Businessmirror november 15, 2015

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Meralco eyes court relief vs CSP M

By Lenie Lectura

ANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is likely to bring the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to court to question their authority for issuing resolutions that direct distribution utilities (DUs) to conduct Competitive Selection Process (CSP) in the procurement of their power requirements. week ahead

ECONOMIC DATA PREVIEW Peso

n Previous week: The peso depreciated in the previous week owing to the strong dollar during the period. In particular, the peso breached the 47 territory at the start of the week.

The peso hit 47.16 to a dollar on Monday to further decelerate at 47.26 to a dollar on Tuesday. A slight appreciation was seen on Wednesday for the peso to hit back at the 46 territory at 46.95 to a dollar. This was, however, erased on Thursday at 46.98 to a dollar and ended the week at 47.05 to a dollar. The total traded volume was at $3.9 billion, about a billion higher than the $2.88-billion volume in the previous week. The average value of the peso is at 47.08 to a dollar.

n Week ahead: Barring unforeseen circumstances, the local currency is still broadly to remain in the same trading range as last week’s with particular view on the country’s dollar inflow from remittances which is set to be released by the central bank on Monday.

Remittances (September) November 16, Monday

n August remittances: The volume of cash sent home by Filipino migrant workers contracted for the first time in 12 years in August this year. In particular, the remittances sent by Filipino workers abroad declined by 0.6 percent in

See “Outlook,” A2

The country’s largest DU, which services over 5 million customers in its franchise areas, has met with lawyers to determine the steps it would take. “ We a re ju st wa it i ng for [Meralco President Oscar Reyes] to come back to decide which of the options to pursue,” Meralco First Vice

Asian leaders condemn Paris attacks, RAISE ALERT

President William Pamintuan said in a telephone interview.

Seeking legal relief before the Regional Trial Court is one of the options Pamintuan was referring to. Another option, he added, is to appeal the case before the ERC. Continued on A2

IMF confident Q3 will be better

By Bianca Cuaresma

T

HE International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed confidence that the third-quarter growth of the country is stronger compared to that of the previous quarter as government spending contributed more to the economy during the period.

IMF Resident Representative to the Philippines Shanaka Jayanath Peiris reiterated that its growth forecast for the year at 6 percent still stands, despite weaknesses seen in the global front, which resulted in the lowering of forecasts for the year by other economists.

MANILA’S TALLEST Tutuban Center in Manila is a bit brighter as its Christmas tree was lighted in a colorful ceremony on Saturday night. At 50 feet tall, it is considered the city of Manila’s Christmas tree. NONOY LACZA

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PESO exchange rates n US 46.9930

“We expect second-half growth to be stronger than the first half underpinned by the pickup in government spending since June 2015 that is likely to provide a boost to GDP growth in the third quarter,” Peiris told the BusinessMirror.

The first-half growth of the country registered at 5.3 percent—which means that an acceleration of growth to about 6.7 percent for the next two quarters is warranted to reach the IMF’s growth target of 6 percent for the year.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) is set to release the thirdquarter GDP on at the last week of the month.

See “IMF,” A2

PEOPLE rest on a bench after being evacuated from the Bataclan theater after a shooting in Paris. A series of attacks targeting young concertgoers, soccer fans and Parisians enjoying a Friday night out at popular nightspots killed over 150 people in the deadliest violence to strike France since World War II. AP

A

SIAN leaders condemned the wave of deadly attacks in Paris on Friday night that left at least 150 people dead, while placing regional authorities on security alert ahead of international summits scheduled in Turkey, the Philippines and Malaysia.

“This is, indeed, a black Friday for France and for the world,” Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop told reporters in Perth. “The French people and their way of life are under attack.”

With leaders, including US President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila starting Monday, Philippine officials said they were assessing the situation and taking precautions to ensure the safety of all delegates. The attacks may put terrorism on top of the policy agenda at the G-20 meeting in Turkey starting Saturday.

Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong expressed shock at the attacks in a Facebook post on Saturday and said they make a planned discussion for terrorism at the G-20 meeting“more relevant and urgent than ever.” Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak wrote on Twitter: “I am shocked with what happened in Paris but we must remain united and undeterred in the war against terrorism.”

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hong Lei said his country is deeply shocked and strongly condemns the terrorists attacks, according to a statement on the ministry’s web site. Terrorism is a common challenge facing humanity, he said.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry issued an advisory urging travelers to France to take precautions. Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said the attacks must not be forgiven and that Japan would respond with determination alongside the international community, the

Sankei newspaper reported.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key also condemned the attacks and offered their condolences to the people of France.

Explosions, shootings

GUNMEN turned Paris into a deadly combat zone on Friday night, launching a series of explosions and shootings that resulted in the deaths of more than 150 people and led to a bold counterattack by security forces at a popular concert hall to free scores of hostages.

Officials were still trying to account for those killed during the attack at the Bataclan Concert Hall. Paris Prosecutor François Molins told reporters that the death toll in the day’s attacks at six sites in the French capital could pass 120. Other reports said the number of fatalities has exceeded 150.

At least some of the attackers were killed, but officials differed on the number. US sources said four died in the theater and three of them killed themselves with suicide vests. French media put the number of assailants killed at between three and six, including at other locations.

It was unclear if any attackers remained at large.

Some of the hostages recalled hearing the gunmen yelling “This is for Syria” and “God is great” before they fired. A US source said the attacks have the hallmarks of an al-Qaeda operation:“multiple attacks and soft targets.”

France President François Hollande called military reinforcements to secure the streets and put controls at the borders and declared a nationwide state of emergency. Paris will be essentially shuttered beginning Saturday with schools, museums, libraries, gyms, pools, food markets all closed and outdoor events canceled.

See “Paris attack,” A2

n japan 0.3835 n UK 71.5891 n HK 6.0637 n CHINA 7.3782 n singapore 33.1217 n australia 33.3971 n EU 50.8370 n SAUDI arabia 12.5312

Source: BSP (13 November 2015)

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, November 15, 2015

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Meralco eyes court relief vs CSP Continued from A1

Pamintuan, who is also the head of Meralco’s legal and corporate governance office, said it is up to Reyes to decide on Meralco’s next move. Reyes is expected to return to office this week.

In particular, Meralco would want the court to determine if the ERC and the DOE are authorized to issue such resolutions under the Energy Power Industry Reform Act, which is on its 14th year of implementation.

“The right way to question if they have the authority or not is through this,” said Pamintuan, who was referring to a court filing.

The utility company is opposed to the mandatory implementation of the CSP, a policy crafted by the DOE in June of this year.

The CSP, through a joint resolution issued by the DOE and the ERC on October 20, took effect on November 6.

When sought for comment, ERC Chairman Jose Vicente B. Salazar said the commission would exercise its legal authority to defend the issuance of ERC Resolution 13 if challenged in court.

Apart from the joint resolution, the ERC also issued a separate resolution on CSP albeit with the same objective.

“While we respect anyone’s right to take legal action, we lament the failure to see the public’s clear benefit from the CSP. We will respect the legal process even as we seriously consider our own legal options to make sure we defend the public interest, as well,” Salazar said in a text message.

Meralco Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said earlier that seeking a

court order to stop the implementation of a policy that mandates all DUs and electric cooperatives (ECs) to bid out their power requirements instead of entering into bilateral contracts is an option which the utility company may consider when the proper time comes.

“Well it’s something we don’t like to use but I hope people will see through it the whether the CSP makes sense.

We don’t think its promoting of consumer welfare,” Pangilinan said in a recent interview when asked if the utility company would consider to take legal action. Salazar said the commission is “baffled that a stakeholder should pose stumbling blocks to a process that clearly promotes transparency and competition in the industry which benefits consumers.”

He admitted that in the past few weeks “there had been a lot of entities that are following up on this issue. But the ERC came up with a unanimous decision which is to implement a mandatory CSP.” For the DOE’s part, Zenaida Monsada said the CSP fosters transparency, enhances security of supply, and ensures stability of electricity prices to captive electricity end-users in the long term.

“The DOE and the ERC are working closely together to create a proactive and dynamic environment for a sustainable electric power industry which balances the interests of the consumers and the industry participants,”Monsada said.

Monsada replaced former Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho L. Petilla, who signed the DOE circular on June 30, his last day in office.

DOE Circular 2015-06-008 also

states that a third party would conduct the bidding. In an earlier issued draft rules, the ERC said the third party shall compose a team of foreign or national experts or both. The members of the team must have vast experience in open and competitive bidding as lead auction design advisor and auction manager in at least five separate successful auctions for power-supply contracts of electric utilities preferably in other countries that have implemented auctions, such as Chile and Brazil.

Its tasks are to develop the CSP design for the power-supply agreements (PSAs), develop bidders’ qualification criteria, draft and propose the CSP rules, develop and propose the PSA template, and manage the conduct of the CSP up to the award and execution of the PSAs. But when the ERC issued the resolution, the commission removed the third-party aspect of the CSP. Instead, the DUs themselves would conduct the bidding.

When sought for comment, Petilla, in a text message, said the role of the third party is essential. “Third party is like an extension of ERC arm to ensure that CSP is fair and that real competition took place. This will now ensure ERC that PSAs are optimally priced,” he pointed out.

When asked if he was disappointed, Petilla said, “It’s their call. After all, ERC is responsible for reviewing the prices.”

Under the ERC resolution, a DU may execute a PSA with a power generation company (genco) only after successfully complying with the requirements of the process.

The requirement is for a DU to openly call for and receive at least two qualified bids from gencos with which the DU is not barred from entering into a contract for power supply.

The CSP further requires that direct negotiations with other power suppliers be entered into only after at least two failed CSPs. Once the implementation of the CSP begins, the ERC will no longer allow the filing by DUs of applications for PSA approval without compliance with the CSP requirements.

Salazar said the resolution removes all uncertainties on how the CSP will be implemented by the ERC and paves the way for a regime of greater transparency and competition in the power-supply procurement processes in the industry.

The CSP aims to make transparent the manner in which DUs buy electricity from power generators. It also assures that such supply is bought and passed on to consumers at the least possible cost, he stressed.

Salazar, in an interview last week, said the resolution is still subject to the issuance of additional rules. “There will be a fine-tuning of the process as we aim to adopt stringent rules anchored on the government’s procurement law.”

‘Illogical’

RECENTLY, Pangilinan said the CSP is “illogical” as gencos have the upper hand since they can opt or not to participate in the auction, leaving only a few qualified to serve the power requirements of the DUs and Ecs. “It’s seductively simple when they portray it as they promote lower price.

We think it will create precisely the opposite. But it is illogical if you think about it because you shifted the power to price over to the gencos and we’ve seen what happened in December 2013 when power spiked,” Pangilinan said.

The Meralco official was referring to the 2013 incident when Meralco’s rates shoot up by P4.15 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for December 2013 and P5.30 per

IMF…

kWh increase for January 2014 because it had to source power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the country’s electricity spot market where distributors, such as Meralco, buy their power supply from gencos.

At that time, gencos were accused of collusion when they did not fully offer their output in the WESM. Eleven companies that operate 12 power plants allegedly breached the must-offer rule during the October 25 to December 25, 2013, supply month when power prices shoot up.

Meralco, however, was unable to pass on to consumers the P4.15 per kWh increase in power rates in December, owing to the Supreme Court issuance of a temporary restraining order which remains in effect until today.

The P5.30 per kWh rate increase for January, however, was recalculated as a result of the decision of the ERC to void the WESM charges for the November and December billing months.

Commenting on this incident, Pangilinan said, “The ability to price should be with the DUs because they are the last mile to the customers.”

He explained that that DUs are already under obligation to obtain the least power cost for their customers.

“We are under obligation to serve electricity to our customers and we don’t make money out of it. The market power should decide with the DUs, which are obligated by law to find the least cost.

But if you are a power-generation firm then you are not under that obligation,” Pangilinan said.

Reacting to this, the Matuwid na Singil sa Kuryente Consumer Alliance Inc. (MSK) accused Meralco of entering into “sweetheart deals” with its powergeneration company.

“What has been illogical is allowing the power to price to Meralco and its sister generators who are both owned and controlled by Meralco. Distribution of electricity is a regulated monopoly.

It is wrong and anticonsumer to allow that monopoly to extend to generation,” David Tan said of MSK.

“It cannot be ignored that sweetheart deals of the past continue to overcharge consumers to the tune of P6.1 billion in 2013, P10.3 billion in 2014, and so far P5.5 billion in 2015. Our generation cannot consign our children to similar burden for the next 25 years.

So far Meralco had signed with sister company Meralco PowerGen 460 megawatts (mW) for Mauban and 600 mW for Redondo Power in Subic. Meralco wants to get it to 3,000 mW which is a clear monopolization of the generation sector,” Tan added.

Aboitiz Power Corp. (AboitizPower), another DU, said earlier that it is in favor of voluntary implementation of the CSP. Antonio Moraza, AboitizPower president, said in September that imposing “a one size fits all” policy is not the solution.

“Each DU has its own issues,” he said, adding that government should instead “make sure the process happens and give DUs the freedom to make their own decision. After all, the are answerable to their consuming pubic and to the ERC.” Gencos, on the other hand, are in favor of the CSP. SMC Global Power Chairman Ramon Ang, in a separate interview, supports the CSP. “We will bid and supply power to everybody. That will be good for the consumers.”

AC Energy Holdings Inc. of the Ayala group, on the other hand, said the CSP is no different from the Public-Private Partnership Program of the government.

“We are obviously in favor,” AC Energy Holdings Inc. President John Eric Francia said. “The devil is in the details. A lot of details and variables need to be thoroughly studied so the intent and the spirit of the circular is addressed properly.”

The Philippine Electric Plant Owners Association, for its part, said it has yet to issue a comment on the CSP policy.

“Probably, we would have a position on this in the next two weeks,” the group President Ranulfo Ocampo said when sought for comment.

Continued from a1

Peiris also reiterated that more acceleration is expected as the yearend approaches, reflecting the global economic recovery resulting in higher exports and the continued improvement in budget execution, including election-related spending and private-public partnership (PPP) as the fiscal deficit reaches the 2 percent of GDP target.

“The still relatively favorable

growth forecast for 2015 and 2016 compared to other countries in the region makes the Philippines a bright spot,” Peiris said. He also did not show concern over the below target inflation for the country which lingered to a below 1-percent level for four consecutive months of the year.

“The below target headline inflation in the Philippines is driven by lower food and fuel prices, that

Paris attack…

Officials were defiant in refusing to allow the attack to crush the city’s spirit.

“This evening is a moment of pain and mourning,” Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at a brief news conference. “But Paris is still here and standing.... The joie-de-vivre that is part of this city, [the attackers] have not touched that.”

The attack by security forces capped a bloody night of terror that began about 9:20 p.m. with reports of shootings at restaurants and explosions outside a stadium where France was playing Germany in an international soccer match. At the Bataclan, about 500 yards from where a gunman attacked a busy bar and Vietnamese restaurant, a California group called the Eagles of Death Metal were performing. The band had been on stage for about an hour when there was gunfire, panic, a stampede.

Julien Pearce, a journalist, was in the concert hall when at least two people opened fire with

Outlook…

August this year to hit $2.044 billion.

This is lower compared to both the previous month’s inflows and the inflows seen in August last year. July 2015’s remittances of Filipino workers posted at $2.078 billion, while the remittances in August last year was at $2.054 bil-

should be temporary with headline inflation moving toward the target range in 2016,” Peiris said.

The central bank, in its latest monetary-policy meeting, said that it is now expecting inflation to hit 1.4 percent for this year, down from the earlier forecast of 1.6 percent.

This is below the government’s target band of 2 percent to 4 percent for this year.

Continued from a1

automatic weapons.

“It lasted at least 10, 15 minutes,” he said according to the French newspaper Le Monde.

“They reloaded three or four times.... When the shots stopped we took advantage of the calm to go out the emergency exits, and there we saw lots of people in the street who were covered in blood.” Another concert-goer cited by the paper said: “I saw automatic weapons. I walked on bodies. There was blood. In the street, there were dead people.”

Residents in local apartments threw sheets to cover bodies. The streets around the theater were sealed off and there were helicopters overhead. The area is close to the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the site of another deadly attack in January. Hollande had been attending the soccer match and was evacuated from the packed soccer stadium in suburban Paris where explosions occurred. “It’s a horror,”

Hollande said, addressing reporters, pledging that France would stand firm and remain united.

“We have mobilized all possible forces so that the terrorists can be neutralized and all the affected neighborhoods can be secured. There is indeed reason to be afraid,” he added.

“There is terror, but there is in the face of terror a nation that knows how to defend itself, that knows how to mobilize its forces and that once again will be able to defeat the terrorists.”

In televised comments, President Barack Obama called the attacks an “outrageous attempt to terrorize innocent civilians. “Those who think that they can terrorize the people of France or the values that they stand for are wrong,”Obama said. “We’re going to do whatever it takes to work with the French people and with nations around the world to bring these terrorists to justice and to go after any terrorist networks that go after our people.” Bloomberg and TNS

Continued from a1 lion. This is the first time in 12 years that the remittance inflows declined on a monthly basis. The last time that the growth of remittances was in the reds was in April showing a contraction of 10.9 percent.

n September remittances: Markets

are on the look out if the contraction in remittances is set to continue in the short to medium term. The central bank, however, earlier assured markets that remittances will rebound coming into the year end owing to the surge of money sent for the holidays. Bianca Cuaresma

NewsSunday

www.businessmirror.com.ph • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror

Sunday, November 15, 2015 A3

Strengthen rule of law to attract more foreign investments

T

By David Cagahastian

HE Apec (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Business Advisory Council (Abac) recommended to the Supreme Court (SC) on Saturday to strengthen the rule of law to attract more foreign investors to the Philippines.

In her speech at the Abac Women’s Luncheon, Abac Chairman and CEO Doris Magsaysay-Ho said there are rule of law issues in the Asia-Pacific region, including the Philippines, particularly on transparency of government transactions and predictability of the application of laws.

The Abac Women’s Luncheon kicked off the Abac discussions in this year’s Apec Economic Leaders’ Meeting, following an opening session at the Fairmont Hotel in Makati City. The Abac Women’s Luncheon is hosted each year to promote the participation of women in the region’s economic development.

“There are many investors who come to the economies that have open trade and investment laws only to find major impediments consisting of unfriendly laws, unfriendly interpretation of good laws, or friendly interpretation of bad laws,” Magsaysay-Ho said as part of her speech to introduce the keynote speaker, Chief

MEMBERS of the Apec Business Advisory Council pose for a group photo after their fourth meeting held at Makati City on Saturday. Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno was the keynote speaker during the event. Stephanie Tumampos

Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno.

Magsaysay-Ho said the prevalence of the rule of law is among the issues that will be tackled in the Apec Summit in Peru next year, and one of the agenda being pushed by Abac, which is tasked to recommend policies to government leaders to enable business to have larger markets.

In the Philippines, among the problems that confront foreign investors include taxation issues, particularly the Bureau of Internal Revenue’s (BIR) interpretation of tax laws.

Recently, the BIR’s regulation, which deemed denied the pending applications for refund of excess input value-added tax, had become the subject of many complaints from foreign investors whose VAT refund applications run into the

billions of pesos.

Last year the SC resolved one of the issues that foreign investors frequently complain about which was the requirement of the BIR to secure prior approval for tax treaty relief before they can avail of reliefs provided for under tax treaties signed by the Philippines.

The SC resolved the issue in favor of foreign investors by holding that the BIR cannot impose additional requirements for availing of privileges

granted under a tax treaty signed by the Philippines.

In response to questions regarding the Philippines’s efforts to strengthen the rule of law, Sereno said that the SC is making sure that there are no more contradicting decisions anymore in the divisions of the SC. She said that working groups have also been created to engage academe, the business sector, and other stakeholders in business to find out the

areas of judicial interpretation that businesses are most sensitive to.

In the area of commercial litigation, which dwells mostly on insolvency proceedings and rehabilitation or conservatorship, she said the country’s commercial courts are now run by highly trained commercial court judges who conduct continuous trials to speed up the court processes.

“I hope that within the next couple of years, I can already show the efficiency of the commercial courts, so the long and short of it is that it’s getting there,” she said.

In her keynote speech for the event, Sereno said the participation of women in the government and business can help in strengthening the rule of law in the Philippines.

Sereno said that by strengthening the rule of law, the country would level the playing field by making the regulations more transparent, fair and predictable and eliminate corruption by shunning the “old boys’ club” ways of doing business.

She said that women will be able to contribute to realizing these courses of action because based on anecdotal evidence from around the world, male judges are more prone to corruption that female judges especially in countries that are still building up their rule of law.

“This is because they shun the night life, they usually proceed to attend to family or community responsibilities after work, and in such a setting it is difficult to strike a deal, so to speak,” she said.

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, November 15, 2015 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

editorial

To Apec: Wishes of all success

A

FTER months of preparation, marked by the physical cleanup of unsightly places in Metro Manila, the rerouting of traffic, the designation of quarters for international dignitaries and the setting up of security measures for them, among other things, we are at last going to host, on Tuesday and Wednesday, the 27th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum. What’s in it for us in this forum of this august organization, if we may ask?

Plenty. Recalling bits of history, Apec was established by 21 Pacific Rim economies in 1989 for the purpose of promoting free trade among them. Over time, they modified this general objective to deal with the changing issues of the day—to reduce trade barriers and promote investment and, in the last Senior Officials’ Meeting in 2014 in preparation for this year’s session, to reduce the cost of doing business in the economies of the region.

Specific purposes for this year’s forum include: to invest in human-capital development; to foster the participation of small and medium-enterprises (SMEs) in global markets; to build sustainable and resilient countries; and to enhance regional cooperation.

Our country can gain much from the mere expansion of the market for its export products. The economies encompassed by Apec are a veritable receptacle for Philippine exports.

As has been said time and again, the Philippines has the lowest exports per capita among the original five nation members of Asean (not counting Brunei Darussalam which does not need to export anything). The promotion of investment among the member-economies can only enlarge our own investment program.

The push directed at SMEs to join up in world markets is vital to the accelerated development of our own SMEs. Exposure to local conditions, including experience in dealing with large local corporations, no doubt has been beneficial to our SMEs, but it obviously has not been stimulating enough to enable them to graduate from their small-scale status. Hopefully, participation in world markets will give them access to international supply chains and networks, and enable them to grow more rapidly over time.

The focus on the building of resilient countries will be of particular relevance to us. While our experience in rebuilding from the devastation of violent typhoons and storms will be instructive to Apec members, we also hope to benefit from the experience of our neighbors in the rehabilitation of injured people and damaged communities.

This is not saying that Apec is all sweetness and light. On the contrary, there are questions about its potential power to overwhelm local laws on worker protection (in the name of promoting competitiveness), on poor people’s access to reasonably priced medicines (in the name of protecting intellectual property rights), and on environmental protection (again, in order to promote competitiveness). These concerns must be given the serious attention that they deserve.

In the meanwhile, we express support to our high officials in the government and the private sector for their leadership of this Apec forum and extend our warmest welcome to the international leaders and dignitaries for their participation. May this forum achieve the success it is hoping for.

Marcos’s unmatched legacy Conclusion

I Database

By Cecilio T. Arillo

Gospel

Sunday, November 15, 2015

N his first term, President Marcos immediately sat out to solve the country’s most urgent problems of inadequate food supply, lack of basic social services, infrastructure support and a lethargic economy controlled by aliens and a well-entrenched oligarchy.

He relentlessly pursued his political and social platform of “rice and roads.” The priority was to achieve food security for his people.

It was during Marcos’s presidency that the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) was established to serve as the focal point of research efforts in rice technology, not only for the country, but also for the rest of the world. The different high-yielding varieties developed at IRRI soon changed the agricultural landscape in most rice-producing nations in the Third World, including our country.

As a result, the Philippines began exporting rice in 1977. After being a rice importer for many decades, the country was able to ship 15,000 metric tons of rice to Indonesia. Since then, the country has been consistently exporting rice in varying amounts to such countries as Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brazil, Australia and Germany.

Aware that the agriculture-based economy could not compete with the emerging markets in Asia, President Marcos ordered on September 28, 1979 the implementation of the country’s 11 heavy industrialization projects and announced this before the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Association. At that time. we were already on the way to NIC-hood status (newly industrialized country).

The projects were integrated steel, petrochemical complex, heavy engineering industries, the expansion of the cement industry, the industrialization of the coconut industry, an integrated pulp and paper mill, copper smelter, aluminum smelter, phosphate fertilizer, the manufacture of diesel engines and Alcogas.

In reaction, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank and their allies, including the President’s technocrats, led by then-Prime Minister Cesar Virata; the Makati Business Club, led by the late Jaime Ongpin and the Zobel-Ayala group; and the Center

‘B

for Research and Communication, an institution associated with Opus Dei, whose spokesman was Dr. Bernardo Villegas, went to work, relentlessly blocking and delaying the projects at every turn.

To oppose Marcos, they even came up with a sardonic slogan to dramatize their effort: “You can’t eat steel!”

Visibly irritated over the negative reactions of the IMF-World Bank and the Makati business group, Marcos issued a strong public statement accusing them of sabotaging the country’s industrialization plan.

A year later, Ninoy Aquino, who ignored the government’s request to suspend his return to the country, was assassinated on his arrival at the airport.

The incident triggered a political and economic crisis in the country, exacerbated by a spate of oil-price increases, inflation, capital flight and the deliberate tightening control of credits by the IMFWorld Bank and other foreign creditors.

As a consequence, Marcos’s massive industrialization plan evaporated into thin air.

Look what happened: The economy in the post-Marcos years turned from bad to worse notwithstanding his successors’ accumulated budgets in 29 years of more than P30 trillion. This huge budget, which is now a subject of a comprehensive research work by the Philippine Council of Management Research Institute, was supposed to spur economic growth.

By comparison, Marcos’s official accumulated budget in 20 years was only P486.42 billion. Yet, on records, none of them or all of his successors combined could not even match his economic infrastructures of roads, bridges, hospitals and schools; a tri-modal transportation system of air, land and sea; communication facilities; energy infrastructure; and the laws required to safeguard the economy and make it progressive.

Marcos’s laws and other edicts Marcos crafted and formulated with the help of experts 7,883 presidential decrees (PDs) and other legal issuances from September 21, 1972 up to February 26, 1986, a span of 14 years.

Justice Manuel Lazaro said these laws set the rules, regulations and penalties for almost every facet of lawful and ethical human conduct—from birth to grave.

UT in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. And then, they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.

And then He will send out the angels, and gather His elect from the four winds, from the ends of the Earth to the ends of heaven.

“From the fig tree learn its lesson: As soon as its

They are categorized as follows: PD (1 to 2036); Letters of Instruction (1 to 1525); Letters of Implementation (1 to 157); General Orders (1 to 61); Executive Orders (EO) (366 to 1093); Administrative Orders (349 to 504); Proclamations (1081 to 2486); and Memo Circulars (599 to 1297).

Out of the 7,883 presidential issuances, only 67 PDs or less than .01 percent have either been repealed or modified. The minimal percentage of 67 PDs either repealed or modified by EO 187 issued by Corazon Aquino were the decrees increasing the penalties for certain offenses against public order and security, e.g., PDs 38, 1735, 1834, 1974 and 1996.

Interestingly, the rationale and purpose of the PDs repealed or modified were resurrected in enacting Article 134-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by RA 6968. Notably, 7,816 issuances are still effective and enforced up to the present. These laws are eloquent proof of the wisdom, vision, dedication and foresight Marcos possessed as instruments of good and effective governance.

Lazaro said: “No President in the country’s legal history had codified more laws. Worth mentioning are the 15 codified laws, with social and economic relevance. These are the Local Tax Code [PD 231]; Labor Code of the Philippines [PD 442]; Real Property Tax Code [PD 464]; Child and Youth Welfare Code [PD 603]; Insurance Code [PD 612]; “Revised Forestry Code [PD 705]; Code of Sanitation [PD 856]; Coconut Industry Code [PD 961]; Water Code [PD 1067]; Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines [PD 1083]; National Building Code [PD 1096]; Philippines Environment Code [PD 1152]; Fire Code [PD 1185]; Government Auditing Code [PD 1445]; Tariff and Customs Code [PD 1464]; and Code of Agrarian Reform [PD 444].”

More important, there is the Judicial Development Fund, the wellspring of the financial benefits of the members of the judiciary. There is also the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., a consistent source of revenues for the country.

In essence, as long as the laws he issued are embedded in the country’s legal system, Marcos lives and they will continue to guide and safeguard the nation and its people.

branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that He is near, at the very gates.

“Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away before all these things take place. Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.

“But of that day or that hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”— Mark 13:24-32

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, November 15, 2015 A5

Thank you, Apec I Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

EXPECTED the worst and I got the best; either they found a bullet in my luggage or I slipped on a banana in the immigration line. I flew back on Cathay from an eating binge in Hong Kong and stepped out of the walkway into a spanking-clean airport. Nothing grand; it was just the same old one and, yet, different.

Everything was shiny. The walls were clean with no smudges. The linoleum floor was shining and spotless. Young women were pretty in their uniforms; the young men, more or less the same. Only the old guys were still in T-shirts too short to

cover their bellies when they held up Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) cards. People were sitting on the shining floors, leaning against spotless walls, giving the airport the homey feel which brands our public spaces in a good way. We did not need another P100-billion airport.

We needed to clean up what we had. And we needed Apec for that.

This is the way everyone does it: Americans, Europeans, Chinese and us. We, all of us, leave everything as dirty as we find them and so everything stays squalid—until a grand excuse comes around to

spruce everything up and then, we are motivated to keep it that way.

This is like the grand stuff Imelda put up for a film festival and it stayed grand for decades after.

The reason is that no one will keep anything clean if it is dirty to start with. If something looks bad, why keep up appearances that aren’t there in the first place?

So, it was with Roman emperors.

Marcus Aurelius of Gladiator fame wrote in his Meditations (the best translation is Maxwell Staniforth’s) that he wouldn’t have trained to be a good emperor if he wasn’t made

one already by adoption. If he was told by the reigning emperor, “Hey, Marcus! I am adopting you and if you train hard for war, master the Greek classics, and excel in declamation, I might pick you as heir.”

“Well,” said Marcus, “that’s not gonna work for me. What if you don’t?” Marcus wrote that the mere expectation of exaltation would not have motivated him to become emperor material. He had to be emperor first, and then he would train himself up to the part. So Marcus was named all but co-emperor.

So it is with airports. If you are

told to keep a dirty airport clean, you won’t. Sweep it all you want, but it still feels dirty. This is why when we feel out of sorts like a dirty airport, we get ourselves a haircut or a perm and we feel brand new.

This is what Apec is doing for us: Giving us the incentive and the inspiration to keep up the sort of appearances that, for now, we are just putting on for the conference.

But if you keep up appearances long enough, they sink to the bones and become an enduring reality. And so, thanks to Apec, we are giving and getting ourselves a fresh look.

Losing the US’s nuclear edge

By Robert Bryce

Los Angeles Times/TNS Forum

C

LIMATE scientists want the world to use more nuclear energy to help reduce carbon-dioxide emissions, yet, America’s nuclear sector is withering.

Unless Congress acts to encourage next-generation nuclear technology, the United States will be relegated to second-tier status when it comes to the development and deployment of smaller, cheaper, safer reactors that could play a crucial role in low-carbon electricity production all over the world.

The latest example of America’s declining nuclear capacity came this month when Entergy Corp. announced it would close its 838-megawatt (MW) James A. FitzPatrick Nuclear Power Plant in Oswego, New York, by early 2017. Just three weeks earlier, Entergy had announced the closure of its 688-MW Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, by 2019. In all, about 10

percent of America’s domestic nuclear fleet could be shuttered over the next few years. The challenges facing the fleet include age (the average reactor is about 34 years old), pricing pressure due to low-cost gas-fired energy generation and subsidized renewables, and required, costly post-Fukushima safety upgrades.

Five new reactors—in Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina; 4.4 gigawatts of capacity—are expected to be completed by 2020. But these are all old designs. One of them, Watts Bar Unit 2, began construction in 1973 and is only now being finished. Once these reactors are up and running, the nuclear energy pipeline is essentially empty. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Third Way, a Washington-based think tank, estimates that about four dozen companies backed by about $1.3 billion in private capital are developing plans for innovative new reactors. They include Transatomic Power (backed by Silicon Valley venture capitalist Ray Rothrock), TerraPower (backed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates) and UPower,

a Boston start-up that aims to build a reactor capable of producing 10 MW of electricity and can fit inside a pair of 40-foot shipping containers. These companies need a way to develop and accurately test aspects of their designs.

That’s where Congress comes in.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has several national laboratories—including Idaho, Los Alamos and Oak Ridge—that could provide a venue for such testing. For that to happen, Congress must give the DOE authority to oversee that testing and provide some funding. The goal, said one Capitol Hill staffer working on the issue, is to “allow the market to function.” Until the private-sector designs can be tested, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission won’t let them go into commercial operation.

A renewed focus on nuclear energy is timely given that this month, the 2015 UN Climate Change Conference will convene in Paris to discuss ways to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions. Nuclear energy’s importance in reducing emissions is beyond dispute.

In January the International Energy Agency called nuclear power “a critical element in limiting greenhouse gas emissions.” It calculated that global nuclear generation capacity must more than double by 2050 (to about 750 gigawatts) if there is any hope of limiting temperature increases to the 2 degrees that is widely agreed as acceptable.

In 2013 four of the world’s leading climate scientists signed an open letter in which they said that renewable energy sources, like wind and solar, “cannot scale up fast enough to deliver cheap and reliable power at the scale the global economy requires.” The authors— former National Aeronautics and Space Administration climatologist James Hansen, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Tom Wigley of the University of Adelaide in Australia and Ken Caldeira of the Carnegie Institution—wrote that “there is no credible path to climate stabilization that does not include a substantial role for nuclear power.”

Congress is making some progress.

In May the House passed a bill sponsored

by Rep. Randy Hultgren, RepublicanIllinois, that directs the DOE to assess its ability to help test and develop nextgeneration reactors. Next week, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act will be introduced in the House by two Republicans and a Democrat, all from Texas, directing the DOE to actively partner with private companies to test and even build prototype reactors at the national labs. Nuclear energy faces many hurdles, including the high cost of building new reactors and the thorny problem of long-term waste disposal. But the US has been leading the Nuclear Age since the Manhattan Project. It should continue to lead. In 2009 President Barack Obama declared that “we must harness the power of nuclear energy on behalf of our efforts to combat climate change.”

By incubating advanced-nuclear technology, the US can make a lasting contribution to that goal. For that to happen, Congress has to get moving. And given the climate-change meeting in Paris, it should get moving now.

Singapore property gloom has silver lining P

By Andy Mukherjee | Bloomberg View

REPARE for more misery. Or at least that’s what City Development’s (CityDev) latest financial results seem to be saying to fellow Singaporean landlords. Yet, the group’s actions belie both its disappointing earnings and the gloomy note its commentary strikes.

Singapore’s second-biggest developer by market value saw an almost 39-percent drop in third-quarter revenue. Profit slumped more than 16 percent from a year earlier.

The pain is widely shared. Developers sold just 341 units in the city-state in September, the worst month this year. Meanwhile, apartment prices on the island have tumbled 8 percent over the past two years after a crazy, cheap money-fueled 62-percent surge in the four years prior.

The correction could turn into a rout as still-low interest rates creep higher, while the government shows no sign of slashing stamp duties on home buyers, relaxing curbs on mortgages, or allowing more foreign workers into the city to prop up housing demand. In its earnings release on Thursday evening, CityDev pleaded with authorities to review the property cooling measures “as soon as possible” to ease the pain for Singaporeans, more than 90 percent of whom are home owners.

However, CityDev’s own actions suggest that pessimism might be overdone. Just this week, the group agreed to pay S$321 million ($226 million) to the government after winning a tightly contested bid for a parcel of land. A decade ago, CityDev bet big on a new downtown development amid pervasive gloom about the city’s economic future. If Kwek Leng Beng, the group’s billionaire chairman, reckons he can fill a new 500-unit suburban condominium, then Singapore landlords should hope he’s reading the market right once again.

The short-term pain though is very real. There are still more than 52,000 homes under construction, and 9 percent of existing condominium units are vacant. At the average rate, at which new homes have sold in 2015, the current overhang will take almost

five years to clear. If a policy switch ends up exciting smaller builders more than prospective buyers, Singapore property will become one unholy economic mess:

Oversupply is most acute for high-end real estate. CityDev said it would “monitor market conditions carefully’’ before it starts selling an upscale 174-unit condo in the Orchard Road shopping district. With S$2.9 billion of cash on its balance sheet, the developer can afford to wait a little. Many individual property owners are leveraged to the hilt and don’t have that luxury. Respite may not be so far away. With timely intervention by the authorities, Singapore’s property market may well be back on its feet in 2016.

Bacon apologists prove that meat is addictive

By Heather Moore

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals TNS Forum

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HE meat-eating public’s general reaction—disbelief, denial and anger—to the World Health Organization’s (WHO) announcement that bacon and other processed meats cause cancer, and that red meat, including beef, pork and lamb, is probably also carcinogenic, shows that meat is not just cancerous.

It’s also addictive.

Even after reading reports linking meat to colorectal cancer—which can cause diarrhea, rectal bleeding and abdominal pain and even be fatal—many meat-eaters are refusing to

change their eating habits. Some even insist that they’d rather die than stop eating bacon.

I think those people need to attend Meat and Dairy Eaters Anonymous meetings to help them kick their unhealthy addiction, or they may well get what they want. Seriously.

There are 12-step programs to help people kick their addictions to alcohol and cigarettes, and according to WHO, cured and processed meats belong in the same category. Kim Robien, a cancer epidemiologist at The George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said the WHO report is “very legitimate” and confirms longstanding research showing that meat consumption raises one’s risk of cancer.

Just a few days after the WHO report first

made headlines, scientists from Oxford University revealed that eating one steak per week increases one’s risk of colorectal cancer by more than twofifths and that people who eat meat twice a week have an 18 percent higher risk compared to vegetarians. Other studies have linked meat consumption to heart disease, diabetes, strokes and several other types of cancer. And, yet, many people are still eating meat. This may be because meat and other animal-based foods contain opiates and other drug-like chemicals that cause people to get “hooked” and keep craving more.

A recent study conducted at the University of Michigan and released by the US National Library of Medicine indicates that the more processed and fatty a food is, the more likely it is to cause

addictive eating behavior. Meat-eaters and vegans alike can agree that many vegan foods, such as strawberries, peaches and pasta with marinara sauce, are quite tasty, but they’re not chemically addictive. Researchers identify addictive foods based on people’s responses to the Yale Food Addiction Scale questionnaire. Many people reportedly have a hard time controlling their intake of foods, such as pizza, steak, bacon, cheeseburgers and ice cream. Cheese is thought to be especially addictive because the casein (milk protein) it contains releases opiates, called casomorphins.

According to Dr. Neal Barnard, the author of Breaking the Food Seduction, it takes just three weeks to kick cravings for addictive foods like

meat and cheese. This explains why 21-day vegan programs are so popular—and effective. If you stopped eating addictive foods for three weeks, you’d crave them much less than you would if you had eaten them the previous day. Giving meat and other animal-based foods the boot will reduce your risk of life-threatening illnesses and help animals at the same time.

Researchers have found that people who eat plant-based meals are between 25 percent and 50 percent less likely to get cancer, and each vegan spares more than 100 animals every year.

Bacon isn’t worth dying for—not for people and certainly not for pigs. With so many tasty vegan foods to enjoy, kicking the meat habit is entirely possible. And it could save your life.

Science

A6 Sunday, November 15, 2015

BusinessMirror

Seaweed additive boosts rice yield by more than 65%

C

an a marine plant nurture the growth of another plant?

Scientists from the National Crop Protection Center at the University of the Philippines Los Baños (NCPC-UPLB) conducted a research on the seaweed or carrageenan and employed innovative technology. It boosted rice yield by more than 65 percent.

The project by Filipino scientists was funded by the Philippine Council for Agriculture Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

“The DOST invests in research and development in agriculture that leads to ensuring food security. Not only do we find ways and means to increase farm yields and make crops pestresistant, but we also use science and technology to benefit

the common tao, to put food on the table of Mang Juan and Aling Maria,” Science Secretary Mario G. Montejo said.

C a r r a ge e n a n i s a n i n digestible carbohydrate (poly s acc h a r ide) e x t rac ted f rom ed ible seaweed s. Seaweed i s com mon ly u sed a s t h ic kener or st abi l i z er b y t he food i ndu st r y a nd a l so u sed a s a bi nd i ng a gent for domest ic produc t s, suc h a s t o o t h p a s t e a n d s h a m p o o, a nd a re fou nd i n se lec ted

pha r maceut ica l products.

Some st ud ies showed t h at when polysaccharide or carbohydrate is degraded or reduced to tiny sizes by a safe technological process called irradiation, it can be an effective growth promoter and makes rice resistant to major pests.

In fact, at very small doses, it is an effective organic fertilizer. Carrageenan, as a growth enhancer, offers an array of benefits that result in improved productivity. Used properly as prescribed, it makes the rice stem stronger, thus, improving rice resistance to lodging. It also promotes resistance to rice tungro virus and bacterial leaf blight, therefore, giving farmers increased harvest.

The seaweed additive is compatible with the traditional practice on fertilizer application, thereby allowing easy acceptance and less resistance from farmers.

It also promotes sustainable agriculture since it is environment-friendly and enhances the presence of natural enemies that fight major pests in rice fields. Moreover, it supports more efficient absorption of

plant nutrients that enables improved growth. In a field trial using irradiated carrageenan conducted in Bulacan by the research team led by Dr. Gil L. Magsino of the NCPC-UPLB using carrageenan, rice yield was significantly increased from 63.6 percent to 65.4 percent.

T he t reat ment prov ided higher grain weight (of 450 g ra ms a nd 455 g ra ms, re spectively) compared to traditional farmers’ practice of applying nine bags of fertilizer per hectare that yielded only 275 grams. Application of six bags of fertilizer per hectare plus 200 ppm (or 20 milliliters) of carrageenan is more or less comparable with the application of just three bags of fertilizer per hectare with the same mixture.

“This innovation of applying seaweed as fertilizer empowers our farmers to have access to cheaper but highly effective plant-growth enhancers that boils down to improved harvest and increased income, and this is the essence of what the DOST is doing” Montejo said.

N

connive, local communities become prone to over-fishing, wanton-waste disposal and other practices that harm the surroundings.

With the goal of keeping its surroundings as pristine as possible, ENR has set

one day of the year to encourage its staff and the rest of the community to protect the seas by picking up garbage, and to be mindful of the habits that may lead to the destruction of this last ecological frontier of the Philippines.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

U.P. LABS CAREER ORIENTATION

T

he University of the Philippines League of Agricultural Biotechnology Students (UP LABS) held a career orientation early this week for senior high-school students to inspire them in pursuing BS Agricultural Biotechnology in college, and share to them how biotechnologists act as agents in the improvement of agriculture in the Philippines and alleviate the farmers’ lives. The event was held at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños, Laguna. Among the speakers were Dr. Violeta Villegas, a senior scientist and coordinator of the Goden Rice Porject at IRRI; Tony Lambino, head of communication of IRRI; and Rosalie Ellasus, a municipal councilor of San Jacinto, Pangasinan, and a biotech corn farmer. Lyn Resurreccion

villegas

lambino

Ellasus

Marita A. Carlos/S&T Media Services

El Nido Resorts takes the lead in protecting environment o one is blind to stunning and untouched environments like that of Bacuit Bay where three of the four El Nido Resorts (ENR) in Palawan are located. But when lack of resources and poor awareness

Sunday

ENR is made up of four separate properties named after the islands that host them, namely: Miniloc, Lagen and Pangulasian in El Nido town in Bacuit Bay and Apulit in neighboring Taytay town.

Mexico hopes to see 3 to 4 times more monarch butterflies

An ailing butterfly rests on a plant at the monarch butterfly reserve in Piedra Herrada, Mexico State, Mexico, on Thursday. AP/Rebecca Blackwell

P

IEDRA HERRADA, Mexico—The number of monarch butterflies reaching their wintering grounds in central Mexico this year may be three to four times higher than the previous season, authorities said on Thursday.

Speaking during a visit to a monarch reserve with US Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, Mexican Environment Secretary Rafael Pacchiano said initial reports suggest the butterfly population is rebounding.

“We estimate that the butterfly population that arrives at the reserve is as much as three and could reach four times the surface area it occupied last season,” Pacchiano said.

He did not explain how the government made the calculation, but authorities conduct informal tracking of monarch butterflies as they enter Mexico from the US. The population of orange-and-black butterflies making the 5,500-kilometer migration from the US and Canada declined in recent years before recovering slightly in 2014, when the insects covered about 1.13 hectares in the mountains west of Mexico City.

The monarchs cluster so closely in trees that their numbers are measured by the area they cover. They once blanketed as much as 18 hectares. Pacchiano said the butterfly colonies could cover 3 hectares or 4 hectares this year, and officials hope to reach 6 hectares in the reserves by 2020.

“The US is very committed to protecting the monarch butterfly, but we need the help of Mexico and Canada,” Jewell said before hiking an hour into the mountains to see the trees where the monarchs roost.

She added that the US is working to reintroduce milkweed, a plant key to the butterflies’ migration, on about 3 million hectares within five years, both by planting and by designating pesticide-free areas.

Milkweed is the plant the butterflies feed and lay their eggs on, but it has been attacked by herbicide use in the US. “Our agricultural practices must be adapted.... We have to look at our use of pesticides,” Jewell said. “We have the goal of 225 million monarch butterflies returning right here, to Mexico, every year. We believe we can get there by working together.”

Mexico, too, still has problems.

Illegal logging more than tripled in the monarch butterflies’ wintering grounds last year, reversing several years of steady improvements. Pacchiano said the reserve’s buffer area lost more than 9 hectares due to illegal logging in one area this year, but the tree cutting was detected and a number of arrests were made.

Loggers cut down 19 hectares of trees in San Felipe de los Alzati in Michoacan state last year, the biggest loss since 2009. AP

Sports BusinessMirror

ON A NIGHT OF VIOLENCE

A8 | S

unday, November 15, 2015 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

FRANCE BEATS GERMANY

By Jerome Pugmire

P

The Associated Press

ARIS—On a night of terrifying violence in Paris with two explosions going off outside the stadium, France beat Germany, 2-0, on Friday in a game overshadowed by the events around the city.

The explosions could be heard inside the Stade de France as they went off nearby in the first half. The police said more than 120 people were killed in shootings and explosions around Paris, but the match was not halted.

French President François Hollande, who was in the stadium, was evacuated and immediately held an emergency meeting.

“We’re all shaken and shocked,” Germany

Russian federation suspended

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ONDON—Calling it a wake-up call for a sport in a “shameful” position, International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) President Sebastian Coe said Russia will be banned for next year’s Olympics unless it convinces the world it has cleaned up its act on doping.

The sport’s governing body provisionally suspended Russia’s track and field federation on Friday, four days after the country was accused of operating a vast, state-sponsored doping program in a damning report by a World AntiDoping Agency commission.

The move bars Russia from all international track and field competition for an indefinite period, including the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, until the country is judged to have fixed its problems and fallen into line with global antidoping rules. Coe called the decision— approved 22-1 in a secret vote of the IAAF council via teleconference—”the toughest sanction we can apply at this time.” It’s the first time the IAAF has ever banned a country over its doping failures.

“The whole system has failed the athletes, not just in Russia but around the world,” Coe said after a meeting that lasted nearly three-and-ahalf hours. “This has been a shameful wake-up call, and we are clear that cheating at any level will not be tolerated.”

“It makes me angry,” added Coe, a two-time Olympic 1,500-meter champion from Britain.

“We find ourselves in a shameful position tonight.” Coe, who was elected IAAF president in August, had been under heavy pressure to take tough action, despite efforts by Russian officials to avoid a blanket ban by agreeing to cooperate and make reforms in their antidoping system.

“This is not about politics, this is about protection of clean athletes,” Coe said. “It is why our council has sent such a strong message.”

Coe said Russia will need to fulfill “a list of criteria” to win reinstatement. An independent inspection team led by Norwegian antidoping expert Rune Andersen will be appointed in the next few days to verify Russia’s progress. AP

Coach Joachim Loew said. “For me, personally, the game and the sport loses importance.

We’re at a loss. We don’t know what to do.”

Olivier Giroud and substitute Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a goal each in the friendly match.

The German team, which was evacuated from its hotel in western Paris on Friday morning following a bomb scare, remained in the stadium long after the match.

Fans also remained inside the stadium after the final whistle, then went on the field as news of the violence spread and the sound of wailing sirens could be heard outside. The stadium announcer told fans which exits to use, but more and more walked onto the grass, reluctant to go outside as news poured in of a shocking night of violence.

More than 30 minutes after the game,

there were about 2,000 fans on the field as the stadium announcer reassured them that it was safe to leave and use public transport as usual, and directed them to exit gates. The atmosphere was calm but they were slow to filter out.

In the morning, the German team was evacuated from its hotel following a bomb scare, spending a few hours down the road at Roland Garros, the home of the French Open.

In what might have been a chilling coincidence, two loud explosions were heard outside Stade de France just minutes apart midway through the first half, followed by the sounds of wailing police sirens.

The atmosphere during the match was increasingly muted and a sickening feeling seemed to have already gripped the fans.

Post-match media activities were canceled, as were Saturday’s scheduled media events at the team’s training camp in Clairefontaine.

France’s afternoon training session, which was scheduled to be open to the public, was also canceled and will now be held behind closed doors.

French sports daily L’Equipe’s Saturday edition was a simple black backdrop alongside the words L’Horreur (Horror).

France’s players did not seem aware of the events until after the match, at which point television images showed some gathering to watch the news unfolding, looks of shocks on their faces.

“The French Football Federation (FFF) shares the pain of the bereaving families and their loved ones,” FFF president Noel Le Graet said.

BULLDOGS IN CONTENTION N

By Joel Orellana

ATIONAL University’s (NU) drive to repeat remained alive after the Bulldogs booked a thrilling 70-68 escape over Far Eastern University (FEU) on Sunday in Season 78 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball action at the Mall of Asia Arena.

After a bumpy ride in the elimination phase, the Bulldogs found themselves in the threshold of a Final Four spot with a huge victory over the Tamaraws. With a 7-7 win-loss record, NU is assured of at least a playoff for the No. 4 spot.

NU, however, could get a free ride to the semifinals if FEU, which was relegated to No. 2 with a 10-3 record and will face Ateneo de Manila in the Final Four, beats De La Salle (6-7) on Wednesday at the Big Dome.

“We knew how important this game was. We wanted to do our job, control what we can control and we were able to accomplish that,” Bulldogs Head Coach Eric Altamirano said.

“I’m proud of the players for their unwavering faith to the system and with each other. They trusted each other. They stuck with what we’ve been doing,” he added.

NU’s victory eliminated University of the East (UE) from the semifinals race despite scoring a 74-69 upset of Ateneo earlier on Saturday.

Gelo Alolino hit the go-ahead basket, faking Francis Tamsi for a short jumper to give the defending champions a 70-68 lead with 33.5 seconds left. The Tamaraws came out empty in their next play as Mark Belo forced a jumper.

But Alfred Aroga turned the ball over in the next Bulldogs possession, giving FEU the chance to send the game to overtime or win it with a triple.

Mike Tolomia opted to drive to the basket and his attempt rimmed out as time expired.

“I’m thankful that it went in,” said Alolino, who topscored for his team with 20 points. “I’m happy that I was able to deliver for the team.”

Aroga added 16 points and 12 rebounds but his crucial turnover in the closing seconds nearly cost them the game. Tolomia had 23 markers to

lead the Tamaraws.

NU’s win ended the hope of the Red Warriors, who turned to veteran Chris Javier and the upcoming forward Clark Derige in the pivotal fourth period in fending off the Blue Eagles’ late rally. The Recto-based dribblers improved to 5-8 in snapping Ateneo’s fivegame winning streak. The Blue Eagles found themselves in No. 3 in the Final Four round with a 9-5 mark.

“We just want to end

our season on a positive note,” UE Head Coach Derick Pumaren said.

The Red Warriors’ final eliminations game against University of the Philippines on Wednesday no longer has a bearing in the Final Four.

Derige led UE with 17 points while Javier added 13, seven he made in the final 10 minutes when Ateneo made its move.

After trailing by 14 points, 29-43, early in the third quarter, the Blue Eagles unloaded a 17-5 assault to slice the lead to 4648 before the Red Warriors settled for a 53-51 margin entering the fourth quarter.

Ateneo opened the final canto with six straight points to grab the

PLDT Home Ultera’s Janine Marciano slices through the defense of Kia Forte’s Wenneth Eulalio (7) and Mitchiko Castañeda (3). NONOY LACZA

HURTT IN HOT DEBUT FOR PLDT

V

ICTORIA HURTT debuted with a 21-hit performance as PLDT Home Ultera subdued a surprisingly tough Kia Forte, 25-12, 25-12, 23-25, 25-21, to clinch the other twice-tobeat advantage in the semifinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 12-Reinforced Conference elims at The Arena in San Juan City on Saturday.

Hurrt, one of the two imports PLDT tapped to bolster its campaign in the seasonending conference of the league where it all started, hammered 20 kills in an impressive show of power as the Ultra Fast Hitters recovered from a thirdset breakdown to foil Kia Forte’s semifinals playoff bid and tow University of the Philippines (UP) and Navy to the Final Four.

PLDT finished the single-round eliminations of the tournament, sponsored by Shakey’s, with a 4-1 card and will likely settle for No. 2 pending the result of the Army-UP showdown

NBA RESULTS Indiana 107, Minnesota 103 Orlando 102, Utah 93 Toronto 100, New Orleans 81 Boston 106, Atlanta 93 Cleveland 90, New York 84 Chicago 102, Charlotte 97 Memphis 101, Portland 100 Oklahoma City 102, Philadelphia 85 Dallas 90, LA Lakers 82 Denver 107, Houston 98 Sacramento 111, Brooklyn 109

upper hand at 57-53 but Fran Yu hit a triple to spark a 12-3 run, seven from Javier, to give the advantage back to UE, 65-60 with 1:36 remaining.

UNIVERSITY of the East’s Edison Batiller (15) beats Ateneo ace Kiefer Ravena to the loose ball. ALYSA SALEN

BATTLE OF GIANTS IN SAN MIGUEL-GINEBRA FACE-OFF

S FILIPINO PRIDE Members of the Philippine delegation, who raked medals in the 2015 Far East Asia Handgun Championship in Johor, Malaysia, last month, are honored by the Association of Firearms and Ammunition Dealers led by its President Joy Gutierrez-Jose (second row, second from left) on the opening of the 23rd Defense and Sporting Arms Show on November 11 at the SM Megamall, with Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte (second row, center). The Philippine top guns, who are trained under Coach Jethro Dionisio, include Edcel John Gino, Agustin Morales, Sonny Cu, Rudy Cua, Paquito Chan Jr., Ridgie Orina and Andrea Bernos. Also in the photo are Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano (second row, second from right) and two officials of the Philippine National Police. The country’s premier gun show is open until Sunday.

AN MIGUEL BEER shoots for the solo lead against a well-rested Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Philippine Cup on Sunday at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

The Beermen and the Kings clash at 5:15 p.m. in a battle of giants, featuring the reigning Most Valuable Player June Mar Fajardo of San Miguel and Ginebra’s vastly improved seven-foot center Greg Slaughter.

Meralco, meanwhile, seeks its first win against Barako Bull at 3 p.m. The Bolts are

the only winless team in the field after Mahindra ended its own drought with a 103-93 win over NLEX on Friday.

San Miguel is currently in a four-way tie for the lead with GlobalPort, Rain or Shine and Alaska on identical 3-1 win-loss records, while Ginebra finally gave Tim Cone his first victory, a 93-92 squeaker over Alaska on November 7 in Dubai.

Slaughter had a monster game against the Aces with 27 points and 19 rebounds, while Japeth Aguilar dished out a doubledouble performance for the Kings with 23 markers and 12 boards, as Cone finally tasted

his first win in his new team.

The Beermen bounced back from a sloppy performance against Rain or Shine with a 10-point victory over the Elite, with Fajardo and Marcio Lassiter hitting 20 points each for the squad of Head Coach Leo Austria. They will be tested by a fresh Ginebra five.

“They are a very different team with Tim Cone now coaching them and Greg and Japeth are playing very well under his [Cone] system,” said Austria, who also got 15 points from Alex Cabagnot in their previous win. Joel Orellana

played late Saturday. Army, which took the first semifinals bonus, is eyeing a sweep of the six-team eliminations, while UP, with a 2-2 card, is seeking to nail the No. 3 berth in the semifinals of the event presented by PLDT Home Ultera and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

With Kia ending up with a 1-4 mark, the same record by the other ousted team Coast Guard, Navy assured itself of a spot in the next round with the Nos. 3 and 4 to be decided after the Army-UP clash.

The crossover semifinals will be played next Sunday, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Sareea Freeman, the other PLDT reinforcement from Florida State, added 15 hits as the local aces took a backseat although Janine Marciano still dished out 10 points, and Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Sue Roces added nine and seven markers, respectively.

“They’ve practiced with the team for only two days so we expect more from them,” said PLDT Coach Roger Gorayeb, bracing for a title duel with the fancied Army side.

Expecting a rout, the Ultra Fast Hitters found a tougher Kia Forte side in the third, finding themselves trailing by three, the last at 15-18. But PLDT took seven of the next nine points to wrest a pair of two-point leads, the last at 23-21, before Kia, behind Shiela Pineda and Alexa Micek, fought back on a Micek drop shot and a Danielle Castañeda ace to force a tie.

Petron slips past Foton in Lipa duel

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By Lance Agcaoili

IPA City—Petron played a highoctane game that mesmerized a big crowd to cruise past Foton, 27-25, 25-23, 25-16, in the Spike-On-Tour of the Philippine Superliga Grand Prix on Saturday at the De La Salle-Lipa Sentrum.

The Blaze Spikers extended their winning streak to five—in the process snapped the Tornadoes unbeaten run at four—to join idle Philips Gold at the top of the standings with a 7-2 won-lost record.

The Tornadoes dropped to 6-4 to move one rung down to fourth behind Cignal (6-3) in the interclub league, presented by Asics and backed by Milo with Senoh, Mueller and Mikasa as technical partners and TV5 as official broadcaster.

Petron import Rupia Inck and Rachel Anne Daquis delivered the killer hits over the towering Foton defense of 6-foot-5 players Kattie Messing and Jaja Santiago.

Inck, Petron’s fluid Brazilian reinforcement, led all scorers with 19 hits on 17 attacks and two blocks, while Daquis dished out an all-around performance for in 13 points highlighted by two service aces and nine excellent receptions. Setter Erica Adachi made 19 excellent receptions for the Blaze Spikers.

“This win is a big factor for us,” Petron Head Coach George Pascua said. “It’s a morale booster, especially that we won in three sets because Foton is one of the strong teams in the league.”

“Hopefully we can sustain our momentum up to the Finals,” Pascua added.

Foton held fort in the first two sets but lost both because of errors. They committed 25 errors in the match.

Santiago towered for Foton and finished with 15 points on 12 spikes, two blocks and an ace, while reinforcements Lindsay Stalzer and Messing contributed 14 and 11 points, respectively.