BusinessMirror November 29, 2018

LUCAS BERSAMIN IS THE NEW CHIEF JUSTICE

BROADER LOOK WINDOW

DEPT. OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY

2018 BANTOG DATA MEDIA AWARDS CHAMPION

By Joel R. San Juan

@jrsanjuan1573

J

USTICE Secretary Menardo I. Guevarra on Wednesday confirmed the appointment of Supreme Court Associate Justice Lucas P. Bersamin as the 25th Chief Justice.

Although he is not the most senior Associate Justice of the SC, Bersamin is considered the most senior among the candidates for the CJ post based on the length of service in the Judiciary.

Bersamin, who started as a judge at the Regional Trial Court of Quezon City on November 5, 1986, has been in the Judiciary for 32 years already.

He will reach the mandatory retirement age of 70 on October 18, 2019.

Bersamin beat four other short-listed candidates in the top post, including Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio, who served as the acting chief justice after Teresita Leonardo-de Castro vacated the post when she

reached the mandatory retirement of 70.

Malacañang cited Bersamin’s seniority in the Judiciary branch as the reason for his appointment in the top SC post.

“Justice Bersamin is presently the most senior justice in the Supreme Court in terms of services rendered under the Judicial branch in various capacities.

He served nearly 17 years as the presiding judge of the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, over six years as associate justice at the Court of Appeals and close to 10 years as the 163rd magistrate of the Supreme Court,” Presidential Spokesman and Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador S. Panelo said in a statement on Wednesday.

Duterte said earlier that, in appointing the chief justice, he will consider the seniority rule.

Although Bersamin is the most senior in the Judiciary branch, Carpio is the most senior in the SC itself.

See “Bersamin,” A2

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A broader look at today’s business

n

Thursday, November 29, 2018 Vol. 14 No. 50

Congress calendar may change for 2019 budget

S

ENATE President Vicente C. Sotto III gave assurances on Wednesday that senators are working on a solution to avert a reenacted 2018 national budget should the two chambers of Congress fail to ratify a reconciled final version of the 2019 budget bill.

The 2019 national budget as approved in the House of Representatives, and up for Senate deliberations Sotto acknowledged that the tight congressional calendar approaching the Christmas recess may force lawmakers to work overtime, as Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno had requested.

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Is Dutertenomics working?

₧3.757 trillion

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM & Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

2017 EJAP JOURNALISM AWARDS

Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS

I

S the Duterte economics working? Surprisingly, on June 23, the President blurted out that the economy is, in his own words, “in the doldrums.” This was headlined by the newspapers the following day. Immediately, DBM Secretary Ben Diokno tried to correct the President, citing the growth and job gains from the “Build, Build, Build” program.

Continued on A7

See “Budget,” A2

House ratifies bicam reports on rice tariffs, coco levy

T ESPORTS IN PHL SEA GAMES Philippine Southeast Asian Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chairman Alan Peter S. Cayetano (left) takes a selfie during the introduction on Wednesday of eSports as a medal sport in the 30th SEA Games. With Cayetano are (from left) Philippine eSports officials Joebert Yu and Alvin Juban, New Clark City Athletes Village Mayor Arrey Perez, Chief of Mission Monsour del Rosario, Phisgoc Executive Director Ramon Suzara, Razer’s Limeng Lee, former Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) President Celso Dayrit and Deputy Secretary-General Karen Tanchanco Caballero, ESPN Sports 5 Head Vincent Reyes, POC’s Robert Bachmann and Razer’s David Tse. See story on C2. NONIE REYES

Pagcor eases fears of alien surge in Pogo, amid China labor influx

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie & Rea Cu @ReaCuBM

A

MID rising unemployment, lawmakers from the minority bloc have expressed alarm over the increasing numbers of Chinese workers in the country.

However, the state gaming regulator eased public apprehension about Chinese workers edging out Filipinos in the so-called “Pogo” (Philippine Online Gaming Operators) sector, saying the Chinese constitute only a quarter of those employed here.

In a news conference, Minority Leader Danilo E. Suarez of Quezon said the relevant government agencies should carefully watch foreigners who enter the Philippines as

PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 52.5230

tourists and then convert their status by applying for an alien employment permit (AEP).

The Department of Labor and Employmentissued AEP allows foreigners to work in the country for more than three months.

The AEPs are issued to professionals and managers working in the entertainment, online gaming and construction sectors.

The estimates on foreign workers in the country raised in an earlier Senate hearing had reached up to 400,000. At a Senate Labor panel hearing earlier this week, however, it was learned that there were more work permits given by the Bureau of Immigration— with their so-called special work permits or SWPs—than the AEP. See “Pagcor,” A8

HE House of Representatives on Wednesday endorsed for President Duterte’s signature the rice tariffication bill and the coco levy trust fund bill after it ratified the bicameral committee reports on the two measures.

C a m a r i nes Su r R e p. Lu i s Raymund F. Villafuerte Jr. said the Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund (RCEF) under the rice tariffication bill will help boost farm productivity and partly address the tight rural credit crunch that has today ballooned to P367 billion.

Villafuerte noted that only 10 percent of its P10-billion allocation, or P1 billion, would be set aside for credit to farmers and cooperatives. But, he said, this would in some way help farmers gain access to lending facilities that were denied them by the banking sector despite a law requiring banks to allot a specific portion of their credit facilities to the agriculture sector.

“That’s only P1 billion offered at preferential lending rates to farmers and cooperatives. But alongside the other features of the RCEF, the agriculture sector would finally get the assistance it needs to directly provide palay farmers the facilities they need to boost their incomes and make them competitive,” he said in a statement.

See “Rice tariffs,” A8

n JAPAN 0.4617 n UK 66.8933 n HK 6.7116 n CHINA 7.5545 n SINGAPORE 38.1347 n AUSTRALIA 37.9636 n EU 59.3352 n SAUDI ARABIA 13.9991

Source: BSP (28 November 2018 )

News

BusinessMirror

A4 Thursday, November 29, 2018 • Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug A2

briefs WHAT PORK, HOUSE LEADER ASKS

HOUSE Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr., who chairs the House Committee on Rules, assured the public on Wednesday that the 2019 P3.757-trillion national budget is pork-free.

The House leader is reacting to Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr.’s claim that leadership of the lower chamber allocated P60 million to each congressman in a form of porkbarrel funds.

What is erroneously being referred to as pork barrel in the 2019 budget are funds initially allotted for all congressional districts in the country, Andaya said.

“The underlying principle here: no district will be left behind. All will get a share a piece of the pie, for the benefit of their constituents. These are not pork-barrel funds declared illegal by the Supreme Court. They [public] have the right to enjoy the fruits of their taxes, regardless of their political affiliation,” he said. Jovie Marie N. dela Cruz

FRIENDSHIP WITH CHINA, U.S. BENEFICIAL FOR PHL, GMA SAYS HOUSE Speaker Gloria MacapagalArroyo on Wednesday emphasized that it would be beneficial for the Philippines to be friends with both the United States and China.

In her keynote speech at the inauguration of the new building of the Bases Conversion and Development Authority in Clark Global City, Pampanga, Arroyo said she sees no conflict being friends with the two super powers.

According to Arroyo, there is plenty of room for both China and the US in the Philippines as far as putting in investments is concerned.

Jovie Marie N. dela Cruz

Marawi ... continued from a8 Abu Sayyaf who dug holes and tunnels inside the houses and laid landmines along narrow alleys.

The battle left several hundred people dead and displaced 77,170 families, Dominguez said, citing government statistics.

President Duterte later issued Administrative Order 3 creating the Task Force Bangon Marawi to oversee the reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts for the city.

Dominguez also thanked the United Nations and the governments of the United States, Australia, China, Japan, Germany, Korea and Spain for their technical assistance to implement the Bangon Marawi program and for carrying out community-based initiatives.

He said the ADB and World Bank also provided technical assistance and support for community-based initiatives. The UN and its specialized agencies, as well as the governments of Australia, Italy, Japan, Korea and the US, and private groups extended P6.9 billion for relief operations and humanitarian assistance.

Watchdog

THE Philippine office of the Londonheadquartered International Alert helped form a new watchdog organization, the Marawi Reconstruction Conflict Watch (MRCW), to “channel wider public attention and participation in the monitoring of the Marawi reconstruction process”.

International Alert said the MRCW will coordinate with government to help mitigate transition-induced violence and it will be on the lookout “for possible economic, social, and environmental effects of rehabilitation process, and if the process would lead to more violent conflict.”

It said the MRCW was the response to inquiries on “who will monitor, assess, and mitigate the impacts of the Marawi’s reconstruction on people’s lives?”

The International Alert said the MRCW will be composed of “local people from different sectors who have a deep understanding of the conflict landscape of Marawi and its environs.”

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CA confirms Locsin, 47 DFA officials

T

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

HE Commission on Appointments (CA) unanimously confirmed on Wednesday the Cabinet nomination of former lawmaker and Philippine envoy to the United Nations Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. as new secretary of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

Senators and congressmen sitting in the CA plenary session, chaired by Senate President Vicente C. Sotto III, also approved the recommendation of the CA’s Committee on Foreign Affairs endorsing confirmation of the ad interim appointments of 47 other officials of the DFA. Acting favorably on the committee recommendation, among those confirmed were DFA officials with the rank of chiefs of mission, career ministers and foreign service officers.

Before his confirmation, Locsin fielded questions from some lawmakers. Asked about the implications of the Duterte administration’s reported option to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Locsin clarified that this “does not legitimize any violations of human rights.”

He added, “We have a commitment against crimes against humanity in the local law. It was far from a knee-jerk reaction,” referring to the decision to notify the ICC of Manila’s

Budget. . .

withdrawal plans.

Locsin recalled that “the provocations coming from the ICC started from the moment he [Duterte] was elected president. And from the time he launched his drug war.”

Also under questioning during his confirmation hearing, Locsin noted that “much invoked by the ICC was what they call the responsibility to protect” the doctrine.

Recalling some of the policy statements he made when he was the Philippines’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, the Harvard-trained lawyer said: “I have questioned that doctrine in the UN. I said that the doctrine says that the states have the responsibility to protect populations from their own security forces. I said there is something wrong with that because the first obligation of the states is the protection of the law-abiding against the lawless by any means sufficient to achieve that prupose,” Locsin said. “ In the course of that there will

be repeated denunciations on the conduct of the drug war.”

This, even as he acknowledged that “there were of course, tragic incidents, meron [some people] died in the cross fire, but it was in my view a legitimate war against a criminal syndicate... [part of the State’s] responsibility to protect the innocent against those who want to harm them.”

At the same time, Locsin reiterated that the Duterte administration, in addressing the West Philippines Sea issues with China, had already informed their Chinese counterparts on the Philippines’s stand. “As I said in Davao when I first met Wang Yi, I said that it is not true that we will waive this right, we do not waive a single inch of what is given to us in the arbitral award in Unclos,” referring to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. The Foreign Affairs secretary added: “It is a general consensus that we live with what is there. The differences between China over the maritime features may never be resolved, but perhaps one day they will be.”

He further acknowledged that “differences will be there, but nothing stops us from going over those differences to cooperate in areas of our mutual advantage.”

Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto, in endorsing Locsin’s unanimous confirmation as Foreign Affairs secretary, began his endorsement speech by saying he had received a text from an overseas Filipino worker based in Dubai asking him (Recto) to confirm the nominee because he is an

continued from a1

Diokno, who earlier warned that enactment of the 2019 budget law in January—instead of December— would dent growth prospects in the first and second quarters, met with Senate leaders on Wednesday and pushed his appeal for Congress to work overtime in order to have the budget signed by the President by year-end.

He told reporters after the meeting he got the sense that lawmakers were willing to amend their legislative calendar in order to make this possible.

Sotto confirmed that the Executive, through the DBM, had requested that lawmakers “hasten the deliberations and passage of the 2019, budget bill,” saying the tight January 27, 2019 timetable for bicameral conference ratification has triggered apprehensions that the two chambers will run out of time.

“There will be less than a week before the campaign period starts or a little over a week, and, therefore, all public works and other projects of government will have to be stopped until the elections,” Sotto said.

This means, he added, “another delay of five months. That is their apprehension, so we might be looking for a solution later.”

Asked if the Senate and the House can still rush passage of the budget bill, Sotto admitted: “Hindi kaya talaga. Siguro kailangan humanap kami ng paraan kung papano ’yung mga importanteng dapat mga kilos ng gobyerno ay hindi mapigil [It’s really hard. Maybe we need to find a way so that the important activities of the government won’t be derailed] because of the campaign period.”

Option: Joint resolution

AS an alternative, Sotto said lawmakers are considering the passage of a joint resolution by the Senate and the House allowing “extension of the MOOE [maintenance and other operating expenses] and capital outlay of the 2018 budget.”

Sotto suggested the joint resolution can be effective “until next year.”

“So, baka possible ’yunangmaka-offset

ngmgahindimai-dedeliver because of the campaign period. Continuation lang ’yun noong 2018 [So, that might possibly offset the funding for projects that cannot be deliveredbecauseofthecampaignperiod.It’s just a continuation of 2018],” Sotto said.

Still, Sotto admitted: “I don’t know the intricacies of whether that would be legal or not, so we have to listen to the DBM later and meet with the Department of Finance also.”

After the plea for the Senate to speed up passage within the year of the proposed 2019 budget of P3.757 trillion in order to avert a reenacted budget, Diokno remained hopeful that things can be worked out.

“I think they are planning [to revise] the schedule,” he said in a chance interview with reporters after his meeting with senators. “Because, in the original schedule, they would be adjourning on December 15, then they will be resuming on January 14. It’s not just January, it’s January 14. Why January 14?.... The ordinary workers, we will already go back to work January 7,” he said.

The meeting happened after Diokno said the national budget for next year may not be signed into law before the year-end based on the new calendar transmitted by the Senate. The latter had to adjust its timetable after the House of Representatives delayed transmission of the budget bill despite having gotten the Executive’s submission on July 23, right after the President delivered his State of the Nation Address (Sona).

According to the updated calendar, the earliest date for Congress ratification will be on January 25, 2019, and the latest possible date would be on February 7.

If this calendar will be followed, the government will be operating under a reenacted budget, the first under the Duterte administration.

Nonetheless, Diokno said he is confident the budget can still be passed before year-end. “I have passed 20 budgets in my lifetime. It can be done if they

Women-friendly. . .

The research arm of the Depart-

ment of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said this may be attributed to the drop in the number of workers. The ILS said most of the 473,000 who went jobless were mostly women.

The women cited household family

wanted to,” he said.

‘Double-time’

MEANWHILE, senators said they will try to pass the budget before the year-end.

Sen. Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri told reporters their “counterproposal is to work double-time” after Malacañang’s appeal to approve the budget before January 1 next year. “[Hopefully], on December 13, we can already ratify the budget,” Zubiri said.

Senate President Vicente Sotto said the budget can be passed before the end of the year if the budget interpellations are fast-tracked.

“The President said the signing can be done until December 31,” Sotto said.

Warning

EARLIER, Diokno warned that Congress’s failure to approve the 2019 budget will affect the country’s economic growth for the first and second quarters, as there will be a five-month implementation gap for the infrastructure projects.

However, he clarified that this will mainly cover the small projects, such as roads and school buildings, and this development will not affect the big infrastructure projects as most of them are covered by the Multi-Year Obligational Authority.

Although Diokno stopped short of zeroing on a figure, he said there will likely be a slowdown in the capital outlays for the first two quarters next year.

Nonetheless, he remained confident the government can meet the GDP growth target of 7 to 8 percent for next year.

Diokno has since said the President has given Congress “more than enough time to scrutinize the budget.” He recalled giving the Executive’s budget proposal right after the Sona. However, the reshuffle in the House of Representatives, with the changing of the Speaker to Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and a long tussle between House leaders and DBM over the introduction of the first-ever cash-based budget, derailed the budget timeline.

OFW, also known as an “Outstanding FaceBook Warrior.”

Recto affirmed that description, and, apparently alluding to Locsin’s active presence on Twitter, said: “While we may not have missiles to launch, we possess something more potent—Locsin missives, to which no shield has been proven effective against their withering fire.”

(Text of Senator Rectos’ speech on page A7) Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., who also delivered a sponsorship speech, affirmed that the Foreign Affairs nominee “has distinguished himself with the credentials and qualifications” befitting someone who should be at the helm of the DFA. “Irrepressible, articulate, very independent-minded and extraordinarily prolific in writing,” Lacson said of Locsin, whom he also described as “always the maverick, quick-witted, and acerbic—never dull and never ordinary­—’yun bang nang-iinsulto at nanlalait na masarap pa rin pakinggan at excited ka pang marinig ang mga susunod na sasabihin [even when he’s insulting, the words are so nice to hear you get excited to hear what he’ll say next].”

Lacson recalled that the same Commission on Appointments “not too long ago, unanimously and decisively confirmed” Locsin’s appointment as the Philippines’s Permanent Representative to the UN. “In such a short stint as ambassador until he was personally chosen by President Rodrigo Roa Duterte to be the country’s top diplomat, he [Locsin] effectively made his mark within the high-brow milieu of the inter-

Bersamin. . .

Bersamin, appointed by former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to the Supreme Court in April 2009, is set to retire on October 2019.

The new Chief Justice voted in favor of key High Court decisions, such as allowing the burial of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng Mga Bayani, martial law in Mindanao, the arrest BERSAMIN of opposition Sen. Leila M. de Lima and the ouster of Chief Justice Maria Lourdes A. Sereno on a quo warranto petition.

He also penned the decision acquitting Arroyo of plunder and has also voted to acquit former Senator Jinggoy Estrada of plunder.

national community of nations.”

“Sec. Teddy Boy gained his acuity from his career as a journalist for three decades. An incurable bookworm, he was the publisher of the Philippines Free Press, and the national broadsheets Daily Globe and Today. He used to host Teditorial, Assignment and Points of View on TV. He was also coanchor of radio programs Executive Session and Karambola,” the senator added.

Locsin transferred his Today column “Free Fire” to the BusinessMirror several years ago, and he writes for this paper until the present.

“As secretary of Foreign Affairs, we all agree that he [Locsin] will bring his own brand of diplomacy, one that represents the true value of an independent foreign policy enshrined in our Constitution,” the senator said, adding: “I dare say this without mental reservation. If he pulls off and succeeds in the present endeavors which he is currently occupied with, with nary a constitutional challenge but that would catapult the Philippines into the league of rich, influential and economically powerful nations, we may now be confirming a future President of the Republic of the Philippines.”

Locsin was a lawyer and publisher-editor when he was elected to the first of a nine-year stint as Makati congressman in 2001.

It is his second time to join the Cabinet, having served as press secretary, presidential legal counsel and speech writer during the Corazon Aquino presidency in 1986.

continued from a1

MEANWHILE, Duterte has also named Rosmari D. Carandang as the new associate Justice at the Supreme Court, filling the post vacated by de Castro.

The Palace said Carandang has been Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals since March 2003. Prior to her stint at the appellate court, Carandang served as Presiding Judge of the Makati Regional Trial Court.

Carandang will reach the mandatory retirement age on January 9, 2022.

On the view in some quarters that Carpio being the most senior in the SC should be appointed Chief Justice, Bersamin said the issue of seniority should be left to the sound discretion of the President.

“I just stand on my own personal record. I think I served the longest in the Judiciary. I leave that to the President to make the decision what he meant by giving priority or prefer-

ence to seniority and not second guess the President,” Bersamin said at a press briefing hours after the Palace announced his appointment.

Carpio was the one who administered the oath to Bersamin.

Bersamin is the first Chief Justice who graduated from the University of the East College of Law. During his stint as a trial court judge, Bersamin became a recipient of the Chief Justice Fred Ruiz Castro Memorabilia Commission with the coveted distinction of having written the Best Decision in Civil Law and the Best Decision in Criminal Law, topping all RTC Judges in 1999. It was the only time that both awards were won by the same judge in the same year.

In 2002 Bersamin won the Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos Award as Outstanding RTC Judge of that year.

Before Arroyo appointed him as SC Associate Justice, Bersamin served as an associate justice of the Court of Appeals from 2003.

Bersamin vowed to look into the problems plaguing the Judiciary and come up measures to address them.

He reminded the public that he would only have 11 months to serve his term, thus he hoped the expectations on him would not be too high.

“If I raise the bar of expectations too high, I will really fall short of it given only 11 months,” Bersamin said.

“The Judiciary has many problems.

People know about them and it is my purpose that during my 11-month period that I will be at the helm, I will try to find out these problems and try to address them the best way the SC can.

It’s not the CJ that will solve these problems, it is the SC. That how the SC works,” he added. With Bernadette D. Nicolas

address the prevailing gender pay gap trailing behind the efforts of their middle low- and middle-income country counterparts.

In a statement, ILO Director General Guy Ryder stressed the importance of addressing gender pay gap.

“The gender pay gap represents one of today’s greatest manifestations of social injustice, and all countries should try to better understand what lies behind them and accelerate progress towards gender equality,” Ryder said.

Associate Justice Carandang

continued from a8

duties as a reason for being economically inactive.

Still, the ILS said the government must “speed up” the rollout of its programs, which will encourage more women to join the work force, so it could meet its 49.7-percent labor force

participation rate of women for 2018.

The ILO’s Global Wage Report 2018/2019 contained data on gender pay gap in 80 countries, including the Philippines.

The 172-page report showed efforts of high-income economies to

Economy BusinessMirror

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CARP saga longest-running in Asia, possibly the world, PIDS study says

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

@caiordinario

HREE decades hence, the longest-running land distribution program in Asia—the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP)—has not been completely implemented, according to the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS).

This was among the findings in a study, titled “The Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program After 30 Years: Accomplishments and Forward Options,” done by a research team led by PIDS Vice President Marife M. Ballesteros.

The study found that over 600,000 hectares of land still need to be distributed and a budget of around P73 billion to P123 billion are needed for land compensation.

“The CARP can be considered the longest-running land reform program in Asia and, possibly, the world,” the PIDS said.

“Despite the substantial amount provided to CARP, the program had not been fully implemented. The scope for land distribution is still over 600,000 ha [hectares], and the bulk are PAL [private agricultural lands] that are productive and are utilized for high-value crops [e.g., sugar lands] and with major investments in agriculture,” it added.

PIDS estimated that the majority of the land that still need to go through CARP is planted with coconut at 165,588 hectares followed by rice at 127,455 hectares and sugarcane at 115,613 hectares.

Based on PIDS estimates, the average value per hectare of lands for all crops are P123,685 per hectare. The most expensive lands that still need to go through CARP are planted to sugarcane at P209,998

per hectare; rice, P130,705 per hectare; and coconut, P98,726 per hectare.

This means the government needs to pay P24.278 billion for sugarcane lands; P16.659 billion for rice lands; and P16.348 billion in coconut lands.

The maximum amount of P123 billion was estimated by the LandBank. It gave a higher average value per hectare of the total land at P216,557 per hectare.

Increasing the budget for CARP has been difficult, the study noted. The total CARP budget amounted to P309 billion for the period covering 1988 to 2016, or about P10.65 billion annually.

This only represented about 0.44 percent of GDP during the initial years (1987 to 1991) of the program.

Since then, the trend had been downward—0.35 percent of GDP in 1992 to 1997; 0.28 percent in 1998 to 1999; 0.15 percent of GDP in 2010 to 2016.

In the past five administrations, the Benigno Aquino III administration allocated the most at P19.12 billion annually followed by the Arroyo administration at P11.32 billion.

The administration that extended the least to CARP was the Estrada administration at P3.1 billion. The Corazon Aquino administration, which created the CARP, extended P4.48 billion annually and the Ramos administration, P5.15 billion.

“The accomplishments of CARP in terms of area covered and number of beneficiaries have been significant. CARP accomplishments represent 70 percent of an estimated total non-owner-cultivated agriculture land and 54 percent of total farming households in the country. However, there is evidence that the program had been poorly targeted in terms of areas covered and beneficiaries,” the study stated.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Thursday, November 29, 2018 A3

NFA closes supply deal for 203,000-MT rice imports from Thailand and Vietnam

A

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

FTER two failed biddings, Manila has successfully secured a supply contract with Thailand and Vietnam for the importation of 203,000 metric tons (MT) of rice to further beef up the government’s stockpile.

The National Food Authority (NFA) on Wednesday accepted the bid offers of Thailand and Vietnam for the import contract as they were below the agency’s reference price.

This was the third bidding conducted by the NFA via governmentto-government (G2G) mode, with the first one failing as the two countries opted not to participate, while the offers in the previous tender were above the government’s ceiling price.

“We are extremely happy [with the results of the bidding] because, like I said in [my] earlier message, I hope this bidding will bring us tears and good tidings. And it did,” NFA Assistant

Administrator and G2G Committee Chairman Mercedes G. Yacapin said.

“And we are even happier [as] they said they will be able to bring in the shipment not later than December 15,” Yacapin added.

Thailand is set to supply the country with 80,000 MT, while Vietnam would export some 123,000 MT before the year ends.

For the third G2G rice importation bidding, the NFA hiked its reference price to $470 per MT compared to the previous ceiling prices of $467 per MT and $428.18 per MT in the first tender.

Vietnam made the first offer at $470 per MT for the supply of 170,000 MT.

However, Thailand pitched to supply the government with rice priced at $469.80 per MT. But Thailand only offered to supply 80,000 MT of the 203,000 MT with 10,000 MT arriving before December 15 and the remaining volume to be shipped not later than December 31.

Vietnam was asked by the NFA to match the price offer of Thailand for the supply of the remaining 123,000 MT and it did. Thailand’s total bid amounted to $37.584 million, while Vietnam’s reached $57.785 million.

The NFA was able to save some $41,000 as it allotted $95.41 million for the 203,000 MT rice importation.

The country’s total rice imports this year, including the volume that would be brought in by private traders via the minimum access volume, would hit at least 2.055 million MT. The NFA would account for around 1.25 million MT of the total volume.

The volume is expected to increase further as it does not include imports by supermarkets through the Department of Trade and Industry’s rice importation program, which has a 350,000-MT allocation and the additional volume to be brought in by the private sector via out quota.

A4

TheBroa

Business

Thursday, November 29, 2018

Online illegal wildlife trade: Spe T

By Jonathan L. Mayuga

HE illegal wildlife trade is a major driver of biodiversity loss.

In the Philippines, the problem of rampant buying and selling of wildcaught or harvested flora and fauna reflects a global concern especially in biodiversity-rich regions like Southeast Asia, East Asia, Africa and Central America.

Hunting for sport and trophy, their meat for food, skin for bags and accessories and body parts for medicine, or even live animals for the pet trade, on a commercial scale has driven iconic animals to the brink of extinction—elephants, tigers, rhinos, lions, leopards and other animals like monkeys, turtles, birds, fish, snakes and lizards.

Among the topmost traded wildlife and wildlife parts are the elephant, rhino, pangolin and tiger.

A document by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) revealed that the drive to buy them includes perceptions of their ability to cure illness or bring good health, for their rarity and beauty and for good luck or fortune.

Among the drivers to purchase elephant tusks are perceptions of rarity, purity and spirituality, beauty and good luck or good fortune, according to the USAID paper titled “Consumer Research Findings on Elephant, Pangolin, Rhino and Tiger Parts and Products in China.”

Among those who bought rhino parts and or products, the drivers to purchase are perceptions that rhino horns bring good health or well-being and cure illnesses. Pangolin is popular because of two major reasons—the beliefs that pangolin parts cure illness and bring good health or well-being. For the tiger, among those who bought tiger parts and/or products, the top four drivers to purchase are perceptions that tigers are rare, they cure illness, bring good health and improve sexual prowess.

For whatever reason, the rampant illegal trade in wildlife aggravates the massive habitat loss, pollution, the spread of deadly diseases, the infestation of invasive alien species and, lately, climate change impact leading to the extinction of targeted species.

An evolving illegal activity

LIKE in other countries, illegal wildlife trade in the Philippines is evolving along with the technological evolution that led to the development of high-tech gadgets that can access the Internet.

The use of simple short messaging service or text messaging, untraceable subscriber identity module, or SIM, cards and burner phones make unscrupulous traders hard to catch. The buying and selling of wild-caught or harvested plants and animals has become an even more lucrative trade, with the easy access to a bigger market and extended reach through the Internet.

Aided by unbridled Internet technology, illegal wildlife trade has become even more challenging to concerned government agencies and wildlife law enforcers.

This is despite a slew of environmental laws, particularly Republic Act (RA) 9147, or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of 2001; and RA 7586, or the National Integrated Protected Act System (Nipas) Act of 1992 as amended by RA 11038, or the Expanded Nipas Act of 2018 in the Philippines.

Catching up

PLAYING catch-up, the Philippine government through the Depart-

ment of Environment and Natural Resources-Biodiversity Management Bureau (DENR-BMB) launched on November 22 a project to combat environmental organized crime.

The three-year “Combating Environmental Crime in the Philippines” project was launched in cooperation with the Asian Development Bank-Global Environment Facility during the 2nd Wildlife Law Enforcement Summit at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, with particular focus on legal reforms, strengthening law enforcement capacity and raising public awareness to reduce the demand for wildlife and wildlife parts.

Kicking off on November 20 with the theme “Moving Forward: Scaling Up Wildlife Law Enforcement,” the three-day summit gathered wildlife law enforcement officers throughout the country, affirming their commitment to combating illegal wildlife trade.

A lucrative trade

THE global illegal wildlife trade continues to thrive. Aided by information and communication technology and now the more advanced and widely used Internet platforms, buying and selling made the business brisker than ever.

The estimated value of illegal wildlife trade varies by one institution to another.

The World Bank’s Global Wildlife Program placed the value of illegal wildlife trade between $7.8 billion and $10 billion per year. It is currently considered the fourth most lucrative trade next to narcotics or illegal drugs trade, human trafficking and arms trafficking.

Often, the value of wildlife or wildlife parts, depending on their rarity and beauty, or perceived medical benefits, is more precious than gold.

The value of rhino horns sits at the level of $65,000 (about P3,419,650) per kilo. A rare parrot egg seized in Thailand would have made a trader $33,000 (around P1,736,130) richer. A kilo of elephant tusks could cost as much as $2,100 (P110,481).

Being a consumer, source and transit point for illegally traded wildlife, wildlife parts or products, the value of trade in illegal wildlife in the Philippines is roughly P50 billion or $1 billion a year, including “the market value of the wildlife and resources, their ecological role and value and damage to habitats incurred during poaching and loss in potential ecotourism revenues.”

Digitally aided

AIDED by advanced technology— smartphones, Internet technology and the ever-growing popularity of social media, illegal wildlife trade on the Internet is fast becoming the new trend.

During a weeklong training held in Bangkok, Thailand, from November 5 to 9 on “Reporting the Illegal Internet Trade in Wildlife for Journalists from Africa and Asia,” experts in combating wildlife crimes revealed the extent the illegal wildlife trade and the reach of organized crime groups that have conveniently found online marketplaces and boosted by various social-media platforms.

RARE primates, parrots and lizards seized by Thai authorities are being temporarily kept at the Bang Pra Waterbird Breeding Center, one of 25 breeding centers where rescued animals are brought for safekeeping pending trial or eventual disposal—for return to the country of origin if they are imported or released back to the wild if they are native to Thailand. CLAUDIO LANDI, GLOBAL INITIATIVE

The conference, conducted by the Thomson Reuters Foundation in partnership with the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime or Global Initiative and funded by the government of Norway, noted that governments and law enforcement agencies are once again caught a step behind in terms of technological capacity, with online marketplaces and social-media platforms having been used in the illegal trade in wildlife.

Playing the game “catch me if you can,” these unscrupulous traders and their agents are becoming more elusive, Simone Haysom, senior analyst of Global Initiative, said.

Haysom said that even with online marketplaces and socialmedia platforms committing to take down advertisements or social-media posts pertaining to selling or buying wildlife, illegal wildlife trade on the Internet persists.

Enforcing the law against illegal wildlife trade online, she added, may pose a bigger challenge to governments with the issue of jurisdiction or even governments’ legal capacity to challenge multibillion-dollar companies raking profits from the lucrative business of online marketing of a wide range of goods and services.

NGOs at play

HAYSOM hinted that nongovernment organizations (NGO) may, at some extent, pose a legal challenge against big online marketplaces or social-media networks, but the question is who will make such initiative considering the cost of litigation and the trouble of challenging multibillion-dollar companies with a pool of legal experts on its payroll.

NGOs like Global Initiative are banking on strong partnerships with journalists, whether they work independently, or companies that operate print, television, radio, multimedia or online media companies, to combat illegal trade in wildlife.

In the group’s study, Haysom said there is no one illegal wild-

life trade, the coverage of which is dominated by charismatic megafauna like elephant (tusks), rhino (horns) tigers (skin, teeth parts) and pangolin (scales and internal organs), although thousands of species, including plants, are trafficked on a massive scale.

Apparently, she said different commodities have different value chains and market dynamics.

Yet, she said the nature of demand and value, need for processing or live transport, overlap with legal trade, countries of origin and consumption, which affect trade dynamics.

Finally, issues of legality can be highly complex because of the existing national legislation, treaties like the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and other laws connected to Internet use or its application.

Probing online IWT

SARAH STONER, senior investigations manager at the Wildlife Justice Commission, an NGO that conducts an investigation to expose criminal networks in the illegal trade in wildlife, gave a glimpse of the group’s investigations of social-media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

Often, Stoner said, buying and selling happen through the use of social media, with middlemen using fictitious accounts and posting photos of their “products” on Facebook or Instagram.

Making illegal wildlife traders harder to catch, illegal wildlife trade also happens in secret or closed groups created for the purpose.

Conducting undercover investigation through Operation Medusa launched in June 2016, the WJC developed intelligence and started gathering evidence on a criminal network dealing in extremely high volumes of raw ivory and rhino horn in Vietnam.

“The network comprises several individuals, all with distinct roles and responsibilities, easing the facilitation of products from a source site to market,” she said.

Some unscrupulous individuals in Vietnam were then considered to be significant players in the marketplace, where illegal trade is conducted in a commercial manner.

Working closely with the authorities, WJC was able to help capture a certain Nguyen Anh Son who was arrested with 14 rhino horns in his possession. The suspect later admitted to authorities having in his possession four more rhino horns.

Investigators estimate the total value of all eighteen horns to be more than $250,000 (about P13,152,500).

The suspect was eventually sent to prison with a sentence of 18-month jail term in January this year.

The group also provided intelligence that led to the seizure of 970 kilogram of raw ivory, which equates to 97 elephants, the largest seizure ever dealt with by wildlife law enforcement authorities.

An investigation conducted by WJC revealed that organized crime networks are learning to hide their identities, using third-party players, to make their financial transactions harder to trace.

She added that law enforcement agencies may not have the capacity to tackle such level of elusive criminal activities.

Combating online IWT

HAYSOM said social media can be a source of information and an entry point for investigations.

In fact, she said new tools are now being developed to help automate data collection and use digital methods to the advantage of wildlife crime fighters.

“The Internet is a powerful platform for communication for advocacy, consumer awareness and to spread the results of journalistic investigations,” she added. Haysom noted that more and younger generation of Internet users now have access to social-media platforms through smartphones.

Online marketplace appeal

RICARDO FORRESTER, crime analyst at USAID, in his presentation en-

titled, “A Snapshot of Illegal Online Wildlife Trade,” said illegal online wildlife trade also happens “openly” on other social-media platforms.

Conducting a six-week snapshot of the illegal wildlife trade happening online, Forrester said an investigative report of the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), a global nonprofit organization that protects animals and their habitats, revealed that 33,006 listed CITES wildlife and wildlife parts are for sale online and that there are around 9,482 advertisements online, with an estimated value of $10,708,137 (about P563,355,087.57).

The investigation only covered 16 countries and most, or 56 percent, of all the wildlife parts and products and live animals in the investigation were found on Chinese websites.

About 32 percent of advertisements on these websites advertised the sale of ivory or suspected ivory.

Around 2,509 advertisements were for reptiles, including turtles and tortoises, the second-highest category next to ivory.

Online wildlife trade, Forrester said, is highly appealing, because of several factors.

“There is no risk of stores being visited by law enforcement; because it is online, you don’t have to rent or open a store,” he said. “Why also pay for rent when they don’t need to?”

Traders also need not maintain records of their transactions, apparently avoiding taxes. Using aliases or fictitious accounts, these unscrupulous illegal wildlife traders avoid arrest.

Finally, the Internet allows them to have farther reach in the global markets, including expansion or having a new customer base in various parts of the world.

Social media appeal

OFTEN, advertisements in online marketplaces are also shared in social media, which even the younger generations are able to access.

What makes social-media use appealing is that unlike online marketplaces, traffickers do not pay sales

aderLook

sMirror

Editor: Dennis D. Estopace | Thursday, November 29, 2018

A5

ecies extinction at Internet speed

ness and improving governance and curbing corruption.

During the Forum on Combating Wildlife Trafficking held at Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria, Ortigas Center, in June this year, 11 law enforcement agencies and organizations expressed their support behind the plan.

They are the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (Nica), National Bureau of InvestigationEnvironmental Crime Division, Philippine National Police Maritime Group, Zoological Society of London-Philippines, Haribon Foundation; UNDP GEF Small Grants Program, Forest Foundation Philippines; Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project, GIZ-Philippines; Conservation International-Philippines; US Embassy-Manila; and Conservation International.

High optimism

fees, according to Forrester.

“Often, using closed groups, social media provide security in who you are dealing with,” he said.

Another tricky part in the use of social media is that it works on a referral-based system.

Social media, Forrester added, have the ability to market illegal wildlife worldwide, with traders creating fake or anonymous profiles using “throwaway” e-mail addresses.

Despite being banned by social-media platforms and online marketplaces, illegal online wildlife trade remains largely unregulated and wildlife laws difficult to enforce.

Some illegal wildlife trade players, according to Forrester, are now migrating, slowly, using the Dark Web, for greater protection against wildlife law enforcers that are now developing their capacity to identify those behind fictitious accounts, their location or place of operation.

“The future of the trade may be the Dark Web, making it even more difficult to enforce or regulate,” Forrester said.

But using the Dark Web has its disadvantage because of the fraud on advance fees happening and the shipment of products remains risky with law enforcers always on the lookout.

Enhancing police capacity

LAW enforcement agencies, according to Forrester, need to build individual and regional capacities to address the changing dynamics of online wildlife trade.

Salvatore Amato, who heads the law enforcement team of the USAID Wildlife Asia, commented it is ironic that most governments in “range countries” where hunting of endangered animals is prohibited have no dedicated law enforcement units to go after wildlife criminals.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol), with its 194 member-countries, is now stepping up to the challenge by helping enhance the capacity of various law enforcement agencies that seek its help, according

to Marcos Mileo Brasil, criminal intelligence analyst of the Interpol Environmental Security-Project Leaf.

Brasil said that governments, upon request, will be provided technical training by Interpol to enhance their capacity to trace a suspect’s location and, possibly, identity, leading to a possible arrest.

on Facebook pertaining to the sale of wildlife or wildlife is not against the law, thereby encouraging the buying and selling of wild-caught animals or their products.

“Those engaged in trading animals are getting younger and younger. As young as those who have [cellular phones] are now buying animals,” Palasuwan said.

Thailand’s initiatives

Thai breeding, rescue center

SOMKIAT SOONTORNPITAKKOOL, director of the Division of Wild Fauna and Flora Protection, Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation of Thailand, said there is an ongoing move in Thailand to amend existing laws and policies to regulate trade in wildlife and wildlife products and to intensify the campaign against illegal wildlife trade happening on the Internet.

In Thailand, 40 percent of the land areas are forested. Of that, 25 percent are protected areas while 15 percent are production areas.

There is no wildlife rescue center in Thailand but there are 25 breeding centers, where confiscated animals are kept temporarily.

According to Somkiat, there’s no “take policy” for endemic animals, although imported pets are allowed.

Two laws or policies exist in Thailand, he said, one for protected areas and the other for animals outside the protected area.

“We will amend the law to regulate exotic species in Thailand,” Somkiat said.

Through an interpreter, Thiradej Palasuwan, head of Thailand’s Wildlife Protection Division and head of Forest Hawks special operation team, said amending existing laws and policies will boost the campaign against illegal wildlife trade, particularly in the pet trade.

In Thailand, where trading of certain wildlife or wildlife products happens, particularly those classified as “exotic,” which are usually imported, law enforcers are having a hard time distinguishing legal from illegal transactions.

Also posting advertisements

DURING a tour at the Bang Pra Waterbird Breeding Center in Chonburi Province on November 9, journalists were briefed of the extent of the problem on illegal wildlife trade.

One of 25 breeding centers, the Bang Pra Waterbird Breeding Center is where some of the confiscated species are being temporarily kept. Only native species that are healthy are being released back into the wild.

Established in 1992, the center collects and breed native species of waterbirds for conservation.

There were currently a total of 1,005 animals in the park, 68 percent or 683, are breeders, while the rest are confiscated. These include rare primates, exotic snakes, tortoise, lizards and birds.

Chayanid Prasanwong, the center’s lone veterinarian, said the facility is also used to treat animals that are injured during transit.

Borderless crime

TRAFFICKING wildlife knows no borders today, no thanks to Internet technology as buyers and sellers from across the globe are now connected and are able to transact business clandestinely using fictitious social-media accounts.

Prasanwong said most animals brought in by authorities at the center were seized during an attempt to smuggle them out of Thailand.

Tortoise and lizards, particularly green Iguana, are being smuggled out of Thailand to countries like India.

On the other hand, exotic bird species from as far as Paraguay, Brazil and other countries in Cen-

tral America, with some from Indonesia, have been confiscated.

“Even eggs are being smuggled in or out,” Prasanwong said. “Some animals are so young, some are adult, but mostly they are in poor condition.”

Most of the trafficked animals die while in transit, she said, and even those that survived and brought in at the centers eventually die, because of stress, citing the case of over 300 tortoises that were rescued years back. Very few of them managed to stay alive at the center’s care.

According to Salvatore, an experienced wildlife law enforcer, illegal wildlife trade today has no known borders.

Even African elephant tusks and rhino horns reach China, Vietnam and Thailand.

Wildlife law enforcers, he suggests, should give more focus or attention on most traded wildlife and wildlife products that are on the brink of extinction to help save the species.

Some countries, like the Philippines, should not let their guard down because illegal wildlife traders often find ways to smuggle in and out highly expensive animals or animal products, dead or alive, according to experts.

PHL: IWT hub?

BUYING and selling of wild-caught or harvested plant and animals remain a problem in the Philippines despite the all-out war against illegal wildlife trade.

Through the Philippine Operations Group on Ivory (Pogi) and Illegal Wildlife Trade, also known as Task Force Pogi, the government was able to score big in terms of seizure of illegally traded wildlife and wildlife parts or products.

According to the DENR-BMB brochure titled “Addressing the Illegal Wildlife Trade in the Philippines,” between 1996 and 2009, five tons of ivory elephant tusks were confiscated by authorities.

From 2000 to 2006, a total of 1,522 mynas and 652 blue-naped parrots were rescued.

In 2012 and 2013, authorities also scored big in the campaign against illegal trade of pangolins. A total of 95 kilos of pangolin scales and 36 kilos of pangolin meat equivalent to approximately 200 animals were seized in 2012 alone.

The following year, 2,870 dead pangolins were seized. In 2014, a total of 354 marine turtles, dead and alive, were recovered. In 2015, a total of 4,300 freshwater turtles, 4,000 of which are the endemic Philippine forest turtles, were seized.

Between 2013 and 2017, 462 Indonesian endemic parrots were seized by authorities. In 2017, intensifying the campaign against illegal wildlife trade, 58 pangolins, 70 hawksbill turtles, 58 Goffin’s cockatoos and nearly 1,000 endemic pitcher plants and Lady Slipper orchids were recovered.

This year, authorities rescued 106 Sulfur-crested cockatoos so far.

The document identified the most traded species in the Philippines namely Philippine forest turtles, Palawan pangolin, Hawksbill turtle, Blue-naped parrot, Southeast Asian box turtle, Hill mynah, Asian leaf turtle and Tockay gecko.

Based on confiscation data, major poaching sites in the Philippines are Coron, El Nido, Taytay, Narra, Quezon, Rizal, Half Moon Shoal, Balabac Major Turtle Islands, Mapun, Agusan del Norte, Bukidnon, Aurora, Samar, Leyte and Bohol.

IWT road map

TO help curb illegal wildlife trade in the Philippines, the DENR recently completed the 10-year national Wildlife Law Enforcement Action Plan (WildLEAP) 20182028. The plan is alighted with the Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan and serves as the national road map to address wildlife crimes and guide to prioritizing enforcement activities.

WildLEAP focuses on stronger policies, networking and coordination, building capacity, communication, education and public aware-

WHILE admitting more needs to be done to fight global illegal wildlife trade, DENR officials are optimistic.

DENR-BMB Wildlife Resource Chief and Task Force Pogi pointperson Josefina de Leon said they are always on the lookout not only for those attempting to use the country’s port as transit point of illegally traded elephant tusks but also rhino horns and products from tigers, pangolins and other critically endangered species listed under CITES and the “Red List of Threatened Species” of the Internal Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

In fact, in January this year, the DENR-BMB sought custody of six rhino horns confiscated by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) in 2016 to ensure that they are properly disposed of. Most of these confiscated items like elephant tusks are returned, if not destroyed, by the DENR-BMB to demonstrate its resolve against trade in wildlife and wildlife parts.

DENR-BMB Director Crisanta Marlene Rodriguez told the BusinessMirror that despite funding problems, fighting wildlife crimes is getting the much-needed boost from various law enforcement agencies like the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police (PNP).

Funding for the campaign against illegal wildlife crime, she admits, comes from the DENR’s regular budget and, except for Task Force Pogi, there are no law enforcement units dedicated to monitoring the Internet to curb the buying and selling of wildlife.

“Just last month, one of our law enforcers went to Bangkok for a training to enhance our capacity in combating online illegal wildlife trade,” she said.

Rodriguez added the DENRBMB scored big in October by causing the conviction of two wildlife traffickers.

“As far as fighting illegal wildlife trade is concerned, we are not lagging behind and we continue to enhance our capacity,” she added.

DENR Undersecretary Benny Antiporda said while the full force of the DENR is focused on Boracay and other tourism areas for the moment, illegal wildlife trade is on their radar.

Antiporda admitted that some buyers and sellers are cunningly using Facebook to hide their identities to avoid law enforcement in doing their illegal transaction.

He claims the DENR is now monitoring social media and has recently allowed a team to have special access to Facebook, to monitor suspicious transactions involving wild-caught plants or animal species and their byproducts.

“Before the end of the year, we will launch a big operation. Wait and see. We are just busy right now.

To those involved in illegal wildlife trade, this is a fair warning,” he said. “As long as you are in our country, as long as you are here in our territory, we can get to you. We will get you.”

A6 Thursday, November 29, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Can we ever become a first-world country?

M

OST observers agree that the Philippine economy has performed exceptionally well under President Duterte, whose administration has been steadily laying the foundations for sustained economic growth. That’s why the President, survey after survey, has been consistently getting good grades from the people. Over the medium term, the economy is projected to continue expanding, propelled by infrastructure spending and robust domestic demand, among others.

In October, Forbes.com published a glowing review dubbed “The Philippines’ Per-Capita GDP Has Reached An All-Time High Under Duterte.”

In the article, Panos Mourdoukoutas wrote: “The average Filipino is doing better under President Duterte. When it comes to per-capita gross domestic product [GDP], that is. That’s a measure of the total output of a country divided by the number of people in that country. The Philippines’ per-capita GDP was last recorded at an all-time high of $2,891.36 in 2017, according to Tradingeconomics.com. That’s well above the average of $1,627.98 for the period 1960-2017.”

The Forbes article added that “Filipinos are doing better under Duterte when per-capita GDP is adjusted by purchasing power parity [PPP],” an economic theory that compares different countries’ currencies through a “basket of goods” approach. Using this method, Forbes reported that Philippine PPP reached a record $7,599.19 in 2017, well above the average of $4,969.71 for the period 1990 to 2017.

Although the article cautioned that a resurgence in the cost of living in recent months can make things worse for the people, a respected economist has said Filipinos now stand at the precipice of hope and unlimited opportunity as more possibilities open to a generation that is more educated and more attuned to global sensibilities.

To be fair, the President has made it clear from the start that he leaves the running of the country’s economic affairs to the experts—his economic managers. And their economic policy is beginning to produce clear results. For example, our third-quarter GDP growth of 6.1 percent, although below target, still makes us one of the fastest-growing economies in Asia.

This prompted a prominent economist to predict that the Philippine economic growth story is expected to match with the so-called Asian century in the next 20 years, which would see the rise of countries like China, India and the Asean economic community. Bernardo Villegas, economist at the University of Asia and the Pacific, said the country’s growing per capita GDP points to great possibilities for the Philippines to rise from a lower middle-income economy to an upper middle-income country.

“We are definitely on the way in the next 20 years to first-world status,” he said in a recent economic briefing. Villegas cited the HSBC’s The Wider World in 2050 study, noting that the country is expected to be the 16th-largest economy in the world by 2050.

Although many Duterte supporters positively believe in our growth potential as a nation, current realities dictate that the President may not be able to change the Philippines from a third-world country to a first-world country during his term. What is important, however, is the fact that the Duterte administration has a solid economic program that will lay the groundwork for the country’s strong and sustained economic growth.

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T. Anthony C. Cabangon

OUTSIDE THE BOX

I

T may be a little premature—even disappointing—to talk about price tops when we are just starting to deem that the stock market has bottomed out.

Yet, it is important to remember that, while the Philippine Stock Exchange index has been in a major uptrend since the 2009 bottom, during that time there have been five major monthly tops. Using a weekly time frame, the number of “tops” increases to 14.

Bottoms are usually “front-page” events because theoretically stock prices could go to zero and a bottom, and reversal higher means the end of the world has been avoided. Price tops, on the other hand, are profit opportunities.

This is the reality. Nobody makes money at a market bottom. Everybody potentially makes money at a top. That is why tops are more important than bottoms and also why tops are easier to see in the rear-view mirror than in real time.

In simple principle, a bottom happens when prices stop going down and start going up. Likewise, tops are when prices stop going up and start going down. Here is another principle. Missing a bottom can cost you some opportunity. Missing a top can cost you much profit.

That is why the “Bubble Boys” who call price tops every month make their money from talking and not from trading.

Fundstrat Global Advisors calls itself “an independent research boutique, providing market strategy” and its founder and head of research is a well-respected expert. Yet, my take on his decades of experience is that he should know that calling a top is a fool’s game.

On August 28, 2017, he said that the S&P 500 index was due for a 5-

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This is the reality. Nobody makes money at a market bottom.

Everybody potentially makes money at a top. That is why tops are more important than bottoms and also why tops are easier to see in the rear-view mirror than in real time.

In simple principle, a bottom happens when prices stop going down and start going up. percent correction. Granted, a 5-percent downward move is like oversleeping and missing the first hour or two of trading. But when you base your prediction on “this measure has a near perfect track record for predicting stock-market corrections” people take you seriously. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) closed that day at 21,808. Note that “near perfect” means “not perfect.”

The ‘not perfect’ measure was exactly that. August 28, 2017, was the lowest the DJIA has been since and on January 26, 2018—five months later—the DJIA was up 22 percent.

Fundstrat’s research person also said a few months ago—long after the December 2017 high—that Bitcoin would end 2018 at $25,000. He now calls for $15,000 based on “Bitcoin has never sustained a move below

breakeven” production cost which is now at $7,000. So much for perfect indicators.

However, he also made this critical statement, so listen closely: “We believe the negative swing in sentiment is much worse than the fundamental implications.”

Price tops in particular are based on three factors: trend, sentiment and fundamentals. The first two are more important than the third in determining a top. This is important also both ways—going down and up: “Sentiment follows price.” So, until a certain point is reached, the market trend is the only thing that matters.

Then, market participants start looking at each other suspiciously to see if the “other guy” is reaching for the “sell” button.

Now you know that the one sitting next to you is a “stock market moron” and will probably sell too early. But there is no way you are going to be left holding the bag, so you push sell first. That is the single reason that most price tops are short term and also why most people actually miss “the big top.”

E-mail me at mangun@gmail.com. Visit my web site at www.mangunonmarkets.com. Follow me on Twitter @mangunonmarkets. PSE stockmarket information and technical analysis tools provided by the COL Financial Group Inc.

400K STL agents generate ₧21.9B for the government

Jennifer A. Ng Vittorio V. Vitug

Ruben M. Cruz Jr. Angel R. Calso

MEMBER OF

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Online Editor Social Media Editor

Chairman of the Board & Ombudsman President VP-Finance VP Advertising Sales Advertising Sales Manager Group Circulation Manager

Stock Market 018: Tops

Florante S. Solmerin

FACT IS MIGHT!

A

LMOST 400,000 Small Town Lottery (STL) agents were instrumental in generating a whopping P21.9 billion earnings for the government. Most of them were former collectors of jueteng, masiao, swertres, pares, peryahan ng bayan and other illegal numbers games.

This is based on the January to October 2018 official report from the Branch Operations Sector of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), which manages the overall operations of Authorized STL Agents (ASAs) nationwide, now with 82 ASAs. The growth of STL can be credited to the hard work and efforts of PCSO branch managers under the leadership of Assistant General Manager for Branch Operations Sector Remeliza Gabuyo, who assists PCSO General Manager Alexander “Mandirigma” Balutan in eliminating illegal gamblers and

preventing powerful people who use their positions to corrupt the system.

May this serve as a warning to what Mandirigma can do to illegal numbers games operators.

Apparently, STL agents are still unrecognized when it comes to their contribution or role in the increase of the PCSO’s overall revenue to fund health and charity programs.

They still struggle with the stigma of being “illegal” or outlaws, and that STL is still being perceived as illegal.

Despite these challenges, we cannot discount the fact that beneficiaries or the people—especially the poor and indigents—requesting

For everyone’s information, STL operators conduct their own charitable activities, such as relief missions for calamity victims, which are being supported by regional PCSO offices or branch offices in the provinces. These STL agents help PCSO branch offices to reach out to communities to help the poor and indigents.

assistance for their medical bills, hospitalization, chemotherapy sessions, dialysis, kidney or liver transplant, hearing aids, wheelchair, etc., continue to increase every year.

Of course, there’s also the ambulance donation program, requests for medical and dental missions, calamity assistance and other charitable activities by the PCSO. For everyone’s information, STL operators conduct their own charitable activities, such as relief missions for calamity victims, which are being supported by regional PCSO offices or branch offices in the provinces.

These STL agents help PCSO branch offices to reach out to communities to help the poor and indigents.

Unfortunately, it’s true that there were delinquent STL agents but they were already terminated and replaced, but most agents are really working hard to help the PCSO generate much-needed revenues. It’s also true that most of the STL agents used to finance illegal numbers game, but not anymore. All of them have become legal operators of STL. They pay taxes to the government and contribute to the health and welfare of Filipinos.

Why the change of heart? It’s simple. They responded to the call of President Duterte to migrate to legal games so they won’t have to operate in the shadows and at the same time, they now have the chance to help their fellow countrymen.

No doubt President Duterte made the right choice in appointing Mandirigma as PCSO general manager. Much has changed in the agency since he assumed office, and the PCSO has really come a long way because of his management style and leadership by example, which is to walk the talk, and remain transparent all the time.

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Is the telco deal really that worrisome?

Cecilio T. Arillo

DATABASE

T

HE Senate Committee on Public Services, chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, may only cause costly delay if it keeps looking into the national security issue and the integrity of the selection process of the country’s much-needed third telecom provider involving a Chinese firm.

After all, what is there to worry about when China is already involved in the political, social and economic life of the country, important issues that have strong implication on national security, long before Poe was elected to the Senate.

Besides, isn’t the deal transparent and the entry of Mislatel, a trade alliance of Filipino tycoon and China Telecom, to the Philippines’s wireless communications industry, in accordance with normal procedures?

Dennis Uy, a Davao-based billionaire and long-time supporter of President Rodrigo R. Duterte, formed a joint-venture agreement with state-controlled China Telecom to form Mislatel Group, making it the Philippines’s third telco carrier after two rival bids and other players were rejected.

At this time that the midterm election has already begun and Senator Poe is a reelectionist, people might suspect that the Senate probe is being just conducted “not in aid of legislation but in aid of reelection.”

The President last year invited China to be the Philippines’s third telecom provider to compete in the country’s problematic telecommunications industry that has long been controlled by Globe and PLDT-Smart.

On Tuesday Senator Poe’s committee conducted a hearing to address issues regarding the integrity of the deal and that it might threaten state secrets if the deal has no security safeguards.

Specifically, Poe raised alarm over reports that China Telecom “hijacked and rerouted 15 percent of the world’s Web traffic into its own servers for 18 minutes.” Where she got the report, she did not explain, but claimed: “It is not a secret that China Telecom is a government corporation of China — a country claiming control of the South China Sea. In his best-selling book Sea Power, published by Penguin books last year, James Stavridis described the specifics on the involvement of China in the construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea as staggering.

“Thus far—and construction continues—China has created nearly 3,000 acres of land out of the ocean.

Just consider that the highly touted and massive US aircraft carrier [from which can be launched a wing of more than 70 jets and helicopters] are only about 7 acres of flattop,” said Stavridis.

“Are these artificial islands similar to hundreds of unsinkable aircraft carries in the South China Sea? Think that shifts the balance between the two competing militaries? You bet it does,” he said.

Stavridis said China’s artificial island buildup begun in earnest in the

past several years, and China already has built dozens of islands, mostly in the eastern and southern portion of the South China Sea. “Instead of stone, brick and wood, this new ‘great wall’ consists of artificial islands strung out across the South China Sea—a region Beijing claims by virtue of historical right.

China’s claim is encompassed by its terms as ‘nine-dash line,’ a radical demarcation of maritime sovereignty that takes an enormous bite out of the legitimate territorial claims of Vietnam, the Philippines, and other countries ringing the South China Sea,” Stavridis said.

He explained that, “the crucial context of this behavior is that the South China Sea—Asia’s cauldron,’ as geostrategist Robert D. Kaplan calls it—is bubbling like the witches’ kettle in Shakespeare’s Macbeth.”

He clarified that the history of the waterways is not only about ships passing through it, and the small and great wars on the coasts; it is about the scattered island chains that provide a means for nations to claim chunks of the sea if they can only establish claim. “This is the story of the seemingly constant conflict over the Paracel and Spratly islands, for example, as well as over Mischief Reef.”

“What drives all this, of course, is the presence of hydrocarbons and fish in the South China Sea,” Stravridis said, adding that: “While most of the nations would be content with the rules and regulations generated by the United Nations Law of the Sea, which came largely into force in the 1980s, what is in dispute is access to the region’s fisheries near the seafood markets of Asia and the seabed hydrocarbons.”

“Some estimates put the total amount of oil and natural gas at levels similar to the Middle East, a mother lode of resources, especially for small players along the littoral.

So it’s no surprise that there has been a constant game of occupying the island chain for nearly 50 years,” Stavridis said.

Senator Poe said: “In the past, it has been reported that the company (China Telecom) has been proven to have hijacked Internet traffic,” adding that: “Are we allowing a substantial control of a portion of our Internet traffic for the purpose of furthering their interest? In fact, do we even have the capability to reduce, control or mitigate these risks?”

“Can we trust them?”

Mislatel said that under the group’s rollout plan, data protection and national security are its “top priority.”

To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.

Thursday, November 29, 2018 A7

Stand erect and raise your heads

In prayerfulness

Msgr. Sabino A. Vengco Jr.

ALÁLAONG BAGÁ

W

E start afresh with our new liturgical calendar as the season of Advent begins. Saint Luke (21:25-28, 34-36), our evangelist-companion for Year C, leads us to reflect on the end-fulfillment of our human existence based on the coming of Jesus Christ.

Not in fear but in joy THE time of struggle ends when Jesus comes back to gather us into the eternity of divine love. The certainty of this end-time fulfillment gives our Christian life goal and dynamism. Things are proceeding on their way toward the end of time and the eternity of God’s reign. Speaking of “those days” of his final coming, Jesus made use of the traditional apocalyptic language typified by the prophet Daniel. Details of cosmic disorder of sun, moon and stars are meant to dramatize the upheavals affecting everyone when the time of the end comes. But Jesus focuses on the present, aiming at the response of his followers to the truth of the

divine advent, and on how they are to behave even as they wait for his coming.

“When these things begin to happen,” others may be “dying of fright,” but the attitude of believers must be different. Because these signs tell them that their redemption is at hand, they should “stand up straight and raise their heads.”

Aware of the dangers, they have been hoping nonetheless for “those days” that declare the final victory and lordship of Jesus. Like travelers coming out of the dark into the breaking sun, true Christians will straighten up and lift their heads, basking in warm light and joy, in the splendor of their ultimate liberation.

THE unforeseeable character of Jesus’ final coming (Luke 12:3546; 17:22-36) demands constant vigilance. Escape into debauchery and drunkenness (Luke 12:54), and also being engrossed with earthly cares, are but addictive distractions (Luke 8:14; 12:22-31; 17:27-28). Typical of Saint Luke, the state of being alert and vigilant means concrete prayer at all times. Being in the presence of the Lord, with mind and heart lifted up to God, one cannot go amiss for the coming of the final victory.

Our ancient tradition of Saturday night “vigil prayer” dramatizes the Christian waiting for the Lord’s advent, which becomes manifest with the entrance of dawn.

The dawn of Sunday, the Day of the Lord, properly resounds with praise and glory.

Our sacred liturgy as prayer is clearly proclamation and evangelization. Sunday Eucharist most especially is the celebration of and thanksgiving for what we “already” possess: salvation in Jesus Christ who has come and will come again.

Although we are aware that we are “not yet” in full and eternal possession of what divine love offers us, we in hope rejoice because of our

Is Dutertenomics working?

Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo

LABOREM EXERCENS Continued from A1

T

HE reality is that many in the civil society movement are asking: where are the promised gains from inclusive growth, sustained development, full employment and poverty reduction outlined in AmBisyon 2040 and PDP 2017-2022? There are clear indications that certain assumptions of the macroeconomic growth program are weak. There are also two realities on growth and development that the government technocrats have overlooked.

First reality: Growth does not automatically lead to inclusive growth sans social reforms and people’s participation. Both AmBisyon 2040 and PDP 2017-2022 hark strongly on the importance of maintaining the high growth trajectory for the Philippines to wipe out unemployment and poverty. This is a reiteration of the old “trickledown” economics. The GDP pie may be increasing, but those getting and cornering the pie may be only a tiny percentage of the population. The GDP may double, but if growth involves the employment only of half of the population and if gains from growth are appropriated by only 10 percent of the population, then there is no inclusive growth.

In September 2017 DA Secretary Manuel Pinol, in justifying the DA’s budget request, told the Senate Committee on Finance that growth does not automatically lead to inclusive growth. In the high-growth years of 2011-2015, with the GDP averaging almost 6 percent, the poverty-reduction rate was a miserly 2.35 percent. In this instance, the DA secretary was correct. In fact,

statistics on poverty reduction show that growth alone is not enough to lift as many people out of poverty (see table 1).

Table 1.

Growth vs Poverty reduction

Periods

Average Average GDP Poverty Growth Reduction Rate

1991-2000 3.27 2000-2010 4.78 2011-2015 5.92

0.47 2.23 2.35

Source: Philippine Statistics Authority.

The point is that growth can only be inclusive if there is an equitable sharing of opportunities and wealth creation. This is precisely one of the criticisms being leveled against the PPP-Build, Build, Build program.

Participants in the program involve just a score or so of big Philippine conglomerates and their foreign partners. So far, over 60 big-ticket PPP projects have been announced.

A quick look at the list shows that most of these PPPs are located in the developed regions and areas—Metro Manila, Regions 3 and 4, Region

7, Region 11 and highly urbanized cities. The underdeveloped regions and localities are underrepresented in the PPP list. Also, there is hardly any PPP for the urban and rural poor communities, for example, renewal of these communities and their transformation into modern and progressive ones.

Also, the participation of the citizenry, especially the urban and rural poor, in the infrastructure needed is missing.

As to the tax reform, this was advertised as a pro-poor program because low-income workers are exempted from paying any taxes.

However, the shift to increased taxation of consumption goods means all consumers, rich and poor alike, shall experience rising prices and reduced purchasing power. But the impact would naturally fall hardest on those with limited incomes, in particular, anybody earning less than P20,000 a month. They happen to be society’s majority. Thus, not surprisingly, the TRAIN is eroding the popularity of the President among the poor.

Second reality: No inclusive and sustainable growth if root causes of poverty and underdevelopment are unaddressed.

After projecting a pattern of high growth from 2017 onward through the Build, Build, Build and the general maintenance of the neoliberal macroeconomic development program, the Neda concluded that the Philippines is on course to its zeropoverty program by 2040. This, of course, is not working, as evidenced by the growing number of families sleeping in the sidewalks of Metro Manila and those living in public cemeteries. Trickle-down economics, even if it registers high growth for the country, does not automatically lead to inclusive development where all citizens benefit.

Also, the Neda should be asked

faith that Jesus comes here and now in His Word and Sacrament.

Every Sunday, as the Day of the Lord, provides us the experience as community of our passage from darkness into God’s marvelous light. Every Eucharistic celebration is an efficacious sign unveiling each time Christ’s presence among us. A thrill of joy and confidence fills us, making us overflow with love with regard to all. A life in charity is the other side of watching for the coming of the Lord, even as we persevere against the inner darkness of fear, as well as the outer darkness of infidelity.

Alálaong bagá, our confidence that God is leading us toward the time of fulfillment likewise reminds us that we are not free from responsibility. As the season of Advent reawakens our hope in the salvation that will come in the fullness of the “Day of the Lord,” we pray to God to increase our strength of will to do good, nourished and taught by the Eucharist, our heads held high waiting to meet the One who has come and is coming.

Join me in meditating on the Word of God every

Sunday, from 5 to 6 a.m. on DWIZ 882, or by audio streaming on www.dwiz882.com.

why the growth model of the past based on neoliberal SAP economics, which is maintained to the present, has failed to deliver the welfare and poverty-reduction promises made to the Filipino people. Another government agency, the National Anti-Poverty Commission, rightly reminded everyone that sustainable development entails acknowledgement of the “root causes” of Philippine poverty and underdevelopment and, subsequently, adoption of policies needed to correct these maladies.

In its Reforming Philippine AntiPoverty Policy (2017), NAPC identified four root causes of poverty: 1) underdevelopment of industry and agriculture; 2) unequal distribution of income, assets and opportunities; 3) inadequate social services; and 4) limited social protection.

On the backwardness of the industrial and agricultural sectors, the NAPC study pointed out that the “overly market-oriented Philippine economic policy has not developed these vital sectors, and instead made the economy prematurely service-oriented with an overreliance on overseas remittances and foreign investment.” Of course, the economy is growing today, at a high level. But this is not due to the successes of the neoliberal development program. This is due first and foremost to the phenomenal growth of overseas migration.

But the fundamental question is unanswered: are the root causes of poverty being addressed? In particular, are there improvements in the distribution of income, assets and opportunities? Is it not obvious that Philippine society is becoming more and more unequal? Instead of the 1 percent of the population pyramid lording over the economy, it appears that there are only 40 or so families, out of 23 million Filipino families, controlling the commanding heights of the economy.

On the confirmation of the appointment of Teodoro L. Locsin Jr. as secretary of Foreign Affairs

By Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph G. Recto

(Related story on page A1)

M

R. President, fellow senators, colleagues from the House: A fellow Batangueño based in Dubai, one of the fans of this “Twitter rockstar,” has texted me to confirm the nominee because he is “an OFW, an Outstanding Facebook Warrior.”

For this is true, Mr. President: While we may not have missiles to launch, we possess something more

potent—Locsin missives, to which no shield has been proven effective against their withering fire.

As our vice chairman, the good Congressman Zamora has said, he will not let an insult unanswered, that “he will tweet in his office, he will tweet in his car, he will tweet on the streets, he will never surrender.”

No statesman since Churchill has mobilized the English language and sent it to defend his country.

But it is a role not new to him.

He has articulated his people’s beliefs from the moment he learned to pound his father’s typewriter. He

is the unofficial spokesman of the Filipino race.

Whether his opinions are in longform or in 240 characters, they represent the best in the craft— they never fail to delight the reader, inspire the nation and influence history.

Without him, public discourse will be monopolized by people who will just say the loudest what is on everybody’s mind.

I can say with authority that he is the most well-read foreign affairs secretary in the world today.

I can’t imagine Boris the Brexiter having read Waltz or Morgenthau, or

Pompeo of Foggy Bottom having encountered Spengler. Kissinger, perhaps, but the person, not his writings.

At a time when diplomacy is practiced by those who “speak softly and carry a selfie stick,” it pays to have a foreign affairs secretary who is brash, brave and brilliant because it will allow our country to punch above its weight.

But he did not learn what he needs to do for his present job from books alone.

He is a lawyer, a journalist, a publisher, a Kapuso. He had sat in the boards of blue-chip companies.

He spent three terms in Congress as resident editor, who gave free tutorials on how to write clear and concise laws to colleagues whose verbosity was as big as their egos.

But he didn’t grab credit for his edits. An example is the cheaper medicines law, which he fashioned into one good piece of legislation.

He went to Harvard for his LLM. But it was in Makati where he mastered public diplomacy. I would say that anyone who can walk the “riles” of Makati at night without gin coming out of his ears or blood from his side is one smart and charming

diplomat.

It is also where he learned to genuinely serve the people.

So when he gives the order that the Filipino must not ring thrice or an embassy must not sound like the opening scene of Once Upon A Time in America, where an unattended phone constantly rings, he means it.

He now has 110 million constituents: 100 million here, plus 10 million abroad. He is the best man for the job.

It is still my great honor to vote for the confirmation of my good friend, Teodoro Lopez Locsin Jr., as our secretary of Foreign Affairs.

2nd Front Page BusinessMirror

A8 Thursday, November 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Donors pledge ₧35.1B to rehabilitate Marawi

By Manuel T. Cayon

D

@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief

AVAO CITY—Pledges from the international community to help Marawi City get back on its feet from the ashes of war last year reached P35.1 billion ($670 million) during a pledging session here on Wednesday.

The amount of pledges, together with the proceeds from the Marawi bond float, will be enough to cover the reconstruction and rehabilitation of the besieged city for a period of five years, according to Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III. The Department of Finance (DOF) said the pledges for the Bangon Marawi Comprehensive Rehabilitation and Recovery Program (BMCRRP) were committed by the Asian Develop-

ment Bank (ADB), World Bank, and the International Fund for Agricultural Development.

Dominguez also thanked China, which the DOF said was the first country to offer assistance to Marawi City; Japan, for its firm commitments to help the city rise from devastation; and Spain, which offered additional funds during the pledging session.

The DOF said the P35.1 billion in pledges consisted of

P32.7 billion in concessional loans that carry lower interest rates, and P2.4 billion in grants.

Dominguez also said the government will push through with its planned issuance of Marawi bonds amounting to P13.5 billion to raise more funds for the BMCRRP. In his opening remarks at the start of the pledging session on Wednesday, Dominguez said the DOF is the lead agency of the Task Force Bangon Marawi Finance and Resource Mobilization Support Group. He said the DOF has held several consultations with implementing agencies to verify the progress of the BMCRRP, as well as determine the available funding sources to complete the city’s rehabilitation.

A technical meeting held on November 6 updated the financial requirement of the reconstruction program, which bal-

“Marawi City will be ready in due time to continue playing its historic role as a center of culture and commerce in this part of Mindanao.”

—Dominguez

looned to P72.58 billion ($1.39 billion), or an increase of P10 billion from its July estimate of P62 billion. Dominguez said the refined list of reconstruction and rehabilitation projects has been approved by the Investment Coordination Committee on October 25.

Of the estimated amount needed for reconstruction, P47.20 billion ($901 million) is needed by BMCRRP. Another P17.20 billion ($328.3 million) will be spent to rehabilitate the most affected areas.

Some P1.25 billion ($23.9 million) will be spent for liveli-

PHL among nations with most number of women-friendly workplaces–ILO

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

T

HE Philippines is currently one of the countries with the most women-friendly workplaces in the world, according to latest report of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In its Global Wage Report 2018/2019, the Geneva-based labor arm of the United Nations said the average pay of women in the Philippines is higher than that of their male counterparts. “ There are wide variations among countries, with the mean hourly gender pay gap ranging from

34 percent in Pakistan to −10.3 percent in the Philippines, meaning that in this country, women earn on average 10.3 percent more than men,” the ILO said.

According to the 2016 data of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the average daily basic pay of wage and salary for female workers is P414.29, compared to the P392.82 received by their male counterparts.

The ILO also noted that the Philippines is among the few countries together with Armenia, Australia, Mongolia, Russian Federation, and Ukraine, which has a labor market where the participation of women

NORTHEAST MONSOON AFFECTING NORTHERN AND CENTRAL LUZON as of 4:00 pm - November 28, 2018

“bounced back.”

In an analysis of the July 2018 round of the PSA’s Labor Force Survey, the Institute of Labor Studies (ILS) said there was an improvement in the participation of women in the work force.

During the period, ILS said 46.2 percent of the 40.6 million employed workers were female—0.7 percent higher than the previous year’s 45.5 percent. “Correspondingly, gains in the number of female new entrants in the labor force that are employed were observed.

Of those employed, 274,000 were new entrants,” the ILS said.

See “Women-friendly,” A2

hood assistance, to be sourced from the government. Also, P6.9 billion will be set aside for humanitarian assistance that will be extended in the early stages of the recovery program for Marawi, the DOF said.

At least 58 percent of the amount for reconstruction will come from foreign sources, and the remaining 42 percent, the government.

“Marawi City will be ready in due time to continue playing its historic role as a center of culture and commerce in this part of Mindanao,” Dominguez said.

Marawi City is the capital city of Lanao del Sur in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). A fivemonth battle last year to retake it flattened a wide section of the city as the government used air strikes to drive away fighters from the Maute Group and

SCHOOLS’ CHRISTMAS BREAK STARTS A WEEK EARLIER, AT DEC. 15–DEPED ORDER

T

HE Department of Education (DepEd) has pushed ahead by one week the official start of the Christmas break for public and private schools. The break will start on December 15—and not December 22—and classes will resume on January 2, 2018.

In an order issued on Wednesday, Education Secretary Leonor Magtolis Briones said that the DepEd amended the start of the Christmas break because it is the DepEd’s policy to encourage the spending by students of quality time with the family during the Christmas season.

The order added that December 15 will remain to be a class day intended for student activities.

The order also reiterated that the last day of classes will remain on the date set earlier, on April 5, 2019. Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

See “Marawi,” A2

Rice tariffs. . .

Pagcor. . .

The bicameral conference committee report on the rice tariffication bill aims to replace quantitative restrictions on (QR) rice imports with tariffs and remove unnecessary government intervention in the rice market. Villafuerte, one of the authors of the bill, said he believes that the measure, which was certified by President Duterte as an urgent and a priority measure, would boost farm productivity and help rein in inflation.

Under the bicameral panel-approved measure, the RCEF will have a minimum annual allocation of P10 billion for six years, and tariff revenues from rice imports in excess of P10 billion shall be appropriated by Congress for the farm sector, based on a menu of programs in the rice tariffication law.

The proposed fund will be allocated as follows: 50 percent for grants to farmers’ associations, registered rice cooperatives, and local government units in the form of rice equipment, to be implemented by the Philippine Center for Postharvest Development and Mechanization (PhilMech); and 30 percent for the development, propagation and promotion of inbred rice seeds to rice farmers and organizations, to be implemented by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice).

The 10 percent will be in the form of credit at preferential rates to rice farmers and cooperatives to be managed by the Land Bank of the Philippines and the Development Bank of the Philippines; while the remaining 10 percent is for extension services to teach rice farmers modern methods of farming, seed production and farm mechanization, to be administered by PhilMech, PhilRice, the Agricultural Training Institute and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

Villafuerte said the amount allocated for low-interest credit to farmers appears to be small compared to the credit gap in the agricultural sector that now stands at P367 billion based on Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas data.

“Lack of credit is one reason for the stunted growth of our agricultural sector,” Villafuerte said.

“The BSP should find ways to crack the whip on banks for being stingy in extending credit to farmers.”

“Whether through legal or illegal means, the increasing number of Chinese nationals working in the Philippines puts our own nationals in a perilous position, in terms of securing gainful employment,” Suarez said.

Suarez, citing a survey, said unemployment among Filipinos increased to 22 percent, or 9.8 million individuals, in the third quarter of the year.

This is almost a 3-point jump from the 19.7 percent in June, or an increase of more than 1 million Filipinos unemployed.

He cited Department of Labor and Employment data that almost 50 percent of the AEPs issued to foreign nationals from 2015 to 2017 went to Chinese nationals.

He added, “our labor laws only allow employment of foreign workers after a determination of the nonavailability of a Philippine national who is otherwise competent, able and willing at the time of application to perform the services for which the foreigner is desired.”

Bureau of Immigration data showed that 304 of the 393 foreign nationals arrested for overstaying their visa or lack of working permit were Chinese.

“These Chinese nationals are employed in online gaming, while some are engaged in construction work. The Bureau of Immigration’s statistics also shows that there is an upward trend in the number of Chinese nationals entering the country since 2015, reaching more than a million in 2017,” he added.

Continued from A1

Coco levy

THE House also endorsed to the President the proposed Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Act, which guarantees the utilization of the coco-levy fund for the benefit of all coconut farmers.

The levy refers to a 40-year-old tax on coconut farmers, the resulting fund of which was supposed to be used to develop the coconut industry.

In September, the House overwhelmingly voted on third and final reading on House Bill 5745, which sets up the Coconut Farmers And Industry Development Trust Fund.

Then Davao City representative and now Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei B. Nograles, one of the authors of the measure, said the expected signing of the law would institutionalize the needed mechanism for the “prudent and proper management” of the coco-levy funds.

The bill mandates the creation of the Coconut Farmers and Industry Development Trust Fund, which shall consist of the trust principal and the trust income. It provides that no portion of the trust fund shall accrue to the general fund of the national government.

The bill tasks the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) to conduct a complete accounting and inventory of all coconut-levy assets.

Also, the Commission on Audit (COA) is mandated to audit the inventory of the cocolevy assets prepared by the PCGG and to submit to the Coconut Famers and Industry Trust Fund Committee the initial audit report within 120 days upon completion. Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

Continued from A1

Pagcor: Don’t panic

MEA NWHILE, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

(Pagcor) has pointed out that Filipino workers are not at a disadvantage in the online gaming sector.

Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo reported that only 25 percent of the those employed by the online gaming sector are foreigners while the rest are Filipinos, assuring that foreign nationals are not taking over jobs that could have been for Filipinos.

Jobs that are given to Chinese nationalities are those that require linguistic expertise, Domingo said, adding that, while there are Filipinos who can speak Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hokkien, their diction and accent are different from those of the mainland Chinese.

“You should know the nuance of the language and the culture is also a factor, especially when you give the good news and the bad news, so it’s a different kind of expertise,” Domingo told a Kapihan forum in Manila on Wednesday.

If Filipinos can only meet the

requirements and qualifications for the job, online gaming operators would definitely prefer to hire local talent so they can save on labor costs, Domingo pointed out.

“It’s cheaper to hire locally because they will no longer need to worry about accommodation and food. Now because they are all foreigners, the operators need to provide everything and they need to pay higher salary because it’s in foreign currency,” she added.

Pogos are Pagcor-licensed entities offering online games of chance via the Internet exclusively to registered offshore players, excluding Filipinos here and abroad.

In August it was reported that inbound arrivals rose by 9.74 percent to some 4.31 million from January to July 2018.

Department of Tourism (DOT) data showed much of the inbound tourism traffic from China grew by 40 percent to 764,094 arrivals from January to July 2018. China is now the second-largest source of tourists for the Philippines.

In March this year, Pagcor said revenues from Pogos will likely reach P6 billion after the rollout of a third-party audit system to monitor the operations of the 53 Pogos, allowing Pagcor to track the revenues generated by the Pogos in real time.

Last year, revenues from Pogo reached P3.9 billion, and Pagcor expects to double the revenues this year.

License fees for each Pogo operator amount to $200,000, while the application and processing fees cost $15,000. On top of the fees, Pagcor requires operators to put a $250,000 cash fund just in case they can’t pay bets that win.

Regulation

MEANWHILE, the House of Representatives approved on third and final reading House Bill 8368 which strengthens the regulation of employment of foreign nationals in the country.

To implement the employment regulation, the bill seeks to amend Articles 40, 41 and 42 of Title II, Book 1 of Presidential Decree 442, as amended, otherwise known as the “Labor Code of the Philippines” The bill seeks to adopt the labor market as basis in determining the nonavailability of a qualified and willing Filipino national to do services, for which the foreign national is being hired.

The bill mandates that foreign nationals issued employment permits, shall transfer their skills and technology to Filipino understudies within a prescribed period.

Moreover, the bill increases fines and penalties for violations by foreign nationals and their employers to deter transgressions.

Editor: Efleda P. Campos

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 29, 2018

B1

Cargill to invest ₧12.5B to expand local operations

C

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

@jearcalas

ARGILL Inc. announced on Wednesday it would invest $235 million (P12.5 billion) in the country over the next two years to expand its operations to meet the growing demand of Filipinos for meat products.

“The company is focused on helping meet the increased domestic demand for chicken and pork, as well as delivering solutions in key areas of the global agricultural supply chain,” Cargill said in a statement.

Cargill’s announcement came

as the company celebrated its 70th year in the Philippines, its first office in the Southeast Asian region.

“We are proud to have been in the Philippines since we started our business here 70 years ago.

Working closely with the government, our customers, part-

ners and the community, we are helping farmers thrive and are bringing safe and nutritious food to Filipino tables,” said Dave MacLennan, chairman and CEO of Cargill.

“We are grateful for our partnership with the Philippine government as they welcome investments that enable Cargill to grow alongside the Filipino people and the local economy,” MacLennan added.

MacLennan said the $235-million investment would be spread across its local agricultural supply-chain portfolio, which include importation of commodities, copra business, animal feeds and aqua feeds business and C-Joy, the firm’s joint venture with Jollibee Foods Corp. to process chicken for domestic consumption.

MacLennan noted that China and Southeast Asia are the top 2

investment hubs due to its growing popu lation and booming economies.

“In the next five years we want to be bigger. And we want to be bigger in Asia, specifically in Southeast Asia and China,” he said. “That’s our clear intention.”

Cargill Philippines Inc. President Philip G. Soliven said a portion of the hundred-million dollar investment would be poured in the Visayas and Mindanao regions.

“Investment in agriculture is needed by the country. And yes we will respond to the need of this sector as it makes sense for the company and for the country,” Soliven said.

“And it makes sense [to invest in] Mindanao as it is an important agricultural area for the country,” Soliven added.

Angkas PHL to launch in 2019 first-ever motorcycle ambulance in Metro Manila

A

NGKAS, the fastest-growing motorcyclehailing app service in the Philippines, is coming up with the very first motorcycleambulance service in the country.

Dubbed “Angkas Buhay,” the groundbreaking ambulance service aims to provide first-aid, on-the-spot for emergency cases or immediate transport of doctors to the patient. In this regard, Angkas is inviting existing driver-partners and new sign-ups to join the pilot program in Metro Manila to train as volunteer paramedics.

Initially a collaboration between Angkas, Our Lady of Guadalupe Colleges (OLGC) and Victor R. Potenciano Medical Center (VRP) in Mandaluyong City, Angkas Buhay will pioneer an intensive training course for Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT-certified) drivers.

After undergoing training, qualified EMT drivers, armed with life-saving techniques aboard a

specially designed “ambucycle” fitted up with medical supplies and equipment, will be able to stabilize patients until secondary medical transport arrives.

Expected to go live toward mid-2019, Angkas Buhay will be featured through an in-app “Emergency” button to match the EMT driver in close proximity to the patient.

Debuted on November 25 at the Ynares Center in Antipolo, Rizal, during the inaugural Safety Fiesta of Angkas to commemorate its first anniversary, Angkas Buhay is the latest initiative of the transport app in support of public safety. Displaying the ambucyle prototype with a brief video trailer, a panel of speakers from Angkas and its key partners gave an overview of the project.

“We’ve all heard the tragic stories about critical patients who needed to be rushed to

ANGELINE THAM, CEO of Angkas Philippines, at the first-ever Angkas Safety Fiesta at the Ynares Stadium in Antipolo City. During the fiesta, the “Angkas Buhay” campaign was revealed featuring the Ambucycle, an innovation for Angkas and the first motorcycle ambulance service in the country which aims to provide first-aid, on-the-spot support during emergency cases or immediate transport of doctors to the patient.

PLDT closes $175-million deal with 2 foreign firms for Voyager

By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

P

LDT Inc. has officially closed its $175-million deal with Tencent Holdings Inc., the operator of Chinese super app WeChat, and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR), for the sale of a portion of its shares in Voyager Innovations Inc. to the two foreign companies.

The two foreign investors subscribed to newly issued shares in Voyager on October 4 this year, giving them a minority share in the Filipino financial technology firm.

The investments, Voyager President Orlando B. Vea said, signals the start of the Philippines becoming a tech-investment haven.

“Voyager can now step up its efforts to make its innovative financial and Internet platforms more accessible to more Filipinos in more parts of the country,” he said.

“We believe with investors like KKR and Tencent leading the way, the Philippines’s profile as a destination for tech investment is on the rise,” Vea said. Aside from Tencent and KKR, International Finance Corp. and IFC Emerging Asia Fund also signified their intention to invest in Voyager.

The global lender has committed to inject $40 million in Voyager for a minority stake.

Once this deal closes, PLDT’s shares in Voyager will dilute to less than 50 percent. It will, however, remain as the single largest investor in the tech company.

Voyager is expected to “leverage the new capital and significant expertise of KKR, Tencent, IFC and IFC Emerging Asia Fund as it carries out its mission to accelerate digital and financial inclusion in the Philippines and enable the broader Filipino population to participate in the digital economy.”

Voyager is known for its tech platforms such as PayMaya, Smart Padala, Lendr and freenet.

the hospital, but because of the traffic gridlock and the cost of ambulance rides, many were sadly dead on arrival. For some of us, this may even hit close to home, but what if Angkas could change all that?” Angkas founder and CEO Angeline Tham said. Pos-

ing a challenge to the riders, Tham recounted the heroism demonstrated by driver-partner Francis C. Belecario who, on September 3, was instrumental in the rescue of wounded patroller, PO1 Berlino L. Ricafort in Barangay Kamputhaw, Cebu City.

Aeon Credit becomes 1st issuer of Asean+3 multi currency bond float

By VG Cabuag

F

@villygc

IRST Metro Investment Corp., the investment banking arm of the Metrobank Group, on Wednesday said it is the sole arranger of the P1-billion fixed rate corporate notes issuance of Aeon Credit Service (Philippines) Inc., a landmark transaction in the Philippine capital markets.

This is the first-ever issuance under the Asean+3 Multi-Currency Bond Issuance Framework (Ambif) in the country.

The issuance is also the first fully guaranteed debt facility of Credit Guarantee and Investment Facility (CGIF) in the Philippines, and the first security by a restricted issuer and non-reporting company in the Philippine Dealing Exchange Corp’s (PDEx) system.

The notes were offered in threeand five-year tranches. A total of seven noteholders participated in the transaction.

First Metro tapped multiple investors in an initiative to promote investor knowledge and acceptance of the Ambif in the domestic market. The notes were more than three times oversubscribed with total orders reaching P3.25 billion.

As the first domestic issuance under the Ambif and only the second Ambif issuance in the region, the notes facility plays a key role in

fine-tuning the implementation of multicurrency bond framework in the Philippines.

It sets the foundation for issuers to tap investors and foreign currencies across Asean+3 countries, and allows investors to participate in intraregional bonds and notes issuances, it said.

“This landmark transaction is a testament to First Metro’s relentless pursuit to develop the Philippine capital markets. Not only were we able to bring another new name like Aeon Credit in the capital markets, we are optimistic that this notes facility will pave the way for similar bond issues and encourage local issuers, particularly those looking to expand their regional presence, to tap the Asean+3 capital markets,” First Metro President Rabboni Francis Arjonillo said.

The Ambif is a policy initiative under the Asian Bond Market Initiative that seeks to facilitate intraregional bond and note issuances by streamlining market practices, documentation and disclosure requirements common among Asean+3 domestic bond markets. Since the framework was first published in 2014, there has been only one issuance done under Ambif—the Thai baht-denominated bonds issued by Mizuho Bank Ltd. in September 2015.

B2

Companies BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 29, 2018

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

November 28, 2018

Net Foreign Stocks Bid Ask Open High Low Close Volume Value Trade (Peso) Buy (Sell) FINANCIALS

ASIA UNITED 59.15 59.2 59.2 59.2 58.05 59.15 10370 612786.5 BDO UNIBANK 129.1 129.4 130.2 130.4 127.5 129.1 1723320 222826076 BANK PH ISLANDS 93.5 93.8 93.9 94 93.3 93.8 1063420 99712978.5 CHINABANK 27.5 27.55 27.7 27.7 27.55 27.55 59600 1646980 EAST WEST BANK 11.34 11.58 11.5 11.64 11.32 11.58 576200 6636400 METROBANK 75.85 75.9 76.9 76.95 75.1 75.85 11720570 891863773.5 PHIL NATL BANK 40.7 40.8 40.6 40.8 40.5 40.75 604900 24649695 PSBANK 71.8 74 74 74 74 74 10 740 PHILTRUST 105.1 116.9 117 117 117 117 10 1170 RCBC 28.8 29 28.7 29 28.1 28.75 34400 992580 SECURITY BANK 157.9 158 160 161.9 156 158 618680 98214507 UNION BANK 67.3 68.6 65.9 69.5 65.9 67.3 7658400 504815789.5 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.51 1.56 1.55 1.56 1.51 1.56 47000 72050 COL FINANCIAL 15.36 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 15.5 2200 34100 FERRONOUX HLDG 3.89 4.05 3.8 4.07 3.8 4.05 251000 999200 IREMIT 1.41 1.52 1.44 1.44 1.36 1.38 51000 70080 MEDCO HLDG 0.43 0.465 0.45 0.45 0.44 0.45 450000 198500 NTL REINSURANCE 0.78 0.8 0.76 0.82 0.76 0.81 16000 12870 PHIL STOCK EXCH 169.1 173.2 180 181 169 169 4630 796881 SUN LIFE 1815 1820 1820 1820 1815 1815 95 172750

INDUSTRIAL ALSONS CONS 1.23 1.25 1.24 1.25 1.24 1.25 310000 385480 ABOITIZ POWER 33.05 33.4 33.4 33.5 33 33.4 1601400 53426865 BASIC ENERGY 0.244 0.245 0.255 0.255 0.245 0.245 3800000 935690 FIRST GEN 17.38 17.4 17.44 17.44 17.28 17.38 2642600 45897512 FIRST PHIL HLDG 61.6 62.15 62.25 62.3 61.6 61.6 291400 18031351.5 PHIL H2O 4.7 4.79 4.7 4.88 4.69 4.79 83000 391060 MERALCO 385 387.6 387.4 390 384 387.6 279880 108414012 MANILA WATER 26.1 26.2 25.7 26.7 25.7 26.1 383900 10045950 PETRON 8.2 8.21 8.13 8.22 8.13 8.2 946000 7736379 PETROENERGY 3.91 4 3.9 4 3.9 4 11000 43700 PHINMA ENERGY 0.89 0.9 0.9 0.9 0.89 0.9 274000 244890 PHX PETROLEUM 10.94 11 11.04 11.04 10.8 11 255700 2776462 PILIPINAS SHELL 48.05 48.5 47.9 48.1 47.9 48.05 2968500 142557960 SPC POWER 5.24 5.3 5.29 5.31 5.23 5.3 123400 651617 AGRINURTURE 17.58 17.6 17.42 17.84 17.42 17.6 262400 4652120 CNTRL AZUCARERA 16.2 17.4 17.4 17.4 16.1 16.1 300 5090 CENTURY FOOD 14.46 14.5 14.5 14.5 14.5 14.5 400 5800 DNL INDUS 10.24 10.3 10.08 10.4 10.08 10.3 1112100 11456382 EMPERADOR 6.95 6.99 6.96 6.99 6.95 6.96 218800 1522492 SMC FOODANDBEV 82.85 83 83 83.05 82.85 83 1494680 123995076 ALLIANCE SELECT 1.04 1.05 1.17 1.18 1.01 1.04 36138000 39227180 GINEBRA 23.6 23.95 23 24 23 23.95 22900 531235 JOLLIBEE 280 280.2 282 283 279.8 280 654090 183669504 MACAY HLDG 8.46 9.65 9.65 9.65 8.36 8.46 64000 541685 MAXS GROUP 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.3 10.2 10.2 58500 597718 PEPSI COLA 1.34 1.4 1.34 1.34 1.33 1.34 5000 6690 SHAKEYS PIZZA 10.5 10.6 10.8 10.8 10.5 10.5 198000 2121182 ROXAS AND CO 1.85 1.9 1.91 1.91 1.83 1.9 105000 194880 RFM CORP 4.7 4.75 4.75 4.75 4.7 4.75 18000 85350 ROXAS HLDG 2.78 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 2.8 9000 25200 SWIFT FOODS 0.122 0.123 0.125 0.125 0.123 0.123 300000 36980 UNIV ROBINA 129.6 129.9 133.6 133.6 129.4 129.9 805780 104913294 VITARICH 1.56 1.57 1.55 1.6 1.53 1.56 17884000 27970060 CEMEX HLDG 1.74 1.76 1.78 1.83 1.74 1.74 2852000 5092740 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.3 5.77 5.25 5.3 5.21 5.3 15100 79829 EAGLE CEMENT 15.22 15.28 15.44 15.44 15.2 15.28 12800 195460 EEI CORP 8.6 8.65 8.9 8.9 8.5 8.65 503700 4393491 HOLCIM 5.78 5.99 6 6 5.8 5.8 481700 2807501 MEGAWIDE 17.84 17.86 16.72 17.94 16.72 17.86 11012000 191617546 PHINMA 8.6 8.69 8.4 8.6 7.8 8.6 8500 71681 TKC METALS 0.81 0.82 0.81 0.82 0.81 0.82 62000 50250 VULCAN INDL 1.7 1.71 1.87 1.87 1.7 1.7 20173000 35539170 CHEMPHIL 171.8 205 199.8 215 190 190 1150 230588 CROWN ASIA 1.53 1.54 1.47 1.53 1.47 1.53 125000 186480 EUROMED 1.5 1.7 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1000 1500 LMG CHEMICALS 4.64 4.98 4.65 4.65 4.64 4.64 51000 236740 MABUHAY VINYL 3.24 3.32 3.21 3.32 3.21 3.32 7000 22610 PRYCE CORP 5.05 5.4 5.05 5.05 5.05 5.05 15000 75750 CONCEPCION 36.5 37 36.05 37 36.05 37 757400 27694785 GREENERGY 2.09 2.1 2.06 2.12 1.94 2.09 18105000 37012890 INTEGRATED MICR 8.65 8.7 8.87 9 8.65 8.65 4761200 41677098 IONICS 1.63 1.64 1.7 1.7 1.64 1.64 641000 1059810 PANASONIC 5.95 6.16 5.88 5.88 5.88 5.88 1800 10584 SFA SEMICON 1.36 1.37 1.3 1.37 1.25 1.37 617000 795640 CIRTEK HLDG 34 34.5 35.35 35.35 34 34 57000 1989345

HOLDING & FRIMS ABACORE CAPITAL 0.55 0.56 0.58 0.61 0.55 0.55 57081000 33087470 ASIABEST GROUP 19.7 19.88 19.94 20.2 19.72 19.88 36600 728713 AYALA CORP 940 948 941 948 937 948 264210 249047555 ABOITIZ EQUITY 53.05 54.5 55.55 55.55 53 54.5 1213800 66018264 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 11 11.16 11.24 11.4 11 11.16 5225300 58308086 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 0.86 0.89 0.86 0.93 0.86 0.9 14000 12560 ATN HLDG A 1.45 1.46 1.5 1.58 1.42 1.45 35563000 53832560 ATN HLDG B 1.46 1.48 1.5 1.57 1.46 1.46 10435000 15843570 COSCO CAPITAL 7.16 7.23 7 7.3 7 7.16 332800 2408010 DMCI HLDG 12.9 13.08 13.8 13.8 12.8 12.9 9474200 123704478 FILINVEST DEV 9.45 9.5 9.2 9.8 9.2 9.5 1267400 12091491 FJ PRINCE A 4.11 4.7 4.01 4.76 4.01 4.76 3000 13270 FORUM PACIFIC 0.198 0.239 0.217 0.239 0.198 0.198 710000 168150 GT CAPITAL 870.5 879.5 880 880.5 869 870.5 104830 91826545 JG SUMMIT 49.5 49.65 48.25 49.65 48.25 49.65 3105800 152838250 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 4.46 4.85 4.75 4.75 4.41 4.41 3000 13910 KEPPEL HLDG A 3.61 4.99 3.6 3.6 3.6 3.6 2000 7200 LODESTAR 0.52 0.53 0.53 0.53 0.51 0.53 3000 1570 LOPEZ HLDG 4.07 4.08 3.99 4.12 3.99 4.08 15458000 62106100 LT GROUP 15.48 15.52 15.26 15.62 15.26 15.48 5589400 86468726 MABUHAY HLDG 0.6 0.61 0.63 0.63 0.6 0.6 326000 195930 METRO PAC INV 4.58 4.6 4.61 4.64 4.56 4.6 38352000 176400640 PACIFICA 0.034 0.036 0.035 0.035 0.035 0.035 2500000 87500 PRIME ORION 2.3 2.32 2.32 2.33 2.3 2.3 137000 317410 PRIME MEDIA 1.19 1.24 1.2 1.24 1.16 1.24 74000 88780 REPUBLIC GLASS 2.51 2.7 2.69 2.69 2.69 2.69 23000 61870 SOLID GROUP 1.27 1.32 1.27 1.28 1.27 1.27 71000 90290 SYNERGY GRID 438 478 482 482 430 478 130 58980 SM INVESTMENTS 914 915 915 924 910 915 198090 181604170 SAN MIGUEL CORP 172.9 174.8 171.8 174.9 171 174.8 440660 76585206 SOC RESOURCES 0.75 0.76 0.76 0.76 0.76 0.76 18000 13680 TOP FRONTIER 273.8 280 273.8 280 272 280 7100 1973170 WELLEX INDUS 0.24 0.243 0.232 0.245 0.231 0.24 3810000 905030 ZEUS HLDG 0.193 0.216 0.216 0.216 0.216 0.216 10000 2160

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.54 0.56 0.57 0.57 0.53 0.54 1276000 694500 AYALA LAND 40.25 40.35 40.9 40.9 40.25 40.25 5826700 235767010 BELLE CORP 2.19 2.2 2.2 2.23 2.19 2.2 2191000 4821650 A BROWN 0.76 0.77 0.81 0.81 0.75 0.76 3001000 2326940 CITYLAND DEVT 0.85 0.87 0.87 0.87 0.85 0.87 62000 52940 CROWN EQUITIES 0.212 0.217 0.214 0.218 0.213 0.217 2840000 605460 CEBU HLDG 5.7 5.98 5.7 5.98 5.7 5.98 5200 30032 CEB LANDMASTERS 4.06 4.13 4.1 4.14 4.03 4.13 982000 4050920 CENTURY PROP 0.4 0.405 0.405 0.415 0.395 0.4 5100000 2052350 CYBER BAY 0.335 0.375 0.35 0.35 0.34 0.34 260000 88700 DOUBLEDRAGON 18 18.1 18.08 18.14 18.02 18.1 225300 4077066 DM WENCESLAO 7.9 7.92 7.94 7.94 7.7 7.93 112100 885405 EMPIRE EAST 0.485 0.49 0.485 0.51 0.485 0.49 26000 12795 FILINVEST LAND 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.44 1.44 2126000 3072090 GLOBAL ESTATE 1 1.01 1.02 1.02 1 1 3279000 3279540 8990 HLDG 7.54 7.55 7.57 7.58 7.54 7.55 1647100 12445387 PHIL INFRADEV 2.57 2.58 2.7 2.76 2.5 2.58 18481000 48200540 MEGAWORLD 4.74 4.75 4.78 4.85 4.72 4.75 45917000 220282060 MRC ALLIED 0.375 0.38 0.41 0.415 0.37 0.38 62900000 24803300 PHIL ESTATES 0.465 0.47 0.46 0.47 0.46 0.47 440000 204700 PRIMEX CORP 3.58 3.59 3.6 3.63 3.57 3.58 819000 2941040 ROBINSONS LAND 20.9 21.2 20.85 21.2 20.85 21.2 1800400 37858170 PHIL REALTY 0.385 0.39 0.39 0.395 0.38 0.395 420000 163500 ROCKWELL 1.94 1.95 1.93 1.96 1.93 1.95 140000 272920 SHANG PROP 3.1 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 3.12 34000 106080 STA LUCIA LAND 1.16 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 1.18 158000 186440 SM PRIME HLDG 33.8 34 34.4 34.45 33.55 34 6813800 233203180 STARMALLS 5.4 5.45 7.1 7.55 4.93 5.45 7803800 46818123 SUNTRUST HOME 0.74 0.76 0.72 0.78 0.72 0.74 368000 275170 VISTA LAND 5.27 5.3 5.28 5.35 5.26 5.3 2782100 14727474

SERVICES ABS CBN 19.76 19.8 19.7 19.8 19.7 19.8 200000 3944676 GMA NETWORK 5.24 5.29 5.31 5.31 5.24 5.24 24000 126876 GLOBE TELECOM 1991 2000 2000 2010 1951 2000 23650 47293895 PLDT 1175 1178 1176 1200 1165 1178 91330 107734485 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.037 0.038 0.037 0.037 0.037 0.037 3800000 140600 IMPERIAL 1.71 1.9 1.8 1.8 1.71 1.71 10000 17820 ISLAND INFO 0.105 0.106 0.115 0.117 0.103 0.105 17830000 1966980 ISM COMM 5.23 5.24 6 6.02 5.13 5.23 65278000 365816057 JACKSTONES 3.34 3.46 3.46 3.46 3.46 3.46 21000 72660 NOW CORP 3.6 3.63 4.1 4.28 3.55 3.6 11060000 42484250 TRANSPACIFIC BR 0.395 0.4 0.415 0.42 0.395 0.395 76070000 30818250 PHILWEB 2.96 2.98 3.05 3.09 2.98 2.98 1379000 4,166,720( 2GO GROUP 9.97 9.98 9.98 9.98 9.9 9.98 28300 281472 ASIAN TERMINALS 13.22 13.46 13.02 13.02 13.02 13.02 1800 23436 CEBU AIR 70.9 71.05 72.1 73.2 70.9 70.9 111870 8084048 CHELSEA 6.54 6.55 7.02 7.02 6.55 6.55 9003500 60649797 INTL CONTAINER 96.5 96.85 97 97.8 96.5 96.85 1001370 97066671 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.72 0.79 0.75 0.78 0.75 0.78 47000 35520 MACROASIA 13.8 13.9 14.46 14.46 13.76 13.9 652500 9165458 METROALLIANCE A 1.8 1.82 1.65 2.29 1.65 1.8 7374000 14878920 METROALLIANCE B 1.89 2.03 2 2.34 1.63 1.89 744000 1536230 PAL HLDG 8 8.39 8.39 8.39 8 8 1400 11317 HARBOR STAR 3.39 3.4 3.5 3.53 3.37 3.4 1950000 6701400 ACESITE HOTEL 1.3 1.44 1.27 1.27 1.26 1.26 6000 7580 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.11 2.34 2.35 2.35 2.35 2.35 11000 25850 WATERFRONT 0.57 0.58 0.57 0.6 0.56 0.57 3308000 1924790 FAR EASTERN U 895 945 950 950 892 892 820 773350 IPEOPLE 10.26 10.58 10.22 10.3 10.22 10.3 14000 143480 STI HLDG 0.6 0.61 0.66 0.67 0.58 0.6 11735000 7131410 BERJAYA 1.97 1.98 2.06 2.06 1.92 1.97 2991000 5916470 BLOOMBERRY 8.1 8.14 8.3 8.3 8.02 8.14 14083700 114296383 PACIFIC ONLINE 10.14 10.48 10.48 10.48 10.48 10.48 10100 105848 LEISURE AND RES 3.12 3.13 3.23 3.23 3.02 3.12 968000 3040050 MANILA JOCKEY 5.37 5.54 5.55 5.55 5.25 5.54 37000 202938 MELCO RESORTS 7.1 7.2 6.9 7.2 6.85 7.2 760300 5426423 PREMIUM LEISURE 0.64 0.65 0.66 0.67 0.64 0.64 5499000 3568730 TRAVELLERS 5.3 5.35 5.35 5.35 5.25 5.3 221200 1164640 METRO RETAIL 2.14 2.15 2.05 2.22 2.04 2.15 5597000 11949940 PUREGOLD 42.7 42.95 43.1 43.1 42.7 42.95 2818400 121091885 ROBINSONS RTL 75.9 76 76.95 76.95 75.7 75.9 589020 44833818 PHIL SEVEN CORP 106 108 106 106 106 106 240 25440 SSI GROUP 2.39 2.4 2.46 2.5 2.36 2.4 16366000 39434070 WILCON DEPOT 12.22 12.3 12.3 12.4 12.2 12.3 3188900 39294842 APC GROUP 0.37 0.385 0.38 0.385 0.37 0.385 3950000 1493900 EASYCALL 22.15 22.4 26 26.45 13 22.4 9143100 188148261 GOLDEN BRIA 322 325 323 323 315 322 1910 613238 IPM HLDG 7.15 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 7.2 12000 86400 PAXYS 3.13 3.49 3.03 3.49 3.02 3.49 43000 137270 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.325 0.335 0.345 0.345 0.33 0.335 420000 141850 SBS PHIL CORP 6.75 6.98 6.74 6.74 6.73 6.73 10000 67370

MINING & OIL ATOK 13.14 13.92 14 14 13.5 13.92 3100 42256 APEX MINING 1.61 1.62 1.63 1.66 1.61 1.61 3247000 5271540 ABRA MINING 0.0018 0.0019 0.0019 0.0019 0.0019 0.0019 225000000 427500 ATLAS MINING 2.48 2.65 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 6000 14880 COAL ASIA HLDG 0.29 0.295 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.29 100000 29000 CENTURY PEAK 1.91 1.92 1.91 1.91 1.91 1.91 115000 219650 DIZON MINES 7.01 7.05 7.06 7.06 7.02 7.02 400 2812 FERRONICKEL 1.69 1.7 1.68 1.7 1.68 1.7 258000 436730 GEOGRACE 0.199 0.203 0.2 0.203 0.199 0.203 40000 8010 LEPANTO A 0.091 0.097 0.093 0.093 0.091 0.091 8960000 825360 LEPANTO B 0.096 0.102 0.102 0.102 0.102 0.102 450000 45900 MANILA MINING A 0.0069 0.0075 0.0073 0.0075 0.0073 0.0073 52000000 380000 MANILA MINING B 0.007 0.0096 0.007 0.007 0.007 0.007 1000000 7000 MARCVENTURES 1.03 1.07 1 1.05 1 1.05 51000 52970 NIHAO 0.99 1.03 1.02 1.03 1.02 1.03 2000 2050 NICKEL ASIA 2.26 2.28 2.27 2.37 2.24 2.28 22340000 51452820 OMICO CORP 0.52 0.59 0.52 0.52 0.52 0.52 13000 6760 ORNTL PENINSULA 0.88 0.89 0.92 0.92 0.88 0.88 198000 177500 PX MINING 2.59 2.6 2.66 2.73 2.59 2.59 2392000 6327870 SEMIRARA MINING 25.6 25.9 26.05 26.15 25.6 25.9 1023400 26517855 ORNTL PETROL A 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 9600000 116300 ORNTL PETROL B 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 400000 4800 PHILODRILL 0.012 0.013 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 1600000 19200 PHINMA PETRO 3.18 3.19 3.19 3.21 3.19 3.19 125000 400030 PXP ENERGY 14.7 14.8 14.7 15.12 14.7 14.7 1816200 26894648

PREFFERED AC PREF B1 DD PREF LR PREF PNX PREF 3B PCOR PREF 2B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2I

460 95.7 1 101.7 970 75.2 76.35 71.3 72 74.85 73.3

PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

19 5.08

1.84

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES ITALPINAS 4.39 XURPAS 1.17

110

8290 -22033 43080495 21059254 421078 1521870 875309 -70265384 -13292735 -61737075 -3712460 11515024 6300 -21940100 -25824040 35141755 -519164 -14892785 -4406170 404700 -136290 365628 -1530 371760 7580 -489660 42234240 -490450 -563080 5526990 99440 32848865 -797755 -9276517 20214710 -11982205 28000 -3602040 -1744760 -140750 2,824,869.9997) 4950 869297.4997 -2731163 -11637778.5 -2634366 -13900 590 44600 -3514130 -6149.9999 -45044986 -109790 1609917 -1341700 540310 -243070 -108057550 28200795.5 24380 10526660 28692616 37500 -1053589 20190 145270 57000 -14880 -39100 -4328650 20240 -2898960 -10551485 -1285138

462 97.9 1.03 105 999 75.95 76.6 72 73.5 74.9 73.5

462 97.9 1.03 105 1000 75.95 76.6 72 74.9 74.9 73.5

462 97.9 1.03 102 999 75.95 76.35 71.4 73.5 72 73.5

462 97.9 1.03 102 1000 75.95 76.35 71.4 74.9 74.85 73.5

1200 1120 1000 2840 350 80 11170 18500 2090 36110 350

554400 109648 1030 290120 349905 6076 855283.5 1322522 156463 2666739 25725

-

19.2 5.15

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

- -

-

1.89

2.05

2.05

1.8

1.89

402000

765660

-

4.47 1.18

4.48 1.27

4.48 1.28

4.33 1.17

4.47 1.18

351000 7107000

1548020 8517340

-111520 -78780

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

10135525 6987416 -11908315.5 2257546 7852395 -969001 -91800 -91300 3041520 412414 101176 -5800 -2820902 -1228379 35544424.5 -1626980 230000 1118450 -256622 -1330 -954120 -36800 -4700 -25931942 -2137840 -535210 -181305 -2788615 1005552 -59570 -20200 33250 111260 8357293.9996 17000

462 97.9 1.03 102 1002 75.95 76.55 71.4 74.9 74.9 73.5

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Editor: Efleda P. Campos

ERC named part of EICC

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Energy Investment Coordinating Council (EICC) tasked to streamline the regulatory procedures of energy projects has included the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in the council.

The EICC, chaired by the Department of Energy with representatives from other government agencies as council members, was created by virtue of Executive Order (EO) 30.

EO 30, issued on June 30, 2017, states that concerned government agencies shall act upon applications for permits involving Energy Projects of National Significance not exceeding a 30-day period. If no decision is made within the specified processing timeframe, the ap-

plication is deemed approved by the concerned agency.

Energy Undersecretary Jesus Cristino P. Posadas said during a forum held on Wednesday morning that the ERC was not in the original list because “it appears that the ERC is an independent body.”

The council was officially formed in October last year.

Realizing the ERC’s vital role in fast-tracking approvals for energy projects, Posadas said the council was the one that asked the

ERC to join. “We are the ones that initiated the move to have [ERC] included because we realized that [ERC] is the last portion of this parallel permitting process.

Without them, power plants will not operate,” said Posadas during a roundtable held on Wednesday morning in Quezon City.

ERC Spokesman Floresinda Digal is the ERC’s representative to the EICC. When sought for comment, Digal recalled that the stakeholders were the ones who recommended the ERC to be included in the council, “considering that some of the investments involved will be in the power sector.”

“The expectation is that we would comply with the timelines in the EO when it comes to permitting power projects. For the generation companies, it’s the Certificate of Compliance [COC] that will be covered by the EO,” she said.

A COC is one of the vital requirements needed to be secured by a power-generation firm before it

can commercially operate a power facility.

With the ERC on board, Posadas said power firms applying for COCs can expect permitting process to be fast-tracked.

Apart from the ERC, the EICC is composed of representatives from various national government agencies and relevant energy institutions, such as the Departments of Environment and Natural Resources, Finance, Justice and Transportation, National Electrification Administration, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, National Power Corp., National Transmission Cor p., Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, Palawan Council for Sustainable Development and other relevant government agencies.

The council also maintains a database of information and a Web-based monitoring system for information exchange and updates to uphold transparency and accountability.

DMCI turns over Makati project ahead of schedule

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ROPERTY developer DMCI Homes Inc. on Wednesday said it turned over its Brio Tower development in Makati City, more than a year ahead of schedule.

Sitting on a 5,760-square meter lot in Guadalupe Viejo, the singletower development is the company’s first residential condominium project in the country’s financial capital.

The unit of listed firm DMCI Holding Inc. already started the turnover process for the first batch of unit owners late October, some 13 months ahead of the committed occupancy schedule of November 2019.

All the 746 units of the 30-residential-level high development have been pre-sold for a total reservation sales of P2.97 billion.

With the sales of Brio Tower, DMCI Homes assistant vice president for project development Dennis

Yap said a second project in Makati is already in the pipeline.

“We’re looking at our property in Chino Roces Avenue as a potential site of the next project,” Yap said.

Featuring an Asian contemporary architectural design theme, Brio Tower has amenities that include extended sky lounge, which provides residents a platform to appreciate the cityscape on the edge of the high-rise structure.

The development also has a lap pool, kiddie pool, lounge area, jogging path, children’s playground, audio-visual room, gazebo, game room, and fitness gym.

It is designed with DMCI’s innovation called Lumiventt, which aids the natural flow of air and light through three-story high openings called Sky Patios, and through breezeways located on the left and right wing of every floor. VG Cabuag

Revolution Precrafted signs deal with Finnish firm

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EVOLUTION Precrafted I nc., a pre - f abr ic at ion company led by a son of former US Ambassador Jose EB Antonio, on Wednesday said it signed a cooperation agreement with Finnish development company Alvardag for a medium-rise project in Helsinki, Finland.

The agreement involves mutual sharing of resources between the companies such as allocating capital investments and exchange of expertise and skills.

Alvardag, together with Revolution, will be responsible for the design and prefabricated structures planning such as homes, buildings and other residential, retail and commercial buildings.

The first mutual project the two companies are working on is a high-rise development at prime location in eastern Helsinki. The structures in planning are midrise G+5 to G+7 products of residential living space.

“Revolution is our ideal design and supplier partner. Our team is already working on the biggest wooden high-rise residential area development of Europe in Finland and are very excited to make it even greater together with our partner, Revolution Precrafted.

The Northern European market is booming, and with a strong partner like Revolution, our project

pipeline can be promptly fulfilled and made even more extensive internationally,” Alvardag CEO David Vatka said.

This partnership allows Alvardag to access Revolution’s design resources of the world’s designers, brands and Pritzker prize architects, as well as global precrafted production resources.

The deal also allows Revolution to diversify into producing ecological wooden functional and customizable spaces.

As the first steps into the signed agreement, Revolution will supply to at least two different project sites in Finland.

“I am very pleased to have this framework of collaboration with Alvardag and I am looking forward to developing and expanding to the Northern European markets with our world-class technology, production, brand and designs.

Over the coming years we are looking forward to developing millions of square meters of unique spaces in the European market,” Revolution CEO Jose Roberto R. Antonio said.

The deal is expected to open up more projects in Northern European markets of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Russia as well as other central and northern European markets, the company said. VG Cabuag

MUTUAL FUNDS

November 28, 2018

NAV ONE YEAR THREE YEAR FIVE YEAR Y-T-D

PER SHARE RETURN* RETURN STOCK FUNDS ALFM GROWTH FUND, INC * 249.37 -12.98% -0.13% 2.08% -14.95% ATRAM ALPHA OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 1.378 -12.97% 4.27% 2.42% -13.7% ATRAM PHILIPPINE EQUITY OPPORTUNITY FUND, INC.* 3.8666 -13.87% 0.72% 0.72% -15.81% CLIMBS SHARE CAPITAL EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND CORP.* 0.8951 -11.6% N.A. N.A. -11.99% FIRST METRO CONSUMER FUND ON MSCI PHILS. IMI, INC. * ********* 0.8197 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN EQUITY FUND,INC.* 5.1963 -11.82% -1.38% 1.57% -13.58% MBG EQUITY INVESTMENT FUND, INC. * ****** 112.03 N.A. N.A. N.A. N.A. ONE WEALTHY NATION FUND, INC.* 0.8319 -15.16% N.A. N.A. -16.2% PAMI EQUITY INDEX FUND, INC.* 48.9339 -10.88% 1.01% N.A. -13.23% PHILAM STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC.* 511.44 -10.84% -0.14% 1.52% -13.09% PHILEQUITY DIVIDEND YIELD FUND, INC.* 1.2469 -9.72% 1.55% N.A. -11.21% PHILEQUITY FUND, INC.* 36.4078 -9.8% 1.99% 4.31% -11.41% PHILEQUITY PSE INDEX FUND INC.* 4.9255 -11.18% 1.69% 4.02% -13.19% PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND CORP.* 822.63 -11.02% 1.44% 4.07% -13.01% SOLDIVO STRATEGIC GROWTH FUND, INC. * 0.8541 -9.62% -0.7% N.A. -11.68% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE EQUITY FUND, INC.* 4.0568 -9.86% 1.49% 2.5% -11.43% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY PHILIPPINE STOCK INDEX FUND, INC.* 0.9479 -11.36% 1.49% N.A. -13.3% UNITED FUND, INC.* 3.4717 -8.15% 2.79% 2.82% -10.85% EXCHANGE TRADED FUND FIRST METRO PHIL. EQUITY EXCHANGE TRADED FUND, INC.* ***109.919 -10.69% 2.59% N.A. -12.73% ATRAM ASIAPLUS EQUITY FUND, INC.** $0.9536 -15.68% 1.83% -0.32% -13.96% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY WORLD VOYAGER FUND, INC.* $1.1775 -5.92% N.A. N.A. -6.93% BALANCED FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ATRAM DYNAMIC ALLOCATION FUND, INC.* 1.6484 -10.07% -2.07% -1.33% -11.54% ATRAM PHILIPPINE BALANCED FUND, INC.* 2.1893 -9.62% 0.19% 0.62% -10.9% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN BALANCED FUND INC.* 2.5108 -8.24% -2.98% -1.62% -9.35% GREPALIFE BALANCED FUND CORPORATION* **** 1.3017 -9.65% N.A. N.A. -10.53% NCM MUTUAL FUND OF THE PHILS., INC* 1.8342 -6.38% 0.59% 1.66% -7.94% PAMI HORIZON FUND, INC.* 3.5107 -8.9% -0.77% 0.8% -10.4% PHILAM FUND, INC.* 15.8189 -8.55% -0.67% 0.71% -9.9% SOLIDARITAS FUND, INC.* ******** 2.0572 -7.3% 0.65% 2.42% -8.25% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BALANCED FUND, INC.* 3.6478 -7.62% 0.25% 1.02% -8.72% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DYNAMIC FUND, INC.* 0.927 -7.76% -0.27% N.A. -9.14% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES COCOLIFE DOLLAR FUND BUILDER, INC.* $0.03483 -3.73% -0.6% 1.28% -3.52% PAMI ASIA BALANCED FUND, INC.* $0.9409 -11.42% 1.51% -1.37% -10.13% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ADVANTAGE FUND, INC.* $3.4449 -4.87% 3.02% 1.74% -5.68% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR WELLSPRING FUND, INC.* $1.0288 -7.23% N.A. N.A. -7.5% BOND FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 342.59 1.78% 2.01% 1.66% 1.63% ATRAM CORPORATE BOND FUND, INC.* ******* 1.8441 -1.67% -0.96% -0.79% -2.55% COCOLIFE FIXED INCOME FUND, INC.* 2.958 5.43% 5.34% 5.25% 4.82% EKKLESIA MUTUAL FUND INC.* 2.1269 1.08% 1.42% 1.11% 1.17% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN FIXED INCOME FUND,INC.* 2.2052 -0.51% -0.06% 0.14% -0.5% GREPALIFE FIXED INCOME FUND CORP.* P 1.5645 -3.01% -0.6% -1.47% -2.8% PHILAM BOND FUND, INC.* 3.893 -4.01% -0.72% -0.73% -3.88% PHILEQUITY PESO BOND FUND, INC.* 3.4869 -0.29% 0.26% -0.11% -0.51% SOLDIVO BOND FUND, INC. * 0.8879 -3.96% -0.99% N.A. -3.82% SUN LIFE OF CANADA PROSPERITY BOND FUND, INC.* 2.7615 -0.66% 0.88% 0.22% -0.56% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY GS FUND, INC.* 1.5346 -1.11% 0.37% -0.19% -0.97% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES ALFM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC. * $446.93 0.31% 2.28% 3% 0.22% ALFM EURO BOND FUND, INC. * Є212.47 -0.45% 0.95% 1.52% -0.58% ATRAM TOTAL RETURN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.** $1.1227 -1.01% 0.82% 1.85% -1.01% FIRST METRO SAVE AND LEARN DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $0.0248 -0.8% 0.68% N.A. -0.8% GREPALIFE DOLLAR BOND FUND CORP.* $1.6857 -5.18% -0.49% 1.07% -4.84% 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* $1.0239 -5.23% -0.73% -2.7% -4.62% PHILAM DOLLAR BOND FUND, INC.* $2.1369 -4.9% 0.35% 2.35% -5.07% PHILEQUITY DOLLAR INCOME FUND INC.* $0.0569141 -0.97% 0.87% 1.79% -0.5% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR ABUNDANCE FUND, INC.* $2.866 -5.05% 0.48% 1.56% -4.87% MONEY MARKET FUNDS PRIMARILY INVESTED IN PESO SECURITIES ALFM MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 120.4 2.55% 1.77% 1.51% 2.37% PHILAM MANAGED INCOME FUND, INC.* 1.1779 1.84% 0.49% 0.44% 1.77% SUN LIFE PROSPERITY MONEY MARKET FUND, INC.* 1.215 2.55% 2.22% 1.5% 2.49% PRIMARILY INVESTED IN FOREIGN CURRENCY SECURITIES SUN LIFE PROSPERITY DOLLAR STARTER FUND, INC.* ***** $1.0145 1.54% N.A. N.A. 1.58%

* - 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

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 29, 2018 B3

BSP retains auction volume despite undersubscription

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HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Wednesday retained its auction volume across all tenors despite undersubscription during the week.

The Central Bank announced in its web site that it has retained its auction volume for next week at P70 billion. This auction volume has been in place for three weeks now, with the seven-day term deposit fa-

cility (TDF) volume still the highest at P40 billion.

The 14-day TDF and 28-day TDF volume were, likewise, retained at P20 billion for the medium TDF and P10 billion for the long TDF.

BSP officials had earlier said that aside from actual monetary-policy rate changes, the Monetary Board could also steer their policy direction by allowing the market-determined TDF to rise or fall.

The Central Bank said this could be swayed by altering auction volumes.

Rates during the week showed mixed direction, as the 14-day TDF bucked the trend of lower rates for the week.

In particular, the seven-day TDF fetched a rate of 4.942 percent during the week, dropping from the 4.9738 percent from the previous week.

For the 28-day TDF, the rate hit 5.1103 percent, from the 5.1186 percent

in the previous week.

T he 14 - d ay T DF, mea nwh i le, fetched a rate of 5.0715 percent, rising from the 5.0596 percent in the previous week.

Both the seven-day and 14-day TDFs were undersubscribed, with the shortterm deposit bids hitting P28.89 billion for the week, falling short of the P40billion offering for the week.

The 14-day term deposit bids hit P19.837 billion, also falling short of the P20-billion offering for the week.

The 28-day term deposit tenders, meanwhile, hit P10.697 billion, covering more than the P10 billion offered for the week. Bianca Cuaresma

With planned infra spending of ₧5.5 trillion in 2019-2022, PHL taps China fund faucet

By Rea Cu @ReaCuBM

W

ITH China willing to foot the bill for key Philippine projects and Manila looking to ramp up spending for these, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) said last Wednesday there is much room for economic cooperation between the two neighbors as the country pursues its massive infrastructure program or “Build, Build, Build.”

At the China-Philippines Infrastructure Investment Conference in Manila, Budget Secretary Benjamin E. Diokno said: “Given the scope of our plans, full effort and cooperation from all stakeholders is needed. This starts with us, the government, followed by the private sector and our development partners.”

Diokno said the Duterte administration is pushing to boost infrastructure spending to 5 to 7 percent of gross domestic product in the medium term, since the country was not able to invest in its infrastructure for the last 50 years, as infrastructure spending back then was at a low of 2.6 percent of GDP. “This explains why there is much room for economic cooperation between the Philippines and China. So far, we are satisfied with the pace of economic cooperation between the Philippines and China,” he added.

In nominal terms the planned infrastructure spending is equivalent to P5.5 trillion, which will be spent from 2019 to 2022, according to Diokno.

“From 2017 to 2022, the Duterte administration will spend P8 trillion or approximately $150 billion for infrastructure development,” he said.

“The BBB will give the Philippine economy a much-needed boost as we aim for economic growth of 7 to 8 percent coupled with aggressive poverty

reduction program.”

The government, he noted, has already signed 29 agreements with China including a memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road Initiative to strengthen infrastructure cooperation.

He added that the Philippine government has already identified 36 projects for possible Chinese government funding, with two being grants.

“The indicative total investment requirements for the projects, except for three projects whose costs have yet to be determined, is pegged at P835.8 billion or 110.5 billion renminbi [RMB],” he added.

The National Economic and Development Authority Board-Investment Coordination Committee already approved 12 projects with a requirement of P300.8 billion or 39.8 billion RMB.

Diokno said the government expects to groundbreak the 12 approved projects by 2019 up to the first quarter of 2020.

He called as “totally unfounded” pundits’ fears the Philippines is falling into a debt trap due to China’s official development assistance (ODA).

The government said it plans to implement projects through ODA only when the rate of return is much higher than the cost of borrowing, adding that the cutoff rate at the moment is at 10 percent.

“We would like to assure everyone that the Philippines is exercising due diligence in processing the approval of these projects,” Diokno said. “All projects whether funded through bilateral sources like China, Japan South Korea, and others, or multilateral sources like the World Bank or Asian Development Bank—all these projects go through a

very rigorous process.”

Public-Private Partnership Center of the Philippines Executive Director Ferdinand A. Pecson also pointed out that China can help the projects to be implemented in the Philippines in terms of making them “smarter” and efficient through the application of artificial intelligence (AI).

Pecson said there are number of projects that can be further pursued in the top sectors like energy, specifically renewable-energy projects, water, sanitation and health care with the inclusion of technology seen to be a big boost.

“Already there are opportunities for foreign participation,” Pecson said.

“Something that I would really like to see more of on technology is the use of AI to make our infrastructure smarter, and this is where China can play a significant role.”

SBC, AFFI DEAL SBC President and CEO Alfonso L. Salcedo Jr. and AFFI President Marie-Joyce Co Yu (seated) led the signing ceremony witnessed by several staff of Security Bank Corp. and the Association of the Filipino Franchisers Inc. (standing).

Villar highlights value of investments in OFW future

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INANCIAL literacy, especially on investments and business start-ups, are important factors in ensuring that hard-earned incomes and savings of overseas Filipino workers are put to good use, Sen. Cynthia A. Villar said at the eighth OFW and Family Summit recently.

Villar, in her capacity as director of the Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation and Governance (Villar Sipag), made the remark as she urged OFWs who attended the event to be financially smart to ensure a better future for their families.

“I hope that you will practice all the lessons, tips and suggestions that you learned today from our finance experts. Use your incomes and savings wisely,” Villar said at the end of the Summit, which had as its theme, “OFW: Perang Pinaghirapan, Palaguin.”

“Always remember that you worked abroad to ensure a better future for your family. So you should know how to spend your earnings smartly. Invest your savings. Put up small businesses. Do not throw your money away on unnecessary luxuries,” Villar added.

T h e e i g h t h O F W a n d Fa m i l y S u m m it, held at t he World Trade Center in Pasay City, was attended by OFWs and their beneficiaries—spouse, children, parents or siblings.

The activity was opened by Public Works Secretary Mark A. Villar and Camille A. Villar, director of Vista Land.

Experts discussed subjects such as financial literacy; business start-ups and financing facilities; new business opportunities, such as farming, franchising

and online selling; career development program; and OFW-turned-entrepreneur success stories.

Among the personalities who shared their expertise on managing the hard-earned money are Chinkee Tan, Father Anton from Cooperatives, Anthony Robles from the Development Bank of the Philippines and Joselito Gutierrez from Land Bank of the Philippines.

This discussion will center on growing of one’s earnings. At the same time, tips will be given on where to get additional financial support should they opt to go into entrepreneurship.

Like in previous summits, OFWs turned successful were featured, such as Spa Owner Yco Tan, Software Company Founder Myrna Padilla, Farm Owner and Chef Roy Resurrection and Farm Owner Engr. Edelissa Ramos. Discussions focused on new business opportunities in farming, franchising and online selling with Lea Santiago (Sikat), Roanne Angeles (Crystal Clear), and Krizzia Loyang (Food Kiosks).

Susan “Toots” Ople of the Ople Center led the discussion on OFW concerns such as spotting a scam, finding accredited agencies, OFW rights and avoiding illegal recruitment. The panelists included Undersecretary Emmeline Aglipay-Villar of the Department of Justice’s Interagency Committee Against Trafficking, Deputy Administrator Arnell Ignacio of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Sarah Lou Y. Arriola, Atty. Lynda Llave of the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration and Labor

Undersecretary Jacinto V. Paras.

At the end of the program, lucky workers were picked as winners in a raffle draw. A house and lot from Camella Homes was won by Edmundo C. Enguero from Cabuyao City, Laguna, while Anilyne M. Plata from Pasig City brought home a motorcycle from Star 8 Green Technology Corp.

Media partners for the summit are Magic 89.9, RMN, Wanted sa Radyo 5, Radyo 5 92.3, dwIZ, dzMM, dzRH, dzBB, 105.1 Crossover, Play FM 99.5, Wave 89.1, Jam 88.3, Tiger 22, Eagle Broadcasting Corp., SMNI, UNTV, Wish 107.1, Wowowin GMA 7, The Philippine Star, Manila Bulletin and the BusinessMirror.

B4 Thursday, November 29, 2018

SUN LIFE PROVIDES GLOBAL INVESTMENTS THRU LOCAL CURRENCY

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UN Life Financial Philippines launches Sun Peso maximizer, a new investment-linked lifeinsurance product that will enable clients to access top-quality assets worldwide using the local currency.

Provides insurance protection for seven years, the Sun Peso maximizer helps one secure the future of his loved ones with a guaranteed life-insurance benefit equivalent to at least 125 percent of his one-time premium payment.

M o r e o v e r, b y e m p l o y i n g a systematic investment approach, the Sun Peso maximizer can also enhance

the value of one’s money and offer the potential to earn more from global investments. This is done by tapping into the performance of the Goldman Sachs prime momentum-optimization strategy, a transparent and systematic strategy that provides access to a wide range of global-asset classes.

Annual income payments may also be enjoyed for six years then, at the end of the seven-year holding period, the full single premium will be received, thus, providing one the opportunity to earn while also protecting his capital. “[ The] Sun Peso maximizer is

ideal for those who aim to preserve their wealth, as well as boost their money’s growth and income,” Sun chief marketing officer Mylene Lopa says. “With both the life-insurance protection and investment aspects covered, clients can certainly make the most of the local currency with [the] Sun Peso maximizer.”

Those interested in the Sun Peso maximizer can look forward to a hasslefree application and policy approval through the guaranteed insurability offer, subject to the limits of Sun Life.

Visit sunlife.com.ph today.

GRAND CELEBRATION Held on September 16 was the first dealer conference of Westlake Performance Tires and the 25th anniversary of New Century City Marketing Corp. (NCCMC) at Solaire Resort and Casino Grand ballroom. NCCMC was appointed as the exclusive distributor for Westlake Tires in the Philippines by Zhongce Rubber Group Co. Ltd. (ZC-Rubber Manufacturer of WestLake Tires), one of the largest fast-growing tire manufacture in China . NCCMC has currently 300 to 500 active resellers and dealers nationwide .

HAVE A KIDDIE CHRISTMAS AT SM STA. MESA! Indeed, it was a merry, jolly ride with Santa in his voyage to SM City Santa Mesa. AC Bonifacio, the Madison Squad and Saint Paul University Quezon City Chorale rendered splendid performances, while Santa and his friends from the Toy Kingdom brought gifts to all kids who eagerly awaited for his arrival. Camille Prats-Yambao and her family joined the celebration to bring that extra holiday cheers to every one.

EMPLOYEE WELLNESS AT THE CORE OF SECURITY BANK

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ECURITY Bank was recently conferred the People Program of the Year (Wellness) Award by the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP) for its total wellness program at the 42nd PMAP Awards in Clarkfield, Pampanga.

Security Bank’s total wellness program is a series of activities, benefits and perks that exceed the usual employer practices; and addresses all aspects of health: Physical fitness, mental and spiritual well-being, developmental, educational and financial wellness.

To ensure physical fitness, the Security Bank head office houses a gym where employees may do their own fitness routines or attend after-work Zumba, yoga and martial arts classes. The bank also holds an annual health, wellness and fitness fair where employees enjoy free checkups, healthy food options and gym-membership discounts.

To promote spiritual well-being, the bank holds daily Mass, Advent and Lenten recollections, midweek services and Bible study groups, all of which employees may choose to join in. In addition, a wellness coach is available for personal counseling to nurture employees’ mental and spiritual health.

“At Security Bank, we believe that caring for our people’s needs helps create a healthy and happy work force that is prepared for success,” Security Bank Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Alfonso L. Salcedo Jr. said.

For developmental, educational and financial wellness,

the bank’s training entity SBC Academy offers rigorous skills and capacities training for leadership, management, sales and services. Security Bank, likewise, offers wealth management, financial literacy, investments and insurance to employees, along with a workshop that seeks to prepare employees for retirement financially and emotionally.

Security Bank even goes the extra mile to support its employees and agency personnel by providing emergency financial and medical assistance in times of illness or natural calamities. Putting a premium on the safety and security of employees, the bank regularly communicates traffic and weather bulletins, and hosts self-defense workshops, disaster response seminars, and fire and earthquake drills.

The bank makes sure to give back to the communities it serves through the Security Bank Foundation Inc. (SBFI), its corporate social-responsibility arm. Employees volunteer their time and resources through various activities spearheaded by the foundation. Through SBFI, the bank supports education by providing scholarships to deserving students all over the Philippines; some of whom are the children of Security Bank’s employees and agency personnel.

“We are known for BetterBanking, a service commitment that ensures customer experience at the heart of our services. On the flip side of this brand promise are our people—Security Bank’s catalysts for BetterBanking—they are the hallmarks of our success....” Salcedo said.

PCSO TO SUSTAIN MEDICAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM—CANCER ADVOCACY GROUPS

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ANCER remains as the second leading cause of mortality in the country, according to the latest data published by the Philippines Statistics Authority. As previously noted by the Philippine Cancer Society, more than 80 percent of Filipino families are not capable of out-of-pocket expenses needed for basic medical care.

This is exactly why various cancer patient groups are now calling on to the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to immediately recall the directive of significantly reducing the amount of support provided via the individual medical assistance program (Imap), as thousands of cancer patients are at the risk of dying due to inability to sustain their treatments.

This call comes amid budgetary issues within the PCSO, which have forced it to reduce the amount of financial assistance of several beneficiaries availing of cancer treatments. The assistance was cut down from an average of P80,000 to P20,000 to P14,000.

“More and more Filipinos are relying on medical assistance programs, such as that of the PCSO because, to put it simply, cancer treatments are expensive. Sad to say, most of the time, the patients couldn’t afford the treatments, which is why they need programs like Imap to help them afford it, to live longer,” said Rod Padua, president of Touched by Max Inc., a group composed of leukemia and cancer patients who are highly dependent on support programs, such as the Imap, to continue

with their treatment.

Padua added that, since the amount of support was reduced, a number of the group’s patients have expressed deep concern with growing uncertainty of being able to resume to their treatment.

“Some of our patients are even dying, and we don’t want to see them leave this world just because they have no means to afford treatments. They have the right to live, and let’s give them options and the chance to do so,” he added.

Malu Cortez, chairwoman of the Philippine Foundation on Breast Care Inc., said for her part, “In recent years stakeholders like DOH [Department of Health], pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals have put together a plan to help patients receive timely, quality, affordable and accessible treatment. However, this plan is now compromised due to shortage available through Imap. Patients who are in the midstream of their treatment program are now at risk of dropping out.”

The Imap is PCSO’s program for providing financial assistance for beneficiaries with various health problems, where PCSO, instead of the patient, pays a service provider, for the cost of certain services or treatments provided by them.

Earlier this year the program’s budget was cut down to P4.1 million, from around P20 million, attributable to overutilization of medical assistance funds, according to PCSO.

ICONIC BRAND DUREX IS ON THE MOVE IN BOLSTERING SEXUAL AWARENESS GLOBALLY

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UREX is reigniting conversations around HIV and sexual health ahead of World AIDS Day, as it partners with (RED) to support its mission to end AIDS. Starting on December 1, consumers in the Philippines and around the world will be able to purchase a (Durex)RED bundle, and funds raised from sales will go directly toward a program in South Africa, where 7.2 million people are currently living with HIV. The Keeping Girls in School program aims to reduce new HIV infections and pregnancies among young women, through encouraging girls to stay in education and improving access to sexual health and reproductive services.

Durex(TM) RED products will be exclusively retailed online on Lazada and Shopee at P499, in a bid to reach out to the younger demographics in a mobile-first region.

Durex will make a minimum donation of $5 million over three years to The Global Fund via the Durex-(RED) partnership. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will match Durex’s $5-million contribution, taking the total to a minimum of $10 million.

Said Ben Wilson, Durex global category director, “37 million people are living with HIV around the world, and this groundbreaking new partnership with (RED) allows

everyone to play a role in helping AIDS end. Not only is our mission to help protect them but, through this vital partnership, we [also] hope to make a huge difference to young women who are disproportionately affected by this devastating disease in South Africa.”

Durex joins the list of some of the world’s most iconic brands who have partnered with (RED) since it was founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006, through the creation of special edition (RED) products. To date (RED) has generated more than $500 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, and 100 percent of money donated goes directly into projects to ensure that it reaches those most in need of the funds.

The Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted nearly 110 million people with prevention, treatment, counselling, HIV testing and care services.

Said Deborah Dugan, chief executive officer of (RED), “It is exhilarating for (RED) to partner with a global brand, like Durex, in such a provocative, inspiring and creative way.

In addition to millions of dollars to the Global Fund, there is brilliance and beauty in a (RED) partner product that saves lives in more ways than one....”

TIGER: JUST WIN

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, November 29, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

BALL CONTROL Juventus’s Paulo Dybala controls the ball during the Champions League Group H

match against Valencia at the Allianz Stadium in Turin, Italy, on Tuesday. Cristiano Ronaldo sets up Mario Mandzukic for the winning goal as Juventus secured a spot in the knockout stage with a 1-0 victory. AP

Pucks against bullets?

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UBURN HILLS, Michigan—Faculty members at Oakland University in suburban Detroit have received hockey pucks and are being trained to use them to potentially thwart active shooters.

WDIV-TV reports the American Association of University Professors distributed pucks to its 800 members.

University Police Chief Mark Gordon

says to fight effectively, faculty and students need to be prepared to throw heavy objects that will cause a distraction. Gordon says pucks fit the bill and can conveniently be carried in brief cases or backpacks.

The faculty union also is working with student groups to distribute an additional 1,700 pucks to students. AP

BRACE FOR ARMAGEDDON! L ONDON—After more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks, the chess world championship title will be decided by speedy tiebreaker games on Wednesday.

A 12-game battle of brains between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and reigning champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has resulted in 12 straight draws—the first time that has happened in a chess world championship match.

That means the match—which is taking place behind soundproof glass on a stage in London—now comes down to a series of rapid games that could even conclude in a sudden-death format known as “Armageddon” if a winner can’t be found.

Caruana, 26, is trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer to be crowned chess world champion. Still, he remains the underdog against the 27-year-old Carlsen, a former teenage prodigy who has been the world’s top-ranked player since the age of 19 and is considered even more dominant when playing with shorter time controls.

However, Carlsen stunned many commentators when he offered Caruana a draw in the 12th game on Monday despite having what experts and computer programs considered to be a better position and a large time advantage on the clocks. That led to suggestions the defending champion may be cracking under the pressure.

“In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus in a superior position with more time, I reconsider my evaluation of him being the favorite in rapids,” former world champion Garry Kasparov tweeted. “Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his.”

Even Caruana acknowledged he was “relieved” to be able to reach the tiebreakers after being on the ropes in the last game.

“When you feel like you’re sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it’s quite good,” the American said.

Carlsen, though, remained confident in his ability to outplay the challenger in speed chess.

“I think I have very good chances obviously,” the Norwegian said. “But I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

With no decisive games and no political undertones, this match has not created anything resembling the worldwide buzz that Fischer’s 1972 title meeting with Soviet champion Boris Spassky generated during the height of the Cold War. Still, American chess fans are hoping that a win for the Miami-born Caruana could boost the game in the US. Carlsen has created a chess craze in Norway, where his matches are front-page news and often shown live on TV. In 2014, he checkmated Microsoft founder Bill Gates in nine moves on a Norwegian talk show, using just 12 seconds on the clock.

For a global audience, these games have been live-streamed online with several top grandmasters

providing play-by-play commentary and analysis, aided by super computers that instantly evaluate each position.

The first game, on November 9, came closest to a decisive result but Carlsen failed to convert a winning advantage and had to settle for a draw after a seven-hour tussle.

Carlsen’s previous title fight against Russian Sergey Karjakin also went to tiebreakers in 2016 after they only managed to win one game each.

But despite the lack of knockout blows, this year’s championship has still had some drama as both players have missed good chances to win games. Carlsen even showed up with a black eye for one game after getting injured playing soccer on an off-day.

On Wednesday the two players will first face off in four games with rapid time controls—25 minutes plus 10 additional seconds per move for each player.

If the match remains deadlocked after that, they will play a series of five-minute games.

And if that fails to produce a winner, the match will end in an Armageddon game—where the player with the white pieces gets five minutes on the clock while the person playing black only gets four minutes, but a draw counts as a win for black. AP

TIGER WOODS turns 43 at the end of the year, and with age comes a dose of practical thinking. AP

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By Doug Ferguson The Associated Press

ASSAU, Bahamas—The first stop is Sam Snead and his 82 career Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour victories.

The ultimate stop is Jack Nicklaus and his 18 majors, the gold standard in golf.

Both milestones are now in play for Tiger Woods, which is not to suggest they are within reach. That they are at least a topic of conversation is a victory in itself considering it took four back surgeries—the last one to fuse his lower spine— for Woods to even compete again.

And then he took hopes to another level by winning the Tour Championship for his 80th career tour victory.

“I know I can win tournaments again,” Woods said on Tuesday.

His next chance is at the Hero World Challenge this

week, an unofficial event that counts only in the world ranking, his bank account and his confidence. More curious is what Woods will do in 2019 and for how much longer.

He turns 43 at the end of the year, and with age comes a dose of practical thinking.

His expectations are high by his standards. Given the level of attention he draws, the expectations of everyone around him are sure to be much higher. He was asked if he was close to having the same expectations he did 15 years ago.

“It’s not the same. It never will be. I’ll never feel that again,” he said. “To be what, 28 years old? Physically, I’ll never be like that. So expectations are different than they used to be, for sure.

Now, can I still win? Can I still compete? Yes. Can I do it for the next 20 years? No. Because that’s not realistic.”

Indeed, his expectations at the peak of his career were far different.

“Just win. Win everything,” he said. “Because I felt like I could.”

REIGNING champion Magnus Carlsen (left) of Norway plays Italian-American challenger Fabiano Caruana in Round 12 of their World Chess Championship Match in London. AP

And now he knows he can win again, a process that took two weeks short of a full year.

It began in early October a year ago when he posted a short video of a slow, full swing that was the first sign he could return.

He was No. 1,199 in the world ranking when he played his holiday event in the Bahamas last year. He twice had a chance to win on the back nine in Florida. He had the lead on Sunday in a major at Carnoustie, and he challenged Brooks Koepka to the finish at Bellerive in the PGA Championship. He went from being a vice captain to a captain’s pick in the Ryder Cup. Woods returns to the Bahamas at No. 13 in the world, which on paper sounds more amazing than it really is because he was so low in the ranking from having played so little that he essentially was starting from scratch. There was no way to go but up.

Woods can’t call this his best year because he had 11 years of at least five victories and nine years with at least one major through 2008, when he won his 14th major at Torrey Pines on a left leg that required season-ending surgery after the US Open.

But it was special, measured beyond victories.

“Probably the most rewarding, because there was a point...I just didn’t know if I would ever do this again,” he said. “You always hear me say, ‘It’s a process.’ But if you look at this entire year, it literally was a process. You saw me have flashes, and then I would rework a few things here and there. Toward the end of the year, I just became more and more consistent as a tournament player again.”

It culminated at East Lake, when he beat Justin Rose and then Rory McIlroy in the final group over the last two days to win the Tour Championship.

That was the moment that mattered.

And then the moment was gone. Never has a victory this big had a shelf life so short.

Woods was in Paris the next day as all the attention shifted to the Ryder Cup, which ended with a European victory and Woods failing to win a match. He says he was exhausted from a long summer. Woods qualified for the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone at the last minute, meaning he played seven big tournaments in a span of nine weeks, all of them in stifling heat except for Paris.

Winning didn’t really sink in until he returned home to Florida and was given a surprise celebration party at his restaurant. He said it has become “our Jupiter tradition,” celebrating victories for PGA Tour players when they win.

“Finally, they get to celebrate one of my wins,” he said.

The next one?

The first step is figuring out where to play. Woods is eligible for the winners-only start to the year at Kapalua, which is a possibility. He might end up dropping a tournament or two in the spring because of the crowded calendar. Three of the majors are on courses where he has won before—Augusta National, Bethpage Black (PGA Championship) and Pebble Beach (US Open).

There will be talk of catching Snead and resuming the chase of Nicklaus, all because of one win that a year ago didn’t seem likely.

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SPORTS makes its debut in the 30th Southeast Asian Games the Philippines is hosting next year with Singapore-based global lifestyle brand for gamers Razer as the official partner.

Philippine SEA Games Organizing Committee (Phisgoc) Chairman Alan Peter S. Cayetano and SEA Games Council Executive Committee Chairman Celso Dayrit formally announced on Wednesday at a Pasay City Hotel eSports inclusion as one of the 56 medal sports in the Philippine SEA Games program.

Alvin Juban, president of the Games Developers Association of the Philippines, said six gold medals will be staked for eSports in two PC, two mobile and two console games.

To guarantee the success of eSports debut in the SEA Games, Razer, a leading brand in the world of eSports based in Singapore, will utilized its expertise and experience in electronic gaming, as well as its ecosystem of hardware, software and services for the Games.

It includes facilitating discussions between the Phisgoc, through its executive director Ramon Suzara, and various game publishers to select the events that will be featured in the Games.

RAZER BACKS SEAG ESPORTS “A selection process is already ongoing because we want to field the best national team in the SEA Games,” said Joebert Yu, eSports National Association of the Philippines president and a member of the proposed eSports SEA Games ad hoc committee that will organize the event.

The ad hoc committee includes Cayetano, Suzara, Juban, Yu and ESPN Sports5 Head Vincent Reyes with top Philippine Olympic Committee officials as advisers.

Officials from Razer said they will fully support the national team to the Games.

“Esports has been the essence of Razer ever since we were founded and we have supported countless global events,

tournaments, and athletes over the past decade and a half,” Razer cofounder and CEO Min Liang Tan said.

“The sportsmanship and fighting spirit seen in eSports is no less than that of other sports, and we’ve fought hard for its inclusion in an international sporting event like the SEAG 2019,” Ming added.

Esports was played in the 19th Asian Games in Indonesia as a demonstration sport.

It is being strongly considered for the program of the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Also present in the event were New Clark City Athletes Village Mayor Arrey Perez, Chief of Mission Monsour del Rosario, Phisgoc Executive Director Ramon Suzara, Razer Chief

Strategy Officer Limeng Lee, SEA Games Council Executive Committee Chairman Celso Dayrit, Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) Deputy Secretary-General Karen Tanchanco Caballero, ESPN Sports 5 Head Vincent Reyes, POC Membership Committee Chairman Robert Bachmann and Razor Global eSports Director David Tse. Razer is the world’s leading brand in eSports, and today supports 18 champion teams with players from 25 countries.

Team Razer athletes have won over $10 million in prize money in the past two years alone. Razer has over 50 million registered users who use its ecosystem of highperformance gaming products and services.

National age-group tennis tournament unwraps SPORTS TRAINING M

RAZER Chief Strategy Officer Limeng Lee (right) and Global eSports Director David Tse expound on Razer’s role in the 30th Southeast Asian Games. NONIE REYES

ORE than 300 age groupers gear up for a five-day showdown for top honors and ranking points as the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala (PPS-PEPP)-Mac’s Crankit Tennis Academy (MCTA) national age-group tennis tournament gets going at the Olivarez Sports Center in Sucat, Parañaque City, on Thursday.

Jester Ocio, Joshua Tan, Jenard Gonzales and Martin Buenaventura banner the cast in the boys’ 18-under division, while Denise Bernardo, Geanlijah Sagandoy, Renee

Esteban and Bea Gomez are tipped to slug it out in the premier category of the girls’ side of the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and MCTA. Ocio and Gonzales are also competing in the 16-under play headed by Exequiel Jucutan, Edgardo Angara and Sebastien Lhuillier with Sagandoy also seeing action in the distaff side along with top-seed Kryssana Brazal, No. 3 Larissa Rosales and fourth-ranked Franchezka Malaki.

Focus will also be on the boys’ 12-under division of the tournament presented by

Dunlop, which drew a huge 64-player field led by Brent So, Prince Lim, Roque Lim, Joshua Diva, Samuel Salazar, siblings Vhiele and Nhiel Dilao, Kenrick Bona, Benedict Aguilar and Joss Po. “With this big field, we expect new faces to emerge,” said Palawan Pawnshop President/CEO Bobby Castro, who has lined up another 70-leg, nationwide circuit next year. “The PPS-PEPP circuit will continue to provide these young, aspiring players the venue to hone up their skills.”

Cebu, meanwhile, will host the next

age grouper of the circuit, sanctioned by the Unified Tennis Philippines, made up of PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s, Dunlop, Slazenger and B-Meg, from December 13 to 16 in Mandaue City with Naga also in Cebu holding the penultimate leg from December 17 to 22.

The 2018 circuit winds up in Cabanatuan City from December 28 to 30 with the Legends doubles for 40s, 50s and 60s.

Registration is ongoing. For details, call PPS-PEPP Program Development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

CENTER ACT HAILED S

EN. Joel Villanueva, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports, hailed on Wednesday the bicameral conference committee’s approval of a proposed measure seeking to establish the Philippine Sports Training Center (PSTC).

In the consolidated versions of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the PSTC will include training facilities for Olympic and other sports as deemed significant and necessary by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

“We thank the Senate sports committee chair, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, the principal

author of this measure, Sen. Sonny Angara, and all the authors in both houses for supporting this measure,” Villanueva said.

“Being a former national athlete who competed in the first Southeast Asia Basketball Association [SEABA] tournament in 1994, this bill is very close to my heart. We are truly elated that this measure is closer to becoming a law which will optimize the development of our Filipino athletes,”Villanueva added.

A funding of P3.5 billion will be appropriated and included in the General Appropriations Act. Any other funds necessary to carry out the provision of the Act will be included in the budget of the PSC in the GAA. “It is about time that we build a home for our future champions who bring nothing but pride and honor to this country,” Villanueva said.

MEGGIE WORLD CHAMP

Meggie Ochoa shares a light moment as she is feted during Beebeelee and Bughaw Digital’s “60 Minutes With Meggie Ochoa” on Wednesday at the Pacific Star Building in Makati City. Ochoa wins a women’s 49-kg gold medal in the Jiu-Jitsu World Championships in Sweden recently, the first Filipino and Asian to snatch a title in the sport’s world tournament. NONIE REYES

WGAP Ladies Amateur Open up at MGCC

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HE Philippine Ladies Amateur Open makes a sentimental return to what has long been considered as its home when the 57th edition of the country’s premier championship is held from February 19 to 21 next year at the Manila Golf and Country Club (MGCC).

The well-kept layout inside the posh Forbes Park last hosted the event more than a decade ago before it underwent a face-lift with the organizing Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines (WGAP) moving the annual event to various championship courses, including Manila Southwoods, The Country Club, Wack Wack, Mount Malarayat, Forest Hills, Tagaytay Midlands and at Orchard.

Bianca Pagdanganan topped the 2017 edition at Midlands then Yuka Saso reigned at Orchard’s Palmer course last year with the two young but talented aces teaming up with Lois Kaye Go to sweep the gold medals in the recent Asian Games, with Saso capping Team Philippines’s remarkable romp by ruling the individual competition.

They are expected to lead the bidders in the upcoming tournament numbering to 80 to 100, including those from Australia, Guam, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

“We thank the MGCC for hosting this prestigious event again where golfers from various countries in Asia will compete and we guarantee three days of top-notch competition among these top and rising players in the region,” WGAP said in a statement.

Registration is ongoing with entry fee pegged at P10,000 for local players and $300 for foreign participants. For reservations and details, e-mail kathy_uy@yahoo.com (WGAP chairperson) or secretariat@wgap-golf.com (WGAP President Anna Haurie).

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Abaring pulls away in Q School

ICHARD ABARING kept his charge going, adding a 70 to a 69 to pull away by five over new pursuer amateur Rupert Zaragosa after 36 holes of the 2019 Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Qualifying School at Splendido Taal Golf Club in Laurel, Batangas, on Wednesday.

Abaring rammed in five birdies against three bogeys for a 34-36 card and a two-day aggregate of 139 as he built a big five-shot cushion over Zaragosa heading to the last two rounds of the elims that offers 50-plus ties berths for next year’s PGT. The diminutive Zaragosa, bracing for big-time golf after a flourishing career in the ranks, turned in the day’s best of 69 to move to second at 144, while Orlan Sumcad carded a 74 to join Charles Hong, who fumbled with a 75, at third at 146.

Another amateur, Noel Langamin, carded a

73 to lead the 147 scorers, who included Marvin Dumandan, who also turned in a one-over card, Efren Reyes Jr., who shot a 74, and Joseph Suarez, who matched par 72 at the challenging, up-anddown layout.

Also boosting their bids for next year’s PGT cards are Jun Bernis (71), Cookie La’O (72), Erwin Arcillas (75) and Rey Pagunsan (75), who all assembled 149s, while Jet Mathay and Francis Morilla pooled identical 150s after a pair of 75s.

Seventy-two players from the starting field of 91 made it to the final 36 holes of the elims where the top 50 plus ties will earn Category 5 status and the rest settling for Category 7 in the 2019 PGT starting fields.

Barely making the cut at 169 were Tonlits Asistio (86), Bernard Salvador (80), Nick Aleluya (84), Ian Vergara (85) and Marlon Jamero (88).

PATAFA HONOREES Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association (Patafa) President

Dr. Philip Ella juico (third from left) and Secretary-General Reynato Unso (left) present plaques of gratitude to national sports association’s benefactors during the recent welcome dinner for the 90th Council Meeting of the Asian Athletics Association in a hotel in Manila. The honorees are (second from left) Foton’s Rommel Sytin, sports philantrosis Jim Lafferty, Cherrylume head Elmer Ngo, Cocolife and UCPB Gen’s Atty. Francis Nob and Neslte/Milo’s Lester Castillo.

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Thursday, November 29, 2018

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Castro powers Lady Tamaraws past Tigresses

Lifesavers vs Asset spikers in Superliga

LARE CASTRO had 32 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks as second-ranked Far Eastern University (FEU) edged University of Santo Tomas (UST), 68-66, to advance to the Finals of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 women’s basketball tournament on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

FEU will be up against reigning and unbeaten champion National University (NU) in the best-ofthree Finals starting on Saturday.

After a shot-clock violation was called on the Lady Tamaraws, the Tigresses tried to force overtime in the final 6.3 seconds, but Tin Capilit’s last-gasp lay-up rimmed out.

FEU will be in its first Finals in four years, and Coach Bert Flores was so thankful to have Castro back after she sat out last season.

“We’re lucky to have Clare, we have a rebounder,” said Flores, who last won a UAAP championship for his alma mater in 2005, with a powerhouse men’s roster led by Arwind Santos.

Flores duplicated the feat of former De La Salle Coach Juno Sauler, who reached the Finals of both the women’s and men’s division.

The Lady Tamaraws face a gargantuan task of ending the Lady Bulldogs’ 78-game winning streak.

Soon-to-be crowned Most Valuable Player Grace Irebu had 28 points, 13 rebounds and three blocks for UST, which finished third for the second straight season.

Defending champion NU, meanwhile, will again face De La Salle-Zobel for the girls championship in high-school volleyball.

The Bullpups and Junior Lady Spikers beat their respective Final Four foes to arrange a best-of-three title duel starting on Wednesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre.

Top-ranked NU made quick work of No. 4 Adamson University, 25-15, 25-19, 25-20, while No. 2 De La Salle-Zobel pulled off a 25-23, 25-21, 25-20 victory over third-ranked UST. The Bullpups are eyeing a fifth straight title against the Junior Lady Spikers, who are in their first Finals appearance since completing a “three-peat” in 2013 with a strong roster led by Kim Kianna Dy and Dawn Macandili.

In the boys division, FEU-Diliman prevailed over UST, 25-21, 22-25, 22-25, 25-23, 18-16, to clinch the remaining twice-to-beat slot in the Final Four.

The Baby Tamaraws and Tiger Cubs cross paths again on Saturday for a spot in the best-of-three championship series at the San Juan venue. The other semifinals pairing pits the No. 1 Bullpups against the No. 4 Baby Falcons.

ED-HOT Generika-Ayala seeks to extend its winning streak when it faces skidding Cocolife in the Philippine Superliga AllFilipino Conference on Thursday at the Bacoor Strike Gym in Bacoor City.

Game time is 7 p.m. with the Lifesavers looking to capture their sixth straight win in the women’s club tournament bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Mueller, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku with Genius Sports as technical provider.

Foton, meanwhile, will try to bounce back from its setback to Petron when it clashes with Smart at 4:15 p.m. and F2 Logistics tackles Cignal at 2 p.m..

After opening this conference with three straight losses, Generika-Ayala was unstoppable as it won five consecutive matches, including a massive four-set conquest of powerhouse F2 Logistics two weeks ago.

In their previous match against the HD Spikers, the Lifesavers were on a different level as Patty Orendain, Ria Meneses and Fiola Ceballos spearheaded the attack en route to a 25-21, 27-25, 22-25, 25-16 victory.

Orendain, the high-leaping spiker from Bacolod, finished the night with 17 kills for 18 points while Meneses and Ceballos registered 16 and 15 markers, respectively, for Generika-Ayala, which is fashioning a 5-3 win-loss card.

“I think our team has gained enough confidence,” Generika-Ayala Assistant Coach Parley Tupaz said.

“But still, I hope that we won’t get ahead too much of ourselves and step by step we improve our game.”

Tupaz, however, was wary of the young Asset Managers, who are being bannered by FilipinoAmerican spiker Kalei Mau with national team member Denden Lazaro at the defensive end.

Despite losing all but one in its eight matches this conference, Cocolife is still capable of pulling off a surprise due to their hunger and persistence.

“You can never underestimate Cocolife,” said Tupaz, who is calling the shots in lieu of Head Coach Sherwin Meneses.

“They’re that kind of dangerous team because they’re hungry to get a win and we’re careful not to be their victim.”

“Although we’re coming off a five-game winning streak, we have to remain hungry and always keep our guards up.”

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ADAMSON University’s Papi Sarr loses the ball to the pesky defense of University of the Philippines’s Diego Dario and Bright Akhuetie (right). NONOY LACZA

MAROONS IN FINALS

By Ramon Rafael Bonilla

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UAN GOMEZ DE LIAÑO put on a scoring spectacle and team captain Paul Desiderio knocked down the biggest shots in overtime as University of the Philippines (UP) eliminated the second seed Adamson University, 89-87, to advance to the Finals of Season 81 University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball action on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Pushed to limits before thousands of maroon-clad fans that occupied much of the Big Dome, the Fighting Maroons were a marvel to watch as they fought through adversity to enter the championship series against

defending champion Ateneo that starts on Saturday.

This marks the first time in 32 years that UP is in the Finals. A team powered by Benjie Paras, Ronald Magsanoc and Eric Altamirano gave State University— one of the league’s found institutions—its first, and at this moment the last, UAAP title.

As the game went down the wire, the cold-shooting Desiderio turned hero anew. He hit a triple and a jumper in the last 41 seconds to pull UP out of danger after being down by six points midway the overtime period.

Before his clutch baskets, Desiderio was 2-of-18 from the field. His timely hits proved vital as Gomez de Liaño almost singlehandedly breathed life to the

Fighting Maroons’ offense.

“This team is going to fight, no matter what,” said UP Head Coach Bo Perasol, who rushed to center court with both fists up in the air.

“We made it with hard work.”

Gomez de Liaño scored 13 in the second quarter and added six rebounds and two assists.

Desiderio finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, four steals and four blocks, while Bright Akhuetie made a double-double of 13 points and 17 rebounds.

The Soaring Falcons looked to flip the table after Jerom Lastimosa sank a triple with 2.6 seconds left in regulation that pushed the game in overtime.

UP went scoreless for more than two minutes while Adamson University scored six straight

PHL DRIBBLERS READY FOR BATTLE O

N the eve of a crucial home stand that could punch the Philippines a ticket to the next round of the qualifiers for the 2019 Fiba World Cup, the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) brought out some of the most illustrious names in Philippine basketball to inspire the current generation of national players at the Meralco Multi-Purpose Hall.

The Philippines plays Kazakhstan on Friday and Iran on December 3—both at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

“When Filipino basketball fans speak of Olympic honor, of Olympic prestige, indeed of Olympic tradition, we cast our eyes to the distant past,” SBP President Al Panlilio said. “We are in the company of 10 great players who know the story of what made our basketball past great.”

Among the past Philippine Olympians present were Rafael Hechanova (1952 Helsinki); Antonio Genato (1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne); Caloy Loyzaga (1952 Helsinki and 1956 Melbourne), who was represented by his eldest son Chito Loyzaga; Kurt Bachmann (1960 Rome), who was represented by his son Dicky; Edgardo Roque (1960 Rome); Arturo Valenzona (1964 Tokyo); Jimmy Mariano (1968 Mexico); Robert Jaworski (1968 Mexico); Marte Samson (1972 Munich); and Manny Paner (1972 Munich).

points highlighted by another triple by Lastimosa for an 84-78 lead in the extra period.

Diego Dario, Gomez de Liaño and Akhuetie countered with their own 6-0 run to tie the score at 84 with 1:09 minutes remaining.

Then came Desiderio, who first converted a trey, then a jumper with six ticks lefts that sealed the game for UP. Jerrick Ahanmisi led Adamson University with 20 points and three rebounds, Lastimosa had 17 points and seven rebounds, and Papi Sarr 16 points and 15 rebounds.

The Fighting Maroons successfully negated the twiceto-beat advantage of Adamson University, which was hoping to vie for the crown it last won in 1977.

Start strong, finish stronger

S

TUNG by PetroGazz’s gutsy stand in the opening frame, Creamline did the next best thing to clip the Angels—start strong and finish stronger.

With Alyssa Valdez unleashing her patented power smashes, Jema Galanza letting loose a number of booming, crosscourt spikes, Michelle Gumabao delivering her off-the-block hits and Risa Sato scoring on quick plays off Jia Morado’s superb sets, the Cool Smashers recovered in an extended first set for a 26-28, 25-15, 25-13, 2516 victory in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Season 2 Open Conference on Wednesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

Creamline took the last three sets in a manner only they could perhaps dish out—in dominant fashion, blasting in points from all angles while defending the net and their floor with aplomb to seize control and never giving the Angels the chance to recover the way they did in the opening set of their best-of-three semifinal series at the Filoil Flying THE present members of the national team draw inspiration from some of the most illustrious names in Philippine basketball. They are Rafael Hechanova, Antonio Genato, Caloy Loyzaga represented by his eldest son, Kurt Bachmann represented by his son, Edgardo Roque, Arturo Valenzona, Jimmy Mariano, Robert Jaworski, Marte Samson and Manny Paner.

The Philippines competed in seven Summer Olympics.

“The objective today is not to measure the success of one team or one generation over the other, but to share stories and strands of commitment, patriotism and pride,” Panlilio said.

“We are on the eve of a war that may well spell whether the Philippines will advance to the next phase of the Fiba World Cup. “Today’s reunion with the basketball legends reinforces our belief in the Gilas Pilipinas team to

play at its best to achieve its goals, whatever the odds, whatever the cost.”

“We know we would not be here if not for the trailblazers who paved the way for us to be here,” Head Coach Yeng Guiao said.

Joining Panlilio and the former stars were SBP executive director Sonny Barrios, Philippine Basketball Association governors Robert Non of San Miguel Beer and Ginebra’s Alfrancis Chua (also San Miguel Corp. sports director), and Commissioner Willie Marcial.

Team Pilipinas held its last practice at the venue two days before it sees action against Kazakhstan, and Guiao believes the team is ready for battle.

“We’re trying to cover all the bases at this

point,” he said after the two-hour practice with only Christian Standhardinger and Kai Sotto absent.

The team, which has been watching videos of the Kazakhs’ games, will practice one more time on Thursday and do some light shootaround on Friday morning.

The coaching staff, according to Guiao, already has a list of 10 players to make up the final roster for the Kazakhstan game—with the final two slots deliberated on by them just after the send-off.

What is certain, though, is Stanley Pringle will serve as Team Pilipinas’ naturalized player for the Kazakhtsan match and Standhardinger for the Iran game.

A.N.O.C. MEETING Philippine Olympic Committee President Ricky Vargas (center) leads the Philippine contingent to the

23rd Association of National Olympic Committees (ANOC) General Assembly that opened in Tokyo on Wednesday morning. With him are POC Chairman Abraham Tolentino (left) and General Counsel Al Agra. More than 200 countries are represented in the assembly.

U

V Centre in San Juan.

The victory thus put the crowd favorites a win away from earning another crack at a PVL championship after scoring a breakthrough in the Reinforced Conference via sweep of PayMaya in July.

Galanza marked her 22nd birthday in style, ramming in 22 spikes on her way to a 24-hit output, overshadowing the league’s leading Most Valuable Player candidate Valdez, who added 17 points, the last a potent cross-court hit that ended the duel that also saw the Cool Smashers toughen up on their net and floor defense to complete the four-set romp.

After dropping the tightly fought first set, the Cool Smashers reasserted their might and controlled the next three, storming to leads of 9-3 and 20-12 in the second, virtually cruising in the third then posting 11-6, 18-11 and 22-13 bulges in the fourth.

The top-seeded Cool Smashers go for the clincher on Saturday, but the fourth-ranked Angels vow to strike back with key adjustments and send the series to a rubber match on Sunday.

Perpetual Altas target win No. 2

NIVERSITY of Perpetual Help System Dalta goes for its second straight victory in the men’s and juniors’ divisions as it tackles Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) on Thursday in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

Perpetual Help swept its previous assignments, with the Altas blasting the San Beda Red Spikers, 25-2, 25-23, 25-15, and the Junior Altas overpowering the Cubs, 25-15, 25-13, 25-12, on opening day last week.

Perpetual Help is tied with EAC—which outlasted Letran, 25-12, 23-25, 25-13, 16-25, 15-9, on Monday—in the men’s side alongside College of Saint Benilde and San Sebastian and the winner of their 10 a.m. showdown will assume the solo lead.

The Las Piñas-based spikers are going all out to sustain their winning tradition in the men’s division after reigning supreme in six of the last eight seasons. They survived the Arellano University Chiefs in three games to grab the crown last season.

Perpetual Help Coach Sammy Acaylar said they want to win everything for the school and their supporters.

“We just want to make the school, our officials, the Perpetual Help community and our supporters proud, that’s why we always strive for excellence,” Acaylar said.

The Junior Altas share second place with the Letran Knights and Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates and a victory in their 8:30 a.m. match with the Brigadiers (0-1) would send it to a tie for first with the Chiefs (2-0).

By Dennis Georgatos The Associated Press

D

ENVER—The Denver Nuggets have never been better against the Lakers.

Paul Millsap, Jamal Murray and Malik Beasley scored 20 points apiece, and the Nuggets rolled to their most lopsided victory ever over Los Angeles, a 11785 rout on Tuesday night.

The 32-point margin surpassed a 29-point win in 1993.

“I thought we came out and just took it to them,” Millsap said. “Our half-court defense was tremendous. We were not allowing them to get any shots. We could have done a little better job of shutting them down in the paint but overall I think we did a really good job of coming in and establishing what we wanted to do, paying attention to the game plan. And it completely took them out of their game.”

Nikola Jokic added 14 points and Juancho Hernangomez had 12 for the Nuggets, who won their fourth in a row.

Kyle Kuzma scored 21 points for Los Angeles, while LeBron James and Brandon Ingram added 14 apiece.

The Lakers, who handed the Nuggets their first loss of the season in late October in Los Angeles, struggled to find their shooting touch against Denver’s defensive pressure.

The Lakers were outshot 48.5 percent to 39.5 percent and finished just 5 of 35 (14.3 percent) from three-point range. And for the 10th time this season, the Nuggets held an opponent to under 100 points.

“I’ve thought we were a defensive team in my head for a while now but this year it is our identity,” Nuggets Coach Michael Malone said.

“It speaks to the buy-in and commitment and the fact that our guys realize that regardless of the offense, when we defend, we are a team that can beat anyone. We have done that against really good teams and really good players. Tonight was another example of that.”

Up by eight at the half, the Nuggets stretched their lead to 89-71 with a strong third quarter.

Jokic started the Nuggets’ third by hitting a pair of threes and Mason Plumlee’s tip-in just before the quarter ended put Denver in front by 18 points going into the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets kept the pressure on in the final period, outscoring the Lakers down the stretch, 28-14.

“We stayed in it as much as we could, stopped the dam from running over,” James said. “At one point it broke open because we couldn’t make shots.”

JAMES, LAKERS BADLY BEATEN IN DENVER Denver led, 58-50, at the half, getting a boost from Millsap, who converted a threepoint play and then hustled down the floor for a soaring block of Ingram’s attempted lay-up in the last 39 seconds of the second quarter. Millsap had 16 points in the first half.

Lonzo Ball, who had seven points in just over 18 minutes, missed most of the second half after spraining his left ankle earlier in the game.

“He sprained his left ankle pretty good but he wanted to give it a go,” Lakers Coach Luke Walton said. “The way he was moving out there, it just didn’t feel right to leave him on the court so we got him out there.”

His playing status going forward was uncertain.

“We’ll probably get a better idea of what

we’re dealing with after this flight and into tomorrow,” Walton added.

Kyle Lowry had 24 points and six assists, Fred VanVleet added 18 points and Toronto used a three-point shooting burst in the fourth quarter to beat Memphis, 122-114.

VanVleet made all six shots on the night, including three from outside the arc in the fourth, when Toronto was 7 of 12 from threepoint range. Lowry was 5 of 8 on three-pointers.

Kawhi Leonard finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and Serge Ibaka scored 16 points as the Raptors won their sixth straight.

Marc Gasol led Memphis with 27 points, making 10 of his 14 shots. Mike Conley added 20 points and six assists.

Blake Griffin scored 30 points and Stanley

Johnson added 21 to lift Detroit over New York, 115-108.

Reggie Jackson contributed 21 points for Detroit. The Pistons held New York to 40 percent shooting from the field and led throughout the final three quarters.

Allonzo Trier scored 24 points for the Knicks, who had won a season-high three in a row.

The Pistons (11-7) are off to a solid start under new coach Dwane Casey, although nine of their victories have been against teams that currently have losing records.

LAKERS star LeBron James is a picture of frustration. AP

NBA RESULTS Detroit 115, New York 108 Atlanta 115, Miami 113 Toronto 122, Memphis 114 Denver 117, LA Lakers 85 Indiana 109, Phoenix 104

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Thursday, November 29, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Dikembe gets emotional in first trip to Holy Land

DIKEMBE MUTOMBO talks to kids during a workshop at the Sylvan Adams Sports Center at the YMCA in Jerusalem. AP

J

ERUSALEM—Basketball Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, a fearsome 7-foot-2 center in his playing days, said on Tuesday he was moved to tears at the sight of Jerusalem’s ancient walls.

Mutombo, who hails from a devout Christian community in Congo, described his first visit to the holy city as an emotional experience. He said he thought about his parents, who died before they could see the place they had spent their lives reading about in the Bible.

“My parents might be gone, but they instilled in me the dream of coming here,

and I’ve made it,” he said. “I can’t believe I’m really here.”

Mutombo, an eight-time National Basketball Association (NBA) All-Star who played for six teams, was in town for the inauguration of a new sports center, where he flashed his signature finger-wag and showed off his trademark shot-blocking skills at a clinic in front of a mixed crowd of excited Jewish, Christian and Muslim children.

The center, located at the city’s YMCA and sponsored by Canadian-Israeli philanthropist and sports enthusiast Sylvan Adams, calls itself “an oasis of coexistence” in the diverse

city, catering to Israelis and Palestinians alike.

Mutombo said that coming from a conflict-ridden country convinced him of the salutary power of sport, and allowed him relate to politically troubled places.

“Who doesn’t know about all the wars that have taken place here?” he said. “But on the court you don’t talk about whose skin is darker, which ethnicity group you come from, which language you speak. You just play the game.”

In the decade since his retirement, Mutombo has invested millions in philanthropic causes in his native country and abroad. He said he feels at home in his new role as a humanitarian ambassador, especially since the NBA’s golden days of defense are long gone.

“All the young kids these days shoot hoops like they’re shooting guns,” he said. “I wouldn’t have lasted more than a year.”

During the clinic, Mutombo praised young players’ free throws and blocked shots with the flick of his wrist. His booming voice and basso laugh engaged everyone in range.

Emily Polanski, 11, the only girl on the court, said although it’s hard to play alone with so many boys, she dreams of competing one day in the WNBA, and takes Mutombo as an example of how to prevail over obstacles.

“Boy or girl, when you’re playing, it shouldn’t matter,” she said, looking up at the towering Mutombo. AP

‘EVERYTHING WILL BE BETTER’

M

ADRID—Despite renewed complaints from France’s players about the upcoming changes to the Davis Cup, the organizers of the revamped tennis tournament are adamant that everything will soon be better.

Javier Alonso, the CEO of the company behind the new competition, spoke to The Associated Press two days after France’s Davis Cup team lashed out at the changes being made to the traditional tournament. Lucas Pouille even said he would boycott the competition.

“There are several reasons why there is a negative perception in France,” Alonso said. “If France hadn’t made it to the finals these last few years, the perception there would be different.

“France also is a particular case because the French federation is richer, having a Grand Slam, a Masters [event] and many other tournaments. Other federations are not like that. There are some countries that don’t want to host matches because they would

lose money if they did.”

France hosted this year’s final, losing to Croatia, 3-1. It was the team’s second straight final appearance, and third in five years.

The new format will be an 18-team tournament played over a week in a single venue, with the first two editions being hosted by Madrid on an indoor hard court at the Magic Box arena, which already hosts the Madrid Masters.

The revamped competition was developed in a partnership between the International Tennis Federation and Kosmos, the investment group founded by Barcelona defender Gerard Pique. The ITF says the changes will help increase revenue for the national federations.

Besides the French, others have also complained about the new format. Among those showing opposition was top-ranked Novak Djokovic, who said the Davis Cup would conflict with the ATP Cup, a newly

created team competition. Roger Federer has said he does not intend to play in the new Davis Cup event, but Rafael Nadal has already confirmed his presence.

Alonso said he was not too concerned about top players not committing to the new competition.

“I’m not worried, but we are working to try to show that these changes were needed and that it will be good for the players to come to Madrid and play,” he said. “First, we need to know which teams will qualify, then we can start talking to the players to try to convince them. Right now we have a lot of people talking and they may not even qualify.”

Organizers said the new format is supposed to alleviate the calendar by decreasing the number of dates allocated to the Davis Cup, which currently is played over four weekends throughout the year. The new event would be decided in November after a qualification round in February. AP

Persons of faith

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EAR Father in heaven, please help us to be persons of faith, who believe You will work all details out in our life. Let us not rely on tangible, explainable things, but remember that You are in control of everything known and unknown, and that Your will reigns in every decision we make. Amen. (“For we live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7) GIVE US THIS DAY, SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

ON November 22, after more than two decades of efforts to straighten it, engineers say the famed Tuscan bell tower has recovered 4 centimeters (1.57 inches) and is in better structural health than predicted. AP

Leaning Tower of Pisa continues long path toward vertical ROME—The Leaning Tower of Pisa isn’t leaning so much anymore.

After more than two decades of efforts to straighten it, engineers say the famed Tuscan bell tower has recovered 4 centimeters (1.57 inches) more and is in better structural health than predicted.

Ansa news agency quotes a consultant to the international committee monitoring the tilt, Nunziante Squeglia, as saying that while the progressive recovery of tilt is good news, the overall structural health of the tower is more important.

The 12th-century tower reopened to the public in 2001 after being closed for more than a decade to let workers reduce its slant. By using hundreds of tons of lead counterweights at the base and extracting soil from under the foundations, engineers initially shaved 17 inches off the lean. AP

Life BusinessMirror

DENSELY forested Yoyogi Park

TOP housing developer 8990 Holdings Inc. has ventured into the leisure and hospitality industry with the recent launch of 8990 Leisure & Resorts.

With P5 billion worth of investments, the company is eyeing to open hotels and resorts in key destinations, such as Cebu, Makati, Davao, Palawan, Boracay, Siquijor, Alabang, Manila, Iloilo, Legazpi, Clark, Lapu-Lapu, Siargao and Baguio.

A total of 3,000 rooms will be developed in the next five years. 8990 Holdings’s foray into the hospitality industry is set to kick off with three brands, namely, Adama, a five-star luxury family resort; Kura, a four-star luxury hotel; and Argo, a resident urban hotel.

Present at the launch 8990 Leisure and Resorts were (from left) 8990 Leisure and Resorts President Lowell Yu, 8990 Holdings Chairman Mariano Martinez, and 8990 Holdings President and Chief Executive Officer Willie J. Uy.

A GLIMPSE of a seaside living redefined through Avara.

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Autumn in Japan L LAKE Ashino-ko

ATE spring, which would be from March to May, is generally the best time to visit Japan (especially for the April cherry blossoms) but I decided to visit the Japanese capital with my family in late autumn, the next best time to visit, when there is little rainfall, the skies are clear and temperatures are mild. Our early-morning Cebu Pacific flight brought us to Narita International Airport just before lunchtime and, from there, an airport limousine bus brought us to Akasaka Centurion Hotel by late afternoon.

It was too late in the day to visit any shrine or museum, but we still made time to visit the iconic Shibuya Crossing, the busiest pedestrian crossing in the world. Here, five roads meet in one of the busiest parts of the most populous city in the world. For firsttime visitors to Japan like ourselves, it’s an excellent place for travelers who want an introduction to Tokyo’s more energetic side. Between the train station and the intersection is the bronze memorial statue of the loyal dog Hachiko, held up in Japanese culture as an example of loyalty and fidelity.

The second day brought us, via a series of Metro train rides (made easier by a 24-hour Tokyo Subway ticket), to Tokyo DisneySea, the fifth most-visited theme park in the world. Living up to its name, it had an overall nautical exploration theme with seven themed areas or “ports of call”: Mediterranean

Harbor, American Waterfront, Lost River Delta, Port Discovery, Mermaid Lagoon, Arabian Coast and Mysterious Island.

The third day really brought us outside Tokyo as we pre-booked, online, a Mount Fuji-Hakone bus tour.

The trip to the Fuji Subaru Line 5th Station, 2,300 meters up the 3,776-meters high Mount Fuji, took more than four hours as we got to experience Tokyo’s legendary traffic along the way. The best developed and easiest to access by public transportation from Tokyo, this 5th Station is a popular sightseeing spot, with parking lots, rest areas, souvenir shops, coin lockers and a few restaurants and shops.

After a late Japanese lunch at Gotemba, we again boarded our bus for the short 30-minute drive to the Hakone area of Kanagawa Prefecture where we caught the last 4:30 pm ferry tour of Lake Ashinoko at Hakonemachi-ko Harbor, the sightseeing boat pier at the lake’s southern shores, where we all boarded the Victory, one of three ships inspired by the design of sailing warships.

Also referred to as Hakone Lake, or Lake Ashi, this crater lake, 720-meters above sea level, lies along the southwest wall of the caldera of Mount Hakone. The scenic boat cruise from one end of the lake to the other takes roughly 30 minutes.

Our last two days in Tokyo were more leisurely.

Any tour of Tokyo is never complete without visiting it numerous shrines and temples and, on our fourth day, we first visited the San’en-zan Zojo-ji, a Jodo-

First-ever Avara Nature & Yacht Club offers luxe seaside living IMAGINE this: the sound of waves crashing on the shore and the sunlight peeking through the window wake you up on a lazy Saturday morning. You think you’re dreaming but you’re not. The easy luxe life of the seaside living becomes a reality with the Avara Nature & Yacht Club.

Established by the Seaside Premier Development Corp., Avara is the first-of-its-kind nature and yacht club located at Calauag Bay in Taytay, which was Palawan’s first capital. The plan for the exclusive resort was formally unveiled at the Grand Hyatt Manila led by Veronica C. Young, president and CEO. “After many months of sailing and voyaging aboard bangkas and riding waves, we found the perfect island in Taytay, Palawan, to be the home of our pioneering project, the Avara Nature and Yacht Club, which will bridge the middle class to the lifestyle of the rich and famous. As Seaside Premier’s flagship project, we aim

Thursday, November 29, 2018

DAIDEN (Main Hall) of Zojo-ji Temple

By BeNJaMiN layUG

8990 HOLDINGS LAUNCHES LEISURE & RESORTS COMPANY

REELING: OF QUEEN AND BAD DAYS IN SOME HOTEL D4

to redefine seaside living, where nature meets luxury,” she said.

Avara, which means Sunshine Island, is an eco-luxurious resort that will use solar panels as a source of renewable energy; utilize a recycled water treatment system; maximize a hydroponic garden; and take advantage of other eco-materials available. Accommodations are inspired by Maldivian architecture. Members can choose to stay in a onebedroom Water Villa with jacuzzi, two-bedroom Water Villa with private infinity pool, or one- or two-bedroom Beach Casitas.

Aside from the villas and casitas, Avara members will also have exclusive access to a two-bedroom yacht with crew for an overnight stay, or for cruising around the island and nearby areas. The yacht features two cabins and a family room in the lower deck; a living room, a kitchen and dining area; a plunge pool on the

main deck; and an open dining space and a sun deck in the fly bridge.

Avara Island promises nothing but the best facilities for members. Guests will first experience the Avara service upon their arrival at the dock or the harbor, while there’s also a helipad for those who will be coming in by air. VIPs also have the option to skip the reception and go straight to their accommodations.

There will also be a boardwalk open for development to entrepreneurial Avara members eyeing to open their own coffee shop, grocery store, bakeshop, souvenir stop, etc. Avara is fully equipped with a gym, water sports center, tennis court and golf course to those who want to keep up with their fitness routine. The island also has a playroom and nursery, spa and massage cabanas, a bonfire area, a clinic with an in-house doctor and nurse.

More information is available at avaraisland.com.

shu Buddhist temple built around the 65-hectare Shiba Park, Japan’s oldest public park, with the Tokyo Tower beside it. After photo-ops at the Kabukiza Theater, the fashionable Ginza District and East Gardens of the Imperial Palace, we visited the Meiji Shrine, the largest and one of Japan’s most popular Shinto shrines, while passing through the densely forested Yoyogi Park.

Come evening, we visited the Shinjuku District and toured the Samurai Museum which exhibits more than 70 examples of samurai armor, samurai helmet (kabuto) and weapons gathered from Japanese and foreign collections. The piece de resistance of the tour was trying our hands in Samurai cosplay. Women can have their pictures taken wearing a kimono while the men wore a kabuto and a battle coat (jinbaori) while wielding a sword.

On our fifth and last day, we visited Sensoji Kannon Temple, an ancient Buddhist temple dedicated to Kannon Bosatsu whose entrance is dominated by the vermilion Kaminarimon (“Thunder Gate”). Here, an atmosphere of the Tokyo of past decades is said to survive. Beside it is the Asakusa Shrine, one of the most famous Shinto shrines in the city. Just outside is Nakamise-dori, the best place in Tokyo to buy souvenirs which range from outrageously cheesy items to authentic and useful. We capped our visit with lunch at a Japanese restaurant, seated in a traditional Japanese setting—no shoes and on low tables with mats. n

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Thursday, November 29, 2018

Entertaining BusinessMirror

...Though a scoop of ice cream never hurts CHRISTOPHER TESTANI/ THE NEW YORK TIMES

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By Melissa Clark New York Times News Service

UMPKIN pie may not need a topping, but a scoop of ice cream never hurts. In our house, that ice cream was always homemade, at least since the 1980s, when we were the first family on the block in Brooklyn to buy an icecream maker. It was huge and ungainly, a heavy, self-refrigerating unit imported from Italy and lugged home from Zabar’s.

We made ice cream for every occasion. There was olive oil ice cream for Hanukkah and red wine sorbet for Passover, gazpacho granita for Labor Day and Champagne gelato for New Year’s Eve. For Thanksgiving, we’d usually go for something heady and autumnal to echo the flavors of pumpkin pie: cinnamon, nutmeg or chai spice. But ginger was the one I like best. I adore the razor-sharp purity of its flavor, which we got from steeping vast quantities of sliced ginger root into heavy cream.

This version is slightly different from other ginger ice creams I’ve made. While the ginger dominates, there’s also a touch of cinnamon and clove, which gives the ice cream a heady depth.

Bits of candied ginger add chewy pockets of brightness to the smooth cream. Even better, made with an egg-yolk-thickened custard, this ice cream is particularly silky, melting over your pie slice into a puddle of spicy crème anglaise.

Cooking tips: Ice cream n You can make this ice cream up to a week ahead.

After that, it will start to develop ice crystals. n If your ice cream does develop ice crystals, let it melt, then refreeze the custard in your ice-cream maker. That will help smooth it out. n To make scooping the ice cream easier, take it out of the freezer 20 minutes before you plan to serve it.

Or take it out an hour before and let it soften slightly in the refrigerator. n Extra chopped candied ginger makes an excellent garnish.

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Anna Faris, 42; Don Cheadle, 54; Andrew McCarthy, 56; Howie Mandel, 63.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Keep your emotions in check this year. Someone will take advantage of your vulnerability if you are too open about the way you feel or what you plan to do. Secrets must be kept, and poor habits eradicated. Living within your means and by the rules and regulations set by authority figures will be necessary. Emotional manipulation is apparent. Your lucky numbers are 3, 14, 25, 29, 32, 38, 46.

a

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Get in touch with an old friend or reconnect with people you worked with in the past. The information you receive will help point you in a direction that allows you to use your skills in new ways. HHHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Do things right the first time. Paying close attention to details and following instructions will help you save time and money. A change to the way you look or what you do will turn out better than anticipated. HH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): You don’t have to look for an excuse to make a change. It’s OK to be different and to do your own thing.

Take care of your responsibilities personally. Someone unique will offer an interesting point of view. HHHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Too much of anything will set you back. Distance yourself from anyone who tends to be indulgent or pushes you to take part in things you can’t afford or don’t want to do. Use your wisdom to get your way.

HHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): If you share your feelings, someone will overreact or misinterpret what you have to say. Be a good listener; you will discover a good way to introduce what you would like to see happen. HHH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Listen and learn. Look for alternative ways to make personal changes that will lower your overhead and ease your stress. Talking to an expert will give you some ideas that will help you bring in more cash. Romance is on the rise. HHHH

h In a medium pot, combine cream, milk, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, clove and salt. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then cover, remove from heat and let steep for 1 hour.

In a medium bowl, whisk the yolks. Whisking constantly, slowly whisk about a third of the cream into the yolks, then whisk yolk mixture back into the pot with the cream. Return pot to medium-low heat and gently cook until mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (about 170 degrees on an instant-

read thermometer).

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl. Cool mixture to room temperature. Cover and chill at least 4 hours or overnight.

Churn in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions, adding the candied ginger during the last few seconds of churning. Serve directly from the machine for soft serve, or store in freezer until needed. Serve topped with extra candied ginger if desired. n

Goethe-Institut aims to foster German-Filipino dialogue through food BEYOND the beer and the sauerkraut, German cuisine has a whole lot more to offer. This is practically the motto of a series of events that the Goethe-Institut Philippinen—the German cultural center in the Philippines—has lined up for November.

The aim? To foster Filipino-German cultural exchange through the medium of food.

All packed under the umbrella title “Wanderlust Küche” (literally “wanderlust kitchen” or “wanderlust cuisine”), the events include an exhibition, crash courses

z

Today’s Horoscope

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Money, legal and medical issues may be misleading or cause uncertainty. Don’t leave anything to chance, and handle such matters personally. An impulsive purchase will disappoint you. Ask for a second opinion before you make a physical change to your appearance. HHH

GINGER ICE CREAM Yield: 1 generous pint Total time: 25 minutes, plus several hours’ chilling and churning 2 cups heavy cream 1 cup whole milk 2/3 cup granulated sugar 3 tablespoons grated fresh ginger 1 cinnamon stick 1 whole clove 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt 4 large egg yolks 1/3 cup candied ginger, finely chopped, plus more for garnish if you’d like

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in German, film screenings, and a special dinner prepared by M Café’s Kalel Chan and guest chef Steffen Burkhardt who’s being flown over from Germany especially for the occasion.

“The German culinary culture is far more diverse than most people think,” said Dr. Ulrich Nowak, Goethe-Institut director. “There are a lot of things about German cuisine that other people, especially Filipinos, can relate to.” The activities culminate with the special fusion dinner co-

created by chefs Chan and Burkhardt.

The menu features classics from both Filipino and German cuisines, but also special dishes created only for the night.

Both chefs have been in contact for months and took pains to produce an especially curated menu.

The dinner—called “The Magic Hour”— is set for November 29 at M Café in Makati.

Steffen Burkhardt is a founding member of Werteköche, a collective of chefs based in Germany dedicated to responsible cooking.

The group aims to promote a conscious approach to preparing food, taking into account the origin of the ingredients and the manner by which they were collected or harvested.

They also encourage change and experimentation in cooking. Kalel Chan, on the other hand, is the long-time head chef at M Café and several other restaurants around the country under the Raintree Hospitality More information is available at Goethe. de/WanderlustKueche.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Get together with people you know you can trust.

Someone from your past will create a problem for you if you let him or her back into your life.

Stick to what works, and don’t feel you owe anyone anything. HH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): The less information you offer others, the better.

Someone will misinterpret what you say or offer you false information. Stay focused on your chores and responsibilities, and leave nothing to chance if you want to avoid having to backtrack. HH

j

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): An emotional situation will arise if an old debt isn’t paid off.

Joint ventures should not be trusted. You are best to handle negotiations personally. Don’t let an unexpected change someone makes throw you off guard. Protect your assets. HHHHH

k

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Sum up what you’d like to be doing, and head in that direction. Refuse to let someone deter you from following your heart and doing what you enjoy doing most. Open communication will help ward off problems later on. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Arguments will be a waste of time. You’ll end up in a stalemate that can damage a relationship you have with a good friend or relative. Don’t take a risk—emotionally or financially. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are self-assured, fun-loving and sensitive.

You are creative and unique.

‘got it?’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker

ACROSS 1 Inhale suddenly 5 Tandoori breads 10 Conclude a flight 14 Norway’s main port 15 Mixture of two metals 16 Miscellaneous collection 17 Three things with milk 20 Way too active 21 Film actor’s headaches 22 Wonderland creature 25 Abominable cryptid 26 Mentally quick 29 Listed on an agenda 31 Trusted adviser 35 Hum bug?

36 Does a laundry chore 38 RPM dial 39 Three things with milk 43 Farmer’s measurement 44 Hawkins of Dogpatch 45 Sexy leg in B movies 46 Pottery pieces 49 Thing for golfers to avoid

0 I’s digit 5 51 Fig relative 53 Type of drag 55 Thing pulled by con artists 58 Showed concern 62 Three things with milk 65 Pocketed bread 66 Score conclusions 67 Tyler or Archer 68 Narrow mountain valley 69 Bladed weapon 70 Playoff bummer DOWN 1 “Aw, man” kin 2 Like messy fireplaces 3 Type of shot on ice 4 Jabbed 5 Old horse 6 It has no remainders 7 Banned apple spray 8 Beyond snoopy (var.)

9 Word with “solar” 10 Investigate 11 Soothing plant

2 Petty things to pick 1 13 Homer Simpson’s cry 18 Sexy 19 London gallery 23 Explorer of kids’ TV 24 Air freshener targets 26 Some religious superiors 27 Georgia product 28 Prefix meaning “four” 30 Unlike bottled beer 32 Romantic dance 33 It’s full of water 34 What limericks do 37 Genesis city 40 Male keeper of sheep 41 A Columbus vessel 42 Italian banking family 47 Computer feed 48 They bite the bullet 52 Supply with funding 54 Like military fleets 55 Have to repeat a grade 56 Opening poker bet 57 Edible taro root

9 “ I shot a man in ___...”

5 60 Grayish-brown eagles 61 Color changers 62 Car stat 63 Dumbo feature 64 Dropped drug

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Parentlife BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 29, 2018

D3

My ‘holiday must-do list’ (Part I) CLOCKWISE: Marcus resting on the snow in Hokkaido, Japan; Vinson carrying all our skis for our lessons that day; my dad and Meagan at Cagsawa Ruins in Albay during a Holy Week road trip; our family at Subic for my dad’s birthday; and Marcus with my dad at our very first submarine ride in Hawaii.

MOMMY NO LIMITS

MAYE YAO CO SAY

mommynolimits@gmail.com

T

HERE have been many long weekends this year. Usually, most of us plan these long weekends for traveling abroad or short out-of-town trips. For me, I would usually allot some of these long weekends to just simply enjoy “home and silence time.”

As the holiday season approaches each year, I get a bit overwhelmed with all the holiday preparations at home, my kids’ school events and peak season at work. However, I always have a mental note on my holiday must-do list. This note ensures that I slice through all the “lists” from gifts, food preparations and vacation plans to what truly matters for me this Christmas.

My holiday must-do list includes three things: family quality time, meaningful get-togethers and I-Christmas time. n FAMILY QUALITY TIME. When we travel with our families, we tend to want to maximize our travel plans with tight schedules filled with tours and shopping. In the past, I used to do this and ended up needing a vacation after a vacation. I learned from my husband that our vacation’s main purpose is to enjoy true rest and quality time. It’s okay to sleep-in even for a day for a late breakfast, enjoy long lunches or even just play card games to relish the gift of rest and true conversations. True enough, it’s in these simple moments when we enjoy hilarious and meaningful memories.

Travel for our family is to experience and explore new things together. We take our cue from where my dad would like to travel. As much as my sister and I have traveled a lot with our dad when we were kids, I enjoy seeing my dad experience travel moments as a grandfather. Through the years, we have enjoyed a lot of “firsts” together. From simple road trips to Bicol, where we wanted my dad to reminisce his years as a salesman in Rubberworld; to my kids experiencing snow for the first time with my dad and when we all had a first in a submarine ride in Hawaii. I remind my family, especially my kids, to be mindful of appreciating our time to be together.

Therefore, since 2015, I have always encouraged our family to have “unwired” Christmas Days. Below was my holiday journal entry for that year: “I arrived at our Christmas vacation destination almost midnight. It was so cold and still. It was so tempting to post photos because the place was so beautiful but I decided that for these few days, I would be unwired. I left my phone in the room the whole time. I never checked the messages until I got back to Manila.

“I wanted to relish the tranquility of the place.

My left and right ears have always been like my past and my future, respectively. This vacation, I attempted to be ‘in the moment’...no planning, no business discussions, no reflecting on the past and no visualizing the future.

“My best in the moment experience was learning to ski. I ignored my being unathletic. I ignored my fear of fiercely cold weather. Everyday, I just followed our instructor. It was quite an effort to climb the slope or to carry your skis up. And then when you have to ski down, the instructor can barely help you. But for some reason, your reflexes will do the trick for you. Or

even if you happen to fall, the snow is so soft, it’s just a positive experience altogether. I actually felt more confident seeing my son glide through so naturally without fear. On our last day, he even told me that he’d be my instructor.

“It was in this experience that I found my ‘eureka’ moment. I realize that I was able to stretch myself by not ‘calculating’ what I can and cannot do. There was merit in actually acknowledging the gift of a situation rather than being so caught up with who we think we are. In many ways, I have led my life with a lot of limitations... sometimes created by other people but mostly personally acknowledged. Before I even move, I would always doubt. This experience gave me more confidence. Starting today, like skiing, I would like

to glide through experiences with more joy and even more faith.

“Being disconnected from technology over these few days actually allowed me to have a louder connection with myself and with this whole new world of possibilities around me.

“This New Year is also quite unique for us because it was the first time in nine years that we were actually spending it in Manila. We would usually spend it in my husband’s hometown and I have grown to look forward to this trip.

“This year my kids got to spend time with both sides of the family. They had fun with their greatgrandmother, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They even found time to have a bubble bath

day with my dad.

“By weekend, it was great to regroup. I was able to do some work and then managed to do a ‘health’ plan for myself. For our kids, we practiced Marcus for the ‘99th’ time on his singing contest piece, ‘I’ll Be There’ by the Jackson 5. My husband and I took both of them for their New Year haircuts. And we had a small meeting about our New Year’s resolutions. Of course, Meagan was excited to do the tally boards for each one of us. My best moment this holiday was when my kids woke me up on New Year’s Day with a New Year’s Day letter for me.” n Next week, I will share the other two things on My “holiday must-do list.”

One-stop shop for all insurance needs PLANNING to buy or renew your insurance coverage in time for the new year? Here’s good news for you.

AXA’s general insurance subsidiary, Charter Ping An Insurance Corp. (CPAIC), is now under the AXA Philippines brand. This means that AXA now offers not only life insurance, health plans, and savings and investments products, but also car, home and business insurance—all under one roof.

Backed by its parent company in France and strengthened locally by its partnership with Metrobank, one of the country’s biggest conglomerates, AXA Philippines (www.axa.com.ph) is one of the strongest multinational insurance companies in the country.

“AXA is the one name to remember for all our customers’ insurance needs,” says AXA Philippines President and CEO Rahul Hora. “Simply put, there’s no need for them to go to different insurance companies or talk to different agents to get their various insurance coverages.”

AXA Philippines branches and agents will soon start accepting both life and general insurance transactions. The web sites, contact numbers, and addresses of both AXA Philippines and CPAIC have been consolidated so clients of both companies only have to contact AXA Philippines for all their insurance needs.

‘SYMPHONIES OF SNOW’ AT S MAISON S MAISON recently welcomed the holiday season in a wintry way with “Symphonies of Snow,” a Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony featuring the Trumpets Playshop at the mall’s Main Atrium. Inspired by the warmth of winter hymns, Symphonies of Snow treated the audience to a White Christmas story by the Trumpets Playshop featuring the classic Christmas songs: “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas,” “Let It Snow” and “Winter Wonderland.” This was followed by lighting of the mall’s White Christmas Tree embellished with giant snowflakes, silver, gold and pearl white Christmas balls, and fairy lamps.

Sharing honors were SM Senior Assistant Vice President for Operations Perkin O. So, Maison Premier Assistant Mall Manager Grace Mindanao and event host Cerah Hernandez Go. Santa Claus came all the way from the North Pole, while the Manila String Machine also serenaded the crowd with all-time favorite Christmas songs.

Seen enjoying the play were SM Youth Ambassadors: Tommy Esguerra, Richard Juan, Kyle Perry, Kaila Estrada and Julian Rodriguez, celebrity mom Joy Sotto and kids, lifestyle blogger Jennie Epperson and Jane Kingsu-Cheng, model Mikaela Martinez, and BB. Pilipinas 2009 Marie Ann-Umali.

S Maison’s Perkin O. So regarded the night as a gettogether for family and friends, adding, “Christmas truly is a magical season where everyone and everything just come together to enjoy special moments with friends and family.”

EVENT host Cerah Hernandez Go (left), Santa Claus, SM Supermalls SAVP for Operations Perkin O. So and SM Aura Assistant Mall Manager Grace Mindanao light up the White Christmas Tree at S Maison to welcome the holiday season.

JANE KINGSU-CHENG with husband John and kids JJ, JP and LJ experience the White Christmas at S Maison.

THE cast of “Symphonies of Snow” by the Trumpets Playshop: Jun Ofracio, Omar Uddin, Kathleen Francisco, Andee Achacoso and Joel Molina

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Show BusinessMirror

Thursday, November 29, 2018

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Stevie Wonder announces plan to help California fire victims

RAMI MALEK as Queen’s iconic frontman Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.

LOS ANGELES—Stevie Wonder wants to raise money through a benefit concert for California fire victims impacted by the catastrophic wildfires.

The R&B legend announced his plan on Tuesday to help firefighters and first responders who assisted with the fires at the 22nd annual House Full of Toys Benefit Concert on December 9.

The charity, billed as The Stevie Wonder Song Party: A Celebration of Life, Love & Music, will be held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Wonder says it’s very important for “us who have been fortunate to do something for those less fortunate.” He says his foundation House Full of Hope will also help raise money for those affected by the wildfire.

Nearly 90 people were killed in the wildfires as thousands have been displaced from their homes. AP

TRUMP PROPOSES ‘WORLDWIDE NETWORK’ TO COUNTER CNN OVERSEAS

NEW YORK—US President Donald J. Trump is raising the possibility of starting “our own Worldwide Network” to counter news spread internationally by CNN. Trump said via Twitter on Monday that CNN “has a powerful voice portraying the United States in an unfair and false way. Something has to be done.”

It wasn’t immediately clear what he meant. The US government already operates Voice of America, which last year reached some 275 million people worldwide with news reports from the United States available on television, radio, online and social media.

CNN had no immediate comment about the new criticism by the president.

The president has frequently criticized CNN and its reporters. His administration recently backed down from its effort to ban reporter Jim Acosta from the White House.

It wasn’t known why he was focusing on CNN’s worldwide reach. CNN International is the most widely distributed television news network overseas, with BBC World News second. Trump said he wanted a worldwide network “to show the World the way we really are. GREAT!” The president’s favorite news network, Fox News Channel, is available in nearly 100 countries, although not distributed as widely as CNN. The president has complained about being in hotel rooms abroad and having no alternative to CNN. Voice of America, which began operating during World War II, is also determined to show the United States as it really is, but not through the prism of any particular political leader. The agency’s charter, signed into law in 1976, says VOA “will represent America, not any single segment of American society, and will therefore present a balanced and comprehensive projection of significant American thought and institutions.”

Voice of America had no comment on the president’s tweet.

VIOLA DAVIS and Cynthia Erivo in Widows

WATCH HOW ‘WIDOWS’ BECOME HEIST MASTERS THE electrifying film Widows takes the audience into the ruthless criminal world where the most vulnerable and overlooked people are women, deemed incapable of anything other than being judged by their appearances. However, these women take on challenges against stereotype and transform themselves into more than capable forces, determined to take their destinies into their own hands.

Four women from different racial, social and financial backgrounds come together in Widows for a common goal, with the unshakable understanding that by working together, they are capable of anything. Directed by Steve McQueen, who is also the cowriter with Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn, Widows brings together an impressive cast of exceptional actors: Academy Award winner Viola Davis, Fast and Furious’s Michelle Rodriguez, fast-rising Australian actress Elizabeth Debicki, and Tony, Emmy and Grammy winner Cynthia Erivo, along with Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Brian Tyree Henry, Daniel Kaluuya, Jon Bernthal and Robert Duvall.

Set in contemporary Chicago amid a time of political and societal turmoil, Widows trails the tragic end of four armed robbers killed in an explosive attempted heist, their widows— with nothing in common except a debt left behind by their dead husbands’ criminal activities—take fate into their own hands to forge a future on their own terms.

Viola Davis says she wants people to come away with a sense of awakening. “I just always want people to believe it, be moved by it. Be transformed by the story and the people. I always want people to be shifted,” she says.

From 20th Century Fox, Widows opens December 5 in cinemas nationwide.

Of Queen and bad days in some hotel REELING

TITO GENOVA VALIENTE

titovaliente@yahoo.com

I

T happened to Van Gogh. It happened to Billie Holiday. It happened to a lot of great artists whose greatness and gravitas were recognized when they were already gone. Dead but not forgotten. Or dead and now remembered even more.

This could be the only explanation why Queen hit it big via the film Bohemian Rhapsody.

In the mid-1970s and up to the 1980s, Queen was not that mainstream in the Philippines. True, there were the songs, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions,” becoming staple songs over the airwaves but I don’t think the Filipino audience really—and readily—identified them during those years as the band that produced those sounds. I doubt if Freddie Mercury as he was would’ve been embraced by the general public then.

What people now speak profoundly and with longing is not the band, Queen, nor Mercury, the singer, but more the narrative and the images in those stories that come to this generation through a film.

Bohemian Rhapsody was well into its third week when I finally decided to watch it. Already, online commentaries have varied from worshipful reverence to uproarious admiration. Some confessed the film made them cry; some were left dumbfounded.

I was not to be disappointed. Bohemian Rhapsody is engaging as a story of hardship, a bit of a struggle and a success that follows such travails and travel.

A common plot, it is not unique to what has perhaps

made the band iconic in Europe and in the US in those years of their active life. It is rather a plot that has been mastered by the storytellers in Hollywood, or those that swear by the bible of this massive cinematic machinery.

Bohemian Rhapsody begins with a boy outcast from the very start because of his ethnicity. He has a father who dreams of the White Man’s dream for his own family. It is a dream that is composed of hard work and hard earning. If there is hope to this dream, then it comes from the children of the father and mother who brave the distances of geography and culture.

The children therefore must work. But Freddie before he becomes Freddie has a different dream—one that will separate not only him further from his homeland, or the idea of that origin, but also from his parents, especially his father.

He joins a band and changes overnight the musical complexion of that group. A star is born! Instead of a partner or a husband to ruin the career of our great singer, there is the sexuality and the disease that used to be linked to that gender preference to mar the personal landscape of our man.

Then there is the comeback. And what a comeback!

If we are moved—if we are moved at all—by the songs of Queen as portrayed by the film, it is because the back stories have already been created for us.

The fans can say the songs of Queen are compelling and that they can make us dance and stop and shout. But it cannot be denied that a sweeping cinematography and a focused screenplay have made those songs a thousand times more compelling.

The songs about being champions and the vow or threat to rock us, for example, take on meanings that would not have been there if we are merely listening to the music. The Freddie Mercury onscreen has been transformed into a demigod, a rock prince, a demagogue of rhythms because we have been told of his story. This story may not be really what happened then—who knows and who cares!—but we are the eager listeners and believers now, ready for redemption and fandom. Never mind if some critics

call it kitsch and melodramatic. The film’s energy— love it or leave it—works.

When Queen lorded it over all other royalties of rock and pop music, social media was not fully developed yet as we know it now. The new technologies presently allow us to revisit the band in their full splendor. In fact, the 1985 Live Aid performance of Queen is available on YouTube, with HD or high-definition versions available. In another film producer’s lifetime, it would have been scary to have the real thing ubiquitous and powerfully present, running parallel against/to/with its imagined version for the big screen. In fact, as I write this review, I’m viewing the original Queen on that day in August 33 years ago.

What will happen now is something for film and music history: We have two Queens. One is in the film and the other is in the archive of the Internet.

There is no conflict between the two. What the two have is the rarest of synergy, for when we look at the real 1985 event, we now have ideas why in some portions the high notes were not there anymore (the film would have the reason for that), and why, onscreen, the camera focuses on the face of Malek as Mercury and we see more than the sweat and more.

With the health status of Freddie Mercury disclosed, the songs as sung by Malek take on more poignancy, deeper and keener meanings.

For all the questions and critical stance, it must be said that the Freddie Mercury of Rami Malek is one for the books. In one interview posted online, the actor, who told the producer he does not sing and doesn’t know how to play the piano, calls Queen’s lead singer otherworldly. He might be describing his character in the film itself.

Otherworldly is the latest news from news agencies pointing to the rise in the sales of Queen’s music after the release of Bohemian Rhapsody.

Bohemian Rhapsody is directed by Bryan Singer.

His name remains onscreen even after he was fired from the set of the film. The film is produced by 20th Century Fox. n

ABS-CBN Ball dedicated to Bantay Bata 163 Children’s Village “LEN,” a product of incest, grew up without a mother and was passed from relative to relative, never experiencing the love of a family. She suffered abuse and neglect until Bantay Bata 163 rescued her and gave her a home in the Children’s Village.

Now, Len is finishing her studies as a scholar of Bantay Bata 163. She is determined to lead a new life and help other children as a teacher.

“The Children’s Village gave me hope because it showed me that it’s possible to be loved, cared for and eventually rise up from abuse,” said Len. “It gave me a home when nobody else did.”

Len was brave enough to share her story as Bantay Bata 163 announced the relaunch of its Children’s Village recently. In its 21 years, Bantay Bata 163 has saved thousands of children and given them new hope in life through the village, which serves as a halfway house for rescued kids. The first-ever ABSCBN Ball on September 29 was dedicated to the relaunch of Bantay Bata 163 Children’s Village, with the aim of helping more children heal and recover from the effects of abuse.

“Even now as an adult, I remember staying in the village and feeling safer than I ever felt anywhere else,” said Len. “This is where I first realized that a better future is within my reach.”

Bantay Bata 163’s transformative approach doesn’t only lie in its capacity to change the lives of these children in need, but also applies to its operational vision as it endeavors to find new ways of combating abuse while remaining at the forefront of child welfare and protection in the country.

According to psychologist Estrelita Turingan from DSWD NCR, Bantay Bata’s capacity-building programs provides children with the holistic healing that victims of abuse need to overcome trauma.

“Trauma lives in the body and affects each person differently,” said Estrelita. “There are no two identical cases so it’s important that Bantay Bata 163 has been able to provide each child with their own unique program of counseling, psychotherapy and treatment.”

With the relaunch of the Children’s Village in Norzagaray, Bulacan, in November, more children will be able to get the care and guidance they need to overcome the effects of abuse. It will continue to provide immediate care and holistic healing for at least 120 children at a time, and help them build a better future for themselves through physical and psychological means in a structured, therapeutic family-like environment. Social workers, health-care professionals and house parents will look over the

JOURNALIST Jing CastañedaVelasco shares how being a mother made her accept her new role as Bantay Bata 163 program director

children in the complex, which has an administrative building, multipurpose hall and cottages, where children stay.

“As Bantay Bata 163 celebrates its 21st anniversary this year, ABS-CBN Lingkod Kapamilya Foundation’s child welfare and protection program will continue to evolve as it remains in the service of the Filipino children,” said Jing Castañeda-Velasco, program director of Bantay Bata 163. More information is available at www.abs-cbnfoundation.com.

Envoys&Expats BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Thursday, November 29, 2018 E1

Building ‘bridges,’ preaching the benefits of Belt and Road

‘T

By Recto L. Mercene

@rectomercene

HE Philippines’s historic moves to rejoin hands with China will make the Golden Age of [our] relations fresher, brighter and richer than ever before…”

Such was the pronouncement of Ambassador Zhao Jianhua during the recent celebrations of the founding anniversary of the People’s Republic of China (PROC).

“We should remember 2018 as a year [that witnessed] a sustained improvement and growth of Philippines-China relations, which are gearing up for faster and stronger developments,” Zhao added in his glowing assessment, noting that the country is now “reaping the rich fruits of cooperation.”

Last year the ambassador said the value of their two-way trade topped $50 million, “which made China the Philippines’s top trading partner and source of imports, and [the former’s] fourth-largest export market.” In 2017 new investments from PROC reached $53.84 million.

The envoy noted that the current year is considered a significant milestone for China, as it marks the 40th anniversary of their adoption of reform and opening up policy.

In the past four decades he said China achieved a significant growth of its gross domestic product: from 364.5 billion RMB to 82.7 trillion RMB, while its GDP per capita rocketed to nearly 60,000 RMB, from only 385 RMB prior.

“China now contributes more than 30 percent of the annual global economic growth and plays a crucial role in ensuring economic stability and recovery in the world,” he

boasted.

One of China’s recent epoch-defining successes is its claim as “home to the largest network of expressways, high-speed rails and mobilebroadband services.” The “Middle Kingdom” now has a total of 25,000 miles of railroad networks—the largest in the world.

Speaking of infrastructure, 2018 also marks the fifth anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

According to their Foreign Service Institute, Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin affirmed and welcomed the Philippines’s participation in the BRI. In return, the Philippines took action and became a full member of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, a move indicative of the government’s interest in the massive infrastructure project.

Reliable, efficient and trustworthy

REGARDING China’s role on “Build, Build, Build,” the diplomat’s usually unflappable mien turned serious: “China has made it very clear: It wants to have a reliable, efficient and trustworthy partnership in the program.”

As a seeming way to reciprocate the gesture, Zhao encouraged the Philippines to participate in BRI— a revival of the ancient Silk Road that wound across half of the globe.

It created a link between the Orient and the Roman Empire.

So far China has already signed agreements on BRI cooperation with more than 130 countries and international organizations. Under its framework, 82 economic-cooperation zones with a total investment of $28.9 billion have been set up in the countries concerned and will create a total of 244,000 jobs for their locals.

(Despite this, China is being challenged for its BRI scheme. ProWestern writers have warned that if Washington and its liberal partners do not soon mount a credible alternative to the Chinese infrastructure spending, “Belt and Road-fueled illiberalism will spread across the globe unchecked.”

The logic of those who scoff at the BRI usually revolves around four reasons: [1] Many pledges do not always materialize as projects; [2] BRI is a “debt trap” to poor countries and, therefore, ultimately unsustainable; [3] Japan remains as the dominant player in infrastructure investment; and [4] private-sector investments from American companies still outweigh those of Chinese investors.)

These criticisms are not lost on the envoy from Beijing, who exhorted: “The world is undergoing unprecedented major changes. We are living with various intertwined trends of global multipolarity, economic globalization, information technology applications and cultural diversity, while people around the world are increasingly [becoming] interconnected and interdependent.”

Zhao, who has a masters degree in world economy as well as international policy and practice, volunteered China has provided a total of 1.284 billion RMB (about P10 billion) worth of grants to the Philippines since President Duterte took office. “[In] the first five months in 2018 China has made another investment

of $165 million [about P8.9 billion] in the Philippines, projecting a recordhigh growth rate.”

Increasing interactions, exchanges

OVER the past two years the Chinese diplomat said, “A series of dialogues and consultation mechanisms have been revived in areas, such as foreign affairs, defense, energy, economy and trade, agriculture, fisheries, [as well as] science and technology.

There have been also increasing interactions and exchanges between local governments, media agencies, universities, ‘think tanks’ and cultural institutions.”

The man from Beijing, who used to be vice mayor of Hefei City in Anhui province, then touched on tourism. He revealed that in the first seven months of 2018, the Philippines has received more than 760,000 Chinese tourists—a 40-percent year-on-year increase.

“We have every reason to expect more than 1.5 million Chinese tourists to visit the Philippines this year and generate a revenue of more than P32 billion.”

Zhao has promised Duterte a total of 2 million Chinese who will visit the country, but admitted the lack of local infrastructure is a deterrent. He said some 130 million of his countrymen go out of their homeland yearly to enjoy world-renowned spots and frolic in the sands of exotic places.

The ambassador insisted China attaches great importance to synergizing the BRI, the “AmBisyon Natin 2040,” as well as Build, Build, Build.

He said considerable progress has been made in this regard because of China’s funding of grants or soft loans.

On the subject of exploring the resources in the West Philippine Sea/South China Sea (WPS/SCS), the diplomat said, “[That] is something

under discussion.”

“I think you have [an ongoing] domestic debate; we also have domestic discussions,” he proceeded, then replied: “I can’t tell you more before we [have] reached anything conclusive.”

Despite this, Beijing’s top man in Manila said that both sides have realized that “first and foremost is the stability in the WPS/SCS.” “In the meantime, it is in our common interests to explore the possibility of joint exploration which will be mutually acceptable.”

According to Zhao, who before coming to the Philippines had been China’s representative to Lebanon, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Northern Ireland and Liberia, “We have shown that our two countries have the sincerity, wisdom and capability to properly manage the differences and focus on cooperation, in the purpose of turning WPS/SCS into a sea of peace, friendship and prosperity.”

Although the issue remains unsettled, nevertheless, when the Philippines assumed the role of China-Asean country coordinator in August, Zhao said Beijing “firmly counts on the Philippines to bring [cooperation between China and the Asean, as well as that of the East Asia region,] to a new high.”

Aid in infra, disasters

AMONG other forms of aid, China has also helped erect drug-rehabilitation centers, while plans are under way for the construction of two bridges over the Pasig River. Meanwhile, the Chico River Pump Irrigation Project has already broken ground.

Zhao also claimed the two sides are pushing for more major infrastructure projects, such as the New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam in Tanay, Rizal; the Subic-Clark Railway in Central Luzon; the Philip-

pine National Railways South Long Haul, and the Safe Philippines-Phase 1. All these have a total value surpassing $7 billion.

“Whenever the Philippines encounters disasters, China has always been among the first to extend a helping hand,” the good ambassador said of China’s assistance in the ruined city of Marawi.

“We are also helping set up waterpumping stations in rural areas,” as assurance of China’s commitment to help improve livelihood, reduce poverty, assist the needy and realize sustainable development in the Philippines.”

And, despite the seeming conflict in the waters between them, the envoy said China and the Philippines contribute to regional stability. “When the counterterrorism campaign started in Marawi, China lost no time in delivering a batch of military assistance to the Philippines. Our two countries have been working closely to combat illicit drugs, terrorism and cybercrimes.”

During his short conversation with Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana at the reception, the diplomat also lauded the collaboration between the militaries of China and the Philippines, which has already “turned into a new phase.”

“We have resumed our mutual trust and confidence. I hope with the efforts [from] both sides, [we] will further strengthen our mutual confidence and military-to-military cooperation,” he added.

In closing, Zhao reminded: “China will always stay open and work with all countries, including the Philippines, to create opportunities, advance cooperation and share the dividends of development. We will continue to be the Philippines’s good neighbor [and] sincere friend.”

With a report from PNA

Envoys& BusinessMirror

E2 Thursday, November 29, 2018

ARTS AND CULTURE

Rendezvous with the ‘Renaissance’ republic

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By Rei Salud

RENCH culture has often been closely associated with art—one that seems to celebrate the artistry in most anything, especially life.

One only needs to revisit to the Renaissance, the French word for “rebirth,” which largely defined the 14th to 17th centuries when the golden age of arts and culture flourished and swept throughout the European civilization.

Even in modern times the global influence of French culture remains intact, and while the Philippines is almost a “world away” from France, the act of sharing the culture of these two distinct and distant societies is undeniably alive through Les Jeudis culturels (Cultural Thursdays), a monthly celebration of things French and Filipino.

Launched by the Cultural Section of the Embassy of France to the Philippines and the Alliance Française de Manille, Les Jeudis culturels is a special event that highlights the cultural collaborations between the two countries through various art forms such as music, theater, dance, poetry and gastronomy, to name a few.

Setting the weekly cultural gathering in motion is a musical concert held in Alliance in mid-October, which featured South African saxophonist Adam Campbell and Filipina pianist Mariel Ilusorio. Both musicians have earned individual distinctions in the international stage as they have played in various countries all over the world.

Journey through music

TAKING their audience through a musical voyage, Campbell and Ilusorio began their performance with the hauntingly mystical “Fantasie Impromptu” by André Jolivet, followed by “Tableaux de Provence,” a suite of five movements by Paule Maurice, which are dedicated to French saxophonist Marcel Mule.

Literally translated to “Pictures of Provence,” the five movements— “Farandole des Jeunes Filles,” “Chanson pour ma mie,” “La Bohémienne,” “Des Alyscamps l’ame soupire” and “Le Cabridan”—paint a picture of the scenery, atmosphere and culture of Provence in southeast France.

“Fantaisie” by Jules Demersseman took the audience on a magical excursion through a stunning piece composed only shortly after the in-

vention of the saxophone. Following the short interval was Darius Milhaud’s “Scaramouche,” a suite of three playful and whimsical movements written for a theater play.

“Aria” by Eugène Bozza, on the other hand, is a more somber, moving piece played before the final song, “Devil’s Rag” by Jean Matitia, which by contrast is influenced by the more jovial tone of ragtime. Undoubtedly, the last piece is the most enjoyable one of the program. It was even played a second time during the encore by request, as it inspired a rather festive mood among the audience.

Campbell and Ilusorio played two more songs for the encore: “Czárdás”

by Pedro Iturralde, which was composed when he was only 20 years old, and “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla—a piece not originally intended for the saxophone, but was arranged as such for their performance.

A peek backstage

IN creating the list of pieces that they played for the launch of Les Jeudis… Campbell said that the primary reason for their selection was their desire to feature songs written by French composers. At the same time, they wanted to create a diverse program, both in the musical and stylistic sense, which showcases traditional and modern influences from different eras and places.

For Ilusorio, the song that she had to practice the most for that night’s performance was “Devil’s Rag” due to its rather technical challenges, where her left hand does most of the piano work in an almost nonstop fashion. For Campbell, it was “Aria,” which demanded for him a mastery of sound control, as slower pieces were more challenging because one had to be mindful of detail and expression when using the saxophone.

For their special pieces that night, Campbell cited “Tableaux...,” which he enjoyed playing because of the collaborative spirit that he and Ilusorio shared: “[She] is a very sensitive pianist.

When you’re on stage and when you’re playing music together, it’s a great privilege for us because when you’re performing or just playing with

MARIEL ILUSORIO and Adam Campbell captivate their audience.

someone, you feel who that person is; you get to know the personality of that person, and that person is very much open to you. So performing with [her], especially a piece like ‘Tableaux...,’ which is a very delicate piece, [I feel it suited] her perfectly, and performing it with her is just the greatest pleasure.”

For Ilusorio, her top 3 favorites included “Fantaisie…,” “Scaramouche” and “Devil’s Rag,” “because I usually play very conservative, classical pieces, and those have jazz elements, so I can let go and feel like I’m not a classical musician.”

Instruments, influences

AS a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Ilusorio looks up to her teachers and other great musicians as her strongest influences, especially female pianists such as Martha Argerich and Mitsuko Uchida.

On the other hand, Campbell, a graduate of the Conservatoire de Strasbourg, derives his influences from life in general, through experiences that he lived regardless of whether they were related to music and art, as well as the travels he made to different places and the people he has met along the way. He believes that every piece of music has a story to tell, and they are enriched through exposure of one’s self to different places, cultures and people.

Even their choices of musical instruments themselves have their own story: For Ilusorio, it was not

ALLIANCE Française de Manille Director Jean-Pierre Dumont (from left), Campbell, Ambassador Nicolas Galey, Ilusorio and French Embassy Cultural Counselor Jean-Jacques Forté

“love at first sight” for the piano, as it was something she had to do as a child. But after her sophomore year in high school, she was sent to New York to study it, and it was there that she began to fall in love with the “keys,” was she was surrounded by other students of music who enjoyed doing and learning about the same thing with her.

Campbell’s story, on the other hand, seems to be more suited for a

romantic novella: At first, he played the piano, then the flute. In 2009 when he was on tour, he met a gorgeous young woman who played the saxophone. He fell in love with the lass, whom he eventually asked for saxophone lessons, with the thought of being able to spend time together. In the three months that he was under her tutelage, he realized that he fell more in love with the saxophone and the rest, he said,

A Spanish, Filipino cultural ‘fiesta’

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ULTURAL ties between Spain and the Philippines have always remained undoubtedly strong, even in this day and age when cross-cultural sharing among nearly all the nations of the world has become much easier— thanks in large part to the Internet and social media.

Various aspects of everyday local life, such as language, society, entertainment, education and the like are a testament to the unique and enduring connection between Spanish and Filipino cultures. And in celebration of such, Montessori de Manila hosted the “Fiesta Hispano-Filipina” on November 16, an event where students could partake of an authentic Spanish-Filipino experience in a fun and festive way.

Many of the students who attended belonged to Grades 4 to 8, most of whom are studying Spanish as a special subject under their Creative and Production classes. The event showcased musical performances from local singer-songwriter Eloisa Jayloni with her original Tagalog songs “Pangako” and “Blangko,” followed by Alex Alcaraz Fernandez from Granada, Spain, along with Jean Paul Zialcita, who performed the flamenco—a Spanish musical style often accompanied by a guitar.

Most of the instruments used during the flamenco were everyday items such as plastic water gallons for drums, and plastic bottles for shakers. The students also participated as they were invited to try out the instruments for themselves and joined in on the performance.

The Spanish Embassy’s Education Adviser Sandra Lozano Alberich delivered the opening remarks and a short presentation about Spanish culture. She talked about the benefits of learning the Spanish language, as it is the secondmost spoken and most studied in the world, used in more than 20 countries.

Over 4,000 Spanish terms, she said, have been incorporated in Filipino, which accounts for roughly 20 percent to 33 percent of the total number of its words. She also briefly discussed with the students the different kinds of Spanish food, celebrities and fiestas in various locations in Spain, such as the

TEACHER Jonah Basanta García and Education Adviser of Spain to the Philippines Sandra Lozano Alberich

La Tomatina (tomato war) in Valencia, the encierro in San Fermin, Pamplona, where bulls are let out in the streets, the castells (human castle) in Cataluña, and the Feria de Abril in Sevilla.

Jonah Basanta García, a teacher for History, Geography, Araling Panlipunan and Spanish at the Montessori de Manila, organized the “Fiesta HispanoFilipina.” His objective: to promote the language and culture of Spain, as he believes that doing so would help students become more in-tune with the culture of another nation in relation with our own and our national identity.

In addition, García wanted the students to have an enjoyable and authentic experience when learning about the Spanish and Filipino cultures relative to each other as they share a diverse range of aspects and similarities. Story and photos by Rei Salud

STUDENTS join in on the flamenco performance and try out the instruments.

was his musical history.

It is exciting to see what other cultural collaborations, as well as stories, “Les Jeudis…” has in store.

It is certainly a venue where French, Filipino and other nationalities could partake in a profound spirit of sharing, artistry and discovery; where one Thursday every month is made more special through a rendezvous of cultures and a celebration of the art of life.

&Expats

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WORLD CINEMA

Hungarian film festival set for 2018 screening

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HE Embassy of Hungary will present the second Hungarian Film Festival (HUFF 2.0), which will run from November 28 to December 2, in cooperation with the Film Development Council of the Philippines and Ayala Malls Cinemas.

HUFF 2.0 will screen six Hungarian films: from an Academy awardwinning classic, to contemporary thrillers, comedies and animation films. The embassy said the film expo has something in store for everyone: Budapest Noir, a detective thriller set in mid-1930s Budapest.

A crime reporter thinks he has seen it all, when a tip leads him to an unusual crime scene and an investigation of a young girl’s murder that

brings him to a world of pornographers, brothels and Communist cells, and eventually to the highest echelons of power.

In Ferenc Török’s drama 1945, a rural village prepares for the wedding of the town clerk’s son, when two strangers arrive at the train station. The villagers are afraid that survivors will return, posing a threat to the properties and possessions they have acquired during the war.

Lajkó, Gypsy in Space is a black

comedy about the first living being in space, which was not actually a dog named Laika, but a Hungarian cropsprayer by the name of Lajkó. In early 1957 the Soviet Union decided to give Hungary the honor of providing the first cosmonaut to orbit in space, and the most suitable candidate turns out to be none other than Lajkó, whose life as a pilot reflects his lifelong attraction to the stars.

Final Cut by György Pálfi is a “film like no other,” which tells the ultimate love story through the performances of hundreds of actors from the past hundred years of world cinema. “This is a film everyone will connect with, because we have all seen parts of it,” according to the organizers.

Animation film The Legend of King Solomon (dubbed in English) is an epic adventure of romance, magic and mayhem. Based on a popular folk legend in which animals, demons and humans meet, the film follows the adventures of the young King

Solomon, the Arab Princess Nama and the African Queen of Sheba, as they struggle together against the King of Demons, Asmodeus, who is trying to seize their kingdoms.

With a special screening for the opening night on November 28, Mephisto gets the big screen treatment again in Manila. The Academy awarded-classic from 1981 shows a German stage actor who finds unexpected success and mixed blessings in the popularity of his performance in a Faustian play as the Nazis take power in pre-World War II Germany.

The popularity of his character supersedes his own existence until he finds that his best performance is keeping up appearances for his Nazi patrons. The film is presented in its original German language version, subtitled in English.

The screeenings are free-ofcharge and subtitled in English, but viewers are advised to reserve seats at Greenbelt 3 Cinemas or via sureseats.com.

Russian envoy proposes film fest in Iloilo I

LOILO CITY—Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Philippines Igor Anatolyevich Khovaev is proposing to hold a Russian Film Festival in this city next month.

In an interview, Mayor Jose S. Espinosa III said he has been in discussions with the diplomat early in November about developing trade, cultural and heritage exchanges during the Russian envoy’s visit here for the Agri-Aqua Investment Forum of the Panay Organic Producers Association Inc. at the Iloilo Convention Center.

Khovaev also visited this city in January for the Dinagyang Festival.

“It’s more of exploratory, but they [Embassy of Russia] are pushing [about a film festival] in December,” Espinosa said.

The mayor added the ambassador would like to show films that focus on children.

The Russian envoy would also like to explore possible investment areas as he talked about possible trade missions, the Iloilo City official added.

Espinosa also urged the envoy

Filipino filmmaker gets nod in Paris

AWARD certificate, “Trouble with New Technologies Award” PARIS PE AMBASSADOR Igor Anatolyevich Khovaev (left) pays a visit to Iloilo City Mayor Jose S. Espinosa III early in November. PERLA LENA

to encourage Russian tourists to consider Iloilo City as among their destinations.

“During January it’s very cold in

Russia, so they may consider coming to Iloilo during Dinagyang,” the mayor said.

He was also informed that the

department in charge of the Russian Navy has approved to make a port call in Iloilo City when it visits the Philippines next year. Perla Lena/PNA

Acclaimed Italian composer headlines forum

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WARD-WINNING Italian soundtrack and score composer Franco Eco recently conducted a seminar-workshop during the staging of the Italian Cinema: From Venice to Manila, which featured selections of movies from the Venice International Film Festival.

According to Eco, who tackled the subject of composition and significance of music in films among young student-artists at the School of Design and Arts (Cinema) of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde, “Music is a universal language; it explains itself.”

His talent and versatility has left a mark in renowned movies, musical plays and documentaries, including a project on the sanctification of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II, which are produced by Vatican TV and SKY. The series of master classes, likewise, featured cinematographer Davide Mancori, who discussed the direction of photography in the art and craft of being the author of film images, as well as filmmaker Paolo Bertola, who lectured on the inclusion of special effects on small-scale productions.

The Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines, the Philippine Italian Association and the Film Development Council of the Philippines jointly presented the event.

OFFICIAL poster of Palabas PARIS PE

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FRANCO ECO, award-winning Italian soundtrack and score composer for films, documentaries, dances and musical plays

ARIS—Filipino filmmaker Arjanmar Rebeta captured the “Trouble with New Technologies Award” at the 16th International Festival of Signs of the Night in the Cite Universitaire de Paris in France, which happened from October 4 to 14.

Entitled Palabas (A Country in Moving Pictures), the story is about an aging Caucasian who chats with his young Filipina lover, only to witness the harsh social ills and injustices around the life of the Filipina. The film runs for 16 minutes and was shot entirely with a mobile phone.

The film garnered several awards such as the Best Mobile Film during the 18th season of the Calcutta International Cult Film Festival in India, and Second-Prize Winner during the 30th Gawad

CCP Para sa Alternatibong Pelikula at Video under the Short Feature category.

Started in 2003, the International Festival of Signs of the Night curates films from different countries that reflect new views, original imagery and critical approach to the crucial points of the modern human existence. It is a venue for cinema that “expands boundaries, is astonishing, different, potentially free from the pressure of tradition and [is] ready to give itself to unpredictable experimentation.”

The festival features films and audiovisual works that test new audiovisual languages, as well as showcases current problems and situations of the present society.

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BOHOL-PANGLAO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT: WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM JAPAN, PHL OPENS ITS FIRST ECO-AIRPORT

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Japan assistance

By Recto L. Mercene

ENTRAL Visayas may soon outshine the rest of the country’s tourist destinations with the opening to commercial operations of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport (BPIA) on November 27.

Thanks to its ultra modern, yet environmentally sound features—the government will finally show it has the will and wherewithal to overcome mediocrity, in which its reputation in aviation has languished for so long.

President Duterte had earlier defended his policy to get rid of the mentality that automatically awards projects solely to the “lowest bidder,” saying the scheme only lines the pockets of the corrupt while coming up with a mediocre finished product.

Thus, past experience has seen the country stuck with locally executed airports that, once inaugurated with so much fanfare, would be lacking in many respects.

Not with the BPIA

THE Department of Transportation (DOTr), through its Japanese contractor (Chiyoda-Mitsubishi joint venture) and Japan Airport Consultants Inc. (JAC), delivered a finished product that we could all be proud of. Consider the following features: A sewage treatment plant (STP), solar panels, LED interior lighting, energy-efficient air-conditioning system, natural ventilation for transit area, and rainwater for watering plants and other uses. The undulating

passenger-terminal roof reflects the rolling Chocolate Hills—the ceiling is made of southern yellow pine from Alabama, the brown handrails and stairs are of imported oak, the tiles are the specific deep ochre hue of old Spanish churches and the toilet fixtures are by Toto, the gold standard of lavatories.

The parking tarmac can hold seven A321 type aircraft at a time or four of the A330 or B777, and the airport is equipped with three multi-angled boarding bridges. There are four elevators, escalators and staircases to reach the predeparture area at the second floor.

Welcome to the first eco-airport in the country. Days before its opening, a BusinessMirror team flew to Tagbilaran, Bohol’s capital, to take a close look at the newest addition to the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines’s (Caap) 80-plus commercial airports across the country. Approaching Tagbilaran Airport from the air, Panglao Island looks like a forest-filled aircraft carrier floating in an azure sea.

A long straight-as-an-arrow scar on the earth indicates the 2,500-meter long (8,200 feet) and 45-meter-wide runway that can accommodate an A330 or B777. BPIA is a single-runway airfield, which can accommodate a yearly influx of 3.44 million pas-

sengers some 10 years from now.

The runway is flanked by two taxiways on either side, enabling 10 takeoffs and landings per hour, according to Engineer Edgardo Mangalili, project director from the DOTr.

There are 20 checkin counters to serve eventually 74 flights on a peak day, much more than the current number (i.e. 22 flights) that Tagbilaran is capable of handling.

Peak season

THE control tower is, likewise, equipped with cutting-edge technology, including the radio system. By December, the “peak season,” local air carriers would

be fielding the double-aisle, wide-body A330 or B777 to cater to the flood of tourists from Korea, China, Japan and elsewhere.

BPIA sits on a 220-hectare area of Panglao Island, covering itself some 91.5 square kilometers (sq kms). By comparison, Mactan Island, where the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (MCIA) is located, measures only 65 sq kms.

Panglao comprises two municipalities: Dauis and Panglao, which is part of Bohol province. Panglao Island is located southwest of the island of Bohol, and east and south of Cebu.

According to geologists, Panglao is made of Maribojoc limestone, “the youngest of the limestone

units found in the western area of Bohol.” The limestone composition halted the development of the airport as coralline limestone is soluble, which causes the formation of caves and sinkholes. One interesting geological feature found in the island is the Hinagdanan Cave, which has an underground water source.

The cave is an important water source as the island has no rivers or lakes.

Eng. Mangalili, who has been with the Project Management Office of the Bacolod and Laguindingan airports, said BPIA was chosen following an updated feasibility study by JAC in 2010. The JAC executed the design and managed the construction of the BPIA, and the finished product costs close to P9 billion.

JAPAN International Cooperation Agency, through the Japanese official development assistance, provided about 79 percent or nearly P7 billion of the total cost. The remaining P1.9 billion came from the DOTr general appropriations fund.

As early as 2000 a feasibility study was conducted by TCGI engineers to find a suitable replacement for Tagbilaran Airport. “Panglao Island was the most logical site compared to other sites, such as Barangay Tabalong, Tinago and Bingag in Dauis municipality, some 6 kilometers away,” Mangalili said. Panglao won because of its wide-open airspace, favorable wind direction, topography and accessibility and land use. It is free from possible suits from residents who might be bothered by noise pollution from airplanes.

The area is flat with plenty of room for improvement and the eventual city crawl. Previously called the Central Philippines Comprehensive Infrastructure Development project, the survey focused on the Bohol area during President Arroyo’s term.

Bohol has incomparable tourism potentials. It has the world-famous Chocolate Hills, the bug-eyed tarsier, one of the world’s smallest primates; the butanding and dophin, and turtle-viewing areas are off Balicasag and Pamilacan Islands while beckoning nearby are the beaches and dive sites. Currently, there are a few 5-star resorts and 10 4.5-star resorts cum hotel in the island, and more of lesser but, nonetheless, accommodating resorts catering to backpackers and day trippers.

As early as the 1990s, the government had started contemplating a transfer to a new international standard airport in Panglao because Tagbilaran Airport’s 26-sq km area was deemed too Continued on F2

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Bohol’s goal by 2020: Have 2.2-M tourists fly in

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By Roderick L. Abad Contributor

HE provincial government of Bohol expects the number of tourists visiting Central Visayas to reach up to 2.2 million by 2020, following the opening of the Bohol-Panglao International Airport (BPIA) on Tuesday.

Bohol Provincial administrator Alfonso R. Damalerio II told reporters that about 1.3 million tourists— both local and foreign—have, so far, visited their province this year.

“So we’re looking at a double [number of] arrivals in terms of the [airport] capacity,” he told reporters in an interview prior to BPIA’s official inauguration led by no-less than President Duterte and other government officials.

“It will boost and even advance Bohol to become a gateway because it will open a lot of regional flights,” he added.

The provincial officer noted that their province was one of the destinations where thousands of tourists

were diverted earlier this year, when Boracay was closed in April on orders of President Duterte, due to environmental degradation.

While he did not disclose exact figures, he said that “we can feel the increase of tourist arrivals.”

Damalerio II, however, conceded that the tourism volume “partly” declined when the world-famous island reopened last month.

He said that this is because there are those who want to go to Boracay to experience it after the six-month closure for rehabilitation.

“That will be good for the entire country, because the more destinations, the more opportunities for people to visit,” said the Bohol pro-

vincial administrator while pointing out that they are not threatened by the reopening of Boracay.

With the BPIA’s inaugural, he expects that it will also boost tourism in the province since its capacity will increase “potential number of flights.”

“We have our own niche. Bohol is an eco-tourism destination. So we have a lot of destinations to offer,” he added.

Bohol, particularly Panglao, is among the fastest-growing tourist destinations in the country, on the back of its beaches and diving spots,

among other offerings.

“[Tourists] can experience so many things in Bohol going to Chocolate Hills, the man-made

forest, [among others]. They can do kayaking, adventures and, maybe, island hopping, dolphin watching, go to the beach, [or] visit our Spanish [era-old] churches,” Damalerio II said.

Called the Green Gateway to the World, BPIA will replace the Tagbilaran Airport that was placed under preventive maintenance, repair and patching work because of degradation brought about by continuing rain.

The P8.9-billion airport boasts of green and sustainable structures, including solar panels and motionsensor lighting, among other features. It can accommodate seven aircraft at one time The country’s first eco-airport seats on a 220-hectare site on Panglao Island—10 times bigger than the old airport with a 22-hectare land area only.

It can hold up to 650 passengers during peak hours and is expected to accommodate over 2 million passengers in the first year of operation.

Bohol-Panglao International Airport: With a little help from Japan, PHL opens its first eco-airport

THE solar panels of the country’s first eco-airport PHOTO COURTESY OF BPIA Continued From F1 crowded. “There was limited capacity for expansion and operational safety concerns,” Mangalili said. In choosing Panglao, the planners also considered the socioeconomic activities that could be generated, accompanied by environmental issues associated with lack of water or underwater pollution.

The whole island is made of limestone, a porous rock that cannot hold rainwater that should have filled a water table, which is nonexistent. The DOTr had to build a water pipe exclusively for the airport, from the main island of Bohol. During President Arroyo’s term, the original plan was for the Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) to fund the whole project. However, it was delayed due to bidding issues and concerns and finally shelved as the election season had started.

When the Aquino administration took over, Panglao was included among the president’s Public-Private Partnership schemes. Then it was renamed the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project, “linking infrastructure, environment and sustainability,” Mangalili added.

After six years the Aquino administration ended without completing the airport. Newly elected President Duterte ordered the speedy construction of BPIA, pressed by the influx of tourists in Tagbilaran and the need for more alternate airports with night-landing capabilities. “Part of the terms of the loan agreement with the Japan International Cooperation Agency that provided most of the fund [was that] the airport should be sustainable and eco-friendly,” Mangalili said. And to hew close to these ideals, it was the Japanese consultant who designed the airport with the imported yellow pine and oak from the United States, the cutting-edge control tower, the STP and the various amenities, among many others.

“It was also the consultant that decided the tiles should be brownished, like those of the old churches and structures in the island. Most of the control-tower equipment is from Japan, the radios are from Germany and the meteorological station is from Finland.” At the time of the interview, Mangalili added that the airside-associated facilities, such as the control tower, runway, taxiway, perimeter fence, perimeter road, access road and navigation aids, are already completed.

“The whole terminal building, which is on the landside, is undergoing finishing touches,” he said then. Technically called “civil works,” it comprises the

water system, the temporary perimeter fence and the “soaking yard,” a 16 -hectare area where all the surface water ends up. The whole caboodle eats up about 1.40 percent of the total cost of the project, or P133 million.

Mangalili took the BusinessMirror staff on a tour of the airport, “now 97 percent complete as of October 31.” He showed the ducts where fresh air is sucked from the outside and directed to the transiting passengers. As the other passengers go deeper into the interior, the air is now cooled by an inverter air-conditioning sytem powered by a combined energy from solar and commercial power.

Several local artists are putting the finishing touches on a temporary provided mural that depicts the spots in the island loved by tourists, notably the Baclayon Church, or the Church of Our Lady of the Immaculate Concepcion, one of the oldest churches in the country. The other churches are Loon, Maribojoc and Loboc. Also in the mural is the wide-eyed tarsier and the iconic Sandugo. This is Visayan for the “blood compact” between the Spanish explorer Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Datu Sikatuna, the chieftain of Bohol in the 1500s.

Outside of the terminal a few hundred feet away is the STP where flushed water from toilets are scrubbed twice—one through the treatment plant and then released through the engineered wetlands designed to absorb the remaining toxins before finally flowing out of the rip-rapped ditches and into the constructed soaking yard.

Ideal location

BPIA is ideally located, since it is only 90 kms away from Cebu, and aircraft could divert here as an alternate airport in case the MCIA is closed, Mangalili said. “A few months back, there was an incident on the MCIA runway and airplanes had to fly back to Manila and Clark, which are respectively 600 and 700 kilometers away, [respectively].”

BPIA is also accessible by fast craft from Cebu, the double-hulled catamaran type that seems to skim over the water at a fast clip, bringing tourists to Bohol in two hours. He said that the Tagbilaran Airport would eventually be closed.

“The provincial government wanted to manage the 26-hectare property and convert it into an IT or commercial park,” Mangalili said.

Is there a chance for BPIA to be an “aerotropolis,” a modern concept where the airport becomes the future core, the engine of growth, acting as magnets for all industrial, financial, leisure, housing, educational and manufacturing activities? Such idea

is not practical at this time, he said, since, “Tagbilaran town is only 19 kilometers away, where currently, there are schools, malls, industries and other things that comprise a modern city.”

With a population of roughly 80,000, Panglao is already showing signs of upward mobility. After hosting the Bohol Beach Club, the original resorts in the island some 30 years ago, residents seem to be reaping the rewards of tourism. New homes are sprouting everywhere, there are no sights of dampa, or lean-tos, and the friendly people always reward visitors with their friendly smiles and easy-going manners.

Noticeably absent are the giant malls that dominate Metro Manila’s skylines. Here, most store outlets are mom-and-pop operations, so far, but the idyllic setup may not last long, some concerned quarters fear. Already there are rumors that the “big boys” from Cebu and Manila would muscle in—if they had not already done it—to take advantage of the huge business potentials that BPIA would soon bring.

At the moment, however, the DOTr does not envision the airport to compete with Mactan, “which is the financial and commercial center of Region 7,” Mangalili said.

“The Caap is still designing the instrument flight rules (IFR) approach procedures,” Mangalili said. This is usually followed by a flight check before it is finally certified. He said that by the first semester of 2019 BPIA would be certified as an IFR airport, meaning that airplanes could come in under all weather conditions. Meanwhile, it could allow visual flight rule, which is a sunriseto-sunset operation pending the certification for a nonprecision night-time operation through performance-based navigation.

This procedure would allow aircraft with the required navigation performance and area navigation, which are deemed accurate “when supported by the appropriate navigation infrastructure.” This, Mangalili added, “is in anticipation of IFR just to fast track the whole process,” adding that radar control of airplanes landing at BPIA would be from the MCIA.

When the pilots can view the airport visually, they are handed over to BPIA air traffic controllers for landing clearance.

During construction, it was unavoidable that some 6,241 indigenous hardwood trees had to be cut down. To make up for this, however, the Provincial Environment Resources Office and the DOTr inked a memorandum of agreement to replace each felled tree with 100 more trees, or the equivalent of 624,100 new seedlings. This would be planted in various municipalities in Bohol, while close to 2,000 would be within Panglao Airport.

In the interim, the Caap will operate Panglao airport, until such time that an operation-and-maintenance private operator is chosen. Panglao is a name familiar to Chinese, Malay, Siamese and Indonesian traders. It once housed the Kedatuan of Dapitan.

Bohol area is a center of biodiversity, and there are about 250 new species of crustaceans and 2,500 new species of mollusks found around the island.

The discovery was the work of the Panglao marine biodiversity project. The project found that Panglao alone has more marine biodiversity than Japan and the Mediterranean Sea.

During the transition from Tagbilaran to Bohol, there would be no caravan of trucks and associated machineries to transfer, according to Mangalili. He said each specific air carrier is now doing their part to bring new machineries and equipment specific for BPIA.

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Thursday, November 29, 2018

F3

BE GRAND RESORT IN BOHOL ANNOUNCED AS

SOUTHEAST ASIA’S HIDDEN GEM

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WO prestigious, international accolades for 2018 has been announced and Panglao Island is right on the map!

BE Grand Resort in Bohol, a 5.0-hectare resort situated on a clifftop and naturally surrounded by lush vegetation has been awarded as Southeast Asia’s hidden gem by receiving the award for excellence for Luxury Hideaway Resort by the 2018 World Luxury Hotel Awards.

The award was given during the ceremony and gala event at Ayana Resort and Spa in Bali, Indonesia on November 10th. Over 360 guests flew in from around the world to attend the event, which awarded the world’s finest hotels for their luxury offerings and exceptional service delivery. Honorary Consul Enrison Benedicto, Board of Director and owner of BE Hotels & Resorts and Pearl Lorraine Yang, Resort Manager, received the award and represented the Resort.

“It is truly humbling to be recognized as one of the world’s best.

We are thankful for all those who have made this possible for us. This has set a standard for us to strive further and not rest on our laurels.

Our entire team is grateful and this is such an added motivation to continue to do more.”

In proximity by the vibrant

LOUNGE in BE’s signature pods at the waterfront

(L-R) Receiving the award at Bali, Indonesia for the 2018 World Luxury Hotel Awards are: Board of Director and Honorary Consul Enrison Benedicto, Resort Manager Pearl Lorraine Yang, and Hon. Benedicto's wife, Mrs. Christine Benedicto.

tourist hub that is Alona Beach, BE Grand Resort is strategically tucked away from the crowd and bustle of Alona and yet still very accessible with a distance of a kilometer from the hot spot. Secluded for ultimate privacy, it is the top choice for vacationers who are looking to “unplug” from the world.

Shortly after the awarding, Condé Nast Johansens announced their 2019 awardee for excellence.

BE Grand Resort has been given the Readers’ Award in Asia. The Award is based on responses from online voting, guest feedback, and Local Expert reports drawn from the hotels featured on Condé Nast’s website and in their most recent travel Guides. The Readers’ Award is based on the number and quality of online votes and feedback collected over the past 12 months.

Condé Nast Johansens, from

the publishers of Vogue, GQ, Tatler, Condé Nast Traveller and Vanity Fair, is the premier reference guide for independent travelers. Condé Nast Johansens remains the most comprehensive illustrated reference to independently owned hotels inspected annually. With dedicated and highly trained Local Experts, almost 10 times as many properties have been assessed as appear online or in the Guides in order to narrow

YOUR own private access from lanai to pool at the Grand Villas

the final selection down to the best selection of accommodation for independent travelers. With a readership of 5.8 million, the Guides’ distribution now totals 27,000 worldwide.

BE Hotels & Resorts is owned and managed by Cebu-based property developer Enrison Land, Inc.

(ELI), a family-owned corporation that shares the values of Filipino excellence for global recognition. BE Resorts currently operates two hotels, namely BE Resort, Mactan and BE Grand Resort, Bohol.

For more information, visit www.beresorts.com.

F4 Thursday, November 29, 2018

PAG-IBIG FUND TO KEEP LOW HOUSING RATES, HIGH DIVIDEND PAYOUT

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ESPITE the steep inflation and currency depreciation, top executives of the Home Development Mutual Fund (PagIBIG Fund) is confident to maintain low interest rates of the agency’s home loans and cash loans.

Pag-IBIG Fund currently offers the best rates in its loan programs. Pag-IBIG home loans offer the lowest rate of 3 percent per annum for loans up to P580,000, under the affordable housing program; and rates as low as 5.375 percent per annum for loans up to P6 million, under the fund’s regular housing loan program.

Meanwhile, short-term loans, or cash loan programs known as multipurpose and calamity loans, come with rates of 10.5 percent per annum and 5.95 percent per annum, respectively.

“The year is not over, yet, but Pag-IBIG Fund already performed better than expected. There was strong demand for and availment of our housing and cash loans in the last three quarters. We are very confident that the rates of Pag-IBIG Fund will remain low, and we don’t foresee an increase in housing interest rates in the next few years because of the [fund’s] strong financial standing These low rates directly benefit Pag-IBIG members and contributes greatly to the antipoverty agenda of the administration of President Duterte and the Balai [Building Adequate, Liveable, Affordable and Inclusive] Filipino program of the government’s housing sector,” said Eduardo D. del Rosario, chairman of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council and Pag-IBIG Fund board.

From January to September Pag-IBIG released over P51.76 billion to help borrowers buy 62,665 homes. Cash loans, on the other hand, amounted to P 37.42 billion, which was released to more than 1.8 million borrowers. Home loans released in the last nine months are higher by 14 percent in terms of amount released and 11 percent higher in the number of homes financed, compared to the same period last year. Cash loans, on the other

hand remained steady, but the number of loans approved increased to 7 percent.

“Aside from the strong demand for our home loan programs, our efforts to improve our home-loan portfolio have paid off. We maintained our performing loans ratio at 90 percent, even as we cater to minimum-wage earners who are shunned by banks. And because we are now more efficient, we were able to achieve double digit growth in our home loan collections. We collected P41.49 billion in home-loan payments from January to September. This is 10 percent higher than the P37.80 billion we collected in the same period last year. Cash-loan payments amounted to P40.08 billion, which is an increase of 2 percent from 2017,” said Pag-IBIG Fund Chief Executive Officer Acmad Rizaldy P. Moti.

Moti added that, with such strong financial showing, Pag-IBIG Fund will again achieve record-breaking income in 2018, higher than the P30.27-billion net income that the fund posted in 2017.

“We expect to maintain this upward trajectory until the year ends. So, we are set to surpass our P 30.6-billion net income target

by P 1 billion or P 2 billion, despite offering such low rates. This is the ultimate win-win situation because our borrowers are treated to one of the lowest, if not the lowest, rates in the market. The low rates fuel demand which, in turn, helps improve our net income.

And when our net income is high, all Pag-IBIG members can expect to benefit from dividend payouts, which are much higher than what they earn from other financial institutions. We foresee our dividend rate to be somewhere between 6.5 percent and 7 percent, which will be credited to members’ accounts early next year. All these benefits are being enjoyed by our members without increasing the monthly mandatory membership savings of only P100 since 1982.

This really is what Lingkod Pag-IBIG is all about,” Moti said.

JACK DANIEL’S HOLIDAY BASH

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ACK Daniel’s offcially kicked off the Yuletide tradition with the lighting of its iconic holiday barrel tree on November 23 at C1 Park, Fifth Avenue, High Street Central Square, Bonifacio Global City.

VIPs, media personalities and social-media influencers attended the festivity, which coincided with the launch of Bar No.7, Jack Daniel’s first popup bar in the Metro, which serves gourmet holiday drinks specially created by Curator’s senior bartender and mixologist Giann Divino.

The world’s No.1 whiskey brand continues the long-standing tradition of putting up a holiday barrel tree made from their very own oak barrels, in major cosmopolitan areas across the globe. 122 barrels were

repurposed into this special structure, bearing a message that speaks to the brand’s mantra “It's not what’s under the tree that matters, it's who's around it.”

The highly anticipated global tradition marked its debut in the Philippines in 2014, when two holiday barrel trees were raised in Fuerte Circle in Eastwood City and at The Fort Plaza in Bonifacio Global City. The structures were touted as the first holiday barrel tree in Southeast Asia, a feat that recognizes the top whiskey company’s growing presence in the country.

The holiday barrel tree can now be viewed within the business and commercial district of Bonifacio High Street, where family and friends can gather around and enjoy its welcoming, festive vibe.

JPARK ISLAND RESORT & WATERPARK LIGHTS UP TALLEST CHRISTMAS TREE IN MACTAN

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PARK Island Resort and Waterpark Mactan’s Christmas tree-lighting ceremony held on November 15 marked the launch of the resort’s holiday festivities. The symbolic lighting of the resort’s 30-foot Christmas tree was spearheaded by Chief Executive Officer Jason Uy, chairman and President Justin Uy, Marcela Uy, Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Paz Radaza, Mactan Cebu International Airport General Manager lawyer Steve Dicdican, deputy zone administrator lawyer Rufino San Juan IV and Jpark General Manager Jonathan Nowell.

Dubbed as “Sweet Christmas”, the event area, which was at The Abalone restaurant, was absolutely a replica of a majestic candy land.

The program kicked off with Christmas carols from the Angelicus Children’s Choir, which was followed with welcoming words from Nowell.

Jpark Island Resort is not only committed to provide the best of Filipino hospitality to its valued guests, but also to give back to the community. Every

year they partner with the Lapu-Lapu City Home Care Center, where disadvantaged children take shelter from. To show gratitude to all the support they’ve received throughout the years, kids from the said home-care center sang their hearts out to the event’s guests with some Christmas songs.

As dinner came, members of the media, corporate clients, resort’s executives and VIPs enjoyed a Yuletide feast at The Abalone, the resort’s buffet restaurant. Everyone loved the selection of Filipino and international cuisine favorites, which include Cebu’s lechon, braised lamb shank in tomato sauce, pan-grilled salmon fillet, Salmon Gravlax, carving stalls with pecking duck and whole fish with ginger soya, grilled items such as beef ribeye, prawns, mussel, seafood kare-kare, and so much more.

Guests even more felt the warmth of the season with Fidelis Choir’s classic Christmas songs. The epicure evening further impressed the event’s 380 guests with vivacious performances from Jpark’s very own Amigos and violinist Melissa Cipres.

On the same night Jpark Island Resort and Waterpark also introduced and launched some of its latest developments, which include their newest water activity that is the Wave Rider amphibious boat. With the limitless leisure offered by this resort, they now give more reasons for guests to enjoy the beautiful islands of Cebu with this amphibious craft.

Jpark Island Resort is also the exclusive distributor of the Sealegs amphibious craft in the entire Philippines.

The night ended with an inspiring speech from Uy as he shared his family’s humble beginnings and experiences. All guests absolutely had a great night and are looking forward to the resort’s new developments throughout 2019.

In photo are (from left) Jason Uy, Mactan Cebu International Airport General Manager lawyer Steve Dicdican, Radaza, Marcela Uy, Chairman and Justin Uy, San Juan, Nowell and tourism chief Hembler Mendoza.

MANILA DOCTORS ADDS FEATHER TO ITS CAP, TAKES HOME 2 PRESTIGIOUS ACCOLADES

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HE Manila Doctors Hospital (MDH) was awarded the 2018 Outstanding Hospital Award (Level 3-Private) by the Philippine Hospital Association (PHA) at the 69th PHA annual national convention on November 14 at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel.

As one of the most coveted awards in the health-care industry, the PHA Awards recognizes the overall commitment to health-care excellence by hospitals, specifically in the areas of corporate social responsibility, governance, ISO accreditation, infection control, disaster preparedness, Green Hospital initiative, safety and patient care, and patient engagement and education. Transparency in reporting sentinel events/adverse reactions and the conduct of regular staff meeting are also included as part of the criteria.

On the same ceremonies, MDH was also recognized for the Department of Health (DOH) Star Awards 2018 Top 10 (Level 3 category), jointly by the DOH and PHA. This award recognizes hospitals’ best practices in the delivery of safe and quality health service toward achieving universal health care. Hospitals awarded were judged not just on their compliance with the assessment tools for hospital licensure, but also their exceptional implementation of the following criteria: Policies and procedures, features of patient safety, infection control, patient service, customer and employee satisfaction, community-focused activities and qualitydriven improvements.

MDH was the lone tertiary-level private hospital to be awarded with two prestigious recognitions in the said event. “ These prestigious awards are testaments to our sustained commitment to provide quality health care to our customers and people in the communities.

These accolades further inspire us to continue to excel in what we do in order to improve our services and offer more state-of-the-art health-care facilities.

We look forward to the coming year as we will upgrade more facilities, offer additional services, establish more doctors’ consultation rooms and inaugurate new admitting rooms at the Norberto Ty Medical Tower 2. More world-class medical equipments will be made available to patients,” MDH President Elizabeth Dantes said.

As part of MDH’s plan to provide advanced equipment and facilities to better serve its clients, MDH recently opened three centers and upgraded its facility.

The Wellness Hub was inaugurated on the ninth-floor level of the Norberto Ty Medical Tower 2. A unique onestop shop for health and wellness that combines modern elegance and updated infrastructure to create a tranquil, spa-like harmonious atmosphere where people can relax, find their balance and recover. On the same floor the aesthetics and wound care centers can also be found.

The radiologic imaging center was upgraded to house the best medicalimaging diagnostics. This includes the 256-slice computed tomography (CT) scanner, digital radiofluoroscopy, as well as a broad range of imaging modalities, like x-ray and ultrasound. Its latest equipment is the Mammomat Revelation Three-Fourths, the first high-definition 3D breast tomosynthesis in the Philippines and in Asia.

The endoscopy unit has been expanded to five rooms with a capacity to perform simultaneous procedures; and boasts of biggerrecoveryroomthatcanaccommodate more patients.

Recently the endoscopy unit of MDH was the hospital partner of the annual convention of the Philippine Society of Digestive Endoscopy (PSDE) and venue for the endoscopic teachers’ training program of the World Endoscopy Organization.

With the theme “Endoscopycon 2018”, the

latest innovations in the field of diagnostic and interventional digestive endoscopy was discussed.

The annual live endoscopy workshop was attended by foreign faculty, gastroenterologists, including participants from India, Japan, Korea and other Asian countries.

The Norberto Ty Medical Tower 2 North Wing (Kalaw) now houses more patient rooms in the 12th and 15th floors, as well as more doctors’ clinics on the 10th and 11th floors.

Soon a new cancer care unit will also be opened using the linear accelerator, which will offer advanced treatment to cancer patients.

As the majority shareholder of MDH, the Metrobank Foundation, Inc. has established programs benefiting the poor and the marginalized in meeting their educational and healthcare needs. MDH serves as the healthcare arm of MBFI, which is offering a wide array of social services, such as subsidies for in-house patients, outreach programs, medical missions and other health-related interventions in adopted communities.

Photo shows Dantes (second from right) and MDH hospital director Dr. Hian Ho Kua (fourth from left) presenting the awards to Manila Medical Services, Inc. (corporate name of MDH) chairman Arthur Ty (center), vice chairman/treasurer Anjanette Dy-Buncio (right) and vice chairman Aniceto Sobrepeña (left).

MITSUBISHI BAGS 3 AUTO FOCUS PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS

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OW On its 13th year, the Auto Focus People’s Choice Awards (AFPCA) once again recognized the most popular automotive models in the Philippines. In the recent APFC Awards Night, Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. (MMPC) was honored to receive three major awards from this prestigious awards program.

The Montero Sport won major title for the Model of the Year Awards as it bested its competitors in the SUV of the Year. Having been undefeated for five straight years in the SUV of the Year category, the Montero Sport was also included in the elite Model of the Year Hall of Fame. It is no surprise that the public continue to patronize this model because of its top-notch performance, class-leading features and best value for money that the Montero Sport offers.

Apart from the Model of Year Awards, another equally important recognitions given were the Media’s Choice awards.

With the votes coming from the most discerning motoring journalist of the country, two among MMPC’s best-selling models were recognized. The Xpander, which was just launch in the first quarter of the year, instantly captured warm market acceptance for its superb styling and class-leading features. Thus, this year it was voted by the media as the Best Design under the MPV category. The Xpander’s design truly outshines its rivals with its adventurous and futuristic style. It flaunts Mitsubishi Motors’ dynamic shield-design concept, which powerfully expresses high performance and sense of protection.

Another big winner is the Pajero, which was proclaimed as the Auto Focus Media’s Choice for Best Engine Performance in the Large SUV category. The Mitsubishi Pajero is powered by 3.2-liter In-Line 4 DOHC 16-valve turbocharged and intercooled VGT diesel engine. This engine is proven to provide superior torque, especially during low to middle ranges.

Receiving the awards during the recognition night was Taichi Nakajima, MMPC executive vice president for sales and marketing. “We are very delighted to be recognized once again in the AFPCA. These awards are testaments of the market’s unrelenting trust and continued patronage to the Mitsubishi Motors brand,” Nakajima expressed. The public voted for these models because of its known quality and excellent performance. “We shall strive further

and continue to offer innovative and cutting-edge vehicles to our most valued customers as we live up with the Mitsubishi spirit.”

The AFPCA is an annual awards program organized by Sunshine TV to recognize and commemorate the most preferred vehicle models of the public and media. Winners of the model of the year were determined thru a public poll and total sales of that particular model.

A percentage weight factor of 80 percent was applied to total votes from the public poll and 20 percent to month-to-date sales (January to September 2018).

The official list of entries consisted of models from automotive manufacturers that are official members of Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines and the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors.

BusinessMirror

Health&Fitness

WWW.FREEPIK.COM

November 29-December 5, 2018

THE DANGERS OF OVERHYDRATING IS THERE POISON IN YOUR FOOD?

TRI ILOCOS NORTE 7:

TWICE AS NICE M

ORE than the sand dunes and the wind mills in Banggui, Ilocos Norte definitely has a lot to offer and experience.

The Paoay Church, the Sinking Bell Tower, the Malacañang of the North, the delectable local dishes such as the empanadas, bagnet, higado and poque poque. Put them on your itinerary and you’ll definitely want to stay longer!

TINMAN: Tri Ilocos Norte is ultimate sport tourism event in the North and now on its seventh year happening on March 16 and 17, 2019.

With the success of the previous edition attended by more than 1,400 participants, guests and spectators, it is expected to be twice as nice with exciting even upgrades, such as the new venue at Pangil Beach Resort, home of the best sunset view and stargazing spot in Currimao.

But with the level-up, the organizers promise to deliver the race’s signature “trication” experience.

TINMAN offers sprint, standard and 113-kilometer (km) distances, wherein the triathletes will endure the course starting from Currimao, then will pass through Paoay and will stretch until the capital city of Ilocos Norte, Laoag. What’s also

exciting is the inauguration of the TINMAN Open Water Challenge, presented by Neptune Actives, the official distributor of Funky Trunks and Funkita in the Philippines. With 750-meter, 1.5-km and 1.9-km distances, this event aims to gather all swimming enthusiasts who are also interested to take part in the advocacy of water conservation. Neptune Actives is also giving away premium items to those who will register until November 30 alongside a free dri-fit, limited edition Fastrack shirt.

Individual and relay categories are open for TINMAN, and bigger and more exciting prizes are to be given away to participants and their guests, such as free group tours in Ilocos Norte, a food-trip adventure, hotel accommodations and even cell phones, all courtesy of our marketing partners. Online registration is available at http://trisports.ph/ tinman-7-registation/. Triathletes can also sign-up at 2XU in Glorietta and avail of P500 off for every P1,000 single-purchase receipt at the store.

TINMAN: Tri Ilocos Norte is organized by Trisports Solutions Inc. and co-organized by Tri-North, with the support of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte headed by Gov. Imee Marcos. The event was also made possible with its marketing

partners Neptune Actives—the official distributor of Funky Trunks and Funkita Swimwear, Light’N Up Marketing, 2XU, North Point Alliance Motors Corp., Hi-Factor, AutoMekaniko, Share Tea Ilocos, Anytime Fitness and Fastrack Courier.

Health&Fitness

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FREE VOCATIONAL COURSES FOR RESIDENTS OF SUAL John Alcordo (fourth from left), chairman and CEO of TeaM Energy, together with Roberto LlArcinue (fifth from left), mayor of Sual, Pangasinan, inaugurate the brand-new Livelihood and Training Center in Sual, Pangasinan, which was built through TeaM Energy and the Energy Regulation (ER) 1-94 program of the Department of Energy (DOE). The livelihood and training center will offer various vocational courses like baking, dressmaking, pipe fitting, electrical technology and carpentry for free for the residents of Sual. The ER1-94 program of the DOE mandates generation facilities in the country to provide financial benefits equivalent to 1 centavo per kilowatt-hour of its total electricity sales to designated communities. TeaM Energy, a partnership between Japanese companies TEPCO and Marubeni, operates the 1,200-MW Sual Power Station in Pangasinan.

2 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

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FOR YOUR HEALTH’S SAKE,

EAT BANANAS! Story & photo by Henrylito D. Tacio

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N apple a day may keep the doctor away, but a banana a day may keep high blood pressure (known in medical parlance as hypertension) at bay. This is good news, as Filipinos suffering from hypertension are increasing in number, and most of them are walking time bombs that can explode anytime with serious hitches.

“Two in every 10 Filipino adults, 20 years and over, are hypertensive,” reports the Food and Nutrition Research Institute.

About half of 12.6 million Filipinos with hypertension are not aware of their condition until they begin to suffer illnesses that have associated complications with high blood pressure. “Hypertension per se does not kill, but the complications are the ones that disable and kill a hypertensive,” said Dr. Rafael Castillo, a cardiologist at the Manila Doctors’ Hospital.

One best way to lower blood pressure is by eating bananas, which are an excellent dietary source of potassium.

“Small bananas contain 362 milligrams of potassium, while medium bananas have 422 milligrams of the mineral,” the web site livestrong.com states. “Large bananas provide 487 milligrams of potassium, more than 10 percent of the daily recommended amount of 4,700 milligrams for healthy adults.”

Bananas, therefore, are good against hypertension. “We know that potassium lessens the harmful effects of sodium,” said Dana Greene, an American registered dietitian. “The more potassium you take in, the more sodium you excrete through urine.”

Sodium is present in salt, which most Filipino food contains. “When you eat too much salt, your body holds extra water to ‘wash’ the salt from your body,” the ClevelandClinic.org says. “In some people, this may cause blood pressure to rise. The added water puts stress on your heart and blood vessels.”

According to Greene, “potassium eases tension in your blood-vessel walls, which helps reduce blood pressure.”

A major study reveals that diets loaded with potassium-rich bananas may be able to cut the risk of strokes by one third. Scientists feel

4 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

that many people can be protected against strokes and heart attacks by minimizing sodium (common salt) intake and by consuming plenty of potassium-rich foods of which banana is one.

If you are having trouble with stress, potassium-rich banana can help you. Potassium is a vital mineral, which helps normalize the heartbeat, sends oxygen to the brain and regulates the body’s water balance. When you are stressed, your metabolic rate rises, thereby reducing your potassium levels. These can be rebalanced with the help of a high-potassium banana snack.

Banana, grown mostly in Mindanao, particularly Davao region, is one of the most healthful fruits the world has known. Alexander the Great was so fascinated by the virtues of this fruit that he described it as “the heavenly fruit that tasted like nectar sweetened in honey.”

“In one form or another, raw or cooked, more bananas are consumed daily than perhaps any other fruit in the world.” That’s what the book, Tropical and Subtropical Agriculture, states.

Aside from potassium, the fruit is also fully packed with magnesium. As such, it is good if you have a problem with sleeping. According to Michael Breus, author of The Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan: Lose Weight Through Better Sleep, magnesium helps relax muscles and nerves, and promotes healthy circulation and digestion.

Not only that, banana also contains the sleep-inducing amino acid tryptophan, which ultimately turns into serotonin and melatonin in the brain. “Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that promotes relaxation; melatonin is a hormone that promotes sleepiness,” explains Angela Haupt in an article that appeared in US News and World Report. “It takes about an hour for tryptophan to

reach the brain, so plan your snack accordingly.”

Health experts claim that banana is low in protein, free of fats but high in energy. A fully ripe banana has 20 to 25 percent sugar. It has significant amounts of B vitamins, especially B1 and B6. B1 is a brain tonic, whereas B6 relieves, in particular, uncomfortable symptoms of the premenstrual tension syndrome like irritability, headaches, tender breasts and water retention.

Aside from coconut, banana can be considered as “the tree of life.”

Dondon Carlo P. Lejano, in an article which appeared in the quarterly publication of Bureau of Agricultural Research, wrote: “Aside from being eaten fresh, the ripe fruit can also be processed into jam, candies and purees. On the other hand, the unripe bananas may be processed into starch and chips. Banana extracts can also be processed into wine, catsup and vinegar.”

Banana hearts are used as a vegetable in South Asian and Southeast Asian cuisine, either raw or steamed with dips or cooked in soups, curries and fried foods. The flavor resembles that of artichoke. As with artichokes, both the fleshy part of the bracts and the heart are edible.

In popular culture and commerce, “banana” usually refers to soft, sweet “dessert” bananas that are usually eaten raw. The bananas from a group of cultivars with firmer, starchier fruit are called plantains, and are generally used in

cooking rather than eaten raw. The word banana is derived from the Arabic word “finger.”

Where did bananas originally come from? Bananas originally came from the Malesian area, where wild ancestors can still be found in the forests. Inhabitants of that region discovered that some of the plants had edible fruits and could be propagated by suckers. Selection by man has, over millennia, profoundly altered the properties of the wild species in the humid tropics.

J.A. Samson’s Tropical Fruits gives more insights of the fruit’s history: “Malayan sailors probably took bananas to Madagascar about the fifth century AD, and they spread to the east coast and mainland of Africa from there; plantains arrived much later. Both forms were already known on the west coast of Africa when the Portuguese arrived in the 14th century.

Later, banana was introduced into the western hemisphere and into other parts of the world.”

It was Southeast Asian farmers who first domesticated bananas. Recent archaeological evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BC, and possibly to 8000 BC. It is likely that other species were later and independently domesticated elsewhere in Southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is the region of primary diversity of the banana.

Specialists, patients to form lung cancer community

A

DA (not her real name) thought the dull pain in her back was just muscle soreness.

He consulted with a physician who ordered several tests that showed to have normal results.

Her x-ray, however, showed a “spot” on her lung. Since she is a nonsmoker and residing in a tuberculosis-endemic country, it was easy to suspect TB and prescribed anti-tuberculosis medications for several months. Still bothered by intermittent back pain, she saw a pulmonologist who requested a higher-resolution x-ray, which this time showed multiple lesions in her lungs. She was asked to continue her meds but when the pain persisted, she consulted another doctor who eventually ordered a CT scan with biopsy. In January 2018, more than a year after consulting a doctor for her back pain, Ada was diagnosed with stage 4 adenocarcinoma of the lung.

“Lung cancer disease landscape is steadily changing. Whereas before, only smokers are considered to be at risk of the disease, now, there are more people living with lung cancer who do not have family history of cancer and who were never smokers. People shrug off symptoms of a possible lung cancer as probably from a benign condition such as colds or arthritis. Some are diagnosed as spot in the lungs and treated as tuberculosis. Many of them will not be doing biopsy to rule out cancer,” oncologist Dr. Charles Uy said.

“When an individual tells people that he or she has lung cancer, oftentimes the first thing that they will ask is ‘Are

you a smoker?’, immediately placing the burden of blame on the individual. This painful stigma is rooted in the lack of awareness on lung cancer,” said Dr. Denky Shoji dela Rosa, an oncologist from the St. Luke’s Medical Center and the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center.

Consider these facts: 1 in 5 women who get lung cancer has never smoked, according to the Cancer Research UK. Moreover, the number of nonsmoking young women diagnosed with lung cancer seems to be rising. Lung cancer can also be caused by exposure to radon (a naturally occurring radioactive gas), secondhand tobacco smoke, air pollution or other environmental factors.

To help address the stigma, low awareness and lack of community activation and advocacy on lung cancer, AstraZeneca Philippines has partnered with the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO) and local cancer support groups, such as the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations and Cancer Coalition Philippines to launch LVNG With Lung Cancer in the country.

“LVNG With Lung Cancer is an online resource that aims to activate a community of Filipinos living with lung cancer and their loved ones, allowing them to connect and learn, share their experiences and inspire one another. This community will embrace them as people

TO help address the stigma, low awareness and lack of community activation and advocacy on lung cancer, AstraZeneca Philippines has partnered with the Philippine Society of Medical Oncology (PSMO) and local cancer support groups, such as the Philippine Alliance of Patient Organizations and Cancer Coalition Philippines to launch LVNG With Lung Cancer in the country.From left: Dr. Denky Shoji de la Rosa, Medical Oncologist, St. Luke’s Medical Center and University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center; Dr. Marcelo Severino Imasa, Medical Oncologist, St. Luke’s Medical Center;Dr. Claire Soliman, President, PSMO and Dr. Donald Josue, medical affairs head, AstraZeneca Philippines.

at every step of their journey in an uplifting, validating and refreshingly authentic way that moves people from simply coping to living with their disease,” explained Dr. Donald Josue, medical affairs head, AstraZeneca Philippines.

LVNG With Lung Cancer has three key objectives. First, build a local lung cancer community that can provide resources and support for lung cancer patients and caregivers. Second, raise the relevance of lung cancer and build advocacy through partnership with medical societies, patient groups and academe. Third, em-

Cancer advocacy groups call on PCSO to sustain medical assistance program

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ANCER remains as the second leading cause of mortality in the country, according to the latest data published by the Philippine Statistics Authority. As previously noted by the Philippine Cancer Society (PCS), more than 80 percent of Filipino families are not capable of out-of-pocket expenses needed for basic medical care.

This is exactly why various cancer patient groups are now calling on the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to immediately recall the directive of significantly reducing the amount of support provided via the Individual Medical Assistance Program (IMAP), as thousands of cancer patients

are at the risk of dying due to the inability to sustain their treatments.

This call came amid budgetary issues within the PCSO, which have forced it to reduce the amount of financial assistance of several beneficiaries availing themselves of cancer treatments. The assistance was cut down from an average of P80,000 to P20,000 to P14,000.

“More and more Filipinos are relying on medical assistance programs such as that of the PCSO because, to put it simply, cancer treatments are expensive. Sad to say, most of the time, the patients couldn’t afford the treatments, which is why they need programs like IMAP to help them afford it, to live

longer,” said Rod Padua, president of Touched by Max Inc., a group composed of leukemia and cancer patients who are highly dependent on support programs such as the IMAP to continue with their treatment.

Padua added that since the amount of support was reduced, a number of the group’s patients have expressed deep concern with growing uncertainty of being able to resume their treatment.

“Some of our patients are even dying and we don’t want to see them leave this world, just because they have no means to afford the treatments. They have the right to live and let’s give them options and the chance to do so,” he continued.

power lung cancer patients and caregivers through disease education.

The LVNG With Lung Cancer web site features inspiring and informational content delivered through personal stories.

People with lung cancer have said that connecting with others who have received a lung cancer diagnosis can make all the difference in inspiring them to learn to “live with lung cancer.“ Visit to learn more about lung cancer, find a cancer expert in your area, know where to have biomarker tests or to connect with other lung cancer patients.

For her part, Malu Cortez, chairman of the Philippine Foundation on Breast Care Inc. (KASUSO), said, “In recent years, stakeholders like the DOH, pharmaceutical companies and medical professionals have put together a plan to help patients receive timely, quality, affordable and accessible treatment.

Patients who are in the midstream of their treatment program are now at risk of dropping out.”

The IMAP is PCSO’s program for providing financial assistance for beneficiaries with various health problems, where the PCSO, instead of the patient, pays a service provider—hospitals, clinics, etc.—for the cost of certain services or treatments provided by them.

But earlier this year, the program’s budget was cut down to P4.1 million, from around P20 million, attributable to overutilization of medical assistance funds, according to the PCSO.

Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 5

FITNESS RULES

By Greggy H. Romualdez

W

E are all too familiar with the benefits of drinking adequate water and staying hydrated. It is clearly established that we need to drink water on a daily basis for our bodies to properly function, more so if we engage in exercise and strenuous physical activity. less, while others may need more, depending on a variety of factors, including the amount of exercise we do, the weather and environment. A

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We’ve all heard the advice that we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. While this may generally be true, some of us may need

person doing daily exercise in preparation for a marathon in a tropical country, for instance, will probably need more than eight glasses a day, while a sedentary individual residing in cold climate may need less than eight glasses.

That being said, not consuming enough water may cause a host of physical ailments—dehydration and urinary-tract infection, to name a few. On the other side of the coin, drinking too much water may also have negative effects on our health.

6 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

Enter hyponatremia. This takes place when we overhydrate, and our kidneys are not able to expel the excess water. This means we are drinking more than our kidneys can deal with.

Signs of overhydration may include: headaches, nausea, feeling tired and fatigued, vomiting, muscle spasms and cramping, among others.

Drinking too much water may lead to an imbalance where liquid moves from our blood to inside our cells, making them swell. This poses a potentially dangerous situation that may be life threatening.

While such cases are quite rare, it’s a possibility we should be aware of, nonetheless.

Experts have advised that we should drink when we are thirsty.

Hydrating past the point when our thirst has been quenched poses the danger of overhydration. Also, we should look at the color of our urine.

If it is too dark, we are definitely dehydrated, and should drink more.

But if it is too clear, like we are peeing out water, that could be a sign of overhydration.

Take note that, while quite rare, water intoxication may lead to serious health problems than can, in extreme cases, lead to seizures, coma and even death.

Doubtless, water is a good thing. It is essential to life and our best friend when we are working out. But too much of it can be equally dangerous as taking too little of it. Stay safe and hydrated while working out, but let us be careful not to overdo it.

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The dangers of overhydrating

THE TRUE KETO THRILLS

By Joee C. Guilas

W

HAT emotional state is higher than just being happy? Resorts World Manila (RWM) believes it is the feeling of getting thrilled.

More than happiness, a thrill gives us a combination of excitement and pleasure.

A thrill is what you get when you hit the peaks of life like kissing that girl you have a big crush on; or maybe, even unexpectedly getting the gift that you’ve always wished to receive. Thrills don’t usually come often so one has to really be prepared for them. And oftentimes, given the surge in emotions that thrills can provide, people on the receiving end must truly be prepared, even physically, to handle these unforeseen surprises. Thrills are not for the faint of heart, literally and figuratively.

This is why the RWM, through its signature restaurant outlets,recently introduced a new line of meals that are not only delicious and satisfying, but are also healthy. Now, in the world of culinary talk, healthy and delicious don’t usually come together—but not in this case! The new line called, “Keto Thrills,” helps dieters keep to their goals of losing unwanted pounds and bulges while enjoying rich, delectable flavors and experiences for their palates.

Inspired by the dieting regimen that has recently been a hit among weight watchers, RWM’s Keto Thrill Meals applies the principles of the ketogenic diet without sacrificing a dieter’s eating pleasure. Recognizing that the keto diet is particularly difficult to follow in the Philippines, given the local cuisine’s affinity with rice and sweets, the RWM’s restaurants found a way to strike the balance between what’s keto and what’s delicious.

Giving a classic breakfast treat a keto twist, Café Maxims’s Eggs Benedict stays true to tradition with juicy slabs of thick-cut bacon, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce, but with hot almond buns instead of wheatbased bread. The café also serves the sweet, but sinless Lava Cake. Made with almond flour and dark chocolate, it goes perfectly with the Brain Boost Coffee, which comes with a shot of MCT oil and a heap of organic grass-fed butter.

Diners who enjoy both seafood

and red meat would love the Surf & Turf by Impressions, RWM’s multi-award winning French finedining restaurant. Pan-seared premium beef and salmon come together in one scrumptious dish, served with an array of delectable sidings.

Silogue proves that Filipino comfort food can go beyond rice and viand combinations with the Bangusala Plancha. A portion of Spanish-style grilled milkfish is served with eggplants and a veggie side dish made with tomatoes, onions, olives, and local seaweed.

Japanese-Korean restaurant Ginzadon’s dish is the Snapper Fillet Teppanyaki—a slab of fresh snapper sautéed in unsalted butter and served with a side of blanched vegetables.

The Oven-Baked Salmon by the Terrace at Maxims Hotel is unbelievably juicy and tender, with the

premium salmon cooked to delicate perfection and complemented by a serving of fresh salad.

Frank’s Carne con Avocado has heaps of spicy ground beef topped with Mexican cheese, sour cream and sous vide egg on a bed of sliced avocado. The rich and flavorful mix is given an added snap of texture with a side of crunchy chicharon.

Passion, the RWM’s renowned fine-dining Cantonese restaurant, keeps its keto offering simple and refreshing with Shrimps & Veggies. Large shelled shrimps are tossed in a mixture of lettuce, shallots, tomatoes and capsicum for a meal that is light on the belly, but heavy on flavor.

Victoria Harbour Café’s Grilled Pork Belly pairs the freshly grilled premium pork cuts with blanchedzucchini, broccoli and carrots for an elegantly balanced combination

of flavors.

It is highly recommended that diners consult their physicians or a nutritionist before starting any new diet. The Keto Thrill Meals are available exclusively at the RWM signature restaurants. Its members may avail themselves of this offer using points. Diners must be at least 21 years old to access gaming area restaurants Silogue, Franks and Victoria Harbour Café.

For reservations, inquiries and orders, the RWM Tourist/Visitor hot line at (02) 908-8833. Download the RWM Mobile App for free on the AppStore or GooglePlay to receive updates on RWM promotionsand events, or visit www.rwmanila.com for more details.

Now, once people are assured of good health, they can very well unlock many of life’s thrills with less worries on their heads.

Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 7

MARIAN RIVERA

ON KEEPING HER HOME “SWEET”

By Claudeth Mocon-Ciriaco

O

NE of the challenges a woman faces everyday is keeping her home clean and “sweet.” Juggling between career and house chores, being a homemaker is indeed a herculean task.

GMA Kapuso prime-time actress Marian Rivera-Dantes in a press conference recently talked about being an actress, a wife and a mother. The very blooming actress with baby bump revealed that like any other woman, she wants her home to be filled with love, warmth and affection, comfort, and of course, a safe and pleasant environment especially now that they are expecting their second baby.

Considered as one of the most bankable and credible endorsers in the country, Rivera-Dantes admitted that she’s very choosy when it comes to endorsing a product. According to her, if she endorses a product, she is really a believer of that product.

An icon of beauty with a timeless charm and a keen sense of style coupled with the soothing aura of motherly warmth—these are just some of the many outstanding qualities that make Marian one of the most respected,

8 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

enduring, and credible brand endorsers in the Philippines today.

Marian has an unblemished track record when it comes to her career choices and personal life.

As one of the industry’s finest actresses, she has starred in

numerous critically acclaimed films and a consistent string top-rating prime-time series on GMA 7, the most recent of which was the drama-actionfantasy top-rater Super Ma’am. She is also one of the main hosts of GMA 7’s Sunday afternoon variety show Sunday Pinasaya.

However, Marian’s top priority these days is her ultimate role as a wife, mother, and homemaker as she seeks only the best for her family.

“Finally, I can reveal one of my best kept secrets—Reverie by Beautederm Home,” Marian said. “This is really my personal choice for me and my family. I am very grateful to Beautederm and to its owners for trusting me to represent this amazing line of products. Talagang ginamamit ko po ito sa bahay because I want only the best for my family. Sobrang fresh at nakaka-relax ang amoy ng bahay namin at gusto ko itong ishare sa lahat.”

Beautederm president and CEO Rhea Anicoche-Tan said Reverie by Beautederm Home, an exquisite line

of home scents—from soy candles to room and linen sprays, was created

by Beautederm in collaboration with Marian to exhilarate and rejuvenate everyone at the comfort of their homes.

“Marian and I basically planned everything—from its name, packaging, scents, down to the tiniest detail of the products,” Tan said while adding, “This is the reason we partnered with Marian—to make her simple, practical yet very stylish lifestyle accessible to everyone.”

Reverie is actually a play of words between Marian’s maiden name and the concept of the brand’s desired effect to its users—to drift away, dream and relax while basking in the extraordinary, sweet and beauteful scents of love of Beautederm Home.

The Reverie line of Beautederm Home includes Into The Woods (Bamboo Scent), Smells Like Candy (Cherry Scent), Time To Bloom (Fresh Rose Scent), Something Minty (Eucalyptus Scent), and Rest & Relaxation (Lavender Scent)—all created from formulation to

individual packaging in very close collaboration with Marian.

Beautederm was founded and established in 2009 by Tan. Beautederm embodies Tan’s principle that beauty begins by taking care of one’s self, and by doing so, a person will become more

healthy and shall exude beauty not only in the outside but in the inside, as well. As one of today’s top leaders in the beauty and wellness industry, Beautederm prioritizes safety and effectiveness above all with its FDA-notified products, which only uses natural ingredients that are perfectly synergized to deliver the fastest and most effective long-term and sustainable results.

A consistent Superbrands awardee, some of the flagship brands of Beautederm are Beautederm Skin Set, which includes its patented soap, day cream and toner; Beautederm Facial Wash; and Beautederm Origin Senses perfumes for men, among many others— all top-selling products in the market today. Currently, Beautederm has 41 physical stores throughout the country and has over a hundred resellers both locally and internationally.

For more information on Reverie by Beautederm Home and exciting updates on Marian, follow @beautedermcorporation on Instagram and like Beautederm on Facebook.

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Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 9

‘COOK MAGAZINE’ MARKS 18TH YEAR WITH A SLUMBER BALL

By Cook Magazine staff

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OR the past eight years, COOK Magazine has been holding an annual thanksgiving party for its advertisers, columnists and friends.

This year’s celebration, “Slumber Ball— A High Gloss Pajama Party,” was conceptualized by the COOK team to provide our guests with a relaxed and fun-filled atmosphere.

The theme reflects the working environment at COOK—laid-back, filled with dreamy food and recipes, and lots of fun and laughter. While publishing a monthly magazine isn’t a walk in the park, 18 years in the industry is a proof that when you do what you love, it won’t ever feel like work.

This yearly celebration is an opportunity to personally thank all of our advertisers for their continued support of COOK through the years and the highlight of the evening is the awarding of all the top advertisers. It

10 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

also gives the COOK team a chance to introduce ourselves, along with our columnists and contributors—everyone involved in making COOK Magazine what it is. As the longest running and only monthly culinary magazine in the country today, we have outlasted the trends, the ups and downs, even the shift to other platforms. We are very proud of this achievement but we know that without all the support from advertisers and friends in the industry, COOK Magazine wouldn’t exist—so thank you!

As a simple way of showing our gratitude, we’re sharing with you the very thing that has fuelled COOK Magazine’s 18 years— the love for food. What else could we do better than feed the ones we love?

We would like to thank House Manila, for again providing us with an awesome venue.

COOK’s very own editor in Chief, Chef Dino Datu has prepared something for our guests, courtesy of Canadian Beef. We would also like to thank our caterers, our friends from Chefwix Catering who prepared a spread of Buttered Vegetables, Creamy Pesto Chicken and Indonesian Pork BBQ Spareribs. Cowboy Grill prepared some Pork Sisig, Beef Caldereta Adobo, Chicken Teriyaki, Steamed Veggies and Coffee Jelly for dessert. Kitchen Seventy-One owned by Chef Jhic de Guzman Dimagiba prepared Beef Caldereta, Thai Grilled Porkchop, Cajun Chicken and Baked Mac. Pedro ‘N Coi presents their specialty Filipino dishes like pansit, pakbet, sisig, bistek, Roast Chicken and their famous Pinoy street food, Tunog Kalye (fish ball). Since no celebration is complete without lechon, no less than the famous crispy lechon from Lydia’s Lechon is present. For sweet endings, there’s the Cheese Bar, Inutak, assorted kakanin, Pastillas Pops, Suman Cake, Pastillas Cake and Latik Fondue served by Aging’s

Food Delight and delectable desserts from Sweetilicious Homemade Goodies by Chef Jojo Cuesta-Javier. Our friends generously provided us drinks, too! Fill your glasses with drinks from: Lick Iced Tea, Coffee from the Illy booth, Gato Negro Wines and the Open Bar of House Manila.

Lucky guests took home major prizes such as the Bosch Fully Automatic Espresso Machine, Whirlpool Refrigerator, Bosch Mum Kitchen Machine (All in one food processor and mixer), Bosch Universal Slicer, Tecnogas Oven and two sets of a seven piece induction cookware from Masflex.

Other prizes raffled off included hotel accommodations, round-trip ticket, gift certificates for buffets and spas, water filter, skincare products and a whole lot more.

As per tradition, guests wearing the most dazzling sleepwear had a fashion parade with a prize awarded to the one with the best outfit. Mayda Chua provided the night's entertainment by serenading the crowd. The event was hosted Choi Soriano and COOK Magazine’s Advertising Manager Marlon Aldenese.

Cook Magazine’s would again like to convey our sincerest gratitude to House Manila, our official venue partner. A million thanks to the following for supporting our 18th anniversary and 8th Holiday Bash: Apo View Hotel, Bank of the Philippine Islands, Bluewater Resorts, Boracay Tropics, Bosch Appliances, Century Park Hotel, Cheez Whiz, City of Dreams, Dermablend, Diana Stalder, Dusit Thani Manila, Eastwood Richmonde Hotel, Eden, Eurotel, Excellence Appliance Technologies, F1 Hotel Manila, Fujidenzo Appliances, Gato Negro, Ginebra San Miguel, Gold Seas, Grand Hyatt Manila, Häfele Philippines, Harvest Hotel, High Tower, Hotel Celeste, Hotel H2O, Icon Hotel, Illy, Ivo, Jpark Island Resort & Waterparks, King Sue, Kitsho, Laketown Inc., Lick Iced Tea, Luljetta’s Place Garden Suites, Luxent Hotel, Makati Diamond Residences, Marco Polo Ortigas Manila, Maria Clara Sangria, Masflex Cookware & Kitchen, Mega Prime, Mega Sardines, Mega Tuna, Mondelez International, Movenpick Resort & Spa Boracay, New World Hotel Makati, Omni Channel Marketing, Oreo, Pearl Farm Beach Resort, Perfect Shots Photobooth, Perk Communications, Petron Gasul, Photoman, PRC Inc., Rebel Marketing, Resorts World Manila, Rhodesian Sales Corp., Richmonde Hotel Iloilo, Richmonde Hotel Ortigas, San Miguel Corp., San Miguel Purefoods Culinary Center, Skechers Go Walk, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, South Carolina Beverages Inc., Stratworks Marketing Communications, Taal Vista Hotel, Tang, Tecnogas Appliances, The Henry Hotel, The Heritage Manila, Thousand Miles Travel, UCC and Whirlpool Appliances.

We want to also thank our media partners: BusinessMirror, Philippines Graphic, Health & Fitness, WNOT What’s New Out There, DWIZ 882 and Home Radio 97.9.

TLF TALKS

By Teodoro L. Ferrer

LIVING TO THE FULLEST IS A

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H

AVING enjoyed many summers and having reached the age of 74 years, I sometimes reflect on the life I have lived —what I have achieved, where I have failed, the love and joys and the hurts and pains over many years both in the workplace and at home.

I also think about what else I could have done to live life to the fullest whether as an infant, child, student, young and mature employee, and finally as a senior citizen and elderly person.

A fundamental realization is that each and every one of us has been blessed with life, but it is really up to us how we live that life…it could be squandered and wasted due to laziness, abuse, sense of entitlement…or it could be an inspiring story of rising above overwhelming obstacles and making important contributions to society. It is really up to us.

Together with the gift of life, we are blessed with time—years, days, minutes that we can never get back once they pass. Time is more precious than money. The time we have now is a gift. That’s why it is called the “present.” But puns aside, we should experience and enjoy every moment that we have and make the most of it. Bask in the good weather, breathe in the fresh air, play in the rain, laugh with our friends, enjoy and share the food, spend quality time with your loved ones, focus on the high impact priorities in life, and pursue your dreams. In any and every stage of life, old, mature, young adult or as a child, there is so much to do and enjoy, and it would be a terrible waste to let it pass.

Of course as children, we are highly dependent on our families and the circumstances around them. I have been fortunate to grow up in a loving and supportive environment, enjoying the major comforts of a middle-income family. We had food on the table, and I was able to get a quality education, find fulfilling employment and earn more than enough to take care of my wife and children. However, many less fortunate experience hunger, financial problems, and a lack of educational and employment opportunities. And some, regardless of income status, have to deal with broken families and other emotionally damaging conditions. Some may be strong enough to rise above their ill fortune, but many may feel stuck and remain in their situations, and may find it hard to find happiness.

Stephen Hawking is an excellent example of one

mine, a French social worker here in the Philippines, proposed that we partner up and venture into the retail pharma industry and offer quality affordable generic medicines with superior customer service and a strong sense of social purpose. With no previous knowledge of pharma and retail, we had to learn the business from the bottom up. The biggest obstacle 15 years ago was the negative public perception and mistrust on generic medicine. Expensive branded medicines had a stranglehold on the local market then. It was an uphill and exhausting battle, and we had more than our share of struggles, but we were determined, made the necessary preparations and persisted. What kept me going was my father. I have always been inspired by my father who practiced as a primary care doctor in Zamboanga City until the age of 83. He would give special attention to indigent patients, and would charge them only P2 to P5 for many years as a way to help them out even when other doctors were collecting up to P200 as professional fee. I remembered him and I realized that I, too, wanted to help the poor, and I knew this was the way to go.

We need to have goals. We need to create our purpose in life. And it’s okay to make mistakes or even change your goal. If we stumble and fall, we just need to get up and move forward.

S

who had the courage and strength to rise above his severe physical disabilities. In his early 20s, he developed Lou Gehrig’s disease, which eventually left him almost completely paralyzed and quadriplegic. Nevertheless, his mind remained very active, and he presented new theories and wrote many books on quantum physics. He became a celebrity and was even awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award in the US, before he passed away in March 2018 at the age of 76.

No matter what situation you are in, you can rise above it. Your future and your life depend on you and what you do or don’t do.

I have some tips you can “add” to your life so that you could make the most out of what you have. I call it PLUS.

P

OSITIVE outlook. As much as possible, be positive. Count your blessings because I am sure you are blessed—with love from family, friends or with a special talent. When you have a positive outlook, you may discover what truly makes you happy. Find your passion and your talents because these are also gifts from God. Treat your job or business as a blessing, because it is an opportunity for you to learn and grow. And another thing, don’t dwell too much on the past. You can’t change it. You can only learn from what happened before, and be a better version of yourself in the future. A positive outlook will also help you to manage the stresses of daily living.

L

IVE healthily. When you are healthy, you can live a long, productive life and enjoy a lot of new and happy moments. So, eat healthier and try to avoid junk and unhealthy food, and eating in excess. Cut down on too much sugar and highly processed food. They lead to

chronic diseases and life-threatening complications in the future. And don’t forget about getting the right amounts of vitamins and minerals. There are affordable quality food supplements out there, so you really don’t have an excuse not to get the daily dose of essential nutrients your body needs. Another thing is exercise. Get up and take your dog for a walk. Go and play in the park with your kids. Pick up an active hobby or sports. Exercise also stimulates the release of chemicals in the brain such as serotonin and dopamine, which help improve mood, memory and brain health. And last, get enough sleep, at least six to eight hours a night. Just like your mobile phone, we also need to recharge.

U

NDERSTAND and pursue what you want in life. We all have dreams. But you also need to wake up to make it happen. So think about it. What do you really want? What do you really want to do? Where do you want to go? Not many people can honestly answer that. And even more may have dreams, but don’t have the will power and determination to make it happen. My advice is—create a clear vision of what you want, then make concrete plans and action steps that would help you reach that goal.

It can be a big dream like building your own business that will dramatically improve and disrupt an existing industry.

Or you may want to devote your time and efforts to mentor and help others to become more successful and lead happier lives. It can also be building your dream house, taking a vacation to that faraway glamorous resort or buying that car you have always wanted.

Don’t worry if you don’t have it yet. Sometimes it may come later in life. Like myself for example. When I was about to retire from Ayala at the age of 60, a friend of

AY thanks and give back Last, we should be thankful. Thankful for the blessings—big and small. And the best way to show our gratitude is to give back, share your blessings, pay it forward.

You can start with your family. Be a role model, teach them the right values and support them. Don’t take them for granted. Spend time with them and make every moment count. I assure you that all of you will have happy memories that will be remembered forever.

Help others. Giving money to the poor is fine. But like the saying goes, “Give a man fish, and you feed him for the day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for life.”

Be a mentor. Pass on the knowledge you have gained and share your experiences. Whether your expertise is in cooking, writing, music, being an entrepreneur or whatever it may be, you can help someone become better than he or she was yesterday.

Going the extra mile can create infinite possibilities for the ones you are helping. You may be surprised how far they are able to go because of your help.

Living life to the fullest is possible and most gratifying.

The first step is to realize that every minute is precious, that it will pass quickly and that it is up to you to make the best use of it. The next big step is to find out what you really want to do with your life. Then finally you have to decide to do it, and to make the necessary sacrifices until you achieve your dream.

This is not going to be easy. It won’t fall on your lap.

No one can do this for you. And it won’t happen overnight. It may be a long and hard journey before you reach the destination. You may have heard all of this before. But now might be the time for you to finally decide to do something about it.

Take it from a man of many summers. It will be worth it.

Teodoro L. Ferrer or Ted is an advocate of health and wellness and the chairman of the Generika Group of Cos. After retiring in 2003, he and Julien Bello founded Generika Drugstore—the pioneer in the retail of generic medicine in the country. His advocacy of providing access to quality affordable generic medicine was inspired by his father, who was a doctor in Zamboanga and offered his services to both prominent families and the poor. Today, Generika Drugstore celebrates its 15th year, and the commitment to provide access to quality affordable health care lives on.

Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 11

IS THERE POISON IN YOUR FOOD? Story & photos by Henrylito D. Tacio

T

HIS coming Christmas season and New Year celebration, one of those that are always present on the food tables is a loaf of bread. Equally important is the peanut butter, a modern-day food obsession that goes on the bread. Both can be bought on the sidewalks.

But what most Filipinos don’t know is that homemade peanut butter, although cheap, might be laden with aflatoxin, a form of mold known to be a human carcinogen or something that causes cancer.

Here’s what one science scribe wrote of it: “Aflatoxin is an incredibly powerful poison, and is harmful or even deadly at very low concentrations…[It] is like a secret agent, [an] expert at passing unnoticed but dangerous and licensed to kill.”

Now, that’s very alarming.

“There are many different types of molds and fungus that can grow in food, including various species of mycotoxins, but aflatoxin has gained attention more than most others because studies have found clear evidence of its potential for causing carcinogenic effects,” wrote Jillian Levy, a senior writer at DrAxe.com and Ancient Nutrition.

Aflatoxin is produced by a species of fungus called Aspergillus that thrives in the soil around crops grown in hot, humid environments. After harvesting, the fungus continues to grow, producing more aflatoxin.

There are actually at least 13 different types of naturally occurring aflatoxin toxic molds that researchers have identified. Of the 13 species, the type called aflatoxin B1 is considered the most toxic, capable of causing health problems.

“How badly a person is affected by aflatoxin will depend on factors like their current state of health, level and duration of exposure, strength of their immune and digestive system, and overall quality of their diet,” Levy wrote.

According to studies, there are two ways that aflatoxin contamination usually occurs: either you

12 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

consume large amounts at once and experience “poisoning,” or you slowly acquire aflatoxin over time in smaller quantities.

“Large doses of aflatoxin lead to acute poisoning [aflatoxicosis] that can be life threatening, usually through damage to the liver,” the United Nations World Health Organization states. Outbreaks of acute liver failure (jaundice, lethargy, nausea, death), identified as aflatoxicosis, have been observed in human populations since the 1960s.”

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says poisoning is relatively rare but more dangerous and can lead to problems like liver cancer, mental impairments, digestive reactions, coma, hemorrhages and malabsorption.

Among the long-term effects that aflatoxin exposure can cause include: food allergies, autoimmune disease reactions, inflammation that affects the heart, damage to the digestive organs, including the liver and kidneys, and growth and development impairment. It also paves the way for a higher risk for viral hepatitis or parasite infestation.

Research shows that aflatoxin targets the digestive organs most, especially the liver by raising the risk for liver cancer, hepatitis and liver disease. Long-term exposure to aflatoxin is a major risk factor for cancer of liver called hepatocellular carcinoma, which causes liver scarring, loss of nutrients, inflammation of the digestive tract and other serious problems that can lead to death.

Peanuts are consumed in high amounts around the country and most Filipinos don’t know much about aflatoxin. Aside from the popular boiled or fried peanuts,

they are also utilized in many other types of processed foods (peanut butter, packaged snacks like cookies and ice cream, among others).

Aside from peanuts, aflatoxin is also present in corn, another staple food of Filipinos. Corn is also used in preparing feeds for livestock (cattle, chickens, goats, pigs and sheep).

“In chickens, the effects of aflatoxins include liver damage, impaired productivity and reproductive efficiency, decreased egg production, inferior eggshell quality, inferior carcass quality and increased susceptibility to disease,” the UN health agency reports.

“Pigs are also highly affected by aflatoxins, with the chronic effects largely apparent as liver damage. In cattle, the primary symptoms are reduced weight gain as well as liver and kidney damage; where milk production is also reduced. Different forms of the enzymes that metabolize aflatoxins are considered responsible for the different susceptibilities of different animals to the toxic effects of aflatoxins,” it further states.

There’s bad news. “The spread of aflatoxin in corn can be hard to control because of the enormous quantity that it’s grown in, how long it’s stored and how often it’s processed to form other foods,” Levy wrote. “Because some populations eating a lot of corn might already have impaired immunity, aflatoxin in corn is a big concern for liver disease formation.”

In addition, others that are most likely to be contaminated with aflatoxin include milk, cheese and meat (become contaminated due to the spreading in aflatoxin in livestock feed), nuts (especially almonds, pecans, pistachios and walnuts), soybeans and dried spices. Although it’s not commonly eaten, cotton seed is also a major crop that tends to grow aflatoxin.

“In developing nations, many people are exposed to aflatoxin through food grown at home,” said a report. “Inadequate harvesting and storage techniques allow for the growth of aflatoxinproducing fungus, and homegrown crops are not routinely tested for the presence of afla-

toxin. As a result, an estimated 4.5 billion people living in developing countries may be chronically exposed to aflatoxin through their diet.”

Local researchers from government agencies and academe also conducted studies on the aflatoxin contamination of agricultural crops and their products and/or byproducts.

“The data indicated that corn and peanuts are the two commodities that contain toxic levels of aflatoxin,” the studies found out.

Five years ago, the state-run FDA “warned the public against peanut products, including those sold by ambulant and street vendors,” contaminated with aflatoxin.

Are the peanut butter and corn you’re consuming free from aflatoxin?

BULLETIN BOARD

CELEBRATE THE SEASON AT HOTEL JEN MANILA HOTEL Jen Manila ushered the Yuletide season with its Christmas tree lighting ceremony held on November 15. Hotel Manager Frencie Duadua led the ceremony together with the owners Kitchie Benedicto, Pia Ongsiako and Juan Miguel Ongsiako. The event also kicked off the holiday season for the hotel with the best staycation deal, festive delights, specially crafted goodies and a spectacular countdown party overlooking Manila Bay. Araw-Araw ay Pasko Staycation Package: Snuggle up in a comfortable room and celebrate Christmas in the heart of the city from December 1 to 30, 2018, and get the best staycation rate starting at P4,000+ for a Deluxe Room. This includes buffet breakfast for two at Latitude, complimentary scheduled shuttle service to SM Mall of Asia, complimentary parking and valet services, complimentary use of the pool and fitness center and unlimited and unrestricted Wi-Fi access.

n Magsalo na Tayo at Latitude: Latitude, Hotel Jen Manila’s all-day dining restaurant, will be offering a hearty holiday feast with an array of fresh seafood, succulent carveries and decadent desserts. Along with the wide range of international dishes, the special buffet will include seasonal offerings, such as Glazed Ham, Lechon on the carving station; classic Yule Log Cakes, Gingerbread cookies and more.

From December 16 to 23 and 26 to 30, lunch buffet is priced at P1,000 net per person, while dinner buffet is priced at P1,200 net per person from December 15 to 23 and 26 to 30. n Halina-Halina: Christmas Party Package: Hotel Jen Manila can tailor-fit a Christmas party package that will let guests eat, drink, celebrate and get good memories with families, friends and colleagues.

n Salubong 2019: End the year on a high note at Windows by the Bay, where guests will be dancing to the beats spun by the invited DJ. Tickets are at P2,200 net per person inclusive of unlimited light bites, soda, chilled juices, local beers and house wine from 10 p.m. and a glass of sparkling wine for the countdown toast. n Jen’s Goodie Counter: Christmas is the time where indulgence is totally forgivable. Drop by Hotel Jen Manila’s Goodie Counter at the lobby for a sweet selection of cakes, cookies, pastries and other delicacies perfect as gifts. Spread the holiday cheer with the best sellers like banana loaf, chocolate pralines, coconut croons, Christmas lollies and the classic gingerbread cookies and houses.

For inquiries and advance reservations, e-mail hjm@hoteljen.com. Visit Hotel Jen Manila’s web site at www. hoteljen.com/manila and @HotelJenManila on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, for updates and promotions.

CRIS CAHILIG BAGS AWARDS FOR DIGITAL AD FILMS IT may be gratifying to receive international recognitions for our artistic works, but it is ultimately more rewarding when a prestigious Philippine award-giving body acknowledges the sheer amount of talent Filipinos possess when crafting world-class content for the many creative endeavors they get into.

This is the message that trusted leather goods brand McJim Classic Leather wants to convey after its debut short film Pitaka (The Wallet) was hailed on November 14 as the Best Branded Digital Ad at the 40th Catholic Mass Media Awards. It is the newest category in the CMMA that recognizes the shift in media consumption of the modern Filipino.

Directed by public relations entrepreneur Chris Cahilig, Pitaka is the result of McJim’s groundbreaking and innovative efforts to project the best of Filipino values to the world.

“In producing well-executed and compelling short films like Pitaka, McJim has applied its philosophy of style, quality and elegance—the same values that have driven it to produce truly worldclass leather goods through the years,” says Cahilig.

Cahilig affirms this, saying, “I am overwhelmed and thankful that Pitaka has achieved recognition in my own country from no less than the CMMA.

This reminds us that it should not take other countries to reward world-class Filipino excellence. We must acknowledge our own strengths and proudly uphold these before the world.”

McJim’s Pitaka, produced by Cahilig’s Insight 360 Consultancy Services, Inc., bested six other finalists in the category, namely, The Philippine Star’s Andeng (IdeasXMachina Advertising, Inc.); Southstar Drug’s Credo (Estima, Inc.); SM Supermalls’ Daddy’s Girl, Little Things and Tradition (DDB Group Phils); and Manulife Philippines’s Stand Up (J. Walter Thompson Philippines).

Established by the late Jaime L. Cardinal Sin in 1978, the annual CMMA is one of the country’s most prestigious award-giving bodies for the mass media that honors works, individuals and institutions that promote Christian values and ideals—something that is very evident in McJim’s Pitaka.

Pitaka’s storyline pays tribute to the heroism of older members of Filipino families, whose good deeds are sometimes taken for granted by the younger ones. It endorses the timeless Filipino values of sacrifice and perseverance as exemplified by the breadwinner “Kuya” played by Karl Medina, who shelved his personal dreams in order to provide for his younger brother (played by Art

Artienda). The frivolous younger sibling would eventually express his gratitude and appreciation for his Kuya’s efforts through a heartwarming, unexpected gesture.

Pitaka was also made possible by screenplay writer and line producer Juan Archimedes del Mundo, cinematographer Cesca Lee, editor Cyril Bautista, and production manager Max Ganda.

Aside from Pitaka, McJim’s first horror-thriller short film No Strings Attached is also making waves globally, with its recent feat as Best Social Shorts in the Liverpool International Film Festival 2018 in the United Kingdom.

No Strings Attached, which has reaped over 1.5 million views on the McJim Facebook page alone, has been officially selected to participate in seven other international film festivals in the US, Europe and Australia. Together with the LGBT-themed Bag and the more unconventional Sinturon (The Belt), McJim’s short films have been selected in at close to 50 international film festivals in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, France, Serbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico and Italy.

As of this writing, Pitaka has been viewed over 25 million times in various social media platforms.

For generations now, McJim Classic Leather has

CRIS CAHILIG

been the leading and trusted brand for classic leather goods and accessories of superior quality and design.

For more information, visit and like the official McJim Facebook page at https://www.facebook. com/OfficialMcJIM/.

Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 13

HEALTHY FINDS

n MANILA DOCTORS HOSPITAL ADDS FEATHER TO ITS CAP: TAKES HOME 2 PRESTIGIOUS ACCOLADES FROM D.O.H. AND P.H.A.

THE Manila Doctors Hospital(MDH) was awarded the “2018 Outstanding Hospital Award [Level 3-Private]” by the Philippine Hospital Association during the 69th PHA Annual National Convention on November 14 at the Fiesta Pavilion of the Manila Hotel, City of Manila.

As one of the most coveted awards in the healthcare industry, the PHA Awards recognizes the overall commitment to healthcare excellence by hospitals specifically in the areas of Corporate Social Responsibility, Governance, ISO Accreditation, Infection Control, Disaster Preparedness, Green Hospital Initiative, Safety and Patient Care, and Patient Engagement and Education. Transparency in reporting sentinel events/ adverse reactions and the conduct of regular staff meeting (medical and nonmedical) are also included as part of the criteria.

On the same ceremonies, MDH was also recognized for the “DOH Star Awards 2018 Top 10” (Level 3 category), jointly by the Department of Health and PHA. This award recognizes hospitals’ best practices in the delivery of safe and quality health service towards achieving universal health care. Hospitals awarded were judged not just on their compliance with the assessment tools for Hospital Licensure but also their exceptional implementation of the following criteria: Policies and Procedures, features of Patient Safety, Infection Control, Patient Service, Customer and Employee

n DE LOS SANTOS MEDICAL CENTER UNVEILS NEW 128-SLICE CT SCANNER

DE Los Santos Medical Center (DLSMC), a subsidiary of Manuel V. Pangilinan’s MVP Group of Cos. under the Metro Pacific Hospital Holdings, Inc. (MPHHI) banner, unveiled their brand-new GE Revolution Evo 128-slice CT Scanner in a launch ceremony attended by the boards of DLSMC and MPHHI, doctors, hospital staff, special guests and the media.

The launch of the new 128-slice CT scanner bolsters the hospital’s existing radiology services and reiterates it’s commitment to providing patients with the best health-care options and state-of-the-art technology. “Our hospital strives to continuously upgrade our facilities and expand our service offerings to provide doctors and patients all the tools they need for effective and efficient diagnosis and treatment,” shared DLSMC President and CEO Raul C. Pagdanganan.

The hospital’s new 128-slice CT Scanner delivers uncompromised image quality at much lower radiation doses. “This new machine gives our doctors options for quicker procedures with high-quality outputs and lower radiation

14 Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018

PHOTO shows MDH President Elizabeth Dantes (Second from right) and MDH Hospital Director Dr. Hian Ho Kua (Fourth from left) present the awards to Manila Medical Services Inc. (MMSI is the corporate name of MDH) chairman Arthur Ty (center), vice chairman/treasurer Anjanette Dy Buncio (right), and vice chairman Aniceto Sobrepeña (left).

Satisfaction, Community-Focused Activities, and Quality-Driven Improvements.

MDH was the lone tertiary-level private hospital to be awarded with two prestigious recognitions in the said event.

“These prestigious awards are testaments to our sustained commitment to provide quality health care to our customers and people in the communities. These accolades further inspire us to continue to excel in what we do in order to improve ourservices and offer more state-of-theart health-care facilities. We look forward to the coming year as we will upgrade more facilities, offer additional services, establish more doctors’

consultation rooms and inaugurate new admitting rooms at the Norberto Ty Medical Tower 2.

More world-class medical equipments will be made available to patients,” said MDH President Elizabeth Dantes.

As the majority shareholder of MDH, the Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI) has established programs that benefit the poor and the marginalized in meeting their educational and healthcare needs. MDH serves as the health-care arm MBFI, offering a wide array of social services such as subsidies for in-house patients, outreach programs, medical missions and other healthrelated interventions in adopted communities.

exposure, effectively allowing them to help more patients faster and with less risk,” said Dr. Kimberly Ang-Baluyut, Head of DLSMC’s Radiology Department.

The system is built on core technologies that deliver four key benefits—improved image quality, better patient experiences, greater economic value and advanced applications. For patients requiring CT examination, and in particular for those requiring cardiac, brain or peripheral vascular tests, the 128-slice CT Scanner offers the latest advances in CT imaging technology, enabling doctors to achieve better resolution, clarity and definition with each scan. These highresolution and precise images aid clinicians in making more accurate and efficient diagnoses, which ensure accurate treatments.

Additionally, the machine delivers these quality images at very low radiation doses, helping to limit patients’ radiation exposure by up to 82 percent. It also ensures quicker CT procedures, boosting productivity by up to 40 percent and allowing doctors to see more patients faster without sacrificing quality. Procedure speed is a key upgrade for patients such as stroke victims who have a higher chance of survival with faster diagnosis and treatment.

For inquiries about DLSMC CT scan rates, contact the CT Scan Section at 89-DLSMC (35762) ext. 3040, or productinfo@dlsmc.ph or www.facebook.com/DeLosSantosMedicalCenterOfficial.

n AC HEALTH, ATENEO TO HOLD MULTI-STAKEHOLDER CONFERENCE ON UHC

MORE than 300 key personalities from the health-care industry, private sector and academe will gather to attend the first-ever Health Leadership Summit on Universal Healthcare (UHC) on December 3 at the Ateneo Professional Schools Auditorium in Rockwell Center, Makati City.

The Health Leadership Summit was organized by Ayala Healthcare Holdings Inc. (AC Health), in partnership with the Ateneo Professional Schools. AC Health President and CEO Paolo Borromeo said that the conference aims to convene different stakeholders in the healthcare sector to discuss UHC. “Through the summit, we hope to create a platform for collaboration among the key players of the health sector. With the impending passage of the UHC bill into law, it is imperative

HEALTHY FINDS

that all sectors be engaged to ensure that we are all able to contribute, “Borromeo said.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros-Baraquel, vice chairman of the Senate Committee on Health and Demography and one of the co-authors of the bill, will deliver the keynote speech, focusing on the status of UHC, and on key provisions of the bill. Fernando Zobel de Ayala, president and COO of Ayala Corp. and chairman of the Board of AC Health, will deliver the opening remarks.

The whole-day conference will highlight three important pillars of the UHC bill, specifically, Health Financing, Service Delivery Network and Patient Health-Seeking Behavior. Each topic will be discussed by a panel of experts, representing public health, private sector, academe, NGOs and other special interest groups.

The summit discussions will be used to generate a policy paper that will provide lawmakers with timely input in the final stages of the passage of the UHC bill into law.

For more information on the Health Leadership Summit, check AC Health’s official web site, www.achealth.com.ph, and official Facebook page, AC HealthPHL. Those who wish to attend the conference for free may send an e-mail to info@achealth.com.ph on or before November 23. Limited slots are available.

it merrier than by infusing a refreshingly healthy concoction that you can whip up easily at home with friends and family. Whether you’re hosting a party or organizing the menu, be sure to have a refreshing yet healthy drink to quench the thirst of your guests!

Try Old Orchard’s Sparkling Cranberry Punch, a three-ingredient mocktail recipe that’s almost effortless to prepare. It has the right balance of sparkly, sweet and tart—a wholesome drink that goes well with all your favorite holiday food.

Not only is this concoction berry-licious, it also packs a punch. Several studies mention that cranberry juice helps reduce the risk of UTIs. The properties present in cranberry help prevent bacteria in the urinary tract. It is also rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber that are known to prevent cancer and heart diseases.

This Sparkling Cranberry Punch is the festive drink that the whole family will enjoy.

n OLD ORCHARD SPARKLING CRANBERRY PUNCH: PREPARE A BERRY-LICIOUS MOCKTAIL THIS HOLIDAY

OLD ORCHARD SPARKLING CRANBERRY PUNCH MOCKTAIL RECIPE

THE “ber” months call for numerous parties and gatherings, so what better way to make

n Combine two cups of Old Orchard Cranberry Juice w/ 1 tbsp. of lemon juice. n Stir in one cup of sparkling water. n Chill and serve.

naman—nagugutuman? Parangganoon.”

Despite the reasons that hinder Filipinos from going kamayan, one cannot deny the fact that there is really something special when you eat with your bare hands. “The taste of food changes when you eat with your hands. Everything is about the senses, right? You have the sense of smell, taste and touch when you eat with your hands. So, the whole experience is improved,” shared James Deakin.

Apart from showing how using your hands to eat food can bring about comfort toward the people around us and make the food taste better, the film showed how clean hands enable richer experiences.

“Clean hands as a result of proper handwashing is Safeguard’s pabaonto the nation. Through our latest film, Safeguard not only recognizes the health benefits of handwashing but it also wants to remind people of the joys that eating kamayan-style can bring. It is a celebration of the Filipino heritage that is made even more worthwhile with clean hands and allows us to create richer experiences with our loved ones,” said Alex Vogler, associate director, Digital Transformation & Brand Communications for Procter & Gamble’s Beauty Division in Asia Pacific.

Learn more about #GoKamayan on Safeguard’s official web site.

n REDISCOVER THE JOY OF EATING WITH HANDS THROUGH SAFEGUARD’S LATEST FILM

FEASTING with our bare hands is probably one of the most loved of Filipino traditions. And for most Filipinos, eating with hands evokes positive thoughts, brings back great childhood memories and even makes food taste better.

To let people rediscover the joy of eating with hands, Safeguard Philippines released a new film, titled The Dinner. Starring Boy Abunda, AiAi de las Alas, Bianca Gonzalez, Tessa Prieto-Valdes, Neri Miranda, James Deakin, LA Tenorio, Drew Arellano and Chef JP Anglo, the film revolved around these showbiz personalities enjoying a full course meal of Filipino dishes with a twist— they all had to eat with their hands—as they bond over a shared heritage and reminisce how going kamayan is something that all Filipinos should be proud of.

Shot without a script and in just one take, the film captured the celebrities’ real and natural reactions to the experience of eating using their hands. The reactions ranged from pure shock to perplexion when the waiters took away their utensils.

James Deakin said, “This is the oddest thing I think I’ve ever done,” while LA Tenorio wonders, “what’s going to happen here?” But over the course of the dinner, as conversations break out and guests start enjoying their meal kamayan-style, the uneasiness gave way to meaningful talks and bonding.

The celebrities delved into deeper conversations and talked more about the barriers that come in the way of Filipinos eating with hands more often. Boy Abunda asked, “Anobamga stigmas ‘pagnagkakamay?”. Neri Miranda answered, “Nakakahiya naman diba. Kasi grabe

Health&Fitness November 29-December 5, 2018 15