Manila Standard - 2017 January 17 - Tuesday

VOL. XXX • NO. 339 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

SAFE AND SECURE. Army troops guard the 16th century Manila Cathedral as hundreds of foreign and Filipino delegates attend the opening Monday of the 4th World Apostolic Congress on Mercy in a well-attended Mass presided there by the Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Guiseppe Pinto, with Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle as homilist. Norman Cruz

Martial law ‘baseless’ CA junks petition vs rights victims

By Rey E. Requejo THE Court of Appeals junked moves by the Marcos family to stop a Makati court from hearing the complaint filed by martial law victims seeking to enforce the final judgment of a US court awarding them $2 billion in damages.

The CA’s Special 13th Division through Associate Justice Ma. Luisa Quijano-Padilla denied the motion filed by the Marcoses seeking an extension to file a petition for certiorari to question the May 20, 2016 and Aug. 3, 2016 orders of Makati RTC Branch 134 Presiding Judge Elpidio Calis denying their motion to dismiss the complaint.

In its resolution, the appellate court rejected the Marcos family’s argument that they needed more time to file an appeal Next page

Cop-suspect in Korean’s kidnap yields

Solons in uproar over Du30’s renewed threat

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Maricel V. Cruz

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HERE is no basis for declaring martial law, senators said Monday, with one comparing President Rodrigo Duterte’s threats to impose military rule to “a dog that always barks but seldom bites.”

“We should know by now that such theatrical bombast is part of the President’s oratorical repertoire,” said Senate Minority Leader Ralph Recto, who was reacting to Duterte’s declaration Saturday night that if he wanted to declare martial law, nobody could stop him.

That threat, Recto said, should be filed under Duterte’s outlandish threats, like riding a jet ski to the Spratlys or feeding the fish of Manila Bay with the bodies of criminals.

Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon cautioned the administration against making such Next page statements.

EU takes second look at Manila’s trade perks

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan THE top diplomat of the European Union said Monday a monitoring team is scheduled to arrive by the end of January to assess if the Philippines still qualifies for trade incentives under GSP+

program, which is anchored on the country’s compliance with international agreements, including those on human rights.

“There is a process and that is ongoing,” said EU Ambassador Franz Jessen, during a book launching to mark the 25th Next page

SOLID TIES. President Rodrigo Duterte meets with US Ambassador Sung Kim at the Presidential Guest House in Panacan, Davao City Sunday, with Kim describing Manila-Washington links as ‘solid.’ Kim also discussed with Duterte bilateral military cooperation especially in the fight against terrorism.

Asean puts Rody, PH under scrutiny

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan FORMER National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said Monday the Asean chairmanship will put President Rodrigo Duterte under

the “global microscope” because of the rivalry among China, Russia and the United States.

Golez said he had called on Duterte to handle the Asean chairmanship properly because of the dispute over the South China Sea

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Govt, Reds gear up for Rome peace gab

By Francisco Tuyay

By Sandy Araneta

POLICE Chief Ronald dela Rosa said Monday the policeman involved in the alleged kidnapping of a South Korean national, SPO Ricky Sta. Isabel, had surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation on Sunday.

He also said two active policemen and a retired policeman, now a village official, had been included in President Rodrigo Duterte’s narco list and were cohorts of Sta. Isabel.

Dela Rosa said Isabel yielded to the NBI while the PNP was establishing an airtight case against him in the kidnapping of Jee Lck-joo, a Korean executive who was kidnapped in Angeles City in October last year.

CHIEF negotiator Silvestre Bello III said Monday the government is ready for the third round of peace negotiations with communist rebels, which resumes on Jan. 19 in Rome, Italy.

Bello said he was set to submit to President Rodrigo Duterte

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dispute.

“This Asean summit will attract global attention and will put our President under a global microscope,” Golez told the Tapatan sa Aristocrat forum.

the draft documents that will be tabled for discussion during the third round of talks with the National Democratic Front.

“We are all set and ready to engage the NDF in the discussion of all substantive agenda, including supplemental agreements needed to proceed and arrive at a peaceful Next page

VCMs bolster Marcos case

By Joel E. Zurbano

CRACKING CRYPTOGRAPHY. Election Records and Statistics Department Director Villaflor Roxas (in black blouse standing at right) leads the decryption of SD cards retrieved from supposedly unused VCM kits at the Commission on Elections head office in Intramuros, Manila for the May 2016 elections. Norman Cruz twitter.com/ MlaStandard

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THE election protest filed by former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. gained strength following the decryption of 26 secure digital or SD cards retrieved from supposedly unused Vote Counting Machines, Marcos’ legal counsel Victor Ro-

driguez said Monday.

He said the fact that data were found in the supposedly untouched SD cards was proof that fraud had been committed in the May 9 elections.

“This strengthens our position that massive fraud was indeed committed in the last elections because Next page

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because of other urgent professional work, including the preparation for the petitions filed before the Supreme Court questioning the burial of the strongman Ferdinand Marcos.

In ruling against the Marcoses, the appellate court noted that the Supreme Court en banc has amended the Rules of Court to delete the clause that allowed for an extension to file a petition for certiorari for compelling reasons.

“As it stands now, parties are only given an non-extendible 60day period from notice of judgment or from notice of denial of their motion for reconsideration within which to file a petition for certiorari,” the CA ruled.

While the amendment did not prohibit the filing of a motion, the CA said it saw no reason to relax the rules in this case.

The appellate court pointed out that the heavy workload of the petitioners’ counsel is often “selfserving and as such, is hardly a compelling meritorious reason to deviate from the 60-day rule.”

Associate Justices Samuel Gaerlan and Jhosep Lopez concurred with the ruling.

The case arose from the complaint filed by Priscilla Mijares, Loretta Ann Rosales, Hilda Narciso Sr., Mariani Dimaranan and Joel Lamangan in their behalf and on behalf of the class plaintiffs in US case, Class Action No. MDL 840.

The US court on Feb. 3, 1995 rendered a final judgment awarding a total of $1.964 billion in damages to human rights victims during the Marcos administration, a decision that was affirmed by the US Court of Appeals on Dec. 17, 1996.

However, under Rule 38 Section 48 of the Rules of Court, such a foreign judgment must be recognized and enforced in the Philippines through a case filed with Philippine courts.

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SD cards from unused VCM should be empty,” Rodriguez said.

“However, we have confirmed today that, indeed, they have data in them so that bolsters our position.”

Rodriguez said the Commission on Elections decrypted 26 of the 127 SD cards and found folders containing data during the stripping of 1,356 unused VCMs. The other 101 SD cards were not part of the decryption as they were set aside by the Senate Electoral Tribunal on a motion by former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino on his election protest before the tribunal.

Decryptiona was still being conducted as of press time.

Rodriguez also said the data in the SD Cards also supported their contention that the VCMs should not have been opened or stripped until after the conclusion of Marcos’ election protest at the Presidential Electoral Protest.

“How can more than 120 SD cards have data in them when they came from VCMs kits that were not used? This is highly questionable,” Rodriguez said.

“This also supports our contention that the VCMs should be preserved until the election protest is concluded in the PET because they represent an important aspect in the protest.”

Marcos’ lawyers had earlier opposed the stripping of the unused VCMs as it was conducted in violation of the Protective Precautionary Order issued by the PET to preserve the integrity of the ballot boxes and other equipment used in the last elections.

But the Comelec still proceeded with the stripping and turnover of the VCMs on Oct. 26 last year.

Rodriguez said despite the many hurdles being thrown their way, they would continue to fight for the truth and the integrity of the elections.

Marcos, the only son of the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, filed an election protest with the Supreme Court in connection with the vice presidential race in the May 9 elections that he said was marred by massive cheating.

The protest came a month after the National Board of Canvassers proclaimed Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte and then Camarines Sur Rep. Leni Robredo as the duly elected President and Vice President, respectively.

Robredo, who ran under the ruling Liberal Party, the political party of then President Benigno Aquino III, won the vice presidential race with 14,418,817 votes, up by only 263,473 against the votes received by Marcos.

But Marcos declared that the cheating carried out in the May 9 elections was massive and unprecedented because it had become institutionalized.

‘Ranks of the poor swelling’ T HE number of Filipinos who considered themselves poor went up to 44 percent in the fourth quarter of 2016, yielding “a new record-low annual average,” the latest Social Weather Stations survey says.

The polling firm says 44 percent or around 10-million families considered themselves poor in the survey that was first published in Business World on Monday.

That was two points above the 42 percent average in self-rated poverty for the third quarter of 2016 or around 9.4 million families.

The quarterly self-poverty rate as of December brought the average annual rate to 44 percent, which is lower than the 47 percent recorded in 1987.

The latest survey was conducted

on Dec. 3 to 6 via face-to-face interviews with 1,500 adults nationwide, and with sampling error margins of ±3 points for the national percentages, ±4 for “Balance Luzon” and ±6 points each for Metro Manila, the Visayas and Mindanao.

SWS says the self-rated poverty reading “has been either steady or declining for nine consecutive quarters-from 52 percent in December 2014 to 51 percent in March and June 2015, 50 percent in September and December 2015, 46 percent in April 2016, 45 per-

cent in June 2016, 42 percent in September 2016, and 44 percent in December 2016.”

December took last year’s selfrated poverty average rate to 44 percent, six points below 2015’s average and, SWS noted, “a new record-low annual average that surpassed the previous record low of 47 percent in 1987.”

Last quarter saw an eight-point increase in “Balance Luzon” to 42 percent from September’s 34 percent, which was matched by drops of five points in Metro Manila (to 31 percent from 36 percent) and two points in Mindanao (to 47 percent from 49 percent). The rate was a flat 56 percent in the Visayas.

The same survey also found that 34 percent of the respondents, or an estimated 7.7-million families, considered the type of food they ate

Martial...

rebellion—exists.

“And as the President himself likes to brag, crime is down and the people are safe in their homes and communities,” he added.

Recto said the real enemies of the people–joblessness, hunger and poor social services—cannot be suppressed by the Armed Forces.

He also rejected the assertion of the President that the declaration of martial law is a unilateral act of the chief executive. He insisted that this claim has no legal basis.

He said the Constitution, which the President had sworn to uphold in his oath of office, empowers Congress to revoke it.

“It is also subject to Supreme Court review, and if to last more than 60 days, to congressional concurrence.”

He described martial law a cure worse than the perceived disease. “At a time when we project stability to reel in tourists and investors, a martial law declaration will show the opposite,” he said.

“The problems we face today do not require the calling in of the army. We do not burn the house down to kill a few rats.”

Senator Antonio Trillanes IV, a staunch critic of Duterte, said all freedom-loving Filipinos should be prepared to fight another dictator. He said soldiers should also start reviewing their constitutional mandate.

Senator Francis Pangilinan warned of further divisiveness if martial law is imposed. He said this would not provide a solution, but rather, would add to the existing problems.

“People despised martial law and the ousted dictator. The country would further be divided if they insist on martial law,” said the senator, who is president of the Liberal Party.

“What the people are looking for are solutions to the increase in prices of basic commodities, additional wages and job and not dictatorship or mar-

tial rule,” he added.

Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said Duterte’s vacillating statements on martial law create uncertainty and fear among Filipinos.

Just last month, Duterte declared that placing the country under martial law was far from his mind, adding that Filipino lives did not improve under military rule during the Marcos regime.

Before that, he said he wanted to amend the Constitution to make it easier for the President to declare martial law, without having to answer to Congress or the Supreme Court.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, a key Duterte ally, said the President would not declare martial law without consulting various stakeholders.

“Don’t worry about a martial law declaration. I’m sure the President would make a lot of consultations before doing that. And he will be reminded about the constitutional provisions about martial law,” Pimentel said.

In the House of Representatives, Duterte’s allies defended his pronouncement, while the opposition urged him to stop making such threats.

“President Duterte has to stop making threats about declaring martial law,” said Akbayan party-list Rep. Tom Villarin.

Villarin, a member of the opposition, said Duterte’s “virulent drug problem” would never be a justification for declaring martial law.

“What drives him to repeatedly raise that threat?” Villarin asked.

“Surveys show our people reject martial law. People are saying that poverty is the main problem not drugs. The police are saying they have been successful in the war against drugs. Business groups want political stability and not martial law for our economy to improve. The Mindanao and Bangsamoro concern is for a just and lasting peace.

So, is the President saying that all of them are wrong?” Villarin added.

Reps. Robert Ace Barbers of Surigao del Norte and Fred Castro of Capiz said Congress will exercise its power to review the declaration of martial law if the President declares it.

“The President was right when he said no one can stop him from declaring martial law anytime he wishes to declare it.

But the declaration on martial law will be reviewed thoroughly by Congress to find out if such a declaration has basis and is in accordance with the Constitution,” Castro, a House deputy speaker, said.

Castro stressed that martial law is only effective within 60 days after its declaration, and that only Congress has the power to extend the duration.

But Barbers said he supported martial law because he knows the President will not abuse his powers.

He added that if Duterte declares martial law, it would be “for the good of the country and our people.”

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, who jumped from the Liberal Party to the President’s PDP-Laban after Duterte won the election, said the definition of “rebellion” might be “stretched” to include the war on drugs.

“This is probably something that the committee on dangerous drugs... should look into: how far has this drug problem gone. Whether this has escalated into a level where this is something that even government now is unable to handle,” Umali told reporters at a news conference.

“And so if that is the case, we may be able to stretch the definition of rebellion when these members of drug syndicates are already effectively rebelling on government to the point that it has already taken over some of the government machineries,” Umali added.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Duterte won’t declare martial law because he is actually against it.

“It was just an expression of anger from the President. He was exasperated by the continuous illegal drug

diplomat warned that the Philippines that it may lose the GSP+ due to Duterte’s bloody war on illegal drugs.

The senior trade diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity said the Philippines could lose the GSP+ privileges, which brought total exports to the EU to €743 million during the first six months of 2015.

The source said President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs which led to a spate of extrajudicial killings may lead to a withdrawal of trade preferences by the EU. “The Philippines will definitely lose this privilege because of the summary killings of drug suspects of the Duterte administration,” the senior diplomat said.

The Philippines was granted beneficiary country status under the EU-GSP+ in December 2014.

The source said to keep the privilege, the Philippines should make good progress in its implementation of its commitments to the 27 international treaties and conventions on human rights, labor rights, environment and governance.

Last month, the US-led Millennium Challenge Corp. deferred its decision on fresh funding for the Philippines, citing “significant concerns around rule of law and civil liberties.”

On the other hand, Jessen said the ongoing cooperation with and support for the Philippines will not change, despite the administration’s new foreign policy. These include coopera-

tion on trade and the judicial system.

Jessen also said the EU is also looking into a possibility of supporting the Philippines’ drug rehabilitation efforts.

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of EU and Philippine relations, the EU and its memberstates have published a coffee table book entitled “Ties that Bind,” written by Manila Standard’s City Editor Joyce Pañares and Associate Editor Chin Wong.

“The 25-year book gives a very good overview of what we have been doing, how we work together and how we help each other and how we make sure that the Philippines gets the best possible future together with the EU,” Jessen said.

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“We call on the administration to exercise prudence in making public statements that are very disturbing and could create undue fear and tension,” Drilon said.

In his speech Saturday night, the President said: “I have to protect the Filipino people. It’s my duty. And I tell you now, if I have to declare martial law, I will declare it. Not about invasion, insurrection, not about danger. I will declare martial law to preserve my nation, period. I don’t care about the Supreme Court.

Because the right to preserve one’s life, and my nation, my country, transcends everything else, even the limitations.”

But Drilon said the Constitution only allows the declaration of martial law when there is actual invasion or rebellion and when public safety requires it. These two requisites must be present, he said.

Drilon also chided the President’s communications team for accusing the media of misreporting the President’s remarks.

“The way I see it, the news reports were devoid of any interpretation by the media,” he said, adding that the reports were based on the President’s speech and the statements were quoted verbatim.

“We should not blame the press for reporting what the President said,” Drilon said.

A clarification from the Palace, he said, would have been unnecessary if prudence was exercised in the first place.

“The truth is, mere talk of martial law is enough to send chills to the spine of any Filipino. Therefore, it is something that should not be taken lightly,” said Drilon, noting that a recent Pulse Asia survey showed that 74 percent of Filipinos are against the imposition of military rule.

Recto said neither of the requisites for martial law—an actual invasion or

EU...

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anniversary of the EU in the Philippines.

“We have an ongoing monitoring of the conventions… and I will not predict how it will come out in the end,” Jessen said.

The EU-Generalized Scheme of Preferences (GSP+) allows the Philippines to export 6,274 eligible products duty-free access to the EU market.

The Philippines has been exporting to EU products such as crude coconut oil, canned tuna, pneumatic tires, spectacle lenses, relays, and preserved fruits under GSP+.

But last year, a senior trade

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negotiated political settlement to end the armed conflict in the country,” Bello said.

The government panel was also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Duterte in Malacañang Monday night.

Among the documents to be submitted to the President are draft agreements and principles for the comprehensive agreement on socio economic reforms, comprehensive agreement on political and constitutional reforms, and comprehensive agreement on the end of hostilities and disposition of forces.

“We are doing this in the spirit of true reconciliation and genuine quest for just and lasting peace,” Bello said. He added that he is confident that major breakthroughs will be achieved in the Rome talks.

“We are prepared to sign side and other agreements while we are discussing the contents and provisions of the major substantive agenda,” the chief government negotiator added.

Bello, who is also labor secretary, said the government is all set to sign a supplemental agreement on the Comprehensive Agreement on Respect of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law which will include an expanded role of a Joint Monitoring Committee.

“And we are challenging the NDF to formalize the unilateral ceasefire with a bilateral ceasefire agreement to give our communities and combatants a more secure environment for the peace process,” Bello added.

The government delegation was set to leave for Rome Jan. 17, for the opening of the third round on Thursday.

Peace negotiations with the NDF were resumed in August 2016 after more than five years of impasse following the election of President Duterte.

In the August round when the negotiations were reopened, both panels agreed to reaffirm all previous signed agreements and to reconstitute the Joint Agreement on Safety and Immunity Guarantees and release of NDF leaders and members.

In the second round also in Oslo, Norway, negotiators exchanged outlines and agreed to accelerate the negotiations.

The government is confident it can strike a peace deal with the communistled NDF, which counts among its member organization the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army.

On Monday, the non-government group Kapayapaan Campaign for a Just and Lasting Peace said stumbling blocks remain in the upcoming peace talks, including the government’s failure to release political prisoners. With Florante S. Solmerin

as food for the poor, up four points from September’s 30 percent or an estimated 6.7-million families.

The movement was due to increases of eight, seven and three points in “Balance Luzon” (to 32 percent from a record-low 24 percent in September), the Visayas (43 percent from 36 percent) and Metro Manila (to 23 percent from 20 percent) that offset a four-point drop in Mindanao to 37 percent from 41 percent.

The fourth-quarter reading brought the 2016 average self-rated food poverty rate to 32 percent, also a new record-low average that surpassed the previous record-low 35 percent that was recorded in 2015.

SWS says the reading on “selfrated food-poor has been either steady or declining for six consecutive quarters, from 35 percent

in September 2015 to 33 percent in December 2015, 31 percent in April... and June 2016, 30 percent in September 2016 and 34 percent in December 2016.”

The SWS survey placed the median self-rated poverty threshold―the lowest monthly home expense budget needed by the poorer half of the poor households not to consider themselves as such―at P18,000 in Metro Manila as well as P10,000 in “Balance Luzon,” the Visayas and Mindanao.

The median food poverty threshold―the lowest monthly food budget needed by the poorer half of “food-poor” families not to consider themselves as such―was P10,000 in Metro Manila, P4,000 in Mindanao and P5,000 in “Balance Luzon” and the Visayas.

operations in the country despite intensified efforts by the government,” Aguirre said in a text message.

The Justice secretary said the remarks were “understandable” and urged the media and the public not to “make a fuss” about it anymore.

“The public and the media should not be surprised and rather be already accustomed to this mindset of the President,” he said.

He added that Duterte “loathed martial law” because it did not improve people’s lives under Marcos.

Earlier, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar attacked the press for “misreporting” the President’s remarks to “sow panic and confusion.”

The National Union of Journalists of the Philippines quickly slammed Andanar for his “utterly dishonest tack” of blaming the media for the President’s statements.

“We do understand the difficulty of trying to decipher your principal’s words preserved on video, including footage from your own RTVM. But we admit being in awe of such loyalty and dedication as yours, which would not hesitate to denounce even your very own outfit—RTVM—for engaging in what you call ‘the height of journalistic irresponsibility’ by accurately recording his message,” the NUJP said in a statement directly addressing Andanar.

NUJP said it was not the press, but Duterte himself who was sowing panic.

Philippine National Police chief Ronald dela Rosa said they would support the President if he declares martial law.

“By all means, we will support the President if he declares it, but I doubt if he will declare it. He said that maybe because of frustration over the situation,” Dela Rosa said in a briefing.

An Armed Forces spokesman said the military is reluctant to recommend any kind of martial rule. With Sandy Araneta, Rey E. Requejo and Francisco Tuyay

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“It will be a boon to our country, it will generate additional investments and respect.”

The Philippines is this year’s chairman for the Asean Summit in November, which will be attended by leaders from the US, Russia, China, Australia, Japan and India.

He said this year’s summit will have several “geopolitical events” in which different countries will discuss their interests.

“Russia is attending, India is there with its own agenda, Indonesia, and Australia is there,” Golez said.

“And Australia just had a meeting with Japan about strengthening security relations. India is supplying Vietnam weapons and training. This is going to be a big show.”

Golez said Duterte was being followed by the international media.

“Every day he comes out in in the international news,” he said.

He said President-elect Donald Trump and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will also attend the summit.

Tillerson last week said China should be barred from entering the disputed South China Sea. But the Philippines, the US’ long-time ally, efused to support Tillerson’s statement. .

“This must be handled very well by the President and his team because all eyes will be on him on how to deal with the dynamics of the Asean,” Golez said.

He said everybody would be pushing for their own agenda in the forum.

Sandy Araneta

Cop-suspect...

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Dela Rosa said Sta. Isabel’s surrendered to the NBI since he did not trust the PNP anymore.

He made the statement in the middle of a press conference in Camp Crame shortly after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre confirmed Sta Isabel’s presence at the NBI in a phone call.

Jee is still missing since his kidnapping, and even after his wife paid his kidnappers P5 million.

Dela Rosa theorized that Sta. Isabel surrendered to the NBI because he knew that the PNP had an airtight case against him.

He said the two active policemen, now in the custody of the PNP-Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, will testify against Sta Isabel.

A Korean national is also suspected of being involved in the kidnapping.

Dela Rosa said the retired policeman was a village official in Metro Manila who was in Duterte’s narco list but had already fled to Canada.

Duterte says the narco generals in his list are retired Deputy Director General Marcelo Garbo, former Chief Supt. and now Daanbantayan, Cebu Mayor Vicente Loot, former NCRPO chief Director Joel Pagdilao, former QCPD director Chief Supt. Edgardo Tino, and former Western Visayas police director Chief Supt.

Bernardo Diaz.

Probers are looking into allegations that Sta. Isabel’s group had been involved in extortion activities against unsuspecting victims.

The AIDG said Sta. Isabel was involved in the kidnapping of a Chinese trader in the 1990s, but he was cleared after he reportedly returned a P2- million ransom to his superiors, claiming the money was used to bribe him.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Lawmaker withdraws vanity tax proposal

By Maricel V. Cruz

DRUG-FREE BARANGAYS. District Director Police Chief Supt. Guillermo Eleazar and Quezon City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte with other officials show the Drug Free sticker that will be posted in houses considered free of the prohibited material or those cleared by law enforcement authorities during a news conference Monday. Manny Palmero

IN BRIEF Ombudsman gives pink slip to Leonardia THE Office of the Ombudsman on Monday ordered the dismissal of Bacolod City Mayor Evelio Leonardia for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty over the irregular P50-million procurement of office furniture and fixtures in 2008.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales also directed the dismissal of then secretary to the mayor Goldwyn Nifras; city budget officer Luzviminda Treyes; department of public services head Nelson Sedillo Sr.; city engineers Belly Aguillon, Aladino Agbones and Jaries Ebenizer Encabo; city accountant Eduardo Ravena, and city treasurer Annabelle Badajos.

Leonardia and the other eight accused were meted out the accessory penalties of perpetual disqualification from holding public office, forfeiture of retirement benefits, cancellation of civil service eligibility and barred from taking the civil service examination.

“In case any of the respondents are no longer in the service, the penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to respondent’s one-year salary,” the Ombudsman’s decision read.

The complainant, the Ombudsman’s Public Assistance and Corruption Prevention Office in the Visayas, was able to establish that bidding irregularities were committed by the local officials concerning the 2008 procurement of office furniture and fixtures awarded to Comfac Corp.

Rio Araja

Oil firms implement rollback OIL companies implement a price rollback of P0.35 per liter for diesel and P0.20 to P0.30 per liter for gasoline effective Tuesday to reflect the movement of world oil prices.

Oil players that announced the price cut includes Petron Corp., Phoenix Philippines, PTT Philippines, Unioil Philippines, among others. Other oil companies are expected to follow suit.

So far, only Phoenix Petroleum cut the prices of gasoline by P0.20 per liter.

“Petron will implement the following price rollbacks effective 6 a.m., tomorrow January 17, 2017: P0.35 per liter for diesel and P0.30 per liter for gasoline,” the company said.

Last Jan. 10, the oil firms raised the price of diesel by P0.10 per liter but cut the price of kerosene by P0.15 per liter.

Oil prices declined due to the higher rig counts from the US which has tempered optimism due to the production cut from the members and non-members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in January. Alena Mae Flores

TUCP urges DoLE to cuff non-remitting employers

By Vito Barcelo

T

HE labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines on Monday urged the Labor department to go after private employers who do not remit their employees’ contributions to the Social Security Service.

It called on President Rodrigo Duterte to revisit the 1.5-percent increase in contribution of SSS members so as not to add weight to their burden.

The TUCP said the SSS must go aggressively after employer non-remittances, adding “Nonremitting employers must be charged correspondingly...there must be swift action.”

“Workers’ money that should have been invested to build up fund life is being used by employers and they are profiting from it. If properly remitted, the SSS fund life would have been enhanced,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said.

The labor group also said SSS could have and can still institute internal reforms to meet the pension increase so that the 1.5-percent contribution increase could be set aside.

“We thank the President that SSS pensioners will get some monthly income augmentation for their daily expenses like food and medicines. We feel that SSS management may not have laid out to the President the full range of reforms that could be done so as not to burden our workers anymore with additional contributions,” Mendoza said.

“SSS must improve its col-

lection efficiency and stop corruption in the system. What happened to those companies which deducted monthly contributions from their employees but did not remit them to the SSS?” TUCP general secretary Arnel Dolendo also said.

TUCP also called on the SSS to first trim down its bureaucracy and staff and rationalize the remunerations and benefits for SSS commissioners and top executives who receive fat salaries, bonuses and other perks.

TUCP pointed out that a 1.5-percent increase in contributions would penalize the workers for asking an increase in pension for their old age for purchase of food and medicines basically, while those being appointed and those paid to run the system are living the high life.

“Let us put our retirees and workers first,” it said.

“The P1,000 is a paltry sum and to require more contributions in the face of the horrendous 38-percent SSS collection

efficiency rate is not the solution” said Dolendo.

Meanwhile, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III supported President Rodrigo Duterte’s grant of SSS across-the-board pension increase, saying the additional amount was a much-deserved incentive for the two million pensioners’ most fruitful years in service.

The labor chief said workers’ additional contribution to the SSS, which will fund the pension increase, should be considered as their long-term savings, and not an expense.

A 1.5-percent increase in contribution will be implemented in May this year or 12.5 percent from the current 11 percent.

In peso value, the additional total contribution will range from P15-P740, equally shared by employer and employee.

“We must bear in mind that an actively paying SSS member can avail [himself] of social benefits and loan privileges,” Bello said.

AKO-Bicol party-list Rep. Rodel Batocabe on Monday withdrew his proposed measure proposing excise tax on cosmetic products and services such as liposuction, facelift, nose job, and other similar services.

Batocabe said his proposal was intended only as an alternative to the plan of government to increase tax on petroleum products expected, according to him, to hurt the poor.

Batocabe’s proposal drew sharp rebuke from the public, especially from the netizens, denouncing his bill “stupid.”

“In light of the intense controversy generated by our proposal to provide an alternative to the excise tax on petroleum and the recent statement of Secretary Ben Diokno that the government has enough funds for now, we deemed it prudent not to push for the so-called vanity tax,” Batocabe said.

“As representatives of our people mandated by our Constitution to identify sources of revenues for the government, the vanity tax was proposed in good faith to spare our people from the scourge of imposing excise taxes on petroleum. But then, we do realize from the sentiments that taxing beauty products would also adversely affect certain sectors which, according to some, would also deprive them of their basic happiness. Hence, this decision,” Batocabe said.

Nevertheless, Batocabe said he would continue to oppose the government’s effort to impose excise taxes on petroleum products. “...even as we shall also look for other ways to help the government raise revenues... we shall devote our efforts to ensure efficiency in tax collections and plug leakages in the petroleum and beauty industries, which according to market analysts, could run to billions of pesos. As a matter of fact, there are reports that VAT [Value Added Tax] collection efficiency is way below 50 percent,” Batocabe said.

Even if he failed to provide data to back up his proposal so it was withdrawn, Batocabe urged the Bureau of Internal Revenue to address the tax leakage on beauty products and cosmetics.

Solon’s bill to strengthen anti-deposit law House to exercise legislative

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health, vowed on Monday to investigate possible violations to the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law after a woman, who was refused admission by two hospitals, then gave birth inside a taxicab in Quezon City.

Hontiveros said the incident would be on the agenda at the second hearing of her bill that aims to strengthen Republic Act No. 8344, a law that prohibits hospitals from asking for deposits first before treating patients with emergency needs.

Initial investigation by Hontiveros’ office showed a certain Aira Arellano was turned away by a public hospital in Caloocan City last Jan. 11

after its staff allegedly assessed she went into labor prematurely. They said they had no incubator for the baby.

Arellano proceeded to the next nearest hospital but eventually gave birth inside a taxicab.

Rescuers and media on the scene then brought her to a private hospital in Fairview, Quezon City.

However, the attending staff allegedly only cut the umbilical cord of the infant and said Arellano could not afford their fees, prompting them to transfer to the East Avenue Medical Center.

The EAMC staff that admitted Arellano and her infant, however, said she had a regular childbirth.

Based on these accounts, Hontiveros said it was worth investigating if the hospital in Fairview, Quezon City violated the Anti-Hospital Deposit Law.

TRAFFIC FLOW. Pandesal Forum at Kamuning Bakery moderator Wilson Flores and Metro Manila

Development Authority chairman Thomas Orbos express support Monday for the worked-on smooth flow of vehicular traffic for the safety of Miss Universe candidates during the coronation night at the Mall of Asia in Pasay City on Jan. 30. Manny Palmero

behest to pass death penalty

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives will exercise its legislative mandate to pass the proposed bill to reimpose death penalty being a priority measure of the Duterte administration despite the Senate’s seeming hesitation to have it passed.

Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, chairman of the House committee on justice, said it was the duty of the Lower House to act on the measures filed before them, stressing these were administration priority bills.

“We respect their views on that... but we have a job to do and it is for us to pass. We will [pass] it even if the Senate [shares a different view on the measure]; I am sure they will listen,” Umali told a news conference.

The bill, principally authored

by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, was passed by the House justice committee last December.

It is expected to be tackled in plenary session anytime as Congress resumed its session Monday after a month-long holiday break.

“In so far as we are concerned, it this is what it takes for the House of Representatives to pass this, we will do it, regardless of what action the Senate will take on the pending bills,” Umali said.

Umali said the death penalty bill would remain as top agenda

of the House.

“This is on top of our priority because the priority was given by no less than the President on the matter,” Umali said.

“This is what is expected to keep us busy for quite some time now, preparing for the sponsorship on second reading before the plenary,” he added.

The bill proposes to impose death penalty on more than 20 heinous offenses, such as rape with homicide, kidnapping for ransom, and arson with death.

Alvarez earlier stressed the need for Congress “to reinvigorate the war against criminality by reviving a proven deterrent coupled by its consistent, persistent and determined implementation, and this need is as compelling and critical as any.”

“The imposition of the death penalty for heinous crimes and the mode of its implementation, both subjects of repealed laws, are crucial components of an effective dispensation of both reformative and retributive justice,” the bill stated.

President Rodrigo Duterte has said he would want the capital punishment by hanging reimposed. Duterte also vowed to carry out at least 50 executions a month to serve as a strong deterrent against criminality.

Republic Act 7659 or the Death Penalty Law was abolished in 1986 during the term of then President Corazon Aquino.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Presidential mindset

I

T IS difficult to imagine how anybody could deny a direct quote, but Palace officials did it anyway. It is not the first time they have made fools of themselves and the President they serve.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and Communications Secretary Martin Andanar on Monday scrambled to reverse the effects of President Rodrigo Duterte’s pronouncement that no one can stop him from declaring martial law so he could deal with the drug problem and protect the people.

“I will declare martial

Adelle Chua, Editor

law to preserve my nation, period,” Mr. Duterte said before a group of Davao businessmen over the weekend. “My country transcends everything else, even the limitations.”

These comments have revived speculation and fear that Mr. Duterte may resort to extreme measures in his zeal to rid the country of the

drug menace—as if the killing of at least 5,700 believed involved in the drug trade were not extreme enough. A recent survey said eight in 10 Filipinos feared they or somebody they knew might fall victim to the Duterte administration’s bloody crackdown against illegal drugs, whether or not the accusations have basis.

Talk of martial law unnecessarily alarms Filipinos, who have either direct or vicarious experiences during those dark days. Mr. Duterte is either insensitive or toying

with the power he knows he has when he casually claims he would declare it, and then step back, only to say it again.

But Secretary Aguirre says the President’s words were taken out of context because he is actually against martial law.

It was just an expression of anger and exasperation at the drug problem. He urged the media not to make any fuss about the issue.

Meanwhile, Andanar scored the media for reporting things that sow panic and confusion among many.

Aguirre added we should, by now, be accustomed to the mindset of the President.

But what mindset, precisely? That he feels he can say anything when he feels passionate about an issue only to let his subordinates clean up, afterward?

A senator described Mr. Duterte’s speech— and since speech is a reflection of the mind, his mind as well—as nothing but theatrical bombast. We applaud the apt description but lament that it appears true of the chief executive, who

must, in these extraordinary times, be the most dependable official.

Alas, how can we rely on someone when we do not even know when to take his words for what they are?

Martial law is a grave matter and must not be trifled with, just as we should not trifle with the lives of people and just as we should not underestimate the magnitude of the drug problem. We really cannot afford to waste time and energy figuring out what to make out of Mr. Duterte’s enigmatic words.

Human and animal rights

its new aid package to the Philippines, supposedly because of concerns about human rights violations committed by the Duterte administration. For the five-year period of 2010-2015, MCC gave out around P21 billion to fund three major projects of the Aquino administration.

The sky was supposed to have fallen then, especially after Duterte again went on the warpath against the US, saying that the Philippines didn’t need any conditional American aid because other countries were offering the same (and a lot more) without telling us how to run our country. And besides, Duterte said—to much tongueclacking and head-shaking from his critics—that the Philippines can survive without anybody’s handouts, thank you very much.

Now, it turns out that from just China and Japan alone and in just six months, Duterte’s government has already secured almost a trillion pesos in grants and aid

NOW that the facts are clearer, I thought it would be timely and helpful to weigh in on the controversy over the slaughter of a dog in one of the scenes in “Oro,” one of the entries in the recently concluded Metro Manila Film Festival. I feel strongly about the movie because it had the right message and was powerfully made and acted. But the decision of the filmmakers to film and, regardless of the actual circumstances of the killing, show the actual slaughter of a dog, was wrong. It should not happen again.

Alvin Yapan, the director of “Oro,” said that he used a real animal as it “was within the bounds of culture in that area where dogs are eaten as food.” He also emphasized that no one from his production team, including the film’s cast, participated in the slaughter.

The official story, stated belatedly, is that there was a wake and the Oro crew opportunistically took footage of a slaughter that was going to happen. This is however contradicted by a whistleblower, an actor in the film if I recall properly, who claims that two dogs were actually killed (one accidentally) and specifically for the film. From what I could gather, the whistleblower’s story does not seem to be a first hand account and could be considered hearsay.

The Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), represented by an articulate and passionate Anna Cabrera, rightly and strongly protested this act of animal cruelty, eventually filing a case for violation of Republic Act No. 10631 or the Animal Welfare Act. The controversy also prompted the withdrawal by the MMFF executive committee of the Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence it earlier granted to “Oro.” It is unfortunate that, in the early days of the controversy, the defenders of Oro juxtaposed the killing of the dogs with the massacre of the small-scale miners— the subject matter of the movie.

They lamented that there was a lot of distress about the dogs but not about the human beings killed.

Others also weighed in to complain that there were more protests against the killings of the dogs compared to the protests against the extrajudicial killings in the war against illegal drugs.

These comparisons were uncalled for. First, it is not true that people were more outraged by what was done to the dogs than to the miners. The reason why I

Turn to A5

Turn to A5

Selling the bad LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES BAD news is supposed to sell.

But when speculative news trumps hard (but good) news, you have to wonder if some news organizations have not taken it upon themselves to see only the unflattering and to cast aside the uplifting in a strange attempt to peddle their wares.

The bad news in question is a speech delivered by President Rodrigo Duterte in Davao City last Saturday, during which he said that if he wanted to, nothing could stop him from declaring Martial Law. His own personal preference aside, Duterte also qualified that he may reimpose military rule if the illegal drug menace gets “virulent.”

Media should by now understand that Duterte was once again engaged in one of his usual anti-drug rantings.

And also (and again), his threat to impose Martial Law

was surrounded by so many qualifiers and conditions that no one in his right mind could reasonably conclude that he is well on his way to bringing back military rule.

To read into Duterte’s statement a declaration that Martial Law is in fact impending or inexorable—something that again leads to the non-news territory of speculation—is preposterous. But I will admit that if some other president not as passionate and insistent about ending the illegal drug trade had given that speech, it would be nothing short of earth-shaking.

But we’re talking about Duterte here. And it’s not even the first time that he has gone off on a threatening rant to pursue his campaign against a situation that he really gets worked up over.

And let’s not even get into the fact that the imposition of Martial Law has always been an option for any Philippine president, as prescribed in the various constitutions that we have had and as it is enshrined

in most constitutions governing democratic countries. If Martial Law were bad per se, the framers of our basic laws, going all the way back to the 1935 Charter, would not have written provisions allowing it.

Even in the United States at

If media doesn’t get the message and get it pretty soon, bad news won’t even sell anymore. present, Martial Law is being discussed as an option of the government in order to protect itself under the incoming administration of one Donald J. Trump. And the US govern-

ment merely requires a “clear and present danger” to allow the unsheathing of this draconian option; current Philippine law requires the president to seek approval of Congress and to defend any such declaration before the Supreme Court.

Martial Law is just not happening. And even if it were, I wouldn’t bet on the people not supporting Duterte, if he does decide to declare it. *** On the real news front, there’s the Malacañang report during the same weekend just past quoting Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, to the effect that in a little over six months, the Duterte administration has secured P900 billion in grants and concessional loans from just two countries. There is just so much going for this story that it really pains me to see what little “play” it received, compared to the unreal Martial Law reports.

The background, of course, is the deferment by the US-funded Millennium Challenge Corp. of

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Opinion

PRESIDENT Duterte revived us about his vision for the cityfears about martial law over the state and his decision to impose weekend. authoritarian rule.

He said no one can stop him Abella’s comparison of Presifrom declaring it—not Con- dent Duterte to Lee smacks of gress, not even the Supreme ignorance of fact. Unlike DuCourt. This is so he could deal terte, Lee did not reward his with the worsening problem of supporters with sensitive posiillegal drugs and protect the Fil- tions in government. ipino people.

Abella also said that like Lee, Recall that it was only recently Duterte is decisive and a “man when he said martial law would of action.” My gulay, how can not solve the problem of the na- Duterte be decisive when he tion. During the time of former says one thing only to contradict President Ferdinand Marcos, it it the next time around? did not solve the problems of the I can understand Abella, country, either. though. Like Andanar, he is just If you are confused as to what trying to earn his salary. might be going on in the Presi*** dent’s mind, so am I. At the rate Former President and now he is talking, he may actually House Deputy Speaker Gloria declare martial law if only to Macapagal Arroyo wants the protect the nation, especially Bureau of Internal Revenue the youth. shielded from political interferWhat really worries me is that ence. She filed House Bill 695 Duterte said he could ignore the creating the National Revenue restrictions that can be posed Authority. by the other branches of govI believe it’s about time. ernment, as provided for by the Arroyo said a National Rev1987 Constitution. This would enue Authority is needed to only be possible under a one- address the growing dissatisman rule, or under a revolution- faction of taxpayers, particuary government. larly over frontline services, I am one with the President high-level tax evasion, avoidin his war against illegal drugs, ance and increasing perception especially since thousands of of systematic corruption in the officials are also involved in BIR. Past efforts to reorganize this trade. There are millions and overhaul the bureau were of drug users in the country. unsuccessful.

This is a real problem. I do not Former President Arroyo believe any president can solve knows only too well what ails this within a six-year term. This the BIR—at least three fundais a difficult journey, endless mental institutional constraints. even.

There is the But with his rigid personnel repeated promanagement nouncements system where about martial promotion is This really law, President based merely Duterte has worries me. on loyalty and succeeded seniority rather in instilling than exemplary a climate of per for mance. fear among the And then you people. have a compensation structure Worse, after he was quoted that restricts the hiring of firstabout the matter in newspa- rate professionals. The strict per reports, now comes Com- line-item budgeting system also munications Secretary Martin limits the flexibility in the alloAndanar saying the President cation of funds. was misquoted. Andanar only Both Houses of Congress makes the President look like a should make the Arroyo bill a liar. Duterte would be better off priority. It is timely and urgent. without him.

The BIR has consistently per*** formed poorly in the collection Secretary Ernesto Abella, Pal- of taxes. The NRA, on the other ace spokesman, has compared hand, would start with a clean the President to Singapore’s slate. founder and first Prime Minister A Revenue Board would be Lee Kuan Yew, who transformed created composed of four govthe third-world city-state into a ernment representatives and first-world nation. three from the private sector.

How ignorant can people The government representaaround President Duterte get? tives would include the heads There’s no comparison at all. of the Department of Finance as The authoritarian rule of Lee chairperson, budget and manwas necessary because of civil agement, the National Economstrife. ic and Development Authority Lee’s rule gave emphasis to and the Securities and Exchange meritocracy. To avoid corrup- Commission. tion, he gave all public officials The private sector reprethe same compensation as those sentatives shall include exgiven in the private sector. Lee’s perts in the field of economrule was marked by the suppres- ics, accounting, law, business sion of press freedom and politi- management and other allied cal dissent. He succeeded. professions. They would serve In the early 1960s, I was for a fixed tenure to avoid disamong a select group of jour- ruption of services. The chief nalists invited to Singapore. We executive or CEO would be apinterviewed Lee, where he told pointed by the Revenue Board.

Selling...

From A4 collectively known as Official Development Assistance for the next five years. That’s a record, Dominguez said, for any Philippine government for any five-year period, not to mention a record for the first half-year of any government in the past.

The China-Japan ODA packages are the same as the US Millennial Challenge grants, in that they are targeted to fund specific projects and will in all likelihood be implemented using studies, technology and even private contractors provided by the granting countries. The only difference being, as Duterte already pointed out, that both China and Japan are letting the Philippines deal with the illegal drug problem and

other initiatives of the new government the way it wants to deal with them.

But despite Duterte’s hunch about foreign aid being proven correct—or perhaps because of it—the Dominguez story was relegated to the inside pages of newspapers and given short shrift in the rudimentary and superficial business reports of broadcast news. And there are some in media who still profess that they cannot understand Duterte’s animosity towards the Fourth Estate.

Fair is fair. Except, of course, when you’ve decided—regardless of all evidence to the contrary—to be relentlessly unfair.

And if media doesn’t get the message and get it pretty soon, bad news won’t even sell anymore. It will just be bad news, repeated endlessly in the tiny, out-of-step echo chambers of unreasonable critics.

A5

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The ‘federal’ idea

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Confused?

So am I

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

FORMATION GARY OLIVAR (Part 1) EVEN during the early days of his campaign, candidate Digong was already a vocal proponent of changing our system of government from unitary to federal.

This was clearly the product of his many years at the helm of Davao, one of the world’s largest cities in terms of land area. But despite its size, it is simply too far away from “imperial Manila” to enjoy comparable largesse from the national government.

This inequity must have rankled the long-time mayor of Davao as well as many of his fellow politicians from the island of Mindanao, a region of vast but unrealized promise. It was they who came together over time to form the backbone of the federalist movement, coalesced in such political parties as PDP-Laban and the Centrist Democratic Party.

At one point, through the initiative of Cagayan de Oro’s Nene Pimentel, former Senate president and stalwart of the anti-dictatorship movement, the federalist forces enjoyed a breakthrough, with the passage in 1991 of the Local Government Code that sought to implement the local autonomy provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

But this breakthrough was short-lived and half-baked, as Pimentel will be the first to admit, and the federalist campaign has since resumed.

*** In 2005, a 25-member constitutional commission appointed

by President Arroyo drafted a new charter that, among other things, called for a federal form of government to be headed by a unicameral parliament. Unfortunately, this initiative was cut short by the “Hello Garci” hysteria whipped up by disgruntled deserters from her Cabinet.

Nonetheless, the draft still subsists today as a reference for present-day efforts to craft a new constitution. Good things, after all, are never wasted. Also available is a draft document from 1998 under the Estrada government, a couple of House and Senate resolutions, as well as what must now be a growing number of submittals to Congress, solicited or not.

It is this abundance of reference material that gives me hope that the writing of a new constitution by a constituent assembly will not take forever, regardless of what kind of congressmen we have today. The wheel need not be reinvented.

If a president in the mold of Duterte chooses to crack the whip on the congressmen (and senators) through his own appointive constitutional commission, we may well see a plebiscite on a new charter held as early as next year, 2018. This would just be in time for the May 2019 mid-term elections to convert into the first-ever free election of a new Philippine federal parliament. *** Soon after the President’s inauguration last June, I was asked to help convene a purely voluntary people’s initiative to educate

the general public on “the federal idea.” Under the leadership of Raul Lambino (now PDP-Laban’s deputy secretary general for constitutional change), our group quickly dubbed itself the PDu30 Constitutional Reformers towards Federalism, or “PDu30 Core.”

As a member of the speakers bureau, I have since spoken at over a dozen occasions, mostly around Metro Manila, before gatherings as small as Rotary Club monthly fellowships, and as large as the annual convention of over 5,000 civil engineers in the cavernous auditorium of SMX Convention Center.

The question I’ve been most frequently asked is how many states we should have in a federal set-up.

Fortunately, it is also the easiest one to answer.

The suggested number of states has ranged from the ridiculous (as many states as there are provinces or even sub-provinces and large cities), to the conventional (12-13 states broadly based on ethnolinguistic groupings, as proposed by former Senate President Pimentel), to the unconventional (only three states comprising the country’s three island/regions, as proposed by National Economic and Development Authority’s first head Dr. Gerry Sicat).

The Pimentel version works out to an average population of 12 to 13 million per state. This is well above the average of about 4.5 million per American state.

Our states would clearly not be too small, even if we take account of the significant income and wealth disparities between the two countries. *** My own preference is a modi-

fication of Dr. Sicat’s version, to comprise half a dozen states: Northern/Central Luzon, Metro Manila-NCR, Southern Tagalog/ Bicol, Visayas, Mindanao, and Bangsamoro. The arguments are primarily economic, not ethnic.

On size and population grounds, Luzon clearly needs to be broken up into at least two states, with a stronger region (central Luzon and southern Tagalog) carrying a weaker partner (northern Luzon and Bicol). NCR becomes our equivalent of Washington DC, New York, and Boston rolled into one mega-capital.

The Visayas are a string of islands that require all sorts of interconnecting infrastructure and utilities (power generation and distribution, feeder airports, interisland bridges and RoRo). These are needed to sustain interconnected business models (e.g. tourism packages, agriculture to agriprocessing) and are best planned and financed as one region.

The sheer contiguous size of Mindanao argues for ambitious, island-wide projects to jump-start its potential: from its own nuclear plant and power grid, to its own highspeed tollroads and railway system, to vast networks of corporate farms and attached agri-processors.

And of course an autonomous Bangsamoro state is our longdeferred response to our unhappy Muslim brethren. More optimistically, it also opens the door for the country to the banks and capital markets of Islamic finance south of our borders. (To continue on Friday) Readers can write me at gbolivar1952@yahoo.com

Remembering Manila’s Mel Lopez HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA THE Philippines lost another dedicated public servant last Dec. 31 when ex-Manila Mayor Gemiliano “Mel” Lopez Jr. passed away at the age of 81.

Mel Lopez started his political career as a city councilor in Manila. Running for a seat in one’s city council may seem like a typical starting line for every aspiring political leader back then, but Lopez’s political plans were not easy to pursue. He was, after all, running in Manila, the city where politicians play hardball all the time, even outside the election season.

Despite a 1948 law declaring Quezon City the capital of the Philippines, Manila was where real politics took place. The iconic Plaza Miranda—which hosted political rallies where national and local issues were debated, and where candidates for national and local public office submitted themselves to the scrutiny of the electorate—was in the heart of the city. Manila was definitely the political nerve center of the country, and as Vice President Salvador “Doy” Laurel once said, “Where Manila goes, so does the nation.”

Since Lopez was a fiery speaker, he easily got elected.

Because he kept his campaign pledges, he easily got reelected.

Lopez’ reelection bid in 1971 almost cost him his life. On August 21, 1971, two hand grenades exploded at the proclamation rally of his anti-Marcos political party at Plaza Miranda (mistakenly referred to as a miting de avance in some print and video

Human...

From A4 found Oro a very powerful movie was precisely because it got it right with respect to social and environmental injustice in the country. Most people I personally know who protested against the killing of the dogs are certainly against the massacre of the miners and sympathize with the victims of the drugs war.

More importantly, the argument of the Oro defenders incorrectly dichotomized human rights and animal rights.

Animal rights, protection, and welfare are concepts that are centuries old and universally recognized. It is the idea that animals are entitled to the possession of their own lives and the need to avoid suffering.

Advocates maintain that animals should not be view solely as food, clothing, entertainment and beasts of burden but must be accorded humane treatment. While there exist extremist views on the concept, a compromise approach has gained currency in that animals may be used as resources so long as they do not unnecessarily suffer; they have some moral standing but not in the same genre as human beings who are considered superior species.

As early as the 1820s, the United States has already enacted anti-cruelty statutes. In 1860s, the first Humane So-

materials), causing death and injury to many. Lopez was seriously injured, but timely medical attention saved his life.

Although Lopez’ political allies blamed President Ferdinand Marcos for the incident, Marcos insisted the communists planned it. From revelations of ex-communist cadres made public after 1986, it turned out that Marcos was right—Jose Ma. Sison of the Communist Party of the Philippines orchestrated the bombing and correctly predicted that the people will blame Marcos for it.

Lopez was reelected, but his political career was cut short by martial law in September 1972. Soon thereafter, Manila Mayor Ramon Bagatsing, who was elected under the anti-Marcos political party, switched sides and became a Marcos ally.

Many in the Manila city council followed suit.

Since Lopez refused to be a political butterfly, he was eased out of the corridors of power in city hall by Bagatsing and his minions. Consequently, Lopez became a staunch supporter of political opposition leader Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino, Jr. Lopez also became a stalwart in Doy Laurel’s anti-Marcos political party Unido—the United Nationalist Democratic Organization.

Six seats were alloted for the City of Manila in the May 1984 elections for the Batasang Pambansa. Lopez was one of five opposition candidates for assemblyman who won in Manila under the UNIDO banner. Those who won with Lopez were Eva Estrada Kalaw, Gonzalo Puyat II, Carlos Fernandez, and Jose Atienza, Jr. A sixth opposition party candidate, Jose Lina, lost to Arturo Tolentino of the proadministration political party,

the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan.

After Corazon “Cory” Aquino seized the presidency in February 1986, she designated Lopez as officer-in-charge of the City of Manila, replacing Mayor Bagatsing. In 1988, Lopez was elected city mayor in his own right.

While he was city mayor, Lopez upgraded support services for the city’s out-of-school youth, and exposed a rice cartel which was manipulating the market price of the prime commodity.

It was during Lopez’ tenure as mayor when the famous city hall clock tower was finally fixed to tell the correct time, everytime.

As the dominant landmark of the city, Lopez saw to it that the clock tower was well-lit every evening to remind everybody that Manila is and remains the capital city of the Philippines.

Lopez thought that his loyalty to Ninoy Aquino will be reciprocated by President Cory Aquino.

In the end, Mrs. Aquino abandoned Lopez and supported exNational Bureau of Investigation Director Alfredo Lim, Lopez’ main rival for the top post in city hall. Sadly, Lopez lost to Lim. Losing his interest in elective public office, Lopez concentrated on sports development, particulary in boxing. He worked very hard to train Filipino boxers in the hope of having at least one of them win a gold medal in the Olympics. With Lopez’ gone, that quest may remain a national dream for quite some time.

Unknown to many, Lopez has a quaint place in the history of the University of the Philippines (UP). When UP President Edgardo Angara increased tuition and other school fees in UP by as much as 350% in 1984, UP student leaders led by the now

famous Louis “Barok” Biraogo challenged Angara’s directive first, in the Quezon City Regional Trial Court, and ultimately, in the Supreme Court. Assemblyman Lopez came to the rescue when, upon Biraogo’s request, he whole-heartedly sponsored the photocopying of the voluminous papers the students-petitioners were required to file in the Supreme Court.

Truth to tell, Biraogo did not know Lopez personally. Biraogo simply went to the Batasang Pambansa one evening, saw Lopez preparing to leave the building with other assemblymen, recalled seeing Lopez on the television news as an leading opposition leader, approached Lopez and identified himself as a UP student, and narrated to Lopez his group’s dire need for assistance in their court battle against Angara.

Without much ado, and true to his role as a public servant, Lopez agreed to help and directed his assistant to assist Biraogo and his group.

Since a deadline was imposed by the Supreme Court, the help Lopez provided truly saved the day for the UP students.

In January 1986, Biraogo’s fraternity, the Upsilon Sigma Phi, organized a political rally in UP Diliman for the candidacies of Cory Aquino and Doy Laurel, who were running for president and vice president, respectively, in the “snap” presidential elections. Accepting Biraogo’s invitation, Lopez was one of five exclusive speakers in what eventually turned out to be, on account of the thousands who attended it, the biggest political rally every held in UP Diliman.

Farewell, Mel Lopez. May God give the Philippines more public officials like you.

cieties and Societies for the Protection of Animals were formed to run animal shelters and promote the enforcement of animal cruelty laws. The movement grew still in the 1970s with the publication of the influential book Animal Liberation: A New Ethics for Our Treatment of Animals, authored by Peter Singer, considered the founding philosophical statement of its ideas. Animal Liberation argues that interests of all beings capable of suffering are worthy of equal consideration and that giving lesser consideration to beings based on their species is no more justified than discrimination based on skin color.

Singer argues that animal rights should be founded on the idea that animals also have the capacity to feel pain rather on their intelligence. He accuses speciesism (the notion that human beings, being naturally superior, are not morally restricted to exploit animals) of being similar to racism and sexism, in that they all deny moral and legal rights to one group in favor of another.

Today animal welfare and protection are deeply entrenched practices not only in the United States but in the West as well.

Highly publicized campaigns against animal cruelty and testing have been launched and have succeeded in many places and against many products (eg. clothes and fashion accessories) and

processes (including medical and pharmaceutical testing).

The Philippines is, however, a newcomer in animal protection and welfare campaign. Under Republic Act No. 8485, the Animal Welfare Act of the Philippines of 1998, it became the policy of the state to “protect and promote the welfare of all animals in the Philippines by supervising end regulating the establishment and operations of all facilities utilized for breeding, maintaining, keeping, treating or training of all animals either as objects of trade or as household pets.”

RA 8485 provides that persons hurting animals will be imprisoned for 6 months to two years and fined for P2,000 to P5,000. These penalties are quite light and is one reason practices that engender animal cruelty persist, such as the dog meat trade, dog fighting and racing, or “tambucho” killing and euthanasia and other forms of animal cruelty. Aside from the benign penalty imposed by the law, the problem lies in enforcement and a more sustained and effective education campaign on pet ownership, pet handling and safety, overpopulation and endangered species and in general more humane treatment of animals.

The campaign becomes more challenging when animal cruelty is deeply ingrained in the culture of some ethnic and rural communities in the Philip-

pines. As an indigenous peoples’ rights advocate, I am fully conscious that there are cultural differences among peoples on how to relate to particular animals.

A balanced approach is required in such cases and we need to allow for a pluralistic approach while recognizing emergent universal norms. Thus, under Philippine law, the killing of dogs, as part of ritual or ethnic custom, are actually allowed but they should be coordinated with the Bureau of Animal Industry and the Committee on Animal Welfare.

The way we treat nonhumans is reflective of our capacity to treat our fellow human beings. None of this however is to deny that human and animal rights are of very different orders. Yet human rights is all about a good and civilized society, to the extent then that we can live in one where we can at least accord animals a modest, if appropriately refashioned, set of rights, devoid of barbarity towards these non-humans which prove to be so beneficial to human beings in a wide variety of ways.

Oro is right about the injustice done to the miners. Its filmmakers are wrong about the slaughter of the dog/s. We must always uphold human rights and animal rights together.

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Koko backs Asean agenda S

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

The President’s statement that life in the Asean has broken the of dependence and igENATE President Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel “bonds norance” enhances its founding III on Monday commended the Duterte spirit to become a vehicle for peace and progress, the senator administration for pushing a “strong and from Mindanao said. resilient” Association of Southeast Asian Nations Asean turns 50 this year, coincidafter the Philippines assumed the chairmanship of ing with the Philippine chairmanship of the alliance months after Duthe 10-nation regional bloc on Sunday. terte announced that he would chart an independent foreign policy.

The Senate leader made the the Asean could do to its citizens Its theme, “Partnering for remark after Foreign Affairs Sec- in this time of great change. It is Change, Engaging the World,” retary Perfecto Yasay said Asean to ensure stability and security, perfectly highlights the Philipis poised to become one of the which will enhance opportunities pines’ enhanced role in the reworld’s largest economies in three of its citizens for a better life,” gion, said Pimentel, who is also decades despite challenges.

Pimentel said in a statement. the president of the administration Pimentel said he would support “The regional bloc is focused party Partido Demokratiko Pilipithe President’s priorities to pro- on growth and centered on Asean no-Lakas ng Bayan (PDP-Laban). mote regional peace and stability citizens. Nothing could be more He said the leadership of both and pursue maritime security. important to the Asean in a re- chambers of Congress has al“These are key issues that the gion that is the most economically ready identified priority measures Asean must continually strive to dynamic in the world,” Pimentel aimed at improving people’s maintain. He has articulated what said. lives and enhancing Philippine

role in the Asean.

Among the non-controversial bills are the provisions of free tuition in state universities and colleges, free irrigation for farmers, universal health insurance coverage and nutritious meals for students in public elementary schools.

Yasay, for his part, said the Philippines assumes the leadership of the bloc as Asean gears to become one of the world’s largest economies within 30 years.

“Asean success has been unprecedented… The once fragmented economies now form part of a thriving robust community projected to become the world’s fourth largest by 2050,” Yasay said at the launching of the Asean Summit 2017 in Davao City.

Yasay is optimistic that Asean members will overcome various challenges facing the region, such as new concerns

IN BRIEF

of security threats. “[These challenges] make our job not less complex, not less easy or not less difficult. And yet, we are now better prepared to embrace disruptive events that threaten the peace and security of the region with our solid and unbreakable alliance because we as a region, as Asean, are committed to ride and surmount the quest of that wave called change, the Asean way,” he said.

Yasay said Asean is an economic powerhouse with gross domestic product now the third largest in Asia and the seventh largest in the world. The region has attracted around $120 billion in foreign direct investments.

Asean groups 10 countries— Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Solon allowed to fly to Rome THE Sandiganbayan has allowed Tawi-Tawi Rep. Ruby Sahali-Tan to fly to Rome this week to join the third round of peace talks with the National Democratic Front.

Although Tan is not really a member of the government peace panel, she was invited to join the talks to be held on Jan. 18 to 25 as chairperson of the House committee on peace, rehabilitation and unity.

Tan had asked the anti-graft court permission to join the peace talks in Rome and proceed to France from Jan. 26 to 29 “to meet with the Filipino community.”

Tan was charged with six counts of violating code of conduct and ethical standards after failing to file her Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth under oath or on time as vice governor of Tawi-Tawi from 2008 to 2013.

In 2008, Tan allegedly failed to file her 2007 Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth under oath, according to the charge sheets.

For the next four years, she allegedly failed to file her SALNs for the years 2008 to 2011 under oath and on time. In 2013, she also failed to file her 2012 SALN within the period provided by law.

The Ombudsman filed the charges on Dec. 19 six counts of violation of Section 8 of the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees against Tan, who pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Tan was one of the prominent Mindanao politicians who were recently charged of violating SALN rules.

Aside from Tan, also charged with similar raps were Maguindanao Vice Gov. Lester Sinsuat, Sulu Gov. Abdusakur Tan II, his father and former vice governor Abdusakur Tan, Maimbung mayor Samuel Tan and former Lugus mayor AlZhudurie Asmadun.

Farmers ready Mendiola rites THE militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas is preparing a series of actions leading to the 30th anniversary of the Mendiola Massacre of 1987.

“This year’s protest and commemoration of the Mendiola Massacre will happen under extraordinary circumstances—peasant leader Rafael Mariano who led the farmers march to Mendiola in 1987 is now DAR secretary and the land problem is among the major agenda of the peace talks between the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP),” said KMP chairperson Joseph Canlas.

“There’s still no land and no justice for farmers. No one was arrested, convicted and punished for the massacre at Mendiola that killed 13 farmers namely Danilo Arjona, Leopoldo Alonzo, Adelfa Aribe, Dionisio Bautista, Roberto Caylao, Vicente Campomanes, Ronilo Dumanico, Dante Evangelio, Angelito Gutierrez, Rodrigo Grampan, Bernabe Laquindanum, Sonny Boy Perez, and Roberto Yumul,” said Canlas.

The month-long protests and actions will include the farmers’ assertion for the enactment of a new land reform program that seeks free land distribution to farmers.

The farmers said they will also expose the AFP’s continuing militarization of farmlands and peasant communities that resulted to rights violations and extrajudicial killings. Regional peasants camp-outs and land occupation activities are also under way.

Sandy Araneta

Western Samar still has red tide

UNVEILING ASEAN 2017. Young ladies from Davao City perform a traditional dance during the launching of the Philippines’ chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Sunday. PNA

Senate stops Trillanes panel probe on BI THE Senate on Monday voted 14-7 to stop Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s committee from investigating the bribery scandal involving former Bureau of Immigration officials and instituting a reorganization in the bureau.

The senators reversed the referral of Senate Resolution No. 256, filed by Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon, urging the Senate Committee on Civil Service, Government

Reorganization and Professional Conduct, chaired by Trillanes, to look into the matter.

Senator Miguel Zubiri opposed the resolution and said it was “prudent” to refer the resolution to the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, led by Senator Richard Gordon, because the BI was an agency under the Department of Justice.

Gordon supported Zubiri’s objections and questioned the motive of the resolution, saying Sena-

tor Leila de Lima also sought an investigation on the matter.

“We can all decide for ourselves where it is headed,” Gordon said, suggesting that the probe would be turned into another circus similar to the one involving confessed gun-for-hire Edgar Matobato.

But Drilon defended his resolution against Gordon’s suggestions that there were ulterior motives in the proposed probe.

De Lima also lashed back at

Gordon and said “imputation of some kind of bad faith or ill motive is definitely very offensive.”

Trillanes also hit back at Gordon, saying he should just respect the referral of the resolution. “If they don’t like your committee, why force the issue?” he said.

The senators, however, voted to reconsider the referral and refered the matter to the Senate Committee on Rules, chaired

by Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

THE Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources on Monday raised the red tide alert over the coastal waters of Maqueda and Villareal Bays in Western Samar.

In its recent shellfish bulletin, BFAR said that Daram Island in Daram, Irong-Irong and Cambatutay Bays in Wastern Samar, Matarinao Bay in Eastern Samar and coastal waters of Leyte and Carigaga Bay in Leyte are also still positive for red tide.

The coastal waters of Biliran Province, Gigantes Islands in Carles, Iloilo and coastal waters of Dauis and Tagbilaran City in Bohol are also still positive for paralytic shellfish poison that is beyond the regulatory limit.

Agriculture Undersecretary for Fisheries and BFAR Director Eduardo Gongona said all types of shellfish from these areas are not safe for human consumption. Anna Leah E.

Gonzales

SSS contribution hike bill ok’d

By Maricel V. Cruz KNOW YOUR FORTUNE.

THE House of Representatives on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill authorizing the Social Security System to collect additional contributions from members even without the approval of the President.

Voting 227-7-1, the Lower House approved House Bill 2158 that seeks to amend the Social Security Act in light of the government’s plan to increase the monthly collection by 1.5 percent.

The bill, amending Republic Act No. 1161 and Republic Act No. 8282, otherwise known as the ‘Social Security Act of 1997,”

Mall goers in Davao City stop at a stall to read what the Year of the Rooster has in store for them.

Geonarri Solmerano

shall allow the SSS board to increase contributions without having the need to seek approval from the Chief Executive.

HB 2158 was principally authored by Reps. Enrico Pineda and Mikee Romero of 1-Pacman partylist; Vilma Santos-Recto of Batangas, Evelina Escudero of Sorsogon, Rene Relampagos of Bohol and Jesus Sacdalan of North Cotabato.

The government’s decision to grant P1,000 across-the-board pension increase paved the way for the increase in monthly premium, raising the current contribution to 12.5 percent from 11 percent—an amount that will range from P15 to P740.

The increase will take effect in May.

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate, a lawyer and one of the principal authors of the SSS pension hike, maintained that Section 4 of the Social Security Act of 1997 clearly states that an increase in benefits for SSS pensioners must not be subsidized by a concurrent increase in members’ premiums.

This developed as the Lower House adopted House Joint Resolution 10 on third and final reading by a vote of 233-1.

The joint resolution “expresses the sense of the House of Reprentatives” for the P2,000 across-theboard monthly increase in pension to be given in two tranches.

Olongapo City residents hold remembrance of 1st elected mayor OLONGAPO residents and thousands of volunteers will hold today activities that would give recognition to the late Mayor James “Jimmy” Leonard Gordon, Olongapo’s first elected mayor, to mark his 100th birth anniversary.

Gordon, father of Senator Richard Gordon and former Olongapo Mayor James “Bong” Gordon Jr., was born on Jan. 17, 1917 of American John Jacob Gordon and Veronica Tagle-Gordon. He was mayor of Olongapo City from Dec. 30, 1963 to Feb. 20, 1967.

Instead of electing American citizenship and residing in the United States like his four brothers, he chose to stay in the Philippines as a Filipino citizen. He raised his children as Filipino citizens and brought them up according to Filipino values.

The former mayor, known as the Father of Olongapo, led the move to free Olongapo from the United States.

When the rest of the Philippine had been declared independent of the US on July 4, 1946, Olongapo remained under US govern-

ment jurisdiction because it was declared a US Naval Reservation in the early 1900s.

Gordon, though an American himself, having an American father, could not stomach the strict military regulations that limited the movements of the residents of Olongapo and exposed the abuses and harassments suffered by Olongapo residents under US military rule.

As part of the celebration, simultaneous wreath-laying activities will be held in four significant areas in Olongapo, partic-

ularly: Marikit Park, which will be led by the Balikatan Ladies; Kalalake Elementary School; Gordon Park/Kalaklan; and Tappan Park, site of the hospital where Mayor Jimmy Gordon was born.

Activities also include a photo exhibit, which will show the late mayor’s achievements and contributions to Olongapo’s development.

Aside from the Gordon family, expected to attend are officials of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority; Subic Bay Freeport Zone investors; socio-civic groups such as the Jaycess

of Olongapo City, Rotary Club of Olongapo City, James L. Gordon Council of the Olongapo City Boy Scout of the Philippines, Balikatan Ladies of Olongapo Movement, SUGPO, Businessmen/Civic groups participants; Philippine Red Cross Olongapo City Chapter Board, Staff and 143 volunteers; PRC Board of Governors; and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies; and officials and volunteers of the Bagumbayan Volunteers for a New Philippines Party.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Sports

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Thomas delivers Hawaiian punch in record golf fashion L

OS ANGELES —Justin Thomas made more history on Sunday at the Sony Open, firing a five-under 65 to set the PGA Tour’s lowest 72-hole score at 253.

Thomas sank a one-foot birdie putt on the par-five 18th at the Waialae Country Club course where his 27-under 253 is the lowest four round score of all-time.

“It has been an unbelievable week.

Unforgettable,” Thomas said.

Thomas started his round with a seven-shot lead and cruised to victory, finishing seven strokes ahead of runnerup Justin Rose of Britain.

The 23-year-old American is off to one of the best starts in PGA

Tour history.

He has won three of his last four tournaments. That includes a sweep of the Tour’s Hawaii swing as he becomes the first golfer since Ernie Els in 2003 to win the Tournament of Champions and Honolulu’s Sony Open back-to-back.

Olympic gold medallist Rose closed with a six-under 64 Sunday to reach a 20-under 260 total.

Former world number one Jordan Spieth finished in solo third with a

final round 63 to finish at 19-under, eight shots back of Thomas.

Kevin Kisner and Jamie Lovemark both shot 65 and tied for fourth at 18-under.

Thomas’ epic performance this week started and ended with him making history in Hawaii.

He became the youngest on the Tour to shoot a 59 in the first round, shot 64 to set the 36-hole record in Friday’s second round, continued with a 65 to tie the 54-hole record on Saturday and set the 72-hole mark on Sunday.

Tommy Armour held the previous 72-hole record with a 254 at the 2003 Texas Open.

“It is pretty unbelievable what

JT is doing now,” said Spieth.

“He is showing the world what he is capable of.”

Thomas said he was aware of the record.

“I told [caddie] with two holes left, ‘we need to get one of these last two.’”

In addition to claiming his first PGA Tour victory in the 2015 CIMB Classic, he posted six other top-10 finishes last season, winding up third four times—in the Frys.com Open, the Honda Classic, the Players Championship and the Travelers Championship.

Thomas also was sixth in the Tour Championship and is finally feeling the satisfaction of turning

those previous close calls into victories this season.

“I didn’t do a lot this off season,” Thomas said. “I wanted to get away from the game. But the time I did spend working I worked hard and I was trying to work on my negatives so weeks like this were more in reach.”

Thomas had a birdie burst around the turn as he rolled in four starting at the par-four eighth hole. His only blemish of the day came at the par-three fourth where he made bogey.

“The last 10-hole stretch I was very comfortable I just tried to stay patient,” he said. AFP

Packers boost Super Bowl chances LOS ANGELES—Mason Crosby kicked a last-gasp field goal as the Green Bay Packers downed the Dallas Cowboys 34-31 in a thrilling NFL playoff battle on Sunday.

Crosby held his nerve superbly to kick the winning three-pointer from 51 yards with just three seconds left on the clock in the final twist of an epic duel at the AT&T Stadium.

Green Bay will now play the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday in the National Football Conference Championship game for a place in the February 5 Super Bowl in Houston.

Elsewhere on Sunday, the Pittsburgh Steelers won their ninth straight with an 18-16 win over the Kansas City Chiefs to book a spot in the AFC Conference game against the New England Patriots.

Crosby’s winning field goal came after quarterback Aaron Rodgers connected with Jarad Cook with a 36-yard pass at the Dallas 32.

Cook was initially adjudged to have gone out of bounds but the call was over-ruled, handing the Packers field position and Crosby his shot at immortality.

Packers coach Mike McCarthy paid tribute to Rodgers’ ability to lead the game-winning drive with just seconds left.

“He’s an incredible talent,” McCarthy said. “To do it when it’s on the line like that, that’s what great players do.

“That was one heck of a football game to be a part of. I just can’t say enough about my football team’s resiliency.”

The finale capped a pulsating closing two minutes. Crosby had kicked a 56-yard field goal to put Green Bay 31-28 ahead only for the Cowboys—who had rallied back from a 21-3 first-half deficit—to tie it at 31-31 with a 52yard Dan Bailey effort.

The Cowboys—the top seeded team in the NFC after a 13-3 regular season—were left ruing a shaky first half display which saw Green Bay power ahead.

Cowboys rookie quarterback Dak Prescott and running back Ezekiel Elliott both failed to exert control in the early stages but it was the Dallas defense’s inability to stymie Rodgers that proved fatal.

After Bailey had kicked a field goal to put Dallas 3-0 ahead, Rodgers took over.

The Packers quarterback connected with namesake Richard Rodgers on a 34-yard pass for Green Bay’s opening touchdown. AFP

Justin Thomas of the United States reacts during the final round of the Sony Open In Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. AFP

Nishikori survives dogfight in Aussie Open tilt MELBOURNE—Japan’s Kei Nishikori called for changes to the Davis Cup format after coming through a grueling five-set dogfight in his opening match at the Australian Open on Monday.

The fifth seed was on court for three-and-a-half hours in sapping heat before he completed a 5-7, 6-1, 6-4, 6-7 (6/8), 6-2 win over 48thranked Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to maintain his unbeaten record in five-set matches in Melbourne.

Nishikori has pulled out of Japan’s Davis Cup tie against France in Tokyo the week after the Australian Open, blaming the scheduling of the teams event.

“I’m not playing because of the schedule, it’s gonna be too tight,” Nishikori said.

“Going to South America, Rio and Buenos Aires, and if I play Davis Cup, that’s way too much for my body and Indian Wells and Miami (tournaments) are coming up after. So I just decided not to play.”

Nishikori also said changes to format of the Davis Cup, the annual international competition billed as the ‘World Cup of tennis’, were overdue to make it shorter.

Davis Cup ties are spread across the year and teams that reach the final will have played four weekends at venues around the world.

“I hope they can make some changes. Yeah, right now I think it’s way too much to play three times or even if you play final, maybe four times,” he said.

“I think that has to change, for sure, to make it shorter. I think all the players—I don’t know if all, but I think most of them are hoping to change.”

Five-set king It was Nishikori’s fourth five-set win at the Australian Open, and set him up for a second-round encounter with Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.

Nishikori dispelled any doubts about a hip injury which forced him to withdraw from an exhibition event in Sydney after losing to Grigor Dimitrov in the Brisbane International final earlier this month. AFP

Dunleavy’s 20 points carry Hawks past Bucks LOS ANGELES—Mike Dunleavy is fitting in nicely with his new team, scoring a season-high 20 points as the Atlanta Hawks beat the Milwaukee Bucks 111-98 on Sunday.

Dunleavy, who was playing in just his second NBA game with the Hawks, initially baulked at a trade to Atlanta that sent Kyle Korver to the Cleveland Cavaliers. It took a meeting with coach Mike Budenholzer to convince him it was a good career move.

“It’s new for me and it’s new for them,” Dunleavy said. “Of all the teams to come to, it’s been easy to fit in here.”

Dunleavy was four for five on three-pointers and posted his first 20-point game since April 2015, when he played for Chicago.

Atlanta has won for the eighth time of its last nine games.

Atlanta also got 24 points from guard Kent Bazemore and 18 points, eight rebounds and five assists from forward Paul Millsap.

Milwaukee was led by forward Giannis Antetokounmpo with 33 points, eight rebounds and six assists.

Elsewhere, DeMar DeRozan scored 23 points as a physical Toronto Raptors outmuscled the New York Knicks 116-101.

DeRozan added five assists and five rebounds for Toronto but it was the no-nonsense defensive effort from his team that delighted Raptors coach Dwane Casey.

“I was really proud of the way the

starters came out and set the tone, especially starting the third quarter,” Casey said. “(We) came out, set the tone defensively and built a 30-plus (point) lead, so my hats off to those guys.”

Kyle Lowry, who finished with 16 points, nine assists and four rebounds, for Toronto, agreed.

“I just think we got more physical,” Lowry said of the defense. “I think we started to get more physical after the first part of the first

GAB, Philracom join forces

TOKEN. Harry Morris (left) and Jovan Masalunga (right) of the Philippine national rugby union team present a token token jersey to Gerry’s senior marketing manager Francis Villaluz (center) during the launch of Gerry’s at 20 in Tomas Morato in Quezon City.

The homegrown restaurant and bar which is celebrating its 20th anniversary on February 2017 is a food sponsor of the Philippine Volcanoes and the CSB Lady Blazers.

TO further intensify the government’s campaign against illegal gambling in the country, specifically cockpit betting, the Games and Amusement Board and the Philippine Racing Commission recently teamed up to stop the operation of 63 offcockpit betting stations of the Manila Cockers Club Inc., which conduct operations in different parts of the country thru Off Track Betting.

Philracom Executive Director Dr. Andres Buencamino said the MCCI failed to submit legal documents to the GAB and Philracom, such as copies of Local Government Unit permits

for the Off-Cockpit betting stations in various areas after being granted permission to broadcast its cockfight events in Carmona, Cavite.

Such documents have been warranted since the release of the condition issued by the GAB last April, 2016.

Buencamino reiterated that from Dec. 5, 2016 to date, MCCI has only submitted local permits of 62 out of the 145 Off-Cockpit betting stations operating in and out of Carmona, Cavite.

This is enough reason, Buencamino said to release a directive by the GAB for the discontinuation of the livestreaming

Rogin-E’s ManCon to showcase cars, fashion, hobbies ACCOMPLISHED. Successful. Driven.

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On Feb. 18, Rogin-E will hold the firstever ManCon at the Metro Walk Tent in Pasig—a whole-day event especially

geared for men who want to stay on top of their game.

The Rogin-E ManCon 2017 will showcase activities that speak to men with varied interests and passions. Think cars and motorbikes for men who love speed and mobility; sports activities for those who want to stretch the limits of their physical strength and power; fashion and grooming for those who know that appearance counts; and a selection of toys and hobbies

quarter and we just kept going.

“The bigs did a good job of rebounding and we got out and were able to run.”

Third quarter burst Toronto effectively sealed victory in the third quarter, outscoring the Knicks 27-8.

The Raptors third win in a row improved their record to 27-13 in the Eastern Conference standings. The Canadian franchise has now defeated the Knicks in five straight games. AFP

to engage a man’s mind and body.

The Rogin-E ManCon 2017 recognizes that men have distinct needs to stay ahead —physical and mental endurance, focus and mental agility, and the energy to attend to his diverse interests.

Rogin-E is a multivitamin especially formulated for men who want to be on top of their game, at work and at home.

It contains Korean Panax Ginseng that enhances physical and mental endurance

against weakness and exhaustion; Deanol for potency, improved concentration and mental agility; and Royal Jelly for youthful vitality. Rogin-E gives the extra energy that men need to do well in all his activities both at work and at play.

Multivitamins + Minerals + Deanol + Royal Jelly + Korean Panax Ginseng is the generic name of Rogin-E. For more information, go to www. bayer.com.

of cockpit fights in the remaining 63 Off-Cockpit Betting stations.

“Last April 2016, the GAB granted the MCCI permission to livestream or broadcast its cockfights in the condition that the MCCI shall not conduct any betting over livestream cockfighting event in cockpits and off-cock bettings stations outside of Carmona, Cavite, unless unless the said cockpit and off-cockpit betting stations are expressly authorized as such by the local government. In regard to this matter recently, GAB directed MCCI to submit local permits of the 145 cockpit operations,” Buencamino said.

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

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Team SEA sustains form, pulls away by 6 LUBAO, Pampanga—Team Southeast Asia fended off Team Pradera’s charge in the afternoon foursomes, forcing a 2 1/2-2 1/2 tie yesterday to pull away by six, 13-7, heading to today’s singles matches in the Pradera Ladies Challenge at the Pradera Golf and Country Club course here.

The visiting squad pounded the hosts anew with its solid game from its youth brigade, scoring a 3 1/2-1 1/2 victory in the morning four-ball to build a huge cushion going to the alternate shot format where Team Pradera fought back to keep its slim hopes alive.

But its six-point output in the day and 13 points overall put Team SEA within two wins and a draw in today’s 10 singles match as it zeroes in on the inaugural staging of the Ryder Cup-style event among the region’s top amateurs and rising stars.

“Our selection is really stronger. Team Pradera did not have much to choose from that’s probably why we are better than them,” said Team SEA co-captain Phunumpa Pornperapan, whose squad boasts of national players from Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.

Thai Atthaya Thitikul, 13, nailed her fourth straight win as she teamed up with Malaysian Geraldine Wong to post a 4&2 triumph over Nicole Abelar and Mika Arroyo in four-ball then partnered with Kan Bunnabodee to beat Missy Legaspi and Mika Arroyo in foursomes, 4&3.

Thai Onkanok Soisuwan and Geraldine Wong then held off Mikha Fortuna and Annyka Cayabyab, 2-up, before the Nicole Abelar-Tomi Arejola and Bernice Ilas-Sofia Chabon tandems pulled off a 3&2 and 2-up victories over Thais Tunrada PiddonNapaghach Boon-in and Malaysians Natasha Oon-Winnie Ng for Team Pradera.

Pau Del Rosariio and Abby Arevalo fought to an all-square match with Michela Tjan of Indonesia and Malaysian Qistina Azhar to split the afternoon duel of the event put up by Archen Cayabyab and Lubao Mayor Mylyn Pineda-Cayabyab in consultation with coach Norman Sto. Domingo and organized by Forthinker, Inc., headed by chairman Marilen Nunez.

While stressing the need to draw more quality games from her lead players, Team Pradera co-skipper Jennfier Rosales remains hopeful of a miraculous comeback in the singles.

Team SEA’s Natasha Oon of Malaysia (left) and Thai Kan Bunnabodee celebrate their 3&2 victory over Pau Del Rosario and Missy Legaspi of Team Pradera in four-ball.

Olympic silver medalist Diaz leads PSA nominees T

OP achievers of the year 2016 share center stage once again as the Philippine Sportswriters Association honors them during its traditional Awards Night presented by MILO and San Miguel Corp. on Feb. 13 at the LE PAVILION in Pasay City.

Hidilyn Diaz, who ended the country’s 20-year medal drought in the Olympics by bagging a silver in weightlifting of the Rio De Janeiro Games, looms as the leading choice for the coveted Athlete of the Year award during the formal affair co-presented by CIGNAL/Hyper TV. Last year pro boxers No-

nito Donaire Jr., and Donnie ‘Ahas’ Nietes along with golfer Miguel Tabuena were the joint recipients of the highest honor bestowed by the Philippines’ oldest media organization composed of editors and sportswriters from both the print and online portals.

President Rodrigo Duterte

has been invited to be the guest speaker of the night.

The President’s Award, Lifetime Achievement honor, Executive of the Year, National Sports Association of the Year, Mr. Basketball, Mr. Golf, Mr. Football, and Ms. Volleyball will also be handed out as part of the two-hour program backed by Smart, Foton, Mighty Sports, Philippine Basketball Association, ACCEL, Gold Toe, SM Prime Holdings Inc., Globalport, Rain or Shine, ICTSI, and MVPSF. Athletes, who earned Olympic berths through qualifying tournaments are likewise to be cited, among them tracksters

Diaz

Eric Cray, Marestella Torres, and Mary Joy Tabal, weightlifter Nestor Colonia, Ian Lariba, boxers Roger Ladon and Charly Suarez, taekwondo

Ramirez: PH Sports Institute gives us hope

By Peter Atencio WITH a modern high-performance training and a new sports science building set to rise inside the Philsports Complex in the coming months, athletes preparing for international meets will be able to focus on their goals of winning medals.

Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez said this is expected to bring hope to the expectations of many national sports associations, who want to see their athletes succeed in competitions outside the country.

“This is our hope, and we feel that by having this, the NSAs under the leadership of the Philippine Olympic Committee could set their di-

rections,” said Ramirez during the launch of Philippine Sports Institute yesterday at the Multi-Purpose Arena, Philsports Complex in Pasig City.

The Brent International School campus is the site where the PSC plans to put up facilities for high-performance training, which is mostly weight training equipment.

Also planned is a sports science building, which will deal with sports medicine, sports psychology and sports physiology.

“There were many shortcomings for Philippine sports. But, there is hope for us. Not only to dream, to pray to hope, but to expect. And there are a lot of prescriptions for Philippine sports,” he said,

With the needs of elite athletes met, the government sports agency can now focus its efforts to identify young athletes, who can someday win medals in international meets.

They will do this by putting up around 12 to 16 training centers in the regions, starting in Davao del Norte, with the help of Gov. Anthony del Rosario.

Officials of the PSC, led by planning chief Dr. Lauro Domingo, said the continuity of the Institute will become more stable once Congress enacts its creation into law.

Training talented kids who are between the age of 8 to 15 years old will be the main mission of the PSI’s grassroots athletics development program.

So splits point again; Pavel leads

PBA Best Player. Roi Sumang (left), shown here guarding his former Glo-

balPort teammate Terrence Romeo, is starting to show his true potential after spending much of his rookie season in obscurity. Coming off the bench, Sumang provided the big spark, firing 17 of his 19 points in the second half as Blackwater pulled the rug from under fancied Alaska, 103-100 on Sunday for a franchise-best fifth win. Sumang’s sterling effort earned him the Accel-PBA Press Corps Player of the Week for the period of Jan. 9-15.

San Beda seeks sweep in 2 fronts SAN Beda College seeks to sweep both the seniors’ and juniors’ crowns as it clashes with St. Benilde and La Salle-Greenhills, respectively, today in the 92nd NCAA football tournament at the Rizal Football Field.

The Red Booters turned back the Arellano University Chiefs, last year’s champions, in a 1-0 decision Thursday and will sweep their way to the title if they could hurdle the Blazers in their 2 p.m. encounter.

The Junior Cubs, for their part, turned back the Junior Chiefs, 4-1, also last Thursday and will clinch the crown and complete a football double if they could beat

Matches today

(Rizal Football Field) 8 a.m.- Arellano U vs Letran (jrs) 10 a.m.- San Beda vs St. Benilde (jrs) 12 nn.- Arellano U vs LPU (srs) 2 p.m.- San Beda vs St. Benilde (srs)

the Junior Blazers in their 10 a.m. duel.

San Beda has won all its 11 outings this season including two in the Final Four and a triumph will seal it its 22nd seniors’ crown, the most by any school as former league member La Salle will slide to second with 21 titles.

For its juniors’ squad, it is eyeing its 17th championship, which would put it three titles shy of catching up with La Salle-Green-

jin Kirstie Alora, and golfer Miguel Tabuena.

The PSA will also recognize major awardees in different sports and citations to various personalities and entities in the annual rite backed by the Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, and Federal Land.

Not to be missed out are the organization’s recognition to young promising achievers such as the Tony Siddayao Awards and the Milo Male and Female Junior Athletes of the Year, as well as posthumous awards to those dearly departed friends of the local sportswriting community.

hills with 20.

San Beda coach Michael Pediamonte said his team is looking forward to their showdown with St. Benilde.

“We’ve been looking forward for this game because we know this will be the most important match of the season for us,” said Pediamonte in Filipino.

St. Benilde, which is also unbeaten in the Final Four, however, isn’t about to go away and fade into the night as it is eyeing a victory that will arrange it a onegame title duel with San Beda on Thursday.

Otherwise, San Beda ends up painting the town red.

PSA Forum to discuss volley, rugby, triathlon THE two newly-appointed coaches of the national volleyball teams get to reveal their plans and programs as they join top officials of the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas Inc. as special guests in the first session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum for the year 2017 today at Shakey’s Malate.

Sammy Acaylar and Francis Vicente talk about the blueprint they’re trying to draw since being named as coaches of the Philippine

men’s and women’s volleyball teams, respectively.

With them in the 10:30 a.m. public sports program are LVPI officers Joey Romasanta and Peter Cayco.

Triathlete Monica Torres and representatives of the coming Manila 10’s Rugby Festival complete the week’s guests list in the session presented by San Miguel Corp., Accel, Shakey’s, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., and aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918.

CAVITE-BORN Wesley So played to his second draw in the 2017 Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.

So, playing black, split his point with Anish Giri in 43 moves of a Reti Opening.

He dropped to third place and now shares a point with Levon Aronian, Giri, Dmitry Andreikin, We Yi, Sergey Karjakin and Ian Nepomniachtchi.

The game became drawish when Giri advanced a center pawn to the fourth and So sent an attacking rook after it.

So, who is now an American citizen, accepted the draw after Giri’s king managed to find a chance to escape.

Pavel Eljanov is now in the solo lead with two points.

Eljanov took his second straight triumph at the expense of Loek Van Wely in 44 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game.

World no. 1 Magnus Carlsen prevailed over Radoslaw Wojtaszek in 44 moves of a Sicilian Defense to climb up to a share of second place.

He has 1.5 points with Pental Harikrishna, who defeated Bashkaran Adhiban in 43 moves of a King’s Pawn Game.

Aronian drew with Wei in 35 moves of a Reti Opening.

Peter Atencio

Globe, partners to finish $250-m cable link in Q2 B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandardtoday.com extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

B1

IMF sees growth of 6.8% in 2017

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

T

HE International Monetary Fund said Monday it expects the Philippines to sustain its strong economic growth this year, on higher government spending and export recovery.

IMF resident representative to the Philippines Shanaka Jayanath Peiris said the country’s gross domestic product was expected to expand 6.8 percent in 2017, slightly faster than its previous estimate of 6.7 percent, following a strong fiscal stimulus with budget deficit widening

towards 3 percent of GDP. “The Philippines is expected to maintain its strong GDP growth momentum registered in 2016 into 2017 at a pace of about 6.8 percent, supported by a fiscal stimulus as the budget deficit widens towards the 3 percent of GDP target,” Peiris said.

He said exports were also anticipated to recover, reflecting the pick-up in global growth and commodity prices.

“The medium-term growth outlook would depend on the more uncertain global economic outlook and the passage of the administration’s tax reform proposals that would be important to continue to raise public infrastructure investment and social spending to benefit from the demographic dividend,” he said.

The inter-agency Development Budget Coordination Committee set the growth target at 6.5 percent to 7.5 percent in 2017 and 7 percent to 8 percent in 2018 and 2019.

Data showed the economy grew 7.1 percent in the third quarter, bringing the average growth for the three quarters at 7 percent. Official data for the full-year growth will be released by the Philippine Statistics Authority on Jan. 26.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said sustaining the economic growth would be a challenge if the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program would not push through.

Dominguez said funding the Duterte administration’s ambitious infrastructure program by raising sufficient revenues for tax reform, rather than relying primarily on borrowings, was nec-

essary to keep the budget deficit within the manageable level of 3 percent of GDP beginning 2017.

He said the incremental revenues estimated to be collected from the first package of the CTRP amounting to P163 billion in 2018 was consistent with the planned increase in the budget deficit from 2.7 percent of GDP in 2016 to 3 percent of GDP from 2017 till the remainder of the Duterte presidency.

He said that without tax reforms, the deficit of 3 percent of GDP would be breached, leaving the country susceptible to an unsustainable fiscal position, which could lead to a credit rating down-

OFW money grows 18.5% MONEY sent home by Filipino workers abroad increased 18.5 percent in November 2016 from a year ago, the fastest pace in eight years, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Monday.

Data from Bangko Sentral showed remittances hit $2.2 billion in November, up from $1.9 billion a year ago. It was also higher than $2.1 billion in October.

The growth in cash remittances in November was the fastest since the 24.6-percent increase recorded in July 2008.

Bangko Sentral said the remarkable growth was backed by the pre-holiday season rush and the improving global economic conditions.

“The improving global economic conditions, particularly in the US, may have contributed to the overall growth in remittances,” Bangko Sentral Governor Amandto Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.

The November expansion was a recovery from the 3-percent drop in October.

Cash remittances in the first 11 months reached $24.3 billion, up by 5.2 percent from $23.13 billion a year ago.

Personal remittances, which include non-cash items, also jumped 18.5 percent in November to $2.4 billion and brought the 11-month tally to $26.9 billion, up 5.1 percent from $25.582 billion in the same period in 2015.

“The increase in personal remittances was driven largely by the 7.8-percent expansion in transfers from land-based workers with work contracts of one year or more to reach $20.9 billion,” Tetangco said.

“This made up for the 3.6-percent decline in remittances from sea-based and land-based workers with work contracts of less than a year totaling $5.5 billion,” he said.

The bulk of cash remittances came from the United States, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Japan, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Qatar.

Gabrielle H. Binaday

grade below investment grade.

“The non-passage of the tax reform package now pending in the Congress will have dire consequences not only on our hardearned gains in improving our macroeconomic fundamentals but also on the lives of our poor and vulnerable fellow Filipinos,” Dominguez said.

He said accelerating spending on infrastructure would not only fill the massive backlog left behind by the previous administrations, but would also create more jobs, which would further spur economic growth and help free some six million Filipinos from extreme poverty over the next five years.

IN BRIEF PH gets record $33b from China, Japan CHINA and Japan committed $33 billion worth of investments and development assistance packages to the Philippines, among the largest amounts announced by the two economic powerhouses for a single country, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said Monday.

Dominguez said the unprecedented pledges of aid and investments by Japan of $9 billion and China of $24 billion reflected the strong confidence of the international community in the Duterte administration’s capability to sustain the Philippines’ high growth path and realize its inclusive growth agenda.

“These record inflows from Tokyo and Beijing make up the initial investment dividend from the President’s foreign policy rebalancing towards accelerated integration with our Asean [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] peers and major Asian trading partners China, Japan and South Korea,” Dominguez said.

“Also, such financial assistance from Beijing and Tokyo at the onset of this administration best illustrate the international community’s deepening confidence in the Duterte presidency that drown out the political chatter emanating from certain quarters,” he said.

Dominguez said the funding and investment commitments were the highest announced by Japan and China for one country . He said such commitments also mirrored the strong relations that the Philippines had with Japan and China.

Gabrielle H. Binaday

The Manila International Container Terminal, International Container Terminal Services Inc.’s flagship operation and the Philippines’ largest, most technologically advanced container terminal, capped 2016 with a milestone as it reached its first annual two millionth TEU move in December. The two millionth TEU container was offloaded from SITC Osaka, which is operated by Chinese megaliner SITC Container Lines. Shown during a ceremony to commemorate the milestone are (from left) Captain Li Qinghua, SITC Osaka vessel master; Huang Ping, SITC import assistant manager; ChristianGonzalez, ICTSI senior vice president and regional head of Asia-Pacific and MICT; Qing Quan, SICT Container Lines Philippines Inc. general manager; and Carmelo Tejero, SITC senior operations manager.

Manila container port handles 2m TEUs

By Darwin G. Amojelar Tabs [Terminal Appointment another berth by 2019.

INTERNATIONAL Container Terminal Services Inc. said its flagship terminal in Manila handled two million twentyfoot equivalent units last year, a milestone for the company.

The port operator owned by tycoon Enrique Razon said terminal utilization at the Manila International Container Terminal significantly improved since the completion of Yard 7 in November 2015.

Yard 7, which is a part of MICT’s P5-billion expansion project, increased the terminal’s capacity by 18 percent from 2.5 million to 2.75 million TEUs. “The construction of Yard 7 and the implementation of

Booking System] last year gave us the flexibility and efficiency we need to perform optimally. We have more projects in the pipeline like the revival of the rail line which will link MICT with Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal,” ICTSI senior vice president and regional head of Asia-Pacific and MICT Christian Gonzalez said.

The 2-million-TEU milestone also triggered a multibillion peso capacity improvement commitment with the Philippine Ports Authority that required ICTSI to commission five additional postPanamax quay cranes along with corresponding yard equipment and build at least

Aside from establishing an intermodal link between its Manila and Laguna terminals, ICTSI also submitted a proposal to the Department of Transportation to build the Cavite Gateway Terminal― a $30 million common-user barge and roll on–roll off terminal in Tanza, Cavite.

The 115,000-TEU facility, which will be built in a sixhectare property, will also be directly linked with MICT. The transshipping of cargo from MICT to CGT and vice-versa will serve the dynamic economic activity of Cavite and lessen the number of truck trips in Manila by 140,000 annually, according to the company.

“All of these projects are aimed at maximizing the efficiency of our operation and ensuring uninterrupted movement in the supply chain regardless of the season or fluctuation in demand,” Gonzalez said.

“We continue to work with our stakeholders and partners in the government in formulating and implementing strategies for the benefit of the industry and the national economy,” he said.

The port operator earlier posted a net income of $150.8 million in January to September from $143.7 million in the same period in 2015.

ICTSI’s revenues from port operations hit $390.3 million, up 15 percent from $339.5 million in 2015.

Former Neda head supports two-tier cigarette tax system ECONOMIST Romulo Neri, a former director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, said Monday a regressive unitary tax system will inequitably require the poor to pay a much higher percentage tax than the rich, who consumes a more expensive brand, as both will pay the same P30 tax per pack.

Neri, who held a key position in President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s government, said House Bill No. 4144 aimed to correct the regressive and anti-poor provision in the current law while protecting the livelihood of poor Filipino tobacco farmers.

“In countries where tobacco use is inversely related to income, the regressivity of tobacco taxes is exacerbated. In the Philippines, the

poor use up 2.8 percent of their income in tobacco consumption while the rich only 0.8 percent,” Neri said.

He said “the burden of paying the same unitary specific tax will have a much heavier impact on the poor than the rich, making even worse its already regressive nature.”

“That’s why,” Neri said, ”in EU countries, they impose two types of taxes on tobacco: a specific tax component to set a minimum floor high enough to discourage smoking and at the same time an ad valorem tax so that cheaper brands will pay less taxes than the premium brands.”

“This makes the tax system less regressive for the tobacco consumer and levels the playing field between the manufacturers of cheaper brands vis-a-

vis the makers of premium brands,” he said.

A report by Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance in 2015 showed that ad valorem and multiple tax systems and not unitary were the dominant mode of imposing taxes on tobacco in Southeast Asia.

Ad valorem tax is imposed in Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam, while Thailand, Malaysia and Laos use a mix of specific and ad valorem.

Indonesia uses multiple tiers of specific taxes on tobacco. Only Singapore and Brunei practice a unitary specific tax system.

Neri said “contrary to the claim of its detractors, HB 4144 will not increase smoking prevalence since it will increase tobacco taxes an even higher

rate than the previous bill which will increase the tax rates from 25 percent to 30 [20 percent increase] for the cheaper brands and 29 to 30 [3 percent increase] for premium brands.

“The bill even makes it more prohibitive to smoke since the specific tax will increase from 25 to 32 [28 percent] for cheaper brands and from 29 to 36 [24 percent] for premium brands. So if the objective is promoting health through higher tobacco taxes, HB 4144 will achieve this better.”

He said if the objective was to collect more taxes on tobacco, it would be more effective to tax even more the brands consumed by the rich as they had a low price elasticity of only 0.52 while brands consumed by the poor had a high price elasticity of 1.09.

Iran plans to export apples to Philippines IRAN offered to export its apples to the Philippines, the Agriculture Department said Monday.

Iran Ambassador to the Philippines Mohammad Tanhaei recently met with Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol to discuss the request of the Iran government.

Piñol said as a part of standard procedures, the Agriculture Department was finalizing the pest risk analysis of apple fruit samples from Iran.

“I’m still waiting for the results, and if everything turns out okay, rest assured that [the document on] importation of apples is ready for signing,” Piñol said.

Piñol said he was hoping for possible ventures, noting Iran’s huge market for tropical fruits, particularly banana and pineapple. He asked the Tehran government to reduce the 24-percent tariff on Philippines bananas.

He said the agency was willing to assist Iranian companies interested in business ventures.

Anna Leah E. Gonzales

B2

Business

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market closes flat; Shakey’s rises URC allotting P7.2b S to expand factories TOCKS closed flat amid thin trading Monday, as markets around the world retreated on reports UK Prime Minister Theresa May prepares to quit the European Union’s single market to regain control of Britain’s borders and laws.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, closed at 7,238.45, nearly unchanged from its finish Friday. It was up 5.8 percent this year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, gained 4 points, or 0.1 percent, to settle at 4,364.87, on a value turnover of P4.5 billion. Advancers matched losers, at 94 apiece, while 46 issues were unchanged.

Six of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Arthaland Corp. which surged 25.8 percent to P0.78 and Shakey’s

Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. which climbed 4.4 percent to P12.28. SM Prime Holdings Inc. rose 2.5 percent to P30.55.

Meanwhile, stocks around the world were rattled as the pound struggled at 32-year lows against the dollar in Asia after reports said British Prime Minister Theresa May was ready to take the country out of the European Union in a so-called “hard Brexit”.

Sterling’s retreat came with losses on most Asian stock markets as investors nervously await Donald Trump’s inauguration speech on Friday, having been left disappointed at his lack of detail on economic policy at a news conference last week.

A number of Sunday newspapers in the UK said May was willing to pull out of the single market, the European customs union and the European Court of Justice, in order to regain control of immigration.

The news sent sterling plunging to $1.1986, its lowest since October’s “flash crash” that sent it to $1.1841—a level not seen since the

start of 1985.

The unit later pared some of the losses to sit just above $1.20.

“The weekend reports were undoubtedly the factor that pushed the pound down,” said Nomura forex strategist Yoshitaka Suda.

“Markets are watching what Britain does.”

The reports come as May prepares to give a speech Tuesday on the government’s strategy on leaving the EU. The PM aims to launch two years of departure talks when she triggers the Article 50 exit process by the end of March, although a legal challenge is still pending before the country’s Supreme Court.

“Even if the pound recovers somewhat in London, it seems as though the realities of a hard Brexit are still not fully priced in,” Sean Callow, senior strategist at Westpac Banking Corp. in Sydney, told Bloomberg News.

“It is difficult to make the case for the pound to avoid testing, probably breaking, the ‘flash crash’ lows in coming weeks.”

With AFP, Bloomberg

By Jenniffer B. Austria FOOD manufacturer Universal Robnina Corp. earmarked P7.2 billion in 2017 capital expenditures primarily to expand existing facilities both here and abroad.

URC said in a filing with the stock exchange P4.8 billion was allocated for the expansion of capacities and improvement of handling, distribution and operational efficiencies throughout the branded food business.

These include the construction

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, JANUARY 16, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.83 75,000 48 11,900 91.2 769,510 4.13 4,000 111.7 1,530,070 1.4 227,000 38.5 36,000 16.1 1,200 19.16 52,700 6.58 4,700 0.68 1,000 1.69 124,000 838 40 0.68 4,179,000 77.9 1,455,620 0.78 805,000 14.22 20,000 54.55 21,520 228 13,620 151 840 90 190 35.85 8,800 211 914,020 1,720 100 76.3 82,970 1.26 26,000

280,620 570,170 70,545,373 16,550 170,984,528 317,950 1,383,460 19,320 1,010,746 30,926 680 210,180 33,860 2,828,230 113,385,337 625,690 284,400 1,176,161 3,123,056 126,067 17,100 315,845 194,341,156 171,830 6,329,868.50 32,600

37,000 296,960 -32,850,673 12,872,775 299,124 17,000 -8,642,086.50 100 -1,036,909 -2,889,202 53,775 -61,075,690 17,200 -569,586 -

43.6 4.31 0.86 1.38 17.8 0.21 94.1 11.68 15.94 143 22.7 21 60 96 1.94 6.4 11.98 12.3 6.36 7.08 5.25 22 68.85 16.02 6.1 1.75 209 2.6 29.5 27 14.18 276.6 4.96 3.29 9.68 11.34 2.3 5.65 1.52 74.5 5.05 240 5 2.81 11.76 0.144 1.53 172.8 4.38 1.79 1.08

INDUSTRIAL 43.65 1,036,100 4.48 1,856,000 0.89 945,000 1.42 1,080,000 17.82 10,900 0.21 40,000 99.8 320 11.68 6,425,800 15.94 2,569,900 143 10 23 143,100 21 1,300 60 180 96.05 2,200 1.97 222,000 6.45 701,600 12 25,600 12.3 6,387,400 6.51 2,409,300 7.15 492,600 5.25 25,392,200 22.8 2,868,200 68.85 38,100 16.04 100,100 6.11 70,300 1.75 1,448,000 209 413,410 2.61 134,000 29.9 257,700 27.3 302,300 14.18 1,406,900 276.8 304,950 5.17 1,100 3.29 52,000 9.74 3,219,900 11.34 7,500 2.3 1,340,000 5.75 343,200 1.58 429,000 75.3 666,530 5.08 211,400 245 17,450 5.02 223,200 2.83 55,000 12.28 19,390,900 0.147 2,690,000 1.57 226,000 173.2 767,040 4.39 14,000 1.83 4,292,000 1.14 46,000

45,333,685 8,188,090 824,690 1,513,370 195,040 8,520 31,483 76,127,428 41,022,986 1,430 3,268,280 27,300 10,800 215,705 433,240 4,517,759 306,988 79,165,628 15,425,484 3,530,968 133,943,979 64,737,820 2,624,698.50 1,617,130 429,521 2,580,170 87,419,880 356,050 7,697,575 8,245,890 20,132,420 84,778,806 5,666 171,830 31,336,521 85,970 3,091,320 1,945,095 673,910 50,147,182.50 1,082,181 4,248,820 1,120,072 154,650 236,580,278 388,800 349,550 133,306,219 61,390 7,776,990 49,740

14,857,965 88,990 31,082,824 -4,582,590 -4,800 53,910 -5,659,124 -1,180,667 -108,645 59,412,380 20,726,520 2,233 61,000 106,750 -40,583,856 674,945 -7,101,495 -9,167,782 16,093,378 -16,981,380 1,196,200.00 -1,915,340 23,415,627 47,058 -225,426 -22,520,488 -6,650 36,292,347 203,250 -

0.41 74.5 12.9 6 0.305 0.305 773 8.8 13.02 7.94 0.176 1,317 74.6 1.1 7.86 12.1 6.75 0.041 1.15 2 97.05 679.5 1.24 260 0.3 0.18 0.26

HOLDING FIRMS 0.41 18,360,000 74.7 1,065,960 12.98 6,335,600 6 58,100 0.305 140,000 0.31 100,000 786.5 148,700 8.8 279,700 13.08 3,844,700 8.18 53,200 0.18 580,000 1,319 74,230 75.95 822,550 1.12 19,170,000 8.04 657,300 12.2 6,465,300 6.8 19,819,000 0.043 212,500,000 1.15 1,000 2.1 1,457,000 98.5 65,700 686.5 91,330 1.34 2,157,000 263 4,670 0.3 300,000 0.184 1,030,000 0.26 20,000

7,606,350 79,723,328 82,522,078 348,600 43,200 30,750 116,948,565 2,465,775 50,330,048 434,601 105,160 98,132,765 62,775,460 21,742,330 5,283,850 79,071,342 135,475,928 9,179,900 1,150 3,043,710 6,441,976 62,705,865 2,834,570 1,225,222 90,000 192,560 5,200

20,750 -13,014,360 -39,336,974 -5,113,245 1,166,917 -22,324,884 43,533,365 37,513,273.50 -139,030.00 -804,000.00 -26,100,046 -33,991,635 17,300 77,100 4,436,911 30,247,620 -

635,931 3,325,970 335,110 132,732,200 190,531,715 8,702,790 5,842,680 9,480 1,515,250 16,285,840 3,994,670 32,653,806.50 44,830 34,200 15,631,180 3,123,900 714,760 53,114,500 12,988,430 245,100 20,900 16,025,560 55,204,050 47,100 3,388,790 96,184,325

-350,224 -268,390 19,941,620 -1,860,080 -2,290,000.00 -5,690 62,000 2,964,674.50 -1,019,540 -25,607,110 -152,090 -24,114,355 20,117,800

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.8 47.8 91.9 4.14 111.9 1.41 38.4 16.1 19.2 6.58 0.68 1.7 850 0.68 78.1 0.76 14.22 55.15 230 145 90 36 214.6 1,686 76.3 1.25

3.83 48 92.5 4.14 112.6 1.41 38.5 16.1 19.22 6.58 0.68 1.7 850 0.69 78.35 0.79 14.22 55.15 236 153.9 90 36 214.6 1,720 76.5 1.26

3.7 47.8 91 4.13 110.8 1.4 38.4 16.1 19.14 6.58 0.68 1.68 838 0.67 77.65 0.76 14.22 54.55 228 145 90 35.85 211 1,686 76.25 1.25

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

43.95 4.49 0.86 1.4 17.8 0.214 94.1 11.8 15.98 143 22.95 21 60 96.05 1.96 6.45 12.06 12.6 6.36 7.4 5.33 22.2 68.9 16.02 6.1 1.8 212 2.65 29.5 27.9 14.42 281.6 4.96 3.33 9.73 11.58 2.31 5.74 1.58 75.1 5.21 240 5.02 2.81 11.76 0.146 1.53 175.6 4.38 1.88 1.08

43.95 4.55 0.89 1.42 18.26 0.214 99.8 11.9 16.1 143 23 21 60 102 1.97 6.6 12.06 12.6 6.63 7.4 5.35 22.8 69 16.2 6.14 1.83 215 2.7 30 27.9 14.5 281.6 5.17 3.33 9.8 11.58 2.33 5.78 1.59 75.35 5.22 246 5.02 2.83 12.48 0.147 1.57 176.1 4.4 1.88 1.14

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANSCOR ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL JG SUMMIT LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.43 74.5 13.12 6 0.31 0.305 795.5 8.95 13.1 8.19 0.187 1,320 75.05 1.2 7.86 12.4 6.88 0.044 1.15 2 98 681 1.25 262.8 0.3 0.187 0.26

0.43 74.95 13.12 6 0.325 0.31 795.5 8.95 13.16 8.19 0.187 1,334 76.8 1.2 8.04 12.44 6.92 0.045 1.15 2.17 98.8 688 1.36 263 0.3 0.19 0.26

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

7.42 1.18 2.53 0.64 34 3.17 0.58 1.06 1.39 0.191 0.61 51.8 0.71 0.149 1.67 1.01 1.24 3.78 0.153 0.265 0.415 4.32 26 1.57 3.25 29.8

7.7 1.22 2.53 0.8 34.6 3.2 0.58 1.06 1.46 0.195 0.63 53 0.72 0.155 1.69 1.02 1.24 3.83 0.167 0.275 0.42 4.32 26.2 1.57 3.28 30.8

7.42 1.17 2.45 0.63 33.8 3.16 0.56 1.05 1.39 0.185 0.6 50.95 0.71 0.148 1.66 1 1.2 3.77 0.15 0.26 0.415 3.98 25.5 1.57 3.23 29.65

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

1.05 0.9 5.04

1.06 0.9 5.04

1.02 0.9 5.01

1.02 0.9 5.03

15,094,000 31,000 471,500

15,606,330 27,900 2,371,313

21,150 -187,320

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

7.6 48 1.36 0.55 0.053 10.46 5.32 6.27 0.074 2.67 98.2 9.8 8.45 2.15 1,699 6.27 15.2 2.94 16.3 127 76 0.009 12.12 9.05 0.237 1.45 3.26 15.38 4.24 1.05 4.14 4.02 2.82 11.3 5.4 134 10.02 1,480 1.42 0.49 40.8 73.5 6.14 2.64 1.05 3.29 0.345

7.6 48.1 1.36 0.55 0.053 10.84 5.37 6.48 0.074 2.79 98.6 9.8 8.54 2.15 1,730 6.31 15.5 3.15 16.3 127 76.5 0.0097 12.12 9.05 0.238 1.45 3.3 15.38 4.26 1.06 4.25 4.25 2.82 11.3 5.4 138 10.08 1,539 1.43 0.5 40.95 74 6.2 2.67 1.07 3.29 0.345

7.49 47.8 1.34 0.52 0.05 10.46 5.32 6.2 0.072 2.65 95.65 9.8 8.4 2.14 1,668 6.25 14.92 2.94 15.78 127 73 0.009 12.12 9.05 0.231 1.39 3.25 15 4.15 1.05 4.1 4.02 2.7 11.3 5.32 134 9.85 1,468 1.39 0.48 40 73.45 6.11 2.58 1.04 3.26 0.345

SERVICES 7.5 47.95 1.34 0.53 0.052 10.5 5.32 6.46 0.073 2.74 96.1 9.8 8.4 2.14 1,703 6.31 15.5 3.1 16.2 127 73 0.0093 12.12 9.05 0.231 1.39 3.3 15 4.22 1.06 4.2 4.21 2.72 11.3 5.32 135 10.02 1,482 1.43 0.49 40.1 73.5 6.16 2.61 1.06 3.28 0.345

31,600 12,100 30,000 599,000 90,430,000 16,900 5,700 11,990,700 40,480,000 9,997,000 369,190 10,000 150,400 4,000 79,565 145,700 57,100 17,861,000 9,000 20 1,725,810 1,716,000,000 400 513,200 9,810,000 526,000 147,000 1,200 255,000 18,000 11,754,000 3,098,000 3,009,000 7,700 6,700 75,110 441,000 57,640 19,514,000 41,960,000 329,500 433,690 782,400 853,000 16,078,000 155,000 10,000

236,948 580,245 40,610 319,810 4,701,300 177,292 30,449 77,007,657 2,959,480 27,244,440 35,788,780.50 98,000 1,274,075 8,590 135,235,970 917,279 869,904 54,626,110 143,918 2,540 127,626,245 15,684,200 4,848 4,644,460 2,299,570 736,740 479,280 18,076 1,074,250 19,000 49,243,810 12,962,240 8,267,570 87,010 35,946 10,115,060 4,377,987 87,046,495 27,550,600 20,484,350 13,292,895 31,875,885 4,812,703 2,227,080 16,903,430 507,990 3,450

-36,590 10,400 -21,918,826.00 -643,990 -16,286,919 465,605 -42,070,920 189,960 5,629,793 227,000 280,400 294,180 -27,663,080 -2,319,180 272,000 -344,460 -464,696 -15,121,715 -948,990.00 -2,062,530 -9,139,502.50 17,951 -350,380 10,048,800 -226,310 -

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

0.0033 3 5.24 11 2.24 2.24 0.52 0.445 11.6 2.94 0.26 0.215 0.22 0.012 0.013 2.4 7.33 2.8 0.49 1.04 0.011 0.011 4.05 0.012 9.16 3.62 134.1 2.94 0.0092

0.0034 3 5.39 11 2.25 2.24 0.53 0.465 12 3.1 0.26 0.215 0.227 0.013 0.013 2.45 7.49 2.83 0.49 1.06 0.012 0.012 4.11 0.013 9.16 3.8 134.7 2.94 0.0092

0.0033 2.85 5.24 11 2.24 2.17 0.52 0.445 11.6 2.88 0.255 0.208 0.22 0.012 0.013 2.33 7.1 2.72 0.475 1.03 0.011 0.011 4.05 0.012 9.01 3.62 133.7 2.93 0.0092

MINING & OIL 0.0034 126,000,000 2.9 3,408,000 5.26 271,600 11 400 2.25 85,000 2.17 6,000 0.52 513,000 0.455 570,000 11.9 59,500 3.08 10,828,000 0.26 460,000 0.214 3,640,000 0.227 1,370,000 0.013 5,600,000 0.013 1,500,000 2.33 3,596,000 7.1 10,668,000 2.72 509,000 0.475 50,000 1.04 1,120,000 0.011 15,600,000 0.012 25,800,000 4.11 38,000 0.013 134,300,000 9.04 393,900 3.63 3,395,000 133.9 366,050 2.93 25,000 0.0092 4,000,000

416,300 9,862,220 1,444,108 4,400 191,150 13,300 267,760 259,850 700,108 32,717,370 118,100 770,270 304,850 67,800 19,500 8,597,270 77,448,496 1,391,360 24,000 1,156,970 180,400 309,400 154,700 1,704,600 3,582,795 12,518,020 49,023,422 73,290 36,800

2,735,400 -10,760 4,620 -26,500 1,466,470 12,120 402,730 -11,378,743 200 -91,145 -7,590 9,723,864 -43,950 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 ALCO PREF B DD PREF GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

48.2 530 103 104 523 5.89 1,020 1,030 106.5 1,150 1,030 107 81 77.5 77.6 79.6 79.45 77.5 77.3

48.5 535 103 104 523 5.9 1,020 1,030 106.5 1,150 1,030 107 81 77.5 77.6 79.6 79.5 77.5 78

47.75 530 102.7 104 523 5.89 1,020 1,030 106.5 1,150 1,030 107 81 77.5 77.6 79.5 77.25 77.2 77.2

PREFERRED 47.95 152,200 535 700 102.9 5,540 104 850 523 34,500 5.9 66,600 1,020 3,000 1,030 1,000 106.5 50 1,150 5,165 1,030 4,080 107 9,500 81 13,150 77.5 550 77.6 5,200 79.5 150,010 77.25 31,210 77.2 66,800 78 589,000

7,299,885 371,500 569,930 88,400 18,043,500 392,659 3,060,000 1,030,000 5,325 5,939,750 4,202,400 1,016,500 1,065,150 42,625 403,520 11,939,796 2,425,050 5,160,260 45,768,885

1,877,200 -227,150 -4,202,400 -1,065,150 -450,765 -

LR WARRANT

2.26

2.3

2.24

WARRANTS 2.3 127,000

287,160

1,280.00

2,099,769 925,570 9,480 9,808,026

10,478 -2,510 -7,114,254

310,781

-

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 7.7 1.22 2.45 0.78 34.3 3.2 0.56 1.05 1.43 0.185 0.61 52.7 0.71 0.155 1.66 1.01 1.21 3.78 0.165 0.26 0.42 4.18 25.6 1.57 3.28 30.55

85,200 2,758,000 135,000 180,044,000 5,560,900 2,723,000 10,224,000 9,000 1,063,000 86,430,000 6,500,000 624,820 63,000 230,000 9,315,000 3,118,000 594,000 13,986,000 81,180,000 910,000 50,000 3,910,000 2,145,000 30,000 1,049,000 3,163,900

ALTERRA CAPITAL ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE XURPAS

9 4.15 3.16 8.3

9.01 4.2 3.16 8.4

8.91 4.1 3.16 8.3

FIRST METRO ETF

119.5

119.8

119.5

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL HOLDING FIRMS

SHARES

10,366,622 91,097,931 296,619,973

PROPERTY

432,347,521

SERVICES

2,001,592,098

MINING & OIL

354,529,245

GRAND TOTAL

3,188,186,750

8.96 4.15 3.16 8.35

SME

234,300 223,000 3,000 1,170,300

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 119.5 2,600

VALUE 1,737.06 (DOWN) 10.56 568,178,705.31 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,128.38 (DOWN) 77.44 1,178,475,781.216 HOLDING FIRMS 7,382.65 (UP) 9.05 900,073,949.13 PROPERTY 3,293.33 (UP) 41.66 1,381.49 (DOWN) 5.52 694,076,429.94 SERVICES MINING & OIL 12,210.02 (DOWN) 28.24 914,116,161.8106 PSEI 7,238.45 (DOWN) 0.07 203,436,660.9487 All Shares Index 4,364.87 (UP) 4.04 4,471,512,634.355 Gainers:94 Losers: 94; Unchanged: 46; Total: 234

of a new factory in Malaysia, a new candy plant in Thailand, a new biscuit line in Indonesia, a bottle-making equipment in Vietnam and a mega warehouse in the Philippines.

URC allotted P1.45 billion for commodity foods group for flour mill construction, sugar business expansion and maintenance capital expenditures.

Another P950 million was appropriated for agro-industrial group for sow level expansion, farm improvement and handling facilities for feeds division.

URC in its fiscal year 2016 spent P7.81 billion for installation of new wafer and coffee mixing lines, rehabilitation/upgrade of beverage facilities in the Philippines and construction of warehouse and coffee manufacturing facilities in Vietnam.

URC said net income attributable to equity holders of the parent increased 22.3 percent to P15.14 billion in fiscal year 2016 from P12.38 billion a year earlier, despite the decline in sales from international operations.

Consolidated revenues rose 2.4 percent in the fiscal year ending September 2016 to P111.63 billion.

Sales from URC’s branded consumer foods segment, which accounted for the bulk of total revenues, went up slightly to P91.37 billion from P90.73 billion a year ago.

SMC set to build 3 coal plants

By Alena Mae S. Flores CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. will put up three coal-fired power plants in Mindanao with a combined capacity of 174 megawatts, a top executive said.

San Miguel president Ramon Ang told reporters the new power plants in Jolo, Tawi-Tawi and Basilan would significantly reduce the power rates in those areas.

He said the government was presently supplying the said areas with electricity at a cost of up to P15 per kilowatt-hour, while the company could sell electricity for as low as P3 per kWh. “For our Mindanao project, we have plan to put up a power plant in Jolo, Sulu as a 58-MW, coal-fired CFB [circulating fluidized bed]. Also [we have] intention to put up another one in Basilan and also one in Tawi Tawi. All [with] 58-MW [capacity],” Ang said.

He said the National Power Corp. was currently supplying Jolo, Sulu with a 25MW plant at P15 per kWh. “What I’m offering is, whatever support they [Napocor] give, they give to me. I will give them 58 MW. They will not lose anything.

Give it to San Miguel in writing and in the next 10 years, and we will in exchange give you 58 MW,” Ang said.

Ang said a stable and lowcost power supply “will create a very good growth.”

“If I will be given the contract, I should be able to put this in two and half years,” he said. Ang said he was unfazed by the peace and order situation in Mindanao.

San Miguel announced in June last year it would put up a coal-fired power plant in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

Business

B3

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

P10-b Ayala bonds receive high rating

By Jenniffer B. Austria

STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS. The Philippine chapter of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization names Nicolas Carunungan (fourth from left) of

BioScrub Inc. as the 2016 winner of the local Global Student Entrepreneurs Awards to represent the country at the global finals in Bangkok, Thailand.

EO Philippines, which will host the 2017 edition of the local Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, called on students who actively run a business to apply for the competition, where they stand a chance to win cash prizes that could help them expand their ventures.

Globe, partners to finish $250-m cable link in Q2

By Darwin G Amojelar

G

lobe Telecom Inc., along with other investors of the Southeast Asia–US (SEA-US) Cable System, expects to complete the installation of a state-of-theart undersea fiber optic cable network by the second quarter of 2017.

The Hermosa Beach, California shore-end last week was successfully connected.

The US Federal Communications Commission on January 12 granted the SEA-US cable landing license, while the construction of California’s cable landing station will be completed by the end of this month.

By next month, the installation vessel will arrive in Honolulu, Hawaii, after completing its main-lay construction between California and Hawaii.

The $250 million SEA-US Cable System is being constructed by NEC Corp.

When completed, the system will deliver an initial design ca-

pacity of 20 Terabit per second (Tb/s) capacity, using NEC’s state-of-the-art 100 Gigabit per second (Gb/s) technology.

The capacity will help to meet the exponentially growing demand for bandwidth between Asia and North America, while also enabling onward connectivity to existing and planned submarine cable systems.

Globe contributed $80 million for the project.

Other members of the SEAUS consortium are PT Teleckomunikasi Indonesia International (Telin), Telkom USA, GTI Corp. (a member of the Globe Group of companies), Ram Telecom International, Tele-

guam Holdings and Hawaiian Telecom.

“By routing south of the Philippines, the SEA-US system will avoid the disaster-prone Luzon Strait and thereby enhance the continuity of communications between the United States and Asia,” Globe earlier said.

Linking five areas and territories that include Manado (Indonesia), Davao (Philippines), Piti (Guam), Oahu (Hawaii, United States) and Los Angeles (California, United States), the SEAUS project will be about 15,000 kilometers in length, providing route diversity from the North Pacific and avoiding earthquake prone areas in East Asia.

The SEA-US system will help satisfy the burgeoning demand for international connectivity not just in Indonesia and the Philippines, but also in other Southeast Asian countries.

The cable system is expected to provide more efficient connectivity to about 1.5 billion people.

Globe said it would spend about $2 billion over five years

to provide the country’s households with fiber optic cables.

The company last week said it planned to tap the debt market to raise up to P20 billion within a three-year period.

The company, controlled by conglomerate Ayala Corp., said its board of directors approved the filing of a three-year shelf registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission for up to P20 billion in principal amount of debt securities in one or more tranches.

“The purpose of which is to allow Globe within a three-year period to go to the market to offer retail bonds,” Globe corporate communications head Yolanda Crisanto said.

“Currently no decision has been made as to when this offer will take place,” she said.

Globe issued P4 billion worth of seven-year bonds and P3 billion worth of 10-year bonds in July 2013 to fund the acquisition of Bayan Telecommunications Inc., capital expenditures and debt refinancing.

OMB: License fees, value of seized materials top P1b

By Othel V. Campos COMBINED licensing proceeds and the amount of seized pirated materials have reached over P1.15 billion in 2016 from just P557.5 million in 2016, the Optical Media Board reported Monday.

OMB chairman and chief executive Anselmo Adriano said in a briefing the agency intensified monitoring efforts, especially in the provinces where the sale of pirated DVD movies remained rampant.

“Many would think that since most people are using the web to watch or download pirated

movies and music, there will be a slowdown in the sale of pirated DVDs. But in the provinces where there is less monitoring, piracy is still a big problem of the government,” he said.

He said OMB seized more than 500 sacks of fake DVDs worth over P70 million in General Santos City alone.

MEIHAO PARTNER. Meihao Corp., a major player in the medical supplies industry, achieves a major business milestone after shifting its operations and entering into a partnership with financial holdings and investing group MFT Group of Companies Inc. Shown during the Meihao factory visit are (from left) MFT group director Luis Cancio Jr., Meihao CEO Jimmy Hao, MFT Group chief operating officer Enrique Tan, MFT Group CEO Maria Francesca Tan and MFT Group chief strategy officer Christian Konstantin Agbayani.

The Quiapo district in Manila, however, remains the single biggest area where fake DVDs are sold. In 2016, the OMB seized about 1,000 sacks of pirated DVDs on music and movies and other forms of media, like software, games and gaming applications, ebooks and audio books.

“We are now in the process of reviewing our charter so we can include other forms of digital content in our mandate. We will file this amendment to RA 9239, which is an act regulating optical media. We hope to cover the gap in digital monitoring,” Adriano said.

The agency will convince Senator Bam Aquino and Rep. Eric Olivarez to endorse the bill.

The agency aims to seize about P100 million worth of pirated materials.

The OMB and the Trade Department, meanwhile, signed Monday a partnership agreement to extend services to the provinces through the department’s Negosyo Centers in Metro Cebu and Metro Davao.

Clients in Cebu and Davao will no longer required to go Manila to have their permits and licenses approved.

The OMB is also looking at establishing linkages in Bacolod and Baguio City for clients through the Negosyo Centers.

Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya said the government wanted OMB’s presence in the provinces.

“This is for the good of business and consumers and to make people more aware of the registration processes with the OMB. Consider this as another option to promote business,” she said.

CONGLOMERATE Ayala Corp. said its proposed issuance of P10 billion fixed retail bonds received a rating of PRS Aaa with a stable outlook from Philippine Rating Services Corp.

Ayala said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the P10 billion due 2025 was the second and last issuance in relation to its three-year fixed rate P20billion bond program approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Ayala plans to use the proceeds from the bond issue to refinance the group’s outstanding PRSrated bond issuance of P10 billion maturing on April 30, 2017.

The conglomerate hired BPI Capital Corp., China Bank Capital Corp and PNB Capital and Investments Corp. as joint issue managers, and BDO Capital & Investments Corp., BPI Capital, China Bank, East West Banking Corp., First Metro Investments Corp. and PNB Capital as joint lead underwriters.

The bonds will be listed with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp., the operator of the country’s fixed-income exchange.

PRS Aaa is the highest credit rating assigned by PhilRatings.

Obligations rated PRS Aaa are of the highest quality with minimal credit risk. The obligor’s capacity to meet its financial commitment on the obligation is also extremely strong.

A stable outlook, meanwhile, is an indication of the possible direction of any rating change within a one-year period, and serves as a further refinement to the assigned credit rating for the guidance of investors, regulators and the general public.

PhilRatings considered Ayala’s strong brand equity and leading market position for its core businesses, well-defined strategy, sustained profitability, and healthy cash flows and financial flexibility.

Ayala is one of the largest and most diversified conglomerates in the Philippines with core investments in property, banking, telecommunications and water utility.

It also has interests in industrial technologies, power generation, transport infrastructure, international real estate, healthcare and education.

The conglomerate booked a net profit of P32.48 billion in the first nine months of 2016, up 11 percent from the P29.21 billion year-on-year.

SSS pension: Duterte disregarded Cabinet FROM time to time a chief executive officer, whether he be the President of the Philippines or a top corporate official, comes to a crossroads of decision-making. One road leads to The Right Place; the other leads to The Wrong Place. Recently President Rodrigo Duterte was at a decision-making crossroads on the proposal to increase by P2,000 the monthly pension of Social Security System pensioners. He chose the road leading to The Wrong Place.

Why was it The Wrong Place? Because the nation’s top economists and actuaries—the members of Duterte’s economic team and the actuaries of the SSS, respectively—said so. They said from the very start that if the P2,000 monthly pension increase came to pass, the actuarial soundness of this country’s leading social security entity would cease by 2029, fourteen years earlier than the previous estimate. They said that any increase in the pensions of the 2 million-plus SSS members would have to be matched by an increase in the monthly contribution of the active members of the System, whose membership now approximates 32 million.

Duterte’s Executive Order allowing a P1,000 increase—the P2,000 figure was split, the other P1,000 to be given in 2019— places him in sharp contrast to his predecessor. Many bad things have been said about Benigno Aquino’s handling of this country’s affairs, but in his favor it can be said that he accepted the counsel of his economic advisers and the SSS actuaries and vetoed the Congressional action allowing the increase. In so doing, former President Aquino acted in a statesmanlike, not a political, manner.

Why did Duterte totally disregard the position taken by his top economic advisers, namely, the Secretary of Finance (Carlos Dominguez), the Director-General of Neda (Ernesto Pernia) and the Secretary of Budget and Management (Benjamin Diokno)?

Two reasons. First, he wanted to make good on a campaign promise. And, second, he wanted to appease the Left, especially its Bayan Muna element, which was in full cry in support of the sought-after pension increase.

Worthy of note, in this connection, is the claim made by Bayan Muna leader Neri Colmenares that the actuarial soundness of the SSS has a way of restoring itself in the face of a pension increase sans a member-contribution increase. It has happened before, Colmenares claims; it can happen again. A more soft-headed approach to fiscal policymaking it is difficult to find.

The Dominguez-Pernia-Diokno trio (and, I dare say, most other economists) and the actuarial staff of the SSS surely do not enjoy saying No to additional benefits to the SSS pensioners.

But it is their mandated job to say No when they see a need to put down their collective feet.

And how about Republic Act 8282 (the amended Social Security Act), particularly Section 4 (a) thereof? That law states, in the said section, that the SSS may “provide feasible increases in benefits... provided that the actuarial soundness of the reserve funds shall be guaranteed.” This legal provision could well be used as basis for a legal challenge to Duterte’s Executive Order granting the monthly-pension increase.

More than a legal challenge, there is the financial challenge that has to be addressed. The job of a trained economist is to ensure the most efficient use of resources, and the job of an actuary is to ensure the foreseeable inflow of resources into a social-insurance system at least matches the outflow of benefits payments. They are the best guides—not the likes of Duterte and Colmenares—as to whether the SSS can remain actuarially sound in the face of a pension increase unaccompanied by a member-contribution increase.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

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

B4

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Business

Brexit woes hammer pound

By Simon Kennedy

T

he pound again bore the brunt of Theresa May’s Brexit planning, falling beneath $1.20 for the first time since October after newspapers reported she is prepared to leave Europe’s single market and customs union if that’s what it takes to regain control of immigration and law-making.

Sterling slid against all of its major peers ahead of the UK prime minister’s muchanticipated speech on Tuesday.

Downing Street declined to comment on speculation, but said May will call for a “new and positive relationship” with the European Union.

Making investors more jittery is the Sunday Times’s citing of government officials

as saying they expect her comments to cause a further “market correction.” Bloomberg’s Tim Ross and Svenja O’Donnell report the Treasury intends to speak to major banks after May’s speech to smooth the reaction.

Traders have previously viewed May’s pronouncements on Brexit as a reason to sell the pound as she tends to

fan speculation she is prioritizing social issues such as clamping down on foreign labor over the trading needs of the economy.

The pound dipped below $1.20 in early trading for the first time since last October’s so-called flash crash, when it plumbed a three-decade low of $1.1841. Meanwhile a measure of anticipated swings for the currency climbed to the highest in three months.

While May has repeatedly refused to give a “running commentary” on her strategy, Bloomberg’s Alex Morales proves she has actually said quite a bit on topics from trade to the courts since taking office six months ago.

May got a boost on Monday as US President-elect Donald Trump said he will offer Britain

a fast and “fair” trade deal.

Reversing the warning of President Barack Obama that the UK would be at the “back of the queue,” Trump told The Times “we’re gonna work very hard to get it done quickly and done properly. Good for both sides.”

“Brexit is going to end up being a great thing,” he said, predicting other countries will leave the EU. The olive branch will reinforce the view of those who campaigned for Brexit that the UK can prosper once it’s free to sign its own trade pacts. It will therefore make leaving the customs union more appealing, reinforcing May’s hand in the divorce talks by allowing her to highlight she has opportunities outside Europe.

Toughening Up

The UK government signaled it is toughening its stance towards the EU. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond laid down the gauntlet by telling Germany’s Welt am Sonntag that the UK will do “whatever we have to do” to boost its competitiveness if it can’t access the EU’s market after Brexit. That was interpreted as a hint he could cut corporate taxes and employment rules.

Hammond was criticized by opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for seeming to threaten a trade war. Norbert Roettgen, chairman of the foreign affairs committee in Germany’s lower house of parliament, told Die Welt that Hammond’s comments are “an expression of Britain being at a loss.” Bloomberg

Britain threatens to weaken Europe LONDON―Britain warned Sunday it might undercut the EU economically if it cannot obtain both single market access and immigration controls, as Prime Minister Theresa May prepared her big Brexit strategy speech.

Britain would be forced to “change our economic model” in order to remain competitive if it is shut out from access to the single market, finance minister Philip Hammond said.

His intervention came as newspapers said May was planning a clean divorce from the European Union when she sets out her Brexit strategy in a major speech on Tuesday.

May aims to launch two years of EU departure nego- A counting machine tallies British pound notes at a currency exchange in Kuala Lumpur on January 16, 2017. The pound struggled at 32-year lows tiations when she triggers the against the dollar in Asia on January 16 after reports said British Prime Minister Theresa May was ready to take the country out of the European Union in Article 50 exit process by the a so-called “hard Brexit.” AFP end of March, although a legal challenge is still pending before the country’s Supreme Court.

She has been under pressure to reveal her proposals (The following story is part for the talks that will estabof a series that AFP is runlish the future relationship ning on the historic shifts between Britain and the EU. caused by trade globalization.

Matching reports in several The series is linked to the inweekly newspapers said she auguration of Donald Trump was prepared to accept a soas US president and to the called “hard Brexit”: pulling annual meetings of the world out of the single market, the economic forum in Davos, European customs union and Switzerland.) the European Court of Justice, in order to regain control

By Isabel Malsang of EU immigration.

Hammond, in an interPARIS―That smoked salmon view with Germany’s Welt you bought for the New Year’s am Sonntag newspaper, said festivities has a story to tell.

Britain could not comproThe salmon may have been mise on the main message raised in Scotland―but it probfrom the June referendum ably began life as roe in Norvote to leave the EU: stemway. ming the flow of immigrants Harvested at a coastal farm, from the bloc. the fish may have been sent to EU citizens would be free Poland to be smoked.

It may even have traveled to travel to Britain and do halfway around the world to business there―but the deChina to be sliced. bate was over the right to It eventually arrived, Buyers surround the auctioneer as fresh halibut are sold in the Auction Hall of Grimsby Fish Market in Grimsby, work, settle and set up businorthern England, on January 9, 2017. Grimsby Fish Market opened in 1996 and holds a daily fish auction which wrapped in that tempting packnesses, he said. is recognized as one of the most important fish markets in Europe. The majority of fresh fish at the market age, in your supermarket.

“Clearly we need people to originates from Iceland and Norway, but it also handles catches from Faroe, Scotland, Ireland as well as from Globalization has changed come and work in our econlocal vessels. AFP the world in many ways, but omy to keep it functioning,” fi sh farming is one of the starkthe chancellor of the Excheest examples of its benefits and Scottish salmon farms import Qingdao for delivery within 45 which are unseen for the conquer said. hidden costs. days. sumer. eggs from Norway, the fish food But as for having no conThe nexus of the world fish“There is a significant amount Don Staniford, an activist and from Chile and then send the fish trol, “that has to stop.” farming trade is China―the of bulk frozen fish sent to China director of the Global Alliance to Poland―“because it’s cheapHe hinted that London was biggest exporter of fish prodjust for filleting,” said a source Against Industrial Aquaculture, er”―for smoking, said Staniford. ready to push through aggresucts, the biggest producer of “Consumers don’t realize that from an association of importers called the fish industry’s prosive cuts to business taxes to farmed fish and a major importduction and transportation chain cheap supermarket salmon comes in an EU country. ensure British-based firms er as well. with a huge social and environ“The temperature of the fish is “madness.” remained competitive in the With battalions of lost-cost Environmental cost ment cost,” he added. brought up to enable the filleting face of EU tariffs. workers, linked to markets by a “The iconic image of Scottish One such problem is that intebut the fish are not completely Hammond said he wanted network of ocean-going refrigsalmon―a wild salmon leaping grated markets, with the free flow defrosted.”

Britain to remain a “recogerated ships, China is the go-to The practice has helped trans- out of the river―has gone. The of fish and fish products across nizably European-style econplace for labor-intensive fish form the Chinese coastal prov- Scottish salmon farming industry borders, may spread disease and processing. omy with European-style inces of Liaoning and Shandong is dominated, 60-70 percent, by new bugs.

In just a few clicks on Aliinto global centers for fish pro- Norwegian companies,” he said.

Antibiotic-resistant diseases taxation systems, Europeanbaba, the Chinese online tradcessing.

The biggest such company, or parasites such as sea lice restyle regulation systems.” ing hub, you can buy three tons But globalized fish farming Marine Harvest, is the world’s quire bulk slaughter on giant fish However, London would of Norwegian filleted mackerel leaves a mighty carbon footprint largest producer of Atlantic salm- farms, pushing up prices. have to change course “if we shipped from the port city of Chile, the world’s second-largand has other impacts, many of on, some 420,000 tons in 2015. are forced,” in order to “regain competitiveness.”

Essilor acquiring Ray-Ban producer FRENCH lens maker Essilor International SA agreed to buy Luxottica Group SpA, the maker of Ray-Ban sunglasses, for about 22.8 billion euros ($24 billion), combining the largest manufacturer and retailer in eyewear.

Luxottica investors will get 0.461 of an Essilor share for each share they own, the Italian and French companies said in a statement Monday.

The bid is worth 47.07 euros based on Friday’s share price, 5 percent lower than Luxottica’s close of 49.56 euros.

Leonardo Del Vecchio, Luxottica’s 81-year-old founder and controlling shareholder, agreed to the deal and will become executive chairman and chief executive officer of the new company, EssilorLuxottica, which will have more than 15 billion euros in annual revenue. Del Vecchio will be the single largest shareholder with his Delfin holding company owning a stake of between 31 and 38 percent.

The deal creates a branded goods giant with a market value that rivals the secondbiggest luxury maker Hermes International. The companies said they expect revenue and cost synergies of 400 million euros to 600 million euros in the medium term. Essilor is the largest manufacturer in the industry and Luxottica the biggest retailer, according to Chris Cooper, an analyst at Jefferies.

Essilor Chairman and CEO Hubert Sagnieres will become executive vice chairman and deputy CEO with equal powers.

Del Vecchio’s Delfin agreed to contribute its 62 percent stake in Luxottica to Essilor in exchange for stock in the newly created group that will be listed in Paris. Essilor will then make a mandatory offer for the remaining Luxottica stock at the same exchange ratio.

Milan-based Luxottica, which also makes frames for luxury brands such as Armani, Chanel, and Prada, has a market value of about 24 billion euros as of Jan. 13, compared with about 22 billion euros for lens maker Essilor. Luxottica, which owns the Sunglass Hut retail chain, also is developing voice-activated glasses that coach cyclists and runners. AFP

Globalization causes historic shift in fish production est producer behind Norway, suffered the ravages of an algae bloom in early 2016, resulting in high mortality, reducing its expected production by 30 percent.

Despite such setbacks, the economic potential remains enormous.

According to Allied Market Research, the global aquaculture market will be worth $242 billion (228 billion euros) in 2022, compared to $169 billion in 2015.

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and World Bank go further and say that by 2030 two-thirds of the seafood on people’s plates will come from aquaculture farms.

Employment mirrors changes The tipping point may have come in 2014.

Only 81.5 million tons of fish were netted at sea―down from a historic peak of 86.4 million tons, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. For the first time, more farmed fish were consumed than wild fish.

On a broader employment level, fishing and aquaculture account for an estimated 56.6 million jobs across the globe.

But a breakdown of the numbers again underlines change.

Those involved in catching fish has fallen from 83 percent in 1990 to 67 percent in 2014―with the corresponding numbers in aquaculture almost doubling.

The evolution of the industry has also been driven by overfishing, with fewer wild fish now being caught, leading to a concentration of large multinational fisheries. AFP

LGUs

MOO-VING PARADE.

The town of Magdalena in Laguna celebrated its 197th anniversary on Monday with its traditional Carabao and Cow Float Parade and Competition, with one of the colorful entries pulling a cart with a model milk carton, symbolizing the town’s production of dairy milk. The celebration lasts until Jan. 18.

Roy Tomandao

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Chiefs test positive for drugs

By Sandy Araneta

M

ANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada confirmed Monday that several barangay chairmen in the city have tested positive for illegal drug use after undergoing mandatory tests last November.

“Apparently, there were some.

I don’t know the exact number yet,” Estrada said on receiving the initial results of the tests.

The Manila Health Department is not yet done with testing the village chiefs. Those who tested positive, Estrada said, will be required

to take confirmatory tests.

MHD chief Dr. Benjamin Yson said the barangay chairmen concerned have been sent to the East Avenue Medical Center for confirmatory tests.

“They can’t say no,” Yson responded when asked if the chair-

men who tested positive could refuse the confirmatory drug test.

Only 60 percent of the 896 barangay chairmen have so far been subjected to the mandatory drug test, the MHD chief clarified. Barangay councilmen or “kagawad” will follow, he said.

Manila Barangay Bureau chief Arsenic Lacson said the Department of Health, upon their request, provided 8,000 drug test kits, enough to cover the 7,168 elected barangay officials in the city.

Estrada reiterated his warning that he will go hard on those proven to use drugs.

“They should prepare for the

consequences. They know I’m not bluffing. Drug addicts simply have no place in the government,” he said.

Those eventually found positive after the confirmatory tests will be slapped “with the most severe punishments” in accordance with the regulations set by the Civil Service Commission, Executive Order 292 or the Administrative Code of 1987, and the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002, Estrada said.

Based on the Administrative Code of 1987, government employees and officials who test positive for use of dangerous drugs

face disciplinary and administrative proceedings with a penalty of dismissal at first offense.

Those that test positive will also be charged with appropriate criminal and administrative charges.

Estrada ordered the mandatory drug testing of 7,168 elected barangay officials in the city’s 896 barangays as part of his campaign to eliminate drugs in the capital city.

The drug tests started on November 7, 2016 and will go on until all 7,168 barangay officials, from chairmen to kagawad (councilors), have been tested.

Turn to C2

Halfway house for QC seniors planned THE Quezon City government will soon build a halfway house or transition house for senior citizens who have been abandoned and neglected by their families.

The facility, provided for under an ordinance approved by Mayor Herbert Bautista early this year, highlights the city government’s effort to provide a comprehensive health care and rehabilitation program for senior citizens, especially the abandoned and homeless.

An unutilized property of the city will be converted into the halfway house. To be run by the Office of Senior Citizens Affairs and the Social Services Development Department, it will help neglected senior citizens contact their relatives and arrange their official transfer to appropriate institutions for permanent custody and care.

The ordinance, to be known as the Quezon City Senior Citizens’ Shelter Home Ordinance of 2016, says no senior citizen shall be admitted or confined in a temporary shelter home in the city for a period longer than two weeks.

A senior citizen who remains unattended by relatives beyond that fortnight will be referred to other institutions, including the Kalinga Day Center for the Elderly.

Referrals for transfer shall be coordinated with the city’s Social Services Development Department, the Department of Social Welfare and Development, Home for the Aged, and other national and local agencies concerned. Rio N. Araja

SERVICE ON WHEELS. Muntinlupa Mayor Jaime Fresnedi test-drives one of 11 cars the city bought for its local offices after the flag ceremony at city hall on Monday. Fresnedi says the new vehicles ‘compel the betterment in the delivery of services for Muntinlupeños.’

Ex-MMDA chief sues radio-TV man for libel THE former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman, Francis N. Tolentino, has filed a libel case against radio-television host Ted Failon before the Tagaytay City Prosecutor’s Office for “several malicious TV and radio reports that besmirched the reputation” of the

former traffic czar.

In a statement, the former MMDA chief said Failon (real name Mario Etong), who has been “attacking personally Chairman Tolentino for the past five years,” apparently “went overboard” with allegations of graft concerning second-hand big motorcycles acquired

by the agency during his term.

Tolentino said Failon “caused the broadcast solely and persistently through his radio program (on dzMM), ‘TV Patrol’ slots, and ‘Failon Ngayon’ TV segment [on ABS-CBN] daily for several weeks last December 2016, his own personally initiated reports”

about the motorcycles.

Tolentino said he was able to prove that the procurement of the big motorcycles used during the Papal Visit and several other events “did not involve government funds and that some were in fact eventually donated” by the former MMDA chairman.

C1

Police: 9 of 133 QC areas drug-free

By Rio N. Araja NINE villages in Quezon City have been declared drug-free, but 133 others are still “invaded with drugs,” the Quezon City Police District said Monday.

Damar, West Triangle, Blue Ridge B, Libis, Quirino 3B, Mangga, Valencia, Horseshoe and Kalusugan are clear of drugs, Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte said at a news conference with officers of the Dangerous Drugs Board, Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency.

“I think it is very clear that the local government, DILG and various government agencies are very supportive of one another,” Belmonte told reporters.

The Quezon City Anti-Drug Abuse Advisory Council under Belmonte’s supervision came up with the expanded parameters in coordination with the DDB, QCPD, DILG-National Capital Region, PDEA, Liga ng mga Barangay, Ugnayan ng Barangay at mga Simbahan, and Mamamayang Ayaw sa Iligal na Droga to identify drugfree villages.

“This is not a moro-moro thing. There is no politics involved,” QCPD Director Guillermo Lorenzo Eleazar said.

Eleazar, however, was alarmed over the involvement of the other villages in illegal drugs.

“There are 142 barangays within the police’s 12 stations.

Basically, the bigger the population is, the chance of drug problem is much higher,” he said, citing barangays Batasan Hills, Commonwealth and Holy Spirit as examples.

The drug problem is prevalent in depressed areas, he said, and 14 barangays in Quezon City are “seriously” drug-affected.

Taguig kicks urban farming project into overdrive

By Joel E. Zurbano THE city government of Taguig is implementing an urban farming project in line with its program to promote a green environment and a healthier lifestyle for its residents.

The administration of Mayor Lani Cayetano also intends to preserve at least 25 hectares of agricultural land in Taguig in addition to 202 hectares it has managed to retain for the cultivation of melon, rice and highvalue crops.

City Agriculture Office chief Emelita Solis said this size of agricultural land is still economically functional despite the inevitable conversion of land into residential, commercial, and industrial uses characteristic of highly urbanized cities.

“To achieve this goal, the city government is aggressively promoting urban farming and gardening. This goal is not prompted by nostalgia for an agricultural past, but for pragmatic reasons,” Solis said.

The program favors organic

farming where pesticides, fertilizers, genetically modified organisms, antibiotics, and growth hormones are not used on crops. Organically grown products are better for the environment and for a person’s health, Solis said.

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LGUs

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 Standard C2 TODAY Manila

Economists back solon’s TRAIN bill T HE country’s leading economists, including former Finance secretaries and National Economic and Development Authority heads, are pushing for Congress to approve the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN bill, authored by Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda.

The fiscal reform package contained in House Bill 4688, Salceda said, aims to “create a tax system that is simpler, fairer and more efficient, characterized by low rates and a broad

base promoting investment, job creation and poverty reduction.”

It is now a “first priority” measure of the House Ways and Means committee when Congress resumes its regular session

next week, the lawmaker said.

Salceda said the country’s current tax rates are based on the 20-year-old National Internal Revenue Code, which has not been substantially modified since 1997.

TRAIN aims to ultimately reduce poverty to single digit, grow the economy by 9 percent, and transform the Philippines into an Asian economic powerhouse by 2028, with $1.2-trillion Gross Domestic Product, he said.

“It will then qualify the country for membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD].”

The Foundation for Economic Standard TODAY Freedom, made up of ex-officials from the Department of Finance and five former heads of Neda, recently endorsed the reform proposals. It said the bill will “put more money in people’s pockets, encourage investment, ultimately leading to the eradication of extreme poverty.”

An advocacy group for good economic governance and market-friendly reforms, FEF also commended the DoF and Duterte’s economic team for “crafting a forward-looking fiscal program for legislation.”

Manila

It said the proposed legislative program “creates a solid foundation for inclusive growth, improved public services and improved purchasing power among consumers.”

FEF members jointly signed the statement, including former Finance secretaries Cesar Virata, Jose Isidro Camacho, Jesus Estanislao, Roberto de Ocampo, Jose Pardo, Cesar Purisima, and Juanita Amatong; former Neda directors-general Arsenio Balisacan, Emmanuel Esguerra, Cielito Habito, Felipe Medalla, and Romulo Neri; and ex-Finance

Undersecretaries Joel Bañares, Romeo Bernardo, Cornelio Gison, Lily Gruba, Milwida Guevara, Jose Emmanuel Reverente, and G. Florencia Tarriela.

“The structural weaknesses of the outdated tax system makes our economy less competitive relative to our neighbors, and deprives our people of deeply needed investments to improve their lives,” the FEF statement said.

“We believe this program will translate to a more comfortable life for all Filipinos along with safe, healthy, and peaceful communities all over the country.”

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Cabiao fest shelved, is ‘too costly,’ says mayor

GOOD CATCH.

A fishpen worker shows off her catch of healthy crabs, part of 10 she catches on this day in Consuelo, Cantilan, Surigao del Sur. Crabs here can grow to over one kilo in weight owing to the rich mud of the Cantilan’s mangrove forest.

Lance Baconguis

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:

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:

By Ferdie G. Domingo

Owner: JENNIFER SAN JOSE SANTIAGO, SINGLE, FILIPINO CITIZEN, OF LEGAL AGE Address: 3F 33SA GOMEGA I, P. MARTINEZ STREET, MANDALUYONG CITY “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

SNAP hands out ‘care packs’ to school kids

(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.

6-month tax amnesty okayed

By Dexter A. See

Copy furnished:

BAGUIO CITY—The City Council approved on third and final reading a proposal granting a one-time sixmonth tax amnesty to give Baguio’s taxpayers who have real property tax penalties, fines, surcharges, interests, or arrears to pay their dues.

Authored by Vice Mayor Edison R. Bilog and Councilors Leandro B. Yangot Jr., Peter Fianza, and Elmer Datuin, the ordinance says the amnesty applies to delinquent taxpayers as of Dec. 31, 2015.

It includes properties that are undeclared and subject to taxes, declared properties with unpaid taxes, properties in auctions conducted by the local government that have not yet b e e n p u r chased by private perNOTICE OF SPECIAL SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETING 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

In Ambuklao, Benguet, 319 RAMON, Isabela—Hydropower firm SN Aboitiz Power pupils from Binga and Botic unit identified and described as: elementary schools received Group recently distributed Atty. Irahlyn P. Sacupayo-Lariba 4 from Floor, Security Bank Center SNAP-BenChristmas gifts to elementary 3F-2BR-35 – A 2lunch BEDROOMboxes TYPE Building, 6776 Ayala Ave., Makati City FRONT CONDOMINIUM UNIT WITH guet led by chief operating school students in communities (MS-Dec. 13, 20 & 27, 2016) in Benguet, Isabela, and Ifugao, officer Joseph Yu, chief technology officer Manny Lopez which host their projects.

SNAP Group is a joint ven- and OIC-plant manager Ferture between SN Power and nan Tongco.

The lunch boxes came Aboitiz Power. It owns and operates the 360-megawatt Magat with high-energy biscuits by Hydroelectric Power Plant on Pilmico, the food subsidiary the border of Isabela and Ifugao, of Aboitiz Equity Ventures. the 105-MW Ambuklao Hydro- The biscuits contain 450 kiloelectric Power Plant, and the calories and essential vitamins 140-MW Binga Hydroelectric and nutrients, equivalent to one full meal. Dexter A. See Power Plant in Benguet. th

Notice is hereby given that ATLAS CONSOLIDATED MINING AND DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION (“AT” or the “Corporation”) will hold its Special Shareholders’ Meeting (the “Meeting” or “SSM”) on 21 February 2017, 2:00 p.m. at the Coral B Function Hall, One Esplanade Building, Seaside corner J.W. Diokno Boulevard, Mall of Asia Complex, Pasay City with the following: AGENDA I. Call to Order II. Proof of Notice of Meeting & Determination of Quorum III. Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation: • Article VII, increase in the authorized capital stock by PhP2.5B, from PhP6B to PhP8.5B divided into 8.5B common shares with a par value of PhP1.00 per share of stock and the amendment of Article VII to reflect the capital increase.

IV. Approval /Authority: • Issuance of Shares out of the increase in the authorized capital stock.

• Issuance of Warrants and the underlying common Shares as a result of the exercise of the Warrants.

• Waiver of public or rights offering V. Other Matters VI. Adjournment Only Shareholders of record as of 27 December 2016 are entitled to receive notice of and to vote at, the Meeting. The Shareholders’ list will be available for inspection thirty (30) calendar days prior to the date of Republic the SSM at the principal office located at the 5th Floor, of the Philippines FiveE-Com Center, Palm Coast corner Pacific REGIONAL TRIALDrive, COURTMall of Asia Complex, Pasay City, Philippines 1300 (“Office”).

National Capital Judicial Region Office of the Clerk of Court & Ex-Officio Sheriff

Mandaluyong City Shareholders who cannot attend the Meeting in person may, at their option, designate their authorized representatives by submitting to the Office their proxies no later than 5:00 p.m. on 15 February 2017. ValidationNOTICE thereof shall on 20 February 2017. The submission of OF be HEARING a proxy will not affect yourNotice right isto hereby vote ingiven person youhearing decide to attend the Meeting. that should a summary on the petition for Notarial Commission of ATTY. Please bring proper identification facilitate will start at 1:00 p.m.

RAMON L. card/s CARPIOtowill be heldregistration on January which 16, 2017, at 1:00 o’clock in the afternoon at the office Pasay City, Metro Manila, 9 December 2016. Judge, Session Hall of of the Honorable Executive Branch 208, 2nd Floor, New Hall of Justice Building.

For the Board of Directors:

Any person who has any valid reason or cause to object to the grant of the petition may file with the undersigned before the date of the summary hearing a verified written opposition thereto.

Santiago

“The process is still ongoing and we will finish this. But I cannot give specific date when since this is what the Mayor wants, that all Barangay Chairmen, at least the chairmen, should be drug-free,” Yson pointed out.

Estrada and the 36-member city council, including Vice Mayor Honey Lacuna, also had themselves tested at City Hall on Aug. 18. None tested positive.

It was the first time in recent years that a city mayor voluntarily submitted himself to a drug test, which was also the first ever to be conducted at Manila City Hall.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES REGIONAL TRIAL COURT NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION BRANCH 89, QUEZON CITY -oOo-

IN RE: PETITION / APPLICATION FOR RENEWAL OF NOTARIAL COMMISSION (2017-2018) FOR AND IN QUEZON CITY ATTY. GODOFREDO T. LIBAN II ATTY. LEA M. ROMERO ATTY. JASON DEMETRI O. BENITEZ ATTY. FRANCES MAE CHERRIE K. ONTALAN ATTY. THEOBEN JERDAN C. OROSA ATTY. NORBERTO D. VITUG ATTY. AISON ALEJANDRO S. GARCIA Petitioners.

ADM. MATTER NO. NP-071 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-072 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-073 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-074 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-075 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-076 ADM. MATTER NO. NP-077

NOTICE OF HEARING Notice is hereby given that a summary hearing on the petition for notarial commission of the above-named petitioners shall be held on JANUARY 19, 2017 at 3:00 o’clock in the afternoon at the OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE JUDGE of the REGIONAL TRIAL COURT of QUEZON CITY. Any person who has any cause or reason to object to the grant of the petition may file with the Executive Judge a verified written opposition thereto before the date of the summary hearing.

SO ORDERED. Quezon City, January 9, 2017.

Witness theCAPTION Hon. Esteban A. Tacla, Jr., Executive Judge, this 9th day of January 2017 at Mandaluyong City.

(Sgd.) CECILYN E. BURGOS-VILLAVERT Acting Executive Judge (MS-JAN. 17, 2017)

hold any public auction of real properties owing to non-payment of tax delinquencies during the amnesty period. Real properties with delinquent taxes attached after the amnesty expires will be solid at public auction to the highest bidder, to satisfy payment of its accumulated delinquencies.

Taxpayers must file for amnesty with the City Treasury Office, which will prepare and process any compromise agreement, together with the related documents by and between the taxpayers and the city mayor, for and on behalf of the local government, the ordinance says.

Any breach of the compromise agreement and the payments under installment not be paid on its due date makes the total unpaid balance of the delinquent taxes and the entire amount of the penalties automatically due and demandable, and shall be enforced in accordance with law.

IN BRIEF

Chiefs...

From C1

Pursuant to Sec. 5 of A.M. No. 02-8-13-SC, let this notice of hearing be published in a newspaper of general circulation to be chosen by raffle and at the expense of the petitioners, as well as posted in a conspicuous place in the offices of the Executive Judge and of the Clerk of Court.

Maria Eleonor A. Assistant Corporate Secretary

(Sgd.) ATTY. ERWIN N. BARATA Clerk of Court VI

sons or entities, property owners with pending court cases whose land ownership are in question, and properties sold through public auctions whose ownership has not been officially transferred due to non-issuance of final deed of sale by the local government.

The ordinance will take effect 30 days from its approval by the mayor and its publication in local dailies.

Under the ordinance, all fines and arrears shall be condoned only if the real property taxes are paid within the six-month period. Payments can be made either in cash or in installments, provided the payments will be paid in full during the amnesty period as fixed and applied as of Dec.31, 2013.

Only after the delinquencies are settled will tax payments be credited to the current period, and no further amnesty shall be granted after the six-month period expires, the ordinance says.

It also says that the city will not

CABIAO, Nueva Ecija—This first-class town’s famous Paistimaka Festival, which made it a household word in the province, has been scrapped by the administration of neophyte Mayor Ramil B. Rivera for being “too costly.”

Rivera said the annual festival, held every first week of February, will no longer be observed but will instead be replaced by a dance-fest among schools.

“We have decided not to hold the Paistimaka Festival this February. We deemed not to hold it because the municipal government has been spending at least P1 million for the festivities,” the mayor said.

The move was not politically motivated, Rivera said, adding that the Catholic Church has asked to integrate the festivities with the town fiesta in May to make its foundation anniversary livelier.

“That would be a huge amount considering that we have many projects in place.

We are thrifty but we are able to accomplish much,” he said.

Paistimaka is usually celebrated from Feb. 5 to 11 during the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, the Catholic patron saint of bodily ills.

The festival’s name is derived from the words palay (rice), isda (fish), tilapia, mais (corn), karne (meat) and ka (you). Literally, it is a Tagalog word that means “be entertained.” The event was meant to showcase the agricultural products of Kabyawenyos.

Cabiao also produces sorghum, vegetables such as eggplant, squash, string beans and tomatoes, and fruits such as mango and watermelon. Its fishing grounds teem with catfish, mudfish, tilapia and eels.

BPSU, DoST conduct food tech training BALANGA CITY, Bataan—Bataan Peninsula State University and the Department of Science and Technology hosted a three-day training workshop for food photography, packaging, and label design at the university main campus here.

Representatives from BPSU, DoST Bataan, DoST Zambales, Department of Trade and Industry Bataan, Management Information Systems at Bataan Capitol, Provincial Cooperative and Enterprise Development Office, and Bataan Food and Non-Food Manufacturers Association Inc. attended the training.

DoST professional photographer Manuel Joson Jr. gave lecture and drills on food photography.

Randolph Valencia, head of the Technical Consultancy and Training Unit of DoST 3, tackled packaging and labeling, graphics design, bar coding and nutrient labeling and branding. Butch Gunio

Negosyo Centers up in Pampanga towns SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—Four Negosyo Centers will be established in Pampanga this year to help small and medium enterprises in the province.

Elenita Ordono, head of the Department of Trade and Industry in Pampanga, said the centers will be established in Lubao, Guagua, Mexico and Mabalacat City.

Ordono said SMEs can borrow up to P200,000 without collateral from the centers, but this must be paid back for others to take advantage of the opportunity.

Each center has an operating budget of P1.3 million while the respective local government units will provide the office space for them. Romeo Dizon

(MS-Jan. 17, 2017)

(MS-Jan. 13, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF 3 killed in gun battle in Kashmir SRINAGAR―Three militants were killed in an overnight gun battle with soldiers in a village in Indian Kashmir, an army spokesman said Monday.

Rajesh Kalia said troops cordoned off the village near the tourist resort of Pahalgam after receiving a tip that fighters were hiding out in a private home there.

“On specific intelligence army soldiers cordoned off the village on Sunday evening and the gun battle started,” Kalia told AFP. “Three terrorists have been killed. Their bodies and weapons have been retrieved.”

A local police officer said soldiers using mortar fire had destroyed the house.

Hundreds of thousands of troops are deployed in Indianadministered Kashmir, where rebel groups have for decades been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

The restive Himalayan region suffered a rise in violence last year after the killing in July of a popular young rebel leader in a gun battle with soldiers.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim it in full.

The two nuclear-armed neighbors have twice gone to war over the territory since gaining independence from British rule in 1947. AFP

Health insurance for everybody WASHINGTON―Presidentelect Donald Trump wants health “insurance for everybody,” he told The Washington Post, no small feat in a country where millions are uninsured.

The Republican has long lashed out at President Barack Obama’s signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act, campaigning on a pledge to repeal and replace it.

But the billionaire developer had never said precisely with what.

Now, however, he told the Post by phone late Saturday that he wants “insurance for everybody” while requiring drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid, the government plans mostly for the elderly and low-income Americans, respectively.

“They’re politically protected.

But not anymore,” Trump was quoted as saying of big pharmaceutical companies.

The White House touts the ACA -- nicknamed Obamacare -as a success, saying more than 20 million Americans have gained health insurance through the law.

The Affordable Care Act forbids insurance companies from denying health care due to preexisting conditions, abolishes lifetime caps on care, and allows children to stay on their parents’ plans until age 26, three provisions that have proved popular nationwide. AFP

C3

Trump enters White House facing a host of problems W

ASHINGTON―Donald Trump enters the White House embroiled in scandal, in a pitched battle with the intelligence services and news media, and facing a world on fire.

Mother pleads guilty to killing her children SYDNEY―A mother pleaded guilty Monday to murdering three of her children and attempting to kill another by plunging her car into an Australian lake.

In 2015 Akon Guode, 37, who came to Australia after fleeing war in South Sudan, drove into the water on the outskirts of Melbourne.

Her one-year-old son and fouryear-old twins died, while rescuers pulled her and a five-year-old daughter from the sinking vehicle.

The mother of seven entered a guilty plea for the attempted murder of her surviving daughter, court officials said.

Witnesses said before the tragedy Guode had complained of receiving threats from the wife of the children’s father and had isolated herself from the Sudanese community, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Guode’s eldest daughter told the court that she was concerned for her mother’s driving as she had been experiencing dizzy spells for six months leading up to the tragedy, the ABC said.

Sentencing is expected in March. AFP

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

ONSTAGE. Singer/songwriter Mickey Guyton of ‘Patsy Cline: AMERICAN MASTERS’ performs onstage during the PBS portion of the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at Langham Hotel on January 15, 2017 in Pasadena, California. AFP

Chinese media warn over Taiwan BEIJING―China is running out of patience with Donald Trump’s stance on Taiwan, state media said Monday, and will “take the gloves off” if he keeps challenging the “One China” policy.

Over the weekend the US president-elect told the Wall Street Journal the longstanding policy was up for negotiation, in his latest comment on the issue.

Trump had already irked China by accepting a congratulatory phone call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen after he won the presidential election. This upended decades of diplomatic precedent in which the US avoided direct public communication with the island’s leader.

So far Beijing has remained cool in the face of the billionaire

politician’s willingness to probe one of the country’s most sensitive issues. The foreign ministry has issued muted responses reminding him of the importance of maintaining good relations between the world’s two largest economies.

But on Saturday, after his latest comments, the ministry warned Trump the One China policy was non-negotiable.

The state-owned China Daily said in an editorial Monday that Trump “will seldom be given the benefit of the doubt twice, because doing the same thing for a third time shows intent”.

The Taiwan issue is a “Pandora’s box of lethal potential”, it added.

While Trump has been given the benefit of the doubt so far, it

said, if he is “determined to use this gambit on taking office, a period of fierce, damaging interactions will be unavoidable as Beijing will have no choice but to take off the gloves.”

Trump has threatened to get tough with what he sees as unfair Chinese trade practices and suggested that the One China policy could become a bargaining chip in this.

“Everything is under negotiation, including One China,” he told the Wall Street Journal in the interview published Friday.

Beijing considers Taiwan to be a breakaway province to be brought back within its fold, by force if necessary.

The United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. AFP

Among the many challenges the president-elect will face after his inauguration on Friday, the most urgent may be to steady the ship.

Even before being sworn in, he is facing a Congressional investigation into possible collusion between Russia and his election campaign.

Fearing an asterisk is being painted next to his historic victory over Hillary Clinton, Trump has gone on the offensive.

The incoming Republican leader has lashed out at “sleazebag political operatives,” the intelligence services -- whom he compared to Nazis -- and the media, reprising campaign tactics that played well with his base.

But add to that serious allegations of nepotism, legal problems over his business interests, the illpreparedness of some of his cabinet nominees and a fracas over health care reform that has left Republicans in disarray, and the picture gets even bleaker.

The image of “Teflon Don” -who as a candidate rode out scandal like no one else in modern political history -- is taking on water.

Quite aside from the cost in time and energy of fighting on multiple fronts, the crises appear to be eroding his credibility, the base currency of any presidency.

His approval rating stands at 44 percent, according to a Gallup poll -- the lowest level of support for any incoming president since the organization began doing the surveys in the Clinton era.

In the corresponding period before his presidency, Barack Obama enjoyed an 83 percent rating.

That unpopularity will make it much easier for allies to bolt.

Republican lawmakers up for reelection or in moderate states and districts are unlikely to go to bat for a deeply unpopular president.

Senator Marco Rubio -- a former Trump rival for the Republican presidential nomination -- is already openly raising the prospect he could oppose Trump’s pick for secretary of state, oil executive Rex Tillerson.

Republican governors are also balking at plans to repeal Obamacare, and all the time Trump’s victory is being called into question.

A massive “Women’s March on Washington” is planned for Saturday, the day after his inauguration.

With this kind of sentiment swirling, Trump may be the first president to enter the White House with a bunker mentality.

Peppering the first 100 days of his administration with populist

legislation and executive actions would help stem the bleeding -as would avoiding unnecessary fights.

To help him run the country, Trump has turned to a disparate group of family members, generals, billionaires and establishment Republicans -- few of whom have any White House experience.

The CEO-turned-commanderin-chief sees his freewheeling style as an asset. It will have a massive impact on how his decisions are framed.

A variety of opinions inside the White House can be constructive, or fuel turf wars and jockeying for influence that can split the house asunder.

Will Trump’s daughter Ivanka or her husband Jared Kushner be the last person in the room? Will it be conservatives like Vice President Mike Pence or hard-right ideologues like chief strategist Steve Bannon?

Trump, like Obama, will take office at a time when rival regional powers are gaining more clout and are not afraid to use it.

Preserving US primacy will be a full-time job.

In Russia, Vladimir Putin may be the strongest leader since Leonid Brezhnev, as he aggressively tries to renegotiate the terms of the end of the Cold War. Putin’s effort to re-establish Moscow’s influence in Syria already hobbled the Obama administration.

A similar Russian drive in Afghanistan, Libya or eastern Europe could pose serious problems for Trump’s bid to smooth relations.

Meanwhile, the president-elect has taken a more bellicose stance toward China, at just the time Beijing is feeling more assertive.

Whereas Mao Zedong transformed Chinese society, and Deng Xiaoping made the country an economic power, current leader Xi Jinping wants to make China a diplomatic and military force.

Trump and Xi’s rival ambitions dramatically raise the possibility that various disputes -- from Taiwan to currency rates to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea -- could become flashpoints.

Few have been more perturbed

by Trump’s election than America’s traditional allies.

Trump has questioned the value of both NATO -- calling it “obsolete” in an interview with the German tabloid Bild and The Times of London published Sunday -- and Washington’s treaty obligations to help secure allies in Asia, which underpin the global order. AFP

Tailor held for raping young girls in Delhi NEW DELHI―Indian police said Monday they have arrested a man accused of multiple sexual assaults on young girls in Delhi, revealing he had been arrested on a similar charge last year and released on bail.

Police arrested 38-year-old tailor Sunil Rastogi in Delhi on Saturday following complaints from alleged victims and study of CCTV footage, deputy police commissioner Omvir Singh Bishnoi told AFP. The suspect regularly traveled to Delhi from his home in northern Uttarakhand state and targeted young girls in the city as they left school at the end of the day, he said.

Bishnoi said Rastogi was charged with similar offenses in Uttarakhand in 2016 but was released on bail, without giving further details.

“He has admitted to have attempted to sexually assault more than 100 girls since 2004. Police have registered eight cases, we are still working on it,” Bishnoi said.

“He would follow girls, target

one who strayed and say ‘oh, I know your father. He is a good friend of mine...’. He would lure them and take them to a secluded place,” he said.

Bishnoi said police had registered eight cases against Rastogi including under India’s Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act. India has a grim record of sexual assaults on women and young girls.

A UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in 2014 said one in three rape victims in India was a minor and expressed alarm over the widespread sexual abuse of children.

Television footage showed Rastogi handcuffed and wearing a balaclava, outside a Delhi police station.

“I have been doing this for the past four to five years... I don’t know why I did it,” he said, speaking Hindi.

Police said they had received complaints of kidnap and rape of minor girls in east Delhi over the past two months. AFP

TW0-DAY VISIT. Swiss Federal President Doris Leuthard and China’s President Xi Jinping stand at the beginning of the official talks in Bern on January 16, 2017. Xi Jinping begins a two-day state visit to Switzerland before heading to Davos to address the World Economic Forum. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

C4

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

Trump urged: Be careful what you say

World

26 to be killed for kidnaps, murders DHAKA―A Bangladesh court Monday sentenced 26 people to death after hearing how a politician from the ruling Awami League hired members of the country’s elite security unit to assassinate political rivals.

At the end of a trial that gripped the nation, a judge found all 35 defendants in the case guilty of involvement in the abduction and murder of seven people in the central city of Narayanganj in April 2014.

Convictions of security force members are rare in Bangladesh.

Rights activists say they frequently carry out unlawful killings and are effectively able to operate in a climate of impunity.

Judge Syed Enayet Hossain ordered 26 of the defendants to hang after the year-long trial in Narayanganj, while the other nine were handed prison sentences ranging from seven to 17 years.

“Of the 26 who have been sentenced to hang, 16 were the members of the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB),” prosecutor S.M. Wazed Ali told AFP. Twenty-three of those convicted were present in the crowded court when the verdict was announced but the other 12 are still at large.

The bodies of the victims were found floating in a river, three days after witnesses reported seeing a group of people being bundled into the back of an unmarked van outside the city’s international cricket stadium.

Among those sentenced to death was Tarek Sayeed, a commander in the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) who is the son-inlaw of a minister in Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s cabinet. AFP

32 die as plane crashes in thick fog BISHKEK―A Turkish cargo plane crashed into a village near Kyrgyzstan’s main airport Monday, killing 32 people and destroying homes after attempting to land in thick fog, authorities said.

The majority of the dead were from the village of Dacha-Suu where the cargo plane hit at around 7:30 am local time (0130 GMT), a spokesman for the country’s emergency services, Muhammed Svarov, told AFP. The total number of dead “could be bigger” Svarov said, adding that authorities had launched a huge search and rescue operation.

“Major work is underway,” Svarov said. “The damage to infrastructure in the village is significant.”

An AFP correspondent said smoke was still thick in the area at 0600 GMT and small fires burned in different parts of the village, but emergency services had nearly extinguished them.

Zumriyat Rezakhanova, a resident of Dacha-Suu said the plane fell “right on the homes” where residents were sleeping.

“My sister’s home is badly damaged. Luckily she and her family survived,” Rezakhanova told AFP. At least four pilots on the flight, which was traveling from Hong Kong to Istanbul via Kyrgyzstan’s capital Bishkek, were among the dead, the emergency services ministry said, with one pilot’s body yet to be found.

ACT Airlines, a Turkish cargo airline, said in a statement that the plane involved in the crash belonged to it. Kyrgyz authorities earlier on Monday had stated that the aircraft belonged to Turkish Airlines, a claim the company denied. AFP

OFFICIAL VISIT. Children wave flags during a welcome ceremony for Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi on January 16, 2017. Abe is on an official visit to Vietnam from January 16 to 17. AFP

WASHINGTON―Outgoing CIA chief John Brennan on Sunday launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump, warning him to watch what he says and suggesting the president-elect doesn’t understand the challenges posed by Russia.

Brennan’s stern words -- which sparked a quick Twitter retort from Trump -- were the latest salvo in the ongoing feud between the incoming Republican leader and US intelligence agencies, who have concluded Moscow meddled in the November election.

The 70-year-old Trump, who takes office on Friday, has nevertheless been effusive in his praise of Vladimir Putin, saying that if the Russian leader “likes” him, it would be an “asset” to help repair strained ties with Moscow.

The Senate Intelligence committee meanwhile has launched a bipartisan probe into Moscow’s alleged interference in US politics -- which could force officials in both Barack Obama’s administration and Trump’s government to testify.

“I don’t think he has a full appreciation of Russian capabilities, Russia’s intentions and actions,” Brennan said of Trump on Fox News Sunday.

“I think Mr Trump has to be very disciplined in terms of what it is that he says publicly,” he added.

“He is going to be, in a few days’ time, the most powerful person in the world, in terms of sitting on top of the United States government and I think he has to recognize that his words do have impact,” the CIA chief said.

“He’s going to have the opportunity to do something for national security as opposed to talking and tweeting,” he added.

“Spontaneity is not something that protects national security interests.”

US intelligence agencies allege that Putin ordered a covert effort to interfere in the election to boost Trump and harm his opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.

A report from the Director of National Intelligence released this month said hackers working for Russia penetrated Democratic Party computers and accounts to release files embarrassing to Clinton, and also conducted a campaign of media manipulation with the same aim. AFP

Samsung heir facing arrest S EOUL―South Korean prosecutors on Monday sought the arrest of the heir to giant conglomerate Samsung for bribery in connection with a political scandal that has seen President Park Geun-Hye impeached.

Samsung, the world’s largest smartphone maker, is already reeling from the international debacle over its Galaxy Note 7, which was recalled after some devices caught fire.

In a statement, prosecutors investigating the political scandal said they asked a Seoul court to issue an arrest warrant for Lee Jae-Yong, the son of the Samsung group chairman Lee Kun-Hee. Samsung -- the South’s biggest business group by revenue, which is equivalent to a fifth of the country’s GDP -- has dozens of units including flagship Samsung Electronics.

Lee’s arrest could have an “important” impact on the South Korean economy, a spokesman for the prosecutors acknowledged. “But we believe that achieving justice is more important,” he told reporters.

The scandal centers on Park’s secret confidante Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her ties with the president to coerce top local firms into “donating” nearly $70 million to dubious non-profit foundations which Choi then used as her personal ATMs, in exchange for political favors.

Samsung is the single biggest contributor to the foundations and separately paid Choi millions of euros, allegedly to bankroll her daughter’s equestrian training in Germany.

Lee, 48, is the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics and is accused of approving decisions to pay Choi large sums of money in a bid to win political favors.

Samsung’s bribes totaled 43 billion won ($36.4 million), the prosecution spokesman said, adding Lee was also accused of embezzlement for spending cor-

porate funds for bribery.

In addition, he faces charges of perjury after he told a parliamentary hearing that he did not seek any preferential treatment in return for donations.

The Seoul Central District Court said it would rule on the prosecutors’ request on Wednesday. If it approves the move, Lee -- who was questioned by prosecutors for a marathon 22-hour session last week -- will be the first senior executive arrested in connection with the scandal.

In a statement Samsung said the prosecutors’ decision to seek his arrest was “hard to understand”.

“There was no support that sought something in return,” it said. “We believe that a court will make a good judgment on this.”

Prosecutors are in particular probing whether Samsung’s donations and payment to Choi were aimed at securing government approval for a controversial deal it sought in 2015.

The merger of two Samsung units -- textile manufacturer Cheil Industries and construction arm Samsung C&T -- was seen as a key step towards ensuring a smooth third-generation power transfer to Lee. The deal was opposed by many investors who said it willfully undervalued Samsung C&T’s shares. But the National Pension Service -- a major Samsung shareholder -- approved the transaction, which eventually went through.

A former welfare minister, Moon Hyung-Pyo, who oversaw the operations of the pension fund at the time, was formally charged Monday with abuse of power for pressuring its managers to approve the merger. AFP

SCREENING. Actress Leslie Mann and actor Robert De Niro attend the Closing Night Screening of ‘The Comedian’ at the 28th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 15 in Palm Springs. AFP

HK activists declare ‘war’ after appeal bid snub HONG KONG―An appeal bid by two anti-China lawmakers against their disqualification from Hong Kong’s parliament was rejected Monday, as the activists declared “war” on the authorities.

Baggio Leung and Yau Waiching are part of a new movement calling for semi-autonomous Hong Kong to split from China as concerns grow that Beijing is cracking down on freedoms in the city.

The pair deliberately misread their oaths of office, inserted expletives and draped themselves with “Hong Kong is not China” flags during a swearing-in ceremony in October.

They were then disqualified from retaking their oaths by Hong Kong’s high court, after an intervention by Beijing.

Hong Kong’s court of appeal rejected an attempt to overthrow the disqualification in November.

On Monday it also rejected their bid seeking leave to take their case to the city’s court of final appeal -- Hong Kong’s highest court.

Speaking outside the court, Leung, 30, told reporters: “This is the beginning of a war.”

Justice Maggie Poon based her Monday ruling on a special “interpretation” of the city’s constitution by Beijing in November that effectively prevented Yau and Baggio from taking up their seats

because of the way they took the oath.

The latest judgment said Beijing’s interpretation was “binding on the courts” in Hong Kong with the local and national systems “being within one country”.

An appeal would only be granted if it had “reasonable prospects of success” even if the case was of great public interest, the ruling said.

The court also ordered the

pair to pay costs of HK$167,851 ($21,600) each.

Leung said the pair would continue to push their case. Under Hong Kong law, they can seek a hearing directly with the court of final appeal, without leave from the lower courts.

The independence movement has started to gain traction since the failure of mass pro-democracy rallies in 2014 to win political reform. AFP

Life CULTURE & MEDIA

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

D1

Music Camp grand winner Seth Levi Salada play beats using household items

Her skills in puppetry got Aaliyah Umandal the top prize in the Art Camp

i-Shine Talent Camp mentors Rico Blanco, Robert Alejandro and Georcelle Dapat-Sy with host Dimples Romana join on stage the grand winners of Promil Pre-School’s online talent search 2016

Celebrating

awe-inspiring

TALENTS

W

ATCHING your child learn and develop new skills is nothing short of rewarding. But as you do, it’s sometimes hard to remember that your child’s love and excitement for discovery is what’s behind all his or her new accomplishments.

Young minds seek stimulation—and when your little one continues to show eagerness to learn, it’s important that you support them to foster creativity, growth, and a love for learning that can be nurtured through adulthood.

This is precisely why Promil PreSchool continues to aid parents in achieving their children’s potential by provid-

ing them with the unique combination of brain and body building nutrients that help support learning during the crucial window of talent development. Simultaneously, Promil Pre-School continues to create platforms such as the I-Shine Talent Camp, which gives kids an opportunity to hone their inherent talents to their maximum potential.

Now on its fifth year, I-Shine Talent Camp has given children a lot to work on, together with high caliber mentors meant to draw out their talents across various genres. Divided into three camps, each one features an expert in the field to help kids nurture their gifts to the highest potential. Teacher Georcelle Dapat-Sy and Rico Blanco team up to be mentors for the Stage Camp, Ryan Cayabyab shares his mastery of music among members of the Music Camp, and Robert Alejandro imparts his artistic vision to the creative minds being nurtured in the Art Camp.

The grand culmination of I-Shine Talent Camp 2016 was celebrated with the mentors, parents, and, of course,

i-Shine alumna Yessha de la Calzada

Stage Camp 2016 finalists

the children who displayed everything they have learned at the Huseng Batute Theater at Cultural Center of the Philippines. This edition, Sean Hayden Bermudez won the top prize for Stage Camp after displaying exceptional moves and stage presence; Alliyah Umandal’s puppet art wowed judges who awarded her as the Grand Art Camp I-Shiner; and Seth Levi Salada, displayed his mastery of rhythm and took home the

grand prize for Music Camp.

“How you support your kids and nurture their brain and body are some of the best investments you can make as a parent. I-Shine serves as a way for Promil Pre-School to give parents more opportunities to create unique experiences that can develop and foster potential in their child,” ends Yvette Villegas, product manager, Wyeth Nutrition Philippines.

Sumi Jo at Meralco Theater

By Pablo A. Tariman LIKE it or not, 2016 is still Sumi Jo’s year with well-received concerts from Texas to Japan (the Seaside Jazz Festival), Paris and Italy (with Andrea Bocelli), at the Chatelet Theater in Paris where she got another standing ovation and on to Australia where the applause and rave reviews got louder and wilder.

She is a soloist of the New York Philharmonic on Jan. 31 after which she has a return engagement with the Hong Kong Philharmonic on Feb. 3, then she will be in Manila for the second time at the Meralco Theater on Feb. 7 with pianist Najib Ismail.

Of her latest engagements, the ecstatic audience adulations at Paris Chatelet Theater and Australia show her vocal artistic prowess has remained unblemished through the years.

Indeed, she keeps fond memories of her recital in Theatre du Chatelet for special reason.

Pointed out the soprano: “France, especially Paris, boasts of its highest level of culture among other European nations. The nation is home to Theatre du Chatelet, regarded as one of the most coveted, prestigious opera houses among many musicians. After I got an offer to hold a recital there, I prepared tremendously. Determined to show something this time I ventured into a new challenge: completing pieces by great composers in seven languages including Russian, Spanish, German, and so on. Two months into intense practice with pianists, I was ready to show to perfection what I’d got. The process of being perfect was really arduous.

At some point, I ask myself, ‘Why am I doing this? I could impress the audience and be applauded enough with my previous repertoire. ‘But, I wanted to do better and to be more recognized. I got everything ready until I hit the stage.

After the show, I received a standing ovation and rave reviews. Usually, I feel a bit of emptiness after leaving the stage, but then looking at myself in the mirror, I was proud of myself.

It was a fantastic moment. We always need a new challenge, which I am sure will take you to the next level. I’ve seen many, especially those in professional fields, getting complacent as they get on the stable track. That is the most dangerous moment. You should not stop there. You should give yourself a new challenge to make a leap forward.”

The acclaim followed her in Australia where she sang before Christmas.

Music writer Lynn Lancaster reported: “The major highlight of the first half was a ravishing, spellbinding version of Handel’s Lascia Ch’Io pianga from Rinaldo that stopped everything else in its tracks with its powerful emotion. Screams of brava followed after Dell’Acqua’s Villanelle—another fiendishly difficult showcase aria. We then jumped to Spain for Delibes’ Chanson Espagnole—Sumi Jo was passionate and seductive, unleashing her inner Carmen.”

Asian singers seldom land on lead roles written for European divas, but Sumi Jo made a difference. She sang Gilda (Rigoletto) in Trieste in Italy and got the attention of the German music icon, Herbert von Karajan, who cast her as Oscar in Un Ballo in Maschera opposite Placido Domingo. She reprised the same role with the Vienna State Opera and proceeded to sing the title role in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor with the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

In the 2008-2009 season of the Toulon Opera, the second largest opera house in France, she got to sing her first Violetta (Traviata).

Did she experience some “resistance” in the world’s most revered opera houses singing Gilda, Oscar and later Vio-

letta with a distinct Asian face?

She intimated she conquered all likely resistance by just being the best she could be. “There must have been. But I wasn’t very daunted by conventional pressure about my race or my face. To ensure that people would not focus on such minor things, I really tried to perfect my technique and everything I did with my body on stage in order to show the great music of Rigoletto and La Traviata. I think that nowadays, there are many more singers of diverse ethnicities, so I’m glad it is getting easier.

I feel proud to have perhaps opened the door in some way.”

Sumi Jo’s concert in Manila is made possible in partnership with Marco Polo Hotel Manila, 98.7 DZFE The Master’s Touch, Steinway and Sons Piano and Leica.

For ticket inquiries, call 0906-5104270 or Ticketworld at (02) 891-9999, CAEO at (02) 782-7164, 0918-3473027 or 0920-9540053.

Sumi Jo’s recital at the Chatelet Theatre in Paris received a standing ovation from the ecstatic audience

Life

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TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

A

TLANTIS Theatrical Entertainment Group together with Metrobank Card Corporation is proud to announce that, after its sold out run last November, the critically acclaimed Tony Award winning musical “Fun Home” returns to Manila on March 10 till the 19th for a limited repeat run of 12 performances. It will feature its original cast who all gave unforgettable performances, including Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, Eric Kunze, and Cris Villonco.

“Fun Home” was the most awarded and acclaimed musical of 2015 winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

When her father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.

“Fun Home” is a based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home and features music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The New York Times calls it, “the best new musical to open on Broadway.” The Manila production was hailed as, “terrific theatre!” and “undeniably moving, piercing through our core” and played a sold out run in November.

Also in the cast, delivering acclaimed performances, are Mikkie BradshawVolante, Yanah Laurel, Laurence Mossman, Katie Bradshaw, and Andee Achacoso.

Bobby Garcia directs with musical direction by Ceejay Javier.

The limited repeat is at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.

Tickets are now available at Ticketworld by calling (02) 891-9999 or online at www.ticketworld.com.ph

‘FUN HOME’ returns for limited repeat run

Lea Salonga plays Helen Bechdel, the mother of the lead character, in Tony Award winning musical ‘Fun Home’

‘Fun Home’ is based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir of the same name that chronicles the story of Bechdel family from the perspective of the author

Yoshikazu Fukumura

Diomedes Saraza, Jr.

Violinist Saraza in PPO concert

MAESTRO Yoshikazu Fukumura conducts the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra as it ushers in the New Year on Jan. 20 with Filipino violinist Diomedes Saraza, Jr. as guest soloist 8 p.m. at the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo (CCP Main Theater).

The program includes W.A. Mozart’s Symphony No. 28 in C, E. Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto.

At an early age, Saraza performed as a soloist of The Philippine Research for Developing Instrumental Soloists (PREDIS) and served as the concertmaster of the Children’s Orchestra in the Philippines. He soon became the youngest member of the Manila Symphony Orchestra II. At the age of eight, Saraza became one of the selected delegates of the 45th year Suzuki Music Convention held in Tokyo, Japan.

In 2002, he won first place in the National Music Competition for Young Artists (NAMCYA) and later made his concert debut entitled “The Gift” at the CCP. In 2005, he moved to New York to pursue his studies in violin at the Mannes The New School Preparatory Division under the tutelage of respected violin pedagogue, Dr. Chin Kim. In 2006, he joined the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival and played the Khachaturian Violin Concerto for the opening concert in Burlington, Vermont. In 2007, he won the Friday-Woodmere Young Artist Com-

petition in Hewlett, NY and was featured in WQXR 96.3’s Rob Sherman’s “Young Artist Showcase.”

In 2008, Saraza won the Mannes Concerto Competition and performed with the Mannes Philharmonic under the baton of maestro Michael Adelson.

Later that year, he became the concertmaster of the Mannes Philharmonic.

In 2009, his chamber group called the Mannes Chamber Initiative won the American Teacher’s League Competition and was featured at Carnegie Hall in New York. Later that year, he had his homecoming concert in the Philippines entitled “Symphonic Virtuosity” playing the Paganini Violin Concerto with the Manila Symphony Orchestra and Maestro Christoph Poppen of the German Radio Philharmonic.

Today, Saraza continues to perform extensively around Asia especially in the Philippines. He completed both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degree at the Juilliard School where he was also awarded the Irene Diamond Graduate Fellowship and C.V. Starr Scholarship. In addition, he was recently admitted for Master of Musical Arts degree at Yale University with full-tuition scholarship and a stipend award for each semester.

For inquires and subscription, call the CCP Marketing Department (8321125 local 1806), the CCP Box Office (832-3704) or Ticketworld (891-9999).

Cris Villonco as the present-day, graphic novelist Alison who dives deep into her past to tell the story of a one-of-a-kind man whose secrets defined her family and her life

Outstanding alumni recognized OVER 150 alumni of Citi Philippines came together recently to rekindle ties with colleagues and friends at the Rigodon Ballroom of Manila Peninsula.

Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed led the country management team in welcoming guests, as well as the keynote speaker, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. In his opening speech, Ahmed recognized the contributions of the men and women in the room, many of them now hold senior positions in financial services companies, as well as in other fields such as telecommunications, healthcare, and real estate among others.

Ahmed said “We view our annual alumni dinner as an important tradition as it allows us to continue to stay close to the ongoing achievements of those who were our colleagues in the past and are our friends today.”

In the Philippines, Citi is popularly referred to as the UniverCiti of Banking, having produced some of the best and brightest in the banking industry.

It was at Citi where many key government officials and Chief Executive

Officers (CEOs) of top corporations started their careers.

In his keynote remarks, Governor Tetangco graciously acknowledged that Citi has produced many topnotched bankers who have moved on to leadership positions in other banks and various industries, including his predecessor, the late Rafael Buenaventura who spent time at Citi early on in his career.

Governor Tetangco joined Ahmed in awarding this year’s outstanding alumni, namely: Hermie Pugeda and Danny Ignacio for Network Development; Max Edralin Jr. for Community Development; and Teddy Montecillo for Leadership and Ingenuity.

The Citi Distinguished Alumni award is given to former employees who have exhibited leadership skills, remarkable ingenuity, and outstanding community involvement. Since this global recognition program was introduced, the Philippines always had an awardee, but 2016 is a milestone year with four alumni receiving awards.

Ignacio and Pugeda were recognized for being the founders of ROXIN or Reaching Out to X-Citibankers

In Need. Together, the two organized events that raised close to P2 million in readily available relief funds, to aid their former colleagues who are in need of financial aid. To date, they have helped 28 alumni.

Edralin was awarded for his community contributions throughout his career including during his stint as president of Operation Smile where many children with cleft palates received surgery at no cost.

Montecillo is a well accomplished professional in the banking industry and served 31 years at Citi both in Manila and in New York. His multiple leadership appointments by Philippine Presidents and various directorship roles in government financial agencies make him a long-standing role model in the field of public service.

Other distinguished alumni who graced the affair include former DTI Secretary and Monetary Board Member Peter Favila; Philippine Stock Exchange President Hans Sicat; Union Bank Chairman and CEO Tito Ortiz; MasterCard Country Head Poch Villa-Real and SM Investments Corp. Senior Vice President Marcelo C. Fernando Jr..

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco, Jr. and Citi Philippines CEO Aftab Ahmed flank Danny Ignacio and Hermie Pugeda (second and third from left), 2016’s outstanding Citi alumni awardees for Network Development

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

What's Imelda Schweighart up to?

FROLICKING ON THE BEACH. Select

Miss Universe beauties visited Boracay island as part of the competition's prepageant events

Rousing welcome greets Miss U bets in Boracay M ISS Universe pre-pageant extravaganza began with a splash on Saturday with at least 16 delegates getting their feet wet, frolicking in the water and trying their hand on dragon boat-rowing off Boracay Island, Malay, Aklan.

Universe entourage a rousing welcome at the Geodofredo Ramos Airport in Caticlan within an hour’s flight from Manila on Skyjet Airline and 15-minute Southwest speedboat ride to Shangrila Boracay Resort & Spa. Malay town officials, along with an Ati-Atihan dance group welcomed the delegates including Miss Argentina, Miss Australia, Miss Belize, Miss Chile, Miss Costa Rica, Miss Ecuador, Miss Guyana, Miss Malta, Miss Mexico, Miss Myanmar, Miss Namibia, Miss Nicaragua, Miss Poland, Miss Turkey, Miss US Virgin Island, and Hundreds of waving residents gave the Miss Miss Honduras.

TALKBACK

On Kapuso’s

‘Someone To Watch Over Me’ Dear Mr. Red, The daily crying spells of the wife in the teleserye “Someone to Watch over Me” is an embarrassment to Filipino women. The Filipino wives I met who encountered the Alzheimer experience of the husband tended to be courageous and proactive. The daily crying spells supposed to elicit viewers’ sympathy is uncalled for. Wives are pragmatic nowadays. They may feel sad initially but bounce back to lead their daily lives for the sake of the children and their livelihood. Institutionalization is made since there is the feeling of helplessness in managing the problem. The depression and altruism portrayed in the soap are an embarrassment to Filipino womanhood in this day and age. Women with afflicted husbands may feel initially sad but move on as there are serious things to deal with. Romantization and dramatization within the context of the husband’s illness undermine the moral strength of Filipino women. The virtue of irrational sacrifice is no longer extolled in this day and age.

Sincerely yours, Marissa Regala Psychologist

Remembering the first Filipina finalist in Miss Universe pageant

By Loreto Concepcion IN 1963, 19-year-old doll-faced Lalaine Betia Bennett was crowned Miss Philippines and represented the country at the Miss Universe pageant in Miami Beach, Florida. A favorite and widely tipped to win the title, the 5-foot-9 former Miss Bayombong (Nueva Vizcaya) failed to win the crown but was named third runner up among 49 contestants from all over the world, the first time Philippines landed on the pageant’s finalists.

Then, Gloria Diaz, in 1969, became the first Filipino and second Asian woman to win the Miss Universe title.

Bennett, a pretty American mestiza, made several movies before and after she competed in Miss Universe beauty pageant.

She was introduced in the movie Ligaw na Daigdig in 1962 opposite Ronald Remy and Willlie Sotelo. Her performance in a dual role of an heiress and bandit earned her a Famas best actress nomination in 1963.

Bennett also starred in two 1963 war-action movies directed by national artist Lamberto V. Avellana, Death Was a Stranger, The Hunters’ ROTC Guerrilla Story and No Way Out, a first co-production between Philippines and South Korea with Leopoldo Salcedo. Her life story was made into a musical film in 1964 in Armando De Guzman’s Lalaine, Mahal Kita, which also starred Mario Montenegro.

Her other movies included Bilis sa Bilis opposite Cesar Ramirez and Dear Eddie with Charito Solis and

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, January 17, 2017

ACROSS 1 Go up in smoke 5 “Just the facts, —” 9 Skinflint 14 Toledo locale 15 Soul, to Pedro 16 Pierre’s academy 17 Had an idea 19 Domain 20 Dernier — 21 Zenith 22 Mining tools 23 Makes unhappy 25 Swedish actress — Olin 26 911 responder 27 Yelled 30 Leg of a race 33 Unisex garb 34 Nanny’s pride and joy 36 Baha’i origin 37 Like dishwater 38 Astute 39 Objective 40 Europe’s longest river 41 Panorama 42 Heat unit 44 Koan discipline 45 Large lot 46 Darning 50 Get out of debt 52 Ancient

“This is unbelievable! All these folks, young and old, turned out to welcome us,” cried Miss Australia Caris Tiivel in delight.

Miss Myanmar Htet Htet Htun said, “Boracay is even more exciting and meaningful. The people are very friendly and joyful to be with.”

Apart from the dragon boat-rowing and swimwear photo shoot, the delegates also got an insight of the local indigenous Ati culture by trying their hand on weaving and fish-net making.

“The intricate weaving shows the rich Filipino culture,” said Miss Mexico Kristal Silva.

ointment 53 Billy — Williams 54 Lox partner 55 Quacks 57 On — — (hot) 58 Cold-cuts seller 59 Crumbles up 60 Untidy 61 Yaks 62 What is more DOWN 1 Autumn pears 2 Lieutenant under Kirk 3 Very strict 4 Fruitcake gowith 5 Stoneworkers 6 Low voices 7 Famous last word 8 Riled up 9 Soft wools 10 Polar buildup 11 Overcharge, slangily 12 Pipe fittings 13 “The One I Love” group 18 Us, to Pogo 22 Shaggy flower 24 “Dizzy” of baseball 25 City of lamaseries 27 Blocky heel

28 Really skimps 29 Slim down 30 Narrow inlet 31 Clapton of “Layla” 32 Buddhist monk 33 Eliza portrayer 35 Double helix 37 Excuse me!

38 Warmhearted 40 Outspokenly 41 Hawks 43 Coat feature 44 Focus on (2 wds.)

46 It may be tapped 47 High standard 48 Techies 49 Painter’s primer 50 Scarce 51 Self-images 52 Ariz. neighbor 54 Comic-book thud 55 Bride’s reply (2 wds.)

56 Edinburgh duo

Eddie Ilarde. After she relinquished her crown to Myrna Panlilio in 1964, Bennett decided to leave her flourishing movie career when she married Felix Skievasky, a PolishFilipino officer in the United States Navy, whom she met when he served as her official escort during the Miss Universe pageant. They lived first in Honolulu, Hawaii before moving to Seattle, Washington where Bennett remained presently based even after the tragic death of her husband in a plane crash in 1973.

Bennett, despite her American roots, took pride in her Filipino heritage during the Miss Universe finals when she opened her speech in her native tongue.

In her speech, Bennett said, “Maligayang bati sa inyong lahat.

Alam kong ang buong Pilipinas ay ngayo’y nasisiyahan sa gabing ito. As a child, I have always wanted to come, to visit the native land of my grandfather who was one of the first American teachers who came to help educate my people. Through this pageant, my dream has been fulfilled. America has helped the Philippines, taught us how to stand on our own two feet and in 1946, gave us a most wonderful gift, the gift of freedom. For this, I, together with my people, will forever be grateful. Please accept our sincerest thanks, United States of America.

Thank you.”

It would be fitting to bring back Bennett at the 65th Miss Universe in Manila to acknowledge and honor her distinction as the first ever Filipina to place in the Miss Universe pageant.

WE can’t understand what this Imelda Schweighart, a dethroned Miss Philippines-Earth winner is up to?

Does she have a career or a project to promote? Why, aside from ranting her views on social media about her views on beauty pageants, does she hang around with Gabriela on the same issue?

No less than the upcoming Miss Universe 2016 staging in the country has been the subject of their protest for exploitation and other women’s causes.

Geeezz, but at this time and with the super active social media, it looks very '70s to us.

Take note that the Philippines has already and successfully staged two Miss Universe pageants in the past and having this kind of “protest” is poorly orchestrated.

And yes, Imelda could have been a credible advocate of whatever she cries for now if she didn’t wear colorful lipstick, did not perm nor color her hair, and didn’t wear colorful girly outfits that screams “prima diva.”

She should have learned a lesson or two from the once famous Nelia Sancho in the '70s, who used her beauty title and her brains to advance her causes in women’s liberation and leadership even in government. She even lived among the poor people in the mountains.

Enough of too much rants and answer-bashing on social media please! And to Gabriela group, need we ask more? ***** Angeline Quinto swears she indeed has not yet experienced being torridly kissed in real life.

But in the movie Foolish Heart, she had it with leading man Jake Cuenca, who admitted he had a difficult time making his leading lady feel relaxed and comfortable.

“Wala po ako kasi alam talaga. I just rely on my leading man and the director’s instruction. Ang pinaka alam ko lang ay yung mga napapanood ko din (in the movies and videos),” shared Angge on that daring scene she did with Jake.

A many colleague-friends find it hard to believe as Angge has then declared being in love with singer Erik Santos, and the two of them were then an item.

“Don’t tell us, they never kissed.” a bitchy reporter reacted. “Baka naman conservative kissing lang sila,” added another.

Had it not for Angge’s spirited and jovial way in sharing her story including her recent encounter with the Black Nazarene of Quiapo, others would have asked her more questions on the issue.

This is Angeline’s second lead role in a film under Regal Entertainment and she has nothing but gratitude to Mother Lily Monteverde and Roselle MonteverdeTeo for allowing her to be an actress.

As her director Joel Lamangan quipped, “She is a thinking actor. Very natural and funny. Magaling siya.”

Foolish Heart also features the tandem of PBB’s real life couple Tommy Esguerra and Miho Nishida. ***** One very intriguing item we heard lately involves this better looking hunk actor who showed good promise as a leading man what with his previous movie hits and drama series on TV. He could have gone to higher ground had it not for a “controversy” that involved him and put him in a bad light, making his projects/exposure scarce. Add to this is what some quarters claim that he had been “feeling (a) demigod” with his success Then eventually, his management decided to wean him away from his love teammate as he is being groomed to take more mature and major leading man roles.

But it has been months since his last successful project and until after the New Year, he is still nowhere to be found, including those projects his network supposedly lined up for him for the first quarter of 2017?

Many of his fans are now complaining and asking the management as they are very worried about his status, especially that a younger generation of actors are “getting there.”

“Sayang naman ang maganda niyang comeback a year ago kung bigla na namang mawawala o mapuputol ang pagsikat niya bilang top leading man?” chorused the fans.

Tsk. tsk, tsk.. We told you, nothing is permanent in this business. Here’s just wondering if this better-looking hunk actor was able to review his “showbiz life” after he enjoyed quite a superstardom status for a brief moment?

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017

PIOLO PASCUAL

turns a new leaf in his career E

XTREMELY grateful, Piolo Pascual bares his well-defined goals as he welcomes a new decade in his career.

He also marks his second decade as one of the most celebrated matinee idols and versatile personalities that dominate various platforms in the entertainment scene.

Piolo is convinced that his first decade defined and prepared him for the his 10 years in the business.

“Professionally, my first half in the business is all about knowing myself, knowing my identity, knowing what I can do, what I can offer. If I can sing, dance or act. It’s all about establishing myself in the industry,” he explained.

The succeeding years, meanwhile, had Piolo streamlining what he can offer the craft that he has embraced.

“Towards the next 10 years, it was all about finding my niche and becoming a brand and just really establishing myself as an artist,” Piolo said.

Cementing his previous statement that leaving the business is no longer an idea in his horizon, the singer-actor also bared how he intends to tackle the next decades in the business.

Aside from being a reliable actor and an overall kind man, Piolo has earned the perception of being reserved and safe. This time, he promised that his supporters could expect him to go beyond his comfort zone.

“I would also try to think outside of the box to know what I can offer my audience. I thought I’ve already reached my glass ceiling as an artist and now I’m turning a year older and as they say ‘Life begins at 40’ and I kind of feel that,” he said.

Not only that, Piolo is also keen on “giving back” to the business and to the people who have served as family and who have embraced him through the years.

And so, for his birthday celebration, the actor m a d e sure to

ISAH V. RED

commemorate it with the people who made him appreciate his blessings.

There’s a gathering with the children of Hospicio de San Jose on Dec. 23.

Apart from that, Piolo also made sure to reach out to more fans, similar to what he did on his charity event on Jan. 8 at Justice Jose Abad Santos High School in Binondo.

Piolo’s dearest friends, including Rayver Cruz, Shaina Magdayao, Pooh, Jed Madela, Erik Santos, Angeline Quinto, Tippy Dos Santos, Khalil Ramos, Aaron Villaflor, Marion Aunor, and teen stars Ylona Garcia, Loisa Andalio, also made time for the special event.

In place of an extravagant celebration, Piolo’s family and friends, with the help of StarStudio magazine, mounted a surprise birthday party for the January 2017 cover star on Jan. 5.

As far as his career is concerned, Piolo is hoping to be able to get deeper into the business by focusing on other aspects such as movie production.

“I want to be able to do films that have social significance socially. I want to do more roles, especially now with the emergence of the indie films. Not necessarily bridge the gap, but I want the people to realize that a film is a film no matter how it’s done, whether it was indie or mainstream,” said Piolo.

As a celebrity, he was honest enough that he’s somehow entertaining the idea of bringing his talent outside of the country.

“Hopefully I want to be able to do something regionally, like an international film. But I’m not keen on getting into Hollywood because I don’t think I’m young or old enough to be in it,” he explained.

On top of his dreams and goals, 2017 is sure to be packed for one of the pillars of the Kapamilya network.

Musically, Piolo is slated to release the physical album titled Piolo Pascual

Apart from being a TV darling, Maine Mendoza proves that she's an effective brand endorser, too

G r e a t e s t Themes.

Piolo also revealed that he’s currently collaborating on a new album with ace front man Ely Buendia.

At the moment, Piolo is also looking into staging a concert sometime this year.

Those missing him on the big screen, meanwhile, need not wait any longer as his first film opposite Yen Santos titled My Northern Light is set to hit the theaters on March 29.

Piolo happily welcomed the idea of having a new leading lady. After all he makes sure to give them the best and to cull certain lessons from them.

“It’s a welcome change you know. Usually, ako talaga ang pina-partner sa akin or sa mas experienced sa akin. For me, it’s already time to impart not necessarily what I can share but to give others the chance to explore as they are being paired with other people, because that is how they learn,” said Piolo.

It may be cliché, but Piolo promised his new film is something different.

“I was able to do away with the typical love story of boy-meets-girl and there’s no conflict like adultery.

In this movie, we really delved into the heart of the family, the heart of a man, the core of a person,” Piolo shared.

The film is slated to come out during the first quarter of the year. Other than his movie, Piolo also teased about taking part in a teleserye sometime this year.

L A S T y e a r , M a i n e Mendoza shared the good news that one of the brands she’s endorsing – CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino – is now the country’s topselling tocino.

She and CDO Funtastyk would like to celebrate with you through a Funtastyk Feast.

Imagine going on a date with Maine Mendoza. Wonderful, right?

Well, CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino gives you a chance to do just that through the Dare to Be Funtastyk promo.

To be part of the Funtastyk Date with Maine, you have to be able to do Maine’s exciting #FuntastykDares.

Maine announced a dare on the CDO Funtastyk Young

For A-list actor Piolo Pascual, life begins at 40. As he turns a year older, he still endeavors to think outside the box to know what else he can offer his audience.

Pork Tocino Facebook page.

One dare will be released per day for 20 days tat began yesterday. Fans have to capture themselves doing a dare through a photo or video then submit it via Facebook chat.

Those who will join will get a chance to win a seat and celebrate with Maine at the Funtastyk Feast on Feb. 28.

“Excited ako kasi I will get to meet CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino lovers. It’s also my chance to spend time with them!” exclaimed one of the most trusted and effective endorsers.

“Thankful ako na nagtiwala ang mga tao sa akin as much as CDO. Happy ako na naging part ako ng success ng brand,” she adds.

“Fan talaga ako ng CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino ever since kaya happy ako na

no. 1 na siya. It’s delicious, tender kasi hindi ito gawa sa inahing baboy and hindi ito malitid. malitid It doesn’t shrink easily when cooked unlike other brands kaya young talaga ang love ko!”

As the country’s No. 1 Tocino, the Dare to be Funtastyk promo is CDO’s way of giving back to its loyal consumers.

And what dare would Maine want most from CDO supporters and participants?

“Yung gaano karaming tocino ang makakain nila in a minute,” she laughingly said, “Masaya ‘yun!”

So what are you waiting for?

Visit www. daretobefuntastyk.com and CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino Facebook page for the complete details and mechanics.