Manila Standard - 2016 September 14 - Wednesday

Alcala’s drug links bared

VOL. XXX • NO. 214 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

THE Alcala clan of Quezon whose ranks include former President Benigno Aquino III’s Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, and incumbent Rep. Vicente Alcala, are the most influential drug personalities in Quezon due to their political connections, President Rodrigo Duterte

said Tuesday.

“They are all over the ranks of the police, the jury and polticians,” Duterte said in a speech before the troops at Villamor Airbase.

“I just made some cue and timing because if not, I cannot produce evidence against Next page PROCESO ALCALA them.”

China arms deal eyed Duterte turns to other sources, keeps US ties

By John Paolo Bencito

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday he wanted to buy arms from Russia and China that would help combat terrorism, but vowed not to cut ties with the country’s strategic allies, the United States, Australia, Japan and Vietnam.

Following several anti-American outbursts triggered by Washington’s criticism of his war against drugs, Duterte said he is exploring defense deals with America’s top rivals.

“There are countries that offered us so many [things],” Duterte said in a speech before troops at Villamor Airbase in Pasay. “I would like to ask Defense Secretary [Delfin] Lorenzana to join our technical people to go

to Russia and China to explore whatever is the best option.”

Duterte, who met with Russian and Chinese officials last week at the Asean summit, said the two countries enticed him with attractive loan offers to buy military armaments that he wanted to fight terrorism and insurgency in the country’s south.

“To the military commanders now... please study the purchase Next page

HISTORICAL HOLOCAUST. President Rodrigo Duterte shows images

of the Bud Dajo massacre during the pacification campaign at the turn of the 20th century during his speech the other day before 2016 Metrobank Foundation Outstanding Filipinos awarding ceremony in Malacañang. It was the second time in just over a week when he showed the pictures in public – the first time in Vientiane, Laos during the Asean Summit.

Yasay leaves for US amid Rody’s tirades

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay left for Washington to meet with US Secretary of State John Kerry, saying his trip was “a sign of good ties” between the US and the

WEATHER Ferdie batters North Luzon TYPHOON “Ferdie” accelerated slightly while traversing the Bashi Channel between the Philippines and Taiwan and was moving closer to Batanes, where it is expected to make landfall around 11 p.m. or midnight on Tuesday, the weather bureau said.

The eye of the storm was 165 kilometers east of Basco, Batanes, as Next page of 5 p.m. on Tuesday.

Philippines, even as President Rodrigo Duterte kept up his anti-American rhetoric.In a TV interview, Yasay said Duterte’s order for US Special Forces to pull out of Mindanao did not signal a change in foreign policy, particularly toward the Americans.

Next page

QUICK VOLTE-FACE. In this file photo snapped in September 2008, a US soldier (standing left) assists Filipino soldiers in providing aid to hundreds of villagers who fled their homes in Dapiawan in Datu Saudi Ampatuan in Mindanao following fighting between government forces and Muslim separatists. Today, Washington says Manila has not officially communicated President Rodrigo Duterte’s demand for American military advisers in Mindanao to leave. Since 2002, up to 600 US advisers have been deployed in Mindanao to train government troops battling Muslim extremists. AFP

Message leads to confusion—analysts Du30’s ‘rock star’ debut

By Christine F. Herrera marred by bad boy mien PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s lack of discipline in messaging often results in confusion that hurts his political stock internationally, but has been consistent in steering an independent foreign policy course for the Philippines, a move that most Asean nations welcome, political ana-

lysts said Tuesday.

“Digong [Duterte] may say one thing or retract the statement the next day, but his actions are consistent,” said Ramon Casiple, executive director of the Institute for Political and Electoral Reforms.

“So the people tend to not give weight to what he says but watch out for what he will do next be-

Next page

Next page

By David Tweed PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte stepped onto the world stage last week with the swagger of a bad-boy rock star. Despite a patchy debut, including a rebuff from the US president, Duterte has shown no loss of

Palace tries damage control on Veloso case

SC voids anti-birth implants THE Supreme Court has turned down the Health Department’s appeal to allow it to buy and distribute contraceptive implants to the public, saying it failed to conduct a public hearing on the matter to take into account the views of the people against them.

cause his actions can no longer be misinterpreted,” Casiple said.

Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbased ADR Institute, said the Palace, in the first 100 days, should clearly define the government’s foreign policy to improve relations.

“Instead of panicking and rushing to explain or translate

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

death row convict there, a foreign affairs official said.

Immediately after Indonesian THE Philippines on Tuesday President Joko Widodo said they sought clarification from Indone- would push through Veloso’s sia over the impending execution execution upon the go-signal of of Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipino Next page

‘Yellows’ lack the numbers MOTHER’S TEARS. Celia Veloso, mother of Filipino convicted drug mule facing execution in Indonesia, fails to rein in her tears at a candle lighting ceremony Tuesday at the Philippine Christian University along Taft Ave. while asking President Rodrigo Duterte to help her daughter released from Indonesian jail. Danny Pata twitter.com/ MlaStandard

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

S

REP. Karlo Alexei Nograles said Tuesday there was no way an impeachment complaint against President Rodrigo Duterte would prosper because the President did not only have the backing of 91 percent of the Filipinos

thestandard.com.ph

but also the support of the super majority in the House of Representatives.

Duterte’s staunch ally made his statement even as former Speaker Feliciano Belmonte

Next page

appetite for confrontation.

Returning from his first international trip as president—to Laos for a global summit and then to Indonesia—Duterte called the head of the United Nations a “fool” and repeated his vow for Next page

2 more Zika cases in Iloilo TWO more people in Iloilo who are living in the same household have tested positive for the Zika virus, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said Tuesday.

She said except for mild skin rashes, the two new cases were not accompanied by other signs and symptoms unlike the first confirmed case.

The first confirmed case was a 45-year-old woman, also from Iloilo, who developed skin rashes, joint pains and red eyes.

Next page

Missed your copy of Manila Standard? Call or text our Circulation Hotline at 0917-8848655 or email: circ@manilastandardtoday.com

A2

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Alcala’s...

From A1 Duterte made his statement even as the ‘s ethics committee on Tuesday failed to rule if the complaint for improper conduct filed against Senator Leila de Lima over her alleged links to illegal drugs was “sufficient in form and substance” due to a question on its jurisdiction over the case.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon repeatedly objected to the assertion of Senator Panfilo Lacson that the ethics committee must first determine if the complaint filed by Abelardo de Jesus against De Lima was compliant with the rules of the Senate before proceeding to discuss the merits of the case.

Lacson, also a member of the ethics panel, stressed they should determine the form and substance of the complaint simply because “it is the primary consideration that we have to look into before we consider jurisdiction.”

But Drilon contended that they had to ascertain first if the ethics committee had jurisdiction over the complaint.

Two relatives of Liberal Party stalwart Proceso Alcala were arrested in a drug bust in Tayabas City on Sunday, a month after the officials’ brother and nephew surrendered to the police amid the government’s intensified campaign against illegal drugs.

Maria Fe Abutin Alcala, 58, and daughter Toni Ann, 33, sister-in-law and niece, respectively, of Proceso and Vicente, were arrested by undercover police and Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency agents in a buy-bust operation in the family’s house in Tayabas.

Quezon Provincial Police Chief Antonio Yarra said Maria Fe is the wife of Cerilo “Athel” Alcala, a brother of Proceso and Vicente.

On Aug. 14, Cerilo and his son Sajid, the top two suspects on the drug-watch list of the Lucena City police, surrendered to authorities.

Vicente accompanied them to the city police station. John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

2Frommore...

A1 Ubial said that case was most likely due to local transmission since there had been no history of travel to any affected country in the past two weeks.

“On August 31, she presented with skin rash and joint pains not accompanied by fever,” Ubial said.

“She was confined in a local hospital where urine and blood were collected. She was subsequently discharged the following day. She tested positive for both specimens.”

Ubial said all three had since recovered from their mild illness and did not require hospitalization. And it was fortunate that none of them was pregnant.

The Zika virus is non-fatal to the general population, but it can pose dangers to a baby in the womb. An infection during pregnancy can result in a baby with a small head―a condition called microcephaly― and other brain defects.

Ubial said her department will implement a continuous monitoring of suspected cases for another month to determine the extent of local transmission in the country.

She said 88 households had been visited near and around the residence of the confirmed cases.

Most of the containers identified as mosquito breeding sites in the area were positive for the larvae or pupae of the Aedes aegypti, the principal mosquito vector for the Zika virus. Macon Ramos-Araneta

Du30’s...

From A1 his nation to chart an independent foreign policy. He also denounced US military killings when the Philippines was an American colony and thanked China for “being generous to us.” On Monday, he called for US troops to leave the southern island of Mindanao.

While Duterte, 71, can say different things on different days—in part because his nationalist outbursts help bolster his strongman image in the Philippines—for now at least he seems to be moving away from close military ally the US and toward main trading partner China, even though the countries have a long running territorial dispute.

That has ramifications for geopolitics well beyond the Philippine archipelago.

One risk is that Duterte ends up making concessions to China in return for financial incentives, frittering away any advantage Manila gained from the international arbitration ruling in July that found China’s extensive claims over the South China Sea had no legal basis. Thats “a dangerous situation” for the U.S. and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, according to Malcolm Davis, senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra. Bloomberg

News

Pregnant Davao blast victim dies

By Funny Pearl A. Gajunera

D

AVAO CITY—The Roxas night market blast has claimed another life—21-yearold Vicenta Depalubos Asperin, who was six months pregnant, died at around 10:17 p.m.

Monday.

ter to help her, what was happening to her,” Depalubos said.

He said their entire family is seeking justice.

“We demand justice for her.

We hope that the perpetrators get caught. They will pay for what they have done, my younger sister is innocent, she’s pregnant! They really have to suffer for what they did, I hope they get caught immediately,” Depalubos added.

Asperin was the massage therapist of 12-year-old Daniel Larrida who died on the spot during the blast.

Her husband John Lord was in Nabunturan, Compostela Valley province when he heard that his wife was in a coma because of the wounds she sustained during the bombing.

The two got married last March and was expecting their first baby girl.

Asperin was one of the Dabawenyos severely injured during the September 2 blast. A splinter entered her nose and went straight to her brain.

According to her brother, Gregorio Depalubos, Asperin was declared brain dead by her attending physician at Metro Davao Medical and Research Center (MDMRC) minutes before her last breath.

“Last night she was declared brain dead by her doctor, after several minutes she was no long-

er breathing,” Depalubos said.

He said the doctors did everything they could, but her sister already gave up.

Depalubos said he could not describe the pain their family felt because they lost their younger sister because of a nonsensical bombing.

“I can’t understand the pain that we are feeling. She couldn’t bear it anymore though she’s a fighter but she couldn’t go on anymore. Before she was brought to the hospital, she asked my sis-

China...

From A1

skilled the Asean-US meeting not because he was sick but “as a matter of principle.”

“I purposely did not attend the bilateral talks between Asean countries and the President of the United States.

I attended all the others….The reason is not I am anti-West. The reason is not that I do not like the Americans.

It’s simply a matter of principle for me,” Duterte said.

Last week, Palace officials said Duterte skipped the US-Asean meeting because he was not feeling well.

During their brief encounter in Laos, Obama urged the Filipino leader to conduct his war on crime “the right way” and protect human rights.

The United States said the Philippine government had not officially communicated Duterte’s demand to pull US military advisers out of the rebellion-torn southern Philippines.

Since 2002, up to 600 US advisers have been deployed in the Mindanao region to train troops battling Muslim extremists but their numbers have been scaled down in recent years.

A week after calling Obama a “son of a bitch,” Duterte said Monday US Special Forces in the region “have to go.”

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay tried to play down Duterte’s comments, saying Tuesday they were “in the context of wanting to save the lives of these Americans who might be exposing themselves to unnecessary risk” from militant attacks.

In Washington, the Pentagon and State Department said they had not been officially contacted by Manila about pulling out the remaining advisers, who Yasay said now numbered about 100.

Yasay, interviewed by Manila’s ABS-CBN network, confirmed the allies had not discussed Duterte’s demand.

Duterte, 71, has said he is “not a fan” of the United States and on Monday explained his demand by showing pictures of US troops killing Muslims as America took control of its new colony in the early 1900s.

He has said the spat was triggered by State Department criticism of his controversial war on drug crime, which has left about 3,000 people dead since he began his six-year term in July.

Yasay said Duterte’s new comments did not signal a shift in policy, and that ties with the US remained strong.

The President only wanted to protect Americans from kidnappings and terrorism as they had become “a very good target”, Yasay said.

“There is no shift in so far as our policy is concerned with respect to our close friendship with the Americans.”

Yasay, who was heading to Washington for talks, added the Duterte administration would honor existing defense agreements including a 2014 accord giving the US military access to at least five Philippine bases, one of them in Mindanao.

His comments were in sharp contrast to an initial explanation by Abella, who said the demand “reflects [Duterte’s] new direction towards coursing an independent foreign

policy.”

A militant lawmaker on Tuesday backed Duterte’s call for American soldiers to leave the country, calling it unprecedented and that the US soldiers should leave immediately.

“President Duterte is right in asserting what has long been demanded by the people: ending the more than century-old US military intervention in Mindanao, which among others resulted in the massacre of civilians, like the 1906 Bud Dajo massacre before and the 2015 Mamasapano debacle,” Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said.

Zarate said he is hopeful that the President’s statement will soon lead to abrogation of several special laws that legitimize the presence of American special forces in Mindanao.

“We hope that this is just the start and, eventually, President Duterte also pursues the abrogation of the onerous and lopsided treaties like the Mutual Defense Treaty [MDT], the Visiting Forces Agreement [VFA], the Mutual Logistics Support Agreement [MLSA] and the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement [Edca].

With this we can truly say that the country have a truly independent foreign policy,” Zarate said.

But opposition lawmakers expressed concern over Duterte’s order.

Reps. Edcel Lagman of Albay, Gary Alejano of Magdalo party-list and Edgar Erice of Caloocan City, at a news conference, sought clarification from Malacañang and the President himself on the issue.

Alejano complained of conflicting foreign policy statements coming from the Palace and the President himself, saying Duterte must explain the changes in the country’s foreign defense policy.

“The message coming Malacañang and government officials are conflicting.

There is changing of policy statements and pronouncements,” Alejano said.

Lagman said that the government must be able “to respect the validity” of the VFA and the Edca.

Erice said the presence of US troops in the country was intended to provide Filipino people the much needed defense against internal and external security threats, such as Chinese bullying in the South China Sea. The military on Tuesday seemed confused by Duterte’s order.

“We are yet to receive any specific directive as to how this pronouncement will be effected. We understand that the implementation of the said pronouncement is the subject of deliberations by concerned departments like DND [Department of National Defense] and DFA [Department of Foreign Affairs] to mention some,” said Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, spokesman of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

“We assure our people and allies that Philippine-US defense relations remain rock solid. Activities lined up for the year continue without interruption. Consultative planning activities for 2017 and beyond likewise remain on track,” he added. With Florante S. Solmerin, Maricel V. Cruz, AFP

without the Filipino Cabinet officials.

Before leaving for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, Duterte had said he would try to intercede on Veloso’s behalf with Widodo “in a most respectful and in a very, very courteous way.”

“If my pleadings will fall on deaf ears, I am ready to accept it,” Duterte said in his hometown Davao City.

Veloso, who was arrested at the Adisucipto Airport in Yogyakarta in April 2010 for bringing illegal drugs into Indonesia, was among the nine foreigners scheduled for execution in 2015 but got a last-minute reprieve after the previous administration intervened.

But Yasay said Duterte did not ask for clemency during his meeting with Widodo in Jakarta, Indonesia last week.

Critics attacked Duterte for giving Widodo the “go-ahead.”

The Official Gazette, on its Twitter

account, quoted Yasay as saying that Widodo had taken Duterte’s statement out of context, but later took down the post.

Widodo on Tuesday maintained that Duterte had given him the go-ahead.

“President Duterte said to go ahead [with the] process it in accordance with Indonesian law, well that’s it...the meaning of that is clear,” Widodo said.

Yasay said Duterte did not aske for clemency because Philippine authorities were sill looking for substantive evidence to show Veloso was innocent.

“We are waiting for more substantive evidence that would make our request for clemency more compelling,” Yasay said.

On Monday Yasay clarified that the Jakarta Post headline saying Duterte had given the green light for Veloso’s execution was “erroneous.” With John Paolo Bencito, Sandy Araneta and Macon Ramos-Araneta

[of equipment] because we have the money. We have two countries which agreed to give me the softest loans payable in 20 to 25 years. I want weaponry and armaments; I don’t need jets, F-16s ... Those are of no use to us,” Duterte said.

“We don’t intend to fight any country,” Duterte said, saying he would rather have propeller-driven planes that can be used in anti-insurgency operations.

But Duterte also said he is not cutting alliances with anyone.

“We are not going to cut our umbilical cord with the countries we are allied with now,” the President said.

“But certainly, we will follow an independent posture and independent foreign policy. We should be everybody’s friend.”

On Monday, Duterte said that the US Special Forces based in Mindanao should leave the country, saying the country’s alignment with the West was at the root of the Muslim insurgency.

Duterte’s order came a week after he threatened to cuss US President Barack Obama as a “son of a bitch” if he brought up human rights abuses during their scheduled one-onone meeting on the sidelines of the Asean summit. These remarks caused Obama to cancel their meeting.

US advisers in Mindanao help train Filipino soldiers but are barred from combat except in self defense.

The Palace on Tuesday said there have been no specific directives on how to carry out the President’s call to remove the US Special Forces based in Mindanao.

At a press briefing, presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the President only meant that the US forces should leave because of safety concerns.

A US State Department spokesman, commenting on Duterte’s remarks, admitted that Washington is “not happy with the things they’ve heard from the President.”

State Department spokesman John Kirby told a news briefing that he had seen reports about Duterte’s comments, but was “not aware of any official communication by the Philippine government ... to seek that result.”

“I’m not aware that there’s been a tangible, practical effect on relations. [But] I think, as we said we haven’t been happy about everything we’ve heard and we haven’t been afraid to talk about that and to be frank about it,” he said.

Despite the pronouncements of Duterte, Kirby said that the United States is committed to its alliance with the Philippines.

The Pentagon said it was aware of Duterte’s statements but had not been contacted by authorities on the issue.

“We will continue to consult closely with our Filipino partners to appropriately tailor our assistance to whatever approach the new administration adopts,” Pentagon spokesman Gary Ross said.

Duterte once again unleashed his anti-American rhetoric and said he

Palace...

From A1 President Rodrigo Duterte, Foreign Affairs chief Perfecto Yasay Jr. called his counterpart, Foreign Ministry Retno Marsudi, to clarify the issue.

“We already sent Indonesia a clarification on Duterte’s statement on Veloso’s execution,” Yasay said in a television interview on ANC’s Headstart program.

Earlier, in an interview in Indonesia, Widodo said Duterte had given him the green light to execute Veloso, who was sentenced to die for drug smuggling.

Palace officials did not deny the report, but said the President had only told Widodo that the Philippines will not interfere in Indonesia’s legal process.

Yasay said Duterte and Widodo had a closed-door meeting last week

Yasay...

From A1 “I would like to assure the Filipino people that there is no shift in so far as our policy is concerned with respect to our friendship with the Americans,” Yasay said on the ANC news channel.

“This trip is proof of our good ties with the US,” he said in a separate interview with radio dzMM. On Monday, Duterte said the US Special Forces based in Mindanao “had to go,” as he again brought up the American pacification campaign there in the early 1900s that led to death of hundreds of Moros.

Yasay said he would go to Washington first to meet with Kerry, then proceed to New York to attend the UN General Assembly.

“I’ll be meeting with Secretary Kerry. I’m confident Philippine-US relations will continue and go forward much stronger,” Yasay said.

Yasay added that pursuing an independent foreign policy did not mean a shift away from its allies.

“When President Duterte said that we are going to pursue an independent

Message...

From A1 what the President really meant and wanted to convey to the public, the Palace men should fix the problem by finding out what is the President’s clear stand on issues,” Manhit said.

But neither Casiple nor Mahit blamed the media or the presidential communications staff for the problems such as Duterte’s kerfuffle with US President Barack Obama.

“It is the President himself who is his own PR man. That is the problem,” Casiple said.

“The President’s projection of being a toughie tends to make him say one thing but do another thing. His pronouncements of wanting to kill all drug lords and drug addicts may be accepted locally, but this does not play well internationally particularly among the European Union-member countries and the United States,” Casiple added.

While the US, the EU and the United Nations were concerned about human rights, Casiple said, there was no evidence to prove that the President has ordered extra-judicial killings.

Casiple and Manhit also noted

‘Yellows’...

From A1 Jr., vice chairman of the Liberal Party, denied that the LP was behind a move to oust Duterte from power.

He said the LP, the dominant party during the Aquino administration, would never be a Trojan horse in the super majority and that any effort to impeach Duterte would not prosper.

“Definitely, the LP is not a Trojan Horse,” Belmonte said.

Senate President Pro Tempore Franklin Drilon also said the Liberal Party, of which he is the national vice chairman, had no plans to oust Duterte.

Drilon said even Duterte did not directly identify who were the

SC...

From A1 The high court’s Second Division denied the department’s motion to acquire and distribute Implanon and Implanon NXT―thin rods that are inserted under the skin and which release hormones that prevent pregnancy for up to three years.

The high court also rejected the certifications and re-certifications issued by the Food and Drug Administration on 77 contraceptive drugs and devices, including Implanon and Implanon NXT, for violation of the constitutional requirement of due process.

The high court said the FDA certified and administered 77 contracep-

Ferdie...

From A1 The storm had maximum sustained winds of 215 kilometers per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 250 kph.

Typhoon Signal No. 4 remained hoisted over the Batanes group of islands and Signal No. 3 over the Babuyan group of islands.

Signal No. 2 remained hoisted over Ilocos Norte, Apayao and Northern Cagayan and Signal No. 1 over the rest of Cagayan, Northern Isabela, Kalinga, Abra and Northern Ilocos Sur. “Ferdie will exit PAR [Philippine Area of Responsibility] Wednesday afternoon toward Southern China as a new storm is expected to enter PAR almost at the same track of Ferdie early Wednesday morning,”

foreign policy, he was not articulating something that is new or a shift. This is exactly what the Constitution mandates, we must pursue an independent foreign policy taking into consideration the paramount national interest and ensuring our sovereignty, territorial integrity and self-determination,” Yasay said.

Yasay also said that the long-standing ties with the US remain strong despite Duterte’s recent attacks on the Americans.

Former permanent representative to the United Nations for the Philippines Lauro Baja Jr. said most of the US Special Forces who are engaged in the operational aspects of the agreement to fight terrorism have already left.

“Most of them have left,” Baja said.

In a press briefing at Washington US State Department spokesman John Kirby said ties between the US and the Philippines go back a long way.

“We have a long, productive history with the Philippines. I understand that it’s not a history without its past troubles, but we’re committed to our alliance with the Philippines, and we look forward to working our way through that,” Kirby said. the President’s penchant for issuing statements and regret issuing them the next day.

“The government has to have clear and defined policies because perceptions are shaped by the President’s pronouncements,” Manhit said.

“The Palace communications team should put discipline in the President’s messaging so his statements can better be and clearly understood. They have to fix this,” Manhit added.

They said the President’s men often contributed to the controversy.

During the Davao blast, Palace officials issued contradictory statements about who was behind the attack. They also offered different versions about the coverage of the state of lawless violence that Duterte declared.

Some officials were quick to announce the President would cancel his visit to Brunei while others said the issue was still being discussed.

The erroneous announcement by the Presidential Communications Office that Duterte would be seated next to Obama and UN Secretary General Ban Kai-moon during a gala dinner at the Asean summit was a mess, the analysts agreed. With Maricel V. Cruz “yellow” forces behind the moves to oust him as a result of his fight against illegal drugs.

Nograles made this statement to dispel rumors that there is a move to impeach Duterte in the House of Representatives in relation to the killings attributed to his war against illegal drugs.

“There is no way that this alleged impeachment could even take off in the House of Representatives,” Nograles said.

“For one, there is no constitutional basis to impeach the President because his war against drugs is consistent with his mandate and was the core of his platform of government when he decided to run for the presidency.” Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta

tive drugs and devices “without the observance of the basic tenets of due process, without notice and without public hearing, despite the constant opposition of petitioners.”

“The Court is of the view that the certifications and re-certifications and the distribution of the questioned contraceptive drugs should be struck down as violative of the constitutional right to due process,” the Court said in its decision.

It ordered the FDA to conduct hearings on the matter to allow the petitioners against the contraceptive drugs and devices and to determine if those are abortifacients. It ordered the FDA to start the hearings within 30 days from receipt of notice. Rey E. Requejo

weather forecaster Benison Estareja told the Manila Standard.

The center of the new tropical storm with the international name “Malakas” was 1,625 km east of Luzon. It had maximum sustained winds of 85 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 100 kph.

“Gener,” another storm, is not expected to make landfall but will enhance the southwest monsoon and spawn moderate to heavy rainfall over the western section of Northern Luzon and Central Luzon, including Metro Manila.

“Gener,” if enters the country, will move toward Batanes and “immediately” re-curve upward and head for Southern Japan, Estareja said.

He said “Ferdie” and “Malakas” will spare Mindanao, but the enhanced southwest monsoon will affect the Visayas. Rio N. Araja

News

A3

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF 0917-Duterte hotline open GLOBE Telecom and the Davao City government are collaborating to help improve the peace and order situation in the city by putting in a place a hotline, 0917-Duterte (09173883783), to receive calls and texts relating to security concerns in the city.

Specifically, 0917-Duterte will serve as a special and dedicated mobile number for calls and texts from Davaoeños who will report possible leads to catch the perpetrators of the recent bombing incident in Davao.

“With the hotline number, Globe is able to help public officials and residents of Davao City in strengthening peace and order in the city by putting in place an easy to remember and accessible number where they can report leads and information that can help catch perpetrators of the recent bombing incident,” Globe lawyer Froilan Castelo said.

For her part, Davao Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said: “We would like to thank Globe for enabling this special mobile number to give Davaoeños access to a dedicated hotline that will definitely help solve the recent bombing incident that took place in the city. The hotline will definitely pave the way for a more concerted and collaborative effort from the people of Davao City to combat acts of senseless terrorism.”

Execs told to explain illegal dumps THE Ombudsman ordered some local officials from the Visayas to explain the illegal operation of dumps within their areas.

Investigators from the Environmental Ombudsman Program are conducting an indepth fact-finding investigation into illegal dumps being maintained in the provinces of Iloilo and Aklan.

Those asked to explain were local officials from Iloilo’s Banate Ajuy, Sara, Sta. Barbara and Concepcion towns, and Aklan’s Nabas, and to attend a series of clarificatory hearings.

A hearing is set on Sept. 16 in Cebu City. Rio Araja

SC pushes pork cases THE Supreme Court has paved the way for the Sandiganbayan to proceed with the prosecution of former Technology Resource Center (TRC) chief Antonio Ortiz and former budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos, in connection with the multibillionpeso pork barrel funds anomaly.

During its en banc session on Tuesday, the SC dismissed the separate petitions of Ortiz and Relampagos questioning the rulings of the Sandiganbayan in 2014 allowing the amendment of cases filed against them by the Office of the Ombudsman.

“The Court agreed with the Sandiganbayan and held that the Sandiganbayan did not commit grave abuse of discretion; nor did it commit error when it found probable cause against petitioners,” SC spokesman Theodore Te said, in a media briefing.

OUTSTANDING FILIPINOS. President Rodrigo Duterte and Metrobank founder George S.K. Ty feted the country’s top teachers, policemen and soldiers during an awarding ceremony at Malacañang’s Rizal Hall on Monday. Malacañang Photo

Congress passes village poll law

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

T

HERE will be no Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections next month.

This developed after both houses of Congress—The Senate and the House of Representatives—separately approved on third and final reading the consolidated bill seeking to postpone the elections next month to give way to reforms that will improve the institutions’ ability to serve their constituents.

Senate Bill No. 1112, primarily sponsored and authored by Senate Committee on Local Government Chairman, Senator Juan Edgardo Angara, was co-authored by Senators Leila de Lima, Alan Peter Cayetano, Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva, Cynthia Villar and Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Angara said the measure aims to move the twin elec-

tions, originally set on Oct. 31 this year, to the fourth Monday of October next year, or Oct. 23.

In the meantime, the terms of incumbent and SK officials will be extended “for a year unless they are removed or suspended from office.”

He said a foremost reason for pushing through with postponement is to allow more time for the full implementation of the SK Reform Act or Republic Act No. 10742, “a product of the hard work of our colleagues, Senators Bam Aquino, JV Ejercito, and former senator Bongbong Marcos.”

Angara added the government was not ready to implement many of the provisions and programs under the SK

Reform Act, signed into law last January “to improve the services of the SK and make it more meaningful.”

In the House, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez presided over the plenary session, and steered the passage of House Bill 3504, with the chamber voting 218-4 to approve on third and final reading the proposed bill.

The measure was a consolidation of 11 other bills seeking the postponement and principally authored by Alvarez.

Prior to the bill’s approval, Cebu Rep. Raul del Mar said the measure—as provided under the House rules—should have been approved on final reading after three session days after it was passed at the committee level and on second reading at the same time last Sept. 7.

But Alvarez did not entertain Del Mar’s objection as the call for the postponement of the village and youth polls is deemed an urgent measure.

Leyte Rep. Yedda Romualdez,

De Vera named to CHED

wife of former House Independent Bloc leader and ex-Leyte Rep. Martin Romualdez, was among the lawnakers who supported the postponement of the said polls.

She earlier said she personally supported the clamor to suspend the barangay and SK polls especially that the country just held last May what she described as the “very divisive” presidential polls.

“We can also study the proposal to ensure that necessary reforms in barangay and SK are put in place before another polls for these are held,” Romualdez said.

In the Senate, Angara said RA 10742 called for the creation of a training fund worth P50 million to be used for the mandatory training of SK officials. But these trainings, according to him, “cannot take place this year since the 2016 General Appropriations Act does not provide any such training funds.”

Angara also cited the presence of ‘election fatigue’ among voters since only four months have passed since the national elections last May.

Panel okays office budgets of Digong, Leni THE House committee on appropriations on Tuesday approved the proposed 2017 budget of the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President, respectively, without fanfare.

The panel, chaired by Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles, approved the proposed P20-billion budget of the OP and the requested OVP’s P428-

million budget after their officials were grilled by lawmakers.

Prior to the approval of the Office of the President’s budget proposal, Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman, an opposition, took note of the “600-percent” increase in next year’s budget of the OP. The OP’s present allocation is pegged at P2.6 billion.

“There is a tradition that the Office of the President is liberated from questions, and I will adhere to that. But that tradition is not extended to the plenary,” Lagman told the panel.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno earlier explained the huge increase in the OP’s budget include the P15.4-billion funding for the Philippines’ hosting of the Asean Summit next year.

The budget of the OP also includes the P2 billion for intelligence fund.

On the other hand, the OVP’s proposed budget for next yeat is lower than its current appropriations of P500 million.

Vice President Leni Robredo failed to show up before the appropriations panel to defend her office’s proposed budget for next year.

Zubiri: Infra hits 2 goals

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

AN OFFICIAL spokesperson of the University of the Philippines, Dr. Prospero de Vera III, has been appointed commissioner of the Commission on Higher Education and concurrently adviser to the Government of the Philippines’ negotiating panel with the National Democratic Front and its members—the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Party.

Last Sept. 12, he took his oath before President Rodrigo Duterte in Malacañang.

De Vera, a full professor at the UP’s National College of Public Administration and Governance for more than 20 years and vice president for public affairs, served as permanent representative of the late senator Juan Flavier of the Mariano Marcos University, Ilocos Sur State Polytechnic College and Pangasinan State University, as well as an alternate regent of the University of Northern Philippines and Don Mariano Marcos State University from 2004 to 2007.

His academic training includes specializing in higher education administration at the Rossier School of Education of the University of Southern California (USC) in the US as a Fulbright Hays Visiting Scholar in the 1990s.

He served as executive assistant, chief of staff, senior consultant and senior adviser to at least eight senators, including former Senate President Aquilino Pimentel and Senate President Pro Tempore Leticia Ramos-Shahani.

Under Republic Act 7722, the President appoints commissioners who are “academicians known for their high degree of professionalism and integrity who have distinguished themselves as authorities in their chosen fields of learning.”

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES

COMMISSION ON APPOINTMENTS

ROAD TALK. Senators Joseph Victor Ejercito and Manny Pacquiao (right) question renowned architect and urban planner Felino Palafox (left) and Public Works Secretary Mark Villar (not in photo) during the Senate hearing on the government’s flood control program. Lino Santos

SENATOR Juan Miguel F. Zubiri is urging the government to hasten infrastructure construction as the best two-pronged strategy to create more jobs and modernize transport infrastructure.

“There are fewer unemployed Filipinos this year, from 2.75 million (6.5 percent) in July last year to 5.4 percent in July this year. That means 2.33-million able-bodied Filipinos are jobless. Or, one of every 20 employable persons is out of work. That is still too much,” said Zubiri.

He said there are also seven million people looking for additional work “due to insecurity, seasonality of jobs or need more income like many of the working poor,” Zubiri said.

Zubiri noted, that of the total 2.33-million jobless Filipinos, half (48.2 percent) are 15 to 24 years old and 28.2 percent are 25 to 34 years old.

“That is a waste of human capital because these are the ages when people are most physically fit and mentally alert. I stress this without devaluing experience and specialization achieved by older workers.”

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, our total labor force is 41.342 million or one-third of 64.936-million Filipinos aged 15 years and above.

ANNOUNCEMENT President Rodrigo Roa Duterte has submitted to the Commission on Appointments (C.A.) for confirmation the ad interim appointments of the following officials: Cabinet Secretaries Hon. Ismael D. Sueno – Secretary, Department of the Interior and Local Government and Hon. Benjamin E. Diokno – Secretary, Department of Budget and Management The public may submit any information, written report or sworn complaints or oppositions in forty (40) copies on the above appointments to the CA Secretariat, 6th Floor, PNB Financial Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, Metro Manila.

For the schedule of the public hearings, the CA Secretariat can be reached through telephone numbers 551-7532, 831-0893, 831-1824, 834-2706, 831-1566 and 834-2713.

13 September 2016.

HECTOR A. VILLACORTA Secretary (MS-SEPT 14, 2016)

A4

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Amateur hour

T

HE late Senator Joker Arroyo once derided the Aquino administration as a student council trying to run a country. We can only wonder what the acerbic senator and one-time executive secretary would have said, had he seen this Duterte administration in action.

At the recently concluded Asean summit in Laos, the Presidential Communications Office (PCO) headed by Secretary Martin Andanar embarrassed President Rodrigo Duterte and the country by issuing an erroneous press release stating that the Philippine leader would be seated next to US President Barack Obama and United Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon at a gala dinner for the Asean leaders.

The gaffe was doubly embarrassing,

coming as it did after President Duterte, in a moment of pique, threatened to denounce President Obama as a son of a bitch for questioning his administration’s anti-drug campaign that has taken the lives of more than 2,000 suspected drug pushers and users in just over two months. This caused the American leader to cancel a scheduled one-on-one meeting with Duterte, a move that Palace spin doctors tried with little success to pass off as a mutual decision.

Previously, the President had also called the UN a “useless body” and threatened to leave the intergovernmental organization, then called Ban “a fool.”

Almost as bad as the factual error itself was the way the PCO tried to play off the controversy caused by the President’s statements to drum up interest in their boss.

“Presidents Duterte and Obama will be seated next to each other, which expect-

edly, will focus all cameras on them to deliver to the world the encounter of the two,” the PCO press release said.

“Incidentally, United Nations [UN] Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon is also seated on the other side of President Duterte,” it added.

But contrary to the PCO announcement, Duterte sat between Indonesian President Joko Widodo and Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev during the Asean gala dinner.

Asked why his office had issued the wrong information, Andanar said the seating arrangements were subject to change—suggesting that this was, in fact, what had happened.

Back in Manila days later, Andanar finally accepted responsibility for the erroneous press release but suggested that it was someone in his staff that was at fault, and that the information went out without his knowledge. The incident, he

added, was being investigated.

Days later, the Palace media office once again became the object of public ridicule after Filipino internet users criticized the online Official Gazette for posting a social media card to mark the 99th birth anniversary of former President Ferdinand Marcos.

Once again Andanar blamed his staff and ordered them to take down the posts but only after internet users ridiculed the Official Gazette, the official government online site, as the “Superficial Gazette” on a spoof Facebook page.

Andanar and his communications team were mocked as “the best communications team in the solar system.”

Perhaps, instead of blaming his staff, Andanar should resign, so that a real professional can do his job. Heaven knows with a mercurial president at the helm, we could use some real professionals to do damage control.

Meetings and massacres

a scheme reduces spending on health care for those who abuse of the products in question, so that more people who require health care are given it, so much the better.

Health advocates are asking the Duterte government to raise taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages, which have been conclusively linked to obesity, diabetes and heart disease. A compelling case can be made for the need for reduced consumption of these beverages, and not just from a revenueraising standpoint.

Respected medical publications like the New England Journal of Medicine have identified the intake of sweetened beverages to excessive weight gain that leads to chronic and fatal “lifestyle” diseases. Up to now, advocates say people do not fully appreciate the link between consumption of these beverages and their health consequences, which are distorted by the extensive marketing campaigns that advertise

IN VIENTIANE, Laos on Thursday, Sept. 8, US President Barack Obama and President Duterte finally met on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Nations summit.

They were supposed to have a substantial bilateral summit earlier. Duterte was supposed to ask for more military assistance for Manila to enable it to combat terrorism, illegal drugs, and incursions by China into the West Philippine Sea. The bilateral was canceled by the US delegation after Duterte threatened to curse Obama and kick him in the ass if the president of the world’s most powerful nation brought up the issue of human rights.

Speaking angrily before boarding his plane on Monday, Sept. 5, the Filipino leader uttered “son of a bitch” when asked about the possibility of Obama lecturing him. “I do not have any master except the Filipino people, nobody but nobody.

You must be respectful. Do not just throw away questions and statements. Put*ng ina, I will curse you in that forum,” he blurted out.

“We will be wallowing in the mud like pigs if you do that to me,” Duterte warned, clearly addressing Obama. The President rightly believes the US, in the course of its history, has committed more human rights violations in the mainland and overseas than the Philippines, and in fact, more than any other nation on earth.

Later, Duterte made that point while addressing his fellow Asean leaders. He showed them a picture of the Bud Dajo massacre by American soldiers of some 600 Muslim rebels in March 1906 thus reheating a sordid chapter in Philippine-American relations.

Six miles from Jolo, Sulu, Bud Dajo is the crater of a dormant volcano where the Filipino rebels sought refuge for their last stand against the invading US forces numbering some 750 men led by a certain Colonel J.W. Duncan. The killings and pillage that took place in four days in 1906 mark the event as America’s First Vietnam, the bloodiest battle of the Moro rebellion against the Americans.

Two-thirds of the dead Moros were women and children. This is the incident for which Duterte want the Americans to apologize today before they could be allowed to question him about drug-related killings.

Some 3,000 have been killed in Duterte’s drugs war and more

Turn to A5

Turn to A5

Removing Duterte THEY never really left, though their idol is now long gone from the palace and busy once again with whatever he busied himself with before he became their sock-puppet president. They are still very much around and looking forward to the time when they shall once again grasp the reins of power, which are tantalizingly just an ornery old man’s heartbeat away.

And President Rodrigo Duterte has identified his enemies, color-coding them, as it were, by mentioning their favored political hue: Yellow.

“Do you know whose game this is [of seeking his removal]?” he asked. “I don’t want to say this, but it’s the Yellows.”

The Yellows, of course, are the self-proclaimed “decent people,” inheritors of the Aquino

legacy of know-nothing, donothing politics, in whose supposedly clean name all manner of corruption and incompetence have been perpetrated in the past three decades. Though these days, in deference to their being in the political doghouse after suffering a severe thrashing in the last elections, a lot of them don’t even wear yellow anymore.

They wear more neutral colors now, including the politically favored plaid, which their old idol Noynoy was seen in recently when he sashayed through a posh hotel lobby with one of his nephews in tow. But they always bow to the same Mecca in New Manila, where their new savior officially resides.

Far from being a spent political force, which they should be after foisting two of their clueless, feckless and antipeople kind as leaders of this benighted land, the Yellows have a real stake in seeing Duterte fail. That’s because their new marionette has landed the

top understudy’s post, waiting merely, in her own words, for “something to happen” to Duterte in order to win it all— perhaps even before her most recent victory has been suffi-

Duterte has gotten over his previous reluctance and has squarely blamed the Yellows for his troubles. ciently explained.

And Duterte allows the Yellows to plot and scheme to hand Leni Robredo the presidency after they have somehow

gotten rid of him. He is either the smartest political operator I’ve ever seen or just too much of a gambler, whether he’s playing geopolitics with the Americans and the Chinese or leading the Yellows on with hopes of a Malacañang restoration.

I have long believed that the escalating sniping at Duterte is rooted in the proximity of Robredo to the highest post in the land. If Robredo herself is removed—say, if former Senator Bongbong Marcos is declared the winner of the vice presidential race by the Supreme Court —my guess is that 90 percent of all the criticism against Duterte will cease.

The good thing is that Duterte has gotten over his previous reluctance and has squarely placed the blame for his troubles on the doorstep of the Yellows. Now it’s their move once again. * * * If all raising taxes does is to discourage abuse of health-endangering products, then, by all means, raise them. And if such

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher can be accessed at: thestandard.com.ph

Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

ManilaStandard

Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

ONLINE MEMBER

PPI

Chairman Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager OIC-Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor

Emil P. Jurado

Adelle Chua Honor B. Cabie Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Opinion Editor Night Editor Art Director Chief Photographer

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Rice Understanding media and how they work SOME confusion has been gated by the US. generated by the one-on-one The Moros were never submeeting between President jugated by the Spaniards, the Rodrigo Duterte and Indone- Japanese and the Americans. sian President Joko Widodo Duterte made the good point on the fate of Filipina death that the US government never row convict Mary Jane Veloso. apologized for its atrocities Veloso was sentenced to die even as Japan asked for forbecause of smuggling 2.6 kilos giveness and gave reparations of heroin. for what they did during the This confusion on the fate of occupation.

Veloso arose after the Jakarta As for the Abu Sayyaf Post quoted the Indonesian Group and the ISIS, any counpresident as saying that “Pres- try associated with the United ident Duterte has given the go- States is considered an enemy ahead for the execution.” of Islam.

The Post further quoted *** Widodo: “I have explained to President Duterte needs an [Duterte] about Mary Jane’s in-house training on how to situation, and I told him that handle media interviews.

Mary Jane [has been found My cousin Charlie Agatep is guilty] of carrying 2.6 kg. of chairman and CEO of Grupo heroin. I also told him about Agatep. He is a longtime marthe delay in the execution dur- keting communications guru ing the meeting.” and mass communications Citing the Indonesian state professor at the University of news agency Antara, the Ja- Santo Tomas. He is a practickarta Post said that Widodo ing public relations profeshad asked Duterte to immedi- sional and former president of ately finish the legal process- the Public Relations Society of es involving Veloso’s human the Philippines. trafficking case so that her exIn a commentary in another ecution in Indonesia could be publication, Charlie laid down carried out. some tips to ensure an effecAn analysis of the Veloso tive media interview: case and what • As far as actually hapmedia is conpened durcerned, there’s ing the Duno such thing Media can terte-Widodo as off-themeeting will make or unmake record. Every show that word of the a president. our Presiinterviewee is dent simply always on the agreed with record.

Widodo who • Do not aptold him that pear hesitant they had their own laws. Mary to answer questions because Jane’s execution was deferred media can always sense that to enable her to testify in con- either the interviewee is lynection with the human traf- ing or hiding something. Body ficking case filed against her language and hesitation to anrecruiters in the Philippines. swer a direct question can beCan we expect President Du- tray an interviewee. terte to argue with Widodo on • Do not try to know evethat score? He would have been rything happening in governa hypocrite to meddle with ment. Always be ready to say the laws of Indonesia. Duterte that “I’ll consult Secretary himself has been very vocal so-and so,” or “I have not been against US President Barack told the details on that.”

Obama, United Nations Sec• Do not answer purely specretary General Ban Ki-moon ulative questions, like “What and other sectors critical of his would happen if...” campaign against illegal drugs.

• Do not ramble. The more Naturally, President Duterte long-winded your answers are, would agree with Widodo. the greater your chances are in What did we expect him to making mistakes. say? To plead for the life of • Do not curse or raise your Veloso would create more con- voice and show irritation fusion since he is hell bent on to any question. Media are waging the war against illegal prone to emphasize the negadrugs here. tive. Negative stories sell, and Earlier in my column, I said I while positive stories are relwas confused over reports that egated into the inside pages.

Duterte would beg for the life I don’t know who among the of Veloso when he goes to In- people around President Dudonesia. This is because here, terte can train him on how to more than 2,000 drug lords, handle media interviews. Not financiers, dealers, protectors his spokesman Ernesto Abeland pushers have already been la, not Communications Seckilled. And then he would seek retary Martin Andanar, much clemency for a Filipina caught less presidential legal counsel smuggling drugs into a foreign Salvador Panelo. country? It simply does not The better press secretaries follow.

I covered during my time were *** JV Cruz, Joe Aspiras, Rod As a Filipino, I support Reyes, Chito Villanueva, and President Duterte’s call for an Mike Toledo. independent foreign policy.

I recommend Presidential We would be free from foreign Adviser on the Peace Process interference and we would tru- Jesus Dureza, a former press ly chart our own destiny. secretary of former President With that, I see no reason Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and why members of the US, some a former publisher of “Davao 200 of them, should continue Times.” Jess knows how meto stay in Zamboanga City. dia tick and how a President I fully agree with the Presi- should handle them. Indeed, dent that the presence of these media can make or unmake American forces can only presidents. agitate the Abu Sayyaf terror The role of a press secretary group, now allied and affili- during my time was critical. It ated with the dreaded ISIS. It still is. A press secretary must has become a national security be a friend to every member of problem. media, know his needs and his In this connection, Duterte problems. And when a Comcontinues ranting against the munications Secretary doesn’t Americans. He shows pho- know how to handle media, it tos of atrocities committed can be disastrous for the Presiagainst the Moros simply be- dent and the entire administracause they refused to be subju- tion.

THE economic managers are of a mind to not seek any extension of the quantitative restrictions on the importation of rice, our staple food commodity.

But the Agriculture Secretary says the palay farmers of the land are not ready, and would prefer to seek another two-year extension, with the hope that by then, our farmers will be competitive enough.

Let me give our readers a backgrounder. Upon our accession to a regime of free trade under the World Trade Organization in 1995, where barriers to the free flow of trade among member nations would be lifted, the Philippines sought, and was granted, 10 years within which to deregulate the importation of rice. As such, the Philippines imposed a quantitative restriction on the importation of rice, and only government was allowed to import the commodity. The 10year period should have made our agricultural modernization efforts work towards making our rice price-competitive in the world market.

But in 2005, we were still not competitive, so our agriculture department, approved by the President and her economic managers, sought a second extension which was eventually granted, giving the country another seven years within which to make our palay farmers more competitive.

This did not come without cost.

We had to open up minimum access to our market for agricultural products, not only for rice but for frozen meat among others. So since then, in the case of rice, we allowed minimum ac-

cess volumes of some 320,000 tons or over 6 million bags annually. The private sector could import through the minimum access volume subject to a 40-percent duty collected by the Bureau of Customs.

Only two countries were given such a consideration by the WTO: South Korea and the Philippines. Our QR would expire 30 June 2012, unless further extended. In 2011, Budget Secretary Butch Abad and the other economic managers wanted to allow the quantitative restrictions to expire accordingly, but because then-Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala promised President Benigno S. Aquino III that he could achieve rice selfsufficiency by 2014, the president agreed to seek another extension, this time for five years.

Though uncertain about the possibility of another extension, I went to the WTO in Geneva along with DA officials, to present our case. The US, Australia, Thailand, China, Vietnam, India, Pakistan and curiously, El Salvador, sought to negotiate with the Philippines. Under WTO rules, a single country objecting to the extension would have been enough to write finis to our request. To get them to agree, we had to negotiate bilaterally with each of these countries.

I thought that China would be the most intransigent to our extension, not because they export huge volumes of rice, but because we were embroiled in a conflict over the West Philippine Sea issue at the time (until now, actually). So as lead negotiator, I decided to seek a bilateral meeting with their Ministry of Commerce, which finally occurred in April 2012. I thought then that if China disagreed, then there was no point talking to the other countries.

Upon arrival in Beijing, I was met by our agriculture attaché,

who was quite worried about our prospects because a week before, China had rejected a batch of banana shipments due to “insect infestation.” We expected rough sailing, but fortuitously, we succeeded in getting their Ministry of Commerce officials to support our soughtfor extension in a meeting that lasted just about 40 minutes, subject only to a proportionate increase from our 25,000 China MAV country-specific quota with whatever we would grant the other countries.

What followed was a frenzy of negotiations with India, Pakistan, Vietnam and Thailand, with the last being the most difficult and most demanding. To cut a long story short, by end-September 2012, when I resigned as NFA administrator to file my COC for a seat in Congress on October 1, 2012, we had secured agreements with China, India, Pakistan, and Vietnam, although closer to an agreement with Thailand. Negotiations with Australia and the United States were to be taken up by DA officials because their demands included contentious meat exports which would impact against the interests of our hog and poultry industries, and these were not within the province of NFA, having their own agencies under the DA. The five-year retroactive extension was granted sometime in 2014, which thus would end on 30 June 2017. The minimum access volume has increased to 805,000 metric tons, an increase of some half a million tons.

And we have had to allow more imports of frozen meat from the US and elsewhere. Meanwhile, despite throwing billions and billions of pesos on Alcala’s selfsufficiency quest, we failed to achieve either the self-sufficiency nor have our farmers become competitive versus their Asean neighbors.

At present, for instance, the prevailing freight-on-board price of long-grain rice in the Asean market is around 385 dollars per ton. This is around P900 per 50-kg. sack. Even if we add logistics and pre-inspection costs, that would only amount to around 1,050 per sack, or P21 per kilo landed cost if NFA does the tax-free importation. If the private sector correctly pays a reduced 35-percent tariff, that would amount to 1,400 per sack or P28 per kilo.

NFA charges P27 for regularmilled rice (which has become quite scarce) and P34 for wellmilled 25-percent broken rice (the kind it imports). The commercial sector, on the other hand, which buys and mills 95 percent to 97 percent of total domestic palay production from our farmers, sells at anywhere from P37 to P45, excepting the fancy variety which services a high-end niche market.

Thus, no matter how you slice the market situation, our palay farmers cannot compete as yet with the Asean competition, principally the majors, Vietnam and Thailand, and even India and Pakistan, despite the higher freight costs due to comparative distance. Wait until Cambodia and Myanmar modernize their palay/ rice industry.

Our farmers produce palay at an average cost of P11 per kilo.

Their Viet counterpart produces the same at P7 to P8 per kilo; their Thai counterpart a bit more.

It is against the backdrop of these market realities that the debate between trying for selfsufficiency in rice (which DA wants) and opening up the market through the non-extension of our WTO quantitative restriction privilege come June 30 next year (which our economic managers want) must be definitively decided upon.

(To be continued next week.)

What it takes to lead the United Nations Bloomberg editorial AS UNITED Nations SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon takes part in his last annual General Assembly meeting this week, delegates from all countries will be looking to see who might replace him.

The four secret straw polls that the Security Council has already conducted offer few clues.

Their results have been leaked, but not to the point of revealing how the five veto-bearing permanent members voted. So the putative frontrunner, former

Meetings...

From A4 than 720,000 have voluntarily surrendered and admitted to illegal drugs use.

Duterte’s outburst against Obama has sent stock prices in Manila crashing down Wednesday (Sept. 7) as foreign investors pulled out more than $58 million in funds and sold a net of $333 million in a 10-day stock market decline. US basketball star LeBron James also canceled what would have been his third trip to Manila. His visit was canceled, at the last hour, by Nike, a US company, which cited “logistical challenges.” “Nike has made the difficult decision to cancel the Manila portion of LeBron James’ Asia tour. We apologize to all the fans in the Philippines and will look to reschedule the tour in the future,” its statement read.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, Duterte, in a statement, expressed regret about his remarks.

It is not yet clear how Duterte’s hostile attitude towards the US president could disrupt or hurt Philippine-US relations.

Manila has agreed to host five US bases across the archipelago as part of Obama’s Pivot to Asia doctrine to halt or neutralize creeping China hegemony over Asia. The US considers itself a Pacific power and accordingly,

Removing...

From A4 supposed benefits of consumption.

This is where the government should come in. By taxing these products to reduce the consumption, the government can actually lower health care costs and even generate revenue that can be used use for its poorlyfunded health programs.

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Guterres, could in fact be out of the running.

It’s much easier to see what kind of person should get the job.

For starters, it should be someone who can marshal the international community to confront humankind’s one truly existential challenge: climate change.

Getting countries to build on last December’s groundbreaking Paris accord is the most essential task he or she will face.

What’s more, the next UN leader should be capable of push-

ing hard for institutional reforms.

It is essential, for one thing, to see that peacekeeping operations protect people rather than prey on them—or serve as a jobs program for ineffectual militaries from poor, repressive nations.

More broadly, the next secretarygeneral should strengthen oversight, shut down ineffectual or overlapping programs, and revisit the UN budget to make sure that all countries pay their fair share.

In other words, the UN needs a leader with proven management and political skills and the will-

ingness to confront unpleasant truths.

In this regard, it would help if the secretary-general served not a renewable five-year term, but a single seven-year stint. That would allow more time to make changes, insulated from political pressures.

More straw polls will be taken before the final vote next month.

Make these transparent, and the ultimate winner may be able to gather more widespread support from the institution he or she begins to lead.

has cobbled military pacts and alliances with strategic countries like the Philippines.

By habit and tradition, Philippine presidents normally kowtow to the US. In 2000, then President Joseph Estrada refused US demands that he stop his all-war against separatist Muslims in the Philippine south. The demand was in a letter hand-carried by the US secretary of defense, William Cohen, and signed by President Bill Clinton.

In his 2000 meeting with Estrada, Cohen also offered to call Clinton for him to talk to the Philippine president.

Estrada said the call was not necessary as he had made up his mind to pursue his all-out war against the Muslim rebels under the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in Mindanao, the southern island. The then-popular Philippine president won that war, capturing 45 MILF camps, including their headquarters, Camp Abubakar. By January 2001, Estrada was out of power, ousted by what Estrada believes now was a US-instigated coup.

During his 20-year presidency, Ferdinand Marcos established relations with China ahead of the US. The Filipino strongman also cut the 99-year lease on Clark and Subic bases to 25 years, made the Americans pay an annual rent for their use, and demanded that

the facilities be called Philippine bases with the Filipino flag flown alongside the US flag.

By late 1985, Washington was demanding that Marcos call an election to legitimize his extended rule. He fell for the ruse, called a snap election in February 1986, and won. But allegations of cheating triggered a US-inspired military coup that ended Marcos’ 20year reign.

Thus, two Philippine presidents fell because they didn’t pay heed to US diktat.

In July this year, Manila won a stirring arbitral tribunal victory in The Hague which declared that there is no such thing as historical rights in China’s claiming 80 percent of the South China Sea. At his impromptu meeting with Duterte last week, Obama apparently managed to get his point across just the same—without the threatened volley of expletives from Duterte. “‘Do it “the right way’,” Obama advised.

“As despicable as these [crime] networks may be and as much damage as they do, it is important from our perspective to make sure that we do it the right way,” Obama related to reporters after the tête-à-tête. when asked about his conversation with Duterte.

“Because the consequences of when you do it the wrong way are innocent people get hurt and you have a bunch of unintended consequences that don’t solve

the problem,” Obama said he told Duterte.

Earlier Monday last week, Obama initially ignored Duterte, calling him a “colorful guy,” and then called off the meeting after the latter’s diatribes made headlines around the world.

Obama and Duterte met briefly and shook hands on Wednesday (Sept. 7) night before an Asean leaders’ gala dinner. They only exchanged “pleasantries,” said the White House.

Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay said he was happy the two leaders had met Thursday. He told newsmen: “They met at a holding room and they were the last persons to leave the holding room. I can’t say how long they met. It all springs from the fact the relationship between the Philippines and the United States is firm, very strong. The basis for this relationship is historical and both leaders realize this. And I’m very happy that it happened.”

It’s like the “sin taxes” on alcohol and tobacco products, which are used by government to fund public health care schemes. The revenue generated from a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages would be considerable and could be used to help support childhood nutrition programs, obesity-prevention programs or health care for the uninsured or just to help meet general revenue needs.

The urgency of reducing the consumption of sugar-sweetened drinks is self-evident. After all, poor people who can’t afford proper health care are the ones who are most likely to contract illnesses that are related to unhealthy diets.

No sugar-sweetened beverage is really necessary, especially where drinking water is available at little or no cost.

A tax that reduces the intake

of sweetened drinks and makes people drink more water— which is healthy and necessary for survival—would benefit the poor both by improving health and by lowering expenditures on such beverages.

The reasons to proceed with a tax on these unnecessary, unhealthy drinks are compelling.

The government should propose such a tax for approval by Congress right away.

biznewsasia@gmail.com

Ambassador Del Rosario’s column will resume soon.

A6

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF American, 4 Filipinos in drug raps LAWMEN arrested a retired US Air Force intelligence officer and seized 1,000 tablets of party drug Ecstasy worth more than P1.5 million during a buy-bust operation in Taguig City.

The arrest of 42-year-old Spanish-American Raul Antonio Cisneros on Sunday also led to the apprehension of four other suspected drug peddlers, whom the police claimed operated at nightclubs and bars in Makati City and Bonifacio Global City.

Cisneros, of New York, USA, was arrested by elements of the Taguig City Police Station Sunday afternoon at Tuscany Condominium in McKinley Hills where the Ecstasy pills and cash money were found.

On the other hand, the other four suspects—Kenneth Andrew Santillan, Auriane Brian Combe, Patrick Wayne Tandez and Amos Apostol—were arrested during series of follow-up operations in Bonifacio Global City and Makati City.

Police also confiscated Ecstasy pills worth P300,000 from the suspects.

“The arrest of these personalities will not stop the police in its anti-illegal drugs campaign efforts. Instead coordination with other concerned agencies will be undertaken to get rid of the scourge of illegal drugs,” said Supt. Jenny Tecson, spokesperson of the Southern Police District.

Ecstasy is a Class-A drug, which is an artificial stimulant, popular among clubbers. Those who take the drug can have a rush of energy which makes them alert, excited and happy.

The suspects are now detained at the Taguig City police jail and will be charged criminally before the City Prosecutors Office.

News

Drug war reaches doors of posh Metro enclaves

By Joel E. Zurbano

P

OLICEWOMEN of the Southern Police District brought the ongoing national war against narcotics to the very doorstep of the rich and famous as they knocked on homes in posh enclaves in Muntinlupa City beginning Thursday.

Among the homes subjected by authorities to their “Oplan Tokhang” was the residences of former President Fidel V. Ramos and Senator Panfilo Lacson.

The police also visited the home of Joseph Brodett, a suspected member of the so-called Alabang

Boys who spent two years fighting off drug charges and was eventually acquitted.

SPD spokesperson Jenny Tecson said the Muntinlupa City Police, led by Senior Supt. Nicolas Salvador, conducted the house-tohouse visit shortly before noon.

“More or less 100 houses were knocked and visited including the house of former President Ramos and the Alabang Boys. The policemen were warmly welcomed by the residents and even showed their appreciation to the program being conducted by the local police,” she said.

Tecson also said “the residents were made to be aware on the different modus operandi of the criminal elements and the actions to be undertaken by them in order not to be victimized.”

Leaflets on bomb threats were also distributed with the corresponding contact numbers to be contacted in case of emergency, she added.

Early this month, the Makati City police conducted “Oplan Tokhang” at the equally exclusive subdivisions of Barangays Magallanes and Forbes Park. The door-to-door information drive covered around 26 households on the first day.

Mayor Abigail Binay said the anti-drug drive in the two villages was a good sign and she expects similar door-to-door campaigns to be conducted in the other villages as well.

“I commend the barangay leaders and residents of the six villages in the city for weighing in on the ongoing war against drugs. I hope this is the beginning of your sustained cooperation and support to the campaign,” she said.

Binay earlier appealed to vil-

WHO pushes use of generics

By Cathrine Mae V. Gonzales

Mangcucang, 68 NENITA L. Mangcucang, wife of Edgardo Mangcucang, passed away on Sept. 12, 2016 surrounded by the family she loved dearly.

She is survived by six children: Sheila Martin, Dennis, Antonio III, Ayessa Canda and Ma. Lilet, as well as son-in-law Kennon Canda and daughters-in-law Lowela and Maricris.

She also left behind eight grandchildren: Wilfredo, Edgardo, Auric, Anton, Anika, Antoine Mari, Rafael Grant and Gabrielle.

She was born on April 15, 1948 in Magapua, Mogpog, Marinduque, to parents Ignacio Jardeleza Licon and Candida Lustre. The youngest in her family, she also left behind sisters Ursula Morera, Socorro Natal, Iluminada Collantes, Teresita Mataya and Gorgonio Licon.

Her remains lie at Loyola Sucat from Sept. 12 to Sept. 13, after which she will be brought to Mogpog. She will be interred at the Alaala Memorial Park on Sept. 18 at 3 p.m.

Aussie, 6 others indicted

By Rey E. Requejo THE Department of Justice has approved the indictment of Australian pedophile Peter Gerard Scully and six others for string of non-bailable charges of sexual abuse and exploitation of nine young children in various provinces in Mindanao.

The DoJ found probable cause in the charges of statutory rape, human trafficking, child abuse, child pornography and voyeurism against Scully, his former live-in partner Liezyl Margallo, German national Christian Johann Rothe, Alexander Lao, Ma. Dorothea Chia, Haniel De Oliveira and Marshal Ruskin.

The preliminary investigation conducted by Assistant State Prosecutor Jinky Dedumo showed that the respondents were members of a syndicate involved in prostitution and pornography preying on children below 12 years old, including a one year old, and uploading of such abuses in pornographic websites in the internet.

“In sum, ruthless pedophiles and sexual predators Scully and Margallo, with the aid of and/or in conspiracy with other respondents, availed a scheme of design, under the guise of adopting the minor victims, including the 18-month-old, with the promise of supposedly taking good care of them, feeding them and sending them to school. Instead, the said little ones were exploited, abused and molested,” stated the resolution approved by Prosecutor General Claro Arellano.

lage officials and residents to allow the police to conduct Oplan Tokhang inside their subdivisions, following a report that only one exclusive village, Magallanes, had permitted the said operation.

“The war against drugs can only be won if we extend our full cooperation with the police, especially in locating known pushers and users in our own backyard,” she said.

Leaflets and flyers containing information on illegal drugs and their ill effects, hotlines and mobile numbers of the nearest police community precincts were handed by the joint teams to residents of the said villages who responded to their knocks at the gates.

KNOCK, KNOCK. Southern Police District cops visit the posh Ayala Alabang Village in Muntinlupa City to inform residents of the government’s ongoing war against drugs. Among the houses the policewomen visited was the residence of former President Fidel Ramos. Danny Pata

PDP backs Rody’s anti-US stance PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s tirade is not personally directed at US President Barack Obama, but a reaction on the seeming interventionist agenda in the guise of concern with the human rights situation vis-à-vis war on drugs.

PDP-Laban Policy Studies Group head and Membership Committee National Capital Region chairman Jose Antonio Goitia said that from his speech, Duterte is not only incensed because he is being told off by the US, but more because of the perception that the Philippines will just kowtow to what the Americans ask the Philippine president to do.

“In the manner of his usual outbursts, President Duterte cited the long history of US aggression in the Philippine soils, in particular, the Bud Dajo massacre in 1906, with 600 Moros killed by Ameri-

can soldiers,” stated Goitia.

“What President Duterte in fact has done through his statements was something no other Philippine president has done before— to recognize the long history of colonial relations between the US and the Philippines and proclaim the sovereignty of the Philippines as an independent nation,” he said.

Prior to the anticipated meeting between Obama and Duterte, the US Embassy in Manila has expressed its concerns with “reports regarding extrajudicial killings of individuals suspected to have been involved in drug activity” and even urged the Philippine government “to ensure its law enforcement efforts are consistent with its human rights obligations.”

According to Goitia, who is also the PDP-Laban San Juan City Council president, such statement,

however, smacks of hypocrisy of the US government especially with the rising number of incidence of police brutality perpetrated against people of color.

“Earlier in August, President Duterte turned the tables against the US embassy when he called them out on the killings of African-Americans. In recent years, the Black Lives Matter movement has been protesting the brutal treatment of federal and state police of African-Americans.

In 2015 alone, 258 black people, mostly young men, were shot dead by the police,” stated Goitia.

“The US government’s moral ascendancy on the issue of human rights is also questionable given its record of supporting authoritarian regimes and the numerous cases of human rights violations in the wars it has waged and backed

in the Middle East and elsewhere in the globe.”

He added that the US government is being selective in condemning cases of human rights violations, depending on the strength and nature of its ties with a given country. Historically, the US has used the human rights issue as justification to intervene in the affairs of nations.

“While President Duterte has already expressed his regret over the fallout, he is optimistic that a meeting between him and President Obama will push through at a later time,” Goitia said.

“It is hoped that when this happen they will treat President Duterte, as a head of a sovereign state, as an equal. The US should listen first to where he is coming from before they make an appeal or judgment,” he said.

THE rate of antimicrobial resistance, or endurance of bacteria from medication, has jumped to 90 percent on some drugs this year, leaving around 700,000 people worldwide dead due to defiant infections, the World Health Organization said over the weekend.

If this trend continues, the number of infection-related deaths could lead to over 10 million a year.

“If bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, the drugs will no longer be effective for treatment.

Infections can last longer or get out of control and, in the worst case, lead to premature death of the patient,” said Dr. Gundo Weiler, representative of WHO in the Philippines.

“For some bacteria, we already see resistance rates, which practically means some antibiotics are no longer effective for treatment,” he said.

Improper use of antibiotics is the main cause of drug resistance, for example, if patients are not given their doses at the right amount or at the right time.

“This mostly happens if antibiotics are not used strictly as prescribed by a physician,” Weiler explained.

The physician bared the data as the country celebrates this month the Generics Awareness Month which is geared toward ensuring the effectiveness and affordability of medicine in the country. Generics offer a lower cost of treatment compared to drugs manufactured by innovator brands. “[It] produces the same therapeutic effects as more expensive drugs because it contains the same active ingredient,” Weiler said.

But even with generics, the physician lamented the “much higher” drug prices here compared to other countries of same standing, which could pose a “barrier to accessing health.”

“Consumers have the right to be informed and be given the choice to use generics,” Weiler asserted.

Unique heart surgery done at Chinese Gen

AGRARIAN REFORM COUNCIL. Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano answers questions from journalists on Tuesday about the recently concluded 35th Presidential Agrarian Reform Council meeting. Malacañang Photo

THE cardiovascular team of the AF has been proven to increase Heart Institute at Chinese General the chance of a blood clot forming Hospital and Medical Center, led inside the appendage, an ear-like

by Dr. Timothy C. Dy, successout pouching of left upper chamber fully implanted the country’s first of the heart. When such clots exWatchman Left Atrial Appendage ist, pieces can break off and travel Closure (LAAC) device in a patient with the blood flow ending up in with chronic atrial fibrillation. different organs. If it ends up in the The other team members were blood vessels of the brain, it leads Dr. Melissa Co-Sia, Dr. Aristides to a stroke. The incidence of stroke Panlilio and Dr. Maria Luisa Jacilis five or more times more likely if do. The procedure was performed the patient suffers from AF. at Cardiovascular Catheterization Patients with AF usually need and Intervention Unit last July 23. to take anti-clotting or anticoThe LAAC implantation was agulant drugs to prevent blood performed under general anestheclots from forming in the LAA sia with guidance by 3-D echocarand thereby prevent strokes. diography and fluoroscopy. Given However, in the elderly populathe minimally invasive nature of tion where falls and injuries are the procedure, the patient recovered common, anticoagulants can also quickly and was sent home less Dr. Timothy C. Dy cause excessive bleeding from than 48 hours after the procedure. trauma. Patients who need surAtrial fibrillation (AF) refers to the irregular gery or have other bleeding problems such as beating of the upper chambers of the heart. It is stomach ulcers also cannot take anticoagulants. a condition that is commonly encountered and is The LAAC device provides these patients with more likely to be found in the elderly population. an alternative mode of treatment.

Sports

A7

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Perlas seeks gold in Seaba women’s meet in Malaysia P

ERLAS Pilipinas is banking on the core of the team that overachieved in the 2015 FIBA-Asia Championship when it seeks the gold in the Southeast Asia Basketball Association women’s championship in Melacca, Malaysia.

Led by new team captain Ryzza Palmera-Dy, the Filipina cagebelles are going to the Sept.

20 to 26 meet with their confidence on a new high following their surprising promotion in Level 1 of the FIBA-Asia women’s tilt a year ago.

Palmera-Dy was with coach Patrick Aquino and newly promoted national team member Jack Daniels Animam in the Philippine Sportswriters Asso-

ciation Forum at Shakey’s Malate on Tuesday and talked about their chances of regaining the basketball gold the country last won in 2013.

“Medyo maganda ang pinakita natin sa FIBA-Asia, so we’re hoping to get the gold in the SEABA in preparation na rin for the Southeast Asian Games in 2017,” said Aquino in the weekly forum presented by San Miguel Corp., Shakey’s, Accel, and

the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Unfortunately, the team – backed by Ever Bilena - will be leaving Sunday without veteran and former team captain Ewon Arayi, who was down with dengue two weeks ago, along with Gemma Miranda, Chovi Borja, and Sofia Roman.

The slots of the last three will be fielded in by Chack Cabinbin, Ara Abaca, and Janine Pontejos.

“Malaki ang chance namin na manalo dahil ‘yung core na naglaro sa FIBA Asia is almost the same, although sadly our captain ball si Ewon (Arayi) nagkasakit,” said Palmera-Dy. “It will be very tough, may mga adjustments kaming ginagawa dahil may mga nawala

sa amin,” said Animam for her part. “But it’s also a good opportunity for us to jibe with the new players.

Aquino said region powerhouse Thailand is still the team to beat in the seven-day tournament.

“Thailand pa rin,” he said about the likely team that stands in the way of Perlas Pilipinas in winning the gold.

Aquino, who also happens to be the head coach of the multi-titled National University women’s team, had the chance to scout the Thais in the recent Asean University meet, where the Lady Bulldogs finished runner-up behind Thailand.

“Nagulat nga ako dahil Thailand brought its national team.

Hindi naman exactly ‘yung buong

team nila, but the core was there,” said Aquino, who also get to watch the teams from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia.

“I heard Indonesia will be sending a club team sa SEABA. I don’t know exactly if the same will be for Laos and Vietnam,” he added.

Perlas Pilipinas didn’t have the opportunity to train outside the country as part of its preparation, but managed to hold exhibition games against the men’s team of Arellano, Far Eastern University, among others.

Aquino stressed even if it fails to win the SEABA gold, the country’s ranking in the FIBA Asia will still remain.

“Hindi ‘yun magbabago. We’ll remain at Level 1,” he said.

Cooper: Pacman is still a beast THE trainer of WBO welterweight champion Jessie Vargas said eight-division world champion and Philippine senator Manny Pacquiao is “still a beast, who still has the passion for boxing.”

In an interview with wellknown boxing writer Steve Kim of Boxing Scene, Dewey Cooper said Pacquiao, who announced his retirement in April prior to running for a seat in the Senate, where some 16 million Filipinos voted him into office, announced he was coming back because he continued to have a passion for the sport, which he indicated was his life.

He also said he made a mistake in announcing his retirement.

Pacquiao’s promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank believes Manny has two more fights left in him for 2017 and hopes, like Hall of Fame trainer Freddie Roach, that one of the fights will be a rematch with the now retired Floyd Mayaweather Jr., who had an unbeaten record of 49-0 and was

Pound-for-Pound King.

As Cooper prepares Jessie Vargas to defend his WBO welterweight title on Nov. 5 versus Pacquiao, he still sees a great fighter in the other corner.

Pacquiao will face Vargas who is some 10 years younger at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 5.

He stated that while some experts believes Pacquiao is no longer the same fighter who became an eight-division world champion, the trainer of Vargas disagrees.

When asked to compare the current Pacquiao to the one that was rampaging everything in sight five years ago, the trainer told BoxingScene.com: “Pacquiao’s still a beast. However, the knockout loss to (Juan Manuel) Marquez (in 2012), he started to be a little more patient since that fight which is not a bad thing. So Pacquiao’s still great, he still has his speed, he still has power, he’s still really into fighting. He has the passion for it.” Ronnie Nathanielsz

Filipino karatekas (from left) Lea Angelo Cuadra (5th PKP-NSA Championship), OJ Delos Santos (ISKF World Shoto Cup in South Africa) and Sarah Kamijo Pangilinan (5th PKF-NSA Championship) display their medals during an appearance at the PSA Forum.

Casimero wants all the 112-pound belts

By Ronnie Nathanielsz INTERNATIONAL Boxing Federation flyweight champion Johnreil Casimero returned home after a long flight from London on Monday evening and announced that he wants to win all the flyweight belts available “so it will be hard to carry.”

Casimero told the Manila Standard that he plans to have a couple of more fights as a flyweight before he goes after newly crowned WBC super flyweight champion Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez, who won a 12-round unanimous decision in a close fight against champion Carlos ‘Principe” Cuadras.

Casimero said he watched the telecast of the GonzalesCuadras title fight.

“It looks like Gonzalez has weakened,” said Casimero.

“It will be nice to fight him [Gonzalez] now. I can beat him easily.”

Recalling his 10th-round technical knockout win over previously unbeaten 23-yearold Briton Charlie Edwards, Casimero said he “trained so hard for the fight to make sure our dreams come true.”

He conceded that while he controlled the fight, Edwards was “a good boxer with good footwork and fought on the outside which made it difficult.

However, he had no power.”

“I chased him for a long time and while the challenger avoided my powerful right, I caught him with a good left hook,” said Casimero of the punch that quickly set up the TKO. Casimero commended the referee Steve Gray who., he said, was very fair. Johnreil said he was “happy that I won my first title defense especially in London before 18,000 people.”

Casimero won the IBF flyweight title with a rousing fourth-round knockout of Thai champion Amnat Ruenroeng in Beijing, China, which was a highlight of the IBF Annual Convention.

Well-known promoter Sam-

my Gello-ani who partners international matchmaker and promoter Sampson Lewkowicz indicated the current plan is for “Casimero to have a couple more fights as a flyweight, make some money and then move up to super flyweight. ” He said Casimero will take a two-week break and then the members of the team will get together and decide on a title defense in November or December and choose an opponent.

Veteran trainer Jhun Agrabio indicated success came because “we trained hard and Johnreil was relaxed. That was our plan. They (the Edwards camp) spoke of travel—wear

and tear—but didn’t know he is a road warrior.”

He said the British fans “didn’t boo too much because they believe in Filipino fighters.”

Agrabio thanked this reporter “for seeing the talent in Casimero. You have always been there for him.”

The arrival interviews with Casimero, trainer Agrabio and promoter Gello-ani plus highlights of the Edwards’ title fight will be telecast on the top-rating Viva Sports weekly boxing show “The Main Event” on Saturday at 8:30 p.m. over Pinoy Box Office on Sky Cable nationwide, with a replay at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday

North Carolina loses 7 sports tourneys over anti-gay law LOS ANGELES—US collegiate officials announced Monday that seven sporting events previously awarded to North Carolina would be relocated over the state’s law limiting anti-discrimination protections for gays.

In July, the National Basketball Association also announced that it was pulling the 2017 allstar game out of the state because of the controversial House Bill 2 law. The NCAA is the nation’s most prominent college sports organization.

“Fairness is about more than the opportunity to participate in college sports, or even compete for championships,” NCAA president Mark Emmert said.

“We believe in providing a safe and respectful environment at our events and are committed to providing the best experience possible for college athletes, fans and everyone taking part in our

championships.”

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, cheered the move.

“The NCAA just sent a clear message to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and state lawmakers that it will not tolerate hateful laws targeting student athletes, fans and employees,” said Griffin.

Among the events to be moved from the state are two early rounds of the Division I men’s college basketball tournament and the women’s Division I college soccer finals.

“Every day that HB2 remains on the books, countless people across North Carolina are at risk of real harm,” said Griffin.

“NCAA President Mark Emmert has shown tremendous leadership by taking a bold stand for equality in the face of discrimination.” AFP

Torre, Frayna on a roll in Baku THE Torre and Frayna show reaches its climax Tuesday, the last round of the 42nd Baku Chess Olympiad.

One appears headed to the sunset after glorious years of service to the Philippines and the other looks forward to a career full of promise in women’s chess.

Eugene Torre led the Philippines’ 4-0 rout of Scotland as he continued to defy skeptics with his eighth win in 10 games.

The 64-year-old Torre, playing in what could be his last Olympiad, is unbeaten and is contending for an individual medal for Board 3. His main opponent is Wesley So, the Caviteborn star, who is now playing for the US. Janelle Mae Frayna and rookie Shania Mae Mendoza powered the Philippines’ womens team 2.5-1.5 win over Italy. Frayna, who team officials say have clinched the final norm to become the country’s first woman grandmaster, also qualified for a men’s International Master title.

There is no word on what title Frayna, 19, will embrace but chess-results.com reported that the psychology senior from FEU is now an International Master.

The men’s team has soared to 39th place with 12 match points from five wins, two draws and three losses. They are playing Australia as of presstime to surpass its 46th place finish two years ago in Tromso, Norway.

“The men’s team is playing well. If we were using the old system (of team scores), we should be in the Top 10 by now,” said Lilibeth Lee-Barcenilla, a two-time Olympiad member, in her Facebook page.

The women’s team jumped to 23rd place with 13 match points from six wins, one draw and three losses.

Torre ripped apart Iain Gourlay’s defense with a beautiful temporary knight sacrifice on the 28th move. The end came after the 32nd move of a Queen’s Pawn opening where Torre’s mating attack was in full swing.

Old, new faces win in Sindanga Cebuana netfest IT WAS a mix of old and new faces when the smoke of the battle cleared at the recent Cebuana Lhuillier Age-Group Tennis Championship Series leg held in Sindanga, Zamboanga del Norte that attracted 140 entries from the host province and adjoining cities and provinces in Mindanao.

“This shows that we are on the right track.

We are identifying new and promising provincial talents at the same time that we are providing them with regular tournaments, where they can hone their skills. Like in this leg, it is a mix of familiar names and new champions,” said Cebuana Lhuillier President /Chief Executive Officer and current Philippine Tennis Association Chairman Jean Henri Lhuillier, who initiated this nationwide series 10 years ago as a tennis grassroots program and currently is supported by Dunlop Sports, with Dunlop as the official ball.

Familiar names were Tubod, Lanao del Norte’s John Renest Sonsona, who copped the 18-under boys’ title, beating sibling John Stephen Sonsona, 8-4; 16-under girls’ champion Sydney Ezra Enriquez from Salug, Zamboanga del Norte, who edged out Princess Gomos from Liloy, Zamboanga del Sur, 8-7; 12-under boys’ titlist Nash Agustines from Oroquieta, who defeated Tubod’s John Christopher Sonsona, 8-2; and Kurt Gervan Bandolis, who won anew the 10-under crown over Ellaquim de la Rosa from Zamboanga, Sibugay with a score of 4-2, 4-1.

New faces were Gomos, who ruled the 18-under girls as she squeezed past Enriquez, 8-7, in the finals; Angel Repaja, who took the 14-under girls’ title after beating 12-under champion and local bet Rica Labrador; Repaja won over Labrador, 8-4; and Armando Magallanes from Iligan, a close 8-6 winner over 14-under boys’ champion Stepher Zion Guia from Dipolog.

LOTTO RESULTS

Football clinic. Twins Marwin and Marvin Angeles, both members of the Azkals, teamed up with fellow Azkals players Eduard Sacapano and Mike Cases and former team skipper Chieffy Caligdong in teaching young kids at the free football clinic offered by the PRU LIFE-UK-sponsored Football For A Better Life, a nationwide grassroots football development series that held recently its fourth leg in Tarlac City after earlier stops in Gingoog, Dumaguete and Dipolog. The series is organized by Spears Activation, in partnership with the Azkals Foundation and regional football associations, in this case, the Central Luzon Football Association. Photo shows the twins in action with young participants in the clinic.

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

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

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

A8

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Sports

NU eyes Shakey’s V-League crown Games today

4 p.m. – UP vs FEU (SVL for 3rd) 6 p.m. – Ateneo vs NU (V League for crown)

Ateneo’s Kim Gequillana (center) sneaks in a spike between the blocking hands of NU’s Jaja Santiago (3) and Jasmine Nabor (4) during Game One of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference Finals at the Philspors Arena.

Arellano Chiefs stop JRU Bombers to retain lead

By Peter Atencio

K

ENT Salado tallied 22 points and six rebounds for the Arellano University Chiefs as they frustrated the Jose Rizal University Heavy Bombers, 79-68, at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Jiovani Jalalon chipped in 18 points, 11 assists and six rebounds while Flores posted seven points and 11 rebounds for the Chiefs who fortified their grip of the top spot and the no. 1 seed in the Final Four of the 92nd National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s basketball tournament with their 13-3 slate.

This brought the Chiefs a win closer to a twice-to-beat advantage for the next round.

Lervin Flores posted seven points and 11 rebounds, with his two-handed slam coming at the end of a 10-4 finishing run which widened Arellano’s five-point advantage to 11 at the buzzer.

Paolo Pontejos did his best

for the Heavy Bombers with 24 points, dishing out six unanswered points to bring JRU with range, 64-69, with 2:23 remaining.

“The players were focused from start to finish. We expected the (JRU) rally. But I told the players, ‘Hang in there,’” said Chiefs coach Jerry Codinera.

The Chiefs are gunning for a twice-to-beat advantage for the next round.

Meanwhile, Reymar Caduyac and Cameroonian big man Harry Nzeusseu struck hard for the Lyceum Pirates as they stopped the University of Perpetual Help Altas, 64-61.

Their big plays with less than two minutes left kept the Altas

from getting the last Final Four semifinals slot.

Caduyac broke a 61-all tie with 1:16 left off his split charity.

The Altas could have scored in the next play, but Bright Akhuetie was forced to commit a turnover.

They never got possession back, and Nzeusseu went on to convert three of his four free throw attempts in the last 1.4 seconds.

Caduyac finished with 15 points while Nzeusseu had 11 points and 15 rebounds. Akhuetie scored a game-high 21 points for the Altas.

The Pirates, who had nothing at stake, hiked their win-loss record to 6-11.

“Pretty much the only reason

Games Thursday

(Junior Basketball at the Arena in San Juan) 9 a.m. Lyceum vs JRU 10:45 a.m. LSGH vs San Beda 12:30 p.m. Arellano vs Mapua 2:15 p.m. Letran vs San Sebastian 4 p.m. EAC vs UPHSD

the games still have bearing for us is we’re preparing for the next season,” said Pirates coach Topex Robinson.

The Altas fell behind with their 11-5 slate, and this gave the Mapua Cardinals high hopes to catch up with their 9-5 card.

Their fate now depend on the outcome of their matches against the San Beda Red Lions and the Cardinals.

Ginebra battles Phoenix

By Jeric Lopez

Star Hotshots guard PC Simon (center) slips a field goal attempt past the blocking hands of TNT Ka Tropa defenders Larry Fonacier (12) and Kelly Williams (left) in a PBA game won

by TNT.

RED HOT Barangay Ginebra looks to build more momentum and aim higher while Phoenix Petroleum wants to secure its place in the quarterfinals as the two teams face off in an intriguing encounter in the homestretch of the 2016 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup. One of the league’s hottest teams, the Gin Kings (7-2), riding a hot three-game winning streak, attempt to win their fourth straight when they go up against the Fuel Masters (5-5), who are in dire need of a win, in an interesting tussle at 7 p.m. at the

Ynares Center in Antipolo City tonight.

Preceding that is a nonbearing game between already eliminated teams GlobalPort (3-7) and Blackwater (1-8) at 4:15 p.m. as both teams try to end their agony.

Ginebra has been rolling this conference and it can put the cherry on top of its ice cream sundae by winning its last two games, today against Phoenix and this Sunday against league-leading TNT Ka Tropa, and gaining the top seed, something it has not done for quite a long time.

Ginebra is already assured of a finish inside the top three and a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarters.

Still, Gin Kings coach Tim Cone doesn’t want any letdown from his team, especially with the playoffs right around the corner.

“We need to keep our momentum going to keep our confidence high heading to the quarterfinals,” said Cone.

Phoenix is facing a mustwin situation in this final assignment as a victory will send the team to the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.

It will be a tall order for the Fuel Masters as a confident and streaking Ginebra squad is standing in their way but they are motivated and would want nothing less than chalking up a big upset.

Green Archers take on Growling Tigers in UAAP action

By Peter Atencio BIG man Ben Mbala is expected to come up with another eye-catching performance as the La Salle Green Archers battle the University of Santo Tomas Tigers at 4 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The last time around, the 6’7” Mbala dominated the paint for the Green Archers when they upended the University of the Philippines Maroons, 89-74, last Saturday in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s basketball tournament.

He tallied 30 points and 14 rebounds, and

“We just played our game on shot 12-of-15 from the field in carGames Today rying the Green Archers to their (at the Mall of Asia Arena) defense. We put on the effort. But we still had 26 turnovers. We are second win in as many games.

2 p.m. FEU vs Ateneo 4 p.m. La Salle vs UST still lacking as a team. We need La Salle is seeking its third to work harder especially late in straight win and a firm grip of the solo lead, while UST will be looking to follow the game,” said Ayo. Abu Tratter and Jeron Teng had 12 points, up its victory over UE in its last game.

Earlier, the defending champions Far East- while Jollo Go added 11 points for the Green ern University Tamaraws (1-1) take on the At- Archers in their clash against the Fighting Maroons. eneo De Manila Blue Eagles at 2 p.m.

Ayo’s concern is now about the matchups With a go-to guy like Mbala sure to deliver for the team, coach Aldin Ayo is turning to he will have when the Green Archers come other matters that need to be fixed in the game face-to-face now that UST’s veteran’s Karim Abdul, Ed Daquioag, and Kevin Ferrer are no of the Green Archers.

longer around for the Growling Tigers.

He has noted the games of Marvin Lee, Louie Vigil and Kent Lao. Then there’s 5’9” guard, Renzo Subido, who led the Growling Tigers to an 88-87 win over the University of the East.

He finished with a career-high 26 points including a 9-of-16 from the field which is something the Green Archers are concerned about.

Sablan said the team has gained confidence following its win over UE. “They are motivated because everyone delivered. It was very important that we talked it out,” said Sablan.

Lascuña, two others start OOM bids as CAT Open unfolds TARLAC—Tony Lascuña drew with Clyde Mondilla in an early clash of Order of Merit contenders while Jay Bayron steps up his own OOM drive against Jobim Carlos and Jhonnel Ababa in what promises to be an explosive start in the Central Azucarera de Tarlac Open at the Luisita Golf and Country Club here today, Wednesday, September 13.

“It’s going to be an early duel but

it’s a good draw. At least we’ll be able to gauge our respective OOM chances early,” said Lascuña, seeking to reclaim the coveted individual crown he had held for three straight years from 2012-14 until Miguel Tabuena turned in a breakout season to snare the crown last year.

With P2,725,948 in earnings, on the strength of four leg victories this year, Lascuña leads the OOM derby

but just P292,920 ahead of Bayron and P328,694 up on Mondilla with this week’s P2 million tournament sponsored by ICTSI and Central Azucarera de Tarlac offering a top purse of P450,000.

“This serves as a make-or-break tournament for our respective OOM bids,” said Lascuña, who also hopes to duplicate his victory here last April when he bested Korean Park Jun

Hyeok by four in the ICTSI Luisita Championship.

The tight, hazard-laden par-72 layout, which hosted last year’s Philippine Open, has been kept in top form all-year and is expected to provide a true test of golf for the elite field, especially if the wind come into play.

Joining Lascuña and Mondilla in the 8:30 a.m. flight on No. 10 is American John Michael O’Toole,

one of the five Asian Development Tour campaigners invited to the 72hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. Bayron, meanwhile, tees off at 7:15 a.m. on No. 1 with the two-leg winner upbeat his chances for another crack at the crown and a shot at the OOM title following a runner-up finish at ICTSI Splendido Classic topped by Elmer Salvador two weeks ago.

NATIONAL U sets out for another Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference coronation tonight, hoping to ride on the momentum it gained from its scrambling five-set thriller over Ateneo at the Philsports Arena last Monday.

But the Lady Eagles will be coming into the 6 p.m. clash knowing they can beat the fancied Lady Bulldogs with their brand of game and big fighting heart that nearly toppled the defending champions in Game One. Ateneo, behind its solid blocking, actually controlled the early going of the fifth set, leading by five points twice and moving at match point twice, 14-13 and 1514. But the Lady Bulldogs displayed championship poise and foiled the Lady Eagles, racking up four of the next five points to steal a 25-21, 19-25, 23-25, 2518, 18-16 decision to the delight of the big Monday crowd at the Pasig arena.

Tonight’s Game Two may or may not match the series’ opener’s level of intensity and thrill where momentum changed sides in every hit, block, serve and dig made. Miscues also came aplenty but they proved insignificant when the match went down to the wire.

Ateneo unleashed a surprise package in Jhoanna Maraguinot, who didn’t see action since the start of the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s due to injury but showed up like she didn’t miss a beat, launching those booming spikes from both sides of the net that kept the Lady Eagles in flight, the last giving Ateneo a 14-13 lead in the fifth.

But the Lady Bulldogs had other things in mind. With their bread-and-butter play (quick sets by Jasmine Nabor for Jaja Santiago) checked in the decider, they went to the next best option—Aiko Urdas, who responded to assistant coach Edjet Mabbayad’s call. Urdas fired three of the last four points of NU to clinch the win.

Santiago will again be NU’s main weapon today. The prized 6-5 skipper unleashed a season-high 31-hit effort Monday.

The Lady Bulldogs also boast of a slew of aces ready to step up and deliver the goods, even at crunchtime.

Medina gains bronze JOSEPHINE Medina of the Philippines kept an old rivalry from taking place again.

She played the spoilers’ role, created a stir when she got in the way of a looming fight among two top European players in the battle for the bronze medal of the women’s singles class 8 on Monday afternoon at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.

The 46-year-old Medina, a polio victim, was a longshot in her quest for a medal.

But she overcame great odds to upset Germany’s Julianne Wolf, the silver medallist at the 2015 European Para Championships, and came away with an 11-5, 11-6, 11-7 triumph at the Riocentro Pavilion.

Medina, who is afflicted with polio on her right leg, said prayers won the day for her.

She is now expected to receive a cash prize of P1-million for feat, according to Republic Act 10699.

Fans were looking in the other direction, as they were expecting Wolf to meet an old rival, European champion Aida Dahlen in the medal rounds.

“I have been praying to God that one day the Philippines would win a medal; the last time in London I came so close I finished in fourth place,” said Medina, who hails from Marikina City, in a statement posted on the International Table Tennis Federation website.

She said the competition was tough.

And after Medina prevailed over Dahlen of Norway, 11-4, 11-5, 11-6, in the preliminaries, everything turned around in her favor. “…when I beat Aida Dahlen and qualified for the main draw, for God nothing is impossible!” said Medina. Peter Atencio

Cusi: Govt to lead LNG terminal

B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

B1

New rules to close Malampaya

By Alena Mae S. Flores

T

HE $4.5-billion Malampaya gas-to-power project may be forced to shut down if the government pursues the implementation of the Environment Department’s new effluent standards, an industry executive said Tuesday.

Related story on B3.

Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. managing director Sebastian Quinones told reporters at the sidelines at a Senate hearing the Malampaya operator was waiting for the Energy Depart-

ment’s reaction on Department Administrative Order 2016-08 or Water Guidelines and General Effluent Standards.

The new DAO prescribes water quality guidelines for each

type of water body. It also imposes effluent quality parameters for each industry.

“If we cannot comply, we will shut down operations. If it [DENR order] becomes executory, we have been told that these new effluent standards must be complied with.

There’s no available technology yet that can allow us to satisfy the rules, so Malampaya will shutdown,” Quinones said.

Spex operates the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan which fuel three natural gas power plants with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts.

Other members of the Malampaya consortium are Chevron Malampaya LLC and PNOC Exploration Corp.

The move followed the income tax claim issue between the Malampaya consortium and the Commission of Audit, which reached P151 billion as of end-June.

“Government needs to decide in terms of policy, where we’re going—to import scenario or continue with exploration and production of locally indigenous fuels. That’s a key policy decision the government must take,” Quinones said.

“If go import, new laws must be crafted to allow LNG [liquified natural gas] industry in the country. It would require new laws to assist existing plants that are currently being [supplied] by the Malampaya,” he said.

Quinones said if the government decided to develop its own resources, “we would request the government’s assistance on the challenges we’re facing now.”

He said these issues included the DENR effluent standards, the CoA tax regime in the country and the legality of the service contracts.

IN BRIEF LABOR HOTLINE.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III (seated) tests the facilities of the Labor Department’s upgraded 24/7 hotline service by responding to a query on holiday pay rules during its inauguration at the 4th Floor of Dole Central Office Building in Manila.

Joining Bello are undersecretaries Dominador Say and Joel Maglunsod and other Labor officials and employees.

Hotline 1347 is operated by 10 hotline assistance officers per shift who are ready to provide solutions to queries on labor and employment.

GMA taps foreign film makers

SSS says contribution rate of 17% needed

By Gabrielle H. Binaday STATE-RUN Social Security System said Tuesday it will need to increase members’ contribution rate to 17 percent of the salary from the current 11 percent to cover the proposed P2,000 across-the-board pension increase.

SSS said in a presentation at the House committee on government enterprises and privatization the higher rate would translate into an additional contribution of P600 from members each month to the current P1,100.

SSS chief actuary and senior vice president George Ongkeko

Jr. said the pension fund was supportive of the proposal to increase the monthly pension as long as there were provisions on the additional sustainable source of funding to avoid the shortening of fund life.

“We are one with legislators in their desire to provide higher pensions for SSS pensioners. However, we also have to look after the welfare of other SSS members and ensure that the SSS fund life is intact,” said Ongkeko.

The proposed P2,000 pension increase would require about P56 billion in the first year of implementation. SSS said the

amount would rise as the number of pensioners grew every year.

SSS currently pays benefits to two million pensioners who yearly receive 12 regular monthly pensions and 13th month pension. Last year alone, SSS paid about P102 billion in pension.

“Granting higher pensions without the parallel implementation of provisions on the source of funding can result in billions in annual net losses for the system, especially for proposals such as the P2,000 pension increase,” Ongkeko said.

The 2015 actuarial valuation showed the contribution rate should be increased to at least 17

percent to implement the pension increase while maintaining the financial status of SSS. SSS funds are projected to last until 2042, but will be shortened to 2025 if the increase will be implemented without the additional source of funds.

“We made computations for all the different legislative proposals on the across-the-board pension increase. All of it, including those with proposed gradual or staggered pension increases, should have a corresponding increase in contribution or an additional and sustainable source of funding,” said Ongkeko.

Busan adding MRT trains by yearend BUSAN Universal Rail Inc., the maintenance operator of Metro Rail Transit Line 3, plans to increase the number of operational trains by end of the year to shorten passenger queues, an executive said Tuesday.

Busan Universal Rail legal counsel and spokesman Charles Perfecto Mercado told reporters the government wanted to deploy 20 running trains or 60 cars by end of the year from the existing 16 to 18 trains.

“On our part, we have to make available 22 trains so that we can have reserves,” Mercado said.

Mercado said Busan suc-

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,550.27 31.52

PeSo-dollar rate

48.00

THE peso weakened to a six-month low against the US dollar Tuesday, pulled down by the possibility of an interest rate hike in the United States.

The local currency lost P0.29 to close at 47.455 Tuesday from 47.16 on Sept.

9. It was the peso’s weakest level since finishing at 47.545 on Feb. 29 this year.

Total volume turnover reached $851 million, higher than $711.6 million on Sept. 9.

The US Federal Open Market Committee is set to meet on Sept. 20 to 21 to find out if there is a need to increase interest rates. The last time the Fed raised rates was in December last year.

Nicholas Antonio Mapa, a research officer at Bank of the Philippine Islands, said investors continued to “rely on the safety of the greenback.”

Mapa said foreign players were getting out of the domestic market as they were becoming skeptical and unsure on what would happen next after the declaration of state of lawless violence by President Rodrigo Duterte, following a bomb blast in Davao City that killed 14 individuals.

Mapa said investors were not sure of the impact on the economy of the president’s move. Julito G. Rada

By Darwin G. Amojelar

Closing September 13, 2016

Closing SEPTEMBER 13, 2016

Peso dips to 47.40

GMA Network Inc. and APT Entertainment teamed up with Hollywood and Korean film makers for a movie project in the country.

“This is an exciting time for us in GMA and we consider it a privilege to have the opportunity to work with Korean producers who are known for creating blockbuster hits in Hollywood and Korea,” GMA chairman and chief executive Felipe Gozon said in a statement.

GMA and APT will work with Hollywood and Korean film producers David Shim and Choi Pyung Ho for a movie project.

“We’ve been looking forward to doing a collaboration with other movie outfits to be able to present fresher, newer, ideas and executions. And GMA is very kind to bring us in together with our foreign partners. I’m sure we will be able to present quality entertainment to the movie going public,” APT Entertainment chairman Antonio Tuviera said.

GMA executive vice president Felipe Yalong said the partnership was a great opportunity for the Philippine movie industry. Darwin G. Amojelar

PSe comPoSite index

cessfully restored 22 cars when it took over the maintenance contract in January, increasing availability level by 55 percent in eight months.

Busan also completed the rail grinding target from North Avenue to Taft Avenue and quadrupled the pebble tamping rate of the previous maintainer to smoothen train runs. This meant increased travel comfort for the riders.

He said commuters could expect even “better service” with the restoration of trains and rails.

The Transportation Department awarded the P3.8-billion contract to the joint venture of Busan Transportation Corp., Edison Development & Construction, Tramat Mercantile Inc., TMICorp Inc and Castan Corp.

46.00 45.00

P47.455

44.00

CLOSE

43.00

HIGH P47.300 LOW P47.510 AVERAGE P47.437 VOLUME 851.200M

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

oPriceS il P today

P24.84-P28.27 Diesel P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, September 13, 2016

F oreign e xchange r ate Currency

Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

Japan

Yen

0.009819

47.0980 0.4625

UK

Pound

1.334300

62.8429

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128904

6.0711

Switzerland

Franc

1.029124

48.4697

Canada

Dollar

0.767165

36.1319

Singapore

Dollar

0.737463

34.7330

Australia

Dollar

0.756300

35.6202

Bahrain

Dinar

2.655196

125.0544

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266681

12.5601

Brunei

Dollar

0.734754

34.6054

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000076

0.0036

Thailand

Baht

0.028662

1.3499

UAE

Dirham 0.272287

12.8242

Euro

Euro

1.123600

52.9193

Korea

Won

0.000904

0.0426

China

Yuan

0.149689

7.0501

India

Rupee

0.014986

0.7058

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.245851

11.5791

New Zealand Dollar

0.735000

34.6170

Taiwan

0.031596

1.4881

Dollar

Source: PDS Bridge

HOLCIM’S AWARD.

Galing Mason, Holcim Philippines’s flagship corporate responsibility program, receives a citation in the Asia Responsible Entrepreneurship Awards 2016 given

by Enterprise Asia at the International CSR Summit in Singapore.

Shown receiving the award are (from left) Holcim Davao CSR officer May Escalicas, Holcim Davao CSR manager Base Devilleres and Holcim Philippines stakeholder relations officer Veronica Viriña from Enterprise Asia advisor Datuk Seri Datuk Victor Wee and Enterprise Asia president Dato William Ng.

to undertake maintenance works of rolling stock and signaling system of MRT 3.

The contract also covers the general overhaul of 43 coaches over the course of the agreement period and the total replacement of the signaling system within 24 months.

Busan has been operating and maintaining Busan Metro, the four railway lines of the mass transit system in Busan, South Korea since 1999.

MRT 3, which runs from North Avenue in Quezon City to Taft Avenue in Pasay City, serves more than 500,000 passengers a day, beyond its rated capacity of 350,000.

The rail system has a fleet of 73 Czech-made air-conditioned rail cars.

Net inflows of foreign direct investments jumped 95% to $4.2b in first half

By Julito G. Rada NET inflows of foreign direct investments jumped 95 percent in the first half to $4.2 billion from $2.2 billion a year ago, on investors’ sustained confidence in the Philippine economy, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Tuesday.

“In particular, investments of

parent companies abroad in debt instruments issued by local affiliates or inter-company borrowings contributed a large part to the increase in FDI as these transactions more than doubled to $2.4 billion from $1.1 billion,” Bangko Sentral said.

Net equity capital grew 112 percent on account of the com-

bined effects of higher gross equity capital placements and lower capital withdrawals.

Equity capital placements in January to June increased to $1.6 billion from $884 million in the same period last year, while equity capital withdrawals fell to $166 million from $203 million.

Equity capital placements

came mainly from Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States and Taiwan.

These were infused largely in financial and insurance, real estate, manufacturing, construction, and accommodation and food service activities. Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings declined 0.7 percent.

Data showed that in June alone, FDI net inflows reached $238 million, although this was 40.9 percent lower than $404 million a year ago.

Equity capital placements amounted to $36 million in June, while equity capital withdrawals reached $41 million, resulting in net outflows of $5 million, compared to net inflows of $215 mil-

lion in the same month last year.

Equity capital investments in June came largely from Japan, the US, Singapore, Hong Kong and China. These were channeled to real estate, electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply, information and communication, wholesale and retail trade and manufacturing activities.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market drops; Jollibee rises S TOCKS fell Tuesday, following a threeday break as the local bourse reflected the previous day’s sharp sell-off in regional markets on concerns over the future for US Federal Bank policy easing.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, dropped 31 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 7,550.27 Tuesday. This trimmed the local market’s gains since the start of the year to 8.6 percent.

The broader all-share index, however, rose 39 points, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 4,573.87, on a value turnover of P8.6 billion.

Losers outnumbered gainers, 131 to 65, while 47 issues were unchanged.

Five of the 20 most active

stocks ended in the green, led by fastfood chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. which climbed 4.2 percent to P246 and conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. which rose 1.4 percent to P74.60.

Heavy losers included Metro Pacific Investments Corp. which fell 3.6 percent to P6.75 and conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. which retreated 2.9 percent to P73.

Meanwhile, Asian markets struggled to recover Tuesday

from the previous day’s hammering with soothing comments on US rates from a top Federal Reserve official unable to reassure tetchy traders.

While Tokyo and Hong Kong saw mild recoveries from Monday’s sharp sell-off, there are growing concerns about the future for central bank policy easing after years of cheap cash.

Markets globally were sent into a tailspin after Boston Fed president Eric Rosengren and governor Daniel Tarullo on Friday signalled their openness to a September move.

But comments from policy board governor Lael Brainard on Monday that the case for lifting borrowing costs early was “less compelling” provided some much-needed respite, sending US

shares rallying.

She said the US central bank should adopt a “moderate and gradual” approach to lifting rates and avoid moves to “tighten policy pre-emptively”.

Most Asian stocks rose early Tuesday but the rally petered out as the day wore on.

By the close of trade Tokyo was up 0.3 percent and Seoul added 0.4 percent but Sydney closed down 0.2 percent and Wellington lost 0.4 percent. There were also sharp losses in Singapore and Jakarta.

“With Brainard’s remarks, ratehike expectations have backed down. It seems that the slump in US equities last week was a bit overdone,” Toshihiko Matsuno, a senior strategist at SMBC Friend Securities Co. in Tokyo, told Bloomberg News.

“But the market isn’t likely to take on an aggressive buying mode before the results from the [Bank of Japan’s] and the Fed’s monetary policy meetings next week.”

With expectations for a rate rise reduced slightly the dollar dipped against its peers, easing to 101.80 yen from 101.85 yen in New York and well off the 102.50 yen mark seen earlier Thursday in Asia.

The Australian dollar jumped 0.4 percent, while Malaysia’s ringgit, the Singapore dollar and Indonesian rupiah also each posted healthy gains.

In China, the government released another batch of positive data suggesting the world’s number two economy is stabilizing.

With Bloomberg, AFP

THE STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 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 0.92 890 1.01 100 30.5 75 91.5 137 80 361.2 57 180 1700 124 3.26

2.5 66 88.05 88.1 45.45 1.97 1.68 12.02 19.6 6.12 0.74 625 0.225 78 17.8 58 62 88.35 52 276 41 118.2 1200 59 2.65

AG Finance 3.58 Asia United Bank 47.8 Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. 111.50 Bank of PI 104.90 China Bank 38 BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. 3.97 Bright Kindle Resources 1.43 COL Financial 16.66 Eastwest Bank 20.7 Filipino Fund Inc. 6.85 First Abacus 0.71 Manulife Fin. Corp.

620.00 MEDCO Holdings 1.010 Metrobank 84.5 PB Bank 14.2 Phil Bank of Comm 23.55 Phil. National Bank 57.50 Phil. Savings Bank 95.8 Philippine trust Co. 321 PSE 274 RCBC `A’ 35 Security Bank 248 Sun Life Financial 1412.00 Union Bank 73.60 Vantage Equities 1.47

47 5 1.46 2.36 15.3 89

35.9 1.11 1.01 1.86 7.92 40.3

20.6 85 36 65.8 2.97 4.14 21.5 21.6 11.96 9.13 11.8 2.89 31.8 109 15.3 9.4 0.98 241 3.95 4 74 33.9 90 13.26 293 0.62 5.25 12.98 6.75 15 2.65 7.03 3.4 4.5 6.3 1450 3.28 0.315 2.18 234 5.28 1.3 2.17

15.32 20.2 10.08 29.15 1.5 1.5 10.72 9.55 9.04 6.02 8.86 1.06 20.2 71.5 13.24 5.34 0.395 173 2.3 1.63 33 23.35 17.3 5.88 250.2 0.335 3.87 8.45 3 10.04 2.09 3.03 1.95 1 4.02 801 1.55 0.138 1.02 152 4.28 0.640 1.2

Aboitiz Power Corp.

44.5 Agrinurture Inc. 3.11 Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. 1.35 Alsons Cons.

1.66 Asiabest Group 17.42 Bogo Medelin 55.85 Cemex Holdings 11.96 Century Food 16.96 Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ 127 Cirtek Holdings (Chips) 24.2 Concepcion 58.35 Crown Asia 2.1 Da Vinci Capital 6.1 Del Monte 12 DNL Industries Inc. 11.400 Emperador 6.70 Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) 5.80 EEI 8.19 Euro-Med Lab 1.74 First Gen Corp.

24.8 First Holdings ‘A’ 72.5 Holcim Philippines Inc. 16.44 Integ. Micro-Electronics 6.5 Ionics Inc 2.240 Jollibee Foods Corp.

236.00 LMG Chemicals 2.01 Mabuhay Vinyl 4.2 Macay Holdings 27.95 Manila Water Co. Inc. 29 Maxs Group 30 Megawide 15.8 Mla. Elect. Co `A’ 307.00 MG Holdings 0.270 Pepsi-Cola Products Phil. 3.06 Petron Corporation 9.60 Phil H2O 3.01 Phinma Corporation 11.52 Phinma Energy 2.17 Phoenix Petroleum Phils. 5.97 Phoenix Semiconductor 1.59 Pryce Corp. `A’ 3.54 RFM Corporation 4.17 San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ 220 Splash Corporation 3.05 Swift Foods, Inc. 0.159 TKC Steel Corp.

1.81 Universal Robina 180.2 Victorias Milling 4.58 Vitarich Corp.

2.33 Vulcan Ind’l.

1.25

0.59 59.2 30.05 2.16 3.4 3.35 823.5 10.2 84 3.35 3.68 4.92 0.66 1455 76 5.29 6.66 9.25 0.85 17.3 0.71 5.53 0.0670 1.61 2.99 84.9 974 1.66 1.39 156 0.710 0.435 0.510

0.44 48.1 20.85 1.6 0.225 0.23 634.5 7.390 12.8 2.6 1.15 2.26 0.152 837 49.55 3 3.52 4.84 0.59 12 0.580 4.2 0.030 0.550 2.26 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 ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ F&J Prince ‘B’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

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

Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

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

0.390 73.60 16.30 1.23 0.385 0.380 853 8.19 11.74 6.39 6.1 7.25 0.216 1480 75.20 5.4 5.31 8.1 0.84 16.74 0.450 7 0.0360 2.020 2.59 80.00 668.50 1.28 1.03 214.000 0.3250 0.2090 0.285

10.5 26.95 1.99 1.75 0.375 41.4 5.6 5.59 1.44 1.97 0.201 0.69 10.96 0.97 0.305 2.22 2.1 1.8 5.94 0.180 0.470 0.72 27 8.54 31.8

6.74 12 0.65 1.2 0.192 30.05 3.36 4.96 0.79 1.1 0.083 0.415 2.4 0.83 0.188 1.15 1.42 1.27 4.13 0.090 0.290 0.39 23 2.69 22.15

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

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

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

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

Robinson’s Land `B’

7.840 6.40 1.30 2.920 0.295 38.000 2.94 5.12 0.620 1.04 0.167 0.600 58 0.780 0.143 1.02 1.82 1.18 4.55 0.188 0.2950 0.430 37.60 3.35 30.00

High

Low

FINANCIAL 3.56 3.42 47.9 47.5 112.40 109.40 106.20 102.50 38 38 3.73 3.70 1.46 1.39 16.72 16.12 20.7 20.25 6.84 6.80 0.71 0.71 620.00 620.00 1.030 0.880 85.4 84 14.24 14.2 23.55 23.20 57.80 57.45 95.8 95.8 480 480 274 272 35.65 35.1 247 235 1412.00 1412.00 73.60 73.20 1.47 1.46 INDUSTRIAL 44.5 44.4 3.4 3.1 1.32 1.05 1.7 1.65 17.68 16.96 54.5 54.5 11.98 11.8 16.9 16.6 139 120 24.2 23.15 58.3 58.3 2.11 2.06 6.07 5.99 12 11.8 11.400 11.000 7.20 6.81 5.93 5.73 8.20 7.78 1.83 1.83 25 24.7 72.5 71.75 16.42 16.40 6.5 6.32 2.240 2.210 247.80 236.40 2.01 2 4.5 4.19 27.80 26.30 29 28.35 29.5 29.1 15.8 15.02 310.80 309.00 0.285 0.260 3.06 3 9.72 9.45 3.44 3.44 11.60 11.60 2.20 2.15 6.05 5.80 1.59 1.55 3.53 3.47 4.18 4.17 219.8 219 3.06 3.06 0.183 0.159 1.80 1.74 181 179.9 4.6 4.32 2.34 2.19 1.23 1.22 HOLDING FIRMS 0.390 0.380 74.60 72.00 16.50 16.30 1.30 1.26 0.380 0.370 0.380 0.370 860 853 8.44 8.1 11.74 11.56 6.1 6.02 6.1 6.1 7.31 7.20 0.206 0.205 1478 1451 74.80 72.80 5.4 5.4 5.3 5.3 8.18 8 0.85 0.83 17.2 16.7 0.490 0.490 6.82 6.65 0.0360 0.0350 2.060 2.010 2.58 2.58 80.00 79.00 675.00 662.00 1.28 1.22 1.03 1.02 215.000 213.600 0.3250 0.3100 0.2120 0.2080 0.290 0.280 PROPERTY 7.900 7.830 6.21 6.15 1.30 1.26 2.880 2.550 0.330 0.285 39.000 37.800 2.94 2.91 5.12 5.12 0.63 0.600 1.04 0.98 0.169 0.159 0.610 0.590 58 56.8 0.770 0.770 0.144 0.144 1.02 1.00 1.86 1.82 1.15 1.13 4.58 4.5 0.192 0.160 0.2850 0.2550 0.425 0.420 37.65 37.50 3.38 3.28 30.80 30.00

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

3.56 47.9 109.40 104.20 38 3.73 1.40 16.4 20.3 6.80 0.71 620.00 0.890 85.4 14.2 23.20 57.50 95.8 480 274 35.5 246.8 1412.00 73.60 1.46

-0.56 0.21 -1.88 -0.67 0.00 -6.05 -2.10 -1.56 -1.93 -0.73 0.00 0.00 -11.88 1.07 0.00 -1.49 0.00 0.00 49.53 0.00 1.43 -0.48 0.00 0.00 -0.68

7,000 26,300 3,372,820 1,301,620 30,400 409,000 65,000 635,500 271,000 3,400 48,000 820 12,643,000 2,442,600 23,500 1,300 9,520 1,300 30 580 269,700 3,406,390 25 97,910 78,000

44.1 3.14 1.07 1.68 17.48 54.5 11.82 16.66 125 24.15 58.3 2.1 6.05 11.82 11.200 6.81 5.93 7.80 1.83 24.7 72 16.40 6.35 2.220 246.00 2 4.44 27.80 28.95 29.15 15.02 309.60 0.275 3.05 9.45 3.44 11.60 2.17 5.82 1.55 3.48 4.18 219 3.06 0.170 1.75 180.3 4.6 2.2 1.23

-0.90 0.96 -20.74 1.20 0.34 -2.42 -1.17 -1.77 -1.57 -0.21 -0.09 0.00 -0.82 -1.50 -1.75 1.64 2.24 -4.76 5.17 -0.40 -0.69 -0.24 -2.31 -0.89 4.24 -0.50 5.71 -0.54 -0.17 -2.83 -4.94 0.85 1.85 -0.33 -1.56 14.29 0.69 0.00 -2.51 -2.52 -1.69 0.24 -0.45 0.33 6.92 -3.31 0.06 0.44 -5.58 -1.60

1,067,800 948,000 60,973,000 488,000 45,000 30 8,501,200 2,569,900 1,350 643,800 2,580 189,000 491,100 24,000 8,746,700 3,878,300 7,111,900 1,155,800 5,000 2,584,600 240,310 212,300 248,000 431,000 574,110 47,000 57,000 5,600 868,300 736,400 4,847,700 102,270 14,680,000 712,000 4,648,800 1,000 2,000 464,000 1,178,700 298,000 115,000 79,000 60 99,000 132,800,000 1,742,000 1,570,180 24,000 13,960,000 4,000

0.390 74.60 16.44 1.28 0.380 0.370 860 8.44 11.66 6.1 6.1 7.31 0.206 1457 73.00 5.4 5.3 8.1 0.84 16.88 0.490 6.75 0.0350 2.010 2.58 79.00 667.50 1.28 1.02 216.000 0.3150 0.2100 0.290

0.00 1.36 0.86 4.07 -1.30 -2.63 0.82 3.05 -0.68 -4.54 0.00 0.83 -4.63 -1.55 -2.93 0.00 -0.19 0.00 0.00 0.84 8.89 -3.57 -2.78 -0.50 -0.39 -1.25 -0.15 0.00 -0.97 0.93 -3.08 0.48 1.75

1,220,000 2,025,270 2,628,900 114,000 3,350,000 230,000 418,630 2,934,500 3,364,600 3,500 700 35,800 1,130,000 421,005 2,453,850 500 3,800 11,967,600 1,834,000 1,882,000 40,000 54,249,600 9,400,000 800,000 6,000 206,400 443,100 207,000 26,000 15,980 872,000 2,100,000 520,000

7.840 6.21 1.28 2.550 0.285 37.800 2.92 5.12 0.610 0.98 0.160 0.610 57.9 0.770 0.144 1.00 1.85 1.13 4.5 0.164 0.2550 0.420 37.50 3.34 30.45

0.00 -2.97 -1.54 -12.67 -3.39 -0.53 -0.68 0.00 -1.61 -5.77 -4.19 1.67 -0.17 -1.28 0.70 -1.96 1.65 -4.24 -1.10 -12.77 -13.56 -2.33 -0.27 -0.30 1.50

1,609,400 7,100 1,785,000 8,514,000 35,200,000 20,968,500 379,000 6,800 7,114,000 9,000 44,690,000 2,616,000 484,150 555,000 60,000 17,010,000 14,965,000 205,000 38,628,000 255,390,000 3,540,000 30,000 2,100 432,000 2,340,300

1,150,245.00 9,044,231 -6,574,768.00

-495,670.00 -2,803,030.00 353,400.00 -406,680.00 17,545,309.50 125,549.00 -2,740.00 5,526,760 -149,525,624.00 35,300.00 1,798,092.00

52 Weeks

Previous

High Low

STOCKS

2.29 4.9 21.35 1.06 1.62 8.59

1.6 3.1 15.08 0.69 0.83 5.73

10.5 66 1.09 28.5 15.82 0.1430 5.06 99.1 12.3 2.6 7.67 2720 8.41

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

Close

Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

High

Low

1.66 3.25 26.90 1.09 1.020 5.300

1.69 1.63 3.3 3.24 27.00 26.50 1.1 1.05 1.040 1.010 5.340 5.120 SERVICES 2GO Group’ 7.25 7.25 7.17 ABS-CBN 49.1 49.5 48.9 APC Group, Inc. 0.580 0.580 0.570 Berjaya Phils. Inc. 5.5 5.6 5.01 Bloomberry 5.35 5.54 5.31 Boulevard Holdings 0.0990 0.0980 0.0920 Calata Corp.

3.91 3.91 3.65 Cebu Air Inc. (5J) 120.2 120 117.7 Centro Esc. Univ.

10 10.16 10 Discovery World 2.35 2.35 2.35 DFNN Inc. 5.50 5.99 5.50 Globe Telecom 1980 2010 1975 GMA Network Inc. 6.26 6.31 6.22 Golden Haven 14.00 14.50 13.70 Harbor Star 1.71 1.75 1.51 I.C.T.S.I. 79 79.5 78.2 Imperial Res. `A’ 19.00 19.58 18.90 Imperial Res. `B’ 151 164.8 164 IPeople Inc. `A’ 11.5 11.5 11.5 IP E-Game Ventures Inc. 0.0110 0.0160 0.0120 IPM Holdings 9.24 9.29 9.05 Island Info 0.275 0.270 0.255 ISM Communications 1.4100 1.4600 1.4000 Jackstones 3.65 3.55 3.45 LBC Express 12.4 12.4 12.4 Leisure & Resorts 4.01 4.00 3.85 Liberty Telecom 2.15 2.16 2.15 Lorenzo Shipping 1.10 1.09 1.04 Macroasia Corp.

2.21 2.26 2.22 Manila Bulletin 0.580 0.580 0.580 Manila Jockey 1.99 1.99 1.98 Melco Crown 3.99 4 3.89 Metro Retail 5.55 5.58 5.38 NOW Corp.

3.620 3.610 3.490 Pacific Online Sys. Corp. 11.34 11.3 11.3 PAL Holdings Inc. 5.60 5.70 5.60 Paxys Inc. 2.7 2.91 2.88 Phil. Seven Corp.

139.00 148.00 135.00 Philweb.Com Inc. 6.06 6.05 5.82 PLDT Common 1800.00 1813.00 1750.00 PremiereHorizon 0.440 0.430 0.425 Premium Leisure 1.000 0.990 0.960 Puregold 44.00 44.45 43.70 Robinsons RTL 77.00 77.25 76.50 SBS Phil. Corp.

6.14 6.07 5.85 SSI Group 3.10 3.14 3.07 STI Holdings 0.590 0.600 0.570 Travellers 3.4 3.4 3.38 Waterfront Phils.

0.345 0.350 0.350 Yehey 5.580 5.500 5.190 MINING & OIL Abra Mining 0.0039 0.0039 0.0038 Apex `A’ 3.00 3.00 2.88 Atlas Cons. `A’ 3.95 4.04 3.91 Basic Energy Corp.

0.220 0.220 0.200 Benguet Corp `A’ 2.2000 2.15 2.1 Benguet Corp `B’ 2.4000 2.4000 2.2000 Century Peak Metals Hldgs0.59 0.59 0.58 Coal Asia 0.410 0.415 0.410 Dizon 8.60 8.64 8.41 Ferronickel 0.860 0.850 0.830 Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. 0.270 0.280 0.275 Lepanto `A’ 0.206 0.208 0.203 Lepanto `B’ 0.218 0.219 0.219 Manila Mining `A’ 0.0120 0.0110 0.0110 Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. 1.66 1.66 1.59 Nickelasia 6.85 7 6.51 Nihao Mineral Resources 3.02 3.07 2.98 Omico 0.5200 0.5100 0.5100 Oriental Peninsula Res. 0.9900 1.0000 0.9600 Oriental Pet. `A’ 0.0110 0.0110 0.0100 Petroenergy Res. Corp. 4.10 4.00 3.95 Philex `A’ 8.61 8.60 8.44 PhilexPetroleum 3.05 3.05 2.90 Philodrill Corp. `A’ 0.0120 0.0120 0.0110 Semirara Corp.

110.50 111.00 110.20 TA Petroleum 3.2 3.27 3.17 United Paragon 0.0100 0.0100 0.0097 PREFERRED ABS-CBN Holdings Corp. 49.05 49.95 49.05 Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ 528.5 530 528.5 Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ 541 545 545 DD Pref 105 105.5 104.6 First Gen G 118 118 118 GLOBE PREF P 542 542 542 GMA Holdings Inc. 6 6 5.99 Leisure and Resort 1.03 1.02 1.02 MWIDE PREF 112 112 112 PCOR-Preferred A 1091 1091 1091 PCOR-Preferred B 1155 1160 1155 PF Pref 2 1036 1036 1036 SMC Preferred B 79.5 79 79 SMC Preferred C 81.7 81.7 81.7 SMC Preferred D 78.4 78.1 78 SMC Preferred E 79 79.2 79.1 SMC Preferred F 79.9 80.5 80 SMC Preferred G 79 79.8 79.1 SMC Preferred H 78.6 79 78.65 SMC Preferred I 79 79 78.5 Swift Pref 2.18 2.18 1.82 WARRANTS & BONDS LR Warrant 2.360 2.320 2.210 SME Alterra Capital 4.09 4.09 3.64 Makati Fin. Corp.

3.68 3.75 3.66 Italpinas 4.87 4.9 4.79 Xurpas 15.16 15.2 14.3 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS First Metro ETF 125 126.2 124.1

MS 755,060.00

-253,200.00 -73,980.00

28,281,648.00 -29,377,966.00 214,685.00 -11,660 58,540.00

-26,067,598.00 -12,332,249.00 3,468,038.00 -1,262,390.00

-2,707,765.00 -8,358,948.50 3,382,480.00 -102,772.00 -35,680.00 89,891,038.00 20,000.00

8,278,445.00 -17,849,760.00 -37,713,048.00 13,785,926.00 42,400.00 961,440.00 -6,490,363.00 3,440.00

652,760.00 -978,173.00 77,500.00 166,800.00

-77,900.00 361,110.00 38,311,421

-941,890.00

-13,905,704.50 11,009,918.00

74,574,555 12,823,357.00 -12,301,616.00

102,500.00 -202,670,020.00 -92,334,848.50 68,315,561.00

-1,181,076.00 -128,754,159.00

1.97 119.5 7 5.8 12.5 0.017

1.23 102.6 3.01 4 8.72 0.011

0.8200 2.2800 5.93

0.041 1.200 2.34

12.28 3.32 2.53 3.2 1 2.46 15.2

6.5 1.91 1.01 1.95 0.650 1.8 6

1.040 22.8 6.41 4 185 22.9 3486 0.760 2.28 46.05 90.1

0.37 14.54 3 2.28 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 0.330 12.7 12.8 1.19 1.62 9.5 4.2 0.48 0.420 0.440 0.022 8.2 49.2 4.27 1.030 3.06 0.020 7.67 12.88 10.42 0.040 420 9 0.016

0.0043 1.72 6.47 0.236 6.5 5.11 0.85 0.77 5.99 1.17 0.305 0.2130 0.2160 0.013 3.240 18.96 2.11 0.365 1.54 0.012 5.4 7.26 2.27 0.015 115.9 3.67 0.0100

70 553 525

33 490 500

120 515 8.21 12.28 111 1060

101.5 480 5.88 6.5 101 997

1047 78.95 84.8

1011 74.5 75

40,200.00 1,491,444.00 -9,200,930.00 -42,840.00 343,200.00 3,170,917.00 185,190.00 344,900.00 -118,635,925.00 -458,300.00 321,640.00

1.34

1

6.98

0.8900

15

3.5

12.88

5.95

130.7

105.6

TRADING SUMMARY

-23,000.00 4,224,852.00 -2,880.00 -2,264,960.00 402,260.00 4,600.00 -28,566,470.00 702,020.00 260,000.00

SHARES

FINANCIAL

25,745,999

INDUSTRIAL

280,204,322

HOLDING FIRMS

113,214,218

PROPERTY

497,431,892

SERVICES

2,453,121,954

18,750.00

MINING & OIL

152,197,951

-19,282,355.00

GRAND TOTAL

3,527,428,143

Close

%

Net Foreign

Change Volume

Trade/Buying

1.64 3.3 26.70 1.08 1.040 5.120

-1.20 1.54 -0.74 -0.92 1.96 -3.40

81,000 33,000 17,767,000 10,443,000 777,000 11,646,600

4,980.00

7.2 49.4 0.570 5.6 5.31 0.0930 3.65 119.7 10.16 2.35 5.80 1975 6.24 13.70 1.53 79 19.10 164 11.5 0.0130 9.29 0.260 1.4300 3.48 12.4 3.94 2.16 1.09 2.26 0.580 1.99 3.98 5.58 3.500 11.3 5.60 2.89 135.00 5.82 1750.00 0.425 0.990 44.00 76.80 5.85 3.10 0.590 3.39 0.350 5.500

-0.69 0.61 -1.72 1.82 -0.75 -6.06 -6.65 -0.42 1.60 0.00 5.45 -0.25 -0.32 -2.14 -10.53 0.00 0.53 8.61 0.00 18.18 0.54 -5.45 1.42 -4.66 0.00 -1.75 0.47 -0.91 2.26 0.00 0.00 -0.25 0.54 -3.31 -0.35 0.00 7.04 -2.88 -3.96 -2.78 -3.41 -1.00 0.00 -0.26 -4.72 0.00 0.00 -0.29 1.45 -1.43

15,800 -105,895.00 44,500 1,340,000 1,900 25,671,800 36,083,122.00 274,130,000 -145,840.00 5,391,000 41,440.00 307,810 3,909,752.00 2,200 4,000 561,200 730,771.00 72,680 -38,861,375.00 216,500 72,800 9,477,000 1,690,350 -1,662,158.00 31,100 50 1,000 2,034,100,000 1,337,600.00 593,000 85,040.00 33,810,000 -4,800.00 1,492,000 87,000 1,000 3,196,000 -4,307,020 203,000 53,000 16,000 48,000 12,000 3,633,000 1,592,660.00 2,777,100 -1,327,925.00 2,439,000 -35,100.00 4,500 2,500 15,000 -11,560.00 1,016,360 123,210,173.00 850,600 28,172.00 192,020 -70,102,190.00 740,000 18,184,000 -351,390.00 2,844,600 -3,846,335.00 1,912,920 -8,161,529.50 970,000 8,735,000 -10,703,760.00 13,207,000 57,400.00 210,000 -179,700.00 540,000 122,500.00 51,700

0.0039 2.91 3.91 0.220 2.1500 2.4000 0.59 0.410 8.60 0.830 0.275 0.205 0.219 0.0110 1.59 7 3.02 0.5100 1.0000 0.0110 4.00 8.45 2.92 0.0110 110.40 3.2 0.0098

0.00 -3.00 -1.01 0.00 -2.27 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 -3.49 1.85 -0.49 0.46 -8.33 -4.22 2.19 0.00 -1.92 1.01 0.00 -2.44 -1.86 -4.26 -8.33 -0.09 0.00 -2.00

114,000,000 69,000 81,000 80,000 23,000 5,000 217,000 160,000 1,400 1,467,000 590,000 5,940,000 60,000 2,400,000 346,000 8,572,400 163,000 1,000 1,177,000 1,600,000 30,000 460,600 2,841,000 8,300,000 401,260 93,000 2,900,000

49.95 530 545 104.6 118 542 6 1.02 112 1091 1160 1036 79 81.7 78.1 79.2 80.5 79.8 79 79 2.18

1.83 0.28 0.74 -0.38 0.00 0.00 0.00 -0.97 0.00 0.00 0.43 0.00 -0.63 0.00 -0.38 0.25 0.75 1.01 0.51 0.00 0.00

259,600 1,100 10 131,640 6,940 1,760 312,000 1,190,000 3,490 1,275 760 215 19,520 1,500 4,950 54,700 126,520 980 50,200 220 8,000

2.280

-3.39

366,000

3.74 3.74 4.8 14.3

-8.56 1.63 -1.44 -5.67

2,951,000 34,000 97,000 2,263,900

27,420.00

124.6

-0.32

163,010

12,500.00

-66,640,835.00 -96,200.00 -7,535,521.00

36,090.00

-28,320.00 222,900.00 10,950.00 -1,362,230.00 -331,840.00 311,095.00 39,420.00 -3,105,553.00 -3,270.00 8,581,725.00

-818,920.00 -1,854,000.00

-10,585,204.00

VALUE 1,838.95 (DOWN) 9.66 1,672,771,639.22 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,691.95 (UP) 65.12 1,245,429,681.806 HOLDING FIRMS 7,495.32 (DOWN) 38.56 2,249,487,740.14 PROPERTY 3,345.43 (DOWN) 17.25 1,516.54 (DOWN) 17.88 1,788,251,461.04 SERVICES MINING & OIL 10,637.46 (DOWN) 78.22 1,448,471,965.71 PSEI 7,550.27 (DOWN) 31.52 122,038,109.2572 All Shares Index 4,573.87 (UP) 39.53 8,592,064,965.23 Gainers: 65; Losers: 131; Unchanged: 47; Total: 243

Alterra prices tender offering

By Jenniffer B. Austria THE new owners of listed company Alterra Capital Partners Inc. offered to acquire the shares owned by minority shareholders at P1.74 per share.

A tender offer document filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange showed Genomics Inc. and businessman Hector Thomas Navasero would allocate P179 million to purchase the remaining 102.75 million shares, representing 33 percent of the company’s issued and outstanding capital stock.

Navasero is the president of Genomics and Philab Industries Inc., which is engaged in healthcare, medical equipment and devices and education.

The P1.74 per share offer was also the same price at which Genomics and Navasero acquired 208.6 million shares in Alterra Capital from majority shareholders Conrado Rafael Alcantara, Alfonso Anggala and Star Alliances Securities Corp. in August.

The shares represented 67 percent of Alterra and were worth P362.3 million.

The tender offer price represents a discount to the stock’s current market price.

As a result share price of Alterra dropped 8.6 percent to P3.74 on Tuesday from Friday’s close of P4.09 per share.

The tender offer period started Sept. 9 and will end Oct. 10. Cross date was set on Oct. 11.

PLDT building Mandaue data hub

By Darwin G. Amojelar PLDT Inc. said it is expanding its commercial data center operations in Cebu province with the construction of a second facility in Mandaue City.

PLDT said the new Vitro facility, expected to be completed by fourth quarter of 2017, would serve the growing demand for co-location, enterprise-class cloud and managed services requirements of data-driven industries and businesses such as banks, financial services, call centers and business process outsourcing, IT, content and media companies, retail enterprises and public sector entities.

It said the new facility was in response to the growing requirements of enterprises in Cebu province and the rest of Visayas and Mindanao for a reliable and secure repository for their rapidly expanding volume of digital information.

The facility will also answer the needs of enterprises in Luzon for additional diversity via a business continuity site outside Luzon, it said.

PLDT said like the other Vitro facilities in ePLDT’s network of data centers, the second Vitro Cebu data center would be built and operated with international certifications.

It will be a four-floor level facility with a minimum of 3,600-square-meter floor area situated alongside ePLDT’s existing data center in Mandaue City.

The new data center will have a minimum of 700-rack capacity to add to ePLDT’s 8,300 rack capacity by end of 2016.

Business

B3

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Cusi: Govt to lead LNG terminal

By Alena Mae S. Flores

T

HE Energy Department will spearhead the development of the country’s first liquefied natural gas terminal to secure the country’s future power requirements from the fuel after if the Malampaya gas project ends, Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said Tuesday.

Cusi told reporters at the sidelines of a Senate hearing the government was looking at LNG to support the operation of the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan, if the service contract of the Malampaya consortium was not extended.

“Malampaya (consortium) should initiate the renewal if they want to renew because at the end of the term, it reverts back to the government. What we are doing is preparing for any eventuality...,” Cusi said.

The Malampaya consortium

is composed of Shell Philippines Exploration B.V. as operator with a 45 percent stake, Chevron Malampaya LLC with an equal 45 percent share and PNOC Exploration Corp. with 10 percent.

The consortium owns service contract 38 which is set to expire in 2024. The consortium has requested an extension of the contract with the previous government.

Cusi said the department was making preparations to ensure the continuity of operations of the Malampaya facility, which supplies fuel to three natural gas power plants in Batangas with a combined capacity of 2,700 megawatts.

“We will make that LNG farm in Batangas to supply gas-topower plants. We PNOC (stateowned Philippine National Oil Co.) initiated the study but now there are a lot of interest in the private sector. We are open to that. Whatever is best for the country, that’s the direction we will take,” Cusi said.

He said the department was studying all options, including privatizing the Malampaya facility if the service contract was not renewed.

Cusi earlier said he directed PNOC to study the development of a 200-MW LNG power plant in Batangas that would secure the

country’s power reserve needs.

“We’re making a study. I asked PNOC to make a study for a 200MW LNG that would serve as a buffer stock for government to use in case of shortage of power,” he said.

Cusi reiterated the need for adequate reserves in the wake of the yellow and red alerts experienced by the Luzon power grid from July 26 to August 5.

He said the government might fund the construction of the power plant through PNOC after the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 prevented National Power Corp. from putting up new stations.

“We are required to have some reserve so we just want to make sure that we have a reserve...

We’re looking at Batangas, PNOC has a property in Batangas so we’re using that in our study,” the energy chief said.

Cusi said putting up a 200-MW coal plant would take time compared with an LNG power plant.

“We’re still in the study portion. But I’m not saying the study will take 12-18 months. We’re rushing it. (Construction is) 12 to 18months from the time we finish the study. Hopefully, we finish the study within any time now so we can bring it to the board,” he said.

IC requires insurers to share medical info

By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE Insurance Commission has required life insurance companies to create and share the medical information data base of policy holders to prevent fraud in the industry.

Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc issued a circular directing all life insurance companies to share the medical facts of policy holders as part of their due diligence in risk assessment and prevention of fraud, misrepresentation and concealment.

The IC said the shared information would be compiled in a medical information database for all insured policyholders.

It said the circular would be disclosed to applicants and policyholders within one year of its effectivity.

The commission ordered the Philippine Life Insurance Association to administer the MID and issue the guidelines within 30 days from the effectivity of the directive.

The PLIA will also ensure the security and privacy standard of the data base to guarantee the protection of sensitive information on the policy holders.

While all life insurance companies would have access to the data base, the IC said they must limit it to employees directly

involved in the risk assessment function.

The IC earlier required all insurance companies to submit an anti-fraud plan to monitor and detect closely an insurance deceit in the industry.

The order required all life and non-life insurance companies to formulate and maintain procedures for monitoring and early detection of insurance fraud.

“The concept of mandating the submission of an insurer anti-fraud plan was developed to encourage insurers to proactively fight insurance fraud. It is necessary that all insurance companies are ready to combat insurance fraud for its own protection and for the welfare of its stakeholders,” Dooc said.

“To adequately protect itself from the risks posed by insurance fraud, every insurance company should have an appropriate framework in place to prevent, monitor and investigate its occurrence,” he said.

He added each plan should include measures to protect the company from policyholder and claims fraud, and other deceits perpetuated by an ordinary insurance agent, general agent, insurance brokers and management company of a consortium and adjusters.

SMARTMATIC AWARDS. Smartmatic hilippines Inc.awards the winners of its Transparency 2016 Election Photo Contest organized in cooperation with the Federation of Philippine Photographers Foundation. Shown are (from left) Franklin dela Cruz, marketing communications officer of Smartmatic; Lito Beltran, director of FPPF; Bernardino Testa second place winner; Eduviges Hwang, chairman of FPPP; Jijo de Guzman, grand prize winner; JhunDantes, people’s choice winner); and Elie Moreno, general manager of Smartmatic. Moreno conferred a plaque of appreciation and a cash donation to the FPPF for its valuable contribution to the success of the contest.

Prople expanding BPO services to rest of Southeast Asia

By Othel V. Campos Prople Inc., a leading Filipino business process outsourcing company, is set to expand its services to Southeast Asian countries.

Prople president and chief executive officers Ma. Alma Luz Borja said the Philippines offered a good market setting for BPO, especially for small and medium sized enterprises and big companies as well in Southeast Asia.

“Companies in the Asean are now more open to outsourcing in the Philippines because of its good business climate due to the successful political transition.

This condition has raised us to the mainstream, highlighting Fil-

ipino work ethics and our capacity to meet the work standards necessary to do the job well,” she said in a briefing Tuesday.

The Information Technology and Business Process Association of the Philippines earlier projected the BPO industry to generate an estimated $25 billion in revenues by the end of 2016 and another 1.3 million jobs.

Prople attributed the growth of the BPO industry to its adherence to the demands of the global market.

“For instance, Filipinos are relatively fluent in speaking international languages. We also have no problems with following different time zones,” Borja said.

Expansion of services from

voice to non-voice or third-party logistics is another factor in the growing demand for the Philippine BPO services.

Prople plans to serve companies in Southeast Asia with expertise in finance and accounting, human resource and tax and data management. The services

are end-to-end, which means the processes are completely done and accomplished from the highest to the lowest tasks.

For finance and accounting, the company follows US standards for services on general accounting and strategic finance, as well as accounts payable and

receivables. Other financial services include expense processing and management, documentation, payment processing and policy-based disbursements.

The company also offers human resource tasks such as benefits management, statutory compliance, HR information systems and payroll and timekeeping.

Outsourcing these services is ideal because the tasks are usually done during specific periods in a month only.

Prople also provides best-inbreed data management using web-based tools and systems. It offers solutions for data capture, conversion, clean-up, organization, standardization, data mining and analysis.

Double paternity pay pushed FATHERS and would-be fathers are cheering the proposal of Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel to extend to 15 days the current seven-day paid paternity leave benefit for male employees in both public and private sectors. Take note, though, that this is only for married men so for single dads out there, this proposal does not cover you.

“We have to give fathers at least half a month off work, with full pay, for them to be able to lend ample support to their wives in nursing their newborns, and to help mothers recuperate from childbirth,” Pimentel said, explaining why he filed House Bill No. 3401 that would give 15 days of paternity leave benefit payable to “working husbands for each of the first four childbirths of his lawful wife with whom he is cohabitating.”

One doesn’t need to consult experts to know that fathers who take longer paternity leaves or spend more time in child rearing activities increase their bonds with their kids and of course, with their spouses.

Pimentel’s proposed HB 3401 seeks to amend Re-

public Act 8187, or the Paternity Leave Benefit Act of 1996 that was originally authored by the late Senator Ernesto Herrera.

“There’s no question an extended paternity leave with full pay would go a long way in restoring the family’s overall work-life balance,” Pimentel reiterated. And as if proving that he is an equal opportunity lawmaker, the representative from Surigao del Sur is also favoring a proposal in both the House and the Senate to increase the existing paid maternity leave benefit for working mothers from 60 days “to at least 100 days.”

That’s definitely very welcome news women especially new mothers who would need as much time as they can to learn the ropes in taking care of their newborn. The lawmaker disclosed that some companies such as Accenture are already granting 120 days of paid maternity leave to their female employees.

Weber Shandwick marks 10th year in PH Congratulations to leading global public relations firm Weber Shandwick that celebrated the 10th anniversary of its Philippine office at The City Club Alphaland Makati Place recently. The global firm’s Manila office has been has been providing public relations and

marketing communications services including strategic counsel, media relations, digital PR and issues management in the areas of public affairs, brand and crisis communications as well as CEO and corporate reputation management for a decade now.

Among those who graced the event are SM Prime Holdings Inc.’s Hans Sy and Philippine Airlines president Jimmy Bautista, with Weber Shandwick Asia Pacific head of corporate and crisis and Korea managing director Tyler Kim flying in to celebrate the Philippine team’s milestone event.

According to WS Philippines president and COO Diana Lesaca, the firm has had its share of “an exciting first decade of PR in the country.” She added that the Philippine office is set on flexing its creativity and strategy muscles to cope with the challenges of a changing landscape especially with the onset of the digital era.

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

Free trade dialogues scheduled THE Trade Department will hold a series of consultations in Manila, Cebu and Davao to discuss proposed free trade agreements with European countries and other business issues.

The consultation aims to solicit inputs on the ongoing FTA negotiations with the European Union and provide a briefing on the PhilippinesEuropean Free Trade Association FTA and the EU generalized system of preferences plus, or EU-GSP+.

Members of the business sector, civil society, and relevant government agencies are expected to participate in the consultations this month.

“We act with deliberate speed to nurture our trade and investment relations with Europe and ensure that our local enterprises can take advantage of the opportunities in European market,” said Trade Undersecretary Ceferino Rodolfo.

“The One Country, One Voice consultations is an important pillar in our unified industry and trade strategy that helps ensure that our trade negotiating position remains rational, responsive to, and grounded on the needs of our stakeholders,” he said Early consultations were in key cities in the country, especially on the country’s trade engagements with Japan, the EU and the EFTA countries— Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland.

“Our goal is to build on our offensive interests, identify possible roadblocks and determine the necessary measures to better prepare and strengthen industries to upgrade, thrive, and compete with the country’s European partners,” said Ceferino.

Othel V. Campos

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

B4

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Business

A woman walks out of a shop in Beijing on September 13, 2016. China’s industrial output and retail sales growth accelerated in August, government statistics showed on September 13, with both of them exceeding expectations in encouraging signs for the world’s second-largest economy. AFP

New China data shows economy strengthening B

EIJING―China’s industrial output and retail sales growth accelerated in August, government statistics showed Tuesday, with both of them exceeding expectations in encouraging signs for the world’s second-largest economy.

Industrial production rose 6.3 percent year-on-year, the National Bureau of Statistics said, faster than July’s 6.0 percent and above the median forecast of 6.2 percent in a Bloomberg News poll of economists.

Retail sales, a key measure of consumer spending, rose 10.6 percent in August, the NBS said, also ahead of expectations and the July figure.

Beijing is looking to retool the

economy from a reliance on investment spending and exports to one driven more by consumer demand, but the transition has proven bumpy and gross domestic product growth has been slowing.

China is a key driver of the world economy but grew at its slowest rate in a quarter of a century last year, and has decelerated further since then.

“In August... some indica-

Malaysia allots $1b to upgrade airports MALAYSIA plans to spend about $1 billion over the next five years to refurbish and expand its airports as the Southeast Asian country paces infrastructure growth with a surge in passenger traffic, its main airport operator said.

“My main terminal may require some upgrade,” said Badlisham Ghazali, managing director of state-controlled Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd., referring to Kuala Lumpur International Airport.

“There are other airports that have grown beyond capacity,” including the tourist island of Langkawi, Kota Bharu in the north and Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, he said.

The upgrade of facilities is likely to benefit regional airlines such as AirAsia Bhd., Southeast Asia’s largest discount carrier, which are expanding their fleets and adding more routes as rising incomes and competitive fares encourage more Asians to fly. Boeing Co. is projecting 100 million new passengers annually in the region.

Malaysia-based AirAsia, the biggest operator of Airbus Group SE’s single-aisle aircraft, signed a deal in July for 100 A321neos to help maintain its industry lead.

The proposed investment is a fraction of Hong Kong International Airport’s estimated spending plan of HK$141.5 billion ($18 billion) to add a third runway. Singapore’s Changi Airport will have a fourth terminal by 2017 at a cost of S$1.28 billion ($941 million) to handle 16 million passengers annually. Bloomberg

Canadian rivals Potash, Agrium in $36-b merger MONTREAL―Canadian rivals Agrium Inc and Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan agreed Monday to merge to create a $36-billion global fertilizer giant in the latest large agribusiness merger sparked by low crop prices.

The new company will combine potash, nitrogen and phosphate production with a global distribution network, employing nearly 20,000 people, and will generate $500 million in annual savings from their combined operations, a joint statement said.

The all-stock deal will create the largest crop nutrient company in the world, the companies said.

“The new company will be a low-cost, world-class producer of key crop nutrients including having the lowest cost potash production assets and reserves in North America,” Agrium chief executive Charles Magro told

analysts in a conference call.

“It will also benefit from a low-cost North American nitrogen platform and a diverse phosphate product portfolio.”

The new company, which has not yet been named, will be based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and be 52-percent owned by Potash shareholders, with Agrium owners holding 48 percent. The two companies had combined sales of $20.6 billion in 2015.

The deal was approved by the boards of both companies, but still must win shareholder support.

The merger comes as the global demand for fertilizers is down sharply in emerging countries like Brazil due to the economic downturn. Both companies also cited weak demand in India and other parts of Asia as a reason for a drop in earnings in the second quarter. AFP

tors picked up, efforts of cutting overcapacity, reducing inventory, deleveraging, lowering costs and strengthening weak links achieved notable results,” said NBS spokesman Sheng Laiyun.

“The national economy has achieved moderate but steady and sound development,” he added, but urged caution.

“We must be aware that the domestic and external economic conditions are still complicated and severe with many instabilities and uncertainties,” he said.

Fixed asset investment, a gauge of infrastructure spending, was up 8.1 percent in the first eight months of the year, matching the figure for the JanuaryJuly period.

Retail sales beat expectations of 10.2 percent in a Bloomberg News poll of economists, while fixed asset investment was ahead of the 7.9 percent estimate.

But analysts were cautious about the figures, and investors gave them a mixed response, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index slipping 0.18 percent by the break.

“Today’s data fits with our longrunning view that the delayed impact of earlier policy easing means that a stronger second half to this year is likely,” Julian Evans-Pritchard, China economist at Capital Economics, said in a note.

But he said that further monetary easing was “unlikely in the near-term,” so that “this uptick

in economic activity is likely to fizzle out going into next year.”

Beijing has listed reducing overcapacity and excess inventory and cutting down borrowing as top priorities, with the country’s ailing steel industry―accused by US and European rivals of dumping on world markets―a key target.

Authorities have set a goal to cut 45 million tons of annual steel capacity this year, with the official Communist mouthpiece People’s Daily last month saying around 21 million tons had been eliminated by July.

But actual production of crude steel was up 3.0 percent year-onyear in August, the NBS figures showed, accelerating from 2.6 percent the previous month. AFP

US Fed exec not endorsing rate hike WASHINGTON―The case for raising US interest rates remains less than convincing, given weak inflation and current under-employment levels, influential Federal Reserve Board Governor Lael Brainard said Monday.

The remarks come a week before US policymakers are due to review interest rate policy, with markets lingering in uncertainty as to whether the Fed will resume a course of rate hikes it had embarked on in December.

“To the extent that the effect on inflation of further gradual tightening in labor market conditions is likely to be moderate and gradual, the case to tighten policy preemptively is less compelling,” Brainard said in remarks at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.

Brainard has been a consistent voice for postponing increases in interest rates in favor of allowing job creation.

Her remarks stood in contrast to more hawkish members of the Federal Open Markets Committee who say they fear inflation and an overheating economy. The FOMC was divided in June on the timing of the next rate increase.

Earlier on Monday, Dennis Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank, said policymakers were due for a “lively discussion” when they meet next week, but he did not pronounce on likely actions by the Fed this year.

Brainard said the conventional link between inflation and unemployment had not held as labor markets had strengthened over the past four years.

“At a time when the unemployment rate has fallen from 8.2 percent to 4.9 percent, inflation has undershot our 2 percent target now for 51 straight months,” she said.

She also said that the current unemployment rate had not budged despite recently despite steady job growth of an average of about 180,000 new positions per month, suggesting that labor markets still had significant slack. AFP

Las Vegas Sands opens Macau casino hub LOOK out Paris―Macau has its very own Eiffel Tower.

Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s Parisian resort, Sheldon Adelson’s $2.9-billion bet on the world’s largest gambling hub, opened Tuesday featuring a half-size replica of the iconic French landmark, a glitzy shopping mall, a water theme park and other family-friendly facilities.

With the project, the 83-year-old billionaire is doubling down on Macau with his model of mixing Las Vegas-inspired entertainment and leisure with gambling, as the Chinese city attempts to evolve from a gritty destination focused on high-stakes gamblers from mainland China. Macau’s casino industry is seeing the first glimmer of a recovery, boosted by mainstream gamblers and tourists after a 26-month slump that saw high-end players avoiding the city amid China’s crackdown on corruption.

“We have fairly high expectations for Parisian to be the most likely property to grow the market,” said Union Gaming Group LLC analyst Grant Govertsen. “Sands China does a better job than the peers in delivering what mass-market consumers wants, and Parisian should hit a sweet spot given the Chinese affinity for Europe in general, and Paris specifically.”

In anticipation of a recovery, Las Vegas Sands and its Macau unit Sands China Ltd. have both surged about

The Eiffel Tower attraction, a half-size replica of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, stands at the Parisian Macao casino resort, operated by Sands China Ltd., a unit of Las Vegas Sands Corp., in Macau, China, on Tuesday, July 26, 2016. Bloomberg

30 percent so far this year through Monday, outperforming their peers’ 18 percent rise according to Bloomberg Intelligence’s Macau gaming index. Sands China fell as much as 2.8 percent to HK$33.50 in Hong Kong trading Tuesday.

While Adelson and fellow Vegas veteran, MGM Resorts International chief executive officer James Murren, have been bullish on Macau and declared the city’s gambling recovery is underway, the chairman of Macau’s largest casino operator is calling for caution. There needs to be sustained growth, with greater focus on mainstream gam-

blers, Hong Kong billionaire Lui Che-Woo of Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd. said in an interview this month.

Targeting mainstream players, with families and children in tow, is one of Adelson’s forte. The Las Vegas tycoon’s foray into Macau began with the opening of the Venetian in 2007, and Sands China has since grown to be the market leader in the massmarket gambling segment, which has been less hurt by Beijing’s crackdown.

With 3,000 guest rooms and suites, the Parisian plans to attract families with a themed water park, a kids play area

modeled after France’s Luxembourg Gardens and a shopping mall with artists and street performers.

While Sands China is heeding the government’s call to tone down on catering to hard-core VIP players, its newest project will need to cope with fewer new gambling tables than some competitors. Macau’s gaming regulator this month authorized 150 new tables for the casino, including 100 for opening day, compared with the 250 that Galaxy and Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd. each received for new projects last year. Bloomberg

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

C1

CHANGING FACES OF MANILA. Skylines in the heart of Manila continues to grow but the economic growth under the Aquino administration over the past four-and-a-half years was not inclusive enough to uplift the condition of the poor, according to foreign investors. Ver Noveno

Piñol bats for fisheries agency

By A. Perez Rimando PAGADIAN CITY—Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol urged the House of Representatives to prioritize the passage of a bill creating a separate Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.

Piñol, in a recent visit to the Zamboanga del Sur capital, explained the creation of a Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR) “will ensure the strengthening of Philippine waters and marine resources and the rights of local fisher folk.”

He stressed that such a new agency will be able to “regulate the ocean, marine life and other bodies of water within its jurisdiction, along the lines of conservation of marine and fisheries resource, both inland and off-shore.”

According to the former three-term North Cotabato governor, there are six pending bills in the 17th Congress seeking to establish the DFAR, one of them—House Bill 426 filed by Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo—noted that while there are DA attached agencies focused on marine resources, “a centralized agency specifically created for such purpose can better discharge this duty.”

Piñol noted that Arroyo’s bill further stressed that “toward this end, the DFAR shall have the power to administer, develop, conserve and utilize all fisheries and aquatic resources and shall have the jurisdiction to take control over the production, capture, dispensation and promotion of fisheries and marine products in the country.”

Sibugay exec gets 40 years for graft

By A. Perez Rimando

I

PIL–The Sandiganbayan’s fourth division has found guilty a former board member of Zamboanga Sibugay and sentenced him to a maximum of 40 years’ imprisonment for “multiple malversation cases in connection with the alleged misuse of government funds for the Aid-to-the-Poor Program in 2002.”

A 45-page decision of the anti-graft court identified the convicted official as provincial board member Eric Cabarios who received a jail term “from 10 to 18 years for two counts of malversation through falsification of public documents; 12 to 17 years, six to 13 years, and two to 10 years, respectively, for the remaining three counts of malversation through falsi-

empted the provincial Social Welfare Development Office by allegedly advancing payments of beneficiaries of the program, “which contradicts an ordinance regulating the disbursement of the appropriation which mandates the provincial SWDO to prepare all necessary documents for processing.”

The Sandiganbayan added: Turn to A2

Estrada closes stores with no permits MANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada announced that to protect consumers, he has launched a renewed crackdown against businesses operating without permits from the city hall.

Estrada directed the city’s Bureau of Permits and Licensing Office (BPLO) to join Task Force Manila Cleanup in road clearing operations.

“I have directed the Task Force, once they have finished clearing the illegal vendors, to randomly check the business permits of stores,” the mayor said.

“If the owners of stalls and stores cannot present their permits, we will close them,” Estrada added.

Three clothing stores on Pedro Gil were issued closure orders by city hall inspectors when they presented expired business permits.

Task Force Manila Cleanup also apprehended 15 illegal vendors; they were among the vendors who were driven away during a previous operation in the same area.

Acting on Estrada’s directive, Fortune Mayuga, officer-incharge of the Bureau of Permits, said an average of five businesses are issued closure orders every day due to lack of or expired business permits.

“If the traders cannot go through the process of securing new permits, a closure order follows,” Mayuga explained.

K-12 subject honors Bulacan war hero FLAIR. Paulo Layao of Biñan City was the first runner-up in the recent Asean Bartender Championship 2016 held in Thailand. Roy Tomandao

Ratify Paris Agreement, youth says FILIPINO youth leaders called for the ratification of the Paris Agreement and the inclusion of climate change course in the school curriculum at a forum in Davao on Saturday.

During the forum, the Climate Reality Project Philippines, founded by Nobel Laureate and Former US Vice President Al Gore, launched its youth program called “Filipino Youth Beyond Paris” at Ateneo de Davao University (ADDU).

fication of public documents.”

The court disqualified Cabarios from holding any public office and ordered him to pay a fine of P106,828, stressing that “in the service of his sentence, the duration of his total imprisonment shall not exceed 40 years.”

Based on the published court ruling, the Commission on Audit found that Cabarios “pre-

Youth Beyond Paris—Davao and the National Youth Commission (NYC) Mindanao regional offices brought together over 30 youth leaders representing universities, government agencies, nongovernment organizations and faith groups from all regions of Mindanao, and discussed key climate issues to develop a national youth statement on climate for submission to the 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to the United Nations

Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Emphasizing the importance of climate change as a global interdisciplinary discourse, the project will hold three mentorship sessions in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao in three tracks: climate policy, climate science and communication, and creative campaigning.

“After a discussion on the Paris Agreement, the participants were divided into four

focus groups to negotiate youth positions on mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and means of implementation (capacitybuilding, climate finance, technology transfer). As a concluding activity, they formulated the first draft of the Filipino Youth Statement on Climate Change, which will soon be shared online for open consultation,” said Rodne Galicha, Philippine country manager of the Climate Reality Project and director of ADDU Ecoteneo Office.

THE life and heroism of former Bulacan governor Gen. Isidoro Torres will be kept alive through its inclusion in the new K-12 curriculum.

The plan is being discussed in the Pambansang Kumperensiya sa Bulacan 2016 with the theme, “Isidoro Dayao Torres at 150: Ang Kabayanihan sa Panahon ng Rebolusyong 1896” that will feature the life of the hero from September 13-15 at the Hiyas ng Bulacan Convention Center in Malolos City.

In celebration of Torres’ 150th birthday, the conference, which is a joint project of the Provincial History, Arts and Culture Office (Phacto) and the Samahang Pangkasaysayan ng Bulacan (Sampaka) will extol the heroism of Gen. Torres dur-

ing the war and learn his views on life amidst crisis.

“We want to include the life and heroism of Torres in the teaching of local history in the K-12 curriculum,” Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado said.

“Our students will get to know another hero like Marcelo H. del Pilar.”

A total of 100 elementary teachers and members of Sampaka are joining the event.

Moreover, some of the speeches in the three-day conference will dwell on the meaning and importance of heroism, who Torres is from the viewpoint of his great grandchildren, the reading materials in his time; his journey to Macabebe, Pampanga and the battle in Paombong during the 1897 revolution among others.

C2

LGUs

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

71 miners trapped in Benguet

By Dexter A. See

I

TOGON—Seventy-one pocket miners were trapped for more than eight hours due to the alleged collapse of their private mine site before being rescued by Benguet Corp. over the weekend.

Lawyer Froilan Roger Lawilao, BC administration department head, revealed the 68 males and three females who

were trapped were small-scale miners belonging to the Dalicno Miners Association operating a private mine tunnel in barangay

Dalicno here.

“A responsible member of the council of elders and concerned residents of Dalicno reported to Benguet Corp. that many miners were trapped in their private tunnel adjacent to the company’s controlled underground mining area, particularly at Level 1500, because of the alleged collapse portions of a tunnel that prevented them from freely moving out of the area after their work schedule, Lawilao said.

Immediately upon receipt of

the report, BC resident manager Antonio Buenavista deployed rescue teams from the safety and security departments and volunteer miners from the Acupan project.

According to Lawilao, the members of the rescue teams had to open a plug-up connecting the underground working area to be able to penetrate the location of the trapped miners.

He added that members of the rescue team had to manually dig for over four to five hours before

they reached the trapped miners.

“We were elated that the trapped miners were safe when our rescue teams reached them. We thank the council of elders and citizens in Dalicno for informing us early,” Lawilao stressed.

He claimed the rescued miners were escorted out of the underground working area through the Level 1500 portal and they were immediately taken by BC vehicles from the industrial area to the Balatoc clinic for medical examination.

Members of the Dalicno Miners Association thanked the BC management, particularly Buenavista and Lawilao, Itogon municipal officials led by Mayor Victorio Palangdan and the Dalicno council of elders.

Itogon is one of the mineralrich areas in Benguet that continues to host large and small mining operations. The municipality is one of the potential Minahang Bayan areas that will be declared under existing laws, rules and regulations.

Region 9 cites model family

By A. Perez Rimando PAGADIAN CITY—The family of Mr. and Mrs. Roberto Libre Sr. of barangay Santiago in this Zamboanga del Sur capital city topped the Department of Social Welfare and Development 2015 Zamboanga Peninsula regional search for “Huwarang Pantawid Pamilya,” an agency official said recently.

Atty. Araceli Solamillo, DSWD regional director, said the Libre family beat four other contenders from Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, Zamboanga City and Isabela City, Basilan.

Solamillo said the search is an annual activity of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that recognizes “deserving family beneficiaries that have religiously followed the program’s conditions and have been active and have served as model families in their respective communities.”

The Libre family received a cash prize of P8,000, a certificate of recognition and a plaque of appreciation.

DSWD project development officer Maricel Aragon said the Libre family and the respective first, second and third placers (Ponce family of Zamboanga del Norte, Tampipi of Zamboanga Sibugay, and Misuez of Zamboanga City) initially underwent validation and interview. The winners were chosen based on how they interact with family members, their relationship and contribution to the community and how they manage to face the challenges and difficulties in life, Aragon said.

The DSWD regional chief said the Libre family will represent Zamboanga Peninsula in the national selection scheduled early next month in Manila.

BREAK. Children enjoy kayaking at Paradise Resort in Samal, Davao. Teddy Pelaez

Ecowaste warns vs toxic trinkets sold in Manila A WATCH group on toxic chemicals in products and wastes on Monday urged the government, the jewelry industry and the civil society to craft a regulation that will restrict the content of hazardous substances in jewelry products.

The EcoWaste Coalition made the pitch for such a regulation after detecting high concentrations of cadmium and lead in cheap earrings, bracelets, necklaces, rings and rosaries bought from retailers in Divisoria, Quiapo and Sta. Cruz, Manila.

“Consumers are literally buying poison ornaments to adorn

their bodies or express their faith without them knowing it because of the absence of legal restrictions on hazardous substances in jewelry and the lack of mandatory labeling information,” noted Thony Dizon, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect.

“As toxic jewelry products can pose risk to human health and the environment, we request the authorities to prepare the required regulation that will set legal limits on cadmium, lead and other chemicals of concern in jewelry with inputs from the industry and the civil society,”

he said.

The group conducted its latest product screening following the market withdrawal of some jewelry items in France, Germany, Latvia and Sweden that contain levels of cadmium, lead, mercury or nickel in violation of national and European Union regulations as reported in RAPEX, or the EU rapid alert system for dangerous non-food consumer products.

EU regulations restrict cadmium and lead in jewelry at 0.01 percent and 0.05 percent by weight, respectively, or 100 parts per million (ppm) for cadmium

and 500 ppm for lead. According to EU, “lead is harmful to human health and hazardous to the environment,” while “cadmium causes damage to organs and may cause cancer.”

Using a handheld X-Ray Fluorescence device, the EcoWaste Coalition found 23 of the 45 jewelry samples laden with extremely high amounts of cadmium and lead that would make them illegal to make, import or sell in the EU. Among the most toxic pieces found were a crucifix pendant with 339,600 ppm lead, a rosary with a component that has 273,600 ppm lead, a pair of red

earrings with 248,500 ppm lead, several metallic rings with over 100,000 ppm lead, a necklace with a medicine capsule-like adornment that has more than 100,000 ppm lead, a necklace with 54,600 ppm cadmium and yellow smiley ring with 48,600 ppm cadmium.

‘While most of the toxic articles we found are cheap adult jewelry, it is possible for these items to get into children’s hands or mouths, especially if they break and a child swallow a broken piece with high levels of cadmium or lead,” Dizon said. PNA

DA-9 promotes brown rice

OBLATION. Mayor Cristina Romualdez offers wine and water at the Holy Mass on the 99th birthday of former President Ferdinand Marcos in Sto. Niño Church in Tacloban City. Mel Caspe

DIPOLOG CITY—The Region IX office of the Department of Agriculture launched here recently “BROWN4good Challenge” to encourage Zamboanga Peninsula consumers to eat brown rice to protect them from serious diseases, an agriculture officer said recently.

DA regional information officer Ma. Melba Wee told local government officials in a conference that “continuous consumption of brown rice helps reduce cancer incidence and heart diseases.” He stressed that “since it is unpolished, brown rice is rich in fiber; hence, it lowers the risk of developing diabetes and cholesterol even as it prevents weight gain.”

Joining the BROWN4good

Challenge is not only beneficial to “our health but also to our community,” Wee said, adding that “every hashtag is equivalent to 100 grams of brown rice.”

She stressed that “if we can generate 50,000 hashtags, we produce 5,000 kilograms of brown rice which we can donate to those who have less in life.”

Newly elected Dipolog Ciy Mayor Darel Dexter Uy – together with Vice Mayor Horacio Velasco, City Schools Division Superintendent Victoria Perez, Provincial Agriculturist Ana Aying, City Agriculturist Jose Kerr Porlas, and Rice Banner Representative Ralph Ceniza—expressed their full support to the DA program and pledged

to strongly encourage their constituents in rural and urban communities to consume brown rice.

The DA regional information officer said the launching ceremony was highlighted by gong-banging, Pangasi (native wine) sipping by local government officials “to boost advocacy for brown rice consumption, together with a boodle feast of brown rice, grilled fish and pork set on 20-meter-long table enjoyed by 300 people.

To intensify the campaign region-wide, the DA held a press forum at a local hotel where it asked print and broadcast media practitioners to help disseminate the benefits of eating brown rice, Wee said. A. Perez Rimando

Sibugay...

From C1

previously testified that there was no provincial board authority for him to advance his own money and to secure later for reimbursement as Aid to the Poor Program.”

The court further noted that 29 of the supposed ben-

eficiaries under the accused board member’s disbursement voucher “were considered fictitious or non-existing” even as it archived the case against Cabarios’co-accused Michelle Navalta who remains at large until now.

“Cabarios would have this court believe that he had the authority to advance his money to the program’s beneficiaries, although he had

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World

Manila

Standard

TODAY

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

C3

9/11 victims cannot sue KSA W

ashington—The White House confirmed Monday that President Barack Obama will veto a bill that would allow relatives of victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks to sue Saudi Arabia for compensation.

Strongest quake hits South Korea SEOUL—South Korea was clearing up Tuesday after being struck by its most powerful earthquake since records began.

The 5.4 magnitude quake late Monday sent people scurrying from buildings, unused to the kind of seismic events that regularly shake neighboring Japan.

Seismologists said the quake was a natural geological phenomenon, and unrelated to the “artificial earthquake” caused last week when North Korea carried out an underground nuclear test.

There were no reported deaths, but six people suffered minor injuries after being hit by falling objects, the Ministry of Public Safety and Security reported.

South Korea’s lively social media was flooded with images of shattered storefront windows and people fleeing apartments in panic, some with children in their arms.

Some spent the night in shelters or in their cars.

Kakaotalk, the country’s largest mobile app, which is used by 40 million people, partially went down, the company said, as users rushed to exchange messages in the aftermath of the quake.

Television footage showed bottles falling from shelves at a store, and long cracks that had developed in a basement parking lot.

Reactors at four nuclear power plants were shut down for safety inspections, and were expected to remain off line for several days, but there were no indications of any damage.

Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., which operates the country’s 24 nuclear plants, it had halted operations at four sites “on the off-chance” they might have suffered damage.

“All our plants were designed to sustain quakes of up to 6.5 magnitude,” a company spokesman told Agence France Presse.

The US Geological Survey said the country had been hit by two quakes, the first of which had a magnitude of 4.9. It was followed an hour later by the more powerful 5.4 magnitude shake.

Korean seismologists, who put the magnitude of the second quake at 5.8, said it was the most powerful to hit since records began in 1978. AFP

“That’s not an effective, forceful way for us to respond to terrorism,” spokesman Josh Earnest said, adding that the text, which has raised major concerns among Washington’s Gulf allies, has yet to reach the President’s desk.

The Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act was approved in the House by unanimous voice vote on Friday, some four months after its Senate passage—and only two days before the 15th anniversary of 9/11.

The government of Saudi Arabia, a US ally but also home nation to 15 of the 19 hijackers, has worked hard to see the bill defeated.

Obama’s concerns with the law include that it essentially waives the doctrine of sovereign immunity that protects nation states from civil suits or criminal prosecution -- and could thus expose the United States to lawsuits in various countries around the world.

“There’s no denying the political potency of this issue. But the president believes that it’s important to look out for our country, to look out for our service members and look out for our diplomats,” Earnest said.

“And allowing this bill to come into law would increase the risk that they face.”

However, the legislation’s

Republic of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REGION IV-A CALABARZON Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal

General Description: Materials, Tools and Equipment for the ff. subject-specializations

Lot No. I

Agriculture and Fishery Industrial Arts

Php 4,759,177 .50 50,542 ,979.28

III

Home Economics

93.447.036.08

Total

Contract Duration : 75 Calendar Days Delivery Site(s) : Various Public Senior High Schools in Deped Region IV-A enumerated in the Allocation List contained in Section VI of the Bidding Documents (please see attached CD) The DepED IV-A, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), now invites bids for the herein Goods. Delivery of the Goods is required to be delivered on the recipient public high schools within 75 calendar days upon receipt of the Notice to Proceed. Bidders must have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The amount of the similar completed contract must be at least 50% of the ABC to be bid. {The prospective bidder should have completed at least two (2) similar contracts and the aggregate contract amounts should be equivalent to at least 50% of the ABC to be bid]; and the largest of these similar contracts must be equivalent to at least 250/0 of the ABC to be bid. [Sec. 23.5.1.3 rIRR]} The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, i.e., in Section II, Instructions to Bidders. Bidder may bid for one, more than one or all of the items in one, more than one or all of the lots. Evaluation and award shall be made on a per lot basis.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform “Act.”

Lot I- Agriculture and Fishery Arts Sub-lot A1

MUMBAI—Rap megastar Jay Z will make his debut performance in India at a music festival to raise awareness about poverty, event organizers said Monday.

The Global Citizen Festival, established in 2012, is intended to highlight the major challenges facing India including sanitation facilities in rural areas and the provision of elementary education.

“The line-up for November’s performance includes Coldplay, Jay Z and various Indian artists including Aamir Khan, Amitabh Bachchan among others,” Sabbas Joseph from Wizcraft event management company told journalists.

Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin serves as the creative director of the Global Citizen Festival and is responsible for the concert line-up, he added.

The gig will take place in Mumbai with nearly 80 percent of tickets given away, the organization announced during the launch event that was attended by Hindi screen legend Bachchan and Nelson Mandela’s grandson Kweku Mandela.

Bollywood actors Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif and Oscar-winning musician AR Rahman will also perform at the charity event.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared at the festival in 2014 to lend his support to its goals. AFP

American jailed for 20 years SEOUL--A South Korean appeals court on Tuesday issued a 20-year jail sentence to a US citizen charged in his teens for murdering a Korean man nearly two decades ago.

The Seoul High Court upheld a lower court’s decision in January that found Arthur Patterson, now 36, guilty of murdering Jo JungPil, who was stabbed multiple times with a knife in a fast-food restaurant toilet.

“The defendant lived 19 years of life that the victim was deprived of but did not show any sign of sincere remorse seeking pardon from the victim and the bereaved family,” South Korea’s Yonhap news agency quoted the court as saying.

Prosecutors argued that Patterson, who was 17 years old at the time of the crime, showed a “devil-like brutality” in stabbing Jo -- a stranger to him -- to death for no apparent reason.

Twenty years in jail is the maximum penalty in South Korea for an offender under the age of 18.

Patterson, the son of a US military contractor, had denied any involvement in the crime which took place in the nightlife district of Itaewon, close to the US military base in Seoul.

He was initially tried in 1997 as an accomplice, while Edward Lee, a Korean-American man who was at the scene, was charged with murder. Both accused the other of killing Jo. AFP

Description

Amount of Bid Docs

Animal Production Tools & Equipments

Lot II

Jay Z sings for India’s poor

1.

The Local Government of Dinalupihan, through MDRRMF – Trust Fund intends to apply the sum of Three Million Two Hundred Thousand Pesos (Php3,200,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for the Procurement of Two (2) Units Municipal Ambulance. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The Local Government of Dinalupihan now invites bids for Procurement of Two (2) Units Municipal Ambulance. Delivery of ambulance vehicle is upon received of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within two (2) from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project equivalent to at least fifty percent (50%) of the ABC. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

4.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

5.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours at eight o’clock in the morning to five o’clock in the afternoon.

6.

The LGU Dinalupihan, Bataan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on September 13, 2016 at 10:30am at BAC Office 2nd Flr. Municipal Bldg., Dinalupihan, Bataan which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the bidding documents.

7.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on September 7-14, 2016 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00).

8.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before September 8, 2016 at 10:30am. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

148,749,192.86

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased from the Deped Region IV-A BAC Secretariat, located at DepED IV-A, Supply Office, 2nd floor located at Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal, upon accomplishing a bidder’s information sheet and payment in cash of a nonrefundable fee by interested bidders in the amount stated below to the Deped Region IV-A Cashier.

Only bidders who purchased the Bidding Documents will be allowed to submit bids.

capable supersonic bombers streaking over ally South Korea in a show of force meant to cow North Korea. Bloomberg

Procurement of Two (2) Units Municipal Ambulance GOODS 100-16-09-045

Approved Budget Contract (ABC) (in PhP)

II

Bid opening shall be on September 19, 2016 at 10:30am at BAC Office 2nd Floor Municipal Bldg, Dinalupihan, Bataan. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

9.

TheLGU of Dinalupihanreserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: (SGD) AMELITA E. PEÑAFLOR BAC Chairman San Ramon, Dinalupihan, Bataan (SGD) ARCELI SAMSON BAC Secretariat San Ramon, Dinalupihan, Bataan

Php3,000.00

(M S-S E P T. 14 , 2016 )

Industrial Arts

A1

Consumer Electronics Servicing Equipments

3,000.00

B1

CNC Milling & Machining Machine Operation Tools & Equipments

3,000.00

C1

Carpentry Tools which includes; a) Carpentry equipments b) Masonry & Tile Setting Equipments c) Plumbing & Tile Setting Tools & Equipments -

1,000.00

D1

Refrigeration & Airconditioning Tools & Equipments

1,000.00

E1

Broadband Installation (fixed wireless system) Tools & Equipments

500.00

F1

Mechatronics Tools & Equipments

500.00

G1

Transmission Line Installation & Maintenance Tools and Equipments

H1

SMAW,GTAW,GMAW Tool

1,000.00

H2

SMAW Equipments

3,000.00

H3

GMAW, MIG, TIG Equipments

5,000.00

H4

GTAW, TIG Equipments

3,000.00

H5

Oxy-Acetylene Equipments -

3,000.00

I-1

Automotive Servicing Tools & Equipments Measuring & Testing Equipments

3,000.00

J1

Workshop Equipments & Instructional Models

3,000.00

K1

Hydraulic & Pneumatic Equipments

3,000.00

Lot III

Earlier Monday, the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council, of which Saudi Arabia is the most powerful member, expressed “profound worry” over the bill, saying it would “create a grave precedent.” AFP

Republic of the Philippines Province of Bataan Municipality of Dinalupihan

INVITATION TO BID The DepED Region IV-A, through the 2016 GAA intends to apply the sum of One Hundred Forty Eight Million Seven Hundred Forty Nine Thousand One Hundred Ninety Two Pesos and 86/100 (Php148,749,192.86) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to eligible payments under the contract for the Supply and Door-to-Door Delivery of Technical, Vocational and Livelihood Materials, Tools and Equipment for 40 Subject-Specializations to various Public Senior High Schools in Deped Region IV-A (inclusive of installation and testing of such Goods at Delivery Sites) 3rd Batch. Bids received in excess of the ABC [per lot] shall be automatically rejected in accordance with Sec. 31.1 of the Revised I RR of RA 9184 at bid opening.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

B-1B BOMBERS. The United States on Tuesday sent two nuclear-

easy passage raises the prospect of a veto override, which requires a two-thirds vote in the House and Senate. It would be the first time Obama would be dealt such a blow during his presidency.

500.00

Home Economics

A1

Attraction and Theme Parks, Tour Guiding, Tourism Promotion Tools & Equipments

500.00

B1

Hairdressing Salon Furnitures Tools & Equipments

3,000.00

C1

Beauty Care Tools and Equipments

2,000.00

D1

Bartending Tools and Equipments

1,000.00

E1

Bread and Pastry Tools

3,000.00

E2

Bread & Pastry Equipments (commercial mixers with complete attachments & mechanical dough roller, dough cutter, electric hand mixer, stainless working table)

5,000.00

E3

Bread & Pastry equipment (deck oven & demonstration table with mirror)

5,000.00

E4

Bread & Pastry Equipment ( gas range & electric top oven)

5,000.00

E5

Bread & Pastry Equipment (upright freezer and refrigerator)

3,000.00

F1

Caregiving Tools & Equipments

3,000.00

G1

Cookery Tools

3,000.00

G2

Cookery Equipments (cleaning & OSH equipments)

3,000.00

G3

Cookery Equipments (kitchen furnitures and machines)

6,000.00

G5

Cookery Equipments (kitchen furniture and kitchen storage)

6,000.00

H1

Dressmaking Tools & Equipments (tools and sewing equipments)

3,000.00

H2

Dressmaking Equipments (single thread sewing machines & 3 threads overlock machines

3,000.00

I-1

Food and Beverage Services Tools and Equipments

3,000.00

J1

Handicraft Tools and Equipments

500.00

K1

Housekeeping Tools

K2

Housekeeping Equipments

2,000.00 2,000.00

L1

Wellness and Massage Tools & Equipments

1,000.00

M1

Barista Tools and Equipments

1,000.00

N1

Front Office Tools & Equipments

3,000.00

O1

Nail Care Tools and Equipments

1,000.00

It may be viewed or downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhiIGEPS), www.philgeps.net. and the website of the Procuring Entity, depedcalabarzon.ph, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The schedule and venue of the procurement activities are as follows: Activity

Date and Time

Issuance of Bidding Documents

From September 9, 2016 to September 27,2016 Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00

Venue

Pre-Bid Conference

September 14, 2016 at 10:00a.m

DepED IV-A RD’s Conference Room

Submission and Opening of Bids

September 27,2016 at 10:00 a.m.

DepED IV-A RD’s Conference Room

DepED IV-A Director’s Office Conference Room

Prospective bidders are strongly encouraged to order or download the electronic copy of the Bidding Documents from the PhilGEPS website: www.philgeps.net. for them to be included in the Document Request List of the project. The pre-bid conference is open to all interested parties who may have or have not bought the bidding documents.

Bids must be delivered to the address and on the date and time stated herein. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in Section III, Bid Data Sheet ITB Clause 18.1. A valid Bid Securing Declaration must accompany the bid(s) in lieu of a bid security.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend the opening of bids at the address, date and time stated herein. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The Deped Region IV-A reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, not award the contract(s), or annul the bidding process without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: Ann Geralyn T. Pelias - BAC Chairman Virginia 0. Bagacay - BAC Secretariat Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal Telefax No. 6458406 and 6476204 Website: depedcalabarzon.ph ( M S - S E P T. 14 , 2 016)

(SGD) ANN GERALYN T. PELIAS BAC Chairman

Republic of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REGION IV-A CALABARZON Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal INVITATION TO BID The Department of Education Region IV-A, through the 2016 General Appropriation Act intends to apply the sum of Twenty Seven Million Nine Hundred Ninety Eight Thousand Four Hundred Pesos (Php27, 998,400,00) only being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to eligible payments under the contract for the provision of venue for the Board & Lodging of the participants to the School Heads Development Program Foundational Course - 2nd Tranche. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

Batch 1 ---614 pax x 1,200.00 x 19 days = Php 13,999,200.00 Batch 2 ---614 pax x 1,200.00 x 19 days = 13,998,400.00 Php 27, 998,400.00 The Department of Education Region IV-A, through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), now invites bids for the herein-mentioned Goods. Bidders must have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project with an amount of at least 50% of the ABC to be bid. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, i.e., in Section II, Instructions to Bidders. Bids received that exceed the ABC shall be rejected at bid opening.

Contract duration------------October 23, 2016 to December 10, 2016 Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be inspected or purchased at DepED IV-A BAC Secretariat, located at Supply Office, Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal upon accomplishing a bidder’s information sheet and payment in cash of a non-refundable fee by interested bidders in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (PhP20,000.00) to the DepED IV-A Cashier. Only bidders who purchased the Bidding Documents will be allowed to submit bids.

It may be viewed or downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhiIGEPS), www.philgeps.net, and the website of the Procuring Entity, www.depedcalabarzon.gov. provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. The schedule and venue of the procuring activities are as follows: Activity

Date and Time

Venue

Issuance of Bidding

From September 12, 2016 to September 29, 2016 8:00am to 5:00pm (Mon-Fri)

DepED IV-A Director’s Conference Room

Pre-Bid Conference

September 15, 2016 -11:00 a.m.

same

September 29, 2016 -10:00 a.m.

DepED IV-A Director’s Conference Room

Submission and Opening of Bids

Prospective bidders are strongly encouraged to order or download the electronic copy of the Bidding Documents from the PhilGEPS website: www.philgeps.net. for them to be included in the Document Request List of the project. The pre-bid conference is open-to-all interested parties who may have or have not bought the bidding documents.

Bids must be delivered to the address and on the date and time stated herein. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the ITB Clause 18. A valid Bid Securing Declaration must accompany the bid(s) in lieu of a bid security.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend the opening of bids at the address, date and time stated herein. Late bids shall not be accepted. The DepED Region IV-A reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, not award the contract(s), or annul the bidding process without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: Ann Geralyn T. Pelias BAC Chairman Virginia O. Bagacay BAC Secretariat DepED IV-A Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal 6458406 ( M S - S E P T. 14 , 2 016)

(SGD) ANN GERALYN T. PELlAS BAC Chairman

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

C4

World

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

Brazil coup leader faces graft raps BRASÍLIA—Brazil’s lower house of Congress voted Monday to oust its former speaker Eduardo Cunha, who spearheaded the drive to impeach president Dilma Rousseff only to suffer his own graft-stained downfall.

Cunha, who is often compared to the dark, manipulative villain Frank Underwood of the hit Netflix series “House of Cards,” was stripped of his seat in the Chamber of Deputies by a resounding vote of 450 in favor, 10 against and nine abstentions.

“I declare lawmaker Eduardo Cunha stripped of office for conduct incompatible with lawmakers’ duties,” said the decision read out at the conclusion of the late-night session.

Cunha, a 57-year-old conservative allied with the Evangelical Christian right, was a central figure in Brazil’s long impeachment drama.

His enemies accuse him of using his power to launch impeachment proceedings as a trump card to stave off his own prosecution for allegedly taking millions of dollars in bribes.

He resigned as speaker in July amid swirling accusations of corruption linked to the huge state oil company Petrobras.

He was forced to face the music in Congress for having “lied” to other lawmakers about his possession of secret Swiss bank accounts.

Cunha, who denies any wrongdoing, handled his own defense at Monday’s session. He mainly displayed the cool and calculating persona he is known for, but occasionally his voice broke with emotion.

“I didn’t lie. There’s no bank account.

Where’s the proof?” he said.

“Don’t judge me based on what public opinion says,” he implored, reminding his colleagues that at least 160 of them also face judicial investigations. AFP

Figueres not running for UN chief

SAN JOSÉ—Costa Rican diplomat Christiana Figueres said Monday she has withdrawn her candidacy for the top post at the United Nations, after failing to find sufficient support at the Security Council.

“All of the (straw) polls at the Security Council indicate that my candidacy does not have much future,” Figueres said at a press conference alongside Foreign Minister Manuel Gonzalez.

Gonzalez added: “You have to read the signs.”

Figueres expressed hope that the United Nations would choose a woman to replace Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who has been in office since 2007 and whose second term ends December 31.

Gonzalez said that Costa Rica has pressed for a woman to lead the world body, even before tapping Figueres, and will continue to work toward that goal.

The world body has never had a female leader in its 70 years.

Figueres, who threw her hat in the ring in July, headed the negotiations that led to the historic 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change. AFP

FESTIVE. Actors Tzi Ma and Mark O’Brien attend the “Arrival” premiere during the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival at Roy Thomson Hall on Monday in Toronto, Canada. AFP

BLOGGERS. Chriselle Lim (L) and Chiara Ferragni pose with their awards after the Blog Lovin’ Awards at Industria Superstudio on in New York City. AFP

UK Labor leader may lose seat LONDON—The embattled leader of Britain’s Labor party could lose his parliamentary seat in a shake-up set to reduce the number of lawmakers, according to plans unveiled on Tuesday.

The possible impact on Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn’s political career comes as part of wider plans to redraw the maps of political constituencies.

Meanwhile, Britain’s former prime minister David Cameron resigned his seat in the House of Commons on Monday, less than three months after losing an EU referendum in which he had campaigned to stay in the bloc.

Cameron stepped down as prime minister in June, hours after Britain’s dramatic vote to leave the European Union (EU), handing power to his successor Theresa May in July.

Proposals published by the Boundary Commission for England are intended to reduce the number of MPs to 600 from 650 and create a more balanced number of voters in each area.

The changes could mean a significant shift for Corbyn, who has represented his London constituency of Islington North since 1983.

Under the proposals the area overseen by the Labor leader would be divided through the creation of two new voting areas—Islington, and Finsbury Park and Stoke Newington.

Corbyn said he was “very unhappy” about the suggested size of a new constituency.

“I look forward to representing some parts of Islington,” he said on arrival at a dinner with unionists on Monday evening.

The plans also potentially pit Corbyn against two of his key allies in his shadow cabinet—Diane Abbott and Emily Thornberry—who represent neighboring constituencies.

Corbyn is currently facing a leadership challenge mounted after the resignation of around 20 members of his shadow cabinet, and a no confidence vote in which 172 out of Labour’s 230 MPs voted against the party leader.

Despite widespread discontent among Labor lawmakers, Corbyn is expected to win the challenge by MP Owen Smith when results are announced at the party’s annual conference on September 24. AFP

US claims air strike killed IS spokesman W

ashington— The Pentagon on Monday confirmed that a US air strike killed Islamic State leader and spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani in northern Syria last month.

“The strike near Al Bab, Syria, removes from the battlefield ISIL’s chief propagandist, recruiter and architect of external terrorist operations,” Pentagon

press secretary Peter Cook said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group.

“It is one in a series of successful strikes against ISIL leaders, including those responsible for finances and military planning, that make it harder for the group to operate.”

The August 30 air strike was conducted by a Predator drone, which fired a Hellfire missile at the car Adnani was traveling in.

Officials say Adnani was the main spokesman for IS, and he had played a major role during some of the group’s most highprofile attacks over the past

year, including in Paris, at the Brussels and Istanbul airports, at a cafe in Bangladesh, as well as the downing of a Russian airliner in the Sinai and suicide bombings at a rally in Ankara.

Cook has previously said Adnani had coordinated the movement of IS fighters, encouraged lone-wolf attacks on civilians and members of the military and actively recruited new IS members.

Soon after the strike against Adnani, Russia said it was responsible for his death, a claim Pentagon officials dismissed as a “joke.” AFP

William takes family to Canada MONTREAL—Britain’s Prince William and his wife Kate will be accompanied by their two children, George and Charlotte, during their visit to western Canada later this month, Ottawa said Monday.

The trip marks their second visit to Canada, following their first tour in 2011 just two months after their marriage.

The family arrives in Victoria, the capital of British Columbia, on September 24, for an eight-day visit that will take them all the way to the city of Whitehorse in the Yukon, according to an itinerary released by the Canadian government.

Governor General David Johnston, the representative of Queen Elizabeth II in Canada, will welcome the couple, who plan to address environmental issues and the mental health of native peoples and children.

The family will leave Victoria by seaplane on October 1, before returning to Britain on their official plane.

The trip marks the first royal tour for Princess Charlotte, whose is 16 months old, and the second for three-year-old Prince George, who has already been to Australia and New Zealand in 2014, according to the BBC. During their 2011 trip to Canada, William and Kate toured several eastern provinces before heading west to Alberta and the Northwest Territories. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

FASHION & BEAUTY

D1

Francis Libiran Bridal

opens at Greenbelt 5

F

RANCIS Libiran, known for his luxury fashion brand, introduces a new store experience for brides-to-be.

Located at Greenbelt 5 Level 2, Francis Libiran Bridal offers an array of gowns carefully selected and intricately designed to become part of every bride as she embarks on her journey to forever.

The store concept revolves primarily around the customer, with the aim of providing a curated selection of pieces that allows the bride to take her wedding to the next level with her choice of a Francis Libiran Bridal gown.

“We always strive to offer only the best products and services to our customers. Francis Libiran Bridal welcomes all brides-to-be and gives value for their money,” says Arsi Baltazar, CEO of Francis Libiran Bridal.

Francis Libiran, who spent his career at the forefront of fashion, has been creating wedding gowns for celebrities, politicians, and influential people in their respective industries for more than a decade now. His collection of made-to-measure bridal gowns resonates his signature layering, intricate draping, and keen attention to detail.

To celebrate the opening of Francis Libiran Bridal, a grand launch will be held at The Gallery of Greenbelt 5 on Sept. 15.

For more information, visit www. francislibiranbridal.com, like Francis Libiran Bridal on Facebook or follow @francislibiranbridal on Instagram.

Hailey Baldwin

leads Guess Fall 2016 campaign THIS rainy season, feel the scorching heat of Guess Fall 2016 campaign with the latest addition to the iconic Hailey Baldwin.

One of the hottest models of her generation, Hailey has become a face to a number of high street international fashion brands. Daughter of actor Stephen Baldwin, she is also making big waves of her own with design collaborations to boot. She’s undeniably a Guess girl as she exudes an effortless sexy appeal.

She captures the classic 90’s vibe, which the iconic Guess Girls are known for.

Guess introduces American blonde bombshell and model “it girl” Hailey Baldwin shot in her first ever Guess campaign alongside Matt Trethe. Photographed against California’s stunning Malibu landscape, the sequence of images captures the sunshine glistening off the models’ bronzed skin and wind-swept hair in an enchanting setting.

The campaign, directed by Paul Marciano, chief creative officer for Guess? Inc., shot by international fashion photographer Rayan Ayash, and styled by Marie Claire Italy Fashion Editor Elisabetta Massari, draws the viewer in with modern alluring styles and poses.

Campaign stars, Hailey and Matt are photographed in a field filled with clusters of cherry blossoms that gleam in the distance adding charm into the campaign. The models are striking and exude a confidence combined with a hint of sexiness to complete each image.

HERE COMES THE BRIDE. Designer Francis Libiran opens his bridal store at Greenbelt

5 which offers a curated selection of pieces that allows brides-to-be to take their wedding to the next level.

Sinulid: The Threads of Design MALL rats recently had a glimpse of the future of fashion when the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Fashion Design and Merchandising Program’s graduating students launched Sinulid, an exhibit and fashion show held at SM Aura Premier’s Atrium and Samsung Hall, respectively.

Young fresh fashion talents were showcased as this year’s batch marked a milestone covering two tracks: merchandising or styling and design.

This enabled the students to not only focus on design but also to dabble on the business aspect.

During the event, the school’s Merchandising and Styling group transformed the SM Aura Atrium into an array of pop-up stores. Each showcase has its own brand image and aesthetic. The students relied on various concepts and translated them into merchandising and styling showcases.

They were inspired by countries, art, dance, movies, eras and even city lights and interiors.

For more information, visit www.GUESS.com.

Hailey Baldwin and Matt Trethe (inset) are the faces of Guess Fall ‘16 campaign

Fashion Design and Merchandising program chair Lulu Tan-Gan, SM SVP for Marketing Communications Group Millie Dizon and School of Design and Arts Dean Joey Yupangco

Meanwhile, the Design group featured their design talents through a runway show at Samsung Hall. Forty graduating students presented their collections, which ranged from street wear to avant-garde, daywear to eveningwear and even menswear to bridal wear. These students were able to demonstrate their creativity and translate them into actual designs. They utilized various fabrics and patterns with some even using local fabrics like jusi and abaca.

The exhibit and fashion show served purpose to Lulu Tan-Gan, Fashion Design and Merchandising chairperson’s message to the students: “Experience and exposure play a very significant part of your fashion education”.

De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde’s Fashion Design and Merchandising Program’s Sinulid: The Threads of Design is one of the several interesting events at SM Aura Premier and Samsung Hall.

Life

D2

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Contouring Made Easy in a New York Minute I

N recent years, we had some great new trends in the beauty world, but none have inspired and encouraged a cult following the way contouring has.

From the runways and top celebrity looks showcasing perfectly contoured makeup, to accentuating a slimmer, perfect V-shaped face, this trend shows no signs of dying down in the near future. In fact, different trends such as the Tape Contour and Strobing – a technique to crank up a healthy glow by highlighting – have been buzzing over the net until now. However, getting halfway through contouring application seems to be a daunting task with tons of steps to follow and products to use. What’s a girl got to do to nail the perfect contoured look?

SHAPE YOUR FACE. Maybelline’s V-Face Contour by Face Studio line, composed of powder, blush and contour stick, helps get your face shape onpoint in an instant.

From the World’s no. 1 makeup brand, Maybelline New York, doing your own contoured makeup has never been this easy. Get an instant sharper nose and your face shape on-point in a New York minute with Maybelline’s very first contouring line—V-Face Contour

by Face Studio.

“This year’s defining moments in beauty is definitely seeing techniques using products to achieve the slimming V-face trend, focus-

Studio delivers to our consumers, today’s Maybelline girls – products perfectly created for contouring that takes their looks from dusk ‘til dawn.”

Promising 10 percent slimmer face and an instant sharper nose in just a few steps, achieve what most Asian women desire with Maybelline’s VFace Contour by Face Studio.

Whether you’re into contouring for a daytime look or a fierce, glammed makeup for a night out,

ing on how to achieve sharper nose in an instant without going under the knife,” shares Sandy Tiu, product manager of Maybelline New York. “From this growing trend, there is no better time for Maybelline to introduce a complete contour line that aims to bring out the very inherent appeal of contouring – the ability to accentuate features but this time, in a quick and easy way that anyone can do. That is exactly what V-Face Contour by Face

Maybelline’s V-Face Contour by Face Studio is perfect to use for any look you want. For a fresh and fun daytime look, use either the V-Face Blush Contour alone or the V-Face Duo Stick and V-Face Duo Powder. For a glammed up makeup, have fun using all three products together to help you achieve an edgy and fierce nighttime look in an instant.

Get the V-Face Duo Stick and VFace Duo Powder for only P499.00

each and the V-Face Blush Contour for just P399.00.

Products are exclusively imported and distributed by Maybelline New York and are available in Maybelline counters nationwide and online through Lazada, Zalora, Calyxta, and BeautyMNL. For more information about Maybelline and the V-Face by Face Studio contouring line, visit http://bit.ly/ MaybellineVFaceContour.

Fashion

for the modern man

The top 15 finalists of the Manila Fashion Festival Design Competition, which Bobson Japan co-presents.

Redefining denim

with young Filipino designers BOBSON Japan, in collaboration with Manila Fashion Festival, launches its first design competition for fashion design students and graduates, who will recreate, redesign and redefine contemporary denim styles.

In its 45th year in the business, Bobson Japan instills its brand’s promise to young Filipino fashion designers by retelling the discipline of Japanese craftsmanship refined and carried in the country’s fashion industry. Bobson Japan design competition challenges chosen designers to make their mark in the fashion scene by answering the brand’s call to “redefine denim.”

The young designers, 15 out of 50 qualified and got a chance to experience Bobson Japan’s factory tour where

they witnessed the stages of how Bobson jeans are exquisitely crafted and manufactured. The finalists were also briefed on the step-by-step denim production – cutting/marking, embroidery, sewing (inseam/pocket), dry process, wet process, drying, and finishing.

The designers also got an in depth look into the Bobson denim DNA, and its key elements: Stitch belt loops for stronger construction; pewter rivet buttons that make every pair more durable; 11 stitches per inch (SPI) to achieve that coveted refined look; and a crest-shaped back pocket design to mark its Japanese heritage.

All these define the label’s fresh, crisp, modern and clean approach to denim, and signifies great attention to detail, construction, precision and care.

To “redefine” is synonymous with change, which Bobson Japan’s quality, technology and craftsmanship truly stand for. Through the Manila Fashion Festival Design Competition, Bobson Japan moves forward with a denim redefinition that captures current fashion tastes, highlighting its Japanese roots, while being relevant to the local market. The brand envisions breakthroughs in the design and use of denim both as a classic fabric, and as a stylish, evolving staple of Filipino fashion.

Stay tuned to find out which young designer will win P50000.00 cash prize. Bobson Japan’s design competition will take place on Oct. 20 at the Marquee Tent at Edsa Shangri-La. Visit Bobson’s Facebook @BOBSONJapan, Instagram @bobsonjapan and their official website www.bobsonjapan.com/ph to get the latest updates on the Manila Fashion Festival Design Competition co-presented by Bobson Japan.

The aspiring young fashion designers witness the different stages of manufacturing Bobson jeans.

POPULAR Spanish fashion brand (Sfera) highlights fun, dynamic, and up to the minute fashion in a minimalist, modern setting in its latest collection for men.

The (Sfera) Men line has a wide collection of wardrobe essentials made more interesting and of-the-moment by adding a contemporary twist in the details. Jackets, cotton knit jumpers, printed shirts, and ankle-length trousers jumpstart a fresh, casual look and easygoing attitude. Bomber jackets, hoodies and washed fabrics with faded colors add a trendy touch to (Sfera)’s men’s collection.

(Sfera)’s Smart collection, on the other hand, is perfect for the sophisticated gentleman through pieces that embody classic tailoring and noble fabrics.

There are blazers and trousers with quintessential sleek silhouettes, as well as elaborate garments with details on

the neck, backstitching and buttons in a range of blues, greys and neutral colors.

These two looks are complimented with a strong denim presence in washed fabrics, in which indigo appears in all of its shades.

(Sfera), under Spain’s renowned El Corte Ingles Group, focuses on quality, constant renewal, variety in its collections, and customer service. The brand offers clothing for Men, Women, Kids and Babies, and also includes smaller lines for Accessories, Confidentials, and Swimwear.

(Sfera) started in 2000 and has more than 100 retail outlets across Spain, Europe and Mexico. The brand opened its first store in Asia in 2014 at The SM Store Makati.

(Sfera) is located at 2/F The SM Store Makati, 2/L Mega B SM Megamall, and UG/F SM Seaside City Cebu.

The (Sfera) Men collection is perfectly suited for today’s sophisticated men

Casual tailoring, exciting prints and colors from (Sfera) Men’s fashion line

Red hoodie jacket, striped crew neck shirt and khaki pants scream bold and bright

D3

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

A

SIA’S largest radio network launched this year’s MBC National Choral Competition to attract the best vocal ensembles across the archipelago.

The nationwide search, launched by Manila Broadcasting Company in 2007, is considered the biggest all-inclusive choral competition in the Philippines today and forms part of the network’s preChristmas activities. It features competitions for children’s choirs and an open category for schools, churches, residential communities, companies, government

The Calasiao Children’s Chorus competing in last year’s semi-final rounds of the children’s division

2016 MBC National Choral Competition Regional Eliminations agencies, and special interest groups who may want to take part. The grand prize winner in the children’s choir category

will receive P100000.00, while the champion in the open category takes home P150000.00.

Live auditions will be conducted in Dagupan (Sept.17); Iloilo (Sept. 24); Cebu (Oct. 1); Davao (Oct. 8); Legazpi (Oct. 15) and at the Star Theater in Pasay (Oct. 22 to 23).

Choirs from other provinces may send

Young heart, old soul

James Reid: the HOW does matinee idol and Till I Met You star James Reid stay fit?

This is the question everybody started asking since the latest TVC for Century Tuna was unveiled.

In the new commercial, which teaser was up on a giant tarp on Edsa a few weeks prior to the TVC’s official release, we see the 23-yearold actor coated with white paintlike liquid then his sculpted body is slowly revealed. The TVC, which revolves around the concept of metamorphosis, is still in line with the brand’s Superbod campaign that promotes an active and healthy lifestyle.

“It took me a month to prepare for the TVC. Because of my work commitment, I must admit that I gained weight a little. So, I had to do a rigid training at the gym for a month to achieve the body you see on the TVC,” James told Manila Standard.

But after a month of rigorous physical training that included lifting weights and closely watching his diet, the young actor went back to his normal routine, which basically eating healthy and hitting the gym at least two times a week.

“With my busy schedule, it takes a lot of discipline to stay in shape.

My goal right now is not to build more muscle but just to maintain my physique. On a good week, going to the gym two or three times is enough for me to achieve this goal,” he said adding that his fellow Superbod ambassador Derek Ramsay is his ultimate fitness inspiration.

According to Greg Banzon, Century Tuna’s general manager, the new campaign exceeded their expectation with James on board.

They are overwhelmed by the response of the public upon seeing the new ad.

“Our goal was to create a campaign that would go viral. We wanted to do a commercial that people would remember for many

body of the century

MEN OF THE HOUR. Actor Paolo Avelino (left) brings out the swag with his Stylex Gel endorsement, while matinee idol James Reid (right) is launched as “The Body of the Century” by the leading tuna brand (Photos by Sonny Espiritu) years, like Richard Gomez’s Bench commercial. Our target was to reach two million views on our Facebook page,” the Century Tuna official shared.

The head honcho was referring to the iconic and award-winning “Sculler” ad in 1991 featuring the then 23-yearold Gomez showing his rowing skills.

True enough, James and the brand’s hard work paid off because just a few days after the release of the commercial on Century Tuna’s Facebook page, it has already been viewed more than four million times and has produced an avalanche of social media memes and reactions. It made the people who worked behind the campaign believing that they’re able to achieve their goal and at the same time expand the product’s market.

“And interestingly, our guideline was to make the TVC appealing to women but not alienating to men.

Based on our studies, 67 percent of Century Tuna shoppers are women,

but with the TVC, the figures are different, 62 percent of those who viewed the commercial online, at least on our Facebook page, were men,” the official ended.

Dabbling between TV and film Paolo Avelino constantly changes his look depending on the character he portrays. He does enjoy seeing himself playing different characters and personally sees to it that he is perfectly groomed based on what the role is asking for.

In the next couple of months, we are going to see Paolo playing different characters as he is currently juggling between television and the movies. In fact, in his recent public appearance as brand ambassador for a men’s hair styling brand, he had to leave immediately after a quick chat with the press because there’s another showbiz engagement that he had to attend to.

Paolo recently joined the cast of the Coco Martin starrer series, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano. At the same time, he is

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, September 14, 2016

ACROSS 1 Divvy up 6 Blond 10 Magna Carta signer 14 Drama awards 15 Murray or Baxter 16 Crow’s-nest cry 17 Tannin source 18 Marsh bird 19 Contractors’ figures 20 Cave formation 22 Speaker brand 23 Bakery buys 24 Plunging neckline 26 Serve the suds 30 No-goodniks 34 Farewell 35 Jupiter’s wife 36 Where Mindy honeymooned 37 Advance 38 U of U.N. fame 40 War movie river 41 Mohawksporting actor (2 wds.)

42 Wildlife refuge 43 Glide 44 Sort of sale (hyph.)

46 Pagodas and lamaseries

48 Cutting tool 49 Elisabeth of “Soapdish” 50 Compassionate 53 Physicist’s study 59 Valhalla host 60 “Faint heart — won ...”

61 Colander 62 Lap dog, slangily 63 Baroness Karen 64 Like a wolf’s howl 65 Fortune-teller 66 Says please 67 Bore a hole DOWN 1 Cartwright son 2 Just touch 3 Bean or city 4 Tender cutlets 5 Gets away 6 Raised cane?

7 Diarist — Nin 8 Put one’s foot —— 9 To the point 10 Punched 11 Akron’s state 12 Mortar troughs 13 Wall St. abbr.

21 Win at rummy 25 Tokyo, once 26 Mild and pleasant

27 Light incense to 28 Rodeo noose 29 Coal measure 30 Severe hairdo 31 Hawkeye 32 Delete a file 33 Mini-plays 35 It has a big mouth 38 Kilimanjaro setting 39 Lay low 40 Garden-pond fish 42 Was in front 43 Folded

45 Gilda of “SNL” 46 Weasels out of 47 Whir 49 Knife type 50 The Keystone — 51 — fixe 52 Reebok rival 54 Monsterhunter’s loch 55 Stadium level 56 Garr of “Mr. Mom” 57 Malicious 58 Fishing gear

an application packet consisting of a high-quality audition video along with the application form, which must be received at the MBC head office in Pasay on or before Oct. 14.

Provincial ensembles that qualify will each receive a travel subsidy to help defray costs of traveling to Manila for the competition on Dec. 6 to 10 at Aliw Theater.

Detailed mechanics are downloadable from the official Facebook page of the MBC National Choral Competitions.

To register or inquire about other details, please contact Yes FM Cauayan – 0917.433.0344; Love Radio Iloilo – 0917.501.7070; Easy Rock Cebu – 0917.315.3539; Love Radio GenSan – 0916509.2222; Love Radio Davao – 09127.704.0527; Love Radio Dagupan – 0932.424.4229; Love Radio Legazpi - 0999.

345.6787, and email siouxstar@gmail.com for the Mega-Manila auditions.

taping for another TV series called The Promise of Forever that also stars Ejay Falcon and Ritz Azul.

“I’m going to add color and tension to the action drama. The exciting thing about my character is that, there’s more than what people normally think or know about him. And I’m just really excited to be part of the show because it’s my reunion project with Coco. It’s been three or four years since we last work together,” shared the 28-yearold Kapamilya actor during the Stylex Styling Gel press launch where he was introduced as brand ambassador.

For his film project, on the other hand, Paolo is working on the upcoming biopic, Goyong, which is based on the life of Gregorio del Pilar, one of the youngest generals in the Philippine Revolutionary Forces in the Philippine–American War. “I can’t give you any details on that yet, but I can assure you that a teaser for the film will be released really soon,” he told the press.

UPCOMING actress Yanyan Lovendino is only 14, very young and tender. But within her is an old soul who loves nostalgic things that bring one to a timeless era.

The singer, dancer, and model listens to The Stylistics, one of the most successful soul groups Stylistics of the ‘70s known for the hits “Betcha by Golly, Wow” and “You Make Me Feel Brand New.” She sings along the group’s R&B top ten hits that made it to U.S. charts.

The Pampangueña was only four-years old when she started dreaming to be an actress. The 5’3 aspiring host is also a pet lover. She likes dogs and cats, particularly Schnauzers and Persian cats.

She loves organic foods and drinks.

Yanyan is a product of ABS-CBN’ Star Magic, idolizing actresses Liza Soberano, Dawn Zulueta, Marian Rivera Rivera, and Kim Chiu and actor Enrique Gil. In the international showbiz world, Yanyan looks up to Dakota Fanning and Robert Pattinson Pattinson. She is a high school student at Barcelona Academy and she likes playing volleyball and basketball. Her court idols include Cliff Hodge and Terrence Romeo.

Yanyan is always made mire beautiful by Antonio Hairdressing, YSA Skin and Bosy Experts, and Fashion Smile Dental Spa. - R Pangilinan

Upcoming teen star Yanyan Lovendino

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

D4

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2016

J

Showbiz

Jericho Rosales is paired with Arci Muñoz in the romantic melodrama “Magpahanggang Wakas,’ which is based from the 1980 Mario O’Hara film ‘Kastilyong Buhangin’ starring Nora Aunor, (inset) the series’ ensemble cast

ERICHO Rosales finally returns to primetime and topbills a story that will show that true love can withstand the test of time in Magpahanggang Wakas premiering on Monday on ABS-CBN.

Watch the country’s international superstar as he plays Waldo, a young man who shares a deep love with Aryann (Arci Muñoz). Although both are young, their love for each other is undeniably genuine and true.

One night, however, will change their story as Waldo accidentally kills a man who has attempted to rape Aryann. Waldo is convicted of the crime and sent to prison. Feeling responsible for Waldo’s misfortune, Aryann takes on different jobs to raise money to get him out of jail. She meets Tristan (John Estrada) who gives her the hand she was desperately looking for.

Not soon after being freed however, Waldo faces the vengeful brother of the man he killed and is fatally shot. Waldo falls of a cliff and drifts into the sea, which made everyone, except Aryann, believe he is dead.

Having slowly accepted Waldo’s death, Aryann moves on and finds her way to Tristan, the man who didn’t take advantage of her vulnerability during her darkest times. The two fall in love with each other and are set to be wed.

During the announcement of their wedding

however, Aryann realizes the undeniable truth that Waldo is alive. Waldo and Aryann cross paths but Aryann is no longer sure if she still shares the love they once had.

Will Waldo and Aryann rediscover the love they once shared? Will Tristan be the one who stands in between the two of them? Will they accept that time does change everything?

This series marks the comeback of Jericho on primetime, following his successful series Bridges of Love, which made waves in different territories including Latin America. Arci also returns to primetime after her successful portrayal as Norma in Pasion De Amor.

Also joining the stellar cast are Gelli De Belen, Rita Avila, Danita Paner, Liza Lorena, Lito Pimentel, Justin Cuyugan, Marco Gumabao, Maika Rivera, and Jomari Angeles.

Jericho and Arci return to primetime

Gwapolis and R U Tough Enough? ambassador Neil Perez

So you think you’re tough?

Prove it in KIX’s R U Tough Enough?

BEING tough isn’t just about being physically strong, or athletic. It’s about strength of character, discipline and resolve especially in the face of adversity. That’s exactly what KIX is looking to find in the Philippines with the second staging of “R U Tough Enough?”, a unique competition for people who are not only physically tough, but mentally and emotionally tough as well.

If you think that Filipino is you, then you need to sign up for R U Tough Enough?, because time is running out.

If you have a tough story to tell and are willing to back it up, then R U Tough Enough? is for you. Like last year, KIX’s R U Tough Enough? search for the toughest Pinoy will culminate in a grand finale featuring 10 tough contestants who have interesting stories and who have

proven their toughness in life. In the finale, they will face a unique obstacle course that will consist of challenges that will test the limits of their physical, mental and emotional toughness.

Winning R U Tough Enough? will grant you not just extreme bragging rights, but a very generous P250000.00.

This year, KIX is deadly serious about finding a worthy successor to last year’s winner Reyn Talosig.

That’s why this year’s ambassador is policeman, marksman, and explosives expert Neil Perez, an authentic tough guy in every sense of the word.

You may think you’re tough, but the question KIX and Neil Perez would like you to answer is: R U Tough Enough? If you think you might just be the man or woman KIX is looking for, then go to www.KIX-TV.com/tough . You

only have till Sept. 15 to register.

R U Tough Enough? Philippines is sponsored by Fisherman’s Friend, G-Shock and Fern-C, supported by venue partner SM City North EDSA, gym partner Gold’s Gym, supporting partners Columbia Sportswear and Mountain Hardwear, as well as cable partners Cablelink, Cignal TV, Destiny Cable, Gsat and SKYcable.

More details including terms and conditions of the competition can also be found on the contest website www.

KIX-TV.com/tough. Stay updated on the competition through KIX’s social media platforms, including Facebook: facebook. com/KIXAsia, Twitter: @KIXAsia, and Instagram: @KIXAsia.

KIX is available on Cablelink Ch.54, Cignal TV Ch. 133, Destiny Cable Ch.63, Gsat Ch. 18 and SKYcable Ch.63.

‘The X Factor’ is back

ERRATUM In an article published on this section (Dick Israel’s ‘Wagas’ story is a tale of merciful, selfless love, Sept. 10 issue), the persons in the photo were identified as Dick Israel and Baron Geisler. It should have been Dick Israel and his wife Marilyn.

Our sincerest apologies for the mistake.

UK’S MOST talked about TV show, The X Factor, Factor is back.

And this year’s series sees the return of some favorite faces as rock royalty Sharon Osbourne, pop sensation Osbourne Nicole Scherzinger Scherzinger, chart maestro Louis Walsh and The X Factor creator and music mogul Simon Cowell are reunited on the judging panel.

They are joined by the nation’s favorite TV host, O’Leary, who Dermot O’Leary is back to guide viewers through all of The X Factor action as well as providing hopefuls with those much- From left: Dermot O’Leary, Sharon Osbourne, Simon Cowell, Nichole needed ‘Dermot hugs’.

Scherzinger and Louis Walsh reunite on ‘The X Factor’ judging panel Also making a welcome comeback for this year’s face-to-face in front of the judges in a of securing a place in the next stage of the competition at Bootcamp. Here the series are the intimate room very personal setting.

If contestants impress the judges in remaining hopefuls will perform for auditions where aspiring stars will find themselves the audition room, they stand the chance the judges again, with a choreography

challenge and of course the all-important performance challenge where they will be grouped together to sing in lines.

Then, once the judges have made their deliberations and have been given their individual categories, it’s every act for themselves, with the return of the dramatic Six Chair Challenge. Here, for the first time in the competition, the hopefuls will have to impress a live audience of thousands as well as the judges to win one of the six sought after spots at each Judges’ House.

With the finalists chosen at Judges’ Houses, the search for the nation’s next singing sensation gets serious as the Live Shows begin.