Manila Standard - 2017 March 08 - Wednesday

HOUSE OKAYS DEATH PENALTY REVIVAL

By Maricel V. Cruz SOME leaders of the House of Representatives, including Deputy Speaker and Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, are in danger of losing their posts after they voted against the passage of

the death penalty bill.

Voting 216-54-1, the House approved on third and final reading House Bill 4727 or the bill seeking to reinstate the capital punishment on some drug offenses.

Arroyo aside, the other House leaders who voted against the

bill that was principally authored

by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez were Reps. Vilma Santos-Recto of Batangas (chairwoman of the House committee on civil service), Carlos Isagani Zarate of Bayan Muna (chairman of the House committee on environ-

ment and natural resources), Antonio Tinio of ACT Teachers (chairman of the House committee on public information), Arlene Bag-ao of Dinagat Island (chairwoman of the House committee on people participation), Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman

of Anak Mindanao (head of the House committee on Muslim Affairs), Josephine Ramirez-Sato of Occidental Mindoro, a member of the Commission on Appointments, Mariano Michael Velarde Jr. of Buhay (chairman of the House committee on overseas

workers’ affairs), and Henedina Abad of Batanes (chairwoman of the House committee on government reorganization.

Leyte Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos also thumbed down the passage of the death Next page penalty bill.

DEATH DONE. The bill seeking to reimpose the death penalty on drug-related offenses is approved on third and final reading at

the House of Representatives Tuesday–216 yes for thumbs up, 54 no for thumbs down (above and right below) and one abstention– seeking to reimpose capital punishment for heinous-related crimes. It is now the turn of the Senate, where deliberations over the bill are certain to face a gridlock. Ver Noveno

HOW THEY VOTED PRO

216

CON

54

ABSTAINED

01

VOL. XXXI • NO. 26 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Gina, foes face off at CA Overwhelming number of critics lined up vs her

Palace frets over US drama

By Christine F. Herrera, John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

By John Paolo Bencito

S

OME 20 groups will testify Wednesday before the Commission on Appointments to oppose the confirmation of Regina Lopez as Environment secretary, with some vowing to question the propriety of her flying first class to Paris and being billeted in a fivestar hotel for a week-long all-expenses paid trip funded by a private contractor.

THE Palace on Tuesday cried foul over the “highly negative” depiction of the Philippine president in an upcoming episode of the US drama series Madam Secretary.

“I think they are confused in their images. I think they are projecting something that they really would like to say about their own situation. I think it is a depiction of the US President,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella told reporters, making an apparent reference to womanizing American leaders.

Next page

Yasay’s fate hangs; solons pose objection

Ex-budget chief Abad indicted

By Maricel V. Cruz LAWMAKERS on Tuesday slammed Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. for lying under oath about his citizenship and suggested he may even be prosecuted for perjury over several instances in his career when he claimed to be a

By Rio N. Araja and Maricel V. Cruz OMBUDSMAN Conchita Carpio-Morales on Tuesday indicted former Budget secretary Florencio Abad for implementing the Disbursement Acceleration Program involving P72 billion.

She said Abad violated Article 239 or the Usurpation of Legislative Powers under the Revised Penal Code.

Morales also ordered the filing of three counts of graft, one count of theft and two counts of theft through falsification of public documents against former Next page

The plane fare and hotel accommodation alone for Lopez and her entourage amounted to 38,800 euros or P2.05 million, based on Lopez’s travel documents, copies of which were furnished the Manila Standard.

“We cannot have a member of the Cabinet kowtowing to private vested interests and gain favors because of her position and so we are questioning Secretary Lopez’s propriety, ethical standards and competence in heading a strategic and powerful government agency,” said Rodolfo Javellana, president of the United Filipino Consumers and Next page Commuters.

NO SMOKE SIGNS? Mighty Corp. owner Alex Wong Chu King (in white and beside former NBI deputy director

Reynaldo Esmeralda), the businessman President Duterte has ordered arrested, arrives at the NBI headquarters to show, according to his counsel, he wants to cooperate fully with the government. Norman Cruz

Cigarette firm accused of ‘sabotage’

By John Paolo Bencito and Rey E. Requejo

Mighty Corp. president Alex- stemming from the alleged use of ander Wong Chu King, owner counterfeit tax stamps. of the country’s oldest cigarette Speaking to reporters, Duterte PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte manufacturer for a potential P1- also admitted turning down two Next page on Tuesday ordered the arrest of billion “economic sabotage” case

Filipino but wasn’t.

Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman said he believes Yasay should not just be bypassed but rejected by the appointment body.

“His appointment should not just be bypassed. It must be rejected. The question is, “Is Yasay Next page

Tokhang resumes: Four killed, couple arrested FOUR suspected drug pushers were killed and a couple were arrested in four separate incidents in Bulacan and Pampanga hours after the relaunch of the PNP’s war on illegal drugs just over a month after President Rodrigo

Duterte stopped it due to widespread corruption.

The four were killed in four areas in Malolos City by operatives from the PNP and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and Next page

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

News

NFA welcomes rice mess probe

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

T

HE management of the National Food Authority welcomes any investigation into the allegations that food officials are making a cash cow out of government-led importations, NFA administrator Jason Laureano Aquino said Tuesday.

He made the statement after Cabinet Secretary and NFA Council Chairman Leoncio B. Evasco Jr. said he will propose the creation of a special committee to investigate the alleged corruption in the government grain importations.

“This is a very serious accu-

sation and it is very sad that this is happening at a crucial time when we should be focusing on helping our farmers who are currently harvesting their summer crop,” Aquino said.

“Instead of pointing the accusing fingers and casting doubts on those who are faithfully im-

Palace...

From A1

Gina,...

From A1

“I think they are projecting something they would really like to say about

“It goes without saying that Lopez has committed graft and corruption and violated Republic Act 3019 or the AntiGraft and Corrupt Practices Act for accepting favors from a private contractor that has direct dealings with her agency.

Her action runs counter to the policy and campaign of President [Rodrigo] Duterte against corruption,” Javellana said.

Javellana was referring to Lopez’s Oct. 2 to 7 trip to Paris that came after her intervention with the Department of Energy that resulted in the granting of a much-coveted renewable energy services contract to her French friend’s company Ecoglobal Foundation Inc., founded by Jean-Philippe Henry.

Javellana’s UFCC will be the first to air its grievances against Lopez during her confirmation hearing before the CA. The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines is also expected to put up a strong opposition against Lopez’s confirmation.

Javellana said Lopez was found to be favoring not only her friends but most especially her family.

“While she declared a moratorium on granting Environmental Compliance Certificate to other companies, Lopez granted an ECC to the Lopez-owned geothermal plant project in Leyte last Jan. 18,” Javellana said. “This is a clear case of conflict of interest.”

Lopez’s travel documents show she flew to Paris using the governmentissued diplomatic passport, a perk that is accorded high-ranking government officials.

She flew first class and was billeted at the Prince de Galles Hotel, a five-star hotel in the heart of Paris.

Henry’s Ecoglobal had to pay extra 2,500 euros because Lopez overstayed in the hotel. She was supposed to be billeted only for three days but her “late checkout” made the private contractor pay for four.

On Oct. 3 or the day after Lopez and several other DENR officials left for Paris, Henry, who diverted donated funds for Lopez’s junket, was able to secure an RESC. Sabrina Simbulan, president and trustee of Ecoglobal Foundation Inc., said she and the EFI board of trustees never authorized Henry’s withdrawal of funds for Lopez’s trip.

Henry was then chairman of EFI, a company engaged in soliciting donations of used vehicle batteries.

“EFI would then sell the batteries to Ecoglobal Inc. (another Henry company) for P10. EI would extract the lead from the batteries at its smelting plant in Bulacan,” Simbulan said.

On Nov. 15, 2015, EFI amended its primary purpose to accommodate waste water treatment using bamboo, Simbulan said.

She said the EFI, a Philippine foundation engaged in improving the working and living conditions of the Filipinos while protecting the environment, is in partnership with Syndicat Interdepartmental pour L’assainissement de L’agglomeration Parisienne, a French publicly owned company involved in treating waste water of Paris.

When Simbulan informed Lopez that Henry had diverted money donated by the SIAAP for a project in Urdaneta University without authority from the board, she ignored the reported anomaly and issued a statement that she had conducted an investigation and found that all the allegations against Henry

their own situation. I think they should use a fictional US president,” Abella said.

“It’s their business. It’s their craft. You cannot deny them their craft, their taste perhaps.”

Last week, the Philippine Embassy in Washington D. C. complained to CBS Corp. to complain that the upcoming episode of Madam Secretary, which airs March 12, showed the Philippine president as “exhibiting inappropriate behavior toward the female lead character, US Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord.”

“While Madam Secretary is a work of fiction, it tracks and mirrors current events,” the embassy said. “It is, therefore, inevitable that its depiction of world leaders will have an impact on how its audience views the real personages and the countries they represent. This highly negative portrayal of our head of state not only casts doubt on the respectability of the Office of the Philippine President but also denigrates that way our nation navigates foreign affairs. It also tarnishes the Philippines’ longstanding advocacy for women’s rights and gender equality.”

“In view of the injurious effects that this program will have on the interests of the Philippines and the Filipino people, the Philippine Embassy urgently calls on CBS to take the necessary corrective actions,” the embassy added.

The basis for the embassy complaint was a trailer of the upcoming episode entitled “Break in Diplomacy,” which airs March 12 in the United States. With AFP

House...

From A1 On the other hand, the Liberal Party stalwarts such as former speaker and Quezon City Rep. Feliciano Belmonte Jr., LP vice chairman and head of the House special committee on the West Philippine Sea and Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo supported the passage of the measure.

“When the death penalty law was enacted during the time of President Fidel Ramos for a number of reasons, I voted yes. I am only being consistent with that vote I made before,” Belmonte said.

The House passed the measure following the motion of House senior deputy majority leader and Pampanga Rep. Juan Pablo Bondoc.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said before the voting on the passage of the bill that the reorganization will take place next week.

Alvarez said the House leaders who voted against the administration measure will be replaced, but may opt to stay with the majority.

“They will be replaced outright. There is no need to talk to them,” Alvarez said.

The opponents of the death penalty bill questioned the manner that the House leadership approved the measure.

Reps. Lito Atienza of the Buhay party-list and Edcel Lagman of Albay expressed dismay with the rushing of the bill’s passage.

“You terminated period of interpellation abruptly and against the rules of the House. We should have been allowed to explain,” Atienza said.

Lagman said “the third and final reading of the death penalty bill was premature.”

“It is not seasonable as it violates the three-day notice rule prescribed by Section 26(2) of Article VI of the Constitution,” he said.

Tokhang...

From A1 after Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa announced the resumption of “Double Barrel Alpha Reloaded, which he said would be less bloody.

Chief Supt Aaron Aquino identified the slain suspects as Elmer Pagsanjan alias Whitey, 41, a tricycle driver and a resident of San Juan village in Malolos City, and Francis Bondoc alias Pantot of Caingin village, Malolos City.

The two other casualties were Norlito Sena of Panataan village and a certain Erol, a tricycle driver, also a resident of Malolos City.

The arrested couple were Renato Reforma alias Natoy and his Wife Lourdes alias Nene.

Confiscated from the couple were six transparent plastic sachets of suspected shabu and marked money.

Investigation showed that the suspects Pagsanjan and Bondoc on board a tricycle were to meet a poseur along the Santo Cristo Diversion Road on Tuesday night for a drug deal. Francisco Tuyay

Cigarette...

From A1 separate bribery attempts from Wong Chu King when he was still Davao mayor.

“Yes, I ordered his arrest ... He’s the one behind it, the fake cigarette stamps,” Duterte told reporters on the sidelines of an Agriculture Department event in Malacañang.

“It’s not just a matter of not following the tax laws, but it’s also falsification,” he added.

During the last Cabinet meeting Monday, the President recalled to Cabinet officials that the business tycoon tried to offer him guns and a package of cash, which he ordered to be returned.

The first attempt, the President said, was in a form of a gift when he was still Davao mayor.

“When my aide looked at it, it was cash.

I told him to catch up with that idiot. So he chased him to the airplane in Davao,” Duterte said in Filipino.

“There was a Christmas gift. It was a

plementing the mandates of the agency, we should be focusing our watch over a possible abuse of the import permits given to private rice importers in view of allegations that these permits are being recycled for smuggling purposes.”

Ludovico Jarina, the NFA’s deputy administrator for finance and administration, said the NFA’s rice importations were always being done transparently.

“It goes through a process of inter-agency assessment, recommendation and approval from the National Food Security Committee to the NFA Council to Malacañang.

“The bidding process itself is open to public scrutiny with representatives and observers from the private and public sectors, the Commission on Audit, the farmers’ sector and the media.”

Jarina, who was alleged to have been conniving with Aquino, slammed the insinuation of irregularities in the NFA’s rice importations.

“As deputy administrator for finance and administration, I do not directly supervise the agency’s Grains Marketing Operations Department,” Jarina said.

The volume of rice importation is recommended by the NFSC, which is composed of the director-general of the Na-

were untrue.

“There was no such probe that was done by Secretary Lopez,” Simbulan told the Manila Standard in an interview.

“Favoring a foreign entity at the expense of Filipinos and accepting favors from a private contractor are acts of graft and corruption and are prohibited by law. Gina Lopez may love to travel for free but the freebies are what actually make government officials beholden to the private contractors, which definitely happened in this case,” said Javellana, in a separate interview.

When the EFI board ousted Henry on Jan. 11, Simbulan said Lopez protested and warned the stakeholders that the French national was a big loss to the industry because the French government and SIAAP would stop funding the Urdaneta University project.

Simbulan said DENR Assistant Secretary Juan Miguel Cuna, her executive assistant Celina-Therese Rotea and Pasig River Rehabilitation Commission officers Ramil Tan, Helen Arlene Qulilan, and Merliza Bonga hjoined Lopez on her Paris trip.

Chamber of Mines officials, meanwhile, vow to oppose Lopez’s confirmation because she “does not know her job.”

To date, the CMP officials said Lopez has yet to inform them of the specific violations committed by the 28 mining companies she ordered suspended or closed.

“We do not know why she is doing this to us. We believe she does not know her job,” the CMP officials said.

But President Rodrigo Duterte appealed to the CA to give Lopez a chance.

“You just cannot ignore also the cries of Gina Lopez....You should also allow Gina to present her case and I would like to ask Congress to–there in the Commission on Appointments, just look at it well,” the President said in a speech at Malacañang.

The President said he hopes for a “happy compromise” between the mining industry and advocates like Lopez.

“Now, I want my country to earn so I’m not saying I’m against mining per se, that I’m against big mining–far from that actually. I know that we need the dollars but somehow we have to look at the other way and a different perspective,” the President said.

He also said there was a need “to come up with a code or set of protocols… to go about controlling mining.”

Lopez on Tuesday asked the President to suspend a review of her closure and suspension orders by the Mining Industry Coordinating Council, after signing off on it earlier.

In a memo coursed through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea, Lopez said the power to review the mining industry was delegated to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and not the council.

Members of the MICC agreed to a second review of the affected mines, issuing a joint resolution signed by Lopez and Dominguez, who co-chair the mining council.

Lopez initially agreed to a multistakeholder review by the MICC, but now questions its legality.

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella declined to comment on Lopez’s about-face on the mining review.

The CA on Tuesday adopted new rules to include secret voting in an executive session.

Lopez, along with Foreign Affairs Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr. were set to face the powerful CA’s committee on

environment and natural resources at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday.

The notice of the hearing showed that there are 23 sworn oppositions to Lopez’s appointment while 12 others are sworn oppositions to the closure order of mining operations.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III said a number of sworn oppositions to Lopez’s appointment have been submitted to the CA while Yasay’s confirmation has been derailed because of questions on his citizenship.

As this developed, he said the new rule of the CA will be effective Wednesday, in time for the scheduled confirmation hearings of Lopez and Yasay.

Sotto said the “secret balloting” would allow the CA members to vote based on their conscience.

“A CA member would be able to exercise his conscience vote; that option becomes available to him instead of just succumbing to lobbying or pressures.

This way, he is free to make his own decision whether to confirm or reject a nominee,” Sotto said.

Sotto said what transpires in an executive session can still be disclosed to the public if two-thirds of its members decide to do so.

Aside from secret voting, Sotto said, the CA also adopted a three-bypass rule where the body would have to decide either to reject or approve a nominee whose confirmation has already been bypassed thrice.

“A deferment is not a bypass. A bypass happens when the nomination is not acted on in three congressional sessions,” he said.

“Once you’re rejected, you can never be reappointed by the President,” he said.

Asked if the decision to adopt the new rules had something to do with the fact that many of the Cabinet officials now are controversial, Sotto answered “yes and no.”

“Yes, because there are indeed controversial appointees, but it’s already been experienced by the CA, especially in the last administration— [though] I’m not confining it to the last administration, that those who are bypassed would just renew their applications,” he said.

Sotto noted that during the last administration, at least two or three Cabinet members were bypassed and reappointed 20 times.

He said at least 13 votes are needed to either confirm or reject an appointee.

Mine workers opposed to Lopez’s confirmation were expected to keep up the pressure with simultaneous protests in the Caraga Region and in front of the Senate in Manila.

Jacob Arroyo, a mine worker in Dinagat and one of those who submitted a sworn opposition, said he and his colleagues around Caraga region will join some 3,000 mine workers from Luzon in the Senate protest.

“We’re not as organized and wellfunded as Ms. Lopez’s supporters, but we’re here because for us this is a gut issue,” Arroyo said in an interview by phone.

“Dinagat has been a declared mineral zone since 1939, and mining jobs are the only livelihood for us for many generations,” Arroyo added.

Seven of the 14 large-scale mining companies that Lopez shut down in Caraga Region are in Dinagat.

The Caraga region alone stands to lose 20,589 mining jobs if Lopez’s mine closure orders become final, said Evelyn R. Ramos, regional director of the Department of Labor and Employment in Caraga. With Lance Baconguis

gun last Christmas. I did not accept it when I was mayor,” the President said, recalling a recent attempt. “But he asked for a favor.

I said I’m not into it.”

Rumors earlier circulated that a group of Mindanao lawmakers tried to bribe the President on behalf of a tobacco firm that had been implicated in tax evasion and smuggling.

Duterte allegedly reprimanded them for the attempt and ordered the arrest of the owner of the tobacco company, reports said.

“He told us that there was this money from, the Wong[chuking]... owner of Mighty,” Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo said.

Wong Chu King turned himself to National Bureau of Investigation officials on Tuesday after Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II and the Bureau of Internal Revenue ordered his arrest. The NBI did not immediately disclose the agenda of the meeting.

Wong Chu King’s lawyer Siegfred Fortun said his client will not be arrested as no complaint has been filed yet against the cigarette manufacturer and the latter

appeared at the DoJ only to speak with Aguirre concerning his alleged violation of tax laws. “[We met with Aguirre] because of information that was conveyed to us that the President wanted to find out what had happened to the excise tax stamps, allegedly fake,” he said.

Fortun said that his clients have already expressed willingness “to cooperate and pay taxes based on BIR assessments found both accurate and fair.”

At the same time, Fortun denied any attempt by the company to offer bribes.

“Mighty has never taken part nor has it ever indulged in such activity especially with officers of the incumbent administration,” he said.

He added that it “was plain that the information on the matter as disclosed by Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo is wrong.”

“Secretary Panelo is a victim of misinformation hence he has unwittingly disparaged Mighty who has no connection to that bribe incident that occurred several years back,” the lawyer said.

tional Economic Development Authority as chairman, the Deputy National Statistician of the Philippine Statistics Authority as vice-chairman, and the Administrator of the NFA and representatives from the Policy Research Service and National Rice Program of the Department of Agriculture, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Department of Finance, National Irrigation Administration, Department of Trade and Industry and the weather bureau PAGASA as members.

Based on an assessment by the NFSC of the local harvest and supply situation, the government imports only the short-

fall in local harvests for buffer stocking purposes.

The NFSC recommendation is further deliberated on by the NFA Council composed of the Cabinet Secretary as chairman and the NFA administrator as vice chairman.

The members include the Governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and the heads of the Department of Finance, the Department of Trade and Industry and the National Economic and Development Authority, the chairman of the Development Bank of the Philippines, the president of the Land Bank of the Philippines and a representative of the farmers’ sector.

Visaya replaces Laviña at scandal-hit Irrigation

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte is tapping retired Armed Forces chief of staff Gen. Ricardo Visaya as the new head of the National Irrigation Administration.

In a chance interview with reporters, Duterte announced Tuesday that Visaya will replace Peter Laviña, who resigned as NIA chief last week amid allegations of corruption.

“This [agency] has a P150-billion budget; that’s why we need to have a man on top,” he added.

Visaya, a member of the Philippine Military Academy Class of 1983, retired as the 48th AFP chief last December. He was succeeded

by Gen. Eduardo Año.

Before heading the 125,000-strong Armed Forces, Visaya served as chief of the Southern Luzon Command, assistant division commander of the 6th Infantry Division in Cotabato, and commander of the 104th Brigade in Sultan Kudarat.

He was also the ground commander in Tarlac and Pampanga when the Hacienda Luisita massacre occurred in 2004.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol also confirmed Visaya’s appointment.

Ex-budget...

From A1 Misamis Oriental representative Prospero Nograles.

She ordered copies of her decision forwarded to the Anti-Money Laundering Council for its immediate action on the possible violations by the respondents of the Anti-Money Laundering Act. The charges stemmed from Nograles’ alleged questionable use of his Priority Development Assistance Fund.

But Nograles on Tuesday said he will file a motion for reconsideration before the Sandiganbayan over the alleged pork barrel scam.

In a statement, Nograles said the Ombudsman’s decision was based on spurious documents and mismatched time lines.

“I have not received a copy of the decision of the Ombudsman, but nonetheless we are preparing our motion for reconsideration hoping that the body would go the extra mile to study the authenticity of their documents,” Nograles said.

Morales cleared former President Benigno Aquino III and former Budget undersecretary Mario Relampagos of any involvement in the case.

The administrative raps against Aquino was dropped for lack of jurisdictionwhile Relampagos was absolved for lack of merit.

The case arose from Abad’s “unlawful” issuance of National Budget Circular 541 to carry out the DAP implementation.

NBC 541 authorizes the withdrawal of un-obligated allotments of agencies with low levels of obligations as of June 30, 2012.

Yasay’s...

From A1 an American citizen, a Filipino citizen, or stateless?” Apart from that, it must be noted that he is a liar,” Lagman said.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the CA’s foreign affairs committee, earlier warned that Yasay could be liable for perjury if proven that he lied before the CA. The CA earlier found that Yasay was granted United States citizenship on Nov. 26, 1986 and renounced it only on June 28, 2016.

Lacson said Yasay’s possible rejection as foreign secretary should be the least of his concerns because there are serious questions about perjury in several instances in Yasay’s actions over the past 30 years.

“Last night the President announced that the new NIA administrator will be retired AFP chief Ricardo Visaya and the deputy administrator is engineer C’zar Sulaik, the director for CARAGA region,” added Pinol.

Piñol said that Visaya was a personal choice of the President.

In a post on social media, Laviña said there were “false rumors” that he had accepted money from contractors for government projects. He denied these allegations, noting that he is quitting so as not to add to the attacks against officials of the Duterte administration.

“I have been vilified in the past; my name used, abused and maligned. Recently, there had been efforts to discredit me again.

There are rumors circulating that I have asked money from NIA contractors. These are not true!”

Laviña said.

“To spare the President from these embarrassing stories, particularly in these times of intensified attacks on him, I have quietly left government. I have neither personal vested interest in it nor ill intent towards NIA and the whole government, which we are trying to reform,” added Laviña.

With Florante S. Solmerin

Morales also found Abad guilty of simple misconduct and ordered his suspension for at least three months.

“However, considering his separation from the service, the penalty is convertible to a fine equivalent to his salary for three months,” the Ombudsman’s 45-page resolution read.

The cases stemmed from the complaint filed by Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, Bayan secretarygeneral Renato Reyes Jr., Benjamin Valbuena, Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption founder Dante Jimenez, theater artist Mae Paner, Antonio Flores, Gloria Arellano and Bonifacio Carmona Jr. During the investigation, the Ombudsman found that by issuing NBC 541, Abad unlawfully encroached on the powers of Congress by effectively modifying the provisions on savings of the 2012 General Appropriations Act. “NBC 541 provided the principal bases for the withdrawal of un-obligated allotments which were declared as savings and used to fund PAPs [programs, activities and projects] under the DAP. The issuance of this circular is an act of usurpation. This is contrary to law,” Morales said in a resolution.

In 2014, the Supreme Court declared unconstitutional some acts committed in pursuance of the DAP―the withdrawal of un-obligated allotments from the implementing agencies, the declaration of the withdrawn un-obligated allotments and unreleased appropriations as savings prior to the end of the fiscal year without complying with the statutory definition of savings contained in the GAA, and the cross-border transfers of the savings of the executive to augment the appropriations of other offices outside the executive.

He noted that Yasay served as associate commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission in 1993 for which he should have signed an oath of office. Two years later, he should also have signed another oath of office as SEC chairman.

“If there is perjury, there is a criminal offense. So he shouldn’t worry too much if he isn’t confirmed. His bigger problem is the case he will possibly face,” Lacson said.

The Revised Penal Code penalizes any person “who, knowingly making untruthful statements…shall testify under oath, or make an affidavit, upon any material matter before a competent person authorized to administer an oath in cases in which the law so requires.”

The penalty for perjury is imprisonment of up to two years.

News IN BRIEF Bills creating Power Corp approved A JOINT panel in the House of Representatives has approved proposals creating the Mindanao Power Corp. and the Mindanao Railways Corp. to boost development in Mindanao.

The House committee on government enterprises and privatization, in a joint hearing, with the committees on energy and on transportation, approved the consolidation of House Bills 122 and 357, both seeking to create the Mindanao Power Corp.

The bills were authored respectively, by Reps. Celso Lobregat and Maximo Rodriguez Jr. The lawmakers stressed the need to create an organized government corporate entity that would push economic development of the Mindanao region through the availability of electricity at a reasonable cost.

Lobregat said his HB 122 was a refiled bill, with the original measure able to hurdle third and final reading during the 16th Congress but did not prosper.

The bill seeks the nonprivatization of the Agus and Pulangui Hydropower Complexes, and pushes for a viable way for government to operate and maintain these sources of cheap power.

“The most concrete effect of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 on Mindanao is the treatment extended to Agus-Pulangui Hydropower Complexes— considered as crown jewels of the Mindanao power industry—which continue to bring low power rates in Mindanao,” Lobregat said.

Maricel Cruz

A3

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Bill hikes maternity leave from old 60 to 120 days

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

S

ENATORS on Tuesday lauded the passage on third and final reading of a measure that increases maternity leave from the existing 60 days to 120 days.

Voting 22-0 on Monday, the Senate passed on third and final reading the bill granting working women 120 days maternity leave and 150 days for solo mothers.

Senate Bill 1305 or the Expanded Maternity Leave Act, authored by Akbayan Senator Risa Hontiveros, seeks to revise Republic Act 1161 or the Social Security Act of 1997, which currently grants only a 60-day (for

normal childbirth) to 78-day (for caesarean) maternity leave for women workers.

Hontiveros, chairperson of the Committee on Women, said the last time the number of maternity leave was increased was 25 years ago or in 1992.

“Amid the current climate of misogyny and sexism, the passage of this important measure in the Senate is a clear triumph of

women over antiquated thinking and policies,” Hontiveros said.

Senator Nancy Binay, a coauthor of the measure, was glad the measure was supported by her colleagues.

“This is truly a victory for the working Filipina,” said Binay, who had filed similar bills in the previous Congress.

The Senate voted 22-0 to approve SB 1305 which gives all covered female workers in both the public and private sectors 120 days of paid maternity leaves, regardless of civil status or legitimacy of the child.

The bill also gives them an option to extend for another 30 days of leave, but without pay.

She said many working mothers choose to work until the last

three or two weeks before giving birth so they could maximize their leave benefits.

“And even then, they still do not have enough time to take care and fully bond with their babies,” Binay lamented.

Senator Francisco Pangilinan said this was a great gift on International Women’s Month.

Pangilinan was among the first senators to file a similar bill in this 17th Congress.

In his original proposed measure, Pangilinan wanted to increase the maternity leave by 150 percent from 60 days to 150 days.

In the bill he filed last July, Pangilinan cited the Public Health Reports from 2011, which said an increase in the length of paid maternity leave could re-

duce infant mortality by as much as 10 percent.

Paid maternity leave also increases the likelihood of infants getting well-baby care visits and vaccinations, and the rate and duration of breastfeeding which is known to be very beneficial to the health of mothers, the report said.

The expanded maternity leave proposal is among the first 10 bills filed by Pangilinan for the 17th Congress.

Some of the others are the Sagip Saka bill, the Free Wi-Fi bill, and the measure creating the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources The bill, Pangilinan said, would give new mothers the time to rest and recover more fully from childbirth.

DoLE to help displaced OFWs in Qatar fire THE Department of Labor and Employment said it would immediately extend assistance to 300 overseas Filipino workers displaced by a fire in Qatar, which razed the UCC Labor Camp of the Elegancia Hospitality Group in Al-Shehaniya, 33 kms north of Doha.

In a statement, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III has instructed the Philippine Overseas Labor Office to monitor their conditions and to ensure they would be able to go back to their work.

No Filipino workers were hurt in the fire but affected more than 300 OFWs, mostly employed as cleaners and tea boys.

The displaced OFWs were staying in the accommodation area when the fire—its cause still being looked into—burned down the three-story accommodation building.

Polo and Overseas Workers Welfare Administration officials have joined the Filipino community groups in Qatar in providing emergency aid, such as clothing, food, water, and medicines. Vito Barcelo

GENDER GAP. Executive

Director of the Philippine Commission on Women Emmeline Verzosa tells a Malacañang news briefing Monday about government initiatives to further the rights of women and make the condition of Filipino women better. In the 2014 Global Gender Gap Index Report by the World Economic Forum, the Philippines ranked ninth in the world.

Malacañang Photo

CAR BLESSING. Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa keynotes Tuesday the formal turnover and blessing of 50 brand new Toyota Vios patrol cars by the Quezon City government under Mayor Herbert Bautista donated to the Quezon City Police District in a ceremony at Camp Tomas Karingal. Lino Santos

Lower income taxes viable sans more VAT Poe named

By Maricel V. Cruz A MILITANT lawmaker on Tuesday pushed for the passage of the proposed measure lowering income taxes without the value-added tax expansion and new excise taxes on fuel, saying efficiency in collection and administration, not new taxes, is necessary to recover foregone revenues.

“Our people have long been charged with excessive income taxes due to government’s failure to reform the income tax system, so it is only a matter of justice that we approve the proposal as soon as possible,” Act Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio said.

“But we have to scrap the three regressive taxes it is proposed with,” he added.

Part of the tax package proposal of the Department of Finance are new excise taxes on petroleum products, val-

ue-added tax coverage on certain goods and services currently exempt, and excise taxes on automobiles, allegedly to recover the P130 billion that will be foregone from lower income taxes.

“The DoF plans to collect more than P230 billion from expanded VAT and the excise taxes on oil and vehicles,” explained Tinio.

“This means that recovering lost revenues is not the sole aim of government —it also aims to collect an even greater amount. Our concern now: It is the people who will pay for these extra billions on top of the P130 billion sought to be recovered.”

Tinio dismissed as regressive the proposed new excise taxes and expanded VAT, saying minimum wage earners and the poor will suffer the most once these have taken effect.

Tinio urged the DoF and tax collection agencies to instead plug leakages and arrest

official corruption by carrying out agencylevel reforms.

“We have always maintained that instead of imposing new taxes which will burden the people, government should fix its collection problems first,” Tinio said.

Tinio said collection of additional revenues through increased collection efficiency is possible. According to the DoF, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and other tax agencies were able to collect more than P300 billion in just a few years, cutting by half their uncollected revenues.

“This proves that government can realize revenue in the billions without burdening the people with more taxes,” said Tinio.

“New excise taxes and broader VAT on products and services used by the people are not necessary and should therefore be junked,” Tinio stressed.

Kagan belies Lascañas’ word mosque bombed

By Pearl A. Gajunera and Macon Araneta DAVAO CITY—A kagan tribeswoman belied the statement of self-confessed hitman of the Davao Death Squad, retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas, their mosque was bombed through the mandate of President Rodrigo Duterte when he was still mayor of the city.

Indigenous Peoples Representative Halila Sudagar said she had been living in Camamara Mosque in Ma-a Diversion road here for more than 24 years and there was no bombing incident in their mosque.

“I’ve been raised in Camamara Mosque and there was never a time that our mosque was bombed,” Sudagar said.

Lascañas said during the Senate hearing that Duterte ordered the bombing of several mosques in the city in revenge against the bombing of the San Pedro Cathedral in 1993 that killed six civilians and injured 130 others.

During the Senate hearing, Lascañas said Duterte paid him and the members of the so-called Davao Death Squad P300,000 after they bombed several mosques in the city.

He said that they were divided into three groups and their group was assigned to bomb the mosque in Diversion Road, Ma-a— referring to the Camamara Mosque.

to MMFF committee

By Joel E. Zurbano

SENATOR Grace Poe and Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos were included in the list of new appointed members of the Metro Manila Film Festival executive committee, the Metro Manila Development Authority announced this Tuesday following the official launching of the 41st film festival this year.

MMDA acting chairman and concurrent MMFF head Thomas Orbos said aside from Poe and Santos, the committee also include: Taguig City Mayor Laarni Cayetano; Metro Manila police chief Oscar Albayalde; Rachel Arenas, chairperson of the Movie, Television Review and Classification Board; Mary Liza Diño, chairperson of the Film Development Council of the Philippines; Wilson Tieng, president of the Movie Producers and Distributors Association of the Philippines; Jun Romana of the Bureau of Broadcast Services; Jesse Ejercito of the Philippine Motion Picture Producers Association; Marichu Maceda, chairperson of the Mowelfund; actress Boots Anson-Rodrigo; Victor Villegas, a film distributor; Edgar Tejerero, president of the SM Lifestyle Inc.; and lawyer Rolando Duenas, assistant general manager of the Ayala Cinemas.

Poe used to head the MTRCB while Santos is a veteran multiawarded actress and the wife of Senator Ralph Recto.

A4

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

A silly protest

T

HE Philippine Embassy in Washington protested last week to a major American TV network that its fictional drama depicted the Filipino president in a “highly negative” way.

In a statement posted on its website, the embassy said it had written to CBS Corp. to complain that the upcoming episode of its TV series Madam Secretary showed the character portraying the Philippine President as “exhibiting inappropriate behavior toward the female lead character, US Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord.”

“While Madam Secretary is a work of fiction, it tracks and mirrors current events,” the embassy said. “It is, therefore, inev-

itable that its depiction of world leaders will have an impact on how its audience views the real personages and the countries they represent. This highly negative portrayal of our head of state not only casts doubt on the respectability of the Office of the Philippine President but also denigrates that way our nation navigates foreign affairs. It also tarnishes the Philippines’ longstanding advocacy for women’s rights and gender equality.”

“In view of the injurious

effects that this program will have on the interests of the Philippines and the Filipino people, the Philippine Embassy urgently calls on CBS to take the necessary corrective actions,” the embassy added.

The basis for the embassy complaint was a trailer of the upcoming episode entitled “Break in Diplomacy,” which airs March 12 in the United States.

In the teaser, the Philippine president, played by actor Joel de la Fuente, is alone in a room with the main character, played

by Téa Leoni, who first laughs off the leader’s advances. When he goes too far, however, she punches him in the face, bloodying his nose.

“I clobbered a world leader instead of saving a major regional agreement,” Leoni later tells her on-screen husband in the trailer.

We are gratified that the embassy recognized Madam Secretary as a work of fiction, but are puzzled why it would waste real-world resources to complain about it.

After all, it can easily be argued that nobody casts more doubt on the respectability of the Office of the President than its current occupant, President Rodrigo Duterte, who is famous for his street language, his off-color jokes about women and his bloody war on drugs, which has claimed the lives of more than 6,500 suspected drug users and pushers in his

first six months in office.

As to denigrating the way our nation navigates its foreign affairs, we need look no further than Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay Jr., who lied under oath about his American citizenship because he did not want to lose the position to which he is now clinging.

In any case, it is unlikely that Madam Secretary will change its script to suit the embassy’s sensibilities. In the end, instead of minimizing any fallout from the portrayal of the Philippine president on the show, the embassy merely called attention to the upcoming episode—and guaranteed that more Filipinos will watch it when it airs.

VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ

The fall of Leila de Lima

Abad is indicted LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES ONE of the most powerful officials of the Aquino administration has finally been haled to court. Does this mean that Noynoy Aquino himself will soon be called to account for the various offenses he committed during his term?

Florencio “Butch” Abad, who gained fame during the previous administration for being both the budgetary brains of Aquino and the mentor of pork barrel scam mastermind Janet Lim Napoles, has been indicted by the Office of the Ombudsman. The anti-corruption prosecutorial service found probable cause to charge Abad with usurpation of legislative powers in connection with the creation of Aquino’s Disbursement Acceleration Program, a portion of which was

used to pay off legislators after the pork barrel system was declared illegal by the Supreme Court.

Through DAP, Aquino was able to impound unused funds allocated to all government agencies after declaring them “savings.” The seized funds, taken back even if they had only lain unused for as little as three to six months, basically became a humongous slush fund of unappropriated money that the central government could use whichever way it wanted.

DAP was widely believed to be a brainchild of Abad, who became one of the most powerful government officials for his creative management of the national budget and for weaponizing it against the administration’s political opponents. Along with the bungling of the government effort to capture Malaysian terrorist Marwan, which led to the Mamasapano Massacre, and the anomalies that attended state efforts to rehabilitate the areas

hit by super-typhoon Yolanda, the DAP fiasco is believed to be most grievous official offense committed by the Aquino administration.

The Supreme Court also declared Abad’s DAP illegal, al-

The trail now leads directly to the doorstep of Noynoy Aquino on Times Street. though it later opened the door for the exoneration of those involved in DAP’s creation and implementation if it is proven that they acted in “good faith.”

The court also pointed out that the “operative fact” doctrine held that the projects for which

DAP funds were spent did not allow their destruction, basically saying that they should be allowed to remain even if the program itself was discontinued.

However, the high court ruled that so-called “cross-border” fund transfers between different agencies, which became standard procedure under DAP, were patently illegal. And Aquino’s admission that 9 percent of a total of P281.7 billion used up through DAP from 2011 and 2013 paid for programs, activities and projects (PAPs) identified by members of Congress made the program synonymous with bribing lawmakers in order to get them to do the palace’s bidding.

Indeed, DAP became a household acronym after certain lawmakers claimed that it was used to “buy” their vote during the impeachment trial of Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. It was then Senator Jinggoy Estrada who exposed the existence of DAP when he re-

vealed that senators were given at least P50 million in projects each in order to convict and unseat Corona.

Now Abad, who was one of the three top government officials sued in connection with DAP (including Aquino himself and his executive secretary, Paquito Ochoa Jr.) before the high court, has been indicted.

And this development means, to paraphrase the late Senator Joker Arroyo, that the trail now leads directly to the doorstep of Aquino on Times Street. *** Next witness, please. And make him believable, this time.

Retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas was anything but credible.

But then, the only people who expected that he would be truthful this time around are those who, in the face of all testimony to the contrary, still consider his tales gospel.

Senator Panfilo Lacson, chairman of the Senate commit-

AT 3 P.M. Friday, Feb. 24, Leila de Lima, 57, married but separated, was ushered into her detention cell at the northern suburban Quezon City Camp Crame national headquarters of the Philippine National Police.

By the standards of her rarified stature as an incumbent senator of barely one year and a former secretary of justice for six years, the 100-square meter room is Spartan, simple without airconditioning, but safe and secure, away from the madding crowd outside of the walls of sprawling Camp Crame. There is a bathroom with a toilet but no shower.

If she has any complaint about her meager cell, De Lima did not make it apparent the morning after her first day of incarceration. “I prepared myself for this psychologically,” she told visitors Saturday morning, gingerly ambling about on a concrete yard outside her cell, in bright yellow T-shirt, denim jeans and sandals, putting on a brave, stoic face.

De Lima shares what is euphemistically called the PNP Custodial Center with 25 others, including two former senators whom as the Justice secretary of President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, she maneuvered to be arrested and jailed on charges of plunder, a non-bailable offense.

Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr. and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada were among the most popular senators of the land when De Lima ordered them arrested in mid-2014 and would have contested the presidential elections of May 2016.

Who knows had not De Lima sent Bong Revilla to jail, he would have been elected president. Would De Lima be in jail today?

As Justice secretary, De Lima also defied a Supreme Court order in November 2011 to allow former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to board a plane to seek medical help abroad following a botched neck surgery. De Lima jailed Arroyo on a flimsy charge of electoral sabotage and when the former president was about to be freed of the charge, she was quickly slapped with a case of alleged plunder for P366 million of sweepstakes money she never touched. When Duterte became president, Arroyo was released from detention after nearly five years in a military hospital jail. Now a congressman, Arroyo has become a close adviser of President Duterte.

During De Lima’s stint as secretary of Justice (July 2010-October 2015), alleged drug lords at Bilibid, 19 of them, were allowed rooms or kubols that put

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Destabilization

Abad...

From A4

tee on public order and illegal drugs, who heard Lascañas’ testimony for the full six hours that it took to use up his 15 minutes of Warholian fame, believes the chamber has heard enough from the ex-cop. There will no longer be any more hearings involving this perjured witness.

“He can still hold press conferences, if he likes,” Lacson told me in an interview. “But I think the majority in the senators don’t want to call him back any more.”

The Senate, of course, is also to blame for giving in to the call from Senator Antonio Trillanes to hear Lascañas again, after he recanted his testimony given last October, wherein he cleared President Rodrigo Duterte of any involvement in the so-called Davao Death Squad. Apart

from a questionable handwritten journal that suddenly appeared right before Lascañas went to the Senate again yesterday, the only thing new that ex-cop disclosed was a fantastic claim that he had personally killed 200 people on Duterte’s behest and that he was involved in the liquidation of a total of 300.

But Lascañas was unable to say why he lied the first time around, even after he underwent a “spiritual renewal” before giving his original testimony. After he admitted Monday that he lied in October, who’s to say he isn’t lying again?

I think Lascañas has served his purpose, however, even if he may never be heard from again. Now, the people who pulled his strings have to find someone else to lie on their behalf—hopefully, it will be someone more credible than the ex-cop from Davao.

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Wipe out the Abu Sayyaf

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

EVERY so often, we hear talk ning responsibility on President of political destabilization Aquino, Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morals—an Aquino apagainst President Duterte.

Some say these come from pointee—only charged former the Yellowtards, led by former Police Chief Alan Purisima President Benigno Aquino and former SAF Chief Getulio III, who want to install Vice Napeñas on the Mamasapano President Leni Robredo as the debacle.

I guess the people will never new president. This would be know the truth. absurd.

Indeed this is a double tragSome say drug lords and drug syndicates are recruiting people edy. The death of the men, and from the opposition to topple the failure of justice. *** Duterte.

If President Duterte must be I am a journalist who has witnessed every destabilization at- true to his vow to end corruptempt on past administrations. tion in government, he should All I can say is that while these lead by example and fire Regireports make for good enter- na “Gina” Lopez, heiress to the tainment, such attempts cannot Lopez clan. She was allegedly succeed unless there is one fig- involved in graft and corruption ure who can represent the po- while secretary of Environment litical opposition, and until both and Natural Resources.

I’m not talking about her antithe people and the military lend mining advocacy. This is differtheir support.

We saw this at Edsa 1 and ent. This is about the anomalous acquisition of a P1-billion clean Edsa 2.

But when Navy officer (now air monitoring system, and her Senator) Antonio Trillanes acceptance of an all-expense tried to topple President Gloria paid trip to Paris sponsored by Macapagal Arroyo, first dur- a private contractor.

She also supposedly bening the siege at Oakwood Hotel and later on at the Peninsula, he efited from foreign donations failed. He did not enjoy support amounting to 260,000 euros or about P13.7 million intended from the people.

Recall also that after the as- for an environmental project at sumption into office of the late a public university. My gulay, that’s plunder Cory Aquino, in any lanGringo Honaguage! san led nine It’s really coups d’etat s u rprising but failed.

It would not why a rich This was bework without the woman like cause people Gina Lopez did not join. support of the would stoop These days so low. She it is apparent people and the can afford all that President military. these!

Rodrigo DuIf Gina terte continLopez goes, ues to enjoy it will not the support only be for of the people.

Add to that the fact that the the good of the mining industry which is suffering under her economy is stable.

So Senator Alan Peter Cay- watch as DENR secretary. It etano and those like him must will be for the public good. I say stop talking about destabiliza- this is an acid test for Duterte’s war on corruption. tion attempts. *** *** PNP Chief Ronald dela Rosa In an attempt to mollify the families of the 44 members of says priests or their representathe Special Action Force who tives must accompany memdied two years ago in Mamasa- bers of the newly created police pano, President Duterte has group against illegal drugs. given them almost everything: This is obviously an attempt Medals of Valor, and to the to refute claims that the police families, cash and livelihood were responsible for extrajudicial killings. projects.

Why involve the Catholic I say “almost everything” because justice continues to elude Church in a police operation? them. Up to now, the govern- If some priests or their ment has not determined who representatives get killed, will was responsible and account- Dela Rosa and his men be held able for what happened to the responsible?

It’s a joke. No wonder the 44 men.

Did not the President an- Catholic Church has opposed nounce that he would create Dela Rosa’s gambit. *** commission to look into what I cannot end his column withtruly happened to the Fallen 44?

The commission would have out congratulating my good provided answers to questions friend, former Senator and like, who sent the men to Ma- Foreign Affairs secretary Bert masapano and why were they Romulo who has been named chairman of the Development massacred?

Eventually the President Bank of the Philippines.

The President could not have backtracked: Since the case is already with the Ombudsman, appointed a better DBP chairthere was no need for a commis- man. Romulo is known for his sion, he said. But what did the probity, integrity and compeOmbudsman do? Instead of pin- tence. Congrats, Bert. Go for it!

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

ALEJANDRO DEL ROSARIO THE government should harness all its armed forces resources to wipe out the Abu Sayyaf. It’s not enough to express regrets and apologize to the German government over the killing of its national Jurgen Kantner by the Abu Sayyaf who beheaded him after failing to get a P30-million demand for his release.

Although there is no official confirmation of the Abu Sayyaf acting under the aegis of the dreaded Islamic State terrorists, the Muslim bandits’ atrocities committed against their captives are comparable to ISIS. Captives are kept for days while ransom is negotiated. The hostages are killed when the victims’ relatives fail to come up with the money.

Kantner, a 70-year-old German national, was abducted by the Abus when his yacht strayed into Sulu waters. His female companion was killed on board when she resisted the bandits. Warnings have been posted by Philippine authorities against sailing and trekking in the deep south of Mindanao where the Abu Sayyaf ply their nefarious trade like the Somalian pirates.

Now, if the Duterte administra-

tion throws all its armed forces against the Abus and wipe them out, I don’t think there will be any outcry about extrajudicial killings. The people, in fact, will welcome the end of the notorious Abu Sayyaf. Not even the United Nations and international human rights groups can condemn the all-out war against the savage Sayyaf. The same focus and attention given to the relentless war on drugs should also be carried out by the Duterte administration.

The beheading of the German Kantner is not the first in the long and bloody history of the Abu Sayyaf. Other foreigners and locals have lost their heads to the savage bandits. Several years back, two American missionaries and another American were abducted by the Abu Sayyaf. The wife of the missionary survived but her husband was killed during a rescue attempt by government troops. An American tourist with the group was beheaded.

This is kidnapping with murder and certainly when the death penalty must be imposed to the fullest extent of the law. “An eye for an eye,” goes the biblical passage.

As a matter of policy, government does not negotiate nor pay ransom to the bandits. But the government can put up bounty money for the capture, dead or alive, of members of this barbaric group. Bounty money on the heads of the Abu Sayyaf can serve

as incentives for rouge cops who are going to be deployed in Basilan and terrorist-infested areas in Mindanao. Because the policemen have families in Metro Manila, their assignment in Mindanao should only be for a year. They can be replaced by the next batch of scalawag cops. Even a short stint in dangerous Basilan or Sulu should be enough to deter erring cops from committing the same mistakes.

Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic mess How do you solve Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic problem?

Some measures have been taken by the government but so far the traffic gridlock has only been eased to a small degree. It has not been totally solved. It would be too much to expect the authorities to solve this problem that has been allowed to fester by past administrations. Phasing out old jeepneys is not the answer. An efficient public rail transport system which other Asian cities like Singapore, Bangkok and Taipei have is the only solution in sight.

Commuter groups who suffer the daily travails of travel to and from work have complained that the new train carriages from China are dangerous because they do not seem to fit the rails for which they are rolling on. They feel uneasy with the ride not being smooth and running at a slow speed of 30 kilometers per hour.

That’s nearly as slow when commuters take the torturous road traffic on Edsa during rush hours.

There are suggestions for jeepney drivers to form themselves into consortiums or cooperatives and operate public utility transport like the brand new point-topoint buses already proving popular among commuters. This will of course take huge capital outlay.

But the government could perhaps provide loans for displaced jeepney drivers to start up their public utility buses. This is better than for them to drive buses and jeepneys and taxis with them paying exorbitant boundary fees to the owners and operators who don’t give them a break with the stiff boundary system when gasoline and oil prices go up.

Metro Manila’s monstrous traffic can also be traced to the increasing volume of vehicles being sold. Not just the rich have two or three cars nowadays. Even the middle class need two cars to get around the number coding in order to get to work and bring their children to school. The sale of motorcycles is also up because there is no decent public transport system and sensible traffic management. While a few elevated highways have been constructed, there are not enough roads to accommodate the heavy volume of vehicles.

This can all be traced to the lack of urban planning and forward thinking to cope with a growing

Food security SO I SEE LITO BANAYO ONCE again the food security conundrum is in the news.

Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., under whose supervision Executive Order No. 1 of President Rodrigo Duterte placed the National Food Authority and the National Irrigation Administration, is contemplating disciplinary action upon the newly-appointed NFA administrator, Jason Aquino.

Manila Standard reported last Monday that Aquino refused to follow a decision made by the NFA Council to extend the arrival date of imports under the Minimum Access Volume to March 31, from the original Feb. 28. Accordingly, Administrator Aquino and his deputies failed to attend the Council meeting and thereafter refused to implement its directives.

The NFA Council is composed of the assigns of the Executive Secretary, Neda, DoF, DTI, Bangko Sentral, DBP, LandBank, an elected farm sector representative and the Cabinet Secretary, who acts as chairperson. The administrator acts as vice chairman as well of the Council.

The Council is the highest policy-making body of the NFA, while the administrator is tasked to implement said policies and administers the operation of the agency in charge of ensuring the availability and affordability of rice, at ALL times. I highlight “all” because being the staple cereal of 104 million Filipinos, not a day can pass that there is not enough rice to satisfy our consumption needs.

Under my watch, the chairperson was the Secretary of Agriculture, since the agency was attached to the DA. But in 2014, two

The fall...

From A4 to shame the suites of snooty Shangri-La Hotel, courtesy of De Lima.

In 2014, “the kubols of the 19 highprofile inmates were found with sauna, jacuzzi, expensive watches, music studio, wide screen TV sets, split type air conditioning units, cash totaling P5,139,545, $2,601, and ¥100, various caliber of firearms, cellphones, bags of shabu and other items.”

Though now a high-profile prisoner, at her Camp Crame cell, De Lima is denied amenities denied other prisoners of lesser caliber—a television set, a laptop, a cellphone, as well as the usual coterie of subalterns at her beck and call. She wanted to continue her work as a senator, she claimed. So she was given a small anteroom outside her sleeping quarters to serve as an office. Only her lawyers, relatives, Senate colleagues and those prescreened and qualified by the PNP top brass can visit her.

Leila de Lima is accused of three counts of illegal drug trading farmed out to three different Regional Trial Court salas and three different judges of Muntinlupa City at the southern tip of the national capital region, 25

years after I resigned from the NFA, President Aquino removed NFA, NIA (irrigation), PCA (coconuts) and FPA (fertilizers and pesticide licensing) from the DA and placed these under the supervision of a newly-created Office of the Presidential Assistant for Food Security and Agricultural Modernization (OPAFSAM).

Aquino appointed then retired Senator Francis Pangilinan as food security czar who since regained his old seat in the Senate.

The ostensible reason for the transfer to the Office of the President, which had precedents under both Marcos and Erap, was the failure of the NFA to prevent rice price spikes under the reign of Alcala and his appointee.

Likewise, Aquino was not happy with the corruption he and Neda uncovered in the NIA. The most important mandate of the NFA is to ensure food security. Under Marcos this encompassed rice and corn, later expanded to other necessities such as vegetables and fish, which is why the agency put up “Kadiwa” stores in major consumption centers. Under succeeding administrations, this assurance of food security was defined to be a single food product—rice.

Alcala and I thus had in a sense, conflicting mandates. His was to increase food production and farm incomes; mine was to ensure that rice was available and affordable to the average Filipino at all times, La Nina, El Nino, typhoons notwithstanding.

But things became untenable when Alcala was able to convince President Aquino that we could be self-sufficient in rice production by 2013, or in two years after he and the president unveiled the ill-conceived program and impossible-to-attain target. During official visits to Japan, in Davos and elsewhere, the president was made to proclaim the chimera of self-sufficiency before unbelieving audiences.

Alcala had to create the impres-

sion of reaching his self-imposed target, and thus NFA under his chairmanship was directed to cut down importation drastically, even unrealistically. I had to explain in several memoranda to the President through the Executive Secretary that Alcala’s targets were numerically flawed, but the President weighed in his favor of his friend.

Despite this, we managed to stabilize supply versus demand and thus contain prices during my watch, even when a strong typhoon (Pepeng) on Sept. 26, 2011 wiped out the harvestable crop of Nueva Ecija and Central Luzon, the nation’s chief granary.

But by 2013, under the watch of Alcala’s assign, prices began to rise, and in early until the middle of 2014, the increase became cause for consumer protests. Inflation rose dramatically on account of commercial rice prices, which spiked from the 30 to 32 peso range in 2012 to as high as 42 to 48 peso range in 2014.

Unable to let go of Alcala (the same way he could not fire Abaya, et al), Aquino chose instead to transfer NFA and threw in three other DA agencies to Pangilinan’s supervision. Pangilinan was able to tame the price spike and rice became more available, but NFA, which had imported on a government to government basis 200,000 metric tons in 2011, followed by a reduced 120,000 tons in 2012, now went back to the million-ton levels that President Aquino in his first SONA in July 2010 decried as GMA’s practice, leaving the NFA saddled with a P178-billion “legacy” debt.

Now it looks like the debate between so-called farmer’s interests and food security, or the consumer’s interests, is upon us again.

Cabsec Jun Evasco is right.

Food security is paramount. And the onus of importing rice should be gradually given to the private sector. Government, defined as NFA, cannot sustain humongous debts, which are sovereignguaranteed.

He is sustained by the members of the NFA Council, especially at this time when a strong dollar has weakened the peso, oil prices have regained from a slump, and interest rates threaten to increase, all of these showing inflation is a clear and present danger. Rice impacts on some 8 percent of the price index.

The “legacy” debt of P178 billion was trimmed to less than P150 billion in two years under my watch principally because of shifting to the private sector. Now it is back, I was told, to the P170billion level.

Aquino and Alcala’s impossible dream of rice self-sufficiency at all costs, including bloated budgets DBM gave to Alcala, has been an unmitigated failure, which even spawned illegal importations in 2013-14.

I suffered in silence when the Senate investigated the NFA for rice smuggling done in 2013 and the year thereafter, even if I had resigned in October 2012 to run for a seat in Congress but which I had to forego after a heart procedure.

The unfair allegations hurt, but I tempered my defense because speaking forcefully against Alcala’s failed policies would reflect badly on the same power that appointed me to the NFA, President Benigno S. Aquino, who listened to clearly idiotic promises.

The allegations even got the NBI and DOJ under Leila de Lima to file charges with the Office of the Ombudsman against me and several officials of the NFA, swallowing the unfounded claims of Alcala’s attack dogs. Still I kept my peace and suffered in silence, confident that the honorable Ombudsman can see through the lies and the injustice of such actions.

Confident that an incorruptible Ombudsman would see the falsehood in the charges De Lima and her cohorts hastily charged me and my officials with, I still kept my peace. As prayed for, the charges have been dismissed since.

kms away from PNP. De Lima is now in jail by virtue of the arrest warrant and order of arrest issued by the judge in the first case, Juanita Guerrero of RTC Branch 204 who handles Criminal Case No. 17-165. De Lima’s coaccused in Case 17-165 include her former driver and boyfriend, Ronnie Palisoc Dayan, and former Bureau of Corrections officer in charge and National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director Rafael Z. Ragos.

Other co-accused are: Francisco F. Baraan III, a former Justice undersecretary; Franklin Jesus B,.

Bucayu, a former head of Bilibid or National Penitentiary; Senior Supt.

Wilfredo Ely, Joenel Sanchez, and Jose Adrian Dera, aka Jad de Vera, and high-profile maximum security inmate Jaybee Sebastian.

Dayan was alleged as her bagman while Ragos confessed to delivering up to P5 million of alleged drug money to De Lima’s bayside house in Parañaque City, west of Metro Manila in late November 2012 when De Lima was still secretary of justice and had overall supervision over both the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor or Bilibid). Ragos was a director III of the NBI and for a time headed BuCor.

For the two other cases, Judge Amelia Fabros-Corpuz of Muntinlupa RTC Branch 205 handles Criminal Case No. 17-166 while Branch 206 Judge Patria Manalastas de Leon has CC 17-167.

In Case 17-166, De Lima’s coaccused is Jose Adrian “Jad” Dera, who is said to be her nephew.

In Case 17-167. De Lima’s coaccused include former BuCor chief Franklin Jesus Bucayu, her alleged bagman Wilfredo Ely, De Lima’s former aide Joenel Sanchez, convicted felony Jaybee Sebastian and Jad Dera.

The three illegal drug trading cases are based on the complaints filed before the Department of Justice in October 2016 by three groups.

In criminal prosecutions, the DoJ usually is the first level of cases. A DoJ prosecutor tries to find a probable cause before filing the case in a competent court, in De Lima’s cases, the Regional Trial Courts of suburban Muntinlupa City. In highprofile cases, no less than the Justice secretary supervises the finding of probable cause during a preliminary investigation and the filing of cases before the lower courts.

The first case, now designated

by RTC Branch 204 as Criminal Complaint 17-165, was filed Oct. 10, 2016 with the DoJ, by the Volun-

teers Against Crime and Corruption headed by Dante Jimenez.

The other two cases were filed at the DoJ on Oct. 11, 2016, a Tuesday, and Oct. 12, 2016, a Wednesday.

In the two other cases, De Lima is accused of receiving P8 million in payoffs from a drug syndicate in the Visayas. She is described as “the mother of all drug lords.”

In the criminal complaint they filed Oct. 10 at the DoJ, former National Bureau of Investigation deputy directors Ruel Lasala and Reynaldo Esmeralda charged De Lima and former NBI officer in charge Rafael Ragos with drug trafficking inside the New Bilibid Prison itself.

“De Lima, acting as the mother of all drug lords and through the use of her authority, was able to appoint and designate men inside the NBP in order to ensure the perpetuation of illegal drug trade,” the former NBI officials said in their 20-page complaint-affidavit.

The third complaint, filed on Oct. 11, 2016, at the DoJ, by the police chief of Albuera, Leyte province, accuses De Lima of receiving at least P8 million in payoffs before the May elections from the biggest drug syndicate in Eastern Visayas. biznewsasia@gmail.com

News

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

More critics rise vs DoH secretary

EVERYTHING’S COOL. Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Ubial talks with other members of the Cabinet on Tuesday a day ahead of the Commission on Appointments hearing where she is expected to receive opposition to her confirmation as Health secretary. Malacañang Photo

OPPOSITION to Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial mounted on Tuesday as ACTS OFW Rep. John Bertiz and the group called Action for Good Governance reiterated their objections to her confirmation as health secretary.

Bertiz had earlier filed a formal complaint with Commission on Appointments and blamed Ubial for allowing a foreign-owned company Winston Q8 to collect exorbitant medical testing fees from all overseas Filipino workers bound for Kuwait. “[Ubial] has failed to enforce the law, has failed to fulfill her duties to investigate and file charges against Winston Q8 and its accredited clinics despite mounting evidence that the clinics are violating Memorandum Circular 2016-0627,” Bertiz said in a letter to Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III. “The Secretary has not initiated any investigation within the DoH on how this illegal scheme was allowed in the first place,” Bertiz said, adding that it was during Ubial’s time as health undersecretary that cartels preying on OFWs increased experienced

12 govt troops decorated for heroism in Sayyaf war T

WELVE government troops were decorated on Tuesday for gallantry in actions that has so far resulted in the death of at least 32 Abu Sayyaf extremists in Sulu over the past few days.

Two of the 12 soldiers received Gold Cross Medals and another two got Silver Cross Medals. The remaining eight were awarded with Military Merit Medals.

Lt. Col. Ramon Flores, commander of the 32nd Infantry Battalion and one of the awardees, said the two-hour battle they experienced on Friday against the Abu Sayyaf was so intense.

Flores led his men in the lair of the Abu Sayyaf in Patikul town, where they killed at least 10 Abu Sayyaf members.

“The Abu Sayyaf was hiding in an advantageous point.

We were running after them in a hill. We continued pursuing them until they fled,” he told the Philippine News Agency. Flores said the Abu Sayyaf also used high-powered firearms.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año led the awarding of medals for the 12 soldiers for their heroism.

“We congratulate our awardees. We know the sacrifices you have made to protect our country and to suppress these lawless elements who are trying to dominate this island,” Lorenzana told the troops inside Camp Gen. Teodolfo Bautista.

“We know how hard it is to fight here in Sulu because you’re fighting a very experienced and determined enemy,” Lorenzana added. “I congratulate you all

for the job well done.”

At least 32 Abu Sayyaf members have been killed by government forces following the order of President Rodrigo Duterte to finish the Abu Sayyaf in six months, from Jan. 1 to June 30 this year.

Lorenzana assured the troops of the backing of President Duterte in the ongoing “focused military operations.”

“We are closely monitoring your day-to-day activities here,” he told the troops.

“We in the AFP and the [Philippine National Police] will sustain our operations against the Abu Sayyaf, and we will try to finish them within six months

from Jan. 1 to June 30,” he said.

On Friday, President Duterte gave medals to 18 wounded troops admitted at the General Bautista Station Hospital.

Lorenzana and Año arrived here Tuesday to assess the ongoing focused military offensive against the Abu Sayyaf bandits.

They were accompanied by National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon Jr., Army Chief Lt. Gen. Glorioso Miranda, Air Force Chief Lt. Gen. Edgar Fallorina, Naval Flag Officer-in-Command Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado and other top government officials.

PNA

Rody holds off EO vs smoking

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said that he has held off signing an executive order on a nationwide smoking ban because “there are a lot of dynamics there” and he needs more time to study the order.

“I’m sounding off. I’m measuring the resistance. So whether I can compromise. Like, for example, smoking areas inside building. We did not adopt that in our ordinance [in Davao City]. So but there are a lot of dynamics there. So just give me enough time to study,” Duterte said.

“I am supposed to sign it this week, as submitted by Secretary Ubial. She wants to hurry the measure but I said Davao is different from all the rest of the nation,” he added.

“So I have to be very careful in trying to navigate the way how I can present it to the public. For

example, I’d need the pronouncements, not really the opinion, the pronouncements of our medical sector,” the President added.

In a news briefing, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said that revisions were made to the DoH’s draft was submitted to the Office of the Executive Secretary on Tuesday morning.

This after Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo questioned during the Cabinet meeting an inconsistency with Republic Act 9211, Tobacco Regulation Act, that allows the placement of designated smoking areas in a building.

“The revision was already submitted at 8 a.m. this morning to the Office of the Executive Secretary and then—and then it will be signed as soon as the President comes back, as soon as he comes to office,” he said.

POLICE Supt. Rafael Dumlao, former head of the Philippine National Police Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, on Tuesday asked the Department of Justice to dismiss the criminal charges against him, saying he was not behind the abduction and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo in October last year.

Dumlao made the denial as he attended the DoJ preliminary investigation and submitted his counteraffidavit on charges of kidnapping for ransom and serious illegal detention with homicide, robbery, carnapping, falsification and obstruction of justice filed by his colleagues from the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group.

Dumlao disputed the allegations of other respondents, including Senior Police Officer 2 Ricky Sta. Isabel,

Senior Police Officer 4 Roy Villegas and Jerry Omlang, accusing him as the brains in kidnap slaying of the South Korean businessman.

“The testimony of witnesses and records of the investigation have no showing that I performed any overt act that would make me liable for the crime of kidnapping for ransom and illegal detention with homicide. It is crystal clear that I was never present in the kidnapping and/or detention of the victims, including the event of his eventual demise,” Dumlao said, in his 13-page counter-affidavit.

The police officer also revealed in his counter-affidavit the involvement of three NBI officials—former NBI deputy director for investigation services Jose “Jojo” Yap; former National Capital Region director Ricardo Diaz and former Task Force against Illegal Drugs head Roel Bolivar, saying Sta.

IN BRIEF Lawsuit filed vs Bestlink FIVE students of Bestlink College of the Philippines have filed a P10-million damage suit before the Quezon City Regional Trial Court against the school management, Panda Coach and Harana Tourist Bus firms in connection with a fatal road mishap in Tanay, Rizal in February.

On behalf of the five survivors, all first-year college students, their parents were accompanied by lawyers Ariel Inton, Rolando Sibal and Victor Rodriguez of the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection in the filing of the civil suit.

One of the student-complainants, Mark Barcelona, is still confined at the Amang Rodriguez Memorial Medical Center in Marikina City due to liver injury caused by the bus crash. The class suit was raffled off to Branch 105.

At least 13 students, a teacher and the bus driver were killed in the road mishap. Rio N. Araja

DAR reviews land reform beneficiaries

SALUTE TO WOMEN. Navotas City Mayor John Rey Tiangco distributes roses to all female employees of the Navotas City to mark International Women’s Month. Andrew Rabulan

Cop seeks Jee case dismissal

By Rey E. Requejo

a tenfold resurgence.

Bertiz opposition followed that of Kabayan Party-list Rep. Harry L. Roque and Senate Minority Leader Vicente Sotto III. Roque opposed Ubial’s confirmation because “she is not the right person to head a department” while Sotto said he would block her confirmation because of her distribution of condoms to schoolchildren.

Also in a letter to Pimentel, Roque scored Ubial’s “propensity to lie in order to cover up for her incompetence” as exemplified by her handling of the Zika virus and Dengue Vaccine Issue and other various documented behavior.

Roque also raised her supposedly poor work ethic and performance at present and throughout her 28 years of being in the DoH. The grounds for opposition are supported likewise by the members of the Action for Good Governance who pointed out specifically her “wastage of government resources” through her habit of taking excessive trips both internationally and domestically where she allegedly would bring with her a huge entourage, including family and friends.

Isabel dropped their names as those responsible for the operation on Jee. Because of this, he asked the DoJ to dismiss the charges against him, citing inconsistencies in the statements of Sta. Isabel, Villegas and Omlang.

“At best, the statements of Sta. Isabel, Villegas and Omlang trying to implicate me in the offenses that they themselves perpetrated only serve to strengthen my innocence. Their statements and inconsistencies cast a serious doubt over the credibility of their narrations,” he claimed.

The other respondents—Gream funeral employees Epephany Gotera, Teodolito Macato Tarepe, Kevin Enriquez, Robert John Tobias and Bernardo Maraya—also denied knowledge and participation in the kidnapping and killing of the Korean businessman.

They also submitted their counteraffidavits in hearing yesterday.

MIAA awards honest workers

By Joel E. Zurbano THE Manila International Airport Authority celebrated its 35th anniversary with the awarding of 39 workers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport for their outstanding performance, responsibilities and honesty in the line of duty.

MIAA general manager Ed Monreal led the commendation of the honest airport-based rank-and-file employees from different government and private agencies who returned gadgets, cash and other valuable items which were left behind by passengers.

He said the workers are personnel of Airport Police Department (APD), Office for Transportation Security, Police-Aviation Security Group, Bu-

reau of Customs, some security personnel of different agencies, transport and job-order personnel.

The airport authority also lauded three APD personnel airport policemen who were responsible for the apprehension and prosecution of a robbery hold-up suspect.

A special citation was also given to the Chinese General Hospital and Medical Center for its generous contribution and services in the Community Outreach Program as part of the MIAA’s Corporate Social Responsibility held last Dec. 29 at the APD headquarters wherein 184 indigents from six barangays were benefitted in the medical mission.

Also part of the celebration was the Walk for a Cause project over the weekend participated by more than 500 airport employees.

THE Department of Agrarian Reform is now in the process of validating 6,212 farmer-beneficiaries of the Hacienda Luisita Inc. in Tarlac to determine their current status under the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program.

Secretary Rafael Mariano tasked Undersecretary Marcos Risonar, along with the other agency officials and employees in Tarlac, to conduct a threeweek validation.

The validation, which was pilot-tested in Barangay Balete, is the department’s nationwide information-gathering to know the status of agrarian reform beneficiaries.

Barangay Balete, which has 57.42 hectares with 87 farmerbeneficiaries, is one in 10 barangays of the awarded 4,099.92hectare Hacienda Luisita.

According to Risonar, the validation will determine if farmers are in their respective lot assignment and are actually tilling it themselves.

“There are reports that farmerbeneficiaries lease, rent or sell their lands. If the informations are true, we could come up with corrective measure to protect the welfare of the farmers,” he said.

“This is also to determine if there is reconcentration of awarded lands to previous landowners.

We will ask the agrarian reform beneficiaries about their current situations. From there, we will compile all their answers to establish conclusion that will address their immediate concerns in their communities.”

The validation started March 7 and will end on March 24 to gather information from 6,212 farmer-beneficiaries of Hacienda Luisita. Rio N. Araja

Sports Antique hosts 60th Palarong Pambansa ATHLETES from the National Capital Region, the Southern Tagalog and the Western Visayas Region will once again fight for supremacy in the 60th Palarong Pambansa in San Jose, Antique.

The annual games are set to be held from April 23 to 29, and will see the participation of studentathletes from 18 regions of the Philippines.

Organized and governed by the Department of Education, it is seen as one of the grandest sporting events every summer in the country.

Last year, NCR claimed 104 gold medals, 57 silvers and 48 bronzes to grab the overall honors for another year.

Southern Tagalog took second with 40-43-59 gold-silver bronze haul, followed by Western Visayas (35-35-39).

In fourth was Central Visayas (21-39-29).

Some 10,000 student-athletes from the country’s 18 regions, along with sports officials, are expected to participate in this year’s games.

The Palarong Pambansa aims to promote Physical Education (PE) and sports as integral parts of basic education for the youth to become responsible and globally competitive citizens of the country.

It also aims to inculcate in their minds the spirit of discipline, teamwork, excellence, fair play, solidarity, sportsmanship, and other inherent values, and promote and achieve peace through sports.

This will be the first time that Antique province will host the Palarong Pambansa.

Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental was edged out by a point during the voting done last November by the Palarong Pambansa Selection Committee. Peter Atencio

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Carrasco sees SEAG gold

By Peter Atencio

T

HE Philippine ice hockey team that won the country’s first ever bronze medal in the recent 8th Asian Winter Games will likely win the gold in the coming Southeast Asian Games.

SEAG task force head Tom Carrasco believes so after the national squad claimed the division 2 honors last month in Sapporo, Japan.

Because of this, the squad can see action in the biennial meet with two other figure skaters.

“They won four games and lost only once. They have earned a slot to the SEA Games,” said

Carrasco during yesterday’s weekly PSA Forum at the Golden Phoenix Hotel in Pasay City.

He was among the many leaders of national sports associations who guested with Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, POC vice president Joey Romasanta, SEA Games chef de mission Cynthia

Carreon, taekwondo’s Monsour del Rosario and karatedo’s Raymund Lee-Reyes.

Carrasco, who was the chef de mission to the Sapporo meet, recalled that Team Pilipinas struck with five goals in the first period to lead the Philippines to 9-2 win over Macau in the finals.

It was the only medal won so far by Philippines in the weeklong meet, which went on Feb. 19 to 26 in Sapporo and Obihiro, Japan.

The ice hockey team will join figure skater Michael Martinez and speed skater Kathryn Magno.

Martinez was ninth in the men’s singles division, while Magno placed 19th, 22nd, and

23rd in the 500-meter, 1000 and 1500-meter events.

Martinez and Magno were the best finishing Southeast Asian athletes in their disciplines.

This will be the first time that the three disciplines will be held in the biennial meet.

Carrasco said the task force will discuss their inclusion to the national delegation in today’s second round of talks with the national sports association on the list of athletes who can be sent to the SEA Games this August.

Meanwhile, the POC is getting ready to finalize talks with the provincial government of Zambales on it plans to send an initial batch of more than a hundred athletes

Emotional farewell for Lee

Philippine Olympic Committee President Jose Cojuangco speaks during the PSA Forum at Pasay City. With him are, from left: SEAG task force head Tom Carrasco, SEA Games chef de mission Cynthia Carreon and POC Vice President Joey Romasanta. Ey Acasio

China opens training facilities to PH athletes CHINA invited Filipino athletes to train in high performance centers in Beijing and Shanghai.

This will be possible for the first time after Chinese authorities and officials of the Philippine Sports Commission met last week in Beijing.

After a Memorandum of Understanding on Sports Cooperation was signed, Filipino athletes

will have access to training facilities in China.

“Aside from the Beijing Sports University, we also have the Shanghai Sports University extending their help,” National Training Director Marc Velasco said.

Velasco accompanied PSC chairman William Ramirez in his four-day visit to Beijing.

While there, Ramirez signed an MOU with Gou Zhongwen, director of the State Sports Administration last Feb. 28, and in the presence of Philipine Embassy Consul General Elizabeth Te. “We are just limited to this part. But eventually, they’re willing to help us (in other areas) depending on our wish list,”

said National Training Director Marc Velasco.

The agreement encourages both countries to exchange views on relevant issues on sports exchanges and cooperation.

Discussions are also going on order for national athletes to have access of facilities in Shanghai.

Shanghai Sports University is

noted for its expertise in swimming, badminton, gymnastics and diving.

Velasco said China is willing to work with the Philippine side, in the framework of the memorandum to further strengthen the sports exchanges, and actively promote bilateral sports cooperation to achieve greater development. Peter Atencio

Bogut gone in 60 seconds LOS ANGELES—Andrew Bogut suffered a season-threatening broken leg on his Cleveland debut as the Cavaliers slumped to a 106-98 defeat against the Miami Heat on Monday.

Bogut, who only joined Cleveland as a free agent last Thursday, limped out of the action just 58 seconds into his debut at the Quicken Loans Arena following a collision with forward Okaro White.

The 32-year-old Australian star was helped to the locker room by his teammates and took no further part in the game.

Test results later revealed a fractured tibia, an injury which immediately placed a question mark against his availability for the rest of the season.

Cavaliers star LeBron James said he had guessed the seriousness of the injury after hearing a “crack”.

“I heard a break,” James told reporters. “As soon as the collision happened, I heard a break.

When I went over to him and he said it, I already knew, I heard it crack.”

The injury is another blow to the Cavaliers, who had already lost Kevin Love and J.R Smith to injuries.

Bogut’s arrival had been seen as giving the Cavaliers’ roster a key inside player with championship experience.

Bogut, a three-time Olympian with Australia, had helped the Golden State Warriors beat the Cavaliers in the 2015 NBA Finals.

“How would you think his spirit’s like? He played 58 seconds,” James said when asked about Bogut’s mood. “And have an injury like that to take you out for the rest of the season, possibly, and you really, there’s not

much you can say,” added James, who finished with 30 points.

With Bogut missing on Monday, Eastern Conference leaders Cleveland were on the wrong end of a determined Miami performance.

Former Cleveland player Dion Waiters scored 29 points against his former club to lead the Heat to victory.

Waiters made 12 of 24 from the field and capped his display by banking in a three-pointer as the seconds ran down to stymie a late comeback by the Cavs.

Waiters later admitted he had felt “good” scoring on his return to Cleveland.

“But the point is to get a win.

That’s the biggest thing,” he said.

“Especially against the champs.

You always want to test yourself to see where you’re at. That’s a helluva team over there.” AFP

Pamodzi Sports Consulting, the business of Papa Massata Diack, to favour the awarding of the Games to Rio. At the time, Lamine Diack was president of the IAAF and a voting member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Papa Massata Diack acted as a marketing consultant for the IAAF. “This company (Brazilian) was a client,” said Pape Massata Diack of Soares Filho’s Matlock Capital Group, slamming “unfounded accusations”.

According to the newspaper, “magistrates suspect manoeuvres intended to buy the votes of IOC members at the time of the designation”.

“There is an unworthy witch

hunt created around this case, while the investigation is not credible, has not been done in a professional way and (is) contradictory,” said Papa Massata Diack.

Diack and his father are both under criminal investigation in France, with Lamine Diack charged with corruption and aggravated money laundering.

The French judicial investigation, which initially focused on corruption within the IAAF, was extended in December 2015 to the awarding of the 2016 Olympics to Rio and the 2020 Games to Tokyo.

Since December 2015, Papa Massata Diack has been placed on Interpol’s list of most wanted persons after an

BIRMINGHAM, United Kingdom— Chong Wei appears to have won his race against time to make an against-the-odds bid for another title in the last All-England Open of his career this week.

It seemed that the world number one might be denied a farewell to the famous tournament, following early prognoses on knee ligament damage which suggested he could be out for several weeks.

Lee’s name is on the schedule for Wednesday’s first round matches and the Malaysian is determined to take part in what will almost certainly be his last appearance at the world’s oldest tournament.

It means that Lee, three times an Olympic silver medallist, and Lin Dan, three times an Olympic champion, may yet star together in a last episode of the most famous rivalry of all time—long after it seemed over.

The tenaciously light-footed Malaysian and the charismatic Chinese left-hander have landed in opposite halves of the draw, which means Sunday’s final could produce their 38th encounter.

Lin and Lee both spoke about saying goodbye before the 2012 Olympics in London, but after playing an epic final against each other, both changed their minds and soldiered on through injury-troubled years until the 2016 Games in Rio. Farewells will certainly be said at this venue—and possibly to each other. Lin has avoided responding to the continual retirement gossip but Lee has suggested that he won’t play another All-England.

“I am ready for it (retirement),” he said.

“And I really want to go.”

Though he may be trying to battle on till August, and attempting to win another title narrowly to have eluded him—the World Championships—Lee will surely not continue beyond that. AFP

NU halts UE run

Cleveland Cavaliers center Andrew Bogut (6) clutches his leg after getting hurt in the first half while playing the Miami Heat at Quicken Loans Arena on March 6 in Cleveland, Ohio. AFP

Disgraced athletics chief’s son slams ‘witch hunt’ DAKAR, Senegal—Papa Massata Diack, son of disgraced former IAAF chief Lamine Diack, slammed corruption allegations against him over the awarding of the 2016 Olympic Games to Rio as a “witch hunt”, in an exclusive interview with AFP on Monday.

“Rio won fairly,” Papa Massata Diack, who rarely speaks to the international media, insisted to AFP, as he refuted “in the most virulent manner” accusations made against him in the French daily Le Monde.

According to Le Monde, three days before the IOC awarded the Games to Rio, Brazilian businessman Cesar Menezes Soares Filho paid $1.5 million (1.4m euros) to

to the Zambales Sports Complex.

The batch of athletes going to Iba, Zambales next month are set to undergo specialized training for their coming stint in the SEA Games.

“At the moment, we are trying to complete a list of athletes that will undergo specialized training in the facilities in Zambales,” said Cojuangco.

These are members of the national team for pencak silat, muay thai and dragon boat.

The POC has plans to turn the sports complex into national training center.

The Governor of Zambales, Amor Deles, offered the use of the facilities to the POC and the NSAs.

arrest warrant was issued by France in connection with the prosecution of his father.

Papa Massata Diack was last year banned for life by the independent IAAF ethics committee over corruption and cover-up allegations linked to Russian doping.

“They should come to Senegal to investigate and I can respond formally instead of organising leaks in the press,” said Papa Massat Diack, who lives in Dakar as the Senegalese government has indicated he will not be extradited to France.

In the interview with AFP, Papa Massata Diack also deplored the treatment of his 83-year-old father, “taken

hostage” by France.

“They don’t even want to grant him temporary release.

They want to make him crack psychologically,” he said.

Another cited in Le Monde, Namibian sprinter Frankie Fredericks on Monday stepped down from an IAAF taskforce investigating Russian doping amid a corruption probe.

“I have decided to step aside from the taskforce so that the integrity of its work is not questioned due to the allegations made against me in Le Monde,” the 49-year-old was quoted as saying in an IAAF statement.

“It is important that the taskforce’s mission is seen as free and fair with no outside influence.” AFP

MEN’S titleholder National University handed University of the East its first loss of the UAAP Season 79 lawn tennis tournament with a 3-2 victory over the weekend.

Aside from keeping their championship hopes alive with a 3-3 record, the Bulldogs ended the AJ Lim-led Red Warriors’ six-tie winning run at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

“Great effort today guys!! We couldn’t pull it off today, but I will always be proud to be part of our team! Let’s take this as a lesson to keep fighting and moving forward.

Heads up, Red Warriors!” said Lim, who is still undefeated in seven singles matches, in a Facebook message.

Reigning women’s champions NU extended its perfect run to six following a 4-1 conquest of Ateneo.

The men’s and women’s teams of University of Santo Tomas keep their hold of second place via identical 4-1 wins over De La Salle and UP, respectively.

The Growling Tigers improved to 4-2 to stay above the third-running Bulldogs in the race for one of the two slots in the best-ofthree men’s championship.

UST stayed within reach of NU in women’s play with its fifth win in six ties.

The Lady Maroons remained in third place behind the Tigresses with a 2-3 card.

The team ties will resume at 8 a.m. today at the same Malate venue.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/49 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/42 00-00-00-00-00-00 6 DIGITS 0-0-0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

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

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

Sports

Llamas, Milliam prevail at PEPPP

San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard (2) drives past Houston Rockets guard James Harden on March 6 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. AFP

Leonard outlasts Harden to lead Spurs past Rockets L

OS ANGELES— Kawhi Leonard won an epic duel with James Harden as the San Antonio Spurs downed the Houston Rockets 112-110 in a thrilling NBA battle on Monday.

Leonard and Harden, two of the most in-form players in the league, both finished with identical tallies of 39 points after a pulsating shoot-out between the Texas rivals in San Antonio.

It was Leonard who ultimately settled the contest for San Antonio after Harden’s free throw with 39 seconds left gave the Rockets a 108-107 lead.

A Leonard three-pointer from above the top of the key put the Spurs 110-108 ahead before two more free throws with 14.5 sec-

onds remaining sealed a dramatic win.

The win was an eighth-straight victory for San Antonio, who improved to 49-13, three games behind Western Conference leaders Golden State.

Leonard’s points haul was his 23rd 30-point game of the season. Tony Parker added 19 points while LaMarcus Aldridge had 15 points for the Spurs.

Harden, meanwhile, had 12 assists as well as his 39 points, league-leading 50th double-dou-

ble of the season. Houston are third in the Western Conference standings at 44-20.

Elsewhere Monday, Golden State tightened their grip on the West with a 119-111 win over the Atlanta Hawks.

The Warriors, who are readjusting following the loss to injury last week of Kevin Durant, looked to veteran Andre Iguodala to provide the spark against the Hawks.

Iguodala, a pivotal figure in the Warriors’ march to the NBA Finals title in 2015, came up with 24 points off the bench to help subdue Atlanta.

“Collectively, as a unit, we try to make up for KD’s presence,” Iguodala said. “Tonight we did a great job of that.”

Iguodala’s performance delighted

Warriors coach Steve Kerr.

“I told him it looked like he was 25 out there again,” he said of the 33-year-old.

“Andre has been absolutely phenomenal the last couple of weeks.

He just looks so spry out there and young and confident and such a great basketball player.”

Warriors star Stephen Curry backed Iguodala with his own 24-point haul as well as nine assists and four rebounds.

But while Golden State marched on, Eastern Conference rivals Cleveland, the defending NBA Finals champions, had a night to forget at the Quicken Loans Arena.

LeBron James finished with 30 points and Kyrie Irving had 32 points, but it was not enough to

stop the Cavaliers from sliding to a 106-98 defeat against the Miami Heat.

The defeat was overshadowed by a cruel injury to new Cavaliers recruit Andrew Bogut, who limped off injured just 58 seconds into his Cleveland career after joining from Philadelphia last Thursday.

Tests later revealed the 32-yearold Australian star had suffered a broken leg.

James later said he feared the worst after hearing the “crack” of a leg break, which could spell the end of Bogut’s season.

“I heard a break,” James told reporters. “As soon as the collision happened, I heard a break.

When I went over to him and he said it, I already knew, I heard it crack.” AFP

ALEXA Milliam and fellow La Carlota ace Tracy Llamas annexed two victories each in varying fashions while local bet Angelo Mejia took the 16-andunder crown in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Roxas leg regional tennis tournament in Capiz last Monday.

The top-seeded Milliam overpowered Abigail Sacapano, 6-2, 6-1, to clinch the girls’ 12-U title then ripped Althea Martirez, 6-1, 6-1, for the 14-U diadem while Llamas repelled Averille Sacapano twice, 7-6(4), 0-6, 10-5, in the 16-U finals and 5-7, 7-5, 10-8, for the 18-U crown in the Group 2 tournament sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

Mejia, on the other hand, atoned for his 3-6, 3-6 setback to Marben Mosquera in the boys’ 14-U finals with a tough 7-5, 6-3 victory over the Ilolio rising star in the 16-U championship.

“Milliam and Llamas’ victories augured well for their campaign at home in the next leg while Mejia and Mosquera continued to show promise and serve as inspiration to the rest of the young players seeking ranking points and recognition,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

Milliam and Mejia later bagged the MVP honors in the Roxas stop of the 54-leg circuit sanctioned by Philta and backed

by Asiatraders Corp.

Top seed and young local bet Derrick Guillano survived Marben Alimarin, 4-2, 2-4, 10-4, in the semis but crushed Dolores Hofilena, 4-0, 4-0, to run away with the 10-unisex diadem while fancied Khenz Justiniani, also of La Carlota, bagged the boys’ 12-U plum with a 7-6(4), 6-3 win over unranked Rafael Legaspi.

Third ranked Alfrancis Andrade from Kalibo also shared the spotlight as he stunned top seed Lorenzo Legaspi, 6-0, 6-2, for the 18-U crown. The duo later teamed up to beat Justin Alba and JJ Gazo, 8-3, for the 18-U doubles title.

DJ Guillano and Mejia trounced Justiniani and Mosquera, 8-3, for the boys’ 14-U crown; Martirez and Abigail Sacapano held off Rissa Cubos and Avril Suace, 8-5, for the girls’ 14-U plum; Llamas and Milliam subdued Claire Clavaton and Averille Sacapano, 8-4, for the 18-U crown; and Alimarin and RJ Guillano routed Eric Binas and Aleeva Suace, 8-2, for the 10-unisex diadem.

NU faces Catalan gets second chance at ONE: Warrior Kingdom dangerous Adamson Games today:

(Filoil Flying V Centre) 8 a.m. – UP vs DLSU (Men) 10 a.m. – ADMU vs FEU (Men) 2 p.m. – NU vs AdU (Women) 4 p.m. – DLSU vs FEU (Women)

LOCKED in a four-way logjam from third to sixth place to start the second round, National University hopes to make another winning run as it battles dangerous Adamson University in the UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre. Gametime is at 2 p.m.

Defending champion De La Salle, dropped to second with a 5-2 card after closing the first round with a four-set loss to fierce rival Ateneo over the weekend, plays Far Eastern University in the day’s other game at 4 p.m.

The Lady Spikers hope to duplicate their 29-27, 25-22, 25-23 win over the Lady Tamaraws in the first round, as coach Ramil de Jesus is pulling all the stops to avoid losing two in a row.

After an alarming three-game skid that put their Final Four aspirations in question, the Lady Bulldogs finally remembered what it takes to win games.

NU showed steely resolve to beat University of the Philippines, 25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 18-25, 15-12, last Sunday to wound up with a 4-3 record.

Coach Roger Gorayeb saw a solid Lady Bulldogs team against the Lady Maroons, with setter Jasmine Nabor connecting well with 6-foot5 Jaja Santiago, while Risa Sato and Jorelle Singh also delivered.

“Winning this game will make them back from their right senses na babalik yung tiwala nila,” said Gorayeb. “We have to work hard again and practice hard.”

Filipino fighter Rabin Catalan reaches out to cheering fans as he makes his way from the stage to the cage before another ONE Championship bout. ONE Championship

EVERYONE deserves second chances.

This is what Filipino fighter Rabin “The Rock” Catalan gets as he locks horns with undefeated Thai standout Pongsiri “Punhod” Mitsatit in his second outing as a ONE Championship competitor.

Both men are booked to face each other on the undercard of ONE: Warrior Kingdom, which takes place at the 12,000-seater Impact Arena in Bangkok, Thailand on Saturday, March 11.

An undefeated prospect from Chiang Mai, Thailand, Mitsatit holds a stellar winloss standing of 7-0, with five knockout triumphs and one submission victory.

Catalan might have his hands full against Mitsatit, but he remains unper-

turbed with the fact that the most challenging bout in his eight-year professional mixed martial arts (MMA) career is ahead of him.

“I am not worried because he is undefeated. I know he has won most of his fights by finish. Plus, he will have the whole arena cheering for him on fight night. I don’t see it as a problem. To me, this is a challenge that can bring out the best in me,” he said.

“This is MMA. The core of martial arts is to unleash a human’s true potential. I want to know my potential in this sport. That’s why I am happy to be in this fight against a talented fighter like him,” Catalan added.

The 30-year-old native of Iloilo City shared that he had a solid preparation for his return to the ONE Cham-

pionship cage as he trained with close friend and fellow ONE Championship athlete Rocky Batolbatol.

Catalan also divulged that he worked on his ground game with the best Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioners at Mindanao Ultimate Mixed Martial Arts, an MMA training facility that is based in Cagayan De Oro City, Misamis Oriental and houses top fighters in the Philippine’s southernmost major island of Mindanao.

“My preparation for this fight has been absolutely awesome. I got help from my friends and teammates.

They helped me to level up my striking. For this fight, I did extra work on my grappling. This will probably be the best camp that I’ve ever had in my career,” he stated.

ICTSI Champion Tour begins TAGAYTAY—The Ladies Philippine Golf Tour kicks off its new season with the ICTSI Champion Tour today, Wednesday, March 8 with the local aces up against a stellar field from Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, Korea and China at the Splendido Taal Golf Club here.

The $75,000 championship is actually one of the two events co-sanctioned by the Taiwan LPGA and the LPGT, this being the third leg of the Taiwan’s pro circuit with Chen Yu-ju, currently No. 4 in the TLPGA Order of Merit, leading the 26-player contingent in the title chase tipped to go down-to-the-wire.

Thailand, which has won a number of tournaments on the LPGT, is fielding in a 23-player cast, headed by for-

mer winners Saruttaya Ngam-usawan, Wannasiri Sirisampant and Amolkan Phalajivin while Korea will be led by former amateur LPGT winner Hwang Min-jeong.

But the local bets will be up to the challenge with Symetra Tour campaigners Dottie Ardina, Cyna Rodriguez and Mia Piccio and former US Girls’ Junior champion and manytime LPGT titlist Princess Superal all primed up for the championship organized and conducted by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. Focus will also be on Pauline del Rosario, a multi-titled amateur who’s launching his pro career in this tournament serving as the first of two Taiwan LPGA events, the other being the ICTSI Champion Tour, also a $75,000

championship, at Mt. Malarayat in Lipa City, Batangas next week.

Del Rosario hopes to come out strong in her 8:10 a.m. flight with Taiwanese Yen Hsin-ning and Nattagate Nimitpongkul of Thailand while Ardina, priming up for her return stint in the lucrative LPGA Tour, starts at 7:40 a.m. in the company of Kuo Ai-chen of Taiwan and Thai Piyathida Ployumsri, both on No. 1.

Rodriguez, who has dominated the first three ICTSI LPGT editions, served notice of her title drive as she led her team that included Zeus Mangubat, Rolando Bool and Dan Salvador to victory with an -18 under 54 in yesterday’s proam tournament. She drew Thai veteran Saraporn Chamchoi and Weng Liting of Taiwan at 8:20 a.m., also on No. 1.

Cyna Rodriguez watches the flight of the ball after teeing off.

She will be one of the favorites during ICTSI Champion Tour.

Business

Poorest provinces do not host a mine B3

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

Inflation surged to 3.3% in February

CHINESE MINISTER VISITS PH. China’s newly-

appointed Ministry of Commerce Minister Zhong Shan (right) meets with the Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez in Makati City during the 28th Philippine-Chinese Joint Commission on Economic and Trade Cooperation. Serving as the official bilateral mechanism for discussion of trade, investments and economic cooperation, the JCETC was convened after a five-year hiatus, and serves as a quick follow through of President Rodrigo Duterte’s state visit to China in October 2016. Both sides agreed on important initiatives geared towards improving overall levels of trade and investment between the two countries.

By Julito G. Rada INFLATION accelerated to a 27-month high of 3.3 percent in February from 2.7 percent in January, driven by higher prices of food and electricity and the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar, the National Economic and Development Authority said Tuesday.

The February rate was also the first time in more than two years that inflation breached the 3-percent mark. The last time inflation settled beyond the 3-percent level was in November 2014 when it hit 3.7 percent.

Neda director-general Ernesto Pernia said despite the possibility of inflation settling within the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent for the year, risks to inflation outlook appeared to be tilted to the upside.

“This could drive inflation towards the higher end of the target,” Pernia said.

The February inflation brought the average in the first two months at 3 percent, at the middle of the government’s target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the February rate confirmed the regulator’s expectations that the monthly path of inflation would move up and the average for the year would be within target. The February inflation was within Bangko Sentral’s forecast for the month at 2.7 percent to 3.9 percent.

“As the uptick is in line with forecast, there appears to be no

IN BRIEF Pre-need industry posts 26.5% growth THE pre-need industry registered a 26.53-percent increase in net income in 2016 to P2.07 billion from P1.64 billion in 2015, driven by significant increases in net profit of six companies.

Insurance commissioner Dennis Funa said in a statement the net profit growth of the six insurance firms ranged from 51.86 percent to 895.69 percent.

The industry’s total premium, however, declined 1 percent to P16.29 billion from P16.36 billion in 2015.

The pre-need industry sold 697,869 plans with an equivalent of total contract price of P28.19 billion last year.

This was an increase of less than one percent from the 694,163 plans sold in the same period in 2015.

Data showed while the sales of life plans rose 1.35 percent year-on-year to 680,649 plans in 2016 from 671,564 plans in 2015, the number of pension and educational plans fell 24.70 percent to 16,328 from 21,648, and 2.51 percent to 892 from 915, respectively.

The sector’s total assets rose 2.62 percent year-on-year to P120.10 billion from P117.01 billion. Julito G. Rada

Mitsibushi’s local output jumps 46% MITSUBISHI Motors Philippines Corp. said Tuesday local production volume jumped 46 percent to 22,008 units in 2016, the highest output since 1998.

MMPC president and chief executive Yoshiaki Kato said the production output was a significant improvement from 15,066 units in 2015, led by bestselling nameplates and the contribution of the L300 and Adventure models to overall sales.

“We are pleased to achieve such huge increase in production volume in 2016. This improvement can be credited to our stable economy which brings forth strong consumer confidence and also the collective efforts our employees and our business partners,” he said.

Mitsubishi, with the longest history of more than 50 years of vehicle production, was the first automaker to achieve 500,000 production milestone in 2009 and posted a new record of 600,000 units in 2016.

The company said with the proven reliability and low maintenance cost of locally produced L300 and Adventure, both models continued to surge last year which encouraged MMPC to maximize its production capacity.

Mitsubishi started two shift production operations and hired additional 500 employees in November last year to supplement production operations.

Prior to the production of L300 and Adventure, Mitsubishi’s lineup included models of Lancer, Galant, Space Wagon, Strada, Pajero and Fuso trucks.

Othel V. Campos

B1

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing March 7, 2017

8000 7600 7200 6800

PLDT bares IT layoff plan as income drops

By Darwin G. Amojelar

P year.

LDT Inc. said Tuesday it will lay off some of its IT employees in the second quarter, after net earnings dipped last

PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan told reporters the manpower reduction was still “under discussion.” PLDT has over 1,000 IT personnel.

“Hopefully, second quarter,” Pangilinan said, when asked about the timeframe of the planned manpower reduction.

He said PLDT was in talks with IBM to outsource its IT needs.

“In the course of providing IT needs, they will need people to provide it. So, the suggestion is they [IBM] will take over some of the IT personnels [of PLDT].

We want to make sure that they will keep their jobs,” Pangilinan said.

Pangilinan said he was expecting significant savings from the streamlining of manpower.

PLDT reduced 5 percent to 6 percent of its workforce in 2015.

The company had 17,176 employees as end-2015.

PLDT said consolidated core profit fell 21 percent in 2016 to P27.9 billion from a year ago, on higher spending to support its fixed and mobile network expansion.

“We faced very tough tests in the past year as competition intensified and the shift to digital services accelerated. Our results reflect the impact of these challenges, but also point to us the way forward. We are focused on growing our data and digital services,” Pangilinan said.

Net income also dipped 9 percent to P20.16 billon last year from P22.07 billon in 2015.

Pangilinan said the company was not yet out of the woods, but

the prospects this year looked brighter.

Pangilinan said the company was capitalizing on the momentum of its Home and Enterprise businesses, which had more headroom for growth and enjoyed significant advantage in terms of superior digital network infrastructure and brand strength.

He said 50 percent of revenues starting 2016 would come from Home and Enterprise business, representing a significant engine for growth.

“At the same time, we are reenergizing our wireless consumer business by focusing on quality subscribers. Number of subscribers is not as important metric as it was before,” Pangilinan said.

Chinese minister commits $3.4-b financing to PH

By Othel V. Campos NEWLY-INSTALLED China Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan visited the Philippines and committed over $3.4 billion worth of funding support for three major infrastructure projects.

The Philippines and China signed the 28th Joint Commission of Economic and Trade Cooperation, highlighted by specific agreements that included a $3.42-billion credit facility.

Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said three priority projects were identified mainly for the credit fa-

cility, including the $53.9-million Chico River Pump Irrigation project; $374-million New Centennial Water Source-Kaliwa Dam Project; and the $3-billion NorthSouth railway – South Line.

“We are pleased that our efforts in government are moving in parallel with opportunities being opened for the private sector to come in. This cooperation has taken us five years to agree upon and sign,” he said.

The first two projects are expected to be finalized within the first semester of 2017, while the third project which is the North-

South railway is expected to be signed by end of the year.

Zhong said both sides agreed to “execute the important consensus that was reached between our leaders with emphasis on ChinesFilipino economy which are both complementary.”

“The Philippines have very strong potential to tap and promote trade growth with China which is a 1.3-billion strong consumer market. We are open to Philippines products,” he said.

China is also keen on helping the Philippines expedite infrastructure programs that have di-

rect bearing on the “population” such as job-intensive projects “to improve [the Filipinos’] living standards,” he said.

The signing culminated with ten agreements that include the 6-year development program for economic trade cooperation that will serve as the overall framework for bilateral economic cooperation of the Duterte administration exchange of notes on operational procedure to utilize China’s concessional loans and Chinese assistance in the form of grants for the construction of two bridges over the Pasig River.

6400 6000

7,294.52 19.35

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing MARCH 7, 2017 45.00 46.50 48.00 49.50

P50.270 CLOSE

51.00

HIGH P50.270 LOW P50.370 AVERAGE P50.319 VOLUME 481.500M

P500.00-P760.00 LPG/11-kg tank P40.15-P49.25 Unleaded Gasoline P28.75-P34.65 Diesel

OPRICES IL TODAY

P28.50-P36.85 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, March 7, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.3790

Japan

Yen

0.008781

0.4424

UK

Pound

1.223500

61.6387

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128798

6.4887

Switzerland

Franc

0.988240

49.7865

Canada

Dollar

0.745823

37.5738

Singapore

Dollar

0.708717

35.7045

Australia

Dollar

0.758200

38.1974

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652520

133.6313

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266645

13.4333

Brunei

Dollar

0.706215

35.5784

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.028523

1.4370

UAE

Dirham

0.272316

13.7190

Euro

Euro

1.058600

53.3312

Korea

Won

0.000866

0.0436

China

Yuan

0.145009

7.3054

India

Rupee

0.015004

0.7559

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.224921

11.3313

New Zealand

Dollar

0.699500

35.2401

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032307

1.6276 Source: PDS Bridge

Gross international reserves dip to $81.1b on debt payments FOREIGN reserves fell by $244 million to $81.132 billion in February from $81.376 million in January, as the government settled some of its international debt and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas prevented the peso from depreciating too fast.

Bangko Sentral Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the lower reserves was driven by outflows arising from the regulator’s foreign exchange operations.

“These were offset by net foreign currency deposits by the national government [which include the net proceeds from the new money component of the ROP global bonds issuance] and revaluation adjustments on the BSP ‘s gold holdings resulting from the increase in the price of gold in the international market,” Tetangco said.

The widening trade deficit weakened the country’s balance of payments position, creating pressures on the peso

and the GIR. The peso fell to a 10-year low of 50.4 against the US dollar on March 3, before recovering this week to settle at 50.27 against the greenback Tuesday.

Bangko Sentral said the endFebruary reserves level could cover 9.2 months’ worth of imports of goods and payments of services and primary income. It was also equivalent to 5.9 times the country’s short-term debt based on original maturity and 4.3 times based on residual maturity.

Net international reserves, which refer to the difference between BSP’s reserves and total short-term liabilities, decreased by $240 million to $81.13 billion as of end- February from the end-January level of $81.37 billion.

Data showed that the value of BSP ‘s gold holdings increased to $7.859 billion as of endFebruary from $7.641 billion a month ago. Julito G. Rada

GLOBE’S CASH DIVIDEND. Globe Telecom’s board of directors approves the declaration of the fourth-quarterly cash dividend of P22.75 per share for holders of common shares. Shown are (from left) Globe chief finance officer Rizza Maniego-Eala, chief commercial officer Albert de Larrazabal, president and chief executive Ernest Cu, senior advisor for consumer business Daniel Horan, chief information and technology officer Gil Genio and legal counsel Froilan Castelo.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market declines; Globe, SBC up SMIC set to spend S P73b for expansion TOCKS fell Tuesday to end a three-day advance, as investors assess the prospects of US interest-rate increase.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, dropped 19 points, or 0.3 percent, to close at 7,294.52. Four of the six sectoral indices declined, with only financials and services gaining slightly.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also fell 14 points, or 0.3 percent, to settle at 4,400.57, on a value turnover of P8.4 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 109 to 82, while 40 issues were unchanged.

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

by Globe Telecom Inc. which climbed 3.5 percent to P1,899 and Security Bank Corp. which rose 2.4 percent to P206.80.

BDO Unibank Inc. added 1.8 percent to close at P121.60.

Meanwhile, investors in most Asian markets built on the previous day’s advance Tuesday but with caution hanging in the air the gains were limited by concerns over Donald Trump’s lack of detail on economic policy as well as geopolitical risks.

Analysts said Trump’s weekend Twitter outburst accusing

his predecessor Barack Obama of tapping his phones during the election campaign had also spooked investors, while the dollar was unable to break past 114 yen despite a US interest rate hike all but certain.

While Trump’s speech to Congress last week fired optimism that he would press on with a bigspending, tax-cutting program, he has provided nothing in the way of color since.

Adding to the sense of trepidation were Trump’s claims about Obama and his call for Congress to investigate the unsubstantiated allegations, as well as the leaking of classified information linked to the tycoon’s ties with Russia.

“After a spectacular performance addressing the joint sitting of Congress put the Trump presi-

dency back on track, the weekend tweets reminded everyone that this Russian question needs to be addressed and answered,” Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at CFD and FX provider AxiTrader, said in a note.

“It also reminded investors that there are distractions which could slow down the execution and implementation of the tax and infrastructure spending plans they have put so much faith in recently,” McKenna said.

US shares, which last week touched record highs, started this week in the red, with all three main indexes down, while European markets also retreated on profittaking and concerns about financial giant Deutsche Bank.

With Bloomberg, AFP

By Jenniffer B. Austria SM INVESTMENTS Corp., the holding company of tycoon Henry Sy, allocated P73 billion for 2017 capital expenditures to finance the expansion of its property, retail and banking businesses.

SMIC said in an investors presentation posted on its website the conglomerate earmarked P62.7 billion for property unit SM Prime Holdings Inc. to build new malls, office, hotels and residential units.

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.48 336,000 48.6 11,300 99.5 3,142,940 4.23 40,000 121.6 4,052,920 1.27 54,000 40 700,500 16.18 300 20.7 2,676,200 1.69 61,000 840 100 0.66 1,317,000 81 4,252,400 0.73 708,000 14.56 700 57.35 151,460 240 1,930 112 1,030 90 3,560 39.1 495,900 206.8 2,865,270 1,775 325 79.85 78,240

1,166,150 547,400 312,561,841.50 169,350 496,134,316 68,220 28,026,625 4,854 55,374,570 103,410 84,000 871,340 344,351,032 518,140 10,192 8,686,269.50 460,060 115,860 320,400 19,378,030 589,407,306 579,875 6,245,478

518,345 143,468,618.50 -67,680 152,999,372 -14,122,270.00 -19,010,230 42,000 -4,620 -209,458,629.50 10,220 -368,761.50 -9,508,160 -255,242,344 89,500 4,624,931

43.1 5.28 0.82 1.42 19 0.265 97 8.12 16.54 165 23 14.7 58.05 91.65 99.95 2.1 6.15 12 12.64 7.6 6.83 5.87 1.76 21.4 72.9 12.2 16.4 6.6 1.64 194.8 77 7.7 4 30.9 26.6 14.66 292.2 0.265 6.5 3.55 8.99 2.34 7 1.9 76.8 4.9 266.4 5.01 2.8 12.68 4.32 1.46 163 4.45 1.67 1.04

INDUSTRIAL 43.45 2,256,700 5.52 1,818,000 0.83 887,000 1.43 326,000 20.15 80,900 0.28 9,680,000 97 300 8.19 14,309,300 16.54 3,166,700 165 120 23.5 186,800 15.1 13,700 60.5 32,190 91.65 220 99.95 480 2.1 85,000 6.18 6,000 12.2 47,500 12.64 9,198,800 7.65 552,200 6.85 638,200 6 15,492,500 1.76 2,000 21.65 2,195,200 73.5 74,690 12.2 1,300 16.4 38,300 6.69 698,800 1.7 786,000 194.9 2,031,830 77 10 7.86 664,500 4.4 3,562,000 31.25 1,751,400 26.7 187,000 14.74 4,676,200 293.8 115,930 0.265 10,360,000 6.5 19,900 3.61 786,000 9 1,522,300 2.34 323,000 7 5,981,800 2.07 8,400,000 78 1,703,560 4.95 316,000 266.4 20 5.01 58,100 2.9 362,000 12.74 925,700 4.32 53,000 1.46 188,000 163.4 1,422,680 4.45 16,000 1.68 1,811,000 1.05 483,000

98,098,270 9,856,578 733,160 471,070 1,595,417 2,628,900 29,100 118,047,343 52,617,478 19,800 4,367,905 205,544 1,899,336.50 20,169.50 47,976 179,380 36,980 571,202 117,314,030 4,220,887 4,367,669 92,904,754 3,520 47,690,205 5,473,553 15,860 637,898 4,695,804 1,310,330 396,729,421 770 5,200,770 17,407,570 54,379,465 4,988,985 69,071,574 33,976,584 2,775,350 130,310 2,831,570 13,698,814 760,250 42,235,027 17,094,290 131,318,006.50 1,551,020 5,328 291,087 1,028,900 11,795,164 228,960 278,110 232,396,160 71,200 3,039,180 507,120

30,451,570 -175,440 15,938,040 2,656,386 -11,750 180,544 -11,902 -2,160 397,652 29,633,190 -889,925 -3,132,059 26,064,398 -6,258,315 362,865 -212,448 -14,340 122,670 -37,217,401 -761,750 -300 -28,376,390 -777,734 430,970 1,127,630 2,198,176 -2,261,881 -200,450 12,626,342.50 1,006,440 252,504 127,110 2,079,604 -4,440 36,941,580 -1,972,110 -

0.385 73.9 12.7 1.19 6.36 0.39 0.375 825.5 8.87 13 8.1 5.41 0.184 1,242 6.18 78.75 5.26 1.17 7.9 14.96 0.42 6.87 0.064 1.1 1.98 106.6 4.92 670 1.54 270 0.295 0.255

0.37 73 12.58 1.12 6.36 0.375 0.375 817 8.8 12.66 8 5.41 0.183 1,204 6.04 76.5 4.96 1.11 7.81 13.9 0.415 6.77 0.059 1.1 1.98 105.6 4.02 658.5 1.51 268 0.295 0.245

HOLDING FIRMS 0.375 4,820,000 73.9 1,383,390 12.58 4,387,800 1.19 2,000 6.36 300 0.38 1,110,000 0.375 100,000 819.5 553,490 8.8 1,268,900 12.68 6,997,000 8.09 759,000 5.41 1,700 0.183 570,000 1,208 144,670 6.18 27,100 78.3 1,262,070 5.26 11,000 1.13 15,423,000 7.89 1,620,400 14.5 17,024,400 0.415 270,000 6.78 17,019,000 0.061 169,970,000 1.1 10,000 1.98 83,000 106.6 95,890 4.21 1,464,000 660 450,740 1.54 395,000 270 7,750 0.295 170,000 0.245 2,060,000

1,796,350 101,875,083 55,376,232 2,310 1,908 421,650 37,500 453,984,160 11,169,381 88,965,382 6,072,553 9,197 104,380 175,580,850 164,928 98,396,370.50 57,530 17,364,650 12,784,914 243,167,988 112,950 115,856,057 10,430,110 11,000 164,340 10,208,821 6,542,980 297,788,460 605,680 2,088,512 50,150 514,250

3,700 15,688,499 -2,045,454 -37,500 238,699,105 6,527,285 -23,827,132 82,350 -41,242,755 20,900,738.00 112,000 12,746,295 -58,232,756 -57,827,146 -63,000 4,628,253 -9,390 -86,927,520 -53,110 -566,300 75,000

6.64 1.01 6.1 2.51 1.6 36.35 3.92 5.05 0.51 1.32 0.163 0.55 54.5 0.71 0.167 1.67 1

6.6 1 6.1 2.44 1.51 35.6 3.68 5.01 0.5 1.27 0.159 0.54 53.65 0.71 0.16 1.64 0.99

2,436,896 1,456,980 18,910 387,620 55,024,530 984,003,825 92,172,050 754,407 2,424,580 86,520 2,571,520 755,600 10,922,196.50 1,420 147,640 17,134,350 2,788,470

-663,395 -3,366,120 154,678,380 -20,885,280 -613,626 34,900 -1,274,476 2,281,630 -

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 PHILTRUST PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK

3.21 48.4 98.1 4.3 119 1.26 40 16.18 20.55 1.7 840 0.67 81.2 0.73 14.56 58 240 112 90 39.65 202.2 1,790 80

3.58 48.6 99.75 4.3 124 1.27 40.15 16.18 20.95 1.7 840 0.67 81.2 0.74 14.56 58 242 113 90 39.65 210 1,790 80

3.21 48.4 98 4.22 118.5 1.26 40 16.18 20.4 1.69 840 0.65 80.55 0.73 14.56 57.3 238 112 90 38.9 202.2 1,775 79.75

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

43.85 5.47 0.84 1.45 20.45 0.27 97 8.5 16.66 165 23.4 14.72 58.05 91.7 99.95 2.16 6.16 12 12.82 7.74 6.86 5.89 1.76 21.4 73.5 12.2 16.76 6.62 1.66 198 77 7.97 4 30.9 26.95 14.9 293.6 0.265 6.75 3.57 9 2.39 7.22 1.9 77.8 4.95 266.4 5.01 2.81 12.9 4.32 1.49 163 4.45 1.68 1.06

43.9 5.58 0.84 1.47 20.5 0.28 97 8.57 16.66 165 23.5 15.1 61.45 91.7 99.95 2.16 6.18 12.2 12.84 7.75 6.9 6.02 1.76 22 73.5 12.2 16.76 6.82 1.7 198.5 77 7.97 5.5 31.4 27 14.9 294 0.275 6.75 3.61 9.06 2.39 7.22 2.13 78 5.04 266.4 5.02 2.9 12.9 4.32 1.49 163.6 4.45 1.69 1.06

ABACORE CAPITAL ABOITIZ EQUITY ALLIANCE GLOBAL ANGLO PHIL HLDG ANSCOR ATN HLDG A ATN HLDG B AYALA CORP COSCO CAPITAL DMCI HLDG FILINVEST DEV FJ PRINCE A FORUM PACIFIC GT CAPITAL HOUSE OF INV JG SUMMIT KEPPEL HLDG A LODESTAR LOPEZ HLDG LT GROUP MABUHAY HLDG METRO PAC INV PACIFICA PRIME MEDIA PRIME ORION SAN MIGUEL CORP SEAFRONT RES SM INVESTMENTS SOLID GROUP TOP FRONTIER UNIOIL HLDG ZEUS HLDG

0.38 73.5 12.66 1.12 6.36 0.39 0.375 823 8.87 12.8 8 5.41 0.184 1,235 6.04 78.5 4.96 1.15 7.81 14.96 0.42 6.83 0.062 1.1 1.98 106.6 4.7 670 1.54 269 0.295 0.255

8990 HLDG A BROWN ANCHOR LAND ARANETA PROP ARTHALAND CORP AYALA LAND BELLE CORP CEBU HLDG CENTURY PROP CITYLAND DEVT CROWN EQUITIES CYBER BAY DOUBLEDRAGON EMPIRE EAST EVER GOTESCO FILINVEST LAND GLOBAL ESTATE

6.62 1 6.1 2.45 1.55 36 3.72 5.05 0.5 1.27 0.163 0.55 54.05 0.71 0.164 1.67 0.99

VOLUME

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

IRC PROP MEGAWORLD MRC ALLIED PHIL ESTATES PHIL REALTY PRIMEX CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

1.21 3.76 0.174 0.31 0.62 4.76 24.1 1.72 3.33 29.3 1.06 6.79 0.9 4.89

1.29 3.77 0.177 0.315 0.62 4.76 24.3 1.75 3.33 29.4 1.06 6.79 0.93 4.89

1.19 3.73 0.166 0.3 0.58 4.7 23.6 1.71 3.33 28.8 1.04 6.79 0.9 4.8

1.19 3.74 0.168 0.305 0.59 4.75 23.6 1.74 3.33 28.8 1.05 6.79 0.93 4.89

385,000 9,618,000 29,350,000 1,300,000 9,761,000 517,000 3,861,600 342,000 3,000 10,462,600 11,312,000 1,000 134,000 1,911,000

469,910 36,027,960 5,029,780 403,000 5,780,180 2,440,720 92,222,910 592,890 9,990 302,841,295 11,865,960 6,790 123,330 9,260,850

7,998,910 -34,600.00 46,350 46,020 28,527,075 -131,253,635 -2,605,320

2GO GROUP ABS CBN ACESITE HOTEL APC GROUP APOLLO GLOBAL ASIAN TERMINALS BLOOMBERRY BOULEVARD HLDG CALATA CORP CEBU AIR CENTRO ESCOLAR DFNN INC DISCOVERY WORLD FAR EASTERN U GLOBE TELECOM GMA NETWORK GOLDEN HAVEN HARBOR STAR IMPERIAL INTL CONTAINER IP EGAME IPM HLDG ISLAND INFO ISM COMM JACKSTONES LBC EXPRESS LEISURE AND RES MACROASIA MANILA JOCKEY MELCO CROWN METRO RETAIL 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

7.85 47.1 1.46 0.54 0.061 11.3 7.6 0.063 2.5 91.5 10.1 8.99 2.4 1,000 1,842 6.11 16.2 3.6 3.93 76.25 0.0092 9.05 0.193 1.37 3.14 14.38 3.9 3.64 2.25 5.4 3.79 2.74 11.2 5.31 3.41 142 9.15 1,470 1.42 0.41 45.1 81.05 6.16 2.44 1.17 3.2 0.375

8 47.1 1.5 0.54 0.061 11.3 7.78 0.064 2.5 92 10.1 8.99 2.45 1,000 1,899 6.15 16.48 3.65 4.2 76.7 0.0093 9.05 0.193 1.38 3.4 14.5 3.9 3.81 2.48 5.6 3.79 2.77 11.26 5.4 3.95 145.2 9.15 1,482 1.42 0.42 45.3 81.05 6.23 2.44 1.19 3.23 0.39

7.85 46.1 1.46 0.54 0.056 11.3 7.51 0.063 2.4 91.35 10.1 8.84 2.3 1,000 1,837 6.11 16.2 3.55 3.93 75.5 0.0092 9.03 0.191 1.36 3 14.38 3.88 3.56 2.25 5.37 3.73 2.73 11.2 5.3 3.41 142 8.98 1,430 1.4 0.405 44.2 79.05 6.16 2.39 1.16 3.2 0.37

SERVICES 7.9 46.3 1.48 0.54 0.057 11.3 7.61 0.064 2.42 91.4 10.1 8.84 2.3 1,000 1,899 6.14 16.48 3.59 3.93 76.5 0.0093 9.05 0.192 1.36 3.09 14.5 3.88 3.75 2.39 5.59 3.78 2.75 11.26 5.3 3.6 145.2 8.98 1,454 1.42 0.415 44.5 80.8 6.21 2.39 1.18 3.23 0.39

58,300 4,800 17,000 5,000 635,180,000 1,100 13,534,700 34,940,000 3,382,000 760,070 200 31,200 11,000 1,870 80,355 25,600 37,400 2,279,000 189,000 1,798,580 4,000,000 415,200 4,450,000 255,000 2,244,000 2,000 776,000 5,590,000 1,354,000 10,374,200 361,000 320,000 3,308,300 39,400 266,000 1,800 307,700 174,510 6,369,000 2,510,000 2,295,700 404,860 53,100 5,476,000 23,417,000 488,000 1,070,000

464,278 223,335 25,340 2,700 36,622,690 12,430 103,378,742 2,207,830 8,185,180 69,591,267.50 2,020 277,128 25,950 1,870,000 150,828,910 157,074 615,720 8,197,630 756,760 137,557,684 37,000 3,756,356 854,300 348,380 6,833,000 28,888 3,019,310 20,936,320 3,250,030 57,176,773 1,357,780 878,020 37,053,086 210,043 964,110 256,618 2,777,085 253,492,995 9,039,270 1,036,950 102,675,915 32,584,701 328,326 13,154,770 27,601,530 1,561,640 400,450

-360,700 -11,830,331 -688,140 12,360,131 -1,580,000 59,924,280 2,682,770 80,510,601.50 -2,321,820 -5,174,140 -290,400 6,423,074 -557,820 -55,870 120,298 -629,352 127,733,060 24,140 -316,000 -60,778,985 2,336,432 -4,377,400 11,186,260 3,200 -

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

0.0032 1.93 5.75 1.84 1.9 0.46 0.445 10.56 2.65 0.25 0.187 0.193 0.011 1.89 6.72 2.34 0.89 0.011 4.22 0.014 9.37 3.3 148 2.97 0.0089

0.0032 1.94 5.8 1.85 1.9 0.46 0.445 10.56 2.72 0.255 0.189 0.193 0.011 1.97 6.72 2.34 0.93 0.012 4.22 0.014 9.37 3.3 148.8 2.97 0.009

0.0032 1.87 5.71 1.75 1.85 0.46 0.44 9.68 2.65 0.25 0.185 0.193 0.011 1.89 6.61 2.2 0.88 0.011 4.22 0.014 9.15 3.14 147 2.95 0.0089

MINING & OIL 0.0032 272,000,000 1.9 1,222,000 5.78 105,900 1.85 162,000 1.85 13,000 0.46 110,000 0.44 100,000 10.1 127,300 2.71 3,890,000 0.25 30,000 0.189 3,520,000 0.193 200,000 0.011 37,100,000 1.97 462,000 6.62 1,981,200 2.3 209,000 0.9 1,050,000 0.012 61,000,000 4.22 1,000 0.014 12,500,000 9.2 1,172,400 3.14 3,791,000 147 496,860 2.95 20,000 0.009 11,000,000

870,400 2,319,030 608,118 290,560 24,320 50,600 44,300 1,257,284 10,480,900 7,550 656,700 38,600 408,100 897,610 13,165,129 468,520 937,340 671,500 4,220 175,000 10,760,460 12,114,680 73,513,114 59,180 98,900

259,432 -15,020 -165,410 189,000 -6,610,634 853,687 -768,740 41,385,020 90,000

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 ALCO PREF B DD PREF GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF B LR PREF SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2I

46.5 535 106 105 5.84 1,031 1.03 82 76.75 79 79.5

46.55 535 106 106.7 5.85 1,038 1.03 82.2 76.75 79.5 79.55

46 535 106 105 5.84 1,031 1.03 82 76.75 79 79.5

PREFERRED 46 700,800 535 20 106 80,000 106.5 19,770 5.84 99,000 1,038 150 1.03 1,000 82 39,680 76.75 4,400 79.5 63,450 79.55 500,030

32,240,235 10,700 8,480,000 2,078,722 578,420 155,070 1,030 3,256,324 337,700 5,040,702.50 39,777,021.50

-24,645,295 -1,753,050 -152,100 -

LR WARRANT

2.15

2.15

2.11

WARRANTS 2.15 74,000

158,820

-

ITALPINAS MAKATI FINANCE PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.5 2.93 6.97 8.41

4.09 2.93 7.65 8.6

3.5 2.93 6.96 8.39

4.05 2.93 7.25 8.5

4,326,420 2,930 2,611,513 27,231,518

-177,400 439,885 -8,749,597

FIRST METRO ETF

120.6

120.8

120.4

836,448

4,820

MS

PROPERTY 6.61 1.01 6.1 2.45 1.51 35.9 3.85 5.01 0.51 1.3 0.161 0.55 53.85 0.71 0.164 1.65 0.99

368,500 1,452,000 3,100 158,000 35,459,000 27,342,100 24,337,000 149,900 4,805,000 66,000 16,030,000 1,375,000 202,150 2,000 900,000 10,384,000 2,813,000

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL

SHARES

21,612,658

INDUSTRIAL

111,050,400

HOLDING FIRMS

250,101,982

PROPERTY

204,919,322

SERVICES

769,554,771

MINING & OIL

412,881,193

GRAND TOTAL

1,774,810,466

SME

1,113,000 1,000 359,300 3,209,900

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120.5 6,940

VALUE 1,841.84 (up) 20.56 1,929,547,556.426 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,071.61 (down) 7.32 1,735,180,621.387 HOLDING FIRMS 7,358.89 (down) 53.30 1,760,363,989.112 PROPERTY 3,263.33 (down) 35.55 SERVICES 1,439.79 (up) 1.45 1,650,783,043.72 MINING & OIL 12,367.98 (down) 77.17 1,135,634,510.664 PSEI 7,294.52 (down) 19.35 129,952,009.966 All Shares Index 4,400.57 (down) 14.56 8,376,470,560.278 Gainers:82; Losers:109; Unchanged: 40; Total: 231

The conglomerate also budgeted P5.2 billion for its retail business which will primarily be used to open new stores and renovate existing one and P5 billion for its banking units to be used for branch expansion and IT enhancement projects.

Meanwhile, the conglomerate plans to continue developing business process outsourcing towers within its malls.

The group plans to complete four additional BPO towers with a total leasable space of 121,572 square meters.

These BPO towers are located in SM Cagayan de Oro (19,565 sqm), SM Southmall Tower (55,092 sqm), SM Bacolod (16,000 sqm) and SM San Pablo (9,196 sqm).

The conglomerate opened BPO towers in SM City Clark and SM City Sta. Rosa.

It has another 27 total available sites for BPO buildings that could potentially offer 252,028 sqm of additional leasable space.

These planned BPO towers are expected to boost the company’s recurring earnings.

The group’s property unit SM Prime Holdings Inc. earlier said it planned to open four malls this year and launch 15,000 to 18,000 residential units.

SM Investments booked an 8-percent increase in net income to P31.2 billion in 2016, on sustained growth of core businesses while consolidated revenues climbed 9 percent to P362.8 billion, up from P332.8 billion in 2015.

CebuPac’s passengers rose by 5% in January

By Darwin G. Amojelar CEBU Pacific said Friday passenger volume increased 5 percent in January from a year ago, amid domestic route expansion.

Data from Cebu Pacific showed the budget carrier carried 1.72 million passengers in January this year, up from 1.64 million passengers in the same period in 2016.

The airline’s load factor, however, fell 1.5 percentage points to 85 percent in January from last year’s 86.5 percent.

The airline posted a 4-percent growth in passenger to 19.1 million from 18.4 million in 2015.

The airline, owned by tycoon John Gokongwei, said the growth in passenger volume was largely driven by low-cost short-haul services and increased frequencies in key domestic markets.

Cebu Pacific currently offers flights to 37 domestic and 29 international destinations, operating an extensive network across Asia, Australia, the Middle East and the US. Its 58-strong fleet is comprised of four Airbus A319, 36 Airbus A320, seven Airbus A330, eight ATR 72-500 and three ATR 72-600 aircraft.

Cebu Pacific expects delivery of one more brandnew Airbus A330, 32 Airbus A321neo and 13 ATR 72600 aircraft between 2017 and 2021.

Cebu Pacific earlier reported a net income of P7.09 billion in January to September or double the P3.56 -billion profit it declared in the same period in 2015.

Business

B3

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Agriculture guide map for farmers up

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales

LOAN TO GATEBANK. The Development Bank of the Philippines approves a P20-million revolving credit line to Gateway Rural Bank Inc.,

or Gatebank. Shown during the loan signing ceremony at the Gatebank head office in Balagtas, Bulacan are (from left) DBP account officer assistant Alfredo Corpuz Jr.; Gatebank president Mercedes Coloma; DBP assistant vice president Regina Dimayuga; Gatebank general manager Rosario San Pedro; and Gatebank credit risk officer Joel Marcelo. Gatebank, in addition to its head office, operates 10 branches in Balagtas, Bustos, Malolos, Norzagaray, Pandi, Plaridel, Pulilan, San Ildefonso, San Jose del Monte, and San Rafael, making it the biggest rural bank in Bulacan.

Poorest provinces do not host a mine N ONE of the 10 poorest provinces in the country hosts a mine, according to a study conducted by a government statistics office.

The survey result dismissed the claim of Environment Secretary-designate Regina Lopez that “the poorest areas in the Philippines are mining areas.”

Data from the Philippines Statistics Authority in 2015 First Semester Poverty Statistics lists among the poorest provinces as Lanao del Sur, Sulu, Sarangani, Bukidnon, Siquijor, Northern Samar, Maguindanao, Bukidnon, Sultan Kudarat, Zamboanga del Norte and Agusan del Sur. “The mining companies do not cause suffering in areas where they operate, the companies have been a long-time partner of the government in delivering social services,” said Chito Gozar, OceanaGold’s

senior vice president for communications and external affairs.

The 10 provinces do not host a mine yet achieved the highest poverty incidence rate with 70.2 percent for Lanao del Sur, 61.8 percent in Sulu and 54.5 percent in Saranggani, added Gozar, citing the PSA report.

Nueva Vizcaya and Benguet in the Cordillera Administrative Region, meanwhile, posted low poverty incidence of 15.8 percent and 6.5 percent respectively.

The two provinces ranked 64th and 79th among the 85 provinces included on the lists of Poverty Incidence among Families released by PSA. “Studies do not support the contention that mining increases poverty incidence in the area where it operates. On the contrary mining spikes the household income in mine sites. Barangay Didipio in Nueva Vizcaya, host community of OceanaGold’s Didipio Mines, has interesting numbers on income level, employment sources and crops production”, said Gozar.

Results of the 2015 socio-economic

assessment conducted by the UPLB Foundation covering the Didipio Mines’ host and neighboring communities indicate a significant increase in the mean household income in most of the communities covered by the Social Development Management Program, with Didipio having a mean household income of P19,380, which is above the Philippines national average income (P17,166.00) and the national poverty threshold (P18,935.00) A major change in the economy of Didipio took place with the entry of OceanaGold into the barangay to mine. Previously an agricultural settlement, farming was the primary source of household income.

About 83 percent of Didipio residents shifted from farming to salary earners, with a few households, or 12 percent, sticking to farming. The shift may be attributed to the employment opportunities created

by OceanaGold and other private firms operating in affiliation with the mining operations for better income and security of tenure, said Gozar.

AG&P, German firm sign LNG deal

By Alena Mae S. Flores ATLANTIC, Gulf and Pacific Co. signed an agreement with Germany-based Air Liquide Global E&C Solutions, the engineering and construction arm of Air Liquide Group, to develop small-scale liquefied natural gas infrastructure across Asia.

AG&P, a leading integrator of LNG infrastructure solutions and Air Liquide, plans to offer unique, fully integrated and cost-optimized solutions for LNG distribution, with a focus on liquefaction, transportation and downstream infrastructure.

AG&P will integrate the technologies offered

by Air Liquide with its expertise in planning, designing engineering, financing and operating LNG infrastructure modules to build technologically-advanced blocks that can plug into any part of the LNG supply chain.

AG&P said this would give end-users faster and more cost-competitive solutions that maximize a project’s value.

“This milestone agreement with Air Liquide will enable the integration of downstream LNG infrastructure, including small scale re-gasification terminals, distribution hubs, truck loading stations and boiloff gas handling systems into AG&P’s LNG supply network for rapid delivery of tolled gas to last-mile customers,” AG&P chairman Jose Leviste Jr. said.

Domenico D’Élia, Air Liquide Engineering and Construction vice president and chairman, said the company chose AG&P to be its partner because of its reputation for innovation, safety record and fast delivery.

PANAGBENGA SPONSOR. PLDT Inc. takes part in the 2017 Panagbenga Festival. Drawing loud cheers from the crowd, the Panagbenga Festival highlights include the Grand Street and Grand Float Parades held February 25-26 at the Baguio Athletic Bowl and Melvin Jones Football Grounds, respectively. PLDT, one of the festival’s sponsors, made the event more vibrant, with PLDT HOME showcasing the new Home Fibr Plan 1699 with an exclusive Panagbenga offer.

January factory output likely grew 15%

By Julito G. Rada FACTORY output in January likely sustained a doubledigit growth, albeit slower than a month ago, driven by robust demand for locallymanufactured products overseas, Moody’s Analytics, a division of Moody’s Corp., said in a report over the weekend.

Moody’s predicted that industrial production likely grew by 15 percent in January, down from 23 percent recorded a month ago.

“We expect Philippine manufacturing conditions to have remained strong in January, with industrial production growth of 15 percent year-on-year, down from December’s unsustainably high 23 percent. Philippine producers are receiving a boost from stronger global demand,” Moody’s said.

It said the robust manufacturing output was “visible in improvements in electronics production.”

Manufacturing output posted double-digit growth in both December 2016 and full-year 2016 due to increase in production of petroleum products, food manufactures and transport equipment.

Based on the Philippine Statistics Authority’s Monthly Integrated Survey of Selected Industries for December 2016, the Volume of Production Index for manufacturing increased to 23 percent from 5 percent in the same period in 2015.

The Value of Production Index for manufacturing rose 19.4 percent, from the 2.7-percent decline recorded in December 2015.

As a result, full-year Volume of Production Index for

manufacturing grew 14.4 percent for year 2016 from 2.5 percent growth recorded in 2015.

National Economic and Development Authority directorgeneral and Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the sustained growth in manufacturing showed that there was business and consumer confidence in the domestic economy.

Transport equipment recorded growth in production volume and value of 34.3 percent and 35.6 percent, respectively in December 2016.

Meanwhile, constructionrelated manufactures sustained the upward trend, primarily in response to the increase in demand for both residential (19.2 percent) and nonresidential buildings (27.3 percent) during the third quarter of 2016.

THE government on Tuesday launched the National ColorCoded Agriculture Guide Map that will teach farmers what to plant in their farms.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol said the NACCAG was completed in the past seven months by the Department of Agriculture under its Adaptation and Mitigation Initiative in Agriculture Program, as part of the President’s commitment to modernize and improve Philippine agriculture. President Rodrigo Duterte vowed to produce sufficient food for all Filipinos by the end of his term in 2022.

Piñol said the NACCAG incorporated and digitalized all the latest scientific data on soil analysis, climate impact, geographical hazards and weather prediction from PAG-ASA un-

der the website www.farmersguidemap.gov.ph.

Data from the web site will need to be downloaded in each community so that the farmers could access them.

“The DA plans to put up information centers in the busiest agricultural areas and communities in the country so that farmers could easily access the data from the website,” Piñol said.

He said the NACCAG or Color-Coded Agriculture Guide Map was a campaign commitment of President Duterte to enable farmers and fishermen to obtain interactive data on things related to farming and fishing.

“For example, by typing the name of his region, province and town, a farmer will be able to determine what crops could be grown ideally in his area, down to the barangay level,” Piñol said.

The hand that rocks the cradle IF YOU are familiar with the works of Scottish-American poet William Ross Wallace, you’d recognize the column title as part of the most famous line in his poem “What Rules the World” which goes: They say that man is mighty, He governs land and sea, He wields a mighty scepter O’er lesser powers than he; But mightier power and stronger Man from his throne has hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.

As March 8 is International Women’s Day, we’d like to pay tribute to the other half of the population without whose presence life on this planet would be totally uninteresting, dull and dreary.

For sure, women all over the world will be celebrating in various ways. Activists in some 30 countries including the US and the Philippines will hold a general strike called “A Day Without Woman.” American women say the strike is a statement that they decry the misogyny of Donald Trump and his administration.

In the Philippines, Gabriela says the women’s strike is against imperialism, fascism and patriarchy, as well as a demand for land, work, decent wages, safe working conditions and the emancipation of women from oppression and exploitation.

So if you literally see red today, don’t be surprised because a lot of people will probably be wearing red as a show of solidarity.

And since women are urged to take the day off from paid and unpaid labor,” there’s a chance a lot of offices and other places will be women-challenged, and many public schools in the US are actually closed for the day. (No such thing here, though, to the secret disappointment of many students.) In case you are wondering, hubbies are being encouraged to be supportive by staying at home to take care of the home and mind the children.

History buffs say it’s rather ironic that a great nation like the US has yet to see a female become president. The Philippines already had two (although opinion is still divided on whether such periods in our history were positive or otherwise), and recent developments also show that more and more women are breaking the proverbial glass ceiling in areas traditionally dominated by men.

A few days from now, the Philippine Military Academy’s Sanggalang ay Lakas at Buhay Para sa Kalayaan Ng Inang Bayan (Salaknib) Class of 2017 will be graduating with Rovi Mareil Martinez, a female cadet as top graduate. Out of the Top 10, eight are women—definitely a historic feat since the PMA started taking in females in 1993. Not that Martinez is the first female to top the PMA, though, because that honor belongs to Arlene dela Cruz of PMA Masikhay Class 1999. Unfortunately, Dela Cruz died in a mysterious car accident in Bataan in 2008.

She was only 34 at the time, with the rank of Navy Lieutenant Senior Grade (Captain).

In 2011, the AFP had its first female general in the person of Brigadier General Ramona Palabrica Go. Just a clarification though because while there have been other “female” generals in the AFP, they are not regular officers like Go, who finished the Officer Candidate Course at the Women’s Royal Australian Army Corps School. (This Ulirang Ina Awardee successfully ran for mayor of San Enrique in Iloilo in 2013, but lost her re-election bid in May last year.) *** Cheers! to Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sonny Angara for pushing the Expanded Maternity Leave Act that was recently approved on third and final reading by the Senate, 22-0. The proposed bill gives working moms (both single and married) an additional 60 days of paid maternity leave, bringing the total to 120 days. The bill also allows new mothers to extend their maternity leave to another 30 days (but unpaid, though). The bill also gives father 30 days of paid paternity leaves instead of the current seven Kudos also to the co-authors and sponsors, namely Senators Loren Legarda, Nancy Binay, Sonny Trillanes, Kiko Pangilinan and Manny Pacquiao. If passed into law, the bill will allow moms to have more time to bond with their newborn and also give them enough time to look for suitable caregivers (or make alternative arrangements since it is rather difficult to look for trustworthy nannies or household helpers nowadays).

••• For comments, reactions, photos, stories and related concerns, readers may email to happyhourtoday2012@yahoo. com. You may also visit and like our Facebook page https:// www.facebook.com/happyhourmanilastandard. Cheers!

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

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

Business

Europe likely to maintain stimulus FRANKFURT AM MAIN― European Central Bank governors will likely resist calls to end a flood of cheap money when they meet Thursday, analysts said, despite eurozone inflation topping their near-2.0 percent target.

Inflation in the 19-nation single currency area stood at 2.0 percent in February, Eurostat figures showed last week, the first time since 2013 it has outstripped the ECB’s mandate of “close to, but below 2.0 percent.”

Even before then, critics were urging the Frankfurt institution to wind down its massive monetary easing measures that include buying tens of billions of euros of government and corporate bonds each month, cheap loans to banks, and historically low interest rates.

But ECB policymakers have argued that the sudden jump in eurozone price growth since December is a temporary effect of increased energy prices.

“We should not react to individual data points and shortlived increases in inflation,” ECB president Mario Draghi told European Parliament lawmakers in February. “Support from our monetary policy measures is still needed.”

Analysts largely agree with ECB executive board members that beyond volatile items such as food and energy, underlying pressure on prices from more durable sources, like increased wages for workers, remains too weak to justify tweaking the stimulus package.

“Core inflation has remained low despite the rise in the headline rate,” Jennifer McKeown of Capital Economics said.

“Even in Germany, where the labor market has been strong for some time, there are few signs of pay pressures.”

According to Eurostat, unemployment across the eurozone stood at 9.6 percent in February―steady at the lowest rate since May 2009, but still leaving slack in the market to hold back wage increases, usually a key driver of inflation. AFP

CAR OF THE YEAR. The car of the year 2017, the Peugeot 3008, is on display as part of the first press day of the 87th Geneva International Motor Show in Geneva, on March 6, 2017. AFP

German factory orders sank 7.4% in February

F

RANKFURT AM MAIN―Industrial orders in Europe’s largest economy Germany plunged 7.4 percent in January, preliminary official data showed Tuesday, countering a sharp upswing in the previous month.

New orders―a closely watched indicator of future economic performance―had increased 5.2 percent in December, adjusting for price, seasonal and calendar effects, federal statistics office Destatis confirmed.

Analysts surveyed by Factset had predicted a much smaller fall in January of 2.5 percent.

Domestic demand for German industrial firms’ products fell much more sharply than foreign orders, at 10.5 percent compared with 4.9 percent, with orders from the eurozone contracting faster than those from countries outside the single currency area.

The biggest fall came for capital goods makers, who saw

9.9 percent fewer orders, while producer goods firms lost 4.0 percent and consumer goods 2.0 percent.

January’s data showed a smaller fall of 2.9 percent in orders when large contracts –a volatile item that can see large swings from month to month― were stripped out, Destatis said.

“Industrial orders were extremely influenced by large contracts in the last two months reported (December and January),” the federal economy ministry in Berlin commented in a statement.

“Even ruling out large contracts, the strong increase in orders in the final quarter of 2016

makes a weak start to the new year manageable,” the civil servants went on.

Comparing December plus January to October plus November showed a fall of just 0.4 percent in orders, the economy ministry pointed out.

Berlin also highlighted strong confidence surveys among industrial firms, suggesting a pickup in business in the coming months.

“Today’s disappointing data is a good reminder that German industry is having more problems returning to full speed than buoyant sentiment indicators have been suggesting,” countered economist Carsten Brzeski of ING Diba bank.

January’s drop in new orders was the largest since 2009, he noted, following on from months of “almost unprecedented” fluctuations in the indicator since last summer.

“The data are the result of an unfortunate combination: Bulk

orders propelled demand at the end of last year, and now the turbo fired in the other direction,” said Andreas Scheuerle, an economist at Dekabank in Frankfurt. “In the context of sentiment indicators, there’s no reason for concern. I’m still convinced we’ll see a good quarter.”

Heightened uncertainty has weighed on business since June 2016, when Britain voted to quit the EU, and been sustained

by Donald Trump capturing the White House on a protectionist platform, as well as upcoming elections in the Netherlands, France, and Germany in which anti-globalization parties stand to make strides.

The euro was little changed and traded at $1.0596 at 8:41 a.m. Frankfurt time.

Domestic factory orders fell 10.5 percent in January from the previous month, led by a 16.8 percent slump in demand for investment goods, according to the report. AFP

Aramco pays $2.2b to Shell in breakup SAUDI Arabian Oil Co. will pay Royal Dutch Shell Plc $2.2 billion including debt to finalize the breakup of a 19-year refining partnership known as Motiva Enterprises LLC. Saudi Aramco’s Saudi Refining unit will take full ownership of the Motiva Enterprises name and legal entity, including the largest refinery in the US at Port Arthur in Texas, and 24 distribution terminals, according to a joint statement dated March 6. Shell will take sole ownership of the Norco and Convent refineries in Louisiana and 11 distribution terminals, according to the statement.

Saudi Aramco will make a $2.2 billion balancing payment, subject to adjustments including working capital, Shell said in a separate statement. The payment is split between debt and cash. Saudi Aramco will assume nearly all of Motiva’s $3.2 billion of net debt, including $1.5 billion of Shell’s share. A cash payment will cover the balance, Shell said.

“Motiva is a strong competitor among US refiners, and we value this important link with the dynamic US energy sector,” Abdulaziz Al-Judaimi, senior vice president of downstream at Saudi Aramco, said in the joint statement. “Our intent is to continue providing Motiva with strong financial support as it transitions into a stand-alone downstream affiliate.”

The transaction is subject to regulatory approval and expected to close in the second quarter of 2017, the companies said.

Shell and Saudi Aramco, as the oil explorer is known, agreed last year to end the Motiva venture, which oversaw the three oil refineries, as well as fuel terminals and fuel-branding rights in multiple US states.

Under the agreement, Motiva will have the exclusive right to sell Shell-branded gasoline and diesel in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., as well as the eastern half of Texas and most of Florida. Shell’s markets will be Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, a portion of the Florida panhandle, and the Northeastern region of the US. Motiva, formed in 1998, was a major player in US refining with capacity to process more than 1.1 million barrels of crude a day. It was plagued by cost overruns and construction delays that eroded profits, Fadel Gheit, an analyst at Oppenheimer & Co., said in March 2016. The 600,000 barrel-a-day Port Arthur refinery suffered leaks and fires that delayed a $10 billion expansion to double the size of the plant.

Bloomberg

Poland’s capital is a tale of two cities no more

By Anna Maria Jakubek WA R S AW, P o l a n d ― T h e Polish capital is a city divided: by a river, by history, by reputation.

For years, the right side of the wide Vistula waterway was known for murder and mayhem, while all the power and money went to the left. Not so anymore.

Even the relief of the riverbanks is telling, says Halina Cieszkowska, a 95-year-old former teacher and longtime resident of the working class Praga neighborhood on the right.

“Warsaw’s left bank is on a slope. It’s higher up. So they look down on us. And here we are, below,” says the energetic great-grandmother.

“Praga was always a worse neighborhood.

Neglected... so Praga had an inferiority complex. Still does. Though maybe to a lesser degree now, because we’ve been trying to fix things,” she tells AFP. Praga is now safe, with art galleries, innovative hip bars, renovated prewar buildings and a subway line since 2015, which have all helped bridge the gap between the two sides.

Across the river, the left bank boasts the city center and historic old town, and is not known by any overall name but is sometimes considered by residents on both sides to be

Warsaw proper.

Efforts to spruce up Praga began in the 1990s but the city now plans to pump 1.5 billion zloty (350 million euros, $380 million) into the sprawling right bank to further revitalize the area.

The upgrades through 2022 include connecting thousands of apartments to central heating, renovating historical sites and investing in social services to undo years of postwar neglect.

‘Bermuda Triangle’ During World War II, Nazi German forces flattened 85 percent of the left bank, but Praga was spared because it had already been occupied by the Soviet Army.

It is in Praga that you can still find exposed redbrick walls, old street lamps, buildings pockmarked with bullet holes and courtyard shrines with statues of the Virgin Mary.

That authenticity is why Oscar-winning director Roman Street of Praga, Warsaw’s district on the right side of Vistula river on February 24, 2017. The Polish capital is a city divided: by a river, by history, by reputation. For years the right side of the wide Vistula waterway was Polanski shot his wartime film known for murder and mayhem while all the power and money went to the left. Not so anymore. AFP “The Pianist” there.

But because the neighborhood his shop for four decades. here”, adds Hlasny, who said when he first moved to Warsaw was left standing while the rest “Praga was a kind of unwanted he himself had been beaten up in 1996, he lived in the part of of the city was reduced to rubble, child. But things are happening and still has trouble seeing out Praga “known as the Bermuda all the reconstruction funds went now,” he tells AFP, giving as of his left eye as a result, after Triangle, where according to to the left bank. an example heritage buildings one night refusing to hand over legend you didn’t come out “Things fell into ruins here,” renovated with EU money. money to two men who entered alive.” says Praga tailor Jerzy Hlasny, The notorious years are long The neighborhood also came his shop. a 63-year-old with a bushy to have “a bad reputation. That Warsaw Deputy Mayor gone. But the lore lingers and moustache who has worked at it’s just lowlifes and thieves Michal Olszewski recalls that many of those born and bred in

the district, like Adam Lisiecki from the Praga Museum, are tired of the stereotype.

‘New face’ He says the city “hit the bull’s eye” 15 years ago by renovating buildings along one of Praga’s main roads, the cobbled Zabkowska Street.

“It really changed people’s view of Praga... Suddenly there was this exemplary street, a new face which emboldened many residents from the left” to visit, he tells AFP. Zabkowska features 19th century buildings, homes converted into popular bars with traditional Polish pierogi dumplings on the menu, plus other creative initiatives.

“Art soothes the savage beast,” says Agnieszka Niedzwiecka, who lives on the left side but in 2010 opened a Praga gallery, whose name translates into “On the right side of the Vistula.”

It was a welcome sight for residents who said “soon Praga will be associated with art, not alcohol,” she tells AFP, while her French Bulldog snores nearby.

The project “that will have the biggest economic and social impact on Praga is the second metro line. Hands down,” says Olszewski, adding that further Praga stations are planned. AFP

5 fall in NBI raid on illegal lumber OPERATIVES of the National Bureau of Investigation’s Environmental Crime Division have arrested five suspects involved in the illegal possession, collecting, cutting and selling of various species of timber in Sultan Kudarat.

The NBI identified those arrested as Vivencio Necesito Sr., owner of VN Furniture Shop; Ramel Castracion, owner of Boyet Furniture Shop; Sanny Oriel, owner of Oriel Upholstery and Furniture; Jerry Paglomutan, owner of JP Furniture; and Wifredo Pableo Jr., owner of Shejay Furniture Shop.

Seized at the furniture shops were timbers of various species such as Mariapa, Dao, Lamud, Lauan, Mahogany, Gmelina, Falcata, Yakal, Narra, Lavan, Ipil-Ipil, and Guijo, collectively valued at P623,102.85.

The suspects were brought to the NBI-Region 12 Office in Koronadal City for booking procedures, and were arrested after failure to present the necessary Department of Environment and Natural Resources permits for the lumber.

Charges for violation of Executive Order No. 277 (amending Section 28 of Presidential Decree No. 705, or the Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines), Republic Act 460 of 1950 (the Illegal Possession of Forest Products Act), and Section 7(a) of RA 9175 (the Chainsaw Act of 2002) were filed against the suspects.

The seized items were turned over to the Office of the DENR-Kalamansig, Sultan Kudarat.

On Feb. 9, Environment Undersecretary Arturo Valdez, head of the National AntiEnvironmental Crime Task Force, requested the NBI for a manpower complement during the group’s enforcement operations against rampant illegal logging activities in Region 12, covering the provinces of Sultan Kudarat, Sarangani and South Cotabato.

To coordinate the request and plan the raid, NBI-ENCD operatives went to General Santos City to link up with the Office of the Regional Director of the DENR in Region 12 and NBI Koronadal City.

Sandy Araneta

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

All eyes on MPD drug cops M

By Sandy Araneta

ANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has directed members of the Manila Police District’s new anti-drug unit to undergo refresher courses on anti-drug laws and human rights.

Estrada issued this directive as Philippine National Police chief Director General Ronald Dela Rosa announced that police will launch its “Oplan Double Barrel Reloaded” anti-drug drive after a monthlong suspension ordered

by President Rodrigo Duterte.

“You’ve not been called ‘Manila’s Finest’ for nothing. Do your duties well, but preserve your honor and dignity by respecting human rights and the laws you took an oath to uphold,” the mayor told the mem-

bers of the MPD’s District Drug Enforcement Unit.

Estrada warned he will personally discipline any MPD member engaged in illegal activities such as the “tokhang for ransom” scheme, which led to the controversial death of Korean businessman Jee Ick Joo and Duterte’s order to suspend “Oplan Double Barrel.”

“I will see to it that you will regret everything you have done,” the mayor warned the policemen.

MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel said Estrada tasked him to subject all members of the MPD-DDEU to an orientation seminar to be handled by the Commission on Human Rights, Office of the City Prosecutor of Manila, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

“They will be undergoing a two-day course on implementation of the anti-drug laws, with emphasis to be given on observance on the rules of procedure, human rights, and the rules of court,” Coronel said.

The MPD chief pointed out Estrada wanted him to ensure the drug enforcement teams “shall conduct their operations aboveboard, monitor their operations and their accomplishments, and always coordinate with PDEA.”

“Avoid at all cost instances like what happened to the Jee Ick Joo, tokhang for ransom, and extortion or ‘hulidap,’” Coronel continued. “We’ll have to monitor them closely and act on them strongly if needed.”

As to the newly formed police unit, Coronel said each member has been screened thoroughly and has no pending or past criminal or administrative cases.

They were also cleared by the PNP-Internal Affairs Service, the intelligence community, and even the People’s Law Enforcement Board and the Ombudsman, he added.

The DDEU at the MPD headquarters is composed of 20 policemen, while Drug Enforcement Teams at the city’s 11 police substations will be composed of 12 to 15 personnel each.

“This is a select group of

DAVAO CITY—The City Council has approved a memorandum of agreement among San Miguel Corp., the National Housing Authority and the city government to build 5,000 houses to be distributed to indigent city residents.

Councilor Bernard Al-ag, the majority floor leader, said the

MPD personnel whose integrity, competence and knowledge in drug enforcement is beyond reproach,” Coronel stressed.

He also said the renewed anti-drug operations the MPDDDEU will carry out “will be meticulously planned and executed,” unlike last July when Oplan Double Barrel was first introduced.

“Last July, we had to scramble for it. This time, we are preparing for this more carefully, more meticulously, so that we’ll have operations that will be considered aboveboard and following or compliant with rules and regulations,” Coronel said.

Asked if the anti-drug campaign’s suspension led to a rash of crimes, Coronel said the MPD noticed a slight increase in theft and robberies “but not that drastically.”

10 ‘Most Wanted’ caught in Caloocan

SMELLS FISHY. A man on a bicycle covers his nose while passing in front of dried fish along MacArhtur Highway in Barangay Damortis, Sto Tomas, La Union. Revoli Cortez

Davao OKs 5,000-house deal with San Miguel, NHA

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera

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council approved the resolution backing the MOA on its third and final reading, and is now ready to be implemented.

Al-Ag said San Miguel will finance the project, the NHA will implement it and the city government will provide the lots for the houses.

The city will also provide the list of the beneficiaries of the

housing project, Al-ag said, “We already identified the area for the construction of the houses.

We still have Los Amigos in Tugbok that serves as the relocation area of the Davaoeños, and the one in Tibungco in the northern part of the city,” the councilor said.

“We will prioritize those Davaoeños who were living near danger zones, and those who

will be affected by the opening of [new city] roads,” he added.

Al-ag said some city streets were occupied by informal settlers, and the city government is looking to reopen those areas to give way to other city projects.

He stressed the beneficiaries would pay P500 or less monthly for about 20 years as their counterpart funding for the project.

Meanwhile, the city will also continue construction of a previous P20-million NHA project left by the previous Aquino administration.

Al-ag said the NHA will fund the remaining 200 houses still to be built in Los Amigos, Tugbok district, while the city will take charge of the project’s construction.

Davaoeṅos have already occupied the first 200 units under the project.

CALOOCAN City police have arrested 10 alleged “Most Wanted” persons in the city’s new anti-crime campaign, ther city police chief said Tuesday.

City police commander Senior Supt. Chito Bersaluna said the suspects were arrested by virtue of a warrant of arrest issued by different branches of the Caloocan Regional Trial Court.

Arrested were Christopher Ngoho, 50; Bobby Avila, 49; Danilo Lacierda, 36; Romel Baustista, 22; John John Alec, 20; Gereno Lapuz, 39; Ricardo Icmat, 70; and three others still unnamed due to lack of identification.

In a news conference, Bersaluna told Mayor Oscar Malapitan the suspects were facing various charges like robbery with homicide, rape, possession of illegal drugs, acts of lasciviousness, slight physical injuries, and qualified trespass to dwelling. Some of these crimes were nonbailable offenses, he added.

Bersaluna said the anticriminality campaign was in accordance with the Philippine National Police’s directive “to arrest all fugitives of the law for them to face their cases in court.” Jun David

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LGUs

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

OceanaGold to stop pit operations

By Ben Moses Ebreo

B

AYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya— OceanaGold Philippines Inc. will cease operations on its open-pit gold and copper mine in Didipio next month, but will keep it open to allow its miners to access tunnels for its future underground mining operations in Mt. Dinkidi in Barangay Runruno, Kasibu town.

“The extraction of ore or other minerals and rocks is what we are referring on this, but it is paramount to the integrity, mainte-

nance and safety of the environment that it should be preserved until the mine is concluded in its final form, then it will be rehabili-

tated,” David Way, OGPI Didipio operations manager, said.

Way made a brief presentation on the current developments of the mine and its socio-economic contribution to the province on Monday before the members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan here headed by Vice Gov. Lambert Galima Jr. He said OceanaGold has resumed operations after appealing to the Office of the President the suspension order issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources due to alleged violations on the environment, health and safety of the affected villagers.

In 2016, Didipio produced 150,000 ounces of gold and 21,000 tons of copper, which were exported through Poro Point in La Union, Way said.

From April to October 2013, the company also produced 350,000 tons of copper concentrates.

By end-2016, Way said a 4.3-kilometer tunnel was developed in preparation for the underground mine phase to extract gold and copper deposits.

OceanaGold will start its production phase by early 2018 after its transition into underground mining operations starting the

middle of this year.

The open pit at Didipio, Way said, will be maintained to serve as a safe exit of their underground extraction, while employing continuous watering operations to ensure the safety of their workers.

Way attributed “the continuing flow of the direct contributions and sustainability of the project to host local government units” to the successful mining operations “that is economically viable.”

“Our mining experts played a significant role here. In fact, President Trump was pleased to

hear on the decommissioning of this project, since it is a reflection of great standard mining operations,” Way said.

He said OceanaGold’s production guidance for their underground operations is at 110,000 to 130,000 ounces of gold and 15,000 to 17,000 tons of copper concentrates.

OGPI also approved P7 million for 2017 for the funding of additional socio-economic and infrastructure projects for the further development of Barangay Didipio and Kasibu town in general, Way added.

‘Perlas killing an isolated incident’

By Lance Baconguis CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY— The government of Lanao del Norte has assured residents and visitors that the province is generally peaceful, and that the killing of Dr. Dreyfuss Perlas last week was an isolated case.

Perlas, 31, was gunned down by two motorcycle-riding men in Barangay Maranding Annex, Kapatagan town, as he was on his way home to Barangay Maranding in Lala town from a medical mission in the municipality of Sapad, all in Lanao del Norte.

Perlas was one of the physicians hired by the Department of Health under the Doctors to the Barrios program. He had been Sapad’s municipal health officer for more than five years.

But Gov. Imelda QuibranzaDimaporo allayed fears of conflict that might escalate from the shooting incident, as she advised Senior Supt. Faro Antonio Olaguera, the provincial police chief, to give the case “special treatment.”

Lanao del Norte is also hosting a Philippine Basketball Association out-of-town game later this month, hence Quibranza-Dimaporo’s assurance.

Provincial information officer Lyndon Calica said PBA teams Star Hotshots and Global Port will play at the Mindanao Civic Center Sports Complex in Barangay Sagadan, in Tubod town, on March 25.

LOADED ‘EAGLE’. A six-wheeled utility vehicle, known locally as ‘lawin’ (Filipino for eagle), carries more than 40 passengers and cargo as it travels the Pikit-Aleosan national highway in North Cotabato on Sunday. This modified jeepney is the preferred heavy-duty vehicle of local transport operators. Omar Mangorsi

Tingzon longing for ‘free’ Laguna Lake

By Roy Tomandao CALAMBA, Laguna—Former lawmaker Rodolfo “Totoy” Tingzon sees new hope for Laguna Lake after the government’s recent order to clear the water body of fish pens.

“I can already visualize small fishermen going back to the lake to fish, just like in the old days,” Tingzon, chairman of the Save Laguna Lake Movement, told

Manila Standard.

“I am very happy and thankful to the Duterte administration for finally taking steps in dismantling the fish pens in Laguna Lake, which I have been advocating since I was Representative of the second district of Laguna of the 9th Congress, 22 years ago,” added the former solon, who is now 91 years old.

Tingzon hopes he is still alive to see the lake “free of these de-

Mt. Prov, CdO say thanks to Pagcor RECOVERING from the aftermath of a natural disaster takes time, especially when people are left with nothing but ravaged homes, damaged crops and casualties. But getting back on one’s feet becomes easier when calamity victims get a helping hand from good Samaritans.

Mountain Province and Cagayan de Oro recently expressed their gratitude to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. or Pagcor in separate resolutions for the agency’s financial aid when both provinces were struck by calamity.

Mountain Province was badly hit by Super Typhoon “Lawin” last October, while Cagayan de Oro was affected by heavy flooding early in January because of two weather disturbances.

On Jan. 10, the Provincial Government of Mountain Province signed Resolution Number 2017034 in recognition of Pagcor’s P1 million financial donation, which was used for the immediate rehabilitation of damaged agricultural farms, Manila Notice of Extrajudicial infraStandard Settlement of Estate TODAY structure, Notice is hereby given that the estate of the late prop e rLamberto Armenio Flores Jr., ties, telconsisting of real property was extra-judicially settled ecommuand distributed among his heirs – Eduardina Montilla nications, Flores, Christopher Lambert M. Flores, Justin Edward M. and power Flores, and Michael Anthony M. Flores, by means of a lines. public document executed on 27 January 2017, before a T h e Notary Public in Quezon City, resolution Philippines, under Notary Public Atty. Jonna O. Guiang, said Pagwith Document No. 506, Page No. 103, Book No. III, Series cor imof 2017. th

(MS-FEB. 22, MAR. 1 & 8, 2017)

mediately gave the financial assistance when they needed help the most. “Such benevolence is very much appreciated by this provincial government,” it said.

Besides Mountain Province, other “Lawin” affected provinces that received help from Pagcor were Apayao, Ilocos Sur, and Kalinga (P1 million each); Ilocos Norte (P3 million); Isabela and Cagayan (P2 million each).

Meanwhile, in its Jan. 30, 2017 Resolution, Cagayan de Oro expressed its “sincerest gratitude and deepest appreciation” to Pagcor through its Casino Filipino Davao branch for reaching out to barangays Iponan, Bulua, Patag, Kauswagan, Balulang, and Carmen at the height of the flooding.

Pagcor distributed 4,000 packs of relief goods for the calamity victims there.

According to CF Davao General manager Dario Cordero, they immediately prepared the relief packs after receiving a directive from Malacañang and Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Andrea Domingo to assist affected families in Cagayan de Oro. It was just the first tranche of the agency’s relief operations in the region, Cordero added.

Rehabilitation efforts, Cordero said, are under way in many affected communities. “The immediate priority is to provide the residents with basic necessities like food and water,” he said.

HIGH UP. To prevent theft

of electric meters, the Manila Electric Co. has installed the meters on top of a pole for its clients in Barangay 410, Zone 42 in Sampaloc, Manila.

Residents say that instead of climbing the pole, Meralco’s meter readers use binoculars instead. Ed Usapdin

structive fish pens that has been the cause of siltation and flooding in the coastal communities surrounding the lake.”

It may be recalled that after issuing a final warning to all fish pen operators in the lake, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources began dismantling fish pens and fish cages last month. Environment Secretary Regina Lopez vowed to clear all 90,000 hectares of

Laguna Lake.

President Rodrigo Duterte told Congress last year he ordered the dismantling of big fish pens and fish cages in Laguna Lake to allow small fishermen to gain access to their traditional fishing grounds.

All fish pens in the lake were considered illegal after the Laguna Lake Development Authority did not renew their permits as they expired last Dec. 31.

IN BRIEF Tourists to Lower Magat ecopark up DIADI, Nueva Vizcaya—The number of local and foreign tourists who visit the Lower Magat Eco-Tourism Park in Barangay San Luis here continues to rise due to its improved attractions, amenities and facilities.

Nequita Castro, park manager, said the LMETP is now accommodating an average of 20 tourists groups a day. The park is one of the investment and income-generating projects of the provincial government.

“We are usually fully booked, so we are advising our visitors who may wish to come here to make their reservations early,” Castro said.

She said the income generated by the eco-park last year was more than P5 million, compared to about P3 million in 2015. Ben Moses Ebreo

P’sinan provincial govt workers feted LINGAYEN, Pangasinan— Gov. Amado I. Espino III led officials in honoring provincial government employees, including 56 who recently retired, during the 6th Employees Awards and Recognition program at the Sison Auditorium.

Leadership awardees include Joan Episcope of PTCAO and Elena Tadeo of Pozorrubio Community Hospital (Health and Wellness Focal Person); Melchora Dela Cruz of PPDO and Ma. Jane Cabais of Umingan Community Hospital (Public Assistance Desk Officer); Bella De Quintos of PESO and Ma. Jane Cabais of Umingan Community Hospital (7S Focal Person); and Team D – Mona Liza Padlan, Presentacion Espino, Ma. Lilia Velasco, Marivic Ugaban, Fedeliza Santos and GraceYELLOW Saringan (Capitol CYAN MAGENTA BLACKGroup); PPDO and Dasol Community Hospital (Performance Management Team).

Health and Wellness awardees were Jan Marlon De Vera of PESO and Hideliza Macam of PPO. People’s Choice awardees were Fedeliza Santos of PPO and Lilibeth Rivera of Dasol Community Hospital (employees); Provincial Library (office) and Dasol Community Hospital (hospital). Dexter A. See

World

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

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Trump’s crackdown a lift to scam artists L OS ANGELES—President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has sent shock waves through the Latino population across the United States and brought out scam artists who are preying on the vulnerable community.

From unscrupulous attorneys charging thousands of dollars for residency or work visas that never materialize to cheats bilking victims for documents freely available online and people passing themselves off as federal immigration agents, advocacy groups and officials say fraudsters are feasting on immigrant fears.

“When you have people worried and scared, you sadly have those that take advantage,” says Enrique Morones, founder and director of the San Diego-based immigrant rights group Border Angels.

Morones says he has seen a

huge surge in the number of people falling victim to scams since Trump signed an executive order in January targeting the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the country.

“The last time we saw a big increase like that was around 2006 (when a controversial immigration bill was proposed) and then it dropped down dramatically,” he said.

“Now, it’s gone up again and the increase is higher than back then because of Trump’s rhetoric and the fear he is creating in the community.”

The executive order gives federal agents wider latitude

to enforce immigration laws, enabling them to deport broad categories of undocumented immigrants who have not been convicted of any serious crime.

Human rights advocates say that while they support criminals being deported, the order has put almost all undocumented immigrants— the majority of them Mexican —at risk.

They point to a number of arrests in recent weeks as examples, including that of a father of four who was detained in Los Angeles after dropping one of his US-born children at school and an Arizona

woman who had lived in the United States for more than two decades before she was deported last month.

Such cases have sent immigrants—many of whom have little formal education and don’t speak English— scrambling for counsel from people posing as attorneys or anyone with an official title promising an easy path to legalization.

Many scam artists show up at gatherings of immigrant communities during which they distribute fliers, offer their services or gather names and phone numbers, Morones says. AFP

Three military chiefs hold talks in Turkey ISTANBUL―Turkish, Russian and US military chiefs held talks on Tuesday in the southern Turkish city of Antalya to discuss regional issues including Iraq and Syria, the Turkish army said.

“Common issues relating to regional security, in particular Syria and Iraq, are being discussed at the meeting,” the army said in a statement, without elaborating further.

The meeting attended by Turkish Chief of Staff General Hulusi Akar, US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford and Russian Chief of General Staff General Valery Gerasimov appears to be the first of its kind.

In the past, Antalya hosted several NATO meetings, as well as the G20 summit in 2015.

Moscow also confirmed the meeting, with the defence ministry saying in a statement to Russian news agencies: “A joint discussion on security issues in Syria and Iraq is planned at the event.”

The talks come a day after Turkey stepped back from threats to strike Syrian Kurdish militia forces deployed in former Islamic State group (IS) bastion of Manbij in Syria, unless it was in cooperation with Rus-

sia and the United States.

“It makes no sense to launch an operation in Manbij without the cooperation of Russia and the United States,” Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said in a televised interview.

His announcement stood in stark contrast to previous threats from Ankara that it would hit Syrian Kurdish militia -- considered “terrorists” by Turkey -- unless they withdrew from Manbij.

Turkey had often said that the next target of its cross-border Syria campaign would be the flash point town of Manbij, which is now controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a group dominated by Kurdish fighters.

Ankara has launched an ambitious military campaign inside Syria since late August, backing Syrian opposition fighters and recaptured several towns near its border from IS including Jarabulus, Al-Rai, Dabiq and AlBab. The Turkish campaign is also aimed at stopping the advance of Syrian Kurdish militia, which Ankara accuses of being the Syrian branch of an outlawed Kurdish militant group. AFP

Iraqi forces trained on key bridging skills

MOTHER AND SON. This file photo taken on February 16, 2017 and released by the Berlin zoo on February 24, 2017 shows three-month-old polar bear

Fritz with his mother. AFP

TAJI BASE, Iraq―Iraqi soldiers maneuver sections of a floating bridge on a muddy, man-made lake as American trainers instruct them in skills that have played a key role in the war against jihadists.

Green metal boats churn a frothy wake as they propel the sections before the Iraqi forces connect them together during the training at the Taji military base, north of Baghdad.

Members of the Iraqi army’s Bridging Battalion who have completed the training are deployed in the area of Mosul, where government-led forces are fighting to retake the Islamic State jihadist group’s last urban stronghold in the country.

Iraqi forces have deployed floating bridges on a number of occasions as they waged war against the jihadists in the “Land of the Two Rivers”.

And floating bridges have a long history in Iraq, where boats were used to connect the two banks of the Tigris River at Baghdad from Abbasid times into the 20th century.

The Bridging Battalion “took part in a number of battles to support Iraqi forces in fighting [IS],” said Captain Ali Raad, an officer in the unit.

They have been deployed “in Anbar and Salaheddin provinces, and now in the battle of Mosul,” Raad said, referring

IN BRIEF

Army to drop charges over report on torture BANGKOK―Thailand’s army said Tuesday it would drop a defamation case against three human rights workers who alleged that troops tortured suspected insurgents, a rare climbdown by a military notorious for taking critics to court.

The charges against Pornpen Khongkachonkiet—the chair of Amnesty International Thailand -- Anchana Heemmina and Somchai Homlaor were widely seen as seen as an attack on the reporting of alleged army abuses.

The 2016 report, based on interviews with 54 former detainees, described alleged torture tactics used by soldiers and police across the Muslim-majority south, which has been blistered by a 13-year conflict.

More than 6,800 people— mostly civilians—have been killed in the insurgency by Malay Muslim locals against the Thai state, which governs the region with strict emergency laws.

The trio faced up to seven years in jail for defamation and a separate charge filed for publishing the report online.

But on Tuesday the army’s southern command spokesman unexpectedly said the charges would be dropped.

“We didn’t want the three human rights activists punished,” Colonel Pramote Prom-in told reporters after meeting the trio

in Bangkok, adding the charges would shortly be withdrawn.

He repeated the army’s denial of any torture and said the military has its own “measures to punish” abuses.

Pornpen said she and the other activists stood by their report and welcomed the army’s pledge to “re-establish the relationship” with rights workers in the south through a committee to report abuse.

The case was closely watched inside a kingdom where the room for rights campaigners has been severely cramped since a 2014 coup.

The UN’s rights office in Southeast Asia applauded the move and urged authorities to drop similar charges against other human rights defenders.

“Today’s developments are very positive,” said Laurent Meillan, the UN Human Rights Office’s acting regional representative, urging Thailand “to take additional steps... to protect activists carrying out human rights reporting and monitoring.”

The rebel-hit provinces were colonized by Thailand more than a century ago.

The insurgents are ruthless in their tactics—targeting troops and police, civilians seen as collaborators with the state and suspected informants. AFP

to provinces where three of the battles to retake cities from IS took place.

Iraqi forces in Mosul now face a major challenge: all of the bridges across the Tigris, which divides city into its eastern and western sides, have been damaged or destroyed.

When IS still controlled territory in east Mosul, having the bridges out of commission hampered jihadist activities.

But Iraqi forces have now retaken all of eastern Mosul, and have secured one bridgehead on the western side and are advancing toward another, meaning it is now in their interest to reconnect them.

In the course of the training, the soldiers learn to “drive the combat bridge transporters, operate the boats, as well as construct the assault float bridge,” said Staff Sergeant Michael McConaughey, a US soldier.

This exercise is overseen by American soldiers, but British troops are also conducting similar training at another site.

“There are currently about 90 [Iraqi soldiers] that are already trained and proficient, and with the addition of these 25, (there will) be over 100 ready to go complete bridge missions,” McConaughey said.

The bridge can hold “up to a tank on the back of a truck that’s on a trailer—it can cross the heaviest vehicle we have,” he said. AFP

915 coins removed from sea turtle

DINNER. Guests attend the Jackie Robinson Foundation 2017 Annual Robie Awards Dinner at the Marriott Marquis Times Square in New York City. AFP

BANGKOK―A sea turtle dubbed “Piggy Bank” has had her fortunes restored after Thai vets removed 915 coins from her stomach―a deposit built up after years of gulping down good luck pennies tossed into its pond.

The 25-year-old turtle, called ‘Omsin’ in Thai, underwent a grueling seven-hour surgery on Monday to remove the fivekilogram hoard of coins.

She was sent to Bangkok vets with a cracked shell and an X-ray unexpectedly revealed the haul, which came in various currencies.

“There were 915 coins in her stomach, we removed them one by one,” said Nantrika Chansue, a veterinarian in charge of Chulalongkorn hospital’s aquatic research centre told AFP. “Piggy Bank is okay now but she will have to remain at the center for up to two weeks,” the vet added, saying it was the first surgery of its kind.

The troubled reptile lived for two decades in a small public park in Chonburi Province.

Visitors tossed coins into her pond seeking to ‘make merit’ or good luck, a practice vets have urged the public to stop. AFP

IN BRIEF Guterres in Somalia to discuss crisis

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

World MUSIC AWARDS. Musicians Kelsea Ballerini (C), Haley (R) and Lauren Jauregui of the music group Fifth Harmony (L) pose at the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards which broadcast live on Turner’s TBS, TNT and truTV at The Forum in Inglewood, California. AFP

MOGADISHU―UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Somalia Tuesday to discuss a hunger crisis that has pushed the country to the verge of famine with new President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed.

“The combination of conflict, drought, climate change, diseases and cholera is a nightmare,” Guterres told journalists during the flight to Mogadishu.

“It’s essentially a visit of solidarity with Somalia. We are trying to put in place a response mechanism... for trying to prevent the worst”.

Guterres will meet the newly elected president, better known by his nickname Farmajo, in the highly secured airport zone, which is protected by African Union peace keepers and which houses the offices of the UN and humanitarian organizations.

It is only the third visit by a UN secretary general to Somalia since 1993 -- two years after then president Siad Barre was overthrown, plunging the country into civil war.

Guterres’ predecessor Ban Ki-moon visited in 2011 just months after the country’s last famine which was Africa’s worst in 20 years and left 260,000 people dead. He returned in 2014.

A fierce drought has left some three million people in Somalia facing severe hunger and placed the country on famine alert. AFP

N. Korea’s art of brinkmanship

S

EOUL—Pyongyang’s travel ban on Malaysians leaving North Korea sharply escalated the already-high tensions with Kuala Lumpur—but is only the latest episode of the isolated country’s diplomatic brinkmanship.

The authoritarian, nucleararmed state has a long history of using foreigners—especially American tourists or missionaries—as bargaining chips in

its nuclear and aid negotiations with the US. The reclusive nation has also occasionally shut its borders in the face of external

health threats, or in protest at times of military tension with the South, despite the potential consequences.

Here are some of its most notable measures: A number of Americans have been arrested and jailed for crimes including hostile acts and illegal religious activity, sometimes for years.

Many were released after visits by high-profile US figures including ex-presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, but with the relations between Pyongyang and

Washington in the deep freeze two remain in the North.

Otto Warmbier, a 22-year-old college student, was last year sentenced to 15 years’ hard labor for stealing propaganda materials. Kim Dong-Chul, a KoreanAmerican pastor, has been jailed on spying charges.

The North receives a tiny number of overseas visitors, but closed its borders to foreign tourists for more than four months from October 2014 in a bid to keep out the Ebola virus -- when no cases had been reported in Asia.

It went so far as to enforce a 21-day quarantine period on anyone entering the country, including foreign diplomats and businessmen.

Tourism is a crucial source of hard currency for the impoverished nation, but the country, notorious for weak medical infrastructure and a chronic lack of medicines, appeared willing to take a financial hit.

When South Korea suffered from the world’s largest outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome, or MERS, in the summer

of 2015, the North reportedly prohibited its diplomats and workers overseas from returning to their homeland for months to prevent the spread of the virus.

Pyongyang also suspended foreign tours for three months due to fears over SARS in 2003.

The Kaesong industrial complex -- where more than 100 South Korean firms employed over 50,000 North Korean staff in a reconciliation project -- suffered several political setbacks after it was set up in 2004, eventually closing in 2016. AFP

Malaysia ready for stakeout

Malaysians ‘hostages’ in Kim spat

PENANG-Malaysia will wait to question the suspects in the Kim Jong-Nam killing believed to be holed up in Kuala Lumpur’s North Korean embassy “even if it takes five years”, the country’s police chief said Tuesday.

A police cordon was set up outside the embassy after Pyongyang announced it would ban Malaysians from leaving North Korea, prompting an immediate tit-for-tat move from Kuala Lumpur.

The travel bans are just the latest twist in a heated diplomatic row over the Cold War-style assassination of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader in Malaysia last month, which has seen Kuala Lumpur expel Pyongyang’s envoy and vice-versa.

“We will wait, if it takes five years, we will wait outside.

Definitely somebody will come out,” police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said at a press conference in Penang, adding that he believed three people wanted in connection with the murder were in the building.

“This morning the deputy prime minister issued instructions not to allow any North Korean embassy staff to leave the country,” Deputy Home Minister Nur Jazlan Mohamed told journalists outside the embassy in Kuala Lumpur.

“At the moment we’re trying to ascertain their numbers and their movements.”

Prime Minister Najib Razak later said all North Korean citizens in Malaysia, not just embassy staff, would be barred from leaving the country. AFP

KUALA LUMPUR―North Korea banned Malaysians from leaving the country Tuesday, triggering a tit-for-tat response from Kuala Lumpur which said its citizens were effectively being held “hostage” in the row over the assassination of Kim Jong-Nam. Pyongyang’s extraordinary move came as it faced growing international condemnation for a volley of missiles it fired into the Sea of Japan, defying stringent global sanctions aimed at halting its weapons program.

Tuesday’s developments marked a dramatic heightening of tensions with Malaysia three weeks after the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim JongUn was murdered at an airport with the banned VX nerve agent.

The North decided to “temporarily ban the exit of Malaysian citizens in the DPRK”, the official news agency KCNA said, citing the foreign ministry and using the country’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The prohibition would remain in place “until the safety of the diplomats and citizens of the DPRK in Malaysia is fully guaranteed through the fair settlement of the case that occurred in Malaysia”.

The Malaysian foreign ministry said 11 of its citizens were currently in North Korea, including three embassy staff, six family members and two others who work for the UN’s World Food Program.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the bar, and said he was ordering a similar ban on the movement of “all North Korean citizens in Malaysia”. Analysts said they could number around 1,000. AFP

BESIEGED. A Syrian child stands at a makeshift camp for displaced people near the town of Manbij. Tens of thousands of civilians have fled parts of eastern Aleppo province as government forces pound the territory held by IS. The civilians are headed towards the town of Manbij and surrounding areas, seeking safety in the territory held by a Kurdish-Arab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces. AFP

Iraq forces retake government headquarters in Mosul NEAR MOSUL―Iraqi forces retook the provincial government headquarters and a second bridgehead on the River Tigris in west Mosul on Tuesday, the third day of a new drive against the Islamic State group.

The operation to retake west Mosul -- IS’s largest remaining urban stronghold -- was launched on February 19, but the advance had slowed in the face of several days of bad weather until a renewed push began on Sunday.

“The heroes of the federal police and Rapid Response liberate the government building for Nineveh province and control the second bridge (Al-Hurriyah Bridge),” the Joint Operations

Command said in a statement.

Mosul, Iraq’s second city, is the capital of Nineveh province.

The city is divided by the Tigris River, and while bridges crossing it have been either damaged or destroyed, they would provide a link between the government-held east and IS-held west if they can be repaired or otherwise bridged.

British and US military instructors have been training Iraqi soldiers in the use of floating bridges for precisely this kind of situation.

Iraq’s Bridging Battalion currently numbers around 90 troops and a further 25 are completing training.

Iraqi forces have retaken a series of government buildings in west Mosul since launching their renewed offensive.

The elite Rapid Response Division and federal police forces have recaptured the provincial police headquarters, the courts complex and the water, electricity and sewage directorates.

And the Counter Terrorism Service, the country’s premier special forces unit, retook AlSumood neighborhood, another target in the drive, and attacked Al-Mansur.

The fighting in west Mosul has forced more than 50,000 people to flee, the International Organization for Migration said.

The operation to retake Mosul was launched on October 17, with an array of forces taking part but CTS and Rapid Response ultimately playing the leading roles.

In January, Iraqi forces retook the last neighborhood of east Mosul still in IS hands.

IS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but Iraqi forces backed by USled air strikes and other support have since regained most of the ground they lost.

The jihadists have also lost larges swathes of territory in neighboring Syria, threatening the end of the cross-border “caliphate” they declared in June 2014. AFP

From left: Sammie Rimando, Jane de Leon, Krissha Viaje and Leyana Magat

P

ENSHOPPE proves once and for all that no other brand can throw a shopping party quite like them.

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

FASHION & BEAUTY

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

D1

A new fashion capital

In celebration of the opening of its newest flagship store in UP Town Center, the country’s favorite casualwear brand recently gathered together some of the country’s fashion authorities, top models, and up-and-coming celebrities in UP Town Center for a night of fun, sweet treats, rad music, and nothing less than the most up-to-date fashion styles.

“As a brand that represents the youth’s vitality and taste for adventure, we need to make sure that our new flagship store gets the welcome party it deserves” shares Penshoppe’s Brand Director Jeff Bascon.

Dubbed “Penshoppe Capital”, the 800-square meter fashion haven features an edgy yet minimalist layout with white walls, floors and ceiling. It also has giant LED screens playing the brand’s latest campaigns in place of display windows.

As its biggest store in Metro Manila, it is the one place to go to if you want to check out all of Penshoppe’s latest offerings.

Bascon says, “One of our biggest considerations when designing Penshoppe Capital is to make it a destination— one that people will seek out. In order to do this, we need to create a unique shopping experience. That’s when we thought about playing with space. The store is a bit edgy yet still maintains that feel-good vibe that Penshoppe is known for. It’s laid out in such a way that shoppers can easily move from one section to the next, and allows everyone to have a clear view of the brand’s offerings at a macro perspective.”

Lending their talents to set the mood for the one-of-a-kind fashion party were DJ Tom Taus and Sanya Smith. Some familiar faces seen during the event include Aryanna Epperson, Benjamin Alves, Guji Lorenzana, Cesca Litton,

LJ Moreno

Penshoppe brand director Jeff Bascon with Donnie Pangilinan, Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan, Alice Liu and Anthony Pangilinan at the opening of the clothing brand’s flagship store.

(Inset) DJ Tom Taus sets the mood for the party

Donnie Pangilinan with parents Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan and Anthony Pangilinan, ex-PBB Housemates Wil Dasovich and Luis Hontiveros, Star Magic talents Josef Elizalde, Joe Vargas, and Jane de Leon, as well as PBA basketball star Jimmy Alapag and wife LJ Moreno. Top models Sky Yang and Julia Lavareza and some of the country’s top fashion bloggers were also present during the launch.

Alex Medina

Josie Natori’s Spring 2017 Ready-to-Wear Collection

Dive into paradise

A FRESH, modern, escapist collection for Spring 2017 marks a new chapter for Josie Natori. Eclectic and intricate looks inspired by Natori’s global heritage evoke a soft, feminine and romantic feeling.

As always, artisanal craftsmanship is key. This season’s handcrafted details are blended with new explorations of volume and silhouette.

Textured cottons, poplins, raffia and straw-like weaves add a casual edge, complementing the relaxed and playful, yet glamorous sensibility of the collection.

Bask in the sun wearing this stylish Shard Print Halter Swimsuit from Makrs & Spencer

The Black Essential Bikini Top and Roll Top Hipster Bikini Bottom combination is perfect for the classic woman

THE thought of summer fast approaching conjures up a pretty picture of paradise: the sound of gentle waves rolling onto the sandy shore, the balmy breeze blowing lightly on one’s face and the summery sun kissing one’s skin. Ah yes, ‘tis the season to throw caution, and (some of) our clothes, to the wind.

Marks & Spencer helps you do just that and get summer-ready with a swimwear collection inspired by the South Seas as well as tropi-cool monochromatic prints. Slip into the season’s stylish staples, nautical lines, blues and whites, or fresh palm-printed styles with some paired with beads and fringe details all rendered in classic cuts and silhouettes.

For the classicist, try on a black bikini top with matching high-waisted bottoms and take your style game up a notch with a long, printed cover-up. For the fashionable woman looking for chic but versatile swimwear, opt for the printed navy multi-way bikini top, which can be worn in eight different ways. But for a bold summer statement, why not try the shardprinted navy blue one-piece with beads and fringe detail? Sweep your hair sideways, secure with some sea-salt spray, and take paradise with you even when you are just lounging by the poolside.

Marks & Spencer values elegant but forward designs coupled with wearable innovation. The brand’s current line features a Secret Slimming Technology, in which an inner layer of control fabric shapes, sculpts and flatters a woman’s figure. Meanwhile, the moulded cups offer light padding for coverage instead of just the usual push-up.

In celebration of 20 years of British style in the Philippines, Marks & Spencer loyalty customers will have the chance to escape to paradise. Win an overnight stay and spa package for two at ShangriLa at the Fort and a buffet party for 10 at High Street Café, as well as a Marks & Spencer shopping spree worth P50,000. Another 20 customers will also get the chance to win P20,000 worth of Marks & Spencer gift vouchers. Other benefits of being a Marks & Spencer loyalty customer also include birthday discounts, seasonal freebies, personalized shopping services, bonus points and more.

Natori’s latest RTW collection evokes a soft, feminine and romantic feeling

Life

D2

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

LIZA SOBERANO in summer

T

HE summer season is truly one of the most awaited times of the year in our tropical isles. It is when we can finally hit the beach, frolic in the sun and sand, and at last get away from it all.

For Liza Soberano, undoubtedly one of the hottest and most bankable young stars today, she has always loved summer and the sea—who can forget her 18th birthday party held last year in Talisay, Batangas, with its fun beach boho theme? And there, too, was the time she went on a memorable beach trip with her family, taking the opportunity to bond and catch-up with her younger siblings, away from the spotlight and cameras.

Indeed, there’s no denying that Liza keeps quite a full calendar and has never been as busy, with her numerous magazine shoots, product endorsements, plus the filming of her latest movie success,

My Ex and Whys, that has excited her fans once again. And while Liza remains as of yet mum regarding her vacation plans this summer, what with her many commitments including doing promotional rounds with screen partner Enrique Gil, it is definitely time for her to take a breather.

Helping Liza keep track of time, recharge and live deeper is her TechnoMarine watch. Possessing an edgy yet elegant style with precision Swiss movement, TechnoMarine watches easily suit Liza’s lifestyle and personality, and is sure to keep her in step and in time this sizzling summer season.

And for this summer, there’s the Cruise collection with its vibrant style. Crafted for any adventure by land or sea, the TechnoMarine Cruise collection comes with interchangeable covers and straps of silicone or pure stainless steel with gold tone. With a personality all its own, its distinctive and charismatic design is a perfect fusion of fun and active luxury.

With TechnoMarine’s combination of Swiss craftsmanship, sophistication and originality, Liza can easily stay in vogue and make waves wherever she goes—be it in the studio, on the road, or for some fun under the sun!

Founded in 1997, TechnoMarine successfully merges the art of horological innovation with spirited design. Technomarine is available at TechnoMarine Megamall, TechnoMarine Greenbelt, TechoMarine Trinoma, Technomarine Cebu, MyDiamond Megamall, and Rafael Jewelry Shangri-La Plaza.

Liza Soberano lives deeper this summer with the help of her TechnoMarine timepiece

Michael Kors’ Spring 2017 ad campaigns POWERFUL romance is the theme of the Spring 2017 Michael Kors Collection advertising campaign, shot by Mario Testino.

“The combination of strength and femininity was at the core of the collection, and Joan Smalls was the perfect embodiment of that spirit,” says Michael Kors.

For the new campaign, Testino captured Smalls luxuriating in a classic car, wearing the season’s standout prints. In hues of azalea and nutmeg accented with white-hot accessories, the bold florals bring chic opti-

mism to the sun-kissed campaign.

“The Michael,” Michael Kors campaign brings back house favorite Taylor Hill, alongside Romee Strijd.

In keeping with the brand’s jet set aesthetic, the campaign follows two supermodels on the go, shot with a paparazzi-style point of view. Photographed by Testino, the glamorous duo showcases a selection of sleek, warm-weather looks from the “Michael” Michael Kors Spring 2017 collection.

Joan Smalls is the combination of strength and femininity as the new face of Michael Kors Spring 2017 campaign

Michael Testino shot the models with a paparazzi-style point of view to capture the on-the-go lifestyle

“I wanted to capture the on-the-go, highglam lifestyle of this new generation of supermodels, shot in a crisp, graphic, warmweather way,” says Kors.

In the Philippines, Michael Kors is located at Central Square in Bonifacio High Street Central, Greenbelt 5, Newport Mall, Power Plant Mall, Rustan’s Makati and Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

Get skinny

Unlike usual skinny jeans, the Levi’s 501 Skinny for men and women lends an authentic vintage feel to the slim-fit trend today.

AS ALWAYS, the timeless Levi’s brand offers a solution to this recurring dilemma—a new member of the classic 501 family.

We all know that the heritage Levi’s 501 jeans has been re-mastered several times through the brand’s 140 years, evolving into a wardrobe staple for people with individual lifestyles. Innovations based on the 501’s classic styling include the well-loved 501 Taper and the 501 Stretch.

Now, Levi’s introduces a new 501 pair for both men and women—the 501 Skinny.

Re-designed and re-mastered into a skinny fit, the 501 Skinny lends an authentic vintage feel to the slim-fit trend of today.

Because the skinny jeans is now a wardrobe staple, the ageless Levi’s brand restyled the world’s most coveted jeans with a skinnier leg while retaining the 501’s notable features: the button fly and the distressed, nostalgic look.

Described as the “new type of skinny,” the Levi’s 501 Skinny is not as tight and stretchy as most skinny jeans, which most wearers find uncomfortable. The new skinny pair from Levi’s is similar to the authentic and vintage classic 501, but is leaner and slimmer, creating a different silhouette while allowing room for more movement.

For the women’s fit, the Levi’s 501 Skinny has a waist-enhancing rise that hugs the hips and lifts the back. It is offered in two types of denim: Levi’s traditional nonstretch denim for maximum comfort and the new shrink-to-fit stretch denim for a more skintight feel.

Meanwhile, the men’s fit for Levi’s 501 Skinny sits comfortably below the waist and features the slim leg design, now a staple cut for men.

Both men’s and women’s fits are available in non-stretch, low stretch and a variety of washes.

VA N I T Y C O R N ER

SUN PROTECTION ARSENAL YOUR flight is booked and your wardrobe is planned, and it’s looking to be a fun summer getaway with your friends and loved ones. But before you go basking in the sun, don’t forget to bring sun protection products.

Celeteque DermoScience Sun Care line offers its Sun Care Face and Body Sun Defense Spray with SPF 50 when you want a light but potent sun protection. This easy to use sunscreen in a spray provides protection against UVA and UVB rays, and has Vitamin E and sunflower oil. The product mattifies when rubbed unto skin while keeping it moisturized.

Soothe the after-effects of the scorching sun with Celeteque DermoScience Sun Care Skin relief After-Sun Gel that provides immediate moisturizing and cooling relief to sunburnt skin.

Its Anti-inflammatory Soothing Extracts reduce skin’s possible inflammation after prolonged sun exposure, while its wheat and aloe vera skin conditioners soothe and lessen flaking of overly dry skin.

If you want to look flawless while under the sun, use dual purpose Celeteque DermoScience Sun Care Matte Moisturizer that offers UVA/UVB protection as well as oil-free and smooth matte finish.

These products are available in Watsons stores and leading grocery and beauty stores nationwide. ***

KEEPING LIPS KISSABLE GIVE your puckers the tender loving care it needs with lipsticks that give vibrant color and moisturizing benefits.

Leading cosmetics company Ever Bilena offers its Luxe and LTD lipstick lines that feature wide range of shades and moisturizing formulation.

Keep your look strong and solid from morning to night with the Luxe line that comes in sweet violets, vivid reds, pretty pinks and bold browns color. Its silky application gives way to a rich semi-satin finish.

LTD, on the other hand, is a range of velvety soft liquid lipsticks that deliver buildable and long lasting lip color with a matte finish. This limited edition range comes in 12 highly pigmented shades, from soft mauve nudes to vampy reds.

Visit www.everbilena.com.ph to learn more about the aforementioned lipstick ranges.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

E

IGHT Kapamilya idols will show their grit and prove they can do anything to entertain viewers in the newest talent-reality show I Can Do That, premiering on March 11 on ABSCBN.

The show will test the will and imagination of I CANdidates, including actress and jiu jitsu enthusiast Cristine Reyes, actress and in-demand cover girl Arci Muñoz, singeractress Sue Ramirez, and host-comedienne Pokwang, as they perform unique talents that could be hilarious, nerve-wracking, or simply extraordinary.

Also not backing down from any challenge are theater actor and TV heartthrob JC Santos, dancer-performer Gab Valenciano, comedian Wacky Kiray, and model-actor and footballer Daniel Matsunaga.

The Philippine version of I Can Do That will be hosted by Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga.

Every week, the I CANdidates will perform extraordinary acts in pairs. The fun begins when different groups of professional performers demonstrate a variety of acts that I CANdidates have never done before.

If the I CANdidates think they could do a certain act, they’d make their way down the stairs towards the performers. The first to reach the fourth and last step will be locked in to perform the act and will get to choose the I CANdidate who he or she believes will help him or her give a winning performance.

Given only one week to practice, the I CANdidates are expected to perform their assigned act and entertain the audience.

The weekly winner will be determined based on the combined scores culled from the scores given individually by the iCANdidates and the extra points granted to the winner of the audience vote.

So far, the rehearsals have immensely challenged the I CANdidates physically and emotionally. In fact, Matsunaga got hit by the props he was required to use for an act.

What challenges will force the I CANdidates out of their comfort zones? Will the stress take a toll on the I CANdidates’ camaraderie?

I Can Do That, developed by Israel’s Armoza Formats, has local versions in 20 countries, including the United States, which named singer Nicole Scherzinger its first Greatest Entertainer.

Don’t miss I Can Do That starting March 11 on ABS-CBN. For updates, like www.facebook.com/ ICanDoThatPH or follow @ICanDoThatPH on Twitter or Instagram.

Robi Domingo and Alex Gonzaga host ABS-CBN's newest talent-reality show featuring celebrity performers

R&B act South Boarder

‘HEART BEATS’ Concert at SM City Bicutan

Celebrity candidates show in

‘I CAN DO THAT’

HEART Beats recently brought love and music to SM City Bicutan, just in time for the most romantic month of the year.

Top billed by Jinky Vidal, South Border and UDD, the concert ended with a fun afterparty, great mixes

by DJ Matthew Carbonell, as well as a Grand Fireworks display.

Jinky Vidal and real life sweetheart Jeric Medina treated guests to love songs, classic Former Freestyle vocalist and now solo OPM hits, current performer Jinky Vidal chart toppers and their most requested ballads. Also in the Heart Beats live playlist: South Border’s trademark R&B and Jazz music, and UDD’s set of radio hits, new singles and songs from its international collaboration.

Setting the mood for the perfect date was a special outdoor and picnic-style screening of the movie This Time starring James Reid and Nadine Lustre, made possible by event partner, PBO of Viva Entertainment. This was made more enjoyable by a special Food Bazaar and wine tasting.

The Heart Beats concert is one of the many exciting events at SM City Bicutan.

Television still rules Filipino households WE ARE training a new generation of viewers who can binge-watch a couple of new movie releases or an entire series for the whole day. Content providers have lured media consumers with a promise of no commercial gaps and the availability of their program, anytime, anywhere as long as they have an Internet connection.

This prompted digital experts and online sages to suggest that online streaming, video sharing sites, and video-on-demand services have pushed television aside. But is this really the case?

While most kids now are digitally savvy and the entire generation is shifting into a more digital environment, in a latest study commissioned by Turner Asia Pacific, a media conglomerate that is a division of Time Warner and manages

the collection of cable television networks including CNN, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Toonami, Warner TV, and Boomerang, to name a few, they have found out that despite an increase on online viewership, TV remains the number 1 media used by kids.

“Interestingly, this is the case across all other markets we surveyed, kids spend more hours watching TV than watching online videos on Youtube, with a 20 percent difference between the amount of time spent on the two platforms,” David Webb, director of Research and Planning at Turner Asia Pacific told Manila Standard in an exclusive interview.

The Hong Kong-based executive, who delivers research, insight and strategy for Turner’s Kids and Entertainment brands in Asia Pacific, explained that Kids’ TV channels are still the most trusted while Youtube and mobile websites are the most concerning platforms, especially with music, explicit lyrics and music videos.

The survey is called New Generations. It is a regular report

Filipino kids spend more hours watching TV than watching online videos, says the latest study commissioned by Turner

that analyzes the habits and preferences of today’s young Filipinos. It is a pioneering survey that seeks to better understand kids’ lifestyles – their values, aspirations, media habits, consumption, pocket money, opinions, preferences and parental influence.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Wednesday, March 8, 2017

ACROSS 1 Feeling pleasure 5 Things to crack 10 Sixth Greek letter 14 Blarney Stone site 15 St. Teresa’s town 16 — — to win 17 With, to monsieur 18 Column order 19 Little child 20 Adjusted the wheels 22 Mountain range 23 In the past 24 Singer — Brickell 26 Customers 30 Not anchored 34 More chilly 35 Fuzzy fruit 38 Fast-talk 39 Limb 40 Does an office job 41 Previous 42 Can’t do without 44 Augury 45 Broad comedy 47 Turn into bone 49 Watered down 51 Moreno or Rudner 53 Table-tennis divider

54 Lessen 57 Whiskery dog 63 “— Ha’i” 64 LPGA’s Lorena — 65 Nothing but 66 Mold-ripened cheese 67 Derrick or crane 68 Broken-down horses 69 Cookout intruders 70 Affirm 71 Piggy-bank feature DOWN 1 Machine part 2 Not prerecorded 3 Caller’s code 4 Speak with conviction 5 Vietnam city 6 The Bard’s river 7 Ground up 8 Ignore, in a way 9 USAF unit 10 Dulcimer cousins 11 New Age singer 12 “Kon- —” 13 Egyptian sun deity 21 Mr. Stravinsky 22 Scotland Yard div.

25 Podium

26 Keyboard instrument 27 Range sizes 28 Multiplied by 29 Read hastily 31 Sluggish by nature 32 Compel 33 Jacket choice 36 Henri’s island 37 Proceed 40 Racer A.J. — 43 Smudges 45 Type of collar 46 Cool seasons 48 Archaic interjection

50 Natural 52 Famous racetrack 54 “Waterloo” pop group 55 Silo companion 56 Touched down 58 “Wool” on clay sheep 59 Throw a party 60 Enthusiasm, plus 61 Therefore 62 Break 64 Surprised cries

“There are a lot of talks that TV is dead and that the Internet has taken over but parents and kids see watching TV as more of a family time. TV is a more shared type of experience,” Webb stated.

Webb works closely with the content, brand, and commercial

teams to assist with on-going network strategy development, delivering relevant tools and commissioning appropriate studies to service business needs. As part of this, he manages Turner’s acclaimed New Generations research – one of the largest sets of studies of lifestyles and opinions of kids and families in Asia Pacific – and other bespoke, in-house initiatives.

“Our study shows that almost 20 percent of parents are more concerned with YouTube than they are with kids’ TV channels,” he revealed.

He also said that on average, Filipino kids spend more than 5 hours watching TV per day. The data came Kantar TNS. “For the 2017 report, we interviewed more than 500 childparent pairs from the emerging middle-class market in Mega Manila area, with the kids aged 4 to 14. For whatever reason, Filipino children get to spend more time at home compared to other markets that’s why they have more opportunity to watch TV,”

the executive shared.

Watching online video has massively increased this year and that’s consistent on all the markets that New Generations surveyed.

Apart from the Philippines, the sample markets included Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

“In the survey, we’ve discovered that there are a lot of at-home activities involved, in the Philippines playing toys is first and reading books comes second, while in other markets it’s playing sport,” he said.

Amid the prevalence of traditional media though, Turner was able to create a bridge between their TV content and digital media. They have launched multiple campaigns ranging from augmented reality games to promotional activities to promote their programs.

“And so far, these efforts have complemented our goal to keep children from watching our contents through traditional platform, which is TV,” Webb concluded.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MARCH 8, 2017

RS Francisco journey to

‘BHOY INTSIK’

I

MET RS Franciso, now billed in the independent movie Bhoy Intsik, many ISAH V. RED years ago when I was writing feature articles for the now defunct S, the Sunday magazine of Manila Standard. It was, I guess, in the early 90s, when a young theater student from the University of the Philippines created a loud buzz after stripping naked on stage while playing the role of Song Liling, an opera singer who is actually a man with whom the character Rene Gallimard falls in love with.

The role opened many doors for Francisco who would later on appear in the movies and on television playing a variety of roles, mainly gay men, but nonetheless cemented his stature in show business and at the same time paving the way for the actor to establish himself as a commercial director and now a movie producer.

He is one of the guys behind the new movie Bhoy Intsik, the title role, of course, is played by him under the name Raymond Francisco along with Coco Martin’s younger brother Ronwaldo Martin.

This is a new journey in Francisco’s colorful career as an artist ~ as a first-time lead actor in an independent feature film produced under his own production company, Frontrow Entertainment.

Joel Lamangan directed Bhoy Intsik, among the five finalists in Brillante Mendoza and Wilson Tieng’s Sinag Maynila 2017.

Mendoza is the festival director while Tieng, Solar Entertainment CEO, is the main proponent of the now three-year-old festival.

The film tackles the story of Bhoy Intsik (Francisco) and Marlon (Martin), two small-time felons whohave a petty mutual disdain for each other, being competitors in illegal business in a community of the livingdead.

Eventually, both become allies.

“Being both the lead actor and producer of this film is definitely a big challenge for me,” says Francisco. “I had to separate my role as a producer and as an actor.

“During the pre-production stage of the film, I functioned as a producer. But when the cameras started to grind, I had to shut off the producer side of me to concentrate on my role, and leave all the production aspect to my director and the team.”

How does he rate Ronwaldo Martin as an actor? “Yes, he’s new in the business, but a very professional talent. I felt a screen chemistry with him as co-actors, as far as our roles were concerned - without any malicious angle, even if I’m a gay in the story and he’s straight.

“I’m also deeply honored to have director Joel (Lamangan) as my director who guided us on how to give color to our respective roles.”

The movie also stars Jeric Raval, Mon Confiado, E l o r a E s p a ñ o , The gay thief (RS Francisco) and his young protégé (Ronwaldo Martin) in the indie J i m movie, "Bhoy Intsik"

Pebanco, Tony Mabesa, Shyr Valdes, Mike Lloren, and Liz Alindogan.

Bhoy Intsik opens tomorrow and will run until 14 at SM Megamall, SM North Edsa, Gateway, and Glorietta 4 Cinemas.

For the full screening schedule, check out the official Facebook Fan Page at www.facebook.com/ BhoyIntsik/ *** The date of a lifetime -- an intimate sit-down dinner at an exclusive and secluded fine dining restaurant with the country’s hottest star, Maine Mendoza. This was how CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino, the country’s top-selling tocino, wanted to express gratitude to loyal CDO Funtastyk lovers for making it no 1.

To be part of the celebration, the users had to do Maine’s Funtastyk Dares posted on Facebook. From the hundreds of dare entries in the form of photos and videos from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, the 20 most creative and engaging entries were selected.

The entries proved how the fans were eager to show their love for CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino. Some of the dares even showcased how versatile the Tocino is and that it can be eaten any time of the day.

It was indeed a night of fun and celebration as the top 20 winners, from Luzon and Mindanao enjoyed the sumptuous fullcourse French Mediterranean dinner at Lemuria Garden Restaurant. Of course, the special dish of the night was the CDO Funtastyk Tocino with pineapple, brie and shallots. The winners were given a chance to spend time and interact with the very charming Yaya Dub as they talked about their respective dares. Maine made the top 20 winners feel welcome and expressed how proud she was of them. It was truly a memorable night not just for our winners but also for Maine. During the dinner celebration, everyone surprised the endorser since she’ll be celebrating her birthday soon.

“Proud na proud ako sa kanilang lahat!” she said. An avowed CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino fan, Maine has always been vocal of how much she appreciates the salitre-free tocino. “Like them, paboritong paborito ko rin ang CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino. Masaya talaga makasama ang mga tulad mong mahilig sa top-selling tocino na siguradong 100 percent young pork na nga, no need to boil pa!” she shared during the occasion. “When I really get to know and bond with my fans, young talaga ang love ko! This is our way of thanking the loyal CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino users sa walang sawang suporta!”

TV darling Maine Mendoza (left most) in a night of fun with loyal CDO Funtastyk lovers

Lea Salonga and Eric Kunze return in ‘FUN HOME’

Lea Salonga returns to the theater stage via the rerun of the musical "Fun Home"

ATLANTIS Theatrical Entertainment Group, together with Metrobank Card Corporation, is proud to announce that after its sold out run in November last year, the critically acclaimed Tony Award winning musical Fun Home returns to Manila for a limited repeat run of 12 performances on March 10 until the 19th.

Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, Eric Kunze and Cris Villonco reprise their roles in Fun Home.

Lea stays, “(Fun Home) gets a little too close, but that also makes it exciting, scary but fulfilling because it’s incredibly real.”

Fun Home is based on Alison Bechdel’s best-selling graphic memoir, Fun Home, and features music by Jeanine Tesori and book and lyrics by Lisa Kron. The New York Times calls it, “The best new musical to open on Broadway.” The Manila production was hailed as, “Terrific Theater,” and “Undeniably moving, piercing through core.”

Fun Home is the most awarded and acclaimed musical of 2015

winning five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

When father dies unexpectedly, graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.

Also in the cast, delivering acclaimed performances, are Mikkie Bradshaw-Volante, Yanah Laurel, Laurence Mossman, Katie Bradshaw and Andee Achacoso with Noel Comia, Daniel Drilon, Albert Silos and Teddy Velasco.

Fun Home is directed by Bobby Garcia with musical direction by Ceejay Javier, vocal direction by ManMan Angsico, choreography

by Cecile Martinez, light design by Adam Honore, set design by Faust Peneyra, costume design by Oz

Go, sound design by Kevin Heard, projection design by GA Fallarme and hair and make up design by Johann de la Fuente.

The limited repeat run of Fun

Home is at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza, Makati.

Tickets are available at Ticketworld (891-9999) or online at www.ticketworld.com.ph.

American stage actor and singer Eric Kunze joins the cast of the local production of the award-winning musical