Manila Standard - 2017 January 19 - Thursday

VOL. XXX • NO. 341 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Miss U bets join Baguio floral parade

By Nickie Wang REIGNING queen Pia Wurtzbach and around 24 Miss Universe candidates joined the annual Panagbenga Flower Festival in Baguio City on Wednesday.

The beauties who arrived early morning at the Loakan Airport were welcomed by cadets of the Philippine Military Academy, who drew their swords as they alighted the private plane that brought them to the counNext page try’s summer capital.

PRE-CORONATION SMILES. Miss Universe candidates are in the country’s summer capital of Baguio, nestled 1,540 meters above sea level, on Wednesday as part of their pre-pageant activities—visiting tourist spots— nationwide in the runup to the coronation night in Metro Manila on Jan. 30.

Abducted Korean dead Cops strangled, burned M’danao still reeling victim on day of kidnap from heavy By Sandy Araneta and Francisco Tuyay OLICE kidnapped and murdered a South rains, flood Korean businessman, then led his wife to COTABATO CITY—Flooding brought about by incessant rains the past three days has affected 8,692 families in five towns of Lanao del Sur. In a report, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao–Humanitarian Emergency Action and Response Team (ARMM–HEART) identified the affected towns as Bubong, Ditsaan Ramain, Taraka, Maguing, and Kapai.

“A total of 8,962 families from 126 barangays in the five towns are currently affected,” Myrna Jocelyn Henry, ARMMHEART information officer, said on Wednesday.

The affected families per town are as follows: Bubong (2,100); Ditsaan Ramain (2,500); Taraka (3000); Maguing (1,000); and Kapai (362).

The ARMM- HEART, however, maintained there were zero casualties and no displacement so far, despite the flooding.

“The families decided to stay in their respective houses waiting for the water to subside,” Henry said.

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House panel okays special powers for traffic crisis THE bill seeking to grant special powers to the Duterte administration to address the worsening traffic problem has hurdled the committee level at the House of Representatives.

The House committee on transportation on Wednesday approved House Bill 4334, the “Traffic Crisis Act of 2016” that was authored by committee chairman Cesar Sarmiento, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas.

“This traffic crisis act is not forever. We’re just addressing the traffic crisis for a limited period of time,” Sarmiento said during the committee’s 12th Next page

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believe he was alive for months to extort money from her, authorities said Wednesday.

The killing is the latest in a long Police, regarded as one of the naseries of criminal acts by mem- tion’s most corrupt institutions, bers of the Philippine National and has fueled concerns about its role enforcing President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs.

The man disappeared from his home in the northern city of Angeles in October last year, and his wife initially paid a ransom of P5 million, PNP spokesman Dionardo Carlos said.

However, the man was strangled to death and burned to ashes in a crematorium on the day he was abducted, the South Korean foreign ministry said, citing a Philippine Next page Jee Ick Joo government report.

SPECTRAL SIGHT. Two church-goers look at the exhibit of pictures, in this photo taken Dec. 21, 2016,

showing the deaths of alleged drug dealers and users, while taking the breeze at the courtyard of the Catholic Baclaran Church, six months after President Rodrigo Duterte launched his anti-illegal drugs drive. AFP

Name ‘narco solons,’ Alvarez told

By Maricel V. Cruz and Rio N. Araja THE chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs on Wednesday urged Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to divulge the identity of two lawmakers whom he said were on the “narco-list” of President Rodrigo Duterte.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, said that if the list was indeed validated, then Alvarez should name names so that appropriate charges will be filed against them.

Barbers also said the Speaker should name the two congress-

men so that the House can take the necessary disciplinary actions against them based on its own rules.

Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza also urged both Duterte and Alvarez to come out openly and state publicly the names of the two alleged narco-politicians.

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Baclaran church’s EJK exhibit shocks faithful PEOPLE going to mass at one of the most famous churches in Manila over Christmas were met by a disturbing sight: poster-size pictures of Filipinos dying in pools of blood.

The shock Baclaran church exhibit was part of a campaign by one of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions to stop the killings under President Rodrigo Duterte’s war against drugs, which has claimed about 6,000 thousand lives.

“The Church right now is asserting its influence, that’s why

in the coming months the Church will be at the forefront in leading against extrajudicial killings,” said Jerome Secillano, public affairs chief for the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

The Catholic Church, counting eight out of every 10 Filipinos among its flock, wants the Duterte presidency to succeed, but would be remiss in its moral obligation to protect life by keeping quiet, Secillano said. “[The drug war] is not any more in accord with the legal Next page

Digong thanks Pope, attacks priests anew BUSINESS BIGWIGS. President Duterte and top businessmen nationwide in a photo opportunity following a meeting at the President’s Hall in Malacañang Tuesday, where the President encouraged them to follow business practices that would help in uplifting the Filipinos’ lives. (Story on B1)

Marcos blasts poll body over SD cards

By Joel E. Zurbano THE camp of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Wednesday criticized the Commission on Elections for not opening the contents of the secure digital or SD cards retwitter.com/ MlaStandard

trieved from supposedly unused Vote Counting Machines.

“If Comelec was really in command of the May 2016 elections, why can’t it open the supposedly unused or stand by SD cards from the past election?” said Marcos’ legal counsel Victor Rodriguez.

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Decryption is a term used in information technology to open data that were previously encrypted to conceal their contents and to prevent them from being tampered with. Only a person or a machine with a matching digital key can decrypt data. Next page

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By John Paolo Bencito POPE Francis has been the subject of his habitual cursing, but President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday sought to improve his ties with him by sending out a letter thanking him for visiting the country in 2015.

“With profound respect, I have the honor to extend my own and my people’s warmest greetings to your holiness,” Duterte said.

“Our countrymen remember Your Holiness’ apostolic visit

in 2015 with deep appreciation, knowing that it was made with the most sincere regard for the welfare of the Church’s flock.

“The Philippines values its special relations with the Holy See and regards with gratitude Your Holiness’ gracious stewardship of the Catholic faith.”

Duterte made his statement even as he renewed his attacks on the Catholic Church by telling its leaders to try out shabu to understand the gravity of the drug Next page

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Read news, Andanar told “We take exception to the statement of Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar accusing the media of ‘misreporting’ President Rodrigo Duterte’s statement about martial law,” the Malacañang

Press Corps said in a statement.

“The media have no obligation to please or satisfy sources because their loyalty belong to the citizens― those who will be affected by the actions of people who are far more powerful than they.

“We encourage the good secretary and his officials to read the entire news stories and not just the heads or titles to get a better picture of the media’s coverage of the President.”

Duterte on Saturday said no one could stop him from declaring martial law―not even the Supreme Court―to deal with the worsening drug problem and to protect the Filipino people.

But Andanar, a former news reader, accused the media’s reports on the President’s statements “as the height of journalistic irresponsibility.”

He claimed that what Duterte had said was that he would only declare

Abducted...

and abducting him, surrendered this week, Carlos said.

He said another two officers who went with him to the house were under investigation.

Carlos said a retired police officer was also believed to be involved but had fled to Canada.

All three accused officers were from the Anti-Illegal Drugs Group based at PNP headquarters, Carlos said.

He said that Sta. Isabel and the other two officers went to Jee’s house on the pretext of a drug raid.

The abductors demanded from Jee’s wife a ransom of P8 million on Oct. 30, 12 days after he was killed, according to newspaper reports.

She paid P5 million, but the kidnappers then demanded another P4.5 million and continued to say he was alive.

The case has drawn criticism from some lawmakers and media as an example of corrupt policemen expanding their illegal activities after being given freedoms by Duterte to prosecute his war on drugs.

Duterte has encouraged police to kill drug traffickers and addicts, and vowed to shield them from prosecution.

Nearly 6,000 people have died in Duterte’s drug war since he took office in the middle of last year.

Carlos insisted the abduction of Jee was not related to Duterte’s drug war, saying the problem of kidnappings for ransom by corrupt police had existed for a long time.

“It turned out it was an old modus operandi where bad cops claim there is a drug raid and turn it into a kidnap for ransom,” Carlos said.

The police force was among the most corrupt national agencies, according to a 2015 report from the Office of the Ombudsman.

A 2013 survey by anti-graft watchdog Transparency International also found that the police force was perceived by Filipinos to be the country’s most corrupt institution.

The National Bureau of Investigation confirmed reports that kidnap victim Jee Ick Joo was dead.

NBI agents located on Tuesday

the funeral home in Caloocan City where he was taken after he was abducted in Angeles City on Oct. 18.

Police are hunting Gerardo Santiago, barangay chairman and a retired policeman who owns Gream Funeral Parlor in Bagbaguin, Caloocan City, where Jee was taken and cremated.

NBI Task Force Against Illegal Drugs chief Roel Bolivar said the employees of the funeral home identified Jee when they were shown a photo of the businessman.

At a press conference last week, Choi Kyung Jin, Jee’s wife said eight armed men took her husband and some of their personal belongings from their home.

The couple’s house help, Marissa Dawis, was also abducted. She was released the following day and is now the main witness in the case.

Choi said the kidnappers demanded P8 million, which was later reduced to P5 million following negotiations.

Accompanied by her nephew, Choi said she delivered the ransom

Araneta, AFP

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M’danao...

“For us, this is quite disheartening and highly irregular. The process of decrypting SD cards have been done so many times in the past, so now we’re wondering why Comelec can’t seem to do it now,” said Rodriguez said.

He said one explanation could be that the Comelec and its election partner, software provider Smartmatic Corp., did a sloppy job on the tool that was supposed to decrypt the data.

“Second, the SD cards could contain software that is different than the authorized one, and third, that the SD card was tampered with,” Rodriguez said.

“Any of the reasons raised are a clear violation of our election laws.

Comelec should answer these questions because they cast doubt on the credibility of the elections.”

During the decryption last Monday, a Smartmatic representative told the camp of Marcos that they used the Linux operating system in formatting the SD cards.

“However, in one of the cards, they found a program that could only appear when using the Windows Operating System and not Linux as maintained by Smartmatic.

This could mean that the SD card that was supposedly unused or the standby could have been tampered with,” Rodriguez said.

The Comelec was supposed to conduct the decryption of 13 SD cards found to have data. The 13 were part of the original 127 SD cards set aside during the stripping of 1,356 unused VCMs last October after data were found in them.

The other SD cards were not included in the decryption because they were excluded by the Senate Electoral Tribunal on the motion of former Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Francis Tolentino due to his election protest before the Tribunal.

Because of these discrepancies, the representative from the Presidential Electoral Tribunal decided it would be prudent to postpone the decryption to enable all the parties to come up with a solution on how to remedy the situation with the approval from the tribunal itself.

The ARMM- HEART is continuously monitoring the situation as relief is being readied for the affected families.

More than 7,000 residents from seven barangays of two municipalities in Davao del Norte were moved to safer areas after the Libuganon River overflowed caused by intermittent rains due to low pressure area and tail-end of cold front.

Of the seven barangays, five are in Kapalong namely Pag-Asa, Semong, Maniki, Sua-on and Florida and two barangays of Braulio E. Dujali town namely Dujali and Tanglaw.

The Davao del Norte provincial information office reported Wednesday that 730 families or 3,449 individuals in Kapalong and 3615 in B.E. Dujali are now attended to their respective evacuation areas set up by the Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils.

Glenda Delideli, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Councils, said the provincial government was ready to augment the assistance offered to the affected municipalities.

Delideli said responders are on stand-by while needed equipment like rubber boats are ready. They are also closely monitoring the situation.

According to the provincial government, the pre-emptive evacuations

were executed between 3:00 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Tuesday, as the water level in Libuganon continued to rise.

Landslides were also reported in Barangays Florida, Sua-on and Gupitan with no significant damage or casualty recorded.

Delideli also reported no casualty.

The Office of the Municipal Mayor Maria Theresa Timbolon Wednesday morning suspended classes in preschool up to high school levels in both public and private institutions within the poblacion area. All schools in Brgy. Tanglaw have also suspended classes in all levels.

The heavy rains was brought by a low pressure area formed in Zamboanga Peninsula with a tail-end of a cold front affecting Visayas and Northern Mindanao.

Units of the Cagayan De Oro-based 4th Infantry Division have rescued 2,577 families or 9,415 individuals during the severe weather disturbance which brought heavy rains and flooding to Northern Mindanao on Monday.

In a statement Wednesday, 4th Infantry Division spokesperson Capt.

Joe Patrick Martinez said all units were deployed to support the disaster and risk reduction and management councils of various local government units.

He said these troops actively undertook humanitarian assistance and disaster response operations in affected ares in Misamis Oriental and Cagayan De Oro. All major roads in Misamis Orien-

tal and Cagayan de Oro City that were affected by flash floods are now passable to all types of vehicles.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel lll on Wednesday appealed for immediate help for residents of his hometown, Cagayan De Oro City, where torrential rains Monday night caused “cataclysmic flash floods” and forced authorities to evacuate 11 barangays.

“On behalf of Cagayan de Oro, I issue this urgent appeal. The city needs every assistance that our people can give. It needs immediate support for the reconstruction of destroyed houses and other damaged buildings,” said Pimentel.

Pimentel said the affected residents need immediate food and clothing as their houses were washed away or are still submerged in waist-deep floodwater.

He thanked those who have already responded, in kind and in cash, to the city government’s appeal.

City and social welfare officials, who were first to rush to the evacuation sites, described the flood as “Ondoy”-like, a reference the rampaging floodwaters that hit Metro Manila which lay in the path Typhoon “Ondoy” in 2009.

He said swift decisive, government response saved lives—but homes and villages were washed away, creating an army of evacuees in Northern Mindanao’s premier city. He also cited the city government’s quick response that quickly evacuated thousands to safer ground to prevent a single casualty.

“It is high time that local officials revisit the city’s flood-control and infrastructure program,” he said, noting that reports saidthe city’s canals were clogged with trash.

Heavy rainwater that cascaded from the mountains and valleys of Bukidnon rose quickly, creating flash floods that caught many by surprise, including students who were stranded overnight.

The Mindanao senator said he would also talk to concerned government agencies, including the Department of Social Welfare and Development, the Department of Public Works and Highways and the Department of Health, to extend assistance to the victims.

The Office of the Senate President has launched a relief drive, called TabangCDO, which would help flood victims.

“We are putting up boxes in the Senate, at the PDP Laban headquarters in Pasay, and at Duterte’s Kitchen in Cubao, for those with goods to share with our countrymen in the affected areas,” Pimentel said.

“Let us remember that flood victims are not limited to CDO. We should ensure that we can help everyone to the best of our abilities.”

The combination of the two weather phenomena has caused floods in various areas in Visayas and Mindanao.

Cagayan de Oro City has declared a state of calamity due to the floods that devastated the city. Macon RamosAraneta, PNA

style narco state.

While Duterte’s crackdown has been condemned by human rights activists and some Western governments for allegedly unleashing a wave of extrajudicial killings, the President has retained huge support from Filipinos hoping his strongman style will fix crime, corruption and other intractable problems.

With such support and also because of various intimidation tactics, few politicians or other influential people have spoken out.

For months the Church, which played a leading role in the ouster of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and President Joseph Estrada, also held its tongue.

Church leaders said they wanted to give Duterte, who won the May elections by 6.6-million votes, a chance to implement his programmes and make the Philippines a safer place.

They had also hoped to influence him quietly, holding a series of private meetings with Duterte and one of his top aides, according to Manila priest Atilano Fajardo, who is now helping to lead the Church’s campaign against the killings.

Meanwhile, some priests and bishops, like ordinary people, were too scared to speak out, according to Secillano.

“Not too many churches and people are actually keen on speaking up against these killings because of fear,” he said.

To start the pushback, Archbishop Socrates Villegas, president of the bishops conference, issued a pastoral letter to his flock in October.

“I am ashamed of the things I read about the Philippines in the international media and more ashamed of what I hear from our

leaders,” Villegas said then.

“I can no longer give a word of condolence to the bereaved families because I also need to be assured even a bit that things will get better and not become worse.”

In a Christmas message, Manila Cardinal Luis Tagle, the country’s highest-ranking Church official, lamented Filipinos losing their sense of “hospitality,” in what was seen as a criticism of the killings.

“Why is there room for destroying lives but minute space for saving them?” Tagle said.

Some churches around the Philippines have since put up banners denouncing extrajudicial killings, while priests have helped to organize relatives of the slain into a watchdog group called Network Against Killings in the Philippines. AFP

By John Paolo Bencito

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HE reporters covering Malacañang on Wednesday told Communications Secretary Martin Andanar to first read the news stories before making accusations that the media “misreported” President Rodrigo Duterte’s statements on martial law.

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The crematorium was owned by a former police officer, the foreign ministry said.

The South Korean government identified the man only by his surname of Jee and said he was in his 50s. Reports said he was a businessman who had been working in the Philippines since 2008 and had been working for a manpower company.

South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se demanded answers after receiving a phone call from Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay to inform him of the murder.

“Minister Yun, expressing grave shock over the implication of Philippine police officers in the case, asked that the Philippine government get to the bottom of the case and bring those responsible to justice,” a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Ricky Sta. Isabel, one of the officers accused of going to Jee’s house

Digong...

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menace amid their criticisms of the alleged summary killings being committed under his administration.

“I really cannot understand the Church. If a person is high, they really fight,” Duterte said during the inauguration of a privately-owned hospital in Nueva Ecija.

“These priests really should try shabu so that they can understand.

Get one, two or three of the bishops [to try it.]”

Peace Process Secretary Jesus

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Baclaran...

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processes, and the moral norms are being violated and so now is the time for the Church to speak up,” he said.

Duterte was elected in a landslide last year, after vowing on the campaign trail to eradicate illegal drugs in society by killing tens of thousands of people.

Police have reported killing 2,250 drug suspects since Duterte assumed office, with 3,710 others murdered by unknown suspects who at times have left signs at the crime scenes accusing their victims of being drug dealers or addicts.

Duterte has made no apologies for the killings, saying he would be happy to “slaughter” three-million drug addicts to stop the Philippines from descending into a Latin AmericanDureza, who is in Rome for the continuation of the peace talks with the communist rebels, said Duterte had tasked him to give a letter to the Pontiff whom he cursed for the traffic his visit had caused.

“Tomorrow, we will be at the Vatican in the morning to hopefully meet the Pope and possibly hand to His Holiness a personal letter of President Duterte thanking Him for the Philippine papal visit,” Dureza said in a social media post.

During PDP-Laban’s formal declaration of Duterte as their presidential candidate in November 2014, Pope Francis became the

object of Duterte’s expletives after claiming that it took him five hours to reach a mall from his hotel while in Metro Manila.

“Pope, you son of a bitch, go home. Don’t visit here anymore,” the then Davao City mayor said.

Pope Francis, who visited Metro Manila and the typhoon-battered Leyte province in January 2015, is well-loved by the Filipinos.

Duterte has since called his statement a “mistake” and a “stray bullet,” saying his cursing was actually directed at the traffic woes caused by the government mismanagement of the Pope’s visit.

martial law “under the premise that the country has deteriorated into an utter state of rebellion and lawlessness”―even though the video recordings of his speech said neither invasion nor rebellion would be his reason for putting the country under military rule.

The reporters likewise slammed the administration’s tendency to deny its errors even if the video evidence clearly showed there had been no misreporting.

A review of the President’s speech in Davao City on Saturday would reveal that the media merely paraphrased or translated some of his lines, the MPC said.

“We are disturbed by the pro-

pensity of the officials of this administration to blame the media whenever the inflammatory statements of the president stir controversy or draw flak. This trend should stop as it would not contribute to the elevation of the level of public discourse.”

The Palace reporters reminded Andanar of the important role of the press in reporting how the President’s policies were being carried out.

“We hope that such behavior is not an attempt to discredit or undermine the media, which play a crucial role in keeping our democracy healthy and checking those in power,” the MPC said. money at a fastfood restaurant in Angeles City on Oct. 31, but her husband was not released. The kidnappers offered no proof of life when she gave them the money, she said.

When the kidnappers asked for P4.5 million more, Choi decided to go to the police.

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Wednesday sought a congressional investigation into the “tokhang for ransom” operations of rogue police officers who used the war on drugs as a cover for their extortion activities.

His resolution calls for the committee on public order and illegal drugs, which he heads, to investigate the kidnap-extortion racket.

The resolution specifically cited Jee’s case as well as another case involving Lacson’s friend, a ChineseFilipino businessman who was also victimized by the same racket last year. He was freed after paying the ransom, however.

The suspects were later arrested, Lacson said. With Macon Ramos-

Miss U...

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Locals from Baguio had a glimpse of Wurtzbach and the rest of the delegates who rode flower-decorate d floats around the City of Pines. The parade, which featured street dancers donning colorful costumes, started at Upper Session Road, then continued down South Drive and ended at the Baguio Country Club.

After the parade, Wurtzbach and the candidates went strawberry picking and participated in a tree- planting activity led by executives of the Baguio Country Club.

Baguio is the fourth city that the Miss Universe candidates have visited since the kick-off event called The Governor’s Ball held at the SMX Convention Center in Pasay City on Jan. 16. It was attended by personalities including Mayor Joseph Estrada, former Ilocos Sur governor Luis “Chavit” Singson, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, Tourism Undersecretary Kat de Castro, and Senator Manny Pacquiao.

Over the weekend, around 20 delegates went to Vigan for the Philippine Terno Fashion Show on Calle Crisologo. And on Tuesday, the 86 candidates traveled to JPark Island Resort and Waterpark in Cebu and walked the runway in their swimsuits.

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From A1 “They should be fair to all the institution, the members of Congress and even those mentioned so they can defend themselves, too,” Atienza said.

But Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles said he sees no reason for Alvarez or even the President to name those public officials in the drug list with the absence of solid evidence and appropriate charges that should have been filed against them.

“There is no reason for the President to disclose the names prematurely; otherwise, it may disrupt any investigation being conducted. Should a complaintaffidavit be filed in the proper forum the names will be disclosed anyway. So let us just wait for it,” Nograles said.

Alvarez said Tuesday two congressmen are among the public officials included in President Rodrigo Duterte’s “narco-list.”

In a news conference, Alvarez said he is convinced that one of them, an unnamed lawmaker from Mindanao, was acting as a protector of the illegal drug trade.

“The list given to me was validated; which means it passed through several government agencies for validation. But on my part, I am still double checking it,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez declined to name the two lawmakers, however, and said he would speak to them first.

Others on the list are governors, mayors, judges and prosecutors, he said.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, meanwhile, said it is conducting its own investigation of its personnel who allegedly received protection money from a top drug supplier in Negros province.

Director General Isidro Lapeña has tasked the agency’s internal affairs service to undertake a parallel investigation on five agency personnel who have been accused of receiving pay-offs.

“In a sworn affidavit of a suspected member of a drug group, five PDEA personnel were allegedly receiving payola of P20,000 a week in the Negros Island Region.

I have ordered an expeditious investigation to determine if there is any truth to the veracity of the statement,” he said.

He warned that heads will roll, and vowed that there will be no cover-up.

Appropriate charges will be filed against erring PDEA agents, he said.

“Let the ax fall where it may.

PDEA is not in the business of covering up misdemeanors of its personnel. Anyone who is facing cases due to the performance of his or her duties, the agency will act to support and defend them, but if they violate the anti-drug laws and commit misdemeanors, we will act to prosecute them to the fullest,” he added.

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hearing on the emergency powers.

“If you look at the whole traffic crisis act, this is not an emergency power,” Sarmiento said.

This is a law that contains strategy and reforms that we identified in the course of the 16th Congress and even now in the hearings of the traffic crisis act.”

Sarmiento said many ideas from the House bill had been adopted in the Senate version, thus making the harmonization of the two versions easier.

HB 4334 identifies and limits the scope of the bill to the land traffic crisis in Metro Manila, Metro Cebu and Davao City.

Under the bill, the secretary of the Transport department is designated as the ex-officio Traffic Chief and shall have the power of supervision and control over the Metro Manila Development Authority, Cebu Coordinating Council, Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, Land Transportation Office, Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board, the Road Board, and the Metropolitan Davao Traffic Administrator.

The Traffic Chief will also be allowed to implement similar mechanisms and systems provided in the bill to other cities and municipalities around the country that are suffering from traffic gridlock.

“This bill is intended to address or mitigate [the traffic problem] but it’s not a magic wand that will solve everything if approved,” Sarmiento said.

“Since there are a lot of varying traffic ordinances coming from LGUs [local government units], this bill will give the traffic chief the power to harmonize all these.” PNA

News IN BRIEF US commends DoJ for arrest of American THE Department of Justice has received commendation from the United States Homeland Security Investigation for its efforts that led to the apprehension and prosecution of American national involved in online child pornography and exploitation.

In a letter to Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, US Homeland Security Investigation attaché Ransom Avilla thanked the DoJ for its cooperation and “tremendous assistance” in Bernhard case.

“This is a validation of our efforts to protect our children from the evils of exploitation and pornography,” Aguirre said.

Calvin Bernhardt, an American national, who was caught exploiting Filipino children in cyberspace, was convicted by a federal court of five counts of child pornography and child exploitation crimes.

He is now facing up to 25 years of incarceration in US prison.

“Our Filipino youth [have] always been and will always be the hope of our future. They are our future. The DoJ will support all efforts to protect them. Let this be a warning to preying pedophiles, we will come after you,” Aguirre stressed.

In May last year, agents of the National Bureau of Investigation-Anti-Human Trafficking Division and the Department of Justice-Office of Cybercrime carried out an operation that resulted to the arrest of a woman allegedly pimping her 15-yearold daughter to Bernhardt.

The operation arose from the report of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, a US-based non-profit organization which helps identify and rescue victims of child pornography and child sexual exploitation around the world, including the Philippines.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Alvarez sees Congress to start Cha-Cha debate 6 months hence

By Maricel V. Cruz

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HE House of Representatives will not tackle the Palace-backed Charter Change until it is able to pass the equally important and priority bills such as fhe death penalty, lowering the age of criminal liability, among others, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said.

Alvarez said at the moment, the Lower House was occupied with many pending measures of national importance, and the proposed Charter Change to effect federalism might be discussed during the second regular session of the 17th Congress in July.

“We have several pending bills at the moment. We still have to pass [them] before we can actually focus on Charter Change,” Alvarez said.

The present 17th Congress’ First Regular Session will adjourn sine die or end on June 2.

The Second Regular Session will begin on July 24 in time for the yearly State of the Nation Address of the President.

Alvarez hoped Congress would be able to.begin deliberations on proposed revision of the constitution for a shift to a parliamentary system of government six months from now.

Alvarez said President Rodrigo Duterte had signed an Executive Order creating a 25-member body tasked to study proposed changes to the charter.

It was Alvarez who submitted the proposed EO to the Palace, calling for the creation of a Constitutional Commission, composed of experts in their respective fields, tasked to prepare a proposed draft of a new constitution that would be submitted to Congress for debate

and deliberation.

“What is missing is the appointment of members of the Constitutional Commission. As soon as the appoinment of members is done, hopefuly by this month, the Commission can already begin its tasks” said Alvarez.

He said Congress could already convene as a Constituent Assembly to begin the deliberations on the proposed draft submitted by the Constitutional Commission,” he added.

Alvarez stressed while Congress would use as starting point of its deliberation the draft submitted by the Con-Com, they were not bound to merely accept or reject the proposed Charter changes.

“We have to deliberate; and debate on the draft,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez added he expected in-

tense and prolonged debates in the House of Representatives once deliberation on the proposed Charter Change had begun.

The Speaker also said he could not give this early a timetable how long it would take for Congress to complete its deliberation to rewrite the Constitution as the proposal would have to be submitted to the people through a referendum.

Nevertheless, Alvarez said he was confident Congress would be up to the task.

Since the proposed Charter Change was intended to replace the current unitary form of government to a parliamentary system, Alvarez expects the draft of the new Charter to mark a major departure from the provisions of the 1987 Constitution.

Bill allows Ombudsman to deputize prosecutors A PARTY-LIST lawmaker has filed a measure seeking to authorize the Office of the Ombudsman to have private lawyers and law firms deputized to help prosecute cases.

In filing House Bill 4754, Kabayan party-list Rep. Harry Roque proposed to amend Republic Act 6770, or the Ombudsman Act of 1989, to allow the services of private lawyers to be deputized by the Ombudsman, to work in cooperation with, and under, the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

“This is a proffered solution to the spate of dismissals of cases filed by the Ombudsman before the Sandiganbayan,” Roque said.

“Unlike in ordinary criminal cases where private prosecutors are allowed to prosecute the civil aspect of the case, private lawyers cannot do so in the Sandiganbayan,” Roque added.

Under HB 4754, the deputized lawyers shall work under the Office of the Special Prosecutor and shall remain under its supervision and control, upon authority of the Ombudsman.

A compensation structure based on the work evaluation studies shall be instituted, subject to the Ombudsman’s approval, Roque said in his proposed bill. Maricel Cruz

MINAMATA DISEASE. Ecowaste Coalition activists join Minamata disease sufferer Hideo Okama on Wednesday in seeking justice for mercury pollution victims during a seminar to mark the 60th year since the official recognition of the disease, a neurological syndrome caused by severe mercury poisoning. Lino Santos

Recto: OK of SSS contribution stops with President Poe vows

By Macon Ramos-Araneta to quicken pet bills SENATE Minority Leader Ralph Recto on Wednesday insisted the power to approve the rate of a Social Security System member’s monthly contribution should remain with the President since this was a payroll tax.

“When it comes to any mandatory deduction from a workingman’s income, the buck stops at the president’s table,” Recto said in reaction to legislative proposals to delegate the power to set and approve SSS premiums to the multisectoral Social Security Commission.

“If you divest people of part of their income, then it is better that such power be vested on an individual with a mandate from the people,” Recto said.

He noted the President was the best trustee for SSS members because he was elected and not merely appointed from a small sector who would be given the power to deduct payroll tax.

“He [President] is the stakeholder represent-

ative [who has a] clear mandate,” Recto said.

“Remove him from the equation, then the SSS becomes an autonomous republic,” Recto added.

Because employers put in a counterpart to their employees contributions, “then all the more it becomes important for any increase to have presidential imprimatur.”

“He is the only one who can convince corporate Philippines as well as small businessmen that such an increase is needed,” Recto added.

In setting the schedule and rate of members’ contributions, Recto explained “the Commission can recommend but the President must concur.”

While a good President, Recto said, “must always heed the views of professionals who run the pension system, it is better to give the final say to President as some sort of a fail-safe mechanism that can override bad recommendations.”

“We need the President as a tripwire against

onerous increases. He can greenlight but he can also abort,” he said.

The senator downplayed fears that allowing the President to retain that power would politicize the process.

“The President is not up for reelection so he can make tough decisions. That he is termlimited makes him immune from populist pressures,” Recto said.

“No President would like to be remembered as someone who bankrupted the SSS,” he added.

On the contrary, Recto said granting the President oversight powers over the pension system would allow him to lean on it so it would improve “its bottomline, increase its income and expand membership benefits.”

Recto said the SSC could be given the authority to fix and determine the benefits, condone penalties imposed on contributions and loan amortization, and amend the penalty for delinquent contributions “without the need for prior approval of the Philippine President.”

CA clears Gatchalian of liability in Kentex

By Rey Requejo

COOPERATION AREAS. Philippine Coast Guard Officer-in-Charge Commodore Joel Garcia welcomes Russian Ambassador Igov Khovaev Wednesday at the Manila headquarters, where the former briefed his guest on the current thrust and developments relating to Coast Guard functions and developments in the West Philippine Sea. Norman Cruz

THE Court of Appeals has overturned the resolution issued by the Office of the Ombudsman ordering the dismissal from the service of Valenzuela City Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian after finding him administratively liable for grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty for his alleged negligence in the Kentex fire tragedy that left 74 people dead in 2015.

In a 23-page decision, the CA’s Fifteenth Division through Associate Justice Leoncia Real-Dimagiba granted the petition filed by Gatchalian seeking the reversal of the joint resolution issued by the Office of the Ombudsman last Feb. 11, 2016.

The Ombudsman resolution approved the indictment of Gatchal-

ian and co-respondents for violation of of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices and reckless imprudence resulting in multiple homicides and multiple physical injuries under Article 365 of the Revised Penal Code.

The anti-graft body also found the Gatchalian’s co-respondents administratively guilty of grave misconduct and gross neglect of duty and were meted the penalty of dismissal from the service, with the same accessory penalties of forfeiture of benefits and privileges and perpetual disqualification to hold public office.

In absolving Gatchalian of administrative liability, the CA stressed that the duty to enforce the Fire Code belonged to the Bureau of Fire Protection and now with the local government unit.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta AS CONGRESS resumed session last Jan. 16, Senator Grace Poe, chairman of two major Senate committees, vowed to hasten three pet legislative measures during the remaining nine-week plenary sessions.

Poe, chairperson of the Senate committees on public services and on information and mass media, has submitted two bills to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III following an all-senators’ caucus last week that tackled the list of measures the chamber is giving priority to.

On top of the agenda of the Senate public services committee is Senate Bill No. 1284 granting emergency powers to President Rodrigo Duterte to solve the crippling traffic crisis in Metro Manila and other major urban areas.

The bill is set to enter the period of interpellation after Poe endorsed the measure last December. The senator expressed confidence the bill would get multi-partisan support.

Sponsored in October last year, the proposed Freedom of Information Act, which promotes transparency and accountability in the bureaucracy, is also up in the agenda of the Senate committee on public information and mass media.

SB 159 will be scheduled for plenary debates in the first quarter of the year.

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Opinion

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Showcase

T

HE Philippines is hosting the Miss Universe pageant. Nearly 200 of the world’s most beautiful women—beauty defined, of course, by conventional standards—have descended upon our shores to spread goodwill and help us showcase the best our country has to offer.

The pageant takes place at an interesting time. We will be the first to claim that the Philippines is a beautiful country—in natural resources and the goodness of heart

of its people—but several things make us wary about how we are doing the telling.

There is, for instance, an ongoing war on drugs—and on everyone else that ap-

pears to be in the way.

Nearly seven months after President Rodrigo Duterte took office, 5,700 people have been killed in the name of this war, and many of them under questionable circumstances. And while the drug menace is prevalent among rich and poor Filipinos alike, it appears the crackdown is skewed toward those who do not have the wherewithal to protect

themselves.

And then, the President is known to be hostile towards those who do not agree with his methods. In fact, did he not say we could do without aid and other foreign assistance—even as, much later, he graciously accepted an investment package from Japan and has been cozying up to the Chinese for joint explorations in the South China Sea, dis-

regarding the fact that even the permanent Court of Arbitration found merit in our claim?

Are we ready, too, to share with the world the transport woes our motorists and commuters have to live with every day?

Finally, poverty persists despite steady economic growth every reporting period. Pageantry will not be able to hide the ugly truth of wealth

inequality.

Soon many will be caught up in the frenzy of pageantry. This will be a nice distraction from everything that ails us. Unfortunately, distractions are meant to be just that and we will have no choice but to face these ills again. This will not be pretty for a long time, no matter the effort we make in putting a positive spin to our circumstances.

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

Striking a balance

after he had trolled Enrile over something else.

Trillanes’ long record as a Senate troll renders void the expected defense that President Rodrigo Duterte is himself engaged in trolling when he uses abusive language directed at people he doesn’t like or who get in the way of his plans. Trillanes was already a troll when he entered the Senate, long before Duterte even dreamed of the presidency.

And the reason Duterte hates Trillanes is that the senator trolled him, too, in a last-minute bid to deep-six the Davao City mayor’s candidacy with claims of hundreds of millions of pesos in ill-gotten wealth accumulated by Duterte. Duterte won anyway—but Trillanes is still trolling in the Senate. *** Speaking of trolls, I’ve been informed that the so-called

THE President signed Executive Order No. 12 dated Jan. 9, 2017 giving impetus to the Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health Law rendered practically inoperative by a temporary restraining order issued by the Supreme Court. It is something that is needed if we have to somehow manage the high rate of population growth in this country. I went over the executive order and although there is absolutely nothing there about killing the unborn, those against it will again use religion to drive home their point.

It is hard to have a civilized debate in this country when we talk of issues involving religion. The RPRH Act, which was signed into law during the term of President Noynoy Aquino, is a case in point. In the debate leading to its passage in Congress after so many years of attempts, its implementation was immediately embargoed by the Supreme Court when a pro-life group filed for a temporary restraining order which the Court granted.

Was the decision based solely on law or did religion creep into the Supreme Court decision? It is hard to say.

The appointment of Supreme Court justices are not based on scrutiny of the would-be appointees that includes their views on law and religion. For instance, would their legal decisions be influenced by their religious moral beliefs? When the RPRH law was being considered for passage, the Catholic Church took such unusual and aggressive actions like displaying posters in church premises proclaiming that the law was tantamount to murder.

It was not, of course, but such was the ferocity of the debate (or the non-debate) that there was hardly any intelligent exchange of positions. Discussions were always drowned by the boisterous followers of the church.

The Philippines is 68th in size among the countries of the world but is the 12th most populous. The land area is only 115,000 square miles with a population of about 105 million by the end of 2017. One could immediately see the imbalance between what the country’s environment can realistically sustain and its population. I read one time that the country’s environment can only

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Trillanes the Troll LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES I HAD a great laugh yesterday when I read about Senator Antonio Trillanes IV’s call for an investigation of social media trolls, whom he accused of spreading “false, erroneous, distorted, fabricated and/or misleading news and information... at the expense of rational discourse [and to] deliberately create and/or foment discord and conflict.” After all, I had just witnessed Trillanes troll a colleague of his on the floor of his chamber, in the person of Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri.

Trillanes trolled Zubiri in a media interview last Tuesday by accusing the Bukidnon lawmaker of a joining the plan to whitewash Trillanes’ investigation of the Bureau of

Immigration. Then he trolled Zubiri again when the latter rose to give a privilege speech defending his support of killing the Trillanes probe, which was done in a Senate vote on Monday.

In a classic trolling ploy, Trillanes responded to Zubiri’s charge that the ex-coup leader used offensive language by actually admitting that he had meant to offend. “I’m glad that the gentleman took offense because in fact the statement was meant to be offensive,” Trillanes said shamelessly, as is his wont, right in the session hall.

Zubiri, who is apparently unused to trolling, had enough and confronted Trillanes. The two could have come to blows had the proverbial cooler heads not prevailed; Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III suspended the session and later patched up things between his colleagues.

Of course, Trillanes’ trolling is only called “interpellation” because he did what he did in the Senate. If he had done the same thing on social media, he’d be a troll, defined by Wikipedia as “a person who sows discord...

Trillanes’ trolling is only called ‘interpellation’ because he did what he did in the Senate. by starting arguments or upsetting people... with the intent of provoking [others] into an emotional response or of otherwise

disrupting normal... discussion, often for the troll’s amusement.”

Why the Senate allowed Trillanes to get away with being deliberately offensive, as he himself admitted, is what’s bothersome. It called to mind Trillanes’ previous successful trolling expeditions in the chamber, especially his shaming of Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes, whom Trillanes repeatedly badgered and bullied during an official investigation, after which Reyes went to his mother’s grave and shot himself in the head.

Of course, Trillanes the Troll also can also end up on the losing side of a trolling match —or a Senate debate, if you want to call it that. He once walked out of a Senate session when Senator Juan Ponce Enrile demanded that he explain his actions as alleged “special envoy” of then President Noynoy Aquino to Beijing,

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Our new normal MANY questions have been asked in relation to President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody war on drugs.

Have the people been so desensitized and apathetic to what is happening that there is no reaction at all to the killings?

Have they become deathly afraid of what President Duterte could do?

It appears that the people have accepted the reality of this bloody war. In fact, President Duterte continues to enjoy high trust and approval ratings.

Have we Filipinos gone so low in values that we simply accept these things?

It would seem so. Even the complaints of the religious here and abroad are being ignored by the majority of our people.

What’s happening to our country?

We should not underestimate the psychological effect of all this on our children. Are we breeding a generation of Filipinos that does not care that there are violence and lawlessness? What a tragedy!

Has the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines also been desensitized that it can no longer stop the killings that show we no longer value the dignity of human life?

Even a jaded journalist like me is alarmed by all these killings. Why are the daily murders now seen as ordinary? And there does not seem to be any real and credible opposition. *** The National Democratic Front, the political arm of the communist movement of the Philippines, is adopting the same strategy as the one it did with past administrations. This is an effort to make the Duterte government give them all they are asking for in the name of peace.

The communist rebels, waging the largest and longest insurgency in the ground, are growing restless on moves to a ceasefire as they have become frustrated in “government’s broken promises.”

The communist insurgents now have been reduced to a little more than 4,000 fighters from 26,000 in 1968 when the movement was at its peak. The late President Cory Aquino in 1986 decriminalized the communist movement.

Now, the communist rebels want Duterte to submit to their Why have these demands —li ke releasing all the murders become communist rebels still in jail, num- so commonplace? bering 434.

The NDF also wants Duterte to submit to all their economic and political demands.

Santa Banana, that would make Duterte unable to further negotiate with the communists. The rebels want to have their cake and eat it, too.

What the communist rebels are doing now as they go again to talk peace with the government panel, this time in Rome, Italy, is what they did with past governments. Duterte has already named several communists to his Cabinet. Now they want even more. *** Nine members of the Cabinet who were bypassed by the Commission on Appointments have been reinstated by the President. Their names have been resubmitted to the powerful congressional body.

I don’t know whom the commission will choose to confirm or reject. I do know that two secretaries should not be confirmed—Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, and Health Secretary Evelyn Ubial.

Self-proclaimed environmentalist Lopez, for one, is a staunch anti-mining advocate, who has about killed the $360 billion mining industry with her power to issue Environmental Clearance Certificates and her authority to suspend mining firms that allegedly violated environmental rules and regulations. She uses, as her front, a known anti-mining NGO to inspect mining firms. To Lopez, it’s the environment above anything else.

In the case of the health secretary, she wants to impose what she believes in by distributing condoms to Grade 8 level of public school students, which is being opposed by conservatives. These high school students may just experiment with sex. She claims that those who don’t see things as she does should not impose what they believe on others.

But, Santa Banana, it is the health secretary imposing on others what she wants!

I believe sex education for high school students is enough. With parental guidance and high school education, fears of being victims of AIDS and HIV should be sufficient. *** The Miss Universe pageant provides some distraction from what’s going on the Philippines today.

But when the candidates leave, we go back to our problems as well.

I am sure those responsible for the pageant being held in the Philippines will be gushing about the event. But, I ask: How will the holding of an international beauty contest solve our problems as a nation?

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

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Strong typhoons, stronger infrastructure OVERSIGHT DANILO SUAREZ AN AVERAGE of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, leaving multiple casualties and billions in infrastructure damage.

Over the holidays, Bicol and parts of Calabarzon, Mimaropa, and Eastern Visayas regions were ravaged by Typhoon “Nina.” More than 26,000 families—almost 115,000 individuals—were forced to spend Christmas in evacuation centers. About 118 schools served as temporary shelters of the evacuees. Unfortunately, schools and public infrastructure that were supposed to be used as evacuation centers were not spared from the typhoon.

Sadly, it has been accepted that government infrastructure usu-

ally breaks down during times of disaster. These structures are then repaired or rebuilt after.

While we acknowledge that there are natural calamities that render the strongest of structures vulnerable, we should be building calamity-proof structures that would save us the cost of repairs.

Over the years, the government has allotted millions of pesos to repair and rehabilitate government infrastructure. My proposal is that we should focus on building high quality, safe, and sturdy structures. We should gradually wean away from the “build, repair and rebuild” practice. This should be the template standard for all government infra. Given the geographical features of the country and the annual record of typhoons and earthquakes, the DPWH, DepEd, and other concerned agencies should invest in making our public infrastructures, especially the schools,

calamity-proof to decrease the spending on unending repairs due to substandard and inappropriate structural designs.

The DepEd has started studying a multi-design concept for schools wherein buildings to be constructed shall adapt to the characteristics of their respective locations. The head of the Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines said that buildings compliant with the National Structural Code of the Philippines should be able to resist up to magnitude-8.4 earthquake and remain safe regardless of their proximity to the fault line.

Hence, I urge the government to adopt the recommendation of the NSCP and concerned agencies in all its infrastructures and monitor compliance even of private construction firms.

Infrastructure development is one of the key determinants of economic growth. I hope that

the “Golden Age of Infrastructure,” as promised by Secretary Diokno, will bring in strong and sturdy structures, with the input and shared knowledge of other government agencies.

On a side note, we noticed that the construction of national and local projects is either substandard or delayed. Most of the delays are caused by the stringent rules and procedures of the Procurement Law. Legitimate bids fail to comply because of unreasonably prohibitive requirements, which result in the awarding of projects to less qualified bidders.

Government agencies resort to underspending, which promotes inefficiency.

Therefore, I seek to amend this law and make the necessary corrections to a system that renders our public infrastructure vulnerable to substandard, poor quality, and easily damaged roads, bridges, schools and buildings.

Pop goes the porn IN THE latest of its moves to impose a nanny state, the Philippine government ordered last Saturday the shutdown of several pornographic websites, citing a particular law that might not have been used in proper context.

National Telecommunications Commission Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios informed CNN they had “ordered all the country’s top (ISPs) to block access to adult sites,” said UK’s The Daily Mail online.

Netizens using certain Philippine internet service providers to visit Pornhub, XVideos, and Redtube using mobile phones, PCs, and laptops were greeted by this message: “This website has been ordered blocked under authority of the Philippine government pursuant to Republic Act 9775 or the AntiChild Pornography Law.” In line with this, Presidential Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said last Sunday, “these porn sites should really be banned because they are being used by pedophiles and other people who subscribe to child pornography sites.”

Pornhub might have been hoist by its own petard after it released data on global porn usage that showed that visitors from the Philippines, for the third year running, spent the most time at the site for an average of 12 minutes 45 seconds in 2016, followed

Striking...

From A4 adequately sustain a population of up to 120M. Beyond that, there will be irreparable damage to the environment and the quality of life of the people.

We are beginning to see this happening. We must be able to strike a balance between population growth and what the environment can adequately support.

Even in Italy, which is the seat of Roman Catholicism, the population has been declining for years.

The country has one of the lowest birth rates. Yet, we do not see the kind of activism there of the Church and lay leaders as we see in our country. Are the Italians and the Catholic Church there so

Trillanes...

From A4 “troll-master” of the Aquino administration, former Secretary for Something-or-Other Ramon “Ricky” Carandang, is back in harness, this time as traditional and social media guru of Vice President Leni Robredo. The former television news reader with the constipated, faux-serious mien who assembled the vast and wellequipped troll army of then President Noynoy Aquino officially draws his pay from a low-profile subsidiary of a high-profile busi-

by South Africa at 10 minutes 46 seconds. The ban by the Philippines was said to have come 10 days after the survey results were shared.

Pornhub has stated that they do not share child pornography on their site. Said their vice president, Corey Price, on MailOnline: “It’s disappointing that Pornhub was blocked as it will just drive people to use less vetted, riskier, smaller websites. We’re open to working with government officials to meet their standards in the Philippines.”

No information has as yet been released or discovered regarding what other websites are blocked, how many ISPs have complied with the NTC order, and what other porn sites might be blocked later on.

It looks like the Duterte administration is flexing its powers as it exerts control over certain societal phenomena in line with the personal beliefs of its leaders.

Child porn is indeed a vicious crime that should be classified a crime against humanity.

But Pornhub, for one, has stated they do not carry it. Child porn is also banned by the US, where many other adult websites are based, and producing and airing such material carries extremely stiff penalties. It’s highly unlikely that legitimate sites would violate the law in that regard, because their business would be shut down and their operators slammed in jail. It would be illogical and impractical and downright stupid of them to do so.

RA 9775 is not the proper law to cite for the ban. The law primarily provides protections for children

and strictly forbids their involvement in the production of porn videos. Nowhere in this law is the issue of adult porn addressed.

Now, if this law were to be properly implemented in this instance, the question is, what criteria is the Duterte administration using to find out if an adult site has child porn? Because it banned a non-child porn site, it shows that it has no guidelines, only another random scorched-earth policy like Operation Tokhang, which has illegally taken the lives of an estimated 6,000 suspected drug users and dealers, and innocent bystanders.

As Andanar was also quoted as having said, “We don’t want our youth and even the adults to be addicted to lewd videos shown in [sic] the internet.” That’s a sweeping statement that encompasses all adult videos, not just those containing child pornography.

Does he have statistics on this alleged porn addiction?

His other statement, “because they are being used by pedophiles and other people who subscribe to child pornography sites,” does not make sense because he has not shown that child pornographers are uploading child porn to Pornhub and other banned sites; although these pedophiles could be users of the site as viewers, certainly, because these sites are open to all.

Studies on the effects of pornography show “potential influences on rape, domestic violence, sexual dysfunction, difficulties with sexual relationships, and child sexual abuse,” with viewers of extreme porn perhaps becoming tolerant to such images,

according to an internet source.

On the other hand, other studies find that the liberalization of porn in society could be associated with lower rape and sexual violence rates. However, “there is no evidence that visual images and films are addictive.”

Before those in the Palace ordered the block, did they think this through? There’s a dictatorial smell in the air, and this seems just one of the ways the leaderati are testing how far they can go in asserting their will on the people.

Personally, I would like to see a restriction on the viewing age of porn. Minors should not have access to it before the age of 18, like cigarettes and alcohol. By then, they should have been educated enough about it and can approach it with a critical mind.

However, adult sites are, as the job description goes, for adults.

Why treat them like children?

Because they suppress some freedoms, nanny states tend to stifle creativity and innovation.

Is this the right direction to take, in this automated age where it is the knowledge worker who will survive?

In other words—this edict does not make sense. It’s again an arbitrary imposition of a particular person, or group’s, beliefs and values on the rest of the population. It’s a curtailment of the freedom to obtain information.

What’s next? Banning books?

What are we coming to?

wrong in not raising hell about the declining birth rate? Are we, on the other hand, so righteous?

As we go around the cities and towns, the one thing constant is the multitude of children in our streets. In Metro Manila, the sight of poor women carrying babies, with toddlers begging and sleeping on the sidewalks, is so depressing that it is hard to understand why anyone would want more of that. But those pro-life groups and church leaders would point out that the church does allow family planning except through abstinence. It is a position that is so unrealistic that it is a joke.

With the prevalence of HIV, the use of condoms that have been scientifically proven to be an effective protection. It should be allowed but church leaders

continue to refuse to allow its use. The country is now third after Afghanistan and Pakistan in the rate of HIV infections. If nothing is done, this will become an epidemic which will be hard to stop. Do we have to wait until people start dying by the hundreds or by the thousands before doing something?

This is perhaps the only way to go through the rigors of living without going crazy. If it is true that our country’s environment can only effectively sustain a population of 120 million, then perhaps we should start doing something about it. The problem is, upon the mention of family planning, the so-called pro-lifers immediately translate this to mean population control.

If I understand the RPRH Law

correctly, its main intention is to encourage women of reproductive age to have children that they can adequately support and provide for. If a couple can support seven children adequately, so be it. It does not advocate sterilization or abortion. But even I have to admit that family planning is an issue in this country that is divisive and very emotional.

The new executive order of President Duterte will give teeth to the law. If anyone could do it, this President can. Otherwise, we might go the way of Bangladesh with 150M people crowding a land with an area of only about 45,000 square miles.

We are of course a long way from that but striking a good balance is the key to less problematic living.

ness clan identified with the Yellows, but that is not his real job.

Carandang’s true occupation is reassembling his old army of for-pay trolls, hackers and allaround online no-goodniks in the service of Robredo, as well as wooing the brick-and-mortar media. And Carandang’s handiwork can be seen in the coordinated attacks on anti-Robredo bloggers and social media personalities, as well as the friendly publicity the vice president has been receiving in the traditional press.

But as Aquino found out soon enough, Carandang is not as good as he advertises himself, some-

thing that prompted Noynoy to fire him from the Cabinet after the fiasco that came to be known as the Zamboanga City Crisis of 2013. In the last elections, Carandang worked for the campaign of one of the few people who still believed in him, Mar Roxas—and we all know what happened to Roxas last May. The thing about Carandang is that he is as expensive as he is ineffective, which makes you wonder who’s really paying for his new position as Robredo’s top media adviser. Remember, this was the propagandist who was investigated in Congress for allegedly

buying so many pricey MacBooks and Blackberry handsets for his troll army—and then charging all of them to his credit card in order to amass free airline miles.

Of course, Carandang’s finding new employment with Robredo can be seen as a positive, because he is providing jobs for himself and for so many people who thought they would never again see a regular paycheck after Roxas lost. But whether or not Carandang is going to help shore up the flagging popularity of the vice president (as the latest surveys show) is another kettle of stinky fish altogether.

Dr. Ortuoste is a Californiabased writer. Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @jensdecember

News

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

800 immigration workers face axe

By Vito Barcelo

ROASTING CHESTNUTS. A vendor in Manila’s Binondo district enjoys the brisk sales of chestnuts as Chinese New Year draws near. Diana B. Noche

THE Bureau of Immigration is drawing up plans on the impending retrenchment of at least 1,000 immigration workers hired under the contractual and job order schemes, which could paralyze the bureau’s operation.

A report from the bureau’s human resource division said only more than 200 out of the 1,000 BI employees will be rehired, as the Department of Budget and Management has yet to release the P1.2-billion fund set aside for the bureau’s 2017 budget.

The bureau needs at least P3billion budget for the salaries, overtime fees and operational expenses of the agency, according to an immigration official who asked anonymity.

A memorandum order was issued directing all division, section and unit heads to submit the list of their confidential agents and job order personnel, requiring them to submit their civil service eligibility, diploma and transcript of records aimed at selecting who would be retained.

The agency will retrench more than 1,000 employees in the coming weeks after President Rodrigo Duterte disallowed the use of revenues collected from the bureau’s express lane fund to pay for the

Senate eyes 2 BI probes A

FTER a heated debate that almost ended in blows, senators agreed on Wednesday to hold two parallel investigations on the bribery scandal at the Bureau of Immigration, according to Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III.

“This will nurture a peaceful atmosphere in the Senate considering that we need to pass a number of legislation before the adjournment of session in March,” Sotto said after the approval of his motion to divide the “organization” and “administration” aspects of scandal.

“We need a conducive environment by resolving this issue at the soonest possible time,” Sotto said

a day after Senators Miguel Zubiri and Antonio Trillanes IV almost came to blows after trading insults on the Senate floor.

The word war erupted after Zubiri questioned the prudence of letting Trillanes’ committee handle a proposal of Senate President Pro-Tempore Franklin Drilon to study a reorganization of the BI after a corruption scandal that resulted in the dismissal of two im-

migration commissioners.

Zubiri wondered why the matter should be handled by Trillanes’ panel when the Bureau of Immigration is actually a line agency of the Department of Justice and should be tackled by the justice committee of Senator Richard Gordon.

But Trillanes accused Zubiri and Gordon of attempting to “whitewash” the probe.

Gordon, on the other hand, said he will initiate a motu proprio probe on the issue on Monday in his capacity as the chairman of the Blue Ribbon committee.

“I will investigate it motu proprio so we can get to the bottom of it,” Gordon said, adding his panel will invite Justice Secretary

Vitaliano Aguirre II and sacked immigration commissioners Al Argosino and Michael Robles.

Argosino and Robles were accused of extorting P50 million from gambling tycoon Jack Lam in exchange for the release of more than 1,000 illegal Chinese workers in Pampanga. Both have denied the allegation.

As of Wednesday, only 259 of the 1,316 Chinese nationals who were arrested for illegally working at an online gambling facility inside the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino in Clark Freeport have been deported, the BI said.

BI spokesperson Antonette Mangrobang said the deportation procedure depends on how soon

they can provide their tickets and the go signal given by the National Bureau of Investigation.

“The number of actual deportees depend on how soon can they provide their outbound tickets and clearance from NBI that they do not have pending criminal cases,” Mangrobang explained.

She added that the more than 1,000 foreigners have deportation orders already.

“The Bureau’s intention is to deport all of them as soon as possible.

However, the numbers of those who will be actially deported depends on the Chinese nationals themselves and how soon they can provide us with outbound tickets back to China,” the Mangrobang said.

LTO license card project questioned

By Maricel V. Cruz CONGRESSMEN questioned the Land Transportation Office’s driver’s license card project, particularly the rationale of having two separate contracts for license cards valid for five years and for three years validity cards and the security features of the cards.

At a congressional hearing, Tarlac Rep. Noel Villanueva asked LTO officials, led by their chief Assistant Secretary Edgar Galvante, why there were separate contracts for the printing of the five-year license cards and that of three-year license cards.

“Can’t it be done in a single contract? Isn’t it an added expense to government that there is a threeyear validity contract and a fiveyear validity contract?” Villanueva said during the hearing.

“May we know how much is the contract for the printing of five-

year validity license cards. In the terms of reference [TOR], the purpose of the contract is to produce 8.5 million driver’s license cards which are secured and tamperresistant,” said Villanueva.

Galvante said they separated the three-year card from the five-year validity card because they are introducing a security measure. “We are thinking of incorporating a chip on the card itself. In terms of quality, it has polycarbonate material which is more durable,” said Galvante.

Galvante said the cost is P187.08 million but Villanueva noted that that was only for one contract and both contracts will cost the government more than P800 million.

“The backlog plus the five-year validity license card will cost the project more than P800 million,” he said, demanding that the LTO discard the system after the printing of the three-year license cards is completed.

THE Department of Agrarian Reform opposed on Wednesday a proposal in the House of Representatives purportedly aimed at extending the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program’s land acquisition and distribution component, but actually watering down genuine land reform.

In a position paper, Agrarian Reform Secretary Rafael Mariano said there was no need to House Bill Nos. 114 and 3051 allowing DAR to acquire and distribute private and public agricultural lands for another two years.

“While the purpose of the bills is laudable, the distribution of lands to farmer-beneficiaries did not stop even after the expiration of Republic Act No. 9700 last June 30, 2014,” Mariano said.

“Furthermore, DAR stated that both bills, while seemingly a remedy for the failure of CARPER to cover the remaining landholdings, are unnecessary and inadequate.”

According to DAR, 4.7 million hectares of land have been acquired and distributed to almost 2.8 million farmer-beneficiaries since 1972, “a far cry from the 10.3-million hectare target of CARP in 1989.”

“While we appreciate the lawmakers’ desire to give DAR more time to acquire lands, the pending bills do not consider other aspects of agrarian reform,” Mariano said.

“It is the department’s thrust to rectify the problems encountered by previous agrarian reform programs. A new law that is responsive to the needs of our farmers will truly alleviate our farmers from their bondage to the soil.”

The Agrarian Reform depart-

IN BRIEF Zambo mayor suspended THE Ombudsman on Wednesday ordered the two-month suspension of Margosatubig Mayor Roy Encallado of Zamboanga del Sur for illegally reassigning two municipal employees who were employed at the Office of the Sangguniang Bayan.

The illegality of the reassignment arose from the provision in the Local Government Code stating that “the power to appoint the employees of the SB is lodged with the vice mayor.”

“Thus, while Encallado has the authority to appoint and take personnel actions of his unit, this does not extend to the employees of the SB,” the decision read.

Rio N. Araja

Azeris mark ‘Black January’

INMATE TRAINING. Instructors of the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority teach inmates of the Makati City Jail livelihood skills they can use when they are released. Norman Cruz

DAR rejects ‘inadequate’ bill

By Rio N. Araja

salaries and overtime fees of the affected contractual and job order workers.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has already asked Duterte to reverse his previous order in rejecting the use of express lane fund as it would severely affect the bureau’s mandate, particularly in the fight against international terrorism, foreign criminals and border control.

In defending affected BI workers, Aguirre said that to effectively deliver its mandate, which includes the enforcement of strict security measures at the country’s borders, the BI requires at least 4,000 workforce.

“However, its present filled-up position are 1,696 only, including the more than 900 CA and JO personnel,” he said.

As law enforcers and gatekeepers of the country’s borders, the BI personnel perform 24/7 duties and are virtually on-call. They do not have holidays and render round-the-clock duties, he said.

The express lane system has been in place for almost three decades now as it was introduced and established almost 30 years ago by the former commissioner Miriam Defensor-Santiago to minimize graft and corruption in the delivery of services.

ment invoked Section 30 of RA 9700 or the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program Extension with Reforms stipulating “any case and/ or proceeding involving the implementation of the provisions of Republic Act No. 6657, as amended, which may remain pending on June 30, 2014, shall be allowed to proceed to its finality and be executed even beyond such date.”

Mariano slammed the failure of the past agrarian reform programs to cover all agricultural lands for distribution.

He maintained his previous proposal when he was then a party-list lawmaker, to pass a new comprehensive law that would address the various problems of land acquisition and distribution, ensure the farmers’ security of tenure, and provide sufficient support services to agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Comelec satellite listup hits 490,000 CLOSE to 500,000 individuals have asked to be registered in satellite registration centers of the Commission on Elections for the forthcoming Oct. 23 Barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan elections.

The poll body reported that they have received a total of 490,892 applications in satellite registration centers nationwide excluding those who filed their application at the local Offices of Election Officers since Nov. 7, 2016.

“A total of 490,892 applications for registration have been received for a period of nine weeks, from November 2016 to January 2017, during the ongoing satellite registration of voters nationwide,” the Comelec said in a statement.

Data revealed that a total of 81,318 applications have been received from regular registrants; while another

72,745 applications are for the SK. Aside from voter registration, the Comelec also received applications for transfer, reactivation, correction/ change, reinstatement, and inclusion of records in the list of voters.

The poll body through Resolution 10166 has directed all city and municipal Election Officers to intensify satellite registration by holding at least two or more in every barangay.

The Election Registration Board will be the one to decide whether to approve/disapprove the application for their inclusion to the list of voters.

The continuing voter registration will run until April 29, 2017 except on April 13 and 14.

The Comelec is looking to register additional five million voters for the coming elections, including three million for the village polls and two million youth voters. PNA

AZERBAIJAN will commemorate “Black January Night” on Jan. 20 to remember the victims of the Soviet attack on its capital, Baku, 27 years ago.

“This unforgettable massacre, grave crime against the humanity is commemorated with pain, every year,” said Elmira Suleymanova, Ajerbaijan’s commissioner for Human Rights or Ombudsman.

“This is not only a day of commemoration of pain, but also a day of commemoration of our martyrs, and of solidarity, proud and honor of our people fighting for the integrity of the country,” she added.

On the night of Jan. 20, 1990, 26,000 Soviet troops invaded Baku, killing 147 unarmed civilians including elderly, women and children and injuring 744 persons.

Hundreds also went missing and 841 persons were unlawfully imprisoned.

In addition, hundreds of buildings were destroyed, causing both the state and its citizens to suffer amid huge material damages.

However, Suleymanova said the incident failed to break the will of the Azerbaijan people, inspiring them to fight for their independence, which they regained in 1991.

After Heydar Aliyev assumed the presidency in 1993, he issued a decree ordering the parliament to declare Jan. 20 as a Day of Mourning, which is commemorated in the country each year.

Sports

A7

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Birthday girl Kerber advances M

ELBOURNE—World number one Angelique Kerber gave herself the perfect birthday gift Wednesday by reaching the Australian Open third round, but she had to work hard against fellow German Carina Witthoeft.

The defending champion, who turned 29, battled through 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-2 and will next face Czech Kristyna Pliskova, the twin sister of fifth seed Karolina Pliskova.

The prospects looked bleak for the unseeded Witthoeft, who has twice lost to Kerber at Wimbledon including an embarrassing 6-0, 6-0 ‘double bagel’ in 2015.

Witthoeft has never beaten a top 10 opponent but she showed far more fight than at the All England Club, with Kerber taken to three sets for the second match in a row.

The top seed said she struggled with the sun in her eyes at times and admitted to too many silly mistakes.

“I was doing I think a lot of mistakes in the important moments.

But at the end, I’m happy that I won the match,” she said.

“It was not so easy. The conditions were a little bit difficult today. And I was a bit too defensive.”

Meanwhile, Roger Federer reached the third round of the Australian Open with a tough threesets win over American qualifier Noah Rubin on Wednesday.

The Swiss 17-time Grand Slam champion fought back from a break down in the final set to win 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) and will next face Tomas Berdych.

Kerber stunned Serena Wil-

liams in the final last year and also went on to win the US Open, dethroning the American as the world’s top ranked player.

She is not only defending a major title for the first time but also playing her maiden Grand Slam as top seed, admitting she is still getting used to dealing with the extra pressure.

“To have this pressure is a privilege. It’s completely new for me, but I’m doing well. I’m just trying to enjoy it,” she on court, before the Rod Laver Arena crowd sang “Happy Birthday”.

“I am getting older... I think I will have a great day today,”

Kerber added.

Indifferent build-up The top seed came out of the gates at full pelt, breaking the 21-year-old in the first game when her opponent netted a backhand.

Ranked 89, Witthoeft was pushed around the baseline by the left-hander but some unusually wild shots from Kerber handed her break opportunities, one of which she grabbed to level the match.

It was an aberration as the birthday girl immediately broke back, before turning up the heat to score another break and then holding serve to take the set. AFP

Busy year for PH’s top lady triathlete Torres

THERE’S no stopping Monica Torres, the country’s top bet in long-course triathlon events, from making heads turn in the international scene.

Torres, undefeated in local non-drafting events since 2009, is on her way to a strong finish in the prestigious Thailand TriLeague Championship.

After three legs and the last one scheduled on Feb. 18, the Filipina triathlete is just one good race away from a podium finish. In the previous races, she wound up third once and fourth twice.

“I’m running third overall now, but there’s some distance between me and the top two,” said the 32-year-old Torres during yesterday’s PSA Forum at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.

Torres said she has prepared hard for the final race, but said not even a victory could carry her to the top spot because of the gap between her and the leaders from Australia.

“I’m just holding on for a podium finish. Hopefully, I can get to the podium,” said Torres, also the fastest Filipina in Ironman events in the country the past seven years.

Aside from the coming race in Thailand, Torres is looking at the Powerman Asian Championships in Malaysia on March 5 or the Ironman 70.3 in Subic Bay also in March.

Torres is wishing to represent the country in events like the Southeast Asian Games or the Asian Games, but the absence of her event in these events is preventing her.

Long-course triathlon is different and tougher than the regular events that cover 1.5 km swim, 40 km bike and 10 km run. Long-course races cover 1.9 km swim, 90 km bike and 21 km run.

“It’s because I run longcourse races. In the last SEA Games the Philippines won the gold in the men’s and women’s triathlons and we’re looking to repeat it,” she said.

Awardees and organizers of Team Prima’s Annual Athletes’ Recognition Night are shown here. They are (from left) Ho Ben Tiu, Xyrra Cabusas, Alexis Sy, Rjoy Daval Santos, Paeng Nepomuceno, Wacky Baniqued, Bill Yambao, Aui Padawan, Kenneth Chua and Alex Lim.

Chua, Sy chosen Bowlers of the Year PHILIPPINE Bowling Federation national team members Kenneth Chua and Alexis Sy were named the 2016 Prima Pasta Bowler of the Year winners during Team Prima’s Annual Athletes’ Recognition Night recently at the V Corporate Centre in Makati City.

Chua, 25, became the back-toback winner of the Male Bowler of the Year award after winning the same title last year. He was the unanimous choice for winning various national competitions this year.

Bowler of the Year was like receiving a Christmas present,” said Sy. “It was very unexpected for me. The year has been tough for me, but I’m very glad that I was able to catch up and win the award. Above all, I thank the Lord for His blessings.”

Bill Yambao and RJoy Daval Santos bagged this year’s junior Male and Female Bowler of the Year awards, respectively.

Daphne Custodio copped the Most Improved Female Bowler of the Year award and brother, Marc

It was Chua’s third bowler of the year award since winning his first in 2013.

He recently topped the recent PBF National Open early this month and the SCTBA Open Masters tournament.

Sy, on the other hand, also grabbed the spotlight by taking the Female Bowler of the Year award.

She won last year’s Tenpin Bowling Association of Makati’s third quarterly mixed ladies title last August and TBAM’s Annuals mixed ladies crown last December.

“Being awarded the Prima

Custodio took the most improved male bowler of the year citation.

Xyrra Cabusas captured the Female Bowler of the Year Cebu and Aui Padawan took home the Male of Bowler of the Year Cebu award.

The annual awards night also gave citations to those who scored a career perfect game in bowling this year, namely Ivan Malig, Richard Poblete, Paolo Valdez, Biboy Rivera, Kenzo Umali, Joseph Javellana, Aui Padawan, Ronald Arkoncel, Kenneth Chua and Ren Cremen.

Mavs edge Bulls; Spurs, Raptors win

Jimmy Butler (left) of the Chicago Bulls moves against Wesley Matthews of the Dallas Mavericks at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The Mavericks defeated the Bulls, 99-98. AFP

LOS ANGELES—Dallas forward Wesley Matthews drained the go-ahead threepointer with 11.8 seconds remaining on Tuesday as the Mavericks spoiled Chicago guard Dwyane Wade’s 35th birthday with a 99-98 NBA victory over the Bulls.

Wade missed at the buzzer and the Bulls fell to the Mavericks for the second time this season—after absorbing a 25-point defeat last month in Dallas.

Harrison Barnes scored 20 points, Seth Curry had 18 and JJ Barea added 12 for the Mavericks, who notched their third straight win.

Matthews and Deron Williams both finished with 11 points. Dirk Nowitzki, steadily returning to full strength after right Achilles tendon trouble, contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavs, who built a 13-point lead in the third quarter then with-

stood a Bulls charge that saw Chicago take a 98-96 lead on Jimmy Butler’s jump shot with 22.8 seconds left.

Butler led the Bulls with 24 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds.

But the Mavs responded to his go-ahead basket with a pick and roll that sent Williams driving for the basket, only to find Matthews for what proved to be the game-winner.

Once the Mavs were ahead again, Matthews was determined not to give Butler a chance to beat them.

“Obviously, everybody knew where the ball was going to go,” said Matthews, whose suffocating defense forced Butler to get the ball to Wade, who missed a jump shot as time expired.

“The shot didn’t go in,” Wade said. “They made plays, we made plays. They made a little more down the stretch.” AFP

Arellano reaches semis Games Friday

(Filoil Flying V Arena) 9 a.m.- San Beda vs Mapua (m) 10:30 a.m.- San Beda vs Mapua (w) 12 nn. - Perpetual Help vs JRU (w) 1:30 p.m.- Perpetual Help vs JRU (m)

ARELLANO University downed Lyceum of the Philippines University, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20, yesterday to join pacesetter San Sebastian in the Final Four in the women’s division of the 92nd NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Jovielyn Grace Prado led her team with 12 hits, including 11 on kills while team captain Rialen Sante, Ma. Erica Calixto and Mary Anne Esguerra combined for 23 points to help ensure the Lady Chiefs a spot in the next round.

After the win, Arellano University coach Obet Javier emphasized team play.

“When we lost our key players from last year, we made sure to focus on playing more as a team than rely on individual plays,” said Javier, who lost CJ Rosario and Danna Henson to graduation this season.

Javier said their focus now is to clinch the No. 2 spot.

“I told my players, let’s just let them get the top spot and concentrate on the No. 2 seed,” said Javier, whose team squares off with Perpetual Help in the final elimination round playdate on Jan. 25.

The Lady Pirates fell to 5-3.

In juniors’ play, LPU eked out a come-from-behind 22-25, 2522, 18-25, 25-19, 15-13 win over Arellano University to move one win away from sweeping its way straight to the finals where it will enjoy a thrice-to-beat advantage.

The Junior Pirates will gun for win No. 7 against the San Sebastian Staglets on Jan. 23 to complete the elimination round sweep.

Tanduay beach volley meet slated THE 2017 season of the Tanduay Beach Volleyball Challenge starts with its first leg on Sunday at the twin sandcourts of the Cantada Sports Center in Bagumayan, Taguig City.

This will be an open competition in both men’s and women’s divisions.

Early registrants are the pairs of Marleen Cortel and Amanda Villanueva and Air Force’s Joy Cases and JosemerTapic.

The organizers are expecting 30 teams in both divisions.

This is part of the Philippine Volleyball Federation’s efforts to provide a year-round program for volleyball—both for beach and indoor in its grassroots development program.

Cash prizes and dinner gift certificates at the five-star Century Park Hotel are a stake.

All participants, officials and guests are provided with complimentary meals and drinks all day. Everybody enjoys the festive environment as in all events organized by the Cantadas, Tito Boy, Tita Tonnette and Gerard.

The series is sponsored by Tanduay through its president, Lucio “Bong” Tan Jr. and the Century Park Hotel.

Fantoni & Nunes appeal to Regional Administration Tribunal

FULVIO Fantoni and Claudio Nunes have filed an appeal to TAR (Regional Administration Tribunal) in Rome against the Italian Federation (FIGB) and the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI).

As you may recall, in March 2016, the Italian Federation suspended Fantoni and Nunes for three years, after finding them guilty of a sport offense.

In October 2016 the Italian National Olympic Committee rejected the appeal filed by the two players against the Federation’s verdict.

Now Fantoni and Nunes have filed a new appeal asking for a substantial compensation for their losses.

-oOo“We have you Covered”

By Mark Horton/2016 WBF articles It may sometimes happen

that what may appear to be poor result at your table is salvaged by the efforts of your team-mates: The first session of the Open final was a classic game of two halves. Monaco led 41-12 after 8 deals, but the Netherlands hit back strongly to take the second eight 32-2 to lead by a single IMP. This was one of many dramatic deals: Board 8 Dealer West None Vul. North ♠A ♥AKQ943 ♦1087 ♣K93 West East ♠K1095 ♠J7432 ♥♥J87652 ♦A6 ♦J9 ♣AJ108762 ♣South ♠Q86 ♥10 ♦AKQ5432 ♣Q54

Closed Room West Helgemo 1♣ 3♠

North Drijver Dbl 4♦

East South Helness Brink 1♥ 3♦ 4♠ All Pass

North led the ace of hearts and declarer ruffed, cashed the ace of clubs throwing a diamond, ruffed a club, ruffed a heart (South pitching the queen of clubs) and ruffed a club with the seven of spades. South followed the sound defensive principle of refusing to overruff, instead discarding the two of diamonds. Declarer played a spade from dummy, but when he put up the king North won with the ace and could now have with the king of hearts and declarer ruffed and played a club, pitching a heart from dummy. South ruffed and returned the king of diamonds and all declarer could do was win with the ace and pitch a heart on a club. South could ruff and play a diamond and decalere had to lose a heart

trick at the end, -50.

Instead of discarding a heart on the fourth club declarer should pitch a diamond! South ruffs and plays a diamond, but declarer ruffs and exits with the jack of spades to force South to resurrect declarer’s hand.

Suppose declarer follows a different line, ruffing the heart lead, ruffing a club and playing a spade to the nine? North wins and plays a heart, but declarer ruffs, ruffs a club, plays a spade to the king followed by winning clubs, emerging with eleven tricks.

North Multon 1♥ 3NT

To defeat 3NT West must lead a spade at trick one. If declarer plays a diamond after winning in dummy, East plays the nine and West wins with the ace. He must then exit with a low club after which declarer has no way to untangle his tricks.

-oOo-

Open Room West Nab 1♣* 2♣

the seven of clubs declarer played a diamond to the nine, king and ace and West cashed the king of spades and continued with the ten. With all the communications he needed declarer had the rest, +430 and 9 IMPs to Monaco.

East South Drijver Martens Pass 1NT All Pass

West led the ace clubs and when East discarded a spade West switched to the spade five.

Declarer won perforce with dummy’s ace and cashed the ace of hearts. When West pitched

Sylvia Alejandro-Harumi Ieda topped Alejandro Duplicate January 15, 2017 Sylvia Alejandro–Harumi Ieda 85.57 Bruce Abel–Eunice Abel 85.10 Nena Ramirez–Joli Kansil 81.90

Comments to: sylvia.alejandro@yahoo

Tan Jr.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M+ 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

Sports

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

A8

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

Miguel Tabuena will see action in the Singapore Open, an Asian and Japan PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament this week and the Myanmar Open the following week.

Tabuena hones up for Solaire PH Open defense of golf title L AST year’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Athlete of the Year in Miguel Tabuena will be embarking on a series of toplevel tournaments abroad to toughen up the young Filipino ace in time for the March playdate of the Solaire Philippine Open, Asia’s oldest National Open, where he is the defending champion.

He kicked off his Open buildup with a joint 64th finish in the just-concluded Sony Open in Hawaii, a US PGA Tour event, with the 22-year-old shotmaker also set to see action in the Singapore Open, an Asian and Japan PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament this week and the Myanmar Open

the following week.

He will then take a break and head to Malaysia for the Maybank Championship, a joint-sanctioned event of the Asian and European Tour, on Feb. 9-12. A tournament in Johannesburg in South Africa is also being considered for Tabuena, who will return home to lead the elite field in the So-

laire 99th Philippine Open on March 2-5 at the newly refurbished The Country Club in Laguna.

“Yes, I’ll play (in the PH Open).

This is one tournament very important to me,” Tabuena said.

Although the PH Open, which used to be the kickoff leg of the Asian Tour, will not be a part of the region’s premier circuit this year, the PGTI has guaranteed a stellar cast of 120-130 international players, including the leading players on the Asian Tour and the Asian Development Tour, to clash for top honors in the 72-hole championship.

“With no Asian Tour tournament scheduled on the Open week, we expect not only the region’s leading players but also those from the other parts

of the world to come and play in our premier championship,” said Thomas Arasi, president and chief operating officer of Solaire Resort and Casino, the new title sponsor of the country’s premier golf championship.

Tabuena bested a crack Asian Tour field to claim his first Phl Open title in style, rattling off six birdies on his homeward nine to fire a 66 and edge Aussie Scott Barr by one in the $300,000 event, which was reduced to 54 holes due to bad weather in late 2015.

He expects to go the full route this time with the young Olympic veteran upbeat of his chances for a repeat against a stellar international field in the $350,000 event organized by the Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.

The National Golf Association of the Philippines, the governing body of golf in the country, has given the PGTI, which also organizes the annual ICTSI Philippine Golf Tour and the Ladies PGT, the rights to hold the next two Philippine Open with this year’s event also serving as a run-up to a grand centennial staging in 2018.

Meanwhile, the TCC is also expected to challenge and get the better of the best of the competing field with its new-look layout. Originally playing at 7237 yards from the back tees, the TCC has been transformed over the past two years into a worldclass championship course that could play to a maxed out distance of 7844 yards.

So whips Dutch Van Wely in 4th round; Pavel leads

By Peter Atencio DUTCH Loek van Wely succeeded in attacking the queenside and in trapping Grandmaster Wesley So’s king.

But while he managed to check the king four times, he was losing crucial pieces at endgame.

Van Wely eventually conceded to So, who won in 43 moves of a Reti Opening in the fourth round of the 2017 Tata Steel Chess Masters in Wijk aan Zee, The Netherlands.

For So, who has unofficially risen to world no.

3 following his win over Hungarian GM Richard Rapport the other day,

this was his second win against two draws in four outings.

He stayed in second position, though, with world no. 1 GM Magnus Carlsen beside him with three points.

Pavel Eljanov stayed in the solo lead with 3.5 points.

Eljanov was a pawn up when he defeated Adhiban Baskaran in 56 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game.

It was his third triumph against a draw.

Analysts said So was too strong for Van Wely, who has not shown his best form in the first part of the tournament.

So took control of the

middle after he sacrificed his queen and bishop in the 9th and 13 moves.

He gained a threepawn advantage when Van Wely started penetrating the back rank and began making aggressive moves with his rook and bishop on the 33rd.

In the end, So gained control of Loek’s back and dispatched the two pesky pieces.

Carlsen prevailed over Wei Yi in 33 moves of another Queen’s Pawn Game.

Pental Harikrishna dropped out of second spot following his draw with Sergey Karjakin in 30 moves of a Queen’s Pawn.

AMA Online Education is certainly all set to come out with a bang as they banner two-time University Athletic Association of the Philippines’ Finals MVP Jeron Teng in the season opener of the Philippine Basketball Association D-League today.

The De La Salle University standout will try to carry AMA OED throughout its campaign in PBA’s developmental league, a necessary duty he has to fulfill as he inches near his dream of playing in Asia’s first pay-forplay league.

“I’m really happy that I’m one step closer to my dream of playing in the PBA,” said the 22-year-old during AMA OED’s media launch at the Bagoong

Game Thursday

(Ynares Sports Arena, Pasig) 2 p.m. - Opening Ceremonies 3 p.m. - AMA Online Education vs Batangas

Club in Quezon City.

“I’m really honored to be able to play for AMA and I’m really excited to help AMA in the DLeague,” added the D-League’s top draft pick, who feels he needs to bring his A-game to represent one of the country’s top online schools.

Although he has only seen practice with the squad for three weeks, the 6’2” forward bared that team chemistry shouldn’t be a problem in a league a little more physical than the UAAP.

By Jeric Lopez TNT KaTropa leaned on a solid second half to turn back pesky Mahindra, 104-92, and list a much-needed win that snapped its two-game slide in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Philippine Cup last night at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

Troy Rosario paced the Tropang Texters with a near double-double, scoring a team-high 18 points and grabbing nine rebounds, while rookie Roger Pogoy added 16 markers.

They were helped by Mo Tautuaa’s 14 points.

Back on track, TNT KaTropa improved to 5-4 in a fourthplace tie with Blackwater, while Mahindra saw its twogame winning streak snapped, falling to 2-6 in a 10th-place tie with NLEX. The Tropang Texters needed to lean on a burly finish in the last eight minutes to earn the victory.

From a slim 88-87 edge with over eight minutes remaining, TNT KaTropa started leaking out with critical 9-1 run in the next three minutes to take some needed distance, 97-88, following a Ryan Reyes triple with 5:32 left on the clock.

That run proved to be the difference as the Texters went on to list the win by finishing with a 16-5 surge down the stretch.

Mahindra ended the second quarter with a 25-11 run to turn the tides in its favor, turning an eight-point deficit into a 57-51 lead at intermission.

TNT KaTropa, however, bounced right back with a solid third period that saw it outscore Mahindra, 31-21, to overtake it, 82-78, heading the fourth.

It was tight in the first several minutes of the fourth but the Texters had the last laugh to close it out.

The scores: TNT 104—Rosario 18, Pogoy 16, Tautuaa 14, Rosales 11, Fonacier 11, Castro 10, Reyes 7, Rosser 7, De Ocampo 7, Golla 2, Carey 1, Williams 0.

MAHINDRA 92—Mallari 19, Paniamogan 10, Yee 10, Revilla 8, Deutchman 7, Celda 7, Escoto 6, Salva 6, Arana 6, Galanza 5, Ballesteros 3, Elorde 3, Eriobu 2, Digregorio 0, Quarterscores: 29-25, 5157, 82-78, 104-92

AFP clobbers Judiciary 5; Customs falls Games Sunday

(Pasig City Sports Center) 3 p.m. Judiciary Magis vs MMDA Black Wolves 5 p.m. BOC Transformers vs AFP Cavaliers

AFP Cavaliers’ Paulino Fernandez blocks the shot of Judiciary Magis’ Charles Roma during the UNTV Cup Sunday at the Pasig City Sports Arena.

Teng ready to lead AMA quintet

By Peter Paul Duran

Texters back on track

“I expect the D-League to be physical, but I think I’ll be ready. I’ve been hitting the weight room naman lately,” he said.

Asked whether he can steer AMA to be a title contender, better yet, to a championship this season, Teng believes it’s doable.

“It’s not impossible. We have a good squad and a team composed of a good coaching staff, so I think it’s possible with the collective effort we put in,” the former Green Archer added.

“We just have to work hard, it’s achievable.”

AMA is set to face new-comer Batangas as they kick-off their campaign in the PBA D-League in a lone opener at the Ynares Center in Pasig.

Bullpups boost Final 4 bid; Adamson rebounds WINDERLICH Coyoca scored big baskets down the stretch to power the defending champion National University Bullpups to a 63-52 smashing of La SalleZobel last Tuesday in the 79th University Athletic Association of the Philippines Junior Basketball Tournament at the Arena in San Juan.

The 5’9” Coyoca, one of the Bullpups’ most versatile players, scored six of 13 points in the final period and led NU to their eighth win in nine matches.

This allowed the Bullpups to keep their share of the lead with the Adamson Baby Falcons and stay in contention for a twice-tobeat incentive in the Final Four semifinals.

Robert Mariano and Martin

Romero had eight points each for the Junior Archers, who share fifth with University of Santo Tomas at 2-7.

Meanwhile, the Baby Falcons bounced back from their loss to Far Eastern University with a 77-59 win over University of the Philippines Integrated School.

Encho Serrano and Gerry Abadiano combined for 42, with Serrano making 22 points and 10 rebounds and Abadiano dishing out 20 points.

Earlier, Far Eastern University-Diliman prevailed over University of the East, 94-51, as they remained in third spot at 7-2.

Seldom-used Karl Baclay shot 15 points for the Baby Tamaraws, who improved to 7-2. Peter Atencio

THE AFP Cavaliers repulsed two-time champion Judiciary Magis, 80-72, Sunday in the UNTV Cup at the Pasig City Sports Arena.

The Magis, who dominated the Cavaliers in the first two quarters, went on to post their fifth win in nine outings.

With the game tied 67-all in the last 4 minutes and 25 seconds, the Cavaliers did not allow the Magis a chance to snatch the lead as they stayed ahead until the final buzzer.

Cavaliers’ center Jeffrey Quaimbao and guard-forward Winston Sergio were both hailed as the Best Players of the Game.

In the second match, the Malacañang Kamao smashed the NHA Builders, 91-65, to keep the Group A lead at 6-3.

Christian Luanzon and Vishnu Das Javier were hailed as the best players of the game.

Earlier, the BFP Firefighters dented the unbeaten record of the BOC Transformers, 95-89.

Former PBA player Gilbert Malabanan led the Firefighters to the upset victory together with center Kurt Amores, and they were hailed as the Best Players of the Game.

The absence of playing coach, Kenneth “Captain Marbel” Duremdes, who was sick at that time, proved to be a big loss for the Transformers.

Despite the setback, the BOC Transformers still enjoy the top spot with their 8-1 record.

DoF chief confident on new tax measures B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

B1

PH launches $2-b global bond sale

By Gabrielle H. Binaday

T

HE Philippines on Wednesday launched a $2-billion global bond sale to help finance the government’s 2017 budget and repay foreign debt.

The Bureau of Treasury said in a notice the country offered 25-year Republic of the Philippines bonds which are dollardenominated.

“The bond sale proceeds will be used to finance President Rodrigo Duterte’s record P3.35 trillion [budget] and repay foreign debts,” National Treasurer

Roberto Tan said in a report.

Fitch Ratings assigned the US dollar-denominated bonds an expected rating of ‘BBB(Exp)’.

“The Philippines intends to use the proceeds from the bond sale to pay the purchase price and accrued interest of its own securities repurchased in an as-

sociated debt management operation. Residual proceeds may be used for general budget financing purposes,” Fitch said.

S&P Global Ratings assigned a ‘BBB’ long-term issue rating to the notes which will constitute direct, unconditional, unsubordinated and unsecured obligations of the Philippines.

“Our sovereign credit ratings on the Philippines reflect our assessment of the country’s lower middle-income economy and rising uncertainties surrounding the stability, predictability, and accountability of its new government. Offsetting these weaknesses is the Philippines’ strong

external position, which features rising foreign exchange reserves and low and declining external debt,” S&P said.

The coupon rate of the bond sale has yet to be announced but the price guideline was set at 3.95 percent which will mature in 2042.

Moody’s Investors Service assigned a (P)Baa2 rating to the US-dollar bond offering maturing in 2027/2042.

The government hired Citigroup, Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank, Standard Chartered and UBS as joint global coordinators and bookrunners for the new

bond offering. The SEC-registered deal will price as early as today.

The banks will also serve as dealer-managers for a tender offer for certain of the RoP’s outstanding bonds. Holders who tender their bonds will be given priority if they want to subscribe to the new issue.

The Philippines usually issues sovereign bonds in the early part of the year to get favorable borrowing terms. Tan said of the $2 billion, $500 million would be used to finance this year’s P3.35 trillion national budget and the rest would be used for liability management.

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing January 18, 2017

8300 7840 7380 6920 6460 6000

7,156.36 33.03

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

43.00 45.40 46.60

P49.790

49.00

CLOSE

HIGH P49.710 LOW P49.820 AVERAGE P49.760 VOLUME 557.000M

P471.00-P690.00 LPG/11-kg tank P39.50-P48.60 Unleaded Gasoline P27.95-P33.80 Diesel

OPRICES IL TODAY

President Duterte (center) meets with top businessmen in the country at the President’s Hall in Malacañang Palace. Duterte encouraged them to follow business practices that will help improve the lives of the Filipinos. Ace Morandante

P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG

Duterte, tycoons agree to boost economic growth

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, January 18, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

49.9310

Japan

Yen

0.008879

0.4433

UK

Pound

1.240100

61.9194

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128932

6.4377

Switzerland

Franc

0.998004

49.8313

Canada

Dollar

0.765873

38.2408

Singapore

Dollar

0.706564

35.2794

Australia

Dollar

0.756100

37.7528

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652520

132.4430 13.3178

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266724

Brunei

Dollar

0.704077

35.1553

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.028325

1.4143

UAE

Dirham

0.272287

13.5956

Euro

Euro

1.070500

53.4511

Korea

Won

0.000861

0.0430

China

Yuan

0.145983

7.2891

India

Rupee

0.014727

0.7353

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.224215

11.1953

New Zealand

Dollar

0.720400

35.9703

Taiwan

Dollar

0.031868

1.5912 Source: PDS Bridge

Ford posted record sales in PH in 2016

FORD Philippines said it posted new record sales in 2016, the fourth in a row, with sales rising 33 percent to 33,688 vehicles, driven by continued strong demand for EcoSport, Everest and Ranger.

The company said it also had the best-ever December performance in the Philippines with sales increasing 13 percent year-on-year to 3,198 vehicles.

“Our big three nameplates – Ranger, Everest and EcoSport – continued to lead the charge throughout the year and further solidify the Ford brand as a top choice among Filipinos,” said Ford Philippines managing director Lance Mosley.

The Everest became Ford’s bestseller in the Philippines in 2016 with full-year sales rising 152 percent year-on-year to a record 12,453 vehicles, finishing the year with a 6-percent rise in December sales to 1,066 vehicles.

The EcoSport compact SUV also turned in its best-ever full-year performance with retail sales rising 15 percent to 10,010 vehicles, capping the year with December sales rising 40 percent to an all-time monthly record of 1,123 vehicles. The Ranger, on the other hand, finished 2016 as the second best-selling pickup truck in the Philippines with total retail sales of 8,158 vehicles. Othel V. Campos

BSP auction gets sluggish demand

Closing JANUARY 18, 2017

47.80

IN BRIEF

By Darwin G. Amojelar PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte hosted a dinner with top businessmen Tuesday night and secured their commitment to invest in poorest areas in the country.

Presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella said the business leaders showed their support for the improvement of poverty-stricken and conflict-afflicted areas during the three-hour meeting organized by presidential adviser on entrepreneurship Joey Concepcion.

Duterte held the dinner to clear out the “wrong perception” of the

business community against him and presented his plans to sustain the growth of the economy and fight illegal drugs in the country.

The president also discussed issues such as “federalism, contractualization, job creation and tax reforms,” Abella said.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez sat beside the president during the meeting.

The Metro Pacific Group said it planned to pour investments in Mindanao as a part of its commitment to help the Duterte administration.

Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chairman Manuel Pang-

ilinan, International Container Terminal Services Inc. chairman Enrique Razon, Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, SM Prime Holdings Corp. chairtman Hans Sy, Aboitiz Equity Ventures president Erramon Aboitiz, LT Group president Michael Tan and Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry president George Barcelon attended the dinner.

“It was an excellent occasion to see the president up close and personal and I thought it was a very productive meeting,” Pangilinan said.

“It was good for the private

sector to communicate with the president what our concerns are, and what we can do to help government’s efforts particularly in terms of the poorest areas of the country,” he said.

Pangilinan said there were discussions about Sulu province and certain areas in Mindanao where the private sector could help.

He said his company planned to build hospitals, roll out telecom services, put up housing in partnership with Gawad Kalinga and establish a coconut oil mill in Sulu.

“It’s [Sulu] an island that has lots of coconuts,” he said.

Light rail common station set to start construction in December

The Transportation and Public Works Departments signed a memorandum of agreement with four major conglomerates to start the construction of the LRT-MRT common station by December. Shown holding hands as a sign of solidarity are (from left) San Miguel Corp. chairman Ramon Ang, Metro Pacific Investments Corp. chairman Manuel Pangilinan, Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade, Public Works Secretary Mark Villar, SM Prime Holdings Corp. chairman Hans Sy and Ayala Corp. chairman Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala. Ey Acasio

THE government and its private sector partners will start the construction of the P2.8-billion common station that will link Metro Manila’s overhead train system in Quezon City by December, eight years after discussions started.

SM Group’s Hans Sy, Ayala Corp.’s Jaime Augusto Zobel de Ayala, San Miguel Corp.’s Ramon Ang, Metro Pacific Investments Corp.’s Manuel Pangilinan and Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade signed the memorandum of agreement to build the common station for Light Rail Transit Line 1, Metro Rail Transit Line 3 and the planned MRT 7.

“We will continue to work hand-in-hand with the government and with all the parties concerned to ensure this common station will be a reality before the administration ends,” Sy said.

MPIC chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the signing of the agreement was a “very important” event on three levels.

“Number one, it signifies public private sector cooperation agreement on this project. Number two is, bringing ease and a

lot of comfort to the commuting public and number three, of course the very significant investment being made on this project,” he said.

The MoA contains the design parameters for the common station, which will be the basis of the detailed designs that will be developed after the signing.

The location is agreed to be between the original 2009 location in front of SM Annex and 2014 location near Trinoma mall.

The P2.8-billion common station will be financed and built by the Transportation Department and will start construction by December. The target completion for the common station is April 2019.

The Transportation Department also said SM Prime and Light Rail Transit Authority would file a joint manifestation with the Supreme Court advising the court of the MOA to address the issue of the temporary restraining order vis-à-vis the common station project.

This will allow parties to proceed with the construction of the project. Darwin G. Amojelar

BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas partially sold P176.88 billion worth of term deposits during the regular auction Wednesday.

Bangko Sentral said the term deposit auction was undersubscribed, as the 28-day P150-billion deposits received total tenders of P146.885 trillion, lower than the original offer of P150 billion.

Rates for the debt facility settled at 3.41 percent, or 5.31 basis point higher than the previous rate of 3.357 percent following the slight decline in the bid to cover ratio of 0.979 from last week’s 1.147.

The week-long debt papers or the seven-day P30 billion was fully awarded with tenders reaching P54.29 billion. Rates for this facility dropped .34 basis point to 3.0431 percent.

Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said the the uncertainty brought about by the incoming leadership of US President-elect Donald Trump affected the auction results.

“We continue to see the broad impact of excess liquidity in the system and the interest of banks in short term instruments due to the so-called lack of clarity in the incoming leadership’s agenda in the US,” Guinigundo said in a text message. Gabrielle H. Binaday

DENR cancels permits of 6 firms

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales THE Environment Department said Wednesday it cancelled the environment compliance certificates of six companies, including four miners.

“I asked our usec [undersecretary] for legal to look at all the operations with ECCs which might inflict damage to the common good. That is also the heart and soul of the Duterte administration,” Environment Secretary Regina Lopez told reporters in a news briefing.

“We have cancelled six because of the environmental possibility that they would adversely affect people’s lives.

There’s also the legal thing because they expired,” said Lopez.

Environment undersecretary for legal Ipat Luna said the government cancelled the ECCs of Mejore Wood Works Inc. for its project in Surigao del Sur; Intex Resources Philippines Inc. for Mindoro Nickel Project; Forum Cebu Coal Corp. for its Cebu Coal Mining Project; Cekas Development for its iron, copper and other minerals mining project; Eaglerock Mining Corp.; and Alltech Contractors Inc. The department earlier earlier cancelled the ECCs of six companies and sent show cause orders to eleven companies due to their alleged failure to meet some of the conditions listed in their ECCs.

B2

Business

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rebounds; Arthaland up McDonald’s spending S P3.5b to add PH stores TOCKS rose Wednesday, ending a five-day slide as investors take their position ahead of US President Donald Trump’s inauguration Friday.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, rose 33 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 7,156.36. The bellwether was also up 4.6 percent since the start of the year.

The broader index, representing all shares, also gained 16 points, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 4,321.58, on a value turnover of P5 billion.

Advancers edged losers, 86 to 85, while 55 issues were unchanged.

Eleven of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by property developer Arthaland Corp. which advanced 9.3 percent to P0.82 and Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which climbed 2.7 percent to P6.75. JG Summit Holdings Inc. of tycoon John Gokongwei

rose 2.6 percent to P74.90.

Meanwhile, equity traders in Asia were on edge owing to uncertainty about the prospects of a Donald Trump presidency.

The greenback plunged Tuesday following comments from the US president-elect in an interview that it was too strong and that a weak Chinese yuan was “killing us,” fueling concerns of a possible currency war.

The sell-off marked a sharp turnaround for the US unit, which has been surging since Trump’s November election on expectations his big-spending, tax-cutting plans will fan inflation and force a Federal Reserve rate hike.

“Traders recognize that and when you throw in levels that were overbought -- in a US dollar sense -- some sort of retracement was on the cards,” Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at FX and CFD provider AxiTrader, said in a note.

“Add in Trump’s recent rhetoric about the US dollar being too strong—he was talking in context of China in this sense but the message is a broad one—and you get a chance

for further US dollar weakness.”

Trump’s comments came days before he takes the oath of office on Friday, with market-watchers hoping his speech will provide some detail on his plans for the US economy as well as his intentions on the global trade front.

On Tuesday Chinese President Xi Jinping warned at the World Economic Forum in Davos against protectionism, alluding to Trump’s plans to tear up global trade deals, saying it was like “locking oneself in a dark room. Wind and rain may be kept outside, but so is light and air”.

In afternoon trade Wednesday, the dollar was up on the yen, euro and pound but was struggling against higher-yielding units including South Korea’s won, the Australian dollar and Malaysian ringgit.

The pound held up as it witnesses a volatile week that saw it plunge to three-decade lows against the greenback on worries about Britain’s plans for a clean break from the European Union. With AFP, Bloomberg

By Othel V. Campos MCDONALD’S Philippines is spending P3.5 billion to expand its chain of quick-served restaurants by 45 stores in 2017 and put up a second meat plant.

McDonald’s Philippines president and chief executive Kenneth Young said the company was focusing on speeding up expansion in the Visayas and Mindanao.

“Majority of our stores are in Luzon and Metro Manila. We would like to see VisMin catching up with the numbers. So we’re spend-

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.85 3,000 48 22,900 89 2,351,480 4.07 14,000 110.8 1,663,920 1.33 474,000 38.45 27,800 16.1 1,600 19.04 176,200 1.68 152,000 825 200 0.65 7,723,000 76.5 1,754,340 0.79 2,554,000 14.16 7,800 53.65 31,470 239.8 850 89.5 750 36 105,500 214 246,150 1,747 85 78.15 117,840 1.26 4,000

11,250 1,093,870 209,457,855.50 56,990 184,460,473 619,960 1,069,630 25,900 3,352,742 257,150 165,800 5,076,110 133,053,964 2,018,070 110,458 1,699,117 203,534 67,125 3,798,415 52,340,814 147,565 9,141,795 5,040

734,265 30,892,392 12,745,429 -3,260 83,376 65,740 -3,940,193.50 -1,127,467 93,368 -248,600 -5,425,910 8,740 1,409,213.50 -

43.55 4.31 0.86 1.36 17.14 90.05 11.52 15.84 22.35 19.3 60 96 95.05 1.97 6.45 11.98 12.3 6.89 7 5.27 22.15 68.8 12.12 16.1 6.1 1.7 202.2 2.61 3.68 29.85 26.95 14.2 272.4 0.27 3.22 9.46 2.25 5.6 1.58 74.3 5 238 4.9 2.78 11.96 4.2 0.144 1.52 166 4.29 1.72 1.06

INDUSTRIAL 43.6 1,314,100 4.4 855,000 0.88 87,000 1.36 770,000 17.14 19,900 90.05 120 11.6 4,937,200 15.86 4,376,000 23 189,000 19.3 22,900 60 1,100 96 100 95.05 120 2.07 4,048,000 6.6 73,000 12 10,700 12.38 4,373,200 7.22 2,319,200 7.05 720,600 5.3 8,938,900 22.6 594,800 68.85 105,430 12.12 95,800 16.1 151,500 6.25 524,900 1.7 556,000 203 435,560 2.7 160,000 3.68 94,000 29.9 159,600 26.95 153,800 14.22 355,700 278.8 267,780 0.275 160,000 3.22 3,032,000 9.46 3,267,300 2.25 504,000 5.75 129,800 1.59 106,000 75.5 978,350 5 56,700 238 2,810 4.91 57,000 2.81 36,000 12 4,678,200 4.2 109,000 0.145 2,020,000 1.56 178,000 166.6 714,640 4.29 54,000 1.75 3,360,000 1.14 210,000

57,372,215 3,716,290 76,650 1,057,040 341,912 11,001 57,347,666 69,417,970 4,313,650 445,820 66,000 9,600 11,901 8,051,560 477,390 128,390 54,518,940 16,597,375 5,080,079 47,376,802 13,401,805 7,258,409 1,163,396 2,439,208 3,247,810 952,630 88,770,418 428,950 346,610 4,775,525 4,144,945 5,069,694 74,479,810 43,400 9,771,290 31,192,783 1,134,610 733,307 168,370 73,643,050 283,783 679,032 279,310 100,590 56,601,840 458,970 292,860 278,300 119,308,263 234,640 5,864,100 225,480

1,860,580 71,000.00 -27,424 -22,750,042 8,032,518 60,000 -15,062,220 1,767,344 -5,040,713 25,963,189 3,037,585 4,186,624.50 -549,924 -2,018,960 391,003 -40,169,830 -1,636,485 -3,711,015 -2,127,694 49,000,370.00 525,160 -20,358,854.00 517,500 -1,725 11,495,563.50 61,732 0 -19,591,310 2,940 -46,683,601 731,370 -

0.435 74.85 12.94 1.2 6 0.315 0.33 789 8.8 13.18 8.15 0.19 1,353 75 1.17 8.04 12.2 6.81 0.045 2 97 680 0.85 1.32 263.2 0.3 0.192 0.27

0.415 74.3 12.62 1.2 5.9 0.305 0.305 783 8.73 12.74 7.91 0.181 1,321 73.9 1.13 8 12.06 6.7 0.043 1.98 95.5 675 0.85 1.27 261.2 0.29 0.185 0.27

HOLDING FIRMS 0.425 21,690,000 74.7 865,280 12.74 6,056,300 1.2 1,000 6 12,600 0.315 670,000 0.33 350,000 784.5 237,240 8.8 1,282,000 13.16 5,890,900 8.15 21,500 0.183 60,000 1,340 419,855 74.9 1,104,270 1.16 1,536,000 8.04 396,900 12.06 1,783,800 6.78 9,864,000 0.043 37,100,000 2 1,473,000 97 241,540 678 216,070 0.85 18,000 1.31 566,000 263 9,830 0.295 200,000 0.187 130,000 0.27 180,000

9,219,700 64,665,323.50 77,154,396 1,200 74,880 208,350 107,000 186,362,680 11,269,356 77,157,342 172,639 11,240 561,492,225 82,698,154.50 1,757,620 3,189,677 21,591,866 66,764,806 1,632,000 2,939,840 23,213,414.50 146,629,710 15,300 733,050 2,583,892 59,050 24,790 48,600

16,742,825.50 -14,100,662 -12,440,970 3,448,679 32,587,524 109,741,200 35,663,401 -46,000 -1,924,998.00 -5,582,474 1,600,849 -500 -1,652,000 -1,173,746.50 -8,002,875 1,310 -23,670 5,850 5,400

7.58 1.23 2.5 0.87 34 3.27 5.1 5.81 0.58 1.43 0.186 0.68 53.3 0.71 1.66 1.01 1.2 3.66 0.174 0.28 0.42 4.18

7.35 1.19 2.41 0.75 33.65 3.16 5.1 5.81 0.56 1.3 0.18 0.65 51.3 0.7 1.63 1 1.2 3.56 0.161 0.26 0.4 3.99

2,445,549 1,437,290 494,650 95,292,640 162,566,375 17,889,870 15,810 581 6,456,010 256,570 3,130,910 21,576,530 29,322,392 101,240 5,843,180 740,370 284,400 99,176,010 7,471,800 186,600 124,200 10,185,220

-404,081 -982,300 3,272,100 -1,443,340 -4,925,520 3,700 -298,830 7,287,665.50 -14,000 -4,590,800 -10,831,870 224,150 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.7 47.9 89 4.08 111.6 1.34 38.5 16.2 19.02 1.67 830 0.65 75.05 0.81 14.18 53.4 240 89.5 36 211 1,730 76.6 1.26

3.85 48 90.05 4.08 111.6 1.34 38.5 16.2 19.14 1.7 830 0.68 76.5 0.81 14.18 54.05 240 89.5 36.1 214 1,748 78.5 1.26

3.7 47.25 88.65 4.07 110.5 1.3 38.45 16.1 19 1.67 825 0.64 75.05 0.78 14.16 53.4 239 89.5 35.9 210 1,730 76.55 1.26

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

44 4.36 0.86 1.42 17.66 92 11.54 15.88 22.35 20.75 60 96 100 1.97 6.45 12 12.3 6.89 7 5.31 22.4 68.9 12.24 16.48 6.13 1.73 206 2.61 3.71 30 27 14.32 272.4 0.27 3.29 9.73 2.27 5.65 1.59 74.5 5.01 245 4.9 2.81 12.36 4.2 0.145 1.55 169.1 4.3 1.77 1.09

44 4.41 0.89 1.42 17.66 92 11.7 15.9 23 20.75 60 96 100 2.1 6.6 12.02 12.64 7.23 7.1 5.32 22.7 69 12.24 16.48 6.3 1.75 208 2.7 3.71 30 27 14.32 279.2 0.275 3.29 9.73 2.27 5.75 1.6 75.7 5.01 245 4.91 2.81 12.36 4.39 0.147 1.59 169.2 4.45 1.8 1.14

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG 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 ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SM INVESTMENTS SOC RESOURCES SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG WELLEX INDUS ZEUS HLDG

0.43 74.3 12.66 1.2 5.9 0.305 0.305 785 8.74 12.9 8.15 0.19 1,329 74 1.15 8.03 12.1 6.7 0.045 2 97 680 0.85 1.32 263 0.29 0.185 0.27

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

7.5 1.23 2.49 0.75 33.75 3.19 5.1 5.81 0.57 1.36 0.18 0.65 51.6 0.71 1.64 1.01 1.2 3.59 0.165 0.28 0.42 4.01

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

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

30 25.1 1.65 3.25 29.95 1.04 6.98 0.88 4.94

30 25.45 1.65 3.28 30.25 1.04 6.98 0.91 5

30 24.8 1.6 3.21 29.65 1.01 6.98 0.88 4.85

30 25.3 1.6 3.28 29.9 1.01 6.98 0.91 5

100 1,056,000 91,000 165,000 7,602,900 3,324,000 1,600 115,000 2,631,000

3,000 26,454,485 147,430 532,290 227,676,175 3,394,920 11,168 101,910 13,005,110

-2,047,170 -421,880 -60,677,435 -5,381,910

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL 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 LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES LORENZO SHIPPNG MELCO CROWN METRO RETAIL MLA BRDCASTING NOW CORP PACIFIC ONLINE PAL HLDG PAXYS PHIL SEVEN CORP PHILWEB PLDT PREMIUM LEISURE PRMIERE HORIZON PUREGOLD ROBINSONS RTL SBS PHIL CORP SSI GROUP STI HLDG TRAVELLERS WATERFRONT

7.45 47.9 1.34 0.52 0.051 5.34 6.57 0.073 2.63 94.5 9.53 8.3 2.11 1,670 6.38 16 3.06 16 115 71.95 0.011 12.02 9.05 0.23 1.37 15 4.18 0.96 4.17 4.25 20 2.66 11.22 5.3 3.16 132 10 1,448 1.42 0.475 39 73.95 6.11 2.58 1.08 3.24 0.36

7.6 48.5 1.35 0.54 0.052 5.4 6.75 0.074 2.7 95 9.89 8.65 2.11 1,670 6.38 16.34 3.11 16 120 73.15 0.011 12.02 9.07 0.23 1.41 15.34 4.24 0.96 4.23 4.25 20 2.76 11.22 5.3 3.2 132 10.12 1,491 1.42 0.48 40 73.95 6.16 2.61 1.09 3.27 0.385

7.45 47.8 1.34 0.52 0.051 5.34 6.52 0.07 2.6 94.25 9.53 8.3 2 1,636 6.27 15.6 2.91 15.52 115 71 0.0097 12 9.05 0.218 1.36 15 4.18 0.92 4.08 4.1 20 2.66 11.22 5.07 3.16 131 9.98 1,448 1.39 0.47 39 73.2 6.11 2.57 1.03 3.21 0.355

SERVICES 7.5 48.3 1.35 0.54 0.052 5.4 6.75 0.07 2.65 94.6 9.87 8.63 2 1,655 6.27 16.34 2.97 15.94 120 71 0.0099 12 9.07 0.219 1.4 15.34 4.22 0.92 4.16 4.2 20 2.76 11.22 5.07 3.18 132 10.02 1,490 1.41 0.475 40 73.2 6.15 2.57 1.06 3.21 0.36

4,900 72,400 7,000 187,000 38,160,000 4,900 18,935,200 47,650,000 2,058,000 328,160 1,200 663,900 109,000 109,035 413,500 76,100 9,243,000 9,000 210 1,649,290 102,200,000 3,900 460,000 31,500,000 232,000 300 259,000 6,000 7,777,000 3,230,000 200 792,000 5,700 10,400 12,000 98,860 823,800 35,510 12,610,000 14,950,000 1,362,200 380,220 213,100 468,000 16,142,000 437,000 1,330,000

37,197 3,473,985 9,440 97,260 1,978,510 26,373 126,726,494 3,385,840 5,458,030 31,064,897 11,679 5,650,265 219,740 179,771,965 2,593,918 1,230,012 27,792,100 140,926 24,690 117,850,842 1,015,360 46,814 4,172,000 6,998,370 316,640 4,568 1,091,500 5,600 32,407,040 13,492,000 4,000 2,164,980 63,954 52,870 38,140 13,044,520 8,253,404 52,606,315 17,794,630 7,087,050 53,919,975 27,896,864 1,308,435 1,205,500 16,971,440 1,410,480 496,900

-26,000 36,752,792 399,360 -10,510,870.50 -358,440 -44,931,365 48,840 -71,921,013 49,500 199,300 633,000 2,547,780 -7,541,820 -32,910 -1,140,624 12,291,230 522,500 8,079,680.00 -9,629,915.00 -273,820 10,361,640 -644,670 -

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK 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 PETROENERGY PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING TA PETROLEUM UNITED PARAGON

0.0034 2.95 5.21 10 2.16 0.54 0.465 12 2.93 0.26 0.215 0.228 0.012 0.013 2.21 6.66 2.73 0.495 1.05 0.011 4.05 0.012 9.02 3.63 133.6 2.95 0.0092

0.0034 3.03 5.31 10.98 2.25 0.54 0.485 12.48 3.01 0.265 0.226 0.228 0.012 0.013 2.32 6.92 2.8 0.495 1.06 0.012 4.05 0.013 9.25 3.63 134.7 2.95 0.0092

0.0033 2.83 5.21 10 2.16 0.52 0.46 11.6 2.92 0.26 0.213 0.22 0.012 0.013 2.21 6.65 2.69 0.495 1.05 0.011 4.05 0.012 8.95 3.52 133.6 2.93 0.0092

MINING & OIL 0.0034 621,000,000 2.84 5,959,000 5.3 449,700 10.98 1,100 2.25 2,000 0.52 255,000 0.485 4,720,000 12.08 27,600 2.98 2,550,000 0.26 80,000 0.22 19,260,000 0.22 3,180,000 0.012 6,400,000 0.013 3,200,000 2.27 1,943,000 6.9 9,840,400 2.74 1,068,000 0.495 50,000 1.06 147,000 0.011 38,200,000 4.05 10,000 0.013 20,800,000 8.99 2,919,800 3.58 1,322,000 134.1 322,210 2.93 15,000 0.0092 11,000,000

2,098,800 17,270,140 2,381,962 11,686 4,410 132,700 2,242,100 335,290 7,600,560 20,850 4,245,550 705,740 76,800 41,600 4,404,810 67,285,367 2,925,980 24,750 155,520 432,200 40,500 253,900 26,457,496 4,693,300 43,236,428 44,020 101,200

50,500 -1,170,220 -116,590 9,600 1,219,880 -481,340 -22,600.00 7,320,680 3,180 -861,573 30,878,488 -

ABS HLDG PDR DD PREF FGEN PREF G GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A LR PREF PCOR PREF 2A SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2I

48.4 104.1 113.5 5.9 1,016 1.03 1,060 80.75 77.5 77.6 79.05 77.6

48.8 104.4 113.5 5.91 1,016 1.03 1,060 80.75 78.5 77.6 79.05 79.1

48 104.1 113.5 5.9 1,016 1.03 1,060 80.75 77.5 77.6 78.1 77.6

PREFERRED 48.4 25,100 104.1 5,830 113.5 10,000 5.9 1,518,900 1,016 310 1.03 250,000 1,060 1,000 80.75 65,900 78.5 12,800 77.6 20,000 79 66,400 79.1 71,510

1,210,360 607,040 1,135,000 8,962,785 314,960 257,500 1,060,000 5,321,425 992,410 1,552,000 5,217,270.50 5,555,941

-228,000 -8,948,010 -2,833,841 -

LR WARRANT

2.23

2.3

2.23

WARRANTS 2.28 38,000

85,580

-

ALTERRA CAPITAL ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE XURPAS

7.7 4.12 3.06 8.39

7.7 4.16 3.06 8.4

6.5 4.1 3.06 8.16

7.33 4.11 3.06 8.37

11,311,973 324,830 33,660 4,440,132

611,869 -694,413

FIRST METRO ETF

117.5

118.1

116.9

380,424

-

MS

PROPERTY 7.4 1.2 2.45 0.82 33.9 3.2 5.1 5.81 0.57 1.43 0.186 0.67 51.9 0.7 1.65 1.01 1.2 3.61 0.169 0.26 0.4 4.04

328,500 1,196,000 202,000 116,003,000 4,805,300 5,578,000 3,100 100 11,330,000 191,000 17,020,000 32,366,000 562,580 144,000 3,555,000 737,000 237,000 27,382,000 44,230,000 670,000 310,000 2,481,000

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

17,433,199

INDUSTRIAL

56,385,117

HOLDING FIRMS

92,698,275

PROPERTY

284,339,269

SERVICES

322,641,771

MINING & OIL

754,827,028

GRAND TOTAL

1,530,507,070

SME

1,549,800 79,000 11,000 537,900

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 118 3,230

VALUE 1,720.65 (UP) 7.13 608,257,046.18 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 10,963.13 (DOWN) 41.12 836,418,868.91 HOLDING FIRMS 7,336.54 (UP) 28.58 1,401,808,100.413 PROPERTY 3,237.27 (UP) 23.68 SERVICES 1,374.29 (UP) 19.14 736,983,191.49 MINING & OIL 12,127.73 (UP) 81.85 1,195,470,756.27 PSEI 7,156.36 (UP) 33.03 187,250,888.185 All Shares Index 4,321.58 (UP) 16.93 4,982,688,804.163 Gainers:86; Losers: 85; Unchanged: 55; Total: 226

ing P2 billion for the initial 45 stores this year. In fact, we have already four stores in the pipeline that are opening soon including stores in Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod and Davao,” he said.

McDonald’s Philippines ended 2016 with 520 stores.

With the additional 45 stores in 2017, the company’s system-wide stores will increase to 565 outlets by yearend.

Company-owned stores comprised 55 percent of the total store units as of end-2016, while franchises made up for the remaining 45 percent.

McDonald’s Philippines had a solid year, after it posted a record revenue of P38 billion in 2016, up 14 percent from the 2015 sales.

The company is looking at gross revenue of P41 billion in 2017, or 7.8 percent higher than P38 billion in 2016.

McDonald’s Philippines chairman George Young said the company posted doubledigit growth in the past ten years, “and we’re optimistic that we will continue that growth trend in the future.”

McDonald’s Philippines is 51-percent owned by the Young family via Golden Arches Development Corp. and 49-percent by Alliance Global Group Inc. of tycoon Andrew Tan.

MetroPac allots P60b for 2017 expansion

By Jenniffer B. Austria INFRASTRUCTURE conglomerate Metro Pacific Investments Corp. plans to spend P60 billion in 2017 primarily to support the growth of core businesses.

Metro Pacific chief finance officer David Nicol said in an interview that P15 billion would be allotted for power distribution unit Manila Electric Co. while P15 billion would be appropriated for water utility firm Maynilad Water Services Inc. Another P10 billion to P12 billion was earmarked for toll road unit Metro Pacific Tollways Corp. and P5 billion to P6 billion for railway business.

The group’s hospital business will get P3 billion to P4 billion, while its newly acquired logistics business would receive P4 billion.

“If you wrap up everything, it headed up to roughly P60 billion,” Nicol said.

The P60-billion programmed spending would be on top of the budget for acquisitions and new projects that the group may undertake through public bidding.

Nicol said the capital spending program would primarily come from borrowings and internally generated cash.

Metro Pacific, the local flagship unit of Hong Kong’s First Pacific Co. Ltd., said it was prepared to spend $10 billion in capital expenditures in the Philippines from 2015 to 2020 to further expand its power, water, infrastructure and hospital businesses.

The conglomerate also expects 2016 core net income to be better than its previous projection of P11.7 billion.

Metro Pacific booked a core net income of P9.3 billion in the first nine months of 2016, up by 13 percent from P8.2 billion it booked in the same period in 2015, on the back of strong growth of all its operations.

Business

B3

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Manny Pangilinan’s Annus Horribilis

TELECOM PERMITS. The National Telecommunications Commission and the Department of the Interior and Local Government meet to

explore ways to expedite the issuance of LGU permits for the construction of cellular sites aimed at improving telecommunication services in the country. At the meeting are (from left) NTC Deputy Commissioner Edgardo Cabarios, NTC Commissioner Gamaliel Cordoba, DILG Undersecretary Austere Panadero, DILG-BLGS’ Kit Christian Jorvina, DILG-Legal Department’s Cynthia Pulido and NTC Director Imelda Walcien.

Dominguez confident on new tax measures F inance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said he’ll reach an agreement this quarter with lawmakers on a plan to raise taxes, helping to stave off a credit-rating downgrade to junk.

Dominguez said President Rodrigo Duterte won’t hesitate to use his political power to ensure passage of key tax changes needed to fund higher state spending.

A government-backed bill on the plan was filed at the House of Representatives Tuesday, months after the finance department submitted its original proposal.

“This is a poker game,” Domin-

guez, 71, said in an interview in his office Tuesday. “There’s a point when we have to agree.”

The revised version of the tax plan, forecast to yield P162.5 billion a year in revenue and supported by Dominguez, was filed as House Bill 4774. An earlier proposal in September didn’t progress as lawmakers balked at scrapping some exemptions for the elderly and

HB 4144 a balancing act, says ex-BIR chief THE recently passed House Bill No. 4144 is a delicate balancing act from a national policy standpoint, as it seeks to address competing concerns of government revenue, health and legitimate interests of tobacco farmers, a former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner said Wednesday.

Ex-BIR chief Dakila Fonacier, a notable certified public accountant, said HB 4144 attempts to alleviate the regressive nature of the unitary tax system now in place.

“Under the current unitary tax of P30.00 per pack (regardless of classification), the poor who tend to buy the cheaper brand shoulder a heavier tax burden than the rich who tend to smoke the more expensive premium brands,” Fonacier said.

He added a regressive tax takes a larger percentage of income from low-income earners than from high-income earners and is, thus, anti-poor. A regressive tax is one that is imposed

in such a way that the tax rate decreases as the amount subject to taxation increases; that is how the current unitary tax is structured. HB 4144 took this issue of social equity into account.

Based on a 2015 report by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance, a combination of ad valorem and specific tax has been the favored mode in many Southeast Asian countries, and not the unitary tax.

The bill proposes to increase the current taxes on cigarettes from P30.00 to P32.00 per pack on lower priced brands and from P30.00 to P36.00 per pack on premium brands followed by a 5-percent increase, instead of 4 percent, annually.

Fonacier said from the perspective of promoting health and discouraging consumption, the higher taxes and consequent higher prices imposed by HB 4144 had an even better chance of addressing important health concerns, while at the same time increasing government revenues.

disabled, and higher levies on fuel and cars. The increases are meant to offset income-tax cuts that Duterte promised during his election campaign, while also expanding revenue sources.

“We’re giving them time, wrapping their minds around it,” Dominguez said. “I think we’ll get majority support for tax reform.

We’re working toward a workable, fair bill that requires concessions.”

The House Bill reflects some compromises. It will retain exemptions on the elderly and disabled while additional excise taxes on fuel will be implemented in phases through 2019, Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick

Chua told a briefing on the bill at the Lower House Wednesday.

Another P44.3 billion in revenue yearly may come from other proposed legislation, including a tax on sugar-sweetened drinks.

Dominguez warned earlier this week that the nation’s credit rating is at risk of returning to junk grade if Congress fails to pass revenue-raising measures along with the tax cuts. The Philippines, among the fastest-growing economies in the world, must fund $160 billion in infrastructure projects in the next five years while keeping the budget deficit under 3 percent of gross domestic product. Bloomberg

AS A REQUISITE for obtaining the General Certificate of Education, all schoolchildren in the United Kingdom are made to learn either Latin or classical Greek. The heir or heiress to the British throne is no exception, and so the young Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI, had to learn Latin. Queen Elizabeth II, who the princess became, did not forget her Latin and in the midst of the turmoil over the death of Princess Diana of Wales—particularly her perceived apathy toward that tragic event—carried a Latin phrase that has reverberated in public discussions in the two decades since 1997.

The phrase was annus horribilis. The chairman and chief executive officer of the nation’s largest telecommunications organization PLDT-Smart Telecommunications Inc.—remembered Queen Elizabeth’s highly evocative Latin phrase when he recently described PLDT-Smart’s operations in 2016. The past year was an annus horribilis for his telecoms establishment, he said ruefully.

In MVP’s discussion of PLDT-Telecoms’ 2016 operations the words “down,” “fell” and “lower” proliferated. The telecoms groups’ net income for the first three quarters of that year were down a whopping 37 percent—from P25.3 billion to P15.8 billion. Core profit declined 20 percent—from P27.0 billion to P21.7 billion—during the same period. Service revenues of the consumer wireless business group fell by 5 percent, to P55.8 billion. Significantly, revenues from voice and SMS services declined by 14 percent and 15 percent, respectively.

Overall, consolidated revenues fell during that nine-month period to P125.3 billion from P127.8 billion. ruly a horrible year for PLDT-Smart Telecoms—and for its CEO and guiding spirit. And what caused the horribleness of the past annus? In a word, aggressive competition—including a price war—from the other half of this country’s telecoms duopoly, Globe Telecoms Inc. Knowledgeable observers appear to agree that PLDT-Telecoms fell behind in the competitiveness game in 2016 and needs to be more aggressive on both the marketing and the technical front.

And is 2017 likely to be another annus horribilis for the nation’s telecoms leader? “PLDT expects 2017 to be a tough year for its wireless business and intense competition” Still, Mr. Pangilinan said, PLDT/Smart expects to be able to meet its 2017 core net income guidance figure of P20 billion and reported net income target of P27 billion-P28 billion.

Is MVP likely to be able to turn his telecoms empire around and be able to cope with an expected tough year? Or is this year likely to be another annus horribilis? Mr. Pangilinan is nothing if not a savvy businessman and so long as he does a good job of tightening up his management team, there is no reason why 2017 should not be a turnaround year for PLDT/ Smart Telecoms.

E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

DENR to close illegal landfills

TOP ASEAN COMPANY.

SM Prime Holdings is declared as one of the 2016 Top 10 Successful Asean Enterprises Entering China.

The award was given by the ChinaASEAN Business Council, a group of leaders and experts working together to create mutually beneficial trade policies and economic developments among China and Asean member states. Shown receiving the award from Xu Ningning (right), executive president of ChinaASEAN Business Council, is SM Supermalls senior vice president Steven Tan.

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

Strong consumption to hike demand for property in 2017

By Othel V. Campos STRONG consumption and increased disposable income will strengthen the the retail sector, one of the significant drivers of the gross domestic product.

Santos Knight Frank Inc. said in a property forecast for 2017 strong consumption would drive demand for manufacturing, warehouses and industrial lots, with economic zones at full occupancy.

“The opening of more industrial subdivisions will thus be beneficial to more foreign and local MSME investments, while improvement in logistics will provide more con-

venience, add accessibility to road networks, and reduce traffic congestion in prime locations conducive to industrial development,” it said in briefing Wednesday in Makati City.

Upcoming retail developments in Metro Manila will add about 485,000 square meters of gross leasable area until 2018 with 43.3 percent of the new areas emerging in the Manila Bay reclaimed area, 19.6 percent in Pasig City and 19.2 percent in Quezon City.

Retail expansion will be driven by developments outside Metro Manila as demand

in the countryside remains robust.

Shopping malls have adopted a lifestyle-oriented trend, building community malls and retail podiums in Metro Manila as well as outside cities. Retail openings in clothing apparel and food chains are still popular because of current lifestyle trends.

The report underscored the role of consumer spending in the expansion activities of manufacturing firms and increasing the size of storage facilities.

Companies have been aggressively searching for warehouses and manufacturing

spaces in known industrial locations, especially in Central and North Luzon, it said.

The sustained investor interest, growing investments from migrant Filipino workers, a robust business process outsourcing sector, and the inflow of millennial workforce will further bolster the residential sector.

Meanwhile, the lack of skilled workers for the construction sector is still the main reason for delays in the turnover of office spaces.

The bulk of office spaces will be available in the market within 2017, with over 1.6 million square meters of GLA, most of

them already pre-committed.

Only four of the 20 office buildings scheduled to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2016 started operating. The rest is expected to start operations between the first quarter of 2017 and the first quarter of 2018.

Real estate analyst and consultant Rick Santos rebranded his company as Santos Knight Frank Inc. staring January 1 2017 with a new long-term franchise partnership with Knight Frank LLP. Santos initiated the partnership after he decided not to renew his existing franchise with CBRE.

DUMPSITES near water reservoirs will be closed within this quarter, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources said Wednesday.

“We are signing an order that there will no longer be dump sites near bodies of water, it’s putting the lives of people there at risk,” said Environment Secretary Regina Lopez.

Lopez said the department would give local government units time to find an alternative area for a sanitary landfill.

Environment Undersecretary Art Valdez said only 5 percent of LGUs followed the solid waste law.

“The Ombudsman is really busy filing cases against the local governments. Open dumpsite is illegal so the Ombudsman is doing it,” Valdez said.

He said the government would give a 30- to 60-day deadline to look for an alternative area for sanitary landfill.

“In Boracay for instance, I already gave them a warning.

Hotel operators there were given show cause orders to explain why they are discharging their effluent into the drain system,” Valdez said. “Now they are really compliant and putting up their own sewage treatment facilities because if they do not do that, we will close the hotel. We are looking at Boracay, Iloilo, Kalibo and the Payatas dumpsite here in Quezon City.”

“We will give them 30 to 60 days or we close it down. For Payatas, I think it will take 30 days. The order is clear—open dumpsite is not allowed. Once closed, there are other people that will come out to rehabilitate the place. We are willing to help the LGUs rehabilitate the area,” added Valdez.

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com

B4

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

UK’s May opts for hard Brexit

By Robin Millard

L

ONDON―Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her Brexit blueprint on Tuesday, announcing for the first time that Britain will leave Europe’s single market in order to control EU immigration.

In a highly-anticipated speech, May warned the EU against imposing harsh terms on Britain’s divorce from the bloc after more than four decades of membership.

She revealed Britain would look to strike a new customs agreement with the EU, enabling it to forge its own trade deals with the rest of the world.

And in a concession to parliamentary critics, the Conserva-

tive leader also said lawmakers would get a vote on any final Brexit agreement negotiated with Brussels.

EU leaders have insisted single market membership means accepting free movement―a key issue in Britain’s shock June referendum vote to become the first country to leave the 28-member group.

“Brexit must mean control of the number of people who come

to Britain from Europe. And that is what we will deliver,” May told foreign ambassadors in London.

“What I am proposing cannot mean membership of the single market.”

EU immigration to Britain ran at 284,000 in the year to June 2016.

The European Commission’s chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier warned that an orderly divorce from the bloc within the specified two years was a “prerequisite” for any future free trade deal.

EU president Donald Tusk said May’s plans were “at least more realistic” about what London wanted.

May phoned Tusk and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker following

her speech, telling them the UK would seek the “greatest possible access to it (the single market) through a new, comprehensive, bold and ambitious free trade agreement”, a Downing Street spokeswoman said.

The prime minister also called German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande.

“She told both that the UK wanted the EU to thrive, understood the importance of the ‘four freedoms’ of the single market and that the UK would not be seeking membership of the single market,” May’s spokeswoman said.

In Paris, Hollande “noted” May’s “clarification” and hoped negotiations would start swiftly after Britain formally notifies

the EU of its exit, a presidential aide said. May also stressed that British-French ties in security and defense would remain, the source said.

Britain has two years to negotiate a break-up deal once May triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, officially declaring the country’s intention to quit, or face leaving with no agreement.

May said London could accept departing on such terms if Brussels played hardball, but it would hurt the EU hardest.

“No deal for Britain is better than a bad deal for Britain,” she said.

May has promised to trigger Article 50 by the end of March, and said she was confident final settlements could be negotiated within the two-year timeframe. AFP

Asians traveled more in ’16—UN MADRID―The number of international tourists rose by four percent worldwide to 1.2 billion in 2016 as Asians traveled more, but security fears hit visitor arrivals in Europe, the World Tourism Organization said Tuesday.

This represents the seventh consecutive year of growth since 2009, when global tourism figures declined four percent as the financial crisis and an outbreak of swine flu saw cash-strapped people stay at home.

The number of people living in Asia and discovering both their own region and the rest of the world rose eight percent compared to 2015, the Madridbased body said.

The Asia-Pacific area, meanwhile, proved a popular destination―the second most visited region after Europe.

But the UN body cautioned that while still blessed with 620 million tourists last year, the growth in the number of visitors to Europe had slowed due to security concerns.

WTO chief Taleb Rifai told reporters the results in Europe were “very mixed,” saying some destinations recorded “a double-digit growth rate and some others a flat rate.”

The Americas registered a growth of four percent in visitor numbers, the body said.

Africa, meanwhile, recovered from a sharp drop in 2015 due to security fears, recording an eight percent growth.

The Middle-East, however, saw a four percent drop in the arrival of tourists.

Rifai refused to give a muchanticipated ranking of the most visited countries, saying this would be unveiled at a later date.

In 2015, France ranked number one, followed by the United States and Spain.

But France has been hard hit by extremist attacks in the past two years, and there are fears this has impacted tourist arrivals.

Paris, for one, has seen a drop in tourists after jihadists sowed terror in the French capital in November 2015, killing 130 people.

Frederic Valletoux, the tourism chief for the Paris region, told AFP last year that the area hadn’t recovered, and that the impact was “lasting and completely unprecedented.”

Tourism represents 10 percent of global gross domestic product, seven percent of international trade and 30 percent of service exports, according to the WTO. Emphasizing how crucial it is worldwide, one in every 11 jobs comes from tourism, if direct and indirect posts are taken into account. AFP

A picture shows a financial graph on a television screen showing the movement of the foreign exchange rate of the British pound against the US dollar in realtime on the trading floor of ETX Capital in London on January 17, 2017 as British Prime Minister Theresa May delivers a speech on Brexit. May said that Britain will exit EU’s single market during a major speech setting out details on the government’s approach to exiting the European Union. AFP

China okays IPOs by foreign companies SHANGHAI―China may allow foreign companies to launch IPOs on its stock exchanges and issue corporate bonds, the government said, after President Xi Jinping promised the world his country was committed to opening its markets.

The State Council, China’s Cabinet, issued a notice late Tuesday saying it had granted approval in principle for foreign companies to launch IPOs and issue corporate debt and other financing instruments in order to “support the widening of foreign companies’ financing channels.”

The announcement was the latest in a series of broad liberalization pledges from China as it braces for the incoming administration of US President-elect Donald Trump.

Trump has repeatedly blamed China, and globalization, for the loss of millions of US jobs, raising fears of a trade war between the world’s number one and two economies.

The State Council notice said foreign companies would face fewer restrictions in a range of sectors including services, manufacturing, mining, and others, much of which has been previously announced, in order to attract more foreign investment.

It gave no further specifics or timing for the IPO and debtmarket access for foreign companies, saying implementation will depend on the relevant regulations being drawn up.

In a speech at the World Economic Forum at Davos on Tuesday, Xi warned against protectionism and promised China would continue to liberalize its markets, sketching out an alternative view to Trump’s.

But foreign companies and China’s trading partners continue to complain about access to Chinese markets.

China ranked 84th globally―behind Saudi Arabia and Ukraine―in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for 2016, and second to last in an OECD report on restrictiveness towards foreign investment.

Last month China said it would allow foreign firms to operate fully-owned subsidiaries, rather than joint ventures, in sectors including rail transportation equipment and motorcycles, and loosen a range of other restrictions. AFP

In downtown Detroit, Shinola is ‘Made in USA’ success story

By Luc Olinga DETROIT―From the outside, there’s nothing much to say about this nondescript, hulking building in downtown Detroit, once the cradle of American industry.

But inside this former General Motors research lab, the fifth floor has been transformed into a state-of-the-art workshop producing watches and high-end bicycles.

Welcome to Shinola, a young American luxury lifestyle company breathing new life into the “Made in USA” label―a designation championed by President-elect Donald Trump.

The firm, which shares the building with a design school, has built an open factory space with wooden desks reminiscent of 1950s movie sets and high-tech machinery.

Watches, handbags, appointment books and other accessories carrying the “Made in Detroit” label are turned out here, while the bikes―made from parts designed in neighboring Wisconsin―and turntables, a new product, are assembled at the flagship store located nearby.

Dozens of employees work here―most of them African Americans, who make up the majority of residents in this blighted working-class city, forced into bankruptcy in 2013 under the weight of its massive debt.

Detroit suffered hugely from the decline of US manufacturing and especially the difficulties facing the “Big Three”– auto giants General Motors, Ford and Fiat Chrysler.

The Shinola Watch factory is viewed on January 4, 2017 in Detroit, Michigan. Stchekine was the first official Shinola employee hired in the Detroit flagship location. Shinola, a young American company, is trying to make its mark by reinventing an iconic brand and selling products made in the USA like bicycles and watches manufactured in the industrial wastelands of Detroit. AFP

The unemployment rate hit 10.4 percent in November, compared to the national average of 4.6 percent, according to official statistics.

Success story Shinola’s marketing pitch, a narrative built on the city’s woes, differentiates the company from most high-end brands around the world.

“The rich heritage of manufacturing in Detroit makes it natural,” says Tom Lewand, a lawyer and former president of the Detroit Lions NFL team, who took the helm of the company in June.

“When people hear the story of Shinola, when they hear the story that new jobs have been created to manufacture, whether it be handbags, watches or bags, they appreciate that.”

Former US president Bill Clinton, who owns a dozen Shinola watches―which run between $500 and $1,500―is one of the fans.

“We need more American success stories like Shinola in Detroit,” he said in October 2014.

Shinola was launched in 2011 by the Greek-born billionaire Tom Kartsotis, co-founder of the popular watch brand Fossil.

The company, which took its name from a defunct shoe-polish manufacturer from the 1960s, marketed its first watch in 2013, the Runwell.

The company currently employs 600 people, after starting with just nine. It has 18 stores― two of them outside the United States, in London and Toronto― and boasts a turnover of $100 million.

Made in Switzerland?

The company, which has not yet made it into the black and has not ruled out going public, took something of a body blow last

year when the Federal Trade Commission asked it to stop boasting that it manufactures in the United States.

Indeed, it imports most of the parts for its well-known watches.

The Swiss specialist in quartz movement Ronda AG, which is a shareholder, supplies 70 percent of the quartz movement parts. And the watch faces, crowns and hands come from Asia.

For employees, many of whom are former auto workers, the FTC’s argument is meaningless.

Shinola “is revitalizing (Detroit). It’s producing jobs, it gives us something positive going forward,” says Damon Love, hired without training in the leather department nearly three years ago after being laid off by a local automotive supplier.

“We can do the same things as the Swiss, even better,” said Koko Mary, who works in watch assembly. The former employee of a radio provider for Cadillac now has health insurance and a retirement savings plan―new and welcome benefits.

The minimum hourly wage is more than 15 dollars, said Lewand, compared to about $8.90 in the rest of Michigan.

Late this year, the company will market its first audio headphones to compete with Beats―and then hopes to take on the lucrative eyewear market, a product it plans to produce on Chicago’s South Side.

AFP

LGUs

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

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BUCKING BULL. A rider gets thrown off a bull at a rodeo in Tanay, Rizal, which participants used to practice for a bigger event in Masbate province later this year. Teddy Pelaez

Joy B confirms run for QC mayorship in 2019 Q

By Rio N. Araja

UEZON City Vice Mayor Joy Belmonte has confirmed her plan to run for mayor, two years before the next local elections in 2019.

Belmonte told Manila Standard two other familiar faces— last-term Rep. Winston “Winnie” Castelo and former District 4 councilor Jesus Manuel “Bong” Suntay, the Philippine National Taxi Operators Association president—are expected to join the mayoralty race.

However, she admitted being a member of the opposition Liberal Party could be a setback to her political career under the Duterte administration.

The only daughter of District

4 Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr.—a former Speaker of the House of Representatives and three-term city mayor himself—the vice mayor will also end her third term in 2019.

Belmonte also said Senator Francis “Chiz” Escudero, who lives in District 3’s New Manila area, wanted to run for mayor to replace incumbent Herbert Bautista.

Escudero, however, “withdrew his plan, and instead would run for Congress,” she

told the Standard.

The senator, who ran for vice president but placed fourth among six candidates in last year’s elections, was elected to Congress in 1998 at age 28, representing the first district of Sorsogon province. He was reelected to the House twice more before making the Senate in 2007.

According to Belmonte, Bautista, who ends his third and final term as mayor in 2019, would run for the House seat in the city’s third legislative district.

Last-term District 3 Councilor Allan Benedict Reyes would be facing Bautista, the vice mayor said.

But if the government shifts to a federal form as planned by President Rodrigo

Duterte, Belmonte said Bautista would run for governor of Metro Manila.

Rumors, unconfirmed at presstime, also have Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority administrator Martin Diño joining the mayoralty race in 2019.

Diño was a former Quezon City village chief who helped rape victim Baby Echagaray pursue statutory rape charges against her stepfather, Leo Echagaray, who was later meted the death penalty.

Before Duterte appointed him to head the SBMA, Diño was chairman of the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption—and famously filed a certificate of candidacy as the PDP-Laban party’s candidate for president before withdrawing in Duterte’s favor.

‘Drug queen’ Impal caught in buy-bust

By Lance Baconguis CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— Alleged drug queen Lovely Adams Impal was arrested on Wednesday morning in Pala-o, Iligan City after a drug buy-bust operation by operatives of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency in Region 10.

Impal was named by admitted drug lord Kerwin Espinosa as the source of the drugs he supplied in Eastern Visayas.

Impal then surrendered last Dec. 5, 2016 to Philippine National Police Director General Ronald “Bato” de la Rosa, but was released after no case was filed against her.

However, PDEA-10 director Adrian Alvariño said Impal was arrested following intelligence works and the buy-bust operation.

“She was selling and giving samples of her stock of drugs in an effort to expand her networks and re-convince other pushers to go back to selling

Pagadian ready for NSPC tilt

50,000 hail Miss U beauties in Baguio

By Dexter A. See BAGUIO CITY—Some 50,000 people from all walks of life from various parts of Northern Luzon gathered along the threekilometer parade route from Upper Session Road up to the Baguio Country Club to catch a glimpse of the visiting Miss Universe contestants who arrived in the city Wednesday morning.

As early as 7 a.m., residents and visitors started to converge along the designated parade route amid tight security by the organizers to see the 28 visiting beauty contestants from different countries and reigning Miss Universe titlist Pia Wurtzbach, who arrived in the city shortly after 8 a.m.

The contestants arrived in two batches and were greeted at the Loakan airport by the fa-

mous silent drill of the Philippine Military Academy cadets, who accorded them the drawnswords welcome upon coming out of their chartered fights.

City officials led by Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan and officials and members of the Hotel and Restaurant Association of Baguio welcomed the pageant contestants. Later, they were ferried by bus from Loakan to the start of the parade route at Upper Session Road, where people greeted them with cheers on their arrival at around 10:30 a.m.

The beauties boarded three flower-decorated floats prepared

by HRAB with motifs representing Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, while Wurtzbach boarded the float that depicted the Baguio Country Club, the only exclusive club in the Summer Capital.

By A. Perez Rimando

LOLA TURNS 100. Hilda Land Elzingre (seated right) celebrates her 100th birthday on Jan. 17, the same year

of Muntinlupa City’s 100th Founding Anniversary, as Mayor Jaime Fresnedi (fourth from left) gives ‘Lola Lila’ a P100,000 cash incentive. A resident of Ayala Alabang, Elzingre lives with her family and helper Joy Galicha, who hugs her. Joining Fresnedi are (from left) Councilor Ivee Tadefa, City Administrator Allan Cachuela, and Rep. Ruffy Biazon.

Concert to benefit Sagada, N’garay SPED centers set SPECIAL education centers in Sagada, Mountain Province and Norzagaray, Bulacan will benefit from a fundraising concert by the Manila Symphony Orchestra on Jan. 28 at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium inside the RCBC Plaza in Makati City.

Titled “Soundtracks and Symphonies,” the concert will be

conducted by professor Arturo Molina, principal conductor of the Manila Symphony Orchestra, and annotated by Jeffrey Solares, MSO executive director.

The show starts at 7 p.m.

Included in their repertoire is a tribute to noted composer John Williams of “Star Wars” fame, as well as pieces from classical

drugs,” Alvariño said.

Impal was arrested with her sister, Farina Paran Rato, and driver Alvin Macalangan Pamilian.

Evidence presented by PDEA showed a total of 110 grams of suspected shabu with a street value of P550,000 and P5,000 in marked money used for the buybust was recovered from Impal.

Based on the PNP intelligence matrix, Alvariño revealed that Impal is operating nationwide, facilitating drug transfers and running a supply-and-demand scheme.

Impal, however, denied her role in the buy-bust as she was presented to the media. Covered in a headscarf, Impal cried and said she was arrested inside her place in Iligan city.

“They just barged into my place and arrested me and my companions,” Impal said. “It would be a shame that I surrendered to General ‘Bato’ and would return again to drug pushing. No, I do not sell drugs anymore.”

greats such as Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach.

The concert is part of a backto-back event organized by the Center for Possibilities Foundation, which has focused its efforts on special children and the SPED centers in Sagada and Norzagaray.

The other half of the Satur-

day event is the opening of the self-titled first solo exhibit of 19-year-old Samantha Kaspar that will open to the public starting 5:30 p.m.

Kaspar, who was discovered to have autism at age one, is one of eight Filipino special-needs artists going to the Philippine Center in New York to represent

the country in the Fashion Arts Autism Benefit on April 7.

The daughter of Chef Martin Kaspar and former model Mitzi Kaspar will auction about 40 of her paintings, mostly on fabrics like piña silk, that will be translated into clothing by designers Patis Tesoro and Anthony Legarda at the FAAB show. Jimbo Gulle

PAGADIAN CITY—Over 3,000 campus journalists and their teacher-advisers are descending on this capital of Zamboanga del Sur ahead of the National Schools Press Conference organized by the Department of Education from Jan. 22 to 26.

Director Isabelita M. Borres of host DepEd Region 9 said this coastal metropolis, the regional center of the Zamboanga peninsula, has complied with all the requirements needed to host the NSPC after the visit of the DepEd Central Office evaluation team.

Accommodations are ready for the participating campus scribes from elementary and high schools of the country’s 17 regions, Borres added.

She said the 2017 NSPC, a DepEd major annual program, complies with the Campus Journalism Act of 1991, which seeks to upgrade the journalistic skills and competencies of the country’s school writers.

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LGUs

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

Town to power firm: Pay RPT or else

By Ben Moses Ebreo

S

OLANO, Nueva Vizcaya—Mayor Jerry Pasigian of Alfonso Castañeda town said Tuesday the local government would not renew the business permit of Casecnan Water and Energy Co. Inc. this year if the firm does not pay its Real Property Tax arrears in time.

“We will be forced not to renew their business permit for 2017 because of their existing delinquencies,” Pasigian said.

The mayor said that in 2014, CWECI, a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Energy Co. and

RESERVE YOURADSPACE NOW! email us at advertise@the standard.com.ph or call us at 832-5547

operator of the Casecnan MultiPurpose Irrigation and Power Project, refused to pay its RPT delinquency of more than P1.7 billion to the provincial government.

The RPT is a tax owner of real property need to pay yearly so

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC

BE IT KNOWN THAT JGI CONSTRUCTION owned by JOSEPH GREGORY D. ARRIOLA with address at Unit 201, LE GRAN Condominium 45 Eisenhower St. Greenhills, San Juan City has changed its ownership from single proprietorship to corporation on May 6, 2016 and is now JGI CONSTRUCTION AND MANAGEMENT CORPORATION.

BE IT KNOWN THAT LUG SQUARE CONSTRUCTION owned by MAXIMILLAN D. LUGLUG with address at Brgy. Poblacion East, Lagawe has changed its ownership from single proprietorship to corporation on October 4, 2016 and is now LUG SQUARE CONSTRUCTION CORP. (MS-JAN. 19, 2017)

(MS-JAN. 19, 2017)

LGUs will not auction off their property, Pasigian said, under Title II of the Local Government Code or Republic Act 7160.

RPT are shared in certain percentage rates by the host province, city or municipality, and barangays.

CWECI owns and operates the CMIPP, a 150-megawatt hydropower generation facility composed of two impounding dams and a power plant, connected by a pair of 26-kilometer diversion tunnels.

Pasigian said CWECI’s RPT payment in 2014 was stalled owing to the company’s compliance to the Executive Order 173 issued by then-President Benigno Simeon Aquino III.

EO 173 required the reduction and condonation of RPTs and interest/penalties assessed on power generation facilities of independent power producers under Build-Operate-Transfer contracts with government-owned and controlled corporations.

“Our share from the RPT taxes are big sources of our local revenue to sustain the infrastructure development and livelihood of our fellow villagers belonging to the Bugkalot tribe,” Pasigian said.

Most of the town’s RPT share goes to its Special Education Fund, which provides subsidies for teachers and funds for the construction of schools to raise

the literacy rate of Bugkalot children in the upland barangays of Lipuga, Pelaway, Lublub, Cauayan, Galintuja and Abuyo.

A portion of their share from the RPT is also used to sustain the livelihood of the Bugkalot families where most of them rely on fishing the “Ludong” species, Pasigian said. Also called “the President’s fish,” the species sells for as much as P5,000 a kilo.

“Now, this fish species can no longer be found in the Taan and Casecnan Rivers because of the drying up of the rivers. Settling this RPT will give our fellow Bugkalots alternative livelihood,” Pasigian said.

It was constructed during the Ramos administration and has been in operation for the last 14 years by diverting irrigation waters from Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino provinces for irrigation of farmlands and to augment the power requirements of Central Luzon.

The project siphons water particularly from the Taan and Casecnan rivers in Alfonso Castañeda through the said diversion tunnels to the Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija, irrigating at least 200,000 hectares of farmland in Central Luzon and the western part of Pangasinan using the water sourced from the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.

NOTICE OF DISSOLUTION OF BUCKINGHAM ENGLISH LEARNING INSTITUTE INC. Notice is hereby given that the Resolution of the Board of Directors of Buckingham English Learning Institute Inc. authorizing the de-registration/dissolution of its corporate registration and consider it closed as of October 13, 2016 with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

All persons having claims against the said corporation are requested to present their claims to Ms. Angela Jeannine M. Salud at D1b-D2b Molave Industrial Estate, Paliparan Road, Paliparan 2, Dasmarinas, Cavite.

This serve as notice to all parties concerned of the legal retirement of Buckingham English Learning Institute Inc. from its business operation in the Philippines.

(SGD) Angela Jeannine M. Salud President (MS-JAN. 12,19 & 26, 2017)

Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY Cabanatuan City 044-463-0228 www.neust.edu.ph INVITATION TO BID The Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology through the Bids and Awards Committee (BAC) invites Contractors registered with and classified by the Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) to apply for eligibility and if found eligible, to bid for hereunder contract: NO.

PROJECT TITLE

1

Construction of ThreeStorey Engineering Building, Phase VI

2

Provision of Flood Mitigation Structures, Phase I

3

Construction of University Student Government Function Hall

4

Renovation of Dormitory Building

5

Construction of Tissue Culture Center

APPROVED FOR LOCATION DURATION BUDGET CONTRACT (PHP) NEUST Sumacab Campus, 240 CD 18,000,000.00 Cabanatuan City NEUST Sumacab Campus, 210 CD 10,000,000.00 Cabanatuan City NEUST Gabaldon Campus, 180 CD 8,000,000.00 Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija NEUST Gabaldon Campus, 120 CD 2,000,000.00 Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija NEUST Gabaldon Campus, 120 CD 3,000,000.00 Gabaldon, Nueva Ecija

AMOUNT FUND OF BIDDING SOURCE DOCUMENTS (PHP) GAA/NEP 2017

25,000.00

GAA/NEP 2017

10,000.00

GAA/NEP 2017

10,000.00

GAA/NEP 2017

5,000.00

GAA/NEP 2017

5,000.00

MAT WEAVERS. Women weave mats (‘banig’ in the vernacular) made from ‘tikog’ (rush) they then sell to visitors of Saob Cave in Basey, Samar.

Basey is one of the oldest settlements in the country, and the town’s weavers—‘paraglara’ in the local dialect’—are often visited by tourists for their colorful straw mats, which they weave in the coolness and shade of the town’s caves. Mel Caspe

Top Cordillera cops snub council hearing

By Dexter A. See

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations of Republic Act 9184 otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

BAGUIO CITY—Embattled officials of the Police Regional Office in the Cordillera declined to attend the legislative inquiry scheduled by the City Council on Monday, citing “prior commitments” that were “equally important” for the region’s police force.

In separate letters to City Council, PRO-COR Regional Director Elmo Francis Sarona, PRO-COR Deputy Regional Di-

rector for Administration Senior Superintendent Gregorio M. Lim, and PRO-COR Deputy Regional Director for Operations Senior Superintendent Angelito Casimiro said they are willing to appear before the councilors “on future dates.”

They were asked to address issues related to the unceremonious transfer of SPO3 Alberto C. Tadeo, a traffic officer with the Baguio City Police Office, to Apayao province after he apprehended the driver and security

escort of Lim for violating the city’s number coding scheme.

PO3 Joseph Canlas, the designated security aide of Lim who was in the vehicle that Tadeo arrested, told the legislators he needed to secure the authority of his boss before appearing in the council’s regular session on a date to be scheduled.

With the police officers’ excuse letters, majority of the council decided to set the next hearing on the Tadeo issue on Monday, Jan. 30, to give them a chance to explain

IN BRIEF

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

Teddy bears for 200 Biñan kids

Interested contractors are required to present to the BAC original copies of the following documents on the scheduled dates for Receipt of LOI`s stated hereunder: 1. Valid and Current Mayor’s permit/Municipal License 2. Valid Philippine Contractors Accreditation Board (PCAB) License 3. DTI Certificate of Business Name Registration/SEC Registration Certificate 4. Certificate of PhilGEPS Registration 5. Certificate of BIR Registration 6. Statement of all ongoing government and private contracts, including contracts awarded but not yet started, if any, whether similar or not similar in nature and complexity to the contract to be bid 7. Audited financial statements, stamped “received” by the BIR or its duly accredited and authorized institutions, for the immediately preceding calendar year, showing, among others, the total and current assets and liabilities 8. Computation of Net Financial Contracting Capacity (NFCC) 9. Tax Clearance Certificate Bidding documents shall be issued only to contractors declared by the BAC to be eligible for the bidding upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding documents stated above.

The schedule of the bidding activities is as follows: Activities Schedule 1. Advertisement/Receipt of Letter of Intent January 19-26, 2017 2. Issuance of Bid Documents January 19-February 8, 2017 BAC Office, 2nd Floor, AD Bldg., NEUST Gen. Tinio St., Cabanatuan City 3. Pre-bid Conference January 27, 2017, 9:00AM NEUST President’s Office Conference Room,Gen. Tinio St., Cabanatuan City 4. Submission of Bids February 8, 2017, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM NEUST President’s Office Conference Room, Gen. Tinio St., Cabanatuan City 5. Opening of Bids February 9, 2017, 9:00 AM NEUST President’s Office Conference Room, Gen. Tinio St., Cabanatuan City 6. Post Qualification February 10, 2017, 10:00 AM NEUST President’s Office Conference Room, Gen. Tinio St., Cabanatuan City Bids must be delivered on or before the deadline for the submission of bids and it must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the Instruction to Bidders. The bids shall be opened in the presence of the bidders or their duly authorized representatives. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The participating bidders/contractors should have completed a similar project with the value of at least 50 % of the ABC, and have key personnel and equipment (Listed in the Eligibility Forms) available for the prosecution of the contract. The BAC will use non-discretionary pass and fail criteria in the eligibility Check/Screening as well as the examination of the bids. The BAC will conduct post qualification of the lowest calculated bid.

The Nueva Ecija University of Science and Technology reserves the right to accept or reject any Bid to annul the bidding process, and to reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award, whether thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

Approved by: (SGD.) ENGR. ERNESTO A. DELA CRUZ BAC Chairman Email : neustmain@yahoo.com NEUST Gen. Tinio Street, Cabanatuan City 3100 Telefax No. 044-6003594/044-4630226 (MS-JAN. 19, 2017)

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their side.

Councilor Edgar M. Avila already withdrew his proposal to declare Lim as persona non grata in Baguio for grave abuse of power and authority, but the council still wants the police officer to submit his written comment about it.

If they fail to appear on the Jan. 30 hearing, the council will deem it a waiver of their rights to answer the issues hurled at them “without the benefit of due process,” Avila said.

BACOOR 911. The City Government of Bacoor, Cavite led by Mayor Lani Mercado Revilla

(seated, right) recently subscribed to SMART-PLDT ALPHA’s SOS Dispatch, an end-to-end public safety and emergency response system designed to efficiently record, dispatch and monitor incidents reported to the local emergency response desk in near-real time. The Bacoor Rescue 911 SOS dispatch will be launched on Feb. 14 this year. Benjamin Chavez

ABC chair, pal die in ambush

By Ferdie G. Domingo SAN ISIDRO, Nueva Ecija—The Association of Barangay Captains president of Cabiao town and his companion were killed Sunday after unidentified armed men riding a black pick-up truck and a motorcycle ambushed them before midnight here, police said.

Provincial police director Senior Supt.

Antonio C. Yarra identified those killed as Cabiao ABC president Joel Vinuya, 48, of Brgy. Bagong Silang, Cabiao, and Ronaldo Caingat, 37, alias “Amang,” of Brgy. San Fernando Sur, also of Cabiao.

Vinuya and Caingat had just come from a cockfighting derby at the Jaen Cockpit

Arena in Brgy. Sapang, Jaen, and were on their way home when the attack occurred at 11:30 p.m., police said.

The assailants on the pick-up truck, backed by two Yamaha Mio motorcycle-riding men, peppered them with bullets when the victims, riding a black Suzuki Smash motorcycle, reached the Gapan-Olongapo Road in Purok 7, Brgy. Aluae.

Vinuya died on the spot, while Caingat was rushed to the Cabiao General Hospital in Brgy. San Fernando Sur, where he later died while being treated for gunshot wounds.

Recovered at the crime scene were 16 empty cartridge cases and a deformed slug from a caliber .45 pistol, Yarra said.

SANTA ROSA, Laguna—Employees of SM Santa Rosa, together with volunteers from Open Heart Foundation, put smiles on the faces of 200 children from Barangay Malaban in Biñan, Laguna during the recent turnover ceremony of their “Bears of Joy” campaign.

Each child received a teddy bear through the generosity of the malls’ shoppers in the project under SM Cares. One child from a community where SM operates gets a stuffed toy for every bear a customer buys at an SM Mall.

Since the project’s inception four years ago, SM Supermalls has given out some 85,000 bears to impoverished children all over the country. Roy Tomandao

‘Be safe around NGCP facilities’ BALANGA CITY, Bataan—The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines urged the public to be safe around transmission facilities and always bear in mind the safety tips it is constantly promoting.

In her radio guesting at 91.1 Sikat FM here on Thursday, Fely Francisco, NGCP Corporate Regional Communication officer, said the public must not fly kites near transmission lines or climb transmission structures.

She also advised the public not to build grass fires near or under transmission structures, as the fires may cause power interruption. She likewise urged the public not to plant trees near transmission structures, and any incident of branches tangled with transmission wires must be immediately reported.Butch Gunio

World IN BRIEF Two supected poachers shot dead in Kenya NAIROBI―Two suspected poachers were shot dead Tuesday during an exchange of fire with rangers at a national park in southeastern Kenya, the national wildlife service reported.

A total of four armed intruders, “suspected to have been on a poaching mission”, were discovered in Tsavo East National Park, a busy tourist destination which is home to large mammals including elephants and rhinos.

There was “a fierce fire exchange which resulted in two suspected poachers being eliminated,” the Kenya Wildlife Service said in a statement.

The two other men escaped but are believed to be injured and were being sought by rangers.

The authorities also seized an AK-47 rifle, along with ammunition and spent cartridges, as well as bows and arrows with poisoned tips.

In order to protect its populations of elephants and rhinos, whose tusks and horns bring big money for poachers and smugglers, Kenya’s park rangers are increasingly militarized.

Last April, Kenyan authorities burnt 105 tonnes of ivory, some five percent of the global stock, in a symbolic gesture of the fight against the illicit trade.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the number of African elephants fell by around 111,000 to 415,000 over the past decade. AFP

Kennedy steps down as US envoy to Japan TOKYO―Caroline Kennedy on Wednesday stepped down as US ambassador to Japan, the embassy said, ending a three-year tenure for the rookie envoy who was welcomed into the job with movie-star fanfare.

The sole surviving child of assassinated US president John F. Kennedy took up the post in November 2013 as her boss, Barack Obama, focused on Asia in the face of a rising China and unpredictable North Korea.

Despite being wartime enemies, the US and Japan are close allies and thousands lined the streets of Tokyo to catch a glimpse of Kennedy when she arrived to start the job. The event was broadcast live on television.

Kennedy’s replacement has not yet been appointed by incoming US leader Donald Trump.

A first-time envoy, Kennedy, 59, had a high profile in Japan and regularly visited the northeast, which was devastated by the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster.

She also participated in memorial ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the targets of the US atomic bombing in the final days of World War II. Last year, Kennedy joined President Obama on an historic visit to Hiroshima, the first serving US president to do so. AFP

France eyes sanctions on Mali UNITED NATIONS―France is considering a UN Security Council draft resolution that would set up a sanctions regime for Mali to target opponents of a peace deal signed 19 months ago, the ambassador said Tuesday.

The peace accord signed in June 2015 between the Malian government and rebels ended years of fighting in the north, but its implementation has been piecemeal.

Mali regained control of the north after a French-led military intervention in January 2013 drove out jihadists, but insurgents remain active across large parts of the region.

French Ambassador Francois Delattre told reporters that a sanctions regime for Mali was a “very important” measure and that France was eager to discuss it at the council.

“The utmost priority with respect to Mali is to encourage the swift implementation of the peace agreement and to make sure the mission there, MINUSMA, has everything it needs,” Delattre said.

In one of his last reports in late December, former UN secretarygeneral Ban Ki-moon called on the council to consider targeted sanctions against those who are impeding the peace deal. AFP

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

C3

Dismal ratings greet Trump W ASHINGTON― Donald Trump is poised to take office with the lowest approval ratings of any new president in recent history, but despite a chaotic transition Americans trust the billionaire on one crucial point: jobs.

Since the real estate developer’s White House win in November, companies have lined up to announce new factories or jobs in the United States, including air conditioning manufacturer Carrier, Japan’s SoftBank, Ford, Fiat Chrysler and Amazon with a headline-grabbing promise to create 100,000 jobs.

The latest additions to the growing list: Wal-Mart announced Tuesday it would invest $6.8 billion in the United States and create 10,000 jobs, General Motors announced $1 billion in new US investments and pledged to create 5,000 new jobs.

Trump -- who since his election has wielded a mix of threats and incentives to push an America-first jobs agenda -- has been quick to take credit.

“With all of the jobs I am bringing back into the US (even before taking office), with all of the new auto plants coming back into our country and with the massive cost reductions I have negotiated on military purchases and more, I believe the people are seeing ‘big stuff,’” he tweeted on Tuesday.

Trump last month denounced the $4 billion price tag on the next presidential plane, which is currently under development, threatened to cancel the order unless the price came down.

Dennis Muilenburg, CEO of the aviation giant Boeing, visited Trump Tower in Manhattan on Tuesday, telling reporters he and Trump were “on the same page” about the cost and value of the jet.

The president-elect’s message appears to be resonating.

Sixty-one percent of Americans believe it is likely the 45th president will be able to create good-paying jobs in economically challenged areas, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday.

The same percentage expects Trump to do a good or excellent job in handling the economy, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released the same day.

But this confidence in Trump’s ability to boost American job creation stands out as the exception, with polls suggesting an overall distrust of Barack Obama’s successor.

Trump is half as popular as Obama was when he was preparing to take office in January 2009, according to the Washington PostABC News poll. He is less popular than any other incoming US president of the past four decades, going back to Jimmy Carter.

The latest surveys confirm the findings of other recent polls.

Trump slammed the findings, pointing out that a majority of surveys ahead of his November 8 electoral win predicted victory for his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton.

“The same people who did the phony election polls, and were so wrong, are now doing approval rating polls. They are rigged just like before,” he said on Twitter.

The president-elect was to leave Trump Tower for a few hours Tuesday to visit Washington, where preparations for his inauguration are underway.

On Sunday, organizers carried out a rehearsal of the ceremony and parade, with a military officer who is the same height as Trump standing in for the president-elect. AFP

PREMIERE. Camila Alves, Lorraine Schwartz and Ofira Sandberg attend The World Premiere of ‘Gold’ hosted by TWC - Dimension at AMC Loews Lincoln Square 13 theater on January 17, 2017, in New York City. AFP

Cambodians rescued from sex slavery PHNOM PENH―Seven Cambodian women have been rescued from a restaurant in Japan where they were allegedly forced into sex work after a victim made a desperate Facebook plea for help, an official said Wednesday.

The women, who are in their 20s, were lured to work at the restaurant in central Honshu island November with A promise of high wages by a Japanese owner who arranged visas and airfares for the them, the Cambodian foreign ministry said in a statement “But [he] threatened and forced the victims to have sex with guests at the restaurant and did not pay them salaries,” the statement said.

Cambodian foreign ministry spokesman

Chum Sounry told AFP the women were rescued in mid-December after a victim wrote a plea for help on the Facebook page of the Cambodian embassy in Japan.

Japanese authorities in Gunma prefecture, west of Tokyo, were then alerted.

Six of the women are now staying at the Cambodian embassy in Tokyo awaiting repatriation on Thursday while the seventh victim was sent home late last month for health reasons.

Cambodian officials did not say if the Japanese restaurant owner was arrested or faced any charges.

Japan has long been a destination for women from Southeast Asia seeking higher wages who often find themselves forced

into sex work or indentured labor.

Last August the Philippines warned its citizens against illegally traveling to Japan in search of work, saying they often risked being trafficked for sex or forced labor.

Washington’s annual report on people trafficking says Japan remains a “destination, source and transit” country for human trafficking despite a recent increase in prosecutions.

“Traffickers strictly control the movement of victims using debt bondage, threats of violence or deportation, blackmail, passport retention, and other coercive psychological methods,” the State Department’s 2016 “Trafficking in Persons” report says. AFP

HK pro-independence movement criticized

SUNRISE IN DAVOS. The ski resort of Davos is seen at sunrise on the the second day of the World Economic Forum on January 18, 2017. With the world’s elite holding its breath until Donald Trump becomes the next US president, outgoing Vice-President Joe Biden addresses the World Economic Forum in Davos. AFP

HONG KONG―Hong Kong’s unpopular pro-Beijing leader Leung Chun-ying faced protests Wednesday as he spoke out against the city’s independence movement in his final policy address.

Leung will step down in July after a four-year term marked by antiBeijing rallies as fears grow that Chinese authorities are squeezing Hong Kong’s freedoms.

Frustration at lack of political reform has sparked movements seeking self-determination or even independence for the semi-autonomous city, angering Chinese authorities.

As he struggled to start his speech due to heckling, some prodemocracy lawmakers held up signs depicting Leung as a monkey and calling him a “liar”.

“As we benefit from the opportunities brought by the development of our country and the national policies in our favor, we must clearly recognize that Hong Kong is an inalienable part of our country,” Leung said in the annual address.

“This is both a legal fact and an

internationally recognized political reality, leaving no room whatsoever for Hong Kong to become independent or separate from the motherland in any manner,” he added.

Residents must “safeguard national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity”, said Leung, who did not mention any plans for kickstarting democratic reform, after a controversial Beijing-backed package was shelved following massive protests in 2014.

Amnesty International Hong Kong last week said human rights were at their worst since the city was handed back to China by Britain in 1997, in the wake of the disappearance of five city booksellers known for publishing salacious titles about Chinese leaders, and interference by Beijing in a range of areas, from media to education.

The government has also been accused of a witch hunt after two pro-independence lawmakers were forced to give up their seats last year. Four more pro-democracy legislators face a judicial review into whether they should be disqualified. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

World

Balmier England but even hotter Mumbai P ARIS―Northern Europe, Canada and Russia will enjoy balmier winters by century’s end even as the average number of mild days per year declines worldwide, a climate study said Wednesday.

Using models based on midrange global warming projections, American researchers calculated there will be 10 fewer days of mild weather per year globally by 2100.

But there will be large regional differences, said a team from the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Princeton University.

“The largest decreases are found in the tropics and subtropics whereas the mid-latitudes are projected to have a small increase,” they wrote in the journal Climatic Change.

Today, the world enjoys 74 days of mild weather per year on average -- about 20 percent of the total.

Samsung heir awaits court ruling on arrest

Global warming’s biggest winners will be Canada and large parts of the United States, northern Europe, parts of China and Russia, the South American region of Patagonia, Tasmania and New Zealand, the study found.

“In some of these areas, mild weather will drop during increasingly hot and humid summers but become more plentiful in fall, winter and spring as winters warm and the shoulder seasons last longer,” said a statement.

Africa, Asia and Latin America will be deprived of most mild days, with some regions losing 15 to 50 days per year.

“The loss of mild weather days, especially during summer

when they can serve to break up extended heat waves, also could significantly affect public health,” said a statement.

Of some 40 representative cities picked by the researchers, the biggest loser by far is Lima -- which will be robbed of 114 mild days per year from about 326 today.

Dakar will lose 57 of its 171 annual mild days and Mumbai 44 -more than half its current 82 days.

Miami will be stripped of 28 of its 97 annual fair weather days.

The biggest winner on the list is London with a gain of 24 days from 69 per year today, followed

by Amsterdam, Puerto Montt in Chile and Melbourne with 19 each, and Kathmandu in Nepal with 18.

In the shorter term, the global annual average will be four fewer mild weather days by 2035, said the team.

Most climate modeling forecasts entail dire warnings of a rise in extreme weather events such as

hurricanes, heat waves, droughts and floods.

The latest study is the first to look at something that affects vastly more people: mild weather, its authors said.

“Extreme weather is difficult to relate to because it may happen only once in your lifetime,” said Princeton researcher Karin van der Wiel.

Mild weather is described in the study as “pleasant”, neither too hot, too cold, too humid or too rainy.

Fewer balmy days could mean losses for tourism, sport participation and outdoor activities such as picnics, music festivals and weddings, said the team.

“Furthermore, the absence of mild weather during construction work, infrastructure projects, road works, landscaping projects, air travel and rail or road transportation may cause delays with significant economic consequences,” the study warned. AFP

SEOUL―A South Korean judge began deliberating Wednesday whether to formally arrest the heir to the Samsung empire over his alleged role in a corruption scandal engulfing President Park Geun-Hye. Lee Jae-Yong, 48, was tightlipped as he left the Seoul Central District Court after a fourhour hearing, television footage showed. He declined to speak to reporters.

The potential detention of the de facto head of a giant conglomerate -- whose revenues are equivalent to a fifth of the country’s GDP -- raised concerns over its possible wider impact.

Samsung is the country’s largest exporter and world’s biggest smartphone maker, and the topselling Chosun Ilbo newspaper said the firm could face a “global beating” from authorities in major trading partners, including Washington.

“If Lee faces legal punishment, the US government could review measures to slap sanctions on Samsung under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA),” the paper said in a front-page article.

It warned that Samsung’s global brand image -- which took a pounding over last year’s Galaxy Note 7 recall debacle -- would also be further tarnished.

Prosecutors said Monday they would seek an arrest warrant for Lee on suspicion of bribery, embezzlement and perjury in connection with the scandal which has already seen President Park impeached.

It centers on Park’s secret confidante, Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her ties with the president to coerce top local firms to “donate” nearly $70 million to du-

bious non-profit foundations which she used for her personal benefit.

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.

In total, Samsung is allegedly implicated in payments of 43 billion won ($36.4 million) although Lee has denied any wrongdoing during a 22 hour marathon questioning last week.

“The key point is whether any favours were given. We explained our position very clearly,” Lee’s attorney told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing.

The court ordered Lee to wait at a detention facility on the outskirts of Seoul for the judge’s ruling, a court spokesman said, with the decision not expected to be reached until late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Lee became Samsung’s de facto leader after his father suffered a heart attack in 2014. If the court approves his detention he would be the first South Korean senior executive to be arrested over the scandal.

Prosecutors in particular are probing whether Samsung’s payments were aimed at securing government approval for a controversial merger of two of its units in 2015.

The combination of Cheil Industries and Samsung C&T was seen as a key step towards ensuring a smooth third-generation power transfer to Lee. It was opposed by many investors who said it willfully undervalued Samsung C&T’s shares.

But it was backed by the National Pension Service, a major Samsung shareholder. AFP

New deadly shooting in Mexican coast CANCUN―Mexico’s Mayan Riviera was rocked by a second shooting in two days, leaving a total of nine people dead in a major tourist destination that had avoided the violence plaguing other regions.

Three gunmen and a police officer died as the Quintana Roo state prosecutor’s office in Cancun came under fire in broad daylight on Tuesday and police shot back, Governor Carlos Joaquin Gonzalez said.

Five other assailants were detained, Gonzalez said.

The gunfight caused panic in the Caribbean coast city, a day after three foreigners and two Mexicans died in a shooting at an electronic music festival in the nearby seaside resort of Playa del Carmen.

While it was not known whether the two shootings were linked, the back-to-back attacks broke the peace in a spot beloved by American, Canadian and European tourists that has been spared from the sort of drug-related violence afflicting other parts of Mexico.

The clash took place seven kilometers away from the hotel area. Local media said authorities set up three checkpoints near the tourist zone.

The motive for the attack was not immediately known.

“The only thing that (the shootings) reveal is that we are going in the right direction and we won’t lower our guard,” Gonzalez said.

State security chief Rodolfo del Angel said in a video message on Twitter that authorities activated “code red” after the shooting -- a security protocol combining state and federal police and the army.

“At the moment the state is peaceful, the citizens can remain calm, Cancun is doing well at this moment,” Angel said.

Interior Minister Miguel Angel Osorio Chong ordered the deployment of federal police reinforcements to back local authorities.

The US Consulate in Merida issued a security message urging Americans to “follow local authorities’ warnings and consult with their hotels before leaving the premises.”

Mexican television showed footage in which intense gunfire could be heard. Soldiers and police guarded the prosecutor’s office after the shooting.

State attorney general Miguel Angel Pech was not in the building at the time, the spokeswoman for the mayor’s office said, adding that the city hall was evacuated as a precautionary measure.

Sandra Ramirez, a 33-year-old maid who lives seven streets away from the prosecutor’s office, said she could hear the gunfire and “explosions” woke her up from her nap.

“I went out later and police were reviewing every car that was going by,” Ramirez told AFP by telephone.

In the past, she said, “things have happened, a dead person has appeared here or there, but never something like this.”

Several stores were closed and the streets were deserted, she said.

A store manager at the Plaza Las Americas shopping center, located at the start of the hotel zone, told AFP on condition of anonymity that shots were heard inside the mall and that people tried to hide in the shops. AFP

PROTEST. Israeli policemen detain a Bedouin man during clashes that followed a protest against home demolitions on January 18, 2017 in the Bedouin village of Umm

al-Hiran, which is not recognized by the Israeli government, near the southern city of Beersheba, in the Negev desert. An Israeli policeman was killed while taking part in an operation to demolish homes in the Bedouin village, with authorities claiming he was targeted in a car-ramming attack. The driver was earlier reported shot dead by police as residents disputed the police version of events, saying the driver was heading to the scene to talk with authorities in an attempt to halt the demolitions. AFP

China slams Japanese hotelier for massacre denial TOKYO―China has lambasted a major Japanese businessman for writing a book denying a wartime massacre of Chinese civilians and placing copies of it in rooms belonging to his hotel chain.

Toshio Motoya, CEO of the Tokyobased hotel group APA, writing under a pen name, denied the 1937 Nanjing Massacre, during which China says 300,000 people died in a six-week spree of killing, rape and destruction by the Japanese military.

The APA group said Tuesday it would not remove the book, placed in hundreds of its rooms, after revelations of its existence lit up social media and prompted an official response by China.

The incident, often referred to as the “Rape of Nanking”, is an extremely sensitive issue in the often-tense relations between Japan and China, with Beijing charging that Tokyo has failed to atone for the mass murder and rape.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Tuesday that the book “again shows that some forces within Japan refuse to squarely face history and even attempt to deny and distort history”.

Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga declined to comment directly on the spat, saying the two neighbours should look to the future.

“We need to tackle shared global

challenges with a forward-looking view, rather than paying excessive attention to our unfortunate history,” Suga told reporters at a regular press briefing Wednesday.

The book, written in Japanese and English, said the Nanjing incident was fabricated.

Motoya said the killing of 300,000 people was impossible because the city’s population at the time was only 200,000.

In an English-language statement, APA acknowledged it has received “floods of opinions” and queries after a guest uploaded a picture of the book on the internet.

It added that the publication was “not

aimed [at criticizing] any specific state or nation, but for the purpose of letting readers learn the fact-based true interpretation of modern history”.

“Therefore, we have no intention to withdraw this book from our guest rooms,” the statement on its website said.

The Japanese military invaded China in the 1930s and the two countries fought a full-scale war from 1937 until Japan’s defeat in World War II in 1945.

Some respected foreign academics estimate a lower number were killed in the massacre, but there is very little mainstream scholarship doubting that it took place. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

HEALTH & WELLNESS

D1

Derek Dee’s

battle with Hepatitis C

Derek with his 21-year-old daughter Michelle

H

E WAS a photographer in the ‘80s. He was an action star and movie producer in the ‘90s. He was married to Melanie Marquez with whom he has two stunning daughters—budding model/actress, Michelle (21) and teacher based in the US Maxine (22).

He is Derek Dee, now a businessman and the voice behind HepCured, a digital movement that promotes awareness and treatment of Hepatitis C. Speaking from personal experience, Derek avers that, “one of the most common causes of liver-based sicknesses is Hepatitis C. According to the Word Hepatitis Alliance, about 80 to 150 million people are dealing daily with Hepatitis C. In spite of such a high-risk rate, public concern and information is limited.”

He says, “The main reason people die from Hepatitis C is because symptoms don’t show up until it is too late so you don’t know that you are sick.” His own discovery of the illness was by accident. A routine blood test four years ago revealed that he had the dreaded disease. Doctors and his own research suggested that he might have contracted it through the use of contaminated needles in his younger days, around 30 years ago.

“Four years ago, having Hepatitis C was a death sentence because there was no cure yet,” he said.

His search for a solution to his illness led him on a journey that brought him many heartaches and disappointments.

The only option he found were drugs that had deadly side effects and low cure rates of 50 percent. So he decided not to seek treatment.

Then two years ago, a medicine with a cure rate of 94 to 97 percent was discovered, but it was prohibitively priced.

So he went into the digital realm to research his chances of getting the medicine outside the US where the drug was priced cheaper. This led him to Singapore General Hospital Pharmacy, which was willing to order the miracle drug for him at a slightly lower cost.

After getting the treatment, he is now free of the virus and is officially cured. But, he realized that these drugs are not affordable and accessible to many. This started him on another journey looking for generic medicines from India which cost so

much less ($1,000) than the original price of $90,000. And now, with the new generic treatments that are very affordable and just as effective as the originals, the cure is available to all.

Armed with this knowledge and powered by HepCured, Derek would like everyone to know that Hep C is just a word, not a sentence. He now shares his experiences and insights and communicates these findings to other Hepatitis C patients and the public in general.

“I had so much doubt getting into this because of the stigma. I didn’t really want to come out. I just wanted to keep quiet. But the mission came up when a friend I haven’t talked with in many years suddenly showed up and the first thing he told me was that he has Hep C and he didn’t know anything about it, he was not aware that there is a cure. Shortly after that incident, another friend got in touch with me, with the same story. That’s when I decided to speak up. It doesn’t matter what people will think of me, if my advocacy can save the lives of even a few, then it would have been worth it,” he explains.

To generate concern and action about Hepatitis C, Derek’s HepCured movement fires up the idea that the disease is something that happens to ordinary people.

Common folk might have it and not even know it, as what happened to him. A person’s lifestyle 15 to 30 years ago could have damaged his or her liver without realizing it.

It is through constant updating and sharing of knowledge that the disease can be identified, battled, and defeated.

He is doing this through the website and Facebook page of HepCured. Through HepCured, Hepatitis C patients can be part of a community of seekers for the cure, called The Cure Club. The Cure Club endeavors to search for treatments and remedies that are more accessibly priced and can be found in non-traditional sources.

FROM A PATIENT TO AN ADVOCATE.

Derek Dee’s experience in battling Hepatitis C has urged him to be the voice that will help promote awareness and action about the disease.

For more information, log in to www. hepcured.net or visit their Facebook page, @hepcured.

What you should know about brain aneurysms ANY abnormalities in the brain terrify us. It’s one of the most vital parts of our system. Any unusual condition that has to do with the majority sees it as a medical emergency. The notion of having brain aneurysms, especially, would frighten us. So, it’s alarming to think that right now, we might have one and not even know it.

But before we rush ourselves to the ER, the Philippines’ premier healthcare institution, Makati Medical Center, is giving us the facts on brain aneurysms and when we should be wary of it.

Aneurysms are blood-filled balloon-like bulges in the walls of blood vessels. Anywhere a blood vessel is, an aneurysm can develop. They are formed when there is a weakening in the walls that may be caused by a myriad of things. Anything that can cause weakness in blood vessels, such as hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, or cigarette smoking, can cause aneurysms. But they can also be genetic if caused by a genetic disease such as certain circulatory disorders.

Aneurysms are often harmless and go undetected, unless they rupture.

Many people only find out about their aneurysm when they rupture or when brain aneurysms become very big and start to compress on some brain structures. When the latter happens, it could lead to malfunctions in some areas of the brain, which can cause blindness or misalignment of the eyes.

Brain aneurysms, once ruptured, have a 50 percent mortality rate. But endovascular neurosurgeon Carlos Francis A. Santiago, MD of Makati Medical Center Department of Neurological Sciences tells us that majority of aneurysms will not rupture in your

According to Makati Medical Center, aneurysms are often harmless and go undetected unless they rupture.

lifetime. The general population only has a two percent chance of getting a brain aneurysm. “There are about 100 million Filipinos and if two pwrcent of the population have aneurysms, then two million Filipinos have aneurysms but they just don’t know it.”

Aneurysms can be treated even if these have not ruptured yet. “De-

pending on the characteristics of an aneurysm, it can be treated even if it has not yet ruptured or not yet causing a problem.”

Because this happens rarely, a large population of people with aneurysms live their lives without having it treated. Dr. Santiago advises that those who have a history of aneurysms in their

family get checked. Those who live with the risk factors of aneurysms such as diabetes and hypertension should see a doctor too. “An MRI and MRA should be able to detect if a brain aneurysm is present,” he explains.

“MRI” stands for magnetic resonance imaging. MRI, which uses magnetic fields and radio waves, passes

through bone and takes pictures of soft tissue, such as tendons, blood vessels, and the brain. “MRA” stands for magnetic resonance angiography, which gives a view of specific blood vessels, such as the arteries and veins.

If you are experiencing pain above and behind the eye, numbness, weakness, or paralysis on one side of the face, and vision changes, you could have a large aneurysm. If you are struck with a sudden and extremely painful headache, double vision, nausea, vomiting, and/or loss of consciousness, it might be time to rush to the doctor, as these are symptoms of a ruptured brain aneurysm.

“Treatment is very possible for such cases,” shares Dr. Santiago. “Apart from the traditional and tried and tested method that we have of putting a clip on the aneurysm during open surgery, we now have the option of a less invasive treatment.” Patients can now undergo Endovascular Coiling, which entails making a small incision in the groin area, where a catheter is inserted to reach the brain and release coils with electrical current which will induce clotting (embolization), so as to block the blood from getting into the aneurysm.

Of course, it’s better to prevent or manage than to treat. Dr. Santiago concludes, “A healthy lifestyle of eating a diet of fruit, vegetables, whole grains, lean meat, and low-fat dairy products, exercising regularly, but moderately, quitting smoking, and managing high blood pressure or high cholesterol can help prevent or manage an existing brain aneurysm.”

For more information, contact MakatiMed On-Call at (02) 8888 999, email mmc@makatimed.net.ph, or visit www.makatimed.net.ph.

Life

D2

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

A

No Stains, No Fears

RIEL, the world’s leading detergent, honored 100 Filipinas who are fearless in pursuing their passion with the Wash Your Fears Summit. In this summit, Ariel’s brand Ambassador, Kris Aquino, and 7 Fearless Women were invited as keynote speakers in a discussion on the “State of Filipina Women” where they also shared inspiring stories on how they overcame their fears and succeeded in life. The event demonstrated Ariel’s ability to remove 100 stains in 1 wash through a symbolic washing away of fears by the 100 Fearless Filipinas.

The gathering paid tribute to all Filipinas who continue to strive to improve the lives of their families and their communities. Ariel recognizes that roadblocks that test one’s strength, dedication, and commitment often stain the journey to success. Filipinas are known to stand up from the fall, wash their fears away, and bravely face the world.

The summit featured a panel discussion with Aquino and seven female celebrity influencers known to be fearless—fearless beauty queen Miriam Quiambao, fearless advocate for peace and development Amina Rasul, fearless advocate for health and environment Anna Kapunan, fearless beauty queen and advo-

From left: Samsung head of Product Marketing (Digital Apppliances) Stephanie Chua, P&G brand manager for Ariel in the Philippines Richard Estrella, Ragini Hariharan, Amina Rasul, Mons Romulo, Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, Miriam Quiambao, Anna Kapunan, Mandy dela Rama, Marilou Chua, Bianca Gonzalez, P&G Asean Regional brand communications manager for Fabric Care & Home Brands Louie Morante and Ariel brand ambassador Kris Aquino

cate for children’s education Marilou Chua, fearless journalist Samira Gutoc-Tomawis, fearless entrepreneur Mandy de la Rama, and fearless lifestyle columnist Mons Romulo.

Emmeline Verzosa, executive director of the Philippine Commission on Women (PCW) and Maria Clara Ignacio, chief of The Women’s Center – Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), were also invited as key note speakers to provide deeper context on the ‘State of Filipinas’ today. All women in the panel

shared their inspiring stories on how they recovered from the many stains they encountered in their pursuit of their dreams and ambitions.

Though there were a large number of stains, they were no match for Ariel’s superior stain removal as the audiences witnessed firsthand the product’s efficacy in removing 100 stains in just one wash with its optimized formulation which contains a higher level of active ingredients and smart enzymes.

“Empowering Filipinas is at the core of what Ariel stands for, and we contin-

ue to find ways to drive conversations that can inspire more Filipinas to succeed in life. Ariel recognizes that Filipinas are now fearless in seeking new opportunities to propel them forward in life. This summit for women celebrates 100 fearless Filipinas who have demonstrated that fears are just stains that we have to be brave enough to remove. Be fearless like Ariel – tested and proven to remove 100 stains in 1 wash,” said Louie Morante, Regional Communications manager for Fabric & Home Care, Procter & Gamble Southeast Asia.

The Wash Your Fears Summit seals Ariel’s commitment to clean 100 stains in one wash. The power in every wash leads to a worry-free laundry experience, allowing women to have time for themselves and for the people around them.

Remove 100 stains in one wash and be fearless in facing any challenge that might come your way with the new Ariel, now available in supermarkets nationwide.

For more information, go to www.facebook/arielphilippines or follow the conversation online with the #Ariel100StainsIn1Wash hashtag.

What’s the comfy feeding philosophy?

Mano Amiga Bistro Cafe offers tasty Pinoy snacks to employees at The Globe Tower

Easing unemployment

and providing scholarships to the underprivileged LEADING telecommunications company Globe Telecom lends its support to Mano Amiga (Helping Hand) in providing scholarships to underprivileged children and easing unemployment by hosting Bistro Café, the organization’s social enterprise and livelihood program.

Bistro Café offers authentic, delicious and affordable home-cooked meals prepared by parents of the Mano Amiga students. One hundred percent profit of the food establishment goes directly to the scholarships of the students. At the same time, all products used by the Café are supplied by local farmto-table suppliers as a way to help in the advancement of the Filipino food business industry.

To assist Mano Amiga, Globe provided Bistro Café with two-month free space at its headquarters’ dining area, allowing thousands of Globe employees and their guests to try the tasty Pinoy snacks that the Café serves.

“As its main advocacy of bringing sustainable livelihood to individuals from low-income families, Bistro Café is committed to offer not only healthy meals, but also offer basic employability skills training to help alleviate unemployment in the best way that we can through the kitchen and livelihood center in the future.

At the same time, it supports Mano Amiga’s goal of providing international quality and affordable education to underprivileged children to give them a better life,” said Abee

Magallona, Business Development & Social Enterprise head of Mano Amiga Academy.

Fernando Esguerra, Globe director for Citizenship said, “Globe continues to develop partnerships that support sustainable livelihood and conservation as part of our sustainability strategies in the communities that we serve. We also share Mano Amiga’s dream of giving everyone access to quality education.

Through such initiatives, we hope that we are able to create a positive impact in the society.”

Mano Amiga is currently raising funds for more scholarships and to complete the construction of its new campus in Betterliving, Paranaque City that can accommodate 800 students from Kinder to 12th Grade.

The same campus will provide access to livelihood training, skills development, health services, and values formation for the families of the students.

The organization started in Mexico in 1963 and has grown to over 40 schools all over the world, particularly in Latin America. Mano Amiga Academy was established in 2008 in a temporary facility in FTI, Taguig as its first school in the Philippines.

At present, the new campus in Paranaque City caters to Kinder to 7th Grade students from underprivileged backgrounds.

To get in touch with Mano Amiga, visit www.manoamigaph.org, Mano Amiga Pilipinas on Facebook and @ manoamigaph on Instagram.

HUGGIES Philippines recently introduced the “Comfy Feeding Philosophy,” intended to help both new and experienced moms alike turn stressful struggles during feeding time into nofuss bonding moments with their growing babies.

Through Kimberly-Clark Philippines, they partnered with celebrity moms Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan and Say Alonzo, as well as Dr. Jennifer Concepcion-Lim of the Philippine Pediatric Society, to discuss the merits of actively ensuring baby’s comfort during meals and the need to address tummy expansion as a result of feeding at Relish, Tomas Morato.

An award-winning actress, author of numerous children’s books and parenting manuals, Master’s degree holder in Parenting and Child Development, and proud mother of five, Laxa-Pangilinan recounted the various challenges that came with feeding time and how she succeeded in encouraging her kids to eat more by being patient and taking active steps to make sure they felt comfortable.

Meanwhile, board-certified pediatrician and PPS fellow Concepcion-Lim discussed how baby’s tummies naturally expand, at times by as much as 40 percent, while eating. That said, she stressed the importance of choosing the right clothing and diapers, such as those that won’t constrict babies’ bellies,

cause discomfort and, in turn, make them fussier and difficult to feed. Finally, event host Alonzo called on Huggies Dry Pants Officer, Nicole Sia (assistant brand manager of Huggies Dry Pants) to explain the new Comfy Feeding Philosophy and how embracing it with the help of Huggies Dry Pants 360* Comfort Fit waistband allows for less stress and more enjoyable mom and baby moments during mealtimes.

“With Huggies Dry Pants, we want to give moms and their growing babies the freedom to explore different types of yummy and nutritious food together while keeping things stress-free for both of them through 360-degree Comfort Fit,” said Sia. “Through Huggies Dry Pants and the new Comfy Feeding Philosophy, Huggies Philippines is calling on moms to take a more relaxed approach to feeding time—treating it as an opportunity to bond and have fun with their babies rather than stress out and try to force feed them,” added Sia. “As a result, moms and babies can feel assured that they are guided every step of the way.”

To learn more about Huggies Dry Pants and the Comfy Feeding Philosophy, visit www.huggies.com.ph. Like the official Huggies Philippines Facebook page (www.facebook.com/HuggiesPH) for daily updates on their latest products and services.

Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan shares her parenting experience

Celebrity dads Joross Gamboa, Matt Evans and Coach Rio dela Cruz grace the Huggies Comfort Feeding Philosophy Launch

THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

H

one believing in her), starts prophesying impending dangers, Masha arrives to visit one weekend while toting her new sexy boy toy Spike played by Joaquin Valdes.

The normally quiet household is thrown into one rollicking weekend full of lust, rivalry, regret, and the possibility of escape.

REP’s own version is definitely something to look forward to with veteran actor and director Bart Guingona directing the production. The cast also includes REP veterans Naths Everett as Cassandra and Mica Pineda as Nina. Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike will make you laugh out loud at the same time think about the toils and troubles of life.

Catch REP’s first offering for the season as the company opens the curtains for its 50th anniversary.

For inquiries, you may call REP at 843.3570, and Ticketworld at 891.999 or log on to www.ticketworld.com.ph.

For updates and show schedules, log on to www.repertoryphilippines.ph, like and follow repertoryphilippines on Facebook and Instagram, and follow @repphils on Twitter.

IGHLYACCLAIMED stage and television actress Cherie Gil leads the cast of Repertory Philippines, more popularly known as REP’s first offering for its 2017 season, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.

REP kicks off its 50th year line-up with a biting comedy which runs from Jan. 20 to Feb. 12 at OnStage Theater, Greenbelt 1.

Awarded as Best Play at the 2013 Tony Awards, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is a witty piece of writing by Christopher Durang that cleverly mixes in Russian playwright Anton Chekov’s characters in what a New York Times reviewer called “a sunny play about gloomy people.” Fear not if you haven’t read a word from Chekov, because this quirky comedy of manners is meant to be relatable to any audience.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike tells the story of three siblings – named after Chekhov characters by their academic parents, and who are all living their namesakes’ unhappiness.

The character of Vanya is played by REP veteran theater actor and director Michael Williams, while Philstage Gawad Buhay awardee Rosalyn Perez takes on the role of Vanya’s sister Sonia.

These two siblings have never left the confines of their childhood home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

Bitterly they complain about their uneventful lives, lost dreams and missed opportunities while they witness the glamorous escapades of their more successful movie star sister, Masha, played by Cherie Gil. As the siblings’ fortune-telling maid, Cassandra (note the reference to the Greek princess who had the gift of prophecy, and a matching curse of no

Seasoned thespians Cherie Gil, Michael Williams, Rosalyn Perez, and Joaquin Valdes in Repertory Philippines' opening salvo for 2017

Cherie Gil headlines REP’s 2017 season opener

‘Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike’

SMART Infinity, along with PLDT-Smart Foundation and One Meralco Foundation, presented Love in Abundance: An Outpouring of Blessings, a dinner-concert to raise funds for Caritas Manila’s youth scholars.

The benefit, which featured the inspirational music of composer and musician Ryan Cayabyab, was held at the Grand Ballroom, Shangri-La at the Fort, Bonifacio Global City. The show featured performances by Bo Cerrudo, Celeste Legaspi, Bituin Escalante, Esang De Torres, and Basil Valdez accompanied by the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra.

“We are very grateful to Smart Infinity, PLDTSmart Foundation and One Meralco Foundation for their valuable support to our efforts,” said Caritas Manila Executive Director Rev. Fr. Anton CT Pascual.

Youth Servant Leadership and Education Program (YSLEP) is the flagship program of Caritas Manila, which extends financial assistance to poor but deserving students and trains and hones the youth not only for academic excellence, but also to become responsible members of the community.

To date, Caritas Manila has produced over 10,000 graduates and continues to provide educational assistance, values formation workshops and leadership trainings to almost 5,000 students nationwide with an average of 300 college and technical/vocational graduates yearly.

Entrepreneurs, art patrons, and Smart Infinity Ambassadors, Raul and Joanna Francisco, graced the event to show their support for the brand’s advocacy.

For more information on Smart Infinity, please call 848 8806, email infinitysupport@smart.com. ph, or visit the Smart Infinity website at www. smart.com.ph/infinity.

‘Patriots Day’ is based on

Boston marathon bombing

Senior OPM singer Basil Valdez

CONCERT

for Caritas

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, January 19, 2017

ACROSS 1 Twitter 6 Liquid asset 10 Average 14 Prudential rival 15 Bounce back 16 Microbiology gel 17 Do a doubletake 18 Hodgepodge 19 Longings 20 Ration 21 Permeated 23 Width of a cir.

25 Sugar amt.

26 Have it — 29 Ancient Roman historian 32 Drop a glass 37 Ostrich cousin 38 Loblolly 39 Yeti spotter, maybe 40 Cool it! (5 wds.)

43 Racks up, as debt 44 Storyline 45 Foot-pound relative 46 Booster rocket 47 Furtive whisper 48 Time to beware 49 — ammoniac 51 “Hold on a —!”

53 Most calm 58 Watchdog

breed 62 Surf partner 63 Finish-line marker 64 Philanthropist 65 Solar wind particles 66 Osiris’ beloved 67 Ferret out 68 Japanese soup 69 Per — 70 Pyle or Kovacs DOWN 1 Dear, in Italy 2 Irresponsible jerk 3 Etc. relative (2 wds.)

4 Write to a spy 5 Page or LuPone 6 Corp. leaders 7 Bill of Rights org.

8 Untrustworthy 9 — it (goes by shank’s mare) 10 Opposing votes 11 Curved molding 12 Fan dancer Sally — 13 Half a couple 22 Outcome 24 Pseudonym 26 Radio, TV, etc.

27 In the midst of 28 Ninny

30 Packing slip 31 No. 2 people 33 Gull’s cry 34 Pistol-packing 35 Trunk contents 36 Dangles 38 Put into words 39 Lairds and lassies 41 Winery cask 42 Pacino and Unser 47 Polite word 48 More yucky 50 Garret 52 Aerie dweller

53 Je ne sais — 54 Coffee dispensers 55 In that case (2 wds.)

56 Be a webmaster?

57 Trial run 59 John, in Siberia 60 Actress — Garr 61 Handel contemporary 62 Bob Cratchit’s boy

PATRIOTS Day relives the events surrounding the Boston Marathon bombing. The tensionpacked dramatic thriller chronicles in detail one of the most sophisticated and wellcoordinated manhunts in law enforcement history.

The 2013 Boston Marathon bombing shattered lives and tested the fabric of the American spirit. But in its wake, an entire city came together to bring the perpetrators to justice before they could inflict further damage. Rather than give themselves over to panic and fear, the citizens of Boston banded together, choosing solidarity over divisiveness in pursuit of a common enemy.

The story of Patriots Day is drawn from real-life accounts including those of the first responders, the law enforcement investigative team, and government officials that worked tirelessly to track down the bombers in record time, and the actual survivors.

A testament to the city of Boston and its inhabitants, the timely message is that, through dedication and individual acts of bravery, the city – and the country – were able to emerge from the crucible stronger and more united than before, and show the world that love always triumphs over evil.

Joining Mark Wahlberg is an all-star ensemble of actors including Kevin Bacon

as FBI Special Agent Richard DesLauriers, John Goodman as Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, Academy Award® winner J.K. Simmons as Watertown Police Sergeant Jeffrey Pugliese and Michelle Monaghan as Wahlberg’s wife Carol Saunders.

Patriots Day, directed by Peter Berg is in cinemas now from Pioneer Films.

Trailer link: https://youtu.be/phI9BZG-JFk

Mark Wahlberg in a scene from "Patriots Days"

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, JANUARY 19, 2017

FILMS YOU WANT TO WATCH THIS YEAR 2

0TH Century Fox welcomes 2017 with a loud crow heralding its thrilling movie line-up set to immerse the audience anew in a series of unprecedented movie viewing experience.

Bryan Cranston and James Franco in "Why Him?"

ISAH V. RED

From game to movie, Assassin’s Creed stars highly acclaimed Michael Fassbender and Academy Award® winner Marion Cotillard in a visionary new take on the action-adventure genre. Assassin’s Creed is a tale of one man who finds himself at the center of an ancient battle between two powerful sects—only by harnessing the memories of his ancestor, which are contained within his own DNA, can he end the conflict and claim his own redemption. Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcC9xkqHbU4&t=15s * ** An endearing R-rated hilarious comedy, Why Him? sees a billionaire meeting his girlfriend’s family for the first time. Over the holidays, loving but overprotective dad Ned Fleming (Bryan Cranston) travels to California to visit his daughter at Stanford—where he meets his biggest nightmare: her well-meaning but socially awkward Silicon Valley billionaire boyfriend, Laird Mayhew (James Franco). Ned thinks Laird, who has absolutely no filter, is a wildly inappropriate match for the apple of his eye. Ned’s panic level escalates when the straight-laced Midwesterner, who finds himself increasingly out of step in Laird’s glamorous high-tech world, learns that Laird is about to pop the question. Trailer link: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=GZ_XZVeCeRc&t=49s * ** How do you find A Cure for Wellness?

Find out in Gore Verbinski’s horrifying psychological thriller starring Dane DeHaan and Jason Isaacs as it takes the audience to a seemingly serene “wellness spa” in a picturesque remote location in the Swiss Alps. The facility promises a cure for what ails modern society, but all is not as it seems, as an ambitious young executive (played by DeHaan) uncovers its terrifying secrets and fights to save his life – and sanity. Trailer link: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=WWYMBrv_v4g&t=25s * **

Touted to be Hugh Jackman’s last donning of the Wolverine, Logan is set in the future of the revised timeline, after the events of X-Men: Days of Future Past, Logan’s healing factor is still functioning but at a substantially lesser degree; fading as he has aged, his face and body are scarred from past injuries and battles. The X-Men and all other mutants have disappeared, allowing Nathaniel Essex and his Reavers to destroy the world. Professor Charles Xavier has survived in the care and company of Logan, as he is slowly being afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease. Now, Logan and Xavier must find a way to defeat Essex together, while protecting a young girl named Laura, a female clone of Logan himself. Trailer link: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBnt-46B5NE

* ** Chris Evans stars in the heart-melting family drama Gifted. He essays the role of Frank Adler, a single man raising a child prodigy - his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) - in a coastal town in Florida. Frank’s plans for a normal school life for Mary are foiled when the seven-year-old’s mathematical abilities come to the attention of Frank’s formidable mother, Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Frank and Mary. * ** In the fallo ff - y o u r- s e a t adult comedy Snatched, two of comedy’s brightest gems Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer play mother and daughter who dared to step out of their comfort zones only to find themselves in the midst of criminals while vacationing. Trailer link: https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=7a85f_gSWV8&t=14s * ** It’s an all-new adventure with an all-new cast headed by Alicia Silverstone along with Tom Everett Scott, Jason Drucker, and Charlie Wright in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. The movie is based on Jeff Kinney’s recordbreaking book series of the same title. In the film, Greg convinces his family to take a road trip to attend his great grandmother’s 90th birthday as a cover for what he really wants: to attend a nearby gamer convention. Unsurprisingly, things do not go according to plan and Heffley family antics ensue. * **

Meet the women who did the math on America’s launch into space in Hidden Figures.

Starring Octavia Spencer, Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Kevin Costner and Kirsten Dunst, it tells the inspiring story of Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson, pioneers in their field, who had a momentous impact on rocket science during the explosive 60s in America, at the height of the Cold War. Fiercely academic, all three mathematicians were overcoming social injustice, while also making formidable contributions to society. Their influence is far reaching.

What’s astonishing is that until now, very few people had even heard their names.

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=9pZZbkf8wcU&t=7s * **

* ** It’s double the tantrums in DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby featuring the voices of Alec Baldwin, Jimmy Kimmel, and Lisa Kudrow. Based on Marla Frazee’s 2010 award-winning picture book of the same title, the film sees sevenyear-old Tim embarks on a mission to win back the sole affection of his parents against his new baby brother, a seemingly scheming brash baby, voiced by Baldwin. But they soon must come together as true brothers to stop a dastardly scheme, save their parents, restore order to the world, and prove that love is indeed an infinite force. Trailer link: https://www. youtube.com/watch?v=9p5_eFB5gbA

Ridley Scott assembles anew a crew set to discover another world in Alien: Covenant starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterstone, Billy Crudup, and Danny McBride. Set as the second chapter in a prequel trilogy that began with Prometheus, Alien: Covenant connects directly to Scott’s 1979 seminal work of science fiction. It begins with the colony ship Covenant, bound for a remote planet on the far side of the galaxy.

There, the crew discovers what they think is an uncharted paradise, but is actually a dark, dangerous world with a sole inhabitant – “synthetic” David-survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition.

Trailer link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=gHbfj5PB2F8 * ** It’s man versus beast in War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise. Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face-to-face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet. Trailer link: https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=v8Ez5uopj4k&t=35s * ** Following the phenomenal box-office hit Kingsman: The Secret Service, highly-trained and überdressed British spies Eggsy (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) are back in Kingsman: The Golden Circle. In this sequel, our favorite spies travel to the United States to join forces with their American counterparts. Eggsy is now a full-fledged member of Kingsman and jetting off to America to rub elbows with Kingsman’s American counterparts, The Statesmen, run by Halle Berry’s character.

But things take a turn and Eggsy and his colleagues are tasked with going up against Julianne Moore’s villain Poppy. * ** Kate Winslet and Idris Elba star in the sweeping romantic drama The Mountain Between Us. The movie is based on Charles Martin’s 2010 bestselling novel about a surgeon and woman who fall in love after being stranded following a plane crash. They must figure out how to escape the mountain wilderness, where the temperature drops to the teens at night, while suffering broken ribs and a leg fracture. * ** Jennifer Lawrence is back in action as an extremely dangerous spy in Red Sparrow based on the novel by Jason Matthews of the same title. The story is set in modern-day Russia, following Dominika Egorova, a spy forced into becoming a “sparrow,” who is trained to seduce rival agents. Her first assignment is a CIA operative tasked with handling Russian intelligence, but they soon fall for one another, threatening both their careers and the identities of moles in both the American and Russian governments.