Manila Standard - 2016 August 14 - Sunday

Dota team wins P24m

By John Paolo Bencito

VOL. XXX • NO. 183 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 • WWW.THESTANDARD.COM.PH • EDITORIAL@THESTANDARD.COM.PH

A FIVE-MAN Philippine team finished their campaign at a computer game tournament as millionaires as they return to the country with half a million US dollars, or more than P23.8 million.

The squad, called TNC, composed of players Marco Polo Fausto, Carlo

Palad, Samson Solomon Hidalgo, Jimmy Ho, and Nico Barcelon finished eighth in The International 6 (TI6), the world’s biggest Defense of the Ancients (Dota) competition at the Key Arena in Seattle, Washington.

But TNC had earlier beaten other groups from around the world, including China’s Vici Gaming Reborn Next page

GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL. Pokemon players braved the heavy monsoon rain to attend ‘lure parties’ at 50 SM malls all over the country. At the SM Mall of Asia in Pasay City, the globe in front of the building was turned into a giant Poke ball to celebrate the latest digital craze to hit the country.

Cop who tagged generals shot dead

By Jun David A POLICEMAN who has linked two retired generals to the illegal drugs trade was found dead in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu late Friday evening.

The decomposing body of PO2 Ryan Casiban, 37, bore a gun shot wound in the head.

He was reported missing on Wednesday after he left the Cordova police station at around 3 a.m. Close to five hours after, his uniform, M-16 armalite rifle, and motorcycle were found abandoned in Barangay Babag II. In his last entries on the police station’s blotter, Casiban wrote that retired Deputy DirectorGeneral Marcelo Garbo and retired Chief Supt. Vicente Loot “protected” drug syndicates.

Two-track system explored—Ramos

By Francisco Tuyay and John Paolo Bencito

F

ORMER President Fidel Ramos and his Chinese counterparts discussed the formation of a “two-track” system that will allow both countries to implement confidencebuilding measures while allowing separate discussions on contentious issues.

In a briefing at Camp Aguinaldo a day after arriving from informal talks in Hong Kong, the former leader met with Fu Ying, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the National People’s Congress, and Professor Wu Shicun, president of China’s National Institute for South China Studies.

Ramos, who was named spe-

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5 groups probing jailbreak

By Joel E. Zurbano FIVE separate groups of investigators are looking into the grenade blast that killed 10 inmates at the Parañaque City Jail to allay fears of a rubout.

The Department of the Interior and Local Government has directed the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to immediately investigate Thursday night’s grenade blast inside the jail.

Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno gave specific Next page

LET’S GET PEACE GOING. Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza greets Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Murad Ebrahim before the start of peace talks in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday. AFP PHOTO

MILF welcomes Nur to peace talks

By John Paolo Bencito THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front welcomed the involvement of Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari in the peace process as the MILF and the government resumed talks in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday.

“We welcome the inclusion

of MNLF Chairman Nur Misuari in the process. The MNLF and MILF share one common objective which is to establish a self-governing unit for the Moro people in Mindanao,” said MILF Chairman Ebrahim Murad.

“There must be a final closure to this cycle of conflict in Mindanao. The time to do so is now, not

later,” Murad said, stressing the urgency of ending four decades of fighting in Mindanao that has claimed 100,000 lives.

Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said they are looking forward to have a meeting with Misuari “but he is still under legal constraint because of the pending case Next page

cial envoy by President Rodrigo Duterte, described the talks as “very, very hospitable” and “very encouraging in the sense that [we have] common interest.”

“We talked about fishing, [returning to the] status quo ante [and] fishing according to the rights accorded by tradition and that means [the] Philippines, China and VietNext page nam,” he said.

Govt tightens watch vs entry of jihadists

By Vito Barcelo THE Bureau of Immigration has tightened the screening of all foreign nationals arriving in the Philippines in connection with President Rodrigo Duterte’s order to arrest all jihadist indoctrinators headed for Mindanao.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente ordered Associate Commissioner and current Fugitive Search Unit intelligence chief Carlitos Licas to tighten security and step

up the monitoring of all foreign nationals arriving in the country.

“It is important to ensure that persons from countries friendly with ISIS will not use the Philippines as their hiding place and jump-off point to their targets,” he said.

BI spokesperson Antonette Mangrobang told reporters the bureau will be coordinating with other law enforcement and security agencies to monitor and track down suspected members of ISIS. Next page

2 more BI officials appointed

Habagat seen until midweek

By Vito Barcelo

By John Paolo Bencito and Joel Zurbano

THE Department of Justice has named Al Argosino and Mike Robles as new deputy commissioners of the Bureau of Immigration, but Malacañang has yet to name another associate commissioner to replace Gilbert Repizo.

Former BI-Fugitive Search Unit chief lawyer Carlitos Licas was earlier named as officer-in-charge associate commissioner replacing Abdullah Mangotara.

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HEAVY rainfall because of the prevailing southwest monsoon, or the habagat, intensified by a low-pressure area outside of the country will likely cause heavy flooding in most parts of Luzon and Western Visayas until Wednesday, the state weather bureau warned Saturday.

Disaster officials, meanwhile, said necessary preparations for possible floods and evacuation of flood-prone areas are now

THAT MONSOON RAIN AGAIN. Motorists and pedestrians hang out at a street corner in Valenzuela City which was inundated by strong monsoon showers that are expected to last until Wednesday. In Manila, a building in the Santa Cruz district collapsed, injuring several residents. Danny Pata and Andrew Rabulan twitter.com/ MlaStandard

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Reds abandon drug war

By Joyce Pangco Pañares

T

HE Communist Party of the Philippines has withdrawn its earlier commitment to support President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-narcotics campaign as it denounced the murder of almost 1,000 suspected drug pushers and drugs users since the commander-in-chief took office.

“The anti-drug war of the Duterte regime has rapidly spiraled into a frenzied campaign of extra-judicial killings and vigilante murders perpetrated by the police and by police-linked criminal syndicates. The rights of tens

upon thousands of people are being violated as the criminal justice system is upturned,” the CPP said in a statement on Saturday.

“Duterte’s drug war has clearly become anti-people and antidemocratic. Human rights are

Cop...

his team arrested three other persons but remained on the lookout for Asistio.

Tovera said NBI agents found drug paraphernalia, three plastic sachets containing white crystalline residue, a plastic bag with dried green leaves, another with dried seeds, and a metal container labeled “Department of Finance” that contained more dried leaves.

Arsenio Pascual IV, an architect who owned the house where the items were found, was arrested, along with his girlfriend Sharlot Isip and Michael Gerez, who claimed to be just visiting at the time the raid was launched.

All three, however, tested positive for drug use, Tovera said.

Charges for operating a drug den, possession of illegal drugs, and illegal possession of ammunition were set to be filed against Asistio and Pascual while Gerez and Isip will be sued for drug use, the NBI said.

From A1

“Gen. Garbo and Gen. Loot are drug syndicate of the Phils. Because of money protected by his men, PNP organization to stop illegal drugs,” read Casiban’s entry which he signed.

In another entry which he also signed, Casiban wrote: “I want to write what is justice for all to stop all illegal drugs. God is in me.”

Garbo and Loot, now mayor of Daanbantayan town, Cebu, were among the five alleged narcogenerals earlier named by President Rodrigo Duterte.

Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation said a brother of Caloocan Vice Mayor Macario Asistio eluded arrest during a raid Thursday night on a drug den that Luisito Asistio allegedly runs.

Joel Tovera, head of the NBI’s anti-illegal drugs division, said

Two-track...

From A1 Ramos said he has already reported the results of the talks to the National Security Adviser, represented by former vice admiral Vicente Agdamag, and the Department of Foreign Affairs represented by Ambassador Lea Rodriguez.

But he had yet to speak with Duterte who is in Mindanao and is not expected back until after the weekend.

“As soon as they are back in Manila, we will report to the President personally and then he will tell us what is the next step,” the former president said.

Former Interior secretary Rafael Alunan, who was part of Ramos’ delegation, said both sides discussed “encouraging track two or thinktank exchanges... where we will be discussing contentious issues.”

“That would relieve us [of] the burden of discussing contentious issues because we have another group doing that while we explore

Habagat...

From A1

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II also approved the designation of Samuel Sagun as technical assistant for media and special concern and Charles Calima as acting chief of the Intelligence Division.

Also named to key NI posts were former major general Leo Ferrer as technical assistant for port operations division and lawyer Vince Ungcad as acting BI board secretary.

Meanwhile, controversy rocked the bureau after reports that Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente submitted a resignation letter to President Rodrigo Duterte because of his misunderstanding with Aguirre over the issuance of contradicting personnel order.

An immigration official who asked anonymity said that all the 18 personnel orders signed by Morente was revoked by Aguirre purportedly because many of the appointees were identified with former justice secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima.

“The resignation letter did not reach the table of President Duterte after Presidential Management Staff chief Christopher Go interceded and asked the two officials to mend and resolve the issue,” the official said.

under way. Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana has directed the Armed Forces to activate its Disaster Reduction Task Force and prepare for possible preemptive evacuations.

The prevailing southwest monsoon is expected to bring strong to galeforce winds that can fan turbulence and giant waves in Luzon’s waters, the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa) said.

Another weather system, a lowpressure area outside the Philippine Area of Responsibility is enhancing the habagat 350 kilometers north of Itbayat, Batanes, increases the possibility for Luzon to experience rough seas and moderate to heavy rainfall.

Govt...

From A1 “Given the pronouncement of the President, we will coordinate with various law enforcement and security agencies if they have the identity of the person,” Mangrobang said.

The BI has also called on the public to take part in the anti-terror drive by reporting suspicious presence of persons in their area, particularly if they are foreigners.

She said the bureau remains committed to enforce its mandate against undesirable aliens especially terrorist.

Meanwhile, the military, which has repeatedly denied that the terrorist Daesh already has a footing in the

of militiamen who were returning to base in Davao del Norte.

This led to a heated exchange through media between Duterte and his former professor, CPP founding chairman Jose Ma. Sison, who accused the President of being quarrelsome.

“He thinks he has gotten himself a personal servant. That cannot be. Duterte can never order the revolutionary group to follow what he wants,” Sison said.

Duterte gave a second ultimatum to the NPA to stop using landmines, saying it was against the Geneva convention.

This was again rejected by

the CPP-NPA, which instead ordered its troops to “expand use of command-detonated explosives (CDX) in launching tactical offensives against the reactionary armed forces.”

The CPP saidmade a “positive response” for the NPA to kill individuals suspected of being involved in the illegal narcotics trade.

The CPP accused Duterte of coddling suspected big drug lords and their protectors while “unleashing unmitigated violence and threats of violence against the people, mostly victims and people at the lowest rungs of the criminal syndicate ladder.”

and Team OG, considered a “powerhouse” before bowing out of the competition.

The Philippine team broke the record of another local team, Mineski, which finished in the 9th-12th bracket back in 2011.

This marks the highest-ever finish for a Filipino team in The International, one of the biggest competition in e-sports.

Six other teams are vying for last of the three spots, earlier secured by Chinese team Wings Gaming and North American team Evil Geniuses, to secure an $8.9-million prize which is expected to grow as the money pool grows with continuing sales from Dota 2 virtual content.

The finals will take place on August 14, Manila time.

5 groups...

From A1

BACK IN THE SADDLE. Former President Fidel Ramos, accompanied by former Interior secretary Rafael Alunan, reports on his recent informal talks with Chinese counterparts in Hong Kong. MANNY PALMERO

ways and means on how to move our relations forward,” Alunan said.

He did not say which “think tanks” would be involved in these issues, apparently referring to the two countries’ territorial dispute over the South China Sea. When asked if they discussed a UN-backed tribunal’s ruling last month that Beijing’s claims over most of the South China Sea were invalid, Ramos said “we never mentioned that.”

The decision by the Permanent Court of Arbitration was widely seen as a victory for the Philippines which has challenged China’s claims to the vital waterway.

Both Ramos and Alunan stressed that they were only informal envoys and that further formal talks would be handled by other parties. They said the Chinese side made no commitments and merely noted their proposals.

“We’re just noting each other’s comments and aspirations and there are points that we’ll be discussing in the future,” Alunan

2Frommore...

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being violated with impunity by police personnel, emboldened

by Duterte’s assurances of ‘I got your back’ and his public declarations of contempt against human rights,” it added.

The CPP’s decision is the latest thorn in the peace talks that are expected to begin in Oslo, Norway on August 20.

Duterte earlier withdrew a unilateral truce he had earlier declared with the New People’s Army after the latter failed to meet his deadline to declare a reciprocal ceasefire.

The President issued the ultimatum after the rebels attacked a group

Dota...

From A1

said, adding that China would be elevating the outcome of the meeting through a process all the way to senior Chinese leaders.

But Alunan discouraged Filipino fishermen from restoring their fishing expedition to Scarborough until a formal agreement has been inked.

“We do not know yet how they will deal with this, but in the statement, one of the things that we said that we will explore in the future the human and ecological options and suggestions for the benefit of both people,” Alunan said.

“There was no further discussion [fishing status quo] because we were just there to break the ice. It was just initial, the official agreement, it would be on the bilateral [talks],” he added.

Meanwhile, a task force against unabated illegal fishing in the West Philippine Sea was created to stop efforts of destructive fishing in the area and protect local fishermen against foreigners who fish inside Philippine waters, Ag-

In an interview over state run dzRB, Pagasa weather forecaster Elvie Enriquez said that there is a “low” chance for the LPA to intensify into a tropical cyclone.

Another low pressure area is expected to bring more heavy rainfall already experienced in most parts of the country by next week.

The agency forecast 52 kilometers per hour (kph) to 63 kph winds in Metro Manila, Batangas and Palawan provinces’ western coast as well as in Zambales, Bataan, Cavite and Occidental Mindoro provinces.

Waves up to 4.5 meters high are also possible in open seas there, Pagasa continued.

In its 24-hour weather forecast also issued Saturday, the weather bureau said the habagat is affecting Luzon and Western Visayas.

country, said that it was taking seriously what it believed was a call for an attack on the Miss Universe contest set to be held in the country next year.

The military said a recent bomb-making video posted on social media, apparently

by ISIS militants in the Middle East, carried a message in Arabic script reading: “create bomb for Miss Universe.”

“We are taking the threat seriously,” said armed forces spokesman Colonel Edgard Arevalo.

“We reiterate that there is no ISIS in the Philippines.”

“What we have are groups claiming affiliations with ISIS in their bid to draw funds. It is not farfetched for ISIS to claim to have cells in the Philippines to show global membership.”

riculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said Saturday.

The West Philippine Sea Task Force Against Illegal Fishing, which will be headed by Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources chief Undersecretary Eduardo Gongona, will be tasked to secure marine species and the fishermen around the area.

“I directed Undersecretary Gongona to utilize the modern vessels of the BFAR in the campaign against illegal fishing activities and also tap the Philippine Coast Guard in the task,” Piñol said, whose prompted by reports and complaints from Zambales fishermen.

“Illegal fishers who will be captured, both local and foreign, will be dealt with the full force of the law. [It] has to end,” he added.

Local government officials in the provinces of Zambales, Bataan, Pangasinan, La Union, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte will also be engaged in the effort to stop destructive fishing in the area.

The DA will also tap local fishermen and assign lawyers to the Metro Manila, Ilocos Region, Central Luzon, Calabarzon as well as Mindoro and Palawan are at risk for flash floods and landslides that could be triggered by the habagat rains.

The rains that started Wednesday this week have prompted the cancellation of classes and caused heavy flooding in most parts of Luzon.

Continued rains have placed most major dams and water ways on red alert.

A red alert has been raised at the La Mesa Dam as water level reached 79.52 meters, just 53 centimeters short of the 80.15-meter overflow level.

The dam is likely to inundate if the rainfall will continue for the next 24 hours, authorities said.

The water from La Mesa is likely to affect the low-lying areas along the Tulyahan River from Fairview,

MILF...

From A1 against him” but there are “direct engagements with him through other channels.”

Dureza said the new efforts will be the new “test bed” for President Rodrigo Duterte’s plan to devolve power to the regions under a new federal government that he wants to put in place within his term.

“We’d like to see it also as test bed, a model for what could be a federal state later on when we establish the federal set-up in the Philippines,” Dureza said. “That’s the end game.”

The new talks in Kuala Lumpur was called to discuss how to implement the 2014 Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro, after the 16th Congress failed to pass an implementing law.

But Dureza said the Duterte administration is looking forward to enact-

Task Force to handle the filing of cases against those who will be caught by the WPS-TFAIF. Piñol said that Zambales fishermen complained that illegal fishermen which also included foreigners—mostly Vietnamese, Chinese and Taiwanese—venture to as close as 50 miles off the coast of the Western Seaboard of Luzon.

“The country needs to protect and conserve its fish and marine resources for the growing Filipino population and the organization of the WPS-TFAIF will be relentlessly pursued,” he added.

Malacañang had earlier said that local fisherfolk who intends to fish near the Scarborough Shoal should “proceed with care” after the Chinese Coast Guard officials blocked a group of Filipino fisherman from entering the Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. The shoal, 124 nautical miles of Masinloc town in Zambales, is subject of an ongoing sea row between the Philippines and other claimant countries, which includes China.

Forest Hill, Quirino Hi-way, Capri, Goodwill, Sta. Quiteria and San Bartolome in Quezon City, Lingunan in Valenzuela, and Malabon.

All the residents living in those areas are advised to be alert for possible increase in the water level downstream.

The Ipo Dam in Norzagaray, Bulacan, meanwhile, has started to open three of its gates after the water level reached 102.30 meters, above of its spilling level of 101.00 meters.

The water from Ipo Dam is likely to affect the low-lying areas on the Angat River.

Families near the Marikina River, meanwhile, were ordered to evacuate after the Marikina city government raised Alert Level 3, as the river’s water level rose to 17.5 meters Saturday.

With PNA

ing a new law that will contain inputs from all stockholders and merge the MNLF’s 1996 peace agreement, the provisions of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao Law (RA 9054) and the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act. Murad said the BBL will still be the “working paper” of the new draft to be prepared by the 15-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission, of which Misuari and Muslimin Sema, who leads another splinter group of the MNLF, will be part of.

“We are willing to enhance provisions of the BBL to accommodate other concerns from different groups,” he said.

The government delegation is headed by Dureza, along with the chairman of the implementing panel Irene Santiago, and its members, namely: Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Undersecretaries Diosita Andot and Nabil Tan, and Assistant Secretar-

instructions to BJMP officer-incharge, Jail Chief Supt. Serafin Petronio Barretto Jr. to ensure that there will be no whitewash in the investigation and to file appropriate charges against erring jail personnel.

On the other hand, City Mayor Edwin Olivarez created a crack team of investigators to also look into reports that bladed weapons, handguns, mobile phones, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes and other personal stuff are being smuggled into the jail facility through its side facing the Coastal Road with the help of some petty criminals and residents in a nearby squatter colony.

Olivarez tapped Parañaque City Police chief Senior Supt.

Jose Cerbas Carumba as head of the investigating team.

Sueno said that the BJMP National Capital Region, Philippine National Police Scene of the Crime Operatives and the PNP Parañaque Homicide Section are conducting their own investigation.

It is hoped that these investigations will allay fears that the incident was a rubout.

“It is evident that the Parañaque jail guards had been somehow lax in imposing prison rules and regulations because otherwise, there would be no contraband items in the jail,” he said.

Barreto said they will conduct a probe and file appropriate charges against personnel found guilty of allowing the entry of guns, explosive materials and other deadly weapons inside the jail.

To give way to an impartial investigation, BJMP Regional Director, Jail Chief Supt. Michael Escarte Vidamo Sr., has ordered that all second shift duty personnel, including the warden and the duty Senior Officer of the Day, be relieved of their posts. They were replaced by members of the Special Tactics and Response Team.

Before the incident, jail warden Gerald Bantag had said he wanted to conduct an inspection of the jail after receiving information that contraband items were entering it.

The Parañaque mayor believed that the “smugglers” are in cahoots with jail personnel whom, he added, should be also subjected to a thorough investigation.

“Aside from the smuggled contraband being sold inside the jail, I received information that illegal drugs are being peddled and sold in stores surrounding the facility.

Inexplicably the jail guards ignore these instances of drug trafficking,” Olivarez said.

“Most of the times these contrabands were brought in during wee hours of the morning when the people are fast asleep and the on-duty barangay watchmen are not around,” he added. With PNA

ies Dickson Hermoso and Rolando Asuncion were present in the implementation talks with the MILF. The MILF panel, on the other hand, will include Mohagher Iqbal its chief negotiator.

Members of the Duterte administration, led by Interior Secretary Ismael “Mike” Sueno, National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon, Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and ARMM Governor Mujiv Hataman were also present at the start of the talks.

Dureza said he hopes Congress will be able to pass a version of the law without the unconstitutional provisions of the failed Bangsamoro Basic Law. “We hope that with the 17th Congress, it will be a brighter future for the enabling law,” Dureza said, adding that the presence of the top leaders of the House of Representatives could be a sign of an “early enactment of an inclusive Bangsamoro enabling law.”

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

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Return of 32,000 JP troops sought THE Japanese government is preparing to repatriate whatever remains of 32,000 Japanese soldiers who died in the Philippines during the Second World War could be found, an official said.

Although he believes the repatriation will take time, Japan Foreign Ministry deputy press secretary Masato Ohtaka said the Japanese forensic experts will have to extricate whatever bodies they may locate one by one.

“Collection and repatriation of the remains of Japanese soldiers from the Second World War [will be difficult because there] is quite å number of them. We need to step up efforts because the families of these Japanese soldiers are getting older and older,” Ohtaka said.

Ohtaka disclosed that the repatriation of an estimated 10,000 to 32,000 remains is one of the topics discussed during a closed-door meeting between Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and President Rodrigo Duterte.

He said the families of the Japanese soldiers have been asking for the repatriation of the skeletons of their loved ones who died in the country during World War II. Kishida visited the country from August 11 to 13 to discuss security issues with the Duterte administration amid the ongoing dispute in the South China Sea. Kishida said in an earlier interview, his visit is meant to affirm Japan’s “friendly ties” with the Philippines, particularly since the Philippines and Japan are celebrating 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations.

In 2015, the Philippines and Japan signed the Joint Declaration, a strengthened Strategic Partnership for Advancing the Shared Principles and Goals of Peace, Security, and Growth in the Region and Beyond. Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

IN BRIEF Nat gas plant seeks grid link ENERGY World International is seeking the help of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines in connecting its 650-megawatt natural gas plant to the Luzon grid, an official said.

“We are waiting for NGCP to commit to connect the project as this project is very crucial to the Luzon grid which is now suffering from thin reserves,” Eduardo Rodriguez, EWI country manager for the Philippines, said.

EWI is the parent firm of Energy World Corp. which is building the natural gas power plant and import terminal in Pagbilao, Quezon.

Rodriquez said the Energy Department led by Secretary Alfonso Cusi has already agreed to come up with a solution to fast-track the completion of the power plant.

Hel said Cusi already has mobilized a team from the department to address the transmission problem which has delayed the release of funding from the banks for the project.

“EWC would like to thank Secretary Cusi for his commitment to help us complete this project.

On our part, we are committed to fast-track other aspects of project development so that we are able to deliver power at the soonest possible time,” the official said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

Gas field tax draws concern THE Petroleum Association of the Philippines has expressed serious concern over the ongoing position of the Commission on Audit to slap income tax on the Malampaya gas project.

PAP also urged the government to honor the sanctity of contracts in the oil and gas industry which has been facing challenges due to the low oil price environment.

“We are very concerned [with the CoA ruling]…What the terms before should be maintained...This could kill the industry,” Benjamin Austria, PAP executive director, said.

CoA previously ruled that the income tax payment of oil and gas service contractors in the Malampaya project in northwest Palawan amounting to more than P53.14 billion was not included in the government’s 60 percent royalty share.

Austria said the industry association will continue to dialogue with the Energy Department and other concerned agencies to reach an amicable solution to the issue.

“We’ve written the secretary [Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi], we are pointing out how much we are concerned about certain developments. We are concerned about development in the possible instability of the policy,” the official said.

PEP TALK. President Rodrigo R. Duterte speaks with troops of Joint Task Force Sulu during his visit to Kuta Heneral Teodulfo Bautista in Jolo, Sulu.

Palace welcomes SC suit over Marcos burial

By John Paolo Bencito

M

ALACAÑANG on Saturday said it would welcome any petition before the Supreme Court questioning President Rodrigo Duterte’s authority to allow the burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo made the remark as former President Fidel Ramos explained that the only reason Marcos was not buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani was because the “wounds of the 1986 People

Power Revolution was still fresh at that time.”

“We welcome any move but law is very clear that the former President is entitled to be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, as a soldier and as a former President,” Chief Presidential

Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo told reporters.

“We will respect any decision of High Court,” Panelo said as anti-Marcos groups threatened to petition the Supreme Court to stop Marcos’ burial at the national cemetery.

On the other hand, Ramos, who was one of the three leaders of the 1986 revolution, said one of the key considerations when he allowed the return of Marcos’ body to the Philippines in 1992, three years after his death in 1989, was possible destabilization.”

During our time 1992 to 1998, you must understand that we allowed the remains of the late President Marcos to return to the

Philippines under certain conditions because of the possible destabilization of the country unless there were certain safeguards adopted. You will recall that he died in 1989, he came in 1992, [the] wounds of the People Power Revolution of 1986 which ejected the Marcos Martial Regime [were still fresh], “ he added.

“So we were very careful enough to make sure that the welfare of the people of the Philippines would be protected by the prevention of any angry or tension-filled peoples’ movement,” Ramos stressed.

The former president also added they decided to allow the

Japan: Easier rules eyed for PH nurses

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan have applied have failed to pass opened opportunities for Filipi- allow [foreign] workers [to qualTHE Japanese government is eyeing the possibility of easing its strict hiring rules for Filipino healthcare workers, an official said.

Japanese Foreign Ministry deputy press secretary Masaro Ohtaka admitted Japan needs more Filipino nurses and caregivers since most of those who

the requirements.

“Our current scheme is not easy, but we really do need some healthcare workers from Philippines and other countries,” Ohtaka told reporters in recent interviews. “They are looking into [relaxing hiring rules].”

But the quotas for Filipino nurses has not yet been achieved although Tokyo had already

no nurses and caregivers to work in Japan.

This is because, he said, of Japan’s difficult requirement.

When applying for work in Japan, Filipino applicants are required to undergo a six month Preparatory Japanese Language Training and pass Nihonggo test.

“I will not be surprised if there will be tweaks here and there to

ify],” Ohtaka said.

Out of 500 to 600 Filipino nurses and caregivers who apply every year, only 10 percent pass through the requirements.

The hiring of Filipino workers, mainly nurses and caregivers, are provided under the JapanPhilippines Economic Partnership Agreement that was signed by both countries in 2006.

MOTHERS’ LOVE.

Breastfeeding advocates turn to Our Lady of La Leche, an image of the Blessed Virgin Mary breastfeeding the child Jesus, for inspiration to encourage women to continue breastfeeding their children for at least six months as part of the Feel Free to Breastfeed campaign spearheaded by GoBreastfeeding. com, LATCH and SM Cares.

Ey Acasio

Mandaluyong court stops 53 Philracom resolutions THE Mandaluyong Regional Trial Court has granted the plea of the Metro Manila Turf Club Inc. for a writ of preliminary injunction stopping the Philippine Racing Commission from implementing various resolutions that MMTCI challenged as invalid and illegal.

The court granted the injunction applied for by the MMTCI after it “found clear and unmistakable right

…to restrain the respondents from continued and threatened implementation of the 53 resolutions.”

The court said the 53 resolutions amount to a “material and substantial invasion of petitioner’s rights since the aforementioned Resolutions touch upon and interfere with almost every aspect to petitioner’s business operations which may cause grave and irrep-

arable injury to the latter through the suffering of immense losses to the brink of financial failure.”

The court cited several court decisions in granting the MMTCI application for a preliminary injunction to stop the respondents “and other officers, employees, agents, representatives and all those acting on their behalf from implementing the 53 Resolutions

that were issued in 2015 and 2016.”

The MMTCI, which operates the country’s third and latest horseracing track known as MetroTurf in Malvar-Tanauan, Batangas, earlier applied for an injunction against the said 53 Resolutions that were issued by the Philracom—led by its chairman Andrew Sanchez—since “it [Philracom] is not authorized to

impose penalties under administrative regulations.”

Among the respondents in the P22-million damage suit filed by the MMTCI were Philracom commissioners Lyndon Noel B. Guce, Victor Tantoco, Jose P. Gutierrez Santillan Jr., Bienvenido Niles Jr., Wilfredo J. A. Ungria, Ramon Bagatsing Jr., and executive director Andrew M. Buencamino.

return of Marcos’ body as they believed that the latter should not be forever detained in Hawaii since it is not his homeland.

The four conditions set by the then Ramos government in exchange for the return of the remains of the former president were: that it would be flown straight from Hawaii to Paoay, Ilocos Norte; that he would be given honors befitting a major in the AFP, because it was his last rank in the AFP; that he would not be paraded in Metro Manila because at that time anti-Marcos sentiments were still fresh; and that he would be buried in Ilocos Norte, not in the Libingan ng mga Bayani.

UAE sees new jobs for Pinoys DUBAI—Home to 700,000 Filipinos, the United Arab Emirates never seems to run out of good news in business.

According to the latest data, business conditions in the UAE have improved, with the growth of non-oil private sector accelerating to a 10-month high, partly buoyed by a slight uptick in hiring activity in certain industries.

At least 4,787 new business licenses were registered after the first half of the year.

The Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index for July, a benchmark for the operating conditions in the non-oil private sector, indicated that some companies are still hiring new employees.

The bank said the pace of hiring “quickened to a 14-month high,” contrasting with the trend over the second quarter, when employment was either stagnant or barely rising.

“The rate of job creation was the fastest in over a year,” the bank said in a statement sent to Gulf News.

The bank’s findings coincided with the recent employment data released by other analysts.

According to the Monster Employment Index, job listings in the UAE went up by 10 percent in June 2016 compared to a year earlier.

“We expect this positive trend to continue, especially in the UAE, which is seen by economists as the most promising economy in [the Middle East and North Africa],” said Sanjay Modi, managing director for Asia Pacific and Middle East at Monster.com.

UAE is home to thousands of expatriates, including around 700,000 Filipinos, with around 450,000 of them living in Dubai, considered the center of commerce not just in UAE but also in the whole Middle East.

A4

Opinion

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2016 SUNDAY, AUGUST 14,6,2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

Conflicting signals Reasonable doubt

EDITORIAL

P C

by law and regulations.

But upon emissions is the industrialized coun- climate change. has over thus far been RESIDENT has abided HARTER Rodrigo Change Duterte has determined campaign to amend Change willhis drop further,when per-it to making amendments—but nationalHegood their ownsilent paassumption of the presidency, he appointed, as tries who have been spewing these gases into on how he intends to discharge his leadershown a bold and uncompromising always been a divisive the Constitution to the replace to- haps, as Mr. Duterte lends hisfor also the most expensive,ship given secretary of Department of Environment the atmosphere centuries. role rochial here. interests when it comes stance the July war survey against day’s illegalunitary, issue.inThe presidential form popularity to an information the cost of an election. to enforcing ban and Natural Resources, a known anti-mining He also derided the apparent shift to renewEnvironmental issuesa constitutional are no less urgent drugs, and to some extent in crime and “crusader” in the of Regina Lopez.to Thesupport able energy, citing theMr. country’s dire need for than the problem of drugs, crime, corruption of Pulse Asia showed of government with a person federal, campaign his plan Duterte’s preference was on political dynasties.

Are we corruption.

True to continue. what he said parliamentary during environment secretary has been saypower toward which can be supplied by coal- filed or poverty.

These havethese short-same and lawmaklong-term that those divisions system. to quoted move as the country a only reflected in a resolution in then to trust ing thereascended is no suchto thing responsible min- where fired power plants. the House by his ally, Speaker consequences on the people.

Specifically, hisThe inauguration, these are his priority survey, based on face-toMr. Duterte theas federal system far-flung ers, who could just as well reing.

Lopez, prior to her government appointthese affect how people live and how well. areas.

While there are diverse opinions face interviews with 1,200 re- presidency“If bythere winning 38 per- mining, provinces longer Pantaleon Alvarez. move the bothersome is responsible why will is it noment, has suffer advocated a complete shunning of They dictate whether communities provision can be reon the manner in whichshowed he implements spondents nationwide, cent of the popular vote.

This the neglect of imperial Manila.

It was Alvarez, however, who on political dynasties tinker that whenever there is mining there is pover- coal plants, citing their deleterious effect on silient in times of extreme weatherorevents to his policies, he cannot be accused of poorest sites in the world mining the residents of which country, an archipelago, that 44 percent of Filipinos still may not ty?...The sound like very much Still,arethe push the to health amendandthewell-being quicklyofcorrected himself andthewith theirasown term limits?has bebeing or tentative. areas,” she in which they operate. come more prone.Alvarez’s They decidecall whether do nothalf-hearted, support moves to amend of a plurality, butsaid. in the frac- Constitution willcommunities be an uphill declared that a Constituent As-even Speaker for The same cannot be said, however, of the Duterte then lashed out at big mining compaMr. Duterte has also said—and emphaticalour investments today will bear fruit tomorrow the Constitution. A smaller 37 tured multi-party system of battle, and the administration sembly made up of senators and the creation of a Constitutional President’s policy on the environment. nies, daring them to “shape up” because they were ly—that he would not honor the Paris Agree- or will just go to waste. They determine whethCommission—composed of percent said has theyissued believe theconflicting Philippine politics,destroying Mr. Duterte cannot afford too many congressmen, now the Mr. Duterte at best supposedly the environment. ment whichmisthe Philippines and was 195 other er preour children’s children will be able to proconstitutional law experts as Constitution should be amendwas among the most popular steps. ferred mode of amending the statements on how he intends to ensure a Only the big mining interests from Manila countries arrived at in December after the vide for their own needs, and sustainably so. healthy balance betweensaid usingthey up resources were candidates benefiting from these arrangements, Conference under the United Na- it President advisers mustfrom be as representatives ed, while 19 percent presidential in hisWhen Mr.heDuterte took ofof-Parties Constitution, because was wellDuterte’s today and making provisions for futuretory, gener-with said. 16,601,997 votes, fice, he declared tions Framework cheaper Convention on Climate reminded non-governmental of their job to make him organizaappreciate, were undecided. his preference and more practical. ations. there is the Change. thoroughly, complex issues surrounding tions,thethe academe and other But opposition to Charter surpassingAnd his then immediate pre-issue forof agreenhouse Constitutional Conven- There is not much publicandtrust For example, talking at a business forum in gas emissions.

But by virtue of his office, Duterte is also the environment. The resulting policy— of society—is a stepwill in Change actually decessor, Benigno Aquino III, tion with elected delegates who in Climate Congress, however, those sectors February, has at the height declined of the campaign, During a campaign debate, Duterte called the chairman of the Change Com-andobjective, consistent and unequivocal, the right direction in addressfrom a high 49 percent in a who won with 15,208,678 votes would propose amendments to who oppose Charter Change Duterte expressed support for the mining in- the United Nations a hypocrite for encourag- mission, the body tasked by law to craft mit- guide the next crucial steps of the dustry provided actedago. responsibly and ing developing their carbon relation to reason administration. ing the reasonable doubt about similar surveyplayers two years in 2010, and Joseph countries Estrada,to curb the Charter.

Thisigation mode,and oneadaptation of havepolicies found inyet another These numbers gain signifi- who won with 10,722,295 votes three allowed by the Constitu- to object to it. We are, after all, Congress’ ability to draft a new cance against the backdrop of in 1998. tion, is widely regarded as the talking about a group of politi- Charter that is good for all, not President Rodrigo Duterte’s Opposition to Charter most representative approach cians who cannot even put the just for themselves.

Europe’s soft HAIL TO response THE CHAIR to terror VICTOR AVECILLA isn’t Duterte and weakness ByAlvarez Leonid Bershidsky on federalism

Careful what you wish for

LONG STORY SHORT

ADELLE CHUA WE GRIPE about how the word “change” seems to have lost its POWER meaning. For many years—across POINT politigenerations, actually—our cians have sought office promising ELIZABETH change. They criticize what came ANGSIOCO before them and vow to make things better.

The publichow has many alwaysmothbeen I WONDER dazzled such worry promises.

Alas, ers (and by fathers) as much we Ivote those who as do because of simply all the mainkilltain the status quo rather ings happening daily. than Let upset me it. Asthat a result, “change”it has say as a mother, hascome not to mean another been mynothing. practiceIt’s to just constantly empty now.they What ask my word kids how are change, doing, when theremonitor are eventheir morewhereapoor and or strictly hungry Filipinos, when the same bouts. I trusted, and still trust elite families dictate the course of that they have sense notas the nation, and enough when something to get involved in anything fool-to basic as one’s daily commute ish and/or irresponsible.

I felt school or the workplace become secure that for as long as they even more unbearable. do This no harm to others, no one is is likely why when thengoing Davaoto harm City them.

Mayor Rodrigo Not anymore.

All these killDuterte finally decided to run for ings are makingand mepromised scared for the presidency his my ownkids. brand of change, people took Nowadays, I not find myself note.

Duterte was of the same “type” as the others we havethan gotten worrying (maybe more I used to: No aristocratic roots,go no should) about what could Ivy League education, no primwrong.

Whenever I read, or and-proper and definitely hear aboutmanners someone getting no smooth, speech killed, my diplomatic heart would skippata terns. bit.

What if one of my children Instead you a disruptor: happen to be in have the wrong place Duterte curses,time? lashesBecause out at thereold at the wrong order,atisthe not rate afraid to takeare on murestabally, people

lishments like the almighty Catholic Church. He has no qualms about putting away criminals and could be politically incorrect. Remember the mayor-should-be-first comment about the Australian missionary who was gang raped in his city many years ago? He also has no inhibitions showing off his machismo. He is not apologetic for having and not dered, multiple nobody partners knows who canat all shy showing his, ugh, “apprebe next. ciation” of women.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s that worked.

FilipiwarSomehow, on drugs has already nos took hundreds note, voting intoDeofclaimed ofhim lives. fice through a good plurality pending on your source andof more than 16 millionthe votes, the the period covered, counts highest ever garnered by 400 a presirange from more than to dent. but before asmoreAfter than winning 700 deaths.

The big suming the role of chief executive, majority of deaths are in the Duterte even took on the press, hands of the police. And the trivializing media killings and story linejournalists is consistent, police branding as generally comes to make an arrest, suscorrupt and deserving of death. pect resists, and the police The statements earned him are too left with much flakno so choice that he but had to to shoot. qualify In awords country where his just two daysdeath after.penaltyNonetheless, is not allowed, it seems at the time ofthat his killing has become a pastime inauguration, Mr. Duterte enjoyed some. trust rating, according afor 91-percent not allWeather killingsStations. were to True, the Social done by PNP. But the Presi-to That’s a the lot of political capital be spent.public support for the dent’s And now seems to be spendkillings hasheemboldened peoing indeed, to push foreasy the things ple it, and groups.

How is it he thinks are worthsomeone pushing. who now to murder Foremost these things is may or mayamong not have anything the warwith on drugs. to do drugs and just label is either were pusher? so taken theItvictim as we a drug

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up with other things that we never realized how big a problem the drug menace was, or our officials deliberately kept us in the dark about it. From the leanings of this new dispensation, we learn that the biggest problem we face is illegal drugs—not graft and corruption, not poverty, not the lack of infrastructure, most definitely not climate change.

them off? Who knows if the charges are even true and if those killed did not just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?

At the very least, one cannot fault Mr. Duterte for being halfhearted about his campaign. No such affliction as analysis paralysis. If there is a shining example of resolute will, of walking one’s talk, it isThere he. His to lash is aimpulse reason also whyisI do not out anybody who dared question useatthe term extra-judicial killhis justdeaths. backingsmethods—he to describe will these track and apologize he EJK assumes that therewhen is judicomes to his senses, he cious killing.

Sincelike we what do not did with Supreme Court Chief have death penalty here, whatJusis tice Maria Lourdes Sereno. happening is murder, plain and And just when we thought we simple. sawMake the last the cursing andit:theI noofmistake about stream-of-consciousness stand for the eradication ofpress the conferences when he finally delivdrug menace.

I believe that we, ered a concise and sensible inauguthespeech, people hewill feel to secure if ral is back his old the incidence of illegal drugs rambling ways. Note his first State is the minimized.

But theThe war as it of Nation Address. cursing is waged makewith people even whendoes he is not speaking the feel ofthat On seal the sense Office of of security. the President. the contrary, are scared Just recently hepeople used unflattering —scared for their for their words referring to lives, the American loved ones. He Friends fromdecided other ambassador. has also countries who the were scheduled he would allow burial of former President Ferdinand Marcos at to come have canceled their the Libingan Bayani—a trips.

Severalng of mga my friends are divisive emotionalofissue that seriouslyandthinking leaving has severaltoadminthe festered countryacross for good keep istrations. their families safe.

Yes, wesome had hoped for change, What say that people but President Duterte havedoes nothing to fear for as bring long too as stark they adochange? no crime is untrue.

Killing the heart

We have learned Yes we are to just turn desperate away and for say change—but ‘tough luck.’ ” what kind of change did we imagine in the Anyone with a gun can just defirst place? cide that someone has to die.

Cardboard justice—some call this as such because a piece of cardboard saying that steps someone And what drastic the is a drug dealer—is has all that’s Duterte administration taken, needed to make appear that and to think it hasitbeen in office the murder is months. justified.More than less than two 150And officials named and then have comebeen news reports shamed having to the drug saying as that the links President has trade.

Across the tocountry, hungiven the shoot kill order dreds drug dealers and users againstof politicians involved in have been rounded up. And the illegal drugs trade andworse, drug bodies alleged lords. Isof this evendrug legalpushers here? have turned up, often tags I’m afraid that these with murders identifying them as such.

Who will continue. Our country is knows what authority fast becoming the killingfinished fields.

Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno Anita F. Grefal Maan Ilustre Edgar M. Valmorida

Chairman Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager Advertising and Marketing Head Circulation Manager

Some people believe so. Several sectors have said human rights were being violated in the summary killings that Mr. Duterte seems to have inspired. Many have also taken exception to his tough-boy manner of speaking, challenging anybody who does not seem to agree with him. He is also prone to utter words without deliberating on theirthe implications—refreshingWith way things are, we lyallcandid entertaining at times, have and reason to fear because but most can unpresidential anyone be labeled and as a unbedrug coming pusher.of a statesman.

And supportersdamage. tell the And yet ah,hiscollateral rest of us: Would you rather Someone said that in a war, have colthe do-nothing kind again?be prelateral damage cannot Some But believe Filipinos vented. how that do we know have become too unwieldy— who died as collateral damage? “pasaway” in the language—that All of them are dead and will we need exactly the kind of whip never be able to tell their stothat Duterte holds to make us act ries.

What about as we should.

We arethe tooinnocent? conscious They got killed, labeled as menof our rights and freedoms being ace of society without even violated that we give no thoughtbeto ing given to how defend what we do the withchance them and we themselves! this the justice exercise them.IsThus, the change weseem want? we to be experiencing now is Remember thatwe scholar exactly the change need. from a Whichever poor familyway who killed wewas think, the alongside a will suspected fact is that we be underdrug this administration for the six dealer? My heart blednext for his years.

Wewhose have togrief be decisive—asmother I could fulsertive, even—about theabout thingsthat we ly understand.

What want changed while being young woman, who wasvigilant liked of non-negotiables that we bythe everyone who knew herhold but dear. repeatedly shot in a jeepney

on her way to work? People

adellechua@gmail.com Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Managing Editor Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Associate Editors Francis Lagniton News Editor Emil P. Jurado

A TOP Bavarian domestic intelligence official has made tabloid headlines by saying AFTER Corazon there are President “hit squads” and Aquino relinquished power “sleeper cells” among the ref-in 1992, some of the presidents ugees who have recently arwho came after her made tacit rived in to Germany—someattempts amend the 1987 thing right-wing populists Constitution.

Their efforts were have been all nipped in the maintaining bud by an electoralong.

Yet the that true the “sleeper ate suspicious proponents the amendments wanted cells”ofhave been here for deCharter Change to perpetucades, and that only explains why, ate themselvesand in power elimas Germany other by Euroinating term limits enshrined pean countries step up anti-in the fundamental law.is a strong terror efforts, there The existing Constitution is, resistance to unnecessary admittedly, an imperfect docuharshness. ment.

It is a disappointing blue OnforThursday, German print a government that Inwas terior out Minister Thomas de born of the high expectaMaiziere his protions of thepresented Filipino people after the 1986 Revolution.

For posals on Edsa increasing security instance, charter in the face the of anAquino increased terallows a multi-party electoral ror threat—something the system but demanded fails to mandate public has since a a run-off election.

That omission recent series of attacks, three allows a president to be elected of them by refugees and two on a mere plurality. Consequentinspired

by Islamic The ly, political divisionState. among the measures include stripping people ensues for years followdual-nationals German ing the election.ofThere are citimany zenshipdisturbing if they gooversights off to fightin other the charter. in Syria, making the “promoDespite the imperfection tion of terrorism” a criminalof the current constitution, the offense, speeding up deportapeople have repeatedly demontion for immigrants who prostrated their collective about relucvide false information tance to charter amendments their identity and adding sevinitiated in the past. Their reluceral thousand and tance emanatesintelligence mainly from the police personnel.

Theyofficials emway many government phatically do not include of past administrations have aeiban on the burqa—the full Is-or ther brazenly abused power, have reneged by on the their lamichaughtily veil—demanded campaign pledge to of work the conservative wing de for Maipublic ziere’sinterest. and Chancellor Angela In otherChristian words, unless a presiMerkel’s Democratdent and his political allies are ic Union party. Nor do they really determined to seek seriban dual nationality altogethous charter change, amending er, revising something the conservaor the existing Constitives have also demanded. tution will remain a pipe dream.

De Maiziere alsoindications, stressed From all current the need itfor more however, looks likelanguage President training and better social serRodrigo Duterte and House Speaker vices for Pantaleon refugees. Alvarez are determined to give the like 1987 If that doesn’t sound Constitution not only a revision an adequate reaction to “hit but a complete overhaul. cells,” Duterte squads” and “sleeper and Alvarez have openly exit’s worth considering that de pressed their intention to replace Maiziere’s proposals are in the existing unitary government line with whatset-up, governments with a federal and with are doing in of other European some features a parliamentary countries with in. bigMore immigrant system thrown specificommunities.

Austria, cally, the grand plan isfor to exreorganize different provinces ample, the enacted laws againstin the country into at least 12 states “promoting terrorism” last based on,began more or less, the“forexistyear. It stripping ing templates. eignregional fighters” of citizenship in Under a unitary government, 2014. Belgium, Denmark, every aspect of running the naFrance andtheGermany tion needs approval have of the been refusing to passcentral governmentissue in the naports, capital. and withholding existtional This is expected ing ones, from potential “forsince local government units, eign fighters.”

All these despite their autonomy, still spend public countries havemoney addeddisbursed terrorand audited by the national govism-related offenses to their ernment.

In a federal system, criminal codes, and in some however, each statepunishment government cases increased

Joyce Pangco Pañares Adelle Chua Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Turnpage to A5 Next

City Editor Senior Deskman Art Director Chief Photographer

Opinion

A5

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Venezuela has good reasons to avoid default

By Francisco Rodriguez WITH Venezuela’s economy veering into depression and Venezuelans scrambling to find basic goods, the government’s decision to keep servicing the country’s $68 billion in external bonds has been called everything from “crazy” to “a crime against humanity.” Putting bondholders above Venezuelans, these critics argue, is just morally wrong.

But such charged rhetoric is no substitute for a sober analysis of Venezuela’s debt predicament. Seen in that light, the wisdom of defaulting is less clear cut. Moreover, focusing the economic policy discussion on whether to pay the country’s external debt creates a dangerous distraction that could derail necessary and urgent reforms.

If Venezuela’s opposition ultimately takes control of the country’s executive branch, it will have to define and communicate its stance on the country’s international financial obligations. (Full disclosure: I work for a New York-based investment firm that trades in, among other things, emerging market debt, including Venezuela’s.)

And that calls for careful consideration of the economic implications of a forcible debt restructuring and the realistic options for covering the country’s external financing needs.

For starters, Venezuela is in more ways than one not a typical debtor. The government’s status as the country’s main exporter— oil accounts for 95 percent of Venezuela’s export earnings— makes it significantly more vulnerable to potential legal actions by bondholders in international courts. While oil shipments in and of themselves may not be directly attachable if they are sold prior to leaving the country’s ports, most legal experts would also agree that the receivables associated with these oil sales as well as the assets owned abroad by the state-owned oil company PDVSA are fair game.

The closest example of the consequences for an oil exporting sovereign of a credit event comes from Ecuador’s 2008 de-

fault. President Rafael Correa defaulted on the country’s sovereign bonds in December 2008.

After the decision, the price of the Ecuadorean oil basket collapsed to 59 percent of the price for Brent crude, from 80 percent on the month prior to the default.

Prices only recovered to pre-default levels in June after Ecuador announced that it had repurchased the defaulted bonds.

This evidence is consistent with the view that entering into an oil delivery contract with an enterprise owned by a government that has defaulted on its debt is a risky business. Were Venezuela to pay a corresponding cost upon defaulting as did Ecuador, the loss in export revenues would amount to $5.7 billion a year, erasing most if not all of the short-term cash flow gains from defaulting. Indeed, Venezuela’s relatively large overseas assets and PDVSA’s large share of the debt (53 percent of outstanding bonds) both suggest that the cost could be higher.

But couldn’t Venezuela renegotiate its debts with bondholders, proposing an agreement to provide it near-term relief so it can get its economy back in order? It certainly wouldn’t be the first country to do so, and in many cases orderly restructurings have allowed countries to regain a foothold and ultimately reshape their relationships with markets.

Unfortunately, restructuring these bonds would be very difficult. When they were issued, their buyers were understandably concerned about the willingness of Hugo Chavez’s administration to honor its commitments. They thus demanded covenants that would make it very difficult for PDVSA to default. PDVSA bond covenants lack collective action clauses – a provision that allows a majority of bondholders to make an agreement binding for all holders, thereby impeding a minority from holding out against a restructuring. They also include a non-standard clause requiring unanimous consent for any change in the bonds that might impair the right of

Men fold a cardboard coffin in Barquisimeto, Venezuela on Aug. 9, 2016.

Due to the high cost and the shortage of materials that make the acquisition of coffins difficult in Venezuela, once a booming oil giant that is now going through an economic crisis, they are being made in cheap timber planks and even cardboard. AFP

each holder to receive payment or go to court to enforce such payment.

Without an orderly restructuring, PDVSA would be left with the alternative of filing for bankruptcy. While this is certainly feasible in Venezuelan courts, obligations with bondholders must be settled in US courts. In order to extend this declaration of bankruptcy into the US, a company essentially has to establish that it is insolvent and thus cannot simply sell its assets to pay off its liabilities (otherwise it doesn’t need the courts to decide how to divide these assets up amongst its creditors).

Making a credible argument before a US court that PDVSA is insolvent would be a daunting task. After all, PDVSA holds a monopoly over the extraction and commercialization of 300 billion barrels of oil – the world’s largest oil reserves. If each of these barrels of oil were worth a mere $0.40, they would still be enough to pay off the entire Venezuelan (sovereign and PDVSA) debt stock.

Venezuela could try to transfer those rights to a new stateowned oil company, therefore stripping PDVSA of its most valuable assets. But when that new company starts exporting, bondholders will almost cer-

tainly go after its revenue flows, arguing that it is nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt by the government to defraud creditors of their rights.

Venezuela has some of the world’s most dysfunctional policies, including price controls that force retailers to sell goods at a loss and exchange controls that have made arbitrage the economy’s single most profitable activity. Were Venezuela to default without changing its policies, it wouldn’t put $10 billion of goods on store shelves; it would simply generate $10 billion more of over-invoicing and corruption.

Venezuelans are certainly going through dire economic times.

Yet blaming external debt for the state of Venezuela’s economy is kind of like blaming New Hampshire for Trump’s nomination.

Venezuela is not insolvent.

Venezuela is poorly run. Addressing its economic problems requires a credible macroeconomic stabilization plan, economic reforms to recover the country’s productivity and allow it to take full advantage of its resource endowments, and a restoration of its political institutions. To regain access to international financing, Venezuela needs to change the way it manages its economy. It does not need to default.

Bloomberg

A crowd-pleaser’s theory of Donald Trump

By Harlan Coben THINK Donald Trump has some grand scheme behind his outbursts? Think his rhetoric is carefully thought out to produce a certain reaction? Think he meticulously plans each call for his followers to take up arms?

Sorry, no. There is no strategy here, folks.

Sadly, this is the part of Trump I get too well. I do a lot of public speaking, and when I do, I try to gauge the audience because I love a reaction. Like any entertainer—and that’s what an author tries to be on book tour—I like to hear laughs or see that the audience is listening intently. I want them rapt and engaged. If I see too many people fiddling with their phones or looking bored, I’ll try on the fly to fix it.

If the jokes aren’t going well, I’ll give them a more serious howto-write-a-novel talk. And vice versa. It’s why I rarely prepare remarks.

Trump is this raised to the

Europe’s...

From A4 for existing ones. France is considering cutting off foreign funding for mosques. But nobody’s doing anything tougher than that, such as restricting Islamic practices, deporting immigrants for the slightest offenses or banning dual citizenship. Even stripping people of their nationality for fighting with Islamic State is not a shoo-in: In France, such a legislative measure has failed.

Nor are there proposals for harsh immigration restrictions along the lines of Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim proposals or challenging vetting procedures. Instead, there are attempts at outreach – such as telephone lines for the parents of radicaliz-

nth power. My guess is that this is why he detests the teleprompter and goes off it so often. With the teleprompter, you have to stick to the script. But sometimes speeches fail to stir a crowd. Outrageous claims, discursions and over-the-top jokes get them going. You can see Trump’s frustration when the audience grows too quiet: Where are my laughs? Where are my cheers and gasps and chants? Where is the love?

When I feel this way, I’ve been known to go too far or make an inappropriate joke. When Trump feels this way—well, just watch the news.

Take his recent comments on the Second Amendment. I don’t think he had a master plan to call for an assassination. I think his inner monologue went something more like this: “Folks, if Hillary is elected, she’s going to get rid of the Second Amendment … that’s my talking point … Hmm, got a decent reaction … Where do we go from here

and get that big laugh? ... Well, the only way to stop her after she’s elected would be if the guys with the guns (Good! Back to the Second Amendment!) do something about it.”

It has been this way for Trump since he glided down the Trump Tower escalator to announce his candidacy. His was a campaign soon to be dismissed, but for that first big improv when he stumbled upon calling Mexicans rapists. That drew a reaction—a big one—and it turned out to be far more appealing than his negotiation skills or his take on trade. It was a throwaway line gone viral.

And how often have you heard Trump excuse his conduct with some variation on the theme that it was a joke, that the crowd loved it? When the hosts of ABC’s “Live With Kelly and Michael” raised his controversial comments about wanting to date his daughter Ivanka, Trump replied, “Everyone laughed.” This is paramount to him.

If you buy my theory, then it

becomes clear why Trump can’t stay on message. Policy discussions? Boring and low-energy.

Polls to brag about? Well, right now he doesn’t have that. Most of all, you can only spend so much time on the golden oldies, like “BUILD THAT WALL.” You need something new to get that audience rocking.

As with any addiction, it generally takes a little bit more to get the high each time. So first he says Hillary Clinton is a criminal (“Lock her up!”), then he raises the temperature by claiming that the election is rigged. Guns are a natural next step. You’ve got to keep upping the ante. Most recently, he said Barack Obama founded ISIS. Does Trump not see the danger in his words? My guess is that he doesn’t care one way or the other. He’s getting the laughs, the gasps, the cheers from the crowd—repercussions be damned. To him, that’s all that matters. Bloomberg

ing youths in Austria, France, the Netherlands and, soon, in Belgium and Denmark, or a Dutch program of getting imams to discourage radicalization. Governments are thinking along the lines of reintegration and deradicalization, no matter how lecturing young jihadis about the error of their ways may sound to the supporters of Europe’s popular right-wing parties. They are not talking about building their own Guantanamos; they’d rather pay for more language lessons and train teachers to spot signs of trouble among students.

This can be, and often is, read as a sign of weakness. Indeed, countries without large immigrant communities and with little history of Islamist terrorism, such as Bulgaria and Hungary, have been tougher than western

European nations, building border walls or passing tougher antiterror laws that erode press freedoms and the presumption of innocence. Western European leaders who talk about constitutional limits to such activities, such as French President Francois Hollande, are criticized as wimpy, and they do worse in polls as a consequence.

It would be easy for politicians to go the whole hog on security and reap political points.

Hollande certainly needs them, and if he drove a hard line, the French, for whom security is now the No. 1 worry, would probably reward him. For Merkel, whose support is down to 2005 levels while the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party has gained in the polls, it wouldn’t be much of a flip to get

tougher on crime committed by immigrants: She is, after all, the leader of a conservative party.

And yet the leaders aren’t doing things that could boost their popularity and steal nativist thunder.

Are they so clueless and so helpless?

Hardly. A recent study of European “foreign fighters” by the International Center for CounterTerrorism in The Hague, which collected data from most EU members, says this: Most foreign fighters originate from urban neighborhoods where many foreign fighters apparently grew up together, suggesting that offline, face-to-face contact is still very important, at least in the final stages of the radicalization process towards violent extremism and recruitment for the violent jihad.

Sources: Gallup, General Social Survey, Pew Research, AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research

The missing case for medical marijuana Bloomberg Editorial Board THE federal Drug Enforcement Administration has just issued a helpful reminder to all Americans. In denying a petition to loosen restrictions on marijuana, the agency repeated that the drug has “no currently accepted medical use” in the US. This may come as a surprise, given that 25 states already allow doctors to prescribe marijuana to treat maladies from PTSD to Alzheimer’s disease. Yet the truth is, research has yet to find firm evidence that marijuana can alleviate physical suffering.

That the political push for medicinal marijuana has gotten so far ahead of science explains why marijuana is still properly classified as a Schedule I controlled substance. It’s also why the Obama administration, in other big marijuana news this week, was right to enable more medical studies of the drug by increasing the supply available to researchers.

Marijuana’s unearned reputation as a therapeutic drug is partly an outgrowth of its contradictory legal status in the US. Federal law forbids the possession, use and sale of marijuana for any reason. States wanting to get around this prohibition have found it most publicly acceptable to allow limited use, and have latched on to claims that pot can help treat various ailments—for example, the nausea caused by chemotherapy; pain and muscle spasms from multiple sclerosis; epilepsy; Crohn’s disease; and glaucoma.

Still, the science behind such claims is, at best, preliminary.

And too little is known about marijuana’s potential side effects on bronchial and cardiac health, fetal and teenage brain development and, of course, addiction.

Doctors in states that have legalized medicinal marijuana have essentially been left on their own to figure out how to respond to patient requests. Just this week, the Federation of State Medical Boards issued guidelines, which, in the absence of data on marijuana’s usefulness, are by necessity limited. Doctors are advised to keep accurate records, to avoid prescribing marijuana to people with substance abuse disorders, to “discuss the risks and benefits,” and to remind patients not to operate heavy machinery while under the influence. That’s sound advice, but applicable to just about… anything.

Marijuana research studies are properly controlled and monitored by both the DEA and the Food and Drug Administration.

But they have also been limited more than necessary by a DEA rule that has authorized only the University of Mississippi to grow marijuana for research purposes. Other universities will now be licensed to grow marijuana, and that is expected to greatly expand the supply available for research.

Marijuana is already widely used as medicine in the US. The more studies that can get under way, the sooner a confused public can learn with some empirical certainty whether its spread is for good or ill, and the sooner the science can catch up to the politics.

The radicals and terrorists are often bred by the ghettos, their inadequate schools, their climate of despair, the prisons they feed.

The tougher and more dangerous a country’s poor districts, where many immigrants settle upon arrival, the better the radicals know how to kill. That would partially explain the higher casualty rate of terror attacks in France and Belgium than in Germany or in Scandinavian countries, where the bad areas can be depressing but far less violent than, say, France’s infamous banlieues.

Tougher security measures and more discrimination against Muslims who, thanks to powerful terror organizations such as Islamic State, already face a high radicalization risk, could worsen the climate in the poor urban areas and produce more rather than

less successful terror attacks. So western European governments focus on soft prevention—outreach, more focus on integrations and community cohesion—and a tougher response to actual crimes rather than on making life harder for potential recruits.

Newcomers to depressed neighborhoods, whatever their original intentions, cannot achieve much unless they find local support, active or silent. That is not something that can be resolved with tighter security measures, and measures such as a burqa ban can only make things worse. European authorities are learning to watch, listen and talk to potential radicals so that the potential is never realized; they are also concerned about reducing the ghetto tension. That’s not weakness—it’s the smart thing to do. Bloomberg

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Pursuing goals in and out of the field

N HIS blue uniform and knee-high sports socks, it’s easy to imagine this young football player with the laidback and unassuming attitude as anyone but a corporate president and CEO. But like any successful individual who defies clichés, that’s his fascinating flipside.

Despite the demands of his new position at the helm of credit card provider RCBC Bankard Services Corporation, the 36-year-old Simon Calasanz makes it a point to lead an active lifestyle.

That’s why, on a regular basis, he goes to the gym, does boxing, and on some fine, sunny Saturdays, heads out to the fields with his teammates and hits the ball running.

Football is the sport that Calasanz has loved since he was practically a preschooler.

“I started playing football when I was three or four years old, then joined the varsity team at Colegio San Agustin,” said the bespectacled young man.

He took up tennis in high school and college, and then picked up football again four years ago. Now he’s part of the team playing for Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in the Corporate Football League, which was organized in 2012.

Sports, he acknowledges, helps feed his hunger for achievement outside the boardroom. His journey to the top of the pressure-filled yet dynamic financial ser-

Simon Calasanz is part of the team playing for Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation in the Corporate Football League, which was organized in 2012.

vices industry, taken in just 14 years, exemplifies his belief to make things better, personally and professionally.

“I started from the bottom, as a credit analyst at HSBC in 2002. From there, I received a series of promotions that landed me in the positions of Assistant Manager for MIS team and then Product Management head,” he said.

Simon then became the President and Chairman of the Credit Card Association of the Philippines from 2009-2012.

“I represented the industry in the Senate, Congress, and Sectoral Meetings at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas,” he said. “It was an honor and a privilege because, to occupy that position, you would have Simon Calasanz: People on the ground are the best ones to tell you if there’s a need to improve a process, and because I give importance to what to gain the respect and trust they say, we earn each other’s respect and give back greater value. of very senior members in the

credit card industry.”

After a three-year stint in sales and service that rounded out his experience in retail banking, Calasanz was invited to head RCBC’s credit card issuing company, RCBC Bankard. The previous President and CEO, Oscar Biason, is credited with turning the company around into a solidly profitable business.

To continue that legacy, Calasanz has broad stroke strategies put in place that include strengthening relationship with acquisition channels and partners, growing RCBC Bankard’s receivable base through more product innovations, and enhancement of processes and technologies.

“In the short term, I want to turn out a P1 billion portfolio,” he said. “Last year, we made P700 million. With the initia-

tives we’ve now put in place, the P1 billion target in three years looks to be achievable by the end of this year.”

Just as in football where teamwork is essential, Calasanz makes it a point to bond with his staff.

“I don’t like it when people think individualistically,” he said. “You may be working under different teams, but we’re all after the same goal, which is to make RCBC Bankard successful, to serve our customers, and protect the interests of our shareholders.”

Though he has risen to the very top, Calasanz keeps both feet at ground level.

“On a regular basis, I have coffee with about 15 to 20 individuals from across my company, people from compliance, managers, those who capture

data and who are in charge of administration. People on the ground are the best ones to tell you if there’s a need to improve a process, and because I give importance to what they say, we earn each other’s respect and give back greater value,” he continued.

He also meets and converses regularly with key stakeholders, especially with merchant partners, to look for opportunities to help each other.

While Calasanz reports directly to the RBSC Board of directors, he also updates RCBC chairperson Helen Y. Dee, who he said displays a strong affinity for the credit card business.

Naturally, so many plans and big expectations keep him on his toes a lot—making him fleet-footed on and off the field.

Alaska team owner rejects special draft

By Reuel Vidal ALASKA Aces team owner Wilfred S. Uytengsu explained that he did not propose a special draft for the members of the Gilas Cadets national team but rather for them to be part of the coming regular 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Draft.

“I have been reading about how the PBA has accepted my proposal for the Gilas cadets joining the PBA draft and I would just like to clarify, that what they have said they will do is not my proposal at all. I have proposed that the Gilas cadets join the PBA draft, not that we create a separate draft for them,” said Uytengsu in a statement.

The Alaska team owner said the purpose of the PBA Draft was to create parity in the league for better competition. This is why teams with the worst records get the early picks to strengthen their lineups.

“First, the draft allows the weaker teams to draft earlier bringing in new talent to teams that need it the most, and the stronger teams have to draft later. It is a tremendous opportunity for teams like Blackwater and Mahindra to draft two future

league superstars from Gilas, or to acquire a talented player who can play for them immediately,” he said.

Second, allowing the Gilas Cadets to join the PBA draft and not create a separate draft for them will make the PBA draft the most exciting draft that the league has ever seen.

“All of a sudden, teams have to decide whether or not they will draft a Gilas player who may not be available for 1-4 years, or they pick a player who is ready right now.

“For all of the diehard PBA fans, especially the ones that love fantasy basketball, everyone gets to look into and analyze the difficulty of the decisions that will be made in the draft. These are talking points that will last for years to come, and it puts pressure on the team managers and coaches to make good decisions,” said Uytengsu Third, allowing the Gilas Cadets to join the PBA Draft avoids any controversy and need to continually set up different special drafts every year for the Gilas Cadets.

“What do we do when the Gilas cadets only want to get three players to add to their team? Do we hold a separate draft for only those three players?

Alaska Aces team owner Wilfred S. Uytengsu wants the Gilas Cadets to be part of the regular PBA Draft and not for the PBA to hold a special draft.

If so, how would we determine who gets to pick those three players? Is it the bottom three teams?

If so, do they pick first again when the regular PBA draft begins? This would then defeat the original purpose of the PBA draft, which is to ensure parity,” said Uytengsu.

Fourth, it avoids creating a situation in the league which may encourage tanking.

“Trying to lose games so that you can get a pick in a special Gilas cadets draft, and an early first round pick is not good for the fans, it dishonors the game, and as such it is not good for the league,” he said.

Fifth, allowing the Gilas Cadets to join the PBA draft instead of creating a special draft for them, will prevent maneuvering to manipulate the draft for a specific team or group’s needs.

“So, to reiterate, having a separate Gilas cadets draft was never my idea and in fact runs counter to my idea. I believe what I proposed is the best situation for the PBA to show it’s whole hearted support for the national team, for the SBP to show its support for the PBA, providing the winwin situation that is above politics and what the Filipino fans deserve,” said Uytengsu.

Sports

Cobra IRONMAN 70.3 Cebu grows

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Participants in the 2016 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship crash into the seawaters at the start of the triathlon race held in Cebu last weekend.

beyond expectations

Alaska Milk and Sunrise Events President and CEO Fred Uytengsu (right) Caroline Steffen after she crossed the finish line to win women’s category of the 2016 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship held in Cebu last weekend.

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IM Reed and Caroline Steffen started slowly but eventually asserted their will over the field to rule the 2016 Cobra IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship held in Cebu last weekend. Reed won his second consecutive IRONMAN 70.3 title in Cebu.

Steffen has proven to be unbeatable with her fifth consecutive victory.

But the bigger story has been how do you grow an event of a then-niche sport like triathlon to become the country’s premiere sports spectacle of the year?

What started with a little over 500 participants in Camarines Sur eight years ago has grown to an international spectacle that drew 3,000 participants from 43 countries last weekend.

These included 35 elite professional triathletes, 2,869 equally determined competitors in the Filipino elite, CEOs, age groups and relay divisions. Interest was so high worldwide that when registration opened last October, the 2,900 slots available to the public were sold out in just 28 minutes.

Alaska Milk and Sunrise Events President and CEO Wilfred S. Uytengsu, organizer of Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Philippines, says you first start with an objective of what you want to accomplish, execute that plan by staging your event and work like hell to

improve every year.

Uytengsu said Cobra IRONMAN 70.3 started as a vision: A sports event which benefits the nation, involves the community where it is held, attracts the general public to participate and generates good habits among everyone especially the youth.

Uytengsu then tied up with a world class international organization and brought the IRONMAN brand to the Philippines.

Then he assembled a cast of the best triathletes in the world to come to the Philippines to join the races. He dealt with these pros honestly and fairly. They in turn gave their all-out effort and support for the event.

The participation of the best triathletes as well as the international brand of IRONMAN meant that the event had the necessary credibility and gravitas to not just attract the attention but also the respect of the public.

“It’s not every event where

Eventual 2016 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship winner Tim Reed negotiates the climb up the Marcelo Fernan Bridge in the race held in Cebu last weekend.

participants can toe the line with the best in their sport and that is a big come on for the age groupers whose numbers continue to increase every year,” said Uytengsu.

He then tied up with the provincial government and LGUs first in Camarines Sur and then in Cebu.

The local volunteers, knowing that the event would help their communities, worked tirelessly and selflessly to ensure its success.

A familiar refrain of the athletes was the overwhelming response of the public to the race. Thousands lined the route along the five cit-

Abu Hijle, Red Cubs seek 8th consecutive NCAA crown

By Peter Atencio

Fil-Jordanian Sam Abu Hijle (left) drives strong to the paint. Peter Atencio

WITH the second round of the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association junior basketball wars in full swing, a sixfoot-three Fil Jordanian emerged as one of the top players in the roster of the San Beda Red Cubs.

Sam Abu Hijle leads the Red Cubs with his averages of 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds.

He’s the San Beda player who’s given the most playing time on the floor with 22.5 minutes per game.

A former football player back in elementary, Abu Hijle gives credit to his coaches and his teammates for his good showing the past three years.

“We’re having good wins because of team effort. Nasa teammates and coaches ko ito. Sa tiwala nila sa akin,” said Abu Hijle after a game at The Arena in San Juan.

He played his best game of the season, with 30 points and 14 rebounds, when the Red Cubs smashed the San Sebastian Staglets, 74-66.

Seventeen-year-old Abu Hijle and his sixfoot-six teammate Germy Mahinay are consid-

ered the towers of strength of the Red Cubs in their quest for an eighth straight championship.

With their intimidating presence underneath, the Red Cubs managed to fight their way to the top of the standings to emerge as finals contenders again.

Other than the pair, Joshua Tagala, Eduardo Velasquez, Robi Nayve and Carlo Obenza are among the players who provide the numbers for the Red Cubs.

Tagala norms 12 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.3 steals, while Velasquez can give 8.9 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 assists.

The Red Cubs are not unscathed this season. Their loss to the Arellano University Braves, 93-90, denied them a sweep of the eliminations and an outright seat in the championship. They will have to fight for a Final Four seat to get to the finals this time.

“With our standing, we’re OK although we let one game slip past us. Kahit paano, dikit ang game. But we let it slip past us,” said Red Cubs coach JB Sison.

But the second round has proven to be tougher.

“Iba na ang preparation ng mga team sa second round, mas intense,” said Sison.

ies of Cebu province traversed by the participants. There was a festive fiesta atmosphere to the whole proceedings making it more than just a sports event and more a celebration of the sights and sounds of Metro Cebu.

According to Uytengsu the biggest single factor which ensured the success of the Cobra Ironman Philippines is the uniqueness of Philippine hospitality where everyone welcomes strangers warmly like long-lost relatives.

“Honestly this event has grown beyond all my expectations. But in my 30 years in business and in work I always had one credo: Good enough, never is. There will always be something that we can do better.

“My gratitude goes out to everyone who has been part of this IronMan. It has been such a privilege to be part of all this,” said Uytengsu.

The Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship race was viewed worldwide

live via streaming on www.ironman.com, courtesy of Globe.

Even celebrities eagerly participated including Dingdong Dantes, Piolo Pascual, Matteo Guidicelli, Anthony Pangilinan, Gretchen Fullido, Bubbles Paraiso, Ella Pangilian, Sam YG, Xander Angeles, Ivan Carapiet, Kim Atienza, Paul Jake Castillo, Gilbert Remulla and Dyan Castillejo.

Other sponsors of the event are Alaska Milk, Philippine Airlines, Summit Water, Department of Tourism, Tourism Promotions Board, 2Go Express, Asics, Gatorade, Prudential Guarantee, Oakley, Timex, David’s Salon, Intercare, Gu gel, Kenneth Cobonpue, Megaworld Mactan Newtown, Sun Life Financial, TYR, technology partner Xurpas and official hotels Shangri-La Mactan Resort and Spa, Be Resorts Mactan, Crimson Resort and Spa Mactan, Waterfront Hotel and Casino Mactan and Movenpick Hotel Mactan Island Cebu.

Cebu Vice Governor Agnes Almendras Magpale fires the starting gun of the 2016 Cobra Energy Drink IRONMAN 70.3 Asia Pacific Championship held in Cebu last weekend.

Riera U. Mallari, Editor Reuel Vidal, Assistant Editor sports@thestandard.com.ph sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

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Sports Tabuena

Tabuena drops to a share of 54th

USA’s guard Paul George goes to the basket during a Men’s round Group A basketball match between USA and Serbia at the Carioca Arena 1 in Rio de Janeiro during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. AFP

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NBA stars struggle past Serbians

IO DE JANEIRO—The vaunted USA basketball squad survived a last-second scare from Serbia on Friday to win 94-91 in a Rio Olympics contest that exposed their potential vulnerability for a second straight game.

With a historic upset brewing, Serbia’s Bogdan Bogdanovic missed a threepointer with two seconds left to hand the defending champions a grind-it-out victory and plenty to ponder about the fastflowing international game.

Kyrie Irving’s 15 points led six Americans in double figures in a contest that at first looked like a rout thanks to a swarming USA defence.

But Serbian big men Nikola Jokic—the only team member to earn a living in the NBA—and Miroslav Raduljica brought the underdogs back as the Serbian offence kept finding ways to penetrate.

USA guard Paul George admitted that the high-priced American talent—who only began playing as a unit a few weeks ago—were still adjusting to international play.

“We relied on natural talent to get us over this one,” George said.

“That’s why these international guys are special in our league. They really know how to move.”

The USA has won the last three Olympic gold medals and 14 in total.

Now at 4-0 in group play, they were already guaranteed of a spot in the knockout phase starting next week.

Close call But a loss would have been a stunning first in the Olympics since 2004, and first internationally in a decade.

The Serbs came even closer to an upset than medal hopefuls Australia, who two days earlier pushed the champions throughout much of a 9888 American win.

The USA defence smothered the Serbs early, forcing eight first-quarter turnovers to jump out to an 18-point advantage.

Three straight slam-dunks, two on alley-oops by US centre DeAndre Jordan, made it 23-5 late in the first period, and it appeared NBA showtime had started.

But American mental miscues and sloppy passes prevented them from putting the hammer down as action became disjointed.

The Serbs closed to 50-41 at halftime thanks to 14 first-half points inside by Raduljica, who finished with 18.

The 2.09-meter (6-foot-10) Jokic, who is just 21 but expected by many to emerge as a star for the Denver Nuggets, took over in the second half, repeatedly eluding his markers en route to 25 points.

USA coach Mike Krzyzewski called Jokic “spectacular.”

“He played with the poise of a player much older. He had a great game,” Krzyzewski said.

“We need to expect that from players.

We’re going to get their best shot.”

The Serbs got it down to 94-91 with a minute to play.

The USA then missed three shots that could have secured the win, setting up Bogdanovic’s three-point miss.

George said the USA players were “not too concerned,” adding that they were still getting to know each other and such challenges were valuable learning experiences for the medal rounds.

Serbia, now 1-3, must beat 0-4 China on Sunday to stay alive for the knockout phase.

In other Group A games, Australia routed winless China 93-68, and France did the same to Venezuela, 96-56.

With an expected win over Venezuela on Sunday, the relieved Aussies look set to avoid the USA in the medal round until the final, if they get that far.

France also booked a spot in the quarterfinals but must pull off an upset of the USA on Sunday to have any hope of entering the kinder bracket. AFP

Buncios advocating safety in racing A FAMILIAR name is making a comeback in the fast and furious world of superbikes’ racing.

Jacq Buncio, youngest sister of the late superbikes champion Maico, recently made history as the 1st female rider to win first place in the Pirelli Cup Superbike Championship against numerous 300(cc)s and 390(cc)s using her Yamaha R-3 at Clark International Speedway, Angeles Pampanga.

“After Maico’s death and (his brother) Barny’s retirement, we never thought we’d go back to racing again,” said Jacq’s mother Mylene Buncio. “We thought that the girls (Jacq and Des) would learn the family business so they Jacq Buncio, youngest sister of the late superbikes champion Maico, can mind it later.” leaves her competition behind.

But cliché as it may seem, racing is the Buncio family’s genes.

“Jacq was devastated, as we all porting my daughters’ races made Patriarch Gregorio “Yoyong” were, when Maico succumbed to our family whole again. We can Buncio was a winning motocross his injuries,” said Yoyong. “But feel Maico’s presence when we’re rider in his youth. His sons, Maico she kept bugging me to teach her in a racing circuit and he’s watchand Barny, were motorcycle rac- to ride. When Mylene and I finally ing over his sisters.” ing champions until Maico died permitted her to go racing, Jacq Yoyong added: “I never thought that we’d be able to recover from of crash-related injuries in May was overjoyed.”

The Buncios believe that racing Maico’s death. But racing became a 2011, while Barny opted to retire and start a family. Now, Yoyong’s has made their family whole again. sort of therapy for our family. And two daughters—Maria Lourdes “With Jacq and Des out on the we feel that we are here back on (Des) and Jacquelyn (Jacq)—are track, I still feel nervous like I did the track for a purpose and that is to tracing the championship steps of when Maico was racing,”confessed preach safety in racing. The need for Mylene. “But watching and sup- speed is achieved on the race track their father and brothers.

and not on the streets. That is one of the philosophies that we are preaching, that’s why we are here.”

On the track, Jacq Buncio, the faster of the two female Buncios, made sure of living up to her family’s winning tradition.

Jacq won 1st place in the Pirelli Cup, Lightweight (A) Category during the 4th leg of the Superbike

Jacq Buncio’s feat was made more special by the fact that she did it against male competition, against the current best Circuit Racers.

Championship and got 2nd Place in the UBK Championship, 115 Novice Category the same day, a feat made more special by the fact that she did it against male competition, against the current best Circuit Racers.

In the racing community, Des and Jacq are making a name for themselves but they did it on their own merits. Both have been consistently going up the leader board with Jacq getting more wins than her eldest sister.

These Mandaluyong-bred & O.B. Montessorians ladies are fun to watch on the track and, like their late bother Maico, always polite and pleasant to talk to.

And like Maico, they’re beginning to have their own fans, admirers and sponsors like; Top1 Oil, MotoScoot, 4S1M for Jacq & including Kojiesan beauty products for both of them.

“I’m the faster sister,” Jacq would always tease Des. “I’m the prettier one,” Des would retort.

It doesn’t matter, though now, which one is the faster or betterlooking. What matters is that the Buncios are making sure Maico’s passing didn’t go for naught.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Miguel Tabuena tried to ignore the pain on his right shoulder Friday, but could only score a four-over-par 75 as he dropped to a share of 54th place after 36 holes of play in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The 21-year-old Tabuena, tied for 42nd after the first round, complained of a hurting shoulder. He said he started feeling the pain Thursday but hoped it would get better.

It got worse during the second round, saying it hurts most on his finish.

The injury bothered Tabuena during the entire round which started with a morning drizzle and ended with a flash of sunlight in the afternoon. With his opening-round 73, he now has a 148 total, tied with three others at 54th among 60 entries.

Marcus Fraser of Australia held on to the lead, hitting a 69 after a 63 for a 132 total, just a stroke ahead of Thomas Pieters of Belgium (67-66) and two up on reigning French Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden (66-68).

Six players, including Justin Rose of Great Britain, are within five strokes behind the leader, making the final two rounds of the competition at the brand new Olympic Golf Course as exciting as any of the five Majors.

Tabuena tried his best under the circumstance.

“If this wasn’t the Olympics and if I didn’t have this flag on my shirt, I would have pulled out already. But we have two more days and anything can happen,” said the reigning Philippine Open champion, hoping to get better in the last two days.

From the course, Tabuena went straight to the Athletes Village where Martin Camara, a noted chiropractor in the Philippines, checked on his shoulder. A Brazilian chiropractor also came by to help assess the injury.

Late in the afternoon, Tabuena was seen watching the closing holes of the second round on television, at the Philippine quarters, with athletic (kinesiology) tape on his right shoulder. He was asked how his shoulder felt.

“I’m okay now but not a hundred percent yet. I hope it gets better in the morning,” said Tabuena, looking forward to his 7:41 a.m. flight with Yuta Ikeda of Japan (74-69-143) and Kakko Roope of Finland (72-76-148).

Camara, who helps oversee the condition of the Filipino athletes here, said he worked on Tabuena’s shoulder injury, something “that was coming from the neck area and needed a simple realignment of the muscles.”

“I played with what I had.

Actually I am feeling a bit of pain on my right shoulder now.

It started Thursday morning when I woke up. It’s not a really, really painful pain, but it’s something that I think about,” said Tabuena.

“It’s bad enough to get me thinking about that instead of my golf. This is the first time I felt this. I’ve had a wrist injury, back pains but I never had pain on my right shoulder. It’s a funny feeling. It hurts in the follow through and finish,” he said.

Tabuena started off with a bogey, parred the next two holes, and had another bogey on the fourth to slide down to four-over for the tournament.

He birdied the fifth and eighth holes, sandwiching a doublebogey on the seventh.

2 educational theme parks open in Pasay

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COUPLE who runs the largest ink refilling company in the Philippines has built a mobile application to oversee, manage and empower field employees deployed in the company’s different branches across the country.

Tarkie, the app they developed, has caught the attention of other companies with similar large numbers of employees working outside the office. A play on the word ‘tracking’, Tarkie now helps 20 companies improve productivity of more than 1,000 employees and in the process boost sales.

“Tarkie is our productivity solution for our field employees,” says Rio Palabrica-Ilao, president of Mobile Optima Inc., the Pasig City-based company behind the pioneering mobile app.

Rio and her husband Jerry Ilao are the owners of SimpleLife Technologies Inc., the company that operates Ink All-You-Can Systems, which started supplying ink in 2005 and now has 20 branches and 100 employees nationwide.

Rio and Jerry, both Ateneo graduates, first met in 2006 at Procter & Gamble where she used to work as a finance executive in Singapore and he as an accountant in Makati.

Jerry, who launched the ink supply business in 2005, decided to go full time in the business a year later just before they got married.

“We had a long-distance relationship in 2006. When we were about to get married, he decided to resign and go full time in business. It was a big decision and a big risk, because he would have no fixed-income.

The salary at P&G, being a multinational company, was okay. So he had to forego that big salary in exchange for the uncertainty of the business,” Rio says in an interview in Makati City.

Jerry’s bold decision paid off, as Ink All-You-Can turned profitable. “We have expanded and we now have 20 branches located at SM Supermalls,” says Rio, who obtained a degree in Management Engineering from Ateneo de Manila University in 2001.

Rio decided to join the family business in 2009. Three years later, the couple launched another business. “In 2012, we decided to set up our tech company, Mobile Optima Inc.,

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

B1

Filipino couple invents app to manage field employees

Mobile Optima Inc. president Rio Palabrica-Ilao

the company behind Tarkie,” she says.

Rio, a 34-year-old mother of three, heads Mobile Optima while Jerry is in charge of Ink All-You-Can. Mobile Optima, a digital marketing and software company with 20 employees, has already developed technology solutions such as Perxclub, a mobile loyalty app; Peetow, an advanced sales and inventory system; and Timsie, a timekeeping solution.

Rio is most optimistic about the company’s fourth product—Tarkie, which now generates large revenues for the company, just 18 months after

Cebu weaver bags social enterprise award

CEBU-BASED weaving advocacy social enterprise AntHill or Alternative Nest and Trading/Training Hub for Indigenous/Ingenious Little Livelihood seekers is the overall winner of the Developmental Social Enterprise Awards 2016 presented by Isla Lipana & Co., the Philippine member firm of the PwC global network, and Benita & Catalino Yap Foundation.

AntHill was established as a social and cultural enterprise to preserve and promote the rich Philippine weaving culture among younger generations by applying them into contemporary designs. This provides sustainable livelihood for its partner weaving community enterprises.

The finalists are AdvoCafé, which gives indigenous peoples access to sustainable livelihood program, education and governance system; Bag943, designer, maker and seller of good quality backpacks for the benefit of poor schoolchildren; Bayanibrew, maker of ready-to-drink iced teas that are naturally brewed using indigenous crops sourced from organic farming communities; and Sentro Ha Pagpauswag Ha Panginabuhin Inc., whose seaweeds ventures help Samar’s rural communities diversify their livelihoods and increase their income.

These Filipino enterprises committed to social objectives through received the awards in a ceremony at Club Filipino in Greenhills, San Juan City.

In its second year, the DSE Awards cites enterprises embodying the values of citizenship, sustainability and social responsibility, as well as those that put central importance on human dignity.

“We at PwC pay tribute to social enterprises as key contributors to society and the economy. It makes sense for us to use our skills, experience and relationships to support these enterprises. And we’re started that with the first DSEA winner and finalists, and will continue with this year’s honorees,” says Alexander Cabrera, chairman and senior partner of Isla Lipana & Co. Antonio Yap, chairman of BCY Foundation says the search for deserving social enterprises has been successful. “Those that joined DSEA 2016 are a very impressive lot and we would like to think that social enterprises today have become more conscious on the importance of having good business practices while doing social good,” Yap says.

it was introduced in the market.

She says Tarkie is especially designed to monitor the itinerary and expenses of field employees to ensure they are doing the right job at the right place and at the right time.

The mobile app uses GPS and the internet for location-tagging and audit trails which record employee locations and routes.

It also serves as productivity tool because it manages the schedule of the field workers.

Rio says with Trackie, managers can easily monitor field employees’ activities on a web dashboard while employees can prepare reports with just a

press of a button on the mobile app.

Aside from Ink All-YouCan, other companies taking advantage of Tarkie’s monitoring capability now include Bounty Fresh Chicken, the company behind the popular roasted chicken chain Chooks-to-Go; DGPI, operator of The Generics Pharmacy and a large healthcare company.

Rio says the development of Tarkie stemmed from an actual need in the workplace. “There were no solutions available at that time. We have many branches of Ink All-You-Can, and we needed a solution to

manage our field workers,” she says.

“Aside from my full-time job, I am also a mother. The challenge was how to manage the people in the office even without seeing them personally.

With that need, we tried to have several solutions, and Tarkie is our final productivity solution for field employees,” says Rio. She said Ink All-You-Can now uses Tarkie to manage the movement of its field employees, including branch coordinators, auditors, delivery team members and technicians.

This has boosted productivity, as it removed the need for the head office to constantly call or text the field employees.

“With Tarkie, managers don’t have to call and interrupt the work of their field employees.

They just check Tarkie and they know what their employees are doing. They don’t have to disrupt them,” she says. Tarkie works on Android phone, while a version for IoS is currently in the works.

“We had a prototype for Tarkie in 2013 and we started operating the business last quarter of 2014.

In the Philippines, as far as we know, we are the first to offer this solution,” she says.

Rio says Tarkie was also designed to work offline. “It has separate signals for internet and GPS. So it still works offline,” says Rio. “So far, we are at the revenue stage. There are over 1,000 employees from 20 companies using Tarkie nationwide,” she says.

Rio says these companies chose to tap Tarkie to help them manage their field employees.

“One thing we have shown is that Tarkie has really helped improve productivity and performance in general. One of our clients saw a 50-percent improvement in terms of audited stores. Another client saw sales increase 25 percent,” says Rio. Rio says employees also benefit from the solution. “Field employees used to spend half a day to prepare weekly reports.

With Tarkie, they can now generate a complete report with just a press of the mobile app. One employee says from half a day, report generation is now as fast as five minutes.

This also removes human error in preparation of time sheet, and Tarkie is integrated in the

payroll system.”

Rio says Tarkie also serves as a personal assistant or secretary of employees, as it reminds them of their schedule. “Honest employees really like Tarkie, as it makes their jobs easier.

We want to build a culture of integrity and honesty among employees.”

The target, she says, is to have 40 companies using Tarkie by end of 2016. “We have 20 companies so far, but this year, we hope to at least double that.

So far, we are on track,” she says. “Next year, our target is to reach at least 100. From 40 to 100 companies. We will adjust from there.”

Tarkie is a subscription-based service. Rio says the first three major clients who have used the solution for 12 months ended up renewing their contracts.

“Pricing is per field employee,” she says.

Rio expects Tarkie to register a profit as early as this year, but she says joining an incubation program such as the one offered

by IdeaSpace Foundation Inc. can still help the company in terms of expanding nationwide and even overseas.

Tarkie is one of the ten Filipino startups that won the support of IdeaSpace, the country’s largest business incubator and accelerator. The ten groups, selected from nearly 600 applicants from all over the country, will receive P500,000 in equity-free funding, on top of non-cash benefits such as training and mentoring.

“We have no background in investor pitch. That’s one area where we learned from IdeaSpace. Although I am the head of the company, I still appreciate the need for training support from IdeaSpace. Now I am forced to report to them, prepare presentations and think. I actually like that. It is a different level of mentorship.

I feel that I will learn a lot from other wiser people,” says Rio. Rio says participating in IdeaSpace program will also help instil discipline in terms of planning for growth. “How do we plan for growth in a bigger scale? How do we make this accessible to companies nationwide? Right now, we are just in Metro Manila. We are now focused on growing Tarkie,” she says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

B2

Business

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

2 Pasay theme parks open to educate Filipino students

Elite Techno Park

Creative Science Exhibit Inc. vice president Rina Fernandez

By Othel V. Campos

T

WO educational theme parks, which support the K to 12 program, have recently opened in Pasay City to spark students’ interest in arts, science and technology.

Theme park developer Creative Science Exhibit Inc., with the support of Elitech Corp., opened Elite Techno Park and Raya Theme Park in the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex.

“Our direction in developing theme parks has always been for the promotion of a learning system that is not only informational, but the journey to learning should be as fun and exciting as the rides in an

entertainment theme park,” says CSEI vice president and general manager Rina Fernandez.

Elite Techno Park is the country’s first technological theme park that features the techno-vocational track of the K to 12 program.

The park provides hands-on activities in semi-conductor and electronics, mechanic and automotive, air-conditioning and refrigeration, information technology, robotics, renewable

energy and climatic conditions as well as disaster awareness and preparedness.

The company believes that after the tour, students will develop higher appreciation for the tech-voc track and will be better equipped with knowledge that will support future career aspirations.

Fernandez says the park went through a very rigorous process of conceptualization, physical planning and construction that took two years.

CSEI needed the support of the Elitech, also co-owned by the Fernandez family, to finance and equip the parks with actual machines that will run demos and provide hands-on tutorial on featured modules.

Elitech is Filipino company supplying capital equipment to semiconductors and electronics manufacturing firms operating

in economic zones.

It provides funding as well as technical support to the parks.

Investment has so far reached P20 million that was basically spent in the construction of two buildings and land lease with the CCP management for 25 years.

“Most of the machines we are using for the techno park were donated by principals of Elitech.

Since my husband co-owns and manages Elitech, we didn’t face difficulties in bringing in the equipment needed to showcase the tech-voc track,” says Fernandez.

“K to 12 [program] is our sole inspiration for getting on with this project. In fact many schools took an interest in our park.

We’ve had several day trips from as far as Bicol and Northern Luzon. Some parents have also took a liking for our theme parks that they plan to bring their other

Impact Hub Manila cofounder LizAn Kuster (seated, left) along with the winning teams for the cohort phase of the Impact Hub Fellowship Program on Sustainable Energy Solutions.

Young entrepreneurs display sustainable energy solutions EIGHT teams with innovative ideas on sustainable energy solutions have qualified for the cohort phase of Impact Hub Fellowship Program on Sustainable Energy Solutions.

Impact Hub Manila, World Wide Fund for Nature Philippines and Peace and Equity Foundation teamed up to search for ideas on sustainable energy solutions.

After an application period of five weeks, 16 teams were pre-selected by the experts through a grueling deliberation on July 28, 2016. The chosen entrepreneurs were then given the opportunity to pitch before a jury panel. Judges awarded eight teams and gave them the opportunity to be part of the cohort phase.

The selected teams are the following: Cleverheat aims to provide heat-driven refrigeration and airconditioning system in order to significantly reduce costs by cutting electric consumption.

HiGi Energy converts water hyacinth and agricultural waste into cooking energy like briquettes for lowincome communities.

RE Analytics provides highly accurate energy forecasts through machine learning and superior climate analytics.

Solar Sari-Sari Store provides solar energy station or facility focused on empowering local communities.

Juan Generators makes kinetic wind sculptures that produce electricity.

Kitchen Energy for Island Communities provides a home biogas systems to be used to decompose kitchen wastes to provide energy for cooking and fertilizers as by-product.

Big Mike Bike provides bicycles that convert the rotatory motion into electrical energy.

Team Triad / Electric Motorbikes offers an logistical solution for deliveries by use of electric motorcycles and a battery swapping station at key location points.

“With the teams now proceeding to the cohort stage, we look forward to their outputs for the Fellowship,” said first Mobility Fellowship winner Matthew Cua, who served as one of the judges.

The Pitch Day on Aug. 6, 2016 at one of Impact Hub Manila’s newest locations at KMC Solutions, Uptown Tower in Fort Bonifacio brought together some of the most innovative ideas on energy.

“As an incubator and the goal bringing entrepreneurs further, it is inspiring to see all the applicants get better in such a short period of time,” said LizAn Kuster, co-founder of Impact Hub Manila.

The winning teams will undergo an intensive bootcamp, called kick program. The training will include

topics on business model canvas, customer discovery and targeting, business strategy and lean methodology with a day-by-day schedule, daily exercises and a full online/flipped educational course access.

“Through the cohort stage, the teams will be guided on building the business aspect of their enterprise and at the same time this allows us to determine which teams deserve the seed funding the most,” said Robert Calingo, executive director of the Peace & Equity Foundation.

The teams will have the chance to win more than P2.5 million worth of fellowship prizes including the business training in the cohort stage. The rest includes P1.5 million seed funding, other forms of training, mentorship, access to Impact Hub Manila’s flexible work spaces and valuable network.

A rigorous training for six weeks await the teams that aim to further refine their business models, preparing them for the final pitching day where two to three ideas will be awarded as Impact Hub fellows.

Set on Oct. 6, 2016, the final pitch day will propel the winners to even greater stakes as they go through the incubation phase from November 2016 to April 2017. During this phase, the fellows will undergo further training to make sure they are investment and scaling ready.

kids here, on a family outing,” says Fernandez.

Inside the park, high school and even college students have the opportunity to observe, feel and tinker with semiconductor products such the wafer and semiconductor chips that power gadgets, cellular phones, computer, tablets and electronic consumer goods.

A module features how robots are utilized in industrial processes to make work easier and more accurate.

As many as 400 tour operators have already signed contracts with CSEI for school trips. The park is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. “But we also accommodate special request from schools, especially those coming from the provinces to open as early 6 as a.m. since they arrive at the site early,” Fernandez says.

CSEI is not new to the theme

park business. It has previously managed Seriland at Manila Ocean Park and Creative Thinker also in the CCP Complex.

“The continuous upgrade and creation of new concept send our abilities to the edge.

For a theme park to flourish and sustain the interest it has generated, concepts have to evolve every two years.

Either we add new features and create a package totally different from the previous as the case of Creative Thinker,” Fernandez says.

Raya Park was named after Fernandez’ eldest daughter who is now a lawyer and working for the Office of the President. Raya’s linguistic origin is Bulgaria, where it means “heaven and friend”.

“It is indeed a land of happy thoughts. This park offers hands-on activities for preschool to grade school students. This facility can accommodate at least 400 students and adults an hour,” says Fernandez.

Raya Park features arts and home economics and has a section dedicated to origami, the art of folding paper introduced by the Japanese. It has modules for fruit carving and table setting.

Entertainment segments include a 3D Cinema, an enchanting mirror maze and a kids paradise.

Both parks are located in newly-erected buildings at Liwasang Darangen, a section where education and culture meet within the CCP Complex.

“We hope to get the attention not only of schools but also pique the curiosity of families and how the tours to the Techno Park and Raya Park will help children in their learning process,” Fernandez says.

Companies encouraged to adapt to digital change

By Gabrielle H. Binaday AN EXECUTIVE of a US-based software company advises Filipino businesses to transform and adapt to change to sustain growth in the era of digital transformation.

Benjamin Wong, the newly appointed managing director for Asia of Progress, says companies should be able to transform and adapt to changes. “If they don’t transform and adapt to the digital world, no one’s gonna do business with them,” Wong says.

He says companies should consider the digital transformation as a business strategy. “In order to become a truly digital business, leaders need to change their mindset and consider digital transformation as a business strategy. Digital innovation should be integrated within all business units like sales, marketing, finance and IT,” he says.

The software executive says companies should consider taking a holistic approach. “Embarking on a digital journey does not only mean leveraging technology innovation,” he says.

“A holistic approach, rather than ad-hoc implementation of digital tools and solutions, will not only help organizations improve customer experience and operational efficiency, but also provide new opportunities for growth and success,” he says.

He cites the support of the Philippine government for third platform technology, following the establishment of the Department of Information and Communication Technology.

Wong is also optimistic about President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement about the government’s commitment to develop a national broadband to accelerate the deployment of fiber optics and wireless technologies to improve internet speed in the country.

“Government initiatives to improve the infrastructure will definitely support the digital growth of enterprises in the Philippines,” Wong says.

He says at present, companies in the Philippines lag behind its peers from other countries in terms of transforming into the digital era of technology. “To be honest, it is a bit behind simply because I guess a lot of businesses are fairly manual. So because of that, there is not a lot of complexity in the business at the moment,” Wong says.

Wong says the Philippine market is vital to Progress, as a lot of their partner companies are doing business with local government units. “Our Philippine business throughout the years are very much with the LGUs. A lot of our applications are built on our platform. We have a telecommunications partner like PLDT,” Wong says.

“New partners are coming on board. And these companies are also wanting application. The thing in the Philippines is cost. They don’t have the budget to be able to implement the systems that they want,” he says.

Progress vice president for sales Matthew Gharegozlou says the company is developing products that will be cost-friendly to help companies transform. “[We are working on] model that reduces the initial investments that will help the company,” Gharegozlou says.

“Having said that, We are seeing more companies willing to spend more money and we are figuring out what is the fair value in the Philippines to see how they can penetrate the market better,” Wong says.

“With [our] solutions and initiatives, Progress is in an excellent position to enable companies to digitally transform themselves and respond to the digital ultimatum,” he says.

Property

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B3

IT TAKES A BANK. Standard

Chartered Bank recently donated 20 houses to a Gawad Kalinga village in Brgy. Ticad, Bantayan, Cebu as part of its rebuilding efforts for commu- nities displaced by typhoon Yolanda in 2013 (See photo on left) . Construction of the GK village started in September 2014, with the housing units awarded to displaced families late last year (In- set photo). Standard Chartered had immediately rolled out its Corporate Assistance on the Recovery of Eco- nomic Livelihood (CARE) programin partnership with the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP). CARE provides livelihood opportunities for families in Bantayan island through the provision of seeds, farm tools, skills training on food processing, capacity building on fi- nancial inclusion, and access to loan assistance to start a small business.

“We will continue to do our part in providing assistance that would create a lasting impact on the lives of these communities,” promised Mai Sangalang, head, corporate affairs of SCB Philippines. Since 2013, Standard Chartered donated over $500,000 to support the immedi ate and long-term rehabilitation of Yolandasurvivors. Ithelpedbuild a school building in Medellin, Cebu and a total of ninety (90) houses in Leyte and Cebu in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and Gawad Kalinga. Shown in the photo below is Ms. Sangalang with stakeholders at the recent opening of two classrooms in Medellin.

HALFWAY HOUSING. 8990 Holdings first high rise project, the 41-storey Urban DECA Tower EDSA, was

topped off recently after 654 days of construction. More than 60% of the 1,148 units in the P 745 million project is sold out. The project, dubbed as “halfway housing” for city workers who live in the metropolis during weekdays, and come home to their suburban homes during weekends, sold at Php 990,000 per unit when the project kicked off in 2014. Now it sells for P1.4 million per unit. At the topping off event were 8990 officials (from left to right): Aleli Villacorte, AGM - operations NCR & South Luzon; Dennis Lim, GM - NCR sales; James Estavilla, AGM - construction & engineering; Gene Go, GSN+P; Ace Sotto, GM - construction & engineering; Willibaldo Uy, COO; , Luis Yu, chairman emeritus; Marin Martinez, chairman; and Eric Gabriel, Megawide Corp., and other Megawide officers.

NEW HEIGHTS. Developer Daiichi Properties recently won the Five-Star Best Office Development of the

Philippines award at the 2016 Asia Pacific Property Awards. The company was cited for its latest development, The Finance Centre—a 42-storey premium mixed-use building in Bonifacio Global City. The win is the company’s third. It bagged the same award in 2013 and 2015 for One World Place and World Plaza, respectively. All three of Daiichi’s award-winning projects were designed by design firm Gensler. Shown here is Daiichi Properties senior vice president Charmaine Uy (second from left) receiving the Best Office Development-Philippines award from Grohe COO Nishant Grover. With them are (from left): Lord Courtown, chairperson of the awards’ judging panel; Daiichi Properties vice president for business development Eric Manuel; and Stuart Shield, chairman of International Property.

FUTURE-READY. NOW Corporation recently

upgraded of the PET Plans Tower, a 29-storey edifice located along EDSA in Guadalupe, Makati City. The building was digitally transformed through NOW’s network infrastructure services, equipping it with fiber-in-the-air broadband that complements its fiber underground system. PET Plans Tower currently provides its tenants with internet connectivity bundled with wireless cable TV and IT products and services. NOW Corp. is a listed company in the Philippine Stock Exchange, and has been a major IT firm since 2002. Antonio Herbosa Sr., chairman of Pet Plans Building on EDSA, is shown in the photo after the contract signing with NOW Corp.

THINK A NEW ALABANG. Why

reinvent the wheel?

Ayala Land, Inc. (ALI) must be asking the same thing while sinking P70 billion into Vermosa, a 700-hectare integrated, mixed-use development south of Metro Manila. Just 15 minutes from ALI’s successful suburban enclave, Alabang, Vermosa has some 120 hectares tucked away for a central business district that will house business and commercial establishments, hotels, shopping, entertainment, dining as well as medium to high density residential developments. A total of 165-hectares, or 24% of the entire development, will be devoted to parks.

The future city will be accessible via the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway (MCX).

World’s priciest...

From B4 each. Palazzate is a world unto itself, with four oceanfront homes and a wealth of amenities, from a spa area to staff quarters.

834 Fifth Avenue Duplex Price: $120 million. Location: New York City: Seven beds, 10 baths, over 12,000 square feet. It’s the “largest existing original apartment on Fifth Avenue.” In other words: before the boom,

oceanfront, an 18-acre surface lake. Why is it so expensive? 1,800 acres with two miles of private ocean frontage, in a part of Santa Barbara County that’s pretty well preserved; you won’t see McMansions sprouting up along this part of the Gaviota Coast. Though it has several residential buildLas Varas Ranch Price: $108 million. Lo- ings, it’s being offered as a cation: Goleta, California: developable spot for a famThe Park Bel Air Price: $115 million. Lo- 1,800 acres, two miles of ily compound, vineyard or

this 20-room residence was the biggest pad in old New York. It belonged to John Gutfreund, once known as “the King of Wall Street,” who died earlier this year.

Rupert Murdoch no longer lives in the building at 834 Fifth Avenue, but you can still be neighbors with his ex-wife Wendi.

cation: Los Angeles: Three home sites set on 11 acres.

This is Bel Air, and the plot is divisible. Buyers can opt to pay $45 million for one site, or Domvs, the developer, will build you a 56,000to 61,000-square-foot house for $115 million.

horse farm.

Théoule-sur-Mer Price: $105 million. Location: Côte d’Azur, France: Eight beds, 15,069 square feet. Why is it so expensive? A 15,000-square-foot castle-like property on the Côte D’Azur, overlooking the Mediterranean: views, views, view. It was built in 1900, but feels much older … save for the triangular pool.

King’s Point Estate Price: $100 million. Location: Great Neck, New York: 13 beds, 35 baths, 60,000 square feet. Why is it so expensive? Eight acres in a gated, waterfront compound, with views of, and easy access to, New York City. Also: a bowling alley and casino. It once belonged to the Soviet billionaire Tamir Sapir.

Bloomberg

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B4

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

Property

World’s priciest

SYCAMORE VALLEY RANCH (FORMERLY NEVERLAND) Price: $100 million.Michael Jackson’s Former Estate, Sycamore Valley Ranch (formerly known as Neverland Ranch). The estate of the late pop superstar Michael Jackson — the property is a gated retreat on 2,698 private acres in the Santa Ynez Valley, California. The Norman-French-style main house, designed by Robert Altevers, sits in landscaped gardens with a four-acre lake, pool, poolhouse, and tennis court. Estate buildings include three separate guest homes, a 5,500-square-foot movie theatre, several barns, corrals, and a helipad.

By Lisa Selin Davis

T

ODAY there are 23 homes on the market priced over $100 million.

Just before new year 2015, a condo at New York’s One 57 sold for a reported $100.5 million. Later, a single-family home in Hong Kong’s The Peak neighborhood sold for HK$1.5 billion ($194 million), allegedly to Alibaba’s Jack Ma. There are at least nine more properties—including massive undeveloped residential lots and private islands—asking $100 million or more on the market than last year’s 19, according to Christie’s, which scoured public listings and media reports, and probed insider contacts to develop an internal list, which it shared with Bloomberg.

Waiting game According to Dan Conn, CEO of Christie’s International Real Estate, homes in this price range tend to stay on the market for three to five years.

“It’s a really limited universe of buyers and sellers and properties,” says Conn.

Of the world’s richest 200 people, many already have several spectacular, highpriced homes. “Not every year will a top hedge fund manager buy a $100 million home. They can stay on the market for a really long time because you don’t have a seller that has to sell, and you don’t have a buyer that has to buy.”

Buyers are more likely looking for a place to park their cash than make an investment that they hope will balloon in worth, so they’ll wait until the right home presents itself. In other words, the ultra-rich may not actually want a sprawling beachfront mansion in Florida for $195 million or a $300 million chateau outside Paris. And since sellers aren’t usually in a big hurry—fire sales are uncommon in this world, since sellers usually spread their assets around— they aren’t always willing to accommodate negotiations.

“If they get their number

they’re happy to go,” says Aaron Kirman, president of Aaroe Estates, whose clientele includes many Middle Eastern royal families. “If they don’t, they love their home, they’re happy to stay.”

Whisper listings “It needs to be irreplaceable and very hard to find,” says Kirman of what lets homes command such high prices. “It starts with site: the view, the grounds, the privacy, and usually it’s a combo of all of the above.

At that price point, it better have it all.” Architectural or historical significance also drive up the price.

This year’s offerings include a seven-bed, 10-bath duplex on Fifth Avenue in New York; the magnificent “Bubble Palace” once belonging to Pierre Cardin, on the Cote d’Azur in France; and, not to be forgotten, Michael Jackson’s former Neverland Ranch. Of the 26 on our list, nine were in or near Los Angeles, four were in the New York area, and three were in France. The rest ranged from Panama to Barbados to Switzerland.

“We’re aware of other properties that never hit the market publically,” says Conn of what are known as ‘pocket listings’ or ‘whisper listings.’ “Some people are shy about letting people know that they’re selling an asset.

Le Palais Bulles (“Bubble Palace”) Price: $455 million. Location: Theoule Sur Mer, Provence-Alpes-Cote D’Azur, France: 10 bedroom suites (“decorated by contemporary artists”), 12,916 square feet. Designed by the architect Antti LOVAG, Pierre Cardin’s former lair has a 500-seat auditorium and a lounge with panoramic views of the bay of Cannes— and an out-of-this-world style. Think high design versions of Luke Skywalker’s home on Tatooine or a Bond

LE PALAIS ROYAL. Price: $159 million. Location: Hillsboro Beach, Florida. It has 17 beds, 20 full and 11 partial baths, 70,774 square feet. It also has

over four acres of beachfront, with the first IMAX home theater (which can run $1 million itself), a Go-Kart track, and ice skating rink, and a $2 million grand staircase.

villains lair.

berg and Martha Stewart.

The 11.2-acre property has two residences, designed by architect Peter Marino: a restored Georgian revival and a modern guesthouse. Bigger deal: owners can subdivide into two lots and add additional buildings.

foot villa sits atop Los Angeles—high above most neighbors, actually—and the house showcases its spot with a 180-degree dining room. Celebrity pedigrees often carry cachet, though today’s generation of buyers likely hasn’t heard of previous owner Danny Thomas.

Gemini Vimeo: Gemini | A Luxury Home For Sale in Manalapan, Florida | Christies International Real Estate Price: $195 million. Location: Manalapan, Florida: 33 bedrooms, 34 full and 13 half Trousdale Estates bathrooms, 84,988 square Rancho San Carlos Compound feet of living space. Why is Price: $125 million. LocaPrice: $135 million. Locait so expensive? Land. To be specific, 15.65 acres if it, tion: Los Angeles: 7 beds, tion: Montecito, California: in a walled compound, and 10 baths, 18,000 square 12 bedrooms, 10 main and 1,200 feet of beachfront on feet. The 18,000-square three partial baths, 29,483 this barrier island near Palm Beach. It stretches from the ocean to the intracoastal.

The home was originally designed in the 1940s by architect Marion Sims Wyeth, a favorite son of Palm Beach.

Also: it is huge.

square feet. Why is it so expensive? Land and location: 237 hilltop acres. In addition to the gigantic main residence, it has 10 cottages.

And according to the broker Perkins, an accepted offer although it hasn’t sold officially yet.

Palazzate Price: $125 million. Location: Saint Peter’s Bay, Barbados: Four residences with five beds, six baths and around 13,000 square feet

Mon Reve Price: $150 million. Location: Los Angeles: 10 beds, 20 full baths, 38,000 square feet. Carolwood Drive is a prestigious address, and it’s seen a lot of very high-priced sales. Mon Reve was Barbra Streisand’s old estate, where this new home, along with its “Club Mon Reve”— lounge, wine room, theater complex—now sits. There’s also parking for 50 cars: it’s Hollywood party-ready.

Briar Patch Price: $140 million. Location: East Hampton, New York: 10 beds, 9 baths, 10,300 square feet. This estate has a quarter-of-a-mile of waterfront on Georgica Pond, which you can share with folks like Steven Spiel-

WEEKEND HIDEAWAY. Tagô – which means “hidden” in Filipino – is Dino Mañosa’s ode to the Filipino’s desire for a weekend “hideaway” to escape the fast pace of city living. The subdivision, developed by Mañosa Properties, is located along Tagaytay’s Bonifacio Drive, just 300 meters off the busy Aguinaldo Highway. Each home at this development has been designed following the tenets of Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa, a champion of contemporary Filipino architecture (See photo). The good news is that anybody can own a Tagô home via the fractional ownership scheme, where the property is owned and shared by more than one person, but with a legally divided title deed. Usage rights as well as maintenance and upkeep costs, are divided equitably among homeowners according to the size of the fraction purchased. This means, your share of the property belongs to you, and you can upgrade your share at anytime, benefit from any property appreciation or even hand it down to future generations.

Japanese retirees to move to Subic

By Butch Gunio SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—A Japanese company plans to develop the Subic Bay golf course into a world-class venue for tournaments, coupled with a facility that will offer housing complexes and fulfilling lifestyle choices for retirees.

Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Chairman Roberto Garcia said he has awarded the golf course development project to a firm headed by Japanese businessman Masafumi Miyamoto, founder of the Smart Community Co., Ltd., the first and largest continuing-care retirement community in Japan.

“This project is a gamechanger for Subic,” Garcia said, noting that it will transform Subic’s existing fairways that had been left rotting in the past few years into a major yearround tourist attraction.

He added that the visiting friends and relatives of those who would reside in the retirement village would likewise generate more economic activities in transportation, shopping malls, medical facilities, hotels, tourist attractions, banks, restaurants, and other businesses.

The project would cost $30 million, excluding a fixed annual rental fee of $350,000 and a five-percent gross revenue

share payable to the SBMA for the entire 50-year lease period.

Garcia said that in awarding the lease development contract to Miyamoto, the SBMA considered the overall concept of the project, the proponent’s financial capability, market availability, and the business plan presented to agency officials in December last year.

Accordingly, the first component, at the cost of $3 million, would involve the renovation and redevelopment of the whole golf course within two years.

Garcia said the project proponent had promised that the golf course would remain operational throughout the renovation period through a rotational renovation plan that would keep a minimum of nine holes open at a given time.

The second component is the $27-million development of all allowable open areas for the Subic Smart Community within a six-year period. This would consist of the construction and development of an initial 200 condominium units from 2016 to 2018. Next would be the completion of about 1,800 condominium units with various amenities like gym, sports center, arts and crafts studios, karaoke or music rooms, function rooms, library, and bars and restaurants, among others.

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

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IN MEMORY. The San Joaquin Memorial Garden in Barangay San Joaquin, Palo, Leyte houses the common grave of the victims of Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ that struck the province in 2013. Mel Caspe

Edsa bus terminals moved

By Joel E. Zurbano

M

ETRO Manila mayors have agreed to remove bus terminals along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue as the government’s solution to the worsening traffic situation in the National Capital Region.

This developed shortly after members of the Metro Manila Council, the policy-making body of the Metro Manila Development Authority, approved on Friday a resolution for the eventual removal of bus terminals.

“They approved the removal of bus terminals on Edsa. It is now up to them [mayors] to prepare for their eventual removal from Pasay and Quezon City,” said MMDA Chairman Emerson Carlos following an MMC meet-

ing at the MMDA central office in Makati City.

Carlos added Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Pasay City Mayor Antonio Calixto, whose jurisdiction have the most numbers of bus terminals, were the first local executives who signed the resolution entitled “Rationalizing the Operations of Provincial Buses and its Terminals Along EDSA.” “Although it will not be implemented immediately, we told them to prepare, pending the request for the emergency powers [to be given to President Rodrigo Duterte] since the permits are is-

sued by the mayors,” he said.

The MMDA chief said the Council also agreed to enforce the “Nose In, Nose Out Policy” at the bus terminals while the establishments are yet to be removed. The policy was proposed

by Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay during the meeting.

President Duterte in his first the State of the Nation Address said all bus terminals on Edsa “must eventually be removed and transferred to strategic areas outside of the metropolis with the end of decongesting said major thoroughfare.”

“As a matter of policy, no ad-

ditional provincial bus terminals shall be allowed to be established along Edsa,” the Resolution stated.

Carlos said the owners or operators of existing bus terminals were also directed to make the necessary preparations “for their eventual removal from Edsa” and “consequent transfer to strategic areas outside of the metropolis.”

Officials of the MMDA, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, and the Department of Transportation are discussing plans to relocate provincial bus terminals

along Edsa.

With the removal of the terminals, Carlos said it would help improve the flow of traffic since provincial buses will no longer enter Metro Manila to load and unload passengers.

MMDA records show that there are 85 provincial bus companies in Metro Manila.

Of the 85 provincial bus companies, 46 firms have terminals on Edsa, particularly in Cubao, Balintawak and at the corner of Taft Ave. Around 3,300 provincial buses and 12,000 city buses ply Edsa daily.

Manila gets cheap Benguet veggies

By Sandy Araneta

DEFENDERS. Metro Manila Development Authority ‘Avengers’ prevent cosplaying Pokemon hunters from entering the MMDA office.

DoE, LGUs discuss ETrike deployment DEPARTMENT of Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos said the DoE is now talking to several local governments interested in deploying electric tricycles (ETrikes) in their respective cities, towns or municipalities.

Marcos assured local executives that the $500-million Electric Tricycle Project that aims to gradually replace regular tricycles with ETrikes nationwide will push through.

In an industry meeting between the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines and the DoE, Marcos said financing will partially be provided by the Asian Development Bank.

“In fact, BEMAC, the winner of the first package of an initial 3,000 ETrikes for roll-out, is set to make its first batch of deliveries by the end of September and the rest by the end of the year,” he said. “The next batch to be bidded out by the DoE will be out

within the year as well. This will be for a total of 6,000 units of ETrikes.”

Marcos also disclosed that EVAP president Rommel Juan said his group still fully supports the DoE project which they expect will catalyze the EV industry and drive ETrikes into the mainstream of mass transport in the country.

“We have actively relayed our own industry perspectives to DoE with regards to the project,” says

Juan. “In preparation for the next set of biddings, we given the DOE our inputs on how to improve the terms of reference of the bid and make them more suitable for local adoption based on the EVAP members’ experiences of the Philippine EV market. From this project, we expect a lot of benefits to trickle down to our members in both the downstream and upstream support industries.”

More Thai tourists expected in 2016 MORE Thai tourists are expected to visit the Philippines following an agreement sealed between the tourism departments of both countries last week, the Department of Tourism said Thursday.

The DoT said the Philippines has embarked on an “exchange

tourism” agreement with Thailand during the four-day visit of Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo to Bangkok last week.

Teo’s visit was done at the invitation of the Tourism Authority of Thailand as part of the celebration of the 84th birthday of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.

The secretary met with Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul, the Thai Minister of Tourism and Sports, who proposed a collaboration between the two countries in farm tourism, youth development, and women and indigenous community projects.

Teo also met with the Thai Travel Agents Association president Suparerk Soorangura who announced that his group will visit the Philippines in September for the Philippine Travel Exposition and will tour the cities of Cebu, Davao and Cagayan de Oro.

MANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada said Manila consumers can look forward to stable if not lower prices of vegetables after he vowed to protect Benguetbased vegetable traders from an extortion syndicate and resolved the traffic mess caused by the unregulated operation of vegetable haulers along Recto Avenue in Divisoria.

Estrada met Benguet Gov. Cresencio Pacalso on Tuesday and heeded the governor’s request that vegetable haulers be again allowed to use a portion of Recto Avenue to unload their fresh produce on the condition that they will not block traffic flow in the busy highway.

The mayor promised Pacalso that he will dismantle the syndicate that has been demanding “protection” fees from vegetable traders in Divisoria in exchange for using Recto Avenue even as he asked the governor to consider bringing down the prices of vegetables for the benefit of Manileños and consumers.

“I have asked the vegetable traders to think about lowering or making the price friendly to people of Manila considering they will no longer be setting aside money to pay extortionists,” Estrada said.

“We will give them sufficient protection. They won’t be paying any illegal fees anymore,” he said, Earlier, vegetable truckers revealed that they shell out P80 a day for a bogus “business permit” and P300 “intelligence fee,” aside from the weekly P2,800 fee, to a group of individuals operating in Recto.

In return, they are allowed to park unhampered along Recto Avenue leading to Divisoria

Market to unload their cargo.

In expressing his gratitude to Estrada, the Benguet governor assured that the prices of vegetables from the province will remain stable.

“First of all, we’d like to thank Mayor Erap for his prompt action,” Pacalso said. “We will now be able to freely transport our produce and resume normal trading in Divisoria. Divisoria is now orderly and clean so a lot of customers will come in and several people will also sell vegetables.”

Estrada has reopened Recto Avenue to Divisoria-bound vegetable haulers from Benguet a week after prohibiting them to use the main road as they have been causing traffic congestion in the busy thoroughfare.

Estrada gave the vegetable truckers a one-lane space along Recto, between Dagupan Street and Abad Santos Avenue.

“We do not want to disrupt vegetable trading in Divisoria.

Thousands of farmers from Benguet and other provinces sell their products at Divisoria, but at the same time, we want to ensure that traffic will not be affected,” Estrada pointed out after meeting with Pacalso at the city hall on Tuesday.

Estrada stressed he allowed the “regulated use” of Recto Avenue after Pacalso guaranteed that Benguet vegetable dealers and truckers will police their own ranks and clean up their trash.

At least 30 vegetable trucks from the province drop their cargo at the area every day.

On the other hand, the Divisoria night market, where tons of Benguet produce are traded, has resumed operation from 6 p.m. to 4 a.m.

The night market is on Recto Avenue between Juan Luna and Asuncion streets.

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LGUs

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

Tobacco-free agencies get P.5m

By A. Perez Rimando

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OTABATO CITY—Four regional agencies of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao received last Wednesday from the Department of Health central office a “Red Orchid Award” and a P500,000 cash bonus each for being 100 percent “tobacco-free” for the past three years, regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said here recently.

Hataman listed the four agencies as the health, education, and science and technology departments, and the Regional Planning and Development Office.

He announced through Joery Delumpia Amad, regional coordinator for the tobacco prevention and control program, that the four agencies began their 100 percent tobacco-

free drive in 2012.

As Red Orchid awardees for the past three years, the four offices also won trophies and certificates of recognition, Hataman said, adding that their cash bonus of P.5 million each “would be spent on the anti-smoking program.”

DepEd regional secretary John Magno, a non-smoker, commend-

ed his men for strictly adhering to the office’s no-smoking policy, noting that the ARMM chief himself knows well that smoking is “dangerous to one’s health.”

Hataman stresed that the Red Orchid Award caps off the DoH central office’s annual search for a 100 percent tobacco-free local and national government offices.

Bautista to build new hall of justice THE Quezon City government will build a new Hall of Justice to give the judiciary a decent and conducive workplace and help ensure the speedy dispensation of justice, especially to the poor.

In a statement, the city government said the new building, which will be known as the QC Justice Hall annex, is part of its P500-million investments in the judiciary in the next three years. It will provide a more spacious area for trial court judges to enable them to effectively respond to the needs of city residents.

According to Mayor Herbert Bautista, the city’s development program for the judiciary also highlights the continuing effort of the QC government to strengthen its relationship with the pillars of the criminal justice system, especially the prosecution.

The Justice Hall annex will be built adjacent to the sixstory Justice Cecilia MuñozPalma building in the QC Hall compound, which to date, houses the prosecution service, offices of parole and probation, public attorneys and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-QC Chapter.

The city’s investments for the judiciary will also include the renovation of the old Hall of Justice.

City Administrator Aldrin Cuña said that, once completed, all three buildings shall make up the QC Justice Complex.

The mayor is also scheduled to turn over a bus custom-built as a mobile court in support of the Justice on Wheels program of the Supreme Court.

Earlier, he called on the SC to provide Quezon City with additional court branches for the prosecution of drug-related cases in the city. Bautista raised the need for the SC to dedicate more drug courts considering the magnitude of the drug problem in the city.

“What we are pushing is the actual prosecution of drug-related cases in Quezon City,” Bautista said.

In a meeting of the Peace and Order Council, he also pushed for additional family courts in the city.

SC Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno has already recognized the city government’s support for the judiciary, especially the investments it has poured in to implement some of the judicial reforms of the SC. Sereno said that while Quezon City has one of the most clogged dockets in the country, it is interesting to note that some of the SC’s judicial reform initiatives and agenda are being implemented and experimented in Quezon City.

Vizcaya hospital sells cheap meds

By Brenda Jocson BAMBANG—Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Carlos Padilla has allotted P1.8 million worth of medicine in P50,000 monthly petty cash spread over a period of three years for patients complaining of lack of medicine in the provincial government-owned hospital here.

With the allotment, Padilla assured poor patients of the Nueva Vizcaya Provincial Hospital that medicines will always be available.

He said the provincial government needs to immediately address the reported shortage of medicines or delayed replenishment of used stocks “due perhaps to lengthy procedures in the procurement of hospital supplies.”

The governor, however, clarified that these cheaper medicines are not free.

Padilla said the availability of cheaper medicine at the NVPH

will be ensured through the allocation of at least P50,000 monthly petty cash with P15,000 amount as capping on purchases.

“This petty cash will be used to continuously buy generic medicines for the NVPH pharmacy so that every patient can get it anytime of the day without leaving their sick relatives in the hospital premises,” Padilla said.

Private doctors availing of the facilities of the government hospital reportedly prescribe expensive medicines that have to be bought outside the hospital.

In a recent meeting with the governor, NVPH officials and workers also discussed issues and concerns such as delayed payment of salaries of casual and contractual employees, extension of appointments of contractual employees from three to six months, and improvement of the procurement system, among others.

AZORES

Hobbyist becomes Bulacan bonsai master

By Edgardo S. Tugade A BONSAI is an old tree but miniature in size and ideal in beauty, created through judicious trimming and shaping that takes many years. It is an ancient Japanese art form originated by the Zen Buddhists to symbolize fortitude amidst adversity. In a widely biodiverse country like the Philippines, it is no surprise that many Filipinos have gone into this difficult but rewarding art form.

For Bulakeño Santiago “Sonny” Azores, bonsai culture started as a hobby. “No, I did not go into it because I had personal problems,” he laughs. “I started after I have sent my kids through college.”

Azores narrates, “I sold puto for 18 years to send my kids to school.

After they graduated I stopped selling puto. I used to have a poultry business of 45-day-old chickens.

But it did not do well. I tried growing ornamental plants but they did not sell well.”

He also worked in Saudi Arabia from 1983 to 1986.

When Azores heard of a bonsai show at the Bulacan provincial capitol, he went and asked the organizers if he could join.

They agreed but when he brought not-so-good bonsai they laughed at him. Still they let him in after he paid P500 because he wanted to join.

“After that humbling experience, I worked hard, I researched in all books and magazines and attended seminars. I joined clubs and hunted for materials in different places because I was challenged when they laughed

at me,” Azores said. “Now, I surpassed them and became the president of the Bulacan Bonsai Society.”

He told the Manila Standard that “in bonsai, if you have materials [cuttings] you can sell them.

Pre-bonsai [unfinished trees] sell even better. But finished or complete bonsai fetch high prices.

I’ve been culturing bonsai for 15 years. When I finish one that is sellable, I offer it to buyers and it gets sold at once. Bonsai is lucrative if you are industrious and if your bonsai are unique. Sometimes they can sell for as high as P100,000.”

Azores said he attends to his bonsai first thing in the morning.

“I make sure they are all okay. I rise

early and if something needs to be done to my bonsai I do it at once.”

He adds, “my second child was into bonsai but she stopped when she went abroad. My wife helps me now.”

A bonsai master must keep on experimenting because it is the tree that will tell you what needs to be done. But since you are the master, you must make the tree do what you wish, he said.

Bonsai is the best for good health, Azores says. “Your stress vanishes, you stop your vices and your mind is at peace. You will not think of bad things. It made me stop drinking.”

It’s also wonderful when the customers like them, he says.

“Sometimes, the people who

come to look smile and say ‘Well done!’ I also smile and my heart and mind are relieved.

I feel happy. When they leave, I talk to my bonsai and say, ‘they liked your leaves, your trunk is small but your branches are big.’ Like that. It makes me laugh.”

Azores said they put on bonsai shows during the terms of Gov. Josefina dela Cruz and Gov. Joselito Mendoza. “In 2007 we held a show at SM Marilao which was successful. We lay low during the term of Gov. Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado because Provincial Administrator Gladys Sta. Maria resigned and we were no longer given funds. We will try to seek assistance of the new governor.”

MOURNERS. Makati Mayor Abby Binay directed Makati chief of police Supt. Rommil Mitra to extend

police protection to the family of Maria Remedios Pedrano, an employee of Solaire who was gunned down in Barangay West Rembo. Mitra, who accompanied Mayor Binay and Second District Rep. Luis Campos to Pedrano’s wake, also told the family that the police already have a suspect and are conducting follow-up operations.

Makati sets service caravans

COMPASSION. Members of the Tzu Chi International Medical Association from the Philippines, Singapore, and Taiwan on August 5 to 7 conducted a free clinic that benefited a total of 5,414 patients.

MAKATI Mayor Abby Binay led the launch of the Makati Lingkod Bayan Caravan on Saturday at Pio del Pilar Elementary School in Barangay Pio del Pilar, Makati City.

In a statement, Binay said the city-wide caravan provides a one-stop, easy access, serviceoriented assistance in line with her administration’s thrust of providing meaningful and sustainable support to the barangays in the city.

It will be held bi-monthly in collaboration with the JCBinay Foundation. The next Makati Lingkod Bayan Caravan will be held in Barangay Guadalupe Viejo on August 20.

“With the Makati Lingkod Bayan Caravan, our constituents will be able to avail of free medical check-ups and process neces-

sary documents without having to go to City Hall,” she said.

Among the services offered on Saturday were healthcare, social and city services.

Qualified physicians will conduct free check-ups and consultations for constituents in the fields of internal medicine, geriatric care, women’s healthcare and pediatrics, among others.

Available medicines will also be dispensed for free and a mobile clinic that offers diagnostic services like X-ray and ECG (electrocardiogram) will also be available.

For the dental mission, free dental check-ups, tooth extraction, and free dentures will also be made available to target beneficiaries, including senior citizens, on a “first come, first served basis.”

On the other hand, the ophthalmic mission will provide free eye consultations, and reading glasses will be distributed to those who need them.

Social services include free legal aid, a feeding program and beauty services.

The Legal Aid program promotes legal literacy and provide free legal counsel and advice to the poor citizens of Makati. It also provides assistance on inquiries regarding the status of pending PAO (Public Attorney’s Office) cases. It will also serve as a barangay legal outreach initiative through lectures on barangay conciliation, small claims procedure, and barangay protection orders given to members of the Barangay Council and Lupon Tagapamayapa.

World

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

2,000 Syrians seized, used as ‘human shields’ B

EIRUT—Islamic State group fighters seized around 2,000 civilians to use as “human shields” Friday as they fled their stronghold of Manbij in northern Syria, US-backed forces and a monitor said.

The Arab-Kurdish alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expelled most of the IS fighters from Manbij last week, but dozens continued to put up tough resistance.

On Friday they withdrew from a northern neighborhood heading for the IS-held town of Jarabulus along the border with Turkey, taking the captives with them, as the

Pentagon said the retreat showed the group was “on the ropes”.

“While withdrawing from a district of Manbij, Daesh (IS) jihadists abducted around 2,000 civilians from Al-Sirb neighborhood,” said Sherfan Darwish, spokesman for the Manbij Military Council, a key component of the SDF. “They used these civilians as human shields as they withdrew

to Jarabulus, thus preventing us from targeting them,” he said, adding that women and children were among those taken.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on sources inside Syria to cover the war, gave a similar report, saying IS forced around 2,000 civilians into cars it confiscated.

The jihadists, who have suffered a string of losses in Syria and Iraq, have often staged mass kidnappings when they come under pressure to relinquish territory they hold.

“Although fighting in Manbij continues, ISIL is clearly on the

ropes. It has lost the centre of Manbij, it has lost control of Manbij,” Pentagon deputy press secretary Gordon Trowbridge said, using another name for the group.

The EU denounced the use of civilians as human shields, saying in a statement that “Daesh (IS) continues to pose a threat to the people of Syria, Iraq, the region as well as to Europe and beyond.”

IS has also used civilians as human shields, booby-trapped cars and carried out suicide bombings to slow advances by their opponents.

Thousands of civilians were held captive by the group in Fallujah, which Iraqi forces recaptured in June after a four-week

offensive.

On Friday, the SITE intelligence Group said IS had killed five men in Iraq for smuggling people out of territory it controls.

SDF forces captured Manbij on August 6 but continued to battle pockets of jihadists in parts of the town.

Darwish said the SDF rescued 2,500 civilians who were held captive by IS fighters before they fled and combed Al-Sirb on Friday for any remaining jihadists.

With air support from the USled coalition, the SDF began its assault on Manbij on May 31, surging into the town itself three weeks later. AFP

PATRIOTS. Indian school children take part during the full dress rehearsal at the Red Fort premises for the 70th Independence Day celebrations at the Red Fort in New Delhi on Saturday. India celebrates its anniversary of Independence from Britain on Monday with great pomp, with the Indian tricolour hoisted atop prominent buildings and homes. AFP

UN deploys 4,000 troops to South Sudan UNITED NATIONS—The UN Security Council on Friday authorized the deployment of a robust force of 4,000 troops to South Sudan after heavy fighting set back efforts to end the country’s devastating war.

The council adopted a USdrafted resolution that also threatened to impose an arms embargo on South Sudan if the government blocks the deployment.

Eleven countries in the 15-member council voted in favor of the resolution. China, Russia, Egypt and Venezuela abstained from the vote, citing the failure to secure South Sudan’s consent for the new mission.

African leaders called for the regional force to secure Juba and help protect UN bases there after a flareup of violence in the capital that left hundreds dead in early July.

Ethiopia, Kenya and Rwanda are expected to contribute the bulk of the new troops who will be authorized to “use all necessary means, including undertaking robust action where necessary” to fulfill their mandate.

The force will ensure security in Juba and at the airport and “promptly and effectively engage any actor that is credibly found to be preparing attacks or engages in attacks”.

Under the measure, the council

will consider imposing an arms embargo on South Sudan if UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reports that there are “impediments” to the deployment.

Ban will deliver a report to the council in 30 days and a vote on the arms embargo could take place in the following five days if he finds that the government in Juba is uncooperative.

South Sudan’s devastating war has raged for two and half years, fueled by growing stockpiles of weapons.

Britain voiced disappointment that the arms embargo was not imposed immediately with Deputy Ambassador Peter Wilson telling

the council: “We must and we will return to this issue.”

The vote followed a week of tough negotiations, with China, Russia and Egypt voicing concerns over deploying UN peacekeepers without the government’s full consent.

South Sudan’s ambassador said his government rejected the resolution, telling the council that the details of the deployment—including timing and the weapons the troops will be allowed to carry— must first be negotiated with Juba.

“Consent of South Sudan... would have been important as it would have given the force all the necessary freedoms to carry out the outlined mandate tasks,” said

Akuei Bona Malwal.

A key ally of South Sudan’s President Salva Kiir, Uganda said Friday it would not contribute troops to the regional force, even as the UN refugee agency reported that 82,000 South Sudanese had crossed the border into Uganda in the last five weeks.

“No one thinks that this regional force will be a cure-all to the instability and the violence that exists there,” US Deputy Ambassador David Pressman told reporters.

But Pressman emphasized that African regional leaders had requested UN approval for a robust force to bolster security and open up space for diplomatic efforts. AFP

Cuban tobacconist makes 90-m cigar for Castro’s birthday HAVANA—A Cuban tobacconist finished rolling a 90-meter cigar on Friday to celebrate the 90th birthday of revolutionary leader Fidel Castro.

“It is 90 meters long, to commemorate 90 years of our comandante,” the maker, Jose Castelar, told Agence France Presse.

The cigar is part of the iconic image of the communist former president. He was photographed in his younger days with one in his mouth while dressed in his military fatigues.

“I don’t think he knows about me,” Castelar said. “He hasn’t smoked for years, but the gift we are offering him is the hard work that we have done to commemorate his birthday.”

Castelar made his giant creation aiming to break the Guinness World Record for the world’s longest cigar for the sixth time.

He and his team worked 12 hours a day for 10 days to roll the cigar, which is the width of an ordinary one.

They rolled it and presented it on long tables in an old colonial fort overlooking Havana Harbor. AFP

TENSION. Local Thais relax on the beach at the upscale resort town of Hua Hin on Saturday. A string of bomb attacks

targeting Thailand’s crucial tourism industry have killed four people, officials said on Friday, sending authorities scrambling to identify a motive and find the perpetrators. AFP

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US kills IS’ Khorasan province leader WASHINGTON—The Islamic State group’s leader in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Hafiz Saeed, was killed last month in an airstrike in Nangarhar province, the Pentagon said Friday.

Saeed was named head of IS’s “Khorasan province,” which includes Afghanistan, Pakistan and parts of neighboring countries, early last year when a group of Pakistani Taliban switched allegiance to the jihadist group.

Pentagon deputy press secretary Gordon Trowbridge said the strike came while US and Afghan special operations forces carried out counter-IS operations in southern Nangarhar province throughout July.

“During this time, US forces conducted an airstrike targeting Hafiz Saeed Khan, the Islamic State in the Levant-Khorasan emir, in Achin district, Nangarhar province July 26, resulting in his death,” Trowbridge said.

Saeed “was known to directly participate in attacks against US and coalition forces, and the actions of his network terrorized Afghans, especially in Nangarhar,” he added.

Details of the strike were not immediately available, but a US official told the BBC that Saeed was killed by drone.

The death of Saeed represents a major setback for the IS group as it tries to establish itself as a serious force in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Afghan authorities erroneously believed Saeed had been killed in another strike in July 2015, when a US drone targeted dozens of IS-linked cadres in restive Nangarhar province, close to the Pakistani border.

That attack came less than six months after another strike in Afghanistan killed Abdul Rauf Khadim, who was thought to be the IS number two in the country.

Some Afghan Taliban members have defected to the jihadist group, with insurgents apparently adopting the black IS flag to rebrand themselves as a more lethal force.

Most NATO combat troops who had been fighting the Taliban and other insurgent groups have now left Afghanistan, with responsibility for the country’s security switching to local forces. AFP

Lesotho suffers severe drought SEPHARENG—For farmer Mohlakoane Molise, the view of the enormous Katse dam from his smallholding high in the mountains of Lesotho taunts him daily.

His country is suffering its worst drought in 35 years, but the vast and vital water reserves remain out of reach, destined instead for export to neighboring South Africa.

“I am very angry about that water, because it could benefit us, we could use it to water the crops when there is a drought.

But that’s not happening,” the 65-year-old widower told Agence France Presse.

Kneeling in front of his round, thatch-roofed hut, he sorted through his maize, examining each grain, one-by-one.

The operation didn’t take long.

His total annual harvest filled just two large sacks, in place of the usual dozen.

According to the World Food Program (WFP), the 2016 harvest for Lesotho’s primary crop maize is estimated at 25,000 tons, a dramatic drop from last year’s 78,000-ton haul.

Instead, the mountainous kingdom—entirely landlocked

by South Africa—must import food from its larger neighbor.

But it too has been hit by the drought after the El Niño weather phenomenon wreaked havoc on the region’s rainfall patterns, and maize prices have sky-rocketed by 60 percent in the last year. AFP

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World

SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

CHAMPS. Singapore’s Schooling Joseph (2ndR) poses with silver medallists (fromL) USA’s Michael Phelps, Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh and South Africa’s Chad Guy Bertrand Le Clos after he won the Men’s 100m Butterfly Final during the swimming event at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at the Olympic Aquatics Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 12, 2016. AFP

Puerto Rico records 10,690 Zika cases M

iami—US health authorities on Friday declared a public health emergency in Puerto Rico due to the outbreak of Zika, which has now infected more than 10,000 people.

Zika is a mosquito-borne virus that can cause birth defects and is particularly dangerous for pregnant women.

A total of 1,035 pregnant women are among the 10,690 people who have been infected in the US territory of Puerto Rico in the past seven months, the island’s health authorities said.

More than 1,900 cases of Zika were identified in the last week alone.

US Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell declared “a public health emergency of national significance exists within the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico relating to pregnant women and children born to pregnant women with Zika.”

Burwell said in a statement that the declaration would allow the United States to “provide ad-

ditional support to the Puerto Rican government,” but did not give further details.

Zika is primarily spread by mosquitoes, but can also be transmitted by sexual contact.

In four out of five cases, the virus causes no symptoms. Those who do feel sick have reported fever, rash, body aches and conjunctivitis, or pink eye.

Pregnant women are particularly urged to protect themselves against Zika because it raises the risk of birth defects including microcephaly, in which infants are born with small heads and malformed brains.

Zika has spread rapidly through Latin America and the Caribbean region since 2015.

The United States reported its first locally transmitted cases of Zika in Florida in July. AFP

Court upholds 14-yr sentence of Venezuela political leader CARACAS—A Venezuelan court upheld the 14-year sentence of jailed opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez on Friday, in a move likely to increase tension in the crisis-hit South American country.

Lopez has repeatedly declared himself innocent of the charge of inciting violence at anti-government protests in 2014, calling himself a political prisoner.

“This is certainly a political trial. Unfortunately, the government’s interest takes priority over the justice system,” Lopez’s lawyer Juan Carlos Gutierrez told Agence France Presse.

“They upheld his sentence under the same terms,” Gutierrez said, referring to the 14year sentence.

A 45-year-old US-educated

economist, Lopez was arrested in February 2014 amid a wave of pro- and anti-government protests that swept Venezuela and left 43 people dead.

The government accused Lopez, one of leftist President Nicolas Maduro’s most hardline opponents, of inciting the violence.

His sentence, handed down in September after a closeddoor trial, was strongly condemned by the United Nations, the United States and the European Union.

During his 12-hour July appeals hearing, Lopez once again declared himself innocent.

Jesus Torrealba, spokesman for the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable, wrote on Twitter Friday that the group rejects “the illegal and unjust

condemnation of our brother @leopoldolopez and we reiterate that he will be freed by a vote of the people.”

Venezuela’s opposition has steeled itself in a battle to remove Maduro in a recall referendum, blaming the leader for the country’s mounting chaos.

Once-booming Venezuela, home to the world’s largest oil reserves, is gripped by severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods that have triggered violence and looting.

The opposition is racing to force a referendum by January 10, four years into the president’s six-year term.

Any time after that, a successful recall vote would simply transfer power to Maduro’s handpicked vice-president rather than trigger new elections. AFP

Heatwave hits US East Coast, ozone up in LA NEW YORK—Millions of Americans will spend the weekend hot under the collar as soaring East Coast temperatures and stifling humidity slapped excessive weather warnings on New York and Philadelphia.

The combination of heat and humidity would make it feel as hot as 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 degrees Celsius) in the two cities.

Temperatures would stay in the mid 90s from Friday through Sunday, with the humidity pushing heat index values higher in New York and Philadelphia, home to around 10 million people combined, meteorologists said.

Meanwhile, high temperatures, stagnant air and an increase in smog have driven Los Angeles ozone pollution to its highest level since 2009.

Ozone—a gas in smog that triggers asthma and can cause lung damage—has exceeded the federal standard of 70 parts per billion in the LA region for 93 days in 2016, compared to 69 at this time last year.

“The weather has not been cooperating,” said Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, an area recently menaced by massive wildfires.

One ozone spike hit an alarming 164 parts per billion, a level not recorded since 2009, Atwood said.

Authorities warned of heat-related health problems, especially for the elderly and those with chronic health problems, and for people who work outdoors.

Americans were advised to stay inside and use air conditioning where possible, check on vulnerable friends and neighbors, drink plenty of fluids to stay hydrated, and not leave children or pets unattended in vehicles.

Overall, the heatwave stretched from southwest Ohio to western Virginia and Washington, and north through Philadelphia, New York and Boston, said David Roth, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Dallas, Washington, parts of New Jersey and New York’s Long Island could hit record highs on Friday, Roth told Agence France Presse.

Five other spots stretching from Maryland’s Ocean City to Connecticut might set similar records on Saturday, before the heat fades Sunday and Monday, he added.

In the southern US, heavy rain pummeled parts of Louisiana and Mississippi as an area of low pressure slowly moved west along the Gulf Coast. Many streams were out of their banks on Friday, the National Weather Service said. AFP The area recorded 10 to 15 inches (25.4 to 38.1 cm) of rain, Roth said. Another 10 inches were expected in parts of Louisiana over the next two days. AFP

UK to subsidize farmers, infra, universities LONDON—The British government pledged Saturday to match European Union (EU) funding for farmers, universities and infrastructure projects after Britain leaves the bloc, to stem fears that key sectors will be left struggling.

The commitment, intended to address uncertainty over the impact of the June 23 vote for Brexit, could cost around £4.5 billion ($5.8 billion, 5.2 billion euros) a year, finance minister Philip Hammond said.

The commitment applies to agricultural funds until 2020, structural and investment projects signed before the government’s budget update this autumn, and university bids won under the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

“We recognize that many organizations across the UK which are in receipt of EU funding, or expect to start receiving funding, want reassurance about the flow of funding they will receive,” Hammond said in a statement.

“That is why I am confirming that structural and investment funds projects signed before the Autumn Statement and Horizon research funding granted before we leave the EU will be guaranteed by the Treasury after we leave.

“The government will also match the current level of agricultural funding until 2020, providing certainty to our agricultural community, which plays a vital role in our country.”

The cost will depend on the level of applications for funds, and on when Britain leaves the EU. The government has said it will not trigger the two-year withdrawal process before the end of this year.

“Around about £4.5 billion a year would be the level we would expect,” Hammond said.

Campaigners for Britain to stay in the EU in the June 23 referendum had highlighted the funding benefits of membership to key sectors such a farming and research.

But the Brexit camp said any shortfall could be covered by ending Britain’s contributions to the EU budget, which stood at about £12.9 billion in 2015, after the rebate. AFP Projects covered by the government’s guarantee include a new facility at the University of Manchester to develop research into grapheme—a material which scientists say could transform consumer electronics— using £5 million from the European Regional Development Fund. AFP

Life

The British seaside vibe makes its way to Filipino homes as John Lewis’ Spring/ Summer home collection at SM features beach- and nautical-inspired pieces

SUNDAY LIVING

John Lewis Spring / Summer home collection at SM B RITISH brand John Lewis highlights two trends – Coastal and Fusion - in its Spring / Summer home collection in selected SM Home branches.

The spirit of the British seaside is alive in Coastal, where the warmth of nostalgia is given a fresh, modern update. Relaxed textures, simple stripes and plainly crafted pieces reflect the comfort and informality of a home by the sea.

This relaxed, beachy look combines all the colors associated with the seaside.

Think sandy beiges, off-whites and greys, and pepped up with Côte d’Azur blue.

Bring the nautical look to life with decorative touches. Think rope details, fish motifs, and galvanized steel pendants. Use accessories to express your personal style. This look should be informal, comfortable and filled with stuff that you love.

Fusion, on the other hand, is a collector’s paradise that celebrates a rich, cultural diversity of influences. It blends colour, pattern, and texture to create a style that is both worldly and individual.

You can infuse your home with global style no matter where you live.

In your bedroom, mix striking patterns and textures against a neutral backdrop of pale walls and dark wood furniture.

Textiles take their influence from across the globe with ikat prints and intense colours such as saffron and indigo. You can also hang lighting at a low level to create a relaxed glow in your bedroom John Lewis, a chain of quality department stores in Great Britain is known for its “Never Knowingly Undersold” policy which has been in use since 1925. It is part of the John Lewis Partnership, the UK’s largest example of worker co-ownership where all 30,000 staff are Partners in the business.

On January 1, 2008, the Oxford Street store – the first John Lewis store which opened in 1864 – was awarded a Royal Warrant from Her Majesty the Queen as: suppliers of haberdashery and household goods. John Lewis Reading is also the holder of a Royal Warrant from the Queen as suppliers of household and fancy goods. Peter Jones in Sloane Square, Chelsea which is part of the John Lewis Group, is the holder of a Royal Warrant to both HRH The Prince of Wales and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh as draper and furnisher In the Philippines, John Lewis has a dedicated department in selected SM Home branches. The John Lewis Coastal and Fusion Collections are available at the SM Home Section in SM Store branches in SM Makati, SM Aura Premier, SM Megamall, SM Mall of Asia, SM North EDSA, and SM Seaside Cebu.

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016

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Go nautical with this blue throw pillow that can instantly brighten up any living room or bedroom

Sail to distant shores without actually moving a muscle with this Boat Scene cushion

The calming blue color and printed message on this pillow make it go well in beds to help promote a relaxing slumber

Life

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

U

NDOUBTEDLY, former Ilocos Sur Governor Luis “Chavit” Singson is success personified.

Whether as a politician or businessman, his legacy is simply outstanding.

His passion for excellence is a vital factor in his enduring success. Once he sets his mind and heart on something, he always gives it his best shot.

His track record speaks for his enviable stature both in politics and society.

Interestingly, Chavit made waves first as a businessman. At a young age, he managed his family’s various enterprises and led them to unparalleled growth – a construction company, tobacco plantation, radio station, funeral parlor, movie houses, ice plant, and a bus transportation company. He then became a politician and became a political kingpin in his province for a record-breaking 28 years. He was elected Governor of Ilocos Sur for long stretches of time.

Now, 75 (he was born on June 21, 1941), Chavit may no longer hold the key post in Ilocos Sur but continues to be a pillar of support and inspiration to the new generation of leaders, particularly his children.

“I already relinquished my throne to them, so to speak. For one, they’re more aggressive, dynamic and idealistic at this point. Who knows, they have better ideas, right? You can never tell.

All I do is support and guide them considering my vast experience in the field. Actually, I’m training my children to continue my legacy and I’m happy that they’re on the right track,” he says.

At this point, the former Ilocos Sur governor is more concerned with pursuits which give him the chance to give back to the people of his province who are instrumental to his enduring success. One concrete example is putting Vigan into the spotlight as one of the country’s top tourist destinations.

“I remember that it was me and my niece (former Vigan Mayor Eva Marie Singson-Medina) who worked hard for Vigan to be voted as one of the ‘New 7 Wonder Cities.’ Prior to that, we also lobbied for its inclusion to the World heritage list. Truly, it became the turning point of the city.”

Chavit also takes pride in Baluarte, an interactive wildlife sanctuary he designed and developed. Its main aim is to facilitate education apart from conserving and protecting endangered species.

“Actually, what inspired me to put up this zoo is my hunting hobby,” he avers. “For years, I’ve been traveling the world for this purpose and was able to reach countries as far as South Africa, Zimbabwe, Australia, Sweden and

Ilocos Sur pillar Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson owes his success in business, politics and other pursuits to his credibility, dignity and optimism

The success of

Luis ‘Chavit’ Singson

New Zealand. From each destination I brought home beautiful souvenirs like elephant, buffalo, rhino, lions, etc. I had all these animals shipped to Baluarte so that Filipinos who can’t afford to visit said countries will see them in the flesh for free.”

Baluarte is getting more exciting over the years since it was first built.

“Oh yes! When I finished my term as Ilocos Sur Governor, I had more time to travel and hunt so, more animals were added in here. They surely provide more excitement and fanfare to the place and that’s my goal for Baluarte to become the ultimate fauna spot in the country.”

Chavit’s goal to pay it forward is also the prime reason why he embarks on a new venture: hosting a TV program titled Happy Life.

“In this show, deserving beneficiaries will be given the chance to travel while surprise gifts await them when they reach their journey’s end...like a house and lot.

Yes, we will search for a donor or if we cannot find one, I will provide the prize myself. Through this program, we also want to give a fresh start to hardworking individuals and organizations. My team is actually making the rounds in various parts of the country to shoot lovely tourist spots. The show has a good concept and I’m just making negotiations as to which network we would air it.”

Many were surprised when he ran for a seat in the council of Narvacan, Ilocos Sur in the recent polls when he could’ve opted for a much higher post.

“For those who don’t know yet, my maiden political experience was running as councilor for Vigan which I

topped then. This time though, I just wanted to help this small town shine and realize its huge potential. I went to Narvacan on purpose since it’s the only town that boasts a big budget but hasn’t shown any progress. Imagine, among Ilocos Sur’s 32 municipalities, Narvacan is the only one which doesn’t have new municipal buildings and market and yet, it’s the biggest beneficiary of Republic Act 7171 which I authored.”

As a food for thought, the still agile Ilocos Sur pillar wants to share his success formula.

“I’m a positive person, I always stick to what I’ve said. I keep my words. Credibility is very important to me. I’m also dedicated in everything I do. I credit my parents for letting me grow up with principle and dignity,” ends Chavit.

Millie Bobby Brown at AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2016

‘Stranger Things’ star Millie Bobby Brown is one of the celebrity guests in the upcoming AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2016 happening on Aug. 26 to 28

THINGS take a turn for the stranger as AsiaPOP Comicon Manila 2016 (APCC Manila) confirmed Hollywood child actress Millie Bobby Brown as the latest celebrity guest of the biggest pop culture gathering happening from Aug. 26 to 28 at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Brown is most known for her current role in the ongoing sci-fi thriller series Stranger Things, in which she stars opposite Winona Ryder and David Harbour. Her portrayal of the enigmatic Eleven earned her high praises, including that of Variety.com chief TV critic Maureen Ryan.

For the fans of the Stranger Things star, APCC Manila is offering Autograph and Photograph session tickets with the adorable child actress, which will be available soon for purchase on SM Tickets website, https://smtickets. com/, or at all SM Tickets outlets. Auto-

graph and Photograph tickets will also be available for purchase on event days.

APCC Manila 2016 tickets are now available at SM Tickets at P550.00 (oneday pass), P850.00 (two-day pass), and P1050.00 (three-day pass).

All these will give the ticketholder access to stage activities, performances, and the main show floor. The event is free for children aged five years and below for all days, but a valid identification is required for verification purposes before entering the show floor.

A special Geek Bundle is also available at P3500 for the FIRST 100 customers which includes an event lanyard, tote bag, cape, a 3-day pass, and a 1/12 Iron Man Mark XL “Shotgun” collectible figure from Comicave Studios.

For more information and event updates, please visit asiapopcomicon.com/manila and APCC Manila on Facebook.

A new home for state-of-the-art store housing design “NEVER fails to impress.” This is the brand philosophy of Feliix Inc., a haven of state-of-the-art store housing design and quality items, with a truly impressive flagship store at Shangri-La at The Fort in Bonifacio Global City. This is the third store of the company, with the first two stores both located in Makati City.

Giving a fresh and impressively new perspective to lighting fixtures and store housing design items, Feliix exclusively distributes in the Philippines QisDesign, Zuny and a host of other brands and product lineups, all similarly embody a beautiful life through uniquely designed, extremely functional products. These products, which combine quality, aesthetics and functionality, have won numerous design awards such as the iF Product Design Award given by the International Forum World Design Guide, the Red Dot Design Award awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Wesfalen in Essen Germany, and the Good Design Award conferred by the Japan Industrial Promotion Organization (JIDPO).

Feliix is keeping up with the market demand by strengthening its presence in the country through business expansion after the success of its stores in Greenbelt 5 and LRI Design Plaza “Residential property development in the country continues to be strong, which means there’s a rising demand for the kinds of products we offer. We have also noticed the evolving taste of the local market now looking for unique and stylish concepts that are designed to have a practical use. With our lineup of items that combine good design and functionality, we believe that expanding our busi-

ness here in the Philippines is very timely”, said Krisel Sy Cao Yao, marketing director of Feliix Inc. For the company, a good product exemplifies a sense of beauty, happiness and good vibes, and these are all reflected in the brands it carries. One of the brands Feliix aims to popularize in the country is QisDesign, which promises to light up everyone’s life in the most unconventional way. QisDesign is a manufacturer of LED lights, the future of green lighting products, as LED is one of today’s most energy efficient lighting technologies that consumes up to 80 percent less electric power than conventional lights. QisDesign creations have won numerous design awards, and it has sales outlets in Europe, USA, Dubai, Japan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The gift shop of the world-renowned museum, Centre Pompidou, has on display QisDesign’s “Coral” LED lamps.

Zuny, on the other hand, is collection of imaginatively designed home accessories which are referred to as “green collar products”. The “Zuny spirit” is inspired by nature, and the products are made of high quality, friendly faux leather based on the principle of animals and environmental care. The super cute bookends, paper weights, key holders, and other items have undergone a pure and humanistic hand-making process instead of being mass-produced. Zuny puts emphasis on the designers’ and tailors’ unique and valuable ideas, allowing each Zuny product to portray its own character and story.

Aside from the unique aesthetics, Feliix ensures the quality of its products.

Currently, its product lineup includes

table lamps, floor lamps, wall lamps, drop lights, bookends, paper weights, key holders, door stoppers, wall mounted accessories, and the Core Suit brand of scifi inspired metallic iPhone casing. All designs are carefully thought of, with each design having its own story to tell.

QisDesign’s BE Light Table uses LED lights

The Flamenca LED Light is inspired by the breathtaking movement of Flamenco

Crystal LED Light

Showbiz

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SUNDAY, AUGUST 14, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Promoting disaster preparedness in Dagupan City T HE Philippines is located along the Ring of Fire – a large Pacific Ocean region where many of Earth’s volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur – making it vulnerable to natural disasters. In fact, a report revealed that over 30 million Filipinos are affected by disasters, placing the country to the 4th most disaster-prone country spot worldwide.

With this, there is a need to encourage Filipinos to become more vigilant and alert even with the absence of calamities and other natural disasters.

As part of their long-standing advocacy of educating Filipinos, Eveready and DZMM recently conducted a seminar on disaster preparedness at the West Central Elementary School in Dagupan City, Pangasinan to educate families on the importance of preparing for natural disasters.

According to MJ Tiquia, Brand Activation manager of Eveready Philippines, disseminating helpful information pertinent to disaster preparedness should become a priority, which is why Eveready Philippines joined forces with DZMM. “We need to build a strong and resilient community where everyone is

ready to face any type of crisis; a community that is well-informed and can manage to transform knowledge into actions promptly,” Tiquia said.

Eveready Philippines invited emergency expert Louie Domingo to demonstrate how families can equip themselves when disaster comes. With this, he emphasized the importance of having an emergency kit at home.

“What’s inside our kit can prolong and save our lives,” Domingo said. Domingo brought a bucket filled with the basic necessities for survival such as first-aid kit, canned goods, portable radio, umbrella, lifebuoy, flashlight and batteries, and other necessities needed in surviving tough situations.

“We need high-quality and reliable

products during calamities. Kailangan natin ng ilaw, ng liwanag. It’s the same with fire. If there’s light, there’s hope.

Light gives direction, gives the mindset to survive, makes a person think that even if he’s covered with the night’s darkness, he can use his flashlight to signal the rescuers that he’s alive,” Domingo explained. “This is where Eveready’s products come in: they are highly durable and dependable, ready to help you overcome what’s coming ahead.”

During the seminar, Eveready provided free flashlights and batterries to the first 20 families who came to the event. The company also set up its Eveready community game, which gave participants a chance to take home Eveready clip-on for free.

According to May Catherine Ceniza, head of DZMM for special events, Eveready’s innovations complement their mission to spread vital information on disaster preparedness. “We really want to maximize what we have to serve Filipinos, and partnering with Eveready is one of our ways. Their innovations are remarkably helpful and can really save lives during calamities.”

“Eveready and DZMM had been together for years in promoting disaster

Emergency expert Louie Domingo shares tips on how families can equip themselves when disasters come

preparedness among Filipinos,” she added. “This is our third partnership with Eveready and we are hoping for more engagements as we want to reach those Filipinos in remote areas.”

“We will continue to educate our consumers,” Tiquia said. “We have to break that tradition of only reacting if it’s already there. We can save lives if we are prepared. We can use a simple

flashlight to save ourselves and others.

We can become a light during calamities if we have the knowledge and the courage to apply what we know.”

Tiquia concluded, “DZMM and Eveready are very much alike with their missions: public service. We look forward to more partnerships for more seminars and events that could truly stimulate alertness and preparedness among Filipinos.”

Viber locks arms with Presidential Communications Office and Gary V

Cartoon Network features sports-themed shows as the world participate in the biggest sporting event in Rio

Cartoon Network’s sports fever THIS month, just as the world turns its attention to Rio, Cartoon Network features sports-themed shows, apps and events for days filled with endless belly laughs.

On weekends, Cartoon Network Superstars adopts a comedic take on sports, with characters competing in a variety of hilarious challenges.

This means non-stop “Laugh-a-thon” action with side splitting and quirky sports like toe-wars, mud wrestling, fruitball, card wars, and more. These specials airs 10:45 a.m. Saturdays.

Cartoon Network also provides sports-action on the go. The new Superstar Soccer: Goal! mobile game launched on Aug. 5 allows users to select a captain from the Cartoon Network universe of characters and then play against friends and teams from all over the world. You can also customize and train your team to unlock new skills. And finally, join a

club and battle it out in weekly tournaments and other matches in an ultimate sporting test.

Philippines’ no.1 kids’ channel takes getting active a notch higher with the CN Superstars Laugh Out League school tour where kids from select Metro Manila schools can show off their skills, practice teamwork and camaraderie. It’s like Rio, but with a unique Cartoon Network twist that everyone can enjoy.

So, as the world goes sports crazy this August, Cartoon Network has got you covered – on TV, on mobile and in person.

Cartoon Network is available on SKYCable Channel 43, SKYCable HD Channel 178, Cignal Channel 35, Cignal HD Channel 110, Destiny Cable (Digital) Channel 43, Destiny Cable (Analog) Channel 51 and Cable Link Channel 26, Dream Satellite Channel 15.

VIBER, the Philippines’ leading communications app, celebrates its continuous growth in the country as it recently hit 25 million registered users nationwide. It has become a household name for Filipinos here and abroad when it comes to connecting with their friends and family.

“We truly appreciate the overwhelming and continued support from our Filipino users and we’re committed to making Viber even better through local content and partnerships that celebrate and empower Filipinos and be part of their daily lives,” said Crystal Gonzalez, Viber Regional Head for Southeast Asia.

Each month, Filipinos send over 44 million stickers through Viber messaging and group chats. Viber stickers have indeed become a new and fun way for Filipinos to communicate and express themselves. Based on Viber’s latest sticker data, users in the Philippines are fond of sending stickers about daily expressions such as “Xoxo” (kiss mark), “Good night”, “Good morning”, thumbs up, “I miss you”, “Thank you”, and sad face. Moreover, the most downloaded sticker packs in the Philippines—Violet, Freddie, Yango, LegCat, Noy Pi, Becky Vibe, and Vibe On—feature famous Viber characters as well as slang words that Filipinos use on a daily basis.

To make sticker content more relevant for Filipino users, Viber has partnered with the Presidential Communications Office to create awareness on being a #PartnerForChange and has collaborated with the country’s most-awarded male recording artist and performer, Gary Valenciano.

Filipinos here and abroad can now download the free #GVonViber Sticker Pack, which features legendary Filipino musician/ singer/songwriter, Gary V, and his iconic song titles like “Hataw Na,” “Shout For Joy,” “Take Me Out of the Dark,” “Di Bale Na Lang,” “Sana Maulit Muli,” “Eto Na Naman,” among many others. To download, visit the Viber Sticker Market and search for #GVonViber. Also follow Gary V’s Public Chat for behind the scenes and conversations of Mr. Pure Energy with his family and celebrity friends (Visit www.viber.com/garyv).

Viber is also a #PartnerForChange, and being the leading communications app, has partnered with the Presidential Communications Office to launch a Public Chat (www. viber.com/presidentialcom), providing official news and announcements straight from the Presidential team. On July 25, the #ViberForChange Sticker Pack will be launched using the most popular expressions and social media memes like “Just DU it!,” “Change Is Here,” “Aprub Yan!,” “Proud to be Pinoy,” “Daghang Salamat,” among others.

Lastly, to further enrich content and engagement with Viber users, Viber is officially opening its doors for business and part-

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, August 14, 2016

ACROSS 1 Kind of capsule 5 Cheek 10 Suspected 16 Yawning gulf 21 Lab medium 22 Humpback refuge 23 Plexiglas 24 “Bad, Bad — Brown” 25 Mezzanine 26 Glistening 27 “Lady Soul” 28 Bring upon oneself 29 “Jurassic Park” novelist 31 Pump, in a way 33 Don Diego masked 35 Numerical prefix 36 Loses steam 37 His is a safe job 40 Pick up on 41 Typewriter type size 42 Cold mo.

45 Kindergartner 46 Dude, Jamaicastyle 48 Museum contents 50 Marked down 52 Chopper topper 54 Omigosh!

55 Apply a mudpack 57 Dandy 58 Sahara wanderer 59 Geologic formation 60 Put-down 62 Fingerless gloves 66 Just scrapes by 67 Skimpy 69 Flowering shrub 71 Pork cut 72 Where the wild things are 74 Riviera summer 76 Repair pipes 78 Sporty truck 79 Drop like — — potato

80 Joins 83 Upscale wheels 85 Fab Four member 88 Kind of clock 89 Last box to check 90 Ammo dump 93 Broccoli segments 95 Less than fair 97 Kind of walk?

98 “— Accomp’ny Me” 100 Angkor — 101 Amoeba’s locomotion 106 Governess in Siam 108 Genuflects 110 Most reliable 112 “Galloping Gourmet” Graham 113 Bumpkins 115 Staffer 116 Its HQ is Brussels 117 “— Street Blues” 118 Teacup handle 120 Lieuts.’ right arms 122 Rackets 123 Spots for dancing 124 Accept reluctantly 128 “I” trouble 129 Dow Jones fig.

130 Wire gauge 131 USN rank 132 Storybook bear 133 Not like Abner, really 135 Slow movers 137 Toe 139 Goldfish, with “C” 140 Zeus’ shield 142 Casino action 144 In accord 148 Ski lifts (hyph.)

150 Goofball 153 Go swimming 155 Caroler’s tune 156 Southfork matriarch 157 Realize

158 Skirt vents 159 “Nutcracker” outfit 160 Alabama town 161 “Rose Marie” hero 162 Stratagems 163 Helper, briefly DOWN 1 Powder base 2 Frankenstein’s gofer 3 Astrologers of yore 4 Upright 5 It may be flared 6 Answered a yodel 7 Jockey’s handful 8 Camper, maybe 9 “Only Time” singer 10 Snow crystal 11 Afr. neighbor 12 Top-notch pilot 13 Cracker brand 14 Social mores 15 More precious 16 Ad award 17 Biddy 18 Aurora domain 19 Origin 20 Countless 30 Yanked up a sock 32 “Auld Lang —” 34 Scuba-diving site 38 Flit around 39 Understanding 41 Eye part 42 Firstmagnitude star 43 White mushroom 44 Antique brooch 46 Is nostalgic 47 October’s stone 49 Dutch bloomers 51 Mr. DeLuise 53 Rubdown 54 Calendar unit 56 Singer Ives 59 Assemble 61 Enlist anew (hyph.)

63 Handle 64 Give a tenth

65 67 68 69 70 73 75 77 81 82 84 85 86 87 91 92 93

Scornful gaze Electrical unit Pastel colors Hush-hush matters “I love,” in Latin Bogus Jeweled headdress Robin’s hatchlings Sidekick Rescue squad mem.

Greets the cat Elephant owner, maybe Person from Qom “Bye Bye Bye” band NASA thumbsup (hyph.)

Moon goddess Feather an arrow

94 Leaped 95 Pancho Villa’s coin 96 — on a limb 99 Luau welcomes 102 Cliques 103 Hippie greeting 104 Synthetic fabric 105 Formal, maybe 107 Mowgli’s wolf friend 109 Not cling (2 wds.)

111 Grad. school 114 Pitcher — Maglie 117 Hull section 119 Cattle-call reward 121 Boston Red — 122 “Great” dog 123 Stray from the topic 124 Heavy rainfalls 125 Trill 126 Shock

127 Hide hut 130 Powerful 134 Would I — — you?

136 Deep black 137 Place for a grill 138 Busybody 140 Offshore 141 In — (as found) 143 Recipe meas.

145 Debt memos 146 Volleyball needs 147 Huge excess 149 Crater edge 151 Was up for election 152 Morse click 154 Sum total

PARTNER FOR CHANGE. Viber Phippines has released two additional stickers featuring President Duterte and pop icon Gary V nerships in the Philippines. Brands, celebrities, and organizations can now partner with Viber and open branded stickers and Public Chat accounts, reaching millions of Filipino Viber users here and abroad. Viber has collaborated with industry leaders like Jollibee, Coca-Cola, Sunsilk, Globe, Smart, PLDT, GMA News, Inquirer, ABS-CBN, and McDonald’s.

“We invite brands, influencers, and businesses to work with the Viber team if they want to step up their game and engage with our 25 million Viber users,” Gonzalez added.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

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Showbiz

Billy Crawford makes a regal comeback for his latest comic outing

J

UDGING from the trailer alone, netizens seem to be all excited about the riotous and rib-tickling scenes from Regal Entertainment’s latest comic offering, That Thing Called Tanga Na.

For many, the mere idea of seeing Billy Crawford, the typically suave and dapper Kapamilya host fleshing out his role as a gay security guard would be more than enough to send his fans to hysterical laughing fits.

In some ways, the gay spin seems more of a challenge compared to his previous “moronic” capers.

“Try putting on a straight face with half the cast dressed up in drag, making faces, and everyone coming up with their own alibis every now and then. Believe me, you cannot not laugh with all that going on,” Billy recounts.

“It’s the hilarity of it all. I wish we could show the outtakes just as well, because I believe some of them are actually funnier,” he continues.

Through it all, Billy gives his thumbs up to director Joel Lamangan for bringing out the best in the cast, including Eric Quizon, Kean Cipriano, Martin Escudero, and Angeline Quinto.

“Timing is really the key to good comedy. You can’t fake it. Just like a song, you just have to be able to get into that groove and ride it, otherwise it falls apart,” he explains.

“And props to Direk Joel for prepping all of us and keeping us from

ISAH V. RED

bursting out laughing.”

Incidentally, That Thing Called Tanga Na also marks Billy’s comeback of sorts to Regal Entertainment.

Billy’s first movie with Regal was Sandakot Na Bala, where he starred with the late Rudy Fernandez, back in1988. The following year, he played Vilma Santos’s son in Pahiram Ng Isang Umaga, a dramatic role that won for him his very first Guillermo Best Child Actor Award.

“It’s definitely great to be working with Regal again. Thanks to Mother Lily (Monteverde) for believing in me and giving me this chance. Who knows, we might make history again here and get another award,” he jests. *** After finally coming out to his cobeauticians at Salon Paz that he is just pretending to be gay to support his sick mother, Conan (Mark Herrras) has yet to admit to himself that he has feelings for Ava (Megan Young).

A friendship starts to bloom when the two meet again. Ava will find in Conan a man who understands her dilemma: trying to run away from the arranged marriage that her parents have put her in.

Billy Crawford gets a lucky opportunity to prove his range and show his comic talent as a gay security guard in a new Joel Lamangan film

Having a light bulb moment, Ava will tap Conan to act as her boyfriend. What happens to Conan now that he has to pretend to be someone else again? And as he gets closer to Ava, will he find himself falling in love with her?

Watch Conan My Beautician, 5 p.m. today after GMA Blockbusters on GMA-7. *** The no.1 music channel welcomes to its family Donny Pangilinan and Sunny Kim, two fresh and talented faces who will surely make the MYX viewing experience more exciting for music fans and the youth.

Donny Pangilinan is the son of award-winning actress Maricel Laxa and TV host Anthony Pangilinan. At 18 years old, Donny

has obtained a cult following through social media with over 35K followers on Twitter and 68K on Instagram even before appearing on TV. VJ Donny is a fresh graduate of Brent International School and describes himself as super competitive and someone who loves basketball and surfing. Standing 6’1” tall and armed with his active and easy-going personality, Donny is now the latest addition to the exclusive roster of MYX VJs. Sunny Kim, on the other hand, is 100 percent Ko-

rean but her heart is 100 percent Pinoy.

She came to the Philippines when she was six-years old. Her family loved Manila so much that they decided to live here for good.

VJ Sunny, who is a B.A. Broadcast Communication student at UP Diliman, is an all-around ball of energy wherever she goes. She first came to MYX as a translator for a Korean awards show back in 2014. She then applied as an intern and spent her days helping out in the studio and learning from the staff. She auditioned for the MYXph.com Vlogger Search and ultimately won the competition with her fun and quirky personality.

Get to know VJ Donny and VJ Sunny as they take over your favorite shows this August. MYX, the number one music channel in the country is on Skycable channel 23.

Mark Herras and Megan Young as Conan and Ava in the primetime drama, ‘Conan My Beautician’

NEW VJS ON THE BLOCK. Sunny Kim (left) and Donny Pangilinan (right) join MYX’s

exclusive roster of VJs

Mario Maurer’s exciting new role

By Nickie Wang WHEN Thai Ambassador to the Philippines Thanatip Upatising was introducing Thai pop icon and superstar Mario Maurer to the members of the press, he could not help but notice the obvious excitement in their eyes.

Hence, the Thai ambassador quipped, “I’ll make this introduction short and sweet because I know what you came here for. I will no longer elaborate as to why we chose him for this role. I want you to see it for yourself.”

Then, looking dapper in a black suit and with his locks brushed up like a modern James ULTIMATE FACE OF TOURISM. Pop star Mario Maurer Dean-hairstyle, the is on a mission to convince more tourists to explore Thailand and experience its colorful culture 27-year-old actor emerged from tionally known for the films The Love of Siam (2007) the backstage and and Crazy Little Thing Called Love (2010), arrived greeted everyone early morning Saturday and headed to Dusit Thani Hotel to meet some of his fans and the members of the with a smile.

Mario Maurer press. Later in the afternoon, he graced another meethad a quick stop and-greet held at the SM Megamall Fashion Hall.

Maurer is billed as Thailand’s “Ultimate Face of in Manila over the weekend to Tourism,” while he’s on a mission to promote Thaipromote “Ex- land as Tourism Authority’s celebrity ambassador. His perience Thai- new role entails more travel to different country’s inland,” the Tour- cluding the Philippines.

According to the actor, traveling to different counism Authority of Thailand’s tries and experiencing other cultures give him a wonderful experience. He especially loves being able to campaign.

The actor, share with other people the delights and good times who is interna- that await them in Thailand.

Prior to his visit to Manila, he made promotional stops in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City on May 14 and in Guangzhou, China on July 30. In these junkets and appearances, Mario, along with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, aims to reach out and promote key spots and a variety of local activities that tourists may experience and enjoy as they visit the Southeast Asian jewel. He is set to visit Indonesia and Myanmar in his next assignments.

“Philippines and Thailand have a lot of things in common, not just the weather and the beaches. When it comes to culture, Thai people are very hospitable, we smile all day and like Filipinos, we are very respectful to elderly,” Maurer told the Manila Standard.

His visit to the Philippines is just a limited engagement but the actor promised that when given a chance, he would come back and spend more time with his Filipino friends.

Also known in the country for starring with Erich Gonzales in the hit romcom Suddenly It’s Magic (2012), the Thai actor wanted to work in the country besides fulfilling his role for the government of Thailand.

“Thailand can be visited all-year round. If it’s your first time there, I recommend that you visit the major city such as Bangkok. Because in Bangkok, you have many places to explore—old temples, the food, the people. If you have free time, you can go to Chiang Mai. Of course, they have a lot of elephants there,” he said.

While the country can be visited anytime of the year, the heartthrob said that Filipinos can look forward to Songkran Festival, Thailand’s New Year fest held in April and the full moon festival, Loi Krathong in November where decorated boats are set to float on the river. June and August are also good times to visit, as Filipinos will enjoy the annual Grand Sale all over Thailand.