Manila Standard - 2016 September 18 - Sunday

NORWEGIAN FREED AFTER A YEAR IN CAPTIVITY

By John Paolo Bencito NORWEGIAN national Kjartan Sekkingstad, in captivity for nearly a year in remote jungles in the country’s far southern island of Sulu, was released Saturday by his captors the extremist Abu Sayyaf, Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza has confirmed.

Dureza said in a statement the bearded Sekkingstad, released at around 2 p.m. in far-flung Patikul town, a known lair of the bandit group in Sulu, was the last of four hostages taken from a luxury resort on Samal Island on Sept. 21, 2015.

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Next page Sekkingstad

‘Sayyaf seeks caliphate’

By Francisco Tuyay

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Saturday Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants were hungry to establish a caliphate, as he toughens his stance on the kidnapfor-ransom group accused of a deadly bombing in his home city this month.

Several units of the Abu Sayyaf in the strife-torn southern Philippines have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group but analysts have said they are more interested in funding than ideology.

“They are hungry for a fight to establish a caliphate in Southeast Asia. Caliphate is a kingdom for the Muslims,” Duterte said in a speech to soldiers at a military camp in Gamu, Isabela.

“The problem is that they do not talk on the basis of what school you can give them,” he said referring to previous local services the militants have asked for. “It’s either the caliphate or nothing.”

It was the first time Duterte confirmed suspicions that the terrorist Islamic State has established a presence in the country through Abu Sayyaf militants who have sworn allegiance to the global jihadist network.

Security forces have launched an extensive intelligence operations against jihadists in the country and applied stricter security procedures on public convergence points have been in place following reports that terrorist are out to pulled-off attacks in two key cities in Mindanao.

Security experts claim the terrorists have plans to stage an attack on still unknown targets in Cagayan de Oro City and General Santos City.

But the Armed Forces of the Philippines said it still has to detect any presence of the Abu Next page

PEÑAFRANCIA FESTIVAL. An ocean of devotees follow an image of the Lady of Peñafrancia, the patroness of the Bicol region, during a procession in Naga City. Danny Pata

Du30 gives ‘narco-list’ to military for action

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday turned over a more complete “narco-list” to the Armed Forces of the Philippines as he accused former police general and now Daanbatayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot of operating on a nationwide scale.

Showing a thick folder containing a list of people suspected of being involved in illegal drugs, Duterte reminded the military that it’s main responsibility is to “protect the people” on top of de-

fending national security.

“I will give this to the Armed Forces, to the commanding general. I’m just saying that the ultimate warriors of the Constitution, to protect the people is the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” Duterte told soldier during a visit to Camp Melchor F. Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela.

“This is the problem. The Philippines has been brought down, like in a runway full of explosives... because of corruption in government. You’re right, including the Next page

Rody to AFP: Suffer thy comrades SAYING communist rebels have been their “natural enemies” for quite some time, President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday appealed for understanding from the military why he has to negotiate with the communist National Democratic Front for the sake of peace in the country.

“Let me tell you from the heart: This is hard. Because you know, natural enemy. But let me also remind you that this natural enemy who wants to kill also, are Filipinos,” Duterte told government troops at Camp Melchor F. Dela Cruz in Gamu, Isabela.

“My job is to look for a way

to end the killing of fellow Filipinos,” the President said. “In the fullness of God’s time, I pray we’ll have that. We’ll have peace in the land.”

Duterte, a former member of the leftist Kabataang Makabayan founded by his former Lyceum of the Philippines professor Jose Maria Sison, said the demands of Filipino communists have changed little in the past five decades.

“We have all grown, since we’re students. I am now President. Read the Constitution, even if I toss and turn it every which way, it is really my duty to seek peace for the land,” he said.

‘Ferdie’ makes Batanes declare calamity state

WE SUPPORT YOU. Just like when he was campaigning, President Rodrigo Duterte is still deluged by supporters in visits across the country as shown by these supporters who scrambled to shake his hands outside the San Agustin Church in Intramuros, Manila where he attended a wedding. Malacañang Photo

House panel calls for drug summit

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House committee on dangerous drugs and the country’s law enforcement agencies will hold a drug summit to ensure a uniform and systematic approach to the problem of illegal drugs, a

House official said on Saturday.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, the panel chairman, said they are finalizing a request to agencies involved in the campaign against illegal drugs to hold a drug summit soon.

The request is addressed to twitter.com/ MlaStandard

the Dangerous Drugs Board, the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, the Philippine National Police, and the National Bureau of Investigation.

Barbers said the last time the country had a drug summit was

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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BATANES province declared a state of calamity due to the damage wrought by Typhoon “Ferdie” as the Department of Social Welfare and Development pledged to airlift relief aid to the province if weather permits on Sunday.

DSWD Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said Saturday assistance will be delivered to families affected by Typhoon “Ferdie” once the Philippine Air Force confirms the deployment of C-130 cargo plane.

She said her department has prepared 20,000 pieces of readyto-eat brown rice bars, 800 family food packs, 5,000 pieces of Malong, 5,000 bottles of water, three generating sets from the Office of Civil Defense, 40 rolls of rope, and 30 rolls of laminated sack.

“These goods have been at the Villamor Airbase since September 14,” she said, adding that it was agreed that the relief aid would be flown to Batanes as soon as a window of opportunity opens.

The department will also send a Rapid Emergency Telecom-

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munications Team (RETT) and a Rapid Damage and Needs Analysis (RDANA) team from the Cagayan Valley region.

Meanwhile, officials of the regional Office of Civil Defense have estimated damage to agricultural crops at about P37 million.

OCD regional director Norma Talosig has estimated that power supply will be restored in two to three weeks’ time.

Batanes residents have been pleading for potable drinking water, food, generating sets, water pumps, transformers, galvanized iron for damaged roofs and construction materials, she added.

As of 6 a.m. Saturday, some 2,710 families or 10,344 persons from the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions have been displaced due to Typhoon “Ferdie,” of which 20 families or 151 persons are still in three evacuation centers in Basco, Batanes.

Some 2,651 families or 10,063 persons have also taken temporary shelter in relatives’ and friends’ houses.

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Duterte made the remarks as the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process announced that the second round of talks with NDF has been pushed forward.

“The Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the NDFP have agreed to adjust the schedule of the second round of the peace negotiations in Oslo from October 8-12 to October 6-10,” the OPAPP said in a media advisory.

It also announced that the next round shall be at the Holmenfjord Hotel, venue of the only formal talks between the Benigno Aquino government and the NDFP in February 2011.

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‘Leila got P5m from govt exec’ SENATOR Leila de Lima personally received at least P5 million in drug profits in every visit of a high-ranking official when she was still Justice secretary of the Aquino administration, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre said Saturday.

Aguirre said they will be presenting two witnesses at the congressional inquiry next week to prove that De Lima supposedly condoned drug transactions at the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.

Aguirre also debunked claims

by Senator Franklin Drilon, who claimed that the Senate has the power to place witnesses under its own protective custody, saying that the Senate has no power to protect witnesses. “[The money] was personally received by Secretary De Lima and when it was delivered in the morning, she was wearing a duster and Ronnie Dayan was there,” Aguirre said in an interview over radio station Next page dzMM.

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Putin a secret Trump supporter M OSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday offered what appeared to be his strongest support yet for US presidential candidate Donald Trump—without explicitly naming him.

“We are carefully watching what is happening in the United States and we, of course, view with sympathy those who publicly state that it is necessary to build a relationship with Russia, on basis of equality,”

he told journalists at a briefing shown on television.

His remarks were a clear allusion to Trump, the outspoken Republican nominee, who has emphatically professed his readiness to work with Putin,

and at one point even said the Russian strongman was much more of a leader than US President Barack Obama.

Putin has so far refused to publicly endorse either candidate.

Trump’s praise for Putin, who is reviled by many in the West over his stance on Ukraine and Syria, has raised eyebrows and drawn sharp criticism, particularly from his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Putin and Trump are not known to have met but the Rus-

sian leader shared many tense moments with Clinton when she was secretary of state, even accusing her of meddling in his own election in 2012.

Putin’s third term has been marked by rampant antiAmericanism in state media and efforts to stamp out US influence in Russia, which included the banning of several American NGOs and halting the adoption of Russian children by Americans.

The Russian leader also said Saturday that treating another

‘Sayyaf...

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COMPADRES. President Rodigo Duterte chats with his fellow wedding sponsors, businessman Ramon

Ang (beside the President), Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III and Alfonso Tan during the wedding of Waldo and Regine Carpio at the San Agustin Church in Intramurous, Manila. Malacañang Photo

Norwegian...

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The Al Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf had earlier beheaded Canadian nationals Robert Hall and John Ridsdel while Filipina Marites Flor was released last June.

Supporters of Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari and former Sulu Governor Sakur Tan helped secure the Norwegian’s release, Dureza said in a statement.

Sekkingstad will stay in Misuari’s place in Kagay village overnight, Dureza said.

The Norwegian was supposed to meet President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City Saturday evening but bad weather forced the cancellation of his flight out of Jolo.

“Norwegian hostage Kjartan Sekkingstad was released by his captors earlier today Saturday at around 2 p.m. somewhere in Patikul, Sulu,” Dureza had said.

“I will fly him out of Jolo town tomorrow morning,” he added.

Dureza had echoed the Norwegian’s first words of gratitude to Duterte, soon after his walk to freedom from his ordeal, short of four days to a year, capped by months of quiet but zealous efforts with the assistance of all sectors.

“When I spoke to him on the phone, he said ‘Thank you to President Duterte,’” Dureza said.

His release from captivity capped months of quiet, patient but determined efforts with the assistance of all sectors, Dureza added.

There were no additional details on the release from the Armed

Du30...

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police and barangay captains. How can we move higher if our lives are like these,” Duterte said.

On Thursday, the President announced that his thickest-ever final list of more than 1,000 politicians and policemen involved in the illegal trade will be exposed at the soonest time.

“I have this list, it’s very thick. I have a third round, final round. Just think of how many policemen and politicians are involved. If I cannot finish that, I’ll leave you legacy list to take care of,” he said.

Duterte said the list is still undergoing vetting by the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency and the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency.

Duterte had earlier revealed on two separate occasions that several politicians and members of the uniformed services are involved in the illegal drug trade, with another matrix showing the links of top officials to the drug menace being run from the national penitentiary.

On Saturday, Duterte again claimed that retired police official and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor

Vicente Loot is “all over” the final report.

“Like this Loot, in Region 1 his name is there.

General Loot included in Region 2, Region 3, Region 4. What does that mean? Whenever he was assigned [somewhere] he was into drugs. That is what it means,” the President said.

He also mentioned the name of Naguillan, La Union Mayor Reynaldo Flores being a “high-value target.”

Duterte said he was not sure if he will be able to finish his six-year term because there is a possibility that people on the list may have him killed.

“I do not know if I will survive the six years or not. They’re too many. I cannot kill them all. Maybe they’re the ones who will kill me,” he said.

Duterte appealed to soldiers not allow the country to disintegrate as he warned soldiers not to believe what he called a “deep spin,” because it will “compromise our children.”

Duterte confirmed that the Alcala clan of Quezon, whose ranks included Aquino’s agriculture secretary Proceso Alcala and incumbent Rep. Vicente Alcala, were included in the final list.

Also included were the Odicta couple, who were killed in a shootout earlier this month.

‘Ferdie’...

House...

Aside from the relief supplies that will be airlifted, a DSWD field office has provided 110 sacks of rice, 46 boxes of meatloaf, 56 boxes of sausage and 21 boxes of sardines to typhoon victims in Basco; 30 sacks of rice to victims in Ivana; and 30 sacks of rice to victims in Uyugan, all in Batanes.

Some 50 sacks of rice have also been readied by the provincial social welfare office of Batanes for allocation to affected municipalities.

about 15 to 20 years ago. It was before the passage of Republic Act 9165 or the “Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.”

The law mandates the government to end the trafficking and use of dangerous drugs and other similar substances through an integrated system of planning, implementation and enforcement of anti-drug abuse policies, programs and projects.

“We would like to request the inputs of the partner agencies so

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Forces Western Mindanao Command.

But Maj. Filemon Tan, spokesperson of the Command, said Sekkingstad would eventually be brought to the provincial capitol in Jolo.

Tan said in a statement the Norwegian’s release was “an offshoot” of the military’s intensified offensive, with the assistance of the MNLF against the Abu Sayyaf.

“Simultaneous land, air, naval and police operations complemented each other putting pressure on the ASG,” he said.

Last month, President Rodrigo Duterte said ransom had been paid for the release of the Norwegian hostage.

An intelligence report seen by some journalists suggested Sekkingstad was set free after ASG received an estimated P30-million ransom.

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there would be a uniform, systematic and synergetic approach to the problem of illegal drugs,” the lawmaker said.

Barbers’ panel has conducted hearings on the government’s anti-drug campaign in which officials of law-enforcement agencies presented their mandates, operational goals, accomplishments, budgetary requirements and capability upgrade.

He assured them of the committee’s full support through budgetary support and the passage and amendment of laws to boost their enforcement capabilities.

Sayyaf in Metro Manila, despite threats from the terrorist group that is now the target of unrelenting military pressure in Basilan and Sulu.

“So far, based on our [intelligence] and monitoring, there is still no ASG [Abu Sayyaf Group] presence in Metro Manila and we hope to keep it that way,” said AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo.

He also reiterated his message to the public to immediately report to authorities suspiciouslooking persons and baggage in their areas so that proper action could be taken.

The AFP offensive against the ASG started last Aug. 25 shortly after the bandits beheaded 18-year-old Patrick Almodavar in Sulu after his family failed to pay their P1-million ransom demand.

Some 32 bandits have been killed in the ongoing operations in Sulu while scores have been wounded, as casualties among government troopers number 15 dead and 10 wounded.

The time of the supposed attacks in Cagayan de Oro and General Santos City are still uncertain but government forces has already conducted target hardening in the two key cities.

“The terrorist are just buying time for authorities to relax their security in order for them to launch possible attacks,” a source said who declined to be identified.

country as an “evil empire” is a tactic to divert attention from other problems.

“Attempts to recreate the image of a so-called ‘evil empire’ and to scare laymen in this manner... (are) attempts to manipulate public opinion,” he said.

“This is rather tragic, it’s a crude and counterproductive attempt, and it has nothing to do with the essence of the problems... faced by the United States, of which there are many.” AFP

Putin

“That’s the nature of the terrorist. They will not proceed with their targets if the security is stricter,” the source added.

The possibility of a terror attack was also predicted by Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa days after the Davao City blast that left 15 people killed and injured 69 others.

“Because of the said incident in Davao, all major cities must be prepared. We don’t want to be panicky, it is better to be sure because we have an ongoing operations,” Dela Rosa said. “Maybe they [perpetrators] are formulating means to ease efforts on them.”

According to security experts, three clusters of terrorists have joined forces into one terrorist group in Central Mindanao and Northern Mindanao—the Daulat-al Islamiya, composed of the criminal Maute Gang, Alkhobar and the Khilafa Islamiya Mindanao.

The Maute group has been severely degraded after military operations but the Alkhobar has hundreds of members with links to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front while the Khilafa Islamiya Mindanao has also lied low after security operations.

Despite Duterte’s declaration, however, the Department of National Defense continued to deny formal links between the Abu Sayyaf and the Islamic State.

“They are ISIS inspired and not actually ISIS supported. They are just ISIS wannabes,” defense department spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP, using another name for the Islamic State.

Duterte, who has restarted peace

talks with the country’s two major Muslim rebel groups since taking office on June 30, initially pleaded for peace with Abu Sayyaf but has since hardened his position and branded them as terrorists.

In Gamu, Duterte said “Mindanao is a very sticky issue,” adding that he had recently spoken with MILF chairman Murad Ebrahim and vice chairman Ghazali Jaafar, who told him they should revive the peace talks to avert terrorism.

Duterte said that he had also been in touch with Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari. The problem, however, was that Misuari was “ambivalent” and had “lost control over the young men of the Moro generation.”

“Abu Sayyaf no longer hungers for independence in Mindanao.

They are no longer hungry for autonomy. They are hungry for a fight to establish a caliphate, a kingdom, in Southeast Asia,” Duterte said.

Duterte told soldiers to “reorient or reinvent” themselves, given that the Abu Sayyaf was following the trend of “urban terrorism.”

“Your eyes and ears have to be quick,” Duterte said, adding that soldiers also have to become intelligence operatives. “You’re up against explosives here.”

He urged them to study ways of profiling possible bombers and terrorists, even as he said he had given the go signal for Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana “to procure whatever is necessary” for the soldiers—including protective gear and weapons.

Rody...

‘Leila...

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Duterte’s visit to Camp Dela Cruz was the latest in a string of visits to military camps all over the country. On Saturday, he was accompanied by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and AFP chief, Gen. Ricardo Visaya.

Camp Dela Cruz is the home of the Army’s 5th Infantry Division, called Star Troopers, who in the past were frequently in deadly combat with communist rebels.

Military officials said Duterte’s camp visits have boosted troop morale.

“He (President Duterte) really talks and cares about the men on the ground. He also talks to the commander to hear for himself what they really need in the field and how the government can address it immediately for the good of our soldiers,” said AFP public affairs chief Col. Edgard Arevalo.

“There is no request within reason, by our soldiers, that the President did not respond positively,” the AFP official stated.

Arevalo said that this is the first time in military and Philippine history that a President is taking time to make the rounds of various military command headquarters to meet their personnel.

Aguirre refused to identify the two witnesses but hinted “they’re not inmates. They’re from outside. One is a high-ranking government official,” he said.

“They will reveal Secretary De Lima’s role in the drug trade when she was DOJ secretary,” he said.

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier revealed a matrix of the drug network that included De Lima and her former driver Ronnie Dayan who allegedly colluded to protect each other in the illegal drug trade.

Duterte slammed De Lima, whom he called an “immoral woman” and an “adulterer,” for her continuing silence on her “sex escapades” which has led her “to commit several serious violations of law.”

Also identified in the matrix were former Pangasinan governor and now Representative Amado Espino, former justice undersecretary Francisco Baraan III, Baraan’s brother Raffy and former Bureau of Corrections chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu.

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo also claimed earlier that Duterte is in possession of evidence that could possibly implicate the senator in the narcotics web.

Aguirre also said at least 12 high-profile inmates will testify against the senator, including convicted robber-turned-singer Herbert Colangco and convicted kidnapper Noel Martinez, leader of the Genuine Ilocano, one of the biggest gangs inside the New Bilibid Prison.

In the same radio inteview, Aguirre slammed the suggestion made by another Liberal stalwart, Senator Franklin Drilon who claimed De Lima has the power to place witnesses under protective custody without the approval of the Senate leadership.

“The Senate has no power to admit witnesses to protect them, but only the Justice Department,” Aguirre said.

“If [witness Edgar] Matobato really has proof to what he is saying, the Justice Department is ready to protect him,” he added.

On Saturday, Drilon claimed that every Senate committee has an inherent power “to provide protective custody to any of its witnesses or resource persons, whose testimonies are crucial in the exercise of their functions.”

“Such power cannot be vetoed by the Senate President,” Drilon said.

“What is subject to the approval of the Senate president is the use of the Senate premises in providing protection to a witness, because the Senate President has the control over the premises of the Senate.”

and Gina de Venecia, asked the committee on education and awareness of the inter-agency committee on anti-illegal drugs to invite the Department of Foreign Affairs so that the country may learn the best practices in other countries against illegal drugs.

The solon also batted for the inclusion of the National Youth Commission in the inter-agency’s education and awareness committee since the pushers target young people aged 20 to 29 years old.

“The youth sector is the most vulnerable to illegal drugs, and

the most affected sector,” de Venecia said.

For his part, Kabayan partylist Rep. Harry Roque asked the PNP what lesson it learned from the surrender of tens of thousands of drug pushers.

According to Police Director Benjamin Magalong, the PNP acting deputy chief for operations, the information they have gathered about the drug problem is enormous, confidential and very sensitive: “At the moment I cannot reveal to you the nature of this information. But we have a better picture of the drug situation.”

“Rest assured that each of our committee members support you. We are on your side. We are in this war together. We are all potential victims of drug addicts and pushers. We will definitely give you what you need, as much as we can,’ Barbers said.

“We will provide you with the necessary tools and enough ammunition against our enemies who are the drug lords,” he added.

Pangasinan Rep. Christopher de Venecia supported the plan to hold a drug summit.

De Venecia, son of former Pangasinan representatives Jose

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Solon: Great risk in SIM registration A LAWMAKER on Saturday protested the SIM Card Registration proposal, saying it is poised to infringe on the privacy of subscribers and will become an additional burden to mobile phone users.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate said mandatory registration for prepaid mobile phone subscribers is not the answer to terrorism, crime, or the impunity that persists in our country.

“We at Bayan Muna see the great risk of misuse of registered user’s personal information and exchanges as being proposed today by some legislators,” Zarate said.

“The current set-up is subject to abuse by authorities and criminals for racketeering [like the spam texts], harassment and extortion of civilians. There are already many reports of surveillance, threat and harassment of

AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT. Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol (right) discusses Eastern Visayas agricultural development with Leyte Rep.

Yedda Marie Romualdez (left), Tacloban City Mayor Cristina Romualdez (2nd from left) and former senator Aquilino Pimentel Jr. (2nd from right).

Ver Noveno

One-stop center unveiled

By John Paolo Bencito A SECOND One-Stop Shop Center for Overseas Filipino Workers is now ready to entertain passengers at the Clark International Airport in Pampanga to facilitate and grease wheels government processes especially for overseas workers.

“This is part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s program to provide convenience to our OFWs, most of them working in the Middle East, who can now go to Clark to transact their requirements for their convenience,” Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

Bello said they will put up the same centers in other parts of the country—such as in San Fernando City in La Union, Cebu City, Cagayan de Oro and Davao City—adding the facilities will be completed within the year.

Bello said Clark Airport is being prepared as the next alternative airport to decongest the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Metro Manila.

“There is now a move to transfer several flights [to] Clark Airport, and the establishment of the One-Stop Shop in Clark is timely,” he added.

For his part, Tugade said the establishment of the One-Stop Shop Center in Clark, now open and operational, is part of the requirements of International carriers especially those from the Middle East.

Tugade also said the facility will benefit OFWs mostly residing in Central and Northern Luzon who fly out or in of Clark International Airport in Pampanga.

Among the agencies included in the facility are the Bureau of Immigration, PhilHealth, PagIBIG Fund, Philippine Statistics Authority, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Department of Labor and Employment, Technical Education and Skills Development Authority, Professional Regulation Commission, Department of Education, Commission on Higher Education, Social Security System, Maritime Industry Authority, Commission on Filipino Overseas and Bayad Center.

Traffic powers approved only if govt defines needs

By Maricel V. Cruz

H

OUSE leaders on Saturday said Congress will approve the proposed emergency powers for President Rodrigo Duterte being sought by the Department of Transportation—only if the agency would be able to identify and define the traffic and transportation crisis.

Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, chairman of the House committee on transportation, said “failure to determine the crisis may lead to a grant of power that is misplaced or beyond what is required.”

During the congressional

hearing conducted by Sarmiento’s panel on the proposed emergency powers for the President, lawmakers grilled DOTr Secretary Arturo Tugade for his failure to define the parameters and scope of the special powers they want for the President to

address the huge vehicular traffic in Metro Manila and key cities in the country.

Lawmakers, led by Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque, said the provisions of the proposed emergency powers such as on procurement have been covered by present laws.

Sarmiento said his panel would conduct another round of hearings to ask for specifics from the DOTr before they could actually decide on the proposal for emergency powers.

Tugade earlier said without the emergency powers, the crisis can still be solved but with a longer timeframe, which is not good because P2.4 billion is lost every day due to productivity losses

arising from severe traffic congestion and other transportation issues in Metro Manila.

Tugade gave assurances, however, the emergency powers will only last for two years.

Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna, a stauch Duterte supporter, backed the idea of carefully scrutinizing the plans and programs included in the emergency powers.

“We have to scrutinuze this proposal very carefully to erase fears over possible abuse of the powers,” Zarate said.

Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, chairman of the Metro Manila Development Committee, identified some issues the emergency powers can

DepEd chief defends agency budget EDUCATION Secretary Leonor Briones said it is unfair to tag her department’s budget as “private school-friendly” when P400 billion of its P546-billion proposed budget for 2017 is for the delivery of basic education through public schools.

Amid recent criticisms that the higher budget for the Senior High School (SHS) Voucher Program for private schools—compared to the voucher allotment for non-Department of Education public schools—favors school owners, Briones said the program was designed to give students and their families options in deciding the SHS that is most relevant to their needs and career goals.

“With 4,486 private schools offering SHS, compared to 220 non-DepEd public schools, it is not surprising that there are more enrollees in private schools, thus

needing higher budget for the voucher program,” she said.

The education department has proposed to earmark P24 billion for next year’s SHS Voucher Program in private schools. The amount is twice the current budget and will cover an estimated 1.4 million student grantees who will enroll in Grades 11 and 12 in private schools next year.

On the other hand, non-DepEd public schools offering SHS will receive P1.3 billion to cover 138,462 grantees who will enroll in state and local universities and colleges.

The SHS Voucher Program is a financial aid for Grade 10 completers who wish to pursue Grades 11 and 12 in private schools, public universities, colleges and technical vocational institutions offering SHS. Under the program, enrollment in a private school becomes a viable option as students

receive a subsidy to offset school fees charged by these schools.

According to Briones, the 31-percent increase in the department’s proposed budget for 2017 is in recognition of the needs and expectations that DepEd has to meet and deliver.

The SHS voucher program, she said, is one of the venues by which the DepEd collaborates with the private sector in the effective and inclusive delivery of education.

“In the next six years, I intend to enhance the complementarity of public and private institutions.

This is in recognition of the private sector’s vital contribution in achieving education for all in the country,” Briones said.

Briones had earlier noted DepEd’s need to fill up more than 30,000 teaching items, especially for the fields of science and math.

At a recent House appropria-

tions committee hearing on the department’s proposed P567.56 billion budget for next year, Briones said the agency was “having a challenge” in hiring teachers in the two fields.

“We need a huge army of teachers, we’ll recruit more,” she said, noting that the demand for more K-12 educators was still high despite the employment of 195,302 public school teachers between 2010 and 2016.

Briones also reported to the committee that the department created 36,461 teaching vacancies for the Senior High School program alone, which was rolled out in June this year.

So far, the agency has already hired 3,950 displaced faculty from higher education institutions, of which 928 have availed of the department’s so-called “green lane” for speedy employment, she noted.

SENATOR Ralph Recto is urging the government to buy military equipment made in the Philippines to support the local industry and create more jobs.

“While many equipment, like planes, can only be bought abroad, I think those which can be locally built should be given preference, and if some components can be manufactured here, we should insist that [they] should be [bought as well],” Recto said Saturday.

He said the country’s car manufacturing industry can supply military and police vehicles, foreclosing the need to buy them abroad.

“There are also firearms factories in the country, some of which

were licensees of world’s leading gun makers,” Recto added.

Cebu can even build coastal patrol ships, according to Recto.

“As a son of Cebu and especially Danao, the President should be the first to recognize the ingenuity of our local craftsmen,” he said.

The province of Cebu, according to Recto, can help the Department of Transportation develop affordable but cutting edge technology for building patrol boats of the Philippine Coast Guard.

“If we are also looking for boats that will be used by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources for their research and conservation programs, these can also be built in Cebu,” Recto said.

tackle, such as secondary access roads that can be used to mitigate traffic congestion in several areas of Metro Manila, bidding and procurement issues and MMDA’s council resolutions that do not have the force and effect of a law.

Castelo authored House Bill 1315 or the Metro Manila Gridlock of 2016, which addresses the traffic crisis within Metro Manila by empowering the President to reorganize the Metro Manila Development Authority and realign existing funds.

The committee, meanwhile, is planning to consolidate 10 bills on the emergency powers already filed.

IN BRIEF Voters told to file case in high court THE Commission on Elections advised groups who want to pursue the village and Sangguniang Barangay elections on October this year to bring the matter to the Supreme Court, as the poll body is just waiting for the Congress to formally approve the postponement of the said elections.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said the poll body has already canceled the printing of all election ballots for the barangay and SK elections because of the strong support of many lawmakers and President Rodrigo Duterte to postpone the elections and hold it next year.

Both Houses of Congress passed on final reading their respective versions of the bill postponing the October 31st elections to October 2017 last September 13. Vito Barcelo

DFA lowers Libya alert

‘Use PH industries in arms upgrades’

By Joel E. Zurbano

activists through their mobile phones,” Zarate said.

Zarate also said the proposal could easily extend to all online activities with the aid of the Cybercrime Law. “Real time collection of data is unconstitutional, as it blatantly violates the right to privacy. However, for the intention of the SIM Card Registration proposal to deter crime to be effective, it must have access to all mobile phone exchanges as it happens. There would be a virtual Big Brother trafficking all our mobile phone exchanges,” Zarate added.

Zarate, who stressed the burden of registration will be on subscribers, said “Prices of SIM cards and prepaid credit are also expected to shoot up because telcos will pass the additional cost of registration to subscribers if this proposal becomes law.” Maricel V. Cruz

COASTAL RISK. Senator Cynthia Villar discusses the need to further enhance civic awareness and preparedness during the 5th meeting and workshop of Coastal Cities at Risk.

THE Department of Foreign Affairs has lowered the crisis alert level for Libya from 4 to 2 following the recommendation of a security assessment team from the Philippines that no incidence of violence occurred in that country for the past several weeks.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. has approved the lowering of the Crisis Alert Level for Libya from 4 (Mandatory Repatriation/ Evacuation) to 2 (Restriction Phase which found that a downgrade was warranted to conform to the prevailing security situation therein.

The SAT was deployed to Tripoli, Libya from August 9 to 13.

The DFA said that alert Level 2 is issued if there are threats to the life, security and property of Filipinos arising from internal disturbances, instability, and/or external threat. Vito Barcelo

A4

Opinion

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2016 SUNDAY, AUGUST 21,20, 2016 SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

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

Adelle Chua, Editor

Shortchanged Tag team no more

EDITORIAL

Quality of growth

A T

SENATOR has filed a bill seeking to

The concern has plagued the millions of

We get by, anyway, as we often do—don’t

THERE was a time when Senators place in the presidential polls last May. confessed Davao Death Squad member is now making the rounds of social media. prohibit the expiration of prepaid and mobile phone subscribers in the Matobato, Philippines,Trillanes they sayand Filipinos a resilient Antonio Trillanes IV and Alan Peter It was not difficult to imagine Trillanes Edgardo In turn, are Cayetano said hislot? colleague was electronic estimated 80 percentCayetano of which usefigured prepaid It willThis be interesting seeand howengaging far this newest Cayetano were the load. greatest of allies. As and Cayetanoan exchanging high-fives again prominently. intimidatingtohim in trash Senator Ralph Recto, the author of Senate credit for their accounts, for so long. bill progresses.

After all, did not the President HEofeconomy grew 6.9ofperThatthis thehappened, administration of Presileader- cess members a sub-committee the when even as they likely —something time, however, the they previous were on opposite talk. to these opportunities.”

Bill 848, wants consumers to be able to use up However much they complain, however, the himself express of the Senate cent Blue Ribbon the two dent gave Rodrigo their performances own ship sides: was Trillanes to lend credence Thederision two senators simply like fools, in the Committee, second quarter, Duterte for hastheir assured not tending inclined to do with This sounds likeoligarchy—the alook real plan all the load they put into their mobile accounts status quo has held sway.

There is not much very few members of the elite who determine carried aided on a sustained against thenseparate agenda.

They both wanted get its to own Matobato’s claims predecessor. about President to and do not helpthe at all the cause ofand according by theattack spending that the public of consistency and to conimmediate sustain growth, not and without having to be mindful of a period choice between the two giant telecommunicathe condition and course of the rest of us?

Vice President Jejomar Binay and his in the good graces of the then-ruling Duterte’s role in the notorious group, the Senate hearing the dignity and accompanied in the May elections tinuity in its policies is expected to It is a source of comfort that So- just in absolute terms. Previous beyond their money goes to waste. provide service.

Leave Secretary Lowlytoprepaid consumers do complain family forwhich alleged corrupt acts the while they Liberal Party.

Inconfidence thecompanies end, however, they whilethe Cayetano, professing loyalty credibility it must have.

Innot fact,emphasis because of and, on the supply side, good maintain thetion ofthat busicioeconomic Planning presidents have given were in bill power inof Makati City. both ransubfor president: Trillanes an Ernesto Duterte, to said: discredit thethat witness thebecause venom with which both of service them speak, The mandates to refund one, and the otheras may just betending as bad—even all muchto they need the so performance the companies industry and nesses andvice consumers alike.

The Pernia “The chalachieving high growth but Together,sectors. they made formidable team. President independent, and Cayetano as the running and “test his motives.” theyno should not allowed to the scribers their lost acredit.

Violators will facehas worse.

Thus, itplans may be put, and muchincluand see alternatives.

Butthat it tarnish does not services talked about to smarter lenge isto tostay make this growth did little to be ensure wealth Trillanes perfected the look of an intense mate of then-Davao City Mayor Rodrigo As they took their respective roles, already-fantastic proceedings any further. the possibility of fine, imprisonment, and a remean we must easy on demanding basic The strong showing offset the further relaxsuffer. business restrictions sive so that more people contribute and go opportunity are more justly investigator with the perpetual scowl; Duterte. civility flew out the window.

Trillanes The country did well in not voting vocation of license. production and cut taxes The same telco have responsible respect fromdistributed. the telco providers even as we drop in agricultural to attract moregiants in- to, andbeen benefit from it. For this, we Cayetano was his usual logorrheic self.

Both lost and went back to their Senate attacked Cayetano’s apparently endless either Trillanes Cayetano as the secondThe measure isthe not new.

Similar bills in pre-and forhence the dismal quality ofmust internet service incompetitiveness the know it’s domination andorprofits they are truly brought by El Niño vestment spur employimprove the The Duterte government is stylThe trial arguably took its toll on Binay’s seats. questions and accused his colleague of highest official.

For now, however, we vious congresses have been filed but have not country amid relatively high costs.

Again, after. phenomenon. fornot long-term our markets and cli- ing as their oneshameful that breaks old already-announced ambitions for the ment It does mean theygrowth. are less visible— of grandstanding—a videobusiness clip where have itself to endure presence in gone beyond first reading.

We suppose big the leaving one brand for the other is not an at- of Perhaps the government can stand up for its The gross domestic product Notably, economic managmate to take advantage the new patterns and occasions genuine presidency. From being the frontrunner in or audible—these days. During last Trillanes told Cayetano he would not the Upper Chamber. Serves us right for businessgrowth has its pathetically way ofthe making politicians toe administration tractive optioncredited for selfconsumers. giveforthe people, for change. once, byWe ensuring business (GDP) of this surge ofProviders investments region. shouldbig watch how at it the game, he slid makes toPhilipfourth ers week’s Senate hearing that featured allow him the opportunityin “pa-porma” bringing them there.

the line. pines the fastest-growing country in Asia and the achievement of the full-year target of 6 percent to 7 percent likely.

equally poor quality,ofanyway. the very least playsmake fair. good on its word to the previous administration Importantly, we must look at the would President Benigno Aquino III for sectors and geographic areas that achieve the kind of growth that putting in place sound macroeco- have been lagging behind and de- is actually experienced—not just nomic, fiscal and monetary policy termine how to improve their ac- read about in the papers.

Suburban Everyone voters shun needs HAIL TO TrumpTHE inCHAIR 3 the oceans key states VICTOR

091816

to be protected The narco-city of Bistek and Hero Bautista AVECILLA

By Albert R. Hunt

Matters Leisure of consequence

LONG LONG STORY STORY SHORT SHORT

ADELLE ADELLE CHUA CHUA EARLIER this month, American IN recentFargo Facebook bankAWells got intopost, someI conducted a poll by asking trouble for running an advertisefriends theyFinancial would do if ment forwhat its Teen Eduthey cationhad Day. just one day to do anything they The print adsliked. show two teenPOWER Thefirst, answers did not womvary agers: a smiling young much: My friends would like POINT an, with the caption “A ballerina to catch up on sleep and go yesterday. An engineer today.” to ELIZABETH theThe spa for a massage. secondANGSIOCO photo shows a Some catch young manwould and the like wordsto“An acup on theirA botanist reading,today.” see a tor yesterday.

Imovie ASKED the watch participants in or binge their faBelow each photo were the this reproductive health forum vorite TV series. words get them girls readywho for if they “Let’s know of Exercise (oryoung yoga) comes tomorrow.” have gotten pregnant. There was up Prominent moreofthan once, as artists well.

American a chorus yesses.

I again asked Some would go to the beach, expressed disapproval the about the their youngest age of of these go onAasocial foodmedia, trip orobjecting cook for ad over to girls. group of young people their loved the “implied career loudly said: ones.

“Ten yearsguidance,” old!”

Yet another would loveNew to says Michael Paulson ofwhy The This alone explains protidy up herarehome, rearrange Yorkgroups Times.

RH not stopping on things andthe perhaps the law’s implementation.

Among big namesorganize wereWe the those too busy to continue tohad go been to provinces and singer she Josh Groban, who tweeted attend to. cities to help local “Brb gonna take out government a Wells Farsaid did not want units their efforts to make go One loaninto go she write Botany: The to think of anything at all. this important law benefit their Musical.” constituents. provincial The is relevant for “Yourquestion ads areThe disrespectful to government ofgo Benguet those who, formovies, fiveheaded orbalsix artists.of Dousyou to by Cresencio Pacalso days a week, find ourselves let, Governor theater, concerts?

Is your is one of these LGUs. bogged by theofthings world not down better because arts?”

I have write thisdointhat Baguio City we to we singer have said Rita Wilson, actress, where I was invited by theto Philneither time nor energy do and producer. ippine Legislators Committee the“Since things we want to do. when did Wells Fargo on And Population and Development increasingly in collectively become allnow, of Oriour Foundation Inc. to its “Issue

conservative parents?” according to stage actor Wesley Taylor. responding the Wells question “Well this istogross.

Farwhat we me want do, look the go just told that Itoshould emerging answer to for other work.

Here’sseems to tomorbe... “nothing.” row!” says Alex Brightman, anentation on Reproductive Health I do not mean that there is other Broadway actor. and Sustainable Development no Teen answer.

I mean that the anFinancial Education Goals where I tackled swer is(SDGs)” “nothing.”

Day—scheduled right around this “Issues and Challenges in the in Tatime“Nothing”—“wala” (September 17, but they’re beRH Law Implementation.” galog—has been underrated hind)—is still on but the ads have other speakers were all forThe too long.

We always bebeen taken down.

Realizing what it among the leaders in the RH lieve all the spaces have to be had done, the financial giant has ismovement including filled, and that there hasIfugao to be sued a statement that reads: Representative Teddy Baguilat some agenda the “Wells Fargowritten is deeplyoncomJr.; DIWA Representative and blank spaces of our organizmitted to the arts, and we offer Chair of the House Committee ers.Women our sincere apology for the initial on and Gender Equality thinkoursilence not ads promoting Sept.

17isTeen EmMany Aglipay-Villar; UNFPA Nadesirable—it has to be broken Financial Education Day. They tional Programme Officer for by music, or,and infinitely worse, were intended to celebrate all the Population Development mindless chatter. aspirations of young people and Advocacy Vic Jurlano; Presiholidays fellWeekends short of Forum thatand goal.

We are dent of the for Family must be and making changes to the camPlanning and celebrated Development, Inc. spent outside, goingreflect to paign’s thatPLCPD’s better Ben de creative Leon; and Explaces, meeting people, our company’s core value of emecutive Director, Rom Dongeto. cramming up and soinclusion, many Different LGUs were amply bracing diversity things doand that “vacation” represented people and our to support ofyoung the arts.

Last losesWells its essence and turns were among the participants. year, Fargo’s support of the Because barriers and totaled chalinto hard work. arts, culture and education lenges to who the full do implementanothing are $93Those million.” tion of boring the lawor remain, anddone beeither lazy,have missing The company could cause there are LGU officials out on many things that life without the last sentence, but who defy the law, has to The particularly more sucthat’s theoffer. statement. the provision modern cessful peopleof*** are those famwho ily planning to their poor conhave a full plate, live life to While the PR nightmare seems stituents who want and need to

to have been resolved, the issue gets most of us thinking. It reflects a contentious point between children and parents, even here in the Philippines. Even more so becauseIt’s culture dictates we should how use it is always defercontraceptives, to our parents’ wishes. we keep sane, heartwarming to meet In this day and age, pro-RH we still LGU officials. hear of parents at best suggestand it’s how we We were toldimposing—their that Benguet ing—at createworst wonders.

Governor Pacalso wants to have a Gender and Development (GAD) Code in the province and is enlisting the assistance of NGOs in thethis crafting of the It’s not the fullest, and wear numercode.

The province, through the

would have a “real” job that pays sufficiently. And these real jobs have not yet of readconsethe areI serious “matters book but subscribe quence,” perhaps, as theseto are the dethinking that leisure—moscribed in The Little Prince. ments of myths, unburdened Several however, conhave of thebusted.

Benguet govtemplation, of provincial absolute presto be ernment are commendable. ence with the universe First, not all science jobs pay a ToWe illustrate the thatand we within one’s mind lot. do not own havefact to look any need tothan remain on guard sciin absolute attentiveness to further our government defending ourthe RHsame gains, inlife—isRemember not asI that beentists. the news cluded in my talk the the weather actual ing devoid of from activity. meteorologists timeline of legal hurdles faced A tragedy, to bureau resigned enaccording masse because and continue to be faced by Popova, leisure abroad? is not of greater that opportunities the Consider to these: it was seenlaw. as essential the human The same goes for engineers, arsigned into law on December spirit but doctors, a self-indulgent luxchitects, nurses—and 21, 2012. However, on January ury reserved for the privileged yes, botanists.

Generally, one has 2, 2013, the first work day afor deplorable idleness reto snag a contract with an internagroups ter New Year, anti-RH servedoutfit for the tional or lazy. become an overalready started petitioning the But who’s being lazy?

We seas worker.

Supreme Court on assailing wear ourselves outnot most days Second, one does just “dabthe law’s constitutionality.

Just of the week itperception is incomble” intwo the arts.that Theafter is over months (March prehensible weunreliable, can go that artists the arethat flaky, 19, 2013), SC issued a Stafrom day to day needmoody.

What isOrder notwithout always known tus Quo Ante on the RH ing a breather.

That breather is is theirThis commitment to law theircould work Law. meant the leisure. not bethe implemented On July and painstaking yet. effort they It’s on others Saturday 16, 2013, the SCup extended SQA make inwaking learning from and morning themselves. and to indefinitely.

It wasdeclaring only in April improving In truth, the 2014 afterrequired prolonged oraltheir arguyourself and to everyone that discipline to hone art ments, the to SC that today isthat going bedecided your “lazy and to even have a slight chance of RH Law is NOT unconstitutionday”—you will do exactly succeeding is immense. al save a few provisions. just theforsuccess things you’d like to Third, is not measured We rejoiced because at last, do, and nothing more. solely by how much money one the law’sIt implementation Often, are the most makes. isthese in doing whatcould you already However, we are rewarding things we can think love andstart. loving what you do. now finding out that the SC’s

Some millionaires can feel like they have to drag themselves to of: catching up but on sleep, getwork every day, a journalist ting does a massage, reading, who not get paid on timetidywill ing up, spending time with gladly cross rivers to get an interlovedorones, with view speak conversing before a group of decision haswriters put aabout major friends. high school thelegal proimpediment in like effectively adIn my case it the is writing fession, feeling luckiest dressing teenage pregnancy, a things that do not have a deadman or woman in the world. most serious we have line, but more areproblem asimportant compelling Finally, than now.

Our one girls are getting pregand urgent ascareer today’s hottest imposing choice over nant left and right.

Our adolesnews. And staring out isthe another, the better message to cent pregnancy rates among window, feeling small and infind one’s passion andare pursue it. the highest, ifand not yet the highest in significant sodoalive The best thing parents can is to the world.

In virtually all counamid the view. help their kids find that sweet tries, thenot numbers of say teenage I do mean we spot: What they lovetoand what pregnancies are going down— should give in to the leisure of theyNOT are good and what they but in theat, Philippines. doing nothing all the time.

We would not mind doing for the rest The High Court’s decision to aretheir adults—we commitof lives.accesshave only allow to contracepments to honor, reputations to “Passion” covers a lot. may tives to minors who haveIt been uphold, bills to pay.

But how be a passion to sing or act or paint given consent by their parents busy does notoritdefine or playwe anare instrument write. and/or guardians makes very us. it could But be a passion to difficult for also government to adIt the is, problem instead, invery thethings, few solve problems, to of invent dress young precious hours when weMinors allow to findbecoming a cure formothers. diseases, to play girls ourselves to docontexts. exactly what have different Some the stock market, to be in public we already feel likesexually doing, whatever it are active, even service. is, The that worst we with arepossible most alive. cohabiting their boyfriends career in and no longer living their be to with ourselves theLet’s world is kind one you despise as parents or guardians. no and assert our to leisure soon as you openclaim your Having eyes in the access toOn modern family planreasonably regularly.

It’s how morning. the contrary, we can ning methods is a problem for we keep sane, and it’s how we only truly succeed in the things them.

Teenage pregnancy must create wonders. we love doing. be curbed significantly.

Going local on RH Law implementation

track ous hats.or that. It’s Theseworks notions best are dangerwhat ous as they are wrong. forAnyou. article published last year Opponents on the website Brainpickings.org about a of this lawtalks have book by the German philosopher Pieper called notJosef stopped in pathsLeipreference on theofcareer of sure, the Basis Culture. derailing it.” their children.

The traditional The author of the online arthinking is thatPopova, pursuingdescribes the arts is ticle, Maria not ideal if one wants stable fithe book as “a magnificent nances or a comfortable life. manifesto for reclaiming huhelp of PLCPD, has pay also well organThe arts do innot or man dignity a culture of ized an advocacy groupmusic, that regularly, and literature, compulsive workaholicalism, includes LGU representatives. visual arts, theater and film— triply timely today, in an age While RH is already a law, these would do for great hobbies, when we have commodified doing advocacy both at the losomething to be our and aliveness sodone muchonremains toweekmiscal national levels ends or on one’s spare time. retake making a living forofA havvery important because the sponsible adult, on the other hand, ing a life.” hurdles it faces. The initiatives

But the anti-RH groups did not adellechua@gmail.com adellechua@gmail.com Turn to A5

DONALD Trump’s presidential campaign has a lot of problems. Near the top of the list is this: Suburban Bloomberg Editorialvoters Board want nothing to do with him, MOST in people will where never especially three states vast underwater heglimpse needs tothe compete. mountains canyonswasoff The latestand indicator Cape Cod that President Barack this week’s Washington Post Obamawhich designated as aHillary national survey, showed monument last week. The same Clinton up by 14 percentage goes for the hundreds of thoupoints among reg-of COUNCILOR Hero Bautista sands inofVirginia submerged square istered voters and eight with Quezon Citythe has UK, finally admitmiles that Ecuador, likely voters.

The ted that he and is the citydriving official Costa Rica other countries who positiveafor drug force: She protected, enjoys 45-point havetested just and for use the more than ina square week ago. advantage the voter-rich half-million milesMore near specifically, the councilor said Hawaii that Obama recently set Washington suburbs, almost that hadmargin been using aside.hethe double rolledshabu up andBut marijuana.

Bautista also everyone benefits when there four years ago

by Presiclaimed that tracts although he used underwater are put off dent Barack Obama. drugs, he was a victim fishing of the limits to commercial Thismenace. follows For similar find- it drug and mining, becausewhatever doing so is ings in Philadelphia’s suburbs, was one worth, of the Bautista best wayssuggested to help where Clinton’s big to the life city flourish. council thatlead drug marine threatens to just put be Pennsylvania testing should given a new It’s not us humans: The out of are Trump’s label—illegal substance abuse seas homereach. to 80 percent of intake checking.

Good grief!

Marist College poll out allAspecies on the planet, and Days already this week shows word the that’s notearlier, counting all Demothe other got around that a 14-point Councilor creatures, including 3 billion cratic nominee with Bautista flunked the drug people, that directly ontest. the lead in Colorado.

Leerely MirinEven the news media learned ocean for their goff, director of food. the poll, says of Ensuring the incident.

Evidently, the these ecosyslooking at thethatstatewide readmission was made to pretems stay healthy is getting sponse, “You can embarrassing extrapolate empt more harder, aas the oceans absorb exthat she has almost a 3-to-1 public exposédioxide by national aucess carbon and overlead in the Denver suburbs.” thorities including President fishing escalates, aided by adThis is ain bigger advantage Rodrigo Duterte himself. vances deep-water fishing than Obama held while carryHero Bautista is the younger technology. Carbon dioxide brother incumbent ing the state in 2008more and Quezon 2012. turns theof water acidic, City Mayor andstates ex-film These three haveacthreatening the survival of tor Herbert “Bistek” shellfish.

Hundreds ofBautista marine been considered crucial for of the abusive Liberal Party species are now endangered, Trump—among the half-doz(LP) of former President Beof large predaenand or populations so states he has to switch nigno Aquino III and ex-House tory fish are dropping. from the Democratic column Speaker Feliciano Belmonte To slow and eventually toJr.win.

The growing suburbsreAlthough Hero Bautista is verse the destruction, governina these states councilor, seem to be he makfirst-time was ments have taken to forming ing thatthe impossible. he loses given chairmanship of the preserves.

With theIfactions anColorado, Pennsylvania and city council’s powerful comnounced this week at a conferVirginia, aWashington, pathway victory mittee public to works and ence in on protected Analysts attribisinfrastructure. hard to see. areas now encompass some 3.5 ute his quick rise to power and Trump especially unpoppercent ofis the ocean, up from influence to his brother.

That less inthan 1 percent inwhich 2000. ular these venues, idea because And isstudies the reinclude anotlotfar-fetched ofsuggest college-eduQuezon City is known for poserves make arising difference.

No cated residents, diversilitical dynasties. matter how large or small, ty and voters who are moreor About they a week ago, Mayor whether are in tropical tolerant on social issues.

Butor Bautista the public temperatehinted waters,to reserves althis onlyhis is accelerating a pothat councilor-brother low marine life to grow larger, litical trend suburbs outside did, indeed, fail the drug test denser andinmore diverse.

And the Deep South, which have for Quezon officials. nearby fisheriesCity rebound. been trending forthe This probably prompted Plans are inDemocratic place to expand councilor to insist to the news almost a quarter-century.

As reserves much further. A 1992 media that hisgovernments brother—the recently as 1988, they were to treaty obliges mayor—was not protecting protect 10bastions. percent of coastal Republican him.

Demonstrating a twisted and areas by 2020.

And A marine few things changed.

The sense of logic, the councilor earlier this month, governgrowing numbers of129 minoritystressed that heto was the one mentssuburbanites pledged work toward group are mainly protecting his brother. protecting 30 percent of Democrats.

White suburban-the Right ocean byafter 2030.the long-belated ites aren’t drawn to the Repubadmission, Councilor “Protected” does notBautista always lican Party’s campaign tobanned. con-on declared thatisheentirely was going mean fishing nect with religious and cultural an indefinite leave from public Increasingly, governments— conservatives. office to local undergo rehabilitaespecially governments— tion.

Joy Belmonte, the city “The Republicans’ posiare encouraging sustainable vice mayor, that tioning resonates withor rural fishing.

Fishingannounced rights “catch the cityand council appoint shares” are granted in return fora voters somewill workingNext Turn page to A5 Next page

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EVERYMAN

Communicating science

By Pecier Decierdo

North Korean kids pass by omnipresent portraits of North Korea’s late supreme leader, Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il. AFP

Opening a bureau in Pyongyang

By Michèle Léridon PYONGYANG—What will a global news agency do in one of the world’s most closed countries?

The answer lies in the question itself. The fact that images from North Korea are so rare, and information coming out of the country is so meticulously and scrupulously controlled by the regime, is what makes both so precious. We have to be present here.

The necessity of reporting from inside became all the more apparent to me in early September, when I joined AFP CEO Emmanuel Hoog and the head of Asia region Philippe Massonnet in Pyongyang for the official opening of AFP’s Pyongyang bureau.

Because so little is known of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), aside from the fact that it’s the world’s only Communist dynasty, all information becomes relevant— the patriotic songs played on Air Koryo, which takes us to Pyongyang from Beijing; the capital’s wide and immaculate thoroughfares, adorned with flowers; the young policewomen, with their spotlessly white hats and socks, regulating sparse traffic on the streets.

There are of course the

omnipresent portraits of Kim Ilsung, North Korea’s supreme leader from its establishment in 1948 to his death in 1994 and his son Kim Jong-il, who took over to rule until 2011, and father to the current leader, Kim Jong-un.

Drivers in Pyongyang slow down in front of the giant statues of the two historic leaders and billboards extol the virtues of the Juche, the country’s official doctrine of selfreliance.

The official propaganda is as omnipresent as the leaders’ portraits. Groups of women “volunteers” are posted at various intersections of the capital, the national red flag in hand, dancing and singing songs praising the “father of the nation” Kim Ilsung. Adult men and women— without exception—wear pins with Kim Il-sung’s image (an allowed variation is a rectangular pin with the image of both the country’s founder and his successor son). Television in one of the world’s most militarized countries plays, and replays, documentaries on the Korean war, a three-year conflict that erupted 66 years ago.

The information that a news agency can provide from a country as closed and tightly controlled as North Korea will be limited and tightly controlled. But to understand such a nation, we

have to show images like the ones above. We also have to show as much as we are allowed to on daily life, and not only in the capital. All this will go a long way to help the world better understand a nation that is often thought about in cliches, and to witness any changes taking place.

Under an agreement reached in January with North Korea’s official news agency KCNA, to which AFP is a subscriber, our bureau in the country will include a North Korean photographer and videographer. Trained by AFP, they will produce images under the supervision of our Asia regional headquarters in Hong Kong.

When North Korea carried out a fifth nuclear test on September 9, widely condemned across the globe, these two correspondents quickly provided us with images from Pyongyang’s central train station, where a giant screen showed a smiling television news presenter announce the news, dressed in a traditional black and pink dress.

The January agreement will also allow AFP to send special envoys to the country more often.

Aside from these reportages, North Korean stories will continue to be written and edited outside the country.

AFP is not the first world news

agency to open a bureau in Pyongyang. Our one-room bureau lies within KCNA headquarters, which also hosts offices for Japan’s Kyodo and the US’ Associated Press, countries which along with France have not recognized DPRK. We are of course aware of Pyongyang’s interest in opening bureaus like this in a pariah country, which is under severe international sanctions.

Our visit was scrupulously covered by the local press. We were treated to two separate articles in the Rodong Sinmun daily, which told its readers of our visit to the house where Kim Il-sung was born, where we “listened with attention to the glorious revolutionary history of the president and the patriotic lives of his family members.”

Rodong Sinmun’s readers did not, however, learn that a book on North Korea by French writer Philippe Pons that I had in my suitcase was confiscated when I arrived in Pyongyang. The explanation? “No work on the DPRK can enter the country.”

AFP is hoping that opening a bureau in Pyongyang will enable, however modestly, the inverse— information on DPRK to leave the country’s borders. AFP

ON NOV. 6, 2013, the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (Project NOAH) released storm surge forecasts for the incoming Typhoon Yolanda, international name Haiyan. The forecasts included information on where the storm surges will hit, what time they will arrive, and how high they will be. The forecasts were updated every six hours.

The following day, a list of storm surge heights in affected areas was delivered to the Office of Civil Defense and the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. On the eve of landfall, then-President Benigno Aquino III announced the storm surge forecasts on primetime television.

The storm made landfall around 4 a.m. of the next day, Nov. 8.

Later studies confirmed the accuracy of those forecasts. The storm surge arrived within a few hours of the predicted time and the projected heights were accurate to within fractions of a meter.

Given these facts, the aftermath of Yolanda, especially of its storm surges, don’t seem to make sense. If the scientists got it right, and if the science was communicated accurately and ahead of time, why was there still so much loss of life? *** The example of Yolanda is a reminder of the importance and subtle art behind science communication. The old paradigm in science communication views the public as having a deficiency in . scientific knowledge. To address this deficiency, experts will have to transmit accurate information to them. The public is then expected to make scientifically-informed decisions as a result. Called the “deficiency view” of science communication, we now know that it is naïve and, well, deficient.

Newer views of science communication see it as a conversation between the experts and the public. Like a good conversation, good science communication must be engaging and, more importantly, behavior-changing. In fact, good science communication changes people’s behavior precisely because it is engaging. This is called the ‘engagement view’ of science communication.

In the engagement view, it is not enough to provide the public with storm surge warnings in the form of tables of values. A better way to broadcast the surge warnings is in terms that allow the public to imagine in their minds what the effects will be. In other words, the warnings should aid their “disaster imagination.”

The engagement view also reminds us that it is not enough to send the message through traditional and new media. For most people, word of mouth that gets passed across their social networks is still the most action-inducing form of news. It is the job of science communicators to know how to use these social networks to leverage the spread of information. For example, in fishing or farming communities with no access to TV or radio, there will be members who can quickly cascade information throughout the entire village. These are the people the local government should talk to in the case of an impending calamity.

These are just a few aspects of science communication that we must remember if we want to avoid another disaster like Typhoon “Yolanda.” Because of climate change, extreme weather disturbances will be more frequent. However, if we communicate the science creatively and in an engaging manner, we can empower people to make scientifically informed decisions that just might save their lives when the next big disaster strikes.

Pecier Decierdo is a science communicator at The Mind Museum.

Everyone...

From A4

cooperation in limiting catches, an approach that has helped restore fisheries on five continents.

Illegal and unregulated fishing continues, unfortunately, often in waters far beyond national boundaries. More needs to be done to tighten port security to ensure that imported fish are legally caught, and to trace seafood well enough that consum-

ers can know for sure what fish they’re buying.

A new satellite-driven interactive tool called Global Fishing Watch (developed with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies) will enable governments to track tens of thousands of fishing vessels worldwide and detect illegal fishing.

It’s an encouraging step in what will need to be a sustained effort to keep the oceans healthy and productive. Bloomberg

These republicans don’t love Trump, but they hate Clinton

By Leonid Bershidsky ONE of the hardest things for a foreigner to understand in US politics, especially its rather extreme 2016 version, is the willingness of voters to support candidates they deemed unacceptable earlier in the campaign. Because the US presidential election narrows to a two-candidate race, the calculus of voters and political operatives shifts in spectacular ways.

Plenty of this was on display in New Hampshire this week. On Wednesday, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was in the state, which gave him his best performance of the primary season—7.4 percent of the vote— to push a simple message to Republicans. “If you are a Republican and you are not working for Donald Trump over the next 55 days, you are working for Hillary Clinton,” he said at a party “unity breakfast.”

This is the man who summed up his attitude toward Trump in December 2015 by saying, “We do not need reality TV in the Oval Office right now. The President of the United States is not a place for an entertainer.” I saw him on the

stump in New Hampshire seven months ago, and he was dismissive of Trump. Then, it seemed that the group of pragmatic, traditional conservatives with strong management experience—John Kasich, Jeb Bush, Christie—still had a chance to surge ahead of the showman.

Michael Biundo, a veteran Republican consultant who worked for Rand Paul and then Kasich in the early stages of the campaign and who then mocked Trump on the social networks, has been the nominee’s point man in the state since June. He’s credited with setting up a genuine Trump ground game, with volunteers knocking on doors, a development that many analysts believed impossible just a few months ago.

I asked the political consultant Patrick Hynes, of Laconia, about the apparent turnarounds. Hynes worked for Bush during the primaries, and for John McCain and Mitt Romney in the 2012 race.

These are all traditional conservatives who have made known their visceral dislike of Trump. Hynes says the billionaire is not his first choice, yet he plans to vote for Trump in November and says the state’s Republican

The election is about not voting for the status quo. Under such circumstances, a candidate’s negative features become more important than positives. machine has fallen in line, too.

“In the US, it always gets down to two,” Hynes said. “There’s Coca-Cola and there’s Pepsi, and RC Cola goes the way of the dinosaurs. There’s Ford and Chevy, and Chrysler is a distant third. There’s McDonald’s and Burger King, and Wendy’s is a distant third.”

Americans, of course, shouldn’t act all that differently from people of other nationalities when it comes to making decisions. People like to reduce complexity, and binary decisions are the simplest. Research by Eldar Shafir, Itamar Simonson and

Amos Tversky has shown, though, that sometimes having a third, middle option can simplify the choice thanks to a phenomenon called “extremeness aversion”—as Simonson described it, “within an offered set, options with extreme values are relatively less attractive than options with intermediate values.”

New Hampshire provides a prime example of this kind of thinking. Joe McQuaid, the publisher of the New Hampshire Union Leader, the state’s most influential newspaper, has long crusaded against Trump, whom he compared to Biff, the bully from the “Back to the Future” movies (Trump called him a “lowlife” in response). The Union Leader, which has been staunchly Republican for more than a century, endorsed Christie in the primary, and McQuaid has claimed that the New Jersey governor promised him he wouldn’t endorse Trump if he dropped out (Christie denies that). Now that Christie has reverted to the binary logic, McQuaid has not.

In an editorial this week, he endorsed the Libertarian candidate

Gary Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld because “in today’s dark times, they are a bright light of hope and reason.” To the conservative publisher, both Clinton and Trump represent extremes.

McQuaid appears genuinely optimistic that a third option could be viable in New Hampshire.

When I asked him what he hoped to achieve by endorsing Johnson when Republican voters are mainly united behind Trump, he replied that he didn’t “see a lot of evidence one way or the other.”

“Most of the big office-holders are doing the we-are-concentratingon-state-races line,” he said in an e-mail. “As for Trump, his primary vote total here was not huge.”

Trump, however, won the New Hampshire primary in New Hampshire, with 35.3 percent, or more than 100,000 votes, more than twice as many as the runnerup, Kasich. There’s little chance that Johnson will make a dent here: Everyone else I talked to said they planned to back their party nominee, and both Hynes and an operative close to the Trump campaign confirmed that the state’s Republican machine was working single-mindedly for

Trump.

This is probably occurring because this election’s stark belligerence makes it more about rejection than selection.

McQuaid’s approach is to pick a candidate to support “without holding your nose.” This year, many Republicans “have a sense of dread and despair, a sense that Washington is broken and cannot be fixed, that everybody is a crook,” Hynes says. So to them, the election is about not voting for Clinton, who embodies the status quo.

Under such circumstances, Shafir, Simonson and Tversky wrote, a candidate’s negative features become more important than positives: “We propose that the positive features of options [their pros] will loom larger when choosing, whereas the negative features of options [their cons] will be weighted more heavily when rejecting. It is natural to select an option because of its positive features, and to reject an option because of its negative features.”

Trump has Clinton and her strong negatives to thank for the somewhat reluctant unity of his backers here. Bloomberg

A6

News

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

DoJ chief warns erring BI agents

By Vito Barcelo

WE WILL ENDURE. Newly-recruited coast guards run around the Cultural Center of the Philippines complex as part of their daily exercise. Ey Acasio

IN BRIEF More night airports eyed THE government plans to increase the number of night rated airports in the country to ease congestion and increase the number of flights.

Night rated airports have the facility for night flight landing operations such as airfield lighting systems, communications equipment, power supply systems, air disaster management systems, and other systems for managing air traffic services.

Among the proposed airports for night rating are Pagadian Airport, Masbate Airport, Catarman Airport, Calbayog Airport, Dumaguete Airport, Naga Airport and Cauyan Airport, said Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines Assistant Director General Capt. Donaldo Mendoza.

The Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Subic Bay International Airport, Diosdado Macapagal International Airport and Mactan-Cebu International Airport are some of the existing night rated airports in the country.

Teco opens essay tilt THE Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the Philippines has launched the contest, “An Amazing Short Break in Taiwan,” to encourage more Filipinos to discover the beauty of the Philippines’ closest neighbor up north.

Eligible participants are required to submit a 500-word essay on why Taiwan is an ideal and safe place for Filipinos to visit.

The essay can touch on Taiwan’s scenery, history, food, shopping, technology, cheap airfares, proximity to the Philippines, leisure farms, medical services, culture, lifestyle, Taiwan-Philippine interaction, shared values, folk arts, movies and education.

In addition, one photo showing the beauty of Taiwan and a two-minute video describing your essay and what impresses or amazes the participant most in Taiwan are also required.

Two First Prize winners will each receive one economy round-trip air-ticket between Manila and Taiwan plus three days accommodation in Taipei.

Two Second Prize winners will each receive a Taiwan Asus Zen Phone 3 (worth more than P10,000), while the Third, Fourth and Fifth Prize winners will receive gift certificates ranging from P4,000 to P6,000.

Contestants must submit their entries—the essay, photo(s), and video—together with their full name, contact number, and scanned valid Philippine ID verifying their Filipino nationality, to the email: amazingtaiwan2016@ gmail.com no later than 5 p.m. on September 26.

The prizes will be presented to the winners during Taiwan’s National Day Celebration on Oct. 10 at the Sofitel Plaza. PNA

JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II warned the men and women of the Bureau of Immigration against corrupt practices that may lead to their being dismissed from the government service and even land them in jail.

For alleged corruption and for failing to “improve their watch” over ports, the Justice Secretary wants to change the image of the bureau and even gave the BI leadership one year to improve the bureau.

Vitaliano made the remarks in an ambush interview with reporters during the 76th anniversary celebration of the BI. But Aguirre also lauded BI personnel who have kept their integrity and successfully arrested foreign fugitives, overstaying aliens and aliens linked to cyber syndicates.

“Keep up the good work, but don’t associate with human trafficking syndicate or bad elements,” he told the BI officers, personnel and guests.

In his speech at the recent 76th BI anniversary celebration, Aguirre congratulated the BI for its successful drive against human trafficking which contributed to the upgrading of the Philippines to Tier 1 in the State Department’s global ranking index on human trafficking for 2015.

Aguirre also cited the BI for the Aug. 19 interception of 177 Indonesian nationals who attempted to leave for Saudi Arabia and join the Haj pilgrimage there, using Philippine passports that were fraudulently acquired for them by a syndicate.

He said the twin accomplishments are just a few of the “viable indicators of professionalism and commitment” of BI personnel to their mandate as gatekeepers of the country.

“You keep watch and assure us that no unwanted persons will enter our country to wreak havoc on our people. You tell us that no criminal will leave our country to escape the clutch of our laws that they violated. Please continue doing that and please do it well,” he said.

DAR aims to generate 30,000 jobs for farmers T

HE government is hoping to generate 30,000 jobs for landless farmers and women in 44 provinces through the P10.2-billion Inclusive Partnership for Agricultural Competitiveness (IPAC) Project of the Department of Agrarian Reform.

The National Economic and Development Authority has approved IPAC which aims to develop agribusiness, particularly in copra production, organic and low-chem rice, cacao, cassava, coffee, oil palm, muscovado sugar, abaca and rubber.

It will enhance linkage of 300,000 farmers and 650 farmerorganizations to viable markets and establish productive partnerships with relevant private enterprises.

The project will assist smallholder farmers and farmer organizations in 50 agrarian reform com-

munity clusters across 14 regions.

The project is part of the reforms DAR Secretary Rafael Mariano hopes to implement as he announced the prohibition of further land conversion in the next two years.

“The [Presidential Agrarian Reform Council] has adopted the two-year moratorium on the conversion of agricultural lands. We are now drafting an executive order for President [Rodrigo Duterte] to review and sign,” Mariano said.

He said that the order will cover all awarded lands under the Com-

prehensive Agrarian Reform Program, Presidential Decree 27, and other agrarian reform laws and agricultural lands with notices of coverage issued by DAR. Mariano said this will immediately protect more than 4.7 million hectares of agricultural land that have already been awarded to farmer-beneficiaries.

The decision to impose the moratorium was reached after a meeting of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council, the highest policy-making body for agrarian reform, which had not convened in 10 years.

“The President fully supports [the] agrarian reform program, wants land distributed directly to land beneficiaries. [He wants] PARC to be more responsive to the issues by imposing timelines,” Mariano said.

More than 621,080 hectares of land still have to be distributed to farmers.

Mariano had earlier said the DAR aims to distribute a total of 400,000 hectares of land to 379,236 beneficiaries by 2019 which he hopes to fulfill via a new agrarian reform law since CARP expired in 2014.

42,000 PH villages to hold assembly day MORE than 42,000 barangays are expected to hold their respective Barangay Assembly Day on Sunday, the Department of the Interior and Local Government announced Saturday.

Proclamation No. 260 issued on Sept. 30, 2011 declared the last Saturday of March and the second Sunday of October 2011 and every year thereafter as barangay assembly days.

Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno said the 2nd barangay assembly this year shall include the discussion of issues affecting the barangay such as illegal drugs problem, peace and order situation, disaster preparedness and solid waste management, among others.

Sueno urged barangay officials to discuss their compliance with DILG memo circulars, such as the implementation of the DILG’s Mamamayang Ayaw Sa Anomalya, Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga, allocation of a portion of the annual budget for anti-illegal drugs programs, projects, and activities and strengthening of the Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Councils.

He said barangay officials and councils are also expected to deliver their State of the

Barangay Addresses which will include the presentation of their accomplishments and financial reports covering the first semester of 2016.

He also instructed barangay officials to invite members of faith-based groups within the barangay, like Ugnayanng Barangay at Simbahan, civil society and other community organizations to attend the assembly and rally for their support and involvement in project monitoring and evaluation and in advocating good local governance.

Barangay officials are also directed to undertake public awareness activities by hanging posters and banners about the conduct of the barangay assembly in conspicuous places like the barangay hall, plaza, main streets, public market or talipapa, or transport terminals.

The DILG, through its National Barangay Operations Office, is spearheading the preparations for the national barangay assembly twice every year.

The barangay assembly day on Oct. 9 is also part of the 25th anniversary of the Local Government Code celebration this year.

ABLE LEADERS. Terry Tuazon (right), president of the Philippine Association of Free Labor Unions,

together with pensioners of the Social Security System, demand the removal of SSS president and chief executive officer Emilio de Quiros. Manny Palmero

Travelers warned vs turbulence

By Joel E. Zurbano AIRLINE and aviation authorities on Saturday reminded travelers to always wear seat belts during a flight, even when the signs are not illuminated, to protect them from possible injury if the plane experiences a sudden downdraft.

The reminders came after a Philippine Airlines plane encountered clear air turbulence (CAT) on Sept.

13 which resulted in the injury of two passengers and four flight crew before it landed at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

Civil Aviation Authority of the Phil-

ippines officials insisted that the warnings to air travelers is a must and for those who fell asleep during the flight to keep them strapped all the time.

CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio said airline personnel found that some passengers might not see the point of wearing seat belts which is a very important thing when traveling in a plane.

Apolonio said clear air turbulence, particularly during typhoon season, could neither be seen nor detected by conventional radar and can strike even in the absence of clouds.

He reminded passengers to wear seat belts all the time, “a little in-

convenience but it will save us from accident.”

He explained that CAT can be present in almost all altitudes even in 32,000 feet or above, that cannot be detected.

Ma. Cielo Villaluna, PAL External Communications manager, said it is already a policy of airlines to inform and advise passengers to keep their seatbelt fastened whenever they are seated or on their seats.

However, she said, “a few passengers ignore the warnings and look what happened. Most of the injured passengers are those who ignored the fasten seatbelt signs.”

Hasten Yparraguirre probe, Ople Center asks DFA THE Blas F. Ople Policy Center, a non-profit organization that assists distressed overseas Filipino workers, welcomed the Department of Foreign Affairs’ announcement that it will investigate the allegations of 59-year-old Milagros Braza against her former employer, Ambassador Lourdes Yparraguirre, the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations.

The NGO, however, said that

the DFA should act faster on such complaints especially since it involves a head of post.

“The complainant sent a letter of complaint last February 3 and this was acknowledged by the DFA through an e-mail that it sent on February 11, 2016.

“Seven months have passed and yet the department has not done anything to resolve this matter.

This isn’t fair to both parties and to

the Philippine Mission to the United Nations because no less than the ambassador is being accused of violations of labor rights,” the Ople Center said.

Braza who was kicked out of the ambassador’s residence in New York City an hour before midnight on Dec. 25, 2016, also submitted a sworn affidavit to the Philippine Mission to the United Nations last April.

In an e-mail sent by OPAS-Internal Affairs of the Department of Foreign Affairs dated Feb. 11, 2016 to the complainant, the DFA confirmed that it had received Braza’s complaint letter. Braza continues to await the formation of an investigative team to hear her complaint.

The head of the policy center, Susan Ople, said that it was the slow pace of action on the part of the DFA that prodded Milagros

Braza to seek the help of the Ople Center as well as the media.

“She was tired of waiting and Mila badly wants to come home.

However, her red passport is expired and she is at a loss on how best to proceed. She told me that she is willing to see the Secretary of Foreign Affairs while he is in New York City for the UN General Asssembly to share her sad experience,” Ople said.

Sports

A7

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

NU’s offensive might too much for Ateneo

By Reuel Vidal

N

ATIONAL University relied on sheer offensive might to retain the Shakey’s V-League Season Collegiate Conference crown.

Team captain Jaja Santiago was an unstoppable force from the middle of the net as the first option for quick attacks. Jorelle Singh and Risa Sato hammered open spikes across the net from either sideline. The three, along with setter Jasmine Nabor, formed an impenetrable shield at the net to score block points.

The Lady Bulldogs completed their back-to-back title romp with an emphatic 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 21-25, 15-4 victory over the Lady Eagles in front of a cheering crowd at the Philsports Arena in Pasig last Wednesday, Sept. 14.

The Lady Bulldogs were so dominant at the offensive end all tournament long that they won four individual awards in addition to the championship.

Santiago was of course Most Valuable Player of the Conference and also the 1st Best Middle Blocker.

Singh was named 2nd Best Outside Spiker. Setter Jasmine Nabor earned the Most Valuable Player of the Finals citation.

The Lady Bulldogs prevailed by executing in the decisive fifth set after they struggled in the fourth and early in the fifth. Singh and Nabor stepped up late in the match to back up Santiago.

Late in the fifth set, the Lady Eagles may have thought they had a chance to catch up after Santiago rotated to the back row. But Singh

National University spiker Risa Sato (5) and libero Gayle Rose Valdez (13) try to keep the ball in play during a rally. The Lady Bulldogs posted a hard-earned, five-set decision over the Ateneo De Manila University Lady Eagles.

Boxing’s From A8

Jubilant National University Lady Bulldogs players embrace as they celebrate their victory at center court while confetti rains down on them after their hard-earned five-set decision over the Ateneo De Manila University Lady Eagles.

NU’s Jaja Santiago spikes the volleyball past lone blocker in Ateneo’s Bea de Leon (8) in Game Two of their Shakey’s V League Collegiate Conference title duel won by NU.

and Nabor quickly banished such thoughts as they scored NU’s last four attack points to power their team to victory.

Singh started to close out Ateneo after she hammered backto-back hits bracketing Ateneo spiker Jhoanna Maraguinot’s error to give NU an insurmountable 13-4 lead in the fifth set.

The left-handed Nabor, a former spiker turned into a setter, faked setting the ball then blasted in a pair of spikes to finish off the Lady Eagles.

After the final score was made, confetti rained down from the ceiling, players embraced each other in celebration. NU fans rushed into court as a wild celebration ensued with NU players, officials and supporters joining the fun.

NU won its third crown, all at the expense of Ateneo, in the country’s premier women’s volleyball league sponsored by Shakey’s. Last year, the Lady Bulldogs beat the Lady Eagles in sudden death. After many fruitless campaigns NU finally had its breakthrough tournament in Season 10 in 2013.

Santiago—and the Lady Bulldogs—floundered in the early going as they yielded the

Velasquez gives SBC Red Cubs needed lift

By Peter Atencio DEFENDING champion San Beda Red Cubs will end the eliminations at the top of the standings in Season 92 of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) junior basketball tournament.

The Red Cubs will sail into the Final Four with a twice-to-beat advantage thanks to the heroics not just of their star players like Sam Abu Hijle and Evan Nelle but also of their shock troopers like guard Eduardo Velasquez Jr. In the second round of the eliminations the Red Cubs fought off the determined challenge of the Mapua Red Robins to prevail, 89-84. The Red Cubs faced another tough game against the Red Robins but they were bailed out of danger by a triple from Velasquez Jr. in the last 2:11 of the game.

His dagger three-pointer gave San Beda an 8680 edge which the Red Cubs nursed till the end.

His basket found its mark following 10 lead changes. From there the Red Cubs kept the lead after the Red Robins misfired with their free throws.

Velasquez, who learned how to play from his father, who is a former varsity player, said he found his mark because he was confident he could make the shot.

“Coach said if you can make it, you can make it.

Just do your thing. There are no star players in our team,” said Velasquez, a power forward at six feet.

Coach JB Sison said the Red Cubs are were able to overcome challenges on the way to the Final Four thanks to the heroics of players like Velasquez.

San Beda big man Abu Hijle dominated the boards in the early goings of their campaign as the

Red Cubs won 16 out of 17 games.

The Red Cubs were the first to gain a twice-to-beat incentive in the Final Four.

They lost their claim to an automatic finals berth after they bowed to the Arellano University Braves, 93-90, at the end of the first round.

The six-foot-three Abu Hijle, who averages 14.3 points and 9.4 rebounds, led with 22 points for the Red Cubs when they demolished the Letran Squires, 96-83.

In their last two games, role players have emerged to help the Red Robins stay on course for their ultimate goal.

Against the Squires, Joshua Tagala made 12 points, including eight in the first as the Red Cubs took control with a 27-13 spread.

The six-foot power forward’s efforts helped the Red Cubs gain the momentum which they maintained till the next three period.

“The game was physical. But the boys fought it out. We need to secure the no. 1 position,” said Red Cubs assistant coach Noli Mejos.

Tagala, an 11th grader, who has been with Team B for two years, said their defense was focused on the prolific Kurt Reyson when he came back in the third. Tagala said his game has definitely improved after he came aboard team A last season.

San Beda Red Cubs power forward Eduardo Velasquez (6) prepares to take a pair of free throws. Peter Atencio

opening frame.

But they dominated the second set and then took the third as well. The Lady Eagles won the fourth which sent the match into a deciding fifth set.

The Lady Bulldogs were all business in the deciding fifth set. They scored eight of the first 11 points, including four block points that set the early tone for NU’s lopsided victory in the fifth set.

A lengthy technical timeout was held early in the fifth with NU leading, 8-3. The break did not rattle the Lady Bulldogs.

After resumption NU tallied the next seven points to tally the win.

Other winners of individual awards in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored

by Shakey’s were Ateneo’s Julia Morado (best setter), UP’s Isa Molde (best outside spiker), Ateneo’s Gizelle Tan (best libero), FEU’s Remy Joy Palma (second best middle blocker) and FEU’s Toni Rose Basas (best opposite spiker).

Not even the presence on the Ateneo bench of former ace Alyssa Valdez could help fire up the Lady Eagles. Santiago, Singh, Sato and setter Nabor were simply overwhelming.

Casimero, who then lost in his bid to win the IBF flyweight title against Thai champion Amnat Ruenroeng in an ugly, foul-infested fight at the Hua Mark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok on June 27, 2015 returned home, dejected by what happened with bruised and painful legs caused by the numerous Muay Thai style takedowns and an aching neck due to the numerous headlocks resorted to by the Thai.

Well-known promoter Sammy Gello-ani, who handles Casimero in partnership with international matchmaker, promoter and manager Sampson Lewkowicz, formally protested in a letter to Peoples and Championship Committee chairman Lindsey Tucker, claiming the failure of referee Larry Doggett to stop the persistent foul tactics of the Thai champion emboldened him to continue.

Gello-ani asked the IBF to “preserve Casimero’s No. 1 ranking so he could use the nearest opportunity to fight again.”

Casimero trained harder than ever for the rematch with the Thai, determined to avenge his controversial loss to the previously unbeaten world flyweight champion, who was assisted in his training by former boxer/ manager and trainer Aljoe Jaro and his brother.

Agrabio had no problem with the Jaro brothers helping the Thai, saying it was only a job.

Despite the assistance of the Jaro brothers on the Thai, Casimero scored a dramatic fourth-round knockout at the Diamond Stadium in Beijing, China in an event that was a highlight of the IBF Annual Convention.

It was a sudden and shocking turnaround by Casimero, whose veteran trainer predicted that his ward would “win by a landslide, just like president-elect Rody Duterte,” whom the Casimero camp had openly supported.

Referee Tony Weeks, whose appointment was welcomed by the Casimero camp, confident he wouldn’t allow the champion to resort to dirty tactics as in their first fight, counted out Ruenroeng at 2:10 of the fourth round.

The Filipino rejoiced over his vengeful victory in a rematch, where he was behind by a shutout on the scorecards of two of the three judges, 30-27, while the third judge had Amnat ahead, 29-28.

With the win, Casimero became a two-division world champion.

Lewkowicz immediately called out pound-for-pound No. 1 and unbeaten Roman “Chocolatito” Gonzalez for a unification bout, saying “tell him we are ready any time.”

Casimero told the Manila Standard that he watched the telecast of the Gonzales-Carlos Cuadras title fight (which Chocolatito won) and said: “It looks like Gonzalez has weakened. It will be nice to fight him (Gonzalez) now. I can beat him easily.”

But by all accounts, that will have to wait as Casimero’s promoters wanted him to defend his flyweight title a couple of times more and make some money before a mandatory title defense early next year, when he is expected to move up in weight to super fly in going after Gonzalez.

Boxing man Gibbons, who worked closely with Lewkowicz to bring the Jerwin Ancajas title challenge against champions McJoe Arroyo of Puerto Rico, which Ancajas dominated to win the IBF super flyweight title, told Manila Standard on the sidelines of the fight, that he was “so happy that the people are going to see the real Casimero” when he defends his title at the O2 Arena in London against unbeaten 23-year-old British champion and former amateur star. ”Casimero is one of the best-kept secrets in Philippine boxing. He’s got a punch, he’s got charisma and he’ll be on the big stage in London. I think he’s going to really show what he’s made of. He is one of the only people I know who loves to travel and when the crowd boos, that fires him up,” said Gibbons. “Edwards is fundamentally solid but is not in Casimero’s level. “

He predicted that the Filipino champ will “break him down in 5 or 6 rounds and stop him. While Edwards has a deep amateur background, after Casimero figures him out, it’s over.”

It took a little longer than most of us expected, as Casimero took it easy in the early rounds, even allowing Edwards to take the fifth round and possibly the sixth.

But the Filipino decided it was time to get to work as he had answered promoter Eddie Hearns’ request to allow the fans to enjoy the fight before finishing it too early.

Casimero paced himself in the early rounds and piled up the points with solid body shots and a repertoire of overhand rights, uppercuts and combinations, and although Edwards battled gamely, he was clearly out of his depth.

Casimero was adept at slipping Edwards jabs and showed the kind of footwork that negated the British fighter’s claim that the champ was too slow and he would use his speed to outbox him.

Casimero connected with an overhand right in Round 4, followed by a ripping uppercut that buckled the knees of a shaky Edwards, who however, came back and had his best showing in Round 5, when a cut above Casimero’s eyebrow seemed to bother him.

Dietician and substitute cutman Aldrin Sta.Maria did a commendable job to stop the bleeding. Casimero later had three stitches to close the wound.

But the Filipino, who was in control of the fight, connected with two right hands and then cracked Edwards with two body shots as the Briton held on in Rounds 8 and 9.

Sensing that the end was near as Edwards seemed hurt and befuddled, Casimero pushed the pace and went for a knockout, dropping Edwards with a perfectly timed left hook in Round 10, but although the game challenger beat the count, Casimero waded into the hapless Briton. And with the challenger obviously in no position to continue, referee Steve Gray of Lancashire, England, checked out the badly battered Edwards and stopped the fight at 1:57 of the 10th round.

While Edwards suffered his first defeat after 8 wins including 3 knockouts, Casimero improved to 23-3 with 15 knockouts.

While having a snack at the “Throwback” restaurant at the Victory Mall in Caloocan City, where Casimero trained, we recalled what renowned billiards patron Aristeo “Putch” Puyat said after he watched the telecast of the fight on Sky Cable pay-per-view of ABS-CBN. “This boy is good, he can punch and he is aggressive. Reminds me so much of ‘The Toy Bulldog’ Donnie Ursua,” reminisced Puyat.

Clearly, those who know their boxing have realized that Casimero is a star who is only now getting the attention he richly deserves.

Gello-ani expressed disappointment over the failure of Philippine television networks to support Casimero so he could fight before a hometown crowd. He said the reason he has to fight abroad is because he doesn’t get any assistance in staging the champ’s world title defenses in Manila, a really expensive proposition, considering the need to pay the fighters in dollars, take care of roundtrip travel for the challenger, his trainer and manager, plus hotel accommodation and internal travel.

Gello-ani said he told the local TV networks: ”If you don’t want to support us, don’t worry we can take him abroad. That is why he is known as The Road Warrior. Casimero is the real champion and we are very happy that he has changed a lot. He has the courage, the talent and something to show to the Philippine market. We need TV to back up a world championship.”

He pointed out that TV5 had supported two or three of his fights abroad, including the riot-marred title fight against Lazarte.

With the Manny Pangilinan network now headed by Chot Reyes and moving to a format built around sports, he is hoping that the relationship could be renewed.

Clearly, with his latest impressive victories and the accolades he has received, the best-kept secret in boxing is no longer a secret.

Sports

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

A8

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

By Peter Paul Duran

W

ORLD Wrestling Entertainment has always been big in the Philippines.

Apart from being the number one reason for broken furniture and schoolyard scuffles, Filipinos have idolized wrestlers since the time they wore tights until they sported denim shorts. Even the young generation loves these matmen.

So when the WWE announced the dates for the live event in Manila, Pinoy fans immediately dusted off the merchandise from the last time shirtless hulking men visited the country.

WWE Live is a unique blend of sport and entertainment, combining ring action with dramatic entertainment. It bursts with all the drama and energy of a rock concert, in a fun, lively and exciting environment, making it the ultimate in family entertainment.

The sport needs fan engagement, and a rowdy Filipino crowd provided a connection with the men in the ring that gave more reason as to why it’s the only WWE live event in the region.

And why wouldn’t scores of wrestling fans troop to the Mall Of Asia Arena amid growing security concerns in the past week?

It took seven years before their idols came back and it was just fitting that the WWE superstars be greeted with such a pompous embrace from the local fans, and the wrestling warriors did not disappoint.

Right off the bat, fans were served with an energizing showcase from Cesaro and former WWE champ Sheamus, while the near-sold-out arena booed Strowman after his submission of Goldust.

In the next match, Neville defied gravity after finishing his fight with Bo Dallas via his signature move Red Arrow, while New Day got the crowd into their triple threat match during the de-

WWE: A burst

of drama, energy, fun John Cena came out with a vintage display, slamming down Big Show’s 450 pounds of human anatomy in one fell motion.

fense of their tag team championship belt.

Then the crowd went berserk.

Even from the upperbox section, fans were still in awe of the sheer size of Big Show, but when the bell rang marking his fight with the ‘Man Who Can’t Be Seen,’ the crowd was treated with a more gargantuan affair.

The crowd was partisan but loyal to the industry norm, and Show willingly or not, produced an impeccable heel performance, while John Cena came out with a vintage display, which this part of the world came to love and adore.

Obviously, we know who would win this tight-rope-breaking match and the way it would end, but boy, seeing someone carry and slam down 450 pounds of human anatomy in one fell motion is just pure awesome.

More awesome though, was the women’s wrestling bout that featured a championship match between Sasha Banks and current champ Charlotte, but the latter needed some help from the ropes to retain her crown, amid the boos of the fans.

Filipinos have idolized wrestlers since the time they wore tights until they sported The main event, of course being the main denim shorts. Even the young generation loves these matmen. event, was just hands down tumultuously

JOHNREIL CASIMERO

Boxing’s best-kept secret

By Ronnie Nathanielsz WE have covered the fights of reigning twodivision world champion Johnreil Casimero for the past decade and from his initial victory over Thai slugger Liempetch Sor Veerapol in a clash for the vacant WBO Asia Pacific light flyweight title, which he won by a TKO at 1:02 of the fifth round at the Talisay City Sports Complex in Cebu on Oct. 3, 2008, we saw the potential in the young fighter, unbeaten in 10 fights against a foe, who had 8 knockouts in 11 wins with 4 losses and a draw.

In the Liempetch fight, Casimero impressed us with his aggressive tactics and the big right hand, which would prove to be a factor in later years.

When he suffered back-to-back setbacks against Ramon Garcia Hirales of Mexico in a face-off for the WBO light flyweight interim title on July 24, 2010 in Sinaloa and to South Africa’s Moruti Mthalane on March 26, 2011 via a fifth-round TKO, we didn’t lose hope.

Casimero clearly learned from his mistakes. And with veteran trainer Jhun Agrabio pushing him hard, Casimero turned his career around, winning nine of his next 10 fights with the only loss, a hugely controversial decision to Thailand’s Amnat Ruenroeng in a foul-infested battle for the vacant

IBF flyweight crown in Bangkok.

Casimero soon began to pick up the moniker “The Road Warrior,” as he traveled from one country to another to ply his trade beginning with the riot-marred 10th-round TKO victory over Argentina’s Luis Alberto Lazarte at Mar del Plaza in Buenos Aires on Feb. 10, 2012.

As a result of the riot, the IBF issued a lifetime ban on Lazarte, where, following referee Eddie Claudio’s stoppage of the fight after Casimero dropped him twice in the ninth round and once in the 10th, drunken fans from the truckers’ group that supported the local boy, started throwing chairs and bottles at Casimero and members of his team, while fans also rushed to the ring and started attacking the Filipino fighter, promoter Sammy Gello-ani, Agrabio and Sean Gibbons. Casimero was bundled under the ring to save him from further attacks, while police escorted him to his dressing room.

Boxing Scene reported that during the fight, Lazarte was “using his usual dirty tactics. He bit Casimero several times and even threatened to take the life of referee Claudio.”

IBF president Darryl Peoples acted promptly and decisively and sent a formal letter to the president of the Argentine Boxing Federation in Osvaldo Bisbal, asking him “what steps were taken with the local police department to

bring those individuals who entered the ring and assaulted Mr. Casimero and his camp, to justice. ” Peoples stated: “There is one measure we are taking into our own hands and that we will enforce. As a result of Luis Lazarte threatening the life of referee Eddie Claudio, while receiving a point deduction in the 6th round, Lazarte is banned from being involved in any capacity in any IBF-related fight that takes place in Argentina or around the world.”

As a result of the riot, the Philippines filed a diplomatic protest with the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs over the incident.

Casimero was later declared the regular IBF junior flyweight champion when Ulises Solis was unable to defend his title before the Oct. 30 deadline set by the IBF. In his first title defense against Mexico’s Pedro Guevara, Casimero had a tough time, ultimately winning a split decision largely due to the fact that Dr. Ruben Garcia, whose penchant to score fights against Filipinos, once again reared its ugly head as he scored the fight for Guevara, 114-113, which was overturned by the scorecards of Matthew Podgorski, 116-111, and Levi Martinez, 114-113, for Casimero.

The late Dr. Garcia was previously admonished by the IBF, when he scored the su-

orchestrated. The wrestling entertainment business still stayed true to the form, coaxing fans to suspend their disbeliefs before handing down the coup de grace.

A triple threat match was already in the offing, but if you throw in the WWE Universal Championship at the pot, then expect fans to just loose it.

It was vintage WWE all right. Bodies were flying everywhere, and the drama was scintillating. You know you’re in for a treat as near falls were expected, but the manner by which the turns came was just delicious to digest.

In the end, Kevin Owens finalized the list of champions that night that didn’t relinquished their belts. Come on, you should have expected that, if he didn’t win then that would mess up the WWE storyline. Good and safe move, fellas.

But the fight of the night just have to be the the match-up between Roman Reigns and Chris Jericho, which saw the 45-yearold Jericho delivering a tour de force of a heel performance.

Although fans greeted him with chants of “Y2J”, Jericho still managed to maneuver the crowd to support his opponent,

per bantamweight title fight of Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire, in favor of Wilfredo Vazquez Jr. despite Donaire dropping him and controlling the fight.

Casimero then proceeded to Panama to defend his title against Luis Alberto Rios on March 16, 2013 and scored a lopsided 12-round unanimous decision with judges Levi Martinez and Nelson Vazquez turning in scorecards of 119-109 and Joe Garcia, 118-108.

Casimero returned home and stopped Felipe Salguero in the 11th- round to retain his IBF junior flyweight title at the Makati Coliseum.

He showed no ill-effects of having to shed off 1 ½ pounds within an hour to make the weight.

He remained the aggressor against the Mexican challenger before he exploded with a flurry of punches to send the challenger down on both knees, capped by his patented left hook followed by a right straight, prompting referee Wayne Hedegepeth to cut short the 12-round bout at the 1:34 mark of the eleventh.

Salguero, who lost the WBO light flyweight title to Donnie “Ahas” Nietes, dropped to 18-5 with three KOs. It was Casimero’s third title defense, but his first at home. He kept his win streak going with a spectacular first-round annihilation of Mauricio Fuentes of Colombia, when referee Gerard White stopped the bout with one second to go in the opening round.

The aggressive champion, who had lost the title on the scales when he came in five pounds over the limit, blasted Fuentes with a ripping right hand before dropping the Colombian two more times in the same round.

Referee White had no choice but to end the massacre.

Casimero, the former IBF light flyweight

and in one of the most hilarious sequences during the whole event, he turned to some who called him ‘gago’ to which he responded.

“Listen man, I don’t know what a gago is, but if you’re calling me a gago, it must be a good thing,” said Jericho. “I guess I’m the biggest gago you’ve ever seen.”

From then on, the crowd let out shouts of “Let’s go gago” in between, with Jericho eventually finding out the meaning of the word when he asked the referee before the start of the match, which led to his uproarious reaction.

In between the chants of “DU30” and “This is Awesome,” kids were busy pacifying their rabid older relatives during the match. Reigns came out victorious, but the real triumph was Jericho’s unwavering master class.

In the seven years that separated WWE’s last live event here in the country, much has changed but seemingly things that made the franchise standout, are still the same in nature.

The wrestlers and events may differ, but one thing remains: They still don’t seem to sweat.

Casimero champion and No. 3-ranked flyweight, scored a spectacular second-round knockout of IBF International champion Armando “Cobra” Santos in Hidalgo, Mexico on Dec. 13, 2014 to earn a crack at IBF champion Amnat Ruenroeng of Thailand.

Turn to A7

Filipino chip inventor bares formula of success B2

D

AVAO CITY—A modern steel mill in this city churned out 400,000 metric tons of reinforcing steel bars last year, enough to fortify the foundation of an equivalent of 40 new highrise buildings in Mindanao, which is experiencing a surge in construction activities.

A state-of-the-art rolling mill built by local company Steel Asia Manufacturing Corp. on a 14-hectare property in Barangay Bunawan at a cost of P3 billion supplies the requirement of the city and the whole Mindanao for rebars—an important component for the construction industry. Rebar is used for concrete reinforcement to support the weight and height of buildings.

“It is a modern plant using the latest technology from Italy. It is fully automated,” says Rhea Tanzo, an engineer and assistant manager for quality assurance at New Carcar Manufacturing Inc., the Davao-based unit of SteelAsia that operates Davao Works.

Tanzo is one of the 30 women, out of the 200 employees of SteelAsia in Davao Works. “Gender is not an issue here. As long as we are capable, we can work here,” says Tanzo, who is in charge of ensuring the quality of rebars produced by the plant.

Tanzo says the Davao steel mill also generated jobs for Davao residents.

“More than 60 percent of our employees come from the community alone, or from surrounding barangays,” she says.

The Davao facility is the latest and the most modern of the six mills of Steel Asia in the country, with a combined capacity of 2.1 million tons a year. The company imports around 130,000 tons of billet a month from China, which the mills reproduce into reinforcing bars used in construction and infrastructure projects.

Steel Asia is a dominant player in the steel industry, accounting for 62 percent of high tensile rebar market in the country. The company posted a net income after tax of P1.5 billion, out of P27-billion revenue in 2015. This year, it expects the numbers to increase to P1.6-billion profit and P29-billion revenue.

Of SteelAsia’s existing six mills, four facilities have opened over the past four years, adding 1.5 million tons a year to meet the robust requirements of the construction industry. The company has yet to open its biggest facility in Plaridel, Bulacan.

SteelAsia chief executive Benjamin Yao believes that by dispersing the location of the mills, the company eliminates expensive shipping costs, bringing down the price of rebars and boosting construction activities.

Romeo Soliven, assistant vice president for manufacturing of SteelAsia and the plant manager of the Davao Works, says construction companies with projects in Mindanao used to source the rebars from Bulacan, Batangas and Cebu. “With this Davao facility, supply of rebars became abundant. The construction industry is assured of highquality supply. They are able to save at least P1,000 per metric ton in shipping cost,” Soliven says.

The Davao mill, which has an annual capacity of 500,000 tons, started operations in December 2014. Soliven says SteelAsia invested around P2 billion to bring in modern machines, including reheating furnace with Italian brand Forni Industriali Bendotti and rolling mill and high-speed block mill with Revas brand. The automation technology is provided by Nidec, another Italian company.

The factory and warehouse alone covers 3.2 hectares, according to Soliven. “This is the most modern plant of Steel Asia. It produces 1,500 to 1,800 tons a day or 40,000 to 45,000 tons a month,” Soliven says. The fully automated plant, which has a power requirement of 7 megawatts, transforms large raw material called billet, with an average weight of 2,100 kilograms, into high-quality rebars.

The Davao mill is the first in the country to process 150 mm by 150 mm billets—a world standard today. The machines are considered power efficient with low noise. The mill features a twin tungsten carbide monoblock that can produce PNS 211 7 mm and 8 mm bars. It is also the first mill to have rotating drum technology, according to SteelAsia.

About 100 workers are involved in operation, mainly to man the computer

Business

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

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

B1

Modern steel mill reinforces Davao

system, monitor the machines and organize the finished products, which are in the forms of 7 millimeter to 36 mm rebars.

“We operate seven days a week. Our production is based on orders,” Soliven says. “The plant consumes 135,000 to 150,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

We are one of the largest power users in Mindanao.”

Soliven says the plant currently operates at a capacity utilization rate of 90 percent amid strong market demand.

“Our market includes the largest construction companies and developers such as DMCI and Ayala Land,” he says.

Tanzo says the rebars produced by the Davao mill exceed the requirements of Philippine National Standards. “We are very strict in monitoring, and we follow the strength ratio. Our internal standards are more than the Philippine standards, so that we can assure customers about the quality of our products. Our products are better than imported products,” she says.

Soliven says product testing is done every 30 tons of production, compared to 80 tons in other companies.

Tanzo says apart from direct employment, the Davao mill created livelihood opportunities in Davao.

“Restaurants and apartments were built around the area. Aside from that, we have our CSR [corporate social responsibility] projects. We have our medical missions conducted. We also

support the Department of Education,” she says.

Soliven says the modern equipment allows Davao Works to reduce solid waste and emission. “We have almost zero discharge. Our waste material called ‘scale’ is being bought by Chinese companies. Representatives from the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources] regularly test our air emission. And we use rainwater for cooling,” says Soliven.

The plant consumes 150,000 cubic meters of water every year. Wastewater is recycled and treated and re-used in operations through a rainwater catchment basin, with a capacity of 50,000 cubic meters. It also has a materials recovery facility that handles the scales, or the byproduct of the milling process.

SteelAsia banks on the rapid expansion of Mindanao, which received renewed attention when former Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte won the presidency in May this year. Davao Region is one of the fastest growing areas in the country, expanding 9.4 percent in 2014 and 7.9 percent in 2015.

“There are a lot of buildings being constructed not only in Davao but also in other parts of Mindanao. There are also roads and bridges being built in almost all municipalities. I know because I go home to Agusan twice a month,” says Soliven.

SteelAsia’s rolling mill in Davao City

SteelAsia Davao Works assistant manager for quality assurance Rhea Tanzo

Lawyer Arnolfo Ricardo Cabling, a former barangay chairman and councilor of Davao City, confirms the rapid growth of the real estate sector in the city.

“I used to be the overall chairman of the Davao City council committee on housing.

Condominium construction started six years ago. First it was DMCI, followed by Camella. Now, you can see condominiums being constructed everywhere. Condominiums are selling like hotcakes. People want to do business in Davao City,” Cabling says in an interview at Park Inn Hotel by Radisson located beside SM Lanang Premier.

Cabling says the city council approved the entry of SteelAsia to support economic growth. “In economic boom, steel is a vital component. To build high-rise buildings, we must have our own supply. We used to source steel from Cebu, Manila and even China and we were not certain of quality and standards. When SteelAsia applied, they assured us that they would be the only manufacturing plant in the Philippines that would pass the PSI standards. We checked and we verified everything,” says Cabling.

Cabling says with the growth of the construction industry, prices of real estate also surged. “Before the economic boom, we could buy land for P250 per square meter. Now, we can hardly find one at P1,000 per square.

It’s P2,500 or P3,000 per square meter,” he says.

The construction industry is also optimistic about business prospects in Mindanao. “Mindanao economy is now gaining momentum driven by bountiful opportunities,” Anacleto

SteelAsia Davao Works plant manager Romeo Soliven

Calamba Jr., president of Philippine Institute of Civil Engineers-Davao City Chapter, says in a message during the PhilConstruct trade show organized by Philippine Constructors Association at SMX Convention Center in Lanang.

“Today, most of the national focus is in Mindanao, particularly in Davao,” James Jao, national president of Philippine Institute of Interior Designers, says in the same event.

SteelAsia expects the robust demand for rebars to continue in the coming years, with the Philippine economy seen growing 6 percent to 7 percent annually.

Local steel consumption is projected to reach 20 million metric tons by 2030, from 4.1 million MT in 2010.

Edwin Lu, manager for offsite fabrication at SteelAsia, says the company will continue to play an important role in supporting economic growth. He says the rise of Fort Bonifacio as the newest commercial business district was supported by SteelAsia.

“SteelAsia supplies 80 percent to 90 percent of rebars in BGC [Bonifacio Global City],” he says.

“Rebars form the backbone of the whole building structure. It is estimated that for every square meter of floor area, there are 50 kilos of rebars. So a 100-square-meter house consists of five tons of steel,” says Lu. Ma. Teresa Pacis, assistant vice president for corporate communication of Steel Asia, says the company is optimistic about the future. “Infra projects and residential projects of developers are on the rise. We are very optimistic. We build for the future. We are raising the bar,” Pacis says.

Roderick T. dela Cruz

B2

Business

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Globe and Kiva team up to create sustainable livelihood opportunities FIFTY-EIGHT year old Josefina of Trinidad, Bohol had P15,000 in savings when she started her small sari-sari store in 1999. Wanting to support the growing needs of her nephews, being single herself, Josefina requested P20,000 which she used to expand her business and attract more customers.

She received financial assistance from 15 individual microlenders via one of Kiva’s field partner Community Economic Ventures Inc. which provides not only loans but training and insurance coverage as well.

Cebu-based Shayne Mae, on the other hand, is a hardworking entrepreneur who also needed additional funds to use as a working capital for her clothing sales business. With the assistance of eight individual microlenders under another Kiva Field Partner, Negros Women for Tomorrow Foundation (NWTF), Shayne Mae was able to borrow P11,999 to sustain her business. She dreams of saving enough money to send her children to college and renovate her family home.

Josefina and Shayne Mae are just two of hundreds of Filipinos which Globe Telecom and international non-profit organization Kiva are crowdfunding loans to create sustainable livelihood opportunities for the underserved population in the country.

San Francisco-based Kiva is an online crowdfunding platform that enables anyone in the world to make a microloan to micro enterprises in over 80 countries in the areas of agriculture, food, retail and services in a bid to alleviate poverty.

Tallwood Venture Capital founder and managing partner Diosdado Banatao

Filipino chip inventor bares formula of success

ence at Stanford University, “continuing [his] love in engineering, especially in mathematics and physics.” co-founded three technology startIOSDADO “Dado” upsHeincluding Chips and Technology, which he says is the fastest growing Banatao, a Filipino company in Silicon Valley in terms of technology innovaprofit. tor and venture capitalist in “That’s an indication that if you have good design, you will sell your prodSilicon Valley, says Filipino uct. That’s a good lesson as an engineer entrepreneurs should under- when we’re trained to design, to create products. It’s coupled with an applicastand their target market if that is very important for productivthey want to compete glob- tion ity,” Banatao says.

In his third company, “[he] modified ally.

“The fundamental thing that we al- one more time the architecture of the PC ways use or a few things we look for and that was the beginning of graphics a company to invest in is whether that company understands markets. How they are able to define a product to a given market. [They] have to understand the dynamics of that market, velocity of revenue, size of the market, dynamics of whether it is growing or not, and volume of the market,” Banatao says during the Anvil Business Summit 2016 organized by the Association of Young Filipino-Chinese Entrepreneurs at Marriott Hotel Manila in Pasay City.

Banatao says a lot of failures in startups are simply because they miss the market requirements and they come up with products only to realize that no one will buy it.

He also cites the importance of innovation acceleration.” in growing a company and the economy.

“That was the beginning of Windows “You have to compete on performance, price and a lot of other tangibles and Microsoft where they were trying to like consumption. At the end of the day, come up with an operating system with performance is the first criteria because a user interface much like what’s comthe pattern is that you buy a gadget. ing from Apple,” Banatao says.

“We defined a lot of the interfaces in Some technology comes in, you’re out.

So that’s the reason why innovation is the graphic subsystem in the PC which more important, how you create a prod- is still there today. When you write apuct that no one can compete with for plications, we defined all of those things for the system,” he says. some time,” Banatao says.

Banatao has become a venture capitalBanatao, a son of a rice farmer from Cagayan province, speaks from experi- ist for more than 20 years now. He funds ence. “When I became an entrepreneur, companies, which is something that “the I estimated that no one will be able to Philippines is severely lacking.”

He says Silicon Valley “is what it is today compete with me right away because of the dramatic architecturing that I did on because of entrepreneurs and investors.”

Banatao says five or 10 of Silicon the PC [personal computer], reducing Valley’s largest companies’ revenue 300 components into three,” he says.

Banatao refers to the first PC chip could exceed the Philippines’ gross doset he invented, which became the first mestic product. Despite the Philippines’ product of his company that still exists six percent GDP growth in five years, Banatao says he doesn’t think it is susin almost all devices today.

Banatao left the family’s farm to train tainable.

“I don’t see the fundamentals of realas a commercial airline pilot with Philippine Airlines, when he found no “true ly forming those large corporations that design jobs” in the Philippines after can scale itself up in the same way that graduating with a degree in Electrical other countries have been using organiEngineering from Mapua Institute of zations or companies that are founded on a lot of explosive growth to innovaTechnology.

He pursued a Master’s degree in Elec- tion,” Banatao says.

Mentioning the gap between the rich trical Engineering and Computer Sci-

By Aries F. Fallorina and Jasmine Mira M. Dy

D “This high impact partnership between Globe and Kiva enables Filipinos to support Filipinos in a sustainable and empowering way. We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Globe, Kiva’s first corporate partner in Southeast Asia, and we look forward to all that we will accomplish together moving forward,” says Karen Little, Kiva’s director of development for the US and Asia.

Through GCash mobile money service and Globe Rewards, millions of Globe customers can now make a difference in the lives of micro-entrepreneurs. “Globe strives to provide sustainable livelihood opportunities by offering marginalized micro-entrepreneurs new possibilities for prosperity through ICT. We want to assist those who are currently at the base of the pyramid by exploring means in which they can increase their income. At the same time, we want to pave the way for other people to do something meaningful through our mobile services,” says Fernando Esguerra, director for Globe Citizenship.

With GCash as the secure platform to receive donations, lending can be done through #TeamGlobe. Interested citizens may donate any amount to local beneficiaries in the areas of agriculture, food, retail, and services by accessing *143#, select GCash, choose Donate to Kiva, enter amount, GCASH PIN and email address. Those funds are then put into a revolving loan fund to go towards Filipino borrowers.

At the same time, Globe is also giving customers a chance to give back and support micro entrepreneurs through Kiva Gift cards. Customers just need to text Kiva to 2158-Kiva (5482).

Leveraging on its online facility and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva provides loans to people without access to traditional banking systems. The micro-finance institutions, which are called Field Partners, administer the loans in the field, giving people in need a safe and affordable access to fresh capital to further their lives and that of their families.

Kiva now has over 1.5 million individual lenders from every country in the world. These lenders have funded loans amounting to over $890 million to 2.1 million beneficiaries.

Entrepreneurship is really what makes the mind, the intellect, the design capability more valuable than money.

and the poor, he says the the only way to disrupt the gap is to “create something through innovation.”

“I know there are a lot of very rich people here. There’s nothing wrong with being more rich but when you have enough and you live here, there is an obligation. I believe that one can help society in a big way,” he says.

“Do not just do charity. This thing about corporate social responsibility is mostly charity. We did our research in gift-giving. Charity destroys societies. It does not work. So when you do your corporate social responsibility, do something that leverages the mind of the receiver. Education is a good example. It is creating an opportunity for those brains, for those minds to produce.

I think that we do have the responsibility,” Banatao says, briefly addressing the lag of education in the Philippines compared to other countries.

“We really need to up the capability of our universities. We are lagging way behind other countries even just in Asia in the capability of educating our engineers,” Banatao says.

“We’re as bright as anyone. I’m just an average guy. I went to Silicon Valley and got trained by the environment itself. We have to have that here in the Philippines. We’re not lacking in intellect,” he says.

He says among Southeast Asian countries, the Philippines is ahead only of Cambodia now. “A few years ago, we were leveled with Vietnam until it grew and went up in terms of welfare and other things.”

“Growing an economy is something that is so hard to do and in all my biddings when we started PhilDev [Philippine Development Foundation], almost every conclusion of growth in a sustainable way is about innovation. Entrepreneurship, if you think about it, is really what makes the mind, the intellect, the design capability more valuable than money,” Banatao says.

Banatao was a venture partner at the Mayfield Fund. He also held positions in engineering and general management at National Semiconductor, Seeq Technologies, Intersil and Commodore International.

He is currently the managing partner at Tallwood Venture Capital, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley. Tallwood invests in unique and hard-to-do semiconductor technology solutions for computing, communication and consumer platforms.

His life illustrates a true rags to riches story. “My family was poor but only because I trained myself, I can do these things today. I think that is a lesson for all of us,” he says.

Furniture distributor taps Mober as logistics partner BLIMS Lifestyle Group has signed a deal with pioneering on-demand delivery service provider Mober to enable faster and more efficient delivery of its products and services.

By tapping Mober, Blims Lifestyle Group may now offer same day delivery services to its clients, instead of the usual two days.

Blims Lifestyle Group has 31 branches in Metro Manila.

“The Mober and Blims Lifestyle Group partnership is a perfect complement because Blims still needs to respond to their customers demand for a speedier delivery of their purchases.

Currently, their delivery commitment is two days and their operations cannot accommodate a same day delivery offer. So when Mober approached them

in March, they were very enthusiastic in pushing forward the partnership,” Mober founder and chief executive Dennis Ng said.

He said with the Christmas season just around the corner, Mober was ready to service the expected surge in customer traffic at its partner stores.

“The holiday rush starts in the next couple of weeks, and Mober will be there to provide our on demand delivery services. We’ll cut out the wait, the day a customer buys the item, it can be delivered right to their doorstep in just a matter of hours, so they can start using and enjoying what they bought with their hard earned money,” Ng said.

Blims Lifestyle Group owns the following brands: Blims Fine Furniture,

La-Z-Boy, Sogo Home & Office Center with a total of 31 branches in Metro Manila. The company is led by Sam Frederick Lim as president.

“Aside from Blims Lifestyle Group, we have also forged deals with other leading retailers, and we are constantly expanding our services to adapt to the market. Whether big or small, Mober is confident we can provide efficient, on demand services at affordable rates,” Ng said.

For Blims customers, availing Mober’s on-demand services is as fast as downloading the Mober app from the Apple App Store, or Google Play.

Rates start at P500 per shipment, with additional costs depending on the distance and delivery time for each item.

Blims Lifestyle Group president Sam Frederick Lim (left) and Mober Technology Pte Inc. founder and chief executive Dennis Ng

Property

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B3

GOING INTERNATIONAL. Real estate developer Landco Pacific Corporation is widening its sales efforts

to buyers abroad, especially to overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). Kudos to the increase in international sales – notably for Tribeca Private Residences in Parañaque – reinforcing the company’s strategy to join roadshows around the world. Landco recently joined the 118th Philippine Independence Anniversary Commemoration in New York City, and was followed by “Barrio Fiesta sa London” last July at the Apps Court Farm in Surrey, the “Ok Go! Toronto” event last July 23 in Canada, “Pistahan sa Yerba Buena” event in San Francisco, California and Manitoba Street Festival in Winnipeg, Canada last August, and the “ASAP” in New York City, USA last September. Buyers can choose among the following Lando developments: Plaza Azalea in Samal Island (shown in photo); Waterwood Park in Baliuag, Bulacan; WoodGrove Park in San Fernando, Pampanga; and The Courtyard at Lakewood Golf Estates in Nueva Ecija, among others.

NEW HAVEN. Ortigas & Company recently turned over units of Lleida Tower to its residents in Circulo

Verde, Quezon City. The fourth tower in the resort-inspired development between Pasig and Quezon City, Lleida is 24 storeys high with 22 levels dedicated to residences. It is the first in the series of towers inside Circulo Verde (which include Ibiza, Majorca, and Seville) to offer studio units. The smaller cuts, ranging from 21 to 95 square meters, beckon to young professionals, individuals, and empty nesters. Starter families also have options with its two- and three-bedroom units. Ortigas & Co. is responsible for developments such as Capitol Commons, Frontera Verde, Greenhills Shopping Center and subdivisions of Greenmeadows, Greenhills, and Valle Verde.

‘SEEN AND UNSEEN.’ Leechiu Property Consultants (LPC), the developer of Menarco Tower, believes investments in the “seen and unseen” allow a project to cater to the needs of the occupants—from its prime location to the delicate control of air toxicity.

It pays to be WELL THE modern office worker spends 90% of his time indoors. An unhealthy diet, bad sleeping patterns, and constant sickness are usually attributed to the stress of the workplace.

In 1986, the World Health Organization coined the term “sick building syndrome.” It referred to situations where building occupants experienced acute health and comfort effects that appeared to be linked to time spent in a building.

In 2013, the International WELL Building Institute established the WELL Building Standard.

Because of the amount of time spent indoors, a building’s environment can have a tremendous impact on wellness. WELL empowers the creation of healthy environments for people to live, work and play, which then enhances occupant health and quality of life. It measures and monitors the performance of building features that impact the users’ health.

Seven different areas (or what they call “concepts”) are measured and monitored: air, water, nourishment, light, fitness, comfort and mind. From the assessment of the number of

polluting particles in the air to the creation of an indoor environment that is distraction-free, productive and soothing to the promotion of healthier eating habits, these are all analyzed and considered when awarding the WELL Building Standard certification.

WELL certification

BACOLOD ON THE RISE. Megaworld recently announced that it is building an upscale residential village, Forbes Hill, in Northill Gateway, Bacolod City. The community will have 197 lots ranging from 449 sq. meters to 916 sq. meters, or approximately 13 lots per hectare. Future lot owners will have a free hand to design their own homes, which overlook the Negros mountain ranges, and surrounding sugarcane plantation vistas.

Residents will also have a big breathing space as Megaworld alloted 5-hectares of open and green spaces for parks Forbes Hill is nestled within the 53-hectare Northill Gateway, a joint development of Megaworld and Suntrust Properties, Inc., in partnership with the Lacson Family. The development will house residential villages, mixed-use office and retail developments, leisure and recreational amenities as well as institutional facilities.

Menarco Tower, a new office development located on 32nd Street in BGC, is the first building in the country to register for WELL certification.

“Getting certified for WELL is a natural offshoot of what we have envisioned for Menarco Tower,” said Carmen Jimenez Ong, managing director of Menarco Development Corporation.

Menarco Tower recently garnered three Philippine Property Awards: 2016 Best Green Development Winner, 2016 Best Office Development (Highly Commended) and 2015 Best Office Architectural Design (Highly Commended).

GOODBYE, TERMITES. Real estate

developer CitiHomes recently tapped Jardine Distribution Inc, a home solutions provider, to conduct soil treatment, using Protek 25%, in all their subdivision projects. CitiHomes decided to go with Protek 25% because of its premium termiticide concentrate which eliminates termites. The developer specializes in transforming idle land into residential and commercial subdivisions Jardine Distribution, Inc. is engaged in the marketing and distribution of agricultural products, applied construction materials and home pest solutions.

Condo...

From to B4 All these taxes have to be paid before you can transfer the ownership registration of the condominium unit to the buyer. If you include all these ownership costs and the reduced rental earnings due to the 20% vacancy rate, the percentage net return per year when you sell the unit (assuming you can find a buyer) can be very disappointing.

How much should my income be to consider buying a condo?

It would be a good idea to evaluate your goals in life before buying a condo. Think about the next five years, and ask yourself questions that will create a drastic change in your lifestyle in the future.

Will you be married then? Do you have plans to move in

five years? Are you planning on changing careers in the next few years? All these will help you decide whether you should invest on a condo, and what type you will buy.

If you intend to rent out your condominium, you need to project your income and costs and assume that there will be times when the unit will be vacant and will need repair. Rental rates normally over around 5% of the market value of the condo unit provided rental income is constant throughout the 12 months in a year. Vacancy rates have a strong impact on the effective return on the rental property.

Why is location an important factor?

Location is a crucial factor because where you choose to live will shape the lifestyle that you will have. But different locations especially in the Metro are priced differently depending on the area.

Properties near the central business districts are higher than those farther away. For example, the selling price of a three-bedroom unit in Makati can go from PHP 14,500,000 to PHP 25,785,000. While the same unit for sale in Bonifacio Global City average between PHP 13,500,000 to PHP 29,500,000. Aside from condominium prices, the cost of living also varies in different locations.

The condominium requires you to live in closer proximity to others, and that could be

difficult. At the same time, it gives you better security because you can leave your unit and it will be more secure (if it is a good condominium, of course).

Is it wise to invest in pre-selling condos?”

The great thing about buying a condo in the Philippines is that you have a lot of options to choose from.

Aside from the many existing condominiums in the market, there are pre-selling condos that are readily available. But that same factor can hinder you when you start searching for your ideal residence.

Because of the number of options, you may find yourself gravitating towards cheaper alternatives, or more costly ones just because they have amenities

and features you think you might need.

Bear in mind that you are in control of what condo you’ll buy. Don’t settle for second best when you can have the perfect one by simply being very discerning about your decisions.

What are the initial research I must do when considering a condo?

Gather all the information you need before signing a contract.

Buying a condo unit entitles you to a building’s services and amenities. Thus, you are also responsible for a portion of the upkeep of the building.

Before you sign a contract, enlist the help of a broker to

guide you into the financial aspect of buying a condo unit.

This ensures you won’t be blindsided when a bill comes for a service that you were not aware of before buying the unit.

Pay attention to the details of the contract and discuss some important points you want to clarify with the building owner. For example, if you’re planning on sub-letting your unit then you should be aware if the owner allows this sort of business venture or not.

You can make suggestions or propose changes to your contract. For example, you are not certain about paying for a gym membership since you don’t work out that much, or you want to upgrade the pre-installed appliances in your unit.

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B4

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

Property

RUSHING FORWARD.

In Metro Manila people seem to be returning to the city center to maintain their sanity.

CONDO LIVING

- is it for you?

By Joel Lacsamana

F

ORMER President Benigno Aquino III once said heavy traffic is a sign of progress. If so, Metro Manila Metro seems to be rushing forward so rapidly that people are returning to the city center to keep their wits about.

Bedspacing is the only option for construction workers, and day laborers. Tita Marcia, my wife’s real estate-savvy aunt, recently bought two used condominiums in the university belt areas of Manila and Katipunan Avenue, and renovated them into comfortable dormitories. Occupancy is always 100 percent. They’re within walking distance to the CBD and universities so dorm-ers save on commuting costs. More important, they can hang out late, or go Pokemon hunting, and still make it to school or work the morning with time to spare.

People higher on the totem pole rent or buy studios. Instead of daily struggles to get to Bulacan, Cavite, or Laguna, they stay put on weekdays and head home only on Fridays. Sometimes their families come over for weekend malling. With matters getting worse by the day, even Alabang, Antipolo, and Quezon City residents have weekday roosts.

“To condo, or not to condo?”

Cost is no joke, up to P150,000 or so per square meter of a condo that’s still a hole in the ground plus a million for a parking slot.

Deciding go, or no-go is tough.

Auntie Marcia may be on to something with older condos.

They are cheaper and could be better located. Rooms tend to be larger and ceilings higher. Past and present residents can be mined for vital info—quality of building maintenance, security, garbage disposal; elevator, traffic, and generator reliability; water pressure; noise and smells, pests (human and otherwise). You need to make sure, though, that the place is code-compliant and you don’t inherit unpaid real estate taxes, condo dues, or utility bills.

Repair work does produce surprises aplenty and improvements—unavoidable and avoidable, but must-have. These could cost a lot.

Here are some questions and answers on whether a condominium is a good investment, or not.

What makes a condo a “good investment”?

goal. However, if you just want to invest, please make sure that you have carefully analyzed a real estate investment versus other investment options based on your personal financial plan.

If you want to just invest in real estate, choosing between a condominium and a house and lot would use the same parameters in analyzing its financial viability.

Here are some of them.

GOOD INVESTMENT.

A condo offers a kind of flexibility that you can’t find in a house. If you’re looking for a permanent residence without the added burden of building your own home, a condo is the way to go. Shown in photo is an Eton development and the Avida Tuf Tower in BGC

• Location which includes convenience and attractiveness of neighborhood and security.

• Reputation for quality of development of the builder (this is particularly true for condominiums which are highrise) • Rules of the association governing the neighborhood and costs in relation to this association

• Your ability to maintain If you are buying real estate all amortization and maintenance to establish your home, your (association, repair, taxes) decision should be focused on payments. what is most convenient for yourself and your family. As a I’m buying a condo which home, it should not be looked at my children will inherit in as a financial investment. Rather, the future. Is this a good it should be considered as a life reason for buying one?

Many who have cash to invest like to buy condominiums that they will have their children inherit eventually (Section 8 of RA 4726). In the meantime, they believe that the condominium will bring them some income in the meantime plus even increase in value. But as children grow older, more and newer condominiums

will be built. Your choice may not be your children’s choice.

As a financial investment, condominiums do not generally perform well over the long term compared to stock mutual funds or even balanced mutual funds and other types of securities.

Except for a few offerings, the costs of owning condominium

units drag down the resale value. Physical depreciation of units, monthly membership and maintenance dues plus real estate taxes imposed on condominium owners can be quite substantial over the economic life of the unit.

There is also the issue of capital gains tax and the VAT applicable when the unit is sold.

Turn to B3

Standard Chartered Bank kicks off ‘Banca ng Buhay’ in Samar

BOATS OF HOPE. “Swimming to school” should be a thing of the past now at far-off Sierra islands.

STANDARD Chartered Bank (SCB) recently turned over 38 fiberglass boats to families living in five island barangays of Sierra Islands, which are among the most remote communities in Catbalogan City in Samar province.

SCB donated the boats to support the community’s need to transport the children to school and augment their family’s income. Under the program, dubbed “Banca ng Buhay”, school children will be able to travel to and from their schools for free.

Transportation has always been a problem for students living in the Sierra Islands.

To attend their classes, children had to walk and swim for 40 minutes, or pay for a round-trip boat fare amounting to P10 every day, a huge amount for families with limited income opportunities.

This contributed to a high drop out rate among the children here, according to Cristito Eco, schools division superintendent of the zdepartment of Education (DepEd).

The boats donated by SCB can be used as fishing boats, particularly on weekends when not in use by the students.

SCB also gave fishing equipment to the beneficiaries.

“You see through the eyes of the beneficiary boatmen, their wives and the schoolchildren, the renewed hope and optimism about their future. That alone is priceless to us,” said Mai Sangalang, SCB head of corporate affairs.

Catbalogan City Mayor Stephanie Uy-Tan said the project empowers the communities as it addresses major challenges faced by the island communities: educating the youth and providing livelihood to their families.

DepEd’s Eco lauded the project, saying it is “a comprehensive ap-

proach of addressing critical issues in the locality such as poverty, improved learner participation and enrolment, zero out dropouts and improved quality learning outcomes.”

Banca ng Buhay is part of the bank’s emergency response to the areas affected by Typhoon Yolanda, the strongest tropical cyclone that damaged billion pesos worth of properties and claimed thousands of lives.

The project was done in partnership with Philippine Business for Social Progress, Department of Education, and the City Government of Catbalogan, Samar.

LGUs

Mining audit set in all LGUs

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

C1

By John Paolo Bencito THE Department of the Interior and Local Government enjoined LGUs to fully cooperate in the conduct of a nationwide mining audit in their respective jurisdictions.

“Mining audits are very essential to ensure compliance to responsible mining practices by concerned companies and to protect the interests of the helpless and the poor,” Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno said.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources will conduct a nationwide mining audit to determine the adequacy and effectiveness of environmental protection measures in each mining operation.

The new mining audit will determine appropriate penalties for violation of mining and environmental laws.

In a memorandum circular, Sueno said LGUs shall provide logistics and security through the Philippine National Police or Barangay Peace and Security Officers for the safe, effective and efficient conduct of the audit.

He also clarified that non-compliance with the provisions of the circular shall be dealt with the force of pertinent laws, rules, and regulations.

The audit of mining sites is in accordance with Republic Act 7942, otherwise known as the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and Executive Order 9 “Institutionalizing and Implementing Reforms in the Philippine Mining Sector.”

It is also aligned with DENR’s MC 2016-01, “Audit of All Operating Mines and Moratorium on New Mining Projects.”

YULETIDE. Hawkers display their novelty items three months before the Christmas season on Dapitan Street in Manila. Ey Acasio

LGUs cited for green building C

ONDOMINIUM towers in Cagayan de Oro and affordable housing in Batangas were recognized by the International Finance Corp. as significant achievements in green building.

In a statement, the IFC, a EDGE green building certimember of the World Bank fication system in the PhilipGroup, said it launched its pines in partnership with the

Philippine Green Building Initiative (PGBI). The launch took place at Green Breakthroughs 2016, an event that showcased groundbreaking innovations and developments in building resource-efficient and sustainable structures.

Recognized for their green buildings were ItalPinas Development Corp. for Primavera

Residences condominium towers A and B in Cagayan de Oro and Imperial Homes for the affordable housing units Tiarra Premiere and Delsey in Santo Tomas, Batangas.

Primavera’s design and resourceefficient features result in 32-37 percent savings in energy, water, and materials, while Imperial’s middle-income quality housing units yield 28-38 percent savings.

Both projects are EDGE-certified.

Also recognized were the Philippine Hotel Owners’ Association Inc. for promoting investments in energy-efficient tourism programs and renewable energy resources, and the Organization of Socialized and Economic Housing Developers of the Philippines for encouraging its members to use green-

building measures.

Former mayor Benhur Abalos of Mandaluyong City was cited for steering green policies and programs in the city, including a green-building ordinance that requires new buildings to adopt energy and water-efficient practices.

IFC country manager Yuan Xu said, “If we want to sustain Next page

Makati holds sports, art competitions Navotas scholars are free of drugs MAKATI Mayor Abby Binay on Friday invited students and out-of-school youth to join competitive activities lined up by the Youth and Sports Development Department (YSDD) for the next two months.

This October, YSDD will hold the Makati Hip Hop Street Dance Competition, the Inter-Elementary and Secondary Sports Tournament, and the “Guhit Kalikasan” on-the-spot painting contest.

“I urge Makati’s youth to form their own teams and register in any of the competitions slated this October and November.

Take advantage of the opportu-

REVELERS.

The Hiyas ng Hagonoy Folkloric Dance Group was adjudged the Best Street Dancers of the ‘Indakan Sa Kalye 2016 Grand Showdown Competition’ held at Bulacan Capitol Gymnasium, City of Malolos, Bulacan, on September 14.

nity to further develop your talents and enhance your interpersonal skills,” Binay said.

The mayor underscored that the activities are intended to produce not only highly competitive individuals, but also excellent team players who can work well with others to achieve a common goal.

The Makati Hip Hop Street Dance Competition, an interbarangay dance competition, is open to all residents 15 to 28 years old. Each participating group must have from eight to 15 members.

The elimination rounds are scheduled per district as follows: District I, October 5 at the

Barangay Valenzuela covered court, and District 2, October 7 at the Barangay West Rembo covered court. Registration will start at 3 p.m., and the competition will start at 6 p.m.

The finalists in the elimination round for each district will receive P10,000 (first place), P8,000 (second place), P6,000 (third place), P4,000 (fourth place), and P2,000 (fifth place).

The street dance competition grand finals is set on October 19 at the Makati Coliseum in Barangay La Paz. Aside from trophies, the winning groups will receive cash prizes as follows: P20,000 for third place, P30,000

for second place, and P40,000 for the grand winner.

On October 8, the Inter-Elementary and High School Sports Tournament, organized in cooperation with Department of Education-Makati, will be held at 6 a.m. at the Makati Coliseum. To qualify as a player, an applicant must be a Filipino citizen and a bona fide student enrolled in the elementary or high school in Makati he or she is representing.

Participants in high school basketball and volleyball must be 13 to 16 years old. Elementary level volleyball and table tennis are open to players ages 12 years and below.

By Jun David ALL in-city housing beneficiaries and scholars of Navotas City government are drug-free, Mayor John Rey Tiangco announced on Friday.

“Don’t do drugs. That’s our number one rule for the beneficiaries of our housing and scholarship programs,” Tiangco said.

“Violation of this rule means losing the house or the scholarship,” he added.

Navotas has 1,018 in-city housing beneficiary-families and 720 students availing of the Navotas Polytechnic College (NPC) full scholarship program.

Applicants for both programs are required to take drug tests to qualify.

Once admitted into the program, they must also remain drug-free to prevent eviction or discontinuance of their scholarship.

Members of housing beneficiary-families aged 15 and above must take drug tests every three years. If they test positive, they are made to undergo rehabilitation.

The local government can also compel a family member to take a drug test at any time whenever he or she is suspected of using illegal substances.

Erap brings DARE to 896 barangays

By Sandy Araneta GOING all out against illegal drugs, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada will introduce the city’s school-based Drug Abuse and Resistance Education (DARE) program to 896 barangays.

Estrada ordered the Manila Barangay Bureau (MBB) on Friday to plan the giving of DARE lessons to out-of-school youth and young adults.

“This is to complement the [anti-drug] drive of President Duterte. Prevention is the key.

Stop the increase in the number of addicts,” he said.

“You see the bad the effect of drugs on the mind and on

the body. Not just that, it can ruin the family. A father raping his daughter. This is caused by drugs,” Estrada added.

In a memorandum to MBB head Arsenic Lacson, the mayor tasked the bureau to intensify its awareness campaign about DARE in the barangays.

Estrada employs DARE as a “drug demand-reduction strategy” in accordance with the National Anti-Drug Plan of Action.

Originally from the US, DARE teaches schoolchildren the dangers of drug addiction and how to avoid it. It taps police officers as instructors who go to classrooms giving one-hour, once-a-week DARE lessons to Grades 5 and 6 students.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

LGUs

Salazar moves vs smuggling

By A. Perez Rimando

Z

AMBOANGA CITY—City Mayor Ma. Isabelle Climaco-Salazar has ordered local policemen and other law enforcement agencies to arrest people involved in smuggling even as she lamented the alleged non-cooperation of the local Bureau of Customs in efforts to stop the illegal practice.

Salazar directed City Police Director Luisito Magnaye and other concerned agencies to intercept smuggled goods, “but our concerted efforts become futile because the local Bureau of Customs appears not to be doing well its mandated duties and responsibilities.”

She cited past instances when the police and barangay officials intercepted thousands of sacks of rice and sugar brought to the coastal city on ferries.

When the matter was reported to the

BOC, the agency “either said it lacked personnel or it did not operate after office hours.”

The city chief executive told the media that when local authorities intercepted over 1,500 sacks of sugar two years ago, the items were taken to the BOC office “but the number of sacks later dropped to 300 with some 1,200 sacks missing.”

Salazar added: “The local government and concerned barangays perform their job as regards smuggling, which has become a

local major issue, but the national agency that is supposed to be in the forefront of this campaign is shirking its duty so the problem is not solved.”

Nevertheless, she said, the police and concerned barangay officials will continue to intensify their campaign against smuggling in Zamboanga and go on apprehending smugglers and supporting concerned authorities in their anti-smuggling efforts, and urged the Customs bureau to do its job.

Balanga eyes 3rd literacy award

By Butch Gunio

AUTONOMOUS. ARMM’s Public Works and Highways Secretary Don Mustapha Loong (center) with his district engineers answers queries of the media in a press conference dubbed ‘Tapatan sa ARMM’ on Thursday at Al-Nor Convention Center in Cotabato City. Loong said one-third of the total number of senior high school building projects across the ARMM are completed and some infrastructure to support tourism in the ARMM are also being constructed, including a circumferential road in the province of Sulu; an access road going to the Sheikh Karim-ul Makhdum Mosque and construction and development of Bud Bongao, both in Tawi-Tawi; and access roads going to Bubuludtuwa Falls in Maguindanao. Omar Mangorsi

Fisheries reform law needed—Pamalakaya

By Sandy Araneta THE fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Friday said that Senator Francis Pangilinan was out of touch with reality for stating that the fisheries sector could be an “aquaculture superpower.”

Pangilinan, who chairs the Senate committee on agriculture and food, said our country is capable of being an “aquaculture superpower” due to “our diverse fishing waters.”

He cited top fish exporting countries like France who earns 600 million euros annually from their oyster and mollusk industry.

Pamalakaya opposed the conversion of Philippine communal fishing waters into enclosed, private aquaculture oriented to export instead of promoting open-fishing grounds based on domestic consumption.

“Pangilinan is incognizant of the fact that our fishing industry is backward because of import-

LGUs...

From C1

economic growth, we need to transform the market so that there are more builders and investors setting up green buildings. We need more structures that save energy, minimize construction and operation costs, and cut greenhouse gas emissions.”

Buildings emitted 33.28 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, accounting for 36 percent of the Philippines’ total annual power consumption in 2010.

Rapid urban migration is expected to further increase the number of new buildings by 20 percent a year, making it increasingly important to reduce the power usage of buildings.

Yuan Xu said EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) is a voluntary certification system that helps simplify and reduce the cost of green buildings, making them more accessible to all. EDGE

dependent and export-oriented production. The country’s reliance on export and import kills our local fish production and small producers. We export fresh marine products served on a silver platter overseas while importing low-quality, putrescent fish in return. Who is short-changed?” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairman and a former Anakpawis Partylist congressman, said in a statement.

The group said the country’s marine export dramatically rose 120 percent since 1994 despite the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report that our fish consumption drops by 15 percent yearly.

Pangilinan failed to mention that anti-fisherfolk laws, programs and policies are the primary reason why our fisherfolk, despite our archipelagic country, remains the poorest of the poor up to date, and not because of the absence of a fisheries department, said Hicap. promotes resource efficiency through building designs that reduce energy, including the energy used in making construction materials, and water.

PGBI, a non-profit group of professional associations that promotes energy-efficient and environment-friendly design and construction, is the certification provider for EDGE projects in the Philippines.

Now on its second year, Green Breakthroughs gathers key players for a green-building knowledge exchange. Some 200 representatives from government, private sector, academe, and professional organizations attended Green Breakthroughs 2016: Building for Resource Efficiency and Sustainability at the Asian Institute of Management Conference Center in Makati.

Green Breakthroughs was held with the support of the Department of Public Works and Highways and Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.

‘Subic may ease MM traffic’

By Maricel V. Cruz SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez expressed support for the modernization of the Subic Container Port to help ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila.

Alvarez, a representative of Davao del Norte and secretarygeneral of President Rodrigo Duterte’s political party PDP-Laban, said modernizing the Subic port and optimizing its use will ease traffic jams in the capital that has caused productivity losses of at least P2.4 million a day.

The lawmaker said expanding the volume of the Subic port was a “good idea” that will benefit not just Metro Manila but will spur economic growth in Cen-

tral and Northern Luzon as well.

The SCP has a capacity of 600,000 containers, but it moved only around 123,000 last year.

A study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency found that the port will ably and easily absorb northbound cargo.

JICA said there is also cost advantage ranging from $100 to $200 per container for shippers from Pampanga and Zambales to ship through Subic instead of passing through Manila ports.

The study showed a capacity shortage of 14 million containers for the Pacific Region, with Singapore already reaching its limit and Hong Kong remaining severely silted.

For his part, former House speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano

Belmonte Jr. said maximizing Subic port was “a great idea.”

Quezon City Rep. Alfred Vargas, vice chairman of the House committee on appropriations, added that the proposal will translate to more economic activity in Subic and in neighboring areas.

“This means more jobs and more opportunities. These can hopefully translate to social development in that part of the country,” he said.

“This plan, coupled with increased infrastructure spending particularly on interconnecting roads, alternative highways like C6 and bridges across the island of Luzon, will definitely solve a lot of urban management, environmental and economic issues,” Vargas added.

BALANGA CITY, Bataan— This fast-growing component city is setting up barangay learning hubs to further upgrade its education program and gain its third literacy award.

Councilor Benjie Merino said the city government recently opened two learning hubs in Barangays Cupang North and Cataning.

Earlier this year, Balanga City and the Multi-Sectoral Governance Coalition launched the first barangay learning hub in the province in Barangay Dona Francisca, this city.

“Through the leadership of Mayor Francis Garcia and Vice Mayor Vianca Venzon-Gozon, we are aiming to win the Literacy Award for the 3rd time this year,” and become a Hall of Fame Awardee, said Merino.

Balanga had already twice emerged as champion in the National Literacy Awards for the component city category during the term of then mayor and now 2nd district Rep. Joet Garcia, brother of the incumbent mayor.

Venzon-Gozon was an active city councilor at the time the city won the literacy award, making her familiar with the award system, pointed out Merino.

Members of the Literacy Coordinating Council recently conducted a three-day validation of the literacy programs of the city.

The city literacy programs, aside from barangay learning hubs, include reading and IT corners, ALS class, Project Duke Session, learning barangay week, Edu Child Parenting Program and school learning hub.

The national government has launched the National Literacy Program award to give recognition to local government units that are undertaking literacy programs for the less-fortunate like the out-of-school youth.

Lawyer with drug cases slain in Ilocos Sur

By Dexter A. See CAMP FLORENDO—A lawyer handling several illegal drug cases was gunned down by unidentified suspects in Barangay Sta. Monica in Magsingal, Ilocos Sur on Thursday afternoon.

Reports reaching this Camp said the victim, identified as Atty. Melver Tolentino, 42, a resident of San Lucas in Magsingal town, was on his car and brief ly stopped at a gasoline station when the assailants riding a motorcycle

shot him with an M-16 armalite rif le.

The lawyer allegedly suffered several gunshot wounds in his head and body and was declared dead on the spot.

Investigators recovered 21 empty armalite shells at the

crime scene after the suspects f led.

Authorities are determining weather Tolentino’s drug cases were related to the killing.

The victim also served as legal counsel of the Ilocos Sur provincial board.

MEMORIAL. Department of Tourism Assistant Secretary Rolando Cañizal and Bulacan Gov. Wilhelmino M. Sy-Alvarado lead the wreath-laying ceremony at the statue of Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo during the commemoration of the 118th Anniversary of Malolos Congress at the historic Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan on Thursday.

World

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

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38 Boko Haram fighters killed N

IAMEY—Thirty-eight Boko Haram Islamist fighters have been killed during military search operations carried out

by Niger and Chad troops in the Diffa region of southeast Niger this week, an official said Friday.

Two soldiers were lightly wounded in the action and “on the enemy side; 38 terrorists killed,” Niger defence ministry spokesman Moustapha Ledru said on state television.

Substantial quantities of weapons and munitions were also seized, Colonel Ledru added.

The joint army operations

took place between Monday and Wednesday around the villages of Gueskerou and Toumour in southeastern Niger, he added.

According to villagers and NGO workers in Gueskerou, 30 kilometers from Diffa, Boko Haram elements attacked the town on Wednesday night, without killing anyone.

“The attack nonetheless caused a psychosis in the population” and “the assailants torched houses and stole food and medicines after pillaging shops and a pharmacy,” an NGO official told Agence France Presse.

Boko Haram’s seven-year insurgency has left at least 20,000 people dead in Nigeria and border areas of neighbouring Niger, Chad

and Cameroon, and made more than 2.6 million homeless.

Attacks in Niger’s Diffa region began in February 2015.

In late July this year a multinational force, drawn from Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon, was formed to tackle the Islamic insurgents and clear them out of towns and villages. AFP

Taliban suicide bomber kills 28 PESHAWAR--A Taliban suicide bomber killed at least 28 people and wounded dozens more as they attended Friday prayers at a mosque in a northwestern Pakistani tribal area, officials said.

The bombing took place in the village of Butmaina in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting against Taliban militants.

As this developed, a rights group said Friday Pakistan must not hang a mentally ill man suffering from paranoid schizophrenia after a court issued a warrant for his execution next week.

Death row prisoner, Imdad Ali, who is around 50 years old, was sentenced to death for the murder of a religious teacher in 2002.

“At least 28 people have been killed and 30 others wounded,” deputy chief of the Mohmand tribal district administration Naveed Akbar told Agence France Presse.

The bomber came in as Friday prayers were in progress and blew himself up in the main hall, he said.

The victims include four children, aged 10 or younger, who were killed in the attack, he said, adding that a curfew has been imposed in the area.

Another local government official confirmed the information.

Shireen Zada, a resident who had prayed at another mosque nearby, said he heard the blast as he was walking home.

“I rushed to the spot and when I went inside the hall there was blood and human remains everywhere and people crying out,” he told AFP. “I brought my pick-up truck, loaded three wounded and drove them to the hospital in Khar,” he said, referring to the nearest town.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the bombing, saying the government would remain steadfast in their fight against extremists.

“The cowardly attacks by terrorists cannot shatter the government’s resolve to eliminate ter-

rorism from the country,” read a statement from Sharif’s office.

Taliban faction Jamaat-ul-Ahrar (JuA) claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out to avenge the deaths of 13 of its members and arrests of others by a local vigilante force in 2009.

Since 2007 the government has encouraged vigilante forces comprising tribesmen -- locally known as peace committees -- to defend their villages against the Taliban.

“Today our suicide bomber has attacked the so-called peace lashkar (vigilante force) in Mohmand agency’s Anbar district,” the group’s spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said in an email to reporters.

“We warn all the lashkar members of Anbar and supporters of military to quit opposition to Islam and Jihad and refrain from enmity with Mujahedin (holy warriors) otherwise our war is being extended,” Ehsan said.

On September 2, at least 14 people were killed and more than 50 wounded after a suicide bomber attacked a court in the Pakistani city of Mardan in an assault targeting Pakistan’s legal community that was claimed by the JuA. The group has also said it was behind an attack on lawyers in southwest Quetta, which killed 73 people on August 8, as well as the Lahore Easter bombing that killed 75 in Pakistan’s deadliest attack this year.

Pakistan’s deadliest ever attack occurred in Peshawar in December 2014, when Taliban militants stormed a school killing more than 150 people, mostly children.

The army launched an operation in June 2014 in a bid to wipe out militant bases in the northwestern tribal areas and so bring an end to the bloody insurgency that has cost thousands of civilian lives since 2004.

As a result security in the country has since improved. Scattered attacks still take place, but they are fewer and of a lesser intensity than in previous years. AFP

FESTIVE. A Balinese girl carries offerings during prayers to celebrate Kuningan holiday at a temple in Denpasar on Indonesia’s reslort island of Bali on Saturday. AFP

‘Syria blocking humanitarian aid’ WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama voiced “deep concern” that key elements of a Syria ceasefire are not being upheld Friday, after huddling with top national security aides.

A week after the United States and Russia agreed to halt bombing and let humanitarian aid into Aleppo, shaky implementation figured prominently in a National Security Council meeting scheduled to focus on the Islamic State group.

“The President expressed deep concern that, despite decreased

violence across the country, the Syrian regime continues to block the flow of critical humanitarian aid,” the White House said.

The deal has somewhat quieted the bombs over Syria’s second city Aleppo, but aid convoys have not been allowed to reach the roughly 250,000 civilians besieged by government forces.

Obama reportedly told aides that the next steps in the deal -closer military coordination with Russia -- will require “seven continuous days of reduced violence and sustained humanitarian ac-

cess.”

Any US military cooperation with the Kremlin could be seen as a tacit endorsement of its war in Syria and support for the Assad regime, which has used barrel bombs and chemical weapons against civilians.

Some within the Pentagon have expressed deep reservations about the agreement, brokered between Secretary of State John Kerry with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, forcing Obama to referee disputes.

Russia, critics say, has repeat-

edly used talks to blunt criticism of its support of Assad, sow doubt among US allies on the ground and buy time for Syrian forces to improve their position.

But White House and State Department officials have argued any ceasefire, even if imperfect and fleeting, offers desperately needed respite from a brutal five-year civil war that has killed 300,000 people.

Privately, they express concern that Russia may be stalling for time, but say ultimately talks are the only way the Syrian war will come to an end. AFP

IS sex slave named UN goodwill envoy

ENTRANCED. Vice-president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly Yang Hyong-sop (center) attends the opening ceremony of the 15th Pyongyang International Film Festival at the Central Youth Hall in Pyongyang. AFP

PH-born Pixies guitarist goes into rehab NEW YORK—Alternative rock greats the Pixies on Friday scrapped appearances for their upcoming album as Philippine-born lead guitarist Joey Santiago went into rehab.

The band said that Santiago would stay at a rehabilitation center for at least 30 days to treat alcohol and drug issues.

The Pixies will therefore call

off promotional appearances around its album “Head Carrier,” which comes out on September 30, but still plan a tour of Europe that starts November 15 in Vienna.

“This is the best thing that Joey could have done, and we’re very proud that he’s taken this step,” drummer David Lovering said in a statement.

“We ask all of our fans to support Joey while he’s on this road to recovery,” he said.

Santiago, born in the Philippines, is one of three remaining founding members in the Bostonborn band along with Lovering and frontman Black Francis.

Bassist Kim Deal, also known for her band The Breeders, left in 2013 after years of on-off friction

with Black Francis.

The Pixies became an underground sensation in the 1980s with their combination of distorted guitar and surrealist lyricism, with their hit “Debaser” inspired

by Salvador Dali.

Their sound became a major influence on acts such as Nirvana who led the alternative rock revolution of the early 1990s. AFP

UNITED NATIONS—A young Iraqi woman who survived rape and abuse as a sex slave of Islamic State fighters on Friday became a UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking.

Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman, called for justice for the victims of the jihadist group and argued that the 2014 attack on the Yazidis should be recognized as a genocide.

Murad was taken from her home village of Kocho near Iraq’s northern town of Sinjar in August 2014 and brought to IScontrolled Mosul, where she was gang-raped, and bought and sold many times.

“I was used in the way that they wanted to use me. I was not alone,” Murad said during a ceremony held at UN headquarters.

“Perhaps I was the lucky one.

As time passed, I found a way to escape where thousands others could not. They are still captive.”

Her voice trembling, Murad called for the release of some 3,200 Yazidi women and girls still being held as sex slaves by IS fighters and for the captors to face justice.

“My real fear is that once ISIS is defeated, ISIS militants, ISIS terrorists will just shave off their beards and walk the streets of the

cities as if nothing as happened,” she said.

“We cannot let this happen.”

Murad said her hope was that one day, Yazidi victims will be able to look “our abusers in the eye before a court in The Hague and tell the world what they have done to us, so that our community can heal.”

As a goodwill ambassador, Murad will focus on raising awareness of the plight of victims of trafficking of persons, especially refugees, women and girls.

She is represented by international lawyer Amal Clooney, who said the Islamic State group must be held accountable for grave crimes.

“We know that what we have before us is genocide, and we know that it is still ongoing,” said Clooney.

“I am ashamed as a human being that we ignore their cries for help,” said Clooney, drawing applause.

As world leaders converge on the United Nations next week for the annual General Assembly debate, Iraq and Britain will on Monday launch a campaign to push for accountability for crimes committed by IS. Murad and Clooney are due to attend that event along with Britain’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. AFP

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World

$13b raised to fight AIDS, TB, malaria M

ONTREAL— International donors on Friday kicked off a drive to raise $13 billion for fighting AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed the killer diseases can be “eradicated” by 2030.

Trudeau is hosting the fifth triennial Global Fund replenishment conference to fight against these diseases, with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and a half dozen heads of states also in attendance.

“It’s a pivotal moment for our global community and a challenge of this magnitude requires a united, sustained commitment from all of us,” Trudeau told a press conference, urging nations to give generously.

Created as a public-private initiative, the Global Fund has so far spent $30 billion on programs to fight the three deadly diseases around the world, with most of it going to Africa.

It has been credited with helping to save 22 million lives and preventing 300 million infections over the past decade as it pursues a UN target of eradicating AIDS by 2030 and the other diseases even sooner.

But it needs to raise another $13 billion to fund its operations over the next three years through 2019.

“These epidemics can be eradicated,” Trudeau said. “By working together we can put an end to these devastating illnesses forever.”

“Make no mistake,” he added, “this is a defining moment for us all. Our generation of leaders will be judged by our action or our inaction on this issue.”

Joining political leaders will be Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, whose foundation has contributed a total of $1.6 billion to the Fund since its inception, as well as U2 frontman Bono.

Bono is also co-founder of the non-profit ONE that works to reduce poverty and disease in Africa, and will be a guest speaker at the forum.

The Fund has brought enormous heft in the fight against disease, with encouraging results.

Since 2005, the number of deaths from AIDS has dropped by one third with nine million people receiving anti-viral treatments, according to Global Fund spokesman Seth Faison.

While more than 100 countries have received assistance from the Fund, more than 70 percent of its spending has gone to African countries, he said.

Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda have received the most.

“Disease knows no borders,” said Senegal President Macky Sall, urging fellow leaders to make public health a priority as important as national security, for example.

In his opening address, Trudeau also highlighted that a sustained effort to eradicate AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, which continue to kill “8,000 people daily,” can also go a long way to reducing poverty, which disproportionally affects women and girls.

“Poverty is sexist,” said Trudeau. “Our societies cannot succeed without the full participation and empowerment of women and girls.” AFP

Kosovo expels 2 newsmen PRISTINA--Kosovo police said Friday they had expelled two journalists, a Russian and a Ukranian, who did not have entry visas.

They “had neither visas nor entry stamps for the Republic of Kosovo,” a police press release said, adding that the reporters had been escorted to a northern border crossing with Serbia.

Police mentioned only the initials of the journalists, while local media said that they were Russian reporter Oksana Sazonova and her Ukrainian colleague, Sergei Belous.

Both were working for Russian media outlets in Belgrade.

They were detained on Thursday in southern Kosovo on suspicion of illegally entering the country and were taken to Pristina, where they were held in a center for foreigners before their expulsion on Friday.

Sazonova and Belous were reportedly working on a documentary about Serbian Orthodox churches in Kosovo.

They were also fined 200 euros ($223) each and banned from re-entering Kosovo for the next five years.

Kosovo applies a visa regime to Russia and all other countries that oppose its independence from Serbia, which was unilaterally declared in 2008. AFP

US rejects Crimea elections WASHINGTON--The United States “does not recognize the legitimacy” of upcoming Russian parliamentary elections planned for Crimea, the State Department said Friday.

“The United States does not recognize the legitimacy, and will not recognize the outcome, of the Russian Duma elections planned for Russian-occupied Crimea on September 18th,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby in a statement.

Two-and-a-half years after Moscow annexed the strategic peninsula from Ukraine, residents are gearing up to vote Sunday in their first polls to elect deputies to Russia’s national parliament.

“Our position on Crimea is clear: the peninsula remains an integral part of Ukraine,” Kirby said. “Crimea-related sanctions against Russia will remain until Russia returns control of Crimea to Ukraine.”

The US State Department also expressed concern “about the humanitarian situation in Crimea, including the status of the ethnic Tatar community and widespread reports of missing persons and human rights abuses.” AFP

Playwright Edward Albee, 88 ROYALTY. Princess Madeleine of Sweden attends the World Childhood Foundation USA Thank You Gala 2016 at Cipriani 42nd Street on Friday in New York City. AFP

Pontiff visits 2 hospitals

CONFLICT. Israeli security forces gather at the scene of a stabbing attack, where a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli soldier before he was shot dead, in the flashpoint West Bank city of Hebron on Saturday. An Israeli military statement said the attacker drew a knife during a routine security check in Hebron’s Tel Rumeida neighborhood, wounding the soldier. AFP

ROME--Pope Francis made surprise visits to two Rome hospitals on Friday, the Vatican said, continuing his monthly series of unannounced trips.

“Days after canonizing Mother Teresa a “”who gave great service in favor of life,” the Argentinian pontiff wanted to visit “two very symbolic buildings.” the Vatican statement said.

The first was to the neonatal ward of San Giovanni Hospital in Rome.

“The Pope, who was greeted with astonishment by the staff, put on a face mask and underwent all the necessary hygiene precautions for the aseptic environment,” the statement said.

Pope Francis then visit the “Villa Speranza” hospice which cares for 30 terminal patients.

NEW YORK--Pulitzer-winning US playwright Edward Albee, author of such masterpieces as “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” died Friday at age 88, his personal assistant said in a statement.

Albee died at his home in Montauk, New York after a short illness, according to his longtime personal assistant Jakob Holder.

Considered one of the most important American playwrights of his time, Albee wrote a variety of intense, controversial plays diving into anxieties, disillusionments and death.

He burst onto the theater scene with “The Zoo Story” (1958) at age 30. The two-character drama, portraying disaffection and class struggle, premiered in Berlin the following year and then moved to off-Broadway in 1960.

“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” debuted two years later on Broadway. The shocking trash-talking, boozy depiction of a tortured academic couple, George and Martha, was eventually a hit.

It was later made into a 1966 black-comedy movie directed

by Mike Nichols and starring Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who won an Oscar as best actress. AFP

Life

LIKE A BUTTERFLY. The Papilio range of chairs features an enveloping back that cradles the person sitting on it.

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

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SUNDAY LIVING

Furniture pieces Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa

that blend with the environment

By Bernadette Lunas

“W

HEN you are not thinking about an object when you are using it, that is more interesting [than] when you think about it.”

It is baffling not to think about an object whenever you are using it, because how can you actually make use of its functions and maximize its full potential when you are not aware of its presence at all? And haven’t we been told to be mindful and to acknowledge the existence of things?

But Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa argues that this is how a person should feel and should be whenever he is using the products that he designed. In fact, his “without thought” and “design dissolving in behavior” philosophy have given birth to many iconic and world-renowned projects that are simple and intrinsically minimalistic in form— case in point is the wall-mounted CD player he designed for Muji which is now part of the permanent collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Fukasawa, tagged as one of the world’s most inf luential designers by Bloomberg

Newsweek, was recently in the Philippines to talk about his design philosophy as part of B&B Italia’s 50th anniversary.

Fukasawa has been collaborating with the Italian furniture company since 2005, a partnership that has led to the creation of many remarkable projects.

While Fukasawa goes for most advanced, smallest and thinnest when he’s designing electronic products, his approach in furniture is based on human behavior.

“I never fail to make a design that fit well into the environment and fit well into your house,” said the Tokyo-based designer.

For him, an object, or a piece of furniture for this matter, should espouse harmonious relationship between its user and environment. “Not having to think about it makes the relationship between a person and an object run more smoothly.”

Papilio Bed and Awa low table

Fukasawa-designed furniture and accessories include (from left) Bunch, Papilio Shell and Shelf-X.

In an interview with Manila Standard, Fukasawa said when designing he doesn’t just focus on the object. “I design the object with the air behind or around it as ambient.” With this, according to him, “people think about an object less while the body naturally behaves with it.”

“It is part of the environment, [thus] it should be part of the environment,” he added.

One ideal example is his Papilio range of

armchairs, sofas and beds—a line that is acknowledged as one of his most celebrated works.

The sculpted Papilio line lacks the show-stopping quality and details that many equate with the designer’s talent—and perhaps even personality— but upon sitting on the chair, one would feel like being cradled. The curve supports the back in a way that’s only possible if the designer thought of the object’s user when he was creating it.

“It needs to support the back of the person, that’s why we made the contour,” said Fukasawa.

Like its namesake, the Papilio features an enveloping back that seems to open like a butterfly’s wings—Fukasawa’s response to the way people use their mobile phones and tablet computers today. Because according to him, shrinking technology is changing the types of furniture people use at home.

“Why do we need such a big table to work at, or a huge screen?” he asked.

“You lie down on the bed to watch TV,

call on your mobile, work or eat food.

That’s why I designed these chairs and the bed with a back.”

The Shelf-X, another Fukasawa design, is a stark white bookcase made of thin Corian that features modern geometrical lines that fit into the minimalist flow of an urban home. Since the designer believes that an object should be part of the environment—however way possible—the Shelf-X can be used as wall-mounted shelf, partition, or screen.

Meanwhile, the Awa is an elegant, asymmetrical low table that is a perfect complement to any sofa or bed. It is made from Cristalplant, a refined material that is smooth to the touch.

These and other Fukasawa-designed furniture are available at B&B Italia, exclusively distributed in the Philippines by Focus Global, Inc. B&B Italia showroom is located at Twenty-four Seven McKinley Building, Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. For inquiries, call (02) 705-9999 or visit www.bebitaliamanila.com.

adidas Originals now in your neighborhood PIONEERING sports style to the streets, adidas Originals has always been close to the ground. Taking to the streets that the threestripes call their home, adidas Originals launches the retail concept Neighborhood in Manila, its flagship stores opening at Uptown Mall and Glorietta.

Staying true to the adidas Originals vision, the Neighborhood stores in Manila take inspiration from the spirit of the city. Rooted firmly in the culture of the surrounding streets, Manila’s flagship stores tell the countless stories that come with these neighborhoods.

“Neighborhood concept stores have already opened in major cities across the world: Berlin, London, New York and Paris to name a few, but what makes each store unique is its connection to the city’s neighborhood within which the store resides.

Each city’s design, style and ambience are showcased through the interior elements of the store,” says Jen Dacasin, adidas Philippines Brand Communications and Sports Marketing manager.

The Neighborhood stores have a special, handcrafted design, which incorporates the store façade and architecture. Connected to the scene and feel of Manila, Neighborhood is set to become a local and cultural center.

“Through Neighborhood, we create an engaging and fresh environment for our consumers that celebrates the diverse facets of Manila. By doing this, we ensure to remain part of the city’s landscape,” shares Dacasin.

The only place that can showcase the depth of the brand, the Neighborhood stores present the very best of adidas Originals: sneaker highlights, limited releases and collaborations.

By opening the Neighborhood flagship store in Manila, adidas Originals does not only reposition themselves as the pioneering

sportswear brand for the streets, Originals also engage with their target consumers further, providing them authentic hubs for creativity and inspiration.

To celebrate the opening of the Manila flagship stores, adidas Originals launched 11 new colorways of the NMDs, inspiring everyone to explore and own the future.

Sneakerheads can check out adidas Originals sneaker highlights, limited releases and collaborations at Neighborhood Uptown Mall and Neighborhood Glorietta.

Life

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Cordillera natives

in Misters of Filipinas 2016

T

HE ethnic wear and talent competition of the 27 aspirants of Misters of Filipinas 2016 pageant held at the Atrium of Fisher Mall in Quezon City on Tuesday gave Manilans a wonderful glimpse of the glorious and rich cultural heritage of the Mountain province preserved and shielded from outside influences but largely ignored by westernized present generation.

Cordillera natives Christopher Comicho Dulagan and Darryl Joshua Gomes shone with their masterful indigenous dances and ethnic attires during the preliminary event.

Gomez, a native of Bontoc province, performed an endearing and dynamic Ifugao tribal dance that left the crowd in awe.

Dulagan, the police inspector and pride of Cordillera, was no less magnificent in his ethnic Igorot dance in

Cordillera’s Christopher Comicho Dulagan and Mountain Province’s Darryl Joshua Gomes placed first and third, respectively, in Misters of Filipinas 2016’s Ethnic Costume competition

the traditional bahag wrapped around built body. The exotic police inspector ity, which the crowd warmly cheered his waist, which revealed his perfectly performed with passion and authentic- and applauded.

Gomes and Dulagan were named among the top three in the Best Ethnic Wear competition with Cagayan Valley’s John Glenn Seridon. Dulagan wore a Kalinga-headhunters-inspired costume designed by Don Cristobal consisting of a kalasag and sibat (shield and spear), headgear and hand-woven tapi and bahag (loincloth and wrap around) to complete the ensemble.

The top three in the talent competition were Cagayan Valley’s Seridon, Paombong-Bulacan’s Reimer Cortez and Camarines Sur’s Gerald Jahn Fullante.

The talent and ethnic costume show followed the swimwear competition on Sept. 2 in Tagum City, Davao del Norte.

Fitness buff Ichin Daclan of General Santos City was adjudged best in swimwear, while Davao del Norte’s Randy Angelo Ramos, Albay’s Issa Janda, Laguna’s Jerald Mendoza and Dulagan were named 2nd to 5th, respectively.

Meanwhile, Dulagan was leading in the on-going voting for the Misters 2016 Popularity Award. The winners of Mister International Philippines, Manhunt International Philippines, Mister Globe Philippines, Man of the Year Philippines, Mister Supranational Philippines and Man of the World Philippines will be known during finals night to be held at the Newport Performing Arts Theater Resorts World Manila tonight. Eton B. Concepcion

Furniture for PBB housemates

SB Furniture creates a dream home in the country is taking a new path the pre-season introduction between for Pinoy Big Brother housemates. and doing a lot of firsts in this new the housemates aren’t the only excitThe longest running reality TV show season. But the trip to Vietnam and ing additions to ABS-CBN’s Pinoy Big Brother: Lucky Season 7. The audience has noticed that Bahay ni Kuya is now decked out in simply beautiful, stylish and bold new SB Furniture.

Celebrity and teen housemates find themselves lounging on the Jelly sofas and the Jiji and Sachem accent chairs. The blue Apmania sofas found at different parts of the Big Brother house serve as rich pops of color in its rooms.

Whether cooped up in the house for 100 days or just wanting a cozy place to come home to, SB Furniture is ready to provide the best home solutions.

Drop by their stores and showrooms Blue Apmania sofa provides rich pop of colors to any house in BGC and Makati, where you can find ropean-quality and eco-friendly pieces, is a great partner to help you create your stylish, quality pieces, and also get a has made thousands of homes as stylish own dream home.

For more information, visit www.sbfree layout consultancy for your home and comfortable as the Pinoy Big Brother house.

With their durable, trendy, and furniture.com.ph and sbfurniturephilipwith in-store design experts.

Stylish chairs, such as SB Furniture’s Jiji accent chair and Jelly sofa, add color to the SB Furniture, which offers only Eu- value for money furniture, SB Furniture pines on Instagram. popular Bahay ni Kuya

SNAPSHOT

Acacia’s first half of 2016 awards TOP traveler sites, namely Booking. com, Hotels.com and Tripadvisor, awarded Acacia Hotel Manila with plaques and certificate of recognition because of its overall performance on their respective websites. The accolades were received with honor as the property prided in providing all customers with competitive rates, worthwhile stays and unparalleled level of Filipino hospitality.

Booking.com awarded the 261-room hotel with a rating of 8.7 out of 10 while Hotels.com gave an excellent rating of 4.3 out of 5. All awards were based on the hotels’ average customer rating and overall quality of online reviews sub-

mitted by local and international travelers. Moreover, Acacia Hotel Manila received its 4th Certificate of Excellence from TripAdvisor. This recognition aims to celebrate businesses that consistently garnered a bubble rating of at least four out of five and maintain the minimum quantity of quality reviews over the span of 12 months. TripAdvisor’s Vice President for Industry Marketing Heather Leisman said that this annual recognition helps travelers identify and book properties that consistently delivers great service and that they are proud to play this very important role in helping travelers feel more confident with their choices.

NEW SAN DIONISIO BARANGAY HALL INAUGURATION GREATER access to better and inclusive public service may be expected by residents of San Dionisio, Paranaque City with the recent inauguration and blessing of a new barangay hall that highlighted the 82nd birthday celebration of San Dionisio Barangay Chairman and former Paranaque City Mayor Pablo R. Olivarez (third from left).

A joint project of the Paranaque City government and the San Dionisio barangay council, the new barangay hall has a sports complex component featuring a gymnasium, a covered basketball court and an open basketball court and volleyball court. With Chairman Olivarez during the ribbon-cutting and blessing rites are (from left): Janet Olivarez, Mayor Edwin L. Olivarez, Supreme Court Justice Teresita J. Leonardo-de Castro, Vice Mayor Rico T. Golez and Rep. Eric L. Olivarez.

Student writers join Perpetual Help Las Piñas’ journalism summit From left: Acacia Hotel Manila Executive Assistant Liezel Barrido, Hotels.com Associate Market Manager Darlene Denise Chan, Assistant Front Office Manager Lloyd Castelltort, Revenue Manager Joy Guzman and Director of Sales and Marketing Cherry Pea Maddela

HUNDREDS of student writers from four divisions of the Department of Education joined the University of Perpetual Help Las Piñas Campus’ Journalism Summit 2016 held at the school auditorium on Sept. 3.

With this year’s theme “Media in the 21st Century: Connecting Today.

Building Tomorrow!,” the university’s

campus-based journalism summit gave students techniques and tips on how to hurdle the challenging world of the press conferences.

The university had Mon Gualvez, junior correspondent of TV 5, Wilmor Pacay III, former editor-in-chief of The Torch (PNU); and Jesus Valencia, Jr., president NCRSSPAA Inc. as speakers for news, editorial,

and sports writing, respectively.

“I would like to express my gratitude for the generosity of the University of Perpetual Help. You are an angel sent to public schools. [However] I do hope other categories will also be included for the next summit,” said Rachelle Quejada, Muntinlupa Business High School-Sucat Annex coach.

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SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

A

BS-CBN’s newest talentreality program Pinoy Boyband Superstar immediately captivated viewers nationwide as its search for the members of the ultimate Pinoy boyband kicked off on Sept. 10 and 11.

Reality search judges (from left) Aga Muhlach, Yeng Constantino, Sandara Park and Vice Ganda during the show’s premiere telecast

‘Pinoy Boyband

Superstar’

debuts as most watched program on weekend

According to data from Kantar Media, viewers nationwide tuned in to watch the first batch of aspiring singing heartthrobs as they showed off their charm and talent making Pinoy Boyband Superstar the most watched program last weekend.

On Sept. 10, the show registered a national TV rating of 34.4 percent, versus its rival program on GMA, Pepito Manaloto, which only got 21.4 percent.

The Sunday episode also rated highly with 36.4 percent, or 18 points higher than Ismol Family’s” 17.9 percent.

In its premiere, the audience got a taste of what qualities superstar judges Vice Ganda, Sandara Park, Yeng Constantino, and Aga Muhlach were looking for in a boy band.

The lucky boy band member wannabe’s who got the judges’ sweet “yeses” were the Swabeng Shy Guy of Caloocan Allen Cecilio, Hunky Haranista of Valenzuela Ford Valencia, Romantic Athlete of UK Markus Peterson, and Kanto Boy Next Door of Cebu Niel Murillo.

Also moving on to the next round of the competition are the wacky Twinkabogable of Batangas Jayvee and Bjorn Mendoza, as well as the Proud Daddy’s Boy of Pampanga Keanno Dela Cruz, the first-ever contestant to audition in front of the superstar judges by way of Sandara’s “override” power, which she used when he failed to get 75 percent of the girl fans’ votes.

Just visit boyband.ph to get to know the boys better and relive their performances last weekend. Which of them will make up the Philippines’ ultimate boy band?

Don’t miss the journey of aspiring boy band members as they make their dreams come true in Pinoy Boyband Superstar on ABS-CBN. For updates, visit boyband.ph, like facebook. com/BoybandPH on Facebook, and follow @ BoybandPH on Twitter.

KathNiel in

‘Matanglawin’ THE audience will be wowed watching Matanglawin today as the popular KathNiel love team of Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo joins Kuya Kim Atienza in the show.

The Teen King and Queen will experience amazing card tricks from magician Anthony Andres who has been practicing his tricks on people for almost a decade.

Andres will display his mind-boggling sleight-of-hand mastery to the lead stars of the film Barcelona.

Winner of the 2016 COMGUILD award and 2016 ALTA Media Awards for Best Educational Program. Matanglawin features beautifully crafted do-it-yourself dolls, a wonder dog, and a magic master in another fun and amusing episode.

Kuya Kim will encounter Jac Zapatos of Dolldalita, the master behind the Waldorf style dolls, which don’t smile.

The award-winning host will find out why this is so, after which he will also meet Milo the amazingly well trained dog of Tristan Huertas.

Watch and learn fascinating stuff about science and animals, among other wonderful trivia 10 a.m. today in Matanglawin on ABS-CBN on free TV, ABS-CBN HD Ch. 166 on SKYCable, and www.iwantv.com.ph online.

Follow their Facebook page at http://facebook.com/MatanglawinTV and official Twitter account (@ MatanglawinTV) for more updates.

Kuya Kim Atienza holding a do-it-yourself doll

Big Brother says teen housemates ‘too touchy’

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. Big Brother reprimands Edward (left) and Heaven (right) for being too drawn to each other

WITH romance blooming inside his famous house, Big Brother stepped in to give some of the teen housemates a much-needed piece of advice as to how they should act among each other in Pinoy Big Brother Lucky Season 7.

Teen housemates Heaven Peralejo and Edward Barber, who have admitted their affection for each another, were separately called by Big Brother and were told not to be ‘too touchy.’

“I am happy that you are getting closer to your fellow housemates but I want to remind you that being too touchy may not be appropriate,” Big Brother told Heaven.

Heaven apologized for not noticing how physical she and Edward have become, while Edward said he did not realize what was wrong.

“I didn’t realize. For me, being physical is

normal,” reasoned Edward.

Big Brother then explained that the culture in England is different from that in the Philippines and said there are other ways to get to know someone.

Afterwards, Heaven and Edward spoke with another pair of housemates--- Marco Gallo and Vivoree Esclito--- who also recently admitted that they like each other.

Only 15 and 16, Marco and Vivoree were reminded by Big Brother that as teenagers they do not have the license yet to do whatever they want.

As the two pairs deal with their feelings, teen housemate Fenech Veloso also dealt with saying goodbye as she was named the season’s newest evictee.

Will the housemates listen to Big Brother’s

advice? What could be the final two lucky tasks from Big Brother?

Don’t miss Pinoy Big Brother Lucky Season 7, Monday to Friday after Born For You on ABS-CBN or on ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable Ch 167). Viewers can also catch up on the program’s past episodes via iWanTV.com and for Sky subscribers.

Pinoy Big Brother Lucky Season 7: Mga Kwento ng Teen Housemates, meanwhile, airs weekdays at 5p.m. while Pinoy Big Brother Season 7 Online Show goes live online Monday to Friday at 7 p.m. on www. pinoybigbrother.com For updates, follow @PBBabscbn on Twitter, @pbbabscbntv on Instagram or like https://www.facebook.com/PBBabscbntv/ on Facebook.

Longest marathon watching TV at History Con 2016 TWO Filipinos made history by clocking in 100 hours and 15 minutes for Longest Marathon Watching TV at the World Trade Center, Pasay City.

Francis Gerodias and Andrew Casano bested four other finalists at the first staging of History Con in Asia. Held in a specially constructed vestibule

by Panasonic, the participants began the marathon watching their favorite shows on SKYcable a few weeks ago. The feat was one of three world record achievements

mounted at History Con. History Con also gave Filipinos their first chance to meet their favorite History celebrities, enjoy the largest rally of cars and bikes, experience virtual reality simulations, appreciate historical exhibitions, watch live musical performances, and their first sneak peak of History’s brand new shows.

Stars of History’s most popular shows included Ancient Alien’s Giorgio Tsoukalos, Storage Wars’ Brandi Passante and Jarrod

Schulz, Gangland Undercover’s Damon Runyan and Ian Matthews, Photo Face Off’s Justin Mott and new show Celebrity Car Wars’s KC Montero, Joey Mead King, Marc Nelson, professional car driver Gaby Dela Merced and host Bobby Tonelli.

History is available on SKYcable Ch 67 SD and 165 HD in Metro Manila, Rizal, Cavite and Laguna and Ch 201 SD and 722 HD in Cebu, Davao, Bacolod, Iloilo, Baguio, Dumaguete and General Santos as well as SKY on Demand.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, September 18, 2016

ACROSS 1 In disorder 6 Be of benefit 11 Feint 15 Coarse files 20 Rodeo venue 21 Oft-quoted catcher 22 Tatum or Ryan 24 Pop a top 25 Billiards shot 26 Miscalculated 27 Over yonder 28 Adorned, on menus 29 Like the stars 31 Halftime marchers 33 Client mtg.

34 Outer-space wear (hyph.)

35 Alertness (2 wds.)

37 Teen dolls 39 Season 41 Prior to yr. 1 42 Arctic wildflowers 43 Wynonna or Naomi 44 Yukon transport 46 Toward sunrise 50 Magda’s sister 51 Canada Day month 52 Lowly laborer 53 “Born Free” lioness 57 Changes genetically 59 Zwieback 60 Momentary flash 61 Exude moisture 62 Rims 63 Wish for 64 “Lorna —” 65 601, to Livy 66 Jargon 67 Have a fondness for 68 Slope 69 Fiesta “must” 72 Quiche base 73 Shaft locale 74 Provisions 75 Zoomed 76 Short-lived insects 79 Game-show prizes 80 Element to toughen steel 84 Not his and hers 85 Burrito morsels 86 Many, in combos 87 Pro-gun grp.

88 Claim to be true 91 Informal speech 92 Raise one’s voice 93 Onion goodies 95 Dice spot 96 Hang of it 97 Morse clicks 98 Blockbusters 99 “Rule, Britannia!” composer 101 Light pink wine 102 Shrill barks 103 Hot pepper

104 105 106 107 108 109 111 112 114 117 118 119 124 126 128 130 131 132 134 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144

Balance Yokel Debtors’ notes Lobster trap Some NCOs Makes small talk Blunt end Flu bug Jacques’ friend Wood-shaving tool Dry run Tropical bookworm? (2 wds.)

Hamlet’s kin Hawkeye state Parrot’s word Salad green Man or stallion Exclusive bunch Enticements Pleiades number Second to none Hotfooted it Early stages African antelope Wyoming range Govt. agents Short of cash Dings a door

DOWN 1 Rain forest bird 2 Delete a file 3 Sealy competitor 4 Blow, as a horse 5 Popular motorcycle 6 Homer’s dad 7 Fragrant plant 8 Vast assortments 9 Castle that danced 10 He played Shane 11 Iota 12 — me, sir!

13 Stays fresh 14 Wyatt the lawman 15 Rough, as terrain 16 Miscellanies 17 Cancel a launch 18 Wild fear 19 Meanie’s motive 23 Not bother (2 wds.)

30 River embankments 32 Lurk 36 Gives it the gas 38 Ben & Jerry rival 40 Well-bred chap 43 Fair-minded 44 Trawler net 45 Embroider 46 Logo 47 Charioteer constellation 48 Tight 49 Zingy taste 51 Kind of wedding 52 Trudges along 54 Pollux’s mother 55 Splinter group

56 58 59 60 63 64 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 75 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 85 86 88 89 90 91 92 93

Capital of Samoa Bout ender Casanova type Prods — over (persuades) Fumbles the ball Is prone Auctioneer’s word — up (pay) Tax shelter Beatty of films Thick mud Straightforward Willowy Gauls, to Romans Carry wearily Show how Tenn. gridders One of nine Critical Hordes World-weary Household members On — — with Onetime Trevi Fountain coins RN assistants Cold-shoulders Puppy noises Orbison or Acuff

94 96 97 98 100 101 102 103 106 107 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 118 119 120 121 122 123 125 127

Currier’s partner More clumsy Finger-paint Ready to eat Handy abbr.

Wire nail Hostel visitor Crocus “bulb” Where — at Flew Expedite Worked as an usher Travel bag Had vibes Get accustomed Mexico’s Sierra — Arctic dweller Think — about it Branch of geometry Designer — Simpson Sofa Big occasion Rips apart Brat in “Blondie” Minnesota’s Saint — College 129 Black, in verse 133 Publishing execs 135 Dirty place

WORLD RECORD. Participants to the Longest Marathon Watching TV clocked in 100 hours and 15 minutes making them break the previous record of 94 hours set by the current title holder from the US

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

D4

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2016

Showbiz

The beloved onscreen pair of Mark Herras and Megan Young

Kapuso star Rhian Ramos expands her already multihyphenate profile dabbling between acting and hosting and (in the sport known only to alpha males) car racing

All’s well that ends well in

‘Conan My Beautician’ The many hats

Rhian Ramos wears

VIEWERS are sure to be in for a treat today as GMA’s riot comedy series Conan My Beautician airs its final episode.

After being in a coma for quite a while, Perla (Lotlot ( de Leon) Leon finally wakes up and she and son Conor (Balang) (Balang discover that her son Conan (Mark Herras) and Ava ( (Megan Young) Young are in danger after they were kidnapped by Chika (Kaki Bautista) and ( Prince (Rodjun Cruz). ( The beauticians at Salon Paz join forces to save Conan and Ava. But it seems they are not the only ones who are ready to take the battle to the next level—even Chika is in full

costume to fight them.

Candy Pangilinan guests in this finale episode. Meanwhile, joining Salon Paz beauticians Mimi (Betong Sumaya) and Pia (Tetay) in saving Conan and Ava is comedian Attack. Adding fun to the show is Lovely Abella as Ava’s secretary Sharon and Ken Anderson as Salon Paz’s water boy Gabby.

Will the Salon Paz beauticians succeed in saving Conan and Ava? What will happen to Chika and Prince? And will Conan finally have his happy ever after with Ava? Don’t miss the colorful and fun-filled season finale of Conan My Beautician, 5 p.m., today only on GMA-7.

The Great Australian Spelling Bee

buzzes on Diva

S

INCE her first assignment on GMA as leading lady of Richard Gutierrez in Captain Barbell, Rhian Ramos has been cast to play characters such as a vindicated sweet underdog , mythical goddess, playboy switched to a female, abused housewife, liberated lesbian to a psychotic killer, among others. She has evolved into a fine actress giving justice to roles that would test the mettle of a true thespian by putting her heart in every character she portrays.

Currently, this multi-awarded actress is engaging audiences with her portrayal of Clara in GMA’s remake of the hit movie, Sinungaling Mong Puso. Rhian has visibly grown in her craft as viewers are taken along her heart-rending journey

as she masterfully moves from the nuances of one emotion to another... leading the cast of equally brilliant co-stars in the retelling of an award winning story.

But acting is not all that defines this gorgeous stunner.

Among the many talents and interests that add color to her world is car racing. When she started dabbling in the sport, she didn’t even know how to drive a car, much less operate a stick shift, but she pushed hard, trained and continues to train by joining competitions. To her credit today, she has nine awards from the Philippines Motorsports Championship, PhilMiniRacers Classic Mini Racing that includes First Runner Up in the Classic Mini Expert B Class Category (leg 4) in August.

Rhian’s interest and love for the sport also paved the way for her Shell V Power and Shell Helix endorsements, as well as hosting a car show along with Sam YG called Full Throttle on Fox. Her knack for fashion and

helping the new breed of local designers is one reason for her new website Skilleto where you will discover her new finds as well as Rhian’s other interests. Her passion for food is also given a break in GMA’s Taste Buddies which she co-hosts with Solenn Heussaff.

Gracing the anniversary cover of the newly formatted FHM, Rhian’s BritishFilipino features counterbalance the breathtaking European landscapes for picture perfect layouts. This was soon followed

by Philippine Edition dubbing her as the Most Beautiful Filipina of 2016 after she garnered the most votes from followers, readers and fans of this entertainment website.

Juggling so many hats and achieving excellently in all.... that’s Rhian Ramos.

CAN you spell big words such as anthropomorphism, continuum and soliloquy? It really is daunting to be faced with such challenge yet this is the ultimate standard for the young participants of The Bee. Great Australian Spelling Bee Hosted by two of Australia’s most-loved TV personalities, Grant Denyer and Chrissie Swan, prepare to be spellbound as Australia’s top spellers aged between 8 - 13 years showcase their extraordinary smarts on the show.

Denyer is the ringmaster who guides the children through the many games and challenges. He helps calm their nerves and control their excitement.

The courage, determination and resilience of spellers is what Denyer believes will astound viewers, but it is their extraordinary performances

under pressure and their empathy for one another that he feels will make the show a must-see entertainment. The Great Australian Spelling Bee is edge-of-your-seat viewing. It’s a wonderful show that allows clever kids to shine on a national stage,” he said. “This series is unlike anything else on TV. It is family entertainment at its best.”

Meanwhile, Chrissie Swan joins the show as the “Backstage Supermum.” She joins the spellers and their families in the holding room, ready to hold hands with anxious parents, and jump with them in celebration of the achievements of their extraordinary children.

The Great Australian Spelling Bee premieres tomorrow 9:25 p.m. and airs Monday to Wednesday only on Diva.

The stakes are higher and the words are harder, and Australia’s young top spellers are up to the challenge to showcase their extraordinary smarts