Businessmirror september 24, 2016

“Death to your oppression.”—An entry in a journal kept by accused New York/New Jersey bomber, Ahmad Khan Rahami, according to court papers. AP

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“Nobody claimed that he was a perfect individual. Who is perfect? But that night he was not a criminal.”—Melvin Hall, attorney for the family of Terence Crutcher, the unarmed black man shot to death in the middle of a Tulsa, Oklahoma, street last week by a white police officer. AP

“Most people were probably blindsided by the news, and that’s largely due to their tightly managed images.”—Janice Min, president of the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, after Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie filed for divorce this week. AP

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A broader look at today’s business

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Saturday, September 24, 2016 Vol. 11 No. 350

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D.A. ASSURES ANY NEW W.T.O. CONCESSION WILL NOT AFFECT NON-AGRI INDUSTRIES

‘Rice QR extension will not hurt other sectors’ @jearcalas

he Department of Agriculture (DA) is willing to increase the volume of rice currently allowed to enter the country under the minimum-access volume (MAV) scheme, should it decide to renegotiate the extension of the quantitative-restriction (QR) flexibility it currently enjoys from the World Trade Organization (WTO).

INSIDE

FORMER SANTIAGO CITY MAYOR TURNS TO FARMING

Our time

June 30, 2017

The scheduled lapse of the extended quantitative-restriction scheme on rice imports “If they would ask for more on rice, then there’s no problem about it, as long as it is reasonable,” Agriculture Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Segfredo R. Serrano said.

However, the DA is prudent on Continued on A2

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obama’s warning on U.K. trade is now reality, U.s. trade rep says news@businessmirror.com.ph

BusinessMirror

Saturday, September 24, 2016 b2-1

Obama’s warning on UK trade is now reality, US trade rep says

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Froman, the White House’s top trade negotiator, also poured scorn on the idea put forward by the United Kingdom’s pro-Brexit camp that the country can im-

mediately start discussing deals with other parts of the world.

“The UK first and foremost needs to focus on how to define its future relationship with the

EU and that will be its overwhelming preoccupation and it’s really impossible for anybody else to negotiate a free-trade agreement with the UK until you know what is its competence,” Froman said in an interview in New York.

During the referendum campaign, Brexit supporters, such as now-Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, said Britain outside the EU would be free to swiftly pursue its own trade deals with the rest of the world. They criticized Obama’s intervention as part of a slew of tactics aimed at scaring voters into choosing to remain in the bloc.

Three months after the UK’s vote to leave, European leaders are urging Prime Minister Theresa

May to make clear her vision for Britain’s future EU ties. She has yet to trigger the bloc’s Article 50 to fire the starting pistol on two years of negotiations for withdrawal.

Obama’s warning, made in London in April, that the UK would be at the back of the line for a US trade deal is now “in reality the case,” Froman said, adding that the British government needs to concentrate on working out how it will trade with the EU in the future.

“Is it in a customs union with the European Union? Does it have control over its tariffs?

Does it have control over its regulations?” he said. “And those are still issues that are to be worked out between London and the other European capitals.”

The US is focusing on negotiations on the proposed trade pact with the EU, the so-called Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), Froman said. The UK would have been part of TTIP had it not opted to leave the bloc.

“It’s absolutely clear, we have a very special relationship with the UK, we’re going to want to find ways to maintain and strengthen and deepen that trade and investment relationship over time but right now our priority is to get TTIP done,” Froman said.

“Their priority, understandably and importantly, is in figuring out the answers to those questions about what their relationship with the European Union is going to be.” Bloomberg News/TNS

Mexico, Brazil, Uruguay prexies denounce US embargo on Cuba W

ASHINGTON—Several LatinAmerican presidents used the bully pulpit of this week’s United Nations General Assembly to call for the United States to end the trade embargo on Cuba.

“Resumption of diplomatic relations

between Cuba and the United States of America is a clear-cut token that there is no such a thing as endless animosity or insurmountable impasse,” Brazilian President Michel Temer said while addressing the General Assembly.

Members of the United Nations

General Assembly have largely opposed the embargo for years.

But this year’s push comes as more countries have increased pressure on the United States to update its Cuba policies in light of warming ties between the two nations and

P r e s i d e n t B a r a c k O b a m a’s o w n desire to end the embargo. Change is so overdue, President of Uruguay Tabare Vazquez said, that the General Assembly should no longer be discussing the “unfairly ” imposed embargo. If the Colombian government

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entral bank Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. sought to soothe investors spooked by President Duterte’s rhetorics around his antidrug war, with stocks poised for the longest outflow since 2007.

“If you take out the noise and look at the fundamentals, look at the economic program, look at the quality of the members ap-pointed to the economic team, then these are all solid,” Tetangco told bankers, traders and fund managers late Thursday in Manila.

Tetangco joins a host of economic officials, including Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, who on Wednesday said economic policies have been clear and consistent since Mr. Duterte took office in June. S&P Global Ratings this week warned of “rising uncertainties surrounding the stability, predictability and accountability” under the new government.

“All this negative news about the President is going to affect investor sentiment, but as long as the economic team can push through with their plans, the economy will remain strong,” said Gundy Cahyadi, an economist with DBS Group Holdings Ltd. in Singapore. “For the time being, we still think there is plenty of positives to look at.”

Money that flowed into the Philippines after the May See “Investors,” A2

The World

triking a trade deal with the Uk is not on the US’s list of priorities, trade representative Mike Froman said, echoing President Barack Obama’s pre-Brexit vote warning that a decision to leave the European Union would push Britain to the “back of the queue”.

file photo

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By Jasper Emmanuel Y. Arcalas

GOVT TRIES TO SOOTHE INVESTORS ‘SPOOKED’

BY DUTERTE RHETORICS

can reach a peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, after 50 years of bloody conflict, the United States and Cuba should be able to resolve their differences enough to lift the embargo, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said. AP

FBI evaluating abuse allegations vs Brad Pitt

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OS ANGELES—The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is gathering i n fo r m at i o n a b o u t a n i n c i d e nt involving actor Brad Pitt and his family aboard a private flight last week, the agency confirmed on Thursday.

Spokesman Laura Eimiller said the FBI is still evaluating whether to open an investigation into allegations Pitt was abusive during the flight toward one of his six children with actress Angelina Jolie-Pitt, as several media outlets have reported.

The news reports from anonymous sources contend the actor is under investigation by a child-welfare agency because of the September 14 airborne incident.

The allegation involved unruly behavior

by Pitt while airborne with his child present, the source said on Thursday, but would not elaborate. The Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is now conducting an investigation into Pitt’s behavior while the family was flying on a private jet from France to the United States, the source said. TMZ first reported allegations that the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and DCFS were investigating Pitt following an incident at an out-of-state airport involving Angelina Jolie and their children.

The web site claims Pitt was physically and verbally abusive with his children during a flight on a private jet on September 14. TMZ alleges Pitt tried to drive off in a fuel truck after the plane landed.

The web site reported that an anonymous report was sent to the family services department. On Thursday the LAPD denied claims that its detectives were investigating child-abuse allegations involving Pitt.

“LAPD is not handling any reports or allegations into child abuse for Mr. Pitt,” spokesman Officer Jenny Houser said on Thursday. AP and Los Angeles Times/TNS

world

PHL businesses hoping China will hike investments B2-1

salvador grabs lead

gradual retrenchment from trade and investment ties, and curbs on immigration. These scenarios would have ramifications beyond US borders,” Moody’s said.

Among the strongest impacts of this type of policy change on the Philippines, according to Moody’s, will be on remittances, as money sent home by migrant workers could weaken if Continued on A2

See “Investments,” A2

Remittance growth faces new threat

t sports

A8

@BcuaresmaBM

hreat in the already-sluggish remittance numbers of the Philippines has surfaced, this time from the potential immigrationpolicy changes in the United States— one of the country’s largest remittance sources—after its elections this year, an international credit watcher said.

PESO exchange rates n US 47.8350

In its most recent sector in-depth analysis on rated Asia-Pacific count r ies, Moody ’s Investors Ser v ice said campaign proposals ahead of the US presidential election in November this year point to a potential period of less proactive foreign engagement over time, whoever of the candidates win.

“Outcomes could range from a continuation of the status quo to a

@davecaga

ith Manila’s shift in foreign policy further toward Beijing, more foreign direct investments (FDI) are expected by Philippine businesses from China, which poured less investments to the Philippines in the Aquino administration compared to its fellow developing countries in Asia.

According to the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI), China has always been seeking to increase investments in the Asean, which Beijing considers as a major regional trading partner, as long as there are fresh opportunities.

“With regard to China, they’re investing in Asean, and they’re always looking for opportunities. Having seen the improvements in the Philippines, that will encourage them to invest more,” PCCI President George T. Barcelon told the BusinessMirror.

Barcelon said among the improvements that the Chinese government and businesses see in the Philippines in the first few weeks of the Duterte administration is the good peace-and-order situation, brought about

by President Duterte’s encouragement to the police to enforce laws more strictly, particularly against illegal drugs and criminality.

STREAMING IN TANDEM PLDT and Smart Communications Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan (left) and Transportation Secretary Arthur P. Tugade show off livestreamed images during the launch of the telco’s free Internet service at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (Naia). Over 30 million travelers use the Naia every year, and each now has access to high-speed Internet, after PLDT and Smart upgraded their connectivity services to carrier-grade Wi-Fi. All four terminals of the Naia now have backhaul capacity of up to 1 gigabit per second, providing up to 3,000 concurrent users of Smart Wi-Fi a seamless digital experience when checking on their social-media accounts, e-mail, or simply keeping in touch with the home or office when traveling. NONIE REYES

By Bianca Cuaresma

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By David Cagahastian

n japan 0.4749 n UK 62.5825 n HK 6.1683 n CHINA 7.1753 n singapore 35.2765 n australia 36.5555 n EU 53.6135 n SAUDI arabia 12.7584

Source: BSP (23 September 2016 )

News BusinessMirror

A2 Saturday, September 24, 2016

www.businessmirror.com.ph

‘Rice QR extension will not hurt other sectors’ Continued from A1

putting other sectors outside of agriculture at stake for concessions to appease WTO members that will be affected if Manila is allowed to extend country’s rice QR, Serrano said.

“We are sensitive enough on other economic sectors because they [WTO members] could ask conceivably concessions outside of the agriculture sector,” Serrano said.

Agriculture Emmanuel F. Piñol

said his directive to DA officials is to craft a way to get a two-year extension on the rice QR to ready rice farmers and make them competent enough against Asean countries.

Serrano said the agency is set to start consultations with riceindustry stakeholders next week to know their views on the status of the rice QR. Upon its accession to the WTO in 1995, the Philippines was allowed to enjoy the rice QR for 10 years.

Manila was able to secure an ex-

tension when it lapsed in 2004.

After it lapsed in 2012, Manila again negotiated for an extension.

In 2014 the WTO gave its go signal to the Philippines to implement the QR up to June 30 next year.

According to the WTO General Council Ruling in July 2014, the Philippines should subject rice imports to ordinary customs duties right after the QR-waiver extension has expired. However, in order for the WTO ruling to apply in the country, the Phil-

Remittance growth faces new threat Continued from A1

the US tightened its immigration rules.

Cash sent home by Filipino migrant workers in July already posted the largest monthly decline since November last year, due largely to a decline in the deployment of skilled Filipino workers, along with the economic crisis in the Middle East as oil prices continue to be volatile.

Latest central bank report showed remittances coursed through banks that entered the country in July saw a 5.4-percent decline—from a month’s inflow of $2.25 billion in July last year to $2.313 billion in July this year.

This is the worst growth rate of the country’s cash remittances for 2016, and the third-lowest monthly volume of the year.

This also put the growth of remittances in the first seven months of the year at 3 percen—totaling $15.32 billion. The government’s projection is for remittances to grow by 4 percent this year.

The drop in remittances was seen amid the decline in the deployment of overseas Filipino workers abroad—with land-based workers’ deployment falling by 10.3 percent and sea-based deployment by 44.4 percent.

The central bank also blamed the so-called derisking practices, or the set of policies implemented by financial institutions abroad aimed to restrict or terminate certain operations to lessen their exposure to risks, as one of the culprits behind the contraction of remittances.

Moody’s said the threat in slower remittances from the US should the largest economy in the world implement tighter immigration rules can be offset by the Philippines’s current-account surplus, which will serve as buffer for potential losses in remittance revenues.

However, country’s current-account position barely clings to the surplus territory in the second quarter of this year.

The central bank also admitted it is to consider a “downward bias” in its November revision of projections, as the promise of heavy infrastructure spending in the new administration is expected to take a toll on the country’s import numbers.

The Philippines, according to Moody’s, will also be one of the most vulnerable countries should the US impose higher tariffs or tighter rules on outsourcing—the other main source of dollar inf lows of the countr y’s external position strength.

ippines should amend RA 8178, or the Agricultural Tariffication Act, which keeps rice under QR, Serrano said.

“What I’m telling the economic managers is that even if the WTO waiver expires, the department is duty bound to implement the provisions of RA 8178 because it has no expiry date,” Serrano said.

Under the QR scheme, rice imports within the MAV of 805,200 metric tons per year are slapped with a lower tariff of 35 percent,

Investments. . .

Continued from A1

According to China’s Ministry of Commerce, the biggest recipient of Chinese FDIs in Asean in 2013 is Singapore, with $14.75 billion; while the Philippines is second to the lowest, with only $692 million in FDIs for the said year.

FDIs from China to the other middle-income Asean members were all higher than what went to the Philippines, with Indonesia getting $4.66 billion in FDIs; Thailand, with $2.47 billion; and Malaysia, with $1.67 billion. FDIs from China to low-income Asean countries in 2013 were actually higher than what the Philippines got, with Burma

Investors. . .

Continued from A1

elections is drying up. Philippine stocks slid 0.7 percent on Friday, and foreign funds have been selling for 21 straight days as of Thursday, the longest outflow since 200.

The peso slumped to an eight-month low against the US dollar and is the worstperforming Asian currency after the yuan

while imports in excess of the MAV are slapped a higher tariff of 50 percent.

Piñol said if the QR is eventually lifted and more rice imports would enter the rice market, Filipino farmers would be discouraged to plant rice, as neighboring countries produce the staple cheaper than them.

“You should not only look at the price of rice in the market but you should look at the long-term impact of this move to the Philippine

getting $3.57 billion; Cambodia, $2.85 billion; Laos, $2.77 billion; and Vietnam, $2.17 billion.

China trip

Despite the ongoing territorial dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, Mr. Duterte is still keen on getting more investments from China, particularly in infrastructure, such as a railway network in Mindanao.

In a speech earlier this week, President Duterte said he can go to China and Russia, which are “waiting” for him to come, for investments if the Americans and the Europeans would pull out their investments to the Philippines due to their aversion to the alleged human-rights violations and the lack of the rule of law in his war against illegal drugs. this year. Foreign direct investment shrank 41 percent in June from a year earlier.

President Duterte has defied international criticism of his antidrug war that has killed more than 3,000 people, lashing out at the United Nations and European Union and unleashing an obscenity-laden tirade where he warned US President Barack Obama against interfering in his campaign.

The current account and balance-of-payments will remain in surplus, economic growth

agriculture, especially the rice industry,” Piñol said, adding that at least 2 million families are dependent on rice farming.

Piñol said the Cabinet has not come up with a final decision on whether the country would ask another extension of the QR on rice, contrary to what Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto M. Pernia pronounced earlier. Piñol added that even the President is yet to be informed about the trade issue.

“The issue here is not my mouth, and I would say to those ratings about business economy that: So be it, if they will leave. Then we will start on our own. I can go to China, I can go to Russia. I can have a talk with them, they are waiting for me, so what the hell,” Mr. Duterte said in a speech on Thursday.

Malacañang officials confirmed that there is a plan for President Duterte to visit China soon, although a trip to Japan after next week’s trip toVietnam is more likely to happen before he goes to China.

Barcelon said the PCCI would like to accompany Mr. Duterte in his trip to China, which is expected to bring in more Chinese investments and tourists back to the Philippines, although there is yet an official invitation for them to do so, and the schedules have yet to be firmed up. will continue to be strong, and stability in monetary and financial conditions will be preserved, Tetangco said. The Philippine economy expanded 7 percent last quarter from a year earlier, the fastest in Asia after India.

“Political noise is part of transition,”central bank Deputy Governor Diwa C. Guinigundo said on Thursday. The “President is getting used to the position and the responsibilities that it involves. Let’s focus on the message.”

Bloomberg News

news@businessmirror.com.ph

briefs Durian-coffee outlet at the Palace area complex DAVAO CITY—The franchise holder of Davao City’s homegrown Blugre Coffee, which pioneers the famous durian coffee, will open its first branch in Manila on December 8.

Blugre Coffee President and CEO Gloria Cuaresma takes pride in bringing Blugre Coffee within the Malacañang complex area.

She said they had no plan of opening one in this area, but “I think prayers led us in finding a place in this complex. The coffee shop will be near Gate 6 and will be housed at the Belgica Residence with an area of 400 square meters. It is also very near the Casa Roces,” she added.

She said the famous durian coffee is their best seller and she is positive they will get good response in the same way that their longtime clients from Davao and other regions had been patronizing this.

The rice coffee will also be a new feature. They will also offer meals and pastries. The Blugre Coffee near Malacañang will be their 10th branch, she added. It already has six shops in Davao City, and one each in Tagum City, General Santos City and in Marbel, South Cotabato.

Cuaresma said new shops will be opened in Manila next year, of which two will be in Makati, one each in Bonifacio Global City, BF Homes, Capitol, Greenhills, Mindanao Avenue and Ortigas. She said they are still in talks with partners in Singapore, where they intend to initially open four shops. Although nothing is final yet, Cuaresma is positive of bringing Blugre outside the Philippines. PNA

DOTr: Froehlich P2P bus service now 24 hours The Department of Transportation (DOTr) has announced that the Froehlich Premium point-to-point (P2P) bus service is now open for commuters 24 hours from Monday to Friday.

In an advisory, the DOTr stated that the P2P will cover the following routes: Trinoma to Glorietta 5 (North Edsa to Makati) and SM North Edsa to SM Megamall (North Edsa to Ortigas) The P2P bus service was created by the department to provide commuters another safe and reliable mode of transportation. It allows shorter travel time, as buses depart on a fixed schedule and travel directly from the terminal to the drop-off point. PNA

487 permanent shelters for Zambo siege idps ZAMBOANGA CITY—The National Housing Authority (NHA) will turn over on September 28 some 487 permanent housing units to families displaced during the 21-day September 2013 siege.

The permanent shelters in Valle Vista in Barangay Kasanyangan were constructed through the Zamboanga City Road map to Recovery and Reconstruction (Z3R) program. Of the 487 housing units, 259 permanent shelters were built in Valle Vista Phase 1 and the remaining 228 in Phase II. Valle Vista, which consists of four phases, will have a total of 3,405 permanent shelters. The beneficiaryfamilies, mostly housed in temporary shelters and home-based, have undergone social preparation on Thursday to adequately prepare them of their roles and responsibilities as beneficiaries of the Z3R houses.

Mayor Ma. Isabelle ClimacoSalazar, who spearheaded the social preparation held at the Mayor Vitaliano Agan Coliseum, urged the internally displaced persons (IDPs) to continuously cooperate with the government and to comply with the provisions of the code of policies on beneficiary selection.

Salazar has assured that the local government is exhausting all means to ensure the IDPs get dignified housing, which pass health and engineering standards.

The NHA is in charge of the construction of houses based on the Z3R plan, while the Department of Public Works and Highways takes charge of the road packages, including the drainage systems. The water and power systems are under the responsibility of the Zamboanga City Water District and Zamboanga City Electric Cooperative, respectively. PNA

Economy

BusinessMirror Editors: Vittorio V. Vitug and Max V. de Leon • Saturday, September 24, 2016 A3

Duterte’s ‘outbursts’ not enough to drive away investors–Recto

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By Butch Fernandez

@butchfBM

oreign and local investors are attracted by incentives and are not likely to be turned off by President Duterte’s “colorful” invectives.

Senate Minority Leader Ralph G. Recto warned on Tuesday that what turns away potential investors are abrupt changes in the rules on doing business in the country. “What is inelegant language to them are the rules of red tape,” he said The senator surmised that seasoned investors with deep pockets can live with Mr. Duterte’s constant curses “for as long as government policies are consistent, and contracts, except fraudulent ones, are honored.”

“They can live with a President who predictably swears, for as long as the rules of business are predictable,” he added, pointing out that businessmen operate under a presumed climate of certain risks, and know how to manage them.

“A President’s colorful language is not a risk to be managed,” Recto said, noting trading does not grind to a halt due to presidential tantrum.

According to Recto, “hard-nosed investors are attracted by incentives, and are not easily repelled by invectives [as] they go to where money can be made, and the Philippines is an irresistible large market of over

100 million consumers.”

He believes that Mr. Duterte can continue hurling invectives, but investors would not be daunted, as long as there is business to be made.

“In search for the almighty profit, business will go where it can be made, even to places where real bombs explode on a daily basis,” said Recto, recalling that throughout human history, merchants march with soldiers to war, often ahead of mercenaries.

“For as long as the President’s verbal tirades do not metamorphose into official state policy, no great harm is done, except, maybe, to our sensitive ears,” the senator said, even as he suggested that “there is a need to boost our global tourism PR drive to negate the bad press we are getting.”

Recto points out that the current setup where Cabinet members speak out every time the President had said something of high shock value in order to reassure the nation and the world that existing policies remain and current treaties are not rescinded, saying these “are just fine enough in calming our nerves.”

He said, “We can only be thankful

First in-city housing

Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council Chairman Maria Leonor G. Robredo (second from right) visits the Saint Joseph Ville, San Juan City’s first in-city housing project in Barangay Saint Joseph, San Juan City, on Thursday. She was welcomed by Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito (third from right), chairman of the Senate Committee on Urban Planning, Housing and Resettlement; San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez (right) and other city officials. PNA photo by Joey O. Razon

that after the President’s regular ‘shock-and-awe’ show, Cabinet members already know the drill, and come out with fire hoses ready.”

The senator also noted that investors are not complaining about the President’s bad language. “The

DTI: Price freeze on basic goods stays for now

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he National Price Coordination Council (NPCC) has deferred the lifting of the prevailing price freeze on basic commodities before the intended 60-day period due to the current stability of prices.

The National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), a member of the NPCC, warned, however, that the price freeze should not be in place within the “long term,” saying as this will have an impact on the supply of goods.

Trade Secretary Ramon M. Lopez briefed reporters after Friday’s NPCC meeting and reported that basic goods’ prices have remained stable from the period before the declaration of the state of emergency on September 4, until today.

“Comparing prices today to the period before September 4, we’re looking at August and months before even August. We’d like to say that unanimously, the prices of all products [basic necessities] covered by the imposed price freeze are stable,” Lopez said.

Pursuant to Republic Act (RA) 7581 as amended by RA 10623, or the Price Act, a price freeze is automatically implemented when a state of emergency is declared.

The price freeze will be in effect for 60 days for basic goods and 15 days for household lique-

fied petroleum gas and kerosene from the date of declaration, or until lifted by the President.

The state of emergency was declared following the bombing in a night market in Davao City on September 2. The monitoring of basic commodities varies per agency. Under the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) jurisdiction are canned fish and other marine products, processed milk, coffee, laundry soap, detergent, candles, bread, salt, potable water in bottles and containers and locally manufactured instant noodles.

Even prices of agricultural products, such as commercial rice, poultry, meat and fish, and vegetables, are stable, as well.

In Mindanao, specifically in Davao City where the attack was carried out, the DTI chief maintained that the movement of prices are similarly stable with the current prices within the range when the declaration was made. Lopez explained that the price freeze need not be lifted as the prices are stable anyway, and that any announcement of lifting may lead to sudden price spikes.

“The price freeze, as Neda reported, ’pag pinatagal, will have an overall impact on supply, that’s why we’re staying it at 60 days,” Lopez assured.

The price freeze will expire on November 3.

Catherine N. Pillas

Legislator seeks Australian model for universal college scholarships

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EGAZPI CITY—Aspiring students from poor families can soon enroll in college with less worry about their tuition fees. Rep. Joey S. Salceda of the Second District of Albay has recently filed a bill that seeks to grant universal access to tertiary education, patterned after the Australian model of college financing for all.

Salceda’s House Bill 2771, titled Universal Access to Tertiary Education Act of 2016, filed last July, aims “to solve the continuing paradox that while college education helps us to escape poverty, Filipinos have to be rich to afford one.” The lawmaker said a government-assisted universal access to tertiary education that will address illiteracy and, in the long run, help solve poverty, has long been overdue.

“Courses in private universities average P30,000 per semester. Even the P1,000-per-semester tuition fee in state universities and colleges, however, can be beyond the reach of a family of five which needs at least P8,778 a month to meet only their basic food and nonfood needs, let alone send one child to college,” Salceda said.

He explained that universal access to higher education is not a silver bullet that can blast poverty away, but it is a reasonably “effective strategy to unleash

and mobilize the ambitions of 101 million Filipinos and forge the national will,” since providing access to quality education for all citizens, especially the underprivileged, is a mandate of the State.

Quoting former US Fed Chairman Bernard Bernanke, he added: “From a macroeconomic standpoint, education is so important because it is so directly linked to productivity, which, in turn, is the critical determinant of the overall standard of living.”

In the Philippines the economic returns to education for individuals are substantial. A government research study shows that in 2014, the median daily earnings of college graduates were 116 percent higher than those of high-school graduates who, in turn, registered 26 percent more earnings than elementary graduates. Even those with college units only enjoyed a 27-percent advantage over those with secondary education.

A Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey, also said one in every 10 (about 4 million) young Filipinos, was out of school in 2013. Out-ofschool children are persons aged 6 to14 who are not attending school, while out-of-school youths are persons aged 15 to 24 who are not attending school, have not finished any college or post-secondary course, and are not working. PNA

objects of their ire are bad traffic, bad infrastructure and slow Internet. Thankfully, our economy rests on strong fundamentals. The numbers that matter are healthy, so far,” Recto added.

“But this is not to say that we

should condone presidential outbursts. I think those close to him should start speaking truth to power and remind him that good statecraft requires the discipline of carefully choosing the right words for the right occasion.”

A4 Saturday, September 24, 2016 • Editor: Angel R. Calso

Opinion BusinessMirror

editorial

PHL-US ties: It’s different this time

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uring the government of Thailand’s crackdown on the drug trade in the early 2000s, Time Magazine did a cover story. The heavy-handed police action, which then resulted in thousands being killed, is being used as a comparison to the current Philippine “war on drugs”.

The Time cover carried the headline “Speed Demons: An inside look at Asia’s methamphetamine culture.” The March 5, 2001, article began talking about Thailand: “Jacky talks about killing him, slitting his throat from three till nine. He deserves it, really, she says, for his freeloading, for his hanging around, for how he just stands there, and just begs for another hit. She has run out of methamphetamine, what the Thais call yaba [mad medicine], and she has become agitated and irritable.”

On September 15, 2016, the Time cover read: “Night falls on the Philippines.” Previously, on August 25, 2015, an article was titled “Inside Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s War On Drugs.” The article reads: “As the body count soars, some say the real threat to the Philippines is not drugs but the President himself.”

Granted, there were several Time magazine articles highly critical of Thailand’s war on drugs. But, unmistakably, the United States publication has a different perspective now that it is about the Philippines.

US President Barack Obama “pivoted” his foreign policy toward Asia several years ago, and it has been nothing less than a disaster.

Half of Japan’s citizens want US bases off Japanese soil. The current Japanese government in part has so little confidence in the military protection and resolve of the US government, it is changing its constitution to allow a fully prepared standing army.

North Korea builds and tests nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles at will, and the best the US can do is fly its most advanced bomber over South Korea, perhaps, to show Kim Jong-un that the US can spend more on warplanes than the value of the North Korean economy.

China treats the US president like an unwelcomed and uninvited guest at the Group of 20 nations summit. Vietnam, arguably the biggest beneficiary of Obama’s signature Trans-Pacific Partnership treaty, has decided to wait another year before voting to ratify. Fiftyseven countries, including all of the European Union and Southeast Asia, are joining China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in another slap to US hegemony.

Now the Philippines—former colony and exceptionally agreeable ally—appears to want to chart its own course, both domestically and internationally, without US interference.

Ambassador to the US Jose Cuisia Jr., who was recently interviewed, said it is critical that the Philippines maintain very close relations with the US, since three of the seven islands that China reclaimed are part of Philippines’s exclusive economic zone. The irony is almost unbearable since the US did nothing before, during, or after the Chinese “island-building” to protect Philippine interests.

The US does not now have any close friends in Asia. The only way to describe the Philippine-American relationship is “it’s complicated,” and it is going to remain that way for some time.

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The Fed finally broke the business cycle John Mangun

OUTSIDE THE BOX

D

ouglas MacArthur was a terrible battlefield commander. His successes in World War II came primarily leading a US division in support of French action against the Germans. His 30-year relationship with Philippine President Manuel L. Quezon led to his being asked to supervise the creation of a Philippine Army.

Interestingly, one month after the Japanese attacked Hawaii, President Quezon arranged a perhaps illegal $500,000 payment, which was kept secret from the public until discovered in 1979.

MacArthur had two primary accomplishments in the Philippines.

He declared Manila an open city without informing either the US or Philippine governments in advance and gave up Bataan to the Japanese with the largest surrender of troops in US history. But then again, in 1924, he put down a mutiny by the

Philippine Scouts who were demanding equal pay and treatment as their white counterparts.

But the myth of MacArthur as some sort of “savior” of the Philippines will never go away.

For the past two years, I have said the Federal Reserve (the Fed) would not raise interest rates by any more than a token amount and not repeatedly as we were told. Once again rates were not increased and once again there will probably be another small increase in December. Yet, the myth that the Fed will return rates to

“normal” is the myth from the local economic experts and bankers that never goes away.

Further, for the past four years, another set of experts—the “bubblers”—have been saying that economies and stock markets, including here in the Philippines, would collapse. This is based on another myth that situations and outcomes can never be different.

Going back several thousand years, Joseph explained to the Egyptian pharaoh about the business cycle—seven years of bounty followed by seven years of famine.

Every business owner understands that universal truth. But about 100 years ago, economists—who had never run a business—decided that was a myth. Any ups and downs in the economy were not part of a cycle and could be controlled by the government and central banks.

They never succeeded until now.

In 1978 former Fed chairman Paul Volcker wrote a book The Rediscovery of the Business Cycle, which acknowledged that the cycle exists.

During the last decade of massive debt creation and “money printing” by the central banks, they have

The politics of nostalgia are here to stay

A

By Francis Wilkinson | BloombergView

hankering for a past, in which white supremacy and overt sexism were accepted features of daily life, has made Donald Trump the most toxic presidential candidate since George Wallace. But the politics of nostalgia, which he embodies and advances, isn’t a new package; Trump has simply wrapped it in barbed wire. And even if his campaign ends up short of the White House, nostalgia could still have a long political run.

The most profound demographic change in America is surely the rapid progression, fueled by immigration, to a nonwhite majority sometime near the middle of this century. That single fact explains much of US politics right now, as Republicans seek to restrict (nonwhite) immigration and make it more difficult (for nonwhites) to vote while their nominee for president makes blatantly racial appeals for votes.

There is, however, a second demographic wave not so much sweeping the nation as lapping at the shores of its retirement communities. Like Europeans and Japanese, Americans are getting older. And old people often like things the way they used to be. On a Chicago street corner, citizens hand out fliers demanding the return of their beloved, defunct Marshall Field’s department store. The famed Wall Drugs in South Dakota entices travelers with the promise

of a 5-cent cup of coffee—just like the old days.

Older Americans aren’t just living longer; they continue to vote far more consistently, especially in midterm elections, than younger voters.

Brookings Institution demographer William Frey wrote earlier this year that baby boomers from 52 to 70 will make up more than a third of the electorate this November. And they’re not fading very fast.

“In 2024 the entire Boomer generation will be ages 60 to 78, and will still be responsible for a projected 31 percent of all votes to be cast,” Frey wrote. Americans who are 70 to 79 years old will increase by more than 50 percent during the next decade, and by more than 80 percent by 2035, according to Frey.

In presidential elections from 2004 to 2012, the Republican candidate won voters ages 65 and over by margins ranging from 8 points

to 12 points, even as Republican candidates proposed curtailing Social Security and Medicare. A Pew Research survey last month showed Hillary Clinton dominating the contest among voters 49 and under, and Trump winning older voters, leading Clinton by 8 points, 47 to 38, among those 65 and older.

The Republican Party was significantly dedicated to cultural nostalgia (and tax cuts for rich people) even before Trump came along. Ronald Reagan, the oldest man to serve in the White House, has been the text guiding Republican originalists for more than three decades. Yet, there is nothing in the Reagan marginalia about how a culturally conservative, older, white party finesses a transition to youthful diversity.

The easiest route, as the Trump nomination confirms, is simply to stick with an aging, all-white coalition and pretend the 21st century took a wrong turn at Albuquerque.

Though this strategy seems surprisingly resilient at the moment, it looks to be a last stand, as Ronald Brownstein wrote in the Atlantic last week.

It’s unlikely any future candidate will articulate their grievances as unreservedly as Trump. And it will only grow harder to construct a winning electoral coalition around his

effectively broken the business cycle.

Since 2009, the world has not had any recessions—downturns—but has not had any economic “booms”.

The global economy is faced with flat growth and flat inflation—economic stagnation. Neither have we seen any general economic or stock market bubbles exploding. Sure, Greece collapsed but the other “PIIGS” — Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain—have just kept on. Historically, nonmanipulated interest rates react and change according to the booms and busts of the business cycle. No longer because there are no longer any booms and busts.

Imagine that Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration found a way to stop typhoons from coming to the Philippines. No more destruction and, yet, no more lifesustaining rains. Welcome to the 21st century of a government-controlled economic system.

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

blue-collar base: although Census surveys show noncollege educated whites as a larger share of all voters than media exit polls do, both sources show them declining on average by about three percentage points in each election since 1992. The minority and college-educated white voters most repelled by Trump’s insular message are inexorably filling the gap.

But replacing that shrinking coalition with a growing one may require changing more than GOP policies.

Also at stake is the party’s entire mythology about who is deserving of society’s blessings and why. What happens when Republicans tell the racially resentful white males whom they have so assiduously cultivated that they’re not actually the chosen people? Opportunistic conservatives —or the occasional rogue wave, such as Trump—will find profit in telling the aggrieved that their claims on the national consciousness and identity remain exclusive.

Although Americans are growing more racially diverse as they age, whites will dominate the ranks of oldsters for decades to come.

Maybe they won’t have the clout to power candidates to the White House. But their nostalgia, in political forms both malignant and benign, is here to stay.

Opinion BusinessMirror

opinion@businessmirror.com.ph

Thrilla in Manila: Duterte vs UN and EU

Batanes needs our help Rev. Fr. Antonio Cecilio T. Pascual

Jemain Tinio Diaz de Rivera

Forward Moving

F

ilipinos and the world will line up to watch the next Thrilla in Manila, just as everyone watched Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier in 1975 for the heavyweight championship of the world.

This upcoming match will be worth watching if it ever happens.

President Duterte is planning to challenge the best lawyers of the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) to probe the alleged spate of “extrajudicial killings” (EJKs) in a public forum with one condition, he be given the chance to counterpunch with questions addressed to UN and EU officials. The president definitely has a lot of chutzpah.

The President expressed confidence that he could counter the allegations hurled by foreign critics that he was behind the summary executions of drug suspects.

The EU recently called on the Philippine government to end the killings of drug criminals and launch an investigation. The EU parliament also criticized Mr. Duterte for urging lawmen and the public to kill drug suspects. The President countered by alluding to the European nations’ atrocities in the Middle East.

Earlier, President Duterte threatened to pull out from the UN, after it criticized his war on drugs as a crime under international law. The President hit back at the international bodies for trying to meddle with the country’s affairs.

An investigation into the alleged EJKs and summary executions reportedly committed in the country can only be done by a UN special rapporteur invited by the Philippine government.

It was the former Senate justice and human-rights committee chairman, Sen. Leila M. de Lima, who first sought the presence of a UN rapporteur as the Duterte administration intensifies its campaign against illegal drugs. Senate Majority Leader Vicente C. Sotto III and Sen. Panfilo M. Lacson rejected de Lima’s move for the UN to meddle in the country’s internal affairs following the death of more than 3,000 persons since the first of July. Data from the Philippine National Police show about 3,173 persons killed in the illegal-drugs war. Of this number, about 1,138 drug personalities were killed in police operations, while about 2,035 were reported victims of EJKs or vigilante killings. The average number of persons killed daily for the past two-and-a-half months is 42.3.

EJK was a topic also discussed by the secretary of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Ramon M. Lopez, during the recent membership meeting of the Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines (Ibpap) held in Makati Shangri-La hotel.

Lopez said: “I don’t consider that there is EJK in the country.” Policemen have rules of engagement, and have a right to protect themselves when enforcing the law. Drug lords are killing

each other (vigilante). He highlighted that the country is at war and the opponent is drug addition, having 700,000 pushers and heavy users. The secretary asked the leaders of the Information Technology and Business Process Management (IT-BPM) industry for support, saying, “What must be done is not to interfere, but to support and cooperate with government. The law will have to be followed, and those who break the law will have to be arrested or neutralized.” Lopez added the streets are safer now, and there is more peace and order.

Lopez wandered into the EJK topic, after mentioning that he was confident the IT-BPM industry will reach its yearend targets of employing 1.3 million Filipinos and bringing in revenues of $25 billion. He noted that the Philippines remains a favorite investment site with a 1.9-percent inflation (I believe it is actually 1.8 percent) and a stable foreign exchange rate. The secretary also noted how the industry and the government can continue to work together as the country moves from providing low-end processes to high-end services.

Partnerships may include training for work, creating an ecosystem that will further foster growth, incentive schemes by the DTI, Board of Investments and Philippine Economic Zone Authority (Peza). The DTI will continue to proactively attract local and foreign investments; synchronize and modernize incentive schemes; and unify a scheme that is performance-based and time-bound.

The panel discussion was moderated

by Celeste Ilagan and Martin Crisostomo. Discussion points included the DTI’s strategic direction in getting investments from outside the county; the availability of funds to promote the Philippines as an investment site for the IT-BPM; the status of fiscal incentives; and further improvement of muchneeded infrastructure.

I have to note that Mary Harriet Abordo, Peza deputy director general who was part of the panel, said the registration agreements will be respected, and “ease of doing business” will remain a priority.

An updated “Thrilla in Manila” will, indeed, be an entertaining treat. If President Duterte wins just as Muhammad Ali, then we will have an opportunity to clap, beat our chest and keep our chin up.

The government must sustain economic growth; provide career opportunities for Filipinos; and improve quality of life in its territory, Thrilla or no Thrilla in Manila.

E-mail: jemain_diaz_de_rivera@yahoo.com

Immigration’s reality versus Trump’s rhetoric

S

ometimes the best response to overheated political rhetoric is one of those dull, if worthy, white papers issued with alarming regularity by Washington think tanks and research organizations.

So it is with two recent reports on immigration, both useful correctives to Donald Trump’s statements on the subject. A Pew Research Center report, released this week, confirms previous findings: The number of undocumented immigrants in the US peaked in 2007 before dropping sharply—with more undocumented Mexicans, in particular, leaving the US than entering. Net illegal immigration is flat, and has been for several years. Contrary to Trump’s claims, undocumented immigrants are not “pouring across our borders unabated” before going on to commit “great amounts of crime.”

That Donald Trump lacks credibility no longer qualifies as news.

More interesting are the implications of this report for his immigration proposals.

First, the US border with Mexico is not being overrun. So an elaborate, expensive wall is entirely unnecessary. Second, most undocumented immigrants in the US—about twothirds—have been in the country for more than a decade. Pew estimates that, as of 2012, 4 million of them lived with their US-citizen children.

Another study released this week—this one by the Center for American Progress, a think tank allied with Hillary Clinton’s campaign—found that expelling the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants would cost the federal government almost $900 billion in lost revenue over a decade while reducing the nation’s GDP by $4.7 trillion. Those losses would be in addition to the costs of deportation.

Bloomberg View

SERVANT LEADER

D

ear brothers and sisters in Christ,

On September 13 Typhoon Ferdie (international code name Meranti) made landfall over Itbayat, Batanes. Typhoon Signal No. 4 was raised in the area, with the strongest recorded gustiness of the wind reaching at 296 kilometers per hour. The province was declared under state of calamity on September 15.

While we thank the Lord that there are no casualties; 2,850 families were affected—this is a lot in a province with a population of around 17,000. Some municipalities, such as Itbayat and Basco, Batanes, had incurred 578 totally damaged houses and 1,152 partially damaged houses, and a few more houses from other

municipalities, such as Mahatao, Uyugan, Ivana and Sabtang, have been damaged, as well.

We ask for your assistance in helping Batanes rebuild. It approximately takes P15,000 to repair one home, as there is currently low supply of resources in Batanes, and the materials would need to be bought from

Saturday, September 24, 2016 A5

Manila or nearby provinces and transported. Repair of the damaged church, convent and school, according to Most Rev. Camilo D. Gregorio, DD, bishop prelate of Batanes, would also cost an additional P12 million.

For cash donations, you may deposit to any of the following Caritas Manila bank-account numbers: n Banco de Oro—Savings Account (SA) No. 5600-45905 n Bank of the Philippine Islands—SA No. 3063-5357-01 n Metrobank—SA No. 175-3175069543 For dollar accounts: n Bank of the Philippine Islands—SA No. 3064-0033-5 Swift Code-BOPIPHMM n Philippine National Bank—SA No. 108566600025 Swift Code—PNBMPHMM For proper acknowledgment of your donations, kindly fax copy of deposit slip to 563-9306, or e-mail scanned copy to donorcarecaritas_

manila@yahoo.com. Please indicate your name and complete address.

Online cash donations are also accepted. You may visit our web site caritasmanila.org.ph, or course donations through Cebuana Lhuillier.

For donations in kind, you may bring them to our drop-off centers, at Caritas Manila office, 2002 Jesus Street, Pandacan, Manila; at Radio Veritas on West Avenue corner Edsa, Quezon City; or to your nearest parish.

May God continue to bless you and make you instruments of His love and compassion.

To know more about Caritas Manila, visit www.caritasmanila.org.ph. For your donations, call our DonorCare lines 563-9311, 564-0205, 0999-7943455, 0905-4285001 and 0929-8343857. Make it a habit to listen to Radio Veritas 846 in the AM band, or through live streaming at www.veritas846.ph. For comments, e-mail veritas846pr@gmail.com.

Europe’s Google News tax makes no sense

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“Digital Single Market,” like a single currency, is one of those grand European ideas that sounds better than it works.

Take, for example, the European Commission’s (EC) clumsy attempt to use copyright law as a cudgel against US interlopers such as Google and Facebook.

One provision of a new bill proposed by the EC accords publishers the right to a license fee whenever a news aggregator, such as Google News, uses even a snippet of the publisher’s content. Currently, aggregators pay no such fee.

Who would that license fee

benefit? Not readers, certainly: It would only make the publishers’ work harder to find. Not the aggregators, whose value proposition depends on offering its customers the widest possible array of information.

Publishers seem to think they will be the main beneficiaries— they lobbied heavily for the right to charge a fee—but it’s not at all clear they will be. When German publishers tried to force aggregators to pay license fees in 2014, applying legislation that came into effect the year before, Google News refused and stopped carrying snippets of

German articles. Publishing giant Axel-Springer found that traffic from Google News plummeted by 80 percent during the two-week cutoff. Publishers relented and waived the fee. Spain tried a similar approach in 2015, with predictable results.

News aggregators are disrupters, of course, but they are also saviors: They can grow (and globalize) a small local audience. Certainly, publishers have to find new ways to adapt and make a profit. Seeking protection under the guise of copyright law is not the way to do it.

The commission’s copyright

Buyer not bullied, exploited, or abused MAIL

Please e-mail your letters to the editor to oped@businessmirror. com.ph. Letters chosen for publication in this section are edited for brevity and clarity.

WE would like to respond to Mr. Michael Makabenta Alunan’s article “When a housing developer abuses a hapless widow,” which appeared in his column On the Contrary in the September 13, 2016, issue of the BusinessMirror.

Durawood Construction and Lumber Supply Inc. (DCLSI) categorically denies having exploited, bullied or committed any form of abuse on Ms. Carmen F. Ramos. In fact, our company gave Ms. Ramos all opportunities to keep the residential unit she purchased that we only filed an ejectment case against her in July 2012, after more or less eight years she stopped paying her monthly amortizations.

Aside from selling construction materials, Durawood has been engaged in the development of real estate into subdivisions for more or less three decades. It developed Metrogreen Village via a joint-venture agreement with its landowner, Bernardo Evangelista.

As borne by the records, Ms. Ramos purchased, via the company’s inhouse financing, the residential unit described as Lot 3-E-l-G in Metrogreen Village, San Bartolome, Novaliches, Quezon City, sometime in the later part of 2001 for the contract price of P1,147,000. Ms. Ramos paid the reservation fee of P30,000 on July 11, 2001, and the 30-percent down payment in six monthly installments at P49,800, from December 22, 2001, to May 22, 2002.

Ms. Ramos was supposed to pay the balance of 70 percent for 20 monthly installments at P18,039.76 from June 22, 2002, onward or for a period of 10 years. From our records, she paid only 39 monthly installments, because she stopped paying on July 22, 2005. Thus, it is not true that Ms. Ramos overpaid

her amortizations.

To reiterate, DCLSI gave Ms. Ramos more or less eight years to continue paying her monthly amortizations and keep the residential unit, as the ejectment case was filed against her only in July 2012.

As part of the process, the case underwent mediation proceedings at the Philippine mediation Center. Before mediator Tony Valenciano, Ms. Ramos showed all the receipts evidencing her payments, which, unfortunately, include payments allegedly made by her sisters Filar Fontelar and Hilda Gaurino out of the loans they took from the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS). When I explained and showed to her where they were applied, Ms. Ramos realized that her claim of overpayment was wrong. In fact, she learned that as of January 22, 2014, her outstanding obligation has ballooned to P4,734,333.31, consisting of the balance of the purchase price, interests and penalties for having failed to pay her monthly amortizations for more or less eight years.

It is interesting to mention that during the mediation, Ms. Ramos accidentally presented a check for P750,000, which she was supposed to issue to DCLSI several years ago, but purposely withheld because of the untimely death of her husband. She thought that she had already issued said check and the same has been encashed by the company. But when she saw it bore no markings showing it has not been deposited or encashed, she agreed to amicably settle. In the presence of her sister and constant companion Pilar Fontelar and counsel lawyer Gary O. Palmero, Ms. Ramos offered to pay P1 million as full settlement of her obligation. She begged DCLSI to accept her offer, saying she is already retired, a senior citizen and had no regular source of income. Considering her situation, DCLSI just asked for an additional P100,000. The company, in effect, waived collecting more than P3 million due from Ms. Ramos. She readily agreed to pay P1,100,000.

Thus, on February 18, 2014, a compromise agreement was signed by Ms. Ramos and Mr. Wilson M. Gaw, the duly authorized representative of DCLSI and attorney-in-fact of Mr. Bernard Evangelista and Mr. Orlando S. Bongat. In the compromise agreement, Ms. Ramos essentially promised to pay P1,100,000 on May

1, 2014, without need of demand. If she fails, Ms. Ramos will voluntarily vacate the premises.

On February 24, 2014, Presiding Judge Joel Socrates S. Lopena of the Metropolitan Trial Court Branch 33 of Quezon City rendered the judgment, approving the compromise agreement.

On April 14, 2014, 16 days before she was due to pay the P1,100,000, Ms. Ramos, through her new lawyer lawyer Nichole D. Gonzales, filed a motion to withdraw compromise agreement. It took her 55 days to file the said motion, citing that her consent was vitiated and was defrauded into signing the compromise agreement. Unfortunately, Ms. Ramos was not able to convince the Court that her motion was eventually denied by an order issued on June 9, 2014. Ms. Ramos’s motion for reconsideration was also denied via an order issued on November 3, 2014. On the same date, the motion for execution filed by DCLSI was granted.

On September 15, 2014, Ms. Ramos, through her new lawyer Federico Lee Cristobal Jr., filed a petition for annulment of judgment with a prayer for the issuance of a temporary restraining order (TRO) and/or writ of preliminary injunction before the Regional Trial Court in Quezon City, where she sought to restrain the execution of the judgment issued by Manila Trial Court Branch 33. While her prayer for the 20-day TRO was granted. Her prayer for preliminary injunction was denied on November 24, 2015. Her motion for reconsideration has denied on March 2, 2016.

Obviously, Mr. Alunan was out to malign and discredit Durawood, as he never bothered to ferret out the truth. Mr. Alunan never bothered to get the side of Durawood, as a responsible journalist normally does. Had he checked the records of the cases between company and Ms. Ramos, he could have easily discovered the facts.

It is highly unimaginable why Mr. Alunan never wondered why Ms. Ramos, a highly educated person, never asked for a receipt or certificate of full payment, proving she has already paid the price of the residential unit or asked for the transfer of the title of the residential unit under her name. Mr. Alunan never wondered why Pilar F. Fontelar, a former division chief of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources; and Hilda F. Gaurino, a division chief of the Department of the Interior

proposal, which updates a law that predates smartphones, is not completely without virtues. It would allow for cultural heritage institutions to distribute works no longer available to the public, for example, and would clarify the legal uncertainty around the use of copyrighted materials by teachers and researchers. But making these exceptions is very different from creating new rights. In general, the commission needs to take a lighter touch. It’s now up to the European Parliament and member-governments, as they review the proposal, to make sure it does. Bloomberg View

and Local Government, do not have receipts showing that they paid for Ms. Ramos out of the loans they allegedly took from the GSIS. Moreover, did Mr. Alunan ever asked himself why Ms. Ramos’s four lawyers allegedly softened stance and one of them, indeed, joined the rival party? Did Ms. Ramos ever tell him that she expressly waived attorney-client relationship before Durawood asked her former counsel lawyer Gary O. Palmero to testify on the facts and circumstances surrounding the compromise agreement she voluntarily signed.

Apparently, Mr. Alunan never intended to know the truth, as he solely based his story on the information fed by Ms. Ramos and embelished it with malicious insinuations and baseless conclusions. Mr. Alunan’s calling DCLSI chief of malice is in itself malicious, as it is based on his insinuation that Mr. Orlando S. Bongat ordered a secretary to tear the late Celso Ramos’s housing contract and ask Ms. Ramos to sign a new one. In the first place, there was no contract signed by Celso Ramos.

Thus, there was nothing to tear.

Contrary to Mr. Alunan’s understanding, a mortgage redemption insurance (MRI) is not a mandatory requirement in a housing loan. Since securing an MRI entails additional cost, the debtor is given the option to obtain one to secure the housing loan in case of his death or incapacity.

Like his other accusations, Mr. Alunan’s claim of negligence on the part of Durawood because of the absence of MRI is baseless and malicious.

Ironically, Mr. Alunan demanded fairness for Ms. Ramos when he himself purposely never gave Durawood a chance to air its side. By the way, speaking of fairness, we decided to furnish Ms. Ramos’s lawyers of this letter, since Mr. Alunan insinuated that they have betrayed their client.

They might want to air their side of the story.

By this letter, we hope that Mr. Alunan will set the record straight— that DCLSI never exploited, bullied or committed any form of abuse on Ms. Carmen F. Ramos. We also hope that Mr. Alunan issue an apology for his irresponsible journalism.

Agnes Abriam Assistant Manager Duraville Realty & Development Corp.

The Nation

A6 Saturday, September 24, 2016 • Editor: Dionisio L. Pelayo

BusinessMirror

news@businessmirror.com.ph

Duterte orders grounding of paramilitary groups

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AGAYAN DE ORO CITY— President Duterte ordered the military on Thursday to stop paramilitary groups from operating, amid the ongoing peace talks with different rebel groups in the country.

Speaking to reporters following his visit in Camp Vicente Alagar here, Duterte said the presence of the civilian armed groups could undermine the ongoing peace initiatives.

“I am now ordering the Army to take full control nitong mga Bagani Command and the...there is another group, I forgot the name,” the President said.

“Paramilitary men operating,

especially with firearms issued by the government, would undermine the peace process. Mahinto na sana ito because we are really trying our best to come up with a peaceful country,” he said.

Paramilitary groups were organized in the past to help the gover nment in its campa ig n against communist insurgents in rural areas.

Duterte particularly mentioned

the Magahat-Bagani Force operating in Surigao del Sur and another group in Arakan, North Cotabato.

In his speech before policemen here, he disclosed his scheduled meeting with National Democratic Front Chair man Luis G. Jalandoni in Davao City on Thursday night.

“Jalandoni is waiting for me in Davao. He’s there right now and I’ve invited them for dinner,” he said.

He stressed that he is pushing for an “inclusive government” and not a coalition government with the leftist groups.

He said he could come up with a peace deal with the Reds as long as they do not insist on having posts in the police and military organizations.

The Duterte administration is also talking with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. PNA

Church leaders back resumption of govt-NDF talks AFP nixes Nur call

By Marvyn N. Benaning Correspondent

A

TOTAL of 135 Roman Catholic priests, nuns, Protestant ministers and evangelical bishops closed ranks late this week in issuing a statement supporting the peace talks between the government and the National Democratic Front (NDF).

In a statement the churchmen said, “We, the 135 leaders of the clergy, religious and laity from the five federations that comprise the Philippine Ecumenical Peace Platform [PEPP] have successfully convened the Fifth Ecumenical Church Leaders Summit on Peace from September 20 to 22, under the theme ‘Celebrating God’s Work for Peace: Journeying with the GRP-NDF in the Continuing Struggle for Peace.’”

The statement was signed by Archbishop Antonio J. Ledesma of Cagayan de Oro City, cochairman of PEPP; Fr. Rex RB Reyes Jr. of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP), PEPP cochairman; Bishop Deogracias S. Iniguez Jr. of the Ecumenical Bishops Forum (EBF),PEPP secretariat head; Bishop Noel A. Pantoja, national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches (PCEC); Sister Mary John D. Mananzan of the Association of Major Religious Superiors of the Philippines (AMRSP)

and Bishop Felixberto L. Calang, cochairman of the EBF. “We converged in Davao City from all corners of the country to draw strength from each other as we celebrate the first successful round of talks between the government and NDF after years of impasse. The positive atmosphere that resulted from the recent resumption of the formal peace talks was carried into the positive mood of our summit and our joy for the growing ecumenical participation in supporting the peace process,” the statement added.

T he rel ig ious leaders sa id Ateneo de Davao Un iversit y (AdDU) President Fr. Joel Tabora reminded them of the biblical imperatives and “our Christian duty to work toward the common good and accompany the poor in seeking social justice.”

“Our optimism was strengthened by the sharing of Undersecretary Nabil Tan of the Office of the Executive Secretary on the government’s renewed commitment to peace and to the government-NDF negotiations and the negotiations with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and the Moro National Liberation Front. We were also encouraged by the input of lawyers Angela Librado and Antonio Arellano of the Government Peace Panel regarding the serious commitment of the panel to engage in principled dialogue with the NDF.

The clear commitment to peace has also been observed in the willingness of the government to honor previous agreements and through the concerted effort invested in achieving the release of detained NDF consultants,” they added.

NDF Peace Panel Chairman Luis G. Jalandoni also reminded summit participants “of the indomitable spirit of the Filipino people through the centuries to persevere in the struggle for a just and lasting peace in the country.

The presence of the NDF consultants, Rey Claro Casambre, and the recently released Ariel Arbitrario, Lando Genelsa, Alfredo Mapano and Porferio Tuna Jr. brought depth to the discussions and strengthened the determination of participants to further support the peace process.”

The religious leaders added: “We admire the resolve of both the government and NDF to transcend differences, willingly explore substantive issues and implement working methods that will accelerate the talks. We also appreciate the decision of both parties to declare indefinite unilateral ceasefires towards a possible bilateral cease-fire.”

They also said both the Royal Norwegian Government and Caritas Norway sent solidarity messages from the Special Envoy to the Peace Process, Elisabeth Slattum, and Program Coordinator for Asia

Aron Halfen, to reassure the participants of their common resolve to persevere in the journey with the PEPP and with the governmentNDF peace process.

Slattum and Halfen said a political settlement of the armed conflict through principled dialogue “is both possible and attainable, even though difficulties and obstacles are to be expected along the way.”

“We were inspired and challenged by the presence of our lumad sisters and brothers who kept us attentive to the reality on the ground. Their contributions have shown that peace must be tangible and manifest not only through the silence of arms but even more through food on the table, clothing, shelter, education and access to the means to meet other basic needs and for them to live in their communities without fear or threat. They also underscored the reality that the road to peace is long and arduous, fraught with dangers, but for the sake of the people, especially the most vulnerable, it must be pursued with all our heart and effort,” the statement noted.

The summit concluded with a workshop to consolidate the commitments and concerns of the PEPP, and plans for how these can be presented to both the government and the NDF, and to the Filipino people.

Palace reiterates casino ban on government men

By David Cagahastian @ davecaga

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HE Office of the President on Friday ordered the strict enforcement of the law banning public officials and employees from casinos and other gambling places.

Executive Secretary Salvador C. Medialdea issued Memorandum Circular 6 ordering all public officials and employees, including the police and the military, to strictly observe all laws prohibiting them from entering, staying or playing in gambling casinos.

Medialdea said there have been reports that many government officials and employees, and even police and military personnel, have been seen in casinos.

Medialdea pointed out that entering and playing in casinos also violate the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees, which provides the State’s policy of promoting a high standard of ethics in public service, and enjoins all government employees to lead modest lives.

“In view of its negative effect on the public perception of govern-

ment service as a whole, the mere entry or presence of government officials and employees in a gambling casino shall be considered as conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, unless the same was in the performance of official duties and functions,” the circular said.

The circular ordered that those government officials and employees who will be proven to have violated the laws prohibiting them from even entering a casino will be meted out sanctions and penalties, including dismissal from the service.

Under Presidential Decree 1067B, as amended by Presidential Decree 1869, the following are not allowed to play in gambling casinos: government officials connected directly with the operation of the government or any of its agencies; members of the Armed Forces; and persons under 21 years of age or students of any school, college or university in the Philippines.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. was also enjoined by the circular to strictly enforce the laws prohibiting government officials and employees from entering casinos.

for a stop to operations against Abu Sayyaf

By Rene Acosta

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@reneacostaBM

HE military on Friday rejected the call of Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) Fou nd ing C h a ir m a n Nur Misuari to stop the operations against the bandit Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in Sulu in order for him and his group to negot i ate for t he re lea se of kidnap victims.

Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla Jr., Armed Forces spokesman, said the intense operations against the bandits in Sulu and Basilan will continue despite Misuari’s plea.

“It is ver y impor tant now for us to sustain the operation.

That [halt of militar y operations] has happened before and it led to escape [of the enemies],” Padilla said.

“We will only give way to turnover or transfer [of hostages],” he added.

At least five kidnap victims have been released by the terrorists since last week, with the release having been facilitated through Misuari and his group in Sulu.

Four of the captives, Norwegian Kjartan Sekkingstad and four Indonesians were released on Saturday to a commander of the MNLF, who turned them over to Misuari.

This week another Indonesian was also freed to Misuari and his group before he was turned over to the Joint Task Force Sulu, led

by Brig. Gen. Arnel de la Vega.

The military has maintained that the bandits have been forced to release the five as a result of the intense military operations in Sulu where more than 7,000 soldiers were operating.

It predicted that more captives would be freed, also due to the operations, which were ordered by President Duterte, who earlier ordered the Armed Forces to f in ish t he A SG

“to the last man.”

Misuari promised to help in freeing of the remaining Abu captives, which included five Malaysians, three Indonesians, a Dutch and two Filipinos, if the operations were suspended.

Padilla maintained that the military operations will continue, partly because the soldiers have the momentum to finish their mission.

“We believe that the military operations continues to pressure the Abu Sayyaf, and we are on the right track to finally decimate the enemies,” he said.

Padilla added that from about 480 fighters, the strength of the ASG has already decreased to around 300 since start of the intensified military operations.

Meanwhile, a former Abu Sayyaf camp on Basilan Island is back in government control.

The government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) held a one-day dental and medical mission on September 18 to residents of Barangay Baguindan in Tipo-Tipo town to symbolize the government’s taking control of the area.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman, witnessed the turnover ceremony that day.

Lt. Col. Ernest John Jadloc, 74th Infantr y Battalion commander, said the camp was seized after a month of operations involving members of the 18th and 64th Infantry Battalions, Scout Rangers and Special Forces troops.

ARMM Vice Gov. Haroun Alrashid Lucman Jr. and Party-list Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of Anak Mindanao attended the turnover ceremony.

T he regional government’s humanitarian emergency action response team provided relief packs to 1,574 families in Barangay Baguindan and Barangay Silangkum and in Al-Barka town. With Manuel Cayon

‘Open military, police camps, posh villages to motorists’

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No end to improvemenT

Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc. (MATES), operator of the South Luzon Expressway, recently started improvement work on the Calamba Southbound (SB) Toll Plaza exit. The work involves the extension of the canopy on all seven toll plaza exit lanes to allow faster toll transactions and increase vehicle throughput, especially during peak traffic days. Calamba Toll Plaza is one of the SLEx toll plazas where traffic is heaviest. The extension work will be undertaken two lanes at a time. To ease traffic slowdown as motorists exit Calamba Toll Plaza during this activity, additional traffic enforcers and ambulant tellers will be deployed, when and where needed.

HERE are ways to help ease traffic in Metro Manila, but the the Duterte administration seems to have yet to find the right mix of proposals.

Architect and Urban Planner Felino A. Palafox Jr. on Friday offered unsolicited advice to the administration not to focus on the supply side of transportation, such as roads, trains and buses, but rather look more at the demand side, which pertains to land use.

Speaking during a forum, dubbed Brewing@AIM by the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) on Friday, Palafox said he is in favor of granting President Duterte emergency powers to address Metro Manila’s traffic woes.

However, he said there should be a more definite program, scope of works, deliverables and timeline.

Palafox was invited as a resource person by the Senate Committee on Public Works to give insights on Metro Manila’s traffic problem.

“All the proposals I am seeing right now will not help solve the traffic problem. They will only alleviate the problem,” he said.

Palafox said the proposals focus too much on the supply side of transportation—roads, vehicles, trains and buses. He said these will not solve the traffic problem. He added that it is better for the government should look at the demand side of transportation, particularly land-use.

Palafox said urban planning and design should be given due consideration in land use planning.

Instead of big buildings occupy too much space, Palafox prefers the establishment of high-rise buildings, including shopping malls, which he said are major traffic generators.

Also, Palafox said that to ease traffic in Metro Manila, the government should also consider opening the gates of military or police camps to allow motorists to pass through, particularly during peak hours.

The area occupied by Camps General Rafael Crame and Camp General Emilio Aguinaldo in Quezon City, he said, is bigger than Ayala Center in Makati.

In the same breath, he said homeowners in gated villages in Metro Manila, particularly along Edsa should open their gates and allow private-and public-utility vehicles to pass through at least during peak hours.

Gated communities, he said, is already obsolete, as they were designed during the Spanish period, citing the walled city of Intramuros.

Palafox, who lives in one of the posh villages in Metro Manila, said if the government will initiate the move on its part to address traffic, the even posh villages may follow.

“It will alleviate the situation. I think the capacity of Edsa is 280,000 vehicles a day. But I think 600,000 vehicles ply Edsa every day,” he said.

Shopping malls, he said, should also start constructing elevated path walks that would interconnect malls that would allow shoppers to move from one mall to another without going crossing roads because that slows down traffic, too.

Palafox also suggested the trasfer of government offices away from Metro Manila, so that hundreds or thousands of employees from outside Metro Manila would not have to add to the congestion every day just to perform their duty.

“The departments of Agriculture and Agrarian Reform…even Malacañang. These government offices can be transferred outside Metro Manila to decongest the city,” he said.

Palafox also said the toll for vehicles exiting Metro Manila should be free, but that getting in should be increased. This, he said, will discourage vehicles form going in and out of Metro Manila, unless the trip is very important. Jonathan L. Mayuga

Sports BusinessMirror

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

Saturday, September 24, 2016 A7

Blazers snatch only season

SPORTS PLUS

win at expense of Pirates

TIU JOINS MIGHTY FIVE

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OLLEGE of Saint Benilde snatched a 65-61 victory over Lyceum of the Philippines University on Friday to nail its first and only victory in the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association seniors basketball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.

On the brink of becoming the first team in two decades to lose all its games, Saint Benilde refused to wilt as it rallied from a 13-point fourth-quarter deficit to snap a 17-game losing streak.

“This is an emotional win not just for me but also the players and the team,” Saint Benilde Coach Gabby Velasco said.

Philippine Christian University lost all its 12 games in the 1996 edition. The Dolphins are no longer members of the league.

Senegalese Clement Lentcheu scored 12 of his team-best 18 points in the final period to power the Blazers in the final period.

The Pirates fell to 6-12.

Mapua, meanwhile, came back from 17 points down to beat a Bright Akhutie-less University of Perpetual Help, 67-63, to claim the No. 3 seed in the Final Four with a 12-6 won-lost record. The Altas fell to 11-7 for the No. 4 spot in the semifinals.

Akhuetie was reportedly under disciplinary action.

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The Philippine squad beat the tough Seoul Samsung Thunders, 92-87, on Wednesday night at the OCBC Arena behind the big games of imports Alford Thornton, Dewarick Spencer and Hamady N’Dyiaye.

The team played the Westports Malaysia Dragons on Friday night.

A victory over the Dragons will push Mighty Sports into the semifinals of the Merlion Cup, which is making a comeback after a 20-year hiatus under the aegis of the Basketball Association of Singapore.

Mighty Sports, supported by HC Technology Pte. Ltd., Huishi International Group Co. Ltd., Cebuana Lhuillier and Scratch It, is hoping to win back-to-back international titles after dominating the William Jones Cup in Taiwan in July.

Mighty Sports enlisted former Gilas center Marcus Douthit, a naturalized Filipino, to bolster its ranks, along with former collegiate standouts Kiefer Ravena, Gelo Alolino and Edrick Ferrer, Gabriel and Raphael Banal and Frank Golla.

They are backed by Filipino-Canadian Matthew Wright and Filipino-Americans Jason Brickman and Jason Deutchman.

AIN OR SHINE guard Chris Tiu is arriving in Singapore on Saturday as Mighty Sports Apparel Philippines presses its bid for a final berth in the 2016 Merlion Cup basketball tournament.

Getting the green light from Rain or Shine owners Raymund Yu and Terry Que after the Painters failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup, Tiu hopes to help younger brother Charles win his first international trophy as a coach.

This marks the first time that Xavier School’s deadly trio of Tiu, TY Tang and Joseph Yeo are playing together since their celebrated high-school years.

MIGHTY Sports Apparel Philippines’s Joseph Yeo tries to score against Seoul Samsung Thunders’ Kim Jun-yi at their Merlion Cup game on Wednesday. Mighty Sports won, 92-87.

WEIRD FEELING T

Serb to coach PSL squad; Daquis named captain

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SEASONED coach from Serbia will handle the Philippine Superliga (PSL) Manila team that will be captained by seasoned Rachel Daquis in the International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Women’s Club World Championship at the Mall of Asia Arena from October 18 to 23.

Moro Branislav was tapped to handle the local team. He will be assisted by young Japanese Coach Shun Takahashi and Filipino Sammy Acaylar.

PSL President Ramon “Tats” Suzara said Branislav is a Level 3 FIVB coach and mentored about 11 national teams and several club teams in different countries.

“Moro is a seasoned coach who served as instructor to a lot of Filipino coaches in FIVB coaching seminars,” Suzara said. “With his European style and Takahashi’s Asian brand of coaching, I’m optimistic that our players will develop into world-class athletes.”

Branislav coached teams in Serbia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Libya and Belarus. His last assignment was with April 25 of North Korea, which saw action in the 2016 Asian Volleyball Confederation Asian Women’s Club Championship.

“Normally, this is a big competition, but it’s important for the people in the Philippines to understand that this world club championship has the same level as the Olympics,” Branislav said. “These clubs are the best in world championship history.”

Daquis, the comely open spiker from RC ColaArmy, is one of the most seasoned players among the seven Filipinas on the national team that will clash with squads from Turkey, Thailand, Italy, Brazil, Switzerland and Japan.

Suzara said that beside Daquis’s international experience, the 28-year-old has the leadership and personality that makes her popular to her teammates, including imports Tinchaya Boonlert of Thailand, Ekaterina Krivets of Russia, Lynda Morales of Puerto Rico, Yevgeniya Nyukhalova of Ukraine, Lindsay Stalzer and Stephanie Niemer of the United States and Yuri Fukuda of Japan.

Except for Morales, who only arrived the other day, all of the reinforcements trained with the rest of the team and were given a pep talk by Suzara, PSL Chairman Philip Ella Juico and Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. Vice President Pete Cayco on Friday at the Arellano University Gym. Lance Agcaoili

HE feeling will be weird, according to Adamson University Head Coach Franz Pumaren, but the motivation will be as intense, as the Soaring Falcons get the chance to hand De La Salle its first loss in Season 79 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball action on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The unbeaten Green Archers (4-0) test the mettle of the surprising No. 2 Falcons (3-1) at 2 p.m., while University of the East (0-4) hopes to end its skid against Ateneo de Manila (2-2) in the second game at 4 p.m.

The architect of De La Salle’s five UAAP titles, Pumaren faces his alma mater for the first time and admits the experience will be weird, playing against his former school and friends.

But Pumaren said the focus is how to contain the Green Archers’ deep roster and keep the game close.

“They are the hands-down favorites. Looking at their lineup, it’s quite deep. We have to dig deep to compete against a powerhouse team like La Salle,” said Pumaren, whose team is coming off a 64-51 upset of Final Four contender National University.

“We hope to sustain the run, keep the game close and let’s what will happen,” Pumaren added.

Pumaren said his team has been improving each game. In their victory over the Bulldogs, their top gunners, Jerrick Ahanmisi and Robbie Manalang, were even nonfactors.

Papi Sarr and the Falcons bench, led by Kristian Bernardo, contributed big in that triumph.

De La Salle, on the other hand, is gunning for a 5-0 start and rookie Head Coach Aldin Ayo expects a rough time against Adamson University.

“Adamson is also a tough team. I’ve mentioned that Adamson is one of the contenders [this season] because of Coach Franz’s system. They have the

materials at and their foreign player [Sarr], has size,” Ayo said. “We’re expecting a tough game.”

Sarr will be tested by De La Salle’s do-it-all center Ben Mbala, who has tallied double-double games in the season. The 6-foot-6 Cameroonian is averaging 19.3 points, 17 rebounds and two rebounds per game.

The Blue Eagles and Red Warriors, meanwhile, try to bounce back from disappointing losses.

Ateneo dropped a 61-62 heartbreaker to Adamson University, while UE was stunned by University of the Philippines, 71-75, to remain winless in the season. Joel Orellana

»

FRANZ PUMAREN finds himself in an awkward situation when he and the Adamson University Soaring Falcons face the De La Salle Green Archers on Saturday.

TITLE SPONSOR

Mighty Sports Apparel President John Sy (right) shakes hand with Philippine Volleyball Federation (PVF) Deputy Secretary-General and Cantada Sports Center Manager Gerald Cantada after sealing an agreement making Mighty Sports Apparel the title sponsor of this Sunday’s The Mighty Sports Beach Volleyball Challenge at the Cantada Sports Center in Taguig City.

Also in photo is Michelle Murriel, Might Sports corporate affairs assistant.

Seeing action in the men and women’s divisions are De La Salle, University of the Philippines, Adamson University, Far Eastern University, National University, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, New Era University, University of Perpetual Help (UPH)-Cavite, UPH-Laguna, Air Force, Navy and Army.

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By Joel Orellana

HE Philippine men’s and women’s national rugby 7s teams will compete in two international tournaments as part of their preparations for next year’s Southeast Asian Games (SEAG) in Kuala Lumpur.

The Lady Volcanoes, bronze medalists in the SEA Games in Singapore last year, will vie in the Bangkok 7s on November 12 and 13, while the Volcanoes will join their female counterparts, as the Philippine squads compete in a two-leg tournament in India and Dubai in February next year.

“Actually, our preparations for the 2017 SEA Games started right after the SEA Games in 2015,” Team Captain AC San Juan said. “We’ll be sending our developmental team in Bangkok to give them international exposure.”

San Juan said there are now more than 100 women players playing rugby in the country and 54 of them are in their training pool.

The Volcanoes are the reigning champions in the SEA Games and Team Captain Jake Letts said they could not take all of their competition for granted because the other SEAG nations are on the rise.

“Each team seems to be getting better every year. If we’re going to go for back-to-back gold

MEMBERS of the men’s and women’s national rugby 7s teams pose for posterity after a meet-and-greet activity at the Pioneer Street Market in Mandaluyong City. NONOY LACZA

medals in the SEA Games, we have to prepare well in advance and of the highest quality,” Letts said.

Aside from the men’s and women’s rugby teams, the country’s men’s under-19 squad will also compete in the 2016 U19 Asia Rugby Championship, which the country will be

THE pioneering Basketball Efficiency and Scientific Training (BEST) Center resumes its Saturday-only classes at the Xavier School on Saturday.

The multiawarded clinics cited by the Philippine Olympic Committee (POC) and a Hall-of-Fame Awardee by the Philippine Sportswriters Association will be held from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Last day of enrollment for Preparatory Level, Levels 1, 2 and 3 is set on Saturday.

New sessions for basketball and volleyball at the Ateneo College Covered Courts, meanwhile, are also set on Saturday from 8 to 11:30 a.m.

The Ateneo basketball sessions are for students in Preparatory Level, Levels 1, 2, 3 and 4. Volleyball sessions are for students in Levels 1 and 2.

Adamson University, meanwhile, scored two victories recently to march undefeated into the semifinals of the Best Center’s Passerelle basketball tournament at the Xavier School Gym. Adamson University scuttled San Sebastian College, 59-36, before crushing Nazareth School of National University, 58-41, to stay unbeaten in six games in Group B. De La Salle-Zobel tabbed its fifth win in six games also at the expense of San Sebastian, 6356. Semifinalist La Salle Greenhills-A (6-0) swept Group A via a 77-73 beating of Ateneo, which also made it to the next round with a 5-1 card.

La Salle Greenhills-A, San Beda CollegeRizal, Ateneo and Xavier School-A completed the Small Basketeers Philippines’ semifinals cast in this twin tournaments sponsored by Milo and backed by Christ Sports and Rain or Shine.

Coach E hoops school unwraps

THE second semester of Coach E Basketball School unfurls in seven venues beginning on on October 14 at the Celebrity Sports Plaza.

Open to boys and girls aged four to 16, the second-semester classes will be held at the Celebrity Sports Plaza and Ateneo de Manila University covered courts in Quezon City, Zone on Malugay Street in Makati City, Mother Goose Nursery School and Greenhills West in San Juan, San Beda College in Alabang and Valle Verde 2 in Pasig City. Classes at Celebrity Sports Plaza will begin on October 14, from 5 to 7 p.m.

Zone and Mother Goose will hold sessions starting October 15 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, while classes at Valle Verde 2, Greenhills West, San Beda and Ateneo will be held on the same day from 2 to 4 p.m.

The second-semester classes will have eight sessions and will run until December 11.

A one-day tournament will be arranged for all participants, which will be divided according to their skills level to be followed by the graduation rites in this event which will have Molten as its official ball and partner.

Interested participants can contact 6311195/668-4347/0908-8846947, or e-mail coachebasketball@gmail.com. Online payment is available through Coach E web site, www. coach-e.com, via Paypal.

UE anniversary bowlfest unfurls

National rugby 7s teams gear up for KL Sea Games

BEST clinics get going Saturday

hosting. South Korea, Singapore and United Arab Emirates are joining the four-nation tournament.

The women’s U19 squad will play in the U19s Development Series for the first time against Hong Kong, also in Manila on January 26 and 29.

“The U19 programs identify players for both

teams, only the top players will graduate to the men’s and women’s national 7’s programs. These players are crucial for nurturing young talent to compete in future SEA Games,” Matthew Cullen, director of Rugby for the Philippine Rugby Football Union, said.

THE University of the East Alumni Association Inc. (UEAAI) will hold the UE Tenpin Bowling Tournament Second Lualhati Cup on Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Bowling Center in Pasay City.

A total of 24 teams (six players to a team) consisting of UE faculty members, management and rank-and-file employees, students and alumni are seeing action in the event that kicks off at 10 a.m. The tournament is part of UE’s 70th anniversary celebration festivities this month.

The UEAAI bowlers include team Yellow’s Jose Romblon, Aries Simbillo, Novavilla Tagle, Grace Lacuanan, Josefina Roque and Wilson Jimena; Crimson Red’s Edelmira Dimzon, Jocelyn Malanum, Emmaline Zamudio, Swisa Almeyda, Rasti Sampaga, Juan Martin Guasch; Turquoise’s Norberto Rayupa, Joymely Cua, Mary Ann Mercado, Alfred Santiago, Cristy Lumilan and Tess Romblon; and Navy Blue’s Renato Chan, Edgar Arcilla, Joseph Mercado, Rosario Bernaldo, Angel Bernaldo and Rey Directoo.

The UEAAI, meanwhile, will hold its 2016 Grand Homecoming and Reunion.

Tickets are pegged at P600 (inclusive of dinner and raffle ticket), available at the UEAAI Secretariat at UE Manila’s Marketing Department at the second floor of the Dalupan Building (telephone numbers 7358562, 736-0943 and 735-8557).

Proceeds will go to UEAAI’s scholarship program and grants-in-aid and the community welfare “Bayanihan para sa Pamayanan.”

Sports BusinessMirror

ELMER SALVADOR plays the third round with confidence. NONOY LACZA

JOHNSON KEEPS ON ROLLING A

TLANTA—Dustin Johnson was in trouble from the start on Thursday, just not for very long. The game feels easy for the US Open champion, who began his bid for the FedEx Cup title on Thursday with a four-under 66 to share the lead at the Tour Championship.

Johnson had 165 yards from the sand and worried about getting it over the lip of the bunker. He hit 8-iron to 2 feet for birdie and was on his way to his sixth consecutive round at 68 or lower.

“It was a very nice shot to start the day,” Johnson said with a smile.

Hideki Matsuyama of Japan ran off three straight birdies early in his round and finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th—the nines have been switched at East Lake—for a 66, while Kevin Chappell joined them with a bogey-free round.

Johnson is coming off his third victory of the year at the BMW Championship two weeks ago, and there was no indication that anything has changed. He hit a reasonable amount of fairways (eight out of 14) considering the dry, fast conditions, and only once when he was out of position did he fail to save par.

He is the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, and the top 5 seeds only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the $10-million FedEx Cup bonus. The top 5 were all among the dozen players who broke par in the opening round.

Jason Day, the world’s No. 1 player who hasn’t won in four months, dropped his only shot on the opening hole and was at 67, along with Kevin Kisner and Si Woo Kim.

“I’d like to give Dustin a good run for it,” Day said.

Jordan Spieth didn’t look like he would post anything near a 68 after he was three over through two holes. The defending FedEx Cup champion let his short game bail him out in a big way. Spieth holed three straight putts from the 30-foot range—one of them for par—and raced back into the mix on the back nine by holing a bunker shot for birdie right of the 13th green and finishing with a pair of 20-foot birdies.

“This is a course I feel very comfortable on,” Spieth said.

“I feel if I play really solid golf here—and it doesn’t have to be perfect golf—I can shoot eight under on this golf course. I have no doubt. It fits me really well.”

Also at 68 was Rory McIlroy, who had consecutive double bogeys toward the end of the front nine and pulled himself together with four straight birdies on the back.

McIlroy had a 68 without making birdie on either of the par 5s.

That wasn’t the case for Phil Mickelson. He started his day by holing a 95-foot birdie putt. His fortunes turned on the par-5 sixth hole when his second shot went over the green and up against a fence, leading to bogey. He hit his next tee shot out of play and made triple bogey, and followed that with a double bogey with a drive into the water. Mickelson played one under from there to salvage a 74. He didn’t hit a fairway until the 17th hole, and then headed straight to the practice range. AP

Australia leads by eight strokes

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IVIERA MAYA, Mexico—Cameron Davis and Harrison Endycott each shot five-under 66 on Thursday at Iberostar Playa Paraiso to help Australia take an eight-stroke lead in the World Amateur Team Championship.

A stroke behind Scotland after the opening round at Iberostar Playa Paraiso, Australia had a 19-under 267 total—one off the 36-hole record set by the United States in 2012. The best two scores count in the total for the three-man teams, with US Amateur champion Curtis Luck shooting a 71 to again lag behind his teammates.

Davis topped the individual standings at 10-under 133, a stroke ahead of Endycott and two in front of Poland’s Adrian Meronk (69).

Davis finished second in both the Asia-Pacific Amateur and Australian Amateur last year. He had seven birdies for the second straight day. Endycott, the Porter Cup champion, made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th.

Australia matched the best second-round total in event history at 10-under 132. It won the Eisenhower Trophy in 1958, 1966 and 1996.

The two-time defending champion United States was second. Stanford’s Maverick McNealy and Texas’s Scottie Scheffler shot 69 at Mayakoba El Camaleon, and Oklahoma’s Brad Dalke had a noncounting 72. AP

A8 | S

aturday, September 24, 2016 mirror_sports@yahoo.com.ph sports@businessmirror.com.ph Editor: Jun Lomibao Asst. Editor: Joel Orellana

SALVADOR GRABS LEAD E

LMER SALVADOR flashed superb bunker shots at the front to save five pars then unleashed a strong finishing kick to card a four-under 68 and storm past Tony Lascuña for a huge three-stroke lead in the third round of the P3.5million International Container Terminal Services Inc. (ICTSI) Tournament Players Championship at Wack Wack East on Friday.

A pitch-in birdie from around 10 yards on the par-3 16th and another bunker save on the 18th spiked Salvador’s surge on a bogey-free 35-33 card as Lascuña faltered with a 72 after a 67 on Thursday and the Davaoeño aces switched places heading to the final round of the 72hole championship sponsored by ICTSI. “I felt like I couldn’t do wrong despite a number of bunker visits. I had an incredible feeling each time I got out of the trap. It further boosted my confidence,” said Salvador, who pooled a nine-under 207 and moved 18 holes away from nailing a second victory in the last three legs of the circuit after ruling the Splendido Taal tournament three

weeks ago.

Lascuña, who went on a roller-coaster ride after a near-flawless stint in the second round that netted him a one-stroke lead, failed to rescue a par from the bunker on the 16th, giving Salvador a crucial twoshot swing and a big cushion in their final-round duel for the top P650,000 purse.

Despite his mediocre four-birdie, three-bogey effort, Lascuña stayed just one behind Salvador heading to No. 15 but the four-leg winner muffed a 3-foot birdie putt on the par-4 hole then missed a 10-footer for par on the next to fall behind by three.

“I just got careless. I was in a hurry to putt it but I lost my focus,” said Lascuña, whose 37-35 card gave him a 54-hole total of 210. “My game was fine, only Elmer was so good.”

With the rest failing to make a charge in the pivotal round, Salvador practically has only Lascuña to deal with in today’s final round although the soft-spoken pro remained wary of his chances for the coveted crown in the event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. “Nothing’s sure yet,” said Salvador, who put on a virtual bunker clinic by saving pars on Nos. 2, 7, 6, 7 and 9.

“Anything can happen here but I’ll give it my best shot.”

What’s sure is Lascuña’s claim of the Order of Merit title as rivals No. 2 Clyde Mondilla and No. 3 Jay Bayron continued to flounder. Mondilla fumbled with a 74 and fell to 221, while Bayron also made a 74 but

stood far behind at 225.

Jerson Balasabas, still in search for a breakthrough win in the circuit backed by Custom Clubmakers, adidas, KZG, Summit Mineral Water, Srixon, Pacsports, TaylorMade, Sharp, Champion, Ping and Yamaha, came out of nowhere to move to third and gain a spot in the championship flight with a 68.

But his 212 total kept the former amateur standout way behind by five on a tough course that, however, gives every player a chance for a comeback.

Micah Shin sparked hopes of a fightback with a birdie-birdie start but the young American, who beat Lascuña by two for his maiden pro win at the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Open in Luisita last weekend, stumbled with back-to-back bogeys from No. 8, strung another pair of birdies from No. 12 but bogeyed the 18th for a 71. He totaled 213.

Frankie Miñoza, meanwhile, put on another vintage show, firing the day’s best 67, highlighted by a four-birdie binge from No. 2, but the ICTSI Negros Occidental leg winner could only pool a 215, eight shots behind Salvador.

Miñoza, who gunned down three birdies against a bogey at the back where he teed off, went sixunder after that four-birdie string but bogeyed the challenging par-3 eighth and settled for that 67.

Japanese Ryoma Miki shot a second 70 and moved to solo sixth at even 216, while Zanieboy Gialon fired a 71 for a 218 and Benjie Magada carded a 73 and tied Cassius Casas (75), Japanese Toru Nakajima (78) and first-day leader Fredrick Park (78) of Australia at 220.