Manila Standard - 2016 December 27 - Tuesday

Bicol battered; 4 dead Nina forces 383,000 to leave their homes

Naia scraps 306 flights

By Joel E. Zurbano THOUSANDS of passengers were stranded at four terminals of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport on Monday following the cancellation of more than 306 local and international flights because of Typhoon “Nina.” Next page

VOL. XXX • NO. 318 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

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YPHOON “Nina” is heading out to the West Philippine Sea after ravaging the Bicol region, leaving four people dead and a trail of destruction in its wake a day after Christmas.

A couple were reported killed by a flood while an elderly man was crushed by a falling wall, the governor of the storm-ravaged eastern province of Albay, Al Bichara, said on TV. Another person was killed and two more were injured when the storm toppled a power line in Quezon province, electrocuting them, a police report said.

An anchored ferry went down off the coastal province of Batangas on Monday with eight crewmen still missing, said coastguard officer Joy Villegas.

Two people also died after suffering heart attacks during the storm but it was unclear if those deaths were directly related to the Next page

LEAVING WEDNESDAY. The left and right sides of the Maharlika Highway in Polangui, Albay are a deeply frightening sight of sea as Typhoon ‘Nina’ hits the Bicol peninsula from the Pa-

cific Sunday, while workers (below) check fallen electric pylons on the national road after Typhoon ‘Nina’ hits land in Nabua, Camarines Sur on Monday, as members of the Philippine Coast Guard deploy rescue teams (inset) to different parts of Metro Manila as the capital braces for the 14th weather disturbance to lash the country; at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City, some of the stranded passengers (farther below) wait for the resumption of international and domestic flights canceled by ‘Nina.’ AFP/Norman Cruz/PNA

De Lima’s anti-Du30 petition assailed

THE Department of Social Welfare and Development announced Monday that it will provide P206.36 million in augmentation assistance to 27 local government units hit by Typhoon “Nina.”

Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo said the assistance covers food and non-food items, consisting of 580,857 family food packs, 2,459 ready-to-eat meals, 1,585 malongs, 885 mosquito nets, 885 blankets, and 585 dignity kits (towels, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, feminine napkins and others).

This assistance is on top of the goods that have been pre-positioned to the LGUs, she said.

Aside from the supplies, the DSWD will also provide a mobile communications vehicle and high-speed Internet service to the Response Cluster Operations Center at the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council to facilitate speedy monitoring of the situation in affected areas. Next page

By Rey E. Requejo AN OFFICIAL has asked the Supreme Court to dismiss the petition filed by Senator Leila de Lima last month challenging President Rodrigo Duterte’s immunity from suits.

Solicitor General Jose Calida invoked the absolute immunity from suit enjoyed by the President during his tenure in office.

He says the President’s immunity is a ‘‘well-entrenched doctrine,’’ and that Duterte may not be held accountable during his six-year term to the charges claimed by De Lima. Next page

Last Xmas for George Michael, 53 LONDON—British pop star George Michael, who rose to fame with the band Wham! and sold more than 100 million albums in his career, has died aged 53, his publicist said on Sunday.

“It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period,” the publicist said in a statement.

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Bishops condemn Cotabato explosion

Death penalty, Cha-Cha make for Congress’ history

By Maricel V. Cruz

George Michael

Govt sets P206-m food aid

THE 17th Congress is poised to make history, not only as it considers legislation to restore the death penalty, but also as it debates the adoption of a federal form of government that may see the eventual abolition of the legislature as we know it.

The House of Representatives finished 2016 with the passage of several contentious laws and conducted a number of hearings on controversial issues—ostensibly twitter.com/ MlaStandard

in aid of legislation.

Proposed measures such as Charter change, freedom of information, and same sex union were among controversial measures that had been filed before, and were refiled in 2016.

Whereas the 16th Congress under the stewardship of then Speaker Feliciano Belmonte focused on the ill-fated Bangsamoro Basic Law, the allies of President Rodrigo Duterte have chosen to focus on his drive for federalism.

As the 16th Congress drew to

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a close, the BBL was doomed, weighed down by legal infirmities and the Mamasapano massacre of 44 police commandos that touched off a firestorm of anger against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Aquino administration’s main partner in peace talks.

Proposed FOI legislation also failed to pass under the previous administration as members of the 16th Congress became preoccupied with the May elections.

In his first State-of-the-Nation Address before the new Congress,

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President Duterte sought the help of Congress in his war on illegal drugs and in his push to institute a federal form of government.

Under the leadership of his political ally Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Congress has made it a priority to restore the death penalty, lower the age of criminal liability and adopt a federal system.

Alvarez said the first three years of the 17th Congress under the Duterte administration will be devoted to passing these measures.

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COTABATO CITY―Church leaders in the Archdiocese of Cotabato and Diocese of Kidapawan on Monday condemned the Christmas Eve bombing outside a Catholic Church in Midsayap, North Cotabato.

Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Cardinal Quevedo and Kidapawan Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo made the statement following the bombing that left 17 people injured, including a police officer who was leading a team of security personnel outside the Senior Santo Niño Archdiocesan Shrine on Dec. 24.

Quevedo described the bombing as “a crime that cries out of heaven”. “[The] bombing was a crime every religion of love and peace must condemn,” he said.

“As chief shepherd of the flock my heart reaches out with love and compassion to our wounded Next page parishioners.”

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

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Pinay jihadist in Kuwait gets 10-yr jail term A KUWAITI court on Monday sentenced a Filipino woman to 10 years in jail after convicting her of joining the Islamic State jihadist group and plotting attacks.

The ruling, which is not final, also calls for deporting the 32-year-old after serving her term.

The woman was arrested in August, two months after arriving in the oil-rich Gulf state to work as a domestic helper.

At the time, the interior ministry said she had confessed to being a member of the Islamic State group and was plotting terrorist attacks in the emirate.

The woman told interrogators that her husband was an active fighter with IS in Libya and he had asked her to come to Kuwait from the Philippines as a domestic helper, according to the ministry.

An IS-affiliated group in the Philippines has conduced a string of bombings as well as kidnappings for ransom of foreign tourists and Christian missionaries in the country.

Kuwaiti courts have sentenced to various jail terms a number of members, sympathisers and financiers of the IS group.

In October, Kuwait police arrested an Egyptian driver suspected of being a member of the IS, after he rammed a garbage truck into a pick-up carrying five Americans.

Authorities in July said they had dismantled three IS cells plotting attacks, including a suicide bombing against a Shiite mosque and against an interior ministry target.

An IS-linked suicide bomber killed 26 worshippers in June last year when he blew himself up in a mosque of Kuwait’s Shiite minority, in the worst such attack in the Gulf state’s histor y. AFP

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Calida disputes De Lima’s argument that the issue on immunity touches on the merits of the case and that resolving it would be premature.

He earlier asked why the high court decided not to require Duterte to comment on De Lima’s petition and instead opted to settle first the issue on the applicability of the President’s immunity from suits on the case.

De Lima argues that the President should be required to answer her petition.

But Calida agreed with the high court’s action and stressed that there was no need to require the President to even comment on the petition because his immunity from suits was automatic.

“Presidential immunity automatically attaches to the President by virtue of his office and there is no need to invoke it for its existence,” Calida said.

Citing previous cases, Calida claims that the high court has automatically dropped the sitting President from list of respondents in cases where he or she had been impleaded, and as a matter of doctrine and practice.

Calida cited a petition last May challenging the last appointments made by then outgoing President Benigno Aquino III in the judiciary where the high court dropped him as a respondent but kept then Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa as respondent for the Office of the President.

Calida also rejected De Lima’s argument that the President’s personal attacks against her were beyond his official functions and therefore should not be covered by immunity.

“The rationale for presidential immunity is that the President must be free from any hindrance or distraction in the exercise of his duties and functions,” Calida said.

He also invoked the doctrine of separation of powers which, he says, precludes the high court from proceeding to act on De Lima’s petition.

“This honorable court is bound by judicial precedents in applying the well-established doctrine of absolute immunity from suit by the President,” Calida said.

Show of force: China tests stealth warplane B The test comes as the nation flexes its military muscles, sending its sole aircraft carrier the Liaoning into the western Pacific in recent days to lead drills there for the first time.

The newest version of the J-31― now renamed the FC-31 Gyrfalcon―took to the air for the first time Friday, the China Daily re-

ported.

The so-called “fifth-generation” twin-engine jet is China’s answer to the US F-35, the world’s most technically advanced fighter.

The new FC-31 has “better stealth capabilities, improved electronic equipment and a larger payload capacity” than the previous version which debuted in October

2012, the newspaper said, quoting aviation expert Wu Peixin.

“Changes were made to the airframe, wings and vertical tails which make it leaner, lighter and more maneuverable,” Wu told the paper.

The jet is manufactured by Shenyang Aircraft Corp., a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corp of China.

The fighter is expected to sell for around $70 million, the article said, aiming to take market share away from more expensive fourth-generation fighters like the Eurofighter Typhoon.

AVIC has said that the FC-31 will “put an end to some nations’

Naia...

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were cancelled, as were domestic flights to and from Cebu, Davao, Tagbilaran, Caticlan, Zamboanga, Puerto Princesa, Kalibo, Dumaguete, Roxas and Dipolog.

Monreal said incoming foreign airlines flights were also canceled except those that had flight schedules in the morning.

The airport authority was still anticipating shutting down the runway once the typhoon’s wind speed reaches 50 knots. The speed of the wind around 10 a.m. Monday was about 25 knot, which MIAA said was still tolerable.

Monreal and airline officials met over the weekend to discuss measures to be taken once the typhoon made landfall. The meeting was also attended by Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines director general Jim Sydiongco.

Naia Terminal 3 was most affected by the flight cancellations.

Monreal advised passengers whose flights have been canceled

by their airlines to keep track of recovery flights to be dispatched by the carriers once the weather improves.

He also urged airlines to constantly inform their passengers about the status of the flights.

The Philippine Coast Guard reported that 10,968 passengers were stranded at various ports nationwide due to Typhoon “Nina.”

In its advisory, the PCG said travel was suspended for 1,047 roll-on roll off vessels, 37 sea vessels, and six motorized bancas in various ports across the country.

The typhoon also rendered 15 road sections in the Bicol, Eastern Visayas, Calabarzon and Cordillera regions impassable, the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) reported Monday.

An executive summary released by the department said eight road sections in Bicol and Eastern Visayas were closed to traffic due to an ongoing slope protection project,

possible recurrence of landslides, and fallen trees and utility posts.

It added that six road sections affected by previous typhoons and continuous monsoon rains are still closed to traffic--four in the Cordillera region and two in the Calabarzon region.

In the Calabarzon region, clearing operations were being conducted along the Marikina-Infanta Road in Infanta, Quezon as well as the Querocep Bridge; and the Diokno Highway in Kalaka, Batangas.

In the Bicol region, clearing operations were ongoing due to fallen trees along several roads, includingCamarines Sur’s Daang Maharlika Highway In Eastern Visayas, the WrightTaft-Borongan Road in Brgy. Fatima, Hinabangan, Samar was only passable to light vehicles. Heavy vehicles have been advised to take the San Juanico-Basey-Marabout Road as an alternative route. with PNA

She said that DSWD disasters teams on the ground continue to assist and coordinate with LGUs in disaster relief operations and in managing evacuation centers.

Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi, meanwhile, instructed concerned units and agencies to immediately restore power to the communities hit by the weather disturbance specifically in Southern Luzon and the Bicol region.

“This is another super typhoon, we’ve prepared for it and we are currently on the ground to assess the damage and quickly restore compromised energy facilities in each province,” Cusi said.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella on Monday went to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines’ overall command and monitoring center and the National Electrification Administration to facilitate coordination on the rehabilitation efforts and set deadlines for the ground assessment of damaged energy facilities.

“The DoE and its partners in the energy sector will deploy restoration teams for the speedy recovery of power to the affected towns and

provinces,” Fuentebella said.

Acting chairman of the Metro Manila Development Authority, Thomas Orbos, ordered the agency’s disaster team to prepare for rescue operations in areas affected by the typhoon.

Orbos, who also heads the Metro Manila Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, said the MMDA’s personnel and equipment are ready for immediate deployment to address any eventuality.

The disaster team includes personnel from Road Emergency, Communications, Flood Control and Traffic Groups while dump trucks, rubber and wooden boats, and other equipment have been prepared for deployment.

“Two hundred MMDA rescue personnel, five military trucks, eight ambulances are now on standby and ready to respond to emergency incidents,” said Orbos.

The MMDA public information office also noted that 12 rubber boats and personnel already prepositioned at flood-prone areas while six flood gates of Manggahan were already opened in anticipation of massive flooding.

It added that outdoor advertisers have been asked by the agency to roll down billboards as early as Saturday to prevent any untoward incidents.

“Our traffic enforcers can be converted to rescuers if and when the need arises,” said Orbos.

The agency urged building contractors to secure their cranes and other equipment to prevent any accident.

The 17 local government units in Metro Manila are already on a standby and continue monitoring the situation.

In its 3 p.m. advisory Monday, the MMDA said signal number 2 was raised over Metro Manila, which was expecting heavy rainfall by the late afternoon.

Vice President Leni Robredo on Monday appealed for help and donations for areas affected by Typhoon “Nina” while on her US trip.

In her Facebook page, Robredo said the Office of the Vice President was ready to accept assistance for victims of “Nina” that pounded the Bicol region, including Camarines Sur, her home province. Alena Mae Flores, Joel E. Zurbano, Rio N. Araja, PNA

EIJING—China has tested the latest version of its fifth-generation stealth fighter, state media reported Monday, as it tries to end the West’s monopoly on the world’s most advanced warplanes.

“As early as 8 a.m., over hundreds of flights were canceled.

All aircraft [on the ground] were evacuated to a safer place,” said Manila International Airport Authority general manager Eddie Villanueva Monreal.

He added that some foreign airlines that landed Monday morning had departed and returned to their respective points of origin before the typhoon made landfall in Batangas.

The MIAA said 306 flights—270 domestic and 36 international—were grounded because of the bad weather. Most of these flights were from Philippine Airlines, Cebu Pacific Air and Air Asia Zest.

International flights to and from Singapore, Jakarta, Shanghai, Riyadh, Haneda and Guangzhou

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As of 5 a.m. on Monday, the DSWD-Disaster Response Operations, Monitoring and Information Center reported that a total of 22,676 families or 95,774 persons from 291 barangays in the Mimaropa, Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions have been affected.

Of the figure, 20,624 families or 87,157 persons were staying in 310 evacuation centers set up and managed by LGUs. Some 16,106 passengers were stranded in various seaports in the Calabarzon, Mimaropa, Bicol and Eastern Visayas regions.

The department’s field office in Bicol has provided an initial assistance of more than P6 million to the LGUs—P1.6 million for Albay; P3.1 million for Camarines Sur; and P1.4 million for Sorsogon.

Taguiwalo said they have enough relief supplies to respond to the needs of affected families.

“To the affected families, you may approach your LGUs. Goods have already been pre-positioned to them,” she said.

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Quevedo made his statement even as police officials told President Rodrigo Duterte that the bombing in Midsayap was drug-related.

Midsayap Police Chief Bernard Tayong said several witnesses had come forward to provide information on the suspects who were seen leaving the blast site shortly before the incident.

Last...

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Thames Valley Police said the ambulance service had attended a property in Goring in Oxfordshire, where the singer lived, at 1342 GMT on Sunday and a 53-year-old man was confirmed dead at the scene.

“At this stage the death is being treated as unexplained but not suspicious. A post-mortem will be undertaken in due course,” the police said.

Singer Elton John published a picture of himself with Michael on his Instagram account.

“I am in deep shock. I have lost a beloved friend—the kindest, most generous soul and a brilliant artist,” the British star wrote.

Madonna posted a video of herself presenting Michael with an award and wrote: “Farewell my Friend! Another Great Artist leaves us.”

Michael was due to release a documentary in 2017 after a pe-

“It was drug related. We have been receiving threats from the supporters of drug syndicates operating in the borders of Maguindanao and North Cotabato,” Tayong told reporters.

In Davao City, security measures are up following the bombing in Midsayap.

Task Force Davao commander Col. Erwin Bernard Neri said the police in the city remained on full alert following the bombing.

Quevedo said he hoped the bombers would be quickly identified and brought to justice.

riod of living as a virtual recluse in which he hit the headlines for a series of bizarre incidents linked to drugs.

Earlier this month it was also announced that producer and songwriter Naughty Boy, whose real name is Shahid Khan, was working with Michael on a new album for next year.

Michael was best known for his 1980s hits “Last Christmas”, “Freedom”, “Careless Whisper” and “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” but his career spanned more than three decades.

He won a string of awards including two Grammies and three Brits.

His last album “Symphonica” (2014) rose to number one in the charts.

Many tributes to Michael referred to other music world deaths in 2016, starting with David Bowie in January and including Status Quo guitarist Rick Parfitt who died on Saturday.

“2016—loss of another talented soul. All our love and sympathy to

monopolies on the fifth-generation fighter jet,” the China Daily reported.

China is aggressively moving to develop its domestic weapons industry, from drones and antiaircraft systems to homegrown jet engines.

In the past it has been accused of copying designs from Russian fighters, and some analysts say the FC-31 bears a close resemblance to the F-35.

When completed the FC-31 will become the country’s second fifth-generation fighter after the J-20, which put on its first public performance at the Zhuhai Air Show in November. AFP

“I condemn this violent terroristic act against the innocent as a crime that cries out to heaven, a crime that every religion of love and peace must condemn,” he said.

“What was a sacred celebration of joy and thanksgiving ended in tragedy and sorrow.

“May the heartless perpetrators be quickly identified and brought to justice. May the victims and their families find strength and comfort in the Christ Child and in the Blessed Virgin Mary.” PNA, with F. Pearl A. Gajunera

George Michael’s family,” the band Duran Duran, which were 1980s contemporaries of Wham!, said on their official Twitter account.

Referring to him by his nickname “Yog” (Yours Only George), Wham! co-star Andrew Ridgeley said he was “heartbroken” by Michael’s death.

Canadian musician Bryan Adams tweeted: “I can’t believe it.

Such an incredible singer and a lovely human being, far too young to leave us.”

Tributes poured in from outside the music world, too.

Football presenter and former England captain Gary Lineker tweeted: “No, not George Michael as well. Another musical great leaves us this year.

2016 can just sod off.”

“Star Trek” actor George Takei referred to some of Michael’s greatest hits in a tweet, writing: “Rest with the glittering stars, George Michael. You’ve found your Freedom, your Faith. It was your Last Christmas, and we shall miss you.”

Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou to a Greek Cypriot father and English mother in north London in 1963.

He met Ridgeley at high school and the pair went on to form Wham! in 1981.

With their good looks, permatans, highlighted hair and hedonistic image, the duo captured the go-getting spirit of the age and fast became one of Britain’s biggest pop acts.

In 1985, Wham! became the first Western pop band to perform in China as the country was slowly beginning to open up to the outside world under reformist leader Deng Xiaoping.

Following years of speculation over his sexuality, Michael came out as gay in 1998 after being arrested for committing a lewd act in the public toilet of a Los Angeles park.

It was the first of several incidents that were to overshadow his musical career in his later years.

AFP

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typhoon, local government reports said.

More than 383,000 people were forced to flee their homes while over 306 domestic and international flights were canceled due to the storm, the civil defense office said.

The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council Response Cluster has started coordinating with the United Nations Office for Coordination on Humanitarian Assistance and private groups through the Philippine Disaster Resilience Foundation for assistance.

NDRRMC spokesperson Mina Marasigan said hundreds of people in Bicol celebrated Christmas day in evacuation centers where many had to make do with emergency food packs.

Some local officials had offered lechon to entice constituents to go to evacuation centers, Marasigan said.

By late Monday afternoon the typhoon had weakened, with wind gusts of 180 kilometres per hour, and was in the South China Sea heading west away from the country, government weather forecaster Gener Quitlong said.

“Nock-Ten” had been expected to bring heavy rains and winds to Manila, but the city of 13-million residents was spared after the typhoon lost force as it crossed the eastern islands.

“It was like a blessing in disguise. Every time it hit land, its diameter lessened. It also lost moisture so it became weaker,” government weather forecaster Gener Quitlong told AFP. Some 20 typhoons or lesser storms strike the Philippines each year, routinely killing hundreds of people, and Bicol is often the first region to be hit.

Mammoth tsunami-like waves devastated the city of Tacloban and nearby areas when super typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines in November 2013, leaving 7,350 people dead or missing. AFP

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In line with the war on drugs, the House, through the House Committee on Justice chaired by Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali launched an investigation into the illegal drug trade at the New Bilibid Prison to exact accountability on Senator Leila de Lima, who was Justice secretary when the illegal drug trade at the national penitentiary flourished.

As 2016 closes, Alvarez said the House, under his stewardship, approved 63 measures in only 56 session days.

The number of measures processed by the House totaled 321, broken down as follows: 63 bills passed; 201 referred resolutions on inquiries; 53 measures substituted or consolidated; and four measures in the calendar of business. This means an average six measures were processed per session day.

During the same period, the House produced 46 committee reports.

The committee on rules, chaired by Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, said since the 17th Congress convened in July this year, the House Bills and Index Division received a total of 6,029 measures, comprising of 5,360 bills and 669 resolutions.

The breakdown of the 63 measures approved: 18 bills passed on third and final reading; 11 bills approved on second reading; one bill enacted into law (Republic Act No.10923); one ratified bicameral conference committee report (House Bill 3408 or the 2017 General Appropriations Act); and 32 adopted resolutions.

The GAA provides for a P3.35trillion national budget for next year. According to President Duterte, the 2017 national budget, the first spending plan of his administration, embodies the people’s clamor for real change and a compassionate government.

House Bill 3504 jointly authored by Alvarez, Fariñas and Minority Floor Leader Danilo Suarez was signed into law as RA 10923 on Oct.15, 2016. The law postponed this year’s Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections to the fourth Monday of October 2017. Of the 18 bills approved on third reading, nine are of local significance while nine others are of national significance.

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Motorists, commuters oppressed by traffic

By Joel E. Zurbano SEVERAL policies have been introduced by the government this year to ease traffic in Metro Manila—where 15 million of the country’s 105-million population live—but the problem has remained and continued to harass hapless motorists and commuters.

Among these traffic-mitigating measures are the expanded Number Coding Scheme and suspending the so-called window hours for both public utility and private vehicles: the Close Door and the Nose In - Nose Out policy for provincial buses; the Motorcycle Lane policy, the No Contact Apprehension, the opening of 17 Mabuhay Lanes, or alternate routes for private vehicles, and a number of short-term road regulations on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue.

Apart from these measures, the government also came up with a decision to create a task force dubbed as Inter-agency Council on Traffic or I-ACT that is now handling traffic management in the National Capital Region.

The council is composed of personnel from the agencies under the supervision of the Department of Transportation, Philippine National Police and Metro Manila Development Authority.

Forming this group sidelined the MMDA as the sole agency supervising, controlling and managing traffic.

Local government units have also aligned their traffic rules with the I-ACT, such as implementing the suspension of window hours in their cities and areas of jurisdiction.

The I-ACT headed and supervised by Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade claimed there was slight improvement of traffic in the metropolis because of these measures.

It added the travel time of motorists was reduced by at least 10 to 15 minutes, also because of the expanded number coding scheme.

However, residents of Metro Manila and those from various provinces in Central Luzon and southern Tagalog still experiencing at least two hours in traffic on major thoroughfares, especially along Edsa.

ON TYPHOON’S PATH. Fishermen secure their boats in the bay of Santo Domingo, Albay as Typhoon ‘Nina’ was storming in. Babies, toddlers, adults and the elderly were loaded onto military trucks in driving rains on Christmas Day as tens of thousands fled the path of the powerful weather disturbance. AFP

Solon pushes for lifting of economic restrictions

By Maricel V. Cruz

A

HOUSE leader on Monday pushed for Charter Change by relaxing the economic restrictions in the Constitution to further enhance enomic growth in the country.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte issued the statement as he supported Malacañang’s directive to a 25-member consultative committee tasked to revisit the 1987 Charter to review not only political provisions on changing the system of government but the Constitution’s antiquated protectionist economic sections as well.

“We should waste no time

in lifting the restrictive economic provisions in the Constitution as these are clearly the deal breakers for investors wanting to do business here,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte cited as proof the sharp dive in net foreign capital inflows to the Philippines last September with significant declines across all investment components, as reflected

in this week’s data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

BSP data show that foreign direct investments posted a $469-million net inflow in September, a third less than the previous month’s $711 million and 69.3 percent lower than the $1.53 billion recorded in September 2015.

Also referring to the BSP data, foreign businesses also reinvested less for their Philippine operations, with September’s $35 million lower than half of August’s $67 million and a third below the year ago figure of $51 million.

“Even Budget Secretary Ben Diokno admits what the Philippines gets in terms of FDIs is a meager sum compared to the FDIs of other Southeast Asian economies. We cannot continue on our

high growth path if our business climate remain unattractive to investors,” Villafuerte said.

In one of his news commentaries last year, Diokno pointed out the Philippines attracted a total $20.4 billion in FDIs from 2011 to 2015, while Singapore cornered $305.6 billion worth of investments, Indonesia, $107.6 billion, Malaysia, $56.6 billion and Thailand, $42.0 billion.

“I agree with our finance managers that our growth should be investment-led instead of consumption-led. We need more investments if we want to create more jobs, which is what we really need to lift millions of Filipinos from poverty,” Villafuerte said.

Villafuerte has voiced optimism the executive and legis-

lative departments could now switch Charter Change and the federal switch to overdrive in 2017 following the move

by Malacañang to create the 25-member Constitutional Committee to help the Congress study the proposed reforms to the 1987 Constitution.

“With the creation of the 25-member Con-Com that will revisit the 1987 Constitution and come up with proposed amendments for consideration by the Congress convening as Con-Ass [Constituent Assembly], the executive and legislative branches of Government could now put the federal switch on the fast lane at the onset of 2017,” Villafuerte, an advocate of President Rodrigo Duterte’s federalism, stressed.

Hontiveros says EJKs Solon to public: Be vigilant in ‘Nina’s’ midst seen as real problem By Maricel V Cruz

By Macon Araneta AKBAYAN Senator Risa Hontiveros expressed hope there would be no more extrajudicial killings as majority of Filipinos see it as a real problem that must be immediately addressed by the government.

“I hope this is the last time we will debate the existence of EJKs. No more EJK denials,” said Hontiveros, noting the people wanted it be based on human rights and rule of law.

She said the people prefer a humane and rules-based campaign against illegal drugs.”

She said this could be gleaned from the latest Social

Weather Station survey showing that eight out of 10 Filipinos expressed worry about the unresolved cases of extrajudicial killings in the country, while 71 percent of Filipinos said it was “very important” that drug suspects be kept alive when caught.

“The writing on the wall is clear. The government cannot spin the result of this survey any other way while there is apparent strong public support to the government’s campaign against illegal drugs,” she said.

Hontiveros said the survey was a proof of the existence of thousands of unresolved EJKs.

Uber to make rides more affordable during holiday

By Joel E. Zurbano UBER Philippines has announced it is implementing a limit on surge to make rides more affordable during the rest of the holiday season.

The move came after the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board called the attention of Uber and Grab Philippines due to complaints where surge ranged from P2,000 to P28,000 on Saturday, Dec. 24.

The agency also noted they

were not consulted on Uber’s “Upfront fares based on predictions” and advised the public to report any violation through its 24/7 hotline (1342), SMS or Viber (0917-550-1342 OR 0998-550-1342) or e-mail (complaint.ltfrb.gov.ph@gmail.com).

“In response to the LTFRB’s directive, Uber has implemented a limit on surge to make rides more affordable during the busy holiday season. This will be effective until Jan. 15, 2017,” said Yves Gonzales, head of public policy at Uber Philippines.

THE principal author of Free Mobile Disasters Alerts Act in the House of Representatives on Monday called on residents, local government units and people’s organizations in areas hit by Typhoon ‘‘Nina’’—especially the Bicol region, Eastern Visayas and Southern Tagalog —to remain alert and vigilant so that casualties would be minimized or avoided.

At the same time, Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate urged tele-

communications companies to perform their “civic duty” to send out mobile disaster alerts especially in areas hit by the typhoon or those under storm signals.

“The National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council and the telcos should extensively implement Republic Act 10639 unlike what happened last October during Super Typhoon ‘‘Lawin’’ that only a handful received text alerts in the areas affected,” Zarate said.

Zarate is one of the principal authors of Republic Act 10639 or the Free Mobile Disasters Alerts Act at the Lower House.

He also earlier filed House Resolution 556 to investigate the implementation of the Free Mobile Disaster Alerts Act following complaints the law has yet to be fully implemented for failure of concerned government agencies to get through with the implementing rules and regulations to guide the telecommunications companies in executing the law.

RA 10639 or the Free Mo-

bile Disasters Alerts Act was signed into law on June 20, 2014 by then President Benigno Aquino III. The Department of Transportation and Communications, National Telecommunications Commission, National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council and Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration are the lead agencies tasked to to draft the IRR within 60 days from the effectivity of the act.

EXPLOSION VICTIM. President Rodrigo Duterte spends much of his Christmas Day Sunday wishing some of the victims of an explosion in Midsayap, North Cotabato at the Anecito Pesante Sr. Memorial Hospital.

A4

Opinion

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

A surge in greed

T

HERE was a time when commuters in Metro Manila had no issue taking public transportation like trains, buses and jeepneys. Those who had a little more cash to spare hailed taxis for the additional comfort and convenience.

In recent years, however, public transport in Metro Manila has deteriorated.

The millions who cannot afford their own vehicles find themselves with no other choice but endure the debilitating traffic on board buses piloted by drivers who ignore traffic rules and decency, or trains that are unsafe and

Adelle Chua, Editor

unreliable.

Even the once-luxurious taxis have become a less attractive option. The cabs are not maintained well, and most drivers are boorish— refusing to convey passengers headed towards directions inconvenient to them, or demanding additional cash before they even agree to take in the rider.

Faced with all these hassles, hapless middle-class commuters find themselves a yet newer option: internet-based ride-hailing mobile applications like Grab and Uber. These rides provide both convenience and safety—they save one the trouble of standing on the street and waving frantically to catch the attention of drivers, and they provide details about the vehicle and the driver so that their whereabouts can be tracked.

On ordinary days, the cost of these rides are supposed to be reasona-

ble. The problem is that “ordinary” has become relative. On weekends, rainy days and especially during the holiday season, surges in Grab and Uber have become too much—a ride that normally cost P200, for instance, could easily come by for four or five times that amount. Often, too, it becomes difficult to book a ride even when one has agreed to pay the higher-thanusual fares for the price of convenience.

Many commuters are having a taste of these

onerous arrangements these days—and they feel powerless against it. What other option is there to get from one place to another in one piece?

In response, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has warned the two companies against taking advantage of the high demand for transport to jack up their prices, going as far as threatening to revoke their licenses. This gives rise to the debate on whether businesses can do whatever they want.

The government did right

in calling out the two companies, who must also remember that the business they are in is imbued with public interest.

But if the government wishes to further champion the interest of the public, it must work on improving the transport system altogether, working on all the means by which people go from one place to another.

This, so that they do not find themselves pushed to the wall, choosing between suffering indignities or paying unreasonable amounts for a ride.

EAGLE EYES TONY LA VIÑA

Saving our movies, saving our souls

Robredo does not understand the Constitution HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA BEFORE Christmas last year, President Rodrigo Duterte expressed his disappointment with the provisions of the 1987 Constitution regarding the power of the President to declare martial law. As he correctly observed, while the President has the power to place the entire country or any part of it under martial law, the exercise of that power is, ultimately, subject to review by Congress, if it wishes to, and by the Supreme Court, upon a petition by any citizen, He opined that the proclamation of martial law should be the exclusive concern of the President as commander-

in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

President Duterte’s disappointment is not without reason.

Under the 1987 Constitution, martial law is an option available to the President if there is an extraordinary threat to national security. When he resorts to martial law, the President acts, not as the chief law enforcer of the land, but as the commander-in-chief of the AFP. Because extraordinary problems require swift remedial action, constitutions traditionally vest the power to resort to martial law exclusively in the executive branch of the government.

The 1987 Constitution, however, requires Congress and allows the Supreme Court to intervene in this process. Unfortunately, Congress and the Supreme Court, because of their lack of actual knowledge about the true extent of the threat to national security, are

not in a position to know the real score.

What happens if Congress and the Supreme Court differ as to whether or not martial law is warranted? Which branch will prevail? The deadlock will inevitably trigger a constitutional crisis, and trigger it at a time when it’s the last thing the country needs.

From a pragmatic perspective, therefore, the participation of Congress and the Supreme Court in the martial law equation appears to be superficial and even detrimental to national interest. Unfortunately, that is what the 1987 Constitution provides.

Those are the reasons why Duterte is disappointed.

As expected, the publicists of Vice President Leni Robredo denounced President Duterte’s statement, assumed that Duterte was threatening to declare martial law, and concluded that Duterte’s

threat to declare martial law is the worse possible Christmas gift that can be given to the people.

Robredo’s camp also brazenly speculated that Duterte’s mere mention of martial law indicates that he will resort to it. She also sweepingly assumed that martial law under the 1987 Constitution is synonymous to one-man rule.

It is also disturbing to note that Robredo conveniently overlooked that President Duterte was merely speaking his mind, which is something well within his constitutional rights to do so.

Robredo’s media statements reveal that she believes that President Duterte has no right to express himself publicly. They also indicate that Robredo does not understand the 1987 Constitution.

Evidently, Robredo’s press statements merely reflect the views of her puppet masters in the Liberal Party, and their anti-Du-

terte and anti-Marcos allies in the 1986 Constitutional Commission (which drafted the 1987 charter) who insist that the 1987 Constitution is designed to prevent a return to what they call a “dictatorship.”

If that is so, then Robredo and her confederates have a lot of explaining to do.

First, if martial law is an evil that must be opposed by Robredo and her gang, why does the 1987 Constitution allow this “evil” in its provisions in the first place?

Why does the 1987 Constitution vest in the President a power that is “evil” to begin with? More specifically, why does the 1987 Constitution vest in the President a power which, according to Robredo and her minions, the President should not exercise?

It is a basic postulate in Constitutional Law that the Constitution should not be interpreted

I DO not exaggerate when I say that we save our souls when we are able to watch good movies. It’s like reading great literature, watching riveting theater, and seeing beautiful paintings and sculpture. Good movies enlighten, enrage, and/or uplift; they makes us laugh and cry, reminds us of our history, and can change our minds, even making us act. While foreign films can have this effect, art being universal, there is nothing like Filipino films to stir our souls.

Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising, Mike De Leon’s entry in the 1977 Metro Manila Film Festival, compelled me to climb up to to Sagada, Bontoc shortly after I watched that love story of a young music student (played by Christopher de Leon) and an unhappy wife (performed by Hilda Koronel). Two epic movies of Eddie Romero Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon? (starring Christopher de Leon as the young Tagalog who discovered he was a Filipino during the 1896 revolution) and Aguila (starring Fernando Poe Jr. as a Filipino politician who lived through most of the 20th century, witnessing the Philippine revolution, World War II, and martial law) both influenced my thinking about our national identity. And of course, the films of Lino Brocka— among others, Tinimbang Ka Ngunit Kulang, Insiang, and Maynila Sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag—framed for many in my generation what was wrong with our society. Sister Stella L (another Mike de Leon film), Sacada (directed

by Behn Cervantes) and Bayan Ko, Kapit sa Patalim (also

by Brocka) were critical in awakening consciousness and inciting resistance against the Marcos dictatorship. And of course, the work of Ishmael Bernal, Celso Ad Castillo, Gil Portes, and others have provoked, disturbed, and inspired us through the years.

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Riding the tiger SANTA Banana, here we go pend the operation of the Constitution, nor supplants the again!

I refer to the usual remind- functioning of civil courts ers of the Department of Health or legislative assembles, nor prior to the New Year’s Eve cel- authorizes the conferment of ebrations. As in the previous jurisdiction on military courts years, hundreds of children and and agencies over civil courts adults are rushed to the hospital which are able to function, nor because of injuries caused by automatically suspends the firecrackers and pyrotechnics privilege of the writ.

The writ shall apply only to that get deadlier every year.

What lunacy. People know the persons judicially charged for consequences of these things rebellion or offenses inherent in or in direct connection with and yet they do it anyway.

I have said many times over invasion. During the suspenthat this kind of mayhem must sion of the writ, any person be stopped by the government thus arrested or detained shall with a nationwide ban. People be judicially charged within never learn. Who else can stop three days. Otherwise, he or she shall be released. it but the government?

In effect, such Martial Law President Duterte seems to be the one who can stop this. becomes toothless.

The 1987 Cory Constitution Why has he not done it this year? He points to the liveli- was actually an overreaction hood of those from Bocaue, to the Marcos dictatorship. It Bulacan who manufacture or has produced anomalies that peddle these things. But what must be amended.

The University of the Philis this compared to the safety ippines has of more Filipiactually listed nos? at least 28 If we should celebrate the Once President flaws of the 1987 charter.

New Year, we Among them must do so Duterte gets off safely. Com- this animal, it will is the provision that the mon sense armed forces dictates that devour him. of the Philipwe enjoy firepines is the works displays protector of the people and the from designated places. state. This could lead to coups d’ etat like the ouster of sitting *** Christmas Day may be over, President Erap Estrada.

Other anomalies include the but according to the Catholic Church, the Christmas season multi-party system.

And then, there are the ecoextends to the Feast of Three nomic provisions: the 60-40 Kings on Jan. 6.

It is sad that the Christmas ratio of Filipino and foreign season has been taken hostage investments. This must be by sheer materialism. Pope lifted to encourage more forFrancis, in his homily, said eign investments. This is why that there is too much self-cen- the Philippines only gets the teredness and a lack of humil- crumbs in terms of investments in the Southeast Asian ity among people today.

We see the rich feasting region.

Because of President Duwhile the poor merely look on. This is not what the son terte’s stand on Martial Law, of God came to redeem us for. there’s now an overreaction We should do our share and that he may just proclaim it.

However, I believe those are share our gifts with the less just knee-jerk reactions. Presifortunate. dent Duterte may now talk like a dictator, but he in effect *** According to the Constitu- just rides the tiger. When one tion, Martial Law may be de- rides the tiger, he cannot get clared when public safety re- off—or else, he will devoured quires it, in case of invasion or by the tiger.

And that precisely what haprebellion. This can be imposed for a period not exceeding 60 pened when Marcos, just like many others, rode the tiger by days.

The charter also requires proclaiming Martial Law just that within 48 hours from like so many other dictators. the proclamation or suspen- They ended up killed, ousted or sion of the writ of habeas exiled. There are many lessons corpus (warrantless arrests), in history that must be learned. the President should submit a *** report in person or in writing Vice President Leni Robredo to Congress. Congress may revoke such proclamation or can never be the opposition suspension, and this shall leader.

For one thing, the “Yellows” not be shall not be set aside by the President. Upon the or the Liberal Party at the House initiative of the President, of Representatives and the SenCongress may, in the same ate have joined the greater mamanner, extend such procla- jority to save their skin.

More importantly, Robredo mation of suspension if the invasion or rebellion persists. doesn’t have the stuff it takes Insofar as the Supreme to be a leader.

Look what she did this Court is concerned, it may review, in an appropriate pro- Christmas season. She knew ceeding filed by any citizen, that the Bicol provinces would the sufficiency of the factual be struck by the cyclone named basis of the proclamation or “Nina.” She was fully aware Martial Law or the suspension of it, but instead she went on vacation with her three daughof the privilege of the writ.

Another provision of the ters to the United States.

And she believes she is a Constitution is that a state of Martial Law does not sus- leader?

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Are China’s schools failing?

By Adam Minter IT HAD become something of a ritual. Every three years, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development would release the results of its PISA exams, which are given to hundreds of thousands of students in dozens of countries. And every three years, an American freak-out would ensue, as Chinese students seemed to be outperforming their US counterparts by a wide margin.

In 2009, Shanghai students did so well—beating the world in math, science and reading—that President Barack Obama declared it a “Sputnik moment,” requiring immediate action. A similar panic broke out in 2012.

But this year proved to be a surprise. The results from the 2015 tests, released this month, showed Chinese students ranked sixth in math, 10th in science and 27th in reading. What happened?

On one hand, the answer is simple. Instead of merely testing Shanghai’s elite, the 2015 exams included a broader selection of students across China, which dragged down scores. But the results also highlighted an important problem: China’s much-lauded education system remains riven by inequality, with far-reaching consequences for schools,

students and, ultimately, the economy.

Unequal access to education is a centuries-old challenge in China. Traditionally, most Chinese have lived in the countryside, where the time, money and even the need for education was limited. Starting in the 1950s, the government began a largely successful effort to build a literate modern workforce. Between 1950 and 2001, China’s literacy rate improved from 20 percent to more than 85 percent. In 1986, the government adopted a nineyear compulsory education requirement.

Paying for that requirement, though, hasn’t been easy. Although the central government allocates some money to China’s schools, the bulk of funding is local. In rich cities, such as Shanghai, that generally works fine. Not so for China’s countryside, where money is so short that some schools can’t even provide desks, let alone books. Rural teachers typically earn one-third what their urban peers do—if they get paid at all. Inevitably, this leads to tension: Between 2014 and 2015, there were at least 168 “strike and protest” actions by rural teachers.

Ironically, China’s economic boom is worsening

these problems. With plenty of jobs beckoning in the cities, tens of millions of Chinese have moved out of the countryside. But thanks to strict residency permit laws, their children aren’t allowed to attend city public schools.

That leaves two options. Parents can enroll their children in local “migrant schools,” which tend to be inferior. Or they can leave them behind in the hands of relatives.

For the 61-million children who have been left behind, the educational outlook is grim. According to one study, only half of rural children have parents who read to them, compared to 78 percent of urban children. Rural kids would benefit greatly from preschool and kindergarten, but fewer than half have access to such programs, compared to 76 percent in the cities. In 2010, government researchers administered math and vocabulary tests to a broad range of students, and the results were damning: Rural students performed consistently worse than their urban counterparts, and the gap persisted even for children of intact rural families.

Those scores are indicative of a simmering economic dilemma. At a time when China’s leaders are trying to transform the economy from one reliant on facto-

ries to one based on services and knowledge-work, the country’s social and educational policies are blunting the ambitions of rural children. One survey found that 77 percent of urban children aspire to college, while only 59 percent of rural kids do.

That’s a recipe for developing another generation of unskilled rural workers.

Fixing these problems won’t be easy. And many of them are out of the hands of government. But there are natural places to start, beginning with repealing the residency permit laws that too often separate children from their parents or relegate them to secondrate schools. Investment in early-childhood education for rural kids could go a long way toward bridging achievement gaps. (China has lagged behind the global average in education spending as a percentage of gross domestic product for years.)

And the government should lower the notoriously high fees that rural parents pay for public education.

In time, such steps might help transform China’s educational system into one better suited for the 21st-century economy. They might even ensure that China’s schools are worthy of the admiration they earn around the world. Bloomberg

Saving...

From A4 Lately, it’s the independent filmmakers that have carried on this spirit. Lav Diaz (Norte and other five-to-seven-hour long movies), Pepe Diokno (Above the Clouds), and Jerrold Tarog (Heneral Luna) are some of the directors whom I admire. Fortunately, someone like Brillante Mendoza (Ma Rosa and Thy Womb, among others) and Erik Matti (On the Job) have crossed over to become commercial filmmakers as well. Among documentary film makers, I will be remiss if I do not mention my friend Ditsi Carolino (Bunso, Minsan Lang Sila Bata, and others).

We need more of this crossing over from indies to commercial films. I was excited when the 2016 MMFF selection committee led by the venerable Nick Tiongson announced the eight official entries for the annual festival, applying a reformed criteria: story, audience appeal and overall impact (40 percent); cinematic attributes or technical expertise (40 percent); global appeal (10 percent); and Filipino sensibility (10 percent).

In an interview reported by the Philippine Star, Tiongson admits the risk in this decision but insisted that the changes are worth it, pointing out “Turtles only make progress when they stick their necks out.”

As expected, there has been some fallout. Lily Monteverde, whose Mano Po 7 movie was rejected, argued, “There is a time for the indie movies. But not during the Christmas season. Christmas is for the family.” Senator Tito Sotto tweeted, “First time in MMFF history,

no movie for d children! They forgot that Christmas is for d children! MMFF Select comm, are you kidding?”

My friend Inday EspinaVarona, who is in Bacolod, laments: “Now we know who are killing the Philippine movie industry. The rapacious cartel of big producers and movie house chains that are spitting not just on this year’s #MMFF but on the very idea that Filipinos deserve quality cinema during Christmas.

No, neither SM Cinema nor Robinsons’ theaters in Bacolod have Saving Sally or Sunday Beauty Queen.

Instead, they continue to show two films booted out of the MMFF shortlist for their obvious lack of quality.

The only MMFF movies they are showing are from the big producers, too. At least, Rob has Seclusion, perhaps a nod to the director, who hails from Bacolod.

“Nahiya silang mapahiya ng smaller films. Talagang nakakahiya.” In an update, she messaged me that it looks like Saving Sally will be shown in one theater in Bacolod.

Def initely, Saving Sally is a must-watch f ilm. The movie, directed by Avid Liongoren, was made over 10 years, drags a bit, and might have been more commercial if the dialogue were in Filipino; but the visuals are great, with animation and live action goes together well with excellent performances by Rhian Ramos (Naturally Gorgeous is her nickname in this movie) and Enzo Marcos. It has a great script by

Charlene Sawit-Esguer ra as well, with such witty lines by Rhian as Sally telling Marty played by Enzo —“The law of best friendship is that it requires you to f latter me.”

Or Toto the publisher saying to Marty that he expected comics that would be about chaos and mayhem and instead got a love stor y, and the response of the latter will be well remembered— “Isn’t that what love is all about?”

Audiences will especially love the ending of Saving Sally. Watch out for that moment when you find out what Sally has been building all those years they have known each other since she saved Marty from a bully in sophomore year high school and the words that came out of her mouth, telling Marty: “I don’t need it, I am staying here with you.” If you have ever loved and was unrequited first but never gave up until the good unimaginable happened, then this movie is for you. But regardless of your romantic life, watch it just the same. You can always love and live vicariously.

For other movies that can make you laugh. there’s also Ang Babae Sa Septic Tank 2: #ForeverIsNotEnough starring Eugene Domingo, Sunday Beauty Queen (about OFWs in Hong Kong preparing for beauty pageants), and Vince & Kath & James (about teen love and reported to be so far the top grosser of the 2016 MMFF).

More serious are Die Beautiful with Paolo Ballesteros in the lead role, Seklusyon (a horror film by Matti), and Kabis-

era starring Nora Aunor and depicting a family hit by an extrajudicial killing. And then there is Oro. Oro must be watched for its acting (Mercedes Cabral, Joem Bascon and specially Irma Adlawan are so believable; having been in islands like the setting of the movie, I have met many like them) and for the disturbing questions it raises. At the end of the movie, directed by fellow Ateneo de Manila professor Alvin Yapan, one is reminded again about how unjust our society is and why people take up arms in this country. The movie, based on actual events that happened in Camarines Sur which filming was supported apparently by Bicolano politician Wimpy Fuentebella, tells us the poor, pre- or post-Duterte, has nothing to hope for in this country. They will be killed like animals by the powerful with impunity.

I wished that the film were more balanced about the negative impacts of small scale mining but I am glad that it frames the social justice issues around this type of mining correctly. It is unafraid to take the side of small scale miners vs so-called environmentalists (goons actually who have corrupted environmentalism if the movie is to be believed) who actually also have their own self-serving material interests.

So go and watch Oro, Saving Sally and other MMFF films, and save Filipino movies from mediocrity. In doing that, we save our souls too.

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Robredo...

From A4 in such a way that leads to absurdity.

Vesting in the President the power to declare martial law, and equating martial law with evil, as Robredo and her hirelings insist, is absurd.

If, as claimed by the drafters of the 1987 Constitution, the 1987 charter is really designed to prevent a return to “dictatorship,” then why are Robredo and her simpletons so afraid of martial law under President Duterte? Would they feel more comfortable if it was martial law under another president, say

a President Robredo?

Those opposed to martial law can urge their “representatives” in Congress to revoke its proclamation, or to limit its duration. They can also petition the Supreme Court to review the “sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law” as provided in the charter itself.

Even the language employed by the 1987 Constitution does not allow martial law to be in force indefinitely. What then is the basis for Robredo and her ca-

bal to conclude that martial law is synonymous to one-man rule?

Parenthetically, the best way to find out if provisions of the Constitution actually work is to test them.

In May 2012, Chief Justice Renato Corona was ousted from office after being impeached by the House of Representatives and convicted by the Senate. That event was proof that the provisions of the Constitution regarding the removal from office of justices of the Supreme Court actually work!

Going back to martial law, how does one know if the provisions of the 1987 Constitution regarding the role of Congress and the Supreme Court, in the aftermath of a proclamation of martial law, actually work if those provisions aren’t put to the test?

Robredo is obviously eyeing the presidency in 2022. That’s what most vice presidents do during their incumbency anyway. Robredo’s principal shortcoming, however, is that she has only a three-year stint in the House of Rep-

resentatives (and her bus rides to Bicol) as her record of public service. Worse, Robredo does not even understand the Constitution.

Like Robredo, incumbent Senator Manny Pacquiao does not understand the Constitution, but unlike Robredo, Pacquiao does not make reckless statements that may reveal his inability to comprehend the Constitution.

On that score at least, Pacquiao has an advantage over Robredo when they fight it out for the presidency in 2022.

News

A6

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Oil firms hike pump prices by P0.50/liter

By Alena Mae S. Flores

SECURED. Jet engine and propeller planes at the General Aviation Hangar at the Naia complex were tied to cement barrels to prevent the airplanes from being blown away by strong winds. Eric Apolonio

Legarda bill to address malnutrition

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Loren Legarda has filed a bill seeking to improve the health and life expectancy of Filipino children by giving prime concern on the first 1,000 days of a baby’s life.

“The first 1,000 days of a baby’s life, which covers the nine months of a mother’s pregnancy until a child’s second birthday, is the foundation of a person’s future health, intellectual development, and motor and social skills,” she said.

In filing Senate Bill No. 1257, Legarda said good nutrition for mothers and babies at pregnancy and infancy stage is crucial to sustaining a sturdy foundation for a child’s well-being.

Data from the World Health Organization showed malnutrition is the leading cause of death worldwide of over 5.9 million children under 5 years old in 2015.

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute reported that the country has reached its highest rate of chronic malnutrition in 10 years among children aged 0-2 at 26 percent.

Legarda also raised concerns over a Department of Health report showing that a Filipino child born to the poorest family is three times more likely not to reach his 5th birthday compared to one born to the richest family.

“We need to establish a strategic and sustainable strategy to address the crisis in malnutrition among children and women in prenatal and newborn care. We aim to address that through this proposed measure,” she said.

Under Legarda’s proposed measure, health and nutrition programs in every barangay will be established with specific focus on women of reproductive age, pregnant women, lactating mothers, particularly teenage mothers, and all Filipino children ages zero to two years old who reside in nutritionally-poor areas identified by the FNRI. A Comprehensive Anti-Malnutrition Program will be implemented in two phases. The first phase covering the first three years of the program will target areas identified by the FNRI as having the most number of nutritionally at risk populations; while the second phase, which will be implemented in the succeeding three years of the program, will be implemented in the fourth to sixth class municipalities in the country.

DOMESTIC pump prices went up by as much as P0.50 per liter today to ref lect the movement of prices in the world oil market.

Oil firms raised the price of gasoline by P0.50 per liter and diesel by P0.25 per liter.

Kerosene prices did not move.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Flying V, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines, PTT Philippines and Unioil Philippines issued advisories of the increase. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit.

“Phoenix Petroleum will increase the price of gasoline by P0.50 per liter and diesel by P0.25 per liter effective 6 a.m.

Dec. 27,” it said.

Prices have been going up due to the expected production cut by the members and non-members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries next year.

This is the sixth consecutive increase for gasoline and fifth for diesel.

Lawmaker wants stiffer penalties for cybercrimes

By Maricel V. Cruz

A

MEMBER of the House minority bloc has pushed for stiffer penalties for cybercrimes, hacking and computer fraud.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza filed House Bill 4702, which sought to amend the Access Devices Regulation Act of 1998 by imposing higher penalties against violators.

“Currently, violators are merely

fined P10,000 which enables them to go scot-free after paying the said amount,” he said.

“Foreigners involved in these scams, when caught, pay the same amount then pack up and leave, trans-

ferring their base of operations elsewhere,” the solon added.

Atienza also incidents of cybercrime like hacking and computer fraud have become rampant worldwide.

“Bank depositors are losing money from their ATM accounts. Private corporations and even government offices are also falling victims to various forms of cyber scams and hacking. These crimes are tantamount to economic sabotage—causing irreparable damage to personal and company finances, as well as government

economies,” Atienza said.

He said government’s efforts to catch and prosecute these scammers have so far failed due to the meager fines imposed on violators.

Atienza proposed stiffer penalties, including a file ranging from P300,000 to P500,000 and imprisonment of not lower than 20 years.

He also pushed to make cybercrime offenses non-bailable, especially if there is strong evidence that will prove the guilt of the offenders.

DoLE expands out-of-school youth special job program

By Vito Barcelo

‘NINA’S’ WRATH. Motorists pass through flooded portions of Aurora Boulevard in Cubao, Quezon City due to heavy rains brought by Typhoon “Nina.” Manny Palmero

Taguig students bag top science prizes

By Joel E. Zurbano THREE public elementary and secondary schools in Taguig City were recognized for inventing low-cost and eco-friendly products from recycled materials in the 2016 Kaohsiung International Invention and Design Expo in Taiwan.

The science team was composed of Grade 5 students Jaisa Julene Mataac, Kenth Andrew Gallardo and Ken Benavente from the Taguig Integrated School and Grade 10 students Jerome Sombilon and Anna Beatriz Suavengco from the Taguig Science High School.

The students won gold medals in the said competition.

On the other hand, the team of Ruth Paula Buhion, Ma. Erin

Daphne Raton, Adrian Klein Comia and Kevin Brian Orge from the Sen. Renato Compañero Cayetano Memorial Science and Technology High School won a silver medal.

The three teams participated as part of the Science Training Program for Taguig public schools.

The international event organized by the World Invention Intellectual Property Associations included an invention competition where participants from more than 20 countries joined.

Under the Life Science Category, the Taguig Integrated School presented an antibacterial and antifungal bath soap made from PLC (Papaya, Lemon and Coconut Oil) while a correction fluid which uses egg whites as raw material called

“Alburase” was invented by the Cayetano Memorial High School for the Office Product category.

In the Biotechnology category, Taguig Science High School proposed the “Remediation of Heavy Metal Ions in Synthetic Contaminated Effluent by Calcium Carbonate found in Asiatic Clams or Tulya Clams.”

Mayor Laarni Cayetano commended the students for their achievements.

“This international competition showcases the exceptional skills of our students and their interest to expand their capabilities in the field of Science. This success is a concrete testament of the improved quality education in the public school system of our city,” she said.

THE Department of Labor and Employment has extended its Special Program for the Employment of Students period from 52 days to 78 days to better provide employment and education to the country’s out-of-school youth.

The department also raised the age limit of the program’s beneficiaries from the current 15 to 25 years old to 15 to 30 years old.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said the SPES will not only help poor but also deserving students and out-of-school youth finish their education but will also engage them in a viable employment-bridging program.

“Under the SPES law, we will not only be serving poor but deserving students and outof-school youth, but also dependents of displaced workers, and would-be displaced workers due to business closures or work stoppages, or natural calamities, who intend to enroll in any secondary, tertiary or technical-vocational institutions,” he said.

In addition, students who are employed in activities related to their course may earn equivalent academic and practicum or on-the-job training credits.

“Under the new law, the SPES beneficiaries will be also be entitled to social protection by virtue of an insurance coverage with the Government Service Insurance System for a period of one year,” Bello said.

Bureau of Local Employment Director Dominique Tutay also urged private companies and employers to compensate SPES beneficiaries properly.

“Employers pay in cash 60 percent of the salary of student beneficiaries, while the remaining 40 percent is shouldered by the government to be paid also in cash to be used for the students’ tuition fees and other education related expenses including their daily allowance for food and transportation in going to school,” Tutay said.

Sports

A7

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Supermaxis eye race record S YDNEY—The favorite supermaxis led the fleet out of Sydney harbour heading for Hobart on Monday as a fine weather forecast brought a new record back into sight at the start of one of the toughest yacht races in the world.

Under a blazing azure sky, hundreds of leisure boats lined the course to the Heads watched by masses of spectators on the shoreline as a fresh north-easterly sped the fastest three yachts—all 100-footers—ahead of the 84 smaller vessels entered for Australia’s bluewater classic.

Skipper Anthony Bell’s Perpetual LOYAL was the first into open ocean followed by Hong Kong-owned Scallywag, and lo-

cal race favourite Wild Oats XI trailed by the untested CQS of Finn Ludde Ingvall, who took line honours in 2000 and 2004.

They were flying south down the coast under spinnaker in freshening northerly winds before a weak southerly change moves up late on Boxing Day, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest forecast.

The southerly will be lighter than expected at around 10 to 15

knots, and on Tuesday winds will back around to the north again, far earlier than previously predicted.

In the race for line honours, conditions favour the slim Wild Oats XI, which set the record of 1 day 18hrs 23mins 12secs for the gruelling 628-nautical-mile (1,163 kilometre) event in 2012 and is hoping for an eighth overall victory.

Skipper Mark Richards said he’s not thinking about records, but rival David Witt, at the helm of Hong Kong businessman Seng Huang Lee’s entrant, Scallywag, certainly is.

“If I had to write a forecast for us, it would be this one,” he said.

“Light air just forward of the beam really suits us.”

Witt said Scallywag could easily break Wild Oats XI’s race record. “Our routing puts us at the Iron Pot (mouth of Tasmania’s Derwent River) in 1 day 11 hours.

That gives us 7 hours to do 14 miles and beat the record.”

“I will do everything in my absolute power to win this race,” he told his crew in a pre-race pep talk.

Rival Bell on Perpetual LOYAL, the leading challenger to Wild Oats, was less pleased with Monday’s forecast noting that his heavier and powerful super maxi needs as much time to windward as it can get rather than the light southerly now predicted.

“We’ll have to be a lot more tacti-

cal and bear more risk to use the better points of our boat. We’ll have to sail away from the fleet to find more power reaching that will give us better boat speed,” Bell said.

In a bid to be more competitive, Perpetual has brought in half the world-class crew of last year’s winner, the US super boat Comanche, which is not entered for 2016.

Organizers at the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia said the hardest part of this year’s race would likely be the Tasmanian Coast and the fickle Derwent River leading to Hobart’s Constitution Dock where windless holes can park a boat for hours, while others sail through on a breeze. AFP

Mourinho feeling at home at Old Trafford MANCHESTER—Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho says he has started to feel “really at home” at Old Trafford and believes foundations are in place to bring success back to the club.

Mourinho endured a difficult start to life in Manchester after succeeding Louis van Gaal, but the Portuguese’s impact has started to be felt in recent weeks.

United head into their Boxing Day fixture against Sunderland on the back of three consecutive Premier League victories and with the Champions League places almost within reach.

“What I can say is that in here I felt people with open arms. A very calm, and intelligent, board and owners. They know what they want,” Mourinho said.

“They have big experience already. Very calm, very pragmatic, giving me good conditions to work and the players and people that surround me.

“I felt [aware of] some sadness because people that love football, they want to be successful and everybody tries to help to go in the same direction.

“For me it was easy to come.

A difficult job, but easy now to feel at home.

“Easy to feel good in the club, easy to feel that the club wants to progress, the people want to be happy again and I felt good immediately.

“So five, six months here, but really feeling at home. For me it was quite easy.

“Obviously expectations are high, results up and down, we are in a position that is not the position where we want to be.

Australian yacht Masarati sails out of Sydney Harbour at the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race. AFP

Maybank golf lures more star players KUALA LUMPUR—When the action tees-off at Saujana Golf and Country Club from Feb. 9 to 12, fans will get to follow not one but two holders of the prestigious Masters green jacket as Charl Schwartzel was announced today as the latest player getting ready for ‘Golf Like Never Before’ at the Maybank Championship 2017.

Joining the reigning Masters Champions Danny Willett at the US$3million tournament, the 32-year-old South African won his first Major at Augusta National Golf Club in 2011. He has a further fourteen professional wins worldwide, ten of those on the European Tour. His latest victory came at the Tswane Open in his homeland in February 2016. He finished the 2016 season strongly with a third place finish at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai and took the momentum onto the first event of the 2017 schedule, tying for fourth at the Alfred Dunhill Championship at Leopard Creek.

Schwartzel said, “The Maybank Championship is one of the marquee events in Asia for the European Tour so I am really looking forward to being there. Traveling to Asia and Kuala Lumpur is always a favourite trip among the players. Maybank does a great job for the players and I am excited to experience their ‘golf like never before’ for myself.

“The 2017 season has started well for me so I am feeling good about the year ahead and am excited to see what I can do when I get to Malaysia in February.”

Top Asian favorite Anirban Lahiri is also set for the Saujana showdown. He enjoyed a memorable 2015 season when he won the Maybank Malaysian Open and followed it up two weeks later with victory at the Hero Indian Open. He became the first Indian to finish in the top five of a Major when he shared fifth place at the 2015 US PGA Championship and he made his Presidents Cup debut in the same year. He was subsequently crowned the Asian Tour Order of Merit champion in 2015.

Le Tour de Langkawi unveils tough race route PUTRAJAYA—Kicking off from the heartland of Malaysian cycling in the East Coast of the Peninsula, 22nd edition of Le Tour de Langkawi set from Feb. 22 to March 1 will take on a rare anti-clockwise route to the West, covering scenic and popular cycling routes which fans can easily relate to.

But there will be no easy days in the saddle this time around.

If Stage 1, a short 130km blast from Kuala Terengganu to Kuala Berang in Terengganu can expectedly present the sprinters with the early honors, the 208.1km Stage

2 will see the peloton start off massaged by coastal winds from the South China Sea, but end up across the Titiwangsa Range that splits the two coasts, with the finish in Gerik.

Stage 3 from Serdang (Kedah) to Pantai Remis may be short, but it will be tricky too with a rushing peloton expected to cover the 118km swiftly for another sprinters show in a bunch sprint.

Cameron Highlands again offers itself as the queen stage of the race, with a 174km route that starts in Seri Manjung, meaning

the peloton will be stretched out, with the general classification battle taking centerstage.

Stage 5 will offer a touch of the traditional, with a 148.8km stage starting in Tapah and ending in what used to be the traditional setting for the grand finish of the race, the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur.

The sixth day sees another race towards a traditional cycling hotbed, starting in Senawang and ending in Muar, Johor, before the penultimate stage sees the peloton head back towards the Klang Val-

ley with a 148km stage from Malacca to Bandar Baru Bangi.

LTdL 2017 then ends with a parade from Setiawangsa in Kuala Lumpur, into the administrative capital of Putrajaya, where a sixlap procession around a 6km circuit awaits before the final finish line of this edition.

Minister of Youth and Sports YB Brigadier Jeneral Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar admitted this edition to be full of challenges, but he remained confident that an exciting edition will nevertheless be delivered yet again.

“It will be a very challenging year in 2017, because the Ministry of Youth and Sports will be focused on the organization of the Sea Games, which Malaysia is hosting,” said YB Khairy.

“The ministry has had to cancel, postpone or reduce the budgets of other sporting events due to the focus and priority in terms of finances given to the Sea Games, but seeing the popularity of LTdL and its importance as a sports tourism event for the nation, we decided it has to continue, even with a reduced budget,” he added.

Chiefs end Broncos’ playoff hopes

GOLD CUP WINNER.Jockey Mark Alvarez (center) of winning horse Low Profile displays his trophy

during the awards ceremonies of the 2016 PCSO Presidential Gold Cup Race at the San Lazaro Leisure Park.

Alvarez is joined here by (starting second from left) Manila Jockey Club Inc. Chairman/CEO Alfonso Reyno Jr., Presidential Chief Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo, PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan and PCSO Director Marlon Balite.

LOS ANGELES—The Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos saw their slim hopes of returning to the NFL post-season extinguished on Sunday with a 33-10 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City.

The Chiefs went into the contest assured of a playoff spot after the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated bitter division rivals Baltimore 31-17 in the first of two Christmas Day games.

That victory gave the Steelers the AFC North crown, and with Sunday night’s result in Kansas City all of the American Football Conference playoff teams were set, the final berth going to the Miami Dolphins with Denver’s defeat.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and wide receiver Tyreek Hill scored early touchdowns to give Kansas City a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Hill scored on a 70-yard running play and Kelce delivered an 80-yard touchdown on a screen pass from

quarterback Alex Smith.

Kansas City improved to 11-4 and are headed to the playoffs for the third time in four seasons under head coach Andy Reid.

The Chiefs can still claim the AFC West crown if they can beat San Diego and division leaders Oakland fall to the Broncos next week.

The Broncos, less than a year removed from their Super Bowl 50 triumph over the Carolina Panthers, are the eighth champion in 20 years to fail to reach the playoffs the next season. The Panthers have also been eliminated from post-season contention.

Kelce and Hill combined for 255 of the 484 offensive yards Kansas City piled up against Denver’s vaunted defense, which endured a bruising night.

Defensive end Derek Wolfe went into the game with a neck injury and departed with the injury in the second quarter. Cornerback Kayvon Webster departed with

Frenchman pulverizes solo round the world record PARIS—Thomas Coville slashed eight days off the record when he ended an astonishing solo non-stop circumnavigation of the World on his 31m maxi trimaran on Sunday.

The record was once famously owned by British sailor Ellen MacArthur, but the 48-year-old Frenchman’s jaw dropping new mark is just 49 days, 3 hours, 7mins and 38secs.

In that time the Colville will rarely have slept for more than 30 minutes at a time and will have been on constant alert to dangers and changing conditions.

Having set off from Brest on the Brittany coast November 6 Coville needed to make it back

by January 3 to establish a new record.

Coville crossed the open seas

finish line off the French Atlantic coast at 16:57GMT, December 25, and was due to head back to Brest.

The previous record of 57 days 13hrs 34mins and 6sec was established by another Frenchman Francis Joyon in 2008 and who was swift to congratulate the new record holder.

“Thomas has set a superb record after a perfectly executed

circumnavigation. Well done to him for his performance and perseverance,” Joyon said in a press release.

“He’s set a really high standard.”

“There’s only three of us to have done it without stopping and on a solo trimaran, me, him and Ellen,” Joyon said.

It was Coville’s fifth attempt after two curtailed attempts and

two slower than the old record.

Even Joyon’s record back in 2008 was a huge shock as it broke MacArthur’s noteworthy, flare blazing mark of 71d, 14hrs and 18min on her 23m trimaran in February 2005.

MacArthur’s Australian constructed trimaran had been specifically designed to accomodate her diminutive 5-foot 2 inch (1.57 m) height. AFP

a concussion after absorbing a frightening first-half hit.

The Chiefs defense, meanwhile, forced two Denver fumbles and seized a last-play interceptions, surrendering only one touchdown and limiting the Broncos to just 246 offensive yards.

Steelers surge in fourth In Pittsburgh, the Steelers exploded for 21 points in the fourth quarter to get past the Ravens, who were eliminated from playoff contention.

Ben Roethlisberger connected on a four-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Brown with nine seconds remaining as the Steelers overcame a 10-point deficit in the final period.

The Steelers beat their bitter division rivals for the first time in five clashes.

“We punched our ticket, and that’s an awesome thing,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said of securing a playoff berth.

LOTTO RESULTS 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

A8

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

Athletics’ future looks bright

By Peter Atencio WITH new faces coming in and many others retiring within the region, the medal chances of the Philippines in the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur looks bright.

Philippine Athletics Track and Field Association president Philip Ella Juico said this as he assessed the country’ chances in the coming biennial meet, which is set to begin on Aug. 19 in Kuala Lumpur.

A target of 10 to 11 gold medals is now possible for the Philippines now that old rivals from Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam are fading away and retiring, according to Juico.

Because of this, improvements in the medal standings of decathletes Jesson Cid and Janry Ubas, and women’s long jumper Marestella Torres-Sunang can happen.

In the 2015 edition of the biennial meet, Cid and Ubas took the silver and bronze behind Vietnamese gold medal winner Nguyen Van Hue. On the other hand, Torres could have a better chance against Indonesian women’s long-distance gold medallist Natalia Londa if Vietnamese silver medallist Bui Thi Thu Thao pushes through with her plans to retire.

So far, SEA Games double gold medallist Eric Cray is on top of the list of athletes who can make it back to the national squad.

Cray, with Kayla Richardson and Caleb Stuart, led the country’s campaign the last time around.

The United States-based Cray and Richardson won the men’s and women’s 100 meters, respectively, and Stuart took the men’s hammer throw gold.

Pole vaulter EJ Obiena is also expected to deliver, alongside steeplechaser Christopher Ulboc, 800-meter specialists Marco Vilog and Mervin Guarte.

Torres-Sunang is also eyeing a comeback in the SEA Games with relay specialists, Edgardo Alejan and Aris Toledo.

Other candidates include steeplechaser Jessica Barnard, triple jumper Harry Diones, Patrick Unso and Trenton Beram.

Jaja Santiago of Foton, shown here scoring with a power smash, leads a list of Superliga players being considered by Thai teams in the Thai-Denmark Super League in March.

Thai teams want to tap 4 Superliga volley stars A

T LEAST four Philippine Superliga stars are strongly being considered as guest players by various Thai ballclubs when they compete in the Thai-Denmark Super League in March.

PSL president Ramon Suzara yesterday confirmed reports that Jaja Santiago of Foton, Kim Fajardo and Aby Marano of F2 Logistics and Jovelyn Gonzaga of RC Cola-Army are being eyed by Thai clubs to reinforce them in the prestigious weeklong tourney, which serves as the ultimate battle among champion clubs in Thailand.

Suzara said some ranking Thai-

land Volleyball Association executives have reached out to him to inquire about the Superliga players’ availability during the Asian Volleyball Confederation meeting in Bangkok last week.

According to Suzara, the players will have to clear their local commitments if they would be interested in playing overseas.

He said Santiago and Fajardo are not likely to be

available for the duration, while Gonzaga is unsure as she is set to undergo eight-month military training at the Training and Doctrine Center of the Philippine Army in Capas, Tarlac.

Marano, the league’s 1st Best Middle Blocker for three straight conferences, would be the only the player available, but Suzara said he could still refer additional players depending on the needs of the Thai ballclubs.

“This is because of our very good relationship with our Thai counterparts,” said Suzara, a ranking AVC official, who enjoys a good working relationship with AVC secretary general

Shanrit Wongprasert, the father of Thailand volleyball.

“They want to acquire four of our stars for the Thai Super League in March. It’s just a oneweek tournament so it’s very possible for us to send players there. They’ve been very generous in sending us players so we might as well return the favor.”

Aside from the four stars, Thai volleyball officials are also looking at tapping Dindin Manabat.

But it depends on how she would regain her condition from now until March.

“They are very updated with what’s going on around the PSL. They were impressed with how

Kyrie delivers another dagger LOS ANGELES—Kyrie Irving’s turnaround jump shot over Klay Thompson with 3.4 seconds left lifted the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers to a 109-108 Christmas Day triumph over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday.

The rematch of last June’s NBA Finals highlighted the league’s holiday slate, and didn’t disappoint.

The Cavaliers—who rallied from 3-1 down in the championship series last season to deny the Warriors a second straight title—trailed most of the game and were down by as many as 14 earlier in the fourth quarter.

LeBron James’s rim-rattling dunk with 1:43 to play put Cleveland up 105-103—their first lead since early in the first quarter—and Irving capped the comeback with a clutch shot that recalled his championshipwinning three-pointer in the final minute of game seven last June.

“He’s just a killer on the court,”

Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue said.

A beaming Irving said it was the perfect holiday treat.

“It’s nothing like the playoffs,” Irving said, “but the intensity was up there. This is what you want to be a part of as a professional.”

Irving finished with 25 points, while James had 31 points and 13 rebounds. Kevin Love had 20 points and six rebounds for the Cavs.

Kevin Durant, who arrived at Golden State as a free agent in the offseason, was superb in his first appearance in the Warriors-Cavs rivalry.

Durant scored 36 points and pulled down 15 rebounds. But after Irving’s key basket he was unable to get off a potentially game-winning shot, getting tangled with Richard Jefferson and hitting the floor. No foul was called and time ran out.

“I was trying to make a move. I didn’t fall on my own,” Durant said.

But Jefferson didn’t think he fouled Durant.

“He was trying to regain his balance and as soon as I saw him start to stumble, I ran off so it wasn’t like I was trying to pressure him more.”

Thompson scored 24 points and Draymond Green added 16 despite foul trouble.

NBA Most Valuable Player Stephen Curry scored 15 points but connected on just four of 11 from the floor. It was a modest showing for the prolific Curry, but his threepointer with 1:14 to play put Golden State up 108-105.

Curry gestured to the Cleveland crowd in celebration, but it proved to be too soon.

“We’re mad, man,” Thompson said. “The way we lost that game, we gave them a gift.”

Golden State coach Steve Kerr said his team had only themselves to blame.

We had control of the game and we did not execute at all in the fourth quarter,” Kerr said. AFP

Kyrie Irving (2) of the Cleveland Cavaliers makes the gamewinning shot over Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors at Quicken Loans Arena on in Cleveland, Ohio. The Cavaliers defeated the Warriors, 109-108. AFP

FIFA looking at player behavior

KINGS REIGN ON CHRISTMAS DAY. Ginebra’s Scottie Thompson (right) tries to maneuver his way around Star’s Justin Melton in a Christmas Day PBA Philippine Cup showdown won by the Gin Kings, 86-79, at the Philippine Arena.

LONDON—FIFA is thinking about introducing new measures to improve player behaviour towards match officials, chief officer for technical development Marco van Basten revealed on Saturday.

The former Netherlands striker and manager says football’s world governing body could follow the lead of rugby union, in which only team captains are allowed to speak to referees.

“There are a lot of players now who are complaining during a game,” Van Basten told the BBC. “I am sure the behavior of the players can be better. We are thinking about putting it back in the right direction.”

Asked if football could learn from rugby, Van Basten said: “I think we can learn from every

sport and they can learn from us, but we have to confront the problem.”

He added: “This is what we have to do to help the referees.

We try to make a good product —dynamic, exciting —but in the end also honest.

“There’s a lot of emotion in the game and that’s what’s good, but we have to control it also.”

Meanwhile, the Kuwaiti government on Friday called on FIFA and the International Olympic Committee to temporarily lift a 14-month sports ban while it amends a controversial law.

The Gulf state’s public sports authority urged football’s governing body FIFA and the IOC to “lift the ban on Kuwaiti sports activities temporarily until relevant local laws are revised.”

World sports bodies led by FIFA and the IOC suspended Kuwait in October last year for the second time since 2010 over alleged government meddling in sports.

The suspension was due to legislation over recent years that allowed the government to interfere in local sports federations and undermine their independence.

In a statement Friday published by the official KUNA news agency, Kuwait’s sports authority said it was making “serious and relentless efforts” to have the ban lifted.

It said parliament would set up a panel on Tuesday next week to draft amendments to the relevant laws.

Kuwait is hoping to compete in the qualifiers for the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, it said. AFP

Dindin played in the Grand Prix and saw her potential to regain her good shape. They told me that they would closely monitor her situation and give me a call if ever.”

“But they are free to tap any player from our league. This would be a very good break for us because we can gain whatever knowledge and volleyball technology our regional neighbor has and adopt it to our system.”

The PSL All-Star squad is set to see action in the Thai-Denmark Super League against powerhouse Thai teams like Bangkok Glass, Supreme Chonburi, Idea Khonkaen, King-Bangkok and 3BB Nakornonnt.

Horse owners get subsidy PHILIPPINE Racing Commission Chairman Andrew Sanchez said the government racing agency will subsidize race festivals and stakes races in 2017.

“It’s a big boost to the industry by the present administration. For the first time, horseowners are subsidized by the government. I was able to convince the Department of Budget and Management to add a certain portion for horseowners only. Not all of them are winning big in races, so it’s about time we extended our hands for the benefit of owners to breeders, jockeys, trainers and the horse racing community,” Sanchez said during the formal signing of the Resolution No.6616 Series of 2916 recently at the Hotel Sofitel in Pasay City.

In the same event, the Philracom handed out a Plaque of Appreciation to horseowner Amb. Eduardo Cojuangco Jr. [lone Asian awardee by the Australian Racing Hall of Fame] for the successful victory of his horse prized icon Victoria Derby in Flemington Recourse in Melbourne Australia last October.

Other Philracom awardees were given to Don Juan Stable for the double victories of horses ‘Proud Pinoy’ and ‘Pusong Pinoy’ in Singapore last September and November 2016, respectively.

Another Plaque of Recognition was awarded to Albert Dichavez, Joseph Dychenco, Raymond Puyat and Oliver Velasquez for the win of their two-year-old colt Manila Mischief in the Big Fair in Fresno, California last October.

Petron acquires SMC power B2 plant

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

B1

Gokongwei bares P16-b investments

By Othel V. Campos

T

HE Board of Investments granted tax incentives to three petrochemical projects of conglomerate JG Summit Holdings Inc. in Batangas province with total investments of P15.8 billion.

“We welcome investment projects such as these. The company’s initiative and innovation in expanding their petrochemical plants is definitely a big boost to the manufacturing industry and its sub-sectors,” said Trade Undersecretary and BoI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo.

JG Summit is the investment com-

pany of tycoon John Gokongwei.

Two pioneering projects of JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. received the nod under the preferred activities of the existing Investment Priorities Plan with the endorsement of the Science Department.

The first petrochemical project is a P4.2-billion plant for the

production of butadiene and raffinate. Another is the P3-billion project for the production of benzene, toluene, mixed xylene, C8+/C9+ Cut and non-aromatics.

JG Summit Olefins Corp., a unit under the petrochemical group, will undertake the expansion of the existing naphtha cracker plant to produce additional polymer grade ethylene, polymer grade propylene, mixed C4 and pyrolysis (Py) gas, costing the company an additional investment of P8.6 billion.

The petrochemical group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of JG Summit Holdings, one of the largest business conglomerates in the country.

The Science Department endorsed the projects under the pioneer status given the innovativeness and novelty of the activity, the level of technological expertise required, impact on increasing the level of science and technology in the Philippines and possibilities for commercial operation.

The petrochemical projects will generate 112 jobs once fully operational in 2021. The firm is expected to produce butadiene and raffinate at 70,000 metric tons and 89,000 MT annually, respectively.

Its other petrochemical products will yield benzene at 126,000 MT annually, toluene at 76,000 MT, mixed xylene at 46,000 MT,

C8+/C9+ Cut at 18,000 MT and non-aromatics, 29,000 MT. The JG Olefins project, on the other hand, is expected to employ 21 personnel when the expansion operations start in July 2021. It will churn out additional amounts of ethylene at 160,002 MT/year, propylene at 51,000 MT, Mixed C4 at 26,418 MT and Py Gas, 78,876 MT. All three projects will be located in the JG Summit Petrochemical complex in Batangas City.

The Petrochemical Group currently operates two polyethylene and polypropylene plants with a combined capacity of 320,000 metric tons annually of PE and 180,000 MT of PP.

ANGAT Hydropower Corp., a joint venture of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp. of San Miguel Corp. and Korea Water Resources Corp., secured P12.6 billion worth of loans to finance the rehabilitation of Angat Dam and the 218-megawatt Angat Hydroelectric Power Plant.

SMC Global Power said in a disclosure to the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. AHC obtained the loan and financing facility for the project amounting to P12.6 billion.

No other details were provided, including the terms of the loan and the banks involved in the transaction.

KWPP Holdings Corp., an affiliate of AHC, holds the land rights and water use with respect to the Angat hydroelectric power plant, and is also a party to the project finance.

Each of AHC and KWPP is 60-percent owned by PowerOne Ventures Energy Inc. and 40-percent owned by Korean Water Resources Corp., respectively.

PVEI is a wholly-owned subsidiary of SMC Global. As shareholders of AHC and KWPP, PVEI and K Water shall act as sponsors under the project financing.

K-Water has the rights to own and operate the 218-MW portion of the power plant. Jenniffer B. Austria

7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

6,563.67 23.50

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing DECEMBER 23, 2016 43.00 45.40 47.80

P49.770

49.00

PAL expects 15m passengers in 2017

SMC gets P12.6-b loan for Angat Dam

Closing December 23, 2016

8300

46.60

IN BRIEF PHILIPPINE Airlines expects to carry 15 million domestic and international passengers in 2017, higher than the projected 13.5 million passengers this year, a top executive said.

PAL president and chief operating officer Jaime Bautista said the airline would likely achieve the target of 13.5 million passengers this year.

PAL flew 11.9 million passengers in 2015, up from 9.6 million passengers in 2014.

Bautista said new routes, more destination and frequency and China charters would drive passenger growth in 2017.

PAL, controlled by tycoon Lucio Tan, earlier posted a comprehensive income of P2.96 billion in the nine-month period, lower by 54.8 percent than the previous year’s total comprehensive income of P6.55 billion.

Revenues in January to September hit P85.35 billion, up by 3.5 percent from last year’s P82.48 billion.

Expenses in the third quarter rose 14.9 percent to P29.567 billion from P25.73 billion a year earlier, because of the increase in flights operated.

Darwin G. Amojelar

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX

CLOSE

HIGH P49.770 LOW P49.970 AVERAGE P49.908 VOLUME 257.900M

P430.00-P661.00 LPG/11-kg tank P35.40-P44.10 Unleaded Gasoline P25.75-P29.32 Diesel

OPRICES IL TODAY

P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, December 23, 2016

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE MEDICINES FOR SOLDIERS. Mercury Drug Foundation brings its Operation Bigay Lunas program beyond local underserved communities by including the 124,000-strong Armed Forces of the Philippines among the program’s beneficiaries. Shown during the turnover of the first shipment of free medicines to AFP are (from left) MDFI treasurer Mario Montellano, executive director Annie Fuentes, president Vivian QueAzcona, trustee Steven Azcona, AFP chief of staff Gen. Eduardo Año, AFP DCS for personnel BGen. Arnel Duco and AFP surgeon general BGen. Joseph Acosta.

Govt prefers to support China-led trade bloc

By Gabrielle H. Binaday THE Duterte administration is more open to supporting a China-led trade bloc, after Donald Trump’s election victory dashed hopes for the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said he was closely studying the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which was pushing for economic integration among the members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and major trade partners in Asia and the Pacific.

“I personally would like to look at RCEP closely because that’s the 10 Asean countries, I think. That one, we are more open to,” said Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.

President Xi Jinping has endorsed RCEP for years, while US President Barack Obama was pushing for TPP which the Philippines failed to join. Trump said he would withdraw from TPP. RCEP is a proposed 16-nation free trade area comprising the 10 Asean member-nations―the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Thailand, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam―and six trading partners such as China, South Korea, Australia, India, Japan and New Zealand.

Trade ministers from the 16 countries comprising RCEP met on Nov. 3 and 4 in Cebu City and discussed a wide range of issues, including the proposal to remove or drastically reduce duties on a number of goods traded across the region. The meeting was

held ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Forum leaders summit in Lima, Peru.

Dominguez said the head of the delegation of the European Union to the Philippines also mentioned a possible free trade agreement between the EU and the Philippines “and we will look at that and give that our priority attention.”

Dominguez said the Duterte administration would thoroughly study these proposed free trade arrangements.

“So we have to think about [these] very carefully. We are a new administration, we want to see the pros and cons, we want to see how we will benefit,” he said.

RCEP was conceptualized about a decade ago but was launched only in November 2012.

Its members account for almost half of the world’s population, almost 30 percent of the global gross domestic product and over a quarter of the world’s exports.

RCEP is said to be larger than TPP, as China’s exports of $2.3 trillion alone in 2014 were larger than the combined exports of the US ($1.6 trillion) and Canada ($474 billion), the two lead members of the TPP. RCEP covers trade in goods and services, investment, economic and technical cooperation, intellectual property rights, com-

Banks face penalties over old ATM cards

By Julito G. Rada BANKS will face sanctions and penalties if they fail to follow the guidelines governing the transition from magnetic stripe to the more secure EMV chip-compliant cards in January 2017, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

A memorandum signed by Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. reminded banks on handling support for magnetic stripe transactions pending full compliance with EMV migration requirement.

EMV stands for Europay, Mastercard and Visa.

Bangko Sentral requires financial institutions to shift the entire payment network from the traditional magnetic stripe to more secure EMV chip technology beginning January 2017. The rules cover ATM debit and prepaid cards in any card-accepting

devices and terminals.

The manual of regulations for banks on EMV implementation guidelines requires the domestic switches to ensure the continued support to existing transaction sets and functions provided to consumers; and continued ability to support, in the interim, transactions in magnetic stripe format subject to liability shift policies acceptable to the regulator. “lssuers, on the other hand, are required to educate consumers to smoothly transition customer experience/expectations from traditional magnetic stripe to EMV chip-compliant cards. In this regard, all concerned BSP-supervised financial institutions should ensure that the above requirements can be adequately fulfilled so that consumers will not be disenfranchised while transition to EMV technology is ongoing,” it said.

“BSP supervised financial insti-

tutions should likewise strengthen EMV-related consumer awareness efforts, particularly to allay fears of the consumers that their magnetic stripe cards are no longer usable come Jan. 1, 2017. … Failure to comply with the above shall be subject to appropriate sanctions and penalties…,” it said.

Bangko Sentral urged banks and other financial institutions to migrate from the magnetic stripe card to the more secure EMV earlier than the prescribed date of January 2017 for commercial reasons.

Espenilla earlier said that migrating from the magnetic stripe card earlier than expected would spare banks from unwanted costs in case of fraud.

He said the upgrade to EMV was on track but if banks were not yet in EMV, whatever happened to the card transactions of their customers

petition policy and dispute settlement, It excludes labor, environment and state-owned enterprises , Dominguez and Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said during a state visit to China that while the Duterte administration would maintain good relations with western economies, it would now push for “stronger integration” with neighbors in the region.

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

49.9750

Japan

Yen

0.008506

0.4251

UK

Pound

1.228700

61.4043

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128824

6.4380

Switzerland

Franc

0.975229

48.7371

Canada

Dollar

0.741015

37.0322

Singapore

Dollar

0.689227

34.4441

Australia

Dollar

0.720900

36.0270

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652520

132.5597

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266667

13.3267

Brunei

Dollar

0.686860

34.3258

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000074

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.027771

1.3879

UAE

Dirham

0.272316

13.6090

Euro

Euro

1.043600

52.1539

Korea

Won

0.000830

0.0415

China

Yuan

0.144009

7.1968

India

Rupee

0.014743

0.7368

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.223414

11.1651

New Zealand

Dollar

0.689700

34.4678

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031097

1.5541 Source: PDS Bridge

B2

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Business

Petron acquires SMC power plant

By Alena Mae S. Flores

P

etron Corp. acquired the 140-megawatt solid fuel power plant of SMC PowerGen Inc. in Bataan province for P20.029 billon.

“The purchase of the power plant would lower the power and steam costs of the Petron Bataan Refinery,” the oil giant said in a disclosure to the stock exchange.

Petron owns the 180,000-barrel-per day refinery in Bataan.

“The consideration was negotiated and agreed upon based on the extent of power plant assets,” the company said.

Petron paid SMC PowerGen P15.966 billion on Dec. 23, with the remaining P4.06 billion to be settled on or before July 31,

2017.

“The funds for the purchase of the power plant are from internally generated funds and through credit facilities secured by the company to fund the purchase of the power plant,” the company said.

SMC Power Gen used the power plant for the production of power and steam, while Petron intends to devote the power plant for the same purpose.

Conglomerate San Miguel Corp. owns both SMC Power

Gen and Petron.

Petron’s executive committee previously granted authority to the company to negotiate, enter into and conclude with SMC PowerGen the relevant definitive agreements “for the purchase and acquisition” of the power plant “under such terms and conditions that the management may deem proper.”

“The executive committee likewise authorized the company to secure and avail of credit facility agreements to fund the pro-

posed acquisition of the power plant,” Petron said.

The 140-MW power plant started commercial operations in May 2013 and availed of the income tax holiday from May to September 2013.

Petron invested $2 billion to further upgrade its Bataan Refinery and make it at par with the most advanced refineries in the region.

Dubbed the Refinery Master Plan - 2, Petron can now produce more higher-value products such

as gasoline and petrochemicals while eliminating negative margin fuel oil.

Petron is the largest oil refining and marketing company in the Philippines and is a leading player in the Malaysian market. It has a combined refining capacity of 268,000 barrel-perday and produces a full range of world-class fuels and petrochemicals.

Petron has more than 2,800 service stations where it retails gasoline and diesel.

SMDC launching China condo units

By Jenniffer B. Austria SM DEVELOPMENT Corp., the real estate unit of property developer SM Prime Holdings Inc. plans to start pre-selling residential condominium projects in Chengdu, China in the second quarter of 2017.

SMDC executive vice president Jose Mari Banzon said in a recent interview that once the construction of the first two residential towers hit the ground level by April or May, the company would also start pre-selling the projects.

“The whole development is a two-hectare property, so to reach the ground level, it will take another five to six months. We estimate [that by April or May], we will start to hit the ground floor,” Banzon said.

Banzon said the company would initially launch two towers but the whole development would have a total of seven towers.

SMDC has yet to finalize the selling price of the condominium units. “We have not established the pricing yet because the market in

China is volatile so we have to be in tune with the market once we launched,” Banzon said.

The first two towers will be completed by 2019.

Banzon is confident that about the company’s first overseas venture because of the good location of the project.

“There is strong demand because the project is within city center and that project is located right beside our mall,” Banzon said.

“If we can accelerate the launch then we will. But it will all depend on construction schedule,” he said.

SMDC also announced last week it would bring attainable luxury living to the provinces as it began to expand product offering to include economic housing.

The residential developer said it would launch its first economic housing project in Central Luzon in 2017.

The company said the gated development would offer house and lots, well-appointed amenities, and a commercial development right beside it.

CLARK BOUND. Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade (third from left) and PAL Express president Bonifacio Sam (partly hidden) welcome 65 passengers from Philippine Airlines’ inaugural flight from Caticlan in Malay, Aklan to Clark International Airport in Pampanga on Dec. 16.

PNOC plans to develop real estate properties in Luzon PLDT STATE-OWNED Philippine National Oil Co. plans to transform its properties in Batangas, Bataan and Metro Manila into energy projects and other income-generating ventures.

PNOC president Reuben Lista said the plan was a part of its transformation into an operating company from a pure holdings group.

Lista said a technical working group was formed for the purpose of creating manpower and other logistics to operate PNOC’s energy supply base in Mabini, Batangas and convert it into a fully operational energy hub.

“The site offers PNOC the op-

portunity to implement its own energy projects and thus fulfill its mandate as an operating energy company,” he said in a memorandum to PNOC board.

PNOC acquired the Batangas ESB as a property dividend from Petron Corp. in 1993. It has a total land area of 19.22 hectares, including 10.55 hectares leased to PNOC Exploration Corp. and 4.27 hectares to Petron where the latter operates a bulk plant. The remaining 4.4 hectares are hilly portions.

Lista said the property leased to PNOC Exploration had the basic necessary infrastructure and foreshore area. The site has a triangular pier, marginal wharf

and roll-on, roll off pier, office buildings, warehouses and open and cemented yard.

PNOC plans to negotiate with Petron for higher rentals for the 4.27-hectare bulk plant site.

“Should Petron fail to agree to our required rental fee, we shall exclude the site for renewal of lease agreement for bulk plants and transform the site as part of the energy hub that PNOC envisions for the ESB land,” Lista said.

He said another property that could be developed into an energy hub is the former Batangas coal terminal property with an area of 5.3 hectares in Bauan, Batangas.

Subsidiary PNOC Exploration turned over the property to PNOC last year.

Lista said PNOC already initiated the master development planning for the Batangas coal property, which is adjacent to Keppel Shipyard, as a possible site of an energy project.

PNOC is also looking at offering for joint venture the development of PNOC Energy Center in Taguig City. PNOC owns 2.9 hectares of the property while the Energy Department owns 2.3 hectares.

Lista said the energy center would qualify as a prime site for development into a viable

mixed-use development.

“To achieve maximum returns for the property, PNOC [with the DOE] may consider offering the property for a joint venture development with other parties,” he said.

Lista said the company also planned to develop a property in Sta. Mesa covering an area of 7,597 square meters.

Lista said the project, previously a subject of litigation, was now resolved and “offers PNOC the opportunity to go into joint venire to develop the site into a mixed office/commercial/residential development.”

Alena Mae S. Flores

DoE wants to pursue S. China Sea projects

MARCO POLO’S AWARDS. Marco Polo Ortigas Manila bags two major awards in the 2016 Don Emilio Abello Energy Efficiency Awards organized by the Energy Department to recognize the private sectors’ efforts to promote and implement energy conservation programs. Shown receiving the awards are (from left) Marco Polo Ortigas chief engineer Eric Enriquez, Frontier Ortigas Hotel and Resort Corp. president Lily Pedrosa and Marco Polo Ortigas general manager Frank Reichenbach.

THE Energy Department is pushing for an agreement with China that will allow local oil and gas exploration companies to conduct exploratory drillings in South China Sea or West Philippine Sea. “If we get an agreement, in same way in Panatag [Shoal], same arrangement that fishermen are able to fish undisturbed, that’s what we want to achieve in our exploration areas,” Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi told reporters.

The department earlier issued a moratorium on oil and gas service contracts affected by the territorial dispute with China and other claimants in the West Philippine Sea. “Joint exploration is not my priority concern. My priority concern is for the moratorium to be lifted and for those that we have given the service contract be able to resume work… It’s our responsibility for these people that we’re given service contract to be able to resume,” Cusi said.

Cusi said he was looking at ways on how holders of service contracts affected by the territorial dispute could be allowed to pursue exploration in the area.

“I’m personally hoping not for the joint exploration, but I’m hoping that the suspended ex-

ploration service contracts that we have already awarded, and those contracts under moratorium, that we can push through with [them] before anything else.

That’s where we should start,” Cusi said.

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

The government views service contract 72 (Recto Bank) as a potential source of natural gas, but developments in the area were put on hold over the territorial dispute.

The Energy Department retained the moratorium in exploration, despite the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague on July 12 in favor of the Philippines.

The high tribunal ruled that Recto Bank or service contract 72 was within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone as defined under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. SC 72 held by Forum Energy Plc covers an 8,800-square-kilometer area west off Palawan (Recto Bank) and is estimated to contain prospective resources of as much as 16.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and 416 million barrels of oil. Alena Mae S. Flores

expands Mindanao facilities

By Darwin G. Amojelar PLDT Inc. announced the completion of three major information communications and technology projects in Mindanao to stimulate economic growth in southern Philippines.

These projects in Davao City include PLDT’s fourth cable landing station, a state-of-the-art innovations laboratory and a data center.

They are a part of PLDT’s programmed P48-billion capital expenditure for 2016.

“These projects will greatly expand PLDT’s network capacity and quality of services which will benefit industries located in Visayas and Mindanao, and enable them to participate in the emerging gigabit society,” said PLDT chief revenue officer and ePLDT president and chief executive Eric Alberto.

“We have accelerated the necessary investments that will help build and strengthen the regions’ enterprises, and enable them to become, not just locally, but globally competitive armed with new digital tools and innovative solutions,” he said.

PLDT’s fourth cable landing station in Davao links Mindanao to three existing international gateways in Nasugbu, Batangas; Bauang, La Union; and Daet, Camarines Norte. PLDT has the most number of cable landing stations in the Philippines.

This will significantly improve the flow of international data traffic to and from Mindanao, providing better resiliency and reduced latency for enterprises particularly those that demand bandwidth-heavy data services such as the BPO industry.

PLDT’s Davao cable landing station also connects Mindanao to PLDT’s international managed network that has points-of-presence in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan and the US, with a fullymanaged, high bandwidth global connectivity with automatic rerouting and switching capability through different international cable routes in the event of cable faults, further improving network resiliency.

Business

B3

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Eurozone clears way for Greece debt relief

SLUGGISH THAILAND. Workers clean the window of an office building in downtown Bangkok on December 26, 2016. Thailand, a country beset by more than a decade of political instability, has one of the region’s weakest economies, forecast to grow by around 3.2 percent for this year. AFP

Asian stocks decline in thin holiday trade T OKYO―Stocks in Tokyo and Shanghai lost ground Monday in quiet trading with most of the region’s other key markets closed for public holidays.

Both Japan and China declined as investors cashed in on a recent global rally fueled largely by expectations for the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Incentives were few and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which on Friday again fell short of 20,000 points in light trade ahead of the holiday weekend, provided no tailwind.

Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index, which was closed on Friday for a national holiday, ended down 0.16 percent, or 31.03 points, to 19,396.64. The broader Topix index of all firstsection issues fell 0.37 percent, or 5.68 points, at 1,538.14.

“Selective shares are facing profit-taking following the recent gains, as many investors are on the sidelines in a holiday mood, looking to fresh factors to trade,” said Shinichi Yamamoto, broker at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.

Japan’s banks remained under selling pressure on negative news in the sector from overseas.

Italy on Friday approved a state-funded rescue of the world’s oldest bank, Monte dei Paschi di Siena, while Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse agreed to pay a total of almost $12.5 billion to settle disputes over the sale of mortgage-backed securities during the global financial crisis.

Japan’s MUFG dropped 1.22 percent with its rival Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group was down 0.84 percent.

“There are very few market participants around at the end of the year, and with some shortterm overbuying, Japanese stocks may keep adjusting their levels,” Shoji Hirakawa, chief global strategist at Tokai Tokyo Research Institute Co, told Bloomberg.

But Nintendo was up 4.06 percent to 24,555 yen after the company’s president told a Japanese newspaper it plans to release at least three game apps for smartphones a year.

Chinese stocks fell on Monday morning, driven by a decline in commodity shares affected by a plunge in futures prices, dealers said.

The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index dipped 0.78 percent, or 24.33 points, to 3,085.82 by the break.

The Shenzhen Composite Index, which tracks stocks on China’s second exchange, lost 0.82 percent, or 16.12 points, to 1,954.94.

Currency markets were quiet.

“The undercurrent is still a strong dollar, but there was an adjustment phase in the past few days after a surge on expectations for Mr. Trump,” Marito Ueda, senior dealer at FX Prime, told AFP. Sentiment favoring a strong dollar “will likely continue until M.r Trump actually takes office in January and maybe during the so-called ‘honeymoon period,’ or 100 initial days of his government, unless some geopolitical risks emerge,” Ueda added.

The greenback traded at 117.10 yen, down from 117.31 yen on Friday in New York.

The euro, meanwhile, rose slightly, trading at $1.0464 from $1.0454 on Friday. AFP

Madagascar’s quality cocoa, a bittersweet cash crop

By Pierre Donadieu AMBANJA, Madagascar―A massive zebu cow lumbers out of the tropical forest in Ambanja in the north of Madagascar carrying a heavy cartful of cocoa pods destined to become some of the most expensive chocolate in the world.

“These red ones here, they’re of the Criollo variety, the most sought-after cocoa in the world,” says Cyrille Ambarahova, a local small-scale farmer.

Standing in the middle of his single hectare of cocoa trees―“100 percent organic,” he says―Ambarahova uses a long, hooked stick to harvest only the most mature pods.

Cocoa arrived in Madagascar in the 1900s, and today is still a low-volume export compared with the country’s coffee, vanilla and shellfish production.

With an annual production of 7,000 tons, Madagascar is still a dwarf in the global cocoa market.

But the variety of the crop found on the island―the prized Criollo―has earned Madagascar a reputation for high-quality cocoa.

And unlike the other luxury crop on the island, vanilla, cocoa can be harvested year-round.

In Ambanja, where tuk-tuk rickshaws easily outnumber cars, the rhythm of life is dictated by the cocoa market.

The zebu’s cargo was offloaded in Ambarahova’s backyard, and the process of cracking the pods and extracting the beans began.

Sticky and white, it was difficult to imagine they end up as fine chocolate.

Next, they are sold to collectors commissioned by large chocolate producers but small-scale producers complain they have little say in the going price.

Unfair trade?

This file photo taken on November 15, 2016 at his farm in Mbau shows Antoine Kakule Kihumuledi (right), a cocoa farmer, opening cocoa pods to collect cocoa beans. AFP

Ambarahova joined a cooperative with several colleagues to negotiate higher prices, but their efforts have borne little fruit.

On the day AFP visited Ambarahova’s farm, one international chocolate maker had bought his weekly harvest for 2,600 ariary (80 US cents, 0.75 euros) a kilogram.

“The price that collectors pay now, it’s not the true price,” rails fellow farmer Remi Jaofeno.

“The price should be tripled, then it would be the right price.”

A few kilometers away, on the 635-hectare (1,570-acre) Mava cocoa plantation, the era of the zebu has long since passed and staff zip between the trees in 4x4s.

Here, the cocoa is processed along an efficient factory line: an all-male team picks the pods, an all-female team cracks them

open, and a third team sorts them into large outdoor trays.

Drying out in the open air, the beans begin to give off the strong smell of the chocolate they will become.

‘Cocoa paradise’ “We consider Madagascar to be one of the paradises of cocoa of the world,” says plantation manager Thomas Wenisch.

“We are relatively free from disease because of our isolation from the rest of the world, and our fairly severe dry season helps slow down the development of mould.”

But for all its advantages, Madagascar’s role in chocolate production largely ends there.

The bulk of the harvest is exported and processed abroad into the fine chocolate that in the streets of Paris can sell for close to 5 euros ($5) per 100-gram slab.

The little that remains on the island is processed in the capital Antananarivo and sold back to the few locals who can afford it.

“Most of the world’s chocolate is made with a cocoa that is not fine cocoa,” says Wenisch.

“And the companies selling (it) are the big ones―Lindt, Craft, Suchard, Mars―they make chocolate bars, sweets.

And they’re pushing to bring down the price of cocoa.”

Philippe Bastide, a cocoa expert at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, says the costs involved in buying and transporting the cocoa did not justify the profit margins that the large manufacturers enjoy.

“There are costs all along the chain of production, but the Malagasy small-scale producers could really get a fairer deal,” he says. AFP

BRUSSELS, Belgium― Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem on Saturday said Greece had cleared up doubts and could expect a positive decision on debt relief, defusing a row over surprise handouts announced by Athens.

“Happy to conclude that we have cleared the way for ESM to go ahead with decision-making procedures for short term debt measures (for Greece),” Dijsselbloem said in a tweet, referring to the eurozone’s bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism.

“I have received a letter in which my Greek colleague has confirmed his commitment to previous agreements,” added Dijsselbloem who presides the group that brings together the eurozone’s 19 ministers and is also the Dutch finance minister.

The eurozone earlier this month suspended debt relief for bailed-out Greece after its maverick premier Alexis Tsipras hiked spending for pensioners, angering austerity champion Germany.

A eurozone source told AFP that officials from the bloc would officially decide on restoring the minor debt relief at a meeting in January, where Germany would still be in a position to block the procedure.

Tsipras sparked the fight after announcing one-off handouts including a surprise payout to 1.6 million low-income pensioners and a temporary sales tax break for islands sheltering thousands of migrants.

The handouts angered Berlin and also revealed divisions at the heart of the eurozone, with France defending Athens in a rare act of defiance.

The debt relief in question was agreed by eurozone ministers on December 5 in the face of criticism by the International Monetary Fund that it fell well short of what was necessary to get Greece back on its feet.

Under the bailout agreed with eurozone countries, Greece has committed to making a host of economic reforms and must submit to oversight of its budgets and spending plans.

AFP

Next 6 months crucial for Duterte government IN THE theory and practice of modern democratic governance, newly elected administrations are given by the people—those who voted them into power and those who did not—a period within which to try out newly acquired wings, put new ideas into play and inevitably, make mistakes.

Political scientists call that period the honeymoon. Six months is the usual period for a post-election honeymoon, but it can last longer, perhaps even a year, depending on the circumstances.

The administration of Rodrigo Duterte honeymoon with the Filipino people—the 38 percent of the electorate that voted for him and the 62 percent that overwhelmingly refused to vote for him-has now run for almost six months. There are numerous indications that the honeymoon is about to end.

To understand why the Filipino people’s honeymoon with the administration of Rodrigo Duterte has not lasted longer, one need only review the things that the Man from Davao City has said and done and the things that he has failed to do.

For starters there is the disturbance, occasioned by Mr. Duterte’s gross incivility, of this country’s relations with institutions and countries that are of the greatest importance to the Philippines’ international standing, namely, the US, the Vatican and the United Nations. The 38 percent of Filipinos who voted for him may tolerate or even enjoy his vulgarities, but the 62 percent who didn’t vote for Mr. Duterte are appalled by his misuse and abuse of Presidential prerogatives.

Then there are the Duterte administration’s inadequatelythought-out positions on such important issues as climate change and labor contractualization. Mr. Duterte’s early declaration that he would not honor the UN-sponsored treaty on climate change, which he would shortly thereafter withdraw, got Filipinos thinking whether the former city mayor had a firm grasp of international realities. And the campaign against labor contractualization has not nearly achieved the total eradication of “endo” that DoLE (Department of Labor and Employment) had targeted. On the contrary, the campaign has led to layoffs as honest business establishments unwilling to meet DoLE’s demand chose to streamline their labor forces instead.

On the things-undone side of the honeymoon balance sheet are several major entries. The incoming administration made a big deal of a request for Congressional grant of so-called emergency powers for dealing with the horrendous national transportation situation. But Congressional hearings revealed that Mr. Duterte and his people didn’t have concrete plans for the use of the emergency powers. As the administration’s first six months came to an end, the transportation situation, especially Metro Manila’s traffic, is almost as bad as ever.

As for the poverty and food situation, the Duterte administration has had nothing to offer the nation’s poor and hungry, recently estimated to comprise around 26 percent of the Filipino people.

The Department of Agriculture has had very little impact on a sector that accounts for nearly 20 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) and close to one-third of the national work force. Whatever programs DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development) has been implementing during the last six months have largely been hand-me-downs from the previous administration.

Truth to tell, whatever economic strength and stability the Philippine economy enjoys today are carry-overs from the macro-economic fundamentals left behind by the Aquino administration. These very same macro-economic fundamentals stand in danger of being eroded by the verbal and other excesses of Mr. Duterte.

Anyone who knows anything about the practices associated with marriage knows that honeymoons don’t last forever; they come to an end. And Rodrigo Duterte’s honeymoon with the Filipino people is slowly but surely coming to an end.

Twelve months is a long time in the life of any country, and the Philippines is no exception. After six months of the Duterte administration—with its melodrama and theatrics and prevarications—the 62 percent of Filipinos who did not vote for Mr. Duterte—want his administration to start delivering on things like jobs, food, basic services, investments, crops and small-scale industries. They want more food on the table and less cussing in news pages. They are not prepared to give the Duterte administration much more time to produce concrete results.

The next six months are going to be crucial for Mr. Duterte.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

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

B4

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

Business

Japan eyes new Silicon Valley

By Chisaki Watanabe

A

PATCH of land in the shadow of Mount Fuji is becoming a testing ground for energy storage, with some of Japan’s leading companies trying to develop technologies such as spinning flywheels and fuel cells.

The government of Yamanashi, a prefecture 102 kilometers (63 miles) west of Tokyo, is hoping that by attracting companies such as Panasonic Corp. and Toray Industries Inc., it can become a kind of Silicon Valley for energy storage development.

As part of a project in Kofu City, the prefecture has built a 1-megawatt solar power station that’s being made available to developers of storage devices who want to run tests under closed conditions, according to Masaki Sakamoto, an official in charge of the project.

“It’s not easy to find a largescale solar power station available for pilot projects,” Sakamoto said. “The best scenario would be that advanced research being conducted here leads to more collaboration between major and local companies and the creation of supply chains.”

Projects like the one in Yamanashi underline how Japan is racing to dominate a new age of energy technologies using a model similar to the one used by the nation to develop its automobile and semiconductor industries.

The site in Yamanashi, one of Japan’s sunniest regions, is already home to a flywheel system in a pilot program to adjust output from the solar plant. Flywheel storage devices use spinning drums to store kinetic energy in a way that can later be turned into electricity.

Flywheels, batteries The device at the Yamanashi facility, set up by the Railway Technical Research Institute, uses a superconducting magnetic bearing that allows the wheel to spin with a minimum of friction. The superconducting technology is an offshoot of work the institute developed for trains that operate using magnetic levitation. A maglev train is being run through its paces on a test track in Yamanashi.

“With flywheels, it is possible to customize the device’s output power and storage capacity individually,” said Ken Nagashima,

Solar panels stand at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Komekurayama solar power plant in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan. (Inset) A storage tank for hydrogen stands outside the Yume Solar House Yamanashi exhibition hall for Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Komekurayama solar power plant, operated by the Yamanashi Prefectural Public Enterprise Bureau, in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, on Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2016. Bloomberg

director for the maglev systems technology division at the institute, “They are also resistant to repeated charging and discharging and do not produce harmful wastes.”

In November, the site added a system based on a modified nickel metal hydride battery developed by a startup called Exergy Power Systems Inc. The system has enhanced durability compared with typical nickel metal hydride batteries widely used in hybrid vehicles, according to a statement by the prefecture.

Rooftop solar panels and a small hydro generator provide power to a one-story building that serves as the visitor center at the site. Surplus power is used to produce hydrogen through electrolysis using a device developed by Kobelco Eco-Solutions Co., a unit of Kobe Steel Ltd. The hydrogen is then stored in a tank to be used for fuel cells installed by Panasonic to produce electricity when power supply from rooftop solar is low.

Storage devices Energy storage comes in different types to adjust the flow of clean energy in varying duration. Aside from pumped hydro―the most prevalent storage technology for grid connected projects―batteries, flywheels and hydrogen are increasingly becoming important.

Along with the US, Japan is among the top markets for energy storage, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance. The country will have cumulative energy storage of 7,440 megawatts by 2024, up from 847 megawatts this year, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates.

“This kind of experiment is important because customers want data on the performances of different technologies to decide what storage technologies they want to use,” Ali Izadi-Najafabadi, an analyst for London-based BNEF, said.

The Yamanashi project is also boosting the prefecture’s efforts to transform itself into a “Fuel Cell Valley” to attract talent and investment. Japan wants to showcase hydrogen-related technologies when Tokyo hosts the 2020 Olympic Games.

Japan is leading the global market in residential fuel cells after the first such devices hit the commercial market in 2009. With hydrogen still not readily available, home fuel cells in Japan use city gas delivered through existing pipes to extract hydrogen.

Panasonic’s prototypes at the Yamanashi facility use “pure” hydrogen produced by Kobelco’s machine in anticipation that hydrogen will be supplied to each household in the future.

‘Special Zone’ “This is a secluded area like a special zone which allows us to conduct various experiments,” Yuichi Shimizu, a Panasonic official, said. “We are hoping to turn the

device into something you can just put on the wall outside your house like a gas water heater. We need to work on making it smaller, more efficient and more durable.”

Companies including Toray and Tokyo Electric Power Co. Holdings Inc. are studying the feasibility of setting up a system to produce hydrogen from solar power produced from larger plants such as a 10-megawatt plant built nearby by Tepco and the prefecture in 2012, according to Sakamoto.

The study is funded by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, which also supports Exergy and provided support for the early stages of the flywheel program.

“I agree that this project is unique given the size and the variety of technologies,” said Marianne Boust, a Paris-based analyst for IHS Inc. “But other countries are implementing similar pilot projects like Germany, Italy and South Korea. All these countries are concerned by fast renewable penetration and the impact on the grid.”

Technologies such as fuel cells and power-to-gas are predicted to play a role beyond 2020 “when renewable penetration will be very high,” she said. Bloomberg

Paper retracts story on Aramco THE Riyadh-based newspaper al-Eqtisadiah retracted a story saying Saudi Arabia is planning to sell almost half of Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s largest oil company known as Aramco.

The stake that the government plans to sell and the time frame of the sale are different than what was mentioned in the story published on Saturday, alEqtisadiah said in a statement published Sunday. The story, which cited an unidentified government official, contained a number of other errors, the newspaper said.

“Al-Eqtisadiah apologizes to its readers, and wishes that all media outlets that cited the story to publish this apology and clarification,” the newspaper said. It will start an investigation into how the mistaken information was published, the newspaper said.

The newspaper had reported that the government would sell close to half of the state-owned enterprise during the next 10 years. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said in April that an initial public offering is planned for 2018, or even a year earlier, with the country planning to sell less than 5 percent.

Aramco’s privatization is part of the Saudi Vision 2030, not the National Transformation Program 2020, the newspaper said.

Saudis are looking at their sources of revenue beyond 10 years and they are asking what should we do more to diversify our non-oil income.”

The Saudi government relies heavily on oil sales for revenue, and its finances have taken a blow since prices started tumbling in 2014.

Total projected revenue this year, at 528 billion riyals ($141 billion), is less than half what it collected in 2013, when oil was trading above $100 and made up 90 percent of revenue. Brent crude, the global benchmark, closed Friday at $55.16 a barrel.

Taking a company as large as Aramco to the market may pose challenges for Saudi Arabia. Selling any part of Saudi Aramco to the public will require “full audits and a large amount of transparency,” Paul Sullivan, a professor of security studies at Georgetown University in Washington, said by e-mail on Saturday.

“They would need to audit for the valuation of tangible and intangible assets, such a human capital, pipelines, refineries, information systems, management quality, and good will. Getting such data for an IPO audit will be a massive undertaking.”

Bloomberg

New York commuters get new subway stations—a century late

By Catherine Triomphe NEW YORK―New Yorkers who ride one of the world’s busiest subway systems have been waiting for this moment for close to a century: three new stations will open in eastern Manhattan on January 1.

The Second Avenue subway is the largest expansion of the city’s metro in 50 years and will link the tony Upper East Side neighborhood with Brooklyn’s beachfront Coney Island.

“That claustrophobia that descended upon on you when you walked into a subway station is gone,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

“It is worth seeing just for the art,” he added, alluding to works by four contemporary artists that will decorate the stations.

One of them, painter and photographer Chuck Close, has created for the 86th St station 12 giant mosaic portraits of people such as the composer Philip Glass and the late rock legend Lou Reed.

Like President-elect Donald Trump, Cuomo is big on upgrading infrastructure and he

has worked frantically in recent months to ensure the deadline for the new stations’ opening is met.

New Yorkers have been waiting since 1929 for a subway running underneath Second Avenue, a north-south artery along the eastern side of Manhattan.

The new segment will extend the existing Q line with stations on 72nd, 86th and 96th Streets, at a cost of $4.4 billion.

After the idea was first floated, it was delayed by the Great Depression in the 1930s, then emerged again after World War II. It even gets mentioned in the hit TV series “Mad Men.” A real estate agent tells one of the characters in the show that her apartment on the Upper East Side will quadruple in value after the new subway line opens.

‘50-50’ New Yorkers have been worn down by decades of waiting, so some doubt the stations will open on time.

“I give it a 50/50 chance,” said Jane Gaillard, an interior decorator who lives in the Upper East Side.

NEW YORK—A panorama view of the subway platform at the 96th Street stop of the 2nd Avenue Subway, December 22, 2016, in New York City. The new 2nd Avenue line will be operating on January 1 of the new year. AFP

“I have been living in the neighborhood since 1967 and we have been talking about it since.

I won’t be on the first trains. I don’t feel it’s going to work very well in the beginning,” Gaillard added.

The largest American city and its 8.5 million people badly need a subway extension.

Ridership has risen steadily in recent years. It is still far from

that of big Asian grids in Tokyo, Beijing or Seoul, but the New York subway and its 422 stations open 24 hours a day posted nearly 1.8 billion trips in 2015, more than Paris or London.

The subway opened in 1904 and most of the grid dates back to before 1940. There has been little investment in it other than maintenance, and those outlays of money have not always been

a success. The 34th St.-Hudson Yards station, which opened in September 2015, quickly sprang a leak that disabled part of it.

By the 1970s, when Seoul was building its own new metro, New York was on the brink of bankruptcy. The subway quickly deteriorated, accumulating wear and tear that the city could not keep up with.

Many lines are overcrowded,

beginning with the ones that cross Manhattan and run to the Bronx along Lexington Avenue.

At rush hour, riders often have to let several packed trains rush by before they can fit in one.

The extension has its critics.

They say that despite the hefty price tag and the 200,000 riders expected to use the line each day, the improvement will be only tiny.

“I am never going to use it. It’s not going to help anybody I know.

It’s a complete misrepresentation to call it the Second Avenue line,” said Valerie Mason, president of the East 72nd street neighborhood association.

Indeed, this project falls well short of the original idea of a fullfledged line running north-south in the east of Manhattan.

The extended line is meant to one day run the length of Manhattan, from the southern tip of the island to Harlem at the top, helping to relieve the burden on other oversaturated lines at a cost of $6 billion.

But the current project is so far behind schedule that no one dares set a completion date for the second stage. AFP

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

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LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

FLOOD BE DAMNED. A scavenger collects plastic bottles and trash despite wading through waist-high floods caused by an overflow of the Tumana-Marikina River during Typhoon ‘Nina’s’ onslaught over Metro Manila on Monday. Manny Palmero

Manila brighter with new street lights

By Sandy Araneta

T

O WELCOME a brighter 2017, Manila Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada said Monday he is putting up more than 4,500 lampposts in the capital’s streets starting this January.

Estrada said he will continue his street-lighting program in 2017 to light up the entire city, from major thoroughfares to barangay streets, as an anti-

crime measure during nighttime to continue his urban renewal and beautification program for the capital.

“While I am mayor of Manila,

lighting will continue in the city.

This is what I promised to the Manileños: to ensure their safety at night and to revive the old glory of Manila, and for a brighter 2017,” he said.

With the city back on its feet financially after incurring a P5.5-billion debt during the past administration, Estrada said his planned projects in Manila will go “full blast” for 2017, as he doubled the funds for the streetlighting program.

Manila is budgeting P300 million to install 4,500 street lights on 156 more streets next year, said engineer Lorenzo Alconera, chief of the City Electrical Division.

For 2016, Alconera said they will install new lamp posts along 107 streets, including Capulong, Laong Laan, and Dela Fuente to Magsaysay.

“This is what our Mayor Estrada wants, that all will be lit.

We are just prioritizing the criti-

cal areas,” he added.

Estrada recently led the ceremonial switching of 41 newly installed street lights worth P2.3 million along Paz Street in Paco. The city also put up 84 lamp posts along the stretch of F. Manalo in Sta. Ana amounting to P4.8 million.

The city government has so far installed new lampposts along a total of 91.1 kilometers of streets worth over

Indonesia snaps up shoes from Marikina

BoI delegates roles for SME investments THE Philippine Board of Investments is boosting the growth and development of small and medium enterprises as it recently approved the application for registration of investment projects for small enterprises of Sooraj Garments Manufacturing Inc. and Hardware Labs Performance Systems Inc. These were the first two SME investment projects approved by the agency under its newlystreamlined registration process.

The BoI, through Board Resolution Numbers 25-02 and 28-02, Series of 2016, delegated the processing and approval of projects of micro and small enterprises to the BoI Executive Director for Industry Development Services for projects in Luzon, and to the Division Chiefs and Officers-in-Charge of BoI Extension Offices for projects in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“The delegation of functions

aims to speed up processing of applications and thus promote ease of doing business in support of the growth and development of businesses, especially MSMEs,” Trade Secretary and BoI Chairman Ramon Lopez said.

The delegation applies to project activities in agriculture, services, tourism and manufacturing sectors with project costs of P15 million and below.

Sooraj Garments is a new export producer of garments with an annual capacity of 808,080 pieces per year. Located at Binangonan, Rizal, the P1.985-million project will employ 64 people on a nonpioneer status.

Hardware Labs is a new export producer of cryocell refrigeration cooling at an annual capacity of 780 modules. The P4.155-million project is at Mabalacat, Pampanga, and will employ seven people on a non-pioneer status.

CHRISTMAS HOUSES. Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi, along with Gawad Kalinga and Manulife

executives and local officials, turn over houses to 12 families last Dec. 20 at Manulife Village in Putatan, Muntinlupa. The local government partners with the private sector and civil society organizations to provide socialized housing to its constituents.

Ilocos Sur plans Caniaw heritage, eco-tourism park BANTAY, Ilocos Sur—The provincial government of Ilocos Sur aims to develop the 24-hectare reforestation site in Sitio Caniaw, Barangay Taleb here into an eco-tourism and heritage park.

Initially, the provincial government has allotted P30 million to fund the construction of the Caniaw Heritage and Eco-Tour-

ism Park project, with a groundbreaking ceremony signaling its formal start, Governor Ryan Luis V. Singson said Thursday.

“The development of the reforestation site is one of our initiatives for our sustainable local tourism industry program while we are maximizing, harnessing, and preserving our beautiful na-

ture as attractive tourist destinations,” Singson said.

The site is set to become a tourist spot with various interactive adventure activities, he added.

“Initially, we will construct in the area a bike trail, camping site, high and low roping site, cottages, and a function hall for team building session,”

said Singson.

Another attraction is the sanctuary of at least 55 species of trees. To preserve the natural habitat of the various species at the site, Ilocos Sur and the Department of Environment and Natural Resources made an agreement that trees will be cut at the site during the construc-

tion and operation of the project.

“Before pursuing this project, we consulted the DENR to make sure that no single tree will be cut. All designs were approved by them. We created the project not only for the sake of tourism but also to protect our nature and maintain the natural beauty,” said Singson. PIA

Firecracker hurts boy, 9, keeps Capiz from clean slate ROXAS CITY, Capiz—Health officials here are urging the public to celebrate the holidays without using firecrackers, as the Provincial Health Office reported that a nine-year-old boy from Pontevedra town was the first firecracker-related injury here, dashing its hopes of a zero-incident

P100 million. These include major roads such as Dapitan, Moriones, Del Pilar, Mabini, Pedro Gil, Onyx, and Oroquieta, and portions of Roxas Boulevard, Taft Avenue, Vito Cruz, United Nations Avenue, and Quirino Avenue.

In 2015, Estrada allocated P61 million for street lighting and P128 million in 2016. Close to 2,000 LED lampposts have so far been installed throughout Manila.

record for 2016.

The active surveillance of firecracker-related and stray bullet injuries by the PHO started last Dec. 21 and will end on Jan. 5, 2017.

Ayr Altavas, Information Officer of the PHO, said there are many ways to meaningfully celebrate Christmas and

New Year. “We want the people to be always injury-free, especially due to the use of firecrackers this Yuletide season,” he said.

Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial has called on the public to use safe merry-making instruments and alternative noise-makers such as horns, drums and

cymbals, or by playing loud music instead of using firecrackers.

Record from the DoH last year showed there were 932 cases injuries nationwide from Dec. 21, 2015 to Jan. 5, 2016, eight percent higher compared to the 860 recorded injuries in 2014. PIA

FILIPINO fashion retail brand Rusty Lopez recently opened its newest store in Jakarta, Indonesia, featuring comfortable sandals and casuals made from Marikina, the Philippines’ shoe capital known for producing durable and high-quality footwear.

The store in Sogo Lippo Mall Puri in the St. Moritz Central Business District is Rusty Lopez’s ninth outlet following its stores in Seibu Grand Indonesia, Sogo Emporium Pluit, Sogo Central Park, Sogo Alam Sutera, Lotte Shopping Avenue, Metro Plaza Senayan, Metro Gandaria City, Metro Taman Anggrek, the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Trade and Investment Center in Jakarta said.

Philippine Commercial Attaché to Indonesia Alma Argayoso said sales of the newest collection during the opening were brisk. The other Rusty Lopez stores also received positive feedback.

“It is exciting to bring to the Indonesian market the Philippines’ world-famous Marikina-made shoes. This affirms our belief on the potential of fashion retail products in Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s biggest economy,” Argayoso added.

The first overseas store of Rusty Lopez opened in Jakarta on March 6 at the Seibu Department Store of Grand Indonesia Mall, and featured carefully selected designs suited to the Indonesian market. PIA

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LGUs

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

PRA vows to upgrade services B AGUIO CITY—The Philippine Retirement Authority assured thousands of foreign retirees in the country that it will upgrade its services to attract more foreigners and make the Philippines a major retirement and investment haven in the next two years.

PRA general manager Bienvenido Chy said the country is a potential retirement haven for foreigners because

of the abundance of its beautiful beaches, world-class golf courses, top-caliber caregivers, and other amenities

that would serve the needs of retirees.

Aside from strengthening its satellite offices in Subic, Clark, Cebu, Davao and Baguio, Chy said PRA will include medical and dental workers in their offices to cater to retirees’ health needs, while its legal staff will take care of retirees’ requirements under law when they are in the country.

“We want to reduce the period by which the Special Resident

Retirees Visa will be released from the previous one month to at least three to seven days,” Chy stressed.

Many foreign retirees prefer to spend their retirement in the country, he said, but the lengthy release of their SRRV “has been the major hindrance why they do not eventually retire in the country,” Chy admitted.

Baguio is one of the preferred retirement areas of foreigners in the country, the PRA chief said,

because of the city’s cool weather. Reducing the SRRV issuance time will attract more retirees to the city, he added.

The foreign retirees’ investments and contributions to the country’s economy will contribute to improving the country’s social services, development projects and the delivery of basic services to the people, he added.

“The huge amount of money that will be infused and spent by

the retirees once they and their families settle in the country for a longer period can be a major driver of our economy,” Chy said.

Foreigners could only spare a week of vacation from their work to process their SRRVs, thus the need to speed up the special visa’s issuance, he said.

The PRA would also screen SRRV applicants to make sure only those deserving will get the visa. Dexter A. See

Tuba identifies site for landfill TUBA, Benguet—The municipal government has identified a potential site in one of its barangays for its own engineered sanitary landfill mainly for plastic waste.

Mayor Ignacio Rivera said the site will be inspected by experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, the National Solid Waste Management Commission, and the local government to determine its feasibility. Tuba will then partner with any organization capable of running the landfill.

“We want to make sure that the potential landfill site is suitable for such purpose, that is why we do not want to identify the exact area where the land is located,” Rivera stressed.

The mayor said Tuba is spending approximately P2 million annually for hauling its residual waste to the engineered sanitary landfill in Capas, Tarlac, which is why it was important to put up its own landfill. Funds for the project would also come via publicprivate partnership.

Rivera said the town had the technology available for the landfill that complies with the provisions of Republic Act 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act. He said the national government will charge local officials who have not yet satisfactorily complied with their own waste disposal facility.

Once the town’s landfill is operational, it could accommodate plastic wastes from neighboring localities, including Baguio City, he added. Dexter A. See

CITY MARKER. Motorists traversing Governor’s Drive pass under the new arc of the City of General Trias at its boundary with Dasmariñas City at Barangay San Francisco in Cavite. General Trias City is the seventh and newest city of the province of Cavite after celebrating its first Charter Day this December.

DAR guarantees land to Arakan farmers ARAKAN, Cotabato—The Department of Agrarian Reform has assured farmers in this municipality that the unused portion of agricultural lands previously covered by the University of Southern Mindanao reservation will be awarded to its actual tillers and occupants.

In a letter dated December 16, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael “Ka Paeng” Mariano cited Executive Orders No. 407 and No. 448 as bases for the imme-

Manila diate execution of the Deeds of president Francisco Garcia has Standard Transfer. already TODAYagreed to distribute the The DAR, led by Undersecre- unused land of the university to tary for Field Operations Mar- its farmer-occupants. cos Risonar, is set to meet with In his visit to the farmers’ camp Regional Director Nasser Mus- inside the USM grounds last Dec. sali, Provincial Agrarian Reform 11, DAR Assistant Secretary for Program Officer Marion Abella, Field Operations Lucius Jun-jun and officials of the USM and the Malsi guaranteed the immediate Commission on Higher Educa- and lawful resolution of the protion on Jan. 9, 2017 to formally testing farmers’ case. discuss the transfer of lands “The farmers’ grievances from the USM to the farmers. have legal basis. It’s only right PARPO Abella said USM to distribute the land to them ac-

cording to the law,” Malsi said.

Data from DAR reveals that a total of 3,277.8 hectares of land in the USM reservation remain unused.

Farmer-occupants of the Mailuminado Farmers Association Inc. have been engaged in a protracted struggle for land ownership ever since former President Carlos Garcia allotted 7,200 hectares as reservation for the university through Presidential Proclamation No. 428 in 1957. PIA

Dumagats of Tanay, students gain ‘gifts of hope’ THE Dumagat tribe of Tanay, along with students and teachers from Santa Ines Elementary School, were the first to receive school supplies from the SchoolIn-A-Box program of MoneyGram Foundation and Black REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION OFFICE OF THE CLERK OF COURT & EX-OFFICIO SHERIFF MANDALUYONG CITY SECURITY BANK CORPORATION, Mortgagee, -versusJENNIFER S. SANTIAGO, Mortgagor-Debtor, FRE-MC16-897 EXTRA-JUDICIAL FORECLOSURE OR REAL ESTATE MORTGAGE UNDER ACT 3135 AS AMENDED BY 4118 x---------------------------------------------x

NOTICE OF SHERIFF’S SALE Upon Extra-Judicial petition for sale under Act 3135 as amended

by Act 4118 filed by SECURITY BANK CORPORATION, Mortgagee, against JENNIFER S. SANTIAGO Mortgagor-Debtor with given address at Unit 35 3rd Floor City Residences, 420 P. Martinez St., Brgy. Bagong Silang, Mandaluyong City and 3F 33SA Gomega I.P. Martines Street, Mandaluyong City to satisfy the mortgaged indebtedness which as of October 25, 2016 amounts to TWO MILLION THREE HUNDRED FIFTY TWO THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED TWENTY EIGHT PESOS and 92/100 (P2,352,328.92) ONLY. Philippine Currency, inclusive interests, penalties and other charges but exclusive of attorney’s fees equivalent to 20% for the foreclosure and sale, the ExOfficio Sheriff of Mandaluyong City or his duly authorized deputy will sell at PUBLIC AUCTION to the HIGHEST BIDDER FOR CASH OR MANAGERS CHECK and in Philippine Currency on the 7th day of January 2017 of Justice Building, Maysilo Circle, Mandaluyong City, the following condominium unit with all the improvements existing thereon to wit:

Pencil Project before the Christmas break.

The program aims to bring the gift of hope through a P1-million donation of educational and teaching materials to indigenous communities across the Philippines.

their future inevitably.

“MoneyGram Foundation is proud of the partnership with Black Pencil Project in achieving our mission to help children of indigenous communities have access to proper education,” said Alex Chan Lim,

country manager for the Philippines at MoneyGram.

“Thanks to our joint efforts, 2,500 students from six different schools in Tanay, as well as their teachers will be equipped with educational materials.”

BALCONY LOCATED AT THE THIRD FLOOR OF THE “CITY RESIDENCES” CONDOMINIUM, CONTAINING AN AREA OF 49.90 SQ.M. In the diagrammatic floor plan appended to enabling or master deed of the condominium project annotated on TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE 2010000081; 2010000082 which embraces and describes the land located at MANDALUYONG CITY with an area of TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED NINE (2,809) Square Meter, is registered in the name of:

“All sealed bids must be submitted to the undersigned on the above stated time and date.”

“In the event the public auction should not take place on the said date, it shall be held on January 27, 2017 9:00 A.M. or soon thereafter without further notice,” Prospective bidders or buyers are hereby enjoined to investigate for themselves the title of the said property and the encumbrances thereon, if any there be.

Mandaluyong City, December 6, 2016.

Philippines,

(Sgd.) ATTY. ERWIN N. BARATA Clerk of Court VI & Ex-Officio Sheriff (Sgd.) HELDER A. DYANGCO Sheriff IV WARNING: It is absolutely prohibited to remove, deface or destroy this Notice of Sheriff’s Sale on or before the date of Auction Sale under penalty of the law.

Copy furnished:

Atty. Irahlyn P. Sacupayo-Lariba 4th Floor, Security Bank Center 3F-2BR-35 – A 2 BEDROOM TYPE Building, 6776 Ayala Ave., Makati City FRONT CONDOMINIUM UNIT WITH (MS-Dec. 13, 20 & 27, 2016)

3 drunk men stab cop, get arrested TRECE MARTIRES, Cavite—Three men were arrested after getting drunk then stabbing a responding police officer during a commotion they caused on Friday at Sunshine Ville in Barangay Cabuco here.

Police apprehended Gilbert Man-On, his brother Arnel and their cousin Greg Man-On after they ganged up on PO1 Jesus Alday, who suffered stab wounds on his back while trying to pacify them at a party of residents of Sunshine Ville, officers of the Trece Martires Component City Police Station said.

The suspects tried to escape, but PO3 Francis Bibauco and some barangay tanods arrested them. Alday was rushed to MV Santiago Medical Hospital and is now in stable condition.

Benjamin Chavez

Minor kills man with pen gun

Owner: JENNIFER SAN JOSE SANTIAGO, SINGLE, FILIPINO CITIZEN, OF LEGAL AGE Address: 3F 33SA GOMEGA I, P. MARTINEZ STREET, MANDALUYONG CITY

CONDOMINIUM CERTIFICATE OF Jennifer S.rdSantiago Unit 35 3 Floor City Residences, TITLE No. 008-2015002244 420 P. Martinez St., Brgy. Bagong Registry of Deeds – Silang, Mandaluyong City and 3F City of Mandaluyong 33SA Gomega I.P. Martinez St., IT IS HEREBY CERTIFIED that the Mandaluyong City unit identified and described as:

The UN Development Programme has said 14 to 17 million indigenous peoples in the Philippines are living in remote, unprivileged areas, and early child labor takes away their children’s hope of education and changes

IN BRIEF

BRAVE COP. Police Sr. Supt. Arthur V. Bisnar, acting provincial director of the Cavite Provincial Police Office, and Police Supt. Egbert B. Tibayan, officer in charge of the Trece Martires Component City Police Station, visit PO1 Jesus Alday of the Trece Martires police at the MV Santiago Medical Center and talk to his wife. Alday was stabbed by three drunk men when he responded to an incident during a Christmas party of residents of Sunshine Ville in Barangay Cabuco, Trece Martires. Benjamin Chavez

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BACOOR, Cavite—A construction worker was shot and killed by a minor wielding a “pen gun” after they argued coming from attending dawn Mass on Friday in Barangay Queens Row West here.

Vengie Buray, 19, was declared dead on arrival at Southeast Asian Medical Center after the minor—identified as “Toto,” 15 years old and a native of Las Piñas City—shot him in the chest after a heated argument as they were coming home from “Simbang Gabi,” officer on case PO1 Edilberto Reyes Jr. said.

A pen gun is an improvised pistol that can fire a single low-caliber bullet, typically a .22, and is called “sumpak” in Filipino. Made from makeshift materials, it is easily concealed and often used in rural areas.

Benjamin Chavez

Standard

TODAY

IN BRIEF Sri Lanka Catholics see red over rap COLOMBO―In a Christmas debacle, Sri Lanka’s Catholic church withdrew hymn sheets after lyrics of “Hail Mary” were mixed up with an expletive-packed version by rapper Tupac Shakur, a spokesman said Monday.

Hail Mary is a traditional Catholic prayer asking for the intervention of the blessed Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The version by Tupac, an African-American rapper who was shot dead 20 years ago and whose stage name was 2Pac, is littered with obscenities.

The incident, which came to light on Christmas Day, took place two weeks ago when several hundred copies of Tupac’s version were printed and sold at the “Joy to the World 2016 festival of music for peace and harmony” in Colombo, said Catholic church spokesman Edmund Tilakaratne.

Instead of the familiar “Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with you...” the audience was invited to sing: “...Mama told me never stop until I bust a nut. F___ the world if they can’t adjust, it’s just as well, Hail Mary.”

The embarrassing mistake was made public when several people who had bought the hymn sheets to sing at the carol service posted photographs on social media.

“It was a human error, a genuine printing mistake,” Tilakaratne told AFP. “The offending version of Hail Mary was never sung. Those who bought the souvenir (with the hymn sheets) were refunded.” AFP

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World

Manila

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

Tributes to George Michael L

ONDON―Madonna and Elton John led tributes from around the world for British pop star George Michael, who died at his home near London on Sunday aged 53.

“Farewell my Friend! Another at the passing of our dear friend Great Artist leaves us. Can 2016 George Michael. A brilliant artist Fuck Off NOW?” Madonna wrote & great songwriter.” in a post on Instagram accompaNewer pop stars also paid tribnied by a video of her presenting ute to the influential London-born Michael with an award. artist, who was planning to release Elton John also published a pic- a new album and a documentary ture of himself with Michael, say- next year. ing: “I am in deep shock. I have “Oh God no... I love you lost a beloved friend - the kindest, George... Rest in peace,” wrote most generous soul and a brilliant pop star Robbie Williams, while artist”. fellow singer Pixie Lott paid tribMichael shot to fame with the ute on Twitter to the “beautiful and 1980s band Wham! and sold over talented” Michael.

100 million albums in his career, In the United States, Recording winning two Grammies and three Academy president Neil Portnow Brit awards. said he was “deeply saddened” by Referring to him by his nick- the loss. name “Yog” (Yours Only George), “During an influential career Wham! co-star Andrew Ridgeley that spanned nearly four decades, said he was “heartbroken” by Mi- George became one of the most chael’s death. beloved pop craftsmen and reMany reactions referred to the spected entertainers,” said Portspate of music world deaths in now, whose organization awards 2016, starting with David Bowie the Grammies. in January.

“From the enormous success he Singers Prince and Leonard Co- achieved with pop duo Wham! to his hen also died this year and Status influential solo career, his extraordiQuo guitarist Rick Parfitt passed nary talent had a profound impact away on Saturday in a Spanish on countless entertainers worldwide, hospital. and his creative contributions will “2016 - loss of another talented live on forever,” he said. soul. All our love and sympathy Canadian musician Bryan Adto George Michael’s family,” the ams tweeted: “I can’t believe it. band Duran Duran, who were Such an incredible singer and a 1980s contemporaries of Wham!, lovely human being, far too young said on their official Twitter ac- to leave us.” count.

US singer La Toya Jackson Spandau Ballet, a British band wrote: “You have given the world which formed in the late 1970s, an amazing gift! What a talent! wrote: CYAN “We are incrediblyYELLOW sad What a loss!”. AFP MAGENTA BLACK

16 killed in Mexico during the holidays ACAPULCO―Sixteen people were killed during Christmas holiday celebrations in Mexico’s main drug-trafficking states and six human heads were found in one location, officials said.

A gang slaughtered seven people -- including three police officers -- at a family celebration in the violent southern state of Guerrero, police told AFP. The massacre occurred early Christmas Day outside a house in the village of Puente del Rey, where the gunmen shot dead the six men and one woman, aged 24 to 54.

Those killed were three brothers, their father, their uncle, and a man and a woman who had been invited to the home.

Three of the victims were police officers, a regional security ministry official said.

In Chihuahua -- which borders the United States and has, like Guerrero, endured brutal drug-related violence -- nine people were killed during Christmas celebrations, authorities said.

Five of them died in Ciudad Juarez, including three women who were first tortured and a man whose dismembered remains were found in an abandoned trunk.

In the western state of Michoacan six human heads were found, according to the local prosecutor’s office.

Authorities have not identified the remains, which have been transferred to a forensic office for analysis.

The heads were found near the border with Jalisco, where the powerful Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel operates. AFP

Defense chief threatens to nuke Israel ISLAMABAD―Pakistan’s defense minister has threatened to retaliate in kind to any Israeli nuclear strike after apparently being tricked by a fake news site into a confrontation on social media.

Khawaja Asif was responding to an invented story published on the website AWDNews and headlined: “Israeli Defense Minister: If Pakistan send ground troops into Syria on any pretext, we will destroy this country with a nuclear attack.”

“Israeli def min threatens nuclear retaliation presuming pak role in Syria against Daesh [Islamic State].Israel forgets Pakistan is a Nuclear state too” the Pakistani minister tweeted Friday.

His missive prompted a clarification from Israel’s Ministry of Defense, which responded to him on Saturday: “@KhawajaMAsif The statement attributed to fmr Def Min Yaalon re Pakistan was never said,” adding: “KhawajaMAsif reports referred to by the Pakistani Def Min are entirely false”. AFP

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Republic of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT National Capital Judicial Region Branch 99, Quezon City, Metro Manila

20. Although angry and frustrated, Petitioner strived to compose himself and inquired of his discovery with the Respondent. As expected, Respondent denied having any extra-marital affair.

GENER N. ROYO , Petitioner, - versus CIVIL CASE No. R-QZN-16-04052-CV For: Declaration of Nullity of Marriage

GOODBYE. This file photo taken on October 28, 1993, in London shows British pop superstar George

Michael leaving the high court after his first day on the witness stand during his attempt to break from his record company Sony. George Michael, who rose to fame with the band Wham! and sold more than 100 million albums in his career, has died aged 53, his publicist said on December 25, 2016. AFP

Envoy called in fallout over vote JERUSALEM―Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu summoned US Ambassador Daniel Shapiro Sunday two days after Washington abstained in a vote on a UN resolution against Israeli settlements.

Their meeting came after Israel earlier Sunday called in 10 representatives of 14 other states that voted for the resolution.

An official Israeli source confirmed only that Netanyahu and Shapiro had met, without elaborating on the content or outcome of their discussions.

The UN Security Council passed the measure Friday after the United States abstained, enabling the adoption of the first resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy.

The resolution demands that “Israel immediately and completely cease all settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem”.

It says settlements have “no legal validity” and are “dangerously imperiling the viability of the twostate solution.”

Netanyahu, who also holds the foreign ministry portfolio, had rejected the resolution as a “shameful blow against Israel”.

On Sunday, he repeated Israel’s claim that US President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were behind it.

“We have no doubt that the Obama administration initiated it, stood behind it, coordinated the drafts and demanded to pass it,” the premier said at the beginning of the weekly cabinet meeting. AFP

Republic of the Philippines DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES

National Capital Region DENR-NCR Building, National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City REGIONAL BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF MOTOR VEHICLES FOR CY 2017 The DENR-NCR, through the GAA-CY 20171 intends to apply the sum of TWO MILLION PESOS (PhP2,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for “Procurement of Motor Vehicles for CY 2017”. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The DENR-NCR now invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, authorized franchised dealers to submit Letter of Intent (LOI) and to Bid for the following project, to wit: Purchase Request (PR) No.

Quantity

Description

2016-735

Two (2) units

VEHICLE SPECIFICATION: • Overall (L x W x H) • 4,735 x 1,839 x 1,795 • Wheelbase – 2,750 ENGINE TYPE • 2.0 Liter diesel, 4 cylinder, in-line valve • Double Overhead, Camshaft • Engine Displacement – 1,998 • Minimum Torque – 136/5,600 • Maximum Torque – 183/4,000 • Transmission – 5 Speed MT

Approved Budget for the Contract (PhP) PhP2,000,000.00

Delivery of the Goods is required as indicated in the Bid Data Sheet of the Bidding Documents.

Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the project in the last five (5) years. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedure using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

Interested bidders must submit their Letter of Intent from December 27, 2016 to January 10, 2017 and may obtain further information from and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 -5:00 P.M. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on December 27, 2016 to January 20, 2017 from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00).

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 nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

The DENR-NCR will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on January 10, 2017, 2:00 o’ clock in the afternoon, at the Conference Room, 4th Flr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City which shall be open to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before of 10:00 a.m. of January 23, 2017.

All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the Bidding Documents.

Office of the Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee 2nd Floor, DENR-NCR Building National Ecology Center East Avenue, Quezon City Bid opening shall be at 10:30 a.m. on January 23, 2017 at the Conference Room, 4th Flr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City. 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.

Conference Room, 4th Flr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City The DENR-NCR reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariat Procurement Section, 3rd Flr, DENR-NCR Bldg.

National Ecology Center East Avenue, Quezon City Tel. 3740091 December 21, 2016.

(SGD) DIR. SOFIO B. QUINTANA, Ph.D, CESO IV. Assistant Regional Director for Technical Services and Chairman, Regional Bids and Awards Committee Office of the Assistant Regional Director, Technical Services DENR-NCR Building, National Ecology Center Compound, East Avenue, Quezon City 1.

In the case of National Government Agencies, the General Appropriations Act and/or continuing appropriations; in the case of GOCCs, GFIs, and SUCs, the Corporate Budget for the contract approved by the governing Boards; in the case of (LGUs, the Budget for the contract approved by the respective Sanggunian.

(Section 5(a), R.A. 9184) (MS-DCE. 27, 2016)

19. On December 27, 2011, Petitioner became anxious and worried since Respondent did not come home that day. The following day, Petitioner was able to see a sweet conversation on Respondent’s cell phone and a picture of a guy in her possession.

NICOLE R. ROYO, Respondent. x----------------------------------x

21. Since Petitioner could not contain and accept such infidelity, he went to his mother the following day to cool down his head.

22. In December 29 of the same year, Petitioner calmly asked the Respondent to patch things between them for their daughter and marriage’s sake.

23. However, Respondent was nonchalant and belligerent, reiterating that she was no longer happy being with him anymore.

SUMMONS (by Publication)

24. Despite Respondent’s treatment to him, Petitioner was still hopeful to save their marriage and gave Respondent several times to clear her mind and also to realize the sacredness of their marriage.

NICOLE R. ROYO Rowena’s Garden, Dolores, Taytay, Rizal

25. But, Respondent was still unyielding and stick to her former decision because she was not happy with the Petitioner anymore.

TO:

GREETINGS: WHEREAS, on May 18, 2016, this Court issued Summons in the above-entitled case, but was returned unserved on July 24, 12, 2016; WHEREAS, on September 26, 2016, this Court issued an Order for the issuance of Summons by Publication upon respondent NICOLE R. ROYO whose last known address is at Rowena’s Garden, Dolores, Taytay, Rizal; WHEREAS, a Petition for Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Marriage which, as stated in the Certificate of Marriage, was solemnized on February 10, 2010 at Taytay, Rizal, has been commenced by petitioner against respondent, full text of which is heretofore quoted as follows:

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION QUEZON CITY BRANCH 99 GENER N. ROYO Petitioner, versus Civil Case No. R-QZN-16-04-052CV For: Declaration of Nullity of Marriage NICOLE R. ROYO, Respondent. x-------------------------------x Petition Petitioner, by counsel, respectfully states that: Parties 1. He is a Filipino, of legal age, married but separated, with postal address at #26 P. DeLa Cruz Street, Sitio Gitna, Nagkakaisang Nayon, Novaliches, Quezon City.

He may be served with orders and other processes of this Honorable Court through his undernamed counsel Real Brotarlo & Real Law Offices located at 4th Floor, Cityland 10 Tower 1, 156 HV de la Costa Street, Ayala Avenue North, Makati City.

2. Respondent is likewise a Filipino, of legal age, with postal address at Rowena’s Garden, Dolores, Taytay, Rizal, where she may be served with summons and other processes of this Honorable Court.

Statement of Relevant Facts

26. On January 13, 2012, Respondent finally admitted, in front of the Barangay Officials, that she indeed had a relationship with another guy, but, they already called it a day.

27. Despite the infidelity committed by Respondent to Petitioner, Petitioner still pursued Respondent for possible reconciliation but failed to win her back.

28. Thus, on February 6, 2012, Petitioner flew to Dubai, UAE to work. His mother and the Respondent were taking turns in taking care of their child.

29. But Petitioner’s mother noticed that the parties’ daughter was not being well taken care of by the Respondent. There were even instances that when his daughter would come to his mother, the latter would have a lot of physical complains and obvious weight lost.

30. A year after, Petitioner learned that Respondent conceived a baby with certain Patrick Banez.

31. Petitioner found out later that this guy was the same guy who was Respondent’s paramour whom she claimed then that she already broke up.

32. To address his concerns on the matter, Petitioner consulted and engaged the services of Ms. Nedy L. Tayag, a Clinical Psychologist.

33. Ms. Nedy L. Tayag then came up with a Psychological Report based on her series of examinations and interviews, and found out that Respondent is psychologically incapacitated to comply with the essential obligations of marriage since she found to be suffering from personality disorder known as Antisocial Personality Disorder, which is grave, incurable and has been existing even before the parties’ marriage.

34. In view of the parties’ irreconcilable differences and psychological incapacity of the Respondent, it is clear that the parties’ void marriage exists in name only. Hence, the declaration of nullity of said marriage in accordance with Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines is in order.

35. The parties do not have any conjugal assets during their marriage.

RELIEF WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that judgment be rendered: (i) Declaring the marriage of Petitioner Gener N. Royo and Respondent Nicole R. Royo on February 10, 2010 in Taytay, Rizal as null and void and of no force and effect pursuant to Article 36 of the Family Code of the Philippines; and (ii) Ordering that the marriage of the parties as appearing in the Book of Entries of Marriage of the Local Civil Registrar of Taytay, Rizal and the National Statistics Office be cancelled forthwith.

3. Petitioner met the Respondent sometime in July 2008 at Bayantel Main Building where Petitioner worked as Maintenance Operator while Respondent worked as a cashier in the canteen.

4. Subsequently thereafter, the parties exchanged their phone numbers and Petitioner started to communicate with Respondent.

5. Eventually, Petitioner courted Respondent and after wooing her for several months, Respondent accepted Petitioner to be her sweetheart.

6. As boyfriend and girlfriend, parties got involved in various sexual trysts.

7. Until sometime in December of 2009 when the parties discovered of Respondent’s pregnancy.

Other equitable reliefs are likewise prayed for.

Makati City for Quezon City, February 26, 2016.

REAL BROTARLO & REAL

Law Offices Counsel for Petitioner 4th Floor Cityland 10 Tower I, and 10th Floor Cityland 10 Tower II 156 H.V. Dela Costa Street, Ayala Avenue North Makati City, Philippines Tel. Nos. 893-33-99; 753-1374; Telefax No. 893-3399 Website: www.rbrfirm.com; Email add : rbrlawfirm@gmail.com

By: EMMANUEL S. BROTARLO

8. Thus, Petitioner talked to Respondent’s parents about Respondent’s pregnancy and as such, they wanted the parties to get married as soon as possible.

Roll of Attorneys No. 42282 MCLE Compliance No. V-0007060-03-31-2015 PTR No. MKT5329104; 01-06-16; Makati City IBP No. 1018392; 01-06-16; Iloilo City

9. Although perplexed and confused, Petitioner acceded to the Respondent parents’ directive to have them married. Hence, on February 10, 2010, the parties exchanged their I Do’s in a mass wedding held in Taytay, Rizal.

SHERWIN G. REAL Roll of Attorneys No. 46964 MCLE Compliance No. V-0007032-03-31-2015 PTR No. MKT5329103; 01-06-16; Makati City IBP No. 1018392; 01-06-16; City of Manila

A copy of the parties’ Marriage Contract is attached as Annex “A”.

10. After their wedding, the parties initially cohabited at the parents of the Petitioners’ house.

11 . After a month of staying at the house of the Petitioner’s parents, the parties moved to an apartment near their working place.

12. On April 2, 2010, parties were blessed with a child whom they named Nicologene R. Royo.

A copy of Nicologene R. Royo’s Certificate of Live Birth is attached as Annex “B”.

13. Petitioner eventually noticed that Respondent tends to spend the whole day without doing anything like a traditional doted mother who would usually do household chores wholeheartedly.

14. Instead, Respondent would prefer to sit in front of the television and left their baby unattended. It was Petitioner who most of the time took care of their child.

15. In fact, in many instances, Respondent would even turn her back on the child even as it threw tantrums just to draw her attention.

16. Along with this, Respondent became fond of going out with her friends and would usually come home in the wee hours of morning.

17. Sometime in August 2011, the parties had a food cart in Divisoria, Manila. But few months after, they were compelled to stop the business since Respondent couldn’t get along with the co-vendors around the area.

NOW THEREFORE, YOU ARE HEREBY REQUIRED within THIRTY (30) DAYS from the last issue of publication to ANSWER the Petition and to copy furnish the Petitioner with a copy of your Answer within the same period.

You are reminded of IBP-OCA Memorandum on Policy Guidelines dated March 12, 2002 to observe restraint in filing a motion to dismiss and instead allege the grounds thereof as defenses in the Answer. If you fail to Answer within the time fixed, the Court shall order the Public Prosecutor to investigate whether collusion exists, in accordance with Section 8(3) of A. M. No. 02-11-10-SC (Rule on Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages).

The Respondent in an action for Annulment of Marriage, Declaration of Nullity and Legal Separation must strictly observe the above-prescribed period to file Answer.

WHEREFORE, let this summons be published once a week for two (2) consecutive weeks, in a newspaper of general Circulation to be selected by raffle pursuant to P.O. 1079 at the expense of the petitioner. Likewise, let a copy of the summons be sent by registered mail to the respondent at her last known address, also at the expense of petitioner and to submit to this Court proof of compliance therewith.

WITNESS THE HON. MA. RITA A. BASCOS SARABIA, Presiding Judge of this Court, this 8th day of November, 2016.

18. About the same time, the parties were also forced by their landlord to leave the apartment they were renting due to an altercation with the Respondent.

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(Sgd.) VIOLETA C. BAUTISTA Officer-In-Charge (MS-Dec. 20 & 27, 2016)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

Tsunami marked with prayers

World

Tweet: Carrie Fisher ‘stable’ LOS ANGELES―”Star Wars” actress Carrie Fisher is in a “stable condition” following her heart attack, her mother, actress Debbie Reynolds, tweeted Sunday in a Christmas Day message.

“Carrie is in a stable condition. If there is a change, we will share it,” Reynolds said on Twitter.

“For all her fans & friends.

I thank you for your prayers & good wishes.”

Fisher, 60, is in a Los Angeles hospital after suffering a massive heart attack near the end of a flight from London on Friday.

Her brother, Todd Fisher, said late Friday that the actress was on a ventilator in an intensive care unit.

Reynolds’s message suggested her daughter’s condition might have improved a bit since then.

There was no update from the UCLA Medical Center.

Fisher was catapulted to worldwide stardom as the rebel warrior Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, which has been a cultural phenomenon since the release of the films from 1977 to 1983.

Mark Hamill, the actor who played her brother Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” movies, posted a tweet Sunday with the hashtag #CarrieChristmas, along with photos of him and Fisher. Text on one of the photos read: “Dear Santa -- all I want for X-mas is for the Force to be strong with this one.”

Other “Star Wars” cast and crew have also sent their wishes for a speedy recovery. AFP

54,000 Germans forced out by bomb BERLIN―An unexploded British bomb from World War Two forced 54,000 people out of their homes in Germany on Christmas Day, the country’s biggest such evacuation since the end of hostilities.

The huge operation on Sunday in the southern city of Augsburg took 11 hours, involved 900 police officers and it ended successfully around 1800 GMT, local authorities announced.

The 1.8-ton explosive was found on Tuesday during work at a construction site in the Bavarian city, but authorities waited until Sunday to coordinate the logistics necessary to make it safe.

More than 70 years after the end of the war, unexploded bombs are regularly found buried on German land, legacies of the intense bombing campaigns by the Allied forces against Nazi Germany.

Augsburg, the third-largest city in Bavaria, was targeted several times during the war.

A 1,500-meter exclusion zone was created for the operation in case the bomb exploded while engineers were trying to deactivate it and sandbags were set up all around.

Two experts defused the explosive, which was described as a “mega bomb” according to police spokesman Manfred Gottschalk cited by DPA news agency.

Police checked house by house to ensure they were clear of residents before giving the go ahead.

The effort to defuse the bomb only started around 1400 GMT due to a larger than expected number of bedridden or disabled people that had to be removed from the area, said Augsburg mayor Kurt Gribl. AFP

IN MOURNING. This picture shows the flag of Moscow with black ribbons attached in Moscow on December 26, 2016, as Russia observes a national day of mourning a day after a military plane carrying 92 people, including dozens of members of the Red Army Choir, crashed in the Black Sea. The Russian defense ministry told agencies there was no sign of any survivors at the crash site and that 10 bodies had been recovered off the coast of the resort city of Sochi as the authorities pledged to dispatch an additional 100 divers to aid in the search for the rest of the passengers. AFP

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia―Thousands of Indonesians prayed for their loved ones at mass graves and mosques Monday to mark a tsunami that devastated Aceh province 12 years ago today, one of the worst natural disasters in human history.

Some 170,000 lives were lost in the country when a 9.1-magnitude “megathrust” quake struck Aceh, a predominantly Muslim province in the northern tip of Sumatra island, bringing about massive waves that also hit coastal areas as far away as Somalia.

It killed about 50,000 people in other countries around the Indian Ocean, bringing the total fatalities to approximately 220,000.

“I came here every year to pray for my children, daughter-in-law, and their three children,” Maryam, who goes by one name, told AFP, at the Ulee Lheue mass grave, where 14,800 people were buried.

The bodies of her family were never found but 65-year-old Maryam, who survived by holding on to a tree trunk, was certain her family were buried in the mass grave as they lived in the vicinity at the time of the tsunami.

Graves across the province, including in Siron in Aceh Besar district where more than 46,000 were buried, were crowded with people who scattered flowers on the earth where they believe the remains of their loved ones lie to rest.

Survivors then gathered at a mass prayer in Ulee Lheue mosque, one of the few sea-front mosques still standing in the region after the tsunami.

Fishermen refrained from fishing in remembrance of their relatives who lost their lives.

The commemoration was not meant to open old wounds but served as reminder to be prepared for other disasters in the future, acting Aceh governor Soedarmo told the mosque attendance.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where the meeting of continental plates causes strong seismic activity, and is frequently hit by earthquakes.

The tsunami anniversary comes just weeks after a strong 6.5-magnitude shallow quake struck inland in Pidie Jaya, a district in Aceh, killing more than 100 people, leveling hundreds of buildings and displacing nearly 84,000 people. AFP

Freezing migrants brought in K ORMEND, Hungary―”Save us before we die from the cold,” read the email in Father Zoltan Nemeth’s in box. It was an appeal that this Hungarian priest could not ignore The SOS was sent by an asylum-seeker, one of 14 relocated from a refugee camp earmarked for closure near Budapest to what they say are freezing military tents in Kormend close to the Austrian border.

Nemeth, the Catholic parish priest in Kormend, a town of around 12,000 souls some 230 kilometers west of Budapest, quickly offered them shelter in the parish community hall.

“I’m not a hero, it was simply my duty as a committed Christian to help,” the bespectacled and portly 61-year-old told AFP in the parish house next door where he lives.

But Nemeth calls his stance a “lonely” one in a country led by the fiercely anti-migrant Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

In 2015 Orban built fences on Hungary’s borders to keep out migrants, and changed laws enabling the expulsion and jailing of “illegal border crossers”.

Refugee camps are being closed while a government referendum in October urged Hungarians to vote “No” to the EU’s plan to relocate migrants around the bloc. The ballot however was declared invalid because of low voter turnout.

“Hungary doesn’t need a single migrant,” Orban has said, warning that the “poison” of mass migration will destroy Europe’s Christian identity.

According to Nemeth, however, Orban’s referendum campaign, with nationwide billboard posters that linked migrants to terrorism and crime, had an “antiGospel message”.

“I follow Jesus, not the state’s leaders,” he told AFP, citing a passage from the Bible: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat... I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

The priest says his inspiration is Pope Francis who has regularly defended migrants and called on Europe to keep its doors open to those in need.

Upstairs in the parish hall, priest vestments hang on racks at one end, while mattresses and rucksacks line the walls.

Greeted with bear hugs when he goes upstairs to chat to the asylum-seekers, Nemeth says a three-year period in South America as a missionary taught him to “disregard religion, race, or class, and only see the person”.

The group of young men, all awaiting decisions on appeals of rejected asylum claims, is comprised of Iraqi Kurds, Afghans, Cameroonians, Nigerians, Cubans and a Congolese. They include both Christians and Muslims.

But Hungarian Catholic Church leaders have remained silent so far about his gesture, with only two priests nationwide backing him, neither publically, says Nemeth.

During the peak of the migrant crisis last September when thousands were entering through the country each day, Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo even said hosting migrants could legally amount to “human-trafficking”.

In Kormend some parishioners have accused Nemeth of being “non-Christian” or “anti-Hungarian”. AFP

MASS WEDDING. A Christian bride to be, Daxa is helped by her friend to adjust her dress at a mass wedding of 236 fatherless girls organized by the charitable PP Savani Group in Surat, some 270 km from Ahmedabad, on December 25, 2016. Out of 236 fatherless girls married in the mass wedding event, five were from the Muslim community and one Christian, with the majority being Hindus. AFP

Hallucinogenic plant gains a foothold in US LOS ANGELES―Dominique was hooked on cocaine and smoked two packs of cigarettes a day until she stumbled onto ayahuasca, a hallucinogenic concoction that she says has changed her life.

The French-American woman, who lives in Los Angeles and did not want her real name used, is among thousands of people across the United States who are increasingly turning to the powerful psy-

chedelic brew from the Amazon to overcome addiction, depression or psychological trauma.

The potion, prepared and consumed as part of a shamanic ritual, is especially gaining a following in Hollywood and Silicon Valley.

Thousands are flocking to sample the elixir and swear by its therapeutic properties, despite warnings from scientists and users that ayahuasca can be dangerous and even prove fatal, especially when

mixed with other drugs.

Ayahuasca’s proponents, who include celebrities such as Sting, Paul Simon, Tori Amos and Lindsey Lohan, say the plant offers a spiritual experience like no other.

Many also say it has allowed them to overcome traumas that no other conventional therapy can tackle.

“There’s been this misconception that it’s the hippies that come with feathers in their hair, but it’s pretty much the opposite,” says

Jeff, who organizes ayahuasca ceremonies in the Los Angeles area and who did not want his real name used.

“In a time defined by consumerism and entertainment, people want to have strong experiences, one might consider spiritual experiences, something sacred.”

According to Dennis McKenna, assistant professor at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing, some 100

clandestine ayahuasca ceremonies are held nightly in New York and other cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco.

McKenna said it is difficult to get a firm count on the number of ceremonies held across the country as ayahuasca contains the hallucinogenic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which is illegal in the United States and is in the same category as Ecstasy and heroin. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

CULTURE & MEDIA

From left: Grace Halcon, Carmen Teves-Lhuillier, Jessica Armas, Richard Bert and Amy Hitchins

T

HERE’S a certain charm that comes with owning items that tell stories of years past. Especially so if said items once belonged to families and individuals who once wielded power and influence in Europe.

“This is something that more collectors are realizing,” says Angelique Lhuillier, owner of Casa de Memoria, an auction house in Brgy. Bel-Air. “Beautiful old things that hold memories— there’s something very special about them. It’s like owning a piece of history.”

Lhuillier’s conclusion came following Casa de Memoria’s recently held fourth auction, where a great majority of the lots sold once belonged to prominent European families. According to her, more than anything, it confirmed her belief that there is a market for European heirlooms in the country.

Among the lots sold were a vintage Chesterfield seat, a Russian malachite perfume burner set, an Underwood typewriter, a Haviland Limoges porcelain service set, a 100-year-old Vista Alegre crystal service set from Portu-

gal, and an 18-karat gold Italian charm bracelet whose provenance dates back to the early 20th century. The said bracelet’s charms carry the form of Kingdom of Italy’s crown emblem, as well as oval figures with filigree embellishments.

“After our fourth auction, what we realized is that there are local collectors who find European antiquities and heirlooms so interesting that they keep coming back to purchase items—across different art disciplines—with special historical significance,” Lhuillier adds.

Casa de Memoria is located at the corner of Jupiter and Comet St. in BelAir, Makati.

Growing interest

for EUROPEAN

high society’s heirlooms Samuel Powell

For more information, you may visit CasaDeMemoria.com or @CasaDeMemoria on Instagram and @TheCasaDeMemoria on Facebook.

Clinton Campos Hess, Jacqueline Lhuillier Hess and Jocelyn Campos Hess

Samuel Powell, Jacqueline Lhuillier Hess and Clinton Campos Hess

Ambassador Philippe Jones Lhuillier and Andre Lhuillier

Jacqueline Lhuillier Hess, Ferdi Salvador and Allana Montelibano

From left: Allana Montelibano, Jenny Yrasuegui, Beatriz Lucero Lhuillier, Nicole Whisenhunt and Reagan Ang

Musical joy at CCP IT WAS an evening of musical joy and exuberance at the Cultural Center of the Philippines when two Italian maestros pianist Fermo Roscigno and conductor Ruggero Barbieri teamed up with the acclaimed Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra (PPO) to pay homage to the music of Italian composer Muzio Clementi and Philippine conductor/ composer Redentor Romero.

The concert was presented jointly by the CCP, Philippine-Italian Association and Rustan’s under the auspices of the Embassy of Italy to the Philippines to showcase the cultural aspect of bi-lateral relations between the Philippines and Italy.

A highlight of the evening was Maestro Roscigno’s rendering of Clementi’s Concerto in C Major for Piano and Orchestra (Cadenzas by Fermo Roscigno) which had its premiere in South East Asia that night, and was performed on a Fazioli, the newly acquired piano of the CCP and the first of its kind in the Philippines.

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Incidentally, the Fazioli is now considered by many musicians to be the finest piano of today.

The elder brother of Italian Ambassador to the Philippines Massimo Roscigno (giving the occasion a neat local touch), Maestro Roscigno studied piano under the tutelage of Maestro Vincenzo Vitale at the Conservatorio di Musica di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

He also attended the Specialist Courses in Italian Music in Venice. His many performances have taken him to numerous concerts halls around the world. Under the baton of its former musical director Maestro Barbieri, the PPO—fresh from its hugely successful and much acclaimed concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall—was at its musical best, with its tonal quality and brilliance proving why it is the premier orchestra in the country.

Providing generous support to make the evening possible as major sponsor was Calata Corporation and The Peninsula Manila as the official hotel.

Agnes Roscigno, Nedy Tantoco, Maestro Fermo Roscigno and Maestro Ruggero Barbieri

Maestro Ruggero Barbieri leads the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra

Maritess Tantoco-Enriquez with H. E. Ambassador Amanda Gorely of Australia and husband Mr. Stuart Hodge

From left: Dani Aliaga, Bernice Palanca-Go, Anton Barretto, Atty. Fely Arroyo and Joker Arroyo

Florence Ko, Nedy Tantoco and H. E. Ambassador Massimo Roscigno of Italy

Life

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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016 isahred@gmail.com

Bang & Olufsen’s B&O Play range of audio devices such as Beoplay H7 and Beoplay A2 Active, among others are now available in the Philippines, four years since its release

MEDIA

Top 7 picks from the new

B&O PLAY COLLECTION

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ITH a legacy that dates back nearly a century, it’s easy to understand why a lot of audiophiles consider Bang and Olufsen as the standard in sound quality and timeless design.

Firmly grounded in its 90-year heritage, Bang & Olufsen heritage has set the bar so high that the ultimate test for their sound engineers is “goosebumps.”

The brand has this saying “B&O don’t just make headphones. We don’t just design speakers. We’re not simply in the business of electronics. We’re in the business of goosebumps. That’s where our design department is graded, and how our craftsmanship is measured…

Life made a little more colorful, to fully live up to the magic of music.”

In 2012, the iconic Danish brand introduced B&O Play, a new brand designed for the digital generation that seeks to make Bang and Olufsen more accessible to those looking for premium audio devices.

After almost four years, the B&O Play brand finally arrives in the country and finds a home at the Bo Concept Store in Bonifacio Global City. The partnership highlights both brands’ tradition and history for the ultimate in Scandinavian design movement. Bo Concept’s energy, modernity and great love for design inspires to work with limited space—quintessential to the intuitive luxury of B&O Play.

“We are very excited to introduce our latest products to the Philippine market.

The B&O Play brand is for customers who want an ultra-convenient experience— combining superior sound and acoustics performance in a beautifully designed device that deliver a more sophisticated listening experience,” Anthony Kierulf of Beoplay Philippines told Manila Standard at the recent media launch.

“While more people are now consuming digital content everywhere, the quality of the listening experience has somewhat eroded. Since it launched, B&O Play has afforded music lovers the opportunity to experience content in a convenient way while maintaining a level of outstanding quality,” Kierulf added.

Here are our 7 top picks from the newly launched B&O Play collection: BEOPLAY A1: This ultra-portable Bluetooth speaker is perfect for those who travel a lot and want to share music with friends.

It’s amazingly small yet powerful enough to get everyone grooving. Beoplay A1 boasts of ambient True 360 sound: so the

sound dispersion is great wherever you put it so you don’t have to huddle round it to enjoy your music.

BEOPLAY A2 ACTIVE: The A2 Active is the tougher brother of the A2 and is built to withstand the ruggedness of everyday life being both dust proof and splash resistant. This Bluetooth speaker weighs only 1.1 kg, and silences the competition with its True360 sound feature. This sound technology lets everyone enjoy equally good sound no matter where they are placed.

BEOPLAY A6: Got a lot of year-end bonuses remaining? You might want to check out this spectacular one-point music system. Not only does it look awesome it is also engineered to impress you with extraordinary sound.

The A6 easily connects over WiFi, AirPlay, Google Cast, DLNA or Bluetooth 4.0 and you will be playing your music in a matter of seconds. The Beoplay A6 also features the BeoLink Multiroom technology that unites your B&O PLAY and Bang & Olufsen products into one wireless system. You can play different music in different rooms—or let one song play on all your speakers throughout the home.

The BEOLIT 15 is one of those legendary B&O models (the first Beolits were introduced in the 1930s). The Beolit 15 easily lives up to its predecessors packing the best of modern technology with acclaimed acoustics, premium materials and the trademark clean Scandinavian design. Designed by award-winning Danish designer Cecilie Manz, the Beolit 15 is powerful portable Bluetooth speaker housed in sleek anodised aluminum and full grain leather.

BEOPLAY H5: Got an iPhone 7?

Then the Beoplay H5 may just be the wireless earphones you need. The Beoplay H5 give you an immersive listening experience from the daily commute to the evening run. Download the Beoplay App, choose one of the preset profiles, such as working out, commuting or relaxing, and the Beoplay H5 seamlessly delivers the best-inclass sound experience whatever you are doing. It’s even possible to customBeoplay A1

Bang Olufsen Beoplay distributor Tenkie Box Partners Jay Tengco, Anthony Kierulf and Jaycee Dee

Beoplay H3 Natural

Beoplay A6 Dark Rose Beoplay A6 Special Edition

Beoplay H5

Beoplay A2

ize your own presets on your iPhone and quickly access them from your Apple Watch when you’re on the move.

BEOPLAY H7: With an authentic, clear sound performance, the Beoplay H7 is all about the Bang & Olufsen Signature Sound. That means an authentic and perfectly well-balanced sound with a wide sound stage. It has been finetuned to bring you sound that stays true to the music, no matter if you use it with or without the cord. Beoplay H7 also

iPHOTO

Architect Carmelo Casas 2016 Total awardee ARCHITECT CARMELO T. CASAS (fourth from left), BS Architecture Class ‘76 alumnus of the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), is 2016 TOTAL awardee in the field of Architecture. The Outstanding Thomasian Alumni (TOTAL) award is the highest honor bestowed by the University upon Thomasian alumni, in recognition of their significant and exemplary contribution to society and the Church.

Casas is the president of Casas + Architects, Inc., a leading architectural firm in the country today.

From left: Arch. Edgar V. Reformado, BS Architecture 1957, Awardee; Engr.

Frederick C. Parayno, President, UST Alumni Association, Inc.; Dr. Robert C. Sy, Chairman, UST Alumni Association, Inc.; Arch. Carmelo T. Casas; Very Rev. Fr. Herminio V. Dagohoy, O.P. – Rector, University of Santo Tomas and Very Rev. Fr. Napoleon Sipalay, Jr., O.P. – Vice Chancellor, University of Santo Tomas during the awarding event held on Nov. 18 at UST.

utilizes an advanced battery technology that can last up to 20 hours of wireless playtime. The battery can be swapped in a snap or charged via USB and if it does run out of power, simply plug in the cord to keep enjoying your music.

BEOPLAY H8: Even the slightest touch puts you in full control of Beoplay H8. Use the touch interface to answer a call, change song or adjust the volume.

The Beoplay H8 looks, sounds and feels exquisite with its lambskin-clad mem-

Beolit 15

ory foam that gently rests on your ears making it possibly the most comfortable headphones you’ve ever worn. The Beoplay H8 is not only the most advanced headphones made by B&O play, it is also but simply, the best.

Most products will be available at Bo Concept Showroom BGC, and the full line of the B&O PLAY Collection at URGE Greenbelt, URGE Greenhills and Mobile1 Rockwell starting this month.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ AT TOY KINGDOM

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HE force is with us again as Star Wars fans and enthusiasts gathered together for Disney Philippines and Toy Kingdom’s muchanticipated Star Wars Rogue One toy launch at SM Megamall.

Apart from showcasing the latest toys inspired by Rogue One: A Star Wars Story movie, the launch also featured a visit from the film’s characters. These included the 501st Legion storm troopers and Darth Vader, whom fans had the rare opportunity to meet and greet, and even have their photos taken with them.

Toys, of course were tops, as brand new Rogue One merchandise were revealed - epic light sabers, the coolest droids, new character figures, classic Star Wars Rogue One Team: Toy Kingdom SAVP Bernie Ma Mon Luk- Chua and AVP Pearl Datiles with Walt Disney Philippines Retail troopers, battle vehicles and a lot more Manager Randy Reyes

amazing Star Wars stuff that take us to a universe far, far away.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story from Lucasfilm is the first of the Star Wars standalone films that tells an all-new epic adventure. Set in the Star Wars universe sometime after the events of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and shortly before the events of the original Star Wars, the story revolves around a group of unlikely heroes destined together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire’s ultimate weapon of destruction. This event leads to bringing ordinary people who choose to do extraordinary things, and who become part of something greater than them.

Bring on the force with you and head over to Toy Kingdom – SM Megamall, SM North Edsa, SM Mall of Asia, SM Makati, or SM Aura branches for the latest Star Wars Rogue One merchandise.

Also visit www.toykingdom.ph; ToyKingdomPH at Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

‘Vince & Kath & James’ still in the running “Contrary to rumors, Star Cinema is not withdrawing its entry Vince & Kath & James from the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival,” said the official statement released by the no.1 film outfit in the country.

This sheds light to rumors that circulated days before the MMFF opening that Star Cinema executives did not agree to the proposed 30 percent discount to be given to PWDs, students and the elderly.

MMDA and the MMFF Committee executives are bent on doing every resort to make sure the festival will be a success. They reportedly talked not only to the producers, the theater owners, media and some government agencies, like the Department of Education and Department of Tourism to get involved in making this year’s festival a big celebration.

Almost everybody agreed to the additional discount proposal but not Star Cinema according to the rumor.

But then again, Star Cinema, the only major film outfit with an official entry denied and linked the rumor to those that may want added exposure and free publicity.

“Anything for publicity is possible. We are exerting every effort to promote our movie for a larger audience, so why pull it out from the filmfest?,” an insider told us.

Vince & Kath & James stars Julia Barretto, Joshua Garcia, and Ronnie Alonte and directed

by Ted Boborol. It is expected to be among the top three entries in both the tills and awards (Die Beautiful and Babae sa Septic Tank 2 are the other two).

It has been graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board (CEB) which allows them to enjoy an additional 15 tax rebate.

“Rest assured that we are committed to provide the best in entertainment to the Filipino family this Christmas Season,” adds the official

statement released. ****** Speaking of tentries and their ‘grades’ after being evaluated by the CEB, only Kabisera with Nora Aunor failed to get quite a good mark.

You know, moviegoers are also attracted to films with “honor” (err.. promo blitz) because that guarantees the film is of the good quality.

Five entries got an “A” rating – Vince & Kath & James, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2, Die Beautiful, Saving Sally, and Sunday Beauty Queen.

Two entries got a “B” grade – Oro and Seklusyon.

Only Nora Aunor’s entry was not given a remarkable grade, which makes us wonder why.

For sure, this will make the Noranians sad and Ate Guy sadder, so why not troop to the cinema houses and find out? ****** Well, for sure Christmas was more enjoyable and memorable to showbiz couples that made the headlines recently.

For one, there was the Anne Curtis-Erwan Heussaff pair that brought giggles to many after their reported engagement.

There was even a video with social media netizens enjoyed watching.

And from what we’ve heard, the two are planning to have two versions of their wedding in 2017.

“One will be held in the Philippines and there is another one abroad,” their common friend related to us. But same source never gave details.

“We can relate to Anne’s feeling of the magic everyday. She is happier now,” added our source. ****** Another couple that joined the bandwagon of celebrities proposing and getting married

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, December 27, 2016

ACROSS 1 Blows the whistle?

6 Paquin of “The Piano” 10 Whey opposite 14 Kind of sprawl 15 Stem-to-stern timber 16 Fringe — 17 Wynonna’s mom 18 Rest 20 Stein filler 21 Tolkien hobbit 23 Arched ceiling 24 Don’t rub — —!

25 Alley from Moo 26 Degraded 29 Plenty of fun?

33 — front or bear 34 Like a foal 35 Copacetic (hyph.)

37 Viking name 38 Exploding stars 39 Turpentine source 40 Family mem.

41 Brainteaser 42 Sen. Hatch 43 Stronghold 45 Pompeii art 46 Sporty truck 47 Fly catchers 48 Blue Grotto site 51 Hindu sage

53 Cargo hauler 56 Long nose 58 Military assault 60 “Diana” singer 61 Rocker — Cobain 62 Bought 63 Detected 64 — fixe 65 Observes DOWN 1 Luncheon salad 2 Kind of tradition 3 A woodwind 4 Wool cap 5 Brandy goblet 6 Tire center 7 Shortfall 8 Verne’s captain 9 Tenn. neighbor 10 Hors d’oeuvre 11 Karachi language 12 Get dizzy 13 Scurry 19 Walrus tusk 22 Eliminate 24 Ms. Dinesen 25 PTA and NEA 26 Orangutans 27 Eyewash acid 28 It may be airtight 29 Cut at an angle 30 Seaweed extract

31 Wildlife refuges 32 Kind of boom 34 Forfeit 36 Casino game 38 Leaf juncture 39 Veep’s boss 41 Place for a “steak-out” 42 “Crying” singer 44 Snake charmer’s attire 45 Not masc.

47 Squander 48 Balance-sheet gurus 49 Drury Lane

composer 50 Nudge 51 Wind-driven spray 52 Metal thread 53 Chimney 54 Screenwriter James — 55 Jarrett and Sparks 57 Compete in a slalom 59 — Jima

is the Billy Crawford-Coleen Garcia tandem.

Billy made the move on the night of Dec. 20 at Ninyo Fusion Cuisine in Quezon City where he finally popped out the question to Coleen if she could be his

forever?

“Yes, Billy is such a romantic. Perhaps, he imbibes more of it after co-host Anne made the announcement of her own engagement. He is of age na naman,” said our same source.

The couple’s engagement that made viral in the social media was captured by their directorfriend Gino Santos, who first posted the photo on his Instagram account.

Using the hashtag #ColeenSaidYes, the director captioned: “Omg! This just happened!!!

Congratulations @coleengarcia & @ billyjoecrawford I love you both!” ****** This early, Eugene Domingo is touted as Nora Aunor’s rival in the Best Actress race, but Irma Adlawan and Rhian Ramos should not be discounted. Both are also good in their entries.

But wait, Seklusyon’s Rhed Bustamante may give all of them a spoiler, as the ten-year old kid is so amazing and powerful in her entry.

In the Best Actor category, Paolo Ballesteros is the strongest contender with his ‘tour de force’ take in Die Beautiful that has first gained international recognition from festivals it joined.

“No. That will never be an issue. We made that clear from the start and MMFF knows and approves of it,” replied director Jun Lana and producer Perci Intalan when asked if hey might be disqualified because the film has been screened in festivals abroad before its Philippine premiere?

Giving Paolo a contest according to those that

already watched the entries are Jericho Rosales and Joel Torre in Babae sa Septic Tank 2, Joshua Garcia in Vince & Kath & James; and Joem Bascon in Oro. ****** Erwan’s elder sister Solenn Heussaff is now relieved that his favorite brother has finally asked Anne Curtis to marriage.

The very sexy Solenn who first walked the aisle with her fiancé early this year in a private ceremony abroad confirmed reports that they both talked about getting married at almost the same time.

But since she is the “ate”, Erwan gave way and waited for his time. “I so adore and respect my brother. I know how much in love he is with Anne and I’m so thrilled that finally, ayan na din siya,” said Solenn.

“This Christmas is so extra special to our families. Mas may meaning and yes, it’s different in so many ways because of what we have as addition to us di ba?” she who experienced many Christmases abroad said. ****** Many fans are turned off because they don’t know where to access the interview of Aquino Kris of Maine Mendoza Well we’ve read somewhere that it was posted on a social media account but like them, we haven’t seen it.

It was promoted before as Kris’ “pasabog” to her newfound network, but it seemed that only very few has seen it.

Kris is reported to be in the USA with her sons for the Christmas Holidays. She is also believed to be doing heavier soul searching as 2016 has never been good to her in many aspects.

With the so many “love” filling the air in showbiz nowadays, Kris who always says and commands it, seems not included...literally and figuratively.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016

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HETHER it was a big or intimate, Star Magic artists dominated the concert stage with their successful shows this 2016.

There was the first time concert performers like Kim Chiu, who marked her 10th anniversary in the business via Chinita Princess: The FUNtasy Concert in April at KIA theater. Two months later, on July 9, her screen love team partner Xian Lim had his first solo show A Date with Xian, also at KIA Theater.

On Nov. 25, new Kapamilya artist Jona marked her entry into the Kapamilya network with Queen of the Night: Jona with Regine VelasquezAlcasid and Jed Madela, again at KIA Theater.

Italian Filipino hunk Matteo Guidicelli held his first-ever concert in his hometown Cebu, #MatteoMadeinCebu to mark his 10th year in the business. Hashtags member Ronnie Alonte ended the year with a bang, not only because of his Metro Manila Film Festival entry Vince and Kath and James, but also because of his first solo concert titled Kilig King, again, at KIA Theater on Dec. 17.

Apart from the solo concerts, firsttime group performances also shone this year. There’s the Valentine concert Royals at Mall of Asia Arena on Feb. 13 with Martin Nievera, Regine VelasquezAlcasid along with the King and Queen of Teleserye Theme Songs Erik Santos and Angeline Quinto.

Just a few weeks ago, Angeline came returned to the concert stage, this time with KZ Tandingan, Yeng Constantino and Kyla for the sold o u t

Xian Lim had a sold out concert at the Kia Theater in July

Kim Chiu marked her 10th year in showbiz by entertaining her fans who trooped to the Kia Theater in May

STAR MAGIC ARTISTS

dominate concert scene in 2016 Divas: Live in Manila at Araneta Coliseum.

It’s Showtime’s kilig ambassadors, Hashtags, composed of Zeus Colins, Alonte, McCoy de Leon, Tom Doromal, Jon Lucas, Luke C o n d e , P a u l o

Ronnie Alonte

Matteo Guidicelli held his solo concert in his hometown in Cebu

Angeles, Nikko Natividad, Jameson Blake, Jimboy Martin and Ryle Tan took the stage by storm with Hashtags: The Roadtrip Concert at jampacked KIA Theater on Sept. 24.

Experienced Star Magic concert performers also took to the stage this year. There’s The Voice Kids Season 1 first runner up Darren Espanto who filled KIA Theater to the rafters in June with his major concert D Total Experience with guests Maja Salvador, Inigo Pascual, Ylona Garcia, Jed

Maja Salvador

Madela, and the G-Force.

Dance Princess Maja also had a third major concert titled Only Maja on Nov. 12 at Music Museum with Enchong Dee, Piolo Pascual, Paulo Avelino, Kakai Bautista and the Hashtags as guests in her sold out show.

Star Magic artists didn’t only dominate the traditional concert scene this year, but they have also participated in the pioneering digital concert arena spearheaded by the ABS-CBN online music portal One Music PH.

Jed Madela

Pop Rock Princess Yeng Constantino served as the digital concert scene’s opening performer, marking 10 years in the business with Yeng Constantino: Salamat sa 10 Taon and was followed by former Pinoy Big Brother housemate Ylona Garcia with My Name is Ylona Garcia.” Espanto followed with The Other side of Darren, his second show for the year. Finally, there came best friends Loisa Andalio, Maris Racal, Sue Ramirez and Kristel Fulgar for the digital concert titled Double Hearts.

Benilde film wins big in 2nd SineNanay filmfest A SHORT film made by students of Digital Filmmaking program of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde won four major awards at the second annual SineNanay Film Festival held at the Philippine Women’s University Concert Hall on Taft Avenue on Dec. 16.

Uyayi won Best Director (Alda Dalisay), Best Cinematography (Francis Jimenez and Ernestine Joice Bay), Best Sound and Best Production Design (Elaiza Rivera, Robin Estargo and Neil Reyes).

Dalisay, Bay and Rivera came up with the story of a first-time mother trying to figure out how to become a caring mother despite being placed in a dire situation. Their entry is one of 120 concepts received by festival organizer Make Your Nanay Proud Foundation from 11 universities and colleges in Metro Manila.

“While brainstorming, I wondered how mothers inside the prison take care of their child(ren), especially those who lived on the streets, got pregnant early and did not have an idea on how to take care of a baby,” Dalisay recalled.

The SineNanay Festival Committee, composed of Festival Director Arnold Reyes, MYNP Managing Director and Festival Secretariat Head Bemz Benedito and MYNP Admin Officer and Festival Coordinator Michelle Fabunan, trimmed down the enries to 27.

The selection committee, composed of ABS-

Best Film, Best Screenplay and Best Ensemble Performance. Silent Hope, another Benildean entry by Multimedia Arts students Raymond de Vera, Tristan Yapchiongco, Ellice Zheng, Wayne Garcia and Julia Viray, won Best Actor for Jeremie Raizen.

Tatay na si Nanay by Errianne Rojo of the University of the Philippines-Diliman won Best Actress for Christine Calawod, while Paskil ni Inay by Royce Kim Listana of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines won Best Supporting Actor for Miguel Medenilla.

Benilde film student Martin Mayuga’s short musical Rosa at Linda also made it as one of the SineNanay finalists.

“The film festival is a tribute to all mothers and a celebration of a child’s love for his/her mother,” Benedito said. SineNanay aims to encourage college Students of De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde show off the awards they won at the recently concluded students to explore, interpret and capture images of the different aspects of motherhood. Students SineNanay filmfest used their mobile phones and tablets to create films CBN Creative Head Henry King Quitain, Espia and Mikhail Red, writer/producer Moira honoring mothers.

MYNP Founder and Chairman Boy Abunda independent filmmakers Zig Dulay and Maricel Lang, Cinema One Originals channel Cariaga, screenwriter Jerry Gracio and award- head Ronald Arguelles, TV and film believes in the transformative role that mothers play winning playwright Rody Vera, eventually decided director Mac Alejandre, editor/filmmaker Tara in the society. Inspired by his own mother, Nanay on the 10 finalists. The finalists were then invited Illenberger, and award-winning actors Angeli Lesing, he put up the foundation and came up wity to undergo consultation sessions with Gawad CCP Bayani and Sid Lucero comprised the its projects. MYNP Council of Advisers member, APT Entertainment co-owner and executive and awardee and television and film director Nick SineNanay festival jury.

Olanka.

Life in Videos directed by Dawn Rae TAPE Inc. President and CEO Tony Tuviera serves Internationally acclaimed filmmakers Hannah Nicole Capales of Angelicum College won as the festival’s patron.