Manila Standard - 2016 November 08 - Tuesday

Espinosa: 21 cops probed

By Francisco Tuyay and John Paolo Bencito

VOL. XXX • NO. 269 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

TWENTY-ONE policemen are being investigated for the Nov. 5 killing of Albuera Mayor Rolando Espinosa, who was shot dead in his cell at the Baybay City, Leyte provincial jail in what the police described as a shootout.

Philippine National Police Director for Administration Francisco Uyami said 13 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and eight members of the regular police force who took part in the dawn raid at the provincial jail were restricted to their offices pending the results of an investigation by a CIDG team Next page based in Camp Crame.

‘Leila skirting the issue’ Palace: She’s playing gender card as shield vs drug trafficking raps

By John Paolo Bencito

M

ALACAÑANG on Monday scored embattled Senator Leila de Lima for playing the “gender card” against President Rodrigo Duterte, after she filed a petition with the Supreme Court seeking to prohibit the Chief Executive from securing private details about her personal life.

“Senator Leila de Lima is apparently playing the gender card as a shield against mounting evidence of her ties with high-profile drug lords and the proliferation of [the] drug trade in the [New] Bilibid [Prison],” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

“By potraying herself as a victim, she seeks to distance herself from the intimate relationships which were also intertwined with drug traffick-

ing while she was [Justice] secretary,” the Palace official added.

Chief Presidential Counsel Salvador Panelo also denied De Lima’s claims that Duterte was harassing her when the President decided to pursue his shame campaign against his top nemesis.

“The petition filed by Senator De Lima has no basis, whether in fact nor in law.

Next page

FBI lifts pre-election threat on Clinton

STOP DUTERTE. Senator Leila de Lima files Monday before the Supreme Court a petition for writ of habeas data to stop President Rodrigo Duterte from securing private details about her personal life and using them to degrade her, with Malacañang saying the embattled senator is playing the gender card. Norman Cruz

MANCHESTER, Michigan—The FBI lifted the threat Sunday that Hillary Clinton could face charges over her e-mails, leaving White House rival Donald Trump to demand that US voters punish her at the ballot box.

With just one full day of campaigning left before Election Day, FBI Director James Comey unceremoniously closed down his probe into the former secretary of state’s private server.

The decision came as a re-

lief to the Democratic camp and Asian markets opened higher after a tense weekend in which it seemed the populist Republican might be close to a breakthrough.

But Trump came back fighting, and experts said the renewed scandal had already damaged the 69-year-old former first lady’s chance of becoming America’s first female president.

Clinton’s lead dropped from 5.7 to 2.9 percentage points in the week since the scandal returned, according

US POLL W A T C H

to influential data journalist Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com.

Clinton has booked a starstudded roster of supporters—headlined by President Barack Obama and rock star Bruce Springsteen—for her final events on Monday.

Peace pact with Reds in offing GOVERNMENT peace negotiator Silvestre Bello III said Monday they will be signing a bilateral ceasefire agreement with the negotiators of the communist rebels in the last week of November or first week of December.

“We are talking to have the final document [signed] either by the end of November or the first week of December,” Bello told a forum of civil society groups organized by the Rotary Club of Marikina City.

“But we are eyeing the last week of November since we need to address other concerns in the talks.”

Silvestre also said the government was planning the release of more political prisoners who are members of the Communist Party of the Philippines before the end of November to show goodwill and build confidence between the government and the Next page communist rebels.

But Trump is also touring key swing states and was determined not to let Clinton off the hook over her e-mail, a symbol for his supporters of the corruption of the Washington elite.

“The rank and file special Next page

Duterte cancels gun deal with US

COUNTING CHICKENS. Marcos loyalists gather for a Unity Peace march and prayer Monday from Rajah Sulaiman park to the Supreme Court to show their support for former President Ferdinand Marcos’ burial at the Libingan ng mga Bayani while youth groups (right) converge in front of the high court for their final appeal underlining their objection to his hero’s burial at the LMB. The court is expected to announce its ruling on the issue today. Lino Santos/Norman Cruz

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday ordered the Philippine National Police to cancel its plan to buy guns from the United States.

“I would like to announce that the 26,000 M-16 that were ordered or were ordered already, [that] I am ordering its cancellation,” Duterte said during the signing of the executive order creating the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

He said the country could turn to other sources to supply the guns that would be used to fight terrorism.

“We will just have to look for another source that is cheaper and may be as durable and as good as those made from the place we’re ordering them,” Duterte said.

“We will not insist on buying Next page

Du30-Najib Yolanda rehab fund audit pressed Maricel V. Cruz talks likely By and Ronald O. Reyes on sea row

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan TERRITORIAL disputes in the South China Sea could be on the agenda when President Rodrigo Duterte meets with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak this week, a Foreign Affairs Department official said Monday.

Department spokesman Charles Jose said the dispute over territorial claims could be brought up, after Najib’s pronouncement that he is willing to settle the issue through bilateral talks with China.

Both the Philippines and Malaysia have territorial claims over South China Sea, as do Vietnam and Brunei.

Last week Najib followed Next page

AS THE nation marks the third anniversary of the “Yolanda” tragedy, a militant lawmaker urged President Rodrigo Duterte to order an investigation into what happened to the billions of pesos earmarked for rehabilitation and reconstruction of areas ravaged by the super typhoon, and to hold accountable those responsible for the

inadequate government response.

“The government response [to Yolanda was] criminal negligence right in front our faces and contempt for the thousands of victims,” said Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao, who blamed President Benigno Aquino III and members of his administration for the failure to address the needs of typhoon survivors.

“President [Rodrigo] Duterte should ensure the culpability of

Aquino and his cohorts who coldbloodedly pillaged the public funds intended for the Yolanda victims,” Casilao said.

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo revealed last week that only P30 million was left from the billions in combined government and private donations, Casilao said.

Despite the Aquino administration’s release of P90 billion in Next page

Sayyaf blamed for German’s killing THE military said Monday the bloodied body of a German woman in her 50’s was found Saturday inside a yacht, and that she was believed to have been killed by Abu Sayyaf terrorists who also abducted a 70-year-old fellow German off Pangutaran, Sulu.

Major Felimon Tan Jr., spokesman of the Western Mindanao twitter.com/ MlaStandard

Command, identified the victim as Sabina Wetch. He said she had gunshot wounds and a shotgun was found beside her.

Tan made his statement even as Malacañang on Monday declined to comment on the matter.

“The matter is under investigation and the government is in conversation with our regional counterparts,” presidential spokesman

facebook.com/ ManilaStandardPH

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Ernesto Abella said in a text message.

Meanwhile, Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza said the Duterte administration will be forming a five-man panel led by MNLF founding chairman Nur Misuari that will be separate from the MILF-led expanded Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

Next page

thestandard.com.ph

SHIFTING GEAR. This undated handout photo released Monday by the Western Mindanao Command shows Navy personnel aboard the yacht Rockall after it was discovered off Laparan island in Sulu. Islamic militants who specialize in kidnap-for-ransom have reported killing a German sailor and abducting her elderly male companion from their yacht in southern waters. AFP

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Espinosa...

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The police said they were at the jail at 4 a.m. to serve a search warrant on Espinosa and another inmate, Raul Yap, when they opened fire on the raiding team, which shot back and killed both prisoners.

Amid allegations of a rubout, Espinosa’s lawyer, Leilani Trinidad Villarino, said she feared for her life and asked the anti-crime watchdog group Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption for help to get police protection.

“I feel that I am also in danger,” Villarino said in her letter, which referred to the murder last August of Rogelio Bato Jr., who at one time was lawyeer to Espinosa and his son Kerwin, who police describe as one of the biggest drug lords in Eastern Visayas.

Bato and a 19-year-old student Angelica Bonia, were gunned down Aug. 24 by gunment in Tacloban City while they were in the lawyer’s pickup truck in Tacloban City.

Villarino said that in view of the gravity of the elder Espinosa’s revelations in his sworn affidavits, her own life was in danger.

“Due to the gravity and seriousness of the allegations of my client in his sworn statements implicating top politicians, police officials and other notable individuals, I fear that I will suffer the same fate with attorney Bato,” she said.

Villarino also asked for police protection for the children of the late mayor, particularly during his wake at his house in Albuera town.

Interior Secretary Ismael Sueno on Monday questioned the PNP’s actions in the raid that killed Espinosa.

“Was there really a shootout?

Was there coordination with the regional and provincial police offices? Why was the search warrant hastily served too early on a Saturday morning?”

Sueno also directed the National Police Commission to conduct a parallel investigation.

“While the PNP’s Internal Affairs Service has automatically started its own investigation, it is still necessary for Napolcom to get into the picture to lend integrity and credibility to the probe,” Sueno said in a statement.

“Napolcom should make this [probe] their top priority. We have to know what really transpired on that day. We owe the family of the slain inmates and the public a factual and detailed account of the incident,” Sueno said.

A former police general who is now a lawmaker said the death of Espinosa had all the signs of an extrajudicial killing.

“I had been an investigator for so long, and it’s our practice not to jump to conclusions unless we are able to read official investigation report,” said Antipolo Rep. Romeo Acop.

“Be that as it may, from the report that I have heard and read, all signs of a summary killing are there, unless all the issues or questionable actions on the part of the operating officers would be answered by them appropriately,” Acop added. With Maricel V. Cruz and Vito Barcelo

FBI...

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agents of the FBI won’t let her get away with her terrible crimes,” Trump told a rally in Michigan, a state won comfortably by Obama in 2012.

“Right now she’s being protected by a rigged system. It’s a totally rigged system. I’ve been saying it for a long time,” he declared, as his supporters chanted “Lock her up!”

“Hillary Clinton is guilty, she knows it, the FBI knows it, the people know it and now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box on November 8.”

Late last month, with Clinton seemingly on a glide path to victory, Comey sent shockwaves through both campaigns by announcing a renewed FBI investigation in Clinton’s e-mail use.

In July, the Justice department, acting on the FBI’s recommendation, had decided not to prosecute Clinton for exposing State Department secrets on an unsecured e-mail system.

But, after a previously undiscovered batch of mails was found on a laptop belonging to the husband of one of Clinton’s key aides, Comey warned lawmakers he was revisiting the case.

Trump, the 70-year-old property tycoon and Republican flagbearer, seized on the opening, condemning Clinton’s “criminal scheme” and arguing that she is unfit to be president. AFP

House seeks traffic quick fix T HE head of the House committee on transportation on Monday asked the Transport department to submit projects that can quickly solve the traffic crisis in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao instead of backing infrastructure projects worth P8 trillion that cannot be immediately implemented and may not be financed.

Catanduanes Rep. Cesar Sarmiento, whose committee is hearing the proposed emergency powers to be given Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade, also vowed to check any anomalous negotiated contracts being pro-

Leila...

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The complaint is she’s being harassed; she’s not being harassed,” Panelo said.

“He’s merely responding to his duty under the Constitution to serve and protect the people pursuant to the right of the people to be informed of what is happening in this country,” Panelo said.

On Monday, De Lima petitioned the Supreme Court to order the President and his men from collecting and using information about her private affairs “to degrade her dignity as a human being, a woman and a senator.”

De Lima cited several specific occasions where the President has repeatedly subjected her to crude, personal verbal attacks, which involved the wrongful and unlawful collection and publication of her alleged personal affairs.

posed by the department.

“Fears about negotiated projects, about no bidding are always there. But of course, we will not allow that,” Sarmiento told reporters.

“We will ensure all projects The President had earlier implicated De Lima in the illegal drug trade, suggesting that she had an illicit affair with her former driver Ronnie Dayan, who protected the drug lords inside the New Bilibid Prison.

Abella said De Lima’s petition before the Supreme Court was “calculated to generate media noise to drown out the accusations against her.”

Panelo said that De Lima’s complaint would bear no fruit, and reminded her the President is immune from suit.

“Even assuming he is not, the petition has no basis, in fact nor in law,” he said.

In her petition for habeas data, De Lima, through lawyer Jose Manuel Diokno, asked the Court to stop President Duterte from collecting and disclosing information about her private life that tend to “malign her and degrade her dignity as human being.”

De Lima’s petition challenges

Du30...

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Duterte’s decision to do a pivot to China and said he was illing to solve the maritime conflict through bilateral channels.

In a piece posted in \China Daily, Najib said the West should not lecture nations they once exploited, and said Malaysia is now looking to strengthen ties with China.

Malaysia, one of the claimant countries, Najib said, declared its unity with China in agreeing on the need to “defend the sovereignty of the nation state and in the belief that the individual histories, values and governance systems of different countries must be respected.”

Malaysia’s statement on the South China Sea was the first since the Philippines filed its case before the Arbitral Tribunal against China’s

Yolanda...

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Yolanda aid last year, the Department of Social Welfare and Development is now seeking additional funding to be given to 200,000 people for emergency shelter assistance (ESA), he added.

At least 7,000 people died during Yolanda, mostly in Leyte and Samar provinces, and damage to infrastructure and other sectors amounted to more than P89 billion.

Despite the outpouring of donations after the killer storm, the construction of permanent shelters for typhoon victims remained slow, Casilao said.

With a comprehensive plan targeting 205,000 housing units for the typhoon victims, he said, a tiny 1 percent or 25,000 units have been completed, according to Vice President and Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council chief Leni Robredo.

Some of these were in Hernani, Eastern Samar, where only 200 out of 900 housing units were completed by the National Housing Authority.

Duterte...

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expensive arms. We can always get them somewhere else.”

Duterte made his statement even as Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said the Philippines would be informing the United States that it will no longer pursue its joint war games and joint sea patrols in the West Philippine Sea. He said the US would be informed about the matter during the Mutual Defense Board meetings later this month.

“Our recommendation is that the exercises will go on--except that we would lessen the major exercises involving landing exercises,” Lorenzana said.

“The Balikatan exercises, however, will continue. It’s only yearly.”

are above-board, complete and transparent.”

Earlier, Tugade told reporters his department wanted P8 trillion for the priority project to address the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila and other congested areas across the country.

Tugade’s latest figure is 500 percent higher than the original amount his department submitted to Congress.

Sarmiento said his committee had yet to see the details of Tugade’s new proposal since what his department had first submitted was a wish list of projects worth P1.4 trillion.

He said Tugade’s department was able to produce a proposal for big-ticket infrastructure projects but failed to come up with immediate solutions to the traffic problem.

“That P8 trillion is actually just a plan, but the traffic crisis is such a huge problem that has to be addressed immediately,” he said.

“The P8 trillion is huge.

Where do we get the funding for this?”

Earlier, Senator Grace Poe said Tugade should come up with better plans to address the worsening traffic crisis in the country―better than the

ones he presented to Congress when he asked for emergency powers from President Rodrigo Duterte.

Poe, who heads the Senate committee on public services, said the work of her committee had been made difficult by the Transport department’s grandiose proposals that were unlikely to be financed.

Tugade was bypassed by the bicameral Commission on Appointments last month amid questions on his competence and the way he was running his department. He is considered on holdover status until Duterte reappoints him. Maricel V. Cruz

the well-established doctrine of presidential immunity from suits after she named him as respondent to the case.

De Lima, who has been tagged in illegal drugs trade in New Bilibid Prison and subjected to congressional investigation, pleaded for the issuance of a writ of habeas data stopping the President from using government resources in his “personal vendetta” against her.

She also sought an order from the Court to compel Duterte to disclose how he was able to listen to her private conversations, and to delete or destroy any private information about her illegally obtained.

She alleged in her petition that the President is violating her right to privacy in life, liberty and security by using “resources of his powerful office to crucify her as a woman, a human being, and a duly elected senator.”

De Lima alleged that with such actions, Duterte violated Republic Act

No. 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and R.A. 9710 otherwise known as the Magna Carta for Women.

She told the Court about the “wrongful collection and publication of her alleged private affairs and activities that are outside of the realm of legitimate public concern.”

As proof, she submitted a CD compilation of Duterte’s public personal attacks against her and also an assessment report detailing the psychological effects on her by Duterte’s attacks.

“I stated in my petition the several occasions where he [Duterte] cursed me and uttered words about my womanhood that had nothing to do with his position as President. What he said was too much, very degrading to my person and womanhood, just because of his personal vendetta against me,” De Lima said after filing the petition.

The petition also included “a long list of samples of hate messages”

she has received, particularly on social media.

De Lima’s counsel, De La Salle University College of Law dean Jose Manuel Diokno said the actions of the President constitute sexual harassment, psychological violence and slut-shaming against women and are therefore not covered by immunity.

“Immunity cannot be used to block this case. There is a blatant violation of the magna carta for women, code of conduct for public officials,” Diokno said in a press conference.

De Lima said the petition is just “the first of a series of legal offensives” she plans to file against Duterte, in apparent retaliation tfor his attacks on her.

“I am what I am. And what I am is a fighter. Enough is enough,” she said.

The senator was joined by a group of women supporting her cause in filing the petition.

With Macon Ramos-Araneta

nine-dash line claims.

At the same time, Jose said Duterte was prepared to discuss the Philippines’ claim to Sabah should it be raised.

During the campaign, the President had expressed his intention to back the Sulu Sultanate’s plan to retake Sabah from Malaysia.

“We are allowing proprietary heirs to talk (with Malaysia).

Since it is part of our claim, it will be there as our land,” Duterte said.

Three days after Duterte’s announcement, Malaysia said it would not entertain any claims by any party on Sabah.

In a report by the Japanbased The Diplomat, Razak was quoted as saying “that Duterte should instead use his time more productively to help resolve the Moro insurgency than press the Philippines’ claim on Sabah.”

BANGSAMORO TRANSITION. President Rodrigo Duterte signs the executive order reconstituting the

Bangsamoro Transition Commission in Malacañang on Nov. 7, 2016 in the presence of (from left) Moro Islamic Liberation Front Peace Panel Chairman Mohagher Iqbal, Presidential Peace Adviser Jesus Dureza, and MILF Chairman Al Haj Murad Ebrahim. Malacañang Photo

Robredo, who belongs to Aquino’s Liberal Party, said the bureaucratic process and corruption were the main cause of delays.

Similarly, Casilao said that according to the local city housing of Tacloban, out of 14,162 permanent houses that NHA promised to build; a dismal 572 were completed. On the other hand, non-government organizations constructed 556 out of its planned 2,169 permanent housing. The NHA also admitted that it had completed only 5,767 houses as of mid-February, far cry from its 13,928-unit target for the end of 2016.

The NHA is constructing 8,161 houses in 19 sites located at the northern villages of Leyte. But despite the completion of thousands of units, only about 200 houses are occupied by families from high-risk zones because the units have no permanent water supply or electricity.

Also on Sunday, a militant fishermen’s group said thousands of Yolanda victims still live in high-risk areas thanks to Aquino and his “yellow cohorts’ incompetence and criminal negPNP chief Ronald dela Rosa last week said the aborted purchase of 26,000 assault rifles from the United States would deal a blow to the country’s anti-terrorism drive.

Unconfirmed reports claim that the PNP’s scheduled purchase of the rifles from the US did not push through after Senator Ben Cardin said he opposed providing weapons to the Philippines as a result of the Duterte administration’s bloody was on illegal drugs.

Aides earlier said Cardin, the top Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was reluctant to provide the weapons given the concerns about the human rights violations in the Philippines.

The US State Department informs Congress when international weapons sales are in the works. John Paolo Bencito

ligence.”

Despite the reported release of almost $1 billion after the super typhoon, thousands had yet to receive reconstruction help, said Fernando Hicap, chairman of the fishermen’s group Pamalakaya.

Hicap blamed Aquino and former Social Welfare secretary Corazon Soliman for the “Yolanda rehabilitation mess.”

Hicap called on President Duterte to pursue the immediate implementation of Yolanda rehabilitation plan because the victims were still in dire need of support.

In Tacloban City, the chairman of the Presidential Commission for the Urban Poor, Terry Ridon, said the construction of the 27.3- kilometer Tide Embankment Project will not proceed, pending its review.

“There is an agreement among all agencies present that the Tide Embankment Project should be reviewed and should not proceed without consideration for the future of affected urban poor and fisherfolk,” said Ridon, who was joined by Cabinet Secretary

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“We are asking for time from the [National Democratic Front] and the public since the releases must undergo judicial processes,” Bello said.

The Rotary Club forum was also attended by youth leader Kevin Abergas, government panel member Hernani Braganza, NDF panel member Benito Tiamzon, and NDF consultants and sub-panel members Wilma Tiamzon and Adelberto Silva.

The signing of the ceasefire agreement was supposed to have been held on Oct. 26. ‘‘We had to postpone the signing,” Bello said. “There are still several

Jun Evasco for a formal consultation of Yolanda survivors’ groups like People Surge and Bakhawan.

“Not a single family will be removed from their home unless those in charge of the relocation areas are willing to live there themselves.

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: President Duterte’s ‘no demolition without relocation’ policy stands, especially in the case of Tacloban where dumping Yolanda survivors in the existing resettlement areas is an insult to injury,” he added.

People Surge and its coalition of civic groups have had launched a series of protests against the construction of the tide embankment, saying that over 10,000 people will be displaced by it.

Earlier, Center for Environmental Concerns (CEC) and its partner scientists from Agham (Advocates of Science and Technology for the People) investigated the project’s impact on the environment and the socio-economics of the areas affected.

With Rio N. Araja and Sandy Araneta

items that need to have a consensus, such as the monitoring mechanism, the parameters of hostile acts, the definition of buffer zones.”

The government and the rebels had declared their own indefinite unilateral ceasefires but agreed to transform that into a bilateral ceasefire agreement that would be realized in less than a month.

In the forum, Bello urged the civil society groups to participate in the peace talks.

“Know what is happening and participate. We need to get your support in this process,” he said.

“Without your support, our peace process with the National Democratic Front will not go anywhere.”

Florante S. Solmerin and John Paolo Bencito

Sayyaf...

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President Rodrigo Duterte created the commission when he signed an executive order creating it on Monday. The commission is tasked to draft an enabling law that will serve as the legal foundation of the future Bangsamoro government in Mindanao.

Dureza said he asked Misuari to “also organize a five-person panel” that the government will engage with because “you cannot mix him with the MILF umbrella because he has his own stand.”

“The President caused the suspension of the hearings and the enforcement of the warrants of arrest against Misuari so he could participate in the peace process,” Dureza said.

Wetch’s body was found inside the abandoned yacht drifting in the vicinity of Laparan Island. Members of the Joint Task Force TawiTawi tugged the yacht to the port for investigation.

Later the same day, the military confirmed a report about the abduction of a German identified as Juegen Kantner, a companion of Wetch. Florante S. Solmerin and John Paolo Bencito

News Rody agrees to sign Paris climate pact

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he will sign the Paris Climate Agreement but he will also press for sanctions on highly industrialized countries.

“After much debate, I will sign the climate change agreement because it’s a unanimous Cabinet vote, except for one or two members,” Duterte said, saying that he and Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., were against signing the deal.

Duterte maintained that he isn’t confident that the deal will be beneficial to the country “but of course we are bound if we sign it but in matters of enforcement, if it’s a binding treaty, there has to be a sanction. So otherwise if you don’t, there’s something coming up your way,” he said.

“Read [the document] again and again and [you will] never find that there is a sanction, even in the matter of contributing the money to the common fund,” he added.

Duterte earlier slammed Western countries for imposing carbon limits on the Philippines to mitigate the impact of climate change when the highest carbon emissions came from industrialized countries.

“Industrialized countries are known not to honor financial obligations, especially America. It has not even paid its dues to the United Nations,” Duterte said.

The Philippines has pledged to decrease its carbon emission by 0.3 percent, even as national law already states that the country has to reduce it by 70 percent by 2030—a target conditional on assistance from the international community.

Duterte’s earlier misgivings about the deal triggered critical reactions from both allies and opponents, most notably former President Fidel Ramos who said that the country needs to ratify the deal or Filipinos will suffer from climate change.

After Duterte has signed the deal, the Senate would have to ratify the deal which came into force on November 4, becoming a landmark demonstrating that countries are serious in addressing global warming.

Former PRC officials face graft charges

By Rio N. Araja THE Ombudsman ordered on Monday the filing of graft raps against former officials of the Professional Regulation Commission over a rigged lease deal during the administration of former President Benigno Aquino III. Those indicted were former chairperson Teresita Manzala, commissioner Alfredo Po, regional director Teofilo Gaius Sison Jr., supervising professional regulations officer Tricia Camara and chief professional regulations officer Sarah Edna Tabije.

The Ombudsman found the respondents approved the 15-month lease contract and paid over P6.6 million at a monthly rate of P431,309.80 in rental fees, advance rentals and deposits from December 2012 to December 2013 without compliance with the requirements of the Government Procurement Reform Act. According to Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales, Sison and Tabije were also held administratively liable for grave misconduct and were ordered dismissed from the service.

The duo were also meted the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, cancellation of eligibility and forfeiture of retirement benefits.

“Respondents’ actions indicate their obvious preference for CTLL Building and circumvented the legally mandated procurement process to ensure its selection as PRC Baguio’s relocation site,” the Ombudsman’s resolution read.

The case stemmed from the 2012 lease contract for the agency’s regional office located at CTLL Building, Kisad Road in Baguio City.

As proof of the rigged bidding, investigators found that the bids and awards committee “had no copies of any request for expression of interests, request for quotation, performance of warranties and securities, resolution recommending award, notice of award.”

The National Bureau of Investigation nabbed Po in an entrapment operation in 2012 after he solicited and accepted from lawyer Ernesto de los Santos P42,000 as monthly commission and P394,000 broker’s commission.

Po supposedly solicited the fees as consideration for his intervention in the approval of the lease contract in favor of De los Santos, owner-lessor of the building that would house the PRC’s satellite office.

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JV yields to suspension W

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

HILE his suspension order over an alleged graft case is still being studied by the Senate Committee on Rules, Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Monday said he will voluntarily start serving his suspension today (November 8) as he vowed respect for the rule of law.

“I believe in the fairness and probity of the Sandiganbayan as an institution.

And as a law-abiding citizen, I submit to the authority of the Supreme Court, which recently denied our motion questioning the suspension order,” said Ejercito in a privilege speech delivered on the Senate floor.

The senator delivered the speech as the Sandiganbayan’s Sixth Division issued an order preventing Ejercito from joining President Rodrigo Duterte’s delegation to Malaysia and Thailand.

The Sixth Division is hearing the technical malversation case against

Ejercito over the alleged misuse of P2.1-million calamity funds for high-powered firearms when Ejercito was San Juan City mayor in 2008.

But the Fifth Division, which is also hearing Ejercito’s graft charge for allegedly causing undue disadvantage to government in the deal, granted the senator’s same plea for travel.

Associate Justice Rodolfo Ponferrada, head of the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division, said he sees no cogent reason for Ejercito to be part of the Philippine delegation to Malaysia and Thailand when he is under a 90-day preventive suspension by the Fifth Division.

“How could you be part of the official delegation when you are under preventive suspension?”

Ponferrada asked.

The Supreme Court affirmed the 90-day suspension order and junked Ejercito’s plea for a temporary restraining order “for lack of merit,” saying Ejercito failed to show that the anti-graft court’s Fifth Division committed grave abuse of discretion in issuing the assailed order.

The Supreme Court then directed the Senate President Koko Pimentel to enforce the suspension of Ejercito but Pimentel noted that the suspension was not among the mandated duties of a Senate President and referred the SC order to the Senate committee on rules chaired by Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto.

Although the suspension will deny the Filipino people of representation and public service, Ejercito vowed to temporarily leave his job in the Senate.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

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Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Quiet terror

W

E DON’T know whether there was adequate basis for the claim that Filipinos now feel safer walking on the streets because the crime rate has gone down. The implication is that people are now more trusting of the police’s ability to enforce the law and that criminals are less confident that they could get away with their dark deeds.

We have no scientific data, either, but anecdotal evidence points to a general sense of foreboding as members of the Philippine National Police and other groups crack down on those

accused of using and dealing illegal drugs.

The feeling stems from the knowledge that the more than 3,000 suspected dealers and users killed after President Rodrigo Duterte came

to power were not accorded due process and were simply executed— just because authorities claimed they “resisted.”

These days, it is difficult to trust that you will be safe from false accusations—even if you happen to just stay home, stand idly on the street, or if you look just a bit scruffier than the ordinary person.

There are horror stories that tell us the police, eager to show that the war against illegal

drugs is working, stop at nothing in their pursuit of drug users or dealers in their daily operations.

Authorities appear so infallible that nobody would dare question them when they claim that a “suspect” had sachets of drugs in his possession or resisted arrest.

Make no mistake about it: We are all for ridding society of the drug menace. But not at the cost of casting fear even among the in-

nocent, those who are simply getting by from one day to the next.

It may be true that the crime rate has gone down, but the people are not just afraid of criminals in plain clothes anymore. They are deathly scared of being trapped in the system where authorities are in control, right or wrong, and there is nothing anybody can do to show otherwise.

Case in point: deaths inside prison cells,

whether of prominent mayors accused of drug dealing or petty criminals, who have been arrested and supposedly preparing to face trial.

This quiet is neither safety nor peace. It is terror—and it is terror inflicted by the state, and by the people who are supposed to make us feel truly safe in the first place. We resist, with all our might, the feeling this occasions in us.

History cannot be buried

A clear rubout LET’S call a spade a godforsaken undertaker’s shovel. The mayor was killed by the police even if he was already in jail, under very suspicious circumstances that do nothing to improve the image of law enforcers—or, on the surface, of the Duterte administration itself.

What seems clear is that the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa Sr. was a police rubout. But what shouldn’t be concluded from that is that the authorities—as opposed to the corrupted members of the police force, some local officials and, yes, even a few members of the media—wanted Espinosa dead.

Espinosa was killed extrajudicially, despite the fact that he was already in the custody of a government agency that was supposed to ensure that the mayor

went through the judicial process.

In its strictest definition, after all, the term “extrajudicial killing” means that the death was perpetrated outside of the normal process by agents of the government, regardless of whether the agents’ superiors have made such killings actual policy.

However, EJK in these parts has already become a political shibboleth by specific groups, immediately attributed to the highest officials of government led by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has ordered a much-publicized war against illegal drug syndicates. Making that leap—especially in the case of Espinosa—is not easy, in the light of several very crucial factors.

As far as Espinosa is concerned, the earlier charge against the government was that it was treating the mayor with kid gloves. He was even taken into the personal custody of PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa, who drew flak for putting Espinosa up in his official residence,

the White House in Camp Crame.

If Espinosa had not been charged and ordered detained by the court in the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte, it’s perfectly possible that he would have remained in Dela Rosa’s custody.

But the transfer was effected, ac-

The usual suspects who have been quick to blame Duterte for Espinosa’s killing are in the lists of father and son.

urday, a 15-man contingent from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group burst into the jail, ostensibly to serve a warrant on an already-detained Espinosa. It gets worse: Espinosa supposedly drew a gun that he kept in his cell (along with some convenient crystal meth) and died in an unbelievable gun battle.

To top it all off, the hard drive containing CCTV footage of Espinosa’s cell, among other areas of the jail, went missing. And the police are sticking to their story, regardless of how incredible it has become.

*** In addition, the Duterte administration has next to nothing to gain by killing Espinosa. According to Senator Panfilo Lacson, the mayor was important because he apparently could verify the names of protectors of the drug ring opcording to the process; so far, so erated by Espinosa’s son Kerwin, good. the Leyte-based alleged drug lord But in the wee hours of last Sat- whose “franchise area” stretched

from Eastern Visayas all the way to a sizable portion of Mindanao.

The people who stood to benefit from the killing of Espinosa were those who were in the lists held both by the slain mayor and Kerwin. The elder Espinosa drew up a list in the affidavit he made before he was killed, while Kerwin’s was contained in a “blue book” that was unearthed by the authorities during a raid at the family compound and which led to the filing of charges against him.

The Espinosa lists make a compelling case for killing the mayor, whose affidavit has become practically worthless now that the person who gave it can no longer attest to its veracity. And if Kerwin, now in detention after he was arrested in Abu Dhabi, is ever brought home to Manila, those who killed his father have now made sure that the appropriate message has been sent to him, as well.

This much can be concluded: Some of the usual suspects who Turn to A5

IT WAS reported last Sunday by another daily (not Manila Standard) that at least eight Supreme Court justices will vote to dismiss the petitions filed by Martial Law victims against President Duterte’s decision and order to bury President Ferdinand E. Marcos at the Libingan ng mga Bayani. Obviously, the reporter has inside information.

But if I were the Marcoses, I would not celebrate yet. I never count the votes in the Supreme Court until the votes are actually cast. I am not even sure if that will happen today as the justices could always decide to postpone the decision again.

The Chief Justice and her fellow justices are all independent minded. They are good lawyers for sure but their diverse moral, political and personal views make it difficult to predict how each will vote. What we know is that the petitioners must garner a majority vote tomorrow—at least eight justices. A majority of justices for the burial or a tie will mean the Duterte decision will stand and the burial will follow shortly.

For sure, I will respect the Supreme Court decision. The fact that it will be a close vote (even a 9-5 or 9-6 vote would be a cliffhanger because that meant you only needed two votes swinging to the other side for a different result) consoles and assures me that the issues were well-deliberated and that the justices listened to all arguments.

If the President’s decision for burial is allowed to stand, it will be for a technicality—a classic application of the political question doctrine. This doctrine says that there is some decisions left for the political branches of government—usually the president and/or Congress—to decide. Congress here has passed a law on who should be buried in Libingan. The President has decided that Marcos deserves such burial under that law. In declining to overturn that, the Supreme Court is saying that it is the President who has the competence and authority to make this decision.

The political question doctrine is of course not absolute.

The 1987 Constitution is very clear that if there is grave abuse of discretion on the part of the president or Congress, which amounts to excess or lack of jurisdiction, the Supreme Court Turn to A5

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

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Opinion

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

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De Lima aggravates her disbarment case Eroding credibility from importers and brokers.

Thus, when members of the media heard the President and the finance secretary mentioned that the BoC’s Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence was being investigated and relieved, it came as no surprise.

But, when he initially faced reporters, Secretary Dominguez seemed unsure. “There is only an OIC-Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence, ba yun? Oo, intelligence. There is only an OIC right now. But, a new OIC will be appointed.”

Later that day, when reporters received the office paperwork from the Customs Public Information and Assistance Division, it was suddenly BoC Deputy Commissioner for Enforcement lawyer Arnel Alcaraz who was identified as the dismissed official. This caused Alcaraz’s *** name to be the one mentioned We have this killing of a in the ensuing media reports.

My gulay, is it that hard to mayor by members of the Criminal Investigation and get names and designations Detection Group inside a pris- right? In the first place, unlike, on cell. Policemen were sup- Mogao, Alcaraz is not serving posedly serving a warrant of his post in an OIC capacity. He arrest to the mayor at 4:30 in was officially installed barely two months the morning. ago.

They claimed, Second, and however, more importhat Albuera, tantly, it would Leyte Mayor President not be a stretch Rolando Espito say that he is nosa attempt- Duterte should ed to shoot stop saying things a graft-buster.

In the short them. And this time Alcaraz was why he only to take them has been in was killed. charge of the Who would back.

BOC Enforcebelieve this ment Division, story?

Initial findings he has intercepted numershowed the police shot Espinosa while he was ous shipments of illegal drugs already down. The trajectory of (ecstasy, cocaine, etc.) seized the shots established this. It was millions of pesos worth of creda perfect example of extrajudi- it cards skimming machines and counterfeit paraphernalia cial killing.

Why serve a warrant of ar- at the airport, and exposed correst on the mayor since he was rupt practices with the agency. already in jail? Who would be- In short, this guy is technocrat lieve he had a gun or a sachet of and Boy Scout, and does his job with quiet efficiency. shabu inside his cell?

The way I see it, there are If PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa were really up to his job only two possible endings of as police chief, he should have this sad tale of mistaken idenrushed back from Las Vegas tity: first, the Customs Public even before the fight of Senate Information and Assistance Manny Pacquiao. True to form, Division got confused and however, he simply directed or- made a big clerical error. In ders to his men from Las Vegas. that case a correction has to He was among the VIPs who be made immediately since watched the boxing bout at tax- careers and reputations are on the line. payers’ expense.

Secondly, despite the mixup, Alcaraz was really the man, *** The persistent problem of the who was meant to be relieved.

Duterte administration—cas- This would be an even greater cading information in a clear, mistake, and would subtract a unambiguous and unified man- badly-needed honest official (a ner—has also reared its ugly rare species at BoC). More imhead. This time, the stakes go portant, it would send a clear far beyond clarifications, inter- message to the people that nice pretations, and endless debates. guys really do finish last, and A public servant’s career is on that you cannot win in a corrupt the line, and it has far-reaching system by being upright. implications for a government *** agency trying its best to reform The appointment by the its tattered image, as well as the administration’s anti-graft cam- President of long-time media man Manuel “Babe” Romualpaign itself.

Various news reports have dez as special envoy is wellquoted both President Duterte received by media. Romualdez and Finance Secretary Carlos is a columnist of the Philippine “Sonny” Dominguez as hav- Star and publisher of People ing relieved a Deputy Com- Asia, and now president of the missioner from the Bureau oldest media group, the Maof Customs due to reports of nila Overseas Press Club. For corruption. That’s all well some years, Babe was also an and good—especially since a news anchor. the bureau is perceived to be There were earlier reports a haven for under-the-table- that Romualdez would be the dealings. But Duterte and Philippine Ambassador to Dominguez clearly said that it Washington, but he declined. was the Deputy Commissioner The position was given instead of Intelligence who was being to Marcelino Paynor, a career sacked, my gulay! diplomat who served several Here are the facts: At pre- presidents as protocol officer. sent, the bureau’s Deputy Babe would have been perCommissioner OIC (Officer- fect choice as ambassador to in-charge) for intelligence is Washington. lawyer Leon Magao Jr., who This is not to belittle Paynor, has been linked to some form a career diplomat himself, but of corruption or another. A personally, I would have prelittle over a week ago, Mogao’s ferred Babe to be our ambassaoffice issued a statement deny- dor to Washington, knowing his ing these allegations, specifi- credentials. cally that two operators were In any case, I say good luck to allegedly extorting money Babe from a good friend.

BY this time, it is common knowledge that individuals affiliated with the civic organization Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption, headed by its founding chairman Dante Jimenez, filed a disbarment case against Senator Leila de Lima before the Supreme Court. The group accused De Lima of gross immorality over an alleged love affair with her driver Ronnie Dayan, a married man, who is himself accused of being her bagman in what government investigators exposed as a complicated narcotics enterprise operating inside the national penitentiary. According to the VACC, De Lima never denied her romantic ties with her driver.

The complaint against De Lima cited the Lawyer’s Oath and the Code of Professional Responsibility, both of which embody the ethical standards governing the legal profession. It is alleged that De Lima “failed in her duty as a lawyer to adhere unwaveringly to the highest standards of morality.”

Jimenez is joined in the complaint by Reynaldo Esmeralda and Ruel Lasala, both ex-deputy directors of the National Bureau of Investigation, and Sandra Cam, a whistle blower who has exposed anomalies in high places in the government.

News archives indicate that this is the third disbarment case filed against De Lima ever since she became a ranking public official.

On an earlier occasion, Jimenez, Esmeralda and Lasala filed a

lists of father and son.

In the end, as anyone who has watched the popular TV series have been so quick to blame Du- “Narcos” knows, the reason why terte for Espinosa’s killing are the illegal drug trade is so violent quite prominently named in the is that the people in the trade think nothing to taking the lives of their

I DON’T know if President Duterte realizes it or not, but his constant flip-flopping on domestic and foreign issues simply erodes his credibility.

In Beijing, he told businessmen that he was “separating” from the United States, but he took it back upon his return to the Philippines, saying he was not “severing” ties with Washington. Separation is different from severance, he said.

The effect is that people are not inclined to take the President’s words seriously because he does not mean what he says, anyway. Worse, we do not know whether he is joking—like that time he said he heard God talking to him.

So when do we believe him, and when do we not?

A clear...

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criminal case against De Lima for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act for allegedly allowing drug lords detained at the national penitentiary to operate a drug trade network from inside the prison.

The disbarment complaint against De Lima is pending before the Office of the Bar Confidant in the Supreme Court. As in all complaints for disbarment, an investigation is expected. There is the possibility that the case may be referred to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines.

If the VACC complaint against De Lima prospers, the senator faces sanctions ranging from her removal from the list of lawyers authorized to practice in the Philippines, or suspension from the practice of law for a specified period. Should the disbarment complaint turn out to be speculative or unfounded, or designed for harassment purposes only, De Lima has the option to file counter-charges.

As a respondent in a disbarment case, what De Lima must do is to disprove the accusations against her. Instead of doing so, De Lima called Jimenez “a creepy clown with a horrible dark mask, obsessed at being in the headlines instead of finding out the truth and justice for the thousands of victims of unresolved drug-related killings in our country.” She called Esmeralda, Lasala and Cam as a “circus act of performing monkeys,” with President Rodrigo Duterte as “master puppeteer.”

De Lima has been the focus of public attention after her critics connected her to drug syndicates operating at the national penitentiary under her watch when she was the justice secretary of ex-

President Benigno Aquino III. It was also revealed in the news media that the drug lords enjoyed special treatment while in detention, such as air-conditioned quarters, catered food, and access to cyber facilities, mobile telephones, firearms, cash, and drugs.

The senator denies being involved in the illicit drug trade, and claims that President Duterte has embarked on a campaign to destroy and discredit her ever since she styled herself as an antiDuterte legislator. De Lima has publicly accused Duterte and top officials of the Philippine National Police of allowing extra-judicial killings in the current administration’s ongoing drive against illegal drugs.

Anyway, since De Lima did not deny her romantic involvement with a married man, something a lawyer is not supposed engage in, she must have expected the disbarment suit to come her way sooner or later.

With the disbarment suit against her now a reality, De Lima ought to have shown how and why the complaint against her should not be believed by the public, much less paid any attention to by the Supreme Court. Instead of doing so, De Lima resorted to intemperate language and called Jimenez “a creepy clown with a horrible dark mask” and Esmeralda, Lasala and Cam as “a circus act of performing monkeys.”

If it was the intention of De Lima to discredit Jimenez and his group, she could have conveyed the same message to the news media using less objectionable language. Her resort to name-calling is certainly uncalled for, especially considering that she is a lawyer,

and an incumbent senator at that.

Under the Code of Professional Responsibility, a lawyer is admonished against using abusive, offensive or improper language in his or her professional dealings. Thus, De Lima’s use of offensive language against Jimenez and his group may be an additional ground for the imposition of even more disciplinary sanctions against her by the Supreme Court. At the very least, what De Lima did aggravates the on-going disbarment case against her.

De Lima may also be courting libel raps for her offensive statements against Jimenez and company. Since De Lima appears to have uttered them outside of official judicial proceedings, her offensive remarks are not considered privileged communication—public remarks that do not give rise to legal liability.

In addition, the ethics committee of the Senate may soon find itself with a new burden if the Jimenez group decides to file a complaint against De Lima for the unparliamentary language she used in an announcement delivered in a public forum. If that situation materializes, De Lima may have to answer questions she has conveniently and cleverly dodged on past occasions.

At the end of the day, De Lima must realize that calling her detractors by offensive names does not help her in the disbarment case lodged against her by the VACC. Her behavior only invites more scrutinizing attention to herself and the controversies she is currently immersed in, and to what so far appears to be her inability or refusal to categorically deny the charges against her.

Question authority but trust science that scientists agree carbon dioxide causes global warming and humans evolved from other animals. But when such statements were presented without the phrase “according to scientists,” conservatives were more likely to say they were false.

When controversy erupts around an issue, Kahn said, both sides think they are aligned with science, “just like in waging war, both sides think they have God on their side.”

Another study of Kahan’s showed that the better people are at math and reasoning, the more likely they are to align their views with their ideology, even if those views included creationism or other unscientific stances. This, he attributes to the fact that people are social creatures, and voicing the “wrong” political ideology can cost them friends, job opportunities, or a sense of community.

If scientists can be found on all sides of such important issues,

then what good is trusting them?

That’s a reasonable question, said MIT professor of nuclear science and engineering R. Scott Kemp, who recently chaired a panel discussion at the university on the election and threats to humanity.

Cutting back on fossil fuel use will come at an economic price, said Kemp. Nuclear power could fill in the gap, since it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide, but it brings its own hazards.

Experts have opinions, said Kemp, not all of them equally well-informed.

“Lots of scientists happily speak publicly on issues of nuclear power safety,” he said, “but the reality is they are only experts on corrosion rates or thermal transfer.”

Where does that leave citizens who want to make informed choices? One answer is for people to trust science without necessarily trusting individual scientists. Science is the most powerful method humans have ever devised to understand our

world. If there weren’t some inherent truth to science’s current understanding of gravity, motion, germ theory, genetics, cell biology and electromagnetism, we wouldn’t be talking on cell phones and watching spacecraft land on other planets.

Science is a collective enterprise, and truth emerges from multiple experiments converging on the same answer.

According to the last report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, climate models are converging on a temperature rise of 1.5 to 4.5 degrees Celsius, or even higher, by the end of the century if emissions continue unabated.

That’s become more than just an opinion. But in the WSJ editorial, the authors say carbon emissions will warm the planet by only 1 degree Celsius. When a claim falls that far from established science, even heroes owe us an explanation.

Bloomberg

may step in to reverse a presidential and/or legislative decision.

This is the core of the petitioners’ argument—that in fact such abuse of discretion exists in the Duterte decision to have Marcos buried in the cemetery of our national heroes. The preface of the Memorandum, filed in the Supreme Court, by counsel Barry Gutierrez and others on behalf of some of the petitioners against the burial argues this very well: “The Libingan ng mga Bayani is no ordinary cemetery. By its very name and pursuant to the acts and laws that establish it, the Libingan is a national shrine established to honor those whom the nation holds in esteem and reverence. Interment in its ‘sacred and hallowed’ premises bestows a singular honor because it is, undeniably, a recognition of the deceased’s positive and exceptional contribution to the country. Because it was originally intended as a memorial to the nation’s war dead —those ‘gallant men who brought honor to the country and died for the sake of freedom and independence’—burial therein has potent symbolic power that burnishes with the patina of heroism the reputations and legacies of the dead who would rest there.

Thus, contrary to what the respondents would have this Court believe, the burial of Marcos at the Libingan is not a bland and neutral act bereft of any symbolic, historical or legal significance. It is not a mere returning to the soil. On the contrary, it is an insidious attempt to revise the historical foundation of our Constitution and discredit the fundamental policies lying at its core—that Marcos was a dictator guilty of horrendous abuses, whose like must never again be allowed to hold power over Filipinos.

Burying Marcos in the heroes’ cemetery critically weakens the recognition of his crimes that is institutionalized in our Constitution, laws, and jurisprudence. It diminishes and obfuscates the historical premises on which were purposely anchored significant aspects of our constitutional order.

It ignores the laws that recognize his crimes and provide for mechanisms to mitigate the suffering they have caused. It holds in contempt a massive body of jurisprudential law that, over three decades, has powerfully articulated the profound villainy of Marcos and his regime.”

Legality aside, the moral arguments against the Marcos burial in Libingan stands out and will hopefully be taken into account as the justices cast their votes.

My colleagues from Jesuit institutions—Institute of Social Order, John J. Carroll Institute on Church and Social Issues, and Simbahang Lingkod ng Bayan—have articulated this well: “Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries human dignity by legitimizing the massive violations of human and civil rights, especially of the right to life, that took place under his regime.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries truth by perpetuating the myth of Marcos’ achievements as a leader, distorting the valuable lessons of history that we pass on to our young, and confusing them about what constitutes heroism.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries justice by justifying the shameless corruption of the dictator, his family, and the oligarchy of cronies he created. It violates the moral values we cherish as a nation by rewarding wrong and making it seem right.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries solidarity by denying the pain and anguish of the many victims of human rights violations and their families, the misery of the poor who suffered most under Marcos’ development policies, and the sacrifices of those who fought to

restore the country’s fallen democratic institutions.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries peace by erasing the memory of the violence that his regime inflicted on our nation.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani buries genuine empowerment by legitimizing the concentration of power in a single leader and the suppression of democratic rights and participation under his regime, and by negating the triumph of the empowered popular movement that unseated him.

Burying the dictator in the Libingan ng mga Bayani will not heal our wounded country.”

Whatever the decision of the Court, whether that happens today or is postponed again, this I am sure of: history cannot be buried.

We may have buried the bodies of those killed by the Marcos dictatorship. Some of the country’s treasure looted by that rapacious regime might be buried somewhere, to be recovered for use on future elections. But the people will never forget. Ironically, if the dictator is buried in Libingan, that’s the assurance that souls will not rest in peace and the country will continue to be divided.

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own colleagues, to ensure that the trail of evidence never leads to them. And if it takes using the police to ensure that the dead men don’t tell the right, incriminating tales, they’ll do that, as well.

All of which is really to say that

the policemen involved in the killing of Espinosa need to be thoroughly investigated, because right now, it looks like they are working not as agents of the government but in the employ of its sworn enemies. These cops have already

failed the smell test of regularity—they should now also be examined as to whose bidding they were really doing.

The policemen who killed Espinosa should be punished to the fullest extent of the law, as anyone

who engages in extrajudicial killing should. They should somehow be made to suffer more, if it is proven that they were acting on the behest of those who would allow the local narco-kings to carry on as before.

By Faye Flam THE results of a new Pew Research Center poll on politics and climate change surprised even some of those who study public attitudes toward science. Forty-five percent of respondents who identified as conservative Republicans said they had little or no trust in climate scientists, compared with six percent of selfdescribed liberal Democrats. Only 15 percent of conservatives said they trust climate scientists “a lot.”

This is surprising, according to Daniel Kahan, a Yale professor of law and psychology, because Americans have unparalleled confidence that scientists know what they’re doing.

Still, some of Kahan’s research shows that people’s views don’t always line up with what they know the experts think. One study, published 2014, found that people across the political spectrum know

History ...

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

Only Congress can hike wages, DoLe chief says

By Vito Barcelo

T

HE Department of Labor and Employment on Monday said only Congress can grant an across-the-board daily wage increase of P125 nationwide but the government has already set aside an initial P200 million for workers who will be displaced by the termination of contractualization schemes.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said Republic Act 6727, or the Wage Rationalization Act, only limits DoLE to “adjusting the wages of our workers but an

across-the-board wage increase is not within our mandate.”

“It is under the jurisdiction of Congress. It has to go through a legislative act,” Bello said, adding

that all Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Boards are mandated to review wage hike proposals with public consultations in their respective jurisdictions.

“Different regions have different socio-economic conditions and cost of living conditions. We have to consider these conditions,” he said.

The Labor chief also said any increase in wages will have implications on the cost of doing business, production, employment and prices.

“The Regional Wage Boards will continue with their reviews and consultations on the salary

adjustments at the regional level.

They are conducting periodic assessment of their respective regions. They will be the ones to submit their recommendations if there is a need to increase the wage in their region,” he said.

Bello also cited the simulation study made by the National Economic and Development Authority on the impact of the proposed P125 wage increase.

According to the study, the proposal could result in upward pressures on prices from 2017 to 2018, the strongest of which could be felt in 2017, when inflation could rise to 9.7 percent

from a baseline of 2.1 percent.

But the government has set aside an initial P200 million for workers who will be displaced by the termination of contractualization scheme, Bello added.

The amount will provide for livelihood assistance and skills training for thousands of workers who would be affected by the government’s campaign against the illegal contractualization practices.

“As we intensify the campaign to end illegal contractualization thus putting an end to endo, the government is prepared to help our workers who will be displaced in the process,” Bello said.

MMDA assumes traffic control

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Philippine National Police’s Highway Patrol Group on Monday turned over to the Metro Manila Development Authority the full control and management of traffic on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

“Starting today, we will take over traffic along Edsa. If you see any HPG men there, it’s just a skeletal force,” said MMDA Traffic Engineering Center chief Noemie Recio.

The HPG personnel will now concentrate on handling the traffic management and control on two other major roads in the metropolis—the Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City and the Circumferential Road-5 (C-5 Road).

“We have a good result. At 6:30 a.m. we are already here at the command center and the traffic on Edsa went smoothly,” said Recio. “We can’t resolve traffic but what we can do is to find a way to keep the motorists moving.”

“We have the traffic enforcement, education, we have personnel, equipment and knowledge skills. What we need now is dedication to do our job,” she added.

Aside from the Unified Vehicular Volume Reduction Program or Number Coding Scheme, the MMDA is also enforcing the truck ban on Edsa and other major thoroughfares.

On Roxas Boulevard, trucks and heavy vehicles, such as container vans, are exempted from the truck ban if they are participating in the Terminal Appointment Booking System, the MMDA said.

TABS is an electronic platform for booking containers at the Manila International Container Terminal and Asian Terminals Inc. which was developed to minimize road traffic and prevent port congestion.

IN BRIEF Gas prices cut but still up P5 CONTINUING oversupply and doubts of a possible agreement to cut production between Russia and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries caused domestic pump prices to fall by as much as P1.20 per liter.

The oil firms announced that they will cut the price of kerosene by P1.20 per liter, diesel by P1 and gasoline by P0.65 per liter starting 12:01 a.m. November 8.

The total year-to-date adjustments are now at net increase of P4.69 per liter in gasoline and P6.63 per liter in diesel.

Diesel sells from P26.40 to P29.97 while gasoline sells from P36.05 to P44.55 per liter. Prices vary depending on the brand, location and other market forces.

“There are two factors for the rollback. Oversupply and Opec seems to be in disagreement over the production cut,” Energy Department spokesman Felix William Fuentebella said.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Seaoil Philippines, Unioil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum and Flying V issued separate advisories of the price rollback early in the day.

The department cited reports that a growing number of Opec member have said they were unwilling or unable to cut, casting doubts on what the group could do when it meets in Vienna.

The department cited reports that production around the world will rise if there is no output deal agreed by Opec on its final meeting on November 30. Opec initially agreed to cut up to two percent of its output to curb oversupply and push up prices. Alena Mae S. Flores

LTO chief faces raps

SUPPORT GROUP. Senators Grace Poe (with back to camera) and Cynthia Villar greet Senator Joseph Victor ‘JV’ Ejercito who delivered a privilege speech at the Senate on Monday announcing that he would voluntarily start serving a 90-day suspension meted on him by the Sandiganbayan although the matter is still pending before the Senate committee on rules. Lino Santos

Passengers get free Pasig ferry rides THE Metro Manila Development Authority on Monday marked its 41st anniversary by giving free rides to passengers of the Pasig River Ferry System.

“In line with the celebration of the 41st anniversary of the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority today, Nov. 7, 2016, the ride on the ferry boats of the Pasig River Ferry System is FREE for the whole day,” the MMDA public information office stated in its advisory.

“The public can ride the boats for free the whole day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. covering all 12 stations —from Barangay Pinagbuhatan in Pasig City to Escolta in Manila.”

MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos said the free ride will also attract more commuters to patronize the ferry boat service

along the historical Pasig River, especially with current concerns about vehicular traffic in Metro Manila, particularly along the already congested Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

He added the free boat rides is one way of giving back to the people for its support to the ferry system since April in 2014.

Orbos said ferry service is also a convenient and fast alternative mode of transportation for those going to Manila City from eastern part of Metro Manila.

The Department of Transportation has a plan to improve the service of the ferry system, according to Orbos.

“I met with Secretary [Arthur] Tugade and he told me to improve the service, facilities and [make] additional routes. He

also told the [Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board] to supply intermodal transportation.”

The MMDA is also set to open new terminals on River Bank in Marikina City and Eastwood in Quezon City. “Our target is before the end of the year,” the MMDA chief said.

Early this year, the agency came up with a mobile application to help passengers get easy access in availing the Pasig River Ferry service.

Using the mobile app would help passengers check the schedule of daily trips. The app can be downloaded via their smartphones and Android mobile devices.

Commuters can check the estimated time of arrival and depar-

ture of the ferries at the 12 stations along the Pasig River.

The MMDA came out with the app, developed by Rising Tide Developers, to encourage more people to patronize the Pasig ferry as an alternative mode of transport especially with the growing concerns on the state of land-based mass transport system.

Aside from the ETA and ETD, passengers can also view the ferry routes and their corresponding fares, vessel and feeds that are generated from the MMDA social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter and Viber.

The app can also provide information such as the nearest ferry stations near the user, a photo gallery, and other MMDA public advisories and announcements. Joel E. Zurbano

LAND Transportation Office chief Edgar Galvante is facing charges of grave coercion, grave misconduct, grave abuse of authority, gross neglect of duty, usurpation of authority, unjust vexation and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service before the Ombudsman.

Romeo Fidel, Christopher Rodriguez, Michael Evangelista and Mark Anthony Sano of the Amazing Transport Inc. from Bulacan also included retired colonel Rolando Abelardo, LTO law enforcement chief; Orlando Dunque Jr., a law enforcer, and Roberto Martin, Pasang Masda national president, in the charges.

In a separate complaint sheet, Fidel and Rodriguez alleged Abelardo and Dunque apprehended their UV express vans while at cruising the North Luzon Expressway in Tabang Guiguinto, Bulacan; towed away their vehicles, and issued a temporary operator’s permit on Sept. 2.

They questioned the apprehension, saying they were not operating out of line and did not violate any regulation and presented an April 24, 2015 letter of Martin, who complained about the illegal operation of UV express vans at the NLEX exit.

On June 1, Martin even accompanied the apprehending officers.

On the other hand, Evangelista and Sano filed another complaint against the accused before the Ombudsman, accusing Martin as behind the apprehension of FX vans operating also at the NLEX exit on Sept. 2. Rio N. Araja

Youth slams CHED chairwoman

By Rio N. Araja POLITICAL youth of the Samahan ng Progresibong Kabataan criticized Commission on Higher Education chairperson Dr. Patricia Licuanan for encouraging students to take technical and vocational courses, instead of pursuing a college degree.

SPARK leader Clarissa Villegas called Licuanan’s stance as “irresponsible and limiting the aspirations of the youth” and called for Licuanan’s resignation.

“She might as well resign from her post if she prefers the youth to remain uneducated and docile slaves of oligarchs instead of critical and productive members of society,” she said.

Licuanan would only limit the students’ goal to attain a higher education, she said.

“Albeit the huge disparity in material well-being, we ought to have equal rights to receive free and quality education,” she added.

At a recent education sum-

mit participated in by over 500 stakeholders, Licuanan still recognized the importance of having a college degree despite the full implementation of the K-12 program.

“We find at CHED that more people want the diploma from college, when maybe it is better for them to go to Technical Education and Skills Development Authority to take vocational courses. We are trying to change that mindset,” SPARK said in a statement.

Villegas questioned Licuanan’s statement that tertiary education was not for everyone “as if she is the ultimate authority in determining who’s fit to receive a diploma or not.”

“It is one thing to laud Tesda’s programs side by side with the socalled reforms in the educational sector but it is alarming for a state official to deliberately endorse for certain individuals the substitution of college diplomas with vocational courses,” she said.

With the K-12 program, Tesda Director Guiling Mamondiong saw a boost in the country’s employment, primarily through the technical-vocational-livelihood track being offered.

According to Villegas, “skilled but illiterate and discounted workers will only propel the youth toward a vulnerable platform of exploitation and misery in this period of global economic integration.”

“You can only master a trade so much, but as long as you depend on an employer who consistently retrenches you, in materiality there is no upward mobility. Here, Licuanan’s twisted logic restricts the very purpose of education—vocational or professional, solely for employment gains.”

SPARK accused Licuanan of shifting the focus away from her failure to provide accessible and quality education despite sitting at the CHED’s top post for more than six years already.

FIFTH ALARM. Firemen train their hoses on a warehouse of the Chiheisen Corp. which caught fire in Malabon City on Monday. Andrew Rabulan

Sports

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Vargas will take POC case to court

By Peter Atencio

B

OXING chief Ricky Vargas will seek redress before the courts in the coming days.

He vowed to do so after the election panel of the Philippine Olympic Committee denied his motion for reconsideration, and disqualified another candidate, triathlon’s Tom Carrasco from his bid to seek another term as chairman.

This means that Vargas remains disqualified in his bid to challenge POC president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco in his bid to seek a fourth term.

On the other hand, the position of chairman will remain uncontested until the Nov. 25 polls because Carrasco’s main rival for the post, Tagaytay congressman Abraham Tolen-

tino is also disqualified.

“Mr. Vargas will seek redress in the courts of law. He wants an objective and authoritative interpretation of this indistinct eligibility requirement,” said Vargas spokesman Chito Salud.

In a resolution sent to all parties concerned, election panel chief Frank Elizalde explained that physical attendance was the

main requirement for an official of a national sports association to be eligible to run for a post in the POC elections.

According to records, Vargas attended only one meeting of the body between Feb. 6 and May 25 this year.

“We are prepared to take legal action,” said Amateur Boxing Alliance of the Philippine executive director Ed Picson.

Elizalde told Vargas that his record of attendance was way short of the requirement for active membership in the general assembly, as prescribed under section 11, article 7 of the POC constitution and bylaws.

Elizalde said this became the basis for the commission’s decision to reject his candidacy.

Commission member Brother Bernie Oca of La Salle also signed

the document while Congressman Conrado Estrella III, abstained.

Meanwhile, the commission has declared Carrasco ineligible to run for chairman after it upheld a protest lodged against his candidacy by Tolentino.

Elizalde said Carrasco lacks qualification after Ramon Marchan was elected president of the Triathlon Association of the Philippines on Aug. 10. Carrasco was elected secretary on the same day.

“Effectively, their terms of office had legally ended,” said Elizalde in a separate letter and that Carrasco ceased to be president of TRAP. His rival, Tolentino, will remain disqualified and the panel learned that he never attended a meeting of the General Assembly.

“The commission looked into the word “active” literally, inter-

preting mere physical presence more than absence as sufficient definition of the word,” according to Elizalde in the resolution.

The panel is still resolving two more complaints, one lodged by volleyball’s Ricky Palou on Larong Volleyball ng Pilipinas official Peter Cayco as their official representative to the polls.

Another one is from Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta, who claimed that Cojuangco is no long eligible to seek another term of office in POC. A total term limit of 12 years has been set by the International Olympic Committee, and under the 17-year ruling, the president has a fixed term of eight years, and is renewable for four years only and a total of 12 years in office.

NU girls advance to finals NATIONAL University remained on course for a threepeat in the girls division of the 78th University Athletic Association of the Philippines junior volleyball tournament at the Adamson University gym.

The Lady Bullpups posted a perfect 12-game elimination round sweep after they beat University of the East, 25-21, 26-24, 25-17, on Saturday, and then swamped UP Integrated School, 25-7, 25-10, 25-9, the next day.

By sweeping the eliminations, NU jumped straight to the bestof-three championship.

University of Santo Tomas blew past the Far Eastern University-Diliman, 25-17, 25-14, 25-14, to secure a twice-to-beat advantage in the step-ladder semifinals.

The Junior Tigresses finished second with a 10-2 card, with both losses coming at the hands of the Bullpups.

De La Salle-Zobel wound up third with a 8-4 card with its opponent in the first stepladder semifinals yet to be determined.

The Junior Warriors, the Baby Tamaraws and Adamson ended up in a three-way tie from fourth to sixth spots with identical 4-8 slates.

FEU-Diliman will face the Baby Falcons in the first do-or-die match at 3 p.m. today, with the winner taking on UE in the knockout game for the remaining berth in the step-ladder semifinals on Thursday.

The Junior Maroons finished the season without a win in 12 contests in last place.

Peter Atencio

Edward Folayang trades haymakers against his opponent in one of his MMA fights. Folayang challenges Shenya Aoki for the ONE Championship title in Singapore on Friday, Nov. 11.

Black cited by press corps THE Ateneo Blue Eagles did the unthinkable last Saturday when they ended the 12-game unbeaten run of the La Salle Green Archers with an 83-71 victory at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Green Archers have been deemed unstoppable during their string of wins in the UAAP basketball tournament. But the Blue Eagles, thanks to their impeccable execution on both ends of the floor, were able to hold their ground as they took down their mighty arch rivals.

Leading the way for the men in blue and white was Aaron Black, who notched 16 points on 7-of-10 shooting and seven rebounds.

“I just came into the mentality that I really want to win this game.

Always be attacking,” Black said after Ateneo’s gutsy win.

For his stellar performance, the third year shooting guard was named the ACCEL Quantum/3XVI-UAAP Press Corps Player of the Week.

Saturday’s contest also turned out to be Black’s best outing since coming from a left foot injury last September. He was out for a month and missed a total of five games for the Eagles.

Since his return however, he has been an important part of his team’s offense. He is currently averaging 9.3 points a game, along with 4.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists.

Black bested University of the Philippines’ Paul Desiderio, Adamson’s Sean Manganti, and National University’s Matt Salem, all of whom had noteworthy performances for their respective teams over the weekend, for the league’s weekly award.

Ateneo’s win earned them a chance to still qualify for the coveted twice-to-beat advantage. The Blue Eagles stand at 7-4, currently in third place behind the Far Eastern University Tamaraws.

Folayang promises to bring ONE title home

By Reuel Vidal EDUARD Folayang, the most widely recognized Filipino Mixed Martial Arts fighter, hopes to fulfill his destiny of winning a world MMA title when he challenges champion Shinya Aoki at ONE: Defending Honor in Singapore on Friday, Nov. 11.

The 32-year-old fighter says that he is fighting not just for himself but for his countrymen especially the youth from his community in La Trinidad, Benguet who need role models to help them aspire for more and lift themselves from poverty.

“I’m so proud to be a Filipino. Fighting not only for myself, but for my nation. I represent my countrymen despite the fact that

there are different tribes. There are a lot of differences but gathering everyone and representing them in an event is a happy moment for me,” said Folayang.

As for himself, he says that his own role model is Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao who has overcome tremendous odds to reach his station life.

“I look at Manny as an inspiration. He really makes the Filipinos and the sport become great because of his unorthodox and unconventional way of boxing. What Manny did in boxing I also want to do in MMA. The sport will be huge inspiration to the youth. Every time they hear my name it will always be connected to martial arts,” said Folayang.

He admits that he has had an arduous

journey. But he has not let disappointment deter him from his dream of finally winning a ONE Championship world title.

“My journey in ONE Championship ever since my first fight has been a roller coaster ride. There are moments in my career when I am already near the title shot but suddenly I loss the momentum. And then I climb the ladder again and fall again. This time I really pushed hard to be on the top. Finally after five years I have the chance to be fighting for the title shot. I feel so happy that I have been given the opportunity to represent my country in this sport. It’s a joyous feeling when your flag is raised up,” said Folayang.

The nine-year veteran MMA fighter has a solid foundation in the fighting arts. He

Subic International Marathon unreels this weekend THE longest running full marathon race in the country, Subic International Marathon (SIM), now on its 11th year, commences at Remy Field, Subic Bay Freeport Zone, on November 12 and 13.

SIM’s premium full marathon and half marathon categories (42.195 km and 21km respectively) will fire off late afternoon of Saturday, November 12, giving the runners a unique feel and experience while tackling the scenic and challenging course of Subic Bay Freeport Zone at night.

The 10km, 7km, 5km and 3km, no-frills fun run, capped in the beautiful, chill and relaxed atmosphere of a Sunday morning in Subic Bay will be held November 13. This is for everyone wanting a shorter, family friendly run.

With the expected 5,000 runners, SIM continues on with its yearly commitment to support the beneficiaries: Dilaab Foundation, Inc., God Bless Our Cops Movement and the Subic Chapter of Bukas Loob sa Diyos Covenant Community.

SIM is organized by eXtribe, Inc., supported by Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Tekton Manufacturing Corporation, makers of ProteinCare and Perfect Muscle, Salomon Philippines, Subic Bay Peninsular Hotel, Pacific Cross Health Care Inc., Public Safety Mutual Benefit Fund Inc., Slimmers World Subic, Ambucore Ambulance Services, and Cycles & Brew by Hubble.

For more details please visit www.facebook.com/subicinternationalmarathon or www.extribe.com.ph/sim.

started as a wushu fighter in high school and college. He represented the country many times and has earned a Southeast Asian Games gold medal in the sport.

“I have the passion for combat sport because I know God has given me the ability to influence my countrymen in this sport.

There are a lot of problems in the Philippines. We’ve seen the affect of drugs on the Filipino people. As an athlete I want to inspire the youth to not waste their lives on drugs but to find the purpose for their existence; to find if they can succeed in sports or whatever areas they are talented in. I want them to be inspired and I want them to make it not only in the Philippines but also globally,” said Folayang.

PBA adopts exciting changes All-Star. The point is for regional fans to be able to connect with the All-Star.”

The competing All-Star teams will most likely include Kapampangans, Bicolanos, Visayans, Ilocanos, Metro Manila star and Fil-Ams in a mini AllStar tournament which will be toured around the country.

Another change that was agreed upon by the board is that there will be no more handicapping system for imports.

It will be a level playing field as ceilings of 6-foot-10 and 6-foot-5 reinforcements in the Commissioner’s Cup and the Governors’ Cup, respectively, are to be followed by all teams.

By Jeric Lopez

THE Philippine Basketball Association is headed in a new direction in terms of its All-Star festivities for the upcoming season.

Following the lackluster attendance during last season’s All-Star activities, the league board thought that a change can help boost interest in the annual gathering of stars as a regional concept is set to be in place for the upcoming 42nd PBA season.

The North versus South format will be scrapped and instead will be replaced by a week-long event that will pit the biggest names from the country’s biggest regions.

It was new PBA board chairman Mikee Romero who thought and pushed for the theme in the league’s 00-00-00-00-00-00 four-day planning that concluded just last Sunday in Seoul, Korea.

00-00-00-00-00-00 “That’s the concept that we’re leaning on.

It’s Commissioner DIGITS 0-0-0-0 Chito Narvasa’s assignment to come up DIGITS 0-0-0 with the final set-up,” said Romero.

“I really want a reEZ2 0-0 gional theme for the

LOTTO RESULTS

Reason to cheer. Dallas Mavericks cheer dancers give their fans plenty of reasons to cheer as they enliven the halftime of the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Milwaukee Bucks. AFP

6/55 6/45 4 3 2

P0 M+ P0 M

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

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

Araneta: Peping no longer eligible

Sports

By Peter Atencio

Harrison Barnes (40) of the Dallas Mavericks goes in for the lay up against the Milwaukee Bucks on November 6 at the American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas. AFP

Mavericks finally break into winning column L OS ANGELES—The Dallas Mavericks, who dropped their first five games of the NBA season to get off to the worst start in franchise history, finally put up a “W” on Sunday.

“It’s definitely good to get that monkey off our backs,” said forward Harrison Barnes, who scored a career-high 34 points in the 86-75 overtime triumph over the Milwaukee Bucks in Dallas.

J.J. Barea added 21 points, including five in overtime, as the Mavs overcame the absence of German veteran Dirk Nowitzki, who is still nursing a sore right Achilles tendon, and Deron Williams, who has a left calf strain.

“It was a total team effort,” said

Barnes, who made 13 of his 26 shots and pulled down eight rebounds in 48 minutes on the floor.

Meanwhile, Utah’s Gordon Hayward made a triumphant NBA return from a fractured finger Sunday by scoring 28 points to lead the Utah Jazz over the host New York Knicks 114-109.

The 26-year-old forward missed the first six games of the season with a broken left ring finger but Hayward, who led Utah last season with 19.7 points and 3.7 assists a game, made

the most of his season debut in a Madison Square Garden matinee.

“First off, it felt great just to be out there,” Hayward said. “You work all summer to be able to play, and so to have the injury was definitely unfortunate, but it’s good to be out there with the guys.

“It’s a little awkward playing with the splint for sure, but it’s not going to stop me from getting out there on the court when it’s time to play.”

Rodney Hood scored 12 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter as the Jazz (4-3) outscored New York 3629 in the last 12 minutes.

George Hill added 23 points and nine assists for Utah while Frenchman Rudy Gobert scored 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds and Derrick Favors scored 13 points and

grabbed six rebounds.

“It gives us another guy who can demand double-teams and can create,” Hill said of Hayward’s return. “It just gives a whole other dimension.”

Carmelo Anthony had 28 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks (2-4) while Kristaps Porzingis scored 28 points and grabbed eight rebounds for New York.

The Mavericks’ Barea had six rebounds and five assists in 46 minutes.

“We stuck together today,” Barea said. “We had a great defensive game.

Barnes carried us throughout the game, and we had other players, too.”

Australian big man Andrew Bogut returned from a one-game absence and grabbed 16 rebounds. Rookie forward Dorian Finney-Smith, get-

ting his first significant minutes of the season, scored five points with three rebounds and three steals.

“He just plays hungry,” Barnes said of Finney-Smith. “He went out there and got us big stops and extra possessions with offensive boards.”

The Bucks had a three-game winning streak snapped.

“We just really played bad,” said Jabari Parker, who led Milwaukee with 16 points. “Even in overtime, we only scored one point. We can’t let that happen. We had to get them out of their groove and close it out to seal the deal.”

Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was in early foul trouble and managed only 11 points with seven rebounds. AFP

PHILIPPINE Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco Jr. is no long eligible to seek another term of office in POC. A total term limit of 12 years has been set by the International Olympic Committee, so said Philippine Football Federation president Mariano “Nonong” Araneta in a letter of protest which he filed before the election panel of the POC last Friday.

“This letter of protest that I filed is all about good governance. This should have been adopted already by the POC,” said Araneta in an interview with Manila Standard.

In his letter addressed to the three-man election panel headed by Frank Elizalde, Araneta stressed six points against Cojuangco, and bared that the IOC provision for president was issued on Dec. 12, 1999.

Under the 17-year ruling, the president has a fixed term of four years, and is renewable for four years only and a total of 12 years in office.

Because of this, Araneta says Cojuangco is violating section 2.8, which is about Good Governance in the IOC Code of Ethics.

“It is most respectfully submitted that the incumbent president of the POC has served for 12 years, violated this provision when he submitted his presidency for another four years stating 2016.

Araneta told the panel that Cojuangco should have voluntarily refrained from serving another term, even without protest leveled against him.

He also added that the POC and Cojuangco were not able to define what an “active member” is.

And this again violates Section 2.8, which states that “elections should be governed by clear, transparent, and fair rules.”

“In disqualifying candidates of Congressman Abraham Tolentino and Mr. Victorico P. Vargas, without due process, the POC, the Election Committee, and President Jose S. Cojuangco, Jr. are guilty of derailing the electoral process with the end in view of perpetuating the term of office of the incumbent President,” said Araneta.

Elizalde said the pane. will act on Araneta’s complaint by the end of the week once he gets back from a trip to Switzerland.

PH boys Pacquiao has unfinished win Thai business with Mayweather Jr crown AIDRIC Chan fired a twounder 70 while Carl Corpus added a 74 as the Philippines pooled a 144 to capture the team championship in the Singha Thailand Junior World Golf Championships 2016 at the Royal Hua Hin Golf Course in Hua Hin, Thailand Sunday.

Chan birdied three of the first 12 holes then slowed down at the finish, dropping a shot on the last but his 3436 card proved enough to lift Team Philippines to the overall crown on a 584 aggregate after 72 holes.

Corpus fumbled with a double-bogey on the par-5 No. 3 and made three more bogeys against three birdies for that 74.

The Ateneo students combined for a 148 in the first round but grabbed the lead with a three-under 141 in the second day. They held sway despite a 151 as the rest, including the hosts, struggled in the tough third day before cruising to a nine-stroke romp over Thailand with that closing 144.

P. Suyasri and N. Harnchokehchaiskul rallied with a 141 in the final round but could only total 595 while Denmark’s Frimodt Gustav and Ejlersen Emil finished third at 599 after a 148.

But while the boys’ squad, whose campaign was sanctioned by the National Golf Association of the Philippines, rolled to victory, the girls’ duo of Harmie Constantino and Yuka Saso failed to duplicate their title feat in the World Junior Girls Championship in Canada last month, settling for second with a 598 total after a 151.

LAS VEGAS—Floyd Mayweather accepted an invite to watch Filipino icon Manny Pacquiao’s WBO title fight on Saturday, leaving many wondering if a request to step back in the ring would be next.

Mayweather had a front row seat at the Thomas & Mack Center to watch Pacquiao easily beat former champion Jessie Vargas with a unanimous decision victory.

Pacquiao said on Sunday that he is eager to avenge his 2015 loss to Mayweather and he doesn’t feel the contract negotiations would be nearly as acrimonious as they were for the first fight, which became the richest in boxing history.

“Not only for myself, but

the fans of boxing want the rematch then why not?” Pacquiao told a group of reporters at his luxury suite at the Wynn hotel and casino. “We can easily talk about that it is not a problem.

“Because we now have direct contact to them it would be easier to talk about when there will be a rematch.”

Pacquiao looked impressive Saturday and even showed his power with a second-round knockdown as he reclaimed the WBO welterweight title – the same belt he lost to Mayweather.

Pacquiao made sure the retired Mayweather was there to witness him win it back on Saturday night. Pacquiao said he found out on Friday

that Mayweather would be attending the fight.

“I met with his manager I told him I would invite Floyd and they said OK,” Pacquiao said.

There are no talks scheduled between the two and Pacquiao has no idea whether he can entice Mayweather to come out of retirement in 2017.

“We don’t have any discussions as for now,” said Pacquiao who will fly back to the Philippines so he can be there when the Senate reopens on Tuesday. “It is not in my mind right now for the next fight.

“I want to go back to the Philippines and work at my next job,” the first-year Senator said. AFP

Manny Pacquiao talks to an interviewer after his unanimous decision victory over Jessie Vargas at the Thomas & Mack Center on November 5, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Pacquiao won the WBO welterweight championship. AFP

Murray to savor top ranking

Britain’s Andy Murray holds up his trophy after winning the final tennis match against USA’s John Isner at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 indoor tournament in Paris on November 6. AFP

PARIS, France—Andy Murray insisted he was taking nothing for granted going into the Tour Finals in London next week after overtaking Novak Djokovic as the new world number one.

“It might only be for one week.

So I might as well try and enjoy it because I could lose it at the Tour Finals and never be there again,” said Murray.

The 29-year-old celebrated his coronation by claiming a 14th Masters 1000 title on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4 victory over American John Isner in Paris.

His career-best eighth tournament win of the season came just a day after Murray became the first British player to top the rankings since the system was introduced in 1973.

He moves 405 points above

Djokovic in the latest rankings, but the Serb could regain his place at the top if he goes undefeated to land a fifth straight Tour Finals crown.

“I wasn’t thinking so much about the cushion or anything like that at the top. I’m obviously happy I got there. It would be nice to finish the year No. 1, but I’m happy that I managed to get there,” added Murray.

The Scot has struggled in London of late, exiting at the round robin group stage twice after missing the 2013 event through injury.

“The last couple of years have been tough there for me. So, yeah, obviously I want to try and play my best tennis there.

“It’s not necessarily about winning. I just want to play my best and finish the year on a good note in that respect, because some of the years it

has been tough for me there.

“So hopefully I can play some good tennis there. I will take a few days’ break now, and rest up a little bit and get ready for one big push out of the next 10 days.”

With Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal both sidelined, and Djokovic considerably short of his best, Murray will head into next season with lofty expectations.

“Obviously I’d love to win the Australian Open because it’s sort of the next major goal, beginning of next year, because I have been close a number of times and I have never quite done it,” he said.

But the five-time Melbourne finalist ruled out looking too far ahead, pointing to his own rapid rise as evidence of how quickly circumstances can change. AFP

Meralco rates drop P0.0781 per kWh

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Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

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SM Prime books P17.5-b profit

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

M PRIME Holdings Inc., the country’s leading integrated property company, said Monday net income rose 15 percent in the third quarter to P4.9 billion from P4.2 billion a year ago, driven by the sustained growth of shopping mall and residential businesses.

Third-quarter consolidated riod last year, the company revenues also increased 14 said in disclosure to the stock percentto P18.5 billion from exchange.

P16.3 billion in the same pe“SM Prime sustained its

overall performance as it benefited from the continued growth of the economy. The synergy and contribution of our business units are reflected in our strong results. We expect SM Prime’s success to continue over the medium-term as economic growth spread to the rest of the Philippines, which should bode well with our expansion in other key cities and provinces,” SM Prime president Jeffrey Lim said.

The company’ strong third-

quarter performance brought the nine-month consolidated net income to P17.5 billion, an increase of 13 percent from P15.5 billion in same period last year.

Nine-month revenues climbed 11 percent to P57.8 billion.

SM Prime said mall revenues from Philippine operations rose 9 percent to P32.1 billion from P29.4 billion a year earlier, while sales from residential group led by SM Development Corp. grew 10 percent to P18.7 billion from P16.9 billion.

SM Prime attributed the strong mall revenues to the 7-percent growth in same-mall sales and new retail space of 1 million square meters in gross floor area that were added in the past two years.

Cinema and event ticket sales reached P3.44 billion, slightly higher than last year’s P3.4 billion.

SM Prime had 58 malls in the Philippines and six in China with a gross floor area of 8.5 million sqm. as of end-Septem-

ber 2016.

SM Prime is scheduled to open SM East Ortigas and SM City Tianjin in China before the end of the year.

SM Prime said by end of 2016, it would have a combined GFA of nearly 9 million sqm.

Meanwhile, SM Prime said the residential group managed to register robust sales in the first nine months, driven by sales take-up on ready-foroccupancy units from various projects.

IN BRIEF

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing November 7, 2016

Foreign reserves decline to $85.75b

8300 7840

THE country’s gross international reserves declined 0.4 percent in October to $85.753 billion from a record $86.139 billion in September, after the government settled maturing foreign exchange obligations, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.

Bangko Sentral said other reasons behind the decline were the revaluation adjustments on gold holdings resulting from the decrease in the price of the precious metal in the world market and foreign exchange operations of the bank.

“These were partially offset by the reclassification of renminbi-denominated accounts from non-reserve to reserve eligible assets and the national government’s net foreign currency deposits, along with BSP income from investments abroad,” the regulator said.

The Monetary Board approved the inclusion of the Chinese renminbi in the official international reserves of Bangko Sentral effective Oct. 13, 2016 to ensure the availability of the said currency to the banking system and consider rising economic and financial importance of China.

The end-October reserves level could cover 10 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and income. It was also equivalent to 6.1 times the country’s short-term external debt. Julito G. Rada

7380 6920 6460 6000

7,197.19 30.18

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing NOVEMBER 7, 2016 43.00 45.40 46.60 47.80

P48.585

49.00

CLOSE

HIGH P48.500 LOW P48.590 AVERAGE P48.545 VOLUME 228.150M

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

OPRICES IL TODAY

P27.40-P30.97 Diesel

China Bank raising P20b for expansion

SHUTTERED BANK. The Monetary Board of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas prohibited Community Rural Bank of Dingras (Ilocos Norte) Inc. from doing business in the Philippines. The MB directed Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver to proceed with the takeover and liquidation of the bank. PDIC took over the bank on Nov. 4, 2016. Community Rural Bank of Dingras is a three-unit rural bank with head office at Medina St. corner Puruganan St., Barangay Madamba (Pob.), Dingras, Ilocos Norte.

P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, November 7, 2016

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

48.4430

Japan

Yen

0.009615

0.4658

UK

Pound

1.247700

60.4423

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128939

6.2462

Switzerland

Franc

1.023751

49.5936

Canada

Dollar

0.750188

36.3414

Singapore

Dollar

0.722648

35.0072

Australia

Dollar

0.769200

37.2624

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652450

128.4926

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266631

12.9164

Brunei

Dollar

0.720046

34.8812

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000077

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.028593

1.3851

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

13.1904

Euro

Euro

1.107000

53.6264

Korea

Won

0.000877

0.0425

China

Yuan

0.148060

7.1725

India

Rupee

0.014973

0.7253

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.238265

11.5423

New Zealand

Dollar

0.733800

35.5475

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031814

1.5412 Source: PDS Bridge

Peso drops to 7-year low ahead of US polls

By Julito G. Rada THE peso weakened to a new seven-year low against the US dollar Monday as uncertainty gripped financial markets ahead of the US presidential elections on Nov. 8.

The peso lost P0.10 to close at 48.585 against the greenback Monday from 48.48 Friday. It was the local currently’s weakest level since settling at 48.62 on Sept. 4, 2009 at the height of the global financial crisis.

Total volume turnover reached $228.15 million, lower than $398 million previously.

“This is [US] election-related, and everybody is unsure on who will win the US presidential election,” Bank of the Philippine Islands research officer Nicholas Antonio Mapa said in a statement.

“It looks like emerging markets are favoring [Hillary] Clinton but anything can happen,” Mapa said.

The peso opened the morning trading two centavos stronger at 48.50 and touched 48.59 at one point, before closing at 48.585.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. earlier said the peso’s weakness

in the past few days was driven mainly by external factors, particularly the expected rate hike by the US Federal Reserve before the end of the year.

Tetangco said there were some domestic factors that impacted the peso such as the increase in corporate demand for dollars for both fixing and import requirements.

He said the volatility would continue until there was a clearer action or decision on the part of the Fed. Fitch Ratings’ BMI Research said in a recent report the peso could possibly weaken beyond 50 a greenback in the com-

ing days if President Rodrigo Duterte’s intense war on drugs plus his continuous tough talking triggered prolonged political uncertainty.

BMI said the peso’s weakness in September was due to the “deteriorating investor sentiment” after Duterte hit back at the US after the latter lashed out at his war on drugs.

“In the event that these fears translate into something more tangible leading to prolonged political uncertainty, we believe that a further slide of the peso beyond 50 to US dollar could be likely,” BMI said.

CHINA Banking Corp., the eighthlargest lender in terms of assets, said it will raise up to P20 billion from the issuance of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits to support strategic initiatives and business growth.

China Bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange Monday the issuance was recently approved by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. China Bank said the approval would enable it to issue multiple tranches of LTNCDs with tenors ranging from five to 10 years.

“The LTNCDs will be offered at a rate of 3.25 percent per annum, payable quarterly. The minimum investment size is set at P50,000 with increments of P50,000 thereafter,” China Bank said.

An initial offering of at least P5 billion will be raised with a fixed rate and a maturity of five years and six months from issue date. The public offer period for the first tranche runs from Nov. 7 to Nov. 11, 2016.

China Bank and the joint lead arrangers retained the option of adjusting the offer period as it deems necessary.

LTNCDs are time deposits that have longer maturity and are higher yielding than regular deposits. These instruments are negotiable and insured with the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. up to a maximum coverage which is currently at P500,000 per depositor.

“This new issuance is expected to expand the bank’s long-term deposit base and boost its long-term asset growth,” China Bank said. Julito G. Rada

Globe’s profit falls 50% PCCI expects fourfold increase in foreign investments after buying Vega stake By Othel V. Campos

By Darwin G. Amojelar GLOBE Telecom Inc. said Monday net income fell 50 percent in the third quarter from a year ago, after acquiring 50 percent of San Miguel Corp.’s telecom assets.

Globe, which is controlled by conglomerate Ayala Corp., said net income amounted to P2.7 billion in July to September, down from P5.43 billion it earned in the same period last year.

This brought the company’s net profit in the first nine months to P11.7 billion, down 17 percent from P14.1 billion in the same period in 2015.

Globe blamed the decline in net profit to the higher depreciation and non-operating charges, including the acquisition of a 50-percent stake in Vega Telecom Inc. Globe and PLDT Inc. bought Vega for P70 billion.

Globe’s core profit, which excludes the impact of the nonrecurring items, one-time gains, foreign exchange and mark-to-

market charges, stood at P11.7 billion, down by 8 percent yearon-year.

“Notwithstanding the serious turn in the level of competition, Globe’s overall financial results remained strong and still ontrack with our guidance for the year, marked by record-level subscriber acquisitions, churn improvements and increased data adoption,” Globe president and chief executive Ernest Cu said.

“We remain steadfast with the expansion of our data network and capacities, to maximize the use of the additional 700 and 2600 megahertz frequencies, to give our customer the best experience in terms of the speed and reliability of our internet services,” Cu said.

The company’s consolidated service revenues rose 7 percent in the first nine months to P89.1 billion from P83.4 billion in the same period last year.

Globe’s consolidated service revenues was unchanged at P29.5 billion in the third quarter.

THE Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Monday it expects a fourfold increase in foreign direct investments over the next five years, driven by pledges

MORE INVESTMENTS.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez highlights the growing trade and investment opportunities in the country at the Philippine Economic Forum, witnessed

by Filipino and Japanese business delegates in Tokyo.

The trade chief said as the fastest growing economy among select Asian countries with stable credit ratings, the Philippines aims to develop large-scale infrastructure, provide competitive investment incentives and implement sound national industrial strategies.

from China and Japan and the entry of a new entertainment resort.

PCCI secretary general Cris Frianeza said while the Duterte administration’s pivot to Asia met opposition from several fronts, the new investment commitment

from a single state visit to China would “just prove the government’s tack to be effective, especially on the economic front.”

“We’re looking at diversified investment partners. In fact in the past two weeks, we had investors

from the Netherlands. And this week we have business delegation from Sweden and Denmark. So I think we are expecting a lot more investment over the next five years or during the duration of his term,” he said.

Frianeza said the war on drugs waged by the current administration was making the Philippines a reliable investment destination.

He said the government’s anti-drug campaign made it possible for investors not to fear the Philippines “but the administration should be able to fast track the implementation of all of the president’s plans.”

“They need to be more vigilant on the investments that come in and devise means on how to sustain them,” he said.

“The war on drugs and good government and peace and security will also improve investment. It’s matter of giving attractive packages in terms of incentives. Right now the countries in the Asean are competing for investments. Casinos provide good investments for a country.

There’s nothing wrong with that.

It provides employment to many people,” Frianeza said.

B2

Business

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market slides; Shell, SM advance Ayala Land reports S P15.1-b net income tocks slipped Monday, ahead of the US presidential election and the release of third-quarter earnings by more listed companies.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 30 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 7,197.19 Monday. This reduced the total gains this year to 3.5 percent.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also fell 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to settle at 4,311.28, on a value turnover of P6.7 billion. Gainers matched losers at 92 apiece, while 45 issues were unchanged.

Six of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led

by Global Ferronickel Holdings Inc. which surged 8.3 percent to

P1.30 and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. which advanced 5.1 percent to P70.60.

Property developer Ayala Land Inc. climbed 1.4 percent to P35.30, while rival SM Prime Holdings Inc. gained 1.4 percent to P26.30, after both companies reported double-digit growth in profit in the first nine months.

Meanwhile, other Asian equities staged a rebound and the Mexican peso rallied Monday as traders breathed a sigh of relief after the head of the FBI said market-favorite Hillary Clinton

would not face charges over her use of a private email server.

Investors were sent into a funk last week after James Comey said messages linked to the Democratic presidential nominee were being looked at, sending rival Donald Trump surging in opinion polls just days before the Nov. 8 vote.

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.

However, on Sunday Comey announced he would not change his July recommendation that Clinton not be prosecuted for putting US secrets at risk.

“Markets are likely to remove some of the risk premium taken as a

precaution against a Trump victory now that Hillary Clinton will not be charged over her use of a private email server,” said CMC Markets chief analyst Ric Spooner.

“However, an element of uncertainty remains over this election.

It seems unlikely that markets will make a full ‘risk on’ move until Clinton is declared the winner.”

Tokyo’s Nikkei ended the morning session 1.4 percent higher, while Hong Kong was up 0.3 percent, Sydney added 1.2 percent and Seoul gained 0.8 percent. Wellington soared more than two percent and Singapore put on 0.4 percent.

Futures on Wall Street also rallied, with the broad-market S&P 500 index up 1.4 percent and the Dow 1.1 percent higher.

With Bloomberg, AFP

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer Ayala Land Inc. chalked up a net income of P15.06 billion in the first nine-months, up 17 percent from the same period last year on double digit growth in revenues from core businesses.

Ayala Land said in a disclosure to the stock exchange consolidated revenues in January to September reached P85.49 billion, an increase of 14 percent from P75.05 billion it a year earlier, driven by the sustained

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2016

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.54 11,000 47.75 52,100 96.25 1,651,830 110.7 2,710,340 38.25 47,400 16.3 239,300 19.18 135,700 7 100 1.89 5,000 0.78 1,168,000 78.15 3,424,150 0.85 22,006,000 14.3 162,200 22.05 1,000 57.2 38,750 256.8 430 138.1 220 35.75 35,400 207.4 1,058,390 1,465 10 74.95 101,340 1.34 1,000

37,040 2,462,945 159,405,657 299,984,770 1,812,280 3,876,710 2,600,862 700 9,450 911,170 267,941,580.50 18,705,100 2,322,610 22,050 2,214,135 110,748 31,382 1,261,515 219,710,182 14,650 7,598,511 1,340

1,344,440 -102,291,599 -23,698,727 -3,855,600 -169,426.00 -130,038,680.50 18,700,000 -174,460 483,485.50 -164,075 -79,558,108 -14,650 -

43.7 3.73 0.92 1.38 19.92 0.21 107.1 11.42 16.3 180 22.8 31.5 63 95 2.02 6.87 12.4 10.88 7.04 7.22 5.52 22.55 66.5 16.78 6.05 1.88 230 82 2.09 3.95 27 29.6 26.5 14.52 277.4 4.75 3.19 10.02 11.54 2.13 5.79 1.45 69.7 3.65 220 4.4 4 0.144 1.6 170.8 4.59 2.11 1.13

INDUSTRIALS 44 1,494,600 3.8 239,000 0.93 117,000 1.4 568,000 21.6 138,500 0.21 74,150,000 115 800 11.5 2,582,900 16.34 934,000 180 230 23.55 316,600 31.5 3,100 63 36,330 95 800 2.02 63,000 7.06 1,109,500 12.46 13,800 11.3 4,491,600 7.05 913,000 7.28 1,591,100 5.63 10,220,500 22.75 1,223,400 66.75 82,980 16.82 396,400 6.1 196,100 1.95 142,000 230.4 730,090 82 4,530 2.29 18,000 4.1 10,000 27 900 30.35 4,296,100 27 164,300 15.42 7,612,200 281.6 222,040 4.75 2,000 3.35 16,864,000 10.1 1,421,000 11.54 85,000 2.13 1,228,000 5.79 446,900 1.46 146,000 70.6 4,750,410 3.66 17,000 222 3,240 4.47 284,000 4 12,000 0.146 740,000 1.66 44,000 173.1 1,088,950 4.59 5,000 2.11 826,000 1.13 106,000

65,763,565 898,170 108,800 786,010 2,922,897 15,572,100 87,818 29,692,348 15,285,002 42,090 7,445,800 98,780 2,288,790 76,067 127,810 7,784,826 171,648 50,460,074 6,436,835 11,547,496 57,323,263 27,842,820 5,544,376.50 6,662,238 1,188,281 272,820 169,150,788 379,849 39,470 40,040 24,300 134,453,270 4,411,660 115,323,362 62,310,764 9,500 56,292,080 14,359,546 983,260 2,616,500 2,594,563 212,480 333,802,453 62,400 719,040 1,265,230 49,460 107,020 72,100 188,801,470 22,950 1,748,460 119,780

-31,254,120 -76,000 5,600 15,540,000 -6,512,792 9,474,662.00 -422,800 1,610,280 -5,783,264 -1,081,346 -6,962,904 -2,646,446.00 -2,517,065 -3,785,907 5,438,570 605,105 -139,894,034 -5,154,235 -1,800,375 -23,875,206 -10,337,346 1,110,430 212,088 1,821,150 -2,305,840 158,831,740.50 -457,200 -812,150 -61,712,904 -

0.395 76.75 13.7 1.25 6 0.325 829 8.49 12.3 8.17 1,370 6.35 72.65 1.23 7.8 14.52 0.47 7.06 0.04 1.23 1.91 2.68 80.3 682 1.17 235.8 0.3 0.201 0.26

0.375 74.6 13.4 1.17 6 0.32 810 8.37 12 8.1 1,332 6.27 71.7 1.12 7.62 14.48 0.46 6.95 0.038 1.16 1.9 2.57 79.5 662.5 1.17 232.2 0.3 0.192 0.26

HOLDING FIRMS 0.39 140,000 75.1 2,648,900 13.4 4,538,700 1.19 21,007,000 6 5,200 0.325 200,000 825 391,040 8.45 4,263,600 12.18 4,704,600 8.1 87,000 1,360 117,085 6.35 32,700 71.95 1,820,780 1.22 48,675,000 7.64 1,145,800 14.5 6,206,900 0.47 10,770,000 6.95 35,484,600 0.038 24,900,000 1.17 16,000 1.9 260,000 2.68 11,000 80.3 624,150 671 376,810 1.17 4,000 235.8 6,060 0.3 10,000 0.201 180,000 0.26 120,000

53,300 198,872,819 61,171,430 24,838,690 31,200 64,100 321,847,960 36,015,394 57,306,594 706,193 158,870,935 205,987 131,002,119 58,246,350 8,781,812 89,998,828 4,955,000 247,616,627 968,200 18,680 494,050 28,490 49,871,988 252,523,785 4,680 1,423,004 3,000 34,970 31,200

-120,312,868 -37,470,986 24,830,000 -89,259,090 23,723,499 -7,334,722 -35,105 -44,171,820 -44,796,399.50 399,700 -1,344,148 8,218,578 4,917,400 36,402,703 -380,000 38,975,100 -63,093,160 14,002 -

7.3 1.13 2.3 0.295 35.75 3.16 5.16 0.61 1.12 1.15 0.153 0.58 54 0.75 0.134 1.84 0.97 1.07 4.08 0.166 0.265 0.445 3.25

7.16 1.07 2.23 0.29 34.85 3.09 5.16 0.58 1.11 1.1 0.151 0.56 52.45 0.74 0.134 1.79 0.96 1.05 3.96 0.156 0.26 0.43 3.13

121,239 1,930,470 510,450 122,250 399,462,680 18,054,410 150,672 16,701,510 68,010 184,630 259,040 30,642,890 11,073,480.50 33,302,250 1,814,360 17,047,830 1,292,960 21,360 157,520,820 3,322,520 18,500 251,550 1,672,230

16,259 -92,012,690 -12,450,880 150,672 -6,400,720 28,000,000 -1,956,399 33,297,750 1,807,660 8,105,750 19,400 15,488,350.00 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.35 47.75 97.3 110.7 38.1 16.2 19.44 7 1.89 0.8 79.75 0.85 14.3 22.05 57.5 262 150 35.9 208.8 1,465 74.95 1.34

3.54 47.75 97.45 112 38.3 16.3 19.5 7 1.89 0.8 79.75 0.85 14.4 22.05 57.5 262 150 35.9 210 1,465 75.05 1.34

3.35 46.5 96.05 108.4 38.1 16.2 19.08 7 1.89 0.77 77.5 0.85 14.3 22.05 57 256.8 137 35.55 205 1,465 74.9 1.34

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 HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MACAY HLDG MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETRON PHINMA PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PHX SEMICNDCTR PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP PUREFOODS RFM CORP SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VICTORIAS VITARICH VULCAN INDL

44.5 3.8 0.94 1.38 19.92 0.214 107.1 11.58 16.56 195 22.8 31.8 63 95.6 2.03 7 12.4 11 7.05 7.26 5.52 22.8 67.25 16.78 6.11 1.95 235 90 2.39 3.95 27 29.6 27 14.52 281.8 4.75 3.19 10.24 11.58 2.13 5.95 1.46 70 3.71 220 4.46 4.38 0.145 1.6 174.7 4.59 2.12 1.13

44.6 3.8 0.94 1.41 22.3 0.214 115 11.64 16.62 195 23.6 33 63 95.6 2.07 7.09 12.46 11.42 7.19 7.28 5.7 23.35 67.5 16.84 6.11 1.96 235.6 90 2.39 4.1 27 31.85 27 15.42 285 4.75 3.43 10.24 11.6 2.15 5.95 1.47 70.8 3.71 222 4.47 4.38 0.146 1.68 177 4.59 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 GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION REPUBLIC GLASS SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.395 74.6 13.64 1.17 6 0.325 827 8.45 12.18 8.17 1,350 6.27 72.5 1.14 7.7 14.52 0.46 6.96 0.038 1.16 1.9 2.57 80.3 663.5 1.17 232.2 0.3 0.192 0.26

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 MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP

7.16 1.07 2.27 0.295 34.85 3.11 5.16 0.58 1.11 1.1 0.151 0.58 53.05 0.75 0.134 1.79 0.97 1.05 4.02 0.162 0.265 0.43 3.25

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PTFC REDEV CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

32.5 29.05 1.51 3.27 26.1 1 0.98 5.16

32.5 29.1 1.55 3.27 26.9 1.02 0.98 5.25

32.5 28.95 1.51 3.27 25.65 1 0.96 5.16

32.5 29 1.55 3.27 26.3 1.02 0.98 5.2

2,300 2,982,300 31,000 9,000 9,554,700 677,000 385,000 1,137,700

74,750 86,532,410 47,900 29,430 249,902,910 683,120 370,160 5,913,471

-17,860,620 13,950 -61,163,635 6,720 -1,834,599

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

7.68 46.5 0.55 0.055 5.2 6.31 0.083 2.93 104 9.53 6.8 961 1,690 6.2 13.6 2.14 15.52 73.25 0.0093 9.15 0.2 1.45 3.38 13.34 5.32 2 4.25 4.64 22 2.71 11.3 5.06 150 8.38 1,482 1.18 0.41 40.55 74 5.6 2.7 0.77 3.3 0.355

7.79 46.5 0.57 0.055 5.2 6.38 0.084 2.93 104.5 9.53 6.99 980 1,690 6.26 13.6 2.21 15.98 75.1 0.0095 9.15 0.206 1.46 3.38 13.34 5.38 2 4.5 4.7 23.5 2.81 11.3 5.2 150 8.6 1,491 1.2 0.41 40.6 74.1 5.6 2.78 0.77 3.34 0.36

7.68 46 0.53 0.053 5.2 6.14 0.082 2.85 103 9.53 6.65 961 1,628 6.2 13.22 2.13 15.52 73.2 0.0092 9.1 0.199 1.4 3.35 13 5.12 2 4.24 4.58 21.8 2.71 11.28 5.06 150 8.35 1,470 1.16 0.41 39.95 74 5.58 2.7 0.75 3.25 0.355

SERVICES 7.7 46.05 0.57 0.054 5.2 6.21 0.082 2.85 103.4 9.53 6.9 976 1,640 6.25 13.44 2.19 15.98 74.7 0.0095 9.15 0.204 1.41 3.35 13.28 5.19 2 4.43 4.59 22.1 2.8 11.28 5.2 150 8.45 1,470 1.19 0.41 39.95 74 5.6 2.74 0.77 3.34 0.36

29,700 26,500 57,634,000 29,270,000 3,500 11,014,900 11,120,000 1,044,000 251,230 10,700 123,400 1,260 122,770 770,400 57,800 2,669,000 4,400 1,797,790 13,000,000 503,000 8,630,000 3,133,000 35,000 10,700 235,500 214,000 18,483,000 5,455,000 5,300 1,452,000 8,800 1,300 88,780 415,600 122,590 13,144,000 50,000 698,000 702,100 46,600 809,000 45,053,000 175,000 40,000

230,400 1,227,550 30,966,330 1,571,580 18,200 68,841,984 921,030 2,990,640 25,998,760 101,971 832,200 1,229,870 202,378,180 4,808,129 770,696 5,801,940 69,374 134,425,341 120,000 4,601,450 1,748,720 4,405,360 117,760 141,788 1,231,074 428,000 80,902,100 25,127,250 119,280 4,012,780 99,364 6,718 13,317,000 3,502,677 180,672,915 15,562,430 20,500 27,921,540 51,964,500.50 260,463 2,219,130 34,261,400 579,500 14,250

-17,710 30,610,000 -54,000 4,796,046 1,660 114,000 -5,918,342 -40,398,745 -3,768,523.50 38,760.00 14,100 10,380 -19,800,600 -1,654,330 13,700 0 -1,092,313 -7,887,900 -1,235,790.00 -3,136,610.00 -11,890,022.50 825,410 31,270,960 205,770 -

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 PETROENERGY PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING TA PETROLEUM UNITED PARAGON

0.0035 3.1 3.95 0.56 0.39 8.16 1.21 0.28 0.195 0.203 0.011 0.012 1.65 6.94 2.8 0.48 1.02 0.012 4.1 0.013 8.38 3.9 124.9 3.01 0.0091

0.0035 3.1 4.18 0.59 0.4 8.5 1.33 0.32 0.195 0.205 0.012 0.012 1.71 7.15 2.9 0.56 1.11 0.012 4.1 0.013 8.4 4 124.9 3.02 0.0095

0.0034 3.09 3.95 0.56 0.39 8.16 1.19 0.28 0.192 0.203 0.011 0.012 1.61 6.83 2.79 0.48 0.97 0.011 4 0.012 8.24 3.89 123.8 3.01 0.0091

MINING & OIL 0.0034 1,516,000,000 3.09 235,000 4.18 5,037,000 0.59 414,000 0.4 250,000 8.35 3,300 1.3 103,840,000 0.3 39,750,000 0.193 2,540,000 0.205 520,000 0.012 514,300,000 0.012 28,000,000 1.66 785,000 7.09 5,913,700 2.9 2,190,000 0.56 38,810,000 1.1 1,404,000 0.011 3,800,000 4.1 33,000 0.012 18,700,000 8.4 2,075,000 3.9 877,000 124.3 788,220 3.01 33,000 0.0095 13,000,000

5,305,100 726,540 19,901,240 242,100 99,900 27,459 131,465,170 11,548,900 491,190 106,260 6,171,500 336,000 1,305,820 41,654,065 6,325,380 18,635,000 1,486,590 43,200 133,600 226,200 17,392,467 3,445,540 97,939,578 99,440 118,900

5,250,000 19,750,000 -6,612,020 6,355,900 -1,156,225 -29,000 18,576,000 -1,856,456 70,478,856 -100,100

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 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 2B PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2I

46.05 521 532 104.2 113.8 510 530 5.86 1,015 1,018 1.06 109.3 1,155 1,020 107.6 120 81 76 77.4 78

46.15 521 532 104.2 113.8 510 530 6.17 1,020 1,020 1.06 109.3 1,155 1,020 110 120 81 76 77.4 78

45.1 521 530 104 113.8 510 530 5.86 1,015 1,018 1.06 109.3 1,155 1,020 107.6 120 80.1 76 77.4 78

PREFERRED 46.15 110,500 521 200 530 5,100 104.1 7,940 113.8 5,000 510 6,020 530 4,000 6.17 462,300 1,020 200 1,020 4,820 1.06 100,000 109.3 4,800 1,155 20 1,020 100 110 22,400 120 6,700 80.1 79,330 76 2,500 77.4 5,870 78 64,000

5,065,830 104,200 2,709,000 826,724 569,000 3,070,200 2,120,000 2,763,660 203,500 4,914,400 106,000 524,640 23,100 102,000 2,458,240 804,000 6,406,730 190,000 454,338 4,992,000

-2,992,750 -583,000 -2,641,459 -

LR WARRANT

2.46

2.53

2.42

WARRANT 2.45 140,000

343,590

-

1,190,550 35,460 45,972,104

-9,510,320

3,547,560

-

MS

PROPERTY 7.3 1.12 2.3 0.29 35.3 3.11 5.16 0.61 1.11 1.11 0.153 0.57 54 0.74 0.134 1.83 0.97 1.07 4.02 0.161 0.265 0.445 3.15

16,800 1,746,000 226,000 420,000 11,357,300 5,795,000 29,200 27,735,000 61,000 166,000 1,700,000 54,684,000 207,940 45,003,000 13,540,000 9,328,000 1,333,000 20,000 39,170,000 20,660,000 70,000 570,000 530,000

ALTERRA CAPITAL ITALPINAS XURPAS

3.16 3.9 10.84

3.2 3.99 10.84

3.06 3.9 10.28

FIRST METRO ETF

121.3

121.3

120.1

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL

SHARES

32,850,286

INDUSTRIAL

143,095,980

HOLDING FIRMS

168,965,890

PROPERTY

254,513,561

SERVICES

230,473,803

MINING & OIL

2,300,290,772

GRAND TOTAL

3,134,978,936

SME

3.06 3.99 10.28

384,000 9,000 4,364,400

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.1 29,340

VALUE 1,732.56 (down) 12.49 991,059,555.50 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,537.02 (down) 60.65 1,476,664,356.89 HOLDING FIRMS 7,334.91 (down) 48.82 1,725,988,699.128 PROPERTY 3,195.82 (up) 35.26 SERVICES 1,373.02 (down) 7.76 1,067,882,542.24 MINING & OIL 11,537.71 (up) 121.82 1,004,934,945.274 PSEI 7,197.19 (down) 30.18 365,243,095.22 All Shares Index 4,311.28 (down) 14.44 6,682,525,288.232 Gainers:92 Losers: 92; Unchanged: 45; Total: 229

growth of the residential and office businesses and the strong performance of shopping centers.

“Our financial results continue to be positive and reflective of a buoyant real estate industry. New products introduced in our various estates in 2016 have started to contribute to our performance and are expected to help sustain our growth moving forward,” Ayala Land president and chief executive Bernard Vincent Dy said.

Sales from residential and office projects reached P84.32 billion in the nine-month period, up 2 percent from a year ago. This was equivalent to an average monthly sales take-up of P9.36 billion.

The property firm launched P49.2 billion worth of residential and office-for-sale projects in the past nine months.

Ayala Land focused on expanding its diverse property offerings within its current roster of 19 integrated mixeduse developments nationwide.

The company started developing One Ayala, a mixeduse complex with a first-ofits-kind intermodal transport hub at the corner of Ayala Avenue and Edsa. The project includes a 300-unit condominium-for-lease tower and a flagship 600-room Seda hotel to be built around a transport hub.

Max’s set to expand

chain in MidEast

CASUAL dining chain operator Max’s Group Inc. is expanding its pizza chain in the Middle East.

Max’s said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it finalized a development agreement with Silver Group to put up at least 22 Yellow Cab Pizza stores across three countries including Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman within five years beginning January 2017.

“We are pleased with the opportunity to further expand our presence in the Gulf Cooperation Council region.

Our international business has been scaling up quite aggressively with Yellow Cab Pizza emerging as the most coveted brand. We are optimistic in sustaining this pace as we possess the necessary structure and support systems to fuel overseas growth through franchising,” said Max’s Group president and chief executive Robert Trota.

The latest agreement is the seventh overseas franchise contract forged by Max’s Group in 2016, translating into an international pipeline of 153 outlets that are slated to open in the coming years.

“Silver Group pioneered our pizza offerings in this territory. We appreciate their continued trust and for sharing our vision of Yellow Cab Pizza as a global mainstream brand,” Trota said.

Trota said with the new partnership, the company was expected to replicate its earlier success in Qatar.

“Silver Group greatly values the partnership and mutual success. Therefore, it was one of our great achievements to have an agreement with MGI to operate Yellow Cab in Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman as we believe on the brand potential in these markets after the achieved results in Qatar. It is our commitment to deliver the best possible customer experience and great quality pizza in Gulf region,” said Silver Group chief executive Abdulrahman Al-Kaabi.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

B3

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Hillary Clinton

FLIGHT SIMULATOR. Clark-based Alpha Aviation Group Philippines launches its Airbus A320 fixed based device, the first flight simulator of its kind in the Philippines and Southeast Asia. Shown are (from left) Cristopher Magdangal, Asia Pacific regional director of Alpha Aviation; Cherian Thomas, chairman of Alpha Aviation; Capt. Odee Reambillo, head of training; Capt. Antonio Toral, accountable manager; and Medardo Banatao Jr., head of operations.

Meralco rates drop

by P0.0781 per kWh

By Alena Mae S. Flores

C

ONSUMERS of Manila Electric Co. will experience lower rates this month with the rate for a typical household dropping P0.0781 per kilowatt-hour to P8.26 per kWh, the lowest since January 2010.

The lower rates, mainly due to the due to the decline in the generation charge, translates into a reduction of around P16 in the electricity bill of a household with a monthly consumption of 200 kWh. This is also the fourth straight month of reduction in the overall residential rate.

Meralco said generation charges this month decreased P0.0502 per kWh to P3.8436 per

PH not keen on joint oil drilling THE Energy Department is not keen on a joint petroleum exploration activity with other countries in the disputed areas of the West Philippine Sea. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said in a radio interview he preferred the resumption of oil exploration activities in service contracts affected by the dispute.

“I’m personally hoping not for the joint exploration but I’m hoping that the suspended exploration service contracts that we have already awarded, and those contracts under moratorium, … (will) push through... before anything else. That’s where we should start,” Cusi said.

The Philippines is looking at other sources of natural gas with the eventual depletion of the Malampaya gas field by 2024.

The government is looking at service contract 72 (Recto Bank) as a potential source of natural gas but any development in the area is on hold due to the territorial dispute with China and other claimants.

Despite the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 on the maritime case filed by the Philippines against China favoring the Philippines, the department kept the moratorium pending clarification on the case.

The tribunal ruled that the Recto Bank where service contract 72 lies was is within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone as defined by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Service contracts covered by the moratorium include Forum Energy plc’s SC 72, which covers an 8,800-square-kilometer area west off Palawan (Recto Bank).

It is estimated to contain prospective resources of as much as 16.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and 416 million barrels of oil.

Alena Mae S. Flores

kWh from last month’s P3.8938 per kWh. “The decrease resulted mainly from lower charges from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market. This offsets increases in IPP (independent power producer) and PSA (power supply agreement) costs brought about by higher coal and natural gas prices and low dispatch,” Meralco said.

Overall charges from the WESM decreased P0.2756 per kWh. The share of WESM purchases to Meralco’s total requirements rose from 16.1 percent to 20.1 percent.

Meralco said the cost of power purchased from plants under the PSAs increased P0.0164 per kWh primarily due to higher fuel costs. Meralco obtains 42.5 percent of its power requirements from its PSAs. Coal prices in the region continued to rise to $72.70 per metric ton in September from $67.41 per MT in August.

Cost of power from the independent power producers also increased P0.0549 per kWh,

mainly due to the scheduled outage and lower dispatch of the San Lorenzo natural gas plant, and the higher cost of natural gas following a quarterly repricing. Meralco obtains 37.3 percent of its requirements from the IPPs. Meralco said the transmission charge dropped P0.0177 per kWh, mainly due to the reduction in the ancillary charge differential that transmission operator National Grid Corp. of the Philippines began to collect from its Luzon customers in June.

Taxes and other charges fell by a combined amount of around P0.0102 per kWh. Meralco’s distribution, supply and metering charges, meanwhile, have remained unchanged for 16 months, after they registered reductions in July 2015.

Meralco said the generation and transmission charges are pass-through costs. Payment for the generation charge goes to power suppliers, while that of the transmission charge is remitted to National Grid.

Cebu Pacific adding more flights in Q4

By Darwin G. Amojelar CEBU Air Inc., operator of budget carrier Cebu Pacific, said on Monday it will add more flights to popular domestic destinations starting in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Domestic traffic is expected to increase for this year’s semester and holiday break, with forward bookings reflecting growing demand for air travel to and from key destinations across the country.

Cebu Pacific from October 30 onwards plans to meet the demand by adding frequencies to and from 18 domestic destinations.

The airline’s flights between Manila and Cauayan will in-

crease from four times weekly to daily.

Cebu Pacific will also increase services out of Manila on the following routes: Manila-Bacolod (from 49 to 52 times weekly), Manila-Busuanga (25 to 28 times weekly), Manila-Cagayan de Oro (54 to 59 times weekly), ManilaCotabato (9 to 10 times weekly), Manila-General Santos (28 to 31 times weekly), Manila-Legazpi (29 to 39 times weekly), ManilaNaga (11 to 14 times weekly), Manila-Pagadian (9 to 11 times weekly), and Manila-Zamboanga (25 to 33 times weekly).

Travellers from the Visayas region can also take advantage of additional flights between Cebu

and the following destinations: Bacolod (additional 10 times weekly service), Butuan (3 times weekly), Cagayan de Oro (6 times weekly), Davao (7 times weekly), Dumaguete (3 times weekly), General Santos ( twice weekly), Iloilo (once a week ), Puerto Princesa (8 times weekly), Siargao (twice weekly), and Zamboanga (6 times weekly).

The airline also increased its flights from Mindanao, adding thrice weekly frequencies between Zamboanga and TawiTawi for a total of 10 weekly flights, and an additional weekly frequency between Davao and Bacolod for a total of four weekly flights.

DURING the last two weeks there appears to have been a narrowing of the gap between the opinion-poll support for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton and her Republican opponent Donald Trump. Some late poll results have spoken of a mere one-point Clinton lead—a statistical tie.

Given the similarities—personal and professional—between Donald Trump and President Rodrigo Duterte, Filipinos interested in the outcome of this year’s US Presidential election are asking themselves the necessary question, could what happened to the Philippines on May 9, 2016 happen to the US today? Could a Trump victory come to pass?

Opinion-sampling is a rather arcane activity, and the American electorate is composed of a multitude of contrasting characteristics, so a Trump victory is a possibility. But is it a probability?

I don’t think so, and while I’m not in the habit of sticking my neck out in a matter precarious as election-result forecasting, I am prepared to predict that the world is looking at the probability of a Clinton victory. A come-from-behind victory from Donald Trump appears unlikely as America’s voters head for the polling booths.

The incoming 45th President of the US will have established a number of firsts. Hillary Clinton will be the first female President, the first former First Lady to become President, the first female exSecretary of State to become President and the first Commanderin-Chief of the armed forces of the US. As Americans love to say, that’s awesome.

Unlike Donald Trump and Rodrigo Duterte, Hillary Clinton ran for the US Presidency well-prepared to run a country. With a firstrate law degree from a first-rate university, former President Bill Clinton’s wife went on, in the course of her career, to become a member of the US Senate and America’s Secretary of State.

In the face of the US’ rise to being the world’s only superpower, America’s Chief Executive has come to possess two titles, viz., President of the US and Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed forces. The second title is derived from the first, of course, but such has been the change in the US’s position and role in the world that being the Commander-in-Chief of America’s armed forces—with its concomitant responsibility of being the world’s policemen—has virtually become a position unto itself. The fact that the President alone has the code to the US’ nuclear arsenal— something that Donald Trump could not be trusted with, Hillary Clinton said again and again during the electoral campaign— drives the point home.

Can Hillary Clinton be expected to be up to the task of being President of the US? On the basis of her character, temperament, professional preparation and exposure to public affairs, the answer is a resounding Yes. As a social activist and wife of a local chief executive, she has been well immersed in the concerns and problems of Local America; as First Lady of the nation and as Senator, she had wide exposure to national issues; and as Secretary of State she became highly knowledgeable about the entire gamut of US relations with the world at large.

‘Hit the ground running’ is a phrase that most incoming administrations like to say that they will do when they take over the reins of power, but not all incoming administrations are able to live up to that promise. The incoming Clinton administration— Clinton II it is bound to be called, shorthand-fashion—in no timewill be able to hit the ground running. For one thing, she will succeed a President belonging to her own party and has indicated support for the policies of the administration of Barack Obama, of whom she was a close adviser. For another, as a member of the Obama Cabinet, she is privy to the backgrounds and circumstances of all the Obama administration’s policies and programs.

Furthermore, as Secretary of State, she was always thoroughly briefed by America’s military and security establishments.

How about relations between the Clinton administration and the administration of Rodrigo Duterte? I am certain that things will be considerably different with Hillary Clinton in the Oval Office. Mr. Duterte could curse and badmouth Barack Obama because Obama was a lameduck President who didn’t want to leave his successor with a badly rocked Philippine boat. But Hillary Clinton is a fresh American Chief Executive with four years ahead of her—and possibly four years more after that—in the White House. And Bill Clinton’s wife is a tough cookie; she is unlikely to have much tolerance for diplomatic antics like Duterte’s.

The incoming 45th President appears likely to maintain the US’s pivot to Asia. Mr. Duterte wants the Philippines to pivot to China. The potential for discord is there. The coming year is going to be a testing time for Rodrigo Duterte’s resolve.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

Sierra tips and tricks IT’S been a few weeks since I upgraded my MacBook Air to macOS Sierra, and the instability I experienced with the open source Gimp image editing program seems to have gone away with the 10.12.1 update released by Apple last month.

I’ve begun to explore some of the neat features that were unavailable in Sierra’s predecessor, El Capitan. I’ve already written about Siri, the voiceactivated digital assistant, that has finally made its way from the iPhone to the Mac, so these tips cover other aspects of Apple’s latest operating system.

Some of these new features, such as the Universal Clipboard that lets you cut and paste to and from multiple Apple devices, sound really nifty, except that the MacBook Air is my only Apple device, so I can’t really take advantage of this ability.

Similarly, the Auto Unlock feature that lets you unlock the Mac with an Apple Watch sounds pretty cool, but it’s useless if you don’t own an Apple Watch.

What follows, then, are tips that any Mac user on Sierra can use—with or without any other Apple devices.

Take advantage of the improved

Finder.

Finder, the Mac’s file manager, hasn’t changed much over the last few OS releases, but it does get two tweaks in Sierra. First, you can make folders appear together above files in Finder windows that use column or list view. To do this, open Finder preferences, go to the Advanced tab and check “Keep folders on top when sorting by name.

As a way of optimizing storage, you can also have Finder automatically delete items in Trash after 30 days. That’s available in the same preferences tab.

Also on Finder, you can override the Mac’s Security & Privacy system preferences, which only allow you to run programs downloaded from the App Store or identified developers.

Simply right-click on a program that won’t otherwise run in Finder and choose Open to run it.

Clear out some junk.

Optimized storage lets you keep less often used documents in your iCloud account but Sierra offers you another way to reclaim hard disk space. Go to the Apple logo at the top right of the screen and click on About This Mac. Click on the

Storage tab to get a graphical representation of how much of your drive is already being used, and how much space you have free, breaking this up into system files, apps and what’s in your Documents folder. You can click on the new Manage button to gain finer control over how space is used.

Here, you can choose to store files and photos in iCloud to save space on your local drive; choose Optimize Storage to automatically remove iTunes movies and TV shows that you’ve already watched and keep only recent e-mail attachments when storage is needed; and Reduce Clutter by sorting through documents and other content that is no longer needed. Click on Review Files to see which large files are taking space on your Mac. Take command of the menu bar.

Apple has long prevented users from moving icons of third-party applications around on its menu bar.

The Dropbox icon or the MagiCal icon was wherever the OS told you it would go. This niggling limitation is now gone in macOS Sierra. To move a menu bar icon wherever you want, just Command-drag it to

where you think it should be. It’s as simple as that.

If you want to work uninterrupted, you can turn off notifications right from the menu bar, too. Simply hold down the Option key and click on the Notifications icon, which grays out to indicate it’s inactive. Option-click on the icon again to resume notifications.

Monitor that video.

Safari in Sierra now supports picture-in-picture, which lets you play a streaming video in a small screen that you can position anywhere on the screen, enabling you to follow what’s happening, say, in that Ateneo de Manila vs. De La Salle University basketball game, while continuing to work on other applications. To view a YouTube video in a small window, simply right-click on it twice, and choose “Enter Picture-in-Picture.” To move the window around, Command-drag it to wherever you want.

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

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

B4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

Business

Jakarta reports slower growth JAKARTA―Indonesia’s economic growth slowed in the third quarter as government spending and exports fell, official data showed Monday, dimming hopes that Southeast Asia’s top economy will hit its GDP target this year.

The economy expanded 5.02 percent year-on-year from July to September, slightly below forecasts and slower than a revised 5.19 percent in the second quarter, according to the statistics agency.

Government spending, which supported better-thanexpected growth in the second quarter, slipped by three percent year-on-year while exports also fell heavily in the resource-rich economy.

Analysts forecast full-year growth in the G20 economy would likely come in below the government’s target of 5.2 percent, as Indonesia extends a steady years-long slowdown driven by falling demand for its commodities exports, particularly from powerhouse China.

“While we think the worst is over for the economy, a strong and sustained rebound is unlikely,” said Oliver Jones of Capital Economics.

“We think that growth in Indonesia is likely to remain stuck at its current level of five percent for the next few years.”

Still, Indonesian growth remains relatively high in global terms.

Official data showed that strong domestic consumption among the rapidly growing middle class in sectors such as health and education continues to provide support.

Statistics agency head Suhariyanto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, played down the slowdown and said growth was “pretty good” given the dim global outlook.

“Of course there need to be a lot of efforts to increase it in future,” he added.

Authorities have been scrambling to boost growth, with the central bank slashing interest rates six times this year and President Joko Widodo announcing a series of economic stimulus packages. AFP

GLOWING PROFIT. This

picture taken on November 4, 2016 shows the illuminated HSBC logo at night on the facade of the HSBC headquarters building in Hong Kong.

HSBC said on November 7 its third quarter adjusted pretax profit rose seven percent from a year ago to US$5.59 billion, beating expectations.

AFP

FBI’s latest twist lifts US dollar, downs gold G OLD sank, joining a slide in other haven assets, after the Federal Bureau of Investigation said it maintains the view that Hillary Clinton’s handling of her e-mails wasn’t a crime, boosting the Democrat in the final stretch of the US presidential election campaign.

Bullion for immediate delivery lost as much 1.3 percent to $1,288.01 an ounce and was at $1,288.90 at 3:33 p.m. in Singapore, according to Bloomberg generic pricing, as the dollar rose for the first time in seven days. Last week, the metal surged 2.3 percent amid concern Republican Donald Trump may capture the White House, with Citigroup Inc. seeing a rally to $1,400 if he won.

Bullion prices have traded in recent weeks as a barometer of Trump’s chances of winning the contest even as investors also track US data to gauge the like-

lihood of higher interest rates.

The FBI is sticking to its conclusion that Clinton’s handling of her e-mails as secretary of state wasn’t a crime, the bureau’s director, James Comey, said in a letter. On Oct. 28. Comey had said the FBI was examining new e-mails, roiling the election race and lifting gold.

“It looks like the market is overwhelmingly pricing in a Clinton victory,” Vyanne Lai, an economist at National Australia Bank Ltd. in Melbourne, said by phone. “The US dollar has jumped, which in turn is weighing on gold prices. You can see

there’s some sort of a relief rally in the equity market as well.”

Gold fell in Asia on Monday together with the yen and the Swiss franc, while equities and equity futures rose, as investors re-calibrated their expectations of the race after the FBI’s second intervention. US electors head to the polls on Tuesday, although millions of early votes have already been cast.

Adding to the headwinds for bullion, the Labor Department on Friday reported that the unemployment rate fell while hourly earnings edged higher, boosting the outlook for a rate rise.

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart signaled the central bank is on track to raise rates next month, provided nothing intervenes to give policy makers pause.

As polls last week showed a dwindling lead for Clinton, hedge funds piled into the perceived safety of bullion, increasing wagers that the metal would

rally, US government data showed on Friday. The gold netlong position jumped 14 percent to 172,532 futures and options contracts in the week to Nov. 1.

Holdings in exchange-traded funds backed by gold shrank 0.72 metric ton to 2,044 tons as of Friday, the first drop in a week, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which measures the US currency’s performance against a basket of 10 major counterparts, rose as much as 0.4 percent following a six-day, 1.4 percent loss. The metal’s decline in China was less pronounced amid a weakening of the yuan. Bullion of 99.99 percent purity dropped as much as 0.6 percent to 281.31 yuan a gram ($1,291.53 an ounce) on the Shanghai Gold Exchange.

On global markets, spot silver lost as much as 1.7 percent. Platinum fell 0.3 percent, while palladium slid 0.2 percent.

Bloomberg

Samsung launching Galaxy S8 next year SAMSUNG Electronics Co. plans to equip its next Galaxy S smartphones with a Sirilike digital assistant, seeking to make a comeback after the global debacle that precipitated the death of its flawed Note 7 lineup.

Samsung, which last month acquired US-based artificialintelligence software company Viv Labs Inc., said the Galaxy S8 slated for next year will come with AI-enabled features “significantly differentiated” from those in the market, such as Apple Inc.’s Siri or Google.

Those services now offer up potentially useful information from the weather to flight times based on user activity.

The flagship Galaxy S line will prove crucial to salvaging Samsung’s reputation in the wake of the fiasco surrounding a Note 7 device prone to bursting into flame. The recall and eventual cessation of the line is estimated to cost upwards of $6 billion and pushed profits at its mobile division to a record low in the September quarter. The company is now investigating the root cause behind the fires, but wouldn’t comment on progress so far.

“It will be significantly differentiated from the current services we see in the market now,” executive vice president Rhee In-jong said of the S8’s features. He said last month the company plans to embed Viv’s technology in other electronics and home appliances beyond phones.

Samsung shares, which are up 30 percent this year, rose 0.8 percent in Seoul Monday.

Global technology players are vying to build devices attuned to users’ lifestyles and daily behavior. Amazon is trying to sign up more developers for its Alexa voice technology, while Apple has recently touted more Siri capabilities and opened the technology to other developers.

Google, considered the leader in artificial intelligence, is making its own push.

Samsung is now getting into the game. It releases new versions of its top-tier Galaxy S series sometime in the first quarter of every year, typically during the Mobile World Congress in Spain. With the Note 7 line now defunct, the S8 will become its de facto showcase smartphone.

The company is keen to put the Note 7 behind it and resuscitate its business. Samsung reported a sharp decline in profit as the Note 7 recall took its toll.

Net income fell 17 percent to 4.41 trillion won ($3.9 billion) in the third quarter, bringing its mobile profit to a historic low of 100 billion won. Bloomberg

Rain, hail and drought: organic French winemakers feel the pinch

By Fiachra Gibbons FUISSÉ, France―“This isn’t so much a harvest, as a hunt for grapes,” said French winemaker Jean-Jacques Robert, with a rueful laugh as he unloaded grapes still warm from his vineyards around Fuisse in Burgundy.

“It’s a catastrophe, the worst harvest for 30 or 40 years,” said the normally cheery 64-yearold owner of Domaine RobertDenogent.

The organic winemaker lost between two-thirds and threequarters of his harvest in one hailstorm in April.

He is not alone. For thousands of French winemakers, 2016 will go down as an annus horribilis, with vines destroyed by frost, heavy rain, hailstones “as big as ping pong balls,” mildew and drought near the Mediterranean.

“All that was missing was a plague of frogs,” said Robert’s son Antoine, whose near century-old Beaujolais vines were also devastated.

Official figures from the Ministry of Agriculture show 2016 as one of the worst years in three decades, with production down one third in Champagne and other key wine regions like Yet not all areas were hit. BorBurgundy and the Loire valley deaux and Alsace had bumper almost as badly hit.

For some winemakers in Cha- crops even as national producblis and Chiroubles, two of the tion plummeted by 12 percent.

‘Terrible dilemmas’ country’s most famous wine vilBut in areas that got the worst lages, the loss was almost total.

of the weather, it was organic winemakers and those from France’s growing “vin nature” movement―which campaigns for a return to more natural wines―who suffered most.

Unable to spray damaged crops, they had to watch as mildew ripped through their vines.

And for a few staring ruin in the face, that meant “going against our principles” and us-

ing chemicals.

“It’s the most difficult decision I have ever taken,” said Vincent Dureuil-Janthial from Rully in Burgundy, knowing he would lose the organic certification had held for a decade.

“It felt like a personal failure,” he told AFP. But with six employees to pay “I had to take a decision as a business owner to save what little of the crop was left to save.”

Such dilemmas have prompted more than 130 restauranteurs and wine shops to launch a donations drive to save “more interesting” winemakers from going to the wall.

“Many winemakers are really in a very bad situation,” said Laurie Lacroix, spokeswoman for the Vendanges Solidaires group. “Many cannot afford insurance, and particularly for those who are starting out it has been disastrous.

“There is no state support or compensation. It is a real highwire act,” she added.

Russian roulette With climate change, Lacroix warned that we may be seeing a “far more capricious environment” for winemakers.

Jean-Jacques Robert said making wine has always been like playing Russian roulette with the elements.

“We lost 300,000 euros ($332,000) in one shower, which is huge,” he said. “Our insurance will hopefully cover

100,000 euros of that but the rest you have to absorb.”

The one saving grace is that the grapes they have managed to harvest are of very good quality.

Further south, Thibault LigerBelair, whose old vines in the Domaine de Roches Roses vineyards in Moulin a Vent were similarly “ravaged,” said the grapes that did survive are so small he jokingly compared them to caviar.

“They are of very good quality even if we will have only 20 percent of the wine we would normally produce,” he added.

His main vineyards in Nuits Saint-Georges fared not much better, while parts of neighboring Fleurie suffering a similar fate.

“The worrying thing for many winemakers is that this comes after a below average harvest in 2015 due to hot weather,” he added.

Which means prices may have to rise.

But Liger-Belair warned that there was little room for maneuver. “Unfortunately if you have a miserable year in terms of quantity you cannot just pass that on.”

Louis-Fabrice Latour, of the Burgundy wine producers group BIVB, said he had already sensed a “slowdown in the market” which would only get worse because of Britain’s exit from the EU and uncertainty over the US presidential elections. AFP

LGUs

12 Eastern Visayas LGUs bag DILG seal TWELVE local government units in Eastern Visayas proved that they belonged to a select group of LGUs nationwide that passed the highly coveted “Seal of Good Local Governance” of the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

The 12 which include the provinces of Biliran, Eastern Samar, Leyte and Samar; for Cities, Calbayog City; the municipalities of General MacArthur and Salcedo in Eastern Samar; Barugo, Javier, Tabango and Tolosa in Leyte; and St. Bernard in Southern Leyte, received their awards from no less than DILG Secretary Ismail “Mike” Sueno and Senator Juan Edgardo “Sonny” Angara during the culmination program of the 25th Anniversary of the Local Government Code at the Sofitel Hotel, Pasay City on Oct. 27, 2016.

According to DILG-8 Regional Director Marivel C. Sacendoncillo, these LGUs passed several levels of validation up to the national levels, the three core SGLG criteria of financial administration, disaster preparedness and social protection, and any one of the essential criteria—businessfriendliness and competitiveness, peace and order, and environmental management.

Of the SGLG awardees in the region, two—Biliran Province and Barugo, Leyte are repeat winners, having earned the SGLG award the year before.

During the awarding ceremony, DILG Secretary Sueno urged the 318 local government units which were conferred with the Seal of Good Local Governance and the Lupong Tagapamayapa Incentive Award (LTIA) to ‘look forward to new challenges under federalism.”

“Let us continue this journey of good local governance, of decentralization and local autonomy and look forward to new challenges under a federal system of government,” said Sueno.

Among those given recognition was the LTIA National awardee for 4th-6th class municipalities, Brgy. Hingatungan in Silago, Southern Leyte, which received a project worth 300,000 pesos to be used for further development of their barangay conflict mediation system.

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

LIGHTS AND COLORS. Lantern makers along Plaza Quezon, A. Aldana in Las Piñas City start assembling colorful lanterns for sale in time for the Yuletide season. Las Piñas City is known as the ‘parol capital’ of the country. Dennis Caparas Abrina

Ecija rehab open for indigents T

HE Mega Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation Center in Fort Magsaysay, Nueva Ecija that will be inaugurated on Nov. 29 will be open to both indigents and nonpoor drug surrenderers who need in-patient care, Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial said.

The facility, which can accommodate up to 10,000 patients, will not cater to specific types of patients, she added.

Ubial expressed hope that the center would fully serve its purpose, which is to treat and rehabilitate drug dependents, whom she said are “victims” who should be given help so they could be guided back to mainstream society as productive citizens.

“We want to ensure that they are provided adequate and compassionate services,” she said, noting that the facility is scheduled to open on Nov. 15 but its inauguration will follow the schedule of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Ubial said that those who will be referred to the facility will be assessed by doctors and health workers from the different local government units who attended

the training courses conducted by the Health department. These courses are aimed at addressing the country’s drug problem, in support of the President’s goal to curb the drug menace besetting the nation.

Each patient referred to the facility will be categorized as outpatient or inpatient, she said, adding that the center is likely to attract drug dependents from nearby provinces, such as Pampanga and Tarlac.

Ubial said those who can afford to pay will be charged “accommodation expenses” but “it will be free” for those who have no capability to pay.

She further said that her department plans to transfer “on a voluntary basis” some patients

from over-crowded drug rehabilitation facilities in Bicutan, Tagaytay and Bataan to the center.

She also said that the department is considering arranging bus services so that patients’ families could easily visit them and provide them support as they go through rehab.

Meanwhile, Ubial said the budget for the operation of the facility next year will come from the General Appropriations Act of 2017.

In the meantime, the health department will use its Quick Response Fund (QRF) for operational expenses, including the salaries of hired health workers.

The QRF is intended for any emergency or any unplanned, unforseen eventuality in the

Zoobic theme park reopens Night Safari SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—The animal theme park Zoobic Safari has again opened one of its famous attractions, the Night Safari, at this premier Freeport over the weekend.

The Night Safari will give tourists a glimpse of how animals interact during night time.

Zoomanity Group president and CEO Robert Yupangco led tourists and Subic Bay Metropoli-

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tan Authority officials to a tour around the facility.

Howls and growls were the first greetings tourists got during the tour. The growling intensified during the Tiger Safari where they rode a reinforced jeepney inside a tiger enclosure.

“It was quite exhilarating to see tigers with their eyes glowing in the dark. Our guide even fed them, putting them face to

Isabela loses P4.7-b agri produce to ‘Lawin’ CITY OF ILAGAN, Isabela—This province lost at least P4.7 billion in agricultural produce due to Super Typhoon “Lawin” recently.

Danilo Tumamao, provincial agriculturist, said “Lawin” destroyed more than P2.7 billion worth of rice crops, P99 million on corn, P370 million on high value vegetable crops, P68 million on mango plantations and P1.58 million on fisheries.

He said the provincial government will provide immediate assistance and other interventions for the affected farmers to help them recover from their losses.

“The damage left by “Lawin” to agriculture was the worst so far in the province,” Tumamao said.

Tumamao, however, assured the public that the province has enough rice supply despite the huge damaged wrought by “Lawin.” PIA

HARVEST TIME.

Laguna 1st District Rep.Arlene Arcillas harvests the vegetables in ‘Gulayan sa Paaralan’ a project of the Department of Education City Division of Santa Rosa EastWest Seed Philippines Foundation,Toyota Motor Philippines Foundation in Macabling Elementary School City of Santa Rosa, Laguna.

Roy Tomandao

face with us,” said SBMA Chairman Martin B. Diño who took part of the tour.

Aside from the Tiger Safari, visitors were also treated to a Greyhound Walk were they tried to maneuver themselves across a woodland path being led by greyhounds.

Bred for races, these greyhounds are now guides at night here.

After a brisk walk, visitors were treated to a presentation by

Aetas as they told how important the preservation of the environment is to humanity. They also told how they talked to the trees and the animals, showing that both humans and animals can coexist in nature.

Animals were also paraded to tourists while fire dancers and musicians entertained the crowd during a stage play at the amphitheater of the theme park. Work-

ers of the theme park themselves performed live, teaching how to take care of the environment.

“It really is a wonderful experience, it does not only give you a thrilling ride, but will also teach you the importance of ecopreservation,” Diño stated.

The night safari, a one-of-akind event held annually, is held only during Saturday nights and is open to everybody. Butch Gunio

health sector.

“The fund can be (used) for any public health emergency and the (drug) surrenders we have now are considered a public health emergency,” the health chief pointed out, explaining that drug addiction is actually a mental health problem.

Earlier, the Health department announced that the construction of the mega rehab facility was made possible through the philanthropic act of a Chinese businessman, who expressed interest in helping the Duterte administration in its campaign against illegal drugs.

The President has emphasized that the country’s drug problem has already reached a level that threatens the future of the next generation. PNA

Bataan State U bares programs BALANGA CITY—The Bataan Peninsula State University, a leading educational institution in the province of Bataan, boasts of a dynamic research and extension program.

“Through the leadership of BPSU president Greg Rodis, the university has been conducting researches and extension projects with impact to the community”, said Dr. Hermogenes Paguia, BPSU OIC vice president for Research, extension, and Training Services.

“The university researches and extension projects have impact to the many sectors of the society like farmers, entrepreneurs, students, housewives, and even inmates, among others. Research and extension are interconnected.

After the research, it should be extended to end users,” he added.

BPSU’s current research and extension projects include Application of Coral Transplantation Technology to Improve Productivity of Coral Reef Resources for Responsible and Sustainable Fisheries and to Harness Potentials of Bagac, Bataan for Underwater Tourism; Commercialization of Mushroom Production Thru Techno-Demo and Seminars; Coffee Production Thru Science and Technology Interventions; Science and Technology Model Farms Production in Pampanga; Season Long Farmers Filed School on Effective Microorganism-Based Organic Solaneceous Crop Production; and Science and Technology Community-Based Intervention on Organic-Cassava Production.

Butch Gunio

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LGUs

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

Quirino eyes development expansion

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ABARROGUIS, Quirino—The provincial government here has expressed intention to expand the Quirino Integrated Agricultural Development Program to serve the remaining 25 percent farmers who are living below the poverty line.

The QIADP has been carried out here from 2013-2016 by the Korea Institute for Rural Development (KIRD) through a grant of US$5 million from the Korean

government’s Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the province’s counterpart of P3 million.

In his presentation of the

results and lessons learned during the implementation of the project, Gov. Junie E. Cua said there is a need to lay the foundation of further intervention so that the gains made in the activities will be maximized.

He said of the 40,000 farming households in the province, 10,000 are living below the poverty line and only 95 of them were served by QIADP Phase 1 and 3,500 by the Q-Life.

“We will replicate it in the remaining 6,400 barangays so that we can maximize the gains of QIADP,” Cua added.

Cua also stressed the need to sustain the environmental protection under the agro-forestry component through expansion of integrated farming system (rice, corn, cattle, fishpond, vegetable, fruit and forest trees production).

“The province is located very strategically as a head source of

a long river system, the Cagayan River that is why it is necessary to protect the environment.

Anything wrong will affect the whole valley,” Cua said.

To sustain the QIADP Phase 2, the project beneficiaries will be organized into cooperatives so that they will have access to bank loans. Collaboration with funding agencies will also be strengthened with a holistic approach to integrate other sectors such as

health and education.

The governor said there is a need for a strong social preparation of the program.

“We will inculcate in the beneficiaries the need to change attitude by integrating Saemaul Undong [New Village Movement] concept which we call the I Love Quirino Movement, inculcating the value of diligence, self-help, cooperation and respect for the law,” Cua said. PIA

Tboli ups rate for tour services

Participating members of the 113th batch of farmers of the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Training Program on Sustainable Agriculture listen intently to a resource speaker in one of the group’s training session held in Davao City recently.

Sustainable agri training benefits indigenous people DAVAO CITY—The 113th batch of farmers who attended the Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Training Program on Sustainable Agriculture completed their training in Davao City.

Launched in June 2016, the 108 graduates cultivated a demonstration farm which is an OboManobo Tribe area in Sitio Ladian, Barangay Marilog, Davao City. The demo farm is a protected indigenous people’s land, where the University of the Philippines-Mindanao is conducting

their environment and social development projects.

The season-long training required the participants to attend every Tuesday the lectures conducted at Datu Luis Lambak’s house. Datu Lambak is the OboManobo tribe leader.

Lessons learned from the training will benefit a large community of Obo-Manobo tribe in the barangay many of whom are also beneficiaries of DSWD’s 4Ps. Some of the participants are not able to read and write,

and they related how special it was for them to experience being able to come up the stage and receive a graduation certificate.

Some of them even related that because of the distance of Barangay Marilog to the city proper of Davao, it was only during their graduation ceremony that they were able to go to SM for the first time.

The farmers cultivated different varieties of: ampalaya, talong, upo, patola, kalabasa, sili, pipino, tomatoes, labanos,

lettuce, melon, watermelons and highland crops that included bell peppers. They were also taught drip irrigation and the use of a green house.

In a testimonial from Datu Luis Lambak, he said that their tribe has been traditional farmers for a very long time that they are already confident with their craft. However, changes in the weather during these past few years (extreme heat or extreme cold) made it harder for them to sustain their crops. As a result,

some of the able-bodied men go to the nearby barangays or to the city proper in order to seek for other jobs. Often, they were employed as construction workers and other labor-intensive work.

Learning modern organic agricultural technology opened an opportunity for the people to become farmers again. Datu Lambak said that he is thankful for the project because this would be of great help to improve the lives of the Obo-Manobo tribe community.

Palace aide slams police inaction BAGUIO CITY—An official of the Presidential Communications Office slammed the leadership of the Baguio City Police Office and the Tuba Municipal Police Station for their alleged inaction when the matter of their missing kin was brought to their attention.

PCO Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag said that BCPO officials didn’t bother to act on the report that her 19-year-old kin went missing since Oct. 14, 2016 and didn’t even bother to inquire from the parents of her missing kin the circumstances on how he went missing.

Banaag’s 19-year-old kin, who is a hotel and restaurant management graduate, was reportedly last seen in the company of Epler Locloc, an alleged drug suspect, whose lifeless body was later found dumped in Lamtang, Puiguis, La Trinidad, Benguet with two gunshot wounds on his chest and strangulation marks on his neck.

Locloc is married to a native of Kadaclan, Barlig, Mountain Province which happens to be the place of origin of Banaag’s missing kin.

“We are not claiming that my missing kin is clean. We fully support the Duterte administration’s aggressive anti-drug campaign but what we are demanding from our police is sensitivity in extending assistance to those individuals seeking assistance to the unforced disappearances that happened since the implementation of the campaign,” Banaag said. Dexter A. See

‘YOLANDA’ REVISITED. A resident tends to the grave of a loved one who died in the aftermath of the ‘Yolanda’ super typhoon three

years ago. On November 8, the third year anniversary of the super typhoon, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte is scheduled to visit the Yolanda Commemoration at the Holy Cross Memorial Park and the Tacloban Mass Grave in Barangay Basper, Tacloban City. Mel Caspe

KORONADAL CITY, South Cotabato—Tourists visiting popular destinations in Tboli are paying a little bit more when visiting the municipality’s tourism spots.

This after Tboli’s Sangguniang Bayan passed Municipal Ordinance No. 133 s. series of 2016, which among others imposes rates and charges of tourism facilities and services operating in the municipality.

Per Section 24 of the said ordinance, every person going to Lake Holon via Salacafe, Kule or Mt. Melibingoy trail are required to pay entrance fee of P100 per day and environment fee of P50.

Same local legislation has also set fixed fees for tour guides: P300/tour guide via the Salacafe Trail and P600/ tour guide for those trekking via the more challenging Sitio Kule and Mt. Melibingoy trails. A tour guide can only serve up to 10 persons.

Ground rental at the camp site in Lake Holon is set at P100/per tent/night.

Fees for optional services are as follows: porter fee (P20/kilogram, one way), ATV adventure (P500/person/hour), water sports lake tour (P450/ person/day), water sports kayaking (P150/person/hour), horseback riding (P400/person, one way).

Besides Lake Holon, other popular tourist destinations in municipality include Bakngeb Cave, Hidak Falls and Lamhaku Hot Spring.

Tboli, along with Lake Sebu, was recently recognized as one of the Top 100 Sustainable Destinations in the World.

Mayor Dibu Tuan explained in an interview that the fees were decided after discussions with residents in these places who also serve as the tourism service providers.

“This would ensure that the residents in the area are provided steady source of income,” Mayor Tuan said, emphasizing further that this approach encourages the locals, mostly belonging to the Tboli tribe, to become partners of the local government in its programs for the protection and preservation of the environment in the tourism destinations.

The local government has limited the number of tourists to Lake Holon to 200 persons per day.

For about two months each year, Lake Holon is closed to tourists to allow the area to recuperate. PIA

CoA asked to audit natl, local infrastructure projects

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—Local residents are up in arms against the alleged substandard implementation of numerous infrastructure projects by concerned government agencies and the local government here.

The concern was raised by the motoring and commuting public after they observed that the contractors that implemented multi-million worth of projects were not actually equipped and do not have the technical and financial capability to implement

the projects that they were able to secure through pre-arranged bidding.

The concerned residents questioned the Department of Public Works and Highways and the local government for allowing public works contractors to continuously use job mix in their respective project sites amid the existence of Administrative Order No. 116, series of 2013 issued by Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan that prohibited contractors from using job mix for the aggregates of their projects.

According to the complaint, the con-

tractors contribute to the worsening traffic congestion and the deteriorating air quality of the city because they even go to the extent of occupying portions of busy roads to mix their aggregates and that the dust particles produced also contribute to pollution in the city’s air.

The pro-environment advocates stressed that the DPWH and the concerned offices of the local government must strictly implement the provisions of AO No. 116, series of 2013 to prevent contractors from committing errors in the mixture of their

aggregates that will result to the completion of defective infrastructure projects.

The local residents challenged the CoA to facilitate the conduct of coring tests in all completed national and local infrastructure projects to ascertain whether or not they will be able to pass the standards imposed for the projects and for the concerned materials engineers and members of the quality assurance units to check whether or not contractors complied with the prescribed construction standards.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Manila

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TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

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China tightens the screws B

EIJING―China Monday passed a controversial cybersecurity bill further tightening the restrictions on online freedom of speech, raising concerns that it could intensify already wide-ranging Internet censorship.

The ruling Communist Party oversees a vast censorship system―dubbed the Great Firewall―that aggressively blocks sites or snuffs out Internet content and commentary on topics considered sensitive, such as Beijing’s human rights record and criticism of the government.

The law, which was approved by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, bans Internet users from publishing a wide variety of information, including anything that damages “national honor”, “disturbs economic or social order” or is aimed at “overthrowing the socialist system”.

The law requires companies to verify a user’s identity, effectively making it illegal to go online anonymously.

It also includes provisions for

PRAYERS. Japanese monks perform morning prayers at Zenkoji Buddhist temple in Nagano. AFP

protecting the country’s networks and private user information.

Early drafts of the legislation drew a wave of criticism from rights groups and businesses, which objected to its vague language.

Foreign companies, in particular, expressed concern about language that would require them to cooperate with Chinese authorities to “protect national security”, broadlyworded language that was included in the final version of the law.

“This dangerous law commandeers internet companies to be de facto agents of the state, by requiring them to censor and provide personal data to the authorities at a whim,” said Patrick Poon, China researcher at overseas-based rights group Amnesty International.

Chinese authorities have long

reserved the right to control and censor online content. But the country stepped up its controls in 2013, launching a wide-ranging internet crackdown that targeted activists and focused on the spread of so-called “internet rumors”.

Hundreds of Chinese bloggers and journalists were detained as part of the campaign to assert greater control over social media, which has seen influential critics of Beijing paraded on state television.

Under regulations announced at the time, Chinese internet users face three years in prison for writing defamatory messages that are re-posted 500 times or more. Web users can also be jailed if offending posts are viewed more than 5,000 times.

Comments posted on social media have been used in the prosecution of various activists, such as human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang.

“If online speech and privacy are a bellwether of Beijing’s attitude toward peaceful criticism, everyone―including netizens in China and major international corporations―is now at risk,” said Sophie Richardson, China Director of Human Rights Watch. AFP

Beijing’s bid to ban rebel lawmakers backed HONG KONG―Hong Kong’s leader said Monday he would “fully implement” a landmark ruling by Beijing that effectively bars two pro-independence lawmakers from the city’s legislature, in a crisis that heightens the fears the rule of law is under threat.

It is the latest chapter of political turmoil for the semi-autonomous city as fears grow that China is tightening its grip, and comes just over two years since Beijing issued an edict that plunged Hong Kong into months of protests.

That ruling in 2014, which said candidates for city leader must be vetted by a pro-Beijing committee, sparked massive rallies known as the “Umbrella Movement”.

Now the city is bracing for another backlash as Beijing said it will not allow the two lawmakers to be sworn into office.

“The rule of law in Hong Kong is dead,” pro-democracy lawmaker Claudia Mo told AFP. “It’s rule by decree.”

The crisis came after rebel lawmakers Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-ching deliberately misread their oaths of office last month, inserting expletives and derogatory

terms, and draping themselves with “Hong Kong is not China” flags.

They were initially granted a second chance at swearing in but authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have stepped in to prevent that.

Beijing’s intervention preempts a decision by Hong Kong’s High Court into whether Baggio and Yau should be disqualified from taking up their seats. That court decision is still pending.

Pro-independence protesters clashed with police Sunday night in anticipation of Beijing’s ruling, with riot officers firing pepper spray on the crowds.

In chaotic scenes reminiscent of the demonstrations of 2014, protesters charged metal fences set up by police outside China’s liaison office in the city.

In a rare interpretation of Hong Kong’s constitution Monday, Beijing said any oath taker who does not follow the prescribed wording of oath, “or takes the oath in a manner which is not sincere or not solemn”, should be disqualified.

Hong Kong’s leader Leung Chun-ying said he would “fully

implement” the decision of the Communist-controlled National People’s Congress (NPC).

Leung also said the emergence of the pro-independence movement had put a controversial antisubversion security law, Article 23, back on the table.

That was previously shelved after massive public protests in 2003 which feared it would lead to suppression.

Hong Kong is a former British colony which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a promise of “one country, two systems” for 50 years.

But there are deep concerns those liberties, enshrined in the city’s constitution known as the Basic Law, are at risk.

As frustrations build, an independence movement demanding a split from Beijing has emerged.

Yau and Baggio are among several newly elected lawmakers advocating self-determination or independence who won seats in citywide polls in September.

Beijing sees any talk of independence as treasonous and the official Xinhua news agency quoted a spokesman for the government’s Hong Kong and Macao

Republic of the Philippines PROVINCE OF QUIRINO Cabarroguis -oOoBIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

Michelin food guide unveils Seoul edition SEOUL―The Michelin food guide unveiled its first Seoul edition on Monday, with two upscale Korean restaurants receiving the coveted three stars, but recognition also for a humbler diner serving vegetarian temple food.

A total of 24 restaurants in the South Korean capital received Michelin stars, reflecting the city’s ambitions as a fine-dining hub and the emergence of Korean cuisine from the well-established shadows cast by those of its neighbors China and Japan.

“I think it’s widely seen as one of the hidden gems of world cuisine,” said Michael Ellis, the international director of Michelin guides.

Of the two three-starred restaurants, Gaon in Seoul’s upmarket Gangnam area offers two multicourse menus based on the daily meals enjoyed by the kings of the Joseon era (1392-1910) and priced at 180,000 won (US$157) and 250,000 won.

The guide cited Gaon for its “meticulously-prepared dishes” and commitment to promoting a “better understanding” of Korean food.

Gaon’s executive chef Kim Byoung-Jin said he was stunned and “extremely honored” with the three-star rating, crediting his kitchen team and an insistence on the finest seasonal produce.

“All good food starts from fresh ingredients,” he told AFP. Having spent the past 13 years honing his take on traditional Korean cuisine, Kim said he hoped the ultimate stamp of approval from Michelin would help South Korean gastronomy “receive the

appreciation it deserves”.

“In order for Korean cuisine to be universalized, it must meet a universal standard and I think the Michelin listing will help Korean food become a more approachable cuisine for many people,” he said.

Of the 21,000 restaurants featured in Michelin guides around the world, just over 100 are rated with three stars. Starred restaurants have in the past built big businesses after being recognized.

The other three-star recipient was La Yeon in the Hotel Shilla, which was praised by Michelin for the chef’s contemporary touch on traditional Korean cuisine.

Following the 2007 publication of the Tokyo guide―Michelin’s first foray into Asia―Seoul is the latest city in the region to get its own version of the culinary bible.

There are also editions exploring Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore.

“Seoul is a gastronomic roller coaster,” Ellis said. “There’s so many things going on: brining, pickling, fermenting, frying, barbecuing, seasoning... great techniques,” he added.

Among the one-star recipients was Balwoo Gongyang, a popular lunch and dining spot which serves strictly vegetarian dishes based on Korean Buddhist “temple” cuisine.

Lucia Cho, the owner of Gaon and of another restaurant, Bicena, which was awarded one star, said it had initially been a struggle to marry Korean cuisine and fine dining -- not least because of resistance among Koreans themselves. AFP

Affairs Office welcoming the ruling.

Li Fei, the chairman of the Basic Law Committee of the NPC Standing Committee, told reporters: “These Hong Kong independence figures are going against the country and splitting the country. How can they uphold Hong Kong’s Basic Law?” “I hope people can see the real face of these people,” he added.

Both those promoting independence and those arguing for selfdetermination were supporting separatism, he said -- anathema to China’s ruling party.

Monday’s announcement was the fifth time since the handover that China has interpreted the Basic Law. Yau and Baggio have yet to be sworn into Hong Kong’s main lawmaking body, the Legislative Council, after their first oath attempt last month was declared invalid.

When asked if there would now be a by-election for their seats, Legco president Andrew Leung said Monday that the legislature would await the High Court’s decision before taking any further action. AFP

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INVITATION TO APPLY FOR ELIGIBILITY AND TO BID One (1) Lot Provision of Services for Network Enhancement ITB No. 2016-11-082 P.R. No. 2016-11-935 1. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), through the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2016 intends to apply the sum of Fourteen Million Pesos (14,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for One (1) Lot Provision of Services on Network Enhancement. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during opening of bids.

The MGB now invites bids for procurement of Provision of Services for Network Enhancement for MGB Central Office and 10 Regional Offices

INVITATION TO BID FOR Construction/Rehabilitation/Repair/Upgrading and Improvement of Quirino Province Medical Center (QPMC) OB-Gyne and Pediatric Building (Phase II) Contract No. 2016-065 November 8, 2016 1.

RESERVE

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino, through the 20% Development Fund Current and Continuing Appropriation – 8000.107E intends to apply the sum of P 23,454,778.20 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for 2016-065 Construction/Rehabilitation/Repair/Upgrading and Improvement of Quirino Province Medical Center (QPMC) OB-Gyne and Pediatric Building (Phase II), Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino now invites bids for Construction/Rehabilitation/Repair/Upgrading and Improvement of Quirino Province Medical Center (QPMC) OB-Gyne and Pediatric Building (Phase II). Completion of the Works is required by 258 Calendar Days.

Bidders should have completed, within five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

2. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

3. Interested bidders may obtain further information from MGB and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours, from 9:00AM to 4:00PM. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from November 08 to November 27, 2016 at the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (PhP25,000.00).

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00 AM to 4:00PM.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from November 8, 2016 to November 28, 2016 from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Twenty Five Thousand Pesos (P25,000.00).

The BAC will issue hard copies of Bidding Documents at the BAC Secretariat, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, upon payment of the applicable nonrefundable fee. The Pre-Bid Conference shall open only to interested parties who have purchased the BD’s. Bids must be accompanied by a bid security, in the amount and acceptable form, as stated in Section 27.2 of the Revised IRR.

6.

The Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) of the Provincial Government of Quirino will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on November 14, 2016, 3:00PM at Special Projects Unit Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino, which shall be open to all interested parties.

7.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before November 28, 2016, 3:00PM at Special Projects Unit Conference Hall, 2nd Floor, Commercial Bldg., Capitol Compound, Capitol Hills, Cabarroguis, Quirino. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

9.

Prospective bidders shall submit their duly accomplished forms as specified in the BD’s in two (2) separate sealed bid envelopes to the BAC Chairman. The first envelope shall contain the technical component of the bid. The second envelope shall contain the financial component of the bid. Contract will be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid as determined in the bid evaluation and the post-qualification.

The Provincial Government of Quirino reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: (Sgd)Engr. Dencio A. Pagbilao Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee Province of Quirino +639175007275

Delivery of the Goods is required within the period specified in the bidding documents upon receipt of Notice to Proceed (NTP). Bidders should have completed, within Five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II (Instructions to Bidders).

Preview of specifications can be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (Phil-GEPS).

4. The MGB will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on November 15, 2016, Tuesday at 10:00 AM, Wednesday at 2:00PM, at the Office of the Bids and Awards Committee, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City, which shall be open only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on November 28, 2016, Monday, on or before 1:30PM. Late bids shall not be accepted. All Bids must be accompanied by a Bid Securing Declaration or any other bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on November 28, 2016, Monday, 2:00PM, at the Office of the MGB-Bids and Awards Committee. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend.

5. The MGB reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

6. For further information, please refer to: HOWELL M. MAPOY Head, Secretariat Bids and Awards Committee North Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City Telephone No. 667-6700 loc. 153 E-mail: bac@mgb.gov.ph Website: www.mgb.gov.ph (SGD.)Engr. JUANCHO PABLO S. CALVEZ Chairman, BAC

(MS-NOV. 8, 2016)

(MS-NOV. 8, 2016)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

C4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

World

UN to flesh out deal on climate M

ARRAKESH―Under an ominous shadow cast by the US presidential election, the world’s nations gather in Morocco Monday to flesh out a landmark climate deal that promises to save humanity from itself.

The just-activated Paris Agreement, inked in the French capital last December, is the first treaty binding all countries, rich and poor, to halt global warming, caused mainly by the burning of coal, oil and gas.

“It is now the road map in the fight against climate change,” said Manuel Pulgar-Vidal, Peru’s former environment minister and head of climate and energy for green group WWF. But as 15,000 negotiators, CEOs and activists from 196 nations gathered in Marrakesh settle in for the 12-day UN talks,

all eyes are on the United States, where voting Tuesday could thrust climate denier Donald Trump into the White House.

When it comes to global warming, the stakes could hardly be higher, President Barack Obama warned.

“All the progress we’ve made on climate change”―including the Paris pact, decades in the making―”is going to be on the ballot,” he told TV talk show host Bill Maher on Friday.

The Republican candidate cannot carry out his threat to “cancel” the still-fragile accord, but

a Trump victory could cripple it, experts here agree.

Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton has vowed to uphold Obama’s domestic energy policies and international climate commitments.

In Marrakesh, front-line diplomats must roll up their sleeves and work through scores of procedural issues that will make the difference between success and failure.

The most immediate task is “finishing the rulebook” for the complex accord, said Laurence Tubiana, France’s top climate negotiator for the Paris talks.

Concretely, that means working through scores of still-contentious issues, including how to measure and track each nation’s CO2 emissions; disbursing hundreds of billions of dollars in financing in a way that reassures both rich and recipient nations; setting criteria for compensating poor countries devastated by climate-fuelled

storms, droughts or floods.

“COP22 is really a COP of implementation and action,” lead US negotiator Jonathan Pershing told journalists in a teleconference, using the acronym for the annual Conference of the Parties climate meet.

By informal consensus, 2018 is the target for working through these issues.

2018 is also the next high-stakes rendezvous in the ongoing talks when nations can further narrow the so-called “emissions gap” between their carbon-cutting pledges and the level of reductions needed to keep the planet from dangerously overheating.

That gap is still huge, and getting bigger every year.

On current trends, the Earth will heat up about three degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era benchmark, a sure recipe for climate catastrophe, according to scientists. AFP

HEADING. Amy Adams arrives for the Premiere of Paramount Pic-

tures’ ‘Arrival’ at the Regency Village Theater on November 6, 2016 in Westwood, California. AFP

Smog forces schools to shut

Acting honors for Hanks, Portman

NEW DELHI―Authorities in Delhi on Monday closed schools, halted construction work and shut down a major power plant after days of choking smog led to warnings of a health “emergency” in the world’s most polluted capital.

Pollution levels have spiked in recent days as farmers in neighboring Indian states burn crop stubble after the harvest and temperatures cool, trapping pollutants in a smoggy haze over the city.

Delhi’s air quality generally worsens with the onset of autumn, particularly after the Diwali festival when millions of revelers let off heavily polluting firecrackers.

But this year’s change has been particularly dramatic, with the American embassy reporting hazardous pollution levels for several days running.

On Monday morning it put levels of PM2.5―the fine particles linked to higher rates of chronic bronchitis, lung cancer and heart disease―at an off-thecharts 778.

Levels between 301 and 500 are classified as “hazardous”, meaning everyone faces a risk of respiratory effects and should stay indoors, while levels above 500 are beyond the official index.

Manan Mahato, who drives an auto rickshaw in Delhi, said he had sent his children to his native village because he was worried about their health.

“It has become risky to stay in Delhi because of the pollution,” he said, holding a handkerchief over his mouth because he cannot afford a proper face mask.

“I am sending my children back to the village as I am worried for their health. If it stays like this, I think this city won’t be livable anymore.”

On Sunday hundreds of people, many wearing face masks, gathered in central Delhi to demand immediate action to curb the pollution levels, currently around 30 times the World Health Organization’s recommended PM2.5 safe limit of 25 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

Long queues formed outside shops selling face masks, a relatively new phenomenon in Delhi, as are the air purifiers that now feature in the homes of wealthy residents. AFP

LOS ANGELES―Tom Hanks and Natalie Portman took top acting honors on Sunday at the Hollywood Film Awards, billed as the official start of the film industry’s annual prize-giving season.

The “Hollywood Blockbuster Award” went to Disney’s “The Jungle Book” while there was a comedy prize for two-time Oscar-winner Robert De Niro for his role in the upcoming “The Comedian.”

Hanks, also a double Oscar winner, was honored for “Sully,” Clint Eastwood’s drama about real-life hero Chelsey Sullenberger’s 2009 emergency landing of a passenger jet on the Hudson River.

Portman was recognized for her starring role in “Jackie,” a portrait of First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy during the days immediately following her husband’s assassination.

Best supporting actor went to Hugh Grant for the comedy biopic “Florence Foster Jenkins,” while Nicole Kidman was recognized for her support role in “Lion.”

“His performance in ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ is miraculous and marvelous, and I always knew he was a wonderful actor,” the film’s British writer Nicholas Martin told AFP. The ceremony, which has trademarked its description of itself as “The Official Launch of the Awards Season,” is in its 20th year.

Mel Gibson, who is making a comeback after his career collapsed following an anti-Semitic tirade caught on tape, was accepted back into the fold with an award for directing.

His World War II drama “Hacksaw Ridge” came out on Friday to widespread acclaim, ten years after his last directing project, “Apocalypto.”

“Our crew and cast would lie in front of the tracks for Mel. They adored him and loved him.

He’s an amazing filmmaker and an amazing individual,” “Hacksaw Ridge” producer David Permut told AFP. Hosted by British actor and comedian James Corden, the plush Beverly Hills ceremony has been criticized in the past, chiefly because it is not known who actually votes for the winners. AFP

ANNIVERSARY. Russian servicemen dressed in historical uniforms march during the military parade at Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 2016. Russia marks the 75th anniversary of the 1941 historical parade, when Red Army soldiers marched past the Kremlin walls towards the front line to fight Nazi Germany’s troops during World War Two. AFP

US-backed forces assault on IS-held Raqa AIN ISSA, Syria―US-backed Kurdish-Arab forces launched an offensive Sunday on the Islamic State group’s de facto Syrian capital Raqa, upping pressure on the jihadists who are already battling Iraqi troops in Mosul.

The start of the assault by the Syrian Democratic Forces came as Iraqi forces fought inside Mosul for the third day running amid fierce jihadist resistance.

The two cities are the last major urban centers under IS control after the jihadists suffered a string of territorial losses in Iraq and Syria over the past year.

The US-led coalition battling IS is backing both assaults, hoping to deal a knockout blow to the self-styled “caliphate” it declared in mid-2014.

SDF commanders announced the start of the Raqa operation in Ain Issa, some 50 kilometers north of the city.

“The major battle to liberate Raqa and its surroundings has begun,” SDF spokeswoman Jihan Sheikh Ahmed said.

Operation “Wrath of the Euphrates” involves some 30,000 fighters and began on Saturday night, Ahmed said.

SDF forces are advancing on three fronts, from Ain Issa and Tal Abyad to the north of Raqa, and from the village of Makman to the east.

SDF spokesman Talal Sello told AFP forces would first seize areas around Raqa before taking the city itself.

“The fight will not be easy, and

will require accurate and careful operations because IS will defend its bastion knowing that the loss of Raqa will mean it is finished in Syria,” Sello said.

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter echoed that sentiment.

“As in Mosul, the fight will not be easy and there is hard work ahead, but it is necessary to end the fiction of ISIL’s caliphate and disrupt the group’s ability to carry out terror attacks against the United States, our allies and our partners,” Carter said, using an alternative name for IS. An AFP correspondent in Ain Issa Sunday saw dozens of SDF fighters heading for the front line.

SDF spokeswoman Ahmed said that 10 villages and several hamlets had been retaken.

Later the powerful Kurdish People’s Protection Units denied an IS report that 14 of its fighters were killed in a car bomb attack the Suluk area.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor reported only wounded in that attack.

Driving IS from Mosul and Raqa has been the endgame since the US-led coalition launched air strikes against it in summer 2014.

The coalition has also provided training and deployed hundreds of advisers to work with Iraqi forces and select Syrian fighters, including the SDF. Near Ain Issa, the AFP correspondent saw at least one soldier who had US markings on his helmet with SDF fighters. AFP

Life

Montblanc commemorates William Shakespear’s 400th death anniversary with limited edition fountain and ballpoint pens

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

ARTS, CULTURE & MEDIA

D1

Tribute to English poet

and leading figure of world literature

I

SSUED every year in a strictly limited edition worldwide since 1992, the Montblanc Writers Edition pays tribute to the greatest icons of literary history.

On the occasion of the 400th anniversary of his life’s achievements, Montblanc celebrates the revered English playwright, poet and actor William Shakespeare, creator of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Macbeth and many other masterpieces.

A literary genius and magician with words, Shakespeare penned over 150 sonnets and 37 plays, a treasure trove of verbal brilliance that has provided many expressions and nuggets of human wisdom still integral to the English language today.

The diversity and richness of Shakespeare’s work is honored in the many details of the William Shakespeare Limited Edition created from the most select materials and shaped by highly skilled master craftsmen with meticulous dedication. A first for Montblanc, the precious resin cap takes on an octagonal shape reminiscent of the famous Globe Theatre and its octagonal structure. A feat of technical virtuosity and precision, the shape is achieved by ensuring that the facts and edges are perfectly defined while never losing the highly polished surface of the resin.

The design of the Writers Edition William Shakespeare is inspired by the broad spectrum of Shakespeare’s plays, ranging from dark tragedies to light comedies. The black and white precious resin combination on the cap and barrel recalls the colors of the flags that were raised above his theatre depending on the genre staged with white being comedy and black being tragedy. The body of the writing instrument is engraved with a fine feather-like pattern that represents the quill pen Shakespeare used to write

his many works. At the end of the clip, a golden ring recalls the earring Shakespeare wore in the Chandos portrait, the most famous portrait of the bard.

In honor of the great dramatist of the human soul, the writing instrument is encircled with a gold-plated ring embossed with symbols representing his seven most famous plays. A rose and dagger stand for Romeo and Juliet, a skull for Hamlet, two chess pieces for King Lear, a crest for Henry V, a crown for Macbeth, a swirling cloud for The Tempest and a laurel wreath in the form of a ‘C’ for Julius Caesar.

Inspired by the shape of the Globe, Shakespeare’s innovative circular theatre that drew every audience member into the action of the play, the cap of the writing instrument is octagonal and finishes in a cap top shaped like the ringed roof of the theatre. In the center, where the yard and stage are open to the sky, the deeply set white Montblanc Emblem elegantly crowns the Edition.

The engraving on the Au 750 gold nib honors the Globe Theatre affectionately referred to by the playwright as the “wooden O,” depicting the multi-story stage in the center of this special universe he created for his audience.

Limited to 1597 pieces in reference to the year his most important play The Tragedy Of Romeo and Juliet was first published, the William Shakespeare Limited Edition 1597 is inspired by his greatest tragedies. The multi-colored barrel is embellished with exquisite guilloche patterns evoking his quill overlaid with precious lacquer, contrasting with the cap crafted from pure black lacquer. The black and red colors are a reference to the flags that flew above his theatre to inform audiences of that genre being performed at the time. As well as featuring the embossed symbols on the cap and cone’s gold-plated rings representing his most famous plays, the William Shakespeare Limited Edition 1597 is decorated with Tudor design elements reminiscent of the era in which Shakespeare wrote most of his plays and the longstanding patronage of Queen Elizabeth I. The forepart

The Writers Edition William Shakespear Special Edition fountain pen and ballpoint pen will be limited to 8,700 and 9,000 pieces, respectively.

Cuff links feature the Tudor rose as the central motif

The Limited Edition 1597 is inspired by the Bard’s greatest tragedies

of the fountain pen is engraved with his signature, and the black resin cone features a Tudor rose at its base, the badge favoured by the Virgin Queen.

The blue lacquer above the cone of the fountain pen refers to the colour defined as ‘Royal Blue’ because it was worn by royalty, the nobility and members of the Council. The colour also symbolized heavenly grace within the church, power, importance and wealth. The octagonal cap mirrors the distinctive structure of the Globe Theatre on the banks of the Thames in London with gold-coated strips set

against the precious lacquer evoking the balconies that surrounded the stage and gave audiences an unparalleled experience inside the theatre.

Montblanc is releasing a velvet red ink to accompany the Writers Edition William Shakespeare.

To complete the Collection, Montblanc is introducing two pairs of circular cufflinks with the Tudor rose as the central motif. The simple elegance of a red rose contrasts with the yellowgold PVD finish of the first pair, while a black rose complements the shine of the stainless steel pair.

National gem shines brighter THE Philippine International Convention Center (PICC), Asia’s first international convention center, turned 40 on Sept. 5 with a grand celebration.

Four decades after its formal inauguration on Sept. 5, 1976, the PICC has stood the test of time to establish itself as one of the premier event venues in

Southeast Asia. Witnessing the greatest moments of the past generations and hosting the most important events in Philippine history, the PICC has become more than just a national landmark, but a shining gem for arts, culture, history and entertainment.

Its biggest events include the 1976

IMF-World Bank Meeting, the 3rd Informal Summit of the ASEAN (1999), the 112th Inter-Parliamentary Union Assembly (2005), the 40th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting, Post Ministerial Conference and ASEAN Regional Forum (2007), 45th Annual Meeting of the Board of Governors of the Asian

Lea Salonga, who has staged concerts at the PICC, receives an award from PICC General Manager Renato Padilla and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr.

Denise Laurel and Christian Bautista entertain the guests of Philippine International Convention Center’s 40th anniversary celebration

Development Bank (2012), and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Meetings in 1996 and 2015.

Other significant events held at the PICC include the 1992 World Chess Olympiad and the 1994 Miss Universe Pageant, and concerts by various renowned international artists which include Luciano Pavarotti, Tony Bennett, Michael Buble, Josh Groban, Janet Jackson, and Lea Salonga. Religious icons have also graced the halls of the center such as Saint Teresa of Calcutta and Saint John Paul II. The celebration looked back at the grandest moments of the PICC. An

exhibit displayed photos from select events, the highlight of which was the handwritten message to PICC by Saint Teresa of Calcutta, who was canonized as a Saint by Pope Francis a day before the PICC anniversary celebration.

Over dinner, guests were treated to an entertainment spectacle hosted by the talented Denise Laurel, with performances from Ballet Manila and top balladeer Christian Bautista.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor and Chairman of the PICC Board of Directors Amando M. Tetangco, Jr. spoke about the PICC’s legacy as well as the Center’s plans for the future.

Life

D2

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

By Bernadette Lunas

Photos by Rex Perzeus Sardinia

I

T’S difficult to keep a positive outlook on life when you’re facing negativity on a daily basis.

Perhaps that’s why it is instantly appealing, if not intriguing, to stumble upon someone who remains optimistic despite the struggles and frustrations.

‘Annie’

still optimistic after 39 years

Eleven-year-old Annie is an irony in 1930s New York City, at the time of Great Depression due to American stock market crash in 1929. But her remarkable optimism shines brightly against a back backdrop of poverty, endearing her to those who have a jaded perspective in life.

Annie is the character of Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin’s musical based on the comic strip Little Orphan Annie by Harold Gray.

It debuted on Broadway in 1977, and ran for near nearly six years. It also spawned several film adaptations, first in 1982 and in 2014.

Filipinos first met Annie in 1980 when Repertory Philippines staged the musical featur featuring a young Lea Salonga in the role that launched her illustrious career in musical theater.

Thirty six years after its first staging in the country, Annie is back, this time on the Newport Performing Arts Theater’s stage.

“Annie is Resorts World Manila’s seventh major production since the opening of Newport Performing Arts Theater,” says RWM President and CEO Kingson Sian.

The Full House Theater Company’s production of Annie is in line with RWM’s commitment, under its Original Pilipino Performing Arts (OPPA) Foundation, to revive Philippine theater

Resorts World Manila stages Strouse-Charnin’s musical ‘Annie’ featuring seasoned theater actors and newcomers; Isabeli Araneta Elizalde (left) alternates with Krystal Brimner as the main character Annie

by championing Filipino talent.

Filipino-Scottish child actress Krystal Brimner and budding performer Isabeli Araneta Elizalde take turns playing the spunky and charming orphan Annie, who gets to spend Christmas at the house of a bachelor billionaire.

The gala night per performance of RWM’s production saw Elizalde showcasing her voice prowess and acting

chops. The role might be the first chapter in Elizalde’s professional theater career, but the 10-year-old daughter of businessman Juan Elizalde and Bianca Araneta performs like she truly belongs on that stage.

Elizalde’s confidence and pleasant personality perfectly capture Annie’s innocence and charm. The young theater actress possesses a clear voice that powerfully conveys her lines, and the ability to switch into different emotions—sad on one part and hopeful on the other.

Her strong rendition of “Tomorrow,” “Maybe” and “Hard Knock Life” puts the show together and gives several layers of sincerity and production value to this staging of Annie.

Elizalde’s character leads a band of orphans, played by girls aged 9 to 14, who, just like the young protagonist, have strong and expressive voices as well as instinctive acting.

The New York City Municipal Orphanage’s orphans are played by Maria Francesca Rojas and Precious Galvez as Annie’s best friend Molly, Chrysee Jilliane Jover and Maria Ericka Peralejo as the shy Kate, Shanti Glea-

son and Gwyneth Dorado as the quiet July, Natalia Escaño and Alba Berenguer-Testa as the crybaby Tessie, Cydel Gabutero and Atascha Mercado as the bossy Pepper, and Ginger Karganilla and Sofia Wong as the oldest orphan Duffy.

Meanwhile, actress Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo portrays the drunk, disillusioned head of orphanage, Miss Agatha Hannigan brilliantly as expected. Despite her meanness, you can’t help but relate with Miss Hannigan’s struggles with the orphans in LauchengcoYulo’s solo number “Little Girls.”

Michael de Mesa, on the other hand, shows just the right emotion, which is not much, of a famed billionaire as he plays Oliver “Daddy” Warbucks.

Rounding up the cast are Jill Peña as Warbucks’ secretary Grace Farrell, Mako Alonso and Red Concepcion alternating as the conniving Rooster Hannigan, Justine Peña as Lily St. Regis, and James Paolelli as US president Franklin Roosevelt. BetterDog-trained Tony Manlapaz and companion dog Alab Feliciano play Annie’s canine friend Sandy.

Full House Theater Company director Michael Stuart Williams expressed the challenge to the production to make Annie’s story relevant to today’s generation.

Hence, costume designer Gino Gonzales gave a modern twist to Annie’s iconic red dress, while keeping the 30s theme to the clothing of lower, middle and upper class characters in the musical.

The latest LED technology on Newport’s video walls works well with Faust Peneyra’s scenic design, GA Fallarme’s projections and Jonjon Villareal’s light set-ups, in recreating the orphanage, the 1930s New York City, Hooverville, White House and Warbucks’s mansion.

Williams also uses rotating set designs to move actual sets and seamlessly transition from one location to another.

Together, the story, characters and songs make Annie universal and relevant even to the generation that wasn’t born during the Great Depression. Besides, challenges come to all of us thus optimism, and this musical, will always be timely and timeless.

Watch Annie at Resorts World Manila every Friday, Saturday and Sunday until Dec. 4

Contemporary artists and artmaking at MCAD November screenings SEVERAL episodes from the Peabody-award winning PBS documentary series “Art in the 21st Century” (ART21) will be showcased at the Museum of Contemporary Art and Design (MCAD).

The show ART21 allows viewers to observe artists at work, watch how they transform their inspirations into art, and hear how they struggle with both the physical and visual challenges of achieving their visions Three installments from Season 8 of ART21 will be presented.

For Nov. 9 and 11, (Wednesday, Friday) the experience in Chicago will be shown. Known as a city rooted in industry and towering architecture, artists in The Windy City are disrupting urban experience with their experimentation.

The small and tightly knit art community in Vancouver, Canada is featured on Nov. 13, 16 and 18 (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday). Artists in this city reveal how everyday images and moments from the past are not always what they seem through their recreation of historical moments, staging photos of vernacular scenes, and crafting intricate sculptures that trick the eye.

The final show will focus on Mexico City on Nov. 20, 23 and 25 (Sunday, Wednesday, Friday).

Using the megalopolis as their background, local artists present everyday material as artworks, mime recognizable images for their poetic potential, and take their art to the streets.

Actress Claire Danes will host all episodes.

All screenings are free and open to the public at the MCAD Multimedia Room. Shows are at 3 p.m. on Wednesdays, and 12 noon on other days.

MCAD is on the ground floor of School of Design and Arts (SDA), De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB), Dominga Street, Malate, Manila.

For inquiries and reservations, call (02) 2305100 local 3897 or email mcad@benilde.edu.ph.

Liz Magor’s sculpture featured in the Vancouver episode

Asia Pacific and the Subcontinent of ICTSI Head Christian Razon Gonzalez was one of the speakers at 14th MAP International CEO Conference

Rise of global leaders

One of Damian Ortega’s artwork being filmed for ART21

ART21 interview of performance artist Nick Cave

THE Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), the country’s top organization dedicated to promoting excellence in management skills as an important tool in nationbuilding, held its biggest event of the year that drew the participation of leading business leaders in Asia for its 14th MAP International CEO Conference held Sept.

6 at the Shangri-La Hotel in MAP President Perry Pe Makati City.

The conference focused on the new breed of leaders in the region, with its theme, “The Rise of the Global Asean: The Next Generation Leaders,” and featured speakers from Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines and Australia—aces in their own fields—who shared their stories and journeys as emerging new players in the rapidly expanding Asean business landscape.

Leading the discussions and dialogues with conference participants in separate sessions, were formidable names in the Asean business community like Hendy Sotiono (Indonesia), Bob Hayward (Singapore), Christian Razon Gonzalez (Philippines), Vivian Claire Liew (Singapore), Edward Clayton (Malaysia) and Marita Cheng (Australia).

They were welcomed by MAP co-presentor Miguel Belmonte, BusinessWorld president and CEO; MAP President Perry Pe of Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc & De los Angeles law firm, and MAP CEO Conference Committee Chair Junie del Mundo, CEO of Eon The Stakeholder Business Group.

A distinguished list of CEOs and COOs of local and international companies operating in the country, as well as management gurus and some government officials, makes up the membership of MAP. The organization seeks the promotion of management excellence, through networking and sharing of best management practices, as among its principal objectives.

Apart from Pe, members of the MAP Board of Directors for 2016 include Marife Zamora, Emmanuel Bonoan, Francisco del Rosario, Alberto del Rosario, Eduardo Francisco, Pacita Juan, Alfredo Panlilio and Eduardo Yap.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

GMA Kapuso Foundation signs

long-term partnership with AirAsia

G

MA Kapuso Foundation (GMAKF) forged a landmark partnership with Philippines AirAsia that will enable the delivery of more aid to places in need of public service.

The signing of the memorandum of agreement (MOA), which marks GMAKF’s first long-term collaboration with a local airline, was held on Oct. 20 at the GMA Network Center with GMAKF Executive Vice President and COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog, Philippines AirAsia Chief Executive Officer Capt. Dexter Comendador, and GMAKF Founder and Ambassador Mel Tiangco.

Under the agreement, Philippines AirAsia will get GMAKF to where it needs to go within its provincial flight coverage areas as the foundation arm of GMA Network embarks on various public service projects under its programs on Health, Disaster Relief, Education, and Values Formation.

“Our partnership will ensure that timely

TV writer and jester Alex Calleja

Alex Calleja

From left: GMAKF Executive Vice President and COO Rikki Escudero-Catibog; Philippines AirAsia CEO Capt. Dexter Comendador; and GMAKF Founder and Ambassador Mel Tiangco

public service is given to the less fortunate people who need it. If we are able to travel to far-flung provinces for free via a reliable partner-airline, then more of the public’s donations can be spent on direct aid such as relief goods, school supplies, and medicine,” said Escudero-Catibog.

The partnership will also give AirAsia passengers the opportunity to participate in volunteering activities spearheaded

by GMAKF in select areas in the country.

A YEAR since making waves in the X factor, the all-girl band 4th Impact continues to rock the stage with their stellar performance.

Performing at the recent 6th Jollibee Family Values Awards (JFVA) Gabi ng Parangal para sa Pamilyang Pilipino, sisters Celina, Almira, Mylene, and Irene Cercado wowed the crowd at the Makati Shangri-la ballroom with their synchronized moves and powerhouse voices.

The group amazed with Beyonce’s “Work It Out’’ and Michael Jackson’s classic ‘‘I’ll Be There’’ for the 10 family awardees who have been chosen for their selfless advocacies in their communities all over the Philippines and abroad. The divas also shared the stage with another global Pinoy talent, Darren Espanto, in their rendition of Pamilyang Pilipino, the JFVA’s hymn.

With a world-class performance, 4th Impact closed Jollibee’s awarding on a high note. “Every opportunity to share our family’s talent with the world is a joyful experience, and we are especially happy to be able to

Capt. Comendador said that the partnership with GMA Kapuso Foundation “represents another step forward in [their] commitment to the philosophy that no corporation can live apart from the community it serves.”

According to him, “As a truly Filipino airline, we will always extend a helping hand to the communities we serve and we are honoured to partner with GMAKF which shares the same commitment and passion in public service.”

What’s next for the 4th Impact?

Success back home

VOCAL POWER. Sisters Almira, Celina, Irene and Mylene Cercado, otherwise known as 4th Impact

share that joy with you tonight.”

The sisters also expressed their gratitude to their parents, whose presence during the Gabi ng Parangal made their performance all the more meaningful. “It was a great night to be inspired by the stories of families.

Thanks, Jollibee for having us,” read 4th Impact’s post on their Facebook page.

“It’s always a delight to see 4th Impact perform. Aside from being world-class entertainers, they are an embodiment of a loving family that brings joy and happiness to others through music,” said Francis Flores, Jollibee Global Brand CMO and Jollibee Philippines Marketing Head.

Just this year, 4th Impact joined the likes of Nadine Lustre, James Reid, Marlon Stockinger, and other young achievers to form part of the 2016 Jollibee Yumbassadors also dubbed as #ProudGenYum.

among 20 funniest persons in the world ANOTHER Filipino talent is making waves overseas as Filipino comedian Alex Calleja secured a spot in the top 20 of 2016 Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World.

With his natural wit and humor, Alex was able to capture viewers’ hearts around the world as he enters the next round of the competition and joins 19 other comedians from different countries in fulfilling their dreams of winning the title.

To watch and vote for Alex, just log on to www.votealexcalleja.com. Voting ends on Dec. 6. Viewers may also share his video by using the hashtag #PusongPinoy.

A Bicolano, Alex is a former professor and an IT programmer, but later on pursued a career in stand-up comedy in 2007. With a career spanning almost a decade, his wit has conquered television as he now serves as writer for ABSCBN comedy shows Goin’ Bulilit, It’s Showtime, and CineMo gag program Funny Ka, Pare Ko. He also has already performed in several countries in Europe and Asia, proving his impressive talent in his chosen craft.

The 2016 Laugh Factory Funniest Person in the World is organized by the Laugh Factory, Inc., a renowned comedy club in Hollywood and Long Beach, California, which has showcased comedians such as David Letterman, Eddie Murphy, Kathy Griffin, among others. It was also hailed as the no. 1 comedy club in the US by USA Today.

First MYX Moves Streetdance Competition winner AFTER weeks of intense eliminations and dance battles, Colegio San Agustin (CSA) Dance Troupe won as the best high school dance crew in Metro Manila and beame the first grand champion of the MYX Moves Streetdance Competition during at SM City SkyDome on Oct. 23.

The dance troupe went home took with P150,000 in cash prize--- P100,000 for winning the grand showdown and another P50,000 for winning the Co-Ed division, where the crew beat Fort Bonifacio High School’s Contemporary Danzza and School of St. Anthony’s DanSSA. In second place was School of the Holy Spirit’s Aglaia and Marist School’s Marist High Impact in third. Both walked away with P50,000 as winners in their respective divisions.

SHS Aglaia brought the house down in the All Girls Division and dominated rivals Dominican College San Juan’s Dance Troupe and St. Paul College Pasig’s Terpsichore.

Marist School dropped the hottest grooves in the All Boys Division and beat Xavier School’s Dance X and Ateneo De Manila High School’s IndAK. Meanwhile, out of a hundred thousand netizens who voted,

Members of the Colegio San Agustin Dance Troupe are all smiles when they receive their prize for winning MYX Channel’s first dance competition

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, November 8, 2016

ACROSS 1 Vamoose!

6 Legally impede 11 Soda-can opener 14 Boadicea’s people 15 Limerick starter 16 Yalie 17 Chopin’s instrument 18 Not go right (3 wds.)

20 Part of RSVP 21 Deck hands 23 — pie 24 Role model 26 One more 28 Past 30 With good — (willingly) 31 Hair tint 32 Mall booth 33 Pants problem 36 D’Artagnan prop 37 Alabama town 38 Bireme movers 39 Get spliced 40 Bamboo muncher 41 Geena or Bette 42 Special effort 43 Monet or Gauguin 44 Without doubt 47 Makes light of

48 Hobby shop wood 49 Nervous swallow 50 Villain’s laugh 53 Big shock (hyph.)

56 Ease of manner 58 Beat a retreat 59 — nous 60 Bert’s Muppet buddy 61 Sauna site 62 Giggle (hyph.)

63 Kingly DOWN 1 Takes tea 2 CI x II 3 Straightened 4 Beattie or Blyth 5 Epoch of grazing animals 6 Waters of blues 7 “Pygmalion” author 8 Decade number 9 Website suffix 10 Fan spreader 11 Hen’s lack 12 Michael Caine role 13 Flea or gnat 19 Troubadour prop 22 — Dawn Chong 25 Two tablets,

maybe 26 Pleasant scent 27 LEM lander 28 Make coffee 29 Omigosh!

30 Coats with gold 32 Singer — Rogers 33 Gorgeous 34 Rainbow goddess 35 Attention getter 37 Leave the dock 38 Word of honor 40 Castle wall 41 Medicine chest item

42 El —, Texas 43 IM offerer 44 Handle users 45 Easy shot (hyph.)

46 Ms. Verdugo 47 Thick soup 49 Crawford’s ex 51 Land east of the Urals 52 Foot part 54 Vane dir.

55 — degree 57 Smelter input

Trisha Martin of the Dominican College Dance Troupe garnered a total of 13,816 votes, hailing her as the MYX Supreme Mover.

From 14 high school dance crews in the semi-finals, the MYX Moves Streetdance Competition trimmed them down to the top nine groups that competed in the Division Finals. Winners in each division then competed in the grand finals where the metro’s best high school dance crew was finally named.

Burdened with the task to pick which team stood out among the rest were judges MJ Arda from A Team, Lema Diaz from the Philippine All-Stars, and Jon Supan from the Maneuvers.

The program, hosted by MYX VJs Tippy, Alex, and Ai, were also graced by performances from Bela Padilla, Loisa Andalio, Maris Racal, and VJs Jairus and Sharlene.

Watch out next year as the metro’s best high school dance crews once again battle it out in the MYX Moves Street Dance Competition.

For more information, visit MYX’ official website at www. myx.com.ph or like www.facebook.com/MYX.Philippines on Facebook. You can also follow @MYXPhilippines on Twitter or @myxph on Instagram.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com

D4

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2016

Showbiz

A

FTER years with the Kapamilya network, Ariel Rivera returns to the Kapuso network to star in the afternoon series Hahamakin ang Lahat opposite fellow ex-Kapamilya Eula Valdez.

The heart-wrenching melodrama also stars the newest love team Kapuso is building up – also an ex-Kapamilya Kristoffer Martin and Chinese Filipina Joyce Ching (in an attempt to counter the Chinita wave at the rival network), and former child star Snooky Serna in another role that will make audiences either love or hate her.

The show premiered on the last day of October, and GMA Network is glad the audience is giving the show a favorable feedback.

The story revolves around the repeating fates of a mother and her child who both had to bear the agony of not being able to be with the man they truly love because of the struggles and conflicts they encounter in winning the approval of their respective families.

Eula Valdez is Ivy Tan from a rich Chinese family. She falls in love a man who her father does not approve of. She is willing to sacrifice everything to be with the man she loves.

Ariel Rivera is Nelson Solano, a Filipino who is in love with Ivy and is willing to fight for his love.

He assures Ivy that he will love her for the rest of his life.

Snooky Serna is Laura Caraca, Ivy’s maid whom she considers a friend. She was the one who helped Ivy and Nelson with their plan to elope.

Joyce Ching is Rachel Tan Ke. She is Ivy’s daughter. She grew up knowing her mother is Ivy’s sister. She gets pregnant by her boyfriend but he escapes from his responsibility and runs away.

Kristoffer Martin is Junjun Labsat, Laura’s son who will deeply fall in love with Rachel and willing to do anything for her to love him back.

Thea Tolentino is Phoebe Tan Ke, the scheming and backstabbing sister of Rachel. She will also be attracted to Junjun but will not act on it because s h e doesn’t want

to be disowned by her family.

Completing the cast are Chinggoy Alonzo as Erickson Tan, the strict father of Ivy; Marc Abaya as Luisito Labsat, Laura’s faithful husband; Jett Pangan as Charlie Ke, Cynthia’s husband who is nice to Ivy; Marina Benipayo as Cynthia Tan Ke, Ivy’s older sister who is jealous of her; Renz Valerio as Puloy, Junjun’s loyal friend; Mona Louise Rey as Gigi, the youngest daughter of Laura and Sito. The series introduces Bruno Gabriel as Santi Valderama, Rachel’s boyfriend who will get her pregnant.

Ariel Rivera says he’s glad to be back in the network that started him on the teleserye front. “It feels like I am coming home,” he said during the press presentation of the cast of the series. He added, “I am glad to work with Eula and Cooky (Snooky),” who he said are two of the actresses he admires most.

Asked if he doesn’t feel awkward that his wife (Gelli de Belen) is doing work for the Kapamilya network while he is on the Kapuso lot, he said, “At least both of us are working. We don’t have to be on the same network to be professionally fulfilled.” *** AiAi de las Alas is proud of Area, the indie movie she is starring in.

The film won the Special Jury Prize at the 12th Eurasia International Film Festiva in

Kazakhstan. Delas Alas and costar Allen Dizon attended the awarding ceremony on Sept. 30.

The film was in competition along with 12 other films from different countries in the feature film category.

Delas Alas plays an aging prostitute in Pampanga while Allen plays the man who runs the brothel where Delas Alas’ character works in.

Area, the film’s title refers to a place where aging sex workers offer their services at a bargain.

Delas Alas’ son, Sancho, also plays an important role in the film along with actress Sue Prado.

Delas Alas told members of the press during a press conference at Max’s Restaurant on Roces Avenue how she was moved by the compliments she got for her performance from the audience of mostly Kazakhstanis and other

Seasoned actress Eula Valdez is one of the lead cast members of “Hahamakin ang Lahat”

ISAH V. RED

nationals.

After she got the Papal medal Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, she said that roles like the one she played in Area might take a back seat, unless of course the material is compelling enough to make people aware of certain issues in society that can make her accept an offer.

Delas Alas may not be anticipating another award for her role, but those who have seen the film during the closing of the 2016 QCinema International Film Festival say she could be in the running for a major award in next year’s awards season. *** At the press screening of Kusina in August, lead star Judy Ann SantosAgoncillo, who came out of her twoyear hiatus, emphatically stated, “As you get older, naghahanap ka ng mga pelikula na magpapangiti sa puso

Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo in her comeback indie movie “Kusina”

Singer-actor Ariel Rivera doesn’t mind being a Kapuso while his wife Gelli is a Kapamilya

mo…I’m so thankful na binuhay nitong Kusina ‘yung passion ko for acting.”

To hear this from the seasoned actress, plus the fact that Kusina was nominated for Best Film at the Cinemalaya Film Festival, is an indication that this latest offering from Viva Films and Cinematografica is a movie worth seeing.

Kusina tells the story of Juanita whose life literally began in the kitchen where she was born in the 30s, and where she continually chooses to spend all her time up to the present.

Juanita’s passion for cooking is due to the influence of her grandmother who raised her after her mother died from childbirth. She always bears in mind her grandmother’s advice: “Kapag nagluluto ka, lagi mong iisipin kung sinong pinagluluto mo.

Kapag nasagot mo na ‘yan, alam mo na kung anong lulutuin mo.”

Through the years, Juanita comes up with different recipes for her family (her aloof father, her supportive grandmother, her husband and children) and friends, and in the process, the evolution of her relationship with them is revealed.

But while she busies herself to feed and meet the satisfaction of the

people she loves, even strangers who take momentary refuge in her home, how does catering to her own taste figure in her priorities?

Cenon Palomares and David Corpus directed the mvie from Palomares’ screenplay that won the grand prize at the 56th Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards in Literature in 2006.

The most favorite Filipino dishes, like pinakbet (meat vegetable stew with shrimp paste), sinigang (pork and vegetables in sour broth), dinuguan (pork blood stew), and adobo (stewed chicken or pork in soy sauce and vinegar), are just a few of the dishes you can feast your eyes on in this film.

Almost all of the scenes are shot in the kitchen based on the stories of the people who come in and out of Juanita’s kitchen. The audience can visualize what is happening outside.

Joining Judy Ann is Gloria Sevilla as the grandmother, Joem Bascon as Péles, the husband, and Luis Alandy as Alejandro, the other man in Juanita’s life.

Get your fill of this emotionally charged comeback film of Judy Ann. Kusina opens in cinemas tomorrow.