BusinessMirror October 01, 2019

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019 Vol. 14 No. 356

BSP projects inflation at 0.6-1.4% in Sept T

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday said inflation further decelerated in September from its level in the previous month, owing largely to lower rice prices and base effects.

In a statement, the BSP Department of Economic Research announced its projection for the September inflation at 0.6 to 1.4 percent. This means that BSP’s models point to an assured de-

celeration from the 1.7-percent inflation rate in August.

The BSP’s forecast signals the fourth consecutive month that inflation will decelerate and will yield an average nine-month inflation print

of 2.8 to 2.9 percent for this year.

The BSP said the lower inflation is brought about by the continued decline in rice prices and the downward adjustment in electricity rates. However, this could be offset

by the recent uptick in fuel prices, as well as higher prices of selected food items due to weather disturbances during the month.

“Moving forward, the BSP will remain watchful of economic and financial developments that could affect the inflation environment in line with its commitment to price stability conducive to long-term economic growth,” the BSP said.

Security Bank economist Robert Dan Roces—whose forecast is for inflation to hit 1 percent for the month—said base effects are also at play.

“Due to favorable base effects and anticipated consumption factors in the coming months, we expect inflation levels to be See “Inflation,” A2

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PASAY CITY RECLAMATION PROJECT GETS PCC’S NOD

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales

I

@alyasjah

N a first, the Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has approved the joint venture between the city government of Pasay and Pasay Harbor City Corp. to reclaim a 265-hectare land in Pasay City.

T he approval paves the way for the Pasay local government unit to reclaim its municipal waters with the help of Pasay Harbor City, which will bankroll all raw land-reclamation works and expenses. According to the PCC, this is the first time it authorized a merger involving a local government as a party to the transaction.

According to the antitrust body, the merger will not substantially lessen or restrict competition in its relevant market. The PCC said the re-

M3 growth slower in August

Despite transport strike, PUV modernization’s a go

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

D

@lorenzmarasigan

ESPITE its crippling blow to productivity on Monday, the government resolved not to be intimidated by the transport strike led by various groups and will continue to implement the decades-old Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Martin B. Delgra III said the modernization program will be rolled out as planned, albeit the government will be more open to dialogue with the affected parties.

“It’s not an option for us to stop the program because of the transport strike,” he said. “The point is we need to continue to implement the modernization program.”

Monday saw transport groups staging a strike, affecting cities across the Philippines, including the capital, Manila. To cushion the effect of the protest, various government agencies teamed up to provide alternative means of transport for commuters.

Delgra noted that his group will be open to dialogue with the transport groups to thresh out their qualms.

The Philippines is in the midst of a six-year PUV modernization plan aiming to replace old jeepney units with low-emission and fuelefficient vehicles to help reduce air

PESO exchange rates n

pollution and provide better transportation for commuters.

It has been on the government’s drawing board for more than a decade now but only came into effect last year, when the Duterte administration took a hard stance amid opposition from operators.

Under the program, several agencies under the Departments of Transportation (DOTr), Trade and Industry (DTI), and of Finance (DOF) are to work together to remove old and polluting units, replace them with vehicles with larger volume capacities, and improve the roadworthiness of public-utility units.

In a nutshell, the modernization agenda aims to effect a transition from current vehicles plying the road to “high-qualit y public-transit requisites.”

T he t r a n s p or t at ion d e p a r t ment listed these items as follows: “higher capacity vehicles, low - em i ssion ve h ic les, f le et consolidation, reformed business model and an ef fect ive information-technology system.”

Initial benefits of the program to commuters are easier access to public transport due to an expanded network that connects different routes and establishments, and the availability of “more reliable” public transportation means.

Reducing the carbon footprint that the Philippines produces annually, and educating drivers to improve their driving methods See “Transport strike,” A2

claimed area will be used for commercial and residential real-estate projects in Pasay City.

Pasay Harbor City is a partnership made up of Udenna Development Corp., Ulticon Builders Inc. and China Harbour Engineering Co. It submitted its venture as an unsolicited proposal to develop a portion of Manila Bay within Pasay’s domain.

As the country’s antitrust agency, the PCC is mandated by law to review mergers and acquisitions to ensure these transactions will not harm the interests of consumers.

As of latest data, the PCC has received 186 merger proposals from local and international firms, of which 184 have been approved and one was blocked. The transactions have amounted to an estimated P3.21 trillion in terms of transaction value.

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$1,000. This could raise [at least] P25 billion,” he said.

Salceda said the House wants the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to collect at least P76 billion in withholding tax from Pogos.

“So that is about P101 billion per year in incremental revenues.

Because last year, they [Pogos] were paying only P300 million in franchise [fees] to Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.].

HE growth of cash circulating in the local economy slowed down in August this year, despite bouts of cuts in the country’s reserve requirement ratio (RRR).

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed domestic liquidity—broadly measured as M3 —grew 6.4 percent in August this year from its level in the previous year. The growth was slightly faster than the 6.7 percent in July.

The growth led to a total cash supply of P11.9 trillion in the Philippines’s cash stream during the month. A growing cash supply is often beneficial for an expanding economy such as the Philippines, as it provides fuel to the productive sectors of the country.

However, an excessively slow growth in M3 could be detrimental to the country’s overall growth especially if it is not enough to fuel the productive activities in the economy. An excessively high cash supply growth, meanwhile, could stoke inflationary pressures and pull prices upward for the economy.

In its statement on the July domestic liquidity increase, the BSP vowed to continue to monitor domestic liquidity dynamics to ensure that overall monetary conditions remain in line with maintaining price and financial stability.

See “Pogos,” A2

See “M3 growth,” A2

Passengers wait for a ride in Parañaque City on Monday, as public transport drivers and operators proceeded to stage a strike to protest the phasing out of jeepneys under the government’s Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) Modernization Program. NONIE REYES

House wants to slap ‘presumptive tax’ on Pogos

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

T

@joveemarie

HE House of Representatives is drafting a bill that imposes a presumptive corporate income tax of $1,000 per seat on Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), a move projected to add at least P25 billion to the government’s coffers.

House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Joey Salceda said

this bill, which will be filed soon, will act as the country’s “circuit breaker,” which can reduce the systemic risk of Pogos to the country’s economy. According to Salceda, the Pogo industry contributes 1.5 percent to the country’s GDP. Salceda, an economist, said his bill will include “best” measures “to control the wild gyrations, potential wild gyrations” of Pogos.

“One, we are imposing a presumptive corporate income tax of

US 52.0420 n japan 0.4820 n UK 64.0117 n HK 6.6376 n CHINA 7.3067 n singapore 37.6788 n australia 35.1856 n EU 56.9600 n SAUDI arabia 13.8730 Source: BSP (30 September 2019 )

News

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A2 Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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DOF dares JFC: Prove ‘imaginary job losses’

By Cai U. Ordinario

T

@caiordinario

HE foreign chambers in the Philippines lacked transparency when they said passing the Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (Citira) would lead to unemployment, the Department of Finance (DOF) said on Monday.

In a statement, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua said the Joint Foreign Chambers of the Philippines (JFC) was not able to provide a basis for these “imaginary job losses.”

Chua said the government remains firm in its estimates that

the Citira or the proposed second package of the comprehensive tax reform program (CTRP) would create 1.5 million jobs.

“We have been listening to them and asking them in almost every meeting for two years now to give us more details on what kinds of

jobs they are referring to, in which industries, and in which areas of the country, so we can help,” Chua said.

“Secretary Lopez of the Department of Trade and Industry, who chairs both Peza [Philippine Economic Zone Authority] and BOI [Board of Investments], already said that we are open to continue supporting footloose industries.

So why won’t they give us more details on their claims? Their lack of transparency is a little bit suspicious, don’t you think?” he added.

Chua also said many JFC members, who are currently paying the regular income tax rates, will also benefit from the Citira with the reduction in corporate income tax (CIT) rates.

The DOF official noted that apart from the reduction in CIT rates, companies involved in high labor-intensive industries can

“We’ve been...asking them in almost every meeting for two years now to give us more details on what kinds of jobs they are referring to...Why won’t they give us more details?

Their lack of transparency is a little bit suspicious, don’t you think?”—Chua

also benefit from the additional 50-percent deduction on labor, under Citira.

He said this also means the Citira grants performance-based incentive that guarantees jobs. Through the incentives, firms can maximize their incomes while providing jobs.

Chua said another incentive is additional deductions for training or upskilling. Companies that invest in the training and upskilling of their employees get an additional 100-percent deduction or a total of

On Senate prodding, DOT says will regulate AirBnbs Continued from A8

Mainland Chinese working in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators usually come in on a tourist visa, though reforms in recent months led by the Department of Finance have compelled all concerned to follow Philippine immigration, labor and tax laws. An earlier estimate by this paper’s sources put Chinese Pogo workers at some 300,000. Several property consultants have said Pogo workers are driving the demand for condominium units and worker dormitories.

Visitor arrivals from China grew by some 36 percent to 1.04 million in the first seven months of the year, albeit slower than the 40-percent boost they gave in the same period last year.

According to STR’s Consumer Travel Insights of 2018, “Travel is increasingly about seeking new,

unique and authentic experiences due the rise of the sharing economy.” This is why, said STR Business Development Manager for Asia Pacific Fenady Uriarte, there is a growing number of travelers, especially those between 16 and 34 year old, who prefer to stay in AirBnbs when they go on vacation. “AirBnb offers guests a more authentic experience than hotels can offer,” she noted.

Hotel Sales and Marketing Association Inc. President Christine Ibarreta said, so far, the hotel industry has yet to be widely affected by the growing number of AirBnbs in the country. She explained, “for four-star hotels and serviced apartments, we’re still doing very well in revenues and Revenue per available room, which is important businesswise.”

She noted that guests who use AirBnbs are “mainly the millenni-

Rice. . .

Pogos. . .

“Assuming no further increase in other uses of rice, the total rice use is projected to increase from 13.91 [MMT] in 2019 to 15.88 [MMT] in 2030,” the document added.

Based on the latest survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the country’s per capita consumption in 2015 to 2016 declined to 109.875 kg from 114.265 kg in 2012.

Latest PSA figures showed that both the average wholesale prices of well-milled rice (WMR) and regular-milled rice (RMR) are down by as much as 20 percent from their last year’s quotations.

The average wholesale quotation of WMR in the first week of September fell by 16.23 percent to P38.61 per kg from P46.10 per kg last year, PSA data showed. This is now the latest average wholesale price of WMR since the third week of May 2017, when the variety posted a quotation of P38.61 per kg.

Likewise, the average wholesale price of RMR declined by 20.72 percent to P34.40 per kg from P43.39 per kg last year, PSA data showed. The latest figure is the lowest since the fifth week of December 2017, when average wholesale price of RMR was at P34.35 per kg.

The draft blueprint indicated that the country’s total rice requirement would increase to 14.45 MMT by 2022 and 15.18 MMT by 2026.

The money is on top of what is paid to Pagcor plus they pay P378 million in employee withholding tax,” he said. “[Pogo] employees are paid through PayPal, so essentially [payments made to them] are very difficult to monitor,” Salceda added.

The lawmaker said the bill will require the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to include Pogos as a separate item in the Balance of Payments account under service exports.

Continued from A8

Caveat: other factors at play

However, the draft roadmap pointed out that the projections made by the DA “preclude other factors that can affect consumption.”

It read: “Rise in per-capita income may initially result in higher expenditure in food, including rice.”

Experiences in other countries, it added, “showed that further increase in income also triggers a shift in diet from foods high in carbohydrates to those rich in protein, vitamins, and minerals. With higher income level, consumers also prioritize food quality and nutritional value over quantity.” The draft road map said the above-mentioned factors would “affect the future of rice supply and demand in the Philippines.” Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

Continued from A1

M3 growth. . .

Continued from A1

The BSP said demand for credit remained the principal driver of cash supply growth during the period.

BSP data showed bank lending also eased during the month.

In particular, outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks grew at a slower rate of 10.5 percent in August from 11.1 percent in July.

Loans for production activities—which comprised 87.4 percent of banks’aggregate loan portfolio—grew by 9 percent in August, slower compared to the pace recorded in the previous month at 9.8 percent.

Russia. . .

Continued from A8

Foreign citizens should leave the territory of the Russian Federation only through checkpoints of the constituent entity of the Russian Federation which they entered.

Their passports must be valid for

als who are more adventurous and budget conscious. They normally go out with friends and colleagues and stay in AirBnbs.”

She added, these kinds of guests also have the option to book themselves in two- to three-star hotels, whose rates are a little bit higher [than AirBnbs], but have upgraded facilities and professional staff.”

The Department of Budget Management (DBM) has proposed a P3.48-billion budget for the DOT Office of the Secretary in 2020, almost 13 percent higher than the latter’s budget this year.

Of the amount proposed for 2020, the largest chunk at almost P2 billion will be allocated to the office’s Market and Product Development Program.

There will also be available some P4.58 million for the Tourism Development Fund “sourced from the accreditation, identi-

fication card, sticker and code fees…” in accordance with Republic Act 9593, or the Tourism Act of 2009.

The DOT also has access to trust receipts from contributions of the Duty Free Philippines Corp. amounting to P134.12 million in accordance with strict disbursement rules.

The DBM proposed a budget of P78.76 million for the Intramuros Administration in 2020, up 23.3 percent from 2018’s budget; and P250.44 million for the National Parks Development Committee, up 6.2 percent from the latter’s budget for 2018.

The DOT aims to attract 9.2 million foreign visitor arrivals in 2020, up 12.2 percent from this year’s target of 8.2 million.

It is also aiming for P661 billion in inbound tourism receipts next year, 17.2 percent higher than this year’s target receipts.

“I have requested the PSA [Philippine Statistics Authority] to have a separate line under services for Pogos, just like BPOs [businessprocess outsourcing] that has a separate item,” Salceda said.

“In a way this will legitimize Pogo operations, not just the grant of franchise by Pagcor.

This provides a platform for the industry, a more solid platform,” he added.

Citing its initial list, the Department of Finance (DOF) said there are some 138,000 foreigners working in Pogos, 54,241 of whom have been given alien employment

permits. The remaining 83,760 have special working permits.

Last month, the DOF ordered the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to shut down the operations of Pogos, as well as service providers that fail or refuse to pay the tax liabilities of their foreign workers.

Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez said he issued the order to the BIR, an attached agency of the DOF, due to the slow pace of collecting withholding income taxes from Pogos despite the issuance of 130 letter-notices to these firms.

The Pogos’ collective tax liabilities amounted to P21.62 billion.

The growth in produc tion loans was driven primarily by lending to the following sectors: real-estate activities (17.7 percent); financial and insurance activities (16.3 percent); electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply (11.2 percent); construction (39.2 percent); and wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycle (3.7 percent).

According to the Central Bank, lending to other sectors also increased during the month, except to those in sectors of professional, scientific and technical activities—which declined by 38.9 percent—and other community, social and personal activities which was down 35.9 percent.

Meanwhile, loans for household consumption grew by 25.4 percent in

August from 23 percent in July, due to f a s te r g row t h i n m o to r ve h i c l e, credit card and salar y-based general purpose consumption loans during the month.

Amid calls from the market, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno earlier this year decided to cut its RRR down by 200 basis points.

The implementation of the cut will be in three stages: the first 100 basis point cut was effective May 31; another 50 basis point cut in June 28; and the last 50 basis point cut was effective July 26.

Each cut effectively frees up approximately P90 billion of peso liquidity in the local financial system. Diokno made another cut to the local banks’ RRR just last week, by 100 basis points.

at least six months from the date of application for an e-visa, and must have free space for border crossing stamps. Foreign citizens who have arrived in the Russian Federation with e-visas are required to have a medical insurance valid on Russian territory for the entire period of stay.

The ministry clarified, meanwhile, that the allowed period of

stay in the Russian Federation of up to eight days under an e-visa does not imply that one can stay for the entire 192 hours (24 hours multiplied by 8). The period of stay in the Russian Federation always starts at midnight of the day of passage through passport control upon entry regardless of the actual time of passage through passport control.

Bianca Cuaresma

200 percent on their training costs.

This, he said, will benefit industries such as those in the businessprocess outsourcing sector, which has been experiencing problems in the supply of skilled labor.

The DOF official said the proposed law provides an additional 50-percent deduction on local purchases of inputs to link small and medium enterprises to the supply chain, enabling them to grow and create jobs.

“We must remember that this reform must be treated as a package. We cannot pursue one aspect, which is the reduction of the CIT rate, without pursuing the other, which is the modernization of the fiscal incentive system, if we want to be fiscally prudent,” Chua said.

President Duterte reiterated in his fourth State of the Nation Address (Sona) in July his request for Congress to pass the Citira bill.

The proposed law aims to energize micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) by gradually reducing the CIT rate from 30 percent to 20 percent.

The bill also seeks to reform the country’s fiscal incentives system to make it performance-based, targeted, time-bound and transparent.

Following the President’s directive, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the proposed CIT cut and rationalization of incentives will indeed boost MSME growth.

DOF said under the current corporate taxation system, a select group of 3,150 corporations registered under IPAs enjoy discounted effective CIT rates of 6 percent to 13 percent; while small and medium-sized businesses, which employ a majority of Filipino workers, pay the regular tax rate of 30 percent, which is the highest in the region.

Most PUV drivers can’t afford modern vehicles–labor group

By Samuel P. Medenilla

A

@sam_medenilla

MILITANT labor group said many public-utility vehicles (PU V ) drivers will simply not be able to afford the government’s modernization programs.

In a statement, Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Executive Vice Chairman Lito Ustarez said PUV drivers, particularly those of jeepneys, do not earn enough to pay for new state-of-the-art vehicles being offered by the government.

Citing data from the Pinagisang Lakas ng mga Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston), he said jeepney drivers and operators earn an average of P500 to P600 daily. “ Top - of - t he -l i ne jee pne y s tod ay repor ted ly cost about P600,000 to P700,000 or $11,000 to $13,000. The new model the government wants drivers and operators to buy costs P1.6 million to P 1.8 million, or between $30,000 and $35,000,” Ustarez pointed out.

Cu r re nt ly, t he Ph i l ip pi ne

Inflation. . .

Continued from A1

below 2 percent until November 2019. With this, we have also adjusted our 2019 average inflation estimate to be at 2.5 percent, and remains consistent with the prevailing assessment of a benign inflation outlook over the policy horizon for the rest of the year,” Roces said.

Last year, inflation hit its peak of 6.7 percent in September and October.

“Our estimate takes into account the latest pump price increase caused by tensions in the

Statistics Authority (PSA) does not include jeepney drivers in its regular Occupational Wages Survey (OWS) and thus has no data on their average monthly income.

The OWS only covers establishments with 20 or more workers.

To comply with the mandatory modernization program, Ustarez said PUV drivers will be forced to pass on their additional costs to consumers.

“A jeepney phaseout will most definitely also affect commuters,” Ustarez said.

On Monday, major transports groups held another nationwide protest to oppose the phaseout of old jeepneys and UV express units, leaving hundreds of commuters stranded.

KMU supported the demonstration, saying it will benefit commuters in the long run.

“If the Duterte government succeeds in phasing out the current PUVs, and transfers the ownership to big local businessmen and foreign investors, the fare hike of PUVs will continue unabated,” Ustarez said.

Middle East that caused global oil prices to rise. However, we do not see a repeat of the inflationary push similar to last year as production levels are slowly normalizing in Saudi Arabia.

We also accounted for the fallout from the African swine fever [ASF] that pushed prices for pork substitute goods to go up very slightly,” Roces added.

In their latest monetary-policy meeting, the BSP said the forecast an average of 2.5 percent for inf lation for 2019 as price growth will continue to decelerate and breach the low end of the target range “primarily due to base effects.”

Transport strike. . .

and techniques are part of the program.

“There is a need for us to continue this program, which is not a one-program-fix-all. Consultations are ongoing and we are listening.

We know the issues that they raise, but we will continue with the implementation of the program — it may be a bit slow or maybe a bit fast, depending on the issues raised,” he said.

This is the fourth transport strike held against the PUV modernization program since President Duterte took office.

‘Spare 15-year-old’

Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga

Continued from A1

Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) President Mody Floranda said operators and drivers are asking the government to delete certain provisions in the program, particularly the phaseout of 15-yearold jeepneys.

The right approach, he said, is to refurbish existing units to meet the standards set for transport modes.

“It is very clear that we are not against modernization. But what we need is rehabilitation,” he said.

Floranda said the strike was successful, as it “paralyzed 95 percent of Metro Manila, and 100 percent in other regions.”

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DND urged to freeze 3rd telco pact with Dito Telecommunity

S

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

en. Francis Pangilinan, citing a pending risk analysis review, prodded the Department of National Defense (DND) on Monday to defer action on a proposed agreement between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Dito Telecommunity, the third telco proponent poised to install private telecommunication towers inside military camps.

In a news statement, Pangilinan pointed out that “a risk analysis that will say that the technology is safe and secure is essential so that we have a better sense of how prepared we are for the technology should we allow telco towers to be set up in our military camps.”

The senator aired his concern at the hearing on the budget of

the DND, citing potential risks to national security.

He noted that Dito Telecommunity, formerly Mislatel, is known to be a consortium of Davao businessman Dennis Uy’s Udenna Corp. and its subsidiary Chelsea Logistics Corp., and Chinese state-owned China Telecommunications Corp., listed as the parent company of China Telecom.

The still wary Pangilinan added that an assurance from Dito Telecommunity such installations will not be involved in intelligence gathering inside the AFP camps that will host the foreign-owned telco towers and will not compromise Philippine national security is “not enough.”

Addressing Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, the senator said: “You and I, Secretary, will agree that is not enough. And that we have to have even a party independent from the Armed Forces going through its own cyber-security risk assessment.”

Pangilinan asserted that “an independent entity should have undertaken the same. And that’s why I’d like to see the memorandum of agreement [MOA] as well.”

The senator told Lorenzana the premature public announcement of the MOA signing was found to be “a bit odd.”

“I just find that a bit odd that there was a public statement of the MOA signing, when, in fact, the secretary had yet to go through and scrutinize the contract,” Pangilinan said. “But I hope there was no attempt at forcing the hand of Secretary Lorenzana to approve…because it had already

been reported in the media and publicly announced as a done deal.”

Pangilinan added: “It looked like it was a done deal—at least, perception-wise, Mr. Secretary. But we’re thankful that, on record, Secretary Lorenzana has said that he is still reviewing this and that he has the power to approve or disapprove the said MOA.” At the same time, the senator recalled Interior Secretary Eduardo Año admitting discomfort with regard to a similar project proposed by China International Telecommunications and Construction Corp.—an affiliate of state-owned China Telecom.

Pangilinan recalled that in the DILG case, the proposed surveillance system seeks to install 12,000 CCTV cameras to be provided by Huawei. “It was Secretary [Eduardo] Año who said for example that there were some provisions that he was concerned about in case of a dispute in the said contract, citing, for instance, a provision that said Hong Kong would be where a dispute should be settled—or at least arbitration proceedings in Hong Kong.

He found that objectionable,” the senator added..

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 AA3

Hong Kong grants salary, food allowance hikes to Pinoy HSWs

By Samuel P. Medenilla @sam_medenilla

F

ilipino household service workers (HSWs) in Hong Kong will now be getting a higher pay.

In an advisory, Hong Kong Officer in Charge Labor Attache Antonio R. Villafuerte said the Hong Kong government raised last Saturday the minimum allowable wage (MAW) for all HSWs in Hong Kong from HK$4,520 to HK$4,630.

Likewise, the food allowance of HSWs in Hong Kong was also increased from HK$ 1,075 to HK$ 1,121.

“It will be applicable to all contracts signed on or after September 28, 2019,” Villafuerte said.

The labor official said HSWs

employers in Hong Kong were given the following dates to submit their updated employment contracts to the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) to reflect the new rates: October 15 for individual submission; and October 10 for agency submission.

“This arrangement will [prove to be] sufficient for this office to process the contract before October 25, which is the deadline set by the Immigration Department for accepting contracts with old MAW,” Villafuerte said.

Hong Kong is the third most popular destination for Filipino HSWs, only coming next to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Data from DOLE shows there are almost 200,000 Filipinos working in Hong Kong.

Military concludes DAGIT-PA joint exercise

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he Armed Forces of the Philippines concluded on Monday its third multiservice military exercise with a ceremony at the AFP Education Training and Doctrine Command (AFPETDC) at Camp Aguinaldo.

During the exercise, which ran from September 16 to 27, different units from the Army, Air Force and Navy, including reservists, took part in major joint interoperability activities, as well as command post exercises.

The events included amphibious operations, airfield retake and aviation operations, urban operations and cyber defense training throughout Northern and Western Philippines.

“AJEX DAGIT-PA [AFP Joint Exercise DagatLangit-Lupa] brought out the best in our troops during various field and staff exercises. Our units from the regular and reserve force greatly benefited from this multiservice exercise that

aimed to develop our skills and capabilities in joint sea, air and land operations. We do this to better perform our mission of protecting the people and the state,” said Commodore Adeluis Bordado, commander of AFPETDC and exercise director for AJEX DAGIT-PA. The exercise encompassed four major events that included air and maritime interdiction in Palawan; amphibious operations in Zambales; airfield seizure and military operation in urban terrain in Nueva Ecija and combined arms live fire in Tarlac.

During the exercise, the AFP showcased four of its newly procured amphibious assault vehicles during the amphibious exercise in Zambales. Reservist also played a vital role in exercises that sought to enhance military capabilities on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Rene Acosta

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

The World BusinessMirror

Oil steady as investors weigh Mideast tension vs. trade woes

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il was steady after the biggest weekly loss since July as investors weighed rising tension in the Middle East against the prospect for an escalating trade dispute between the United States and China.

Futures were little changed in New York after falling 3.8 percent last week. Yemen’s Houthi rebels, which claimed responsibility for attacks on Saudi Arabia’s energy facilities two weeks ago, said they had captured soldiers from the kingdom during an operation near the border of the countries. Beijing said it would continue to open up its financial markets amid reports that the US is considering restrictions on fund flows to China.

While oil has given up most of its gains since the attack on Saudi Arabia as the kingdom restores lost output quicker-than-expected, crude is still set for a monthly advance. The world’s two largest economies are heading into another round of high-level trade talks following China’s weeklong national holidays starting October 1.

Their prolonged dispute has already almost halved oil consumption growth, Citigroup Inc. said earlier this month.

“Tensions in the Middle East are on the rise and the market needs to start pricing this premium in at some point,” said Howie Lee, a Singapore-based economist at OverseaChinese Banking Corp. “It seems incredulous how prices have almost completely retracted the spike” af-

ter the attacks, he said.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for November delivery lost 12 cents to $55.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 7:45 a.m.

London time after gaining as much as 66 cents earlier. The contract fell 50 cents to $55.91 on Friday. Prices are up 1.2 percent this month.

Brent for November settlement, which expires Monday, fell 26 cents to $61.65 a barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange. Prices are up 2 percent this month. The more-active December contract was down 15 cents to $60.89. The global benchmark crude traded at a $5.85 premium to WTI. Thousands were captured on Saturday including “many Saudi commanders, officers and soldiers,” the Houthi rebels said in a statement carried by the Saba news agency. The action came a day after the kingdom agreed to a limited cease-fire with the Iranian-backed rebel group.

The US has issued a partial denial after a Bloomberg report indicated that it’s discussing imposing limits on American investments in Chinese companies and financial markets. China said it will encourage foreign financial institutions and funds to invest in the domestic financial market to boost competitiveness of its financial system, according to a summary from the eighth meeting of the Financial Stability and Development Committee posted on its web site on Sunday.

Bloomberg News

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

China to send its top trade negotiator to US for talks

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan speaks during a press conference on the sidelines of the upcoming 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China in Beijing on Sunday, September 29, 2019. AP Photo/Ng Han Guan

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EIJING—China’s top trade negotiator will lead an upcoming 13th round of talks aimed at resolving a trade war with the United States, a senior Chinese official said on Sunday.

Vice Premier Liu He will travel to Washington for the negotiations, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen said.

He didn’t give exact dates, but said the talks would be after China’s National Day holiday, which runs through October 7.

“The two sides should find a solution through equal dialogue in accordance with the principle of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit,” Wang said at a news conference with other officials, in-

cluding Commerce Minister Zhong Shan.

The Trump administration first imposed tariffs on Chinese imports last year in a bid to win concessions from China, which responded with titfor-tat tariffs. The escalating dispute between the world ’s two largest economies has depressed stock prices and poses a threat to the global economy.

Both sides have made conciliatory gestures ahead of the next round of talks, but a deal

remains elusive.

The US postponed a further tariff hike on Chinese goods, and China lifted punitive duties on soybeans. The move helps both American farmers and Chinese pig breeders, who use soy as feed and are struggling with a devastating outbreak of African swine fever.

The Chinese government released a third round of 10,000 tons of pork from its reserves Sunday to try to stabilize rising prices ahead of the holiday, Vice Commerce Minister Qian Keming said at the news conference.

China also has increased pork imports 40 percent in the first eight months of this year, as well as those of other meats.

Qian said the average wholesale price of pork had edged down slightly during the week of September 16 to 22 to 36.4 yuan ($5.11) per kilogram. AP

First-ever drop in South Korean prices would flag deflation risk

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outh Korean consumer prices likely dropped for the first time ever in September, raising the specter of deflation for a nation struggling with falling exports and cooling household demand.

Inflation data on Tuesday is expected to show consumer prices fell 0.3 percent from a year earlier, according to economists surveyed by Bloomberg. Prices were flat in August and have decelerated from a gain of 0.8 percent in January.

South Korea has long grappled with below-target inflation, but unlike its neighbor Japan, it has managed to stave off falling prices and the longer-term problem of deflation. Some economists define deflation as two consecutive quarters of dropping prices, so even if Korea’s prices fell in September it doesn’t mean the economy is afflicted with the malaise, yet. That’s a view that policy-makers in Seoul are keen to make as they insist the September data will represent more of a blip than a trend.

Yet, the latest indicators show the risk of a fall into deflation is greater than ever, with weak economic growth dampening prospects for demand-led inflation. Negative inflation for September would increase calls for more policy action from the Bank of Korea (BOK),

including rate cuts.

Producer prices, which tend to presage movements in headline inflation, have fallen two months running. Exports are headed for a 10th monthly slump, squeezing corporate profits and weighing on wages and consumption, and industrial output dropped in August the most in six months, the government reported Monday. Economists forecast gross domestic product will expand at the slowest pace in a decade in 2019 as trade feuds damp global growth.

Unusually high food prices last year are part of the reason for soft inflation numbers now, a factor that has given government officials reason to downplay the risk of deflation. The central bank says inflation will rebound to the 1 percent-level next year, once those base effects disappear. A measure of prices that excludes food and energy has hovered around 1 percent so far this year, indicating some resilience in the underlying inflation trend.

“It’s true many people are concerned about deflation,” BOK Governor Lee Ju-yeol told reporters on Friday. “But if we’re looking at whether or not it’s deflation in the strict sense, signs don’t point to it yet.”

Still, South Korea’s aging population and a declining potential growth rate are two structural factors pushing the economy toward deflation in the longer term.

In the short term, a combination of falling import prices and slumping domestic consumption are to blame for weakness in inflation, Hyundai Research Institute said in a September 20 report, pointing to “steadily increasing odds of deflation.” The GDP deflator, a measure of inflation in domestically produced goods and services, has dipped below zero for three consecutive quarters through June.

South Korea’s headline inflation has trailed the central bank’s 2-percent target every month this year and for most of 2018. The BOK cut its key interest rate to 1.5 percent in July, but held pat in August.

Most economists see another reduction in October or November to 1.25 percent, with some seeing the bank easing to 1 percent or even 0.75 percent next year.

“If inflation is high blood pressure, deflation is like hypothermia,” said Cho Dong-keun, an honorary professor of economics at Myongji University.

“South Korea’s economy is clearly hitting a low point and will probably stay there and that can lead to deflation.”

Bloomberg News

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

A5

Saudi crown prince says Iran war would bring down global economy

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audi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman warned that war between his country and Iran would lead to a “total collapse of the global economy” and said he prefers nonmilitary pressure to stymie Iranian ambitions.

“If the world does not take a strong and firm action to deter Iran, we will see further escalations that will threaten world interests,” the prince said in an interview for CBS’s 60 Minutes on Sunday.

“Oil prices will jump to unimaginably high numbers that we haven’t seen in our lifetimes,” he said, adding that a “political and peaceful solution is much better than the military one.”

The September 14 aerial attacks on two Saudi oil installations that knocked out almost 5 percent of global supply, which the United States and Saudi Arabia blamed on Iran, were motivated by “stupidity,” the prince said. “There is no strategic goal. Only a fool would attack 5 percent of global supplies.”

The prince said he took “full responsibility”for the murder of government critic and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Asked how he could have been unaware of

the operation, he said he can’t know “what 3 million people working for the Saudi government do daily.”

Tense relations

“This was a mistake,” the prince said.

“And I must take all actions to avoid such a thing in the future.”

The question of the prince’s role in the murder has particularly weighed on the kingdom’s relations with the US, a key ally. President Donald J. Trump has shielded the prince even as Congress condemned Saudi Arabia. Prince Mohammed first spoke publicly about the killing in October last year at an investor conference in Riyadh, calling it a “heinous crime” and promising that the killers would be brought to justice.

He reiterated calls for Iran to stop backing Shiite militants in Yemen in a war that’s killed thousands and triggered one the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bloomberg

“First, if Iran stops its support of the Houthi militia, the political solution will be much easier,” the prince

said. “Today we open all initiatives for a political solution in Yemen.”

He said he’s in favor of Trump and

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani holding face-to-face talks. Trump had talked up the possibility of meet-

ing Rouhani until the attack on Saudi oil fields. Iran has denied involvement in the strikes. Bloomberg News

House Democrats want expeditious Johnson denies grabbing lady journalist’s thigh impeachment probe against Trump W

ASHINGTON — House Democrats are planning a rapid start to their push for impeachment of President Donald J. Trump, with hearings and depositions starting this week.

Democratic leaders have instructed committees to move quickly—and not to lose momentum— after revelations that Trump asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to investigate his potential 2020 Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, and his family. The action is beginning even though lawmakers left town Friday for a two-week recess.

The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., says his committee is moving “expeditiously” on hearings and subpoenas. That committee, as well as the House Oversight and Reform Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, have scheduled depositions starting this week for State Department officials linked to Trump’s dealings with Ukraine.

A look at next steps as Democrats march toward an impeachment vote:

Busy recess

Members of the House Intelligence Committee have been told to be prepared to return to Washington during the break. California Rep. Jackie Speier said she has already canceled some of her previous commitments.

“We’re expected to be here,” Speier said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told the Democrats they need to “strike while the iron is hot” on impeachment, sending the committees into overdrive. Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat, said a plan is “being formed very rapidly.”

“What I know for sure is that momentum will not slow,” Himes said.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.,

said they will have to “work harder” and “sleep less.”

Long witness list

Schiff’s committee has been negotiating to interview the whistleblower who began the firestorm by reporting to the inspector general for the intelligence community that Trump had urged the investigations on a July phone call with Zelenskiy.

Schiff told ABC’s “This Week” that his panel had reached agreement to hear from the whistleblower, who would testify “very soon.” Schiff said the exact date would depend in part on how quickly acting Director of National Intelligence Joseph Maguire completes the security clearance process for the whistle-blower’s lawyers.

“We’ll keep obviously riding shotgun to make sure the acting director doesn’t delay in that clearance process,” Schiff said.

The complaint from the whistleblower, whose identity is not publicly known, was released last week after Maguire withheld it from Congress for weeks. In the complaint, the whistle-blower said White House officials moved to “lock down” the details of Trump’s call by putting all the records of it on a separate computer system.

The inspector general who handled that complaint, Michael Atkinson, is slated to testify to the Intelligence Committee in private on Friday, according to a person familiar with the committee who was spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

Lawmakers on the committee say they also want to speak to White House aides who were present for the call and to Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal lawyer, who urged the investigations. Giuliani told ABC on Sunday that he “wouldn’t cooperate” with Schiff, but if Trump “decides that he wants me to testify, of course I’ll testify.”

Schiff says he hasn’t decided wheth-

er he wants to hear from Giuliani.

Democrats say they hope to finish the investigation in a matter of weeks—perhaps even before Thanksgiving.

Articles of impeachment

Once the committees have finished their own investigations, the committees will submit their findings to the House Judiciary Committee, which oversees the impeachment process.

Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., who serves on the Judiciary Committee, said the Intelligence Committee will be the “star of the show” as it investigates Trump’s activities related to Ukraine. Articles of impeachment would be drafted by the Judiciary Committee and, if adopted, sent to the House floor.

The Judiciary Committee Chairman, Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-NY, has said he wants resolution on impeachment by the end of the year.

Jayapal said that deadline “absolutely” stands, and that the plan is to be done before January, or “perhaps sooner.”

Republican resistance

Republicans have focused their ire about impeachment on the Democrats, criticizing the probes as a rerun of a two-year investigation into Russian election interference in the 2016 election.

California Rep. Devin Nunes, the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee, said Democrats “don’t want answers, they want a public spectacle.”

“They have been trying to reverse the results of the 2016 election since President Trump took office,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.

Slower Senate

If the House votes to approve charges against Trump, the Republicanled Senate would then hold a trial. AP

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has his hair combed as he prepares to appear on a TV political show at Media City in Salford, England, before opening the Conservative party annual conference on Sunday, September 29, 2019. Johnson headed to the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, where the party is widely expected to endorse government plans to spend more on the country’s National Health Service. Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP

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ANCHESTER, England — UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced political opposition and personal allegations on Monday as he tried to fulfil his pledge to lead Britain out of the European Union in just over a month.

The prime minister’s office denied a journalist’s claim that Johnson grabbed her thigh at a private lunch two decades ago. Sunday Times columnist Charlotte Edwardes says the incident took place when she worked at The Spectator, a conservative newsmagazine, while Johnson was its editor.

Johnson’s office said “This allegation is untrue.”

Edwardes responded by tweeting: “If the prime minister doesn’t recollect the incident then clearly I have a better memory than he does.”

Johnson also is under scrutiny for claims that an American businesswoman, Jennifer Arcuri, received money and perks from London coffers while Johnson was mayor of the British capital. He denies wrongdoing.

The allegations overshadowed the Conservative Party’s four-day annual conference in Manchester, where Johnson is trying to rally the party under the slogan “Get Brexit Done.”

Johnson has vowed that Britain will leave the European Union on the

scheduled date of October 31, with or without a divorce deal governing future relations with the bloc. The personal allegations were a distraction from that effort and overshadowed the conference.

Treasury chief Sajid Javid said he had “full faith in the prime minister,” adding: “I don’t think it’s a good idea to get drawn into personal allegations.”

But Health Secretary Matt Hancock said he knew Edwardes and “I entirely trust what she has to say.”

Meanwhile, opposition parties, who want to prevent a no-deal Brexit, were due to meet in London on Monday to plot their next move. AP

A6 Tuesday, October 1, 2019 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

editorial

Science shows the way to cheaper medicines

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ongress should give a bigger budget for science and technology projects and provide more scholarships and research funds to Filipino scientists. Science and technology innovation can solve real problems in our country—food security, water sufficiency, sustainable energy, among others.

The recent story on BusinessMirror’s Science page showed that S&T innovation can also help make cheaper but effective medicines. According to the story we featured from S&T Media Service last Sunday, university-based researchers and pharmaceutical laboratories in the Philippines have been developing local cures for gout, inflammation, hypertension and diabetes under the Department of Science and Technology’s Tuklas Lunas program.

Clinical trials are also ongoing for the management of dengue using a fixeddose combination of three plants.

In the Tuklas Lunas program, the Department of Science and TechnologyPhilippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD) partners with institutions in various regions to study their biodiversity potential for drug research. The institutions’ diverse outputs are attributed to the resources peculiar and abundant in each region.

A few years back, the National Integrated Research Program on Medicinal Plants of DOST-PCHRD successfully developed medicines from lagundi and sambong plants.

Most medicines are usually offered at higher prices since they are developed abroad and are distributed by multinational companies. The cost of medicine in the country remains one of the most expensive in Asia.

A previous study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies said retailer markups for both generic and branded products range from 2 percent to a high of 355 percent, including the 12-percent value-added tax.

Thankfully, medicines for diabetes, high cholesterol and hypertension have been exempted from value-added tax starting 2019. Despite the VAT exemption, however, even the Department of Health (DOH) admits that medicines for these ailments and other chronic conditions are still too expensive, and that the Philippines is still paying higher prices when compared internationally.

Medicines here are still sold up to four times the international reference prices, whereas branded innovator products are sold up to 22 times higher, especially in private hospitals and pharmacies, according to Health Undersecretary Rolando Enrique Domingo.

This is the reason the DOH has recommended at least 120 drugs to the Office of the President for the imposition of maximum drug retail prices, pursuant to the Cheaper Medicines Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9502).

The proposed list of 120 drugs covers conditions, such as hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung diseases, neonatal diseases and major cancers. The list also covers high cost treatments for chronic renal disease, psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis, which were requested by several patient organizations and medical societies for inclusion in the price reduction efforts of the government.

Under the maximum retail price scheme, prices of selected medicines are expected to have a mean price reduction of 56 percent from the prevailing market prices once an executive order is signed by President Duterte.

One of the major factors affecting the cost of drugs in the Philippines is the country’s heavy dependence on imports. Our drug industry has no capacity to produce the active substances or basic raw materials used in drug manufacture. Except for a few firms, most of the players in the industry merely buy finished bulk chemicals from abroad and recompound, reformulate and/or package them into finished products.

This is where S&T innovation and programs like Tuklas Lunas can help immensely, as they harness the potential of our own resources to develop drugs, making them more accessible and affordable to communities.

The DOST asked for a P20.18-billion budget for 2020, which is P79.85 million lower than its 2019 allocation of P20.26 billion. The department and its life-saving programs like Tuklas Lunas certainly deserve a much bigger budget.

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

In a coma or just taking a nap?

John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

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he first “modern” stock exchange that most investors today would easily recognize and be comfortable trading in it opened for business about 200 years ago. Not much has changed.

My experience in the markets goes back about 50 years and also in this period about the only substantial changes are the speed of information and the convenience of computerized data. Otherwise, the market has always worked about the same way.

Back then as now “investors” park their money in stocks rather than in a bank and “speculators” buy and sell to move the price higher or lower. Then as now, speculators buy thinking the price will be higher in the future and sell if they believe the opposite. Investors are just along for the ride and they hope it will be a

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THE Entrepreneur

T. Anthony C. Cabangon Lourdes M. Fernandez

However, last week something happened with stock prices that has only happened eight times in this century and each time the market has gone down a great amount.

When it happened in March 2001, the Philippine Stock Exchange index finally bottomed out 30 percent lower. It occurred again in 2002 and the PSEi fell 20 percent. In 2008 this event caused a 47-percent decline. Since then the following declines took place after this event: 2011 down 10 percent, 2013 another 10-percent fall, 2015 saw a drop of 18-percent, followed in 2016 by a 9-percent decrease in the PSEi. The 2018 event took prices down 15 percent.

The event this past week is exactly the same as those previous instances.

Will the result be the same? If so, then the PSE has been in a critical condition, like in a coma. If not, the market will soon wake up from its nap.

Either way, we will surely know soon.

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.

Modern agriculture key to easing poverty

✝ Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Publisher

happy experience.

I wonder if 200 years ago there were as many “experts” as there are now that think they can read the minds of the speculators and know what these money-movers will do next?

At the beginning of the year, usually everyone is optimistic. Here’s what some formidable experts had to say: “We expect 2019 to be a turnaround year…inflation has finally been contained...our year-end fair value for the PSEi is 8,400.” “We begin the year bullish on equities…we believe that investors will prefer economies that will show higher growth for

2019. Our bull case scenario for the PSEi is 8,776.” “We remain optimistic on Philippine stocks for 2019…Our base expectation is for the PSEi to reach the 8,500-point level in 2019.”

“2019 seems to be a year of recovery and an almost sure bet that it would be a better year than 2018…. We look at the PSEi level to be around 8,100 for the year.”

While economic growth is a bit lower than expected, inflation went from 5 percent to less than 2 percent.

That’s good. Interest rates or the cost of money is 15 percent lower than in January. That is also good. The peso is slightly stronger against the dollar for the year but more important is rock solid stable. But the stock market after nine months of trading is up about 2 percent or virtually unchanged.

I do not pretend to have any idea what investors/speculators are thinking or why. What I look at is what prices are doing, what prices have done in the past, and what that might mean for the future. I can say this: Economic growth, good inflation, and lower interest rates have had absolutely no positive effect on stock prices.

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odernizing the agriculture sector holds the key to reducing, if not eliminating, rural poverty in the Philippines. And part of the modernization process is farm diversification, or a more balanced agricultural production that is not necessarily focused on the rice sector.

I believe Agriculture Secretary William Dar, given his technical expertise, is the right man to bring the traditional sector to the modern age.

He has that mindset of making farmers entrepreneurs. He subscribes to the idea that for farmers to survive global agriculture, they must modernize to give them a chance to eventually export their produce.

The services and industry sectors grew in line with the 6-percent average expansion of the gross domestic product in the past few years, but our agriculture sector lagged behind with a paltry annual growth of just 1 percent to 2 percent, and even a contraction in case of severe weather disruptions.

Such is the case in 2015 when the sector shrank 0.1 percent. It rebound-

ed slightly by 1.4 percent in 2016 and sustained it with a moderately strong expansion of 3.95 percent in 2017, before barely expanding by 0.56 percent in 2018.

Millions of Filipinos still depend on agriculture and fisheries for their income. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show the sector employed 10.26 million Filipinos or about a quarter of the total labor force in 2017. Nearly half of farmers and fishers were self-employed whose income was mainly seasonal.

An onslaught by a typhoon could easily submerge or wipe out a season worth of crops.

Filipino farmers are among the poorest because of low farm productivity and seasonal income, ancient farming technology, limited crop diversification and the lack of access to the export market. This is why

many of the children of our farmers decided to switch to other sectors, leaving agriculture in the hands of their aging parents. The situation is exacerbated by climate change that manifests in either long drought or powerful storms.

Fortunately, Secretary Dar knows the sector well. He received his PhD in Horticulture from UP Los Baños in Laguna, taught at Benguet State University and served as the first director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research in 1988 and the director of the Philippine Council for Agricultural Research and Rural Development in 1994.

He had a successful stint as the director general of India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, a research center in the influential Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research.

As a specialist, he employs a scientific approach and uses evidence for decision-making. This is what we need if we are to pursue the modernization of the agriculture sector and achieve a more balanced growth that covers all crops, aside from rice, corn and coconut.

We know from our travels abroad that modern farming methods can improve the quantity and quality of crops. Thailand, for example, is known for its excellent fruit harvests and aquaculture products aside from being a major rice exporter.

In a policy paper, Dar said agriculture requires a “new thinking” to achieve a new level of modernization and industrialization.

To improve farmers’ income, he pushes for the sector’s modernization, industrialization, export promotion, consolidation of small- and medium-sized farms, infrastructure development, higher budget and investment in agriculture, legislative support and road-map development.

I believe diversification will reduce farmers’ dependence on a single crop like rice. We have a growing market for all types of crops, especially with the young generation’s increasing preference for all-natural and healthy products.

With a rapidly growing population, demand for food in the Philippines will also rise and the local market will always have an appetite for fresh produce from our farmers.

What our farmers need is a guidance from technical experts, like Secretary Dar, on how to produce better crops at a more efficient way in order to beat the cost and quality of imported items.

In other words, Filipino farmers should be equipped with modern technologies to produce world-class products and thrive in the era of globalization.

For comments, e-mail mbv.secretariat@gmail. com or visit www.mannyvillar.com.ph.

Opinion BusinessMirror

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Renewable-energy pitfalls in the Philippines

‘No one is too small to do something’ Manny F. Dooc

TELLTALES

Atty. Irwin C. Nidea Jr.

Tax law for business

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any people are now aware of the catastrophic effects of climate change. Protests all over the world that are spearheaded by a child (Greta Thunberg) are now gaining traction. Action is now being demanded by the future generation.

One of their significant demands is that we shy away from fossil fuel, which is the primary cause of climate change. Nations must tap the unlimited resources of renewable energy, instead—sun, wind, water.

The Philippines, being located in the ring of fire and is predicted to be adversely affected by climate change, has recognized the need to give priority to renewable energy by enacting the renewable energy law (RE law). This law aims to encourage stakeholders to develop and build facilities that will produce renewable energy by giving them tax incentives.

When an RE developer sells fuel or power generated from renewable sources of energy, the sale is imposed zero percent value-added tax.

Also, the purchases of local supply of goods, properties and services related to the development, construction and installation of the power facilities are imposed zero percent VAT. But importation of equipment is not given the same incentive because only local purchases that will be used for the construction and development of RE facilities are given that privilege. Since sale of RE is zero-rated, it follows that all input VAT derived from importation are attributable to such zero-rated sale.

There is no output VAT from which the input VAT derived from importation can be offset. It must follow that the input VAT is refundable.

Unfortunately, refund of input VAT is not cast in stone. Members of the Philippine courts are divided on two issues. These must be resolved to determine the viability of a refund claim by an RE developer: a) whether an RE developer must first engage in sale of renewable energy before it can ask for refund of its input VAT; b) whether the phrase “attributable to” means that only input VAT from purchases that are “directly” used for the production of renewable energy is refundable.

Should an RE developer first engage in sale of renewable energy before it can claim refund of its input VAT? One school of thought is that an RE developer must have already declared a sale of renewable energy before it can avail of the refund mechanism. In other words, if an RE developer is still building the facilities and is not yet operational, all input VAT derived from its importation and other sources can never be refunded. This is based on the premise that the input VAT must be “attributable” to a zero-rated sale.

Since the RE developer is still in its preoperation stage, there is no zerorated sale from which the input VAT may be attributable to.

The second school of thought, on the other hand, argues that all future sale of an RE developer is zero-rated VAT anyway. As long as it is shown that there is a sale of renewable energy, albeit not in the same period that the input VAT was incurred, it must follow that the input VAT incurred and paid by an RE developer is attributable to the sale of renewable energy. An RE developer has no other objective but to engage in zerorated sales, i.e., sale of fuel or power generated from renewable energy.

Thus, all input VAT incurred from preoperation stage is refundable.

The phrase “attributable to zerorated sales” does not refer only to sales that had already occurred in the past, but can be made to refer to sales yet to be made. The law does not require a taxpayer to have zero-rated sales in prior period or within the period covered by the claim before filing a refund of its input taxes. In other words, the law does not require that in a claim for refund of input VAT that there be sale of renewable

energy at the time the claimed input VAT was incurred or paid.

What does “attributable to” mean?

What is your purpose?

This is a fundamental question not just in life, but also in the struggle to find meaning to the phrase “attributable to.” What is the purpose of the pen and the paper that were used by an RE developer to order the machines needed to operate a solar panel? They only have one purpose— to harness solar energy.

But the input VAT derived from the purchase of the pen and the paper used in buying the machines is in danger of not being qualified for refund. It may eventually be considered as not “directly” attributable to the sale of solar power, or any renewable energy for that matter.

Who is to say what is directly attributable to zero-rated sales and what is not? There is no clear rule.

One school of thought argues that it will result in subjective judgment per item of purchase, with no clear and legal guidelines other than the vague parameter of the word directly.

RE developers have no other objective but to engage in zero-rated sales, i.e., sell power derived from renewable energy. If you say that the pen and the paper are not directly attributable to zero-rated sale, when there is no other purpose for the pen and the paper but such sale, you also have to say the same on the helmets of human beings who construct the buildings of a renewable-energy facility. In other words, if you will conclude that the pen and the paper are not as important as the solar panel, you should also be ready to conclude that the helmets used by the workers to protect their heads are not as important as the same solar panel.

It is worth noting that Revenue Regulation 9-89 has set guidelines that companies engaged in purely zero-rated sales are entitled to VAT refund.

The second school of thought, on the other hand, believes that the law clearly wants to preserve or restrict the refund incentive only to those which are directly attributable to the zero-rated sales—sale of renewable energy. What if the RE developer is only engaged in zero-rated sales (sale of renewable energy) and does not generate output taxes against which to offset the input taxes incurred outside of its zero-rated sales? It argues that refund is not an option while the business exists.

These are two issues that make investors think twice of investing on RE in the Philippines. The risk of not being able to recover input VAT while it explores, develops and builds the RE facilities that will harness the sun, wind and water is imminent.

I hope that when the dust settles, the policy-makers and the courts will see the true and only objective of harnessing renewable energy, and that is to produce sources of energy without compromising the future of our children.

The author is a senior partner of Du-Baladad and Associates Law Offices, a member-firm of WTS Global.

The article is for general information only and is not intended, nor should be construed as a substitute for tax, legal or financial advice on any specific matter. Applicability of this article to any actual or particular tax or legal issue should be supported therefore by a professional study or advice. If you have any comments or questions concerning the article, you may e-mail the author at irwin.c.nideajr@ bdblaw.com.ph or call 403-2001 local 330.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 A7

‘T

he child is the father of the man” is an aphorism borne out by the recent furor over the phenomenal child, Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish climate activist who stole the thunder from blabbering politicians. Without doubt, Greta has become the poster child of the campaign against climate change. She has been called “a mentally ill Swedish child” by Michael Knowles, an American conservative, during a Fox News interview, and mocked by no less than President Donald J. Trump who described her as a “very happy young girl looking forward to a happy and wonderful future.”

Despite all these disparagements, Greta remained unperturbed and stayed focused on her work. In a speech delivered before the UN Climate Change Summit in New York, she lambasted world leaders. Without mincing her words, she said: “You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words.

You’re failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal.

The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.”

Adult words from a young girl who is only in her high-school years.

Strong language from an autistic girl enfeebled by Asperger disorder by her own admission. True to her Viking heritage, she is undaunted by the formidable challenges she faces. When asked what an individual can do in the face of an overwhelming problem that engulfs us, she replied: “No one

is too small to do something. Everyone can help to make a difference.”

What makes her extraordinary and inspiring is that she’s just a young school girl. A teener who should be more concerned with Friday night gimmicks and spending more time in beauty salons, vainly conscious of pimples and freckles instead of carbon emissions and global warming.

Incredulously, she’s more conversant with the terms of the Paris Agreement than the lives of the current teen idols and heartthrobs. “Climate change is the biggest crisis humanity has ever faced.... It will signal the end of our civilization…. We are failing, but we have not yet failed. We can still do something about it. It’s up to us.” Just listening to her gives us adults a sense of betrayal and guilt.

Let’s not fail our children and the unborn generations who will inherit the Earth, the only one we got.

‘You can’t eat steel!’

Cecilio T. Arillo

database

F

ORTY years ago, exactly on September 28, President Ferdinand E. Marcos, aware that the agriculture-based economy could not compete with the emerging markets in Asia, ordered the implementation of the country’s 11 heavy industrialization projects and announced this before the University of the Philippines Law Alumni Association.

At that time, the country was already on the way to Nic-hood (newly industrialized country) status.

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

In reaction, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)-World Bank and their allies that included the President’s technocrats, led by thenPrime Minister Cesar Virata; the Makati Business Club, led by the late Jaime Ongpin and the ZobelAyala group; the Center for Research and Communication, an institution associated with Opus Dei, whose spokesman was Dr. Bernardo Villegas; and even the National Economic Protectionism Association immediately went to work, relentlessly blocking and delaying the projects at every turn.

They even came up with a sardonic slogan to dramatize their opposition to President Marcos: “You can’t eat steel!”

For three years, the Marcos regime fought them but only two of the projects went through, the Iligan Steel Mill and the copper smelter. The President was visibly irritated over the negative reactions of the IMFWorld Bank and the Makati business group, prompting him to issue a strong public statement accusing them of sabotaging the country’s industrialization plan.

A year later, Ninoy Aquino, who ignored the government’s request to

suspend his return to the country, was assassinated on his arrival at the airport. The incident triggered a political and economic crisis in the country, exacerbated by a spate of oil price increases, inflation, capital flight and the deliberate tightening control of credits by the IMF-World Bank and other foreign creditors.

As a result, the plan for massive industrialization evaporated into thin air.

Consequently, the economy after President Marcos turned from bad to worse despite his successors’ accumulated budgets of more than P9 trillion. This huge budget was supposed to spur economic growth.

But look what happened.

Records showed that none of them, or all of them combined, could even match President Marcos’s economic infrastructures of roads, bridges, hospitals and schools; a tri-modal system of transportation of air, land and sea; communication facilities; energy infrastructure and the laws required to safeguard the economy and make it progressive.

Marcos crafted and formulated, with the help of experts, 7,883 Presidential Decrees (PD) and other legal issuances from September 21, 1972, to February 26, 1986, a span of 14 years.

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

They are categorized as follows: Presidential Decrees (1 to 2036); Letters of Instruction (1 to 1525); Letters of Implementation (1 to 157); General Orders (1 to 61); Executive

In a speech delivered before the UN Climate Change Summit in New York, Greta lambasted world leaders: “You have stolen my childhood and my dreams with your empty words. You’re failing us, but young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say we will never forgive you.” nnn

And speaking of women empowerment and women’s expanding role in our society, Malayan Insurance Co. Inc., the leading nonlife insurance player in the country, has come up with a program designed to empower the Filipino women by providing them with financial security mechanism that suits their needs and helps them manage risks. We Women is a product developed by Mico in partnership with the International Finance Corp. (IFC) to provide a comprehensive financial program for women. Its vision is to be the premier nonlife insurance partner of every Filipina and, to make this a reality, a customized insurance solution was created for them called “Simply The Easiest Life Assistant” or Stela. Stela secures the assets of Filipino women by providing them specific insurance solutions based on their needs. It covers exhaustive areas of concerns ranging from family (Stela Shield and Stela Family), home (Stela Home), motorcar (Stela Wheels), and business (Stela Biz Silver, Gold and Red). Ask for it and an appropriate Stela solution is readily available to be the woman’s

Marcos crafted and formulated, with the help of experts, 7,883 Presidential Decrees and other legal issuances from September 21, 1972, to February 26, 1986, a span of 14 years. Justice Manuel Lazaro said these laws set the rules, regulations and penalties for almost every facet of lawful and ethical human conduct— from birth to grave.

Orders (366 to 1093); Administrative Orders (349 to 504); Proclamations (1081 to 2486); and Memo Circulars (599 to 1297).

“These are laws and policies that impacted as well on the economic, social, political and national security life of the nation; they are designed not only for the past, but also for the present, as well as the future; and they are exclusive of the hundreds of laws that he authored and sponsored as congressman and senator for almost two decades,” Lazaro said.

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

Interestingly, the rationale and purpose of the PDs repealed or modified were resurrected in enacting Article 134-A of the Revised Penal Code, as amended by Republic Act (RA) 6968 (law on coup d’état). Notably, 7,816 issuances are still effective and enforced up to the present. These laws still apply and govern the nation today, said Lazaro.

These laws are eloquent proof of the wisdom, vision, dedication and foresight that Marcos possessed in formulating them as instruments of good and effective governance.

According to Justice Lazaro, no president in the country’s legal history had codified more laws as he did that are still effective and are being enforced today. Worth mentioning are the 15 codified laws, with social and economic relevance. These are the Local Tax Code (PD 231); Labor

partner for growth, security, success and independence.

Who else but a woman can truly understand the needs and aspirations of our Filipino women. Yvonne Yuchengco, vice chairman and longtime former president and chief executive of Mico, conceived and led the product development and launching of We Women and the unique solutions to many exigencies which every woman inevitably confronts. “Under our banner program We Women, Malayan is offering Stela, a line of nonlife insurance and lifestyle solutions for the Filipina, with specific women differentiator coverages, a first in the Philippines’s nonlife insurance market,” Yuchengco explained.

IFC Philippines Country Manager Yuan Xu added that “women are the main caretakers of children and elderly in most cultures. Hence, improved access to insurance can shield women and their family against shocks in life, which results in better future for their children and the country as a whole.”

Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa pledged support for the We Women Program and emphasized that women have gargantuan goals and responsibilities in society, backed by powerful voices and dreams. “Truly we can find a superhero in every woman, be it Darna, Wonder Woman or Captain Marvel.” nnn

Not every woman can be like Greta Thunberg or Darna but she can start empowering herself now with We Women—a reliable woman’s companion in charting and mastering her own destiny.

Code of the Philippines (PD 442); Real Property Tax Code (PD 464); Child and Youth Welfare Code (PD 603); Insurance Code (PD 612); Revised Forestry Code (PD 705); Code of Sanitation (PD 856); Coconut Industry Code (PD 961); Water Code (PD 1067); Code of Muslim Personal Laws of the Philippines (PD 1083); National Building Code (PD 1096); Philippines Environment Code (PD 1152); Fire Code (PD 1185); Government Auditing Code (PD 1445); Tariff and Customs Code (PD 1464); and Code of Agrarian Reform (PD 444).

“More important,” Lazaro said, “there is the Judicial Development Fund, the wellspring of the financial benefits of the members of the judiciary. There is also the Pagcor, a consistent source of revenues for the country.”

“Marcos’s achievements and contributions are a matter of record.

The laws he issued are embedded in the country’s legal system and they continue to guide and safeguard the nation and its people.”

Compared to the Marcos years, the economic situation now is retrogressing, instead of progressing.

The country is in the worst cycle of deficit spending and borrowing.

There’s nothing wrong to borrow money as long as you use it to build more assets for the country, like what Marcos did. But if you squander it, pocket it and enrich yourself, the people will suffer.

Remember the whistle-blower who said, “Moderate your greed.”

He said that because the economy has become transactional and extortionate, making the Philippines one of the most corrupt in the world.

After exiling the Marcoses to the US, Aquino abolished the Ministry of Human Settlements and the Ministry of Energy. These were the agencies that served as linchpins for the government’s overall social and economic development with huge and growing assets and professional staff. Former First Lady Imelda Marcos headed the former and Geronimo “Ronnie” Velasco the latter.

Modesty aside, they were the bestrun ministries organized by Marcos with specific tasks to socially ameliorate the country’s mass of homeless and hungry people, and to provide the required energy infrastructure for industrialization.

A8 Tuesday, October 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

On Senate prodding, DOT says will regulate AirBnbs

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

T

@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror

HE Department of Tourism (DOT) is looking to regulate AirBnb facilities.

DOT officials made this commitment at the agency’s budget hearing at the Senate on Monday.

Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat told the BusinessMirror, “We need a national law [to regulate AirBnbs]. Senators [Richard] Gordon and [Nancy] Bi-

nay instructed us to draft a law regarding AirBnbs.”

Gordon is a former tourism secretary, while Binay chairs the Senate Tourism committee.

She added that the regulation of AirBnbs can also be accomplished via local ordinance, which will be

faster to accomplish. “This will enable us to get more accurate data regarding how many AirBnbs we actually have,” she noted, as their owners will need to get business permits and other licenses to operate their facilities from local government units.

AirBnb is basically an online marketplace where rooms, homes, condominium units owned by private individuals are rented out to tourists at usually less than hotel and resort rates. The San Francisco-based company has also added “travel experiences” in destinations through services offered by private individuals registered on the site.

A search through AirBnb for Philippines indicated about 5,000 rooms and homes available for short-term or long-term lease. It also has some 50 travel experiences on offer.

Pogo workers

Complaints from condominium dwellers who have noticed other units being rented out as AirBnbs have been rising. Said Benny Ramos (not his real name) in Filipino, “In our condominium, there are a lot of Airbnb tenants who are messy; they are mostly Chinese. This is a growing problem in our condo.”

Continued on A2

‘Cheap imports may drive up rice consumption’

T

HE influx of cheaper imported rice with the opening up of the domestic market will drive up the country’s total requirement of the staple by 14.16 percent to nearly 16 million metric tons by 2030 from the current 13.91 MMT. This is one of the projections of the Department of Agriculture (DA) under the latest draft of the

Philippine Rice Industry Roadmap (PRIR), a copy of which was obtained by the BusinessMirror.

The draft blueprint has yet to be approved by the Agriculture Secretary and will still undergo further contextual analysis. The latest draft was based on previous consultations with rice industry stakeholders.

The draft blueprint stipulated

TYPHOON "ONYOK" 290 KM NORTH NORTHEAST OF BASCO, BATANES as of 4:00 pm - September 30, 2019

that the wholesale price of rice is expected to drop to P35 per kilogram from P40 per kg last year as a result of higher volume of imported rice.

The DA estimated that the wholesale price of 25-percent broken rice would be about P35.31 per kg. Due to this, the country’s annual per capita rice consumption will increase by 3.63 percent from

110 kg to 114 kg, according to the draft document.

“Given t he 2018 domest ic wholesale price of around P40 per kg, the reduction to P35 per kg will encourage the consumption of more rice. Thus, the annual per capita rice consumption is expected to increase from 110 [kg] to 114 [kg],” the document read.

See “Rice,” A2

Russia has e-visa for Filipinos

S

TARTING October 1, 2019, all nationals of the Philippines may be granted an e-visa to enter Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region, the Russian foreign ministry has announced.

The e-visa is free. Invitations, hotel booking confirmations or any other documents confirming the purpose of a visitor’s journey to the Russian Federation are not required for an e-visa. The period for issuing an e-visa will take no more than four calendar days from the date of submission of the complete application, the ministry added.

To obtain an e-visa, a Philippine national must fill out an application on a special site of the Russian Foreign Ministry https://electronicvisa.kdmid.ru/spb_home_en.html no later than four days prior to the expected arrival date.

E-visa is a single-entry visa and issued for 30 calendar days from the date of its issuance. The permitted stay in the Russian Federation with an e-visa is up to eight days starting from the date of entry, within its validity period. E-visa validity and/or the permitted stay under it cannot be extended.

An e-visa issuance notification will be posted on the special site https://evisa.kdmid.ru/en-US/ Home/StatusCheck.

E-visas can be of the following categories only: ordinary business visa (purpose of journey is business), ordinary tourist visa (purpose of journey is tourism), and ordinary humanitarian visa (purposes of journey are sports, cultural, scientific and technological ties). If the purpose of a journey to the Russian Federation does not correspond to any of the above, one should apply for a traditional (nonelectronic) visa at a diplomatic mission or consular office of the Russian Federation.

See “Russia,” A2

AMID FALLING FARM-GATE PRICES, VILLAR TELLS NFA TO BUY FROM FARMERS

S

EN. Cynthia A. Villar on Monday said she would directly complain to President Duterte if the National Food Authority (NFA) fails to do its job of buying palay from local farmers amid falling farm-gate prices in provinces.

Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, issued the warning to NFA Administrator Judy Carol Dansal during the Department of Agriculture’s budget hearing.

“Kapag hindi sila namili at hindi nila pinagbili, pupunta na ako kay Presidente. Kasi kami palagi ang naiisyuhan tungkol sa hindi nila pamimili ng rice. Sasabihin ko sa Presidente. [If they will not buy (palay) and will not sell (rice), I will go to the President.

Because we are always blamed every time the NFA doesn’t buy rice. I will report that to the President],” she told reporters in an interview.

Villar raised the issue about NFA’s procurement program and market participation anew as senators did

their initial review of the proposed 2020 budget of the Department of Agriculture. The hearing was also attended by the grains agency’s administrator.

“They should sell their stocks in the market so they could roll over their funds. Especially now that the harvest season is near, they should buy rice from local farmers,” Villar said.

“Because that is their mandate, to buy rice from the local farmers and sell it to the Filipino consumers at reasonable price,” she added.

Villar noted that if the NFA would not be successful in fulfilling its mandate, local government units have committed to procure palay produced by their respective farmers.

“The LandBank said they have lent to 30 governors, who will buy rice for their use and to help also the farmers. LandBank would provide them loans with 2-percent interest. They just have to pawn their IRA [internal revenue allotment],” Villar said.

Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

NBP inmates file class suit vs new GCTA rules

By Joel R. San Juan

A

@jrsanjuan1573

CLASS suit was filed before the Supreme Court on behalf of the inmates of the New Bilibid Prison (NBP) affected by the recent revision by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) of the provisions of the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 10592 or the expanded good conduct time allowance (GCTA) law.

In a 47-page petition, the convicted inmates through lawyer Rolito Abing asked the court to stop the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor) and the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) from retroactively applying the exclusions introduced under Section 1 and Section 3 of RA 10592 or the expanded GCTA. The petitioners, in particular, are seeking the nullification of provisions of the new IRR which exclude recidivists, habitual delinquents, escapees and those charged with heinous crimes from benefiting from the expanded GCTA, time allowance for studying, teaching and mentoring (TASTM) and special time allowance for loyalty (STAL).

They argued that such IRR provisions violate the constitutional prohibition against ex post facto law.

An ex post facto law is defined “as one which makes an action done before the passing of the law and which was innocent when done, criminal, and punishes such action; or which aggravates a crime or makes it greater than it was when committed.”

The petitioners pointed out that Section 1 of RA 10592, amending Article 29 of the Revised Penal Code, and Section 3, thereof, amending Article 97 of the RPC, cannot be applied retroactively due to prohibition against ex post facto law.

“The retroactive application of disadvantageous provisions of RA 10592 would work to the prejudice of petitioners and those who are similarly situated. The same would preclude the decrease in the penalty attached to their respective crimes and lengthens their prior stay,” the petition read.

“As a result, the law made more onerous the punishment for the crimes they committed. This is not allowed under the constitutional provision against ex post facto laws,” it added. The petitioners insisted that under RA 10592 any and all convicted prisoners are entitled to GCTA, TASTM and STAL; thus, the IRR of the expanded GCTA went beyond what is provided under the law.

The petitioners said the exclusion of disqualified convicts from any GCTA constitutes a violation of their right to equal protection of the law. “Assuming arguendo that doubt exists in the interpretation of the law, still the same should be resolved in favor of the offender,” the petitioners said.

The petitioners identified the unconstitutional provisions of the IRR of the expanded GCTA as Section 2, second paragraph, Rule 4, 5 and 7 as well as Section 1 (2nd and 3rd paragraphs) which also exclude certain convicts from benefits of the GCTA law.

The petitioners slammed the DOJ and the DILG for succumbing to public outrage and media criticisms at the expense of a fair implementation of RA 10592.

“With the foregoing, it becomes clear that the deprivation of application of greater GCTA and consequent prolongation of imprisonment of herein, petitioners are those similarly situated constitute violation of their substantive rights,” the petitioner stated.

“Absent any showing that they are not eligible for GCTA, they have to be made beneficiaries of the same, regardless of the nature of the crime they were convicted of.

They must be accordingly released by the DOJ and BuCor regardless of whether the same will cause public outrage,” the petitioners said.

The expanded GCTA law has increased the reward of time being deducted from the prison term of persons deprived of liberty.

In a ruling released in June, the SC declared that the said law should be applied retroactively. However, the DOJ and the DILG were forced to craft a new IRR for the expanded GCTA after public outrage greeted reports showing that former Calauan Mayor Antonio Sanchez will soon be released owing to the retroactive application of the expanded GCTA. Sanchez was convicted in the rape-slay case of UP Student Eileen Sarmenta and for the killing of her boyfriend Allan Gomez in 1993.

The controversy prompted the President to sack then BuCor chief Nicanor Faeldon for the premature release of heinous-crime convicts from the NBP due to erroneous application of the expanded GCTA. He also ordered the almost 2,000 heinous-crime convicts who were prematurely released to surrender for a review of their records.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra earlier said they welcome any legal challenge to the revised IRR.

News BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph

British chamber to PHL: Liberalize retail trade sector

By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah

T

he government has to liberalize the retail trade sector if it intends to attract more British firms to do business in the Philippines, an industry leader said on Monday.

British Chamber of Commerce Philippines (BCCP) Executive Director Christopher Nelson said the government has to prioritize the passage of a law that will further open up retail trade to foreign participation. He claimed this will keep firms based in the United Kingdom interested in the Philippines in the face of tighter regional competition for investments.

“We have been a key supporter of the Retail Trade Liberalization Act, which during the last Congress we also went [there and] stated our viewpoints. Unfortunately, it didn’t get passed in that Congress.

However, it has been revived in this current Congress,” Nelson said in a news briefing.

Lawmakers of the previous Congress tried to pass a measure that will relax minimum capital and requirements in retail trade. If approved under the current Congress, Nelson said, this will help the government and the private-sector pitch the Philippines to foreign investors.

“That is just one more signal to invest [in the country], as it is something we can promote when we go back to the UK,” the BCCP executive said.

Last week, the House Committee on Trade and Industry endorsed for plenary deliberation and approval the proposed amendments to the Retail Trade Liberalization Act. The measure will allow foreign enterprises to be engaged in the retail trade business with a minimum paid-up capital of $200,000.

This is significantly lower than the required $2.5-million capitalization under the existing version of the retail trade law.

Its counterpart measure in the upper chamber, Senate Bill 921, authored by Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian, is pending for committee approval. In his explanatory note, Gatchalian argued the opening up of the retail trade sector will create more employment opportunities.

“Considering that market competition benefits the Filipinos, especially the poor, through job creation made possible by the entry, growth and expansion of efficient firms, and through lower prices that result from greater variety and higher quality of goods and services, this bill proposes to do away with these barriers to foreign investments by requiring lower minimum equity and capitalization requirements under the Retail Trade Liberalization law to create a more favorable investment climate in the country,” Gatchalian explained.

However, local retailers are opposed to the amendments, saying the liberalization of the sector will only lead to tighter competition for micro, small and medium enterprises.

As much as large retailers can hold their ground against foreign rivals, MSMEs are seen to be on the receiving end with the opening up of retail trade.

Based on Philippine Statistics Authority data, investments from the UK last year declined close to 25 percent P3.81 billion, from P4.98 billion in 2017.

Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, October 1, 2019 A9

DA culls 20,000 hogs amid new ASF outbreaks in Bulacan, Pangasinan

By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

T

@jearcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday said the number of hogs culled by the government has now reached 20,000 heads after new outbreaks of African swine fever (ASF) were confirmed in Bulacan and Pangasinan.

The latest figures reflect increase of 5,000 heads from the 15,000 total pigs culled by the government as disclosed by the DA in its previous update on the outbreaks last week.

The DA said there are now more than 13 ASF outbreaks in the country including additional cases in Pangasinan, Bulacan and Pampanga.

The DA added that they are now cordoning and quarantining additional areas in Bulacan and Pampanga to control and contain the spread of the fatal hog disease.

The DA vowed to name the additional areas next week once the government completes the necessary quarantine measures.

The DA said only a third of the 20,000 pigs or about 6,600 heads were infected with ASF, while the remaining two-thirds were culled as part of government control measures.

Pangasinan’s case

IN a Facebook post on Sunday, Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino III disclosed that some of the 60 seized illegally transported hogs in Pangasinan tested positive for ASF. Espino explained that the 60 hogs were transported to Pangasinan from Bulacan by illegal hog traders and were brought to their holding area, or kubol-kubol, owned by the traders which had 11 pigs.

Espino has ordered the implementation of the 1-7-10 protocol from the holding area to ensure that the ASF virus from the infected hogs would not spread to nearby farms. The total 71 pigs owned by traders were already culled and buried.

Espino pointed out that the ASF has not affected, yet, backyard farms in Pangasinan after some of the hogs within the 1-kilometer radius that were culled were negative for the fatal animal disease.

EU-Asep allots P141M to fund power projects in Davao del Norte, del Sur, Oriental

By Lenie Lectura

T

@llectura

HE European UnionAccess to Sustainable Energy Programme (EU-Asep) has allotted P141.1 million to fund rural electrification projects in the provinces of Davao del Norte, Davao Oriental and Davao del Sur. EU-Asep has allotted P70.5 million for Davao del Norte Electric Cooperative Inc. (Daneco), about P40 million for Davao Oriental Electric Cooperative Inc. (Doreco) and P30.6 million for Davao del Sur Electric Cooperative (Dasureco) to provide access to renewableenergy (RE) technologies for far-flung and off-grid areas.

The three electric cooperatives inked an agreement with Yamog Renewable Energy Development Group Inc., the implementing nongovernment organization of the power project, to illuminate off-grid communities through RE systems in the provinces. A memorandum of agreement on solar energy project was signed last September 22.

Under the agreement, Yamog will provide RE technologies, such as solar home lighting and micro-hydropower systems, in off-grid areas covered by Daneco,

Dasureco and Doreco.

The signatories to the document were Daneco Acting General Manager Mario Angelo Sotto, Dasureco Officer in Charge-General Manager Ferdinand Canastra, Doreco General Manager Gregory Dukil and Yamog Managing Director Porferio Jabla Jr. “Access to electricity is essential for economic and social development. We are thankful to the European Union and nongovernment organizations like Yamog for helping the Philippine government in bringing electricity to even the most remote areas in the country, particularly here in Mindanao,” National Electrification Administration (NEA) Administrator Edgardo Masongsong said.

There are about 167 unviable areas within Danco’s franchise area. Of the number, 147 unviable areas are found in Davao del Norte and 20 unviable areas are in Compostela Valley.

NEA data show there are still about 1,702 off-grid areas across the country with no access to electricity, of which 1,003 communities are located in Mindanao, while 142 areas and 557 areas in Luzon and Visayas, respectively, as of February 2018.

Hog carcasses are dumped in a pit in Pangasinan after culling to control the spread of the African swine fever. Photo courtesy of the Provincial Veterinary Office of Pangasinan

The DA said the government has culled about 1,000 pigs in Pangasinan and disclosed that there’s no confirmed ASF case in backyard farms in the area except for the illegally transported hogs.

The DA commended the provincial government of Pangasinan for implementing the 1-7-10 protocol to preempt and prevent the spread of ASF.

Under the 1-7-10 protocol, the government would cull all pigs within the 1-kilometer radius of the suspected farm while movement of pork and pork products within the 7 kilometers would be limited.

The government would conduct surveillance and monitoring within the 10-kilometer radius of the suspected premises.

The Philippines have confirmed

Capitalism vs Socialism?

I

By Henry J. Schumacher

read with great interest an article

by Umair Haque about capitalism and socialism and would like to share part of his views with you, adjusted partly to my own thinking and its possible application in the Philippines when we talk about inclusive growth.

It all started the other day when I was talking to someone and in the middle of a perfectly civilized conversation about our impending doom, he blurted out: “but you’re a socialist!”

Whoa. I’m not any of these things, capitalist, socialist, atheist, any-ist. I believe in three things only: tennis, no stress and healthy food. My only role and goal when it comes to the world is to observe. And here’s what I see, here where I live and beyond: The genuine opposite (or maybe endpoint, if you want to think dynamically, not statically) of both pure capitalism and socialism are kleptocracy, oligarchy, authoritarianism—what results when

political economies are run by and for tiny elites.

The great lesson of the last century is very simple: first extreme socialism failed, and the Soviet empire fell. Also extreme capitalism is slowly failing, and America is falling, whether Trump agrees or not. Two mighty kingdoms— one single lesson: yesterday’s extremes have both failed. Cutthroat competition in every aspect of life soon becomes abuse. Enforced cooperation soon becomes unendurable. So what now?

Today, capitalism and socialism are not opposites. They are complements. The global economy of this century must and will be built on new synthesis: capitalism and socialism working together, each strengthening the others’ weakness, a kind of yin and yang of human organization. We see this already at work in the world’s most successful societies, like Sweden or Canada!

They seem to have the basics of a genuinely good life. What are the basics?

Aristotle, Buddha and Jesus all spelled it out millennia ago: food, shelter, income, safety, security, opportunity.

Today we might update that list with things that didn’t exist in their time, but are clearly in the same spirit: transportation, health care, education, environment, relationships, etc.

If you think about it, no matter how much money you have, you can’t really buy such things unless a society has invested in them first.

These “things” are what I call “fundamental goods.” They are what makes a life good at its root. Through them, everyone can be happy, and grow into their potential—without them, no one can be, no matter what your latest self-help best seller says.

Without a few meals a day, a little bit of money in the bank, and your health,

ASF outbreaks in four provinces, namely in Pangasinan, Pampanga, Bulacan and Rizal. The ASF outbreaks as disclosed by the DA are in Rodriguez, Rizal (Barangays San Isidro, San Jose, Macabud, Geronimo, San Rafael, Mascap, San Mateo Slaughterhouse), Antipolo (Barangays Cupang and another new area), Quezon City (Barangays Silangan and Payatas) and Guiguinto, Bulacan.

no amount of positive thinking can get you to happiness—nor should it. Human beings are not all born to be monks— they are born to dare, risk, defy, rebel, imagine, create. And to do all that, they need the basics. Without the basics, democracy can’t survive, society can’t cohere, people can’t flourish, and lives can’t be fully lived.

So. The two great systems of the past are learning to work together.

Where do we see it happening? As I said, all over core Europe and Canada, of course. There, capitalism and socialism are being mixed together in sophisticated and bold ways. Those societies are prospering because they are getting the formula of human possibility right: socialism provides the basics, and capitalism offers endless idle pleasures which only really count if you have the basics.

It’s a big world, and an endless future. But it’s also one with big problems.

Demagoguery, extremism, inequality, instability, stagnation, mass extinction, climate change, the growing threat of war. Choose your apocalypse. These are the stakes of this troubled age.

If humanity is to survive, it’s going to have to grow. Up. It is going to have to mature beyond the simple, crude polarity of yesterday and learn to synthesize its great lesson. The new synthesis is social capitalism, or capital socialism.

And that is what growth really is. It clearly leads us to get involved in “sustainable development” and a focus on “inclusive growth.” In other words, we cannot continue to hunt for maximum profits without “investing” into the sufferings around us: extreme poverty, hunger, health and nutrition issues, inadequate education, etc.

I am expecting heavy “attacks;” you can e-mail me at schumacher@eitsc.com.

Mocha Uson gets Palace appointment as new OWWA deputy administrator

By Bernadette D. Nicolas @BNicolasBM

P

resident Duterte has appointed former Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Assistant Secretary Esther Margaux “Mocha” J. Uson as the new deputy executive director V (deputy administrator)

of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA).

A list of new presidential appointees released by Malacañang on Monday showed that Uson was appointed to her new post last September 23.

However, her appointment paper was only released on September 26.

During the budget deliberations of PCOO at the Senate in October

2018, Uson announced her resignation which was prompted by the move of some opposition lawmakers to delay the PCOO budget approval because of Uson’s absence in the budget deliberations.

Uson was involved in some past controversies during her stint in the PCOO. For several times, she was also bashed and called out for

allegedly spreading “fake news” on social media. Two months before she resigned from her post, Uson drew flak for posting a video on her personal blog featuring her cohost Drew Olivar singing and dancing to the lewd “pepe-dede-ralismo” jingle in a bid to promote federalism.

After the incident, PCOO released a memorandum reminding its

officials and employees, including Uson, that they should be “mindful of the content they post or share” on their social-media accounts, as well as other publications and news releases their office may publish.

In an apparent reference to the controversial video, President Duterte said there are things which went “overboard” but pointed out

that he respects her right to freedom of expression.

Before her appointment to the PCOO in May 2017, Uson, a blogger and entertainer who has since supported the President during his presidential campaign in 2016, also served as a board member of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board.

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If you have any information / objection to the above mentioned application/s, please communicate with the Regional Director thru Employment Promotion and Workers Welfare (EPWW) Division with Telephone No. 400-6011.

ATTY. SARAH BUENA S. MIRASOL REGIONAL DIRECTOR

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Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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Megaworld eyes ₧1.8-B mall at Capital Town Pampanga

C

By Ashley Manabat

@ashleymanabat

LARK FREEPORT—Property developer Megaworld announced here on Monday the construction of a P1.8-billion mall at the Capital Town Pampanga in the City of San Fernando.

Kevin Tan, chief strategy officer of Megaworld, made the announcement at the Park Inn Hotel by Radisson Clark.

The new mall will be called the Capital Mall and will pay tribute to San Fernando’s rich history and heritage. It will highlight a unique, first-of-its-kind architecture and interiors.

The Capital Mall is slated to be finished in 2022 and is Megaworld’s first full-scale mall development in Central Luzon which will rise inside the 35.6-hectare Capital Town township in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga.

It will be a three-level mall with a gross floor area of around 33,000 square meters. Megaworld is allocating P1.8 billion to build the mall in two years. Construction will

start by first half of 2020.

The Capital Mall is highlighted by its unique architecture that mimics the sugar mill of the Pampanga Sugar Development Co., reminiscent of the original structure that stands on the same spot of the township. The area in which the township is being built used to be the site of the historic Pasudeco sugar central built a century ago.

The mall, to be operated and managed under the Megaworld Lifestyle Malls brand, will also feature the recreated chimneys of the Pasudeco central, and the bricks recovered from the original sugar mill will be used for the mall’s interior walls.

“We are curating a new and unique design concept for this mall. As a tribute to the legacy of Pampanga’s

Megaworld chief strategy officer Kevin Tan and Architect Dave Rivera unveil the perspective of the Capital Mall on Monday at the Park Inn by Radisson Clark. CONTRIBUTED PHOTo

oldest sugar mill, we will build the Capital Mall with its rich cultural heritage in mind.

Pasudeco’s existence became a catalyst for the exponential growth of San Fernando, the capital of the rich sugar-producing province of Pampanga.

“Other recovered portions of the sugar mill, such as the giant bull gears, sprockets and mechanical parts will become part of the mall’s interiors,” said Tan. He also said the Capital Mall will have a landscaped garden enclave of restaurants and cafés surrounded by water ponds and century-old trees.

It will also have four state-ofthe-art cinemas, a food hall and a shophouse strip.

Forever 21 files for bankruptcy, adding to US retail apocalypse

In this May 7, 2019, file photo, women select clothing at an American fast-fashion retailer Forever 21 which is offering clearance discounts at a shopping mall after it pulled out from China’s market, in Beijing. Low-price fashion chain Forever 21, a one-time hot destination for teen shoppers that fell victim of its own rapid expansion and changing consumer tastes, announced on September 29, 2019, that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. AP Photo/Andy Wong

F

OREVER 21 Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection, the latest big fashion merchant who couldn’t cope with high rents and heavy competition as the shift to e-commerce cut a swathe through traditional retailers.

Court papers filed in Wilmington, Delaware, show Forever 21 has estimated liabilities on a consolidated basis of between $1 billion and $10 billion. The Chapter 11 filing allows the Los Angeles-based company to keep operating while it works out a plan to pay its creditors and turn around the business.

Forever 21 has obtained $275 million in financing from lenders with JPMorgan Chase & Co. as agent, as well as $75 million in new capital from TPG Sixth Street Partners and its affiliated funds.

It plans to exit most of its international locations in Asia and Europe, but will continue operations in Mexico and Latin America. The stores expect to honor gift cards, returns and exchanges.

Once popular among teenagers in the 2000s for its affordable but eye-catching designs, Forev-

er 21’s signature bright-yellow shopping bags have become a rarer sight as Generation Z consumers—those born from 1998 onwards—shifted rapidly over to e-commerce and streetwear brands in recent years. The bankruptcy filing could help Forever 21 get rid of unprofitable stores and raise fresh funds, allowing the private, family-held company to restructure its f lailing business for a new generation.

“The financing provided by JPMorgan and TPG Sixth Street Partners will arm Forever 21 with the capital necessary to effect critical changes in the US and abroad to revitalize our brand and fuel our growth, allowing us to meet our ongoing obligations to customers, vendors and employees,” Linda Chang, executive vice president of Forever 21, said in a statement.

Bloomberg first reported on August 28 that Forever 21 was preparing for a bankruptcy filing.

Forever 21’s bankruptcy filing could be problematic for major US mall owners, including Simon Property Group Inc. and Brookfield

Property Partners LP, because it is one of the biggest mall tenants still standing after a wave of bankruptcies. The busts emptied more than 12,000 stores in the past two years, and those vacancies may be hard to fill.

Simon counts Forever 21 as its sixth-largest tenant excluding department stores, with 99 outlets covering 1.5 million square feet as of March 31, according to a filing.

Simon and Brookfield were both listed in court papers on Forever 21’s tally of biggest unsecured creditors. The retailer doesn’t have a lot of leverage over its landlords, according to Bloomberg Intelligence, which said in a September 27 report that Forever 21 accounts for just 1.4 percent of Simon’s annual rent.

Founded in 1984, Forever 21 operates more than 800 stores in the US, Europe, Asia and Latin America. It specializes in fast-fashion apparel—trendy, cheap, quickly made knockoffs of original designs that often is worn only a few times before being given away or tossed out.

Competitors include Zara, H&M and Amazon.com. Bloomberg News

“Even the food hall will sport an industrial architecture highlighted by more mementos of the sugar central,” Tan said. “The cinemas will also feature the 1960s charm and ambience,” he added.

As with its other new malls, Megaworld Lifestyle Malls is integrating sustainability features for Capital Mall, such as solar roofing provisions, and a rainwater harvesting facility.

Megaworld has been known for its Lifestyle Malls brand and is currently operating 17 commercial and mall properties in its portfolio. Just a few days ago, it also announced that it is building a “beach mall” in Mactan, Cebu, another new concept in mall development in the Visayas.

SEC clears AboitizPower’s ₧12-billion bond sale

By Lenie Lectura

A

@llectura

BOITIZ Power Corp. has received the green light from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to proceed with its bond sale worth up to P12 billion.

“AboitizPower received the certificate of permit to offer securities for sale dated September 27, 2019, from the Securities and Exchange Commission. The permit allows AboitizPower to issue the third tranche of its P30-billion peso-denominated fixed-rate retail bonds registered under the shelf registration program of SEC on June 19, 2017,” said the power firm Monday.

The third tranche bonds, with a principal amount of P7 billion and an oversubscription option of up to P5 billion, will be issued on October 14. The offer period is from September 30 to October 4, 2019.

The power firm has tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp. and First Metro Investment Corp. as Joint Issue Managers; BDO Capital & Investment Corp., First Metro Investment Corp., China Bank Capital Corp., SB Capital & Investment Corp. and PNB Capital & Investment Corp. as Joint Bookrunners and Joint Lead Underwriters for the bonds.

BDO Unibank-Trust and Investments Group has been appointed Trustee and the Philippine Depository & Trust Corp. will act as the

Registrar of the Bonds.

The bonds received an issue credit rating of “PRS Aaa” with a Stable Outlook from the Philippine Ratings Services Corp. last August 30.

“Obligations rated PRS Aaa are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk, an indication of the extremely strong capacity of the obligor to meet its financial commitment on the obligation,” said PhilRatings.

With a stable outlook, the rating is likely to be maintained or to remain unchanged in the next 12 months.

PhilRatings said the ratings and outlook were assigned based on the significant levels of cash, and cash flows in relation to debt service requirements; adequate capital structure supported by healthy growth in retained earnings; diversified portfolio with good growth prospects; and experienced management team.

AboitizPower intends to list the Bonds with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

Proceeds would be used to refinance loans, repay its short-term loan obligations and for general corporate purposes.

The power firm’s current attributable power capacity is 3,200 megawatts. Of this, 1,200 MW is renewable energy. It has set a target energy capacity of 4,000 MW by 2020.

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Companies BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

PSE STOCK QUOTATIONS

September 30, 2019

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

BDO UNIBANK BANK PH ISLANDS CHINABANK EAST WEST BANK METROBANK PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PSBANK PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK UNION BANK BRIGHT KINDLE BDO LEASING COL FINANCIAL FERRONOUX HLDG FILIPINO FUND IREMIT MEDCO HLDG MANULIFE NTL REINSURANCE PHIL STOCK EXCH SUN LIFE VANTAGE

143 92.3 25 11.94 67.85 12.9 43.6 57.05 112 26.3 196.5 59.05 1.11 1.99 18.3 5.16 7.71 1.21 0.415 750 0.92 176.5 1835 1.09

143.2 93 25.1 12 68.4 13 43.9 58.95 125 26.5 197 59.1 1.15 2 18.6 5.2 8.49 1.25 0.43 780 0.94 179.6 1854 1.12

145 91.8 25.05 12.1 67 13 44.4 57.85 129 26.6 196 59.95 1.11 2.02 18.66 5.34 7.72 1.21 0.43 760 0.93 179 1835 1.09

145 93 25.05 12.1 69.05 13 44.4 60.7 129 26.85 197.8 59.95 1.11 2.02 18.66 5.34 7.72 1.21 0.43 760 0.93 180 1850 1.09

141.5 91.3 24.9 11.94 66.95 13 43.6 57.5 129 26.5 195.3 59.1 1.11 2 18.6 5.16 7.71 1.21 0.415 750 0.92 176 1835 1.09

143 93 25 11.94 68.4 13 43.6 60.7 129 26.5 197 59.1 1.11 2 18.6 5.2 7.71 1.21 0.42 750 0.92 179.6 1850 1.09

1573110 1537250 200100 389200 4537900 338900 282800 17380 20 2700 330660 5320 20000 10000 1500 177800 1200 2000 1600000 280 17000 7430 420 275000

224836874 141935664 5001595 4661980 309303108.5 4405700 12387120 1024063.5 2580 71660 64967454 314421 22200 20020 27960 924911 9263 2420 669250 211750 15740 1316898 770775 299750

-3508702 57501618 -1244515 -687314 21964023.5 -238525 -55710 -18431462 11424 126000 -232098 -

INDUSTRIAL

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

1.29 38.35 0.246 24.55 80.15 369.6 20.15 5 4.11 2.31 11 32.3 7.3 15.68 90.75 18.08 14.06 5.9 8.88 7.08 91 0.67 47.05 221.8 8.26 13.02 0.189 1.69 11.58 1.97 5.05 2.3 0.123 156 1.11 2.42 69.9 76.3 2.57 6 15.3 10.92 14.2 18.24 10.2 1.05 1.2 112.4 2.01 1.64 5.4 5.3 30.8 2.52 8 1.51 1.02 8.7

1.31 39.05 0.25 24.6 80.3 370 20.2 5.01 4.3 2.33 11.08 32.4 7.45 16 108.9 19 14.2 5.99 8.9 7.1 92 0.68 47.3 222 8.5 13.18 0.202 1.7 11.68 1.98 5.12 2.39 0.125 158 1.13 2.54 70 78.5 2.61 6.15 15.46 10.98 14.5 18.7 10.42 1.09 1.23 129 2.03 1.73 5.41 5.32 31.5 2.53 8.03 1.55 1.04 8.71

1.29 38.8 0.242 24.7 80.2 363.4 20.5 5 4.38 2.32 10.9 32.05 7.3 16.08 90.5 18.5 14.1 6 8.95 7.1 90 0.69 47.8 220 8.26 13.28 0.203 1.73 11.64 1.84 5.1 2.4 0.123 158 1.1 2.42 71.5 77 2.62 6.05 15.7 10.86 14.14 18.46 10.5 1.11 1.2 120 2.04 1.65 5.35 5.35 31.5 2.55 8.12 1.57 1 9.2

1.31 39.5 0.25 24.8 80.35 370.8 20.5 5.03 4.38 2.39 11.08 32.75 7.48 16.1 108.9 19 14.1 6.15 8.95 7.18 92 0.69 48 222.8 8.26 13.28 0.204 1.81 11.8 1.97 5.13 2.4 0.123 160.8 1.14 2.42 71.5 77 2.63 6.05 15.7 11 14.5 18.7 10.5 1.11 1.23 120 2.04 1.65 5.41 5.35 31.5 2.58 8.12 1.57 1.04 9.2

1.29 38.35 0.242 24.25 80.05 363.4 20.15 4.99 4.24 2.29 10.78 32.05 7.3 15.68 90.5 18.06 14.06 5.9 8.88 7.08 88.8 0.67 45.8 218.2 8.26 13 0.203 1.67 11.58 1.81 5.1 2.24 0.123 156 1.1 2.42 70 76 2.56 6 15.26 10.34 14.1 18.22 10.38 1.05 1.19 120 2.03 1.64 5.35 5.3 31.5 2.48 8 1.51 1 8.6

1.3 38.35 0.246 24.6 80.3 370 20.2 5 4.28 2.31 11.08 32.3 7.45 16 108.9 19 14.06 5.9 8.9 7.1 92 0.68 47.05 222 8.26 13.18 0.203 1.69 11.68 1.97 5.12 2.39 0.123 156 1.13 2.42 70 76.3 2.61 6 15.3 10.98 14.5 18.7 10.42 1.05 1.2 120 2.03 1.64 5.4 5.3 31.5 2.53 8 1.55 1.02 8.7

942000 2488900 2190000 1805100 420870 356520 1268800 2581500 53000 9822000 113800 179200 141600 338100 120 7800 14300 147600 475600 1838500 337520 356000 108600 499940 1800 753700 330000 20098000 85800 2179000 1051700 53000 170000 2140580 2255000 86000 4420 4700 4219000 35300 31200 408700 298200 452700 23800 945000 2664000 130 52000 8000 167600 833800 100 4660000 861000 13000 124000 520800

1224200 -219710 95,919,965( 52,283,765.0003) 542100 44285485 28984160 33713022.5 -20999852 131812966 56412028 25739400 -14698495 12912797 -3057937 226300 22858470 -1196470 1253936 -471044 5,793,330( 1,561,454.9998) 1044529 5403428 369002 11228 146142 201446 59190 875389 -636710 4238581 -933826 13133128 -4184950 30489500 -12254617 239520 5113520 4852050 110150428 19564346 14868 9891936 -3061010 67120 34907110 214200 1001594 447234 4135720 5385130 -248320 121820 20910 336474530 -132822947 2513120 -446000 208120 208120 310979.5 359043.5 10934310 128000 211850 478136 323556 4459860 2958214 4291934 -1369380 8313004 -3862786 248252 -10420 1016150 3207070 15600 105740 13180 901140 4419300 3150 -3150 11834680 -59970 6893619 6891 19730 126680 4606431 -

ABACORE CAPITAL ASIABEST GROUP AYALA CORP ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL AYALA LAND LOG ANSCOR ANGLO PHIL HLDG ATN HLDG A COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A FJ PRINCE B FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA SOLID GROUP SM INVESTMENTS SAN MIGUEL CORP SOC RESOURCES TOP FRONTIER WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.92 13.08 884 53.05 10.88 3.5 6.69 0.75 1.16 6.53 8.31 13 4.01 2.61 0.223 840 5.75 72.4 5.23 0.5 4.38 13.94 0.56 4.96 0.038 1.28 1.27 971 171.5 0.86 223.6 0.224 0.235

0.93 13.36 884.5 53.15 10.9 3.52 6.98 0.77 1.18 6.59 8.37 13.4 4.49 5.2 0.229 842 5.82 72.5 5.8 0.51 4.39 14.2 0.59 4.98 0.04 1.34 1.29 978 172.9 0.88 225 0.228 0.24

0.89 13.24 895 53.5 10.9 3.58 6.99 0.75 1.17 6.63 8.5 13.68 4.01 5.2 0.221 838 5.82 73.6 5.5 0.53 4.39 14.48 0.58 4.89 0.039 1.27 1.27 998 175 0.88 228.8 0.226 0.235

0.93 13.68 895 54.1 11.24 3.6 6.99 0.77 1.19 6.63 8.5 13.68 4.01 5.2 0.221 847.5 5.82 73.95 5.83 0.53 4.39 14.48 0.59 5.1 0.039 1.35 1.27 999 175 0.89 228.8 0.226 0.24

0.86 13.24 880 53.05 10.7 3.5 6.98 0.74 1.16 6.53 8.31 13 4.01 5.2 0.221 835 5.75 72.5 5.5 0.51 4.38 13.94 0.56 4.82 0.038 1.27 1.27 971 171.5 0.86 224 0.224 0.235

0.93 13.28 884.5 53.05 10.9 3.5 6.99 0.75 1.18 6.53 8.31 13 4.01 5.2 0.221 842 5.75 72.5 5.83 0.53 4.39 13.94 0.59 4.98 0.039 1.35 1.27 971 171.5 0.86 225 0.224 0.235

25887000 4000 463980 913820 17928200 971000 1900 129000 1163000 870600 6247600 244600 1000 400 50000 86750 29900 1637980 4700 4000 472000 506500 261000 29044000 8500000 57000 40000 431690 283000 149000 3950 160000 1120000

23410890 53260 410273990 48578297.5 196368980 3435910 13276 96510 1365730 5727403 52396929 3203730 4010 2080 11050 73072825 173095 119137992 25883 2080 2067740 7111658 150510 144119930 326100 73990 50800 423647300 48651640 128630 890066 35880 263430

HOLDING & FRIMS

4067190 38688100 -10885033 -9061966 -176560 -3378279 -24458000 -715106 -2080 4727860 -57521.9999 -14983795 -302400 -622008 28461180 -212429820 -31431438 186498 -

PROPERTY ARTHALAND CORP 0.89 0.9 0.89 0.92 0.87 0.9 1464000 1304850 -2640 10.02 10.38 10.02 10.02 10.02 10.02 500 5010 ANCHOR LAND AYALA LAND 49.45 49.5 49.65 49.7 49.1 49.45 12910500 638333445 125179470 1.91 1.96 1.91 1.96 1.91 1.96 8000 15430 9550 ARANETA PROP BELLE CORP 2.09 2.12 2.13 2.13 2.09 2.09 307000 645150 -436680 0.82 0.83 0.84 0.87 0.82 0.83 4303000 3621670 100800 A BROWN CITYLAND DEVT 0.83 0.86 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 7000 5810 0.215 0.223 0.216 0.223 0.215 0.223 160000 34530 CROWN EQUITIES CEBU HLDG 6.32 6.34 6.35 6.35 6.32 6.34 64300 407370 303532 4.74 4.75 4.7 4.75 4.7 4.74 401000 1887110 -98860 CEB LANDMASTERS CENTURY PROP 0.54 0.55 0.53 0.55 0.53 0.55 14177000 7706550 -48400 0.385 0.395 0.385 0.395 0.385 0.395 310000 119450 CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON 20.4 20.45 20.25 20.7 20 20.4 197900 4003820 2190075 DM WENCESLAO 9.75 9.8 9.72 9.77 9.5 9.75 527300 5127669 1518510 0.445 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.45 0.45 10000 4500 EMPIRE EAST FILINVEST LAND 1.56 1.57 1.6 1.6 1.56 1.57 15596000 24482140 -3031590 1.2 1.21 1.2 1.2 1.2 1.2 334000 400800 -240000 GLOBAL ESTATE 8990 HLDG 15.04 15.06 15.04 15.06 15.04 15.04 91200 1371670 -971574 1.36 1.38 1.38 1.38 1.34 1.38 3134000 4262520 1228290 PHIL INFRADEV CITY AND LAND 0.73 0.75 0.73 0.73 0.73 0.73 35000 25550 4.37 4.39 4.47 4.5 4.3 4.37 46797000 205582200 -55456200 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED 0.3 0.305 0.3 0.305 0.295 0.305 6600000 1980300 0.41 0.44 0.41 0.415 0.41 0.415 50000 20700 PHIL ESTATES PRIMEX CORP 2.02 2.06 2.05 2.06 2 2.06 231000 466830 ROBINSONS LAND 24.5 24.7 24.15 24.9 24.05 24.5 1007900 24734610 5691930 0.37 0.38 0.375 0.385 0.375 0.38 50000 18900 PHIL REALTY ROCKWELL 2.31 2.32 2.34 2.34 2.32 2.32 70000 163360 -119190 3.11 3.27 3.26 3.27 3.26 3.27 25000 81670 81670 SHANG PROP STA LUCIA LAND 2.57 2.58 2.59 2.68 2.56 2.57 1865000 4883820 -227480 37 37.2 36.5 37.2 36.1 37.2 8233100 304938225 60225430 SM PRIME HLDG VISTAMALLS 5.7 5.83 5.73 5.85 5.67 5.84 25800 147262 0.91 0.93 0.95 0.95 0.9 0.93 1483000 1348490 -82800 SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND 7.7 7.72 7.73 7.73 7.62 7.72 2536500 19552528 -722085

SERVICES ABS CBN 18.32 18.36 18.32 18.36 18.2 18.36 44400 811530 5.2 5.22 5.24 5.24 5.2 5.22 64500 336033 GMA NETWORK GLOBE TELECOM 1828 1830 1835 1859 1827 1830 31260 57288065 -6901780 1130 1132 1128 1145 1127 1132 74880 84930440 22401690 PLDT APOLLO GLOBAL 0.045 0.047 0.046 0.046 0.045 0.045 6700000 307500 1.77 1.8 1.77 1.77 1.77 1.77 5000 8850 8850 IMPERIAL ISLAND INFO 0.11 0.112 0.111 0.111 0.11 0.11 2190000 242120 5.02 5.03 4.97 5.09 4.9 5.03 1148000 5703400 191810 ISM COMM NOW CORP 2.71 2.72 2.87 2.97 2.71 2.71 16576000 47814940 -14209040 0.32 0.325 0.325 0.33 0.325 0.325 2710000 884800 16250 TRANSPACIFIC BR PHILWEB 3.01 3.04 3.02 3.07 3.01 3.04 182000 550810 -63710 10 10.28 10.28 10.3 10 10 10600 108244 2GO GROUP ASIAN TERMINALS 18.24 18.46 18.24 18.24 18.24 18.24 800 14592 CHELSEA 6.87 6.88 7 7 6.83 6.88 829400 5716479 -307709 90 92 92.55 93 90 90 92680 8418024 -2960412.5 CEBU AIR INTL CONTAINER 120.3 120.4 122.5 122.9 120 120.4 2644620 319102650 -45724554 13.6 14.06 14.18 14.18 13.6 13.6 21500 299610 2720 LBC EXPRESS LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.91 0.94 0.9 0.94 0.9 0.94 774000 710340 -136800 18.8 18.82 19.02 19.04 18.8 18.8 196300 3695460 -126892 MACROASIA METROALLIANCE A 1.14 1.25 1.14 1.14 1.14 1.14 18000 20520 8 8.24 8 8.24 8 8.24 4200 33624 8000 PAL HLDG HARBOR STAR 1.58 1.59 1.6 1.6 1.59 1.59 294000 468240 1.78 1.79 1.71 1.79 1.7 1.78 153000 268750 ACESITE HOTEL BOULEVARD HLDG 0.055 0.056 0.055 0.056 0.055 0.056 20170000 1117400 452800 1.92 2.04 2.01 2.11 2 2.11 26000 52150 DISCOVERY WORLD GRAND PLAZA 9.83 12.3 10.84 12.48 10.84 12.48 2800 31306 WATERFRONT 0.67 0.68 0.67 0.7 0.67 0.67 486000 327220 6.93 7.2 7.21 7.21 7.2 7.2 600 4325 CENTRO ESCOLAR STI HLDG 0.68 0.69 0.68 0.71 0.68 0.68 356000 245510 2.3 2.31 2.37 2.37 2.31 2.31 22000 51200 BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY 10.86 10.88 11.28 11.52 10.72 10.86 9021700 99223978 29658304 2.84 2.93 2.85 2.96 2.82 2.82 183000 526320 8640 PACIFIC ONLINE LEISURE AND RES 3 3.03 3.05 3.05 3.01 3.01 183000 552890 48480 3.4 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 3.45 4000 13800 MANILA JOCKEY PH RESORTS GRP 4.82 4.97 4.82 4.97 4.82 4.82 13500 65085 0.7 0.71 0.73 0.73 0.7 0.7 3585000 2542280 -23480 PREMIUM LEISURE METRO RETAIL 2.36 2.38 2.35 2.39 2.35 2.37 347000 818630 73020 PUREGOLD 39 39.05 40.4 40.4 38.95 39.05 1860600 73100705 -43520370 77.1 79 79 79 78.9 79 522830 41288424.5 4906137 ROBINSONS RTL PHIL SEVEN CORP 140 143.8 140 140 140 140 710 99400 98000 2.82 2.83 2.75 2.85 2.69 2.82 3056000 8588950 4257430 SSI GROUP WILCON DEPOT 16.5 16.56 16.58 16.58 16.4 16.5 1864900 30770354 -7836718 0.61 0.62 0.63 0.65 0.61 0.62 15033000 9436500 124500 APC GROUP EASYCALL 9.66 9.68 9.9 9.9 9.68 9.68 55000 534341 -29100 423 432 423 435 422.4 432 2250 967842 GOLDEN BRIA PRMIERE HORIZON 0.55 0.56 0.55 0.56 0.54 0.55 18525000 10250800 -26400 9.12 9.29 9.08 9.15 9.08 9.12 18600 169578 SBS PHIL CORP

MINING & OIL APEX MINING 1.16 1.17 1.19 1.2 1.15 1.17 455000 531430 0.0016 0.0018 0.0016 0.0017 0.0016 0.0017 69000000 116300 -0 ABRA MINING ATLAS MINING 2.51 2.59 2.51 2.51 2.51 2.51 57000 143070 0.275 0.29 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 100000 28000 COAL ASIA HLDG CENTURY PEAK 2.65 2.66 2.64 2.68 2.56 2.65 6577000 17308420 -10410720 7.69 7.8 7.72 7.8 7.69 7.8 7900 60981 DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL 1.65 1.67 1.67 1.68 1.64 1.65 3882000 6432360 820380 0.23 0.238 0.239 0.241 0.232 0.239 590000 137920 GEOGRACE LEPANTO A 0.105 0.108 0.106 0.108 0.105 0.108 1460000 153850 0.106 0.11 0.11 0.11 0.11 0.11 20000 2200 LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A 0.0091 0.0098 0.0091 0.0091 0.0091 0.0091 1000000 9100 0.0097 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 145100000 1451000 MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES 1.12 1.15 1.11 1.14 1.11 1.14 72000 80300 NIHAO 1.08 1.12 1.08 1.15 1.08 1.08 113000 122810 3.96 3.99 4.05 4.13 3.95 3.96 10602000 42385960 -694600 NICKEL ASIA ORNTL PENINSULA 0.87 0.9 0.87 0.9 0.87 0.9 71000 62300 3.77 3.78 3.78 3.78 3.76 3.77 281000 1058730 PX MINING SEMIRARA MINING 22.6 22.8 22.5 22.85 22.05 22.8 1023800 23222435 -4558315 0.0063 0.0068 0.0064 0.0064 0.0064 0.0064 5000000 32000 UNITED PARAGON ORNTL PETROL A 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.011 0.011 500000 5600 0.011 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 0.012 3200000 38400 ORNTL PETROL B PHINMA PETRO 8.51 8.6 8.83 8.83 8.51 8.51 377300 3285704 -117630 11.82 11.86 11.7 11.98 11.58 11.86 354000 4166840 832480 PXP ENERGY

PREFFERED

HOUSE PREF A 97 99.65 99.55 99.65 97 97 60000 5846351 502 511 502 502 502 502 80 40160 AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 505 505.5 505 505 505 505 10180 5140900 101.1 105.8 101.1 101.1 101.1 101.1 1000 101100 ALCO PREF C DD PREF 101 102 101 101 101 101 5390 544390 995 998 995 995 995 995 2010 1999950 SMC FB PREF 2 FGEN PREF G 107.5 109.5 107.5 107.5 107.5 107.5 540 58050 500.5 501.5 500.5 501 500.5 500.5 20000 10010025 GLO PREF P GTCAP PREF A 971 997 994 999 994 999 4020 3997280 0.99 1 0.99 0.99 0.99 0.99 147000 145530 LR PREF MWIDE PREF 100.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 101.5 230 23345 108 109 108 108 108 108 750 81000 PNX PREF 3B PCOR PREF 2A 1000 1025 1001 1001 1000 1000 5000 5000230 PCOR PREF 3A 1056 1057 1030 1058 1025 1056 10550 11136250 1081 1082 1080 1081 1080 1081 1560 1685315 PCOR PREF 3B SFI PREF 1.4 1.6 1.4 1.4 1.4 1.4 2000 2800 77.9 77.95 78.25 78.25 77.9 77.9 37940 2956214 SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D 75 75.5 75.1 75.4 75 75 79810 5994431.5 499500 75.5 75.6 75.6 75.6 75.6 75.6 1200 90720 SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F 75.8 76 76 76 75.8 75.8 12760 969078 75.5 76 76 76 76 76 8900 676400 SMC PREF 2H PHIL. DEPOSITARY RECEIPTS ABS HLDG PDR GMA HLDG PDR

17.6 5.08

17.8 5.14

17.8 5.08

17.8 5.14

17.6 5.08

17.6 5.14

22500 42700

399180 219472

WARRANTS LR WARRANT

1.52

SMALL & MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

ITALPINAS 6.74 KEPWEALTH 10.06 0.92 XURPAS

1.69

1.52

1.52

1.52

1.52

22000

33440

-

6.8 10.1 0.93

6.9 10.14 0.94

6.9 10.4 0.94

6.6 9.95 0.92

6.8 10.1 0.93

333600 186400 1361000

2242055 1875791 1262930

36612 -40580 -2810

EXHANGE TRADE FUNDS FIRST METRO ETF

117

-125570 181442

117.4

117.3

117.4

117

117

8840

1035364

-12914

www.businessmirror.com.ph

ERC approves NGCP’s ₧13-B Pasay substation

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By Lenie Lectura

@llectura

HE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved the application of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) to pursue its P13-billion substation within the Reclamation Area in Pasay City.

The Pasay substation involves a new drawdown substation that will have an initial capacity of two 300 MVA (Mega Volt Amp) transformers which will be connected to the Las Piñas 230-kV (kilovolt) substation.

The project will be funded through the NGCP’s Internal Cash Generated (ICG) fund.

“The new NGCP substation in Pasay will provide solution to the overloading problem and will allow more room for capacity expansion in the future,” ERC Chairman and CEO Agnes VST Devanadera said.

The NGCP proposed the develop-

ment of the Pasay 230-kV substation because the Las Piñas substation could no longer be expanded due to space constraint. The Pasay substation’s additional equipment will cater to the future connections of the Manila-Navotas substation project, and the proposed Bataan-Cavite/ Metro Manila Line Project.

“The Pasay 230-kV substation, upon full operation, is expected to relieve the loading conditions of the Las Piñas 230-kV substation, allow the service of additional capacity to the southern part of Metro Manila, and further enhance the integrity of

the transmission system of the said region,” said NGCP. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), the NGCP is mandated to improve and expand its transmission facilities, consistent with the Grid Code and the Transmission Development Plan (TDP) to adequately serve generation companies, distribution utilities and suppliers that require transmission service and/or ancillary services through the transmission system.

“This NGCP Pasay Substation Project will help address the country’s growing power demand in terms of ensuring grid security, reliability and power quality,” Devanadera added.

NGCP said this is the most feasible way to deal with the load growth in Metro Manila, to relieve the heavy loading of the transformer at the Las Piñas 230-kV substation and to provide for more room for future capacity expansion.

The Social Security System (SSS) and the National Transmission Corp.

(Transco) earlier opposed NGCP’s application.

SSS alleged that NGCP only needs 2,000 square meters for its project, in contrast to the 60,872 square meters which NGCP sought to be expropriated from SSS for the same project.

Transco opposed the project because, in its view, the NGCP has acted in bad faith in exercising its delegated power of eminent domain against a government-owned property and in misleading the court by not divulging the actual area of the property needed for its substation project.

The ERC said it took note of the opposition submitted by SSS and Transco. However, the subject expropriation proceeding of NGCP against SSS is beyond the jurisdiction of the commission.

“The application only covers the approval of the Pasay 230-kV substation project of NGCP. Nevertheless, it bears stressing that in this application, NGCP only included the acquisition of a 2,000-square-meter lot for the Pasay 230-kV substation project.

Hence, the commission approved the acquisition of the 2,000-squaremeter lot as proposed,” said ERC in its 40-page decision.

BTSI affirms compliance with DENR effluent standards

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RECENT water sampling conducted jointly by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Boracay Tubi System Inc. (BTSI) at an interceptor and outfall of the water firm in Sitio Lugutan on Boracay Island show compliance with effluent standards.

This, as BTSI, which has been operating on Boracay Island for 20 years, maintained that it is strictly observing environmental standards.

The firm suspects illegal tapping in its sewer line in Barangay ManocManoc and is investigating the matter.

The interceptor and outfall of BTSI was reportedly discharging wastewater that tested positive for fecal coliform, prompting the DENR to issue a cease-and-desist order on the firm on September 21.

The interim CDO, issued by EMB Western Visayas Regional Director Atty. Ramar Niel V. Pascua, directed BTSI to “cease, desist or refrain from discharging wastewater outside the company premises through a 1-kilometer outfall pipe from Lugutan area in Barangay Manoc-Manoc, Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan, going to Sibuyan Sea.” According to BTSI, since it was informed of a video showing yellowish liquid flowing out of its submerged pipe 1 kilometer away from

the island’s shoreline, the company immediately coordinated with the local DENR-Environmental Management Bureau.

“In less than 48 hours, BTSI conducted joint sampling with the DENR-EMB at both its interceptor and outfall which showed compliance to effluent standards,” the company said.

Results of wastewater in its interceptor and outfall in terms of total coliform is less than 1 MPN/100 mL, while fecal coliform is less than 1 MPN/100 mL. For total coliform, the DENR2016-08 Effluent Standard for Class SC is 10,000 MPN/100 mL, while for fecal coliform the effluent standard is 400 MPN/100 mL. “We take this incident seriously and wish to reassure the public that there is no direct discharging of untreated wastewater into the open sea.

All wastewater is being treated onsite at the individual Sewage Treatment Plants [STP] of establishments it serves,” BTSI explained.

Water conservation

To conserve water, BTSI encourages recycling of treated wastewater for irrigation and flushing purposes and any excess goes to its interceptor as a safeguard.

“The individual STPs and interceptor are constantly monitored in-

DICT taps WFP to boost disaster communications

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HE Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) has tapped the World Food Programme (WFP) to bolster its Government Emergency Communications System (GECS) initiative.

Aimed at providing emergency communications system in disaster-stricken areas to aid responders and authorities in making the right and necessary decisions and actions, GECS intends to strengthen disaster preparedness in communities across the country.

Rafael Olivar, who heads the disaster risk reduction management division of the DICT, said WFP’s inclusion in the initiative will help accelerate its efforts in implementing the program.

Aside from acting as a responder during disasters, the WFP will also be involved in the “capacity building component of GECS which focuses on disaster preparedness, particularly in the development of the emergency telecommunications training center and training manuals, as well as in the conduct of trainers’ training and nationwide information caravan.”

The government, Olivar noted, “has limited human resources, funding and communication facilities, that is why we tapped the WFP as they are the expert in emergency telecommunications.”

The WFP is the lead agency of the Emergency Telecommunications Cluster (ETC), a global network of humanitarian, government and privatesector organizations working together to provide secure communications, reliable Internet connectivity, technical help desk services, among others, in humanitarian emergencies.

It also engages in disaster preparedness efforts, such as training exercises for its partners to be deployed in areas hit by disasters; and coordination with local, national and regional stakeholders before disaster strikes.

“We need more collaboration in terms of capacity building. Open up the international training centers so that we could share each other’s experiences and skills. With that linkage, we can work together more, we can respond to disasters more easily and in a uniform and strategic manner,” Olivar said. Lorenz S. Marasigan

house, by the DENR-EMB, and by third-party laboratory testing firms for compliance to the latest DENR standards. In fact, BTSI is one of the very few providers in the Philippines

mutual funds

and the first provider in Boracay Island to comply with the stringent DENR 2016-08 Effluent Standards for treated wastewater discharge,” it stressed. Jonathan L. Mayuga

September 30, 2019

NAV One Year Three Year Five Year Y-T-D

per share Return* Return Stock Funds ALFM Growth Fund, Inc. -a 251.8 1.22% -2.1% -0.91% -0.16% ATRAM Alpha Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 1.5496 12.44% 3.19% 0.93% 7.55% ATRAM Philippine Equity Opportunity Fund, Inc. -a 3.9509 2.14% -2.91% -1.89% 1.23% Climbs Share Capital Equity Investment Fund Corp. -a 0.9434 6.25% n.a. n.a.

4.71% First Metro Consumer Fund on MSCI Phils. IMI, Inc. -a 0.8502 4.15% n.a. n.a.

3.59% First Metro Save and Learn Equity Fund,Inc. -a 5.3752 4.01% -0.28% -0.42% 1.93% First Metro Save and Learn Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,6 0.8602 3.93% -4.49% n.a.

2.81% MBG Equity Investment Fund, Inc. -a 116.73 0.72% n.a. n.a.

0.49% PAMI Equity Index Fund, Inc. -a 51.4627 6.23% 0% n.a.

4.55% Philam Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 535.29 6.38% -0.94% -0.45% 3.99% Philequity Dividend Yield Fund, Inc. -a 1.2923 4.49% -0.13% 0.66% 3.05% Philequity Fund, Inc. -a 38.0701 5.46% 0.78% 0.56% 3.92% Philequity MSCI Philippine Index Fund, Inc. -a,3 1.0197 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philequity PSE Index Fund Inc. -a 5.2296 7.34% 0.72% 1.5% 5.46% Philippine Stock Index Fund Corp. -a 873.06 7.38% 0.61% 1.43% 5.39% Soldivo Strategic Growth Fund, Inc. -a 0.9087 8.53% -0.09% n.a.

5.66% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Equity Fund, Inc. -a 4.238 5.87% 0.39% 0.67% 4.41% Sun Life Prosperity Philippine Stock Index Fund, Inc. -a 1.003 6.93% 0.55% n.a.

5.1% United Fund, Inc. -a 3.6753 6.59% 2.03% 1.9% 4.98% Exchange Traded Fund First Metro Phil. Equity Exchange Traded Fund, Inc. -a,c,2 117.0264 7.68% 1.36% 2.46% 5.67% ATRAM AsiaPlus Equity Fund, Inc. -b

$0.9504 -6.81% 1.27% -1.27% 2.29% Sun Life Prosperity World Voyager Fund, Inc. -a $1.2884 -1.53% 7.09% n.a.

16.58% Balanced Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ATRAM Dynamic Allocation Fund, Inc. -a 1.6127 -1.68% -3.74% -3.37% -2.33% ATRAM Philippine Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 2.281 3.97% -1.31% -0.25% 3.25% First Metro Save and Learn Balanced Fund Inc. -a 2.638 5.33% 0.16% -1.68% 3.73% Grepalife Balanced Fund Corporation -a 1.3395 2.82% n.a. n.a.

2.7% NCM Mutual Fund of the Phils., Inc. -a 1.9515 7.07% 0.72% 0.99% 5.88% PAMI Horizon Fund, Inc. -a 3.7657 8.42% -0.47% 0.21% 6.7% Philam Fund, Inc. -a 16.8759 8.3% -0.38% 0.12% 6.09% 2.1333 4.55% 0.1% 0.97% 3.1% Solidaritas Fund, Inc. -a Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Balanced Fund, Inc. -a 3.8579 6.59% 0.35% 0.57% 5.66% Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2028, Inc. -a,d,4 1.0111 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2038, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9987 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Achiever Fund 2048, Inc. -a,d,4 0.9959 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Sun Life Prosperity Dynamic Fund, Inc. -a 0.9788 6.13% -0.06% -0.13% 6.2% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Cocolife Dollar Fund Builder, Inc. -a $0.03843 9.71% 2.18% 2.41% 8.87% PAMI Asia Balanced Fund, Inc. -a $0.9813 -0.25% 1.31% -0.51% 7.4% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Advantage Fund, Inc. -a $3.7541 1.63% 5.19% 3.09% 13.46% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Wellspring Fund, Inc. -a $1.113 3.57% 3.25% n.a.

10.2% Bond Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 354.31 3.74% 2.25% 2.29% 3.16% ATRAM Corporate Bond Fund, Inc. -a, 1 1.9163 3.16% 0.07% 0.1% 3.07% Cocolife Fixed Income Fund, Inc. -a 3.0842 5.1% 5.29% 5.24% 3.63% Ekklesia Mutual Fund Inc. -a 2.2062 4.03% 1.27% 2.05% 3.62% First Metro Save and Learn Fixed Income Fund,Inc. -a 2.3328 5.2% 1.4% 1.58% 5.79% Grepalife Fixed Income Fund Corp. -a P 1.6079 2.08% -1.09% 0.28% 2.78% Philam Bond Fund, Inc. -a 4.2948 11.34% 0.75% 1.88% 9.57% Philequity Peso Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.733 7.68% 1.39% 1.59% 6.14% Soldivo Bond Fund, Inc. -a 0.9499 7.21% -0.22% n.a.

6.59% Sun Life of Canada Prosperity Bond Fund, Inc. -a 3.0198 9.48% 2.28% 2.62% 9.18% Sun Life Prosperity GS Fund, Inc. -a 1.6724 9.2% 1.71% 2.16% 8.6% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities ALFM Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $465.1 4.42% 1.82% 2.87% 3.72% ALFM Euro Bond Fund, Inc. -a Є220.38 3.41% 1.26% 1.53% 3.63% ATRAM Total Return Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -b $1.1986 6.9% 2.07% 2.51% 6.48% First Metro Save and Learn Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $0.0258 4.03% 0.92% n.a.

4.03% Grepalife Dollar Bond Fund Corp. -a $1.7152 0.82% -1.94% 0.53% 1.48% PAMI Global Bond Fund, Inc -a $1.0988 6.7% -0.33% -1.01% 6.03% Philam Dollar Bond Fund, Inc. -a $2.411 11.05% 1.73% 3.64% 11.07% Philequity Dollar Income Fund Inc. -a $0.0601143 5.7% 1.91% 2.09% 5.46% Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Abundance Fund, Inc. -a $3.1643 9.32% 1% 3.04% 10.17% Money Market Funds Primarily invested in Peso securities ALFM Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 124.68 4.09% 2.64% 2.07% 3.14% First Metro Save and Learn Money Market Fund, Inc. -a,5 1.0227 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a.

Philam Managed Income Fund, Inc. -a 1.2383 5.56% 2.3% 1.43% 4.77% Sun Life Prosperity Money Market Fund, Inc. -a 1.2551 3.89% 2.8% 2.19% 2.94% Primarily invested in foreign currency securities Sun Life Prosperity Dollar Starter Fund, Inc. -a $1.0329 2.21% n.a. n.a.

1.67% a - NAVPS as of the previous banking day. b - NAVPS as of two banking days ago. c - Listed in the PSE. d - in Net Asset Value per Unit (NAVPU).

1 - Adjusted due to cash dividend issuance last January 29, 2018. 2 - Adjusted due to stock dividend issuance last June 5, 2018. 3 Launch date is January 3, 2019.

4 - Launch date is January 28, 2019. 5 - Launch date is February 1, 2019. 6 - Renaming was approved by the SEC last October 12, 2018 (formerly, One Wealthy Nation Fund, Inc.).

"While we endeavor to keep the information accurate, the Philippine Investment Funds Association (PIFA) and its members make no warranties as to the correctness of the newspaper’s publication and assume no liability or responsibility for any error or omissions. You may visit http://www. pifa.com.ph to see the latest NAVPS/NAVPU."

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Banking&Finance BusinessMirror

List of financial entities submitting data to credit registry published

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HE Credit Information Corp. announced on September 30 that it has published the official list of financial institutions that are submitting the credit data of their borrowers to the CIC database. The CIC said it did so because this is part of its mandate to establish a comprehensive and centralized credit information system (CIS) in the country.

The participating financial institutions consist of credit-card issuers, universal and commercial banks, thrift banks, rural banks, cooperatives and cooperative banks, savings and loan associations, private lending institutions, private leasing and financing companies, microfinance institutions, government-owned and- controlled corporations (GOCC) and insurance companies.

CIC President and CEO Jaime Casto Jose P. Garchitorena was quoted in a statement as saying he considered the publication of the list as “another milestone for the country’s central credit registry.”

“Because in less than two years after our system went live in 2017, we have already covered all sectors in the CIS ecosystem, as cited in Republic Act 9510 [Credit Information System Act],” Garchitorena said.

The CIC was able to capture the credit-cards industry including BDO, Bank of Commerce, BPI, Chinabank, Citibank N. A., Eastwest Bank, HSBC, Maybank, Metrobank, PNB, RCBC, Security Bank, Standard Chartered, UnionBank, Asia United Bank and Equicom Savings.

A first in PHL

LIKEWISE, the CIC, also a GOCC, said it was able to “onboard” rural banks and financing companies across the country, as well as the Government Service Insurance System.

“This is a first in the Philippines—having a comprehensive and

encompassing database that can serve as a tool in improving access to credit and achieving financial inclusion,” Garchitorena said. He added that the entities in the published list are already submitting live or actual basic credit data to the production phase of the CIS. “We are also recognizing their compliance to the law, as well as their intent to support consumer rights, enable inclusive lending, and allow for the collection and dissemination of fair and accurate information on credit and credit-related activities of all entities participating in the financial system,” Garchitorena said.

Not included in the published list are the financial institutions that are still at the registration, testing and validation phases.

“We will help these entities every step of the way to expedite the process of onboarding them,” Garchitorena said.

Discrediting misconceptions

IN addition to raising public consciousness on the mandate of the CIC, compliance of submitting entities, and the process of collecting, storing, and disseminating credit information, the published list is also aimed at avoiding the inappropriate and unlawful use of the name of CIC. “We are regularly receiving inquiries and information regarding individuals and companies that fraudulently claim to be submitting negative credit data to the CIC and use this as a leverage to daunt, intimidate, and/or harass a borrower to pay loans or debts,” the CIC President and CEO shared.

Further, the list shall promote transparency, contribute to safeguarding consumer protection and ensuring freedom of information, especially for the Filipino borrowing public.

The importance of writing down your goals on paper

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O you have plans and goals in your life? I’m sure you do because everyone does. They might be as simple as finishing a home project or starting a new hobby, or as grand as becoming a famous personality or traveling the whole world.

No matter what and how big your dreams are, it’s important that you make it a habit to write them down on paper.

Yes, you read it right: write them down on paper.

You might be thinking, how can such a simple task of writing down my goals on paper help me achieve them? Is this idea just another one of those articles that promote the Law of Attraction?

Well, you could say that, but there’s more to it than just “attracting your goals.”And there are other reasonable explanations that prove why writing down your goals on paper can help you achieve them.

In fact, there was one study done at Dominican University that demonstrated that writing one’s goal enhances goal achievement. This was done by Dr. Gail Matthews and he concluded that writing goals is important because of the these reasons: First, it becomes a written contract to yourself which usually sparks a personal motivation to achieve them.

Second, it makes you define clearly what your goals are. Writing them down encourages you to state what you want in greater detail.

Third, it frees your mind of perpetually thinking and “remembering” your goals. And lastly, it stimulates creativity and motivates you to think about the next step.

How do you write down your goals?

Write your goals down on a big and clean piece of paper.

Add more details to each of your goals.

Fitz Gerard Villafuerte

personal finance Set a deadline for your goals. Be realistic with the date.

Come up with a plan on how you’ll achieve your goals. Stimulate your creativity.

Again, write down this plan, which now becomes a new goal in itself.

Repeat everything until you’ve unloaded everything in your mind.

What happens next after writing down my goals?

The next obvious step after writing down your goals is to start working to achieve them. Notice that by writing them down and doing the process above, you are able to break down your goals into smaller and simpler tasks.

Furthermore, you’ve probably made for yourself a concrete plan of action that will help you succeed in your goals.

By writing out your goals, they become embedded on your subconscious mind and crystallized in your consciousness.

Let me end with a quote from personality development expert, Robin Sharma. He says, “Never lose sight of your goals. Never let the business of the everyday allow you to forget about your life goals. By thinking about them constantly and acting on them daily, you will steadily create the brilliant life you know in your heart you deserve.”

Fitz Villafuerte is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 79th RFP program this October 2019. To inquire, email info@rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.

Tuesday, October 1, 2019 B3

Cayetano defends ₧9.5-B realignment in ’20 budget

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz

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@joveemarie

MID persistent allegations of pork barrel in the budget bill, the leadership of the House of Representatives on Monday showed the P9.52-billion realignment it made in the proposed P4.1-trillion General Appropriations Act for 2020, which will be transmitted to the Senate on Tuesday (October 1).

In a press conference, Speaker Alan Peter S. Cayetano identified two sources of funds that were realigned to augment the funding for priority programs in line with the President’s priorities.

These include: P3.75 billion for right of way payments under the Department of Public Works and Highways, and P5.7 billion for the operational expenses for the Sangguniang Kabataan and Barangay Elections which will not push through next year.

Cayetano said the Department of Agriculture will be augmented by an additional P3 billion for the palay purchase and P500 million for the quick response fund.

“We added P3.5 billion to allow the DA to buy more palay and strengthen the quick response capability of the agency to respond to emergency situations like the African swine fever that we have now,” he said.

He said the Department of Education has been given P800 million, of which P650 million will go to the operation of schools to benefit students from Kinder to Grade 12, and P150 million to the model day-care centers nationwide.

Cayetano also said P100 million will be given to the National Center for Mental Health and P100 million to a quick response fund, both under the Department of Health.

The Speaker also said the UPPhilippine General Hospital will also be augmented by P100 million for medical services and P100 million for quick response fund.

Cayetano added P1 billion each will be given to the Camp Development Fund of the Philippine National Police and the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

At least P247.9 million will be allocated to Davao International Airport for its operating expense.

For the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, Cayetano said P200 million will be given as special allowance for traffic enforcers and field personnel, and P300 million for salary increase of 4,000 job order personnel.

Cayetano added that P500 million will be given to the Conservation and Protected Area Development of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Cayetano said it is also critical to have access to electricity in order for the marginalized communities to have a safe and comfortable life.

Hence, the House of Representatives will provide P500 million for the Sitio electrification projects of the National Electrification Administration.

He said the Dangerous Drugs Board’s community-based rehabilitation centers will receive P250 million.

Lastly, Cayetano said the Philippine Sports Commission has been

given P500 million in preparation and training for the 2020 Olympic Games and 10th Asean Para Games.

Cayetano reiterated that the House-approved budget remains pork-free and bereft of any illegal parking and insertions of funds.

“We invite our friends from the Senate to look at these national developments. I challenge anyone: what part of this presentation is pork?” he said.

“Transparency is the key. Anyone can accuse anyone of anything. There will be no problem if the evidence is hazy,” Cayetano added.

Last week, House members demanded an apology from Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson after he claimed that a Deputy Speaker’s office will receive P1.5 billion while each congressman’s office is entitled to P700 million under the national budget.

While Cayetano said he respects Lacson, the Speaker said “I think he cannot accept that this House is also anti-pork …but everything is on the record on paper.”

Citing a Supreme Court decision, House Majority Leader Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez said pork barrel is a congressional intervention after the enactment of the GAA. In 2013, the SC abolished and declared unconstitutional the Priority Development Assistance Fund or pork-barrel system.

PayMaya enters into deal Euromoney’s Asian with BIR for tax payment magazine selects PHL’s

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HE Bureau of Internal Revenues (BIR) tapped financial technology (fintech) company PayMaya Philippines Inc. to allow tax payers to remit their taxes using their mobile phones.

In a statement, the fintech player said the partnership with the tax collections agency affords users of the PayMaya app to pay their taxes through the pay bills feature of the mobile software. Aside from this, the partnership may extend to “other channels, such as through its online portal and its revenue district offices nationwide.”

“Having more digital payment options is part of the government’s efforts to drive ease of doing business in the country and help make tax payments more convenient for Filipinos.

With our partnership with PayMaya, even those who are not within reach of a bank branch can make their tax

payments on time, wherever they may be,” BIR Commissioner Caesar R. Dulay said.

PayMaya CEO Orlando B. Vea noted that the partnership is in support of the government’s escalated efforts to digitize many of its services in order to improve efficiencies, reach its revenue collection goals and deliver better public services to Filipinos nationwide.

“With agencies like the BIR opening digital payment channels for their constituents, the quality and efficiency of government services are vastly improved, which will help drive our competitiveness as a country,” he said.

This, Vea added, will also help in contributing to the National Retail Payment System Program of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, an initiative that aims to increase digital transactions to 20 percent by 2020. Lorenz S. Marasigan

Insurer, Asian Institute of Management launch open innovation program course

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hilippine AXA Life Insurance Corp. announced it has recently entered into an agreement with the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) to jointly hold what the insurer calls “Innovation Fellowship Program” (IFP).

The insurer describes the IFP as a platform that will “enable companies, entrepreneurs, business-minded individuals and innovative students to inspire and develop solutions to real-world problems.”

It added that the IFP “is a business course designed to pave the way for the development of innovative tools and expertise that will help customers, not only of AXA but of the insurance industry in general, achieve their financial and life goals.”

“The aim of the program is to synergize the knowledge and expertise of ‘aspiring game changers’ to develop

solutions to real-world problems facing the insurance industry, as well as promote health, wellness, protection and financial literacy in the Philippines,” the underwriting life insurance services provider added.

“The biggest significance for us is to encourage and develop innovation from outside AXA,” Rahul Hora, the company’s president and CEO, was quoted in the statement as saying. “Sometimes innovative and out-of-the-box ideas come from people who are not associated with insurance. This is why we are very excited to put this batch of people from AXA and from the outside world together, to help us come up with the best creative solutions for the business problems that we are facing.”

According to the insurer, the course is currently open for enrollment and classes are set to run from October 16 to November 18.

Best Digital Bank

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NION Bank of the Philippines Inc. (UnionBank) announced it was once again chosen as the Best Digital Bank in the Philippines, award by the Asian publication of Euromoney Institutional Investor Plc. (EIIP).

The publicly listed universal bank said it secured the recognition for the third year in a row.

“The bank’s three consecutive wins since 2017 were a natural result of its revolutionary digital innovations to remain competitive in the financial services space, while simultaneously enhancing customer experience and enabling sustainable financial inclusion,” a statement by the UnionBank said.

The UnionBank quoted the EIIP division as saying: “Its rivals like to say that [UnionBank], led by its President and Chief Executive Officer Edwin R. Bautista, is more talk than action. But the bank can justifiably point to a long list of innovations, eclipsing all other institutions in the country.”

UnionBank said it was also among the five of 30 financial institutions to watch out for in Asia in the digital banking category.

UnionBank added that it began its adoption of technology in banking in 2016 when it started using facial recognition technology and launched the first fully digital bank branch in the Philippines and the country’s first banking chatbot. That year, the bank said, it also launched a mobile application that allows clients to bank from their home or office. In just two years, the bank’s transformation was cited as the best in the region by EIIP, it said.

UnionBank said it was in 2018 when it became the first bank to introduce the first central bank-compliant, 2-way virtual currency automated teller machine in the Philippines, and first to successfully pilot the use of tokenized fiat in a cross-border transaction from OCBC Bank in Singapore to an account holder in Cantilan rural bank in Surigao del Sur. UnionBank said it was also last year when it became the first bank to launch a stablecoin to provide rural banks under its blockchain-powered platform easier access to remittance and payments.

Most recently, the bank reported that its application programming interface developer portal has generated P3 billion worth of transactions from both corporate and individual customers only three years since its launch. The API developer portal is the interface between UnionBank’s full set of APIs—or the bank’s various capabilities like bills payment, fund transfers, inquiries, authentication and other functions for public consumption—and their developer stakeholders, particularly fintechs who create new technology to extend financial services to the masses.

UnionBank said it “is seeing clear signs that its digital transformation, expected to be a multiyear process, is working.”

According to Bautista, UnionBank has “acquired close to 1 million customers in 2018, and another half a million customers in the first half of 2019.” He added UnionBank has grown its asset base by more than 30 percent to over P700 billion since 2016. “We have also controlled our operating expense growth to less than 5 percent,” Bautista said, adding that close to 80 percent of UnionBank’s interactions with customers are now routed through digital channels.

B4 Tuesday, October 1, 2019

Join Hong Kong Disneyland’s Villainous Ensemble at Disney Halloween Time

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ET into the Halloween spirit with Disney’s wickedest Villains at Hong Kong Disneyland Resort (“HKDL”) during Disney Halloween Time! From September 12 to October 31 2019, HKDL is presenting all kinds of mysterious surprises and providing awe-inspiring Halloween experience.

Villains from classic Disney stories will take center stage in the all-new musical shows “Let’s Get Wicked” and “Jack Skellington’s Villainous Gathering,” giving guests an unforgettable Halloween. Guests can also enjoy the “Journey to Halloween Town” trickor-treat walkthrough experience and immerse themselves in classic scenes from “Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

This year’s Halloween experience will include limited-edition merchandise and Villain-inspired food and beverages for guests of all ages. Guests can also enjoy a Limited Time Room Offer starting from HK$1,299 when booking online from now until September 11. Enjoy a magical stay in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort Hotels with free Priority Admission Pass and complimentary vouchers and take the Halloween celebrations to a whole new level at Hong Kong Disneyland!

Immerse yourself in the all-new musical show, “Let’s Get Wicked” where guests can interact with the performers during the show, and purchase themed merchandise from the kiosk outside the theater to celebrate your favorite Villain’s ensemble.

Party with Jack Skellington and Disney Villains all day and all night at the brand-new “Jack Skellington’s Villainous

Gathering” held at the Castle Hub Stage.

Guests can once again travel on a Journey to Halloween Town where they can re-live the classic scenes from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas with immersive moments and all-new trick-or-treat activities.

Mickey and his beloved friends will appear in their Halloween costumes distributing candy, as well as singing and dancing at Mickey’s “Halloween Time Street Party.” Vampirina will also be making her debut this Halloween, and she can’t wait to spook guests at The Annex! You can also meet your favorite Disney friends and Villains at the “Halloween Time Festival Gardens” in Fantasyland throughout the day, where Winnie the Pooh and his friends will appear in special Halloween costumes.

At night, Maleficent, Hades, Captain Hook, Queen of Hearts, Cruella de Vil and Frollo will take over the gardens. Guests can also

enjoy face painting and other activities at the Disney Trick-or-Treat booths.

Exclusive offers for Pinoy guests Plan a memorable adventure at HKDL this Halloween by registering online as a MyDisney Fan for free and purchasing park tickets after signing into their MyDisney Account. Guests will receive a special edition Disney gift and multiple play, shop, and dining privileges for the date of their visit!

Guests can also purchase a limited-time Halloween “Villain’s VIP” Priority Pass to enjoy the wicked Halloween offerings at HKDL, including priority entrance to the “Let’s Get Wicked” musical show and “Journey to Halloween Town,” plus free redemption of one Halloween headband at a merchandise shop.

For more details about the special offers, please visit: www.hongkongdisneyland.com/ offers-discounts

Swiss Cosmetic Technology to establish beauty academy in the Philippines

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WISS Color International ( SCI) finally brings its premiere products and services in the Philippines through an Avant Garde-themed launch event at the Garden View Deck in Ayala Malls Marikina, on September 15.

Sponsored by Sybella Salon, Swiss Color boasts expertise in the field of micropigments for high quality permanent makeup and Microblading. Its renowned products and services meet the highest standards of quality as well as value for money, helping customers obtain their best personal and professional appearances.

Swiss Color® International employs precision pigmenting machines that comply with the latest hygiene conditions. The beauty company also ensures safety with the products they use; it utilizes quality Swiss Color®pigments that meet the requirements of ResAP (2008) 1 and the new Pharmaceuticals Ordinance of 04/2013 on nickel content.

Swiss Color Pigments do not contain Nickel, it’s pigment is 100% free from metal. It does not contain any hazardous AZO dyes, no PAH= polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; no hazardous aromatic amines including NDELA = Nitrosodiethanolamine.

Among the products and services that Swiss Color® is bringing here in the country are Microblading, Lip Tinting, and Ombre eyebrow enhancements. These beauty solutions will become first available at Sybella Salon at Ayala Malls Marikina, but will soon land to many other beauty salons and clinics nationwide.

Sybella also offers different services in nails,

OET and UK Tier 2 Visas: Only one test required for registration and visa purposes

Cebu City to host farm tourism confab

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HE Queen City of the South primes up for the 6th Farm Tourism Conference set at the Marco Polo Plaza Hotel, Cebu City on November 6-8.

Themed “Building Community Relationship for Sustainable Development of Farm Tourism,” the event is hosted by the City Government of Cebu, the confab is co-organized by the International School of Sustainable Tourism (ISST) and the Cebu Alliance of Tour Operations Specialist, Inc. with the support of the Department of Tourism Department of Agriculture, and Department of Trade and Industry.

To deliver keynote messages are former President and House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, DA Secretary William

Dar, and Senator Cynthia Villar, author of the Farm Tourism Development Act of 2016.

ISST president and event director Mina Gabor said the conference will focus on the unique fusion of farming and tourism that helps empower local communities, provide diversified income for farmers, and encourage sustainable practices for food security.

Resource persons include ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity executive director Theresa Mundita Lim, Board of Landscape Architecture chairman Paolo Alcazaren, Arslan SRS Philippines chief executive officer Augustus Caesar Esmeralda, Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture director Gil Saguiguit Jr., Parañaque City Mayor Edwin

Olivarez, DownToEarth Farm Shop and Café president Nicolo Aberasturi, and Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources director Eduardo Gongona.

Meanwhile, Bolo Aloguinsan Ecotourism Association vice president Jomelyn Delos Reyes, and Cebu Pacific Director for Corporate Communications Charo Lagamon will talk on the importance of public-private partnership Moreover, success stories in Asia will be shared by India’s Agri Tourism Development Company managing director Pandurang Taware, and Charinee Chaiyochlarb of Mini Murrah Farm in Thailand.

Gabor added that the event will accord the Lakbay Bukid Award or Farm Tourism Award to the country’s foremost farm tourism pioneers, practitioners, institutions and groups who have contributed significantly to the development of the industry.

Groups, individuals, and diplomatic missions can send their nominees to the ISST until October 18.

The three-day event will also have an exhibition area for fresh and locallygrown agricultural produce, and a site visit on the leading farm tourism spots, namely Sirao Flower Farm, Jaime Chua’s Orchid Farm, and Adlawon Vacation Farm.

For details, contact (02) 832-0996, 834-2994 or 0917-1868766, or email info.isstphilippines@gmail.com.

Fortune Life plants hope through tree planting

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ORTUNE Life Insurance Company employees and agents successfully planted 400 seedlings covering one hectare at the La Mesa Nature Reserve. The tree-planting activity was one of the series of activities lined up for the company’s 35th anniversary celebration named Journey to 35 years.

The tree planting was also held in honor of the 85th birthday on August 30 of Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, the company founder who established it on Dec. 8, 1984.

The Fortune Life team took a one-kilometer walk through a rough and muddy trail of the Nature Reserve area where they planted the seedlings. They were assisted by La Mesa foresters.

The company said it chose La Mesa Nature Reserve as its way of recognizing and supporting the projects of former Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, who passed away on August. 19.

feet, lashes, waxing, massage, spa, ombre and microblading, exclusively using SCI’s products and accessories.

Andri Silvan Esslen and Veronica Esslen, owner of Sybella, is the Exclusive Partner of Swiss Color International in the Philippines.

To further acquire the essential foreign techniques and skills, Sybella Salon will send Master Microbladers to undergo firstclass individual training courses to get the necessary know-how of the beauty brand’s hallmark permanent cosmetic techniques as well as understand each of the reliable Swiss Color pigments.

Swiss Color will further train its staff on the correct approaches to personalize the treatment and experience of every customer.

These new knowledge will be used to establish the upcoming Swiss Color®Academy in the Philippines, which the couple will spearhead.

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OCTORS, nurses, dentists and midwives applying for Tier2 (General) visas no longer need to meet a separate English language requirement where they have already done so as part of registering with the relevant regulatory body. This means that these healthcare professionals will be exempt from the English language requirement for their visa application where they have used their successful OET results for registering with the relevant healthcare regulator. The test was recognized by the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council and the General Medical Council almost two years ago. The change will apply to all Tier 2 (General) visa applications submitted on or

after 1 October 2019.

OET has been increasing in popularity among test-takers, recruiters and employers, who value the ability of a health-specific test to better prepare for the Englishspeaking healthcare workplace.

As an Authorized OET Test Venue in the Philippines since 2015, ICSEC/ International Cultural Studies & Education Corp administers the OET in 5 Centers located in key cities across the Philippines. As a Kaplan Certified Education Provider (www. kaptestglobal.com/kceps/philippines) ICSEC is the leading provider of test preparation services and certification training in the Philippines offering test preparation for a wide range of international standardized examinations and professional licensing examinations including the National Council of Licensure Examination for Registered Nurses (NCLEX-RN®) and the United States Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE®) through a system of 10 Centers located in key cities across the Philippines.

NGCP turns over new computer laboratories to Luzon schools

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S part of its corporate social responsibility efforts, NGCP recently tuned over new fully equipped computer laboratories to four schools in Luzon.

Bondoc Peninsula Agricultural High School in Mulanay, Quezon; Gapas Elementary School in Guinayangan, Quezon; Ballay Elementary School in Bauang, La Union; and Naguilayan Elementary School in Binmaley, Pangasinan were the recipients of the computer laboratories under the TechKid CSR project of the company, which introduces the use of computers to underprivileged students in public schools.

The computer laboratories are equipped with 25 laptops, two printers, and an internet router which are designed to help improve the quality of education in these far-flung areas.

“NGCP is tasked with bringing reliable and secure power transmission services for the benefit of the Filipino people. Beyond this mandate, it is also the company’s duty to extend itself for the betterment of the

communities where it operates, hence the call for sustainable corporate social responsibility projects. Providing these elementary and high school students with these computer laboratories will aid them in their studies as they explore and learn more through internet research and other computer-assisted learning modules,” NGCP said.

The beneficiary-schools are part of the communities hosting several NGCP facilities in Pangasinan and Quezon, the Quibaol-San Carlos 69kV Transmission Line Segment, La Trinidad-Bauang 230kV Line, BauangNaguilian 69kV Line, Tayabas-Naga 230kV Line, Gumaca-Lopez 69kV Line, PitogoMulanay 69kV Line, and Mulanay Load End Station.

NGCP is a Filipino-led, privately owned company in charge of operating, maintaining, and developing the country’s power grid, led by majority shareholders Henry Sy, Jr. and Robert Coyiuto, Jr.

By Eddie Pells

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than gold.

Her two-year-old son Zyon came down to the track to join her for the victory lap. What a fitting way to celebrate the Jamaican speedster’s fourth and hardest-earned 100-meter title at world championships.

“A victory for motherhood!” FraserPryce said.

Sure is. And if 2019 has been the Year of the Mother in track and field, then Sunday was Mother’s Day. Only moments before Fraser-Pryce— this time with her long hair arranged in a rainbow-pastel pastiche—blasted past the field in a season-best 10.71 seconds, new mom Allyson Felix surpassed none other than Usain Bolt with her record 12th gold medal at worlds. This one came in the brand-new mixed relay, in which two men and two women team up for four trips around the track.

Felix was among the Americans who banded together in protest this summer, getting Nike to change a longstanding policy that stopped payments to pregnant athletes in this sport. Her 10-month-old daughter, Camryn, was with her at the stadium. Felix said she got goose bumps watching Fraser-Pryce cross the finish line first .12 seconds ahead of Dina Asher-Smith of Britain.

“What she’s done is amazing,” Felix said. “She’s had a hard road, too. She keeps encouraging me. Her first year wasn’t the best, but her second year, she’s better than ever. Women are amazing and she’s leading the way.”

Fraser-Pryce said she sat on her bed and cried the day she found out she was pregnant. Not too much after that, she heard people saying it might be time to quit.

“Everyone’s entitled to their opinion,” she said. “I knew how I felt and I knew I wasn’t ready to go. I had something left to do, and I stayed focused on the goal.”

And that, in many ways, has been the point of this year for her, for Felix, for any woman who has ever been told it’s over once she decides to start having kids.

Felix spent more than a decade cultivating a reputation as a classy champion, but a very private person. When

OHA, Qatar—Only moments after Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce zoomed past the finish line Sunday night, she scooped up something more precious

The Associated Press

she went public with her issues with Nike, it served as a tipping point to the movement begun earlier in the summer by Alysia Montano in track, and members of the US women’s soccer team, who were fighting a similar battle on different turf for equal pay during their run to a World Cup victory.

All of it eventually made a difference—not only in the terms Nike was willing to rework in its endorsement contracts for elite athletes, but in the message it sent about equality.

“I think everything I went through this year...it just brings it all back that it’s so much bigger than myself,” Felix said.

There were others competing in the quarter-full stadium Sunday night, including Christian Taylor, who won his third straight triple-jump world championship.

And pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia, who cleared 4.95 meters to beat American Sandi Morris for the gold.

Sidorova is competing as a neutral athlete because of Russia’s doping problems and will receive her medal Monday night with the International Association of Athletics Federations’ (IAAF) “anthem,” not Russia’s, playing in the background.

Another mother won gold in the women’s 20-kilometer walk early Monday morning. Liu Hong of China took the 2017 and 2018 seasons off to have a child before returning triumphantly in 2019. She led a Chinese podium sweep.

Another gold medalist was Courtney Okolo—Felix’s 25-year-old relay teammate.

“It’s definitely an inspiration to all women,” Okolo said of the 33-year-old Felix. “You see the journey she’s been on this year, and now you’re seeing a lot of women can do that and come back successfully. I know that when the time comes for me to have kids, it’s something I can do, as well.”

Between them, Fraser-Pryce and Felix have piled up a combined 27 medals at world championships over the past 14 years. They are, by almost

any measure, the two most dominating sprinters of their time.

Even so, these two golds are destined to stand out for them, mainly for the work they put in simply to make it back to the track.

On top of the normal stresses of pregnancy, both women delivered via cesarean sections that ravage the core muscles critical for sprinters trying to burst out of the blocks.

“For 10 weeks, I couldn’t lift weights [while lying] on my back,” Fraser-Pryce said.

“And mentally, it’s even harder because you’re 30, you’re having a baby, the females are out there running fast. You wonder if you can come back. For me, I just worked really hard.”

Felix’s baby came two months prematurely and spent around a month in the neonatal intensive-care unit.

“It puts things in perspective,” Felix said.

Any doubts about what this night was all about were more than put to rest as FraserPryce circled the track, with Zyon resting his head on her shoulder.

So many Jamaican victory laps in the past— whether by Bolt or Fraser-Pryce, who now has a total of eight world golds to go with two from the Olympics—have been topped off with Bob Marley tunes to fuel up a crowd on its way to a party.

This time, it was a selection from “The Lion King” playing over the PA system as the sprinter they’re now calling the “Mommy Rocket” exited stage right with her son in her arms.

The song: “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?”

Christian Taylor certainly makes this one entertaining. AP

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OHA, Qatar—This has almost become nothing but a formality: Crowning Christian Taylor as the world triple-jump champion.

Taylor captured his third straight title Sunday night at the world championships.

But the American standout certainly made this one entertaining.

Fouling on his first two attempts and staring at elimination, he turned back into the Taylor of old to win the event over teammate and good friend Will Claye in a back-and-forth contest. Taylor’s winning leap was 17.92 meters, with Claye just 0.18 meters behind.

Taylor may be going for another threepeat next summer in Tokyo as he chases his third straight Olympic gold medal.

“Really my goal was to be a one-time world champion, one-time Olympic champ,” said Taylor, who’s now won four of the last five world titles. “Everything else is icing on the cake. Now four times—it makes me feel old that I’ve been doing this for so long.”

It was just business as usual for Taylor in an event where the competitor tries to jump as far as possible by performing a hop, step and a jump from a running start.

All he needed was a little pep talk Sunday to get back on track.

“I said, ‘You belong here. Just slow down, relax and don’t touch the board and get to the final,’” Taylor recounted.

He took his own advice to heart. On his fifth attempt of six, he turned in his

best jump of the evening.

Was that drama enough?

He said he’s heard whispers about possibly taking the event off the Diamond League competition schedule, just to make the program more condensed.

“This is what we need to keep the triple-jump alive,” Taylor said. “Hopefully the IAAF saw this, recognized that it was good for the fans. Hopefully, we had a big enough bang that that IAAF says, ‘We’ll keep you guys.’”

Just don’t ask him if winning ever gets old.

“No. No, no, no, no,” the 29-year-old Taylor said. “It’s not boring for me. Having those two fouls, I tried to play it cool. But my heart was racing.”

It had to be the spikes. His new pair

of custom-made Nikes was made in honor of National Football League wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. Remember when Beckham did his triple-jump celebration after scoring a 75-yard touchdown for the News York Giants in 2016?

Taylor sure does.

Taylor had “CDT” on one side of the spikes—an ode to “OBJ”—and Beckham’s No. 13 on the other.

“I’m a big fan of his,” said Taylor, who pointed out that he won on a night when Beckham’s new team, the Cleveland Browns, played, and routed, Baltimore.

“The play, the attitude, the swagger.”

Fitting, the design on the spikes was in gold.

One of the first to congratulate him

was Claye. They’re fierce rivals on game days—they were teammates at the University of Florida—but fast friends away from the track.

“We’ve gone through the ranks together, trained together, been through the mud together,” Claye explained. “This right here is another stop along the way.

We’ll always have that great relationship.

We always have a mutual respect and love for each other.”

Without Taylor in his way, Claye could have a lot more hardware. Claye finished runner-up to Taylor at the last two Olympic Games.

“But if he wasn’t around, I’m probably not doing track,” Claye countered. “If I won those golds, I’d be like, ‘I got everything I wanted from the sport.’ I’d probably be doing something else now. The chip on my shoulder that’s growing each and every year is going to amount to something very special.” AP

JAMAICA’S Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce carries her son Zyon after winning the gold medal in the women’s 100 meters as the US team of Allyson Felix, Wilbert London, Michael Cherry and Courtney Okolo pose after ruling the mixed 4x400-meter relay on Sunday. AP

| Tuesday, October 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

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Taylor wins 3rd straight triple jump world title

MOTHER’S DAY! Sports BusinessMirror

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Business

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

LeBron’s high-school jersey up for auction

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KRON, Ohio—A sweat-stained jersey LeBron James wore while playing Ohio high-school basketball and during his first Sports Illustrated magazine cover shoot as a teenager in 2002 is being auctioned.

The online auction listing says the gold mesh jersey from the National Basketball Association star’s days with the St. Vincent-St. Mary Fighting Irish in Akron features green lettering with the word “Irish” and number 23, the same number he’d later wear for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Goldin Auctions says James gave the jersey to its current owner, an unidentified seller who attended the school.

The auction house says 5 percent of the proceeds will go to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

The auction runs until October 19. Early bidding reached $37,000.

James now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The NBA 2K League, meanwhile, is adding a team in Shanghai for the 2020 season, its first franchise outside of North America.

The 2K League announced the addition Thursday. The Shanghai club will be operated by eSports organization Gen.G and will join 22 existing teams, all of which are operated by NBA franchises.

The 2K League, run by the NBA, partnered with Internet giant Tencent to stream games in China for the first time in July.

The Shanghai team does not yet have a name and will train at Gen.G’s Los Angeles headquarters in 2020. The majority of the 2K League’s matches take place at its studio in New York City, although the league also had tournaments in Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida, this year.

Gen.G’s investors include Los Angeles Clippers alternate governor Dennis Wong, and the group has teams competing in seven other video-game titles, including the Seoul Dynasty of the Overwatch League. AP

DANE WORLD CHAMP H

AUSSIES BAG 2020 SLOT

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ustralia became the sixth and final team to earn a berth in next year’s Olympic softball tournament, beating China, 9-3, on Sunday at Shanghai to finish 5-0 in the final round of Asia/Oceania qualifying.

Japan received an automatic berth as host, and the United States, Canada, Italy and Mexico previously qualified.

Softball is the first event to start at the Tokyo Games, opening July 22 at Fukushima— two days before the opening ceremonies. The first two days of softball are in Fukushima and the last four in Yokohama, with the final on July 28.

Softball is in the Olympics for the fifth time. The US won gold medals in 1996, 2000 and 2004, and Japan won in 2008. AP

Denmark’s Mads Pedersen sprints ahead of Italy’s Matteo Trentin and Switzerland’s Stefan Kung to win the men elite race. AP

ARROGATE, England— Mads Pedersen won the men’s elite race at the Road World Championships on Sunday in a surprise victory amid heavy rain in northern England.

The 23-year-old Dane beat Matteo Trentin and Stefan Kung as the race—261 kilometers in the cold and wet Yorkshire Dales—came down to a much-reduced sprint on Parliament Street.

Trentin was first to open up as they came past Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms, but the Italian soon realized he had gone too soon as Pedersen swept past him to win by a comfortable margin.

Gianni Moscon came in fourth ahead of three-time former world champion Peter Sagan.

Organizers announced early Sunday that the route would be cut by 19 kilometers to 261 kilometers, bypassing the key climbs of Buttertubs and Grinton Moor as flooding struck roads made famous by the 2014 Grand Depart of the Tour de France.

Defending champion Alejandro Valverde climbed off with 100 kilometers to go, with Britain’s 2018 Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas another to give up early.

“I would have liked to have finished the race, to be there out of respect for my teammates and for Spain,” Valverde said in a tweet from the Spanish cycling federation. “It was very cold, very windy, and raining...I was completely frozen.”

Dutch cyclist Annemiek van Vleuten rode alone for more than 100 kilometers to win the women’s elite race on Saturday.

Kung has ended Switzerland’s 20-year medal drought in the elite men’s road race with his bronze. He told the press that his two breakaway companions, Pedersen and Trentin—were stronger in the sprint and that he had no regrets about losing the world title.

“I have no regrets,” Kung said. “I rode with my heart. I gave it all. Two other guys beat me.”

“In the end, I looked at the circuit and the weather, and we knew we needed to be one step ahead of the others,” Kung said. “It was my job to cover the moves. I know with the last races I did, and in the condition I was, this was the way I had to ride the race. Lawson is a really strong rider, and I followed him, we saw when Matteo and Mathieu [van der Poel] came, they were really strong, but after one lap everyone was tired.”

Kung, Moscon and Trentin and Mathieu continued to push the limits of the breakaway on a demanding 14-km finishing circuit in Harrogate.

“With me being out there for 65 kms, I missed the punchy stuff,” Kung said. “When you’re out there for that long, you go into cruise mode, but it’s hard to accelerate. I gave it all on the last climb, I tried to drop them, but they were strong enough to stay with me.”

Van der Poel was dropped on the last lap and Moscon, who had been driving the breakaway for Trentin, lost contact on the final climb. Kung launched his attack first in a bid for the world title at the bottom of the uphill drag to the finish line.

His efforts were no match for the faster Trentin and Pedersen, and both caught and passed him. The pair sprinted for the line with Pedersen securing the world title and Trentin the silver.

Kung settled for bronze. AP

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THE MVP Sports Foundation (MVPSF) headed by Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan (center) and President Al Panlilio (seventh from left), present a replica of a check worth P500,000 to Eumir Felix Marcial (fifth from left) for his silver medal finish in the middleweight division of the International Boxing Association World Championships in Yekaterinburg, Russia, recently. Also in photo are (from left) Art Aro (MVPSF), elite men Head Coach Ronald Chavez, Association of Boxing Alliances in the Philippines SecretaryGeneral Ed Picson, President Ricky Vargas, Coaching Consultant Don Abnett and Coach Roel Velasco, and MVPSF Executive Director Ryan Gregorio and Maita David (MVPSF).

Worlds silver medalist Marcial leads PHL boxing team to SEAG

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ORLD championships silver medalist Eumir Felix Marcial leads the Philippine boxing team to the 30th Southeast Asian Games the country is hosting from November 30 to December 11.

Marcial, also a two-time SEA Games gold medalist, is the country’s representative in the men’s 75 kilograms (middleweight) in the boxing competitions set at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Also in the lineup are Carlo Paalam (light flyweight, 49 kgs), Rogen Ladon (flyweight, 52 kgs), Ian Clark Bautista (bantamweight, 56 kgs), Charly Suarez (lightweight, 60 kgs), James Palicte (light welterweight, 64 kgs), Joel Bacho (welterweight, 69 kgs) and John Tupas-Marvin (light heavyweight, 81 kg).

The women’s team is composed of Josie Gabuco (light flyweight, 48 kgs), Irish Magno

(flyweight, 48 kgs), Aira Villegas (bantamweight, 54 kgs), Nesthy Petecio (featherweight, 57 kgs) and Risa Pasuit (lightweight, 60 kgs).

Even as the roster has been drawn up, Abap Secretary-General Ed Picson said the association reserves its right to make last-minute changes.

“This list is not cast in stone. We reserve the right to replace any boxer who does not live up to the criteria set by the coaching staff, which includes not only performance in the ring or the gym, but also in terms of punctuality, attitude and overall behavior,” Picson said.

“All the teams are allowed to replace any boxer until the official weigh-in, which is a day before the competition starts on December 3,” he added.

Heading the coaching staff are Ronald Chavez (elite men), Nolito Velasco (elite women) and foreign consultant Don Abnett.

LASCUñA TARGET IN APO CHALLENGE T

ony Lascuña hopes to mark his return to winning form with another victory at home but the newly crowned Nan Pao Professional Golfers Association of Taiwan champion faces a tough challenge from a formidable cast in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Apo Golf Challenge set on Wednesday at the quaint Apo Golf and Country Club in Davao.

Lascuña’s challengers include his fellow Davaoeño aces and firmed up by a number of foreign bets.

The 48-year-old Lascuña ended a two-year title spell in big fashion, winning the second Philippine Golf Tour (PGT) Asia leg in Taiwan last Sunday where he swept away a slew of Thai and Taiwanese rivals with a two gutsy

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niversity of the Philippines (UP) Head Coach Bo Perasol admitted that frustrations got the worst of him in their blowout loss to Ateneo last Sunday.

“I apologize, first for my team, for losing it,” Perasol said in the aftermath of his ejection following an ugly incident that marred the Blue Eagles’ 89-63 lopsided win at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ateneo was at the height of a 12-3 run at the start of the third quarter when Perasol fumed over what he perceived was a none-call on the Fighting Maroons’ offense.

Jerson Prado attempted for a basket but was stopped by Ange Kouame. Perasol believed the Ivory Coast big man caught fouled his player but the referee saw otherwise.

The UP alumna charged the referee with his fist closed and constantly cursed the official. He was restrained by his

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Ramon Rafael Bonilla

win at Pueblo de Oro three weeks ago, also tipped to contend for the crown in the P3 million event sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. “I feel good about my chances, of course, very confident but wary with so many strong players around, including my fellow Davaoeños,” Lascuña said.

Multi-titled Jay Bayron, another Davaoeño ace, is also out for a big rebound from a number of mediocre finishes, while Ira Alido looms as a big threat to Lascuña’s title drive following a string of impressive outings in the last few tournaments of the circuit backed by Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Champion, Summit Mineral Water, K&G Golf Apparel, BDO, Sharp, KZG, PLDT and MY Shokai Technology.

COACH BO APOLOGIZES

Foreigners lead UAAP MVP race niversity of Santo Tomas’s Soulemane Chabi Yo and Ateneo’s Ange Kouame are engaged in a tight race in the Most Valuable Player race after the first round of hostilities in Season 82 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball action.

The Beninese Chabi Yo leads the pack with a total of 82.71 statistical points (SPs). The Growling Tiger amassed 139 points in seven games, or an average of a league-high 19.9 points, along with 15.3 rebounds per game.

But his grip of the lead looked precarious.

Kouame, of Ivory Coast, closely trails with his 81.43 SPs. Kouame has norms of 14.0 points, 13.1 rebounds and league-best 4.9 blocks for reigning titlist Ateneo.

University of the Philippines punched in two entries with Bright Akhuetie and Kobe Paras occupying the third and fourth spots, respectively.

Akhuetie, the reigning MVP, has 69 SPs built around 14.6 points, 12.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists.

Paras, a rookie, notched 18.4 points, 5.6 boards and 1.4 assists for 65.2 SPs. University of the East big man Alex Diakhite ran fifth with 15.3 points and 12.7 rebounds for 64.83 SPs. Completing the top 10 are Rey Suerte also of UE (62.29 SPs), Jamie Malonzo (61.5 SPs) and Justine Baltazar (58.57 SPs) of De La Salle, Thirdy Ravena of Ateneo (57.71 SPs) and Lenda Duanga of Adamson (56.86 SPs).

Kouame again showed up for the Blue Eagles in their last two games to become this season’s fourth Collegiate Press Corps UAAP Player of the Week.

Kouame powered Ateneo to a dominant win over UE, 85-68, and then to a convincing victory in their Finals rematch against UP, 89-63.

In those back-to-back games, the Ivorian tower averaged 17.5 points and 13.5 rebounds, including 8.5 at the offensive end, as well as 5.0 blocks.

shots in the closing holes to win by one stroke.

That makes him the player to watch in this eighth leg of the 10th season of PGT although the former three-time Order of Merit winner has expressed guarded optimism as he gears up for four days of battle of shotmaking and putting against a field headed by players who have also honed up their skills and talent on the tight, flat par 72 layout.

They include Jhonnel Ababa, winner of the last PGT leg at Del Monte two weeks ago, Elmer Salvador and Alvin Engino, joint runners-up in this event last year, Ferdie Aunzo, Rufino Bayron, Mhark Fernando and Elmer Saban, among others, with the likes of Del Monte bets Clyde Mondilla, Johvanie Abano and Reymon Jaraula, who stunned Lascuña in a playoff to score a breakthrough

players and coaching staff.

“It really doesn’t matter what happens on the court, but I have to think about my composure because that is what I preach and I was the one who lost it,” Perasol said.

“That was a lesson for us, and I don’t think that was who we are. It was mostly because of what I did.”

Perasol, however, stressed the bad calls triggered his outburst.

“There was an instance when the official called the third foul on Bright [Akhuetie] and Bright was already at the other baseline. I really thought that the official followed him there. And for me, I was telling him [the referee] that you’re going to ruin the team, or you’re going to ruin the competition,” he said.

For his action, he is expected to serve a one-game suspension against Far Eastern University on October 6.

Ramon Rafael Bonilla

House resolution filed to prohibit schools from using foreign athletes

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NATIONAL University’s Issa Gaye (10) and Enzo Joson double team University of the East’s Alex Diakhite during their game won by the Red Warriors, 78-72, on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. NONOY LACZA

PSA Forum on basketball finals

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WO upcoming basketball finals will be tackled in Tuesday’s session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association (PSA) Forum at the Amelie Hotel Manila.

Representatives from Marinerong Pilipino and BRT Sumisip Basilan-St. Clare are gracing the 10 a.m. session to discuss their coming best-of-three title series in the Philippine Basketball Association Developmental League Foundation Cup. Joining them in the weekly forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Braska

Restaurant, Amelie Hotel and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. are the Women’s National Basketball League finalists PSI-Air Force Lady Air Defenders and Taguig Lady Generals.

Coach Diana Carandang and players Ambie Almazan, Anna Regina Buendia and Katherine Sandel will represent the Air Force team in the session livestreamed via the PSA Facebook page fb.com/PhilippineSportswritersAssociation and aired on a delayed basis over Radyo Pilipinas 2 from 1 to 2 p.m., and at 6:30 p.m.

SEA GAMES HOPEFULS Members

of the Philippine Navy-Standard Insurance cycling team finishes second in the general team classification—a mere 10 seconds behind Vietnam’s Bike Life Team—in the recent VTV International Cycling Tournament in Hanoi. Led

by Jan Paul Morales, the team will represent the country in the road race and team time trial competitions of the 30th Southeast Asian Games in November in Tagaytay City. The other members are Ronald Oranza, El Joshua Cariño, Junrey Navarra, George Oconer and John Mark Camingao. They are coached by Bernie Llantada and Reinhard Gorrantes, and managed by Marine Col. Noel Beleran. They train and compete under the auspices of the PhilCycling headed by Tagaytay Rep. Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, also the president of the Philippine Olympic Committee.

OUSE Deputy Speaker Mikee Romero (1-Pacman Party-list) on Monday filed a bill that would prohibit schools in the collegiate leagues from recruiting non-Filipino citizens for their varsity squads.

The practice of using foreign players under the guise of student-athletes, according to Romero, has become a norm in various colleges, branding the practice as a total disregard to the true meaning of fair play.

Romero filed House Resolution 388 to curb the practice.

“I am urging the proper committee of the House of Representatives in aid of legislation to stop and prohibit all collegiate leagues from recruiting, acquiring and using non-Filipinos as players because, in effect, it stops the growth and shortchanges the development of various sports programs in the Philippines,” Romero said.

By allowing foreigners to play, Romero

said, schools that have vast resources have undue advantages and, in doing so, “destroy the beautiful game of basketball.”

“Lest I’ll be accused of some kind of a killjoy, I am doing this for the good of Philippine basketball. The crushing defeats we suffered in the recent Fiba World Cup has forced me to make this resolution,” said Romero who was the godfather of the national basketball team that won the gold medal in the 2007 Southeast Asian Games in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand.

“I’m not targeting any school here. All I want is to give our homegrown players the chance to improve and compete to the best of their ability,” Romero said. “Acquiring foreigners is not only counterproductive but is also more expensive to maintain a team.”

Romero, owner of NorthPort in the Philippine Basketball Association, also noticed that some foreign players—mostly Africans—have moved from one league to another, thus belying the notion that they came to the country to study.

Tornadoes beat Power Spikers

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fter a luckless start, Foton finally got its swag back as it dominated PLDT Home Fibr, 25-21, 25-20, 25-18, in the Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference on Monday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The Tornadoes displayed a balanced attack to clobber the Power Spikers in 78 minutes and capture their first win after opening the season with back-to-back losses.

Shaya Adorador paced the assault with 15 points laced with nine excellent reception and six digs, while CJ Rosario manned the middle with five kills for 12 points for Foton, which is missing the services of Jaja Santiago, Dindin Manabat and Maika Ortiz.

Santiago and Manabat are competing in the prestigious V.Premier League in Japan while Ortiz crashed with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.

Elaine Kasilag was also impressive with 10 hits, while EJ Laure and Marian Buitre added eight points.

Foton Coach Aaron Velez said he is glad that

they finally got their first win without Santiago, Manabat and Ortiz.

“Of course, we’re happy. Coming from two losses, this is a huge boost for us,” said Velez, who also drew great plays from Gyzelle Sy and impressive floor defense from Jen Reyes. “Before the match started, I told them to give their best because getting this win is important for our campaign. They responded well.”

Foton forced a tie with PLDT with a 1-2 win-loss card before entering the second round, where the Tornadoes will be grouped in Pool D with Sta. Lucia, Generika-Ayala and F2 Logistics.

The Power Hitters missed their Head Coach Roger Gorayeb because of the flu. Grethcel Soltones struggled with only four points, leaving Jerrili Malabanan to carry the cudgels with 11 points.

PLDT will join Pool C in the next round together with Cignal, Petron and Marinerang Pilipina.

Rick Olivares bleachersbrew@gmail.com

Bleachers’ Brew

Matt Nieto: Silent assassin That play against the Republic of China’s Team B was an audacious and well run one. Down 74-76 to Chinese Taipei Blue with three seconds left in the ball game. Thirdy Ravena inbounded the ball. Isaac Go and Mike Nieto set a double screen just outside the free-throw line. Jolo Mendoza ran to the right corner. Nieto faked a screen for Mendoza then ran around the pick of Go to receive the inbound pass. The challenge was there but a split second too late as Nieto’s game-winning triple sank the home team, 77-76, for one of the biggest wins of the 2018 William Jones Cup. For Matt Nieto, his ascent as a top player let alone point guard began in his fourth year in high school. Despite losing Thirdy Ravena, Aaron Black, and Gabe Capacio to graduation, he, along with twin brother Mike, Mendoza, Shaun Ildefonso, Gian Mamuyac, and others led the Ateneo Blue Eaglets to a title.

He found his niche and game during that time leading up to his junior year in college.

His ball handling skills were improved during his time in the youth teams under then-Coach Mike Oliver. His shooting improved after having worked with Philippine Basketball Association legend Allan Caidic in the off-season. His understanding of the game and being a leader—not to mention other skills—under current Ateneo Head Coach Tab Baldwin. And, of course, there are the regular discussions with his father and former Ateneo Blue Eagle, Jet Nieto.

All that was on display against University of the Philippines (UP). Early in the first quarter, he rifled in a triple to make it, 5-4, Ateneo. Nieto hitting outside shots wreaks havoc on the defenses in so many ways. That opens up the lane and he is the master at freeing himself from a labyrinth of picks.

There’s that moment...at the 2:38 mark of the fourth period. The ball went down the post to teammate Adrian Wong who was being guarded

by UP’s Juan Gomez de Liaño. Wong wrapped a behind the back bounce pass to Nieto who drove hard. UP’s Bright Akhuetie challenged and forced the miss. UP’s Javi Gomez de Liaño lost sight of Will Navarro who was outside the box. The second year Blue Eagle forward swooped in and as he did on two earlier plays in the first period put back the miss for a bucket, 79-58, Ateneo.

The Fighting Maroons called for time. Nieto chest bumped Navarro. There’s the teamwork, unselfishness and the explosion of emotions of a team on a mission.

There’s also the movement.

Flashback to the first period at the 7:04 mark, Nieto had the ball at the left corner pocket with UP’s David Murrell on him. Navarro, Angelo Kouame, and Thirdy Ravena are all outside. Wong is underneath the basket with UP’s Jun Manzo on him.

A missed jumper by Nieto will mean UP has the inside track on the rebound with Kobe Paras, Akhuetie, and JD Tungcab watching for any incursions. In one motion, Wong cleared out toward the right corner. Manzo gave chase.

It is that exact moment that Nieto blew by Murrell and drove to the basket. Akhuetie and Tungcab do not realize what was going on.

Paras reached in but was too late. And-one, 8-5, Ateneo. Tungcab clapped his hands knowing they botched that defensive possession.

Among the eight starting point guards in the league, Nieto plays the fewest minutes outside NU’s Enzo Joson. Others play longer minutes and take more shots. But no one is more efficient than Ateneo’s court general. And he isn’t even in the Top 10 in terms of assists and assists to turnover ratio. You will find him second in steals.

But in, perhaps, that unofficial stat in the pass that leads to the assist, you will find Nieto (that is a stat that is gaining popularity in football—the pass that leads to the assist).

Furthermore, he knows how to get his teammates into the game. No one set up Anton Asistio better than Matt. And with Thirdy struggling this first round, he gave that perfect bounce pass to Ravena for a lay-up that helped him get going.

If you ask other coaches in the league, they will point to the impact of Angelo Kouame. But in the same sentence, they always include the impact of Nieto. He is a steady calming influence and big shot taker.

The stats may not show it (8.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.5 steals), but his impact is measured by so many other intangibles. But it’s fine. On a team built by Tab Baldwin to not care for individual stats only the Ws, Nieto fits nicely in.

I don’t think he minds it any other way.

But that spells trouble for the other teams.

Sports BusinessMirror

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| Tuesday, October 1, 2019 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao

Being the new Russian pole vault queen hasn’t sunk into Anzhelika Sidorova, yet. AP

3 MEDALISTS, ONLY 2 FLAGS

By James Ellingworth

WHAT Christian Coleman really needs are a couple of days off. AP

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The Associated Press

OHA, Qatar—Three medalists on the victory lap.

Only two with flags.

That’s the reality for Russian pole vaulter Anzhelika Sidorova after winning gold at the world championships on Sunday, officially as a neutral athlete.

But pole vaulting’s a sisterhood and Sidorova’s defeated rival, Sandi Morris of the United States, was her strongest advocate despite the doping sanctions on the Russian team.

“Sidorova is a friend of mine and she can’t help what’s going on politically,” Morris said.

“If I were her, I would have done the same thing. Go out there and fight to compete, regardless of what’s going on in my country. I don’t necessarily think it’s a bad thing because the athletes are most important. If she’s clean, she’s clean, and I honestly believe she is.”

Morris’s show of affection came despite what she called a “bittersweet” day—big jumps but another silver to go with her second places at the 2016 Olympics and 2017 worlds.

Sidorova competed in a muted blue uniform. Her neutral status, awarded by track’s governing body after vetting of her drug-test record, allows her to compete internationally unlike most Russians but bans her from displaying any national symbols. Track has taken the strongest line of any major federation against Russian doping, though Russia’s harshest critics would favor a ban against all Russian athletes.

At Monday’s medal ceremony the stirring Russian anthem will be replaced by music composed for the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

BEKELE MISSES WORLD RECORD BY 2 SECONDS B

ERLIN—So close. Yet again.

Kenenisa Bekele missed out on the world record by just two seconds as he completed a remarkable comeback to win the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

The 37-year-old led an Ethiopian sweep of the podium as he crossed the line in two hours, one minute and 41 seconds, claiming the first prize of €40,000 ($43,760), but missing out on an additional bonus of €50,000 he would have received for breaking Eliud Kipchoge’s world record, set by the Kenyan on the same course last year.

“I knew that I was in top form although my preparation was shorter than I would have hoped. I know I can run faster,” Bekele said.

Bekele missed out on the then-world record by six seconds when he won the 2016 Berlin Marathon in 2:03:03, then a personal best.

Olympic champion Kipchoge, who ran the current record of 2:01:39 in the German capital last year, skipped Sunday’s race to focus on his attempt to become the first to break the two-hour mark at a specially organized event in Vienna, Austria, in October.

Bekele had knee and hamstring injuries in recent years and hadn’t completed a marathon since April last year, leading many to believe his best days were over.

His world records over 5,000 and 10,000 meters are from 2004 and 2005, respectively.

“I have shown that my career is far from over,” Bekele said.

Despite wet conditions, compatriots Birhanu Legese and Sisay Lemma coaxed Bekele to a national record in Berlin, the fastest time in the world this year, and the second-fastest ever.

Bekele looked in trouble after the 30-kilometer mark, when

he dropped 13 seconds off the pace, yet managed to recover. He first overtook Lemma, then Legese around 38 km.

Bekele reached the 40th km two seconds faster than Kipchoge had, but ultimately the Olympic champion’s sprint for the line last year was faster.

Bekele finished 1:07 ahead of Legese, who ran 2:02:48, while Lemma came third in 2:03:36. All three were personal bests.

“I am very happy with my performance and am also very happy for Kenenisa—he is a great runner,” Legese said.

Ashete Bekere of Ethiopia won a sprint against compatriot Mare Dibaba to clinch the women’s marathon in 2:20:14, a personal best.

Dibaba finished seven seconds behind.

Kenya’s Selly Chepyego Kaptich was third in 2:21:06, and Ethiopia’s Helen Tola finished fourth in 2:21:36. The four had shared the lead for a long time.

American Sara Hall was fifth in 2:22:16, ahead of home favorite Melat Kejeta in 2:23:57, the fastest marathon debut for a German woman.

The 31-year-old Bekere, who previously won marathons in Rotterdam and Valencia, said she believes she can run under two hours and 20 minutes on the fast course.

Prerace favorite and defending champion Gladys Cherono, who broke the course record last year with 2:18:11, lost contact with the leading group before the halfway point and dropped out around the 30-km mark.

Cherono had been bidding to become the first to win the women’s race four times.

A record 46,983 runners entered the 46th edition of the event. Most were happy just to finish long after the favorites. AP

“Of course, I’m not really comfortable with it all, but I’m so happy. I was just so happy, I didn’t really think about it,” Sidorova said of her flag-free victory lap. “Gold is gold.”

Sidorova and Morris were the standouts from the start, clearing every height up to 4.90 meters on the first attempt.

Morris missed her three shots at 4.95, leaving Sidorova one last jump for gold. Her personal best was 4.91 and she hadn’t come close in training—even 4.85 had been a challenge—but she sprinted down the runway to soar over the bar.

“I thought that yes, it’s the chance you have to take,” she said. No female vaulter has cleared 4.95 at a world championships since Russian Yelena Isinbayeva in 2005. Still the world record holder, Isinbayeva is a national hero in Russia and an influential critic of doping investigations into Russian sports.

Sidorova was previously considered a solid performer whose biggest win was the 2014 European title. Being the new Russian pole vault queen hasn’t sunk in.

“I’m not sure that I understand I’m the best after Isinbayeva in Russia,” she said. “I’m confused when I need to talk about it.”

After raising the bar, Sidorova wants to keep her feet on the ground. Next stop Moscow and a long-awaited dessert.

“Back home I’ve got a can of whipped cream. I bought it before I left, and thought I’ll come back and eat it all.”

COLEMAN WITHDRAWS FROM 200

WHAT Christian Coleman really needed were a couple of days off.

A day after winning his world championship at 100 meters, the American sprinter pulled out of the 200-meter preliminaries, which were set to begin Sunday.

“Just feeling a little sore,” Coleman told The Associated

Kenenisa Bekele completes a remarkable comeback to win the Berlin Marathon on Sunday. AP

Press, while waiting in the hallway for his medal ceremony to begin.

He said he would be available for the 4x100 relays, which begin Friday.

Coleman won the 100 in a runaway, clocking a personalbest of 9.76 seconds and beating Justin Gatlin to the line by .13 seconds—the largest margin of victory at worlds or the Olympics since 2011.

His plan had been to go for the 100-200 double, but when he woke up Sunday, that plan changed.

“No big deal,” he said. “It’s been a long season.”

Most track seasons start winding down around the start of September, but this one has been stretched out due to the IAAF’s decision to bring the world championships to the desert, where the highs in Doha are still hovering around 105 (38 Celsius) in the first full week of fall.

With Coleman out of the mix, the path gets clearer for American Noah Lyles, who has the world’s leading time this year at 19.50 seconds. Canada’s Andre de Grasse is expected to be in the mix, as will Divine Oduduru of Nigeria, the NCAA champion at both 100 and 200 meters.

After his victory, Coleman was hit with several questions about his whereabouts case.

The US Anti-Doping Agency started a case, then later dropped it, after authorities determined Coleman had not violated a rule requiring athletes to keep current records of where they plan to be each day so they can be tested with no advance notice.

He insisted the fallout from the case hasn’t soured his celebration.

“I feel pretty good,” Coleman said. “I’m a gold medalist.

Ran a personal best. Can’t get any better than that.”

SLEEPLESS NIGHTS NO MORE IN DOHA

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OHA, Qatar—Talk about your sleepless nights.

When Nigerian sprinter Divine Oduduru finally did fall asleep in the wee hours of Sunday morning, he still had no idea whether he’d be running at the world championships or kicked out of the meet.

Because of a mix-up by their nation’s track federation, Oduduru and teammate Blessing Okagbare were each disqualified after they didn’t show up for the 100-meter races that they never intended to run.

Only after an appeal and a long wait did they find out they were back in.

Oduduru ended up qualifying for the semifinals of the 200 meters. Okagbare will run Monday.

“It’s tough, but for you to be a great athlete, you have to have a great attitude,” Oduduru said.

The problems stemmed from a rule that states that if athletes don’t show up for races, they’re disqualified from the rest of the meet.

Oduduru and Okagbare had told their federation they weren’t running in the 100, but the federation put their names on the entry form anyway. They had to appeal the decision, and not until 2 p.m. Sunday— about five hours before race time—did Oduduru actually know he was in.

Oduduru is the NCAA champion for Texas Tech at both 100 and 200 meters. He wanted it clear that neither he nor Okagbare had anything to do with this mix-up.

“I think they should take more responsibility, take the time to do the things they need to do to get things right,” Oduduru said. “So people won’t go around thinking the athletes are the problem.” AP

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God of peace

EAR God, You feed us with the bread from heaven and strengthen us to serve You in our neighbor.

Trusting in You, we pray: Bless us, oh God. Uphold those who bear heavy burdens. Prosper the work of Catholic Relief Services and all who serve the needs of refugees. Help us to live in peace and prepare for the hour our death in God’s time. May God kindle in us the light of faith and let us rest secure in the peace of Christ. Amen.

GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com

Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com

THIS undated photo shows Hem’s Kumo modular sofa. On the furniture front in the terracotta palette, we’re seeing trim, tailored pieces that are unquestionably modern. Hem’s Kumo from Norwegian design team Anderssen & Voll is offered in a vibrant, fiery rust hued wool they call Canyon. AP

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CIRCLES: MANILART 2019 TO SHOWCASE THE WORLD-CLASS FILIPINO D4

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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AMAIA Scapes Cabuyao presents the Carriage Pod for a growing family. This unit boasts a ground floor area of 27 square meters and a 24 sq m second floor area, for a total house area of 55 sq m on a minimum lot area of 75 sq m.

Amaia Scapes Cabuyao residents to benefit from new Skyway Extension

Terracotta makes a color comeback

By Kim Cook

THIS undated photo shows Blueprint Lighting’s Ludo wall sconce. The shape of a wine glass inspired the sconce in tangerine is shown here. The fixture’s terracottahued enameled finish contrasts nicely with the articulating brass arm. Terracotta blends well with many metal tones and finishes. AP

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The Associated Press

HERE was a time not that long ago when designers were tearing out anything terracotta-colored, whether it was tile, painted walls or upholstered furniture.

A darling hue of the 1980s, the brownish orange— evocative of terracotta earthenware—was considered dowdy and done.

But like so many examples of décor’s fickle temperament, terracotta’s come roaring back for another turn in the spotlight.

And this isn’t the muddy, old-fashioned color you might be remembering.

New takes on the hue bring in light to deep pinks, or the ochre tones of a sunset. Pair those with today’s trending palette of graphite, blues and creams, and you’ve got something fresh yet friendly.

Benjamin Moore’s color specialist Nivara Xaykao says the popularity of pink over the past few years has paved the way for stronger iterations of the palette.

But there’s also something more happening, she says.

“Because terracotta is literally drawn from the Earth, it evokes that connection with nature and craft, and working with the hands. It’s a warm, rich color, so it has energy to it,” she says.

Taking the edge off that intensity are terracotta’s brown tones, making it comforting, something welcome in today’s stressful world.

If you’re thinking of paint, look at Benjamin Moore’s Warmed Cognac, Audubon Russet or Saddle Soap. From Behr, there’s Glazed Pot and Balcony Sunset. From Farrow & Ball, try Red Earth or Terre d’Egypt.

At the design site Modsy, Vice President of Style

Alessandra Wood loves the new earthy neutrals.

“They’re warmer and more inviting than some of the cooler color trends of the past few years,” she says.

To avoid that 1980s/early 1990s, overly Southwest feel, she advises: “Opt for sculptural pieces, chic textures like velvet and minimal styling.”

On the furniture front, many pieces now are trim, tailored. Upholstered seating, matte-finished metal side tables, nubby textured fabrics; this is furniture with a modern vibe, so the color looks sophisticated.

As for accessories and other elements, look for ceramics, glassware and hints of the hue in textile prints or wallcoverings. Wood mentions the curvy Rory side chair from Harper, available at Chairish.

Its mahogany frame is covered in a soft rust velvet.

“It makes it feel super contemporary,” she says. “And if you really want to lean into the earthy trend, the Terracotta Sperduti print bed from The Inside is an amazingly beautiful print that blends warm earthy tones with a terrazzo vibe.”

Hem’s Kumo modular sofa system from Norwegian design team Anderssen & Voll is offered in a fiery, rust-hued wool they call Canyon.

Joss & Main’s Charlie sofa comes in a sumptuous rust velvet, and there are some lovely patterned rugs here, too.

Target has several well-priced side chairs in versions of terracotta, from Ashley, Handy Living and Christopher Knight Home. Also here, Saffron’s slipper accent chair, in a simple burnt orange/cream lattice pattern that would fit into many décor styles.

Big Chill, maker of popular retro-style appliances, offers a slim fridge in an earthy hue called “red beige.”

Kate Marker, a designer in Barrington, Illinois, put one in the kitchen of a rehab project; the fridge’s toffee-like pop of color is a great foil for a mix of homey vintage

furnishings, salvaged wood pieces and creamy white surfaces.

For smaller accessories, West Elm’s terracotta floor vases bring in the handcrafted vibe. A handpainted pattern of graphite, cream and terracotta makes the Sway Low bowls as much art pieces as serveware.

Material Kitchen has a sandy-hued cutting board made of recycled plastic and renewable sugar cane.

Blueprint Lighting’s Ludo wall sconce features a wine-glass-inspired aluminum fixture enameled in a rich, deep hue, clasped in an articulating brass arm— perfect for bedside, or to illuminate a cozy nook.

Xaykao says the key to using terracotta successfully is restraint.

“It’s great on an accent wall to show off artwork, textiles, open shelving or a beautiful headboard in the master bedroom. It can also be used to evoke materials like wood or leather, so I’d take a cue from the fixtures around you,” she says. “For example, terracotta could look lovely in a kitchen with gold hardware. A little bit of the color can go a long way, so it’s all about balance. I wouldn’t do a whole room in the color, especially if it’s a large room—the color needs space to breathe, so mix in some whites, neutrals and paler colors.” ■

❶ FROM left:

Jaemi Cruz and Jesy Cruz of Alero Design Studios, Buck Sia of Zubu Design Associates, John Ryan Santos and Pauline CuevasBato of John Ryan Santos + Partners

❷ GROHE Brand Manager Arian Zaragoza

❸ BUENSALIDO

Architects’ Chief Design Ambassador Jason Buensalido

❶

❷

❸

Filipino architects and designers to the world stage THE country’s finest architects and interior designers gathered recently to engage in lively discussions on architecture and design at the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Filipino Finalists’ Send-Off. The event was organized by GROHE, the leading German brand for complete bathroom solutions and kitchen fittings, which has been the founding partner and

supporter of WAF for 12 years now.

Held at the GROHE Showroom in Wilcon IT Hub, the send-off party was highlighted by the presentation of four Filipino designers who will be joining the prestigious World Architecture Festival, the world’s largest live, inclusive and interactive global architecture awards program which will be held in Amsterdam on December 4 to 6.

Bringing pride to the Philippines at this year’s WAF are Kenneth Cobonpue and Buck Sia of Zubu Design Associates, Carlo Calma of Carlo Calma Consultancy, JR Santos and Pauline Cuevas-Bato of John Ryan Santos + Partners, and Jesy Cruz and Jaemi Cruz of Alero Design Studios.

Among those who graced the celebration were Lixil Philippines Assistant Country

Manager Joralyn Ong, Marketing Manager Emily Besavilla, GROHE/INAX project key accounts Carlo Malantic, GROHE Brand Manager Arian Zaragoza, Budji Layug of Budji + Royal Architecture + Design, Jason and Nikki Buensalido of Buensalido Architects, Jorge Yulo of Jorge Yulo Architects & Associates, and Empire Design Founder Vianca Favila.

SLEEKLY designed modern homes boasting roomy interior spaces never fail to catch the eye of prospective homebuyers. When these are located in well-maintained and secure gated communities, and have close access to key commercial hubs, individuals and families that aspire for a stress-free lifestyle wisely seek them out. ( Amaia Scapes Cabuyao (www.amaialand.com), offers all these features and more. The property will soon benefit from the construction of the new Skyway Extension to Susana Heights, a project that started last June. Set for completion by December 2020, the Skyway Extension will connect the existing Skyway to Susana Heights, making travel time between the South, such as Laguna province, and Metro Manila smoother and faster.

Domestic travelers will soon be enticed to explore the Southern provinces’ tourist attractions and make life easier for locals—both longtime residents and migrants with jobs and livelihood opportunities in said places.

Amaia Scapes Cabuyao presents as a wise option for this market. A pleasant community sprawling on a 19.1-hectare property, it is located along the provincial road in Barrio Marinig, Sala, Cabuyao, an easy drive or commute from Cabuyao Proper, Santa Rosa and Calamba City.

Shopping malls, public markets, educational institutions, and hospitals are, likewise, within convenient distance from Amaia Scapes Cabuyao. The South Luzon Expressway (Slex) is just a 25-minute drive away.

A perfect choice of residence for Filipino families, the property offers amenities that include a village pavilion, swimming pool, basketball court and a children’s play area.

A total of 501 house-and-lot packages, with floor areas ranging from 28 sq m to 60 sq m, will be available for prospective residents who can choose from a variety of units, such as Bungalow Pod, Carriage Pod, Twin Pod and Single Home 60. Each home in Amaia Scapes Cabuyao features a kitchen, dining and living areas, a bedroom, a porch, a bathroom and a garden, which is also a provision for expansion.

Amaia continues to serve prospective homeowners with affordable and sustainable developments that aim to elevate the Filipino living experience in a well-secured environment.

With Amaia Land offering budget-friendly homes to all Filipinos, convenient payment schemes, such as cash, deferred cash and bank financing are also available.

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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Lively ‘Queen Meryl’ crowns Streep as acting’s best

By Douglass K. Daniel The Associated Press

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HE sort of book that would make its subject blush and her fans gush, Queen Meryl: The Iconic Roles, Heroic Deeds, and Legendary Life of Meryl Streep (Hachette) affirms Streep as the greatest actress of her generation— maybe of either gender and of any generation. That she’s not one to take herself so seriously as to believe there is anything heroic or legendary about her life is another reason to celebrate her.

It’s not just the seemingly countless, varied roles or numerous honors, including three Oscars. As author Erin Carlson states, “Most of all, she represents a meaningful goal for women: the courage to shed fear and inhibition, and live a big, bold, authentic life.”

Streep created her first role in high school when she tamped down a naturally bossy, opinionated and loud personality to become more popular among the girls and with the boys.

Her reward then was the crown of homecoming queen. At Vassar and Yale, the real Meryl emerged, now impressing her drama teachers and classmates with her excellence at performance.

Theater roles led to her first film, 1977s Julia with Jane Fonda, and the Emmy-winning miniseries Holocaust the next year. Prominent supporting roles in back-to-back winners of the Oscar for best picture—The Deer Hunter in 1978 and Kramer vs. Kramer in 1979— signaled a talent that could carry a movie on its own steam. She became the go-to interpreter of complex women, whether fragile or strong, adorable or horrible, funny or sad.

Carlson provides a serious but

playful account of Streep’s career and enough private moments to back up the actress’ reputation as a generous colleague, and a devoted wife and

mother of four.

Managing to have a life beyond stage and screen while conquering both venues points to her indefatigable

z

nature and the courage to take roles that, on their face, don’t seem right for her.

Several come to mind: a Polish survivor of a Nazi death camp in Sophie’s Choice; an Oklahoma nuclear worker in Silkwood; the Danish author Karen Blixen in Out of Africa; an Italian war bride in The Bridges of Madison County; British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady; and a songbird in the musical Mamma Mia! Time and again, she makes a role her own.

Only those who follow Streep closely may know that she is an outspoken liberal on many public issues—among them climate change, #MeToo and President Donald J. Trump—because she doesn’t demand center stage to be involved. Trump’s declaration that she is “one of the most overrated actresses in Hollywood” is hardly the worst review she’s received, but it might be one that she’s proud of.

Biographies of stumble-free high achievers are notoriously dull if informative. To put some spring in her research, Carlson writes in the breezy tone often found in celebrity profiles. She can’t tap the drama overflowing in the lives of film’s golden age actresses—Bette Davis and Joan Crawford come to mind— who lived large and played out their triumphs and tragedies in public. Not only is Streep private but also her story lacks multiple husbands, on-set romances, scornful children and bitter professional feuds.

It’s all about the work and the life beyond, a refreshing break from angstridden Hollywood backstories.

Now 70, Streep still has the power to make us believe and question and feel, and the joy she has drawn from her efforts to blaze a singular path shines through in Queen Meryl. n

Dystopian and watery Earth hosts ‘After the Flood’

By Lincee Ray The Associated Press IN her debut novel, After the Flood (William Morrow), Kassandra Montag explores the social impact of climate change in a dystopian future where the Earth’s surface is covered in water.

Readers can expect adventure, suspense and harrowing tales on the high seas through this watery journey.

With invaluable instruction from her grandfather, Myra and her family were able to somewhat prepare for the flood. After enduring the devastating, life-changing event, Myra is gutted when her husband cracks under the pressure of the new world. He takes their daughter, Row, to escape to higher ground, leaving Myra pregnant with their second child.

Myra uses the fishing and boating skills her grandfather taught her to survive. With one daughter by her side, Myra and young Pearl sail over regions of what used to be the United States,

Today’s Horoscope

By Eugenia Last

CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Brie Larson, 30; Zach Galifianakis, 50; Esai Morales, 57; Julie Andrews, 84.

Happy Birthday: Learn from experience.

Gravitate toward people and places that make you feel comfortable and capable of reaching your goals.

Engage in exercises that will help you grow stronger personally, physically and emotionally. Interact with people who can help bring about positive change, not those trying to coerce you into doing things that aren’t beneficial or good for you. Your lucky numbers are 8, 12, 22, 27, 39, 45, 48.

a

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Listen carefully.

Prepare and present your suggestions with confidence and you will get the respect you deserve and need in order to get things done. An unorthodox method may be a hard sell, but in the end, you’ll get rewarding results. HH

b

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Speak up and share your feelings with the people you deal with today. Being up-front will help you get past any conflicts, misunderstandings or pressure you encounter. HHHH

c

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Keep moving forward; don’t stop until you have achieved what you set out to do. Make your intentions clear, and be willing to put the manpower behind your words.

What you do will make a difference to someone in need.

HHH

d

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Settle any differences you have using unique solutions that will offer everyone a little bit of something to satisfy their needs. Getting along will be the hard part; the rest will be a piece of cake. HHH

e

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Use your brain and talk your way in or out of whatever comes your way. Control your current situation using common sense and workable solutions.

Arguments will slow you down and make it more difficult to find a suitable alternative. HHHH

f

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): It’s up to you to bring about change if you aren’t happy with the way things are moving forward. Put a little elbow grease into whatever needs to be done.

HH

g

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Get behind your plan instead of waiting for someone else to take control. Engage in conversations that motivate you. If you tell others your plans, it will help you live up to your word and follow through. HHHHH

h

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Be open to suggestions but also intent on making them your own. Fine-tuning all the information you gather to fit your particular needs will lead to an interesting outcome that can become prosperous and quite beneficial socially. HHH

i

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Work through any setbacks you face by offering an incentive to those causing the roadblock.

Know your market and the people you are dealing with to outmaneuver even your toughest opponent. An emotional incident will lead to personal change. HHH

hoping for a hearty catch that can be traded for basic needs. While on land, Myra learns through dangerous circumstances that Row has been spotted in The Valley. It becomes her life mission to find Row and bring her home. Unfortunately, in order to get to The Valley, rumor has it that sailors must cross treacherous waters and evade raiders while withstanding freezing temperatures.

Myra knows she can’t do it alone, but in a serendipitous moment, she, Pearl and a new navigator friend named Daniel are rescued by a crew looking to develop a new colony. Myra convinces the captain to move north, even though everyone aboard questions if the risk is too great.

As it turns out, the rumors were true and danger awaits at every turn.

Although After the Flood is a dystopian survival story, Montag masters the art of investigating the intricacies of everyday life. Who can you trust?

What will you risk? What is your definition of family? And how much will you sacrifice to protect the ones you love?

j k

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Don’t listen to someone trying to push you in a direction that isn’t right for you. Do your own thing, and make the change you want to see a priority. HHH AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t feel you have to follow someone’s lead. Refuse to let your emotions step in and cause you to make a poor choice. Concentrate on saving money, as well as protecting your health, possessions and your reputation. HHH

l

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): Make your move. You’ll gain ground, convince others to tag along and help those who have lost their way. Your input can make a difference, so do your best to set a good example and to honor your promises.

HHHHH Birthday Baby: You are entertaining, passionate and opportunistic.

You are persevering and compelling.

‘early admission’ by bRuce venzke The Universal Crossword/Edited by David Steinberg

ACROSS 1 Of vision 6 Hits with electricity 10 Hit with electricity 14 Misty-eyed 15 ___ Brockovich (Oscar-winning role for Julia Roberts) 16 Fleecy females 17 Houston footballer 18 Janet who was the first female US attorney general 19 It may be calculated 20 Start of a quote about appearances 23 Octagonal sign color, often 24 Expense 25 Cunning 26 Like a sob story 27 Be a contender 28 Tiny unit of data 31 Middle of the quote 35 Remote paradise, perhaps 37 Connection 38 Surface ___ 39 End of the quote 44 Detergent brand 45 “Gotcha!”

6 Tattoos, slangily 4 47 “Minecraft” resource 48 Part of a casa 50 Before the present 53 Speaker of the quote 56 Person you look up to 58 Fearful fate 59 Brought on board 60 Thumbs-way-up review 61 Politician and basketball player Duncan 62 Brand of chips 63 Took a look at 64 Oboe insert 65 Having substance DOWN 1 Animal that aptly rhymes with “water” 2 Get under the skin of 3 Took a toll on 4 Country where rials are spent 5 Distrustful 6 1 billion has nine of them 7 “These ___ the droids you’re looking for”: Obi-Wan Kenobi 8 Blood donation amount 9 Strands, as at a chalet

0 Dried beef snack 1 11 Baby’s boo-boo 12 Guitar pioneer Paul 13 Vowelless expression of disapproval 21 Pigeon’s extinct cousin 22 Not have ___ to stand on 26 Drove with a lead foot 27 Scenic overlook feature 28 WNBA legend Sue or NBA legend Larry 29 Mike’s candy partner 30 Follower of “Chai” or “Thai” 31 Forelimb bone 32 Spanish “other” 33 Asian automaker 34 Happy-go-lucky escapade 35 Curling surface 36 “___ Duke” (Stevie Wonder song) 40 Needlework need 41 Cracker topping 42 Converse rival 43 Just for the heck of it 47 Prepped, as a pan 48 Snack with 30-Down 49 United States ___ Forces 50 Vena cava counterpart

51 Welcome 52 In a weird way 53 Sheltered inlet 54 Olden times 55 Library penalty 56 Rage 57 Transgender ___ of Visibility

Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:

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Tuesday, October 1, 2019

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‘Abominable’ No. 1 with $20.9 million; Zellweger’s ‘Judy’ sings out New ABS-CBN series to be shown on TFC globally, iWant in the Philippines THIS October, viewers of ABS-CBN’s global content platform TFC and Philippine streaming service iWant will catch an original series that allows them a realistic, inside look into the lives of Filipinos living in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

ABS-CBN and TFC Studios’ maiden digital original series Hinahanap-hanap Kita (Searching For You) will be made available globally on TFC, TFC Online and TFC IPTV, and in the Philippines on iWant simultaneously in real time once the entire series is offered on October 5, Manila time.

The series stars Maja Salvador, Geoff Eigenmann, Pepe Herrera, Pamu Pamorada, Hannah Ledesma and Prince Stefan.

Hinahanap-hanap Kita is an eight-episode series that chronicles the highs and lows in the lives of the overseas Filipinos and how friends turn into a family as they pursue life in a foreign land.

“The group met some overseas Filipinos in Dubai and was really moved by their stories that we felt the need to share their story, which we did in this series,” said ABS-CBN Global Content Head Ned Legaspi.

The Middle East is among the regions where there are a lot of overseas Filipinos from different walks of life—from those who are now successful in their respective careers and family life, the hopeful ones who are just starting a new life abroad, down to those who are longing to be back home—and their stories inspired every character in the series to the extent that some of them became part of the cast.

The series centers on Helen (Maja), whose husband suddenly stops communicating with her but continues to send support to his family. Helen then decides to go to Dubai to look for her husband, finding support and help from her friends Joy (Hannah), Lawrence (Geoff), Margot (Pamu), Homer (Pepe) and Reggie (Prince) who are working in Dubai.

The group’s journey in searching for Helen’s missing husband also serves as a journey to selfdiscovery, acceptance and freedom from the personal burdens that they carry in their hearts.

More information including program schedules in various territories is available at www.mytfc.com.

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By Jake Coyle The Associated Press

EW YORK—The DreamWorks animated adventure Abominable topped the box office with $20.9 million in ticket sales over the weekend, according to studio estimates on Sunday, while the Renee Zellweger-led Judy Garland tale Judy got off to a strong start.

Abominable, the weekend’s sole new wide release, is a coproduction between Universal’s DreamWorks and the Shanghai-based Pearl Studios. So the $75 million film’s performance when it opens on Tuesday in China will be vital to its worldwide success.

The film, written and directed by Jill Culton, is about a Shanghai teenager (Chloe Bennet) who discovers a lost yeti on the roof of her apartment building. She and a pair of friends traverse China to return the creature, whom they name “Everest,” home to the Himalayas. Abominable garnered positive reviews (80 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) and a warm reception from audiences (an “A” CinemaScore) eager for a family-friendly option.

Abominable marks the seventh No. 1 film this year for Universal, or eight if you count Downton Abbey, released by the studio’s specialty label, Focus Features.

Downton, last week’s top film, slid to second with $14.5 million. The big-screen encore for the British series has already grossed $107.1 million worldwide.

That gives Universal the most No. 1 movies of any studio this year, passing Disney. Though Disney still commands an overwhelming market share of about 34 percent, Universal has had a strong year with a varied slate (Us, Hobbs & Shaw, Yesterday). The studio accounts for all three of the year’s No.1-debuting original releases: Abominable, Us and Good Boys.

“It’s not going to be all superheroes all the time.

That’s not necessarily going to be everyone’s cup of tea,” said Jim Orr, distribution chief for Universal.

“When we have films like Abominable, Yesterday, Good Boys, Us, we’re bringing a lot of different people into the theaters and that’s good for everyone. That’s good for the entire industry.”

It’s been a good run for original films lately at the box office. The stripper drama Hustlers, from STX Entertainment, continued to hold strong with $11.5 million in its third week, dropping just 32 percent.

It’s now made $80.6 million altogether. Hustlers potentially got a boost by having its star—Jennifer

Lopez—announced this week as next year’s Super Bowl halftime act, along with Shakira.

And one of the weekend’s biggest successes was Judy, which opened with $3.1 million on 461 screens.

The film, directed by Rupert Goold, is about the final act of Judy Garland’s life, when the Wizard of Oz star was plagued by drug addiction, health woes and financial troubles.

The film’s main draw is Zellweger’s lauded performance as Garland, which has made her the Best Actress Oscar front-runner.

Roadside Attractions rolled out Judy with a rare medium-sized platform release that the distributor has found success with before on films like 2012’s Mud and this summer’s The Peanut Butter Falcon. The latter is a Mark Twain-inspired adventure starring Zack Gottsagen, who has Down syndrome, and Shia LaBeouf. This weekend, it became the year’s top indie platform release with $18.1 million over eight weeks, passing A24’s The Farewell.

Howard Cohen, copresident and cofounder of Roadside, says the 16-year-old distributor has succeeded by seeking populist indies. (Judy, for which the audience was almost 80 percent over the age of 35, will expand nationwide further next week.)

“It’s a very challenging time in film distribution for indies and everyone but Disney, maybe,” said Cohen.

“We like movies that can draw an audience, that are crowd-pleasers. In a challenging environment, you

have to give people a really strong reason to leave their house.”

“The movies have to be properly released and promoted,” he added. “But I think the audience is still there.” The two-and-half month break from superheroes atop the box office is expected to end next weekend when Warner Bros.’ Joker hits theaters, along with Fox Searchlight’s Lucy in the Sky and Netflix’s Dolemite is My Name.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at United States and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.

1. Abominable, $20.9 million ($8.8 million international).

2. Downton Abbey, $14.5 million ($10 million international).

3. Hustlers, $11.5 million ($3 million international).

4. IT Chapter Two, $10.4 million ($11 million international).

5. Ad Astra, $10.1 million ($18 million international).

6. Rambo: Last Blood, $8.6 million ($9.5 million international).

7. Judy, $3.1 million.

8. Good Boys, $2 million ($1.5 million international).

9. The Lion King, $1.6 million ($3.7 million international).

10. Angel Has Fallen, $1.5 million ($1.5 million international). n

Prince Harry walks through Angola minefield, echoing Diana

By Cara Anna The Associated Press JOHANNESBURG—A body armor-wearing Prince Harry on Friday followed in the footsteps of his late mother, Princess Diana, whose walk through an active minefield in Angola years ago helped to lead to a global ban on the deadly weapons.

The prince walked through a dusty minefield marked with skull-and-crossbones warning signs, and was visiting the spot where Diana was famously photographed on a similar walk during her own Africa visit in 1997. That field in Huambo is now a busy street. The southern African nation is now years past a grinding civil war and hopes to be land mine-free by 2025, a goal of scores of countries around the world.

“Land mines are an unhealed scar of war,” Harry said in the town of Dirico. “By clearing the land mines we can help this community find peace, and with peace comes opportunity.” He said retracing his mother’s path was “quite emotional.”

Diana’s visit is still very much discussed today in Huambo after people were struck by her warmth and willingness to acknowledge their country’s devastating 27-year conflict, the Angola country director for mine-clearing organization The HALO Trust said. “The main impact of Diana’s walk in 1997 was the level of global exposure it provided for land mines not only in Angola but the world,” Ralph Legg said. She was a great advocate for a land mine ban, and “her willingness to visit an actual minefield, to place herself right in that context, provided great impetus and gave it a great boost.”

The international ban on antipersonnel mines was signed that year and entered into force two years later. So far 164 countries have signed on. “More than 48 million stockpiled mines have been destroyed and 31 countries have been completely cleared of land

Britain’s Prince Harry (left photo) walks through a minefield in Dirico, Angola, on September 27, during a visit to see the work of land mine clearance charity The HALO Trust, on day five of the royal tour of Africa. Prince Harry is following in the footsteps of his late mother, Princess Diana (right photo), whose walk through an active minefield in Angola years ago helped to lead to a global ban on the deadly weapons. AP

mines,” The HALO Trust said, while production of the weapons has almost dried up.

Harry on his visit also remotely detonated a decades-old mine, met with mine-clearing teams and was visiting the orthopedic hospital his mother visited for her meetings with mine victims.

“I think that will be a very poignant moment of coming full circle,” Legg said. “Very striking once people compare those images from the two visits to see how far Angola has come.”

The world, however, is hardly free of mines, and the prince said Angola itself still has more than 1,000 mine fields left to clear, 22 years after his mother’s visit. “I wonder if she was still alive whether that would still be the case,” Harry said. “I’m pretty sure

she would have seen it through.”

Other countries that remain heavily mined include Afghanistan, Syria, Ukraine and Yemen, and Afghanistan led the world with at least 2,300 casualties in 2017, according to the Landmine Monitor 2018 report. “Myanmar was the only known instance of government forces actively planting the weapons” in the yearlong period between October 2017 and 2018, the report said. “A staggering 60 million people around the world still live in fear and risk of land mines. We cannot turn our backs on them and leave a job half done,” Harry said.

Angola, which has committed a new $60 million for mine clearance, now hopes to turn some of its mine-free areas into sites for wildlife conservation

and ecotourism. The prince was unveiling a project meant to protect wildlife corridors near the sprawling Okavango Delta, a rare inland delta in neighboring Botswana that doesn’t flow into a sea or ocean and is home to several endangered species.

Harry called on for international effort to help clear mines from the Okavango watershed in Angola.

“Everyone who recognizes the priceless importance of safeguarding Africa’s most intact natural landscape should commit fully to this mission,” he said.

His first official family tour with his wife, Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and their baby, Archie, will continue with stops in Malawi and further events in South Africa with a focus on issues including mental health and women’s empowerment.

THE Renee Zellweger-led Judy Garland tale Judy got off to a strong start, which opened with $3.1 million on only 461 screens in North America.

Zellweger’s lauded performance as Garland has made her the Best Actress Oscar front-runner.

D4

Art

BusinessMirror

Tuesday, October 1, 2019

www.businessmirror.com.ph

GERMAN CHANCELLOR MERKEL OPENS NEW BAUHAUS MUSEUM IN DESSAU BERLIN—The eastern German city of Dessau marked the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus school of design Sunday with the opening of a new museum featuring a collection of exhibits and objects that tie in with the movement’s iconic buildings.

Chancellor Angela Merkel told a crowd at the opening of the Bauhaus Museum Dessau the school featured an avant-garde style that “we still really enjoy today.”

The city was the school’s second home after it moved from Weimar, and the new museum building was designed by Barcelona’s addenda architects to interface with the city and nature.

Described as a “soaring concrete block enveloped in glass” in the heart of Dessau, “depending on the light, the surroundings are reflected more or less strongly in the glass façade, or enable views through the building,” the museum said.

The opening exhibition tells the story of the famous school in Dessau, featuring more than 1,000 exhibits.

Rather than focusing on iconic designs and masters, the museum said the emphasis instead is the school and the students: “the daily reality of learning and teaching between the poles of creative design and industrial prototype production, artistic experiment and economic pressure, educational institution, and emancipatory aspiration.”

Bauhaus was founded in Weimar in 1919 under architect Walter Gropius as Germany grappled with its political future after World War I. Weimar opened its own new museum earlier this year, showcasing many of the school’s items that blurred the lines between the artistic and the industrial.

“In Bauhaus, not only tradesmen and artists worked closely together, but also many women put a strong stamp on Bauhaus style,” Merkel noted in her weekly video podcast this week.

Once the Bauhaus school fell afoul of rightleaning local authorities in Weimar, who had long been suspicious of its unconventional students and teachers, its funding was slashed in 1925.

That forced it to move northeast to Dessau, where the iconic glass-fronted Bauhaus headquarters and a residential estate with 90 apartments were built.

Dessau’s Nazi-dominated council forced the Bauhaus to close in 1932, and an attempt to keep it going in Berlin lasted only a few months.

Bauhaus buildings in Dessau, Weimar and also Bernau have been designated Unesco world heritage sites. AP

Group show at Artery gallery ARTERY Art Space recently exhibited Looking at Your Brain by Means of a Mirror, featuring works by Julius Bagoyo, Nice Buenaventura, Lena Cobangbang, Jon Cuyson, Jason Montinola, Ikea Rizalon, Jiddu San Jose and Luis Santos.

The show examined the intersection between concept and craft that brought about a diversity of representations ranging from eccentric figuration, portraiture, or other altered manifestations of identity and the self, inducing a patterned abstraction of perception construed from the prevalent manufacture of experience: a trompe l’oeil masterpiece of skeptical realism, a reworking of craft to confuse the senses to rethink, and another critical assessment of the most apparent in art—the unlikely made possible through ingenuity.

Artery Art Space is a contemporary art gallery, plus a store and a snack bar, providing progressive art with remarkable taste and a unique touch. Open from 1 to 7 pm, Tuesdays to Saturdays, the gallery can be found on P. Tuazon Boulevard, Cubao, Quezon City.

ManilArt 2019 to showcase the world-class Filipino CIRCLES JT NISAY

jtnisay@gmail.com

T

HE flagship project of the National Committee on Art Galleries, under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), returns next week for the 11th year to present the global caliber of Filipino artists.

ManilArt is tagged as the country’s first and longestrunning art fair held every October in celebration of Museums and Galleries Month, as per Presidential Proclamation 798.

This year’s festivities will run from October 10 to 13 at SMX Aura with the theme “Showcasing the Global Filipino Artist.”

“As a flagship project of the NCCA, ManilArt is the national art fair in the Philippines,” said ManilArt committee member Rio Ambrosio, who represents the galleries. “ManilArt encompasses the whole art genre and features all artists, from masters to the up-and-coming.”

A total of 32 galleries will participate at this year’s event, presenting up to 15 artists each. Ambrosio’s Artes Orientes, for one, will showcase the works of nine artists. They are Justin “Tiny” Nuyda, Mario de Rivera, Menelyn Wong, Fitz Herrera, Ted Peñaflor, Donn Cellano, Edwin Ladrillo, Bayani Galera and Kenneth Montegrande.

This year marks as Montegrande’s official ManilArt debut, the latest in the string of accomplishments of the fast-rising artist. He will take the lion’s share of the Artes Orientes space and display 19 pieces of impressionist and expressionist works.

“Kenneth is the new kid on the block. He is on the rise,” Ambrosio said. “He is making a lot of strides and gaining a lot of following. I hope he can sustain it, and so far, he’s meeting the challenge.”

Montegrande is one of the embodiments of ManilArt’s theme of a global Filipino artist. This past summer, just

seven years into his art career, the 40-year-old self-taught painter became the first Southeast Asian artist whose work is housed in the prestigious collection of Contemporary Arts Foundation, which was founded by Japanese tycoon Yusaku Maezawa. The mega art collector set a purchase record in 2017 for an untitled Jean-Michel Basquiat for $110.5 million.

Montegrande said he relishes the opportunity to be part of the ManilArt stage and to share it with acclaimed artists.

“It’s a big break and honor para makasabay si Sir Tiny and the other masters on this show, which is one of the biggest art fairs in the Philippines. Nakaka-inspire at overwhelming.”

Montegrande is making a name for impressionism and abstract expressionism paintings, reminiscent of the works of his inspirations and the genres’ biggest names, such as JMW Turner, Claude Monet, and William de Kooning, to name a few. The Manila-born artist paints in a roof deck studio overlooking Manila Bay, and reflects the sight on his works of cloudscapes, seascapes and landscapes.

For his ManilArt show, Montegrande combines the three elements under the Trinity Series, featuring his dramatic clouds on top and textured sea and land below.

“If you look at my cloudscape, parang may paparating na delubyo o malakas na ulan,” he said. “Pero tandaan natin na walang ginawang pangit si God. Kahit may ulan, kahit may problema, if we face it together with Him, makikita pa rin natin ’yung ganda.”

Montegrande’s solo exhibition at ManilArt will be his ninth. He is also set to become the first artist to be featured in Contemporary Filipino Artists, a coffee-table book series of the De La Salle University Publishing House. Titled The Art of Kenneth Montegrande, the book will be launched this December as part of DLSUPH’s Christmas celebration.

“Montegrande’s art dwells in a most potent field where the dynamics of figuration and abstraction are constantly turning out very interesting picture spaces,” said DLSUPH Director Dr. David Jonathan Bayot, who professes his love for abstract expressionist art—“as exemplified by Franz Kline, for instance”—and what he calls as the “interesting intersections of impressionism and abstract expressionism...and I’m thinking of Per Kirkeby.”

In mid-July, Bayot attended the turnover of two Montegrande paintings to the Presidential Museum and Library of the Malacañan Palace. The office was created in 2004 with the implementation of Executive Order 366 to

serve as the “principal historical and artistic repository in support of the institution of the Presidency and for the benefit of the Republic and the Filipino people.”

The two paintings now included in the palace collection are Transfigurings of Freshest Blue and Perla Del Mar De Oriente, both 48 x 60” acrylic on canvas works, painted in 2019.

Montegrande said the honor has only sharpened his focus to make more quality artworks to inspire people, including new artists.

“Kung kaya ko, kaya rin nila,” he added. “Just trust in God. Mapangarap akong tao, pero hindi ako nagmamadali. I just trust in His plans.” ■

PROMISING YOUNG ARTISTS ARE M.A.D.E. HONOREES THE Metrobank Foundation Inc. (MBFI) recognized this year’s Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE) awardees in a ceremony held on September 19 at the Le Pavillon, Metropolitan Park, in Pasay City.

Japan Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat graced the event as guests of honor.

On its 35th year, MADE chose the theme “Unleash” to reflect MBFI’s continuing advocacy to seek out and exalt Filipino visionaries—young individuals who bring vibrancy to the evolving art scene, whether they are working with a blank canvas or a space waiting to be transformed.

“Our founder Dr. George SK Ty was not just a man who owned a bank, but an artisan of meaningful banking. He envisioned art as an asset to our democracy, and an important investment for economic development. And so, from the outset, MADE became an extension of Metrobank’s commitment to engage with communities, improve lives, and boost the economic growth of the country,” said MBFI President Aniceto Sobrepeña.

GUESTS of honor Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda and Tourism Secretary Bernadette Romulo Puyat led the conferment of awards. They were assisted by Metrobank and MBFI Chairman Arthur Ty, Federal Land Inc. and MBFI Senior Vice President Anjanette DyBuncio, Metrobank President Fabian Dee, and MBFI President Aniceto Sobrepeña.

Two grand awardees for the Oil/Acrylic on Canvas and Watermedia on Paper categories received a financial assistance worth P500,000 and a “Mula” glass trophy designed by 2009 Metrobank Prize for Achievement in Sculpture awardee Noell El Farol.

Three other finalists were given Special Citations for

their remarkable artworks.

The conferment of the 2019 MADE Awardees was led by Haneda and Romulo Puyat, Metrobank and MBFI Chairman Arthur Ty, Federal Land Inc. and MBFI Senior Vice President Anjanette Dy-Buncio, and Sobrepeña.

ONE of the featured artists of Artes Orientes in ManilArt 2019 is Kenneth Montegrande.

Described by the gallery’s owner Rio Ambrosio as “the new kid on the block,” Montegrande will display 19 pieces of impressionist and expressionist paintings. Among them are (clockwise) A Touch of Love, Strong Like a Rock and Draw Me to Your Wonder.