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November 2015

Volume 6 - Number 21

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PINAY GIRL GROUP 4TH IMPACT WOWS DURING ‘X-FACTOR UK’ LIVE SHOW ALL-FILIPINO girl group 4th Impact has been consistently impressing the judges of X-Factor UK since the live auditions in Wembley Stadium began last August. Now, after making it to the Final 13 of the prestigious talent search last week, the group was among the first to perform in this season’s first live show. Formerly known as 4th Power, the group consists of sisters Mylene, Celina, Irene and Almira from Isabela province. The girls impressed both the audience and the judges with their colorful and energetic rendition of Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea’s “Problem,” matched with powerful vocals and diva dance moves Judge

Simon Cowell told the sisters that their passion sets the group apart from the rest. “That was fantastic. You know what’s great about you girls? You are great singers, and you’ve got attitude and you are passionate. I’ve had to hand this to you tonight. You’ve done an outstanding job,” he said. Meanwhile, judge and Group category mentor Cheryl FernandezVersini remarked how much of a blessing the girl group is to the competition. “I couldn’t be more proud. Please stop thanking us because we are thankful to have you,” she said. n Bianca

Rose Dabu / BM, GMA News / November 1, 2015 / 5:07 pm

Lindsay Lohan is fan of all-Pinay girl group 4th Impact HALFWAY across the globe from home, Filipino girl group 4th Impact (formerly 4th Power) has been consistently impressing UK audiences with their powerful vocals, amazing stage presence, and overall energetic performances in X-Factor UK Season 12. Now, sisters Mylene, Irene, Almira, and Celina can add a famous face to their growing number of fans across the world: Hollywood actress Lindsay Lohan. Following the first live show of the competition, which showcased the Final

13, Lindsay took her adoration for the group to social media. “I love these girls and my vote is with them! @cherylofficial said it best! @ simoncowell #happyCHANELoween” she said in a post on Sunday. After making it to the Final 13 of the prestigious talent search last week, 4th Impact was among the first to perform in the live show on Saturday evening (early Sunday, Manila time). They received praise from the judges and thundering applause from the audience for

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their rendition of Ariana Grande and Iggy Azalea’s “Problem,” matching powerful vocals with diva dance moves. “That was fantastic. You know what’s great about you girls? You are great singers, and you’ve got attitude and you are passionate. I’ve had to hand this to you tonight. You’ve done an outstanding job,” judge and Overs mentor Simon Cowell said. Judge and Group category mentor Cheryl Fernandez-Versini added, “I couldn’t be more proud. Please stop thanking us because we are thankful to have you.”

4th Impact is now competing against the competition’s Final 13, including fellow Groups category constestants Alien Uncovered and Reggie and Bollie, as well as performers from the Girls category, Boys category, and Overs category. One of the Final 13 finalists will be going home on Monday, November 2. n Bianca Rose Dabu / BM, GMA News / November 1, 2015 / 6:15 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Too many steps, payments: or why 6-place drop in Ease of Doing Business report unsurprising MANILA - Philippine officials are defensively questioning results of the latest World Bank’s Doing Business 2016: Measuring Regulatory Quality and Efficiency report, released Wednesday, showing the country dropping six places. Those familiar with the report’s focus and methodology, however, have noted the punitive processes that cost especially small and medium businesses so much resources. Top of mind are agencies like the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) which require payments much more frequently than ever, costing SMEs hundreds of manhours. One expert said that even without reducing taxes, the government could help business save by streamlining their process so that these can make semestral or annual payments, instead of the monthly and quarterly deadlines BIR now imposes. The WB report measures how easy or difficult it is for small and medium enterprises to operate in 189 economies around the globe. In the 2015 Doing Business report, the country was ranked 97, while it was ranked 103 in the 2016 report. Still, the country’s performance, however, improved during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III, as it was ranked 144 in the 2010 report. The 2016 Doing Business report is its thirteenth edition, released worldwide on Wednesday. Singapore has consistently been on the top rank for 10 years, while the Philippines’ other Southeast Asian neighbor, Malaysia, is also in the top 20, at rank 18.

NCC assails methodological changes.

National Competitiveness Council (NCC) co-chairman Guillermo Luz questioned the Doing Business report’s reliability, however, saying at the Philippine launch at the World Bank office in Taguig City that there had been numerous methodological changes in a short span of time. He noted that the Philippines had been ranked 95 in the 2015 report when it was presented last year, but the ranking for the same year had been changed to 97 when it was updated during the 2016 edition of the report. Roberto Galang, operations officer of the Trade and Competitiveness Global Practice Group of the WB’s International Finance Corporation,

accounted for the Philippines’ rank in the 2016 report.

Quality of implementation, not just rules per se. The Doing Business index,

he said, measures the regulations that apply to small- and medium-sized businesses in the country. It is built on case studies, and based on the most populated city in each country. For the Philippines, this locality is Quezon City. The study is also focused on the formal sector. This year, the Development Economics team of the World Bank Group also measured the quality of the implementation, and not just the presence of the regulations themselves, Galang explained. The Philippines “slightly dropped” in most of the ten sub-indicators of the program, except for “getting electricity”, which rose from rank 21 in the 2015 report to rank 19 in 2016 report. The Doing Business index assesses the ease by which firms go through their life cycle, “from start-up or in registering a business, in expanding through registering their property, getting credit, protecting investors, and in enforcing contracts,” Galang said. The World Bank also looks at the how it is to deal with construction permits, pay taxes, trade across borders, get electricity, and close a business.

Too many steps, too frequent payments. In starting a business, the

Philippines is among the lowest ranked countries at 165, from rank 157 in the 2015 report. It takes 16 steps to do it in the Philippines, higher than average in the region. With regard to tax payments, the rank shifted slightly from 125 in the 2015 report to 126 in the 2016 report. “We are requiring up to 36 payments per year, costing our SMEs 193 man hours of work,” Galang noted, adding that the Bureau of Internal Revenue, as well as other agencies, require monthly payments. “Without reducing any taxes, we could make life easier for SMEs simply by asking for an annual payment for VAT or for PhilHealth. This would allow us to improve our standing in the ranking – and more importantly, facilitate doing business in our country,” he stressed. Formerly a small business operator,

he himself said he experienced how difficult it was to register his business and pay his annual taxes. Enforcing contracts. When it comes to enforcing contracts, the rank also dropped a little from 139 in the 2015 report to 140 in the 2016 report. Galang attributed this to the number of days it takes to enforce a contract. Contract disputes also take more than two years to complete. There was one bright spot, however. Galang pointed out that there was one important reform undertaken this year, thanks to the NCC’s work as an advisory body to the government which brings about more collaboration between the public and private sectors.

Good news: SEC, SSS ‘talk’ better.

This was the streamlining of the communication between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Social Security System, which expedited the process of issuing employer registration numbers. According to Galang, this has reduced the processing time for starting a business by five days. Luz elaborated on the project, saying that the NCC proposed to reduce the 16 steps it took to start a business in 34 days to six steps in eight days. This was launched in April this year, and was now being rolled out in malls and SEC branches all over the country. He said they wanted to eliminate the “regulatory maze” and the “back and forth” among agencies. They accomplished this by batching together the steps involving the national government, and those involving the local government. Now one could go to the SEC and walk out of it with a single sheet containing all the necessary registration numbers, Luz declared. Out of the 14,021 applications received by the SEC, some 13,000 applicants were done in a day or less. The rest were done in two to six days. “People are coming in and they are moving faster through this system at the SEC,” Luz said. Regulatory reforms. Moving forward, Galang recommended that the Philippines concentrate on regulatory reforms, “many of which do not require the passage of new laws.” These included: • The consolidation of interagency

Diners are seen at a small eatery in Ongpin district in Manila: too long turnarounds, too tedious processes, too frequent tax payments that sap manhours of SMEs are among the factors cited for the Philippines’ 6-place drop in the latest World Bank report on ease of doing business. InterAksyon.com

procedures in business registration, as it required the cooperation of the BIR, the LGU, the SSS, PhilHealth, Pag-Ibig Fund, and SEC, among others; • The “use of IT and risk management systems on border operations, which ease the entry of low risk products and concentrate resources on higher risk products, (leading to) facilitated trade and an easier tie for our exporters”; and • The reduction of monthly payments for SMEs. Galang added that reforms could also be made in the following areas: dealing with construction permits, getting credit, protecting minority investors, and enforcing contracts.

Remarkable mix of reforms - WB’s Konishi. For his part, World Bank

Philippines country director Motoo Konishi praised the Philippines for its “strong economic growth, low and stable inflation, healthy current account surplus, more-thanadequate international reserves, and a sustainable fiscal position,” calling it “a combination never seen in history.” He also commended the government for improving revenues and public finance leading to increases in the budget for programs that benefitted the poor directly, such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, K-12, and universal healthcare. FOI, FOI, FOI. But he noted that more reforms could be done to create more and better jobs. These included: • Passing the Freedom of Information bill to enhance government transparency and accountability;

• Adopting an automated and government-wide financial management and information system to allow everyone to track the budget from appropriations to spending; • Fostering a simpler, more equitable, and more efficient tax system; • Opening priority sectors of the economy – such as telecommunications, shipping, construction, and rice – to more competition by tackling monopolies and reducing the investment negative list; and • Making business regulations simpler and less costly. “The country now is in a strong reform momentum. Simplifying business regulations even more can even speed up this push towards greater inclusion,” Konishi stressed. Luz seconded him, saying the country has had “great gains” and was probably “in the best space we’ve been in over the last 20 years.” Certainly the Philippines was more competitive now. He also emphasized the value of looking at the government’s impact on the ground. “If we get a high rank but we can’t show these types of numbers, I think we don’t have impact on people,” Luz said, referring to the 14,021 applicants who had enjoyed the more streamlined process of starting a business. “Conversely if we get a low rank but we can show that it is becoming more efficient, then I think we’re having impact on society, impact on the economy, and impact on people.” n Tricia Aquino / InterAksyon.com / October 29, 2015 / 10:20 pm

Peso recovers from ‘Fed-induced’ and weakness THE peso managed to recoup some gains,” Bank of the Philippine Islands Market Committee late Wednesday. analysts expected a 1.6 percent losses triggered by speculations over the timing of the first interest rate increase in the US in nearly a decade. The peso climbed 8 centavos to 46.82:$1 on Friday, from the previous close of 46.90. “The peso was able to recover with the rest of the regional currencies as investors closed long US dollar positions to book

associate economist Antonio Mapa said. But the trend for a stronger dollar supposedly remains intact moving forward. The greenback kept the peso subdued in the past four sessions, as investors braced themselves for the outcome of the two-day meeting of the Federal Open

The worse-than-expected US economic growth was also a factor during the trading Friday, Metis Etrade Inc. analyst Cherica Vicente said. The US economy, as measured by the country’s gross domestic product, was reported to have expanded by 1.5 percent during the third quarter. Many economists

growth. “Although details of the report confirms strong consumer and business spending, the headline data shook investors’ confidence in the US economy,” Vicente said. n Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 6:19 pm

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

2016 polls draw highest number of presidential wannabes AN unprecedented number of individuals applied for the country’s top post last week at the Comelec Main Office in Intramuros, Manila. Of the 130 who filed their Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for President, only five yet-unnamed aspirants have made the cut, according to the recommendation of Comelec’s Law Department. The last time the country saw a five-way presidential race was in 2004, when President Gloria MacapagalArroyo ran against popular actor Fernando Poe Jr., senator Panfilo Lacson, former senator and education secretary Raul Roco, and Jesus is Lord evangelist Bro. Eddie Villanueva. A sixth presidential bet, Eddie Gil, was initially allowed to run but was eventually disqualified as a nuisance candidate. Comelec allowed as many as ten presidential candidates to run in past elections. In 1998, Vice President Joseph Estrada went up against House Speaker Jose de Venecia, three senators (Roco, Miriam DefensorSantiago, Juan Ponce Enrile), Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, Defense Secretary Renato De Villa, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office Chair Manuel Morato, former Cebu Governor Emilio Osmeña, and one Santiago Dumlao. It would have been 11 had then former First Lady and Leyte 1st District Rep. Imelda Marcos not backed out of the race. The 2016 elections attracted a total of 321 Presidential, Vice Presidential,

and Senatorial aspirants, and Comelec has until December 10 of this year to whittle down the long list of wannabes to a more manageable level. The number of those who filed their COC for President last week is the most number of presidential aspirants on record for any election under the 1987 Constitution. As before, the race for the President’s “spare tire” drew fewer applicants. Only 19 filed their COC for Vice President, just one more than those who sought the post in the 1992 elections. The number of filers of COC for Senator last week is considerable at 172, although nowhere near the record 286 senatorial aspirants in the 1992 elections. A total of 24 Senate seats were up for grabs back then. Over the next couple of weeks, Comelec will be busy determining who among the COC filers are qualified to run for the posts they seek. The qualifications for those seeking national posts are simpler than those found in job classified ads. According to the 1987 Constitution, one must be a natural-born Filipino citizen, a registered voter, and literate (able to read and write) to qualify as President, Vice President, or Senator. There are age and residency requirements, as well: the President and Vice President must be at least 40 years old on the day of election and must be a resident of the country for at least 10 years immediately preceding election day; Senators must be at least

35 years old by election day, and a resident of the country for not less than two years immediately preceding election day. Comelec will also be weeding out the “nuisance” candidates. They are those who filed their COC to put the election process in mockery or disrepute, those who would cause confusion among the voters because their names are similar to the registered candidates, or those who do not have a bona fide or genuine intention to run for office. Circumstances or acts that demonstrate or indicate the lack of such “bona fide” intention include: • candidates who do not belong to or are not nominated by any registered political party of national constituency • presidential or vice-presidential candidates who do not present running mates for vice president or president, respectively, nor senatorial candidates; and • candidates who do not have a platform of government Persistent COC filers. GMA News Research identified from among last week’s COC filers at least 58 individuals who have been declared by Comelec as nuisance candidates in previous elections. The most persistent COC filers in this crop of wannabe national elective officials are senatorial aspirants Daniel Magtira and Melchor Chavez. Magtira has not missed applying for a national post in the past five national elections. He vied for a Senate seat in 2001, 2007, and 2013, and sought the

Presidency in 2004 and 2010. Chavez, despite skipping a couple of election years, consistently filed a COC for senator at least five times before—in 1992, 1998, 2004, 2010, and 2013. Also in last week’s lot of COC filers for national posts are a few aspirants who were once legitimate candidates but were disqualified later on. Take the case of presidential aspirant Vetellano Acosta, whom the Comelec originally counted among the nuisance candidates in the 2010 elections. The poll body reconsidered and allowed him to run in 2010 when the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan Party adopted him as their presidential bet. Acosta was considered a legitimate candidate while Comelec was hearing a disqualification case filed against him by then Senator and presidential candidate Benigno Simeon Aquino III. By the time Comelec disqualified Acosta, his name had already been printed on the ballots, just above Aquino’s. Acosta obtained 181,985 votes.

In granting Aquino’s petition, Comelec noted that even Acosta’s vice presidential running mate, Jay Sonza, claimed he did not know Acosta and refused to campaign for him. Acosta himself did not join KBL’s campaign sorties. Senatorial aspirant Gerardo del Mundo of Partido ng Manggagawa at Magsasaka was a senatorial candidate in the 2004 elections. He ran under Eddie Gil’s Partido Isang Bansa, Isang Diwa but lost. Del Mundo went on to file his COC for senator in 2007 and his COC for vice president in 2010. Comelec denied due course to both applications. Like Del Mundo, senatorial aspirant Alvin Almirante Bersales was a senatorial candidate in 2004. He went by the name Alvin Alvincent Almirante then. Despite faring poorly in 2004, he vied for the next higher national post in 2010 but was disqualified by Comelec. n Agatha Guidaben / JST, GMA News Research /

October 22, 2015 / 9:50 pm

Sen. Chiz seeks to rechannel P30-billion LBP-DBP capital budget for Lando Rehab Fund MANILA – Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero wants the inclusion of rehabilitation and reconstruction fund for areas ravaged by typhoon Lando in the 2016 national budget to be sourced from the P30-billion allocation for boosting capitalization of two government banks. In a statement, Escudero said that the proposed funding is similar to the Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Fund, which became part of 2014 General Appropriations

Act on his proposal when he was chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Finance. He said a potential source of funding is the proposed capital infusion for the Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP) and the Development Bank of the Philippines (DBP) under the budget of the Department of Finance (DOF). “As to sources of funding, there are many in the proposed national budget. In one agency alone, the DOF, we can do away with the P30 billion intended

Flood across Central Luzon caused by typhoon Lando rains, 22 October 2015. Malacanang Photo

to boost the capital of LBP and DBP. We can cut the fat or postpone non-urgent expenditures and re-channel them to the Lando rehabilitation fund,” Escudero said. “We can have a separate Lando Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Fund in the 2016 budget or, at the very least, we should itemize Lando-related rehabilitation activities in the Calamity Fund, which is officially called National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management or NDRRM Fund” he added. According to the veteran lawmaker, the large-scale devastation that Lando left in Northern and Central Luzon regions underscores the need for a separate rehabilitation fund in the budget. “Lando did not only alter the landscape of north Luzon, but also that of the national budget. It has created a big gash across the island,” said Escudero. Based on official government estimates, Lando’s destruction footprint is large with a total of P7 billion in damages to farm and public works, and over 1.2 million persons affected. “This destructive typhoon has punched a hole in our food and rice

basket. Hindi pwedeng dedmahin ang pinsala ng Lando at sabihin sa tamang panahon na lang ang rehabilitasyon,” Escudero pointed out. He added that allocations for rehabilitation efforts in next year’s spending plan may fall short considering the extent of the damage caused by Lando. “It is better to have a dedicated Lando fund, whether stand-alone—if it will be a Lando Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Fund—or itemized spending under the Calamity Fund so that projects, budget, location and implementation agencies are pinpointed,” Escudero explained. In the aftermath of super typhoon “Yolanda” in 2013, Escudero, then Senate finance chief, raised the Calamity Fund in the 2014 budget to P13 billion from P7.5 billion; created a separate Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Fund of P20 billion; and included P80 billion for Yolanda, Bohol earthquake, and the Zamboanga siege reconstruction in the Unprogrammed Fund of what would become Republic Act 10633, or the General Appropriations Act of 2014. “Ginawa ng Senado iyon noong Nobyembre 2013. Hindi na namin

hinintay kung may panukala mula sa Malacanang,” Escudero said. His “Yolanda rescue fund” was later augmented by Republic Act 10652, or the Supplemental Budget Act of 2013. Out of the P22.4 billion it authorized, P8 billion was set aside for Yolanda housing under the National Housing Authority (NHA) and another P2 billion for emergency housing of victims of calamities for that year under the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Escudero said that funding requirements for Lando rehabilitation could be itemized in the P38.9-billion Calamity Fund for 2016, of which P18.9 billion will go to Yolanda Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Program. “And agencies that will implement the segregated amounts are enumerated in the Special Provisions attached to the use of the Calamity Fund. Another approach is to add another section but this time for Lando reconstruction, so that we would still be prepared to address calamities and contingencies that may arise in 2016,” he added. n Ernie Reyes / InterAksyon.com / October 30, 2015 / 9:52 am

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

PHL Trust Index: More Pinoys trusting online media MORE Filipinos are now seeing online media as a trusted source of information, the latest Philippine Trust Index released on Thursday showed. The nationwide survey conducted from July to August 2015 among 1,620 respondents showed that while television is still the most trusted source of information on government and business, trust in the online media continues to rise. The general public’s trust in online sources jumped to 16 percent this year from 11 percent last year for information on government, and 20 percent from 15 percent for information on business. The trust index is from stakeholder relations firm EON’s proprietary research that was launched in 2011 to examine trust levels and drivers in the government, church, NGO, business, and media sectors. According to the PTI website, it also studied which communication channels and spokespersons are trusted by the Filipino Informed Public. Malyn Molina, managing director of the EON Group’s public affairs and government relations business, said the jump in trust may be attributed to increasing Internet usage. “Results of the 2015 PTI Survey show how important it is now to utilize

all channels – from traditional media to online news sites, and even social media,” Molina said. She said there was a significant leap in Internet use, especially among the youth. Usage of the Internet rose from 33 percent in 2012 to 44 percent in 2015 among the general public and from 50 percent in 2012 to 71 percent in 2015 among the informed public. She said this incline was in contrast with the decline experienced by publications – both broadsheets and tabloids. The 4th Philippine Trust Index covered respondents from various socioeconomic, educational and demographic backgrounds. Among its respondents, 1,200 are considered the general public and representative of the country as a whole. Additional respondents were screened to come up with representatives of the “informed public.” These are Filipinos who are at least college graduates and who access media for news more than thrice a week. Face-to-face interviews with respondents from urban and rural areas in the National Capital Region, North Luzon, South Luzon, Visayas,

and Mindanao were conducted to glean insights on the various factors that contribute to Filipinos’ trust in institutions. Molina said the communication landscape today means that organizations and companies have to listen more to their stakeholders, even consider stakeholders beyond the usual groups it engages, and truly understand their position or concerns. “Increasing trust on digital platforms definitely makes the communication landscape more complicated. However, it also means that more Filipinos now can express their opinion in a bigger, more public space and participate in important national and regional discussions,” she said. Online media and the 2016 polls. In an interview with GMA News Online, Carlos Mori Rodriguez, managing director of Dig, EON’s digital agency, said the survey results show the influence of social media in the 2016 elections. In his presentation during the launch of PTI, Rodriguez said 44 percent of Filipinos are online and 40 million have social media accounts. Eighty-five percent of the online audience are of voting age or 18 years old and above but whether they are

registered voters is another matter, he said. “We feel that social media will have a very, very prominent role in the elections of the Philippines because more and more, as a country with the most active social media following in the entire world, Filipinos are using it as a platform, as a mouthpiece and also to be able to assess and filter between truth, between fact and fiction, and also what their loved ones or social circle think or believe,” he said. He said even purchasing power has been affected by social media. “In fact, when you ask people why they bought a certain item, more prominently they will say that it was recommended by a friend in Facebook or Twitter,” he said. Asked how politicians can maximize social media, Rodriguez said they have to make sure that they have official presence in social media. “If they don’t have an official presence in social media, for sure their competitors will create a persona or their detractors will make conversations about them, albeit negatively,” he said. He said politicians have to direct conversations about their names or about their brands by creating content or putting out content that will promote

the positive campaigns, platforms, or even values that they hold dear. “Because if they don’t, they will leave it to the groundswell of social media force for them to be bastardized, even trivialized,” he said. He added that candidates should constantly engage the people in social media. “These people are very sensitive and they seek attention. They seek answers to their questions. For politicians, in order, to win the trust of the citizenry must be able to communicate, ask questions, and provide answers to these citizens’ questions,” he said. Rodriguez said social media is also a tool for social governance because the politician will be able to know what matters to the people, what people are talking about, and how they feel the government is acting on critical issues that the people hold dear. n Amita O. Legaspi / NB, GMA News / October 22, 2015 / 9:46 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

SPECIAL MULTIMEDIA REPORT

Worsening El Niño brings back nightmares of past drought EL NIÑO, a global weather pattern that mainly causes drought in the Philippines, is expected to intensify and induce a prolonged dry spell in particular areas across the globe. This condition is expected to take a toll on the economy, probably even worse than what happened in 19971998. “Unlike last year, this time around the El Niño is not a false alarm. All key meteorological agencies state with relative certainty that El Niño conditions have been met and that its intensity will surpass the last destructive El Niño in 1997 to 1998,” HSBC Global Research said in a Flashnote. El Niño arises from the periodic warming of surface temperatures in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean, according to Philippine weather bureau PAGASA. The 2015-2016 El Niño translates to warmer-than-usual waters in the Pacific, which affects weather patterns including the development of rain-bringing cyclones. While it brings about higher incidence of rainfall in other parts

of the world, in the Philippines, the phenomenon brings less-than-normal amount of rainfall and consequently drought. The phenomenon hits the Philippines just when the planting season starts in the country’s biggest rice-producing regions. For those who were affected by the El Niño in 1997 and 1998, the prospect of another drought brings back nightmares. South Cotabato in Mindanao was among the many areas hardest hit by El Niño. Farmer George Palacio, 80, recalls how the rice fields literally dried up in 1998. He says the drought brought famine and he and his family went hungry. His daughter Arlene, 46, still remembers that experience. “Tag-gutom nung 1998, kasi walang makunan ng pagkain ang mga farmers dito (There was famine in 1998, because the farmers here had no way of sourcing food),” she says. She starts crying as memories of the drought were summoned back during an interview with GMA News. “At isa pa ay ‘yung mga lupa ay nagkabiyak-biyak (And also the

ground cracked up),” she said. “So, kung wala kaming mautang na pera hindi kami makakain (So, if we couldn’t borrow any money we won’t be able to eat).” In 1997 to 1998, as much as 68 percent of the Philippines experienced drought for about seven months, according to a report by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “El Niño caused negative impacts on agricultural outputs in the first three-quarters of 1998. Palay, as well as other cash crops like coconut and sugarcane posted double-digit declines in the fourth quarter,” the report read. The Palacios went into debt at usurious rates, as unscrupulous lenders wouldn’t give them any money unless they promised to repay every P1,000 borrowed with a sack of rice on top of the cash payment. As water was scarce, Palacio says it took longer for the crops to mature for the harvest. “Kaya mahirap sa farmers kung mangutang ka ng tag-init (That’s why it’s difficult for farmers to borrow money when there’s drought),” Arlene says. “Tapos pagka-harvest mo ng may tubig na, parang kasya lang na ipangbayad mo ng utang noong nakalipas na tag-init (And then after you make a harvest when the water has returned, it’s just enough to pay for the debt you incurred in the past drought).” In many ways, the Palacios were lucky as the source of water for their backyard pump didn’t dry up. “’Yung amin, ‘yung poso na pingalalabahan at pinagkukunan ng tubig ay hindi talaga nawalan ng tubig. Pero ‘yung mga kapitbahay namin nawalan talaga ng tubig (Our pump where we wash clothes and get water from didn’t really dry up. But our neighbors didn’t really have any

water),” says Arlene. As far as Palacio is concerned, the 1997-1998 El Niño was the worst crisis he ever experienced. Data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that rice production in Central Luzon declined by 33 percent to 1.37 million metric tons (MT) in 1998 from 2.07 million in 1997. Cagayan Valley also recorded a 27 percent decline to 1.11 million MT from 1.54 million MT. The Philippine Institute of Development Studies noted up to

292,000 hectares of rice and corn plantations were completely damaged. In peso terms, around P3 billion worth of crops was lost. In the case of fisheries, El Niño ravaged the sector by drying ponds, disrupting production cycles and accelerating the mortality rate due to poor water conditions. By November 1998 the sector registered losses amounting to P 7.24 billion, according to ENCAR and UNEP. n Keith Richard D. Mariano and the GMA News Special Assignments Team / VS/JST, GMA News / October 29, 2015 / 9:15 pm

Customs revenues grow P2.4B year on year, but Sept. data 20.6% below target MANILA - The Bureau of Customs posted P32.65 billion in total collections for September, or 0.8% lower from last year. The figure is also P8.4 billion less or 20.6% below the P41.1 billion target for the month. The Jan.-Sept. total, however, is P2.4 billion higher than the same period last year, said a news release from the bureau. BoC traced the decline in September collection to the 5.4% decrease in total value, despite the increase in total volume of importation by 20.5%. Non-oil revenues rose by P2.7 billion or 11.3%; while revenues from oil decreased by 33% to P6 billion from

P9 billion the same month last year. From January to September of 2015, Customs collected P268.229 billion, which was P2.402 billion higher than the same period last year, but 14.6% lower than the P314.171-billion target for the period, or off by P45.942 billion. Although falling short by 18% on target, the bureau posted an increase in non-oil collections by P25.525 billion or 13.2% year on year. Both volume and imports grew by 16% and 5.5%, respectively. For oil products, the volume of imports increased by 20.6%, but value dropped by 32.4%. Collections from oil decreased by 32% year on year or P23.123

billion, but were higher than target by 11.7% or P5 billion - as average oil price for the period declined by 48% compared to last year. “Overall, the decline in collection was driven by the drop in the total value of imports by 1.8% despite increase in volume by 17%,” said Customs chief Alberto D. Lina. However, the bureau said it remains optimistic that it can reach target collections for the year. “Preliminary figures for October are looking up so we will strengthen efforts to meet targets by the end of the year,” added bureau chief Lina. n InterAksyon /

October 29, 2015 / 10:00 pm

A container yard in Manila, InterAksyon.com file photo.

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BUSINESS & FINANCE

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

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PHL stocks tumble on WB report, hawkish Fed remarks THE Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday broke the 7,200 support level, a day after the World Bank’s ease of doing business report and the US Federal Reserve’s monetary policy statement. The benchmark PSEi lost 100.01 points or 1.37 percent to 7,189.25 at the close of trading, while the broader All Shares shed 45.86 points or 1.10 percent at 4,143.39. Comments from the US central bank, which reinforced expectations for an interest rate hike in December, provided a drag for local stocks,

Seth Pangan, a trader at Diversified Securities Inc., told GMA News Online. While it decided to keep its zero to 0.25 percent target range for the federal funds rate, the Federal Open Market Committee noted it will assess a possible liftoff during the December meeting. “But the decline was brought more by the comments of the World Bank about the ease of doing business in the Philippines, because if you look at the regional markets the declines are not as sharp,” Pangan said. The Philippines slipped eight

notches in the World BankInternational Finance Corp. Report on Doing Business for 2016. The country ranked 165th out of 189 economies. The World Bank report, along with the Fed statement, prompted foreign investors to dump P3.85 billion worth of shares. This compares with the P2.79 billion bought. About 1.26 billion shares worth P6.53 billion were traded. Decliners trumped advancers, 106 to 57, while 48 issues remained unchanged. n Keith

Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News / October 29, 2015 / 5:04 pm

Bank lending sustains double-digit growth in September COMMERCIAL banks continued to extend more loans to businesses and households in September, according to data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Friday. The outstanding loans of commercial

banks, excluding reverse repurchase placements with the central bank, reached P4.731 trillion after posting another double-digit rise of 12.5 percent from last year’s P4.206 trillion. The growth, however, slowed down from the 14.1 percent increase in August. “The 12.5 percent growth still looks like a healthy number and each of the sectors, save for manufacturing, were able to post robust growth rates,” Nicholas Antonio Mapa, associate economist at the Bank of the Philippine Islands, said. ‘Healthy correction’. Loans for production activities, which comprised over 80 percent of the total, rose by 13 percent to P4.228 trillion from

P3.742 trillion. This compares with the 13.8-percent positive change in August. The increase reflects higher takeouts for estate activities (20.3 percent), electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply (26.8 percent), wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (13.7 percent) and financial and insurance activities (15.6 percent). Bank lending expanded in nearly all sectors but transportation and storage declined by 0.1 percent and manufacturing by 2.1 percent. “There may have been some pullback in select sectors, like accommodations and food services slowing from 50.4 percent to 20 percent, but this possibly reflects a

healthy correction after possible one time expansion activities,” Mapa said. Personal spending. Loans intended for household consumption amounted to P359.35 billion or 12 percent above the P320.81 billion year-earlier level, but trailed the 14-percent registered in August. The central bank attributed the growth to higher uptake of credit card loans (6.9 percent), motor vehicles loans (28.5 percent) and salary-based general purpose consumption loans (37.3 percent) in September. Borrowings placed under the BSP reverse repurchase facility expanded faster at 38.9 percent, to P375.07 billion from P270.12 billion, when compared with the

16.8 percent reported a month earlier. Including reverse repurchase placements, the outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks totaled P5.106 trillion or 14.1 percent higher than last year’s P4.476 trillion. This is also slower than the 14.3 percent posted in August. “Going forward, the central bank will continue to ensure that domestic credit and liquidity conditions will keep pace with overall economic growth while remaining consistent with its price and financial stability objectives,” BSP Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said. n Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 6:09 pm

www.hello-philippines.com

‘A NEW CINDERELLA STORY’

BUSINESS & FINANCE

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Bloomberg takes on AlDub’s influence on markets THE phenomenal loveteam of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub is undeniably one of the hottest pairings in the Philippine entertainment industry nowadays. But after a show in the world’s largest indoor arena sold out 55,000 tickets in less than three days, and with a Twitter record of 41 million tweets with its hashtag in one day, AlDub has also caught global attention in both the mainstream and social media. After the British Broadcasting Company dubbed them as a ‘social media phenomenon,’ international business news platform Bloomberg discussed how the unassuming and ‘bizarre’ Philippine show is affecting sales in different markets. “The ‘AlDub’ phenomenon, (and) how it’s becoming a mega hit on social media and how it’s becoming a gold mine for anyone associated with it,” read the blurb of the Bloomberg story. In the article, Ehden Llave Pelaez, social media manager at iSentia Brandtology, described AlDub and the

Kalyeserye segment from Philippines’ longest-running noontime show ‘Eat Bulaga’ as a brand new type of the typical Cinderella love story. Pelaez said its appeal came from how it responded to the audience. “Another nice thing, which is probably where social media comes in, is they get to listen to their fans. They story follows what the fans wanted to see. It’s an open-ended series,” Pelaez said. After only months of charming the Filipino audience, AlDub already starred in different commercials for a wide variety of brands, such as fast food, household cleaning agent, a telecommunications company, adult milk brand, cellphone brand, and many more. Vice President for Marketing Communications at Golden Arches Development Corporation Margot Torres confirmed that the sales of McDonald’s grew significantly following the release of the #ALDUBkoto TV commercial.

“Our growth is measured based on same-store sales and transactions. If we use the period when we sold Minions (which was a good month) as a base index of 100 and compare the samestore transactions growth figure with the period 3 weeks after we launched our chicken fillet a la king and the AlDub campaign, the figure is 470 versus base index,” Torres told GMA News Online. “This is a nationwide number,” she added. “Needless to say, the launch of our Chicken Fillet a la King product with the AlDub campaign has positively impacted our business and sales for Chicken Fillet a la King have well exceeded its target,” Torres said. Within 24 hours of posting on September 11, the AlDub TVC was viewed 1.5 million times on the fast food chain’s Facebook page. According to Pelaez, this remarkable increase in business is brought by the fact that the ‘AlDub phenomenon’ is not restricted to a particular class or industry.

Aside from being talked about in five out of seven continents, the love team’s reach also cuts across different markets because of their wide audience reach assisted not only by television but more importantly, by social media. “They are cutting across different industries and segments. Beyond McDonald’s and Talk N’ Text, they have household cleansers and other

upcoming TVCs,” Pelaez said. “Using these people as effective product ambassadors proves that their fanbase also cuts across different markets. So, you’re touching different consumers, and it doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. You are able to connect to different kinds of audience,” she added. n Bianca Rose Dabu / NB, GMA News / October 29, 2015 / 7:53 pm

DOF: Remittances to bounce back amid global slowdown CASH remittances by overseas Filipino workers (OFW) will bounce back even at a time of an economic slack in Europe and the Middle East, the chief economist at the Department of Finance (DOF) said. “The recent slowdown [in remittances] may be temporary as the dollar strengthens due to the impending interest rate hike in the

US,” Finance Undersecretary Gil Beltran said in an economic bulletin obtained by reporters on Thursday. Money sent home by Filipinos living or working abroad declined for the first time in over 12 years in August, according to latest data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Cash remittances during the month amounted to $2.04 billion or 0.6 percent

below the $2.06 billion a year earlier. This brought the cumulative amount for the first eight months up 4.1 percent to $16.21 billion from $15.57 billion. The central bank expects remittances to increase by 5 percent to a record high $25.6 billion at year end and support the growth momentum of the Philippine economy. The decline in remittances last August was partly attributable to the depreciation of some currencies, particularly the euro, Canadian dollar and yen, against the greenback. This reduced the dollar equivalent of the remittances. “If remittances were valued in respective local currencies, growth would have been double-digit or close to

double-digit in many countries, including those mired in recession except Italy and the petroleum exporters,” Beltran said. The Middle East accounted for 1.5 percentage points of the 4.1 percent remittance growth in the eight months to August. This compares to the 5.3 percentage points that the region contributed a year earlier. “The fall in oil prices may have contributed to this recent development and will continue to do so if oil prices remain subdued,” Beltran said. Remittances from Europe continued to drop by 9.1 percent from 13 percent partly because of the continued slowdown in the region’s economy. The increase in remittances from the Americas partly offset the slowdown,

Beltran noted. OFW remittances will continue to buttress the Philippines’ gross domestic product (GDP). The ratio of remittances to GDP has consistently risen near 10 percent in January to August. “However, economic thrusts may need to refocus more on domestic growth drivers,” the official said. “Financial literacy programs will boost the productivity of families receiving remittances. A stronger capital market development will further ensure that gross national savings – now close to 30 percent of GDP – are channeled to productive activities,” he added. n Keith Richard

Mariano / VS, GMA News / October 29, 2015 / 3:55 pm

$1B FOR A SHOT AT PHL MARKET

Telstra sees opportunity in PHL’s ‘lousy’ telco services AUSTRALIA’S telecommunications giant Telstra Corp. Ltd. is seizing the opportunity to capture the Philippine market that has long suffered from one of the world’s slowest internet connection speeds. “Go the Philippines and experience for yourself the sort of lousy service you get from the incumbent operators and you will see that the opportunity there for a new operator to provide a much better quality service [is significant],” Telstra CEO Andrew Penn said during an Investor Day on Thursday. Listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, the telco is negotiating a partnership with San Miguel Corp., the largest diversified conglomerate in the Philippines. “We are doing a lot of work there and supporting San Miguel to date in

terms of the design and the network rollout if that were to go ahead. Therefore, we are also very cognizant of how we allocate and how we invest our resources,” Penn said. Telstra may have to spend about $1 billion to acquire 40 percent of the proposed joint venture. Forty percent is the maximum allowable ownership of Philippine utility companies by foreigners. “We would be restricted to a 40 percent shareholding... so that would be the basis on which we would invest, plus the venture would seek to have external financing and we would probably pitch that somewhere equivalent to our current gearing ratios which are around 50 percent,” Penn said. The imminent entry of Telstra

is expected to shake the duopoly of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company and Globe Telecom Inc., Fitch Ratings Inc. earlier noted in its credit rating reports for the local firms. “Any new competition coming to an industry will not really disrupt the status quo, but competition is to be expected. We will continue with the strategy that has lead us to unprecedented growth,” Yoly Crisanto, head of corporate communications at Globe, told GMA News Online on Friday. Ramon Isberto, concurrent public affairs head at PLDT and Smart Communications, shared the same view. “Telecommunications is a deregulated business so the competition is a fact of life. We take all competition seriously.”

With the impending entry of a new rival, Isberto noted in a text message on Fridat that PLDT will keep investing in its network and offer innovative digital services in order to compete effectively. San Miguel President and COO Ramon S. Ang has touted the proposed joint venture as a solution to the laggard wireless services in the Philippines. “In so far as the Philippine internet situation is concerned, the issues are now being addressed. For Globe, we are already coming out with higher

Internet speed at really affordable prices,” Crisanto said. The Philippines has the secondslowest download speed averaging 3.64 megabits per second (Mbps) among 22 countries in Asia, based on tests conducted by Internet performance data provider Ookla. The country’s leading telco companies recently announced their respective 1 gigabit-per-second broadband plans. n Keith Richard D. Mariano / VS/JST, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 8:09 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

US limits to 12,999 transitional foreign workers, including Pinoys, in CNMI THE United States government has put a new limit of 12,999 foreign workers, including those from the Philippines, in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) for fiscal year 2016 under the transitional worker program. The announcement comes barely four years before the end of the socalled transitional Commonwealthonly worker-1 (or CW-1) program in 2019. Under the CW-1 program, employers in the CNMI can apply for temporary permission to employ foreign nationals who are ineligible for any existing employment-based non-immigrant category under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). Currently, most non-immigrant workers in the CNMI under the CW program are from the Philippines. The CNMI is a US territory in the Western Pacific, some three hours

away from Manila by plane. After 2019, only those foreign workers who are eligible for H visas and any job-based non-immigrant category under the INA will be allowed to continue working in the CNMI. The new limit on the number of workers under the CW program was announced by US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) on Wednesday (Thursday, Manila time). USCIS is the agency under the US Department of Homeland Security that handles immigration benefits. DHS published the new worker quota in the Oct. 22, 2015 Federal Register. Under the law that placed CNMI immigration under US federal control, the number of nonimmigrant workers under the CW-1 program will be decreased every year until it reaches zero at the end

of the transition period, which was extended by five years last year or up to 2019. The latest limit on the number of CW-1 workers allowed is a decrease of only 1,000 from the FY 2015 cap of 13,999. DHS, in a statement, said it reduced the FY 2016 CW-1 limit by 1,000 “to meet the CNMI’s existing labor market needs and provide opportunity for potential growth, while meeting a regulatory requirement to reduce the numerical limit each year.” But CNMI employers, employees and elected officials are still pressing the US government to extend the transitional CW-1 program beyond 2019 because there is still a lack of available and qualified U.S. workers to take over the jobs currently held by CW-1 program foreign workers. This is especially because the CNMI is seeing additional and expanding major hotels and other tourism-based businesses, including a planned US$7.1 billion integrated casino resort on the main island of Saipan. Many of the current CW-1 foreign workers in the CNMI will not qualify for H visas and other types of INA non-immigrant visas so they would have to exit the CNMI after 2019, unless the US government extends once again the transitional worker program. The other option is for US Congress to grant a more permanent immigration status to long-term foreign workers in the CNMI to allow CW-1 permit holders to remain and

provide a stable workforce. However, any such immigration legislation is met with firestorm in a divided US Congress. For years, Filipino worker groups and other foreign workers in the CNMI have been drumming up support for pathway to US citizenship for many of the longterm foreign workers in the CNMI. They argue that they have entered the CNMI legally, have contributed to the growth of the local economy and continue to do so, that they have US Social Security numbers, and that they will continue to be needed by the tourism-based economy beyond 2019. Some sectors in the CNMI, on the other hand, want the reliance on foreign workers to end and have been calling on the local government and private businesses to aggressively train local or US workers so they can fill up all the available jobs that will be vacated once CW-1 foreign workers exit the CNMI after 2019. Earlier this year, the CNMI government reported to US Labor Secretary Tom Perez an unemployment rate of 16.8 percent in 2014, with 4,674 persons out of work. But still, the numbers of job positions needed to run an existing—and expanding— tourism-based CNMI economy are much greater than the US worker pool that’s available between now and right after 2019. Delegate Gregorio Kilili C.

Sablan (Ind-MP), the CNMI’s nonvoting delegate to the US House of Representatives, said the newly announced cap of 12,999 on the number of foreign CW-1 workers in FY 2016 “means that employers must continue to find more ways to hire US workers, if growth is to continue.” “Today’s action, however, also reminds us that the number of CW workers will continue to decrease over the next four years and that everyone in the Marianas – business, government, and the educational system – will have to work overtime to replace this foreign labor with US workers or with foreign workers who have some status other than CW. That means workers with H or other employment-based visas. That means workers from the Freely Associated States, who have the ability to immigrate to and live in the Northern Marianas,” said Sablan. The CW-1 program began with a cap of 22,417 in 2009, based on the number of workers that the CNMI had prior to the extension of US immigration law on the islands. By 2013, USCIS officials testified to Congress that the number of CW workers was down to 10,071. Foreign workers in the CNMI holding CW-1 permits are in almost every sector or the workforce, from nurses to accountants, hotel and restaurant staffers, household workers, farmers, engineers, architects and utility workers, among others. n Haidee V. Eugenio / KBK,

GMA News / October 23, 2015 / 8:32 pm

Solon wants revamp of NAIA personnel over ‘laglag bala’ scheme A lawmaker on Thursday called for a top-to-bottom revamp of the officials and personnel at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) in light of the so-called “laglag bala” extortion racket victimizing tourists and OFWs. Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles said the total overhaul should be done as NAIA has become a “source of disgrace and national embarrassment” because of the “laglag bala” scheme. “The NAIA has become the biggest source of embarrassment for this administration, not only here in the Philippines and but in the entire world,” said Nograles, chairman of the House committee on labor. “A top-tobottom revamp is now necessary even just to prove that the government is taking this issue very seriously.” Nograles said the revamp should start with Manila International

Airport Authority (MIAA) General Manager Jose Angel Honrado, who he said “has contributed nothing but shame and disgrace to the government.” The “laglag bala” scheme involves the discreet planting of bullets by unscrupulous airport personnel in airline passengers’ bags. When the passenger is arrested, he or she are asked to fork over money in exchange for their freedom. Recently, 56-year-old overseas Filipino worker (OFW) Gloria Ortinez was arrested for allegedly carrying a bullet inside her hand-carry bag. Ortinez, who has been working as a domestic helper for two decades, was apprehended before boarding her flight to Hong Kong on Oct. 25. She has denied the allegation, saying the bullet did not belong to her. Although the Pasay City Prosecutors Office has ordered Ortinez’s release, she now faces the danger of losing her job in

Hong Kong after the incident. Nograles said he was appalled Ortinez’s apprehension not only because of the airport personnel’s supposed insensitivity, but also because of Honrado’s defense of the arrest. “Instead exerting effort to get into the bottom of these rising complaints of evidence planting at the NAIA, administrator Honrado quickly dismissed these allegations as false and untruthful,” he said. The lawmaker said Ortinez was clearly a victim of the “laglag bala” scheme since even the fiscal noticed that the supposed bullet that was seized from her was different from the bullet that was submitted to them as evidence. In a separate statement, Valenzuela City Rep. Sherwin Gatchalian urged the MIAA to follow the example of the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) in redesigning their personnel’s uniform.

The CAAP is set to do away with pockets for its employees’ uniforms to discourage mischief among its ranks following incidents of pilferage. CAAP spokesperson Eric Apolonio has said that removing the uniforms’ pockets would also make it more difficult for airport personnel to bring contraband items like bullets that could be used to extort money from passengers. “CAAP’s decision to change the design of its employees’ uniform is

laudable as a proactive approach to ensuring passengers’ safety and security against its own scheming employees. Its example must definitely be followed by the MIAA, but more importantly, it must emulate CAAP’s eagerness to initiate changes, no matter how small,” said Gatchalian, senior vice chair of the House committee on tourism. n Xianne Arcangel / KBK, GMA News / October 29, 2015 / 9:11 pm

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www.hello-philippines.com

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Abaya says DOTC probing ‘laglag bala’ extortion racket in airports TRANSPORTATION Secretary Jun Abaya on Friday said they are already investigating the reports on the supposed extortion racket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport

(NAIA) involving the discreet planting of bullets in the bags of unsuspecting travellers. “Iniimbestigahan namin [‘yung reports],” Abaya said in an interview

on QRT. “Dahil kung mayroon man ito dapat hindi mangyari, dapat itigil dahil mali naman talaga gawin ito.” He vowed that airport personnel who will be found engaged in such illegal activity will be penalized. “Kung mayroon mang nagtatanim diyan ay sisiguraduhin namin ititigil ito at kung may kasalanan man ay kakasuhan namin ‘yung involved na personnel dito,” Abaya said. Reports of such scheme being perpetrated by unscrupulous airport staff have resulted in calls from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) — usual targets of the culprits — for a topto-bottom revamp of airport officials and personnel. The illegal scheme made the headlines recently after a 56-year-old Filipino domestic worker in Hong Kong was arrested at NAIA for carrying a live bullet. Pro-OFW groups and even

Sen. Cynthia Villar said the OFW, Gloria Ortinez, doesn’t fit the profile of someone who will do such thing, noting her almost 20-year experience as an overseas worker. Abaya, however, said data from the Office of Transportation Security indicated that some recorded incidents related to the so-called “laglag bala” racket were actually legitimate cases of passengers bringing bullets to airports. “May nag-report sa akin kaagad kahapon, ‘yung isang Hapon na nahuli noong isang araw siya mismo ay umamin na galing siya ng firing range ng ilang araw at kumuha siya ng souvenir. Nagkataon naiwan sa jacket niya at napasama sa kanyang dalahin ng pumasok sa airport,” he said. “Ganoon din kahapon ay may dalawa sa ating mga kababayan ay nahulihan ng bala at sila mismo inamin na dala nila ‘yun dahil paniniwala

nila na parang anting-anting ‘yun na magpu-protect sa kanila,” he added. Abaya stressed that the law prohibits the possession of bullets while in airport premises, saying this constitutes illegal possession of ammunition. “Malinaw na malinaw na itong iligal at prohibited items ay hindi dapat palampasin at makaabot sa mga eroplano po,” he said, adding other countries may have stiffer penalties for such violation. “Mas maganda na nasasalanag na dito dahil hindi natin alam ang batas ng ibang mga bansa na pupuntahan po natin. Baka mas matindi pa ‘yung parusa,” Abaya said. In the Philippines, a passenger caught with bullets in his or her luggage while at the airport may face up to six years in jail. n Andrei Medina / KBK, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 7:37 pm

OFWs sa Jeddah, dumagsa sa konsulado para magparehistro DUMAGSA noong Biyernes sa Philippine Consulate General sa Jeddah ang maraming OFWs upang samantalahin ang huling linggo sa pagpaparehistro para sa overseas absentee voting (OAV), upang makasali sila sa national election sa 2016. Umabot hanggang sa labas ng hallway ng konsulado ang pila ng mga magpaparehistro. Sinabi ng konsulado sa GMA News na dahil sa dami ng mga dumagsang OFWs, agad umanong nagpasya ang Philippine foreign office na i-extend hanggang sa hapon ang registration period. Ayon kay Vice Consul RJ Sumague, mahigit tatlong daan na ang mga dumating para magparehistro sa huling linggo ng OAV registration.

Inaasahan din umano ng konsulado na marami pa ang darating sa mga huling araw ng pagpapalista hanggang sa October 31. Sinabi ni Sumague na apat na voter registration machines ang nakatalaga sa konsulado para magamit sa OAV registration, pero tatlo lang umano ang kanilang ginagamit sa loob ng konsulado dahil sa ang isa ay ginagamit sa kanilang consular mobile outreach sa Tabuk, isa sa mga probinsya ng Western Region ng Saudi Arabia na sakop ng Philippine Consulate. ‘Iba-ibang dahilan’. Samantala, ilan naman sa ating mga kababayan na nagpunta ng konsulado ang may iba’t ibang dahilan kaya nagparehistro. Sinabi ng OFW na si Julito Magabo, dalawang presidential elections na umano siyang hindi bumoboto dahil sa

kawalan ng tiwala sa mga kandidato. Pero nang malaman umano niyang tatakbo daw si Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, bagamat hindi pa umano sigurado, ay nabuhayan daw siya ng loob. Hindi raw siya boboto kung hindi talaga tatakbo si Duterte. Panawagan ni Magabo sa iba pang mga presidentiable: “Sana po pabayaan na lang po natin ... alam naman po natin kung ano ang magagawa nito.” Gusto naman nang isa pang OFW na nagpakilalang si Roland na nais daw na ma-recognize siya ng konsulado na nasa Saudi Arabia siya kaya raw siya magpaparehistro. Hindi naman daw siya makaboboto dahil magbabakasyon daw siya sa araw ng eleksyon. Karamihan sa mga OFW na nakapanayam ng GMA News ay nagpahayag ng pagsuporta at umaasa

OAV refistration in Jeddah. --Ronaldo Concha

na tumakbo sa pagkapangulo si Duterte. Samantala, sinabi rin ni Sumague na ang OAV registration sa konsulado ay magpapatuloy hanggang sa katapusan ng buwan at magkakaroon sila ng dalawang buong araw ng registration na

papatak sa araw ng walang pasok para ma-accomodate pa ang mga hahabol na magparehistro bago magtapos ang overseas voting registration sa October 31. n Ronaldo Z. Concha / LBG, GMA News / October 24, 2015 / 1:49 pm

Presidential action and complaint desk at NAIA sought amid ‘laglag bala’ allegations A senator on Friday sought the creation of a presidential action and complaint desk serving as a “onestop, on-the-spot troubleshooting center” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA), amid rampant reports of extortion rackets there victimizing travelers and OFWs. “The idea is to pool together all agencies which have something to do with OFWs and travel,” Sen. Ralph Recto said in a statement. “Puwede mong tawagin ‘yang isang mini-national government center sa NAIA.” He said the Presidential Action Center (PACE) could establish a detachment or satellite office at NAIA and other international airports, adding the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), the Public

Attorney’s Office (PAO) and other government agencies should join the PACE-run airport kiosk. “So that when an OFW, for example, cries that a bullet has been

planted in his luggage, there is an office he can seek assistance from,” Recto said. “Or kung may minor na papunta sana sa Hong Kong Disneyland pero

nakalimutan ang clearance from the Department of Social Welfare and Development, doon mismo matutulungan ng naka-duty na taga- DSWD,” he added. “Kung nabiktima ka naman ng taxi na mabilis ang metro, doon mismo puwede kang mag-sampa ng reklamo,” Recto further said. The “laglag bala” scheme involved the discreet planting of bullets by unscrupulous airport personnel to airline passengers’ bags. When the passenger got arrested, they would be asked to fork over money in exchange for their freedom. Recto said with 32 million travelers using the four NAIA terminals annually, “it is a large constituency which can neither be ignored nor denied of service.” “If airport travelers can no

longer come to Malacañang, then Malacañang must go to them,” he said. Recto said such desk can serve as a “deterrent to the commission of scams and a reminder to render excellent service.” As to the funding, Recto said it can be accommodated in the P2.8 billion proposed budget of the Office of the President for 2016 or from the proposed P4 billion Contingent Fund. “But why wait next year? It can be set up now using the funds for the current year. There’s also the income of the Manila International Airport Authority. Two years ago, it was already grossing P8.7 billion yearly, and net profit before tax of P3.9 billion,” he said. n Amita O. Legaspi /

KBK, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 12:32 pm

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IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

OFW petition for ‘laglag bala’ probe gains thousands of supporters AN overseas Filipino worker in Hong Kong has started an online petition calling for a congressional investigation on the so-called “laglag bala” extortion racket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) victimizing travelers and OFWs. The petition, posted by Ednalyn Purugganan on Change.org, has gained close to 13,000 supporters in the span of three days and a response from Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago. Purugganan’s petition, titled “Imbestigahan at pigilan ang ‘LAGLAG BALA EXTORT MODUS’ sa NAIA,” specifically cited the arrest of Gloria Ortinez, a 56-year-old domestic helper in Hong Kong who was arrested at the airport after police found a live bullet in her hand bag. She, like other pro-OFW groups who argued Ortinez’s case, said strict

Hong Kong laws make it impossible for Ortinez, a veteran OFW, to make a beginner’s mistake. Purugganan said reports of the “laglag bala” racket made many OFWs fearful of going home despite their homesickness. “Maawa naman po sana kayo sa aming mga OFW. Di po namin pinaghihirapang alagaan ang pangalan namin para lang sirain ng mga gahaman sa isang iglap lang,” Purugganan said. The “laglag bala” scheme involved the discreet planting of bullets by unscrupulous airport personnel to airline passengers’ bags. When the passenger got arrested, they would be asked to fork over money in exchange for their freedom. Meanwhile, in her response to the petition, Santiago said she filed Senate

Resolution No.1635 on Thursday calling for a Senate investigation on the alleged extortion racket committed by NAIA personnel. “This extortion scam counts among its victims the millions of OFWs who see airports as their connection to home. Wrongly accusing them of a crime and forcing them to pay their way out of it is not the way to repay those whom we call our modern-day heroes,” Santiago said. “The recent incidents show that the perpetrators of the alleged scam are brazen, perhaps because they know they will not be punished. We must prove them wrong,” she added. Aside from Santiago, the petition was also addressed to Sen. Grace Poe. Both Santiago and Poe are running for president in next year’s elections. n

Rie Takumi / KBK, GMA News / October 30, 2015 / 3:14 pm

SSS, Pag-IBIG offer help to OFWs in HK whose houses were damaged by Lando HONG KONG – Overseas Filipino workers here whose homes have been damaged or destroyed by Typhoon Lando in the Philippines may seek assistance from the Social Security System or Pag-IBIG for the repair or construction of their homes. Those who are entitled for assistance are those who regularly remit their premiums to SSS and Pag-IBIG and those who live in an area declared under state of calamity in the Philippines. Members of Pag-IBIG, or Home Development Mutual Fund, may tap a calamity loan of up to 80 percent of their total contribution provided they have paid contributions for at least two years. The loan is payable within two years and has an annual interest of 5.4 percent.

Spot cash or contribution to avail of calamity loan is not allowed. “Three months after the calamity, dapat mag-file na ng loan application,” said Raymond Francis Ramos, Member Services Officer- Hong Kong SAR of the International Operations Group of Pag-IBIG. Requirements for the Pag-IBIG calamity loan are photocopies of passport, any Philippine-government issued ID, and receipts of the latest six month of payments of the member. State pension fund SSS, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that it has approved the grant of a calamity relief package for SSS members and pensioners affected by Typhoon Lando. The SSS calamity relief package consists

of Salary Loan Early Renewal Program (SLERP), which allows members to renew their loans earlier than the prescribed date; the SSS Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan Program, which offers a lower interest rate of only six percent per annum; and three-month advance payment for members receiving pensions under SSS and Employees’ Compensation Program. Qualified SSS members and pensioners have until December 31, 2015 to apply for loans and advance pensions while deadline of application for the Direct House Repair and Improvement Loan is up to one year from issuance of its corresponding circular. n KBK, GMA

News / October 30, 2015 / 1:49 pm

Comelec: Only 1.4 million OFWs registered as absentee voters ONLY 1.4 million of the estimated 8 million to 9 million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) have registered as absentee voters, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said Wednesday. Comelec Commissioner Arthur Lim said the biggest number of registrants for overseas absentee voting (OAV) came from the Middle East, with 300,000 OFWs signing up to vote, followed by the United States with 200,000. Some 105,000 migrant workers, meanwhile, registered as absentee voters in Hong Kong. Although less than 20 percent of the estimated number of OFWs abroad signed up for the OAV, the Comelec considers breaching the 1-million mark as a milestone since it began registration activities on May 2014. “The 1 million mark was our Holy Grail when we started the registration way back in May [2014],” Lim said. At the sidelines of the hearing at the

House of Representatives, Lim noted that only around 700,000 OFWs signed up for the OAV in the 2013 midterm polls. “Malaki na ‘yan,” he said, referring to the 1.4 million new registrants. The Comelec has extended the period for the reactivation of registration of overseas absentee voters to Dec. 9, while the registration will be until Oct. 31. The option to reactivate will be for voters who have failed to vote for two consecutive elections. Lim earlier said that for the 2016 elections, voting for overseas absentee voters will be extended to areas with a large number of OFWs, and certain designated ports for registered seafarers in a bid to increase voter turnout. Meanwhile, the commissioner said the Comelec will ask presidential candidates to accomplish a form outlining their platform of government and stand on issues affecting OFWs for

the overseas voters’ information. The candidates response should not go beyond 1,500 words. Lim said the move aims to encourage more OFWs to vote in the upcoming polls. “[Ito ay gagawin natin] para maipakita natin sa mga OFWs natin na tinatawag nating modern day heroes na ang eleksyon ay talagang hindi lang para sa mga Filipino dito sa loob ng ating bansa. Kasama din sila (OFWs) sa halalan,” he said. n Xianne Arcangel / KBK, GMA

News / October 28, 2015 / 7:05 pm

PHL consulate: 30% of detained OFWs in Jeddah due to drug cases SOME 30 percent of OFWs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia jails have cases related to illegal drugs. A report on “Unang Balita” on Wednesday said the Philippine Consulate there has expressed concerns over the high incidence of drug cases involving Filipinos in the Kingdom. Records from the consulate showed that 60 of the over 200 Filipinos in Jeddah detention facilities

were involved in illegal drugs use, sale, or smuggling. Moreover, the report said that the consulate has reported one OFW on death row, and another one is due for deportation. Most of the OFW cases there are still on trial, the consulate noted. Next to drugs, the most number of cases that led to OFW detention include immorality and theft. n LBG,

GMA News / October 28, 2015 / 9:43 am

www.hello-philippines.com

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

FREE LISTING of events in HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper. Please email info@hello-philippines.com to include your event. DISCLAIMER: The Events Diary listing does not constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation or favouring by HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Hello Philippines newspaper and/or the Publisher. What’s On is a Filipino Events Diary listing for UK and Europe.

2015 CALENDAR OF EVENTS – UK & EUROPE Sunday November 8, 2015 1:00 to 3:00 pm Everyday, I love you ) (Special international screeningPlace, ter ces Lei 7 a, em Prince Charles Cin London WC2H 7BY Tatak Lizquen London Tel: 07877 980260

Saturday, December 5 at 6:00 pm - 11:30 pm UNITED KAPIZNON Christmas Party Vibast Community Centre 163 Old Street, EC1V 9NG London, United Kingdom 0845 474 1137 vibastbookings@redbrick.org.uk

Saturday April 30, 2016 Mr. and Miss Teen Philippine Islands UK 2016 Baden Powell House, Queens Gate, London Athena Alcantara

Saturday, November 28, 2015 Doors open at 6:00 pm Miss Pearl of Asia UK 2015 Bernie Grant Arts Center, Town Hall Approach Road, Tottenham Green, London, N15 4RX http://www.misspearlofasia.com/

Saturday 12th December 2015 6:00 pm - 1:00 am FIL-MO Give Love on Christmas Day 2015 Mazenod Community Hall, Manod Ave., Cor Quex Rd, Kilburn, NW6 4PS Vannz Bio 07947160826 Dules Cabansag 0744597509

Every Sunday 2:00 pm - 6:00 pm Lahing Kayumanggi Rehearsals St. Andrew’s United Reformed Church Hall, Frognal (corner Finchley Road), London NW3 7DY. Nearest Lane tube: Finchley Road. Organiser: LKDance Contact Laurence at 07840 602 944 or Avery at 07805 239 801 or email info@lkdance.org.uk

Nov. 20 - 29, 2015 A night with Joey G Birmingham, London, Southampton, Newcastle Upon Tyne & Dublin Sally Sellars Tel: 07886742417

Saturday 19th December Philippine Centre Simbang Gabi h SS Michael & Martins Church - 94 Bat UK w, Road Hounslo Organiser: Philippine Centre

Every 2nd Sunday 2:00 pm Filipino Family Mass at English Martyrs Catholic Church English Martyrs Catholic Church Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, HA9 9EW Hosted by: Alyssa Gonzales Becky at 07949857699 / Lina B at 07579418510

FREE LISTING of your events in HELLO PHILIPPINES newspaper. If you know of any events please contact us via info@hello-philippines.com to submit your event. DISCLAIMER: The Events Diary Listing does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by Hello Philippines newspaper. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Hello Philippines newspaper. This is merely an Events Diary Listing of what is happening within the Filipino Communities in Europe. This is for general information only.

2015 MONTHLY FILIPINO COMMUNITY MASSES IN GREATER LONDON 1st Saturday 5:00pm Devotion in Honour of Our Lady of Fatima (Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament / Rosary / Benediction / Mass) St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922

1st Sunday 2:00pm Five Precious Wounds Parish, Brentfield Road, Stonebridge Park, London NW10 8ER MervicMonocillo – 07894 636 140

1st Sunday 5:00pm Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Friar y Road, Peckham, London SE15 1RH Allen Abeleda – 07713 625 888

2nd Saturday 4:00pm St Peter the Apostle Catholic Church, 103 Woolwich New Road, London SE18 6EF Moises Espanola – 07894 648 639

2nd Sunday 2:00pm English Martyrs Church, Chalkhill Road, Wembley Park, Wembley HA9 9EW Becky Sarinas – 07949 857 699 / 07425 761 519 Lina B – 07579 418 510

2nd Sunday 2:00pm St Dominic Catholic Church, 243 Violet Lane, Waddon, Croydon CR0 4HN Merlie Mirto – 07722 216 462

2nd Sunday 4:00pm St. Anselm and St. Cecilia, 70 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3JA Feliciano Ramirez – 07733 680 748

3rd Sunday 3:00pm Sacred Heart of Jesus, New Prior y, Quex Road, Kilburn, London NW6 4PS Sheidrick de Leon – 07738 210 202

3rd Sunday 3:00pm Blessed Sacrament Parish, 157 Copenhagen Street, Islington N1 0SR Christy Sangalang – 07709 119 969

Last Saturday 6:00pm Our Lady of Dolours, Servite Parish Church, 264 Fulham Road, London SW10 4EL Fr Allan Satur – 020 7352 6965 / fulhamroad@rcdow.org.uk Roland Adap – r_adap@hotmail.com

Last Sunday 12:00pm St Pius X Catholic Church, 108 Orme Road, Kingston Upon Thames KT1 3SB Oliver Abasolo – 07782 661 922

Last Sunday 2:00pm St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 218 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 4LE Rafael Santiago – 07795 254 451

Every Sunday 5:00pm Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, 20 Brixton Road, Oval, London SW9 6BU Ben Ortiz – 07723 318 486

First Wednesdays 6:30pm Filipino Mass and Novena to Our Mother of Perpetual Help, Farm Street Church of the Immaculate Conception (Jesuit House Chapel), access on 114 Mount Street, London W1K 3AY Josie Ramos – 07723 024 591

IMMIGRATION / OFNEWS

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

21 Pinoy seafarers rescued from sunken ship off Northern New Guinea TWENTY-ONE Filipino seafarers were rescued by a Chinese vessel early this month after their ship sank along Vitiaz Strait in Northern New Guinea, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a news release Tuesday. The seafarers, led by Captain Jonathan Montel, were crewmembers of MV Foxhound, which sank October 17 due to inclement weather in the area. “After experiencing inclement weather which led to the sinking of MV Foxhound, Captain Montel and his crew sent a distress signal and later boarded a lifeboat,” the DFA said. The call reached MV COSCO Shanghai, a UK-registered and Chinese-owned vessel, which came

and retrieved the Filipino seafarers from the lifeboat. According to the DFA, MV COSCO Shanghai, owned by China Ocean Shipping Company Group or COSCO Group, arrived in Port Botany in Sydney, Australia, on October 22. “The Filipino seamen were met onboard the ship by Consul Marford Angeles and Assistance-to-Nationals (ATN) Officer Erlinda Albay of the Philippine Consulate General in Sydney to ascertain their condition,” it said. The DFA added that in coordination with HWL Ebsworths, the insurance agent in Sydney of MV Foxhound, the Consulate made arrangements for a team of Filipino-Australian doctors and

a psychologist to conduct medical and psychological examination of the 21 Filipino seafarers. According to Montel, all his crewmembers’ needs were attended to by the crew of MV COSCO Shanghai, including its captain, Shen Xiao Xing. “Captain Montel related that Captain Shen even asked them if the food given to them onboard his ship was to their liking as he wanted to ensure that they were satisfied and comfortable,” the DFA said. The DFA also said HWL Ebsworth made arrangements for the return flight of the 21 seafarers to the Philippines within the month. n KBK, GMA

News / October 27, 2015 / 3:40 pm

Pinoys in Qatar warned vs. paluwagan-style investment scam FILIPINOS in Qatar have been warned against an investment scam allegedly being operated by a group in Doha who promises high interest rates. The Philippine Embassy in Doha issued the warning after it received complaints from the victims of the supposed scam known as “Invest Your Money and Earn Double” and “Fastline,” according to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) in a news release Tuesday. The DFA said the scam, which started in March 2015, is being operated like a paluwagan in where interest rates could go as high as 600 percent. “The Philippine Embassy in Doha

wishes to inform the public and all overseas Filipinos in the State of Qatar that it received complaints from the public who were victimized by an investment scam known as “Invest Your Money and Earn Double” (paluwagan) and “Fastline” which is operated by a group of individuals in Doha,” the DFA said. The DFA said the first batch of investors collected their invested money with an interest of 600 percent in the span of two to three months. “Most of the early batches of investors re-invested their money to earn more,” it added. “This news that the early batches of investors collected their shares in the

investment with high interests spread among workers at different malls in Doha.” However, the investors later found out that the money they invested were gone, and that the operators whom they called leaders could no longer be contacted, possibly already out of Qatar. “The Philippine Embassy therefore advises all overseas Filipinos in Qatar to avoid participating in any investment and business transactions that are not duly registered with the Governments of the State of Qatar and the Republic of the Philippines,” the DFA said. n KBK, GMA

News / October 28, 2015 / 1:06 am

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HEALTH and Lifestyle

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Reduce your cancer risk YOU can reduce your risk of cancer by having a healthy lifestyle. Find out about stopping smoking, eating a healthy diet, keeping fit and drinking less alcohol. In 2009, 156,900 people in the UK died from cancer. However, since the 1990s, survival rates in men and women have improved for most cancers. There are no proven ways to prevent cancer, but you can reduce your risk of getting it. Risk factors you can do something about include smoking and being overweight, and there are other things you can do to reduce your risk. Healthy lifestyle. Leading a healthy lifestyle can help lower your risk of developing certain cancers. You can do this by: • eating a healthy balanced diet • maintaining a healthy weight • drinking less alcohol • stopping smoking • protecting your skin from sun damage Eating a healthy balanced diet. Stories about various foods and diets linked to preventing cancer are often in the news. This is because a lot of research is going on into diet and cancer. But it isn’t easy to study the link between diet and cancer because there are so many different factors involved, and cancer can take years to develop. No single food or supplement can prevent cancer from developing.

Overall, research shows a link between eating certain groups of foods (rather than any specific foods, vitamins or nutrients) and a reduction in cancer risk. Eating a healthy balanced diet may lower your risk of developing cancer. A healthy balanced diet contains: • plenty of fruit and vegetables: try to eat at least five portions a day • plenty of bread, rice, potatoes, pasta and other starchy foods: choose wholegrain foods where possible as these contain more fibre • some meat, fish, eggs, beans and other non-dairy sources of protein • some milk and dairy foods • just a small amount of foods and drinks high in fat or sugars, such as cakes, crisps and biscuits Eating a healthy balanced diet will help make sure your body gets all the nutrients it needs. Fibre. Evidence consistently suggests that eating plenty of fibre can reduce the risk of bowel cancer. Diets high in fibre can help keep your bowel healthy and prevent constipation. Fibre-rich foods include wholegrain pasta, bread, breakfast cereals and rice. Pulses, fruit and vegetables are also good sources of fibre. Red and processed meat. Meat is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, such as iron and zinc. But evidence shows that there is probably a link between eating red and processed

Leading a healthy lifestyle can help lower your risk of developing certain cancers. ”

meat, and the risk of bowel cancer. People who eat a lot of these meats have a higher risk of getting bowel cancer than people who eat small amounts. Beef, pork and lamb are all red meat. Processed meats include bacon, sausages, salami and ham. If you eat more than 90 grams of red or processed meat a day (the equivalent of about three thin-cut slices of roast beef, lamb or pork, where each slice is about the size of half a piece of sliced bread), it is recommended that you cut down to 70 grams. You can find out more about eating red and processed meat. Beta-carotene supplements. Betacarotene, often found in antioxidant supplements, has been found to increase the risk of lung cancer developing in smokers and people who have been heavily exposed to asbestos at work. It is possible that taking large amounts of beta-carotene supplements would also increase the risk of cancer in other people. Maintaining a healthy weight. In England, over 60% of the population is overweight or obese. Being overweight or obese can increase your risk of some cancers, such as: • bowel cancer • pancreatic cancer • oesophageal cancer • breast cancer if you are a woman who has been through the menopause • cancer of the womb (uterus) • kidney cancer Being a healthy weight can reduce your risk of developing cancer. You can find out whether you are a healthy weight by using the BMI healthy weight calculator.

Drinking less alcohol. Drinking alcohol is known to increase your risk of some cancers, including: • mouth cancer • pharynx and larynx cancer • oesophageal cancer • colorectal cancer in men • breast cancer It is probably a cause of other cancers such as colorectal cancer in women and liver cancer. Women shouldn’t regularly drink more than 2-3 units of alcohol a day, and men shouldn’t regularly drink more than 3-4 units a day. “Regularly” means every day or on most days of the week. Use the alcohol unit calculator to find out how many units are in different alcoholic drinks. Stopping smoking. Lung cancer is responsible for around a quarter of cancer deaths in the UK, and 90% of lung cancer cases are related to smoking. “Stopping smoking greatly cuts the risk of developing cancer,” says Hazel Nunn, Cancer Research UK’s health information officer. “The earlier you stop, the greater the impact. But it’s never too late to quit. People who quit smoking at 30 live nearly as long as non-smokers, and those who quit at 50 can still undo half the damage.”

There is support to help you stop smoking. Protect your skin from sun damage. Taking care in the sun so that you don’t get burned is important for preventing skin cancer. Follow Cancer Research UK’s SunSmart plan to protect yourself: • Spend time in the shade between 11am and 3pm. • Make sure you never burn. • Cover yourself up with a T-shirt, hat and sunglasses. • Take care not to let children get burned. • Use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 15. Keep an eye on any moles or freckles you have. If they change at all (for example, get bigger or begin bleeding), see your GP as this can be an early sign of cancer. The earlier skin cancer is caught, the easier it is to treat, so see your GP as soon as possible. We need sunlight on our skin so that our bodies can produce vitamin D, which is essential for healthy bones. Read about sunlight and vitamin D to find out how much sunlight you need. Know your body. It’s important to know your body and recognise any changes, such as lumps or unexplained bleeding, and to get advice about whether they might be serious. n NHS Choices

Why is fibre important? FIBRE is an important part of a healthy diet. A diet high in fibre has many health benefits. It can help prevent heart disease, diabetes, weight gain and some cancers, and can also improve digestive health. However, many people don’t get enough fibre. On average, most people in the UK get about 14g of fibre a day. You

should aim for at least 18g a day. Fibre is only found in foods that come from plants. Foods such as meat, fish and dairy products don’t contain fibre. There are two different types of fibre – soluble and insoluble. Each type of fibre helps your body in different ways, so a normal, healthy diet should include both types.

However, if you have a digestive disorder such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), you may need to modify the type and amount of fibre in your diet in accordance with your symptoms. Your GP or a dietitian will be able to advise you further about this. Soluble fibre. Soluble fibre can be digested by your body. It may help reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood. If you have constipation, gradually increasing sources of soluble fibre – such as fruit and vegetables, oats and golden linseeds – can help soften your stools

and make them easier to pass. Foods that contain soluble fibre include: • oats, barley and rye • fruit, such as bananas and apples • root vegetables, such as carrots and potatoes • golden linseeds Insoluble fibre. Insoluble fibre can’t be digested. It passes through your gut without being broken down and helps other foods move through your digestive system more easily. Insoluble fibre keeps your bowels healthy and helps

There are two different types of fibre – soluble and insoluble. Each type of fibre helps your body in different ways, so a normal, healthy diet should include both types.”

prevent digestive problems. If you have diarrhea, you should limit the amount of insoluble fibre in your diet. Good sources of insoluble fibre include: • wholemeal bread • bran • cereals • nuts and seeds (except golden linseeds) Eating foods that are high in fibre will help you feel fuller for longer. This may help if you are trying to lose weight (also see the weight loss guide). If you need to increase your fibre intake, it’s important that you do so gradually. A sudden increase may make you produce more wind (flatulence), leave you feeling bloated and cause stomach cramps. It’s also important to make sure you drink plenty of fluid. You should drink approximately 1.2 litres (6-8 glasses) of fluid a day, or more while exercising or when it’s hot. n NHS Choices

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HEALTH and Lifestyle food

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Green tea: the elixir of life or just hype? GREEN tea has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries to treat everything from headaches to depression. The leaves are supposedly richer in antioxidants than other types of tea because of the way they are processed. All types of tea (green, black and oolong) are produced from the Camellia sinensis plant using different methods. Fresh leaves from the plant are steamed to produce green tea, while the leaves of black tea and oolong involve fermentation.

Green tea is alleged to boost weight loss, reduce cholesterol, combat cardiovascular disease, and prevent cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. We’ve teamed up with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) to examine whether the myriad health claims about green tea are supported by the evidence.

The evidence Cancer. There is no evidence that

drinking green tea protects against different types of cancer. A good quality study from 2009 reviewed 51

studies involving more than 1.6 million participants. The studies looked for an association between drinking green tea and cancers of the bowel, prostate, breasts, mouth and lungs. The authors of the review concluded that the evidence of a link between green tea and cancer was weak and “highly contradictory”. Weight loss. It is thought that the antioxidants catechins and caffeine in green tea may have a role in helping the body burn more calories – sometimes referred to as speeding up the metabolism – which can help weight loss. Green tea preparations used for losing weight are extracts of green tea that contain a higher concentration of catechins and caffeine than the typical green tea beverage prepared from a tea bag and boiling water. A well-conducted review from 2012 of 18 studies involving 1,945 people found no significant effect of drinking green tea on weight loss. Cholesterol. There is increasing

evidence that both green and black tea are beneficial for cardiovascular disease prevention. A good quality review from 2013 of 11 studies involving 821 people found that daily consumption of green and black tea (as a drink or a capsule) could help lower cholesterol and blood pressure thanks to tea and its catechins. The authors of the review caution that most of the trials were short term and more good quality long-term trials are needed to back up their findings. Another good quality review from 2011 found that drinking green tea enriched with catechins led to a small reduction in cholesterol, a main cause of heart disease and stroke. However, it’s still not clear from the evidence how much green tea we’d need to drink to see a positive effect on our health, or what the long-term effects of green tea consumption are on our overall health. Alzheimer’s disease. Evidence of a positive link between drinking green tea and Alzheimer’s disease is weak.

A 2010 laboratory study using animal cells found that a green tea preparation rich in antioxidants protected against the nerve cell death associated with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Whether these lab results can be reproduced in human trials remains to be seen. As such, the findings do not conclusively show that green tea combats Alzheimer’s disease. The dietitian’s verdict. Alison Hornby, a dietitian and BDA spokesperson, says the evidence about green tea’s health benefits are inconclusive. She says: “In the Far East, green tea has been used as a treatment for a variety of conditions ranging from arthritis to weight loss, as well as a preventative measure for diseases such as cancer, although the evidence for the majority of these conditions is weak or lacking. “However, as a social drink, it appears to be safe in moderate amounts, so lovers of green tea can continue to enjoy it.” n NHS Choices

Are chocolate’s health claims for real RECENT interest in the health benefits of chocolate was sparked by studies on the cocoa-drinking peoples of Central America. Researchers observed that the Kuna Indians of Panama, who drank cocoa as their main beverage, had very low blood pressure, a leading cause of heart disease and stroke. Chocolate is the processed and sweetened food produced from cocoa. Brand experts have sought to associate chocolate, and in particular dark chocolate, with the supposed health benefits of cocoa, which include protection against cancer and stress relief.

We’ve teamed up with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) to examine whether the health claims made about chocolate are supported by the evidence.

2012 review of the best available evidence on the effects of chocolate on blood pressure concluded that cocoa products – including dark chocolate – may help to slightly lower blood pressure. However, most of the studies were of short duration (between two and eight weeks) and there were some weaknesses in the available research. The authors of the review say longer term trials are needed to further our understanding

of cocoa’s effect on blood pressure and cardiovascular health. Cancer. Some limited animal and laboratory research suggests a cocoarich diet could offer protection against bowel cancer. However, it’s impossible to conclude from research carried out in a laboratory that cocoa can protect people against bowel cancer. Stress. In a small study from 2009, 30 healthy people who were given 40g of dark chocolate a day for 14 days experienced a reduction in stress hormones. However, the study, which was funded by a major chocolate manufacturer, had several limitations, including its short study period, and

APHRODISIAC, money, food, medicine, vampire repellent – garlic has had many uses throughout the ages. More recent evidence-based research suggests garlic may be effective against high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, cholesterol, colds and some cancers. We’ve teamed up with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) to see if the health claims about garlic stand up to closer scrutiny.

evidence to say if garlic was an effective means for treating high blood pressure and reducing death rates. Cholesterol. A well-conducted review from 2009 of 29 good quality studies (involving a combined total of 1,794 participants) concluded that garlic (mainly garlic powder) produced “modest reductions” in total cholesterol levels.

Common cold. A good quality review from 2012 of the best available evidence concluded there was insufficient evidence regarding the effects of garlic supplements in treating or preventing colds. Most studies that claimed this were of poor quality. The review said one reasonably good study suggested that garlic may prevent colds, but that more research was

The evidence Blood pressure. A well-conducted

does not provide any evidence that chocolate has any benefits or effects on stress.

The dietitian’s verdict. Alison Hornby, a dietitian and BDA spokesperson, says it’s important to remember that the studies on the health benefits of chocolate have focused on cocoa extracts, not chocolate. She says: “A range of health benefits from the consumption of cocoa products have been investigated, particularly in relation to cardiovascular disease, with early results showing promise. “However, the potential health benefit of some compounds in the

chocolate have to be weighed against the fact that to make chocolate, cocoa is combined with sugar and fat. “This means chocolate is an energy-dense food that could contribute to weight gain and a higher risk of disease. As an occasional treat, chocolate can be part of a healthy diet. Eaten too frequently, it is an unhealthy choice.” n NHS Choices

needed to back up the finding. Cancer. The evidence is mixed. A 2007 World Cancer Research Fund review concluded that garlic “probably protects against” bowel and stomach cancers. A more recent review from 2009 of the best available research on humans concluded that there was “no credible evidence” with stomach, breast, lung and womb cancers, but that there was “very limited evidence” that eating garlic may lower the risk of colon, prostate, oral, ovary or renal cell cancers. The dietitian’s verdict. Alison Hornby, a dietitian and BDA spokesperson, says: “Garlic is a delicious flavour used widely in Mediterranean and Asian cooking. “Studies using high concentrations of garlic extracts have been associated with improved blood circulation, healthier cholesterol levels and lower

blood pressure, all of which reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. However, current evidence does not support the use of garlic supplements to improve health. “Garlic is particularly useful in cooking as it provides an alternative to salt in adding flavour to meals, along with lemon juice, chilli, herbs and spices. Eating less salt is important for avoiding high blood pressure.” More on superfoods. Check out the evidence behind the health claims about these other so-called superfoods: • goji berries • chocolate • oily fish • wheatgrass • pomegranate juice • green tea • broccoli • blueberries • beetroot n NHS Choices

Is garlic an everyday superfood?

The evidence High blood

pressure. An authoritative review from 2012of the best available evidence on the use of garlic to treat high blood pressure identified one good quality study that suggested that 200mg of garlic powder three times daily reduced blood pressure. However, the review concluded that there was insufficient

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Dark lives of China’s ‘black children’ SHE was born in Beijing and has lived there all her life. But like millions of others conceived in violation of China’s one-child policy, as far as the state is concerned Li Xue does not exist. She has no right to schooling, health care or a formal job. Without a birth certificate or identity papers, she is a “black child”, an alien in her own country—unable to join a public library, get legally married or even take a train. “I was born here, but I don’t have any of the rights of a Chinese person,” she said. “Whatever I do, I’m blocked and have difficulties. There is nothing in China that proves whether I even exist or not.”

Last week Chinese authorities announced the end of the hugely controversial policy, which restricted most couples to a single offspring. Instead all families will be allowed two children. Often brutally enforced with abortions and sterilisations, the rules have had complex and enduring repercussions. Li’s parents already had one daughter—born with the right paperwork—and were on long-term disability leave from their jobs as factory workers when her mother accidentally fell pregnant. They did not want a second baby, she said, but she was too ill to terminate the foetus.

Li Xue was born in Beijing and has lived there all her life but like millions of others conceived in violation of China’s onechild policy, as far as the state is concerned, Li Xue does not exist

Families who violate the rules must pay a “social maintenance fee” to legalise their children and secure them a “hukou”, Communist China’s all-important household registration, which ties crucial government services to one’s official place of residence. Authorities set Li’s at 5,000 yuan— far beyond the 100 yuan a month in benefits that her parents lived off, even before her mother was formally dismissed once her factory learned the news. Now 22, Li has always existed in an administrative netherworld. She realised she was unlike other children at the age of six, when neighbourhood playmates were sent off to school and warned off her company by their parents. “I began to see that my life was entirely different from those around me, and it was because I had no hukou,” she told AFP. Her mother Bai Xiuling added: “She used to cry and tell me, ‘Mom, I just want to go to school!’, but there was no way for her to do so. “We’d have to go to the neighbours to beg for some medicine if she was sick.” Tiananmen Square. China’s official population stood at 1.37 billion at the end of last year, and 2010 census data showed that the country has 13 million “black children” like Li—more than the entire population of Portugal. Li’s sister Li Bin, eight years older,

eventually taught her to read and write. But while children her age were off at lessons, Li was shuttled out every day to stand outside government buildings, where her parents hoped someone would hear their pleas. “We went countless times. Pretty much every day, weather permitting, sometimes twice a day,” said Bai, 59. In the symbolic heart of the Chinese state, Tiananmen Square, Li held up a sign reading “I want to go to school.” “No matter where we went we were ignored,” she said, with lawsuits similarly in vain. But their efforts did not go unnoticed. The family say they have endured a decade of police surveillance, including several beatings for the parents—one of which left them bedridden for two months. When Li’s father died last November, plainclothes police stood outside the hospital door. “Her dad would always tell her to never give up hope. He passed away with his eyes open,” Bai said in tears. “How can he rest in peace? Of course he can’t.” Implementation of the family planning policy has always varied across China, and a few areas have said they will start granting hukou to people whose parents have not paid the fines. Contacted Sunday by AFP, a man at the Li family’s local police station said:

“If she comes to us, we will handle her hukou for her.” But Li said: “In the past 22 years, I’ve seen all too well how the government will say there’s this or that legislation or reform, but nothing actually changes on the ground.” Her mother added: “We’re weak, and they’re strong.” ‘She’s lost so much’. The family live in two rooms of a shared house in Beijing, with no bathroom. Li Bin dropped out of school aged 16 to support the family, getting jobs at KFC and later at an electronics company. The pressures have seen her own marriage dissolve, but she bears her sister no resentment, saying that for “standard, legal work”, employers could never take on someone without an identity card. “We all really dote on Li Xue, because we just feel that she’s already lost so much,? she said. “We want her to feel warmth within our home, because there’s no way for her to feel warmth out in society.” For now, Li Xue has found work at a restaurant willing to look past her undocumented status. “For the first time, I’ve been able to be judged on the basis of what I can do—my skills, not my status—and it feels great,” she said. But she added: “This job is temporary. My future, I can’t even imagine it.” n AFP / November 1, 2015

VS. Korea, China, Japan put hostility aside at rare summit THE leaders of South Korea, China and Japan said Sunday they were willing to work together again for regional trade and security after setting aside historical animosities with their first summit talks in more than three years. South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Chinese and Japanese premiers Li Keqiang and Shinzo Abe discussed a wide range of topics, from free trade to the threat of North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme, during a 90-minute sit down in Seoul. There was no substantive breakthrough, with the meeting seen more as a symbolic statement of intent by Northeast Asia’s three largest economies to mend strained ties. “We shared the view that trilateral cooperation has been completely restored on the occasion of this summit,” the leaders said in a lengthy joint statement. They also agreed to put the threeway summits back on an annual footing, with the next to be held in Japan in 2016. The three countries began holding annual summits seven years ago, but the souring of Japan’s relations

with its two neighbours over issues dating back to World War II triggered a lengthy hiatus after the last one in 2012. Boosting free trade. The focus on Sunday was very much on economic ties, with China especially keen to strengthen trade links as it tries to inject fresh momentum into its slowing economy. The joint statement included a commitment to sealing a trilateral freetrade agreement that would provide a counterpoint to the new US-led Pacific trade pact of which China and South Korea are not members. Also high on the agenda was North Korea, whose nuclear weapons ambitions worry—and threaten—all three countries including China, the North’s main diplomatic protector and economic benefactor. The leaders reaffirmed their “firm opposition” to the development of nuclear weapons on the Korean peninsula as well as any action that could raise tensions or violate UN resolutions. Pyongyang has recently hinted at a space rocket launch which would contravene a UN ban on its use of ballistic missile technology. Addressing reporters after their

meeting, Park said the summit had marked a “big step towards securing peace and prosperity” in Northeast Asia. “It is our shared interest ... and we have to firmly maintain our goal to denuclearise North Korea,” Park said. The summit coincided with a visit by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter to the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) dividing the peninsula, during which he urged the North to avoid any future provocations. Focus on Park-Abe summit. Park and Li had met for one-on-one talks on Saturday, but all eyes now will be on the South Korean president’s firstever summit with Abe on Monday—a major step after an extended diplomatic freeze. The rift has frustrated Washington, which would prefer its two key Asian allies—who last held a proper summit in 2011—to focus together on containing an increasingly assertive China. Relations between Seoul and Tokyo have never been easy—clouded by sensitive historical disputes related to Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule over the Korean peninsula, especially the issue of Korean “comfort women” forcibly recruited to work in Japanese wartime military brothels.

South Korean President Park Geun-Hye (C), Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (R) in Seoul on November 1, 2015

Park, who took office in early 2013, had repeatedly refused to meet Abe, saying Japan had yet to properly atone for its past actions. Japan maintains that all issues were settled in a 1965 normalisation agreement, which saw Tokyo make a total payment of $800 million in grants or loans to its former colony. China has similarly bitter memories of Japanese wartime aggression and is also at odds with Tokyo over sovereignty of an island chain in the East China Sea.

“I hope this latest summit .... will contribute to peace and stability in Northeast Asia,” Abe said afterwards. Sunday’s joint statement made no overt reference to the most sensitive issues, although it did stress the importance of “facing up” to history. “We have agreed to look at history in a straightforward and future-oriented manner and properly handle sensitive issues, including historical ones,” said Li Keqiang. n AFP / November 1, 2015

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Maine Mendoza thanks fan for PHL flag-inspired gown ILANG araw lamang bago ang isa sa pinakamalaking pagtatanghal ng longest-running noontime show na “Eat Bulaga” nitong nakaraang Sabado, October 24, ilang fans ang nagkaroon ng pagkakataon na makalapit at makausap si Maine Mendoza a.k.a. Yaya Dub, isa sa mga bumubuo ng phenomenal “Kalyeserye.” Matapos maantig si Maine sa kuwento ng matandang pumila ng anim na oras upang makakuha ng ticket para sa “Eat Bulaga: Sa Tamang Panahon,” binigyan niya ito ng dalawang VIP tickets upang maginhawang makapanood kasama ang kaniyang asawa.

Lingid sa kaalaman ng nakararami, hindi rito nagtapos ang pagtupad ni Maine sa pangarap ng ilang fans kasabay ng “Tamang Panahon.” Kumalat sa social media ang gawang gown ni Josephine Atajeros na tila inspired ng watawat ng Pilipinas. Aniya, tinahi niya raw ito para kay Yaya Dub dahil sa saya at inspirasyong dulot nito sa maraming Pilipino kagaya niya. Aniya, “Sobrang fan niya ko, hindi lang dahil maganda siya, magaling siya, mabait siya, at napakasimple niya, higit sa lahat, marami siyang napapasayang mga tao. Nakuha niya rin yung puso ko. Sobrang na-inspire

ako sa kwento niya.” “Sana magustuhan niya yung tinahi ko, tinahi ko yan ng may kasamang pagmamahal. Nakakatawa nga kasi habang tinatahi ko yan di na mawala yung ngiti ko, iniimagine ko na kasi pag suot niya, ay wow! Grabe siya! Grabe ang saya ko tlga. Kahit picture lang na suot niya ‘to masayang masaya na ko,” dagdag pa ng local gown designer. Hindi nagtagal, napansin ito ng tinaguriang Dubsmash Queen at Kalyeserye sweetheart, at nagkaroon nga ng pagkakataon si Josephine na maibigay ang gown sa kaniyang idolo. Nakilala mismo ng gown designer

si Maine isang araw bago ang “Tamang Panahon,” at bukod sa personal niyang naiabot ang kaniyang gawa sa dalaga, nakita niya rin na suot ng kaniyang idolo ang gown na kaniyang dinisenyo. Nag-tweet pa ang phenomenal leading lady ng pasasalamat sa gown

designer nang matanggap niya ang obra nito noong nakaraang Biyernes. Kuwento ni Josephine, “Ang sarap marinig galing sa kanya na ‘Ang ganda! Ang galing mo naman. Ipapaframe ko ‘to.’ Grabe siya! Kinilig ako hehe.” n Bianca Rose Dabu / BM, GMA News

MORE than just being the highestrating show on Philippine television today, the longest-running noon time show Eat Bulaga, with the phenomenal success of its Kalyeserye segment featuring the sensational love team of Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza as Yaya Dub, proves

that there is always a right time for a good cause. With their record-breaking benefit concert at the Philippine Arena last October 24 called “Ang Tamang Panahon,” the Dabarkads, along with the AlDub Nation, as the Kalyeserye fans are

collectively known, were able to raise P14 million in ticket sales. The total proceeds of which will be used to create AlDub libraries in select schools across the Philippines. So titled because of Lola Nidora’s (Wally Bayola) decision to give her blessing to Alden and Maine “sa tamang panahon” (at the right time), the concert’s tickets were sold out in a mere three days as fans scrambled to get a hold of tickets for the big day as soon as the big announcement was made. Imparting another of her relevant and wise sayings, Lola Nidora reminded the fans of the true meaning of love and of our duty to the future generation. “Ang tamang panahon ay panahon ng bayanihan, [ng] mga alaalang papakinabangan ng kabataan at ng maraming henerasyon.

Gusto kong makakita ng maraming AlDub libraries sa buong Pilipinas…Hindi lang tayo magkakaisa at magsasama-sama para sa milyon milyong tweets, kundi pati rin sa libu-libong bata na ating matutulungan. ‘Yan ang tunay na pag-ibig, pag-ibig sa kapwa,” she said after announcing the concert on Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye segment. [TRANSLATION: Imparting another of her relevant and wise sayings, Lola Nidora reminded the fans of the true meaning of love and of our duty to the future generation. “The right time is a time for nation-building, and a legacy that will benefit the youth and more generations to come. I want to see many AlDub libraries in the Philippines. We won’t just come together and produce millions of tweets, but we will also help thousands of children.

That is the true meaning of love – the love for your neighbor,” said Lola Nidora after announcing the concert on Eat Bulaga’s Kalyeserye segment.] Meanwhile, the AlDub phenomenon continued to make waves on social media, setting a global record of 41 million tweets with the hashtag #ALDubEBTamangPanahon, according to data from Twitter Singapore (@ TwitterSG). Fans also categorized themselves as #TeamArena, for those who were watching at the venue, #TeamBahay included those watching on GMA Channel 7, and #TeamAbroad were viewers watching the live broadcast through GMA’s flagship international channel, GMA Pinoy TV. n

AlDub Nation: Breaking records, building futures

The right time has come for Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza. Photo from Maine Mendoza’s Instagram

QCinema feature ‘Iisa’ brings out the best and worst of people in times of calamity

AWARD-WINNING film editor Chuck Gutierrez admits that after he graduated from film school in 2004, he felt that he was not yet ready to be a filmmaker right away. “So I worked as a film editor and produced films to further hone my craft. I believe being a director is earned,” Gutierrez told InterAksyon shortly after the gala premiere of his filmmaking debut “Iisa,” an entry in the Circle Competition section of the QCinema International Film Festival. Inspired by true events in the aftermath of killer typhoons Pablo in 2012 and Yolanda in 2013, the film follows a group of rebels tasked to rebuild the destroyed homes destroyed by a destructive typhoon in a lumad (tribal) community in Mindanao. “The lumad community is far from reach of any government service but has long been penetrated by corporate mining projects that have severely denuded their mountains. ‘Iisa’ is the journey of individuals working together to pick up their lives amid enormous challenges. They discover that in times of disasters and wars, the only ones they can rely on are not the government, not

charitable agencies, not the military, but themselves,” Direk Chuck said. In deciding on “Iisa” as his feature film debut, he really wanted to go out of his comfort zone and work with the best team. He found exactly that when his good friend and frequent collaborator, award-winning filmmaker Arnel Mardoquio (“Riddles of my Homecoming,” “Alienasyon”), gave him the screenplay for “Iisa” two years ago as a birthday present. “He is from the town where Pablo occurred. My wife, Baby Ruth Villarama, at that time was covering typhoon Yolanda for international news wires. The stories we gathered showed that the worst of nature can bring out the best in humanity. This is what inspired me to finally develop the script further and turn it into this film,” Gutierrez recalled. As he envisioned the film to rely heavily on visuals and not on dialogues, the director went with sincere actors who, he said, were as passionate as he was in making films. These included Angeli Bayani as a volunteer teacher, Rio Locsin as a missionary nun, Mon Confiado and Jess Mendoza as rebel

soldiers, Rocky Salumbides as a military soldier and—in one of her rare movie appearances—Mitch Valdes as an affluent mother. Also portraying special roles are Perry Dizon and other actors from Mindanao. Gutierrez is all praises for his actors as he noticed during the postproduction stage that “everyone stands out” and “there are no supporting roles in the film.” He is very complimentary in particular to

Angeli Bayani and Rio Locsin. “It’s funny how people compare Angeli Bayani to Nora Aunor. Nora and Angeli can convey a thousand words just by looking through their eyes,” he quipped. “Rio Locsin epitomizes the professional Filipina actress. She studies her role and she becomes her character when the camera starts rolling. Her role in ‘Iisa’ is extremely difficult both mentally and physically but she played it perfectly with no

First-time director Chuck Gutierrez (center, in red jersey) poses with ‘Iisa’ actors Mon Confiado, Rio Locsin, Angeli Bayani, and Jess Mendoza and crew members including wife Babyruth Villarama.

qualms and hesitation. I hope to see her in major roles in the near future.” In one of the film’s highlights, Angeli’s character finds out that the town governor is hoarding the relief goods from the United Nations. As she goes down from the hidden mountain, she would be exposed to the eyes of her enemy, the Philippine military. “I believe the abuses of bad politics continue to plague our country. Filipinos still rely on politicians to save us from poverty. It’s my aspiration in ‘Iisa’ that the audience wouldl learn that if common Filipinos just act as one, we could move forward as a nation without relying solely on politicians, celebrities and even religious institutions,” Direk Chuck pointed out. “Tragedies bring out the worst but also the best in us. Sometimes nature forces us to set aside our differences for us to survive tragedies as one.” Catch the remaining screenings of “Iisa” at the QCinema International Film Festival on October 29 (Thursday) at 5:20 pm in Trinoma and October 31 (Saturday) at 3:30 pm in Gateway. n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / October 28, 2015 /

8:06 am

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

How #AlDub is a game-changer in Philippine television, advertising, social media SINCE mid-July, the AlDub segment on noontime show “Eat Bulaga” has been growing into a popculture storm that is revolutionizing Philippine television, advertising, and social media. The game-changing “kalyeserye” (a portmanteau combining the Tagalog words for “street” and “series”) repeats the so-called Pacquiao effect: it keeps people glued to their TV sets, it is on newspaper front pages, and it stops traffic and work. Last Saturday, after 55,000 lined up to get inside the country’s largest indoor stadium, the five-hour “Sa Tamang Panahon” show was aired without commercials, “a very powerful move from ‘Eat Bulaga’, one that speaks of its commanding and enduring presence on Philippine television,” said Elmer Gatchalian, a writer who worked for GMA Network for 10 years before moving in 2010 to TV5, where he is head writer for “LolaBasyang.com” and “#ParangNormalActivity”.

But how was “Eat Bulaga” able to do that? The 36-year-old noontime show

has always been a big force, “a prized

real estate” on Philippine television, according to advertising executive Vincent Pozon. “Eat Bulaga” producers always have their ears to the ground. When he’s had to approach the show for commercial segments that advertising clients want to do in the show, Pozon said its producers would refuse to accept a proposal in toto, insisting on “making it work, tweaking” the concept, turning it into “paid or branded content.” The boy-next-door charm of Alden Richards and the wholesome quirkiness of Maine “YayaDub” Mendoza — relatable, positive traits which advertisers want to be associated with — also helped push “Eat Bulaga” to have, what Gatchalian called, the ability to “dictate the ‘no commercial break’ rule during the entire airing of ‘Sa Tamang Panahon’.” “Bukod sa may natural kilig yung tandem nila, higit sa lahat, maganda ang image nila. Alden and Maine are ‘mukhang mabait’ at ‘likas na mabuting anak, kapatid, at katrabaho.’ Wala pa tayong nababalitaan na naging rude sila sa fans. Halos lahat ng nababasa

kong tweets, nagkukuwento kung gaano kabait si Maine sa fans niya and how she reached out to one of them in particular,” he said. (“Aside from the natural high that their tandem creates, most of all, their image is good. Alden and Maine ‘look good’ and look like ‘naturally good children, siblings, and co-workers.’ We’ve had no news of them being rude to their fans. Most of the tweets I’ve read tell of how good Maine is to her fans and in particular, how she reached out to one of them.”) “That story about a 60-year-old lolo who lined up for six hours just to buy ‘Sa Tamang Panahon’ tickets is one of the most touching fan-idol interactions. Even si Alden, all praises sa kanya ang mga katrabaho nya. Bonus na lang na pareho silang good-looking (his coworkers are all praises for him. That they’re both good-looking is a bonus),” he added. In contrast, other young stars have been caught in social media acting like brats. Enrique Gil, for one, allegedly had a video of getting drunk inside a plane and James Reid, a picture of giving the dirty finger. “Ang layo di ba (So different, right)?” Gatchalian said. “Alden and Maine are redefining what it means to be ‘artista’,” he added. If they used to be “elusive, unreachable, and snobbish,” the AlDub protagonists are seeing fans go crazy for “kinder, more approachable, more sincere, and morally upright citizens.” “So for some stars perceived to be negative or not ‘mabait’ (good), we might be seeing the end of their careers as artistas or product endorsers,” Gatchalian said.

Perfect

Maine Mendoza and Alden Richards dance the waltz during the ‘Tamang Panahon’ event staged by ‘Eat Bulaga’ at the Philippine Arena on Saturday. Photo courtesy of the Eat Bulaga website

match,

perfect

timing.

Usually, television programs that rate high “need to crawl in the gutter,

4th Impact advances to Final 12 on ‘X Factor UK’ DUE to a copyright claim from another group, the Filipino sister act 4th Power have changed their name to 4th Impact. No matter. The quartet of Mylene, Celina, Irene and Almira Cercado continue to power through “The X Factor UK” and have just made the Final 12 of the Londonbased singing competition. Together with fellow groups Alien Uncovered, BEKLN Mile, Melody Stone, New King Order and Reggie n Bollie, the girls traveled to Rome together with Judge-Mentor Cheryl Fernandez-Versini for the Judges’ Houses round. Known for their upbeat performances in previous episodes of the show, 4th Impact showed another dimension of their talent as their interpretation of Rihanna’s “Love The Way You Lie” had

quite an impact on Fernandez-Versini. “Wow! I was choked, I got goose bumps, I feel weird,” she told guest mentor Jess Glynne after the girls’ performance. Fernandez-Versini did not immediately reveal her choices to advance to the next round during the pre-taped Rome sessions as all performers had to fly back to London where all four judges declared the top three acts in their respective categories who would advance to the Live Shows round. In London, Fernandez-Versini finally called on 4th Impact as the first act to move forward in the competition. The other two groups that advanced to the Live shows were Alien Uncovered and Reggie n Bollie. In an interview prior to making the Final 12, the sisters acknowledged the Judges Houses as the toughest point of the competition to date.

“The pressure of going to Judges’ Houses – travelling to Rome together and then having to adjust to everything, like learning a new song, the time zone and even the weather!” the girls noted. The Rome trip allowed them to bond with the other groups, particularly the New Kings Order (formerly The First Kings) that helped them with their choreography. According to the girls, Aaron, one of the members of the allmale group who unfortunately failed to advance, is also from the Philippines. The Live shows start next Sunday, November 1, with the Performance Show; and the Results Show on Monday, November 2. “The X Factor UK” airs first and exclusive on RTL CBS Entertainment HD as live via satellite on Sundays and Mondays at 10:30AM with a primetime

use the vulgar and the vile, skin and slapstick,” said advertising guru Pozon. In contrast, AlDub was “born and (is) staged in the street, with two live audiences, street and studio, (with) very loose storyline led by unscripted events. No bad values,” he added. Gatchalian said it another way: “Kaya rin pumatok ang AlDub kasi (AlDub is a hit because) I think they are the complete antithesis of manufactured stars and love teams. Their unexpected and innately potent chemistry is a breath of fresh air in local showbiz that is so used to manufacturing kilig.” Riding on traditional media, both the segment and the show have tapped into the social media principles of freshness and boldness, and the enduring qualities of authenticity and expectation. “The whole thing was born when the whole world watched a girl blush on television,” said Pozon. “Eat Bulaga” saw the audience reaction and ran away with it building on this first blush with standard teleserye plots, which Gatchalian listed as: ampon (foundling), long-lost daughter, diary, hostage-taking, lola as kontrabida (villain), against-all-odds love story of Yaya and Alden, etc. AlDub is so phenomenal it is making the rest of television passe. “It is so new, the world will study this phenomenon,” said Pozon. “Aldub’s persistent and pervasive relevance has the tendency to make all other celebs, love teams, and TV shows irrelevant…Niluluma niya ang lahat ng mga love team, artista at TV show sa ngayon. So producers of TV content have to really up the ante in terms of innovative storytelling and content production,” said Gatchalian. The kalyeserye is also a parody, a lampoon, an exaggeration of soap

conventions, Gatchalian said. And this would have an impact on the future of teleseryes. On top of this self-mockery, the yeast that’s making AlDub grow like no other may be respect — for the protagonists (perhaps because Maine is from a well-off family) and most especially for the audience. “The magic comes from the conditions from which it sprang: respect for what is organic, an ear to the ground on what is working, a respect for the audience,” said Pozon. AlDub occupies the still-undefined space in television and pop culture, balancing reality and make-believe, giving respectful distance to whatever relationship is developing between Maine and Alden (if any), between reality and make-believe, between romantic-comedy and suspensedrama. “Somebody in there (‘Eat Bulaga’) is thinking, ‘We’re not going with what worked in the past, we’re not going with experience or what is worldclass. We’re going to keep a respectful distance and watch this blossom and we will water and take care of it,’” said Pozon. “I am sure there is a tug-o-war between scriptwriting it and giving it space,” he added. The timing was also perfect. “They are the love team of this millennial and social media-obsessed generation. And I think ‘Eat Bulaga’ has found an enduring brand with AlDub — and they were found by a new audience too,” said Gatchalian. So what is next for Alden and Maine? “I can’t imagine how their legions of fans would react if they are denied of a real-life happy ending for AlDub,” said Gatchalian. n Veronica Uy / InterAksyon.com / October 28, 2015 / 8:33 am

4th Impact, the Filipino sister act formerly known as 4th Power, get ready to perform during the Judges’ House round of ‘The X Factor UK’.

encore at 9:00PM. The weekly episodes repeat on Thursdays at 9:00PM and on Saturdays at 10:00am and 4:40PM. RTL CBS Entertainment HD is available on SkyCable channels 53(SD) and 196(HD),

Destiny Cable channel 53, Dream Satellite channel 17 and Cablelink channels 37(SD), 313 and 800(HD). n Edwin P. Sallan / InterAksyon.com / October 26, 2015 / 11:09 pm

You are invited to

PAUSE

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A DAY OF RETREAT at FARM STREET JESUIT CENTRE, 114 Mount Street London W1K 3AH Date: Saturday, 12 December 2015

Theme: “CONTEMPLATING OUR WAY TO THE MANGER: AN ADVENT RETREAT” Facilitator: FR. CRIS FAJARDO, SJ

The Retreat is FREE but booking is essential. Donation for Jesuit Centre and our retreat facilitator will be collected at the end of the retreat.

FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. Limited seats only. To book your place, please contact: Betilda on 07919380513 or Merla on 07939684558 Thank you and God bless.

PHILIPPINE EMBASSY AROUND THE WORLD

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

10-Year-Old Filipina Wins First Ever Essay-Writing Contest About Peace TEN-YEAR old Filipina Ana Patricia Dela Rosa won the first ever essay-writing competition about “What Peace Means To Me?”, organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) to raise awareness about global concerns

among the young generation. Ana received her award from the IPU Secretary-General himself, Mr. Martin Chungong, and read her winning essay in front of all Member State representatives and delegations

Ten-year old Filipina Ana Patricia Dela Rosa receives her award from the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) Secretary-General Martin Chungong for winning the first ever IPU essay-writing competition.

at the IPU Global Conference held on October 21. “The Philippine Mission and the members of the Philippine delegation who attended the IPU Global Conference in Geneva are very proud

(Left photo, from left) Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong, Philippine Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, Ana Patricia Dela Rosa, and Mrs. Christine Dela. (Right photo) Ambassador Cecilia Rebong (standing), Minister and Consul General Enrico Fos (standing), Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimintel III (seated), Ana Patricia Dela Rosa (standing) and Congressman Joselito Mendoza (seated).

of Ana for winning the competition. We take pride in her achievement and in how her essay reflected Filipino values such as the importance of having strong family ties, resiliency and maintenance of smooth interpersonal relationships which she cited as important elements for peace,” said Ambassador Cecilia B. Rebong, Permanent Representative of the Philippine Mission to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva, who was present at the awarding ceremony held in Geneva. Also present at the awarding ceremony were Senator Aquilino Martin “Koko” Pimentel III, Congressman Joselito Mendoza, Representative of the 3rd District of Bulacan and Phlippine Minister and

Consul General Enrico Fos. IPU introduced all year six students of the International School of Geneva to global issues, in particular to peace and conflict issues. Upon completion of their presentation, IPU invited the students to write an essay about peace. An independent group of editors from the IPU reviewed all 72 entries, the winner of which would be given the chance to attend the 133rd IPU Global Conference in Geneva. Ana is the daughter of Filipino couple Anthony Dela Rosa, who works as an IT professional at the Joint United Nations Programmes on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and Christine Dela Rosa. The 2nd IPU essay-writing contest will be held in Zambia in March 2016.

n Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 30, 2015

Philippines, Vietnam Hold 8th Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation SECRETARY Albert F. del Rosario led a delegation of 11 Philippine officials in the Ministerial Meeting of the 8th Philippines-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC), which he co-chaired with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Vietnam, Pham Binh Minh, in Hanoi last week. Secretary Del Rosario and Deputy Prime Minister Pham Binh Minh signed the Joint Statement on the Establishment of a Strategic Partnership between the Republic of the Philippines and the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. They also discussed the 40th Anniversary of Philippines-Vietnam relations in 2016 as well as security developments in the region. Secretary Del Rosario remarked

that Philippines-Vietnam relations have expanded significantly since the 7th JCBC back in 2013. In a press briefing following the JCBC, the Secretary emphasized that these regular meetings between Philippines and Vietnam “reflect the commitment of both to continuously find ways to improve cooperation, deepen engagement and broaden avenues for further collaborative endeavors for the benefit of the Filipino and Vietnamese people.” The Secretary also paid a courtesy call on Vietnam Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung. They shared their positive expectations that the Strategic Partnership would be formalized on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Manila next month. Secretary Del Rosario also noted the excellent momentum of the Personnel

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh sign the Agreed Minutes of the 8th Philippines-Vietnam JCBC on October 21, 2015. The signing was witnessed by both the Philippine and Vietnam delegatetions.

Interaction Program between the Philippine and Vietnam navies and cooperation between our coast guards in the search and rescue (SAR) at sea and other humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations. As emerging economies, the Philippines and Vietnam are looking into intensifying trade and investment cooperation, including

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert F. del Rosario shakes hands as a sign of amity and solidarity with Vietnam counterpart, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh, at the Government Guest House in Hanoi prior to the start of the 8th Philippines-Vietnam Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation in the morning of October 21.

exchanges in agriculture and fisheries. They are also ready to expand cooperation in science and technology, environment and climate change, transportation, education, as well as cultural and people-to-people exchanges. The Philippines and Vietnam discussed their shared interest in preserving and promoting peace, stability and the rule of

law in the South China Sea. They reiterated their commitment to securing a rulesbased resolution of maritime disputes in the region, including arbitration, in accordance with international law and UNCLOS.They both pledged to continue cooperation in these advocacies within ASEAN and international bodies. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 27, 2015

Outgoing Director General and CEO of the International Rice Research Institute Conferred the Order of Sikatuna DR. Robert Stewart Zeigler, outgoing Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), was awarded the Order of Sikatuna, Grand Cross (Rank of Datu), Gold Distinction (Katangiang Ginto) by Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jesus I. Yabes, on

behalf of President Benigno S. Aquino III. Acting Secretary Yabes cited that the conferment of the presidential award on Dr. Zeigler is in recognition and tribute to his extraordinary service in nurturing IRRI’s special relations with the Philippines in the 17 years of his

Acting Secretary of Foreign Affairs Jesus I. Yabes awards the Order of Sikatuna, Grand Cross Gold Distinction to Dr. Robert Stewart Zeigler, outgoing Director General and Chief Executive Officer of International Rice Research Institute at the Carlos P. Garcia Hall, Department of Foreign Affairs on October 29.

residency in the country. During this period, particularly in the last decade as DG and CEO, the nation benefitted significantly. IRRI projects undertaken and completed under Dr. Zeigler’s term contributed to the country’s long-term food security, rice yield growth and rise in incomes and productivity of Filipino farmers. Equally significant was Dr. Zeigler’s sustained advocacy for farmers’ rights and welfare which helped improve the lives of rural communities. Moreover, IRRI assisted the Philippines in the aftermath of Typhoon

Yolanda through the turn-over to Leyte and Samar of 13 tons of high-yielding rice seeds and, at present, is extensively involved in the country’s Food Staples Sufficiency Program (FSSP). Dr. Zeigler is a plant pathologist who also has extensive knowledge and experience in plant breeding, forest ecology, and soil science. He also obtained distinction in the fields ofagricultural research, development management and governance. IRRI, which was founded in 1960, has its headquarters in the Philippines. It has 17 country offices in Asia and

Africa and operations in 25 nations. IRRI, which is a global, independent, non-profit research and training institute, carries out programs to reduce poverty and hunger through rice science; improve rice farmers and consumers’ health and welfare; and promote sustainable use of the ricegrowing environment. The Order of Sikatuna is a diplomatic merit for exceptional and meritorious contributions to the Philippines conferred on diplomats, officials, and nationals for fostering, developing, and strengthening relations with the country. The Gold Distinction (Katangiang Ginto) is the highest distinction under the Rank of Grand Cross (Datu), awarded exclusively to crown princes, vice presidents, senate presidents, house speakers, chief justices, foreign ministers or other cabinet officials, ambassadors, undersecretaries, assistant secretaries, or other individuals of similar or equivalent rank. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 29,

2015

PHILIPPINE EMBASSY AROUND THE WORLD

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

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DFA-OVS, Comelec and TV5 International Partner for Overseas Voting

From left: Atty. Ma. Juana S. Valeza, (COMELEC), Commissioner Arthur D. Lim (Commission on Elections), Emmanuel Ramon C. Lorenzana, (TV5 International), Undersecretary Rafael E. Seguis (DFA-OVS), Ernesto D. Sta. Maria, Jr. (TV5 International), Edgardo O. Castro (DFA-OVS) and Luiz Carlos I. Osorio (DFA-OVS) during the tripartite MOA signing for overseas voting at TV5. Photo Credits: Frances Anne A. Jamisola

THE Department of Foreign Affairs - Overseas Voting Secretariat (DFA-OVS) announced on October 28 that DFA-OVS and the Commission on Elections (COMELEC) signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with Pilipinas Global Network Limited (“TV5 International”) at the 21st Floor Marajo Tower, 26th Avenue corner 4th St., Fort Bonifacio Global City, Taguig for overseas voting for the 2016 Presidential elections. This agreement between DFA-OVS, COMELEC, and TV5 International will further increase awareness on the procedures and

system of overseas voting, as well as the importance of politically empowering Filipinos here and abroad. All Filipino citizens who expect to be abroad during the 30-day (April 09 to May 09, 2016) overseas voting period for the 2016 Presidential Elections, at least 18 years old on 09 May 2016, and not otherwise disqualified by law may personally register as an overseas voter at all Philippine Foreign Service Posts (FSPs) including the three Manila Economic and Cultural Offices (MECO), 15 Overseas Voter

Registration Center (OVRCs) in the Philippines and at other COMELEC approved field/mobile registration centers. For an updated list, please go to www.dfa-oavs.gov.ph or www. comelec.gov.ph. Overseas Filipinos in the Asia Pacific (except China and Taiwan), Americas, Europe, Middle East and Africa region may now go to irehistro.comelec.gov.ph/ov to access the iREHISTRO on-line system to register as an overseas voter. The voter registration period ends on October 31. n Philippine Embassy Philippines /

October 29, 2015

PHL Consulate General in Toronto Conducts Mobile Consular Outreach Mission in Winnipeg, Manitoba THE Philippine Consulate General in Toronto conducted a consular outreach mission to Winnipeg, Manitoba from October 15 to 19. The outreach was scheduled to coincide with the Economic Diplomacy Workshop and Consular Consultations 2015 for all Foreign Service Posts in Canada and the calls and meetings of Team Philippines in Canada,

headed by Philippine Ambassador to Canada Petronila P. Garcia, on government officials and executives from the business sector in Manitoba. Philippine Honorary Consul General Orlando Marcelino and Philippine Honorary Consul Ronaldo Opina assisted the Consulate General in the preparations and arrangements of the consular outreach

mission as they also played host to Team Philippines in Canada. A total of 1,280 applicants were served for consular services with a significant number coming from as far as Alberta and British Columbia. Some drove for several hours to have their passports renewed. The Philippine Embassy in Ottawa generously assisted the Consulate General

in the overseas voters registration. A total of 721 people had themselves registered as overseas voters for the forthcoming 2016 elections. The Consulate General noted that regular and more frequent consular outreach missions are still needed to service Filipinos in far-flung areas whose numbers more than doubled in the past five years alone.

Many have expressed their appreciation to the Philippine government, through the Consulate General, for conducting provincial mobile consular outreach missions explaining that they were spared the time, effort, and financial cost of having to take an air flight all the way to Toronto for passport renewal services. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 30, 2015

Filipino Association in Russia Conducts Flu Vaccination for OFWs in Moscow THE Filipino Association in Russia (FAR), one of the registered Filipino organizations in Russia, with the support of the Philippine Embassy in Moscow, successfully held the Annual Flu Vaccination drive at the Embassy on October 25. Flu vaccine shots were given by Filipino registered nurses under the supervision of Dr. Cesar Dalida, FAR President. One hundred and fifty (150) Filipinos in Moscow availed of the flu vaccine as a preventive measure against a possible intense cold weather in Russia this year. Also, free medical and dental consultations were conducted by Dr. Dalida and Dr. Melanie Cayasen, respectively.

Along with the medical and dental mission, FAR also organized its second Charity Clothing Drive for the marginalized residents of the Moscow region. Recipient-organizations of the clothing drive are charitable organizations in Moscow. Last year, FAR turned-over the donations to Moscow Protestant Chaplaincy (MPC), which provides shelter for the homeless, and Orion, a non-profit community of foster families that aims to provide the abandoned and orphaned children a home. During the event, the Philippine Embassy in Moscow took advantage of the opportunity to conduct overseas voters registration and information

drive to overseas Filipinos in Moscow. n Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 30, 2015

DFA, President Elpidio Quirino Foundation Holds Photo Exhibit and Lecture to Celebrate the 125th Anniversary Of President Quirino THE Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), in partnership with the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation, hosted the launching of activities commemorating the 125th Birth Anniversary of President Elpidio Quirino on October 28. A photo exhibit depicting the life and times of Elpidio Quirino was ceremonially opened at the Main Lobby of the DFA Building by Acting Secretary of Foreign

Affairs Jesus Yabes together with the family members of President Quirino, namely, Atty. Lila Quirino, Ms. Ruby Quirino Gonzalez Meyer, and Ms. Cory Quirino. University of the Philippines Professor Ricardo Jose, PhD gave a lecture entitled, “Elpidio Quirino’s Role in the Framing of Philippine Foreign Policy,” followed at the Bulwagang Apolinario Mabini. Elpidio Quirino was the Secretary of

Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Jesus Yabes (third from left) leads the ribbon-cutting ceremony of the photo exhibit “Elpidio Quirino’s Role in Framing the Philippine Foreign Policy” with members of Elpidio Quirino’s family (from left) Ms. Ruby Quirino Gonzalez Meyer, Atty. Lila Quirino, and Ms. Cory Quirino.

Foreign Affairs from September 1946 to April 1948 when he was vice president during the presidency of Manuel Roxas at a time when the Philippines was a fledgling nation reeling off from the ravages and devastation of the Second World War. The main commemorative celebration will be held in Vigan, Ilocos Sur on November 16. Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 25, 2015

University of the Philippines professor Riocardo Jose, PhD delivers his lecture to an audience of DFA officials and personnel, members of the diplomatic corps, friends and family of Elpidio Quirino, and students from Philippine Women’s University.

(Top photo) Officers of the Filipinos Association in Russia headed by Dr. Cesar Dalida, President. (Bottom left photo) FAR clothing drive during the Annual Flu Vaccination Drive held at the Philippine Emabassy. (Bottom right photo) Overseas voters registration at the Embassy.

PHL Embassy, CFO Dialogue with Filipino Community in Paris on Consular Issues and Gender and Development THE Philippine Embassy in Paris organized a forum on October 25 for the Filipino community in Paris focusing on gender and development, rights of women and children, human trafficking and migration. Around 60 Filipinos participated in the event. During the event, officials from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO), briefed the community on migration issues, CFO’s BaLinkBayan program, one-stop portal for Diaspora engagement, and financial literacy program as part of CFO’s “Ugnayan sa Europa: Engagement, Empowerment, and Enterprise.” The resource persons also included the founders and President of French NGOs, CAMELEON Association and SOS Esclaves. Founded in 1997, CAMELEON is a solidarity association helping abused and disadvantaged children in several countries, including

CFO Representative Maria Regina Angela Galias briefs the Filipino community in Paris.

those in the Philippines. SOS Esclaves is an association which provides legal, moral and social support to victims of human trafficking, particularly modern-day slavery and assist victims in filing cases, obtaining French temporary residence permits and work permits. The speakers introduced their associations and advocacy programs to the Filipino community. Philippine Embassy Philippines / October 30 2015

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Former senator, labor leader and Agrava Board member Ernesto Herrera dies at 73 MANILA - Former labor leader Ernesto “Boy” F. Herrera, member of an independent commission that probed the 1983 Ninoy Aquino assassination and later as senator authored the 1995 Migrant Workers’ Act, died Thursday at the age of 73. Herrera was for several days being treated at the Intensive Care Unit of Manila Doctors Hospital when he suffered a cardiac arrest. He had suffered severe burns a few days ago while taking a hot shower that went horribly wrong. Born in Samboan, Cebu, in September 11, 1942, Herrera is married to businesswoman Lourdes Betia Cuico. He obtained his Bachelor of Laws (1965) at University of the Visayas, and spent most of his professional life in the cause of labor, mainly as general secretary of the Trade Union congress of the Philippines (TUCP) since 1983. He was elected Senator championing the labor sector in 1987, and held his legislative seat until 1998. Herrera then served as a member of the House of Representatives from 1998 to 2001. He was the founding chairman of Citizen’s Drugwatch Foundation Inc., and president of the Carlos P. Garcia Foundation. Herrera was also a former member of the board of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

‘Deep Throat’ for truth on Ninoy murder. Not known by many, even in the newspaper business, Boy Herrera was the “deep throat” of the Jose Burgos-published newspaper Ang Pahayagang Malaya (later, simply “Malaya”), which in 1984 ran an Extra

Edition on the morning that the Agrava board majority report was released, indicting then AFP chief General Fabian Ver and several other ranking military officers for what was billed as the “double murder of the century.” Hours earlier, Herrera had given the Mosquito Press trailblazer Malaya a copy of the Majority Report of the Agrava fact-finding body. That body was formed to investigate both the 1983 assassination of exsenator Benigno S. Aquino at the then Manila International Airport and the military-tagged assassin Rolando Galman, in an effort to ease public apprehension that the outcome of the investigation was being whitewashed. Former editors at the Burgos paper recalled that Herrera, in turning over a copy of the much-awaited report hours before the Majority (he and three other members) was to release it at the SSS auditorium, had a morbid “bilin” (message) to the Malaya staff: if the board members get arrested or killed before they can release the report to the public, it will be all up to Burgos and his staff to make sure the world knows its contents. One ex-Malaya staffer told InterAksyon: “That, to us, was Boy Herrera’s shining moment: the total willingness to risk his life or liberty in exchange for the freedom to expose the truth.” Migrant Workers’ Act. Meanwhile, OFWs also “need to know and remember,” according to former labor undersecretary and anti-human trafficking campaigner Susan “Toots” Ople, that Herrera was the principal author of the landmark Migrant

Workers’ Act of 1995. The 20-year-old law was cited repeatedly just this year for its many key provisions benefiting migrant workers, notably the one mandating government to set aside each year at least P100 million for the worker assistance units in consular posts, considering that 10 million of Filipinos are spread out across the globe. Years after his stint as member of the Agrava board, Herrera’s courage was also manifested when he took on the drug syndicates as a pillar of the antiillegal drugs movement and legislator of laws for harsher penalties for drug dealers and traffickers. “He stood up to big-time drug syndicates at a time when only the wealthy knew what shabu was,” recalled Ople, whose late father, Blas F. Ople, was the “Batman” to Herrera’s “Robin in their duo that was most popular among Senate reporters for their being so accessible and articulate. “A titan of the labor movement passed away today. He was my first boss and up to a few days ago, a source of wisdom and encouragement on how I should wage my campaign,” added Susan Ople, who is running as a Nacionalista member for the Senate, but has been adopted by two other presidentiables: the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay and by Sen. Grace Poe, whose Poe-Chiz Senate slate includes Ople. When Ople’s father Blas was labor secretary of then President Ferdinand Marcos, Herrera was a pillar of the biggest labor federation then, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) - an association that would

mature into a deep friendship and collaboration until both men became senators post-EDSA Revolt. Admirers noted that while the TUCP then was known as the more moderate labor alliance, Herrera during his Agrava Board stint took an independent stance, despite the risks of indicting the then very powerful AFP chief Ver. Herrera in the past few years had been excoriated by militant labor groups for his “Herrera law” that allowed for contractualization, which they said debased the quality of jobs and undermined job tenure. The late senator in his time had defended it as a means for encouraging business to create more jobs.

Tributes from Binay, Drilon, Belmonte. Vice President Jejomar Binay

issued this statement on the senator’s passing: “Senator Herrera led a life dedicated to the cause of the labor movement and the welfare of the common worker. “As a member of the Agrava commission, he defied expectations by voting to prosecute Fabian Ver and ranking AFP officers for the murder of Ninoy Aquino. As a legislator, he made his mark as one of the first to speak against the drug menace and the complicity of men in uniform in the drug trade. “Boy Herrera served the workers and the nation unselfishly and undeterred by his polio. He stands tall in the pantheon of great Filipinos.” Senate President Franklin Drilon, who said he had known Herrera for decades, witnessed how committed the latter was in fighting for the cause of millions of workers.

File photograph of the late former senator Ernesto “Boy” Herrera, from the Philippine Star.

“He was a giant of Philippine labor. Our country’s workers have lost a champion,” Drilon said. “I am proud to have worked and shared the Senate floor with such a principled and distinguished public servant,” the Senate chief said. “He will remain an inspiration to all of us,” he added. Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, Jr. issued the following statement: “In behalf of my family and of the House of Representatives, I extend my sympathy and prayers to the loved ones of Ernesto Herrera who passed on today at the age of 73. “Boy has been a Senator and a hardworking and vocal Member of the House during the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Congresses representing the 1st District of Bohol. “The name of Boy has been synonymous with his staunch advocacies relating to trade unions in the country and has been General Secretary of the Trade Union Congress since 1983. He was a consultant for the International Labor Organization (ILO) and also known for his role as a member of the Agrava Fact-Finding Board which investigated the assassination of Benigno Aquino, Jr. “We join our fellow Filipinos and his family in mourning his loss, especially those in our trade unions who have looked up to Boy’s leadership of many years. “We thank Boy Herrera for his valuable service to our nation and its people as we pray for his eternal rest.” n InterAksyon.com / October 29, 2015 / 8:07 pm

4 reasons why Comelec chief thinks voting in malls is a good idea MANILA - Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista on Friday demonstrated the convenience of voting in malls as opposed to doing so in public schools and other conventional polling precincts. Bautista led a group of journalists in observing a mock election exercise inside Robinson’s Place Magnolia mall in Quezon City.

The activity coincided with the last day of mall registration, as thousands of residents of Quezon City District 4 and nearby barangays trooped to the mall at the opening hours. “I quickly ran out of 715 queue coupons,” said one Comelec officer. Chairman Bautista listed some reasons for why mall voting is a good idea that the poll body will quite likely include in its

The main atrium of Robinson’s Place set up as a polling precinct.

Early birds filling up the paperwork within the Comelec booth inside the Robinson’s Place Magnolia.

Senior citizens and PWD residents were given priority in the last day of mall registration.

Affixing a thumb mark as the last step of mall registration process.

plans for the conduct of the 2016 election: 1. PUBLIC SCHOOLS’ BURDEN EASED. Setting up polling precincts in malls will help decongest public schools on Election Day: “If we can transpose relevant barangay precincts inside the malls by November, at least two million voters can participate through mall voting.” The mall operators, on the other hand, such as Robinsons, could face a challenge in offering precious space inside the commercial areas for the use of Comelec as part of their corporate social responsibility initiatives. During the Election Day, Comelec will effectively have control over the mall. For once, it frowns on supporters of politicians going inside to distribute flyers, candidates names and souvenir items. Comelec will also have to coordinate with the mall security force to collaborate with the Comelec deputized AFP-PNP in implementing strict security measures to protect private property from vandalism and unruly groups. 2. BETTER COMMUNICATIONS SET-

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista leads a mock voting exercise at Robinsons Place Magnolia mall in Quezon City.

UP. Bautista also noted that Malls have the best wireless communication signals, which works to the advantage of Comelec for communications and data transmission purposes. 3. MORE CONVENIENCE FOR VOTERS, POLL PERSONNEL. What’s more, malls are air conditioned, which is good for summer, when elections are held. And, no brownout, because they’d have standby generator sets. 4. MORE ORDERLY SET-UP EQUALS ORDERLY BEHAVIOR. During the demonstration, Bautista said that the mall voting experience is expected to be

fast and easy, the flow orderly. He cited studies that in an orderly environment, people tend to behave in orderly fashion as well. Meanwhile, was also observed that it is easier to vote while standing, although Comelec will also have voting booths for people with disability (PWD). In the five photographs that follow, Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista shows the steps for voting inside the mock polling place set-up of Comelec at Robinson’s Place Magnolia. n Text and Photos by Bernard Testa / InterAksyon.com / October 23, 2015 / 9:03 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

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Cancelled flights on APEC week now over 300 AVOIDING ‘AIRMAGEDDON’

MANILA - Flag carrier Philippine Airlines (PAL) on Saturday announced it has cancelled a total of 211 flights from Nov. 15 to 20 in preparation for the 2015 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting next month, bringing the total flight cancellations to 358. PAL’s announcement follows the lead of low-cost carrier Cebu Pacific, which earlier scrapped 147 flights between Nov. 16 and 20, amid fears the current air traffic congestion would worsen when runways are restricted as heads of state attending the APEC fly in and out of Manila. Of the 211 PAL flights scrapped, 115 are domestic flights and 96, international. The cancellations come as the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) advised temporary runway closures at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) during the arrival and departure of heads of state in Manila. Last week, officials of the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) told a House hearing that they did not order any airline to cancel flights, but merely “advised” them of the runway restrictions - drawing rebuke from aviation sources, who wondered aloud how the DOTC expected carriers to

fly in and out in “business as usual” mode given the physical restrictions and the tight security warranted by the dignitaries’ arrival. The officials told this to congressmen a day after Cebu Pacific issued this Oct. 20 advisory: “As part of preparations for the 2015 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in November, the Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) advised airlines of periodic temporary runway closures at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) during the arrival and departure of heads of states in Manila. “In line with this advisory, Cebu Pacific flights scheduled on below dates were cancelled. We hope for our guests’ understanding as there may be flight schedule changes throughout the duration of the APEC Meeting in Manila.” Sources told InterAksyon.com the carriers’ decision to scrap flights on APEC week was inevitable and was the only “sane” solution to avoid chaos at the airport terminals, security jitters and severe inconvenience to passengers. Besides the fact that flights, if not cancelled, would be hostage to security considerations and suffer considerable delays that are happening even now, thousands of air passengers will also

have a “terrible time” trying to get in and out of the airports: there are plans to close or restrict the major thoroughfares leading to the terminals. Such runway restrictions and road closures were in place when Pope Francis, whom Islamic State had said it was targeting before he embarked on his trip to Manila last January, flew in and departed. The situation with APEC is expected to be even more challenging given the number of dignitaries arriving. Among those who are attending the APEC meeting is US President Barack Obama.

Face restrictions, plan to avert ‘airmageddon’. Earlier, Senate President

Pro Tempore Ralph Recto had called on authorities to avert an “airmaggedon” that he said would certainly take place once the already chaotic situation at the NAIA terminals - where queueing of landing and departing planes is taking longer than ever - is compounded with the APEC parties’ arrivals. The latest incident growing out of the air traffic congestion occurred Friday, when an Etihad flight from Abu Dhabi to Manila, running low on fuel in the long queue for landing at NAIA 1, had to be diverted to Clark International Airport. Its 399 passengers subsequently endured 10 hours inside the plane parked at

Planes line up for takeoff at the NAIA runway, which even now is so restricted that carriers complain of the long queueing time both on ground and in the air for landings. The situation is seen to be compounded when dignitaries arrive on APEC Week, prompting the country’s top airlines to cancel over 300 flights. InterAksyon.com File Photo

Clark’s tarmac - a combination of more problematic factors, i.e., the bundling up of passenger batches being processed by Clark immigration and resulting congestion at the terminal; the continuing air congestion at NAIA which precluded flying back to Manila; and delays in the arrival of ground transport to ferry the passengers. Affected passengers assured. Like Cebu Pacific when it earlier announced its own flight cancellations for APEC Week, PAL on Saturday assured affected passengers they will be reaccommodated on the soonest available flights. “PAL assures affected passengers that the airline will reschedule their flights, with rebooking and penalty

charges waived,” the airline said in a statement. “Passengers with confirmed flights have the option to rebook prior to or within thirty days from their original flight date for as long as the new schedule falls within the ticket validity period. They also have the option to refund the full ticket cost, as refund charges are deemed waived,” it added. The airline also said that it may cancel more flights as new information comes in on the flight movements of APEC leaders. Affected passengers were advised to call PAL hotline (02) 855 - 8888 or visit the PAL Facebook or Twitter pages for more information on flights. n InterAksyon. com / With a PNA Report / October 31, 2015 / 11:01 pm

Cebu City mayor gives utilities second chance to get rid of tangled ‘spaghetti’ wires CEBU CITY - Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama has given representatives of some utility firms a second chance to get rid of unsightly tangled “spaghetti” wires in the city, but not before chiding them for failing to fully deliver what they promised three months ago. Rama even threatened to cut down some redundant poles to show the city government is serious in addressing “spaghetti wires” or rotting, leaning, and redundant poles that endanger the public.

Those who attended the special meeting of the Technical Infrastructure Committee (TIC) Friday night were representatives of Telecphil, Globe Telecom, Visayan Electric Company (Veco), Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), Catholic Television Network, and Bayantel. The Metropolitan Cebu Water District (MCWD) was also present, although it has nothing to do with overhead wires. Rama said the utility firms made a commitment to get rid of tangles wires

last July 22. The deadline the mayor had set was last Oct. 28, his 61st birthday. All of the firms said they were not able to comply 100 percent with what they promised. They said that as far as the bundling of wires was concerned, they had done about 10 percent. “You all lied. You promised to get this done by my birthday, and yet you didn’t do it. You really want me to get angry. Our agreement was simple,” Rama said.

File photo

The representatives of the utility firms said they had done 70 to 90 percent in the removal of rotten or leaning and

redundant poles, and complied in full the promise to ensure that all poles had an overhead vertical clearance of 25 feet or a little over seven meters high. The agreement they signed last July 22 provided that if the firms failed to fully comply, their business permits may be revoked. Rama said he was expecting full compliance by May 1, Labor Day and eight days shy of the May 9 national and local elections. n PNA / November 1, 2015 / 10:07 am

Bayan plans protests vs both US and China during APEC meeting for militarizing West PH Sea MANILA - The multi-sectoral group Bayan is planning to hold protest actions against both the United States

File photo

and China in the upcoming APEC meeting here in November for “their continuing arms race and incursions in

the West Philippine Sea.” In a statement, Bayan said: “The two imperialist powers should back off and demilitarize the contested region. The two rivals pose a threat to regional peace because of their contest for dominance.” Calling China’s reclamation activities in the West Philippine Sea as “illegal occupation,” the group condemned China’s “continuing incursions in our country’s Exclusive Economic Zone and their harassment of Filipino fishermen. We denounce their absurd claims over 90% of the South China Sea.” Bayan also said it is protesting the continuing military intervention of the US in the West PH Sea dispute.

“The US is using the dispute to justify its military pivot to Asia. The US wants to assert itself as a Pacific power and use its military might as leverage for economic dictates. It is no coincidence that the US maneuvers in the West PH Sea come less than a month before the APEC meeting in Manila where other claimants in the maritime dispute will be present. The maneuvers are a preAPEC show of force by the US,” it said. Bayan urged the Aquino government to defend national sovereignty and not rely entirely on US support, even trying to “bring back US bases to the country in exchange for false promises of support under a questionable Mutual Defense Treaty.” Bayan noted that while the US

and China are locked in a battle for dominance in the region, the two also cooperate under the framework of the world capitalist system through bilateral economic and military agreements. “When it suits them, the US and China can certainly work together. This only means that the Philippines cannot simply rely on either one when it comes to defending sovereignty. No one will defend Philippine sovereignty except Filipinos. “Neither the claws of the dragon nor the eagle, we demand a truly sovereign Philippines free from the dictates and intervention of foreign powers,” Bayan said. n InterAksyon.com /

November 1, 2015 / 1:54 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

COCKTALES

Leveraged buy-out 101: Lorenzo wrings more revenues, efficiency from Luisita refinery ONE year after taking over the Hacienda Luisita refinery from P.Noy’s relatives with borrowed funds, former Pancake House owner Martin Lorenzo is giving the Cojuangcos lessons on how to wring more revenues out of the smokestack, commodity-based industry. In a report to the shareholders, Lorenzo said the Central Azucarera de Tarlac “has unleashed its potential into higher profitability” after the new management adopted a threepronged strategy of increasing factory efficiency, reducing operational and management costs, and laying off old or excess personnel. The listed refinery reported a P144million profit for the fiscal year 20142015 just ended, a 14-percent increase from the previous year, despite a 13-percent reduction in the volume of sugarcane being milled. Among Lorenzo’s significant cost reductions: • Terminated the management contract of Jose Cojuangco and Sons, immediately saving P16.5 million in a year. The new management also offered an early retirement program for the Tarlac-based employees, replacing everyone, including officers, with probationary or contractual hires. The “right-sizing” program also reduced annual payroll to P37 million from nearly P42 million. • Cut the lease on the Cojuangco

building in Legaspi Village, with the Makati office relocated to Lorenzo’s own building along Pasong Tamo Extension, shaving P3.1 million off the annual rent. • Squeezed transportation, travel and representation expenses, saving another P14 million last year. Strategically, Lorenzo bulked up the refinery’s balance sheet by folding in subsidiary Luisita Land Corp, which owns the Luisita Industrial Park, Luisita Business Park and the residential subdivision Las Haciendas de Luisita, enabling him to book P1.36 billion in real estate available for sale. The magic of accounting revaluation also resulted in a 36-percent increase in stockholders’ equity. “The change is triggered by the decision of the new management to release the previously earmarked land for expansion, following its strategic direction to improve factory efficiency and productivity,” the audit firm SGV said. “As a result, such land area is no longer required for cane milling and sugar refinery operations,” thereby freeing 505 hectares out of the 628ha refinery complex, making them available for “sale and development.” In addition, the company also plans to sell its stake in Liberty Insurance Corp. within a year. Lorenzo, in partnership with Central Azucarera de Tarlac president

Fernando Cojuangco, son of the late chairman and chief executive Pedro Cojuangco, borrowed P2.1 billion from an undisclosed bank to acquire 73 percent of the Luisita refinery, using the refinery assets as collateral. Integral into the sale agreement is that Lorenzo and company would also assume the almost P1-billion debt of Jose Cojuangco and Sons to Luisita customers. Lorenzo, 50, is banking on the premise that the world sugar economy will now enter, after five years of surplus, “a phase of production deficit,” especially with the onset of the El Nino weather pattern. “In preparation, CAT continues to implement the necessary upgrades and repairs and maintenance programs geared toward ensuring improving operational efficiency,” Lorenzo said. The new management thinks the combination of improving sugar prices, the increased efficiency of the refinery, and the windfall from expected land redevelopment of the 500-plus hectares will provide the company with sufficient cash for the bullet loan payment of P2 billion by 2020. The dark clouds on the immediate horizon? The continued smuggling of sugar, as well as the reduction of tariff on the imported commodity to 5 percent this year.

Gov’t goes after dead deposits.

National Treasurer Roberto Tan has

File photo of Central Azucarera de Tarlac, from geocities.ws

confirmed that his office has initiated wholesale escheat proceedings, not a class-suit as initially reported, against two dozen banks, laying the basis for the national government to forfeit the so-called dead/dormant accounts. The cumulative accounts may still run up to hundreds of millions of pesos, even after the bank depositories have had imposed their respective fees for the 10-year dormant period. Based on a Commonwealth-era law, banks and deposit-taking institutions are periodically required to report to the national treasurer all deposit accounts and balances that have remained dormant or unclaimed after 10 years. The owners of these dormant accounts almost always have passed

away, without having informed their heirs about the existence of their squirreled monies. The national treasurer, through the Office of the Solicitor-General, then initiates escheat proceedings against each dormant account in each and every reporting bank branch, with the current batch all being heard by Makati Regional Trial Court Judge Andres Soriano. Heard through the grapevine. San Miguel Corp. has filed a trademark complaint against lawyer Lowell Yu of Datu Inciong Yu Law Offices over the use of the name “Aldea Homes” for residential projects. Both Yu and his law office did not answer emails requesting comment. n Victor C. Agustin / October 30, 2015 / 12:32 pm

15 killed, 13 hurt in Zamboanga City market fire FIFTEEN people were killed and 13 more were hurt in a predawn market fire in Zamboanga City on Saturday. GMA News stringer JV Francisco reported that the charred bodies of the victims were found while firemen and some stall owners of the Zamboanga City public market were conducting clearing operations. The bodies were found in a gutted bridge inside the public market complex. Six of the fatalities were children, two of whom were still babies.

DENR reminds public: Keep cemeteries clean during Undas AS Filipinos flock to cemeteries all over the country to observe Undas (All Souls’ Day), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources reminded them to keep the graveyards clean and free of trash. “We call on those who will pay their respects for their dead to also respect the place of their burial by not making a dump site out of graveyards during their visit,” DENR Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said in a statement on Saturday. According to the Metropolitan

Manila Development Authority, some 140 truckloads of garbage are usually collected from various Metro Manila cemeteries during All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. On the other hand, the DENR urged the local government units to enforce the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act or Republic Act No. 9003 to reduce the amount of trash at cemeteries during Undas. Paje also urged families to bring their own garbage bags and to segregate their trash.

“The number of ways to help the environment is practically limitless, and we are relying on the Filipinos’ ingenuity to affirm this, not only during traditional celebrations but every day,” he said. Earlier, environmental group EcoWaste Coalition appealed to visitors at cemeteries to dispose of their trash properly, noting that a total of 834 tons of trash were colected from Metro Manila’s 21 cemeteries in last year’s observance of Undas. n Rie Takumi

/ LBG, GMA News / October 31, 2015 / 1:55 pm

Meanwhile, the 13 injured victims were separately brought to the Brent Hospital and the Zamboanga City Medical Center. Senior Superintendent Dominador Zabala Jr., the city’s district fire marshall, said the fire brokeout at the used clothings’ (ukay-ukay) section of the old city public market at around 3 a.m. Zabala said the fire was declared fire out at past 7 a.m. Elmier Apolinario, chief of the City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said that 3,000 to 5,000 square

meters of the 5.5-hectare public market was affected by the fire. Initial investigations said that the fire started from an electricity pole and spread to the ukay-ukay stalls. Zabala said that arson investigators have sealed off the area where the fire started as they determine the cause of the fire. He said the initial estimated property damage from the fire was P8 million. nALG, GMA News / October 31, 2015 /

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MANNY PACQUIAO: ‘I THOUGHT I WON THE FIGHT’

AFTER 12-round war with undefeated American boxer Floyd Mayweather, Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao admitted that he was surprised at the outcome as he expected to win the megafight between two of this generation’s greatest fighters. “It’s a good fight. I thought I won the fight. He didn’t do nothing,” Pacquiao said as he was interviewed in the ring. “He always moved outside. I got him many times with solid punches. I believe I won the fight.” Pacquiao was pressed during the interview on why he wasn’t able to fight his usual way in the contest. The official Compubox stats showed

him connecting on only 81 of his 429 punches (19%) while Mayweather landed 148 of his 435 (34%). “He’s moving around. It’s not easy to throw a lot of punches if he’s moving around. But if he stayed, I can throw a lot of punches.” He added, though, that he was not bothered by Mayweather’s size and strength in this one. “I can handle his power. He’s not strong like (Antonio) Margarito or other opponents like (Miguel) Cotto, like that.” “He’s not bigger than me. It’s not the size. Size doesn’t matter. I’ve been fighting bigger than him. No problem.”

MANILA - Manny Pacquiao’s life story, with its inspiring triumph over adversity after each fall, has been mirrored yet again in his fight with Floyd Mayweather, despite his loss by unanimous decision. Thus ran the common thread of officials reacting to the outcome of the fight. Malacanang Palace, in a statement released by Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. on behalf of President

Aquino, said: “Filipinos can hold their heads up high: our national pride, Congressman Manny Pacquiao, did us all proud when he stood his ground against one of the best boxers of our time, Floyd Mayweather. “President Aquino reiterates his thanks to Manny for serving as an inspiration to every Filipino in overcoming the daily challenges in the pursuit of a better life and future.”

n InterAksyon.com / May 3, 2015 / 1:31 PM

Pacquiao’s good fight inspires Filipinos, say Philippine officials

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And then, reiterating his pre-fight unsolicited advice for the Filipino boxing icon to devote more time to his family while he is still healthy,, Mr. Aquino expressed hope that “Manny may now be able to devote more time with his family and that he is able to maintain good health that

will serve him in good stead in all his future endeavors.” Other officials’ reactions had similar themes of thanking Pacquiao for inspiring Filipinos: “Sa araw na ito, ipinakita ni Manny na tayong mga Pilipino ay handang humarap at bumangon sa anumang pagsubok.

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DINGDONG, MARIAN ‘WILL BE GRATEFUL’ WHETHER FIRST BABY IS A BOY OR A GIRL KAGAYA ng lahat ng soon-to-be parents, excited narin sina Marian Rivera at Dingdong Dantes na malaman ang kasarian ng kanilang unang baby. Ayon sa ulat ni Nelson Canlas sa “24 Oras” nitong Martes, nagtungo na sa OB-gynecologist si Marian kasama ang kaniyang asawa nitong Lunes upang malaman kung boy o girl ba ang kanilang panganay. Gayunpaman, tila binibitin pa ng kanilang coming baby ang kniyang mga magulang dahil hindi pa raw makumpirma ang kasarian nito. Kuwento ng aktres, “Akala naming makikita

na namin. Kasi pag may nakikita, biglang magtatago siya. Ibubuka niya ulit, magtatago uli siya.” Madalas naman binibiro si Marian na dahil tila lalo siyang gumaganda, baka babae ang kaniyang dinadala. Natatawang sagot niya, “Iba ang pakiramdam ko! Pero baka mali ako. Tignan natin.” Sa kabila nito, magpapasalamat raw sila sa Panginoon at magiging masayang mga magulang sina Dingdong at Marian anuman ang maging kasarian ng kanilang panganay.

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Cleaner natural gas backed over coal in new PH energy plan MANILA – The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) supports a new energy development strategy that will increase the role of natural gas in the country’s fuel mix for power generation. “We should rely more on electricity from cleaner natural gas in the years ahead, and less on dirtier coal. The faster we reduce our dependence on coal for power, the better,” LPGMA Rep. Arnel Ty, a deputy minority leader, said in a news release Sunday. The country is already 43-percent reliant on coal for power, and this dependency could increase to 70 percent in the years ahead, once additional coal-fired power plants go online, according to the Department of Energy (DOE). Among fossil fuels, coal produces the largest amount of harmful carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, while

LOLA NAGWALA SA BALA

natural gas generates the smallest amount, according to Ty, who speaks for the minority in the House energy committee. Excessive CO2 discharges into the atmosphere have been blamed for rapid global warming and highly destructive climate changes, including rising sea levels, heavier rainfall, stronger storms, and harsher dry spells. Citing United States Energy Information Administration figures, Ty said coal emits 228.6 pounds of CO2 per million British thermal units (BTU) of energy produced, while natural gas releases only 117.0 pounds of CO2 per million BTU. “Coal is even dirtier than diesel fuel, which churns out only 161.3 pounds of CO2 per million BTU, and gasoline, which yields 157.2 pounds of CO2 per million BTU,” Ty said. After natural gas, propane—the gas

in LPG—is the second-cleanest fuel, generating only 139.0 pounds of CO2 per million BTU. “We are all for the aggressive development of the country’s natural gas resources for power generation. In fact, we want the DOE to allow private contractors to resume their search for new gas deposits in Northwest Palawan,” Ty said. The DOE has suspended all oil and gas exploration activities in Northwest Palawan due to the country’s lingering territorial dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea. “It takes a long time to harness undersea natural gas deposits. In the case of the Malampaya field, it took almost 10 years from discovery. So we cannot afford any holdups in the search for other Malampaya-like gas reservoirs in Northwest Palawan,” Ty said.

shoulder bag Sunday morning. The incident came just hours after Malacañang Palace, stung by mounting complaints of official incompetence and insensitivity over the rash of outbound passengers - including OFWs - arrested for having bullets in their luggage, ordered

an investigation of the alleged scam. Lawmakers are set to hear allegations by migrant groups that a “laglag bala” syndicate plants the ammunition on unsuspecting passengers, with a view to extorting money from those desperate to avoid a jail term and disruptions to their travel plans. In the latest case on Sunday morning involving the 65-year-old grandmother, SP01 Godofredo Sugcang of the National Police’s Aviation Security Group (PNP-ASG) said Nimfa Fontamillas of Cavite and her daughter Menchie Tan were set to board a Tiger Air for Singapore Sunday when they were held for questioning at 5:34 am at the final security check. Tan had earlier persuaded her mother Nimfa to join her in watching her 11-yearold grandson play football as part of the Philippine football team for the Singa Cup on November 2-6, 2015 at The Cage Sports

Natural gas plant site. File Photo

The gas from Malampaya, which drives three power plants in Luzon with a combined full generating capacity of 2,700 megawatts, will be depleted by 2024, according to the DOE. The DOE is now drawing up a fuel mix policy that will favor natural gas and renewable energy sources, over coal. The course of action is meant for adoption by the next administration. Energy Undersecretary Loreta Ayson implied that the lack of a fuel mix policy was to blame for the continuing rise of new coal-fired power plants, despite the country’s international

commitment to slash CO2 emissions. “Once we have the fuel mix policy, we can be more discriminating when approving service contracts after 2020,” Ayson told Reuters news agency last week. Sen. Loren Legarda, chair of the Senate committee on climate change, previously assailed the government’s approval of 21 new coal-fired power plant service contracts in the last five years, saying it ran counter to the Philippines’ pledge to cut CO2 discharges. n InterAksyon.com / November 1, 2015 / 11:13 am

Bullet ‘found’ in bag of 65-yr-old on way to watch grandson play in Singapore

MANILA - ‘You people don’t just plant. You’re magicians, too!’ That was reportedly the angry reaction of a 65-year-old woman bound for Singapore after airport screeners at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1 found a live .9mm bullet inside her

File photo of the NAIA x-ray scanners.

Park Singapore. At the final security check, Fontamillas was asked by X-ray screener Ronillo Salanga, under the Office of Transportation Security (OTS), to view the X-ray monitor where an image of a bullet appeared. Fontamillas reportedly become emotional as she threw her bag away from the inspection table and allegedly told the screener, “you are not just a planter but a magician too,” an OTS source said. Her daughter Tan then said their lawyer, a certain Atty. Clint Estandarte, will represent them in court proceedings. The bag was left untouched, and no one was allowed to touch or to examine it until the passenger’s lawyer arrived. Around 11:15 am, lawyer Estandarte arrived at the scene and was tasked to open the shoulder bag in the presence of OTS, PNP and Mrs. Fontamillas and her daughter Menchie, said an incident report.

Estandarte declared aloud his observation about the state of the handcarry bag: its main zipper had a padlock while the side pocket zipper was sealed. Estandarte then asked Fontamillas to unlock the padlock so they can remove the things inside. The emptied bag was then made to pass through X-ray again, but the image of a bullet remained inside the bag. Estandarte used a cutter to remove the zipper so he could see what is inside; at that point, a .9mm bullet was found inside the side pocket. Meanwhile, Estandarte told airport reporters that he cannot give any information regarding Fontamillas’ situation, but said she will be definitely bailed out as the PNP-ASG was set to inquest her at the Pasay City’s Prosecutor’s Office. n Richie Lopa /

declined to confirm if the people killed in the fire had been sleeping over at the stalls, or had arrived early to prepare their goods for sale. The market is located on Magay Street and is just 1.5 kilometers away from City Hall, where the 21-day siege of Zamboanga began in September

2013, involving Moro National Liberation Front members from the Nur Misuari faction. At the end of the siege, thousands of homes had been torched in the pitched battles between the rebels and state security forces. n

InterAksyon.com / November 1, 2015 / 5:19 pm

6 children among 15 killed in Zambo market fire MANILA - Fifteen people including six children perished on Saturday after they were trapped in a burning market in Zamboanga City, police said. The victims were sleeping in the padlocked building when the fire, believed to have been triggered by faulty electrical wiring, broke out before dawn, Chief Inspector Joel Tuttuh told AFP. Vendors and their families regularly spend the night inside the decrepit market in the port city of Zamboanga to watch over their merchandise, mostly used clothes and vegetables, he said. All but one of the building’s many entrance and exit doors are left open for the night, he said. “The victims were trapped in the burning building. They couldn’t find their way out,” Tuttuh said.

Two of the six children who perished were one year old, he said, adding 13 other people were being treated in hospital for severe burns. Huge and sometimes deadly fires at sprawling slums as well as markets and factories are common in the Philippines, where fire safety regulations are sometimes wilfully disregarded. Last May, 72 people were killed after a huge blaze tore through a footwear factory in the northern suburbs of the capital, Manila. In one of country’s deadliest-ever fires, 162 people were killed and 94 others were injured at a Manila disco in 1996. Earlier Saturday, the district fire marshall said the fire - said in initial reports to have been preceded by an explosion - destroyed the used

clothing or “ukay-ukay” portion of the market. Senior Supt. Dominador Zabala Jr. said in a radio interview the fire call was received at 3:17 a.m., and though firefighters were quick to arrive at the scene, the flames had spread over a vast portion and they had difficulty penetrating the affected portion, The fire reached alarm level 3, and was put out by 7:50 a.m. Property damage was placed at P8 million, Zabala told DZBB. The cause of the fire is still being investigated, according to Zabala, who declined to confirm if all the fatalities are vendors. He noted that some of the bodies found appeared to be those of children. Though the market is tagged “Old,” it remains in operation but curfew is imposed from 9 pm to 4 a.m. Zabala

Agence France-Presse / InterAksyon.com / October 31, 2015 /10:03 am

NEWS

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

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Lawmaker: Palm oil plantations displacing thousands of Lumad MANILA - Gabriela partylist Representative Emmi De Jesus claimed on Friday that one of the many reasons why the government is continuing to allow militarization in the guise of battling the New People’s Army (NPA) in lumad communities in Mindanao is tied up with the creeping encroachment of mineral extraction industries and palm oil plantations into their ancestral domains. De Jesus also warned the government’s proposal to convert idle lands in the country, including vast tracts in Mindanao, into palm oil plantations, possibly including ancestral domain claims of indigenous people (IP), poses a big threat not only to the well-being of the IPs but also to the environment. “The rapid and massive encroachment of palm plantations in Mindanao is sure to replicate problems like the forest fire haze drifting off Indonesia, and would also possibly spawn an escalation of killings and displacement of the indigenous peoples,” she said. Earlier, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) mentioned the mineral extraction and agro-business activities that were encroaching into ancestral domains of

lumad communities. Other sources have also hinted that some defense and military officials were possibly investing money in these business enterprises in cahoots with Malaysian partners as well as those from Singapore and Indonesia. Just recently, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Ramon Paje said the government was planning to convert some eight million hectares of idle lands into palm oil plantations. The alleged unabated militarization in lumad communities in Mindanao, especially in CARAGA region, continues to displace thousands of lumads. Operations using militia groups, trained and armed allegedly by the military, were taking a severe toll on “suspected supporters” of the NPA. The NPA, in turn, also was in a rampage, killing suspected “counterrevolutionaries”. “Many of the Lumads fleeing military terror in their ancestral domains are currently in Manila to try and get President Aquino to rein in the government forces and pull out land grabbing corporate investors from their ancestral lands. Indigenous peoples are being evicted in so-called counter-insurgency campaigns by

army battalions, to give access to multinational investors for mining and industrial farmlands,” De Jesus said, referring to the 700 Lumad contingent who composed the Manilakbayan caravan. De Jesus further said that maintaining the integrity of Mindanao’s forest and traditional permaculture farming will prevent the Philippines from suffering the same fate as Indonesia now grappling with desperate efforts to prevent slash-andburn land-clearing methods. Jaime Sinapit

/ InterAksyon.com / October 30, 2015 / 8:08 pm

Oil palm plantation in Mindanao, image from humanrightsphilippines.net

Crowds pack Manila North Cemetery; NLEx braces for vehicle surge

File photo of ‘Undas’ bumper-to-bumper traffic on the approach to the North Luzon Expressway. The toll operator braced for the expected crush of vehicles returning from the provinces late Sunday (Nov. 1) after millions paid their respects to the dead.

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MANILA - The crowds observing All Souls’ Day at the Manila North cemetery continued to peak, having reached nearly a million mark late Sunday morning, as road authorities braced in turn for an expected surge of vehicles returning to the city later today. With Nov. 2 (Monday) not having been declared a holiday, most people had to cram quick trips to the provinces at the weekend, to pay their respects to their dearly departed. The management at the North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) said not a single accident had been reported there in this year’s “Undas” and assured the public they

are prepared for the expected surge of vehicular traffic late Sunday. Even then, the toll operator advised those who went out of town to return as early as possible in order to avoid the crush. For its part, the toll operator will field a fishbone lane at the southbound Mabalacat area; and open spare lanes at the Bocaue toll plaza. It also deployed ambulant tellers to speed up payments by NLEx users on the expectedly long queues of vehicles returning to Metro Manila. n France Noguera and Jenny Dongon / News5 / InterAksyon.com / November 1, 2015 / 3:22 pm

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November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

Palace asks critics not to politicize income tax issue, govt pro-poor initiatives MANILA - A Palace official appealed to government critics to stop politicizing the government pro-poor programs as well as the income tax law as the country gears towards elections next year. Critics had said not acting on calls to lower the income tax rate reflected a lack of sympathy for lower or middle income individuals. Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. even called on the President to make the lower income tax as Christmas gift to ordinary workers. But in a radio interview on Saturday, Presidential spokesman Edwin

‘UNDAS’ NUMBERS

Lacierda clarified that the government is not against giving workers higher take home pay but reforming the income tax law needs a thorough study. The government must look at the entire picture of the tax system and determine the cause and effect of adjusting income tax rates, he said. “Walang debate na kailangan nating repasuhin ang mga tax law. There is no debate on that,” Lacierda old dzRB Radyo ng Bayan. “So let’s not mislead people to saying that ang administrasyon, si Pangulong Aquino, ang pambato ng Daang Matuwid ay hindi sang-ayon

diyan. We need to reform… We need to have a comprehensive review of the tax law.” He bristled at criticism that the administration does not have sympathy for ordinary people. Lacierda said the government has carried out many propoor programs in the last five years and will continue to do so in the remaining days of the Aquino administration. For instance, he said that the government have invested P75 billion for conditional cash transfer (CCT) assisting 4.4 million families considered poorest of the poor. This is equivalent to more than 20

million of the country’s population, he said. As a result of better tax collection system, the government was able to increase the allocation for CCT, widen PhilHealth coverage, and build more classrooms, he noted. The administration carried out such programs without raising taxes except for the sin tax, he said. He added that they will not allow some candidates to misinform the public especially during the campaign season. “Trabaho po nating sabihin kung ano ang ginagawa ng pamahalaan at marami pong ginagawang serbisyo

Secretary Edwin Lacierda, InterAksyon file photo.

ang ating pamahalaan sa ating mga kababayan,” he said. “Kaya huwag na huwag nilang sasabihing walang puso ang gobyerno, walang malasakit ang gobyerno. Sa buong anim na taon ng ating gobyerno, gagawin po lahat para matulungan ang mga nasa laylayan ng ating lipunan,” Lacierda added. n PNA / November 1, 2015 / 12:54 am

2M people in NCR cemeteries, 31,000 cops - and 142 trucks of trash

MANILA - The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) on Sunday said it had collected 142 truckloads of garbage from various cemeteries in Metro Manila, as police estimates put at nearly 2 million the number of people who flocked to their departed loved ones’ graves for the traditional observance of All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days. According to MMDA Metro Parkway Clearing Group Chief Francis Martinez, from October 26 up to October 31 their field units retrieved 419 tons of garbage, equivalent to 142 truckloads in 26 cemeteries of Metro Manila. Garbage left behind by visitors were mostly styro, plastic bags and papers among others, he said. “There were designated areas for trash. Others will throw them in designated areas but others just throw

it anywhere,” he added. Among the cemeteries where MMDA conducted the clean-up were the Pasay public cemetery, Manila North and Manila South, and the Baesa cemetery in Caloocan.

He said that the MMDA will continue with the clean up operations on Tuesday, Nov. 3 1.9M people. The National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said nearly two million people flocked to the Metro

The Manila South cemetery. InterAksyon.com File

Manila cemeteries. In a text message to the Philippine News Agency (PNA), Police Inspector Kimberly Molitas, chief of the Public Information Office of NCRPO, said that as of 3 p.m. the estimated crowd was at 1,900,541 people in cemeteries in the metropolis. The breakdown of people provided by five police district are as follows: Manila Police District (MPD) has 1,550,000 Northern Police District (NPD) has 164,287 Eastern Police District (EPD) has 33,647 Southern Police District (SPD) has 111,085 Quezon City Police District (QCPD) has 41,522 Molitas said no untoward incident report was received, except for the violations of the rules set by police on banned items brought into cemeteries,

such as sharp cleaning items or liquor. She said authorities confiscated 278 bladed weapons; 178 flammable materials; 14 liquors and eight gardening tools. Molitas said thousands of uniformed cops had been deployed to patrol 98 cemeteries in Metro Manila. She said among the measures for Oplan Kaluluwa were 290 Police Assistance Desks/Centers (PADs/Cs) deployed in convergence points. These were implemented in areas like bus terminals, airports, seaports, train stations, recreational areas including highways, main thoroughfares and crime-prone areas. Meanwhile, the PNP established a total of 4,863 Assistance Hubs nationwide manned by 31,687 PNP personnel. n Clara Masinag / InterAksyon.com / PNA / November 1, 2015 / 11:25 pm

NVAP urges authorities to implement no-smoking law MANILA - The New Vois Association of the Philippines (NVAP) has urged authorities to implement the no smoking law as millions of Filipinos flock to cemeteries and transport terminals in observance of All Saints’ Day. NVAP President Emer Rojas said

while Republic Act 9211 prohibits smoking in public areas it is loosely implemented because of lack of law enforcement and awareness. “As we remember our departed loved ones let us also show respect to those who are still with us by considering their wellbeing. We don’t

want to expose them to cigarette smoke which we all know kills,” Rojas, a cancer survivor and member of the CANCER coalition. CANCER stands for Cancer Alleviation Network on Care Education and Rehabilitation. Around 24 million Filipinos are exposed to tobacco smoke everyday.

Parents of girl who joined Menorcas in hiding from INC ask them to let her go MANILA - The parents of a young woman who is in the custody of embattled ex-Iglesia ni Cristo minister Lowell Menorca and his wife Jinkee have appealed to the couple to let their daughter go, and avoid dragging her

TV5 screenshot of Lowell Menorca when he faced the media last week.

into their troubles with the INC. Rosalie Yanzon made the tearful appeal on camera to Menorca, who last week faced mediamen and said he had been abducted, detained and interrogated by INC leaders, who associated him with the controversial INC blogger Antonio Ebhangelista. The latter had been posting critical articles against members of the sect’s supreme council or sanggunian. Yanzon and her husband Candido Jr. said they were not aware that their daughter Abigail, 27, joined the Menorca couple when these left Bulan, Sorsogon in June, supposedly volunteering to care for their children. The Yanzons said they would not

have minded their daughter’s staying with the couple, except that when she called them last week, she was crying and sounded distressed. She told them she wanted to leave custody of the Menorcas, but had no idea where they were staying. Menorca’s lawyer Trixie Angeles denied Abigail is in distress; she said Abigail is in good health and there was no restriction on her movement. Angeles expressed hope the Yanzons were not being used by some INC leaders to get back at Menorca, noting information she got that “they were picked up” recently. n Benjie Dorango /

News5 / October 31, 2015 / 7:38 pm

An estimated 67% inhale second-hand smoke in the workplace while 76% are exposed in areas that do not implement an anti-tobacco policy. Data from the Philippine Cancer Society reveals that around 3,000 Filipinos die of lung cancer each year due to second-hand smoke. “There is no safe level when it comes to inhaling tobacco smoke. Whether you consume cigarette yourself or you are exposed to its smoke, it is equally dangerous and fatal. We must protect public health from the dangers of tobacco by enforcing the law on nonsmoking in areas where there are huge crowds of people including children,” he said. According to the Philippines 2011 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, more than two in five 13-15 year old children are exposed to second-hand smoke in their homes. The World Health Organization’s Tobacco Atlas reveals that second-hand smoke increases the risks of contracting lung cancer by 30 percent and coronary heart disease by 25 percent. “Despite increased information

Emer Rojas, NVAP president

dissemination including involvement of social media, the fact remains that many Filipinos are still not fully aware of the harmful effects of smoking and second-hand smoke,” said Rojas. The NVAP head and Global Cancer ambassador noted that the implementation of the graphic health warnings law would surely help address this issue as pictures emit powerful messages that can be understood by anyone including children. Signed last year by President Benigno Aquino III, the graphic health warnings law mandates the placement of actual pictures of the dangers of smoking on cigarette packs that must be implemented starting November 5 this year or one year after the first publication of the GHW templates. n InterAksyon.com / November 1, 2015 / 2:20 am

SPORTS

November 2015 – No. 21 • UK & Europe Edition

www.hello-philippines.com

BOXING

Manny Pacquiao’s farewell bout scheduled on April 9 FILIPINO ring icon Manny Pacquiao will end his 21-year professional boxing career with a farewell bout set on April 9 next year, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum told ESPN. Pacman, who is seeking a Senate seat in the May 2016 elections, intends to hang his gloves in time for the official campaign season. “Manny told me this would be

his last fight and I’m not sad about it because he’s going on to a political career which will require a lot of mental acuity, so you don’t want him to stay in boxing too long,” Arum said. The eight-division champion currently serves as the Sarangani representative in Congress, where he has been criticized for his poor attendance. With his retirement from boxing,

Pacquiao wants to rectify that image and focus on being a full-time lawmaker. “We talked very seriously and he said, ‘Bob, hopefully, by the middle of May I will have been elected senator in the Philippines,” Arum said. “At that point I cannot engage in boxing because I need to focus on the senate and I have to be in attendance.”

Pacman’s final opponent is not yet set, but candidates include Terence Crawford, Amir Khan, Timothy Bradley, and Juan Manuel Marquez, though the Mexican boxer was reportedly not interested in a fifth fight with Pacquiao. The fight will likely be staged in Las Vegas, according to Arum. n Marisse

Panaligan / RAF, GMA News / October 25, 2015 / 4:58 pm

BASKETBALL

BOXING

Mayweather on Pacquiao’s negotiation claims- ‘Totally false’ FLOYD Mayweather shot down reports that negotiations between him and Manny Pacquiao are happening. “It’s totally false. I’m not fighting anymore,” said in a text message to ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith. Pacquiao earlier said that talks between the two camps are happening. “I don’t know yet who’s my opponent next but we’re still negotiating right now about the rematch with Floyd

BASKETBALL

/ 4:23 pm

said that Apacible has since apologized, although the player is expected to be slapped with penalties after the incident. “It has come to our attention that John Apacible, a member of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, behaved in an unacceptable manner during an early Sunday morning encounter. John deeply regrets his reprehensible behavior and sincerely apologizes to all parties concerned,” Fernandez said in a statement. “Rest assured that the Blue Eagles Team Management as well as the Loyola Schools will deal with this regrettable incident appropriately and swiftly.” n InterAksyon.com / October 19, 2015 / 11:21 pm

‘Sixth man ang Pinoy fans’- MVPSF head Al Panlilio on potential SBP bid to host Olympic Qualifying tourney

THE Philippines has hosted several international basketball events over the past two years, including the 2013 FIBA Asia Championship and the FIBA 3×3 World Tour Manila Masters. The Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas (SBP) also made a push to host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup although the rights to that tournament were granted to Asian rival China. But under the leadership of outgoing SBP president Manuel V. Pangilinan, the country is again making a serious run at hosting another big tournament – the 2016 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament to be held next year. Al Panlilio, president of the MVP Sports Foundation, shared the rationale behind the bid, saying that the Philippines will surely benefit from the home court advantage.

BASKETBALL

Mayweather so hoping for that,” he said in a live video chat on Facebook. Last May’s fight between Mayweather and Pacquiao was the richest in boxing history. But Pacquiao has not fought since undergoing shoulder surgery after the bout, while Mayweather announced his retirement after defeating Andre Berto last month. n JST, GMA News / October 30, 2015

A player from the Ateneo Blue Eagles is facing sanctions from his own alma mater after a video of him challenging someone to a fight in a middle of the road while drunk circulated on social media. Ateneo sophomore forward John Apacible was caught flaunting a vanity plate bearing the word “councilor” as he got out of his car, apparently under the influence, and confronted the one who was taking the video that has gone viral. The incident reportedly took place along Timog Avenue in Quezon City early Sunday morning. Ateneo, through University Athletics Office Director Emmanuel Fernandez,

the hosting of the qualifying event,” Panlilio said. “Before I left Manila, Butch Antonio (SBP executive director for international affairs) was to let FIBA know of our intention to join the bidding, which I think will happen in November this year.” Panlilio said, though, that he has yet to have an idea about which countries are officially in the race for the hosting of this wildcard qualifiers for the 2016 Rio Games. “Wala pa. As far as I know, FIBA will have a meeting sometime in November and first decide on the three venues and I guess they will do a draw as they normally do and put six teams in each of those three qualifying tournaments,” added Panlilio. n Rey Joble / InterAksyon.com /

“It’s a tougher tournament. We want all the advantage we can get. Obviously, sixth man ang Pinoy fans. Yung fanbase, the support that we get, it will bring us the energy that we need to have I guess to really beat the tougher teams of the world, basically,” Panlilio told News5’s Fraulein Olavario in an interview. In the Olympic wildcard tournament in July next year, the Philippines will face formidable foes from different zones, including Serbia, Puerto Rico, Greece and France. Panlilio believes that Pangilinan is committed to bringing the event to the his basketball-loving countrymen in the Philippines. “I think we’re almost there. MVP, for sure, last time, said that there’s a strong possibility that we will be bidding for

October 19, 2015 / 4:49 pm

AS Barangay Ginebra established a 3211 lead early in the second quarter against Barako Bull, the team seemed to be on their way to their first victory under new coach Tim Cone. But as the Energy began to chip away the lead going into the third canto, the Gin Kings lapsed into panic mode and failed to execute their freshly-installed triangle offense. Barako Bull capitalized on their tentativeness, forcing four steals in the last two minutes to pull off a miraculous comeback to score an upset, 82-79.

“Di pa namin alam kung paano manalo,” said Ginebra forward Japeth Aguilar. “Naging complacent kami. Naging kuntento na kami sa lamang nung first quarter.” The athletic 6-foot-9 big man, who put together a stellar 26-point, 16-rebound performance in the opening game against Star Hotshots, were one of the missing pieces in the sorry loss. Aguilar was a non-factor in the game due to foul trouble, fouling out midway into the fourth quarter. He finished with six points, five rebounds, and three turnovers.

©FIBA photo

‘Di pa namin alam kung paano manalo’: Japeth Aguilar rues Ginebra collapse against Barako Bull “Kailangan ko pang mag-adjust dun sa mga bagong rules. Minsan nakukuhanan ako, ewan di ko alam, sa mga simpleng flop lang,” he said. The bigger concern for the team, however, is running Cone’s triangle system during games, though the task is easier said than done with only two months of practice. “Sa practice kuha namin kasi slowed down pero pagdating sa game parang nara-rattle kami. Nawawala kami sa posisyon,” Aguilar said. In addition, opposing teams know

fully well that the triangle is still a work in progress for the Kings and take full advantage with complicated defensive patterns. “Learning experience kasi lahat ng teams ganun gagawin sa amin e. Bibilisan talaga nila ‘yung pace,” said Aguilar. “Kailangan naming mag-adjust sa lahat ng mga kalaban namin.” Ginebra will next face a tough contender Alaska next Saturday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. n Marisse Panaligan / RAF, GMA News / October 31, 2015 / 11:03 pm

sport

Manny Pacquiao’s farewell bout scheduled on April 9 Story on page 39

Mayweather on Pacquiao’s negotiation claims‘Totally false’ Story on page 39

Drunk Ateneo player ‘Sixth man ang Pinoy fans’- MVPSF head Al in viral video faces Panlilio on potential sanctions over SBP bid to host Olympic ‘reprehensible’ Qualifying tourney behavior Story on page 39

Story on page 39

BASKETTBALL

PBA to donate opening day proceeds to victims of #LandoPH THE PBA will be donating proceeds of its 41st season opener on Wednesday to the victims of Typhoon Lando. “We in the PBA feel for our countrymen who have been affected by the storm,” PBA chairman Robert Non said in a release by the league’s official website. “On this note I would like to encourage our basketball fans to come and watch our season opener on Wednesday. You will not just enjoy the games, you will also be helping our kababayans in need. “Wednesday’s opener will be something different. Because everyone – from league officials to the players down to the fans – will come there with a purpose and that is to help.” The league earlier postponed its scheduled opening festivities last Sunday, the same day Lando made landfall in the country. It was instead moved to Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena, with the opening ceremonies slated at 5 p.m. followed by the Philippine Cup curtain-raiser between Rain or Shine Elasto Painters and Star Hotshots at 7 p.m. n InterAksyon.com / October 19, 2015 / 7:06 pm

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