Manila Standard - 2016 November 05 - Saturday

Cops score in drug bust

VOL. XXX • NO. 266 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

THE Manila Police District said Friday its operatives seized about 20 kilograms of shabu wrapped in carbon paper during a buy-bust operation in Ongpin, Manila.

The MPD said the shabu had a street value of P100 million and that two suspects had been arrested.

The district made its statement

even as Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Friday ordered the city’s 7,168 elected officials to submit themselves to mandatory drug tests that will start Monday.

Those who will fail to appear at the Manila Barangay Bureau office will face severe sanctions, Estrada Next page said.

Zambo raid haunts Nur City pressing for crime raps amid Misuari peace efforts

By Lance Baconguis, John Paolo Bencito and F. Pearl A. Gajunera

ZAMBOANGA City Mayor Beng Climaco vowed to pursue charges against Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari over a 20-day attack by his followers in 2013, which led to the deaths of over 200 people and the displacement of thousands of others.

“Misuari has to be accountable for his alleged crimes. Zamboanga City shall continue to pursue our cases in court against him and the MNLF members responsible for the siege. We trust justice will eventually be served,” Climaco said in a statement Wednesday.

On Thursday, Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza flew to Jolo, Sulu to give Misuari a copy of a resolution granting his motion to suspend proceedings against him and to stop the enforcement of warrants of arrest issued by a Pasig Court which granted Misuari’s motion for six months “unless sooner lifted by the court.”

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US big loser in halted arms deal, says Palace

RELIGIOUS RITUAL. Japanese tourists, most of them relatives of victims of the Second World War between Japan’s Imperial forces and the United States-led Allied troops, who included Filipinos, offer Friday a religious expression in front of the ‘Yolanda Mother and Son Marker’ at the foot of the 2,200-meter San Juanico Bridge, which links the islands of Samar and Leyte. Mel Caspe

HR chief tags Yolanda victims hopeful under Digong’s watch Du30 ‘popularly elected despot’; Panelo hits back W A T C H

By Ronald O. Reyes

COMMISSION on Human Rights chairman Jose Luis Martin Gascon on Friday tagged President Rodrigo Duterte as a “popularly elected despot” who poses the “biggest challenge to democracy” since the Marcos dictatorship.

He said Duterte was undermining due process and ignoring human rights to consolidate personal power.

He made his statement amid the Duterte administration’s continuing robust defense of its war on illegal drugs, which has seen thousands of pushers and users killed since he took office in July.

“This is probably the biggest challenge to democracy since the [Marcos] dictatorship,” Gascon told the US-based Foreign Policy magazine.

“With the election of Mr. Duterte, we’re moving away from the post-authoritarian democratic consensus to a period of illiberal democracy.”

Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said Gascon’s charges were baseless.

“Gascon is a threat to intelligent communication,” Panelo told Manila Standard in a chance interview.

Gascon, whom Duterte had called an “idiot” for condemning his “rape joke” against an Australian missionary in the 1980s, said the Philippines was in danger of aligning itself with a “popularly elected despot” who was using his mandate to undermine institutions and consolidate personal power.

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TACLOBAN CITY— Marive Repulda, 43, looks at the third anniversary commemoration of Super Typhoon “Yolanda” on Nov. 8 with anticipation that all the unreleased aid due to them will be finally delivered under the new administration of President Rodrigo Duterte.

“I have high hopes that the full amount of our housing aid will be released this time. It would be too much already if it won’t happen,” said Repulda, a school teacher in Palo, Leyte.

Repulda, like other public school teachers in the central Philippines, were promised housing aid by the Aquino administration

based on a memorandum on Jan. 4, 2014, signed by the Secretary of the Presidential Management Staff, Julia Andrea R. Abad.

The memo refers to the proposed provision of financial assistance from the Presidential Social Fund to government employees who were affected by the Super Typhoon “Yolanda.”

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US POLL Clinton narrows lead over Trump

FIVE days from the US presidential election, polls released Thursday showed the race narrowing, with Democrat Hillary Clinton holding on to a slim lead over Republican Donald Trump.

A New York Times/CBS poll found Clinton ahead 45 percent to 42 percent among likely voters, tighter than her nine-point lead in the same poll in mid-October. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.

A Washington Post/ABC News tracking poll found Clinton ahead within the margin of error, 47 percent to 45 percent, having lost ground to Trump since last week.

The two surveys prompted a rebound for the Mexican peso, a currency that has weakened when Trump’s outlook improves.

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WATCHING OVER. Filipino soldiers, in this photo taken on Sept. 5, stand guard in front of an armored personnel carrier inside a military camp in Jolo, Sulu, following reports terrorist groups plan kidnappings in the central islands popular with foreign tourists. On Nov. 3, the US Embassy in Manila warned Americans to avoid the southern regions of Cebu, a popular tourist attraction with idyllic beaches, spectacular diving and whale watching. AFP

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Tugade’s megabuck bid feared to spawn graft

By Maricel V. Cruz LAWMAKERS on Friday raised the alarm against the plan of Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade not to hold public biddings for some P8 trillion worth

of big-ticket projects under the emergency powers package his office is seeking from Congress, saying this may usher in a “golden age of corruption” instead of the promised “golden age of infrastructure.”

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Trillanes ‘secret trips’ hit CHINESE CONNECTION. Manila Police District anti-illegal drugs

agents present to media the .45 cal. pistol, marked money and shabu amounting to P100 million seized from two suspected Chinese drug dealers alleged to belong to the Binondo connection, responsible for the proliferation of illegal drugs in the capital’s Chinatown. Norman Cruz

twitter.com/ MlaStandard

By Sandy Araneta and Macon Ramos-Araneta

secret visits to China during the Aquino administration, saying these led to China’s takeover of THE militant fishermen’s group Scarborough Shoal.

“President Duterte should be Pamalakaya on Friday called for an investigation of Sena- wary about Trillanes. The US may Next page tor Antonio Trillanes IV for his

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

S

thestandard.com.ph

Palace eases US fears of terror, kidnappings MALACAÑANG on Friday assured Americans of their safety in the country after a travel advisory warned US citizens to avoid the southern part of Cebu amid reports that terrorist groups plan to kidnap foreigners who frequent Dalaguete, Santander and Sumilon Island.

“PNP commanders at various levels have taken the necessary

steps to harden or protect possible targets,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

“Moreover, other measures are being undertaken in public venues to safeguard crowds from harm.”

In a travel advisory, the US Embassy in Manila said terrorist groups were planning kidnappings in places in the Visayas that are popular with tourists.

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News

Rody defends Nur tack

By John Paolo Bencito

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday defended his decision to embrace Moro National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari, saying that he doesn’t want infighting to prevail.

“What is wrong with talking to talk to him because I said with Misuari and embracing we have been fighting for more him? I’m a Moro. And I want than 40 years already,” Duterte

said before members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines at Manila Hotel.

“Do you want another 40 years?” He asked.

Duterte said that if he fails to resolve the peace situation in the country, there won’t be any chance of resolving it ever again.

“If you do not work for a federal system, the communists will return to infighting and Nur would return to the mountains. We can-

not resolve it anymore because of mindless violence,” he said.

On Thursday, the President openheartedly welcomed Moro National Liberation Front chairman Nur Misuari into the Malacanang Palace after his motion to suspend proceedings against him and to stop the enforcement of warrants of arrest were granted by a Pasig Court, changing his status from fugitive to a guest at the Palace.

Du30 conversation with God: Joke only tiresome,” he said in Filipino.

“After this trip, I was asked if I will be still be cursing. I looked out in the sky then everybody was asleep, snoring. Then someone whispering to me... will you stop cursing—I will bring down this plane. There were fools who believed it,” Duterte said, laughing.

Duterte said he wasn’t a bar topnocher, “but I’m not a fool to do that.”

“My favorite [thing] in Davao

is to say something, then you’ll believe in it. Then I’ll take it back afterwards,” he said.

The foul-mouthed President, who once told US President Barack Obama to “go to hell,” said after arriving from a trip to Japan that he has promised God he would stop using profanity.

Duterte said he even asked the voice who he was, but only later realized that it was God. “So, I promise God to—not

to express slang, cuss words and everything,” he said at the time.

But asked if he would stop swearing at the United Nations, the United States, the European Union or Senator Leila de Lima, Duterte added: “There is always a time for everything.”

Duterte is well-known for using profanity when he is angry, and has cursed the Pope, Obama, and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

In 2013, an arrest warrant was issued against Misuari and three others over the 20-day attack on Zamboanga City.

The arrest warrants were issued after the Justice department filed rebellion charges against Misuari, MNLF commander Habier Malik, and 60 others.

Misuari, who founded the MNLF has been hiding in plain sight in Sulu, openly mingling with local folk, who have remained loyal to him and protected him from the government.

Climaco said that Dureza informed her of Misuari’s key role to achieve peace in Mindanao and assured her that cases against the recently freed Moro leader hasn’t been dropped.

“Misuari is a key player in the comprehensive and inclusive road to peace that the Duterte administration is now pursuing. Secretary Jess [Dureza] took the effort to explain that Misuari’s release is temporary and subject to several conditions imposed by the court, hearing the cases against him as the aftermath of the Zamboanga incident three years ago,” she said.

“The cases have not been dismissed but the hearings are temporarily suspended including

the pending warrants of arrest against him,” she added.

The mayor also expressed her support to “the bold and fresh initiatives of President Duterte to seek sustainable peace with justice in the land.”

The government on Friday expressed optimism after the MNLF agreed to “converge” its peace agreements with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.

“The peace process in Mindanao is on track with both the MILF and the MNLF on board for a more inclusive resolution to the conflict. They are now willing to sit at the peace table and work together with the government to address the historical injustices committed against the Moro people,” the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process said in a statement Friday.

“This is an unprecedented and historic development,” the OPAPP added.

The OPAPP said that the positive response of Misuari to President Rodrigo Duterte’s invitation to participate in the Bangsamoro peace process was a significant step to a comprehensive and inclusive resolution of the decades-long armed conflict in Mindanao.

On Monday, the President will be signing an executive order that will create a “more inclu-

sive” Bangsamoro Transition Commission which would craft a new enabling law to replace the failed Bangsamoro Basic Law of the Aquino administration.

The new BTC will have 21 members, from the previous 15 members in the Comprehensive Agreement in the Bangsamoro to accommodate the MNLF and indigenous people.

In his speech on Thursday, Misuari said only President Duterte can solve the long-standing problem of peace and order in Mindanao.

“This trust in the President’s leadership from the MNLF founder is a key ingredient in the President’s roadmap that will lead us to peace in Mindanao,” the OPAPP said.

“President Duterte’s determination to end the war once and for all during his term has led him to explore creative ways to get all the key actors to the peace table.”

The OPAPP also said they would take into consideration the victims of the 2013 Zamboanga Siege.

“The concern for justice related to the Zamboanga incidents in 2013 as well as other incidents identified by the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission will be dealt with in a comprehensive program,” it said.

The MNLF will be part of the government panel, its chairwoman Irene Santiago said.

“The MNLF will be part of the

[government] team. The [government] allotted three spots for the MNLF from the 10 slots allotted for the government side,” Santiago said.

She said that the extended BTC will be composed of 21 members, 11 coming from the MILF including their chairman and 10 from the government side.

Santiago did not disclose the members of the BTC, saying that she is not at liberty to name them.

“After President Duterte signs the EO [Executive Order], the nominees will be informed and they will also be named afterwards,” she said.

She said that Duterte asked the “soon to be members” of the BTC to look into the provisions under the 1996 peace agreement, which were not implemented and all the concerns should be included in the implementing law.

Santiago said the enabling law will be strictly in line with the Comprehensive Agreement of the Bangsamoro, which was passed during the administration of President Benigno Aquino III. She said all meetings of the BTC will be conducted within the country, while their office will be in Cotabato City.

Previously, the BTC had 15 members, eight of which were from the MILF. The rest came from the government.

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Tugade’s...

Cebu is one of the Philippines’ most popular tourist sites because of its idyllic beaches, spectacular diving and whale-watching.

“The US embassy alerts US citizens that terrorist groups are planning to conduct kidnappings in areas frequented by foreigners on the southern portion of Cebu Island,” the advisory said.

The embassy identified three locations: Dalaguete and Santander in Cebu and nearby Sumilon island. Those areas are a short boat ride to tourist hot spots Bohol and Dumaguete.

The warning came after a surge in kidnappings by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines, which included the first attack on a cargo ship in the high seas and the murders of foreigners after ransoms were not paid.

President Rodrigo Duterte’s office released a statement on Friday confirming police had reported an unspecified kidnapping plan in southern Cebu and that security had been increased in the area.

The US embassy did not name who was planning the attacks, but the strife-torn south of the mainly Catholic Philippines is home to various militant groups that have in recent years sworn allegiance to the Islamic State group.

The most notorious is the Abu Sayyaf, a loose network of militants formed in the 1990s with seed money from Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network, which has earned millions of dollars from kidnappings for ransom.

John Paolo Bencito, with AFP

Akbayan Rep. Tomasino Villarin said allowing the Department of Transportation to enter into negotiated contracts under the guise of emergency powers may lead to massive anomalies instead.

“Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” Villarin re-

buked Tugade for announcing in a recent press briefing at the Palace that the Duterte administration will “build, build, build” to the tune of P8 trillion once they get the special powers they are seeking.

“Emergency powers are not justified as these will lead to greed and abuse. While there is great potential in having these infrastructure projects, mechanisms of transparency and ac-

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he was just joking when he said he heard the voice of God telling him to stop cursing.

In a speech before members of the Integrated Bar of the Philippines, Duterte said that nobody in his right mind would believe such a “preposterous” statement.

“There are really fools who say I should stop cursing, it’s getting

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release him from [his] leash very soon, ...ready to attack and sabotage all our initiatives to pursue a peaceful conclusion with China. Trillanes should be held accountable for no less than treason and betrayal of public trust,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya chairman, said in a statement.

Trillanes had made 16 visits to Beijing without the Filipino people being told what was happening, Hicap said.

After his visits, China occu-

Yolanda...

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The financial aid is said to cover education employees hit by the powerful Bohol earthquake in October and Super Typhoon “Yolanda” in November 2013 in Regions IV-A, IV-B, V, VI, VII, VIII, X, and XI. Those whose houses were totally or heavily damaged were to receive P100,000 each, and those whose houses were partially damaged were to get P30,000 each.

Repulda said she hoped that

‘Meari’ moves out of PAR; LPA spotted TROPICAL storm “Meari” had moved away from the Philippine Area of Responsibility due to a tropical depression over the Philippine Sea and a low pressure area in Sorsogon City.

Alex Cada, weather forecaster, said while a tropical depression had pushed “Meari” away to recurve outside PAR, the LPA spotted in the vicinity of Sorsogon City also caused “Meari” to decelerate and move toward the sea.

He, however, said the LPA has a slim chance to develop into a tropical cyclone based on the satellite model.

The LPA embedded along an

intertropical convergence zone will continue to affect Southern Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

As of yesterday 5 p.m., “Meari” was spotted at 1,880 kms east of Central Luzon, packing maximum sustained winds of 65 kms per hour near the center and gustiness of up to 80 kph.

It was moving northeast at 7 kph.

The tropical depression was located at 2,845 kms east of extreme Northern Luzon or Itbayat, Batanes, Cada said.

Packing maximum sustained winds of 55 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 70 kph, it was moving northeast at 20 kph.

Rio N. Araja

Clinton...

Trump leads the race in Utah with 37 percent, according to a Monmouth University poll.

Clinton has 31 percent and conservative protest candidate Evan McMullin has 24 percent, dampening expectations that he could become the first candidate outside a major party to win the state since 1968 and possibly even hold Trump and Clinton below 270 electoral votes and send the race to the US House.

Clinton is campaigning in North Carolina on Thursday, including one event with former rival Bernie Sanders, as Obama stumps for her in Florida.

Trump planned events in both those states, and his wife, Melania, had a rare speech scheduled in Pennsylvania.

Election Forecasts Clinton’s chances of victory slipped to 86 percent in the New York Times forecast and were 66 percent in the FiveThirtyEight polls-only outlook.

A forecast Thursday by Larry Sabato, an election analyst at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, also said Clinton was favored to win, finding 293 electoral votes leaning toward or safely in her column, compared to 214 for Trump. Bloomberg

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Among other new polls, Investor’s Business Daily/TIPP said Trump and Clinton were tied at 44 percent each, and Rasmussen found Trump ahead 45 percent to 42 percent.

State Polls In New Hampshire, a WBUR poll showed Trump ahead by one point, 40 percent to 39 percent, while the candidates were tied at 42 percent each in a Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll. Other polls in the Granite State had shown Clinton leading consistently for months.

State-by-state polling averages continue to give Clinton an edge in the race to 270 Electoral College votes. Her challenge will be to maximize turnout among the Democratic coalition that powered President Barack Obama to two victories: millennials, nonwhite voters, and unmarried women. A Trump upset victory would likely require diminished turnout among Democrat voters and higher-than-expected turnout among Trump’s key coalition, primarily white voters without a college degree.

Duterte enjoys sky-high approval ratings despite the widespread criticism on his war on drugs.

Duterte always justifies his defense of the police over the spate of vigilante-style killings that have snuffed out more than 3,600 lives, saying those killings are being perpetrated by

the drug syndicates themselves, and that two policemen die every day in narcotics operations.

But Gascon says Duterte’s anti-drug campaign is “making a mockery of the most fundamental principles of the rule of law.”

“We’re essentially setting loose the police from whatever constraints we’ve tried to establish over the past 30 years,” he said.

“We’re living in dangerous times.” John Paolo Bencito

countability must be put in place, especially when some of the government’s Chinese partners have been tagged by Transparency International as among the companies that ‘symbolize grand corruption,’” he added.

Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said that P8 trillion was too big an amount, saying Congress has yet to see Tugade’s formal proposal.

Alejano said the timing of the implementation of these projects

must be seriously considered because it may paralyze the entire Metro Manila.

“That is a huge amount. We must remember that construction in the National Capital Region should be planned and phased because, even if assuming you have the money, you cannot do the projects all at the same time in just so short a time.

It will paralyze the whole capital,” Alejano said.

“We must also consider that there is not much space for expansion and the population and the number of cars are rising.

There is no substitute for laying the ground now for long-term solutions.

Tugade on Thursday called on Congress to grant his department emergency powers to allow it to solve the worsening traffic crisis in Metro Manila and in other congested provinces.

pied Scarborough Shoal and prevented Filipino fishermen from entering the shoal.

“Trillanes’ secret backdoor discussions with China are something that have to be probed. We had lost control of the Scarborough Shoal after those visits, which put the livelihood and security of our Filipino fishers are stake,” Hicap said.

“Trillanes is a known United States rabid attack dog who is unresolved on President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncements to gradually separate our country from US control while exploring new diplomatic relations with

China and Russia,” Hicap said.

Since Oct. 25, Filipino fishermen are now able to return to Scarborough Shoal as a result of Duterte’s informal negotiations with Chinese leaders during his state visit to China on Oct.18 to 21.

Trillanes on Friday drew flak from his colleagues, some of whom he said were acting as Duterte apologists and tantamount to intellectual dishonesty.

On his Twitter account, Senator Panfilo Lacson said: “Why should we, his colleagues, be also mad at the President he disagrees with, and in not doing be deemed worthless as well?

What’s that?”

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said Trillanes’ remark was uncalled for.

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito said senators should learn to respect their colleagues as part of parliamentary courtesy.

“We all were given our respective mandates and therefore we are accountable to the people. It will be absurd to call senators apologists,” he added.

Senator Gregorio Honasan III cited a tradition in the chamber not to comment on their colleagues’ actions and motives “because we are a collegial and consensual body.”

the second tranche of their housing aid will be released this time.

“It is very frustrating. We were only given half of the amount due to us sometime in October 2015. And we were made to liquidate in full. We’ve waited for over a year already for our second release,” said Repulda, adding that until now her house is not yet fully rehabilitated while she continues to wait for the promised funds.

Education Undersecrtary Jesus Lorenzo Mateo said in October the release of the funds were being processed.

“We have decided to make a concerted and collective action through this petition letter to demand answers as to the status of the said financial assistance, and if possible, it be given to us the soonest possible time,” said Mer Inisa Ogario, the new regional coordinator of Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT-Eastern Visayas).

Along with Confederation for Unity, Recognition and Advancement of Government EmployeesEastern Visayas (Courage-EV), they launched a signature campaign over the issue.

Ogario said the petition will

be given during the possible visit of President Duterte in Tacloban City on Nov. 8, the Yolanda third anniversary, through Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo.

Meanwhile, storm survivors in Eastern Samar have expressed their anger, saying that for three years, there was no solution in sight for many of them in the high-risk zones.

“Three years in waiting, three years of life in danger,” said Lita Bagunas of Uswag Este-Katarungan, a provincial federation of farmers, fisherfolks, women and informal settlers associations in Eastern Samar.

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He is expected to oversee the screening of the initial batch of village officials at city hall starting at 9 a.m. on Nov. 7.

“We will not entertain any excuses or alibis,” Estrada said.

“They have been warned before. This is compulsory.”

Initial reports said operatives of the MPD’s Station 11 bought 100 grams of shabu from suspects Rommel Rodriguez and Albert Gasingan.

Police seized the drugs, a .45-cal. handgun and P300,000 in marked money from the two.

Identification cards of Chinese nationals were also recovered from the suspects.

Rodriguez and Gasingan face life in prison if convicted.

Earlier, Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa said the supply and demand for shabu had a direct effect on its price.

“During the first 100 days in office of President Duterte, I can say we are winning the campaign against illegal drugs,” Dela Rosa said.

Sandy Araneta

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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Harassment case against TNVS driver

By Rio Araja ASSISTANT Secretary Rommel Abesamis of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on Friday questioned the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board over the operation of Uber and Grabcars in Metro Manila, following the alleged sexual harassment on her 20-year-old daughter by an Uber driver.

At a news conference in Quezon City, Abesamis, along with former LTFRB board member Ariel Enrile Inton, challenged the operation of many mobile-apps private car services despite the suspension of new applications for transport network vehicle service such as Uber and Grab, under Memorandum Circular No. 2016-008.

“I came forward after my daughter complained of the sexual harassment she experienced while riding an Uber car driven by one Juanito Thursday at 1 p.m.,” he told reporters.

“I would want to teach such drivers a lesson.”

Elvira Medina, national president of the National Center for Commuters Safety and Protection, said it is not safe to ride Uber and Grab cars.

“I was able to get a copy of the contract of Uber.

This was the reason why we’re opposing such operations. The passenger is not protected under the law because the operation of Uber does not have a franchise, or is not covered by an insurance,” she told reporters.

“If you really want to help the commuters, get a franchise.

Don’t go out of the fence.”

Abesamis threatened to file criminal charges against the driver with the Quezon City Prosecutor’s Office and an administrative case before the LTFRB for the revocation of the vehicle’s accreditation, and before the LTO for the cancellation of Juanito’s driver’s license.

He said he will file on Monday violations of a Quezon City ordinance on catcalling and other forms of street harassment.

“The Uber operation is even being advertised on billboards along major roads, showing to the public its legitimacy to operate,” Inton said.

According to Abesamis, he called the mobile-app Uber service provider Thursday noon to pick up her daughter from Mindanao Avenue and to take her to Miriam College.

UK ON THE GO. Made in UK means in street lingo ‘ukay ukay’ now a thriving business as the Christmas season draws near, something a roving vendors will cheer. Lino Santos

Public Works allots record spending fund

By Vito Barcelo

T

HE Department of Public Works and Highways will be spending 5.4 percent of the national gross domestic product for infrastructure, the highest in the last 47 years, to be able to build new highways, bridges, ports and airport, considered as the main driver of the economy.

Public works Secretary Mark Villar said key infrastructure projects will be pursued by the Duterte administration across all regions.

Citing a study conducted by the International Monetary Fund, Villar said that a sustained increase in public infrastructure spending to five percent of GDP would add a total of five-six percent to GDP after 15 years.

“At our highest – a maximum

of 3.2 percent was pegged for infrastructure spending. This administration would like to raise the bar and address the deficit. It is the only way we could solve both traffic and flooding,” Villar said.

“Development has always been faster than our road and transportation networks. We’d like to catch up—and hopefully preempt it in the next six years,” he said.

A 2015 IMF report found that the Philippines consistently had lower public investment than other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, averaging only 2.5 percent in 2000 to 2014. The same study pointed that public capital stock is also one of the lowest among Aseancountries—at about 35 percent of GDP in 2013. Regional Average is pegged at 72 percent of GDP. “China and India have been spending at least eight percent of their GDP in infrastructure spending. We’d like to catch up. Underspending would not be a problem of this administration,” he said.

Among the priority projects for DPWH are the Sta. Monica -Lawton-BGC Link Road Project, a 1.15 km bridge, roadway and viaduct structure, which will connect Lawton Avenue in Makati City to Sta. Monica, Fairlane, and Brixton in Pasig City

and Bonifacio Global City; the UP-Miriam-Ateneo Viaduct, a 1,820 meter four lane permanent viaduct, which will reduce travel time in Katipunan and CP Garcia by 80 percent.

“The NLEX-SLEX Connector Project, an eight km four lane expressway from C3 Road in Caloocan City to PUP in Sta. Mesa, Manila, which is expected to reduce travel time between SLEX-NLEX from two hours to 30 minutes; the Iloilo-GuimarasNegros-Cebu Link Bridge, an interisland bridge project which would link the Visayan Islands of Panay, Guimaras, Negros and Cebu, and the Davao City Bypass Construction project, a 44.6 km tunnel and roadway structure, which would reduce travel time from Digos in Davao del Sur to Panabo in Davao del Norte by 55 minutes were all under the priority program,” Villar said.

Scrap contraceptives ‘Firecracker ban up to Cabinet’ ban, high court asked By John Paul Bencito REPRODUCTIVE health advocates on Friday urged the Supreme Court to lift the ban on the use of contraceptives.

At a news conference, Dr. Jeepy Perez of the Commission on Population asserted that Republic Act 10354 was enacted into law to give the Filipino women the opportunity to have safe and planned pregnancies, but the temporary restraining order issued by the high court had deprived women of protection.

Childbirth complications have also killed thousands of mothers, he said, adding one of the law’s objectives was to prevent unnecessary deaths to happen.

The group said teen pregnancies may hit 291,700 this year if ban is not lifted Planned pregnancies would enable couples to achieve their desired number of children and young people to escape the perils of teenage pregnancy, he cited.

RA 10354 provided the legal mechanism for the poor to have access to reproductive health care and improve the chances of mothers and their babies to live longer, he pointed out.

“Abject poverty has oppressed generations. This is significantly because parents are unable to care and provide for their many children the educa-

tion and other opportunities necessary to advance in life. The RPRH law gave poor families hope that their dream of a better future can be achieved,” he said in a statement.

Millions of poor mothers and women welcome the previous declaration of the Supreme Court of the reproductive health’s constitutionality, he said.

“However, the high court issued a TRO blocking the Department of Health and its agencies to fully implement the law,” he added.

The ban is affecting 13.4million Filipino women, with 6.1 million of them presently using contraceptives and the remaining 7.3 million still to be reached by family planning specialists.

Because of the TRO, no new registration for contraceptives could be approved.

“New legal cases will ensue and delays will continue. Stocks will run out and contraceptives will no longer be available in the market. Even those with money will not have access to these vital commodities anymore,” Perez said.

He raised concern over the probability that more women would die due to unwanted pregnancy and childbirth-related complications. Rio Araja

THE government is planning to regulate the manufacture and sale of pyrotechnics to mitigate the loss of jobs instead of imposing a nationwide ban on the use of firecrackers, Malacañang said Friday.

“A revised EO on the firecracker ban will be submitted. The concerned agencies will look into the proposal to regulate pyrotechnics to mitigate the possible loss of jobs and at the same time enable traditional celebration of festivities,” Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a statement.

The President said he will consult members of his Cabinet and let them decide on a possible ban on firecrackers.

“I am going to have the Cabinet meeting. I need the Cabinet to decide. It will be a Cabinet decision,” Duterte said in a speech.

Duterte had earlier tasked the Health department to draft the executive order that would limit the use and possession of firecrackers or pyrotechnic devices in the Philippines.

Under the initial proposal, the government will be limiting the use of firecrackers, pyrotechnics, and fireworks to trained professionals.

The Health department is also advocating for a controlled and supervised display and use of firecrackers and pyrotechnics for implementation in the whole country.

Duterte enforced a successful fireworks ban when he was still mayor of Davao City, and has promised to replicate the policy nationwide.

PATCHWORK. Public Works’ maintenance men paper over potholes following continuous rain spawned by typhoon ‘Lawin’. Lino Santos

IN BRIEF Customs revamp: 5 named PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has appointed five new officials of the Bureau of Customs.

In separate letters signed on October 17 by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, the following are designated as new Customs deputy commissioners: Natalio C. Ecarma III, Revenue Collection Monitoring Group; Ariel F. Nepomuceno, Enforcement Group; Teddy Sandy S. Raval, Intelligence Group; Edgar Z. Macabeo was named District Collector, Port of Naia; and, Vincent Philip C. Maronilla, District Collector of the Manila International Container Port.

Prior to these appointments, Macabeo was acting district collector at Naia, and Maronilla was officer-in-charge of Import Assessment Service at the Bureau’s Assessment and Operations Coordinating Group.

Nepomuceno and Raval are comebacking officials.

Nepomuceno was also EG deputy commissioner under the watch of Customs commissioners John Sevilla and Alberto Lina, while Raval was former Enforcement and Security Service director during Lina’s tenure.

Ecarma, a retired army major general, was former Undersecretary for Defense Operations at the Department of National Defense.Vito Barcelo

JV suspension upheld by SC THE Supreme Court has upheld the 90-day preventive suspension imposed by the Sandiganbayan on Senator Joseph Victor “JV” G. Ejercito, in connection with a graft case involving the purchase of firearms in 2008 when he was mayor of San Juan City.

In a September 14, 2016 resolution, but only received by the Sandiganbayan Friday, the SC ruled that the Sandiganbayan’s Fifth Division did not commit any abuse of discretion in suspending Ejercito pending litigation of his graft case.

According to the tribunal, the Sandiganbayan correctly ruled that under Republic Act No. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, suspension is mandatorily imposed on any incumbent public official charged validly for violation of the anti-graft law.

Rey E. Requejo

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Opinion

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Getting Nur onboard

M

ORO National Liberation Front Chairman Nur Misuari has always cut a controversial figure. He was most recently a fugitive facing rebellion charges for his supposed role in the siege of Zamboanga City in 2013 that caused the deaths of more than 200 and the displacement of thousands.

But on Thursday, he marched into Malacañang as a guest of no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, who had invited him to become part of the peace process that the government is forging with various groups in

Mindanao. At the Palace, Mr. Duterte called Misuari “brother Nur” and assured him there was never any intention to deprive him of his liberty. They hugged like brothers, it was said.

Secretary for the Peace Process Jesus Dureza had

earlier gone to Sulu to give Misuari a copy of the resolution that suspended proceedings and stopped the enforcement of warrants of arrest against him.

Misuari would be part of the team that would pursue negotiations for peace in Mindanao. Having him there, alongside yet other groups of stakeholders, would make the peace process different from the one pursued by the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III, which only spoke with the Moro Islamic Liberation

Front.

Many quarters hail Misuari’s inclusion because of his ability to unite and lead the various stakeholders to the peace process. Going by this logic, the resulting agreement would be more inclusive and more reflective of the needs of the people of Mindanao.

All this would be ideal if there were no misrepresentations and no neglect of accountability.

It does sound strange to suspend legal proceedings

against someone accused of causing the death of hundreds to include him in a peace panel. Small wonder the city government of Zamboanga remains deadset on pursuing the case against Misuari.

That the government would include more voices as it goes after peace in Mindanao is laudable.

Peace is always a lofty goal. Then again, it must not be pursued at all costs.

We must define the things that are negotiable, and those which are not.

Robredo’s obvious PR campaign

One million signatures for women’s lives THERE are currently 6.1-million Filipino women using contraceptives.

Additionally, there are 7.3 millions more who have an unmet need for family planning. What happens then to these 13.4-million Filipinas if contraceptives are totally banned from the country?

A year ago I would have said that a total ban is impossible especially since the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutionality of the reproductive health law. However, anti-RH groups may have found a formula care of, ironically, the SC as well. The Court’s ruling against lifting the temporary restraining order that put on hold government’s family planning program, ALSO, effectively changed the mandate of the

Food and Drugs Administration from being a purely regulatory body, to being quasi-judicial.

FDA issues registrations to medicines and drugs that passed its scrutiny based on scientific studies and factual analysis.

FDA decision is final. The SC ruling changed this and said that FDA decision is now appealable to the Court of Appeals.

This will totally change the ball game in relation to contraceptives because an FDA registration will amount to nothing but just another step in a very long judicial process of appeals and counter-appeals.

Having followed anti-RH groups’ rhetoric and actions, we can be assured that they will file cases one after another for each contraceptive that FDA approves to prevent women from having access to these. These are the same groups that have used the argument that ALL contraceptives are abortifacient and, therefore, should not be al-

lowed in the market. In fact, the recent SC ruling was because of the petition against the Department of Health and FDA that used contraception equals abortion argument.

Our Justices, because of their ruling, made a total contraceptive ban a possibility.

We need the SC to correct the injustice done to our women and our families.

What will happen is, for as long as there are no new registered contraceptives, stocks in the market will diminish, and eventually, disappear. The gov-

ernment will not be able to buy new commodities unless these are approved by the FDA. Because present government stocks are not infinite, they will either be used up, or if the SC continues to ban some, the contraceptives themselves will expire.

Our honorable Justices committed a grave injustice against our women and their families.

Let me give some examples of what happens when women are without access to family planning information and services.

Magdalena Bacalando is a health worker and President of Pinagsamang Lakas ng Kababaihan, Kabataan, at Ibang Kasarian (PILAKKK). Her work brings her face to face with poor communities and women’s families who have been orphaned because of preventable maternal complications. Many of these women were not supposed to get pregnant due to certain medical conditions but because of lack of

access to family planning, they got pregnant, suffered complications, and passed away.

Jessa Alfabete is one of eleven (11) siblings. Her mother started to get pregnant very early on but also, passed away because of Eclampsia as she was giving birth to her eleventh baby. From then on, Jessa had to take over her mother’s responsibilities.

She says it is very hard especially since they are also poor.

Jessa herself became pregnant as a teenager but now uses contraceptives so she can plan her pregnancy. She is happy that she can do family planning but is apprehensive if supplies will run out.

“Angelica” and “Amor” (not their real names since they are minors, 12 and 13 years old) are siblings and belong to a brood of 12. They live in Payatas and their livelihood is scavenging.

They had to give up schooling because of poverty. They now

HER employees may deny it but it is quite obvious—Vice President Leni Robredo has a public relations firm helping her achieve two immediate objectives.

First, Robredo needs all the public acceptance and sympathy she is able to generate to dilute the allegation of her rival, ex-Senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., that her victory in the May 2016 vice presidential election was tainted with cyber fraud under the auspices of the pro-Liberal Party (LP) Commission on Elections and its foreign confederate, Smartmatic.

To achieve that end, Robredo’s political cosmetologists are busy urging gullible Filipinos to hate the Marcos family. Their latest cosmetologist is Senator Bam Aquino.

Second, Robredo wants to be president in 2022. For this purpose, Robredo’s handlers have prepared a longterm plan, the first phase of which is already being implemented. The plan is anchored on Robredo’s privileges as a public official, and President Duterte’s misplaced trust in Robredo.

For starters, Robredo was lucky President Rodrigo Duterte appointed her to the housing portfolio of his Cabinet. This appointment gave Robredo an excuse, and at government expense at that, to go around the country ostensibly to ascertain the housing problems confronting the marginalized sectors of Philippine society. It also gave Robredo something to occupy herself with, other than spending time in her luxurious vice president’s mansion in New Manila, Quezon City doing nothing except wait for the president to die, to resign, to suffer permanent incapacity, or to be ousted from office—a waiting game, but with a serious salary paid by the Filipino taxpayers.

Despite Robredo’s membership in the Duterte cabinet, diehard LP supporters continue to denounce Duterte as a foul-mouthed butcher.

For them, Robredo is the embodiment of the ideal president that Duterte isn’t. That’s strange, absurd even, because when Robredo accepted the

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From Paris to Marrakesh, a lost Philippines Win-win solution to end the contractualization of labor Conclusion

net income of P385 per day.

If the second unemployed THE contractualization of la- member of the family finds a bor bears the mark of a nation job to earn a starting salary of in sorrow. It is not so much that P325 daily and deducted P30 we failed in our obligation in daily for his withholding tax providing employment, but of and incremental and accumuthe truth that the government lated contributions, he would has become fait accompli to have net earnings of P295 daithe slave-like treatment of our ly. That would have increased workers. As contractual labor- the total family income to ers, they know that before the about P940 daily. end of six months they will be If the third unemployed is terminated to evade the cut off hired and given a daily wage date of becoming permanent of P300 daily, and is deducted employees of employer-bene- P20 daily for his withholding ficiaries hiring their services. and incremental and accumuAside from the uncertainty lated contributions, for him to of being rehired, they would earn a net income of P280, the receive up to the time they average family income would reach their retirement age reached P1,220 daily. This is a minimum-wage salary. If far above the amount the breadthere would be an increase in winner originally earns before their take home pay that would the wage was deregulated. come in the form of general Even if we assume that the wage increase. three were earning as underTo begin with, our current employed vendor or part-time unemployment rate of 6.1 per- helper, which somehow earn cent is misleading because we for them an average of P700 to have a very high underemploy- P800 daily, the aggregate inment rate of 19.7 percent. That come of the family would still means more of our people who be short by around P520 daily. are eligible for employment What is more, the income of work less than eight hours most underemployed is unand correcertain that spondingly often they earn below earn noththe miniing. mum wage.

Besides, If employers Survey also we should shows that a focus on the can be assured of family where standard of profit by direct there is only living and one bread not on the hiring, the cost winner has income of of wage will two to three the individmembers ual because naturally subside. who are unthe aim of employed dereg ulator undereming wage is ployed. to promote Employers employment must earn P492.57 a day just to by decreasing the cost of propay the salary of his employee. duction. We should measure However, on the average or- the collective income of the dinary people buy goods that family, which is based on the will not cost them more than standard of living much that it P200 per item. On other hand, refers to “the level of wealth, employers must compel their material goods and necessities employees to sell an average of available to a certain socioP650 per day per to meet their economic class or a certain obligations to continue their geographic area, and is closely business. related to the quality of life.”

If the daily wage of P492.57 By then we would have conis deducted of his withhold- siderably reduced the poverty ing tax, SSS and Pag-IBIG level in our country.

Home Development Fund, Of course, it will take some PhilHealth, insurance, etc., his time for our people to feel the net wage earnings could be re- effect in the lowering of prices duced to around P435 daily. If consequent to wage deregulahe is a contractual employee, tion. For one, there are facand his agency deducts from tors that make the prices of him the premium and place- some goods and services inment fees of P50 per day, his flexible such as the prices of income could be reduced fur- imported fuel and raw matether to around P385 daily. rials. This explains why vital If the minimum wage is de- or strategic industries need to regulated, and is reduced by be regulated or controlled by an average of 25 percent, the the State. Moreover, since it wage earner is likely to receive is the market that now dictates an average of P385 daily. De- the cost of wage, there would duct that further of his with- be no room for labor-only conholding tax and the mandatory tractors to make profit by via contributions by about P50, his the indirect selling of labor. net income could be reduced to It is the margin in the cost of around P335.00 daily. He will regulated wage from the cost no longer be deducted of the of production that created the placement and premium fees evil of indirect hiring. because we assume he is diNote that the imposition of rectly hired. Since the average wage deregulation should not cost in labor is 22 percent on preclude the government from the cost of production, amount re-imposing wage regulation is considerable to help boost once the level of wage dips beour comparative advantage. low the 25-percent anticipated Thus, if one unemployed level. That means employmember of the family is hired, ers are now taking advantage say three months after the to pay their workers starvaminimum wage was deregulat- tion pay. Wage deregulation ed, and given a starting wage is merely meant to narrow the of P350 daily and is deducted gap between the net costs of P40 for his withholding tax production from the cost of and incremental and accumu- wage. If employers can be aslated benefit contributions, his sured of profit by direct hiring, net earnings could be reduced the cost of wage will naturally to P310 daily. The average subside, much that the market family income then would be that will now dictate the cost around P645 daily, and that of labor. is already above the P492.57, much higher compared to his rpkapunan@gmail.com

THE Paris Agreement is again in the news. Even as countries gather in Marrakesh, Morocco next week for the first meeting of the parties to the agreement, former President Fidel V. Ramos called to task President Duterte for refusing to ratify the Paris Agreement. According to Ramos: “Ratifying the Paris Agreement will allow the Philippines to participate in the global effort to address climate change and advance the interests of our country and our people, as one of the most vulnerable to climate change.

It will also enable us to secure more investments towards our climate goals and gain access to the financial, technological, and capacity-building support to be provided to parties of the Agreement. Not ratifying the Paris Agreement, on the other hand, will force us to continue on our own without having to consider or report on our contributions to the global response to climate change.”

As I wrote earlier this week in Rappler, while agreeing with President Ramos, I get where President Duterte is coming from. He is asking the right and good questions. As a veteran climate change negotiator, I am a witness to how all of Duterte’s predecessors have asked similar questions and how they eventually came around to do the right thing for the country on climate change. I am confident that President Duterte, with the right legal, policy and technical advice, will eventually do the same. Hopefully, he will listen

Robredo’s...

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housing portfolio under President Duterte, that acceptance includes her endorsement of Duterte as the president of the Philippines. After all, Robredo is now a cabinet secretary, and as such, she is an alter-ego and ally of the president.

If Robredo is uncomfortable with that arrangement, she should resign from her post in the Duterte cabinet posthaste, and identify herself with the political opposition. By deciding to stay in office, Robredo should openly support President Duterte, or at least avoid making press statements that may be misunderstood, and refrain from comporting herself in way that needlessly compromises the president.

Instead of doing what is expected from a member of the president’s cabinet, Robredo has undermined, and continues to undermine the Duterte presidency.

Take for instance Robredo’s recent, highly publicized taxpayer-paid visits to northern Luzon in the aftermath of Super Typhoon “Lawin.” According to her publicists, Robredo had to go there in her capacity as the hous-

One...

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try to earn however they can to help the family, on top of the housework they do. The girls said that they will plan their families in the future and will not allow their present lives to happen to their own children.

Nadezhda Herrera’s story is different. Nikki is educated and belongs to a middle-class family. She uses pills for two reasons, one is because she wants to be in control of her life and does not (yet) want to get pregnant, and two, because she has Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome.

She says that because of her condition, her moods become

to the experts and to the people in his Cabinet that knows the issue well.

In my online article, I pointed out that the Paris Agreement is not just a carbon emissions agreement but a comprehensive sustainable development agreement. It is an adaptation, loss and damage, finance, technology and capacity building agreement—all of which are essential for our survival. We cannot cherry-pick but have to accept the whole package. But we can do so on our own terms.

To opt out of the Paris Agreement is to allow developed countries to escape their responsibility to compensate us for causing climate change. The Paris Agreement is the only process where we can get developed countries to be accountable for their emissions through a lossand-damage mechanism and through provisions that require them as a matter of climate justice to provide support to us so we can adapt to and mitigate climate change. Indeed, the Paris Agreement has good provisions on finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. Our delegation worked hard in Paris to get the best text possible for these provisions.

The Paris Agreement does not impose emissions reduction limitations on us. We can determine our own targets based on our development needs. We can adopt targets but we can make that conditional on support by developed countries. That’s what we did in Paris—we did offer 70 percent but we said we will do it only if support was given. If the Duterte administration wishes, it can lower the number to maybe 30 percent to 40 percent and perhaps commit to do 10 percent to 15 percent of that as uncondi-

tional since we are already doing many things on our own. Such a decision would be credible and acceptable.

Climate justice is enshrined in the Preamble of the Paris Agreement. This is the first time that the term has been included in a legally binding, multilateral document. Such a mention, even if it is qualified, strengthens the ultimate objective of the agreement and the Convention. By recognizing the inextricable link between moral obligation and historical responsibility, the Paris Agreement is given more credibility. The explicit inclusion of climate justice is certainly a good start for the next era of climate action.

These elements, among the many that make up the Paris Agreement, is what makes this legally binding document historic and revolutionary. While no one is under the illusion that what states achieved in COP21 will solve the climate crisis, its outcome is certainly a strong and unified signal to the world that the all countries are ready to move forward with their climate commitments, and in the future increase ambition to achieve the goals and the objectives of both the Paris Agreement and the climate change convention.

The Paris Agreement has a life of its own, regardless of what we do. We can certainly decide to isolate ourselves and be the only country in the world that does not ratify the Paris Agreement. If we decide to do that, we must be ready to address climate change on our own with our resources and with no one to help us. Among others, we will not be able to take advantage of the Loss and Damage mechanism that the

Paris Agreement establishes.

Climate change is real and will continue to grow in intensity regardless of us. That’s why principled engagement with the government and continuous cooperation with the international community is the only option.

It is not too late to ratify the Paris Agreement in time for the first meeting of the Parties. If the President decides this week to endorse the agreement to the Senate, the Senate can concur by middle of next week, in time for the first Meeting of the Parties of the Paris Agreement which will be held in Marrakesh the week of November 14 (the climate change meeting begins November 7 but the first week will be mainly a meeting of the climate change convention, which we are a party to). Being a nonparty in the first meeting means we will not be listened to as we are going to be mere observers.

That would be unfortunate. If there is time, we should ratify by next week but if that’s not possible, our next window is from January-May 2017 so we can participate fully in next climate meeting in June of that year.

After doing a stellar job in Paris negotiating a good climate change agreement, we lost our way in the transition to the new government. I do not blame President Duterte for that as it happens all the time in all issues because of the nature of our political transitions and because institutional memory is bad in this country. But let’s fix this and we can do that by ratifying the Paris Agreement next week so our delegation can proudly participate as parties in the first meeting.

ing chief to see for herself the extent of the destruction to the homes of underprivileged Filipinos. Really?

The task of inspecting the disaster zones left by the super typhoon principally belongs to President Duterte, the defense secretary, and the social welfare secretary. Housing officials led by Robredo should step in only when primary relief operations are completed.

Temporary shelters for the immediate use of calamity victims are part of relief operations, and are the primary concern of the aforementioned departments, not the housing office headed by Robredo.

Even assuming for the sake of argument that Robredo has a legitimate reason to be in northern Luzon, her presence there is ill-timed. It was almost as if her presence there was deliberately scheduled by her handlers to attract public attention away from President Duterte and relief workers sent by the administration. Thus, what Robredo was really doing in northern Luzon is immaterial. Her presence there was calculated to suggest that Duterte is a weak president, an image the LP desperately wants to convey to the public.

Weeks ago, Robredo attend-

ed an international housing conference in South America where she had herself photographed with the outgoing United Nations secretary general. She was all smiles, oblivious to the fact that her boss, President Duterte, recently declared the UN chief a meddling and inutile diplomat. Robredo’s having posed with the UN chief was a veiled statement to the international community that President Duterte should not be taken seriously. It was also a message that she does not consider Duterte her boss.

As expected, however, Robredo’s home office offered the lame excuse that it was Robredo’s job to go to the conference, and the blanket denial that she was engaging in backroom anti-Duterte politics.

The ill-timed Robredo visit to northern Luzon and her anti-Duterte sojourn in South America may be the reasons why some Duterte supporters believe that Robredo is the odd person out in the Duterte cabinet, and that she should resign her post immediately. To ascertain if this suspicion is true, President Duterte ought to conduct a loyalty check among his cabinet members, Robredo included.

From all indications, it ap-

pears that Robredo is making full use of her being vice president and housing chief, and the separate funds that go with both offices, in her early, clandestine campaign for the presidency.

Although Robredo pretends to be neutral, she has not hesitated to take advantage of every situation that allows her to take a potshot at President Duterte. Most of the time, her potshots against the president are done with calculated stealth and duplicity.

Robredo’s quiet, underhanded quest for the presidency, buoyed no doubt by LP stragglers who long for a return to the corrupt, abusive years of their expired incumbency, is something to worry about. Like President Corazon Aquino and Senator Grace Poe, Robredo does not have the decades of experience in public service demanded of and expected from the highest officer of the land, but she has enough personal ambition to seek the presidency, not for public interest, but for personal pride and satisfaction.

LP partisans consider Robredo their glittering chance at regaining the presidency.

They should take stock of Shakespeare’s warning that “not all that glitters is gold.”

very erratic and quite difficult to handle. Nikki needs pills to regulate her hormones and prevent more cysts from developing, endometriosis, and ectopic pregnancies.

Nikki says that there are about two-million women in the Philippines with similar condition as hers. For them, pills keep them sane, and alive.

She asks, what will happen if pills are banned from the market? What will happen to me and those with the same condition?

These are real stories of real women. Nikki’s question is asked by many others. What will happen if there is a “ban” against contraceptives as what the anti-RH groups want?

According to estimates of the Likhaan Center for Women’s Health, for this year alone, around 281,170 teenaged girls will get pregnant and 5,042 Filipinas will perish due to preventable maternal complications. The numbers will soar even higher without contraceptives. Are we going to allow this? We have not even mentioned the rates of unplanned pregnancies in the country which is almost 40 percent of all pregnancies.

Imagine how much higher this will be if we run out of contraceptives.

This is the context by which RH advocates launched the signature campaign asking the Supreme Court to side with our

women and our families, and lift the TRO affecting family planning. The target is one million signatures and the campaign will happen in communities and online. If you care for our women and our families, sign the petition here: bit.ly/ lifttro or https://www.change. org/p/supreme-cour t-of-thephilippines-an-appeal-to-thesupreme-court-to-lift-the-troaffecting-family-planning.

We need the SC to see that its decision has disastrous repercussions. We need the SC to correct the injustice done to our women and our families.

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SATURDAY,

NOVEMBER 5, 2016

News

Task force created to secure PH ports

By Vito Barcelo

T

HE Bureau of Immigration will mobilize 95 immigration officers in all airports and seaports nationwide to manage and facilitate the immigration processing of foreign delegates from member-countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for meetings here starting this month up to November next year.

BI Commissioner Jaime Morente created a special task force, composed of immigration officers, immigration duty supervisors and intelligence agents from the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other ports, who will oversee the bureau’s affairs during the covered period.

Morente directed the task group members to ensure that immigration formalities and port courtesies are properly extended to delegates attending the Asean meetings, the first to be held Nov. 5- 14 in Puerto Princesa City, Palawan during the 6th Asean Chief Justices Round Table on Environment.

He also ordered the group to implement measures that would ensure the safety and security of the delegates during their stay here.

“We have designated special counters at the Naia where the Asean delegates are to be exclusively processed by our immigration officers upon their arrival at the airport,” Morente said.

Meanwhile, BI’s port operations division placed all international airports and seaports nationwide on heightened alert in light of the Philippines’ hosting of the Asean leaders’ summit in 2017 and its preliminary meetings and activities.

Division acting chief Marc Red Mariñas issued a memorandum directing all immigration inspectors and intelligence operatives in the airports and seaports to exercise utmost vigilance in screening arriving passengers and in establishing their real purpose in traveling to the country.

Mariñas said all passengers with doubtful purpose of travel shall be referred for secondary inspection, especially those with questionable travel documents.

He also instructed the division’s intelligence operatives to coordinate with the Interpol and other intelligence agencies in getting a list of personalities and organizations who might undertake terror activities during the Asean meetings.

VERSATILE VEGETABLE. Vendors unload squash Friday at the

Balintawak market in Quezon City which had been trucked in from the Ilocos region. Squash, known in the Ilocos as karabasa, is grown in many Filipino backyards, a versatile and delicious vegetable which packs a serious punch in terms of health and medicinal benefits, which include strengthening the immune system, preventing cancer and managing symptoms of diabetes, heart health and insomnia. Lino Santos

15 UMak graduates join 5,000 new accountants

By Joel Zurbano SOME 15 graduates of the University of Makati were among more than 5,000 examinees who passed the Certified Public Accountants board exams held last month, Mayor Abigail Binay announced on Friday.

Based on the results released by the Professional Regulation Commission–Board of Accountancy, the 15 Accountancy graduates of UMak were among only 5,249 board passers out of 14,390 examinees in the said licensure test throughout the country.

Binay said: “Congratulations to the latest batch of Certified Public Accountants who had obtained their college education from the University of Makati.

“You can now look to the future with more confidence and optimism. May you continue to inspire the youth of Makati by consistently embodying excellence in your respective careers.”

The 15 CPA board passers are Orland Adrigado, Guimalyn Bobiles, Adora Bolondo, Camille Loren Canapi, John Camile Carpio, Juvy May Donato, Mary Jane Dulay, Christine Espiritu, Matt Aljon Jimenez, Jose Lambohon Jr., Anne Marie Macailao, Jomar Restauro, Sara Lavinia Romuar, Ginalyn Ronquillo, and Jinky Kimberly Donato.

In the October 2016 CPA board exam, UMak obtained a 41.67 percent overall passing rate, higher than the national average of 36.48 percent.

In the May 2016 CPA licensure examination, the city-run university produced nine board passers. There were 2,967 successful examinees out of 6,925 board takers.

In May 2015, UMak summa cum laude Kristofferson Isar dela Cruz placed fifth in the CPA licensure exam. He was among 14 Accountancy graduates of UMak who passed the said exam.

Sports Manila last leg of Suzuki Cup tour MANILA will be the last stop of the four-city tour of the Asean Football Federation Suzuki Cup trophy roadshow, which kicked off last Wednesday at the Sedona Hotel in the former Myanmar capital of Yangon.

“The AFF Suzuki Cup stirs the emotions of football fans across the region and we are therefore expecting a strong turnout of support when we take the trophy on the road,” noted AFF general secretary Lt. Gen. Dato Sri Azuddin Ahmad of Malaysia at the tour launch.

“Everyone is eagerly awaiting the start of the AFF Suzuki Cup and so the trophy tour will whet the appetite of fans in Southeast Asia for what promises to be one of the finest editions of the tournament,” Ahmad added in a story posted on the tournament’s official website.

“The AFF Suzuki Cup trophy tour is the perfect way to raise the curtains on this year’s tournament, which heads here to Myanmar very soon,” Takayuki Sugiyama, Suzuki Myanmar Company managing director, said at the same event.

“We are proud that Yangon has launched the trophy tour on its four-city swing in the region,” Sugiyayama said. “This is a wonderful way to celebrate this popular tournament in this region and show the passion that the Suzuki has for the AFF Suzuki Cup.” Sugiyama used the occasion in showcasing the latest edition of the Suzuki Ciaz, which will manufactured for the first time in Myanmar.

Present at the unveiling of the glittering golden trophy were Burmese star players Than Paing, Win Min Htut, Maung Maung Iwin and Set Phyo Wai. The Suzuki Cup trophy tour is scheduled to touch down in Jakarta, Indonesia tomorrow before moving on to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on Nov. 10 before winding up in Manila two days later.

A7

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Durant, Warriors silence Thunder; Cavaliers prevail L OS ANGELES —Kevin Durant’s dominant 39-point display lifted the Golden State Warriors to a 122-96 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday in the first clash between Durant and his former team.

Amid breathless speculation as to just what the meeting between Durant and former teammate Russell Westbrook would look like, the Warriors ended the suspense by halftime.

Durant scored 29 points in the first half as the Warriors erased an

early deficit to take a 68-43 halftime lead.

He matched his career high with seven three-pointers, pulled down seven rebounds and blocked a shot as the Warriors handed Westbrook and the Thunder their first defeat of the young season af-

ter four straight victories.

“KD is KD. He’s gonna do what he do,” said the Warriors’ Draymond Green, who unabashedly acknowledged that Golden State was keen to get their new addition a win over his old team.

“They’re going to want to beat him really bad. He’s going to want to beat them really bad. In turn, we’re going to want to beat them really bad because we want him to beat them really bad,” Green said before tip-off, even as Durant and Westbrook insisted it was just another day at the office.

The result left the defending

champion Cleveland Cavaliers as the only undefeated team in the league, after a 128-122 victory over the Boston Celtics that pushed the Cavs to 5-0.

LeBron James scored 20 of his season-high 30 points in the third period and added 12 assists for the Cavaliers, who are 5-0 for the first time since the 1976-77 season when they started 8-0.

James’ 30 points left him tantalizingly close to another career milestone. With two more points he’ll move past Hakeem Olajuwon (26,946) into 10th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list.

V-League semis is on Games today

10:30 a.m. – Air Force vs IEM (S Turf) 12:30 p.m. – Cignal vs Champion Supra (S Turf) 4 p.m. – Bali Pure vs Customs (V-League) 6 p.m. – Pocari vs UST (V-League)

Kevin Durant of the Golden State Warriors reacts after dunking the ball against the Oklahoma City Thunder at ORACLE Arena 2016 in Oakland, California. AFP

Santy leads Ronda cast

BIGGEST RUN. Ilocos Sur Gov. Ryan Luis Singson snaps a selfie with nearly four thousand fun runners joining the Black Light run Ilocos Sur-Edition in the background.

The Ilocos Sur provincial government sponsored the event—made part of the province health and fitness campaig and attracted the biggest number of runners among the stagings of the run in the region.

La Salle’s deep roster worries Blue Eagles

By Peter Atencio THE La Salle Green Archers’ deep roster is a big worry for the Ateneo Blue Eagles when they come out of a 10-day break today in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines men’s basketball tournament.

This is why the Blue Eagles will not take things take things lightly when they face their rivals at 4 p.m. today at the Araneta Coliseum.

“We hope to have more players, who will step up,” said Blue Eagles’ coach Arespacochaga.

Arespacochaga said many players have stepped upon their last two victories with Jolo Mendoza, Raffy Verano, and Isaac Go taking charge to complement the efforts of veterans Thirdy Ravena, Anton Asistio, and Aaron Black.

The Blue Eagles have a solid foothold in third spot.

Meanwhile, National University,

Kevin Love scored a seasonhigh 26 points and Kyrie Irving added 23 for Cleveland, who let a double-digit lead evaporate before closing out the contest.

“We want to continue to get better,” James said. “When we get up on teams we’ve got to figure out how to continue to just push the lead up or just keep it where it is and not allow teams to get back into the game.”

France’s Evan Fournier scored 29 points and the Orlando Magic pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 102-94 victory over the visiting Sacramento Kings. AFP

Games Today

(Araneta Coliseum) 12 noon UE vs NU 4 p.m. Ateneo vs La Salle

which is hanging on to fifth place at 4-7, meets lowly University of the East Red Warriors at 12 noon.

Playing better and adding to their six won games in 10 outings will assure Ateneo of a seat to the Final Four semifinals.

Last week, the Green Archers showed how strong they have become when they routed the UE Red Warriors, 95-66 victory.

With that win, they have won four 12 straight games, they are, two victories away from an elims sweep.

The Green Archers were led by Ben Mbala with 26 points, 20 rebounds, and four blocks.

Jeron Teng supported him and added 20 markers while Thomas Torres chipped in 11.

AGELESS Santy Barnachea starts his campaign for a third title as he spearheads a huge cast of cyclists seeking for berths in the LBC Ronda Pilipinas 2017 edition when it stages its first of two qualifying races on Sunday at the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority in Zambales City.

Army is sending a crack team headed by Merculio Ramos, Alfie Catalan, Cris Joven, Mark Julius Bordeos and Alvin Benosa while talented new Navy recruit Jay Lampawog will try to qualify and accompany his experienced teammates who dominated last year’s edition of the LBC-bankrolled Ronda edition.

Barnachea, the first and fifth editions champion of this six-year old race, was part of the 85-man field, which has registered for

the one-stage, 101-kilometer race unfolding at the Lighthouse Hotel and ending at the Forest View Park inside SBMA. The top 30 cyclists will qualify to the main race, which stakes a whopping P1 million to the champion courtesy of presentor LBC and its major sponsors Mitsubishi, Petron, ASG Group, Dans360 and Donen, with the blessing of PhilCycling, under its president Abraham “Bambol” Tolentino, set Feb. 4 to March 4 next year.

Another 30 spots will be up for grabs in the final qualifier scheduled on Dec. 4 in Bacolod City, where they will join the 72 riders who have already automatically qualified by virtue of joining last year’s race.

Among them are Mindanao wonder boy Ranlen

Maglantay, George Oconer, Ronnel Hualda, Julius Mark Bonzo, Rustom Lim, and powerhouse Navy mainstays Lloyd Lucien Reynante, Rudy Roque, Ronald Oranza, Joel Calderon and Jan Paul Morales.

“We’re expecting a bigger and more exciting race this year and what a way to start it with this starstudded qualifying race in Subic,” said LBC Ronda race director Jingo Hervas.

Ronda sports development head Moe Chulani said they’ve raised the stakes so that they could discover more promosing young riders from the provinces just like Ranlen Maglantay, who brought a cheap, second-hand bike, an old pair of rubber shoes and a dream to get a chance to compete in an annual race of this magnitude.

Xavier, Holy Child make finals XAVIER School University and Holy Child of Davao bagged the Mindanao championship trophy after winning the regional finals of SBPPasserelle, the largest twin tournament in the country.

Ferndale International School, Xavier School University and Ateneo de Davao University battled it out round robin in the SBP Tournament. Ateneo de Davao and Xavier School University ended vying for the championship where the latter stood its ground to get a three-point lead, 56-53.

It was also an intense battle between schools in the Passerelle Tournament. Holy Child of Davao and Southern City Colleges managed to secure their slots in the championship game with Holy Child of Davao dominating the court with an astounding 43-point lead against Southern City

Colleges, 80-37. 3rd place went to Corpus Christi School.

The much-coveted Sportsmanship award was also given to Southern City Colleges for the Passerelle tournament and Ferndale International School for the SBP Tournament. SBP-Passerelle emphasizes the importance of fair play not just among players but also among coaches and parents. The tournament does not only aim to build future basketball champions, but also helps athletes develop values and discipline and team work and sportsmanship.

Other regional playoffs will be held on November 5 and 6 in Baguio City for Luzon and November 19 and 20 in Roxas City for Visayas.

Xavier School University and Holy Child of Davao will battle against other regional winners at the national finals to be held in Bacolod City.

Champions for NCR finals

were La Salle Greenhills for SBP Tournament and Adamson University for Passerelle Tournament.

Organized by the multiawarded school for basketball and volleyball, BEST Center, sponsored by Milo, and supported by Chris Sports and Rain or Shine, SBP-Passarelle is now on its 31st year and is the longest running and most prestigious interschool basketball competition for children where students ages 9-11 compete in the SBP division, while students ages 12-14 compete in the Passarelle tournament.

For more information about BEST Center’s classes and tournaments, call the hotlines 411-6260, 3723066 and 372-3065, email bestcentersports@gmail.com or follow its official Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ pages/BEST-Center-SportsInc/66172039922.

POCARI Sweat hopes to ride the momentum of its strong elimination round showing as it clashes with University of Santo Tomas in today’s (Saturday) start of the best-of-three semifinal showdown in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

The Lady Warriors topped the elims with a 6-1 record, capping their six-game win run with a 25-16, 25-23, 22-25, 25-14 victory over the Tigresses last Wednesday, making them the prohibitive favorites in their return match with the España-based squad at 6 p.m.

BaliPure and Customs tangle in the other semis face off at 4 p.m. with Game Two set on Monday and the decider, if necessary, will be played next Wednesday.

The Pocari-UST match will be aired live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 17 or 23 and via streaming on www.sports.abs-cbn.com and via streaming on www.v-league,ph while the BaliPure-Customs clash will be shown on a delayed basis, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

American Bre Mackie has been leading the way for Pocari, norming 19.28 hits, third in the league, and doing most of her damage at the net where she is currently the league’s best in blocking.

“She’s been really playing well,” said Pocari coach Rommel Abella of his power-hitting reinforcement.

Tight finish seen in 5i50 KEEN competition is seen when the Bellevue Resort 5i50 Triathlon is fired off tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 6) with an elite cast of triathletes all geared up for the 1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run event held at the Bellevue Resort in Panglao Island, Bohol, for the first time.

Sam Betten and Dimity Lee-Duke of Australia set out for back-to-back title bids in their respective sides but brace for a fierce challenge from the likes of Henry Beck, Daniel Garry Brown, Amelia Watkinson, Michelle Duffield and Rebecca Ohlwein as they dispute the top $2,000 purse in both divisions in the event hosted by the Bellevue Resort and organized by Sunrise Events, Inc. The 6-4 Betten placed third in the recent Cobra Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championship in Cebu but has racked up three victories this year, including the Queensland Triathlon Series, Hell of the West Triathlon and the Hervey Bay 100 Triathlon, making him the man to beat in the event.

But Beck, a Bundesliga triathlete and two-time Sparda-Munster City Triathlon champion, and Brown, the former Aussie Half-Ironman champion who has mentored Korean and Philippine national teams, are raring to spoil Betten’s drive for another crown in the premier endurance race.

LOTTO RESULTS 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 4 DIGITS 00-00-00-00 3 DIGITS 00-00-00 2 EZ2 00-00

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

A8

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

Sports

Fans become ‘4th’ judge

By Ronnie Nathanielsz

Pacman’s journey continues Boxer Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines looks on during a news conference at The Wynn Las Vegas. Pacquiao will challenge Jessie Vargas of the US for the WBO Welterweight Championship on November 5 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. AFP

L

OS ANGELES—Manny Pacquiao’s sevenmonth hiatus can hardly be considered a retirement but there is no doubt that the eight division boxing champ used the time off to reflect on his passion for the sport.

“I thought I wouldn’t see you again, but now I’m here to continue my journey,” said the newly elected Philippines senator who is in the final days of preparations for Saturday’s title fight against Jessie Vargas in Las Vegas.

“I respect Vargas and his team, how dedicated they are. I feel what he’s feeling right now because I’ve been there when I was 27 years old, 28 years old and I know how hungry I was.”

Pacquiao is an eight division

world champion, something he takes great pride in. It is a record that trainer Freddie Roach thinks will not be broken in his lifetime.

“Winning world titles in eight divisions is not that easy,” Pacquiao said. “I am so blessed to be a part of boxing history by winning them.

“That is not me boasting. I am just happy to be a part of the history.”

Pacquiao looked impressive in April when he dominated Timo-

thy Bradley in their third fight —one he said would be his last.

Now if he gets past World Boxing Organization welterweight champ Vargas, as many think he will, Pacquiao could be looking at a fight against unbeaten Terence Crawford in 2017.

Juggling act The way Pacquiao’s been able to juggle 14 hour days in the Philippines backs up the notion he could continue to fight for some time at a high level.

In a typical day of wearing two hats, he says he wakes up for a 7 a.m. run. He has to be at the Senate at 10 a.m. for meetings and then the afternoon sessions run until 5 p.m. He goes to the gym in the evening where he works out until 9 p.m. before heading home.

“It’s not easy being a senator working in the office and being a boxer while you’re training.

It’s hard, but it’s a good thing when you are happy and enjoying it,” said Pacquiao.

No fighter can go on forever but Pacquiao is still one of the most recognizable names in boxing and is training with renewed energy says Roach.

“What I’m thinking when I prepared for this fight was I have to make sure I’m in condition and work hard even though I’m working in the office,” Pacquiao said.

The 27-year-old Vargas is 10 years younger than Pacquiao and will have a five inch height and four-inch reach advantage when they step into the ring at the Thomas &

Mack Center arena.

“I had a great training camp.

This has been my best to date,” said Vargas. “I’m very happy with my team, they’re bringing out the best in me.

“We’re looking stronger, faster, we’ve over-exceeded every aspect in training when it comes to speed, power, intelligence in the ring, ring savvy.”

Vargas is hoping to catch Pacquiao with his guard down, much like Juan Manuel Marquez did in his 2012 knockout of Pacman to win their fourth fight.

“We have a strong hook, we have a strong right, either way.

If he wants to sneak over to the right we’ll catch him there, if he wants to sneak over to the left we’ll get him there,” Vargas said.

IN an interesting innovation for the Manny Pacquiao-Jessie Vargas showdown for the latter’s WBO welterweight title on Saturday in Las Vegas, Top Rank will let fans be the fourth judge for the fight via TRBoxing on Twitter.

Top Rank announced they will utilize Twitter’s (twitter.com/ trboxing) polling functionality to allow fans to participate in each bout as a collective, unofficial “fourth judge.”

Fans who watch Saturday’s live pay-per-view telecast or catch it from a coveted seat at the Thomas & Mack Center will be able to easily vote on who they think is winning each undercard matchup, with the winner being announced on air prior to the official judges’ scorecards.

Top Rank announced that during the main event, fans will have the option to vote roundby-round.

The broadcast team of Stephen A. Smith, Brian Kenny, Charissa Thompson and Tim Bradley, Jr., will deliver updates in between rounds, with scorecard graphics appearing on-screen throughout the main event.

Employing this feature, fans are granted another avenue to engage with the historic night of world championship fights on November 5th.

The three additional world championship fights on the payper-view telecast include: fourdivision world champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire (373, 24 KOs), from General Santos City, Philippines, defending his WBO junior featherweight title against undefeated No. 1contender Jessie Magdaleno (23-0, 17 KOs), from Las Vegas; and newly-minted WBO featherweight champion and two-time Mexican Olympian Óscar Valdez (21-0, 18 KOs), from Nogales, Mexico, making his first title defense, against No. 1 contender Hiroshuge Osawa (30-3-4, 19 KOs), from Osaka, Japan.

The pay-per-view telecast which will be seen in the Philippines on ABS-CBN Sky Cable, Cignal TV, Solar Sports which holds the coverage rights and GMA 7, will open with the rematch between top-rated contenders Chinese Olympic icon Zou Zhiming (8-1, 2 KOs), from Guizhou, China, and Prasitak Papoem (39-1-2, 24 KOs), of Buriram, Thailand, battling for the vacant WBO flyweight world title.

POC gets more protest letters

By Peter Atencio

Pepsico Philippines Marketing Manager for Hydration Tony Atayde (left) with Gatorade brand ambassadors Gelo Alolino, Chris Javier, Kevin Ferrer, Von Pessumal and Mike Tolomia.

Gatorade cagers make PBA BASKETBALL stars from Gatorade’s roster of top athletes were among the successful draftees, who will soon make their PBA debut after the recently concluded 2016 PBA Draft.

Former NU Bulldog Gelo Alolino was drafted by Phoenix Fuel Masters; UE Red Warrior Chris Javier went to Star Hotshots; UST Growling Tiger and Gilas 5.0 headliner Kevin Ferrer joined Barangay Ginebra; while his Gilas teammates Von Pessumal from ADMU and Mike Tolomia from FEU were drafted by GlobalPort Batang Pier and Rain or Shine Elasto Painters respectively.

“We’re very proud of them and we can’t wait to see them dominate in the big league,” Tony Atayde, Pepsico Philippines Marketing Manager for Hydration, said. “As Gatorade brand ambassadors, they will continue to

help us educate aspiring basketball stars about the importance of proper hydration in maintaining top athletic performance.”

As the official sports drink of the PBA, the world’s number one sports drink also helped prepare the draftees in an intensive two-day training camp designed to assess and improve athletic talent prior to the 2016 PBA Draft. The Gatorade PBA Draft Combine lays the groundwork for PBA hopefuls with various performance tests, court drills, and a mini-league.

“Raw talent will only bring shortlived success without proper training and proper hydration,” Atayde added. “Gatorade is at the forefront of contemporary sports science and we will bring that expertise to the PBA.”

THE three-man election committee of the Philippine Olympic Committee deferred on its decision on the case of boxing chief Ricky Vargas after it received three more protest letters Friday.

Frank Elizalde, head of the election panel, said they are studying petitions which seek the disqualification of POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr., POC first vice president Jose Romasanta and POC chairman Tom Carrasco.

Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta wrote a petition concerning the bids of Cojuangco and Romasanta.

Araneta claimed that Cojuangco is no longer eligible to run for president under International Olympic Committee statutes, which has an age limit of 70 years.

Romasanta, on the other hand, is accused of forum shopping and leading two national sports associations, volleyball and karatedo.

Araneta also questioned the eligibility of IOC representative Mike CojuangcoJaworski’s eligibility to vote, because of conflicts of interest since his father is the POC president.

Elizalde said action on the protests won’t be done until next week, when he gets back from a trip to Switzerland. He said Araneta’s protest letter is

lengthy and needs to be studied carefully.

Volleyball official Ricky Palou also questioned the status of Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas secretary general Peter Cayco as an eligible voter for LVPI since Romasanta is the president on record.

Palou is the secretary general on record for LVPI. The Vargas camp claimed that the provision involving his disqualification is not clearly stated in the constitution and bylaws of the POC. Vargas was informed Thursday that the bare minimum requirement in running for one of the highest positions in the POC is attendance in majority of the general assembly meetings.

234 teams join Fil-Am golf tourney

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—Some 1,300 amateur golfers comprising 245 teams will be joining the 67th San Miguel Fil-Am invitational golf tournament that will run from Nov. 24 to Dec. 10 at the Baguio Country club and Camp John Hay fairways here.

Tim Allen, manager of the CJH Golf club, said the participating golfers and teams this year will be the biggest in the history of the longest-running golf tournament in the world, making the competitions tougher.

Last year, there were 226 teams from the Asia Pacific

region that joined the 2-week tournament right in the two compact courses.

“Our golf courses are ready in time for the upcoming exciting competitions among our golfers coming from different parts of the world. We are on the verge of completing the necessary improvements and maintenance of our fairways in time for the influx of golfers,” Allen stressed.

Andrew Pinero, BCC customer services department manager, said attractive prizes await the golfers, who will be able to make a hole-in-one in the designated holes of both courses, while more raffle

prizes will be given to the players during the welcome cocktails in the BCC and CJH playing venues.

He said the Fil-Am Golf Foundation will continue to extend assistance to the calamity victims of Supertyphoon Lawin in the different parts of Northern Luzon as part of its commitment to extend outreach programs beneficial in improving the lives of people in the countryside.

The seniors’ division of the tournament will be held from Nov. 23 to Dec. 1, while the regular division will be done from Dec. 3 to 10. Practice rounds for the seniors’ division will start on Nov. 21

while practice rounds for the participants to the regular division will begin on Dec.1.

The Fil-Am golf invitational tournament has been included in the Guinness Book of world Records as the longest running amateur golf tournament in the world.

On the other hand, the FilAm Golf Foundation is the social arm of the tournament which is in charge of implementing its corporate social responsibility projects and the development of junior golfers among the interested youth coming from all walks of life not only in the city but also those who come from outside the region.

Belle opts to cancel LRWC deal B2

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

B1

Liberty readies delisting of shares

By Darwin G. Amojelar

‘PROPERTY MAN OF THE YEAR.’ Megaworld chairman and chief executive Dr. Andrew Tan (fifth from left) personally receives the trophy for this year’s “Property Man of the

Year” awarded by International Real Estate Federation Philippines. Tan for the second consecutive year was honored for his unparalleled influence to the Philippine real estate industry. Presenting the distinction to Tan are FIABCI-Philippines board officers (from left) Domingo De Vera, vice president for internal; Stela Sandico, trustee; Felino Palafox, vice chairman; Florentino Dulalia Jr., chairman emeritus; Pedro Tario, president; and Jexter Dulalia, secretary-general.

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing November 4, 2016

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,227.37 66.46

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing NOVEMBER 4, 2016 43.00 45.40 46.60 47.80

P48.480

49.00

CLOSE

HIGH P48.395 LOW P48.480 AVERAGE P48.443 VOLUME 398.000M

P442.00-P662.00 LPG/11-kg tank P36.70-P45.40 Unleaded Gasoline

OPRICES IL TODAY

P27.40-P30.97 Diesel P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, November 4, 2016

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.3360

Japan

Yen

0.009712

0.4694

UK

Pound

1.246400

60.2460

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128957

6.2333

Switzerland

Franc

1.026905

49.6365

Canada

Dollar

0.746603

36.0878

Singapore

Dollar

0.722752

34.9349

Australia

Dollar

0.767800

37.1124

Bahrain

Dinar

2.655126

128.3382

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

12.8886

Brunei

Dollar

0.720150

34.8092

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000077

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.028601

1.3825

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

13.1613

Euro

Euro

1.110800

53.6916

Korea

Won

0.000875

0.0423

China

Yuan

0.015002

0.7251

India

Rupee

0.238949

11.5498

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.733400

35.4496

New Zealand

Dollar

0.031759

1.5351

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031759

1.5387

October inflation rate steady at 2.3%—PSA

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

T

HE inflation rate in October stood unchanged at 2.3 percent from a month ago as slower increases in the prices of health commodities, alcoholic beverages and tobacco offset the rise in food prices, the Philippine Statistics Authority said Friday.

Latest data from PSA showed inflation was slightly higher than 0.4 percent recorded in the same month a year ago.

The October data brought year-to-date inflation rate to 1.6 percent, or within the government’s target of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Core inflation, which excludes selected volatile food and energy prices, was also stable at 2.3 percent in October.

The National Economic and Development Authority said inflation for the full year was set to settle below the target range.

“We expect inflation for full year 2016 to settle below the target range but upside risks remain,” Economic Planning secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

He said while domestic demand was expected to remain robust, supply conditions, particularly of food, would improve.

“This should help keep commodity prices steady. Rice prices will be kept stable by the timely arrival of rice imports under the government-to-government procurement scheme,” said Pernia.

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr., meanwhile, is confident the inflation rate would continue to be manageable in the coming months.

“The turnout is in line with our view that inflation will be manageable over the policy horizon, and slowly rise to within target in 2017 and 2018,” Tetangco said in a text message.

“We will continue to monitor pending petitions for hikes in utility rates, among others, on the domestic front; and global economic activity on the external front as well as risk factors to the outlook,” Tetangco added.

Food inflation slightly increased to 3.5

percent in October from 3.1 percent in the previous month.

Vegetable prices further inched up in the same month due to limited supply due to weather-related disruptions caused by typhoons Lawin and Karen.

Pernia cited risks to inflation, including a possible rally in oil prices, depreciation of the peso against the US dollar, pending petitions for electricity rate increase and tropical cyclones.

The Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration reported a 65 percent chance of La Niña developing in the fourth quarter of 2016 and lasting until February 2017.

“Given the larger possibility of more frequent and stronger rains, the agriculture sector needs to implement adaptation measures to protect the income of farmers and keep food price inflation at bay,” said Pernia.

“We aim to strengthen the agricultural sector though a comprehensive agricultural development program, a major component of the proposed Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022,” he said. With Julito G. Rada

Japanese firms eye LNG, copper wire production

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Energy Department obtained commitments from Japanese companies to invest in the country’s energy sector, including liquefied natural gas.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi told reporters the Philippines generated the pledges, including a liquefied natural gas facility from Osaka Gas, during the recent visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to Japan.

Cusi said possible investments included waste-to-energy plants and copper wire manufacturing.

“There were talks on waste to energy and the company, I think was JFE. There’s also LNG and Osaka Gas (that) expressed interest,” the energy official said.

“We talked also of the possibility of putting up copper wire manufacturing in the Philippines but the problem is we need efficient and stable electricity supply,” Cusi said.

He said the government wanted to entice other manufacturers to set up investments in the Philippines.

“They said there are two major issues, which is logistics—moving

goods and power supply cost. That one, I really want to be able to do it because that is employment for the Philippines,” he said.

Cusi said the department would work with other agencies to bring the copper wire manufacturing investment to the Philippines.

Osaka Gas has long expressed interest to team up with Manila Electric Co.’s power generation unit, Meralco PowerGen Corp., for the construction of a 1,500-megawatt liquefied natural gas integrated facility in Luzon.

Yoshihiko Kimata, chairman,

representative in Southeast Asia of Osaka Gas Singapore Pte. earlier said company and Meralco PowerGen “are communicating periodically.”

Kimata said the joint feasibility study for the planned project was in progress.

“At this moment we are more interested with the Meralco project. We have limited resources so we cannot look many projects at the same time,” he said.

Meralco PowerGen officials earlier said the 1,500-MW LNG facility is estimated to cost $2 billion.

Absolut Distillers completes new laboratory in Batangas LUCIO Tan Group’s Absolut Distillers Inc. recently inaugurated its newly completed and modern laboratory facility to ensure alcohol quality.

The company modernized the laboratory plant to keep up with the expansion of manufacturing facilities, and provide a safe and conducive working condition for laboratory personnel as well as for their high-end equipment.

“To date, ADI has been successful in ensuring that all processes in the distillery are within or even beyond industry standards. The new laboratory will help us achieve this,” Tanduay president and chief operating officer Lucio Tan Jr. said.

“We never rest on our laurels and personally, it feels so rewarding to have a team that is

truly dedicated and committed to ADI’s advocacy in promoting environmental sustainability initiatives,” he added.

Absolut Distillers is one of the country’s recognized frontrunners in advocating green economy since the 1990s.

The United Nations cites methane gas emissions as the primary cause of global warming.

Located inside the laboratory premises is where the yeast culture acclimatization, propagation, and inoculation takes place, processes which are essential to the plant operations.

Absolut Distillers in December last year bared plans to put a sugar mill and cogeneration plant that will require investments of at least P500 million.

Alena Mae S. Flores

LIBERTY Telecoms Holdings Inc. is set to exit the stock market by the third week of this month.

“Following approval and execution of the block sale, the company’s public float will decrease from 12.82 percent to 4.55 percent, which is below the minimum public ownership required by the Philippine Stock Exchange,” Liberty said.

A trading suspension on the shares is expected to be implemented immediately.

“Furthermore, as we have stated in our previous disclosures, the proposed date of the voluntary delisting of LIB from the Exchange is on November 21, 2016,” the company said.

The new owners of Liberty Telecoms through Vega Telecom Inc. are making a tender offer of up to 165.88 million common shares, representing 12.8 percent of the issued and outstanding common stock held by the public for P2.20 apiece, or for a total of P364.94 million.

PLDT and Globe offered to buy the remaining shareholders after they each acquired 50 percent of Vega Telecom, a unit of San Miguel for P69.1 billion.

Vega Telecom owns Liberty Telecoms.

Vega Telecoms said it would continue the business of Liberty Telecoms, review strategic options and take steps necessary to reduce and eliminate the current loss-making position of Liberty.

Liberty Telecoms posted a net loss of P158 million in the first half, lower than P427 million in the same period last year.

IN BRIEF PAL set to receive another Airbus 321 PHILIPPINE Airlines said it expects the delivery of another Airbus A321 aircraft this month for regional expansion.

The Lucio Tan-led airline said the last 199-seater A321 scheduled for 2016 would be delivered this month.

PAL’s 19th Airbus A321-231 jet arrived last month.

The airline will operate its A321s primarily on international routes across the Asia, as well as on selected domestic flights.

The A321 is the largest member of the best-selling A320 family, which has the lowest seat mile costs of any single aisle aircraft.

As with other members of the A320 family, the aircraft offers a wider cabin than competing single aisle products, with wider seats, a wider aisle and more personal space.

The list price of A321 is $114.9 million.

Darwin G. Amojelar

RCBC says income down 3.8% to P3.5b

BSP VISITORS. Citi Philippines chief executive Aftab Ahmed (right) and Citi Asean head and Singapore country officer Amol Gupte (center) pay a courtesy call to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. It was Gupte’s first official visit to the country after assuming his Asean leadership role.

He took the opportunity to share with Governor Tetangco Citi’s innovations recently introduced in the country, including voice biometrics for enhanced phone banking security and convenience.

RIZAL Commercial Banking Corp., the ninth-largest lender in terms of assets, said unaudited consolidated net income in the first nine months declined 3.8 percent to P3.50 billion from P3.64 billion a year ago.

The bank said excluding trading gains and the one-off item relating to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas supervisory enforcement action, core earnings increased 33 percent year-onyear. Annualized return on equity and return on assets stood at 7.82 percent and 0.94 percent, respectively.

“RCBC continues to be resilient despite all the challenges.

As early as August of this year, we already recorded in our books the full P1 billion supervisory enforcement action by the BSP,” RCBC president and chief executive Gil Buenaventura said in a statement. Julito G. Rada

B2

Business

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rises; Bloomberry up S TOCKS rebounded Friday to end a nineday slump, as investors searched for bargains after the benchmark index fell to a six-month low.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company bellwether, advanced 66 points, or 0.9 percent, to close at 7,227.37 Friday. This pushed up total gains this year to 4 percent.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also climbed 37 points, or 0.9 percent, to settle at 4,325.72, on a value turnover of P7.7 billion. Gainers outnumbered losers, 135 to 54, while 46 issues were unchanged.

All six sectors posted gains, while 17 of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by casino operator Bloomberry

Resorts Corp. which climbed 8.1 percent to P6.30 and oil refiner Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. which rose 3.7 percent to P69.50.

Property developer Megaworld Corp. rose 3.6 percent to P4.02, while water concessionaire Manila Water Company Inc. added 3.3 percent to close at P31.

Meanwhile, a global stocks selloff extended into Friday trading as crude oil held near a one-month low and investors shunned riskier assets ahead of next week’s US presidential

election.

A sharp fall in Tokyo led losses in most major Asian stock markets Friday as traders fret over next week’s US election, with the dollar weakening further and safe-haven gold maintaining its luster.

The pound held on to Thursday’s gains to sit at one-month highs after judges told Britain’s government it must approve June’s referendum to leave the European Union.

Trading floors around the world have been plunged into turmoil this week as market favorite Hillary Clinton’s lead over maverick rival Donald Trump has been slashed days before the Nov. 8 poll.

The former secretary of state is considered by most investors to

be a safer, more stable bet than Trump, who is seen as a loose cannon, with policies many fear could wreck the world’s top economy.

“Markets are currently attempting to strike the right balance between the greater probability of a Clinton win and the possibility of a significant selloff on a Trump victory,” Ric Spooner, chief market analyst in Sydney at CMC Markets, said.

On Wall Street the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell for the eighth straight day, while the Dow ended in the red for the sixth straight session.

And the Vix volatility index, which measures market fear, soared 14 percent to its highest levels since Britain’s shock vote in June to exit the European Union.

Those losses spread to Asia

again, with Tokyo—which was closed for a holiday Thursday— ending 1.3 percent lower.

Adding to selling on the Nikkei was a surge in the yen against the dollar as traders rush to safe investments while speculation swirls the Federal Reserve will hold off an expected interest rate hike in December if Trump wins owing to fears about the economy.

The greenback bought 103.24 yen in Asia, up from 102.93 yen in New York but well down from the 105.30 yen mark touched earlier this week.

“The dollar is showing clear signs that investors are worried about a Trump win,” Sean Callow, a senior strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.

With Bloomberg, AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2016

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.55 2,000 47.9 10,800 97.55 1,640,970 3.8 12,000 110.7 2,719,710 38.1 76,400 16.3 1,900 19.4 84,000 635 100 0.79 1,786,000 79.3 6,448,170 0.84 20,287,000 14.28 354,200 57.4 22,970 262 280 150 10 35.9 12,600 208.8 671,150 1,471 55 74.95 84,120

6,900 515,485 160,056,138 45,600 301,084,116 2,905,480 31,102 1,628,798 63,750 1,395,980 511,109,855.50 17,041,080 5,064,434 1,316,927.50 72,680 1,500 447,905 140,209,016 80,755 6,307,633.50

510,715 -116,608,606.50 -11,881,219 -13,058.00 250,186.00 412,720 -148,966,655.50 17,041,080 -1,430,000 -370,942 -67,430 -304,700 -34,437,844 22,015 9,451.50

43.7 3.75 0.91 1.39 18.28 0.204 101.2 11.3 16.3 172 22.9 26.2 62 98 2.04 6.8 12.14 10.9 7.05 7.22 5.52 22.65 66 12.36 16.68 6.05 1.88 232.2 87.5 1.99 3.7 26.6 29.5 26.55 14.24 279 0.244 4.97 3.18 10.1 11.1 2.13 5.8 1.49 67.25 3.67 220 4.38 3.2 3.96 0.146 1.6 174.3 4.56 2.1 1.13

INDUSTRIAL 44.7 1,196,100 3.8 1,221,000 0.95 285,000 1.41 730,000 19.9 166,400 0.213 73,390,000 119.9 350 11.54 6,035,800 16.42 683,700 174.6 3,000 23.6 359,900 30.95 9,800 63 30,990 100 130 2.05 120,000 7 1,316,300 12.38 50,500 11 946,100 7.05 580,700 7.26 3,007,300 5.53 18,562,300 22.8 2,050,000 67.25 142,770 12.36 100 16.78 335,600 6.11 965,200 1.95 293,000 235 534,770 93 3,880 2.09 71,000 3.96 45,000 27 300 31 3,614,700 27 181,100 14.5 995,800 281 203,170 0.255 360,000 4.97 1,000 3.21 6,581,000 10.24 1,152,400 11.54 161,100 2.13 494,000 5.89 43,000 1.49 36,000 69.5 7,100,510 3.71 1,587,000 220 5,730 4.47 6,104,000 3.2 19,000 3.96 16,000 0.147 970,000 1.6 321,000 174.7 2,354,960 4.56 3,000 2.12 1,651,000 1.13 30,000

53,334,970 4,648,950 261,730 1,018,620 3,325,405 15,629,070 38,991 69,633,050 11,209,806 536,799 8,444,715 280,390 1,948,250 12,980 246,020 9,261,238 618,372 10,397,758 4,098,626 21,788,542 103,014,563 46,766,590 9,565,815.50 1,236 5,613,246 5,888,443 565,080 125,114,746 350,275 143,070 167,150 8,020 111,612,350 4,880,300 14,428,210 57,231,938 89,100 4,970 21,098,210 11,761,872 1,788,694 1,058,140 252,773 53,700 486,383,756 5,888,080 1,260,600 26,802,340 60,800 63,960 141,890 525,840 411,728,502 13,680 3,501,100 33,900

-12,323,260 11,250 -280,000 15,523,440 -14,888,752 4,587,326 -564,000 1,255,620 1,051,820 -2,395,650 -2,466,321 -7,586,168 -70,427,502 25,644,590 -8,217,833 4,998,796 5,454,179 -58,156,504 62,435,950 -2,208,600 -5,449,018 -7,701,166 2,027,500 1,340,438 1,776,000 21,500 -590 -28,310 73,477,132 137,950 -646,800 19,372,480 3,960 -268,015,548 -

0.38 74.1 13.5 1.19 6 0.31 827 8.45 11.84 8.1 6 1,320 6.25 72 1.01 7.7 14.1 0.455 6.8 0.038 1.9 2.58 79.6 2.21 661 0.87 1.17 231.8 0.3 0.201

HOLDING FIRMS 0.39 580,000 76.9 2,237,180 13.58 8,903,300 1.25 8,200,000 6 3,000 0.325 1,050,000 829 464,900 8.45 3,205,200 12.24 4,262,600 8.17 1,193,100 6 400 1,383 140,160 6.25 12,300 72.75 2,504,680 1.14 38,328,000 7.73 266,200 14.48 4,346,700 0.455 39,000,000 6.96 25,575,400 0.038 9,100,000 1.9 6,025,000 2.58 17,000 80.3 354,910 2.21 1,914,000 668 284,500 0.87 20,000 1.17 31,000 235.6 9,220 0.3 10,000 0.201 10,000

221,600 169,145,684.50 121,081,120 9,758,430 18,000 338,150 385,549,400 27,088,843 51,862,902 9,724,936 2,400 192,590,730 76,891 181,995,062.50 42,696,820 2,061,030 62,422,284 17,745,000 177,689,715 345,800 11,447,500 45,400 28,367,081.50 4,229,940 189,767,975 17,480 36,590 2,162,864 3,000 2,010

-57,924,537 -104,864,270 9,723,490 -150,208,675 24,539,535.00 -909,552 -1,634 41,980,530 -17,795,126 -151,920 -507,786 -1,961,666 17,745,000 -4,889,940 6,308,000 18,363,753 -61,719,350 -

18,060,362 633,980 646,520 487,750 584,017,345 26,909,480 257,920 2,320,440 12,210 544,250 755,630 13,494,740 16,710,447 9,887,800 1,410 25,296,680 1,437,150 109,200 16,400 163,849,450 16,425,310 26,000 16,093,800 657,910

48,452 31,200 330,200.00 -225,166,390 -15,560,030 205,288 -1,140 8,646,400 85,640.50 9,827,940 5,151,280 3,880 3,740,350 13,430,210 16,077,100 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK MANULIFE MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PHILTRUST RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK

3.35 47.95 97.2 3.8 111.5 38 16.04 19.38 640 0.76 78 0.84 14.3 56.7 261 150 35.55 204.4 1,466 74.95

3.55 47.95 98 3.8 111.5 38.1 16.5 19.4 640 0.79 79.4 0.84 14.3 57.7 263 150 35.9 210 1,471 75.05

3.35 47.65 97 3.8 110 38 16.04 19.3 635 0.76 78 0.84 14.28 56.7 258 150 35.5 204.4 1,466 74.75

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS ASIABEST GROUP BASIC ENERGY BOGO MEDELLIN CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CHEMPHIL CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A CROWN ASIA DAVINCI CAPITAL DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EEI CORP EMPERADOR ENERGY DEVT FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG GINEBRA HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MACAY HLDG MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETRON PHINMA PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PHX SEMICNDCTR PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP PUREFOODS RFM CORP ROXAS HLDG SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VULCAN INDL

44.25 3.78 0.94 1.39 18.3 0.204 101.2 11.36 16.3 185 23.45 29.5 63 98 2.05 6.8 12.2 11 7.06 7.25 5.53 22.65 66 12.36 16.7 6.1 1.93 232.8 88.5 2.02 3.71 26.6 29.5 26.6 14.24 279 0.255 4.97 3.18 10.24 11.54 2.15 5.8 1.51 67.4 3.68 220 4.4 3.2 4 0.146 1.63 175 4.56 2.13 1.13

45.05 3.85 0.95 1.41 20.7 0.213 119.9 11.66 16.62 203.8 23.6 31 63 100 2.06 7.1 12.38 11.04 7.59 7.29 5.61 23 67.9 12.36 16.78 6.14 1.96 236 94 2.15 3.96 27 31.25 27 14.6 284.6 0.255 4.97 3.22 10.28 11.54 2.15 5.9 1.51 69.5 3.75 220 4.49 3.2 4 0.147 1.68 176 4.56 2.15 1.13

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ATN HLDG A AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS

0.39 74.45 13.66 1.21 6 0.31 827.5 8.45 12.16 8.1 6 1,335 6.27 72.9 1.05 7.8 14.1 0.455 6.84 0.038 1.9 2.69 80 2.21 661 0.88 1.22 235 0.3 0.201

0.39 76.9 13.74 1.25 6 0.33 831 8.51 12.28 8.18 6 1,386 6.27 73.6 1.17 7.8 14.48 0.455 7.02 0.038 1.9 2.69 80.3 2.21 669.5 0.88 1.22 235.6 0.3 0.201

8990 HLDG A BROWN ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITY AND LAND CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE IRC PROP KEPPEL PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP

7.2 1.08 2.29 0.3 34.9 3.03 5.15 0.58 1.11 1.08 0.148 0.58 53 0.73 0.141 1.78 0.97 1.05 4.1 3.9 0.152 0.26 0.415 3.21

7.3 1.09 2.29 0.3 35.3 3.13 5.16 0.6 1.11 1.15 0.153 0.59 54.3 0.74 0.141 1.83 0.98 1.05 4.1 4.06 0.159 0.26 0.42 3.26

7.15 1.04 2.24 0.285 34.7 2.98 5.15 0.57 1.11 1.08 0.145 0.56 52.5 0.73 0.141 1.78 0.96 1.05 4.1 3.9 0.152 0.26 0.415 3.21

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

29.1 1.51 26.05 1.01 0.97 5.14

29.35 1.57 26.2 1.02 0.98 5.28

29.05 1.51 25.55 0.99 0.95 5.14

29.15 1.51 25.95 1.02 0.95 5.25

2,824,000 490,000 12,449,700 362,000 31,000 3,132,400

82,374,945 749,970 322,609,705 367,880 29,880 16,309,542

-38,250,615 -305,570 -70,682,395 -51,000 -1,854,567.00

2GO GROUP ABS CBN APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL BERJAYA BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CALATA CORP CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR DFNN INC GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN HAVEN GRAND PLAZA HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL A INTL CONTAINER IP EGAME IPEOPLE IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LIBERTY TELECOM LORENZO SHIPPNG MANILA JOCKEY MELCO CROWN METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRAVELLERS

7.65 46.3 0.53 0.052 5.2 5.9 0.083 2.89 103.5 9.53 6.65 1,740 6.23 13.5 17.5 2.1 15.5 73.5 0.0092 11.2 9.15 0.191 1.43 3.4 13.3 5.29 1.5 1.05 2 4.14 4.62 21.6 2.74 11.3 5.06 2.52 153.4 8.5 1,459 1.12 0.4 39.25 74.05 5.5 2.67 0.77 3.27

7.7 46.65 0.56 0.056 5.2 6.35 0.085 2.97 105.6 9.53 6.65 1,742 6.25 13.9 17.5 2.15 15.8 74.5 0.0093 11.74 9.16 0.2 1.46 3.55 13.34 5.48 1.64 1.05 2 4.29 4.65 24 2.75 11.3 5.2 2.52 153.4 8.5 1,490 1.18 0.4 40 74.9 5.73 2.75 0.77 3.32

7.65 46.3 0.53 0.052 5.2 5.9 0.082 2.87 103.5 9.53 6.65 1,713 6.19 13.5 17.42 2.1 15.4 73 0.0092 11.14 9.1 0.191 1.43 3.4 13.3 5.2 1.5 1.05 2 4.14 4.54 21.6 2.64 11.3 5.06 2.51 145 8.21 1,458 1.12 0.4 39.25 74.05 5.5 2.67 0.74 3.22

SERVICES 7.68 46.4 0.55 0.055 5.2 6.3 0.084 2.94 105 9.53 6.65 1,730 6.2 13.54 17.42 2.12 15.76 73.8 0.0093 11.74 9.15 0.2 1.45 3.55 13.34 5.3 1.56 1.05 2 4.25 4.6 24 2.71 11.3 5.2 2.52 146 8.38 1,480 1.18 0.4 39.4 74.2 5.6 2.7 0.76 3.3

81,100 14,500 20,589,000 61,450,000 8,500 44,818,000 22,210,000 951,000 347,170 1,300 12,000 55,385 301,600 192,400 2,500 1,198,000 11,500 974,580 7,000,000 1,700 487,000 13,590,000 167,000 3,000 7,500 2,221,000 252,000 1,000 10,000 15,052,000 4,149,000 3,200 1,739,000 12,400 200 20,000 77,090 438,300 213,215 28,978,000 550,000 898,900 663,920 14,300 706,000 36,398,000 429,000

622,243 675,230 10,913,220 3,335,520 44,200 280,983,799 1,857,430 2,764,930 36,435,893 12,389 79,800 95,713,430 1,872,325 2,627,376 43,620 2,553,060 178,460 71,723,782.50 64,700 19,376 4,455,470 2,682,590 240,550 10,360 99,766 11,788,051 387,850 1,050 20,000 63,825,970 19,008,950 72,435 4,687,040 140,120 1,026 50,300 11,818,738 3,663,189 315,420,390 33,579,510 220,000 35,448,675 49,229,586.50 78,816 1,911,530 27,372,380 1,400,020

-192,000 9,959,230 60,100 98,275,407 -218,290 -3,400,642 -68,677,540 -43,013,772 1,008,250 -568,580.00 -19,840,250 -1,329,030 -236,740 -50,300 118,920 -484,660 -24,989,590 -440,220.00 -15,163,205 -11,187,596.50 -310,120 23,845,770 -30,330

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA NIHAO OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B PETROENERGY PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING TA PETROLEUM UNITED PARAGON

0.0036 3.2 4 0.57 0.4 8.2 1.19 0.265 0.198 0.199 0.011 0.012 1.62 6.88 2.82 0.48 0.98 0.011 0.013 4.1 0.013 8.41 3.85 122 3.01 0.0091

0.0036 3.22 4 0.58 0.4 8.72 1.23 0.29 0.199 0.199 0.011 0.013 1.69 6.99 2.83 0.48 1.1 0.012 0.013 4.15 0.013 8.41 3.92 124.9 3.05 0.0091

0.0036 3.09 4 0.57 0.4 8.2 1.18 0.265 0.193 0.196 0.011 0.011 1.62 6.82 2.71 0.48 0.96 0.011 0.012 4.04 0.012 8.3 3.83 122 3.01 0.0091

MINING & OIL 0.0036 629,000,000 3.1 662,000 4 4,577,000 0.58 113,000 0.4 1,170,000 8.3 42,400 1.2 62,177,000 0.275 57,240,000 0.195 7,690,000 0.196 1,400,000 0.011 2,900,000 0.011 52,300,000 1.68 282,000 6.94 2,167,200 2.82 25,000 0.48 40,000,000 1.01 2,104,000 0.012 9,600,000 0.012 1,100,000 4.15 10,000 0.013 1,515,400,000 8.39 270,000 3.9 1,494,000 124.9 405,760 3.05 114,000 0.0091 1,967,000,000

2,264,400 2,079,840 18,308,000 64,430 468,000 361,416 74,785,140 15,743,700 1,503,700 275,310 31,900 627,100 467,630 15,047,353 68,320 19,200,000 2,187,380 115,100 13,300 41,030 18,195,900 2,259,510 5,806,240 50,126,492 343,530 17,899,700

2,260,800 -387,620 18,136,000 -2,313,750 15,504,500 -420,000 3,841,568 19,200,000 18,000,000 82,510 19,398,109 17,635,800

ABS HLDG PDR DD PREF FGEN PREF G FPH PREF C GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

46.35 104.1 113.3 510 540 5.87 1,015 1,010 1.05 110 1,094 1,160 1,028 77.5 80.5 76.2 77.3 79.9 77.5 77.5 77.8

46.45 104.2 113.3 510 542 6.2 1,015 1,020 1.05 110 1,094 1,160 1,028 77.5 81 76.2 77.3 79.9 77.5 77.5 78

46.2 104 113.3 510 540 5.86 1,015 1,010 1.05 110 1,094 1,160 1,028 77.5 80 76 77.3 79.9 77.05 77.5 77.8

PREFERRED 46.4 65,600 104.1 11,680 113.3 10 510 4,000 542 12,180 5.86 459,700 1,015 20 1,020 1,695 1.05 100,000 110 28,500 1,094 2,325 1,160 100 1,028 10 77.5 1,000 80 33,330 76 81,190 77.3 51,000 79.9 10,740 77.05 33,300 77.5 200 78 85,760

3,039,430 1,215,927 1,133 2,040,000 6,580,180 2,700,486 20,300 1,718,140 105,000 3,135,000 2,543,550 116,000 10,280 77,500 2,679,525 6,171,613 3,942,300 858,126 2,575,130 15,500 6,685,230

-1,033,030 19,760 -5,653,800 -2,591,586 15,500 1,556,000

LR WARRANT

2.5

2.6

2.4

WARRANTS 2.46 1,167,000

2,962,100

-

ALTERRA CAPITAL ITALPINAS XURPAS

3 3.97 10.36

3.15 3.98 10.78

3 3.84 10.36

3.15 3.95 10.7

3,540,510 78,990 30,608,810

1,490,230 16,040 -11,363,712

FIRST METRO ETF

118.6

120.6

118.6

946,516

2,412

MS

PROPERTY 7.15 1.06 2.29 0.295 34.8 3.1 5.16 0.58 1.11 1.15 0.153 0.58 53.4 0.74 0.141 1.79 0.98 1.05 4.1 4.02 0.159 0.26 0.42 3.22

2,525,700 591,000 285,000 1,670,000 16,729,300 8,740,000 50,000 3,956,000 11,000 497,000 5,020,000 24,026,000 313,860 13,363,000 10,000 13,948,000 1,482,000 104,000 4,000 40,917,000 106,400,000 100,000 38,780,000 203,000

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL

SHARES

34,407,468

INDUSTRIAL

147,551,009

HOLDING FIRMS

158,431,484

PROPERTY

305,544,717

SERVICES

377,240,846

MINING & OIL

4,359,449,132

GRAND TOTAL

5,386,681,703

SME

1,140,000 20,000 2,887,600

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.6 7,920

VALUE 1,745.05 (up) 15.06 1,170,597,918.39 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,380.74 (up) 52.69 1,749,746,699.228 HOLDING FIRMS 7,383.73 (down) 88.66 1,785,292,328.683 PROPERTY 3,160.56 (up) 19.94 SERVICES 1,380.78 (up) 17.88 1,347,306,082.80 MINING & OIL 11,415.89 (up) 126.18 1,395,891,223.98 PSEI 7,227.37 (up) 66.46 248,302,218.549 All Shares Index 4,325.72 (up) 37.95 7,732,316,239.126 Gainers: 135 Losers: 54; Unchanged: 46; Total: 235

Belle opts to cancel LRWC deal

By Jenniffer B. Austria BELLE Corp., the gaming and property unit of the Sy family, said Friday it terminated a revenue sharing agreement with bingo operator Leisure Resorts World Corp. over City of Dreams Manila.

Belle said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would pay LRWC P5.09 billion, including P1.018 billion upon signing of a new agreement and the balance by end of March 2017.

“Under the terms of this newly signed agreement, the LRWC Group will be able to finalize its transaction with the Belle Group by the end of March 2017. Thereafter, the March 13, 2013 agreements will be deemed terminated,” Belle said.

LRWC Group signed several agreements with Belle and unit Premium Leisure and Amusement Inc. in January 2011 for the leasing, fitout and operation of an integrated casino development project at Pagcor Entertainment City in Parañaque.

The parties amended the agreements in March 2013, as Belle chose Melco Crown Entertainment Ltd., a company owned by Australian billionaire James Packer and Lawrence Ho, the son of Macau gaming mogul Stanley Ho, as the operator of the $1-billion City of Dreams Manila.

Under the amended agreements, Belle and PLAI agreed to pay the LRWC Group an amount equivalent to the 30-percent interest in the net lease income of the project and the 30-percent share in the gaming revenue.

LRWC said it planned to use the proceeds from the transaction to expand core businesses.

Max’s posts P380-m income RESTAURANT chain operator Max’s Group Inc. said Friday net income grew 3 percent in the first nine months to P380 million from P368 million a year ago.

“The third quarter is normally our lean period owing to the wet climate and other cyclical factors. Nonetheless, the historical slowdown should reverse ushering into the Christmas season,” Max’s Group president and chief executive Robert Trota said in a statement to the stock exchange.

Max’s Grop said ninemonth system wide sales increased 12 percent to P11.09 billion from P9.87 billion in the same period last year.

Revenues went up 11 percent to P8.09 billion from P7.30 billion, as restaurant sales rose 8 percent to P6.72 billion, following the opening of 22 new stores in July to September and steady samestore sales performance.

Commissary sales rose 19 percent to P971.03 million from P813.59 million while revenues from franchise, royalty and continuing license fees increased 39 percent to P399.87 million.

Max’s Group rolled out 55 new stores including 11 international branches, bringing its overall count to 611 stores with 44 located abroad.

“For the remaining months of 2016, we expect the prevailing economic environment to sustain its positive trend. We will open another 20-30 stores to close the year, putting ourselves in a strong position to meet Yuletide demand,“ Trota said.

The company continues to convert its existing development pipeline of 91 outlets overseas into physical stores.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

B3

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

UK sees economy growing stronger L

Governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, takes a drink during the quarterly Inflation Report press conference at The Bank of England in London on November 3, 2016. The Bank of England on Thursday hiked its economic growth forecast for next year, as it froze its key interest rate at a recordlow 0.25 percent and left stimulus unchanged. AFP

ONDON―The Bank of England on Thursday hiked its economic growth forecast for next year, as it froze its key interest rate at a record-low 0.25 percent and left stimulus unchanged.

China’s Wanda buys Golden Globes owner

The BoE, revealing its quarterly outlook alongside the rate decision, raised its prediction for this year’s growth and lifted its 2017 forecast, but downgraded 2018 GDP guidance.

Governor Mark Carney meanwhile warned that Thursday’s High Court decision to order a parliamentary vote on Brexit was part of the “uncertainty” arising from Britain’s shock EU exit referendum result in June.

“It’s an example of the uncertainty that will characterize this (Brexit) process,” governor Mark Carney told a press conference.

“That uncertainty does bear down on business investment,” he warned.

The economy was predicted to grow by 2.2 percent this year, by 1.4 percent in 2017 and by 1.5 percent in 2018.

That compared with previous GDP expansion forecasts of 2.0 percent, 0.8 percent and 1.7 percent respectively.

“In the three months since (August), indicators of activity and business sentiment have recovered from their lows immediately following the referendum and the preliminary estimate of GDP growth in the third quarter was above expectations,” the central bank noted in a statement.

“These data suggest that the near-term outlook for activity is stronger than expected three

months ago.”

It added that household spending had grown faster than expected in August, while the housing market had been more resilient.

The announcement came two hours after a ruling that parliament, not the government, must approve the start of Britain’s withdrawal from the European Union, in a landmark decision that could delay Brexit.

Three senior judges ruled that Prime Minister Theresa May did not have the right to use her executive power to trigger Article 50 of the EU’s Lisbon treaty, which begins a two-year countdown to leaving the bloc.

The pound advanced further against rival currencies on the BoE decision, having earlier jumped through $1.24 in the wake of the High Court ruling.

Sterling has tumbled to multiyear low points against its main rivals since Britain voted June 23 for Brexit.

The court ruling has “made triggering Brexit a lot trickier and has given sterling a massive shot in the arm”, said Neil Wilson, markets analyst at ETX Capital.

“The news sent the pound roaring through $1.24 before gains were pared as markets digest the news―the fact is no one really knows what the implications of this decision are yet.” AFP

BEIJING―Acquisitive Chinese property-to-entertainment conglomerate Wanda Group is buying the maker of the Golden Globes awards show, US television rights owner Dick Clark Productions, for “approximately $1 billion,” it said Friday.

Wanda has sought to transform its business in the face of uncertainties in Chinese real estate, and has invested heavily in film, buying Hollywood studio Legendary Entertainment earlier this year.

The latest deal marks its entry into television production, it said in a statement, calling it “a big step forward in expanding Wanda’s map in the entertainment industry”.

Dick Clark Productions’ eponymous founder made his name presenting American Bandstand for more than 30 years, and as

well as the Golden Globes, the firm owns the television rights to events ranging from Miss America to the New Year countdown in New York’s Times Square.

It also makes the hit series “So You Think You Can Dance” and its lowercase “dc” logo is a common sight on US television.

It describes itself on its website as “the world’s largest producer and proprietor of televised live event entertainment programming” and owning “one of the world’s most unique and extensive entertainment archive libraries.”

Wanda said the acquisition meant it would have the “highest-end” television resources from the beginning of its expansion into the medium.

“Obtaining top television production rights brings about complementary and coordinated de-

Wealthy investors betting on Clinton

Mexico’s avocado boom harming forests, population

RICH investors in Europe and Asia are betting on stocks that will rise if a particular candidate wins the US election next week, and one firm says more than 80 percent of its customers’ dollars are wagering on Hillary Clinton.

The trades are coming in the form of bonds whose performance is tied to a group of shares.

Swiss bank Vontobel Holding AG, for example, is selling structured notes linked to stocks that should perform well if Donald Trump wins, and other similar debt that would benefit from a Clinton victory. Eric Blattmann, head of public distribution of financial products at the bank and asset manager, reported sales of at least $10 million.

Leonteq AG, a Swiss provider of structured products, has seen “strong interest” for similar notes in Singapore, said Frank Troise, head of digital distribution in the Asian city-state.

He declined to provide sales figures, but said that more than four-fifths of the notes his firm has sold have bet on Clinton becoming the 45th President of the United States.

“Investors are voting with their wallets,” Troise said. “The expectation is that markets will rally substantially if Clinton does win.”

Demand for Clinton notes echoes what polls and betting markets are forecasting. Clinton’s odds of winning were around 67 percent on Thursday in New York, according to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight. Her chances have fallen from 82 percent on Oct. 27, the day before the US Federal Bureau of Investigation said it had reopened its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server.

The probability of a Trump victory implied by offshore bookmakers’ odds was around 31 percent on Friday morning in Asia, according to odds comparison site Oddschecker.

Bloomberg

JUJUCATO, Mexico―Liliana Carmona misses the lush pine forest on the hills overlooking her village in western Mexico.

She now stares at vast avocado orchards that feed a massive foreign appetite for the green fruit.

Growers have been cutting down swaths of forest to make room for more fruit trees in the state of Michoacan, the world’s avocado capital.

Experts are now concerned that chemicals used in the orchards could be behind illnesses afflicting the local population.

“The sneezing doesn’t stop when they are fumigating,” said Carmona, a stocky 36-year-old mother of two who works at a small grocery store in Jujucato, a village in the heart of avocado land.

In the 15 years that Salvador Sales has been teaching in Jujucato, he has seen his students come down with more and more breathing and stomach problems.

“We believe this is caused by the products used to spray the avocado orchards,” said Sales, who believes that the wind blows the chemical fumes into the homes of his students.

About 40 percent of the world’s avocados are grown in Mexico, and most of those come from the area around Jujucato and Lake Zirahuen.

Avocados occupy some 137,000 hectares (340,000 acres) of land in Michoacan, according to state government figures.

Half of those orchards were planted in forests after the land was bought through dubious legal means, according to Jaime Navia, head of a rural technology NGO called GIRA. Deforestation is growing at a pace of 2.5 percent per year, according to GIRA. Kidney and liver problems

velopment for Wanda’s current focuses on the film, tourism, and sports industries,” it said, adding the present management would remain in place.

Wanda, headed by one of China’s richest men Wang Jianlin, has its roots in commercial real estate development but has diversified widely in recent years into entertainment and sports.

It now describes itself as the world’s biggest movie theatre operator and biggest sports company.

Expanding its entertainment portfolio is an important part of the company’s strategy to cope with uncertainty in China’s property market, Li Jiachao, marketing director for mergers and acquisitions advisory firm DealGlobe told AFP. The property boom fueled China’s stellar economic

growth of recent decades, but has entered the doldrums more recently, with Wang himself warning that the country is in the midst of the “biggest bubble in history.”

“With real estate reaching a bottleneck for further development, Wanda, as well as many other Chinese investors, have realized that culture and media is the next trend,” Li said. “Chinese are making more money and are more willing to spend on sports and entertainment.”

As well as the $3.5 billion acquisition of Legendary Entertainment―the filmmakers behind the recent Batman trilogy and Jurassic World―Wanda bought US movie theater chain AMC for $2.6 billion in 2012, and London-based Odeon & UCI cinema group this year in a deal worth around $1.2 billion. AFP

Picture taken on October 18, 2016 of an avocado orchard in Zirahuen, in the Mexican state of Michoacan, where plantations of these trees are causing deforestation. With the United States buying most of the Mexican avocado production and the domestic demand constantly growing, the price of avocados in Mexico is suffering frecuent increases. AFP

Temperate weather in the region allows for year-round cultivation of avocado, a fruit that originated in Mexico and is loaded with vitamins, proteins and healthy fats.

While there is a strong local demand, production has soared along with the avocado’s evergrowing international appeal, and forests have paid the price.

Experts warn that the chemicals used in mountain orchards may be spilling down into

ground water, streams, rivers and lakes, and subsequently causing illnesses among the population.

Alberto Gomez Tagle, an expert on the environment in the Lake Zirahuen region, which includes Jujucato, said many communities that rely on the lake water may already be suffering from the effects of chemical runoff.

One lakeside village asked researchers for help when residents began to suffer from liver

and kidney problems that did not exist until “the avocado orchards expanded and all types of pesticides were used,” Gomez Tagle said.

Officials and some producers are striving to halt the growth of orchards in forests.

Since August, authorities have recovered 100 hectares of land and detained dozens of people working in fields that had invaded forests.

A label is being created for

avocados sold in stores so that consumers can identify those from orchards that don’t harm the environment.

Drug cartels Avocados had their first “boom” in the 1970s, but production really took off in an uncontrolled way into the forests in 2000, said Navia of GIRA. Foreign demand for avocados have grown consistently in the past decade, especially from the United States―Mexico’s biggest trade partner―and countries like Japan, according to federal government figures.

In 2003, avocado exports reached nearly $60 million, a figure that shot up to $1.5 billion by 2015. Avocado sales to Japan went from $40 million to $106 million in the same time period.

Michoacan has been known in recent years for bloody clashes between rival drug gangs, which have also moved into the avocado trade, officials said.

Some of the avocado farmers that invaded the forest are “organized crime” members, a state government official told AFP, stressing that the authorities had recouped some of that land.

There are even avocados grown as high as 2,600 meters (8,500 feet) above sea level, “even though they aren’t that productive,” said Navia.

One hectare of avocados generates on average around $5,400 per year.

Mexican avocado packers recently went on strike for a few days to protest the low pay they were getting this season, which ranges from between $1.8 and $2.6 per kilo.

The brief strike resulted in a global avocado price hike. AFP

Property

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B4

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

FIRST RGP LAND DEV’T UNVEILS ‘SOCIALIZED’ HOUSING PROJECT IN CAVITE

HOUSES THAT ‘JACKBILT.”

South Morning View subdivision’s beneficiaries requested for the most expensive modular hollow blocks, and Perez agreed.

“It’s all about earning less so we can give more,” he said.

NEWSMAN-TURNED-REAL ESTATE EXEC BATS FOR LESS RED TAPE “SO I CAN BUILD MORE”

By Joel Lacsamana

N

ewbie real estate developer, First RGP Land Development Corp., presented last week its first low cost housing project worth P470 million in Naic, Cavite.

Resty Perez, a former business journalist, now a successful public relations consultant-turned-real estate entrepreneur, took local media on a tour of the five-hectare property in Naic, where his housing project was laid out, all of 1,180 units, priced at P400,000 for a 30-square meter unit, payable in 30 years.

In a speech to beneficiaries from various Metro Manila waterway communities, Perez, who is First RGP’s chairman, promised to venture into more socialized housing projects in a bid to “change the mindset of other property developers who center their businesses on gaining profit.”

Speaking to the Manila Stan-

dard, Perez said he and his family are content to be part of a program to house the poorest of the poor of Metro Manila, and save them from the dangers of floods when the typhoons come.

“The feeling of seeing so much good and trust being passed around is a reward in itself,” Perez said.

“It proves that we can dream, and

MINDSET CHANGE. Perez could give his taipan clients lessons on how to do socialized housing projects… indeed to even have some socialized housing projects.

COOL SANCTUARY. Tagaytay Highlands is the place to be during weekends, what with its various themed residential developments, two world-class golf courses, and serene mountaintop feel. The resort continues to put up residential communities, from its signature log cabins to residential condominiums such as Woodridge Place’s Mahogany and Linden Buildings to themed charmers like Aspenhills, Nobhill, Sycamore Heights, Katsura and Yume. As for the club facilities, The Highlander Steakhouse was renovated for a more vibrant rustic cabin ambiance, while the facilities of Summer Garden at the China Palace, were revamped.

For par-busters and birdie-hunters, the two championship golf courses also underwent restoration. Tagaytay Highlands is a leisure development of the SM Group of Companies.

SUBURBAN CHILL. DMCI

Homes brings a resort-inspired lifestyle to Bacoor, Cavite with its new development, Alea Residences. Set to be the first mid-rise condominium development along the Las Piñas-Talaba Diversion Road at Barangay Zapote 3, Alea will have four buildings - Darma, Surya, Raja and Budi – with six to seven residential storeys each.The development’s design is distinctively Asian, with greeneries and terraced gardens that flow into its swimming pools (see photo), play area, activity lawn, barbeque and picnic areas. Alea is the newest inclusion in DMCI Homes’ portfolio of condo developments for young families. DMCI was recently ranked among Taguig’s top partners in progress for the 47-hectare Acacia Estates, home to over 6,000 residents in Taguig City.

make that dream come true if we work together. And working together, unity, is my message to our beneficiaries.”

Perez said his recent project’s beneficiaries would enjoy flexible payment terms as they are only required to pay P803 a month, which will increase by 10 percent every year, to be paid to the Socialized Housing Finance Corp.

“The government bought the land and provided funds for the construction. Now, the beneficiaries will be the ones to pay to the government,” Perez said.

Perez said.

He said the company is also set to spend around P850 million for the development of another seven-hectare property in Naic.

“It will not be for socialized housing, it’s for the open market, thus it will be an economic housing,” he said.

The project would involve a total of 400 units priced at P750,000 each and would cater to the employees of the local government of Naic.

More in the pipeline

Aside from the flexible payment schemes of the newly-finished Naic project, Perez said another advantage of the site is its location, since it is one kilometer away from the Cavite Technopark developed by Laguna Technopark Inc., a joint venture between Ayala Land Inc and Mitsubishi Corporation.

Perez noted that this provides the beneficiaries of the socialized housing project with jobs. “ . . . that techno park will open I think next year, with job requirements as far as 20,000,” Perez said.

“We’re a new company,” the fledgling real estate businessman said. “But we’d like to change the

Construction of the project took about a year, and units are set to be turned over in the next few weeks.

“Hopefully, turnover will be on the second week of November.

We’re just waiting for some documentation requirements,” Perez said.

Meanwhile, already in the pipeline is the construction of second socialized housing project worth P540 million in Bacoor.

“It would take about a year before we can start with the construction of the Bacoor project and another year to complete it,”

Sustainable living

thinking of the business community, that in this kind of endeavor, we do the exact opposite of the conventional wisdom of maximizing profits.”

Perez noted that property developers must work together and produce socialized housing projects in order to help solve the growing 5.7 million housing backlog.

Bullish on real estate Perez’ gameplan for First RGP Land Development Corp. is for it to continue being a flexible real estate company. “We have various levels of houses. We have the socialized housing, which is a special project of ours But also in the pipeline are vertical projects, where we will target a different market,” he revealed.

“We also have target projects in Metro Manila, through joint ventures, so the cash out will be spread.”

Perez said the projects will be funded through a combination of equity and loans.

“There is a lot of room for additional projects, but at the highend, there is tough competition.

That’s why we are in the lowend market where there is real demand,” he said.

AC, REFRIGERATION EXPO TO KICK OFF IN NOVEMBER. The Philippine Society of Ventilating, Airconditioning, and Refrigerating Engineers, Inc. (PSVARE) is opening an expo dedicated solely to the air cooling, ventilating, and refrigeration industry – HVAC/R Philippines — from November 10 to 13 at SMX Convention Center Manila, SM Mall of Asia Complex and World Trade Center Metro Manila. Last year, the show attracted 71, 378 trade visitors and trade buyers in just 4 days. One of the highlights of the show will be the HVAC/R Technoforum, where resource speakers will share their knowledge and insights regarding the latest issues and trends in the HVAC & R industry through seminars and workshops. For more information about the expo, please contact the event manager, Global-Link Exhibitions Specialist, Inc. at (02) 893-7973, or visit the Facebook page: HVAC/R Philippines. The show is held alongside PHILCONSTRUCT 2016 – the biggest building and construction expo in the country organized by the Philippine Constructors Association (PCA) together with the Philconstruct Events, Exhibitions, and Conferences Corporation (PEECC) and the Association of Carriers and Equipment Lessors, Inc. (ACEL).

QUEZON CITY GETS UPMARKET FACELIFT.

Eton Properties, the real estate arm of the Lucio Tan Group of companies is upping the ante in townhouse living with 68 Roces, a 3.3 hectare, master-planned development it is building along Don Alejandro Roces Avenue in Quezon City. Composed of residential townhouses, singleattached house and lot units as well as a retail strip and recreational facilities, 68 Roces is near the city’s business and entertainment districts. The development is perched on a flood-free site and maintains exclusivity and a sense of serenity. Complementing the 68 Roces lifestyle is the 98.6-meter commercial strip which will house establishments catering to the needs of the residents.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

C1

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

JOY TO THE WORLD. Store owner Baby Cortero at the Mega Q-Mart Market in the metropolis displays her glitzy lanterns in the run up to the Christmas midnight Masses, hoping to make a hefty sum for her family before too long. Manny Palmero

CHRISTMAS IN PH

A mix of traditions, songs

By Honor Blanco Cabie

M

ONCADA, Tarlac—The icy winds from the Mongolian steppes have started blowing southward, with winter sweeping the temperate zone, and bringing to the Philippines the traditional cold weather—an apt reminder that Christmas is around the corner.

Somewhere at the lagoon in this rice-producing first class town 154 kms north of Manila, Christmas songs take the night air— like the song “Joy to the World,”

whose lyrics were written in 1719

by English hymn writer and theologian Isaac Watts (1674-1748).

“Joy to the World, the Lord is come!/ Let earth receive her King;/

Let every heart prepare Him room,/ And Heaven and nature sing,/ And Heaven and nature sing,/ And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”// In Barangay Atencio, on the west side of the main national MacArthur Highway, the Tagalog Christmas song “Pasko Na Naman” is being sung by young boys and girls in front of lanterndecorated houses.

“Pasko na naman, o kay tulin ng araw./ Paskong nagdaan, tila ba kung kailan lang./ Ngayon ay Pasko, dapat pasalamatan./ Ngayon ay Pasko, tayo ay mag-awitan.”// (It’s Christmas once again, the

days roll by fast./ The past Christmas, ‘twas like it had just passed by./ Now that it’s Christmas, only proper we give thanks./ Now that it’s Christmas, let’s sing carols.//) At the town proper, where Christmas lights are aplenty, the night breeze wafts the familiar Ilocano song, among others sung by primary graders and the elderly: “Ala kadin, inkay’ yawat/ ‘Tay aginaldomi a pirak/ Ta uray sisiam a sikapat/ No isut’ itedyo kadakam a pagayat.”//(Please give it now to us/ The money as our Christmas gift/ Although they form part of some loose change/ Provided

that’s the symbol of your love.//) As in many other Christian towns of this Southeast Asian republic, discovered for Europe by Ferdinand Magellan on March 16, 1521, this town has its share of lanterns and carols in the run up to the beginning of Christmas celebration on Dec. 16 and exotic foods at home after the Midnight Mass or the Misa de Gallo, the mass of the Rooster—following nine successive night Masses in Church.

On the front yards of Catholic and Aglipayan churches in the towns, rice cakes—the indigenous bibingka, sumallatik, bitsobitso, lina-

MMDA says no more road diggings

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Metro Manila Development Authority has formed a special team to inspect and ensure there will be no road diggings and excavation on major thoroughfares in the run up to the Christmas season.

The move, according to MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos, would provide relief to commuters and motorists during the Yuletide when traffic is expected to be heavy.

Orbos said the team, composed of 36 personnel of the agency’s Traffic Engineering Center, will see to it there will be no road works along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and other major thoroughfares beginning this month until Jan. 9 next year.

MMDA records showed there are about 200 unfinished road works, most of them are drain-

age improvement projects, on major roads connecting Edsa— from Monumento in Caloocan City to Macapagal Boulevard in Pasay City—and other streets in Metro Manila.

MMDA officials and representatives from the Department of Public Works and Highways, city and district engineers and members of the Inter-agency Council on Traffic came up with the three-month moratorium to stop the diggings because of the anticipated massive increase in vehicular traffic during the peak buying months.

The government is no longer issuing new permits in line with the moratorium beginning Nov. 1.

“The team will be going around to check them. We will file a case against any person ROADWORKS CANCELED. Metro Manila Development authorities have stopped temporarily road diggings and who will violate the moratori- excavations, like this shown in file photo in a city of the metropolis, as the Christmas holidays approach, expected to um,” said Orbos. provide relief to thousands of motorists and commuters in the national capital. Andrew Rabulan

Safety program launched for transport drivers

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

PUERTO Princesa—Health authorities from Oriental and Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, as well as Palawan, with the Pilipinas Shell Foundation Inc., Project H4 and the city government here have launched a health and safety program for public transport drivers.

The program is dubbed “ToDOH Na To!” which provided health screening for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), tuberculosis and leprosy.

Regional Director Eduardo Janairo said the program, part of the region’s integrated infectious disease systematic screening on vulnerable population program, was launched at the Mendoza Park Covered Court on Oct. 27.

He said health assessment among drivers—250 attended the program launching— was important because they were constantly exposed to hazardous elements such as pollution which can cause health concerns like tuberculosis and skin rashes if not properly addressed.

“It is a safety concern that we must consider as we are all for safety.” he added.

Janairo said drivers were also at risk of

contracting HIV due to their mobility, occupation, or partners.

Because of their vulnerability, he noted they could increase the spread of HIV to unsuspecting sectors of society, including sexual partners of injecting drug users, clients of sex workers, regular sex partners of sex workers, female sex partners of men who have sex with men and women.

Davao City cracks down on fixers, accomplices at city hall

By Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO City—Mayor Sara DuterteCarpio has ordered a crackdown on fixers and their accomplices at the frontline offices of the city hall.

The order followed complaints about the presence of fixers offering the public fast pro-

cessing of documents and transactions at the frontline offices in exchange for money.

The frontline offices are the Office of the City Treasurer, the Business Bureau, Office of the City Assessor, Office of the Local Civil Registry, City Health Office, Office of the City Veterinarian, Office of the City Social Services and Development, and the Local

Land Franchising and Regulatory Board.

Erwin Alparaque, the chief of the Human Resource and Management Office, said the order came with a stern warning to employees who are working in cahoots with fixers.

“The worst thing that might happen to employees who are involved in fixing is termination from office,” he said.

“There might also be charges filed against them, especially if they are found to be the one accepting money.”

The Anti-Red Tape Act or Republic Act 9485 was enacted to ensure the efficiency of the delivery of government services by reducing red tape and preventing graft and corruption.

pet, sinuman, puto bumbong, dudol and kalasukos—and steaming cups of chocolate and coffee are sold to those attending the Masses.

Many say Yuletide in this country—one of only two predominantly Christian countries in Asia, the other being East Timor, is a mixture of Western and native Filipino traditions.

Santa Claus, the Christmas tree, sending Christmas cards, and singing carols have all been inherited from the cultures of the West although these have been adapted to fit the nature and character of the Christian Filipino.

San Juan City wins 2 honors from govt SAN JUAN City, historically known as the site of the first battle of the Katipunan, has notched twin honors in less than a week from government agencies.

It received from the Department of the Interior and Local Government on Oct. 27 the coveted Seal of Good Local Governance and, six days later, an “Excellent” rating from the Civil Service Commission as contained in its Anti-Red Tape Act Report Card.

Arta is an instruction to all government offices and agencies, directing them to provide frontline services and regularly undertake time and motion studies, undergo evaluation and improvement of their transaction systems and procedures and reengineer the same if deemed necessary to reduce bureaucratic red tape and processing time.

San Juan’s record covered compliance with Arta provisions, including anti-fixer campaign and the publication of a citizen’s charter, and graded as well in overall client satisfaction by field officers of the Civil Service Commission.

San Juan City, headed by Mayor Guia Gomez, was one of five of the 17 cities in Metro Manila awarded to have successfully fulfilled SGLG’s requirement of passing its core and essential areas.

The four others were Caloocan, Mandaluyong, Pasay and Pasig.

Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno lauded the five city-awardees “for their hard work and dedication.” Honor Blanco Cabie

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

Standard

Republic of the Philippines ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION San Miguel Avenue, Pasig City

TODAY

IN THE MATTER OF THE APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE POWER SALES AGREEMENT (PSA) ENTERED INTO BY AND BETWEEN DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. (DLPC)AND SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES POWER CORPORATION WITH PRAYER FOR PROVISIONAL AUTHORITY AND CONFIDENTIAL TREATMENT OF INFORMATION

SC

= Start-Up Costs

RCEC

= Replacement Capacity and Energy Costs

Due Date shall earn interest at the 91-day T-Bill Rate plus three percent (3%) per annum, from the day after the Payment Due Date until the date upon which such amount was received by the Seller12.

BCEC

= Back-up Capacity and Energy Costs

Taxes

= Value-Added Tax as collected from DLPC’s customers and other applicable taxes, if any, net of any withholding tax, as applicable.

1.1

Capital Recovery Fee (CRF)

19.10 Payment Made Prior to Due Date. The Buyer shall be given a one and a half percent (1.5%) prompt payment discount on the payment in full of the applicable Capital Recovery Fees twenty (20) days prior to the relevant Payment Due Date13.

20.

CRF shall be computed as follows:

ERC CASE NO.2016-068 RC DAVAO LIGHT AND POWER COMPANY, INC. (DLPC) AND SOUTHERN PHILIPPINES POWER CORPORATION (SPPC), Applicants. x------------------------------------------------------------x

NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

Further, Applicant SPPC respectfully manifests that the said financial model is only for the purpose of illustration and does not reflect the real tariff basis of SPPC. 21.

Where: CRFR CC F

= Capital Recovery Fee Rate of PHP 250.18/kw/month = Contracted Capacity = Factor as derived using the following formula to be used.

Generation Charge

22.

Where:

2.

3.

= Theoretical Maximum Energy Delivered being the Contracted Capacity multiplied by the hours in the relevant month, less any adjustments made for Allowed Outage, limitation due to Buyer’s dispatch order, and allowable start-up time due to period of non-generation due to a Buyer dispatch order, and any other hours as a consequence of Buyer’s failure to perform any of its obligations

Statement of Facts 4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

F

Based on the demand and supply outlook of DLPC for the remaining months of 2016 up to 2020,DLPC sees a deficit between its current supply portfolio and its current and projected demand requirements. This deficit is projected at an average of 83.72 MW with a projected peak deficit of 142.47 MW. A major contributing factor to this deficit is the El Niño phenomenon that is adversely affecting Mindanao, resulting in the reduction in the capacity allocation to DLPC by its hydroelectric power plant suppliers such as NPC/ PSALM1. From January 22, 2016 to March 30, 2016, NPC/PSALM, on the average, allocated only about 86.79 MW from a maximum equivalent capacity of 167.261MW, or the average actual energy of 62,155,237.33 MWh per month, from the average contracted energy of 76,376,108.66 MWh per month for the said period.

A summation of the ED & TMED for a given Contract Year shall be made to determine true F during the Contract Year. Such yearly F factor shall be basis for adjustment of the CRF for the Contract Year. The adjustment shall be guided by the following conditions: If If 2.

Fixed Operation & Maintenance Fee (FOMF)

The Fixed Operation and Maintenance Fee (FOMF) covers the operating and maintenance costs of the Power Station. It shall be computed according to the following formula:

Accordingly, DLPC and SPPC entered into a Power Sales Agreement (PSA) for the supply of fifty megawatts (50 MW) for two (2) years from the Commencement Date, as defined in the PSA. The term may be extended for an additional one (1) year period.

Section 45 (b) of Republic Act No. 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, provides that distribution utilities may enter into bilateral power supply contracts subject to review by the ERC. In connection with this, ERC Resolution No. 2, Series of 2015, provides that the distribution utilities and generation companies jointly file with the Honorable Commission their respective power supply agreements.

FOMR

= Fixed O&M Fee Rate of PHP 219.00/kw/month

CPIn

= Consumer Price Index for Metropolitan Manila Area (National Capital Region), all items published by NEDA/NSO for the period of price determination

CPIo

= Consumer Price Index for Metropolitan Manila Area (National Capital Region), all item published by NEDA/NSO as of December 31, 2013.

WPCn

= Wholesale Price Index for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials for the Philippines as published by NEDA/NSO for the period of price determination

WPCo

EUn

= Euro-Peso Exchange Rate for the period of price determination as published by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

EUo

= Euro-Peso Exchange Rate as of December 31, 2013 as published by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

FPPIn

= Finland Producers’ Price Index for Manufacturing for the period of price determination as published in the International Financial Statistics of IMF

Document 1st Invitation to Submit Proposal for the Supply of Power

B

2nd Invitation to Submit Proposal for the Supply of Power Offer of Alsons Power Group for SPPC

D

DLPC BAC Evaluation Reportsand Letter Request to Negotiate a PSA

E

Secretary’s Certificate re Board Resolution on DLPC BAC Evaluation Reports

F

Secretary’s Certificate re Board Resolution on the authority of DLPC to enter into the supply agreement and DLPC’s authorized signatory

G

Power Sales Agreement

H

DLPC Distribution Development Plan

I

Rate Impact Analysis

J

Contract for the Supply of Electric Energy between DLPC and PSALM

K

Demand Side Management (DSM) Programs of DLPC

L

SPPC’s Certificate of Incorporation, Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws

M

General Information Sheet of SPPC for the Year 2015

N

Brief description of the technical characteristics of the Power Station

O

Specific Fuel Oil Consumption Certificate of the Power Station Project Cost and its supporting documents

Q

Detailed Breakdown of the Projected Operating Expenses

R

Computation of the WACC with Debt-Equity Ratio and Interest Cost

S

Fuel Procurement Process

T

Environmental Compliance Certificate issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources

U

Certificate of Accreditation issued by the Department of Energy

V

Certificate of Compliance issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission

W

Sample Computation of the Monthly Payments

X

Financial Model

Y

SPPC 2015 Audited Financial Statements

23.

As mentioned above, the financial model attached hereto as Annex “X” is hereby submitted under a motion to treat information confidential (“Motion”).

24.

The financial model discloses the basis for the tariff under the PSA. It includes all the formulas and calculations as well as the assumptions and values considered therein.

25.

In accordance with Section 1, Rule 4 of this Honorable Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure (“ERC Rules”), Applicant SPPC respectfully moves that the financial model be treated as confidential information for the following reasons: 25.1

The financial model qualifies as a “trade secret” as contemplated under existing jurisprudence.

25.2

In the case “Air Philippines Corporation vs. Pennswell Inc.”14, the Supreme Court defined “trade secret” as follows: “A trade secret is defined as a plan or process, tool, mechanism or compound known only to its owner and those of his employees to whom it is necessary to confide it. The definition also extends to a secret formula or process not patented, but known only to certain individuals using it in compounding some article of trade having commercial value. A trade secret may consist of any formula, pattern, device, or compilation of information that (1) is used in one’s business; and (2) gives the employer an opportunity to obtain advantage over competitors who do not possess the information. Generally, a trade secret is a process or device intended for continuous operation of the business, for example, a machine or formula, but can be a price list or catalogue or specialized customer list. It is indubitable that trade secrets constitute proprietary rights.” (Emphasis supplied)

2

11.

The Generation Facilities. SPPC shall supply power under the PSA from its 55 MW bunker C-fired diesel power generating plant located in Alabel,Saranggani Province (the “Power Station”).A brief description of the technical characteristics of the Power Station is attached hereto as Annex “N.”

12.

The specific fuel oil consumption (“SFOC”) of the Power Station shall not be greater than 0.2464 kg/kWh at site condition of 32 deg. C ambient temperature. The SFOC is based on a bunker C fuel oil density of 0.9855 kilogram/liter.A copy of a certification on the Power Station’s specific fuel oil consumption rate is attached hereto as Annex “O.”

13.

Project Cost and Operating Expenses. A summary of the costs of the project and its supporting documents are attached as Annexes “P” and series. A detailed breakdown of the projected operating expenses is attached hereto as Annex “Q.”

14.

Project Finance; Weighted Average Cost of Capital (“WACC”). The project is being funded through loans and equity. A computation of the WACC indicating the debt-equity ratio, and the interest cost is attached hereto as Annex “R.”

15.

Fuel Supply.In order to ensure the supply of fuel for the operations of the Power Station, SPPC is currently in the process of selecting a fuel supplier.

A copy of a document on the fuel procurement process is attached hereto as Annex “S.” 15.1.

16.

A copy of the ECC is attached hereto as Annex “T.” 17.

FPPIo

= Finland Producers’ Price Index for Manufacturing as of December 31, 2013 as published in the International Financial Statistics of IMF

F

= Outage Factor as derived using the following formula to be used.

Where:

Where: TMED

= Theoretical Maximum Energy Delivered being the Contracted Capacity multiplied by the hours in the relevant month, less any adjustments made for Allowed Outage, limitation due to Buyer’s dispatch order, and allowable start-up time due to period of non-generation due to a Buyer dispatch order, and any other hours as a consequence of Buyer’s failure to perform any of its obligations

F

= 1 if the foregoing formula result in F being greater than 1

A summation of the ED & TMED for a given Contract Year shall be made to determine true F during the Contract Year. Such yearly F factor shall be basis for adjustment of the CRF for the Contract Year. The adjustment shall be guided by the following conditions:

It must be stressed that, in accordance with the relevant policy of this Honorable Commission, SPPC shall derive no revenue whatsoever from the fuel supply.

Environmental Compliance Certificate. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has issued the necessary Environmental Compliance Certificates (“ECC”) covering the Power Station.

DOE Accreditation. The Department of Energy has accredited the Power Station as a Block Power Production Facility under the Implementing Rules and Regulations of Executive Order No. 215.A copy of the pertinent certificate of accreditation is attached hereto as Annex “U.”

18.

Certificate of Compliance. This Honorable Commission has issued the necessary Certificate of Compliance for the Plant. A copy of the said certification is attached hereto as Annex “V.”

19.

Salient Terms and Conditions. The PSA contains the following salient features and conditions:

Salient Terms and Conditions of the PSA

0.3346

In support of the instant application, the following documents are attached as annexes hereof:

Allegations in Support of the Motion for Confidential Treatment

= Wholesale Price Index for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials for the Philippines as published by NEDA/NSO for as of December 31, 2013.

Thus the instant Application.

Overview of the 55 MW SPPC Power Station

Impact

4.3072

C

P and series

Where:

Moreover, DLPC’s firm supply contract for 18 megawatts of capacity with one of it suppliers will expire on April 28, 2016.

Thus, to augment its supply requirements, DLPC sought separate competitive offers from any peak load generation source and base load generation source from prospective suppliers. For the peak load generation source requirement, only one bid was received for each of the two competitive biddings conducted by DLPC, resulting in a failed bid.

Thus, DLPC entered into direct negotiations with SPPC.

A

= 1 if the foregoing formula result in F being greater than 1

SPPC is a generation company duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines, with principal office address at the 4th Floor Alphaland Southgate Tower, corner EDSA and Chino Roces Extension, Makati City.

Applicants may be served with notices, orders and other processes of the Honorable Commission through their respective undersigned counsels.

With SPPC

3.9726

Annex

TMED

Applicants DLPC is a domestic corporation duly organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of the Republic of the Philippines with office address at C. Bangoy St., Davao City. It is a grantee of a legislative franchise under Republic Act No. 8960 to maintain and operate an electric light and power system for the purpose of distributing electric light, heat and power, in the Cities of Davao and Panabo, and the Municipalities of Carmen, Sto. Tomas and Braulio Dujali, all in the Province of Davao del Norte.

Without SPPC Total (Php/kWh)

In the said application, DLPC and SPPC alleged the following:

1.

Rate Implication. An analysis was conducted to determine the estimated impact of the implementation of the PSA on DLPC’s generation costs, a copy of which is attached as Annex “I” hereof. The following table shows the indicative rate impact:

Where:

TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES: Notice is hereby given that on 28 April 2016, Davao Light and Power Company, Inc. (DLPC) and Southern Philippines Power Corporation(SPPC) filed a joint Application for approval of their Power Sales Agreement (PSA), with Prayer for the Issuance of Provisional Authority and Confidential Treatment of Information.

Financial Model. A copy of SPPC’s financial model is attached hereto as Annex “X.” The said financial model is subject to a motion for confidential treatment of information discussed below.

If

26.

Also, the financial model was prepared and developed for the exclusive use of SPPC, and is designed for the specific use of the company in its power generation business. Consequently, should the financial model be disclosed to the public, it could easily be copied or used by SPPC’s competitors or other entities engaged in the power business for their own benefit, and to the prejudice of SPPC. Thus, the commercial value of the said model will be diminished significantly.

27.

Given the foregoing, the financial model qualifies as “confidential information” as defined under Section 2, Rule 4 of the ERC Rules.

28.

In accordance with Section 1 (b), Rule 4 of the ERC Rules, an electronic copy of the financial model is contained in one compact disc and submitted in a sealed envelope marked with the word “Confidential.”

29.

Further, all parties furnished copies of the present Application are not furnished copies of the model subject the present motion.

30.

In accordance with Sections 3 and 4, Rule 4 of the ERC Rules, Applicant SPPC reserves the right to use the financial model and its contents as evidence, and respectfully moves for the issuance of a Protective Order.

If 3.

Allegations in Support of the Prayer for Provisional Authority

Variable Operation & Maintenance Fee (VOMF) 31.

The Variable Operation and Maintenance Fee (VOMF) covers the cost of the use of, among other items, chemicals, lubricants and spare parts, that are directly related to the generation of the Power Station. It shall be computed according to the following formula:

The Applicants move for the issuance of a provisional approval of the PSA pending trial on the merits for the following reasons: a.

Mindanao Power Crisis and upcoming May 9, 2016 Presidential Elections. Due to the continuing power shortage in Mindanao, the area served by DLPC continues to suffer power outages. From January 1, 2016 to April 13, 2016, DLPC was compelled to implement rotational brownouts from three to four hours as a result of the tight supply.

Hence, the PSA with SPPC will greatly aid in narrowing the power supply gap that DLPC requires in order to minimize the power outages in its franchise area. Minimizing power outages due to lack of supply has become especially urgent with the upcoming presidential elections in May 9, 2016.

b.

Continuing demand growth. As illustrated in the DDP, DLPC is expecting a growth in the total demand of its end-users. This, coupled with the lack of supply in Mindanao and the continued reduction in the supply allocation by NPC/PSALM will result in a widening of the supply gap, which DLPC may not immediately attend to. This will greatly disadvantage the end-users of DLPC who will then be forced to suffer frequent and prolonged outages.

Where : VOMF

= Variable O&M Fee, in Pesos

Term. The PSA shall be effective from the Effective Date until two (2) years from Commencement Date (“Term”) or unless otherwise earlier terminated or extended in accordance with the terms of the PSA.

VOMFR

= Variable O&M Fee Rate of Php 0.18/kWh

ED

= kWh delivered during the billing period

The PSA may be extended for an additional one (1) year period after the end of the original Term, at the option of the Buyer and under the same terms and conditions of the PSA3.

CPIn

= Consumer Price Index for Metropolitan Manila Area (National Capital Region), all items published by NEDA/NSO for the period of price determination

19.2

Contracted Capacity.The Contracted Capacity is fifty megawatts (50 MW) as may be increased or reduced in accordance with the PSA.4

CPIo

= Consumer Price Index for Metropolitan Manila Area (National Capital Region), all items published by NEDA/NSO as of December 31, 2013.

19.3

Adjustments to Contracted Capacity and Dispatchable Energy.

At any time during the Term of the PSA, the Parties may agree to permanently increase or decrease the Contracted Capacity and Dispatchable Energy. Any additional Contracted Capacity and Dispatchable Energy agreed by the Parties shall be paid for by the Buyer at the same rates specified in Schedule B (Payments to the Seller)5.

EUn

= Euro-Peso Exchange Rate for the period of price determination as published by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

EUo

= Euro-Peso Exchange Rate as of December 31, 2013 as published by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas

FPPIn

= Finland Producers’ Price Index for Manufacturing for the period of price determination as published in the International Financial Statistics of IMF

1.

FPPIo

= Finland Producers’ Price Index for Manufacturing as of December 31, 2013 as published in the International Financial Statistics of IMF

ISSUE an Order declaring the financial model attached hereto as Annex “X” as confidential information within the purview of Rule 4 of the ERC Rules, as well as directing that the financial model be treated with confidentiality and be protected from public disclosure;

2.

ISSUE the corresponding Protective Order in accordance with Sections 2 and 4 of the said Rule 4;

3.

Pending trial on the merits PROVISIONALLY APPROVE, the PSA, including all the rates, fees, charges and tariff adjustment mechanisms set out therein; and

4.

After trial on the merits, APPROVE with FINALITY the PSA, including all the rates, fees, charges and tariff adjustment mechanisms set out therein.

19.1

19.4

19.5

Allowed Outages. The PSA provides for an Allowed Outage not exceeding 65,700 MWh in the relevant Contract Year, or the proportionate number of hours if a Contract Year is less than 12 months6.

Replacement Capacity and Energy. During any period of Outage within the Allowed Outage and subject to the availability of Replacement Capacity and Energy from the System, the Seller shall use its best efforts to deliver Replacement Capacity and Energy to the Buyer. If Replacement Capacity and Energy is requested by the Buyer, the Replacement Capacity and Energy Cost of the Replacement Capacity and Energy delivered by the Seller to the Buyer shall be a full pass-through cost to the Buyer7. The cost of transmission line losses and congestion from the Receiving Point, or Alternative Receiving Point in the case of Replacement Capacity and Energy, to the Buyer’s substation shall be for the account of the Buyer8.

WPCn

= Wholesale Price Index for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials for the Philippines as published by NEDA/NSO for the period of price determination

WPCo

= Wholesale Price Index for Mineral Fuels, Lubricants and Related Materials for the Philippines as published by NEDA/NSO as of December 31, 2013.

4.

Actual Fuel Cost (AFC)

19.6

Backup Capacity and Energy. During any Forced Outage9, the Seller shall have the obligation to deliver Backup Capacity and Backup Energy to the Buyer10.

The Actual Fuel Cost (AFC) is the fee paid to the Seller as payment for the procurement and delivery of the fuel oil (Bunker C) used in the operation of the SPPC Power Station. The Actual Fuel Cost shall be computed as follows:

19.7

Monthly Payments11. Commencing on the Commencement Date and continuing throughout the Term, the Buyer shall pay to the Seller an amount (the “Monthly Payment”) calculated in accordance with the formula set out in Schedule B (Payments to the Seller).

Subject to Section 6.3 (Settlement), billings shall be based on the Contracted Capacity and monthly energy delivered to the Buyer at the Receiving Point or Alternative Receiving Point and in accordance with the provisions of Schedule F (Measurement and Recording of Electricity).

Where:

All Ancillary Service charges, taxes, fees, imposts and other similar charges shall also be included in the monthly billing.

The Monthly Payment in respect of a Billing Month shall include Replacement Capacity and Energy Costs and Backup Capacity Costs and Backup Energy Costs to the extent applicable.

The Monthly Payment shall be subject to further adjustments if there are new taxes, fees, imposts and similar charges, or any increase in existing taxes, fees, imposts and charges.

19.8

Schedule B (Payments to the Seller) of the PSA is reproduced below: PAYMENTS TO THE SELLER

The Buyer shall make the following payments to the Seller in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement: 1.

Monthly Payments

AFC = FC x EC x ED

FC

= Fuel Cost; The average MOPS price of Bunker C Fuel Oil/Heavy Fuel Oil (HFO) deliveries during the period of price determination in Peso/liter

EC

= Efficiency Cap; 0.2464 kg/kwh 0.9855 kg/liter

ED 5.

= Energy Delivered, kwh Start-Up Costs (SC)

The Buyer, on a pro rata basis of the capacity of the Power Station allocated to the Buyer, shall pay the Seller Start-Up Costs for the cost of starting up the SPPC Power Station, or any portion thereof, after a period of shutdown due to any reason attributable to the Buyer. The Start-Up Costs shall be computed based on the prevailing price of diesel fuel at the time of the Start Up and paid in accordance with the following: Type of Start-Up

Liters of Diesel Fuel per Unit

Cold Start-up (more than 10 hours of shutdown)

600

Warm Start-up (less than 10 hours of shutdown)

300

6.

32.

PRAYER WHEREFORE, in view of all the foregoing, it is most respectfully prayed that this Honorable Commission:

Other reliefs just and equitable are likewise prayed for.

The Commission has set the application for jurisdictional hearing, Expository Presentation, Pre-trial Conference and evidentiary hearing on 16 November 2016 (Wednesday) at nine o’clock in the morning (9:00 A.M.) at DLPC’s Principal Office, C. Bangoy St., Davao City.

All persons who have an interest in the subject matter of the proceeding may become a party by filing, at least five (5) days prior to the initial hearing and subject to the requirements in the ERC’s Rules of Practice and Procedure, a verified petition with the Commission giving the docket number and title of the proceeding and stating: (1) the petitioner’s name and address; (2) the nature of petitioner’s interest in the subject matter of the proceeding, and the way and manner in which such interest is affected by the issues involved in the proceeding; and (3) a statement of the relief desired.

All other persons who may want their views known to the Commission with respect to the subject matter of the proceeding may file their opposition to the application or comment thereon at any stage of the proceeding before the applicant concludes the presentation of its evidence. No particular form of opposition or comment is required, but the document, letter or writing should contain the name and address of such person and a concise statement of the opposition or comment and the grounds relied upon.

All such persons who may wish to have a copy of the application may request from the applicant, prior to the date of the initial hearing, that they be furnished with a copy of the application. The applicant is hereby directed to furnish all those making such request with copies of the application and its attachments, subject to reimbursement of reasonable photocopying costs. Likewise, any such person may examine the application and other pertinent records filed with the Commission during the usual office hours.

WITNESS, the Honorable Chairman JOSE VICENTE B. SALAZAR, and the Honorable Commissioners ALFREDO J. NON, GLORIA VICTORIA C. YAP-TARUC, JOSEFINA PATRICIA A. MAGPALE-ASIRIT and GERONIMO D. STA. ANA, Energy Regulatory Commission this 26th of August 2016 at Pasig City.

Replacement Capacity and Energy Cost Fee (if applicable)

The Buyer shall pay the Seller Replacement Capacity and Energy Cost in accordance with the invoice provided by the supplier of Replacement Capacity and Energy Cost.

The Monthly Payments shall be paid to the Seller on a monthly basis in accordance with the following formula:

7.

Monthly Payments = CRF + FOMF + VOMF + AFC + SC + RCEC + BCEC + Taxes

The Buyer shall pay the Seller Backup Capacity and Energy Cost equivalent to the Monthly Payment had there been no Forced Outage.

Where:

8.

Backup Capacity applicable)

and

Backup

Energy

Costs

Fee

ATTY. NATHAN J. MARASIGAN Chief of Staff Office of the Chairman and CEO

(if

1 2

Value Added Tax

3 4 5

CRF

= Capital Recovery Fees

FOMF

= Fixed Operation and Maintenance Fee

VOMF

= Variable Operation and Maintenance Fee

AFC

= Actual Fuel Cost

The immediate approval of the PSA will allow DLPC to immediately draw power from an available plant in order to serve the power needs of its customers. Thus, the immediate approval of the PSA will ultimately redound to the benefit of the customers of DLPC in terms of continuous, reliable, efficient and affordable power supply.Attached as Annex “Z” of this Application is the Judicial Affidavit of Mr.Reynold B. Felix, DLPC’s Assistant Vice President – Engineering Support, in support of the request for Provisional Authority.

The relative Value Added Taxes (“VAT”) of the above fee payments of 12% shall be computed as follows:

6 7 8 9

10 11 12

This computation notwithstanding, the VAT to be paid by the Buyer to the Seller is as collected by the Buyer from its Customers.

19.9. Overdue Charges. Any amounts not paid on or before the Payment

13 14

NPC stands for National Power Corporation. PSALM stands for Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation Net Dependable Capacity See Section 3.2, PSA. Section 1.1 (Definitions), PSA. Par. 3, Section 4.1, PSA. See Definitions, Section 1.1 of the PSA. See Section 6.6, PSA. See paragraph 3, Section 5.5, PSA. “Forced Outage” means, after the Commencement Date, any Outage in excess of the Allowed Outage, whether due to unplanned partial or total plant shutdown, for reasons other than Force Majeure.

Par. 1, Section 6.7, PSA. Section 7.2, PSA. See Section 7.4 (a), PSA. Section 7.4 (b), PSA. G. R. No. 172835, 13 December 2007.

(MS-OCT. 29 & NOV. 5, 2016)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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TODAY

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

C3

9 states to vote on legalizing pot L

OS ANGELES―The blue associated with Democrats and the red of Republicans will blend with another color next Tuesday on Election Day: the green of marijuana, as nine states vote on legalizing pot.

Voters nationwide decide between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump for president, but in those states weed will also be on the ballot.

California, Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts and Nevada will vote on legalizing possession and recreational use of marijuana, as well as regulating its cultivation, production and sale.

Similar initiatives have already been approved in four states and Washington, DC. In Arkansas, Florida and North Dakota, residents will vote on legalizing the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes.

Montana willPhilippines decide Republic of the whether to make moreDEPARTMENT flexible conditions under OF EDUCATION which marijuana can REGION be used IV-A for therapeutic CALABARZON Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, purposes.

Cainta, RizalconThe United States is the world’s largest sumer of drugs, and advocates say that legalizing marijuana would help end a decades-old war on drugs by eliminating the profit motive.

That war has left thousands dead in Latin America but done nothing to curb Americans’ appetite for getting high.

Marijuana is the most popular illegal drug in the United States, and 57 percent of Americans favor legalizing it, according to a poll by the Pew Research Center. A decade ago, support stood at 32 percent.

The US debate comes as Canada plans to legalize pot in 2017. Uruguay was the first country anywhere to regulate consumption, sales and production. It did so in 2014.

A pro-pot “yes” vote in states like California and Florida is almost certain to lead to a loosening of rules by other states.

If that happens, legalization at the federal level could follow in about five years, predicts Troy Dayton, co-founder and CEO of Market Research, which specializes in studying the marijuana market.

For now, though, consuming and selling pot is still a crime under federal law.

In 2012, Colorado became the first state to legalize pot for recreational use. By then, the use of pot for medicinal reasons had been allowed by some states for more than a decade.

Today, you can buy pot with a prescription in 25 states and the District of Columbia. AFP

FASHION WEEK. Models present creations by young designer Yuleza during the 2016 Malaysia Fashion Week in Kuala Lumpur. AFP

Park says scandal her fault, denies cult links SEOUL―South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Friday agreed to be questioned in a formal corruption probe, portraying herself as an overtrusting, “lonely” leader who dropped her guard with a close friend arrested for fraud.

In a highly personal televised address to the nation, Park said the scandal involving her longtime confidante Choi Soon-Sil was “all my fault”, but denied reports linking her and Choi to a religious cult.

The scandal has shattered public trust in Park’s presidency, and a new Gallup poll showed her approval rating had plummeted to just five percent―an all-time low for a sitting South Korean president.

“These latest developments are all my fault and were caused by my carelessness,” Park said, adding that she had suffered “excruciating heartbreak” for being the cause of so much public concern and distress.

A formal investigation is focused on allegations that Choi, 60, leveraged her close relationship with Park to coerce local firms into donating large sums to dubious nonprofit foundations that she Manila then Standard used for personal gain.

Park said TODAY she would not seek to hide behind presidential privilege if required to give testimony.

“If necessary, I am willing to sincerely respond to prosecutors’ investigations,” she said.

South Korea’s constitution does not allow a sitting president to be prosecuted, but some senior officials have suggested questioning as part of a wider investigation is permissible.

Choi was formally arrested on Thursday on fraud charges, but public anger has largely focused on allegations that she meddled in affairs of state and had access to confidential documents, despite having no official position Manila or Standard security clearance.

Park, who appeared close TODAY to tears at times, said she had been living a “lonely life” as president and had turned to Choi for company and help.

“Looking back, I allowed my guard to drop as she stood

Iraqis ready to push into Mosul GOGLJALI, Iraq―Elite Iraqi forces backed by artillery and air strikes pushed towards the streets of Mosul on Friday, battling die-hard jihadists defending the city where their “caliphate” was born.

At dawn, fighters from the Counter-Terrorism Service bristling with ammunition checked their weaponry and left Gogjali, the last village on the eastern outskirts of Mosul.

Moments later, they were at a cemetery on the edge of the city controlled by the Islamic State group, and Iraqi forces were pounding the nearby Al-Karama neighborhood with tank shells and gunfire.

Plumes of smoke billowed into the sky from tires set alight by the jihadists in an attempt to provide cover from air strikes.

This week Iraqi forces have been deploying on the eastern edge of the city, the most advanced of three main fronts in the huge operation to recapture Mosul launched on October 17.

They have moved into rural districts on the city’s outskirts, at some points crossing the municipal boundary, but have yet to venture into the built-up area.

There has been an exodus of civilians from outlying villages but few of the million-plus people still believed trapped inside the city have managed to escape.

Umm Ali couldn’t hold back her tears when she spoke of her constant fear the jihadists would take her young sons.

“They kept coming to our home. Sometimes

they’d knock on the door at 10:00 pm,” she said. “They took our car, saying: ‘This is the land of the caliphate, it belongs to us’.”

Civilians seeking refuge in Kurdish-controlled areas east of the city recounted tales of IS brutality.

“We’re coming from the world of the dead back to the world of the living,” said Raed Ali, 40, who fled his home in the nearby village of Bazwaya.

In a rare audio message released on Thursday, IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi urged his fighters to defend the city where he proclaimed the “caliphate” in June 2014.

The public announcement he made from the pulpit of Mosul’s Great Mosque of al-Nuri heralded the most ambitious and brutal experiment in modern jihad, a period marked by mass murder, attempted genocide and slavery.

But his “caliphate” has been shrinking steadily since mid-2015 and the loss of Mosul would leave Raqa, in Syria, as the group’s only major urban stronghold.

IS has been increasingly pragmatic in its tactics this year, falling back in the face of superior force even in some of its emblematic bastions such as Fallujah in Iraq and Dabiq in Syria.

However Baghdadi, in his first message of 2016, called on the estimated 3,000 to 5,000 fighters still in Mosul to make a stand for Iraq’s second city.

“Holding your ground with honor is a thousand times easier than retreating in shame,” he said. AFP

by my side during difficult times,” she said.

“I trusted my personal relationship, but was careless and not tough enough with my acquaintances,” she added.

The South Korean media has portrayed Choi, whose late father was a shadowy religious leader and an important mentor to Park, as a Rasputinlike figure who wielded an unhealthy influence over the president.

“There have been claims that I fell for a religious cult or had [shamanist rituals] performed in the Blue House, but I would like to clarify that those are absolutely not true,” Park said in her address on Friday. AFP

Republic of the Philippines National Capital Judicial Region REGIONAL TRIAL C OURT Mandaluyong City Branch 211 IN RE: PETITION FOR CORRECTION AND CANCELLATION OF ENTRIES IN THE CERTIFICATE OF LIVE BIRTH OF KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP SP Proc. No. MC16-11159 KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP, Represented by KATHERINE BALOBO LICUP, Petitioner, -versusTHE CIVIL REGISTRAR OF THE CITY OF MANDALUYONG CITY and THE CIVIL REGISTRAR GENERAL OR PHILIPPINE STATISTICS AUTHORITY and CARLBERT FRIAS LICUP (a.k.a. CARL FRIAS FRONTOZA), Respondents. x---------------------------------------------x

ORDER This is a verified petition filed by the petitioner praying that after due notice, publication and hearing judgment be rendered Ordering 1) the Local Civil Registry of Mandaluyong City and the Civil Registrar General/Philippine Statistics Authority to cancel and correct the entries in the Certificate of Live Birth of the minor KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP under Registry No. 2009-3167 as follows: FROM: 13. NAME (First) (Middle) (Last) CARLBERT FRIAS LICUP 14.CITIZENSHIP 15. RELIGION Filipino Catholic 16. OCCUPATION 17. AGE at the time of this birth Mailman 29 years TO: 13. NAME(First) (Middle) (Last) UNKNOWN FATHER 14. CITIZENSHIP 15. RELIGION 16. OCCUPATION 17. Age at the time of this birth That petitioner was born on June 4, 2009 at Unciano General Hospital. Her registered parents in the Certificate of Live Birth are FATHER: CARLBERT FRIAS LICUP and MOTHER: KATHERINE VIRAY BALOBO. She was the fourth child of of the spouses.

That petitioner’s (parents were first married on October 6, 1997 at Makati City. From that marriage, three (3) children are born, namely: Date of Birth John Carl Balobo Licup - March 30, 1998 Kate Russel Balobo Licup - December 18, 1999 Carlson Kyle Balobo Licup - July 10, 2001 That on February 12, 2008, the marriage of petitioner’s parents dated October 6, 1997 at Makati City was declared NULL AND VOID by the Hon. Judge Elsa I. De Guzman of the RTC, NCR Br. 89, Quezon City under Civil Case No. Q-07-61401.

That after the annulment of marriage of petitioner’s parents KATHERINE VIRAY BALOBO gave birth to the petitioner KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP, who was born on 04 June 2009 at Unciano General Hospital to an “UNKNOWN FATHER”. The

petitioner’s mother, however caused the registration of the birth of the petitioner as the legitimate child of the SPOUSES LICUP with CARLBERT FRIAS LICUP as the registered father.

That after about three (3) years of the petitioner’s parents marriage declared as null and void, they patched up their differences and remarried on June 27, 2011 at the City of San Juan.

That petitioner’s registered father in the Certificate of Live Birth CARLBERT FRIAS LICUP (now Carl) by virtue of Petition for Change of Name, has applied for U.S. Citizenship on December 12, 2007. The petition for immigration was granted in so far as KATHERINE BALOBO LICUP, JOHN CARL BALOBO LICUP, KATE RUSSEL BALOBO LICUP and CARLSON KYLE BALOBO LICUP are concerned. The petition for naturalization of KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP was denied for the reason that a DNA best result indicated that petitioner is excluded as the biological child of CARL FRIAS FRONTOZA. That the grant immigrant status to the petitioner’s mother and the three (3) children gives them the opportunity to reside in the United States. The three (3) children JOHN CARL BALOBO LICUP, KATE RUSSEL BALOBO LICUP and CARLSON KYLE BALOBO LICUP are now enrolled and studying in the United States leaving behind in the Philippines, the petitioner KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP. That the plight of the petitioner KHAYLEE KIYOMI BALOBO LICUP who will be left behind in the Philippines is a cause of great concern and worry on the part of the petitioner’s parents. Petitioner’s mother and the registered father is still pursuing the grant of the immigrant status to the United States in favour of the petitioner. The petition, however will be granted if the registered father in the Certificate of Live Birth of the petitioner will be CANCELLED and an entry of “UNKNOWN FATHER” be registered thereat.

Let a copy of this Order be published at least once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks before the hearing on November 21, 2016 at 1:30 o’ clock in the afternoon at the petitioner’s expense in the Manila Standard, a newspaper of general circulation in Metro Manila, selected by raffle pursuant to PD No. 1079.

A copy of this Order shall likewise be posted in the bulletin board of this Court.

Let the Office of the Solicitor General, Local Civil Registrar of Mandaluyong City, Prosecutor’s Office of Mandaluyong City, Civil Registrar General or Philippine Statistics Authority and Carlbert Frias Licup (a.k.a.

Carl Frias Frontoza) with a copy of this Order together with the petition and its annexes at the expense of the petitioner, the proof of service thereof to be duly proven and established to the satisfaction of the Court.

SO ORDERED. Mandaluyong City, October 17, 2016.

Republic of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION REGION IV-A CALABARZON Gate 2 Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal

INVITATION TO BID The Department of Education Regional Office lV - A (CALABARZON) with office Address located at Gate 2, Karangalan Drive, Cainta, Rizal , through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites contractors registered and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) with experience in the Restoration of Gabaldon Buildings to participate in the procurement of the restoration project wit: Name of Project Recipient Schools Location Cost of Bid Docs Contract Duration Amount (Php) TOTAL

CHINA BANKING CORPORAT

Prospective bidders must be PHILGEPS registered with valid Plaintiff PCAB License applicable to the contract with value of at least -versusCivil Case N 50% of the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC), and with For: INTERP key personnel and equipment available for the execution of the ARLENE F. PALOMARES, contract. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass/fail criteria in the XYRA SHENELLEofF. PALOMA Preliminary Examination of Bids and conduct post-qualification LYCRA KAIZZEL F. PALOMAR the lowest calculated bid. and SHALOM D. SY

Defenda

All particulars relative to the Statement and Screening, x------------------------------------Bid Security, Performance Security, pre-Bidding Conference, Evaluation of Bids, Post-qualification and Award of Contract shall ORDE Thisltsresolves the Ex-parte M be governed by the pertinent provisions of RA. 9184 and Revised Summons by Publication filed lmplementing Rules and Regulation (lRR). counsel.

The schedule for this activity are as follows: NO.

BAC ACTIVITIES

1

Advertisement

2

lssuance of Bid Documents Pre-bid Conference

3 4

Receipt and Opening of Bids

SCHEDULE

November 2016 November 2016

4-11, 7-22,

November 10, 2016, 9:00 AM November 22, 2016, 9:00 AM

In its motion, the plaintiff a Return dated December 1, 20 wereVENUE unsuccessful services of S in Interpleader on defendants Pa November 02 and 03, 2015. Eff Plaintiff’s counsel to contact and Xyra and Lyca all surnamed Palomares” for brevity) but to no a ESSD that service of summons and comp defendants by publication pursuan the 1997 Rules of Civil Procedure

DepED RO lV-A C oThe n f Court e r efinds n c merit e in the ins Section 14, Rule 14 of the 1997 Room provides as follows: DepED RO lV-A SEC. 14. Service upon defe Cwhereabouts onferen arec e unknown. - In Room defendant is designated as an un

or whenever his whereabouts are

ascertainedbidders. by diligent inquiry, s The BAC will issue bidding documents to prospective court, be effected upon him by pub at the Education Support Services Division, (ESSD) DepED general circulation and in such pl Regional Office lV-A, Gate 2-Karangalan drive, Cainta, Rizal upon the court may order. submission of a Letter of Intent (LOl), Original and/or Pursuant authenticated to the aforesaid pro summons by publication is permis copy of PCAB License, authorization from the owner to purchase strictly and fully with all th bid documents and payment of a non-refundable feefaithfully, to the Regional of service of summons by publica Office Cashier.

The rules provide for such

service could not be effected on a

14 of to theaccept Rules of or Civil Procedur The DepEd Regional Office lV-A reserves the right thereject defendant’s “whereabouts a reject any bid, and l rnnul the bidding process and all bids be ascertained by diligent inquiry prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the court, be effected upon him by p affected bidder or bidders. of general circulation.”

In the case at bar, the defendan be ascertained by diligent inquiry, tried to serve the summons and a GERALYN T.PELIAS Interpleader at their last known ad

(Sgd.) OFELIA L. CALO Judge

(SGD) ANN Chief Administrative Officer Likewise, Alias Summons dat BAC Chairman also unserved on defendants

Copy Furnished: Atty. Julian T. Tutanes Office of the Solicitor General Office of the City Prosecutor, Mandaluyong City Office of the Local Civil Registrar, Mandaluyong City Civil Registrar General/Philippine Statistics Authority Carl Frias Licup, (a.k.a. Carl Frias Frontoza) Manila Standard

(MS-Nov. 5, 12 & 19, 2016)

Rehabilitation of Gabaldon Buildings Paaralang Elementarya ng Lukban Lucban, Quezon REPUBLIC OF THE 25,000.00 REGIONAL TRI 180 NATIONAL CAPITAL J 13,151,160.00 BRANCH 93, QU 13,151.160.00

M S - N O V. 5 , 2 016)

Officer’s Return dated Septembe and Complaint in Interpleader we defendants because they already m the address stated in the summon by their neighbors. Also attached t is a Certification issued by Barang

by Barangay Captain Dennis A.

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

C4

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

World

Yemenis are facing death from hunger and disease S ANAA―In the Yemeni coastal town of AlTuhayta, 19 months into a devastating civil war, Futayni Ali watches helplessly as his five children complain of hunger.

“We couldn’t even buy shrouds to bury those of us who have already died from hunger,” says the fisherman in his 50s, referring to other town residents.

Ali used to make $30 a day from fishing in the Red Sea before the war between Shiite rebels and loyalists escalated in March 2015 with the intervention of a Saudi-led coalition.

But work stopped for Ali after the coalition started its military campaign including air strikes to push back the rebels, after they overran the capital Sanaa and advanced on other areas.

“We’re waiting for death to arrive. We can no longer do anything to feed our hungry children,” says the desperate father, who lives in the rebelheld western province of Hodeidah.

“We have sold all we had― even the beds we slept on and the plates we ate from.”

Almost 7,000 people, many of them civilians, have been killed and three million people displaced in the conflict since March 2015, according to the United Nations.

But in an impoverished country already suffering from widespread food insecurity before the war, hunger has also escalated with millions in need of food aid.

One and a half million children suffer from malnutrition, including 370,000 for whom it is so severe it weakens their immune system, the UN children’s agency says.

Hodeidah, where Ali and his family live, was Yemen’s poorest province even before the war. Today health authorities there warn of a “catastrophic situation due to starvation”.

The crisis is most visible in Ali’s hometown of Al-Tuhayta, where many have been reduced to skeletons with pale faces, sunken cheeks, and blank eyes.

“Around 5,000 people... could face death from hunger” in the town, warns town official Hassan Handiq.

In the provincial capital of Hodeidah, frail Saeeda― whose name ironically means happiness in Arabic―is struggling to stay alive. AFP

Albanian martyrs to be beatified

SHKODRA, Albania―They were tortured to death, fatally strung up by their feet, shot or thrown into quicksand.

Now, more than 30 years after their deaths, 38 Albanian Catholics killed under the isolated Communist regime of dictator Enver Hoxha are to be beatified―one of the last steps on their path to sainthood.

Vatican officials will join the Balkan country’s small Catholic community on Saturday to remember their martyrs at a cathedral mass in the northwestern city of Shkodra, whose cemetery was the scene of executions.

“Faith in Christ was our only glimmer of hope in the life of Communist hell,” said Father Ernest Simoni, who spent nearly two decades doing forced labour in prison and in the fields.

The 88-year-old clergyman will on November 19 become only the second Albanian to become a cardinal.

Initially condemned to death for celebrating a mass in memory of slain US president John F. Kennedy, he instead was forced to toil and eventually escaped the brutal repression during prisoners’ unrest in 1973.

Two-thirds of his sentence was spent in pyrite mines in the deserted Albanian mountains, more than 100 kilometers north of Tirana.

The bodies of hundreds who went missing still lie in the underground passages around the notorious Spac labor camp.

Few Albanians at the time knew about the prison complex―except that people who went there rarely returned.

If there was a Marxist motto that dictator Hoxha liked to repeat, it was that religion is the “opium of the people” and he tried to eradicate it from his country, officially declaring it an atheist state in 1967.

He engaged youth organizations to destroy 1,280 churches and mosques, which were sometimes transformed into sports or entertainment halls.

Seven bishops, 111 priests, 10 seminarians and eight nuns died in detention or were executed between 1945 and 1985, accused of having hidden arms to overthrow the regime, or of being spies or traitors. AFP

HK banker accused ‘far from normal’

PRESENT. Actress Jillian Murray attends Jimmy Choo in association with Cindy Crawford and Katharina Harf to host an evening to support Delete Blood Cancer in Beverly Hills, California. AFP

HONG KONG―The British banker who slashed the throats of two women in his luxury Hong Kong apartment was “as far from normal as possible” at the time of the killings, his defense said Friday at the close of his trial.

Once a “brilliant superman investment banker” earning several million Hong Kong dollars a year, 31-year-old Rurik Jutting spiraled out of control under the influence of personality disorders, defesce counsel Tim Owen told the court.

He became “a bloated, unshaven, permanently intoxicated, isolated and depraved drug and alcohol addict whose mind was permanently obsessed about sadistic sexual fantasies,” he said.

Cambridge graduate Jutting is accused of murdering the two women, Sumarti Ningsih, 23, and Seneng Mujiasih, 26, two years ago, after saying he would pay them for sex.

The trial, which has captivated the Chinese city, heard that he tortured Ningsih inside his apartment for three days before killing her and stuffing her body in a suitcase found on his balcony.

The Briton has pleaded not guilty to two murder charges, instead pleading guilty to manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility―an argument the prosecution has rejected.

The past week has seen witnesses from both sides arguing the extent to which Jutting was impaired by multiple disorders.

Defense psychiatrists said Jutting was consumed by addictions to alcohol and huge amounts of cocaine, and suffered from narcissistic personality disorder and sexual sadism disorder. AFP

Ceasefire to start in Syria’s Aleppo BEIRUT―A Russia-declared unilateral ceasefire is to take hold in Syria’s Aleppo Friday even as rebels stepped up a week-old assault to break a government siege of the city’s eastern districts.

Regime ally Russia, which announced the 10-hour “humanitarian pause” on Wednesday, said it would start at 0700 GMT. The pause is the second declared by Moscow in less than a month after a three-day ceasefire in late October failed to encourage civilians and rebels to leave rebel-held east Aleppo.

The October 20 pause followed a month-long Russiabacked army offensive to recapture the whole city that killed hundreds of civilians and hit health facilities, sparking international condemnation.

Once Syria’s economic powerhouse, Aleppo has been divided since mid-2012 between regime control in the west and rebels in the east.

The chief of Russia’s General Staff Valery Gerasimov said Friday’s pause was meant to “prevent senseless casualties” by allowing civilians and combatants out of east Aleppo.

But the United Nations has warned that “humanitarian operations cannot be contingent on political or military initiatives”.

Only a handful of people left east Aleppo during the October ceasefire, with Russia accusing rebels of preventing people from leaving and a UN plan to evacuate wounded people shelved over security concerns.

Rebels have been battling for nearly a week in a desperate bid

to break the three-month siege but have so far been unable to push through government lines in western Aleppo.

The opposition forces on Thursday announced a new phase in their assault on government forces in the city’s western outskirts.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britainbased monitor, said the “most intense fighting” was on the edges of the Halab al-Jadida neighborhood.

State media said at least 12 people were killed in rebel rocket and gunfire on Aleppo’s western neighborhoods.

The Observatory put the toll at 15 dead, saying four children were among them, bringing to 69 the total number of civilians killed in rebel fire since Friday, including 23 children. AFP

BENEFIT. Dave Navarro, Brad Wilk, Scott Shriner, Mark McGrath and Dave Kushner perform at the 2016 Rhonda’s Kiss Benifit honoring Johnny Depp at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles, California. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

WEEKEND LIVING

D1

It’s ‘Dirt Weekend’ at Nuvali

By Nickie Wang

A

YALA LAND’S Nuvali, a 2,000-hectare prime development in Laguna, has become a destination not only for people who want to experience sustainable living but also for those thrill seekers who enjoy outdoor adventures.

Apart from its amenities designed for people with active lifestyle, Nuvali offers bike tracks and trails system, which include off-road biking and running trails with scenic views of the development’s terrain, perfect for the event it is hosting.

On Nov. 11 to 12, all roads lead to Ayala Land’s sustainable estate in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, as it hosts the 8th edition of Dirt Weekend Bike Festival.

A total of 2000 amateur and professional bikers from the provinces are expected to join the fest, a pioneer in bringing world-class cycling formats in the country.

The bike fest is divided into two race categories: the 2017 Cross Country Marathon World Championship Qualifier; and the Nuvali’s signature event, the 35-kilometer Dirt Weekend Cross Country Fun Race, which will have a special “Fat Bike” category.

The qualifying race is open to cyclists 19 years old and above while the fun race requires participants to be at least 15 years old. For the first category, Nuvali partnered with the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the governing body on cycling events.

The world-champion qualifying race is part of UCI World Marathon Series that allows the top 40 riders to score points for their UCI Mountain Bike Marathon Series ranking.

According to Nuvali General Manager John Estacio, Dirt Weekend has been a growing annual event. He added that the sprawling development is

Elite cyclists tackle Nuvali’s Bike Track during the 7th edition of Dirt Weekend Bike Fest last year.

Dirt Weekend is part of Nuvali Outdoor Adventure Program, which encourages the public to embrace a healthier, more balanced lifestyle

specifically designed to encourage the public to embrace a healthier, more balanced lifestyle.

“Dirt Weekend is a part of a bigger event which we call the Nuvali Outdoor Adventure Program. In our first edition, we had around 500 participants and this year we are expecting at least 2000 bikers. You see, it’s getting bigger each year,” the executive told Manila Standard.

More than just a competition for cyclists, the event also pushes change in mindset in terms of road use and transportation. Nuvali wanted to introduce cycling as the most sustainable mode of transport as it is accessible by almost everyone in any location.

“Mountain biking and the balanced lifestyle we promote here in Nuvali naturally go together. This is close to our heart. Biking is something that is

promoted well in Nuvali. We hope to change the attitude of Filipinos about transport. Riding bicycles is a good alternative to driving cars. It is economical and socially sensitive,” Estacio shared.

Nuvali takes the bike fest a step further by serving as venue for worldclass competition. It recognizes local talents as well as give local athletes a chance to compete globally. The bike fest will also serve as a venue where fun riders tackle the same course alongside professional elite cyclists.

“Fun riders will have the same experience with elite riders. The only difference is, those under UCI will have a longer trail. And we are having the same level of organization, which means that both the international and local events will be organized in the same fashion,” Estacio concluded.

Arnell Ignacio’s first 100 days in PAGCOR ARNELL IGNACIO is a keeper of tales.

However, he doesn’t just sit around waiting to be fed with stories. The Architecture and Music graduate of the University of the Philippines would often take random walks and mill about, eavesdropping on conversations.

“Hindi ako namimili ng taong pakikinggan. I listen to everyone, lalo na ‘yung masusungit, the weirdest of people. I want to find out why he/she turned out that way.”

The genuine interest in people and their stories shaped Arnell’s brand of comedy. It’s the kind that doesn’t mock people for their physical imperfections but pokes fun instead at the very oddness of life experiences.

“Kaya ang comedy ko lagi, magmula pa noon, tungkol din sa mga tao eh. Kinukuwento ko lang ‘yung narinig kong mga pinagsasasabi nila.”

What has helped him in his career as an entertainer likewise proved to be of great use to his newfound vocation—yes, it is a calling—as Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Social Services of PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation). When Arnell assumed his post in July, he was quite naturally a fish out of water, and as such, he was being sized up. His greatest weapon, says Arnell, is to play dumb. “It helps that they think na wala akong alam because they talk to me unarmed.”

Little did those who doubted his capabilities and qualifications know that the man is a voracious reader. His appetite for learning is insatiable.

“Isang linggo ‘yan, binabasa ko lang nang binabasa. All the laws, all the Republic Acts.”

Three months into the job, Arnell realizes that most people in government are a tad too uptight. Words like relaxed and laidback are alien to them. He cites a recent encounter with people from another government-owned and controlled corporation like PAGCOR. Representatives from the said entity went to see Arnell unsmiling.

“Nakasimangot na sila. That’s the language they live with.”

Trained in the showbiz brand of public relations, Arnell employed the art of pakikisama. Dapat estimahin mo muna mga kausap mo.

And, so, Arnell asked the people in his department about the people he was to meet with. “Sabi ko, ‘Ilang taon na ‘yung mga darating dito? Ano mga edad? O, bili ka ng kape, ng merienda.’

Naabutan nila ako nakikipagbiruan ako du’n sa isang pasyente na magpapa-opera ng mata. They overheard it.”

Inside Arnell’s office as AVP, in between sips of coffee and bites of kakanin, the newly minted PAGCOR executive explained their predicament and their desire to extend help. “Unanguna, hindi namin mandate na tumulong ng one-on-one and we don’t have the budget because our budget is allocated to projects that will extend help on a larger scale. The individual cases that we get to help out ginagawa namin ‘yun

For Arnell Ignacio, his job as Assistant Vice President for Community Relations and Social Services of Pagcor has broadened his perspective and made him appreciate more of the things that he has.

out of our strong will to help.”

There still ensued a slight tension but as the meeting was winding down, Arnell told his visitors that he intended to pay the other corporation’s Chairman and President soon. Voila, that did it! “’Yun pala ‘yung hindi pa nila nararanasan na pumupunta ’yung head sa opisina nila kasi laging underlings ang pumupunta pumupunta. Eh ako wala akong pinapairal na ego eh,” relates Arnell who totally disarmed his guests. His office that day ended up echoing with soft peals of laughter and friendly banter.

Proof of Arnell’s absence of arrogance and guile is how he conducts himself at the PAGCOR office in Pasay. One of Arnell’s friends observes. “AVP siya but he eats at the cafeteria. And his department

has cubicles pero siya ‘yung pumupunta sa mga tao niya to relay his concerns.”

Lest you be mistaken, Arnell is not all tact and diplomacy all the time. He can be blunt but never brash, displaying just the right amount of forthrightness to let you know that he means business. Perhaps you may credit it to his Repertory training under the late Zeneida Amador or having gone under the stern supervision of stage director Fritz Ynfante. He brought with him to the job the value of discipline and hard work that showbiz has instilled in him early on. “I have to admit na meron akong reputation dati na mahirap katrabaho. Kasi kung magtrabaho ako, this is not about the glitter of showbiz but about us doing our jobs. Hindi ko Continued on D2

Life

D2

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

TRAVEL

must-haves A

H, sembreak! That weeklong respite from all the stresses of schoolwork, and the breather everyone’s looking forward to before the chaotic Christmas season begins.

For college students, it’s the perfect time to bond with their new block mates or reconnect with longtime friends.

But, before you pack your bags for that next big adventure, we are sharing with you a list of some devices and accessories we discovered recently at the launch of Promate Philippines.

As one of the world’s most social media engaged communities, there’s no denying that mobile devices have become just as important as any travel essential for us Pinoys. We can never leave without bringing at least three devices—a smartphone, camera and a laptop/tablet.

Whether it’s to keep track of our feeds or to update our family (or followers) of our current mood status, we always have this need to stay connected.

Check out our picks of digital essentials from Promate: Powerbanks – While you can easily buy powerbanks at just about any street corner or footbridge now, it’s important to get a branded one unless you want to risk you and your phones safety. Whether you’re that tech warrior exploring the outskirts of an adventure-ridden trip or that digital monster thriving downtown the biggest of bustling cities of the world, never run of power again with Promate Provolta-21, 20800mAH powerbank.

USB charging station – Wall outlets can sometimes test friendships especially when all of you are lowbatt and need to charge multiple devices.

Instead of bringing bulky extension cable you could opt for the Promate Promate Ultra-Fast AC Charging Station with six USB ports. It has overheat protection and made of anti-fire ABS Material along with built-in aluminium heat dissipating panels, to ensure optimum protection.

Charging and data cable – If you have both an Android and an iOS device, you don’t have to get tangled up with multiple cables anymore thanks to the Linkmaster MUL 2-in-1 Syncmaster cable. All you have to do is twist the end to change between microUSB and lighting connector.

Portable speakers – Make a playlist of favorite songs, create a

soundtrack for your trip and feel like you’re in a music video with the Promate portable wireless speakers. If you are headed for the beach there’s the Promate Rustic splash-proof speakers which also double as a powerbank, or the Promate Groove, a 20-watt wireless speaker with a built-in 8800mAH battery for those long nights.

Headphones and earplugs – If you’d rather go on a solo soundtrip, Promate’s stylish headsets allow you to enjoy the power of wireless compatibility with its universal connectivity features. Go big with the Valiant, or the Thump, Spectrum or Boom. For those who want earphones instead there’s Vogue with a wristband style leather look, the Retri and the Pearli that you can use as a necklace.

Bikermate – Just as its name suggests it’s an indispensable companion for the urban cyclist. Pedal your way to the beats of your favorite music with this Rugged Wireless v4.0 Speaker. The powerful 50-watt integrated wireless speaker ensures you have the best quality music playback no matter where you are, plus it also lets you take calls with its hands-free function. The bikerMate is certified IPX4 Water Resistant, so you can go out on your long rides without having to worry about damage due to light rain and it easily attaches to your bike’s handlebars, railings, or any other circular fixture to power your adventures. Best of all it can also charge your smartphone as it has an 8000mAh battery.

Car Mounts and Roadgear – For those long drives to unfamiliar places and you need to use Waze, you need a car mount to hold your phone. Promate has several types of m o u n t s from grip mounts you can attach on your wind-

Your mobile devices will never run out of ‘juice’ again with Provolta-21 powerbank that is packed with 20800mAH

Promate Technologies Country Manager Dimple Condes (rightmost) with Silicon Valley executives Mike Orbeta, Joel Pe and Christine Tan

Spark-2 car charger

RoadGear is a swiss army knife for your car

shield to the VentGrip, an anti-slip mini magnetic universal smartphone holder that you can clip on your AC vent. The advantage is that it will keep your phone cool and is less obtrusive when driving. The patented prongs are designed to securely grip onto any car AC vent blade without the fear of falling off even on rough driving conditions. Promate also has several kinds of ultra fast car chargers, some of which can even double as an emergency powerbank.

On the other hand, RoadGear is the “swiss army knife” for your car. The 9-in-1 tool includes a Portable Digital Tyre Pressure Gauge, LED Torch, emergency LED Signal, emergency hammer and 5-in-1 Multi-Tool, which will prove vital in case of a car accident situation.

BikerMate, a 50-watt integrated wireless speaker

Rustic splash-proof speaker and powerbank in one

Mini Projector – Who brings a Mini Projector on a trip? Well if it’s a business trip on the side and you need to make a quick presentation, this might just be the device you need.

As small as a smartphone and weighs just as much as a powerbank, this mini projector features high quality DLP Lens, 25 Lumens projection and a projection size up to 60.” A massive 4500mAh Li-Polymer battery guarantees you can project for up to three hours, if you do plan on having an outdoor screening while camping.

Promate Technologies, a multiawarded Dubai-based digital lifestyle accessory brand, is bringing re-envisioned lifestyle technology products to the Philippines, ranging from computer peripherals to mobile and car accessories. The company has received numerous design and product awards from IF Product Design Award (Germany), Good Design Award (Japan), Taiwan Excellence (Taiwan) and Computex D&I Awards, amoong a thousand more awards.

Arnell...

From D1

talaga gusto kapag ang trabaho mo eh hindi maayos.”

Arnell adds, “Wala sa aking maliit na trabaho o malaking trabaho. Minsan lang nangyari ‘yung meron akong pinatawag ko sa office at kinausap ko.

I told him that we could not operate this way. We cannot just say that we cannot do it because we are expected to perform miracles.”

And what resulted from that “reprimand” was nothing short of a miracle in itself. Arnell’s people—note that he doesn’t call them his employees—realized that their boss exemplified everything that his position needed. Someone with a ready ear to listen, a heart that is compassionate, armed with wisdom and a little kindly taray to say what has to be said. “I think their nerves relaxed after I told them na ang s’werte natin na tayo ‘yung merong trabaho na ganito eh. We’ll try our best na ma-accommodate lahat. Nakakainis lang tingnan na ang daming dapat gawin pero alisin natin ‘yung inis. Ang ending, gagawin din naman natin ‘yan.

Let’s just have it done. Ang s’werte natin na hindi tayo ‘yung nasa receiving end (ng tulong).”

And each single day, Arnell’s heart dies a thousand little deaths at the sight of indigents, of the marginalized and the helpless, all pleading for assistance.

In some instances, even just the thought

Pagcor AVP Arnell Ignacio with President Rodrigo Duterte

that someone is genuinely concerned about their plight. “Nu’ng isang araw lang, merong may bukol na sobra nang laki. It breaks your heart na alam mong wala ka nang magagawa. Tomorrow, he may be dead.”

But the optimistic Arnell Ignacio refuses to accept that no change is forthcoming because something can always be done about it. “Working in government, you cannot help but be stung by (the idea of providing) service. Gusto mong ulit-ulitin. ‘Yan ang sabi nila sa akin ngayon, ‘You’ve been stung.’”

From the outside, it has become a foregone conclusion that government

reeks with filth, dirty tactics and corruption. “What I’m seeing now is that there are so many dedicated people in government. In my department alone, wala akong makita na korapsyon. Sa tuktok ‘yan rampant eh.”

These are people who go to work everyday and do it to the best of their abilities. Their idea of fun is to play a game or two of pool and down a few bottles of beer.

It is not very different from their AVP’s little joys. “Ako ‘yung tipo ng tao na maliligo at may hot water, masaya na ako. Salamat meron akong ganito.”

In his other world, Arnell acknowl-

edges the special treatment accorded to him. This dawned on him even more during a recent rip to Bahrain for a showbiz engagement. “Tinitingnan ko ‘yung oras and then naalala ko, ito ‘yung time na people start lining up sa opisina namin, na nakikipagkuwentuhan ako sa kanila. How do I reconcile that with the fact that I was instead in a large room with all the privileges and premium service because I’m a celebrity? You’re a star” He muses, “Tapos may naiwan ako sa Manila, mga tao na sasabihin sa ‘yo, mamamatay na ‘yung anak nila. You come in contact with people who have

Valiant headphones

“We are re-envisioning ’lifestyle technology’ to break down the barrier between the impact of the high-tech world and the normalcy of everyday life, delivering the most pioneering accessories whether that be for the home, the office, in the car or just absolutely anywhere people are virtually connected in their waking hours,” says Dimple Condes, Promate Philippines country manager.

Condes adds, “Our job at Promate Technologies is to know what our clients want before they even know it. We find a niche in the market, identify what the end user needs and fill that gap. We feel we’ve done a pretty good job at it because Promate Technologies has been accorded quite a number of global awards for over a thousand of our products.”

Promate is available at Promate concept shops in SM North Edsa Annex, SM Clark, Ayala Cebu, Silicon Valley and Tomiko stores nationwide, as well as on www.lazada. com.ph/promate-store. no choice. Ang pinakamasakit, they do not know what to do.”

Arnell says that working in government has broadened his perspective. “I get to appreciate more what’s there. That I have the brains, the talent, the fire to face life unlike these little people.”

It is easy to fall into the trap of reciting a list of accomplishments in one’s first 100 days on the job: school buildings, comprehensive feeding programs, hospitals soon to be constructed—but perhaps, the most arresting images to support one’s crusade to help others are the ones that often escape the human eye.

Arnell’s department recently held a feeding program at Pulang Lupa Elementary School somewhere in Occidental Mindoro. “Ang akala ko nga sa Las Pinas ‘yun,” laughs Arnell. “Ang microphone nila du’n sa school, maiksi ang kable.” He ended buying the school a new microphone from his own pocket. Now if only some laws can go easy on PAGCOR, more acts of kindness, generosity and charity can be done.

“Alam mo kung ano ‘yung nakakatuwa?

Kapag nagpi-present na ‘yung mga bata ng song number nila. Makikita mo ‘yung mga tela na ginupit-gupit lang para gawing costumes,” Arnell suddenly pauses, stops short of his recollection, a lump in his throat.

And in the comedian-turned-government head’s expert hands, tragedy becomes comedy. It transforms into something uplifting, bringing a semblance of hope where there is little. “Gumagaan lahat bigla,” Arnell exclaims. “It’s a wonderful job.”

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

By Robbie Pangilinan

F

RANCINNE Rifol likes to be an ordinary girl.

“Behind the spotlight, I like things to be simple and straight.

Guess what my simple joy is?

Going with my Papa to the sarisari store to buy snacks!” says Francinne Rifol, star of the indie film Patintero: Ang Alamat ni Meng Patalo, an entry to the recently concluded QCinema International Film Festival.

She loves to spend time with her family and loved ones, and laughs at the simplest joke. She goes to school despite her hectic schedule in show business.

But the up and coming star is no ordinary girl. Her days are filled with scheduled meetings or tapings. She plans to attend intensive workshops in dance, voice, and acting to enhance her skills. She is also planning to visit Korea not only for a vacation but because she is curious about Korean artists’ passion and dedication for their craft and would like to adapt this.

Francine uses her talent to inspire other children and teenagers like her.

“All of us must start small but through prayers and dedication, I believe that something good is going to happen to each of us,” shares Francinne whose first project was a teleserye on ABSCBN as the mean classmate of one of the lead characters.

The young actress could not ask for more, but she always feels she can strive to be more generous to others.

“I often feel bad when I see kids begging on the streets. I wish I could do more for the less fortunate than just giving alms,”

‘Disney on Ice’ debuts at Mall of Asia Arena

Up-andcoming actress Francinne Rifol wants to inspire young women

An

Ordinary

Girl

she says.

Francine would also like to inspire young ladies to believe that being beautiful does not mean being only physically attractive, as she says, “True beauty is skin deep.”

Francinne’s daily beauty routine includes washing her face day and night, putting on moisturizer in the morning, and dutifully removing her makeup and thoroughly cleansing at night. She eats only healthy foods, drinks lots of water, exercises regularly, and gets at least eight and a half hours of sleep.

Or course, Francinne uses only her trusted beauty products from YSA Skin Care and visits the YSA Skin and Body Experts clinic for her regular facial, diamond peel and IPL treatments.

Francinne is truly an extraordinary girl.

And the best is yet to come.

APHCA 20th Hair Olympics winners in ‘GRR TNT’ EXCERPTS from the successful Asia Pacific Hairdressers & Cosmetologists Association’s (APHCA) 20th Hair Olympics recently held at the SMX Mall of Asia gathered the best beauty practitioners in the Asia Pacific region are featured in today’s edition of Gandang Ricky Reyes Todo na Toh. Winners from this year’s annual competition in the following categories are: Men’s Cut & Blow-Dry, China; Avant-

Garde, China; Evening Party Make-up, Hong Kong; Bridal Make-up, Macau; Total Look, Taiwan; Evening Party Hairstyle, Taiwan and Nail Art, Philippines.

Over-all Championship went to Macau.

Gracing the formal opening and ribbon-cutting were Senator Bam Aquino, Pasay City First Lady Edna Calixto, former First Lady Ming Ramos, businessman Hans Sy and Sri Lankan Ambassador Aruni

A HOLISTIC family experience awaits patrons with new SM–Feld Entertainment Inc. Partnership Disney On Ice brings exciting new acts on its return to the Philippines in December with a firsttime performance at the Mall of Asia Arena. Take your kids on a colorful journey with their favorite Disney characters as SM celebrates the coming of Disney On Ice on Dec. 25 to Jan. 4, 2017.

Guests of all ages will enjoy the show’s brand new stories coupled with our favorite Disney classics: audiences will dive deep into the East Australian Current with everyone’s favorite school of fish from Disney•Pixar’s Finding Dory when Dory, Nemo and Marlin set off on an adventure to discover the true meaning of family. Reach for your dreams with Rapunzel, as her determination illuminates her inner strength. Anna, Elsa and the hilarious snowman Olaf from Disney’s Frozen show how powerful the love between sisters can be. Experience the beauty of Walt Disney’s first animated feature film, as Snow White finds her own happily ever after with the help of seven new friends.

Buzz and Woody will have you jumping out of your seat in a foot-stomping hoedown; Simba, Timon and Pumbaa prowl the Pride Lands of Africa; Jasmine, Aladdin and Genie show how friendship is fearless; and your favorite Disney Princesses take to the ice to showcase the courage and determination that led them to achieve their dreams. Disney favorites Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy walk down memory lane and reawaken Disney moments that span generations.

The Mall of Asia Arena provides a location where families will have access to new amenities such as enhanced seating options, convenient parking and, within close proximity, patrons have access to dining and shopping.

“In our mission to produce opportunities to celebrate the Filipino way of life, we invite families to create lasting memories together through our newest venture, Disney on Ice.” says Edgar Tejerero, president of SM Lifestyle Entertainment Incorporated. “Promising a complete entertainment experience, families can easily extend the fun from this spectacular show to the different lifestyle and entertainment hubs that SM has for them—giving families endless ways to celebrate each moment together this Christmas season.”

“We are very excited to be partnering with MOA to present The Wonderful World of Disney On Ice,” said Robert McHugh, Sr. vice president of International Sales and Business Operations for Feld Entertainment Inc. “Having had the opportunity to feature previous Feld Entertainment shows at this venue, we feel that we can provide an enhanced entertainment experience to the people of the Philippines, which is always our first priority when we consider the venue for our productions.”

Tickets are available for as low as P185 on sale at www.smtickets.com or in SM cinema ticket booths nationwide.

Men’s Cut and Blow-Dry and Avant Garde Champion from China with Pasay First Lady Edna Calixto (first from right) and Renee Salud (second from left)

Opening the 20th Hair Olympics are APHCA Secretary General Theresa Tam, APHCA President Ricky Reyes, Pasay City First Lady Edna Calixto, former First Lady Ming Ramos, SM’s Hans Sy and Sen.Bam Aquino

Ranaraja.

A spectacular show was featured with the delegation from Korea, China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines showcasing their native cultural dances in a unique and dazzling way and heartthrob Alden Richards serenading the guests with a special song number.

Ricky Reyes handed over the APHCA flag to South Korean country leader Eung Soo Kang where the 21st Hair Olympics will be held next year.

Meanwhile, hair problems will be

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Saturday, November 5, 2016

ACROSS 1 Mint plant 5 Porch adjunct 9 Butter square 12 Pen pals?

13 Captures 15 Study of pi 16 Mythic warmonger 17 Best possible 18 Slugger Moises — 19 Muscle injury 21 Tired out 23 Hindu mystic 25 Gayle’s sis 26 TD passers 29 Shade of green 31 More unctuous 35 — chi ch’uan 36 Minor mistakes 38 Banal 39 Roman highway 41 Pleasure craft 43 Mrs. Peel 44 Swing around 46 Entrances 48 Vitality 49 Distorted, as data 51 Elbow grease 52 Mex. gentlemen 53 Admiral’s jail 55 Bagpipes player

57 Yells “Hurrah!”

61 Shish — 65 Water, to Pedro 66 Tedium 68 Pronto 69 Arial or Helvetica 70 Hotel offering 71 Irritate 72 Half a dangerous fly 73 Exchange barbs 74 Uttered DOWN 1 Tax pros 2 Al the trumpet player 3 Disney CEO 4 Mineral analysis 5 In a miserly way 6 Modicum 7 Was very thrifty 8 Porous gem 9 Sanskrit dialect 10 Like — — of bricks 11 Hoodlum 14 Dispatches a dragon 15 Tycoon 20 Na+ and Cl22 Lions’ quarry 24 Trojan War saga

26 Swab brand (hyph.)

27 Dye process 28 Colander 30 Orlando attraction 32 Shoe parts 33 First name in glue 34 Swings a scythe 37 Waves away 40 Dinghy 42 More devious 45 Garr of “Tootsie”

47 — -eyed 50 Chops fine 54 Rank above species 56 Ski lifts (hyph.)

57 Ride the rapids 58 They often clash 59 Kind of wedding 60 Fabric sample 62 Where Tibet is 63 South Seas paradise 64 Got a ticket 67 Hagen of film

solved in all Gandang Ricky Reyes Salons with the following treatments: Regold for kinky hairs, SoftWave for dull hair and natural wigs for hair loss.

Pursue your passion in beauty, learn from the best and enroll at the Ricky Reyes Learning Institute (RRLI) with branches in Manila, Cubao, Anonas and Fairview.

All these and more with host and APHCA President, Ricky Reyes, 9-10 a.m. in Gandang Ricky Reyes Todo na Toh (GRR TNT) on GMA News TV today.

From left: Edgar Tejerero, President, SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc; Blake Tatroe, Regional Marketing Director for Southeast Asia and India, Feld Entertainment, Inc.; Arnel Gonzales, AVP for Mall of Asia Arena, SM Lifestyle Entertainment, Inc.; and Mickey Mouse

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

D4

Derek Ramsay and Lovi Poe team up in ‘The Escort,’ a sexy drama directed by Enzo Williams

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2016

R

EGAL Entertainment’s intriguing sex drama, The Escort, starring Derek Ramsay and Lovi Poe under the direction of Enzo Williams, in theaters now has been classified R-13 without cuts by the MTRCB.

This has delighted the motherdaughter producers Lily and Roselle Monteverde.

The former said the censors found the scenes between Ramsay and Poe titillating but not obscene. The same goes for the scenes between Poe and Christopher de Leon as well as Ramsay and Jean Garcia who for the first time showed on screen she can still be daring and give younger stars a run for their money.

The four actors were so drawn to their respective characters that they agreed to dabble in several steamy lovemaking scenes tastefully executed by Williams.

Poe went as far as going topless in an intimate scene with Ramsay. So was the hunk actor who agreed to be deshabille in scenes with his female costars.

In The Escort, Ramsay is an ex-escort named Xyruz.

Abandoned by his mom at a young age and dumped by his fiancée a few days before their wedding drive Xyruz to look at women with disdain and vow never to fall in love again.

Poe who plays Yassi is left to raise and take care of her siblings when their parents die in an accident.

When Xyruz and Yassi’s paths cross, the former surprisingly falls for the latter. He tries hard to resist his feelings as he wants her to join the escort company where he works as a senior.

Yet, Xyruz is head over heels in love with Yassi but he has to sacrifice his feelings for her in exchange for work. He has to ignore what he feels so he can offer Yassi as an escort to rich real estate mogul Gary (De Leon).

Will Xyruz and Yassi sacrifice love for each other over wealth and success? That’s what you should find out. So, go and catch a screening at a Cineplex near you. *** They have made their marks in the music and entertainment scene.

All have reaped recognition and awards here and abroad. They are all champions in their own right.

All are distinct performers, each with unique style and stamp. They are very good friends through the years, and artists who support each other unconditionally. All certified Kapamilyas – Kyla (Queen of R&B), Angeline Quinto (Queen of Theme songs), KZ (Soul Supreme) and Yeng Constantino (Pop Rock Superstar) —they are some of the music industry’s best female performers of their generation offering different genres but all on top of their game.

By coincidence, all of them are also under the same management: Cornerstone Entertainment. Now, these four powerful and talented voices joined forces for a once-ina-lifetime concert on Nov.11 at the Araneta Coliseum.

Billed Divas: Live in Manila, the concert by Cornerstone Concerts and Star vents and directed by Paul

ISAH V. RED

Basinillo with the musical direction by Ria Villena Osorio is a true celebration not just of musical geniuses, but also girl power at its finest. Special guests are K Brosas and Queen of Soul Jaya.

Kyla, who is marking her 16th year in the biz, is a certified platinum artist and multi-awarded performer (she was the first East Asian female artist to win at the MTV Video Music Awards in 200.

A champion from her earliest years, topping the Tanghalan ng Kampeon in 1993, , she is one of the most invited by foreign artists for collaborations with hits to her name. Recently, she hit a new level of popularity with her rendition of “On the Wings of Love” for the top-rating soap of the same title and the latest primetime offering of Dreamscape.

Kyla is also one of the big winners at the recently concluded Himig Handog 2016 (2nd best song with Kris Lawrence for Jungee Marcelo’s

POP DIVAS. Singers Yeng Constantino, Kyla, Angeline Quinto and KZ Tandingan join forces in staging a one-night concert at the Araneta Coliseum

“Monumento”). This year, Kyla gets to share her vocal skills and heart for singing by being one of the resident hurados in It’s Showtime’s “Tawag Ng Tanghalan.” Also, she became part of the recently concluded We Love OPM as sub mentor.

Angeline Quinto is another product of the reality search route as the grand champion of Star Power in 2011. She is now a respected artist with numerous hit songs to her name, especially those used as themes in soap operas that tagged her as this generation’s’Queen of Theme songs.

KZ, the very first grand champion of X-Factor Philippines, is the newest in this batch of Divas, who has established herself as a performer to watch. KZ’s unique brand of artistry has resulted in several hit songs and memorable moments onstage, and she is also starting to spread her wings abroad through collaborations with other artists.

Yeng Constantino, the pop-rock superstar, started her career as a graduate of Pinoy Dream Academy (PDA) after winning the title of Grand Star Dreamer in 2006. This year, Yeng—who has numerous hits to her name starting with her megahit “Hawak-Kamay” to recent smash hits like “Chinito” and “Ikaw”— marks her 10th year in the industry with multiple awards and recognition here and abroad.

In Divas: Live in Manila, Cornerstone Concerts and Star Events will give local concertgoers an unforgettable musical experience when it brings these four DIVAS together. With these artists being proven musical powerhouses and the best in their respective genres.

Asia’s Songbird Regine VelasquezAlcasid also appears as guest.

Tickets are available at Ticketnet at 911-5555 or log on to www.ticketnet. com.ph

‘Art 2 Art’

announces next episodes ART 2 Art focuses on visual arts and music in its first two episodes this month.

On Nov. 6, Olivia d’Aboville shares her adventures in various facets of visual arts, including textile jewelry, sculptures, lighting designs and installation art that makes use of disposable and recyclable materials.

D’Aboville has been the curator of and a participant in the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival in Puerto Galera, Mindoro where she grew up.

On Nov. 13, young prize-winning soprano Jade Riccio relates her journey from her native Palawan to Manila where she would secure a degree in music at the University of Santo Tomas. Aside from winning top awards in different vocal competitions, Jade has made her

Lisa Macuja and soprano Jade Riccio

mark in Pilipinas Got Talent and is now putting together her first solo album.

Produced by the Manila Broadcasting Company and hosted by prima ballerina Lisa Macuja, Art 2 Art airs Sundays, 3:30 to 4 p.m., on radio via DZRH (666 khz on the AM band), on cable television via RHTV (Channel 129 on Skycable in Metro Manila, Channel 18 on CignalTV and Channel 3 on Cablelink) and online livestreaming at http://dzrhnewstelevision.tv. The show may also be viewed through the Facebook account DZRH News Television.

For inquiries, please e-mail art2artdzrh@gmail.com.

On Facebook, check out the account Ballerina ng Bayan for updates on Art 2 Art episodes.