in Quezon City.

PNP chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde said Vicente Ladlad, alleged member of the central committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and one of the released consultants of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), was arrested at around 1:30 a.m. at the rebel leader’s alleged “safe house” in San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City.

Albayalde said that Ladlad, alias Eduardo M. Reyes, Ed and General Reyes, is also the head of the communist group’s National United Front Commission.

The police also arrested Ladlad’s staff identified as Alberto and Virginia, both surnamed Villamor.

The raid on Ladlad’s hideout was carried out by a joint team from the National Capital Region Police

Office, Quezon City Police District and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and was backed by soldiers from the Joint Task ForceNCR and the Army.

Albayalde said the operation was carried out on the strength of a warrant of arrest by Executive Judge Cecilyn E. Burgos-Villaver of the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City Branch 89 for violation of Republic Act 10591, or the Comprehensive Firearms and Ammunition Regulation Act. Seized during the raid were an AK-47 assault rifle with Bayonet, a magazine for AK-47 with nine rounds of ammunition, an M-16 rifle, three magazines for M-16, a .45 caliber pistol, a 9 mm pistol and four hand grenades.

“I am pleased to announce the successful result of our continuing anticriminality operations, particularly in the campaign against loose firearms,” said Albayalde during a news briefing.

He said the operation was a result of a thorough investigation, operational research and case buildup emanating from “confidential information from concerned citizens.”

The arrest of Ladlad, Malacañang said, was lawful contrary to claims

that the apprehension violated an agreement that guarantees the freedom of negotiators in the stalled peace talks between the government and the NDFP. Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Ma. Sison said that Ladlad, as NDFP consultant, is protected by the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees (Jasig).

“There is no valid warrant of arrest against him. But in the Duterte scheme, he is likely to be framed up as a combatant with firearms and explosives planted despite his serious health condition; chronic asthma deteriorated into the stage of emphysema, with urgent need for medicines,” Sison said in a Facebook post.

However, this was disputed by Malacañang, saying the Jasig is operative only if peace talks are still ongoing. “[The peace talks have] been terminated by the proclamation of the President on November 23, 2017.

Secondly, the crime of rebellion is a continuing crime and therefore no warrant of arrest is needed for that,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a news briefing.

Typhoon-proof power, cable lines–solon

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

A

S the country commemorates the fifth year after SuperTyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) struck the Visayas, a lawmaker on Thursday proposed that all the country’s power, communication and cable television lines be buried underground to avoid, or at least minimize, blackouts because of typhoons.

Rep. Henry Ong of Leyte, chairman of the House Committee on Banks and Financial Intermediaries, said the government—through the Departments of Energy and of Information and Communications Technology—should make telecommunication and power lines Yolanda-or typhoon-proof.

He proposed the government should now start a multiyear underground cabling in Eastern Visayas and other parts of the country.

“The only place where those cables will be protected versus typhoons and floods is underground.

We must start doing this in 2019 and onward as a climate-change adaptation and disaster-mitigation program, in response to the fact that much of our country is in the path of and is battered by storms

all year,” said Ong, also a member of the House Committee on Energy and Committee on Information and Communications Technology.

Yolanda hit the Visayas on November 8, 2013.

Ong said underground cabling is already under way in Davao City.

“Their experience there can serve as the model or prototype for the rest of the country.”

“This will require massive investments and meticulous planning by both the power and telecoms sectors. It can be done gradually starting with Eastern Visayas, Bicol, northeastern Mindanao, and the eastern seaboard of Luzon because these are the areas the typhoons hit land at full strength,” said Ong. For her part, Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Kittilstvedt-Romualdez urged the government to continue strengthening its disaster preparedness and fight against climate change.

“This is why there is a continued need to create more durable solutions so that the human calamity that happened after Typhoon Haiyan will not happen again. We need to prepare more effectively and respond more efficiently to natural disasters and other emergency situations,” said Romualdez.

Romu a ldez a lso e x pressed high hopes that the international community would continue to give support to Yolanda victims in the light of the reported substandard housing projects for Yolanda survivors.

“Now we have seen so much progress that has been achieved in building back our communities even better, and we have to thank the help of our Filipino and foreign friends as well as our national and local government for their continued leadership and support in the rehabilitation efforts,” Romualdez said.

She added people of Tacloban are still expressing their gratitude to the first responders, including President Duterte, volunteers, local and international donors.

“We thank the malasakit of all volunteers, especially President Duterte who was then the Davao City mayor, for coming in Yolanda-hit areas [to] help us,” said Romualdez, chairman of the House Committee on Accounts.

“Thank you for the selflessness of all volunteers and organizations that took part and contributed in the recovery and rehabilitation efforts of the communities affected by the typhoon,” she added.

Kidnap victim ‘Duterte’ gains freedom from ASG gunmen

By Manuel T. Cayon

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

D

AVAO CITY—The Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu released in separate dates three of its captives, including a couple from Zamboanga del Norte who carried the same surname as that of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza welcomed the release of the victims but clarified that the government did not pay ransom in exchange for their release.

One Jose Duterte was the latest to be released in a string of releases this year. Duterte was released by his captors in Panamao on November 1 this year. His wife was earlier released this year. Duterte, who is not related to the President, was abducted along with his wife Jessica from their residence in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, on March 3 last year.

A seven-year-old girl who had been abducted separately last June was also freed, the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said.

“Finally, he was released at a time when I even stopped touch-

ing base with some intermediaries when I was informed that they were demanding ransom payments. The government usually spends to support operational expenses to recover hostages but does not pay ransom,” Dureza said in a news statement.

He said, however, that the government “does not interfere with families who pay ransom to save the lives of their loved ones.” He said he had no knowledge or participation in the alleged payment of ransom.

Dureza also gave credit to the military and security forces whose operations “put pressure on the kidnappers.”

SC gives due course to Calida’s petition vs D.O.E. AND E.U. TO ENERGIZE 100K inquiry into family-owned security agency OFF-GRID MINDANAO HOUSEHOLDS

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HE Supreme Court has taken cognizance of the petition filed

by Solicitor General Jose Calida seeking to enjoin Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV from pushing through with a Senate inquiry over alleged anomalous contracts bagged by his family-owned security agency.

In a three-page notice, the SC en banc has given both the Calida and Trillanes camps to submit their respective memoranda to the petition.

“Considering the allegations, issues and arguments adduced in the petition, as well as in the comment thereon...the Court resolved to give due course to the petition; treat the comment as answer; and require the parties to submit their respective memoranda within 30 days from notice hereof.”

The Court compelled the parties to include in their memoranda a statement of the cases, statement of facts, statement of the issues, the argument,

relief or judgment being sought by the parties and a table of authorities, which is a list of statutes, cases, executive issuances, rules and regulations and books or articles cited with references to the pages in the memorandum where they are cited.

The SC issued the resolution last October 9 but it was only released to the media on Thursday.

“No new issues may be raised by a party in the memorandum, and the issues raised in the pleadings but not included in the memorandum shall be deemed waived or abandoned. Being a summation of the parties’ previous pleadings, the Court may consider the memorandum alone in deciding or resolving the petition,” the notice read.

The High Court also granted the motion to admit reply to the comment/opposition of Trillanes dated last September 28 filed by counsel for petitioners.

In his petition filed in August, Calida

and some members of his family, namely, Milagros, Josef, Michelle, and Mark Jorel sought the Court’s issuance of a temporary restraining order and/or preliminary injunction against Trillanes’s planned inquiry.

They asked the court to rule on whether Trillanes committed “grave abuse of discretion amounting to lack or excess of jurisdiction” when he invited Calida and members of his family to appear before a Senate inquiry.

Trillanes called for an inquiry to determine if there was conflict of interest in the contracts that the Calida family’s Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. entered with several government agencies.

Calida, in his petition, said that the proposed inquiry does not serve a legislative purpose but would be conducted “to humiliate and carry out the personal and hostile agenda of the respondent.”

Joel R. San Juan

T

HE Department of Energy (DOE) and the European Union (EU) are pushing ahead with the energization of off-grid communities that would benefit close to 100,000 households, especially in the Bangsamoro region.

EU Head of Development Cooperation Enrico Strampelli and DOE Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella spearheaded the commemoration of the switch-on ceremony for solar power of electrification and livelihood projects on Thursday (November 8).

These initiatives are supported by the DOE and EU through the Access to Sustainable Energy Program (ASEP).

Around 300 participants from the local and national levels attended the ceremony at the Dasureco compound in Digos City, Davao del Sur. The EU provided about €60-million, or P3.6billion, grant to the Philippine government for the implementation of a program that would increase the share of indigenous and renewable sources in the energy mix and expand the access to electricity services in remote areas and populations and to pursue new energy-efficiency strategies.

The switch-on ceremony represents the energization of households in Sitio New Mabuhay and thousands of households in other off-grid areas in the country. It also highlights the productive use of renewable energy for increased income generation in rural communities.

Under ASEP’s Photovoltaic (PV) Mainstreaming program, about 40,500 solar home systems (SHS), each with a 50-watt peak capacity, will be installed in remote off-grid communities in various provinces in Mindanao.

To date, the SHS installation has been completed in Sitio New Mabuhay, Barangay Little Baguio in the municipality of Malita, Davao Occidental.

About 100 recipient households are already enjoying the benefits of superior lighting from solar PV. Through the technical assistance of ASEP, a 3-kW solar PV system that powers two units of abaca spindle machines was, likewise, installed to demonstrate additional economic opportunities in remote communities through renewable energy. PNA

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Agriculture/Commodities

Friday, November 9, 2018 • Editor: Jennifer A. Ng

BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Piñol: Farmers to produce motorcycle tires

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

HE Department of Agriculture (DA) said rubber farmers will start producing local motorcycle tires in the first quarter of 2019 as part of a government program that seeks to improve their income.

A g r icu lture Secretar y Emmanuel F. Piñol said the Philippine Rubber Farmers’ Association (PRFA) will partner with Leo Tire Manufacturing Corp. (LTMC) for the manufacture of raw rubber into motorcycle and small tractor tires.

The production of the tires, which would be branded as “Pilipinas Agila Tires,” may kick off by February, according to Piñol. “ The rubber farmers themselves will market the tires made out of their farm produce to motorcycle owners and hand-held

farm tractors to manufacturers and farmers,” he said in a Facebook post on Thursday.

“This will virtually free the rubber farmers from the control of traders who base their buying prices for raw rubber called cup lumps on world market prices which are low now,” Piñol added.

He said the deal was reached on November 7 after the Bulacan-based LTMC agreed to a “tolling arrangement.” The company would process the farmers’ semiprocessed rubber, dubbed as “SPR

A NURSERYMAN examines budded rubber tree stocks at the Standard Integrated Farm in Ramon, Isabela. The Department of Agriculture said farmers themselves would be involved in the production of motorcycle tires starting next year. LEONARDO PERANTE II

20,” into motorcycle and hand-held tractor tires.

Also under the deal, the PRFA

would be converted into a farmers’ cooperative that would purchase all the rubber of their members

and process these into SPR 20, according to Piñol.

The SPR 20 would be sold by the

PRFA to LTMC and would process this into tires. The tires would be sold back to PRFA at factory prices, Piñol said. The group would then sell the tires to motorcycle owners and fabricators of hand-held tractors.

Citing Lim, Piñol said the mold for the Pilipinas Agila Tires would be available by January 2019.

“The DA will provide technical and financial support to the PRFA to implement this project,” he said.

“It was Lim himself who recommended that the PRFA first focus on the two products—motorcycle tires and hand-held tractor tires— because these are the fast-moving products in his company’s experience,” he added.

Piñol said processing farmers’ raw rubber into high-value products, such as tires, is the solution to stop traders and middlemen from manipulating the price of rubber cup lumps.

“From a high of P100 per kilo about 10 years ago, prices of raw rubber have dropped to only P25 per kilo today, prompting many farmers to cut down their rubber trees and shift to other crops,” he said.

Glut prompts PCA board to seek ‘Excessive fish pens causing Taal Lake’s ecological problem’ lifting of ban on coconut exports T T

HE Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA) said it would recommend the lifting of the ban on the export of mature coconuts, as this could ease oversupply and boost the price of local copra.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the PCA Governing Board, which he chairs, has approved a resolution that would request the interagency committee on Executive Order (EO) 1016 to lift the ban on mature coconut exports.

“The board approved the resolution asking the interagency committee on EO 1061 to consider lifting the ban on the export of mature coconuts,” Piñol said in a news briefing after the PCA board meeting on Thursday.

“This EO was signed by thenPresident Ferdinand Marcos in 1985 and this has effectively prevented the export of mature coconuts. Although there are reports of ongoing smuggling activities,” he added.

EO 1016 mandated the creation of an interagency committee which will annually update the list of prohibited products for

export being implemented by the Bureau of Customs. Matured coconuts and coconut seedlings are some of the products that are not allowed for export.

Piñol said several countries, including China, have expressed interest in importing mature coconuts from the Philippines. He added that the resolution would be submitted to the interagency as soon as possible. “[The export of mature coconuts] will relieve greatly the oversupply of copra in the market,” he said.

Piñol said he would meet the first group of interested importers from Hainan, China.

With the impending lifting of the ban on shipping mature coconuts, Piñol said traders should hike their copra buying price to “reasonable levels.”

“This will be a lesson to all of these processors. The problem actually is that our processors who are producing virgin coconut oil, desiccated coconut and coconut milk, are not supposed to base their buying prices on the price of copra,” he said.

This EO was signed in 1985 and this has effectively prevented the export of mature coconuts.

Although there are reports of ongoing smuggling activities.”—Piñol

“They are saying when they increase their buying prices then farmers would flood them with copra. The truth is that the prices of processed products are actually higher than copra. They are exploiting the situation,” he added.

The PCA board also approved a resolution asking President Duterte to direct the National Biofuels Board to increase the coco methyl ester content of biodiesel

from 2 percent to 5 percent.

“This is expected to effectively absorb the huge portion of copra right now in the market which has resulted in the slump in prices,” Piñol said.

“With these developments, the prices of copra will go up and the local mills we have to contend w ith competition right now,” he added.

Piñol also disclosed that the PCA board approved a resolution that would allocate P300 million for the establishment of common service facilities, which would feature irradiation equipment.

T he irradiation equipment would be used to sanitize coco coir for exports, which is a requirement of importing countries such as the United States, South Korea and Japan.

Piñol said coco coir is in demand in the various countries that are growing high-value crops through greenhouses. Coco coir is used as a base for greenhouses.

Prices of copra sank to P15 per kilogram from P40 per kg to P50 per kg a year ago, according to the agriculture chief. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Bad weather to slash 2018 cassava output–report

T

HE country’s cassava output this year may fall by 5.01 percent to a four-year low of 2.652 million metric tons (MMT), from 2.792 MMT in 2017, due to low prices and erratic weather conditions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

“In the Philippines, based on the pace of the harvest for the first six months of the year, cassava output is expected to reach 2.7 million tons in 2018, some 5-percent down from the level of 2017, due to unattractive root prices and disruptive weather,” the FAO said in the November iteration of its biannual food outlook report.

The FAO report noted that cassava is “more important for food security than industry” use in both Indonesia and the Philippines. Cassava, the FAO noted, is being promoted in the two countries as an alternative to rice to achieve food security and lessen dependency over imports.

“Dietary diversification programs in the two countries have targeted cassava

as a substitute for rice, which both countries import heavily,” it added.

The country’s cassava output in the January-to-September period declined by nearly 3.6 percent to 1.954 MMT, from last year’s 2.027 MMT, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

The PSA attributed the decrease to lower demand and buying price for cassava, as well as problematic soil conditions.

“In Cagayan Valley, there were decreases in area planted due to shifting from cassava for industrial use to yellow corn production because of the strict implementation of buying quality chips by feed manufacturers. Also, other areas were left in fallow to regain soil fertility,” the PSA said.

“In addition, lesser and smaller tubers were harvested in the region due to insufficient soil moisture during tuber formation. Reduction in area planted in Northern Mindanao as a result of reduced demand from feed manufacturers and lower buying price in Central Visayas were also cited,” it added.

The FAO report noted that Asian cassava output would fall by at least 2.88 percent due to low prices, amid a slightly expected increase in global output of the rootcrop.

Cassava production in Asia this year could reach 85.511 MMT lower than the estimated volume of 88.051 MMT in 2017.

“However, in 2017 cassava production fell throughout the continent, and is forecast to contract further in 2018 by a similar margin of around 3 percent,” the FAO said.

“Much of the contraction is due to a reduction in plantings of 10 percent from the previous year in Thailand, Asia’s largest producer, following very low root prices at the beginning of the season and a lack of foreseen demand in China,” it added.

In contrast, world cassava production would slightly increase to 277.070 MMT, from 275.655 MMT estimated output in 2017, according to the FAO. Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

FILE PHOTO

HE militant Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday urged the government to dismantle the “excessive” fish pens in Taal Lake following a fish kill in Agoncillo, Batangas.

Some 60 tons of tilapia worth P5 million scheduled for harvest next month were affected by the fish kill. The Agoncillo Municipal Office blamed it to steep reduction in the level of dissolved oxygen in the lake caused by Typhoon Rosita (international code name Yutu).

Fishkill happens because of algae bloom, overpopulation or a sustained increase in water temperature.

However, Pamalakaya said the massive fish kill in Taal Lake—the country’s third-largest freshwater lake—was due to fish pen operators and aquaculture firms.

Pamalakaya said excess feed not consumed by tilapia may have caused serious environmental degradation, specifically water pollution over the years.

The lake forms part of the Taal Volcano Protected Landscape, a Protected Area by virtue of Proclamation 906 signed on October 6, 1996, by then-President Fidel V. Ramos. The Taal Lake is the only known habitat of freshwater tawilis and is also a popular tourist destination in Luzon.

“Fish pen operators monopolizing the aquaculture industry in Taal

Lake should realize that they are the ones to be blamed over this ecological disturbance,” Pamalakaya Chairman Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

“This is not a natural phenomenon but a result of an incessant drive to increase the number and size of aquaculture structures beyond the capacity of the lake,” Hicap added.

Pamalakaya said the Fisheries Code stated that “only 10 percent of the surface area of the lakes and rivers may be allotted for aquaculture purposes.”

In the case of Taal Lake, with its total surface area of 23,420 hectares, the carrying capacity should only be 2,342 hectares.

Government data showed that around 5,000 aquaculture structures are operating in the lake.

The group concluded that the total size of fish pen has likely exceeded the lake’s carrying capacity.

Hicap said it is time for the government to consider dismantling the fish cages in Taal, just like what it did in Laguna de Bay. “Now is the time for the government to take immediate and necessary action by launching a crackdown against private fish pen structures to give time for Taal Lake to unwind and restore to its traditional use as a communal fishing ground for the benefit of small fishermen,” he said. Jonathan L. Mayuga

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Editor: Angel R. Calso

The World

Trump not worried about canceled North Korea talks

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RESIDENT Donald J. Trump played down concern over postponement of a meeting between Secretary of State Michael Pompeo and North Korean officials that was scheduled for this week, and said he expects to meet leader Kim Jong Un early next year.

Trump suggested at a news conference on Wednesday that a meeting between Pompeo and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Yong Chol, that was supposed to take place on Thursday in New York would be rescheduled because of a conflict that he didn’t explain. He said he wasn’t worried and that sanctions against North Korea remain in full effect.

“I’d love to take the sanctions off, but they have to be responsive, too—it’s a twoway street,” Trump said. He said he would probably meet K im for a second summit “sometime early next year.”

The meeting’s delay until “a later date”—announced earlier on Wednesday by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert, who also gave no reason—provoked concerns that nuclear talks between the US and North Korea had again bogged down, as Kim’s regime seeks sanctions relief before taking key disarmament steps.

Nauer t said the meeting wou ld be held when “our respective schedu les permit,” and that the administration remained focused on f u lfil ling K im’s pledge at his June summit w ith Tr ump to “ denuclear ize.”

South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha confirmed during a parliamentary questioning on Thursday that it was Pyongyang’s decision to pull out of the meeting. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that North Korea canceled the meeting while the State Department was preparing visas for the visiting delegation.

Seeking relief

WHILE US and South Korean officials had expressed

hope the talks could make some progress—including laying the groundwork for a second Trump-Kim meeting—North Korea has in recent weeks stepped up calls for sanctions relief. A think tank affiliated with the foreign ministry in Pyongyang warned on Friday that the regime could resume nuclear work if the US side didn’t relax its economic blockade.

Kim leveled an unusually direct criticism of sanctions last week, saying the “vicious” measures stood in the way of the country’s development and that he wouldn’t be forced into “change and submission.”

Still, Pompeo had predicted “real progress” as recently as Sunday. “I’m confident that we’ll advance the ball again this week when I’m in New York City,” he told CBS’s Face the Nation.

In addition to Pompeo’s talks with his counterpart, the New York meeting in New York was expected to be the first between Trump’s special North Korean envoy, Ste phen Bieg u n, a nd h i s counterpart, Choe Son Hui. The former Ford Motor Co. executive hasn’t participated in working-level talks, despite being appointed more than two months ago.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s spokesman K im Eui-keum said the delay did not imply a collapse of the US nuclear negotiations with North Korea or a loss of momentum. Moon’s office said the US notified the government of the delay before the public announcement. A senior official at the Foreign Ministr y in Seoul cautioned against reading too much into the decision to postpone the meeting.

Mea nwh i le, a s ate l l ite imager y analysis published by t he website 38 Nor t h sug gested t hat Nor t h Ko re a i s cont i nu i n g u r a n i um mining and mil ling operat ions at one of t he cou nt r y ’s l a rgest dec l a red u ra n iu m ore concent rate fac i l it ies. Bloomberg News

BusinessMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018

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With split Congress, prospect for economic deals looks dim

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ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump floated the idea on Wednesday of partnering with the newly Democraticled House on two ideas that could prove popular with voters: increasing spending on America’s infrastructure and limiting drug prices.

Yet the poisonous atmosphere in Washington, mandated federal spending limits and a potential duel over the government’s borrowing authority make it difficult to achieve any deals that would boost economic growth.

Over the next two years, with Democrats controlling the House and Republicans the Senate, most economic and market analysts foresee mainly entrenched gridlock. Many think the two sides will mostly maneuver for public favor while looking toward the 2020 presidential election year.

At a news conference, Trump reiterated his desire to reach some agreement on infrastructure spending—to rebuild roadways, rail stations or airports, for example—among other priorities. But to achieve any real breakthrough, he would have to compromise with Democrats who won office largely by opposing his plans to restrict immigration, his efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, his deficit-funded tax cuts and his opposition to gun control in the aftermath of mass shootings.

That said, most economists don’t think a stalemate in Congress would necessarily depress growth.

The $20-trillion US economy—the world’s largest—relies far more on the health of the global economy and the willingness of consumers and businesses to spend rather than on any government actions.

Nor do market analysts think stock prices will suffer. In fact, major stock averages soared on Wednesday in the wake of the elections. In part, that’s because Tuesday’s vote caused no major surprises, in part because the prospect of little or no major congressional initiatives means lawmakers won’t stand in the way of a robust US economy.

“While you might see further gridlock if the Democrats take the House, that doesn’t mean it would tip the boat and slow growth,” said Beth Ann Bovino, chief US economist at S&P Global.

Economists at Bank of America concluded, “We expect a divided government to lead to a legislative logjam in Washington, D.C. in the next Congress, limiting policy actions to passing the budget with modest spending increases and raising the debt ceiling.”

Trump would still have discretion on some key economic issues. His trade war with China and his drive to reduce regulations are two of them. The president has managed to pursue those priorities without Congress’s involvement, though his updated trade agreement with Canada and Mexico would need congressional approval.

But the new Democratic-led House cou ld t hwar t Tr ump’s plans for more tax cuts, a wall along the border with Mexico and a 5-percent budget cut to Cabinet departments. But the Democrats’ own agendas would also likely meet with defeat.

At his news conference, the president sug gested t h at he could work with Democrats on such priorities as boosting infrastructure spending and reducing the costs of prescription drugs.

He also said he’d consider raising other tax rates to pay for a middle-class tax cut, though he didn’t offer any details.

Yet Trump made clear that if House Democrats pursue him with investigations involving his 2016’s connection to Russia or financial ethics allegations, he would drop his willingness to seek cooperation on legislation involving the economy or other issues.

HOUSE Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California speaks about Democratic gains in the House of Representatives to a crowd of Democratic supporters during an election night returns event at the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Tuesday, in Washington. AP/JACQUELYN MARTIN

“They can play that game, but we can play it better,” the president said. Still, Trump could be pressured to bargain with the Democrats on two major fiscal issues with consequences for the economy, said Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at the consultancy RSM. The president would need to increase the government’s borrowing capacity—or it would be unable to continue issuing debt and possibly shutter. A 2011 showdown on the debt ceiling led the S&P 500 stock index to plummet and raised fears that the economy could sink into a recession.

“Given the new configuration of power in Washington, the probability of a government shutdown is greater than 50 percent,” Brusuelas said.

Second, Trump would need to sign a spending bill for fiscal 2020.

Otherwise, previously agreedupon spending caps would automatically reduce federal expenditures, which would likely slow the economy during a presidential election year.

T he economy h a s enjoyed an acceleration in growth this year—to a gain estimated to be 3 percent. Unemployment is at a five-decade low of 3.7 percent, and employers are posting record-high job openings. The economy’s expansion is already the second longest on record.

But annual growth is widely expected to dip back to its long-term average near 2 percent by 2020.

It’s even possible the economy could slip into a recession within a few years as growth stalls—for

reasons unrelated to who controls the White House or Congress. A global slowdown could, for example, spill into the United States.

Or higher interest rates, spurred by the Federal Reserve, might depress economic activity.

In an appearance last month at Harvard University, Nancy Pelosi, the House Democratic leader, outlined her agenda should her party regain the chamber’s majority and she the speakership. Within the first 100 days, Pelosi said, she would seek to reduce the influence of large campaign donors and groups that aren’t legally required to disclose their funding sources.

She would also pursue infrastructure funding and seek protections for undocumented immigrants who came to the United States as children, among other priorities.

Yet the rancor between the two parties makes the likelihood of any meaningful economic measures appear dim.

“The way parties are talking about it right now, I don’t think anybody is dying to cooperate,” said Michael Madowitz, chief economist at the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank.

It’s possible Trump might feel pressure to produce some tangible legislative results before his quest for reelection. If so, he could backtrack and find ways to work with Democrats to boost the economy.

“Trump is the wild card here,” said Jason Rosenstock, a financial industry lobbyist with Thorn Run Partners. “He may want to be seen as a deal-cutter going into the 2020 election.” AP

FED SEEN KEEPING RATES ON HOLD BEFORE ANOTHER HIKE LATER IN YEAR W ASHINGTON—The Federal Reserve (the Fed) appears on track to raise interest rates once more this year but will likely hold off on any action when its latest policy meeting ends on Thursday.

Still, investors will be parsing the statement the Fed will issue after its meeting for any sign that it might be rethinking its probable pace of credit tightening in the coming months. So far this year, the central bank has raised rates three times.

At their most recent meeting in lateSeptember, Fed officials collectively projected that they would end up raising their key short-term rate four times this year

and three times in 2019. The Fed’s benchmark rate affects many consumer and business loans, and when it raises it, borrowing can become more expensive for many.

In recent weeks, financial markets have been gripped by worry and volatility, and some analysts think that in its statement on Thursday the Fed may take note of that anxiety as a potential risk to economic growth.

As it happens, this week’s meeting will be the last that will not include a news conference by the Fed chairman. Beginning in 2019, Chairman Jerome Powell has said he will hold a news conference after each of the Fed’s eight meetings each year,

rather than only at every other meeting.

In its statement, the Fed is all but sure to announce that it will keep its key rate unchanged in a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent, the level it reached in September when the Fed raised it for the third time this year.

Beginning in late-2015, the central bank has gradually raised its key rate from a record low near zero, where it had held it since the 2008 financial crisis to try to stabilize the financial system and stimulate growth.

With the economy growing briskly and in its 10th year of expansion—the second-longest stretch on record—the Fed is aiming to keep

future inflation under control.

Some analysts say they think the fundamental message from the Fed on Thursday will be that with a strong economy and unemployment at a near five-decade low of 3.7 percent, steady if modest rate hikes should remain in place for now. Last week the government said that employers added a robust 250,000 jobs in October and that average pay grew 3.1 percent over the previous 12 months—the best year-overyear gain in a decade.

“Look for the statement following the meeting to highlight the recent and welcome pickup in wages and the further drop in the

unemployment rate,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton.

The quickened pace of economic growth—a 3.5-percent annual rate in the July-September quarter, after a 4.2-percent rate the previous quarter—has raised the risk that inflation could begin accelerating.

So far, though, inflation has remained around the Fed’s 2-percent target for annual price increases.

In its most recent forecast, the Fed projected that it would raise rates three additional times in 2019 but private economists are split. Some believe there will be four hikes in 2019 as the Fed responds to

continued strong growth while some see only one or two hikes next year as the boost from the $1.5 trillion in tax cuts passed last year begins to fade.

Powell has stressed that the Fed is determined to follow a centrist approach: Keep gradually nudging up rates to control inflation but avoid tightening too aggressively and perhaps triggering a recession.

But President Donald J. Trump has sharply disagreed, and since the stock market started tumbling last month, he has attacked the Fed’s rate hikes as well as Powell’s leadership. AP

A8

Friday, November 9, 2018

The World BusinessMirror

The EU’s tariff threats against Asia’s autocrats risk backfiring

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HE European Union is threatening to slap tariffs on Asian leaders who abuse their power, a move that risks upending several key garment-producing nations in the region.

Last month the EU told Cambodia it would start the process of withdrawing tariff-free access for most goods under the “Everything But Arms” initiative, saying its July election was “marked by harassment and intimidation.” The bloc is threatening to do the same for Myanmar due to genocide allegations, and a Reuters report said Sri Lanka may be next on the list.

If the EU follows through, the moves risk hurting garment sectors that employ nearly 2 million laborers, most of whom are women. In all three countries, the initiative has made the EU as one of their biggest export markets for garments, generating billions of dollars in revenues annually.

Human-rights activists have applauded the EU, which is increasingly taking a leadership role on humanitarian issues from a more inward-looking US under President Donald J. Trump. At the same time, some in the business community see the moves as counterproductive, and analysts doubt they will lead to major changes.

EU marginalized

CHINA, in particular, could step

in to offset any export losses from nations hit with new EU tariffs, according to Murray Hiebert, a senior associate of the Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

“Putting pressure on governments to respect human rights is very important, but to use sanctions as one size fits all will risk marginalizing the EU in giant swaths of Asia,” Hiebert said. “The best the EU can hope for is that it will feel better about punishing gross violations of human rights.”

Sri Lanka has also suddenly come under scrutiny after the president abruptly fired the prime minister, triggering a political crisis that has yet to be resolved.

The countr y’s garment sector employs some 600,000 people and accounts for about a third of manufacturing employment.

Tung-Lai Margue, the EU ambassador to Sri Lanka, told Reuters last week the bloc would consider withdrawing duty-free tariff benefits if the government wasn’t meeting its commitments.

The embassy declined to comment when contacted.

African alternative

THE situation is more worrying for Cambodia and Myanmar.

In Myanmar in particular, the news is a setback for many foreign companies that moved in after the country transitioned to democracy from military rule over the past decade. EuroCham Myanmar said the move may put as many as 450,000 of the country’s garment workers out of a job within four years.

Some European companies have indicated they would move their operations to Africa or other nations if the EU puts tariffs on Myanmar goods, according to Filip Lauwerysen, the executive director at Eurocham Myanmar and Secretary General of the European Business Organizations Network.

The bloc has “completely lost any sense on how to address these issues,” Lauwerysen said.

“Myanmar is heavily backed by China and Russia and there is not much we in Europe can do with our current status in the global landscape of things.”

Preferential exports to the EU from Myanmar have more than doubled in recent years to $1.48 billion in 2017, according to EU data. Aung Ko Ko, an independent economist who also sits on the ruling NLD party’s economic committee, said that Myanmar had not done anything wrong and was confident the EU wouldn’t stop preferential treatment.

“Myanmar isn’t doing any harmful actions to EU members,” he said, noting the government has invited European officials to see the “true story.”

‘Stiff competition’

IN Cambodia, the garment sector is by far its biggest export, a $5-billion industry that employs about 750,0 0 0 C a mbod i a n s.

Prime Minister Hun Sen, whose party won every seat in a July election boycotted by the main opposition party, has struck a defiant tone toward the EU and failed to win a reprieve from the bloc in talks last month.

I n a n Oc tober 20 let ter to the trade commissioner of the European Commission, t he Ga r ment M a nu f ac t u rers A ssoc i at ion i n C a mbod i a sa id a su s pen sion of dut y- f ree access or u n i l atera l s a nc t ion s wou ld hu r t ga r ment workers a nd t he i r f a m i l ies.

“All the progress that Cambod ia has achieved over t he past two decades through the efforts of all stakeholders, including development partners like the EU, could be destroyed very quickly,” it said.

Er ic Taver nier, the chief executive officer of textile fir m We Group Ltd., whic h has a f a c tor y t h at e mplo y s a b out 700 workers in the Cambodian coasta l tow n of Sihanouk v il le, said the subsequent EU tax burden wou ld likely mean the end of his business there.

“Cambodia is going to face some stif f competition f rom elsewhere now that they are no longer the cheapest option,” he said. Still, he understands why t hey acted. “ W hy shou ld we keep helping countr ies if they don’t fol low basic democratic r u les.” Bloomberg News

China’s exports to US tick up as traders try to beat tariffs

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EIJING—Growth in Chinese exports to the United States ticked up in October as traders rushed to beat a new tariff hike in a battle over Beijing’s technology policy.

Shipments to the US market rose 13.3 percent over a year earlier to $42.7 billion, up from September’s 13-percent growth, customs data showed on Thursday. Imports of American goods rose 8.5 percent to $10.9 billion, decelerating from the previous month’s 9 percent.

China’s trade surplus with the United States narrowed to $31.8 billion from September’s record $34.1 billion.

Traders are rushing to beat a US tariff hike planned for January, ING economist Iris Pang said in a report. Pang said they are pessimistic this month’s planned meeting between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in Argentina will “yield positive results.”

“We expect this front-loading behavior to continue for the rest of 2018,” said Pang.

China’s exports to the United States, its biggest market, have been unexpectedly resilient since Trump started imposing punitive tariffs goods in July in a fight over Beijing’s technology policy.

That includes a 10-percent charge on $200 billion of Chinese goods that is due to rise to 25 percent in January. Another $50 billion of Chinese goods already is subject to 25-percent duties.

Beijing has responded with tariff hikes on $110 billion of A mer ic a n good s. Tr u mp h a s threatened to expand US penalties to all goods from China.

China’s global exports rose 12.6 percent to $217.3 billion, down from September’s 14.5-percent growth. Imports rose 20.3 percent to $183.3 billion, accelerating from the previous month’s 14.3 percent. The global trade surplus was $34 billion, up from

Editor: Angel R. Calso | www.businessmirror.com.ph

AUSTRALIA DETAILS INVESTMENT IN PACIFIC AS CHINA CLOUT GROWS

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ANBERRA, Australia—Australia’s prime minister on Thursday outlined plans to increase investments in infrastructure in the South Pacific as China’s influence in those nations grows.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison also detailed plans for greater military and diplomatic engagement with Australia’s island neighbors who are increasingly looking to China for aid through Beijing’s “Belt and Road” infrastructure program.

“My government is returning the Pacific to where it should be—front and center of Australia’s strategic outlook, foreign policy and personal connections, including at the highest levels of government,” Morrison said in a speech.

The A$2-billion ($1.4 billion) Australian Infrastruc ture Financing Facility for the Pacific will provide grants and long-term loans for investments in telecommunications, energy, transport and water infrastructure, Morrison said.

Another A$1 billion ($728 million) will be injected into the Export Finance and Insurance Corp., Australia’s export credit agency, which will be given more flexibility to support investment in the region that would benefit Australia, he said.

The Pacific region was estimated to need $3.1 billion in investment a year to 2030, he said.

“It’s in our interest, that’s why we need to do it,” he added.

The Australian Defense Force would also establish an Australia-based Pacific Mobile Training Teams that would visit island neighbors to train their militaries in humanitarian and disaster responses, peacekeeping and infantry skills.

Australia will also put diplomats in all 18 countries in the Pacific Islands Forum, with new embassies planned for Palau, Marshall Islands, French Polynesia, Nui and Cook Islands.

In January China protested an Australian minister’s criticism that Chinese aid programs in poor Pacific island countries were creating “white elephants” that threatened economic stability without delivering benefits.

S en. Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, the then-minister for international development and the Pacific, told The Australian newspaper that China was lending to Pacific nations on unfavorable

terms to construct “useless buildings” and “roads to nowhere.”

“You’ve got the Pacific full of these useless buildings which nobody maintains, which are basically white elephants,” she told the newspaper.

Fierravanti-Wells later said sustaining debt was a significant threat to economic stability of countries in the Pacific.

China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang later said Fierravanti-Wells’s published comments “show scant regard for the facts and are nothing but irresponsible,” adding that China had made an official complaint to the Australian government.

Chinese aid had “significantly fueled the economic and social development of these countries and delivered tangible benefits to the local people,” assistance that has been warmly welcomed by those countries, Lu said.

China transferred at least $1.8 billion in aid and loans to South Pacific countries in a decade through 2016, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute international policy think tank found.

The US Overseas Private Investment Corp., the Japan Bank for Investment Cooperation and the Australian government announced in July a trilateral partnership to invest in infrastructure in the region.

The then-Trade Minister Steve Ciobo d e n i e d at t h e t i m e t h e t h re e - way initiative was a challenge to China, saying it only added to various regional programs already underway.

A US diplomat revealed in September that the United States, Japan and Australia were cooperating on a domestic Internet cable proposal for Australia’s nearest neighbor, Papua New Guinea, as an alternative to an offer by Huawei, the Chinese telecommunications giant that the United States regards as a cybersecurity threat.

The US chargé d’affaires to Australia, James Carouso, said the three Pacific defense allies were negotiating with the impoverished South Pacific island nation of 8 million people, mostly subsistence farmers, on its Internet contract.

Papua New Guinea Minister Justin Tkatchenko said his government was willing to work with Australia on the Internet network if it offered a better deal than Huawei, The Australian newspaper reported. AP

U.S. EMERGENCY DIRECTIVE AFTER BOEING JET CRASH IN INDONESIA

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CONTAINERS are piled high at a port in Qingdao in eastern China’s Shandong province on Thursday, November 8, 2018. Growth in Chinese exports to the United States ticked up in October as traders rushed to beat another round of tariff hikes. CHINATOPIX VIA AP

September’s $31.7 billion.

“While shipments to the US held up well, those to other parts of the world grew even faster, suggesting that global demand is more resilient than expected,” said Louis Kuijs of Oxford Economics in a report.

Unexpectedly strong imports contrasted with other signs that China’s factory output and other economic activity is cooling.

Chinese leaders have cut tariffs on non-US goods and promised to encourage imports of consumer goods but reject pressure to roll back plans for state-led development of technology industries.

Washington, Europe and other trading partners complain plans such as “Made in China 2025,”

which calls for creating Chinese global champions in robotics and other fields, violate Beijing’s market-opening obligations.

Xi presided over the opening of an import fair Monday in Shanghai that is meant to rebrand China as a welcoming market for other countries’ goods. Some 3,600 companies from 152 countries are taking part in the five-day event.

The president promised to open Chinese markets wider, to cut costs for importers and to increase consumer spending power. But he gave no response to foreign complaints about technology policy and investment barriers.

Beijing agreed in May to narrow its trade gap with the United States by purchasing more

A mer ic a n soy bea n s, n at u ra l gas and other exports. Chinese leaders scrapped that deal after Trump’s first tariff hikes hit.

Chinese companies have been ordered to stop buying American soybeans—the biggest US export to China—and find other suppliers and export markets.

American demand for Chinese goods should weaken next year as tariff hikes bite, said ING’s Pang. She said exporters might try to sell more to Europe or other Asian economies, but those markets also might be hurt by US import controls.

“Strong export growth may not last very long,” said Pang. “We are not particularly optimistic on China export growth in 2019.” AP

AKARTA, Indonesia—The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued an emergency airworthiness directive on how to handle erroneous data from a sensor that investigators believe malfunctioned on a new Boeing jet that plunged into the sea in Indonesia, killing all 189 people on board.

The directive gives regulatory weight to Boeing’s safety bulletin that it sent to operators of Boeing 737 MAX 8 and MAX 9 planes based on findings from the ongoing Indonesian investigation into the October 29 crash of a Lion Air jet. FAA directives are usually followed by other airline regulators internationally.

The FAA said erroneous data from the “angle of attack” sensor, which helps prevent the plane from stalling and diving, could cause flight crew to have difficulty controlling the airplane and lead to “excessive nose-down attitude, significant altitude loss, and possible impact with the terrain.”

The directive instructs airlines to make specific changes to flight manual procedures for responding to the problem.

Boeing’s bulletin said it was directing flight crews to existing guidelines.

Indonesian investigators on Wednesday said the sensor was replaced on the Lion Air plane the day before its fatal flight and may have compounded other problems with the aircraft.

The two-month-old Boeing 737 MAX 8 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff from Jakarta. Both that flight and its October 28 flight from Bali to Jakarta had erratic speed and altitude shortly after takeoff.

On Wednesday night, Lion Air aborted a flight when one of its planes damaged a wing tip when it struck a lamp pole before takeoff from Bengkulu. The airline faulted the airport’s aircraft movement control personnel who directed the plane from the apron to the taxiway.

Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee earlier this week had said

the plane that crashed had a malfunctioning airspeed indicator on its last four flights, based on analysis of the flight data recorder.

Chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono said the airspeed indicator and sensor problems are related.

Lion Air’s first two attempts to address the airspeed problem didn’t work, and for the jet’s second-to-last flight the “angle of attack” sensors were replaced, Tjahjono said.

On that October 28 flight, from Bali to Jakarta, the pilot’s and copilot’s sensors disagreed by about 20 degrees. The plane went into a sudden dive minutes after takeoff, from which the pilots were able to recover. They decided to fly on to Jakarta at a lower-than-normal altitude.

On the fatal flight, the plane hit the water at very high speed after the flight crew had been cleared to return to the airport several minutes after takeoff.

“The point is that after the AOA [sensor] is replaced, the problem is not solved but the problem might even increase. Is this fatal?

NTSC wants to explore this,” Tjahjono said.

Airline safety experts said pilots are trained to handle a plane safely if those crucial sensors fail and backup systems are generally in place, as well.

There are audio signals and physical warnings that can aler t the pilot to malfunc tioning equipment or other dangers, said Todd Curtis, director of the Airsafe.com Foundation.

“They should have been completely engaged in what was going on inside that cockpit, and any kind of warning that came up, they would have been wise to pay attention to it,” Curtis said.

Investigators are likely focused on how a single sensor’s failure resulted in a faulty command that didn’t take into account information from a second sensor, said John Cox, CEO of Safety Operating Systems.

“We don’t know what the crew knew and didn’t know yet,” Cox said. “We will.” AP

The Regions BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace • Friday, November 9, 2018

A9

Therma Power Visayas sets aside P892M for Cebu plant

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HERMA Power Visayas Inc. (TPVI), a subsidiary of Aboitiz Power Corp., is setting aside P892 million for the rehabilitation of the Naga Power Plant Complex (NPPC) in Cebu.

“We’ve done audits on environmental, safety and we’re doing structural repairs already on the facility,” AboitizPower Chief Operating Officer Emmanuel Rubio said citing board approval of the capital expenditure.

The power facility, which was once the subject of a legal dispute, was physically turned over and accepted by TPVI in July this year.

The NPPC is composed of diesel and coal power units with a combined capacity of 153.1 megawatt. However, there was no more coal plant when TPVI took over the facility; thus its capacity was reduced to 40 MW.

“The nameplate capacity is actually 40.5 MW. It was providing ancillary service for 25 MW,” said Rubio adding that TPVI had expected the coal plant would still be included in the sale.

“We were expecting that and considered that in our offer given the condition of the coal plant when it was offered for sale,” he said. “The value is really on the land and the engines that can provide ancillary service.”

With the rehabilitation, TPVI expects two units to be operational by February 2019 and the remaining units by the second half of next year.

“My goal is to have one available by December but safely two units by February

2019 and then middle of 2019 all six units operational,” Rubio said.

There are no immediate plans to expand the NPPC capacity since another power facility of the company, also in Cebu, will be operational soon.

“I want to make sure that we service the ancillary service requirements and I am commissioning a 300-MW plant down the road. So, I want to make sure that NPPC serves a different purpose than the one in Toledo,” explained Rubio, who was referring to the 340-MW Therma Visayas baseload power plant in Toledo City, Cebu.

NPPC was turned over to TPVI after it offered a bid of P1.088 billion. However, SPC Power Corp. exercised its right to top and matched the bid with an additional P54 million or a total of P1.143 billion.

The government, through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), awarded the contract to SPC Power despite TPVI’s objections.

A petition with the Supreme Court was then filed seeking to enjoin PSALM from awarding the Naga plant on the grounds that SPC’s right to top was void. The High Tribunal reinstated the notice of award to TPVI.

Aboitiz’s Sibulan Talisay site of regatta for locally built sailboats hydro plant

project gets high credit rating

D OZ GOOSE sailboats mark the waters of Taal Lake in Talisay, Batangas, during the Oz Goose National Championships 2018 on November 3. The Oz Goose is known the world over as sailboat one can have for less than the price of an iPhone. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE PHILIPPINE HOME BOAT BUILDERS YACHT CLUB

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ALISAY, Batangas, became the site over the weekend of a championship regatta for some locally developed sailboats called the Oz Goose.

The Oz Goose is known the world over as a sailboat one can have for less than the price of an iPhone.

Recently held its National Championships on the weekend of November 3 and 4 at the Taal Lake Yacht Club (TLYC) in Talisay, Batangas.

The two-day Oz Goose National Championships 2018 organized by the Philippine Home Boat Builders Yacht Club (PHBYC) was participated by 25 teams.

“People from all walks of life participated in the regatta, some from as far as Cebu,” PHBYC official Roy Espiritu said

in a statement. “There were expats, corporate executives, entrepreneurs, regular employees, factory workers, students, children and persons with disabilities who participated in the two-day event.”

Espiritu added the event proves “that sailing with the Oz Goose is an inclusive sport that can appeal to everyone.”

Four teams from Sailability Philippines, the paralympic sailing group of the Philippine Sailing Association (PSA) participated in the regatta.

“I’ve noticed that our regular Oz Goose sailors are learning from [the PSA] and are upping their game and I’m looking forward to the improved level of competition in future races,” Peter Capotosto, commodore of the Taal Lake Yacht Club, said. Rizal Raoul S. Reyes

Four regional airports to allow evening flights before year ends

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AVAO CITY—A Department of Budget and Management (DBM) report on the Duterte administration’s “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program said that before the year ends, airports that would have nightrated capabilities would be in four provinces.

These airports are in Naga City of Camarines Sur, Dipolog City of Zamboanga del Norte, Cotabato City and Cauayan City of Isabela.

These airports belong to the 22 airports that would be allowed to manage evening flights.

As of October, almost half of the country’s 42 airports have been night-rated, the DBM report said.

With night-rated capabilities, 20 existing airports would now serve night flights and give wider options for the government to decongest major airports, but mainly the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Four of these airports were earlier fitted

with night flight-guiding instruments. These were the airports in Legazpi City in Albay, Roxas City of Antique, Dumaguete of Negros Occidental and Caticlan in the island resort of Boracay. Early this year, the Tuguegarao airport was also night-rated.

“Equipping airports with night-rating capabilities allows them to accommodate evening flights, thereby increasing their daily service capacity,” the DBM said.

The upgrading of airports with night-rated instruments was part of the construction, upgrading and rehabilitation of 28 airport projects that were listed in the priority agenda of the Department of Transportation.

Three international airports—Lal-Lo, Puerto Prinsesa and Mactan—and four domestic airports—Tuguegarao, Calbayog, Ozamis and Naga—have already been finished, the DBM said. Manuel T. Cayon

AVAO CITY—The corporate notes issued by Aboitiz’s Power Corp.’s subsidiary in Davao del Sur obtained a high PRS “AA+” and “stable outlook” rating, indicating a “very low credit risk” to its financial obligation.

The credit rating was accorded by the Philippine Rating Services (PRS) Corp. to the outstanding P4-billion corporate notes of Hedcor Sibulan Inc. (HSI).

A “PRS AA” rating means that the notes “are of high quality and are subject to very low credit risk [and] the obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is very strong,” AboitizPower said in a statement.

A plus or minus further qualifies its ratings.

AboitizPower said HSI was relatively debt free in 2015. The following year it issued corporate notes totaling P4.1 billion “to redeem its [HSI’s Sibulan plant] preferred shares, which effectively lowered the company’s equity level.”

The company added HSI’s “capital structure remains adequate and is seen to improve going forward.”

HSI has a 12-year power supply contract with Davao Light and Power Co. (DLPC), also an Aboitiz subsidiary, which will expire in 2022. Through its own transmission lines, HSI is directly connected to DLPC enabling both companies to save on transmission costs.

HSI’s power supply account for an average of about 12 percent of DLPC’s power requirements last year.

In 2017 HSI’s revenue from sale of power stood at P1.59 billion “coming from higher generation resulting from higher rainfall compared to the previous year, as well as an upward adjustment in the selling rate.”

AboitizPower said HSI was able to contain the cost of plant operations, which increased at a slower pace to P446 million.

Likewise, cash flows from operations in 2017 amounted to P1.28 billion, more than enough to cover maturing debt.

“Current [debt to equity] ratio remained sound at 3.3,” AboitizPower said adding that in February, the first tranche of the company’s outstanding corporate notes worth around P97.6 million was due and was settled accordingly.

The holding company for the Aboitiz Group’s investments in power said the Philratings’s stable outlook rating “is an indication as to the possible direction of any rating change within a one-year period and serves as a further refinement to the assigned credit rating for the guidance of investors, regulators and the general public.” Manuel T. Cayon

A10 Friday, November 9, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Urban versus rural

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E hear much discussion on the differences between groups of people based on education, income, age and other demographics. This naturally leads to the next topic of inequality, primarily about income and wealth.

Yet perhaps the greatest divide that all relatively developed nations— and some extremely poor countries—are facing is the divide between urban and rural. This separation can be illustrated in voting patterns.

In the 2016 vote to remain or stay in the European Union, the City of London and the surrounding areas voted about 70 percent to “remain,” while the more rural areas in central England voted by the same percentage to “leave.”

This can be attributed to the difference in perceived favorable or negative economic impact of staying or leaving the EU on urban versus rural communities. But that is the point.

Only 100 years ago—which is a blink in time—more than 30 percent of the total population of the United Kingdom worked in agriculture.

Today that percentage is down to 1.2 percent. That is attributable to advanced farming methods and technology. But society and society’s needs have also changed.

Even here in the Philippines, the economic impact of agriculture has dropped by about 50 percent in the past 30 years.

The population of Metro Manila is estimated at 13 million—about 12 percent of the total population—and the larger urban area is estimated at 21.3 million or 20 percent. In terms of land area, the greater Metro area is less than 1 percent of the country’s total. Population, economic activity and much of the total political power are concentrated in a small portion of the nation.

This is not unique to the Philippines. Today, 55 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, expected to increase to 68 percent by 2050. Large urban areas offer many benefits above economic. But these come with a downside.

Concentrations of a large population in a relatively small area cause problems like increased crime. This requires additional security funding. There must be more health-care facilities, schools and distribution centers for essential goods. Urban planning is necessary to maintain the best land use for development.

However, globally, urbanization has caused two systemic problems.

We know that Metro Manila has a long catalog of problems that have not been adequately addressed, and moving people around the metropolis is perhaps first on everyone’s list. About a decade ago, the government of Thailand commissioned a study on the traffic problems in Bangkok.

The research concluded that it would cost billions to solve the problem.

However, the study also said that by the time the problem was “fixed” with new roads and mass transit, the increase in population would mean that traffic would be just as bad or worse even after all the recommendations were implemented.

The National Capital Region has a serious transportation problem.

But so also do the rural areas. With 20 percent of the nation’s population—and votes and political power—funding is concentrated in the NCR. Problems in the rural areas are hardly tackled at all.

It is like the situation of rice prices. If the farm-gate price for rice goes up to P100 per kilo, the wealth of the rural poor would dramatically increase. But the urban poor would suffer. Put the price at P5 per kilo and the opposite occurs.

This urban/rural divide is a serious global problem not only in terms of government funding but also of resource allocation. Urban areas use much more of everything, from water to power, and often there is just not enough to meet all the people’s needs.

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How social media can be used to subvert the elections James Jimenez

SPOX

A

RECENT article in the New York Times recounts how the paper asked its readers to send in examples of election-related misinformation online. The Times’s readers responded, sending in more than 4,000 examples of misinformation from social-media feeds, text messaging apps and e-mail accounts. Reading through those examples, I felt a nauseating wave of déjà vu, as I recognized things that had been done here in 2016, and are currently being done in preparation for the midterm elections in 2019.

n Hoax floods. The Times article reports that “misinformation coalesces around major news events.”

When something dominates the news cycle, hyper-partisan misinformation—most of which amount to outright fabrication—bubbles up to flood people’s social-media timelines. The article cites as an example a picture of bloodied policemen who, according to the accompanying caption, had been beaten up by a caravan of invading migrants. As it turned out, the photos were old and entirely unrelated to the migrant caravan

currently making its way to the US border. Nevertheless, the photo has been shared thousands of times on social media.

Recycled pictures of dead or injured people, being used to illustrate —dare I say “symbolize?”—a political agenda or partisan talking point.

Sounds familiar? n Misleading campaign ads.

“Campaign” ads can be either positive (you’re trying to get someone elected) or negative (you’re trying to get someone to lose). Ordinarily, there really isn’t anything inherently

objectionable about negative campaigning—especially if the allegations being made are factual, such as when an ad claims that a candidate has been previously found guilty of a criminal offense. But negative ads stray into the realm of misinformation when facts have been relegated to irrelevance, as in the cases of ads that simply smear (in one example juxtaposing pictures of the candidates with Nazi imagery) or make outrightly false claims about a candidate—such as saying that a candidate wants to place public schools under Shariah law. n Manipulated images and video. And then there are those instances when the misinformation comes in the form of manipulated photos. In one particularly disturbing example—disturbing because it’s so easy to do the same kind of manipulation—text was inserted into the blank spaces of a placard being held up by a candidate, which made it appear that the candidate enjoyed the support of a group already being portrayed as violent and extremist.

Again, does any of this ring a bell with you yet? For me, it’s already like the freaking carillon.

In roughly the same vein, the Times also reported receiving grossly misleading video where a candidate

Trump’s Iran waivers aren’t concessions

By Esfandyar Batmanghelidj Bloomberg Opinion

I

T should be welcome news for Iran that the Trump administration has granted eight countries Significant Reduction Exemptions (SREs) from US sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

These allow Iran to sustain oil exports at levels higher than many analysts had predicted when Trump first announced his withdrawal from the nuclear deal in May. Iran’s exports may remain above 1.1 million barrels per day.

At first glance, it would appear that the Trump administration’s decision is merely a recognition that suppressing Iranian exports too aggressively would drive up oil prices while also compromising American diplomatic relationships worldwide.

But a closer examination of the waivers suggests that the Trump administration has deployed its concessions tactically. The inclusion of China, Italy, and Greece among the waiver recipients will complicate the politics around Iran’s oil exports, and undermine the broader international effort to defy the extraterritoriality of US sanctions.

With its trade war with the US still raging, China’s push for a waiver—rather than an open defiance of the sanctions that the government in Tehran was hoping—points to a more cautious approach to the Islamic Republic among Chinese government and business stakeholders.

The waiver request is consistent with the reports from earlier this month

that Bank of Kunlun, which facilitated most of the China-Iran trade in the previous sanctions period, would cease facilitating transactions with Iranian banks. These two measures indicate Chinese authorities want to avoid adding the disagreement over Iran sanctions to their existing confrontations with the Trump administration. In a press conference on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hua Chunying skirted the issue of the waiver, offering only the bromide that “China is always opposed to unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction.”

Iran is a lucrative market for China, and it is possible that, in time, Chinese authorities will find a new, more isolated banking channel to resume non-oil trade. But at least for now, the waiver—which covers financial transactions relevant to the oil purchases—could weaken Chinese resolve to find a purpose-built banking mechanism for other trade.

And what of Europe’s resolve? The

inclusion of Italy and Greece were among the recipients of waivers was a surprise, because it was assumed the US had rejected all European waiver requests. In a letter sent to Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in June, the governments of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, along with the EU, asked for “exemptions to allow for economic relationships in key sectors,” including energy.

The response from Mnuchin and Pompeo made it clear that the only carve-outs would be for humanitarian trade. During a briefing last Friday, Pompeo told reporters that the “European Union” would not be receiving a waiver.

In hindsight, Pompeo’s comment was a knowing one. The decision to grant waivers to Italy and Greece, two eurosceptic countries, looks like a deliberate attempt to undermine European unity in the response to US sanctions. During his successful visit to Washington in July, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte described the US and Italy as “twin countries,” united in a populist outlook. Though Italy remains a supporter of the Iran nuclear deal, in part because it has historically been among Iran’s largest European trading partners, the Italian endorsement of Trump’s views on issues like North Atlantic Treaty Organization and immigration may have helped earn the waiver. While Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras

was portrayed as being a thug through some creative editing. Sadly, we’ve got that beat. Here, in 2016, we were seeing videos of people speaking in dialects, where the attached “translation” was the exact opposite of what was actually being said; videos of people loudly proclaiming voter fraud before voting even began; and animated videos claiming to show how the automated election system could be defrauded. All of those were debunked, but that didn’t stop those videos from being rapidly shared through social media. n Offline operations. The skullduggery isn’t contained to the Internet either. Offline, the Times reported that people were receiving questionable text messages. Some were supposed to have come from a candidate’s campaign, purporting to be instructions to do something illegal—like driving undocumented immigrants to the polls—in order to ensure the candidate’s win; others allege that a candidate is under criminal investigation; and yet others purport to be from big name personalities, telling people to vote a certain way. Now tell me that you’ve never encountered or at least heard local versions of these stories about any of these strategies before, I dare you.

has been a vocal critic of Trump, the two leaders held productive meetings in Washington in October 2017. Being the top European spender in Nato (on a GDP percentage basis), may also have earned Greece the Trump administration’s good graces. It is instructive that Spain, which has stuck to the EU line, was not granted a waiver, even though Spanish refiners Repsol and Cepsa—like their Italian and Greek peers—are geared to process Iranian crude.

The waivers for Italy and Greece put the EU—and especially the E3 of Britain, France and Italy—in an awkward position. Sustaining energy imports from Iran was a key goal of the European effort to protect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, as the 2015 Iran nuclear deal is known.

The EU and E3 have insisted that the proposed “special purpose vehicle,” a financial mechanism intended to facilitate trade with Iran in the face of US sanctions, would include provisions for oil purchases. Now the EU is caught between welcoming waivers for some members and displeasure that the collective request was previously rejected.

The Trump administration bowed to the global oil market in issuing the waivers. But by seeking to exploit European divisions and Chinese diffidence about defying the sanctions, the administration’s concessions are not as straightforward as they seem.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Trump vows ‘warlike posture’ if Democrats investigate him

This perfect November Tito Genova Valiente

ANNOTATIONS

By Peter Baker & Michael D. Shear New York Times News Service

W

ASHINGTON—President Donald J. Trump threatened on Wednesday to adopt a “warlike posture” against Democrats if they use their newly won control of the House to investigate his financial and political dealings, drawing a line at the start of a new era of divided government.

The president began a post-election news conference with an offer to work across party lines, but his conciliatory tone quickly turned contentious. And barely an hour later, he announced the firing of Attorney General Jeff Sessions in defiance of Democrats who saw an effort to impede the Russia investigation.

House Democrats also made the traditional nod to bipartisanship after their victory in Tuesday’s midterm elections even as they emphasized that they would scrutinize everything from Trump’s taxes to his campaign’s ties to Russia in 2016. But after Sessions was fired, the incoming chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said the decision would be investigated once Democrats took over in January.

The instant exchange of fire indicated that there may be no lull in the conflict that has cleaved Washington during the Trump era and, if anything, it may escalate beyond what the past two years have seen. Once in control of all the levers of power in the capital, the president and his party now face the prospect of an opposition House armed with subpoena power and stocked by Democrats who won office on the promise of imposing a check on him.

Any talk of lowering the temperature after a harsh campaign seemed to dissipate as the president angrily scolded reporters whose questions or behavior he did not like. By the end of the day, the White House suspended the credentials of Jim Acosta of CNN, a move that other presidents did not take even during times of great tension with the news media.

Democrats picked up at least 27 seats in the House on Tuesday, with 17 still undecided, and claimed seven additional governorships in places like Wisconsin, Michigan and Kansas, states that Trump won two years ago and will be crucial to his chances of reelection in 2020.

But he claimed a “great victory” because Republicans held onto the Senate and even knocked off Democratic incumbents in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri, while losing only one of their own seats in Nevada. If they hold on to their current leads, Republicans will increase their majority to 54 seats from 51, giving them more maneuvering room as they confirm judges and other appointments by Trump.

Although the balance of power in Congress was no longer in doubt, some key contests remained in flux. In Florida, Sen. Bill Nelson, the Democrat, trailing by more than 30,000 votes, called for a recount, an idea dismissed as “sad” by his Republican opponent, Gov. Rick Scott. In Arizona, Kyrsten Sinema, the Democrat, trailed Martha McSally, the Republican, by more than 15,000 votes in a race.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams, a Democrat who is trying to become the nation’s first black female governor, had not conceded her race against Brian Kemp, the Republican, in a race shadowed by concerns over voter suppression.

Democrats did find good news in Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester narrowly won reelection against Matt Rosendale, the Republican challenger backed by Trump in repeated rallies late in the campaign.

At his news conference, Trump seemed to be trying to adjust to the new reality in Washington. “I would like to see bipartisanship. I’d like to see unity,” he said. But he said he would not tolerate investigations and would use allies in the Senate to open inquiries against Democrats in response: “If that happens, then we’re going to do the same thing, and government comes to a halt. And I would blame them.”

Trump was the fourth president in a row to endure a major midterm election defeat. Trump’s tone, however, was strikingly different from that of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who all expressed degrees of humility after major midterm losses in 1994, 2006 and 2010. Bush called his setback a ‘thumpin,’ and Obama described his as a “shellacking,” but Trump maintained that he had

nothing to regret.

He lost fewer seats in the House than Obama did and unlike his predecessor picked up Senate seats, he noted. The lesson he said he took from the election was validation. “I think people like me,” the president said. “I think people like the job I’m doing, frankly.”

The candidates he helped ended up winning, he said, and those who lost went down because they distanced themselves from him. “Mia Love gave me no love,” Trump said of a Republican congresswoman from Utah. “And she lost. Too bad. Sorry about that, Mia.” He singled out other Republicans who lost because, he said, they did not embrace him.

“Didn’t want the embrace,” he said repeatedly.

The turnover in the House foreshadowed a sharp change in Trump’s presidency. A Democratic House not only can block Trump’s priorities like building a wall along the southern border and repealing Obama’s health-care program, but it also can use subpoena power to investigate all manner of issues that he had been protected from until now.

Among other things, Democrats are likely to demand the release of tax returns that he has kept secret, look into his business dealings and reopen the House investigation into any ties between Trump’s team and Russia during the 2016 election.

“The American people will see his tax returns, not because of any voyeuristic interest, but because they should know if he is corrupt,” Rep. Eric Swalwell, DCalif., and member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on NBC News.

“And we will look at the cashing in of access to the Oval Office and that has been concerning and his financial entanglements overseas.”

After Sessions was fired later in the day, Reps. Jerry Nadler of New York and Adam Schiff of California, the incoming chairmen of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, vowed to take action.

“The firing of Jeff Sessions will be investigated and people will be held accountable,” Nadler said.

“If the president seeks to interfere in the impartial administration of justice, the Congress must stop him,” Schiff said.

“No one is above the law.”

Trump opened his news conference with an embrace of Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, and endorsed her bid to regain the speakership that she lost eight years ago. He even suggested that it may be better for him that Democrats won the House because he can make deals with them, while legislating with a narrower Republican majority might have been more difficult.

“There are many things we can get along on without a lot of trouble, that we agree very much with them and they agree with us,” Trump said, citing health care, pharmaceutical drug prices, the environment and infrastructure. “I would like to see bipartisanship. I’d like to see unity. Maybe not on everything, but I think we have a very good chance of seeing that.”

Yet talk of compromise quickly turned to confrontation as he said he would fight fire with fire if Democrats follow through on their vows to use the subpoena power.

“They can play that game, but we can play better because we have a thing called the United States Senate and a lot of very questionable things were done, between leaks of classified information and many other elements that should not have taken place,” he said.

The news conference, only his third formal solo session with reporters at the White House since he took office 22 months ago, showcased his toxic relationship with the news media. He complained repeatedly that he had been treated unfairly and engaged in several heated exchanges with reporters who questioned him.

N

OVEMBER is the perfect month. It does not hurry to Christmas; in fact, it does not answer to any duty to a season or a festival. The first two days with its thought about all the souls and all the saints are accidents happening on those days. The days leading to nights of ghosts and memorial parks fall on October, an almost perfect month except for one thing: October is a month that seems to leave us immediately as it comes.

November stays with us.

One morning this week, I woke up to the sun on my face. The Earth has shifted! For a human being to be made aware of the physical movement of one’s planet is a step closer to God, or any Almighty, or to a realization about bad architecture.

Where before the sun hits only the wall, showering my Mother’s orchids with the tenderest sunshine at seven in the morning, the sun has moved almost 2 feet to where the bigger window is. It pours itself into the house.

It tells us to think of how the year has been long and life short.

If the sun is remembered for how it seems to go full circle, the wind comes back in November. It is strong wind, with bits of chill around it. It is not the kind of wind that accompanies storms and disaster but one that has been born out of the memory of the universe. It is the wind of fate, the wind that promises good fortune, the wind that augurs great anticipations.

There is no empty field where we live now in this old city. A new house has been built in front of us. It is a duplex but that is not the point of this act of building. The new house seems to have been built on a whim. A young family, we are told, has earned surpluses for working in the Middle East and has opted to put those earnings into this ugly structure. The cement and metals in the house have stopped the wind coming from the east. Believe me, ugliness happens when you stop the wind or the sun or the sunrise from being seen.

When the world was young, we had a home that faced a wide area covered with cogon and other grasses. Then, we did not count the days leading to Christmas; we looked to

the arrival of the wind. My grandmother would look out into that field—a meadow in the middle of the city—and note the grasses with their white blooms. The cottony and feathery flowers, to her, would be a sign that wind was coming.

Which came first, the wind or the cogongrass flowers? That was never an issue with my grandmother, Emilia. Gintatawag an hangin. The wind is being called to blow the flowers and spread more cogon.

With no emptiness to welcome the wind, I rely on how I would see the wind in the flat leaves, the small stems bristling and shaking. I saw that this week. The plants were

Friday, November 9, 2018 A11

moving and even the branches of an old mango tree were shaking. On its crown, the Yellow WagTail has arrived but without the crackling voice it is noted for. Called “Tuwadtuwad” because of its characteristic downward and upward movement of its tail, the bird is also a precursor to the wind. That morning, its tail was vigorously ripping up and down.

November is the month when tails of birds can be blown by the wind.

But the month of November has a personal meaning. November was the month when in my grandparents’ home in Ticao, the women of the clan stopped all kinds of wind to enter a room. My mother was about to give birth to my sister in that room. Not even the midwife and not even my grandfather, the first Sanitary Inspector in the whole of the island, could stop the women in the family from following that proscription: No wind shall touch the mother who had just given birth to a child.

My father used all the sturdy mats of the family to cover the wall so that no air, no wind would invade the room.

All the women in the clan had gathered that day. They were there not just to make sure the wind was not inside the room; they were there to decide on our fate. We were all boys

Kickoff for the budget season in the EU

S

By Peter Lundgreen

INCE May, there has been an awaited collision between the Italian government and the European Commission. The battle is, of course, Italy’s fiscal budget for 2019, where the budget deficit is set to increase from 0.8 percent of GDP to 2.4 percent. Back in May, it became clear to the financial markets where Italy’s budget deficit for 2019 was heading, therefore Italian government bonds were sold down. The interest rate on a 10-year government bond exploded from 1.75 percent to 3.15 percent just for the month of May alone. This is significant in the world’s ninthlargest economy, and the third largest in the eurozone.

Italy’s economy turned back to positive GDP growth in 2014, long time after other countries came back in plus, post the financial crisis. The Italian economy did not develop positively based on its own strength, but was simply a result of the general higher global economic growth.

Last year the GDP growth reached 1.5 percent, though Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development estimates a decrease this year. The latest assessment for Italy was 1.4-percent GDP growth, which I think is too optimistic now, as growth in the second quarter was just 0.2 percent or equal to 1.2-percent growth compared to the same quarter last year.

It’s also worth to notice how many European economic key numbers are currently pointing in the wrong direction, indicating a lower growth, including Italy. One could argue that the development in Italy wasn’t a surprise, so why did the financial market sell the Italian bonds again in October, pushing the 10-year interest

rate up to 3.70 percent? One reason is the “game of magic numbers” that the government in Rome is playing, which is making investors nervous.

I will not be surprised if Italy’s economy this year lands so hard, that the 2019 growth outlook will be dangerously close to zero percent.

This will be in strong contrast to the Italian government’s forecast of 1.5GDP growth for 2019, that is the base for the new budget—an even higher growth than this year. If the dream doesn’t become reality, the budget deficit as percentage of GDP will be even be greater than the expected 2.4-percent deficit.

I regard the budget presupposition as very unrealistic, and it is exceptionally bad timing for a government to put its credibility at stake.

Throughout the past 10 years since the financial crisis, investors have bought almost all financial assets uncritically. But the tide has changed its direction this year, and the demand for quality is strong, so the government in Rome should not

underestimate how fast investors currently tend to leave a country.

I argue that Italy’s economic size doesn’t count a lot for investors, and instead, they will act as consistently and quickly as many emerging market countries have lately experienced. The negative reaction is actually happening and can quickly be strengthened if foreign investors get even more worried about, for example, wrong budget assumptions.

In Spain, the uncertain political landscape makes it doubtful whether the 2019 fiscal budget can be approved, and how it would look like.

Spain’s GDP growth is decelerating and there are indications that the country chooses to join the game of magic numbers for their 2019 budget. The government plans to increase spending, financed by higher taxes, and at the same time, the government expects to reduce the budget deficit from 2.7 percent of GDP this year to 1.8 percent in 2019.

The more realistic assessments suggest a budget deficit of 2.2 percent next year.

But I am sceptical, and expect further pressure on the GDP growth next year, which is one reason I argue that the Spanish government’s goal is unrealistic. The increased noise surrounding Italy comes at an unfortunate time for Spain, as global investors might sharpen the focus on Southern Europe as a whole.

Concerning France, it’s a political dimension that is challenged by the Italian noise. President Emmanuel Macron has long sought to reform

in succession. One of our grandmothers believed that it was bad omen to have three boys and one daughter.

This sibling configuration meant that we, in fate, would be pallbearers for the funeral of our sister. We were omens. But then an older, wiser grandmother fascinated them with a more compelling elucidation: four brothers and one sister was not good.

Three brothers and one sister, well, that was good, that was love.

That was the last time all our grandmothers would be gathered as one. In that windless, airless room they talked about destinies and our happiness. All of those gathered in that room had all gone to a place where winds and omens are born.

My sister tells me she has a recurring dream of numerous old women gathered around her. She was a day old when they all met around her and no one ever told her of that event. Do not be scared, I recall telling her. They are with you across timeless time and spaces of spaces.

I am not scared, I remember her assuring me.

November, after all, for my sister and all the grand women in the clan, is love without the need for any wind to carry it across generations of joys and the pains those loves shelter.

E-mail: titovaliente@yahoo.com

the whole eurozone, but now in minimum order tries to create a mutual rescue fund for the banks in the eurozone. With a German government that is blowing itself up into atoms, an Italian budget deficit that echoes throughout the EU, and an election to the European Parliament in about half a year, the rescue fund remains a dream for now.

It is not necessarily based on pure mercy for Italy that President Macron puts all his efforts in the rescue fund.

It is no secret that the Italian banking sector has been severely affected by bad loans since the financial crisis. If Italy’s economy becomes more uncertain again, then the fear of an Italian banking crisis will have some basis.

There are rescue opportunities for banks within the eurozone, but it ends with a bill to taxpayers in other countries, such as France and Germany, which would be an unwelcome election theme in six months’ time. In the eurozone, the French banks are the largest direct lenders to customers in Italy, with loans amounting to around €130 billion ($150 billion), which is an unpleasant risk for France.

I expect the intense verbal exchange between the government in Rome and the EU Commission in Brussels to continue for a while. This will send interest rates of the Italian government debt further up, but what I also give attention to is how much the noise will reel France and Spain toward the center of the storm.

The author is the founding CEO of Lundgreen’s Capital.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A12 Friday, November 9, 2018

‘Higher prices prevent poor from enjoying GDP growth’

A

By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

S household spending in the third quarter grew at its slowest pace in four years, local economists fear the worst: The rate of poverty reduction may have also slowed during the period.

The situation could turn dire, they said, if the government is unable to address the supply problem that is being touted as the primary cause of high commodity prices.

Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development Director Alvin P. Ang told the BusinessMirror that should this happen, some of the ground covered in reducing poverty could be lost.

“I am concerned that if the supply problem will continue, inflation will increase further and the poverty rate will worsen because the poor will not be able to afford food

items,” Ang said.

“That is the concern, basically.

The gains you have made in the past will be wasted. The inclusivity of growth will be lost.

If this will be lost, your distribution [of economic growth] will worsen because the poor won’t be able to have access [to food]. Instead of improving the poverty situation, it will worsen,” he added.

On Thursday the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) reported that Household Final Consumption Expenditure (HFCE) grew 5.2

Manufacturing. . .

average of five separate subcomponents. To score above the 50 threshold signals a growth, while to hit below 50 means a slowdown.

The Philippines in October had the highest PMI among Southeast Asian economies, trailed by manufacturing giant Vietnam at 53.9 and Indonesia at 50.5. Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar and Singapore all performed below the 50 mark.

Lopez said, however, that reforms must still be enacted to sustain this progress. He said one reform that will

Continued from A1

bolster the sector’s development is the lowering of corporate income tax (CIT)—one of the two components of the controversial Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities (Trabaho) bill.

Under the Trabaho bill, CIT will be gradually reduced to 20 percent in 2029 from 30 percent. The measure, however, faces opposition from economic zone locators, as it will rationalize tax incentives granted to them.

“To continue with that [growth of the manufacturing sector], there must

EASTERLIES AFFECTING THE COUNTRY as of 4:00 am - November 8, 2018

“That is the concern, basically. The gains you have made in the past will be wasted.

The inclusivity of growth will be lost.

If this will be lost, your distribution [of economic growth] will worsen because the poor won’t be able to have access [to food]. Instead of improving the poverty situation, it will worsen.”—Ang

percent in the third quarter, the slowest since the 5 percent posted in the third quarter of 2014. Food consumption grew by only 2.8 percent in the third quarter, slower than 6.2 percent recorded in the second quarter.

The slower spending by households significantly affected the country’s economic performance in the July-to-September period.

GDP grew 6.1 percent, the slowest expansion recorded in two years.

Other economists, such as Unionbank Chief Economist Ruben Carlo Asuncion, said the slowdown be reforms,” Lopez said.

“This lowering of CIT, part of the tax reform, is one that we will have. [The other is] liberalization of many more sectors. Hopefully, we can liberalize the two remaining sectors with the law,” he added. He is referring to retail trade and public utilities.

“It can open up more sectors where foreign investments can come in and own up to 100 percent. Liberalize more so that we can really [attract investments], then lower tax rates. The business environment is in good condition.

The demographic is still working in our favor,” the trade chief argued.

The liberalization of retail trade,

in household consumption caused by expensive food and fuel, will have an impact on poverty.

Asuncion said high prices could also immediately increase selfrated poverty incidence in the country. Self-rated poverty data is collected periodically by the Social Weather Stations.

“The government has to continue to address supply-side issues to help rein in inf lation.

Measures have to be rolled out and properly implemented. We have heard of the rice tariffication law which has to be passed very soon,” Asuncion said.

University of Asia and the Pacific School of Economics Dean Cid Terosa said there is a need for the government to protect Filipinos, particularly in enhancing their purchasing power.

Terosa stressed that the government needs to ensure enough supply and access of all families to various basic commodities to prevent households from falling into poverty.

See “Poor,” A2

or House Bill 4595 filed by Rep. Arthur C. Yap of the Third District of Bohol and Senate Bill 1639 filed by Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, is still pending deliberation in their respective chambers. On the other hand, HB 5828, which amends the Public Ser vice Act by redefining utilities, hurdled the House’s third and final reading September of last year, and is now awaiting action from senators. “[On] the FDI [foreign direct investments], there is also a big chunk there that is being raked in to manufacturing. We really have to sustain the flow of investments in manufacturing to really expand the sector,” Lopez said.

FDI from January to October went up 156 percent to P39.3 billion, from P15 billion in the same period last year, according to the Board of Investments.

GDP. . .

Continued from A1

In an effort to curb the stubbornly rising inflation earlier this year, the BSP consistently pulled several rate hikes in 2018, hitting a total of 150 basis points for the entire year.

“The 150 basis points cumulative rate hike for the year is likely weighing down on consumption and will dampen investment going forward,” Mapa said.

Prior to the GDP announcement on Thursday, ING Bank Manila was of the view that the BSP may pull of a “moderate” rate hike in its November meeting, to the tune of 25 basis points.

“Holding off on an additional rate hike, as marginal as it may be, would give the Philippine economy the breathing room it needs to catch its breath and resume its above 6-percent growth trajectory in fourth quarter with the midterm election in sights,” Mapa said.

“With the 6.1-percent print, the likelihood for a stay has increased with recent dovish undertones from key voting BSP officials likely to pick up as slowing consumption is now a ‘concern’ according to the government,” he added.

BSP Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. said in a statement that as inflation starts to go down toward the end of the year, Central Bank officials will have to assess other economic indicators to see if there is still a need for tightening during the BSP’s upcoming meeting.

“The MB will take into account there’s and other incoming date including GDP at its next policy meeting when it determines if there’s still need for further policy rate adjustments,” Espenilla said.

The BSP is expected to have their next monetary-policy meeting on November 15.

This will be their second to the last meeting for the year.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

MINORITY SENATORS NIX CHINA TELECOM, BUT HOUSE LEADER BACKS IT

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

& Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

C

ITING the aborted multimillion-dollar national broadband network NBN-ZTE and North Rail deals, opposition senators sought a deeper review of how the consortium between a Davao businessman-friend of the President and state-owned China Telecom ended up the provisional third telco player seen to compete with the Globe-Smart telco duopoly.

“We do not want another NBNZTE [$329 million] and North Rail [$421 million] anomalous deals in our midst, which, if not exposed, would have robbed the people billions of pesos,” said Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon and Sens. Risa Hontiveros, Leila M. de Lima Francis N. Pangilinan and Antonio F. Trillanes IV. A deputy minority leader in the House of Representatives held a different view, however. On Thursday Makati City Rep. Luis Campos Jr. saw no distinct security risks seen with China Telecom in play as foreign partner of third telecommunication in the country.

In a statement, Campos played down concerns of potential security risks with China Telecom, saying that the newcomer is expected to help boost the country’s mobile Internet services.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, the five senators, however, thumbed down the proposed

Telcos. . .

Continued from A1

third telco player bared its commitments over the next five years.

Aside from this, Fitch also “expects this to temper revenue growth” for both companies, as the third telco player is presumed to enter the market through a price war “as it strives to grab market share in an already highly saturated mobile market.”

Pangilinan noted that his group has yet to determine how big the impact is of the third telco player in the company’s top line, but noted that “the impact of the third player will not be significant in the first year.”

“We’re quite optimistic for 2019, but of course, they can conjure up something that will be new or creative, so we’ll just have to be able to respond to that,” he said.

Pangilinan said his group does not see the third telco up and running by 2019, as it takes a full year for a telco to set up as much as 300 cell towers.

Together, the two incumbents have roughly 15,000 towers in operation. Crisanto said it already expects the third telco to enter the market with low prices to squeeze out market share.

“Now you will know how competitive the industry is. For long, people are saying that we are not competitive, now you will know how competitive we are,” she said.

Mislatel emerged as the provisional third telco player, after two other bidders—Sear Telecommunications Inc. and Philippine Telegraph and Telephone Corp.—were disqualified for submitting incomplete requirements.

Led by Davao-based businessman Dennis A. Uy’s Udenna Corp., China Telecom and Chelsea Logistics Holdings Corp., Mislatel Consortium will be using the congressional franchise of Mindanao Islamic Telephone Co. Inc. Its bid will still be evaluated, and is expected to be challenged by the disqualified parties.

joint venture with China Telecom, saying it might end up as “NBN-ZTE part two.”

This, even as the minority senators acknowledged that “our telecommunications need more industry players for the sake of the tens of millions of Filipino consumers who deserve quality Internet and mobile services.”

“We long for a time when Filipinos would have free access to the Internet, when we could use our mobile phones without experiencing drop calls, when text messages would arrive on time, and when our private data would not be used without our knowledge or consent for commercial and intelligence,” the senators said, adding: “That’s why we need to do things right.”

They suggested a thorough scrutiny of the third telco deal, a months-long exercise capped on Wednesday with only three groups submitting bids and two ending up disqualified.

The senators insisted that “the selection of the joint venture of a Davao-based businessman and state-owned China Telecom as the provisional new major telecommunications player should be examined carefully.”

They asked: “What qualified it in the first place? Why were the other bidders booted out? What is the track record of the winning bidder in the telecommunications business? Was the government opening up the bidding to other players just a formality?” the See “China Telecom,” A2

Nonetheless, the government aims to award the third telco spot by this month.

According to Fitch, the consortium will incur huge cash burns to roll out its network.

“Consequently, only a newcomer with deep pockets and technical expertise would be able to compete effectively against the incumbents,” it said.

The third telco is also expected to handle issues pertaining to spectrum allocation and usage, as the two companies hold the majority of the frequencies in the telco space.

“Even after setting aside spectrum frequencies to the new telco, the incumbents still possess a majority of the rights across a range of spectrum frequencies, some of which were acquired from their joint purchase of San Miguel Corp.’s telecom assets in 2016,” Fitch said.

Thus, it predicts that the new player will “focus on the cost-effective long-term evolution network to accelerate network rollout.”

It noted, however, that the third telco may find it hard to “monetize higher data traffic” at it remains a key challenge in the Philippines.

“The aggressive LTE rollout by the incumbent operators would also raise entry barriers for the newcomer,” Fitch said.

As such, the credit rating company sees “fixed-mobile convergence as advantageous, allowing telcos to tap into the fast-growing homebroadband market to mitigate mobile pressure and retain customers.”

The third telco is seen to break the telco duopoly, as it spurs competition, thereby increasing quality of services while bringing prices down.

But to further improve the telco market, which received a negative outlook from Fitch, the credit watcher suggested that the Philippine government intervene through legislative and policy reforms.

“This includes reevaluation of the current 40-percent foreign-ownership cap for public utilities, infrastructure and tower sharing, as well as spectrum redistribution,” it said.

Companies BusinessMirror

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Dubai’s Lloyds Energy Group keen on PNOC tie-up on LNG project

By Lenie Lectura

L

@llectura

LOYDS Energy Group of Dubai has submitted a letter of interest to the Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) to partner with the state firm for the development of a liquefied natural gas (LNG) hub in Batangas Bay, Philippines.

In line with the requirements of the PNOC, Lloyds Energy also purchased the Instructions to Private Sector Participants-Eligibility Documents and confirmed their attendance to the Pre-Eligi-

bility Conference set by the PNOC on November 16, 2018.

Lloyds Energy, together with China K aicheng Energ y Ltd., has a proposal for the development and construction of an in-

tegrated LNG hub with storage, liquefaction, regasification and distribution facility, as well as a power plant capacity of 200 to 800 megawatts (MW).

The PNOC is one of the three companies shortlisted by the Department of Energy (DOE) to build and operate its first LNG import terminal. Lloyds Energy’s had earlier expressed interest in pursuing several major projects with the PNOC to strengthen their relations through joint venture agreements and maximize the potential of their expertise to develop the LNG industry in the Philippines.

Aside from the LNG Project, Lloyds Energy intends to pursue other projects with the PNOC particularly in the development of

LNG facilities, oil reserves and the training of Filipino manpower for work in LNG industries in the Philippines and overseas.

On October 22 the PNOC released a formal bid invite to apply for eligibility and submit a proposal for the PNOC Batangas LNG hub project. The state firm is inviting interested bidders to participate in the selection of PNOC’s joint venture partner to design, build, finance, operate and maintain the Batangas LNG hub.

The PNOC has applied to the DOE for the LNG project to be classified as

an “Energy Project of National Significance” under Executive Order 30.

PNOC President Reuben Lista earlier identified a number of foreign firms that expressed interest to participate.

“The group of Chevron, NYK, Jera accompanied by an American consul representing an American firm, called PNOC and expressed their interest.

In Russia, two companies expressed interest with a possible third as supplier,” said Lista.

The LNG project cost is anywhere from $600 million to $1.4 billion.

URC inks sustainable potato program with DA, donates quality seeds to co-op

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

L

ISTED snack manufacturer Universal Robina Corp. (URC) has entered into a P5-million sustainable potato program partnership with the Department of Agriculture (DA) that seeks to improve local output and cut dependency on imports.

On Thursday URC turned over 135 metric tons (MT) of high-quality potato seeds to the DA and its partner farmers’ cooperative, which could cover about 62 hectares of land. The seeds are expected to yield about 2,700 MT of potatoes every production cycle.

The volume of seeds is enough to last for four production cycles or about two years, according to URC President and CEO Irwin C. Lee. “This initiative advances our multistakeholder sustainability agenda to accelerate the local potato farming communities’ full economic, social and environmental benefits,” Lee said.

“It also forms part of URC’s People and Planet Friendly Strategy which seeks to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth both for the company and its important stakeholders such as our local potato farmers,” Lee added.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said the donation of the URC is an act of “goodwill” as the government allows the food firm to import chipping potatoes, a variety of the rootcrop that is not grown locally due to unsuitability.

Nonetheless, Piñol thanked URC for the initiative as it is the first company to do this for the agriculture sector. He emphasized that the local farm sector needs high-quality seeds to have higher and better produce, such as what the URC donated.

“Our seeds are getting smaller. We need new seeds,” he said.

“What URC did is that they were the ones who found a way to have new seeds for potatoes. We need new planting materials,” he added.

The potato seeds donated by URC to the DA were imported Granola sourced from Canada.

The DA is set to distribute the seeds to potato farmers in Benguet, Mountain Province, Bukidnon and Davao del Sur. Under the partnership, the potato farmers would also be given access to training, research and development through the DA’s attached agencies such as Agricultural Training Institute.

Furthermore, the farmers would have access to URC’s affiliate Robinson Supermarket’s 160 retail outlets nationwide, the company said in a statement.

The seeds from URC are expected to arrive

by January next year and would be planted immediately afterward.

“This initiative augurs very well with our own company’s mission of making life better for Filipinos through our various businesses because through this program, a governmentinitiated and supported aggressive marketing campaign especially for high-value crops like potato will help the farming communities’ full

Geri income jumps 16% in Jan-Sept

By VG Cabuag

G

@villygc

LOBAL-ESTATE Resorts Inc. said its net income grew 16 percent in the three quarters of the year to P1.29 billion from last year’s P1.11 billion.

Consolidated revenues reached P5.25 billion during the period, up 7 percent from P4.9 billion last year.

GERI, a developer of integrated tourism estates, said the higher income was due to the strong results from both its residential and rental businesses.

The company more than tripled its rental income for the first nine

months of the year to P294 million, from last year’s mere P83 million.

“This is another banner year for our leasing operations. We thank our regular patrons in Southwoods Mall in Laguna because revenues from our mall operations here pulled up our rental income during the period. We look forward to new commercial spaces in Holland Park and in Southwoods Office Towers 1 & 2, as these will further sustain our momentum in our rental income next year,” said Monica Salomon, the company’s president.

Residential operations posted a 7-percent growth to P4.43 billion, from P4.13 billion last year.

Realized profits from sales in prior years saw a 40-percent growth for the period, a sign that it can meet its completion commitments to its customers, the company said.

“We have seen really good takeup in Boracay Newcoast in the last few months, especially after the announcement of the island’s rehabilitation and reopening. We have also seen very keen interest in our Twin Lakes development, which still remains to be Geri’s largest tourism estate that sprawls across 1,200-hectare of land near Tagaytay with views of the Taal Lake and Volcano,” Salomon said.

8990 income rises 38% in three quarters on higher sales

M

ASS-HOUSING builder 8990 Holdings Inc. said its net income grew 38 percent during the first three quarters of the year to P3.4 billion, from last year’s P2.46 billion, as the company targets higher revenues by 2020.

The company said it achieved the growth despite higher prices, as there is still strong buyer demand for its projects. It explained people still have their respective jobs, but the hike in their salaries cannot just keep up with the rising prices.

“There’s demand, but we’re very cautious,” Willibado J. Uy, the company’s president and CEO, said.

Total revenues were up by more than 41 percent to P8.6 billion, from last year’s P6.12 billion.

Cash generated in the first nine

months of 2018 almost tripled to P11.6 billion, from the P4.2 billion recorded in the first nine months of 2017.

It has disbursed nearly P6 billion for its residential developments and for acquisition of raw land.

The company said it has P588 million in unrealized sales, which will be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2018.

“In 2017 we began ramping up receivables liquidation activities.

Our main goal was to make 8990 less dependent on debt and have enough left to ensure the future growth of the company through land acquisition,” Uy said.

Uy said the company is seeing its revenues at almost double in 2020 to about P20 billion, based on 2017 revenues of about P11.77

billion. To do this, it has to grow its sales between 25 to 30 percent per year starting next year.

The company mostly develops horizontal projects, but it also has some high-rise projects.

Uy explained that 8990 does not practice percentage of completion on its revenues for its highrise projects, but recognizes them as they become completed and turned over to owners.

Many of its high-rise projects, such as in Ortigas Avenue extension in Cainta, will be finished by 2020, which means it will have more revenues by then.

“We have been fortunate to have experienced a great year. It confirms that we will meet or exceed our full-year targets,” he said.

VG Cabuag

economic, social and environmental benefits be fully realized,” URC Chairman and JG Summit Holdings Inc. President and CEO Lance Y. Gokongwei said.

The country’s table potato demand in 2017 reached 380,333 MT while local production was only at 116,783 MT, according to Gokongwei.

“This put a whopping 69-percent local supply shortage. In the same year alone, the country imported 121,652 MT preprocessed fries which is equivalent to 243,304 MT fresh potatoes,” URC said.

“Hopefully, through this program, the DA will be able to help address this gap in the country’s potato requirement,” URC added.

Friday, November 9, 2018

B1

After backing out from 3rd telco race, Converge ICT launches new network

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

F

@lorenzmarasigan

RESH from backing out of the bidding for the third telco spot, Converge ICT Solutions Inc. launched a new network noted in Taiwan, an initiative that the company described as “strategic” for its nationwide rollout.

The backbone will serve as a buffer and backup for the company’s fiber network, providing it with a “better and stronger network resiliency and reliability in case of emergency network downturns.”

“With a direct connection to Google’s largest data center operating in Changhua County, Taiwan, this new node is set to leverage its strategic location to efficiently manage and route network traffic for Converge ICT’s consumer and enterprise-level users,” a statement read.

Currently, the company has nodes in Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States of America.

“Converge ICT’s new operation in Taiwan secures the maximum usage of parallel paths between these locations, allowing them to seamlessly handle routing convergences and transmission redundancies,” the statement read.

This, it added, gives the network “further stability and strength” whenever load and balance issues occur due to environmental accidents such as small quakes.

“This critical deployment for Converge’s network operations is also done in line with the company’s current campaign to attain global-standard technical requirements for reachability and reliability, spreading its network capacities to address any possible points of failure and congestion beforehand,” the statement read.

Converge initially wanted to bid for the third telco spot, but decided to back out of the third telco auction, citing a playing field that is against its advantage. It pointed out that the existing two big players were never required by the government to make the same massive commitments that were imposed on the bidders for the third telco spot.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 8, 2018

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS ASIA UNITED 59 59.5 58 59.5 57.85 59.5 26,740 BDO UNIBANK 118.5 119 118.5 120.2 115 119 1,682,130 BANK PH ISLANDS 82.4 82.8 82 82.8 80.1 82.8 1,364,010 CHINABANK 27.9 28 28 28.05 27.85 28 109,900 CITYSTATE BANK 4.51 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 7.6 200 EAST WEST BANK 10.66 10.7 11 11 10.5 10.66 828,400 METROBANK 65.5 65.55 65 66 64.5 65.55 3,340,200 PB BANK 10.6 11.4 11 11 10.8 10.8 15,600 PBCOM 15.3 20 19.98 20 19.98 20 1,800 PHIL NATL BANK 39.25 39.3 39.4 39.75 39.25 39.25 167,500 PHILTRUST 104.9 118.7 105.4 105.4 104.9 104.9 1,980 RCBC 27.8 28.25 28 28 27.7 27.8 55,500 SECURITY BANK 142.4 143 143.8 145.5 138.9 143 588,140 UNION BANK 66 66.2 66 66.5 65.95 66 2,840 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.33 1.4 1.33 1.34 1.33 1.33 139,000 BDO LEASING 2.28 2.34 2.31 2.31 2.23 2.23 72,000 COL FINANCIAL 15.5 15.68 15.3 15.7 15.3 15.7 900 FERRONOUX HLDG 3.8 3.93 3.97 3.97 3.8 3.93 82,000 FILIPINO FUND 7.4 7.81 7.71 7.81 7.71 7.81 1,900 IREMIT 1.48 1.57 1.48 1.5 1.48 1.5 18,000 MEDCO HLDG 0.435 0.45 0.47 0.47 0.435 0.435 990,000 MANULIFE 825 830 830 830 830 830 60 NTL REINSURANCE 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.84 0.8 0.82 1,160,000 PHIL STOCK EXCH 180 189.8 185.2 189.8 180 180 4,930 SUN LIFE 1,830 1,888 1830 1,830 1,830 1,830 95 VANTAGE 1.15 1.22 1.16 1.16 1.15 1.15 8,000

INDUSTRIALS

ALSONS CONS ABOITIZ POWER BASIC ENERGY FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG PHIL H2O MERALCO MANILA WATER PETRON PETROENERGY PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PILIPINAS SHELL SPC POWER AGRINURTURE BOGO MEDELLIN CNTRL AZUCARERA CENTURY FOOD DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EMPERADOR SMC FOODANDBEV ALLIANCE SELECT GINEBRA JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR MAXS GROUP MG HLDG PEPSI COLA SHAKEYS PIZZA ROXAS AND CO RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SWIFT FOODS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VICTORIAS CONCRETE A CONCRETE B CEMEX HLDG DAVINCI CAPITAL EAGLE CEMENT EEI CORP HOLCIM MEGAWIDE TKC METALS VULCAN INDL CHEMPHIL CROWN ASIA LMG CHEMICALS CONCEPCION GREENERGY INTEGRATED MICR IONICS PANASONIC SFA SEMICON CIRTEK HLDG

1.24 32.5 0.206 16.5 63.75 4.11 372.8 25.2 8.13 3.92 1 10.64 49 5.19 17.54 94.2 15.1 13.3 6.8 10.9 6.96 82.2 0.98 23.8 275.4 38 10.04 0.162 1.52 10.1 2 4.6 2.68 0.121 130 1.39 2.34 60.75 50.8 2 4.25 14.78 8.56 6.18 17.38 0.84 1.78 172.1 1.51 4.7 35.6 1.6 9.68 1.61 5.87 1.41 36.8

1.25 32.7 0.215 16.6 64.4 4.2 377.2 25.35 8.2 4 1.01 10.9 49.6 5.2 17.66 109.9 15.48 13.4 7 10.96 6.97 82.5 0.99 24 280 59 10.24 0.17 1.65 10.12 2.14 4.79 3.03 0.126 130.4 1.4 2.4 66.8 89.95 2.02 5 14.86 8.65 6.29 18 0.86 1.79 199.9 1.52 4.98 36 1.64 9.7 1.68 6.15 1.44 37

1.23 33.8 0.209 16.4 63.75 4.65 365 25.8 8.17 3.95 0.98 10.56 49.3 5.19 17.6 94 15 13.3 6.6 10.78 6.94 83.9 0.93 24 278.8 49.95 10.32 0.173 1.59 10.26 2 4.79 2.9 0.121 130.7 1.41 2.34 61.25 78.15 1.98 4.3 14.78 8.81 6.29 17.76 0.89 1.35 171.5 1.51 4.7 35.5 1.5 10.16 1.54 5.9 1.4 37

1.27 33.8 0.219 16.6 64.5 4.66 377.2 25.8 8.2 4 1.04 10.98 50.5 5.2 17.94 94 15.48 13.5 7 11.02 6.97 83.9 1 24 280 52 10.32 0.175 1.65 10.26 2.14 4.79 2.9 0.121 132 1.46 2.34 61.5 78.15 2.05 4.3 15 8.84 6.29 18.38 0.9 1.78 171.6 1.52 4.7 36 1.68 10.18 1.68 6.22 1.44 37.9

1.22 32.2 0.206 16.24 63.75 4.02 361 25.05 8.09 3.91 0.98 10.56 48.25 5.19 17.5 94 15 13.28 6.46 10.64 6.92 82.1 0.92 24 271.2 49.95 10 0.16 1.51 10.1 1.9 4.6 2.64 0.121 129 1.29 2.34 60.75 78.1 1.96 4.14 14.78 8.66 6.01 17.38 0.84 1.31 171.5 1.5 4.7 35.5 1.45 9.67 1.47 5.86 1.4 36.8

1.25 32.7 0.215 16.6 64.4 4.2 377.2 25.35 8.18 4 1.01 10.9 49.6 5.2 17.66 94 15.48 13.32 7 10.96 6.97 82.5 0.99 24 280 52 10.04 0.16 1.52 10.12 2.14 4.6 2.67 0.121 130.4 1.39 2.34 60.75 78.1 2 4.14 14.8 8.66 6.18 18 0.86 1.78 171.6 1.51 4.7 36 1.6 9.7 1.68 6.15 1.44 37

1,567,771 199,090,679 112,291,684 3,076,480 1,520 8,790,968 218,989,129 ( 168,516 35,986 6,600,680 208,130 1,541,245 83,563,371 187,423.5 184,970 163,170 14,010 312,750 14,729 26,690 446,100 49,800 941,980 898,696 173,850 9,270

310,000 382,760 882,200 28,847,055 2,790,000 579,420 1,301,700 21,347,298(3, 68,770 4,412,794 1 207,000 868,530 206,220 76,550,052 199,100 5,066,160 1,693,100 13,798,867 137,000 539,400 1,880,000 1,903,000 90,600 978,398 845,000 41,342,135 110,000 571,519 944,400 16,760,892 10 940 13,300 199,996 475,200 6,336,018 23,200 158,019 2,854,600 31,134,896 403,800 2,800,251 1,472,580 121,446,324 ( 9,400,000 9,106,650 2,000 48,000 815,650 225,951,558 710 36,339 286,400 2,885,346 2,680,000 441,990 807,000 1,281,630 2,472,200 25,028,406 406,000 780,590 17,000 79,390 56,000 151,760 10,000 1,210 795,290 103,596,210(18 7,517,000 10,340,450 14,000 32,760 4,780 291,464.5 260 20,316 3,318,000 6,592,640 42,000 180,280 56,500 835,786 215,400 1,896,778 91,200 563,246 5,872,600 104,832,146 224,000 195,880 94,068,000 146,662,710 270 46,329 724,000 1,087,840 4,000 18,800 8,900 320,100 49,872,000 76,819,540 1,937,600 19,005,192 1,918,000 2,888,470 6,800 40,661 367,000 519,140 311,300 11,501,615

HOLDING & FRIMS

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.415 0.42 0.425 0.425 0.41 0.42 23,910,000 9,935,300 ASIABEST GROUP 23 23.05 22.5 23.35 22 23 94,000 2,108,450 AYALA CORP 902.5 905 920 921.5 901.5 902.5 218,130 197,773,675 ABOITIZ EQUITY 46.05 46.5 46.5 47 45.6 46.5 1,105,000 51,268,930 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 11.44 11.5 11.42 11.6 11.32 11.44 5,311,900 60,829,760 ANSCOR 6.2 6.22 6.2 6.21 6.2 6.2 179,300 1,112,160 ATN HLDG A 1.26 1.27 1.23 1.3 1.17 1.27 17,282,000 20,983,810 ATN HLDG B 1.27 1.3 1.23 1.3 1.18 1.3 2,863,000 3,518,390 COSCO CAPITAL 7.05 7.06 7 7.08 6.96 7.05 2,527,100 17,796,945 DMCI HLDG 12.6 12.64 12.8 12.8 12.5 12.64 10,101,900 128,152,070 FILINVEST DEV 7.1 7.35 7.08 7.4 7.08 7.3 165,900 1,210,706 FORUM PACIFIC 0.193 0.21 0.192 0.21 0.191 0.21 240,000 49,660 GT CAPITAL 705 713 718 718 690 713 106,880 74,891,530 JG SUMMIT 48 48.3 47.5 48.8 46.8 48.3 1,501,100 72,313,985 KEPPEL HLDG A 3.5 5.15 3.46 3.46 3.46 3.46 1,000 3,460 LODESTAR 0.49 0.51 0.53 0.53 0.49 0.52 348,000 170,710 LOPEZ HLDG 4.15 4.16 4.21 4.3 4.15 4.16 1,206,000 5,013,850 LT GROUP 15.16 15.18 14.8 15.22 14.62 15.16 9,974,000 149,970,152 MABUHAY HLDG 0.53 0.54 0.52 0.53 0.5 0.53 5,437,000 2,761,940 METRO PAC INV 4.71 4.72 4.8 4.8 4.68 4.72 25,473,000 120,348,110 PACIFICA 0.034 0.035 0.034 0.035 0.03 0.034 21,900,000 705,600 PRIME ORION 2.21 2.23 2.25 2.25 2.2 2.21 752,000 1,679,000 PRIME MEDIA 1.12 1.2 1.12 1.12 1.1 1.12 236,000 261,320 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.56 2.69 2.56 2.56 2.56 2.56 3,000 7,680 SOLID GROUP 1.4 1.42 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 4,000 5,600 SYNERGY GRID 290 349.8 290.2 290.2 290.2 290.2 30 8,706 SM INVESTMENTS 882.5 884 880 890 866 884 228,500 201,354,515 SAN MIGUEL CORP 168.5 170 163.6 171 162.1 170 665,280 112,493,307 SOC RESOURCES 0.76 0.8 0.76 0.76 0.76 0.76 44,000 33,440 SEAFRONT RES 2.27 2.6 2.24 2.26 2.23 2.26 16,000 35,950 TOP FRONTIER 264 278.8 262 278.8 262 278.8 110 30,500 WELLEX INDUS 0.203 0.21 0.219 0.219 0.202 0.21 8,510,000 1,793,710

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.58 0.59 0.57 0.6 0.57 0.59 731,000 421,090 ANCHOR LAND 11 11.26 11.26 11.26 11 11 5,100 57,140 AYALA LAND 38.45 38.5 38.1 39.2 38.05 38.5 15,168,200 583,735,880 ARANETA PROP 1.82 1.83 1.86 1.86 1.82 1.82 183,000 337,500 BELLE CORP 2.29 2.3 2.3 2.33 2.29 2.29 1,391,000 3,211,280 A BROWN 0.71 0.72 0.74 0.74 0.68 0.71 4,085,000 2,869,680 CITYLAND DEVT 0.85 0.88 0.88 0.88 0.85 0.88 131,000 112,730 CROWN EQUITIES 0.206 0.209 0.208 0.212 0.205 0.206 13,110,000 2,707,620 CEBU HLDG 5.63 5.9 5.6 5.9 5.6 5.9 9,100 51,173 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.29 4.39 4.32 4.39 4.26 4.39 728,000 3,137,580 CENTURY PROP 0.39 0.395 0.395 0.395 0.38 0.39 14,450,000 5,587,550 CYBER BAY 0.32 0.37 0.35 0.35 0.35 0.35 20,000 7,000 DOUBLEDRAGON 18.5 18.52 18.66 18.66 18.46 18.52 540,000 9,996,976 DM WENCESLAO 7.8 7.81 7.83 7.92 7.8 7.81 476,200 3,720,900 EMPIRE EAST 0.5 0.52 0.51 0.51 0.5 0.5 143,000 71,960 EVER GOTESCO 0.104 0.117 0.104 0.104 0.104 0.104 70,000 7,280 FILINVEST LAND 1.42 1.44 1.42 1.44 1.41 1.42 3,342,000 4,759,310 GLOBAL ESTATE 1 1.01 0.99 1.01 0.99 1 1,506,000 1,505,810 8990 HLDG 7.3 7.34 7.3 7.37 7.15 7.34 462,400 3,368,793 IRC PROP 2.35 2.36 2.21 2.38 2.01 2.35 37,946,000 83,212,400 CITY AND LAND 0.89 0.9 0.91 0.91 0.9 0.9 139,000 126,380 MEGAWORLD 4.46 4.49 4.3 4.49 4.3 4.49 9,940,000 44,028,650 14 MRC ALLIED 0.345 0.35 0.34 0.36 0.3 0.35 168,920,000 56,542,650 PHIL ESTATES 0.4 0.415 0.415 0.415 0.395 0.415 2,360,000 964,400 PRIMEX CORP 3.68 3.71 3.7 3.71 3.6 3.71 1,632,000 5,952,490 ROBINSONS LAND 21.2 21.35 21 21.35 20.45 21.35 886,600 18,607,695 PHIL REALTY 0.345 0.36 0.33 0.36 0.32 0.345 3,660,000 1,231,150 ROCKWELL 1.9 1.91 1.9 1.91 1.8 1.91 213,000 397,420 SHANG PROP 3.12 3.18 3.1 3.12 3.1 3.12 15,000 46,620 STA LUCIA LAND 1.13 1.14 1.12 1.14 1.12 1.14 53,000 59,870 SM PRIME HLDG 32.7 32.75 32.8 33 32.6 32.75 10,612,400 347,485,055(14 STARMALLS 4 4.04 4.1 4.1 3.7 4 1,634,000 6,343,870 SUNTRUST HOME 0.68 0.73 0.68 0.68 0.68 0.68 66,000 44,880 PTFC REDEV CORP 29.1 31.95 29.1 29.1 29.1 29.1 400 11,640 VISTA LAND 5.17 5.2 5.16 5.21 5.08 5.2 7,343,700 37,958,700

SERVICES ABS CBN 21.1 21.35 21.4 21.4 21.1 21.35 40,800 863,700 GMA NETWORK 5.21 5.22 5.22 5.29 5.2 5.21 375,400 1,953,238 MANILA BULLETIN 0.37 0.395 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 50,000 20,000 GLOBE TELECOM 1,823 1,837 1900 1,900 1,750 1,823 202,000 370,487,790 PLDT 1,284 1,285 1321 1,321 1,272 1,284 169,425 217,801,220 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.038 0.039 0.039 0.039 0.037 0.038 21,600,000 822,100 DFNN INC 7.31 8 7.23 7.99 7.23 7.98 13,500 102,215 IMPERIAL 1.82 1.96 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82 68,000 123,760 ISLAND INFO 0.091 0.092 0.095 0.095 0.08 0.091 8,170,000 709,900 ISM COMM 6.3 6.33 6.5 7.88 5.8 6.3 252,749,100 1,745,888,807 JACKSTONES 3.03 3.17 2.9 3.18 2.9 3.18 52,000 157,800 NOW CORP 2.45 2.46 1.98 2.65 1.89 2.45 32,301,000 71,340,410 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.335 0.34 0.38 0.385 0.295 0.335 111,090,000 36,112,900 PHILWEB 3.34 3.36 3.23 3.34 3 3.34 1,443,000 4,480,930 2GO GROUP 10.04 10.48 10.02 10.02 9.8 10.02 67,200 668,139 ASIAN TERMINALS 13.1 13.46 13.22 13.22 13.2 13.2 2,200 29,080 CEBU AIR 68 68.5 68.9 69.25 65.35 68 274,030 18,092,990.5 CHELSEA 7.71 7.74 8.93 9.77 7.71 7.74 54,770,900 489,186,847 INTL CONTAINER 92 92.25 91.9 92.5 91.4 92.25 2,652,560 244,582,533.5 ( LBC EXPRESS 13.74 14.38 13.74 13.74 13.74 13.74 700 9,618 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.73 0.74 0.75 0.75 0.72 0.74 184,000 134,720 MACROASIA 16.18 16.22 16.52 16.52 16 16.18 610,800 9,870,744 METROALLIANCE A 1 1.09 1.04 1.09 0.92 1.09 564,000 570,700 PAL HLDG 7.63 8 7.61 8 7.6 8 10,700 82,596 HARBOR STAR 3.18 3.19 3.26 3.36 3.08 3.18 6,367,000 20,345,100 ACESITE HOTEL 1.26 1.29 1.29 1.29 1.25 1.25 125,000 157,080 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.01 2.27 2.01 2.01 2.01 2.01 20,000 40,200 WATERFRONT 0.475 0.48 0.475 0.49 0.46 0.48 5,851,000 2,765,695 CENTRO ESCOLAR 7.8 7.99 7.8 7.8 7.8 7.8 500 3,900 FAR EASTERN U 890 902 900 900 900 900 500 450,000 IPEOPLE 11.04 11.22 11.22 11.22 11.2 11.22 7,800 87,364 STI HLDG 0.58 0.59 0.61 0.61 0.52 0.58 8,642,000 4,919,690 ( BERJAYA 1.43 1.44 1.43 1.44 1.36 1.43 3,340,000 4,666,430 BLOOMBERRY 8.06 8.1 8.11 8.15 7.91 8.06 8,434,700 67,794,507 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.6 10.88 10.7 10.88 10.58 10.6 10,200 109,960 LEISURE AND RES 2.99 3 3.07 3.09 2.77 2.99 1,458,000 4,212,480 MANILA JOCKEY 5.3 5.43 5.25 5.43 5.25 5.42 94,500 502,324 MELCO RESORTS 7.12 7.13 7.12 7.13 7.11 7.12 8,581,300 61,100,346 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.67 0.68 0.71 0.72 0.66 0.67 9,081,000 6,323,920 PHIL RACING 6.01 8 8.1 8.1 8 8 19,000 152,310 TRAVELLERS 5.15 5.16 5.16 5.16 5.14 5.15 2,273,600 11,705,367 METRO RETAIL 2.08 2.09 2.1 2.13 2.08 2.09 1,427,000 2,992,340 PUREGOLD 43 43.1 42.2 43 41.5 43 1,418,700 60,669,325 ROBINSONS RTL 76.15 76.9 75.5 76.95 75.5 76.9 178,960 13,680,659.5 PHIL SEVEN CORP 103.2 106 104 104 102 103.2 570 58,699 SSI GROUP 2.72 2.76 2.72 2.8 2.63 2.72 12,211,000 33,105,910 WILCON DEPOT 11.46 11.48 11.48 11.5 11.2 11.46 1,213,100 13,739,498 APC GROUP 0.36 0.37 0.36 0.37 0.345 0.365 8,140,000 2,885,500 EASYCALL 4.88 4.89 4.78 4.88 3.6 4.88 535,000 2,246,160 GOLDEN BRIA 309.8 319 307.2 319.6 304 319 8,260 2,588,776 IPM HLDG 7.45 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 7.5 2,000 15,000 PAXYS 3.01 3.45 3.42 3.45 3.42 3.45 25,000 85,960 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.315 0.32 0.3 0.325 0.3 0.32 2,390,000 731,900 SBS PHIL CORP 6.76 6.99 6.83 6.83 6.75 6.75 338,100 2,290,915

MINING & OIL ATOK 12.64 13.4 APEX MINING 1.68 1.7 ABRA MINING 0.0022 0.0023 0 ATLAS MINING 2.6 2.89 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.295 0.3 CENTURY PEAK 1.92 1.93 DIZON MINES 6.8 6.9 FERRONICKEL 1.75 1.76 GEOGRACE 0.195 0.199 LEPANTO A 0.097 0.099 LEPANTO B 0.098 0.103 MANILA MINING A 0.0065 0.0068 0 MANILA MINING B 0.0068 0.007 0 MARCVENTURES 1.08 1.15 NIHAO 0.95 1 NICKEL ASIA 2.61 2.63 OMICO CORP 0.54 0.62 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.82 0.83 PX MINING 3.21 3.22 SEMIRARA MINING 26 26.25 UNITED PARAGON 0.0059 0.0063 0 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 PHINMA PETRO 3.77 3.89 PXP ENERGY 17.7 17.74

12.54 1.74 0.0022 2.61 0.3 1.93 7.12 1.75 0.195 0.1 0.103 0.0065 0.0068 1.13 1.02 2.64 0.54 0.84 3.3 27.95 0.0057 0.012 0.012 0.012 4.05 18.8

14 1.76 0.0022 2.64 0.3 1.93 7.12 1.76 0.201 0.1 0.104 0.0065 0.0068 1.13 1.02 2.64 0.54 0.86 3.3 27.95 0.0063 0.013 0.013 0.012 4.05 18.86

12.52 1.62 0.0021 2.6 0.29 1.89 6.9 1.68 0.195 0.096 0.103 0.0065 0.0068 1.05 0.96 2.54 0.54 0.81 3.16 26 0.0056 0.012 0.012 0.011 3.71 16.84

13.4 1.68 0.0022 2.6 0.295 1.93 6.9 1.76 0.199 0.096 0.103 0.0065 0.0068 1.12 1 2.63 0.54 0.82 3.22 26 0.0062 0.013 0.013 0.012 3.77 17.7

PREFFERED AC PREF B1 DD PREF FGEN PREF G GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

460 96.1 102 893.5 1.01 101 100 103 75.05 76.25 74.35 72.65 74.55 73.6 72.2 73.5

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR

21.4

465 96.7 102.5 925 1.03 101.9 102.4 105 76.15 76.6 74.4 75 75 75 74 74 21.8

460 96 102.5 943.5 1.01 101 102.5 103 75.9 76.55 74.35 72.65 74.6 75 73.85 73.15 21.4

460 96.5 102.5 944 1.03 101 102.5 103 75.9 76.55 74.35 75 75 75.2 74 74 21.4

460 96 102.5 943.5 1.01 101 102.5 103 75.9 76.55 74.35 72.65 74.6 75 72.1 73.1 21.4

460 96.5 102.5 944 1.03 101 102.5 103 75.9 76.55 74.35 75 75 75 74 74 21.4

34,100 11,915,000 82,000,000 55,000 1,720,000 896,000 1,300 2,209,000 300,000 3,040,000 2,640,000 21,000,000 1,000,000 165,000 120,000 1,749,000 212,000 2,401,000 3,417,000 3,075,000 27,000,000 105,300,000 9,600,000 20,500,000 240,000 11,112,100

436,998 19,987,190 174,200 143,390 512,350 1,707,450 8,994 3,778,470 58,650 298,150 272,920 136,500 6,800 181,220 115,820 4,560,340 114,480 1,994,490 11,010,440 81,748,080 157,400 1,358,500 124,500 243,800 916,920 196,184,630

1.86

1,240 3,170,340 150,612.0002) ,885,538.5003 33,386,102 4,667,310 439,258 491,570 (2,621,455) 2,235,808 (665,094) 16,111,332 (1,665,228) 53,329,534.5) (123,170) 28,814,624 20,000 66,630 (337,610) 1,015,470 (4,780) (1,210) ,525,672.9999) (32,560) 32,760 1,551,520 1,328,593 392,577 (13,198,918) (212,340) (255,600) (1,827,440) 7,811,407 126,400 (36,980) 18,750 (24,495) (97,562,360) 16,474,795 (23,726,852) 491,160 (489,160) 2,517,771 13,387,756 (102,200) 3,840 (36,394,890) 14,870,335 (597,710) 19,340,392 1,494,000 (23,771,550) (99,145,220) 79,410,383 (25,092) (126,790,530) (1,452,980) 21,500 (37,620) 584,950 632,680 (1,208,392) 1,058,520 (990) (720) 3,127,300 ,928,119.9996 2,094,100 362,100 4,624,105 3,300 120,100 1,540,634.9993) 3,850 (2,040) (3,706,569) (190,484,530) 35,619,165 (7,980) (68,400) (4,773,540) 4,195,230 1,341,100 22,140 539,502 2,722,370 14,014,344.5) (871,926) 214,580 47,000 836,040.0003) 5,830 (11,364,435) 702,269.9998 (29,310,886) (92,670) (6,254,051) (20,990) (3,033,480) (3,661,182.5) 8,257 (2,418,530) 9,167,248 35,000 17,650 (9,306) 2,011,925 297,000 (7,800) (1,930) (578,330) 3,554,780 (1,724,820) (29,293,650) 12,596,528

120 55,200 11,800 1,135,450 700 71,750 20 18,875 35,000 35,450 7,480 755,480 20 2,050 210 21,630 1,070 81,213 200 15,310 500 37,175 4,010 300,726.5 6,700 501,940 37,690 2,826,934 6,500 474,600 2,500 183,250 1,400

29,960

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

616,709 (13,784,955) (6,423,633.5) (428,400) (2,849,784) 80,156,389.5) (3,793,985) 17,383,594 (44,870) 134,330 4,700 218,656 (82,350) -INDUSTRIAL

(2,140)

1.87

2.08

2.08

1.75

1.87

1,040,000

1,895,300

-

ITALPINAS 3.32 MAKATI FINANCE 2.68 XURPAS 1.3

3.39 3 1.32

3.74 3 1.36

3.75 3 1.37

3.1 3 1.19

3.32 3 1.32

2,087,000 2,000 8,723,000

7,030,180 6,000 11,292,100

(405,530) (1,556,180)

FIRST METRO ETF

106

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS 105.8

106

106

104.9

106

17,800

1,877,572

2,104

www.businessmirror.com.ph

PLDT investing ₧2B in tech start-up Multisys

D

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

IGITAL services provider PLDT Inc. is investing P2.15 billion in tech company Multisys Technologies Corp. for a 45.73-percent stake in the Filipino start-up, an investment that businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan said could help the companies under the First Pacific Co. Ltd. further improve their business operations.

Pangilinan, in an interview, disclosed that P1.6 billion of the total investment will be injected into the software and solutions company, while the remaining P500 million will go directly to its owners.

“They are now in the next stage of development, so they need a big brother like us to provide funding because we’re supplying P1.6 billion of new capital into the business,” he said. “The P1.6 billion will go into the company and that will fund the projects in the pipeline.”

The transaction, done via investments arm PLDT Global Investments Holdings Inc., is expected to be completed by December.

Multisys has developed over the past eight years a number of software platforms—including payment gateway Bayad Center—that can be used by its pool of programmers to create highly scalable, flexible and customizable software solutions as required by its clients.

Pangilinan noted that the invest-

ment is nothing short of a smart move given the synergies that can be created between the two companies.

“We can work with them in creating bespoke solutions or platforms to specific companies. And then in respect to other competencies within the group, we can also create solutions,” he said, citing Metropac Movers Inc., a unit of First Pacific.

First Pacific is the parent company of PLDT, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and Philex Mining Corp., among others.

Pangilinan added that his group predicts that with the projects under its pipeline, Multisys can see its bottomline doubling in the next two years.

“We forecast that its profits can double in 2019 and 2020. So we’re happy to do this investment,” he said.

Pangilinan said the partnership can also strengthen the ongoing digital initiatives of ePLDT Inc. and Voyager Innovations Inc., particularly in the fields of electronic payments and

Manila Water income flat in Jan-Sept on rising cost

M

ANILA Water Co. Inc., the concessionaire for the East Zone of Metro Manila, said its net income was flat during the three quarters of the year ending September as cost rise.

The company said its net income was at P4.9 billion for the period on steady performance of its Manila Concession and supported by Manila Water Asia Pacific.

It posted billed volume growth of 4 percent.

That growth, however, was offset by the flatter billed volume in the local subsidiaries under Manila Water Philippine Ventures.

“Cost pressures have increased with the current economic environment as well as necessary operational and growth initiatives, with cost of services and operating expenses growing by 21 percent to P5.94 billion,” it said.

Billed volume growth was also flat at 3 percent, with billed connections totaling over 980,000. Systems losses improved to 12.3 percent from the same period last year.

Capital expenditures was at P6 billion for the first nine months of the year.

Manila Water said it secured approval from Metropolitan Water and Sewerage System (MWSS) for a tariff adjustment hike between P5.94 to P6.18 per cubic meter, or nearly 25 percent of the current basic tariff for the fourth rate rebasing period.

The first tranche of the adjustment was implemented on October 16, by way of a P1.46 increase per cubic meter. Subsequent adjustments are programmed for 2020 and 2021; each amounting to P2.

MWSS incorporated a possible additional incremental adjustment

in 2022, from P0.76 to a P1.04 increase. This is contingent on the development and execution of key water source projects.

On the other hand, Manila Water Philippine Ventures (MWPV) posted 5-percent revenue growth to P2.38 billion, supported by a steady topline in its existing subsidiaries. However, cost levels have increased due to the takeover of new facilities and estates by its business-to-business arm, Estate Water, as well as the continued deployment of resources to support market expansion.

Recent new business wins provide potential earnings growth on the horizon, it said.

MWPV recently received a Notice of Award from Tanauan Water District for the provision of water supply and sanitation services in Tanauan, Batangas.

The project totals P1.51 billion over the 25-year contract period.

MWPV was recently granted a franchise to provide water supply and sanitation services in San Fabian, Pangasinan. This will be for a term of 25 years with an assumed billed volume of over 12.6 million liters per day. Total capex of the project is estimated at P742 million and is expected to be operational by 2019.

“With the rate rebasing exercise with MWSS finally reaching resolution, we can now focus on implementing our business plan for the coming years given increasing demand and highly encouraging developments in the Manila Concession. This renewed stability enables us to intensify our drive toward our growth aspirations beyond the East Zone, both domestically and in the region,” company president and CEO Ferdinand M. de la Cruz said. VG Cabuag

digital financial services.

This announcement was made during the company’s media briefing on its financial health for the past nine months.

Net income down 25% ITS net income settled at P16.49 billion in the first three quarters of 2019, down by 25 percent from P21.88 billion the year prior due to accelerated depreciation of its network assets, amounting to P4.5 billion, and the revaluation gain of P1.1 billion on the remaining Rocket Internet shares.

Core net income—which strips off one-time gains and losses—was flattish at P17.27 billion, as total revenues increased by 4 percent to P117.89 billion, while total expenses

MUTUAL FUNDS

reached P101.59 billion.

Fueling its revenues are its fixed line businesses, bannered by its home vertical, which expanded by 12 percent to P27.3 billion, its enterprise business, which grew by 10 percent to P28.4 billion, and individual wireless segment, which inched up by 4 percent to P45.5 billion.

With these developments, Pangilinan said his group is maintaining its telco core income target for 2018—excluding losses from Voyager—to be at the P23-billion to P24-billion range.

“We maintain our guidance that the full-year telco core income for 2018 will be in the range of P23 billion to P24 billion, and that our capital expenditures will reach P58 billion as budgeted,” Pangilinan said.

November 8, 2018

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 240.05 -17.87% -1.82% 0.03% -18.13% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.374 -14.88% 2.53% 1.52% -13.95% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.7136 -18.63% -1.44% -1.01% -19.14% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8543 -15.85% N.A. N.A. -16% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.785 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 4.9266 -17.38% -3.84% -0.68% -18.07% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 109.05 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.7881 -18.67% N.A. N.A. -20.61% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 46.4835 -17.19% -1.04% N.A. -17.57% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 485.61 -17.4% -2.3% -0.87% -17.48% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.1982 -14.8% -0.21% N.A. -14.68% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 34.8943 -14.74% 0.16% 2.02% -15.09% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.6751 -17.3% -0.35% 1.94% -17.61% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 780.61 -17.2% -0.6% 1.72% -17.46% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8151 -15.67% -2.71% N.A. -15.72% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 3.871 -15.35% -0.57% 0.44% -15.48% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.9 -17.42% -0.52% N.A. -17.68% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.3198 -13.76% 0.53% 0.68% -14.75% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* *** ● 104.3614 -16.8% 0.55% N.A. -17.14% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9512 -13.74% 1.16% -0.49% -14.17% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.2089 -2.37% N.A. N.A. -4.45% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.6035 -13.59% -3.4% -2.43% -13.95% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.1423 -12.52% -1.21% -0.35% -12.81% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.4333 -11.96% -4.44% -2.98% -12.15% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.2648 -13.42% N.A. N.A. -13.07% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.7871 -9.9% -0.55% -0.14% -10.31% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.3777 -13.95% -2.53% -1.29% -13.79% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.2258 -13.51% -2.37% -1.29% -13.28% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 2.0027 -10.69% -0.53% 1.23% -10.68% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.5264 -11.66% -1.29% -0.48% -11.76% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.8969 -11.63% -1.65% N.A. -12.09% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03466 -4.15% -0.74% 1.65% -3.99% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9438 -9.71% 0.98% -1.59% -9.86% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.5121 -2.19% 3.43% 2.27% -3.84% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0428 -5.52% N.A. N.A. -6.24% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 341.84 1.67% 1.83% 1.57% 1.4% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8478 -2.66% -1.23% -0.79% -2.35% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.9521 5.51% 5.33% 5.24% 4.61% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1218 0.47% 1.1% 0.98% 0.93% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2133 -0.08% -0.05% 0.22% -0.13% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5601 -3.35% -1.25% -1.69% -3.07% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.8035 -6.62% -1.96% -1.3% -6.09% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4628 -0.96% -0.49% -0.38% -1.2% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8748 -5.78% -2.12% N.A. -5.24% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.7376 -1.55% -0.07% -0.07% -1.42% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5204 -2.06% -0.62% -0.46% -1.89% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.28 0.25% 2.21% 2.94% 0.08% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є213.11 -0.24% 1.17% 1.57% -0.29% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1213 -1.17% 0.75% 1.71% -1.13% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 -0.8% 0.54% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6881 -4.94% -0.61% 1.12% -4.71% MAA PRIVILEGE DOLLAR FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. MAA PRIVILEGE EURO FIXED INCOME FUND, INC. ЄN.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. N.S. PAMI GLOBAL BOND FUND, INC* $1.02 -5.79% -1.14% -2.83% -4.98% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1295 -5.21% 0.07% 2.26% -5.4% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0568792 -1.08% 0.8% 1.79% -0.56% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.873 -4.7% 0.37% 1.63% -4.64% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.18 2.46% 1.73% 1.48% 2.19% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1747 1.69% 0.37% 0.38% 1.49% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.2127 2.48% 2.19% 1.46% 2.29% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0132 1.32% N.A. N.A. 1.45%

* - NAVPS AS OF THE PREVIOUS BANKING DAY ** - NAVPS AS OF TWO BANKING DAYS AGO *** - LISTED IN THE PSE.

**** - RE-CLASSIFIED INTO A BALANCED FUND STARTING JANUARY 1, 2017 (FORMERLY GREPALIFE BOND FUND CORP.).

***** - LAUNCH DATE IS NOVEMBER 6, 2017 ****** - LAUNCH DATE IS JANUARY 08, 2018 ******** - RENAMING OF THE FUND WAS APPROVED BY THE SEC LAST APRIL 13, 2018. ********* - BECAME A MEMBER SINCE APRIL 20, 2018. ******* - ADJUSTED DUE TO CASH DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JANUARY 29, 2018 ● - ADJUSTED DUE TO STOCK DIVIDEND ISSUANCE LAST JUNE 5, 2018.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018

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Customs eases ‘balikbayan’ box rules after drawing flak from OFW groups

By Rea Cu

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@ReaCuBM

HE Bureau of Customs (BOC) on Thursday said that it has eased the guidelines in availing of the duty and tax-free privilege of consolidated balikbayan boxes. This, after the previous rules were criticized by the overseas Filipino worker (OFW) community for the tedious requirements in accessing the P150,000 duty and taxexemption privilege.

Customs Memorandum Order 18-2018, issued on October 11, provides for the guidelines on the availment by consol id ated sh ipment of balikb a ya n b o x e s . T h e i s s u a n c e

supersedes CMO 04-2017.

According to the BOC, instead of the mandatory copy of a Philippine passport, it will now accept other documents to show proof of Filipino citizenship, such as pho-

tocopy of pertinent page of the Philippine passport; or in case of a dual Filipino citizen without a Philippine passport, a photocopy of foreign passport plus a copy of proof of dual Filipino citizenship; permanent resident ID; Overseas Employment Certificate or their Overseas Workers Welfare Administration work permit; Unified Government ID; and any other equivalent document except birth certificate.

In a bid to simplify the rules and reg u lations on dut y-and tax-free consolidated balikbayan boxes, Qualified Filipinos availing of the P150,000 duty and taxfree privilege are not required to submit the commercial invoices of the goods contained in the balikbayan box.

Aside from proof of citizenship, the regulation requires qualified Filipinos, through their freight forwarders or de-consolidators, to submit the Information Sheet in

three copies. The first copy is to be placed at the topmost portion of the box, the second copy to be kept by the sender, and the third copy is to be given to the Consolidator to be forwarded to the BOC together with other documentary requirements.

Balikbayan box senders are advised that the balikbayan box must only contain personal and household ef fects, accord ing to the BOC. Balikbayan boxes may be sent up to three times in a calendar year provided the total Free Carrier Act value per sender shall not exceed P150,000 and the items or goods sent are not in commercial quantities.

The bureau added that de-consolidators and freight forwarders in charge of clearing consolidated balikbayan boxes are obligated to ensure that only personal effects and household goods are sent through consolidated shipments

A WORKER at a warehouse ferries balikbayan boxes in this BusinessMirror file photo.

of balikbayan boxes.

The penalties and sanctions to be imposed against erring de-con-

NONIE REYES

solidators and freight forwarders are provided under Customs Administrative Order 1-2018.

China has more distressed corporate debt than all of EM combined

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BLOOMBERG

Lessons from the Association Leadership Forum Part One

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WAS invited to Singapore from October 29 to 31 to attend and be a panelist at the Association Leadership Forum organized by the Washington, D.C.-based American Society of Association Executives (ASAE).

I wore two hats—one as a fulltime secretary-general of the Association of Development Financing Institutions in Asia and the Pacific (Adfiap) and also as a volunteer leader of the Philippine Council of Associations and Association Executives (PCAAE).

The Forum, held at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, was attended by 130 international associationdelegates from 43 cities in 15 countries and also by 25 content leaders, 17 exhibitors and 12 members of the ASAE AsiaPacific Advisory Task Force.

The event was the fourth in a series of annual conferences on association management in various cities in the Asia-Pacific region. Started as the “Great Ideas” conference in 2015, the event moved from Hong Kong to Seoul, and now to Singapore where it was reformatted as a “Leadership” conference.

I wish to share the following takeaways, which I thought would be of interest: The opening keynote speaker was Su-Yen Wong, founder and CEO of Bronze Phoenix, who has more than 25 years of experience with boards and the C-suite across the Asia Pacific and North America. She spoke on “Transformational Leadership in an Age of Disruption.” Among her insights on how to be a transformational

Association World Octavio Peralta leader are: n Develop a broader radar.

Leaders of today need to foster a culture of curiosity and be bold and daring in their decisionmaking. n Redesign work. The rise of the “gig economy,” where flexible jobs are commonplace and companies tend to hire independent contractors and freelancers instead of full-time employees, will change today’s work as we know it. n Bring people on the journey.

More than ever, as new technologies come our way, it’s imperative to upgrade and reskill human talent and to encourage changeoriented mindsets. n Drive change from within.

It’s now time to go out of your comfort zone, adapt to remain relevant, and learn, unlearn and relearn.

The next “deep dive” session was conducted by Susan Robertson, president of the ASAE Foundation, who presented their initiative on “Applying Foresight to Your Association’s Future.” The ASAE ForesightWorks project is a deliberate, evidence-based research initiative and emerging line of products designed to be the association executive’s partner in environmental scanning and planning for change. The project’s mission is to create a culture of foresight in associations, not only by providing ma-

jor trend analyses but also tools and processes needed to practice scanning on your own. Among the drivers of change that Susan mentioned includes: n Microlearning—These are prog ra m s w it h “ bite - si z ed ” learning units and short-term learning activities in mediated environments. The short retentive memory span and busy schedules in today’s world makes microlearning appealing, and associations have to cash in. n Next-generation professionals—Changes in demographics also alter the way associations should cater to the needs of the emerging new breed of professionals. n Rejection of expertise— The public “trust” in noncredentialed and “unofficial” information sources is becoming a trend.

The challenge is how associations can retain and enhance their position as the most reliable source of credible information and guidance.

To be continued The column contributor, Octavio “Bobby” Peralta, is concurrently the secretary-general of the Adfiap and founder and CEO of the PCAAE. PCAAE is holding its sixth Associations Summit on November 23 and 24 at the Subic Bay Exhibition and Convention Center.

The event is hosted by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and supported by the Tourism Promotions Board. PCA AE enjoys the support of Adfiap, TPB and the Philippine International Convention Center.

E-mail obp@adfiap.org

N the span of just 11 months, China went from having no distressed dollar-denominated corporate bonds to having more than any other emerging market.

The world ’s second-biggest economy has 15 bonds whose option-adjusted spreads over US Treasuries were above 1,000 basis points as of November 6, according to a Bloomberg Barclays index.

That’s more than all the other nations combined.

An ongoing trade war and slower economic growth after years of breakneck expansion are straining the nation’s highly leveraged corporate sector. Property developers in particular are facing surging borrowing costs as refinancing pressures intensify amid the government’s effort to rein in realestate prices.

At least four property-related firms defaulted on debt this year, and investors are bracing for more.

China Evergrande Group, the country’s second-largest builder by sales, priced a dollar bond at 13.75 percent last week, the highest interest rate it has ever paid on a dollar issue, according to Bloomberg data China’s debt, both distressed and otherwise, account for a quarter of all securities included in the gauge, which tracks about 660 dollar notes with a par value of at least $500 million. The Asian nation is home to the developing world’s biggest bond market.

The jump in China’s distressed bonds helped fuel an increase in borrowing costs for emergingmarket companies to the highest level in more than two years. The

impact of the trade war on the Asian nation has compounded pressure on developing assets, already reeling under the strain of higher US interest rates and Treasury yields.

Brazil has the second-highest number of distressed bonds, with three in the index. Jamaica and Russia are tied in third place with two securities each. Debt is typically considered under pressure if its spread above the risk-free rate is 1,000 basis points or more.

There are also a growing number of corporate notes whose spreads are gradually entering the danger zone. This year, there are 12 bonds on the Barclays Bloomberg index whose option-adjusted spreads were between 800 to 999 basis points, up from two at the end of 2017. Bloomberg News

McKinsey review report: Global banking must push competitive advantages

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CKINSEY & Company (McKinsey) has reported that the global banking sector would have to strengthen its competitive advantage and follow through on respective strategic choices in order to face challenges to the industry.

Based on insights from Panorama, ���������������������������� McKinsey’s proprietary banking-research arm, as reported under McKinsey’s eighth annual review of the global banking industry, the global banking sector would need to strengthen their competitive advantages and make definitive strategic choices in order to weather challenges in the future.

The report, entitled “New rules for an old game: Banks in the changing world of financial intermediation,” said: “Looking ahead, we believe the rewards will be disproportionate for those firms that are clear about their true competitive advantage and then make— and follow through on—definitive strategic choices. The result will be a financial sector that is more efficient and which delivers value to customers and society at large. That is a future that should energize any forward-looking banking leader.”

The report explained that the global banking industry, as well as financial regulators, have worked together through the years in order to improve the level of safety of the global financial system, which is

shown in the rise within measures used for risk.

Under the Global Tier 1 capital ratio, the global banking sector has increased to 13.2 percent in 2017, from 9.8 percent in 2007, in one measure for banking system safety.

Other measures of risk, like the ratio of tangible equity to tangible assets, have also increased to 6.2 percent in 2017, from 4.6 percent in 2010.

“In addition, global banking’s market capitalization increased from $5.8 trillion in 2010 to $8.5 trillion in 2017.... These are solid accomplishments, the report added.

In terms of revenues however, the report pointed out that revenue growth for the global banking sector remains muted, with its price-to-book ratio also consistently lower than that of every other major sector over the period from 2012 to 2017. “����������������������������� However, growth for the banking industry continues to be muted—industry revenues grew at 2 percent per year over the last five years, significantly below banking’s historical annual growth of 5 to 6 percent,” it said.

Based on McKinsey’s new analysis of the global financial intermediation system, the revenue pool associated with intermediation was roughly $5 trillion in 2017.

The global financial intermediation system is a system that stores, transfers and invests between

lenders and borrowers.

“We believe the lack of investor faith in the future of banking is tied, at least in part, to doubts about whether banks can maintain their historical dominance of the financial intermediation system,” said McKinsey Senior Partner Miklos Dietz.

In the future, McKinsey pointed out that the current complex and interlocking system of financial intermediation will be streamlined by technology and regulation into a simpler system including in the areas of commerce and transactions, as well as products and services, among others.

“Institutional intermediation would be heavily automated and provided by efficient technology infrastructures with low costs,” the report added.

“We believe that the changes coming to the global financial intermediation system will be profound.

However, they do not assume that banks will become irrelevant.

For instance, there will always be demand for risk intermediation.

The question is whether banks will be disintermediated, disaggregated, commoditized or whether banks can maintain and expand their role in intermediation,” said McKinsey partner Rushabh Kapashi.

The report includes the banking sectors in Denmark, Russia, Australia, India, China, Japan and the United States, among others. Rea Cu

B4 Friday, November 9, 2018

COCA-COLA PLANT LAUDED BY SANTA ROSA CITY GOVT FOR ENVIRONMENT, ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTIONS PHILHEALTH CHIEF DENIES GRAFT ALLEGATIONS

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HILIPPINE Health Insurance Cor p. (Ph i l Hea lt h) ac t i ng President and Chief Executive Officer (PCEO) Dr. Roy B. Ferrer denied in strongest terms the allegations of g raf t, abuse of aut hor it y a nd dishonesty, which were reportedly contained in a complaint that he himself has, yet, to receive. T he complainants are some 12 PhilHealth employees, all from the Region 11 office except for one who is from the Caraga region. “ T hese c h a rges a re f ue led by misg uided retr ibution because of the organizational reforms I have initiated to improve PhilHealth ’s overall performance. Unfortunately, these reforms did not sit well with a few who resist change,” Ferrer asserted.

“We will prove, time and again, that our mandate is bigger than the whims of people whose vision is blinded by misplaced ambition and greed.”

T he compl a i n a nt s l i n k e d t he alleged P4.7-billion loss in 2017 to his performance as chief of the state agency, despite being appointed only last June.

“We have just finished reconciling claims paid in 2018 but incurred in 2017, and the numbers showed gains of as much as P500 million instead of a loss. We already submitted this matter to the Commission on Audit and Bureau of Treasury for validation and concurrence.”

It was further alleged that Ferrer continued to claim for professional fees even after his appointment as PhilHealth chief on June 5. However, records show that his last claim for services rendered was for a patient admitted on June 3, 2018, two days prior to his assumption as acting PCEO. He revealed that he even recently received compensation for a claim that he filed as far back as September 2016. “I received the payment just

[in] September, for an admission that happened two years ago. I find the timing suspicious since the regional v ice president for Reg ion 11—in Davao City—has been very vocal about his opposition of the recent wave of movements among senior officers.

He was suspended for a number of administrative cases because of serious and grave offenses,” he said, adding that the said official is answerable for such an extreme delay in the processing and payment of the said claim.

“I welcome inquiries into these a l legations and of fer my f u l l cooperation in view of dismissing these claims [that] are baseless. Bring it on. I have nothing to hide.”

“L et me assure a l l Phi lHea lt h members that their program is in safe hands, and that these unfortunate development shall not hinder us from making universal health care [turn] into reality,” Ferrer assured.

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NE of the largest bottling facilities of Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines (KOFPH) has been recognized by the city of Santa Rosa for its contributions to environmental stewardship and economic development. The KOFPH Santa Rosa plant received four awards from the local government unit and its partner organizations at the 2018 Lions Awards and Green Awards Night for the city of Santa Rosa.

The Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines Santa Rosa plant was awarded the Sustainable Development Partner Award for its exceptional contribution and unwavering support to environmental protection and the economic progress of the city. The Silakbo Sponsor 2018: Beyond Our Commitment to Sustainability Award was also given to the plant for its significant contribution to the city’s environmental advocacy program, which seeks to conserve and protect the Santa Rosa subwatershed.

“We are grateful that the city of Santa Rosa has recognized our efforts in the conservation and preservation of the environment. Sustainability has always been embedded in our operations—it is [in] Coca-Cola Femsa’s

DNA,” said Juan Lorenzo Tañada, director for Corporate and Regulatory Affairs of Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines.

“We have always sought to be in the forefront of the industry in terms of sustainable practices in our manufacturing process by promoting efficient and responsible management of water and energy. We do not stop there—we continue to find ways on how to further improve. More than a business, we are partners of the local government, and we share the same vision with them in the importance of protecting the environment.”

The 19 bottling facilities of Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines across the country have reduced their absolute water consumption by 25 percent, saving more than 4 billion liters of water from 2014 to June 2018; and have started to integrate renewable energy into their operations.

Aside from the environmental awards, Coca-Cola Femsa Philippines was also recognized as one of the top 10 business taxpayers of the city and as a hall of fame awardee in the Top Realty Taxpayer category of the Lion Awards for Business of the City of Santa Rosa.

FILIPINO WHIZ TOPS WORLD MATH CHAMPIONSHIPS

PRESIDENT DUTERTE GRACES MARINDUQUE CONGRESSMAN’S BIRTHDAY BASH

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RESIDENT Duterte, together with his daughter Davao Mayor Sara Duterte, graced the 41st birthday celebration of Rep. Lord Allan Jay Q. Velesco of the Lone District of Marinduque, dubbed as

LOV2LOVEU, held at the Marinduque State College (MSC) Covered Court, Barangay Tanza, Boac, Marinduque, on November 3.

The birthday bash was also attended by MSCofficialsheadedbyDr.MerianP.Catajay-

Mani,presidentII;andprovincialofficialsand thepresident’sentourage.Aconcertfeaturing Fourth Impact, GraceNote, Agsunta, Escape, IyahMina,MoymoyPalaboyandMojakPerez made the audience pumped up to their feet.

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FTER five days of intense competition against the best mathematicians in his age group, 17-year-old Filipino high-school student Julian Yu (in photo, center) won the top prize in the recently concluded World Mathematics Championships. The competition was held at Trinity College, University of Melbourne, and involved new challenges including debating, data mining and proof rounds.

Yu, who represented both the Philippines and the British School Manila (BSM), was previously a finalist in the Philippine National Olympiad and crowned the senior individual champion at the Southeast Asia Mathematics Competition (SEAMC). The SEAMC is the top internationalschool competition in the region where BSM has, likewise, been the overall champion for two years in a row.

“It was a great honor for me to represent both the

country and my school, and this achievement would not be possible without the support and guidance of my family, the BSM faculty and my teammates,” Yu noted. “I am happy that a good number of my fellow BSM students qualified for this year’s World Mathematics Championship, and I look forward to seeing them in future competitions.”

At present Yu is now back at BSM for his final year of high school and is planning to continue his mathematical career at a top university Yu, a Year 13 high-school student from BSM, holds up his trophy after winning the top prize in the World Mathematics Championships. Standing on his right is Professor Jan De Gier, head of University of Melbourne Math Department, while on his left is Giles Jacobson, head of the Competition Academy of the World Mathematics Championships.

PHLPOST LAUNCHES LAKE STAMPS TO CELEBRATE 251ST ANNIVERSARY

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HE Philippine Postal Corp. (PHLPost) commemorated the 251st anniversary of the Philippine Postal Service with the launching of the 2018 National Stamp Collecting Month (NSCM) stamps exhibit, titled Re-Collection, featuring rare pieces of stamp by known collectors in the country.

Former Secretary and Special Assistant to the President Christopher Lawrence T. Go, postmaster General Joel Otarra and chairman of the board Norman Fulgencio formally opened the exhibit to celebrate the Philippine philately (stamp collecting). The Philippine lakes stamp was also launched in the event.

FUNtastic Philippines, a group of amateur and professional photographers, provided the Philippine lake photos of the following: Lake Danum by Ramirez Duque, in Sitio Patay; Lake Balinsasayao by Premier Elipe, within the Balinsasayao Twin Lakes; the Mount Pinatubo Crater Lake

by Mark Albert Angelo Cruz, found near the boundaries of Pampanga and Tarlac provinces; Gabawan Lake by Christan Pago, in Albay, southeast of Manila; Lake Apo by Premier Elipe, in the city of Valencia in Bukidnon province; and Lake Sebu by Len Jingco, in the Alah Valley region, South Cotabato.

Meanwhile, the souvenir sheet will feature Kabalin-an Lake by Simeon Recio, in Sibulan, Negros Oriental; and Lake Leonard by Kent Ramirez Duque, in Maco, Compostela Valley.

This year PHLPost aims to create, maintain and increase postal awareness that would instigate Filipinos in all ages to venture into the hobby of stamp collecting and letter writing.

PHLPost chose to launch the Philippine lakes as their design in its 2018 NSCM to proudly promote our country’s beautiful tourist spots. Vic Serevo designed the lake stamps.

Stamps, souvenir sheets and official first-day cover will be available at the Philatelic Counter in Manila and all post offices in the country.

PHLPost will also host other activities, such as Cagayan de Oro stamp exhibit and internal philately training on November 13 and 14; philately-bridging generations forum on November 17; and museum groundbreaking, signing of memorandum of agreement and stamp bazaar on November 23 to celebrate the NSCM 2018.

Photo shows (from left) PHLPost board member and director Raul Bendigo, director Pelagio Paguican, Fulgencio, Go, Otarra, director Cristina Caringal and director Liberty Avila unveiling the NSCM Philippine lake stamps to commemorate the 251st anniversary of the Philippine postal system. Go is the keynote speaker and guest of honor, which was held at the historic Post Office Building, which shall be declared by the National Museum as an important cultural property on November 23.

Fifa to meet women’s group fighting ban in Iran stadium

Sports

GIANNI INFANTINO: Either you are in or you are out! AP

BusinessMirror

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| Friday, November 9, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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URICH—Fifa Secretary-General Fatma Samoura will meet women campaigning to be allowed into Saturday’s Asian Champions League final in Iran where they are legally barred from stadiums.

Samoura says she is meeting on Thursday in Zurich with Open Stadiums activists who have a 200,000-name petition.

The 78,000-capacity Azadi Stadium in Tehran will host Persepolis trying to overcome a 2-0 first-leg deficit against Kashima Antlers of Japan.

It’s the first Asian Champions League final game being played in Iran for 11 years.

Fifa President Gianni Infantino went to Iran in March to press President Hassan Rouhani for a change in the law.

Samoura, Fifa’s first female secretarygeneral, says “this is something that is very high on the [Fifa] human-rights agenda. The dialogue continues.”

The 2022 World Cup, meanwhile, must be played in just 28 days even if it is expanded to 48 teams, Infantino said on Wednesday, acknowledging that the tight schedule will make it even harder to push through his preferred vision of a bigger tournament.

Fifa will decide in March whether to add 16 teams to its showcase tournament in 2022, but Infantino said the chances of an expansion are “certainly small” because of the scheduling issues—and the fact that host Qatar would need help from some neighboring countries to stage some games.

A 48-team World Cup would entail playing 80 games in total, meaning up to six matches would have to be played on some days during the group stages to fit the 28-day window.

Some knockout matches would also have to be played simultaneously.

Fifa have had to shorten the tournament by four days compared to this year’s World Cup in Russia because it will be played in November and December in order to avoid desert heat. European leagues, who are set to lose peak weeks from their 2022-2023 season, insist they cannot compromise again by giving Fifa more days from their November schedule.

“We cannot make [the tournament] longer,” Infantino told reporters at Fifa headquarters. “It is not ideal, that would entail to have [World Cup] matches simultaneously.”

The 2026 World Cup in North America will feature 48 teams and a 34-day schedule. Infantino would like to move to the bigger format right away, but diplomatic challenges also count against expanding the tournament in 2022.

Qatar is preparing to build eight stadiums and host 32 teams, so would need to let neighboring countries stage games.

Infantino said last month he asked the emir of Qatar if he would consider allowing games to be held elsewhere. However, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have all been part of an economic and travel boycott against Qatar for the past 18 months.

“In light of the current circumstances in the region that we all know, well, I would be even happier if this could happen,” Infantino said of the 48-team proposal. “What are the chances?

Small, certainly small. [But] what is wrong with trying, discussing, debating?”

Fifa believes a bigger World Cup would be justified by the extra exposure in the 16 countries where additional qualifying places would fasttrack soccer’s development.

“If we can increase the number of teams this is good for football generally,” Infantino said. AP

READ MY LIPS! Fifa would punish players at clubs like Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich if they left soccer’s organized structure to form a privately owned league.

BY Graham Dunbar

Z

The Associated Press

URICH—Soccer’s biggest names would be banned from the World Cup if they played in a breakaway European Super League, Fifa President Gianni Infantino said on Wednesday.

Infantino, speaking to a small group of reporters at Fifa headquarters, said the governing body would punish players at clubs like Barcelona, Manchester City and Bayern Munich if they left soccer’s organized structure to form a privately owned league.

“Either you are in or you are out,” Infantino said, listing the World Cup, European Championship and national leagues as competitions that players from breakaway teams could be excluded from. “This includes everything.”

Talk of a long-threatened super league was revived on Friday when German magazine Der Spiegel published confidential documents and e-mails from clubs and soccer bodies in its “Football Leaks” series.

Real Madrid was revealed to be working with consultants on a 16-team Super League to kick off in 2021—effectively replacing the Champions League and outside the control of UEFA. The plan called for 11 storied clubs from Spain, England, Germany, Italy and France to get ownership stakes and risk-free Super League membership for 20 years, with five more clubs invited to play.

The breakaway from soccer’s historic hierarchy—Fifa, the six continental bodies and 211 national federations—would allow Fifa to ban players from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

“The idea is if you break away, you break away. You don’t keep one foot in and one foot out,” Fifa Deputy Secretary-General Alasdair Bell said. “That would be the general approach we would follow, but of course lawyers can debate this for a long time.”

Both Infantino and Bell were longtime staffers at UEFA, which has steadily changed Champions League prize money and entry rules to favor top clubs and stall breakaway threats.

“This is the history of the last 20 years,” said Infantino, who has clashed this year with European soccer officials and club leaders over Fifa’s proposed Club World Cup project, which is funded by Japanese investor SoftBank.

Infantino said his plan—potentially featuring 12 European clubs in a 24-team lineup, and worth a promised $3 billion every four years—could head off a private closed league.

“The Club World Cup is the answer to any attempt to think even about any sort of breakaway leagues,” he said.

Infantino insisted, while the plan would be lucrative for clubs taking part, it also kept money in the soccer family. Fifa would use 25 percent of revenue to share globally.

“If the price to pay is to give proper revenues to a club participating in a Club World Cup but this allows us to...give $1 million to Haiti who has nothing, or to Mongolia who has three time zones but only two football pitches, well then we should be I think doing that,” he said.

A Fifa task force will assess a revamp of competitions, including a new event for all national teams played every two years. A decision is expected in March when Infantino chairs a Fifa Council meeting in Miami.

He also believes the latest threat will calm.

“People are still quite reasonable,” Infantino said. “I trust certainly the club owners and presidents to be able to have a discussion.”

Also on Wednesday Infantino addressed the Football Leaks documents that showed him being pressured by wealthy clubs during his time as UEFA’s top administrator to ensure they avoided a Champions League ban for breaking “Financial Fair Play” rules designed to curb overspending.

Some critics suggested Infantino overreached his duty when independent panels were investigating and judging clubs such as

Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.

“We were doing our job and saved the system, and we saved European club football,” Infantino said.

In further Football Leaks fallout, Infantino said it was unfair that a childhood friend, Rinaldo Arnold, was under scrutiny. A special counsel is assessing if Arnold’s work as a regional prosecutor in Switzerland is in conflict with private invitations to games from Infantino and their professional contacts.

“I think there are much more serious issues that can be looked at,” the Fifa president said.

FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR. says he never agreed to a bout in Japan. AP

NO DEAL T

OKYO—Floyd Mayweather Jr. has called off his bout with Japanese kickboxer Tenshin Nasukawa and says he was “blindsided” by promoters of the proposed New Year’s Eve event.

Mayweather posted a statement on Instagram saying: “First and foremost, I want it to be clear that I, Floyd Mayweather, never agreed to an official bout with Tenshin Nasukawa.”

Mayweather attended a news conference in Tokyo on Monday, when the December 31 fight against the 20-year-old kickboxer was announced.

“Once I arrived to the press conference, my team and I were completely derailed by the new direction this event was going and we should have put a stop to it immediately,” Mayweather posted.

“I want to sincerely apologize to my fans for the very misleading information that was announced during this press conference and I can assure you that I, too, was completely blindsided by the arrangements that were being made without my consent nor approval.”

The 41-year-old Mayweather is 50-0 in his boxing career. He has never fought professionally under MMA rules, although he did have a lucrative win over MMA fighter Conor McGregor last year.

Japanese promoter RIZIN Fighting Federation announced promotion on Monday but said the rules and the weight class had not been determined. AP

HAKA! The All Blacks

perform a haka before the start of their rugby test against Japan at the Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo recently. AP

Spo

Business

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LAKERS DOWN WOLVES L

OS ANGELES—Tyson Chandler savored the ovations when he first took the court in downtown Los Angeles. The cheers at the end were even sweeter.

The Lakers’ newest big man got to represent his hometown on Wednesday night for the first time in his 18 National Basketball Association (NBA) seasons, and he came up bigger and better than even he expected in a hard-fought win.

LeBron James had 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists, and Kyle Kuzma scored six of his 21 points in the final minutes of the Lakers’ 114-110 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

James, Kuzma and Josh Hart played major roles in the Lakers’ third win in four games, but they all directed praise toward Chandler, who joined the Lakers on Tuesday after reaching a buyout agreement with Phoenix. After LA’s savvy basketball fans welcomed Chandler to town with cheers, the veteran provided much of what the Lakers have been lacking this season.

“It’s honestly all love,” Chandler said. “I love this city the way they love me. When you’re

homegrown from here and going to high school and all that and you’ve had these same fans, and now you represent the jersey that everybody has been cheering for their entire lives, you kind of become one. I’ve been on the other side and played the villain. Now it’s great to be on this side and actually rep them.”

With only a cursory knowledge of the Lakers’ plays and schemes, Chandler still provided defense, rebounding and hard picks while playing a surprising 23 minutes.

Chandler’s nine rebounds included two enormous offensive boards in the last minute.

He then contested Derrick Rose’s final threepoint attempt, forcing a miss that essentially sealed the win.

“You can tell he’s a young-old guy that’s happy to be back home, and he played with a lot of energy tonight,” said Rajon Rondo, who was thanked by Chandler for vocally directing him around the court.

Hart scored 21 points and Brandon Ingram added 20 for the Lakers, who avenged a loss at Minnesota nine days earlier with a tenacious finish at Staples Center.

Kuzma’s fourth three-pointer put the

Lakers up 111-104 with 1:51 to play, but Rose promptly hit back-to-back three-pointers for the Wolves. After Chandler twice extended the Lakers’ ensuing possession, Kuzma hit one of two free throws with 9.5 seconds left.

Rose then missed his last three under heavy defensive pressure from Chandler, and Hart hit two free throws to seal it. Minnesota Coach Tom Thibodeau thought Rose deserved a foul.

“They’re not going to give me that call,” Rose said with a shrug. “They haven’t been giving me that call, so I’ve just got to get used to it.”

Rose scored 31 points and Jimmy Butler added 24 for the Timberwolves, who dropped to 0-7 on the road this season with their fourth consecutive loss overall. Minnesota had won five straight over the Lakers.

Anthony Davis, meanwhile, had 32 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks in his best game since spraining his right elbow nearly two weeks ago, and the New Orleans Pelicans ended a six-game skid with a 107-98 victory over the Chicago Bulls also on Wednesday night.

After missing four of his first five shots, Davis hit his next eight, including two threes and a two-handed reverse alley-oop jam, while on his

NIGHT OF RECKONING

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

S

INGAPORE—Fireworks are expected to light up the cage as two exciting and equally talented fighters—Filipino pride Kevin Belingon and Brazilian legend Bibiano Fernandes—collide to unify the bantamweight belt at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Representing the famed Team Lakay, interim champion Belingon (19 wins, five

losses) stakes it all against world champion Fernandes (22-3) in the main event of ONE Championship’s Heart of the Lion.

In their first encounter, Belingon tapped out from Fernandes’s kimura just in the first round two years ago.

Now up for a rematch, Belingon promised to take home the belt and join three other Filipino world champions.

“I will do my best to win this time. I’m ready,” he said.

Currently, Joshua Pacio (strawweight), Geje Eustaquio (flyweight) and Brandon Vera (heavyweight) all own the belts in their respective categories.

Known for his superb striking skill, Belingon believes he should not waste any time to beat his opponent and end the Brazilian star’s 14-win streak.

“I came here to win and I will do whatever it takes to get the belt,” Belingon said.

NBA RESULTS Detroit 103, Orlando 96 Oklahoma City 95, Cleveland 86 Miami 95, San Antonio 88 New York 112, Atlanta 107 Memphis 89, Denver 87 New Orleans 107, Chicago 98

LEBRON JAMES had 24 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists for the Lakers. AP

Philadelphia 100, Indiana 94 Utah 117, Dallas 102 Toronto 114, Sacramento 105 LA Lakers 114, Minnesota 110

way to his first 30-plus point game since New Orleans beat the Los Angeles Clippers on October 23.

Jrue Holiday had 17 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists while being guarded primarily by brother Justin. Julius Randle and Wesley Johnson each scored 12 points for New Orleans.

Zach LaVine scored 22 and Jabari Parker had 20 points and 13 rebounds for Chicago, which has dropped five of six games. Justin Holiday and Wendell Carter Jr. each had 17 points, and Carter had 11 rebounds. AP

Ramos, Abelar, Legaspi favored in golf amateurs

S

Fernandes knows that the Filipino has improved since they last fought.

“He improved. I saw how he fights now,” he said.

But he isn’t impressed.

“But he is still Kevin,” he stressed.

Fernandes only fought thrice after beating Belingon in 2016, two of them resulting to split decisions. He beat Andrew Leone via a rear-naked choke in round one.

PACATIW PREVAILS IN PAKISTAN MMA

F

ILIPINO mixed martial arts (MMA) star Jeremy “The Juggernaut” Pacatiw of Team Lakay secured a historic victory over Pakistan’s Uloomi Karim at the co-main event of the Brave 17 Mixed Martial Arts held at the Nishtar Park Sports Complex in Lahore, Pakistan, recently.

Pacatiw improved his professional record to 8-3-0. He is ranked 13th out of 96

active Middle East pro bantamweights and also has the most number of appearances in the Brave Combat Federation.

Brave 17 is the first international MMA event that took place in Pakistan and marks the seventh appearance for Pacatiw in Brave Combat Federation.

Two other Filipinos—Arben Escayo and Ariel Oliveros—also fought in the under card matches.

Ambassador to Pakistan Daniel Espiritu, along with officers and staff from the Philippine Embassy in Islamabad, attended the event and provided support to the Filipino fighters.

EAN RAMOS seeks to cap a strong seasonending campaign with another victory, while Nicole Abelar and Sofia Legaspi brace for a showdown in the women’s side of the Riviera MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) Amateur Championship which starts on Friday at Riviera’s Langer course in Silang, Cavite.

Ramos ruled the Cangolf Am Open in wireto-wire fashion then edged Josh Jorge by one to capture the Northern Luzon Regional at Beverly Place Golf Club last month, making the Orchard bet the marked man in the 54-hole championship presented by the MVPSF. “There are a lot of good players that I’m competing against with this week so I have to hope for the best and with a bit of luck together with my game, everything will work for me,” said Ramos, adding that emphasis will be on long and short game given the wind condition. “Langer is one of the most toughest courses especially when the wind is up.”

But he will be as much tested as the rest of the 24-played field in the Championship Division with Aidric Chan also coming into the event carrying the momentum of two low amateur feats in the country’s pro circuit recently.

“My experience gained in the Philippine Golf Tour made me more mature as a player which will surely help me with my chances,” Chan said. “But I don’t want to put too much expectations on myself so I could just try to enjoy each moment when I am playing.”

Jorge is also in the fold, along with reigning Philippine Amateur Open Match Play winner Carl Corpus, Luigi Wong, David Guangko, Miguel OlivarezIlas, Rald Sarmiento, Lanz Uy, Leandro Bagtas, Masaichi Otake and Aldo Barro, all geared up for three days of battle of wits at the demanding par-71 layout.

Joining the title hunt in the premier division of the event organized and conducted by the National Golf Association of the Philippines and held as part of the PLDT Group National Amateur Tour are Paolo Barro, Dan Cruz, Joaquin Gomez, Jet Hernandez, Francis Lanuza, Santino Laurel, Ciaran O’Driscoll, Jacob Rolida, Paolo Uy and Joachim Yu and South Korean Lee Sang-min.

Abelar and Legaspi, meanwhile, banner the equally tough field in their side of the competition with the former shooting for a follow-up to her Cangolf Am triumph last month and the latter out to defend the crown she won over Kayla Nocum via playoff last year.

PHILIPPINE Embassy officials and staff in Islamabad celebrate with Jeremy “The Juggernaut” Pacatiw.

GARMA PULLS RUG FROM UNDER TORRE IN RD 5

V

ETERAN International Master (IM) Chito Garma achieved what many other local players failed to do—beat Asia’s first Grandmaster Eugene Torre.

Garma, one of the country’s strongest players who never became a GM, pulled the rug from under Torre to share the lead with Haifa Olympiad veteran National Master (NM) Cesar Caturla in the fifth round of the Ninth Asian Seniors Chess Championship at the Tagaytay International Convention Center in Tagaytay City on Wednesday.

Garma, a two-time Olympian (Novi Sad 1990 and Manila 1992), defeated Torre in 56 moves of the London opening in a stirring upset that brought to mind similar interesting battles in the past.

The 54-year-old former University of Manila standout, who is seeded fourth with an ELO of 2317, forced Torre to resign under a threat of a mate or a loss of material in the

rook and pawn endgame.

Garma’s win snapped Torre’s 12-game streak, which included a nine-game sweep of last year’s edition in Auckland, New Zealand.

It was also the first loss by Torre to a local player since Woman GM Janelle Mae Frayna defeated him during the 2015 Battle of GMs at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.in Manila.

Caturla, who served as coach of the national women’s team in several Olympiads, trounced Fide Master Syarif Mahmud of Indonesia to boost his bid for the $500 top prize in the 34-player, nine-nation tournament.

Garma and Caturla were only half a point ahead of IM Petronio Roca and a full point clear of Torre, NM Carlo Lorena, IM Angelo Young, Roulzon Roullo and FM Rinas Oleg of Kazakhstan.

Roca demolished Than Khin of Myanmar to raise his score to four points.

Lorena trounced Kuanishbek Jumadullayev

of Kazakhstan, Young subdued FM Adrian Pacis, Roullo bested NM Stewart Manaog and Rinas outplayed Tony Davis of Australia in other key matches in the event hosted by the Tagaytay City government through Cavite Seventh District Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino Jr. and Tagaytay City Mayor Agnes Tolentino.

Three-time women’s champion Helen Milligan of New Zealand beat Olympian Mila Emperado in all-female showdown to improve to 2.5/5.

The tournament organized by Tagaytay Chess Club on behalf of the National Chess Federation of the Philippines (NCFP) and Asian Chess Federation (ACF) and supported by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

Tournament director, Mike Lapitan said the winners will bring home cash prizes and medals.

The champion will pocket $500, the runnerup will earn $400, the third placer will receive $300, the fourth $200 and the fifth and sixth placers $150.

orts

sMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018 FOUR-TIME Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo relinquishes the No. 1 spot in the stats race to NorthPort’s Stanley Pringle.

NO SANCTION ON TOPEX T

HE National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Management Committee deferred any sanction against Lyceum of the Philippines University Coach Topex Robinson who slammed the league for suspending CJ Perez in Game One of their 94th Finals duel with San Beda on Tuesday at the MOA Arena in Pasay City.

Robinson obviously didn’t like the punishment on Perez, last year’s Most Valuable Player, who was suspended for his failure to formally inform the league of his draft application for the Philippine Basketball

Association late last month.

He criticized the league’s decision moments after the Pirates’ absorbed a 60-73 defeat to the Red Lions in the series opener.

Robinson will thus get to coach in Game Two on Monday at the same venue for a chance to force a deciding game on July 15.

The league will continue to tackle Robinson’s case after the Finals.

“The Mancom has decided to give the Lyceum Coach [Robinson] enough time to finish the remaining Finals games,” said NCAA ManCom Chairman Frank Gusi in a

statement after an emergency meeting on Thursday.

“Then after which, we are putting continuance to the proceedings in the spirit of sportsmanship and with the best interest of the league,” he added.

The league has also deferred rendering a decision on College of Saint Benilde

C3

TOPEX ROBINSON criticizes the league’s decision on his top Pirate.

Assistant Coach Charles Tiu, who made negative comments on social media on Perez’s suspension. He called the ban “a joke.”

Without Perez, who averaged a leaguebest 18.7 points and 3.3 steals on top of 8.4 rebounds and four assists, Lyceum just didn’t have enough firepower to beat San Beda.

Perez will be back in Game Two.

FAJARDO OR PRINGLE? A

FTER playing only two games in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup eliminations, June Mar Fajardo has found a challenger in his bid for a record fifth Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in NorthPort guard Stanley Pringle.

Pringle, the 2015 Rookie of the Year awardee, zoomed to the top in the statistics race with a cumulative average of 35.5 points, relegating Fajardo down to second with 33.2.

Fajardo had been the stats leader all season long until he had to take a rest to heal a stress fracture.

In the mere two games he played in the eliminations of the season-ending

Bolts seek sweep of Fuel Masters

M

ERALCO clashes with a backagainst-the-wall Phoenix side on Friday in the Philippine Governors’ Cup quarterfinals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Bolts beat the Fuel Masters, 90-74, last Wednesday to bring the series to a do-or-die game for a chance to hitch the last ride to the semifinals and face the Alaska Aces in a best-offive affair.

Game time is 7 p.m. and Meralco Head Coach Norman Black is all pumped up to advance in the next round.

“We expect to go on a hard battle to get to the semifinals. We should be the better team,” Black said.

The Bolts locked down on defense to limit the Fuel Masters to way below their average of 106.1 points per game.

They also limited Phoenix to only two triples in 26 attempts and a measly 28-of-93 from the field.

Import Allen Durham was again

at the forefront of Meralco’s offense with 26 points that went with 16 rebounds and four assists.

Chris Newsome added 16 points, while Baser Amer contributed 16 points and six assists.

Durham’s counterpart, Eugene Phelps, had a double-double of 27 points and 10 rebounds, but besides Calvin Abueva’s 18 points and 12 boards, no other local made a significant contribution for Phoenix.

Matthew Wright went silent with a 3-of-16 night for eight points, while back-up guard RJ Jazul only had two points on a 1-of-11 shooting.

The winner will take on Alaska, which sent home San Miguel Beer via an 96-85 beating last Wednesday.

The other semifinals showdown features a Manila Clasico between Barangay Ginebra and Magnolia.

They eliminated NLEX and Blackwater, respectively.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

Maraño, Cargo Movers stay unbeaten in three matches

A

WELL-RESTED F2 Logistics flexed its muscles to dominate Cocolife, 25-13, 25-16, 25-8, in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference on Thursday at the Filoil Flying V Centre.

Aby Maraño was impressive on both ends and towed the Cargo Movers to their third straight victory.

Maraño, skipper of the national squad that saw action in the Jakarta 18th Asian Games, tallied 10 attacks with three blocks and three aces for a game-high 16 points for the Cargo Movers, who are out to gain momentum before their gigantic battle against Petron on Saturday at

the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan City.

The Cargo Movers were the queens of the season-ending conference until the Blaze Spikers knocked the crown off their heads in a dramatic finals duel last year.

Petron also clobbered F2 Logistics in a thrilling finals showdown in the Grand Prix early this year with American import Katherine Bell joining Lindsay Stalzer as a last-minute substitute to injured Hillary Hurley.

F2 Logistics Head Coach Ramil de Jesus knows that their battle with their archrival will never be easy so a morale-boosting win is what they needed right now.

COCOLIFE’S Kalei Mau watches on who between teammates Denden Lazaro or Gyra Barroga could save the ball.

“We had a good rest prior to this game,” said de Jesus after notching their third straight victory. “That rest and recovery had very good effect to them because they had good connection on the court.”

National players Kianna Dy and Majoy Baron chipped in 12 and 10 points, respectively, for the Cargo Movers, who found a way to stop hard-hitting FilipinoAmerican spiker Kalei Mau. “They had good exposure with the national team,” de Jesus said. “That’s why I challenged them. I told them that they can’t afford to have a low performance because your coming off a good finish in the international arena.”

VALDEZ PLAYS THROUGH PAIN

K

NOCKED down by a bad landing, Alyssa Valdez did what most superstars do—play through pain for the team’s gain.

In a match they could actually afford to lose, Valdez limped out of the court after hurting her right ankle on a bad landing off a spike in the second set but returned in the third and rallied Creamline from 10-15 and 19-23 deficits to a 25-16, 25-16, 26-24 victory over Tacloban in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V

Centre in San Juan late Wednesday.

The victory atoned for the Cool Smashers five-set defeat to league leaders Ateneo-Motolite Lady Eagles and tied the crowd favorites with the idle BanKo-Perlas Spikers at second, bolstering their Final Four drive in the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

Valdez finished with 17 hits, including 10 attack points and five aces, while reassuring her teammates and fans that nothing to worry about her injury.

“Nothing to worry about. ‘Just

need some strengthening and rest,” said the ace hitter, who limped out of the court in the second frame and had her right foot taped.

Team officials and trainers actually advised Valdez to sit out the match but like a true warrior, the former Ateneo star just couldn’t stand watching her team trail and insisted to play again.

With her back in the court, the Cool Smashers got back into the groove, drawing three hits from her with ace setter Jia Morado completing their fightback with an ace.

conference, Fajardo collected statistical points (SPs) average of only 11.00 resulting to his slide in the cumulative statistical points standings.

Barangay Ginebra’s Japeth Aguilar was third with 32.9, NorthPort’s Sean Anthony fourth with 31.3 and another Ginebra player Scottie Thompson rounded out the top 5 with 30.8.

Thompson breaking the top 5 has made him a top favorite for the Most Improved Player plum.

The next five were Phoenix Petroleum’s Matthew Wright (30.6), three San Miguel Beer stars Alex Cabagnot (30.2), Arwind Santos (30.0) and Marcio Lassiter (29.9) and Alaska Milk new main man Vic Manuel (29.0).

Barely outside the top 10 were Blackwater’s JP Erram (28.4), TNT KaTropa’s

Jayson Castro (28.2) and Magnolia’s Paul Lee (27.5).

Fajardo has dropped down to No. 2 in the stats race but may still have a good case for himself in the balloting with his Best Player of the Conference awards in the Philippine Cup and Commissioner’s Cup. Phoenix Petroleum forward Jason Perkins, meanwhile, is the leading contender for the Rookie of the Year award.

It could well be an all-La Salle Green Archer battle for the top rookie plum with Jeron Teng (18.3) behind Perkins (23.4) in the stats race.

Top draft pick Christian Standhardinger and No. 2 selection Kiefer Ravena are out of the race as they failed to meet the required minimum number of games a contender must play in the season.

Lacuna, Daos jump-start bid in UAAP pool

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EIGNING Most Valuable Players (MVPs) Jessie Khing Lacuna and Chloe Daos set in motion Ateneo’s bid for a championship double by winning two gold medals in University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 swimming action on Thursday at the Rizal Memorial Swimming Pool.

Lacuna ruled the men’s 800-meter freestyle in eight minutes and 33.98 seconds to lead the Blue Eagles 1-2-3 finish. He returned later in the afternoon to rule the 100-meter freestyle with 52.18.

Season 79 MVP Aldo Batungbacal also bagged a men’s gold for Ateneo in the 200-meter individual medley with 2:09.49 to go with his 800-meter freestyle silver (8:46.39).

Rookie Ianiko Limfilipino finished second in the 200-meter freestyle behind Batungbacal (2:12.48) and completed the Blue Eagles’ podium finishers in the 800-meter freestyle with 8:59.31.

Daos, who was also last year’s women’s top rookie, set a new league record in the 800-meter freestyle with 9:24.51. She erased the old mark of 9:26.11 set by Ateneo’s Kim Uy in 2014.

A silver medalist in the 41st Southeast Asian Age Group Swimming Championships last November in Brunei Darussalam, Daos also emerged triumphant in the women’s 100-meter freestyle with 59.62, besting her teammate Andrea Ngui (59.70).

De La Salle swept the opening day men’s relay events with gold medals in the 200-meter medley (1:48.87) and 800-meter freestyle (8:14.02) University of the Philippines, one of Ateneo’s biggest threats in the women’s division, also sparkled—Nadine Tee Ten ruled the 200-meter individual medley event with 2:31.87 with its 200-meter medley relay (2:06.93) and 800-meter freestyle relay (9:25.18) also prevailing.

CORRUPTION, BRIBERY, ETC.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Friday, November 9, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

GOAL! Real Madrid

midfielder Toni Kroos scores his side’s fifth goal during his team’s Champions League Group G match against Viktoria Plzen at the Doosan arena in Pilsen, Czech Republic, on Wednesday. AP SATOKO MIYAHARA will face a tough challenge at the NHK Trophy in Hiroshima. AP

Miyahara, Uno aim to shine on home ice at NHK Trophy

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OCAL favorite Satoko Miyahara will be aiming to continue her strong start to the season at the NHK Trophy in Hiroshima, the fourth event of the International Skating Union’s 2018 Grand Prix Series.

Miyahara opened her season with a victory at Skate America, but will face a tough challenge in the form of Russia’s Elizaveta Tuktamysheva who claimed the Skate Canada crown two weeks ago.

While she’s had to deal with a series of injuries, the criticism of Miyahara over the years is that her jumps lacked impact. That’s something the 20-yearold Miyahara has been working hard to improve on.

“In the past if I felt I was underrotating my jumps, I would just think in terms of jumping higher,” she said. “Now I’m looking a lot more at the technical aspects of my jumps.”

Pyeongchang Olympic silver medalist Shoma Uno, coming off a win at Skate Canada, headlines a men’s field that also includes Vincent Zhou of the United States and Kevin Reynolds of Canada. Uno’s main challenge will likely come from Russia’s Sergei Voronov, who won the event in 2017 and was third at Skate America. Russian skater Dmitri Aliev and Sota Yamamoto of Japan

also could be outside contenders in this competition.

“I want to show my fans the progress I have made,” Uno said. “I’ve been working hard on all aspects of skating; jumps, spins, steps, and I hope the results are evident.”

In pairs, Russia’s Natalia Zabiiako and Alexander Enbert, winners in Finland last weekend, will be in the hunt for a podium finish in Hiroshima and a berth at the Grand Prix Final.

China’s Cheng Peng and Yang Jin, and Canada’s Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro will also be strong medal contenders.

Russia’s Tiffani Zahorski and Jonathan Guerreiro, who were third at Skate America, will be among the favorites in ice dance along with Americans Rachel Parsons and Michael Parsons.

The competition begins with the men’s and women’s short programs on Friday.

Many of the skaters in this weekend’s event will be aiming to solidify their chances of advancing to the December 6 to 9 Grand Prix Final in Vancouver, Canada. AP

Should conviction have been tossed?

B

OSTON—Should Aaron Hernandez’s murder conviction have been tossed just because he killed himself before his appeal was heard?

That’s what Massachusetts’s highest court will consider on Thursday in a closely watched case that seeks to scrap the long-standing legal principle that made the former New England Patriots tight end innocent in the eyes of the law.

Hernandez was found guilty in 2015 of killing semi-professional football player Odin Lloyd. Hernandez, 27, was found dead in his prison cell days after being acquitted of most charges in a separate double-murder case.

A judge threw out Hernandez’s conviction after his death last year, citing the legal principle that holds that it’s unfair to keep a conviction in place before a defendant had a chance to clear their names on appeal.

Prosecutors say the legal doctrine is unfair to victims and their families.

They are pushing the Supreme Judicial Court to allow a defendant’s estate to pursue an appeal, if they wish, otherwise the verdict would stand.

Hernandez’s lawyers, meanwhile, are urging the court to keep the legal principle in place, saying that a “policy of affirming untested criminal convictions is contrary to Massachusetts values.”

The Supreme Judicial Court is not expected to rule on Thursday and usually takes months to decide cases.

The long-standing rule has led other high-profile Massachusetts figures to have their convictions erased after their death.

The child-molestation conviction of former Roman Catholic priest John Geoghan, a key figure in the clergy sex-abuse scandal that rocked the Boston archdiocese and spread across the globe, was vacated after he was beaten to death in 2003 in his cell at the same Massachusetts maximum-security prison. AP

SURFER FENDS OFF GREAT WHITE ATTACK C

A POLICEMAN holds a victim’s surfboard at a police station in Ballina, Australia. AP

ANBERRA, Australia—A man used his surfboard to fend off a shark that bit him on his calf off an Australian beach two days after a fatal attack on the Great Barrier Reef.

Lee Jonsson, a 43-year-old teacher aide at a local school, was bitten on Wednesday at Shelly Beach off Ballina in New South Wales state. Japanese surfer Tadashi Nakahara died at the same beach in 2015 after a great white shark 10 to 13 feet long tore off both his legs.

Government shark experts measured the tooth imprints in Jonsson’s surfboard and concluded a juvenile great white shark 9 feet long was responsible.

Ballina Shire Mayor David Wright said Jonsson came onshore after he was bitten while lying on his board, wrapped his leg and went to the hospital for treatment of a 20-centimeter (8-inch) wound.

“It dragged him off and he fought the shark with his board,” Wright said. “It’s one of those unfortunate things.”

Beaches in the area are expected to be closed for at least 24 hours.

On Monday a shark killed a man in a harbor in the Whitsunday Islands, where two tourists were mauled in September. The islands are 1,300 kilometers north of Ballina.

The victim, 33-year-old doctor Daniel Christidis, had been diving from a paddle board while on a yacht cruise. Police Insp. Steve O’Connell said the group included other doctors who worked to save him but Christidis was injured too severely.

The spate of attacks in the Whitsundays has left authorities struggling to explain an apparent escalation in danger in the internationally renowned vacation destination. In September two Australian tourists were mauled on consecutive days, one a 12-year-old girl who lost a leg.

Tourism Whitsundays General Manager Natassia Wheeler said Christidis’s group of 10 friends had been warned when they rented the yacht not to swim in the harbor where he was attacked.

The briefing by the rental company “involved saying no swimming at all in Cid Harbor,...no swimming at dusk and dawn—all of the standard safety procedures,” Wheeler told Australian Broadcasting Corp. AP

L

AUSANNE, Switzerland— The International Biathlon Union (IBU) has launched an investigation into allegations Russia bribed its way out of doping cases, months after police raids led the IBU president to step down.

The IBU says its investigation will cooperate with Austrian and Norwegian authorities on the bribery allegations, but will go further by probing whether the vote to give Russia the 2021 world championships was “tainted by corruption.”

That 2016 vote was later overturned following protests by the World AntiDoping Agency (Wada), and the event relocated to Pokljuka, Slovenia.

Austrian police raided IBU headquarters in April, with prosecutors alleging $300,000 in bribes were paid to cover up Russian doping.

The IBU’s longtime president and secretary general, Anders Besseberg and Nicole Resch, both left their posts soon after.

The IBU says its investigation will be headed

by British lawyer Jonathan Taylor, who also chaired a Wada committee which recommended the Russian anti-doping agency be reinstated in September.

The IBU also confirmed that Russia won’t host any more World Cup events until at least the 2022-23 season after publishing new competition calendars through 2021-22 without Russia.

That’s because the Russian Biathlon Union was reduced to provisional IBU membership last year as punishment for a large number of doping cases.

That status means it can’t host international competition.

A Monaco magistrate, meanwhile, filed charges on Wednesday against Russian tycoon Dimitri Rybolovlev, the owner of the principality’s soccer club, and three other people following a probe into suspected corruption, money laundering and other alleged crimes.

The others charged included a lawyer for Rybolovlev, Tetiana Bersheda, and the wife and son of a former Monaco justice minister, said Monaco prosecutor Sylvie PetitLeclair.

She said she had no details about the specific charges filed against them.

The charges come in the wake of a judicial probe into suspected corruption, influence trafficking, money laundering, forgery and violating judicial secrecy, Petit-Leclair said, speaking by telephone from Monaco.

Police are also conducting searches and questioning people, she said, again without providing details.

Rybolovlev was taken into custody on Tuesday and released Wednesday, she said.

His house and other properties were searched, she added.

Mexico’s federal government, on the other hand, said it is investigating possible “monopolistic practices” in the signing of soccer players in the country.

A statement from the Federal Commission on Economic Competition says such purported activity related to recruiting and hiring would violate Mexican law.

Investigators are looking at possible “contracts, agreements, arrangements or collusion between competing economic agents.”

Tuesday’s statement says any entities found guilty may be fined up to 10 percent of earnings and individuals could face up to 10 years in prison.

It did not name any teams or persons that may be under investigation. AP

A

Almighty ever-loving God

LMIGHTY ever-loving God, strengthen our faith, hope and charity, and make us love what You command so that we may merit what You promise.

May we constantly be reminded of the reasons You created us: To know You more, love You most and serve You endlessly. Inspire us to be in the state of grace so we may forever be worthy of Your love. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

Life BusinessMirror

‘PEOPLE’ MAGAZINE NAMES IDRIS ELBA 2018’S SEXIEST MAN ALIVE D4

Friday, November 9, 2018

D1

Carey Mulligan MAKES A MESS IN ‘WILDLIFE,’ AND MEN ARE VEXED S

By KyLe BuChanan New York Times News Service

ANTA MONICA, California—As an actress, Carey Mulligan is drawn to women who are unapologetic, but as a person, she still cannot help but be a bit self-conscious.

“I’m so sorry I’m late,” the 33-year-old Mulligan said as she sat down across from me at a Santa Monica coffeehouse. When told that she was only tardy by two minutes—an awfully minor infraction when it comes to celebrity interviews—Mulligan still felt compelled to apologize. Why? “I can’t help it, I’m English,” she said.

We had met up to discuss Wildlife, the new film in which Mulligan plays Jeanette, a 1960s housewife who must fend for her and her son after her husband (Jake Gyllenhaal) leaves them in the lurch to go fight a forest fire. Jeanette embarks on a risky affair that will either stabilize her family or destroy it, and that sort of challenging character choice is what drew Mulligan to Wildlife, which director Paul Dano and his cowriter, Zoe Kazan, adapted from the novel by Richard Ford.

“Jeanette doesn’t need to be likable,” Mulligan said.

“She just needs to be who she is.”

For Mulligan, who had her breakout moment with the Oscar-nominated An Education (2009), Jeanette is the latest in a series of complicated leading women that has led her to Mudbound last year and the play Girls & Boys, which she performed off-Broadway this summer. Mulligan was excited to discuss her recent career path, though ever self-deprecating, she ended our interview by exclaiming, “I feel like I just talked a load of bollocks!” Here are edited excerpts from our conversation.

Has it fascinated you to see how other people judge Jeanette?

It really has! I’ve been doing a lot of Q&As with real audiences, and they’re the punchiest Q&As I’ve ever done. They’re asking me to defend her a lot, in a roundabout way. We had one guy in New York who went after me and the character—never had he seen such an “appalling woman.” No women have disliked her in the Q&As, but we’ve had a couple of men who do.

Why do you think that is?

Because they don’t like seeing a woman who’s out of line, you know? They’ve been raised to see women in a very particular way and have very particular expectations of women, and allowing a woman onscreen to screw everything up for a minute just seems so out of what they’re used to.

Even the fact that the movie stays behind with your character is something they may not be used to. Many films would instead follow Jake Gyllenhaal’s character as he goes off to battle a wildfire, and you’d be reduced to a pleading voice on the phone.

There’s kind of an injustice to it. “Why does he get to go off and fight a wildfire? I want to go off and fight a wildfire.” I think quite a lot of women and mothers can identify with that.

Have you been offered a lot of “wife on the phone” parts?

I’ve been offered the wife to a great man millions of times—the wife of the brilliant politician, the girlfriend of the tech genius. Not many parts like Jeanette exist, and I couldn’t believe that Paul and Zoe trusted me with it. It was like proof that Paul thought I could act.

How has your relationship to acting changed as you’ve gotten older?

When I first started and had no idea what I was doing, I would draw a lot from my own life. If I had to be emotional, I would think of something awful happening to a family member. But when I did this play, Girls & Boys, about a woman who loses her two kids, I said from the outset, “I really don’t want to think about my kids when I do this. I want to keep it totally separate, because it’s the only way I could do this show.”

By and large, you work in independent movies. The Great Gatsby was a big-budget studio film, but that’s a rarity on your résumé.

After An Education, my agent told me, “You shouldn’t take a job unless you can’t bear the idea of someone else doing it,” and that’s how I’ve chosen everything since. If I’m reading a script, I think, “How would I feel if Insert-Name-of-Other-Actress was doing this, and I saw the poster up outside the theater?” And if that makes me feel gutted, then I want the part.

And did that work?

The further the play went on, the less I could make that separation. But I really miss Girls & Boys now. I remember midway through the last performance being like, “I will never do this again,” and now, four months later, I’m like, “I wonder if they kept the set!”

When I finished the play, I said to my husband, “I feel weirdly sad about saying goodbye to the invisible children in this play.” Which is the most pretentious thing I’ll ever say.

So you don’t have anything against Marvel movies, in theory?

If I found a part in a Marvel movie where I was like, “It’s going to kill me if someone else take this,” then I would do it. But I could never make myself do something that I’d be miserable in, where I’m just doing it to increase my box-office draw or make money. Now I have two children, so if I’m missing bath time with them, it has to be a good reason.

What do you miss about playing that character?

She was bold and funny. She didn’t care what people thought of her and I do, massively. Way too much, more than I should.

Do you feel like you have a good idea of what Hollywood thinks of you?

They think I’m “serious,” probably.

Do you ever get offered comedies?

Barely. And the ones I’ve been offered are incredibly broad, not-great ones. I would totally do comedy if the right thing came along, but it’s so scary.

What if you tell a joke and nobody laughs?

Have you ever gone back and watched an older film of yours?

I’ve caught bits. Most of the time I’ll switch it off, but if they play Pride & Prejudice on some movie channel, I’ll flick over and watch some of it.

Could you watch An Education now?

It was so long ago that it feels like a different person, so maybe. There were no expectations about anything I did back then, which in retrospect is so lovely. It feels a little bit different now: I would worry about playing a part and getting terrible reviews.

Maybe that’s very self-involved to say, but there’s an expectation now to be good that I genuinely didn’t feel then. I could do whatever I wanted to and no one was watching me. n

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Friday, November 9, 2018

Society BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

z

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Nicholas Scott Lachey, 45; Eric Dane, 46; Susan Tedeschi, 48; Lou Ferrigno, 67.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Take a closer look at your living arrangements and consider what would make you feel more at home and at ease. An innovative approach to the way you run your household, handle your money or earn your living should be put into play. Reducing your overhead will be necessary if you want to set your plans in motion. Your lucky numbers are 6, 13, 21, 23, 28, 36, 45.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Speak up if you want something. Looking out for your best interests will be necessary when dealing with money matters, contracts and personal relationships.

A positive attitude will change your life and your status.

Make plans with someone you love. HHHHH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Take your time and be precise if you want to avoid being misinterpreted. Knowing what you want and making your demands clear will help you avoid a loss. Your past experience will come in handy when dealing with others. HHH

THE GROOM IS FLANKED BY THE TIENG FAMILY From left: uncle Wilson Y. Tieng, mom Aida C. Tieng, dad William Y. Tieng, cousin-in-law Geraldine Tieng,

cousin Mark Tieng, Councilor Irwin C. Tieng, sister Charlene Tieng-Yang, brother-in-law Joel Yang, brother Ronald C. Tieng, and sister-in-law Jennifer Tieng. The children, from left, are Gisele Maxine Tieng, Alexandra Kate Yang, Veronica Mirei Yang and Geneva Meagan Tieng.

A dreamy new chapter for Irwin Tieng and Ladylyn Riva

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ANILA City’s Fifth District Councilor Irwin C. Tieng exchanged “I Dos” with Aklanon beauty Ladylyn Riva on September 30 in a lavish celebration at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom. Among the esteemed list of principal sponsors were President Rodrigo Roa Duterte and Mdm. Cielito “Honeylet” S. Avancena, Manila Mayor Joseph Ejercito M. Estrada and business mogul Teresita Sy-Coson. The president was represented at the event by Atty. Harry Roque.

Although only in his 30s, Irwin Tieng has carved out a successful career in both business and politics.

He worked for Solar Resources Inc. for almost a decade, before eventually entering politics. He was first elected into Congress as the Representative of Buhay Party-list and was three-term congressman, and is now serving his first term as Manila City

Councilor (Fifth District).

A stunning beauty of Filipino-Italian heritage, Ladylyn was a presence in the local beauty pageant scene, having joined Binibining Pilipinas, and Century Tuna Superbods.

She eventually bagged the crown as Miss Casino Filipino in 2013. She is currently serving as the CEO of Metro Faces Talent Management Agency.

The wedding was reminiscent of how Irwin won over Ladylyn with his persistence, generosity and loyalty. Six years ago, a chance encounter in a Boracay event where Ladylyn was one of the models led to romance a few months after. “I didn’t realize right away that he was interested in me,” Ladylyn reveals.

“He would take me and my friends out. He really took the time to make me comfortable and was patient enough to prove that he was serious about having a

lasting relationship,” she adds with a smile.

Amid an elegantly lavish setting, Irwin and Lady were surrounded by their loving friends and family as they exchanged vows. The groom was dashing in his Randy Ortiz suit, while the bride was a sight to behold in a Mark Bumgarner creation. The celebration was capped with a fun night of dancing and partying, definitely lots of memories to cherish for everyone.

It seems we would be seeing more of Irwin and Ladylyn in the coming years as the energetic couple shows no sign of slowing down. Irwin is running for reelection in 2019, while Ladylyn has bigger plans for her talent management business, MetroFaces.

She is also dedicated to further growing her “Pabebe” program in Manila, a personality development seminar/workshop series open to their constituents in Manila City. n

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Consider what you want, and lay out a strategy that will help you achieve your goal. Whether it’s a personal change or one that has to do with professional interests, what you do now will enhance your progress. HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Look at your options and take the road less traveled. Being innovative and unique will help you gain momentum and attract favorable attention. Don’t take a risk when it comes to physical challenges. Protect against injury and illness. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Look for any opportunity to participate in events that interest you. The people you meet will share ideas that will help you develop the changes that will encourage personal or professional growth. Romance is in the stars. HHHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Be careful whom you trust and tell your secrets to.

An emotional matter will get blown out of proportion if you let others meddle in your affairs. Focus on stabilizing your situation and gaining respect. Avoid indulgent behavior. HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Discuss personal matters with a close friend or relative. The insight you get from your discussion will help you understand your current situation better. Don’t let anyone pressure you into something you don’t want to do. HHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Caution will be necessary when planning and initiating what you want to do. Gains will only be made if your plans are thought-out and executed without going over budget. Take care of unfinished business, documents and personal papers. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Stick to the truth. Don’t embellish an incident, or you will have to answer for the misinformation you share. Focus on what you can do to help others, not bring them down. HHH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t shy away from what you believe and want to see happen. You may face opposition, but if you believe in someone or something, stand your ground and do your best to resolve matters without getting into a no-win situation. HHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Change is heading your way. Money can be made, contracts negotiated, and a higher position acquired. A high-energy approach will make others take note, and offers will follow. HHHH

l GUIDANCE FOR THE ROAD AHEAD The principal sponsors together with the couple: (from left) Vendia L. Chua, Lily Y. Monterverde, Daisy T. Tieng, Carolina P.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Put your reputation, status and position first. Don’t let what someone else does cost you emotionally or financially. Temptation will lead to taking a risk. Don’t interfere in other people’s affairs. HH

Co, Evelina I. Atienza, Teresita Sy-Coson, Mdm. Cielito ‘Honeylet’ S. Avancena, Ladylyn Riva-Tieng, Councilor Irwin C. Tieng, Atty. Harry Roque standing in for President Duterte, Mayor Joseph Ejercito M. Estrada, Rep. Jose “Lito” L. Atienza Jr., Rep. Michael Velarde standing in for Bro. Mike Velarde, Antonio L. Co, Willy Y. Tieng, Wilson Y. Tieng and Francisco A. Chua.

BIRTHDAY BABY: You are charming, unique and persuasive.

You are progressive and trendy.

‘bringing back a phrase’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Little Man ___ (1991 film) 5 Kind of party 9 Wet impact sounds 14 Clive of films 15 Old Cuzco inhabitant 16 Spoke lines?

17 You’re TOO nostalgic if you include your...

20 Hawaiian makeup?

21 Last moment’s hour 22 Human smoothie 25 Harvard vegetation 26 Baccarat call 28 Type of terrier 32 Deer playmate of song 37 Nightly activity 38 Reporters wade into crowds seeking...

41 Worthless talk 42 Colonize over again 43 Irritable 44 Vital savings?

46 “I don’t get it”

7 Bench rider? No 4 53 Tree expert 58 Thing with many keys 59 Tears may have acid when there is...

62 Valuable right hands 63 “I conclude that...”

64 Tropical fever 65 Favored by God (var.)

66 Walked-on things 67 Animal den DOWN 1 Issue at hand 2 Covered in water 3 A Musk company 4 Maze note 5 Moral taboo 6 Huge noise maker 7 Body pain 8 A Scottish language 9 ___ to (in on) 10 Get oneself clean 11 Norse deity of war 12 Four gills 13 Quiet “alas”

8 Suffix with “skeptic” 1 19 Prefix meaning “left” 23 Black, way old 24 Deeply focused 27 Beatles’ jacket option 28 Opening for a mail carrier 29 Preserved 30 Scream 31 Modern pentathlon weapon 32 Starting poker chip 33 Head-buried-in-books type 34 Kindling candidate 35 View from a distance 36 Get prone 37 Consult 39 Non-fat fishes?

40 “Hey, you with the face” 44 Climb a gym rope 45 Marine mollusk 46 Place for a light slap 48 Mar. + 30 days 49 Saudi coin 50 Cold forest 51 Feeling of boredom

2 Pilot’s “I can dig it” 5 53 Type of American 54 Billiard table part 55 Wait a while 56 Some change components 57 Like some streets 60 Halloween projectile 61 Lettuce with long leaves Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

Relationships BusinessMirror

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Friday, November 9, 2018

D3

Remaking Boracay TOURISTS in Boracay during the All Saints’ Day holiday weekend start moving to the beachfront, trying to capture the sun setting on the horizon.

SOMETHING LIKE LIFE

MA. STELLA F. ARNALDO

@akosistellaBM

STELLA ARNALDO

L

AYETTE is an Australian immigrant who has been vacationing with her partner to Boracay every year since 2010. I met her on the bus on the way to our Manila-bound plane at the Caticlan Airport last Monday. I myself had just spent the long All Saints’ Day weekend holiday on the island with my sister and her family.

“It was good what they did,” Layette said, referring to the government rehabilitation efforts on the island.

“The waters are now clear and very clean,” she adds.

“The last few times we went there, the water seemed mucky, with all that green algae floating about.”

I asked if it bothered her that there were no more beach beds or lounging chairs at the resort where she and her partner stayed. She answered, “No. We didn’t mind it, because in our public beaches in Sydney and Melbourne, there are also no beach beds. We just spread towels on the sand.”

She and her partner were unperturbed by the long lines at the port entry to register themselves, and the roundabout way they had to travel to their resort to avoid the road construction.

What Layette missed, though, is the vibrancy of the island. “We’ve been in Boracay during Halloween twice before,” she said. “Those times you would see kids in a parade on the main white beach, dressed in costumes, having fun. Now, there are no parties, no more parades, and it was dark while we walked at night. It was a bit depressing.”

Before we made our way to our seats on the plane, Layette said, “I wish they would bring it back. The vibe. You know, Boracay became known around the world because of its vibrancy. The liveliness. The fun.

If they don’t or can’t bring it back, maybe we’ll go somewhere else next year.”

It was sad to hear. But I couldn’t blame her. I had just experienced the same. And I had been going to Boracay since the late-1980s.

Government officials who had been in charge of the rehabilitation of the island have been focused on cleaning the beaches, patching up the sewerage, widening the roads, freeing up the main beach from obstruction, and other infrastructure and environmental issues. This had been a long time coming, and many on the island, even its visitors, had been urging for a solution to the environmental stress over the years.

But as much as I and many others appreciate the clean waters and the now expansive white beach, I

think government’s new rules and its implementation of ridiculous local ordinances that have not been updated with the changing times, may likely kill off Boracay. It’s true, the beach now looks like it was in the 1980s, but even then, as we lay on our beach towels, either getting a tan, reading a book, or just watching the sun set on the horizon as the sky burst into gorgeous hues of reds, oranges, pinks and violets, we could do so while drinking a chilled bottle of San Miguel.

Now, tourists can’t even drink their beer or any alcoholic beverages on the beach. A government official told me, tourists might just get too drunk and throw up on the beach, and that would be a mess too difficult to clean up.

Tourists also can’t smoke in public. As a former smoker, I fully support smoking bans in cities where we are jammed right next to each other while walking in malls, waiting for our daily commute, and more so in restaurants, offices and other enclosed spaces.

But the beaches in Boracay are huge open areas; it’s nearly impossible to bother others with secondhand smoke. As long as people dispose their cigarette butts in proper trash receptacles, I don’t see why smoking is a problem.

And who hasn’t seen the video of the young tourist being told by cops that she couldn’t build a sand castle on the beach? The video ends with the cops stomping with their shoes on the beginnings of a sand castle. (In apparent protest, I suppose, we saw families building their sandcastles at night, when the cops were hardly around on the beachfront. Also,

since dogs have been banned on the beach and have been trapped violently by dog pound workers, we saw dogs roaming out on the sand in the evening, perhaps let out by the owners.)

Then there is the ban on parties. Last Halloween, I was told there were just about three celebrations on the island, two held in resorts and one in a restaurant. The parties were far away from the beach, and yet a handful of tourists, apparently piqued at the allegedly loud music, complained to the police and the powers-that-be—and I mean the latter were officials really high up the food chain.

Wouldn’t it have been much simpler for this handful of tourists to just politely ask the establishment owners to turn down the music?

Halloween 2018 on Boracay was probably the most subdued ever in recent history. Time was when parties, music and people spilled out on the beach. In case the people in power have forgotten, the island had been practically dead for six months.

Can you blame residents and their guests for being a little exuberant?

Boracay’s reopening called for a celebration, and the islanders had to do it their own way. Yet these people, who lived through the worst business and personal crises in the past six months, couldn’t even be given a break. On the other hand, on October 26, government officials came in with their loud, tacky, variety-show type reopening ceremonies that lasted for hours.

There is also now a ban on fireworks, as well.

Earlier on, environmental officials said it was okay for

the fireworks to be lit a�ter 9 pm (not “before” as was reported by some media outlets). The officials wanted to respect the flight paths of flying foxes and bats. But just recently, it was announced that the fireworks are now totally banned.

Those who forced this total ban probably don’t know that in Boracay, the coming of the New Year is heralded with fireworks launched from a barge, far away from the beachfront. The show doesn’t even last for very long, probably not more than 10 to 15 minutes. So there is no chance of polluting the air, as the powders are quickly dispersed in the atmosphere.

If the government insists on this fireworks ban in Boracay, then they might as well scrap the Pyrotechnics Olympics held annually at Manila Bay. The shows are longer, the fireworks are more diverse and complicated, and are held over a period of days.

I understand that government executives overseeing the rehabilitation of Boracay are just trying their best to preserve its environment so we could hand the island in one piece to our future descendants. But people go to Boracay for a vacation.

They want to get away from the restrictions we normally have to contend with the city. They want to relax, chill, and have a great time with family and friends, without encumbrances.

Sensible measures are needed to keep Boracay’s environment pristine and sustainable. But please don’t kill the fun. Don’t kill the vibe. Don’t kill the island’s soul. Don’t remake Boracay into an island it never was with government’s overregulation. n

Children’s rights advocates push for reforms THREE champions of children’s rights recently advocated for immediate need to effectively implement laws and programs to protect children. The discussion took place in commemoration of Unicef’s 70th anniversary in the Philippines.

The panelists particularly focused on raising the legal age of discernment for statutory rape from 12 to 15, and to keep the minimum age of criminal responsibility at 15 instead of lowering it to nine years.

Measures to improve access to assistive devices by children with disability were also discussed during the Kapihan sa Manila Bay at Café Adriatico, hosted by Marichu Villanueva.

In a lively discussion attended by a print and broadcast media, Unicef Philippines Representative Lotta Sylwander, Sen. Pia

Cayetano and Philippines General Hospital Director Dr. Gerardo (Gap) Legaspi, discussed the dire consequences if a child as young as nine is put in prison with hardened criminals, when rehabilitation and community-based interventions have proven, according to studies, to be more beneficial and decreases the likelihood of a child recommitting crime. The panelists also agreed that if the age of criminal responsibility is lowered to 12, adults are more likely to use children as accomplices to crime.

In observance of Unicef’s 70th year in the Philippines, Sylwander also emphasized that the Philippines, as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, has an obligation to protect children and accord them

Understanding risk and resilience IN celebration of the International Day of Disaster Reduction, experts from the government and relevant organizations gathered for “A Forum on Understanding Risk and Resilience” at the SMX Convention Center of SM Aura Premier to discuss and analyze ways to reduce risks, enhance resilience and minimize economic losses in the face of hazards.

Among the topics explored were the schematic of risk framework, direct interventions and government responses to human losses. The forum was organized by ARISE Philippines, Department of National Defense, National Resilience Council and SM Prime Holdings.

their rights. The Unicef has been advocating to raise the minimum age of discernment of statutory rape, or the age of sexual consent to 15 instead of the existing law’s provision of 12.

As a staunch advocate of women and children’s rights, Senator Cayetano has fought for mothers and newborn children.

Cayetano is the author of the reproductive health law, or Republic Act 10354, which provides women access to information and services regarding their reproductive health rights. In the forum, Cayetano reiterated that the age of sexual consent and criminal liability should be increased.

She pushed for stronger implementation of the foster care system as embodied in the Foster Care Act, or RA 10165, which she authored. She added that children

abused by their own families will receive better rehabilitation under foster care. The Taguig representative went on to highlight that increasing the age of sexual consent decreases cases of sexual exploitation and teenage pregnancies.

Under his leadership as PGH Director, Dr. Legaspi started the Malasakit Center which offers free health care to senior citizens and persons with disabilities.

During the Kapihan, Legaspi brought up the importance of proper health care for children with disabilities (CWD). With early treatment, CWDs can lead normal lives. He added that the PGH’s disability center and other government agencies offer free health care to CWDs. Prior to assuming directorship in 2004, Legaspi set up the Pediatric Neurosurgical

and Craniofacial Operating Unit with private funding to address the two-year backlog of children needing surgery at PGH. To date, 4,000 patients have been treated and now live normal lives.

The three panelists concluded that present efforts for child welfare and protection must be accelerated. In a statement, Sylwander reiterated the Unicef’s stand on children: “After 70 years of efforts here in the Philippines, the Unicef will continue to be caring, effective, present and relevant in protecting the rights of children. We have made significant progress. But we still have a long way to go to form even stronger partnerships, and continue the work to reach and support every Filipino child in need.”

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Show BusinessMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘People’ magazine names Idris Elba 2018’s Sexiest Man Alive

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‘Fantastic Beasts’ stars: Grindelwald isn’t Trump, exactly

By Jonathan Landrum Jr. The Associated Press

OS ANGELES—People magazine has named Idris Elba as 2018’s Sexiest Man Alive, and the British actor says the honor has given him a boost of self-confidence.

Elba, who starred in The Wire and Luther, was surprised after being crowned this year’s winner, the magazine said.

“I was like, ‘Come on, no way. Really?’” he told the magazine. “Looked in the mirror, I checked myself out. I was like, ‘Yeah, you are kind of sexy today.’ But to be honest, it was just a nice feeling. It was a nice surprise—an ego boost for sure.”

Elba’s selection was revealed on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with the actor appearing via satellite from London. Fallon had Elba perform poses to match the magazine’s cover description of him as a “sweet, smoldering superstar.” Elba said of his selection, “My mom is going to be very, very proud.”

The actor has also starred in Marvel’s Thor franchise and as Nelson Mandela in the film Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Elba, 46, also performs on the side under the deejay name DJ Big Driis and has his own clothing line. He is also planning a wedding with his fiancée Sabrina Dhowre. The actor has a 16-year-old daughter, Isan, and a 4-year-old son, Winston, from previous relationships.

Elba told People about his upbringing as an only child of African immigrants growing up in East London. The actor said his parents were strict and he got picked on often while attending an all-boys school despite playing an array of sports including football, basketball, cricket, hockey and rugby.

“I was very tall and skinny,” recalled Elba, who stands at 6-foot-3. “And my name was Idrissa Akuna Elba, OK? I got picked on a little bit. But again, as soon as I could grow a mustache, I was the coolest kid on the block. Grew a mustache, had some muscles, bonkers.” Past winners include Dwayne Johnson, David Beckham, Chris Hemsworth, Adam Levine, Channing Tatum and last year’s honoree, country star Blake Shelton.

Elba will be featured in a special double issue that will hit newsstands on Friday. The actor said he tries to live life without few regrets. “Life isn’t about thinking about what you should have done,” he said.

“I think everyone should adopt the philosophy that tomorrow is not promised so just go for it today. You might as well do it to your heart’s content.” n

By Ryan Pearson The Associated Press

GMA AGAIN BEATS RIVAL ABS-CBN IN NATIONWIDE TV RATINGS

DIRECTOR Erik Matti’s Buybust

MORE FILIPINO FILMS NOW ON NETFLIX

NOW, subscribers to the leading video streaming service Netflix can enjoy critically acclaimed and blockbuster Pinoy films, along with their favorite global titles.

BuyBust comes on November 15. Filipinos love action films and the movie doesn’t disappoint.

An antidrug squad finds themselves trapped in a Manila slum when their operation is compromised.

Anne Curtis delivers an outstanding performance as an officer fighting for her life.

Kita Kita begins streaming on November 16. Set in Japan, this romcom has captivated international critics and audiences alike. Tour guide Lea suffers from heartbreak and goes blind after finding out her Japanese fiancé has been cheating on her.

Enter the wickedly charming Tonyo to save her from misery. Come for the movie’s witty dialogue, stay for the onscreen chemistry of lead actors Alessandra de Rossi and Empoy Marquez.

The other Pinoy offerings on tap includes Beauty and the Bestie on November 26, with Praybeyt Benjamin, The Amazing Praybeyt Benjamin, You Changed My Life and more coming soon.

BASED on the latest data from Nielsen TV Audience Measurement, the industry’s widely trusted ratings service provider, GMA remains as the nationwide television ratings frontrunner.

For the whole month of October (with October 28 to 31 based on overnight data), the network once again proved it is the viewers’ preferred channel, posting an average total day people audience share of 41.1 percent in the National Urban Television Audience Measurement (Nutam). It won over rival network ABS-CBN, which only managed to register 37.2 percent. The network consistently reigned across all day parts including the evening prime-time block. In the morning block, GMA registered a 39.9-percent people audience share versus ABS-CBN’s 32.0 percent.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon block, GMA tallied a 41.7-percent people audience share, winning over ABS-CBN’s 37.4 percent. GMA further bested competition in the evening block with a 41.3-percent people audience share versus ABSCBN’s 39.3 percent.

The network, likewise, dominated the viewer-rich areas of Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, which respectively account for 72 and 59 percent of all urban viewers in the country.

GMA posted an average total day people audience share of 46.9 percent in Urban Luzon versus ABS-CBN’s 30.9 percent. Similarly in Mega Manila (with official data from October 1 to 27), the network posted an average total day people audience share of 49.1 percent, while the rival network

24 Oras

only got 28.1 percent.

GMA also kept its advantage in Nutam’s list of top-rating programs, with Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho still reigning as the most-watched program nationwide and followed by Daddy’s Gurl, which features the phenomenal father-daughter tandem of Vic Sotto and Maine Mendoza.

Consistent ratings drivers for the month were Pepito Manaloto, 24 Oras, Studio 7, Onanay, Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko, Magpakailanman, Victor Magtanggol, Amazing Earth, Inday Will Always Love You, 24 Oras Weekend, Wowowin, Pamilya Roces, Eat Bulaga, Imbestigador and Asawa Ko, Karibal Ko. GMA programs also took the lion’s share in the list of top programs in both Urban Luzon and Mega Manila, respectively taking 22 and 24 spots out of the top 30.

Nielsen data is gathered through a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to Kantar Media.

With approximately 900 more homes surveyed in Total Urban and Rural Philippines compared to Kantar, Nielsen data is statistically considered more representative of the total TV population.

In 2018 Nielsen TV Audience Measurement’s client pool covers a total of 34 clients/subscribers consisting of eight local TV networks, including ABS-CBN, TV5, Aksyon TV, CNN Philippines and Viva Communications Inc., among others; three regional clients; two blocktimers; and 21 agencies (17 media agencies, three consulting agencies, one digital agency).

DADDY’S Gurl

LOS ANGELES—Johnny Depp’s charismatic leader at the center of the new Fantastic Beasts sequel isn’t modeled on US President Donald J. Trump.

But the stars of Fantastic Beasts: Crimes of Grindelwald, the film written by J.K. Rowling about a dark wizard who becomes a divisive leader in the magical world, tell The Associated Press that there are some similarities. The film is set in the Harry Potter universe and finds Depp’s character, Gellert Grindelwald, seeking to gain power and divide “pureblood” wizards from humans in 1920s Paris.

“It’s shining a light, isn’t it, on things that have happened before, as well,” said Callum Turner, who plays Theseus, the older brother to Eddie Redmayne’s hero main character in the film. “And how seductive and easy things can take a turn for the worse. And not just be specific to any one moment. “That’s the question. Why are we people being seduced in that way? What is it in the moment, in the zeitgeist, what is that? And that’s what is interesting about that—that’s the similarity. Not the person. The message.”

Katherine Waterston, who plays a magical lawenforcement agent, says the villain crafted by the politically outspoken Rowling is more “subtle” than the real-life president.

“Every bad guy is more nuanced and subtle than Trump. He is like the most overt bad guy of all time,” she said. “But it’s amazing because she was actually writing this long before the election happened—this chapter of the story. So yeah, it’s interesting actually with brilliant people, if they’re paying attention to the way the world is going, they actually tend to predict the future. Yeah, but it really is I think from paying close attention. And she’s so politically active.”

Ezra Miller plays a mysterious character named Credence Barebone, whose powers include a destructive magical parasite.

He says Grindelwald shares similarities to many leaders throughout history.

“I think it’s approaching universal themes that sure, can you look at all of the autocrats in all of history and be like, ‘Yup, they are all kind of that guy, sure,’” Miller said. “There’s a period where they just convince everyone that they are on their team and they’re going to get them good jobs and it’s going to be awesome. “And that’s like how tyranny works. Like at first they convince you that they have the right to rule you. And then they arm up and get it on. It’s a universal story.”

Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, the second of five planned movies in the franchise, hits theatres in the United States and United Kingdom on November 16.

Billboard names Ariana Grande 2018 Woman of the Year NEW YORK—The music industry is honoring Ariana Grande.

Billboard on Tuesday named the 25-year-old award-winning singer its 2018 Woman of the Year. Grande will receive the award at Billboard’s 13th annual Women in Music event on December 6 in New York City.

Previous recipients include Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Madonna and Selena Gomez.

In a statement, Billboard’s Vice President of Content Ross Scarano says Grande “consistently stands up for herself and her decisions in a world that often isn’t hospitable to that sort of strength in young women.”

In the past year, Grande has had Top 40 hits, including “No Tears Left To Cry,” ‘’Breathin’” and “God Is A Woman.”

She helped organize the One Love Manchester concert last year, raising more than $23 million for victims of the Manchester bombing. AP

Motoring BusinessMirror

Henry Ford Awards Best Motoring Section 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 2011 Hall of Fame

Editor: Tet Andolong

Friday, November 9, 2018 E1

THE SOUND OF POWER “BEAUTIFUL won’t be tamed”

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By Tet Andolong

HE Vantage nameplate has been the heartbeat of Aston Martin’s purest models for seven decades and has been worn by some true icons, as well as a trademark to James Bond movies.

First used in 1951 on a highoutput engine option for the DB2, Vantage was quickly established as a model in its own right, including the William Towns-designed V8 Vantage, spectacular twin-supercharged V600 Le Mans and the much-loved V8 Vantage.

Unveiled recently in Manila, Aston Martin is poised to hit new heights with the introduction of the all-new Vantage. Pure, sculptural forms create an athletic, predatory stance, while the minimal front and rear overhangs, muscular flanks and broad haunches express the agility and dynamism inherent within the car. New head and taillights form dramatic new signatures, giving the Vantage unmistakable road presence and contribute to a strong and individual identity within the growing Aston Martin model range.

“We are extremely excited to finally launch the all-new Aston Martin Vantage in Manila. From its successful predecessor, we have something entirely new, signifying the new era of Aston Martin,” said Aston Martin Manila President Marc Tagle.

Aerodynamic performance was central to the Vantage design concept—the front splitter directs airflow underneath the car, where a system of fences channels cooling air where it is needed, and also ensures the rear diffuser is fed with clean airflow. The design of the diffuser creates an area of low pressure air, while simultaneously preventing turbulence generated by the rear wheels from disrupting the flow of air exiting centrally from beneath the rear of the car. Together with the new side gills, which have been integrated into the body surface and bleed air pressure out from the front wheel arches, and the pronounced upswept rear deck lid, the Vantage generates a significant level of downforce—a rarity on any production car and a first for a core production Aston Martin model.

“What I like with the new Vantage is the power and you can just feel it as soon as you turn on the engine,” said Tagle. The heart of the Vantage is Aston Martin’s potent

THE all-new Vantage launched

ASTON Martin Manila President Marc Tagle

new alloy, 4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. Set low and as far back in the chassis as possible for optimal center-of-gravity and perfect 50:50 weight distribution, this high-performance, high-efficiency engine returns a CO2 figure of 245g/km yet develops 510 hp at 6000 rpm and 685 N-m of maximum torque from 2000-5000rpm.

Inside the Vantage features a high level of standard equipment, including keyless start/stop, tire pressure monitoring system, parking distance display, park assist and front and rear parking sensors. The interior is every bit as dynamic—a true and purposeful sports car interior that is a departure from the flowing lines and central waterfall console that has previously defined Aston Martin interiors. Instead, the Vantage cockpit is dominated by a compact, focused console that shrink wraps the technical architecture—that’s to say the areas of switchgear, such as the new PRND transmission switches, which are now positioned in a triangular formation. The In-Car Entertainment system—controlled and viewed via an 8-inch LCD screen, which is comprised of the Aston Martin Audio System, Bluetooth audio, phone streaming, iPod, iPhone, and USB playback and an integrated satellite navigation system.

NEW Pirelli P Zero tires developed specifically for new Vantage and the latest generation Adaptive Damping System, which incorporates the Skyhook technology

The new Vantage also features a high level of craftsmanship, evidenced by flawless paintwork, luxurious Alcantara and leather upholstery through the use of tactile natural materials of the highest quality. There is also extensive scope for personalization via a generous choice of options.

“Beautiful won’t be tamed perfectly,” encapsulates this car, with its predatory stance, muscular flanks and broad haunches—it shows its incredible agility and performance through its design. Aston Martin’s dedicated craftsmanship is unmistakable on the new Vantage,” added Tagle.

For the first time on an Aston Martin, the new Vantage also fea-

tures an Electronic Rear Differential (E-Diff). This differential is linked to the car’s electronic stability control system, so it can understand the car’s behavior and react accordingly to direct the engine’s power to the relevant wheel.

Matt Becker, chief of vehicle attribute engineering, said, “We’ve really ramped up the feeling of agility, response and excitement with the Vantage. Key to this is the new Electronic Differential, which works with Dynamic Torque Vectoring and the car’s Dynamic Stability Control to make the car feel more responsive in slow and medium corners, but more stable in high-speed turns. We’ve put a huge amount of effort into the calibra-

VANTAGE Center Console

tion of these electronic systems so the car feels natural and connected. It’s incredibly quick across the ground, but the speed doesn’t come at the expense of feel and enjoy-

ment. It’s a proper driver’s car.”

Now, with the introduction of the new Vantage, a fresh chapter of this legendary model is about to begin.

Moto

Business

E2 Friday, November 9, 2018

LEXUS NX300 LARRY WEITZMAN

oring

sMirror

Friday, November 9, 2018

TOYOTA Wigo

E3

Motoring BusinessMirror

E4 Friday, November 9, 2018

‘The sharks that usually swim in our minds weren’t there’

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OSE “BOYET” LIM III, the courageous multiple owner of Toyota dealerships in Mindanao, concludes today his three-part story about his recent odyssey in the seas of Davao Gulf.

His epic sea survival in the dark night all by his lonesome for nearly 13 hours, just drifting utterly hungry and thirsty, could be well on the way to being made into a movie, if not a telenovela, that is worthy of rivaling the long-running Ang Probinsiyano series at ABS-CBN.

Conclusion

FINALLY, I saw an opening. A very strong high tide current was coming along and I decided to make a go of it: Swim to shore.

Behind me to my right shoulder, the morning star looked like it was falling toward me.

I was riding a current over three

knots strong, headed north northwest. Within almost two hours, I could see fishermen from Talikud trying their early catch.

I spotted two low-flying search and rescue planes in the sky. There was a boat that was going to the dive spot from the west, a Navy vessel maybe, by its color gray.

Then another vessel, white this time, maybe of the Coast Guard, was making its turn at Babusanta.

It also stopped at the dive spot.

Too far to see me

THEY were just too far to see me, perhaps even too far for me to make my impressions, if not for the search operation that I knew was

going to happen.

I was targeting Babusanta at dead north from where I was. This meant riding the seven-degree north northwest current diagonally. Very doable.

Then I stopped, for a hopeful reason, and got drifted again north northwest. There was a speeding boat from the west that was heading toward my direction, either because it was avoiding the fishermen or just chilling at top speed—aimlessly.

If it were after a fishing spot, it would miss me. Again. But if it were a search boat, it should find me.

I signaled and hollered as it was passing me about 200 meters away.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Four seconds.

Five seconds.

Nothing.

A search boat

AND then it slowed down, turned toward me, speeding again.

It was a search boat.

He yelled as he came close: “Sir Lim?” Finally, I was found at 5:52 a.m. of the following day, after 12 hours and 46 minutes afloat somewhere in the 308,000-hectare Davao Gulf.

It took us about 15 to 20 minutes to pass the corner of Babusanta with the boat speeding at 30 mph, at least.

This meant that I was anywhere

between 7 and 10 miles away from Babusanta at the spot where I was found.

I must have drifted at least 35 miles in all that night, in all directions. It sure would be hard and crazy to do that intentionally.

Dumb flashlight

IT was a grueling experience, enriching, to say the least. But above all, I thank the Almighty for protecting me from harm; my family, teammates, fraternity brothers and sisters, and friends who prayed very hard for me.

I could hear them in the pitch dark and still of the night; and those who planned and did everything to accomplish the near impossible of finding me, or my remains. I am very sorry for all the trouble the dumb flashlight has caused us all. It will never happen again.

From me and my family, thank you so much! Thank you for the love and friendship. Thank you for the prayers.—Boyet

Postscript

BRUNCH at 10:30 a.m. the day I was rescued consisted of one small cup of rice, a matambaka fish for viand paired with half-boiled okra and ampalaya, tomatoes with ginamos, and a fried egg.

Next bite was a boiled banana at 3:45 p.m. downed with half a liter of water.

As the dive, which ended at dusk and extended into the night with-

out sleep, was a mishap, I had no food or water, until I was rescued at 5:52 a.m. of the following day.

My tangigue (spanish mackerel) catch, which served its valuable purpose, was still there intact.

There were large bats in the night but the sharks that usually swim in our minds weren’t there at all.

I drank 330 ml of water for the hourlong trip from the point where I was rescued up to the marina.

I was pleasantly surprised to see a medical evacuation plan in place at the jetty, with ambulance, medics and all, that brought me straight to the Metro Davao Regional Medical Center.

I would have been moved to the nearby Southern Philippines Medical Center where the ICU and heart unit had been prepared for my admission, had there been something really wrong with me. The preparation was at the request of our good mayor, Mayor Sara Duterte, I heard.

But my blood pressure was normal at 120/70; and so were my pulse rate and oxygen level. No bruises or contusions, nothing, except for a pinch of hematoma on my left foot that was caused by my fin movements as I had swam and drifted for hours. I was not a neardrowning victim, so x-ray was out of the question. All vital signs were A-ok.

At around 8 a.m., I was back in

my Bloomfields residence in Davao, took a shower, drank water and ate fruits leisurely, and took a bite of egg sandwich and popsicle before falling into a deep sleep from 11:45 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. I also slept soundly that night.

Thanks be to God it was not an insurmountable ordeal after all. I have now been called by all exaggerations in comments to my post, from Aquaman to Ironman to Superman to Avenger.

I’m glad no one has baptized me Lazarus.

PEE STOP God permitting, I’ll be

homeward bound from Sydney by the time you are reading this. The missus had to attend their highschool reunion there, our journey spiked by a side trip to Canberra.

As usual, I was her bodyguard in this my sixth trip to Down Under since I flew to Adelaide in 1985 to cover the Asia-Pacific Golf Championship (I was with the Bulletin then). Melbourne was next in 1992, and then the next three were all to Sydney. The highlight, of course, was when I covered the 2000 Sydney Olympics as the Inquirer’s sports editor. The last one to Sydney was in 2015, when Bobby Rosales invited me to cover the BMW World Golf in the company of Karl Magsuci, Bong Santos and the ageless Tom Alvarez.

In all my six trips to Sydney, PAL was my carrier. I am that patriotic, you know. Ahem!

ROCKSTAR’S CHOICE IS BLADE A

S we inch closer to Christmas, the country’s largest retail chain of automotive accessories with 60 stores nationwide has started its campaign of offering its line of car-care products and accessories at a low price.

Catching up to this idea is rockstar Arnel Pineda, who admitted that he gets the best deals at Blade. “I like it here, everything is affordable and all

are quality products,” he said.

Pineda is a singer-songwriter who gained international fame for being the front man for the group Journey.

With stores strategically located in all SM, Robinsons and Ayala Malls around the country, car enthusiasts can now buy trusted and proven car-care products, such as Blade’s Carnuba car wax, microfiber cloths and special-edition water containers. Famous as be-

ing a one-stop shop for anything related to cars and SUVs, Blade also carries a complete line of automotive accessories and car-care products that ranges from car audio-video down to air fresheners.

“The brands we carry are all licensed and Blade is an official distributor of the aforementioned brands. All branded merchandise that we carry are original and licensed,” explained Albert Go of Blade. Blade also of-

fers globally recognized brands in its retail chain such as Sparco, OMP, Goodyear, Polaroid, Blaupunkt, Pioneer, Wurth, Sonax, 3M tints and Chupa Chups.

Blade Auto Center’s line of car accessories and gadgets are reasonably priced due to its high purchase volume. “Savings are passed on to the customers.

With our network of 60 locations, Blade is able to negotiate for the lowest cost,” added Go.

Villar races to the top of Yokohama GT championship

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N a testosterone-driven sporting event, a female racer emerged series champion in the GT150 Class of the 2018 Yokohama Philippines Grand Touring Car Championship, which drew some of the best racers in the country on October 21 at the Clark International Speedway.

Kathy Villar, the sole female competitor in the race series, was also hailed as the first female Rookie Driver of the Year.

Trailing behind Villar were first runnerup Lewy Manio and second runner-up Russ Agapito.

Driving a Honda Civic EK hatchback, Villar recorded the fastest lap time of 2.21.573, besting other competitors and

eventually winning the GT150 title.

In the GT200 class, Edwin Rodriguez finished the season at the top of the driver points standing to clinch top series honors, while Paolo Ivan Santos and Paul Santos finished first and second runners-up, respectively.

“Racing with some of the country’s top drivers is such a privilege and I’m just very grateful for the opportunity and the recognition. It was indeed an adrenalinecharged series. Huge thanks to everyone who made this possible,” said Villar, who attributes a big part of her victory to her rigorous training.

Villar was trained by her coach and race

car engineer, Edgen Dy-Liacco, who was also a champion in karting, rallying and Formula Toyota racing in the Philippines.

Sanctioned by the Automobile Association of the Philippines and sponsored

by Yokohama Philippines, the six-leg Yokohama Grand Touring Car Championship kicked off last May and ran until the October finale. The races were held at the Clark International Speedway and Batangas Racing Circuit.

The annual series is under the Philippine Petron Motorsports Championships, which also holds other racing events like Philminiracers, Classic Aspirated Cup and Sparco Grid and Bracket Races.