Manila Standard - 2016 August 24 - Wednesday

PH turns the tables on US

By John Paolo Bencito AFTER Washington expressed “deep concern” about reports of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte on

Tuesday shot back and unreeled the continued spate of killings against black people in the United States, saying he would send a “rapporteur” to ensure it is as well abiding

byhum an rights norms.

“The Philippine government is still worried about what is being done to the black people there in America— being shot even Next page

VOL. XXX • NO. 193 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

‘Gibo’ still Rody’s choice for Defense

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte renewed his offer to former Defense secretary Gilbert Teodoro to take over his old portfolio so that he could appoint the current chief, Delfin Lorenzana, as ambassador to the United States.

In a speech before flag officers and newly minted generals at Malacañang, Duterte said he wanted Teodoro to take over the Defense department so that Lorenzana could be the country’s envoy to Washington.

Duterte said he admired Teodoro, and even offered to help him during the last elections if he intended to run for office.

“He was my lawyer long before,” Duterte said of Teodoro.

“He was still a young lawyer… I hope he does accept.”

Teodoro was former secretary of the national defense during the Arroyo administration and ran unsuccessfully for president against then Senator Benigno Aquino III. Shortly after Duterte won the presidency, Teodoro visited him

in Davao City but turned down an offer to be his Defense secretary, citing personal reasons.

Lorenzana was formerly the Special Presidential Representative of the Office of Philippine Veterans Affairs in the United States, before accepting Duterte’s offer to head the Defense department.

Lorenzana is a high school classmate of Pastor Apollo Quiboloy, a trusted friend of the President in Parang, Cotabato, and was the 601st Brigade Commander in Malungon, Sarangani in 2000.

Duterte however, in a chance interview, expressed that Lorenzana had expressed his wishes to stay in the country after his long service outside the country.

“I know him well but he said that he wants to live a peaceful life here [in the country], he wants to stay. Let’s see,” the President said.

Duterte on Tuesday defended his decision to kick out more than 6,000 presidential appointees as part of his effort to rid the government of corruptions.

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COMMEMORATIVE STAMPS. President Rodrigo Duterte receives a frame of commemorative stamps featuring his inauguration as the 16th President on June 30 after the 5th Cabinet meeting at Malacañang’s State Dining Room on Monday. King Rodriguez

Duterte drops new bombshell

‘Kill order’ intended only to scare drug lords Tags De Lima head of ‘Muntinlupa Connection’ RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday said that Malacañang is now in possession Court: of a matrix that shows the alleged role of Status former Justice secretary and now Senator Leila de Lima in the so-called “Muntinlupa Connection” quo on being run out of the New Bilibid Prison.

Marcos

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Francisco Tuyay

THE war on drugs required “psyschological warfare,” the chief of the Philippine National Police Ronald Dela Rosa said Tuesday, to justify President Rodrigo Duterte’s threat to kill all drug suspects.

“Maybe, the statements of the President were to scare drug pushers and addicts,” said Dela Rosa in response to a query from Senator Francis Escudero on whether the government had a policy of killing drug suspects.

Testifying in the second hearing by the Senate committee on justice

and human rights into the spate of drug-related killings, Dela Rosa dismissed accusations that they were bound to kill people with links to drugs.

“None your honor. We always follow the rules of law,” Dela Rosa said in response to Escudero’s question.

He said the threats were meant to scare those connected with illegal drugs and to get them to surrender to the authorities.

Asked if the President had ever given the police a shoot-to-kill order against drug suspects, Dela Rosa said yes, but only if the suspects are armed and put up a fight. Next page

P

In an ambush interview at the Palace, the President said De Lima was the highest ranking public official in the matrix, which he intends to reveal to the public in a week.

“I will show to you maybe this

week the matrix, I am just validating it. De Lima is there. The matrix shows her role there,” Duterte said.

He said that another former ranking Justice Department official and a governor are also in

the matrix.

“When I go after the [names in the] matrix you will know. There is also a governor... He is my friend [and] I could not believe it. But he’s there, and so is an undersecretary,” he said.

Pressed if he was referring to former Justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan II, the President said “yes.”

De Lima on Tuesday remained silent on whether she would attend the House investigation of her alleged involvement in the illegal drug trade in the New Bilibid Prison.

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CONTINUING PROBE. Senator Leila de Lima, chairman of the Committee on Justice and Human Rights (left) shifts gear at the resumption of the hearing Tuesday on the rampant extra-judicial killings and summary executions of suspected criminals, on the same day as Rogelio Bato Jr.—lawyer of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. and his son Kerwin—and his unidentified female companion are shot dead (right) in Tacloban City in what police described as an ambush. Police are continuing their investigation. Lino Santos/Mel Caspe

Lozada gets 10 years in jail Joma told

By Maricel V. Cruz

Mega-projects to ease traffic TWO mega-projects are in the pipeline under the Private-Public Partnership scheme to address the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila and to build a new national penitentiary to decongest many prisons in the country, an official said Tuesday.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the government is eyeing the construction of a BGC-Ortigas Road Link along with the retrofitting the Guadalupe Bridge to decongest Epifanio delos Santos Avenue, Metro Manila’s main artery.

“That would be an additional

bridge to add to what we have now on the east side of Metro Manila,” Pernia said.

“We need another one to add road space for those traveling between the two parts of Pasig, the two parts of Metro Manila that is cut by the Pasig River.”

After the construction of the BGC-Ortigas Road Link, the Guadalupe Bridge, which connects Makati and Mandaluyong, will have to be retrofitted, Pernia said.

“There’s also a need to reinforce the Guadalupe Bridge,” Next page Pernia said. twitter.com/ MlaStandard

THE Sandiganbayan Fourth Division on Tuesday sentenced whistleblower Rodolfo Lozada Jr. and his brother to a maximum 10 years in jail for illegally awarding leasehold rights over public lands to his brother during his tenure as head of the state-owned Philippine Forest Corp. (Philforest) in 2007 and 2008.

Lozada Jr. was charged by the anti-graft court along with his brother, Jose Orlando, who then served as president and chief executive officer of Philforest, with graft and ordered his imprisonment of from six to 10 years.

The court found Orlando guilty of one count of graft for violation of Section 3(e) of Republic Act 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act as the transac-

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S

tion caused undue injury to the government.

His brother Lozada Jr. was held responsible for awarding lease contracts to a private firm, Transforma Quinta Inc., which had connections with him and his wife, Maria Violeta.

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TEARY-EYED WHISTLEBLOWER. ZTE-NBN whistle-

blower Engr. Rodolfo “Jun” Lozada is teary-eyed after convicted for graft by the anti-graft court and sentenced to 10 years in jail.

Manny Palmero

thestandard.com.ph

to explain bombing

A PARTY-LIST lawmaker has urged Communist Party of the Philippines founder Jose Maria Sison to explain to the Filipino people his role in the Plaza Miranda bombing on Aug. 21, 1971, that killed nine people and injured 95 others, including many prominent Liberal Party politicians.

Rep. Lito Atienza, in a privilege speech Monday night, accused Sison of masterminding the bombing, ordering the throwing of grenades during a campaign rally of the Liberal Party at Plaza Miranda in Next page

By Rey E. Requejo THE Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a status quo ante (SQA) order temporarily stopping the government from proceeding with the burial of strongman Ferdinand Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani as President Rodrigo Duterte had ordered.

In an en banc session, the Court granted the immediate relief sought by the six petitions against the burial and issued a 20-day SQA order stopping the Defense Department and the Armed Forces from burying the Marcos remains at the hero’s cemetery.

Court spokesman Theodore Te said the order takes effect immediately and will last until Next page Sept. 12.

Preventive suspension on JV set THE Sandiganbayan on Tuesday ordered Senator JV Ejercito suspended for 90 days for allegedly diverting P2.1 million from San Juan City’s calamity fund to buy high-powered firearms for its police department when he was mayor.

The anti-graft court’s Fifth Division upheld the motion of the Office of the Special Prosecutor to suspend Ejercito while he faces trial for graft.

Ejercito’s father, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, defended his son, saying Ejercito merely gave priority to the purchase of firearms for the San Juan City police to boost peace and order in the city.

“The money came from the calamity fund. It was diverted

by JV for the purchase of the firearms because the police, at that time, were short of firearms,” Estrada said.

He said he also used money from the calamity fund for urgent projects when he was mayor of San Juan. Next page

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Pernia: Killings necessary evil Socio-economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the country needs to improve its peace and order situation to achieve economic successes and lure investors to pour economic capital into the country.

“The number zero in the zero to 10-point agenda is peace and order and included in that is the fight against criminality and drugs and smuggling and tax evasion and other illegal activities and if we have peace and order, which is the foundation of the 10 points, then the investment climate will definitely sub-

stantially improve and many will be rushing to the Philippines to invest,” Pernia said.

The secretary claimed that the negative reaction to extra-judicial killing of drug personalities was only “localized” and needed to be corrected.

He instructed the media to report about the crime rate that “has gone down substantially because of this fight against the drug menace” to ease fears of foreigners.

“The problem is the only ones interviewed by media are those whose husband or child has been killed. We should also interview

those who approve of what’s happening and see it as something that has to happen in the pursuit of greater good. So, I put it that way,” Pernia said, when asked about the fears voiced by the international community regarding the administration’s continuing drug war.

“You know, I think foreigners have to be informed that if they come here and they behave, then they’re safe,” he added.

Pernia revealed that Communications Secretary Martin Andanar and Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella are working to reverse the present “negative image” of the country.

“It’s better that there are no killings, of course. It’s better if there are no killings. And also, we have to realize that our justice system is dysfunctional. I think that should also be made known.

The justices, the Supreme Court should know that. They have to

Duterte...

The Senate committees on justice and human rights and public order, chaired by De Lima and Senator Panfilo Lacson, respectively, are investigating the circumstances surrounding the deaths of drug suspects during anti-drug police operations.

She also said she doubted if the House probe had a legitimate objective.

She noted that the House committee on human rights and justice had already conducted hearings on the alleged proliferation of illegal drugs at the New Bilibid Prison

under her watch.

De Lima was Justice secretary when the illegal drug trade reportedly flourished inside the Muntinlupa penitentiary.

She said the House investigation was conducted after the raid at the national penitentiary on Dec. 15, 2014.

“So the [House] committee on justice conducted also a series of hearings, two or three times inside New Bilibid. The members of the congressional committee also conducted an occular inspection. So they already knew the illegal drug activities inside Bilibid during the raid,” De Lima said.

“I initiated the raid. I started the raid, so why would they investi-

gate me now?” she said.

Asked if she thinks the pending investigation was politically motivated, De Lima replied: “I would not know that.”

House leaders said they would try to locate De Lima’s former driver, Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, if Congress summons him to testify on the proliferation of illegal drugs inside the NBP. President Duterte had earlier tagged Dayan as De Lima’s bagman for collecting money from drug lords operating inside the national penitentiary.

In separate interviews with the Manila Standard, House deputy speaker Raneo Abu of Batangas City, Robert Ace Barbers of Su-

rigao del Norte, and Reynaldo Umali of Mindoro Oriental said the House may seek help from concerned government agencies like the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation to ensure that Dayan would receive the subpoena from the House of Representatives and be compelled to attend the congressional probe.

Dayan reportedly has gone into hiding.

The lawmakers said Dayan’s testimony would be vital to shed light on reports that drug use at NBP was rampant under De Lima’s watch, and that a shabu laboratory had been build there in 2014. Maricel V. Cruz, PNA

Preventive...

‘Gibo’...

The anti-graft court also suspended for 90 days Ejercito’s co-accused, budget officer Lorenza Ching, treasurer Rosalinda Marasigan, engineer Danilo Mercado, city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, and lawyer Romualdo delos Santos.

Ejercito pleaded not guilty to the charge in April this year and posted a 30,000-peso bail for his temporary liberty.

He earlier said he was confident he would hurdle the case, and that a full-blown trial would be a welcome development. Maricel V. Cruz and Sandy Araneta

“In the Philippines we have a little bit of, I would say, disorder.

In a sense that some of the areas of governance are really dysfunctional.

What prompted...me to run was the corruption.... And despite my warning, it’s still there,” he said.

Duterte said that even if these people were already in government at his behest after serving the Arroyo and Aquino administrations, he would have to let them go because of rampant corruption.

“I’ve been with government as mayor 22 to 23 years in Davao.

When I was a prosecutor… what could not be stopped was corruption. It was an unrelenting fight until the end of my term,” he said.

The Palace said Tuesday that it followed due process in carrying out the President’s order.

Also on Tuesday, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano denied “malicious rumors” that he was resigning along with three other leftist Cabinet members, Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo, National Anti-Poverty Commission chairperson Liza Maza and Labor Undersecretary Joel Maglunsod, over the spate of extrajudicial killings as a result of Duterte’s anti-drug campaing.

In a statement, Taguiwalo also denied she was leaving the Duterte administration.

“I am in a Cabinet meeting now with Secretary Mariano and Maza.

Whatever positions we have regarding the burial of Marcos and extrajudicial killings, we will convey directly to the President. We are one with him in hoping for the crafting of a just and lasting peace with the National Democratic Front and Moro National Liberation Front, and in condemning all

forms of corruption,” her statement read.

She slammed those behind the manipulation of such information in a bid to derail the ongoing peace talks in Oslo, Norway.

She said they are working with the President to ensure that social services are made accessible to the people.

She condemned those who are manipulating information and surmised these were meant to derail the ongoing peace talks in Oslo.

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office chairman Erineo Maliksi, an Aquino appointee, has stopped reporting for work for the last two weeks, PCSO general manager Jose Ferdinand Rojas II told a House panel Tuesday.

Rojas represented Maliksi before the panel to present the PCSO’s programs and to update the lawmakers on its revenue collections. With Rio N. Araja and Maricel V. Cruz

Project will include the construction of a Commuter Line.

The Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit-Edsa project involves a 48.6-kilometer BRT system through Edsa, Ayala Avenue, Ortigas-BGC and NAIA, which will be built with 63 stations.

The Metro Manila Flood Management Project Phase I aims to reduce flooding in the flood-prone areas of Greater Metropolitan Manila.

A Common station for MRT 3, LRT 1 and MRT 7 will also be built.

Pernia said the proposed Metro

Manila Subway, to be funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, will push through.

“We just need to choose which of three possible alignments should be implemented and JICA is keen on financing that project,” he said.

The jail facility to be located in Fort Magsaysay in Laur, Nueva Ecija, will also push through after the Aquino administration failed to start it.

“That prison in Fort Magsaysay should decongest our overcrowded jails and prisons,” Pernia said. John Paolo Bencito

by opening tracts of land to tilling by private entities particularly to planting of jatropha to spur production of biodiesel as alternative fuel.

But the anti-graft division acquitted Lozada Jr. of a graft case for allegedly violating Section 3(h) of RA 3019 due to the supposed financial interest in the deal.

Lozada Jr. was the star witness in the allegedly overpriced aborted $329 million National Broadband Network project (NBN) previously awarded in

2007 to Chinese contractor, Zhing Xing Telecommunications Equipment Inc. (ZTE).

He testified against former First Gentleman Mike Arroyo and former Commission on Elections (Comelec) chair Benjamin Abalos who allegedly used their influence to push for for the botched broadband deal with China.

Former President-turned Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was also charged with graft and breach of ethical conduct in that case.

also want my rapporteur to tell me what have you done to the poor, black people being shot [while] defenseless,” he added.

On Tuesday, the US State Department said it was “deeply concerned” about the reports of extrajudicial killings in the country and urged the Duterte government to ensure that lawenforcement authorities abided by human rights norms.

The drug trafficking crack-

down and some strongly worded criticisms Duterte has made against the United States since coming to power present a dilemma for Washington, which has been seeking to forge unity among allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially in the strategic South China Sea. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, who described the President as “a plain-speak-

By John Paolo Bencito and Vito Barcelo

A

SENIOR Cabinet official on Tuesday stressed that controversial spate of drugrelated killings are a ‘necessary evil’ to achieve peace and order and make the country more attractive to foreign investments.

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Court...

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The order was directed to Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP chief-of-staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya.

The tribunal also agreed to reset the oral arguments on the case from Aug. 24 to Aug. 31.

In considering the case, the Court consolidated all six petitions filed by groups of Martial Law victims led by former Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and former Commission on Human Rights chairman Etta Rosales; a group led by former senator Heherson Alvarez; a group of University of the Philippines students; and former Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao human rights chairman Algamar Latiph.

The petitioners argued that the planned burial of the late dictator is “illegal and contrary to law, public policy, morals and justice.”

Allowing the burial of the former leader at the heroes’ cemetery, they said, would violate Republic Act No. 289 (law regulating the Libingan ng mga Bayani) and R.A. 10368 or the Human Rights Victims Reparation and Recognition Act. They said the burial would also violate constitutional provision on state policies.

The DND and AFP as well as the Marcos family already answered the petitions last Tuesday and asked the high court to dismiss the petitions.

National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers, one of the petitioners, welcomed the Court’s status quo ante order. With John Paolo Bencito

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Mega-projects...

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“So when work on the bridge starts, one lane will be closed, so we need an additional bridge.”

Officials have recommended 10 projects for President Rodrigo Duterte’s approval, and those include the North-South Railway Project-South Line, the Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit-Edsa, and the Metro Manila Flood Management Project.

The North-South Railway

Lozada...

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Orlando was reported to have been awarded a 6.59-hectare leasehold right on Dec. 18, 2009 while Transforma Quinta Inc., represented by Lozada Jr. and Maria Violeta, got a separate land lease contract for an unspecified hectarage.

The grants were given under the Lupang Hinirang program of Philforest aimed at promoting productivity of idle lands

PH...

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while lying down. So I’m going to send my rapporteur also and investigate them,” Duterte said in a chance interview at Malacañang on Tuesday.

“Why are the blacks being killed based on trump up charges and everything. There’s hatred there by their government. So I

shape up before we can really, you know, follow due process.”

On Tuesday, the United States State Department said it was “deeply concerned” by the reports of extrajudicial killings in the country and urged the Duterte government to ensure that law-enforcement authorities abided by human rights norms.

The drug trafficking crackdown and some of Duterte’s strongly worded criticisms became problematic to the United States, which has been seeking to unite its allies and partners in Asia in the face of an increasingly assertive China, especially with many of them claiming part or all of the South China Sea. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, who described the President as “a plain-speaking politician,” criticized the drug crackdown by the country’s police force.

“We continue to make clear

to the Philippine government ... our concern about human rights, extrajudicial killings, but we are also committed to our bilateral relationship and strengthening that bilateral relationship,” Toner said in a regular press briefing in Washington.

The US official said there was no question of the United States turning a blind eye to rights abuses and that the relationship with Manila, while good, was “frank and candid.”

The number of suspected drug traffickers killed in Duterte’s war on drugs has been put at about 900

by Philippine officials.

On Sunday, the President accused the United Nations of failing to fulfill its mandate and gravely threatened to pull the country out of the international organization.

Palace officials, however, said the Philippines would remain a UN member and described the president’s comments as expres-

‘Kill...

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He said the shoot-to-kill order was just “rhetoric… to scare bad people.”

Dela Rosa guaranteed that the PNP would not tolerate scalawags within its ranks, and said he had immediately relieved all Antipolo policemen involved in the case of Mary Rose Aquino, who said her parents were recruited by police to pack drugs, then killed.

Under questioning by Senator Greogrio Honasan, Dela Rosa said the police are not butchers who arbitrarily kill people.

Despite the gains made against illegal drugs, Dela Rosa said he was saddened that some quarters make it appear that the police were “the bad guys.”

“That pains us. We are not murderers. We are the police. We are here to serve and protect. We are not butchers who kill for no reason at all,” said Dela Rosa.

Responding to the question of Senator Joel Villanueva, De la Rosa said more than 700 drug suspects were presumed to have resisted arrests in the police operations.

If they did not resist arrest, they would be alive, Dela Rosa said.

At this juncture, De Lima interrupted. “Excuse me, do all of these cases have similar situations? All of them, that’s the official version?

They fought back?”

De la Rosa said yes, then corrected the figure to 756 dead.

Asked if he was putting on record that all 756 had resisted arrest and that this would be supported by a corresponding police report, Dela Rosa said yes.

De Lima replied: “Are you sure of that, sir?”

“Your honor, unless proven otherwise, there’s controverting evidence, I presume that my men are performing their duties regularly,”

sions of “profound disappointment and frustration.”

Malacañang said the Duterte administration is already addressing any serious concerns over its war against drugs after repeatedly drawing flak from critics.

“In spite of the fact that the President is plain speaking, the relationship with allies continues,” Abella said.

“We are addressing it from our side. As you can very well see, for example, the PNP chief Dela Rosa is already facing the Senate regarding that and I think he has also made references to the fact that whatever incidents that have serious concern are already being addressed,” he added.

The Catholic church called on the government to provide thousands of drug addicts with free rehabilitation and stop discriminating drug offenders because many of them are being summarily executed.

Dela Rosa said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon inquired on the official count of drug-related deaths following conflicting figures earlier presented to the Senate panel.

The PNP on Monday said it recorded 712 deaths during police operations and 1,067 outside of police operations or “deaths under investigation.”

But at the resumption of the hearing on Tuesday, Dela Rosa gave different figures—756 deaths during police operations and 1,160 deaths under investigation.

“Does it mean that in the past 24 hours, 237 died?” Drilon asked.

“Not necessarily your honor, we are updating, your honor, there were new discoveries. You would be more alarmed, your honor, if we decreased the figures—the dead people yesterday become alive today. But it’s the contrary, the alive people today were now dead so the number increased because of police operations, aggressive police operations,” Dela Rosa said.

During the start of the hearing, Dela Rosa gave a presentation that showed that 18 policemen and eight AFP members have been killed in anti-drug operations since July 1.

Dela Rosa added that 284 police officials have been relieved and transferred to other units.

He said 43 policemen on the drug list of the President who surrendered to Dela Rosa have been transferred to the PNP’s personnel holding and accounting unit.

Human Rights Watch described the human toll in the drug war as “shocking.”

“Police statistics show that from July 1 to August 19, 2016, police have killed an estimated 712 suspected ‘drug pushers and users’,” Phelim Kine, Deputy Asia Director of Human Rights Watch, said during a hearing in the Senate.

Quiapo, Manila, 45 years ago and clearing the late President Ferdinand Marcos of any responsibility over the incident.

Atienza urged Sison to clear his name even as he said Marcos merely did his best to stop the communists from taking control of the government.

“Joma Sison should explain this before the public, Atienza said.

He made his statement even as the negotiators from the Philippine government and the communist National Democratic Front on Tuesday buckled down to work and held successive meetings in Oslo to forge a final peace agreement within six to 12 months and to end the communist insurgency.

The negotiators held their meetings after an opening ceremony at the Scandic Holmenkollen Park Hotel in Oslo.

Atienza also urged President Rodrigo Duterte to unmask the brains behind the Plaza Miranda bombing and the 1983 assassination of Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., two bloody incidents that were both blamed on Marcos.

“I call on President Duterte to do something about it and act right now before it is too late,” Atienza said.

“I am appealing to you to do something, find out who is guilty behind the Plaza Miranda bombing and who is equally guilty in Ninoy’s assassination for the good of the nation.”

Earlier, Atienza appealed to the Filipinos to allow Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani in Taguig City. Maricel V. Cruz, with PNA

ing politician,” criticized the anti-illegal drug crackdown allegedly perpetrated by the country’s police force.

“We continue to make clear to the Philippines government ... our concern about human rights, extrajudicial killings, but we are also committed to our bilateral relationship and strengthening that bilateral relationship,” he told a regular press briefing in Washington.

Toner said there was no question of the United States turning a blind eye to rights abuses and that the relationship with Manila, while good, was “frank and candid.”

The number of suspected drug traffickers killed in Duterte’s war on drugs had been put at about 900 by Philippine officials. But this number included people who died since Duterte won the May 9 presidential election.

Joma...

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IN BRIEF Stop Cavite demolition, fishermen ask THE fishermen’s group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas on Tuesday urged an end to the violent demolition in a barangay in Maragondon, Cavite and appealed to President Rodrigo Duterte to stop all the demolition of fishing communities for ecotourism purposes.

“With or without relocation, the government should refrain from evicting fisherfolk from coastal communities especially if it would only replaced by big businesses’ money-making hub.

‘No relocation, no demolition’ scheme is too complicated so it should be a ‘no more demolition’ at all,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairperson, said.

About 10 houses were demolished on Monday by demolition teams escorted by the Philippine National Police and Philippine Air Force.

Sandy Araneta

DoTr urged to enforce clear air law SENATOR Loren Legarda asked the Department of Transportation to strengthen the monitoring of emissions from motor vehicles in compliance with the Clean Air Act. Legarda issued the statement after the DoTr revealed that none of its smoke emission testing machines are working.

DoTr Secretary Arthur Tugade said he is not aware why all the machines were broken and why these were not replaced but he assured that under his watch, the agency will immediately acquire smoke emission testing machines through the Motor Vehicle User’s Charge Fund.

Macon Araneta

Robredo eyes faster housing applications VICE President Leni Robredo, head of the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council, urged on Tuesday all shelter agencies to come up with their own citizen’s charter to be able to fast-track the processing of housing requirements for low-cost housing projects.

She also stressed the need to create a one-shop of all concerned agencies to streamline the number of documentary requirements from 27 to nine.

The length of documentation processing shall only take 15 to 20 days, instead of the average length of processing for socialized housing of two years. Rio Araja

PRESS THE FIGHT. Village leaders of Quezon City, led by Martin Diño (center), picket the Senate to support National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa who was summoned to a Senate probe extra-judicial killings. Lino Santos

Palace execs fault media for intl flak

By John Paolo Bencito

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T LEAST four members of President Rodrigo Duterte’s Cabinet blamed the media for the continuing flak it was receiving from critics as they separately defended the administration’s “war” against the drug menace.

On Tuesday, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia partly blamed media for the negative perception received by the Duterte administration among members of the business community in regard to the antiillegal drug campaign.

He said the media should also interview people regarding the crime rate status which “has gone down substantially because of this fight against the drug menace” to ease fears among foreigners.

Pernia, replying to questions, said: “We should also try to get the view of others who approve of what’s happening and see it as...maybe a necessary evil that

has to happen in pursuit of (a) greater good.

“You know, I think foreigners have to be informed that if they come here and they behave, they don’t do any misdeed, then they’re safe.”

Pernia said Communications Secretary Martin Andanar and Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella are “doing necessary efforts” to reverse the so-called “negative image” the country has because of the administration’s drug war to “make the country more attractive.”

From another department, Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay blamed the media’s persis-

tent questioning of the President in Sunday’s small hours, even if Duterte is known to be at his ‘peak’ at midnight as he tried to clarify the President’s strongly worded statements over his threat to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations.

“I know the President is aware the statement he must make must always be well thought of. In this particular instance, if i look at the context under which he made the statement: one, it was done in the wee hours of the morning and also he is very tired,” Yasay, replying to questions, said.

He said the news conference had ended but newsmen were still needling him “with a lot of questions; it in this context that he made this statement. And when you are especially tired, disappointed and frustrated and angry under these circumstances, we must give him a leeway...like us, he is only human.”

Andanar, meanwhile, justified the President’s womanizing ways as he scored the press for failing to give context that the President

is a single man and, therefore, he is allowed to take someone as a partner.

“I think the media also failed to explain that kung anuman iyong mga naging relasyon ng ating Presidente (whatever relations the President entered into), the President is a single man; and whoever is his partner is also single,” Andanar said.

This followed criticisms over social media directed at the President for calling Senator Leila de Lima as an “immoral” woman.

“The President is saying this Ronnie [Dayan] is married... therefore, it’s illegal, it’s a criminal act. So, I’m laying the basis of the argument and connecting Ronnie to drugs inside the New Bilibid Prison,” Andanar said.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines on Tuesday scored Senator Alan Peter Cayetano for criticizing media outfits over the “kill lists” that they publish, condemning the lawmaker for making “groundless accusations against the media.”

DoH contains diarrhea outbreak DoJ now probing

By Cathrine Mae V. Gonzales THE diarrhea outbreak that claimed 81 lives and afflicted 9,432 in Eastern Visayas is finally over, the Department of Health declared Tuesday.

According to the DOH, the decline resulted from its “strong message” that diarrhea kills if left untreated, a case seen in Samar that recorded 50 deaths or the highest in the figure.

The last recorded mortality in the region was on July 10.

“For the past three weeks, diarrhea cases have steadily declined,” said Minerva Molon, Regional Director of DoH.

Other areas that listed cases are Northern Samar, Eastern Samar, and Leyte.

The region saw the recent surge of diarrhea as the summer heat dried some of its drinking water sources which forced residents to compromise from unclean water. Consecutive fiesta celebrations also prompted person-to-person transmission and improper preparation of food.

Aside from raising awareness on the disease, Molon said the end of the outbreak is caused by distribution of medicines and aquatabs or water disinfectant tablets, and the assistance of non-government organizations and local government units.

5 narco-generals

By Rey E. Requijo THE Department of Justice is conducting its own investigation of the five police generals tagged earlier on by President Rodrigo Duterte as protectors of illegal drug trade in the country.

In a text message to reporters, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the “DoJ is working on our own to get evidence against the ‘narco-generals.’”

The so-called `narco generals” include retired PNP Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo, retired Chief Supt. and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot, Police Director Joel

Pagdilao, and Chief Supts. Edgardo Tinio and Bernardo Diaz.

Earlier, Aguirre said the DoJ would just wait if charges would be filed against the retired and active police generals, saying the National Police Commission is doing its investigation.

According to him, once a case has been filed, then that’s the time the DoJ will get involved by conducting preliminary hearings.

“The process is for Napolcom or any other investigative body to file a case before DoJ and, once it is filed, that’s the time we will initiate a preliminary investigation,” he said.

Palace still uncertain over Asean itinerary

By John Paolo Bencito

120 YEARS OF THE CRY. Government employees and elders take photographs at the marker of the Cry of Pugad Lawin in Quezon City during the 120th anniversary of the start of the Philippine Revolution of 1896. Manny Palmero

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will be visiting several neigboring countries when he makes his first foreign trip as head of state before receiving the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Vientiane, Laos, his spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

His six-day Asean swing will end on Sept. 9, which would include attendance at the Asean Summit in Laos from Sept. 6 to 8.

Earlier, Abella said Duterte will visit Asean neigbors like Brunei, Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore to discuss pressing security concerns and explore economic possibilities with them.

“Part of [the discussions] is the security agreements which have been raised in the Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines [tripartite talks]—addressing terrorism, and addressing economic possibilities —these are some of the talking points,” he said.

Duterte readies Ledac meeting PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will convene the LegislativeExecutive Development Advisory Council for the first time next month or in October to speed up five priority bills aimed at improving critical industries and speeding up infrastructure-building, an official said Tuesday.

Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the five bills will be submitted to the Ledac, which he said had been “dormant in the previous administration.”

The five bills are about the following: • the creation of an apex or super body for the water resources sector, which is proposed to be called the Water Resources Department or Authority; • the creation of an independent economic and financial regulator for the water sector; • the creation of a National Transport Policy, which will coordinate transport projects so that the movement across regions and provinces will be more systematic; • the amendments to the Build-Operate-Transfer or BOT Law and its implementing rules and regulations, which are aimed at hurdling right-of-way, procurement and implementation problems that tend to stymie the rapid processing and implementation of projects; • the amendments to the Electric Power Industry Reform Act or Epira and to the Water Code of the Philippines.

Pernia said another important improvement to accelerate infrastructure development was the streamlining of foreign investment programming by launching an online database system and streamlining the project approval process.

Duterte wanted Congress to give priority to the creation of a Water Resources Authority “because we are not really secure in terms of our water needs,” Pernia said.

“You know, there are many areas that are waterless,” he said.

“We don’t appreciate the problem because we are watered every day, but there are many areas that are not watered, and [the people there] have to buy at expensive prices.”

The amendments to the Epira failed to push through in the 16th Congress after the House Committee on Energy abandoned it because of strong opposition from various sectors. The Philippines has the highest electricity rates in Southeast Asia and the 9th highest in the world.

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Opinion

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Cleaning house

I

N ONE of those sudden and seemingly impulsive moves over the weekend that we have now all come to know, President Rodrigo Duterte ordered more than 6,000 presidential appointees to vacate their offices because corruption persists in government agencies.

A memorandum circular released Monday shows that the President’s order will cover those appointed by him as well as holdovers from the Aquino administration who had earlier been asked to stay on the job beyond July 31—arguably the real target of the sweeping shakeup.

The circular ordered all presidential appointees to tender their unqualified courtesy

resignations within seven calendar days and “in view of the President’s desire to rid the bureaucracy of corruption… to give him a free hand in achieving this objective.”

Subsequently, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar clarified that the order does not cover members of the Cabinet, and that the only ones appointed by Duterte affected by the order were the chiefs of the Land Transportation Office and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board, agencies that the President had singled out as being riddled with corruption.

We applaud the President’s desire to clean house and his need

for the occasional bold gesture to signal that true change is coming. Like him, we too are impatient for good government to take root in our public agencies.

We also have no argument with his singling out of the LTO and the LTFRB as agencies rife with corruption. After all, mere incompetence alone would not have been enough to cause the kind of breakdown in transportion services that became a hallmark of the Aquino administration.

We do prefer, however, that such major changes be accompanied by some semblance of order and coordination.

For example, immediately after the President announced

the massive shakeup from Davao City, his officials in Manila seemed to be scrambling to determine exactly who were and were not covered by his latest order.

One spokesman said the order covered only holdover appointees from the Aquino administration, but the memorandum circular stated that it covered all appointees, including those that Duterte had named.

This kind of confusion takes some focus away from the goal of cleansing the government of corruption and diminishes public confidence in the administration’s ability to pursue this objective with resolve and efficiency.

Certainly, the need to speak with one voice is an art this administration must still master.

More importantly, however, is that there seems to be no master plan for eliminating corruption outside of firing people.

Singapore, for instance, which grappled with corruption during the colonial period up until 1945, overcame it with the help of draconian laws—and the political will to enforce them.

Without a systemic approach to reducing corruption such as this, who is to say that the officials fired today won’t be replaced by others with the same propensity for corruption as those who came before them?

BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

On leaving the UN

The Senate OJT gang

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES MIRIAM Santiago has left the building. That means the OJT gang has been given a license to take over the Senate.

Used to be, newbie senators kept quiet during their first year or so in office, being slightly awed by their veteran colleagues and mostly uncertain if they, too, already have the gravitas to take the floor. But if Leila de Lima (who is vying, right out of the gate, for Rookie of the Year honors) can lead an investigation just a month and a half after being sworn into office, then, damn it, any one of the not-so-Young Turks who have burst onto the Senate scene this year can grab the microphone and, you know, do the senatorial thingy.

Youth shall be served, after all. And that means Joel “Tesdaman” Villanueva, Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao and Risa “Still Looking for a Nickname” Hontiveros can grill witnesses and get face time on national television just like the controversial

committee chairman herself, with varying degrees of success and intelligibility.

Mostly, it’s been shoddy. How can it not be, when Bam “Pagpag” Aquino can pretend to be a veteran statesman in these parlous days, after seeing in the De Lima probe an opportunity to shed his image as the main backer of that asinine plan to feed leftover food to the poor?

Antonio Trillanes can still barely keep up the pretense of being a real senator, forcing him to fall back on his days as a graduate of the military academy in order to dissociate himself from the rest of the clueless, barely logical and grammatical rookies.

And because the mic-hogging newcomers are faring so badly, Alan Peter Cayetano suddenly comes across as a half-breed Jovito Salonga, if Salonga ever prefaced his questions with longwinded, tangential references to this or that before getting to the point—which Salonga, of

course, never did.

Of course, there are always real Senate vets like Panfilo Lacson who can make sense of the proceedings and provide insights to those seeking them. But even

If the hearings look like they’re going nowhere, it’s partly because the senators are unprepared and incomprehensible.

returning old-timers like Richard Gordon need some time to get back into the groove—Dick always talks a mean streak, but

he needs to settle down and not attempt to craft legislation on the spot, by means of a single, longwinded speech on the floor.

In the center of it all, of course, is Manay Leila, she of the clipped-yet-elongated pronunciation and the self-conscious, lawyerly demeanor. De Lima soldiers on through the most soporific portions of this great yawner of an investigation, hellbent on proving that if she can’t unsettle hardened police officials like Bato dela Rosa, she can at least torture every syllable she utters until it practically begs to be killed extrajudicially.

If the De Lima hearings look like they’re getting nowhere, part of the reason is that most of the senators come across as abysmally unprepared and totally incomprehensible. Had Miriam been there, she should have taken to the podium very early on, raising her hands to the heavens and rolling her eyes at the idiocy of her colleagues.

But instead we have De Lima now and the rest of the Senate trainees. Unicameralism suddenly sounds really good. *** Seriously, the most sense I’ve heard out of a senator’s mouth during the current hearings emanated from Lacson’s. The former PNP chief cautioned the Senate about acting as a brake to the Duterte administration as it pursues its war against crime and drugs.

Lacson said admiringly that he’s never seen anything like the current campaign against illegal drugs and that it would be shame if the Senate got in the way of a president who wants to do something radical about a long-festering problem. ‘’The momentum that the police gained over a short period through [the] life-risking work of fighting illegal drugs must not be deterred by legislative inquiries like what we are conducting right now,” the senator said.

The implication of Lacson’s Turn to A5

FOR criticizing the alleged extrajudicial killing of suspects in his war on illegal drugs, President Rodrigo Duterte is now threatening to pull the Philippines out of the United Nations. This is an irresponsible statement, considering it was a UN body, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, that ruled in favor of Manila’s challenge to Beijing’s ninedash line claiming almost all of the South China Sea. With the country out of the world body, can it expect the UN to intervene in case China decides to push its maritime border further than Scarborough Shoal (Panatag) and the West Philippine Sea? This is not a paranoid thought but a scenario fraught with possibility. We may have the US-PH Mutual Defense Treaty and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement with the US but it’s more comforting to know the UN would not allow Chinese aggression in the region.

The Philippines is a founding member of the United Nations. Former Foreign Secretary Carlos P. Romulo was once elected as UN General Assembly president, a signal honor for the Philippines.

Leaving the UN would put the country in global isolation. Duterte might have been inspired

by Great Britain’s leaving the European Union. There is no comparison. Britain is a world power by itself and can survive without any trade or military ties with the EU. It may have disengaged from the EU but it remains a strong pillar of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

The Philippines, on the other hand, is without a strong manufacturing sector. Most of our basic needs are imported. Our agriculture sector is weak despite the country’s fertile farmlands. Mindanao has long been touted as the land of promise but it remains just that—something the politicians keep promising to develop. If not for the remittances of our overseas workers and the foreign investments that continue to keep faith in the Philippines, the country would not be afloat.

Whether Duterte, the first Philippine president to be elected from Mindanao, can jumpstart the region’s economy in his sixyear term remains to be seen.

The former Davao mayor is too preoccupied with his zeal to zap drugs and criminality.

Judging from his recent outbursts against the UN, the American ambassador to MaTurn to A5

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Can’t sympathize with De Lima PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte *** zeroed in Senator Leila de It is now too often that when Lima as somebody he wanted President Duterte says someto destroy. Later, he called her thing controversial—threatenimmoral, because her driver- ing to pull out of the United bodyguard was also her lover. Nations, for instance—Palace He also said this driver was functionaries stumble all over her bagman and conduit to the place trying to explain the convicted drug lords at the what he really meant.

New Bilibid Prison. I want to Almost immediately, Secresympathize with her. tary Jun Yasay of the DepartTo my mind, it’s an uneven ment of Foreign Affairs said fight. The President has pow- that the Philippines will not ers over the Executive branch. leave the international body The police, military, the Na- after all. He said the threat tional Bureau of Investigation, was just the President’s way the Department of Justice and of showing frustration and the Philippine Drug Enforce- disappointment over the UN’s ment Agency are all under criticism of his war on drugs. him. De Lima is only a sena- Palace spokesman also echoed tor with the power to inves- Yasay’s reaction. tigate as she is now doing on The President’s rant against Duterte’s war on crime, illegal the UN is nothing new. Recall drugs and corruption. that he also cursed at UN SecAnd when the President ac- retary General Ban Ki Moon cuses somebody of immoral for condemning his apparent acts, he must have solid proof. endorsement of extra-judicial All things considered, De killings.

Lima is a political dead duck I don’t know if Yasay and since her credibility to act as the Palace spokesmen reala fiscalizer is now eroded. Re- ize what they are doing. They member, Filipinos have double make the President sound as standards: When a married though he does not mean what man cheats on his wife, that’s he says. Too often, the Presito be forgiven. But when a dent is made to look silly with woman does his threats. it, that can President never be forDuterte must given. weigh his I do not words.

Assent She had it mean to say and dissent that I now coming. are part and consider the parcel of demSenate invesocratic space.

He needs to tigation into be more presiextra-judicial killings is lacking in credibil- dential in his ways. ity, even if it is De Lima who *** heads it. The hearings must let The Duterte administrathe public know why there are tion’s move to go against so many such killings, with “endo”—employee contracsome members of the police tualization in the public and involved. private sectors—is easier said De Lima must show proof than done. that she is not involved in the I, myself, have been writing illegal drug trade. As far as the against the evils of “endo”— public is concerned now, she is the practice of hiring casual guilty. employees for five months, I said I wanted to sympa- and then terminating them thize with De Lima. I cannot, so they would not be eligible however. She was the attack for benefits due a regular emdog of former President Be- ployee: 13th month pay, health nigno Aquino III, arresting benefits due them, vacation and detaining former Presi- leaves and other perks. dent Gloria Macapagal Arroyo I agree that “endo” must stop when the latter tried to leave because it’s truly unfair to the for a bone ailment operation labor sector considering the imabroad. De Lima defied the mense problem of joblessness Supreme Court’s order allow- in the country. But, if even the ing Gloria to leave. government resorts to hiring My respect for De Lima as casuals, why should the private a Cabinet member totally dis- sector be made the scapegoat? sipated when in 2010, she did *** not resign after BS Aquino reA big problem that the Dupudiated her investigative re- terte administration should port on the botched rescue of also look into aside from the hostages at Luneta. Eight tour- traffic crisis of Metro Manila ists died in this incident. Her is traffic congestion at Naia. report found that people under This results in flight delays BS Aquino were administra- and often diversion of flights tively and criminally liable. to Clark and Cebu airports.

It was clearly a slap on the Transportation Secretary face of De Lima when for- Arthur Tugade should take mer President Aquino gave time to go to Naia and see for his friends only a slap on the himself what air traffic conwrist. gestion is doing to the counDe Lima went on as BS try. Passengers get delayed for Aquino’s attack dog, when hours on end; sometimes they she and Aquino lackey, Om- have to lie down on the floor budsman Conchita Carpio- for lack of airport seats.

Morales, indicted his political Tugade should see how enemies in that infamous Janet many flights are in the taxi Lim Napoles pork barrel scan- runway every day to underdal. This resulted in the deten- stand the air traffic crisis. tion of then Senate Minority The transport department Leader Juan Ponce Enrile, and envisions the construction of Senators Jinggoy Estrada and a new international airport at Bong Revilla. Enrile had since Sangley Point in Cavite. But been free, but Jinggoy and when? We have needed an alterBong are still languishing in native airport since yesterday.

Camp Crame cells.

This air traffic crisis has Many say that for De Lima been going on for so many it’s “karma.” What goes years, as far back as the Arroyo around comes around. De administration. But, what did Lima had it coming to her. To former President BS Aquino all those in positions of power do? Nothing. And did not Naia and influence, I prefer to say earn the label of being one of that the wheel of fortune goes the worst airports in the world? around—at times you are up To think that the Departthere, but soon enough, you ment of Tourism is staging the are down there. You reap what next Miss Universe pageant. you sow.

Not with this congestion.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Duterte delivers VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ FIFTY-FIVE days into his 2,190-day presidency, Rodrigo Roa Duterte has delivered—at least on his vow to launch an anti-drugs war.

“Our deal is stop corruption, drugs, corruption, and criminality,” he tells his countrymen.

To achieve that, he stakes three things—“my honor, my life, presidency.” “I was never born to protect evil,” he says. “I grew up and was taught by my parents to be on the side of fairness, to protect the good, and to take care of our country.”

With savage fury, President Digong has cracked down on illegal drugs and drug-related criminality. “It will be bloody,” he said before the election which he won with more votes (16.4 million) than any other Philippine president before him and with 6 million more votes than the poor second placer.

Indeed, the narcotics campaign has been bloody—712 killed by the police and 1,067 by vigilantes, or a total of 1,779, from July 1, 2016 to August 22.

At least 33 people are killed daily in the government’s anti-drug war. Those are figures of Duterte’s own hatchetman, police general “Bato” dela Rosa, the chief of the Philippine National Police which is at the forefront

of the anti-drugs war, which has made the President such a controversial global figure.

At the rate of 33 killings per day, more people will be killed on average per year (12,200) than the yearly average deaths in 47 years of the communist insurgency or in 44 years of the Moro separatist war. Which may explain why Duterte himself has put a timeline to the bloody campaign—three to six months. Otherwise, there is a Reign of Terror as Kit Tatad has observed, or gross human rights violations as the United Nations has warned. Still, don’t bet on Duterte stopping at 12,000 or even at double that. Before his election, the President vowed to drown as many as 100,000 drug lords or drug users in Manila Bay. So 100,000 looks like a working target. Duterte has warned the UN and the United States not to interfere in the Philippines’ sovereign right to deal with its drug problem. The UN in the particular, he sneers, has not solved the hunger problem nor helped stop the war in the Middle East. “I don’t give a shit to them!”

There are 3.7 million drug users, the President reckons. He is probably right. In just two months, more than 600,000 have surrendered and admitted to using or dealing drugs. Duterte says the government has no money “to buy [or provide] beds, blankets, pillows, water, buildings, doctors, and nurses” for them. Which implies that eliminating them is the

SO I SEE

most expedient and efficient way to deal with them.

If the President proceeds with his 100,000 target, one in every six of those who surrender will die a violent death.

Duterte says after a year on drugs, an addict would have had a damaged brain. “Shabu for six months almost every day would shrink the brain of a person,” he analyzes. “They are living, walking dead.”

In Duterte’s view, addicts behave like an animal or a criminal.

As such, they should be neutralized with extreme prejudice. With the stunning success of the antidrugs war, criminality, or petty criminality, has been halved. According to Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, as high as 70 percent of crimes are drug-related.

The drug problem has become a pandemic, Duterte bristles. In one town in a province in Southern Luzon, he volunteers, as many as 100 policemen are involved in drugs. “So what am I supposed to do as President? Empower the military and the police. For after all, they are there to protect the integrity and protect the people of the Philippines.”

On another front, Duterte seems earnest in cutting red tape and curbing corruption in government. He has been aghast to find a government so corrupt, so incompetent, and so inefficient under BS Aquino.

On early Sunday, August 21, he asked everyone appointed by the president to consider their positions vacant. They have been fired,

because of lingering corruption in various government agencies, especially in the provinces.

It is the largest mass firing of presidential appointees since Ferdinand Marcos’ martial law in 1972.

Incidentally, why is the Supreme Court going to decide whether Marcos, who died in 1989, should be buried at the Libingan ng mga Bayani or not. The law says soldiers and former presidents can be buried at the Libingan. Marcos was a soldier and the country’s longest-serving president. “It’s the law,” says Duterte.

Duterte’s decisions in his first 55 days have been drastic and draconian. They risk making him a pariah before the international community. The President doesn’t care.

He likes Abraham Lincoln, his idol as far back as when he was a law student at San Beda.

On his copy of his Revised Penal Code, the then law student Duterte copied in his handwriting this famous quote: “If I were to try to read, much less answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how—the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.” biznewsasia@gmail.com

‘Ugnayan’

LITO BANAYO TAIPEI, TAIWAN—There are some 123,000 documented Filipinos who work in Taiwan, which is about the size of Luzon from Batanes to the tip of Laguna. A smaller number, some 2,000, are estimated to be unregistered.

The majority work in the factories and assembly-line operations are clustered around and north of Taipei, the capital, and major manufacturing hubs south in Taichung and Kaoshiung.

There are also those who work in agricultural and fishing communities in Hsinchu, Tainan, Yilan County and Pingtung, the southernmost county from whose Orchid Island (Lanyu), you could already view the Philippines.

And there are some Filipinos married to Taiwanese, and have raised their children here.

The Manila Economic and Cultural Office, along with labor attachés and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration’s representatives in the major cities of Taiwan, constitute the face of our government to our OFWs in this island republic. Likewise, we have trade and tourism attachés whose job it is to promote foreign direct investments and trade, as well as an increasing flow of Taiwanese visitors to the Philippines.

Over the past five days, we touched base with our government’s representatives here as well as business associations in Taipei and Taichung. But more significantly, we were able to meet hundreds from among our OFW community in these capitals.

Perhaps the most poignant part of our visit was a conference with 17 disadvantaged and distressed OFWs at the Ugnayan center in Taichung. Five of them were female caretakers who left their employers because of violations of the work contracts they had entered to. Mercifully, no one complained of physical abuse. Their complaints centered on long work hours without adequate compensation as well as no days off. Fleeing these work conditions, they sought shelter in the Ugnayan center run by Fr. Joyalito Tajonera, a Maryknoll missionary who has made it his special crusade to help distressed OFWs in Taiwan.

There were five male fishing vessel workers who disembarked from a Taiwanese port because of unbearable working conditions and harassment from their ship captain. They came from Occidental Mindoro. They filed a case against their former employer and while waiting for the

adjudication of their complaint, they are given free board and lodging by the Ugnayan center.

A Filipino was stabbed by another co-worker 12 times in different parts of his body, and miraculously survived. He too waits at the Ugnayan center as he seeks justice in court.

But more than just giving food and shelter to our distressed kababayans, Ugnayan, with the help of MECO, OWWA and the labor attaches, give training in alternative livelihood, such as baking, computer lessons, industrial sewing, even language lessons to those who want alternative sources of livelihood.

It is a testament to the perseverance of our OFWs that they suffer the loneliness of separation from kith and kin, just to be able to provide for their families back home. Fortunately for them, the work conditions in Taiwan are somewhat better than in other places. There certainly are problems, and we have sat with both their leaders in the Filipino community as well as our labor and welfare officials here to listen and learn about their plight.

At Sunday mass in Taichung, on the 33rd anniversary of Ninoy Aquino’s death at the tarmac, we were asked by Fr. Joy Tajonera to say a few words be-

fore some 500 kababayans. The celebration of holy mass was preceded by a very appropriate song, “Hawak Kamay,” the lyrics of which summed up the spirit of “ugnayan.” We spoke how our OFWs are bound as a community by three F’s: Family, Faith and Flag. The families back home for which they toil in foreign lands amid a different, sometimes harsh culture. How they seek comfort in their faith, and use it as a means to bond as brothers and sisters in religious gatherings as well as through community efforts such as those spearheaded by Ugnayan. And the flag, which is the symbol of their nation as well as the government the economy of which depends in large part to the earnings brought home by the Filipino diaspora.

We told them that MECO, which is the government’s representative mission in Taiwan, is always ready to assist them not only with their documentary requirements, but beyond, such as through “hawak-kamay” with Fr. Joy’s Ugnayan mission, along with the DoLE and OWWA representatives.

And we explained President Duterte’s marching order to us: “Always look after the welfare of our OFWs in Taiwan.”

On leaving...

From A4

and ranting? Are Yasay’s days as SFA numbered?

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella put Duterte’s outburst in better perspective. Abella said the President was simply piqued that UN rapporteurs were meddling in the government’s war on drugs.

“We cannot as a sovereign state allow interventions on actions taken that will redound to the benefit of the people,” said Abella The two-month-old Duterte administration and its focus on the war on drugs suffered a dent in the Senate hearing on Monday.

The extrajudicial killings of drug suspects, according to eyewitness accounts of the victims’ relatives, were killed after they had

been used as assets by members of the Philippine National Police.

Two members of the Antipolo police forces were named by the widows and daughters of the victims as policemen who often go to their house and bring confiscated drugs to be recycled by the victims they used as “assets.” To recycle means to sell confiscated drugs from criminal syndicates agan on the streets.

This is a slap on the face of law enforcers who are supposed to protect the people. It’s now up to Duterte and PNP Chief Rolando Dela Rosa to restore the people’s trust in the police.

The witnesses wore sunglasses and covered their faces for protection from reprisals and harassment were questioned by

committee chairperson Senator Leila de Lima, Senators Ralph Recto, Francisco Pangilinan, Richard Gordon, and Antonio Trillanes IV. But the witnesses stuck to their story that the Antipolo policemen were behind the illegal drug- trafficking in their city. This is something the public has long suspected but only talked about in whispers.

This is the first time the police has been directly linked to the illegal drug trade. The involved policemen have been named during the Senate hearing but we will not identify them until after they have been charged . The two have been removed from active duty and placed in administrative office work by PNP Chief Dela Rosa.

lice killed all of the thousand or so people who reportedly died violently since Duterte took office—an assumption that is unfair to the lawmen risking their lives to make a dent on crime.

Of course, policemen have also been correctly identified as the perpetrators of some of the killings—especially policemen involved in the illegal drug trade and the recycling of seized

narcotics. But the Senate must first let the agencies tasked with investigating the police for killing drug suspects or drug users do their job, before calling for an investigation like the one now being conducted by De Lima.

That said, I’m tuning out the Senate hearings until they promise to lead to something really substantial, instead of being used as a free venue to

showcase the talents (or lack thereof) of senators new and old. More interesting, in my opinion, will be the House investigation of how the New Bilibid Prison became the epicenter of narcotics manufacturing in the last few years.

I’m told there are even plans to screen a real video, instead of just flashing plain old pie charts.

But that, so far, can’t be verified.

nila and a bad joke about an Australian missionary gangraped in Davao, the man is totally clueless about international relations. The area of foreign affairs is foreign to him and his foreign secretary is just as clueless about the job.

In an about face, Secretary of Foreign Affairs Perfecto Yasay Jr. said the Philippines will not turn its back on the UN despite what his president said. Is Yasay now his own man and going against his boss? Does it mean we should not believe everything President Duterte says particularly when he’s in a rage

The Senate...

From A4 statement, to me, is that because the Senate cannot summon drug syndicate leaders, vigilante groups and other criminals who may also have been perpetrating the recent killings, lawmakers have been unfairly grilling the police. It’s as if the Senate has already concluded that the po-

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News

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF Czech nabbed in Cebu City A CZECH national who is wanted for fraud and money laundering in his home country was nabbed by immigration agents in Cebu City.

Godus Dusan was arrested at his house in Barangay Atabay, Alcoy, Cebu, who has been hiding in Cebu for more than a year since he fled his country to avoid criminal prosecution.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente warned that these foreign nationals could be wanted criminals in their country and have found a safe haven here in our country.

He said a district court in Olomouc, Czech Republic issued an arrest warrant against Dusan in last year after he was indicted for fraud, an offense that carries the maximum penalty of 10-year imprisonment. Vito Barcelo

Customs eye P18-m auction THE Bureau of Customs will earn more than P18 million in revenues from seized smuggled goods, including two secondhand luxury cars, which will be put up for public auction at the Manila International Container Port this week.

The bureau’s Auction and Cargo Disposal Division said 73 twenty-footer container vans of various goods will be auctioned.

A 2005 Lexus LX470 worth P850,000 and a 2006 Jeep Cherokee worth P450,000.00 are among the merchandise to be sold to bidders.

Public viewing of merchandise and pre-bid conference for all qualified bidders is on August 26. Interested bidders may call the MICP’s ACDD at (02) 2454101 local 2283 or 247 0977 for inquiries.

Lawmakers worried over excise tax hike

By Maricel V. Cruz

O

PPOSITION lawmakers on Tuesday aired concern over the plan of the Duterte administration to lower personal and corporate income taxes and offseting the revenue losses by increasing excise taxes on fuel.

Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay and Tomas Villarin of Akbayan party-list said the tax reform package being pushed by the administration’s economic managers, led by Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, will be an added burden to the Filipino people.

“There will be an additional tax burden” on the part of the Filipino “masses, particularly the consuming public [when the excise taxes are enacted],” Lagman said.

Lagman said the proposal to

lower personal and corporate taxes and increase the taxes on fuel as a consequence will “eventually burden consumers.”

Villarin, for his part, was apprehensive that the projected revenue losses, amounting to P173 billion, will result in massive cases of tax evasion or avoidance by unscrupulous firms.

“That [lowering of taxes etc.] would be practically passed on to consumers. In offsetting this amount, to whom will this burden be passed? What are the regulatory measures that will be put in place to make

sure there will be no pass on?”

Villarin asked.

This developed as Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said the Duterte administration’s plan to ramp up spending in physical and human capital is on the right track to sustain high economic growth and make it inclusive, but urged government agencies to should first improve their absorptive capacity to ensure the efficient implementation of this pro-poor strategy.

Villafuerte, a neophyte lawmaker, said the government’s goal to widen the budget deficit to three percent of the Gross Domestic Product to carry out this spending upsurge could overwhelm government agencies struggling with low absorptive capacity in carrying out their programs and projects under Malacañang,’s 10-point socioeconomic agenda.

“I believe that our President

has the political will to reverse the underspending of the past that has made our robust economic growth meaningless to our poor countrymen. But disbursing funds and spending them wisely are two different things. Government agencies must shape up and be prepared to fully spend their increased allocations effectively and efficiently,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

Villafuerte cited observations made by economic experts, such as Shanaka Jayanath Peiris, the International Monetary Fund resident representative to the Philippines, who noted that the government has been underspending for the last 10 to 15 years, which might account for the low absorptive capacity of state agencies.

Former Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito pointed to the previous admin-

Mariano oversees Negros dispute

By Rio N. Araja

QCPD raps 5 policemen THE Quezon City police charged five of its operatives before the prosecutor’s office for various criminal raps.

In a report to National Capital Region Police Office director Oscar Albayalde, Sr. Supt. Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said five personnel from the Masambong police station 2 were relieved from their posts and criminal charges were filed against them.

He identified the respondents as PO1 Michael Gragasin, who was arrested for extortion; Sr. Insp.

Benjamin Mayor; SPO3 Archimedes Marzan; PO2 Alex Chocowen, and PO1 Jeron de Dios.

Pending resolution of their cases, they were all transferred to the District Headquarters Support Unit at Camp Karingal.

Apart from the criminal charges, Gragasin, Mayor, Marzan, Chocowen and De Dios are also facing administrative charges of grave misconduct before the District Internal Affairs Service.

Gragasin was arrested by operatives of the District Special Operations Unit headed by Supt.

Rogarth Campo during an entrapment operation.

Filipinos prefer automated elections EIGHT of 10 Filipinos found the 2016 automated national elections successful and credible, according to an independent survey.

The survey, commissioned by private think tank Stratbase ADR Institute, also shows that a record 74 percent of Filipino respondents highly trust the results of the recent elections.

The survey was conducted by Pulse Asia on July 2 to 8 among 1,200 respondents nationwide.

On the question of whether they were satisfied or dissatisfied with the automated polling system or the counting of votes through vote counting machines, 81 percent said they were satisfied, 7 percent said they were dissatisfied and 12 percent gave a neutral response.

Meanwhile, 74 percent or nearly three of four Filipinos said they had a “big trust” in the 2016 elections and only 5 percent said they had “small or no trust.” Another 21 percent gave a neutral response.

This marked a record increase in Filipinos’ trust in automated polls, from just about half, or 52 percent, who said they trusted the 2010 and 2013 elections.

istration’s poor absorptive capacity, which, he said, hindered government effectiveness, rather than the lack of resources, because agencies were not used to having massive funds at their disposal, Villafuerte noted.

Dr. Milwida Guevara, a former finance undersecretary for revenue generation and tax reform and who is now the chief executive officer of the Synergeia Foundation, has cited low absorptive capacity as the primary reason behind the delays in public bidding and procurement of supplies as well as the slowdown in the implementation of much-needed infrastructure projects, such as roads and school buildings.

“The executive branch needs to factor in these valid observations when crafting specific projects and programs for infrastructure and education,” Villafuerte said.

MEDIA KILLINGS. Presidential Communications Operations Undersecretary Kristian Ablan meets with media organizations to discuss the draft administrative order on media killings in Malacañang on August 23.

CA justice inhibits from Ongpin case

By Rey E. Requejo AN APPELLATE court magistrate recused himself from participating in the hearing of the petition filed by businessman Roberto V. Ongpin assailing the decision of the Securities and Exchange Commission ordering him to pay P174-million fine for insider trading.

In a memorandum, Associate Justice Normandie Pizarro inhibited from the resolution of the case on ground that he is related to one of Ongpin’s shareholders who sold shares of

stocks to First Pacific.

“One of the shareholders who allegedly sold shares of stocks to First Pacific is a relative by consanguinity,” Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla said, during the hearing where he disclosed the memorandum of Justice Pizarro formally inhibiting from the case.

With Pizarro’s inhibition, the appellate court has rescheduled the hearing on Ongpin’s petition to find a replacement justice.

Nonetheless, the CA set tentatively the hearing on August 31

and September 1.

Lawyer Estelito Mendoza, counsel for Ongpin, questioned the five-year delay in filing of the case against the businessman.

“The case has already prescribed. That’s our position.

The prescriptive period is only three years so it should have been acted upon expeditiously, but in this case, it was not acted upon promptly,” Mendoza said, in an interview.

Earlier, the CA’s Thirteenth Division issued a 60-day restraining order against the SEC. In a six-page resolution

penned by Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla, the CA stressed that the restraining order is important to prevent any serious damage to Ongpin while his petition challenging the SEC ruling is pending.

Last July 8, the SEC fined Ongpin for allegedly committing 174 counts of insider trading. He allegedly profited from trading of Philex Mining shares on Dec. 2, 2009 using insider information.

On July 22, he challenged the SEC’s ruling before the Court of Appeals.

AGRARIAN Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano will personally lead a task force to determine the true beneficiaries of the 316-hectare agricultural land in Moises Padilla, Negros Occidental that was placed under agrarian reform.

Calling the task his “baptism of fire,” Mariano said he formed Task Force ABC after the Office of the President remanded to his office the case of two farmers’ groups who are contesting each other’s eligibility for the property previously owned by the M.J. Lacson Development Co. Inc. Mariano named to the team lawyers Marcos Risonar Jr. and Elmer Distor, who will lead the list of representatives from four DAR offices.

The two groups of farmer-beneficiaries are the Asosasyon Benepisyaryo Reporma Agraryo San Magallon San Isidro (Abramsil) and Crossing Magallon Agrarian Reform Beneficiaries MultiPurpose Cooperative Inc. This developed after Malacañang granted “in part” the motion for reconsideration filed by a group of farmers, headed by Julito Caduhada, seeking the revalidation of the eligibility of the 106 farmer-beneficiaries, who were earlier issued certificates of land ownership award.

In a June 15 six-page decision, the Office of the President directed Mariano to determine the eligibility of the 98 farmer-beneficiaries, who were installed in the disputed M.J. Lacson property in March 2013.

The Palace apparently found their eligibility not in conformity with Sections 22 and 22-A of Republic Act 6657, or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, after some farmers forcibly occupied the property.

Mariano had earlier vowed to go after big landholders on Negros island and vowed “to free farmer-tenants from the grips of landlord-oligarchs.”

Golden Eagle grounded by bird strike under repair

By Florante S. Solmerin PHILIPPINE Air Force spokesman Colonel Araus Robert Musico on Tuesday confirmed that one of the new FA50 “Golden Eagle” jet fighter that was grounded due to a bird strike is already under repair, almost five months after the incident in April.

“Yes, one of our two FA50 aircraft was on a takeoff roll when a bird hits its engine,” Musico said in a text message, a day after the story was published.

“The engine is now undergoing repair and will soon be in service,” Musico said, again correcting the source’s

information that the damaged engine was “totally damaged.”

The supersonic aircraft was among the first batch of a couple of delivery made by manufacturer Korean Aerospace Inc. in November 2015.

The government had ordered a squadron of the aircraft, or 12 units, worth P18.9 billion through a government-to-government negotiation.

President Rodrigo Duterte had criticized the procurement as a “waste of money” even as he vowed to allot more budget to the ongoing modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

COSTLY EGGS. A salesman arranges tag prices at a Blumentritt, Manila market on Tuesday as prices of eggs rose from P120 per tray to P160 due to scarcity of supply. Danny Pata

Sports

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

EGS-Elite bags 4th straight NBA 3X title

By Maxine Lagman THREE-TIME NBA 3X Philippines champion EGS-Elite scored a “four-peat” in the Men’s Open Division, beating Ako Two Team, 13-8, on Sunday at the Mall of Asia, Music Hall.

EGS- Elite surpassed the other teams in Group G during the preliminaries with a 3-0 win-loss slate, before edging Sto. Nino, 2117, in the semifinals.

Mark Anthony Doligon, Ian Garrido, Rutger Acidre and playing coach Rocky Acidre led the team in securing their win as they once again topped the yearly event of NBA Philippines, graced Milwaukee Bucks’ Michael Carter-Williams.

The EGS-Elite secured their fourth title with solid rebounding, consistent outside shooting and strong defensive play.

“We have been looking forward to this tournament all year and have kept ourselves active ever since to play well on this stage.

Chinese Olympian joins Lakers LOS ANGELES—Yi Jianlian, who is fresh off an appearance with the Chinese national team at the Rio Olympics, has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA team announced on Monday.

Yi, of Guangdong Province, averaged 20.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in five games at the Summer Olympics, which wrapped up on Sunday.

“We’re excited to have a player of his worldwide accomplishments,” said general manager Mitch Kupchak. “We look forward to bringing him to training camp and hopefully having him make an impact on our team.”

Yi, 28, joins a team that has been at or near the bottom of the NBA the past several seasons. To compound their woes, the Lakers lost their top player when future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant retired at the end of this past season.

The Lakers declined to release details of the contract.

Yi is a former first round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2007. He has not played in the NBA since 2012 and has spent the past four seasons playing in the Chinese Basketball Association.

His international career includes winning three gold medals at the FIBA Asia Championships (2015, 2011, and 2005) and a gold at the 2006 Asian Games. AFP

Sponsors drop Lochte after Rio Olympic games’ scandal W

ASHINGTON—Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte lost four sponsorship deals Monday—a major financial hit for the embattled gold medalist stemming from his spurious claim of being robbed at gunpoint in Rio, a story later discredited by Brazilian police.

Global swimwear brand Speedo and US fashion label Ralph Lauren topped the list of companies that ended their relationships with the 32-year-old Lochte, with the former noting his actions had not reflected the “values” it wished to promote.

Mattress company Airweave and Syneron Candela, the parent company for a laser hair removal system that Lochte promoted,

quickly followed suit.

Lochte claimed he and three of his teammates—all of them gold medal winners in Rio—were mugged by robbers pretending to be police after a night out, but the story quickly unraveled as new witness testimony and surveillance video surfaced.

Police said the group had been detained over the vandalization of a gas station bathroom, apparently

led by a drunken Lochte—a major embarrassment for Team USA, an Olympic swimming powerhouse.

“Speedo USA today announces the decision to end its sponsorship of Ryan Lochte,” the company said in a statement, noting that the company will donate $50,000 of Lochte’s fees to Save the Children, to go towards helping Brazilian youths.

“While we have enjoyed a winning relationship with Ryan for over a decade and he has been an important member of the Speedo team, we cannot condone behavior that is counter to the values this brand has long stood for,” it said.

“We appreciate his many achievements and hope he moves forward and learns from this experience,” Speedo USA said of

Lochte, who has won a total of 12 medals in Olympic competition during his career, six of them gold.

In a statement to E! News, Lochte said he was “grateful for the opportunities” afforded to him by his ties with Speedo—a 10-year deal that was due to end this year, according to ESPN. Ralph Lauren, which outfitted Team USA for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies in Rio, said it too was finished with Lochte, noting that their agreement was specific to the Rio Games and his contract would not be renewed.

“Ralph Lauren continues to proudly sponsor the US Olympic and Paralympic Team and the values that its athletes embody,” it added in a statement.

Airweave said on Twitter it was

Trainer: Vargas will conquer Pacquiao

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Vargas

THE trainer of World Boxing Organization welterweight champion Jessie Vargas, former cruiserweight contender Dewey Cooper, has vowed that Vargas will conquer eight-division world champion Manny Pacquiao when they clash at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 5.

The fight will be Vargas’ second fight under the guidance of Cooper.

Their first fight together was a rousing success.

Vargas entered the ring

against Sadam Ali as the betting underdog and left with a ninth-round knockout victory and the WBO welterweight title around his waist.

Boxing Scene pointed out that now, “the stakes are much higher and a victory over Pacquiao would catapult Vargas into another stratosphere in the boxing world. Cooper is fully aware of this and plans on sticking to the same formula that worked so brilliantly in March (against Sadam Ali).”

Cooper was quoted by boxingscene.com and said: “I’m taking it like any other fight.

We are going to prepare Jessie Vargas to be successful.

Of course, we are blessed, we are honored and we are very happy to have a fight of this magnitude but the goal is still the same—to conquer our opponent and we shall do that to Manny.”

Cooper said that while the victory over Ali was important, the goal is always to improve and raise their game.

He said that they won’t be resting on their laurels and that the task is made easier because Vargas is a willing student.

La Salle-Ateneo finale looms in SBP-Passerelle tourneys ANOTHER Ateneo vs La Salle finals scenario surfaced over the weekend in the Best Center’s SBP-Passerelle twin basketball tournaments for children sponsored by Milo at the Xavier School gym.

Ateneo marched to its fourth straight victory in as many days when it crushed St. Augustine In-

ternational School (1-2), 73-66, and will need just need two wins more to sweep the Passerelle’s Group A eliminations phase.

Among Ateneo’s remaining assignments will be La Salle, which claimed its third straight victory in as many games at the expense of Claret School (1-1), 62-36.

Marist notched its first triumph in three days at the expense of winless Quezon City Academy (0-3), 93-29, in the other game.

In the lone Group B match, leader Adamson (3-0) clipped La Salle GreenhillsB (0-2), 82-52.

La Salle Greenhills-A continue to lead Group A of the SBP following its third

From hello to farewell THE HOARSE WHISPERER JENNY ORTUOSTE THANKS to Manila Standard sports editor Riera Mallari, I started writing for this space on 23 April 2008—eight and a quarter years ago.

In that time, I’ve brought you news on upcoming horse racing, the race results, Philippine Thoroughbred industry news and issues, and other concerns of the sport and the business that is horseracing.

Racing has been my life since I was a dewy-eyed jockey’s bride two decades ago. I raised my two daughters in a home next to a stable, made friends and frenemies on the track, and rebuilt my life from the rubble of ground zero through the kindness of people in racing who

NBA 3X has inspired us to work harder on improving our skills and chemistry for future competitions,” said Garrido.

Meanwhile, Team Jacob Liit topped the U-16 Boys’ Division and with Kenjie Duremdes and National University standout Rhayyan Amsali, the BRODIAC team secured the U-18 Boys category.

Balon Dagupan A won the U-16 crown in the girls’ division, while National University-A took home the Women’s Open Division trophy.

Team Yan, led by TV personality Bobby Yan, anchored by Azkal footballer Ally Borromeo, Jun Macasaet and 3-time NBA 3X Slam Dunk Champion David Carlos won in the Celebrity Division.

In the individual categories, Jerome Hamac from Zamboanga won the Panasonic Three-Point Shootout; Gabriel Aveno from Bulacan is the Sprite Diskarte Like A King Challenge champion and Axl Tolentino of Caloocan is the Panasonic Shooting Stars winner.

gave help unconditionally.

The first to give me a break was the Philippine Racing Club, Inc.—Santa Ana Park under thenmanagers Fulton Su and Andy Maramag. They brought me on board the broadcast panel and my life changed entirely. From then I went on to helping manage the broadcast team there, producing television advertisements for PRCI events and writing a Filipino column in a now-defunct tabloid.

I also assisted corporate communications vice-president Jessica Villanueva under the guidance of executive vice-president lawyer Ramon P. Ereñeta.

I was also hired by the Philippine Racing Commission as a writer by then-executive director Eddie Jose to craft press releases, and as a communication consultant when lawyer Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II was agency chairman. I’ve also helped out during

the present term of Chairman Andrew Sanchez and his commissioners including lawyer Ramon S. Bagatsing Jr. and Bienvenido Niles Jr., and executive director veterinarian Rovie Buencamino.

Later I worked for horseowner Herminio S. Esguerra on his racing stable and farm, where I learned much in the way of attention to detail and excellence in work performance.

I also became a panelist on the broadcast of the Manila Jockey Club’s San Lazaro Leisure Park, then as assistant racing manager under Jose Ramon “Ding” Magboo and then-racing vice-president Admiral Juan de Leon, under the supervision of lawyers Alfonso Reyno Jr. and King Reyno.

Along the way I’ve worked for Philtobo and written for Klub Don Juan de Manila. I stayed quite a while with MARHO under chairman Sandy Javier and

straight win at the expense of Claret School (0-2), 55-24.

In Group B, Ateneo tied host Xavier on top with back-to-back wins, the last at the expense of St. Mary’s College (0-3), 75-11.

Lourdes School-QC (1-1) clobbered LSGH-B (1-2), 44-25, in the other match.

presidents lawyer Benhur Abalos, Eric Tagle, and Tony de Ubago.

Once upon a time I also put in a couple of years in the Games and Amusements Board that supervises horseracing betting. That makes me the only person I know who has worked for all the major entities of racing except Metroturf.

Over my years in racing I’ve learned many skills—how to write fast and beat a deadline, how to write anything from columns to position papers for Congress to TV commercial scripts and sequence guides, how to commentate races live in front of the camera.

I’ve produced entire racing magazines from scratch, writing all the articles, taking most of the pictures, and making sure it comes out from the printers on time. I’ve learned how to ride horses, handicap races, and arrange racing events.

Because of my life in racing, I’ve learned how to work hard and fast, with excellence. Thank you to everyone I’ve named, and all

the others unnamed who touched my life in one way or another.

Does this sound like a farewell? It is, in a way. My life has changed so much from what it was, and starting next month, I will be undergoing a huge change that requires me to leave my comfort zone and venture into the strange and unfamiliar.

The next stage of my life will be a tremendous challenge, but because of my years in racing, I’m well prepared to face the future.

Who knows but it may bring Philippine racing back in my life again.

As a karera saying goes, “Once in racing, always in racing.”

I’ll still be writing, but about other topics. Please follow me on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, and Instagram: @jensdecember.

To my fellow taga-karera and to you, dear readers, thank you and, not goodbye, but au revoir— till we meet again.

And always, may your horses be fast and your luck the best.

ending its partnership with Lochte, which was also limited to the Rio Olympics.

And Syneron Candela said in a statement to ESPN: “We hold our employees to high standards, and we expect the same of our business partners. We wish Ryan well on his future endeavors and thank him for the time he spent supporting our brand.”

After issuing a written apology that was widely ridiculed online as half-hearted, Lochte admitted in an interview with NBC aired Saturday that he had “left details out” and “overexaggerated some parts of the story.”

He also admitted he was still intoxicated when he gave his initial account of the incident, adding: “I let my team down.” AFP

Zamboanga del Norte bets win HOST province Zamboanga del Norte dominated the visiting young tennis players in adjoining provinces and cities, winning five of the nine titles at stake in the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Championship Series leg held in Dipolog City.

Now on its first decade of producing champions, the tournament held at the RGS Tennis Center and supported by Dunlop Sports with Dunlop as the official ball, attracted more than a hundred entries, with perennial champion and local bet Sydnez Ezra Enriquez leading the province’s charge by topping both the 16-under and 18-under girls’ age groups Enriquez swept Dipolog City’s Antoine Oliveros, 6-1, 6-0, for the 18-under crown, and whipped Oroquieta City’s Ella Mae Ramirez, 6-3, 6-3, in the 16-under finals match.

Ramirez was the winner in the 14-under after beating local bet Carmera Borromeo, 6-3, 6-3, in the championship match.

Rica Labrador, Emery Dungon, and Mark Fernandez dominated their own age groups for the other titles that went Zamboanga del Norte’s way. Labrador posted a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Oroquieta’s Antoine Necessario for the 12-under girls’ title; Dungon ruled the boys’ 18-under, beating another Oroquieta City bet Jenkin Paulo Montejo, 7-6, 7-5, in the finals; while Fernandez triumphed in the 10-under unisex category with a masterful 4-1, 4-2 win over Dipolog’s Brent Cortes.

“A lot of unfamiliar names have emerged so far in this year’s series, but in the years to come, these same young tennis players will be familiar names already with some of them destined to become national players,” said Jean Henri Lhuillier, President /CEO of the sponsoring Cebuana Lhuillier Group and current Philippine Tennis Association Chairman.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 6 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

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

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Sports

AIBA warns Conlan

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Barangay Ginebra guard Sol Mercado (center) tries to dribble past Rain or Shine Elasto Painters defenders JR Quiñahan and Chris Tiu. Ginebra trounced Rain or Shine last Sunday to grab a tie at second place behind unbeaten TNT Ka Tropa.

Bulanadi powers SSC past San Beda

By Peter Atencio ALLYN Bulanadi converted a crucial jump shot in the dying seconds to lift the San Sebastian College Stags to a shocking 7271 upset of the league-leading San Beda Red Lions yesterday at the Arena in San Juan.

The 19-year-old Bulanadi struck with nine of his 16-point tally in the fourth period to kindle the Stags’ fading hopes to reach the Final Four semifinals of the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball tournament.

Bulanadi, who hails from Davao City, capped his performance with a pivotal jump shot in the last 3.8 seconds to power the Stags to their second consecutive win and only their third overall against nine losses.

Meanwhile, the Mapua Cardinals got a monster game from reigning MVP Allwell Oraeme and a strong fourth quarter showing from Andrew Estrella to stop the Lyceum Pirates, 90-75.

The Cardinals stayed at no.

4 spot with a 7-4 card.

Oraeme led with 27 points, 25 rebounds and four blocks while Estrella fired all his 12 points in the final period that helped the Cardinals clinched the win.

The Pirates skidded to 5-6.

San Beda, which took its second loss in 12 games, lost a 14-point lead early in the fourth quarter.

The Red Lions continued to miss the presence of injured big man Donald Tankoua. The Red Lions lost Tankoua for the rest of the season due to a torn ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) he suffered in their last win over the Emilio Aguinaldo Generals.

San Miguel Beermen battle slumping Alaska

By Jeric Lopez

D

EFENDING champion San Miguel Beer will try to keep in step with its fellow teams at the top of the standings when it looks to bounce back during the resumption of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. The Beermen (4-2) are hoping to get back to their winning ways when they face longtime rival Alaska Aces (2-4), which have been uncharacteristically struggling, at 7 p.m. in a titanic showdown at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Less than three hours before to that, a sibling rivalry heats up as the Meralco Bolts (4-3) and the NLEX Road Warriors (3-3) duel at

4:15 p.m. in an important tussle of teams in the middle of the pack.

After being in solo second place for a time last week, the Beermen were ambushed by streaking GlobalPort Batang Pier as they yielded a 98-92 decision last Friday.

Currently, San Miguel is in solo fourth place and is aching to gain a piece of second with a victory and tie Barangay Ginebra

and the Mahindra Enforcer, both at 5-2, behind league-leading TNT KaTropa (6-0).

Remaining in the top four is the main priority of the Beermen.

Teams which finish there earn a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals against the lower ranked squads.

“We lost a hard game against GlobalPort the last time and we’re hoping we can follow up with a win so that we can remain in the top four,” said San Miguel coach Leo Austria.

A big concern for San Miguel is the injury and availability of do-it-all import AZ Reid.

The team confirmed that Reid has an injured achilles heel and is hurt at the moment. He is a gametime decision. The Beermen will

Games Today (Smart Araneta Coliseum): 4:15 p.m. - NLEX vs. Meralco 7 p.m. - San Miguel vs. Alaska

play with Reid or go All-Filipino depending on how he feels come game time.

The Aces, surprisingly struggling for most of the tournament, saw a ray of light in their last game after they scored a huge morale-boosting win over the Star Hotshots, 85-69, in Panabo, Davao Del Norte last Saturday.

With the victory Alaska returned into contention in the hunt for a quarterfinals berth.

Aces coach Alex Compton hopes that the team’s regained defensive energy can be maintained moving forward.

“We’ve talked about having this defensive mindset and getting back to defending well because we’re the worst in the league in defense this conference. We were able to do that against Star and that’s what we need to keep doing to get more wins,” said Compton.

The Bolts and the Road Warriors are both coming off contrasting victories heading to their encounter against each other.

While Meralco had an easy time against Blackwater, 105-90, last week, NLEX had a hard time against the Enforcer on the same playdate before carving a thrilling 82-81 escape.

The Road Warriors are on a two-game winning streak while the Bolts have alternated wins and losses in their last several games.

FEU, NU chase semifinals slot

UST guest player Eya Laure (8) hammers a kill past NU defenders Jaja Santiago (3) and Aiko Urdas (9) during their Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference showdown.

FAR EASTERN UNIVERSITY stakes its solid carryover card against defending champion National U today even as San Sebastian tries to prop up its own Final Four bid against undermanned University of Santo Tomas in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference at the Philsports Arena.

Far Eastern U stakes its solid carryover card against defending champion National U today even as San Sebastian tries to prop up its own Final Four bid against undermanned University of Santo Tomas in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

The Lady Tams emerged the lone team without a loss after the Group B elims, bringing in a 2-0 mark into the cutthroat quarters

play where every game counts.

They hope to stretch that to three and zero in on the first semifinal berth in the mid-season conference sponsored by Shakey’s.

But they will be facing a firedup NU side, which swept a hardluck UST squad at the start of the quarters phase last Monday and look poised to stop FEU. Game time is at 6 p.m. after the 4 p.m. duel between San Sebastian College and UST. Both matches will be aired live on ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 23 and via streaming on www.sports.abs-cbn.com, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

The Lady Stags tote a 1-1 card in a tie with the Ateneo Lady Eagles and the UP Lady Maroons while the Tigresses are down with a 0-3 mark and must sweep their last two games and hope that at least

Bayron seeks 3rd straight title LIPA City, Batangas—Jay Bayron brims with confidence as he sets out as the marked man in the ICTSI Classic unfolding today, Wednesday, Aug. 24 at the Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club here, seeking not only to match Tony Lascuña’s three-title romp but also looking to close in on the Order of Merit leader.

“I feel confident. I played the course Monday and it suits my game. I like my chances here,” said Bayron during the traditional proam tournament yesterday.

Like what he did in nailing vic-

AIBA president Dr. ChingKuo Weu warned Irish boxer Michael Conlan, who blasted AIBA as being “corrupt” in a expletive-laced outburst after he lost to Russia’s Vladimir Nikitin in the quarter-finals of the Rio Olympic Games, that he will be sanctioned for his outburst.

Conlan claimed he was robbed of a rightful win and vowed never to fight again in any AIBA-organized competition. The world champion also accused Russia of influencing judges.

The AIBA president noted that, “(Tishchenko) never said anything. (Levit) never said anything. They all accept the result. But (Conlan), he immediately showed his finger to the referee-judges. The IOC says this is totally unacceptable.

You cannot humiliate people.

They are officials. He put himself in a difficult position, I can tell you. A lot of disciplinary action will follow. You should show proper behavior. If you are not happy about the result, you cannot humiliate in public our referee-judges.

“That has already drawn a lot of people’s attention who want to punish him, so we are going to have a disciplinary commission for the case.”

Conlan said, “AIBA are just corrupt. They’ve robbed me of my Olympic dream,” after losing on points in a unanimous decision that, to some observers, seemed at odds with what they had witnessed.

tories in Aboitiz invitational and ICTSI Riviera Clasic the last three weeks, Bayron said he would try to cash in on his rivals’ errors while hoping to put together another superb four rounds of play at the wind-raked layout.

He also sees Lascuña, the current OOM leader with four wins, including three straight at Eagle Ridge, Forest Hills and Bacolod, and No. 3 Clyde Mondilla, backto-back winner at Eastridge and Calatagan, as the biggest stumbling blocks to his three-straight title bid although a host of others

are also going all-out in pursuit of the top P270,000 purse in the 72-hole championship sponsored

by ICTSI. Everyone is also out to boost his OOM ranking with four legs left in the circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and backed by Custom Clubmakers, adidas, KZG, Summit Mineral Water, Srixon, Pacsports, TaylorMade, Sharp and Champion.

“I expect Lascuña and Mondilla to contend again. But like the last time out, I’ll try to pounce on their mistakes and make the most of my

chances,” said Bayron, who exploited Mondilla’s errant drive and second shot on the first playoff to clinch the Riviera crown.

While the field is expected to cancel each other out in terms of long game and iron play, Lascuña sees the title chase to go down to putting.

“Shotmaking won’t be a problem but it will depend on who putts well in the end,” said Lascuña, who currently leads the OOM race with P2.470 million in earnings, around P350,000 ahead of Bayron.

Jay Bayron

two of the five teams won’t go over two wins to force a playoff for the last semis berth in the tournament backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter.

Grethcel Soltones, the league’s leading scorer with a 76-hit total after the elims, is expected to lead San Sebastian’s bid against UST, which has lost two of its key players in Ennajie Laure and Cherry Rondina and has been relying on guest player Ejiya Laure, Ria Meneses, Carla Sandoval and Christine Francisco and guest setter Ma. Agatha Mangulabnan.

Still, focus will be on the FEUNU duel with the Lady Tams’ Tony Rose Basas, Remy Joy Palma, Bernadeth Pons and Jerrili Malabanan and playmaker Angela Negrito out to neutralize the Jaja Santiago-led defending champions, who tote a 2-1 card.

Aboitiz pushes 390-MW plant in Ifugao B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

B1

Pernia: 4 projects to solve traffic

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

T

HE government said Tuesday it will speed up the construction of four infrastructure projects aimed at decongesting traffic in Metro Manila.

Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia told reporters during a press briefing the the National Economic and Development Authority would expedite the approval and implementation of four of the country’s major infrastructure projects.

Pernia said the four included the immediate implementation of the Bonifacio Global CityOrtigas link bridge, which is expected to divert 25 percent of the traffic congestion in Edsa.

“That is an additional bridge to what we have now on the

east side of Metro Manila.

There’s a bridge there, the C-5.

So we need another one to add road space from those traveling between the two parts of the Pasig, the two parts of Metro Manila that is cut by the Pasig River,” Pernia said.

He said the government was looking at the possible early resolution of the common station for MRT 3, LRT 1 and MRT 7.

“The Department of Public Works and Highways will hand the final configuration of the station to the Department of

Transportation,” Pernia said.

Another solution is the use of provincial ports in the country, such as Batangas and Subic ports, to ease congestion in Manila.

Earlier, the Neda-Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee identified over P320 billion worth of infrastructure projects set to be implement under the new administration.

These projects are the NorthSouth Railway Project–South Line; Maritime Safety Capability Improvement Project for the

Philippine Coast Guard Phase II; Metro Manila Bus Rapid Transit-EDSA; Plaridel Bypass Toll Road Project; Metro Manila Flood Management Project, Increase in Passenger Terminal Building Area of the Bicol International Airport Project; Change in Scope of the New Bohol Airport Construction and Sustainable Environment Protection Project; Modernization of the Eastern Visayas Regional Medical Center; Gov. Celestino Gallares Memorial Hospital; and the Inclusive Partnerships for Agricultural Competitiveness..

PSe comPoSite index Closing August 23, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,935.18 46.03

PeSo-dollar rate

IMF set to raise economic forecast

Closing AUGUST 23, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

P46.460

44.00

CLOSE

43.00

HIGH P46.450 LOW P46.575 AVERAGE P46.520 VOLUME 440.350M

By Julito G. Rada THE International Monetary Fund will revise upward its growth forecast of 6 percent for the Philippines this year following the solid 7-percent expansion in the second quarter, its representative in Manila said Tuesday.

“The second-quarter GDP outturn in the Philippines was somewhat faster than anticipated in our 6-percent growth forecast for 2016,” IMF resident representative to the Philippines Shanaka Jayanath Peiris said in an e-mailed statement.

“Therefore, we will mostly likely be revising up our growth forecast for the Philippines in the next round of revisions,” Peiris said.

The second-quarter expansion was faster than the revised 6.8 percent a quarter ago. The figure brought the first-half average to 6.9 percent, which is near the upper bound of the Duterte administration’s official target range of 6 percent to 7 percent.

The IMF in July retained its growth forecast for the Philippines this year at 6 percent and 6.2 percent in 2017, but said growth might be higher in the medium term if the country spend more on infrastructure and education and health of its population.

Mission chief Chikahisa Sumi said at the conclusion of the 2016 Article IV Consultations with the Philippines that a higher revenue and productive spending scenario of about 3 percent of GDP with the implementation of the 10-point reform agenda of the Duterte administration would raise the IMF staff’s baseline growth outlook of about 6 to 7 percent to a 7 to 8 percent range over the medium term.

P400-P640.00 LPG/11-kg tank P34.15-P41.20 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

P24.35-P27.75 Diesel P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, August 23, 2016

Chamber of Mines president Benjamin Philip Romualdez (left) confers with Sen. Cynthia Villar as they view mining equipment and gadgets exhibited during the formal opening of the 2016 Mining Philippines International Conference and Mine Exhibition held in Marriott Hotel in Parañaque City. Ey Acasio

PH miners commit to upgrade standards

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales dustry remains committed to sion of several new projects.

THE Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said Tuesday it remains committed to work with the government in raising the standards of all operating largescale mines.

CoMP president Benjamin Philip Romualdez, in a speech during the 2016 Mining Philippines International Conference and Mine Exhibition held in Marriott Hotel in Paranaque City, said the industry was optimistic it would overcome the challenges it was facing.

“The tremendous challenges notwithstanding, the mining in-

work with this administration.

We view the president’s appointment of a trusted friend and ally as DENR Undersecretary with charge over the MGB and EMB as a recognition of the mining industry’s tremendous impacts and its potential to contribute greatly to the country’s economy,” Romualdez said.

Data from the government showed that mining investments reached $924.94 million in 2016.

Earlier, CoMP said that the mining industry would infuse about $20 billion to $30 billion into the economy over the next five to 10 years with the inclu-

CoMP said investments this year were expected to reach $2.25 billion on new projects.

Expected to be operational this year are those of Asiaticus Mining Corp. in Davao Oriental and Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. in Palawan.

CoMP said mining investments next year would reach $6 billion due to the start of operations of Philex Mining Corp.’s Silangan project in Surigao del Norte, Nadecor’s Kingking project in Davao del Norte and the Balabag Gold-Silver project of TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc.

Projects that are expected to operate in 2018 are the Tampakan mine development of Sagitarius Mines in South Cotobato, Intex Resources in Mindoro, the Masbate gold project of Philsaga Mining Corp., the nickel mine of San Miguel Corp. through Philnico in Surigao del Sur and the Balatoc mines of Benguet Corp.

Investments from these companies are expected to reach $14.75 billion.

CoMP said the sole project expected in 2019 was that of Far South East Gold of Lepanto Mining Corp. in Benguet, which is expected to cost about $2 billion.

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

Japan

Yen

0.009968

46.6020 0.4645

UK

Pound

1.314100

61.2397

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128991

6.0112

Switzerland

Franc

1.039285

48.4328

Canada

Dollar

0.772559

36.0028

Singapore

Dollar

0.740686

34.5174

Australia

Dollar

0.761700

35.4967

Bahrain

Dinar

2.655196

123.7374

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266731

12.4302

Brunei

Dollar

0.737953

34.3901

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000076

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028843

1.3441

UAE

Dirham 0.272279

12.6887

Euro

Euro

1.132200

52.7628

Korea

Won

0.000891

0.0415

China

Yuan

0.150319

7.0052

India

Rupee

0.014883

0.6936

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.248756

11.5925

New Zealand Dollar

0.726800

33.8703

Taiwan

0.031450

1.4656

Dollar

Source: PDS Bridge

De Quiros of SSS submits resignation SOCIAL Security System president Conrado De Quiros Jr on Tuesday filed his resignation with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea following the release of a Malacañang directive ordering appointees of former President Benigno Aquino III to resign.

SSS media relations office head Maria Luisa Sebastian confirmed De Quiros’ resignation.

“Yes, he has already complied with the memorandum circular,” Sebastian said in a text message.

President Rodrigo Duterte in a press conference Sunday morning announced that presidential appointees of former President Benigno Aquino III should consider their seats vacant.

Malacañang said over 6,000 appointees were ordered to vacate their seats amid corruption

in the government.

Memorandum Circular No. 4 ordered all presidential appointees to tender their unqualified courtesy resignations within seven calendar days “in view of the President’s desire to rid the bureaucracy of corruption... to give him a free hand in achieving this objective.”

Exempted from the order were newly-appointed Cabinet secretaries, undersecretaries, and assistant secretaries in their respective departments, including presidential advisers or assistants with the equivalent rank.

Also excluded were other officials in the executive department, including state universities and colleges, and government-owned and -controled corporations appointed

by President Duterte, and career officials.

Not covered by the order are officials whose offices are created by virtue of the Constitution and those whose appointments are currently being processed or who may be appointed by the President.

The same memorandum circular said that in the event the President accepted the resignation of the head of an agency or GOCC, his or her deputy or others next-in-rank would act as officer-in-charge of the agency until a replacement was duly appointed by the President.

Any presidential appointee who fails to tender his or her courtesy resignation may be held administratively liable and meted the appropriate penalty.

Gabrielle H. Binaday

SIARGAO MANGROVE CENTER. Things are looking up in the Del Carmen in Siargao Island, Surigao del Norte which has been experiencing a dramatic turnaround from negative environmental practices. Thanks to the ecological awareness brought about by Shore It Up, a comprehensive marine ecosystem and coastal resource program of the Metro Pacific Investments Corp. Leading the ribbon-cutting rites are Shore It Up consultant Ralph Balmacesa, MPIC vice president for PR and corporate communications Melody Del Rosario, Del Carmen Mayor Alfredo Coro II and TV 5 newscaster Sheryl Cosim of the Alagang Kapatid Foundation.

Calata ties up with two companies to build big Mactan casino complex

By Jenniffer B. Austria CALATA Corp., a distributor of fertilizer products, said Tuesday it tied up with Sino-America Gaming Investment Group LLC and Macau Resources Group Ltd. to form a real estate and investment trust company for the planned P65billion Mactan Leisure City.

Calata said in a disclosure to

the stock exchange Mactan Leisure City would have three hotels, including Southeast Asia’s first seven-star hotel, casino and entertainment complex, commercial, retail and conference facilities, and yacht club. The complex is situated on a 14-hectare property in Mactan Island, Cebu, The project is slated for commercial operations by 2020.

“The establishment of said corporate vehicle shall be subject to the appropriate corporate and regulatory approvals and all definitive agreements... (will) be disclosed immediately upon their availability,” Calata said.

The state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in 2015 confirmed a US investment group and a Macau-based gaming opera-

tor wanted to put up a casino in the Philippines.

Calata corporate secretary Jose Marie Fabella said in a telephone interview the company was keen on forming a REIT company for Mactan Leisure City even under the current rules of the government.

REIT is an investment instrument that allows the establishment of a corporation for the purpose of

owning income-generating real estate assets, whose shares of stock will be made accessible to small and large investors alike.

Since these assets generate a steady stream of income, they will pay regular dividends to shareholders.

Under the plan, Fabella said Calata would acquire the property of the planned development and sign a lease agreement with the Sino and

Macau groups, which are developing the casino and resort project.

Calata said the Mactan Leisure City was poised to become a gamechanger in the region’s family leisure tourism and gaming offering where tourists from all parts of the world would converge to experience a luxurious resort life in a tropical paradise while enjoying a variety of family entertainment experiences.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks drop; PLDT down HE stock market dropped Tuesday on falling oil prices and concerns that risks to a global economic recovery are increasing.

T

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 46.03 points, or 0.6 percent, to 7,935.18 on a value turnover of P6.8 billion. Losers beat gainers, 117 to 72, with 44 issues unchanged.

PLDT Inc., the biggest telecommunications company, declined 2.4 percent to P1,800, while Universal Robina Corp., the largest snackfood maker, tumbled 3.6 percent to P184.20.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp., which is into water and electricity distribution, toll roads and hospitals, lost 1.4 percent to

P7.25, while cement maker Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. dropped 2 percent to P12.40.

Emerging-market currencies, meanwhile, snapped a two-day loss after oil surged and minutes of last month’s Federal Reserve meeting reaffirmed its gradual approach to raising interest rates.

Malaysia’s ringgit jumped the most in a week as the petroleum exporter’s outlook improved and a report showed foreigners pumped the most money into the nation’s bonds in almost two years last month.

Indonesia’s rupiah strengthened for the first time in four days and India’s rupee advanced, lifting a gauge of emerging currencies from its lowest level this month.

Developing-nation stocks pared gains after rebounding from a three-week low as Chinese equities fell for a second day and technology shares retreated.

“Broadly emerging-market currencies have benefited from the dollar weakness,” said Nizam Idris, the Singaporebased head of strategy for fixed income and currencies at Macquarie Bank Ltd. “The minutes out yesterday give the green light for some further appreciation.”

Energy firms sank in Asian trade on Tuesday as oil prices extended the previous day’s sharp losses due to profittaking after a recent rally and fresh worries about a global oversupply.

Even a fall in the dollar, which usually makes crude cheaper, could not stop the slide in the commodity after Iraq flagged a pick-up in output and rebels in key producer Nigeria announced a ceasefire.

On regional stock markets, Tokyo’s Nikkei finished 0.6 percent lower, while

Hong Kong was flat. Shanghai added 0.2 percent and Sydney closed 0.7 percent higher while Seoul tacked on 0.4 percent.

In early European trade London and Paris each rose 0.4 percent and Frankfurt added 0.5 percent.

Investors were also treading water as they await a key speech from Federal Reserve boss Janet Yellen, hoping for some insight into the state of the US economy and the bank’s plans for its next interest rate rise.

After a seven-day rally that put oil into a bull market—a 20 percent jump from recent lows—the commodity has taken a hiding since the start of this week.

In afternoon trade on Tuesday West Texas Intermediate fell one percent to $46.96 and Brent lost 0.7 percent to $48.84.

With Bloomberg, AFP

THE STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, AUGUST 23, 2016

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

Close

75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 0.92 2.6 890 1.01 100 1.46 30.5 75 91.5 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 0.74 1.02 625 0.225 78 0.9 17.8 58 62 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

Asia United Bank 47.75 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 114.70 Bank of PI 105.00 China Bank 38.2 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 3.90 Bright Kindle Resources 1.52 COL Financial 16.3 Eastwest Bank 21.9 Filipino Fund Inc. 6.97 First Abacus 0.76 I-Remit Inc. 1.96 Manulife Fin. Corp.

600.00 MEDCO Holdings 0.670 Metrobank 89.7 Natl. Reinsurance Corp. 0.89 PB Bank 14.7 Phil Bank of Comm 24.00 Phil. National Bank 60.60 PSE Inc. 280 RCBC `A’ 32.45 Security Bank 213.6 Sun Life Financial 1395.00 Union Bank 73.50 Vantage Equities 1.49

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 148

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 32

20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 79 3.95 4 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5 5.25 12.98 6.75 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 1450 3.28 0.315 2.18 2.65 234 5.28 1.3 2.17

15.32 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 34.1 2.3 1.63 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.37 3.87 8.45 3 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 801 1.55 0.138 1.02 2.09 152 4.28 0.640 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp.

46.15 Agrinurture Inc. 3.13 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.83 Alsons Cons.

1.77 Asiabest Group 14.2 C. Azuc De Tarlac 200.00 Cemex Holdings 12.66 Century Food 16.96 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 147 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 23.8 Concepcion 59.7 Crown Asia 2.28 Da Vinci Capital 5.7 Del Monte 12.86 DNL Industries Inc. 11.380 Emperador 7.75 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.96 EEI 8.70 Euro-Med Lab 1.79 First Gen Corp.

25.15 First Holdings ‘A’ 73.6 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.30 Holcim Philippines Inc. 15.96 Integ. Micro-Electronics 7 Ionics Inc 2.300 Jollibee Foods Corp.

253.00 Liberty Flour 49.55 LMG Chemicals 2 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.16 Manila Water Co. Inc. 26.75 Maxs Group 32.1 Megawide 14.22 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 313.00 MG Holdings 0.285 Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp. 5.01 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.38 Petron Corporation 11.30 Phil H2O 3.15 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 6.35 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.65 Pryce Corp. `A’ 4.04 RFM Corporation 4.20 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ 221 Splash Corporation 3.07 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.150 TKC Steel Corp.

1.95 Trans-Asia Oil 2.34 Universal Robina 191 Victorias Milling 4.72 Vitarich Corp.

2.43 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.24

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 4.92 0.66 1455 76 6.5 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 0.0670 1.61 84.9 3.5 974 1.66 1.39 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 1.6 6.62 0.225 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.6 2.26 0.152 837 49.55 3.43 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 0.030 0.550 59.3 1.5 751 1.13 0.93 80 0.211 0.179 0.310

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Lopez Holdings Corp.

Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

LT Group Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Pacifica `A’ Prime Orion San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.395 75.75 16.28 1.26 6.20 0.390 0.385 902 9.01 12.60 6.5 7.10 0.213 1539 82.85 4.02 7.9 0.78 17.48 7.35 0.0360 1.900 83.95 2.28 695.00 1.37 1.07 210.000 0.3100 0.2030 0.280

10.5 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.6 1.44 1.97 1.48 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 2.22 2.1 1.8 5.94 0.180 0.72 8.54

6.74 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 2.8 0.79 1.1 0.97 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 1.15 1.42 1.27 4.13 0.090 0.39 2.69

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ Cebu Prop. `A’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

Double Dragon Empire East Land Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport `A’ Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Realty `A’ Primex Corp.

7.990 1.27 3.180 0.260 41.200 3.12 5.6 0.580 1.01 1.000 0.160 0.650 61 0.790 1.08 1.95 1.19 5.04 0.120 0.450 3.4

High

Low

FINANCIAL 47.7 46.5 115.00 113.60 106.00 104.60 38.2 38.2 3.90 3.90 1.52 1.49 16.72 16.24 22.05 21.8 6.97 6.97 0.77 0.72 1.87 1.87 600.00 600.00 0.710 0.660 89.95 89 0.89 0.89 14.8 14.76 24.00 24.00 60.60 60.40 280 278 32.45 32.3 215.8 212 1400.00 1400.00 73.90 73.70 1.54 1.49 INDUSTRIAL 46.15 45.95 3.12 3 0.87 0.81 1.79 1.76 15.18 14.2 210.00 210.00 12.64 12.3 16.98 16.9 147 144.4 24.2 23.8 59.6 57.1 2.28 2.24 5.84 5.7 12.5 12.1 11.380 11.140 7.86 7.72 5.92 5.84 8.91 8.70 1.85 1.73 25.15 24.8 75 73.6 12.30 12.20 16.28 15.62 7.15 6.64 2.340 2.260 253.00 251.80 44.00 44.00 2.2 2 4.16 4.02 27.05 26.6 32 31.45 14.32 13.9 313.00 311.20 0.295 0.265 4.99 4.81 3.38 3.3 11.28 11.06 3.11 3.08 6.33 6.23 1.69 1.62 4.05 3.93 4.22 4.20 221 218 3.07 3.05 0.157 0.151 1.98 1.92 2.36 2.32 191.5 184.2 4.7 4.7 2.52 2.32 1.28 1.22 HOLDING FIRMS 0.395 0.385 75.90 75.40 16.46 16.06 1.30 1.26 6.26 6.20 0.390 0.385 0.390 0.385 904 895 9 8.87 12.58 12.10 6.58 6.58 7.10 7.06 0.212 0.203 1545 1538 82.95 81.60 3.9 3.9 8.03 7.78 0.8 0.78 17.48 16.92 7.33 7.21 0.0360 0.0350 1.930 1.900 85.00 83.10 2.28 2.28 694.00 687.00 1.46 1.36 1.11 1.02 210.000 209.200 0.3100 0.3100 0.2090 0.2000 0.280 0.275 PROPERTY 7.990 7.950 1.30 1.27 3.290 3.020 0.275 0.260 41.150 40.550 3.12 3.08 5.5 5.5 0.59 0.570 1.06 1.06 1.050 1.050 0.161 0.159 0.650 0.610 61.5 60.1 0.800 0.800 1.12 1.08 1.95 1.92 1.20 1.18 5.05 4.93 0.122 0.118 0.445 0.430 3.43 3.29

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

47.7 115.00 106.00 38.2 3.90 1.51 16.3 21.9 6.97 0.72 1.87 600.00 0.670 89 0.89 14.76 24.00 60.50 280 32.45 213.2 1400.00 73.80 1.49

-0.10 0.26 0.95 0.00 0.00 -0.66 0.00 0.00 0.00 -5.26 -4.59 0.00 0.00 -0.78 0.00 0.41 0.00 -0.17 0.00 0.00 -0.19 0.36 0.41 0.00

6,100 1,270,470 982,480 4,600 9,000 95,000 29,000 391,700 600 296,000 18,000 90 8,324,000 2,026,710 10,000 21,600 2,400 176,810 740 33,800 853,460 10 88,650 74,000

46.1 3.09 0.86 1.79 14.8 210.00 12.4 16.9 145 24.1 58.45 2.28 5.71 12.48 11.160 7.84 5.90 8.85 1.85 24.8 73.9 12.20 16.24 6.65 2.330 253.00 44.00 2.19 4.02 26.8 31.8 14 312.60 0.280 4.99 3.31 11.08 3.08 6.29 1.62 3.94 4.22 219.8 3.0515 0.154 1.93 2.32 184.2 4.7 2.4 1.28

-0.11 -1.28 3.61 1.13 4.23 5.00 -2.05 -0.35 -1.36 1.26 -2.09 0.00 0.18 -2.95 -1.93 1.16 -1.01 1.72 3.35 -1.39 0.41 -0.81 1.75 -5.00 1.30 0.00 -11.20 9.50 -3.37 0.19 -0.93 -1.55 -0.13 -1.75 -0.40 -2.07 -1.95 -2.22 -0.94 -1.82 -2.48 0.48 -0.54 -0.60 2.67 -1.03 -0.85 -3.56 -0.42 -1.23 3.23

1,735,300 626,000 2,513,000 590,000 70,000 10 12,306,400 793,500 1,510 10,419,900 1,190 376,000 177,600 82,300 3,002,200 2,666,200 7,891,400 637,700 26,000 1,379,300 535,390 6,800 194,800 5,603,400 1,856,000 667,190 200 117,000 34,000 458,700 423,900 5,271,500 176,790 4,920,000 2,100 143,000 1,736,300 8,000 303,100 445,000 319,000 134,000 720 150,000 9,640,000 703,000 401,000 2,950,960 1,000 57,860,000 647,000

0.395 75.80 16.46 1.28 6.26 0.385 0.385 903 8.89 12.18 6.58 7.10 0.212 1542 82.95 3.9 7.98 0.78 17.18 7.25 0.0360 1.900 83.90 2.28 694.00 1.41 1.10 210.000 0.3100 0.2090 0.280

0.00 0.07 1.11 1.59 0.97 -1.28 0.00 0.11 -1.33 -3.33 1.23 0.00 -0.47 0.19 0.12 -2.99 1.01 0.00 -1.72 -1.36 0.00 0.00 -0.06 0.00 -0.14 2.92 2.80 0.00 0.00 2.96 0.00

360,000 1,231,160 4,759,200 107,000 3,000 6,830,000 400,000 232,900 1,312,000 3,655,400 1,200 377,900 100,000 75,350 494,350 1,000 5,943,200 23,000 7,753,200 59,799,900 28,100,000 436,000 88,240 7,000 330,280 11,108,000 687,000 9,720 2,400,000 320,000 220,000

7.950 1.29 3.050 0.275 40.800 3.09 5.5 0.590 1.06 1.050 0.160 0.610 60.4 0.800 1.10 1.93 1.20 5 0.120 0.430 3.3

-0.50 1.57 -4.09 5.77 -0.97 -0.96 -1.79 1.72 4.95 5.00 0.00 -6.15 -0.98 1.27 1.85 -1.03 0.84 -0.79 0.00 -4.44 -2.94

269,500 1,141,000 5,674,000 1,830,000 5,114,100 406,000 6,000 5,743,000 16,000 55,000 6,760,000 13,477,000 583,970 12,000 4,496,000 12,200,000 190,000 23,739,400 9,870,000 100,000 971,000

262,175.00 -22,020,740 39,519,326.00 103,140.00 -233,290.00 355,615.00

54,000.00 -47,600.00 -119,420,293.00 -8,900.00 -73,800.00 -1,194,375.00 -75,600.00 571,740 -31,120,204.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 1.62 8.59

22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 0.83 5.73

0.5 66 1.44 1.09 14.88 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 2.6 7.67 4 2720 8.41

1.97 35.2 1 0.63 10.5 18.2 8.6 0.0770 2.95 56.1 10.14 1.6 4.8 2.58 1600 5.95

1.97 119.5 7 5.8 12.5 0.017

1.23 102.6 3.01 4 8.72 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 2.53 1 2.46 15.2

6.5 1.91 1.01 0.650 1.8 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 18 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 8.8 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 0.490

7.59 0.63 5 0.315

0.0098 5.45 17.24 12.7 12.8 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 0.023 8.2 49.2 4.27 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9

0.0043 1.72 6.47 6.5 5.11 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 0.014 3.240 18.96 2.11 1.54 0.012 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67

70 553 525

33 490 500

120 515 8.21 12.28 1060 1047 78.95 84.8

101.5 480 5.88 6.5 997 1011 74.5 75

6.98

0.8900

15

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6

Close

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

High

Low

31.40 1.73 3.35 29.00 0.97 1.020 6.330

31.50 30.75 1.74 1.67 3.39 3.3 29.20 28.75 0.98 0.96 1.040 1.010 6.380 6.220 SERVICES 2GO Group’ 7.21 7.28 7.21 ABS-CBN 50.5 50.6 50.15 Acesite Hotel 1.26 1.27 1.27 APC Group, Inc. 0.600 0.610 0.590 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.58 11.58 11.38 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 5.75 5.9 5.5 Bloomberry 6.54 6.60 6.15 Boulevard Holdings 0.0940 0.0970 0.0920 Calata Corp.

2.77 3.55 2.73 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 125 125.5 122 Centro Esc. Univ.

9.5 9.5 9.11 Discovery World 2.2 2.33 2.3 DFNN Inc. 4.99 5.20 5.00 Easy Call “Common” 3.04 3.04 3.04 Globe Telecom 2160 2152 2106 GMA Network Inc. 6.37 6.40 6.35 Golden Haven 15.80 15.80 15.52 Harbor Star 1.60 1.78 1.54 I.C.T.S.I. 80.5 81 79 Imperial Res. `A’ 20.80 21.00 20.50 Imperial Res. `B’ 171.9 160 155 IPeople Inc. `A’ 11.8 11.5 11.08 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0087 0.0090 0.0088 IPM Holdings 9.34 9.30 9.20 Island Info 0.300 0.305 0.295 ISM Communications 1.4400 1.4500 1.4100 Jackstones 3.62 3.71 3.49 LBC Express 12.5 12.5 12.4 Leisure & Resorts 4.69 4.70 4.15 Liberty Telecom 2.30 2.25 2.15 Lorenzo Shipping 1.02 1.03 1.02 Manila Bulletin 0.610 0.600 0.590 Manila Jockey 2 2.02 1.99 Melco Crown 4.28 4.29 4.05 Metro Retail 5.33 5.40 5.32 NOW Corp.

3.820 3.880 3.730 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 11.3 11.28 11.2 PAL Holdings Inc. 6.07 6.07 5.98 Phil. Racing Club 9.19 9.19 9.19 Phil. Seven Corp.

133.00 135.00 129.00 Philweb.Com Inc. 5.30 5.10 4.00 PLDT Common 1845.00 1845.00 1800.00 PremiereHorizon 0.440 0.440 0.430 Premium Leisure 1.000 1.000 0.950 Puregold 45.60 45.75 45.10 Robinsons RTL 82.00 84.10 82.00 SBS Phil. Corp.

6.54 6.58 6.30 SSI Group 3.33 3.42 3.29 STI Holdings 0.630 0.640 0.620 Travellers 3.49 3.5 3.48 Waterfront Phils.

0.330 0.335 0.330 MINING & OIL Abra Mining 0.0039 0.0040 0.0039 Apex `A’ 3.01 3.11 3.01 Atlas Cons. `A’ 3.98 3.99 3.88 Benguet Corp `A’ 1.9900 2.42 1.99 Benguet Corp `B’ 2.1100 2.1100 2.1100 Century Peak Metals Hldgs0.57 0.57 0.56 Coal Asia 0.420 0.420 0.400 Dizon 8.23 8.60 8.12 Ferronickel 0.830 0.850 0.810 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.275 0.280 0.275 Lepanto `A’ 0.200 0.200 0.197 Lepanto `B’ 0.220 0.218 0.208 Manila Mining `A’ 0.0100 0.0110 0.0100 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.7 1.7 1.64 Nickelasia 5.9 6.24 5.85 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.76 3 2.76 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.0100 1.0300 1.0000 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0120 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.23 4.25 3.98 Philex `A’ 8.70 8.72 8.60 PhilexPetroleum 3.76 3.84 3.70 Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0120 Semirara Corp.

113.70 114.30 110.80 TA Petroleum 3.65 3.65 3.52 PREFERRED ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 50.4 50.4 50 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 525 538 538 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 531.5 535 535 DD Pref 103.5 104 103.4 First Gen G 115.4 119 119 GLOBE PREF P 527 524 524 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.08 6.09 6.05 Leisure and Resort 1.01 1 0.99 PCOR-Preferred A 1050 1045 1040 PF Pref 2 1030 1037 1030 SMC Preferred B 78.5 78.95 78.05 SMC Preferred C 81.1 81.5 81.1 SMC Preferred E 77.8 77 77 SMC Preferred F 79.2 79.2 79 SMC Preferred H 77.55 77.75 77.55 SMC Preferred I 78 78 78 WARRANTS & BONDS LR Warrant 1.870 1.870 1.780 SME Alterra Capital 4.55 4.7 4.46 Makati Fin. Corp.

4.19 4.14 3.91 Italpinas 5.18 5.21 5.09 Xurpas 16.14 16.2 15.94 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF 131.3 131.3 130.3

MS 4,679,631.50

30,348,620.00

-42,460.00

-30,438,512.00 -8,828,374.00 24,566,720.00

28,500.00

13,917,910.00 -4,251,593.00 78,940.00 -2,039,795.00

300,495.00 -3,094,858.50

-377,110.00 -11,150,785.00

49,212,574.00

6,497,130.00 -4,867,560.00 -5,268,886.00 7,967,726.00 220.00 -3,425,996.00 -419,567.00

-102,720.00 299,700.00 -44,020.00

1,510.00

11,650.00 -204,729,402 -210,920.00

-1,721,795.50 11,756,130.00

83,736,445 2,876,052.00 -14,242,516.00

470,020.00

-18,339,110.00 -15,954,987.50

-2,061,311.00 -33,994,018.00 -109,931,343.00 1,716,835.50 24,251,180.00 -276,540.00 32,960.00 760,288.00

667,779.00 -319,000.00 101,400.00 -78,143,575.00 -488,270.00

TRADING SUMMARY

9,130.00

SHARES

FINANCIAL

15,548,845

250,000.00 3,810,938.00

INDUSTRIAL

152,168,092

HOLDING FIRMS

138,870,070

-3,362,080.00

PROPERTY

112,632,537

59,263,085.00

SERVICES

270,499,402

MINING & OIL

538,265,075

-748,070.00

GRAND TOTAL

1,231,116,751

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

31.00 1.7 3.3 29.00 0.98 1.020 6.230

-1.27 -1.73 -1.49 0.00 1.03 0.00 -1.58

1,999,600 351,000 1,594,000 11,098,800 236,000 153,000 3,381,000

10,475,400.00 -103,800.00

7.25 50.2 1.27 0.600 11.38 5.5 6.21 0.0970 3.55 123.5 9.5 2.3 5.00 3.04 2126 6.36 15.60 1.68 80.3 21.00 158 11.1 0.0090 9.28 0.295 1.4100 3.5 12.5 4.16 2.15 1.02 0.600 2 4.05 5.40 3.740 11.2 6.06 9.19 135.00 4.60 1800.00 0.435 0.950 45.20 83.60 6.30 3.29 0.640 3.48 0.335

0.55 -0.59 0.79 0.00 -1.73 -4.35 -5.05 3.19 28.16 -1.20 0.00 4.55 0.20 0.00 -1.57 -0.16 -1.27 5.00 -0.25 0.96 -8.09 -5.93 3.45 -0.64 -1.67 -2.08 -3.31 0.00 -11.30 -6.52 0.00 -1.64 0.00 -5.37 1.31 -2.09 -0.88 -0.16 0.00 1.50 -13.21 -2.44 -1.14 -5.00 -0.88 1.95 -3.67 -1.20 1.59 -0.29 1.52

258,200 20,390 7,000 265,000 3,900 32,100 8,949,600 62,550,000 47,755,000 738,860 6,800 36,000 128,000 1,000 66,440 136,700 109,300 12,681,000 1,934,320 28,800 1,940 6,200 34,000,000 1,667,500 828,000 1,618,000 447,000 3,100 3,016,000 4,896,000 5,000 66,000 23,000 10,066,000 1,501,200 6,772,000 33,700 148,400 100 2,540 3,888,600 96,565 710,000 31,729,000 2,527,800 2,527,050 3,058,800 4,205,000 3,979,000 2,867,000 2,020,000

0.0039 3.02 3.91 2.1600 2.1100 0.56 0.410 8.31 0.820 0.275 0.198 0.218 0.0110 0.0120 1.66 6.24 2.83 1.0000 0.0120 0.0120 4.17 8.61 3.71 0.0120 112.50 3.6

0.00 0.33 -1.76 8.54 0.00 -1.75 -2.38 0.97 -1.20 0.00 -1.00 -0.91 10.00 0.00 -2.35 5.76 2.54 -0.99 0.00 0.00 -1.42 -1.03 -1.33 0.00 -1.06 -1.37

361,000,000 334,000 568,000 307,000 4,000 309,000 1,580,000 37,600 59,880,000 110,000 7,730,000 280,000 34,800,000 24,000,000 198,000 24,545,800 741,000 121,000 2,200,000 2,000,000 31,000 1,584,500 1,530,000 13,300,000 877,500 87,000

50.1 538 535 103.4 119 524 6.05 0.99 1040 1034 78.95 81.5 77 79.2 77.75 78

-0.60 2.48 0.66 -0.10 3.12 -0.57 -0.49 -1.98 -0.95 0.39 0.57 0.49 -1.03 0.00 0.26 0.00

79,250 20 13,000 51,030 4,600 500 362,000 1,565,000 700 2,405 12,130 118,120 42,300 31,000 6,500 20

1.780

-4.81

882,000

8,950.00

4.6 4.1 5.11 16

1.10 -2.15 -1.35 -0.87

1,376,000 50,000 338,600 1,353,600

37,740.00

130.4

-0.69

4,430

-121,597,810.00 3,269,124.00 -1,209,259.00

-1,192,886.00 1,900.00 -1,185,100.00 -7,475,263.00

-43,615,450.00 1,560.00 354,940.00 52,655,569.50

-8,700.00 -1,973,000 -1,225,180.00

-15,615,640.00 -1,276,639.00 2,468,500.00

172,050.00 -45,047.00 -72,160,310.00 -5,579,910.00 -4,383,490.00 -7,372,568.50 954,890.00 -772,520.00 -8,246,310.00 4,000.00 36,800.00 -102,870.00

-3,609,300.00

-16,800.00 18,126,064.00

-1,729,025.00 -524,370.00 13,403,502.00 -292,634.00

-2,197,610.00 -2,068,000.00 -9,560,182

6,885.00 -11,163,300.00

VALUE 1,839.77 (up) 2.68 722,302,051.594 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,996.79 (down) 150.13 1,938,636,272.69 HOLDING FIRMS 7,891.52 (down) 14.36 1,519,729,621.81 PROPERTY 3,607.04 (down) 24.27 1,576.16 (down) 25.18 882,586,677.845 SERVICES MINING & OIL 10,612.74 (down) 14.80 1,423,512,590.635 PSEI 7,935.18 (down) 46.03 330,184,858.5504 All Shares Index 4,698.94 (down) 24.07 6,847,463,502.729 Gainers: 72; Losers: 117; Unchanged: 44; Total: 233

BPI buys Laguna bank’s minority

By Julito G. Rada BANK of the Philippine Islands, the fourth-largest lender in terms of assets, is acquiring a minority equity stake in Laguna-based Rizal Bank Inc., a member institution of CARD Mutually Reinforcing Institutions.

Rizal Bank is a microfinance oriented bank with over 120,000 clients served nationwide. BPI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Tuesday the partnership made the universal bank the exclusive local equity partner in CARD MRI Banking Group, and deepened the bank’s reach in the microfinance space, benefitting more unserved and underserved Filipinos.

“BPI’s partnership with RBI reaffirms BPI’s vision to be the leading bank with strong focus on financial inclusiveness and sustainable growth. RBI’s emphasis on forging trust and building relationship with its clients is aligned with BPI’s own customer-centric efforts,” BPI president and chief executive Cezar Consing said in a statement.

CARD MRI is a group of social development organizations founded on Dec. 10, 1986. It aims to improve the quality of life of socioeconomically challenged families and to eradicate poverty in the country.

Its 14 institutions specialize in microfinance, microinsurance, business development, education, information technology, pharmacy, and community development.

CARD MRI as of June 2016 has served over 3.6 million clients across the Philippines. Rizal Bank Inc., a member institution of CARD MRI, is a microfinance-oriented rural bank established in May 1996.

Meralco to install 235,000 meters

By Alena Mae S. Flores MANILA Electric Co., the largest electricity retailer, sought approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission to roll out an additional 235,000 smart meters in its franchise area next year.

Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communications Al Panlilio said the additional smart meters covered both prepaid and post-paid consumers.

Panlilio during the MTECH 2016 Exhibit and Experience Zone cited the need to increase the rollout of smart meters, which is currently close to 40,000, or less than one percent of Meralco’s nearly six million customers.

The official said the company expects subscribers to reach seven to eight million by 2024, with half using the smart meters.

Panlilio said Meralco and the Energy Regulatory Commission were trying to reduce the cost of smart meters, currently priced at around $100.

“We will continue to work with vendors—for open system—to create competition,” he said.

Smart meters allow customers to manage consumption. It is now currently used by prepaid electricity users but is expected to include postpaid users soon.

“We are utilizing the latest technology to improve our grid operations, provide more consumption information and convenience to our customers to rollout new products and services,” Meralco chief technology advisor Gavin Barfield said.

Business

B3

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Aboitiz pushes 390-MW plant in Ifugao

By Alena Mae S. Flores

S

N ABOITIZ Power-Ifugao Inc. is pushing ahead with plans to build the 390-megawatt Alimit hydro power complex in Ifugao province after starting talks to seek the consent of the host community.

SN Aboitiz is completing the free, prior and informed consent process, or FPIC, with indigenous peoples as required under the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997, SNAP Group spokesperson Mike Hosillos said in a statement.

“We have been conducting the second community consultative assemblies, or CCA2, since January in the four ancestral domains of Lamut, Lagawe, Mayoyao, and Aguinaldo,” Hosillos said.

The Alimit hydropower complex is composed of three power

facilities—the 20-MW Olilicon hydro power plant, the 120-MW Alimit hydro plant and the 250MW Alimit Pumped Storage Project.

The proposed facilities are located in four municipalities—Aguinaldo, Lagawe, Lamut, Mayoyao.

The project aims to provide additional electricity to the Luzon grid and contribute to energy security.

Hosillos said SNAP was scheduled to complete presentations to all 81 barangays composing the ancestral domains within the next two months.

“This will then allow the indige-

nous peoples to go into a consensus building process to decide whether to give consent to the proposed project or not. So far, we have received positive reception to the proposed project,” he said.

“During the consultations, we have been informed by the indigenous peoples of their key issues and concerns on the project, and this is critical in ensuring that the proposed project considers these concerns moving forward.” he added.

SNAP-Ifugao still needs to secure local government endorsements and an environmental compliance certificate for the project, as

well as other mandatory regulatory requirements prescribed by law.

SN Aboitiz executive vice president and chief operating officer Joseph Yu earlier said the company was conducting the feasibility study for the project.

“We’re finishing our feasibility study. We still have to go through FPIC, we have 82 barangays to consult, and then still need to go through the provincial government. We still need to sort through land issues of transmission line,” Yu said.

He said the Alimit project business case must be completed be-

fore construction could begin, which means project completion was likely between 2021 to 2022.

SNAP-Ifugao is a joint venture of SN Power AS and AboitizPower. SN Power AS is a Norwegian company that focuses on hydropower development in Southeast Asia, while AboitizPower is a local company, which is the holding company of Aboitiz Group in power generation, distribution and retail electricity services.

SNAP-Ifugao applied with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to start the process in March 2014.

Solon seeks to protect two natural resources LET’S take a break from noisome political news and focus on more positive issues like the twin bills filed by Surigao del Sur District 2 Rep. Johnny Pimentel to have Enchanted River and Tinuy-an Falls included in the country’s registry of protected natural parks to preserve their unique features and protect them from potentially destructive human activities.

“No effort must be spared to conserve the magical river and the majestic falls, both of which are now clearly in danger of degradation on account of unchecked human activities, spurred mainly by the growing number of local and foreign visitors,” said Pimentel who filed House Bills 1903 and 2116 to protect the two natural wonders which are both located in his home province.

Located in the municipality of Hinatuan, the lawmaker said Enchanted River got its name from the country’s first tourism commissioner (or Secretary today) Modesto Farolan who was captivated by the natural beauty of the waterway during a tour— inspiring the late tourism official to write a poem titled “Rio Encantado.” The extraordinarily clear blue, 270-meter river flows into the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean through Hinatuan Bay. Tinuy-an Falls, on the other hand, has been dubbed as the Philippines’ “Little Niagara Falls” after the great chutes that straddle the Canada-United States border. The multi-tiered cascades of Tinuy-an Falls (located in Barangay Burboanan in Bislig City) are 55 meters high and 95 meters wide—making it the broadest of falls in the Philippines. Tinuy-an has a highly diverse ecosystem that includes 235 varieties of plant and animal life, many of which have been marked vulnerable or endangered, according to the office of Pimentel.

Under the National Integrated Protected Areas System Act of 1992, portions of land and water may be reserved as “protected areas,” by law or by presidential proclamation, to safeguard and enrich their exceptional qualities. The Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau oversees all protected areas, mostly with the help of local governments, or the state-run corporation that owns or controls the area.

Thus far, the bureau’s list of 240 protected areas already covers 35,700 square kilometers, or around 12 percent of the country’s total land area. The country’s largest protected area is the 761,416-hectare Palawan Game Refuge and Bird Sanctuary, while the smallest is the 3.2-hectare Hinulugang Taktak in Antipolo, Rizal.

While Filipinos appreciate the influx of tourists to the country, efforts should be made to protect our natural resources from irresponsible, exploitative practices and activities. Initiatives such as this one by Representative Pimentel are certainly welcome.

••• For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@yahoo. com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/happyhourmanilastandard. Cheers!

House to probe P540-m scam on Kuwait workers LEGAZPI CITY—The House of Representatives is set to investigate a P540-million scam that allegedly victimized overseas applicants for Kuwait through a private company exclusively contracted to provide job documents.

Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda filed House Resolution 220 on August 15, calling for a probe of the scheme involving WINSTON Q8 Certification Solutions, reportedly appointed by the Embassy of Kuwait as the sole provider of the applicants’ requirements. The company was found out to be exorbitantly charging applicants.

Salceda during a recent media forum at the Manila Hotel said the government should not allow a foreign embassy to intrude in its policies through a questionable and highly irregular medical screening and certification process, to protect the welfare of migrant Filipino workers.

WINSTON Q8, according to Salceda, charged P8,400 per applicant compared with the usual amount of P2,500 one pays for the same requirements from other providers.

“Those aspiring to work in

Kuwait cut across all regions, and represent workers seeking a better life. We should not allow WINSTON Q8 to earn from the backs of these prospective overseas workers, especially not at the instigation of a foreign embassy,” Salceda said.

He said the House inquiry would “help establish culpability in relation to this embassy-sponsored fraud and formulate remedial legislation to further protect our OFWs.” WINSTON Q8 website describes itself as a Philippinebased company that represents the Ministry of Health of Kuwait.

According to Roland Collado, vice chairman of the Philippine Association of Agencies Accredited for Kuwait, their officers were called to a meeting at the Embassy of Kuwait on August 5 pertaining to the new certification and medical screening process by WINSTON Q8 Certifications Solutions.

WINSTON Q8 charges P8,400 for every job applicant for Kuwait. Only after paying the amount can the applicant register online, with an activation code WINSTON Q8 provides.

Matadi Gateway Terminal, the new container and general cargo terminal on the Congo River receives, the first of two new mobile cranes scheduled to go into service at the terminal. The Terex Model 5 crane is the largest member of the medium-sized crane family available from Terex Port Solutions and delivered fully erect on-board the m/v BBC ODER which commenced its voyage from Antwerp, Belgium.

ICTSI receives 2 cranes for Congo port

By Darwin G. Amojelar INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. said on Tuesday it acquired two mobile cranes for its new container terminal in Congo.

The port operator owned by tycoon Enrique Razon Jr. said Matadi Gateway Terminal received the first of two mobile cranes schedules to go into service at the terminal.

The MGT is a joint venture company between ICTSI, the Ledya Group and SCTP SA. “This new unit is a game changer. It is the first unit of its kind in Matadi and will deliver high performance and faster vessel turnaround times. With the arrival of the second unit, MGT will also be able to give reliable service to larger gearless vessels,” MGT chief executive Tim Vancampen said.

The Terex Model 5 crane is the largest member of the medium-sized crane family available from Terex Port Solutions

and was delivered fully erect on-board the m/v BBC ODER which commenced its voyage from Antwerp, Belgium.

Other key equipment to be deployed at the terminal includes reach stackers and front loaders as well as Navis N4 for efficient management of vessel loading/ unloading and terminal operations.

The ICTSI DR Congo Terminal initially commence operations in August with one berth.

Full delivery of Phase One, incorporating a second berth and total quay line of 350m will be

by November 2016.

Container handling capacity will be 175,000 twenty-foot equivalent unit per year with a nine hectare terminal area incorporating a yard area of six hectares. Depth alongside the quay will be 12m at all times, offering the ability to serve Panamax, Handymax and Wafmax vessels.

Based on demand, ICTSI also has the option to immediately

implement a Phase Two development providing an additional 350m of quay line and supporting yard area.

ICTSI earlier reported a net income of $92.6 million in January to June, lower than $105.7 million in the same period last year.

ICTSI attributed the drop in net income to unfavorable volume mix, lower non-containerized and storage revenues, lower capitalized borrowing costs and higher depreciation and amortization expenses related to Tecplata S.A., the company’s new terminal in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Gross revenues from port operations reached $550.8 million in the first half, compared with $552.1 million reported in the same period last year.

ICTSI handled consolidated volume of 4,264,633 twentyfoot equivalent units in the first six months, up 10 percent from 3,888,130 TEUs handled in the same period in 2015.

DIAMOND AWARD. Standard Chartered Bank is among the organizations recognized by the Philippine Red Cross in an appreciation event for partners held recently at the Manila Polo Club. Shown (from left) are Red Cross Philippines director Tiong, chairman of Makati City branch; director Manny Reyes-, vice chairman of Rizal chapter; Liza Zavalla, assistant secretary general of Philippine Red Cross; Anne Dela Torre, Standard Chartered corporate affairs manager; Mai Sangalang, head of corporate affairs and brand and marketing; Raymund Loreto, communications manager; and chairman Alfred Xerez Burgos of the Philippine Red Cross Rizal chapter.

South tourism agenda readied

By Othel V. Campos TOURISM Secretary Wanda Corazon Tulfo-Teo has proposed a Mindanao tourism agenda to draw more tourists to the island.

Teo said the Tourism Regional Office in Mindanao would push for the SamalDavao City bridge project to address the growing number of island visitors.

Davao City, according to latest data from Tourism Region XI, registered 1.7 million arrivals in 2015, comprising of 1.56 million domestic travelers and 128,333 foreign visitors.

Migrant Filipino workers, meanwhile, numbered 14,699. A total of 161,339 visitors were recorded in August last year, with 12,142 foreign arrivals and 147,207 local visitors.

Teo added the department wanted to make the current international attention on Davao a major turning point for Mindanao tourism.

“The interest in Davao is really high these days, as people want to see how then Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has managed the city,” said Tourism Mindanao officer-incharge Eden Josephine David, referring to the increased visitor arrivals in Davao City at the start of the Duterte presidency.

David added the department was banking on the new administration’s plan to implement the Mindanao logistics infrastructure network as part of its revitalized infrastructure spending to help address the connectivity and infrastructure gap of the region.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

Business

A handout picture released by Bundesregierung, the Cabinet of Germany shows (from left) Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande arriving aboard the Garibaldi navy on the harbour of Italian island of Ventotene, on August 22, 2016, ahead of a meeting on the island, where the leaders of Italy, France and Germany meet to discuss the post-Brexit EU. AFP

Pfizer beats out Sanofi in $14-b deal

PFIZER Inc. claimed the pharmaceutical industry’s latest big prize Monday, beating out a group of rivals after months of jockeying to buy Medivation Inc. and its blockbuster cancer drug for $14 billion.

Left behind was French drugmaker Sanofi, whose aggressive and at one point hostile pursuit of Medivation helped open up the process to Pfizer, Gilead Sciences Inc. and others that were said to be involved.

Pfizer will pay $81.50 a share in cash, the companies said in a statement on Monday, well above Sanofi’s initial $52.50 a share offer.

By acquiring Medivation, Pfizer gets Xtandi, a cancer drug that’s already approved for sale in the US and elsewhere, and that analysts project will generate $1.33 billion in annual sales for Medivation by 2020. Pfizer chief executive officer Ian Read said in May that he was more interested in acquiring late-stage assets because the company already had plenty of early-stage drugs in the works. Pfizer, which walked away from an about $160-billion merger with Allergan Plc in April, is open to other deals, the CEO said on a conference call Monday.

Shares of Medivation, which closed at $67.16 on Friday, climbed 20 percent to $80.42 at 1:24 p.m. Pfizer declined 0.5 percent at $34.80, while Sanofi was down 0.2 percent to 69.56 euros in Paris. Bloomberg

‘EU not finished after Brexit’

A

BOARD THE GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI AIRCRAFT CARRIER, Italy―The leaders of Italy, France and Germany insisted Monday that Britain’s shock decision to quit the European Union would not kill the bloc.

Speaking aboard an aircraft carrier anchored off the Italian island of Ventotene, one of the cradles of the dream of a united and integrated Europe, the leaders vowed to strengthen the European project following the Brexit vote.

“Many thought the EU was finished after Brexit but that is not how it is,” Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said.

Calling out the continent’s eurosceptics, he said it was “easy to complain and find scapegoats.”

The EU “is the answer” to Eu-

rope’s problems, for it cemented “peace, prosperity and freedom,” he said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel recalled that the EU had been born from some of the “darkest moments” of European history, a reference to World War II. Echoing Renzi, she said the time had come to “write a better page” in European history.

French President Francois Hollande warned that Europe was faced with a risk of “fragmentation and division.”

It needed a “new impulse” on three fronts, Hollande said:

the economy; defense and security; and ensuring jobs and education opportunities for young people.

The three leaders were speaking ahead of a working dinner aboard the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppi Garibaldi as the sun set over the Naples coast.

In a symbolic move, the Italian PM earlier took his guests to the grave of Altiero Spinelli, a founding father of the ideal of European integration.

Renzi called the meeting in a bid to forge a common position on the EU’s future ahead of a sum-

mit of the 27 remaining states in Bratislava on September 16.

Europe’s economic outlook, jihadist attacks, the refugee and migrant drama, the Syrian conflict, and relations with Russia and Turkey were also expected to be covered.

The Brexit vote has raised fears of similar referendums in other countries, particularly the Netherlands, which opposes changes to the EU to achieve closer integration.

But coming up with a road map acceptable to all will not be easy.

The Czech Republic, Hungary,

Japan hires foreigners as farmers start to age

Microsoft apps to be installed on Lenovo

JAPAN is struggling to keep its farms running as farmers age and young people shun the work. This has opened the door for more foreign workers―including a growing number found to be working illegally.

The number of Japanese farmers has dropped by about half since 2000, to below 2 million this year, according to the agriculture ministry.

About two-thirds of those who remain are 65 years old or older.

This could slow Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s push for a renewal of the sector. Abe sees agriculture as an important driver of economic growth, and has urged farmers to target overseas markets with premium products.

Japan’s agricultural exports hit a record in 2015, according to the agriculture ministry, thanks partly to a weaker currency. Abe’s government has been looking to the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal to expose Japanese farmers to more competition and improve productivity. The pact, which brings together 12 nations including Japan, may be in doubt with the US presidential election campaign fueling protectionist sentiment.

A shortage of farm workers means the rise in exports isn’t sustainable, said Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute, which specializes in agriculture. Younger Japanese simply aren’t interested, he said.

“It’s easier to be a salaryman,” Minami said. “You can’t be a farmer unless that’s your passion.”

One result is the rapid rise in productive farmland being abandoned.

Some farms are tapping cheap foreign labor. Japan generally doesn’t accept migrant workers, but many companies use a so-called internshiptraining program as a back door. About 7,000 foreign workers entered the agriculture sector through this program in 2013 after passing exams at the end of their first year, according to the Ministry of Justice. That is more than double the number in 2007. Bloomberg

Gold and gems pile up in Singapore vault amid uncertainty THE stash of gold, silver and gems stored in the vaults and safe deposit boxes of Malca-Amit in Singapore has jumped almost 90 percent in the past year as wealthy investors seek a refuge in a world of negative interest rates, stagnating economies and political uncertainty.

The company’s facilities in the city-state are about 70 percent full and more than 90 percent of the hoard comprises precious metals, according to Ariel Kohelet, managing director of Malca-Amit Singapore Pte, a logistics and storage provider, without giving specific figures. Revenue has grown at least 45 percent in 2016

from a year earlier, he said in an interview last week.

Gold has rallied 26 percent this year and silver’s up 37 percent as negative interest rates, the UK vote to leave the European Union and the US presidential race spur investors to protect their wealth.

Billionaire bond-fund manager Bill Gross has said there’s little choice but gold and real estate given current bond yields, while hedge fund manager Eric Mindich almost tripled his options bet on a bullion-backed exchangetraded fund in the second quarter.

“We’re seeing a trend where high net-worth individuals are looking to diversify their

Poland and Slovakia vowed after Britain’s vote to draw up their own plans for a less centralized EU. The Ventotene trip was the start of an intensive tour for Merkel as she attempts to coordinate a response to one of the EU’s biggest crises in decades and quell fears Berlin wants to monopolise the debate.

Renzi, who is campaigning for greater flexibility on EU deficit rules to help his flagging economy, said “we need strong measures to relaunch growth and fight youth unemployment”. AFP

portfolio into tangible assets like precious metals, precious stones,” said 41-year-old Kohelet, who’s been with the company for 12 years. “This is mostly to preserve and protect their wealth. They’re looking into places like Hong Kong and Singapore as places they deem to be safe.”

A raft of investors have underscored the attraction of gold in a world where central banks are trying to revive growth by buying bonds and keeping their economies flush with cash. While billionaire George Soros cut his holding in Barrick Gold Corp. in the second quarter, he bought

shares in the SPDR Gold Trust.

Paul Singer, David Einhorn and Stan Druckenmiller have all expounded reasons this year for owning gold.

Some are not sure prices will keep rising, seeing more increases in US borrowing costs, which will lift the dollar and tarnish a metal that pays no interest. The probability of three rate hikes through end-2017 means there’s little room for rallies, according to Luc Luyet, a currencies strategist at Pictet Wealth Management.

While Goldman Sachs Group Inc. likes gold as a strategic hedge, its base case is $1,300 an ounce, less than $1,337.50 traded Tuesday.

In Asia, where more than half the world’s bullion is consumed, people have always invested in gold, according to Kohelet. “If you take China and India, it’s part of the culture and tradition to put some aside,” he said.

Malca-Amit has 1,000 square feet of space at the Singapore FreePort, a free trade zone, capable of storing 700 metric tons, while another warehouse at Changi airport’s airfreight center has a capacity of 200 tons, Kohelet said. In May, the company started a safe depository service called UltraVault and opened new facilities located in the central business district, he said. Bloomberg

SAN FRANCISCO―Microsoft apps such as Office and Skype will be installed on Lenovo mobile devices powered by Android software under the terms of a collaboration announced late Monday.

The US technology giant and the Chinese computer titan said they were “deepening their strategic relationship” with a move that could add to the ranks of people using Microsoft programs as services hosted in the internet cloud.

“The marriage of Microsoft’s apps and Lenovo’s Android-based devices will enable customers around the world to be more productive, more connected and achieve even more,” Microsoft corporate vice president Nick Parker said in a statement.

Lenovo is expected to ship millions of Android-powered devices in the next several years.

The deal includes cross-licensing that will allow patented Microsoft technology to be used in Lenovo and Motorola devices, according to the companies.

“Our collaboration with Microsoft will create new opportunities for our customers to take advantage of some of Microsoft’s most popular apps,” said Lenovo leader of corporate alliances Christian Eigen.

Microsoft and leading Android smartphone maker Samsung announced a deal last year to bring the US company’s software to smartphone and tablets made by the South Korean firm. AFP

PRO8 nets 18,690 drug surrenderees

By Mel Caspe CAMP RUPERTO KANGLEON, Palo—In the second month of the implemention of Project Double Barrel “Oplan Tokhang” the Philippine National Police in Region VIII said 16,583 illegal drug users and 2,107 pushers have surrendered.

A total of 18,690 individuals surrendered to the different provincial police offices. The Leyte PPO recorded 5,609; the Southern Leyte PPO, 4,449; the Biliran PPO, 547; the Samar PPO, 1,121; the Eastern Samar PPO, 2,685; the Northern Samar PPO, 1,205; the Ormoc CPO, 2,089; and the Tacloban CPO, 985.

Police Chief Supt. Elmer Beltejar, the acting regional director of PRO8, said he is expecting more drug per-

sonalities to surrender as the lower barrel of Project Tokhang is being vigorously implemented regionwide.

Beltejar vowed to sustain activities and programs to further educate and rehabilitate illegal drug personalities who surrendered to every police station in collaboration with stakeholders and other government agencies.

The rehabilitation program of the PNP has two phases— education and rehabilitation.

The first three months focus on character development through psychological and psychotherapeutic treatment.

The next three months will focus on skills training and livelihood development in coordination with the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and other stakeholders.

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

C1

ARMM execs get perfomance bonus

By A. Perez Rimando COTABATO CITY—More than 30,000 employees and officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao recently received their 2015 performance-based bonus— the first in its 25-year history—a regional official said.

Lawyer Laisa Alamia, ARMM executive secretary, said the Department of Budget and Management earlier affirmed ARMM’s compliance with the requirements for the bonus, a system which rewards “exemplary performance in government.”

The Development Academy of the Philippines, Alamia explained, “serves as the secretariat and technical resource institution of the Administrative Order 25 Interagency Task Force that oversees the performance monitoring, evaluation, information and reporting of essential components of performance management system of government offices, departments or institutions.”

Alamia noted “This is a big honor and a major accomplishment which has been strongly lauded by Muslim workers in Maguindanao, Lanao del Sur, Basilan, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi and their component cities of Marawi and Lamitan, ” even as they pledged to continue improving their level of professionalism in their respective jobs.

Maritess Galindo, 56, the ARMM administrative officer since 1990, said “I’m very glad that my humble performance was finally acknowledged and that I’m part of the reform.”

DAP officer Maricris Valte stressed that “What ARMM should be proud of are the

reforms achieved in the autonomous region that reforms improved peoples’ access to services.”

The PBB is meant to encourage and ensure that the agency accomplishes what it has pledged to do, Valte explained, adding that the fact that ARMM met all the good governance conditions “is a proof that the governance reform under the leadership of Gov. Mujiv Hataman is really working.”

Budget Undersecretary Richard Moya, in a recent letter to Hataman, said, “more than grant of the bonus, we hope that the PBB has significantly contributed to your agency’s organizational and employees’ performance that led to concrete and visible improvements in the delivery of goods and services to the public.”

Under the system, Moya said, “an employee may receive from P5,000 minimum to as much as P36,000 where employees are rated whether they performed ‘good,’ ‘better’ or ‘best,’ stressing further that the PBB system is a merit-based incentive program that recognizes and rewards exemplary public service, including employees’ contribution to the accomplishment of their agency’s overall targets and commitments.”

The ARMM Bureau of Public Information reported that to qualify for the PBB, “a concerned agency or department must pass certain requirements to include the achievement of at least 90 percent of their 2015 targets” with the budget of the bonus downloaded from the DBM to the regional government after completion of the projects.

BOUNTY. An early morning’s hard work of fisherfolk has paid off with an abundant catch in the Port of Calatagan Batangas. Sonny Espiritu

Erap gives land titles to squatters

By Sandy Araneta

M

ORE than 30 poor families in the Baseco Compound in Tondo, Manila were given houses and lots by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada.

Estrada distributed land certificates to 32 informal settler families (ISFs) in Baseco—the first batch of beneficiaries of the city government’s P44.5-million housing project in Sitio Dubai.

“Since I was the mayor of San Juan, it has been my priority to provide homeless families their

own decent shelter. It is a basic human need that every public servant should strive to provide to those in need,” Estrada said during the awarding ceremonies at the Manila City Hall.

Noraisa Dalundong, one of the 32 beneficiaries, said “all of us, my family and I, are very thank-

ful to Mayor Erap. We’ve waited so long to have a home we can call our own.”

The Dalundong family is among the first ISFs who will occupy the 32 completed units of the Dubai housing project the city government began constructing last February.

An additional 96 housing units are nearing completion.

The village is being built on a 3.5-hectare portion of Sitio Dubai in Baseco and is intended to serve as a permanent relocation for longtime residents of the compound.

The Dubai houses are designed to be “eco-friendly” or

energy-efficient shelters to lessen the effects of climate change.

Each unit has a rainwater harvesting and grey water reuse system that will enable the occupants to utilize rainwater and significantly reduce their water bills.

The “green” housing units, Estrada said, will minimize expenses on lighting, cooling and sanitation.

Since he assumed office in 2013, the mayor has awarded 257 families their own lots under his “Land for the Landless” program.

Estrada also has similar housing projects for city hall employees

Orani water utility holds 31-day raffle

By Butch Gunio ORANI, Bataan—The Orani Water District is giving prizes to one lucky customer every hour for 31 days during its Customers’ Appreciation Month.

In the hourly raffle that started

on August 19 and will last until September 30, the water district customers can win P300 worth of groceries on weekdays.

“This is a simple way of expressing our thanks to our beloved clients and sharing with them the benefits of our business,” OWD general

manager Benni Andres said, adding that they give away “free-flowing coffee and juice as well.”

OWD staff Am Onate revealed that on the first raffle day (August 19) the winners were Adenaida Sibug from Brgy. Kaparangan, one Amparo from Brgy. Pan-

talan Luma, Lita Pastera from Brgy. Pantalan Bago, Ester Solis from Brgy. Mulawin, German Cruz from Brgy. Pantalan Luma, Lorna Pascual from Brgy. ParangParang, Bernadette Lintag from Brgy. St. Joseph, and Teresita Caragay from Masagana Village.

Pagadian City LGU employs 35 PWDs

FIREFIGHTERS. Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi (center) poses with barangay leaders during the blessing of the seven fire trucks and three flexitrucks given to them at the city hall in Putatan on Monday.

PAGADIAN CITY—The city government has continued to provide work to not a few of its persons with disability or PWDs with appropriate skills, a city social worker said.

Social Welfare and Development Officer Saramea Ubpon, the city focal person for PWDs, said Mayor Romeo Pulmones has long been implementing Republic Act 9442, the Magna Carta for Persons with Disability, “to make them more useful to the community.”

Ubpon said Mayor Pulmones, from the time he was vice mayor to his third term as city executive, kept hiring at least 35 local PWDs—15 of them holding permanent items and the rest as casuals whose appointments are renewed annually—in various local government offices where their skills can be employed.

The CSWDO identified two of the city hall-employed PWDs as Evelyn Bunsucan, who walks with the aid of

crutches, and Edna LaquitaoDopio, a victim of polio.

Bunsucan, 48, is permanently hired at the City Treasurer’s Office, while Dopio, 43, is a casual clerk detailed at the Public Employment Service Office (Peso) since 1983.

Bunsucan, Dopio and the other locally hired PWDs strongly commended Pulmones for accommodating qualified though physically incapacitated individuals as workers in Pagadian which they describe as a ”city with a humanitarian heart for its disabled residents.”

Local Peso chief Virginia Almirol said she was impressed with the work ethic of Dopio whom she described “as an efficient and productive employee who works with minimal supervision and knows how to entertain clients well.”

Almirol added she will later ask Pulmones to make Dopio a permanent employee as “she is an asset to the local gover nment.” A. Perez Rimando

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

LGUs

‘Endo’ days in R-9 are numbered

By A. Perez Rimando

P

AGADIAN CITY—The days of “endo” (or “end of contract,” a labor slang for contractualization) in Zamboanga Peninsula are numbered, the Department of Labor and Employment said.

The department has intensified its campaign against companies hiring workers through short-term contracts to avoid paying financial benefits to full-time employees, a labor official said.

DoLE Region 9 information officer Gay Iris Tangcalagan said the local labor and employment office extended its full support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s

battle against “endo,” which he wanted eradicated by 2017.

Tangcalagan said DoLE labor law compliance officers have been directed to inspect different companies in Zamboanga del Sur, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga del Norte and their component cities of Zamboanga, Dipolog, Dapitan and Pagadian.

The law compliance officers,

Tangcalagan said, were authorized to see if workers get their appropriate benefits, if “endo” is not being practiced and the minimum wage is paid.

Tangcalagan told the media that case violations were recorded—with Zamboanga City, the region’s commercial center, recording the highest incidence— and the DoLE regional office

issued an order of compliance to the concerned establishments.

“If the companies do not comply with the order, garnishment will follow and, lastly, the Labor department will push the case to the National Labor Relation Commission for appropriate action,” Tangcalagan quoted DoLE Secretary Silvestre Bello III as saying.

‘Protect poor from climate change’ CLIMATE Change Commission Secretary Emmanuel de Guzman said building climate-resilient communities is a moral imperative to preserve the basic rights of the poor and the marginalized who are the most vulnerable to extreme weather events.

Speaking at the Social Development Initiatives Summit held in Davao City from August 17-19, De Guzman underscored the need to improve adaptation, mitigation and risk reduction to help communities deal with climate change.

“Poverty, as we all know, breeds disaster vulnerability, and those who have least in life, sadly, risk life most. To be indifferent and to do nothing on the threats of climate change is therefore an injustice to the vulnerable poor,” De Guzman, the vice chairman

and executive director of the CCC, told the summit attended by multi-sectoral stakeholders.

“Rural people, particularly farmers, fisherfolk, and indigenous peoples should be given a strong voice in bottom-up adaptation and risk reduction planning and implementation since their views are grounded in their daily lives,” he said.

“Building the resilience of our communities enables them to thrive despite weather extremes and rising sea levels,” De Guzman added.

The national and local governments need to upgrade risk assessment, public health services, protection of the ecosystems, improvement of agricultural methods, management of water resources, and creation of settlements in safe zones, he concluded.

SELF-SUFFICIENCY. The Rotary Club of Manila-Bonifacio Drive adopted the St. Francis Learning Center for the Aeta community in Mangan-Vaca, Zambales in 2015 in partnership with the Red Cross and other groups and individuals. A portion of the center was developed into a mini-farm where the natives can plant rice and different types of vegetables to supply the needs of the school.

MB closes Rural Bank of Claveria THE Monetary Board of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas has prohibited the Rural Bank of Claveria (Cagayan) Inc. from doing business in the Philippines by virtue of MB Resolution No. 1464.A dated August 18, 2016.

The MB directed the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver to proceed with the takeover and liquidation of the bank. The PDIC took over the bank on August 19.

The Rural Bank of Claveria is a single-unit rural bank with head office located on Gen. Claveria Street in Claveria, Cagayan. Its bank information

sheet filed with the PDIC in June said it was owned by Luz Taganas, Helen Taganas and Luz Dizon. Its president and chairman is Luz Taganas.

As of June, the bank had 3,010 accounts with total deposit liabilities of P98.3 million. Total insured deposits amounted to P91.9 million involving 93.5 percent of the deposit accounts.

Depositors with valid deposit accounts with balances of P100,000.00 and below shall be eligible for early payment and need not file deposit insurance claims, except accounts maintained by business entities, or

when they have outstanding obligations with the bank or acted as co-makers of these obligations.

Depositors may update their addresses until August 25. The PDIC will start mailing payments to concerned depositors at those addresses by the last week of August 2016.

For more information, depositors may communicate with PDIC Public Assistance personnel stationed at the bank premises. They may also call the PDIC Toll Free Hotline at 1-800-1-888-PDIC (7342), the PDIC Public Assistance Hotlines at (02) 841-4630 to (02) 841-4631, or send their email to pad@pdic.gov.ph.

Former barangay chairman shot dead in Caloocan City

By Jun David A FORMER Caloocan City barangay chairman was shot dead by unidentified gunmen Monday morning.

A source who requested anonymity said Cesar Padilla of Phase 2, Bagong Silang, sustained gunshot wounds in the head, neck and back and did not reach the hospital alive.

The crime took place around 6 a.m., when Padilla was cleaning his vehicle before attending a f lag-raising ceremony.

After shooting him, the suspect left Padilla sprawled on the ground and sped off to an unknown direction.

Police authorities found spent shells of .45-caliber pistol on the

crime scene.

Mayor Oscar Malapitan said the question of illegal drugs has been ruled out, but they are determining if the motive may be political in nature.

Padilla used to work with the city government under the Patubig project during the first term of Malapitan.

GOING GREEN. The Green Technology Center of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority the Electric Vehicle Association of the Philippines (EVAP) hosted a two-day training seminar on the ‘E–Vehicle: On the Road to Sustainable, Smokeless and Energy-Efficient Transport’ on August 18 and 19 at the Tesda Green Technology Center in Taguig City. The two-day seminar was conducted with the help of PhUV Inc., EV Wealth Inc. and Quantel Philippines Ltd., which provided the technical resource persons.

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

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Libya solons reject unity govt B

enghazi—Libya’s internationally recognized parliament on Monday voted no confidence in a United Nations-backed unity government, in a blow to efforts to end the country’s political chaos.

But lawmakers gave prime minister-designate Fayez al-Sarraj a 10day deadline to come up with a new unity government line-up, they said in a statement issued later.

The Government of National Accord led by Sarraj is struggling to assert its authority in Libya, which has been riven by turmoil since the 2011 overthrow of dicta-

tor Moamer Kadhafi.

National support for the GNA is seen as crucial to restoring stability and to tackling the Libyan branch of the Islamic State group, which proGNA forces are battling in the jihadists’ coastal stronghold of Sirte.

But at a session on Monday, the House of Representatives, Libya’s recognized legislature based in the far east, refused to give its support to the GNA. “The majority of lawmakers

present at the parliament session voted no confidence in the government,” said parliament spokesman Adam Boussakhra.

Parliament speaker Aguila Saleh as well as 101 lawmakers attended Monday’s vote, the assembly said on its website.

Sixty-one parliamentarians rejected the GNA, it said, 39 abstained from voting and a lone parliamentarian voted confidence in the government.

The unity government was the result of a UN-brokered powersharing deal struck in December, but has struggled to unite the North African country and fully assert its authority.

A rival government in the east has refused to cede power until the House of Representatives passes a vote of confidence, which has been repeatedly delayed including over a lack of quorum.

Monday’s vote was “the first

time quorum has been reached in five months,” Boussakhra said.

After one such vote postponement in February, 100 lawmakers in the 198-member legislature said they supported the GNA but had faced intimidation.

The parliament, in a statement approved by lawmakers who attended Monday’s session, gave Sarraj a “last chance” to present a new line-up for a unity government within 10 days. AFP

1 dead in attack on Karachi TV station KARACHI—Activists of a key Pakistani political party clashed with police and ransacked a private television station in the southern port city of Karachi on Monday, leaving at least one man dead and seven others injured.

The violence erupted soon after the powerful exiled leader of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Altaf Hussain, gave a telephone address to his supporters in which he castigated the media for not giving due coverage of his workers.

Hussain’s activists, who had just ended a week-long hunger strike over a government crackdown against them, attacked the ARY station after his address from self-imposed exile in London.

MQM workers also clashed with police on the streets, spark-

ing volleys of gunshots and tear gas in several places across the city, police and witnesses said.

“We have carried out teargas shelling to disperse the mob, who were trying to attack a television office,” senior police officer Saqib Ismail said.

One unidentified man was killed and seven others injured, two with gunshot wounds, according to hospital officials.

“One was brought (to the hospital) dead, who was shot with a gun,” doctor Seemi Jamali, the director at a state-run hospital, told A FP. Three of the injured belonged to media organizations, she said.

Television footage showed dozens of men and women barging into ARY’s office, smashing doors, windows and equipment with rods and batons and setting fire to several vehicles. AFP

Singapore ex-president dies SINGAPORE—Former Singapore president S. R. Nathan, whose colorful career included stints as a spymaster and diplomat, died in hospital on Monday, the government said in a statement.

The 92-year-old veteran public servant, who was closely associated with Singapore’s founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, was hospitalized on July 31 after suffering a cerebral stroke.

“The Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues are sad to learn of the passing of Mr S. R. Nathan and would like to convey their condolences to his family,” the statement said.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote in tribute of Singapore’s longest-serving president:

“I remember him as a man guided by a deep sense of duty to the nation. He stepped up each time duty called.”

Nathan started his career as a social worker and rose up the ranks to become ambassador to Malaysia and the United States, two of the most prestigious jobs in the Singapore government service.

It was during his tenure as ambassador that he had to defend Singapore’s caning of an American teenager, Michael Fay, for vandalism in 1994, which caused a serious diplomatic rift with Washington.

Nathan also served as an intelligence chief in the military and held various positions in the private sector. AFP

DISUNITY. A pro-Taiwan independent activist displays a damaged Chinese flag outside the 2016 Taipei-Shanghai Forum venue in Taipei on Tuesday..

Taiwanese shouting anti-communist slogans staged protests at an airport and a school against a visit by a top Shanghai official which they see as intended to promote China’s unification with Taiwan. AFP

Iran forges new path, tightens ties with Cuba HAVANA—Iran wants to forge a “new path” in its relations with Cuba by tightening ties, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday at the start of a Latin American tour.

“It’s a very opportune moment to extend our relations,” he told journalists at the start of a meeting with Cuban Foreign Minister

Bruno Rodriguez.

“We have always been on the side of the great Cuban people in the face of the atrocities and unjust sanctions they have faced, and vice versa,” he said, in an apparent reference to Cuba’s long history of enmity with the United States.

Cuba re-established diplomatic ties with the United States

last year, but their historic rapprochement has not yet brought an end to the US embargo imposed on the communist island since 1962.

Zarif praised Cuba’s “resistance” to the United States, with which Iran has not had formal diplomatic relations since 1980.

“We are going to forge a new

path in our bilateral relations with Cuba,” he said, mentioning the energy, industrial and technology sectors as possible areas for cooperation.

Rodriguez for his part reiterated Cuba’s support for Iran in its dispute with the United States and other world powers over its nuclear program. AFP

Republic of the Philippines OFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL MAYOR BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE Binmaley, Pangasinan INVITATION TO BID The Municipality of Binmaley, through the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Contractors registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to apply for eligibility and if found eligible, to bid for the hereunder project: Name of Project

: Construction of Road Work, Drainage Work, Rip-Rap (Stone Masonry), Water System at Binmaley Resettlement Project

Location

: PAPAGUEYAN, BINMALEY, PANGASINAN

Approved Budget For the Contract (ABC) Source of Fund Contract Duration

: Php 5,002,925.00 : NHA : 145 days

Prospective bidders should possess a valid PCAB License (Category Small B) which is applicable to the contract, have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC, and have key personnel and equipment ( listed in the Eligibility Forms) available for the prosecution of the contract. The BAC will use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria in the Eligibility Check Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids. The BAC will conduct post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Screening , Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR).

The complete schedule of activities is listed as follows: BAC Activities

Schedule

1. Pre-Procurement Conference

Aug. 11, 2016 - 2pm/Conference Rm., Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan Aug. 17, 2016-Sept. 6, 2016-BAC Office 2nd Flr., Mun. Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan Aug. 26, 2016/2pm, Conference Rm., Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan Sept. 7, 2016- 2PM/ Conference Rm., Municipal Hall, Binmaley, Pangasinan Deadline for the Submission of Bids is 10:00AM Sept. 8, 2016 Sept. 9, 2016 September 12, 2016 September 14, 2016

2. Issuance of Bid Documents 3.Pre--Bid Conference 4. Opening of Bids 5. Bid Evaluation 6. Post-Qualification 7. Notice of Award 8. Notice to Proceed

Bid Documents will be available only to prospective bidders upon payment of a non-refundable amount of Php 10,000.00 at the Office of the Treasurer, Binmaley, Pangasinan.

The Municipal Government of Binmaley assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of the bids and reserves the right to reject any or all bids, to waive any formality, informality, and/or defect and to make an award to the bidder whose proposal is most advantageous to the government.

CONTACT PERSON: (SGD.) CATALINA R. FLORES BAC Secretariat Poblacion, Binmaley, Pangasinan Tel. No. (075)6326381 APPROVED BY:

DELICACY. A hand out photo taken on August 19 shows a large truffle being weighted by Stuart Dunbar who removed it from the earth on his

Victorian property in Yarra Valley. Dunbar has uncovered what is thought to be the largest black truffle ever grown in Australia, a 1,511 gram delicacy which could also be a world-beater. AFP

(SGD.)MAY ANNELLE V. PEREZ BAC Chairman (MS-AUG. 24, 2016)

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

Pokemon Go spinoff conquers Moscow

World

EBONY AND IVORY. Actresses Emily Robinson (left) and Angel Parker (right) attends the Television Academy’s Performers Peer Group Celebration as stars usher in the 68th Emmy Awards Season on Monday in Beverly Hills, California. AFP

MOSCOW—A compass on the smartphone screen points towards Red Square.

As the distance to the target narrows, the camera app pops up and zooms in on a bearded figure in a fur cloak.

The routine is familiar to Pokemon hunters obsessed with the ultra-popular Pokemon Go game—but this is no Pokemon. Instead, it is Russia’s brutal 16th-century tsar Ivan the Terrible, or rather, his digital 3D rendition in a new app developed

by Moscow authorities.

As the Pokemon Go craze sweeps the globe, city officials have launched an augmented reality app called Discover Moscow Photo, which is billed as Russia’s answer to the Nintendo creation.

Instead of yellow and pink Pokemons, the app’s characters are figures from Russian history—from modernizing tsar Peter the Great to Napoleon Bonaparte, who brief ly occupied Moscow in 1812, to Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and national poet Alexander Pushkin and composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky.

The app, available for Apple and Google Android devices, allows players to track down historical figures in places they once frequented and take a selfie with their 3D images. AFP

Too many migrants—study Sarkozy runs for president again PARIS—Nicolas Sarkozy launched a bid Monday to win back the French presidency, announcing he would seek his party’s nomination to run in next year’s election.

The pugnacious 61-yearold conservative, who in 2012 ended a five-year term mired in unpopularity, had made no secret of his ambition to reconquer the top office.

“I have decided to be a candidate in the 2017 presidential election,” Sarkozy wrote in a new book, “Tout pour la France” (All for France), due out this week.

“France demands that you

give her your all. I feel I have the strength to lead the fight at such a turbulent moment in our history,” he wrote in an extract seen by Agence France Presse, alluding to the terror attacks that have rocked the country since January 2015.

“The next five years will be filled with danger but also with hope.”

Sarkozy’s aides told AFP he would step down on Monday as the leader of the center-right Republicans to focus on his bid.

Laurent Wauquiez, from the party’s right wing, is expected to take the helm. AFP

P

aris—People throughout the world are becoming increasingly uncomfortable with immigration levels which are higher than any time since the Second World War, according to a new survey published Monday.

At least six out of 10 people in France and Belgium, which have recently suffered deadly jihadist attacks, believe immigration has had a “negative impact,” said the Ipsos polling institute.

Similar figures were found in Russia, Hungary and also Italy, which has had to deal with large numbers of migrants fleeing the Middle East or Africa and seeking to forge new lives in Europe.

In all, 49 percent of those surveyed in 22 countries said there were “too many immi-

grants” and 46 percent felt “immigration is causing their country to change in ways they don’t like,” Ipsos said in a statement.

The Japanese were least likely to say there are too many immigrants in their country (only 12 percent), and the Brazilians least likely to voice discomfort at how immigration is changing their country (23 percent), according to the study.

The surveyors also pointed to a rise in the number of British people who think that immigration has been good for the

country, standing at 35 percent, sharply up on the 19 percent recorded in 2011.

And while almost half of the British surveyed felt there were too many immigrants in the country, this level was down from 71 percent five years ago.

“Britain has in fact become more positive about many aspects of immigration. This might seem surprising given that the desire to reduce immigration was undoubtedly a key reason for the Brexit vote,” Ipsos spokesman Bobby Duffy said.

Duffy added however that the referendum decision to leave the EU “has polarized opinion”.

Yves Bardon, an Ipsos director in France, said that the media bombardment of images of migrants and refugees

arriving on Europe’s shores “have heightened the fear of uncontrollable migration throughout most of Europe, with the key issue being their ability to integrate”.

Six out of 10 people questioned for the survey said they were concerned about terrorists pretending to be refugees, and four in 10 want to close their nation’s borders entirely.

The study was carried out in Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, India, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the United States from June 24-July 8, with a total of 16,040 people questioned. AFP

‘US tourists should leave guns at home’ OTTAWA—A rash of gun-toting Americans visiting Canada prompted its border agency to launch a public awareness campaign Monday reminding Americans about their northern neighbors’ relatively strict firearms laws.

“Canadian laws are different than US ones,” the Canada Border Services Agency said in a statement.

“Non-restricted firearms can be used for hunting purposes and protection against wildlife in remote areas.”

But, it added, the “use of firearms for personal protection, or protection of property is not deemed a valid purpose to import firearms into Canada.”

Switchblades, nunchucks, crossbows, blowguns and brass knuckles are also banned in Canada, it noted.

The announcement comes on the heels of two separate incidents in which Texas retirees denied carrying weapons at a border checkpoint in Saint Stephen, New Brunswick.

A search of their vehicles uncovered several handguns, a shotgun and loose ammunition, which were seized.

The two tourists were also fined more than Can$1,000 ($775 US) and kicked out of Canada, along with their wives.

In the first six months of this year, 413 guns were seized at the border—both from smugglers and gun lovers. The figure is up from 386 guns seized during the same period in 2015, according to government figures.

Authorities have linked recent spikes in violent crimes to the smuggling of handguns and other prohibited weapons from the United States. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

FASHION & BEAUTY

Selena Gomez kills them with kindness and Cartier vintage reversible bracelet and Cartier ring

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

D1

Celebrities wear CARTIER R

ED carpet sightings often focus on the celebrities’ designer of choice, but the jewellery makes all the difference to make or break an entire look. Here, we focus on some of the best looks of our favorite celebrities who chose to accessorize with Cartier.

On the occasion of the avant-premiere of Jodie Foster’s film Money Monster, starring Julia Roberts and George Clooney, Jodie Foster wore Cartier diamond earrings and three diamonds bracelets. Supporting her husband, Amal Clooney has chosen Cartier Etourdissant High Jewelry collection. The earrings are cast in platinum and white gold with coral beads, natural pearls, turquoise, onyx and diamonds. Her matching bracelet is made of platinum and white gold with coral beads, turquoises, onyx and diamonds.

At the preview showing of Sean Penn’s film The Last Face, starring Charlize Theron and Javier Bardem, Theron chose from the Cartier High Jewellery collection for her necklace, earrings and rings – all made of platinum and high-grade emerald-cut, brilliant-cut or cushion-cut diamonds.

At the MET Gala, the following were seen wearing Cartier: Uma Thurman - Vintage brooch 1948, platinum, 18k white gold, diamonds (CL316A48) and Cartier diamond studs, 18k white gold (CRN8515055) Michelle Williams - Vintage bracelet, 1934

Jared Leto wears Cartier vintage brooch and cufflinks

Rose Byrne wears Cartier vintage necklace

platinum, diamonds (AT148A34) and Cartier ring, platinum, diamonds (CRH4215752) Katie Holmes - Vintage necklace, 2001, 18k white gold, diamonds (ST-NE 22 A01); Cartier diamond studs, platinum (CRZA800200); and Cartier love bracelet, 18k yellow gold, diamonds (CRB6035917) Rose Byrne - Vintage necklace 1999, 18k white gold, crystal, diamonds (ST-NE 33); Cartier diamond studs, 18k white gold (CRN8515055); Cartier ring, 18k white gold, diamonds (CRH4245650); and Cartier band ring, platinum, diamonds (CRB4071430) Selena Gomez - Vintage (reversible) bracelet, 1998, 18k white gold, 18k yellow gold (STBT 11 A98) and Cartier ring, 18k yellow, onyx, diamonds (CRH4242053) Jared Leto - Vintage brooch, 1957, platinum, 18k white gold, sapphire, diamonds (CL29A57) and Ballon Blue de Cartier cufflinks, sterling silver, palladium finish, synthetic spinel (CROG000035) Alexander Skarsgård - Cartier vintage watch, 1973, 18k yellow gold, sapphire crown, leather (WCL146A73); Vintage Pin, 1971, 18k yellow gold (JA31C71); and Cartier Juste un Clou cufflinks, 18k yellow gold (CRT1220783)

Uma Thurman wears Cartier vintage brooch

Amal Clooney attends the premiere of her husband George’s film wearing Cartier Etourdissant High Jewelry collection

Sienna Miller - Cartier ring, platinum, orange tourmaline, orange sapphires, onyx, diamonds (CRH4257854); Cartier ring, platinum, emeralds, diamonds (CRH4259452); Paris Nouvelle Vague ring, 18k rose gold, morganite, spinels, cultured fresh water pearls (CRN4729600); and Cartier vintage ring, 1960, 18k yellow gold, emeralds, diamonds (CRHSA40072) In the Philippines, Cartier is located at Greenbelt 4, Rustan’s Makati, Rustan’s Shangri-La and Newport Resorts World. Follow @ ssilifeph on Instagram for more information.

Alexander Skarsgård wears Cartier vintage watch

Fashion revamp with Forever 21’s Pre-Fall collection FOREVER 21, one of the largest independent and most recognized fashion retailers in the world, has launched its Pre-Fall collection, and it’s jam-packed with vintage styles spotted on the major runways: from ‘90s grunge to ‘70s era eclecticism. The season is all about celebrating individualism through fashion.

The women’s collection features styles including flared denim, retro bomber jackets, mini-dresses, oversized faux fur jackets and ‘70s inspired boots. There are slinky slip dresses and silver boots, so if you’re considering picking out a little something for yourself, there’s no time like the present.

21 Men, on the other hand, channels 1990s style for its Pre-Fall collection. A casual attitude is prevalent as the brand revisits a grunge aesthetic, juxtaposed with current trends. Here, destroyed tie-dyed knits are brought together with striped tees and ripped denim jeans. Forever 21 also makes a case for the popular souvenir jacket. The longline trend is also in full effect as well with layered tops and relaxed tees.

Fast fashion label Forever 21 pays tribute to ‘70s and ‘90s with its pre-fall collection composed of vintage styles with an updated eclectic twist

Through its partnership with SM Re- branches in the country. tail, Forever 21 in the Philippines conForever 21’s pre-fall collection is availtinues to update everyone’s wardrobe at able at Forever 21 in SM Megamall, SM reasonable prices. The brand now has 11 Makati, North Wing at SM City Cebu, The

Block at SM City North Edsa, SM Mall of Get connected with Forever 21 Asia, SM Lanang Premier, SM Aura Pre- through forever21.com, facebook.com/ mier, SM City Fairview, SM City Clark, Forever21PH, @Forever21PH on TwitSM Southmall and SM Seaside City Cebu. ter and @f21philippines on Instagram

Benilde fashion design culminating show

DLS-CSB’s Fashion Design and Merchandising class of 2016 staged a fashion show

THE Class 2016 of Fashion Design and Merchandising of De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde recently staged its graduation presentation, highlighted by an exhibit, and showcased its annual runway production.

The three-day event, dubbed “Sinulid: The Threads of Design,” was held at the SM Aura Premier.

The graduates displayed their works in pop-up stalls, which while taking into consideration their target market, presented their very own design aesthetic. This enabled them to experience firsthand the demands of shoppers, as well as prepare them for their careers as fashion buyers, merchandisers and

entrepreneurs. A Styling exhibit likewise focused on their ability to meet the current requests for personal imaging consultants.

The fashion show, on the other hand, revealed the pool of talent at Benilde as they unveiled collections ranging from classic to avant-garde, ready-to-wear to bespoke, and daywear to eveningwear.

Life

D2

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

P

RIM, diet-conscious, romantic.

These are the words that come to mind when picturing the average French girl. However, L’Oreal Professionnel’s Majirel #FrenchBrowns collection proves that French girls are anything but stiff, with their variety of brown locks, bluntly chopped hair and messy tousles.

Held at the Grand Ballroom of Shangri-la at The Fort, the grand hair show and reveal of #FrenchBrowns by Majirel was a reflection of the brand’s 10-shade collection: sophisticated, elegant and trendy. With artistic corridors resembling the busy streets of Paris, live models posing as mannequins in boutique windows and live French-themed musicians roaming the event, its effortlessly chic feel was what gave guests the feel of being transported to France.

L’Oreal Professionnel International Portfolio Artist, world-renowned hairstylist Berni Ottjes showed guests via a live demonstration of haircuts and trends that Filipino women can achieve a French girl’s hair regardless of the time zone.

“I think it’s very important to try something different even though sometimes it’s not your thing,” said Ottjes.

Ottjes showcased three segments while featuring a fashion collection by Filipino designer Francis Libiran, who used the #FrenchBrowns collection as inspiration for the gowns.

“We wanted to design pieces any French girl would wear from day to night. French women are particular about the colors and textures of their clothes and so are we,” said the Libiran design team.

The fashion ensemble consisted of timeless pastel hues and a minimalist aesthetic that highlighted the subtlety and sophistication of both French and Filipinos.

“We want to ease [clients’] selection process so we created pieces in hues that complement the color brown. After all, we believe that hair should not limit what you wear,” explained the design team.

How French girls do it

L’Oreal Professionel Marketing team joins fashion designer Francis Libiran (second from left) and hairstylist Berni Ottjes (third from left) on stage to celebrate their successful hair and fashion collaboration. (Inset) Ottjes transforms a model’s hairstyle from simple day look to classy evening style

Libiran added, “Hair, just like clothes, can be a statement. It can reflect your personality — from your choice of cut to your preference in color. French girls are known for their polished, sophisticated and totally laid-back hairstyles.

Gorgeous hair can guarantee to turn heads whereas bad hair can make or break an outfit.”

Having said that, Ottjes encouraged Filipinas to step out the usual comfort

zone by experimenting with new hairstyles. He noticed that girls in this country kill to achieve the extremely straight and tamed hair, whereas in Europe, French girls aim for the striking and effortless bob.

“That’s why it was challenging [for me] to come to the Philippines because of all the keratin [and] all the smooth hair. I wanted to do it totally different,” shared Ottjes.

“I wanted to show you just the rough hair and elegance, the effortlessness that we will see. [That] even though you wear your hair like this, it still looks great,” he explained during the third segment of the demonstration, transforming a model’s normal wavy hair into what can only be described as an art form.

Ottjes’ tips and tricks remind Filipinas that it is possible to look polished

yet effortless at the same time, a sophisticated quality that the #FrenchBrowns collection possesses. It embodies the typical French girl: a girl who is neither prim, diet-conscious nor romantic, but a girl who has what they call Je ne sais quoi — a striking quality that cannot be explained.

To know more, visit www.lorealprofessionnel.com. – Text and photos by Natalia Alexa Sy

California dreaming ENTREPRENEUR Leslie Ann Matta brings the feel of L.A. nail spas to Manila with California Nails & Day Spa. California Nails & Day Spa offers high quality nail care services in a stylish setting inspired by the cool and young vibe of Los Angeles, California.

Considered one of the 10 Best Nails Salon in the Metro by the lifestyle website Spot.ph, California Nails & Day Spa is a one-stop shop for professional nail care services and spa treatments for women, men and kids.

According to the owner, the concept behind California Nails & Day Spa took after the chic nail spas in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. where she was previously based. She wanted to bring the look and feel of a California spa to the Philippines.

“The nail industry started in Los Angeles, California and since I lived there, I wanted the look and feel of California Nails & Day Spa to have the feeling of being there. We are country California decor, light and easy going, comfortable, woods and cheerful walls, shares Leslie” Leslie earned her cosmetology license in Hollywood and worked in Long Beach and West Los Angeles for a number of years. She had an enriching career at Beverly Wilshire Hotel (a Four Seasons Hotel) in Beverly Hills, trained with Philippine Airlines and former owner of Golden Tours & Travel in Los Angeles. It was during that time Leslie took notice of the growing trend in nail care and nail art.

“I lived there for over 25 years,” Leslie recalls. “I received my cosmetology license in Hollywood and received work experience in West Los Angeles. It was the time when nail enhancements were the rage and I became inspired.”

With a tranquil setting and minimalist interiors, California Nails & Day Spa evokes a quiet time-like atmosphere that helps customers forget about the worries of the day and just enjoy a moment of relaxation.

“When you go to California, you know you have reached L.A. when you see the famous tall, thin coconut palm trees,” says Leslie. “Our palm tree logo is symbolic of California. We put them in our branches to give the feeling of being in a California nail day spa.”

With the help of her interior designer Techie Leonio and project manager Jaca Rabit, Leslie was able to incorporate design elements that would make the gents feel right at home, as well.

California Nails & Day Spa, after all, caters to everyone—male, female and anyone in between—who wish to enjoy proper nail care.

“We shifted from pink to sage green to give way to our male guests,” shares Leslie. “And it works very well, men feel comfortable with the new colors although we can never get rid of the little pink accents.”

Leslie’s travels abroad have also influenced the décor of California Nails & Day Spa. “If I see something that would fit into our concept, yes,” she explains. “Most

Palm trees and refreshing colors of pink and green at California Nails & Day Spa branches evoke an LA vibe

salons are on the Zen side and we are Californian.”

Leslie may be a bit partial to anything that reminds her of her life back in California, but that doesn’t mean she’s going to be stuck with a particular design aesthetic. “It’s a continuous innovation.”

“We carry a uniform look and feel, but we welcome suggestions and the head office will study it. We continue to bring in new and cost effective designs,

however staying close to our original concept.”

The interiors may be decidedly L.A.inspired, but the furniture pieces inside the spa are sourced locally.

“Majority of the interiors are from the Philippines; spa furnishings are custom-made with comfort in mind,” adds Leslie.

Experience quality, manicure and pedicure services, acrylic enhance-

ments, relaxing foot scrubs and massages by visiting California Nails & Day Spa. Branches are located at BF Pergola Mall, BF Homes Paranaque; Starmall Prima, Taguig; Greenhills; Market, Market; Evia Lifestyle Center Daanghari, Las Pinas; SM Mall of Asia; SM Southmall; and Festival Mall.

For franchise inquiries, call telephone numbers (02) 825-3419 and 8201569.

APHCA and Tourism Promotions Board all set for 20th Hair Olympics THE tourism and beauty industries heat up as preparations for the 20th Asia Pacific Hair and Cosmetologists Association (APHCA) are on.

APHCA, which was founded in 1997 by international and local beauty professionals to share knowledge, creativity and ideas among its member-countries, is headed by beauty guru and philanthropist Ricky Reyes.

This year’s “Hair Olympics,” where international and local beauty experts showcase their talents and creativity every year hosted by different member countries, is very special since it will be held in Manila where it originated.

APHCA’s membership has grown and now includes Australia, Brunei, Cambodia, China (Hong Kong and Macau), Indonesia, India, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and the Philippines.

According to Reyes, Filipinos are known as the best in this industry and he is very hopeful that the Filipinos will again shine. “For the last 20 years, Filipinos never went home empty-handed.”

tion in search for the best talents in the country in order to have the muchneeded exposure and experience in preparation for the said “Hair Olympics” where they will compete with their foreign counterparts.

Ongoing is its beauty caravan called “Hair & Make-up Trends 2016” in different regions of the country - in the cities of Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, General Santos, Puerto Princesa, Tuguegarao, Tacloban, Laoag, Urdaneta, Olongapo, Cabanatuan, Tarlac, Lucena, key cities in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, Cavite, Bataan, Rizal and the CAMANAVA area.

The competition has two categories in which Category A is men’s cut and blow dry, avant-garde color, evening party make-up and bridal make-up. Category B is the total look competition, nail art competition and evening party hairstyle. The champion in each category Asia Pacific Hair and Cosmetologists Association President Ricky Reyes (center) with will be given awards and citations. CatTaiwan country leader Johnny Tai and Malaysia country leader Airene Wong egory A for the Asia Pacific competitors Reyes’s brainchild, FilHair (Filipino titioners in the Philippines in the last 30 will receive a trophy and citation and Hairdressers Association), a duly regis- years now, is a spin-off. cash prize of P25000.00 and the first tered organization of local beauty pracIt also has its own beauty competi- runners-up in each category will re-

ceive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P15000.00. Second runners-up in each category will also receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P10000.00.

The grand champion will also receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P35, 000.

For Philippine competitors, the champions in each category will receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P25000.00. Two first runners-up in each category will be chosen and will receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P10000.00 each. Two second runners-up will also be chosen in each category and will receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P7000.00 each.

Meanwhile, Category B champions will receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P10000.00. First runners-up will also receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P7000.00 while the second runners-up will receive a trophy/citation and cash prize of P5000. 00.

This grand and big beauty event will be held at Hall 4, SMX Convention Center, Mall of Asia, Pasay City on Oct. 25-26.

Showbiz

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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Richard Yap is on a roll R

ICHARD Yap has made a remarkable career out of being the stoic yet desirable Papa Chen in My Binondo Girl (2012) and Sir Chief in Be Careful with My Heart (2014). Since then, the actorbusinessman has become one of the most sought-after leading men in the biz.

Yap has also expanded the breadth of his work, which spans from product endorsements to film projects and from recording music to being a concert performer.

As a follow-up to his debut selftitled album released in 2013, Yap is releasing another CD, which sees his close collaboration with jazz crooner Richard Poon. The record presents a list of 10 tracks dominated by classic pop and standards from the 50s to the 90s.

“We were the ones who chose the songs to cover…I chose five songs, which are mostly love songs from the 70s and 90s, and also another five songs for Richard. We are releasing the album this week just before the concert, which is happening this week, too,” Yap told the Manila Standard, “This is a dream project so I hope people will see this. We are going to have solo productions and then we will share the stage together for a medley. We have invited a few guests as well to join us in entertaining the audience.”

And just when we thought the 49-year-old Kapamilya star already had so much on his plate, Yap shared that he is also gearing up for another big screen outing. It’s the latest installment of Mano Po film series, a family drama that is set to compete at the Metro Manila Film Festival before the year ends.

“I just feel that I’ve been really blessed to be in this position. I guess I’ve been very blessed that I was there at the right time, at the right place and maybe at the right age, too. I have accomplished so much in five years,” Yap said talking about being offered

Alden Richards presents a self-authored book that gives his fans a glimpse of his life on and off camera. Photo by Sonny Espiritu

with numerous projects one after another.

As for product endorsements, Yap is the latest addition to Manulife Philippines’ “Start Your Story” campaign. He is joining pop star Sarah Geronimo and young heartthrob James Reid in this initiative focused on inspiring Filipinos to take the first step towards making their dreams come true by protecting their investments.

“In this campaign, I share my stories on making big decisions. It is called ‘Start Your Story’ because it encourages people to begin with something that can bring change. I had to end my story of being an employee to start my story as an entrepreneur. That’s the whole idea,” Yap explained.

As an entrepreneur, Yap has learned a lot from his experiences, a message he imparts as part of Manulife Philippines’ “Start Your Story” campaign. As part of the campaign, Manulife will launch online contests and other communitybased initiatives.

“We all have stories we want to fulfill in life. However, sometimes, because of unforeseen circumstances or our own self-doubts, we end up setting these stories aside, leaving them unwritten. But Manulife is encouraging us to overcome whatever is holding us back and pursue our passions. It offers us various solutions to help us make our dreams reality,” he shared.

Yap, who’s been a client of Manulife since his early 20s, has learned the importance of having a plan and preparing for both good and bad times.

This, according to him, will allow Actor and entrepreneur Richard Yap people to protect the fruits of their hard encourages Filipinos to make big decisions work. and protect their investments

Alden’s story

of failure and success EVERYONE recognizes the name Alden Richards, but no one really knows the story of this actor who was born a day after the New Year in 1992.

This once ordinary boy from Laguna, who is Richard Reyes Faulkerson, Jr. in real life, is on the road to becoming one of the biggest star of his generation. Driven by his dream, and faith in his parents, and the people he loves, he continues to chase his dreams with a humble heart.

In a book entitled Alden Richards: In My Own Words, the actor opens up and gives his fans a glimpse of his world on and off the camera. It also contains stories Alden has never revealed before - it is his life before stardom.

The 24-year-old actor captured the hearts of his fans during the launch of his self-authored book at the activity area in Robinson’s Galleria on Aug. 14. Although hundreds trooped to the area, only a few were given a chance to have their books signed by the young actor.

Some fans came all the way from Ilocos Norte, Laguna (which is Alden’s hometown), Cavite, Laoag, Malabon, Pasay and Caloocan and braved the torrential rains just to grace the event.

Some balikbayans from Canada and the US also showed up to support Alden’s first endeavor to reintroduce himself “in his own words.”

The book, according to the country’s “Pambansang Bae,” is an ultimate fan guide and must-have that features never before seen photos from Eat Bulaga’s kalyeserye, exclusive interviews, fashion spreads, and childhood pictures.

“I immediately said yes to Summit

Books when I was asked if I would want to write a book. At first there were apprehensions because I didn’t get to write much when I was young,” he told the Manila Standard.

“It is my way of giving back to the people who have been supporting me. For the longest time sila po ang nagbibigay ng gift sa akin. This time, it’s my turn to give the gift they deserve to make them feel special,” he added.

Alden and the team that worked to complete the project took over a year before they could release the muchawaited book, which also touches his ascendance to super stardom when AlDub fever came into picture.

Would he still write the book hadn’t he become part of the phenomenal AlDub? “The book was already formulated even before AlDub. So, I would still write and release the book whatever my status in showbiz is,” Alden responded.

In this intimate storytelling, the actor talks about the challenges he had to hurdle in life including the obstacles he encountered as a struggling actor joining male pageants and talent searches left and right. In his book, Alden wrote that his mom was his guide in becoming who he is today because it was her who tirelessly pushed him to pursue acting.

“If not for my mom, I wouldn’t be here today. She told me that being famous is just a perception. That’s why I don’t see myself famous. I’m still the same person people knew. The only thing that changed in me is that I get to inspire more people because of things that I do on television,” he concluded. - Denise Patricia Amador

Benilde, OPPA Foundation ink performing arts scholarship agreement COLLEGE students interested to pursue a degree in Theater Arts may avail of a scholarship offered by the Original Pilipino Performing Arts (OPPA) Foundation, which provides full financial assistance to a related course at the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB).

A Memorandum of Agreement was recently signed by the foundation, represented by its President Menchu LauchengecoYulo and Vice President Michael Williams, and DLSCSB, led by its president, Brother Dennis Magbanua FSC, and Vice President

for Advancement Robin Serrano.

“We have excellent programs in the performing arts,” Magbanua explained.

“In fact, through our roster of professors and mentors who are the movers of their respective industries, our students receive the best training, exposure, and experience in their chosen fields.”

L a u c h e n g c o - Yu l o emphasized the scholarship was specifically designed to fill a need for professionally trained theater artists.

“We felt that this particular partnership is ideal. We chose Benilde for its unique mission

Officers of OPPA Foundation and DLS-CSB during the signing of Memorandum of Agreement

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, August 24, 2016

ACROSS 1 Kitchen meas.

5 Gridder — Alonzo Stagg 9 Cobra toxin 14 Matty or Felipe 15 Close in on 16 Invisible swimmer (var.)

17 Hayseed humor 18 Rights org.

19 “C” in C.S. Forester 20 Highest grade 22 Cover, as snow 24 Walrus hunter 26 — be a pleasure!

27 Ads 30 Not in good taste 35 Motel freebies 36 ASAP 37 “The Banana Boat Song” (hyph.)

38 Lb. or oz.

39 Featured musician 42 Eighteenwheeler 43 Dregs 45 Cast 46 Deli crepes 48 Borrow on 50 Goings-on 51 Hockey great

52 Frighten 54 Dine too well 58 Act as if 62 — Jean Baker 63 Sheriff Andy’s kid 65 Dueler’s weapon 66 Cherbourg shes 67 Itches 68 Hoarfrost 69 Dilapidated 70 Collapses, in a way 71 Nae sayer DOWN 1 Diplomat’s forte 2 Put on the brakes 3 Sponge feature 4 Artificial tan source 5 Playing marbles 6 Temple city — Picchu 7 Heating fuel 8 Cold-shoulder 9 Leave the premises 10 Fixed a manuscript 11 Giraffe feature 12 Drama award 13 Fountain order 21 Tooth cleaner 23 Inventories

25 Coached 27 Choir selection 28 “Balcony scene” swain 29 Movie with a posse 31 Hit dead-center 32 “The Lion King” voice Cheech — 33 Twisting the truth 34 Meditators 36 Punch 40 Scarlett of Tara 41 Carnivore’s delight (hyph.)

44 Hailed, maybe 47 Scatters trash 49 Kind of spoon 50 Arm-twisting 53 Mimicry 54 Small bills 55 Field mouse 56 Dashiell contemporary 57 Fiddles with 59 Larger-than-life 60 Verne’s skipper 61 Bug repellent 64 Potpie veggie

to bring the real intricacies of the different industries inside the four walls of the classrooms.” she said.

OPPA Foundation guarantees employment within the next five years after graduation.

“For example, if their passion is in set design,” the OPPA Foundation President elaborated, “They may serve as an assistant or an apprentice, until they hone their skills to eventually become a full-blown set designer.”

OPPA Foundation was founded by the Travelers International Hotel Group Inc.

as an avenue to institutionalize the advancement of the Philippine performing arts. It has an initial funding of P100 million for its projects and other endeavors.

The foundation has similar partnerships with University of the Philippines, University of Santo Tomas, St. Scholastica’s College, and Meridian International College.

For details on OPPA, visit www.oppafoundation. org. For inquiries and information, emailinfo@ oppafoundation. org and inquiries@ oppafoundation.org.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

D4

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2016

Showbiz

TJ Manotoc (left) and Xian Lim (right) hosted the trade event entitled ‘A Lab Story’

Digital shift

at trade event A

BS-CBN, well-known for its top-rating shows on television and box-office hits, recently showcased its growing online reach and digital presence in a star-studded digital trade event at the Makati Diamond Residences.

For the first time, the Philippines’ leading media and entertainment company held an event that focused on its growing list of digital platforms and services, showing how it is rapidly transitioning into an agile digital company.

ABS-CBN Chief Digital Officer Donald Lim shared how the company used to be known as “the largest TV network” now also has the top media website in the Philippines (www.abs-cbn.com) with average monthly page views of 248 million, the country’s no.1 YouTube channel (ABS-CBN Entertainment) with more than 4 billion views and almost 4 million subscribers, while the social media accounts of its programs and its stars also have huge following.

The Facebook page of ABSCBN, for instance, just went beyond 13 million likes, with ABSCBN News not far behind with over 11 million likes. Moreover, ABS-CBN has also successfully developed its own digital platforms and services, which were presented in the event with the help of Kapamilya digital stars.

Online sensations and Chicken Pork Adobo creators Lloyd Café Cadena and Camille Buhain and Faye Condez of The Soshal Network (TSN) shared how authenticity plays a big role in making their Facebook/ blog posts and videos go viral. The three join over 300 “Adobers” under CPA, ABS-CBN’s multi-channel network on YouTube established last year to support existing and aspiring Filipino digital stars.

CPA features a variety of content – from fashion, to fitness tips, parodies, cover songs, and showbiz news. Other notable Kapamilya digital stars under CPA are Instagram star Bretman Rock and the girls of Kids’ Toys now in the top 3 of ABSCBN Entertainment and ABS-CBN News YouTube channels in the

RnB singer and ‘The Voice Philippines’ winner Jason Dy is one of the artists featured in One Music PH, a music hub loaded with music news, audio and video streaming and exclusive digital concerts

Despite not winning the top prize, One Direction is still the brightest and the biggest act ‘The X Factor UK’ has ever produced

BEFORE One Direction became a sensation, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, and Louis Tomlinson were solo acts that dreamt of stardom. The five then-aspiring singers auditioned for The X Factor UK’s seventh season, but while not all of them got three “yeses,” everyone managed to make it to second round.

At the end of the boot camp stage, none of them qualified for the Boys category. Still, the judges saw the talent in the five aspirants and gave them the chance to compete as a group.

With Simon Cowell as their mentor, the five had to prove themselves worthy of advancing in the competition. But earlier on the day of the Judge’s House stage, Tomlinson suffered from a sea urchin sting. Nervous and with Tomlinson just making it

in time from the hospital, the band covered the song “Torn” at Cowell’s home in Marbella, Spain. It was at this moment that The X Factor judge saw their potential as artists.

“My head, it’s saying it’s a risk and my heart it’s saying that you deserve a shot,” Simon said as he was giving his verdict.

“I’ve gone with my heart. You’re through.”

One Direction, as the boys came to be known, finished third at The X Factor UK. But despite not winning the top prize, the group still has one of most inspiring stories at the talent contest.

Many other artists like 1D did not win The X Factor UK. And yet, they found themselves on a life-changing journey as they strove for success.

Here are other extraordinary

Philippines.

TV stars Jake Cuenca and Sue Ramirez, on the other hand, spoke about being responsible online influencers, as TV stars with wide social media following. They revealed that maintaining a clean reputation online has not only gained them more fans but also opened an opportunity for them to support brands beyond the usual TV commercials. Helping them in this endeavor is Stellar, which matches advertisers to the artist that can best endorse their products or services based on the artists’ activity and following on social media, among other factors.

Another ABS-CBN online initiative is OneMusicPH, a music hub that offers Filipinos the total music experience with audio and video streaming, music news, and exclusive digital concerts featuring the brightest Filipino talents. It also allows aspiring musicians a crack at stardom by allowing them to upload their work on the website.

Some of the artists that can be found in OneMusicPh are Klarisse De Guzman, Jason Dy, and Kristel Fulgar, who provided entertainment in the digital trade event.

ABS-CBN’s digital shift is also evident in its pioneering video-ondemand website iWant TV, which was first to address Filipinos’ growing habit of watching shows and other content on the Internet and on mobile phones.

In the presentation of Anna Rodriguez-Dela Cruz, ABS-CBN head for content on mobile and OTT, she said people now spend an average time of three hours and more on the internet using their phones and more than five hours using their computers, most of the time to view videos.

She added change is coming to the Philippines’ first and biggest video-on-demand platform for

What do One Direction, Little Mix, and 4th Impact have in common? artists who started out at The X Factor UK: Little Mix Long before the hit single “Secret Love Song” gave everyone an earworm, the girl group Little Mix competed at The X Factor

UK and won—the only group to ever win the competition so far.

Like One Direction, the group’s members started out as solo acts.

On their first public performance, the girls did a rendition of “Super Bass,” which was praised by The

PINOY PRIDE. 4th Impact, formerly known as Cercado Sisters, is making a name for itself on the international music scene

local content, which will soon offer spin-offs of TV programs apart from other content, which can only be viewed through the iWant TV site and mobile app. “We have to create and curate content strictly for digital with the involvement of the viewers,” Dela Cruz said.

With both a vast online reach and an array of digital platforms, Lim said the network can now offer more opportunities for advertisers and businesses to engage their target markets. He then introduced the “Digital Marketing Periodic Table of Elements,” a list of digital solutions that can help advertisers create powerful campaigns on digital. The attendees, who represented the country’s top advertising and media buying agencies, were excited about the opportunities on digital that Lim presented.

“What makes this event standout is the fact that they were able to infuse/inject the idea of science, moreover, of chemistry – how different elements can make the most successful campaigns. What I loved the most is idea of digital periodic table of elements and how each one is categorized. It could be really useful,” said Jaja Bandoja, digital planner/buyer of ZenithOptimedia Philippines.

With the success of its first digital trade event, hosted by TJ Manotoc and Xian Lim, ABS-CBN is closer to its goal of being the nation’s digital media leader. It is also leading the country in the nation’s shift to digital television through ABS-CBN TVplus. Driven by its mission and vision to be in the service of the Filipino worldwide, the company can be expected to be in the forefront of using the latest in technology and innovation to deliver inspiring stories and relevant information to Filipinos anywhere they are, and even to foreign audiences.

Girl band Little Mix, so far, is the only group to win the reality talent search

X Factor judge Louis Walsh for its “brilliant chemistry.” For that performance, fellow judge Gary Barlow described the group as the “best girl band that’s ever been on The X Factor.”

Leona Lewis After her beautiful rendition of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” at her audition, 21-year old receptionist was described by Walsh as having “the complete package.” In one of her boot camp performances, her wouldbe mentor Cowell said that Lewis is of a “totally different league.” She eventually won The X Factor UK’s third season.

Among her most memorable hits are “Bleeding Love” and “Better in Time” from the album Spirit.

4th Impact Sisters Almira, Celina, Irene, and Mylene Cercado from

the Philippines already joined and won several contests in the Philippines before auditioning for The X Factor UK. Their rendition of Jessie J’s “Bang Bang” earned them a standing ovation from the audience and all four judges.

The group’s would-be mentor Cheryl Fernandez-Versini told the girls that they “took the Wembley’s roof off,” while Cowell thought their audition was one of the best he had ever seen. Their audition went viral after it aired. Though 4th Impact did not make it to the finals, it was a dream come true for the sisters who’ve always wanted to perform for Cowell.

Catch The X Factor UK’s brand new season premiere on Aug. 28, 10:30 a.m. first and exclusive at RTL CBS Entertainment HD.