Manila Standard - 2016 September 6 - Tuesday

P2-m price on head of Davao bomber up

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera and Francisco Tuyay DAVAO CITY—Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio has offered a P2million bounty for the perpetrators of the bomb attack that killed 15 people and wounded 70 others in a night market here on Friday.

Duterte said there was a P1-

million reward waiting for the person who can identify the suspects and specify their whereabouts, and another P1 million for anyone who can arrest them and bring them to the police.

Duterte emphasized that she wants the suspects to be arrested alive so that he or she can reveal their cohorts.

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VOL. XXX • NO. 206 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

SUFFERING BUT UNBOWED.

Davao City Mayor Sara Carpio offers a P2-million reward for information that will identify and lead to the arrest of the perpetrators of the Roxas night market bomb explosion Friday last week, stressing during the flagraising ceremony the perpetrators should be presented to authorities alive.

Palace clarifies draft on lawlessness state

By Sandy Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz MALACAÑANG on Monday dismissed conspiracy theories about the plan of President Rodrigo Duterte to proclaim a state of lawlessness even before the Davao City bombing on Friday night, saying that intelligence reports earlier received had prompted the chief executive to draft such an order.

Speculation about the President’s declaration was sparked by a revelation by Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo on Sunday that he had studied drafts of the order days before the bomb attack.

“Due to the broad intelligence reports submitted to the President...the President may have talked with chief presidential legal counsel Panelo regarding the drafting [of the order],” said Assistant Secretary Christian Ablan, of the Presidential Communications Office, during a press briefing in Malacañang.

“But to insinuate that there was a preparation for a proclamation… that’s just a conspiracy theory. Since he assumed office, the President has been receiving intelligence reports, and maybe that was the source of discussion between chief presidential legal counsel Panelo and the PresiNext page dent,” Ablan said.

TOUGH STANCE. President

Rodrigo Duterte talks tough during a pre-departure news conference at the Davao City airport on his way to Vientiane, Laos for the Asean Summit, his first overseas trip as chief executive, only three days after a bomb blast killed 15 and wounded 70 more. He vowed he would not let US President Barack Obama lecture him on human rights in their bilateral meeting in the Laos capital. AFP

Du30 slams US brutality Turns the tables on Obama’s HR record

By Sandy Araneta and F. Pearl A. Gajunera

Bomb hoax roils schools in Mendiola A BOMB threat near Malacañang Palace forced schools nearby to suspend classes before they even started.

Police conducted a thorough sweep around the area, including the nearby schools, but no bombs were found.

The Eulogio “Amang” Rodriguez Institute of Science and Technology was the first to receive the bomb threat, which prompted the police to search the campus.

Centro Escolar University, the College of the Holy SpiritManila, and San Beda College were also targeted in the bomb hoax.

At 4:34 a.m., the CEU received a Facebook message from a supposed member of the extremist Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG), saying that bombs had been planted in its campus, as well as San Beda College and two other schools.

Sandy Araneta

O

N THE eve of his meeting with US President Barack Obama, President Rodrigo Duterte attacked the United States for questioning his administration’s human rights record in its war on illegal drugs, and pointed to the brutality of America’s own “pacification” campaign in the Philippines in the early 1900s.

“You know, the Philippines is not a vassal state. We have long ceased to be a colony of the United States,” Dutere said in Davao City before leaving for Laos to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, where he is scheduled for a one-on-one with Obama.

Zika infects 6th Filipino in Iloilo UNYIELDING WAR. Police take positions as they serve an arrest warrant against a Pasig City resident in relation to the government’s anti-drugs war at an informal settler’s house. PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa warned on Monday his officers were prepared to kill anyone, including rich and influential politicians, as they pursue President Duterte’s war on drugs. AFP

War on drugs: Rich, poor all targets, says PNP POLICE Chief Ronald dela Rosa warned on Monday that his men were prepared to kill anyone, even rich and influential politicians, as they waged President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.

Since Duterte took office just over two months ago, the government has said more than 2,400 people have been killed in his anti-crime crusade, an increasingly controversial campaign that has

Duterte bristled when journalists asked if he would discuss the rise of extra-judicial killings under his administration with Obama.

“I do not respond to anybody but to the people of the Republic of the Philippines. I don’t care about him. Who is he?” Duterte said.

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drawn UN condemnation.

Police said they themselves killed 1,011 drug suspects, with 1,391 others listed as “deaths under investigation.”

“If they fight back... they will die. Rest assured, we do not discriminate,” Dela Rosa told a news conference.

“All of them, the rich, the poor, police, civilians... even if you are a politician, you will die if you are

into drugs and you fight back,” he warned.

Dela Rosa has reassigned 77 policemen in Central Luzon to Mindanao after they were accused of being drug pushers, drug users or protectors of drug lords.

“You are involved in illegal drugs you should stop, because I will be your enemy,” Dela Rosa said during a command visit in San Fernando, Pampanga, on

Monday.

In Makati City, police have started doing the rounds of exclusive villages and subdivisions as a result of the campaign against illegal drugs.

Residents of Magallanes and Forbes Park were given handouts and fliers by policemen accompanied by community leaders and representatives of homeowners’ Next page associations.

PDP Laban takes up cudgels for Pimentel THE ruling PDP Laban party on Monday blasted its losing senatorial candidate Sandra Cam for accusing Senate President Aquilino Pimentel of protecting his former election lawyer, Senator Leila De Lima, over her alleged links to illegal drugs, said Abbin Dalhani, PDP Laban’s president for the National Capital Region president.

Dalhani also told Cam to stop dragging others down with her if she was just riding on the issue of illegal drugs for her own publicity. He also slammed Cam for being inconsistent in her statements.

In the May elections this year, Cam ran for senator under the ticket of President Rodrigo Duterte, the national chairman of PDP Laban and of

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which Pimentel is president.

De Lima was Pimentel’s lawyer in the election protest he filed against Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri, whom he accused of cheating in the 2010 senatorial elections.

Dalhani defended Pimentel from Cam’s statements that the Senate president had been protecting De Lima.

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WEATHER THE southwest monsoon enhanced by a low-pressure area will continue to bring rain to Luzon, the weather bureau said Monday. PNA

A FILIPINA from Iloilo has been found positive for the mosquitoborne Zika virus, the sixth in the country, Health Undersecretary Gerardo Bayugo said Monday.

He said the latest victim was married and in her mid-forties, and that she tested positive for the virus when she was examined.

He made his statement even as Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said no Filipinos had been infected with the Zika virus in Singapore.

“As per the latest report of our

embassy in Singapore, no Filipinos in Singapore have been infected with the Zika virus,” Jose said.

The embassy said 200 people in Singapore had been infected with the virus.

The virus is mild and non-fatal, but a woman who is infected during pregnancy is in danger of having a baby with a small head and a defective brain, a condition called microcephaly.

The first case of Zika virus infection in the Philippines was Next page

Sea code up at summit

By John Paolo Bencito VIENTIANE—The Foreign Affairs Department said Monday that the Philippines will push the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to finally put into force a legally binding Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea during the regional bloc’s summit in Laos.

Department spokesman Assistant Secretary Charles Jose said that among the country’s priorities is to push the 10-member bloc to move on the Code of Con-

duct that was signed in Phnom Penh in 2012.

Although China is a signatory to the agreement, it continues its buildup in the disputed waters of the South China Sea, which Beijing claims as its own.

Drafts of the chairman’s statement in Laos are said to echo previous statements on the importance of full implementation of the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea, signed by China and Asean and Next page

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

Barangay execs serve till next polls

By Maricel V. Cruz and Vito Barcelo

I

NCUMBENT village chairmen and councilmen will serve in a hold-over capacity under a proposed law resetting the Sangguniang Kabataan and barangay elections from October 31, 2016 to October 23, 2017 that the House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms will approve this afternoon, a House official said on Monday.

“I do not want to pre-empt the vote and decision of the members of House committee on suffrage and electoral reforms [today]. But I believe that the members of the majority in the Lower House finds the basis for postponement meritorious,” Tugna said.

Alvarez authored the resolution, along with Deputy Speakers Gloria Macapagal Arroyo of Pampanga, Raneo Abu of Batangas, Miro Quimbo of Marikina City, Mylene Garcia Albano of Davao City, Mercedes Alvarez of Negros Occidental, Bai Sandra Sema of Maguindanao , Gwendolyn Garcia of Cebu, Eric Singson of Ilocos Sur, Fred Castro of Capiz, Sharon Garin of AAMBISOWA party-list, Ferdinand Hernandez of South Cotabato, Pia Cayetano of Taguig; House Majority Floor Leader and Rodolfo Fariñas of Ilocos Norte and Rep. Pedro Acharon of South Cotabato.

Arroyo rallied behind the decision of Malacañang to postpone barangay and SK polls to allow Congress to introduce reforms in the system, including the proposal of Alvarez to abolish SK and barangay councilmen.

Arroyo said she agrees with the position of the House leadership that “posponement of the barangay and SK elections from October this year to next year is necessary” for two ma-

Citizens Battle Against Corruption (Cibac) party-list Rep. Sherwin Tugna, the panel chairman, said the House is poised to approve House Bill 3384, principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, which provides “the hold-over provision under Republic Act 9164 as amended by Republic Act 9340 shall remain applicable and in full force and effect under this Act.” However, Commission on Elections Chairman Andres Bautista said that while the commission is waiting for Congress’ decision, it will continue to prepare for the barangay and SK elections slated on October 31.

Bautista also announced that the Comelec will register new voters next year if Congress passes the law post-

poning the barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan polls to give who failed to register another chance to sign up.

He recalled that only about two million of the more than three million expected new voters turned up during the two-week registration period that ended on August 1.

Bautista said Congress must come out with a decision within the next few days so the Comelec would stop the preparations for elections.

He repeated that the Comelec was neutral on the issue of postponement, but he preferred that the elections be postponed because it may cause “elections fatigue” since the national elections were conducted only in May this year.

P2-m...

“We want him alive because we want to talk to him,” the mayor said. She added that they hoped to learn who the bomber’s accomplices were, what group they belonged to, what other attacks were being planned, and why they attacked the night market.

She said other agencies and people have offered to add to the bounty to speed up the arrests.

At the same time, the mayor relieved the chief of the Davao City Police Office (DCPO), Sr. Supt.

Michael John Dubria and Task Force Davao Commander Col. Henry Robinson.

She said that although she was confident in their capabilities, their relief was a natural consequence of Friday’s bloody attack.

“I’ve already talked to the higher ranks of the PNP and AFP and I told them that I want new people and new ideas,” she added.

Robinson assumed the post only last May, while Dubria was designated city police chief in June.

The mayor said she is not blaming Robinson or Dubria for the bomb attack.

“It’s not about their qualifications, it’s about me… I took what happened personally. There will be strained relationship between us if they continue to stay in their posts,” she said.

Duterte also appointed a new Public Safety Security and Command Center (PSSCC) chief, Ret. Gen. Benito de Leon from the Armed Forces of the Philippines, following the incident.

The mayor announced the rewards Monday morning after she visited the wake of one of the victims, 27-year-old Kristia Gaile Bisnon. Bisnon once served as her private nurse.

“She was very dedicated to her work as a nurse,” she said. “Even when there was nothing to do, she would choose to stay awake and watch over me. She knew my needs, and always made sure that everything was taken care of. I did not need to tell her what to do.”

The mayor, who spoke with Bisnon’s mother, said she was shocked upon learning that Kristia was among the victims.

On Saturday, she led a memorial for the victims.

“I am sorry for what happened,” she said, but added that the people of Davao should not be terrorized by the bombing.

“We will not be terrorized by this heinous crime and I call on all Dabawenyos to unite and let us help each other rise from this senseless incident,” she said.

She said this as she recognized that the real intent of the bomb explosion was to kill many people.

“It was meant to kill,” she said.

“It was an explosive. It was clearly an act of terrorism.”

With the families of the victims in grief following the loss of their loved ones, she said President Duterte instructed her to extend additional assistance to those who suffered from the attack.

Sara said the city government has also shouldered the hospitalization, funeral and burial expenses of the victims.

Meanwhile, the Philippine National Police still cannot make a definitive conclusion on who was really responsible for the bombing.

But PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa said they are not discounting the possibility of collusion between the terrorists and the drug lords who are now the targets of a nationwide anti-drug war.

“The angle that we are also looking at is narco-terrorism. We are not discounting that,” Dela Rosa said in a press briefing Monday.

Dela Rosa said investigators have established the physical profile of one of the suspects based on the cartographic sketch obtained from the witnesses and footages from CCTV cameras.

He suggested that drug lords affected by the anti-drug war may have financed the Abu Sayyaf Group to do the bombing.

“These Abu Sayyaf, they kidnap people for money. They can also bomb people for money. It’s all about money,” Dela Rosa said.

“So if I were a big-time drug lord I can pay the Abu Sayyaf to conduct bombing without having to kidnap people. After all, these are terrorist, they are after terrorism.”

On the other hand, Dela Rosa said they are not only focused at drug lords detained at the New Bilibid Prison but also those from “outside.”

“There might be connections between people in the Bilibid and the Abu Sayyaf, not only from the Bilibid but also from the outside,” Dela Rosa said.

Shortly after the blast, the ASG through its spokesman Abu Rami claimed responsibility for the attack but later retracted and pointed to an allied group Daulat uI-Islamiya as the culprit.

But Dela Rosa stressed that the ASG remained as one of the groups being considered as responsible in the attack.

“We suspect that they did it to ease the tension of the ongoing military and police operations against them,” said Dela Rosa.

Dela Rosa revealed some good developments in the investigations of the bombing as elements of Explosive and Ordnance Disposal are still reconstructing the fragments of the Improvised Explosive Device from a .60mm mortar ammunition that was detonated by a celluar phone.

“We have identified persons of interest. We have artist sketches and slowly we are reconstructing the IED used in the explosion,” said Dela Rosa, stressing the police only have the “physical profile” of the possible perpetrators but not their legal identity.

“We have very good developments. I cannot divulge them yet because there is ongoing investigation, but one has beard and seen left the package before the blast,” he added.

Dela Rosa assured the public that the declaration of lawless violence in the country arising from the deadly explosion in Davao City will not violate people’s human rights after various sectors raised concerns over Duterte’s declaration.

“There are those who are saying that this can be prelude towards declaration of martial law. These people are thinking so advanced.

Our people are hurting. We are grieving. We are in pain, and they add insinuations like Martial Law,” said Dela Rosa.

“We have to unite and fight this terror. We should not be divisive, don’t say it’s politicking, that it is Martial Law. The President will not do that. Never,” he stressed.

Security forces have intensified combat operations against the ASG in Sulu and Basilan provinces in compliance to the order of Duterte to destroy the terrorist group following the beheading of hostage Patrick Almodovar two weeks ago.

A naval blockade has been in force in Sulu waters, a moved by the Armed Forces of the Philippines to prevent the notorious bandit groups from escaping and blending in the civilian populace.

The Philippine Navy vessels were deployed in Sulu waters patrolling potential escape routes of the terrorist.

Sea...

PDP...

pointments in June 2014.

“Cam said she was for Duterte but joined UNA. She said she knew as early as 2011 about the links of Senator De Lima and the drug lords in Bilibid, but she did not say anything in the 2014 hearing. She said she was blocked from speaking and five minutes was all she needed, but she was given 30 minutes and still she said nothing,” read the statement issued by PDPLaban.

CA Secretary Hector Villacorta said that, based on the record and transcript of the CA deliberations, Cam was given ample time to expose the alleged shabu factory inside the NBP. “The fact that she was able to speak in the CA shows nobody blocked her from speaking or testifying during the confirmation proceedings against Secretary De Lima,” Villacorta said.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

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From A1 the early conclusion of ongoing talks on the framework of a legally binding Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. The draft document also includes the importance of non-militarization and self-restraint in the conduct of all activities, “including land reclamation that could escalate the dispute are also mentioned in the statement.”

The Philippines had earlier won its arbitration case against China, which debunked its claims of historical title over the South China Sea, adding that it had breached the Philippines’ sovereign rights.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Assistant Secretary for Asean Affairs Maria Helen dela Vega said Asean and China in their multi-lateral discussions will be adopting a “Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea [CUES],” in efforts to de-escalate tensions over the disputed waters.

During the three-day meet here, several declarations and statements will be signed and adopted to solidify commitment of member states and resolve issues affecting the region. With John Paolo Bencito

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Duterte has accused De Lima of protecting and coddling the drug lords in the New Bilibid Prison in Muntilupa City.

He has also accused De Lima’s boyfriend Ronnie Palisoc Dayan of collecting drug money for her during the last elections.

De Lima has strongly denied any involvement in illegal drugs but has kept mum on her supposed love affair with Dayan, whom Duterte said started De Lima’s involvement in the illicit drug trade.

Cam earlier accused Pimentel and then Senate President Franklin Drilon and incumbent House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas of preventing her from exposing the alleged drug links of De Lima, then Justice secretary, during the deliberations of the Commission on Ap-

for it after visiting the Philippines.

Health Secretary Paulyn Jean From A1 recorded in 2012. The virus then Ubial is discouraging Filipinos resurfaced in March after an from traveling to Singapore, MaAmerican tourist tested positive laysia, Hong Kong, Indonesia and

Zika...

jor reasons: first, the Palace has not filled up all vacancies in government; and second, Congress would want to amend the Local Government Code.

Quoting Alvarez, Arroyo noted that the SK and kagawad posts cost the government P24 billion a year without the SK officials and kagawads doing any legal work.

The SK posts alone cost the government P8.5 billion annually, Arroyo added, quoting the position of House leadership through Alvarez.

“The money to be saved from abolishing the SK and kagawad posts can be used to augment the low pay of those who are really working in the barangays—the purok leaders, health workers, tanods and daycare workers,” Arroyo added, again quoting Alvarez.

For his part, Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte called on the Commission on Elections to immediately prepare for yet another round of voter registration, especially for young Filipinos, amid the likelihood of the Congress writing soon enough a new law postponing to next year the synchronized barangay and SK elections due

this October.

“With the likelihood of the House of Representatives and Senate passing in the weeks ahead a new law postponing the Oct. 31 barangay and SK elections to next year, the Comelec should prepare for yet another round of voter registration, especially for the benefit of voting-age young Filipinos, and conduct this vital pre-election exercise right after President [Rodrigo] Duterte signs such new legislation into law,” Villafuerte said in a statement.

Duterte earlier expressed support for the postponement of the barangay and SK balloting, which the Comelec is supposed to conduct less than half a year after the May 9 national and local polls.

Some 54 million registered for the May polls and more than three million more registered for the barangay and SK balloting, a report said.

The Comelec held its last registration for the barangay and SK polls from July 15 to 30. The Voter’s Registration Act of 1966 provides for a system of continuing registration of voters.

CALM AND COLLECTED. Students from the Centro Escolar University

in Manila carry on with their usual routine on Monday even after bombing threats in the wake of the Davao market blast over the weekend. Danny Pata

Palace...

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wide.

Based on Medialdea’s earlier statement, the proclamation targets terrorism and not illegal drugs, Ablan said.

“The President can call out the military anytime within his powers as commander-in-chief by virtue of the Constitution. He could have said it, his order could have remained in effect since Friday, but the proclamation takes effect today [Monday],” Ablan said.

Ablan also said there is no need for the President or executive branch to report to Congress about this.

He said the Constitution is clear that there is only a report if a suspension of the writ is made or if there is a declaration of Martial Law. But that is not the situation today, he said.

Former president and Deputy Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday supported Duterte’s decision to declare a state of lawless violence following the deadly attack in Davao City.

At a news conference, Arroyo said she is confident that the President’s declaration would be implemented in accordance with the law and that there will be no abuse of power from authorities.

“President Duterte knows all the lessons, because he was helping me a lot during my time. He was my adviser on peace and order and drugs.

He knows my experience, he knows all the lessons,” Arroyo told reporters during a press conference.

Arroyo also described President Duterte as a very firm leader and a “stronger President” than she was.

Another former president, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, called on Filipinos to unite behind Duterte to suppress terrorism and criminality.

“We should unite and rally behind President Duterte in his quest to remove the threat of terrorism in the country,” Estrada said amid concerns raised by some about the state of lawlessness.

“What I can say is, ‘Go Mr. President, do not waver.’ Do not get distracted by what is happening in Davao City,” Estrada said in an interview.

War...

From A1 The door-to-door information drive covered around 26 households on the first day.

In Parañaque City, police arrested a drug dealer accused of killing a policeman during a robbery inside a 7-Eleven store early Sunday morning.

Police said the suspect gunned down Chief Inspector Nelson Pagaduan who died in a hospital while undergoing treatment for a gunshot wound in the neck.

The Catholic church, human rights groups and even UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have criticized Duterte for his apparent support of extrajudicial killings.

Critics have also charged that the police are mainly killing poor people in the slums while wealthy and influential suspects have been spared.

Duterte was elected by a landslide in May after vowing to end crime in six months by killing tens of thou-

sands of criminals.

Dela Rosa, who has been Duterte’s main enforcer in the campaign, stressed that police would be more merciless towards corrupt policemen involved in illegal drugs.

“We even prefer to kill our fellows who have betrayed our cause... they have turned traitors,” he said.

Duterte and other officials have insisted that police only kill suspects in self-defense, and have said others were murdered by crime gangs trying to silence them.

However, Duterte has also openly called for the killing of drug suspects, even urging their neighbors to murder them.

Concern over Duterte’s anti-crime crackdown increased further after he declared a “state of lawlessness” following a bombing in his hometown of Davao last Friday that left 14 dead and about 70 injured.

AFP, with Francisco Tuyay and Joel E. Zurbano

Thailand, where many people have been infected by the Zika virus.

Ubial says a traveler infected with the Zika virus should practice safe sex since the vi-

rus stays in the blood for six months. The virus can also be transmitted through blood transfusion.

Macon Ramos-Araneta and Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

Ablan also confirmed that the intelligence information had something to do with both drug threats and terroristic attacks.

“I’m not privy to the discussion between the chief presidential legal counsel. I can only say that there have been intelligence reports that certain cities are targeted by terrorists prior to the explosion in Davao and the President may have consulted the chief presidential counsel regarding the matter,” Ablan said.

Earlier, Panelo said the Davao blast was not the trigger for the declaration of a state of lawless violence, and said they had been drafting the proclamation days before the attack.

Duterte signed the proclamation declaring a state of lawless violence over the entire country Monday.

“Before flying off to Laos to attend the Asean Summit, the President signed the proclamation declaring a state of lawless violence. We don’t have the signed document yet because Executive Secretary [Salvador] Medialdea is still en route back to Manila from Davao,” said Ablan.

Ablan said the document proclaimed a state of national emergency on account of lawless violence.

It commands the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police to undertake measures permitted by the Constitution and laws to suppress all forms of lawless violence in Mindanao; and second, prevent lawless violence from spreading and escalating elsewhere, with due regard to fundamental civil and political rights.

Ablan said the state would remain in force until lifted or withdrawn by the President.

Even with the proclamation, “there is no loss of civil or political liberties, so there is no suspension of the writ of habeas corpus, and there is no declaration of Martial Law,” Ablan said. He said it is simply a call to the military and the police to help out.

He also said the proclamation is national, so the coverage is country-

Du30...

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“As a matter of a fact, at a turn of the century, before the Americans left the Philippines in the pacification campaign… in this island, there were about six million [Moros]. How many died? Six hundred thousand. If he can answer that question and give an apology, I will answer him,” Duterte said.

But, when asked in China whether he would push through with the planned meeting with Duterte, Obama said he still hopes to hold constructive talks with Duterte although he asked his team to find out if it was the time to pursue productive bilateral talks.

“I just came out of a long day of meetings. I just heard about some of this. But I have seen some of those colorful statements in the past. And so clearly he’s a colorful guy,” Obama told reporters.

“What I’ve instructed my team to do is talk to their Philippine counterparts to find out is this in fact a time where we can have constructive, productive conversations,” he said.

“Obviously, the Filipino people are some of our closest friends and allies.

And the Philippines is a treaty ally of ours. But I always wanna make sure, that if I’m having a meeting, that it’s actually productive and we’re getting something done,” he added.

“We recognize the significant burden that the drug trade plays not just in the Philippines but around the world and fighting narco-trafficking is tough,” said the American leader.

“But we will always assert the need to have due process and to engage in that fight against drugs in a way that’s consistent with basic international norms. And so undoubtedly, if and when we have a meeting, this is something that’s gonna be brought up. And my expectation, my hope is it could be dealt with constructively,” he added.

The President was also angered when a reporter used the term “extrajudicial” killings—and said some columnists were writing like “lapdogs of this American.”

“Why don’t you leave the country and go to America?” Duterte told the reporter in an expletive-filled response.

“Who is he to confront me? As a matter of fact, America has one too many...misdeeds in this country [to answer for]. Up to now, we have not received any apology. That is the reason Mindanao continues to boil,” said Duterte, in a mix of Filipino and English.

Duterte said he was beholden to nobody and appeared irked about a column that attacked his administration’s campaign against illegal drugs.

“That columnist [who said] ‘wait until he meets,’ who is he? I am a President of the sovereign state, and we have long ceased to be a colony. I do not have any master, except the Filipino people,” Duterte said.

He then attacked the United States record as a colonial power in the Philippines.

“They invaded this country and made us their subjugated people.

Everybody has a terrible record of extrajudicial killings. Why make an issue about fighting crime? They cannot even address the Mexico border problem. Look at the human rights of America along that line, the way how they treat the migrants there. He [Obama] must explain to me why there are extrajudicial killings there. Can he explain the 600,000 Moros massacred in this island? Do you want to see the pictures? Maybe, you’ll ask him, and make it public. We have a recorded history of that sordid period of our national life,” Duterte said.

“What about the rights of those guys who died in the past?”

“Who is Obama to ask me that? I’ll tell him, who are you? Tell him that,” Duterte said.

Duterte also said that he will continue his campaign against illegal drugs, and warned that a lot of pushers will die.

“The campaign against drugs will continue. Many will die. Plenty will be killed until the last pusher is out of the streets. Until the drug manufacturer is killed, we will continue and I will continue, and I don’t give a sh*t about anybody observing my behavior,” Duterte said.

Duterte, who is being criticized for his bloody war against illegal drug syndicates, also blasted unnamed columnists for acting like “lapdogs” of Obama and the US. On Sept. 2, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Obama will not pull any punches on human rights during his meeting with Duterte.

Duterte previously said that Obama needs to listen to him and understand the illegal drugs situation in the country before discussing human rights issues during their meeting.

Earlier, Duterte was more conciliatory, saying he had no objections to explaining the rise in the deaths of drug suspects to Obama.

He said he had no intention of quarreling with Obama, but said he would not let him question him about Philippine problems.

Duterte and Obama are set to meet today (Tuesday) at a hotel in Vientiane at 5 p.m. Manila time.

The US, a long-time ally of the Philippines, has criticized Duterte over a rise in extrajudicial killings in its war on illegal drugs.

At the same time, Obama is expected to extend his condolences to Duterte over the deaths of 14 in the recent bomb attack in Davao City.

The United States also signified its intention to provide assistance in the investigation, an offer that Manila has turned down.

Duterte is also set to hold meetings with other leaders, including with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The Palace has yet to announce if Duterte will also meet with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang or UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon.

News

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DoTr submits traffic bill T

HE Department of Transportation has submitted its list of projects and a draft bill on emergency powers to address the transportation crisis to the Senate committee, headed by Senator Grace Poe.

to already do what they can even without the emergency powers.

The senator, who earlier decided to hold off public hearings on the proposal in the light of lack of any feasible plans that the DOTr would implement under such powers, said her committee Poe welcomed the submis- Regulatory Board, Metropolitan is already scrutinizing the DOTr sion of the 64-page document Manila Development Authority proposal.

She noted that the DoTr proabout a week after the legislator and even local government in called on the department to lay the management of traffic and posal included projects for the down plans before another hear- will instead be implemented un- expansion of the railway system ing is set. der the leadership of the DOTr. and airport traffic congestion.

“But is is not clear to me how Poe said the Duterte adPoe said the Senate is aware ministration is seeking the of the urgency of the matter and they can decongest traffic in disempowerment of the Land the need to hasten the passage “highly urbanized areas” withTransportation Authority, Land of the measure but also asked out including projects for Cebu, Transportation Franchising and concerned government agencies Davao and what projects will be

GMA backs proposal of Philconsa

By Maricel V. Cruz FORMER President and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday nodded the proposal of Philippine Constitution Association president emeritus and former chief justice Reynato Puno to remove the power of the President to appoint judges and justices.

At a news conference, the former president said she is open to the proposal of Puno and Congress may consider the matter when the Constitution is amended through a Constituent Assembly and with the help of a Constitutional Commission whose members will be appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“My mind is very open even when I was a president and when I was proposing a new Constitution my mind is very open to those details. For me what is important is about the shift from unitary presidential to parliamentary-federal,” said Arroyo, who is now deputy speaker.

Arroyo said she sees nothing wrong with the proposal of Puno to address the country’s highly politicized and weak judicial system by taking the power of the President to appoint justices and judges.

“Since this is going to be Charter Change, all recommendations are welcome,” Arroyo, who supported Duterte’s call for Cha-Cha, said.

At a recent Philconsa forum, Puno, one of the country’s main federalism advocates “the current system (power of the Chief Executive to appoint) has not prevented the politicized system of judicial appointments. We lack judicial autonomy.”

Philconsa is the oldest association of legal luminaries in the country and headed by its president Martin Romualdez, a former Leyte congressman and head the House Independent Bloc and also president of the LakasChristian Muslim Democrats.

US firms most upbeat, survey says THE Asean Business Outlook Survey 2017 reported that United States companies based in the Philippines are the “most optimistic” in terms of overall investment environment among Southeast Asian nations.

About 77 percent of US firms in the Philippines said the investment environment in the country is improving, higher than Asean’s figure of 45 percent.

The country’s figure exceeded optimism of US businesses in Vietnam with 72 percent recognized improvement in investment climate; Myanmar with 70 percent; Cambodia, 69 percent; Laos, 58 percent; Indonesia, 35 percent; Singapore, 31 percent; Malaysia, 23 percent; Thailand, 22 percent; and Brunei Darussalam, 16 percent.

Majority of US companies with presence in the Philippines have forecasted their profit here to increase next year.

In the report’s US Investors’ Sentiments and Perceptions in the Philippines, 79 percent of US companies in the country have seen higher profits in 2017 while 11 percent have expected profits to “stay the same,” four percent projected decrements, and six percent were “not sure” about their profit outlook next year.

The survey also reported that 55 percent of US firms in the Philippines have expected to increase the number of workforce this year.

About 19 percent of US businesses here expressed their intention to expand within the country.

The latest seurvey also listed business factors in the country which US businesses are highly satisfied for the past ten years. These include: availability of low cost labor (72 percent), sentiment towards the US (77 percent), availability of trained personnel (68 percent), stable government and political system (51 percent), and personal security (45 percent). PNA

implemented there,” Poe added.

In the meantime, the senator assured that the public services committee is continuing technical working group meetings to consult stakeholders to pave the way for a full-blown public hearing on Sept. 22.

She said the technical working group will scrutinize the list of projects on Sept. 8 but stressed that they have to consult affected sectors. The hearings will resume Sept. 22 when local government units will be given the chance to comment on the impact of the projects.

Poe does not see any hurdle in approving the proposed emergen-

cy powers measure in the Senate as her colleagues expressed support on the need for Duterte’s emergency powers so long as there are enough safeguards to prevent possible abuses.

DOTr’s submissions to the committee included projects for road, rail and air transport sectors and details establishing a single authority to manage traffic, expediting procurement processes for transportation projects, limiting the issuance of temporary restraining orders and injunctions to the Supreme Court, exempting key transportation projects from restrictive audit rules, expediting expropriation process

for right-of-way acquisitions, and reorganizing the DOTr to provide enough manpower in implementing projects.

Under the DOTr’s draft bill, contracts entered into by the Executive branch, including qualifications of contractors, budgetary estimates, shall be published on a website.

The duration of authority granted to the President shall be valid for three years unless sooner withdrawn by Congress.

A congressional oversight committee will be established to be composed of five members each from the Senate and the House of Representatives.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Not for change’s sake

“F

EDERALISM” is a big word, one that is not easily understood, much less appreciated, by millions of Filipinos.

In fact, even the ones who enjoyed some form of education cannot readily speak about the nuances of the federal system of government, aside from the vague notion that it divides a country into various autonomous states, and that it is the opposite of the system that we now have, where everything appears to revolve around the central govern-

ment in Manila.

Among the supposed benefits of federalism are more efficient delivery of government services, more equitable distribution of opportunity and wealth, improved peace and order situation and greater participation by citizens in matters of governance.

Advocates also make bold—albeit arguable—claims that corruption would be minimized just by the act of changing the political system.

Since President Rodrigo Duterte assumed office, there has been much

talk on federalism. Mr. Duterte is known to advocate a shift to this form, conducting listening tours before to exchange views with ordinary citizens about it before he launched his presidential bid.

Because of the great mandate that he enjoyed during the past elections, it appears that the President can easily use his political capital to introduce this fundamental change.

This recent push is echoed not by one group but several—all of whom have their own ideal model for a federal government.

There is no issue with the ills that

a shift to the federal form of government seeks to address. Perhaps it has gotten to a point where the status quo is so unbearable that the public is willing to gamble continuity for a basic and potentially disruptive change. In a move such as this, how the change is introduced is as crucial as the transformation being sought.

We get how President Duterte is making good on his promise. Overhauling the system of government, however, is a serious, far-reaching exercise. It must not be made merely for the sake of effecting change.

Big, good climate change news

luminaries like UE law dean Amado Valdez and San Beda graduate school of law dean Father Rannie Aquino first, they would not be making such ignorant statements.

But for the most part, I think the Davao explosion did not elicit strident protests from the Yellows because they were the wrong kind of deaths. And remember, the Yellow faction of Philippine politics has long mastered the art of exploiting a cadaver to further its objectives.

I remain convinced that because the deaths in Davao could not be used to hit at Duterte, most of the Yellows just exercised prudence and refused to make public asses of themselves. (De Lima, whose misinformed movie reference was really a feeble attempt to pin the attack on Duterte, is an exception; but then, she’s always been exceptionally dense in matters political.)

Those Yellows with more political smarts than Villegas and De

TWO days ago, on Sunday, September 4, the United States and China took big steps forward on climate change. Their respective presidents, Barack Obama and Xi Jinping, presented to United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon the two countries’ ratification documents for the Paris Agreement. This brings the historic accord nearer to becoming in force and effect —we now have 26 states ratifying the agreement. This accounts for 39.06 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions.

For the Paris Agreement to take effect, 55 countries must ratify the agreement and those countries must account for 55 percent of total GHG emissions.

Mr. Ban is optimistic that the agreement will be in force by the end of the year. He described the two presidents as far-sighted, bold and ambitious: “Now by formally joining the Paris agreement, you have added powerful momentum to the drive for the agreement to enter into force this year.” President Obama, on his part, said that history would show that the Paris deal would “ultimately prove to be a turning point, the moment we finally decided to save our planet.”

He then commented: “There’s an American saying, you need to put your money where your mouth is.

That’s what we’re doing.”

For his part, President Xi was quoted as saying their ratification actions “speak to the shared ambition and resolve of China and the United States in addressing global issues.”

In their joint press statement, the two presidents called on all other Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to join the Paris Agreement as early as possible with the expectation of the Agreement’s entry into force this year.

They expressed their continued commitment to work together and with others to promote the full implementation of the Agreement, committing their countries to formulate and publish their respective strategies for mid-century, low-greenhouse gas emission development. The United States promised to release its strategy in 2016, and China will do so as early as possible.

Ranping Song, the developing country climate action manager at the Washington-based World

Turn to A5

Turn to A5

Empathy-free LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES WHEN is a killing not worth getting worked up about? For some people, the answer seems to be: When it cannot be somehow blamed on the Duterte administration.

When a bomb ripped across a market in Davao City last Friday night, killing more than a dozen local residents and injuring several dozens more, most people reacted reasonably—calling for calm, sympathizing with the victims and their families and joining in demands to bring the perpetrators to justice. Others of a more politically partisan bent decided to gloat, to sow fear and to spread disinformation.

I really wonder how some of our countrymen, especially those who like to label themselves “decent,” can sound so callous and insensitive. Maybe it’s some kind

of tradition, this horrible lack of empathy, that they feel they must uphold.

You can’t tell me that it’s just online trolls of a certain political persuasion who are engaging in this un-Filipino activity. How can it be limited to social media when the Archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan calls for responding to violence with peace and when the most prominent defender of the previous regime in the Senate worries if a “Wag The Dog” scenario is not actually in effect?

In the case of Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (apart from being a dyed-in-thewool Yellow), I think he is just adding to the confusion in his own, uniquely clerical way. How Villegas wants us, an angry nation seeking justice, to respond with peace to the Abu Sayyaf bandits—the main suspects in the Davao bombings—would test even the patience of the new Saint Teresa of Kolkata.

And when Senator Leila de

Lima warns that a “Wag The Dog” scenario may be in effect, isn’t she accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of staging the bombing himself, in order to divert attention from her Senate investigation of so-called extra-judicial killings? Shouldn’t De Lima, not

Some deaths are more exploitable for political purposes than others.

Duterte, wag the dog, since she’s the one who should be covering up reports of her very active sex life?

(This is why politicians should be careful about making cinematic allusions. The 1997 black comedy “Wag The Dog,” based loosely on the Clinton administration, has a fictional US presi-

dent starting a war on the advice of his propagandists, in order to divert public attention away from a sex scandal plaguing his government.)

As far as I know, the gloating and the trolling did begin on social media, from misguided Yellow orphans who could not help but point out that the bombing belied Duterte’s claims of Davao being “the safest city in the Philippines.” But their socalled betters and more enlightened fellow travelers on the old Daang Matuwid like Villegas and De Lima should have just shut up, since they aren’t online trolls and really have nothing to add to the national conversation.

These include those who, without little or no understanding of the legal issues, immediately raised the specter of a return to Martial Law with Duterte’s declaration of a “state of lawless violence” throughout the country in the aftermath of the bombing. If only they asked impartial legal

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Opinion

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

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State of lawlessness De Lima’s woes; Bistek and Hero’s drug mess for national security Way back in the 1970s when I got involved in drug rehab, there was only marijuana and cocaine to contend with. Now there’s shabu, ecstasy and other forms of socalled party drugs that affect the IN THE aftermath of the Davao brain and heart.

City bombing which killed more There are numerous reasons than a dozen and injured many for addiction, both for the affluothers, President Rodrigo Duterte ent and the poor drug dependhas declared that the country was ents. Middle-class users may in a state of lawless violence. have family problems, may be Some people ask: Is this proc- influenced by peers or may be lamation necessary? driven by curiosity. In my day, I believe so. The perpetrators, they had to pay DARE P20,000 the Abu Sayyaf Group, did this to P30,000 a month for board in retaliation for the all-out offen- and lodging. sive of President Duterte against The poorer ones say they bethem. They have been flouting come addicts to escape hunger. the law by their kidnap-for-ran- Soon, they also become pushers som activities. Sometimes, they to finance their habit. behead their captives when they What I am saying is that reare not able to raise the amount. habilitation is easier said than The danger to national security done. Would you believe that is that the ASG is already affili- our batting average at DARE ated with the dreaded IS. It is also was 75 percent? The other 25 known that the Abus have been percent who “graduated” go responsible for other terrorist at- back to being addicts even as tacks in the Visayas and even they appear rehabilitated. Some in Metro Manila. My gulay, for die from overdose. sure, the Abus will become desI’ve often said that so long as perate, now that the President has there is demand for illegal drugs, ordered the military to wipe them the menace will not end. This is out once and for all! the reason why the Chinese triad, Read the 1987 Constitution the West African drug syndiand see for yourself the justifi- cates and the Mexican Sinaloa cation of a “state of lawless vio- cartel have made the Philippines lence or lawlessness.” Section a transshipment point for their 18 of Article VII of the Con- global operations. stitution states that “the PresiThey could go underground as dent shall be the Commander- they are doing now, but they can in-Chief of all armed forces of always resurface at some future the Philippines and when it bedate. comes necesHas the Unitsary, he may ed States eradicall out such cated illegal armed forces drugs despite its The Abu Sayyaf Drug Enforceto prevent or suppress is affiliated with ment Agency? lawless vioNo. The Mexilence, inva- the IS. can and Colomsion or rebelbian drug cartels lion.” are always there Read furto supply the dether, and mand. you’ll know that such proclamaThere must be no deadline in tion of a state of lawlessness is the war against illegal drugs. It is far from the imposition of Mar- never going to end. It can only be tial Law. A state of Martial Law minimized. can only be imposed in cases of invasion or rebellion. *** Read on, and you will also realEfforts of Marcos haters to ize that Martial Law in the Cory stop the burial of the remains Constitution is toothless. This is of the late strongman President because the 1987 Charter was Ferdinand E. Marcos is actureactionary in character, to avoid ally because of the name of the any recurrence of the Martial memorial for war veterans— Law regime.

“Libingan ng mga Bayani” or Why do I believe that Presi- “Cemetery of Heroes.” Marcos dent Duterte’s declaration of a haters say the former president nationwide state of lawlessness is no hero. is necessary?

The idea was to have a protoThe Abu Sayyaf Group is a ter- type in the Philippines of Arlingrorist organization now affiliated ton Cemetery in the US. Here, with IS of the Middle East. If the veterans, or presidents for that government does not do anything matter, would be interred. A Panabout this now, this could be a theon for heroes was planned but real national security problem. it never come to pass because of Something must be done. The costs. Thus, a burial place was law allows the President to call on constructed. the AFP to secure the nation. BetWith the Supreme Court now ter this, than be sorry afterward. trying to decide on the matter, another controversy has *** arisen after Associate Justice Comes now the more difficult Antonio Carpio asked leading phase of President Duterte’s war questions about Marcos being on illegal drugs: The rehabilita- “dishonorably discharged,” as tion of drug dependents. Killing President and Commanderdrug lords, protectors, financi- in-Chief, by the 1986 People ers and pushers is the easy part. Power Revolution.

The Duterte administration Justice Carpio, in his line of must now realize that putting questioning, obviously wanted to up drug rehabilitation centers impart the idea that Marcos was and facilities nationwide, with dishonorably discharged because no less than 3.7-million drug the People Power Revolution was addicts, could cost billions of the voice of the people. pesos. This is why the private In deference to Tony Carsector should contribute to the pio, who certainly as a Supreme effort.

Court justice knows the law betI know this too well. When ter than I do, I believe any act I was vice president of DARE to depose or oust a president is Foundation which was put up extra-constitutional. The Constiby former priest Bob Garon, we tution is specific that a president had to solicit contributions from can only be impeached. the private sector. The DangerWhat is referred to in the ous Drugs Board could not sub- AFP rules and regulations sidize us. are soldiers who have been Cost is one thing; manning re- “dishonorably discharged” hab centers is another. by a military tribunal for A center must have doctors, violations under the Articles nurses, psychiatrists, psycholo- of War. Marcos, as a soldier, gists and other specialists. Drug was never dishonorably disdependents are sick, not only charged. He did not commit mentally but physiologically any violations of the articles and psychologically. of war.

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Empathy-...

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for Davaoeños and unity against terror groups like the Abu Sayyaf; prudence dictated that this was not the Lima knew that the bombing was time to push the anti-Duterte agenda. not something you could blame on Duterte. Besides, the political mood *** of the majority was one of sympathy And so, Duterte’s opponents

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

THE issues against three staunch allies of ex-President Benigno Aquino III in the Liberal Party are getting more controversial as the days pass.

First on the list is Senator Leila De Lima. The last placer among the winning senatorial candidates in the May 2016 polls, De Lima was the Secretary of Justice under the Aquino administration. During De Lima’s incumbency as justice secretary, the news media revealed that drug lords detained at the national penitentiary in Muntinlupa were being given more than special treatment – air-conditioned quarters, and access to, among others, assistants, catered food, modern appliances, mobile phones, computers, firearms, cash, and drug paraphernalia.

Considering the crowded conditions in the national penitentiary, it was impossible for the convicts to enjoy a privileged life in prison without the knowledge and consent of then-Justice Secretary De Lima, who exercised supervision over the country’s prisons.

President Rodrigo Duterte recently accused De Lima of receiving millions of pesos in bribe money from the drug lords in the national penitentiary, and that her driver was her collection agent. If this is true, then that may be the reason why the drug lords detained in Muntinlupa were enjoying luxurious lifestyles.

After Duterte also announced that De Lima and her driver are lovers, the news media reported

that De Lima allegedly gifted her driver with a large house in Pangasinan.

Although De Lima denied the accusations against her, Duterte maintained his stand. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice is conducting an investigation on her alleged role in the drug mess.

Last week, a photograph of De Lima with suspected drug lord Kerwin Espinosa, allegedly taken in Baguio City last March, was published in a newspaper. De Lima denied knowing Espinosa and his family, and said that the photograph was taken when she was campaigning for the Senate.

She insisted that being a candidate, she could not turn down requests from strangers, Espinosa included, that she pose with them in a photograph.

Recall that a couple of years ago, a photograph of a justice of the Sandiganbayan posing with Janet Lim-Napoles, who is currently facing graft raps relating to the misuse of congressional “pork barrel” funds, made it to the news.

That photograph somehow helped in the ouster of the justice.

A few days ago, the DoJ panel investigating the alleged involvement of De Lima in the drug trade announced that millions of pesos had been deposited, over a period of two months, to the bank account of one of De Lima’s coterminus assistants when she was justice secretary. The panel said that it is unusual for a clerk to amass so much money in so short a period. De Lima said the panel’s allegation is false.

Meanwhile, De Lima is presiding over a Senate investigation on what she considers extra-judicial

killings purportedly undertaken by the Philippine National Police on instructions supposedly given by the President in relation to the ongoing government drive against drug abuse. Despite De Lima’s repeated and protracted questioning, however, the top brass of the PNP denied any role in any wrongdoing. For a senator who refuses to be interpellated by her colleagues in the Senate, De Lima sure asked a lot of questions.

Now that the DoJ is in the mood for investigating the ex-justice secretary, perhaps the investigating panel should also inquire about other mysterious incidents which took place in the DoJ during De Lima’s watch. The Commission on Audit disclosed that DoJ funds earmarked for the department’s witness protection program had been misused. Another mystery is De Lima’s refusal to reveal what concessions the DoJ gave to the Iglesia Ni Cristo which prompted the religious sect to end their protest rally against her at the Edsa-Shaw Boulevard intersection last year.

*** The Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption led by its chairman, Dante Jimenez, filed criminal charges against Quezon City Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista and his younger brother, QC Councilor Hero Bautista, with the Office of the Ombudsman last week. Both politicians were accused of dereliction of duty—the mayor, for his failure to curb the drug menace in the city, and the councilor, for his admission of drug use. They were also accused of violating the Administrative Code, particularly for neglect of duty, misconduct, and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

Mayor Bautista should resign from office for tolerating his brother’s drug use. Since a drug addict always has physical manifestations of substance abuse, and because the Bautista brothers work in the same city hall, it was impossible for Mayor Bistek not to notice that Councilor Hero is an addict. Bistek should also resign for putting his city in bad light for this drug mess.

Hero Bautista alleges that he is a victim of the drug menace. What hogwash! At 48, he is old enough to know that drug use is conduct inimical to the public interest.

City officials said that Councilor Bautista will go on an indefinite leave from office for rehabilitation. Huh? Why should a drug dependent make public office wait until he is rehabilitated? Public office is a public trust, and Hero violated public trust by his use of narcotics.

This being so, he should resign!

Hero is chairman of the city council’s committee on infrastructure. That’s a powerful posting because no construction project in the city may be undertaken without the nod of that committee. Infrastructure projects cost millions of pesos of taxpayers’ money. Is that why Hero does not want to resign?

Quezon City’s reputation has been tarnished by several city councilors currently facing graft raps in the Sandiganbayan for using public funds to pay the salaries of ghost employees. This drug mess involving the Bautista brothers is another blemish to the city’s reputation.

President Manuel L. Quezon must be turning in his grave.

The Bautista brothers should resign immediately.

So long to the Asian sweatshop than in Cambodia. Since the mid1990s, global manufacturers have off-shored production there to take advantage of the country’s low wages, loose regulation and large population of rural residents eager for wage-paying jobs in the city. The result was a boom: By 2015, textile and footwear exports had become a $6.3-billion industry. They now account for about 80 percent of Cambodia’s export revenue.

Under the best conditions, textile and footwear jobs are monotonous and uncomfortable (as they’ve been since the Victorian era). Under the worst, they can be degrading and life-threatening.

Nonetheless, Cambodia’s 630,000 textile and footwear workers have prospered. From 2014 to 2015, their average wage rose from $145 a month to $175, in a country where per-capita income is about $1,000 a year. That trend has repeated itself across Asia, especially in the great garment-making centers of China and Vietnam.

And that’s where things get sticky. Increasing competition from low-wage economies has pushed down garment prices worldwide. The average cost of

clothing exported from Cambodia to the US fell by 24 percent between 2006 and 2015. For a manufacturer, that’d be hard to swallow if wages were static; when wages are rising, it threatens to become a crisis.

In response, some factories have simply closed up shop. Some Chinese producers have moved to Southeast Asia, where they hoped the low-wage good times would persist. But they haven’t. And that leaves two options: Negotiate better prices from Nike, H&M and other companies that outsource to Asia (unlikely), or increase productivity.

With little leverage against the brands, Asia’s garment-makers have pursued the latter option— largely by investing in automation, the ultimate productivity booster.

Of the new technologies they’re putting to work, perhaps the most common are machines that automate the tedious process of cutting fabric, a staple task in every garment factory. The estimated time to break even on such technology —18 months—pretty much ensures that the days of low-wage workers hand-cutting fabric are dwindling. Adidas Indonesia

wants to reduce the proportion of manual labor in its cutting process to 30 percent. Hung Wah Garment Manufacturing in Cambodia has eliminated manual cutting outright.

And that’s just the start. ThreeD printing and other emerging technologies should allow manufacturers to meet customer specifications with unmatched quality, at speeds not previously imaginable in sweatshops, and with far less human labor. Even worse, for Asia’s workers at least, is that Western companies can bring those same customizable technologies back home, and eliminate their overseas factories altogether.

The good news is that Asia’s upwardly mobile factory workers are becoming consumers themselves, especially in China, and they should have more to spend on shoes and clothes in the years ahead. The bad news is that there’s no obvious way to absorb the less fortunate workers who will lose jobs to automation.

That’s no reason to mourn the passing of sweatshops. But it is reason to worry that Asia has yet to find a good replacement for them. Bloomberg

Resources Institute, commented in The Guardian that China had taken more and more concerted and aggressive actions against climate change in recent years. Beijing’s decision to ratify the Paris Agreement illustrated how it recognized climate change as a global problem to which China was vulnerable, and how it needed to tackle severe environmental pollution at home.

According to Song, China’s leaders believed they could turn the fight against climate change into “a new engine for growth” as “The old development model is no longer working and, just out of its own economic interests, China is looking for new ways to spur the economy.”

Now that the two biggest carbon emitters have ratified the Paris Agreement, it is time also for the Philippines to move forward on making a decision on this matter. As we have now seen with the US and China ratifications, the Paris Agreement has a life of its own, regardless of what we do.

We can certainly decide to isolate ourselves and be the only country in the world that does not ratify the Paris

Agreement. If we decide to do that, we must be ready to address climate change on our own with our resources and with no one to help us. That would be very foolish.

Of course, the Paris Agreement is imperfect, certainly flawed from a climate justice point of view.

While we succeeded in integrating human rights and ecosystems integrity into the agreement, the language could have been stronger.

Its support provisions on finance, technology transfer, and capacity building could have been more legally binding. But imperfect as it is, the Paris Agreement is the only one possible at this time if we want global cooperation. Thankfully, it is not the least-common—denominator agreement but the optimum possible with an opening for improving it in the years to come. For sure, it is the only multilateral game in town for the next 10 to 20 years.

When the Philippines supported the adoption of the Paris Agreement last December 12, 2015 in Paris, Secretary Manny de Guzman, vicechairman of the Climate Change Commission, spoke eloquently about the significance of what we were doing: “Paris is where the

countries and peoples of the world, in communion and in solidarity with each other, took decisive action against climate change.”

Secretary De Guzman and his colleagues at the Climate Change Commission, Commissioners Veronica Victorio and Noel Gaerlan, are in the forefront of the Philippine efforts to address climate change. They have shown great leadership and innovation on this issue, including internationally (we just hosted a major event with the Climate Vulnerable Forum), even as they have to address lingering institutional issues within the CCC such as making sure collegiality is the rule and that the CCC is able to maximize civil society engagement. I support them fully and will walk with them to ensure we respond effectively to climate change.

In all my lectures and talks on climate change, I constantly point to the five interests we have on this issue. First, we must be very concerned about the impact of climate change, especially on the poor. Second, we must be aware of and address the impact of mitigation interventions on our economy and make sure they work to favor and not hinder our development. Third, we must identify the

opportunities that the climate change issue brings us—among others, for a global leadership role, for scientific cooperation, to avail of the climate finance, support and capacity building mechanisms of the international climate governance system. Fourth, the climate change issue opens up possibilities for good investments in our economy that could help us transform for the better our energy and land use system, even enable clean industrialization. Finally, there is the opportunity to develop a climate justice liability and compensation mechanism.

All of these are reasons why we should ratify the Paris Agreement. If we were smart, we would use the agreement to transition to a clean energy system, protect our forests and improve land use, make our cities more sustainable, and support environmentally friendly industrialization.

With Senator Loren Legarda as our champion in the Senate and with President Duterte’s leadership (from his original skeptical stance, my understanding is that he is now open to ratification), we should be able to move forward and ratify the Paris Agreement in the next two months.

Let’s do it!

will continue to act as if the Davao bombing never happened. Or they will only mention it dismissively, in order to point out that the deaths there were not gory or numerous enough to give Duterte Mar-

tial Law-like powers.

In effect, the President’s critics seem to think that killing a suspected addict or pusher is more alarming than killing a productive, law-abiding member of society who just hap-

pened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. All deaths are political to these people— have been since Plaza Miranda in 1971 and the tarmac of the Manila airport in 1983, in fact.

It’s just that some deaths are

more exploitable for political purposes than others. To these empathy-free people, the Davao bombing won’t bring Duterte down and may even make him stronger, so the lives lost there don’t really matter.

By Adam Minter FOR 30 years, the word “sweatshop” has conjured up a very specific image: low-wage Asian workers making branded clothes in crowded, unsafe factories for consumers overseas. The power of that image has launched human rights campaigns, altered how major companies source their products and informed (often incorrectly) how politicians in rich countries shape their trade policies.

Now that image is fading into history. In Asia, at least, the factors that made sweatshops an indelible part of industrialization are starting to give way to technology.

A recent report from the International Labor Organization found that more than two-thirds of Southeast Asia’s 9.2-million textile and footwear jobs are threatened by automation—including 88 percent of those in Cambodia, 86 percent in Vietnam and 64 percent in Indonesia. Whether that will be good for workers in general is debatable. But one thing is certain: The heyday of the Asian sweatshop is coming to an end.

Nowhere is that shift clearer

Big...

From A4

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News

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

High court to deliberate on pleas vs Meralco hike

By Rey E. Requejo

T

HE Supreme Court will deliberate today petitions seeking to stop the Manila Electric Co. from implementing a P4.15 per kilowatt-hour power rate increase.

An SC insider said the Court has included in its en banc session today the petitions assailing Meralco’s power rate increase, which has been pending since 2013.

The high court issued on Dec. 23, 2013 a 60-day temporary restraining order or until Feb. 23, 2014 against Meralco’s power rate hike.

In another resolution issued last Feb. 18, 2014, the SC extended the TRO to 60 days or until April 22, 2014.

Before its lapse, the Court

extended the TRO for a second time but only until it resolves the main petition.

The restraining order was issued based on the petition filed by the so-called Makabayan bloc in Congress led by former Bayan Muna Rep. Neri Colmenares.

The petitioners insisted that if the TRO will not be extended after it was set to lapse on April 22, the power firm will be free to charge millions of its consumers the said the rate despite the pendency of

the petitions assailing its legality.

The petitioners earlier warned that the lifting of the TRO would result to inflation as the rate hike will add billions to production cost of manufacturers, which would push the prices of goods and services up.

In assailing the legality of the rate increase, the petitioners argued that the ERC committed grave abuse of discretion in approving Meralco’s proposal to pass on to consumers the increase in generation cost without complying with the requirements.

The groups said the ERC abused its discretion in provisionally approving the proposal of Meralco without conducting a public hearing as required based on the Implementing Rules and Regulation of the Epira or the Electric Power

Industry Reform Act. They added that the ERC’s approval of Meralco’s proposal to pass on to consumers the increase in the generation cost for November 2013 violates the Epira Law. According to the petitioners, the ERC under Section 43 of R.A. 9136 of the Epira Law, is mandated to promote competition and penalize abuse of market power in the restructured electricity industry.

The TRO covers generation companies such as Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd, AES Philippines, San Miguel Energy Corp., South Premiere Power Corp., First Gas Power Corp. and the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

Also covered by the TRO is the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation.

Meralco earlier attributed the abrupt increase in the generation cost to supposed maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya facility that supplies natural gas to three major power plants—Ilijan, San Lorenzo and Sta Rita—which supply an aggregate capacity of 2700 MW electricity.

It also said that the shutdown of Malampaya coincided with the scheduled maintenance of two other plants, Pagbilao 2 and Sual 1, which also collectively contribute over 950 MW to its requirements.

Meralco said because of the events, it was forced to buy expensive power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

On Dec. 9, 2013, respondent Energy Regulatory Commission approved Meralco’s request for a rate hike.

Lacson: Police summons possible THE investigative capability of the Philippine National Police may get more muscle in the event its power to subpoena people and documents for investigation is restored by a Senate bill proposed by erstwhile PNP chief and now Senator Panfilo Lacson.

Lacson’s proposed measure seeks to strengthen the PNP’s Criminal Investigation Unit (now the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) by restoring its authority to issue subpoena by amending Republic Act 6975, the law which established the armed, civilian unit police force of the Philippines with national headquarters in Camp Crame.

Under Senate Bill 1052, a person would be compelled to attend an investigation while a subpoena duces tecum is like a court summons ordering the recipient to appear before the CIDG and produce documents or other tangible evidence for use at the hearing or trial.

The bill has been referred to the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs.

“Under the present law, the CIU [now CIDG] is mandated to undertake the monitoring, investigation and prosecution of all crimes involving economic sabotage, and other crimes of such magnitude and extent as to indicate their commission by highly placed or professional criminal syndicates and organizations,” said Lacson, who headed the PNP from 1999 to 2001.

Because of this, Lacson said it is somewhat contradicting that the primary investigative unit does not possess the power to issue administrative subpoenas for the conduct of its mandated duties.

Lacson said when Republic Act No. 6975 was enacted in 1990, it repealed RA 5750, which had granted the CIS chief and deputy chief the power to administer oaths in cases under investigation and to issue subpoena or subpoenas duces tecum.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

IN BRIEF Oil prices cut P0.50

DOMESTIC oil prices declined by as much as P0.50 per liter starting Tuesday, ending three consecutive weeks of price increases.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum Corp., Flying V, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, Seaoil Philippines and Unioil Philippines issued separate announcements of the price rollback of P0.50 per liter for diesel and P0.35 per liter for kerosene.

The oil firms, however, did not move gasoline prices. Seaoil said the latest price rollback reflect the movement in the international petroleum market.

The Energy Department’s latest monitoring showed that prices declined due to oversupply of diesel while market sentiment has been affected by the opposing views of Russia and Saudi on the production cut.

Oil prices went up in the past three weeks due to speculations of a possible production cut during the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries or Opec and non-Opec meeting this month. Alena Mae Flores

Fishermen hit BFAR ‘enforcers’

BROTHER NICK IS WATCHING. Customs Commissioner Nicanor Faeldon officially opened its CCTV Command Center on Monday, one of the

LAGUNA Lake fishers from Binangonan, Rizal on Monday protested a provision of the amended Fisheries Code of 1998 that supposedly allowed “enforcers” to harass 30 local fishermen and confiscate their equipment.

Pamalakaya said this kind of incident is the result of the scheme of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to turn small fishermen against each other.

“Now small fishers are trained to become law enforcers running after one another. BFAR is making small fishers fight each another instead of uniting them for a utilization and maximization of our marine resources,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairperson, said in a statement.

Fishermen from other parts of the archipelago were also trained and armed to enforce the Fisheries Code of 1998 specifically to run after government’s so-called illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

measures implemented to deter corruption inside the bureau. Danny Pata

Sandy Araneta

Bank secrecy law repeal considered

Airport security tightened

By Macon Ramos-Araneta THE Senate is headed toward relaxing or repealing the country’s law on bank secrecy as a step to counter terrorism and corruption, said Senator Francis Escudero.

Once amendments to the bank secrecy or the mandatory waiver for public officials are passed, bank records automatically become accessible to the Anti-Money Laundering Council, Bureau of Internal Revenue, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Ombudsman.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco has been asking Congress to relax the Bank Secrecy Law so that

the BSP can further strengthen its enforcement powers.

“This means that the BSP is asking for authority from Congress to be able to look into bank accounts in the course of bank examination, when there is a reasonable ground to believe the fraud, unlawful activity, or irregularity has been committed or is being committed,” Tetangco said.

He said the concern he raised involved the Philippines being one of the very few countries that have bank secrecy laws and that the regulator is not exempted from the Bank Secrecy Law. “The concern is really that since many countries have lifted their bank secrecy regulations, the Philippines might attract dirty money or

laundered money because of the existence of bank secrecy laws here,” he warned.

Escudero said that since some Senate proposals may exclude government officials, they will however compel public officials to submit a waiver in favor of the Ombudsman on the secrecy of their bank deposits, along with their sworn Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth.

Such move is covered in Escudero’s proposed Senate Bill No. 80.

“Now if they refuse to sign a waiver, then they don’t have a business being in government. For me, anybody who is in the government has no right to say it is a secret,” said Escudero.

Escudero said there are two ways

of doing it in so far as government officials are concerned.

“One way is to remove government officials from the coverage of RA 1405, while the other is to comply with the provisions of 1405 by requiring all public officials and employees to submit a waiver with their SALN in favor of the AMLC, the BIR and the Ombudsman to look into their deposits,” Escudero said.

This would not require changes to the law but would simply require public officials to submit a waiver together with his or her SALN. The Senate Committee on Banks, Financial Institutions and Currencies, which Escudero chairs, heard today several legislative proposals to amend the Bank Secrecy Law.

Freedom always healthy, Arroyo says of condition

EQUAL BEFORE THE LAW. Makati cops distribute leaflets inside the posh Magallanes Village in Makati City pertaining the program of the Philippine National Police against illegal drugs which will soon require checkpoints and body checks even in private subdivisions. Danny Pata

“FREEDOM is always very healthy.”

This was the crisp reply of Deputy House Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Monday when reporters asked what her health condition has been since she was released from hospital detention on July 21.

The First Division of the anti-graft court issued a minute resolution—following a Supreme Court ruling to release her— directing the Philippine National Police to immediately free the former President from her hospital detention.

The anti-graft court’s issuance reiterated the Supreme Court ruling dismissing the plunder case against Mrs. Arroyo which has been pending with the Sandiganbayan First Division since 2012.

Arroyo said her release from the Veterans Memorial Medical Center had improved a lot her health condition.

“But I don’t know exactly how I am yet until I have my checkup. I’m leaving two weeks from now for Germany,” she added.

“I sent them all my medical records and there were additional tests that they asked

me to have done and I sent all to them.

Then they will send me their diagnosis and prescription. I have not received them.”

The former president was charged with plunder in connection with the allegedly anomalous P366 million use of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office intelligence funds.

Arroyo earlier asked the Sandiganbayan 4th Division to allow her to travel abroad.

The anti-graft court issued a hold departure against Arroyo since 2012 in the light of pending graft charges over the allegedly anomalous NBN-ZTE deal.

Arroyo was diagnosed with multilevel cervical spondylosis that prompted her to be operated on several times while in hospital detention.

Spondylosis is a painful condition of the spine resulting from the degeneration of the intervertebral disks.

She is scheduled to travel to France on Sept. 29 and stay there until Oct. 2.

Arroyo earlier said she will also attend a family reunion in Hong Kong from Oct. 29 to Nov. 4. Maricel V. Cruz

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Philippine Airlines management asked passengers to arrive early at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to give them lead time to go through the heightened security being enforced following the Friday night attack in Davao City where 14 people died and 67 others wounded.

“These measures include checkpoints near the airport and longer security checks at the entrance and exit points of airport terminals. Passengers with domestic flights must be at the airport at least two hours before their flight while those with international flights should be there three hours before,” said PAL spokesperson Ma. Cielo Villaluna.

On Monday, security personnel cordoned off one of the entrances of Naia Terminal 3 which resulted in minor inconvenience to passengers after someone left a bag at the site but security dogs only found assorted peso coins, clothes, toiletries, ball pen and mobile gadget charger.

Part of the airport security measure is the inspection of luggage while passengers have to undergo body frisking to ensure no firearms or explosives are brought inside the airport undetected.

National Police-Aviation Security Group director Mao Aplasca appealed to civilians including passengers to report any unattended baggage or suspicious persons roaming inside and outside the airport.

The Manila International Airport Authority is also keeping strict surveillance of passengers within the airport and implement strict car inspection.

Sports

A7

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Eagles, Bulldogs seal Spiker’s Turf title duel ATENEO survived a first-set scare while Ismail Fauzi added nine points then imposed its will and power in as the Bulldogs smothered the Tigers in spikes (36-24), blocks the next two to sweep Games tomorrow (9-5) and serves (5-1) to La Salle 26-24, 25-19, 25-17, yesterday and ar- 10 a.m. – La Salle vs UST score a follow-up to their (best-of-three for third) range a title showdown 12 noon – Ateneo vs NU tough 25-21, 25-21, 25-23 with National U in the (best-of-three for crown) triumph in Game One. Skipper Arnold BauSpikers’ Turf Season 2 Collegiate Conference at the Phil- tista Jr. and Andrei Medina unleashed a pair of 10-hit games but sports Arena in Pasig.

Marck Espejo soared high anew the duo failed to draw the needed on Joner Polvorosa’s set plays, con- backup as UST settled for a battle verting 16 of 22 attempts while Tex for third with La Salle.

Espejo finished with 24 hits while Intal went seven-of-seven on kills as the Eagles fashioned out the straight- Intal added nine points, Joshua Vilset win following a scrambling 25- lanueva chipped in eight markers and 16, 17-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-7 victory skipper Karl Baysa contributed seven in the opener of their best-of-three hits in Ateneo’s 71-minute romp.

With Espejo and Intal on the atsemifinal series over the weekend.

The sweep kept Ateneo on track tacking end, the Eagles produced for a title repeat in the country’s pre- 40 spikes, 17 more than the Archmier men’s volley league organized ers, who failed to flash the form that

by Sports Vision and backed by Ac- dragged the defending champions to a five-set duel the first time out. cel as official outfitter.

The Eagles also parlayed the National U gained a crack at redemption as the Bulldogs, swept Archers’ sloppy service reception, by the Eagles in last year’s finals, scoring nine aces with Espejo also trounced the UST Tigers, 25-19, 25- coming through with eight digs to 18, 25-21, to dominate their side of backstop Manuel Sumanguid III’s 12 saves that kept the ball in play the Final Four.

Madzlan Gampong fired 21 hits for the Loyola-based school.

Lucas Pouille of France (left) shakes hands with Rafael Nadal of Spain after their US Open Men’s Singles match at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Fourteen-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal was sent crashing out of the US Open on Sunday, falling in a five-set thriller to 22-year-old Frenchman Lucas Pouille. Pouille, ranked 25th in the world, reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (8/6) triumph and will meet compatriot Gael Monfils for a place in the semi-finals. AFP

Edwards confident of beating Casimero

By Ronnie Nathanielsz UNBEATEN 23-year-old Charlie Edwards said his clash with International Boxing Federation flyweight champion Johnreil Casimero of the Philippines is “a massive step up” for him.

Edwards feels in great shape and is confident of winning his first world title in the undercard of the Gennady Golovkin-Kell Brook showdown at the O2 Arena on Saturday, despite it being only the ninth professional bout of his fledgling career.

Edwards told Sky Sports in London he is confident of claiming his first world belt against Casimero, who boxing man and matchmaker Sean Gibbons believes is “the best kept secret” among Filipino boxers.

The Manila Standard watched Casimero train relentlessly at the Victory Mall in Caloocan City and he looked ripped and ready during 10 rounds on the punch-mitts with veteran trainer Jhun Agrabio.

The trainer said that despite the hand-speed and footwork of Edwards, Casimero will catch him by the middle rounds and put him away, pointing out that while he may have the speed he cannot match the Filipino’s power.

Edwards told Sky Sports News HQ from his Marbella training camp. “He (Casimero) is a two-weight world champion, but I believe I’m ready, my team believes I’m ready and Eddie and Barry Hearn believe I’m ready.

I’ve had the best camp ever. I feel in great shape and in great condition so I’m really going in there full of confidence to rip this belt off Johnriel Casimero.”

Busy PSA Forum today FOOTBALL, volleyball, and the Asian Beach Games make up for a busy session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum today at Shakey’s Malate.

The partnership between Globe Telecom and Astro Malaysia, where 12 kids will earn a trip to Malaysia for the AstroKem Bola Advanced Training Programme, will be tackled by Ray Guinoo, director TM portfolio and brand management, Rofil Sheldon Magto, manager Globe citizenship, and coach Hans Smith.

Peter Cayco and Sammy Acaylar, meanwhile, are going to talk about the coming activities of the Larong Volleyball Pilipinas Inc. in the public sports program aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918, and presented

by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Capping the weekly forum is the discussion of the country’s campaign in the fifth edition of the Asian Beach Games in Vietnam. Speaking on the matter are head of delegation Karen Caballero, and Marielle Ardiente, AVP for Bo Athletics.

Nadal conqueror Pouille knocking on Top 20 door

N

EW YORK—Two trips to Grand Slam quarter-finals—including Sunday’s US Open upset of 14-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal—has taken any lingering sting out of Lucas Pouille’s failure to make France’s Olympic team.

“I’m looking forward,” the 22-year-old said, and well he might after prevailing in a scintillating fifth-set tiebreaker over Nadal, a player he’s admired since his youth.

He’s in the quarter-finals of a second straight Grand Slam, having also reached the last eight at Wimbledon—after missing the cut for the Rio Games team.

Although he remains in search of his first ATP tour title—he

reached his first final at Bucharest this year—Pouille is up from 78th in the world at the end of 2015 and knocking on the door of the top 20.

His biggest move in the rankings came in May, when he jumped from 52nd to 31 after reaching the semi-finals of the Rome Masters as a qualifier.

At Wimbledon he beat former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and Australian Bernard

Tomic en route to the quarters, his first trip past the second round of a major in his 10th attempt.

After winning back-to-back five-setters in the second and third rounds at Flushing Meadows, he was ready to go the distance against Nadal.

“I knew if I wanted to win that, it’s not going to be like three sets, 6-1, 6-2, 6-2. It would be long. So I was ready for it,” said the Frenchman.

Playing for the first time on the 22,000-seat Arthur Ashe stadium, Pouille was energized rather than intimidated.

He didn’t even warm up on the court, because it would have required coming to the grounds hours before his match.

Instead he drew on the experi-

ence he’s gained practicing with top players like Nadal, world number one Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

“I have practiced with all the best,” he said. “I think they’re all unbelievable, incredible. The way they work, they’re working so hard, and that’s why they’re here. There is no other reason.

They’re talented as well, but so many players are.

“The way they are putting attention on every shot, they’re doing all perfectly.”

Work ethic He was particularly impressed with the work ethic of former world number one Federer, sitting out the US Open with a view to returning at full strength in 2017 at the age of 35.

“He was working so hard, like four hours, then rest, then next day the same. To see that after a long career, all the success he has, it was great to see this,” Pouille said.

Like Federer, Pouille has set up a training base in Dubai. He has also begun working with his own physical trainer who travels with him to tournaments.

The physical improvements he’s felt have boosted his confidence.

“The way I’m going on court is not the same as last year,” he said. “I think that’s why I’m better than the year before.”

He’s satisfied with the progress, and with his attention focused on quarter-final foe Gael Monfils, happy to wait and see if his latest big win will prove to be a career-changer. AFP

PH soft netters bag 4 medals

REBOUND BATTLE.

SUNCHANG, Korea—National Collegiate Athletic Association soft tennis standouts Princess Catindig of San Beda College and Ana Saguiped of the University of Perpetual Help Systems Dalta spearheaded the Philippines’ 4-medal output in the recent Korea University Soft Tennis Championships at the red claycourts inside the Sunchang Sports Complex here.

Catindig and Saguiped turned back the Park Chu YongYang Yob Bin pair of Dankook University, 5-2, and the Kim Hyo Em-Kim Su Yuong tandem of Dan Hu University, 5-1, to barge into the finals of the women’s doubles event.

The Filipina duo, both

Simon Camacho of Adamson and Andres Desiderio (18) of the University of the Philippines battle for possession in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Basketball Tournament Season 79 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Ey Acasio

NCAA Season 91 soft tennis finalists, however rammed into the solid groundstrokes and tricky underhand serves of Waseda University Japan’s Nagai Rika and Uehare Yuka and lost the championship match, 2-5, for the silver medal.

SBC’s Alyanna Viloria and Guia Arzaga tripped Kim Hyo Em and Kim Su Yuong, 5-3, to salvage the bronze medal in the soft tennis international tournament supported by sports patron BGen Dr Antonio L. Tamayo, the Philippine Olympic Committee, PSTA president Col. Jeff Tamayo and the Philippine Sports Commission.

In the singles’ division, Saguiped bowed to eventual

gold medalist Nagai Rika, 1-4; while Catindig was blanked

by Uehare Yuka, 0-4, as both NCAA soft netters bagged a bronze medal each.

The men’s team event proved to tough as the NCAA trio of UPHSD’s Mikoff Manduriao and San Beda’s Arjay Canoza and Caloy Ramiscal finished the round-robin preliminaries with a 1-2 record —picking up a lone win over Kongju National University— and failing to make the knock-out stage.

Korea University Soft Tennis president Dr. Kim Chang Lim and newly appointed Korea Soft Tennis vice president Kim Hun Soo awarded the prizes to the winners.

Red-hot Tierro seeks Tuna Festival tennis crown STREAKING Patrick John Tierro shoots for a third crown in as many weeks as he heads the field in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Tuna Festival Open Tennis Championship firing off Tuesday at the Gen. Santos City Tennis Club.

Tierro, fresh from his 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) victory over old foe Johnny Arcilla for the PCA ATF crown last Sunday, hopes to sustain his form as he clashes with wild card

entry Klyde Lagarde in one of the featured matches in the elite tournament sponsored by the country’s leading pawnshop, remittance and claim center Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

But Arcilla is out to redeem himself from his twin setbacks to Tierro, including in the all-local PCA Open two weeks ago, as the top-seeded opens hi title-retention drive against another wild card Vince EJ Tugade in the event

backed by Asiatraders Corp., exclusively distributor of Slazenger, the official ball.

No. 3 Fritz Verdad takes on Kenneth Salvo, fourth ranked Ronard Joven tangles with Wilfred Bentillo, No. 5 Leander Lazaro faces Jhun Alcoseba, sixth seed Deo Talatayod mixes it up with Henry Aniana in the other top matches in the men’s Open.

Top seed Clarice Patrimonio and No. 2 Khim Iglupas, mean-

while, banner the cast in the ladies singles Open with the former colliding with Ma. Angelica Novis and the latter facing off Kimberly Keethler at the start of the 16-player draw tomorrow (Wednesday).

Others in the fold are third seed Hannah Espinosa, who will take on Winona Cabardo, and No. 4 Frances Santiago, who will square off with Danna Abad.

Meanwhile, Janus Ringia and April Minette Bentillo pulled off a pair of

Junior Pirates upset Braves; Cubs win

By Peter Atencio GENEROSO Cecilio Jr. drilled in 31 points for the Lyceum Junior Pirates, who upset the Arellano University Braves, 77-66, and joined the defending champion San Beda Red Cubs and the La Salle Greenhills Greenies in posting big wins Monday in

the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association junior basketball tournament.

The Junior Pirates, who bounced back from a 76-78 loss to the Emilio Aguinaldo College Brigadiers last Thursday, claimed their first win over the Braves and kept their fading Final Four semifinals chances alive at The

Arena in San Juan.

They went on to post their seventh win in 14 matches, while the loss dropped the Braves out of their share of the lead with the Red Cubs, who fought off the Mapua Red Robins in the final three minutes, 89-84, with Robi Nayve leading with 14 points.

This allowed the Red Cubs

to move ahead in the solo lead with their 13-1 win-loss slate, with the Braves behind at 13-1.

The Red Robins fell to a share of third at 11-3 with the La Salle Greenhills-Greenies.

The Greenies, who drew 25 points and 11 rebounds from Troy Mallinlin, pummeled the Jose Rizal University Light Bombers, 72-51.

victories in the PPS-PEPP Tuna Festival age-grouper with the former, a top junior player from Koronadal, edging top seed Tugade, 6-4, 5-7, 13-11, to snare the boys’ 18-U crown yesterday.

Ringia also swept Tugade, 6-2, 6-3, in the 16-U finals.

Bentill, on the other hand, lived up to the hype and held off Tennielle Madis, 6-4, 6-4, to claim the girls’ 12-U diadem then trounced Ma. Angelica Novis, 6-3, 6-1, to pocket the 14-U title in the Group 5 event.

LOTTO RESULTS 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

A8

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

Japanese surprise Kazakhs in Asian tilt BINAN CITY—NEC Red Rockets of Japan had a nearflawless performance to crush a taller, heftier Altay VC of Kazakhstan, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19, on Monday in the 2016 AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena.

With all cylinders on fire, the Japanese turned the battle into a lopsided affair and clobbered the Kazakhs in just 74 minutes, ending the first round on top of Group C of this tourney organized by the Philippine Superliga, Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. and the city government of Binan, headed by Congresswoman Len Alonte.

Top gun Sarina Koga and skipper Akari Oumi were impressive, but it was the Japanese’s all-around brilliance that led them to this rousing win in this match bankrolled by SMM Sports, Nike, Senoh, Mikasa, Foton, BMW, Rexona, PLDT and Price Waterhouse Cooper with Crimson Hotel as official residence and TV5 and SMM TV of Thailand as television partners.

Koga had 12 kills and an ace to finish with 14 points, while Oumi chipped in 13 hits for the Japanese, who will be stacked against Foton Pilipinas in the classification phase Tuesday at 1:30 pm.

NEC Red Rockets coach Akinori Yamada said he is familiar with some of the Tornadoes, especially 6’5” middle blocker Jaja Santiago and American import Ariel Usher.

He, however, remains confident that they can pull off a victory that is similar to their win over Kazakhstan, a team bannered by a handful of six-footers.

“I know some of the players like Santiago and Usher are very good.

Their offense is very good. It’s going to be difficult, but I know we were going to win,” said Tamada through an interpreter. “Well, you know, we maybe small players, but after this win over Kazakhstan, we are now more confident. It doesn’t depend on the height. We are confident.”

Foton Pilipinas coach Fabio Menta admitted that playing against NEC Red Rockets is like scaling a mountain and they have to be at their best to pull off an upset.

Kazakhstan’s Raymariely Santos Perez dives for the ball in the 2016 AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship at the Alonte Sports Arena. Her team fell to the Red Rockets of Japan, 25-16, 25-17, 25-19. Roman Prospero

PH men’s chessers crush Nigeria, 3-1; Pinays lose I

NDIA sent the Philippine women’s team back to reality, crushing the Filipinas, 3.50.5, to pull them down to a share of 40th place Sunday after the third round of the 42nd Chess Olympiad in Baku, Azerbajian.

Only Janelle Mae Frayna, who is seeking a woman’s grandmaster’s title, escaped the Indians by drawing with top board Harika Dronovalli.

The Indians, forewarned after the Filipinas upset fourth-

seed Georgia on Saturday, played solidly in trouncing their foes.

The men’s team, playing without top board Ino Sadorra again, defeated Nigeria, 3-1, with Paulo Bersamina losing

the only game for the Filipinos. Eugene Torre won his third straight game in remaining the highest scorer in the Philippine team Sadorra, who team officials said had a headache, had a lab test Monday. He was rested again as the Philippines faces Costa Rica in Monday’s fourth round.

The men’s team is in a tie for 50th place as it amassed four match points and 14 game points Among the eight teams

Superal marks pro debut at Sherwood PRINCESS Superal launches her pro career on the very circuit that helped hone her craft, expecting a different kind of challenge from an elite field and pressure with money now also on the line in the ICTSI Sherwood Ladies Classic beginning Tuesday at Sherwood Hills Golf Club in Trece Martirez, Cavite.

“I’m happy to launch my pro career here in LPGA where I sharpened my talent and skills,” said Superal, who won three tournaments on the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour and the country’s best bet as the next LPGA campaigner. “I just hope to play to my ability and give myself a chance in the final round.”

The former US Girls’ Junior champion will have her hands full right in the first day of the P750,000 event sponsored by ICTSI as she drew LPGA veteran Cyna Rodriguez and Jayvie Agojo in the featured threesome at 7:40 a.m.

Jennifer Rosales was actually scheduled to join the 54-hole championship serving as the seventh leg of this year’s circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. But the two-time LPGA winner begged off at the last minute due to personal reasons, leaving the event one less player who could complete a dream threesome among the old, new and future of Philippine ladies golf.

But with Rodriguez and four Thais in the fold, the chase for the top P150,000 purse remains wide open with Superal, who has piled a number of victories here and abroad as an amateur, eyeing to hit the jackpot right in her pro debut in the circuit backed by Custom Clubmakers, adidas, KZG, Sharp, Summit Mineral Water, Srixon, Champion, TaylorMade, Ping, Yamaha and Pacsports.

it is tied with is Singapore, whose captain is Philippine grandmaster Bong Villamayor.

The Filipinos, who lost to Paraguay the round before, could climb even further in the standings if they could hurdle the Costa Ricans in the fourth round.

The women’s team has four match games and 13 game points, just like Jordan.

The Filipinas meet Canada in Monday’s fourth round, with Cristy Lamiel Berna-

les, who took her second loss against India, replaced by teener Shania Mae Mendoza.

The Olympiad scoring system gives two points to the winning team of the round, one point for a draw and zero for a loss. The game points, which used to be the basis for placings, is now the second tie-breaker.

The team, whose trip is made possible by the Philippine Sports Commission, will face off with Canada next.

Star Hotshots on brink of Gov Cup elimination

By Jeric Lopez

VOLLEYBALL SUPERSTAR Alyssa Valdez delivers an inspirational talk before the players of the

15-member schools of the WNCAA which kicked off its 47th season on Saturday at the Makati Coliseum.

Host Saint Jude Catholic School beat St. Stephen’s High School, 40-34, in the opening junior match. The seniors’ matches saw five-time senior champion Centro Escolar University whip Philippine Women’s University, 66-45, and University of Asia & the Pacific edge Miriam College, 40-37.

Formula 1 sold next week MONZA, Italy—The long-awaited sale of Formula One to an American media group is to be completed next week, according to media reports on Sunday.

The well-sourced German magazine Auto Motor und Sport said that the sport’s veteran commercial ring-master Bernie Ecclestone had confirmed the deal at the Italian Grand Prix.

The magazine reported that Ecclestone said Liberty Media, backed by American media tycoon John Malone, will make the first of two payments on Tuesday in a deal valued at 8.5 billion dollars (7.6 billion euros, £6.5 billion).

If that goes through, according to well-informed paddock sources, current owners CVC Capital

Parners, who hold a 35 percent stake, will leave the sport.

CVC Capital Parners, who invested in the sport in 2006, previously sold a 21 percent share to US-based fund manager Waddell & Reed in 2012, while also selling shares to another American investment group, BlackRock, and Norwegian bank Norges.

Liberty Media Group, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, is expected to take control of the company that will run Formula One. Ecclestone, 85, said his future with the business would remain in his hands. He told Auto Motor Und Sport: “I will do what I have always done. What role I play is my decision.” AFP

WITH a talented and deep roster, Star was expected to be at least be a shoe-in for a spot in the playoffs of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup prior to the start of the tournament.

Unfortunately, that isn’t the case for the Hotshots as the team is clearly having an underwhelming campaign in the season-ending conference.

Even with a slim 104-103 victory last Sunday against Meralco to snap its dreadful fivegame losing slide, Star is still on the brink of getting ousted with its 2-7 card, only good for 11th place, and with only two games left in its schedule.

Only the top eight teams after the elimination round will make the quarterfinals and with their current situation, the chances of the Hotshots making it don’t look really good.

Star coach Jason Webb acknowledged his team’s lackluster run this conference and conceded that the Hotshots are the ones responsible for their current state.

“I really don’t know how much chances we have right now,” said Webb. “We have the smallest chance of making it and kami naman ang may kasalanan nito.”

Mathematically, the Hotshots are still alive and barely breathing.

They need to sweep their remaining two assignments in the eliminations and hope that the results of the games of the teams above them favor their them to be able to force a playoff for a spot in the next phase.

“The most important thing for us right now is that the guys continue to believe in each other,” said Webb. “We’re still putting in team effort and everyone is contributing something important.”

Luck, hard work pay off at PCA Open THERE was luck and there was hard work. Patrick John Tierro had both.

The reigning PCA Open men’s titlist wore down local veteran Johnny Arcilla, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5), Sunday in the 35th Philippine Columbian Association OpenCebuana Lhuillier ATF Tour at the PCA indoor shell-clay court in Paco, Manila.

“May kasamang luck din itong panalo ko kasi kaunti lang ang difference, sobrang dikit ng laban hindi tulad nu’ng last week na medayo malaki ang lamang ko. Ngayon, talagang pantay lang ang inilaro namin, parehong maganda. Medyo maganda lang ‘yung ending ko,” said Tierro.

There was a sense of déjà vu in the air as Tierro once again fought Arcilla for the crown.

It was a different story this time though.

Last week, Tierro zoomed to a roaring start to snatch the PCA championship, 6-2, 7-6 (5).

On Sunday, the 31-year-old Tierro was the one who got left behind in the first set and had to weather an early assault by the 36-year-old Butuan native, who looked poised to avenge his stinging loss.

After winning the second set, Tierro continued with his dominance as Arcilla’s momentum hit a brick wall. Arcilla, white-knuckled in his effort to gain the advantage,

finally ran out of steam.

Tierro added another trophy in his growing collection and became US$1,200 richer. Arcilla, who had a solid run throughout the competition only to come up a little short, would have to make do with US$900 in the tournament sanctioned by the Asian Tennis Federation.

Meanwhile, Clarice and Christine Patrimonio turned the ladies’ finals into the ‘Patrimonio show’.

The 22-year-old Clarice shook off a sluggish first set to deflate older sister Christine’s hopes, 4-6, 6-0, 6-2, in the singles finals.

Clarice captured the crown and the top purse of P20,000 while Christine settled for P10,000.

Metrobank lends P20b to Globe

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Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

B1

PAL eyes Clark as new hub

By Darwin G. Amojelar

P

HILIPPINE Airlines is eyeing Clark International Airport in Pampanga as its new hub amid the worsening air traffic congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Parañaque City.

“What’s important is we develop it as a new airport, a new hub for Philippine Airlines because the congestion costs a lot of money to us. Our estimate is

PSe comPoSite index Closing September 5, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,764.05 43.37

PeSo-dollar rate

Closing SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 48.00 46.00 45.00

P46.520

44.00

CLOSE

43.00

HIGH P46.520 LOW P46.640 AVERAGE P46.565 VOLUME 390.732M

P392-P620.00 LPG/11-kg tank P35.70-P42.50 Unleaded Gasoline

oPriceS il P today

that we spend $60 per minute if flights are delayed,” PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista, told reporters at the sidelines of the company’s

signing of a $38-million loan agreement with Cathay United Bank Co. Ltd. “The only way for us to grow is to mount flights to Clark because there’s already congestion in Manila, so we cannot expand our operations. We have to look for other airport, that’s what we are trying to do,” he said.

Bautista said PAL planned to initially transfer five to 10 flights a day in Clark within the year.

The airline flies 150 times a day at Naia.

“It should be within the year because you can take sometime for you to prepare a flight because we need ground handlers, caterers and we need refuelers. We are now working with them,” he said.

Bautista said aside from domestic flights, PAL also planned to mount flights to Incheon in South Korea from Clark within the year.

“I think there’s a market. What we need is to develop it and make people use to fly to Clark,” Bau-

tista said.

PAL earlier announced the cancellation of some of its domestic flights from Naia to decongest air traffic in Luzon’s main gateway.

“What’s important is we contribute to the solution of airport congestion,” Bautista said.

Airlines already operating in Clark include Qatar Airways, Cebu Pacific, Tigerair, Jin Air, Asiana Airlines, Dragon Air, Air Asia Berhad and Emirates Airlines.

These airlines mount flights to

Ongpin selling all stake in PhilWeb

Best managed company. Hong

Kong-based magazine Alpha Southeast Asia names SM Investments Corp. as one of the best managed companies in the Philippines in a recent poll among investors and analysts in Southeast Asia. SM also bagged four awards, including best chief finance officer for SM executive vice president and CFO Jose Sio for the fifth consecutive year, most organized investor relations for the sixth straight year, best senior management IR support for the fourth consecutive year and strongest adherence to corporate governance.

Shown accepting the awards on behalf of SM are (from left) Tim Daniels, consultant for investor relations and senior vice president for investor relations Cora Guidote from Siddiq Bazarwala (right), publisher and chief executive of Alpha Southeast Asia magazine.

By Jenniffer B. Austria

P24.84-P28.27 Diesel P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene

Businessmen remain bullish despite bombing

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, September 5, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

46.6520

Japan

Yen

0.009608

0.4482

UK

Pound

1.330300

62.0612

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128942

6.0154

Switzerland

Franc

1.020825

47.6235

Canada

Dollar

0.770357

35.9387

Singapore

Dollar

0.735835

34.3282

Australia

Dollar

0.756500

35.2922

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652520

123.7454

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266681

12.4412

Brunei

Dollar

0.733138

34.2024

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000076

0.0035

Thailand

Baht

0.028944

1.3503

UAE

Dirham

0.272301

12.7034

Euro

Euro

1.116000

52.0636

Korea

Won

0.000897

0.0418

China

Yuan

0.149654

6.9817

India

Rupee

0.014981

0.6989

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.244918

11.4259

New Zealand

Dollar

0.727700

33.9487

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031566

1.4726 Source: PDS Bridge

IN BRIEF Calata tax case junked

CALATA Corp. said Monday the Justice Department dismissed the complaint filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue against president and chief executive Joseph Calata for lack of probable cause.

The BIR filed a P144.49-million tax evasion case against Calata last year for allegedly failing to pay correct taxes in 2011.

Calata is the sole proprietor of Zeon Paint Service Center and the president and chief executive of Bulacan-based Calata Corp., formerly known as Planters Choice AgroProducts Inc. BIR said it discovered a huge increase in the amount invested by the young businessman in Calata Corp. from P600,000 in 2010 to P217.7 million in 2011. Records from the BIR showed Calata declared gross sales or receipts of only P2.756 million in the period 2005 to 2011.

“After a careful analysis of the evidence and applicable laws, we find insufficient evidence to the charge respondent,” the Justice Department said. Anna Leah E. Gonzales

BSP: Relax secrecy law

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said Monday there is a need to relax the bank secrecy law to prevent the entry of dirty money in the financial system, like the one that happened in February involving $81 million from Bank of Bangladesh.

By Othel V. Campos AN INFLUENTIAL business group said Monday the latest bombing incident in Mindanao has not shaken the resolve of businessmen to invest in the region.

Management Association of the Philippines president Perry Pe said the explosion at Roxas Night Market in Davao City, despite the enormity of damage on life and business, was a singular event that would have limited effect on the economy.

“The outcome of that event will be more evident on the tour“The concern is really that since many countries have already lifted their bank secrecy regulations, the Philippines might attract dirty money or laundered money because of the existence of strict bank secrecy laws here. That was the concern,” Tetangco said at the sidelines of a Senate hearing of the committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies.

Bangko Sentral earlier asked Congress to relax the bank secrecy law so that the regulator could further strengthen its enforcement powers.

Tetangco said this meant that Bangko Sentral was asking for authority from Congress to be able to look into bank accounts in the course of bank examination. Julito G. Rada

Targeted subsidy

THE Finance Department said Monday the low-income group will be safeguarded from any additional tax burden brought about by the proposed tax reform package.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said a targeted subsidy program was being drafted by the economic team to shield poor consumers from the government’s plan to adjust excise taxes on petroleum products.

The finance chief said revenues generated from fuel excise tax adjustments would be redirected to those who needed financial aid. “We are currently developing a targeted subsidy plan, similar to that of Indonesia, where the most vulnerable, especially [when it comes] to the increase in transportation costs, will be protected in a manner like that of the 4Ps [Pantawid ng Pamilyang Pilipino Program],” Dominguez said.

Gabrielle H. Binaday

Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok, Macau, Pudong, Incheon, Doha, Dubai, Davao, Cebu and Kalibo.

PAL’s parent firm, PAL Holdings Inc., earlier reported a comprehensive net income of P4.62 billion in January to June, down from P5.94 billion in the same period last year.

PAL Holdings said comprehensive income in the second quarter amounted to P1.92 billion, down 11 percent from P2.16 billion last year.

ism side. But business people will continue to do business. So far, we have not received any concerns from MAP members,” he said.

Pe said President Rodrigo Duterte’s immediate reaction in declaring the “state of lawlessness” was constitutional and within his powers as the president.

“He must have some information that we don’t. And he campaigned for law and order, that we will try to solve criminality,” he said.

Pe said the declaration of lawlessness was usually supported by an executive order that would

give more muscle for such announcement.

MAP said a lot of businessmen would like to see criminality resolved. The six-month target period may not resolve the narcotics problem entirely, but it would somewhat minimize or neutralize drug peddling, the group said.

About 2,000 people were reportedly killed in drug busts and other drug-related operations over the last two months.

Pe said President Duterte was far from imposing martial rule as “he himself also knows the pitfalls of martial law.”

“He’s got too many Cabinet

members there who are very knowledgeable of the legal parameters of what declarations like that will constitute. And he also knows very well the repercussion of such pronouncements,” he said.

MAP supports the president’s business agenda on strengthening the country’s infrastructure to resolve traffic woes and the ongoing efforts to reform the taxation system that would benefit not only businesses but also individual taxpayers.

The government is also closely monitoring the “ease of doing business” endeavor headed by the Trade Department.

BUSINESSMAN Roberto Ongpin said Monday he will push through with a plan to sell his entire stake in PhilWeb Corp. after state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. rejected all his offers.

Ongpin said in a letter to PhilWeb’s board of directors and employees there was no chance for PhilWeb to resume operations as long as he remained a shareholder in the company.

“After having resigned as chairman of PhilWeb, and after having made several offers to Pagcor, all of which have been either rejected or ignored, it has become obvious to me that, while I remain a shareholder of PhilWeb, there is no chance that PhilWeb will be allowed any favorable reception on any proposal to Pagcor,” Ongpin said.

“Thus, in an effort to save the company, its employees and the some 5,000 employees of the eGames operators, I have come to the decision to divest of my entire holdings,” he said.

Ongpin said he was currently in discussion with several investment banking firms for the orderly and timely disposal of his shares.

He said of the proceeds from the divestment, he would donate P1 billion for the government’s drug rehabilitation program.

“It is heartbreaking for me to in effect abandon PhilWeb and all of its directors and employees who have, over the past 16 years, helped me grow it to be a successful and profitable enterprise.

Regrettably, it appears that I have no other choice but to totally exit from the company for it to have a chance to survive,” Ongpin said.

PH nickel ore exports likely to drop 30%, top miner says

By Ian Sayson SHIPMENTS of nickel ore from the Philippines may shrink by as much as 30 percent this year as the world’s top supplier cracks down on errant miners and after some companies cut output in the first half due to weak prices and poor weather, according to the head of one of the biggest producers.

Volumes are expected to drop at

least 20 percent compared with a year earlier, Dante Bravo, president and chief executive of Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. said in an interview. The suspension of mines during an audit initiated by new President Rodrigo Duterte means that more than 100,000 metric tons of contained nickel production have been lost, Bravo said, citing a company estimate.

“This audit is a follow-through

of what President Duterte said during the campaign, that he will take a look into mining,” said Bravo, adding that Global Ferronickel’s operations had been assessed and “we have complied with everything.” While the latest audit applies the same rules as in earlier investigations of the industry, “what’s changed is the person in charge and the approach in regulation and administration,” he said.

SSS 59TH ANNIVERSARY. The

Social Security System opens a photo exhibit featuring highlights on SSS financial performance, programs and achievements to commemorate the 59th SSS anniversary of the pension fund, which kicked off its month-long celebration on Sept. 1 with the theme “SSS @ 59: Kaagapay at Kabalikat sa Pagbabago.”

SSS president and chief executive Emilio de Quiros Jr. (center) leads the ribboncutting during the launch of the photo exhibit at the lobby of the SSS main office in Quezon City.

The global nickel market is waiting for the full outcome of the examination amid concern that further mine suspensions may hurt supplies, potentially lifting prices that gained to a oneyear high last month. Environment undersecretary Leo Jasareno told Bloomberg last week the government expected to present the findings Thursday. Most ore from the Philippines is shipped to China, the largest metals user, to make stainless steel.

“China will have to import more ferronickel, especially from Indonesia, to cope with the falling ore shipments from the Philippines,” Celia Wang, a researcher with trading house Grand Flow Resources Co., said by phone from Shanghai. “Nickel ore from other countries is still not competitive at the moment.”

The full-impact from the audit is yet to be seen as mines shut by the audit so far aren’t producing or shipping much anyway because of weather and resource depletion, according to Wang.

Chinese i mports of ferronickel jumped 56 percent to 92,240 tons, the second-highest on record in July, as Indonesian shipments rose more than fivefold, according to latest data from customs. Bloomberg

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Business

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks fall on Davao bombing

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

TOCKS fell Monday, after President Rodrigo Duterte declared “a state of lawless violence” following a bombing in Davao City that left 14 people dead, but a brokerage firm said the benchmark index would resume its appreciation in the coming months.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, fell 43 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 7,764.05 Monday. Despite the loss, the bellwether was still up 11.7 percent this year.

The broader all-share index also lost 15 points, or 0.3 percent, to settle at 4,614.19, on a value turnover of P5.8 billion.

Six of the 20 most active

stocks ended in the green, led by Vitarich Corp. which rebounded 12.3 percent to P2.47 and Calata Corp. which advanced 9.6 percent to P4.

Brokerage firm COL Financial Philippines said it expected the benchmark index to hit the 8,400-point level next year as the domestic economy would likely sustain its growth under the Duterte administration.

process outsourcing industry.

Tan said, however, the market would be vulnerable to correction over the short term on concerns that increased infrastructure spending and the plan to cut taxes could result in the ballooning of the budget deficit which would lead to a downgrade in the country’s credit ratings.

She said the PSEi also remained expensive with price-toearning ratio still at 20 times the 2016 earnings.

“This makes the the market vulnerable to sell-offs assuming that companies come out with disappointing earnings results.

It also increases the likelihood of share placement as companies take advantage of their high levels of valuations,” Tan said.

Tan said corrections would

COL Financial vice president and head of research April Lynn Tan said in a news briefing the Duterte administration’s thrust to boost infrastructure spending would significantly boost the country’s competitiveness and attractiveness as an investment destination.

Tan said the current administration had a rich pipeline of infrastructure projects under the public-private participation scheme. In the pipeline are 14 PPP projects worth P459 billion and five projects for approval by the National Economic and Development Authority.

Consumer spending is expected to remain strong on proposed cut in taxes, sustained dollar remittances from overseas Filipino and robust growth of the business

present opportunities for investors to buy stock at more attractive valuations.

COL Financial chief technical analyst Juanis Barredo said the current sideways trading in the market could last over the next four to six weeks after the PSEi recently broke the 7,850 level.

Barredo said the market’s retracement could be between 7,330 and 7,540.

COL Financial expects companies engaged in infrastructure, tourism and consumer to continue to do well.

Among its stock picks are Metro Pacific Investments Corp., Ayala Land Inc., SM Investments Corp., Cebu Pacific, D&L Industries Inc., Century Pacific Food Inc. and Concepcion Industrial Corp.

THE STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2016

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

Close

7.88 75.3 124.4 107 56.5 2.49 4.2 17 30.45 10.4 0.92 2.6 890 1.01 100 30.5 75 91.5 137 361.2 57 180 1700 124

2.5 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 17.8 58 62 88.35 276 41 118.2 1200 59

AG Finance 3.74 Asia United Bank 47.75 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 112.30 Bank of PI 106.00 China Bank 38.45 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 3.70 Bright Kindle Resources 1.52 COL Financial 16.44 Eastwest Bank 20.75 Filipino Fund Inc. 6.96 First Abacus 0.71 I-Remit Inc. 1.87 Manulife Fin. Corp.

590.00 MEDCO Holdings 1.000 Metrobank 87.3 PB Bank 14.5 Phil Bank of Comm 23.60 Phil. National Bank 56.70 Phil. Savings Bank 99.85 PSE Inc. 277.8 RCBC `A’ 32.75 Security Bank 217.6 Sun Life Financial 1360.00 Union Bank 73.65

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89 148

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 40.3 32

20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 31.8 109 20.75 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 79 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5.25 12.98 15 2.65 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 7.34 1450 3.28 0.315 2.18 234 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 20.2 71.5 13.86 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 34.1 1.63 33 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.87 8.45 10.04 2.09 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 5.9 801 1.55 0.138 1.02 152 0.640 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp.

45.95 Agrinurture Inc. 3.3 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 0.89 Alsons Cons.

1.78 Asiabest Group 15.1 Bogo Medelin 53 C. Azuc De Tarlac 200.00 Cemex Holdings 12.02 Century Food 17.04 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 136 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 24.1 Concepcion 58.3 Crown Asia 2.13 Da Vinci Capital 6.3 Del Monte 12.28 DNL Industries Inc. 10.900 Emperador 7.60 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.87 EEI 8.18 First Gen Corp.

25.4 First Holdings ‘A’ 74.8 Ginebra San Miguel Inc. 12.90 Holcim Philippines Inc. 16.54 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.6 Ionics Inc 2.300 Jollibee Foods Corp.

250.00 Liberty Flour 43.80 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.73 Macay Holdings 28.00 Manila Water Co. Inc. 27.9 Maxs Group 33 Megawide 13.98 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 312.00 MG Holdings 0.265 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.15 Petron Corporation 9.92 Phinma Corporation 11.64 Phinma Energy 2.20 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 6.15 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.62 Pryce Corp. `A’ 3.43 RFM Corporation 4.20 Roxas Holdings 3.4 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ 224 Splash Corporation 3.05 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.156 TKC Steel Corp.

1.82 Universal Robina 180.9 Vitarich Corp.

2.2 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.24

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 7.39 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 4.92 1455 76 6.66 9.25 0.85 17.3 5.53 0.0670 2.31 1.61 84.9 974 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 2.26 837 49.55 3.52 4.84 0.59 12 4.2 0.030 1.23 0.550 59.3 751 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 Filinvest Dev. Corp.

GT Capital JG Summit Holdings Keppel Holdings `B’ Lopez Holdings Corp.

Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

LT Group Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

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

0.385 74.80 16.40 1.27 6.30 0.380 0.400 865 8.5 11.80 7.00 1523 78.80 5.31 8.14 0.83 17.3 7.14 0.0370 1.210 2.060 84.00 689.50 1.27 1.03 214.000 0.3300 0.2050 0.285

10.5 26.95 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 5.6 1.44 1.97 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 2.22 2.1 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54 31.8 2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06

6.74 12 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 2.8 0.79 1.1 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 1.15 1.42 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69 22.15 1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69

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

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

Double Dragon Empire East Land Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Megaworld MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’ Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc.

7.750 6.87 1.38 3.600 0.275 39.500 3 5.11 5.6 0.630 1.05 0.182 0.630 59.9 0.780 1.06 1.85 4.92 0.132 0.2950 0.440 42.00 3.27 31.60 1.67 3.3 28.75 1.11

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.75 3.53 47.7 47.65 112.40 111.30 106.00 104.60 38.5 38.2 3.79 3.70 1.51 1.44 16.6 16.12 21.15 20.75 6.86 6.85 0.7 0.7 1.89 1.86 595.00 595.00 1.080 0.930 87.25 86.05 14.44 14.44 23.55 23.55 57.90 57.30 100.2 95.7 275 272 33.7 32.95 222.2 214 1370.00 1365.00 73.75 73.60 INDUSTRIALS 45.9 45.55 3.28 3.19 0.91 0.86 1.8 1.76 15.2 14.88 55.9 53 205.00 200.00 12.14 12 17.2 16.94 133 130 24.3 23.55 58.4 58.4 2.18 2.09 6.3 6.03 12.28 12.1 10.900 10.800 7.60 7.50 5.95 5.85 8.25 8.15 25.35 24.9 74.8 74 12.86 12.86 16.56 16.50 6.73 6.54 2.290 2.250 250.00 244.60 45.10 44.00 4.6 4.22 27.95 26.35 28.75 27.55 33 32.1 14.06 13.62 312.80 311.40 0.265 0.260 3.2 3.15 10.24 9.94 11.64 11.52 2.22 2.20 6.13 6.00 1.62 1.60 3.43 3.41 4.20 4.18 3.45 3.2 220.2 215 3.05 3.05 0.160 0.153 1.83 1.78 181.9 180 2.5 2 1.23 1.23 HOLDING FIRMS 0.400 0.385 74.50 73.00 16.80 16.34 1.24 1.20 6.30 6.15 0.385 0.375 0.395 0.395 870 858 8.5 8.28 11.84 11.70 7.10 7.09 1536 1511 78.75 76.90 5.31 5.31 8.2 7.94 0.83 0.79 17.3 17.1 7.16 7.06 0.0380 0.0360 1.340 1.220 2.100 2.000 84.00 82.00 695.00 680.00 1.30 1.27 0.99 0.98 210.400 210.000 0.3450 0.3200 0.2060 0.2050 0.295 0.285 PROPERTY 7.850 7.700 6.89 6.51 1.45 1.33 3.560 3.200 0.275 0.275 39.650 38.600 3.03 2.97 5.15 5.11 5.5 5.5 0.65 0.610 1.05 1.00 0.193 0.175 0.640 0.610 59.9 58.6 0.800 0.780 1.05 1.04 1.87 1.84 4.95 4.78 0.144 0.130 0.2800 0.2700 0.460 0.430 42.00 37.70 3.36 3.27 31.70 31.05 1.7 1.67 3.32 3.3 28.75 28.35 1.21 1.08

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.68 47.7 112.00 105.10 38.2 3.70 1.49 16.5 20.8 6.85 0.7 1.89 595.00 1.020 86.8 14.44 23.55 57.50 100.2 272 33.6 219.4 1365.00 73.70

-1.60 -0.10 -0.27 -0.85 -0.65 0.00 -1.97 0.36 0.24 -1.58 -1.41 1.07 0.85 2.00 -0.57 -0.41 -0.21 1.41 0.35 -2.09 2.60 0.83 0.37 0.07

43,000 8,600 2,105,990 934,890 137,900 16,000 115,000 201,100 477,200 600 43,000 38,000 500 46,211,000 1,079,960 2,700 700 258,160 180 26,410 291,000 1,426,390 255 43,950

45.65 3.24 0.86 1.77 15.12 55.9 205.00 12.04 17.16 130 24.25 58.4 2.09 6.18 12.28 10.800 7.60 5.90 8.18 24.9 74 12.86 16.50 6.55 2.250 244.60 45.10 4.22 27.90 28.7 32.8 13.62 311.60 0.260 3.2 10.10 11.52 2.22 6.04 1.62 3.41 4.19 3.45 215.4 3.05 0.156 1.82 180.9 2.47 1.23

-0.65 -1.82 -3.37 -0.56 0.13 5.47 2.50 0.17 0.70 -4.41 0.62 0.17 -1.88 -1.90 0.00 -0.92 0.00 0.51 0.00 -1.97 -1.07 -0.31 -0.24 -0.76 -2.17 -2.16 2.97 -10.78 -0.36 2.87 -0.61 -2.58 -0.13 -1.89 1.59 1.81 -1.03 0.91 -1.79 0.00 -0.58 -0.24 1.47 -3.84 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.27 -0.81

318,900 796,000 1,652,000 6,841,000 29,000 2,800 110 7,579,900 1,722,100 1,330 1,772,900 3,780 820,000 343,100 9,300 1,481,300 400,600 7,494,100 420,100 3,058,100 182,070 300 1,424,100 468,700 1,162,000 171,670 700 132,000 1,300 7,805,200 419,300 3,931,000 28,870 120,000 995,000 8,173,100 18,400 597,000 1,017,800 102,000 205,000 161,000 15,000 6,080 74,000 4,460,000 1,230,000 1,109,730 96,822,000 225,000

0.390 73.60 16.80 1.24 6.15 0.380 0.395 860 8.28 11.80 7.10 1520 78.40 5.31 8 0.83 17.3 7.1 0.0370 1.220 2.020 82.00 689.50 1.29 0.98 210.000 0.3450 0.2060 0.295

1.30 -1.60 2.44 -2.36 -2.38 0.00 -1.25 -0.58 -2.59 0.00 1.43 -0.20 -0.51 0.00 -1.72 0.00 0.00 -0.56 0.00 0.83 -1.94 -2.38 0.00 1.57 -4.85 -1.87 4.55 0.49 3.51

1,640,000 1,911,450 3,769,600 62,000 34,500 2,570,000 10,000 379,590 4,063,200 2,035,900 77,900 56,845 447,640 1,800 4,333,900 74,000 1,658,100 16,694,200 12,100,000 182,000 1,045,000 1,425,140 285,440 240,000 62,000 550 7,060,000 40,000 1,580,000

7.700 6.51 1.34 3.280 0.275 39.500 2.99 5.11 5.5 0.620 1.00 0.175 0.620 59.9 0.780 1.04 1.86 4.78 0.133 0.2800 0.460 38.00 3.31 31.25 1.69 3.32 28.50 1.14

-0.65 -5.24 -2.90 -8.89 0.00 0.00 -0.33 0.00 -1.79 -1.59 -4.76 -3.85 -1.59 0.00 0.00 -1.89 0.54 -2.85 0.76 -5.08 4.55 -9.52 1.22 -1.11 1.20 0.61 -0.87 2.70

29,900 2,100 15,423,000 13,063,000 20,000 5,485,000 239,000 1,800 19,900 9,258,000 11,000 458,810,000 6,217,000 276,990 303,000 3,929,000 1,154,000 24,067,000 78,120,000 280,000 140,000 600 477,000 295,100 75,000 20,000 25,519,900 75,179,000

386,370.00 -100,665,368 20,339,059.00 41,035.00 -378,600.00 -6,148,640.00 9,350.00 291,550.00 -203,380.00 -58,925,180.50 -2,422,473.50 -1,193,712.00 -4,389,250 26,373,610.00 431,144.50 8,021,580.00 -12,800.00 -390,520.00

44,134,098.00 -23,560,874.00 -47,100.00 52,450.00 -6,364,254.00 -872,036.00 15,466,323.00 -1,213,410.00 -24,280,855.00 -560,415.00 21,233,968.00 6,580.00 -438,650.00 -14,025,588.00 11,180.00 5,802,490.00 -8,066,680.00 -20,040,522.00 3,562,104.00 2,686,300.00 -20,795,192.00 -123,452.00 139,100.00 -4,373,280.00 8,000.00 196,680.00 -129,280.00

-119,569,103 -4,667,560.00

-18,150,725.50 38,847,956.00

11,539,535 192,904.00 -934,336.00 129,490.00 -752,217.00 -4,795,977.00 -1,330,578.00 -43,656,684.00

-9,089,298.00 -107,295,325.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

7.56 1.62 8.59

3.38 0.83 5.73

10.5 66 1.44 1.09 14.88 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 2.6 7.67 1700 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 4.8 830 1600 5.95

70.5 1.97 119.5 7 5.8 0.017

17.02 1.23 102.6 3.01 4 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 2.53 3.2 95.5 1 2.46 15.2

6.5 1.91 1.01 1.95 3.1 0.650 1.8 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 79 4.39 2748 0.435 1.2 31.45 60.55

11.6 0.85 10 0.490 1.9

7.59 0.63 5 0.315 1.14

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 1.030 3.06 0.020 0.021 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

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 0.365 1.54 0.012 0.013 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

70 553

33 490

120 515 8.21 12.28 1060

101.5 480 5.88 6.5 997

1047

1011

84.8

75

-6,312.00 9,900.00 296,400.00 -222,980.00 -13,690.00 -67,300.00 3,031,420.00 32,332,165.00 30.00 -2,292,810.00 8,000.00 87,880.00 -5,378,946.50 -677,790.00 -587,670.00 -66,639,960.00 -406,000.00 72,900.00

-6,798,980.00 -209,231,740.00 -415,250.00

1.34

1

6.98

0.8900

15

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6

Close

Starmalls 6.89 Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. 1.030 Vista Land & Lifescapes 5.880

Low

7 6.51 1.070 1.030 5.920 5.770 SERVICES 2GO Group’ 7.38 7.42 7.31 ABS-CBN 49.15 49.9 49.2 Acesite Hotel 1.3 1.31 1.27 APC Group, Inc. 0.590 0.600 0.590 Asian Terminals Inc. 11.48 11 11 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 5.41 5.41 5.41 Bloomberry 5.72 5.72 5.54 Boulevard Holdings 0.0940 0.0990 0.0940 Calata Corp.

3.65 4.28 3.65 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 122.4 121.9 120 Centro Esc. Univ.

9.9 9.99 9.9 Discovery World 2.22 2.35 2.35 DFNN Inc. 5.38 5.65 5.25 FEUI 960 960 960 Globe Telecom 2010 2060 2028 GMA Network Inc. 6.30 6.35 6.30 Golden Haven 15.14 15.14 14.74 Grand Plaza Hotel 20.40 20.40 20.40 Harbor Star 1.95 1.99 1.85 I.C.T.S.I. 83.5 83.4 79.5 Imperial Res. `A’ 20.80 21.75 20.20 Imperial Res. `B’ 155.1 155 150 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0093 0.0093 0.0090 IPM Holdings 9.25 9.35 9.20 Island Info 0.300 0.300 0.295 ISM Communications 1.4300 1.4900 1.4000 Jackstones 3.8 3.81 3.65 LBC Express 11.9 12.4 11.9 Leisure & Resorts 4.36 4.52 4.16 Liberty Telecom 2.18 2.18 2.17 Lorenzo Shipping 1.14 1.13 1.04 Macroasia Corp.

2.25 2.28 2.28 Manila Broadcasting 21.50 21.50 21.50 Manila Bulletin 0.580 0.570 0.570 Manila Jockey 1.98 1.99 1.99 Melco Crown 3.78 3.88 3.67 Metro Retail 5.38 5.72 5.31 NOW Corp.

3.680 3.870 3.670 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 11.34 11.34 11.34 PAL Holdings Inc. 5.45 5.80 5.55 Phil. Seven Corp.

130.00 130.00 130.00 Philweb.Com Inc. 5.85 7.20 5.60 PLDT Common 1807.00 1833.00 1804.00 PremiereHorizon 0.440 0.450 0.430 Premium Leisure 0.890 0.890 0.860 Puregold 44.50 45.60 44.55 Robinsons RTL 81.70 81.80 81.50 SBS Phil. Corp.

6.20 6.20 6.00 SSI Group 3.20 3.30 3.18 STI Holdings 0.610 0.620 0.600 Travellers 3.49 3.48 3.42 Waterfront Phils.

0.350 0.350 0.345 Yehey 6.280 5.950 5.900 MINING & OIL Abra Mining 0.0039 0.0040 0.0038 Apex `A’ 2.95 2.98 2.92 Atlas Cons. `A’ 3.89 3.94 3.83 Benguet Corp `A’ 2.2100 2.29 2.18 Benguet Corp `B’ 2.4000 2.4000 2.2000 Century Peak Metals Hldgs0.67 0.67 0.62 Coal Asia 0.420 0.410 0.400 Dizon 8.50 8.50 8.36 Ferronickel 0.850 0.850 0.830 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.275 0.275 0.270 Lepanto `A’ 0.202 0.202 0.200 Lepanto `B’ 0.214 0.224 0.215 Manila Mining `A’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0110 Manila Mining `B’ 0.0120 0.0110 0.0110 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.68 1.69 1.64 Nickelasia 6.31 6.52 6.28 Nihao Mineral Resources 2.95 3 2.9 Omico 0.5100 0.5200 0.5000 Oriental Peninsula Res. 1.0000 1.0000 0.9800 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 Oriental Pet. `B’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0110 Petroenergy Res. Corp.

4.06 4.07 4.06 Philex `A’ 8.70 8.70 8.47 PhilexPetroleum 3.20 3.30 3.20 Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0120 Semirara Corp.

113.50 113.50 112.00 TA Petroleum 3.37 3.37 3.19 United Paragon 0.0100 0.0110 0.0095 PREFERRED ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 49.1 48.55 48.1 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 539.5 530.5 528 DD Pref 104.9 105 104 First Gen G 118 118 118 GLOBE PREF P 531 531 531 GMA Holdings Inc. 6.08 6.09 6.08 Leisure and Resort 1.03 1.03 1.03 PCOR-Preferred A 1061 1061 1061 PCOR-Preferred B 1135 1140 1140 PF Pref 2 1020 1020 1020 PNX PREF 3A 104.8 110 110 PNX PREF 3B 108.7 115 115 SMC Preferred C 81.1 81.1 81.1 SMC Preferred D 76.55 76.75 76.75 SMC Preferred E 79.8 79.7 77 SMC Preferred F 80 79.4 79.4 SMC Preferred G 79 79.85 79.8 SMC Preferred H 78.25 78.3 78.1 SMC Preferred I 78.8 78.8 78.8 Swift Pref 2.16 2.2 1.92 WARRANTS & BONDS LR Warrant 2.580 2.670 2.350 SME Alterra Capital 4.2 4.25 4.1 Makati Fin. Corp.

3.89 3.95 3.7 Italpinas 4.98 5.02 4.9 Xurpas 15.7 15.7 15.62 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF 128.9 128.8 127.5

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

53,564,108

INDUSTRIAL

166,685,125

HOLDING FIRMS

High

64,013,778

PROPERTY

723,638,880

SERVICES

213,915,439

MINING & OIL

292,234,862

GRAND TOTAL

1,516,098,662

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

7 1.050 5.810

1.60 1.94 -1.19

6,300 1,990,000 2,271,900

7.4 49.2 1.27 0.590 11 5.41 5.58 0.0980 4 121.1 9.98 2.35 5.50 960 2034 6.30 15.00 20.40 1.86 79.5 21.00 150 0.0091 9.32 0.295 1.4300 3.77 12.4 4.25 2.17 1.07 2.28 21.50 0.570 1.99 3.81 5.65 3.680 11.34 5.75 130.00 6.72 1804.00 0.450 0.890 45.15 81.70 6.03 3.23 0.600 3.43 0.345 5.910

0.27 0.10 -2.31 0.00 -4.18 0.00 -2.45 4.26 9.59 -1.06 0.81 5.86 2.23 0.00 1.19 0.00 -0.92 0.00 -4.62 -4.79 0.96 -3.29 -2.15 0.76 -1.67 0.00 -0.79 4.20 -2.52 -0.46 -6.14 1.33 0.00 -1.72 0.51 0.79 5.02 0.00 0.00 5.50 0.00 14.87 -0.17 2.27 0.00 1.46 0.00 -2.74 0.94 -1.64 -1.72 -1.43 -5.89

167,700 16,200 3,000 414,000 100 1,500 4,087,600 53,250,000 28,477,000 96,360 3,000 5,000 306,900 1,000 40,835 162,000 241,100 12,700 7,224,000 1,723,430 41,900 100 16,000,000 1,058,300 14,360,000 1,753,000 106,000 400 5,239,000 428,000 60,000 24,000 100 10,000 20,000 4,222,000 25,211,300 3,755,000 5,000 33,900 20 9,807,000 49,570 3,130,000 15,204,000 1,298,900 256,690 1,875,500 5,616,000 1,167,000 378,000 260,000 4,700

0.0040 2.97 3.94 2.2000 2.4000 0.63 0.400 8.40 0.850 0.275 0.202 0.215 0.0110 0.0110 1.64 6.4 2.96 0.5000 0.9800 0.0110 0.0110 4.06 8.65 3.20 0.0120 113.50 3.21 0.0099

2.56 0.68 1.29 -0.45 0.00 -5.97 -4.76 -1.18 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.47 0.00 -8.33 -2.38 1.43 0.34 -1.96 -2.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.57 0.00 0.00 0.00 -4.75 -1.00

134,000,000 159,000 159,000 21,000 12,000 2,841,000 1,070,000 500 7,611,000 950,000 8,350,000 290,000 2,600,000 1,000,000 665,000 4,304,800 42,000 100,000 127,000 22,400,000 300,000 33,000 1,008,800 1,882,000 6,800,000 183,620 45,000 95,200,000

48.55 528 105 118 531 6.09 1.03 1061 1140 1020 110 115 81.1 76.75 79 79.4 79.85 78.1 78.8 2.18

-1.12 -2.13 0.10 0.00 0.00 0.16 0.00 0.00 0.44 0.00 4.96 5.80 0.00 0.26 -1.00 -0.75 1.08 -0.19 0.00 0.93

2,400 1,000 80,000 8,900 3,830 122,000 4,352,000 80 1,310 450 470 3,000 2,400 1,400 5,210 2,000 12,600 7,200 46,990 9,000

2.500

-3.10

713,000

4.19 3.85 5.01 15.62

-0.24 -1.03 0.60 -0.51

1,026,000 74,000 335,000 601,700

127.5

-1.09

5,800

-10,405,370.00

3,272,694.00 -975,270.00 1,775,904.00 702,985.00 54,615,190.00 8,844.00 -75,600.00 -16,976,379.00 18,200.00 19,880.00 -7,929,680 -410,460.00

-6,426,390.00 -20,816,274.00

-155,621.00 38,715,910.00 -5,388,900.00 25,596,635.00 -6,342,965.00 54,440.00 -4,812,950.00 -964,200.00

3,820.00

Shell eyes IPO ahead of target PILIPINAS Shell Petroleum Corp. may undertake a planned P29.7-billion initial public offering ahead of the November schedule as current market valuations remain decent, according to a domestic underwriter handling the transaction.

“Early November is generally the schedule that we were targeting [for the Pilipinas Shell IPO] but due to where we see the market moving, there is a possibility that we may make some adjustments,” BPI Capital Corp managing director Eric Roberto Luchangco said in a recent interview.

“I think if ever we decide to do it, we will try to make it a little earlier. But it has not been decided yet,” Luchangco added.

Luchangco said while the local stock market had been on a decline over recent weeks, market valuations remained decent.

A preliminary prospects filed by Pilipinas Shell, a unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc., with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed the oil company would sell up to 300 million primary and common shares and with over allotment option of up to 30 million shares at an offer price of up to P90 per share in November.

The company said of the 300 million firm offer shares, 270 million would be secondary shares to be sold by shareholders Shell Overseas Investments B.V., The Insular Life Assurance Co. Ltd. and Spathodea Campanulata Inc. Only 30 million would be primary shares.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Phoenix sells units to parent company

30,240.00 80,000.00

By Alena Mae S. Flores

3,024,900.00 251,100.00

PHOENIX Petroleum Philippines Inc. said Monday its board approved the sale of wholly-owned subsidiaries Chelsea Shipping Corp. and Phoenix Petroterminals and Industrial Park Corp. to Udenna Group, the oil firm’s parent and majority stockholder.

Both companies represented about 8 percent of the consolidated assets of Phoenix as of end-2015 and had an estimated market value of about P7 billion.

Phoenix said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday the sale of Chelsea and Phoenix Petroterminals, which would be subject to a third-party valuation and fairness opinion, would have an estimated selling price of P3 billion to P3.5 billion (net of debt).

The sale was expected to generate between P500 million and P700 million in non-recurring gain for the company.

The company is selling the assets because they are not core-competencies of Phoenix, an official said.

“CSC and PPIC are not core competencies of not directly related to PNX, which is the marketing and sale of petroleum products.

CSC and PPIC are backward integrated businesses at best. As such they have divergent risks, potentials and requirements from that of PNX,” Raymond Zorilla, Phoenix assistant vice president said.

15,589,773.00 -80,000.00

-445,000.00 29,340.00 -16,250,670.00 3,320.00 33,775.00

-2,033,730.00 -742,780.00

-523,278.00 -2,180.00

188,460.00 890.00 -3,543,426.00

VALUE 1,821.26 (down) 4.54 863,595,179.29 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,815.97 (down) 44.15 1,289,319,062.95 HOLDING FIRMS 7,698.84 (down) 32.65 1,287,412,974.84 PROPERTY 3,518.46 (down) 21.57 1,554.80 (down) 10.78 1,402,953,096.167 SERVICES MINING & OIL 10,705.02 (down) 7.40 902,404,798.53 PSEI 7,764.05 (down) 43.37 78,427,486.375 All Shares Index 4,614.19 (down) 15.67 5,840,483,593.45 Gainers: 78; Losers: 112; Unchanged: 51; Total: 241

Business

B3

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Vizcaya folks back responsible mining

NISSAN HOUSES. Nissan Philippines Inc. and partner Habitat for Humanity-Philippines hold a formal turnover of houses to the community

of Bistekville 5 in Payatas, Quezon City. The turnover ceremony marks the completion of the house building and donation initiative that began in December 2015. Turning over the symbolic key to their new homes are (from left) Habitat chief executive Charlie Ayco, NPI president and managing director Ramesh Narasimhan, Bistekville 5 homeowner partners Nena Duron and Janette Pacheco, barangay captain Juliet Peña and barangay kagawad Jun Sibal and the representative of the Quezon City Housing and Community Development and Resettlement Department.

RESIDENTS dependent on a mining operation in Nueva Vizcaya province assured Environment Secretary Regina Lopez that they support her call to protect the environment and the welfare of the people in host communities.

Over 250 residents from seven barangays in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya appealed to Lopez not to put a stop on the operation of OceanaGold, saying the Australian-based mining company had been instrumental in bringing development and progress to the area.

The residents made the appeal in a dialogue they initiated Aug. 31 with Lopez at the main office of the Department of Environment Natural Resources in support of her responsible mining policy.

The visitors, mostly from Barangay Didipio and nearby villages, including Binogawan, Bellet, Capisaan, Upper Tucod, Lower Tucod, Wangal, Alimit, Papaya, Alloy and Dingasan, stressed the need for hardline policies to protect responsible miners.

The residents said they were one with Lopez in promoting responsible mining. “We need mining.

This is our livelihood,” the miners, mostly indigineous people, said.

“OceanaGold has been supportive to the people. We assure Secretary Lopez that the people’s welfare will always be a priority of OceanaGold Philippines while conducting their mining operation in Didipio,” said Didipio Barangay chairman Junjun Pugong.

Didipio is host to OceanaGold’s mining operation in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. The mining company, which recently underwent DENR’s mining audit, produces gold and copper. It also operates other mining sites in Mindanao and in other countries like Australia, New Zealand and El Salvador.

Lopez stressed during the dialogue that her mandate given by President Duterte was to clear out irresponsible diggers who devastate the land and convert lush farms into wasteland.

“I intend to do just that, not drive out business industry players who follow government standards, respect the environment, pay proper taxes and contribute to the economy of the locality where they operate,” said Lopez.

Metrobank lends P20b to Globe

By Darwin G. Amojelar

G

LOBE Telecom Inc. said on Monday it borrowed P20 billon from Metropolitan Bank and Trust Co. to partly finance the acquisition of the telecommunications assets of San Miguel Corp.

Duterte’s tax program THE Department of Finance of the Duterte administration has created a National Expenditure Program that seeks to embody the three key elements of sound fiscal policymaking, namely the provision of as much physical and social infrastructure as possible, the taxation of activities and institutions whose nature and incomegenerating capability make them appropriate objects of taxation and the reduction of the incidence of income and wealth maldistribution.

To redeem candidate Rodrigo Duterte’s campaign promise to expand and improve this country’s physical and social infrastructure, Neda (National Economic and Development Authority) has drawn up a P3.327-trillion NEP. The program embodies hefty increases in the planned spending of the frontline infrastructure agencies—the Department of Public Works and Highways, the Department of Transportation and Communications and the Department of Energy. These increases are coming on top of a very large increase in the planned spending of the Department of Education and substantial increases for other departments, especially the Department of National Defense and the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD). Not to be left behind, the Office of the President has been allotted a truly hefty planned-spending total—P10 billion, which is around four times larger than this year’s 2016 figure.

How to finance P3.327 trillion worth of expenditures? The Duterte administration’s key economic managers, like all government fiscal policymakers have three options: (1) collect revenues from existing and proposed taxes sufficient to keep the national budget (the General Appropriations Act or GAA) balanced, (2) go into deficit-spending mode and finance the deficit with borrowings and (3) underspend in order to keep the national budget balanced. Obviously, the first option is the only one that is advisable from the fiscal-stability standpoint.

To fulfill the second objective of a sound fiscal program—the taxation of activities and institutions whose nature and/or incomegenerating capability make them appropriate targets for taxation— DoF intends to seek Congressional approval of a number of new taxes and tax charges that are expected to yield additional reviews totaling P566.40 billion.

The impending proposals, which are contained in five packages, seek to raise the excise tax on oil; impose a tax on “sugary” products; restrict to health, education and basic foods the value-added tax privilege enjoyed by senior citizens; raise the marginal threshold for low-income businesses and consumers; rationalize the structure of fiscal incentives; rationalize the valuation of properties so as to bring valuations closer to market prices; raising the taxes on tobacco and alcohol (the so-called sin taxes); impose a luxury tax on yachts, jewelry and motor vehicles; place a levy on mining and carbon emission; and impose taxes on fatty foods and lottery and casino winnings.

The loss-of-revenue part of the tax program includes estimated revenue losses expected to result from the lowering of the corporate income tax to 25 percent (from 30 percent); replacement of the 5 percent tax on gross income earned with a reduced corporate income tax of 15 percent; limitation of VAT zero-rating to direct exporters; reduction of the estate and donor’s taxes; lowering of the documentary stamp tax, transfer tax and registration fees; and reduction to 10 percent (from 20 percent) of the tax on interest income from peso deposits and investments.

Other parts of the tax program are proposals to Congress for the loosening of the Bank Secrecy Act in fraud cases and the inclusion of tax evasion as a predicate crime in relation to money laundering activity. In addition, there will be no more issuances of tax credit certificates, which in the past have been used for fraudulent purposes.

Testifying recently before the Senate Ways and Means Committee, Secretary of Finance Carlos Dominguez III was heard to say: “in the end this (tax program) is not simply about revenues and expenditures.

This is about building a nation.”

That’s why the Duterte administration must get its numbers right.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

Globe, a unit of Ayala Corp., said it signed a 12-year and 15-year P20-billion term loan facility arranged by First Metro Investment Corp. with Metrobank as lender.

“The loan shall be used to finance the acquisition of 50 percent equity interest in Vega Telecom Inc., Bow Arken Holdings Company Inc. and Brightshare Holdigns Corp.,” Globe said.

The other half of the equity of VTI, BAHC and BHC is to be acquired by PLDT Inc. The total enterprise valuation of the three companies was

estimated at P70 billion, including total liabilities of P17.2 billion.

The equity value amounts to P52.8 billion, which translated into an agreed consideration of P26.4 billon for Globe’s 50 percent equity stakes in the companies.

PLDT and Globe on May 30 made an initial payment of P26.4 billion or 50 percent of the total valuation of the three companies.

The two will pay the 50 percent balance in two tranches, or six and 12 months after closing, respectively, Globe said the investments

would enable the company to support the data needs of existing and new customers.

The company earlier said it might increase capital expenditures by $10 million this year to finance the rollout of more cell sites using the 700 megahertz, 1800 Mhz and 2600 Mhz frequencies it acquired from San Miguel.

Globe has earmarked a capital expenditure of $750 million this year.

Under a three-year program submitted to the National Telecommunications Commission, Globe committed

to provide mobile services, including voice, texts and data to 95 percent of municipalities and cities in the country by the end of 2018, using the additional spectrum it acquired from San Miguel.

Globe expects that about 2,200 of the company’s existing cell sites representing over 30 percent of its network nationwide will be upgraded by the end of 2016, using the additional spectrum from the co-use agreement.

Globe earlier reported a net income of P8.97 billion in the January-to-June period from P8.71 billion year-on-year.

Citem cites Albay’s success in craft exposition THE Center for International Trade Expositions & Missions, an agency of the Deapartment of Trade and Industry, commended the significant strides Albay has made in the crafts market.

The agency said Albay crafts were a huge hit during the Manila FAME Artisans Village expo earlier this year at the World Trade Center.

Manila FAME is the country’s premiere design and lifestyle event, which showcases craftsmanship, design innovations and

artisanship in Philippine products. Organized by Citem, it is attended by buyers and prospectors worldwide.

Citem executive director Rosvi Gaetos in a report praised Albay’s performance during the April 2016 Manila FAME event, where the province registered a dramatic sales increase from the previous event held October 2015 at the SMX Mall of Asia.

The report said Albay’s 13 companies, which participated in the two events, had overwhelmingly higher group

sales than other participants from Laguna, Cagayan Valley and Davao Region.

The Albay participants in the Manila FAME were sponsored

by Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda Salceda, who was then provincial governor.

They include Aim Handicraft, Disenio de Craftico, EmEl Mape, Forcast, JM Handicrafts, Natural Carpet Industry, Ness Crafts, NGC Decor, Prime Legacy, RCB Crafts and Design, Shelmed Cottage Treasures, Starcrest and Rains Handicrafts.

The province has helped local design and craft companies to link up with both global and domestic markets as a means of improving its local economy and tourism.

Albay’s export sales in the April event totaled $603,021, accounting for over 65 percent of the $922,634 entire sales of the Artisans Village event.

Gaetos’ report said Albay registered P4.7 million in local, or more than 66 percent of the combined entire domestic sales of the event.

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

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

Business

Kuroda says BoJ reviewing policies

Japanese firms may leave UK H ANGZHOU, CHINA―Tokyo has issued its boldest warning yet over the potential fallout from Brexit, saying Japanese firms may shift key operations from Britain to Europe if they lose free access to the single market.

With a G20 summit under way in China, a Japanese government taskforce told Britain and the EU to minimize the “harmful effects” of Brexit on firms that treat the UK as a gateway to Europe.

Some of Japan’s best-known companies, including Toyota, Hitachi and investment bank

Nomura, are re-assessing their UK investments after Britain voted in June to quit the 28-member EU, according to a report issued by Tokyo.

“Japanese businesses with their European headquarters in the UK may decide to transfer their head-office function to Continental Europe if EU laws

cease to be applicable in the UK after its withdrawal,” said the 15page document, published late Friday.

The topic is almost certain to come up if Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and British leader Theresa May hold a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 talks in Hangzhou.

US President Barack Obama said at a joint briefing Sunday with May that they had discussed trade and both countries aim to “ensure that we don’t see adverse effects” in their commercial ties.

Japan has warned that some of its firms were lured to Britain by its sales pitch as a launching

pad for tapping the much-larger European market―adding that London has a duty to hammer out a Post-Brexit deal that protects Japanese companies.

“We strongly request that the UK will consider this fact seriously and respond in a responsible manner to minimize any harmful effects on these businesses,” the report said.

More than 1,000 Japanese companies do business in Britain, employing some 140,000 local people, and Japan’s direct investment in the country has topped 10 trillion yen ($96 billion) to date.

The report also urged Britain and the EU to make the Brexit

negotiation process transparent to avoid “unpleasant surprises.”

“Uncertainty is a major concern for an economy,” it said.

“What Japanese businesses in Europe most wish to avoid is the situation in which that they are unable to discern clearly the way the Brexit negotiations are going, only grasping the whole picture at the last minute.”

Britain and Australia, meanwhile, have discussed negotiating a post-Brexit trade agreement, the two countries’ leaders said Monday at the G20 summit in China, as Britain seeks to secure its economic ties before quitting the EU. AFP

Dubai pushes $20-b district DUBAI is pushing ahead with a new $20-billion district on the city’s main highway, which will include a development of 3,000 homes and 15 hotels designed for residents and visitors to walk around―a rarity in the city.

Construction of the first phase of Jumeirah Central is set to start in mid-2017 and will cost around 24 billion dirhams ($6.5 billion), according to Morgan Parker, chief operating officer at Jumeirah Central, a unit of state-owned Dubai Holding. He declined to say when the first phase would be completed.

“We will be responding to market needs and we’ll also respond to capital, because when capital comes it means investors thought about the market,” Parker told reporters on Sunday. The developer is exploring all funding options, including loans and bonds, and is currently in talks with investors on almost all of the 69 projects within the first phase, he said.

Plans for the project have undergone several changes. The first phase will include 18 residential buildings, 12 office towers, 2,800 hotel rooms, a mall and five parks, Parker said.

Others are also planning new projects in Dubai. Nakheel PJSC, the developer of manmade islands off Dubai’s coast, started work on a 20-tower development in Deira Island, the company said Sunday. The 5 billion-dirham project Deira Islands Boulevard will include 16 residential buildings, two hotels and two serviced apartment complexes. Bloomberg

British Prime Minister Theresa May (right) shakes hands with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull during a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of G20 Summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016. G20 leaders meet in China under pressure to reboot the world economy, after host leader Xi Jinping warned against ‘empty talk’ and a rising mood of protectionism that threatens globalisation and free trade. AFP

BANK of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda declined to rule out new initiatives to stoke inflation as the central bank conducts a comprehensive review of its policies and their effectiveness.

Kuroda emphasized in a speech in Tokyo Monday that the review, to be completed by the Sept. 20-21 board meeting, won’t result in any reduction in monetary stimulus, as is “being called for by some market participants.”

“There is ample room for further monetary easing in either of three dimensions― quantity, quality, and the interest rate―and other new ideas should not be off the table,” Kuroda said in prepared remarks at a conference. He declined to specify what other options might be considered if needed.

The yen gained after Kuroda’s speech, and was at 103.66 per dollar as of 1:42 p.m. in Tokyo, having weakened to 104.32 on Friday.

“Of course, it’s possible for the BoJ to introduce a fourth easing measure in addition to the existing three because Kuroda continues to say there’s no limit to monetary policy,” Takeshi Minami, chief economist at Norinchukin Research Institute, said after Kuroda’s speech. “But when you look at market reactions, I don’t think they are buying what the BOJ is saying. Markets feel Kuroda is reaching limits.”

Given this skepticism, Kuroda gave an extended explanation of why the bank may have to take an action even if it entails costs. He said there is “no free lunch” and pointed to “enormous” benefits for Japan in ending deflation.

Kuroda cautioned that some policies couldn’t be enacted legally or shouldn’t be, such as directly underwriting government bonds and monetizing fiscal deficits. Bloomberg

Hanjin Shipping to seek asset stay orders in 43 countries SOUTH Korea’s financial regulator said Hanjin Shipping Co. will seek stay orders in 43 countries to protect its vessels from being seized, after its court receivership filing last week roiled companies’ supply chain before the year-end shopping season.

Applications in 10 countries will be made this week and the remainder soon, the Financial Supervisory Commission said in a statement Monday. Hanjin Group, owner of the shipping line, should also take more action to account for the “chaos” caused to the shipping industry, FSC Chairman Yim Jong Yong

said in comments confirmed by a spokesman.

Vessels of Hanjin—the world’s seventh-largest container carrier with a 2.9 percent market share—are getting stranded at sea and ports after the box carrier sought protection, hurting the supply of LG Electronics Inc. televisions and other consumer goods ahead of the holiday season. Hanjin Shipping shares resumed trading Monday limit down 30 percent and later erased losses to rally as much as 18 percent. Any optimism may be misplaced, said Park Moo Hyun, an analyst at Hana Financial Invest-

ment Co. in Seoul.

“Retail investors are hoping for the best on false hopes,” Park said. “They think that government measures to help resolve the supply-chain disruptions could mean it’s also supporting Hanjin Shipping. They don’t seem to realize that that’s the wrong conclusion.”

The commission said 79 of Hanjin’s vessels, including 61 container ships, have had their operations disrupted. Hanjin Group chairman Cho Yang Ho and Korean Air Lines Co., the shipping company’s largest shareholder, should take steps to

ease the disruptions, Yim said.

Hanjin Shipping declined to comment on the applications for stay orders and Yim’s comments.

Korean Air also declined to comment.

Hanjin Shipping fell 8.9 percent to 1,130 won as of 1:58 p.m. in Seoul, cutting its market value to 278 billion won ($251 million). The stock tumbled 24 percent on Aug. 30, when trading was halted. The Seoul Central District Court accepted the company’s filing for receivership on Sept. 1 and asked for a revival plan to be submitted by Nov. 25.

While shares of Hyundai Mer-

chant Marine Co. fell as much as 5.8 percent in Seoul Monday, other container lines in Asia such as Orient Overseas International Ltd., Nippon Yusen KK, Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. and Kawasaki Kisen Kaisha Ltd. all rallied.

Hanjin’s woes show the container-shipping industry hasn’t recovered from the troubles it has been facing since the 2008 global financial crisis hurt trade.

Companies in the industry have shed people, tried to merge with their rivals and cut costs.

Even so, rates to move boxes from Asia to the US and Europe haven’t revived. Bloomberg

Free trade, competition—and danger AN ACADEMIC discussion of a relatively obscure trade agreement last week turned into a springboard for exposing the anti-competitive practices of the telecommunications industry and for highlighting the urgent need for reforms.

The Philippines isn’t a member yet of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) among 12 Pacific Rim countries (Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam), but it has expressed an interest in joining it, participants at the TPP Seminar Series on Competition Policy and Telecommunications were told.

The seminar series, organized by the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development (ACERD) and Ateneo School of Government (ASoG), focused on what the Philippines needs to do to comply with some 30 chapters of the agreement that spell out the legal and regulatory requirements in various areas, including trade and trade-related issues, investment, government pro-

curement, labor, the environment, intellectual property—and competition policy and telecommunications, the focus of last week’s seminar.

Two researchers from the Philippine Competition Commission, Krystal Lyn Uy and Isabela Villamil, spoke on possible gaps between Philippine law and the TPP requirements, particularly in competition policy and telecommunications.

In particular, Uy said the passage of Republic Act 10667 of the Philippine Competition Act, effectively met all the regulatory requirements under the TPP. Villamil, on the other hand, said gaps remained between the telecommunications environment and the TPP requirements.

While most of the TPP requirements for the telecommunications industry are ostensibly met by existing laws and regulations, Villamil said, the enforcement of these has been poor, at best, and non-existent in some cases.

As an example, she cited a National Telecommunications Commission

(NTC) circular on the unbundling of network elements issued in the year 2000 that has not been implemented 16 years later.

Another area where local carriers fall short is the TPP requirement of number portability, which refers to a consumer’s ability to retain his or her phone number even when changing service providers. Number portability is considered important because it makes it easier for consumers to switch service providers Under the TPP, interconnection agreements between service providers must be transparent; in the Philippines, these are undisclosed and are negotiated privately between companies, with no regulation from the government.

The biggest gap in telecommunications, however, was the constitutional restriction limiting foreign ownership of utilities to a maximum of 40 percent, Villamil said. This contradicted the TPP requirement that all parties be given equal market access, she noted.

While Uy and Villamil were cau-

tious not to discuss the PLDTGlobe buyout of the SMC telecommunications assets thaat the PCC says it will review for anti-competitive behavior, it was clear from the open forum that the issue was foremost in the minds of many who were in the audience.

In particular, concerns were once again raised about how the buyout would reinforce the PLDT-Globe duopoly by giving them control of the 700MHz spectrum and making it difficult for new competitors to enter the market. This anti-competitive behavior, in turn, does not bode well for consumers, who have had to suffer the double whammy of high prices and poor service under the PLDT-Globe duopoly.

There also seemed to be a fair amount of scorn in the room for the NTC and its commissioner, who has served three Presidents, the telecommunications industry—but never the consumers since he was first appointed in 2009.

One participant observed that it was about time that the government,

particularly the NTC, enunciate what the country’s spectrum management policy, given that most countries allocate scarce radio frequencies competitively to promote efficient use and gain a net social benefit.

Among those who had been in the telecommunications industry during the post-PLDT monopoly years, there seemed to be a deep distrust about enabling foreign companies to own more than 40 percent of public utilities.

Finally, one seminar participant questioned the wisdom of tailoring our laws and regulations to a foreign trade agreement that we did not draft, and said perhaps we should not even be joining the TPP after all.

There is more to this than meets the eye, as we’ll se next week when we examine what the TPP could do to our digital rights, transparency, intellectual property restrictions and even free speech.

Column archives and blog at: http://www.chinwong.com

40 CAR studes get SM scholarships

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—Some 40 residents of Baguio and Benguet were given technical-vocational scholarship grants by the SM Foundation, the social responsibility arm of SM Group.

The foundation revealed 20 out-of-school youth are taking culinary arts and the rest study restaurant servicing at the Baguio City School of Arts and Trade under the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority program.

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

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‘Commission nuke plant’

By Romeo Dizon

C

LARK FREEPORT ZONE—A member of the Central Luzon Regional Development Council (RDC) has called for the opening of the P2.3-billion mothballed Bataan Nuclear Plant in Morong, Bataan to reduce the price of electricity and to attract more foreign investors.

Rene Romero, who represents the business sector in the council, said Region III is always on orange alert, which means the supply of electricity is not enough to sustain business development. Opening the plant, he said, will surely stabilize the supply.

The 621-megawatt nuclear plant was built by former President Marcos during the oil crisis of 1976.

Following the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the US and the Chernobyl accident in 1986, the nuclear plant ceased to operate when President Cory Aquino came to power and its price ballooned to $2.3 billion.

Although decommissioned, the plant is being maintained to the tune of P40 million a year and remains intact until now. It would require another PI billion to rehabilitate it.

Romero said the Philippines has one of the most ex-

pensive electricity rates in Asia, which deters foreign manufacturers wishing to invest in the country.

He said he will reiterate his call for the opening of the $1.2-billion plant when they meet again in October. The council is being reorganized following the May election and its chairman shall be appointed by President Rodrigo Duterte.

However, the opening of the nuclear should not address the problem of pollution harmful to the health of residents and the environment in general.

According to Romero, welllighted roads will prevent crime as bad elements would think twice before plying their trade in the dark alleys and other places. “Öur roads and alleys are very dark because the government cannot provide all roads with streetlamps due to high cost of electricity,” he said.

NEW LIFE. Students of the San Jose Elementary School in Tacloban City celebrate their survival of Super Typhoon ‘Yolanda’ by parading in colorful costumes modelled after the Sangyaw and Pintados festivals during their school intramurals. Mel Caspe

13 taipans to help build rehab centers CAR, Bangsamoro to be federal states

By John Paolo Bencito and Francisco Tuyay

THIRTEEN business leaders have signified their intention to help build rehabilitation centers, the Department of the Interior and Local Government announced.

The department said its officials have met with taipans Ronald Elepano Jr., former vice president of DMCI Holdings Inc; Ruperto Nicdao Jr., president, Manila Broadcasting Co.; Renato Salud, senior vice president, JG Summit Holdings Inc; Atty. Jason Bayan, also from JG Summit; Riikki Escudero-Catibog, executive vice president and chief operating officer, GMA Network Inc; Jose Miguel Jimenez, PJ Lhuillier Group of Companies; Michael

Zambo studes take agri courses

Toledo, senior vice president, PLDT; Annie Garcia, president, SM Supermalls; Ryan San Juan, vice president, SM Supermalls; Andrew Tan, president and chief executive officer, Megaworld Corp.; Kevin Tan, senior vice president, Megaworld Corp.; Erwin Go, senior vice president, Philippine National Bank; Manuel Bahena, senior vice president, Philippine National Bank; Ernesto Tanmantiong, chief executive officer, Jollibee Food Corp.; Carina Agarao, vice president, Jollibee Food Corp.; Roland Villareal, vice president, Rustan’s Supercenters, Inc; Manuel Villar, chairman, Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc; and Ruel Maranan, president, Ayala Corp.-Ayala Foundation Inc.

“We will enter into some sort of a memorandum of agreement, as to what contributions they can make to the comprehensive rehabilitation program or how they can participate in it. Some of them would be willing to donate funds for the construction of the rehabilitation centers,” DILG Undersecretary for Operations Atty. John Castriciones said.

Two rehabilitation facilities will be built in Luzon, one in the Visayas and another in Mindanao.

Each rehabilitation center will accommodate at least 500 drug surrenderees. Another proposal calls for the construction of one rehabilitation center for each region.

Castriciones said the program aims to reform the 700,000 who surrendered in the anti-illegal

drugs campaign. The Department of Health and the Dangerous Drugs Board revealed that 70,000 or 10 percent who require more thorough and immediate care shall be committed to the government-run rehabilitation centers. The rest shall undergo community-based rehabilitation.

Castriciones explained that the surrenderees in the program, particularly in the rural areas, will participate in tree-planting, help spearhead the green campaign of the government or join the livestock-raising scheme. Those in the urban areas will be involved in the cleaning of the esteros or waterways and acquire vocational skills through the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.

MAJESTY. A play of light and shade not usually photographed in beautiful El Nido beach in Palawan.

Erwin Leyros

By A. Perez Rimando

ZAMBOANGA CITY—In response to an earlier call by the Department of Agriculture, many farmer-parents in Zamboanga Peninsula enrolled their children in agriculture and related courses this school year, a DA officer said.

City agriculture coordinator farmer Raul Bucoy expressed elation over the farmers’ action, saying the Philippines direly needed agriculturists to help boost rice and corn production.

These students born to farming families can later effectively and efficiently implement what they learned in school in their family farms after their parents shall have become too old to perform farm work, Bucoy noted.

The Department of Science and Technology provides scholarships for such students and the Zamboanga Citybased Western Mindanao State University has its College of Agriculture at Barangay San Ramon.

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—The proposed federal government will treat each region in the country as separate states, Presidential Communications Office (PCO) assistant secretary Ana Marie Rafael-Banaag said here Wednesday.

Banaag, who was the former Municipal Mayor of Natonin, Mountain Province, said the President, being a lawyer, was aware of the struggle of the Cordillerans and Bangsa Moro for self-determination.

Banaag accompanied Assistant Secretary Ramon Coaloping III who served as the guest of honor and speaker during the 107th Baguio Charter Day anniversary program held at the Baguio Convention Center.

“We support the Abueva version of dividing the country into federal states because it includes separate federal states for the Cordillera and the Bangsamoro after being neglected by the government over the past several decades,” she stressed.

The Palace official explained the Cordillera may become a separate state or it will be included in the Northern Luzon Federal State as an autonomous region.

Former Senate president Aquilino Nene Pimentel Jr., who advocates federalism, explained while there were 11 federal states in their proposal, the number of federal states could be increased in recognition of

the constitutional provision that recognizes the establishment of autonomous regions in the Cordillera and Muslim Mindanao, thus, the two regions will be treated as independent federal states in recognition of the contributions of indigenous peoples and lumads to the overall development of the country.

Mayor Mauricio Domogan said inclusion of the Cordillera in the proposed Northern Luzon Federal State will mean inequitable sharing of state resources because of the smaller population and land area of the region.

Domogan pointed out autonomy advocates in the region support the Abueva version, “unless laws will be passed that will equalize the status of small and big regions in terms of their share from the available resources of the federal states.”

In a recent meeting with the members of the Regional Development Council (RDC) in the Cordillera, Rep. Mark Go and Ifugao Rep. Teodoro Baguilat Jr. agreed to refile the autonomy bill but other lawmakers from the region proposed the conduct of more consultations to get more inputs on what should be included in the autonomy bill.

Go said a number of lawmakers support the Pimentel version and lectures are already being organized for the information campaign on federalism across the country prior to the passage of the federalism law.

Local governments can rename public schools

By A. Perez Rimando

PAGADIAN CITY—The Department of Education, in compliance with a recent National Historical Commission of the Philippines guidelines, has revised the rules and regulations in renaming elementary and secondary schools, and public places like parks.

A directive received by newly retired DepEd Region 9 Director Walter Albos from Education Undersecretary Alberto Muyot specified that national schools may be

renamed by the Office of the President or by Congress while public institutions of learning under the jurisdiction of local government units may have their names changed by the LGU concerned.

Specifically, Muyot’s directive said changing names of public schools under LGUs may be made by the Sangguniang Bayan, Panglungsod or Panlalawigan upon recommendation of the local school board concerned and upon consultation with the NHCP. The education executive

stressed that schools named after a province, municipality or city are considered appropriately named and, therefore, shall no longer be renamed, such as Zamboanga del Norte National High School, Basilan NHS, Dapitan City HS and Misamis Occidental NHS. Albos said Muyot’s order further enjoined that old school names “should be placed underneath the new names in the signage “to facilitate delivery of postal matter and serve as direct guide for people accustomed to the former names.”

For instance, Albos said, under the signage Zamboanga Sibugay NHS (renamed only a few years ago after the new province was created) should indicate its original name “Pangi NHS” preferably enclosed in parenthesis.

According to Muyot, proposed new names of schools to honor a person must have historical and cultural significance and must contribute to the positive development of national pride through the good example exhibited by the name being used.

Albos cited two examples in

Zamboanga City where the former Zamboanga North HS was renamed Pablo Lorenzo National HS to perpetuate the name of the country’s second secretary of education, and Divisoria NHS which was changed to Ma. Clara Lobregat NHS in honor of the mayor and congresswoman of the highly urbanized city.

Moreover, Muyot’s order stipulated that no school or public place should be named or renamed after a person within 10 years of his/her death, “except for highly exceptional reasons.”

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

LGUs

PPP, not loans for Baguio projects

By Dexter A. See

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AGUIO CITY—Mayor Mauricio Domogan said the local government will not obtain loans from financial lending institutions to fund priority development projects since he prefers the government’s PublicPrivate Partnership (PPP) mode of project implementation.

Domogan explained that since projects because he did not want he became mayor more than two future city officials to pay his addecades ago, he avoided borrow- ministration’s debts. ing funds for the city’s priority “We have to maximize the

benefits of the government’s PPP program for our people,” he stressed.

The local government’s plan to put up a mixed-use structure within the old city auditorium will be a PPP in which a two-story parking facility and commercial establishments in the upper portion will be the incomegenerating component.

According to Domogan, he has agreed with the members of the technical working group in charge of preparing the terms of reference for the city’s PPP proposal to incorporate several features of the project prior to submission to the local legislative body and

subsequent implementation through public bidding.

Earlier, the site of the old city auditorium was identified as a commercial area that could accommodate the operation of a pay-parking facility, business establishments and other projects aimed that will augment the income generated by the 34-hectare Burnham Park.

Domogan revealed that in order, the local government spends at least P40 million annually to operate and manage the park but it only earns P12 million to P15 million yearly.

Thus, the city is heavily subsidizing the operation of the park even if it is titled in the name of the national government.

OLYMPUS. Serene, silent, timeless and titanic—words pale beside the almost-perfect Mount Mayon in Albay. Legazpi City Albay Facebook account

Legislators slam housing backlog

By Rio N. Araja THE Philippine Legislators Committee on Population and Development said on Friday the Yolanda rehabilitation was an “unfinished business.”

Romeo Dongeto, PLCPD executive director, hit out government’s snail-paced work in the rehabilitation of Tacloban City, Leyte and other areas in Eastern Visayas flattened by Typhoon “Yolanda” in November 2013.

Dongeto raised concern over the budget slash for housing programs to P15.363 billion in 2017 from P33.75 billion this year.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the budget cut was due to the Aquino administration’s huge budget sum for the housing program in Eastern Visayas.

About 1.1 million houses were destroyed by Yolanda, but the government only committed to build 20 percent or 205,128 houses, Dongeto said.

Nearly three years after Yolanda, 91 percent of the housing units have not been built, the PLCPD said.

Even the National Economic and Development Authority said that of the 205,128 houses to be constructed, the past administration only succeeded in completing only nine percent or 19,330 houses as of March 2016.

In addition, 87,405 proposed housing units or 40 percent of the total have not yet started.

According to Dongeto, many of the survivors have become even poorer due to lack of livelihood opportunities and basic services.

“Two years and 10 months after the onslaught of Yolanda, despite concerted efforts by the government, civil society and international organizations, significant challenges remained in the recovery and rehabilitation of the affected communities and areas.

Among others, the rebuilding of houses for Yolanda survivors was slow and problematic,” he stressed.

At the Housing and Challenges to Housing Service Delivery under the Duterte Administration in Quezon City, Dr. Edna Co, University of the Philippines’ Center for Integrative and Development Studies executive director, called on Malacañang to use an accountability tool and ensure the adequacy of the housing units to be distributed to the Yolanda survivors.

“Assessing the accountability of government officials would help enable President Rodrigo Duterte and the new housing czar, Vice President Leni Robredo, to not only prevent the misuse of our resources but to make housing development a barometer for true public service,” she said.

Ecologists slam WtE technology VARIOUS ecology groups exhorted Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez not to honor a regulation permitting burn technologies for municipal solid wastes that was adopted prior to her appointment.

Through a resolution submitted to Lopez on September 1, more than 50 environmentalists urged her as concurrent chairman of the National Solid Waste Management Commission “to rescind NSWMC Resolution 669, Series of 2016 and to fully enforce sustainable practices in waste management without incineration as embodied in RA 9003,” or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. The NSWMC regulation adopted last June 9 provides for the “Guidelines Governing the Establishment and Operation of Wasteto-Energy Technologies (WtE) for Municipal Solid Wastes.”

The NGO resolution was adopted at the general assembly of the Green Convergence for Safe Food, Health Environment and Sustainable Economy on August 30. It was further endorsed by concerned groups present at the Green Thumb Coalition meeting on August 31. The EcoWaste Coalition submitted it to Lopez on September 1.

“We thank Secretary Lopez for hearing us out and for considering a review of the controversial WtE guidelines, which, if not repealed, would under-

mine the country’s efforts to sustainably address our waste problem without incinerating resources that could be reused, recycled or composted instead,” said Aileen Lucero, national coordinator of the coalition.

“It will be reprehensible to squander massive amounts of public funds to construct, operate and sustain WtE burners when simpler, job-creating and safer solutions exist as specified in RA 9003,” Lucero said.

“We urge Lopez to preside over the meeting of the commission and declare zero waste as overall policy and basis for its plan of action,” she added.

According to the groups, “the waste incineration industry to deceptively packages WtE as power plants rather than as waste disposal facilities despite the nominal quantity of electricity generated from the burning of trash.”

“WtE is the most expensive scheme for generating electricity that is costlier to build, operate and maintain compared to coal and nuclear power plants and the various renewable energy sources as reported by the US Energy Information Administration,” they pointed out.

As WtE uses mixed wastes, “it discourages segregation at source and resource conservation, while furthering disposal mentality to ensure steady feedstock for the perennially hungry waste burning machine,” the groups noted.

World

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

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18 killed in Syria car blast A

SERIES of explosions hit government-held territories across Syria on Monday, killing 18 people in rare back-toback attacks, state-run media reported.

Nokor fires 3 more missiles —Sokor SEOUL—North Korea fired three ballistic missiles off its east coast Monday, Seoul said, in a new show of force that comes as top world leaders meet at the G20 summit in China.

The missiles were fired into the Sea of Japan (East Sea) from the North’s Hwangju county at around 0300 GMT, a defense ministry spokesman said, more saber-rattling that follows a submarine-launched ballistic missile test some two weeks ago.

“They are speculated to be Rodong missiles with a range of 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) and were fired without navigational warning to Japan,” the spokesman said in a statement.

“North Korea’s ballistic missile launch is a direct violation of UN Security Council resolutions aimed at showing off its nuclear and missile capabilities during the G20 summit,” he added.

Monday’s missile launch came hours after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye and Chinese President Xi Jinping met on the sideline of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou.

China is the North’s sole major ally and economic lifeline but ties have been strained recently over the Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile tests that raised tension on the peninsula.

North Korea has staged a string of missile tests this year, with the most recent August 24 submarine-launched ballistic missile flying 500 kilometers (around 300 miles) towards Japan—a range that far exceeded that of the North’s previous sublaunched missile tests.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un described the August test as the “greatest success” and said it put the US mainland within striking range.

The launch was widely-condemned by the US and other major powers, but did mark what weapons analysts said was a clear step forward for North Korea’s nuclear strike ambitions. AFP

SUPPLIANTS. Indian devotees dance in front of a 58-foot (17-meter) tall idol of the Hindu god Lord Ganesh, popularly known as “Khairatabad Ganesh,” on the ‘Ganesh Chaturthi’ festival in Hyderabad on Monday. AFP

Manila

Anti-Beijing HK bets win seats in LegCo IN A landmark victory, at least three of a handful of young campaigners calling for much more distance from Beijing were forecast to win seats with 90 percent of the vote counted.

Among them is Nathan Law, 23, leader of the 2014 “Umbrella Movement” rallies, who is guaranteed a seat after coming second in his constituency behind a proBeijing candidate.

Law and his new party Demosisto are calling for a referendum on independence, emphasising Hong Kongers’ right to choose.

“I think Hong Kongers really wanted change,” Law said, celebrating his win.

“Young people have a sense of urgency when it comes to the future.”

Law will now take up a seat in the Legislative Council (LegCo), Hong Kong’s lawmaking body.

Most established pro-democracy politicians do not support the notion of independence and there were concerns in the democratic camp that new activists would split the vote, triggering overall losses.

If the democrats lose four seats, they will forfeit the one-third voting bloc they need to veto bills, stacking the already skewed legislature even more in favour of Beijing.

However, early results showed

the democrats are likely to hold on to that veto power.

It is as good a result as the democrats could hope for, given that the framework of LegCo favors Beijing.

The structure of the council makes it almost impossible for the democracy camp to take a majority as 30 of the council’s 70 seats are elected by special interest groups representing a range of businesses and social sectors.

Those seats go predominantly to pro-Beijing candidates.

Fears that Hong Kong’s freedoms are disappearing were fanned after five city booksellers known for salacious titles about Beijing politicians

disappeared, resurfacing in detention on the mainland.

That fuelled the fire of the “localist” movement, which grew out of the failure of the 2014 rallies to win political reform pushing for more distance from Beijing.

It saw the emergence of young campaigners demanding outright independence for Hong Kong—a subject previously taboo.

Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement intended to protect its freedoms and partial autonomy for 50 years. However, many young campaigners believe that deal has failed. AFP

Standard

TODAY

A car bomb in the central city of Homs around 7:30 a.m. killed two people and injured seven. An hour later, five people were killed in a blast in the northeastern city of Hasakah and 11 were killed by a car bomb and an explosives belt in separate attacks in the coastal city of Tartus, according to state-run television.

There was no immediate claim for the attacks, which follow government advances in Aleppo against rebel groups that oppose President Bashar al-Assad.

The US and Russia are trying to reach an agreement that would pave the way for a cease-fire in Syria. Secretary of State John Kerry couldn’t bridge differences with Moscow after another hour-long meeting with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Monday.

Differences remain after Russian negotiators walked back on parts of the deal that the US thought had been agreed to earlier, according to a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

Syria’s conflict, which began in 2011 with peaceful protests, has evolved into a sectarian civil war that has killed over 280,000 people, displaced millions and drawn in regional and international powers. Bloomberg

Republic of the Philippines Province of Kalinga City of Tabuk

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE Date Posted: August 31,2016

INVITATION TO BID ITB No. GOODS-2016-22 The Local Government Unit of Tabuk through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Manufacturers/Distributors/Suppliers to bid for the hereunder equipment: Lot 1

2

Name of Project

Location

ABC

Procurement of 1 Unit Payloader Motorpool, 4,000,000.00 (Brand New): CEO Engine: 6cyl diesel inline water cooled, 4 stroke ,130Hp; Drive Train: planetary power shift; Steering System: articulated load sensing hydraulic steering; Bucket: 1.8cu.m.; Tires: 17.5x25; Cab: closed cabin w/ aircon, std seat w/ warranty Procurement of two Units Dump CENRO 2,200,000.00 Truck-Brand New: specs: engine:4 cyl in-;Iine direct injection turbo, charging, intercooling diesel engine; disp: 3500cc; torque: 310Nm/1800rpm ; transmission: 5 speed manual; susp: front nonindependent susp, leaf spring, telescopic shock absorber; rearleaf spring, independent susp wI aux leaf spring, telescopic shock absorber; brake system: dual circuit, pneumatic drum brake; steering type; gear typt recirculating ball power steering; tire 7, R16 (6+1); inner cargo body: customized dump box (high sides); payload: 2500kg/3-4cu.m; turning radius: 7.25m; fuel tank capacity: 80lit; comprehensive insurance; 3-yr LTO reg

Cost of Bid Documents 5,000.00

5,000.00

Prospective bidders should have completed a similar contract with a value of at least 50% of the ABC. 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.

Pre-Bid conference will be on September 7, 2016, 9:00AM at the BAC Meeting Room, City Engineering Office, Tabuk City Hall, Dagupan Centro, Tabuk City.

Bid Documents are available during office hours starting September 1, 2016 at the BAC-Secretariat, City Engineering Office and upon payment of a non-refundable amount of bid documents as stated above to the LGU Cashier, Office of the Treasurer.

All bid proposals should be received by the BAC Chairman/ Secretariat on or before September 21, 2016, Wednesday, 9:00AM at the BAC Meeting Room, City Engineering Office, Tabuk City Hall, Dagupan Centro, Tabuk City.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) reserves the right to reject any and/or all bids or part thereof, or to waive formality therein and/or to accept the bids as may be considered most advantageous to the Local Government Unit of Tabuk.

Very truly yours,

CHARGED. Donald Tsang (right), Hong Kong’s former Chief Executive, arrives at the high court with his wife Selina Tsang (left), in Hong Kong on Monday. Tsang has been charged with two counts of misconduct in public office. AFP

(MS-SEPT. 6, 2016

(SGD) RODOLITO C. VEA BAC Chairman

C4

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

World

FRIENDS. Statues of rival military leaders of 16th century, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman (R) and his opponent Miklos Zrinyi (L), are seen at the Hungarian-Turkish friendship park near Szigetvar on Friday. AFP

Populists beat Merkel party in state polls SCHWERIN—Germany’s antimigrant populists made a strong showing at Sunday’s state polls, scoring ahead of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party as voters punished the German leader over her liberal refugee policy.

The xenophobic Alternative for Germany (AfD) clinched around 21 percent in its first bid for seats in the regional parliament of MecklenburgWestern Vorpommern, results showed after most ballots were counted.

Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union garnered just 19 percent in its worst-ever score in the northeastern state, while the Social Democrats maintained top place with around 30 percent.

AfD’s lead candidate Leif-Erik Holm called it a “proud result for a young party” as the populists secured seats on the opposition benches of the ninth out of 16 regional parliaments with Sunday’s showing.

“The icing on the cake is that we have left Merkel’s CDU behind us... maybe that is the beginning of the end of Merkel’s time as chancellor,” he said.

Although the former Communist state is Germany’s poorest and least populous, it carries a symbolic meaning as it is home to Merkel’s constituency Stralsund.

Together with Berlin’s elections in two weeks, Sunday’s polls are also a key test ahead of

general elections next year, when Merkel’s decision exactly a year ago to let in tens of thousands of Syrian and other migrants is expected to be a key point of contention.

Although she won praise at first, the optimism has given way to fears over how Europe’s biggest economy will manage to integrate the million people who arrived last year alone.

Merkel’s decision has left her increasingly isolated in Europe, and exposed her to heavy criticism at home, including from her own conservative allies.

The CDU’s general secretary Peter Tauber said Sunday’s results were “bitter”, acknowledging that voters “wanted to send a signal of protest, as we had noticed in discussions about refugees.”

In the sprawling farming and coastal state of MecklenburgWestern Pomerania, where economic regeneration and jobs used to top residents’ concerns, the issue of refugees and integration has become the deciding factor for one in two voters.

“There was only one issue, that is, and was, refugee policy,” said the CDU’s main candidate Lorenz Caffier.

A pensioner and former teacher who declined to be named said he picked AfD because of the “question over asylum-seekers.”

AFP

Violent rally calls for Temer ouster S

AO PAULO—Tens of thousands took to Brazilian streets Sunday to support sacked leader Dilma Rousseff and protest the new government of Michel Temer, who has taken power and downplayed the protests.

Demonstration organizers— who have rejected Temer’s ascendancy as a “coup”—said some 100,000 protestors filled the major artery Paulista Avenue, many holding banners that read “Out with Temer!” and “Direct elections now!”

The Senate voted Wednesday

to convict Rousseff on charges of having illegally manipulated government accounts, stripping her of her office and replacing her with Temer, her bitter enemy and former vice president.

The protest ended with clashes between demonstrators and police, who fired gas bombs, ac-

cording to the news website G1.

Temer, who after being sworn in promptly traveled to China for the G20 summit, said the protests were done by “small groups and predators.”

“These are small groups ... I don’t have it numerically, but they are 40, 50, 100 people. It’s nothing more than that. Out of 204 million Brazilians, I don’t think it means much,” media outlets quoted Temer as saying.

The opposition dismissed the president’s figures: “The coup president of Brazil said that our demonstration would have

40 people. Here are those 40 people—we’re already almost 100,000 on Paulista Avenue,” said Guilherme Boulos, a member of one of the opposition groups that organized the protest.

The demonstration was held in the late afternoon so as not to interfere with the passing of the torch from the Paralympic Games, a Rio event due to start within three days— where another 2,000 people had demonstrated.

Rousseff was Brazil’s first woman president. AFP

Kolkata Catholics celebrate St Teresa KOLKATA—Singing nuns and followers clutching flowers flocked to Mother Teresa’s tomb in the Indian city of Kolkata to celebrate her proclamation as a saint at the Vatican on Sunday.

People began gathering in the early morning at Mother House in Kolkata for a special mass for the “Saint of the Gutters” before the ceremony at St Peter’s Basilica.

They placed candles and flow-

ers on her tomb in somber contemplation. But the atmosphere at the headquarters of the Missionaries of Charity, the order that Teresa founded, was also one of celebration.

Nuns were singing songs honoring her and giant television screens were erected so the gathering visitors could watch the ceremony.

“It’s a day of rejoicing, a day

of gratitude and a day of many, many blessings,” said senior sister Mary Lysa.

“The Missionaries of Charity has decided to turn this into a celebration to further Mother’s cause serving the poorest of the poor and the dying and sick.”

“We will gather to witness the entire process at Vatican City as it unfolds,” she said.

Teresa rose to fame in the east-

ern Indian city, where she devoted her life to helping the destitute and the sick in its teeming slums.

Lighting a candle and placing it on the tomb, Konica Cecilia said the beloved nun had given her impoverished parents money to help them send her to school as a child.

“I was fortunate to meet Mother. She was a living saint and an inspiration to me,” the 32-year-old said, adding that the nun was the

Clinton takes media to fall campaign

WAR PIPE. Native Americans march to a burial ground sacred site that was disturbed by bulldozers building the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) slated to cross the Missouri River nearby, near the encampment where hundreds of people have gathered to join the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s protest Sunday near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. AFP

Floods, landslides hit Acapulco town ACAPULCO—Floods and landslides caused by a tropical depression have damaged or affected some 70 homes and schools and trapped around 200 people in the Mexican resort town of Acapulco, authorities said Sunday.

Torrential rains which began Saturday morning caused 33 rock and landslides on interstate high-

ways and the Ayutla-Cruz Grande federal highway, Guerrero state authorities said.

The downpour also caused a road to collapse in central Acapulco, sending two cars falling downward and injuring at least three passengers, the city’s Civil Protection Coordination reported.

Heavy rainfall also trapped

around 200 people in their housing complex, who had to be air evacuated by police, marines and the army. The residents were taken to a temporary shelter, according to Guerrero Governor Astudillo Flores.

The state has already deployed Mexican army troops under a disaster plan. AFP

NEW YORK—Hillary Clinton embarked Monday on a campaign swing across battleground states, bringing traveling press aboard her plane for the first time as she seeks to regain momentum against her White House rival Donald Trump.

Clinton, the Democratic nominee, will attend events with working families in Cleveland, Ohio and Hampton, Illinois celebrating Labor Day, the US holiday that traditionally kicks off the fall campaign season and the fastpaced, two-month sprint to the November presidential election.

She then flies to Tampa today for a campaign rally at the University of South Florida, before traveling Thursday to Charlotte, North Carolina.

Florida and North Carolina, like Ohio, are critical battlegrounds in the 2016 race.

Republican flagbearer Trump, 70, trails in polling but dominated the week’s political messaging and imagery, with his surprise trip to Mexico, a fiery immigration speech in which he embraced a hardline position on the issue, and his closely watched visit to an African-American church in Detroit.

And while Sunday’s CBS News Battleground Tracker shows Clin-

ton, 68, leading Trump in two key states—by eight points in Pennsylvania and four points in North Carolina—recent polls show the race tightening nationally.

“The polls are close so Crooked Hillary is getting out of bed and will campaign tomorrow,” Trump taunted Sunday on Twitter.

With just three weeks before the first of three presidential debates that are expected to be the most watched moments of the election, Clinton will seek to reassert herself Monday with multiple events.

She has been under sustained pressure to provide more access for journalists seeking to cover her every move, resisting the typical arrangement of a substantial traveling press corps sharing the same plane with a presidential hopeful.

But Clinton aides have said that beginning Monday she will debut a larger campaign jet, and that reporters will be along for the ride.

Also hitting the road are her running mate Tim Kaine and current Vice President Joe Biden, who stumped for Hillary in Pennsylvania, and her husband, former Bill Clinton, who attends events in Michigan and Ohio.

Trump to date has also avoided having the press corps travel on

his plane.

The provocative billionaire often takes questions from assembled journalists and is hammering away at his rival for failing to do the same.

On Sunday Trump’s campaign blasted out an email, stating “it has been 274 days since Clinton has held a press conference,” as part of a daily “Hiding Hillary” email series aimed at highlighting the Democrat’s aversion to pressers.

Trump and his running mate Mike Pence, Indiana’s governor, have stressed for months that Clinton should face journalists directly about her use of a private email account while she was secretary of state, a scandal which has dogged her for more than a year.

New revelations from notes released by the FBI from its July interview with Clinton about her email use showed that she said she did not recall specific training about how to handle classified information, and that she was unaware that confidential material was marked with a “C.” The FBI notes prompted Trump surrogate Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor, to accuse Clinton of acting with “criminal intent” with regard to her emails. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

ARTS, CULTURE & MEDIA

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

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PART OF THE PICTURE. Printmaker Benjie Torrado Cabrera incorporates the audience in his latest artwork made on reflective surface

THE COSMOS AND YOU

Benjie Torrado Cabrera’s Herculean calls to go beyond the selfie I

By Chong Ardivilla

N the contemporary world of fast-paced technology and seemingly connected mediated lives, the selfie is the currency of the now. The selfie is the present testament of assertion, of ownership, of projecting assertions. For all the digital noise of self-portraits, the notion of self is under assault. Despite the self-curation of the selfie, most of the selfies cater to project a certain desirability, a notion of being better than the rest. The self is now a commodity to be marketed to earn more likes, and social media traction. We are reduced to images thirsty for validation with likes which can be alienating as well as blinding to what matters.

It is not coincidence that there is a rising need for “mindfulness” in urban areas. Many say that we are disconnected and ergo quite receptive to the suffocating embraces of stress and isolation. Funny that what is called “social” media is actually an insidious engineering towards disconnection of the self in excess. Many experts cite that one should disconnect from the snarled traffic of social media, of online life to deal with real life and as a salve to the demands of living.

What is lacking in the crowded streams of urban blight (be it in malls,

or stuck in traffic) is this “mindfulness” or an enhanced sense of “awareness.” In Benjie Torrado Cabrera’s latest exhibit Reflective Discourse (at The Crucible Gallery The Artwalk, 4th Level, SM Megamall Bldg. A, Mandaluyong City from Aug. 23 to Sept. 4), this awareness gleams literally through the surfaces of his works.

Through Cabrera’s deft and nimble hands, he renders a canopy of geometries simulating the high cognitive engagements of geometry as articulation and symbolizing the whirring splendors of

Cabrera recently mounted his latest exhibit Reflective Discourse at The Crucible Gallery

the cosmos. Cabrera has been producing these pulsating shapes in his past works.

This time, however, he etches them on reflective surface. Ergo, he is not merely presenting his visual notions of portraitures surrounded by abstractions of movement, time, and space. With the reflective surface, the viewer is now incorporated in the art works.

Therein lies this exhibit’s engagement. It is not just an aesthetic pleasure that is invoked, but perhaps a glimpse of yourself in Cabrera’s beautiful radiance. This is not merely to check your self in a narcissistic way, as most selfies are wont to do, but to frame yourself in Cabrera’s notions of the cosmos.

What the current noise of modern life distracts us is that we have forgotten to cater to our interior selves. In the ubiquity of Instagram and Facebook, the surface holds court. The preeminence of the appearance is expressed by many selfies. The danger here is that selfies can be the digital renditions of Faberge eggs: beautiful on the outside, but hallow and empty inside.

Cabrera’s works call for a strong Herculean commitment to the self to be stronger, more grounded in the quick lashes of the shallowness of life. The audience is asked to work a little harder and go beyond just by responding to stimuli but to be a little reflective. There is a difference between seeing and perceiving.

Such an endeavor can have meditative qualities. His works highlight the beauty of craft and now engages with the viewers to situate themselves in these contained galaxies.

In this way, you are not merely elevated as a mere image with duck lips but you are to have a reflective discourse between the work, its representations, and yourself. Psychologists cite this empowering feeling of realizing your own worth, your place in this life when you are in the throes of awareness. People, who are disconnected, discombobulated, are more susceptible to depression and acts of violence to the self. One way for healing is a series of assertions to the self that you are worthy. These assertions are imbibed in a person that is aware.

You are beyond your selfie. You are more than a hashtag.

Roald Dahl sends special sketch to the Philippines BRITISH artist, Sir Quentin Blake, best known for illustrating Roald Dahl books, sent a special sketch to the Philippines through British Ambassador Asif Ahmad. The sketch containing an “important message” from Blake features the Big Friendly Giant and Sophie, the lead characters in the story The BFG. “This is a great opportunity for the young and young-at-heart to enjoy The BFG and to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Roald Dahl, the world’s leading storyteller,” said Ambassador Ahmad.

“The UK has one of the largest creative industry sectors in the world.

Illustrator Sir Quentin Blake informs Filipinos that they can now watch The BFG through a special sketch

Our books and films continue to delight the audience and enthrall their imagination with wonder,” he added.

The British Embassy’s “This is GREAT Britain” campaign now runs its fourth season and proudly supports the Walt Disney Studios film of the same title, directed by Academy Award winner Steven Spielberg. The film features fantastic sites around the UK with scenes shot in London, Blenheim Palace and Isle of Skye. It opened in cinemas nationwide on Aug. 10.

For more information on the GREAT campaign you may visit the British Embassy’s website or social media accounts.

Life

D2

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

By Pablo A. Tariman

A

FTER her singular triumphs interpreting Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Ravel sonatas, pianist Cecile Licad ventures into the less popular repertoire and trained her interpretative powers on seldom heard and performed American sonatas.

It took years to rediscover the program and to give them new life on the concert stage.

A year ago, she dared do a recital on American sonatas at Philadelphia’s Benjamin Franklin Hall and both audience and critics liked what they heard.

The program: Reinagle’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in D Major, MacDowell’s Piano Sonata No. 1 in G minor, Op. 45, Tragic; Seigmeister’s Piano Sonata No. 1, American and Griffes’ Piano Sonata.

Music critic Bernard Jacobson wrote the final work (Griffes’ Piano Sonata) took audiences back to the years 1917 and 1918, and ended the evening on a suitably high note in terms of both composition and performance. “Charles Tomlinson Griffes, who died (again, like Mozart) at the age of 35, was by some margin the most prodigally gifted of these four composers. His Piano Sonata is indeed successful in blending strongly personal expressive character with an unmistakable sense of organic unity, and Cecile Licad’s performance captured both those aspects of it with engaging warmth and unfailing virtuosity.”

Shortly after her Carnegie Hall return engagement last June with the PPO under Olivier Ochanine, Licad again made news with the release of her first CD of American sonatas and got good receptions from CD reviewers in USA, Germany and Great Britain.

German reviewer Wilfried Schaeper of Radio Bremen was pleasantly surprised to discover that good American sonatas actually existed and noted: “Who would have guessed that the American piano literature hides forgotten treasures of such high quality, written by gifted composers other than Gershwin, Copland, or Bernstein? Cecile Licad’s latest CD release contains works by Edward MacDowell, Charles Griffes, Ellie Siegmeister, in addition to the very first sonata that was ever written in North America: Alexander Reinagle’s Philadelphia Sonata No. 1. Licad continues to be an absolute world-class pianist. With her stunning technique, her inborn musicality, and her interest in rarely played repertoire, she is the ideal interpreter for this anthology of American piano music. With this series, she breaks new ground, as most of these works are completely unknown in our country. The musical quality of the selected works is fully equivalent to the masterworks by European composers. If, in addition, this music is played in such a passionate

Filipina pianist Cecile Licad performed with the PPO at Carnegie Hall in June, which was followed by the release of her first CD of American sonatas (inset).

Good reviews

for Cecile Licad’s rendition of American Sonatas

and stunning manner as, in this case, by Cecile Licad, then this discovery trip to the New World turns into pure joy. This release will correct quite a few European prejudices against American piano music and is highly recommended to all piano aficionados who have open ears and an open mind. America has a lot more to offer than “musical fast food.’”

Reviewer John France’s verdict: “This is an exciting new release that promises to expand into a collection of American musical masterpieces, albeit at a slow rate. It is essential listening for all who consider the piano as their favorite instrument and who regard the piano sonata as one of the most important and sophisticated forms.”

From another CD specialist: “The front cover proudly states that it’s Volume 1 of an anthology of American piano music, and after listening to the four selected sonatas here, one can hardly wait for Volume 2, which promises ‘Music of the Night’.

To hear a master pianist like Cecile Licad tackle these works is a luxury not often granted when unknown piano music is concerned. It’s usually left to the seconddivision pianists to be dragged into the studio to record the ‘outsiders’. Not so here. The short Reinagle sonata, a sweet

Cecile Licad’s collaboration with German cellist Alban Gerhardt

Licad’s album with Andre Previn conducting the London Philharmonic

Haydn tribute, is played with charm and finesse, while the MacDowell, not such a rarity any more, receives a towering performance. The Griffes is a gritty work played to perfection and the fiery joyous devilry of Elie Siegmeister’s sonata is much more approachable for the listener than what one might anticipate from this contemporary composer. The production is a clear labour of love, from the welltuned Steinway and well-balanced recording to the informative Jeremy Nicho-

las booklet notes.”

It may be noted that Licad’s earlier recordings got equally good receptions.

Her Sony Classical release of Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and SaintSaens’ Piano Concerto No. 2, with André Previn conducting the London Philharmonic, was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque Frederic Chopin from Poland’s Chopin specialists.

Under Music Masters label, Licad’s all-Ravel CD (Le tombeau de Couper-

in, Gaspard de la Nuit, and Sonatine) and Sony Classical recording of Schumann’s Carnaval, Papillions and Toccata in C Major were at one time declared CDs of the month by Time Magazine.

To classical purists, Licad’s bestseller will always be Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2, and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Chicago Symphony, conducted by Claudio Abbado.

Of late, she collaborated with German cellist Alban Gerhardt and recorded a well-received all-Faure CD and some favorite encore pieces by Pablo Casals.

On the whole, there is no doubt that Licad has become such a supreme interpreter of any kind of music that comes her way.

One noted that as early as in her teens, the eminent pianist Rudolf Serkin—who happens to be one of her teachers—noted: ‘’When Cecile (Licad) auditioned for me there was something very special about her musical personality. She had a deep understanding of music and a conviction in her playing that I did not expect from someone so young. She has an incredible instinct for all kinds of music and seems equally at home in any style. This is a very great gift.

Nobody could teach her that - it’s her own.’’

Ryu Goto performs in PPO’s concert

The Museum of Contemporary Art and Design is hosting a traveling exhibition based on the effects of China’s transformation

‘Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs’ today SOIL and Stones, Souls and Songs, a major traveling exhibition based on the effects that China’s transformation has brought to the world, is scheduled to open at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD) today.

The exhibit will highlight art practices, case studies, new commissions and certain artworks from the Kadist Collection, an interdisciplinary organization. It includes Filipino artists such as Pio Abad, Kawayan De Guia, Edgar Fernandez, and José Maceda.

Soil and Stones, Souls and Songs is organized by Kadist Art Foundation, based both in Paris and San Francisco,

in collaboration with Para Site, Hong Kong and MCAD, Manila.

The event is curated by Cosmin Costinas and Inti Guerrero, both members of the Independent Curators International, a hub that connects exhibit directors with art spaces.

The show will run till Dec. 4.

MCAD is located at the DLS-CSB School of Design and Arts (SDA) campus, Dominga Street, Malate, Manila.

For more information, contact Patricia Paredes at patriciaana.paredes@benilde.edu.ph or call (02) 230-5100 loc 3897.

JAPANESE violinist Ryu Goto is the guest performer in the opening season concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of its new Music Director, Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura on Sept. 9. 8 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).

Ryu has established himself as a significant voice in classical music, with a large and growing public in Asia, North America and Europe. Ryu’s career began at age seven when he made his debut at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo, Japan, playing Paganini’s Violin Concerto No.1. Since then, Ryu has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, ensembles including National Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic, Münchner Philharmoniker, Wiener Symphoniker, Sydney Symphony, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orchestresymphonique de Montréal, hr-Sinfonieorchester (Frankfurt Radio Symphony), Hamburger Symphoniker and Shanghai Symphony Orchestra.

He has worked with conductors including Lorin Maazel, Tan Dun, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Fabio Luisi, Leonard Slatkin, Kent Nagano, Myung-Whun Chung and Jonathan Nott. Ryu has already performed in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Tokyo Suntory Hall, Sydney Opera House, Shanghai Grand Theater, Taipei National Concert Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Munich’s Herkulessaal and the Philharmonic Hall Gasteig.

Ryu’s philanthropic work includes working with student musicians throughout the world, mentoring their development, conducting master classes in conjunction with the world’s top institutions.

Efforts include the “Ryu Goto Excellence In Music Initiative Scholarship” with the NYC Department of Education, as well as collaborations with institutions like the Juilliard School and the Harvard Bach Society Orchestra. He does exten-

Japanese conductor Yoshikazu Fukumura is set to conduct his debut concert as PPO’s new music director

sive musical outreach and cultural exchange in developing countries in Latin America, Southeast Asia and Africa.

Ryu’s features in media are numerous including his own documentary Ryu Goto’s Odyssey, a chronicle of his career and personal life from 19962006. He is endorsed by airweave and also serves as spokesperson for the East Japan Railway Company with regular coverage on TV, radio and print. In October 2015, he appeared as the host of a weekly television classical music program entitled Untitled Concert that was listed in Guinness World Records as “the longest-running TV program for classical music.”

Ryu records for Deut sche Grammophon in collaboration

with Universal Classics Japan. In May 2011, he graduated from Harvard University with a BA in Physics and is currently studying the violin with Prof. Ana Chumachenco.

He is a member of US-Japan Council, and has accepted an award from the Japanese American Bar Association as a JapaneseAmerican leader. He holds a 3rd degree black belt from the Japan Karate Association. He performs on the Stradivarius 1722 violin “Jupiter” on loan to him from Nippon Music Foundation.

On Sept. 9, PPO concert marks the debut of Maestro Yoshikazu Fukumura as the new PPO music director. The program for the evening features H. Berlioz’s Roman Carnival - Overture, P.I. Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D, and J. Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C minor.

For inquires and subscription, call the CCP Marketing Department at (02) 832-1125 local 1806, the CCP Box Office (02) 832-3704, or Ticketworld at National Bookstore (02) 891-9999.

Japanese-American violinist Ryu Goto is the guest performer in the opening season concert of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra on Sept. 9

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Entries to Cinemalaya 2018 accepted until Oct. 14

From left: Top-rating programs ‘Dolce Amore,’ ‘FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,’ and ‘The Voice Kids’ boost ABS-CBN’s national audience share to 50 percent

ABS-CBN sweeps

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BS-CBN Corporation produced the 10 most watched programs in the Philippines, resulting to a national audience share of 47 percent or 14 points higher than GMA’s 33 percent, according to multinational audience measurement provider Kantar Media.

On the top of the list is the Coco Martin-led primetime hit FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano with an average national TV rating of 41.2 percent. The show captivates viewers with its timely and action-packed narrative that not only encourages people to be vigilant but also imparts good Filipino values.

It was followed by The Voice Kids (39.4 percent), which concluded its third season with young artist Joshua finally reaching his dream, and Dolce

TOP 10 most

watched programs Amore (34.5 percent) ending a very high note with its worldwide trending ‘most beautiful’ finale.

The return of James Reid and Nadine Lustre to primetime via Till I Met You debuted strongly on the seventh spot with 28.5 percent.

Other Kapamilya shows in the top ten are Wansapanataym (34.1 percent), TV Patrol (32.7 percent), MMK (31.8 percent), Home Sweetie Home (28.2 percent), Goin Bulilit (27.2 percent) and

TV Patrol Weekend (22.4 percent) Kantar Media uses a nationwide panel size of 2,610 urban and rural homes that represent 100 percent of the total Philippine TV viewing population, while the other ratings data supplier AGB Nielsen reportedly has 2,000 homes based in urban areas that represent only 57 percent of the Philippine TV viewing population.

ABS-CBN also hit a whopping national audience share of 50 percent in primetime or 19-points higher than

GMA’s 31 percent. The primetime block is the most important part of the day when most Filipinos watch TV and advertisers put a larger chunk of their investment in to reach more consumers effectively.

Aside from primetime, ABS-CBN also ruled other time blocks nationwide that include the morning block with 41 percent vs. GMA’s 35 percent; noontime block with 45 percent vs. GMA’s 33 percent; and afternoon block with 48 percent vs.

GMA’s 32 percent.

ENTRIES to the Main Competition of the 2018 Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival are being accepted until Oct. 14 at the CCP Media Arts Division, Cultural Center of the Philippines, CCP Complex, Roxas Blvd., Pasay City.

The Cinemalaya Main Competition is a competition for full-length feature films.

Required materials for submission are: • Duly accomplished 2018 Entry Form.

This form may also be downloaded from www. culturalcenter.gov.ph or www. cinemalaya.org.

• Synopsis in Filipino or English (1 page, 12 pts font size, not more than 300 words) • Detailed sequence treatment (between 50 – 60 sequences, double space, 12 pts. Courier, letter-sized bond paper, 1 inch margin all around) • Resume of proponent • Two (2) recent photos of proponent (2 in x 2 in) • Sample of a short film between 5–20 min. in DVD format, directed by the proponent.

All entries must be submitted in a long brown envelope properly labeled with the proponent’s name, title of film entry, and contact details.

The sheets containing the synopsis and detailed sequence treatment must not bear the name of the proponent. Full scripts will not be accepted.

Entry forms, mechanics and guidelines may be downloaded from www.cinemalaya.org and www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.

Cinemalaya is a project of the Cinemalaya Foundation and the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

For more information about Cinemalaya, visit www. cinemalaya.org, www. culturalcenter.gov.ph and the Cinemalaya facebook page or CCP Film Office at telephone number 832-1125 local 1704-1705.

FYI keeps it real this September

Two of the ten contestants in ‘Fit to Fat to Fit,’ which follows how fitness experts destroy their bodies as they gain and then try to lose weight with their clients

TUNE in this September for the season premiere of FYI’s latest line up of shows putting the spotlight on real life stories.

Teenage Newlyweds captures the stories of four newlywed teen couples as they begin their lives together. Self-generated footage, video diaries and journals in each episode will cover a new life stage in an up close and personal way. Every episode will highlight takeaway information from real people who are a daily part of each couple’s life, trying to help them overcome the odds.

Witness how these teen couples experience moving into their first home, going on their honeymoon, and taking on the ups and downs of their careers, education, family and family planning. Teenage Newlyweds airs 8 p.m. every Thursday.

When it comes to weight loss,

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, September 6, 2016

ACROSS 1 Municipal 6 Clock sound 10 Lantern part 14 Zen master’s poem 15 Stadium shape 16 Press 17 Leering sort 18 Orange product 20 “Ulalume” poet 21 Panorama 23 Dishwasher cycle 24 Classified listings 25 Woodland creature 26 Fireplace tools 29 Yellow wildflower 34 Metal eaters 35 Doglike scavenger 36 Brunched 37 Garr of “Tootsie” 38 Fixed the pilot 39 Romanov title 40 Way of Lao-tzu 41 Slugger Hank — 42 — con carne 43 Raid 45 Rumple 46 Leather punch

47 Mouse catchers 48 Plains tribe 51 Mete out 53 Our omega 56 Stirred up the coals 58 Sherlock’s lady friend 60 A — — apple 61 Move gingerly 62 Tuxedo trim 63 k.d. — of country 64 Encumbrance 65 Exhilarating DOWN 1 Wield a hatchet 2 “Othello” plotter 3 Nasty 4 Likable prez?

5 PC flashers 6 Heavy reading?

7 John, in Siberia 8 Concern 9 Dutch carrier 10 Trickier 11 Qom’s country 12 Atlantic swimmers 13 Leg joint 19 Bakery come-on 22 ABC rival 24 Darth Vader, once

25 By — of hard work 26 LaBelle or LuPone 27 Globe feature 28 Bolshoi rival 29 Traffic cone 30 Bridle part 31 Camel’s pit stop 32 Kiosk 33 Creepy 35 Sub sandwich 38 Fence part 39 Because of that 41 Nile city 42 Frisky

44 Exclaiming over 45 Playing card 47 Bygone 48 Type of exam 49 High plateau 50 Similar to 51 Jai — 52 — -majeste 53 Catherine — -Jones 54 Novelist — Bagnold 55 Counting-rhyme start 57 PC key 59 “Norma —”

it’s easy for personal trainers to talk the talk, but what if that same trainer had to walk the walk? For four months, FYI’s Fit to Fat to Fit will feature 10 personal trainers who will eat what the average overweight American eats and stop working out altogether. Each trainer will then surprise their overweight client and together they will begin a weight-loss program. After another second four-month period, they will reveal their new weight. Follow their journey and see whether or not the trainer will lose the weight he gained, and how this will help inspire his teammate. Find out at 9 p.m. every Thursday.

The Great Australian Bakeoff is back for a whole new season premiering Sept. 28, and airing 10 p.m. every Wednesday. Season 2 sees 12 home bakers take part in a bake-off to test their skills

as they battle it out for the title of The Great Australian Bake Off’s Best Amateur Baker. Claire Hooper and Mel Buttle host the second season with food author

and restaurateur Maggie Beer and Chef Matt Moran as judges.

FYI™ is available on SKYCable Ch 79; Cable Link Ch. 44; Dream Satellite Ch 21.

‘Teenage Newlyweds’ focuses on several young couples who decided to tie the knot in their teens

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

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TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2016

Showbiz

HITTING THE RIGHT NOTES.

Aspiring singer Jennifer M. Burn plays the guitar and writes her own songs

Jennifer Burn (left) with her manager Victoria Ozawa

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AST week we met Jennifer M. Burn (that’s her nom de ISAH V. RED plume) at Victorino’s in Quezon City. She was introduced to us as a young singer from the outskirts of Tokyo whose mother is a Filipina. Her Japanese father works in a construction company and she has finished a wedding planningcourse but wants to embark on a singing career after she discovered she had a passion for music.

Born Marian Omiron in Japan, the 20-year old JaPinay has a sister six years her senior who owned a guitar she never played so she borrowed it. She learned to play the guitar on her own, thanks to the Internet where she learned the chords and the songs she sang in school and then later at train stations in Japan with her friends.

In halting Tagalog she tried to explain how and why she sang at train stations. “Wala lang, I just wanted to know if people at the station would want to listen to me.

And surprisingly, there were those who stopped and listened.”

Some guys would drop money and most of the time she’d return it to the guys. Some of them got the money back while others didn’t and said it was for her, which amused Jennifer.

The young amateur also dabbled in songwriting songs, Japanese naturally, and, as of today, she has penned over a dozen songs, a couple of which she sang for the small group of writers her manager, Victoria Ozawa (formerly Vickie Varga, an aspiring young actress in the 80s before being hitched by a Japanese) invited for lunch.

Vickie said she met Jennifer by accident at Naia terminal while waiting for her flight back to Japan sometime ago. She said she was taken

by Jennifer’s pretty countenance and couldn’t hold back her admiration she came up to her and said, “You’re very pretty!” Someone, not Jennifer, answered, “Thank you.” It was the young lady’s Filipino mother.

There and then they became friends

until they reached Japan. They started calling each other. Vickie also discovered the young Jennifer loved to sing. “I said, ‘sayang,’ she can have a career as a singer.” That was how she got to sign her for her Victoria Project Company Ltd., a company that produces films and now managing a talent – Jennifer M. Burn, a name she gave Marian because she said she has a striking resemblance to the late American actress Audrey Hepburn.”

Vickie’s company is also getting some help from J.P. Construction, a Tokyo-based construction company, that will soon establish its presence in the Philippines.

Vickie said she has negotiated with songwriter/record producer Vehnee Saturno to write Jennifer Filipino-language songs and produce her record. “He will oversee the recording and the distribution of the album in the Philippines,” she added.

In the meantime, Jennifer will continue to write songs and perform in Japan while waiting for that time that she can start waxing the songs Saturno wrote for her. Vickie said she is not sure if Jennifer would record the songs in Japan or back here. “It depends on Vehnee,”she said.

Vickie would also like to produce a music video for Jennifer. “I think it would help. We will upload it on YouTube and we will see the reaction to it. I am really hoping for the best.”

Meanwhile, both Vickie and Jennifer go about their own businesses in Japan and hope the latter’s album would be available for release before the end of the year.

Ganbatte kudasai, Jennifer!

A JaPinay

wants to start a career in music

‘Dolce Amore’ now airs in Kazakhstan AFTER making Filipinos fall in love with the story of Tenten and Serena, Dolce Amore is on its way to captivating Kazakh viewers as the hit ABS-CBN primetime series now airs in Kazakhstan via Channel 31.

Kapamilya stars Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano once proved their international appeal following the successful airing of their series Forevermore in different territories.

Aside from Kazakhstan, Dolce Amore is also on its way to airing in Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, and Africa either dubbed or with subtitle.

Dolce Amore is one of the most successful dramas in the country this 2016. Recently, its ‘most beautiful’ finale scored a national TV rating of 37.7 percent against rival Descendants of the Sun with only 16.1 percent. Its official hashtag also trended on Twitter worldwide and garnered almost four million tweets.

Dolce Amore is a story of two young wandering souls, both in search of who they really are. They are brought together by destiny and feel an infallible connection with each other. The show proved to be such a big hit because of its top caliber production with scenes shot in Italy, powerhouse cast, and values-oriented narrative that truly resonates Filipino culture.

Relive the sweet moments of Tenten and Serena of Dolce Amore via iWant TV (www.iwantv.com.ph) or SKY-On-Demand (www.skyondemand.com.ph).

Leading man wanted FROM playing perennial sidekick or loyal best friend in TV shows and movies, singer-comedian Catherine “Kakai” Bautista finally plays the lead role in Miss Q and A: Para Sa Magaganda Lang Ba Ang Love Life? that Lemuel Lorca will direct.

Insight 360 Films in partnership with Manco Productions Inc. and iPR PLUS Consulting Group will produce the film.

“Kakai is the next big thing in Philippine comedy,” producer Chris Cahilig says of the multi-talented artist who started honing her singing and acting talents in theater. She then worked her way through simple but noteworthy supporting roles in TV and film productions.

“Kakai has always been a bright star,” Cahilig asserts. “I believe now is the time for her light to start shining the brightest.”

Kakai Bautista is raring to give the project her best shot. “I’m elated and ecstatic about working on Miss Q and A. Sobrang saya ko and as always, I promise to give my all to this role,” she enthuses.

Meantime, the producers of the film are looking for the perfect leading man for Kakai.

“Baka siya na pala ang the one ko, ‘di ba? After all the heartache, baka siya na pala ang magpapasaya ng puso ko. Kung sino ka man, I’m very

open to being more than friends, more than best friends—alam niyo ‘yan— charot!” Kakai relates.

“Kidding aside, mabigat ang role ng leading man ko sa pelikula kaya kailangan bongga umakting,” she adds.

According to Kakai, while having her first starring role in a film is a dream-come-true, she cannot help but feel a bit pressured by the demands of her role, which she says is a very unique character.

“Hindi basta-basta pagpapatawa ang gagawin ko dito. Level up na Kakai ang mapapanood niyo dito—just the right mix of funny and madrama,” she says.

She also feels that working with an award-winning director is a challenge, but she is willing to take this challenge on.

For now, the search is on for Kakai’s male lead.

“The role is open to newbies and big stars. We want to find the best male lead for the movie and for Kakai,” iPR president and veteran publicist Hanzel Villafuerte says. He adds that Miss Q and A may even be a big break in showbiz for the chosen leading man.

Aspirants must be in their late 20s to mid-30s, with a matinee idol or serious type vibe, and a remarkably fit body. Interested applicants may send their profile and demo reel to chriscahilig2011@gmail.com.