Businessmirror october 22, 2016

“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters and to all of the people of the United States that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election...if I win.”— Donald Trump, stepping back only slightly from his refusal to say, during his debate with Hillary Clinton, whether he would concede if he loses on election day. AP

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“Your honors, in this venue, I announce my separation from the United States...both in military and economics also.”—President Duterte, announcing that the Philippines is separating from the US, in a speech before a Beijing economic forum, after handing China a major diplomatic victory, agreeing to resume dialogue on their South China Sea territorial dispute following months of acrimony. AP

“This truly has milestone significance for China-Philippines relations.”— Chinese President Xi Jinping, in meeting with President Duterte. In a reference to recent territorial tensions in the South China Sea, Xi said that, “although we have weathered storms, the basis of our friendship and our desire for cooperation has not changed.” AP

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Saturday, October 22, 2016 Vol. 12 No. 10

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phl nickel supply to depend on govt mining policies Editor: Efleda P. Campos • news.businessmirror@gmail.com

Companies BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 22, 2016 B1

PHL nickel supply to depend on govt mining policies

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By Cai U. Ordinario

@cuo_bm

HE Philippines’s nickel supply in the next few years will depend on mining policies implemented in the country, the World Bank said.

In its latest Commodity Markets Outlook, the World Bank said the suspension of operations of several mining firms by the Department of Environment and Natural Resourc-

es (DENR) has already resulted in economic losses for the country.

Nickel prices, the World Bank added, surged 16 percent due to strong stainless-steel demand,

which the Philippines missed out on due to the suspensions.

“The nickel market had already moved into deficit with falling production output in the Philippines due to depletion, and declining NPI [nickel pig iron] production in China,” the World Bank said.

The suspension of mining permits has effectively suspended 55 percent of the country’s nickel production, equivalent to over 10 percent of global supply, the bank added.

The Washington-based lender said the Philippines’s nickel pro-

duction is exported to China for its NPI production.

Apart from the country’s mining policies, the World Bank said Indonesia’s plan to revisit its January 2014 ore-export ban will also be a factor in increasing production.

The World Bank said the ban in Indonesia was designed to encourage value-added domestic processing in the country.

Revisiting the ban, the World Bank added, could allow companies to export ore that are in the process of constructing smelter/ refining operations.

“Inventories remain high, but key drivers will be policy developments in the Philippines and Indonesia,” it said.

The World Bank also raised its 2017 forecast for crude-oil prices as members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries prepare to limit production after a long period of unrestrained output.

The World Bank said oil prices could increase to $55 per barrel from $53 per barrel.

Energy prices, which include oil, natural gas and coal, are projected

Cha-cha diplomacy

Duterte brings home $24B worth of deals $15B

By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29 & Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas @jearcalas

nvestment commitments and loans pledged by China to the Philippines have ballooned to $24 billion at the close of President Duterte’s four-day state visit to China, Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez said on Friday.

Continued on A2

to jump almost 25 percent overall next year, a larger increase than anticipated in July.

However, oil prices are expected to average $43 per barrel in 2016, unchanged from the July report.

The World Bank’s Commodity Markets Outlook is published quarterly—in January, April, July and October. It provides detailed market analysis for major commodity groups, including energy, metals, agriculture, precious metals and fertilizers. Price forecasts to 2025 for 46 commodities are presented along with historical price data.

Teddy Locsin Jr.

By Catherine N. Pillas @c_pillas29

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ENOVO has officially brought back the Motorola brand (rebranded now as “Moto”) to the market, introducing a model in every price-point segment, due to a healthy demand in the Philippines in the smartphone category.

Danny Li, mobile business group director for Asia-Pacific sales for Lenovo, said the reentry into the competitive mobile-phone segment in the Philippines is in line with their ambition to be among the most recognized smartphone makers globally.

“Our ambition is to be in the top 3 in smartphones. We’re No. 5 or 6 currently. We briefly touched the top

3 last year,” Li told reporters during a press briefing this week.

Lenovo bought the Motorola mobility smartphone business from Google in 2014, and has been trying to leverage the name’s popularity in the Western markets ever since.

Its most iconic mobile-phone offering before its reintroduction was the popular Motorola Razr in the early 2000s, which was then owned

by Motorola Inc. In terms of business units, Lenovo is banking on the smartphone segment to boost its ranking. The smartphone segment has outpaced its PC business unit in growth and stands toe-to-toe with Lenovo’s datacenter solutions unit.

The Philippines is a logical

choice for the mobile brand as it has been hailed by the International Data Corp. this year as the fastest-growing smartphone market in Southeast Asia.

As a testament to this growth, Li said the Philippines is the first market in Southeast Asia where its flagship devices, Moto Z and Moto Z Play, have been launched.

Lenovo is banking on the Moto brand to fuel growth in the smartphone category, having a contender in each of the market segment.

It unveiled three smartphone series in the Philippines this week: Moto Z + Moto Mods Family for the premium market, the Moto G for the mid and the Moto E in the entrylevel space.

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The value of fresh investments committed

by China during the four-day state visit

M.O.U. ON INVESTMENT IN PHL GLOBAL GATEWAY PROJECT SIGNED All-Asia Resources and Reclamation Corp. (ARRC) President and CEO Wilson Tieng (seated, left) and China Communication Construction Co. Dredging (Group) Co. Ltd. (CDC) Vice President Liu Shudong (seated, right) sign a memorandum of understanding on investing into Pendleton Grain Growers of up to $20 billion on October 19 at Beijing Grand Hotel in China during the state visit of President Duterte. CDC will have an initial investment of P15 billion into the PGG, the future multimodal logistics hub and mixed-used real-estate property development in Sangley, Cavite. This is the proposed site of the new international airport and seaport that will help decongest traffic in Metro Manila.

companies

He probably meant the end of “special relations”.

You cannot end relations with any country in the world, even North Korea, because we live on the same planet.

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trump, clinton trade caustic barbs at dinner The World BusinessMirror

www.businessmirror.com.ph | Saturday, October 22, 2016

Continued on A4

Chinese firm eager to invest in tourism ventures in Subic

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South Africa to withdraw from Intl Criminal Court

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NITED NATIONS—South Africa has decided to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) following a dispute last year over a visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who is wanted by the tribunal for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The decision comes after another African nation, Burundi, this week signed legislation to become the first to withdraw from the ICC—raising concerns that states have begun to act on years of threats to leave over what they call the court’s disproportionate targeting of the continent.

“It’s important both for South Africa and the region that this runaway train be slowed down,” Dewa Mavhinga, Human Rights Watch’s Africa division senior researcher, said in a statement on Friday.

“Q ue s t ion s re m a i n a b out whether the government even acted in line with its own laws for leaving the court,” Mavhinga said.

A copy of South Africa’s “Instrument of Withdrawal,” dated on Wednesday and signed by Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, was obtained on Thursday

by The Associated Press.

It states that South Africa “has found that its obligations with respect to the peaceful resolution of conflicts at times are incompatible with the interpretation given by the International Criminal Court of obligations contained in the Rome Statute” which established the court. Under the Rome Statute, South Africa as a party to the ICC has an obligation to arrest anyone sought by the tribunal.

The charges against al-Bashir stem from the bloodshed in Sudan’s western Darfur region, which began in 2003 when rebels took up arms against the government in Khartoum, accusing it of discrimination and neglect.

T he Un ite d Nat ion s s ay s 300,000 people have died in the conflict and 2.7 million have fled their homes.

In June 2015 al-Bashir went to South Africa to attend an African Union summit but the government didn’t arrest him. A provincial court ordered him to remain in the country while judges deliberated on whether he should be arrested on the ICC warrants, but al-Bashir left for Sudan before the

court ruled that he should indeed be arrested.

The Supreme Court of Appeal later described the government’s failure to arrest al-Bashir as “disgraceful conduct.”

The government said in a statement in late June 2015 that it would consider withdrawing from the ICC as a “last resort” following the dispute over al-Bashir. It cited “contradictions” in the statute and said South Africa would have found it difficult to arrest al-Bashir because of treaty obligations to the African Union.

The African Union has asked the ICC to stop proceedings against sitting presidents and has said it will not compel any memberstates to arrest a leader on behalf of the ICC.

300K The number of people who the United Nations says have died in the conflict in Sudan

South Africa’s decision to quit the court follows Tuesday’s announcement that Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza signed legislation to make his country the first to withdraw from the ICC, which had said it would investigate recent political violence there.

No countr y has ever withdrawn from the ICC, which was established to prosecute cases of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Burundi’s decision to withdraw follows a bitter dispute with the international community over the human rights situation in the East African country.

More than a year of deadly violence has followed Nkurunziza’s controversial decision to pursue a third term, which some have called unconstitutional.

According to South Africa’s document, its withdrawal will take effect one year after UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is officially notified.

UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric said he was “not confirming at this point” whether Ban had received a withdrawal document from South Africa. AP

In Haiti, hopes dim for missing victims of Hurricane Matthew

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ORT-A-PIMENT, Haiti—Nobody has seen or heard from Edma Desravine, a 71-yearold grandfather known for his sly sense of humor and bad luck at cock fights, in the roughly two-and-ahalf weeks since Hurricane Matthew sent floodwaters and debris crashing into his riverside shantytown. Family and neighbors near the hard-luck town of Port-a-Piment have dug by hand through wreckage and scoured the riverbanks, but to no avail.

“It pains me that I can’t say goodbye properly,” said Bernadette Desravine, holding her father’s ID card and mud-smeared baseball cap. “But I believe I will see him again in heaven.”

Hopes have dimmed for Haitians combing the countryside for missing relatives in the Caribbean nation’s hardest-hit zone, the remote and long-ignored southwestern tip. The central government says the official toll stands at 546 dead and 128 missing, but many believe the figures could be higher and some rugged areas still have not been fully assessed.

W h i le re l ief c a n of ten be slow and chaotic in disasters all around the world, the Western Hemisphere’s poorest and least developed country is perennially

beset by natural catastrophes and particularly ill-equipped to handle them.

In crucial first days, assistance is often too little and too late, stalled by impassable roads, collapsed bridges and a lack of resources and infrastructure.

Communications were wiped out

by Matthew in large parts of the southwest, with no emergency backup. With Haiti’s interim government taking the lead in directing relief efforts, there were no boats with sonar, dive crews scouring coastal waters or teams with trained search dogs looking for the missing and the dead.

T he UN stabilization mission, the US government’s disaster assistance response team and numerous non-governmental organizations all told The A ssoc i ated P ress t he y never received any specific request from Haiti to help locate the missing amid the ongoing effort to ferr y emergency food, water and medical supplies.

Government personnel and an army of international aid workers are delivering more relief supplies to people, but local authorities in southwest Haiti say it is falling short of meeting desperate needs. AP

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (right) shakes hands with Democratic presidential candidate Hillary clinton (left) at the conclusion of the 71st annual alfred e.

Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a charity gala organized by the archdiocese of new York on Thursday at the Waldorf astoria hotel in new York. AP/Andrew HArnik

Trump, Clinton trade caustic barbs at dinner

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EW YORK—The annual Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner, a white-tie gala in New York that is often the last time the two presidential nominees share a stage before Election Day, is traditionally a time when campaign hostilities are set aside.

Not this year.

Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton traded sharp barbs and brutal takedowns on Thursday, the night after their final debate, with many in the well-heeled crowd turning on the Republican nominee midway through his remarks and showering him with jeers.

Trump, who had drawn big laughs earlier in the speech, appeared to lose the room as he repeatedly dug in with caustic swipes at Clinton, drawing rare boos at a charity event meant to raise money for impoverished children throughout New York.

He appeared to straddle the line when he talked about how “ listening to Hillary rattle on and rattle on” has made him better appreciate his longtime nemesis Rosie O’Donnell.

But he then seemed to cross it when he referred to her as “corrupt” during a lengthy riff on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s

probe into her use of a private email server as secretary of state.

“Hillary is so corrupt she got kicked off the Watergate Commission. How corrupt do you have to be to get kicked off the Watergate Commission? Pretty corrupt,” he said to loud boos and at least one call demanding he get off the stage.

He then almost appeared to segue into the standard attack lines of his rally speeches, setting aside jokes to bring up material contained in hacked Clinton campaign e-mails.

“Hillary believes that it’s vital to deceive the people by having one public policy and a totally different policy in private,” he said to growing jeers. “Here she is tonight, in public, pretending not to hate Catholics.”

Clinton also veered into personal digs, making one joke in which she said the Statue of Liberty, for most A mericans,

represents a symbol of hope for immigrants.

“Donald looks at the Statue of Liberty and sees a ‘4,’” Clinton joked. “Maybe a ‘5’ if she loses the torch and tablet and changes her hair.”

Trump and Clinton sat one seat apart for the evening, with New York’s Cardinal Timothy Dolan acting as the only buffer. And when they entered and took their seats, they did not greet each other or make eye contact, though they did shake hands at the conclusion of the roast.

Dolan later called his seat “the iciest place on the planet.”

Most eyes were on Trump, who infamously glowered through Obama’s jokes at his expense during the 2011 White House Correspondents Dinner and is not known for being self-deprecating.

Some of his jokes landed well, drawing laughs from both the crowd and Clinton.

His biggest laughs came as he talked about Michelle Obama getting rave reviews for a recent speech. “They think she’s absolutely great. My wife Melania gives the exact same speech, and people get on her case,” he said to whoops and laughs.

And some of his attack lines flashed a sense of humor that has been mostly absent from the grueling campaign. Clinton was the first one to laugh when Trump joked that she had bumped into

him earlier in the night “and she very simply said ‘Pardon me’”—an unsubtle reference to the Republican nominee’s frequent declarations that his opponent should go to jail.

Clinton, meanwhile, was more self-deprecating than Trump, joking that she’s taken a break from her “usual nap schedule” to attend and suggesting that the audience should be pleased she’s not charging her usual fee for speaking in front of potential donors.

But she also got in some digs at Trump, a few of which drew scattered jeers. C l inton sa id she understood why Trump was leery of teleprompters because they can be difficult to follow and “I’m sure it’s even harder when you’re translating from the original Russian.”

The dinner is named after the former New York governor, who was the first Catholic to receive a major party nomination for president when he unsuccessfully ran in 1928.

A nd fittingly for an event named after a man nicknamed “The Happy Warrior,” the occasion has produced dozens of memorable presidential jokes—and sincere moments of goodwill that have remained largely absent from the 2016 campaign.

“I can’t wish my opponent luck,” John McCain said in 2008, turning toward Obama, “but I do wish him well.” AP

Chinese navy ships to make 1st port call at Cam Ranh Bay

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ANOI, Vietnam—Three Chinese navy ships will make their first port call this weekend at the Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay, coming as the countries are locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea. An official in Khanh Hoa province where the bay is located said the four-day port call at Cam Ranh International Port starting on Saturday by the three ships carrying

750 sailors will include exchanges with the Vietnamese navy and meetings with provincial leaders.

The international port, whose first phase with an investment of $80 million was completed earlier this year, offers repairs, maintenance and logistics to foreign naval and commercial ships.

The port is separate from Vietnam’s military installations at the bay. The visit comes weeks after

world

two US Navy ships paid a first visit to Cam Ranh since the countries normalized relations 21 years ago.

Cam Ranh Bay served as a US air and naval base during the Vietnam War. It was taken over by the former Soviet Union in 1979 under a 25-year, rent-free agreement, and was returned to Hanoi in 2002.

The visit comes as Hanoi and Beijing are in dispute over parts of the South China Sea.

China claims almost all seas, which occupy one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and is potentially rich in natural resources. China’s recent building of artificial islands on the Spratly Islands and military buildup in the area have alarmed countries in the region and the US. That has led Vietnam to seek closer ties with the United States to counter China’s growing assertiveness. AP

By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo

Sports

See “London,” A2

See “Chinese,” A2

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| SAturdAy, OctOber 22, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

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CUSTOMS VS POCARI

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NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT plays,18-21. But Valentina Tirozzi and Lucia Bosetti held fort for Pomi Casalmaggiore and finished out the frame to set the tone for the rout.

The hosts were blown away in the second set but played inspired in the third, taking an 18-13 advantage to again push their opponents to the net worried. But that was another gallant stand that got toppled by the Italian side’s composed and more skilled players.

Branislav praised his wards for showing better chemistry as the tournament got older, but continued to lament the team’s lack of preparation for a world-level competition.

“The 25-day preparation of the team has yielded some positive results despite it being short. We now see a better relationship among the players and the coaching staff has responded well. This is a good experience,” he said.

Team captain Rachel Anne Daquis only played in the third set and had just one point. She concurred with her coach, saying that their chemistry has

when it was the depopulating seat of a lost empire, best known for punk rock, race riots, bad food and crumbling infrastructure. It’s pressing not just on the minds of bankers, but of many who played a role in the city’s revival, from university deans to tech entrepreneurs to Michelin star chefs.

“There is no question that London’s greatness historically was built on

LAWIN AFTERMATH A resident uses a bamboo raft to bring to a dry area a duck, following the flooding brought about by Supertyphoon Lawin (international code name Haima), which lashed Vigan, Ilocos, on Thursday, October 20. Lawin slammed into the northeastern Philippine coast late Wednesday, with ferocious winds and rain that rekindled fears and memories from the catastrophe wrought by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in 2013. AP/Bullit Marquez

BusinessMirror

HILIPPINE Superliga (PSL)-F2 Logistics Manila absorbed a second straight loss and crashed out of the 2016 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Women’s Club World Championship.

The locals yielded to Pomi Casalmaggiore, 19-25, 1525, 21-25—but not without a fight—on Thursday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, a loss that was expected of a team that had three weeks to prepare for a world-level competition and a roster that has a measly international exposure.

Bannered by seven Filipinos and reinforced by as many foreigners, the home club hardly had any chance against the European champions, who, like the girls from the Rexona-Sesc Rio side, tutored PSL-F2 Logistics Manila on world-class volleyball.

“We faced Europe’s first team. They’re champions,” PSL-F2 Logistics Manila’s Serbian Head Coach Moro Branislav said. “I liked the first set, which we ruled for some parts, and we played better in the last set.”

With the loss, PSL-F2 Logistics Manila was relegated to the classification phase for fifth to eighth places, facing Pool B thirdplacer Hisamitsu Springs Kobe on Saturday. The local side closed out its preliminary round assignment against defending champion Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul on Friday evening.

PSL-F2 Logistics Manila mounted a rally to cut a 4-14 deficit and give the Italian club a scare behind Jaja Santiago’s power

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improved and 6-foot-5 middle blocker Jaja Santiago and setter Kim Fajardo continued to play their roles for the team.

“Even if we lost, we are are still happy because Jaja [Santiago] played a great game, as well as Kim [Fajardo],” Daquis said.

Santiago shone the brightest for PSL-F2 Logistics Manila, finishing with 11 points.

“It’s overwhelming to score over tall blockers and Pomi is really a strong team,” Santiago said. “I’m happy because we were able to put up a good fight, especially in the third set.”

Fajardo was as impressive that she earned the attention of Pomi Casalmaggiore Head Coach Giovanni Caprara.

“I like the setter a lot because she’s incredibly quick and she has a lot of fantastic plays, and it’s very difficult to counter that,” Caprara said.

Fajardo refused to be flattered and vowed to play more inspired.

“It’s just a bonus for me [praises from the opponent’s coach] because

that’s not my aim. All I want is to show everyone that Filipinos could play at the world level,” the 23-year-old out of De La Salle said. “We have to show the world that we can play, despite being short.”

Volero Zurich, meanwhile, swept Pool B sweep after upsetting powerhouse VakifBank Istanbul, 25-22, 27-25, 16-25, 12-15, 16-14, also on Thursday evening.

The Swiss club, which clinched the bronze medal last year, faces the No. 2 seed from Pool A, Pomi Casalmaggiore, in the knockout semifinals on Saturday. Lance Agcaoili

UREAU of Customs and Pocari Sweat clash in a duel of fancied bets on Saturday with the Transformers seeking at least a playoff for the last semifinal berth and the Lady Warriors out to step up their own Final Four drive in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

The match, set at 6 p.m., will be Alyssa Valdez’s first against Michelle Gumabao and company since the Lady Warriors eased out the former’s BaliPure squad in the semifinals of the Open Conference.

Pocari Sweat won the crown on its very first try, with the Lady Warriors all primed up for a crack at another championship in the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

But they’ll be taking a fired-up Valdez and her new team Customs, guaranteeing a fierce, no-holds-barred encounter between two squads, which also boast of talented pair of reinforcements.

The match will be aired live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 17 or 23 and via streaming on www.sports.abs-cbn.com and via streaming on www.v-league.ph.

Valdez, the league’s leading scorer with 92 hits in four games, has the Thai tandem of Kanjana Kuthaisong and setter Natthanicha Jaisaen to lean on and a solid local crew led

by Rose Marie Vargas, Lilet Mabbayad, Rizza Mandapat and Pau Soriano.

The Transformers ended the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses’ four-game run with a 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 romp last week for a 3-1 card and a win away from assuring themselves of a playoff for the last semifinals seat.

Pocari Sweat, on the other hand, totes a 2-1 record to be in joint third with another title contender BaliPure with the Lady Warriors also hoping to ride the momentum of their back-to-back wins over the Coast Guard and University of the Philippines (UP) sides after dropping their opening game to the Air Force Jet Spikers.

“The players have started to get the feel of each other and we hope we’ll get better each game,” said Pocari Coach Rommel Abella, who will again be leaning on their American imports Breanna Mackie and Kay Kacsits.

BaliPure, meanwhile, likewise seeks to bolster its own semifinals bid as it collides with a resurgent UP at 4 p.m., to be shown on a delayed basis, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Army and Champion Supra, on the other hand, mix it up at 12:30 p.m. in the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Third Conference encounter.

sports

London girds for Brexit after punk, big bang and cool Britannia

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ondon, founded by Romans, reinvented by Dutch traders and enriched by French and Jewish bankers, is facing a potentially damaging test: Can its ability to attract international talent and wealth survive a hard Brexit?

The city of almost 9 million people is the “soft power capital of the world”, creating 235,000 new highly skilled jobs in 2014 and 2015 alone, according

PESO exchange rates n US 48.0410

to a study the global accounting firm Deloitte published shortly before the referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union (EU). Executives are drawn from a wider array of countries than any other. Even New York ranked a distant second.

The concern is that a nasty British divorce from the EU and its single market could throw the globalized metropolis into reverse—toward a recent past,

@Pulitika2010 Special to the BusinessMirror

CHINESE firm is keen on investing in the Philippines, following the thawing of previously icy diplomatic ties between Manila and Beijing.

In a news statement, the Department of Tourism (DOT) said Bai Fan, CFO of the Beijing Tourism Group Co. Ltd. (BTG), expressed the company’s intent to invest in the Subic Bay free-port zone. “Subic has many beautiful types of scenery and has a lot of potential to the market, and it is also close to Manila. I think this is the best time to invest in the Philippines, since you have good relationship with China,” Fan said. The DOT did not say, however, in what area of the tourism industry BTG intends to sink in its money.

The new Chinese investment was revealed on the heels of an agreement signed between the DOT and the China National Tourism Administration of Beijing to implement a tourism cooperation program from 2017 to 2022. The agreement includes, among others, a framework to encourage investments in tourism infrastructure, and a scheme to increase tourism traffic in both countries. (See, “PHL, China ink tourism cooperation agreement,” in the BusinessMirror, October 20, 2016.)

BTG is a holding firm based in Beijing that operates hotels, restaurants, travel agencies and other tourism-related enterprises, as well as catering, entertainment, department stores and shopping malls, through several subsidiaries.

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not without a fight PHILIPPINE Superliga-F2 Logistics Manila’s Jaja Santiago is a power at the net against Pomi Casalmaggiore’s Lucia Bosetti (left) and Jovana Stevanovic, as the host club’s Japanese import Yuri Fukuda dives to save the ball in another play. ALYSA SALEN

free fire

NTERRUPTING the series of mind experiments On Keeping an Open Mind, I offer this mind experiment on President Duterte’s statement in Beijing, where he announced the end of our relationship with the United States.

Lenovo reintroduces Moto phones to PHL market

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n japan 0.4622 n UK 58.8694 n HK 6.1924 n CHINA 7.1217 n singapore 34.5172 n australia 36.6265 n EU 52.5184 n SAUDI arabia 12.8133

Source: BSP (21 October 2016 )

News BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, October 22, 2016

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Duterte brings home $24B worth of deals Continued from A1

Lopez also announced that Beijing has lifted the import ban versus certain Philippine banana and mango exporters.

Lopez told reporters in Manila that deals signed in private-to-public and privateto-private meetings of the Philippine delegation with their Chinese counterparts include $15 billion worth of investment projects and $9 billion in credit facilities.

The multibillion-dollar support came amid the Philippines’s commitment to cooperate with China on the long-standing dispute over the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).

“This amount looks final. There were new joint projects in private-to-private meetings that were added,” Lopez told reporters.

The investment pledges cut across various industries, including manufacturing, agribusiness, trade finance, hotels, telecom, tourism, transportation, economic zones, industrial parks and infrastructure projects.

Included in the $15 billion worth of commitments are covered by 13 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) and cooperation agreements signed on October 20 and 21. According to Lopez, the

Chinese. . .

Continued from A1

According to its web site, the company was founded in 1998 and, since then, has grown to be one of China’s top 10 tourism companies, and ranks among the country’s top 500 firms. A budget hotel subsidiary, the Home Inns Group, is listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York.

BTG was among the Chinese companies that met with Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo on Thursday. The DOT chief was part of the official delegation of President Duterte on his first state visit to China.

In their meeting, Teo highlighted investment opportunities in the Philippines’s fast-growing tourism sector, especially in the hotel sector. She said the Philippines would also welcome Chinese investments in infrastructure and aviation.

Teo pointed out that the Philippines will need over 100,000 rooms, especially in the four- and five-star categories, as the DOT targets to increase tourist arrivals to 12

substantial capital infusion from China can lead to job generation for 2 million Filipinos in the next five years.

“The renewed friendship in this part of the world has opened huge opportunities for Philippines’s trade and investment in the China and Asean market of over 1.9 billion people across the region,” he said.

“We will maintain relations with our other partners but we would revive the stronger integration with our neighbors.

We share centuries of trading, similar culture and a better understanding with our region,” Lopez continued, touching on the sudden pronouncement of the Chief Executive of breaking away from the United States on the military and economic front.

President Duterte, in a speech on late Thursday, declared his intention to “realign” to China and Russia, and even said the United States “has lost.”

Lopez commented that this does not amount to economic separation. The President, he added, only referred to “maintaining the relationship with the US, and “avoiding too much dependence on one side.”

One of the 13 agreements signed on Thursday is an MOU on the Establishment of a Joint Coastal Guard Committee on million by the end of President Duterte’s term in 2022.

“We encourage you to invest in the Philippines now, as our country and China strengthen our bilateral trade and business relations,” she said, adding that the Philippines “enjoys the highest growth rate in international arrivals in Southeast Asia.”

In the same meeting, Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) Chief Operating Officer lawyer Guiller Asido discussed fiscal incentives available to tourism zone investors.

“We are offering a tax holiday for six years to investors, as well as tax exemption on equipment that you will bring in,” he said. Formerly known as the Philippine Tourism Authority, Tieza is a unit of the DOT tasked to “develop, manage and supervise tourism-infrastructure projects in the country,” as well as set up tourism economic zones.

The DOT secretary also encouraged the Chinese investors to consider other destinations in the Philippines, such as Samal Island in Davao; Bataan; Bohol; and Siargao

Maritime Cooperation.

China remained as the country’s biggest source of imports, with an 18.7-percent share last August. Payments were recorded at $1.2 billion, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Lopez also said Beijing has announced on Friday the lifting of the import ban. “China has lifted the suspension on six mango exporters and, for banana, 20 exporters [were] lifted.” Lopez, however, didn’t disclose the names of these exporters.

“This is a good development for the industry and we are thankful to the President and [Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol] for this accomplishment [during] the state visit to China,” Department of Agriculture (DA) Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo R. Serrano told the BusinessMirror when sought for comment.

Serrano said the DA is yet to receive the official documents from Beijing regarding the lifting of the import suspension on the fruit exporters.

Earlier, Chinese Ambassador Zhao Jianhua conveyed to Piñol the decision of Beijing to lift the ban on Philippine bananas and pineapples during the envoy’s recent courtesy call in Manila.

According to documents from the DA, President Duterte had earlier requested China to increase its purchase of Philippine products. Aside from bananas and pineapples, China is also keen on buying locally produced mangoes, coconut, dragon fruit, crabs, shrimps, prawns, tuna and milkfish, or bangus.

“The said products are intended to be sold in major cities of China,” the DA documents read. China’s Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (ASQIQ) has suspended the accreditation of 27 exporters of Philippine bananas due to their purported failure to comply with Beijing’s standards for fruit imports.

The exporters were suspended after China destroyed a total of 37.48 metric tons (MT) of Philippine bananas valued at $33,000 in March. ASQIQ said the pest Dysmicoccus neobrevipes was supposedly detected in the shipment of 20,790 kilograms of bananas made by NKM Import/ Export Inc. to Dalian Kawoo Import and Export Co. Ltd. ASQIQ also destroyed the banana shipment of Sumifru to Shenzen Everglory Trading Co. Ltd. for supposedly containing carbendazim level, which exceeded China’s

PHILIPPINE Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon T. Teo (center) with members of the Philippine delegation, which includes Tourism Assistant Secretary Rolando Canizal (first from left, standing), and TIEZA’s Guiller Asido (right, seated), with key Chinese investors.

in Surigao del Norte.

According to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, net foreign direct investment (FDI) in accommodation and food-service activities dipped to $4.03 million in 2015, down 72

percent from 2014. From January to July 2016, however, investment in the sector hit $96.7 million, a leap of 2,302 percent from the same period in 2015.

Net FDI from China slumped to $500,000

maximum residue level of 0.1 milligrams/kg.

Of the 27 exporters suspended by ASQIQ, the Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI) earlier said 10 have already made “corrective actions.” These exporters include Sumifru, Tagum Agricultural Development Trade Co. Inc., Stanfilco Division of Dole Philippines Inc. and Lapanday Diversified Products Corp.

The BPI said it has requested the ASQIQ to allow local exporters to resume the shipment of Philippine bananas to China.

The DA said the ASQIQ sent an inspection team to the Philippines to assess the corrective measures being implemented by local banana exporters on September 18.

In the first half of 2016, China bought 139,263.718 MT of bananas valued at $68.748 million, according to the data from the Philippine Statistics Authority. China accounted for 26 percent of the country’s total banana exports during the period.

Last year the Philippines exported a total of 447,915.102 MT of bananas to China, amounting to $157.499 million. China accounted for 24 percent of the country’s total banana exports in 2015.

Japan and China are the two top buyers of Philippine bananas. in 2015, an almost 99-percent drop from $41.38 million in 2014. In the first half of 2016, net FDI from China jumped by 2,400 percent to $3.3 million.

Chinese investments in the Philippines hotel sector include Jin Jiang Inn, a budget- hotel brand in mainland China, through Double Dragon Properties of Mang Inasal Founder Injap Sia and Oishi snacks owner Carlos Chan. Also, Fort Ilocandia and Resort Casino and the Fontana Hot Springs Leisure Park are owned by Macau-based casino junket operator Jack Lam’s Jimei Group. The City of Dreams Manila was set up by Macau-based gaming firm Melco Crown Entertainment, coowned by Hong Kong’s Lawrence Ho and Australia’s James Packer.

The DOT said it is aiming to attract 2 million Chinese to travel to the Philippines every year, following the normalization of diplomatic ties between Manila and Beijing.

At the same meeting, the Chinese participants also disclosed that China Airlines plans to add one flight between Beijing and Manila due to the increasing demand from Chinese travelers. On the signing of the tourism cooperation pact, Teo said: “Doors to more opportunities for cooperation and capacity building between Manila and Beijing are now opulently wide.”

She added: “With the signing of the memorandum of understanding, we are assured of better market access, free flow of trade and people, and exchanges of best practices [in tourism].” She said this would certainly play a “crucial role for tourism to contribute significantly to regional economic growth, as well as pave the road toward the integration of Asean and realization of an open, dynamic and resilient Asean community.”

The Asean is composed of Brunei Darussalam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The regional group has a free-trade agreement with China, which was signed in November 2002.

London. . .

Continued from A1

migration,” said Jerry White, a historian who has written several books on London. He described the government’s apparent march toward Brexit at any cost as “bizarre”.

Few claim to know how Brexit will turn out, or how resilient London’s allure may prove to any change, having become home to a possibly unique concentration of knowledge-based industries—from high-tech finance to movies. But the referendum result suggests London has become a victim of its own soft power success, triggering resentment among less-affluent voters across the country at the wealth and immigrants flooding the capital.

Brexit’s proponents say cutting loose from the EU would free London to become a truly global, rather than European hub.

And, they say, immigration is precisely what voters were demanding to control when they voted to leave the EU on June 23, and what has driven property prices in central London so high that native Londoners are being driven out. Bloomberg News

Economy BusinessMirror

Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon

Saturday, October 22, 2016 A3

DICT’s Salalima assures govt to honor telco, ICT contracts

I

By Lorenz S. Marasigan

@lorenzmarasigan

NVESTORS need not worry about contracts and commitments being honored, a Cabinet member said on Friday, amid fears attached to the recent announcements of President Duterte of an economic pivot toward China from the United States.

Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Rodolfo A. Salalima said on Friday his office will execute contracts signed by the government, whether local or international, based on the existing laws of the Philippines.

“All business investments, contracts and commitments, local and international, in the country and for our country, will be honored by the Philippine government, consistent with the nonimpairment and due process clauses in the Philippine Constitution and existing laws of the land,” he said.

He made this statement to assure investors that the Philippine government is committed to deals that it signed in the past, while echoing Mr. Duterte’s vow during Cabinet meetings.

“This pledge has been made by the President often during our meetings. The President is sincere on this pronouncement and he will be true to his words,” Salalima said.

Since August, when Mr. Duterte started waging a word war of sort against US President Barack Obama and the European Union, stock prices and the peso-dollar exchange rates have been declining. Debt watcher Moody’s warned last week that political risks in the Philippines “have become less predictable.”

Sources said there are a few US-based companies that have already started folding down their operations in the Philippines because of the rhetoric of the “colorful” Filipino president.

Some of these corporations are business-processing outsourcing providers.

The BusinessMirror tried to get more

information from Salalima, but he was unavailable as of this writing.

The newly formed government department is an offshoot of the Department of Science and Technology-Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Office, which has numerous contracts with telco operators and Internet service providers.

Under the law, the department primary policy includes planning, coordinating, implementing, and administrative entity of the Executive branch of the government that will plan, develop and promote the national ICT development agenda.

It is tasked to formulate, recommend and implement national policies, plans, programs and guidelines that will promote the development and use of ICT with due consideration to the advantages of convergence and emerging technologies.

Salalima has said that the government will pursue a P200-billion national broadband network, which will include a mixture of several Internet connectivity technologies such as fixed line and mobile data, among others.

The national backbone will be included in the National Broadband Plan, which will analyze existing and planned government and private-sector deployment, and address supplyand-demand gaps by recommending policy and nonpolicy-related actions.

The plan will also provide detailed physical targets and strategies to effect nationwide broadband deployment and widespread use.

Currently, the Philippines is one of the few

Upland farmers in CL and NE get tenure certificates under CBFMP

By Henry Empeño

I

Correspondent

BA, Zambales—Around 300 upland farmers from two people’s organizations (POs) in Central Luzon became the latest beneficiaries of the revived Community BasedForest Management Program (CBFMP), a forest-governance tool for which the Philippines has been recognized as pioneer in the whole of Asia.

According to Dir. Francisco Milla Jr. of the Region 3 office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the agency recently awarded at least 357 hectares of forestlands to upland farmers in Central Luzon in a bid to reduce poverty in rural areas and promote social justice and equitable access to forest resources.

The latest beneficiary groups were the Palauig Green Planters Association Inc. in Palauig, Zambales, which received tenurial rights to 106 hectares of forest lands; and the Digmala Tree Planters Association Inc. in Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija, which was awarded with 251 hectares. The CBFMP certificate, in both cases, was good for 25 years.

“The CBFMP entitles the POs to rehabilitate the forestland they occupy and develop it through agroforestry scheme,” Milla said in a news statement released on Friday.

He added that the beneficiaries of the program “can also develop in their area livelihood opportunities not dependent on forest products, and utilize the resources found therein, but subject to existing forestry and environmental laws, rules and regulations.”

Milla, however, hastened to explain that the DENR is “not giving land titles [for] forestlands, [but] only for alienable and disposable lands [A and D] such as agricultural lands and residential areas.” “(The) tenurial instrument in the form of agreement is being awarded to upland farmers [only] as proof of their legitimate occupancy over the forestland,” he added.

Milla noted that the 300 upland farmers who would benefit from the agreement are

also actively involved in the National Greening Program of the government.

Under the CBFMP, the beneficiary group assumes the responsibility of protecting the entire forestlands within their area against illegal logging and other unauthor ized extraction of forest products. They are also tasked to guard against kaingin or slash-and-burn agriculture, forest and grass fire, and other forest destruction.

The groups, whose members are deputized as environment and natural resources officers, are also required to assist the DENR in the prosecution of violators of forestry and environmental laws; observe all laws and regulations on forest management; prepare and implement a resource-management plan; and formulate and implement benefit-sharing schemes among their members.

The DENR, on the other hand, would ensure that the beneficiary groups have the exclusive occupation and use of forestland covered in the CBFMP, as well as the forest products found in their area.

The agreement covering the CBFMP areas are renewable for another 25 years, subject to compliance by the people’s organizations to the set requirements.

The CBFMP, hailed as a success in the Philippines in terms of ensuring sustainability of forest resources and equitable distribution of access and benefits to farmer-beneficiaries, has recently been revived by the government after a12-year hibernation.

Milla said that under the leadership of Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez, the DENR is set for transformation from just a regulatory agency “into a development institution that will provide livelihood opportunities, brings social justice and empower upland communities, especially the poorest among the poor.”

According to the DENR Region 3 office, there are now 116 CBFM agreements given out to farmers’ groups in Central Luzon.

These covered more than 16,000 hectares of forestland and benefited more than 7,000 upland farmers.

All business investments, contracts and commitments, local and international, in the country and for our country, will be honored by the Philippine government, consistent with the nonimpairment and due process clauses in the Philippine Constitution and existing laws of the land.”

—Salalima

countries in the region wherein the government has yet to fully engage in investing in telco infrastructure.

Neighboring countries in the Asean have already started to implement national broadband plans, earmarking billions of dollars to develop a government-owned backbone for the information superhighway.

In Thailand, for example, the government has invested $114 million to improve the Internet service or availability. The fund is part of Bangkok’s economic policy.

The Vietnamese government, on the other hand, owns two of the three largest telecommunications companies in Ho Chi Minh City. Investments mainly come from the government.

Malaysia has now spent a total of $4.5 billion over a 10-year period to lay fiber-optic lines to every home in the country’s urban area.

Other developing and developed economies are investing billions of dollars to improve Internet access in their countries.

He said his office will be open in pursuing deals with the private sector to hasten the development of the digital economy in the Philippines.

Gordon: Don’t leave out Subic airport restoration

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

S

en. Richard J. Gordon has proposed the inclusion in the emergency powers measure the fund needed to repair and upgrade the runway and terminal facilities at Subic International Airport, as well as restore full operations of vital equipment, like the radar and instrument landing system (ILS), so it can be used to decongest the four Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia) terminals.

Per estimates derived from preliminary findings of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee inquiry, the repairs and restoration at Subic airport will need anywhere from P600 million to P1 billion.

“We have to spend on it, otherwise it will go to seed like Sangley,” he told the BusinessMirror on Friday, referring to the former US naval base in Cavite that was neglected for a long time.

The senator explained that, while the Blue Ribbon was inquiring into apparent neglect at Subic—where he was the first chairman after the US dismantled its bases when the Philippine Senate voted down a treaty extension in September 1991—he thought it wiser to “fix the problem first” and then look “for who to pin the blame later.”

The immediate concern, Gordon added, is to restore what was once “one of th e best airport facilities” in the world, noting the superior runway, the radar and related equipment when the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority harnessed the former US military site for civilian purposes.

He recalled that among the big-ticket investors that first located operations at Subic Airport was global logistics giant FedEx. Sadly, Gordon rued, there was “omission on their [Subic authorities] part, a dereliction of duty,” in “not fully utilizing this wonderful infrastructure that now belongs to us.”

The Senate Public Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Grace Poe, has conducted hearings on a proposal to arm the Executive with emergency powers in order to resolve the traffic crisis. The long-standing debates over what to do with the four Naia terminals in Metro Manila drew attention once more as experts pointed to the air-traffic problems at the Naia, as well as the traffic on the ground, among tens of thousands of people going to and from the four terminals daily.

A4 Saturday, October 22, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

Uncertainty in advanced economies affects Asia

I

T is not easy to keep an orderly house in an unsettled neighborhood. That’s the major hurdle facing Asian economies, as the advanced world deals with unusual economic, financial, institutional and political fluidity. Judging from China’s GDP data released this week, Asia is in a relatively favorable position to navigate the challenges. But the battle is far from won.

In more normal times, Asia only needed to ask two major economic questions about the advanced countries: How strong a locomotive would these nations provide for trade? And to what extent would they supply relatively stable capital flows, a coherent interest-rate structure and limited volatility for the dollar, euro and yen, the world’s three principal reserve currencies?

In the past year, a third concern—this one more structural because it pertains to the stability of the world’s trading regimes—has been added. Given the UK vote to exit the European Union, the antitrade rhetoric in the US presidential election and the headwinds to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Asia can no longer take for granted long-standing tenets of trade and financial globalization.

This development is underpinned by a new reality: Too many years of slow and noninclusive growth in the advanced world have led to extremely unusual monetary conditions, including negative nominal interest rates, artificially priced equity and bond markets and weaker future growth potential. The associated amplification of antiestablishment political movements has also shaken confidence in the advanced world’s ability to follow through on needed domestic policies, let alone deliver on global responsibilities.

Advanced countries are at the core of today’s global system, giving them enormous privileges and responsibilities.

Because they issue the world’s reserve currencies, they are able to exchange bits of paper (currency) for goods and services produced by others. Their securities provide the main form of external saving for emerging economies, many of which outsource an important element of financial intermediation.

And advanced countries have de-facto veto power at the two world’s most influential multilateral economic organizations, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and have the determining say over who is picked to lead these institutions.

These significant privileges come with expectations that the advanced world will pursue sound and responsible economic management. Their preeminent role means their actions have notable spillover effects. But confidence that these expectations will be consistently met has been shaken, as messy politics have hindered proper policy responses, including by placing an excessive burden on central banks. In addition, politics have also contaminated economic management by weakening the advanced world’s flexibility to deal with potential cyclical downturns, never mind break out of a prolonged period of low and insufficiently inclusive growth.

This increases emerging countries’ vulnerability to sudden changes in trade and financial flows. For Asia, it means having to operate with weaker international drivers of domestic prosperity, and with global financial conditions that could be subject to bouts of unsettling volatility. Fortunately, many Asian countries have built substantial financial resilience—including comfortable levels of international reserves, the capacity to avoid major currency/maturity debt mismatches and a tradition of professional management of sovereign wealth. These nations also are anchored by a regional Chinese growth rate that is higher than those of the US and Europe.

Nonetheless, the coast isn’t clear. These countries would be well-advised to develop even greater financial and economic resilience, including by deepening their own financial markets and relying more on domestic drivers of economic growth. Furthermore, they must contend with an environment that tips the relative regional potential in favor of the larger economies (such as China, India and Indonesia). The historically impressive agility of the smaller open economies (such as Singapore) will be tested even more, because the basic tenets of a growth model that has served well for decades are now subject to greater uncertainty as Europe and the US signal a lot less enthusiasm for globalization. Bloomberg Editorial

Since 2005

BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business

‘Hey, elite! You’re not listening’ John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

E

nglish Puritan lawyer John Winthrop was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop’s vision of the colony as a “city upon a hill”—from the biblical Sermon on the Mount—dominated New England colonial development, influencing the governments of its neighbors.

While not the only American political leader to use the phrase, Ronald Reagan in his speech when elected President in 1980 said, “I have quoted John Winthrop’s words more than once on the campaign trail this year—for I believe that Americans in 1980 are every bit as committed to that vision of a shining city on a hill, as were those longago settlers.”

For many decades, that is how most of the world perceived the United States to be—decent, charitable and with a government that listened to the people. at least more

than in other countries. Children were raised with the idea that based on their own performance, they could become anything they wanted, including president of that shining city on a hill.

Certainly, that was a nice myth, but there was substantial truth to the idea. Dwight Eisenhower came from a family that was impoverished but climbed the economic ladder to middle class, his father working at a creamery. He put his younger brother through college before he attended the United States Military Academy at West Point. And Eisen-

Cha-cha diplomacy

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Continued from A1

T

he first to announce the end of Special Relations was the US, when we voted not to renew the US bases—that were anyway scheduled for shutdown because they were covered with lava from Mount Pinatubo. And no longer affordable by a failing US economy, the Pentagon told me and Richard Armitage because they were closing US bases in the mainland United States. How could they justify the expense of foreign bases?

Some 10 years later, the Americans were back asking temporary access for warships. We obliged. After all, the Philippines and the US are still the only countries in Asia with a mutual-defense treaty protecting each other, like they did against the Japanese, the North Koreans and the North Vietnamese. So it was back to normal.

President Duterte’s announcement panicked Filipinos, even me.

I cannot imagine a world without America near, even if the proximity is largely imaginary on our side; and even if, in the event of an imminent Chinese invasion, the US will not automatically come to our defense.

It will let the invasion proceed,

while it debates the appropriate response in the US Congress.

I have tried to soften this new turn in foreign policy that’s been unfolding since Mr. Duterte took the presidency.

I have said that to pivot to China does not mean to turn your back on the US. It only means that to meet and make new friends, who are standing in line behind you, you gotta turn your back for a while on the one friend who has monopolized your attention and conversation since you came of age as an independent country.

Few got my interpretation.

Okay, here is something easier to understand.

President Duterte’s statement

hower was elected president.

In the 21st century, the US government has become a shining beacon of the political establishment, far removed from the people and their voices.

With the remarks of President Duterte in China regarding a “separation” from Washington, a US State Department official called the remarks “baffling”. Regardless of what you might think of Mr. Duterte’s new foreign-policy initiatives, the point is that the US is finding many global developments baffling.

Prior to the vote of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, US President Obama went to England and said, “I think it’s fair to say that maybe some point down the line there might be a US-UK trade agreement, but it’s not going to happen any time soon, because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done.” There is no way to interpret that, other than as a threat.

Except, his big bloc trade agreement with Europe—the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Part-

President Duterte’s announcement panicked Filipinos, even me. I cannot imagine a world without America near, even if the proximity is largely imaginary on our side; and even if, in the event of an imminent Chinese invasion, the US will not automatically come to our defense. It will let the invasion proceed while it debates the appropriate response in the US Congress. can be interpreted as a way of calling attention to—rather than spurning the attention of—our old beloved partner who’s been taking us for granted.

For 100 years, our relations with the US have been physically close, but also stagnant.

Like a shy debutant, we took the US to the Asian prom night, so to speak, as our date. But the US did not follow Reagan’s advise to gentlemen: “Always and only dance with the gal that brung ya.” The US has been dancing with every new girl that’s come into the room. (Jesus, it’s a prom, not a Subic strip club.)

Hence, the feelings of rejection of a wallflower, watching the younger nubile girls getting new warships, new fighters, battle tanks, missile batteries—and how to use them.

It is like an old marriage, where desire has faded, activity has slowed.

nership—has been derailed in large measure because thousands of people have protested in France, Spain and Poland, among others, against the US-dominated pact. The US is again baffled.

The US was baffled in 1991 when the Philippines would no longer host foreign military bases, unless it was on an equal basis with legally binding compensation. The US is baffled that the Japanese citizens of Okinawa want the US bases there removed.

The US political establishment is baffled that President Duterte was elected president of the Philippines, while Donald Trump contends for his own presidency.

The people can make wrong decisions, maybe even frequently. But the worst decision that usually leads to some sort of revolution is when the political establishment ignores the people. The world seems to be rebelling against the US as the leader of the global political elite.

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

We have been dancing the slow drag with America, to soft music, while its eyes keep scanning the room for better prospects. Now Mr. Duterte says enough of that.

This may or may not be a call for more attention. Or he really has found another partner. Divorce is more of an American institution than long marriages, so America should understand.

Perhaps, it is a call to change the music, to play a faster song, and dance with quicker steps; a switch from slow drag to cha-cha—from circling slowly around the same place, to suddenly taking two steps forward, two steps back; one step sideward and back; taking another step to the opposite side and back. Repeat. The pace is faster; the music livelier; the steps more interesting. There is a chance to show off foot work. There is far more perspiration and a steamier suggestion of intimacy—but really you are dancing in the same location. What about that interpretation?

Another way to renew a dance partner’s attention in you is to dance with another fella in the party; someone with more money, even if not good looks.

Or, sometimes, a partner gets erectile dysfunction. There is now a blue remedy advertised by US Senator Bob Dole. But you know what happens when the guy takes it. You’re bound to get it. And while it may be fun, it does get tiresome between old couples.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Local, international business communities focus on PHL growth

Manila Archdiocese’s community-based rehabilitation program to be launched Sunday Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

SERVANT LEADER

Jemain Tinio Diaz de Rivera

Forward Moving

T

here’s a lot of things going on in the past few weeks, and a lot more in the upcoming weeks, to lift up the spirits of those of us who have been focusing attention on the government’s war on drugs and the so-called extrajudicial killings of drug pushers and users, the outcome of President Duterte’s visit to China, and the traffic in Metro Manila that ranked 10th on the list of cities with the worst traffic in the world.

Members of the business community are focusing their sights on growth and development. The Philippine information technology and business-process management (ITBPM) industry will bring together hundreds of top executives and investors from all over the world to the International IT-BPM Summit on the 28th of this month in Pasay City. The industry will launch the Philippine IT-BPM road map 2022 that will guide the industry to accelerate into a future-ready sector.

The Philippine Software Industry Association hosted late last week the fourth Software Industry Conference, the country’s premier event for promoting and celebrating the worldclass products and services of the Philippines’s IT industry. The event brought the best minds from all over the globe to discuss the progress of the IT industry; key trends observed in the marketplace; opportunities and challenges that face industry players; and the vision of technology as it drives today’s businesses.

Softcon.ph consisted of technical learning sessions that brought software experts and practitioners forward to provide insights on the latest trends in software development.

The conference featured opportunities for business matching and coordination not only with the providers, but with the support sector, as well.

Asia CEO Awards revealed early this week the winners in 14 business categories. The winners are Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority for TCS Executive Leadership Team of the Year; HSBC Electronic Data Processing (Philippines) Inc. for the syncHRony Global Top Employer of the Year; Edgar Chua, Shell Philippines, for Smart Enterprise Global Filipino Executive of the Year; James Donovan, Adec Innovations, for JLL Expatriate Executive of the Year; Government Service Insurance System for ADP Service Excellence Company of the Year; Clarissa Delgado, Teach for the Philippines, for Capital One Young Leader of the Year; Imperial Homes Corp. for Adec Innovations Green Company of the Year; ANZ Global Services and Operations (Manila) Inc., for Aski Global CSR Company of the Year; iMaverick International Corp., for LBC Business Solutions, SME Company of the Year; Magsaysay People Resources Corp. (MPRC), for I-Remit Heart, for OFWs Company of the Year; Joe Magsaysay, president

of Potato Corner, for Meralco Biz Partners Entrepreneur of the Year; Tata Consultancy Services, for Wells Fargo Technology, Company of the Year; Kalibrr Technology, Ventures Inc., for Globaltronics, Most Innovative Company of the Year; Integrated Micro-Electronics Inc., for Regus Asean, Company of the Year.

Dr. Bernie Villegas, Atty. Darlene Berberabe, Ambassador Jose Cuisia, Don Felbaum, Arch. Jun Palafox, Oscar Sanez and Richard Mills served as this year’s judges.

The event also honored Tech Entrepreneur Dado Banatao and former Foreign Secretary Albert F. del Rosario as lifetime contributors for the private and public sectors, respectively.

Banatao was recognized for his innovations in the world’s semiconductor industry. His is a story of how a Filipino from humble beginnings transformed himself through education, and succeeded in Silicon Valley as an innovator and entrepreneur.

Del Rosario was the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) during the Aquino administration. During his five years of principled stewardship, his department ranked as one of the top government agencies in efficiency and effectiveness, in surveys conducted by the Social Weather Stations and the Makati Business Club. He is known to have staunchly defended the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity during his term.

The former DFA secretary said President Duterte has reaffirmed the importance of the arbitration award, and said he would not “barter” it away. “This is an important and timely step in upholding the country’s commitment to the rule of international law in the conduct of relations between nations.”

The Asia CEO Awards is on its seventh year of recognizing outstanding leadership achievements by individuals and organizations in the Philippines and across the Asean region. It aims to promote the Philippines as a premier business destination.

The IIS, SoftCon.ph and Asia CEO Awards are just three important examples of how the Philippines continue to grow. These represents investments in research, professional education and training, and recognition.

E-mail: jemain_diaz_de_rivera@yahoo.com.

Saturday, October 22, 2016 A5

‘S

anlakbay para sa Pagbabagong Buhay,” a drug-rehabilitation and restoration program of the Catholic Church, will be launched on Sunday, October 23, at the Manila Cathedral.

His Eminence Manila Archbishop Luis Antonio Cardinal Tagle, DD, will preside the Eucharistic celebration at 10 a.m., and will lead the launch of the program at 11 a.m.

Sanlakbay is a preventive program of the Restorative Justice Ministry of Caritas Manila in partnership with the Mamamayang Ayaw sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga in the community. It aims to reach out to drug surrenderers and their families by providing them values formation, counseling, sports and cultural and livelihood programs toward healing,

rehabilitation and restoration.

It brings together the resources in the parish community and coordinates with the local government units, particularly with the barangays, to facilitate effectively and efficiently the implementation of the rehabilitation process.

The rehabilitation program will be set up in different parishes to reach more people. The general orientation for all parish volunteers from Pasay, Makati, Mandaluyong and San Juan has already been conducted at the Santa Clara de Montefalco Parish on October 15.

The second orientation will be held

today, October 22, at the Santa Isabel College for volunteers from Manila City parishes.

Sanlakbay program is the response of the Catholic Church to the rising concern in handling the influx of thousands of drug surrenderers resulting from the present administration’s war on illegal drugs. According to the official record of the Philippine National Police, there had been 734,231 illegal-drugs pushers and users who surrendered in Oplan Tokhang as of October 6.

In his letter, “According to which an indulgence is granted to the faithful on the occasion of the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy,” Pope Francis said “the Jubilee Year has always constituted an opportunity for great amnesty, which is intended to include the many people who, despite deserving punishment, have become conscious of the injustice they worked and sincerely wish to reenter society and make their honest contribution to it.”

The Sanlakbay program involves Caritas Manila’s Restorative Justice Ministry, Center for Family Ministries, University of

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Great Britain in 1776. Haitians, led by Toussaint Louverture, won their independence from France in 1804. But the Haitian rebellion was, in fact, a slave revolt, which made America’s slave-holding states uncomfortable and European nations dismissive.

Marines occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934 to protect US financial interests. Ties with Haiti continued during the dictatorships of François “Papa Doc” Duvalier, who ruled from 1957-1971, and Jean Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier, who fled into exile in 1986. Haiti subsequently endured further

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www. caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, please call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857.

Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@ gmail.com.

Trump douses himself in woman repellent Margaret Carlson

BLOOMBERG VIEW

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hen a woman scores points in a debate, Donald Trump calls her “nasty.” When women hear a woman make solid points, they call her someone they will vote for.

In the final debate on October 19, Trump failed at the critical task of bringing women home. Hillary Clinton had me at hello, even though I am one of the voters suffering from a serious enthusiasm gap. Like many women, I want the first woman presidential candidate to be perfect. But watching Trump, her imperfections have all but disappeared. Women have to stop buying into the notion that a woman has to be twice as good as a man to get half as much credit.

In one exchange, she spoke for every woman who is overlooked. Her recitation of what she’s accomplished —for example, fighting discrimination while he has been sued for it— exemplified the double standard. She capped her list of contrasts with “On the day I was in the Situation Room monitoring the raid that brought Osama bin Laden to justice, he was hosting Celebrity Apprentice.”

Trump was oddly OK with that, nodding and arching an eyebrow with pride, as if he actually believes hosting a reality show is equivalent to a career in public service.

There have been many such moments in this campaign, but this one should finally make Republicans drown in shame for letting Trump take over their party. It wasn’t even a hostile takeover. From the birther movement on they saw his power to energize the base and

let him waltz in. Their craven acquiescence will not only lose them the White House but possibly their majorities in Congress, too.

There aren’t enough angry white men to make up for the gender chasm Trump’s behavior has opened. But rather than narrow the gap, almost every word out of his mouth seemed designed to widen it. And that was before male bravado wouldn’t allow him to walk back his refusal to commit to respecting the election results if they didn’t turn out in his favor. Despite almost universal condemnation, he repeated the whopper on Thursday with a lame joke that he’d accept the results “if I win.”

In fairness, Trump held himself together for about 20 minutes of the debate, like a child given a warning kick under the table to behave at dinner. He made an inaccurate but, nonetheless, troublesome point about late-term abortions that Clinton did not have a good answer for. But he went downhill quickly. When Clinton said something he disagreed with and he couldn’t reclaim the floor by loudly butting in (35 times), he leaned into the mike and said “Wrong” (five times) and “Give me a break” (twice).

Clinton would have had a harder time responding to a question about the Clinton Foundation’s “pay to play” if Trump hadn’t broken in to take back the floor that she was

There aren’t enough angry white men to make up for the gender chasm Trump’s behavior has opened. But rather than narrow the gap, almost every word out of his mouth seemed designed to widen it. And that was before male bravado wouldn’t allow him to walk back his refusal to commit to respecting the election results if they didn’t turn out in his favor.

quietly happy to cede. A small interjection proved Clinton’s point that anytime he loses he says the game was rigged. To her charge that he slammed the Emmy Awards when he didn’t win one, he retorted “Should have gotten it.” The US Television Academy, which administers the awards, said in a tweet: “Rest assured, the #Emmys are not rigged.”

Those are just the tics of behavior that so drive women to distraction that they don’t even focus on the substance, such as Trump’s determination to overturn Roe versus Wade and his resistance to any pushback against untrammeled gun rights.

He’s also nuke-happy. When Clinton said he’d been “very cavalier, even casual” with statements like “if we have them why don’t we use them,” he just called her “a liar.”

He had no rebuttal for bodyshaming Miss Universe or calling her an eating machine. He didn’t even try to respond to the women who accused him of sexual assault who came out en masse after the airing of a tape in which he can be heard bragging about sexual assault: In a nutshell, his accusers are making it up and, anyway, those women don’t meet his standards for the kind of women he would be tempted to grope and, oh, Clinton got them to lie. That’s when focus groups jerked their dials as low as they could go. When

US shouldn’t wait until the next disaster to do more for Haiti

ith so much happening in the United States, including a pivotal presidential election and coastal states’ daunting recovery from Hurricane Matthew, maybe it’s understandable that the storm’s impact on Haiti has been an afterthought for many Americans. But the death and destruction in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest nation shouldn’t be ignored.

The US and Haiti were the first nations in the hemisphere to break free from colonial rule. Americans fighting under George Washington declared their independence from

Santo Tomas Graduate School Psycho-Trauma, Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

Caritas Manila, the social-development arm of the Archdiocese of Manila, runs the Restorative Justice Prison Ministry intended to the development of the prisoners and the correctional community based on the principles of Restorative Justice.

The program conducts (Pa-Release-Me): paralegal assistance, religious studies (Bible study, catechesis), livelihood training, education, advocacy, services for social action and medical assistance.

Caritas Manila is still accepting volunteers, for inquiries, call 5620020-25, local 31; or e-mail volcaritas_manila@yahoo.com.

misery under a number of corrupt, ineffective leaders.

A 2010 earthquake that left more than 200,000 dead and sprouted an ongoing cholera epidemic brought the country to its knees. Still struggling to recover from the earthquake, Haiti became Matthew’s punching bag on October 4. The storm killed at least 280 people, damaged crops, flooded villages, broke bridges, washed out roads, crippled communications and made the cholera problem even worse.

Massive financial aid is needed, but the United States can also

provide relief in other ways. It can extend to more recent arrivals the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, it provided to undocumented Haitians after the 2010 earthquake. It would be difficult for the immigrants to return to Haiti in its storm-devastated condition. Giving them TPS would allow them to stay here, get work permits and send money to their families in Haiti.

The US can also expand its Haitian Family Reunification Parole, or HFRP, program, which allows eligible US citizens and lawful permanent residents of Haitian

descent to apply for parole status for family members so they can then apply for work permits and permanent resident status here.

Inviting more immigrants to the US isn’t popular, especially in this election season. But Haiti hasn’t been treated fairly. The Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti says less than 2,000 Haitians have come to the US since the HFRP program began in 2014.

Compare that to the 100,000 immigrants who have come here through the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program.

Haiti too often seems to get the

Trump declared, “Nobody has more respect for women than me,” Chris Wallace, the moderator, had to quell the laughter in the hall.

Trump volunteered that he was so sure he hadn’t done anything wrong that “I didn’t even apologize to my wife, who’s sitting right here, because I didn’t do anything.

I didn’t know any of these—I didn’t see these women.” Never mind that his wife recently broke her silence to give an interview in which she said he’d apologized. In Trumpland, being a real man means never having to say you’re sorry.

Even his responses that weren’t gender-related would set your typical suburban mom’s teeth on edge.

Consider the twisted logic of Trump’s assertion that he has a soft spot for Vladimir Putin, because the Russian president has said he likes him. When she said Putin likes him because he wants a puppet, he snarled “You’re the puppet.”

The all-out effort to repel women culminated when, as Clinton talked about her plan to ensure the solvency of Social Security, he muttered “Such a nasty woman,” He couldn’t resist the T-shirt ready insult because she said “My Social Security payroll contribution will go up, as will Donald’s, assuming he can’t figure out how to get out of it.”

Granted, if the forum in Las Vegas had been a primary debate, Trump would have won it with the Archie Bunker billionaire vote and those women now wearing “Talk Dirty to Me” T-shirts at his rallies. He doesn’t need more of them, nor does the party he’s slapped his brand on. On Thursday morning he said Clinton had been given the debate questions, a ridiculous charge but also an excuse for why she’d done better. She didn’t cheat, but she did win. Trump no doubt thinks he’d be less of a man if he admitted it.

short stick. After the 2010 earthquake, televangelist Pat Robertson blamed the country’s misfortunes on a wives’ tale that colonial Haitians made a “pact with the devil” in 1804 to become “free from the French.” But it’s bad leadership and a poor economy that have bedeviled Haiti.

Natural disasters occurring amid everyday calamities make life on the island a bitter struggle. But only when Haitians are dying by the hundreds does the rest of the world pay attention. The world’s attention span never lasts as long as it should with Haiti. TNS

The Nation

A6 Saturday, October 22, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror

Ramos to Duterte: If you can’t say anything nice, shut up

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By Recto L. Mercene

@rectomercene

HALL we take it or leave it?” former President Fidel V. Ramos asked his readers in a forthcoming column, whether his unsolicited advice for President Duterte should be taken.

Ramos said he made unsolicited advice to President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo during her presidency.

Apparently worried by the many criticisms against the President, whom he had anointed in the May elections, Ramos proceeded to enumerate his advice, taking quotes from Robert Greene’s book, Laws of Power.

He said Mr. Duterte is also affected by congressional bickering, media hype, joblessness, burdensome debt, global economic slowdown and lowered people’s morale.

“Always say less than necessary,” Ramos’s first advice, hitting the nail on the head, since Duterte has a penchant for long-winded talks.

“When you are trying to impress people with words, the more you say, the more common you appear, and the less in control. If you can’t say anything nice, shut up!”

RAMOS

“Win through your actions, never through arguments” was Ramos’s second advice, saying it is much more powerful to get others to agree with you through your actions, without saying a word.

“Demonstrate, do not explicate,” he added.

Ramos tells not to build for

tresses to protect oneself from isolation, which is dangerous. “A fortress seems the safest. But isolation exposes you to more dangers than it protects you from—it cuts you off from valuable information. Ramos’s other tips on the exercise of power: n Keep your hands clean. You must seem a paragon of efficiency and civility. Your hands should never be soiled by mistakes and nasty deeds. n Plan all the way to the end.

The ending is everything. Plan all the way to it, taking into account all possible consequences, obstacles and twists of fortune that might reverse your hard work and give the glory to others. n Despise the free lunch. Probably alluding to the many offers of help by China in building our economy, infrastructure, tourism and trade, among many others.

“What is offered for free is dangerous”—it usually involves either a trick or a hidden obligation. What has worth is worth paying for.”

Ramos, quoting from another author, has this advice not only for the President but for the members of his Cabinet: Know what you are supposed to be doing. n “What is your priority? What’s the end point? What’s the goal?

You’ve got to know what you are supposed to be doing.” n Be proactive, not reactive.

Commuters’ welfare group asks CA to reject Tugade’s appointment

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N umbrella network of road users has urged the Commission on Appointments (CA) to junk the ad interim appointment of Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade.

In separate letters dated October 19 to 1-Cebu Rep. Benhur Salimbangon of Cebu, chairman of the CA’s Committee on Transportation and Communications, and to CA Secretary Hector Villacorta, the Road Users Protection Advocates (Rupa) said the commission must step in and block Tugade’s questionable appointment.

“We would like, therefore, to implore that you apply the mandate of your honorable office that it would ‘ensure that the President must exercise the power to appoint wisely, appointing only those who are fit and qualified,” Rupa Chairman Ray Junia said in his letter.

“We believe that the President failed to appoint wisely when he named Secretary Tugade to the post, because we are convinced the appointee is not fit or qualified,” he added.

Junia recalled how Tugade boasted that he will solve the traffic crisis

within 100 days after his assumption. Tugade even dared President Duterte on national television to fire him if he could not deliver on his promise.

“As we all know, no significant change has happened, except that traffic has turned from worse to worst since [Tugade] assumed his post, and we are now over the 100day self-imposed deadline as of this writing,” Junia said.

Rupa also scored Tugade for coming out with “incredible and fantastic solutions that elicited laughter and sneer from the public and [transportation] experts,” in a bid to wiggle out of his own 100-day ultimatum.

“This is making us think twice about the real state of his mental health,” Junia said.

“Among these incredulous solutions is his reported plan to install cable cars over the length of Laguna de Bay that he said would connect the southern province of Laguna to Metro Manila, an idea he copied from the experience of La Paz, Bolivia. This idea sent experts laughing since, aside from being next to improbable, the project would be costly and would take many years

to construct,” he added.

Junia also criticized Tugade for proposing to transform the Metro Rail Transit Line 2 into a bus rapid transit (BRT), which he described as an idea “that, common sense dictates, is suspect at best.”

Even Sen. Grace Poe, who heads the Senate Committee on Public Services, raised concerns on the planned BRT on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, saying narrow lanes, such as the intersection of Shaw Boulevard, might not be able to handle BRT well, as there will only be a single lane left for private vehicles.

“Also, according to some of our resource persons from the transport sector, the world trend is to move out of the rubber-based road surface vehicles, and yet, we are pursuing this by constructing BRT lines. How exactly can this help in easing traffic? Why not build more railroads and procure more trains?” Poe said.

Junia also questioned Tugade’s plan to transfer the DOTr head office in Pampanga, “apparently to make life easier for him since he still feels he is the anointed savior of the nearby Clark Development Corp.” Butch Fernandez

Senate sets investigation of telcos over storm alerts

By Butch Fernandez @butchfBM

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HE Senate Committee on Public Information and Mass Media is poised to open an inquiry into the reported failure of telecommunication service providers to send out free mobile alerts on the arrival of Typhoon Lawin (international code name Haima).

Sen. Grace Poe, committee chairman, cited Republic Act (RA) 10639, also known as the Free Mobile Disaster Alert law, which requires government authorities concerned to “exhaust all possible means to notify and inform [the people] of impending disasters to prevent injuries, destruction and loss of lives and property.”

Section 4 of RA 10639 specifically provides that, “in the event of impending tropical storm, typhoon, tsunami, or other calamities, mobile telephone-

service providers are mandated to send out alerts at regular intervals as required by the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration, the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology and other relevant agencies.”

The law specified that the alerts shall consist of up-to-date information from the relevant agencies, which “shall be sent directly to the mobile-phone subscribers located near and within the affected areas.”

In filing Senate Resolution 211, authorizing the inquiry in aid of legislation, Poe cited reports that telecom service providers failed to send out mobile alerts to areas earlier identified to be directly affected by Lawin.

She lamented that such failure went against the law’s objective to ensure immediate dissemination of “useful,

timely and relevant information, in order to help our people prepare for natural disasters.”

Poe pointed out that timely mobile alerts create a sense of urgency among telco subscribers, “especially those who will be directly affected” by the oncoming typhoon.

“Given that the Philippines is the fourth-most disaster-prone country in the world, according to a report by the United Nations, it is imperative for the legislature to ensure strict compliance with the law,” said Poe, indicating that lawmakers will consider imposition of stiffer penalties, “if needed.”

“The Filipino people deserve to know who should be accountable for lapsess in the release of mobile alerts on Typhoon Lawin, which could result in lack of preparation for our people who have no access to radio or television but only to mobile-phone services,” she added.

“The greatest advancements were created by innovators—people who imagined things that did not exist, and asked why. If you aren’t proactive, you’ll stagnate.” n Be consistent, if you turn in good work and then one day hand in a pile of rubbish, people are going to think you’ve blown it. People need to know what to expect from you.” n Learn from your mistakes.

We all make mistakes. We couldn’t be wonderfully creative if we didn’t. Once you made your mistake, the important thing to do is to find out the right way to do it next time.” n Cultivate those in the know.

You need to know who the movers and shakers are—and cultivate them. That means charm and politeness, tact and discretion, and gamesmanship. n Know when to let go. “Sometimes, it’s really hard to let go, to know when to stop, when to back off, to walk away whistling—pride intact and dignity in place.” n Keep learning, especially from the opposition. The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn. n Go the extra mile. “This is the easiest rule of all. Going the extra mile should be the first thing on your mind when you wake up in the morning and last thing at night.”

Philippines, China forge agreement on illegal drugs

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HE Philippines and China signed in Beijing on Thursday an agreement that would provide Manila an RMB100-million (almost $15-million) grant from China to help the Duterte administration in implementing projects to strengthen its war on drugs and in the law-enforcement security cooperation between the two countries.

The pact, signed by Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III and Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng, was among the agreements forged by the two countries during President Duterte’s fourday state visit to China.

Dominguez and Gao signed the agreement in the presence of President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People.

The Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation states that, “in accordance with the needs of the government of the Republic of the Philippines, the government of the People’s Republic of China agrees to provide the government of the Philippines with a grant of RMB Yuan 100,000,000 [one hundred million renminbi yuan], which shall be disbursed to implement the projects for anti-illegal drugs and lawenforcement security cooperation.”

It further states that the specific projects covered by the grant “shall be stipulated in the agreements to be signed subsequently between the two sides.”

The pact shall be in force until the day the two governments have fulfilled their obligations under the grant.

China has expressed support for President Duterte’s campaign against the scourge of illegal drugs, despite being the source of most of the illegal drugs sold in the Philippines.

In an earlier press briefing held in Manila, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Geng Shuang said, “Under the leadership of President Duterte, the new Philippine government enacted policies that prioritize combating drug-related crimes. China understands and supports that.” PNA

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Former rebel soldier asks House to review foreign-policy posture

By Jovee Marie N. dela Cruz @joveemarie

A

LAWMAKER who used to be a military rebel has asked the leadership of the House of Representatives to review and assess the foreign-policy posture of the Duterte administration.

In House Resolution 483, Partylist Rep. Gary Alejano of Magdalo said President Duterte exclaimed that his administration will pursue an “independent foreign policy”, and will reject any interference by foreign governments.

Under Article 2, Section 7 of the Constitution, “the State shall pursue an independent foreign policy.

In its relations with other States, the paramount consideration shall be national sovereignty, territorial integrity, national interest and the right to self-determination.”

While admitting that an independent foreign policy is vital in the pursuit of development and the territorial integrity, Alejano, however, said the conflicting statements and sharp comments of President Duterte against the country’s allies and trade partners may have been contributed to the slide of Philippine peso, which sank to its lowest rate after seven years.

“His conflicting statements have also eroded the confidence and trust of investors, as they pulled money from the nation’s assets amid concerns about the President’s policies,” Alejano, of the independent minority bloc, said.

“A clear strategic policy is vital in our relations with members of the international community, as it dictates how we interact with our neighbors, allies, and trading partners,” he added.

On Thursday Mr. Duterte announced during his state visit to China that he had decided to cut military, as well as economic, ties with the United States.

Moreover, Alejano said the number of conflicting statements made by the President and his Cabinet officials tend to put most Filipinos, its officials and even its legislators in the dark as to “where we are heading based on their differing statements

in relations to the Philippines’s foreign policy.”

“It is necessary for members of the House of Representatives to review, assess and clarify the independent foreign-policy posture that the current administration wishes to pursue, so that it can effectively support the President’s initiatives,” the lawmaker said.

Recently, Alejano said President Duterte and Foreign Secretary Perfecto R. Yasay Jr. gave conflicting statements with regard to Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (Edca), wherein the President wanted a review of the defense deal, noting that the agreement did not contain the signature of the Philippine President.

Yasay, however, countered this statement the following day, when he said there is no need to review the Edca for now, as the Supreme Court has upheld its legality.

In August, Alejano added, barely a month after the United Nations arbitration tribunal’s ruling in the maritime dispute favoring the Philippines, Mr. Duterte also said there will be a bloody war if China will insist on trampling the sovereign rights of the Philippines over the West Philippine Sea, but retracted his statement during a meeting with the Chinese ambassador, where he stated that he is willing to temporarily set aside the ruling so as not to endanger the ongoing talks with China.

In September the lawmaker added that Duterte said he wanted United States military forces out of Mindanao, and blamed the Americans for inflaming local Muslim insurgencies, only to be renounced later by members of the Cabinet that the statement was made because the President fears for the safety of the American troops.

“Also last September the President announced that the Armed Forces will neither hold nor be a part of joint patrol activities in the disputed sea, as it may be deemed a hostile act by China, but it was clarified later on by Foreign Secretary Yasay that the joint patrols will continue on the Philippine territorial waters, but not within our exclusive economic zone,” he said.

WORLD’S BEST ONLINE PAYMENTS SOLUTION PayMaya, the

country’s leading payments app, was recognized by the Emerging Payments Association as the world’s best online payments solution for enabling instant access to the digital economy. Accepting the award from Joanne Deaves of IDT Finance during the Ninth Emerging Payments Awards ceremonies held in London is Paolo Azzola, COO and managing director of PayMaya Philippines. Launched commercially in September last year by PayMaya Philippines, the digital financial services unit of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. and Smart Communications, the PayMaya app provides uncarded Filipinos instant access to a virtual-payments card that can be reloaded and used immediately for online shopping. It also comes with a physical card that can be used to swipe for purchases in brick-and-mortar shops.

mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph | sports@businessmirror.com.ph

SPORTS PLUS

Posadas crashes out of qualifiers AFTER a strong performance in the qualifying round, Philippine champion Lara Posadas failed to advance to the women’s quarterfinals by finishing only 10th on Friday in the 52nd QubicaAMF Bowling World Cup international finals in Shanghai, China.

Posadas collected 5,603 pinfalls (200.11 average) after 28 games to end her initial campaign in the prestigious world individual kegfest.

Only eight bowlers, led by Singapore’s Bernice Lim, remained in the race for the title, which will be disputed by four who will advance to the semifinal round.

The other Filipino campaigner, Raoul Miranda, played for a spot in the quarterfinals late Friday. Lim rolled 5,985 (213.75 average) to finish ahead of US’s Danielle McEwan, who carded 5,939 (212.11).

The other quarterfinalists are England’s Lisa John, 5,885 (210.18); Sweden’s Jenny Wegner, 5,854 (209.07); Australia’s Rebecca Whiting, 5,814 (207.64); Germany’s Nadine Geissler, 5,789 (206.75); Mexico’s Iliana Lomeli, 5,781 (206.46); and Malaysia’s Syaidatul Afifah, 5,776 (206.29).

Sharon Limansantoso of Indonesia checked in ninth, 31 pins ahead of Posadas, who advanced to the second round of 24 champions from 69 countries by shooting 4,343 in 20 games to rank eighth.

Rafael Salas Cup up at Aguinaldo THE Forum for Family Planning and Development, led by former President Fidel V. Ramos, will host the Ninth Rafael M. Salas Cup on November 11 at the Camp Aguinaldo Golf Club.

As in the past years, at least 100 golfers are expected to support this year’s tournament that carries the theme “Full Implementation of the Responsible Parenthood and Productive Health [RP RH] Law.” The tournament is open to all amateur golfers for an entry fee of P5,000, which includes a donation to the noble cause, green fee, specialedition Salas golf giveaways, buffet lunch during the awarding ceremony and raffle.

Registration is at 6 a.m. Sequential tee-off is from 6 to 9 am. Ramos will hit the ceremonial tee at 7:30 a.m.

To reserve tournament slots, call Golf Marketing Central at 697-0520, 0917-8400119 or e-mail salasgolfcup@ gmail.com.

Named in his honor, Salas is remembered as a patriot par excellence who dedicated himself to serving his people in various government posts, notably as executive secretary of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

BusinessMirror

Saturday, October 22, 2016 A7

SMASH SHOWDOWN T

OP seed Sarah Joy Barredo continued to dish out top form and dismantled Jochelle Alvarez, 21-13, 21-14, to arrange a semifinal showdown with fellow Philippine Badminton Association (PBA) Smash Pilipinas bet Angelique Ramos in the Open women’s singles of the Bingo Bonanza National Open Badminton Tournament at the CW Home Depot Ortigas in Pasig City on Friday.

Barredo unloaded smashes and complemented her solid attacking game with superb defense to ease out Alvarez in 30 minutes and move two wins from retaining the crown she won over Nicole Albo in last year’s staging of the annual top-ranking tournament sponsored by Bingo Bonanza.

But she expects a tougher challenge from Ramos, who dominated fourth seed Charmane Salvador, 21-9, 21-7, in the Last 16 then held off Mika Aquino, 21-16, 21-15, to seal a duel with Barredo.

But focus will be on the other two semifinalists in the lower half of the draw as University of the Philippines’s (UP) Malvinne

Alcala and Bianca Carlos of Ateneo sustained their hot charge to force an interesting duel for the other finals slot in the P1.5-million championship backed by official equipment Victor Pcome and SM Megamall, Smash Pilipinas and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

Alcala, who used to dominate local badminton in her junior years, booted out second seed Mariya Sevilla, 21-11, 19-21, 21-6, in the Last 16 late Thursday, then routed Jellene de Vera, 21-10, 21-12, to set up a Final Four duel with Carlos.

Not to be outdone, Carlos, a former national champion, also upended third seed Albo, 21-16, 21-10, in the second round then toppled Golden Shuttle Foundation’s Mikaela Joy de Guzman, 21-19, 21-10, in the quarters.

That should make today’s matches worth watching as action shifts to SM Megamall for the semifinals and the finals on Sunday, which also features topnotch matches in the men’s singles, the men’s and women’s doubles and the mixed doubles.

Rod Pedrosa of PBA Smash survived a fierce

challenge from Alem Palmares, rebounding from an opening-set loss and wearing down his tough National University rival to eke out a 17-21, 21-18, 21-19 win, to clinch the first semis seat in the men’s singles of the event sanctioned by the Philippine Badminton Association, headed by President Jejomar C. Binay and Secretary-General Rep. Albee Benitez.

Others disputing the three other Final Four seats are top seed Kevin Cudiamat versus Clarence Filart, Orlan Ticala against Solomon Padiz Jr., and R-Jay Ormilla versus Freel Gabuelo.

Hanz Bernardo and Channelle Lunod of Amahit Badminton shocked top seed Alvin Morada and Alyssa Leonardo of PBA Smash, 17-21, 21-18, 21-19, to advance to the semis of the mixed doubles against Ronel Estanislao and Keshya Hanadia of Indonesia, who beat Paul Vivas and Thea Pomar, 21-19, 21-15.

Melvin Llanes and Eleanor Inlayo of UP took the third semis seat with a 21-13, 2119 victory over Nestor Tapales and Alyssa Geverjuan.

ROS PEDROSA completes a come-from-behind three-set win for a berth in the men’s singles semifinals.

NASH’S NOT TALKING beating Final Four contenders Adamson University and Ateneo.

The Fighting Maroons are currently tied with the Growling Tigers with a 3-7 record and Head Coach Bo Perasol remained positive, especially after their brave effort against the 10-0 Green Archers.

“I think my boys stood their ground against a formidable team. If we can face De La Salle that way, I think we can face any team,” he said.

The Soaring Falcons, meanwhile, will try to get back in the chase for a Final Four slot as they seek an important win against their first-round tormentors.

Franz Pumaren’s Falcons are currently fourth with a 4-5 record, while Derrick Pumaren’s Red Warriors are at the bottom with a 2-7 mark.

The Red Warriors’

Mindanao elims for hoopfest on TOP teams in Mindanao are now gearing up for the regional finals of the Small Basketeers of the Philippines (SBP)Passerelle Twin Tournament, the longestrunning national interschool basketball competition for children in the country, set on Saturday and Sunday at the Almendras Gym in Davao City.

Competing in the SBP tournament are Xavier University, Ferndale International School and Ateneo de Davao, while the battle for the Passerelle tournament will be among Holy Child School of Davao, Corpus Christi School and Southern City College.

The winner for each tournament will join National Capital Region champions La Salle Greenhills for the SBP tournament and Adamson University for the Passerelle tournament in the national finals in Bacolod City in December.

Other regional playoffs will be held on November 5 and 6 in Baguio City for Luzon and November 19 and 20 in Roxas City for the Visayas.

Sponsored by Milo with the support of Chris Sports and Rain or Shine, the SBPPasserelle Twin Tournament is organized by multiawarded school for basketball and volleyball Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training Center.

Sports

first win was against the Soaring Falcons, 64-57, but they played poorly in their 61-75 loss to Ateneo de Manila that put their Final Four chances in the balance.

The elder Pumaren admitted their fate is no longer in their hands and they just need to win as many games as possible to give themselves a shot for a playoff for the No. 4 spot.

Standings: La Salle 10-0; FEU 7-2; Ateneo 5-4; Adamson 4-5; NU 4-6; UP 3-7; UST 3-7; UE 2-7. Joel Orellana

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Green Archers end Tigers’ reign in UAAP poomsae

E LA SALLE ended University of Santo Tomas’s (UST) reign by winning its first poomsae crown in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 79 taekwondo tournament on Friday at the Blue Eagle Gym. The Green Archers claimed the crown that eluded in the first three editions by hauling two gold, two silver and one bronze medals.

“In the very beginning, we always have the problem with the number of players. We are fortunate that this season, we are able to get quality players,” De La Salle Coach JP Sabido said.

Also winning two gold medals, the Tigresses could only settle for second place as the Españabased squad could only muster two bronze medals to fall short on their bid for a third title.

Rinna Babanto opened De La Salle’s onslaught by winning the gold in the women’s individual with a score of 8.43, defeating Far Eastern University’s Charisse Jasmin (8.06) and University of the Philippines’S Patricia Jubelag (7.96).

The Green Archers’ other gold came from the mixed pair of Raphael Mella and Angelica Gaw (8.66), that beat the Fighting Maroons’ Dustin Mella and Janna Oliva (8.59) and Growling Tigers’ Jerel Dalida and Jocel Ninobla (8.53).

Babanto, Gaw and Hernandez captured the silver medal for De La Salle in the women’s team event with a score of 8.54. Mella, Mcavyngr Alob and Benjamin Sembrano also bagged the silver in the men’s team category with 8.41.

Alob gave the Archers the lone bronze in the men’s individual with 8.27.

RACELA

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ASH RACELA’S reported transfer to TNT Katropa in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) won’t distract Far Eastern University’s (FEU) campaign in Season 79 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

In fact, FEU Athletics Director Mark Molina said the school is in no hurry to look for Racela’s replacement as their focus is to defend their crown.

“We will discuss that matter after this season,” said Molina, when asked to confirm a report that Racela will join the Katropa in the PBA’s coming season set to start on November 20.

FEU is on a roll, winning its last six games to strengthen its hold of the No. 2 spot with a 7-2 win-loss record. The Tamaraws eye their seventh straight win against a confident University of the Philippines (UP) side in Saturday’s opening game at 2 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Pumaren brothers, Derrick and Franz, face off anew as University of the East (UE) and Adamson University clash at 4 p.m.

Racela has yet to comment on his appointment at TNT Katropa, fending off questions related to the issue after the Tamaraws’ 59-48 victory over University of Santo Tomas in their last game.

“At this stage of the tournament, we should be concerned about our improvement as a team,” Racela said.

The Tamaraws will be facing a dangerous UP side which, despite its 72-78 loss to unbeatean De La Salle, has spread fear after

CUBS LEAD

Starter Jon Lester pitches seven sharp innings, as the Chicago Cubs move within one win of their first trip to the World Series in 71 years with an 8-4 victory against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday— taking a 3-2 lead in the National League Championship Series. The Cubs will host Game Six on Saturday and Game Seven if required. AP

CHAMPS

The Los Angeles Sparks’ Nneka Ogwumike (left) blocks Chicago Sky’s Erika de Souza in a Women’s National Basketball Association Finals action. Ogwumike’s short jumper with 3.1 seconds left gave the Sparks a 77-76 victory on Thursday for their first title in 14 years. AP

Austria to hoist Baby Dalupan trophy

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EO AUSTRIA joins a distinguished list of champion coaches, while Rain or Shine coowners Raymund Yu and Terry Que get a well-deserved recognition from the Philippine Basketball Association Press Corps (PBAPC) when it holds its Annual Awards Night on Saturday at Gloria Maris restaurant at the Gateway Mall at the Araneta Center.

For the second straight season, Austria will hoist the Virgilio “Baby” Dalupan Coach of the Year trophy, following a season that saw him steer San Miguel Beer to one of the most amazing comeback in league history by overcoming a 0-3 finals deficit to Alaska to win the Philippine Cup. Yu and Que, on the other hand, will be honored with the Danny Floro Executive of the Year award for maintaining their team’s

tradition as a top contender. The Elasto Painters won the Commissioner’s Cup behind a hardworking core that stunned the league’s elite squads.

The 7 p.m. affair presented by Cignal will be hosted by Rizza Diaz and Quintin Pastrana.

Incoming league chairman, Rep. Mikee Romero, of GlobalPort, is the special guest of honor.

A special tribute will also be given by the PBAPC to the family and loved ones of Dalupan, the late great coaching guru known as “The Maestro”. The Coach of the Year award has been named in his honor since the affair began in 1993.

Austria becomes the first man to win the award for two straight seasons since Chot Reyes in 2002 and 2003. The other coach who made it backto-back was Perry Ronquillo in 1998 and 1999.

Ladies Challenge draws Thai bets

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HREE Thailand shotmakers, headed by regular campaigner Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang, have confirmed participation in the International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Royal Northwoods Ladies Challenge, firming up the field vying in the event firing off on Tuesday at the Royal Northwoods Golf Club in San Rafael, Bulacan.

Although Pattaranakrueang remains winless in six tournaments the last two years here, she looms as the marked player in the 54-hole championship marking the resumption of the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour (LPGT) after a monthlong break.

Joining Pattaranakrueang, who placed sixth at the LPGT Eagle Ridge Invitational won by Filipino-Japanese amateur Yuka Saso in May, are Jaruporn Palakawongnaayuttawa and Sarauttaya Nga-usawan, who have also competed in the country’s first-ever ladies tour sponsored by ICTSI. Also signing up for the event is first-time Jessica Lydia of Indonesia.

They will be up against a compact local field, headed by leg winners Sarah Ababa, Jayvie Agojo and Chihiro Ikeda, winner of this year’s LPGT Orchard leg of the circuit organized

by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Filipino-American Cristina Corpus, who scored a breakthrough at Luisita last year, beating three Thai players, is also in the fold along with Apple Fudolin, Anya Tanpinco and Lovelyn Guioguio.

Meanwhile, brand-new pro Princess Superal, who has won four LPGT crowns as an amateur and swept her first two pro events at Sherwood and Eastridge last month, remains a doubtful entry as she is currently competing in the Ladies Professional Golf Association Qualifying School Stage II in Florida.

But a host of amateurs are also expected to compete next week, including former champion Hwang Min-jeong of South Korea, all seeking to match Bernice Olivarez-Ilas, Yusa Saso and Harmie Constantino’s feats at Beverly Place, Eagle Ridge and Mount Malarayat legs midway in the season of the tour backed by Custom Clubmakers, adidas, KZG, Sharp, Summit Mineral Water, Srixon, Champion, TaylorMade, Ping, Yamaha and Pacsports.

Sports BusinessMirror

PHILIPPINE Superliga-F2 Logistics Manila’s Jaja Santiago is a power at the net against Pomi Casalmaggiore’s Lucia Bosetti (left) and Jovana Stevanovic, as the host club’s Japanese import Yuri Fukuda dives to save the ball in another play. ALYSA SALEN

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HILIPPINE Superliga (PSL)-F2 Logistics Manila absorbed a second straight loss and crashed out of the 2016 International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Women’s Club World Championship.

The locals yielded to Pomi Casalmaggiore, 19-25, 1525, 21-25—but not without a fight—on Thursday night at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, a loss that was expected of a team that had three weeks to prepare for a world-level competition and a roster that has a measly international exposure.

Bannered by seven Filipinos and reinforced by as many foreigners, the home club hardly had any chance against the European champions, who, like the girls from the Rexona-Sesc Rio side, tutored PSL-F2 Logistics Manila on world-class volleyball.

“We faced Europe’s first team. They’re champions,” PSL-F2 Logistics Manila’s Serbian Head Coach Moro Branislav said. “I liked the first set, which we ruled for some parts, and we played better in the last set.”

With the loss, PSL-F2 Logistics Manila was relegated to the classification phase for fifth to eighth places, facing Pool B thirdplacer Hisamitsu Springs Kobe on Saturday. The local side closed out its preliminary round assignment against defending champion Eczacibasi VitrA Istanbul on Friday evening.

PSL-F2 Logistics Manila mounted a rally to cut a 4-14 deficit and give the Italian club a scare behind Jaja Santiago’s power

aturday, October 22, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

CUSTOMS VS POCARI

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NOT WITHOUT A FIGHT plays,18-21. But Valentina Tirozzi and Lucia Bosetti held fort for Pomi Casalmaggiore and finished out the frame to set the tone for the rout.

The hosts were blown away in the second set but played inspired in the third, taking an 18-13 advantage to again push their opponents to the net worried. But that was another gallant stand that got toppled by the Italian side’s composed and more skilled players.

Branislav praised his wards for showing better chemistry as the tournament got older, but continued to lament the team’s lack of preparation for a world-level competition.

“The 25-day preparation of the team has yielded some positive results despite it being short. We now see a better relationship among the players and the coaching staff has responded well. This is a good experience,” he said.

Team captain Rachel Anne Daquis only played in the third set and had just one point. She concurred with her coach, saying that their chemistry has

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improved and 6-foot-5 middle blocker Jaja Santiago and setter Kim Fajardo continued to play their roles for the team.

“Even if we lost, we are are still happy because Jaja [Santiago] played a great game, as well as Kim [Fajardo],” Daquis said.

Santiago shone the brightest for PSL-F2 Logistics Manila, finishing with 11 points.

“It’s overwhelming to score over tall blockers and Pomi is really a strong team,” Santiago said. “I’m happy because we were able to put up a good fight, especially in the third set.”

Fajardo was as impressive that she earned the attention of Pomi Casalmaggiore Head Coach Giovanni Caprara.

“I like the setter a lot because she’s incredibly quick and she has a lot of fantastic plays, and it’s very difficult to counter that,” Caprara said.

Fajardo refused to be flattered and vowed to play more inspired.

“It’s just a bonus for me [praises from the opponent’s coach] because

that’s not my aim. All I want is to show everyone that Filipinos could play at the world level,” the 23-year-old out of De La Salle said. “We have to show the world that we can play, despite being short.”

Volero Zurich, meanwhile, swept Pool B sweep after upsetting powerhouse VakifBank Istanbul, 25-22, 27-25, 16-25, 12-15, 16-14, also on Thursday evening.

The Swiss club, which clinched the bronze medal last year, faces the No. 2 seed from Pool A, Pomi Casalmaggiore, in the knockout semifinals on Saturday. Lance Agcaoili

UREAU of Customs and Pocari Sweat clash in a duel of fancied bets on Saturday with the Transformers seeking at least a playoff for the last semifinal berth and the Lady Warriors out to step up their own Final Four drive in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig.

The match, set at 6 p.m., will be Alyssa Valdez’s first against Michelle Gumabao and company since the Lady Warriors eased out the former’s BaliPure squad in the semifinals of the Open Conference.

Pocari Sweat won the crown on its very first try, with the Lady Warriors all primed up for a crack at another championship in the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

But they’ll be taking a fired-up Valdez and her new team Customs, guaranteeing a fierce, no-holds-barred encounter between two squads, which also boast of talented pair of reinforcements.

The match will be aired live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 17 or 23 and via streaming on www.sports.abs-cbn.com and via streaming on www.v-league.ph.

Valdez, the league’s leading scorer with 92 hits in four games, has the Thai tandem of Kanjana Kuthaisong and setter Natthanicha Jaisaen to lean on and a solid local crew led

by Rose Marie Vargas, Lilet Mabbayad, Rizza Mandapat and Pau Soriano.

The Transformers ended the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses’ four-game run with a 25-17, 26-24, 25-21 romp last week for a 3-1 card and a win away from assuring themselves of a playoff for the last semifinals seat.

Pocari Sweat, on the other hand, totes a 2-1 record to be in joint third with another title contender BaliPure with the Lady Warriors also hoping to ride the momentum of their back-to-back wins over the Coast Guard and University of the Philippines (UP) sides after dropping their opening game to the Air Force Jet Spikers.

“The players have started to get the feel of each other and we hope we’ll get better each game,” said Pocari Coach Rommel Abella, who will again be leaning on their American imports Breanna Mackie and Kay Kacsits.

BaliPure, meanwhile, likewise seeks to bolster its own semifinals bid as it collides with a resurgent UP at 4 p.m., to be shown on a delayed basis, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Army and Champion Supra, on the other hand, mix it up at 12:30 p.m. in the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Third Conference encounter.