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Sunday, September 18, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 344

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MRT trains still dangerous–exec Remittances expected to be volatile in next D few months–economist By Lorenz S. Marasigan

Locsin named envoy to UN

@lorenzmarasigan

ESPITE recording marked improvement in maintenance, the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) Line 3, which runs on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue, could still face possible derailments should cracks in the trains’ wheels and the sorry state of the rail tracks continue to persist.

MRT Corp. Director Rafael P. Perez de Tagle Jr. warned the public that riding the train line is still a risk, as “maintenance continues to pose a threat to the lives of the riding public.” “The reports of cracks in the wheels of the MRT are alarming and a serious threat to the lives of commuters,” he said. It was reported earlier that long metal cracks were detected in all four pairs of bogie-wheel frames in Car 04; and Cars 48, 11 and 64 are, likewise, also damaged. Continued on A2

Democratic Party supporters hold signs opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership during the first day of the Democratic National Convention on July 25 at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Olivier

Locsin

By David Cagahastian @davecaga

usinessMirror columnist and lawyer Teodoro “Teddyboy” Locsin Jr. has been appointed as the Philippines’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), replacing Ambassador Lourdes O. Yparraguirre. President Duterte appointed Locsin on Thursday, a source privy to the appointment said. However, Communications Secretary Martin M. Andanar said Locsin will issue a statement on his appointment on Tuesday. Locsin’s appointment comes at a time when Malacañang officials are trying to mend relations with the UN, after Mr. Duterte’s run-ins with the international body. See “Locsin,” A2

Douliery/Abaca Press/TNS

Obama recruits Kasich, Paulson to sell trade deal U

.S. President Barack Obama on Friday ramped up his campaign to persuade Congress to pass his struggling trade deal with Asia, a pact that remains opposed by both presidential candidates and many rank-and-file lawmakers in each party. Obama invited a bipartisan group of politicians and business leaders to the White House for an Oval Office meeting on the deal, which congressional leaders say is unlikely to get a vote this year. Participants included Republicans John Kasich, the governor of Ohio, and former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, as well as Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News. “They know that this is important for our economy and this is important for our national security,” Obama said at the meeting. “If we are not in there making sure that fair trade is established in the Asian market, we’re

Opinions on foreign trade

A Gallup poll asks Americans what they think foreign trade means for the U.S. Do you see foreign trade more as an opportunity for economic growth through increased U.S. exports or a threat to the economy from foreign imports? Opportunity

65% 55 45 35

58%

48% 44% 34%

25 15

1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016

View foreign trade mainly as an opportunity for the U.S. by party: Democrats

Dear Lord, are You saying this to us? “If it has been a long time since your last confession, welcome back!” Every saint had a history and every sinner has a future. The Lord’s love, mercy and reconciliation is available all the time. Reconciliation is what God does. We prepare for it by opening ourselves up, by reflecting upon the areas in our lives bound by darkness, hurt, shame or guilt into which God so deeply desires to enlighten, heal and free. We prepare with the simple question: Where might God be offering us forgiveness, healing and freedom? We pray for some reflections and be ready to be sorry for them. Amen! The Light is On for You, Shared by Louie M. Lacson,HFL

President Barack Obama, joined by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (left) and Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards (right), talks to the media at the start of a meeting with business, government and national security leaders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Friday to discuss how the Trans-Pacific Partnership can benefit American workers and businesses, and further national security. AP/Carolyn Kaster

PESO exchange rates n US 47.5710

63%

Independents

63%

Republicans 0 Source: Gallup Graphic: Tribune News Service

WELCOME BACK!

Threat

50% 10

70%

going to be cut out.” Obama hopes the meeting’s participants, also including Ginni Rometty, the chairman and CEO of International Business Machines Corp., and John Bel Edwards, the Democratic governor of Louisiana, can raise pressure on Democrats and Republicans in Congress to ratify the sweeping 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) after the November elections. Before the meeting, the White House circulated an op-ed titled “Help American Workers. Pass TPP,” by Bloomberg and the US Chamber of Commerce CEO, Tom Donohue. “It’s imperative that the strong majority of voters who support expanded trade urge members of Congress to pass TPP this year—and hold them accountable for the lost jobs that will result if they fail to do so,” they wrote in Bloomberg View. Continued on A2

By Bianca Cuaresma

@BcuaresmaBM

HE inflow of remittances—one of the main pillars of the country’s consumption and overall economic expansion—is expected to be volatile in the coming months, as shifts in both the Filipino migrant workers’ deployment levels and the schedule of the local school year will affect the flow of cash sent to the Philippines. In an analysis following the reported decrease in the country’s remittance flows, Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) associate economist Nicholas Antonio T. Mapa said that, over the next few months, the country will continue to see sharp swings in growth rates. The reported remittance data just last week disappointed markets anew, as the cash sent home by Filipino migrant workers posted the largest monthly decline in July since November last year due to a decline in the deployment of skilled workers. This development pushed the total growth of remittance in the first seven months of the year below the government’s already-prudent projections. In particular, remittances recorded a 5.4-percent decline in July. This contraction is the worst for cash remittances for 2016. This also put the growth of remittances in the first seven months of the year at 3 percent. The government’s projection is for remittances to grow by 4 percent this year. The swings in the growth rates will be attributable, according to Mapa, to changes in deployment numbers and origin, as overseas workers seek work in greener pastures or in countries unaffected by recent economic crises. “This, coupled with the changes in the school year, may yield changes in the predictability and seasonality of foreign-exchange flows,” Mapa said. Despite this, Mapa still expressed confidence that the overseas Filipino workers’ remittances will still be able to push consumption, adding significantly to the country’s growth rate this year. “All in all, we can expect steady to marginal growth in remittance flows, given the POEA [Philippine Overseas Employment Administration] deployment and the zealous nature of workers abroad, enabling them to remit money to fund peso consumption,” Mapa said. “Peso growth year-to-date remains healthy at 7 percent, which should really allay fears that remittances will no longer be able to provide ample peso-purchasing power to drive the economy to growth of roughly 6.5 percent for the year,” he added.

BSP seen to stand pat on monetary policy

HE Bangko Sentral has no reason to change the current monetary policy in its meeting this coming week, as inflation remains low and as the central bank continues to mop up excess liquidity from the system through a new monetary-policy system in place. In his forecast for the September 22 monetary-policy meting, DBS Bank economist Gundy Cahyadi said the central bank is still seen to keep policy rates on hold in Thursday’s meeting. “No reason the BSP should act for now. On the inflation front, there is no pressure…. Not only has underlying demand remained strong, but price expectations also seem to have inched up in recent months alongside the rise in food prices,” Cahyadi said. “Still, it is also clear that the BSP would want to continue draining excess liquidity from the system,” he added. In the central bank’s August meeting, the Monetary Board decided to maintain the interest rate on the BSP’s overnight reverse repurchase facility at 3 percent. The corresponding interest rates on the overnight lending and deposit facilities were also kept steady, and the reserve

Cahyadi: “Not only has underlying demand remained strong, but price expectations also seem to have inched up in recent months alongside the rise in food prices.”

requirement ratios were, likewise, left unchanged. However, for next year, Cahyadi sees a different story. “Expect the monetary-policy bias to turn increasingly hawkish going into 2017, especially when we also expect the Fed to play catch-up in adjusting its rates,” Cahyadi said. “An upward adjustment in the policy rates may then follow. At this juncture, expect the BSP to raise its policy rates to 3.5 percent by mid-2017,” he added. The BSP’s September meeting is the sixth monetary policy meeting of the central bank for this year, after which the central bank’s seven-man monetary-policy deciding body will be meeting two more times, on November 10 and December 22. Bianca Cuaresma

n japan 0.4660 n UK 62.9792 n HK 6.1319 n CHINA 7.1216 n singapore 34.8966 n australia 35.7448 n EU 53.5031 n SAUDI arabia 12.6856

Source: BSP (16 September 2016 )

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A2 Sunday, September 18, 2016

Locsin… Continued from a1

Recently, Duterte had threatened to leave the UN for its alleged interference in domestic affairs, particularly with the government’s war against illegal drugs, although Malacañang officials denied that Duterte indeed intended to withdraw from the UN. UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon had earlier expressed his concern over alleged violations of human rights in the police operations against suspected drug pushers. Last week UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein issued a strong statement urging the Philippines to extend an invitation to the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial killings to look into the allegations. But Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador B. Panelo said the UN does not need an invitation to come to the Philippines and verify whether the allegations are correct. “They don’t need an invitation. They should have come here in the first place before they opened their mouths. They spin a lot of things,” Panelo said. During the recent visit of Duterte to Lao PDR for the Leaders’ Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Panelo approached the UN secretary-general to explain to him that the alleged extrajudicial killings were perpetrated by crime syndicates killing each other to cover up their tracks. Locsin was the representative of the First District of Makati City from 2001 to 2010. He was the presidential spokesman, legal counsel and speechwriter of the late President Corazon C. Aquino. As a journalist, he was the publisher and editor in chief of Today newspaper, and continues to host television and radio programs.

www.businessmirror.com.ph

Obama recruits Kasich, Paulson to sell trade deal Continued from a1

Trump and Kasich

THE trade deal, which would cover about 40 percent of global commerce, is on life support. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has vowed to scrap it altogether if he’s elected, and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton —pushed to the left on the accord during her primary campaign— has said she would at least seek to renegotiate it. Kasich complained that debate over the merits of the trade deal has been subsumed by partisan politics, and said the pact is vital for the US to seize strategic advantage in the Pacific region. Earlier on Friday, Trump held a news conference at a new hotel he renovated blocks from the White House at which he publicly acknowledged for the first time that Obama was born in the US, but falsely claimed that Clinton had started the “birther” movement Trump championed after Obama’s election. “I don’t recognize this town much anymore,” Kasich said at the White House daily briefing for reporters, after fielding and deflecting questions about Trump’s remarks. “When politics is the order of the day and partisanship trumps country, we drift. We drift as a nation. “This is a moment for people to begin to reverse that,” he said, referring to a potential vote on the trade deal. “These are fledgling countries in Asia, and we want to pivot to Asia? We have to do this.”

The Republican leaders of the House and the Senate have said the deal doesn’t have enough support to pass Congress and, thus, won’t be called up for a vote this year. “As long as we don’t have the votes, I see no point of bringing up an agreement only to defeat it,” US House Speaker Paul Ryan said in an interview with Wisconsin Public Radio last month. “I have my own problems with TPP. It is not ready. The president has to renegotiate some critical components of it.”

Asia criticism

ASIAN nations that are party to the trade agreement have warned that it cannot be renegotiated. Singapore’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said in Washington last month that US credibility was on the line over the pact. Obama acknowledged their concerns in Laos last week and said the politics of the deal were “difficult” for US lawmakers. “Failure to move ahead with TPP would not just have economic consequences, but would call into question America’s leadership in the region,” he said during the trip. Skepticism that the deal will be enacted has built to such a pitch that passage before Obama leaves the presidency would be a major surprise. “The sand has run through the hour glass pretty fast,” Ryan said in the public radio interview. “I don’t see how they’ll ever get the votes for it.” Obama’s meeting comes two days after the President’s Export Council held its final meeting at

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed (left) listens as Ohio Gov. John Kasich speaks during the daily news briefing at the White House in Washington on Friday. Kasich and Reed discussed the presidential campaign and Trans-Pacific Partnership, following a meeting with the president in the Oval Office. AP/Carolyn Kaster

the White House, with executives from Xerox Corp. and United Parcel Service Inc. pledging to lobby Congress and the public to support TPP in the months ahead. “It’s fundamental to America staying at the forefront of trade and success,” Xerox CEO Ursula Burns told reporters on Wednesday. “Globalization is happening.

We need to actually deal with it with strength.” Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed and James Stavridis, former North Atlantic Treaty Organization supreme allied commander and the dean of the Tufts University Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, also participated in Friday’s White House meeting.

Reed said at the White House meeting that he doesn’t believe Trump or Clinton would renounce the trade pact if Congress approves it before Obama leaves office, and a “strategy of the facts,” combined with a “broad bipartisan coalition,” could lead to a vote. “We intend to see that this bill is passed,” he said. Bloomberg News

MRT trains still dangerous–exec

An elevated LRT-1 commuter train resumes its operation as a Metro Rail Transit (MRT) commuter train lies outside after it overshot its tracks and derailed at the end station on August 13, 2014, injuring dozens in Pasay City. Senior Superintendent Florencio Ortilla, who heads the Pasay City police, said the train toppled concrete posts, spraying debris and damaging cars in the crowded intersection. Hernando Cabrera, spokesman of the agency that operates the train system, said the train had a “technical problem” and was being pushed by another when it became detached and rolled into the concrete barrier at the final station on the line. AP/Bullit Marquez Continued from a1

“The possibility of derailment has not been addressed,” de Tagle warned. “Just like under the past administration, instead of addressing the problems, the maintenance provider is feeding the public misinformation to save face, at the risk of the lives of commuters.” Just last week, Busan Universal Rail Inc., the maintenance provider of the train system, claimed to have outperformed its contract terms with the Deaprtment of Transportation. Charles Perfecto A. Mercado, the spokesman for Busan Universal, said in an interview on September 13 that his company is “going beyond” the works required under the contract signed with the previous administration. Citing an accomplishment report, he said his company helped push the number of operating trains to 18 by end of April this year. There were 40 operational train cars—or 13 trains—that were delivered to Busan Universal in January this year. This is way below the system’s optimal capacity of 20 running trains. He also said the MRT could

not increase speed to the required 60 kilometers per hour during peak hours, because the MRT trains were allegedly designed not as light-rail vehicles (LRVs), but as street cars. “That’s ridiculous,” de Tagle said. “When Sumitomo was maintaining the MRT, it ran at 60 kph and 20 sets of trains were operated at the peak hour in the morning and in the afternoon. That is the speed of the train with proper maintenance and it was so for 12 years, so it is incredulous for the Tramat Mercantile-Busan Group to say that the problem is design,” de Tagle said. He explained that the trains are three times longer in length and can carry heavier loads than trams or street cars, putting it under the classification of LRV, contrary to the claim of Busan. Street cars also carry fewer passengers and have frequent stops, like a bus, he added. De Tagle noted that past administrations of the transport department also ensured that all the specifications and performance capabilities are of the specifications and performance of an LRV. “It is a stretch [of imagination] to call these tram cars,” de Tagle

DE TAGLE: “Just like under the past administration, instead of addressing the problems, the maintenance provider is feeding the public misinformation to save face, at the risk of the lives of commuters.”

said. “The reason why the trains are not running at the required speed is because of poor maintenance since 2012 that damaged and continue to damage the trains.” De Tagle also expressed the disappointment of the MRT private owners in the continued mishandling and misinformation on the MRT. “Under Sumitomo, there was at least 80-percent availability at all times,” de Tagle explained. “Today, it’s 80-percent excuses and misinformation.” He also lamented over the fact that MRT General Manager Roman R. Buenafe still won’t allow an inspection of the trains by private owners. “What are they hiding?” he asked.

NewsSunday

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

BusinessMirror

It’s calamity, budget watchdog says of govt’s Yolanda rehab

By Marvyn N. Benaning | Correspondent

OCIAL Watch Philippines (SWP) has scored the government for failing to deliver on its promise to rehabilitate areas devastated by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan) in November 2013. “The government has reneged on its promise to build back better in the Yolanda-hit areas. Almost three years after the monster storm, the victims are even worse off than before, with no permanent shelter and livelihood, poorer and more vulnerable. It was the failure of the Aquino administration, but we expect President Duterte to address this with utmost urgency and do better,” SWP said on Saturday. However, Budget Secretar y Benjamin E. Diokno’s proposed housing budget for next year has been slashed, with P18-billion excised owing to his claim that his predecessor, Florencio B. Abad, had thrown billions into the Yolanda shelter-rehabilitation program.

Thus, SWP plaint has apparently fallen on deaf ears, with Diokno slashing more than P31 billion from the health budget and cutting P15 billion from the rice-productivity allotment for the Department of Agriculture (DA) next year. SWP said its position on government’s neglect of its promise to build back better has been confirmed by its study that tracked government’s funding for Yolanda reconstruction and rehabilitation in seven cities and towns in Eastern Visayas. Describing the government as “dismal,” SWP urged Duterte to immediately start spending money already appropriated for the Yolanda victims.

S W P ’s publ ic- e x pe nd it u re tracking tool was used in monitoring the funds spent and the status of implementation of programs, projects and activities in resettlement, livelihood, emergency-shelter assistance, education and health. The study was conducted in Tacloban City only for resettlement, while the assessment in Tolosa, Macarthur, Dulag and Mayorga in Leyte, and in Basey (Samar) and Salcedo (Eastern Samar) covered all recovery efforts. “The Yolanda recovery and reconstruction is agonizingly slow and miserably falling short. Our findings in these municipalities represent the overall status of implementation as reported by the national government. There’s a huge gap between what was planned, budgeted and received by intended beneficiaries. The implementation is marred by inefficiencies, lack of information and transparency and other institutional weaknesses,” SWP Coconvener Isagani Serrano explained. SWP said that, in all the towns covered, the completion rate for targeted housing units was only 8 percent. In Tacloban City the National

Housing Authority (NHA) was able to finish only 1,137 units out of the targeted 14,433 units. At a recent forum, a representative of the NHA in Region 8 claimed 42 percent of the target was substantially completed. Those completed numbered 5,852 in Tacloban, 30 in Mayorga (Leyte) and 170 in Basey. However, the National Economic and Development Authority reported on its web site that as of March, the completion rate of houses for the Yolanda victims was only 9 percent, with 42 percent of the target not even starting. Only 19,330, out of the 205,128, shelters were completed and 98,393 housing units are still being built. An official of the DA in Region 8 said the budget for the quickresponse fund for the disaster area was only P502 million, with P27 million being returned to the Bureau of the Treasury, because the money was not spent. The reason for this was that the Commission on Audit (COA) questioned the delay in the delivery of planting materials, seeds, tractors and others. Worse, the DA official and a representative of the Philippine Co-

Sunday, September 18, 2016 A3

conut Authority said, the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) has not released money for the comprehensive-rehabilitation and -reconstruction program. “We are rebuilding communities not to bring them back to their predisaster situation of poverty and vulnerability. If Yolanda reconstruction were our benchmark for building back better, it’s big wonder how we would be able to face up to the worse that’s yet to come,” Serrano said. SWP asked Duterte to create a central agency, with regional counterpart that should be able to coordinate with local governments, and with clear mandate and funds to address problems in the implementation of reconstruction and rehabilitation for Yolanda-hit areas. Government representatives also called for improving baseline data gathering among various agencies to cover the predisaster assessment of agriculture, health, industry, health, education and others. Serrano asked Duterte to institute policies to improve institutional, financing and coordination mechanisms under disaster riskreduction management.

DPWH crafts master plan to solve VisMin flooding By Lorenz S. Marasigan @lorenzmarasigan

HE Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) is developing a comprehensive master plan that will address the issues relating to flooding and climate change in the Visayas and Mindanao. Public Works Undersecretary Rafael C. Yabut and the regional directors in the Visayas and Mindanao are “expected to create a comprehensive plan for flood control and climatechange mitigation interventions.” The proposed master plan will seek solutions to the overflowing of rivers during rainy days by following the River Basin approach in planning. Yabut said the blueprint will also enable the agency to address the flooding problem “holistically and not in a palliative manner.” The DPWH Unified Project Management Office-Flood Control Management Cluster will assist the concerned offices whenever necessary in the formulation of respective master plan. The country has 18 major river basins, with Cagayan River Basin as the largest one, with the drainage area of 27,753 square kilometers. The agency has recently started the improvement of Cagayan River Basin, which is part of its P356-million flood-risk management program.

SundayV

Busine

A4 Sunday, September 18, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

After Olympics, global security experts live on

ith the cauldron at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro extinguished, fans and critics alike are revisiting the perennial Olympic question: To whom is this enormously oversized effort to host the games really worth it? One beneficiary that was prominently featured in Rio is the world of global security and surveillance. Olympic delegations and high-profile guests clearly want to be assured that the host has control over security. The organizers are equally as eager to demonstrate that they have the event under control. As we see from one Olympics to the next, this is an enormous undertaking. Because of the complexity, a successful organization of the Olympics has historically required help from all institutions of state protection and public order, including the military and the police. What has changed, however, is the scope of this cooperation and its purpose. The Olympics have become the world’s largest peacetime laboratory in which security and surveillance operatives from countries around the world can experiment how to effectively operate together in a real-life situation and without legal constraints. These operatives have little to do with the actual organization and staging of the games. Rather, their goal is to identify and prevent potential disruptions to the event. For this purpose, a panoply of international spy agencies, different military branches, commandos, special operations, local and federal police, reconnaissance specialists, surveillance data analysts, and scores of retired operatives and volunteers descended on Rio. Brazil, in turn, sent its own agents of order for training to a number of foreign countries, including previous Olympics hosts. These players turned Rio into a playground on which the newest surveillance technologies and policing techniques were put to use to protect the games. No one in the global business of security and surveillance wants to miss out on this party so there are huge pressures on the host countries to open the doors. Who is invited, from which countries and in what capacities depends on the host country’s leadership and confidence in the abilities of its own security enterprise. These are important decisions because such partnerships can unwittingly expose the host country’s state security secrets and compromise its sovereignty. Such international connections have other potential implications. Training for security purposes means a shift in policing to different strategies, equipment and weapons, which can create dependency on foreign know-how. These are also career opportunities for the newly trained experts, who now have a strong interest in maintaining the new partnerships. They support ambitions to connect their military and policing agencies and private enterprise to the global security networks. They are also motivated by a promise that their newly acquired skills will be sought by future Olympic hosts. Local police operatives pulled together from all corners of the country are also eager to disseminate their newly acquired experience in their home offices. State-of-the-art surveillance technologies and computer programs purchased for the Olympics are too expensive to be simply retired. If they have proven effective, they will continue to be used after the event. The Olympics provide these networks with the power to show what it means to have security. The event itself becomes the world’s most spectacular demonstration of their vision of social order. At the heart of this enterprise is the quest to control uncertainty and, in this ambition, the notion of safety is replaced by the idea of security. Safety is the domain of policy-makers and community leaders. They advocate for labor and housing legislation and family-related policies that help to provide stability to people’s lives. Providing security, in contrast, is in the hands of the surveillance and security apparatus. Their concern is how to train and equip operatives, collect intelligence and perfect surveillance technologies to be able to anticipate and act upon people’s intentions. In this way, the Olympics, much like wars, contribute to the global shift toward a security worldview and an expansion of the security and surveillance networks that support it. TNS

Senate undermining its own integrity W HY is the Senate, an institution that has already stood the test of time in formulating policies and representing the will of the people, allowing a member or two to undermine its own integrity?

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I asked this question because of another query on why the Senate, instead of normally conducting public hearings in aid of legislation in accordance to its rules on, among others, serious political, social, economic and national security issues plaguing the country, has strangely allowed a member, Sen. Leila de Lima, chairman of the Justice Committee, to investigate human-rights crimes based on its own biased Resolution 9. And then acted just like a prosecutor, a judge and even allowed, without the knowledge of majority committee members, to present what appeared to be an inveterate witness just to destroy the image of President Duterte and other people. A newspaper (not the BusinessMirror) reported on Saturday that Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., the cochairman of the committee, felt bitter that he and other committee members were not informed that the witness, Edgar Matobato, would be presented. Lacson, who cross-checked Matobato’s allegations, said the witness definitely lied and his whole testimony suffered under the legal principle, where a witness who testifies falsely about one matter is not credible to testify about any matter. “Nabulaga kaming lahat. Siya [de Lima] lang and nakakaalam. Mukhang

sila lang dalawa ni Senator [Antonio] Trillanes ang nakakaalam na may magtestify. Nabigla rin kami. [We were all surprised. It seems only Senators de Lima and Trillanes knew that somebody would be testifying],” Lacson said. Is this serious breach of Senate rules not reflective of poor leadership in the Senate? The family of slain hotelier Richard King condemned the use of the businessman’s death in the Senate investigation on extralegal killings, Party-list Rep. Harry L. Roque of Kabayan relayed this information to this writer on Friday. Roque, who used to be counsel for King, said the family “is appalled by the gall of Sen. Leila de Lima in dragging the death of the Crown Regency owner in her attempt to smear the name of President Rodrigo Duterte.” “The family of Richard King has already undergone enough trauma with his death. They are now being subjected to undue emotional distress because of the vain desire of Senator de Lima to discredit the President,” Roque added. Roque also said the King family is strongly denying the love-triangle angle being peddled by de Lima’s witness, self-confessed Davao Death Squad member Matobato. “Police Supt. Leonardo Felonia was charged for King’s murder. Not once was it the name of Vice Mayor Paolo Duterte ever mentioned in the course of the investigation,” Roque said. “The story that seems to be the

most popular is that a businesswoman paid P20 million to have Richard King killed. She contacted Felonia to look for killers,” he added. Roque said, as a lawyer, he noted Matobato had “major inconsistencies” in his testimony, including saying he was at the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force headquarters in 2003, when the task force was actually abolished in 2001. “This was Senator de Lima’s defense strategy: Stage an offense knowing that the truth on her drug dealings will soon be revealed at the House of Representatives next week,” Roque added. Moreover, the maverick lawmaker warned about the possible plot of the United States to unseat President Duterte. “The Senate testimony came immediately after the President confirmed he wanted to pursue an independent foreign policy. It is too much of a coincidence that the testimony intended to pave the way for his ouster came immediately after President Duterte declared his independent stance,” Roque said. “Remember that US Ambassador [Philip] Goldberg was kicked out of Bolivia for stirring a coup,” he added. Bolivian President Evo Morales expelled Goldberg out of the country in 2008 and declared him persona non grata for “conspiring against democracy and seeking the division of Bolivia.” To reach the writer, e-mail cecilio.arillo@ gmail.com

The Lehman moment still is with us L By Barry Ritholtz | Bloomberg View

ast Thursday was the eighth anniversary of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. Not enough time has passed yet for me to recall those anxious days without getting angry.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren has used the occasion of this anniversary to suggest the next administration should “investigate and jail” those Wall Street bankers who committed crimes. Although I doubt there will be any perp walks, I do have some ideas about how to proceed. Before we look into the senator’s suggestion, it is time for an honest appraisal of one of the lingering mysteries of the financial crisis: Why were there were no prosecutions of major executives? It’s a fair question. I believe, as discussed previously, there were 10 areas where fraud and abuse took place. These were the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems; mortgage pools; securitization; “misplaced” mortgage notes; force-placed insurance; servicing fees; fake documents; false affidavits,

perjury and robo-signing; foreclosure mills; and active military members losing homes while on duty. I am convinced that these cases were easy to prosecute, that a first-year law student would have a 90-percent conviction rate, that the documentary evidence was overwhelming, especially of mortgage and foreclosure fraud. As we know, there were no prosecutions of any significance—not at the state level, not at a federal level. After much research, I have come to believe that at the highest levels of government, the financial industry managed to convince prosecutors that it was against societal interests to bust bankers. The revolving door between government and the private sector, between regulators and regulated, figures in this. If you’re a prosecutor, but you

might like a big payday from business, do you really want to go hard on the companies that might offer you a job one day? The bigger problem has been the normalization of fraud. We found out in 2008 that Department of Justice prosecutions and Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions against Wall Street had fallen 87 percent. Before you blame the George W. Bush administration, that same lack of prosecutorial zeal continued under the administration of Barack Obama. On the anniversary of Lehman’s collapse, it is worth recalling just how blatant some of the misdeeds were, and the surprising lack of prosecution for the bank’s accounting improprieties. Of course, among the leading example was something called Repo 105, which involved moving billions of dollars in liabilities off the firm’s balance sheet near the end of each reporting quarter, then putting them back on the books a few days later. The maneuver hid enormous financial weakness. As far as I’m concerned, this was fraud plain and simple, a conclusion supported

in the report by the court-appointed Lehman bankruptcy examiner. Beyond Lehman Brothers, Warren will find the ripest area for prosecution in improper foreclosures. Fraud was rampant; every robosigned document was an act of perjury; every fabricated signature was fraud. I suspect there were thousands of lowlevel bank employees guilty of these crimes, and they could be pressured into revealing those responsible further up the food chain. I doubt it was the chief executives who ordered these actions, and the ideas certainly didn’t come from the burger flippers recently hired to work in the foreclosure factories. It was senior bankers who came up with a way to institutionalize perjury. How and why prosecutors fell down on the job is an area the senator might consider exploring. Maybe take a closer look at the revolving door and issues of regulatory capture. At the very least, we still need a dogged probe of the financial crisis like that done by the Pecora Commission, which examined the causes of the 1929 Crash.

Voices

essMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph • Sunday, September 18, 2016 A5

It is a state of mind F

OR saying that traffic is a state of mind, Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade was raked over coals. His remark is still spun As the subject of pun Just for fun.

Free Fire

By Teddy Locsin Jr.

But he was not wrong. He might even be right, and not because he was quoted out of context. Standing alone, traffic truly is a state of mind. For example, there was the state of mind of a Palace resident who never thought to fix traffic because there is no traffic in bed or racing in the Skyway in the middle of the night. His state of mind then contributed to the bad traffic now. And because there was even less traffic way back when, it was never in anyone’s state of mind to fix traffic when it wasn’t bad then. People like myself opposed the Light Rail Transit and the Metro Rail Transit as an idea too silly for words. Who would climb two stories to pick a ride up there when she could take a bus from a street corner? Although with each passing year there were

more buses going less fast on the country’s only highway. That was the reason for adopting a small elevated train system with very limited capacity: it was our state of mind then. Before Fidel V. Ramos there was Corazon “Cory” C. Aquino, whose state of mind, like everyone else’s then, opposed any big solution because the big money for it might be stolen again. Cory inherited a really dead economy, buried under a mountain of debt and not in the Libingan. That is reserved for those who piled up the debt and stole most of it. The economy being dead, properties on both sides of the highway were going for a song, but no one suggested expropriation to widen the highway. The economy being dead, there were few cars on the

highway anyway. Why fix a problem that did not exist then? That was our state of mind then. Those were just two big-ticket state-ofmind items. Tugade was referring literally to states of mind that also contribute to traffic. For example: I get in my car early morning. The traffic is light. I step on the gas and then brake suddenly. Up ahead three cars are abreast driving slowly. All three drivers must still be dreaming or getting a little happiness from companions whose heads are in their laps, which is why I think they are driving alone. Traffic would move 50-percent faster if Filipino drivers used the road to get from one place to another without getting a little joy also on the way there. Ditto going to work a little later,

hoping to drive faster and arrive at work on time just the same. But everyone else is thinking the same. By the time they are all on the road, so, too, are millions of commuters in big buses. Yes, traffic is bad, as a matter of fact, but traffic does get worse depending on your state of mind. If you are impatient, traffic takes longer. If you don’t care how long it takes to get anywhere, it won’t matter how long it took to get there. It is all in the mind. Supposing I smoked a joint in the traffic. Time would slow down so there is no need to hurry. Or time would accelerate and it will feel like we got there earlier. Except we might get shot and wrapped in packing tape. But that would be the final solution to our personal traffic problem.

Israel wonders what happens when its fathers are gone N

By Daniel Gordis | BloombergView

ews that Shimon Peres had suffered a serious stroke this week struck a deep and sad chord for Israelis. They never united behind Peres the politician, who served as prime minister twice without being elected. They came to revere him, however, when he served as president. The hospitalization of the 93-year-old Peres evoked a greater response than the final chapters of other countries’ leaders because he is the “last man standing”—the last of the iconic group of men and women who surrounded David Ben-Gurion in the years before and immediately after Israel’s independence. Israelis are losing their only remaining “father figure.” When Ben-Gurion died in December 1973, just weeks after the catastrophic Yom Kippur War, one Israeli scholar and novelist noted that Israelis watched his funeral on TV, “as if they were watching their own.” If there was consolation to be had then, it was that Israel was an unquestionable success with a bright future. Israel’s leaders were people—

Moshe Dayan, Golda Meir, Yitzhak Rabin and others—who had been instrumental in getting the British out of Palestine and establishing the state. Israelis could look to their trusted founders and attribute many of the country’s trials and tribulations to the fact that it was very much a country still in the making. Peres’s illness brings a sort of finality to Israelis—an awareness that that fact is no longer true. And that finality comes at a time when the country—and, indeed, many observers of the Jewish people—is feeling particularly sober. Although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration appears stable, his feud with US President Barack Obama seems to have subsided (at least for now) and the borders are relatively quiet, the quiet is deceiving, and Israelis know it. Its military prowess notwithstanding, the Jewish state still faces potentially existential threats. Most obvious is Iran, which apparently hasn’t given up its dreams of having nuclear weapons. In a clear violation

of the United Nations Security Council, Iran recently test-fired a long-range ballistic missile. Israelis know they are in the reach of such missiles. An Iranian military commander’s claim that Iran could destroy Israel in 8 minutes may not be true, but leaves Israelis little doubt about Iran’s aspirations. On the diplomatic front, Israel is reaching out to China, India and nations in Africa, largely because of its much-diminished status in Europe. France has threatened that it could soon recognize a Palestinian state; Sweden’s foreign minister has been so hostile that some Israeli officials said she was not welcome to visit; anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are roiling British politics. Tellingly, when he ran for prime minister, Yair Lapid made his case in part by insisting that he was the only one who could restore Israel’s international standing. The “little engine that could” that many Israelis associate with Peres’s generation often feels as if it is sputtering. Next year Israel’s occupation of the West Bank will be a half-century

old. In a country that will then be merely 69 years old, 50 years of occupation makes that the default condition. A slim, but decreasing, majority of Israelis (58 percent, according to one poll) supports a twostate solution, but most see no way to implement it. The Palestinian street overwhelmingly rejects the very right of a Jewish state to exist, and Israelis fear they will surrender the territory, Hamas could quickly take control of the West Bank and then, Israel would face there what it now faces from Gaza. Because most of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis who now live in the West Bank insist they will never leave, the possibility of an internal violent confrontation weighs on Israelis. This sense of “no good moves on the chessboard” stands in stark contrast to the way Israelis recall the generation of their founders, who always surmounted the insurmountable. Even American Jews are losing patience, and the conversation about Israel has become toxic in some circles; many rabbis avoid it altogether. A relatively recent study of young American Jews’ views of

Mega-ships may be too big not to fail I

By Justin Fox | BloombergView

t was always going to be tough for the world’s container shipping lines—accustomed to decade after decade of growth in the volume of video-game consoles, auto parts, furniture, frozen seafood and all manner of other things transported in boxes across the sea—to adjust to a slowdown in global trade. What has made it a whole lot tougher is that, not long before trade peaked as a share of global GDP in 2008, container shippers began adding capacity at an even faster pace than they had before. Container traffic has actually held up better than bulk shipping (which is heavy on raw materials, like iron ore) and oil tankers, with volume still growing in the low single digits annually. But capacity growth has far outstripped demand. This is from a 2015 report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s International Transport Forum on “The Impact of Mega-ships.” It makes for fascinating (if pretty wonky) reading now. The gist is that the move to giant ships, with capacities now approaching 21,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs, the standard measure of container volume), adds all sorts of costs to the global transport system that may end up outweighing the per-TEU energy and staffing savings from bigger boats. My Bloomberg View colleague Adam Minter already wrote a whole column about these problems; I’ll address them briefly in a moment.

But the big question for me is why shippers kept adding capacity, even as demand slowed. One answer is simply that, a decade ago, demand for container shipping seemed to be accelerating. Global container traffic grew 17 percent from 2006 to 2007, up from 11 percent the year before. Big new ships aren’t built overnight, so it’s understandable that the container lines did a bit of over-ordering back in those days. Still, that doesn’t explain why they kept adding capacity, even after that demand acceleration didn’t pan out. Another answer is that adding capacity is just what container shippers do. Here’s a fun observation from a 2012 Boston Consulting Group study that urged shippers to stop adding capacity already: Traditionally, the industry and key industry observers have measured carriers’ market share on the basis of capacity, rather than the freight volumes they actually transport. Therefore, carriers have typically expanded their capacity to strengthen their market position. A final answer is that the biggest container shipping line, Copenhagen-based Maersk, thought that ordering a set of new 18,000 TEU mega-ships in 2010 could change the dynamics of the industry. In an essay published last week, Olaf Merk, ports and shipping expert at the International Transport Forum and coauthor of the mega-ship report cited above, took a stab at explaining Maersk’s reasoning:

SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL TRANSPORT FORUM

For a weekly container service between Asia and Europe—the route on which the largest ships are deployed—10 to 11 ships are needed; a lot of capital that smaller companies would not be able to collect. As the order for the new mega-ships was placed, while the global economic crisis was still unfolding, banks were unwilling to lend much to a risky business, like shipping, especially the smaller ones with high- risk profiles. Timing was excellent, with ship prices low due to overcapacity in ship building yards. The new mega-ships were smartly marketed as “Triple E” ships, providing economies of scale, energy efficiency and environmental performance. They also provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity “for the market consolidation that big players hoped for.”

Basically, industry leader Maersk was making a bet that by pioneering giant, super-efficient ships, it could take market share from smaller rivals and force some to shut down or sell out. That didn’t work quite as planned. Maersk got its mega-ships, but so did rivals, thanks to new alliances that allow shipping lines to share capacity and government aid. Now, with the Korean container line Hanjin in bankruptcy, some of the consolidation that Maersk and others wanted to see may happen. But it’s happening in an environment of tremendous overcapacity, falling prices and big losses for the shipping companies—which are reacting in part by trying to push their per-TEU operating costs even lower by shifting to...bigger ships. I really don’t know how this is

Israel revealed that among those 35 years of age and younger, a full 50 percent said they would not consider the destruction of the Jewish state a personal tragedy. When Peres was in his prime, such sentiments would have been unthinkable. Israel is a country that has long beaten the odds, and Israelis are, thus, not nearly as despondent as the above-described situation might suggest they would be. Israel is a hightech powerhouse, regularly wins Nobel Prizes, boasts some of the world’s finest universities, has a military that has never failed to defend the state, and a young generation, much of which is still deeply committed to the enterprise. Surprisingly, Israelis rank among the happiest of the world’s societies. Still, there is no denying the dark clouds overhead. Now, with Peres’s illness, the curtain is dropping on the Jewish state’s founding generation. There’s an inescapable sense that, with their last father figure fading away—whatever the future may hold—Israelis are entirely on their own.

going to play out. Airlines face similar dynamics and tend to alternate between periods of stability and crisis. Airlines do seem to have figured out, though, that ever-bigger planes aren’t really the answer. For the shipping companies, the logic of size is that stuffing more containers onto a ship means lower running costs per container. An added cost-saver is that the mega-ships are designed for “slow steaming”—traveling at about 17 knots, instead of 20, to save on fuel and engine capacity. For ports, and for the companies moving their goods in the containers, ship size is more of a mixed blessing. For one thing, the ships are just too big for some ports and shipping routes—the newly expanded Panama Canal can only handle container ships of up to about 13,000 TEUs, while the Port of Newark, New Jersey, where container-shipping began, maxes out at 9,200 TEUs. For another, they make shipping, well, lumpier, by reducing the frequency of port calls and increasing the amount of loading and unloading that needs to be done on each call. Part of the genius of container shipping, as Marc Levinson wrote in his wonderful history The Box, was that: As container shipping became intermodal, with a seamless shifting of containers among ships and trucks and trains, goods could move in a never-ending stream from Asian factories directly to the stockrooms of retail stores in North America or Europe.

NewsSunday BusinessMirror

A6 Sunday, September 18, 2016

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Senators clash over witness against Duterte

By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

N denying protective custody to a key witness who linked President Duterte to extrajudicial killings (EJKs) while serving as mayor of Davao City, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said this was not “justified” in accordance with Senate rules. “I intend to run the Senate based on rules,” Pimentel, a partymate of Duterte in the now ruling PDPLaban, said on Friday. “I’ve denied the request for protective custody of the witness Edgar Matobato because there is no Senate rule to justify it.” Pimentel added: “There was even no showing that his [Matobato’s] life or safety is threatened. Worse, the witness’s testimony is not even relevant to the resolution being investigated.” But Sen. Leila de Lima, chief investigator in the Senate inquiry into EJKs of thousands of alleged drug

suspects since Duterte assumed office, indicated the Committee on Justice will continue to provide protective custody to Matobato in defiance of Pimentel’s position on the issue. “I am perplexed, disturbed and extremely disappointed with the Senate President’s refusal to grant protective custody to Edgar Matobato,” said de Lima, a Liberal Party stalwart and justice secretary of former President Benigno S. Aquino III. She conceded that the grant of protective custody to witnesses may not be in the rules but said “this is a long-standing practice, probably in

any legislative body in the world, because it is an ancillary and inherent power of the legislature to support its mandate of conducting inquiries in aid of legislation.” “The grant of protective custody, like the power to cite in contempt, is one of the ancillary powers inherent in the Senate committees conducting legislative inquiries,” she added. De Lima said she would withdraw her request for Pimentel’s approval of the committee recommendation for the grant of protective custody to Matobato. “Instead, I will bring the issue to the committee, with the end in view of asserting our inherent and ancillary power as a Senate committee conducting an inquiry in aid of legislation to grant the witness protective custody of the Senate,” she said, asserting that granting protective custody, like the power to cite in contempt, is “a Senate power, not a prerogative of the Senate President” and a Senate committee has the authority to grant protective custody to a witness testifying before it.

Lacson rejects Cayetano yarn

SEN. Panfilo M. Lacson Sr., at the same time, asserted he was “not buy-

Pimentel

de lima

ing” speculations aired by Sen. Alan Peter S. Cayetano that LP senators were using the EJK inquiry to lay the basis for an impeachment case to oust Duterte and pave the way for LPbacked Vice President Maria Leonor G. Robredo to assume the presidency. “I won’t buy that,” Lacson said. “With all due respect to Senator Cayetano, it looks like his projection is far out and without basis,” Lacson added, saying he does not see Robredo going along with such a power grab plot to take over the presidency. “To me, it [Cayetano’s speculation] seems out of bounds, for lack of a better description and should not have been raised at a Senate hearing. Just the same, I respect Cayetano’s opinion, as he may have information that I don’t

know. I’ll just leave it at that.” According to de Lima, the protection of a witness like Matobato, who implicated then-Mayor Rodrigo Duterte to extrajudicial killings in Davao City, “is paramount, especially those who have endangered and are willing to sacrifice their own lives in order to shed light on criminal wrongdoings upon the invitation of the Senate.” “This is undertaken as a matter of course, since it is the automatic obligation of the Senate to protect witnesses who have entrusted their security to this body in exchange for the vital information only they are able to share in aid of legislation,” she added. “We are even hard put in searching for a precedent where protective custody was refused to a witness who needed it. We cannot now pretend that the explosive testimony of Edgar Matobato fails to meet precedents on previous grants of protection.” De Lima pointed out that Matobato provided senators with “vital information that sheds light on the whole complexity of the President’s “war on drugs,” especially on the similarity of the strategy adopted by the so-called Davao Death

Squad (DDS) and other vigilantes. “The relevance of his testimony to the inquiry on extrajudicial killings is self-evident,” she added. “Regardless of the personalities involved, his testimony merely shows that what is transpiring now in this country has happened before in Davao City. His testimony raises the legitimate question of whether the DDS has anything to do or is, in fact, involved in the nationwide war on drugs, at least insofar as the aspect of extrajudicial and vigilante killings are concerned.” Moreover, the senator noted no other government agency or office is in a position to provide protective custody to Matobato. “The circumstances leave no doubt, considering that it is the President who is being accused by the witness, that his security and custody cannot be left to any agency of the Executive branch, leaving the Senate as his only choice for sanctuary. It is, therefore, highly irregular and incomprehensible for the Senate to be unable to perform this obligation to a witness whom it has invited on the basis of the vital information only he can provide to an inquiry conducted in aid of legislation.”

House honors albay lass as first Group offers waste-to-energy power plants phl female chess grandmaster By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

FRAYNA

By Johnny C. Nuñez Phlippines News Agency

EGAZPI CITY—The House of Representatives will honor next week the Philippines’s first-ever female chess grandmaster, Janelle Mae Frayna of Albay in special rites deserving of the historic title she recently clinched at the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbaijan. In a recent session, the lawmakers unanimously passed Resolution 12, congratulating and commending Frayna, based on a resolution filed by PDPLaban Rep. Joey S. Salceda of Albay, immediately following her victory. The new chess grandmaster comes from the Second District of the province, Salceda’s constituency. Salceda said Congress has scheduled a special ceremony on Monday to honor Frayna with a “especially engraved enrolled bill at the rostrum of Congress, to be presented by Speaker Pantaleon D. Alvarez in the presence of all Bicolano lawmakers and in the company of her family.” Frayna, a 20-year-old Bachelor of Science in Psychology student of the Far Eastern University (FEU), drew with International Master Davaademberel Nomin-Erdene of Mongolia, and amassed the required 6.0 points on four wins, four draws and one loss. She had an ELO rating of 2,281 at the end of the competition. She bested three male grandmasters, one of whom has an international master title, and two other lady competitors with international master title during the weeklong competitions. Frayna became an international chess grandmaster even younger than Eugene Torre, the first Filipino grandmaster, who won the title in 1974

in Nice, France, at age 22. The new grandmaster is also a candidate for cum laude honors at FEU. She is the daughter of George Guillermo Frayna, chief of the Housing Division of the Planning Department of Legazpi City, and wife, Corazon Sonia Bermas-Frayna. Salceda noted that Frayna’s win not only empowers women to excel in sports, even in a maledominated one, like chess, but also encourages the youth to strive hard to attain their goals even at a younger age. “Her pioneering and historic achievement in the field of chess is a source of pride and inspiration to all Filipinos and a testament to the world of our admirable spirit of competitiveness and excellence,” he said. At age 12, Frayna was registered by her mother with the Mayon Chess Club in Legazpi City and started playing in local competitions. Her games improved so rapidly her mother would often accompany her to national competitions, among them the 2008 Palarong Pambansa in Palawan, where she placed fifth. Her potentials were noticed by Filipino Grandmaster Jason Gonzalez, the chess team coach of FEU, and encouraged her to transfer to their university, where she became an athletic scholar, and started beating some Filipino grandmasters. Salceda said he wasted no time filing a resolution in Congress to honor Frayna, since it is “proper that we render the recognition while the great feeling of achievement is still in the air and the good vibes are within our grasp. We have let go unnoticed, unrecognized and unrewarded in the past some great achievements of Albayanos, and I no longer want to be remiss in allowing such memories to fade so that most of us have forgotten them.”

FILIPINO business group is offering to build a network of wasteto-energ y (W TE) generating plants across the country at no cost to the government. The group is finalizing a letter of intent to be submitted to Malacañang offering not only an advanced proprietary pyrolytic technology developed in the United States and now used in Georgia and some Caribbean countries. One advantage of the technology is that it could possibly reduce the country’s dependence on the use of highly pollutive coal to generate electricity. Filipino businessmen Juanito Dakis, Bobby Tuason and Romeo L. Munda of the IMMAC-DTM Energy Consortium Philippines (IMMAC-DTM Consortium) said their WTE technology uses both organic, like farm waste and abaca plants, and inorganic feedstock to generate electricity. “We are as protective of the environment as green organizations,” Dakis, Tuason and Munda said in a statement, “and this is the reason we are bringing this state-of-the-art technology to the Philippines. Our system requires no incineration, for which reason compliant with the Clean Air Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.” The businessmen said in partnership with three US-based companies, United Earth Energy (UEE), Biodiverse Energies (BDE) and SRADCO, Dakis, Tuason and Munda stressed they intend to build “a

network of scalable 10-megawatt WTE generating facilities across the country. Each facility shall process approximately a minimum of 1,000 metric tons of municipal solid waste [MSW] and other wastes per day, built on a site covering between 5 and 10 hectares, and shall take only between 18 and 24 months to complete.” Calling their WTE technology a boon to the environment, Dakis, Tuason and Munda said their power-generating plants “undertake the useful disposition of MSW, tire waste [which decomposes in 500 years], agricultural waste and all forms of waste complemented by biomass that meet or exceed US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] standards and are compliant with the Clean Air Act and the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act.” Stressing that it offer to be superior to others, IMMAC-DTM Consortium said, “It has assembled a strong team of partners to design, engineer, construct, manage and, more important, provide 100-percent project financing for all the proposed WTE power-generating facilities at no cost to the government and without sovereign guarantee from the Republic.” Dakis, Tuason and Munda said these facilities will use their patented WTE three-stage biomass pyrolytic and gasification technology. They added that the US-based IMMAC Power Solutions Inc. will be the project developer, as well as engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) partner, while UEE, BDE and SRADCO will share their WTE pyrolytic technology, called

“thermo-decomposition and gasification,” now used all over the world. “This technology,” they explained, “is not an incineration process but a carefully monitored and controlled thermal process that ‘cooks’ waste at a high temperature in the absence of oxygen. This applied technology converts any carbonaceous material into basic components of biogas and liquid biofuels with exemplary clean emissions that result in a highly efficient, self-sustaining energy production.” The WTE technology to be applied to their power-generating facilities would boost the country’s campaign to reduce MSW and would support the energy needs of island provinces, like Palawan, and other places not connected with the power grid. Recently, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) started cracking down on about 1,700 dumps all over the country to implement the law that shut them down as early as 2006. Of the 23 sanitary landfills, five have been ordered to be closed and some waste collectors have transferred their MSW to Calamba, Laguna, and other sites. Clarifying the acceptability of WTE, Dakis, Tuason and Munda said 48 WTE facilities using various technology are operating in the country or are set to operate, including one in San Jose City, Nueva Ecija, that uses 200 MT of waste daily to produce 20 MW of power. Another such project in Nueva Ecija uses rice hull to generate electricity, they added.

Natl Police, WCKF in joint anti-illegal drugs projects

OLICE officers assigned in the Davao region recently led a peaceful initiative, called “Baktas sa Kausaban,” at Rizal Park, Davao City, to help bolster President Duterte’s campaign against the use and sale of illegal drugs. The “unity walk for change,” led by Chief Supt. Manuel R. Gaerlan, Davao region police commander, was a simultaneous multicity activity with 13,411 participants from Davao City, Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur, Davao Occidental, Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley. The initiative is a by-product of the National Police’s ongoing community relations program, as it mainly aims to generate awareness and gather support of all stakeholders; to kick-off regular physical activities of the surrenderors; and create willing sponsors to fund the drug victims’ rehabilitation and social reintegration process. One of the country’s most active nonprofit organizations, the Wong

Chu King Foundation (WCKF) provided a full sponsorship, while its representatives also joined in the refreshing initiative. Aside from the surrenderors, representatives from various government agencies, nongovernmental agencies, private sectors, faith groups, local executives, barangay officials and National Police personnel graced the event. The assembly began at daybreak and the participants completed the walk by 7:40 a.m., followed by a program. The WCKF external affairs director, retired Police Director Melito Mabilin said, the foundation believes in taking small but necessary steps to help the needy and provide opportunities to the deserving but less fortunate individuals, thereby changing the “world” and doing the impossible one step at a time. “The small steps we made this morning in this noble undertaking lead to bigger steps toward the

change we are all dreaming to achieve—a peaceful, drug-free country,” he addressed. WCKF head volunteer retired Lt. Gen. Edilberto Adan called for a neverending effort to change and pursue a better life away from drugs, as these vices only permit a temporary escape yet create a permanent damage among its users’ lives. “Drugs destroy the moral fiber of our society and causes problems in its most basic unit—the family. But through the values of compassion and malasakit, it’s never too late,” the former Army commander added. Meanwhile, Gaerlan, in a letter, extended his deepest gratitude to the WCKF for being a partner in the police’s project, named “Oplan Double Barrel,” which aims to completely eradicate the use and sale of illegal drugs “Your presence and contribution to the event signifies your sincere desire to be part of President Duterte’s advocacy,” he added.

Sports BusinessMirror

Editor: Jun Lomibao

Sunday, September 18, 2016 A7

FALCONS SOAR HIGHER By Joel Orellana

Jet Manuel (left) of University of the Philippines drives hard as Jeepy Faundo of University of Santo Tomas tries to stop his attempt. NONOY LACZA

NU, La Salle-Zobel remain perfect in high-school volley

EFENDING two-time champion National University (NU) and De La Salle-Zobel easily won over their respective girls division foes to stay perfect in the University Athletic Association Season 79 high-school volleyball tournament on Saturday at the Adamson University Gym. The Bullpups made short work of Adamson University, 25-10, 25-16, 25-21, while the Junior Lady Spikers rout University of the Philippines Integrated School, 25-3, 25-23, 25-8. NU and De La Salle-Zobel improved to 3-0 to keep their joint hold of the lead. University of Santo Tomas, which drew a bye, is the league’s other unbeaten team at 2-0. In the other girls clash, Far Eastern University Diliman outlasted University of the East, 22-25, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 15-8, to enter the win column after two straight losses. The Baby Falcons and the Junior Lady Warriors fell to 0-2, while the Junior Lady Maroons are still winless in three contests. There are no high-school games on Sunday due to the University of the Philippines College Admission Test, and action resumes on Saturday.

DAMSON University rallied from 10-point deficit entering the final period and banked on Dawn Ochea’s game-winner to shock Ateneo de Manila, 62-61, in Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Colisuem. Ochea, who struggled all-game long offensively, received an inbound pass and converted a well-contested jumper to deliver the go ahead basket with 1.9 ticks left as Blue Eagles’ Thirdy Ravena’ attempt missed the target in the ensuing play. It was the first win of the Soaring Falcons against the Blue Eagles since Season 74 and, more important, improved their standing to 2-1 win-loss mark, while Ateneo dropped to 2-2.

“Dawn Ochea made me look like a coaching genius,” Adamson Head Coach Franz Pumaren said. Ateneo was leading 56-46 after the third canto but Robbie Manalang and Papi Sarr joined forces and put the Soaring Falcons back in the game. Manalang’s three-pointer tied the game for the last time at 60-all and after a split by Ateneo center Chibueze Ikeh, 61-60, both teams traded errors before Sarr completed a steal off Adrian Wong to give Adamson another shot. Pumaren then inserted Ochea back in the game and the Cebuano forward hit the golden back to shock the Ateneo players supporters. Manalang led the Soaring Falcons with 15 points while Jerrick Ahanmisi and Sarr each had 13. Sarr also grabbed 16 rebounds. Anton Asistio was the lone Ateneo player in double figures with 12 points. In the opener, University of Santo

KINGS, KATROPA EYE TOP SEED

NT Katropa and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel Beer battle for the No. 1 seed as they clash in the main game of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Alonte Sports Arena in Biñan City. Already assured of a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinal stage, the Katropa and the Kings face off at 6:45 p.m. in what could be a potential finals preview for the season-ending conference. In the opener, defending champion San Miguel Beer and Blackwater meet at 4:30 p.m. TNT Katropa (9-1) and Ginebra (8-2) are currently 1-2 in the team standings, but the Kings could fall to No. 3 if they lose to Katropa and the Beermen (7-3) beat the Elite in the first game. In this case, Ginebra and San Miguel will be tied for No. 2, with 8-3 win-loss mark, but the Beermen will grab the second spot via winover-the-other rule after beating the Kings, 111-105, in double overtime on August 14. “I don’t think either team is going to give an inch. It could turn out to be the best nonbearing game in history,” Ginebra Head Coach Tim Cone said.

A win by the Kings will give them the No. 1 position and meet the winner of the Rain or Shine-Phoenix playoff game. Katropa are already assured of the top spot and could face sister team NLEX (seventh spot) in the quarterfinals if they bow to Ginebra. TNT Katropa is coming off a 115105 demolition of Star, with Head Coach Jong Uichico utilizing more his locals. “We’re waiting what our placing will be at kung sino makakalaban namin. In the meantime, we want to keep our momentum going, high-level intensity we’re trying to bring in the next round,” Uichico said. In the opener, San Miguel parades its third import in Elijah Millsap when it faces Blackwater, which tries to snap an eight-game losing streak and end the season on a positive note. Millsap replaced Michael Singletary and got his second stint with the Beermen. Millsap, who suited up for Utah Jazz last season in the National Basketball Association, first played for San Miguel in 2013 Governors’ Cup where he won the Best Import award but lost to Marqus Blakely and San Mig Coffee (now Star) in the finals. Joel Orellana

BULLDOGS RIP FALCONS IN BADMINTON OPENER

ATIONAL University (NU) rout Adamson University, 5-0, to open its three-peat bid in the men’s division on a high note on Saturday in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 79 badminton tournament at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall. Now under new Coach

Jaja Santiago stamps her mark in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference after winning the Most Valuable Player trophy. STEPHANIE TUMAMPOS

Jaime Llanes, the Bulldogs stretched their winning streak to 19 ties, which dates back from 2014. Llanes took over from Jojo Mance, who steered NU to three titles in the last four years. In other results, last season’s runner-up De La Salle overpowered Far Eastern University, 4-1; University of Santo Tomas blanked

University of the East, 5-0, while University of the Philippines bested Ateneo, 4-1. The Bulldogs, who lost last year’s Most Valuable Player Peter Magnaye to graduation, shoot for a second straight win against the Growling Tigers in one of the four scheduled ties starting at 8 a.m. at the Malate venue.

Tomas (UST) bounced back from a 38-point shackling after outlasting University of the Philippines (UP), 8377, for its second win in four matches. Skipper Louie Vigil showcased his all-around game with 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists, but the Growling Tigers needed the clutch points from Regie Boy Basibas and Oliver de Guzman to seal the win and keep the Fighting Maroons winless after three starts. Basibas and de Guzman each had 11 markers for UST, which extended its mastery over the Diliman-based team to 19 straight games. “I talked to each one of them. Kailangan ’yung character lumabas para maka-bounce back kami this game. Dumating sa amin ’yung sipag na nawala sa amin,” said Growling Tigers Head Coach Boy Sablan, referring to their 62-100 loss to De La Salle the previous game. “The last two days, hindi ko na sila pinatakbo. More on mental at game

Micah Shin holds his trophy after winning the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Open.

ICAH Shin clinched his maiden pro win in style, beating current Order of Merit (OOM) leader Tony Lascuña, and a slew of local and foreign aces to capture the Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT) Open crown by two on a closing 70 at the Luisita Golf and Country Club on Saturday in Tarlac. Not even a late double bogey on the treacherous par-3 17th could shake off the lean 19-year-old Korean-American, a perennial contender since he joined the big league three years ago, who banked on his brilliant third-round 65 to seize control and used a solid start in the final round to cushion the impact of a meltdown that has marred his past title campaigns in the circuit sponsored by International Container Terminal Services Inc. He did waver a bit with that five on the 17th but Shin had built enough lead—four with two holes to go—to be shattered and knocked off the leaderboard, closing out with a scrambling par on the par-4 18th to finish off Lascuña and fulfill a dream victory.

plan ang ginawa namin,” Sablan added. Kent Lao and Renzo Subido added 10 apiece for UST, which saw its 68-57 lead evaporated when the Fighting Maroons unleashed an 11-0 bomb capped by Diego Dario’s triple, 68-all, 4:16 remaining. De Guzman hit a three-pointer in the next play but Javier Gomez de Liano responded with his own trey to tie the game for the last time at 71-all. Basibas nailed a triple in the ensuing play that sparked a 10-3 run to give UST an 81-74 separation, under two minutes remaining. Jet Manuel led the Fighting Maroons with 19 points while Dario chipped in 14. Gomez de Liano and Paul Desiderio contributed 12 and 10 markers, respectively, for Head Coach Bo Perasol. The loss was 19 in a row by the Fighting Maroons to the Growling Tigers. The last time UP won against UST was in Season 69, when it swept both games in the elimination round.

SHIN PREVAILs Shin actually had to endure a 35-minute delay before claiming his maiden win, as organizers had to stop play due to thunderstorms and lightning with the finalgroup set to hole out on the 18th. But it was still worth the wait. “I couldn’t ask for more. It was a memorable Saturday for me. My effort and hard work didn’t go to waste,” said Shin, who wound up with a 14-under 274 on a run of under-par scores that included a 70 and a 69 and pocketed the top P450,000 purse. “I had no problem with my game, except on the 17th,” said Shin, who dumped his 4-iron tee shot into the water for that five but salvaged par on the final hole to win by two. Lascuña, who said on Friday he would need to shoot a seven-under card to get a crack at a fifth crown in the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc., fell short of his bid but still produced a solid 34-34 to finish second at 276 worth P320,000. As in his past failed bids, he blamed his putting for the setback. “I missed a lot of birdie putts, specifically on Nos. 2, 3 and 4 and 16,” rued Lascuña, who, however, remained assured of the OOM lead, as pursuers Bayron and Mondilla both failed to contend heading to the final leg of the circuit, backed by Custom Clubmakers, adidas, KZG, Summit Mineral Water, Srixon, Pacsports, TaylorMade, Sharp, Champion, Ping and Yamaha, at Wack Wack next week. Shin’s victory also lifted him from No. 13 to a spot among the top 7 with P1,035,987 in earnings going to the P3.5 million Tournament Players Championship at Wack Wack beginning next Wednesday.

Clyde Mondilla, a three-leg winner and the third man in the championship group, never figured in the mix with a doublebogey mishap on the tricky par-3 second, but rallied with three birdies in the last 14 holes to save a 71 and finish tied for third at 280 with a charging Elmer Salvador, the Splendido Classic winner two weeks ago who shot a 69. Each received P160,000. Jay Bayron, who had targeted no less than the top spot here to grab the OOM lead from Lascuña, put in another 70 but had to settle for fifth at 281 and P110,000, while Zanieboy Gialon fought back with a 68 to tie Marvin Dumandan, who matched par 72, at sixth at 282. Aussie Peter Stojanovski fired a 69 and took solo eighth at 283, while Dutch Guido Van der Valk also closed out with a 72 for joint ninth at 284 with Cassius Casas, who stumbled with a 73. Bracing for a big charge from the former three-time OOM champion and winner of four legs this year, Shin birdied the third hole from close range to go 5-up then battled Lascuña shot-for-shot and putt-forputt the rest of the way, hitting four more birdies against a bogey until he stumbled with on No. 17. Lascuña came through with backto-back birdies from No. 5 and gunned down two more birdies at the back but the 45-year-old campaigner just couldn’t shake off his young rival and stayed four shots behind until Shin dropped two strokes late in the round. But the ace Davaoeño shotmaker ran out of holes and settled for second, although assured of the OOM lead as pursuers Bayron and Mondilla both failed to contend heading to the final leg of the circuit.

SANTIAGO THANKFUL FOR OPPORTUNITIES, VOWS TO IMPROVE GAME

HE past two weeks had been memorable for Jaja Santiago. After seeing action in the 2016 Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Women’s Club Championship for Foton Pilipinas, Santiago led her National University (NU) to a crown in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference, where she was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP). The 6-foot5 middle blocker said the experience she gained from those tournaments helped her to become a better player. “Naging malaking factor talaga ’yung mga tournament. Kung nakita ninyo talaga na nag-improve ako, sobrang

happy ko at nakaka-overwhelm na nakikita ng mga tao na nagiimprove ako,” Santiago said. “Pero para sa akin, hindi ako nakukuntento kung anong mayroon ako, kasi there’s always a room for improvement. Go lang ako ng go hanggang umangat pa. Hindi ako titigil matuto.” Santiago, who was also named the first Best Middle Blocker of the Collegiate Conference, averaged 29 points in two matches to propel the Lady Bulldogs in sweeping Ateneo de Manila in their best-of-three finals to repeat as champions. Even his coach in Foton, Fabio Menta, a seasoned international coach, said Santiago is the country’s great hope in volleyball after helping the Tornadoes to a seventh-place finish in the AVC tournament. “Nakakatuwa at nakakaoverwhelm na sinasabi nilang ako ang queen of hope ng Philippine

volleyball,” the spiker from Cavite said. “Siguro, better na lang na ipakita ko lagi ’yung best ko at i-improve pa ’yung sarili ko para maging fit ako sa sinasabi nila.” Santiago captured the attention of some of the best Asian club team coaches and players not only with her towering height, but with her oozing potentials. The skipper of Foton Pilipinas was unanimously picked as the Filipina player who impressed the coaches of Pocari Sweat of Hong Kong, Thongtin Lien Viet Post Bank of Vietnam, Sarmayeh Bank of Iran, Ba’yi Shenzheng of China and Altay VC of Kazakhstan, including noted Asian players, like Chinese Liu Yanhan, the MVP of AVC under-23 last year in Manila; and Kazakhstan skipper Inna Matveyeva. The newly crowned AVC Asian Women’s Club Champion NEC Red Rockets of Japan expressed

interest in hiring Santiago after seeing her play in the second round of the tournament. Head Coach Akinori Yamada said that, if Santiago continues to improve, he will seriously invite the NU player to play for his team. “Nakaka-overwhelm ’yung mga international coaches na gusto ’yung laro ko or gusto nila ako tulungan na makapaglaro sa ibang bansa,” she said. “Isa rin ’to sa nakakapagtaas ng morale ko at nagiging inspiration pa na lalo kong i-push ’yung sarili ko na magexcel pa sa volleyball.” In 2013 Santiago turned down a huge opportunity offered by University of California, Los Angeles Bruins, as she decided to stay in the country due to family matters and played for the Lady Bulldogs in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP). Now, the more matured Santiago is ready to take

opportunities playing outside the country if given another chance. “Ready naman ako palagi, siguro lang talaga may mga bagay na humaharang kaya hindi ako tumuloy, pero siguro this time tuloy na ako,” she said, adding that finishing her college degree is still the priority. Now, Santiago’s focus is the upcoming 2016 International Volleyball Federation Women’s Club World Championship set from October 18 to 23 at the Mall of Asia Arena. Santiago is one of the local players selected for the Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Stars to be powered by seven imports. She will be back for Foton when it defends its title in the PSL Grand Prix, which opens on October 8. Santiago will also be a vital cog in NU’s campaign in Season 79 UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.

Lance Agcaoili

A8 Sunday, September 18, 2016

Sports BusinessMirror

Cubs celebrate first N.L. Central title in 8 years

WAIT IS OVER! C HICAGO—Carl Edwards Jr. pulled a “W’’ flag over his shoulders and danced in the middle of the clubhouse. Ben Zobrist wiggled from side to side as ice cubes tumbled down his back to the drenched floor. David Ross closed his eyes as a bottle of beer was poured over his head. The Chicago Cubs had to wait until Friday to celebrate their National League (NL) Central title, but they quickly made up for lost time. Moments after Miguel Montero’s 10th-inning homer lifted Chicago to a 5-4 victory over Milwaukee, the Cubs pulled on postseason hats and shirts, and then partied all over Wrigley Field. It began with pictures and hugs all over the infield, and then transitioned to a boozy segment in their plush clubhouse before returning to the field to wave to their delirious fans and pose for more pictures with family and friends. “We enjoy each other and we have fun together,” Zobrist said, “and that’s [what] makes this kind of situation fun. Even if it’s just a regular win on a regular day, we still enjoy each other and we have fun for about a half-hour and then we’re done. But this one will last a little bit longer than that.” The Cubs became the first Major League team to clinch their division when Saint Louis lost at San Francisco late Thursday night. They had a chance to wrap it up on the field, but Scooter Gennett’s tiebreaking two-run double in the seventh lifted Milwaukee to a 5-4 win earlier in the night.

Manager Joe Maddon and the players were long gone from Wrigley by the time the Giants finished off the Cardinals. But they were clearly ready to go on Friday. A DJ played thumping dance music as the players and coaches sprayed each other with beer and champagne. It was mostly quiet for a short time, while owner Tom Ricketts toasted baseball executives Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer, and then the party was on once again. “It’s always great to go to October,” Epstein said. “But to go in with a group of guys that you really believe in and that are committed and connected and understand what’s at stake and want so badly to make it happen is great.” Epstein, Hoyer and several other members of Chicago’s front office watched most of the game from the famed bleachers, and Epstein wore a comically fake mustache for the occasion. “We made a deal with the guys that we’d go out Chicago Cubs’ Albert Almora Jr. (right) celebrates with there the day after we won the Chris Coghlan after hitting a two-run home run during division,” a grinning Epstein said, the fifth inning against the Milwaukee Brewers. AP

“and then in case something went really wrong in the game I thought it might be good to be disguised out there. Then I kind of didn’t plan ahead, so last-minute, that’s what the costume store had.” The division had seemed like a foregone conclusion ever since Chicago got off to a 25-6 start, serving notice that all the preseason hype was justified. Led by MVP candidates Kris Bryant and Anthony Rizzo and a ridiculously deep pitching staff, the Cubs are on top of the majors with a 94-53 record. It is 108 years since Chicago last won the World Series in 1908, a drought the Cubs hope to end this year. But in the meantime, they weren’t taking the NL Central title for granted. “Winning your division, that’s a highlight,” Maddon said. “It’s always a highlight. Being able to avoid a wild-card game...you really want to avoid that if you possibly can.” Chicago beat Pittsburgh in the wild-card game a year ago, and then eliminated Saint Louis before it was swept by the New York Mets in the NL Championship Series. The Cubs had to wait until September 25 to clinch their 2015 postseason spot, and that also was via a loss by another contender. This time around, Chicago is into the playoffs with a couple weeks to spare. Clinching the division so early gives Maddon plenty of time to rest some position players and take care of his pitching staff. AP

Editor: Jun Lomibao • mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph

‘SEVERAL MONTHS AWAY’ Z URICH—Doping investigator Richard McLaren’s final report on state-backed cheating in Russia is several months from completion, casting fresh doubt on the nation’s hosting of winter sports this season. “We are focusing on winter-sports athletes first. We will get that information out as quickly as we can produce it,” McLaren told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday. The Canadian law professor’s interim report for the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) implicating more than 20 summer and winter sports in Russia was published in July. It led to a chaotic legal process for Russian athletes to be blocked or approved for competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. McLaren never set a deadline for his final report, though many expected progress before the winter sports season starts to peak in November. “It’s urgent to get the report out as quickly as possible,” McLaren said on the sidelines of a sports ethics conference hosted by the International Football Federation (Fifa), which is also awaiting his evidence of possible doping cover-ups. After the powerful first report was published, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) advised winter sports bodies to “freeze their preparations for major events in Russia” in 2016 and find host cities in other countries. That interim order affected figure skating and ski jumping before a scheduled review by the IOC executive board at a December 6-to-8 meeting. McLaren’s new timetable on Friday suggests Russian-hosted events in early 2017 are at risk, including world championships in bobsled and skeleton plus World Cup events in at least five winter disciplines. Though his final report is “at least several

months away,” McLaren’s could send evidence within weeks to sports governing bodies if it suggests doping by individuals. “We haven’t reported any of it to any sporting federation at this stage. When it’s done, we will,” McLaren said earlier on Friday. WADA appointed McLaren in May to investigate claims made in American media by the laboratory director who oversaw drug testing at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Russian official alleged a conspiracy by state authorities to cover up athletes’ doping and help Russia top the medals table at its home Winter Games. McLaren delivered a damning 103-page document that detailed a plot to swap out Russian athletes’ doping-tainted urine samples from 2011 through 2015. In July McLaren asked for more time to complete his investigation. “We will also report on information we had that we didn’t have time to analyze in the last report, and see if it either makes the picture bigger, clearer, or changes it,” he said on Friday. The report already suggested 12 doping cases in Russian soccer that were covered up, including one that could directly implicate Vitaly Mutko, Russia’s sports minister and top soccer official. “We are not singling him out for any investigation steps,” McLaren said of the Fifa ruling council member, who is overseeing 2018 World Cup preparations. McLaren has not yet sent evidence to the Fifa ethics committee, which has power to suspend Mutko. “I am sure they are thinking it’s very urgent, I know they are,” McLaren said of the Fifa ethics prosecutors’ request. “But I have to deal with all the federations. They will get their information about very close to the same time.” AP