SENATE O.K. OF RICE TARIFFS IN SEPT By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
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HE head of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food vowed that the upper chamber will pass the rice tariffication bill within the month after the Economic Development Cluster’s (EDC) recommended fast-tracking the measure as one of the nonmonetary inflation busters. The rice tariffication bill, which would convert the country’s quantitative restriction (QR) on rice into tariffs, is seen by the EDC as crucial in arresting the accelerating inflation and rising prices of the staple. The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) last week reported a 6.4-percent inflation in August, beating all
THE Manila International Airport Authority (Miaa) on Monday opened its two new rapid-exit taxiways (RETs) at the main runway of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). With this new addition, the Naia now has four high-speed exits that commercial airlines can use. Inaugurating the RETs are Transportation Undersecretary Antonio Tamayo (from left), Miaa General Manager Ed Monreal, Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea and Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade. The new RETs are expected to shorten aircraft-spacing requirements for air traffic control and improve runway-occupancy time. NONIE REYES
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estimates. All rice varieties also posted double-digit price increases during the month. “Yes. We will try hard,” Sen. Cynthia A. Villar, committee chairman, told reporters, when asked if senators can pass the bill within the month. She spoke to journalists after the budget hearing of the Department of Agriculture (DA) on Monday. Villar said her committee has already released its report on the rice tariffication bill, and the measure is already on the Senate floor. The House of Representatives passed last month on third reading its version of the rice tariffication bill.
tariffication bill includes a provision that would remove the regulatory powers of the National Food Authority (NFA) in relation to imports, particularly its licensing role. “The things that I will only defend on the floor are the rice tariffication and the rice competitiveness enhancement fund,” she said. Villar said she would seek a clarification with the Department of Finance (DOF) regarding the removal of the licensing power of the NFA in relation to the tariffication of rice imports. “From my understanding, when I talked to the DOF, once we pass the rice tariffication [bill], then our rice importation will be liberalized,” she said.
NFA powers
HOWEVER, Villar did not say whether her version of the rice
See “Rice tariffs,” A8
BusinessMirror A broader look at today’s business
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018 Vol. 13 No. 332
House OKs ‘Trabaho’ bill on 3rd, final reading
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By Cai U. Ordinario
@cuo_bm
HE House of Representatives (HOR) approved on third and final reading on Monday House Bill 8083, or the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-quality Opportunities or “Trabaho” bill. See “Trabaho,” A2
PESO IN PAIN R
ISING oil prices and inflation rates are among the factors that further pushed the country’s legal tender to its weakest on Monday. The Philippine peso closed at 53.88 per dollar on September 10 after hitting 53.73 per dollar on brisk trade last Friday, data from the Bankers Association of the Philippines showed. See related story, “Franklin, Neuberger see more pain for weak peso,” on page B3.
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& Butch Fernandez
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HE proposed airport modernization of the country’s three gateways will not be realized until after two years, at least with respect to the Ninoy Aquino International A ir port (Naia) and Clark International Airport (CIA). However, the P700-billion Bulacan Airport proposed by Ramon S. Ang, head of the conglomerate San Miguel Corp., remains in limbo due to certain constraints, even as Ang and company met with transportation officials recently on, among others, the “joint and solidary commitments” of the entities bankrolling the huge project. One of the constraints arising at the Senate hearing is the objection of Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, who wants San Miguel Holdings to agree to a “joint liability agreement” with its parent company, San Miguel Corp. Dominguez wants to know why San Miguel Holdings’s equity is only P60 billion when the Bulacan Airport project’s total cost is estimated at more than P700 billion. With a 70/30 arrangement, San Miguel’s equity should amount to about P200 billion, according to Transportation Undersecretary Ruben S. Reynoso Jr. Dominguez’s other concern, which he voiced during a Senate Hearing presided over by Public Services Committee Chief Sen. Grace Poe, is that he wants to protect the country’s investments of $40 billion in Clark. He added
that the potential economic benefits of Clark’s 35,000-hectare area, which is owned by the government, would also be under threat. With the Bulacan Airport only 65 kilometers away, these economic potentials are threatened, Dominguez said, by, among others, the possibility that the Bulacan airport’s traffic pattern would overlap Clark’s. However, DOTr Secretary Arthur P. Tugade disagreed with Dominguez, pointing out the crying need for more airports with the main gateway the Naia already overfilled to capacity at 42 million passengers yearly. He said Clark International Airport has only a maximum capacity of 8 million yearly passengers, and the combined total with the Naia is 50 million people. Reynoso said the Naia could be hosting 65 million passengers yearly if it did not have constraints, such as being limited to only 40 landings and takeoffs per hour. He said that, once upgraded, the Naia’s 40 events per hour could increase to 52 events per hour.
Consortium vs GMR Megawide
WITHOUT these improvements that GMR Megawide consortium promises to accomplish, the country’s main gateway is losing the income potential from handling15 million more passengers a year. Reynoso said if Megawide is given the go-ahead to proceed with the upgrading and modernization of the Naia, “it would be able to attain 48 million passengers a year after two years and 65 million passengers in another two years.”
No reason to panic Manny B. Villar
THE ENTREPRENEUR
W
E need to take a breather from all the anxieties that tend to worry some economists and which speculators exploit to sow panic in the market. While the inflation rate climbed to a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in August 2018, it was not the first time prices rose as fast. I can remember that in the 1980s,the inflation rate was hovering in the double digits. Continued on A6
June FDI post net inflows of $831M By Rea Cu
F TRANSPORTATION Secretary Arthur P. Tugade (center) answers questions during the second Senate hearing on the Xiamen Air incident on Monday. During the hearing, senators also quizzed Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III (left) on the financial viability of planned airport expansions and new airports. At right is Manila International Airport Authority General Manager Ed Monreal. ALYSA SALEN
Industry leaders flag risk from substandard steel By Elijah Felice E. Rosales @alyasjah
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TEEL-INDUSTRY leaders have brought to lawmakers their concern about the proliferation of substandard steel in the market that might put some infrastructure at risk. Roberto M. Cola, president of the Philippine Iron and Steel Institute (Pisi), said low-quality steel is
Our main concern arising...is that Asean is becoming a dumping ground for these obsolete and outdated machinery and equipment, which, because of their inherent technology limitations and constraints, could adversely impact the orderly development of the iron and steel industry in the region.”—Asean Iron and Steel Council still widespread in the market. In a recent Senate hearing, he told lawmakers to ban the use of induction furnaces for rebar steelmaking, which was already declared illegal in China last year.
“The problem of substandard rebars is driven by economic gain from the market that is not very conscious of produc t qualit y and safety. See “Steel,” A2
@ReaCuBM
OREIGN direct investments (FDI) posted net inf lows of $831 million in June 2018, increasing by 9.2 percent from the $761 million recorded in the same month last year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has reported. The Central Bank traced the rise in FDI net inflows largely to nonresidents’ net equity capital investments of $184 million during the month, a turnaround from the $67-million net withdrawals in June 2017. “The improvement in net equity capital investments was due to the 83.6-percent expansion in gross placements of equity capital to $208 million, which more than offset withdrawals of $24 million. Equity capital placements came mostly from Singapore, Luxembourg, Japan, the United States and the Netherlands,” the BSP said. It said equity capital placements were invested mostly in manufacturing; electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply; real estate; financial and insurance; and wholesale and retail trade activities.
See “Airports,” A2
PESO EXCHANGE RATES n US 53.8310
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P25.00 nationwide | 4 sections 20 pages | 7 DAYS A WEEK
PHL needs more airports, but officials grapple with timing, viability concerns By Recto Mercene
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n JAPAN 0.4851 n UK 69.6196 n HK 6.8582 n CHINA 7.8594 n SINGAPORE 39.0561 n AUSTRALIA 38.2308 n EU 62.1802 n SAUDI ARABIA 14.3526
See “FDI,” A2
Source: BSP (10 September 2018 )
News
BusinessMirror
A2 Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Read his lips: No additional sugar importation–not yet
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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas
@jearcalas
GRICULTURE Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol on Monday said there will be no additional sugar importations, as the current supply situation does not warrant it. Piñol clarified that the country will not import additional volume given the recent pronouncement of the Economic Development Cluster (EDC) that opening importation of sugar to direct users is being considered as a measure to immediately address the runaway inflation. Piñol explained what the EDC’s proposal meant: the government would only review how the importation of sugar is conducted. “We are not importing. There are no additional imports. We will only allow importation if there is a perceived shortage, but this time
Airports. . .
Continued from A1
In March the Filipino-Indian group bidding to upgrade the Naia for P350 billion was alarmed over the move of a “super consortium” of seven of the Philippines’s largest conglomerates to “tweak” the unsolicited proposal it submitted to the government. In a statement, GMR-Megawide criticized the Naia Consortium for allegedly “changing cornerstones” of their proposal. “If it is the intent of the Naia Consortium to tweak their proposal, it should be properly revised and resubmitted to the government. It also follows that this resubmitted proposal should be evaluated after the GMR Megawide proposal,” it said in a statement.
Bulacan airport ON the other hand, once the Bulacan Airport becomes operational decades from now, it would be able to process 100 million passengers a year, with four parallel runways, Reynoso said. He said once the proponent San Miguel is given the notice of award in Bulacan, it will be subjected to a Swiss challenge. “If their offer is not matched by the challenger, the proponent will be given the notice to proceed.” The DOTr will “review, then call for the next round of negotiations to discuss whether or not their offer is acceptable, and they will have 180 days to prepare.” Reynoso said they want to accelerate the Bulacan project, especially after the August 16 incident, when a Xiamen Airways plane, struggling to land during heavy rains, overshot the runway 24 at Naia, and got stuck in muddy land, forcing the airport’s closure for 36 hours. The Bulacan project proponent said
FDI. . .
Continued from A1
Nonresidents’ investments in debt instruments issued by their local affiliates amounted to $569 million, 24.6 percent lower than the $756 million recorded in June last year, while reinvestment of earnings increased by 7.1 percent to $77 million during the month. “On a cumulative basis, FDI registered net inflows of $5.8 billion for the first semester of 2018, an increase of 42.4 percent from $4 billion last year. The continued inflows of FDI indicate investor confidence in the Philippine economy on the back of strong macroeconomic fundamentals and growth prospects,” the BSP added.
around, we would change the system of importation,” he told reporters in an interview at the Senate on September 10. “There will be no additional importation as of the moment,” he added. The agriculture chief said they will review the current sugar importation system wherein volume allocations are given to farmers through certificate of reclassification rights (CORR). The current importation system, according to Piñol, does not “contribute in bringing the prices down.” Piñol said they are tinkering they will sit down with their lawyers and financiers and submit a revised concession agreement this week. Reynoso said,“As soon as we receive that, we will review the documents, the terms of the Swiss challenge, the revised allocation matrix and then of course secure from them the joint and several liability agreement.” San Miguel, he added, would be given 18 months “to borrow the remaining 70 percent of the equity, but during that time, they can already advance the 10 percent to start construction.” He added that, by next year, they hope to get a clearer picture of their project. Nonetheless, Reynoso remains positive about the capability of the proponent, giving as example their Metro Rail Transit 7 project. “As soon as possible, they were able to secure final approval from the government, and without waiting for the final clause, they already started [construction of MRT 7].”
Problematic Sangley ON the other hand, he said the Sangley Airport proposal, being backed by the government of Cavite, also has many issues to contend with, one of them its being only 15 kilometers away from the Naia. “Their proposed reclamation on Manila Bay would impact on the wetland preserve of Las Piñas and Parañaque, which is home to migratory birds,” Reynoso pointed out.
‘The more, the merrier’? POE, interviewed after presiding over Monday’s second hearing of the Senate Public Services Committee on the Xiamen airline, signaled support to fast-track operations of additional airports to facilitate passengers’ arrival and departures.
FDI is the type of investment that is often more coveted, as it stays longer in the economy and creates job opportunities for locals. It is also not easily pulled out of the market unlike its shorter-term counterpart, the foreign portfolio investments. In June this year, the Central Bank revised the Philippines’s FDI projection upward to $9.2 billion by the end of the year, from the $8.2-billion projection earlier.
Sovereigns safe MEANWHILE, the Moody’s Investors Service published a Sector In-Depth report, pointing out that the credit quality of global sovereigns shows limited vulnerability to the exposure of nonfinancial companies to higher borrowing costs.
“We are not importing. There are no additional imports. We will only allow importation if there is a perceived shortage, but this time around, we would change the system of importation.”—Piñol
with the possibility of having the sugar users directly importing the sugar, without having to purchase rights from local producers. The DA will hold a dialogue with the sugar industry stakeholders to discuss the proposed revision, according to him. “[The current system where] the SRA [Sugar Regulatory Administration] gives import certificates to farmer groups which they will sell afterward to traders, and then to [sugar] users, does not contribute in bringing the prices down,” he said. “The option is just to deal directly with end-users,” he added. Nonetheless, the government is not abandoning the sugar farmers Poe pointed out, for instance, the proposed Bulacan international airport is expected to accommodate additional passengers and reduce crowding in existing terminals, but she quickly added: “This is no assurance there will be no flight delays, but at least it will be orderly.” The senator indicated, however, the committee is also keen to ensure that government’s airport projects “should be viable.” “Do we need another airport in Bulacan?” Poe asked Tugade, who replied, “the more the merrier.” Tugade reported to Poe’s committee that, “subject to risk assessment,” the Department of Transportation, the National Economic Development Authority and the Department of Finance met with proponents of the project led by Ang, Chief Executive Officer of Top Frontier Investment Holdings Inc. and largest shareholder of San Miguel Corp. Tugade said their meeting with the Bulacan airport proponent last Thursday tackled “the matrix, as well as joint and solidary commitments.” This developed as Dominguez also informed the committee that the government is also keen to maximize public benefit from government assets at the former US Clark Airbase in Pampanga. “We would like Clark to be able to lease land because there is an airport nearby,” Dominguez told Poe’s committee, even as the panel was also informed that Clark’s value “will diminish” once the proposed San Miguel airport in Bulacan starts operations. But even if Clark is fully utilized, Poe’s panel was informed “there is still a need for another airport.” This prompted Poe to require airport project proponents to “submit timelines” to the committee at its next hearing.
In the report, titled “Sovereigns - Global: Risk to government credit quality from rise in corporate debt vulnerability is limited,” Moody’s said corporate leverage has surged in the last 10 years, as companies globally took advantage of low borrowing costs. As financing conditions tighten, financial stress in parts of the corporate sector has the potential to weigh on sovereign credit quality. “However, in general, we find that economic, fiscal, capital and external buffers limit risks to sovereign creditworthiness,” the report said. Based on a Nomura Global Markets Research, its early warning indicator of exchange-rate crisis called the “Damocles” reported that seven countries are currently at risk of exchange-rate crises with scores over 100, namely: Sri
as the tariffs collected from future sugar imports will be pooled and will be earmarked to the industry, according to Piñol. “We will come up with a fund like the RCEF [Rice Competitiveness Enhancement Fund] which would go directly to the sugar farmers,” he said. Earlier, stakeholders from the sugar industry and a member of the SRA board said the government must conduct proper consultations with those in the sector prior to allowing more sugar imports. “The stakeholders will have to be consulted on sensitive issues such as the one at bar,” SRA Board Member Roland Beltran told the BusinessMirror. “We need to strike a balance and ensure that prices of sugar will remain reasonably profitable to producers and fair to consumers. We cannot just turn our backs on the 61,761 small sugarcane farmers who are cultivating farms of 5 hectares or less,” Beltran added. In June the SRA allowed the importation of 200,000 MT of sugar this year to arrest the high retail prices of the sweetener in the market.
Steel. . .
Continued from A1
These are the small contractors and homeowners who are more concerned with the price and cost savings rather than quality and safety,” Cola argued. He said steelmakers making use of induction furnaces continue to proliferate in provinces, such as Pampanga, Davao City and Bukidnon. The Asean Iron and Steel Council (AISC) had earlier called on their respective governments to act on the dumping of the steelmaking machinery from China to Southeast Asian countries, particularly Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines. “Our main concern arising from this development is that Asean is becoming a dumping ground for these obsolete and outdated machinery and equipment, which, because of their inherent technology limitations and constraints, could adversely impact the orderly development of the iron and steel industry in the region,” the AISC previously raised in a statement. According to the group, induction furnaces are proven to produce substandard steel that could pose safety hazard as construction materials. It is also found to consume high energy and, therefore, is dangerous to the environment. During the Senate hearing, Cola put forward to lawmakers measures to stop the proliferation of substandard steel. One plan of action is to mandate the Department of Trade and Industry’s Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau to conduct nationwide market monitoring and standards-enforcement campaign. He also called on the Bureau of Product Standards to hold a nationwide information and education campaign on rebar standard and safety. Last, Cola said the government has to implement a more stringent inspection, sampling and testing procedure for imported rebars.
Lanka, South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Ukraine. The report also pointed out that eight countries, including Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Peru, the Philippines, Russia and Thailand, have Damocles scores of zero, meaning that the instrument does not see crises emerging for these countries. “ The current account balance shifted from a surplus to a deficit in 2016 [for the Philippines]. However, the deficit is small and is largely driven by a surge in infrastructure-related spending that will help unlock the economy’s full growth potential,” the Nomura report said. The Damocles summarizes macroeconomic and financial variables into a single measure to assess an economy’s vulnerability to a currency crisis.
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OIL PRICES RISE FOR 5TH WEEK
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RICES of petroleum products are on the rise again for the fifth consecutive week. Oil firms announced on Monday a price hike in gasoline, diesel and kerosene. PTT Philippines, Total Philippines, Phoenix Petroleum said they will increase the price of gasoline by P0.65 per liter and diesel also by P0.65 per liter. Seaoil Philippines and Pilipinas Shell will also implement the same price adjustment. It added that kerosene price will be sold at P0.65 per liter higher. The price hike will take effect 6 a.m. of Tuesday, September 11. Since the start of the year, the
Trabaho. . .
Continued from A1
At least 187 House members voted in favor of the second tranche of the Duterte administration’s taxreform series, while 14 other representatives voted against the bill. Three congressmen, meanwhile, chose to abstain from the vote. The three who abstained from the vote are Teddy Brawner Baguilat Jr. of the Lone District of Ifugao; Arnolfo A. Teves Jr. of the Third District of Negros Oriental; and Manuel F. Zubiri of the Third District of Bukidnon. Of the 14 who voted against the bill, nine representatives explained their votes: Gabriel H. Bordado Jr. of the Third District of Camarines Norte; Arlene D. Brosas of Gabriela Party-list; Ariel B. Casilao of Anakpawis Party-list; France L. Castro of ACT Teachers Party-list; and Sarah Jane I. Ilago of Kabataan Party-list. The objectors also included Edcel C. Lagman of the First District of Albay; Romero Quimbo of the Second District of Marikina City; Tom S. Villarin of Akbayan partylist; and Carlos Isagani T. Zarate of Bayan Muna party-list.
80 individual amendments
THE approved 102-page bill contained changes based on 80 individual amendments made after the HOR’s second reading of the bill. The new version of the bill provided that, for registered enterprises within the premises of economic zones and free ports, tax remittances will be 15 percent between 2019 and 2020; 14 percent in 2021 and 2022; 13 percent in 2023 and 2024; 12 percent in 2025 and 2026; 11 percent in 2027 and 2028; and 10 percent in 2029 and thereafter. This is accompanied by tax remittances worth 1.5 percent to the treasurer’s office of the province where the enterprise is, in lieu of the local business tax; and 1.5 percent to the treasurer’s office of the municipality or component city where the enterprise is, in lieu of business taxes. If a business is in a highly urbanized city or independent component city, this 3-percent share of the LGU shall be directly remitted to the Treasurer’s office of the HUC or ICC.
VAT exemptions
THE new version also provided that firms whose export sales are below the 90-percent threshold and are
NKTI. . .
Continued from A8
However, in the Philippines, it now stands at 15 percent. In NKTI alone, a total of 364 leptospirosis cases have been recorded since June 2018—55 of them died. “We’ve been studying it through the years ,and we have changed our protocol,” said Dr. Danguilan. “We’ve been able to lower the mortality. Where before, it was about 25 percent to 30 percent, it’s now down to about 15 percent.” While scientific literature and studies reveal that there have been five to six patients treated with the Ecmo machine worldwide, there are already four Filipinos who have successfully survived through this innovation. “So we can say that it’s really trailblazing.
price of gasoline has gone up by more than P12 per liter, diesel anywhere between P14 and P16 per liter, and kerosene by P12 to as much as P18 per liter. The Department of Energy (DOE) had called on oil firms to provide price discounts as one of the measures to unburden consumers amid rising prices. Oil firms said they have extended an additional discount of at least P0.25 per liter of diesel. “As commodity prices continue to rise, finding immediate remedial measures to help our consumers is of utmost importance,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said. Lenie Lectura located within an economic zone will be allowed to avail themselves of value-added tax exemptions on importation and VAT zero-rating on domestic purchases of capital equipment and raw materials, provided they comply with electronic receipts or invoicing prescribed in the bill. The Investment Promotions Agency (IPAs) are also required to pass to the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB) the list of registered enterprises annually, including firm-level data of provisions of the Tax Incentives Management and Transparency Act (Timta) law; the approved amount of investments and employment generation as well as other benefits annually from a firm-level basis; and approved amount of income and non-income tax incentives annually. The bill also provides that for projects or activities that pose risks to the environment, health, and economic stability, and those that encounter “deadlocks” in the IPA Board, the FIRB will formulate policies on tax incentives; review their compliance with policies; approve their incentives on the basis of these instances; and suspend or cancel tax incentives granted to these firms.
No income tax
THESE amendments also included the removal of the provision mandating nonprofit educational and medical institutions to pay a 10percent income tax, as well as the conditions of their exemptions. The list of amendments also include the taxes, such as a 2-percent tax on gross receipts, imposed on franchises owned by radio and/or television broadcasting companies whose annual gross receipts of the preceding year do not exceed P10 million. There were also a number of changes included in the section of tax incentives, such as specifications on terms of imprisonment on violations of economic sabotage; inclusion of the Strategic Investment Priority Plan (SIPP) in the governing provision for IPAs; and the inclusion of outsourced services used to produce final export goods in the export sales of goods. In terms of the reduction of corporate-income tax for projects and activities under the SIPP, the rate of corporate-income tax will be reduced to 17 percent beginning January 1, 2021; 16 percent by January 1, 2023; 15 percent by January 1, 2025; 14 percent by January 1, 2027; and 13 percent by January 1, 2029. We have the highest [number of successful cases] in two months to use this [machine]. It’s really good because they’re still alive,” said Dr. Chavez, who also serves as the deputy executive director for medical services. Currently, NKTI attends to 12 leptospirosis patients confined in the hospital’s gym that has been converted as an alternative ward since the outbreak in June. The hospital has already sent a letter to PhilHealth, requesting for the coverage of Ecmo treatment, which more or less is priced at P2 million. “If they will cover at least P800,000 of the cost, it will really be of big help,”Dr. Liquete said, while citing that they are bullish on the positive response yet from the state health-insurance arm. “Because we all know that not all of the expenses can be paid for by the government, we can also use the funds of NKTI.”
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Editor: Vittorio V. Vitug • Tuesday, September 11, 2018
IBP: Revocation of Trillanes’s amnesty an ‘attack’ vs Judiciary’s independence
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By Joel R. San Juan @jrsanjuan1573 & Rene Acosta @reneacostaBM
HE Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP), a national organization of lawyers, has warned that the attempt of the Duterte administration to put opposition Sen. Antonio F. Trillanes IV behind bars would undermine the judicial process and can be considered an “attack” against the independence of the Judiciary. This developed as the Regional Trial Court (RTC) in Makati City on Monday gave temporary relief to Trillanes after it denied the motion of the Department of Justice (DOJ) to rule on its motion for the issuance of a hold departure order and an alias arrest warrant against the senator without having to conduct a hearing. In a three-page order, Makati RTC Branch 150 Presiding Judge Elmo Alamed said acting on the motion of the prosecution without hearing Trillanes’s side would be in violation of his constitutionally guaranteed right to due process. Defense Secretary Delfin N.
Lorenzana, for his part, has admitted that the decision of the Supreme Court on the issue of amnesty involving Trillanes will also have an impact on the amnesty granted to other former military mutineers, including those who are already part of the Duterte administration. While refusing to pass of the merits on the case filed by Trillanes before the high tribunal that seeks to nullify President Duterte’s invalidation of the senator’s amnesty granted during the Aquino administration, Lorenzana said the court’s verdict will also affect the cases of other former
MWSS’s Velasco assures water-supply sufficiency By Jonathan L. Mayuga
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@jonlmayuga
ETROPOLITAN Waterwork s a nd Sewerage System (MWSS) Administrator Reynaldo V. Velasco underscored the importance of teamwork among various stakeholders and strategic planning to address various water-related challenges. In a speech during the 25th Philippine Water Works Association Inc., International Conference and Exhibition in Tacloban City over the weekend, Velasco assured the public of a continuing and fruitful partnership with private water concessionaires Maynilad, Manila Water and Bulacan Bulk Water to ensure water security and sustainability and improve water services and sewerage coverage in Metro Manila and nearby provinces. Velasco, who discussed “Water Security and Sustainability,” shared the stage at the Philwater plenary session with its two concessionaires—Manila Water President and Chief Executive Officer Ferdinand M. de la Cruz, who talked about “Wastewater Management,” and Maynilad President Ramoncito S. Fernandez, who discussed about “Enhancing Resiliency of Water Operations in the Face of Climate Change.” During the event, Velasco bared the various infrastructure projects being undertaken by MWSS and its three concessionaires to ensure water security and sustainability under President Duterte’s “Build, Build, Build” program, as well as future plans and programs. Under the Duterte administration, Velasco assured that there is no looming water crisis in the near future in Metro Manila. This even as Velasco acknowledged that the country now falls below the international “water stress” threshold of 1,700 cubic meters per year and fast approach-
ing the “water scarcity” threshold of 1,000 m 3 per year. Using the 2018 population of 107 million against the fresh water supply of 146 billion cubic meters, per capita availability stands at 1,553 m 3 per year. T he water-availabilit y-percapita situation in the country represents the country’s watersecurity issue. Among the projects Velasco discussed were the Angat security projects, Bulacan Bulk Water Supply project and the newly approved Kaliwa Dam project. Velasco also unveiled his new pet projects—the proposed Angat, Bayabas and Candaba water-source projects, or A-B-C projects, which have a potential of producing a combined 1,950-million-liter-per-day capacity to complement the existing capacity of Angat Dam. These projects could address the increasing demand for water in the next 10, 20 and even 50 years, “something this humble representation together with the MWSS Board of Trustees and our three concessionaires can all be proud of as part of our legacy to water security and sustainability,” Velasco stated. During the event, Velasco also acknowledged the overall watersecurity projects of Manila Water with its new Laguna Lake East Bay Projects and Maynilad’s Putatan, which both source their water from Laguna Bay using reverse osmosis technology to augment the 96-percent water source from Angat dam with the two concessionaires pouring in the necessary investments over the next five years. Boosting the water-security program of the current administration is sewerage and wastewater management, which, according to the MWSS administrator, “is where the next challenge will be, pointing out that there is only 14 percent overall sewerage coverage.”
officers, including retired Brig. Gen. Danilo D. Lim, now general manager of the Metro Manila Development Authority and former Marine Capt. Nicanor E. Faeldon, who is now with the Office of the Civil Defense. “An independent and impartial Judiciary remains the most powerful bastion that protects our c her ished const it ut iona l rights against the excesses of political power. As the sentinel of the rule of law, the IBP stands ready to come to the defense of the independence and impartiality of our Judiciary,” the IBP said in a news statement issued through its president, lawyer Abdiel Dan Elijah Fajardo. Fajardo said the IBP is alarmed over the issuance by Duterte of Proclamation 572, which rendered as “void ab initio” the previous administration’s grant of amnesty to Trillanes pursuant to Proclamation 75, Series of 2010. The IBP insisted that amnesty, once granted, cannot be nullified by the invocation of the words void ab initio since it is “an exercise of sovereign power that automatically confers upon the grantee vested rights appurtenant to the obliteration of the offense with which he is charged.” “A person released by amnesty stands before the law precisely as though he had committed no offense,” it noted.
Trillanes was given amnesty by former President Benigno S. Aquino III together with other Magdalo soliders who were behind the series of attempts to overthrow the Arroyo administration Prior to the grant of amnesty, they were charged with a case for coup d’etat before Makati RTC Branch 148 for the Oakwood mutiny in 2003 and a case for rebellion before Makati RTC Branch 150 for the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege. Both the two cases have been dismissed in 2011 following the grant of amnesty. However, the President said the grant of amnesty to Trillanes was null and void for his failure to comply with the basic requirements of submitting an application form along with his admission of guilt.
Lorenzana also denied “rumors” that the case of Trillanes is dividing the military or it was creating instability in the uniformed service. “Somebody is doing a story that many officers are already disgruntled, but we are not seeing anybody,” he said. On Monday Trillanes assured Lorenzana and even AFP Chief of Staff Gen. Carlito Galves that he or his group is not cooking any attempt to destabilize the government. Malacañang, meanwhile, said that former Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin could be liable for usurpation of authority when he signed both the recommendation and certificate granting amnesty to Trillanes. A lthough former President Aquino issued Proclamation No. 75 in 2010 granting amnesty to Trillanes and other military mutineers, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. maintained that the President should be the one to personally grant the amnesty and not his secretary. “The President’s belief as a lawyer is that an amnesty must be personally granted by the President, it cannot be further delegated to other officials. It is a presidential prerogative so the position of the President is that only the President should have signed the order of amnesty,” Roque said. With Berna-
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Digital land titling in PHL completed by September By Manuel T. Cayon
@awimailbox Mindanao Bureau Chief
D
from those promised by Jordan to turn over to Manila, it will also provide army equipment like armed vehicles and 105 mm cannons. Meanwhile, National Police (PNP) chief Director General Oscar D. Albayalde said the police has been using equipment purchased from Israel, the United States and even Turkey, without providing further details. At the same time, Albayalde said they have been requesting the government to provide additional funding for the procurement of additional air assets, like two helicopters. He said the PNP wanted to have one airplane that would cater to the needs for rapid deployment of policemen, especially members of the Special Action Force. Rene Acosta
AVAO CITY—Land titling in the Philippines is expected to migrate to digital form for improved database information and security, even as Land Registration Authority (LRA) officials still encourage landowners to request a certified copy of their titles. The LRA has been given up to the end of September to wind up the conversion of all manually encoded and issued land titles, according to Amelia Respicio-Samarita, records officer at the LRA Davao office here. So far, the office has converted some 90 percent of about 500,000 titles in the Davao City area, with fewer issues encountered, such as ongoing “activities” to the title, which may include, court settlements and deeds of donation. The LRA, or the Registry of Deeds as they are more known in the cities and towns, is the central depository of all land titles in the country, although other agencies have similar functions related to land titling. These include the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources that issues certificates or titles to converted forested lands, the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, which issues certificates of ancestral domain claims, the Department of Agrarian Reform, which issues certificates of land ownership agreement, and the courts, which issues judicial titles. “But these agencies would still register the titles with the LRA, Samarita said. Samarita’s examiner-colleague in the LRA, Virgilio de los Reyes, said converting the manually issued land titles would allow greater security for the land title when already encoded in the database, and its flexibility to engage in future transactions and references. “It allows the land owner to know the status and update of a land title, the payments made, the market valuation,” he said. He said other government agencies undertaking related functions have also been in discussion for better coordination. But the LRA could still track any “ongoing activity in the land title,” Samarita said, adding that the other agencies would ultimately go to the LRA in the area to register the title they granted to a particular person or entity. “So, when one inquiry into the status of their title at our office, the system would send a prompt about any activity,” Samarita said. The land owner may also view his land area in the LRA computer, or a local LRA office may seek the coordination of another LRA office if a client would inquire about his property somewhere else.
Govt prepares for potential strong typhoon
Congress seeks Comelec OK to reset COC filing dates
‘Calida sought records’
LORENZANA, likewise, admitted that it was Solicitor General Jose C. Calida who asked for the amnesty record of Trillanes on August 16, which the military certified two weeks later that it does not have copy of the document. The defense chief said that the “research” by Calida’s office on the senator’samnestyrecordattheArmed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) also included the other former officers who applied and were also granted amnesty. He said the inquiry covered more than 100 former officers.
dette D. Nicolas
AFP set to acquire military hardware from Israel, Jordan T
HE military will be acquiring a wide array of assets and equipment from Jordan and Israel, including two attack helicopters, Defense Secretary Delfin N. Lorenzana said on Monday. The defense chief, who joined President Duterte’s v isit last week to the two countries, said the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) will be “buying a lot” of equipment from Israel, as earlier ordered by the Commander in Chief. Among the equipment that will be acquired from Jerusalem are unmanned aerial vehicles, radars and protective vests. “ T he y a re of fe r i n g s ome more, we are looking into them,” Lorenzana said. W h i l e i n I s r a e l , D ut e r t e said that the military will be
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HE Philippine government is ready to assist evacuees following a weather report that a potential strong typhoon is threatening to enter the Philippine area of responsibility (PAR) this week, Malacañang said on Monday. According to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services, severe tropical storm Mangkhut (international name) was spotted 2,745 kilometers east of Southern Luzon and may enter the PAR on Wednesday. “Everyone in the government working during disasters is preparing for this supertyphoon,” Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said in a Palace briefing. Roque said the Department of Social Welfare and Development
acqu i r i ng a sset s a nd equ ip ment only from Israel, especially the items that will be be used in the area of intelligence and monitoring. Lorenzana said that Jordan will grant the military with two Cobra attack helicopters, a donation that has been floated several months ago, and was among the reasons Duterte visited the country. He said that some other equipment, which Jordan showed to the Philippine delegation during the visit, were also promised to the military amid its modernization program. “All of that, we will give them all to you. The King told the President,” Lorenzana said, recalling the words of the king of Jordan during his meeting with Duterte and his party. Lorenzana said that, aside
is ready to provide humanitarian assistance and has already prepositioned relief goods in their respective local governments. “We won’t be transporting goods in areas that may be affected because there are already prepositioned goods in those areas,” Roque said. “Perhaps, what we can assure is that we will provide additional goods in areas that may be affected by the supertyphoon,” he added. Roque, meanwhile, urged Filipinos, especially those living near seas, to find temporary homes to stay this early to avoid overcrowding in evacuation or resettlement areas. “We cannot prevent disasters like supertyphoons, but we can minimize the damage brought
about by disasters by being prepared,” Roque said. Let’s anticipate what will happen so that you won’t remain in your respective homes,” he added. He also urged the public to prepare emergency kits, stock up on food and water and protect their possessions in case of flooding. Roque said the state of readiness of all the agencies responding to calamities will be discussed during the next Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (September 11). “ M a gk a k a ro on p o k a mi ng [There will be a] Cabinet meeting on Tuesday and I’m sure the supertyphoon will be discussed. The state of readiness of all the agencies responding to calamities will be discussed,” Roque said. PNA
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ONGRESS has appealed to the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to reset the period of filing of certificate of candidacy (COC) for the 2019 midterm to give more time to its members to wrap up the priority legislation of the administration. The House of Representative and Senate issued concurrent resolution No. 20 on Monday seeking to reschedule filing of COC from October 1 to 5 to October 11 to 17. The resolution was adopted by House Speaker Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and House Majority Leader Rolando G. Andaya Jr. Both houses of Congress said this aims to give more time to its members, who will be participating in the midterm elections next year, to “fully attend to their legislative duties.” “The rescheduling of the filing of certificate candidacy will help Congress to finish its work before the start of the election campaign period,” Andaya added. Samuel P. Medenilla
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Aiming at Putin with new sanctions, Washington may hit emerging world
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F US sanctions f lip Russia to basket case from haven, a fresh stampede from emerging markets cou ld be in t he cards, according to some investors and analysts. On Thursday Russian officials
in Moscow basked in the glow of their balance sheet and the central bank chief gave a speech at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in Washington on her successful experience managing past crises. Meanwhile, government bonds
and the ruble breached the lowest levels in more than two years. What was scaring investors was happening down the street from the IMF lecture, in a Senate hearing where legislators were debating new sanctions on Russia. One of the proposals under consideration has been dubbed the “ bill from hell,” in part because it includes a ban on buying new sovereign debt. “Given the near-crisis situat ion i n e me r g i n g m a rk e t s, putting sanctions on the only market where until recently investors could hide would trigger massive contagion risk,” said Elina Ribakova, a fellow at the Bruegel think tank in Brussels and former EMEA research head at Deutsche Bank AG. Banning new debt purchases by US investors won’t have much of an impact on Russia’s ability to finance itself, since its budget is in surplus and the central bank has plenty of cash to help out if needed. What worries Ribakova and others is the impact the fall of an erstwhile safe harbor could do to what’s left of the confidence across emerging markets. “It’s an unpleasant situation for portfolio managers because there’s not really any where to run to when you have a developing market mandate,” said V ladimir Tikhomirov, an economist w ith the BCS brokerage in Moscow. It’s unclear whether the bipar tisan proposa l forbidding A mericans from holding new Russian sovereign debt will even be adopted. But with US midterms approaching, the threat of tougher penalties to punish Moscow for alleged elections meddling has grown, forcing investors to reassess one of their favored loc a l- c u r renc y over weight positions. Since the United States imposed its toughest round of sanctions to date in April, foreign investors pruned their holdings of local debt from a record high of 34.5 percent to about 26 percent to 27 percent, according to Konstantin Vyshkovsky, the head of the Russian Finance Ministry’s debt department. In the first two months of the year, Russia’s local-currency bonds handed investors the second-best return in emerging markets. A fter the April penalties, they’ve brought a 22 percent loss, the worst result after A rgentina, Turkey and South A frica. Yields on Russia’s 10 year local bonds jumped a half percentage point last week, the big gest increase since the 2016 oil slump. “ It i s d i f f ic u lt for t he m a r ket to disting uish bet ween id ios y nc rat ic r i sk a nd a more b r o a d - b a s e d s e l l - o f f ,” s a i d A nders Faergem a n n , a f u nd manager at Pinebr idge Investment s Eu rope Ltd. i n L ondon, which oversees $87 bi l lion and i s u nder weight on Ru ssi a. “ So you c a n not r u le out i nc rea sed vol at i l it y on t he bac k of f u r t her Ru ssi a sa nc t ions.” That’s all despite the country’s current-account surplus, and the fifth-biggest real return for its asset class. The Bank of Russia’s foreign cash pile is near the largest in four years. Oil, Russia’s main export earner, is just a few dollars off the highest point since 2014. At a n i nvest ment con fer ence in Moscow, Vyshkovsk y sa id t he dec lines shou ld on ly ma ke traders keener. “ B a s e d o n f u nd a me nt a l s , Russian sovereign risk is still e x t reme ly at t rac t ive for i nvestors,” he said. “ T hey’d be hard-pushed to find this kind of y ield versus risk any where else.” Bloomberg News
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
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Japan’s Abe pledges to defend free trade after Trump warning
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APANESE Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to champion free trade in his first policy speech since US President Donald J. Trump renewed pressure on the country to sign a bilateral trade deal. “ Tit-for-tat trade sanctions don’t benefit any country,” Abe told a gathering of lawmakers from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party on Monday, without mentioning Trump by name. “Now is the time for Japan to take the lead in creating the rules of the new era as a flag-bearer for free trade.” On Friday Trump told reporters that Japan would have a “ big problem” if it didn’t reach a new trade deal with the United States. Earlier in the week, Trump had told the Wall Street Journal his good relationship with the Japanese leadership “will end as soon as I tell them how much they have to pay.” While Abe hasn’t responded directly to Trump’s latest barbs, US trade sanctions are a looming threat to the economic growth he
has claimed as the major success of his almost six years in office. The speech was Abe’s first appearance with his opponent, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba, since they formally declared their candidacies in the Sept. 20 election for the LDP presidency. Abe has urged Trump to reconsider his decision to quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade deal, while the US leader has demanded a bilateral pact. Despite efforts to ingratiate himself with Trump, Abe has failed to secure an exemption f rom meta ls tar if fs imposed earlier this year.
Sales tax
A BE, 63, told law makers the coming leadership election would be his last. If he wins a
third straight three-year term as party leader, he has a chance of becom ing Japa n’s longest ser ving premier. A poll carried out by Kyodo News on September 7 and 8 found 61-percent of party members planned to vote for Abe, compared with 28.6 percent for Ishiba. Among lawmakers, Kyodo said the prime minister was expected to take 340 of 405 votes. On domestic economic policy, Abe said he wanted to increase sales ta x as planned to 10 percent in October 2019 from the current 8 percent, adding that he wou ld i nt roduce pol ic ies aimed at supporting sales of cars and houses in order to allev iate the economic impact. The hike has been delayed twice since Abe took office, after a previous increase to 8 percent caused a recession. In a later joint press conference with Ishiba, Abe said he would seek to present an amendment to the pacifist provision of Japan’s postwar constitution to a possible autumn session of parliament. Both Abe and Ishiba called for social security reform, as the aging country faces ballooning debt. Bloomberg News
Singapore recovers $11M linked to 1MDB Malaysia fund
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INGAPORE—A Singaporean court has ordered the return of 15.3 million Singapore dollars ($11.1 million) linked to the indebted 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) Malaysian state investment fund. Law firm Tan Rajah & Cheah said on Monday that the misappropriated funds were being transferred to a special 1Malaysia Development Berhad recovery bank account in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. It did not say how many individuals were involved. “Efforts to recover other unlawfully misappropriated assets are
ongoing,” the firm said in a statement seen by The Associated Press. Citing an unnamed source, Malaysia’s National News Agency Bernama reported in July that the government had appointed the Singapore firm to act against 53 individuals and companies to recover funds belonging to 1MDB. The news agency said fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, known just as Jho Low, was among the defendants. The US Justice Department alleges Low was a key figure in the theft and international laundering of $4.5 billion from Malaysia’s 1MDB investment fund
by associates of former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. Najib has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of criminal breach of trust, abuse of power and money laundering in a case related to the alleged multibillion-dollar looting of the 1MDB fund that led to his stunning electoral defeat four months ago. All the charges against him involve the transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.1 million) into his bank accounts from SRC International, a former unit of the 1MDB fund that international investigators say was looted of billions by Najib’s associates. AP
Vietnam bars officials invited to World Economic Forum event
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IN this July 20, 2017, file photo, Chile’s then-President Michelle Bachelet looks on during a visit to Memory Park, which honors the victims of the country’s dictatorship, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Bachelet was 23 years old when she was tortured and fled her country’s dictatorship into exile. Now in 2018, more than four decades later, she will have to face her painful past as the new United Nations human-rights chief fighting such abuses worldwide. AP PHOTO/NATACHA PISARENKO
In 1st key speech, new UN rights chief airs concerns
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ICHELLE BACHELET made her first address to the Human Rights Council as it opened a three-week session on Monday. The former Chilean president became United Nations high commissioner for human rights this month. She denounced a lack of “redress” for migrant families who were separated by US authorities
after being detained in a nowdiscontinued practice of separating children from their families. According to prepared remarks, Bachelet said “attacks and persecution appear to be continuing” against the Rohingya minority in Myanmar’s Rakhine state. She expressed concern about “ongoing military operations” in Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province. AP
WO human-rights officials invited to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this week in Hanoi were denied entry to Vietnam. Debbie Stothard, secretary-general of the International Federation for Human Rights, was turned away on Sunday after landing in the Vietnamese capital, WEF Spokesman Fon Mathuros said in a statement. Amnesty International said on Monday that Minar Pimple, its senior director of global operations, was also refused an entry visa. Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to e-mailed requests for comment. “We condemn this decision to stifle debate from a regular contributor to the WEF who has spoken at the highest levels on human-rights issues around the world,”Amnesty’s SecretaryGeneral Kumi Naidoo said in a statement. “This comes at a time when freedom of expression is under deep threat in Vietnam. The government’s actions undermine an event that depends on a plurality of views, and they are giving Asean a bad name.” The WEF had been notified by Vietnam that Pimple’s visa request had been denied, Mathuros said by e-mail. The three-day event, which begins on Tuesday, will be attended by representatives from multinational companies and government leaders, including Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines. Bloomberg News
A6 Tuesday, September 11, 2018 • Editor: Angel R. Calso
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Taking care of the basics
T
he Philippine education system placed 113th out of 127 countries in the education category of the 2017 Global Innovation Index. If this dismal ranking is anywhere accurate then it is clear that the Department of Education (DepEd) needs to take care of a lot of basic needs before the K to 12 curriculum that it has been implementing for the past few years could be deemed successful.
There’s clearly a need for our education system to catch up with other countries, for Filipino graduates to be just as competitive, just as productive and employable as their foreign counterparts. But two more years of the same poor system won’t cut it. If classrooms are still overcrowded, with teachers having to do shifts just to accommodate the huge number of students, if the government’s budget allocation for education still has not solved the perennial basic problems like the lack of classrooms, teachers, textbooks and other basic needs, then an additional two more years of schooling in that same poor system is the last thing our students (and their harried parents who pay their tuitions) need. Sen. Sherwin T. Gatchalian filed Senate Resolution 675, paving the way for an inquiry in aid of crafting remedial legislation as chairman of a subcommittee tasked to “look into the current state of the Philippine education system and assess the efficacy and effectiveness” of existing education laws and policies. The senator’s resolution noted that, despite earlier legislative reforms introduced by the government to expand access and improve the quality of the Philippine education system, “the country still ranked a dismal 113th out of 127 countries in the education category.” Moreover, Gatchalian grumbled over the poor marks received by the Philippine education system on the Global Competitiveness Index 2017-2018 recently released by the World Economic Forum, where the Philippines ranked 66th out of 137 countries for primary education quality, 74th for secondary education quality, and 76th for quality of math and science education. Even the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), early this year, said that the first batch of K to 12 graduates last March was not ready for employment. One of the main objectives of K to 12 and one of the DepEd’s main arguments in pushing for its implementation was that it was going to help highschool graduates who can’t afford to go to college get a job. Indeed, the DepEd even started implementing the extended basic education system even if the law authorizing it was still pending before Congress at the time, and even with a Supreme Court petition asking to abolish it yet unresolved (to this day, in fact). But the PCCI said the majority of K to 12 graduates have not gotten sufficient training for employment in the real world, and that K to 12 still needs a lot of help and improvement. Another constant concern is that there are still a lot of public schools that are not equipped to even teach K to 12 or even just the additional two years of senior high school, hence the DepEd has had to issue vouchers to public school students so they can enroll in private schools that are offering the senior high-school program. By this time the government should have already wiped out previous backlogs in classroom shortages, textbooks and teachers, as well as provided the facilities needed to fully implement K to 12. Free basic education is a constitutional mandate. President Duterte even extended free education in state colleges and universities by signing into law the Universal Access to Quality Tertiary Education Act. But this free education must be available to those who need it most, and this free education must also be of better if not the best quality. The K to 12 curriculum was supposed to make our graduates more competitive with the rest of the world by fixing our school system to match theirs, but again that’s granting that those two additional years would be quality years added to a vastly improved system.
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n more recent years, inflation rate averaged 7.6 percent in 2005 and 9.3 percent in 2008. As I understand, rapidly growing or emerging economies such as the Philippines usually register faster inflation rates compared with those of advanced economies because of stronger growth in demand and spending. The good thing about the latest inflation figure is that it is supplydriven, which means it can easily be fixed. The food-price index, for example, increased 8.5 percent yearon-year, mainly because of perceived tightness in the supply of rice. The solution, according to Socioeconomic Planning Secretar y Ernesto M. Pernia, is to boost agriculture output and introduce policy reforms. The government’s economic team also committed to work together to reduce prices by bringing in more rice to the provinces, streamlining the licensing procedures for rice imports and prioritizing the release of essential food items in the ports. I expect that as these measures take effect, prices will begin to stabilize at the start of the fourth quarter. I also believe that the Philippine economy remains stable.
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Unfortunately, some people tend to exaggerate when it comes to negative news. From my many years of observing the economy, it is only now that a 6-percent economic expansion would be viewed as something bad, as if we had not registered slower GDP growth rates in the past. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that the economy even contracted 0.6 percent in 1991 and declined another 0.6 percent in 1998. While the 6-percent growth in the second quarter and the 6.3-percent expansion in the first half of 2018 were below the government’s target range of 7 percent to 8 percent, they were not as problematic as some people would like us to believe. The peso may have depreciated to a 12-year low of 53.80 against the US dollar in the first week of September 2018, but this was mainly
‘Sick Man’ of Asia? John Mangun
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No reason to panic
P
resident Duterte came to power as a political veteran but as an outsider by conventional wisdom. While his ratings have come down, he still enjoys majority approval.
The nation seems fractured at times along religious, economic and regional lines. Human-rights organizations have not let up their criticism of alleged abuses by security forces and put the blame on presidential inaction. Economic growth has been good but recent developments are creating a cause for concern. The current account is negative and the negative trade balance shows more imports than exports. The government debt to GDP ratio is low by global standards and the foreign currency debt load looks manageable. But foreign reserves have been falling all year, as has the value of the currency. While there does not seem to be anything particularly “wrong” when
you look at all the data, there are more than a few reputable observers that say Indonesia is moving to be the “Sick Man” of Asia. There is much worry about the depreciation of the Philippine peso against the US dollar, as of now lower by 8.5 percent in 2018. That concern is justified and has helped push inflation to high levels in part because we import virtually all of our crude oil needs, which are priced in dollars. But consider that the Philippines imports almost five times as much oil and oil products as Indonesia even though its population is four times larger and the Indonesian economy is three times bigger. Unfortunately, most of the
due to the general strength of the US dollar against most currencies amid the Federal Reserve’s monetary tightening. In fact, most of the problems we encounter today emanate from the external environment, such as the Turkish currency crisis, US-China trade war, the Brexit or the United Kingdom’s impending exit from the European Union, the Argentine debt crisis, the tightening of US dollar liquidity, among others. In the face of these external developments, we need not worry too much so as not to rock the boat. Remember that we are just a small boat that rides the waves of global economic changes. The last thing we need is to panic and make rush decisions that we might regret later. My advice at this point again is to avoid radical changes in the current economic environment. Radical changes can go either way, and some countries that attempted to go against the tide eventually found themselves under the sea. You may want to study the case of Venezuela, which used to be the most affluent country in South America. Investors always prefer predictability and stability, and any radical change can be viewed as a sign of panic. Somehow, the current tight supply of rice in the market is exacerbated by panic among consumers who would now buy the staple in bigger bulk than they used to, for fear that supply may run out soon. The peso depreciation also continues because
overseas Filipino workers and their families, as well as banks, would hold on to the dollar in anticipation that the greenback would gain further value in the coming days. This is despite the fact that the financial market is awash with dollar liquidity. Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show that dollar deposits held by foreign currency deposit units of banks reached $37.3 billion as of March 2018, compared with outstanding loans of just $14.3 billion. Even the BSP has enough dollar reserves to cover more than seven months of imports and payment of services. The gross international reserves stood at $77.83 billion at the end of August from $76.72 billion a month ago. Credit rating agencies such as Fitch Ratings, Moody’s Investors Service and S&P Global Ratings continue to believe in the country’s capacity to handle the situation, with all of them keeping the investmentgrade scores for the country. While there are plenty of movements in the global economy, we can survive these challenges by waiting out the storm. In fact, we survived the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2008 global economic crisis stronger than before. We have gone through the worst times, and these minor movements should not alarm us at all. What we need to do is to remain calm, just relax and let the market determine our next course of action.
self-identifying “economic experts” on social media and even from certain local news outlets are ignorant of the real world. While the Philippine peso has depreciated 8.5 percent against the US dollar, the Indonesian rupiah has depreciated 7 percent against the Philippine peso since June. The rupiah is at the lowest level against the peso since May 2016. The rupiah is at an historic low against the dollar, losing 9.2 percent this year. The situation is so critical that the Indonesian government has raised the import taxes on 1,000 different products to keep people from buying foreign goods. The import tax on 1,147 mostly consumer goods will be raised up to 10 percent. From The Straits Times: “Products that can be made domestically ranging from soap and shampoo to kitchen appliances will be taxed at 10 percent. The import of cars with engine capacity of 3,000 cc and above will be stopped.” What is Indonesia’s problem? Simple: Too much government foreign currency debt, unlike the Philippines. Forty-percent of Indonesia’s public debt last year was foreign-owned and is climbing. Philippine foreign debt is at 35 percent and new borrowing is decreasing.
I wrote last month that Morgan Stanley created its own calculation of Emerging Market external funding needs based on sum of the i) current account, ii) short-term external debt and iii) the next 12 months amortizations from long-term external debt. This amount was divided by current foreign currency reserves. If no dollar comes in to the Philippines, for example, we can last 3.8 years. For Indonesia, it is 10 months. The Indonesian president’s chief political adviser said this a few days ago: “I don’t see Indonesia to be in a major crisis. There is no need to worry that a crisis such as 1998 will re-occur today. Conditions are very different from 1998”. He is absolutely correct – conditions are much worse. The 1997/1998 problem was a “local” situation. Today, the currency/debt problem stretches from Turkey to Poland and Hungary, to Argentina and Chile, to Indonesia and Malaysia, and back to Jordan in the Middle East. Remember: T.G.Y.F.
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‘Time to call a spade a spade’
Political idolatry Cecilio T. Arillo
DATABASE
Atty. Lorna Patajo-Kapunan
LEGALLY SPEAKING Conclusion
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EPUBLIC Act (RA) 6826 recognized the existence of a national emergency of national proportions, e.g., bombings in Metro Manila, secessionist elements in Mindanao seeking to establish a common cause with rebels and their sympathizers or taking advantage of the instability occasioned by the coup—all “causing the economy to suffer and continue to suffer a serious setback disrupting the momentum of our national recovery.” Thus, RA 6826, Section 3, gave President Cory the express authority “to issue such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out any or all of the following powers:” “[1] To protect the people from hoarding, profiteering, injurious speculations, manipulation of prices, product deceptions and cartels, monopolies or other combinations in restraint of trade, or other pernicious practices affecting the supply, distribution and movement of food, clothing, medicine and medical supplies, office implements, machinery equipment and spare parts required in agriculture, industry and other essential services, and other articles of prime necessity, whether imported or locally produced or manufactured; “[2] Toward the above ends, [a] to purchase any of the articles or commodities hereinabove mentioned, for storage, sale or distribution for the relief of hunger and want of the population, commodities; [b] to fix the maximum selling prices thereof; [c] to regulate the fees charged by establishments in connection with the production, processing, milling, storage and distribution of such articles or commodities; [d] to seize and confiscate hoarded articles or commodities; Provided, That goods which are determined to have been seized wrongfully shall be subject to the subsequent determination and payment of just compensation; and [e] to call upon and deputize recognized nongovernment and people’s organizations and volunteers, as well as local government units to assist the government to carry out these powers through the monitoring or implementation of orders, rules and regulations, as the case may be. “[3] To temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately owned public utility or business affected with public interest that violates the herein declared national policy: Provided, however, that to the extent feasible, management shall be retained, under the direction and supervision of the president or her duly designated representative who shall render a full accounting to the president of the operations of the utility, or business taken over: Provided, further, that whenever the president shall determine that the further use or operation by the government of any such public service or enterprise is no longer necessary under existing conditions, the same shall be restored to the person entitled to the possession thereof; “[4] To liberalize the importation and/or grant incentives for the manufacture, assembly, reconditioning,
or importation of needed vehicles or vessels, including the necessary parts thereof, for public transportation to relieve the transportation crises; “[5] To ensure the availability of credit to the productive sectors of the economy especially in the countryside through measures such as, but not limited to, lowering the effective lending rates of interest and reserve requirements of lending institutions; “[6] To stagger the working hours of, and adopt a flexible working schedule for, employees and workers in the government, and whenever it becomes necessary, in the private sector; “[7] To conserve and regulate the distribution and use of power, fuels and energy and ensure adequate supply of the same; “[8] To decrease expenditures of the Executive Department of the national government and governmentowned or controlled corporations and their subsidiaries through the suspension of services, activities or operations which are of no immediate necessity, and for this purpose the president shall order that all departments, agencies and instrumentalities of the government create a reserve fund equivalent to 10 percent of their respective appropriations, except those pertaining to personnel services, construction and repair of school buildings and hospitals: provided, however, that in all cases, the security of tenure of civil-service employees shall be respected. “[11] To undertake such other measures as may be reasonable and necessary to enable the president to carry out the declared national policy subject to the Bill of Rights and other constitutional guarantees.” The priority of the president should be to address the current economic national emergency. Instead of spending government resources on weapons-shopping abroad or funding information campaigns/rallies on federalism when the country is not ripe from a shift to a federal republic, or convincing the suffering public about the benefits of TRAIN 1 and TRAIN 2, or giving the likes of Trillanes the opportunity to self-proclaim himself as the poster boy for democracy. Let the public discourse be on whether Congress should give this president emergency powers specifically targeted to address the current economic crisis. But, of course, it should start with the government admitting that there is an economic crisis. Time to call a spade a spade!
Part Three
Cory opened a Pandora’s box
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ORY described the old democracy during her campaign for the presidency in January 1986, thus: “I admit that the old system was not perfect. But at least it gave to the judiciary and to the legislature a generous measure of respectability.” Respectability? Well, not all judges once appointed and congressmen once elected become respectable thereafter by deed; they can get away with the most disreputable acts and still get addressed as “Your Honor” and “The Honorable.” “That was the democracy that Ninoy loved so much, inasmuch as he gloried in the politics of rhetorical bombast. That was the democracy that Cory wanted to restore, for it was one that afforded the Aquinos and the Cojuangcos political privileges and economic power. It was a democracy so weakened by historical injustices, that it was bound to collapse violently, sooner or later. The communists had hoped to accelerate the collapse through a violent revolution, and then to reshape society according to Maoist patterns. President Marcos had wanted to avert the collapse, by replacing the rotten timbers of social injustices with the timbers of reforms,” noted historians Escalante and De La Paz. To restore democracy, Cory in her first week in office freed 517 detainees, among them the founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Jose Maria Sison, and the founding commander in chief of the CPP’s New People’s Army, Bernabe Buscayno (Kumander Dante). By giving them democratic space, she thought that they would trade revolution for reforms. Instead,
Joma Sison flew off to the Netherlands, beyond rearrest by Philippine law enforcers, and became an even more virulent revolutionary. The peace talks that Cory wanted to have with the CPP/NPA collapsed shortly thereafter, when unarmed farmers denouncing Cory’s unpopular agrarian reform program were massacred at Mendiola Bridge. The peasants, belonging to the left-wing Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, had protested perceived loopholes in the Cory regime’s centerpiece agrarian program; they charged that the loopholes would, for one, exempt the 6,400-hectare Hacienda Luisita of the Cojuangcos, 10 percent of which was owned by Cory. Nineteen farmers died in this outrage on January 22, 1987, which was soon followed by another massacre in Lupao, Nueva Ecija. A former secretary-general of the church-based Ecumenical Movement for Justice and Peace, Santos Lamban, wrote in 1997: “In January of 1987, the peace talks ended when policemen fired at peasants rallying for genuine land reform at the foot of Mendiola Bridge.
The Asian-American age By Ross Douthat
New York Times News Service
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HIS past week the Trump Justice Department threw its weight behind a high-profile lawsuit against Harvard University, in which a group of Asian-American plaintiffs claim — with a great deal of evidence—that the famous Ivy school discriminates against them as it once discriminated against Jews. This happened in the same moment that the No. 1 movie in America is Crazy Rich Asians, a guilty-pleasure romantic comedy about a young female Chinese-American economist in love with a Singaporean heir. The convergence illustrates an underrated reality about Trump-era America. Our polarizing immigration debate revolves around the Wall and the border because we’ve just experienced a long wave of immigration from our southern neighbors. But that surge is diminishing, and for almost a decade the United States has taken more Asian than Hispanic immigration. So after the Trumpian moment passes, our ethno-political fights will be gradually reshaped by how Asians relate to American culture, how American politics relates to them, and how they (because “Asian” contains multitudes) relate to one another. In my lifetime there have been two stories about where Asian-Americans fit in our domestic coalitions. In the Reagan
1980s they were seen as the most Republican-friendly immigrant group—more educated and prosperous than other immigrants, often anti-communist (in the case of the Vietnamese and Taiwanese especially), bearing Confucian or Christian values that aligned with a traditional-values GOP. But then from the Clinton era on Asian voters swung toward the Democratic Party—a shift that probably reflected changes in immigrant composition (more South Asians relative to East Asians, more non-Christians relative to Christians), the declining salience of anti-communism, and a reaction to the GOP’s continued rightward shift and white-Southern-Christian brand. This, in turn, led to a new story that cast Asian-Americans as a natural constituency in an emerging Democratic majority—one tributary among many in the multicultural river washing white hegemony away. The term “model minority” often gets thrown around (and deplored) in discussions about Asian-Americans, and what’s interesting is that both narratives I’ve just described traffic in versions of that trope. The older narrative portrays Asians as the hardworking, industrious natural conservatives who don’t need handouts (in contrast with “other” immigrants, “other” minorities). The newer narrative casts them as the liberal coalition’s noblest group—willing to put solidarity with fellow minorities above
Emerging-markets calm is likely to be brief By Mohamed A. El-Erian Bloomberg Opinion
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HE calmer markets and the bounce in exchange rates at the end of last week make it tempting to declare the end of the summer turmoil in emerging economies. Those positive developments, along with increasing evidence of investor differentiation, naturally give rise to hopes that we are experiencing a repeat of early 2016, when heightened concerns about China-driven market disturbances gave way to a comforting restoration of capital
flows, higher asset prices and a far more supportive operating environment for individual emerging countries. I share this hope and recognize the historical precedent. Yet there are four reasons to remain cautious. Prolonged market disturbances don’t always play out in a linear fashion: A few calm days don’t necessarily mean the end of a generalized disturbance. There are many historical examples of temporary snapbacks in the context of a bigger trend of continued market disruption. This is especially the case when spillovers, and possibly spillbacks, haven’t run
their course, and when decisive circuit breakers haven’t been put in place and triggered. It is too early to dismiss the possibility that the financial volatility of the last few weeks could destabilize some economic and financial fundamentals, leading to a return of market dislocations. Headline-country cases aren’t resolved: Neither Argentina nor Turkey, the two big headline cases, have produced a combination of policy adjustments and new financing that would place their economies on a secure path to stability. Accordingly, the market relief they experienced at the end of last week is more
likely to have been the result of periodic portfolio position realignments than of a fundamental change in the underlying market dynamics. A more lasting improvement is possible if Argentina and the International Monetary Fund agree on a strengthened program with more favorable funding, and if Turkey found a way to expand its policy response, including from its central bank, which will hold a meeting on September 13. The external environment remains uncertain: Emerging economies are operating in a fluid global context characterized by a growing divergence in performance among
Tuesday, September 11, 2018 A7
On February [12]… 17 persons were killed by the military in what is now known as the Lupao Massacre. “These were two issues that jolted the nation. Not even during the time of Marcos were so many rallyists killed on Mendiola. The barbarity and cruelty displayed by the soldiers in Lupao, who tied up and shot even children and octogenarians, shocked the sensibilities of a people who could not believe that such things were happening.” “Obviously, the coexistence that Ninoy forged with communist insurgents in Tarlac was acceptable to them only as a step toward eventually swallowing the whole country. The Cojuangco’s Hacienda Luisita was to them but a sanctuary in the 1960s; where the whole country was concerned, it was not sanctuary they wanted, but nothing less than state power. They would only accept a negotiated peace if that power is given to them: The government, in asking for that peace, would have to capitulate,” Escalante and De La Paz lamented. In unlocking Joma Sison’s cell, Cory opened a Pandora’s box. In giving leftists democratic space, Cory risked having the communist movement expand explosively, and it did. It was during her regime that the NPA peaked in strength. From 10,000-12,500 regulars (of whom some 70 percent were armed) during President Marcos’s last full year in office, the NPA grew to 15,000 armed guerillas and an estimated total strength of 24,000 fighters by mid-1988, the second year of the Cory Aquino presidency. It was also during the Cory regime that the phenomenon of vigilantes —private citizens arming themselves and hunting down suspected communists—spread amid cries of human-rights violations, among a citizenry exasperated by what was then perceived as the regime’s ambivalence in countering the communist
threat. At first, Cory rode the wave of vigilantism; when international criticism flared, capped by a 197-page report by the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in June 1988, she lamely explained that the vigilante groups “were not created by the government.” Brushing aside the technicality, human-rights activist Santos Lamban charged that Cory encouraged the vigilantes: “It was under the Aquino administration that the anti-communist fanatic groups grew. President Aquino herself encouraged them by praising the Alsa Masa in Davao for their role in ejecting NPA partisans based in urban poor communities in the city. Cults such as the Tadtads spread like wildfire in the Visayas and Mindanao, sowing a reign of terror much greater than the populace had experienced before. The fanatic groups served as recruiting grounds of the CAFGUs and the Civilian Volunteer Organizations or Bantay Bayan—paramilitary formations under the command of the AFP. These paramilitary forces became infamous for the brutality and the grossness of the crimes they committed, which included beheading, dismembering or eating the internal organs of their victims.” How could Ninoy or Cory, or both, ever qualify as heroes? They helped push the Philippines under the curse of communism, then Cory, belatedly horrified, let the pendulum swing free to the right, spreading blood evenly across the political spectrum. No wonder Cory’s call for national reconciliation sounded empty; it was also incompatible with her apparent determination to demonize the Marcoses in history. One who divides society and the nation is unfit to be called a hero.
the economic concerns that might tempt them rightward, and willing to accept, for the greater good, a system of racial preferences that benefits others more than them. This idea informs a lot of liberal arguments about the Harvard lawsuit, which tend to portray conservative critics of affirmative action as tempters invading the multicultural Eden, and urge AsianAmericans to maintain their model-minority purity and resist the lure of mere meritocratic self-interest. But in addition to the whispering conservative serpent, the Harvard lawsuit’s liberal critics increasingly have an Asian scapegoat, too—specifically, recent Chinese immigrants who hang out on WeChat, the popular social-media app, which a Vox writer complains has “become an echo chamber for stories of anti-Asian discrimination.” For liberals these are the Bad Asians, putting their tribal resentments ahead of the racial-progressive cause. Which makes it striking that they are also the demographic being celebrated in Crazy Rich Asians, a movie that begins with a sequence in which Chinese-expat gossip spreads from New York to Singapore via, you guessed it, WeChat. The only certain takeaway from this complexity is that the new liberal model-minority image, like the old conservative one, is likely to break down with increasing Asian numbers, influence, diversity and power. Where strong Asian support for
affirmative action endures in this new landscape, it will probably be as part of a more consciously ideological progressivism—one adopted by some secondgeneration Asian-Americans, as Reihan Salam suggested recently in The Atlantic, as a distinctive means of assimilation to the American cultural elite. Where Asian support for racial progressivism breaks down, meanwhile, there are two possibilities. There could be a real swing back rightward among some Asian voters—a possibility that the Trump White House obviously entertains, but which can only happen if the Republican Party finds a way to lose its Trumpian aura of white identity politics and bigotry. Perhaps more plausibly, Asian-Americans who reject affirmative action could begin to form their own centrist bloc within the Democratic Party, one that pulls the party back toward a kind of 1990s-style Clintonism, in the opposite direction from Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Or both things could happen, within different parts of the Asian-American community—with Chinese-Americans tilting more Republican and Indian-Americans staying firmly on the center-left. But no matter what, this week’s multiplex-courthouse convergence isn’t an anomaly. It’s a hint of both Asian-American influence and AsianAmerican divisions yet to come.
advanced economies, political uncertainties, a less stable international trade system and evolving central bank policies. The immediate risks come from potentially destabilizing changes in the dollar and international financial conditions. Those developments feed into the “global factor,” which, as shown by the research of Helene Rey and others, can play a consequential role in driving domestic financial and economic variables in emerging markets. The net impact of recent changes in market structure remains uncertain: Finally, we haven’t learned enough about the impact of recent structural
changes to the marketplace for portfolio investing in emerging economies. Specifically, it isn’t clear if these changes will dampen or amplify volatility during periods of heightened turmoil. This is true not just for the uptick in passive investment and the proliferation of new products, but also for changes in the way that crossover investors gain exposure to the EM asset class, the increase in local currency investing and the rise in emerging-countries’ corporate-bond issuance. Each of these four factors suggests we can hope for calmer days ahead for emerging markets but should plan for the probability of renewed volatility.
To be continued To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com.
2nd Front Page BusinessMirror
A8 Tuesday, September 11, 2018
DPWH to do ₧2.76B worth of projects in UP campuses
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By Lorenz S. Marasigan
@lorenzmarasigan
HE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) will carry out P2.76 billion worth of projects in various campuses of the University of the Philippines (UP), after signing a memorandum of agreement with the institution. In a statement, the DPWH said it has signed an agreement with UP to carry out 20 projects including the construction and renovation of school building facilities, dormitories, public restrooms, gymnasium, a water impounding lagoons, road network and an environmental research and outreach center. Broken down, 12 projects will be implemented in the Diliman
campus, three in Los Baños, one each in Manila, Cebu, the Visayas, a nd M i nd a n ao, a nd a not her one in an off-campus facility in Puerto Galera. Projects in the Diliman campus include: the P414-million rehabilitation and modernization of Gonzalez Hall-University Library; the P125-million University Health Service; the P72.45-million Molave Residence Hall; the P95.69-million
20
The number of projects that the DPWH will carry out, per an agreement with UP, including the construction and renovation of school building facilities, dormitories, public restrooms, gymnasium, water impounding lagoons, road network and an environmental research and outreach center Yakal Residence Hall; the P82.68million Kamia Residence Hall and the construction of the P35-million UP Diliman Multipurpose Hall. It also includes the following: the P200-million Faculty and Staff Housing; the P600-million Faculty Center; the P50-million
UP Gymnasium; the P50-million water impounding lagoons; the P250 Resilience Institute for Disaster Risk Reduction and Management and P50-million public restrooms. The projects for UP Los Baños involve a total investment of P400 million for the construction of Agronomy, Soils, and Horticulture Building Crop Protection Wing, Dormitory for Graduate Students, and a World-Class Multimedia Production Building. In Manila the public works department will spend P50 million to build the Neuroscience Institute Building. For Cebu, a total of P12.7 million has been allotted to renovate the Undergraduate Studies Building; for the Visayas campus, P100 million for the 3.7-kilometer road network leading to the New Academics Core Zone; and for Puerto Galera, P25.9 million for the construction of the Biodiversity and Environmental Research and Outreach Center (Phase 1).
Full-time Customs exec eyed to handle rice import permits
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ALACAÑANG is looking to designate a full-time Customs person who will focus on authorizing the issuance of import permits for rice. This, after August inflation soared to a nine-year high and the delayed delivery of rice imports to the warehouses of the National Food Authority (NFA) was delayed partly for causing the supply pinch. Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said on the designation of the Bureau of Customs point person is being owing to the delays in rice im-
portation in terms of logistics and the actual signing of relevant documents like import permits from the BOC. Sometimes, he said in Filipino, “importation gets delayed because...the one who authorizes the issuance of permits is with the chairman of Customs, so rice import permits pile up or some import permits are not being signed. That’s why imported rice cannot be unloaded.” Bad weather has delayed rice imports’ delivery to the NFA’s warehouses and it has also hindered the agency
LOW PRESSURE AREA 200 KM NORTH OF BASCO, BATANES as of 4:00 am - September 10, 2018
from immediately distributing cheaper rice to local markets. “We know the problem. We have the problem in logistics. We have a problem sometimes on the time gap when it comes to signing the relevant documents at Customs. All of those are being addressed by the government,” Roque said. Earlier, the economic managers agreed to recommend to the President the issuance of a directive to further simplify and streamline the licensing procedures for rice imports of the NFA.
Roque also said in a radio interview over the weekend that the President has made some decisions on the NFA, but he refused to give details yet on what such decisions are. Asked if it is related to sacking NFA Administrator Jason Aquino, Roque said, “I’d rather that the President make that declaration if he has made up his mind on it.” The President is also set to speak to the nation through a press conference later at 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Malacañang. As of press time, there were no details yet on what prompted this sudden call for a press conference or what the President will be announcing. After the press conference, the President will also be attending the Cabinet meeting, where the government preparations for the upcoming super typhoon, expected to enter the Philippine Area of Responsibility on Wednesday night, might be discussed. Roque also urged the public to start preparing for the upcoming typhoon and gave assurances that the Department of Social Welfare and Development is ready to provide humanitarian assistance. Bernadette D. Nicolas
Rice tariffs. . . Continued from A1
“The NFA will [no longer have the] power to determine importation. That’s why I was shocked when they [DA officials] said that it is [not the case],” she added. During the DA’s budget hearing, Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo R. Serrano said the tariffication of rice imports is not tantamount to full liberalization. Despite the conversion of the QR into tariffs, Serrano said the current import regime, where imports are monitored by the NFA, could stay. “Our commitment after the expiry of our waiver is to tariffy rice. Meaning to say, [we just have to] put a tariff value,” Serrano said. “You put a tariff but the import regime can stay as it is. [We can still have the control] until we touch the mandate of the NFA, which has the import licensing function,” Serrano added. Full liberalization of the rice sector would entail scrapping the minimum access volume, import licensing power and all administrative measures that control the entry of the staple, according to Serrano. “The whole point, madam chair, is that when you say tariffy, it doesn’t mean you fully liberalize the sector,” he said. Nonetheless, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he will continue to push for the retention of the NFA’s licensing power on rice imports in a post-QR regime.
www.businessmirror.com.ph
NKTI to buy 2 more machines to treat deadly leptospirosis
NKTI vascular surgeons (from left) Dr. Patrick Louie Maglaya and Dr. Servando Sergio Simangan Jr., along with nephrologist Dr. Romina Angcangco Dañguilan, hemodialysis section head, brief journalists on the Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator machine for pulmonary hemorrhage in leptospirosis. NONOY LACZA By Roderick L. Abad
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Contributor
@rodrik_28
HE National Kidney and Transplant Institute (NKTI) said on Monday it is spending around P16 million to purchase two more units of Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenator (Ecmo), a technology used in the management of pulmonary hemorrhage in leptospirosis, ahead of a spike in cases of the flood-borne disease, since the rainy season is not over yet. In an interview after a press briefing at the hospital’s diagnostics center in Quezon City, NKTI Executive Director for Administration Dr. Rosemarie Liquete told the BusinessMirror they received from the Department of Health (DOH) the fund to buy this equipment. “So, hopefully, in two months, we can purchase them,” she said, adding that the first Ecmo machine, which was also financed by the health agency, was delivered to the hospital last May. Since June of this year, when the DOH declared an outbreak of the deadly infection in Metro Manila, four patients with pulmonary hemorrhage and kidney failure admitted to NKTI have been treated successfully with this German technology for free. “Rather than ending up with end-stage kidney disease, [or undergoing] dialysis for life, [leptospirosis] is a disease that can
recover. It’s good that we give our finances to the needy for their recovery,” said Dr. Romina Angcangco Dañguilan of the nephrology division at NKTI. Ecmo is a machine where blood is oxygenated extracorporeally. It enables adequate respiration while the patient’s lung is allowed to recover through mechanical ventilation at lung rest settings. “We are happy this technology is now with us,” Ecmo Medical Team Head Dr. Joselito Chavez said in Filipino. He described it as “trailblazing” because it gives leptospirosis patients a chance to survive and go back to their normal lives. Leptospirosis, known in most countries as a rare disease, is endemic to the Philippines. It is spread to humans through contact with urine of infected animals like rats or through contact with water or soil contaminated by infected animals. Wading in floodwaters is one of the many ways by which people are infected by this dreaded illness. Globally, 20 percent to 70 percent of people affected with such zoonotic bacterial disease experience pulmonary complications, and their chances of survival is slim. The mortality rate of leptospirosis patients in most countries averages from 3 percent to 20 percent, majority of deaths due to pulmonary hemorrhage. See “NKTI,” A2
DepEd’s Briones to address Fortune Life at 8th anniversary of values advocacy program
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DUCATION Secretary Leonor M. Briones will be the guest of honor and keynote speaker at the eighth year celebration of “The Value of Hard Work and Discipline,” a values advocacy program of Fortune Life Insurance Co. together with the Department of Education and Marylindbert International. The celebration will be held on Wednesday, September 12, at 3 p.m. at the Bulwagan ng Karunungan, DepEd’s Head Office, Meralco Avenue, Pasig City. Launched in 2010 the values advocacy program features the inspiring life story of Fortune Life founder Ambassador Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, who rose from poverty to become a successful businessman through hard work and discipline. Highlighting the celebration will be the awarding of the Amb. Antonio L. Cabangon Chua Gintong Parangal Para sa Edukasyon. Five public school educators will be awarded the Gintong Parangal para sa Guro for teaching the
values of hard work and discipline to their pupils in the best way possible. Another set of awards, the Gintong Parangal para sa Pamumuno, will be handed out to five school divisions superintendents for their exemplary implementation of the values program in their Department of Education Schools Divisions.
Editor: Efleda P. Campos
Companies BusinessMirror
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
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DOE to launch energy-contracting exploration program in November
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By Lenie Lectura
@llectura
HE Department of Energy (DOE) said on Monday that it would launch the Philippine Conventional Energy Contracting Program (PCECP) in November this year. The PCECP is a new and transparent petroleum service contract awarding mechanism that allows the government to develop and utilize indigenous petroleum resources under a service contract with qualified local and international exploration companies. Under the PCECP, awarding of service contracts is conducted either through the competitive selection process or via nomination. Compared to its predecessor, the Philippine Energy Contracting Round, the PCECP would allow pro-
spective contractors to nominate areas other than the 14 predetermined areas. The PDAs include one area in the Cagayan Basin, three in Eastern Palawan, three in Sulu, two in Agusan-Davao, one in Cotabato and four in Western Luzon. To promote the PCECP, the DOE successfully kicked off an international road show last August 31 in Singapore, which coincided with the Asia-Pacific Scout Check Meeting and the South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Conference. The DOE
delegation, led by Assistant Secretary Caron Aicitel E. Lascano, held oneon-one meetings with 18 petroleum exploration companies. Local road shows are scheduled in Palawan on September 20, Davao on September 27 and Zamboanga in October. Lascano said there is considerably good investor interest in the Philippines as indicated by the meeting turnout and the expression of interest from the companies to nominate their prospective areas of interest. There are currently 22 active petroleum service contracts in the Philippines. Some of the DOE’s operatorpartners include Shell Philippines Exploration, Total E&P, PNOC-EC, Nido Petroleum, Philodrill, PXP Energy and Galoc Production Co. The Philippines is also home to the Malampaya Deep Water Gas-toPower Project, the largest and most successful natural gas industrial project in the country’s history. The DOE said PCEP is part of the agency’s efforts to aggressively
pursue initiatives that will ensure the provision of affordable, reliable, modern and sustainable energy, and meet the growing energy demand of the country. “For an energy-secure future, the DOE is committed to pursue energy independence and sustainability through effective and reasonable development of all indigenous energy resources in the Philippines,” Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said. Cusi added the increase in global exploration and development activities is a measure to cushion the transport and power sectors against the volatility of world market oil prices. Interested parties must comply with the legal, financial and technical requirements, which include the proposed work program and economic development of the contract area. All accepted applications shall be evaluated by the DOE Centralized Review and Evaluation Committee based on the criteria, pursuant to Department Circular DC2017-12-0017.
Tieza to sell stake in Ayala-led BIWC By Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo
@akosistellaBM Special to the BusinessMirror
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HE Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority (Tieza) will be divesting its stake from the Ayala-led Boracay Island Water Co. (BIWC), the pioneering water supply and sewerage system services on the world-famous beach destination. Tieza Chief Operating Officer (COO) Pocholo Paragas confirmed this to the BusinessMirror, as he also announced the appointment of the government corporation as sole regulatory authority over utilities in Boracay and other tourism destinations. “We are conducting the exercise, reviewing the process of how we could divest completely [from BIWC],” he said, but could not yet give an approximate period when the actual divestment would happen. “We still have to study how to do it,” he added, indicating Tieza’s shares have
to be priced accordingly, and there should be a proper timing on when to divest so the government doesn’t sell its stake at a loss. Tieza, formerly the Philippine Tourism Authority, is the infrastructure arm of the Department of Tourism, and owns 20 percent of BIWC. The decision to divest its shares in BIWC was contained in a Tieza board resolution dated July 24, 2018: “The Board approved and authorized COO Paragas to initiate studies and coordinate with offices, whether government or private, on the different ways Tieza can treat its shares in BIWC including the divestment of its shares in it.” The issue of Tieza owning shares in BIWC arose as the Boracay environmental issue came to the fore, with members of the interagency Task Force Boracay and lawmakers pointing to an apparent conflict of interest, as it is both a “regulator and the regulated.” Said conflict of interest was also affirmed by the Government Commission
on Government-Owned and -Controlled Corporations, prior to the July 24 meeting, government sources said. As this developed, Paragas expressed optimism that Tieza can work with the two water concessionaries on Boracay “to pursue sustainable reforms that will ensure delivery of high quality of water standards for the tourists and residents in the island.” Other than BIWC, the other water concessionaire is Boracay Tubi Services Inc., owned by MacroAsia Development Corp. Last September 5 the Office of the President struck down the National Water Resources Board’s motion for reconsideration “for lack of merit.” In its appeal in August 2017, the NWRB insisted that OP had jurisdiction of the Department of Justice’s decision (OSJ Case No. 04331-11) in 2012, which gave Tieza the sole and exclusive right to regulate all utilities in Boracay and other tourist zones. Said DOJ decision was already upheld by the OP in July 2017.
PNOC to take minority stake in LNG project
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HE Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) on Monday said it would take a minority stake in the integrated liquefied natural gas (LNG) project it plans to pursue with a still unidentified partner under a solicited scheme. “We have decided to run solicited, competitive tender to select the joint-venture partner that will develop the project with PNOC. The PNOC will take a minority equity interest in the project,” PNOC Vice President for Management Services Glenda Martinez said. There is no estimate yet as to PNOC’s participation. Martinez said the decision would be reached after all studies and evaluation with the Asian Development Bank, PNOC ‘s LNG transaction advisor, are concluded soon.
“We are still sharpening our pencils insofar as how small or minority, but definitely, PNOC will be on the minority,” Martinez said. The PNOC had earlier opted to pursue the LNG project via a government-to-government (G2G) scheme back in 2016. However, PNOC President Rueben Lista said on Sunday that the proposed scheme was not included in the investment priority plan of the National Economic and Development Authority. “It was beyond our control. At that time, it was the best approach,” Lista said. In 2017 the state firm opted to conduct an auction in the selection for its LNG partner via the unsolicited scheme. It received seven unsolicited proposals, including from Korea Electric Power Corp., Lloyds Energy Group Llc.
and its partner Itochu Corp., China National Offshore Oil Corp., and First Gen Corp. of the Lopez Group. “We were unlucky when we did G2G in 2016, so we had to resort to unsolicited in 2017. We did not find a partner for the unsolicited approach, so the PNOC board reiterated its directive for us to go to solicited,” Lista said. Martinez said all seven unsolicited proposals did not comply with several criteria stated under the build-operate-transfer law. Lista clarified it did not disqualify First Gen’s bid “because they did not offer, but instead submitted a counteroffer for us to join in the project which the board did not act upon.” Lenie Lectura
briefs ALORICA LABOR UNION DECLARES WORK STOPPAGE
THE first-ever labor union in the local business-process outsourcing industry is set to hold its work stoppage soon to protest the alleged union busting and unfair labor practices of their company’s management. The Unified Employees of Alorica announced on Monday that it already filed its notice of strike at the Department of Labor and Employment on September 7. UEA President Sarah Prestoza announced during a press conference Monday they made the decision after the “systematic” illegal dismissal of their members by Alorica Philippines through the implementation of its controversial eight-point system last February. Samuel P. Medenilla
PHL-ISRAEL ENERGY EXPLORATION DEAL IN PALAWAN NOT YET SIGNED
THE agreement on energy exploration in Palawan between the Philippines and Israeli oil company Ratio Petroleum Ltd. has not yet been signed, Presidential Spokesman Harry L. Roque Jr. said in a press briefing on Monday. Bernadette D. Nicolas
DENNIS UY BUYS MAJORITY STAKE IN CONTI’S RESTAURANT
UDENNA Corp., a company led by Davao businessman Dennis Uy, on Monday said it will buy a majority stake in the company that owns Conti’s restaurant chain, as it delves deeper into the food-service industry. The company said it has entered into a share-purchase agreement to acquire 70 percent of Conti’s Holdings Corp., which owns and operates Conti’s, a restaurant chain specializing in cakes and pastries. VG Cabuag
City of Dreams Manila operator to delist from PSE By VG Cabuag
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@villygc
ELCO Resorts and Entertainment (Philippines) Corp., the operator of City of Dreams Manila, said it wants to be delisted from the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE). In its disclosure, the company said its board approved the voluntary delisting of its common shares at the main board of the PSE. It said its principal owner Macau’s Melco Entertainment decided to delist due to its Philippine unit’s inability to raise funds. It said the main shareholder viewed Melco Resorts listed status “as an important tool allowing MRP to raise funds in the Philippine public market, in order to provide capital for expansion and other business plans.” “However, the bidder [MCO Philippines, Melco’s Philippine unit] believes that MRP’s listed status in recent years has not contributed to its ability to raise funds despite considerable efforts and expenses being incurred to maintain its listed status,” it said. Shares of Melco Resorts were temporarily halted for trading after the announcement. Its share price was last traded at P6.93 per share, down by 11 percent from its previous close. Melco said it has been notified by MCO (Philippines) Investments Ltd., its majority shareholder, that it will conduct a tender offer for up 1.54 billion outstanding common shares held by the
public, representing approximately 27.23 percent of the outstanding capital stock of the company at a tender offer price of P7.25 per share, a premium offering based on its previous close. “The corporation has been further notified by MCO Philippines that MCO Philippines will publish an announcement regarding its intention to conduct the tender offer for the purpose of a voluntary delisting of the corporation,” it said. The announcement comes after plans are announced for the expansion of City of Dreams Manila possibly beyond 2020, as it reaches its peak hotel occupancy. “We are still studying the plans. But we need to do it [expand],” Belle Corp. Vice Chairman Willy N. Ocier said earlier. “We may do it beyond 2020 because we still have to do some land acquisition. We have the land, but we find it too small, so we are acquiring,” he said. Belle owns half of City of Dreams Manila, while Melco operates the entire facility. City of Dreams Manila was the second gambling facility to operate in Entertainment City after Enrique K. Razon’s Bloomberry Resorts Corp.’s Solaire Resorts and Casino. Tiger Entertainment Okada Manila is the third operator, but lags behind the two. Ocier said in August that it beat Solaire in terms of gross gaming revenues. No figures were provided. “I hope that continues, and may I say that the gaming sector is quite healthy,” Ocier said.
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Tuesday, September 11, 2018
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Franklin, Neuberger see more pain for weak peso
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HE Philippine peso could be in for greater pain despite the Southeast Asian country’s strong economic growth, with major money managers bearish on the currency.
Frank lin Templeton Investments sees the peso falling past 55 per dollar—a drop of more than 2 percent—and is tactically shorting it. Neuberger Berman reckons that steps taken by nation’s central bank don’t go far enough yet to stem a slide in Asia’s third-worst performing currency. The peso, which reached its weakest since 2005 on Friday, is getting pummeled by rising oil prices, faster inflation and fiscal and current-account deficits and the broader investor turn against emerging markets. Unlike Indonesia—a neighbor that’s also been hard-hit—the Philippines hasn’t taken enough aggressive steps to shore up its currency, said Andrew Canobi, Melbourne-based director of fixed income for Australia at Franklin Templeton. “The Philippines twin deficits worry us particularly in this environment, where rates in the US seem to be pushing higher, and
there seems to be a real contest to attract capital flows,” Canobi said. If or when the peso hits 55, “we’d want to see what impact that would have on inflation and how the central bank’s likely to respond.”
‘Strong’ action
THE peso has weakened more than 7 percent this year, to 53.86 per dollar as of 11:43 a.m. in Manila on September 10. The surge of more than 40 percent in benchmark crude prices in the past year has hurt the currency by straining the finances of a nation that imports most of its oil. Stocks have also been hit, with the Philippine benchmark down as much as 1.7 percent on Monday. Central Bank Governor Nestor A. Espenilla Jr. last week said “strong immediate action” is looming to respond to threats to inflation, which is clocking its fastest in nine years. Coming Tuesday is the latest reading on the monthly
trade gap, projected at more than $3 billion—underscoring the country’s continuing need for funding from abroad. “What we need to see is a turn in the flow picture—i.e., balance of payments,” said Prashant Singh, a senior portfolio manager for emerging-market debt in Singapore at Neuberger Berman, which oversees $312 billion. “Unless that happens, it’s very hard to argue against more weakness in emerging-market currencies, including the peso.” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. sees the Philippines’s current account deficit continuing to deteriorate as infrastructure spending ticks up, strategists including Zach Pandl wrote in a September 7 report. The picture may look different in 2019, as inflation peaks and a “decisively more hawkish” central bank raises borrowing costs, potentially turning investor flows positive. Goldman sees the peso rising to
53 in three months and 52 in a year.
‘Silver lining’
ONE thing in the country’s favor is remittance flows from the 10 million Filipinos working overseas, which typically peak during the Christmas season and may provide an opportunity for the central bank to rebuild foreign-exchange reserves from a six-year low. “We’re entering the fourth quarter, which is when remittances start to pour in,” Jonathan Ravelas, chief market strategist at BDO Unibank in Manila, said. “There’s a silver lining.” Even so, some—including Rakuten Securities Australia—see worsening US-China trade tensions as a danger, with President Donald J. Trump preparing another tariff salvo. “If Trump goes the full 200 yards quickly, then that might potentially send the peso and other emerging markets to new record lows,” said Nick Twidale, Sydney-based chief operating officer at Rakuten. Bloomberg News
Nomura: Seven EM countries Investor at risk of exchange-rate crisis appetite
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EVEN emerging economies at risk of an exchange-rate crisis are Sri Lanka, South Africa, Argentina, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey and Ukraine, according to a new ana lysis by Nomura Holdings Inc. With five of the seven already in a currency crisis or a program run by the International Monetary Fund, that leaves South Africa and Pakistan as the standouts. At the same time, the eight countries with the lowest risk of a crisis are Brazil, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Peru, the Philippines, Russia and Thailand, according
to analysts including Robert Subbaraman, Singapore-based head of emerging-markets economics. “This is an important result,” they wrote in a note on Monday. “As investors focus more on EM risk it is important not to lump all EMs together as one homogeneous group; Damocles highlights a long list of countries with very low risk of full-blown crises.” Nomura’s findings are based on an early warning model—called Damocles—set up to identify exchange rate crises for 30 emerging economies. The model examines a variety of factors including foreign-
exchange reserves, debt levels, interest rates and import cover. It has predicted two-thirds of the 54 developing nation exchangerate crises since 1996, up to 12 months in advance, according to the analysts. “The results we have achieved are encouraging, but given the inherent limitations of any early warning system it would be foolish to make any exaggerated claims,” they said. Damocles refers to the moral parable the Sword of Damocles, an allusion to imminent and ever-present danger. Bloomberg News
Financial planning lessons from Green Lantern “In brightest day, in blackest night, No evil shall escape my sight. Let those who worship evil’s might. Beware my power—Green Lantern’s light!”
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HIS is a very powerful oath spoken by one of the most powerful superheroes of the Justice League, the Green Lantern. Ever since my childhood, I have been an avid fan of this superhero and, in fact, when playing superhero characters with my cousins, I chose to be Green Lantern. I was very amused to watch him defeat his opponents using his power ring. All the while I thought that the source of his power was the power ring. Only in my adulthood did I come to know that is power comes from his will. The stronger his will is, the higher the chance of him overcoming Sinestro (his arch-enemy) and others. In fact, the best-known power of the Green Lantern is to create green energy constructs that reflect the will and imagination of the wearer. When it comes to our personal finance, our will plays a major factor. Sadly, a lot of people have will but their will is too weak to compel them to act. As the saying goes, “If there’s a will, there’s a way.” Here are some will powers we need to have to succeed financially: Will to save. Financial planning requires us to save at last 20 percent of our income. Saving money means you are paying yourself first. Remember when Joseph was governor on Egypt? God inspired Joseph to require Egyptians to save one-fifth of their harvest to prepare for the impending famine. Saving 20 percent of our income serves the same purpose for us. In fact savings is the basics of financial planning because we cannot go on with the succeeding steps without it. If you do not want to have
Edmund Lao
PERSONAL FINANCE famine in your future, your will to save should be more powerful than your will to spend. Will to create emergency fund. Saving money is one but creating emergency fund is another. Unless a part of the savings be allotted to emergency fund, it runs the risk of being spent for other things. After saving money, the first priority is to build this fund. Unless your will to be free from debt is strong, you run a high risk your life to be at someone else’s hands when emergency strikes. Never depend on Bahala Na. Will to be insured. No one is exempted from owning an insurance policy nobody is immortal. Getting ill or dying at the time you are needed most can be a source of financial stress to the family as this can drain your savings. Insurance provides a buffer fund in case the risk we do not want to happen occurs. Insurance premium may seem costly but remember that the occurrence of risks comes with the greatest drain on our pockets. I was once a doubting Thomas about insurance but, after I learned the beauty of it, my will to be insured adequately was stronger than the thought of potentially losing my savings made me buy a lot of policies. Will to invest. Nowadays, saving money is never enough. Two generations ago, my paternal grandmother was a shrewd business person even during the Japanese occupation. She was able to save a lot of money and used these to buy gold bars. My grandmother, even with good eye-
sight at that time, was farsighted. She knew that Japanese occupation will not last long so she converted here Japanese money into gold. Her fear of losing the value when the occupation is over strengthened her will to invest in a tangible item that is not controlled to inflation. Sadly, the millennial generation thinks only of “You only live once.” They do not realize that because of technological breakthrough in medicine, people can now live longer and without investing today, their financial future will be at risk. Ms. Rose Fres Fausto gave a good refutation “You also grow old.” Stephen R. Covey said it right in his seven habits for highly effective people, “Begin with the end in mind.” If you want a financially trouble-free future, you must have strong will to look far and imagine your future and start investing today. Will to plan ahead. Time is short. We will soon part ways with whatever we have built in our lifetime. We can never bring our ownership in the next life. The difficult part is to be unmarried to you possession. A lot of old people find it hard to give away their possessions for fear of losing control over their children. But the same fear has created chaos among siblings when the asset changes status and becomes estate. Old people should have strong will for succession planning so that whatever they leave behind will be assured of continuity. The question is: Is your will as strong as that of Green Lantern? Edmund Lao is a registered financial planner of RFP Philippines. To learn more about personal-financial planning, attend the 72nd RFP program this October. To inquire, e-mail info@ rfp.ph or text <name><e-mail> <RFP> at 0917-9689774.
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HE Bureau of the Treasury (BTr) received mixed results in its latest Treasu r y-bi l l ( T-bi l l) auc t ion on Monday awarding P13.5 billion, from the P15 billion on offer and which capped the bid rates within internal estimates. National Treasurer Rosalia V. de Leon said the auction committee decided to partially award the 91-day T-bill while fully awarding the 182-day and 364-day tenors, since rates for the government security were leaning toward the higher levels. “Because they’re [investors] anticipating, right? They’re already saying that the BSP [Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas] should be hiking by another 50 basis points and this is supply-side effects,” de Leon said. “Analysts would also want to see the BSP to anchor inflationary expectations.” The reissued 91-day T-bill was partially awarded P2.470 billion, from the P4 billion on offer, with bids reaching P5.780 billion. The average annual rate was capped at 3.549 percent, which posted an increase of 32.4 basis points compared to the 3.225-percent set during the last auction. Bids for the reissued 182-day tenor reached P8.075 billion with the auction committee awarding the full P5 billion on offer. The average annual rate of 4.353 percent was set for the security increasing by 25.2 basis points, from the 4.101-percent set in the previous auction. The 364-day T-bill was awarded the P6 billion on offer with bids amounting to P8.051 billion. The average annual rate for the security settled at 5.137 percent increasing by 23.8 basis points, from the 4.899-percent rate in the previous auction. In August the BSP announced a 50-basis-point hike to their overnight reverse repurchase interest rate. The hike also came from the hee l s of t wo 25 - ba si s - poi nt hikes made in the May and June monetar y-polic y meetings of the BSP, making it the third consecutive meeting for the year with a rate hike action from the country’s central monetary authority. Rea Cu
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THIS YEAR’S MINING CONFERENCE TO FOCUS ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCES
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OPICS to be presented in this year’s Mining Philippines 2018 (MP2018) internationalconferenceandexhibition reflecttheChamberofMinesofthePhilippines’s (COMP) full awareness on the social, economic andenvironmentalperformancesofthemining industry. The annual event, hosted by the association of the country’s largest mining and exploration firms, will be held from September 18 to 20 at Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel. “[The] MP2018’s theme, ‘Strategic Synergies: Communicating the Gains of Responsible Mining’, mirrors our members’ commitment to be the epitome of responsible mineralsdevelopmentinthecountry;andtheir recognition of the need to share with mining stakeholders information on the industry’s goals and accomplishments as government contractor and partner,” COMP Chairman Gerard H. Brimo says. Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu will be the guest of honor at the event’s opening ceremonies, while Climate Change Commission Secretary Emmanuel M. de Guzman will discuss the impact of the Green Jobs Act on the industry on September 18. Analiza R. Teh, environment undersecretary for Climate Change Service and Mining Concerns, will deliver her keynote speech before the first plenary session on September 19. “Subject-matter experts from [the]
government, academe, civil society, and local and international private institutions have confirmed participation in [the] MP2018,” COMP Executive Director Ronnie Recidoro says. “As such, we expect no-holds-barred discussions on pressing issues, including environmental challenges in the pursuit of minerals development, mine rehabilitation, maximizing the national wealth share from mining operations, and global and regional mining trends.” RafaelitaAldaba,tradeassistantsecretary for Industry Development and Trade Policy Group, will outline the road map for miningindustry development, including how mining can take part in the government’s ongoing Build Build Build program and in the resurgence of the manufacturing sector. Meanwhile, Dr. Ronald Mendoza, dean of the Ateneo School of Government, will present on China-Philippines steel-trade relations and on the economic viability of developing downstreammineral-processingindustriesin the Philippines. University of the Philippines School of Economics faculty member Dr. Cielo Magno, for her part, will discuss the energysectorcostofdownstreamextractive-industry sector development. Delegates will be provided with firsthand insights on Japan’s mine-rehabilitation funding and best practices by Kazuya Sunada, planning division head of the Japan Oil, Gas
and Metals National Corp.; and on success stories in water quality data-management systems of global mining giants Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton by Andrew McNeill, principal consultant for Strategic Accounts of SRA Information Technology. Investors will get updates on global trends on mining and metals from Ian Hiscock, southeast asia consulting head of Commodity Research Unit Hong Kong; as well as on developments in Southeast Asia’s mineralresource industry from Sacha Winzenried, advisor for Energy, Utilities and Mining of PricewaterhouseCoopers Indonesia. BDO Capital and Investment Corp. President Eduardo Francisco, on the other hand, will discuss the financial requirements and incentivesfordownstreammining industries, including bank syndication, structured financing and public listing. Philex Mining Corp. President Eulalio B. Austin Jr., who heads the COMP’s Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) committee, will provide a progress report on the association’s adoption of TSM, a set of environmental- and social-performance protocols initiated by the Mining Association of Canada. The COMP adopted TSM last year following President Duterte’s pronouncements early in his term that Philippine mining firms should follow Canadian and Australian standards in minerals development.
TOYOTA ADOPTS A RIVER, SEGREGATES MERCURY FROM BUSTED LIGHTS Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation (TMPF), in partnership with the Save Silang-Santa Rosa River (S3R2) Foundation, the Santa Rosa City local government and the Laguna Lake Development Authority (LLDA), signed a memorandum of agreement undertaking rehabilitation and conservation efforts of the Silang-Santa Rosa River. Under the Toyota Adopt a River Project, Toyota will actively collaborate with its program partners to adopt a portion of the Silang-Santa Rosa River along the vicinity of Toyota Motor Philippines Corp. (TMP). In addition, Toyota shall also render service to its local community through the mercury sequestration on fluorescent light bulbs. The project will utilize TMP’s existing bulb-eater equipment, which is designed to capture the mercury content in busted fluorescent lights. These new projects are implemented to further strengthen Toyota’s efforts toward environmental protection and enhancement. In photo are (from left) TMPF Assistant Vice President Ronald Gaspar, Santa Rosa City Vice Mayor Arnold Arcillas, Rep. Arlene Arcillas of the First District of Laguna, TMPF President Dr. David Go, LLDA general manager Jaime Medina, Santa Rosa City Mayor Danilo Fernandez, TMP First Vice President Jose Ma. Aligada and Santa Rosa Watershed Management Council President Linda Creencia.
IBP MAKATI GOLF TO GIVE 2018 On August 17 the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) Makati Chapter held its Golf to Give 2018 golf tournament at the Wack-Wack Golf and Country Club. Present at the ceremonial tee-off were (from left) lawyers Arnold Corporal, Roderick Salazar, Joseph Anthony Lopez, Gil Roberto Zerrudo and Alfred Nolasco. The tournament was organized to fund the various projects on legal aid and socio-civic programs of the IBP Makati Chapter. The Golf to Give 2018 was made possible thru the generosity of the following sponsors: Sycip, Salazar, Hernandez and Gatmaitan law offices; Esguerra and Blanco offices; Quisumbing Torres law offices; Poblador, Bautista, Reyes law offices; V&A Law Villaraza and Angangco; BusinessMirror; San Miguel Corp.; Shang Properties Inc.; Globe; Globe Postpaid; Globe at Home; Double Dragon Properties, Fortun Narvasa Salazar law offices; 168 Shopping Mall; Intellicare; Avega Managed Care; Aventus; Medical Care; Genosi, Mango; Swift Corned Beef; Cargohaus; The Bellevue Manila; Tradizione; IBP Rizal Chapter; Nissin Cup Noodles; Swiss Miss; Fundador; and Aficionado Germany.
UNDERSTANDING YOUR TAX RIGHTS AND REMEDIES
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HAT do you do when the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) sends you a notice of assessment for tax deficiency, padlocks your establishment, or when the BIR auctions your property for sale to enforce tax collection? How do you deal fairly and squarely with the tax authorities in such situations? To arm you with the right knowledge to solve your tax issues, the Center for Global Best Practices (CGBP) will host a one-day training, titled “Tax Rights and Remedies for SMEs and Large Taxpayers”, scheduled on Friday, October 5, at the Manila Marriott Hotel. This program is CPD-accredited. Accountants attending this program will earn CPD credit units. Visit www.cgbp.org for a complete list of Best Practices programs. This solutions-oriented program will teach you everything you need to know on how to handle BIR tax audits, from their different tax-audit programs to their basis of assessment and processes. Learn how to deal fair and square with tax authorities based on the latest tax rulings of the Supreme Court and Court of Tax Appeals. This comprehensive training will show you the best practices and extensive ways to help you address your most pressing tax problems, from an administrative, judicial, procedural and substantive
perspective to protect your businesses. This program will feature expert tax practitioner lawyer Nicasio C. Cabaneiro, who is a partner in charge of the tax programs at the CGBP. He is a recognized authority in the practice of taxation and commercial law with a track record and solid reputation of saving his clients across various industries, billions in taxes. He is a sought-after lecturer and estateplanning consultant of high net-worth families and individuals to help them with their tax and other legal matters. He has over 40 years of teaching experience and 25 years with the Bank of Philippine Islands, capping his career as its vice president and head of the Legal Services Division. One of his advocacies is in helping taxpayers save on taxes with the best strategies, effective solutions, implemented the right way. This program is open to the general public. Government employees attending private sector-led training are exempted from the P2,000 limit set by the Commission on Audit, based on Department of Budget and Management Circular 563 dated April 22, 2016. Register now and save millions of pesos on taxes and consulting fees! Interested participants are encouraged to avail themselves of the early-bird and group discount for three or more registrants. Seats are limited and preregistration is required.
WIDUS FOUNDATION DONATES WHEELCHAIRS TO PERSONS WITH DISABILITY AFFAIRS OFFICE OF ANGELES CITY
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IDUS Foundation Inc., (WFI) donated 133 wheelchairs to the Persons with Disability Affairs Office of Angeles City (PDAO-AC) at its city hall on September 3. The turnover was led by WFI Executive Director Neki Liwanag, WFI manager Ronnel Golimlim, and Widus marketing manager Sheryl Mamangun, together with Angeles City Mayor Ed Pamintuan, Councilor Jay Sangil, Vice Mayor Bryan Nepomuceno, Councilor Edu Pamintuan and PDAO-AC officer in charge Philip Pelayo.
Liwanag shared that a total of 238 wheelchairs were purchased by WFI, 133 of which were given to PDAO-AC, benefiting indigent PWDs in 33 barangays, including three resettlement areas in Angeles City. The remaining 105 wheelchairs will then be contributed to DSWD Pampanga to cater to 19 municipalities. Pamintuan lauded the foundation’s initiative to help enhance the quality of life of Angelenos through its generous donation to the PWD community.
BACK AT HIS BEST
Del Potro’s reward: Being back!
A YEAR after missing the US Open because of an injured right elbow that would require surgery, Novak Djokovic shows that he is unquestionably back at his best and back at the top of tennis.
JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO feels good about his chances with the way his wrist held up over the last two weeks. AP
By Howard Fendrich
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The Associated Press
EW YORK—The US Open final suddenly appeared to be slipping away from Novak Djokovic. He dropped three consecutive games. He was barking at himself, at his entourage, at a crowd vocally supporting his opponent, Juan Martin del Potro. He was, in short, out of sorts. And then came Sunday’s pivotal game, a 20-minute, 22-point epic. Three times, del Potro was a point from breaking and earning the right to serve to make it a set apiece. Three times, Djokovic steeled himself. Eventually, he seized that game—and del Potro’s best chance to make a match of it. A year after missing the US Open because of an injured right elbow that would require surgery, Djokovic showed that he is unquestionably back at his best and back at the top of tennis. His returns and defense-to-offense skills as impeccable as ever, Djokovic collected his 14th Grand Slam title and second in a row by getting through every crucial moment for a 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3 victory over 2009 champion del Potro at Flushing Meadows. “There was always part of me that imagined and believed and hoped that I can get back [to] the desired level of tennis very soon,” said Djokovic, whose operation was in February. “But at the same time, life showed me that it takes time for good things, it takes time to really build them, for things to fall into place, so you can center yourself, balance yourself and thrive. The last two months have been terrific.” This was Djokovic’s third championship in New York, along with those in 2011 and 2015. Add in the trophies he has earned at six Australian Opens, one French Open and four Wimbledons, most recently in July, and the 31-year-old Serb pulled even with Pete Sampras for the third-most majors among men, trailing only Roger Federer’s 20 and Rafael Nadal’s 17. “He’s my idol. Pete, I love you,” Djokovic said. Federer lost in the fourth round in New York, while Nadal retired from his semifinal against del Potro because of a bad right knee. That put the 29-year-old Argentine back in a Grand Slam final for the first time since his breakthrough nine years ago, a comeback for a guy who had four wrist operations in the interim. “I believe he’ll be here again with the champion’s trophy. I really do,” said Djokovic, who gave his pal a hug at the net, and then went over to console del Potro as he wiped away tears at his sideline seat. Del Potro spoke this week about the low point, in 2015, when he considered quitting the sport. But supported by a dozen or so friends from back home, whose “Ole!” choruses rang around the arena, he climbed up the rankings to a career-high No. 3 by thundering his 100 mph (160 kph) forehands and 135 mph (215 kph) serves. Those produce free points against so many foes. Not against Djokovic, who always seemed to have all the answers—and who said he convinced himself that all of those “Oles” were actually people calling out his own nickname, “Nole.” Djokovic was better than del Potro on their many lengthy exchanges, using his trademark body-twisting, limb-splaying court coverage to get to nearly every ball, sneakers squeaking around the blue court in Arthur Ashe Stadium, where the roof was closed because of rain. “I was playing almost at the limit, all the time, looking for winners with my forehands, backhands, and I couldn’t make it,” del Potro said, “because Novak [was] there every time.” Never was that more apparent than the game that stood out on this evening, with Djokovic serving while down 4-3 in the second set. They went back and forth, through eight deuces and all those break opportunities for del Potro, until he slapped one forehand into the net, and another sailed wide. Those were high-risk shots, but, as del Potro put it: “It’s the only way to beat these kind of players.” Djokovic’s coach, Marian Vajda, called that moment the match’s “turning point, obviously.” When it ended, with Djokovic holding to 4-all, spectators began leaving their seats, perhaps thinking it was time for a changeover, even though it wasn’t. That prompted to chair umpire Alison Hughes to chastise them. It was a brief request, though, unlike her many other pleas for quiet, mainly as fans were shouting and chanting and clapping in support of del Potro. It all bothered Djokovic, who started yelling and gesturing toward the seats. At one moment, he pressed his right index finger to his lips, as if to say, “Shhhhhhh!” Later, after winning a point, Djokovic put that finger to his ear, as if to say, “Who are you cheering for now?!” The tiebreaker was resolved thanks to more del Potro miscues on his forehand side, as he looked more and more fatigued. He made one last stand by breaking and holding for 3-all. But that was that. When it ended, thanks to a three-game closing run by Djokovic, he flung his racket away and landed on his back, arms and legs spread wide. He had hit his peak, Vajda said, at “just at the right time.” Djokovic had never gone through an extended absence until 2017, when he sat out the second half of the season because of elbow pain that had plagued him for more than a year. He tried to return at the start of this season, but couldn’t, and opted for surgery. It took him some time to find the right form, as evidenced by his quarterfinal loss at the French Open to a guy who was ranked 72nd and had never won a Grand Slam match until that tournament. “I was very, very disappointed with my performance that day,” Djokovic recalled on Sunday, explaining that he went hiking in the mountains in France to clear his head after that setback. Djokovic then got right back to work, and announced that he was, once more, himself by winning Wimbledon. Now he’s backed that up at the US Open, the fourth time in his career he won multiple majors in a season.
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EW YORK—Juan Martin del Potro stood with his hands on his knees, exhausted from taking the mightiest swings he could with his ferocious forehand. Novak Djokovic kept getting the ball back, so del Potro would take a bigger whack, trying to find some spot in the corner of the court that would be uncovered. That eventually wore him out and led to mistakes, and del Potro lost, 6-3, 7-6 (4), 6-3, on Sunday in the final of the US Open, the tournament he most wants to win again. But just getting back, hearing those delirious Argentine fans sing “Ole! Ole! DelPo!” again between points, gave him something else rewarding to take home from Flushing Meadows. “What I said on the stage, you can lose or win a trophy, but the love from the crowd, it could be even bigger than the tournament,” del Potro said. “That’s what I got from them. It will be in the heart for the rest of the life.” It wasn’t long ago he never knew if he would hear that sound again. He nearly quit tennis in 2015, after four wrist surgeries that wouldn’t let him regain the form that carried him past Roger Federer to win the 2009 US Open. The powerful player couldn’t hit the ball hard enough with his backhand to threaten top players, let alone the rulers of the sport like Federer, Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. But del Potro not only stuck with it, he surged up to a career-high No. 3 in the rankings last month on the strength of a semifinal run at the French Open and a victory over Federer to win Indian Wells. Djokovic said he believes del Potro will win another major title. “With his wrist injuries, with coming back and still having faith, having belief in himself that one day he’s going to be a top player and he’s going to be fighting for Grand Slams,” Djokovic said, “I really wish him all the best.” The quest to win a second major will have to wait until next year, but del Potro, who turns 30 this month, feels good about his chances with the way his wrist held up over the last two weeks. “I will keep playing tennis for a few more years,” he said. “I don’t know when will be my last tournament in this career, but I’m excited to keep surprising myself doing things like this. I’m very motivated to keep trying to win these titles.” He was in tears afterward, with both Djokovic and John McEnroe coming over to give him a consoling pat on the shoulder as he sat on his chair waiting for the trophy presentation. He was drained from three hours, 16 minutes trying to find weaknesses in perhaps the best defender in tennis, especially after losing the 22-point, 20-plus minute game in the second set that was the match’s pivotal moment. Del Potro might have beaten other players on Sunday, same as some of the losses to Federer and Nadal through the years may have been victories against lesser foes. Some two hours after the match, del Potro walked out to the players garden to a greeting from his group of about a dozen friends who have led the cheers from his box, supporters from back home he has credited with keeping his spirits up during the depressing days when he was injured. AP
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| Tuesday, September 11, 2018 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
WTA CALLS FOR EQUAL TREATMENT OF PLAYERS
ASHLEIGH BARTY (right) and CoCo Vandeweghe kisses their trophy after beating Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic, 3-6, 7-6, 7-6, in the women’s doubles final of the US Open on Sunday at Arthur Ashe Stadium. AP
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EW YORK—The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) is calling for equal treatment of all tennis players and coaching to be allowed across the sport in the aftermath of the US Open final. Serena Williams was given three code violations by chair umpire Carlos Ramos in her 6-2, 6-4 loss to Naomi Osaka on Saturday, and Williams and critics inside and outside of tennis argued that she wasn’t treated the same as some male players. The women’s pro tour agreed. “The WTA believes that there should be no difference in the standards of tolerance provided to the emotions expressed by men versus women and is committed to working with the sport to ensure that all players are treated the same. We do not believe that this was done last night,” CEO Steve Simon said in a statement. Men’s champion Novak Djokovic said he thought Ramos should not have pushed Williams so hard. “Just maybe changed—not maybe, but he did change the course of the match,” Djokovic said. “Was, in my opinion, maybe unnecessary. We all go through our emotions, especially when you’re fighting for a Grand Slam trophy.” But he disagreed with Simon that men and women are treated differently. “I don’t see things as Mr. Simon does. I really don’t,” Djokovic said. “I think men and women are, you know, treated in this way or the other way depending on the situation. It’s hard to generalize things, really. I don’t see it’s necessary really to debate that.” The first violation given to Williams was for coaching, which isn’t allowed during any men’s matches but is permitted on the women’s tour except in Grand Slam tournaments. Though Williams said she follows the rules and never receives coaching during a match, Coach Patrick Mouratoglou acknowledged that he does it and says it’s well known throughout the sport that all coaches do. “We also think the issue of coaching needs to be addressed and should be allowed across the sport,” Simon said. “The WTA supports coaching through its on-court coaching rule, but further review is needed.” AP
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ENVER—Last season, the Seattle Seahawks led the league when it came to the number of players willing to make a statement while the national anthem played. To start this season, that wave of Seahawks has dwindled to only two players. Linemen Duane Brown and Quinton Jefferson walked off the field and waited in the tunnel while a field-sized American flag was unfurled and the national anthem played before their season opener on Sunday in Denver. In a league where more than 200 players once took some sort of action to protest police brutality and social injustice in America during the anthem, The Associated Press counted fewer than 10 across the league who did so on the National Football League’s (NFL) opening on Sunday. Only two of them—Albert Wilson and Kenny Stills of the Dolphins—kneeled while the “Star-Spangled Banner” played. None of which bothered Brown much. He says he’s committed to what he’s doing. “I made my decision,” he said. “That was my decision. I wasn’t paying attention to what other teams or other players are doing.”
The lower numbers might reflect a new strategy many players are embracing to draw attention to the issues Colin Kaepernick raised when he began kneeling for the anthem in 2016. The then-San Francisco 49ers quarterback was looking to shine a light on issues impacting African-American communities. Since then, a group of NFL players have formed the Players Coalition. They want to move the focus away from the anthem, which has become a lightning rod, in part because of President Donald J. Trump’s continued criticism of players who don’t stand during the anthem. “We’re trying to move past the rhetoric of what’s right or what’s wrong in terms of the anthem, and really focus on the systematic issues that are plaguing our communities,” said Malcolm Jenkins of the Eagles, one of the group’s cofounders, who is no longer protesting during the anthem. And yet, if Kaepernick is on board with all of that, it wasn’t clear on Sunday. He took to twitter to praise Wilson and Stiles. “My Brothers [Stills] and [Wilson] continue to show their unwavering strength by fighting for the oppressed,” Kaepernick said in his
tweet. “They have not backed down, even when attacked and intimidated.... Love is at the root of our resistance.” Kaepernick’s message got through to his friends in Miami. “I know he has our back,” Stills said. “Really, there has been a huge difference between when we first started protesting and now. A lot of people are reaching out and supporting us, so I really appreciate that. To everybody out there... let’s keep doing our best to make positive change and have these conversations and make our country a better place.” Since opting out of his contract after 2016, Kaepernick has been unable to land a job with an NFL team and issuing the league for collusion. But his voice is still being heard. Last week Nike introduced an ad featuring the quarterback and his message: “Believe in something, even if it means sacrificing everything.” Other than Stills, Wilson and the two Seahawks, Dolphins defensive lineman Robert Quinn raised his fist during the anthem. Niners receiver Marquise Goodwin did the same at San Francisco’s game at Minnesota. In Los
PRESSURE WEIGHS DOWN ON LADY TAMS
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HE morning after their heartbreaker of a loss to an unfancied University of the Philippines (UP) side in the opener of the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference Season 2 Finals, the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tams could face a much-bigger dilemma when they seek to even things up in Game Two on Wednesday. Celine Domingo, a gem of a hitter, blocker and server, is a doubtful starter after sustaining a knee injury early in the fifth set of their 25-14,
25-22, 24-26, 18-25, 5-15 loss late Sunday. With FEU down, 1-5, in the decider, Domingo left the match after hurting her right knee, which has plica syndrome. The Lady Tams only managed to produce four more points after that as the fired-up Lady Maroons stormed to victory. Before she moved out, Domingo turned in a second-best 16 points on nine hits, four aces and three blocks. “I am not allowed to bend my knee too
much. But it got bent so I wasn’t able to stand up anymore,” Domingo said. But team physical therapist Marilou Regidor has assured that it was not a major injury and all they had to do was manage her movements in training as her plica syndrome gets triggered by certain movements. A follow-up checkup yesterday, however, would determine if she would be allowed to suit up in the next game of their best-of-three series. Whatever, the Lady Tamaraws will be
Angeles Chargers left tackle Russell Okung raised his fist. And back in Denver, Broncos receiver Demaryius Thomas and linebacker Brandon Marshall retreated to their tunnel while the anthem played. Marshall sent out a statement touting a charity designed to help people who are on the verge of homelessness. “It is time that we build social currency by way of empowering our future generations,” Marshall said. “This begins by addressing the most fundamental needs—by feeding the minds and bodies.” This came hours after Trump opened the day with a tweet that took digs at the NFL, linking low ratings for Thursday night’s opener between Atlanta and Philadelphia (lowest for an opener since 2008) to players who refuse to stand for the anthem. “If the players stood proudly for our Flag and Anthem, and it is all shown on broadcast, maybe ratings could come back? Otherwise worse!” he tweeted. CBS and Fox, which carried Sunday afternoon’s games, did not televise the anthem. AP
prepared, assured playmaker Kyle Negrito. “If she won’t be allowed to play, whoever is on the court must perform. Whoever will be tapped need not play like Celine. She only needs to be herself,” Negrito said. The ace setter, meanwhile, said that their failed comeback bid in the third set cost them the game. FEU took the first two sets but had to rally from a nine-point deficit, 16-7, in the third. They did, tieing the game at 23 and 24 behind Heather Guino-o, Jerilli Malabanan and Domingo. But UP’s Roselyn Rosier struck with an off-the-block hit and Guino-o sent an attack into the net.
PITTSBURGH Steelers wide receiver Antonio Brown (84) couldn’t hold on to the ball as Cleveland Browns defensive back Terrance Mitchell (39) defends during overtime of their National Football League game that wound up in a 21-21 tie in Cleveland. AP
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PHL CAGERS OFF TO IRAN WITH SPEED AS WEAPON T
HE men’s national team left for its enemy’s’ turf in Tehran on Monday night bringing a weapon—speed—it hopes to sharpen further in the next two days. Head Coach Yeng Guiao said that the team’s quickness will be its edge when it taces a tall Iran team in the fourth window of the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers on Thursday. “I’m impressed with our speed, and that will be our advantage against Iran,” Guiao said. The team is coming off a victory over the IECO Green Warriors, 99-82, in a tune-up match last Sunday at the Meralco Gym. But the biggest headache would still be 7-foot-2 mammoth Hamed Haddadi. Haddadi, a former National Basketball Association player, averages 16.8 points and 12 rebounds in four of his team’s games in the qualifiers. Iran also has a slew of talented players— veteran forward Nikka Bahrami and second-best scorer Behnam Yakhchali. Iran is tied with Australia on a 5-1 won-loss record in Group F, while the Philippines has a 4-2 record, followed by Kazakhstan (3-3), Japan (2-4) and Qatar (2-4). The team will flew to Iran with its 16-player pool with Guiao trimming the team to the final 12 on Wednesday. San Miguel Beer’s Christian Standhardinger and NorthPort’s Stanley Pringle, two key players from the Asian Games squad, lead Guiao’s pool. But only one of them could stand as the team’s naturalized player with Standhardinger getting the edge with his 6-foot-8 beefy physique necessary to bang with the Iranians. Also in the pool are Alex Cabagnot and Marcio Lassiter of San Miguel Beer, Paul Lee and Ian Sangalang of Magnolia, and Scottie Thompson, Japeth Aguilar and Greg Slaughter of Barangay Ginebra. Completing the group are Poy Erram and Allein Maliksi of Blackwater, Asi Taulava of NLEX, Matthew Wright of Phoenix, and Gabe Norwood, Raymond Almazan and Beau Belga of Rain or Shine. Seven-foot Greg Slaughter is a game-time decision because of his ankle injury. After Iran, Team Pilipinas will face Qatar in a closed-door match on Monday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. Ramon Rafael Bonilla
Blakely back in PBA in Katropa uniform
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ARQUS BLAKELY returns to the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), not with Magnolia (formerly Star), but this time as TNT’s reinforcement in the Governors’ Cup. KaTropa Team Manager Virgil Villavicencio confirmed their acquisition of Blakely, who they hope could shore the Katropa up from a 2-4 wonlost start in the conference. He replaced Mike Glover and Stacy Davis. “It has been two years since he played for Star. We expect him to give us the energy and intensity,” Villavicencio said. Blakely, a native of New Jersey, won titles for San Mig Coffee (forerunner of Star and Magnolia) in 2013 and 2014. He was also named Best Import in 2013 on averages of 24.8 points, 16 rebounds, four assists and 2.6 blocks. “Blakely is not new in the PBA. He’s a veteran. So I don’t think adjustments will be a problem,” Villavicencio added. With the league on hold to pave way for the Fiba World Cup Asian Qualifiers, Blakely will see action on September 22 against Rain or Shine in Iloilo. Ramon Rafael Bonilla
BESIDES vastly improving his math skills, the National Basketball Association-themed and Steph Curry-filled do-it-yourself instructional material (left) helped Special Education pupil Enjo develop language comprehension and storytelling—eventually overcoming a communication disorder that prevented the boy from speaking properly in preschool. Below left, the “NBA” flash cards and skip-counting material that helped him level up in arithmetic. PHOTOS BY EDEL LUMACTAO
From three points to 3Rs, the two-time National Basketball Association Most Valuable Player makes the shot—whether he knows it or not.
STEPH CURRY, MY TUTOR By Mila Molina Lumactao
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literacy, Enjo refused to work with the stack of store-bought number flash cards. Papa Edelbert, a creative director and fellow NBA fanatic, came up with a DIY set featuring numbers, not as numerals on a plain background, but as sported by the players on their jerseys. So, at MOA Arena last Friday, Enjo’s backpack came ready with the homework notebook (with a fresh, blank gum label for a possible autograph), along with samples of his DIY math worksheets featuring Steph, Kevin, Klay and the rest of the warriors talking about skip counting, and even a homemade short story, designed to help strengthen Enjo’s comprehension skills. Enjo’s teacher Ms. Mical Rubio also encouraged him to create a trip chart presenting different aspects of his Steph Curry experience. Enjo’s recollection of the cities he passed en route to the Mall of Asia in Pasay City, and the various restaurants he ate in, plus the Philippine Basketball Association and NBA players he saw, help him practice social studies perspectives and math graphing skills. In a world where NBA statistics and analytics are becoming increasingly technology-driven—and yes, under Steve Kerr’s mentorship, increasingly ruled by Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors quartet—it’s heartening to know how a healthy fascination with hoops can be transformed, with some old-fashioned imagination and filial love, into a powerful, if rather analogish and hand-crafted, tool for literacy. So, keep those lightning-quick passes and hotly contested threepointers coming, Steph Curry. One step back for Steph could be one step forward in a young learner’s journey.
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-SHIRTS, jerseys, jackets—yes, two-time Most Valuable Player (MVP) and three-time National Basketball Association champion Stephen Curry appears on these, as well as on socks, shorts, button pins, caps, towels... Oh, and he’s also on a Grade 2 Homework notebook, do-it-yourself (DIY) worksheets on skip counting and homemade Number Flash Cards featuring National Basketball Association (NBA) players from the 1980s to the present. Just ask Emmanuel Juan Lumactao: Enjo to his family, teachers, classmates, school bus drivers and other friends at Community of Learners Foundation (COLF) School for Children—including Batibot founder and school principal Feny de los Angeles Bautista—and Enjo’s speech and
EVER wonder why Steph’s such a good role model for children? He credits his father Dell (left), the biggest influence in his life. NONIE REYES
occupational therapists at Creative Therapies and at Shapes Psychological Services. Among the throng of kids who trooped to the SM Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena last September 7 to see one half of the Splash Brothers, Enjo was particularly excited, ready for any opportunity to talk with his NBA favorite, and armed with a stash of statistics. Diagnosed with Communication Disorder when he was a preschooler, Enjo, now in Grade 2 Special Education, is still an emerging reader but possesses an uncanny knack for numbers and dates, especially anything NBA- and Curry-related, including the year Steph left Davidson (2009), when he was drafted (2009), and the name and contemporaries of his dad (Dell, versus Michael Jordan, Dennis Rodman, etc.). During his transition from the Barangay Day Care Center to COLF’s kindergarten class, his parents’ anxiety was rising as the family did their back-to-school shopping. They only heaved a sigh of relief when they spotted Enjo gravitating excitedly toward the bookstore’s new line of NBA-themed notebooks. The one with the Steph Curry cover naturally got assigned as the all-important, can’t-leave-home-without-it homework notebook. In his early days of numbers
RED LIONS, BLAZERS TOP ‘NC’ T’TENNIS AN BEDA blanked Letran, 3-0, to secure its sixth straight women’s championship while College of Saint Benilde turned back Letran, 3-1, to claim a men’s “five-peat” in the 94th National Collegiate Athletic Association table tennis tournament on Monday at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Gym in Manila. Ronela Magcale and Kryslyn Manez smashed Rica Enriquez and Hannah Tayad, 11-8, 12-10, 11-2, in the doubles to complete the Red Paddlers’ sweep of the Lady Knights. Abbie Nuevo overpowered Trixie Catapang, 11-3, 11-8, 11-7, and Angel Sanchez survived a gritty Kristiana Lim, 11-4, 10-12, 11-3, 11-7, in the singles matches to give San Beda the early lead and set up Magcale and Manez for the clincher. Sanchez was named Most Valuable Player (MVP).
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Graduating player Ryan Jacolo delivered the decisive win at the expense of John William Managos, 11-6, 11-7, 11-9, for the Blazers. Jacolo bounced back from a faulty start by beating John Pansacula, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 in the first singles but Letran tied the duel as Managos edged James Sy, 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 11-6, in the other singles match. Joshua Padilla and Martie del Rosario then downed Olsehn Obal and Benjiecer Lim, 15-13, 118, 11-7, in doubles to give Letran a 2-1 edge before Jacolo wrapped it all up in the reversed singles. In juniors’ action, Letran made up for its frustration in the seniors’ division by shocking San Beda, 3-1, a victory anchored on MVP Matt Andrew Ramos. San Beda and Letran, meanwhile, renew one of college basketball’s fiercest rivalries as the Red
Lions try to fortify their grip of the No. 2 spot, and the Knights hope to continue to draw inspiration from Jerrick Balanza on Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. The Red Lions are the favorites in the 2 p.m. showdown with their 10-1 (win-loss) record behind the Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates’ unblemished 11-0 card. They have also beaten the Knights, 80-76, in overtime in the first round of eliminations. Robert Bolick and Donald Tankoua were instrumental in that victory, with AC Soberano making his presence felt with two three-pointers in overtime. “We expect it to be tougher for us, because we know that Letran is a strong team and always a contender,” San Beda Coach Boyet Fernandez said.
Ahanmisi sparkles for Soaring Falcons
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N opening ceremony like no other kicked off the 81st Season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena. And what a glitter of a ceremony it was with Filipino hearthrob James Reid, KPop star Minzy and no other than three-time National Basketball Association champion and three-time Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry highlighting the affair. And so how does one close a weekend to remember? Cap it with a highlight performance on the basketball court.
Jerrick Ahanmisi did just that with his clutch buckets that send the Adamson University Soaring Falcons scoring a 74-70 shocker over the defending champion Ateneo Blue Eagles. As a result, Ahanmisi came down as the season’s first UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week. The Filipino-Nigerian edged University of the Philippines’s Juan Gomez de Liaño, National University’s Dave Ildefonso and Far Eastern University’s Arvin Tolentino for the weekly awards handed by scribes from print and online outfits covering the beat. Without a doubt, Adamson University wouldn’t have pulled off the upset if not
for the efforts of Ahanmisi, who put up 23 points on an 8-of-17 shooting he laced with four rebounds. The third-year swingman’s offensive production was the highest on opening weekend and included a mesmerizing buzzer-beating half-court shot that gave Adamson University a 40-39 lead heading into the half time break. With the game tied, Ahanmisi was given the isolation following Head Coach Franz Pumaren’s timeout and he delivered a clutch lay-up that gave his team a 70-68 lead with a minute to play. Not long after, the Falcons brought the Blue Eagles for the first time since 2016.
FRENCHMAN Sports C RULES ICONIC VUELTA CLIMB BusinessMirror
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| Tuesday, September 11, 2018
mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao
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AGOS DE COVADONGA, Spain—Thibaut Pinot won the challenging 15th stage of the Spanish Vuelta with a dominant charge on the iconic climb into Lagos de Covadonga on Sunday, while Simon Yates stayed close and added a few seconds to his overall lead. The Frenchman Pinot broke away under dense fog with about 6 kilometers to go and the GroupamaFDJ rider held on for an impressive victory after a 178.2-kilometer ride through the Picos de Europa mountains in northern Spain. He crossed the line 28 seconds in front of Miguel Angel Lopez and 30 seconds ahead of Yates. Alejandro Valverde was fourth, 32 seconds off the lead. “I went for this victory, it feels really good,” said Pinot, who already had career wins in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. “I was obsessed with winning on all three Grand Tours and I’ve just done it.” Yates, who made several breakaway attempts near the top, gained six seconds on Valverde, increasing his overall lead to 26 seconds. Nairo Quintana remained third, 33 seconds behind Yates and 10 seconds in front of Lopez. “It was a very strong attack from Pinot,” Yates said. “He came from behind with a lot of power, a lot of speed.... It was difficult in the last climb. There was zero cooperation [with Quintana and Lopez] so it was difficult to do anything.” Monday is the second and final rest day of the threeweek Grand Tour race that ends next Sunday in Madrid. The race resumes on Tuesday with a 32-kilometer time trial from Santillana del Mar to Torrelavega in northern Spain. “I’m looking forward to the rest day and then we’ll move on to the time trial and the rest of it,” Yates said. “The gaps are still very small and the [time trial] could be the key.” Historically, Covadonga has seen some of the greatest climbers triumph on the mist-enshrouded summit deep in the Asturian mountains, and for many fans, Pinot was a fitting latest addition to that list.
THIBAUT PINOT wins the Spanish Vuelta’s challenging 15th stage as Tour de France champion Geraint Thomas signs a new three-year contract with Team Sky. AP
Pinot’s victory is his first stage win in the Vuelta after victories in the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France, making him the latest rider to claim victories in all three Grand Tours. “I could take advantage of the way they [the GC contenders] were marking each other so closely, and once I had 15 seconds advantage I knew I could do it,” Pinot, who attacked just before the climb’s hardest segment of La Huesera, said afterwards. “It was a hard-fought win, one taken a la pedale, but I wanted to get a win in the Giro, Tour and the Vuelta and now I’ve done that.” It’s a sign of how important the stage win was to
Pinot that he said he had no regrets about having lost time earlier in the Vuelta, in an echelon, because as he put it, “without having lost that time, I might not have been given such room for manouvre today.” “So I have no regrets, everything has worked out as I wanted it to today, I’m taking things very calmly.”
THOMAS SIGNS NEW SKY CONTRACT
TOUR de France champion Geraint Thomas has ended speculation over his future by signing a new three-year contract with Team Sky. The 32-year-old Thomas, whose previous deal was set to expire at the end of 2018, had been the subject
of interest from other teams. However, the Welshman has decided to stay with the British team and is now contracted through to the 2021 season. “I’m pleased it’s sorted and delighted to be staying with the team,” Thomas told Team Sky. “It’s working really well for me here and I’m excited about what’s still to come.” Thomas, who picked up Olympic gold medals in team pursuit in 2008 and 2012, finally triumphed at this year’s Tour de France, having spent much of his career playing a supporting role to the likes of former champions Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. AP
Maradona to coach club in Mexico’s cartel heartland ULIACAN, Mexico—Diego Maradona, whose public battles with cocaine made him soccer’s poster child for the perils of substance abuse, is setting up camp in Mexico’s drug cartel heartland as the new coach of a second-tier team. Draped in official club gear, the Argentine soccer legend arrived this weekend in Culiacan, home turf of the Sinaloa Cartel, to take over the bottom-dwelling Dorados in what some describe as a publicity stunt for the team and a last-ditch effort to resurrect a career marred by drugs and antics. Maradona, 57, is a big fish for a little-known team founded just 15 years ago. He will reportedly earn $150,000 a month to coach a team where players complain of missed paychecks. A Dorados club representative could not be reached to confirm or deny the salary or missed payments. Tom Marshall, who covers Mexican soccer for ESPN sports network, said the question floating among fans is whether the Maradona hire is part of a long-term plan to raise the prospects of the Dorados or an “ego trip” for the owners, the Tijuana branch of the politically connected Hank family which also owns casinos and horse racetracks? Few expect Maradona to succeed in the post. Many anticipate an inevitable clash of personalities. “Is this kind of a joke?” Marshall wondered. “Is this making Mexican football look a bit ridiculous?” The gig marks a return to the country where Maradona scored one of the most controversial goals in soccer history during Argentina’s World Cup quarterfinal against England in 1986. Photos and TV replays showed Maradona’s hand helping the ball into the net. He attributed the assist to the “Hand of God.” The match 32 years ago exemplified Maradona’s theatrics both on and off the field. Some consider him to be the greatest player to have ever played the sport. But he is also prone to outlandish outbursts, profanity-laced tirades and public debauchery. Maradona struggled openly with drugs for more than a decade after Fifa briefly banned him for testing positive for cocaine in 1991. He again tested positive for drug use during the 1994 World Cup and was subsequently denied entry by the United States, leading him to seek drug-rehabilitation treatment in Cuba. He was hospitalized in 2000 and again in 2004 for heart problems blamed on cocaine. The soccer great began coaching in 1994 with uneven results. He led the Argentine national team to the quarterfinals in the 2010 World Cup before notching stints with the Al Wasl and Al-Fujairah squads in the United Arab Emirates. He accepted a role as honorary president for the Belarus premier team Dinamo Brest in July before promptly departing for Argentina. But Maradona has gotten more attention recently for his behavior as a spectator at Argentine matches than as a coach. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Maradona launched his middle fingers into the air after Argentina bested Nigeria and was captured on video appearing seriously inebriated in the stands. At another match, he apparently pulled his eyes into slants while gazing at a South Korean soccer fan. Culiacan locals are hopeful that Maradona’s off-field tomfoolery won’t interfere with his ability to lead the Dorados. “We all make mistakes and we all deserve a second chance,” says Culiacan resident Jose Luis Morales. AP
Almighty ever-living God
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LMIGHTY ever-living God, whom, taught by the Holy Spirit, we dare to call our Father, bring, we pray, to perfection in our hearts the spirit of adoption as Your sons and daughters that we may merit to enter into the inheritance which You have promised. As we continue to know You more, love You most and serve You endlessly. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. GIVE US THIS DAY SHARED BY LUISA LACSON, HFL Word&Life Publications • teacherlouie1965@yahoo.com
Editor: Gerard S. Ramos • lifestylebusinessmirror@gmail.com
❶ THE Atwood
Queen Bed with Bookcase’s eclectic nature blends contemporary design with rustic materials for an earthy look that’s modern and bold.
Life BusinessMirror
NEW SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS EMERGE AGAINST CBS BOSS D3
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
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❷ CHANNELING the look of an iconic example of modern design, the Nero White Marble Dining Table from the Mixology line sweeps a slender trumpet base made of brass-finished aluminum to support a pristine round of white marble.
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MBRACE worldly ideas. Fill spaces with energy. Welcome change in \as home and furnishings haven Crate&Barrel (www. crateandbarrel.com) unveils its 2018 Fall Collection. The global brand celebrates the art of living this season with three collections: Modern Global, Green Means Go and Mixology—each with a distinct look that welcomes change in your space. n MODERN GLOBAL. Crate&Barrel has traveled the world to bring home the best of artisan traditions to create a look it calls Modern Global. This aesthetic embraces the ideas and cultures of others, making each piece a one of a kind treasure. n GREEN MEANS GO. The green trend is symbolic of energy, anticipation and all the ways you can welcome
life in this fall. Fall, after all, is a season of a new beginning, a time for growth. n MIXOLOGY. We’re showing that when you create chemistry between different, even unlikely ingredients—a splash of this and a twist of that— you wind up with something fresh, something altogether extraordinary. A gourmet grilled cheese Champaign on a Tuesday. Letting dinner prep turn into a dance party because a great wonderful song comes on and...why not? Wonderful things happen when you think outside the box. The Crate&Barrel Fall 2018 Collection is available at stores in SM Mega Fashion Hall, SM Aura Premier and SM Makati. n
FROM bold statements to subtle accents, green is our go to color this fall. Sherwood Sofa, Emerald Panel and mix of green plants from Crate&Barrel’s Fall 2018 Green Go Green line.
THE Sherwood Sofa puts a premium on comfort as the sofa contours a deep, comfortable seat with webbing suspension. The Stow Olive Ottoman, on the other hand, is a concealed storage cube in soft, pebbled bonded leather in rich olive that does stylish double-duty. Both are Crate&Barrel exclusives.
Steam features are hot in home appliances SUB-ZERO and Wolf’s steamer module, which cooks proteins, vegetables and grains keeping nutrients and flavors intact. It can be used to proof bread dough, steam puddings and slow roast. A basket accessory allows for sous-vide preparation. AP
By KiM COOK The Associated Press WHAT’S hot in home appliances these days? That’s a steamy story, say industry watchers. Across several categories—cookery, cleaning and personal care—steam features are the big news. “I first started seeing them in laundry products,” says Nigel Maynard, an editor based in Hyattsville, Maryland, who covers the kitchen, bath and architecture industries. “Then I started seeing them on dishwashers. Now they’re everywhere.” Steaming has been used by professional operations like restaurants, cleaners and spas for years, and the technology is now available for consumer home products. Maynard posits that the appeal of steam is part of a larger trend toward outfitting the home with professional equipment. “Interest in cooking shows is at an all-time high, and people want to channel their inner celebrity chef. Buying these steam appliances—along with [other high performance gear]—is another way to feel like a pro in your house,” he says. Some experts believe that steam cooking is healthier because the nutrients and flavor of proteins, vegetables and grains are sealed in. “Not only can you prepare healthier meals,” says Wolf’s Marketing Manager Jeannine Washkuhn, “but a true convection steam oven will monitor and adjust steam and airflow to prepare amazing roasts, reheat leftovers perfectly and everything in between.” Wolf’s oven combines convection and steam. A series of recipes
preprogrammed into the oven means you can just load in the prepared food and push the button; the oven assesses which modes will yield the best results at the time you want everything ready. Wolf also has a steamer module with sous-vide capabilities that will
proof bread dough and slow cook, and a multifunction countertop cooker. There’s a vacuum sealer in the appliance suite, as well. Closets and laundry rooms are also getting steamed up. Lowe’s Spokesman Megan Lewis says customers find the
concept of cleaning with steam instead of chemicals appealing. CHI has a convenient valet steamer that would save time; hang your item, fill the tray with water, zip up the garment bag and turn it on. You can finish getting ready while the steamer does an outfit refresh. There are smaller portable steamers, too, like Joy Mangano’s fabric steamer, which can be toted in a suitcase and comes in several colors. Conair’s Turbo ExtremeSteam gets Good Housekeeping’s top rating. Black & Decker’s Advanced Steamer has an extra-long cord, which is handy for drapery, and has attachments for upholstery and delicate fabrics. In the laundry room, Samsung has a steam washer and dryer that Maynard says are performing well. Maytag and Electrolux also have versions. Steam washers heat water to a considerably higher temperature— over 200 degrees Fahrenheit—than regular hot water settings of about 170 degrees. To blast out stains and allergens like pet dander or pollen, and to thoroughly sanitize, steam may be desirable. Steam also softens fabrics, resulting in less wrinkling at the end of the wash cycle. Steam dryers perform a similar function by reducing wrinkling. Electrolux , Frigidaire and Whirlpool have models. Lewis says multipurpose canisterstyle steam cleaners are also popular. “Ewbank’s Steam Dynamo can be used on kitchen countertops, ovens, tiles and living room windows,” she says. “You can even use the large floor head on hard floors and carpet.” HomeRight’s SteamMachine takes the technology to surfaces indoors and out—cleaning that barbecue grill might finally become a fun job.
TAKE THE MARINA BAY SLEEP EXPERIENCE HOME EVER wished you could take your cozy hotel bed home after a relaxing staycation? Or daydreamed about enjoying the Marina Bay Sands—without leaving home? Well, the Philippines’s premier source for top-quality building and home finishing products, Dexterton Corp., and the world’s leading premium mattress brand, Simmons, can make those wishes come true with Simmons’s Marina Bay Suite Mattress, with which consumers get to experience the luxurious comfort of a hotel mattress and take it home. This mattress is made with Simmons individual Pocketed Coils, where each coil is individually encased in tear-resistant, nonallergenic pockets. It delivers uninterrupted sleep and minimized motion separation while providing the right body conformability and back support as you sleep. Its pillow-top sleep surface finish has a built-on pillow pad over the top panel to provide added support and comfort. “We have often received positive feedback and inquiries from hotel guests when they had a good night’s sleep at these renowned hotels. So, when Simmons wins this recent hotel project, we want to celebrate this success by making similar mattresses available to our customers. We want to tell our customers that they can bring this Marina Bay sleep experience home now,” said Casey Teh, managing director of Simmons. Driven by the passion for better sleep, Simmons is consistently delivering innovative, premium-quality mattresses and providing a unique customer experience and overall total satisfaction.Aside from the Marina Bay series, Simmons also offers other series with various features that ensure a good night’s sleep. To try out these sleep solutions, visit the Dexterton showrooms at Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, Sgt. E. Rivera Street in Quezon City, or Greenbelt 5 in Makati City.
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Solid twists keep plot churning in ‘Prisoner in the Castle’ By Oline H. Cogdill The Associated Press
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NE pleasure of a mystery series is connecting with a character that changes and grows with each novel. Maggie Hope, the heroine of Susan Elia MacNeal’s World War II novels, is a different woman in this eighth outing, The Prisoner in the Castle (Bantam), than she was in the 2012 Edgar-nominated debut, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary. Starting as a typist for Winston Churchill, Maggie has become a fullfledged spy, working for the Special Operations Executive , the hush-hush organization created by Churchill to “set Europe ablaze.” But at the end of 1942, the spy business turns against special agent Maggie when she is sent to a former Victorian hunting lodge on the tiny, remote Isle of Scarra, nicknamed the Forbidden Island, located hundreds of miles from the mainland of Scotland. The place is supposed to be a secret British training center but is really a prison for top agents whose supervisors worry they could leak vital information or have weaknesses that could be exploited by the enemy. They can’t leave—or communicate
with the outside world—and none of their friends or family knows where they are. But the 10 agents hardly feel like they are in jail as they roam the grounds freely and are served excellent meals by the three servants who live at the lodge. But then the agents—all of whom have been trained to kill—are being murdered, and it is obvious that one of them is putting to practice his—or her—background. The plot’s parallels to Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None are obvious—there are even several references to that 1939 novel. MacNeal honors that classic mystery, but does not make The Prisoner in the Castle a copycat novel. As in her other novels, MacNeal puts a fictional spin on real WWII events. The Prisoner in the Castle is based on a similar facility for at-risk SOE agents. Maggie’s intelligence and loyalty to the war effort continues to evolve in MacNeal’s series. Maggie’s confinement at the island is complicated because her testimony is vital at a serial killer’s upcoming trial in London. Without her, the killer may go free. Solid twists keep the plot of The Prisoner in the Castle churning until the surprise finale. n
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Today’s Horoscope By Eugenia Last
CELEBRITIES BORN ON THIS DAY: Taraji P. Henson, 48; Harry Connick Jr., 51; Virginia Madsen, 57; Scott Patterson, 60. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Let the past be your barometer. Don’t lose sight of what happened and who let you down. You have more options than you realize. Be clear when it comes to what you want and who you want to associate with. Choose wisely, and the changes that occur will bring you the rewards you desire. Your lucky numbers are 5, 18, 21, 28, 36, 42, 49.
a
ARIES (March 21-April 19): Don’t let emotions get in the way. Size up what’s at stake and how much you can accomplish. If you stay focused on what’s important instead giving a playby-play account of what you are doing, you will avoid unnecessary interference. HHH
b
TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Listen, compare and be willing to make reasonable changes. An emotional situation will arise with one of your peers if you share too much personal information. Look for options that won’t jeopardize your reputation or make you feel uncomfortable. HHH
c
GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Cover all aspects of a situation necessary to ensure you do a decent job. Observe what others are doing and avoid letting anyone tamper with your affairs. A change will turn into a learning experience. Be careful what you wish for. HHHHH
d
CANCER (June 21-July 22): Take time to figure out how you can make things better at home. A look at your relationships with loved ones will help you redefine how you restructure your everyday routine. Accommodating someone you love will pay off. HH
e
LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Take a close look at your relationships with others, and consider who brings out the best in you and who doesn’t. Draw the line with anyone who is unpredictable or urges you to make poor choices. Be honest and cut ties. HHHH
f
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Don’t hesitate to make subtle changes to the way you look or how you live. Doing your most to be your best will make an impression and attract people eager to work alongside you. Romance is highlighted. HHH
g
REX BOOK STORE JOINS 39TH MANILA INTERNATIONAL BOOK FAIR A MUCH-AWAITED annual event, the 39th MIBF (Manila International Book Fair) is home to the country’s top learning solutions and book traders. As one of the leading publishing groups to exhibit at the fair, REX Book Store is set to showcase the company’s new learning solutions and engage the fair’s attendees with a booth inspired by our native and local cultural heritage, emphasizing both progress and tradition. REX Book Store’s participation at the 39th MIBF aims to present its new suite of learning solutions aligned with transformative 21st-century learning tools and methods. This symphony of learning solutions is designed with the Whole Child at its heart, guided with the aspiration for a better future, shaping a new generation of learners through holistic approaches in education. With these progressive learning solutions and frameworks, REX hopes to help ensure education
stakeholders that learners become safe, healthy, challenged, supported and engaged. The REX booth will feature informative visuals about the learning solutions, fun activities for attendees, as well as cultural artifacts from our local World Heritage sites, representing the richness and depth of our traditions. It will also offer free seminars, workshops, a book sale and book launches during the event. The five-day book fair will be held at SMX Mall of Asia, from September 12 to 16, with over a hundred exhibitors and 150,000 people expected to visit. As a token of its appreciation toward partners and followers, REX is giving away free tickets to the 39th MIBF, available via online registration at www.mibf. rexbookstore.ph with an e-ticket marked for entry at the book fair. The first 300 visitors to REX Book Store’s booth will receive gifts and goodies.
AUTHOR CHRONICLES HER COMING OF AGE IN MEMOIR SOMETIMES the thing that was fraught in a mother-daughter relationship later turns out to be a source of strength. Such is a theme in Sasha BrownWorsham’s memoir, Namaste the Hard Way: A Daughter’s Journey to Find Her Mother on the Yoga Mat (HCI). Brown-Worsham chronicles her coming of age, from a young girl growing up in an upper middle-class neighborhood near Dayton, Ohio, to her adulthood living with a husband and children in the suburbs of New York City. As a child, Brown-Worsham was embarrassed by her mother’s Sanskrit chanting, middle-of-the-day yoga poses and flowing linen pants. But as an adult, long after her mother’s death from cancer, Brown-Worsham gravitated to the very thing that pricked the unease of her adolescence. Yoga became the way she reconnected with the mother she lost as a teen. Yoga
helped her heal. “I am playing with discomfort on my mat so I can deal with what happens off the mat as well,” Brown-Worsham writes. The book was conceived following a widely shared essay that BrownWorsham wrote for The New York Times, titled “Not My Mother’s Yoga.” The author works in her own adventures in parenting and how having children helped put her mother in a more favorable light. “There is danger every day of turning a dead woman into a saint, of making my mother into someone with no flaws...even 24 years after her death,” she writes. “I am still chasing her ghost and it’s not because she is a perfect human or mother.” The memoir is one of many released of late that depict a woman’s experience coming into adulthood. Readers of this genre, especially those interested in yoga, will find the book’s messages resonant. AP
LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Keeping up shouldn’t be your concern. Do what feels comfortable and suits your budget. Letting someone else’s expectations be your guide will lead to disappointment. Satisfy your needs and set goals that are reasonable, and satisfaction will be yours. HHH
h
SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Put greater emphasis on how you feel, and fit better health and diet practices into your everyday routine. If you look and feel your best, it will encourage you to do your own thing.HHH
i
SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Watch what others do and listen to what they say. Someone will misinterpret or lead you astray, causing conflict with a friend, relative or peer. Don’t let emotions intervene in your communication. HHHH
j
CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Avoid getting into heated discussions that can cause unwanted personal change. Stay focused on your personal papers, finances and legal matters. Refuse to let an emotional plea sway you from doing what’s right. Stick to the script you prepared. HH
k
AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Don’t show anger or act impulsively when dealing with joint ventures. Protect against insult or injury and focus on positive change that will bring you greater stability. Take time out to rejuvenate and to rethink the best way to move forward. HHHHH
l
PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): A financial gain looks promising. Make personal changes that will offset some of the problems or situations you want to put behind you. Use your imagination, and you will come up with an idea that will lead to success. HHH BIRTHDAY BABY: You are hardworking, diligent and ambitious. You are creative and persuasive.
‘10-4 good ruddy’ BY TIMOTHY E. PARKER The Universal Crossword/Edited by Timothy E. Parker
ACROSS 1 Do this to jaywalk 6 Left the nest 10 Outtake reason 14 Some bones 15 Toy brick 16 Trot easily 17 Temporarily shelved 18 Dude who’s noble 19 Word of acceptance 20 Colorful breakfast choice 23 Iacocca or Remick 24 Fortune-teller 25 Show up 28 Speak indelicately 31 Hosiery thread 35 Vote of support 36 Delhi garment 37 Engine part 38 Colorful “delicious” planting? 41 Readies, as a pump 42 Contends 43 Common pope name 44 Author Asimov
5 Stuff on a pool table 4 46 Sean of films 47 Spot for a plant 49 Smoking deposit 51 Colorful anti-inflammatory 58 Rumbler on the highway 59 Property figure? 60 Soaring US symbol 61 Middle East seaport 62 Phone keypad symbol 63 Tokyo resident 64 Mallet-struck instrument 65 Seeks directions 66 Gives for a time DOWN 1 Farm’s yield 2 Eastern blueblood 3 Norse god of poetry 4 Hammer go-with 5 Persistent attack 6 Little biting bug 7 Clear hurdles? 8 Way to get out 9 Novelist Tom or Thomas
0 Prosper 1 11 Enemy of Thor 12 ___ the crack of dawn 13 Turkish title 21 Sportscast finales 22 Some dig finds 25 Some more bones 26 Some court hearings 27 Communications industry 29 Web address pt. 30 It’s full of holes 32 Way past the sell-by date 33 Best Actress Sophia 34 A sour note start? 36 Coinage 37 Before Uncle Sam’s share 39 Accumulating 40 Home heating fuel 45 Tries to be seductive 46 “No pain, no gain,” for one 48 ___ apso (terrier) 50 Swipe 51 Perform over 52 Sign that bodes
3 Mountain part 5 54 Rabbit features 55 Opposed to, country-style 56 Decked out 57 Adding column 58 What jowls do
Solution to yesterday’s puzzle:
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New sexual-misconduct allegations emerge against CBS boss ALL That Jazz
DIGITALLY REMASTERED FILMS DANCING THEIR WAY TO QCINEMA 2018
MOVIE buffs get the chance to rev up to the beat of hit music from the 1970s and 1980s while enjoying three iconic films that have been digitally restored and are featured by the Quezon City International Film Festival (QCinema). The “Digitally Remastered Series” saves a special section for the restored iconic films All That Jazz, Footloose and Saturday Night Fever. QCinema showcases the section from October 21 to 30 at Gateway Mall (Cineplex 10), Robinsons Galleria (Robinsons Movieworld), SM City North Edsa, SM Megamall, SM City Manila, SM Mall of Asia and Ayala Malls Cinema in TriNoma and UP Town Center. All That Jazz is a 1979 American film directed by Bob Fosse and written by Robert Alan Aurthur. The story is a semi-autobiographical based on aspects of the life of Fosse as a dancer, choreographer and director. Fosse was nominated for his film at the Cannes Film Festival in 1980 and won the Palm d’Or award, widely considered as the highest award in the film industry. It was selected to be preserved at the National Film Registry in the United States in 2001. The classic Footloose, directed by Herbert Ross, follows the story of Ren McCormack (Kevin Bacon), an upbeat teen who moves to a small town where dancing and rock music have been banned. In Saturday Night Fever, director John Badham takes dancing to a whole level featuring disco songs by the Bee Gees. The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack is regarded as one of the best-selling soundtracks of all time. It features the story of Tony Manero (John Travolta), a working-class young man who spends his weekends drinking and dancing all night at the local Brooklyn club. John Travolta received Best Actor nominations from the Golden Globe and the Academy Awards. QCinema welcomes block screenings for group bookings for film or school organizations. E-mail festival@qcinema.ph for details.
CINEMALAYA READY TO ACCEPT ENTRIES FOR ITS 2020 EDITION AFTER its successful run in August, the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival calls for submissions to its 2020 edition. Interested filmmakers must submit their application on or before October 26, 6 pm, at the Media Arts Division of the Cultural Center of the Philippines, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City. All Filipino filmmakers are welcome to submit their entries for the Cinemalaya main full-length competition. Filipino filmmakers residing abroad may be accepted only on exceptional cases such as the submission of a superior material and if both director and producer can personally meet with the Competition Committee to discuss their material. All entries must be submitted in a long brown envelope properly labeled with the name/s of proponent/s, title of film entry, and contact details, containing the duly accomplished 2020 Entry Form (available at www.culturalcenter.gov.ph or www. cinemalaya.org), with résumé of proponent, two 2x2 recent photos of proponent, and sample of a short film directed by the proponent (between five to 20-minute long) in data file on DVD or USB. The application must also include a one-page synopsis in Filipino or English (12 pts font size, not more than 300 words), a detailed sequence treatment (between 50 to 60 sequences), duplicated in six copies. The sheets containing the synopsis and detailed sequence treatment must not bear the name of the proponent. Full scripts will not be accepted. Interested participants may submit a maximum of three entries. However, only one entry per proponent may be considered as a finalist. All works must be strictly independent films and not produced by commercial producers to guarantee the participants’ full creative control over the film. However, a producer or line producer can only have a maximum of two films in competition. All works must have their premiere screening at the Cinemalaya Festival. Works already in production phase prior to August 2020 are disqualified. For information, visit www.cinemalaya.org or www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.
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By David Bauder The Associated Press
EW YORK—Six women are making new sexual-misconduct allegations against CBS Chief Leslie Moonves, whose reign as one of the most powerful executives in Hollywood appeared to be nearing an end on Sunday. (According to latest reports, Moonves has resigned effectively immediately—Ed.) The magazine New Yorker reported the women’s new accusations, which included Moonves forcing them to perform oral sex and retaliating when advances were turned away. Moonves acknowledged relations with three of the women but said they were consensual, and that he had never used his position to hurt the careers of women. Six other women accused Moonves of misconduct in another New Yorker article published last month. Even before the new allegations came to light on Sunday, CBS’s board was reportedly discussing terms of Moonves’s exit. A spokesman for the board did not immediately return requests for comment. Moonves joined CBS as head of entertainment in 1995, and has been CEO of CBS Corp. since 2006, leading the CBS network, Showtime and other entities. CBS has spent much of his tenure as the nation’s most popular broadcast network, with hits like The Big Bang Theory and NCIS, and its success has made Moonves one of the highest-paid and most powerful executives in the business. He remained on the job despite the earlier allegations, and there were earlier reports that he was negotiating a buyout from his contract. One of the women, Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb, reported her accusations to Los Angeles police last year, but they weren’t pursued because of the statute of limitations. She said that Moonves, while an executive at the Lorimar production studio in the late1980s, pushed her head into his lap and forced her to perform oral sex. At another time, she said an angry Moonves pushed her hard against a wall. When she resisted later advances, she began to be frozen out at the company, she said. “He absolutely ruined my career,” she told the magazine. Another woman, Jessica Pallingston, said Moonves had forced her to perform oral sex on her first day working as his assistant at Warner Bros. productions. Other women told the magazine of unwanted touching or advances by Moonves. In a statement to the magazine, Moonves said the “appalling accusations” are untrue, but he acknowledged consensual relations with three of the women before he started working at CBS. “I have never used my position to hinder the advancement or careers of women,” he said. “In my 40 years of work, I have never before heard of such disturbing accusations. I can only surmise they are surfacing now for the first time, decades later,
CBS Chief Leslie Moonves
as part of a concerted effort by others to destroy my name, my reputation and my career. Anyone who knows me knows that the person described in this article is not me.” CBS, in a statement on Sunday, said it takes the allegations “very seriously” and is conducting an investigation. The network is also investigating Jeff Fager, former CBS News chairman and executive producer of 60 Minutes, on charges that he condoned a hostile atmosphere to women. The organization Time’s Up, which fights accusations of sexual misconduct, said the women had made “bone-chilling” accusations against Moonves. “We believe them,” Time’s Up said in a statement on Sunday. Time’s Up said the CBS board has a
responsibility to rid the company of a toxic culture toward women. “Remember that the world is watching,” the statement said. “We will accept nothing less than full transparency of the investigation’s findings, a commitment to real change across all levels of CBS management and no reward for Les Moonves.” A likely successor to Moonves, at least on an interim basis, is Chief Operating Officer Joseph Ianniello, analysts said. Ianniello, who has held his current position since 2013, has steered top projects such as the CBS All Access and Showtime streaming services. n AP correspondent Lindsey Bahr in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Cardi B escorted out of fashion party after lunging at Minaj NEW YORK—Nicki Minaj and Cardi B were involved in an altercation on Friday night that got physical at a New York Fashion Week party and left Cardi B with a mark on her head. A person who witnessed the incident who asked for anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly said Minaj was finishing up a conversation with someone when Cardi B tried to attack her, but Minaj’s security guards intervened. Video circulating on social media shows Cardi B lunging toward someone and being held back at Harper’s Bazaar Icons party on Friday night. Cardi B reportedly threw one of her shoes at Minaj. Another
video shows the platinum rapper being escorted out of the event by security. Cardi B, wearing a voluminous red Dolce & Gabanna gown, was seen leaving the party with what appeared to be a bump on her head. She was barefoot. She and Minaj have been rap rivals since Cardi B began achieving huge success over the last year. In a post on Instagram, Cardi B didn’t call out Minaj by name but alluded to the fight and said she was sparked because her mothering skills were being disparaged. She and rapper Offset recently had their first child together, a girl. Minaj has not yet commented on the incident. AP
CARDI B, with a swollen bump on her forehead, leaves after an altercation at the Harper’s Bazaar “Icons by Carine Roitfeld” party at The Plaza on Friday. AP
Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn leaving ‘Project Runway’ for Amazon SANTA MONICA, California— Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are leaving Project Runway. Amazon Prime Video on Friday announced the supermodel and fashion consultant are helping to develop a new reality fashion series, which will combine content with commerce. Few details were released, but the company says the show will appeal to a “global audience who are entertained by competition” and will create a “shoppable experience.”
In saying “auf wiedersehen” to Project Runway, Klum said in a statement the show will always have a special place in her heart after 16 seasons. Gunn said he’s excited to be part of their next “fashion adventure.” Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke says she believes the pair will find a larger audience on the Prime Video runway. Prime Video is a premium subscription streaming service. AP
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Art
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THE Grand Palais in Paris, France, where the 30th edition of La Biennale Paris is ongoing until September 16.
2018 METROBANK ART & DESIGN EXCELLENCE DISCOVERS NEWEST WINNING ARTISTS
THE Metrobank Foundation Inc. continues to uphold its legacy of honoring Filipino creativity through the recognition of new promising artists for the 2018 Metrobank Art & Design Excellence (MADE). Two Grand Awardees for the Painting Recognition Program and one Grand Awardee for the Sculpture Recognition Program will be receiving a financial assistance worth P500,000 and the “Mula” glass trophy designed by 2009 Metrobank Prize for Achievement in Sculpture (MPAS) awardee Noell El Farol. Meanwhile, two other finalists for the Oil/Acrylic on Canvas Category, Painting Recognition Program were given Special Citations for their remarkable artworks. The awardees with be formally recognized at the 2018 MADE Awarding Ceremony and Exhibit Opening as part of the 56th anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co. on September 20. The awardees also become members of the MADE-Network of Winners, the alumni organization of past MADE awardees implementing pay-it-forward projects that benefit marginalized sectors. For more than three decades, MADE has served as a platform to discover emerging names in the art scene. This year, the theme “Discover” invited painters and sculptors to immerse into a whole new experience—one that demands looking at the world with fresh eyes to discover the beauty in things mundane and overlooked.
A smaller Biennale Paris seeks the right buyers By Ted lOOS New York Times News Service
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CCP TURNS 49
THE Cultural Center of the Philippines celebrates its 49th founding anniversary with an exhibit showcasing the artistic talents of its employees, which will be on display from September 11 to 20, at the hallway of the CCP Main Building Lower Basement. Curated by the Visual Arts and Museum Division, in cooperation with the Production and Exhibition Department, the exhibit, titled Pagningas: Igniting the Fire of Creativity, will feature artworks that were personally made or crafted by the CCP employees as a result of hobby or personal interest. On exhibit are photographs, paintings, drawings, illustrations, graphic designs, crafts, fashion items, published and unpublished literary pieces, and musical works, among others. The main event of the anniversary celebration will be a simple program on September 19, where selected officials and employees will showcase their artistic skills and talents. This year’s celebration continues last year’s theme of self-discovery. It aims to empower the employees and help them reach their artistic talents and potentials. It also aims to develop camaraderie among the CCP employees. Founded in 1969, the CCP is the national cultural center for arts, producing and presenting music, dance, theater, visual arts, literary, cinematic and design works and events from the Philippines and all over the world. It is mandated to promote excellence in the arts through the initiation and implementation of activities that aim to improve and elevate standards among cultural workers, artists and audiences, and to recognize the multiplicity and differences of aesthetic experiences and standards encompassing the arts from grassroots to those formulated by academy-trained artists. It is home to nine resident companies, namely, Ballet Philippines, Philippine Ballet Theater, Tanghalang Pilipino, Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group, the Bayanihan Philippine National Folk Dance Co., Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra, UST Symphony Orchestra, Philippine Madrigal Singers and the National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation. Each resident company presents a regular season of productions, workshops, outreach performances and training workshops.
HEN Tom Cruise parachuted onto the Grand Palais in Paris in the blockbuster Mission: Impossible— Fallout, he landed with surprising delicacy, given the jump. Art dealers will be striving for a similar light touch when they gather for the 30th edition of La Biennale Paris, the venerable fair underneath the glass roof of the Grand Palais that opened on Saturday and runs through September 16. Last year the big Biennale news was stripping mention of antiques from its name and its shift to an every-year presentation—big changes, given that the fair made its debut in 1962, the brainchild of novelist and French Culture Minister André Malraux. This time, the primary shift is the fair’s reduction to about 62 dealers, down from 94 last year. “It’s a smaller group of galleries, and more in the tradition of the Biennale when I first knew it,” said Christopher Forbes, the fair’s president. According to Forbes, the American collector and heir to the publishing fortune, who is known as Kip, this year’s edition also corrects a hiccup in the arrangement of the galleries. “If I could fault anything, it was the layout,” he said. “Some booths were not ideally positioned. There were dead ends.” So this time around, the single ring of dealers should take care of that, given that there are no hidden corners. Forbes said that, otherwise, feedback from the 2017 iteration was positive. “Attendance was up 8.5 percent, and it was profitable,” he said. “And those are good directions to be going.” Of course, when the wares are high-end ones like an 18th-century armchair or a rare clock, the number of visitors can matter less than the type. “There were a lot of American museum directors,” Forbes said. “They came with their trustees, and their wallets, in tow.” The fair, which focuses on older art but allows contemporary work, too, is known for its stringent vetting, the process by which the artworks are deemed authentic. “They are very picky,” said Marianne Rosenberg, of
New York’s Rosenberg & Co., who is exhibiting at the Biennale for the first time. “They love certificates.” The fair is organized by the National Federation of Antiques Dealers, known by its French abbreviation, SNA, but the objects are vetted by a separate committee. “The vetting is absolutely independent,” said Mathias Ary Jan, president of the SNA. “The SNA can’t overrule the vetting. And it has been reinforced this year.” Ary Jan is also an exhibitor subject to that vetting. His Paris gallery specializes in material from the late-19th century and early-20th century. Among the 25 objects in his booth will be a 1949 gouache by renowned French painter Jacques Majorelle, Kasbahs dans la Région de Ouarzazate, Maroc. About two-thirds of the galleries hail from France. “It’s got that French touch,” Ary Jan said of the fair. That’s certainly true of the special nonselling Napoleon exhibition at the Biennale, L’Empereur Sous la Verrière (which could be translated as The Emperor Under the Glass Roof), featuring objects owned by collector Pierre-Jean Chalençon, a specialist in Napoleonrelated antiques. The display was designed by the Biennale’s guest artistic director, fashion designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac. He created what he called a “vertical gesture” of hanging, colored flags that create a tent shape around the objects. And he went so far as to imagine the emperor himself commissioning it. “I said, ‘Yes, majesty,’” said Castelbajac, who is the artistic director for Rossignol and Le Coq Sportif. “They are new colors for an old empire. It’s quite spectacular.” Despite deeply Gallic touches like that, some of the galleries from other countries include São Roque, of Lisbon, and Whitford Fine Art, of London. But even Rosenberg & Co., though now based in New York, traces its roots to Paris. Rosenberg’s greatgrandfather, Alexandre Rosenberg, founded it there in 1878, and began a storied history of dealing with top artists. “Picasso was my father’s godfather,” Marianne Rosenberg noted. The gallery had been on a Goldilocks-like search for a fair that was just right. “We, like many galleries, are desperate to find a quality art fair,” Rosenberg said. “So many are ultracontemporary, and we don’t fit.” Rosenberg & Co. shows everything from early cubism to the work of Henry Moore, as well as that of
living artists—but she pointedly said it is of the more conservative type. “Our contemporary artists know how use a paintbrush,” Rosenberg said. “They are not doing the unmade bed and a plank with a light bulb.” Her Biennale booth will feature Paul Eluard’s 1913 oil Le Cirque (Triptyque), among other works. “We need the right kind of people traipsing through,” Rosenberg said of her hopes for eager buyers. Anthony J.P. Meyer, who runs Galerie Meyer in Paris, is exhibiting at the Biennale for the third year. Meyer—who deals in Oceanic art, which he defined as “from the Pacific, but before the arrival of Captain Cook”—agreed with Rosenberg that the crowd was everything. “If you just sit in your gallery, these people will never walk by,” Meyer said. “But at the fair, it’s a captive audience. We’re there to do business, not twiddle our thumbs.” Among other works, he is exhibiting a 3,500-yearold crouching stone figure combining animal and human characteristics that was found in what is now Papua New Guinea. Meyer also exhibits at Parcours des Mondes, a tribal art fair in Paris that overlaps with the Biennale. “Most galleries find it difficult to do both, but they have different clients and direction,” he said. “I’m at the Biennale for a specific kind of client, a crossover collector, someone we don’t know yet.” Meyer said sophisticated fans of modern and contemporary art would realize that “tribal art is the foundation on which later art was built,” and that they look good together. “An Oceanic mask next to a great painting is beautiful, and it works,” he added. Although a hothouse atmosphere of high-end merchandise and deep-pocketed buyers may be good for growing sales, the Biennale is making efforts to reach out to the wider world, too. The organizers are noting that it is concurrent with Paris Design Week and the design fair Maison & Objet, the idea being that the whole city is a hub for lovers of fine things. And for the first time, the Biennale is part of European Heritage Days, a Continentwide effort to open cultural attractions to the public. “It makes the whole show seem more accessible and less elitist,” Forbes said. “That’s important these days.” n
Celeste Lecaroz releases copyright to Manuel Quezon and Cory Aquino paintings IN commemoration of two milestones in Philippine history—the birth anniversary of former President Manuel L. Quezon and the death anniversary of Sen. Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino—spontaneous realism artist Celeste Lecaroz has releasing the copyright to her paintings of former presidents Manuel Quezon and Corazon Aquino. Lecaroz, a former anchor of the ABS-CBN News Channel, had her first one-woman exhibit at Gateway Gallery in May. The works that were painted in broad strokes, splashes of color and almost three-dimensional treatment adhered to the “spur-of-the-moment” style advocated by Austrian contemporary artist Voka. Among the paintings in the show had President Manuel Quezon and President Cory Aquino as subjects. “I’m waiving my copyrights on these two,” said Lecaroz. “I’d like to do this for the community
because I believe that as artists, we have an important role to play in raising consciousness and contributing to public discourse on significant events in our history that uplift humanity.” She is allowing anyone, Filipinos especially, to make use these works for free also because of recent developments related to the subjects. “President Manuel L. Quezon’s birthday was held on August 19, and his presidential papers are now formally inscribed in the International Registry of the Unesco Memory of the World for the Philippines. Meanwhile, the death anniversary of the husband of President Cory Aquino, Sen. Ninoy Aquino, was on August 21 and the anniversary of President Cory’s historic speech at the Joint Session of the US Congress is in September,” Lecaroz explained. With the release of the copyright, anyone can use Lecaroz’s painted images of Manuel Quezon
and Cory Aquino for personal or commercial purposes, as long as the artist is given credit. By doing this, Lecaroz is also warning unscrupulous individuals and entities that exploit copyrighted artworks for commercial or personal benefit without getting permission from the creators. She called out an international web site that is selling digital prints on canvas, acrylic, metal, wood, paper and phone cases of a Filipino artists’ works, without the said artist’s consent. “They should at least think twice before doing it,” said Lecaroz. “In the scroll-click-link world we have today, two seconds may be all we need to prevent that from happening.” Parties who are interested to obtain highresolution files of the Manuel Quezon and Cory Aquino paintings by Celeste Lecaroz may contact her via Facebook and Instagram. For information, visit www.celestelecaroz.com.