Manila Standard - 2016 December 19 - Monday

VOL. XXX • NO. 310 • 4 SECTIONS 24 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Digong to Manny: Youre’ the man

By Sandy Araneta

NEXT PRESIDENT. ‘Keep to your style and stay humble.’ With these words, President Rodrigo Duterte endorses boxing icon Senator Manny Pacquiao as the next president of the Philip-

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday once again endorsed boxing champ Senator Manny Pacquiao as the next Philippine president.

“I ask permission from president-to-be Manny Pacquiao. I’ve already said it clearly,” Duterte said after a long speech during Pacquiao’s 38th birthday celebration in General Santos City.

Duterte also told Pacquiao to “stay humble” and he will surely be elected as the next president.

“You will be president. I think it is true,” he said in Filipino.

“Just keep to your style, stay humble,” he added.

Duterte said he was a fan and Next page

pines during the champion’s 38th birthday celebration in General Santos City on Dec. 17, 2016.

China gives in to US Vows to return drone in ‘appropriate’ way

Duterte’s Yule wish: Ceasefire

C

HINA said Saturday it would return a US naval probe seized in international waters, as it slammed the “hyping” of the incident as “inappropriate and unhelpful.”

By Sandy Araneta

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday expressed hopes that gun battles will take a back seat this Christmas season.

Asked for his Christmas message, Duterte told reporters he is hoping for a peaceful Christmas, including with the communists and even the terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.

“I’d like to greet everybody, the Filipino people, the lawabiding, and of course, if they find it in their hearts though this is not really something for the Moro but you know that this kind of events is closest to the hearts of the Christians, that we can have a peaceful Christmas,” Duterte said on his visit to the Western Mindanao Command.

He also urged terrorist group Abu Sayyaf to “take a vacation.”

“I am asking everyone if we can have a peaceful Christmas.

Maybe we can resume fighting some other day,” Duterte said.

“I’d like to greet everybody, the communists, the Abu Sayyaf, on behalf of the Filipino people, Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year for all,” he added.

Fresh from his state visits to Cambodia and Singapore, President Duterte took time Saturday to visit the 16 soldiers who were wounded in action during their recent military encounters with the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan and Sulu.

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CHEAP ABUNDANCE. Cartfuls of imported fruits ranging from apples to oranges come in cheap abundance in the Baclaran district of Parañaque City ahead of Christmas Day. EY ACASIO

P2-b Xmas gift for SSS pensioners

By Macon R. Araneta MORE than two-million pensioners of the Social Security System will receive P1,000 more in their monthly pensions starting this month, following the Senate approval of a resolution calling for the increase before Congress adjourned for the Christmas break.

“We manifest that it is the sense of the Senate to increase the monthly pension of all SSS pensioners by P1,000 effective immediately,” Senator Richard Gordon

said in the resolution.

“This is the first tranche. Congress wants to give the second by 2019,” Gordon said.

He said he would call for a meeting with the SSS to discuss the second tranche.

“I know a P1,000 increase is not really much; I would prefer to give P6,000. But it would not do to force the SSS to give a higher increase which could shorten its life span,” Gordon said.

In January, he said they will meet with the SSS officials to

discuss proposals on how they can increase their collection and income from, among other measures, the non-performing assets that they have and to encourage them to increase the collection efficiency and coverage ratio.

Gordon noted that a law was not really needed for the SSS to increase benefits received by the members, adding that the last time the pension fund increased monthly pensions was in 2014, when it implemented a P60 increase. There was no law enacted then.

The unmanned underwater vehicle was taken around 50 nautical miles northwest of Subic Bay in the Philippines late on Thursday, according to the Pentagon, which called the capture unlawful and demanded its immediate return.

The incident comes amid escalating tensions between China and the United States, with President-elect Donald Trump repeatedly infuriating Beijing by questioning longstanding US policy on Taiwan, calling Beijing a currency manipulator and threatening Chinese imports with

Sue PH before UN, HR advocates dared

By Sandy Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday dared the United States to file a human rights complaint against him before the United Nations as a result of its continuing criticism of his deadly war on drugs “We are members of the United Nations. I thought you had a lawyer?” Duterte said in a speech in

Aguirre ‘willing to quit’ LTO chief: over Clark payoff mess Licenses

By Rey E. Requejo JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday he was willing to quit his post should President Rodrigo Duterte want him out following the P50-million extortion scandal in the Bureau of Immigration, an agency under his department.

He said he would resign once he felt he had lost Duterte’s trust and confidence over the controversy involving the illegal casino operations of Chinese gaming mogul Jack Lam in Clark Field, Pampanga.

“I have no problem in resigning or being out of the government,” Aguirre said.

“If the President loses even a single bit of trust and confidence in me, I will not insist on clinging on to this position. I will not lose a single night’s sleep if I lose this position.”

But Aguirre said he did nothing wrong in handling the issue on Lam. “I know that I’m doing the right thing,” he said.

It was Aguirre who led the raid on Lam’s illegal casino at the

By Rio N. Araja

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General Santos City.

“If you have something, you go to the United Nations assembly. You shout your complaint and you cry there and then ask for a motion that I be investigated.

“Go ahead, file a complaint to the United Nations. I will even burn the United Nations if you want. If I go to America I’ll lit up that devil shit.”

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‘Chinese no major shabu exporter’

out today LAMINATED drivers’ license cardsd are now available in 36 licensing offices in Metro Manila, Land Transportation Office Chief Edgar Galvante said on Sunday.

He said those with pending applications for a license from January 1 to October 16 may now claim their cards at the 36 offices.

They only need to present the official receipts that were issued

punitive tariffs.

China’s defense ministry said it would give back the device “in an appropriate manner,” without providing details of the handover.

“The hyping up from the American side is inappropriate and unhelpful to the swift resolution of the problem,” the ministry said.

China said it “strongly opposed” US reconnaissance activities and had asked Washington to stop them.

“The Chinese side will take the necessary steps in response,” the Next page statement added.

By Sandy Araneta

WHITE XMAS. Artificial snow falls on Santa Claus and Snowman at a Pasay City museum where visitors are treated to a white Christmas experience during the Yuletide season. NORMAN CRUZ

thestandard.com.ph

DESPITE a government report that identified China as the country’s biggest source of methamphetamine, President Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday denied that the Chinese were exporting shabu to the Philippines.

“It’s not a matter of exporting,” the President said, adding that Chinese suppliers were dumping the illegal drugs into Next page

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News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Senator weighs in on grant abolition

By Macon R. Araneta THE United States-led Millennium Challenge Corp. was merely annoying the Duterte administration when it suspended the $433-million grant to the Philippines due to issues on the rule of law and civil liberties, Senate Majority Leader Tito Sotto said Sunday.

The MCC website said it was set up by the US government to promote economic growth and reduce poverty around the world through grants.

But countries may only qualify for the grant if they “demonstrate a commitment to just and democratic governance, investments in its people and economic freedom.”

The US government has strongly criticized Duterte’s vicious war on illegal drugs, which has left more than 5,000 suspected drug offenders dead.

Sought for his comment on the MCC’s deferment of its second grant to the Philippines, Sotto asked: “What did they give last year?”

“Did they give something during the last years? Did it enrich us?

Did the poor become full? Did we gain something from it? Before I react, I would like to say this: Did they give something and who benefited?” Sotto told dwIZ radio.

He said he was not a Duterte apologist but he slammed the allegedly biased CNN reports on his war on drugs.

He said CNN reported the 6,000 people who died in the drug war but did not mention the 38,000 drug suspects arrested in 36,000 drug operations.

“They are merely maligning us because [the candidate] they wanted was defeated [in the last May elections],” Sotto said but did not elaborate.

He also slammed the local media for failing to report the explanations of Duterte’s spokesmen over his remarks that he killed three people when he was Davao City mayor.

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Duterte also called an official of Amnesty International an idiot after he provided details on how he and policemen killed kidnappers in Davao City when he was its mayor.

Rafendi Djamin, AI director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, had said in a statement that Duterte’s claim “takes the meaning of ‘state-sanctioned’ violence to a whole new level... and the climate of impunity in the Philippines has intensified since Duterte began his brutal crackdown on [drug suspects] in July, with a wave of unlawful killings claiming more than 5,000 lives across the country.”

Duterte made his dare to the US as he complained about its alleged nitpicking and of its using the UN to reprimand him over the alleged summary killings of drug suspects in the Philippines.

He recalled that when he was mayor of Davao City he was the United States’ “favorite whipping boy” on human rights.

Duterte had been accused during his term in Davao City of allegedly sanctioning the killings of criminals carried out by the vigilante group Davao Death Squad.

“When I was mayor it was okay. When I became president I carry on my shoulder the sovereignty of the people. You do not reprimand me or chastise me in public,” Duterte said.

“It’s an insult, and every time you talk about the suspension of aid... the assistance, you have done that to so many presidents of this country.”

Duterte likewise cursed the US as he mentioned the US’ Millennium Challenge Corporation board’s decision to defer the selection of the Philippines as a recipient of a multi-million-dollar development grant over concerns on “the rule of law and civil liberties.”

He also cited the US State Department’s cancellation of a firearms’ sale to the Philippines.

“You think every time you criticize you always connect it with the aid. Bullshit, you guys,” Duterte said.

Painkiller use draws concerns P RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s admission that he used a powerful painkiller has prompted concern about his health, with lawmakers urging him Sunday to undergo a medical examination and disclose the results.

Duterte on Monday revealed that he used to take fentanyl, often prescribed for cancer pain and other chronic ailments, because of a spinal injury from previous motorcycle accidents.

He, however, said his doctor made him stop using it on learning he was “abusing the drug” by using more than the prescribed patches.

The firebrand leader has attracted controversy over his war

against suspected users of illegal drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives, and his incendiary language against the United States and the United Nations.

Lawmakers said Duterte’s remarks revived speculation about his health, including rumours during the election campaign that he suffered from cancer—a claim Duterte repeatedly denied.

“To end this speculation, it would be better if his physician

explains how the President manages the pain that he suffers,” Duterte ally congressman Carlos Zarate told AFP. Zarate added that a medical bulletin would clarify the state of Duterte’s health, as fentanyl became controversial after pop legend Prince died of an accidental overdose of the drug in April.

Fentanyl, highly potent and addictive, is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine.

An outspoken Duterte critic, Senator Leila de Lima, supported Zarate’s call.

“It is not just the illness itself that we should be worried about, but also the impact or side effects that the medications he is taking

may have, especially on his lucidity and ability to make decisions with a clear mind.”

At 71, Duterte is the oldest president of the Philippines.

He has said he suffers from daily migraine and ailments including Buerger’s disease, a cardiovascular illness characterised by inflammation of blood vessels usually due to smoking.

Duterte cited ill health as the reason for skipping events during summits abroad. In Cambodia last week he said he might not even finish his six-year term.

Another critic, Senator Antonio Trillanes, told AFP Duterte’s admission that he took more than the prescribed fentanyl dosage showed he “qualified as a drug

addict.”

However, Duterte on Saturday denied any addiction.

“When there’s regularity, my friend, when you take it and when there’s a monkey on your back, that’s addiction,” he told a BBC reporter.

Doctors said fentanyl was regulated in the Philippines, with physicians needing a licence from the drug agency to prescribe it.

“The ones using [fentanyl] are usually people with harrowing pain or terminal diseases. Doctor monitoring manages risks of addiction,” said Leo Olarte, former president of the Philippine Medical Association.

“A medical bulletin is good so the public won’t be rattled.” AFP

China...

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DIGONG’S GESTURE. President Rodrigo Duterte comes to the aid and comfort of one of the soldiers wounded in a recent encounter with the Abu Sayyaf Group in Basilan during his visit to Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City on December 17, 2016.

Digong...

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a friend of Pacquiao even before he became famous.

Pacquiao, meanwhile, is a staunch supporter of Duterte’s push for the revival of the death penalty.

Pacquiao had also praised the

Duterte’s...

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The soldiers were confined at the Camp Navarro General Hospital in Zamboanga City.

In the same visit, the President also gave financial assistance to the families of the three killed-inaction soldiers.

The President talked to the wounded soldiers and the families of the slain military men, and gave them words of encouragement while extending the financial assistance and giving mobile phones.

“We should take care of our soldiers. They are giving up their lives for this republic,” Duterte said.

Leftists on Sunday complained that only one pardoned political prisoner has been released since peace talks between the government and the National Democrat-

‘Chinese...

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the sea, where they were being retrieved by Filipino drug suppliers for distribution in the Philippines.

Duterte also said that during his discussions with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his state visit, he learned that China had a growing shabu problem similar to that of the Philippines.

During that visit, Duterte announced his “separation” from the United States and declared that he had realigned with China.

The pivot to Beijing has bewildered some Philippine drugcontrol officials, who said that China’s leaders have provided little help over the years in stemming the flow of drugs into the Philippines.

President’s bloody campaign against illegal drugs.

Duterte was coming off a trip in Zamboanga City earlier on Saturday when he met with wounded soldiers at a military camp.

The President raised his usual talking points, mentioning again plans to cut military ties with the United States and critics of his war on illegal drugs.

He delivered the same message in General Santos City using the same fiery style that has elicited applause from his supporters but has upset the West, particularly the United States and the United Nations.

At Pacquiao’s party, Duterte focused on his personal and national agenda, and made little reference to the birthday celebrant, until the last when he declared the boxer

ic Front were revived in August.

“For the record, as of date, only one political prisoner who has been pardoned has been released via the peace process,” said lawyer Edre Olalia, legal counsel for the communist panel and secretary general of the National Union of Peoples’ Lawyers.

“Meanwhile one other political prisoner has already died and two others [have been] hospitalized.

Since August, around 20 others have been released on various modes (bail, acquittal, dismissal, service of sentence etc.) on their own merits through the routine judicial procedures, independent of the peace process, proving that the tortoise can eventually actually outrun the hare,” said Olalia.

On December 2, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III announced that President Duterte has granted presidential pardon to four communist rebels.

It was not immediately clear

from Olalia’s post if the lone freed political prisoner was among these four recently pardoned.

The Duterte administration is holding talks with the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front in an effort to end one of Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency.

Duterte has said that he will not release rebel detainees without a signed ceasefire agreement between the government and NDF panels.

The government panel holding peace talks with the NDF has submitted a list of 200 prisoners to be released, under the new guidelines of the Presidential Committee on Bail, Recognizance and Parole.

Some 25 of them are elderly, sick and women.

But the NDF claimed 434 rebels are still being detained all over the country and has sought their release.

A report said that methamphetamine production experts are flown into the Philippines from China by drug syndicates to work in drug labs.

Between January 2015 and mid-August 2016, 77 foreign nationals were arrested in the Philippines over shabu-related offenses and nearly two thirds of those arrested were Chinese nationals.

Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Derrick Carreon said that China was the biggest source of shabu and of the precursor chemicals used to produce the synthetic drug.

Over the weekend, Duterte repeated claims that he killed suspected criminals as he vowed no let-up in his war on drugs that has already claimed thousands of lives.

In an hour-long speech earlier to Filipinos in Singapore, Duterte

referred to international news coverage of his claims this week that in his previous role as mayor of Davao City, he killed suspects to set an example for police.

“To spare you embarrassment about the crawlers on television that have been running on CNN and even the BBC says Duterte admits killing or shooting the criminals: they were not mistaken,” he said.

People in the 6,500-strong crowd cheered as Duterte used his trademark strong language to promise his drug war would continue.

“Sons of whores I will really kill these idiots,” he said.

“My campaign on drugs will not end, until the end of my term six years from now when every drug pusher is [killed],” Duterte said, making a throat-cutting gesture.

the next president of the Philippines.

In his speech, Duterte said the war on drugs was needed to preserve the country and to protect the next generation.

“I will solve this problem because… being the President, I have to preserve this country for everybody or else we’ll go to the dogs,” he said.

Aguirre...

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Fontana Leisure Resort where 1,316 Chinese nationals were arrested on November 24. He was also the one who exposed the attempt of Lam’s camp to bribe government officials to “fix” the irregularities in his casino operations.

He then recommended the dismissal of Immigration Deputy Commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles who were said to have extorted P50 million from Lam. He praised Duterte for approving his recommendation.

“It’s a good development.

It’s a reiteration of his stand and campaign against corruption,” Aguirre said.

Argosino and Robles, who surrendered to the Justice department P30 million of the P50 million last week, have also been charged before the office of the Ombudsman by former police chief superintendent Wally Sombero who supposedly served as Lam’s middleman.

Aguirre has also ordered the dismissal of Immigration intelligence division chief Charles Calima Jr. and technical assistant for intelligence Edward Chan who were also implicated in the extortion controversy.

Argosino and Robles earlier claimed that P18 million from the P50 million went to Calima and was supposed to be given to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente and newspaper columnist Mon Tulfo. P2 million was supposed to go to Sombero as his commission.

Calima, Sombero and Tulfo have all denied the allegations.

The Pentagon said it had registered its objection to the probe’s seizure. “Through direct engagement with Chinese authorities, we have secured an understanding that the Chinese will return the UUV to the United States,” spokesman Peter Cook said Saturday.

There are broader tensions in the South China Sea, where China has moved to fortify its claims to the region by building out tiny reefs and islets into much larger artificial islands.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam have competing claims in the South China Sea, which is laced with the world’s most heavily travelled international trade routes.

While the US takes no position on sovereignty claims in the South China Sea, it has repeatedly stressed all maritime claims must comply with international law.

Its military has conducted several “freedom of navigation” operations in which ships and planes have passed close to the sites Beijing claims.

On Sunday, Kabayan Rep. Harry Roque urged the government to file protests both against the US and China.

In an interview, Roque questioned the presence of both countries off the disputed South China Sea, saying they have violated the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. “Why were they there?” he asked.

On December 15, a Chinese Navy warship seized an underwater drone deployed by an American oceanographic vessel in international waters in the South China Sea, or 50 miles off Subic Bay, “well within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.”

“China was supposed to be there for freedom on navigation,” Roque told the Manila Standard.

“But not to [apprehend or seize and] assert claim of ownership of the territorial waters that lawfully belongs to us.” AFP, Rio N. Araja

LTO...

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to them when they applied for their license cards to claim them.

Galvante warned the public not to deal with fixers who may deceive them and ask for a fee to claim their cards.

“I would like to caution all the claimants that they need not pay a single centavo to claim their driver’s licenses since they have already paid for them,” he said.

The release of the cards will erase 700,000 of the three-million backlog in the license cards that are valid for three years.

The release of license cards in the other regions will follow and is expected to be completed by February next year, Galvante said.

The LTO’s last supplier of cards was Allcard Philippines Inc., but its contract expired in May. The shortage of license cards started in 2013 when the Commission on Audit disallowed payments to former supplier Amalgamated Motor Philippines Inc. for lack of a proper contract.

News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

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Anti-insurgency plan stepped up T

By Florante S. Solmerin

HE Armed Forces of the Philippines will intensify its anti-insurgency campaign under the Internal Peace and Security Plan or Oplan Bayanihan with minor additions in addressing threats, a general said on Sunday.

“The whole strategy of the IPSP Bayanihan has been enhanced to cope with the prevailing situation where there were peace talks with rebel groups. Supplemental concepts and operational plans are also new additions to the IPSP especially in dealing with terror-

ism and other lawless elements,” the general said in an interview Manila Standard.

He asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk about the matter. The oplan would be the focal point of the speech of AFP Chief of Staff

be veering away from the concept and strategic objective of Oplan Bayanihan. The AFP will be making a big difference though when it comes to broadening the participation of all stakeholders toward progress and development,” the general said.

In Camp Aguinaldo, military public affairs Colonel Ed Arevalo, however, said there would be a new campaign plan.

“We will be implementing the Año new campaign plan starting January 2017. But there will be no Lieutenant General Eduardo formal launching. The CSAFP is Año during the AFP Day this expected to announce it in his week, he said.

Anniversary speech,” he said.

“In general, the AFP will not Arevalo talked about na-

tional security, defeating the enemies of the state and other threat groups but could not give more details.

He said he doesn’t know yet what would be the name of the new campaign plan but emphasized that this was the product of series of consultations with government agencies and the Technical Working Group of the AFP Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations or OJ3.

“We can say it is about the role that the AFP will perform in nation building,” he said.

Oplan Bayanihan replaced the Oplan Bantay Laya I and II,

which both failed to eliminate the 48-year-old Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army-National Democratic Front.

Leftist groups despised both the counter-insurgency plans as the AFP’s implementing machines to suppress people’s movements criticizing the government up to committing “extrajudicial killings” against activists.

The Duterte administration and the communist movement are currently negotiating for a bilateral ceasefire as part of confidence building for a possible signing of a permanent peace deal.

Feeding program Illegals hit for Claver smear campaign gets P1-b extra fund

By Macon Ramos-Araneta CLOSE to 1.74-million children two to four years old are assured of one hot meal daily for 120 days next year with the approval of an extra P1 billion in government funds under the children’s feeding budget of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, according to Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto.

The added funding, approved

by Congress recently, raised to P4.427 billion the budget for the feeding program, Recto said.

Although he was the one who introduced the amendment, Recto credited the hike to the “united stand” of senators to boost funding for anti-child malnutrition activities.

“During the floor debates, the push for a higher budget was incessant. Senator Grace Poe was relentless in her questioning. And the chairman, Senator Loren Legarda, was receptive to the proposals made,” he said.

Recto had questioned the small allocation for nutrition services, child feeding specially, even before the 2017 national budget was submitted to Congress.

To drive home the point on how money to combat child stunting was inadequate, he revealed that the P13 cost of meal served in schools and daycares was lower than the meal budget of prisoners.

“Preso value meals are in fact slightly costlier than school lunches,” Recto said, adding that “anyone who can whip up a nutritious meal on P13 should win the Magsaysay Award in kitchenomics.”

As a result of Recto’s amendment, the per meal budget will be increased to P20.

However, his other amendment to increase the allocation for the “school feeding” program of the Department of Education was not adopted, as the DepEd itself cited “fund absorption” issues that might lead to unutilized additional funds.

THE Claver Mineral Development Corp. on Sunday condemned a smear campaign being waged by illegal mining groups who were ousted last February by a court order from its mining claim in Carrascal, Surigao del Sur. CMDC president Cesar Detera flatly denied that the company was engaging in illegal nickel ore mining operations and that it refused to give indigenous peoples their rightful share of revenues from mineral operations in their ancestral lands. Detera also decried the efforts to hit one of CMDC’s owners, Surigao del Sur Representative Prospero Pichay in the smear campaign.

“The truth is, CMDC under new management since October last year is proceeding with its rehabilitation of its mine site in accordance with all mining regulations and pertinent laws, including the Indigenous People’s Rights Act of 1997,” said Detera.

CMDC officials welcomed the filing of a case with the Ombudsman last Friday by a group of indigenous people who claimed that the company engaged in illegal

Pichay

mining operations and abused their rights by withholding their share of mining revenues.

The company officials said those who filed the case included an illegal miner operating within the CMDC mining claim and ordered ousted by the local court earlier this year.

Pichay decried the obvious attempt to put political pressure on CMDC to halt its mine site rehabilitation program. “They want to use political pressure to reverse a

court decision in favor of a legitimate company providing employment and government revenues.

That shouldn’t be allowed.”

Detera said an investigation would show that there are actually several other indigenous people’s groups who are also seeking this share from the operation of CMDC’s mining claim. Thus, CMDC has coordinated with the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples to pinpoint which indigenous people’s groups are entitled to a share in its operations. CMDC has also paid a substantial amount to Government representing royalties and excise tax.

A small portion of the CMDC mining claim is part of a vast area covered by Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title (CADT) No. 048 with various indigenous people’s groups filing competing claims for government entitlements including shares in mineral revenues.

Detera said the company was also talking with other indigenous people’s groups on sharing arrangements for minerals to be extracted from the CMDC mining claim outside CADT 048.

“The NCIP is aware of the dispute between the various indigenous peoples groups in our own area. We will fully comply with the revenue sharing arrangement for our indigenous brethren, once the government resolves who are the rightful claimants to this share,” said Detera.

Meanwhile, court sheriffs in February removed a group of illegal miners after CMDC won an ejectment case with the Metropolitan Trial Court in Cantillan, Surigao del Sur. The group included Datu James Biol of Agusan del Sur, a director of CCIL Mining that has been illegally extracting ore within the CMDC mining claim, and one of those who filed the Ombudsman complaint yesterday.

“Mr. Biol is not even from the area as he is from Agusan del Sur. He and other illegal miners have been extracting ore without any revenues for government or any regard for the environment.

Even now CMDC is working to reverse the environmental degradation caused by the previous occupants that were stopped by the court,” said Detera.

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Opinion

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Dealing with the mess

O

N THE streets of Metro Manila, evidence of failed public services abound.

We speak not only of the horrendous traffic snarls that have become commonplace at any time of the day, or the panhandling urchins that neither the city governments nor the Department of Social Welfare and Development seems capable of keeping safe off the streets.

On an even more basic level, long years of mismanagement and corrup-

Adelle Chua, Editor

tion that began with the Aquino administration have left us with vehicles with a mishmash of license plates, including an undetermined number that have no official plates to speak of, or only improvised facsimiles that serve only ornamental functions.

The previous administration was clearly responsible for this mess, as it signed a dubious P3.8 billion con-

tract in 2014 with an undercapitalized, unqualified company to make plates, not only for new vehicles but to replace old, existing plates in the name of standardization.

Hundreds of thousands of vehicle owners paid for the new plates—and never received them, an anomaly that the new administration has yet to address, six months into President Rodrigo Duterte’s term.

Another mess caused by the previous administration has left some three million drivers without proper drivers licenses, holding only

paper receipts as proof that they are properly registered and authorized to drive.

The Land Transportation Office said it will start the long delayed distribution of plastic license cards this week to finally reduce the huge backlog.

It is unclear, however, if drivers who renew their licenses starting this week will be able to get their plastic licenses immediately, as they were able to do for years before the Aquino administration made a mess of the licenses, too.

We are relieved that the

LTO has finally moved on the licenses, but more must be done to clean up the mess, sooner rather than later.

The absence of standard, official license plates has serious implications on law enforcement efforts. How are police, for example, supposed to identify vehicles used in a crime, in the absence of these standard plates?

The license plate mess also has serious implications on the social contract between the public and the government. If the public

pays for a good or service that the state fails to provide, this can only weaken the trust and confidence the people have in their government.

Clearly, it isn’t sufficient for the current administration to blame its predecessor for our transport woes.

Rather, it must do two things with great dispatch.

First, it must prosecute all those who were responsible for the mess. Just as important, it must act more swiftly than it has to correct the anomalous situation and restore public confidence in government.

BACK CHANNEL ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO

Abetting aggression

PENSEES

Troubled waters...until now

FR. RANHILIO CALLANGAN AQUINO APPARENTLY miffed by the decision of at least two US agencies to withhold aid for the Philippines because of human rights issues and, quite plausibly, the disturbing declarations about the future of Philippine—US alliance, Mayor Digong, President of the Philippines, has declared that he is willing “to set aside” (so did one news outlet put it) the judgment of the arbitral tribunal, largely in our favor, on the South China issue dispute we have with China.

Once more, we must ask the Department of Clarification and Interpretation to do its task, because I do have serious reservations, on legal grounds, unless these reported statements are qualified. If the President means that, for now, we will not demand of China its compliance with the dispositions of the judgment, that is a matter of strategy and policy that the Constitution entrusts to the navigating skills of the President.

But if he means to renounce the claims of the Republic of the Philippines, that is quite another matter—and something that no president really has the authority to do. When the arbitral tribunal decided the dispute, it declared that we enjoyed sovereign rights over a considerable expanse of the South China Sea - West Philippine Sea lying within our Exclusive Economic Zone. The Constitution does not empower a president to surrender sovereignty, territory or sovereign rights. If anything, the president is sworn to uphold and to defend them.

Meanwhile, waters on the Pacific side of our archipelago have become choppy lately.

Soon, they may just be tempestuous and that will be to no one’s advantage. Just after Donald Trump won, I thought the climate would turn a little warmer, but the chill seems to have returned. In unmistakable terms,

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You do not shrug off American hegemony by taking on another one.

the President has served notice on the US that he is minded to evict whatever uniformed contingent of the US might still be in the country—this, after announcing that there would be no more war exercises with the US army. Then come the boasts of Cabinet officials that we can do even without US aid. About that, I really would like to read statistics: How much do we receive? How much can be made up for with our own resources?

BenjaminPhilip PhilipG.G.Romualdez Romualdez Benjamin FormerChief ChiefJustice JusticeReynato ReynatoS.S.Puno Puno Former AnitaF.F.Grefal Grefal Anita BaldwinR.R.Felipe Felipe Baldwin EdgarM. M.Valmorida Valmorida Edgar

How much is forthcoming from other friends (or opportunists)? I have not seen these figures and in international relations; ill-informed conceits can be very dangerous!

The Americans though have some soul-searching to do too, for they have, in fact, in many ways beggared us.

Those who call attention to the unequal treatment of visiting Americans and Filipinos visiting the US make a valid point. Americans come into the country virtually only with their passports. But Filipinos must wait in queues before grumpy consular officers who can ask the most embarrassing questions and then imperiously stamp “Denied” on one’s visa application. And it is also true that the notoriety of US operatives for espionage, hacking and tapping (Angela Merkel has not quite gotten over her victimization!) and the CIA’s history of having interfered in the af-

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fairs of foreign governments has hovered like an ominously dark cloud over relations with the US. But it is not wise to try so hard to be estranged from the US precisely because of the changing politics in this part of the world.

You do not shrug off American hegemony by taking on another one, and if you are to choose partners, it still is the wiser thing to do to go with one who has spent some time with you rather than with one with whom you have had nothing more than the political equivalent of a onenight stand.

As for abrogating treaties and shoving international agreements aside, it will not do to be precipitous, because one cannot invoke international law when one has been cavalier in its disregard! rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

WHO said Donald Trump is the most dangerous man on the planet? The fact that millions of American voted him their next US president says they trust the man to lead the most powerful nation in the world.

That America is the most powerful nation in the world has also become dubious and subject to debate. This, after the US allowed China to continue committing aggression in the South China Sea which is escalating tension in the region. Latest satellite images showed the Chinese have installed modern missiles on the artificial islands they built in the disputed waters.

There’s nary a word from the US on this latest Chinese threat to the stability of the Southeast Asian region. Is it because China’s action does not fall under the US Monroe Doctrine that deals strongly with any threat to the US from within South America? The Monroe Doctrine was what then President John F. Kennedy invoked when challenging Russia after Nikita Khrushchev installed powerful missiles in Cuba during the Cold War crisis.

It does not help, and instead encourages China, that Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte stated he’s willing to set aside The Hague tribunal ruling rejecting Beijing’s claim to 90 percent of the resource- rich South China Sea. Manila filed and won its case against Beijing and now Duterte is willing to set aside The Hague ruling? In basketball or football, that’s like the home team scoring a goal in the opponent’s court. But then, strange things have been occurring since the advent of the new administration.

This is akin to hosting an invasion with splayed legs. No wonder we don’t get any respect from countries like China. The country is being portrayed like the bar girls in Olongapo during the heydays of American sailors when Subic was used as a naval base by the US Seventh Fleet .

There’s much to be said of sovereignty and an independent foreign policy that Duterte and Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. are espousing.

While we support the idea, there is the pitfall that separating from the US could lead the Turn to A5

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Opinion Laying the predicate?

FOR three days last week, CNN International focused its headline stories on the President’s war on drugs. What should have been a one-day story about the usual-by-now presidential pronouncements on killing drug pushers kept popping into the monitor, treated in the much the same way as the continuing tragedy in Aleppo.

The trigger, of course was the “hyperbolic” admission from our president that as mayor of Davao, he would go hunting criminals himself in the dead of night, just to show the police that if he could do it, why could they not?

And then, in an interview, Senator Leila de Lima condemned the President’s statement before the business community, and claims that such an admission constituted grounds for impeachment, as a violation of our Constitution and a betrayal of public trust.

Whew!

As a long sidebar feature, CNN’s reporter sent to Manila had a story about a father (a confessed addict, “but not a pusher,” said the widow) and his sixyear-old son being shot by “vigilantes” inside their own hovel. The story, as seen on TV, was quite poignant, the kind that would not just raise eyebrows but tug at the heart.

In Cambodia, where President Duterte was on a state visit, Prime Minister Hun Sen did not raise any issues about human rights, even if his people had been methodically decimated by the millions decades ago by Pol Pot. Neither did Singaporean PM Lee Hsien

SO I SEE LITO BANAYO Loong.

Here in Taiwan, a deputy mayor told this writer that he agreed with our president’s tough stance against drugs and crime. “Peace and order is always the paramount concern,” said he.

In a diplomatic reception where I sat with the representatives of South Korea, Russia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Mongolia, everyone was nodding when the Mongolian representative said in a booming voice, “I admire your new president for his toughness and his always speaking out his mind.”

One of the diplomats said, “countries have to go through phases in their development, be it on the security or the economic spheres.”

But the western press is relentless.

It has an agenda to pursue, or so I submit.

It is the same American media that saw egg splattered all over their faces when their candidate Hillary was nosed out by Donald. Instead of eating crow, they snipe at the cabinet-designates of Trump, questioning their credentials, minutely examining their past positions on issues, or even their “close” relations with Putin. This early, they seem to be appropriating the Senate vetting function to themselves.

And because the POTUS-to-be Trump did not “castigate” Rodrigo Duterte on his war against drugs, then in the “defeated” American media mind, they had to pick on the Philippines.

Their idol Obama and his Hillary, after all, were quite forthright against Duterte’s anti-drug methods.

But there is another angle that titillates my mind, and that is, the curious hyping of Senadora Leila, who is about to deliver a speech on whatever else but “human rights” in Berlin soon.

Despite the objections of some, our government put up no obstacle upon her freedom to travel to wherever. She is, after all, just an accused, neither charged in court nor convicted of allegations that she was on the take from drug lords.

The CNN report curiously pictured her as about the only consistent critic of the Duterte drug war in a country where the public is seen as accepting, even applauding Duterte’s high-handed actions.

And then the cop-out: many who object to Duterte could see themselves in danger of being eliminated.

Are they laying the predicate for the senadora’s applying for political asylum?

Are unseen hands using their connections for this to be done while Obama is still POTUS? Is Doña Loida Nicolas Lewis pulling some strings in Capitol Hill?

Just playing a possible story in my mind. Maybe I am wrong

Why artificial intelligence won’t displace human artists

By Leonid Bershidsky THIS year’s news about what artificial intelligence can do in the arts has been both exciting and scary. Neural networks have learned to paint like masters and compose sophisticated music. Those of us in creative endeavors might be as endangered by technological advances as blue-collar workers are often said to be—though we are protected by certain limitations that technology is never likely to overcome.

Last summer, a team of Russian developers released Prisma, a mobile app based on the work of some German artificial intelligence researchers. The neural network behind it could redraw an image using techniques it had learned from studying the oeuvre of a number of painters, including Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch. The end product was impressive: Prisma could reproduce brushstrokes and palettes, using only a photo for guidance, almost the way a human painter could have.

This month, Gaetan Hadjeres and Francois Pachet from the Sony Computer Science Laboratories in Paris published a paper about an artificial intelligence model called DeepBach, which can compose polyphonic chorales even professional musicians can mistake for the work of Johann Sebastian Bach. The chorale is a rather formulaic piece of Lutheran church music that usually reharmonizes a well-known melody. Bach composed hundreds, so there’s plenty of material for a neural network to learn. Musicians who listened to Bach and DeepBach music were more likely to correctly attribute the great composer’s work than the machine’s, but about 40 percent of them misidentified DeepBach chorales as works composed in 18th century Leipzig—even though the machine didn’t plagiarize Bach but produced genuinely new work.

The researchers wrote: Despite some compositional errors like

parallel octaves, the musical analysis reveals that the DeepBach compositions reproduce typical Bach-like patterns, from characteristic cadences to the expressive use of nonchord tones.

The success of DeepBach follows work by the same team that produced a surprisingly hummable pop song in the style of The Beatles, and a separate effort by a team at Google in which an artificial neural network composed jingle-like piano pieces. Computers, of course, have generated music before, but these recent experiments are different because the machines aren’t programmed to perform specific tasks—they learn from big datasets to create music without further human input. Models like DeepBach also allow human intervention, or, rather, collaboration.

Machines also have been getting better at producing literary work. This year, an AI-written novel passed the first round of a Japanese fiction competition.

Obviously, these creative efforts are, at this point, somewhat short of stunning —but only if one considers their origin.

Unlike most overhyped human creations, these only represent the first steps for a technology that most of us only know for its frustrating and often hilarious implementations in the digital assistants on our mobile phones: Siri, Google Assistant and Cortana.

Researchers are working to overcome a number of practical problems: The need for huge amounts of data to train the algorithms, the narrow specialization of the neural networks (a chess-playing one can’t write music, for example), the logical errors the networks make when discerning and interpreting patterns. Given more time and effort, these will probably be solved, at least to a degree that makes consumer applications of the algorithms widespread. There is, however, one boundary that no research team has approached and that, I suspect, will forever protect creative professions from

Abetting...

From A4 country to being a lackey of a rising and dominant China. Is this what Filipinos want?

The two polling outfits—Social Weather Stations and Pulse Asia —should conduct a survey on this important and relevant issue.

Short of holding a referendum, SWS and Pulse Asia would be doing a great public service in giving the Duterte administration a barometer of the people’s sentiments. The two polling organizations have carried out surveys on less significant issues. Why not on this key issue of choosing sides between being a stooge of Uncle Sam or the “atchoy” of the Mandarins in Beijing?

For the true outcome of the poll results, the survey must be com-

displacement.

It’s a problem described in David Hume’s “A Treatise of Human Nature,” published when Bach was still alive: “Even after the observation of the frequent or constant conjunction of objects, we have no reason to draw any inference concerning any object beyond those of which we have had experience.”

It’s possible to teach a machine Van Gogh’s painting technique, but only if it already exists. An algorithm can write chorales like Bach because it can “study” Bach. Even when the work produced by AI is less specifically derivative than it is today—say, when the algorithms learn to combine various techniques they learn in an intelligent manner—they will never rise above previous work because the way they work is based on experience. They are constrained by Hume’s piece of wisdom.

The one way in which we’re radically different from machines is in our ability to step into the unknown, to do things that have never been done before with paint, form, sound and the written word. Most of the rewards to creative professionals today accrue to that ability, not to skill or the extensive knowledge of predecessors’ work. Even a derivative work of art needs to be derivative in groundbreaking ways to be appreciated.

It works this way because that’s how the infrastructure—critics, publishers, curators, performers—is set up. One could imagine work produced by machines getting some appreciation, but ultimately, we appreciate art through extremely human social mechanisms. Humans will take care of their own, and they’ll continue to prize originality.

Human creators will probably use AI for narrow tasks, training it on specific datasets to write dialogue, orchestrate music or produce variations to make a print more unique. But they won’t be displaced as long as they have the courage to do new things. Bloomberg

missioned by a non-government entity. Preferably, the private sector or the academe should be behind it. Anyone else (particularly the government) commissioning such a survey would give rise to suspicion of manipulation.

Speaking of the people’s will and a referendum, the citizenry must be vigilant in heading off a Constitutional Assembly in the planned revision of the Charter. The people must insist on a Constitutional Convention with them electing the delegates themselves.

They should not wait for a plebiscite to accept or reject onerous amendments the congressmen/delegates drafted. We have seen how election results are corrupted by the powers that be. The same thing can happen to referendum results being manipulated to suit the agenda of sinister forces.

Don’t take it from me. Former President Fidel V. Ramos said it

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

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OUT OF THE BOX RITA LINDA V. JIMENO

Recognizing blessings I SPENT the weekend in a beach resort in Lobo, Batangas whose villas were nestled in a mountain thick with hard wood trees like molave and ligasong as well as tropical plants. It was a rejuvenating getaway from the traffic and pollution in the city. The sea breeze was refreshingly cold while the waves made sounds that induced one to relax and commune with himself, nature and the Divine Creator. As I looked at the vast sea which is Verde Island Passage I remembered how we—the people of this peaceful town—struggled months ago to stop mining. Had mining succeeded here, I would no longer be enjoying the fresh air now as dust from displaced earth would instead burden the air. And I would no longer be marveling at the richness of this marine paradise where dolphins and sea turtles are occasionally seen close to the shore. The Verde Island Passage has been cited as the center of the center of the world’s marine biodiversity. In the years past, I also spent much time in this very same beach cum mountain resort but back then I took it for granted what a blessing this idyllic nirvana was until we almost lost it to mining.

How we saved this unspoiled paradise from the destructive effects of mining was a story of how a people who did not use to really know each other banded together and fought for the common good. One personality who stood out in the struggle was Gina Lopez, now the secretary of the Environment department. Her crusade did not just consist of repelling mining in areas where severe destruction would result such as sites of biodiversity and human habitation but also in helping people learn alternative sources of living such as organic farming and food preservation. This, she did, to the municipality of Lobo, Batangas expecting nothing in return except the reward of knowing she has done something good.

As Environment secretary, Lopez zealously carried out an audit of all mining companies to determine who were committing environmental infractions, emphasizing that her department has adopted social justice and This, after human development as “the filter all, is the very and the fulcrum essence of our through which all decisions of the Endemocratic vironment departprocesses. ment makes, pass.”

Her commitment to social justice is non-negotiable, she says. Thus, despite facing strong lobby from the mining industry, preventing the confirmation of her appointment by Congress, she continues her crusade to preserve the environment for the common good. While she is committed to uplifting the Philippine economy, she said, we cannot build an economy based on suffering.

Thus, she plans not to renew the fish pen permits in Laguna Lake as this has resulted in the pollution of the lake, the biggest body of fresh water in the Philippines and in Southeast Asia. The fish harvested from the lake may, after all, no longer be safe for human consumption because the lake has served as a catch basin for wastes and septage from 400,000 households surrounding it, she said. When the fish pens are gone, the lake can be dredged to clean it up and allow water to flow freely. Then individual fishermen can go fishing again and the site can be converted into an ecotourism zone, Lopez explained.

Recently, Lopez canceled the environmental compliance certificate of Century Properties which plans to develop a housing project on the La Mesa Watershed because the project would affect the water reservoir that serves 12-million people. This will obviously increase the lobby against her appointment by groups with business interest but Lopez said, business interest can never be more important than the water people drink. Clearly, Lopez has the vision and the political will to carry out her task effectively for the good of the Filipino people. Yet people take for granted that she can go on serving as secretary of environment, not realizing that they could lose her unless she eventually gets the confirmation by Congress.

People should make their representatives in Congress know that what they want and who they want to be confirmed in their posts should be supported by their elected representatives. This, after all, is the very essence of our democratic processes, that we elect our congressmen, congresswomen, as well as senators, to be our voices in that chamber, and not to represent their own selfish interest but ours.

Email: ritalindaj@gmail.com Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph

more succinctly. “The Duterte ship of state is sailing in dangerous waters and its skipper doesn’t know how to steer it to safety,” said Ramos.

This is a clear sign FVR has broken off from the then-ambivalent Davao City mayor he had pushed to seek the presidency. This also signals more rough sailing for the President who has yet to complete his first year in office on June 30, 2017.

How long can Digong weather the storm? He has incurred he ire of the US, the United Nations, European Union, the Pope and the Vatican with his foul-mouthed statements even as he courts alliances with China and Russia.

The way it looks, there are no more enemies to be made. Duterte’s worst enemy is himself. Let’s pray he changes his presidential style and does not implode.

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News

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

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Manila dads warn: Medicine shortage looms

By Tony Macapagal MANILA councilors belonging to the 13man strong minority bloc have raised concerns over an impending shortage of free medicines for indigent patients in six cityowned and -operated public hospitals.

The bloc, headed

by Councilor Bernardito Ang, appealed to Mayor Joseph Estrada to act quickly on the problem.

Ang said the possible shortage was the result of a decision of the city council to divert some P360 million from the 2017 annual allocation of the six hospitals to other city hall entities.

The six public hospitals are the Ospital ng Maynila, Sta. Ana, Justice Jose Abad

Santos, Gat Andres Bonifacio, Sampaloc and Tondo II. Ang said at least P60 million each have been slashed from the budget of the medical centers and have been transferred to the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau, Manila Tricycle Regulatory Office and the Manila Health Department.

“But the MTPB and MTRO, both chaired by Dennis Alcoriza, already have sufficient budgetary outlays to run these two offices,” he said.

“More than the legal grounds, if there are any, to justify the fund diversion, isn’t it that the moral issue at hand, which is that of the wellbeing and health of our constituents, more important?”

Ang added.

PIMP MY RIDE. Children walk past a colorful hand-painted jeepney designed by students of the Mapua Institute of Technology during the 6th Pinoy Ultimate Jeepney inter-school design competition at the Resorts World in Pasay City. Norman Cruz

MILF commander denies receiving drug payoffs

PAL starts flights to Singapore from Cebu

directive, I immediately sought a meeting with Commander Bravo. We held the meeting inside a RANKING commander of the Moro mosque in his mountain hide-out Islamic Liberation Front has belied reports in Lanao del Sur,” Mama-o said.

“Bravo clarifies that his opreaching President Rodrigo Duterte that erations in the MILF Nortwestern the MILF official has been receiving payoffs from Mindanao Front were, in fact, in drug dealers, allegely being used to build his own support of the President’s anti-drug war,” the presidential adviser added. empire in Mindanao.

Bravo and his group were reported to have established their own MILF commander Abdullah said the former separatist group government in Mindanao, allegMacapaar, in a recent meeting remains supportive of Duterte’s edly financed by payoffs from drug with presidential adviser on Mus- blood narco-war. dealers and drug distributors from lim concerns Abdullah Mama-o, “In line with President Duterte’s Metro Manila, Cavite, Batangas, the

THE Department of Tourism and the Philippine Airlines have formally recently launched the flag carrier’s new direct flights from Singapore to Cebu, a few hours after President Rodrigo Duterte concluded his two-day state visit to the Lion City.

The fully-booked maiden f light left Changi International Airport at 2:45 a.m., with mostly Filipinos on board who are taking the holiday break in the Philippines.

The Tourism department sealed the deal with PAL as part of its route development program.

“The lifeblood of Philippine tourism is connectivity. We are an archipelago and most of the tourists can reach us only by air.

That is why I consider initiatives like this as critical to the continuing development of our tourism market. We are opening more gateways and with it, wider access for visitors,” Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo said.

“Cebu is a premier city of Visayas. Its continuing fame as a destination is unquestioned. We now have the chance to make this not only a main tourist attraction—but also a major hub from which travelers can hop to as many of destinations in Visayas as possible,” Teo added, hoping this will be the start of many routes to come.

The new route is an addition to the growing number of international air access in the Philippines that includes GuangzhouKalibo, Hangzhou-Kalibo, Hangzhou-Cebu, Shanghai-Cebu, Shanghai-Kalibo, Nanjing-Cebu, and the soon-to-be-launched Vanilla Air’s Tokyo-Cebu direct flights.

Philippine Ambassador to Singapore Antonio Morales expressed confidence that the inaugural f light “will further entice Singaporean citizens and permanent residents to visit the Philippines.”

By Sandy Araneta

A

Visayas, and other parts of the country who had come down to Lanao to hide from the authorities.

Bravo claimed it was the drug syndicates who fabricated the wrong information that was fed to Duterte.

“Bravo said his command will continue complementing the President’s drive against the scourge of drugs. He also said that he abides by the on-going peace process between the government and the MILF,” Mama-o said.

Duterte earlier met the rebel leaders led by MILF chairman Ebrahim

Murad at the Matina Enclaves Residences where he usually holds office on weekends.

Duterte and the MILF leaders also tackled the overall situation in Mindanao during the meeting, including problems in dealing with the extremist Maute group.

MILF vice chairman for political affairs Ghadzali Jaafar said Duterte wants the peace talks to resume early next year.

“The Bangsamoro Transition Commission could now start its job of crafting a new Bangsamoro Basic Law,” Jaafar said.

Lawmakers support Subic Bay highway

By Rio N. Araja MEMBERS of the House of Representatives on Sunday welcomed the proposed construction of a multimodal 100-kilometer coastal highway from Subic Bay to the Port of Manila to help ease traffic in Metro Manila.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone, Ako Bicol Rep. Rodel Batocabe and Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo backed the recommendation of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Martin Diño to “shift the momentum of development north toward Subic and Clark.”

“The proposed road development projects, especially a new one going to the metro, is always a welcome development because of the magnitude of the traffic problem [we have here]. But we should always study the best infrastructure available as the best alternative,” Castelo said.

Traffic jams in the capital have been resulting in productivity losses of at least P2.4 million a day.

Diño staid the “most viable and doable solution to the traffic congestion lies outside the metropolis.”

The project’s indicative cost “is the equivalent of only 34 days of cumulative business losses resulting from the Manila’s traffic congestion,” he added.

The project construction could be completed in 48 months, Diño said.

“The economic benefits from the project would be immediate and enormous,” he said, adding: “This would speed up the movement of goods in and out of the Port of Manila to serve its giant market of 20 million consumers.”

HOME FOR CHRISTMAS. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers from the Middle East and returning residents from the United States and Canada arrive at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. Eric Apolonio

Salceda files tax reform measure to accelerate growth LEGAZPI CITY—Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has filed House Bill 4688 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion.

Salceda described the measure as “a centerpiece program that will ultimately reduce poverty to single digit, grow the economy by nine percent, and transform the Philippines into an Asian economic powerhouse by 2028.”

“This is the TRAIN of the Duterte Express, which I committed to file during the Philippine Development Forum in Davao last November with the participation of non-government agencies, civil society organizations, official development assistance ODA partners, and LGUs,” the Albay lawmaker explained.

House Bill 4688 aims “to create a

tax system that is simpler, fairer and more efficient, characterized by low rates and a broad base that promotes investment, job creation and poverty reduction.”

The bill, Salceda said, ran parallel with President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Tunay na Pagbabago” or real positive change commitment to the Filipino people, that included more inclusive growth and

comfortable life for all, improved public services, more and better jobs and more money in the people’s pockets; and safe, healthy, and peaceful communities.

The measure is also a concrete step in making tax rates on income in the Philippines competitive in the region to fit the structural objective of the Asean Economic Community. PNA

By Sandy Araneta

Sports

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

National Shooting Challenge Level 1 slated in Benguet

STRONG FINISH. Team GlutaMAX Men celebrates a strong finish in the 67th Fil-Am Invitational Golf Championship presented by San Miguel Corporation at Baguio Country Club/Camp John Hay Golf Club. The GlutaMAX Men Golf Team is composed of (from left) Cong. Matt Defensor, represented by Mike Gonzales, Healthwell Nutraceuticals President Paulo Legaspi, YSA Skin Care Corporation Chair Robert Nazal, Dominic Samson and Aian Arcilla, represented by Rocky Sun.

Soaring Rockets rally to surprise T’Wolves LOS ANGELES—James Harden scored 10 of his 28 points in overtime as the Houston Rockets rallied from a 13-point fourthquarter deficit Saturday to notch a 10th-straight NBA triumph, 111-109 over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis.

Harden handed out 13 assists with nine rebounds that left him one shy of a triple-double.

Forward Ryan Anderson scored 28 points and Eric Gordon provided his familiar spark off the bench with 20 as the Rockets stretched their December winning streak.

Anderson’s effort included seven three-pointers as the Rockets followed up their record-setting 24 three-pointers in a win at New Orleans on Friday with 17 from beyond the arc against the Timberwolves.

But the hosts, led by KarlAnthony Towns’ doubledouble of 41 points and 15 rebounds, appeared to be in control, leading 91-78 with 2:59 to play.

Houston’s Trevor Ariza then knotted the score with a three-pointer with 6.5 seconds remaining in regulation as Houston capped a 14-2 scoring run.

Harden scored seven points on the trot to open overtime -- in which the reeling Timberwolves never led.

“I’m so confident in this team,” Harden said. “I don’t ever see us out of a game. We score the ball so easily, so well.”

Anderson agreed that the Rockets’ run of success has given them the confidence to weather their dry spells.

“Obviously, tonight we didn’t shoot the ball like we normally do,” Anderson said. “We had a pretty off night overall, but we made shots when it counted and stayed with it.

“You have to say something about resiliency and also just we have so much confidence in each other.

If you miss five shots in a row, we want you to take the sixth shot.” AFP

THE Police Regional Off ice Cordillera will be hosting the 2nd Police Chief Superintendent Elmo Francis O. Sarona National Shooting Challenge Level 1 recently at the PRO COR Firing Range, Camp Bado, Dangwa, La Trinidad in Benguet.

More than 20 0 shooters all over Luzon are expected to compete i n the t wo d ay compet it ion sanct ioned by Philippi ne Shooters Match Off icials Confederat ion and Philippi ne I nst it ute of Fi rear ms I nst r uctors Associat ion.

“We are expecting the best shooters to compete in this prestigious shooting event,” said event coordinator Jose Ortalla Jr. “The participants will undergo an effective safety measure during the competition.”

The competition is sponsored by San Miguel Corporation, PSSLAI, Ulticon Builders Corporation and Trust Trade.

The shootfest will have the following stages on handgun and mini rif le event: Spinning balls, the Pirate, the storage plant, the warehouse, Raid on Sosia Lobby, Abandoned Building, Guard Inspection and in search for the target.

The Level I PSA handgun and shotgun match event will have the following stages: Parking lot encounter, Mall robbery and Hotel Lobby Hold Up. For any inquiry, contact event coordinator Jose Ortalla Jr. (09177583023).

Rested Cavs rip Lakers L

OS ANGELES—A little rest did a world of good for the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, who showed spring in their step in a 119-108 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday.

LeBron James scored 26 points, including 16 in the fourth quarter. Kyrie Irving had 21 points and matched his career high with 12 assists and Kevin Love scored 27 points and pulled down 17 rebounds a night after Cavs coach Tyronn Lue rested the star trio.

Irving was back after a week off, having told Lue he had tired legs in last Saturday’s victory over the Charlotte Hornets.

“It was warranted,” Irving said. “How I felt, knowing the importance of what was coming up in the season, I think it was a great group decision in terms of the rest

that was needed.”

The trend of resting star players who aren’t injured has sparked debate -- in part as to whether it’s fair to fans -- but Lue said Saturday he would consider resting Irving again.

“There will probably come another time where he’s going to need a little rest also,” Lue said. “Right now, he’s feeling good and that’s the biggest thing for me.”

The Lakers, who snapped an eight game losing streak on Friday at Philadelphia, led by as many as eight late in the first quarter and maintained the lead into

the second period.

But the Cavs had edged ahead 62-59 at halftime and didn’t trail after the interval, although the Lakers cut the gap to 108105 late in the fourth quarter after two three-pointers from Nick Young.

“They hit some tough shots,” said James, whose three-pointer with 2:32 remaining stretched the Cavs’ lead to 113-105.

“It was up to us to get a couple timely stops like we usually do in the fourth quarter and make a couple timely shots like we do -- and we did that.”

Western Conference powers Golden State improved their league-leading record to 24-4 with an emphatic 135-90 triumph over the Portland Trail Blazers in Oakland, California.

Kevin Durant scored 13 of his 34 points in the first quarter as the Warriors

jumped to an early lead.

Reserve Ian Clark added 23 points, Stephen Curry chipped in 19 and Klay Thompson scored 16 as Draymond Green contributed a double-double of 13 assists and 12 rebounds.

The 45-point margin of victory was the Warriors’ biggest of the season, surpassing their 149-106 drubbing of the Lakers on November 23.

A day after connecting on a record 24 three-pointers in a win at New Orleans, the Houston Rockets rallied to notch their 10th straight victory, 111-109 in overtime over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

James Harden scored 10 of his 28 points in the extra period, handing out 13 assists with nine rebounds that left him one shy of a second triple-double in as many nights. AFP

Chiang Kai Shek battles Adamson in cage finale CHIANG Kai Shek College produced a couple of scoring spurts in the third period and blasted NCAA champion Mapua, 92-78, to book a return trip to the final of the 5th Philippine Secondary Schools Basketball Championship MEC Networks Cup Saturday at the SGS gym in Quezon City.

After squandering a 14-point lead early in the second quarter, the CKSC Blue Dragons exploded for 29 points in the third, through the hot hands of John Galinato, Donn Lim and Jonas Tibayan, while holding the Red Robins to just 13 points to turn what was expected to be a close contest into a rout.

Making up for a so-so showing in the first two quarters that saw the Red Robins grab a 56-45 halftime lead, Galinato

scattered 20 points, including a triple that helped spark the team’s early salvo in the third.

As if on cue, Tibayan joined the fray, highlighting another backbreaking run with back-to-back inside plays to push Chiang Kai Shek to a 74-59 lead going into the final 10 minutes of play.

The Red Robins tried to make a run of their own, but the Blue Dragons – out to become the first back-to-back champion squad—were there to frustrate them.

Standing Chiang Kai Shek’s backto-back bid in the tournament also sponsored by Hapee Toothpate, Freego, Dickies Underwear, Ironcorn Builders, Manila Blackwater, Poly Gloss Automotive Standard TODAY Polyurethane System and Ché Lu Bar

& Grill, is Adamson.

The Baby Falcons showed why they are the hottest team in the UAAP – they completed a seven-game sweep of the elims – by turning back La Salle Greenhills, 83-77.

Through the hot shooting of Troy Mallilin, the Greenies rallied from a 24-point deficit in the third quarter to close in at 81-77.

But rookie Florencio Serrano came through with a tough basket to douse cold water on the Greenies’ comeback bid.

Serrano led four Adamson players in double figures with 17 points aside from grabbing 8 boards. Mallilin paced La Salle with a double-double showing of 26 points and 17 boards.

John Galinato of Chiang Kai Shek College drives to the basket against Mapua’s Clint Escamis during their semis match which the Blue Dragons won, 92-78.

NZ jockey killed in racing fall WELLINGTON—A New Zealand female jockey died in a racing accident on Sunday with two of her children reported to be at the meeting to watch her ride.

The 39-year-old mother of three was flung to the track when her horse, Point Proven, stumbled and fell at a race meeting in the southern town of Gore.

A trailing horse, Misscattlecreek, also fell and appeared to land on the woman, the New Zealand

Herald said.

“The fall happened during race 8, which two of her children were at, at the Tapanui Racing Club meeting,” the newspaper said.

Police confirmed there had been a fatality but released no other details.

The woman’s name has not been officially released but local news media identified her as Rebecca Black, who reportedly rode 108 winners in a 1,264race career. AFP

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 6 DIGITS 00-00-00-00-00-00 3 DIGITS 00-00-00 2 EZ2 00-00

CHRISTMAS ANNUAL GIFT-GIVING. Imbued with the founder’s spirit of generosity and compassion, the Wong Chu King Foundation (WCKF) recently kicked off its annual Christmas caravan by giving away combinations of food and water supplies, vitamins for adults and children, diapers and educational packs.

The gift packs were given to Barangay Tikay residents in Malolos, Bulacan; Heart of Mary Villa patrons in Katipunan; and dependents of drivers and househelp of Ciudad Regina subdivision as well as street children in Fairview, Quezon City.

The foundation is known for its various active endeavours in dedication to its founder who pursued a lifelong mission to provide opportunities for others.

Sports

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

A8

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

Yuka Saso, who bagged the individual crown and led the Philippines to the team championship in the World Junior Girls’ championship in Canada last September, expects a tough outing against the cream of the pro crop.

Amateurs out to spoil pro field YUKA Saso, the reigning World Junior Girls’ champion, headlines a talent-laden roster of amateurs raring to slug it out with a crack international pro field in the $80,000 ICTSI Philippine Ladies Masters unfolding Wednesday at the Alabang Country Club in Muntinlupa.

Saso, who bagged the individual crown and led the Philippines to the team championship in the World Junior Girls’ championship in Canada last September, expects a tough outing against the cream of the pro crop but remains confident as ever to figure for top honors in the 54-hole tournaement serving as the final leg of the Taiwan LPGA Tour and the ICTSI Ladies Philippine Golf Tour.

Also in the amateur list is national champion Harmie Constantino, member of that World Junior Girls champion squad and winner of the LPGT ICTSI Malarayat Ladies Classic last July, and Korean teener Hwang Min Jeong, who also humbled the pro field to win at Malarayat last year.

Pauline del Rosario also hopes to ride the crest of a three-title run, including two in Malaysia and Singapore, as the top The Country Club bet joins the title hunt along with TCC teammate Mikha Fortuna, Abegail Arevalo and Sam Martirez in the event sponsored by ICTSI and coorganized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. and TLPGA. Others in the fold are Annika Guangko Isabela Miravite and Marvi Monsalve.

Lee lifts Star, torments former team P

By Jeric Lopez

AUL Lee made his former team suffer, while lifting his current team in the process.

players in double-figures, scoring a team-high 16 points, Lee finished with 14 markers and four assists and Jalalon was also solid with 14 points, five rebounds and six assists off the bench.

As expected, it was a highly competitive game with neither team taking full command.

It was 88-all with just over three minutes left before the Hotshots let loose and finished the game with authority to take the victory.

With the shotclock winding down, Jalalon gave Star the lead, 90-88, as he knocked down a runner in the line to beat the 24-second buzzer with 2:41 remaining.

Lee followed that up with key plays in successive possessions to show the light for the Hotshots as he nailed a triple in the right elbow with 1:54 to push his team’s lead to 93-88.

Then, it was Aldrech Ramos, who provided the dagger, nail-

ing back-to-back triples in the next possessions, making it an insurmountable 99-88 advantage for Star with 35.7 seconds left. Both baskets were courtesy of Lee’s assists.

It was a critical win for the rampaging Hotshots as this allowed them to tie the Elasto Painters in the standings with their identical 3-2 slates. They share the same record with two other teams, TNT KaTropa and Blackwater.

In their first match-up following their blockbuster trade of stars in the off-season, which saw Lee and James Yap, Star’s face of the franchise for more than a decade, switch places, both squads showed the intensity and competitive nature to live up to the hype prior to the game.

“Masaya. I’m very happy na nanalo kami and lahat kami ng teammates ko, were able to stepup,” said Lee.

Lee’s clutch playmaking combined with Jio Jalalon’s go-ahead basket down the stretch lifted Star to its third straight victory as they turned back Rain or Shine, 99-91,

using a deadly finishing kick in the 2016-17 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum Sunday.

Peter June Simon led six Star

Moya now one of Rafa’s net coaches

So zeroes in on London, Grand Chess Tour titles

MADRID—Former world number one Carlos Moya is joining Rafael Nadal’s coaching team alongside the 14-time Grand Slam champion’s long-time coach, his uncle Toni Nadal.

Moya recently ended his coaching ties with Milos Raonic despite helping the Canadian rise to a career-high world number three by the end of the season.

“I am very excited to announce that Carlos Moya will join my team immediately and working together with Toni and Francis Roig,” said Nadal in a statement on Saturday.

“To have someone like Carlos, who is not only a friend but also a very important person in my career, is something special.”

Moya will also coach at Nadal’s recently inaugurated tennis academy in Mallorca.

“I am sure that together with Toni, Francis and the rest of the team we have a great common project,” said Moya.

“Rafa is a special player and above all a great person and friend on which I have a lot of trust and confidence that will be able to continue winning important titles.”

Nadal hasn’t won a Grand Slam since the 2014 French Open after suffering another injury-hit campaign last season, which saw him slip to ninth in the rankings.

WESLEY So drew with American grandmaster Fabiano Caruana in 37 moves of a Ruy Lopez Opening to zero in on the 2016 London Chess Classic title at the Olympia Conference Centre in West Kensington.

So’s game with Caruana turned into a draw after the American gave up his rook during an exchange in the center fifth rank.

With a round left in the chess tournament, the 23-year-old So, who is now an American citizen, has 5.5 points in the solo

lead, while Caruana trails with 5 points. The former Filipino chesser stands to earn the top purse of $100,000 if he wins the tournament.

Levon Aronian of Armenia is no. 2 with 21.75 points, followed

by Caruana with 16.75.

Meanwhile, GM Vladimir Kramnik, who also drew with So in the seventh round, shared third with Viswanathan Anand and Hikaru Nakamura with 4.5 points. This after Kramnik drew with Anish Giri in 46 moves of a

Sicilian Najdorf.

So is also set to become the overall winner of the Grand Chess Tour 2016 since he has already amassed 30 points for winning the Sinquefield early this year, with earnings of $120,000 already in the bag.

“I’m very happy to win the Grand Chess Tour. This is a huge success for me. As usual, I would like to thank the Lord for letting me win such a prestigious tour,” said So in an interview which appeared in the tournament’s official website.

Experts said So played very accurately to hold back Caruana’s black pieces.

Under the FIDE rankings as of December 2016, So is close to breaking to 2800 ELO rating and is still at no. 5 In the live chess ratings of 2700chess.com, though, So appeared to have reached this milestone last Dec. 11, 2016, when he made it to no. 4 after beating FIDE’s no. 19, Englishman Mickey Adams in Round 2.

As the tournament draws to a

close, So now has an unofficial ELO rating of 2807.7 at no. 4, with Carlsen in the lead with 2840, followed by Caruana (2828) and Kramnik (2811). Maxine VachierLagrave has reportedly slipped to fifth with 2796.3.

A month ago, So was at no. 6, according to the FIDE list. His victory over Adams allowed him to reach the 2800 ELO rating points in the official FIDE list, where four players in the world have points beyond this mark.

Peter Atencio

Singaporeans stun Junior Volcanoes for 3rd place SINGAPORE turned the tables in its favor in the final moments of the first half and held off the Philippine Junior Volcanoes, 3515, in the battle for third place in the Asia Rugby Under 19 Division 1 Championship Saturday at International School of Manila field in Taguig.

From there, the Singaporeans stepped up with their attack in the second half, scoring three tries to earn them the bronze.

Bernard Tay led Singapore with 30 points, including 14 made on ground balls in the second half.

“We fell short in the end. It was a 70-minute game. The momentum swung just before the second half,” said Junior Volcanoes assistant coach Jake Letts.

The Junior Volcanoes were in

charge in the 30:36 mark of the first half, after James Ryan went for grounder and scored on a try, 15-9.

Then, a try and a conversion from Tay in 37:16 mark allowed Singapore to take the upperhand, 16-15 at halftime.

Later in the day, Korea squeaked past United Arab Emirates, 14-13, to claim the gold medal.

Joonbeam Park drove in a try and Kimim Kim converted in the last 2:30 as the Koreans fought their way out of a 0-10 deficit.

The Junior Volcanoes lost steam with the offensive play before the end of the first half when skipper Robert Gray McCafferty suffered a leg injury. Singapore took a 6-0 lead early off Tay’s penalty shots.

Peter Atencio

The Turf Company, one of the country’s leading and most trusted distributors of precision mowing

equipment, irrigation systems, golf cars and other utility vehicles, delivered another fleet of equipment to Sta. Elena Golf and Country Club, including new models of Workman Utility Vehicles and Mowers for turf maintenance.

Shown in photo are (from left) Renato Candilario, chief mechanic, Pacific Links; Mario Lopez, president and COO of the Turf Company; Tim Walker, VP for Golf Developments, Sta. Elena, and Ernie Mozo, sales manager of The Turf Company. The Turf Company is located at 9622 Kamagong St., San Antonio Village, Makati City. For inquiries, call (+632)8908017 or send a message to mobile numbers 09175079872 or 09178207012. You may also email at sales@turfcom.net.ph and turf@turfcom.net.ph or visit its website: www.theturfcompany.com.ph

Middleweight great Hopkins kayoed in career finale

Joe Smith Jr. takes a punch from Bernard Hopkins. Smith goes on to win the WBC International Light Heavyweight title in a ninth round TKO at The Forum in Inglewood, California. AFP

LOS ANGELES—Bernard Hopkins’s bid to add a last chapter to a storied ring career ended Saturday with the 51-year-old former world champion spent sprawling out of the ring by Joe Smith.

In a fight that Hopkins vowed would be his last the 27-year-old Smith -- who wasn’t born when Hopkins launched his career in 1988 -- ended proceedings with a series of blows that included one of his punishing right hands.

Hopkins, who sagged against the ropes and then through them

as Smith landed a final left, fell backwards, hitting his head and twisting an ankle.

When Hopkins was unable to make it back into the ring within the mandatory 20 seconds referee Jack Reiss called a halt, making it a technical knockout for Smith at 53 seconds of the eighth round.

“The fighter got hit with a legal punch, went out of the ring and was injured. It’s over,” Reiss said.

The result was booed by some of the 6,513 at the Forum in Los

Angeles, and Hopkins insisted he was pushed, not punched out of the ring.

“I’m really still in shock,” said Hopkins, whose resume includes some of the biggest names of his generation and an astonishing 20 straight middleweight title defenses beginning in 1994.

Hopkins became the oldest boxer in history to win a major title when defeated Tavoris Cloud in 2013. In 2014 he beat Beibut Shumenov by split decision to become the oldest to unify world titles.

After a two-year layoff, Hopkins looked all of his 51 years in the early going, but he said he believed he was on his way to turning the tide.

“I know if I hadn’t made a mess and gotten knocked out of the ring, I would’ve come back like I’m known for and would’ve had my chin,” Hopkins said after the result saw his record slip to 55-8-2 with 32 knockouts.

“I had seen him fall, and I kept hitting him until I saw him go out, and I landed that left hook to finish the job,” Smith said. “I hit

him with four or five clean shots and they were good shots on the button.”

Although it wasn’t the ending he wanted, “The Executioner” said he wouldn’t change his mind about retiring for good.

“I promised I wouldn’t,” he said of returning. “You come to that point in life where it is final and I’m happy with my life in retirement.

“I believe that the crowd and the fans know for a fact I went out as a soldier, fighting the toughest, baddest opponents. AFP

BIR collections increase B3 15% IN BRIEF Fake cigarette vendors arrested in Bukidnon

NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation agents in Region 10, armed with search warrants, nabbed three fake cigarette vendors in separate locations in Northern Mindanao.

Suspects Ricardo Rabago Jr. and Melodina Sabala of Gusa were separately arrested while in the act of selling 6,000 and 4,000 packs respectively of fake Mighty and Marvels cigarette brand variants in two different locations of Barangay Poblacion, San Fernando, Bukidnon.

Aside from the packs, NBI agents also seized a sales invoice of the fake cigarettes issued by a certain Happy Star Food Manufacturing and Marketing Corp. to Rabago.

Also seized from Sabala was a unit of Suzuki utility vehicle with plate no. KVW-504 which was used in the transport and delivery of the said counterfeit items.

Another team of NBI agents arrested a third suspect, Christian Uy, of Barangay Poblacion, Valencia City, Bukidnon while in the act of selling 13,750 packs of fake Mighty and Marvels cigarette brand variants in his own sari-sari store.

Authorities acted upon the complaint of Mighty Corp.

The search warrants were issued by Judge Isobel G. Barroso of the Malaybalay City regional trial court.

The suspects were charged in violation of Section 155 (trademark infringement) in relation to Section 170 of Republic Act 8293.

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

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Ayala forms Naia consortium

By Darwin G. Amojelar

T

HE infrastructure unit of conglomerate Ayala Corp. joined forces with three foreign airline operators to bid for the privatization and redevelopment of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport.

“We are happy the way our consortium came out. The people who are joining us are coming from a particular core competency and expertise that can add to the project. Hopefully it [will] help us win the bid,” AC Infrastructure Holdings Corp. president and chief executive Jose Rene Almendras said.

“If we design something more efficient, if we can put the best technology into place that can hopefully re-

duce cost or increase capacity, [it] will help us win the bid,” said Almendras, who served as Cabinet secretary under the Aquino administration.

Almendras did not identify the three foreign airline companies.

AC infra’s portfolio includes toll road and rail projects. Aside from AC Infrastructure, other conglomerates that expressed interest in joining the Naia redevelopment project were Metro Pacific Investments Corp., San

Miguel Corp and JG Summit Holdings Inc. The Transportation Department said it expected the bid submission for the project to be in August next year.

The award and signing of the concession agreement is expected in September 2017.

Under the Naia contract, the government will award a 15-year to 20year concession to the private sector to improve safety and security, maximize capacity through “refreshed” infrastructure, improve passenger service standards in the existing gateway, operate and maintain Naia and its four terminals.

Naia already exceeded the 30 million passenger capacity as early as 2012. A Japan International Coopera-

tion Agency study showed the number of passengers using Naia would reach 101.49 million by 2040.

Transportation undersecretary for aviation and airports Robert Lim said Jica was finalizing the location for a proposed new airport that would replace Naia in Parañaque City.

Jica was looking at Sangley Point in Cavite and Laguna de Bay as potential sites for the new international airport.

He said the government had to decide the ideal location for the new airport by 2017.

The government wants to build a new international airport that is 25 to 30 minutes away from Naia, which is expected to hit overcapacity this year, when the airport would handle 37.78 million passengers.

Foreign debt dropped to $76.6b in 3rd quarter

FOREIGN debt declined by 1.4 percent, or $1.1 billion, in the third quarter to $76.6 billion from $77.7 billion in the second quarter, driven mainly by $582-million net repayments by both public and private sectors, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said over the weekend.

The decline in the debt level also resulted from negative prior period adjustments of $661 million due to late reporting of principal payments.

“The downward impact of these developments were partially offset by the foreign exchange revaluation adjustments [$96 million] as the Japanese yen strengthened against the US dollar, and transfer of Philippine debt papers from residents to non-residents [$49 million],” Tetangco said in a statement.

Tetangco said “key external debt indicators remained at comfortable levels in the third quarter of 2016.” Gross international reserves stood at an all-time high of $86.1 billion as of end-September, up from the $85.3 billion in end-June.

Public sector borrowings dropped to $39.3 billion from $39.4 billion in the second quarter while private sector debt declined from $38.4 billion to $37.3 billion. Julito G. Rada

SBMA proposes 100-km coastal road

THE Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority asked the government to build a multi-modal 100-kilometer coastal highway from Subic Bay to the Port of Manila to help decongest traffic in the metropolis at a cost of P100 billion.

The “most viable and doable solution to the traffic congestion lies outside the metropolis,” Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority chairman Martin Dino said.

He said the project’s indicative cost “is the equivalent of only 34 days of cumulative business losses resulting from Manila’s traffic congestion.” The country is losing an estimated P3 billion a day from the traffic mess.

Construction could be completed in 48 months, he said.

Dino said he would ask for Malacañang’s approval to have it included for financing under the Philippine-China Framework of Cooperation.

“Many economic and social forces are now at play and our rapid and efficient response is critical to creating the environment conducive to promoting further growth and development,” Dino said.

“The economic benefits from the project would be immediate and enormous,” he said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

JOLLIBEE IN CANADA. Jollibee Foods Corp. opens its first store in Winnipeg, Canada, home to over 70,000 Filipinos. The crowd braved the -25 Celsius weather to get a chance to taste their Jollibee favorites. This marks the first Jollibee store opening in Canada and the 35th in North America. In 2017, Jollibee plans to open three more stores in Canada. People line up as early as 10:30 p.m. the night before the opening on Dec. 15.

Tugade’s proposal BCDA to open Poro Point airport ‘useless’ vs traffic By Othel V. Campos THE proposed emergency powers for the Transportation Department headed by Secretary Arthur Tugade would be “useless” without transportation experts leading the agency, according to a think tank.

“There is science to urban traffic. It cannot be solved by brainless trial and error, nor by brute force, or by thousands of lawyers. As I said before, emergency powers will be useless without technical know-how; with liberal use of knowledge, emergency powers is superfluous,” Rene Santiago, president of Bellweather Consultancy, told Manila Standard.

Transportation undersecretary for rails and toll roads Noel Kintanar recently resigned from his post amid continuing criticism of potential conflicts of interest at the department. Kintanar was Ayala Corp.’s head of business development and corporate strategy and executive vice president of AC Infrastructure Holdings Inc. Tugade was a businessman and lawyer from Cagayan province before joining the Transportation Department.

Santiago said the new government would un-

likely resolve the traffic situation in the country “if the criterion is the draft bill the DoTr submitted to Congress.”

The Transportation Department submitted documents containing the list of priority projects and a draft bill to justify the emergency powers for Duterte to reduce traffic congestion.

Under the draft bill, the department proposed to unify the rules on traffic management which is currently handled by various agencies such as Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation, Franchising and Regulatory Board, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority and the local government units.

A study by Japan International Cooperation Agency estimated the cost of traffic at P2.4 billion a day. Without intervention, Jica estimated that traffic costs would increase to P6 billion a day.

According to online database Numbeo, the Philippines was the 10th country in the world with the worst traffic conditions as of mid-2016.

The Philippines had a traffic index score of 199.66 based on Numbeo’s traffic index in the 2016 mid-year report.

Darwin G. Amojelar

STATE-RUN Bases Conversion and Development Authority plans to revise the Poro Point master plan to create a more integrated and comprehensive development package with focus on the potential of both the seaport and the airport.

“Poro Point to me, next to Clark, has the most potential in terms of everything. Location-wise, it’s just an hour from Taiwan, within three hours of every nearby countries. It has a deep seaport where cruise liners can easily dock and half a mile is the airport. There’s no other property in the Philippines that has that kind of design,” said BCDA president and chief executive Vivencio Dizon.

Dizon said he expected the new master plan to “hopefully fix the is-

sues” within Poro Point.

BCDA is set to rebid the master plan for the free port.

“What is crucial for us is to be able to open the airport. It could really be the gateway to the north, approximately 45 minutes to Baguio, La Union, Pangasinan and Vigan,” said Dizon.

The existing terminal is in a very bad shape and needs to be renovated, he said.

“The runway is long enough but narrow, so we need to widen it.

There is a lot of fixing to do and we will do them starting next year.

There are some legal issues needing fixing. Hopefully we’ll be able to attend to that,” Dizon said.

He proposed to focus more on promoting tourism in the area to speed up the area’s development

into a world-class destination.

Meanwhile, Dizon said BCDA would undertake a portion of the Bus Rapid Transit system starting 2017.

“Since we own the properties where Naia airport is located, we can start earlier and we can also finish earlier, possibly by end-2019,” he said.

Most BCDA-led portion from the Bonifacio Global City to Ninoy Aquino International Airport is at grade level, but the agency needs to dig tunnels under Sales Avenue near Resorts World Manila in Pasay City to make way for underground stations for Naia Terminal 1, Naia 2 and Naia 3.

“There is no way we can squeeze for space above. There is already the interchange,” said Dizon.

BPO EXPANSION. Property developer Megaworld Corp. formally signs a partnership agreement

with Cimpress Philippines Inc. for the expansion of its business operations at the 34.5-hectare McKinley West township in Fort Bonifacio. Cimpress Philippines will initially occupy a third of the 14-story 10 West Campus office tower of the township, once completed. Shown during the signing of the partnership agreement are (from left) Megaworld vice president for office leasing JP Balboa, senior vice president Jericho Go, Cimpress Philippines president Radwen Tekaya, Pronove Tai International Property Consultants chief executive Monique Pronove and Pronove Tai head of agency Sir John Gulbe.

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Business

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Fed’s rate hike to weigh on stocks

By Jenniffer B. Austria

T

RADING at the Philippine Stock Exchange is expected to remain volatile with a downtrend this week, as foreign funds return to the US after the Federal Reserve increased its interest rate last week and suggested further hikes in 2017.

“Following the Fed’s expected 25-basis-point rate hike, eyes are set on local monetary authorities’ sequel response, specifically on directions it would take for 2017. The headline downer was on preliminary indications for three more rate increases next year, which could attract funds flow in favor of dollar-based assets such

as bonds,” 2TradeAsia.com said.

Analysts will also closely watch the move of Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas on wether it will maintain the benchmark rates and its response on the continued weakening of the peso against the dollar.

On the positive side, the continued strengthening of the dollar against the local currency will benefit exporters including listed firms with outsourcing angles and mining/oil-related plays, as the local currency’s weakness translates into higher peso-sales equivalent.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, declined 2.7 percent last week to close at 6,860.71 on Dec. 16, while the broader all-share index dropped 1.7 percent to 4,159.42, following the Fed’s expected 25-basis-point rate hike.

Except for the mining and oil index which inched up nearly 1 percent, all other sectoral indices ended in the red, led by property

which declined 3.6 percent, industrial which went down 3.4 percent and services which closed lower by 2.6 percent.

The PSEi is now down 1.5 percent since the start of the year.

Foreign investors were net sellers last week by P4.3 billion, as the hawkish Fed pronouncements prodded foreign outflows.

Average daily turnover climbed to P7.5 billion from the previous week’s average of P6.1 billion.

Top gainers last week were Marcventures Holdings Inc. which jumped 31.2 percent to P2.61, Arthaland Corp. which advanced 9.4 percent to P0.465 and San Miguel Corp. which climbed 5.4 percent to P100.

Heavy losers were Ayala Land Inc. which declined 9.7 percent to P31.55, Universal Robina Corp. which lost 7.1 percent to P159 and Energy Development Corp. which dropped 6.2 percent to P5.11.

DoubleDragon set to complete 50 malls DOUBLEDRAGON Properties Inc. said it expects to complete the construction of 50 Citymalls next year in line with the target to have 100 community malls by 2020.

DoubleDragon Properties chief executive Edgar Sia II said the company intended to have 50 completed Citymalls by next year, but the actual opening of these community malls would depend on the tenants.

DoubleDragon already secured 54 sites for the planned 100 Citymalls. The company

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

DECEMBER 12-16, 2016 Close Volume

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources Citystate Savings COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

3.7 47.95 111.00 89.60 38.15 3.84 1.60 8.2 16.16 18.9 7.00 0.66 1.74 825.00 0.610 73.5 0.78 14.1 21.30 54.55 90.2 115.2 253 35.2 199 1705.00 74.55 1.28

544,000 76,900 15,110,000 9,779,750 681,500 123,000 5,456,000 3,400 387,000 986,700 3,300 303,000 50,000 4,190 42,162,000 10,166,020 1,337,000 83,500 5,000 280,280 8,490 480 54,890 694,600 2,689,230 1,255 503,480 272,000

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Asiabest Group Basic Energy Corp.

Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Conc. Aggr. ‘B’ Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) EEI Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide Mla. Elect. Co `A’ MG Holdings Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petron Corporation Phil H2O Pilipinas Shell Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Phoenix Semiconductor Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas Holdings San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ Shakeys Pizza SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

43 4.25 0.89 1.29 18.78 0.200 91.25 21.40 11.75 17 140.7 95.9 138 23.2 58.5 1.9 6.91 12.42 11.940 6.98 5.11 6.05 1.75 22.15 68 12.60 16.04 6.06 1.690 205.00 76.00 2.7 3.57 26.95 29.95 24.5 14.92 257.40 0.240 5.05 3.36 10.28 3.68 70 11.52 2.04 5.70 1.35 5.05 4.78 2.79 231 12.1 4.55 0.143 1.50 159.5 4.65 1.52 31.20 1.06

3,986,700 1,742,000 5,107,000 6,791,000 165,600 1,750,000 390 12,800 95,587,900 8,030,200 30 3,800 940 1,381,000 1,188,430 632,000 3,524,600 91,700 39,057,800 4,680,600 71,142,900 3,581,700 7,800 5,992,100 596,260 8,900 992,600 1,045,700 604,000 2,958,230 3,920 412,000 21,000 6,400 5,855,200 2,536,600 11,044,000 3,893,470 510,000 24,200 6,199,000 22,909,600 582,000 7,396,340 4,800 15,543,000 270,100 663,000 1,490,300 1,183,000 147,000 88,840 49,585,200 566,000 6,920,000 585,000 14,849,610 6,329,000 9,366,000 100 253,000

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `A’ Lopez Holdings Corp.

Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

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

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

0.520 74.00 12.90 1.21 5.95 0.320 0.320 732 8.83 12.90 5.5 8.14 1210 6.10 69.25 4.05 5.04 7.8 1.35 12.7 0.470 6.3 0.0370 1.240 1.910 100.00 2.3 651.00 1.20 0.83 262.000 0.2900 0.1950 0.270

182,904,000 7,210,550 20,999,700 57,000 51,300 9,860,000 860,000 2,668,360 5,622,600 35,172,300 20,000 196,100 580,365 4,668,000 7,772,010 3,000 2,000 16,727,300 41,415,000 22,724,700 210,000 107,516,200 157,100,000 592,000 1,390,000 3,675,860 4,000 2,133,190 456,000 39,000 69,800 866,450 530,000 790,000

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

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

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

7.300 6.23 1.12 2.120 0.465 31.550 3.08 4.92 0.560 1.08 1.450 0.154 0.560 37.6 0.690 0.145 1.00 1.71 1.27 3.47 0.139 0.2500

1,119,300 16,100 1,630,000 800,000 279,180,000 102,953,000 9,571,000 337,100 71,230,000 862,000 15,999,000 5,460,000 15,151,000 2,337,800 1,091,000 60,000 31,535,000 40,718,000 2,653,000 164,872,000 59,970,000 1,360,000

Value

FINANCIAL 1,969,390.00 3,673,250.00 1,691,455,350 866,423,191.00 25,890,805.00 463,450.00 8,895,150.00 27,880.00 6,268,252.00 17,143,812.00 22,225 207,130 87,370.00 3,373,700.00 26,665,850.00 752,689,862.00 1,027,300.00 1,177,436.00 106,500.00 15,305,914.50 776,593.00 59,490.00 13,502,886.00 24,451,915 537,266,510.00 2,156,650 37,454,348.50 353,560.00 INDUSTRIAL 173,625,080.00 7,349,540.00 4,496,100.00 9,196,970.00 3,207,989.00 337,930.00 33,879.50 265,479.00 1,119,697,536.00 137,058,012 4,420.00 355,023.00 119,864.00 31,729,740.00 69,514,101 1,204,280.00 25,567,228.00 1,119,712.00 448,436,616.00 33,461,131.00 377,643,405.00 22,106,032.00 137,050.00 98,838,685.00 40,530,967.00 110,220.00 16,615,354.00 6,336,459.00 1,025,970.00 621,423,010.00 303,507.00 1,145,130.00 76,790.00 162,015.00 174,307,445.00 62,412,210.00 166,695,146.00 1,005,783,272.00 124,300.00 122,210.00 20,465,340.00 236,471,644.00 2,044,920.00 375,812,665.50 54,306.00 31,745,560.00 1,558,656.00 910,640.00 7,584,356.00 5,535,410.00 407,460.00 20,664,194.00 601,798,366.00 2,590,960.00 972,610.00 879,130.00 2,371,033,899 27,475,510.00 14,980,400.00 3,120.00 271,130.00 HOLDING FIRMS 94,405,485.00 512,145,920.50 267,025,474.00 69,330.00 305,485.00 3,252,750.00 288,700.00 1,878,414,210 47,603,229.00 471,624,050.00 97,150.00 1,579,551.00 721,956,345.00 28,472,160.00 539,107,365.50 12,050.00 10,080.00 129,041,871.00 57,599,310.00 299,503,454.00 101,100.00 687,592,950.00 5,889,600.00 806,400.00 2,657,250.00 360,533,055.50 9,200.00 1,376,886,555.00 542,560.00 33,000.00 17,992,646.00 235,000.00 96,150.00 203,000.00 PROPERTY 7,959,295.00 99,751.00 1,810,360.00 1,699,920.00 136,456,800.00 3,316,436,540.00 29,214,110.00 1,676,268.00 41,150,240.00 950,610.00 23,102,510.00 827,890.00 8,507,640.00 88,062,300.00 742,570.00 8,480.00 31,451,600.00 69,701,390.00 3,371,310.00 582,750,750.00 8,649,790.00 345,350.00

DECEMBER 5-9, 2016 Close Volume Value 3.38 48 114.80 91.40 37.7

6,000 61,100 28,671,460 9,232,000 352,300

19,380.00 2,921,600.00 1,103,499,038 837,464,333.00 13,346,190.00

1.49

384,000

576,210.00

16.5 19.16 6.65 0.67 1.75 760.00 0.660 76.4 0.76 14.1 21.20 54.55 92 110 251.6 35.8 201 1735.00 74.60 1.32

3,771,950 1,410,800 10,300 91,000 448,000 530 32,859,000 15,011,180 4,093,000 150,200 20,900 324,230 40 1,910 66,250 932,600 3,386,950 805 350,320 98,000

1,995,706.00 26,932,884.00 68,677 60,770 784,560.00 393,230.00 22,008,470.00 1,128,150,193.00 3,216,580.00 2,128,498.00 451,380.00 17,915,043.00 3,680.00 233,610.00 16,841,018.00 32,863,135 639,896,074.00 1,395,240 26,145,072.50 128,080.00

44.4 4.4 0.93 1.3 21 0.200 85.45 22.15 11.86 17.28 160 92 120 23.4 57.35 1.91 7.18 12.66 11.400 7.23 5.45 6.12 1.85 22.2 68 12.60 16.54 6.06 1.720 217.00 83.20 2.7 3.7

4,414,100 6,533,000 5,168,000 4,060,000 294,000 1,630,000 990 20,500 79,935,900 5,981,200 370 5,970 590 1,220,200 385,400 1,110,000 652,700 436,000 23,419,700 13,267,400 87,679,400 2,287,500 2,000 8,719,900 937,140 25,500 1,655,100 3,694,300 851,000 3,370,690 9,600 650,000 72,000

191,768,615.00 27,873,260.00 4,787,440.00 5,275,060.00 6,529,120.00 325,210.00 84,769.00 429,730.00 912,771,578.00 103,355,450 58,212.00 548,215.50 67,760.00 28,517,330.00 22,250,349 2,094,170.00 6,667,715.00 5,349,150.00 264,110,524.00 95,721,980.00 455,068,120.00 13,966,780.00 3,610.00 193,940,640.00 63,620,728.50 319,214.00 26,225,190.00 22,566,487.00 1,464,890.00 714,903,870.00 744,843.00 1,742,870.00 265,640.00

30 25.2 14.82 263.00 0.250 5.18 3.3 9.78 3.1 67.7 11.30 2.07 5.60 1.38 5.11 4.57 2.79 234

14,392,100 1,703,000 9,836,900 981,130 510,000 46,000 1,173,000 19,974,900 11,000 3,072,790 16,800 16,279,000 3,299,300 755,000 28,360,700 6,611,000 313,000 101,840

431,614,150.00 45,083,185.00 142,364,512.00 256,042,742.00 127,310.00 221,565.00 3,876,200.00 192,630,339.00 35,920.00 207,403,201.00 189,860.00 33,290,180.00 18,432,829.00 1,016,530.00 142,136,471.00 29,969,090.00 814,610.00 23,730,592.00

4.3 0.141 1.53 171.6 4.69 1.63 31.20 1.09

36,000 4,310,000 681,000 9,727,610 2,656,000 16,307,000 200 50,000

155,490.00 611,330.00 1,020,140.00 1,652,834,897 1,500,130.00 27,166,640.00 6,240.00 54,120.00

0.540 74.30 13.26 1.22 5.95 0.305 0.310 732 8.46 13.50

286,487,000 6,450,810 17,635,000 74,000 186,600 3,380,000 110,000 2,188,150 5,818,700 39,095,900

152,081,410.00 474,258,015.50 229,961,378.00 88,450.00 1,102,636.00 1,030,850.00 33,800.00 1,568,442,650 48,657,807.00 518,812,610.00

8.20 1274 6.00 72.00 3.8 4.95 738 1.32 13.32

1,113,400 662,990 104,800 9,874,340 6,000 2,211,300 7,876,700 85,754,000 30,424,600

9,075,897.00 811,234,885.00 629,278.00 696,681,074.00 23,000.00 10,948,082.00 60,447,558.00 120,709,000.00 394,197,916.00

6.48 0.0390 1.130 1.900 94.90 2.21 650.00 1.17 0.83 246.000 0.2950 0.1800 0.260

114,721,500 115,100,000 20,000 322,000 2,906,350 308,000 1,661,310 244,000 121,000 206,290 1,990,000 110,000 640,000

737,992,347.00 4,371,000.00 22,600.00 612,780.00 260,084,521.00 683,730.00 1,072,896,345.00 283,700.00 100,970.00 49,224,316.00 603,550.00 19,840.00 164,800.00

6.940 6.22 1.12 2.170 0.425 34.950 3 4.96 0.570 1.05 1.340 0.153 0.560 38.5 0.700 0.133 0.95 1.72 1.25 3.68 0.146 0.2500

1,999,700 2,000 2,875,000 984,000 344,270,000 58,229,900 19,239,000 14,500 53,517,000 1,212,000 5,399,000 7,800,000 80,685,000 14,776,500 373,000 120,000 6,540,000 88,345,000 4,331,000 211,599,000 77,410,000 550,000

13,804,152.00 12,440.00 3,160,240.00 2,130,070.00 152,113,950.00 1,942,967,330.00 55,342,020.00 72,207.00 29,705,240.00 1,278,870.00 7,437,080.00 1,198,730.00 45,188,460.00 559,610,460.00 263,270.00 15,960.00 6,195,480.00 150,010,050.00 5,157,230.00 771,768,290.00 11,098,780.00 140,150.00

STOCKS

DECEMBER 12-16, 2016 Close Volume

DECEMBER 5-9, 2016 Close Volume Value

Value

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

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

0.410 31.00 3.26 25.90 1.57 3.21 28.80 1.16 7 0.920 5.010

310,000 15,000 1,465,000 5,667,200 514,000 600,000 77,387,700 25,196,000 10,400 1,480,000 43,185,700

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp.

Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

Discovery World DFNN Inc. FEUI Globe Telecom 443,002,985 GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ Imperial Res. `B’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. Phil. Racing Club Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Travellers Waterfront Phils.

7.44 44.25 1.34 0.500 0.046 10.52 5.54 6.03 0.0700 2.53 97 9.92 2.58 7.50 1000 1426

124,500.00 465,430.00 4,752,260.00 149,348,830.00 778,000.00 1,922,860.00 2,192,769,855.00 29,408,300.00 72,407.00 1,352,090.00 216,383,103.00 SERVICES 87,500 660,921.00 48,700 2,165,130.00 405,000 551,440.00 1,419,000 712,010.00 2,537,430,000 129,783,080.00 12,100 127,310.00 12,835,800 70,677,765 28,422,500 174,126,157.00 269,820,000 19,589,480.00 32,355,000 85,939,840.00 1,848,770 169,213,535.00 7,100 68,698.00 9,000 23,270 1,846,000 13,547,061.00 3,140 3,129,850.00 598,250 854,267,595

6.15 15.34 16.00 2.23 69.8 15.02 120 11.4 0.0093 9.08 0.209 1.3400 3.26 14.46 5.05 1.03 2.46 17.92 3.92 3.65 2.480 11.08 5.29 2.93 8.75 135.10 12.50 1350.00 0.435 1.160 38.00 71.05 5.40 2.65 0.960 3.35 0.355

1,075,200 570,200 56,600 28,090,000 6,268,200 62,400 60 5,100 16,000,000 2,486,600 190,520,000 1,217,000 10,000 110,200 2,032,600 20,000 1,506,000 10,800 23,187,000 28,442,000 9,872,000 63,100 11,800 12,000 2,070,000 37,130 4,774,300 1,202,505 51,160,000 37,484,000 3,775,700 3,144,220 258,000 3,300,000 82,384,000 4,397,000 430,000

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Benguet Corp `A’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Semirara Corp.

TA Petroleum United Paragon

0.0035 2.78 5.00 10.38 2.1400 2.5000 0.56 0.510 13.10 3.450 0.280 0.193 0.195 0.0110 0.0130 2.61 8.14 3.03 0.4700 1.3000 0.0110 4.17 8.71 3.34 0.0130 131.50 2.88 0.0084

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ Alco Preferred B DD PREF First Gen F FPH Pref C GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I Swift Pref

44.5 545 545 101.5 104 113 505 540 5.94 1025 1030 1.08 112.4 1160 1022 105 80 81 78 77.5 80.5 77.7 77.5 78.5 2.4

LR Warrant

2.400

Alterra Capital Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Xurpas

2.3 2.88 3.21 9.35

First Metro ETF

113.6

6,611,870.00 8,758,048.00 915,756 60,972,770.00 443,355,545.00 935,472 7,200 58,156.00 150,600.00 22,618,715.00 38,795,060.00 1,621,540.00 32,650.00 1,588,554.00 10,186,367 20,440.00 3,656,370.00 209,732 91,765,080.00 104,689,000.00 25,657,100.00 701,824.00 61,468 33,360.00 18,061,400.00 5,059,515.00 61,503,058.00 1,605,870,915.00 23,631,050.00 43,851,580.00 146,247,390.00 227,619,776.50 1,398,818.00 8,779,860.00 81,445,020.00 15,055,800.00 151,400.00 MINING & OIL 895,000,000 3,088,000.00 626,000 1,739,340.00 675,000 3,276,280.00 8,000 78,442.00 133,000 291,570.00 56,000 138,690.00 1,727,000 966,870.00 66,714,000 34,270,165.00 391,600 5,098,182.00 17,433,000 61,604,540.00 3,920,000 1,092,800.00 22,780,000 4,464,180.00 22,780,000 4,448,190.00 68,100,000 791,100.00 214,000,000 2,663,000.00 44,925,000 106,739,930.00 20,823,700 166,993,477.00 778,000 2,329,550.00 1,000 470.00 7,618,000 3,808,000.00 87,700,000 1,006,300.00 217,000 885,130.00 5,627,000 48,147,739.00 10,876,000 37,917,370.00 344,600,000 4,295,300.00 4,740,710 623,329,669.00 57,000 167,790.00 86,000,000 707,000.00 PREFERRED 261,700 11,647,240.00 35,900 19,426,500.00 20 10,900 250,210 25,662,970 106,820 11,091,806.00 270 30,680.00 2,000 1,010,000.00 800 432,000.00 1,631,600 9,693,102.00 13,465 13,664,475.00 17,390 17,871,700.00 7,000 7,560 167,560 18,833,744.00 75 87,600.00 40,405 41,439,400.00 20,400 2,143,240.00 1,200 94,510.00 471,750 38,159,089.55 229,500 38,842,450.00 103,400 8,015,345.00 52,900 4,278,195.00 152,900 11,917,955.00 156,800 12,148,980.00 379,200 29,662,590.00 11,000 26,400.00 WARRANTS & BONDS 446,000 1,082,680.00 SME 9,562,000 23,862,800.00 45,000 128,980.00 724,000 2,346,730.00 6,556,500 61,226,363.00 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 45,480 5,193,267.00

0.415 31.05 3.29 27.00 1.54 3.23 28.20 1.19 7.3 0.910 5.050

890,000 15,200 1,511,000 8,081,300 1,730,000 119,000 31,875,200 227,825,000 100 510,000 20,271,700

364,900.00 479,610.00 4,821,960.00 219,177,610.00 2,603,690.00 381,500.00 879,199,205.00 274,052,070.00 730.00 466,820.00 101,288,697.00

7.62 44.3 1.4 0.500 0.044 10.7 5.3 6.30 0.0700 2.7 93.45 9.92 2.4 7.00 950.5 1445

179,500 1,352,453.00 201,100 8,917,505.00 989,000 1,345,970.00 11,734,000 5,939,350.00 137,200,000 5,800,300.00 100 1,070.00 2,500 12,560 21,650,100 135,900,217.00 57,950,000 4,017,500.00 39,203,000 106,002,130.00 1,854,200 178,586,589.50 26,500 253,411.00 2,000 4,800 2,030,100 14,182,996.00 10,380 9,868,120.00 6,403,589,570,895

6.16 15.36 17.22 2.04 74.9 15.30 120 12.4 0.0095 9.11 0.200 1.3400 3.57 12.6 5.10 0.87 2.27 20.40 4.06 3.64 2.420 11.3 5.29 3.09

1,294,200 897,900 1,000 13,312,000 4,722,430 43,900 80 38,500 53,000,000 2,477,300 215,100,000 708,000 13,000 39,200 6,531,800 142,000 926,000 30,700 18,563,000 5,915,000 13,019,000 4,900 178,600 109,000

7,959,323.00 13,398,272.00 17,290 25,652,160.00 176,657,471.00 667,042 9,600 474,034.00 506,800.00 22,546,344.00 43,270,000.00 947,280.00 43,290.00 520,448.00 34,069,136 128,750.00 2,060,820.00 590,274 75,948,510.00 21,426,210.00 32,596,290.00 54,970.00 966,071 324,960.00

135.00 13.62 1370.00 0.440 1.180 39.00 73.90 5.44 2.79 0.960 3.57 0.355

19,290 6,171,500 746,955 11,700,000 30,814,000 4,981,000 1,796,390 4,509,000 7,254,000 117,571,000 8,034,000 1,760,000

2,659,526.00 85,323,210.00 992,212,820.00 5,127,450.00 36,404,670.00 194,454,580.00 133,533,688.00 24,181,864.00 19,576,820.00 112,610,680.00 27,652,030.00 605,150.00

0.0035 2.83 4.90 10.40 2.2500 2.3000 0.56 0.470 13.60 3.630 0.285 0.194 0.195 0.0120 0.0120 1.99 7.8 3 0.5000 1.1900 0.0120 4.08 8.52 3.65 0.0120 131.60 2.89 0.0090

444,000,000 740,000 6,267,800 12,200 10,000 12,000 800,000 31,810,000 4,089,700 36,629,000 12,790,000 9,880,000 5,360,000 297,300,000 4,600,000 4,269,000 20,313,900 2,352,000 11,000 6,682,000 50,000,000 147,000 7,992,500 4,897,000 92,800,000 2,632,620 248,000 21,000,000

1,503,500.00 2,105,930.00 31,152,499.00 124,905.00 22,070.00 27,220.00 438,690.00 15,229,300.00 58,040,172.00 131,873,990.00 3,663,650.00 1,906,920.00 1,046,150.00 3,442,100.00 66,000.00 8,338,650.00 162,660,647.00 7,060,340.00 5,570.00 8,110,360.00 574,400.00 594,900.00 63,875,579.00 17,990,050.00 1,194,300.00 346,010,042.00 717,960.00 180,100.00

43.8 545 525 102 104

1,088,555 7,000 29,110 249,710 265,450

17,121,035.00 3,815,180.00 15,362,300 25,842,471 27,576,482.00

542 5.95 1021 1030 1.07

11,690 870,200 815 9,445 303,000

6,340,480.00 5,147,528.00 832,115.00 9,702,625.00 323,180

1160 1036 107 77.2 80.6 77.6 77.55 80.55

120 2,800 4,000 6,210 241,720 40,200 1,400 76,080

139,200.00 2,900,625.00 428,000.00 480,771.50 19,527,744.00 3,119,552.50 108,570.00 6,057,027.50

78.2 78.5

480,670 1,014,730

37,328,326.50 79,078,427.00

2.500

813,000

2,010,680.00

2.85 2.85 3.4 9.48

10,749,000 47,000 548,000 4,899,200

29,371,450.00 131,970.00 1,827,030.00 46,724,307.00

116.1

80,290

9,188,096.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Apollo Global Abra Mining Philodrill Corp. `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Boulevard Holdings Manila Mining `B’ Island Info Abacus Cons. `A’ Megaworld Pacifica `A’

VOLUME 2,537,430,000 895,000,000 344,600,000 279,180,000 269,820,000 214,000,000 190,520,000 182,904,000 164,872,000 157,100,000

STOCKS Ayala Land `B’ Universal Robina SM Prime Holdings Ayala Corp `A’ Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. PLDT Common SM Investments Inc. Cemex Holdings Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Bank of PI

VALUE 3,316,436,540.00 2,371,033,899.00 2,192,769,855.00 1,878,414,210.00 1,691,455,350.00 1,605,870,915.00 1,376,886,555.00 1,119,697,536.00 1,005,783,272.00 866,423,191.00

now has 10 operational malls, while 29 are still under construction.

Sia said the company was also confident it would hit its P1-billion net income target for the year.

Meanwhile, Sia said the P15-billion bond shelf registration earlier approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission would be the last fund raising activity to be implemented by the company in line with the 2020 target.

Of the P15 billion, some P5.3 billion has been issued and raised.

Sia said depending on the market conditions next year, the company could start preparing for the next tranche next year.

“The shelf registration is good for three years. If the economy will be very good, the demand will be strong, then we may start preparing for the next tranche. The P15 billion approval is intended to be the last fund raising in relation to the 2020 target,” Sia said.

Aside from having 100 Citymalls by 2020, DoubleDragon also targets to have 1 million square meters of leasable space.

Sia said it signed with four foreign brokers to look for tenants for the first phase of the four-tower DoubleDragon Plaza in 4.8-hectare mixed-use development located in the Bay Area.

Phase one offers 130,000 sqm of leasable space.

Jenniffer B. Austria

PNOC changes functions

By Alena Mae S. Flores PHILIPPINE National Oil Co. is transforming itself from a holding into an operating company by taking over some functions of unit PNOC Exploration Corp. such as oil and coal trading.

“PNOC has always been a holding [company]. They have been happy with their investments. They invest their equity of almost P8 billion in the bank. They make something like P144 million a year. They also get something from Malampaya, and from the rentals of their properties,” PNOC president Reuben Lista told reporters.

Lista, however, said that with the reorganization of PNOC and the recent Governance Commission opinion, “we can now operate.”

“We have changed that.

With the leadership of Energy Secretary [Alfonso] Cusi that we are one Energy family and we will operate as one all the time. We in PNOC, PNOC EC, one of our subsidiaries will concentrate on exploration because that’s its mandate,” he said.

Lista, in a memorandum to PNOC board dated Dec. 13, thanked PNOC Exploration president Pedro Aquino Jr. for his “conformity to the transfer/turnover of the administration of the PNOC Energy supply base in Mabini, Batangas and the oil and coal trading operations.”

Lista said Aquino also agreed to PNOC’s request for the PNOC Exploration personnel assigned to the mentioned functions “to train and transfer the necessary expertise to the PNOC personnel.”

Business Jollibee opening over 300 stores

By Jenniffer B. Austria RESTAURANT chain operator Jollibee Foods Corp. said it plans to open more than 300 stores next year.

Jollibee chairman Tony Tan Caktiong said in an interview the company would likely have more new stores in 2017, compared to the target of 300 outlet openings this year.

Tan Caktiong said the company remained focus on expanding operations in the Philippines, the United States and China.

The company has been rationalizing its operations in both the United States and China.

The fastfood giant fully divested from Chow Fun Holdings LLC, the developer and owner of a restaurant concept known as Jinja Bar and Bistro in the US for $1.6 million.

It also sold its entire stake in restaurant chain San Pin Wang in China for 90 million renminbi (P650 million) while it gained full control of its food manufacturing venture in China.

Jollibee chief executive Ernesto Tanmantiong said in an earlier statement the company aimed to sustain its strong same-store sales growth and network expansion in the Philippines and abroad with the aim of surpassing historical performance.

“We have to invest heavily, however, in increasing our organization and supply chain capability in the Philippines and abroad as a means of achieving our goal,” Tanmantiong said.

Jollibee opened 201 new stores in the first nine months, consisting of 133 in the Philippines and 68 abroad.

The company was operating 2,565 restaurant outlets in the Philippines and 671 stores overseas as of end-October.

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MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

BIR collections increase 15% T

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

HE Bureau of Internal Revenue said tax collection jumped 15.3 percent in November to P157.29 billion from P136.37 billion a year ago.

The BIR said in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III the November figure brought total collections in the first 11 months to P1.454 trillion, up

by P127.41 trillion, or 9.6 percent, from a year earlier.

It attributed the higher collection to the agency’s streamlined processes that improved efficiency in monitoring and collecting taxes, particularly the reduction of documentary requirements for one-time transactions and monitoring of process workflow.

The BIR earlier cut the 2016 revenue

target to P1.6 trillion from P2 trillion set by the previous administration.

BIR commissioner Caesar Dulay told reporters in a recent interview the agency was reviewing options in raising revenues for the government, following its mandate as the largest revenue collection agency.

“But in terms of raising revenues, we are reviewing a lot of options for example since the mandate of the agency is to raise revenues. We’d rather encourage tax payers to compromise as long as it’s within the law, to compromise whatever pending assessments they have,” Dulay said.

“We also have a number of cases with the Court of Tax Appeals, Those were the assessments often being questioned and my instruction to our legal department is to try to work out a compromise and mediation, because mitigation takes a long time, and it does not help the taxpayer or the government in raising revenue, so that’s one area we are looking at,” Dulay said.

Dulay said the agency was also studying the possible expansion of the compromise settlement program.

“You know we are working on it really, but the principle we’d like to adopt is to encourage compromise agreements within the limits of the law,” the BIR chief said.

He said the BIR would still pursue existing tax cases filed in the Court of Tax Appeals “in accordance with the rules.”

“I had a meeting with the presiding

justice of the CTA and we discussed quite extensively the process of mediation. Mediation is a process where even while the case is pending in court, or pending with the CTA, parties can still discuss and work out some agreements,” Dulay said.

He said aside from the compromise with delinquent taxpayers, the BIR would continue to address reforms, particularly cleaning the agency from corruption and red tape.

“I can say, if you look at the website on our accomplishments that we have progressed quite a few in addressing the internal administrative investigation cases. About 300 examiners being asked to explain why they have been sitting on the LOA [letter of authority] for some time. They probably have some explanation also but we are waiting for that,” Dulay said.

PPA drops Davao Sasa port project

By Darwin G. Amojelar

BANK OF THE YEAR. Security Bank Corp. is named “Bank of the Year-Philippines” for 2016 by The Banker, the international banking and

finance publication of the Financial Times Ltd. This is the second straight year and the third time that Security Bank won this distinction, having been recognized in 2012. Shown accepting the award is SBC president and chief executive Alfonso Salcedo (center) from The Banker editor Stefania Palma (right) and awards host Michael Buerk (left).

Teaching Management at the senior high level management course to students JUST the past month, I have who are uncertain of their cabeen tapped by my high school reer paths? I outline my initial alma mater to teach the OrganiPATRICK AURE strategies below: zation and Management course 1. Enrich the course by into Grade 11 students under the REEN IGHT cluding discussions about caGeneral Academics Strand. reer paths. My inference is that Given that the K-12 reform in our educational system is in its early stages, I was students will better appreciate a management (and still am) curious to discover the mindset of course if it discusses how they can manage themGrade 11 students. After all, during the previ- selves. Instead of sticking to planning, organizous educational system, Grade 11 students are ing, leading and controlling organizations, I want supposedly college freshmen already. Are they my students to start thinking about the functions experiencing the anxieties my college classmates of management in their own career paths. If they and I had when we were froshies? What are they aspire to be of certain professions, they should thinking in terms of going to college and setting have the tools and venues where they can discuss how to set, if not make, their career paths. themselves up for their prospective careers?

2. Help students understand the roles of differErase preconceptions I had experience teaching a management course ent professions in businesses and organizations. before to college students who were mostly tak- I am a fan of business model thinking since it ing up specialized business courses such as mar- paints a holistic way of how an organization and keting, finance and corporate management. As a its different departments work with each other, business course graduate myself, I had a better as a system, towards a common goal. Related to grasp of how to frame lessons in such a way that I this, I strive to let my students understand how can share my experiences and perspectives about their prospect professions give and receive value the most relevant and practical lectures for real- working for and with various organizations.

3. Emphasize management thinking skills verlife jobs. However, during my first day teaching the Grade 11 students, I immediately realized sus concept memorization. Although doing this is that I had to erase whatever preconceptions I had. tricky, I realize that management skills and thinkFuture doctors, engineers, chefs, lawyers, ac- ing strategies are more transferrable to whatever countants, advertisers and entrepreneurs. Such a courses or career paths students intend to take. variety of career paths! These were some of the From analyzing internal and external environprofessions my students mentioned when I asked ments of organizations to making their own perthem about their prospective careers. In addition, at sonal business models, I want the skills to stick to least 20 percent to 30 percent of the class was still them more than anything else.

Create the best learning environment truly undecided on what they want to become.

As students and educators, we are all chartTest the waters first At that point, I had this personal realization: ing new waters, and thus it is imperative that the senior high school levels make the ‘what- we remain flexible and open in creating the best should-be-my-career’ limbo more pronounced. learning environment. I am inviting everyone to What I mean is that during my time, we were discuss and propose other strategies in pursuit of forced to make up our minds right away, choose better education in our country. a course in college and decide as soon as possible Patrick Adriel H. Aure is currently a graduate what jobs we want once we finish college – dillydallying was not a good option. Our high school researcher under the DLSU Center for Business graduation demanded that we choose a program Research and Development. He recently finished right away and adopt the best frame of mind that his MBA at the same university and is excited about exploring cases featuring social enterprises, sussuits our chosen course.

In today’s time, senior high school students tainability, innovation, and new business models. have the ability to test the waters first before You can reach him at aure.patrick@gmail.com. deciding for themselves what college courses The views expressed here are the author’s and to specialize at. Whether this is a blessing or a curse, I cannot say. But as a teacher, my criti- do not necessarily reflect the official position of cal question is: how can I meaningfully teach a DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators

G

L

Tax reforms to boost GDP ALBAY Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda has filed House Bill 4688 proposing simpler tax system that aims to boost annual gross domestic product growth to 9 percent.

Salceda said HB 4688, also known as Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or Train, aimed to be a centerpiece program that would “ultimately reduce poverty to single digit, grow the economy by 9 percent and transform the Philippines into an Asian economic powerhouse by 2028, with $1.2 trillion gross domestic product.”

“It will then qualify the country for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by [2028],” he said.

“This is the Train of the Duterte Express, which I committed to file during the Philippine Development Forum in Davao last November with the participation of non-gov-

ernment agencies, civil society organizations, official development assistance ODA partners and LGUs,” Salceda said.

House Bill 4688 aims “to create a tax system that is simpler, fairer and more efficient, characterized by low rates and a broad base that promotes investment, job creation and poverty reduction.”

Salceda said the bill would run in parallel with President Rodrigo Duterte’s “Tunay na Pagbabago” or real positive change commitment to the Filipino people, that includes more inclusive growth and comfortable life for all, improved public services, more and better jobs and more money in the people’s pockets; and safe, healthy and peaceful communities.

The measure is a concrete step in making tax rates on income in the Philippines competitive in the region and fit the structural objective of the Asean Economic Community, he said.

THE Philippine Ports Authority dropped the planned Davao Sasa Port Modernization Project, an official said over the weekend.

“We have received approval from the board to study the plan, and to revalidate the old plans of PPA to redevelop the Sasa port at a budget of P4.7 [billion] to P4.9 billion.

So definitely, we will already abandon the proposed project, which was approved by Neda,” Jay Daniel Santiago, general manager of PPA, said.

The National Economic and Development Authority approved the modernization of Davao Sasa Port for P19 billion under the Aquino administration’s public private partnership scheme.

“PPA is actually thinking we can fund it from our own internally generated funds and continue operating Davao Sasa as a government port,” Santiago said.

“Because there are arguments saying there should still be a government presence in that area to make sure that port fees and cargo fees will be maintained,” he said.

“We are going to request Neda for closure of the proposed project, so we can withdraw it,” he said.

The Transportation Department recently prequalified Asian Terminals Inc., International Container Terminal Services Inc., Bollore Africa Logistics, Singapore-based Portek International Pte. Ltd. and San Miguel Corp. for the Davao Sasa Port project.

Sasa Port is actually designed for break bulk cargo vessels, which is vital to the economy of Davao City.

About 500,000 metric tons of steel, wheat, fertilizer, motor vehicles, heavy equipment and other cargo not suitable for containers went through Sasa Port in 2014, according to PPA data.

The Davao Integrated Port and Stevedoring Services Corp., an operator at the Sasa port, said the current capacity of Sasa stood at 700,000 twenty-foot equivalent units.

The yearly volume handled

by DIPSSCOR, a subsidiary of ICTSI, was only 300,000 TEUs.

SOLAR LOAN. The Development Bank of the Philippines approves a P1.355-billion loan to Enfinity Philippines Renewable Resources Inc. for the refinancing of its 22.326-megawatt solar-powered electricity generation project in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga. Shown during the loan signing ceremony are (seated, from left) EPRRI manager Michael Yamazoe, Sindicatum Renewable Energy chief financial officer Michael Boardman, EPRRI chairman and president Jose Leviste Jr., DBP officer in charge Anthony Robles, Sindicatum Renewable Energy chief executive Assaad Razzouk and DBP middle market head/executive vice president Mario Palou.

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

B4

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

US home building declined in November WASHINGTON―New US home construction fell precipitously in November after a spike in October, but a big drop in condos and apartments helped drive the move, the Commerce Department reported Friday.

Though the decline in home building was expected, it was much bigger than forecast.

Analysts pointed to recent volatility in housing starts on multi-unit buildings.

Housing starts fell 18.7 percent for the month to an annual rate of 1.09 million units, seasonally adjusted, but that includes a 44 percent plunge in construction begun on buildings of at least five units.

Construction starts for single-family homes, the majority of the US housing market, fell 4.1 percent.

The sharp overall decline in residential building last month could be worrisome, as it is a key part of the US economy, and has trickledown effects to other sectors since new homeowners typically buy appliances, furniture and other goods.

But it followed an unusually strong surge in October, with the upwardly revised 1.34 million units the strongest annual pace in housing starts in nine years.

The November drop is just “continuing on the extreme volatility of the last few months due to swings in the multifamily sector,” said Mickey Levy, chief economist for the Americas and Asia at Berenberg Capital Markets.

Still, looking at a six-month period to smooth out monthover-month volatility, the average rate for new home construction starts of about 1.2 million is “only slightly better than a year ago as starts have moved sideways over the last year,” Levy said.

“The housing market has disappointed in 2016, but it is still well below potential with plenty of room for improvement.”

Economist Joel Naroff was a bit more optimistic saying “the housing sector remains in good shape.” AFP

Business

Venezuela extends use of 100 bolivar currency C ARACAS—With protests rocking his unpopular government, embattled President Nicolas Maduro delayed until January 2 taking Venezuela’s highest denomination bill out of circulation.

The 100 bolivar bills would temporarily remain legal tender, Maduro said Saturday, but the borders with Colombia and Brazil will remain closed to what he claims are “mafias” hoarding Venezuelan cash abroad in a US-backed plot to destabilize the country.

“You can calmly continue to use the 100 bill for your purchases and your activities,” Maduro said at a meeting with officials broadcast on state television.

The bill is worth about 15 US cents at the highest official rate, and until recently accounted for 77 percent of the cash in circulation in Venezuela.

Venezuela has the world’s highest inflation rate, set to hit 475 percent this year according to the IMF.

The government is trying to introduce new bills in denominations up to 200 times higher than the old ones, but the plan derailed when Maduro banned the 100 bolivar note before the new bills arrived.

Four airplanes with the new currency set to arrive from abroad were delayed by international sabotage, Maduro said. He did not say where the money was coming from, or what type of sabotage.

Venezuelans stood in long lines at banks all week to meet a Friday deadline to exchange their currency. When the deadline extension was announced people queued up again on Saturday.

“I don’t agree with this, I’ve had to come all the way here with my miserable amount of

cash to the BCV [Venezuelan Central Bank] in order to get money to eat. This is madness, I’m tired of it,” said Bismary Rivero, a 39 year-old homemaker, told AFP. Rivero said that she traveled 450 kilometers (280 miles) from her village in the eastern state of Monagas to exchange her money.

In a country with one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world, shoppers must carry unwieldy wads of bills to pay for their purchases.

Retirees had complained for months that their pensions were paid in unmanageable 50- and 20-bolivar denominations.

Rioting and angry protests erupted in several Venezuelan cities as the chaotic reform left people without cash to buy food or Christmas presents.

Opposition politicians said Saturday that four people were killed in rioting in the capital of the southern state of Bolivar,

though officials have not confirmed those figures.

Unrest however was such that the Ciudad Bolivar mayor ordered a curfew banning “motorcycles, pedestrians and private vehicles” until late Monday.

The pro-Maduro state governor, Francisco Rangel Gomez, said on Twitter that 135 people were arrested for looting, and that soldiers were deployed “to re-establish order.”

In Guasdalito, in the centralwestern state of Apure, three state bank offices were torched, an incident Maduro late Friday blamed on unnamed opposition politicians. AFP Maduro has presided over an unraveling of Venezuela’s oilrich economy as crude prices have plunged. He and predecessor Hugo Chavez have made the economy increasingly state-led.

Now the import-dependent country is desperately short of food, medicine and basic household goods. AFP

People exchange money to buy good in Cucuta, Colombia, before crossing the Francisco de Paula Santander international bridge, linking Urena, in Venezuela and Cucuta, in Colombia, despite the border closing order issued by the Venezuelan government, on December 17, 2016. AFP

Pricey Bison burgers get even more expensive

By Jen Skerritt THAT pricey bison burger just got more expensive.

Ground-bison prices have climbed to record highs as ranchers in Canada are holding back more animals to expand their herds and take advantage of a growing appetite for the grass-fed meat. The cost stayed at an all-time high of C$23.93 ($17.94) per kilogram in November, after reaching the peak a month earlier.

Prices were up 41 percent from a year earlier and almost double the price of a kilogram of ground beef, according to Canada’s agriculture ministry.

“With current prices, retention will continue and that will certainly aggravate the supply problem,” said Terry Kremeniuk, executive director of the Regina, Saskatchewan-based Canadian Bison Association.

Bison prices have been rallying as demand for the niche product is rising among US consumers amid a favorable exchange rate and as more people seek out organic foods and healthy alternative proteins. The grass-fed meat has fewer calories, less cholesterol and fat than beef, and the animals are raised without hormones or antibiotics.

As demand gains, Canada’s ranchers are becoming more reluctant to send animals to slaughter, and instead are holding them back in favor of herd expansion. As a result, fewer bison are being exported for processing in the US, Canada’s biggest market, and domestic production probably fell 25 percent in 2016 from a year earlier to 10,500 animals, Kremeniuk said.

Prices triple Prices for the ground meat have more than tripled in the past five years and risen from as low as C$16 a kilogram earlier this year, Agriculture and Agri-Food data show. By comparison, retail ground-beef in the US is down 15 percent from a record reached in February 2015 as American cattle ranchers expanded their herd after a prolonged Texas drought. Chicken and pork have also fallen in 2016 amid a glut of meat.

Grass-fed bison graze in a pasture at the NorthStar Bison LLC ranch in Rice Lake, Wisconsin, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2015. Bison continues to gain in popularity and chip away at beef’s dominance in the meat market. Bloomberg

Wholesale- pork prices have tumbled 15 percent since this year’s peak in July.

“Bison burgers or ground bison is a favorite in many recipes and restaurants, and we’re seeing a lot of people interested,” said Roger Van Haren, a rancher who has 100 bison north of Red Deer, Alberta. “It’s something a lot of people are trying out and they don’t mind splurging a few extra dollars.”

Bison slaughter and exports are poised to decline further as producers hold on to their young heifer calves that would normally be sold off, Van Haren said. Last year, Van Haren held back 40 percent of

the heifers he would normally send to slaughter and plans to continue doing that to grow his herd to about 500 cows.

Bull calves are selling for as much as $6 a pound, which can net ranchers more than $1,000 a head, or more than five times what a beef producer might sell an animal for, Van Haren said. It will take ranchers several years to expand the herd and prices will probably remain strong until supplies start to expand, he said.

“Profits are great,” he said. “Ground bison is driving that price.” Bloomberg

Uber defies state order SAN FRANCISCO―Uber said Friday it planned to keep its self-driving cars on the streets of San Francisco, defying a state order to halt the test program.

The ride-sharing giant said it disputed the interpretation by the California Department of Motor Vehicles that the cars require a special permit, saying they had the same autonomy capabilities as Tesla cars which have an optional “autopilot” feature.

Anthony Levandowski, Uber’s vice president for advanced technologies, said that as with the Teslas, the cars driven by Uber still have a driver capable of assuming control at any time.

“We respectfully disagree with the California DMV’s interpretation of autonomous regulations, in particular that Uber needs a permit to operate in San Francisco,” Levandowski told a conference call with journalists.

“While these are considered state of the art today, they still require monitoring by a vehicle operator at all times.”

Levandowski said Uber did not plan on seeking a state permit and for now planned to continue picking up passengers in San Francisco despite the threat of legal action.

He called it “an important issue of principle” about “uneven application of statewide rules.”

“We cannot in good conscience sign up for regulation of something we are not doing,” he said.

Levandowski said Uber was having “frank conversations” with regulators and hoped to convince them that its autonomous cars were no different from Tesla’s, which allow a driver to turn over many operations to an onboard computer but still need a human behind the wheel.

“We have a person sitting in the driver’s seat, and there’s also a person next to them looking at the system and trying to confirm that everything is going well,” he said.

“They are able to override and take control of the vehicle at any time.”

The announcement by the global ride-sharing colossus came two days after state regulations said the testing program was not authorized.

In a letter to Uber, DMV counsel Brian Soublet said the permit is required to protect public safety.

“It is illegal for the company to operate its self-driving vehicles on public roads until it receives an autonomous vehicle testing permit,” he wrote. AFP

Conflicts found in GMO studies WASHINGTON―Financial conflicts of interest were found in 40 percent of published research articles on the genetically modified crops, also known as GMO crops, French researchers said this week.

The findings in the December 15 edition of the US journal PLOS ONE focused on hundreds of research articles published in international scientific journals.

“We found that ties between researchers and the GM crop industry were common, with 40 percent of the articles considered displaying conflicts of interest,” said the study.

Researchers also found that studies that had a conflict of interest were far more likely to be favorable to GM crop companies than studies that were free of financial interference.

The study focused on articles about the efficacy and durability of crops that are modified to be pest resistant with a toxin called Bacillus thuringiensis.

Thomas Guillemaud, director of research at France’s National Institute for Agricultural Research, told AFP that the team originally looked at 672 studies before narrowing down to the pool to 579 that showed clearly whether there was or was not a financial conflict of interest.

“Of this total, 404 were American studies and 83 were Chinese,” he said.

To determine whether there was a conflict, researchers examined the way the studies were financed.

Conflicts of interest were defined as studies in which at least one author declared an affiliation to one of the biotech or seed companies, or received funding or payment from them. AFP

Taguig beefs up health services THE Taguig-Pateros District Hospital will complete the improvement of its Radiology Department before the end of the year, after upgrading its intensive care unit last June.

Taguig has purchased a Siemens Somatom 16 Slice CT Scan, a Digital X-Ray and a Digital Mobile X-Ray. The new machines are set to be installed this month, and will provide better health care service to the city’s constituents, said TPDH Officer in Charge Dr. Anna Richie Quilatan said.

“With the installation of the new CT scan, we assure that our patients will be given accurate results of their examinations and they will not look for other hospitals just to acquire this type of service,” Quilatan added.

In expanding the scope and improving the quality of service at TPDH, the city acquired new equipment, like an ABG Machine (which tests blood gas) and an ultrasound machine, and renovated its facilities.

“This latest upgrade of TPDH’s medical facilities is a testament to our determination to give Taguigeños the best service that their local government can deliver,” Mayor Lani Cayetano said.

When the TPDH ICU became fully operational earlier this year, the city added brandnew medical equipment, including additional beds both for newborns and adults.

Other significant improvements in health-care services under Cayetano’s administration include the improved conditions of Taguig’s 31 Barangay Health Centers, which are all PhilHealth-accredited; the establishment of four Super Health Centers, which offer 24/7 services; a doorto-door delivery of maintenance medicines for diabetes, asthma and hypertension; the citywide eye checkup and distribution of prescription glasses to senior citizens and students; the “Doctors On Call” program, designed for quick response to emergency calls or text through hotline 0917-8210896; and free home-care nursing services for bedridden patients.

Compared to the hospital’s previous CT Scan machine, the new one provides faster, highdiagnostic image quality delivered with just a single click. Its results are reliable and accurate because of a high-quality image, which rapidly turns data into a diagnosis, Quilatan said.

The new machine also has an advanced visualization feature for oncology and vascular assessment.

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

BACK WITH BOSS.

Newly appointed Philippine Commission on Good Government commissioner Rey Bulay (left) takes his auxiliary oath before Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi as the city honored the local executive last December 12. Bulay served on the City Council during Fresnedi’s term from 1988 to 1998 and also in 2007 to 2010, and said he will bring pride to Muntinlupa as he shares the city’s practices on good governance to the national government.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

C1

Survivors blast ‘dead zones’ T

By Mel Caspe

ACLOBAN CITY—A group of Typhoon “Yolanda” survivors trooped to city hall here over the weekend to urge President Rodrigo Duterte to intervene in what they called the “hasty and haphazard relocation” of hundreds of families in substandard houses in “dead zone” resettlement sites.

The survivors, rallying under the Urban Poor Associates group based here, said that contrary to statements by the Office of the Presidential Adviser for the Visayas, the houses they are being resettled in “are not yet ready for occupancy.”

The relocation started on November 28, when Presidential Adviser for the Visayas Michael Dino and the Tacloban city government transferred 280 fami-

lies from the coastal barangays of San Jose and Magallanes to the North Hills Arbour housing site in Sto. Niño Village. This complied with Duterte’s directive resettle all Yolanda survivor families by December.

But Joli Torella, a member of UPA facilitating the transfer of “Yolanda” survivors in the resettlements, said: “Only a few houses were fully complete, although the standard of the hous-

ing structures remains questionable, since there are houses that are already with cracks with uneven walls, and the roofs have holes. The rest of the housing units do not even have doors and windows yet.”

“We are not against the plan of having our families resettled in the identified sites, but the housing site is a dead zone,” Torella added. “Our plea is for the government to address the severe inadequacies within the resettlement such as lack of access to the basic services such as access to potable water, power, livelihood and infrastructures before the families are moved.”

On the same day of the mass transfer, majority of the relocated families returned to their houses in the coastal areas, UPA reported.

Dino and city officials could not be reached for comment at presstime.

The group also pointed out that as early as December 2015, then-Mayor Alfredo Romualdez “was already aware of the situation,” prompting him to stop moving the families into the resettlements until its issues were addressed. His wife, Cristina Gonzales-Romualdez, succeeded him as mayor.

While deep wells are built in the vicinity, the water supply is not enough to service all families, Torella said. “The houses are still waterless and the promised potable water delivery three times a week by the LGU and Local Water Utilities are yet to be fulfilled,” he added.

The shortage of water and the expensive cost of transporting water from Tacloban City to North Tacloban, with an estimated distance at 39 kilometers, forces each relocated family to spending at least P100 a day to

get water for drinking and cooking, UPA said.

“Beyond beating the deadline, our only plea is that the government allows us the opportunity to have the survivors’ concerns addressed. Otherwise, our hope for the families to finally transition to normal lives is futile,” Torella said.

“With their housing conditions and access to livelihoods pulled away from their grasp, instead of rebuilding their lives, we fear that the resettlement would only lead more and more victims to further sink into poverty,” he added.

Alicia Murphy, UPA executive director, said: “We have been insisting on the people’s plan where the poor decides where they want to stay and in what type of housing. In this sense, people of Tacloban are given the chance to fully restore their lives back according to their will.”

‘Moron’ draws more tourists to Leyte, E. Samar

By Mel Caspe ABUYOG, Leyte—This town is known for its Buyogan Festival, which was the Philippines’ bet to the World Culture Festival 2016 last March in New Delhi, India.

Now there’s another reason for tourists to visit this first-class municipality, the largest in Leyte by land area.

It’s “moron”—no, not the English word for stupid, but the glutinous rice cake popular in Leyte and Eastern Samar. And not just any “moron,” it’s Mary’s Abuyog Special Chocolate Moron at Iba Pa, which is leaving lovers of this delicacy wanting more each time they get a taste.

This brand of rice cake, also known as “bakintol” in Waray or “suman” in Tagalog, has leveled up in taste and packaging, says its owner Esmeralda “Mary” Diorico Manaog. Aside from glutinous rice, the typical moron recipe uses regular rice, coconut milk, sugar, and cocoa tablets or chocolate.

Once cooked over a low fire and steamed, it’s wrapped it banana leaves and makes a quick snack.

“There’s butter in the ‘tableya’ [chocolate] and it is packed with a better leaf-wrapper,” Manaog said of her rice cakes, which are sold at the Bahandi Pasalubong Center at the Tacloban City airport and in streets across the province.

Mary has been making these special chocolate “moron” for

Vendors sell ‘moron’ or rice cakes at a stall in the Abuyog public market in Leyte. The delicacy is packed with banana leaves and branded several ways (inset) but is often enjoyed by the people of Leyte and Samar because it is often made with chocolate or ‘tableya’. Mel Caspe

the last 23 years, yet she has kept churning them out because she finds it both self-gratifying and financially rewarding.

“I enjoy the task my mother handed down to me, and I have considered it a family heirloom.

Over the years, it has given us so

much privilege to live a decent life,” she tells Manila Standard.

Manaog says modestly that her daily gross income is more than the whole-month salary of an entry-level school teacher. “But by gross income, it means I still must pay for my workers and cooking

Manila improves public crematorium TO THE delight of clean air advocates, the Manila City Government has moved to improve the operation of the city’s public crematorium after it was found breaching some environmental rules.

“We find the remedial steps being undertaken by the Manila Health Department very encouraging,” said Aileen Lucero, National Coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition.

“We trust that all environmental control measures will be satisfactorily fulfilled to allow the

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com

crematory to resume its service in a manner that will not pollute the surroundings and harm the public health,” she added.

The coalition recently received a copy of the city Health Department’s response to the Notice of Violations signed by Vizminda Osorio, Regional Director of the Environmental Management Bureau—National Capital Region last November 29, which said the facility did not comply with some provisions of the Clean Air Act’s Implement-

ing Rules and Regulations and other environmental regulations.

The group earlier complained to the EMB-NCR about the crematory’s lack of Permit to Operate, which expired on May 13, 2014, and its air pollution emissions.

In his reply to the notice, Dr. Benjamin Yson, Acting City Health Officer of Manila, committed to secure a permit for the crematorium, as well as to register the facility as a Hazardous Waste Generator.

The health department likewise confirmed that “correspond-

ing fees and penalties shall be paid” with a request for reduced amounts, since the crematorium provides free cremation for the remains of indigent families.

To lower the crematorium stack emission to “acceptable level,” the city pledged to implement mitigating measures, including replacing or installing pollution control devices.

The crematorium smoke stack’s height “shall be made higher and the cleaning device shall be installed accordingly,” it added.

materials,” she points out.

Mary buys “tableya” from Davao at P190 a kilo and processes it to suit the taste of her moron products. But because of “Yolanda,” she has had to import banana leaves from other provinces that were spared by the super typhoon.

A member of the Eastern Visayas Producers Association, Manaog managed to recover from her losses to “Yolanda” with the help of the Department of Trade and Industry and AUSAID, the Australian overseas aid program.

Turn to C2

Solon: Release old inmates for Xmas IN THE spirit of the Christmas season, Buhay Party-List Rep. Lito Atienza has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to direct the Bureau of Jail Management and Penology to immediately conduct an inventory of inmates and release those who may have already overserved their sentences.

“Many inmates have already served their sentences but continue to languish in jails all over the country, owing to the slow pace of our justice system, and with no lawyers keeping an eye on their cases,” said Atienza, the House Senior Deputy Minority Leader.

“This is one of the reasons why we are absolutely against the death penalty. Because of our defective and disjointed criminal justice system, only the poor who cannot afford lawyers will be sentenced to death.

While the moneyed criminals buy their way through the corruption network and go scotfree,” he said.

Atienza also reminded government to focus not only on political detainees, but more so on prisoners who are suffering from sub-human conditions inside jails.

He invoked Article III, Sec-

tion 19 of the 1987 Constitution, which provides that “The employment of physical, psychological, or degrading punishment against any prisoner or detainee or the use of substandard or inadequate penal facilities under subhuman conditions shall be dealt with by law.”

The lawmaker also cited Article I of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, which provides that “All persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”

Atienza likewise pointed out that the slow pace of the justice system has been depriving thousands of inmates of a speedy trial, as provided for under Article III, Section 16 of the Constitution, which states that all persons “shall have the right to a speedy disposition of their cases before all judicial, quasi-judicial, or administrative bodies.”

“Many inmates who were supposed to serve short sentences end up being imprisoned for extended periods. This is contrary to what our Constitution guarantees. This is a classic case of justice delayed is justice denied,” he said.

C2

LGUs

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

Cordillera forest cover rises to 50% B AGUIO CITY—The Cordillera region’s forest cover has risen by nearly 50 percent over the past five years after the aggressive implementation of the National Greening Program, one of the government’s major reforestation projects.

Engineer Ralph Pablo, Department of Environment and Natural Resources-Cordillera Autonomous Region executive director, said that from a critical 43-percent forest cover in 2011,

the region has exceeded its target of 100,000 hectares of lands reforested under the NGP. Based on the geographic information system or Google Maps scanning, the plantation areas in

2011 to 2013 are visibly forested, while the areas planted from 2014 to 2016 are not yet noticeable “because the planted trees are still growing,” Pablo said.

“We are aggressive in the implementation of the NGP because of the new program of the present administration, the enhanced NGP. We want to sustain the identity of the Cordillera as a watershed cradle of Northern Luzon and improve the forest cover of barren areas in the region, which are suitable for the growing of assorted

trees,” he stressed.

Of the total 1.85-million hectares in Cordillera, more than 1.5 million hectares are classified as forest reservations, while the remaining land areas are either alienable and disposable land or agricultural land.

From the 645,000 hectares of forest cover of the region in 2011, it has risen to some 746,000 hectares, improving the region’s environment, the DENR official said.

Some challenges in the NGP’s implementation were areas that

are not favorable to planting trees and the rocky portions of mountains that are not conducive toward growing any type of tree, he added.

The focus of the enhanced NGP, Pablo said, is the planting of agro-forestry trees to serve as an added source of income for the communities so they will be empowered to preserve and protect the forest cover and be aggressive in increasing the tree population in the mountains.

The DENR-CAR will em-

Hanjin wins top exporter award

Loreto Azucena, 81, of Barangay Cadionan in San Dionisio, Iloilo and a member of Task Force Mapalad, holds up a giant pumpkin during a showcase of farmers and fishers’ produce at the Villareal Stadium in Roxas City.

By Butch Gunio

Panay-based MSMEs, farmers get land access THOUSANDS of farmers, fishers, and micro-entrepreneurs from Iloilo and Capiz recently thanked their Swiss partner for helping them improve and secure their access to land and livelihood and increase their resilience against natural disasters.

At the same time, the workers, all members of national peasant federation Task Force Mapalad, urged government agencies focused on the rural poor to carry on the efforts of the Swiss Interchurch Aid or HEKS (Hilfswerk der Evangelischen Kirchen Schweiz) in laying the groundwork toward a more sustainable and equitable future for Filipinos.

power the people living in the different communities within the forests to be the stewards of the forests and for the people to be able to co-exist with the trees that serve as the neutralizer of the pollutants in the air.

Pablo appealed to individuals and groups interested to partner with the government in sustaining the region’s forest cover to visit the nearest environment offices and learn how the enhanced NGP will be undertaken.

Dexter A. See

“As HEKS leaves us with a hope for a better, safer, and more fulfilling life, we now look forward to the Philippine government, especially the Department of Agrarian Reform and the Department of Agriculture and other concerned agencies to commit itself in continuing what our Swiss partner started three years ago,” said TFM-Panay team leader Karen Tuason.

By the end of the year, HEKS will end all its projects with TFM, its long-standing partnerorganization, and leave the Philippines after four decades of helping the country so that it can focus on the pressing needs of

other developing nations.

“HEKS helped us place ourselves on the right track. We earnestly hope that the Philippine government, under the Duterte administration, won’t detour from that track and fast-track our journey towards progress and prosperity,” said TFM farmer-leader Teresita Billonid from Pilar, Capiz, who is also vice president of Panay Island Farmers’ Association.

During Wednesday’s event at the Villareal Stadium in Roxas, City in Capiz dubbed “Padayon sa Pagtindog: Pagtililipon Sang Mga Mangunguma Kag Mangingisda Sa Isla Sang Panay,” some 4,000 TFM members

welcomed various government agencies and educational institutions that had committed to carry on the initial success of TFM-HEKS initiative in Panay.

Since 2006, HEKS has been helping TFM peasants and farmer-entrepreneurs in Mindanao in fighting poverty and landlessness and promoting social justice.

In December 2013, a month after Panay Island was hit by Super Typhoon “Yolanda,” HEKS extended its assistance to TFM farmers and fishers in Capiz and Iloilo, which were identified by the World Bank in June 2013 as among the 23 provinces that were at high risk for disasters.

Realizing that land tenure improvement was among the key factors in establishing stronger livelihood options for Yolanda victims, the HEKS in September 2014 extended its rehabilitation and disaster risk reduction efforts towards increasing the resilience of typhoon victims among landless households by improving their access to land.

HEKS-TFM in Panay campaigned for the land rights of 1,260 farmers in 45 landholdings in the following five towns: San Dionisio and Carles in Iloilo and Pilar, Pontevedra, and Dao in Capiz covering a total area of 1,959 hectares.

IN BRIEF Bribe to free sister leads to bro’s arrest BACOOR, Cavite—The head collector of the Zapote Public Market here was arrested for bribing policemen in a bid to free his sister, who was corralled in a separate drug buy-bust operation.

Monadato Macapasir, a native of Marawi City, was arrested in an entrapment operation after he offered Police Officer 1 Jorex Gutilban P30,000 to let his sister, Ariong “Rio” Macapasir, go.

SPO1 Angelito Aceveda Roxas, officer on case, said Rio, a vendor who lives at Westville Homes here, was initially captured in a buy-bust

by Bacoor Police at Barangay Ligas 3. Her brother will be charged for violating Article 212 of the Revised Penal Code. Benjamin Chavez

‘Moron’...

From C1

Coffee and banana head agri exhibit THE Farms and Industry Encounters through the Science and Technology Agenda or FIESTA, a technology promotion platform, featured coffee and banana at the Bacoor City Government Center in Cavite.

The event, which was led by the Southern Tagalog Agriculture and Aquatic Resources Research and Development Consortium, showcased different products and innovations on the commodities from the Calabarzon and Mimaropa regions.

It kicked off with a press conference where programs on different agricultural and aquatic products were discussed, not only in the conference, but also in the forums. These products and innovations were featured in the exhibits.

The speakers stressed the importance of science and technology in promoting agricultural productivity and viable business undertakings.Benjamin Chavez

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT— Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction-Philippines was recently awarded as the Top Exporter for the machinery and transport equipment sector by the Department of Trade and Industry during the National Export Congress at the Philippine Trade and Training Center in Pasay City.

The DTI cited the South Korean company’s numerous export transactions during the past year.

The recognition, the company added, “is another milestone in more than 10 years of Hanjin’s productive shipbuilding activity in the Philippines,” particularly in Subic, where it had also been acclaimed as a consistent top exporter among registered enterprises here in recent years.

Hanjin has poured in $2.3 billion worth of foreign direct investments and provided gainful employment to over 33,000 Filipinos across the country. With its aggressive presence in the international shipbuilding market, the Philippines is counted by the highly-respected Europe-based Clarkson Research among the elite shipbuilding nations, ranking the country fifth in terms of orders booked.

DTI Director Senen Perlada said: “We want to equip exporters with the necessary tools for them to be competitive. We also want exporters to cooperate with government agencies in simplifying procedures and documentations.”

The award also recognizes the exporters for their exemplary performance and contribution to the country’s economic and export growth, Perlada added.

Gwang Suk Chung, Hanjin President, said: “We are honored to receive such an award from the DTI under the leadership of Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, who is steering President Rodrigo Duterte’s vision of reinvigorating the manufacturing sector in general for the common good.

“We are more than proud of the craftsmanship of Filipino shipbuilders; without them, we wouldn’t have won the award. In sum, this underscores the bright prospect of the shipbuilding industry as an engine of economic growth for the country in the long term,” Chung added.

Schoolchildren play in front of the new building as a teacher attends to a pupil using the chair especially designed for left-handed students, a unique feature of the school furniture donated by SM Foundation Inc. (inset).

Group donates new school bldg CONSOLACION, Cebu City—Hundreds of teachers and students gathered to inaugurate the new school building donated by SM Foundation at the Jugan Elementary School on Tuesday, December 13.

The two-storey, four classroom building is fully furnished with 200 student arm chairs, four teacher’s desk sets, eight blackboards, 16 wall fans and four washrooms with water closets. A unique feature of the school furniture are the 20 seats es-

pecially designed for left-handed students.

“The new school building will be used by kinder students and grades 3 and 4,” said Linda Atayde, SM Foundation Executive Director for Education Programs. “We want all the students to be comfortable while learning. We have their unique needs in mind, just like the needs of our left-handed students.”

This donation is another testament to SM’s commitment to uplift the quality of life of the communities wherever

SM is present. In Cebu City alone, SM Foundation has 169 college scholars, 165 technical-vocational scholars in six schools. It has renovated and refurbished two health centers and has conducted six medical missions.

From its Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Trainings, a total of 1096 farmers were trained. It has also planted 10,000 trees, which are currently being cared for by its partner people’s organizations in the area.

Back in 2008, the Department of Labor and Employment named her the “Best Choco Moron Maker” in Eastern Visayas.

Soon after “Yolanda,” DoLE granted her a steamer, gas stove and liquefied petroleum gas tank to start over. “Without it, it would be hard for me to cook in just one round some 700 rolls of our famous chocolate ‘moron,’” she shared.

Before “Yolanda,” she would receive thousands of orders for her rice cakes, and even filled one order for a fiesta in Tacloban in which she delivered 6,000 pieces, enough to fill a “multicab” or small truck.

Now that she is doing brisk business again, Mary Manaog is more than happy to bring people to Abuyog and give them a taste of her “moron”— and its stupefying goodness.

World IN BRIEF Palestinian teen shot dead in West Bank RAMALLAH―Israeli soldiers shot dead a Palestinian teenager early Sunday during a confrontation in the occupied West Bank, Palestinian officials said.

Security officials said that troops entered the village of Beit Rima, near Ramallah, after midnight and were confronted by stone-throwing youths.

The Palestinian health ministry said that Ahmed Hazem Atta, 19, was killed in the ensuing army fire.

An Israeli army spokeswoman said that there was a “violent riot” at Beit Rima but could not confirm the death.

“Dozens of rioters hurled rocks at security forces injuring a border police soldier,” she said.

“In order to prevent an escalation of violence forces responded with riot dispersal means, and fired toward main instigators,” she added.

“We have reports of a rioter killed and another injured and they’re being looked into,” but were so far unverified, the spokeswoman told AFP. Since October 2015, 244 Palestinians, 36 Israelis, two Americans, a Jordanian, an Eritrean and a Sudanese have been killed, according to an AFP count.

Most of the Palestinians killed were carrying out knife, gun or car-ramming attacks, according to Israeli authorities. AFP

Japan culls 210,000 farm birds TOKYO―Japan has begun slaughtering about 210,000 farm birds in northern Hokkaido to contain another outbreak of a highly contagious strain of avian flu, an official said Sunday.

It is the fifth mass cull this winter in Japan with hundreds of officials working to prevent the spread of the virulent H5 strain, which has been detected at several farms across the country.

Just weeks earlier, outbreaks led to a cull of 550,000 chickens in the central city of Niigata and 23,000 ducks in the Aomori prefecture south of Hokkaido.

Authorities have also banned the transport of poultry and poultry products in areas close to the affected farms, while sterilizing main roads leading to them.

But progress has been slow this time with just 32,310 chickens at the farm in Shimzu town in northern Hokkaido culled by Saturday evening, local officials said in a statement.

“We continue to cull the chickens today but the work is difficult as the air temperature falls to some -20 degree Celsius (-4 Fahrenheit) at night” in addition to fallen snow that is another obstacle, an official told AFP. Before the current outbreaks, Japan’s last confirmed case of avian flu at a farm was in January 2015. AFP

TODAY

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

C3

Vote on Aleppo observers A

LEPPO―The UN Security Council was to vote Sunday on sending observers to Aleppo, as trapped civilians and rebels waited desperately for evacuations to resume from an opposition-held enclave in the flashpoint Syrian city

NZ premier unveils new cabinet WELLINGTON―New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English unveiled a new-look cabinet on Sunday, marking his first major move since taking over the country’s top job six days ago.

There were few surprises in the fine-tuning with only one minister who intends to stand in next year’s general election dropped completely, while others had their roles adjusted.

Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully, who has announced he would not be seeking re-election, will retain his role until a replacement is appointed in May. English, 54, was unanimously elected by the ruling centreright National Party as the new leader after the popular Key resigned for family reasons after eight years as prime minister.

“This refreshed ministerial team builds on that success and provides a mix of new people, alongside experienced ministers either continuing their roles or taking up new challenges,” English said.

“This new ministry is focused on providing prosperity, opportunity and security for all Kiwis, including the most vulnerable in our communities.” AFP

Manila

Standard

PREMIERE. Actress Landry Bender attends the premiere of 20th Century Fox’s ‘Why Him?’ at the Regency Bruin Theater on December 17, 2016, in Westwood, California. AFP

Bomber kills 30 Yemeni soldiers ADEN―A suicide bomber killed at least 30 Yemeni soldiers in Aden Sunday, the latest in a string of deadly bomb attacks against recruits in the wartorn country’s second city.

Military officials and medics said many others were wounded in the attack that targeted a crowd of soldiers gathered to collect their salaries near a base in northeastern Aden.

The attacker immersed himself among the soldiers crowding outside the house of the head of special security forces in Aden, Colonel Nasser Sarea, in Al-Arish district, near Al-Sawlaban base.

Sarea said the bomber “took advantage of the gathering and detonated his explosives among them, killing 30 soldiers and wounding several others”.

Images from the blast scene showed blood stains and scattered shoes across the sandy ground.

The attack comes eight days after a similar bombing at AlSawlaban claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed 48 soldiers and wounded 29 others.

Yemeni authorities have for months pressed a campaign against jihadists who remain active in the south and east of the impoverished Arabian peninsula country.

IS and its jihadist rival AlQaeda have taken advantage of a conflict between the government and Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa, to bolster their presence across much of the south.

The two extremist groups have carried out a spate of attacks in Aden, Yemen’s second city and headquarters of the internationally recognized government whose forces retook the port city from the Huthis last year.

But Al-Qaeda has distanced itself from the December 10 attack, claiming that it tends to avoids “the shedding of any Muslim blood” while focusing on fighting the “Americans and their allies.”

No group claimed immediate responsibility for Sunday’s blast.

Al-Qaeda has long been the dominant jihadist force in Ye-

men, located next to oil-flush Saudi Arabia and key shipping lanes, but experts say IS is seeking to supplant its extremist rival.

Washington regards Al-Qaeda’s Yemen-based branch as its most dangerous and has kept up a long-running drone war against its commanders.

In August an IS militant rammed his explosives-laden car into an army recruiting centre in Aden, killing 71 people in the deadliest jihadist attack on the city in over a year.

A Saudi-led coalition has since March 2015 supported loyalist forces fighting the Huthis.

The Arab coalition intervened after Huthi rebels allied with troops loyal to Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh seized the capital Sanaa and overran other parts of the country.

But the coalition later turned its firepower also at Sunni jihadists, supporting forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in their bid to flush extremists out of south Yemen.

The Yemen war has killed more than 7,000 people, about half of them civilians. AFP

13 Indonesians die in plane crash JAKARTA―Thirteen people died after an Indonesian military transport plane crashed in the east of the country on Sunday, officials said, marking yet another air accident for the armed forces.

The Hercules C-130 plane took off from Timika city in Papua province carrying 12 crew and one passenger, but came down in a remote mountainous region shortly before its scheduled landing, officials said.

“The operator on land saw the plane at 06:08 am local time but at 06:09 am the plane had lost contact,” air force chief Agus Supriatna told AFP.

The plane was expected to land at 06:13 am local time.

Aboard the aircraft were three pilots, eight technicians, a navigator and a military officer, as well as food and cement, Supriatna said.

Weather around the area is known to be unpredictable, and the plane went in and out of clouds before the crash, he added.

Rescuers located the plane debris soon after. All 13 bodies have been recovered according to the air force. Supriatna said a team was heading to the site to investigate.

The fatal incident is the latest for Indonesia’s accident-prone

military.

In November an army helicopter accident killed three on Borneo, while another three died when a military chopper went into a home in Central Java in July.

Some 12 people were killed in March when another military helicopter went down in bad weather on Sulawesi in central Indonesia.

But the worst incident in recent times was in June 2015, when an air force Hercules C-130 plane crashed into a residential neighborhood in the city of Medan, killing 142 people and causing widespread destruction. AFP

A rebel representative told AFP an agreement had been reached to allow more people to leave the city which has been ravaged by some of the worst violence of the nearly six-year war that has killed more than 310,000 people.

But there was no confirmation from President Bashar al-Assad’s regime or its staunch allies Russia and Iran, which are under mounting international pressure to end what US President Barack Obama denounced as the “horror” in Aleppo.

The UN Security Council was set to meet at 11:00 am (1600 GMT) on Sunday to vote on French proposals to dispatch monitors to oversee evacuations and report on the protection of civilians, but faced resistance from veto-wielding Russia.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre said an international presence would prevent Aleppo from turning into another Srebrenica, where thousands of Bosnian men and boys were massacred in 1995 when the town fell to Bosnian Serb forces during the Balkan wars.

“Our goal through this resolution is to avoid another Srebrenica in this phase immediately following the military operations,” Delattre told AFP. Families spent the night in freezing temperatures in bombed out apartment blocks in Aleppo’s Al-Amiriyah district, the departure point for evacuations before they were halted on Friday, an AFP correspondent reported.

Abu Omar said that after waiting outside in the cold for nine hours the previous day, he had returned on Saturday only to be told the buses were not coming.

“There’s no more food or drinking water, and the situation is getting worse by the day,” he said, adding that his four children were sick because of the cold.

Dozens of trucks with humanitarian aid crossed the Turkish border Saturday into Syria, piling supplies in a buffer zone.

The government blamed rebels for the suspension of the evacuation which began on Thursday, saying they had tried to smuggle out heavier weapons and hostages.

The opposition accused the government of halting the operation to try to secure the evacuation of residents from Fuaa and Kafraya, two villages under rebel siege in northwestern Syria.

In return, the rebels want the evacuation of the towns of Madaya and Zabadani in Damascus province which are besieged by the regime.

Al-Farook Abu Bakr, of the hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, said a deal had been reached for evacuations to resume.

“There will be evacuations from Fuaa and Kafraya, as well as Madaya and Zabadani, and all the residents of Aleppo and the fighters will leave,” he said.

But the government did not announce any deal.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura estimated that as of Thursday around 40,000 civilians and perhaps as many as 5,000 opposition fighters remained in Aleppo’s rebel enclave.

A Turkish official said 90 wounded from Aleppo have crossed into Turkey for treatment since Thursday.

Before evacuations were suspended around 8,500 people, including some 3,000 fighters, left for rebel-held territory elsewhere in the north, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Tens of thousands of civilians had already fled opposition-controlled parts of Aleppo after the regime began its assault in midNovember.

The Russian defence ministry said after evacuations were suspended that only hardline rebels remained.

On Friday, a convoy of evacuees that had already left east Aleppo when the operation was suspended was forced to turn back.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, supervising the evacuations, said it was looking into reports of shooting before the convoy was turned around.

The main regional supporters of the rival sides in Syria’s devastating civil war engaged in a flurry of diplomacy to try to secure a resumption of evacuations. AFP

In The Name Of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT OF BASILAN BIDS AND AWARDSCOMMITTEE Provincial Capitol Bldg., Isabela City, Basilan Province, 7300 InvItatIon to BId for

SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF TWO (2) UNITS OF L300 (15 SEATERS DELUXE) AND ONE (1) UNIT MINIDUMP TRUCK (6W-3 CBM) Under BAC Publication No. 006-2016 The Provincial Government of Basilan, intends to apply part of the sum for the following: Description 1.

Two (2) units L300 (15 seaters delux)

2.

One (1) unit Mini Dump Truck (6W-3 CBM)

Approved Budget Cost ₱

1,790,000.00 1,335,000.00

TOTAL -------------------

₱

3,125,000.00

intended for the Offices of the Provincial Government of Basilan. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

1.

The Provincial Government of Basilan intends to apply part of the sum of Three Million One Hundred Twenty Five Thousand pesos (P 3,125,000.00), being the approved Budget for the Contract for the SUPPLY AND DELIVERY OF TWO (2) UNITS LF L300 (15 SEATERS DELUXE) AND ONE (1) UNIT MINI DUMP TRUCK (6W-3 CBM) intended for the Offices of the Provincial Government of Basilan. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The Provincial Government of Basilan now invites bids for supply and delivery of TWO (2) UNITS LF L300 (15 SEATERS DELUXE) AND ONE (1) UNIT MINI DUMP TRUCK (6W-3 CBM) intended for the Offices of the Provincial Government. Bidders have completed within ten (10) years from the date of submission and receipts of bids, a contract similar to the project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II, Instruction 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”.

4.

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.

5.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from The Provincial Government of Basilan and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00am to 5pm.

6.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fees for the Bidding Documents in the amount of TEN THOUSAND PESOS (P 10,000.00) and ONE THOUSAND PESOS (P1,000.00) for Letter of Intent .

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later that the submission of their bids.

7.

The Provincial Government of Basilan will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 9:00 am, December 23, 2016 at BAC Office, Provincial Capitol, Isabela City, Basilan Province, which shall be open to all interested parties.

8.

Bids must be delivered on Bid Opening to the address below on or before 9:00 am, January 04, 2017 at BAC Office, Provincial Capitol, Isabela City, Basilan Province. 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.

The Provincial Government of Basilan 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.

10.

For further information, please refer to: The BAC CHAIRPERSON LGU- BASILAN Bids and Award Committee C/O BAC Secretariat Ground Floor, Provincial Capitol Building, Isabela City, Basilan Province, 7300 Fax No.: 062 200 3416 & 062 200 3417 E-mail Add: tigerlily_diamond@yahoo.com (SGD.) INTAN GORDANA A. ABUBAKAR Chairperson, Bids and Award Committee (BAC)

(MS-DEC. 19, 2016)

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

C4

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

World

Hotel maids in Spain rebel against low pay M ADRID―Spain is enjoying a surge in visitors, but hotel maids are not reaping the rewards and are rebelling against their low salaries, which can be as little as two euros to clean a room.

The country, which welcomed over 68 million foreign tourists last year -- its third consecutive year of record numbers -- employs around 100,000 hotel maids, according to union estimates.

Over the past two years more and more maids have been challenging their contracts in courts and coming out in the press with tales of exploitation in the world’s third most visited country.

Pepita Garcia Lupianez, who has worked for 40 years in the seaside resort of Torremolinos on the Costa del Sol, is one of the leaders of the fight despite enjoying better conditions than most.

She had a full-time contract and earns 1,300 euros ($1,400)

per month, far above the minimum wage of 764.40 euros.

“I am almost ashamed when I meet with colleagues employed by subcontractors who have contracts of four to six hours and work in reality eight or ten hours,” said Lupianez, 59, a representative with Spain’s biggest union, Comisiones Obreras.

“Their employers tells them: ‘Until you have finished, you can’t leave!’”.

Lupianez took part in a protest in the southern city of Malaga Thursday against a reform of Spain’s labour code in 2012 which maids say has led to lower salaries.

The reform made firing workers easier and cheaper and weakened

collective bargaining agreements.

Outsourcing of cleaning to less expensive firms has since become widespread.

“In numerous hotels directlyhired staff have been replaced” by employees of service firms, said Ernest Canada, the author of a book on hotel maids.

Maids who work for such firms are not governed by the collective labour agreement for housekeeping staff, but the one for the cleaning sector, and are paid up to 40 percent less than their peers, according to the CCOO. “We say: ‘Enough exploitation!’, said Carolina Martin, a 46-year-old maid in the southwestern city of Seville who has filed a complaint against her previous employer.

“I earned just 700 euros to clean 400 rooms per month, they gave us more or less two euros per room we cleaned,” she said.

She now works 30 hours a week at a four star hotel in Seville, earn-

ing 618 euros a month. The schedule leaves her in “constant stress” with no time to go to the bathroom during her shifts, she said.

The maids often win their legal battles. Of the 58 collective agreements which have been contested since May 2015, 46 have been annulled, according to Spain’s two largest unions, CCOO and the UGT. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government defends its reform of the labour code, crediting it with a drop in Spain’s jobless rate to below 20 percent from a record high 27 percent in 2013.

Spain’s hotel and retail sector accounted for nearly half of all jobs created this year, according to a study by Adecco, the world’s biggest temp agency.

But most new jobs are temporary. One in three Spaniards is employed on a fixed-term contract and the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday identified this large proportion of short-term contracts as a weakness. AFP

GRAND OPENING. Singer/songwriter Stevie Nicks performs dur-

ing the grand opening of Park Theater at the Monte Carlo Resort and Casino on December 17, 2016, in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP

Mourners remember astronaut John Glenn

Oldest jail opens to public in Dhaka

COLUMBUS―Mourners gathered at a memorial service for groundbreaking astronaut John Glenn on Saturday in his home state of Ohio, capping two days of remembrances for the first American to orbit the Earth.

Glenn, who later in life also became the first senior citizen in space, was remembered as a national hero who believed in selfless service to his country.

He died last week at the age of 95, after a lifetime spent in the US Marines, the American space program, the Senate, and as a university professor.

At the public memorial service in the state capital Columbus, Vice President Joe Biden said Glenn exemplified America’s view of itself as a “country of promise, opportunity, always a belief for tomorrow.”

“He knew from his upbringing that ordinary Americans can do extraordinary things,” said Biden, who served in the US Senate with Glenn.

“If you’re looking for a message to send for our time here on Earth, and what it means to be an American, it’s the life of John Glenn.”

The former astronaut, who was born in a small town in Ohio, enlisted in the Marines following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

He served in World War II and the Korean War as a pilot, and later became a military test pilot.

Glenn was one of the “Original Seven” pilots recruited into America’s nascent space program in 1959. The pilots’ saga was recounted in the classic movie “The Right Stuff.”

The state of Ohio held ceremonies over two days, complete with full military honors, ending with the memorial service held at a 2,500-seat auditorium on the Ohio State University campus home to the Glenn College of Public Affairs.

The memorial service was attended by dignitaries, highranking government officials and members of the public who got tickets.

The service included a platoon of 40 Marines who marched three miles (4.8 kilometers) to accompany the hearse carrying Glenn’s body from the Ohio Statehouse to the auditorium. AFP

DHAKA―Many of Bangladesh’s most significant political prisoners have been incarcerated within the walls of the two-century-old Dhaka Central Jail.

Now the prison that has borne witness to much of the country’s brutal history has opened to the public as a museum.

The last inmates of the 228-year-old prison in the capital’s old Mughal quarters were relocated in July this year, and the gates of the 14-hectare facility opened, allowing people to explore the jail for a 100 taka ($1.25) ticket rather than being arrested first.

Over the last two centuries, the jail -- the biggest in Bangladesh until it closed -- has been a central stage for much of the country’s history.

Scores of mutineers were hanged and their bodies left to rot in the 1860s following a rebellion against the British, which became known as the Sepoy Mutiny.

After the British left in 1947, thousands of political leaders who stood against the new rulers were detained in the prison.

Bangladesh’s founding leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman -- whose daughter Sheikh Hasina is the current prime minister -- spent years in one of the jail’s cells, leading the country’s budding separatist movement from there until the 1971 independence war against Pakistan.

In November 1975, just months after Rahman was assassinated in a coup, army officers stormed the jail and killed four top political leaders, plunging the country into prolonged military rule.

Hasina and her sister -- the only members of Rahman’s family who survived the coup -were among the first visitors to the newly opened jail.

The premier, who regularly visited her jailed father during the 60s, appeared overwhelmed with emotion as she visited the tiny cell where Rahman spent years.

She spent some quiet time in there reminiscing about her father.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said there was a plan to turn the old jail into a “historical and entertaining place”, with schools, shopping centers, a park and museum. AFP

SELFIE. From left, actors Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Mario Lopez and families take a selfie with Mickey Mouse at the Disney On Ice Presents Worlds Of Enchantment Celebrity Guests at Staples Center on December 17, 2016 ,in Los Angeles, California. AFP

PM Turnbull renews his call for a republic SYDNEY―Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has renewed his call for a republic, but only after Queen Elizabeth II’s reign, as he outlined a road map for breaking away from the British monarchy.

Turnbull -- a staunch republican who led the cause before a failed referendum in 1999 -- said his support for an Australian head of state stemmed from patriotism.

“The cause of the Australian Republican Movement is a cause for Australia,” Turnbull said during a keynote address to the ARM on Saturday night.

“We do not diminish or disrespect the patriotism of those who take a different view, but we have no other motive, no other reason than love of country.”

The British crown’s power in Australia is seen as largely symbolic, and while the Queen is hugely popular Down Under, the monarchy is viewed by some as an anachronistic colonial relic.

Critics within Turnbull’s own conservative Liberal Party earlier in the week said his support for a republic would be damaging to the government.

But Turnbull said there was no appetite among Australians for another referendum during Queen Elizabeth’s reign.

“The less party political the republican movement is, the broader its base, the deeper its grassroots, the better positioned it will be when the issue becomes truly salient again,” the Australian leader added.

Opposition Labor leader Bill Shorten appeared to criticize Turnbull’s lack of action on Twitter following the speech.

“Climate change, marriage equality, housing affordability, now Republic too hard for Turnbull. Time for the PM to lead his party, not follow,” Shorten tweeted.

He also offered to “work together to deliver an Australian head of state”.

Support for a republic has wavered over the years, with a Fairfax-Nielsen poll in 2014 finding that 51 percent of the 1,400 people surveyed favored the status quo compared to 42 percent supporting a republic.

Turnbull said question marks about how an Australian head of

state would be elected -- directly by the people or via a parliamentary appointment -- had weakened support for a republic during the 1999 referendum.

He called for a two-stage voting process, with a plebiscite to determine the election model first before a referendum to decide on whether Australia should be a republic.

“We need to ensure that the Australian people feel they have chosen the model to be presented,” Turnbull said.

“Of course every member of the parliament is elected, but we cannot be blind to the levels of cynicism about politics, parliaments and governments. If anything they are greater today than they were back in 1999.” AFP

Life FOOD

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

D1

Thai Curry Crab

Pla Tod Lard Prig

Kaiyang BBQ Chicken with Shrimp Fried Rice is Thai BBQ’s most loved BBQ chicken dish

L.A.’s Thai

BBQ Original

Yum Pla Dook Foo

now in BGC Y

OU don’t need to book a flight to the US to savor Thai dishes at Thai BBQ Original in Los Angeles in California.

Pandan Chicken

S2 or BBQ Spare Ribs served with Shrimp Fried Rice is one of the restaurant’s bestsellers

The restaurant has opened a franchise in Bonifacio Global City and if you’ve tasted it in the US, you can drive to the sprawl that is BGC for a meal at Thai BBQ Original. The franchise promises you an amazing gustatory experience, bringing you the same, familiar flavors and service, which earned the restaurant a cult following in the US. The new casual dining restaurant, which seats up to 100, is decorated in modern Thai chic interiors, boasting of stone bricks and a soothing palette of neutrals.

While the interiors of the restaurant are meant to soothe, the flavors of each Thai BBQ Original House Specials awaken the senses. The dishes brim with strong aromas and sweet and spicy edge that will definitely have you coming back for more. Thai BBQ Original brings you the complex interplay of sour, sweet, salty and spicy, which de-

fines Thai cuisine.

“When Pat and Tammy Ngamari, the founders of the restaurant, launched the first Thai BBQ Original in 1978 in Los Angeles, California, they wanted to introduce the flavors of the East to the growing population of foodies and gourmands in the US. Since then, Thai cuisine has taken over the world, inspiring palates with its unique flavors. Thai BBQ Original promises to bring the same authentic experiences from LA to the Philippines,” says George Pua, No Limits Food Inc. president.

Feast on the generous and affordable for-sharing House Specials that are perfect for big groups and families.

Each dish comes with a generous portion of Shrimp Fried Rice. Delight in the smoky flavors of S1, which offers Kaiyang, the restaurant’s most loved BBQ chicken, which brings together the perfect balance of sweet and spicy.

Hearty helpings of another favorite, the meaty BBQ Spare Ribs, under S2, are sure to satiate big appetites. Completing the house specials are the Chicken Sate (S4) and Beef Sate (S8) with seven skewers of meats each, marinated in Thai spices, and served with a side of cucumber salad. Dip these in the yummy signature peanut sauce to add a new dimension of deliciousness.

Discover as well soon-to-be Filipino favorites such as Thai Curry Crab, Honey Duck, Crispy Oyster Cake and Pandan Chicken. For something with a more refreshing crunch, try the Deep-Fried Garoupa with Mango Salad and the Papaya Salad, which bring together bright flavors and textures. Finally, do not forget the delicious Thai cuisine staples such as Phad Thai, Pad See Lew and Tom Yum Goong. For hearty eaters, all the house specials are served with heaping portions of Shrimp Fried Rice.

For more information, visit Thai BBQ Original Restaurant on Facebook and @thaibbq.manila on Instagram.

Every day is family day at Parmigiano Ristorante Pizzeria FAMILIES in the southern district of the metro now have one more reason to celebrate. “Every day is family day” at Parmigiano Ristorante Pizzeria at the Lifestyle Extension of Molito Commercial Complex.

Italians and Filipinos are known for having close family ties and shared meals that last for hours as it is considered as bonding time for the entire family. This is exactly the inspiration and motivation for this new venture.

“We would like to be the new dining destination of families here in the South. Whether for regular lunch, dinner or grand reunions, we want families to come together and go to Parmigiano,” said Giulius Iapino, president of Rigatoni Corp.

Anchored after the success of Parmigiano Ristorante Pizzeria at Newport City Mall, Resorts World Manila, Parmigiano Molito offers families an exciting array of authentic Italian cuisine coupled with great customer service.

“Our new menu offering has 92 Italian dishes from appetizers to main courses plus a number of the sweetest desserts which include our best cakes.

For beverages, we have regular sodas, fruit juices and shakes, hot and iced coffee, bottled beers and premium Italian wines,” Iapino added.

Parmigiano Molito introduced an improved set of Italian dishes prepared with imported ingredients and served with generous portions that are perfect

Capricciosa con Uovo

Bistecca alla Florentina

for feasting with the family.

On top of the line are two Tiella dishes, Tiella di Carne and Tiella di Pesce.

Tiella is a Tuscan style paella cooked in wood-fired oven with chunks of meat and shellfish topped with cheese. Tiella di Carne is tomato-based paella with a variety of meat while Tiella di Pesce is a truffle- and cream-based paella with vegetables and seafood.

Families will surely go ‘head over heels’ with the Parmigiano Reggiano Wheel. Pasta dishes like Pasta del Parmigiano and Cacio e Pepe are prepared with an overload of cheesy goodness using the cheese wheel, a 45-kilo wheel made of Parmigiano, the king of cheeses.

Parmigiano’s 26 pasta dishes go perfectly well with the 17 pizza items on its menu. Made with freshly prepared

hand-pulled dough, each Parmigiano pizza is brick-oven baked to achieve the “jaguar spots.” These blackened spots of char on the rim of the pizza simply show how perfectly cooked a pizza crust is.

Meat lovers can indulge and have their fill of the two Grilled Platters that are perfect for big groups with big appetites: the Festa platter filled with special pork ribs, rib eye, Italian sausage, and roasted chicken and side dishes; and the Grande platter that comes with grilled marinated chicken, beef and pork tenderloin, rack of lamb and side dishes.

Completing Parmigiano’s sumptuous Italian menu is a variety of seafood, pork, chicken, beef and lamb dishes that are big on flavors but are easy on the pocket.

“Parmigiano is fast becoming known for its great Italian dishes and excellent

customer service based on the reviews posted by guests and food bloggers in all of our social media accounts.” enthused Iapino. “Our passion is customer satisfaction and we are thankful and grateful for the positive feedback. In return, we promise to outdo ourselves in Molito.”

Another exciting feature of Parmigiano Molito is its modern Italian interior design that creates an indoor/ outdoor ambiance for a more relaxed dining experience. “We created space by putting up a high ceiling and huge glass walls. It’s like walking into a patio with a small garden. The result is a homey feel; welcoming and comfortable,” added Iapino.

For a more exciting dining experience, Parmigiano diners can avail of a 50 percent discount on Italian cof-

fee whenever they try the specialty desserts. And for its opening blowout, Parmigiano Molito brings the popular Pizza Party for the Family, wherein customers may avail pizza of their choice then just add 50 to get a second pizza of the same variant. Diners can also check out the Quick Mix Deals lunch promo (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.). For P280, choose from pork ribs, chicken breast porcheta; pomodoro pasta, chorizo rice, mashed potato and mixed greens.

Parmigiano Pizzeria Ristorante is located at Unit 10, Lifestyle Exit, Molito Commercial Complex, Madrigal Ave. corner Zapote Road, Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

For the latest updates and promos, go to www.facebook.com/ParmigianoRistorantePizzeria.

Life

D2

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Bring out the caveman in you H

UGH MANGUM talks about barbecue as if the act of smoking meat is an extended foreplay reaching its peak the moment you dig your hands into a Brontosaurus rib and tasting THE JOYCE OF EATING the tender and flavorful JOYCE BABE PAÑARES beef. Slow-cooked for more than 10 hours – the white oak “kissing” the meat – the only way to eat the full beef rib with dignity, says the tattooed drummer-turned-celebratedpit master, is to ditch the knife and fork, give in to your primal instincts, and get your hands dirty in the process.

“I beg you, use your hands and bite with your mouth,” says Mangum, who turned the spotlight on barbecue when he opened the first Mighty Quinn restaurant in New York in 2012, and hopes to achieve the same cult following in Manila with his flagship branch at the Fashion Hall of SM Megamall.

Like all good stories, Mighty Quinn, named after Mangum’s first-born son, started with humble beginnings, in his driveway, to be more specific. Armed with $600, he opened a stall at Smorgasburg, the open-air weekend food market by the waterfront in Brooklyn, and served smoked brisket.

“We were sold out in 90 minutes,” he recalls. And that is how he started his mini-empire, which now has nine branches, including its first international branch at Ren’ai Circle in Taipei.

“Brisket is essentially what built our house,” Mangum says, describing the smoked meat like it has attitude. “You have to cook it very consistently. It’s masochism on a plate at 18 to 20 hours of smoking. If you are in a bad mood, the brisket knows.”

Patrons order at Mighty Quinn assembly-style: you line up as you do in a cafeteria; choose your meat, which can be ordered in single serving or by the pound and which comes with sandwich or with dirty rice; and then choose your sides, if you want any.

The menu is equally uncomplicated: brisket (P495 for a single serving/ P1,295 by the pound), burnt ends (same price as brisket), pulled pork (P485/ P1,290), sausage (P435/P1,160), spare ribs (P495/P1,295), Brontosaurus rib (P1,450), and spicy chicken wings (P405 for six pieces, P685 for 10).

The sides dishes come in small (P165), medium (P325) and large (P645) servings: burnt end baked beans, sweet potato casserole, buttermilk broccoli salad, potato salad (which was on the salty side during the opening), slaw, and sweet corn fritters. They also offer fries (P165) and the special dirty fries topped with burnt ends (P375).

Dirty rice – a traditional Creole dish where rice is cooked with chicken liver and giblets to give it a “dirty” look – is not offered in any other Mighty Quinn branch except here in Manila, owing to the Filipinos’ fondness for the grain (but no unli-rice here, though). Mangum’s dirty rice uses a secret ingredient: calamansi, which Mangum tasted only when he came to Manila.

“We were told that we had to have rice.

And then during one of our meetings, we were served with calamansi. It was my first time to try it. It was a light bulb moment: I had to have calamansi in my dirty rice,” he says. The citrus fruit ubiquitous in the Philippines has caught Mangum’s fancy that he plans to offer dirty rice for a limited time in his New York branch.

Hugh Mangum’s mini-empire was built on his brisket. In its flagship restaurant in New York, Mighty Quinn smokes more than 900 whole briskets a week.

Pulled pork sandwich

Mighty Quinn’s Mangum (center) is flanked by Standard Hospitality Group president John Concepcion and SM Supermalls senior vice president Steven Tan.

Mighty Quinn’s price point, however, may prove to be prohibitive for some, but John Concepcion, president of the Standard Hospitality Group that brought the restaurant to the country, is confident that Filipinos would find the restaurant’s smoked meat worth every peso.

“You don’t have to travel to the US to get the best barbecue. We can return your money if you are not happy with your food here at Mighty Quinn. That’s how confident we are with the taste and

Smores bread pudding

the authenticity of our food,” says Concepcion, the same guy who was responsible for bringing in Yabu and Ippudo onto the local food scene.

Mighty Quinn’s pulled pork has been described by the New York Times as “staggeringly good,” the beef rib “an instant conversation stopper,” and the spare ribs “exceptional.”

But the best reviews are always personal. For Concepcion, he will never forget the first time he tasted Mighty

Quinn’s brisket in New York a few years back, before the restaurant even had its first international branch. “It was winter and it was snowing outside. That brisket made me feel warm and happy.

It was then that I felt this can become a global brand,” he says.

Or as Mangum puts it, “Barbecue is always associated with fun and love.”

For feedback, send comments to joyce.panares@gmail.com

Lola gets support from Jollibee JOLLIBEE, the Philippines’s leading fastfood chain, is known for its unparalleled support for Filipino family values. Following the viral advertisement #KwentongJollibee “Kahera,” the brand released yet another heartwarming online video, “Handog Kay Lola Maria,” that featured the exemplary proof of the selflessness, support and love of grandparents.

The video featured a 74-year-old Bad-

jao grandmother named Lola Maria Tequillo who, despite her old age, dove for coins thrown by tourists at a nearby pier in Lucena City to support her family, most especially her four grandchildren. Lola Maria was discovered through a viral feature of broadcasting network GMA’s documentary program, Front Row. “Ang hanap-buhay ko ay maninisid araw-araw, mga bente-anyos na ako

Jollibee, in partnership with Coca-Cola Philippines, made Lola Maria’s dream of owning a sari-sari store come true.

Festive desserts for Christmas CHRISTMASTIME is food-binge time and The French Baker’s Christmas goodies will not only delight your family and friends but also add more style and elegance to your already bountiful Noche Buena table.

These Christmas goodies are baked fresh out from the oven daily.

Among the choices available are Blueberry Cheesecake, Stollen Bread that’s steeped in European yuletide traditions, colorful Gingerbread House, Chocolate Moist Cake, Clas-

sic Fruitcake, Parisian Macarons, a holiday bread called Panettone, plus a wide selection of cookies, such as Almond Tuille Cookies, Choco M&M Cookies, Banana Walnut Chocolate Cookies, Rum Raisin Cookies, Oldfashioned Sugar Cookies, Peanut Butter Cookies, Gingerbread Boy and Brioche Bordelaise.

Add sweetness to your Noche Buena table with The French Baker’s Christmas goodies

maninisid dito, (I dive for spare coins for a living and I’ve been doing it every day for 20 years now),” said Lola Maria in the video. “Pupunta ako sa pier, mag-aabang talaga ako ng barko at manghihingi talaga ako ng barya. Minsan parang ako’y aabutan ng mahinang katawan, kaya lang, konting tiis para naman meron kaming makain. (I head to the pier, wait for a ship to pass by, and ask its passengers to throw in some coins for me. Sometimes, my body would be too weak but I have to continue doing this so my family will have something to eat).”

Jollibee celebrated this year’s Grandparent’s Day by heading to Quezon Province to treat Lola Maria and her loved ones to a hearty Jollibee feast.

Soon after, Jollibee, in partnership with Coca-Cola Philippines, granted Lola Maria her dream sari-sari store so that she never has to dive for coins again.

Through the Coca-Cola partnership, Lola Maria and her daughter was also provided important sari-sari management tips and basic information on how to effectively run and maintain their new source of income.

The special Grandparent’s Day ac-

Lola Maria Tequillo and her husband celebrate Grandparent’s Day with their grandchildren

tivity for Lola Maria also became the launch pad for Jollibee’s Grand Thank You project which aims to help ease the plight of elderly people. The Grand Thank You project encourages everyone to take part in providing support and possibly more sustainable livelihood to elderly Filipinos in need.

“Jollibee recognizes the hard work and tireless effort that lolos and lolas go through to support and show their love for their families,” said Francis Flores, Jollibee Global Brand CMO. “Apart from Jollibee’s well-loved, langhapsarap products, an endeavor such as the

Grand Thank You project furthers our thrust of providing joy to countless Filipino families.”

Watch “Handog para kay Lola Maria” on the Jollibee YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/ watch?v=G0HfTKwFMWU) or on the Jollibee Facebook page (www.facebook.com/JollibeePhilippines/videos/1229473180432239/).

For more information and details on Jollibee’s Grand Thank You Project, email grandtyproject@jollibee.com.ph.

You may also follow Jollibee on Twitter and Instagram at @jollibee.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

Rhian glad ‘Saving Sally’ is in MMFF magic 8

An aaerial act of ‘Le Grand Cirque’ showcases the amazing abilities of a performer doing a visually stunning act

Witness gravity-defying tricks in

T

‘LE GRAND CIRQUE’

HE Araneta Center’s Christmas offering this month gives the audience a taste of breathtaking spectacles involving the best gymnasts, acrobats and performers from all over the world. Le Grand Cirque, a show straight out of Vegas first debuted to record-breaking audience attendance at the Sydney Opera House in Australia years ago, will make its debut at the Smart Araneta Coliseum this holiday season.

Coming to the country for the first time, the troupe is scheduled performe from Dec. 25 till Jan. 3, 2017, and is just the kind of entertainment families can enjoy this Christmas. Producer Jay Lodge, who is putting together the Manila show, notes that its audience is “everyone from two to 92.”

When asked for the highlight of Le Grand Cirque, Lodge points out, “For me it’s everything from start to finish! Our focus is there (should

be) something for everybody. There’s aerial stuff, risky stuff; there’s a fire dancer, there are the Strongman guys – (people who do) crazy lifts and balances I couldn’t even dream of doing.”

One of the acts of the show is called the Aerial Cube, which will be performed by amazing gymnasts from Los Angeles, Maya Kramer and Elizabeth Fraley. On a suspended cube structure, these artists would execute an amazing synchronized aerial tango that showcases their incredible flexibility and strength. The display of these performers’ near-superhuman abilities is why cirque shows are some of the last enduring live forms of entertainment. Always evolving, artists continue to find ways to keep the audiences thrilled and awed.

“It is great fun, filled with excitement and is adrenaline-filled,” Lodge promises of Le Grand Cirque.

Enjoyed by thousands through performances in the US, UK and even Canada, Filipino audiences will now experience these breathtaking shows and have the best memories of getting together with friends and loved ones. Reasonably priced compared to most Christmas offerings, this is the perfect show for the whole family or the whole barkada.

For more information on Le Grand Cirque, visit www.aranetecoliseum. com/LeGrandCirque or Facebook.com/LeGrandCirqueAraneta. Tickets are available at www.ticketnet.com.ph or call 911-5555.

ABS-CBN now into cinema management ABS-CBN Corporation, the country’s leading media and entertainment company, has entered into an agreement with CityMall Commercial Centers, Inc. (CMCCI), to manage the cinemas of the growing independent community mall chain across Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.

Under the partnership, ABSCBN shall manage the booking and the food and beverage operations of CityMall’s mini theaters, while CMCCI, a subsidiary of DoubleDragon Properties Corp., will build and open the cinema infrastructure.

The theaters will be built in CityMall branches in Tagum, Davao, Victorias, Negros Occidental, Anabu, Imus, Cotabato City, Bulua, Cagayan de Oro, Koronadal City, Consolacion, Cebu, Mandalagan, Bacolod City, Sta. Rosa, Nueva Ecija, and Dumaguete, Negros Oriental.

From left: CityMall president Ferdinand Sia, chairman Edgar 'Injap' Sia II, ABS-CBN chairman Eugenio Lopez III, president and CEO Carlo Katigbak, and Star Creatives COO Malou Santos

As CityMall’s cinemas’ booking agent, ABS-CBN shall determine what movies shall be screened, including the regular screening of Star Cinema productions.

ABS-CBN Chairman Eugenio Lopez III, ABS-CBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak, ABSCBN group Chief Finance Officer Rolando Valdueza, Star Creatives COO Malou Santos signed

the partnership together with CityMall Commercial Centers, Inc. Chairman Edgar Sia II and President Ferdinand Sia. ABS-CBN’s venture into cinema management is part of the company’s consumer business, which now accounts for P17 billion in annual revenues, or 45 percent of total company revenues, with the remaining 55 percent percent

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Monday, December 19, 2016

ACROSS 1 Turtle follower 5 Place for a pint 8 Clothing 12 Outlying region 14 Laird’s accent 15 “En garde” weapon 16 Taxing time 17 Rights org.

18 Pro — 19 Within reach 21 Naturally bright 23 Clock numeral 24 Stanley Cup org.

25 Ave. crossers 26 Mitten loser of rhyme 30 — Kea volcano 32 German steel center 33 Really full (hyph.)

37 Tilt 38 Gaea has five 39 Open 40 Was related to 42 Rathskeller mug 43 Ad spiels 44 Argosies 45 Yvette’s date 48 Hi-fi records 49 Mark of Zorro 50 Horticultural art 52 Parson

57 58 60 61 62 63 64 65 66

— Raton, Florida Was, to Ovid Sherpa, often Flair Wine served warm Wife of Menelaus Jerk Kickoff stand Stoic founder

DOWN 1 Lowest high tide 2 World’s fair 3 Strays 4 Mr. Kristofferson 5 Brownish-purple 6 Web address 7 Reviews 8 Slender gull 9 Iridescent gems 10 Ya dig? (2 wds.)

11 Pants parts 13 Karen — (Isak Dinesen) 14 Romantic island 20 Dumpster 22 Humerus neighbor 24 Appointed 26 Iodine source 27 Palm reader’s opener (2 wds.)

28 29 30 31 33 34 35 36 38 41 42 44 45

1917 abdicator Fractional part Lionesses’ lack Sharp Actor Tommy Lee — Cypress feature Fix typos Spanish noblemen Peppiest Auel’s heroine Horses pull it Marsh Convent

46 47 49 51 52 53 54 55 56 59

Money, in slang Early Peruvian Pasta tubes Went to the bottom Construct Egyptian canal Mosaic unit TV genie portrayer Casino city “Norma —”

generated from advertising. It is generated from three types of businesses, namely subscription, ticketed experiences, and durable goods.

ABS-CBN recently reported a consolidated revenue of P31.1 billion for the first nine months of 2016, with a net income to PHP 2.85 billion, 50 percent higher compared to the same period last year.

RHIAN Ramos just can’t hide her elation over the fact that Saving Sally made it to the eight entries in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

“I’m really happy and proud that our project was chosen as part of the Magic 8. It’s a big honor especially that we were given an A rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board,” she states.

Interestingly, Saving Sally is the product of the collaborative effort of a small team of young animators led by its director Avid Liongoren who has directed for television and TV commercials.

“That’s right! In fact, it took 10 years to finish the movie. Yes! Due to budget constraints, official photography got derailed. Imagine the time gap. So, all of us involved in the production are so glad that finally, the project was finished and more importantly, entered the MMFF this year. It’s really a blessing!”

Obviously, the lovely Kapuso star has invested a lot in the film.

“I’ve auditioned for the part when I was 19 years old, the time when I was doing Zorro opposite Richard Gutierrez. Now, I’m 26. So, I can say that I was really committed to the project.

I was really overwhelmed when I got the title role considering that there were also other established actresses who vied for it.

“Apart from that, this movie contributed to my independence and maturity as an artist. For one, it’s the first role in which I underwent audition.

During that time, roles were offered to me by my mother studio. But with Saving Sally, it’s my first experience to decide and go for a role that I really wanted to do. This project taught me to make decisions for myself!” reveals Rhian.

The film is in 2D animation.

“That I think what sets us apart from the other entries. Actually, it’s a typical youthful love story replete with childlike elements. A familiar coming-of-age vehicle told with stylized visuals.

Here, Direk Avid blended

2D animation with live action and an abundance of warm, fuzzy feelings to create a totally unique and lovable little film. It’s catered to all types of viewers particularly children, the socalled Millennials and the young-at-heart.”

The lovely lass gets strong support from some of the industry’s reliable performers in this movie.

“Joining me here are TJ Trinidad, Sharmaine Centenera Buencamino, Archie Adamos, Carme Sanchez, Bodjie Pascua, and Enzo Marcos who acts as my love interest,” ends Rhian. ******** Former matinee idol Biboy Ramirez has also an entry in the upcoming 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival.

“Yes! I’m part of the drama vehicle titled Oro under Feliz Film Productions of Mr. Shandii Bacolod. It’s directed by Mr. Alvin Yapan and stars Irma Adlawan, Joem Bascon and Mercedes Cabral. I’m very grateful to have worked with such brilliant actors,” he avers.

The movie, one of the two drama entries in this year’s MMFF, tackles a serious theme.

“Actually, it’s about a community of miners who will be infiltrated by an armed group masquerading as environmentalists. Their feisty lady barangay captain is forced to fight for their right to keep their livelihood. I think Ms. Irma did an excellent job in delineating the character.”

The plot is based on a similar situation in a province in the South.

“As part of our preparations, we had a one-day immersion activity with the locales. We were able to talk with the concerned lady barangay captain and learned about their plight.

We hope that this film will help them regain justice as it stirs awareness and consciousness.”

Many say that Oro is a strong contender for awards.

“I hope so! I really want our offering to receive accolades since it is pioneering in style and presentation. It’s theme on power, greed and the importance of equity is simply moving,” says Biboy.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, DECEMBER 19, 2016

ISAH V. RED

G

MA Network is set to end the year on a remarkably strong note as it continues to outshine competition across all day parts in nationwide television ratings. This is according to data from the industry’s widely trusted ratings service provider Nielsen TV Audience Measurement.

From morning to primetime, the Kapuso Network further improved its lead over the rival network, sustaining its dominance in National Urban Philippines. From Nov. 1 to Dec.13 (Dec. 4 to 13 based on overnight data), GMA registered a total day household audience share of 38.2 percent in NUTAM (National Urban Television Audience Measurement), well ahead of ABS-CBN’s 34.4 percent.

GMA programs comprised majority of the highest rating shows in National Urban Philippines with 8 out of 10.

Leading the list of top-rating Kapuso shows is the iconic telefantasya Encantadia (24.6 percent), keeping the number one spot over-all in NUTAM. Primetime newscast 24 Oras (23.3 percent) at no. 3 is also a clear winner in nationwide ratings as it remains the leading news program in the country.

The Kapuso Network also continues to rule in comedy with Pepito Manaloto (23 percent) securing the fourth spot, followed by the weekly drama anthology Magpakailanman (21.5 percent) at no. 5.

Intriguing viewers with its unpredictable plot, Alyas Robin Hood (21.2 percent), top-billed by Kapuso Primetime King Dingdong Dantes, likewise ranked among the mostwatched programs nationwide at no. 6.

Completing the list of GMA shows in the top 10 are consistent weekend top-raters Ismol Family (20.7 percent), Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho (20.4 percent), and 24 Oras Weekend (19.1 percent).

Other Kapuso programs that registered strong ratings in NUTAM are Hay Bahay! (18.9 percent), Tsuperhero (18.6 percent), Imbestigador (16.4 percent), Wowowin (16.2 percent), Eat Bulaga (15.2 percent), Sunday Pinasaya (13.8 percent), and Someone to Watch Over Me (13.2 percent).

Resurgence: Pacquiao versus Vargas, which aired exclusively on GMA on free TV, meanwhile, took the no.1 in the list of programs with specials with a 32.9 percent household rating.

Nielsen data is gathered through a greater number of sampled homes nationwide in comparison to

'Bubble Gang' Creative Director and comedian Michael V

TOP-RATER. Stars of the most watched primetime series "Endantadia,' (from left) Gabbi Garcia, Glaiza de Castro, Kylie Padilla and Sanya Lopez

KAPUSO NETWORK

posts wider leads over competition Kantar Media. With approximately 900 more homes surveyed in Total Philippines compared to Kantar, Nielsen data is statistically considered more representative of the total TV population. *** Barangay LS 97.1, the flagship FM station of GMA Network, goes from strength to strength after grabbing the lead in morning primetime (6 a.m. to 12 nn.) ratings based on data from Nielsen

Segment host Iya Villana with GMA Network news pillars and '24 Oras' anchors Vicky Morales, Mike Enriquez and Mel Tiangco

Media Research.

Morning primetime is a significant daypart for radio where listening levels are highest.

According to the latest survey results covering July to Sept. 2016, Barangay LS posted an average total week (Monday to Sunday) audience share of 24.7 percent on morning primetime, ahead of DWRR’s 24.1 percent and DZMB’s 21.1 percent.

Similarly on weekdays (Monday to

Nobela, which tackles various stories as drama features with host Papa Dudut, airing weekdays from 9 to 11 a.m.; and Barangay Showbiz with Papa Baldo and Chiko dishing out showbiz news and human interest stories 8 to 9 a.m. every Saturday.

Mornings are also more fun in Barangay LS with Papa Baldo’s All Star Request, airing 9 to 11 a.m. every Saturday; Mama Belle’s The Big 10, every Saturday 11 a.m. to 12 nn.; and Papa Jepoy’s Old Time Good Time, every Sunday from 6 to 9 a.m,. –each program garnering strong audience shares as well.

To know the complete list of programs on Barangay LS 97.1 and other Barangay FM stations in the country, visit www.gmanetwork.com/ radio/dwls. *** ABS-CBN’s primetime drama series Magpahanggang Wakas reached its new all-time high national TV rating on Dec. 6 when the episode showed the intense confrontation between Simon (Cris Villanueva) and Jenna (Gelli De Belen) on a roof deck that led to the latter’s death.

According to data from Kantar Media, the show hit a national TV rating of 28 percent versus its rival that only got 20 percent.

As the story continues, Aryann (Arci Munoz) faces the aftermath of the incident as she gets accused of murdering Jenna after she was seen on the crime scene.

Magpahanggang Wakas airs before Till I Met You on ABS-CBN and on ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable ch 167).

Catch up on the show’s past episodes via iWanTV or skyondeman.com.ph for Sky subscribers.

Friday), Barangay LS kept its lead with an audience share of 25 percent, besting DWRR’s 23.1 percent and DZMB’s 21.4 percent.

Driving Barangay LS FM’s noteworthy performance in the morning are Potpot & Friends Nationwide, where in hosts Papa Jepoy and Papa Marco engage in hilarious conversations with listeners from across the country, weekdays 8 to 9 a.m.; Radyo

Kapuso primetime King and 'Alyas Robin Hood' star Dingdong Dantes

Gelli de Belen in an intense scene in 'Magpahanggang Wakas'

2M homes experiencing digital TV THE promise of clear picture and crisp sound, additional premium channels, plus its availability and new price, have enticed more Filipinos to get their own ABS-CBN TVplus, the country’s first digital terrestrial television product.

In less than two years, ABS-CBN’s “mahiwagang black box” has already doubled its first year’s milestone by selling two million units, making ABS-CBN TVplus the country’s leader in and go-to provider of digital terrestrial television broadcast.

“ABS-CBN TVplus continues to improve the Filipino’s viewing experience though digital quality broadcast and a transformative entertainment experience by offering more choices of channels and even opportunities to watch special TV events, greatly supporting our mission to serve the Filipino people,” ABSCBN President and CEO Carlo Katigbak said.

“In addition to the immense improvement it made on the Filipino’s TV viewing experience,

ABS-CBN TVplus has become more conveniently available in more than 2,000 retail outlets and stores and is now more affordable,” ABS-CBN DTT and ABS-CBNmobile Head Chinky Alcedo said.

ABS-CBN is the first media and entertainment company in the country to make the historic switch from analog to digital terrestrial television and transform the TV viewing experience of Filipinos. ABS-CBN TVplus was launched in February 2015, signaling the start of the country’s digital

terrestrial television (DTT) service.

ABS-CBN TVplus leverages on a wide distribution network nationwide through various retail outlets, sales agents, and dealers. In September, it was offered at its most affordable price point of P1,499, with no compromises in quality as it retains its exclusive channels such as the male-oriented channel CineMo, children’s channel YeY, educational channel Knowledge Channel, and all-day news channel DZMM Teleradyo on top of ABSCBN Sports+Action and ABS-CBN.

“Being a pioneer and a gamechanger, ABS-CBN TVplus will continue to improve the quality of every Filipino’s television viewing in the country. We enabled change when we launched it, there is no stopping us now from continuing on this path,” Alcedo added.

ABS-CBN continues to harness technology and innovation, as it transitions into an agile digital company with the biggest online presence among all media companies and a growing list of digital properties.