Manila Standard - 2017 March 12 - Sunday

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VOL. XXXI • NO. 30 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

DUTERTE: NO PLAN TO STOP MINING

By John Paolo Bencito

help you. All you can contribute to society is P70 billion in taxes. We can live without it.

“Better if I just listen to Gina. Let’s just look for the P70 billion from somewhere else and preserve our environment,” he added, scoring mining companies for failing to repair the damage that their operations have done to the environment.

“How many years have you been there. Up to now, I cannot seen any greenery. What I want is that you put wood there and not just leave it like this. You just cannot say, let’s go to court, that’s legal. No, we are here. We, I begin and end my

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Saturday rejected the advocacy of Environment Secretary Regina Lopez to rid the country of all mining but he also scored mining companies for not doing enough to repair the damage they have done to the environment.

“Sabi ni ma’am, mine-free. Paano yan, ma’am [Ma’am said, mine-free.

How can that be, ma’am], when there is a law? If there is a law about mining, then mining is allowed,” Duterte said during the launching

of a government television station in Baguio City.

“The problem is, I saw the denuded mountains and there are still large holes because of open pit mining. If that is the case, I cannot

term in the altar of public interest,” Duterte said.

Duterte made the remarks after the Commission on Appointments bypassed Lopez’s appointment ahead of a meeting on Tuesday when they can decide to reject her appointment amid the objections of 20 groups who claim Lopez lacks competence, imposes her personal biases and insists on rules that are not in the law.

If Lopez is rejected by the CA on Tuesday, Duterte has said he is ready to make a new appointment but if they just bypass her, Duterte can again reappoint Lopez ad interim.

Turn to A2

BUSINESS/ C1

PANASONIC MARKS 50 YEARS IN PH

GADGETS / D4

D-LINK WIFI CAMERA: SEE MORE, STAY CONNECTED

SHOWBIZ / E4

MAJA OFFICIALLY OPENS SUMMER SEASON DENR Secretary Regina Lopez

President Rodrigo Duterte

REDS ADMIT AMBUSH OF CRIME SCENE PROBERS THE communist New People’s Army admitted on Saturday they attacked a group of crime scene investigators who were responding to a shooting incident in Bansalan, Davao del Sur on March 8 but skirted President Rodrigo Duterte’s remark that it is pointless to talk peace with the insurgents.

The NPA Southern Mindanao Operations Command said in a

statement the ambush was carried out “to exact revolutionary justice” against a certain Marlon Lomantas whom they claimed was a military informer in Bansalan, Davao del Sur, their spokesman Rigoberto Sanchez said.

But Philippine National Police spokesperson said there was no Marlon Lomantas among the slain policemen, who were actually non-

combatant crime scene investigators who were out to investigate a shooting incident in Bansalan.

“The trademark of ruthless treachery, patented by the [Communist Party of the Philippines]NPA, has reared its ugly head again in this latest attack against a nontactical police team of laboratory technicians and technical specialists,” Carlos said.

Carlos identified The fatalities as PO1 Rolly Benelayo, PO1 Joey Narvaza, PO1 Saro Mangotara, and PO3 Jayden May Rabor.

He said Benelayo, Narvaza and Mangotara belonged to the Bansalan Municipal Police Station while Rabor was from the Scene of the Crime Operations of Digos City.

The incident spurred Duterte to Turn to A2

SAYYAF TAKES SULU TEACHER AS AFP READIES JUNGLE BASE

By Francisco Tuyay

POSTHUMOUS DECORATION. President Rodrigo Duterte hands a medal to Minang Mangotara, mother of PO1 Saro Mangotara, who was killed in an ambush by the New People’s Army in Bansalan, Davao del Sur. PNA

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SECURITY forces are tracking down the whereabouts of a public school teacher who was kidnapped by Abu Sayyaf bandits in Sulu on Friday, a military official said Saturday.

Col. Cirilito Sobejana Jr., Joint Task Force Sulu commander, said Jolo National High School teacher Ibrahim Potong, was driving his motorcycle on the way home to Maimbung town when he was waylaid and taken by the bandits on Friday afternoon.

He said troops have been immediately alerted to locate and rescue the teacher

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and they are coordinating with the victim’s family “to gather more information about Potong.”

With Potong’s abduction, the number of hostages in the hands of the Abu Sayyaf has increased to 32, including 26 foreigners.

Meanwhile, the Defense department underscored the need to put up a permanent jungle base in the hinterlands of Jolo and Basilan to decimate the Abu Sayyaf and deny space for its future operations.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana conceived of deploying a full division of troops in Jolo to respond to civilian concerns over the threat of the ASG. Turn to A2

RODY CALLS NSC MEET

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will convene the National Security Council on Monday at Malacañang to discuss “matters that have recently emerged as challenges to the nation’s security.”

National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said that Duterte will follow through on the agreements “reached during the NSC Council Proper meetings on July 27, 2016 and Dec. 12, 2016.”

During the first NSC, Duterte discussed the Philippines’ next steps on vital issues, including the peace process, the war against illegal drugs, and the country’s arbitration court victory over China with regard to the West Philippine Sea. The NSC is a collegial body chaired by the President and composed of select members from the legislative and executive branches of government. The membership Turn to A2

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DUTERTE: ...

NO BAD INTENTION AT BENHAM--CHINA

From A1

“The President hasn’t mentioned anything yet. Nothing official,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in an interview over state radio dzRB earlier Saturday.

“There are varied opinions and they have to be weighed.”

“We understand where are the lawmakers are coming from, and the critics of course,” Abella said.

“There are some who are saying that mining doesn’t give too much [to the economy] but that’s their opinion.”

During hearings on her appointment, members of the CA chided her for imposing her own standards on mining companies, even though they complied with international standards such as ISO 14001.

Some members of the CA also questioned her order to close or suspend 28 mining companies and to cancel 75 mineral production and sharing agreements without going through due process.

SAYYAF...

From A1

“We will also station a permanent commander there in Jolo. Maybe we will transfer one division there in Jolo,” Lorenzana said as he predicted the “strategic defeat” of the ASG by June this year.

Lorenzana’s plan gained support from a security expert, who said the plan will greatly help in defeating the ASG and foiling their resurgence.

“The idea is to occupy the jungle by highly-trained fighters, establish advance command posts and rear command posts in different strategic locations in the mountain ranges of Jolo which would eventually prevent ASG encampment,” the security expert who requested anonymity said.

He said the troops will stay in the mountains permanently supported with adequate food and ammunition supplies.

“The concept is that military is the predator and not only dependent on sighting-operate strategy against the ASG, but more on jungle base command structure designed to deny future existence of the enemy,” the expert explained.

The jungle base theory will have to be supported by the local community and coordinated with maritime authorities.

So far, the ongoing military offensive has scored 23 dead bandits including four close relatives of key Abu Sayyaf commanders while several others were critically wounded in several engagements in Sulu and Basilan.

Meanwhile, the defense secretary said that the Navy will start its joint patrol with Malaysia and Indonesia in the boundary of the country’s southern backdoor in May or April in order to negate kidnappings by the Abu Sayyaf Group.

“We are going to inaugurate that,” he said. “Also, we are going to create a task force in Bongao [TawiTawi] to be headed by a two-star general. We have enough fastboats, some ships and aircraft, and maybe drones. We’re acquiring drones to patrol the area,” Lorenzana added.

RODY...

From A1

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

T

HE Chinese Embassy on Saturday denied it intentionally sailed through the Benham Rise off northern Luzon, saying they simply passed by international sea.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said their ships had the right of innocent passage and freedom of navigation in those waters, and its research ships did pass through seas northeast of Luzon Island last year.

“But this is purely carrying out normal freedom of navigation and right of innocent passage, and there were no so-called other activities or operations,” he said after their embassy received letter from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

The DFA sent a note verbale to the Chinese Embassy on Friday to clarify the reported incursion of Chinese ships at Benham Rise, which has been declared part of the country’s exclusive economic zone.

“The Philippines has expressed concern about the reported presence of Chinese ship in Benham Rise, which has been recognized by the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf as Philippine waters,” DFA Spokesman Charles Jose said.

ellite photos and incident reports indicate that China had sent a ship to Benham Rise.

“One of the survey ships is also plying the Benham Rise already.

Last year, it was monitored for about three months,” Lorenzana was quoted as saying.

He said he had given instructions to the Navy that if the survey ship returns, “accost them and drive them away.”

Since assuming presidency last year, President Rodrigo Duterte has sought closer ties with China, choosing to downplay the arbitral ruling on the South China Sea favoring the Philippines in exchange of reinvigorated economic ties.

The country’s claim to Benham Rise, a 13-million-hectare area located east of Luzon island believed to be gas-rich, was approved by the United Nations in 2012.

INNOCENT PASSAGE. Chinese foreign minister spokesperson Geng Shuang explains that Chinese research vessels did not intentionally intrude into Philippine waters at Benham Rise off the eastern seaboard of northern Luzon. AFP

REDS...

From A1

includes the Senate President and House Speaker, as well as the Executive Secretary and specific members of the Cabinet.

The NSC is mandated to discuss and review national security issues and concerns, the results of which are considered by the President in executing his duties, Esperon added.

The President heads the NSC, which is composed of around 35 leader-members from the executive and legislative branches of government, including past Presidents of the Republic, Vice President Leni Robredo, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, the majority and minority leaders of both houses of Congress, the chairs of Senate and House committees involved in national security concerns, and various members of the Cabinet. John Paolo Bencito

But Geng said “comments from individuals in the Philippines on this do not accord with the facts.”

Geng was apparently referring to the remarks of Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana who said on Thursday Chinese ships were monitored at locations near the Philippines, with a warship spotted 70 miles off its western coast in the South China Sea and survey ships seen to the north and south of its eastern seaboard.

He said satellite imagery provided by allies had tracked Chinese vessels for three months last year in Benham Rise, a vast area the United Nations has declared to be part of the Philippines’ continental shelf.

China could be trying to explore Benham Rise, Philippines’ defense chief said, in what could be another source of conflict between the Asian neighbors.

Lorenzana pointed out that sat-

condemn the communist movement with which it was no longer viable to talk because “they’re diverting issues in the talks, they’re muddling the talks” and waging a revolution based on “ideological cannibalism.”

Duterte ordered security forces to continue waging war against the communist rebels, even if it reaches for another 50 years, and ordered the Armed Forces of the Philippines to use all its assets, including newly acquired jets, and drop bombs on the rebels.

But the CPP lashed back at Duterte for his “total contempt of civilian people’s lives” when he ordered the police and the military to conduct offensives against, and drop bombs on the NPA. The Communist Party of the Philippines denounced President Rodrigo Duterte for his “total contempt of lives of civilian people’s lives who

he callously considers mere ‘collateral damage’ in ordering the AFP to employ all its assets in an 'anything goes' campaign to drop bombs and flatten the hills against the New People’s Army NPA,” the CPP said in a statement.

“In ordering the AFP to carry out aerial bombings, Duterte risks indictment for war crimes as he puts thousands of civilians in the line of fire,” said the CPP. “Aerial bombing runs as well as shellings endanger the lives of thousands of people in civilian communities wherever these are conducted by the military.”

The CPP warned that Duterte’s order to bomb NPA-infested communities will only cause “grave hardships against entire communities.”

“The AFP has never effectively employed aerial bombings and shelling against the guerrilla units of the New People’s Army,” the leftists said. John Paolo Bencito

REMOVAL OF EXEMPTIONS TO RAISE P92B, DOF SAYS THE Department of Finance’s proposal to remove non-basic sector’s exemption from paying Value Added Tax will bring in additional P92 billion in revenues.

Finance Undersecretary Karl Chua told PNA that from the present number of exemptions, at around 143, about 100 will be removed. ”Only the basic necessities like food will be exempted. This is cited in the tax code,” he said.

Some of the sectors that currently enjoy exemptions from paying VAT number to around 59 under the tax code while 84 others were given exemptions under special laws.

These sectors cover agriculture, schools, economic zones, power sector, housing sector, and the micro, small and medium enterprises.

Among those whose exemptions will be removed are the Girl Scout of the Philippines, which have already signified its willingness to be removed from the list, and the large cooperatives.

Chua said cooperatives that fall below the proposed new threshold of P3 million, from the current P1.9 million, will still be exempted from paying VAT. Senior citizens and persons with disabilities will continue to be exempted from paying VAT. Chua said gains from the VAT exemption removal would be used to finance the additional infrastructure that the economy needed as well as offset the revenues spent to the bottom 50 percent of the economy who werte affected by the proposed increase in VAT as well as the excise tax on fuel.

Under the Finance department’s proposed Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, the government will extend P300 per month to the 10 million poor households in the country for one year.

Chua said this benefit was unconditional and would be given on top of the cash transfer given to beneficiaries of the Pangtawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program. PNA

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ODD-EVEN SCHEME OF MMDA TO BE STUDIED

By Joel E. Zurbano

HOUSING PROGRAM. Members of the urban poor group Kadamay tell a weekend news forum in Quezon

City they will fight for their right to occupy the idle relocation units in vacant housing sites in Bulacan, coinciding with Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao’s accusation the Aquino administration was incompetent for failure to award the relocation housing units. Manny Palmero

SOLON: URBAN POOR HAVE RIGHT TO BE RELOCATED

By Maricel V. Cruz

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MILITANT lawmaker on Saturday accused the previous administration of incompetence for failure to award 5,208 idle relocation housing units in five separate sites in different barangays in Pandi town in Bulacan to members of the armed services.

“The Aquino administration built these houses only for press releases and photo opportunities,” Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao said.

Casilao said members of the urban poor group Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) had the right to occupy the idle relocation housing units even as the settlers said they would not leave the vacant housing sites in Pandi town and San Jose del Monte City in Bulacan.

At a news forum Saturday, Kadamay secretary-general Carlito Badion said

they would fight for their right to occupy the houses.

“We will prevail, we will prevail,” Badion said in Filipino, “we are defending our right to occupy these housing units.”

Badion made the statement as National Housing Authority representatives met with the occupants last Friday to settle the issue but the housing representatives failed to shoo away the settlers.

The NHA scheduled another set of negotiations with the occupants.

The housing units were set aside for members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police but were occupied by some 5,000 homeless people from Bulacan.

But since the houses had not been occupied and the National Housing Authority claimed these were for armed services members, Badion insisted they just did what was the right thing to do.

“We are just asking for what is rightfully for the poor, the relocation units that have not been occupied which must be distributed to those in need,”

Badion said in Filipino.

Badion also called on other homeless families to occupy the empty units.

“We should occupy these open relocation units and ensure the taxpayers’ money would be put to good use,” he said.

Casilao said “the urban poor’s daring mass action in Bulacan was a breakthrough, for advancing their rights to affordable and mass and service-oriented housing, and it exposes the anti-poor framework of the government housing program, particularly the Public-Private Partnership on developing the sites.”

Casilao said relocation or housing projects of the government were mostly dominated by the private sectors, particularly the construction, management and operations, hence, resulting in high fees being charged from supposedly poor beneficiaries.

“Relocation sites are usually sub-contracting utilities such as water and electricity, charging more from the already poor, and eventually due to non-payment, services are being cut-off,” Casilao said.

BINAY LAWYERS QUESTION CONSOLIDATION OF CASES THE Sandiganbayan’s decision to automatically consolidate the cases against former Vice President Jejomar Binay with pending cases against his son, former Makati Mayor Jejomar Erwin Binay Jr., before its Third Division contradicts the court’s internal rules and existing jurisprudence, the counsels of the former Vice President said.

The Revised Internal Rules of the Sandiganbayan explicitly provide that all cases should be raffled and nowhere in the rules does it allow the automatic consolidation of unraffled cases to pending cases before the Court, the Subido Pagente, Certeza, Mendoza and Binay Law Office said in a Motion for Recon-

sideration dated Feb. 17, 2017.

Citing the transcript of the Sandiganbayan raffle of cases held last July 15, 2016, the counsel, in a press statement, said the Raffle Committee, chaired by Associate Justice Oscar Herrera Jr., excluded the so-called “Binay cases” from the raffle. Instead, these were assigned for consolidation with previously filed cases pending before the Sandiganbayan Third Division, chaired by Presiding Justice Amparo Cabotaje-Tang.

The counsel asked the Sandiganbayan “to abide by its own clear rules, in order for it to be free from the appearance of impropriety and be beyond reproach.”

FIRE CONTROL. Regular members of the Bureau of Fire Protection and volunteers exert their best efforts to control a blaze that gutted down Saturday squatters’ houses—initially blamed on faulty electrical wiring—at Raja Bago Capulong in Manila’s waterfront Tondo district. Norman Cruz

THE government has formed a new council to discuss, study and examine the proposed re-implementation of the odd-even scheme to further improve the flow of traffic in Metro Manila.

As espoused by the transport leaders themselves, the Metro Manila Transport Consultative Council would make suggestions on traffic measures and policies being proposed to the Metro Manila Council for approval.

During a consultative meeting called by the Metro Manila Development Authority with various stakeholders during the weekend—to get their sentiments and opinions regarding the proposed modified odd-even scheme—the representatives agreed to form the council.

MMDA acting chairman Thomas Orbos welcomed the move and said the council would be a big help to the government in crafting measures to address the traffic problem in Metro Manila as it would ensure that the transport sector was always consulted.

University of the Philippines Professor Clarita Carlos shall act as facilitator of the council composed of transport leaders, commuters’ safety advocate, motorcycle riders’organizations, public utility vehicles operators (jeepneys, city and provincial buses, taxis), representatives from MMDA, Department of Transportation, Land Transportation Office, and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

When the proposed modified odd-even scheme was tossed to the parties, the general consensus was that it would be better if the full-day odd-even scheme was implemented on major thoroughfares in Metro Manila as it was less complicated and would not cause confusion among motorists.

BELLO RAPPED FOR DEFYING DU30’S POLICY DIRECTIVES

By Vito Barcelo VARIOUS labor groups slammed Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III for defying the policy directives of President Rodrigo Duterte to stop contractualization by drafting a new department order which will still continue contractualization scheme.

The Nagkaisa and Associated Labor Unions chairman Michael Mendoza said the President instructed Bello to draft a new department order ending all forms of contractualization and do away with labor contractors who serve as middlemen between employees and principal employers.

“We are shocked that DoLE management has said that the DoLE can only regulate but not prohibit contractualization and all forms of fixed term employment. Section 106 of the Labor Code is crystal clear saying the Secretary of Labor may ‘regulate’ or ‘prohibit’ contractualization,” Mendoza said.

Members of the militant labor group Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino also condemned Bello’s latest draft of the department order that contradicts Duterte’s directive to abolish contractualization, an order he reiterated when he met with labor leaders.

Mendoza said the legal stance smacked of intellectual dishonesty and deception.

“We therefore affirm that the context of any new department order must be one of total prohibition. That was reinforced by the President when he spoke with Labor and Secretary Bello on Feb. 27. President Duterte has said he will not renege on his promise to end contractualization and abhors agency hiring,” Mendoza said.

Throughout the country, the presidential commitment to end contractualization has resonated with millions of Filipinos who for the past 20 years have labored to receive the smallest of minimum wages only to be laid off after a few months.

“Presidential Spokesman Abella’s elaboration of the President’s commitment further raised massive expectations that indeed the Duterte government would bring real change through meaningful income through secure jobs,” Mendoza said.

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SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Francis S. Lagniton, Issue Editor mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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PH 'CONCERNED' OVER NOKOR MISSILE LAUNCH

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

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HE Philippines on Saturday expressed “grave concern” over North Korea’s missile launch on March 6, urging Pyongyang to “cease such acts of provocation” in the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, North Korea launched four ballistic missiles which traveled almost 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) towards the Sea of Japan while the fifth one failed to fire, sparking international condemnation.

The Philippines, through the De-

partment of Foreign Affairs, joined the international community condemning the launch.

“The Philippines expressed very grave concern over the DPRK’s [Democratic People’s Republic of Korea] latest missile launch on March 6, which was carried out in

disregard of repeated calls by the international community,” the Foreign Affairs said.

The Philippines said that such acts further raise tensions and seriously undermine regional peace and stability in the Korean Peninsula.

“The Philippines calls on DPRK to cease such acts of provocations as it violates United Nations Security Council resolutions,” it added.

The Philippine government called on Pyongyang to comply with its international obligations under the UNSC resolutions.

“We also strongly call on DPRK

to exercise restraint for the sake of peace and stability in the region,” the DFA stated.

In a report, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that out of four projectiles, three landed inside Tokyo’s exclusive economic zone or within 200 nautical miles from its coastline as provided for by international maritime law.

North Korea, under the leadership of Kim Jong-un, is barred under UN resolutions from using any form of ballistic missile technology, but Pyongyang has carried out several launches following its fourth nuclear test in January 2016.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT. Senior Superintendent Jemar Modequillo (right, standing) chief of the Parañaque police, watch as drunks and shirtless men do push-ups as who were caught during a police operation dubbed as ‘Oplan RODY,’ or Rid the Streets of Drinkers and Youths, a play on President Rodrigo Duterte’s nickname, at the Parañaque police headquarters in suburban Manila.

Oplan Rody is a police initiatives to get rid of street crimes in consonance with the President’s war on drugs. AFP

MODE OF EXECUTION MAY 'RUIN' DEATH PENALTY—ATIENZA

By Maricel V. Cruz PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte’s wish to execute criminals by hanging or firing squad may not materialize as such punishments are not allowed by the Constitution, an anti-death penalty lawmaker said on Saturday.

“Hanging and shooting have never been tried under the 1987 Constitution, which expressly forbids the infliction of cruel, degrading or inhuman punishment,” Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said.

Atienza said he is convinced the “mode of execution” would eventually spoil the performance of the death penalty, if and when the extreme punishment is finally revived by Congress.

BATTLEREADY.

Members of the Crowd Dispersal Management Unit of the Quezon City Police District in Camp Karingal perform exercises and drills as part of their preparation for a presentation to Police Deputy Director General Francisco Uyami in Camp Crame.

Manny Palmero

“The method of execution is bound to ruin the death penalty,” Atienza. said.

The proposed Death Penalty Law, or House Bill 4727, which was approved on third and final reading last week, provides for any of the following methods of execution: a) hanging; b) firing squad; or c) lethal injection.

Atienza said, however, that in reality, the methods are now down to just hanging by the neck or by fusillading, because lethal injection drugs are not available anymore.

“In fact, in America, in the few states that still subscribe to the death penalty, executions are now in total disarray due to the lack of sodium thiopental, the first of the three-drug

cocktail used in lethal injections,” Atienza said.

The manufacture of and global trade in sodium thiopental, a powerful anesthetic, has been effectively stopped by governments and international human rights groups opposed to the death penalty,” he added.

Atienza said a number of states in America with pending executions have attempted to employ alternative drugs, such as those used to euthanize horses, but they too have been blocked by lawsuits.

The previous and now-repealed 1993 Death Penalty Law, or Republic Act 7659, originally provided for electrocution and once

available, gas poisoning, as the method of execution.

But three years later, Congress decided to pass another law, Republic Act 8177, which dumped electrocution and gas poisoning, and designated lethal injection as the new mode of execution.

Lethal injection causes the least painful instantaneous death through a medically induced coma, Atienza said.

He noted that the Bureau of Corrections put seven convicts to death via lethal injection from 1999 to 2000, without the help of government doctors, who refused to perform any role in the procedure citing their Hippocratic Oath “to do no harm.”

SOLON PUSHES BILL ON FREE IRRIGATION A HOUSE leader on Saturday urged Congress to prioritize a bill that will provide free irrigation to farmers, especially palay growers.

Camarines Sur Rep. LRay Villafuerte said President Rodrigo Duterte’s goal of freeing from poverty at least a million Filipinos annually over the next six years is contingent on reversing rural poverty.

“One surefire way to do so is by dramatically raising farmers’ incomes by restructuring their accumulated debts from irrigation service fees (ISFs) and providing them with free irrigation from hereon,” Villafuerte, vice chairperson of the House committee on local government, said.

“Providing free irrigation—a most vital input for growers of palay and other crops—has now become even more urgent with Malacañang now keen on lifting the QR [quantitative restrictions] on rice this year,” Villafuerte said.

The National Economic and Development Authority earlier announced that the government plans to lift this year the QR on rice, which has been protecting farmers from a possible flood of rice imports, and impose instead a tariff on private sector importations.

“Irrigation is crucial most especially to our palay farmers because palay is such a water-intensive crop. We can best help our farmers cope under a ‘QR-less’ regime by providing them with free irrigation from now on,” he said.

Villafuerte has filed House Bill No. 2133 which aims to restructure the National Irrigation Administration and make its primary goal the irrigation of 2.4 million hectares of land that have yet to be irrigated.

HB 2133 also seeks to restructure farmers’ ISF fees, and convert NIA into the National Irrigation Development Authority, as a line agency of the Department of Agriculture.

Villafuerte’s bill aims to streamline the government’s irrigation development program and carry out its mandate of irrigating 100 percent of irrigable farmlands in the country within a four-year period.

He said his measure complements President Duterte’s 10-point development agenda, which includes increasing agricultural and rural enterprise productivity to ensure food security and generate rural jobs.

“The proposed refocusing of NIA’s role and purpose further seeks to foster sustainable livelihood among its farmers through improvement in both farm productivity and increased income by abolishing existing laws prescribing the power and authority of the NIA to collect Irrigation Service Fees or other forms of charges for the use of irrigation systems,” Villafuerte said.

He said that if his bill is enacted to law and free irrigation will be provided for all irrigable palay fields, CamSur will easily become the No. 3 palay-producing province from its current rank of No. 4 grower in the country.

Maricel V. Cruz

MORE DOMESTIC FLIGHTS CANCELED

By Joel E. Zurbano MORE domestic flights at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport have been canceled after aviation authorities extended the temporary shutdown of the Tagaytay air traffic radar until 12 midnight today (Saturday).

The temporary closure, which began at 6 a.m. of March 6, was supposed to end at 6 a.m. yesterday (March 11).

In its latest Notice to Airmen, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines explained that the cause of delay was due to strong winds as antenna pedestal can not be lifted on top of the tower.

“As of 10 a.m. today [March 11], antenna pedestal was put in place on top of the tower and is up and running. Radar alignment procedure/ calibration is now in progress,” said CAAP spokesman Eric Apolonio.

The delay prompted the Cebu Pacific Air to cancel about 40 domestic flights scheduled Saturday.

Canceled flights include those from and to Manila, Bacolod, Cagayan de Oro, Cebu, Caticlan, Davao, General Santos, Iloilo, Legazpi, Puerto Princesa, Zamboanga, Tuguegarao, Naga, Kalibo and Cauayan.

The airline management advised the affected passengers to avail of the following options

without penalties—rebook their flights for travel within 30 days from the original departure date; or opt for full refund or travel fund.

“Other passengers with flights to and from Manila tomorrow, March 11, whether or not affected by above cancellations, may still opt to avail the same options above without penalties,” it added.

The management also apologized to the passengers for the cancellation of flights.

“We sincerely hope for our passengers’ understanding, as this situation is beyond our control. The safety of everyone remains our utmost priority.”

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SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor

Opinion

Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor

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PARK’S OUSTER LETS SOUTH KOREA MOVE ON

EDITORIAL

By Bloomberg Editorial NOW that a court has ousted her from office, former South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s troubles are only beginning: She could face indictment on charges of bribery and abuse of power. Koreans, however, need to move beyond this lurid scandal.

Months of uncertainty over Park’s fate have paralyzed her nation at a critical moment. Koreans have been riveted by accusations that she conspired with a mysterious confidante to extract millions of dollars in bribes from Samsung Group and other major conglomerates, and prosecutors have levied charges against dozens of people in relation to the case, including Samsung heir Jay Y. Lee. Meanwhile, China has launched a campaign to squeeze South Korean businesses in retaliation for the government’s decision to deploy a powerful US-built missile defense system on its territory. Even as the new US administration has reaffirmed its commitment to South Korea’s defense, it has criticized the bilateral free-trade agreement between them. And the risk of conflict with North Korea has grown as Kim Jong Un’s regime races toward its goal of deploying a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile capable of reaching the US mainland.

Longstanding economic challenges are also becoming more difficult. At a time of slowing trade and rising protectionism, South Korea remains dangerously reliant on exports, which account for nearly half of GDP. Household debt has soared to more than $1 trillion, and there are fears of a housing bubble.

Park’s downfall has at least spurred efforts to dismantle the cozy ties between government and big business in South Korea. Lee’s arrest alone won’t ensure change.

But the legislature has begun to debate serious reforms to reduce the conglomerates’ stranglehold on the Korean economy. These should be passed quickly, along with measures to support small and medium-sized businesses, which have traditionally struggled for access to capital and talent.

Finally, South Korea would benefit from a serious, open debate about its policy toward North Korea. There’s nothing inherently wrong with contemplating a different approach, given that sanctions alone haven’t induced a change in Kim’s behavior; indeed, negotiations between the US and his regime are probably inevitable.

But talks will be more likely to work if the next South Korean government coordinates policy, strengthens defenses and shares intelligence closely with the US and Japan, so that both China and North Korea realize the allies cannot be played off against one another.

New elections must be held within 60 days. While reforms to check South Korea’s expansive presidential powers are necessary, the campaign shouldn’t become a referendum on Park, whose alleged misdeeds should be addressed in the courts. Instead, Koreans need a real debate about not only their economy but also their place in the region and the world.

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‘POLITICS IS COMPROMISE’ S UCH were the words of the muchadmired lawmaker from Bataan Rep. Geraldine Roman. Roman was the first transgender to run for public office, and win. Her advocacy for LGBTQ rights is inspiring; her courage to seek an elective post amid a traditional electoral system, just so she could advance this advocacy, even more so.

The inspiration seems to have waned in recent days, however. The list of House members who voted against the measure that restores the death penalty, in the context of the administration’s war against illegal drugs, has made the rounds on social media. Some citizens referred to the list to see how their congressmen voted—especially since House members, called representatives, are, well, supposed to represent their constituents in drafting laws.

Another representative being derided for her vote is Leyte Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez, former commercial model, wife to an actor-turned-mayor, and, most importantly, a Marian devotee. Her constituents cannot reconcile that a supposedly devout Catholic would support statesponsored executions.

A citizen from the second district of Parañaque went as far as sending a text message to his representative. The reply was prompt, indeed, but rather sarcastic and even rude—Rep. Gus Tambunting, or his social media people, asked about the citizen’s background expertise in surveys “so we can hire you someday.” This, after the citizen inquired into the basis of the lawmaker’s claim that his office did a survey as to what the people truly wanted.

Representation is an abused notion in this part of the world, and politicians, once entrenched in office, champion only themselves whatever they say.

The truth is, we have become accustomed to these false representations. Saying one thing during the campaign and acting differently after victory. We recognize that being in government means living with difficult choices. The choices are not between right and wrong but between right and less right, or wrong and more wrong.

Roman was just stating the truth when she said politics is compromise.

We the people need not delude ourselves; this is why we always get into trouble choosing our officials, expecting too much from them and then feeling shortchanged when they fail to measure up.

We have to compromise, too. Disabuse ourselves of the thought that public officials are heroes or saviors, and that they can bring about change singlehandedly. They have to think about political survival, friendships, affiliations, funds with which to deliver the projects.

Most of the time they apply to get the job done and serve the public.

In plenty of instances, though, they slip and serve another master. We just have to discern which things are negotiable, and which are absolute deal-breakers.

OFF-THE-RADAR READING LIST FOR WOMEN’S MONTH POP GOES THE WORLD JENNY ORTUOSTE

INTERNATIONAL Women’s Day is celebrated every March 8, and as part of this observance, the Philippines celebrates National Women’s Month each March.

Reading books about women and by women will help you keep women

and their struggles, concerns, and accomplishments in mind over 31 days.

Most of these books I recommend are fiction, particularly short stories, which deliver important messages effectively because of the use of narrative to portray the arc of human lives.

Apart from the first on the list, these books are not your usual reading list entries. Enjoy discovering new authors and other tales: 1. The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood: I wrote about this book a couple of Sundays ago and how

its dystopian setting and themes of female oppression are almost prescient given the rise of authoritarian mindsets in many parts of the world. I’d call this required reading.

2. The Pillow Book, by Sei Turn to B2

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SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

THE G-20 IS A (SLIGHTLY DYSFUNCTIONAL) FAMILY

By Kara Alaimo NEXT week’s meeting of G-20 finance ministers and central bank governors in Germany hasn’t yet begun, but the conflicts have already started.

Observers expect a heated debate about trade at the first meeting attended by representatives of the Trump administration: Trump’s trade adviser and the German finance minister have already gotten into a spat, and a draft communique suggests the G-20 may stop explicitly rejecting competitive currency devaluations and protectionism.

Given the way the media presents the G-20 as an arena for conflict, the Trump administration can hardly be blamed for viewing the summit as a venue for competition among countries. But both the press and the administration are wrong.

When I served as Treasury spokesperson for international affairs in the Obama administration, I learned that discussions at the G-20 often aren’t zero-sum. G-20 finance ministers all share the same goal: global growth.

But domestic economic reform is often extraordinarily painful and unpopular.

It would be so much easier for each country if they could instead get other countries to put their own economies in order, and then enjoy the stronger global economy that would result. So, that’s often what they try to do.

Discussions at the G-20 often aren’t zero-sum. G-20 finance ministers all share the same goal: global growth.

The conflict that ensues at these meetings isn’t surprising. But the fact that countries often encourage other nations to implement reforms that would leave them stronger over the long run while trying to avoid reform themselves—in other words, so that they can stay weaker—really is. Save for maybe satellite states, it’s the opposite of what most mainstream international relations theories would predict.

Luckily, however, I grew up in a family—the perfect model for understanding the G-20. Each ministerial (diplomatic-speak for a meeting of ministers) begins with a family photo, followed by negotiations.

The negotiations are like a holiday dinner, sans turkey. Participants are expected to engage in civil discussion.

This doesn’t always happen. But, like a biological family, there’s no alternative to dealing with these people. The G-20 has no exit mechanism.

A family also tries to socialize behavior. Just as my mom taught my siblings and me to ask to be excused before leaving the dinner table, the US uses these discussions to try to promote its preferred norms, such as refraining from currency manipulation.

Above all, the G-20 is like a family because everyone tells each other what they should be doing. While self-interest is invariably involved, the recommendations—such as reducing debt or strengthening regulation of financial markets—are also usually motivated by a genuine desire to see other economies grow healthier and stronger. For example, the G-20 has for years been encouraging European members to act more forcefully to address the euro zone’s debt crisis. Given the presence of US rivals like China, who are approached very differently in other forums, this is truly remarkable.

However, the absence of underlying conflict doesn’t make for a great story.

So, reporters covering the summit look for a different angle. When I worked for the Treasury, nothing could strike greater fear into the hearts of my colleagues than the prospect of the US being branded as a loser in international negotiations—and American weakness abroad headlining the next day’s papers.

To avoid this, preparation for each

MUSIC OF THE SPHERES

By Pecier Decierdo WE MODERN city dwellers, who run our lives by our modern clocks strapped around our wrists or placed in our pockets, often connected to the internet and its universal, international time ticking somewhere out there in the ether, often forget how, above our heads, the sky turns with clockwork regularity.

The sun rises and sets at predictable times.

Even the changes in its rising and setting times throughout the year are predictable.

At night, after the sun has set, the distant stars themselves look like they’re gently and inexorably moving in great big circles in the sky. It is as if there are great cosmic gears that slowly turn and move the orb of the sky.

Slowly but surely, they turn.

The regularities of the motion of the sky are recorded in many monuments constructed by different civilizations throughout history.

Whenever there is a settled, stable, farming society in one place for a long enough time, you find what remains of structures that helped the society’s members determine the start of the seasons.

This we know because many of these structures are still standing today, and only a little more than passing familiarity with them reveals the connection of their patterns with those in the sky.

The rocks of Stonehenge in the UK, for example, align with the rising and setting Sun at the solstices, equinox, and the cross quarter days (the days halfway between solstice and equinox).

Even the Great Pyramids of Egypt are aligned to the stars of Orion’s belt at the

OFF-...

From A1 Shonagon: Written by a contemporary of Murasaki Shikibu (The Tale of Genji), this book gives the finer details about court life in 11th century Heian-era Japan. It is all about the arts, culture, and elaborate fashion of the time, and well as the relationships between men and women, and those in power and without.

3. In The Country, by Mia Alvar: Alvar was born in the Philippines and grew up in Bahrain and the United States. Race, identity, immigration, the plight of overseas workers, and the Filipino as citizen of the world are among the themes of her absorbing and engaging tales.

4. The Middleman and Other Stories,

by Bharati Mukherjee: Mukherjee, born and educated in India, lived in Canada and the US. Her experiences as an immigrant and traveler inform this collection of stories about women from India, Sri Lanka, Italy, the Philippines, and other nations, who have made the US their home, for better or worse.

5. Complete Stories, by Clarice Lispector: A Brazilian novelist and short story writer, Lispector was glamorous and innovative, and, during her active writing period from the 1940s to the 1970s, tackled the subjects of motherhood, femininity, marriage, romance and sex. Her prose, however, was surreal and lyrical, and her approach to topics was often shocking. Also an immigrant and traveler (she was from the Ukraine, moved with her family to Rio, and lived abroad for many years with her diplomat husband), her Jewish background may have bestowed upon

time they were built. But there’s the catch: “at the time they were built.” The alignment is not as good today as it was when those great pyramids were put together. That is because there is a grander regularity above the daily and yearly regularity of the sky’s motions. It’s one that lasts for about 28,000 years, and it is the wobbling of the Earth’s axis, giving the sky different north stars at different eras. Sometimes, there is even no north star. Today we have Polaris as our north star. The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids had Thuban. Future humans will have Vega. No human civilization has yet lasted long enough to register this regularity in their structures.

It is not difficult to see why ancient people would go out of their way to figure out the sky’s regularities and build structures to the arrival of specific points in the pattern.

Whether they were farming, herding, hunting, or foraging, the regularities in the sky matched the regularities on the ground—the season for planting and reaping; the season for fishing a particular fish; the season for hunting a particular game, and so on.

Set against this gentle, easily predictable regularity of the sun, moon, and stars are the wanderings of the planets.

Venus, for example, snakes away from the Sun in the early evening sky, only to be tethered back. Then some days later it’s on the other side of the sky, snaking away from the rising Sun just before sunrise. Mars, on the other hand, marches across the sky in the same direction as the Sun, only looping back and looping forward again, confounding the efforts of those who want to see a simple

order in the cosmos.

The seeming chaos in the complex motion of the planets as seen in the night sky could’ve led many to think about the capriciousness of the gods. It is to the credit of many great thinkers throughout history that they held on to the belief that there is an underlying order to this chaos, an order that is both simple and musical.

One of the thinkers who persisted in the search for, in fact the struggle to find the underlying order was Johannes Kepler. He was one in a long line of people who thought that the great circles in the sky, the great celestial spheres, moved in a way that if one could hear them, one would hear music—the music of the spheres.

Kepler’s persistence paid off. By meticulously building on the work of his master Tycho Brahe, Kepler was able to tease out the simple laws that resulted in the complex dance of the planets.

In a way, the story of Kepler’s success is the story of most of science. We find ourselves surrounded by a world so seemingly complex and varied, that one is tempted to say its workings are under the whims of gods. But scientists, not contented with lazy nonexplanations, charge on in the hopes of finding simple laws that lead to the complexity that is the world of our everyday experience.

That’s why if one studies closely the discoveries of science, one could almost hear a silent symphony. One could almost hear the music of the spheres.

Decierdo is resident astronomer and physicist for The Mind Museum.

her writing the distinctive lilt that is often of this Canadian writer’s many short story remarked upon as its most interesting feature. collections. Most of her stories are set in Ontario, about regular folk going about their ordinary lives, and the moments that make each life relatable to another’s in another place or time. Her almost plotless stories tell about women in various stages of life: young women coming of age, middle-aged women musing about their marriages, women living alone, and old women coming to terms with their age.

9. The Penguin Book of Modern Women’s Short Stories, edited by Susan Hill: A mother tries to cope with unexpected grief; a woman substitutes food for her husband’s love; a fashion model reconciles herself to a tedious job for survival’s sake. These are 6. A Manual for Cleaning Women: characters from stories by eminent British Selected Stories, by Lucia Berlin: Often writers including Muriel Spark, AS Byatt, described as an overlooked genius, Berlin Caroline Blackwood, Jean Rhys, Penelope wrote sporadically from the ‘60s to the ‘80s, Lively, and Fay Weldon. and died in 2004. She grew up in the Western 10. The Beauty Myth: How Images of mining towns of the US and spent years in Beauty Are Used Against Women, by Naomi Chile and Mexico. Her stories tell about the Wolf: Unrealistic images and portrayals of everyday lives of women, the moments women in the mass media pressure women spent at laundromats and in the homes of to conform to impractical and unhealthy the Bay Area rich, of switchboard operators standards of beauty. Preoccupied with their and housewives. Her writing is rich in detail appearance, many women turn to cosmetic and convincingly portrays emotion. surgery or develop eating disorders to live up 7. Slouching Towards Bethlehem, by Joan to unattainable beauty goals.

Didion: A collection of creative non-fiction “Women hold up half the sky” is a saying apt published in 1968 about Didion’s experiences not only for this month but everyday. in California in the 1960s. The essays deal These stories show some of the many with the counterculture happenings in San ways women live, love, and do their share of Francisco, pointing out the disorder and building the world. Happy Women’s Month! tragedy lurking underneath the happy-dafty colorful image that comes to mind when we Dr. Ortuoste is a California-based writer. think “hippies.”

Follow her on Facebook: Jenny Ortuoste, 8. Something I’ve Been Meaning to Twitter: @jennyortuoste, Instagram: @ Tell You, by Alice Munro: This is just one jensdecember

Reading books about women and by women will help you keep women and their struggles, concerns, and accomplishments in mind over 31 days.

a senior official joked how helpful a kidnapping attempt at the meeting could be—provided, of course, that no one got hurt.

But just as the media often misses the real story at G-20 meetings, the Trump administration would be wrong to create conflicts by pursuing protectionist policies. That’s because the US relies on the strength of major trading partners like China and Europe, which it needs to purchase American goods and buoy the global economy.

As Kenneth Rapoza recently noted in Forbes, “For generations, the global influence of the US was captured by the old adage that ‘when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.’ Today, those symptoms now appear when China does the same.”

The best way for the Trump administration to view the other members of the G-20 is as family, not meeting of G-20 finance ministers up with for reporters to cover. No idea 2012 and we learned that the Secret foes. Too bad that’s not eye-catching began with a brainstorming session was too crazy for consideration. When Service would be sending a counter- enough for an A1 headline.

Bloomberg on what “shiny object” we could come Mexico began hosting the meetings in assault team with us for extra security,

World CHINA SAYS INDUSTRIAL POLICY NOT AIMED AT FOREIGN FIRMS BEIJING—China on Saturday tried to downplay concerns it is reducing market access for foreign enterprises, days after a report by an EU group accused Beijing of trying to skew its business playing field towards domestic firms.

The paper, released Tuesday by the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, slammed the government’s “Made in China 2025” plan – launched two years ago to champion local hightech manufacturing.

While officials have repeatedly said they welcome foreign firms’ investment in China, the country has erected barriers in a wide variety of sectors from automotive to finance while simultaneously subsidising its own domestic companies.

Even so, the EU chamber’s criticisms were a “misreading” of the government’s intentions, Miao Wei, minister of industry and information technology, told reporters during a press conference on the sidelines of China’s annual gathering of the country’s top politicians in Beijing.

The “original intention in formulating this policy was to prevent some companies from using loopholes in government policies to profit from government subsidies,” he said, adding that “domestic and foreign invested companies will all be treated equally.”

Miao also refuted the report’s claims that China was putting “intense pressure” on foreign firms to hand over advanced technology in exchange for market access.

“The government does not yet have this kind of ability to compel stateowned enterprises, how can you say it will compel foreign firms to hand over technology?” Miao said.

Miao’s comments were echoed in a commentary by the official Xinhua News Service, which took the chamber to task for its concerns, saying that foreign firms have long enjoyed “super-national treatment,” including “privileges unimaginable to native businesses.”

“Now the special treatment is being gradually repealed as the government lets the market ... decide,” it said.

China ranked 84th globally – behind Saudi Arabia and Ukraine – in the World Bank’s ease of doing business index for 2016, and second to last in an OECD report on the restrictiveness towards foreign investment.

Since President Xi Jinping took over in 2012, the government has moved away from liberalisation on several fronts, strengthening state-owned enterprises, increasing capital controls and tightening restrictions on free exchange of information and ideas online. AFP

AT LEAST 242 BODIES FOUND IN HIDDEN GRAVES IN MEXICO COATZACOALCOS, Mexico—Mexican authorities have found at least 242 bodies in hidden graves in the eastern state of Veracruz that were discovered by mothers searching for their missing children, officials said.

The bodies were found over a sixmonth period, with the first discovered in August near the city of Veracruz by the volunteer collective known as El Solecito, formed by relatives of those who have disappeared.

The collective turns over the digging of the graves to forensic experts.

A total of 124 graves have been located and after combing through nearly all of them, 242 skulls were found, a senior official of the prosecutor’s office told AFP, on condition of anonymity.

Another person close to the investigation, who also asked not to be identified, said the graves contained “a lot of young women’s clothes, credentials, shoes and garments that look like they belong to inner-city kids.”

Veracruz, one of the most violent states in Mexico, is the scene of bloody disputes between the Los Zetas and Jalisco Nueva Generacion drug cartels.

According to a military source involved in the work with El Solecito, the victims “probably were buried by criminals in league with the local authorities.”

The source also asked to remain anonymous.

Elsewhere in Mexico, hidden graves have been found containing hundreds of bodies.

In January, 56 bodies were found in a grave in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, where drug cartels vie for control of the routes toward the United States.

AFP

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SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

REVISED TRUMP TRAVEL BAN GETS LEGAL BLOW W

ASHINGTON—President Donald Trump’s revamped travel ban is facing its first major legal setback, after a federal judge halted enforcement of the directive that would deny US entry to the wife and child of a Syrian refugee already granted asylum.

In a preliminary restraining order issued Friday that applies only to the Syrian man and his family, US District Judge William Conley in Wisconsin said the plaintiff “is at great risk of suffering irreparable

harm” if the directive is carried out.

The man chose to remain anonymous because his wife and child are still living in war-wracked Aleppo.

The order marked the first ruling against the revised directive, which

temporarily closes US borders to all refugees and citizens from six mainlyMuslim countries.

It denies US entry to all refugees for 120 days and halts for 90 days the granting of visas to nationals from Syria, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Yemen and Sudan.

The new order is due to go into effect March 16. Lifting an indefinite Syrian refugee travel ban and reducing the number of blacklisted countries by removing Iraq, it replaces a previous iteration issued in January that was blocked in federal court.

“The court appreciates that there may be important differences between the original executive order and the re-

DOWN WITH NUKES. A cameraman films in front of an anti-nuclear poster during a demonstration in front of the Presidential Palace in Taipei on March 11. AFP

JAPAN RECALLS TSUNAMI, NUCLEAR TRAGEDY SIX YEARS ON

Manila

Standard

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

TODAY

Invitation to Bid PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS 1.

TOKYO—Japan paused Saturday to mark six years since a deadly earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster devastated its northeastern coast, as more than 100,000 people remain unable or unwilling to return home.

The magnitude 9.0 quake, which struck under the Pacific Ocean on March 11, 2011, and the tsunami it spawned left about 18,500 people dead or missing.

The massive flow of water overwhelmed cooling systems at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant, causing meltdowns in three of its six reactors in what was the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl in 1986.

The quake and tsunami caused widespread damage to homes while radiation spread over a wide area, with more than 450,000 people evacuating in the immediate aftermath.

More than 123,000 remain displaced, the majority from Fukushima due to high radiation.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other participants at a national ceremony in Tokyo bowed their heads in silent prayer, as did many residents across the affected region, at 2:46 pm – the exact moment the quake struck.

The disaster “brought unprecedented damage” and “claimed many precious lives,” Abe, dressed in formal mourning attire, told the solemn gathering. “I possess unceasing sympathy for those who lost beloved family mem-

bers and friends.”

Japan’s ageing Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko did not attend this year’s ceremony, but were represented by their son Prince Akishino and his wife Princess Kiko.

“Many people are still forced to face difficult times in the disaster areas and evacuation places,” Akishino said. “Especially for those in prolonged evacuations, I feel pain deep in my heart thinking about the health of those ageing year by year in the disaster zone and people who remain unable to return home due to high radiation levels.”

Separately, hundreds of police and firefighters combed beaches along the coast of Fukushima prefecture, as they do on the 11th of each month, in a search for remains or other evidence of people who remain unaccounted for.

The latest National Police Agency figures show that the total of dead or missing from the earthquake and tsunami stood at 18,446 people.

Besides the number of people killed in the quake and tsunami, more than 3,500 deaths from causes such as illness and suicide have been linked to the aftermath of the tragedy, according to government figures.

While no deaths have been attributed to radiation exposure, evacuees are concerned the government is moving too fast to deem once closed off areas safe to inhabit. AFP

vised executive order issued on March 6, 2017,” Conley wrote.

“As the order applies to the plaintiff here, however, the court finds his claims have at least some chance of prevailing for the reasons articulated by other courts.” He set a hearing for March 21.

In another legal challenge, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a complaint on behalf of several refugee assistance groups over the controversial executive order.

“Putting a new coat of paint on the Muslim ban doesn’t solve its fundamental problem, which is that the Constitution and our laws prohibit religious discrimination,” said Omar Jadwat, director of the ACLU’s immigrant rights project.

“The further President Trump goes down this path, the clearer it is that he is violating that basic rule.”

The ACLU, the preeminent US civil liberties group, and the National Immigration Law Center brought the suit on behalf of the International Refugee Assistance Project and the refugee resettlement group HIAS, as well as several individuals.

The suit alleges that the new executive order violates the constitutional protection of freedom of religion in that it is “intended and designed to target and discriminate against Muslims, and it does just that in operation.” AFP

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act CY 2017 intends to procure the following projects listed below: IB No. 2017-065-A 2017-066-A 2017-067-A 2017-068-A 2017-069-A 2017-078-A 2017-079-A 2017-183 2017-184 2017-185 2017-186 2017-187 2017-188

Name of Contract Procurement of Nevirapine – Re-bid Procurement of Tenofovir – Re-bid Procurement of Efavirenz – Re-bid Procurement of Lamivudine 150mg + Zidovudine 300mg – Re-bid Procurement of Lamivudine 300mg + Tenofovir 300mg – Re-bid Procurement of TB Drugs for Children – Re-bid Procurement of Valganciclovir – Re-bid Procurement of Valproate Disodium + Valproic Acid Procurement of Clozapine Procurement of Letrozole Procurement of Trastuzumab Procurement of Oxaliplatin Procurement of Capecitabine

ABC (PHP)

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

16,700,633.36 34,216,000.00 22,178,870.72 109,183,139.94 20,712,438.16 105,392,640.00 22,704,000.00 37,017,750.00 14,716,536.00 13,173,408.00 79,300,000.00 39,792,499.80 46,990,905.00

25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 50,000.00 25,000.00 50,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 50,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-caption projects. Delivery of the Goods is required as specified in Section VI. Schedule of Requirements.

Bidders should have completed contracts similar to the cited projects, equivalent to at least twenty five percent (25%) of the ABC. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg.

6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS), provided that Bidders who interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

5.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila on the schedule given below: IB No.

Name of Contract

Activity (Date & Time) P r e - b i d d i n g Submission and Conference Opening of Bids

2017-065-A Procurement of Nevirapine – Re-bid 2017-066-A Procurement of Tenofovir – Re-bid 2017-067-A Procurement of Efavirenz – Re-bid 2017-068-A Procurement of Lamivudine 150mg + Zidovudine 300mg – Re-bid 20 March 2017; 03 April 2017; 9:00 9:00 A.M 2017-069-A Procurement of Lamivudine 300mg + Tenofovir 300mg – Re-bid 2017-078-A Procurement of TB Drugs for Children – Re-bid 2017-079-A Procurement of Valganciclovir – Re-bid 2017-183 Procurement of Valproate Disodium + Valproic Acid 2017-184 Procurement of Clozapine 2017-185 Procurement of Letrozole 2017-186 Procurement of Trastuzumab 2017-187 Procurement of Oxaliplatin 2017-188 Procurement of Capecitabine

6.

Bid must be duly received by the COBAC-A Secretariat at the address below on or before the date given above. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated below: Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

Form of Bid Security (a) Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank. (b) Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter of credit issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank: Provided, however, that it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank, if issued by a foreign bank. (c) Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security. (d) Bid Securing Declaration

Two percent (2%) Five percent (5%) No percentage required

Bid opening shall be at COBAC Conference Room, Ground Floor, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, Sta. Cruz, Manila. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address above. Late bids shall not be accepted.

Balloons in the shape of doves are released into the air during a memorial service for victims of the 2011 quake-tsunami disaster in Natori, Miyagi prefecture on March 11. The magnitude 9.0 quake which struck under the Pacific Ocean and the ensuing tsunami left about 18,500 people dead or missing. AFP

7.

The DOH reserves the right to reject any and all Bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

8.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-A Secretariat Building No. 6 Department of Health San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775 (SGD) GERARDO V. BAYUGO, MD, MPH, CESO III Undersecretary of Health COBAC – A Chairperson

(MS-MAR.12, 2017)

B4

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

World

/ Joyce Pangco-Pañares, Issue Editor

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SOUTH KOREA’S MOON RISING AFTER PARK’S IMPEACHMENT

PROTEST. South Korean demonstrators wearing illuminated costumes take part in a candlelit rally demanding arrest of impeached-president Park Geun-Hye in Seoul. AFP

WIKILEAKS PUT CIA ON BACK FOOT ANEW

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ASHINGTON—Another major leak of top secret materials has again put America’s top spies in hot water while delivering a coup for anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

The group left the Central Intelligence Agency heavily bruised with the publication of nearly 9,000 documents it said were only part of a huge trove of records, plans and malware code in its possession – purportedly the entire CIA hacking arsenal.

Adding insult to injury, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange scolded the agency as extremely careless to have lost control of the materials – WikiLeaks said they got access to it via the circle of private contractors to US intelligence.

“This is a historic act of devastating incompetence, to have created such an arsenal and then stored it all in one place,” Assange said.

President Donald Trump said the leak shows the agency’s operations are “outdated” – and notably did not criticize WikiLeaks for baring US secrets.

It was the fourth major leak of top secret materials from US spy agencies in less than four years.

The CIA’s sister spy body, the National Security Agency, was rocked in 2013 when contractor Edward Snowden released documents showing how it secretly raked up data on Americans’ telecommunications and spied on US allies.

Early last year, a secretive hacking group called the Shadow Brokers offered for sale online a batch of hacking tools stolen from the NSA.

And in late 2016, the NSA discovered that another contractor, Harold Martin, had removed to his home an estimated 50 terabytes worth of data and documents, including reportedly sensitive hacking tools.

So far, there is no evidence that Martin’s cache left his control, and the government charged him only with removing classified materials in violation of his contract.

The result, said security consultant Paul Rosenzweig, is “the continuing erosion in trust of and damage to the reputation to the American intelligence community.”

“Within the community now, everybody’s looking over their shoulder,” he said. “Outside the community, frankly, if I were the British intelligence or French intelligence or Israeli intelligence... I’d think twice before giving anything to the Americans.”

Speaking not for attribution, some US intelligence community officials cast doubts on WikiLeaks’ contractor explanation, without indicating the direction of the probes.

Some pointed fingers at Russia, after US intelligence concluded that Moscow interfered in the American elections to support Donald Trump in his ultimately successful campaign against his rival Hillary Clinton.

“There’s a lot of speculation that it was the Russians handing off to WikiLeaks to embarrass the US. But there’s a whole lot of postulating there without any facts,” said Ross Schulman, co-director of the Cybersecurity Initiative at the New America think tank in Washington.

As for WikiLeaks’s claim that it came from contractors, he added, “I take the things that WikiLeaks says publicly with a grain of salt.”

AFP

SCIENTISTS GROW POTATO UNDER MARS-LIKE CONDITIONS LIMA, Peru—Potatoes on Mars? Scientists are reporting promising results growing the tuber under conditions that mimic the Red Planet in an experiment in Peru linked to US space agency NASA. “Preliminary results are positive,” the International Potato Center (CIP) said this week after a potato grew under simulated Mars atmospheric conditions in an experiment in Lima.

The CIP, in a report, said a potato was planted in a specially constructed CubeSat contained environment built by engineers from the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima.

The experiment ran from February 14 to March 5.

“Growing crops under Mars-like conditions is an important phase of this experiment,” said Julio Valdivia-Silva, a Peruvian astrobiologist at UTEC in Lima who previously worked at NASA. “If the crops can tolerate the extreme conditions that we are exposing them to in our CubeSat, they have a good chance to grow on Mars,” he said, adding that several rounds of experiments will be conducted to find

out which potato varieties do best.

Potatoes, one of the world’s largest food crops, are believed to have first been cultivated by the Inca Indians in Peru around 8,000 to 5,000

BC. The potential ability of potatoes to grow under such conditions could signal promise for food supplies under climate change and extreme environments.

“The results indicate that our efforts to breed varieties with high potential for strengthening food security in areas that are affected, or will be affected by climate change, are working,” said CIP

potato breeder Walter Amoros.

The custom environment for the Potatoes on Mars project was based upon designs and advice provided by NASA. AFP

Matt Damon’s character in the 2015 blockbuster movie The Martian gets stranded on Mars, forcing him to ‘science the shit’ out of his situation by fertilizing Martian soil with his feces and planting potatoes. 20th Century Fox

SEOUL—The front-runner to succeed South Korea’s impeached president Park Geun-Hye after her dismissal over a corruption scandal is a former special forces soldier, pro-democracy activist and human rights lawyer.

The irony is that Moon JaeIn of the Democratic Party was once chief of staff to left-leaning president Roh Moo-Hyun, who committed suicide in 2009 after being questioned over graft allegations.

South Korea must hold a presidential election within 60 days and Moon, a former Democratic Party leader narrowly beaten by Park in 2012, has long been leading the polls.

A Realmeter survey this week put him on 36.1 percent, with his nearest rival, acting president Hwang Kyo-Ahn trailing far behind at 14.2 percent.

“He is a liberal champion with good chances of winning the next presidential election,” Park Kie-Duck, former head of the private Sejong Institute told AFP. AFP

TRUMP INVITES ABBAS TO WHITE HOUSE ‘SOON’ RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories—Donald Trump has invited Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas to visit the White House sometime soon, both sides said after the first phone call between the pair since the US president took office in January.

Trump invited Abbas “to visit the White House soon to discuss ways to resume the (PalestinianIsraeli) political process,” the official Palestinian news agency Wafa quoted Abbas’s spokesman as saying.

The spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said that Trump stressed his “commitment to a peace process that would lead to a real peace between Palestinians and Israelis,” Wafa reported.

Abbas told Trump that peace was a “strategic choice” for the Palestinian people that should lead to the “establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.”

In Washington, the White House said Trump “emphasised his personal belief that peace is possible and that the time has come to make a deal.” AFP

MAOIST REBELS KILL 11 POLICE IN INDIA RAIPUR, India—Suspected Maoist rebels killed 11 paramilitary commandos Saturday in a remote part of central India after ambushing their convoy, police said, the latest attack in the country’s simmering internal conflict.

The troops were on their way to provide protection to workers for a road construction project when the gunmen attacked, said a senior police officer of restive Chhattisgarh state.

“We can confirm that 11 security personnel have lost their lives in the ambush which was carried out by Maoist rebels in Sukma district,” police deputy inspector general Sundarraj P. told AFP. “Three other CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) personnel are critically injured. We have deployed helicopters to evacuate them.”

The rebels also snatched weapons and wireless radio sets from the spot, local media reports said. AFP

C1

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor / Roderick dela Cruz, Issue Editor business@thestandard.com.ph

PANASONIC MARKS 50 YEARS IN PH

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WORLD CLASS.

Anya Hospitality Corp. project director Andrew Sparrow, Roxaco Land Corp. president and chief executive Santiago Roxas Elizalde and Anya Hospitality Corp. general manager Peter D’ Souza

FILIPINO RESORT BRAND EYES WORLD-CLASS STATUS

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family of sugar barons, running a century-old sugar company, is now betting on the real estate business with an ambition to be known as the operator of the first internationally recognized Filipino hotel and resort brand.

“We want to make Anya something that the Philippines in general can be proud of,” says Santiago Roxas Elizalde, president and chief executive of Roxaco Land Corp., the property development unit of Roxas & Company Inc. which will mark its 100th anniversary in 2018.

Elizalde is referring to Anya Hospitality Corp., the newly formed company behind Anya Resorts and Residences in Tagaytay City and the one managing Fuego Hotels & Properties in Nasugbu, Batangas.

Soon, Anya will start the development of what will be the most luxurious and largest island resort in Palawan at a cost of P14 billion.

“That is the type of property that Anya is looking to move into in the future. It is what we can do in the country initially, and maybe in three to five years, we are looking at possibly exporting the brand, if we are successful here. It is something we all can be proud of—the Anya brand,” says Elizalde.

Andrew Sparrow, a British national who serves as the development director of Anya Hospitality Corp., says unfortunately, not a single Filipino hotel or resort brand has entered the world stage yet. Hong Kong is known for Shangri La Hotels and Resorts and Mandarin Oriental while Singapore has Aman Resorts and Banyan Tree. Thailand has Dusit Thani, while India has Oberoi Hotels and Resorts.

Sparrow says the Anya brand was conceptualized in 2012 during the initial development of a 7.2-hectare project in Tagaytay City. “Phase one of Tagaytay project involves development of lots, phase 2 is the resort and phase 3 is the full-service

condominium residences. Total cost is P1.65 billion,” says Sparrow.

The whole project was eventually called Anya Resorts & Residences—a high-end resort and residential development which features an investment product called guaranteed rental return. It is included in the prestigious Small Luxury Hotels of the World or SLH group.

The resort, which will open in April, features three heated pools, three restaurants, fireplaces and a library. Meanwhile, the residences under phase 3 will be sold to investors for P9 million to P19 million each, but Anya introduced a guaranteed rental return program where it will manage the units on behalf of investors and lease them out in exchange for a guaranteed share (45 percent) in revenues generated from the entire resort. Guests can stay at the units for P6,000 to P15,000 a night.

Sparrow says the company is looking at other sites for future Anya Resorts such as Cebu, Palawan and Bohol. “The plan is to anchor the

brand here, and then take it out overseas over the long term,” he says in an interview at Abuela’s Restaurant in Makati City. “The world deserves a Filipino brand, not just Filipino workers.”

Sparrow says Anya Resorts will develop more five-star resorts in the Philippines to take advantage of the thriving economy and expanding tourism sector. “If you go to Japan, they have hundreds of international-quality resorts. If you go to Kazakhstan, they have 35 plus and if you go to Thailand, they have hundreds. If you go to Greece, they also have hundreds. Guess how many we’ve got in the Philippines. Seven in the entire country and that’s it,” he says.

“My mother went here two years ago. We did not run out of beautiful places to visit. We ran out of hotels. It is kinda sad. What a beautiful country with great people with happy smile and great service, but we don’t have enough hotels,” says Sparrow.

Sparrow says Anya aims to fill the gap in Turn to C2

IT’S A GREAT TIME TO BE A WOMAN, SAYS MODERN PINAYS

Female leaders from diverse fields join J. Walter Thompson Philippines in celebrating International Women’s Day through FilipinaNext, a study on Filipinas and where they are headed next.

Move over, Maria Clara: the fragile Filipina heroine from Jose Rizal’s Noli Me Tangere may have been the portrait of an ideal woman back in the day, but in this age of self-expression, independence, and unlimited opportunities, modern Pinays have found their voice, power, and purpose in life—and they’re not afraid to use them.

This and other fascinating findings are the result of “FilipinaNext,” J. Walter Thompson’s Philippine-based version of “Female Tribes,” a proprietary insight study on women around the world

conducted by JWT Global.

In the 2016 global study, 4,300 women between the ages of 18 and 70 were polled on their views concerning money, career, religion, sex and other relevant topics. The participants came from the US, China, UK, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Russia, India, Australia, and South Africa. The Philippine study was based on quantitative and qualitative research among Filipinas across socioeconomic classes ABCDE and between the ages of 18 to 70.

“FilipinaNext ” recognizes the Turn to C2

Panasonic Philippines Manufacturing Corp. president Shinichi Hayashi

By Othel V. Campos PANASONIC Philippines Manufacturing Corp. president Shinichi Hayashi has never had a hard time adjusting from one country to another, despite the cultural differences.

After spending 30 years at Panasonic Japan Ltd., Hayashi became accustomed to mobile life, when as a young business-to-business representative he was greeted with opportunities to travel to places where Panasonic is present.

Prior to the Philippines, he was in Malaysia and before that, Singapore.

“My first B2B trip to the Philippines was in 1992 and I had a frightful experience when the water I drank at the hotel I guess was contaminated. I had severed stomach upset but after that, all was well when I travel back to Manila,” he recalls, of his first trip to the Philippines.

As a company head, Hayashi says he does not micro-manage. He delegates tasks, expecting people to deliver what is expected of them.

“I cannot say that I’m a cool boss. I admit I don’t have all the characteristics of being a perfect leader so I assign, delegate tasks to staff. I believe in the talent of Panasonic people, especially Filipinos who have keen understanding of production processes. They are all very skilled particularly in manipulating very small parts with their hands” he says.

Hayashi sata Panasonic has great expectations in the Philippine market, with local population leveling-up to their aspirations.

He observes that many Filipino families now can afford to buy not just entry-level home appliances, but also mid-level to high-end products.

This is more evident in cities where people are more affluent than in rural areas, he says.

“In Metro Manila, we have more customers who buy the top-of the-line range. Although the penetration rate of home appliance in the Philippines is still low, we believe there’s a huge room for expansion here,” Hayashi says.

He remembers the time when Panasonic operations in the Philippines hit a snag, forcing the company to pull out its TV manufacturing from the country in 2010.

“Even sales of small kitchen appliances were affected. It took us at least three years to recover but our TV production here was never revived,” he says.

The company started to slowly regain what was lost starting 2013,“but growth was painfully slow.”

Panasonic maintains its production of refrigerators, air-conditioners and washing machines in its facility in Taytay, Rizal and Sta. Rosa. Laguna.

It imports television units from Malaysia and small consumer appliances from factories in Vietnam and Japan.

In its 50th anniversary in the Philippines, the company plans to bring in inverter technology, a stateof-the-art system that minimizes electricity consumption of electrical products that run on motors, even to entry level products.

At present, the company locally manufactures two refrigerator models that run on inverter.

“Our 50th year drives us to achieve more and be more as we continuously aim to be the innovator and leader in the industry where we operate,”says Hayashi.

“We are inspired to meet the needs and demands of our market in the Philippines and they remain to be our motivation in creating products that would be part in making living easy and convenient for them,” he says.

Panasonic will launch a series of local-made “Japan Quality” refrigerator models to commemorate its 50th anniversary in addition to the new models Top Freezers, Bottom Freezers and French door.

Business

C2

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 business@thestandard.com.ph

IT’S...

From C1

importance of “Female Capital,” or what the Filipina—as leader, professional, pioneer, consumer, and woman— contributes to society. Respondents of the local study also echo the optimism and pride of their sisters worldwide: according to “Female Tribes,” 76 percent of women globally feel it has never been a better time to be a woman.

“Comparing the results of Female Tribes with FilipinaNext, it is astonishing to note that despite being believed that the Philippines is largely a macho society, our local study saw that 85 percent of Pinays believe that there has never been a better time to be a woman while 96 percent believe femininity is a strength,” says Golda Roldan, managing director of JWT Philippines.

The Filipina as wealth creator. Chalk it up to the traditional role of controlling the family’s purse strings—or the shifting role of earning more than what her husband makes, or choosing to work while her better half manages the home. Whatever it is, women are clearly on top of money matters. Globally, 50 percent of women consider themselves the primary breadwinner, while in these shores, 80 percent of Filipinas identify themselves as the main household purchaser, and 73 percent say they make the majority of financial decisions at home.

However, Filipinas find handling finances to be a challenge, with 59 percent admitting that they spend beyond their means. Consequently, 81 percent of Pinays worry most about money.

The Filipina as professional. Married to their jobs? That appears to be the case among women the world over.

According to JWT Global’s “Female Tribes,” 74 percent of the women who participated in the study linked their work to their sense of self. As such, 44 percent said they were willing to delay marriage and family to focus on building their career.

News reports about fewer Filipinos exchanging I Do’s in recent years prove that Pinays also aspire to be more than a wife and mother. In “FilipinaNext,” 58 percent of Filipinas would delay getting married and/or having kids to pursue their chosen career.

Interestingly, of all the women in the Asia-Pacific region, Filipinas are least likely to experience sexism in the workplace. This means, in a relatively discrimination-free work environment, the sky’s the limit for the professional Pinay.

When it comes to success, 72 percent of Filipinas say they motivate themselves to succeed. The rest are inclined to turn to role models: thanks to the influence of a prominent female figure, 41 percent “have taken risks in life that they otherwise would not have taken,” 40% “became more ambitious,” and 33 percent were encouraged to “go to school or pursue further education”.

Interestingly, 15 percent even left an abusive relationship.

Where are Filipinas finding women to emulate? Not in media, apparently: 76 percent regard today’s female celebrities “too superficial.”This explains why a whopping 98 percent of Pinays assert the importance of establishing strong and substantial women in television and film. Still, they don’t need to look far for inspiration: 94 percent of Filipinas feel that women in general need to step up and serve as mentors to young girls.

“Our study shows that Filipinas want to be mentored and to mentor.

Hence, JWT Philippines is introducing a new internship program specifically for women called ‘Babaelang: A tribe of women for women’. Through this, we hope to raise the next Filipina giants in advertising, marketing and communications,” said Roldan.

Globally, JWT holds an international mentorship program for female college students called the “Helen Lansdowne Resor Scholarship”, aptly named after the industry’s and JWT’s first female copywriter.

The Filipina as woman. Pinays are optimistic by nature. Despite acknowledging their insecurities, 80 percent of Filipinas are confident they can achieve their goals—and 41 percent claim they’re already on their way.

Th e “ B a b a e l a n g” M e nto r s h i p Program’s first intake of mentees will start in June 2017. Students will be trained according to the different functions in advertising such as Creatives, Account Management, S t r a t e g i c P l a n n i n g, a n d o t h e r operational aspects as well in business such as Administration and Finance.

The hand-picked interns will be given the privilege of learning from industry leaders and influencers from JWT Philippines and its clients.

MAGNETIC INVENTION SEEN TO CREATE THOUSANDS OF JOBS

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FILIPINO accountant, together with his partners, has developed a machine that can desilt shallow rivers, provide jobs to thousands of people and lead to the development of the local steel industry.

In 2013, Juan “John” Raña together with Eduardo Malasaga, an engineer, obtained a sevenyear Philippine patent for the manual micro magnetic sand separator—a device that he believes can provide jobs to thousands of Filipinos in the countryside.

“Immediately, we can provide livelihood to 30,000 people,” Raña says in an interview, while pointing to the magnetic device that separates magnetite from the sand.

Raña, who is currently a communications director at the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process, says magnetite is a mineral used for the steel industry. He says while magnetite is mostly found in the coastlines and seabeds, the rivers in Pampanga, Tarlac and Zambales which were clogged by lahar from Mount Pinatubo have substantial amount of the mineral.

His son Jacob Luke Raña says the manual magnetic sand separator can collect magnetite with a metal grade of 57 percent to 60 percent, enough to meet export quality standards. China has a huge need for magnetite, but Raña says the raw materials can eventually support a local steel industry, once investors decide to come in.

Raña says for several years, he and his friends—Edgardo Vazquez and Louie Ramos—were trying to develop a machine that can harvest magnetite from the soil and the sand. While the initial idea was a big machine that runs on electricity, Raña says he decided to design a much smaller unit operated manually by one or two persons.

“I am not an inventor, but an accountant. I developed this machine because I wanted to help our poor ‘kababayan’. I thought there should be a better way to help them,” he says.

Raña says while Chinese sand miners were using big magnetic separators operated by only up to eight people, his device could employ hundreds, if not thousands of people. The device has a magnetic cylinder that can easily separate the magnetite from the regular sand. The byproduct of the separation can be used for construction and hollow

FILIPINO...

From C1 the five-star resort segment. He says despite its world-class aspirations, Anya will embrace Philippine designs that are suitable to the local climate.

Meanwhile, Elizalde says Anya will build on the track record of Roxaco Land in the property development sector. “We have the track record. We have the credibility. We have the staying power to be able to do a good job. This has been a part of the story [of Roxas & Company] when we are talking to prospective buyers and partners,” he says.

“We make sure that when we say we are going deliver a project of certain quality, then we get it done. Case in point is the Punta Fuego project in Nasugbu, Batangas. Together with Landco Pacific Corp., we went in and developed a 100-hectare property at that time. Even during the crisis years between 1994 and 1998, we sold out 650 open lots within a span

Inventors Juan Raña (right) and Edgardo Vazquez show how the manual micro magnetic sand separator works.

blocks making. “ We want to provide livelihood to as many people as possible. This is not only for the steel industry. It can help farmers and fishermen who become seasonally unemployed,” he says.

He says the storm surge caused

by Yolanda in 2013 brought a lot of black sand ashore to the farms and productive lands. He says removing the magnetite from agricultural lands can make the areas more productive.

“We will provide the manual magnetic sand separator to the farmers and fishers for free. And we will buy the black sand from them. Their contribution is only manpower,” he says.

Their initial target are the rivers of Pampanga and Zambales. Raña says aside from providing jobs, the project would result in the desilting

of 24 months. That in itself was an accomplishment and speaks about who we are and what we are able to deliver,” Elizalde says.

Elizalde says being an active traveler, he wants Anya to deliver world-class services such as those offered by the likes of India’s Oberoi Hotels and Resorts or Singapore’s Aman Resorts.

“It is all about the destination, the experience, the food and the quality of service,” he says, Elizalde says they decided to come up with a Filipino resort brand because of the lack of five-star resorts in the country. “We started to throw ideas, after having identified from a corporate perspective that hotels and resorts, in general, are good businesses. The tourism industry, as it stands today in the Philippines, presents many opportunities,” he says.

He says being in the real estate business that built residential projects and managed the membership clubs of smaller resorts, Roxaco Land decided to come up with its own tourism package

of the rivers in Pampanga and Zambales. “The riverbed became compact and silted because of the magnetite which is heavier than lahar. If you remove the black sand, the lahar will flow with water, stopping the clogging of the river,” he says.

He says Filipinos should be the ones earning from the abundance of magnetite in the country. “The Chinese black sand miners left cavities in the shorelines of Cagayan. And they are the only ones reaping the profit. We do not want that to happen. I developed this machine in search of a better way to do this,” he says.

Raña says this is why he invested in a prototype, with the support of his partners. “We spent a lot to make the prototype work and this is the thing that works,” he says.

Businessman Leonardo“Sandy” Javier Jr., the owner of Andok’s Corp., provided funding support for the project. “We built 7,000 machines that can employ 30,000 people immediately,” Raña says. “ We want to use this in Zambales and Pampanga. We can hire informal settlers in Metro Manila and bring them to those areas. We will build communities for them and we can provide them decent livelihood. This is our dream,” says Raña.

Vazquez, the inventor of modular housing and fencing technology called VazBuilt and an outdoor air-conditioning system called M ist y Kool, describes Raña’s invention as revolutionary. “They will now bring jobs to depressed areas in Zambales and Pampanga, provide homes, livelihood and the means to live decently,” he says. Roderick T. dela Cruz

and promote its own brand. “The Philippines has nothing to speak of, when we talk about four or five-star resort brands. Everybody talks about Filipino hospitality and Filipino smile and everything we have to offer, but it is sort of scattered. We felt it is time to package it in a way that will be attractive to Filipinos first,” he says.

“We put together a plan, we went out and identified a property in Tagaytay, which is owned by a lady landowner.

We started to sell open lots at P6,000 per square meter three years ago.

Now, secondary sales are at P20,000.

Within three years, that appreciated 300 percent,” he says.

Anya is a sanskrit word which means no boundaries, he says. “That’s the concept that we want to grab a hold of and apply it to whatever we do within the resort, which is really no boundaries in terms of level of service, no boundaries in terms of being able to satisfy our guests and no boundaries in terms of being able to deliver food choices in the restaurants.”

Elizalde says Anya Resorts is going to be the closest SLH property to Metro Manila. “There are two other SLH properties in the country—Eskaya Resort in Bohol and Pangulasian Resort [in Palawan]. But Anya is one of a kind and is the closest to Metro Manila,” says Elizalde.

In the pipeline is a 200-hectare fully integrated resort in San Vicente, Palawan. “It has a 1.5-kilometer beachfront,” says Elizalde.

For the meantime, Elizalde is excited about the opening of Anya Resort in Tagaytay in April this year. The third phase involves the development of nine-low-rise condominiums (four to five-story buildings) with 134 branded residences, from one- to threebedrooms, with floor areas ranging from 52 to 105 square meters.

“We are not Ayala Land or Robinsons Land. Obviously, we are not Megaworld, but it is who we are. Moving forward, we want to be around for another 100 years,” says Elizalde, who is a member of the Roxas clan. Roderick T. dela Cruz

Sports

ISABELA LASS SHINES IN ALASKA IRONKIDS

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ORN between dancing and swimming, Kyle Enialle Toledana chose to prioritize the latter and it proved to be her ticket to success in the more demanding sport of triathlon.

The eight-year-old Kyle Enialle Toledana K2 grader at Little Angel Child Development Academy in Santiago, Isabela grabbed her first multi-sport trophy on Saturday following a rousing win in the girls’ 6-8 years old division of the Alaska IronKids in Subic Bay, Zambales With supportive parents Edward and Leilani, the young Toledana went into serious training in swimming and joined provincial and regional tournaments.

The best thus far was a silver medal in her age cagetory in regional Palarong Pambansa.

In winning her event, Toledana used her strength in swimming to build considerable gap against her competitors, providing enough cushion in the bike and run event.

“Swimmer kasi talaga siya. Then sa bike and running kami kami lang sa family,” related her mother Leilani.

At an early age, her mother saw in her self-motivation to excel in whatever she does.

“Yung coach nga ang naghihinto sa kanya na mag train pero nag rererequest pa yan na training pa dahil bitin daw.”

It was Toledana’s third IronKids. She placed second in March edition last year also in Subic and 6th in Cebu in August.

“Ngayon po panalo na,” Toledana butted in. She still wants to pursue her dancing though “Dancing naman po (after this).”

Finishing second in her class were Jelaine Margaux Manansala, who had a time of 20.11 minutes, and Chantal Isabelle Calolot (22.15) Winning the boys’ class was Gabrielle Ethan Gaw, who submitted the best time of 16.18 minutes in the youngest age bracket of this event backstopped

by Alaska Milk Corp., and organized by Sunrise Events Inc. In the older age categories, multi-titled Wacky Baniqued had to go through the proverbial eye of the needle before pulling through even as while Karen Andrea Manayon scored a breakthrough in leading the winners’ circle in this event backstopped

by Alaska Milk Corp., and organized by Sunrise Events Inc. Making his move in the 3.2K run, Baniqued beat Clifford Pusing in a pulsating dash to the finish to cop the boys’ 13-14 diadem. Baniqued and Pusing were given identical clockings of 42:31.

“It was my first time to experience racing neckand-neck here and I’m happy to pull through,” said Baniqued, who had won all his three races in the 2016 Alaska IronKids.

On his final year in the circuit produced and organized by Sunrise Events, Inc. and sponsored by Alaska Milk, Baniqued said he wants to go out with a bang.

“I’m gonna go all out, this being my last year,” he said.

Wacky Baniqued (right) beats Clifford Pusing in a down-the wire battle in the 3.2K stage of the Alaska IronKids boys’ 13-14 division.

Talisay, Cebu pride Manayon topped the distaff side, submitting a winning time of 48:27 over runner-up Kristana Erica Derrada (51:38) and third placer Angelina Powell (52:57).

“After placing third in Cebu last year, I really worked hard to achieve my goal of winning first place for the first time,” said Manayon, whose previous best was a bronze behind the Borlain sisters in the Cebu race last year.

The Alaska IronKids also served as one of the

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017

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BODIES GALORE AT SUPERBODS UNDERPANTS RUN

By Randy Caluag SUBIC FREEPORT—It was fun before the storm on a sizzling hot Saturday with bodies of all sizes and shapes grabbing the spotlight in the Century Tuna Superbods: The Underpants Run held in front of the Subic Yacht Club here.

It was a three-kilometer fun race among enthusiasts, guests, and participants before the back-breaking, intense Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 which unfurls today (Sunday).

Among those who have been taking the Underpants race “more seriously” was former Ironman multi-titlist Belinda Granger, who wore a sizzling, bunny costume for her second-year stint.

“It’s now the most important event for me,’ she said smiling although it looked as if she wasn’t kidding at all.

“Even when I was a professional athlete, the most important thing for me is to have fun. We do this because we love it and that’s the first and foremost. And so, this sort of thing brings out the fun and at the same time to exercise, it’s a perfect combination,” the 46 -year-old Aussie, who had won 15 in more than 50 iron-distance triathlon events.

“I’d love to see it (Underpans Run) every year to grow bigger and bigger.”

Granger, who continues to train at lesser extent just to keep herself fit, is now part of Sunrise Events doing live updates and giving inspirational talks to age-group athletes.

The Underpants Run is actually a traditional side event at Ironman Word Championship in Kona, Hawaii. It was incorporated in last year’s Century Tuna Ironman and the success it generated has prodded the organizers to make it bigger this year.

Also making the side event more interesting and colorful was the participation of Century Tuna’s Superbods finalists.

Winning the best costume award were Nicky Nava, Mimi Ulit, Dennis Borbolla and TG Geronimo, who wore skimpy angels attire.

The original idea was for them to wear angels and devils costumes in pair. “Pero we decided na lang na angels kami lahat then ang undies namin devilish naman.”

It was their first time to join the event and they don’t see any reason not to do it again next year.

“Sasali po ulit kami,” confessed Nava, who trains under Team Tri Nur in Manila.

Kyle Enniale Toledana, winner of the girls’ 6-8 years old category, with her younger brother Leeam

Athletes and enthusiasts, led by Century Tuna’s Superbods finalists, having fun before the start of the 3K Underpants Run

opening activities for Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 weekend in this former US naval base.

Other IronKids winners were Zedrick James Borja and Moira Frances Erediano in the 11-12, Michael Gabriel Lozada and Kira Ellis in the 9-10, and Gabriel Ethan Gaw and Kyle Enialle Toledana in the 6-8.

Borja clocked 33:18 in winning the boys’ 11-12 while Erediano timed 34:50 in ruling the distaff side.

Lozada copped the boys’

9-10 with 24:26 even as Eliis reigned in the girls’ competition with 25:46.

Meanwhile, the Centur y Tuna Ironman 70.3, presented by Centur y Bangus a n d D e p a r t m e n t o f To u r i s m , will blast off early morning today Sunday.

The premier triathlon event is also sponsored by 2Go Express, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Ace Subic Bay, Manila North Tollways Corp., Gatorade, Saucony and TYR swim cap. Randy Caluag

Granger garbed in her sexy bunny outfit

TIGHT FINISH LOOMS IN CENTURY IRONMAN 70.3 CRAIG Alexander sets out for a repeat, fellow Aussie Tim Reed is seeking redemption and a slew of others are raring to spoil the aces from Down Under, guaranteeing a fierce duel in the 2017 Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 which gets under way today (March 12) in Subic Bay. The chase for the women’s tiara is also too close to call with Swiss Caroline Steffen hard-pressed to complete a three-peat with a talent-laden set of rivals all primed up to end her reign in the premier 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21km run event presented by Century Bangus, Department of Tourism and Tourism Promotions Board.

Five-time world champ Alexander, who gave a sampling of his legendary skills with his triumph last year, eyes a repeat in the men’s pro against rivals led by 2015 winner Tim Reed, Sam Betten, Jason Hall, Johan Stofberg and Till Schramm.

“It’s an unbelievable field and I think it’s gonna be a great race,” said Alexander.

“I’m a competitive person and I love racing

against the best.”

Steffen also expects a tough challenge but carries the same objective in the women’s pro hostilities, where the likes of Radha Kahlefeldt, Dimity Lee-Duke, Kate Bevilaqua, Sarah Lester and Imogen Simmons are dead-set on wresting the crown.

“It’s never easy to defend a title but I’ll do my best,” said Steffen.

The world-class pros banner close to 1,000 tri warriors from 47 countries, including Britain, the US and Australia, out to test their limits in the 1.9K swim, 90K bike, 21K run race that starts at Acea Beach and ends at Subic Bay Convention Center.

Local celebrities such as Dingdong Dantes, Drew Arellano, Jake Cuenca, Gerald Anderson, Kim Atienza and Gretchen Fulido add up to the star power as they vie in the relays side of the event offering $15,000 in prizes and 30 world championships slots.

Wilfred Steven Uytengsu, chief of race organizer and producer Sunrise Events,

Wilfred Uytengsu of Sunrise Events and Greg Banson (extreme left, seated) of Century Tuna lead the presentation of pro and elite triathletes are introduced to the media yesterday at the Subic International Convention.

Inc. and Greg Banson, GM of Century Canning Corp. GM Greg Banson graced yesterday’s press launch and urged participants to “break personal records, develop new

friendships and conquer new challenges.”

The 2017 Century Tuna Ironman 70.3 is presented by Century Bangus, Department of Tourism, and Tourism

Promotions Board.

It is also sponsored by 2Go Express (official courier and logistics partner), Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (venue partner), Acea Subic Bay (host hotel), Manila North Tollways Corp. (bike course partner), Gatorade (official sports drink), Saucony (official footwear and apparel partner), and TYR (official swim cap partner).

Media partners are The Philippine Star, Hyper HD on Cignal, TriLife, Asiatri. com, and Finisher Pix. It is also supported

by Alaska, David’s Salon, GU Energy Gels, Intercare, Prudential Guarantee, Premier Waer and Sante Barley and backed by marketing sponsors AlcoPlus, Cetaphil, Dalong, Froehlich Tours, Inc., Sanicare and Storck.

Other countries represented in the event are Hungary, Indonesia, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Monaco, Mexico, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Thailand, Uruguay and Vietnam.

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Foton Tornadoes outside hitter Grethcel Soltones (5) spikes the ball in between the blocking hands of a pair of Cocolife defenders.

ANYBODY’S BALLGAME AT PSL

ONE Championship World Lightweight Champion Eduard Folayang acknowledges the cheers of fans after being introduced inside the cage. ONE Championship

FOLAYANG DEFENDS LIGHTWEIGHT CROWN

By Reuel Vidal

V

ENGEANCE will be the overriding theme when ONE Championship World Lightweight Champion Eduard Folayang faces challenger Ev Ting in his first title defense on April 21 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

If you can call Manny Pacquiao the “Mexecutioner” because of the number of Mexican fighters he beat, then just go ahead and call Ting the “Pinoy Poison” because he seems to specialize in beating Filipino MMA fighters inside the cage.

He beat six Filipinos in succession in six years starting with New Zealand-born Mark Abelardo in 2011. He then went through Filipinos one after another with Rolando Navarette in 2012, Edward Kelly in 2014, Cary Bullos in 2015, Honorio Banario in 2015 and finally Eric Kelly just last year in 2016.

It’s almost like he seeks out Filipino fighters on purpose because of some unknown reason. Ting has fought and defeated six Filipinos (including three of Folayang’s Team Lakay stable mates) in the past six years and Folayang wants the chance to stop that trend and avenge his countrymen inside the cage.

“Well, I want to redeem the losses suffered by my teammates in Team Lakay. I don’t want to add to his list of victims especially with

Three Filipina tennis stars, from left: Gaby Zoleta, Alexandra Eala and Carmencita Carlos hold up the trophy they won after ruling the 2017 Asia Oceania prequalifying zone tournament in New Delhi, India.

the championship belt at stake in our fight,” said Folayang.

Ting fought and won over Kamal Shalorus in the main event of ONE: Throne of Tigers at the Stadium Negara in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently. He almost immediately called out Folayang when interviewed inside the cage after his victory.

The 27-year-old Ting relied on a variety of strikes as he pounded Shalorus from distance to post the hard-earned decision.

The Folayang-Ting fight promises to be a slam-bang affair especially with the exciting stand up styles of both fighters.

“Expected na magandang laban ito knowing na si Ev Ting ay striker at ganoon din ako. Halos karamihan sa nakita ko na fight ni Ev Ting ay gusto nyang ipunta sa stand up. So expected ko na yun. Pero syempre tinitingnan ko din ang possibility na ipunta nya ang laro sa grappling kasi halos doon niya tinalo yung tatlong Pinoy niyang kalaban,” said Folayang.

Ting is riding the crest of a four-

Ev Ting (right) grabs Filipino Eric Kelly by the neck as he wins their fight via submission through Guillotine Choke. ONE Championship

fight win streak. Folayang is unbeaten in 2016 which is highlighted by his spectacular victory over Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki to win the lightweight world title.

Folayang was also named ONE Championship’s 2016 Fighter of the Year in honor of his dominant year capped by the victory over Aoki.

Folayang, a three-time Southeast Asia Games gold medalist in Wushu, scored decision victories

over Tetsuya Yamada and Adrian Pang before posting that spectacular stoppage of Aoki.

The 32-year-old Folayang earned the Fighter of the Year accolade over women’s champion 20-year-old Angela Lee (who won the atomweight title after outlasting Mei Yamaguchi last May) featherweight king Marat Gafurov, bantamweight titleholder Bibiano Fernandes and Ting himself.

TEAMS in the Philippine Super Liga virtually overhauled their lineups for the ongoing 2017 PSL Invitational. While coach of champion team Foton Moro Branislav is unhappy with all the player movement, the resulting parity can only be good for the league.

Of the six teams—Petron, Generika-Ayala, Cignal, Foton, Sta. Lucia and Cocolife—competing, the top four teams can actually win the title. That’s right. Petron, Generika-Ayala, Cignal and Foton are capable of winning this tournament.

Just check out the past games.

Mika Reyes towed Petron to an 1825, 26-24, 14-25, 25-20, 15-12 win over Cignal in a match that went the distance at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan.

The Blaze Spikers scrambled to their second victory. Reyes finished with nine points, two in the crucial stretch of the deciding set.

Frances Molina and Carmela Tunay led the scoring parade with 15 and 10 markers.

Jovelyn Gonzaga had 17 kills, three blocks and three aces for 23 points while Honey Royse Tubino added 19 kills for 21 points for Cignal. Cignal absorbed its first loss after starting out with a fiveset win over Foton.

That same day Foton smothered newcomer Cocolife, 25-16, 25-17, 25-13, to bounce back from its earlier loss to Cignal.

Veterans Grethcel Soltones and Dindin Manabat scored the crucial points to lead the Tornadoes to their first win. Fresh from a five-year stint with San Sebastian College, Soltones scored 10 of her 11 points from kills. Manabat chipped in nine markers.

The Tornadoes dominated the offensive end with 40 kills while the Asset Managers had only 19.

Foton was also better at the defensive end with 31 digs. Cocolife had only 24 despite the presence of former star libero of Ateneo de Manila Denden Lazaro, who tallied seven receptions.

Foton holds a 1-1 win-loss mark after absorbing an openingday loss to Cignal. Branislav said they took advantage of the inexperience of Cocolife players most of whom are former Ateneo and La Salle players as well as the core of reigning NCAA champion Arellano University.

Former La Salle stars Wensh Tiu and Michele Gumabao had 11 points apiece for Coco Life, which remained winless in two outings.

FILIPINAS EMERGE UNBEATEN AT NEW DELHI TENNIS TOURNAMENT

By Peter Atencio

THREE young Filipina girls proved how tough they can get when confronted by tougher opponents in the international scene.

The team of Carmencita Carlos, Alexandra Eala and Gaby Zoleta recently showed what they were capable of doing when the trio powered the Philippine national under-14 girls team to a four-game sweep in New Delhi, India.

At the end of their four-game assignment, they emerged unbeaten after putting away Jordan, 3-0, in the finals.

“We played good, we beat everybody,” said national junior coach Tom Falcis.

The fourth triumph allowed the Filpinas to claim the crown in the 2017 Asia Oceania pre-qualifying zone tournament last week in New Delhi, India.

The first victory was tallied by Carlos, a sixth grader from Keys School, Manila.

She pulled off 6-3, 6-3 triumph over Randa Al-Qudsi.

Then, Eala, a Grade 6 student at Colegio San Agustin in Makati City came up with a 6-0, 6-0 blanking of Jana Al-Khatib.

“We did not get too much challenge. These girls are good,” said Falcis.

In the doubles, Eala got help from Zoleta, a Grade 8 student at Bristol Integrated School in Lucena City.

They stopped Al-Qudsi and Haya Joudeh, 6-0, 6-0, to finalize the win

in the Philippines’ favor.

Their title win erased memories of last year’s campaign in Nonthaburi, Thailand.

That time, the Filipinas, who were coached by Czarina Arevalo, took a 1-2 setback from Sri Lanka in the pre-qualifying finals.

This allowed them to keep a winning streak going into the final qualifying tournament of the World Junior Tennis competition when it gets going weeks from now.

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COPS TAKE DRUG TEST FOR NEW SQUADS

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By Roy Tomandao

ENGINEERING CONGRESS. Hundreds of new engineering graduates listen to a discussion on how they can earn a minimum monthly salary of P49,000 when they enter the workforce this year. This was among the insights revealed during the 2nd Philippine Engineering Student Congress, with the theme ’Better Engineers for Better Philippines.’ The one-day congress, mounted by JobStreet.Com Philippines, was held at the Technological Institute of the Philippines in Quezon City. Inset photo shows (from left) Angelo Lahoz, senior vice president of TIP, Yolanda Buyco, marketing manager of Seek Asia, and Rowena Cielo Sonza, marketing manager of JobStreet.Com Philippines. Manny Palmero

YAKAN FABRIC IS STAR OF TUMAHIK FESTIVAL

By Ayunan Grande Gunting

F

LUTTERING their arms and strutting to native percussions, men and women in brass-buttoned shirts, loose trousers, sashes, overskirts and headgear formed colorful formations in the streets. Then men jumped with spears and shields to show their virility, while the women swayed with their patterned malong and baskets.

As one of the 13 Muslim groups in the Sulu archipelago, the Yakan had a proud moment in the annual Tumahik Festival in Basilan, held last March 1 to 7 in Isabela City and organized by the Basilan provincial government and the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao.

The Yakan are the first settlers of Basilan, who are distinguished by their proud bearing and col-

orful handwoven attire, and Tumahik is a Yakan war dance that shows off the performers’ virtuosity.

The festival featured parades, dances and native costume contests participated in by Isabela’s barangays, and a Yakan oratorical and poetry competition, which highlights the tribe’s oral tradition.

ARMM Gov. Mujiv Hataman wears the Yakan ‘seputangan’ or headscarf.

“The Tumahik Festival showcases the rich culture of the Yakan,” ARMM Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said, noting the festival also brings to the fore the Yakan costumes and its growing fabric industry.

This tribe is recognized as one of the best weavers in the country.

Their fabrics are used by exporters

to make fashion and home accessories, and are exhibited in international trade fairs.

These fabrics come from pineapple and abaca fibers colored with herbal dyes. The Yakan maintain a centuries-old tradition of handloom weaving handed down from generation to generation. Each work is a labor of patience and love; it’s why it takes five days to produce only one meter of fabric.

The results are stunning, nonetheless: no Yakan fabric design is duplicated, as there will be variations in lines and colors. Each design is culled from the weaver’s memory or mood.

The most intricate design, the Seputangan or head cloth, is characterized by rhomboids with flowers and geometric shapes. These patterns symbolize good fortune and abundance.

Turn to D2

VIZCAYA WOMEN TURN TO UPCYCLING ‘UKAY-UKAY’

By Ben Moses Ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Celyn Gabol, 47, earns her living in this town by turning used clothing into usable items.

Gabol talks to her suppliers and orders packages of reject “ukayukay” or used clothes for a purpose.

She sorts these materials out to check which can be easily sewn into a product, and those that need more innovations, modifications and practical work.

Some would call this practice up-

cycling—reusing discarded objects or material in such a way as to create a product of higher quality or value than the original. Thus, assisted by her two sewers, Gabol of barangay San Nicolas turns these used clothes into domestic rugs and assorted bags.

She sells the house rugs at P35 a piece, bags in assorted sizes from P200 to P450, and small pillows at P100 each.

Gabol has been a regular exhibitor during the Waste Workers’ Day ecowaste product exhibit at the provin-

cial capitol here, which the province will again celebrate this year for Earth Day from April 20 to 22.

She is also one of the many ecowaste processors encouraged by the provincial government as an advocate of the Solid Waste Management Program in the barangays.

Starting as a sole proprietor for her venture of processing used clothes into recyclable products, Gabol is now president of the Bayombong Public Market Eco-Sewers Association, and engages her 15 members in a series of trainings on

the production of various products out of used clothes.

“Though there are few who are active, we are still in a positive mood because of the endless flow of orders from various customers,” Gabol said.

Earlier, the group received training from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority and Department of Trade and Industry. They then formed an eco-sewer association and eventually received P100,000 from the provincial government as capital assistance.

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna— Philippine National Police personnel who joined the Drug Enforcement teams and the Counter-Intelligence Task Force have undergone drug tests here.

Police Regional Office Calabarzon Director Chief Supt Ma. O Aplasca said this is part of the screening process and complete background investigation of the recruits “to ensure the selection of only the best and most qualified personnel for the new unit.”

Aplasca said the new unit shall be composed of personnel “of unsullied service reputation, unblemished record, and a character beyond suspicion as a minimum requirement.”

The PNP Drug Enforcement team will be under the Drug Enforcement Group that was reorganized from the defunct PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group, and has the mission and function to be the lead unit in police anti-drug operations.

The unit has its own CounterIntelligence Task Force embedded in its intelligence section to provide a fully functional internal disciplinary mechanism against possible irregularities, lapses and abuses, Aplasca said.

He reminded the unit that police-initiated anti-illegal operations must be conducted in the presence of barangay officials and media representatives.

BAUTISTA VOWS MORE PATROL CARS FOR QCPD QUEZON City Mayor Herbert Bautista has ordered an inventory of all patrol cars and service vehicles issued by the city government to the QC Police District.

During the turnover of the 50-brand new patrol cars to the QCPD, Bautista said he wants to replace old units with a new fleet.

“We will buy new vehicles again,” the mayor promised.

According to QCPD director Guillermo Eleazar, the city government has given the police force 220 vehicles and 86 motorcycles.

Eleazar said 86 vehicles have been declared “beyond economical repair” based on the assessment of the QCPD disposal committee.

Since Bautista assumed office in 2010, the city government has already invested more than P145 million for the acquisition of additional vehicles and equipment for the city police, including firearms, ammunitions and bulletproof vests.

P1.5-B BALAYAN BPO-GOVERNMENT HUB OPENS

By Ferdie G. Domingo PALAYAN CITY—Malaysian trade and industry experts and local government officials inaugurated on Wednesday the P1.5-billion business process outsourcing hub and government center.

The hub is expected to pump-prime Nueva Ecija’s economy by generating at least 18,000 jobs and make the province the latest “next wave” city outside the traditional urban hubs across the country.

Tansri Azmil, chairman of Malaysian conglomerate Alloy MTD based in Kuala Lumpur, which bankrolled the project, led the inauguration of the BPO building along with Malaysian Ambassador Dato Razlan Abdul Rashid, Malaysian Trade Minister Dato Sri Mustapa Mohamed,

and Bases Conversion and Development Authority Chairman Vince Dizon.

Mayor Adrianne Mae Cuevas said the 37,500-square meter BPO building and the government center in Barangay Singalat will serve as the perfect template for the Duterte administration’s pursuit of bringing government closer to the people.

She said the hub will house at least 12 government agencies under one roof in a state-of-the-art, air-conditioned onestop-shop setting, where Novo Ecijanos can secure passports, licenses and other government-issued documents.

“These projects are just some of the signs of the city’s readiness to take on the challenges of leading the way for Nueva Ecija’s path to progress,” she said.

Cuevas said the city government is coordinating with the various national government agencies to relocate their operations to the new city center.

These are the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Labor and Employment, Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Information and Communication Technology, Department of Education, and frontline agencies such as the Government Service Insurance System, Social Security System, National Bureau of Investigation, Philippine Statistics Authority, and PhilHealth.

Former Nueva Ecija governor Aurelio Umali, husband of incumbent Gov. Czarina Umali, said the province is gearing up for the information technology-BPO industry.

CLEANUP. Senator Cynthia Villar (center) led the Laguna Lake Coastal Cleanup drive on Friday in Barangay San Roque, Victoria, Laguna, in commemoration of World Water Day 2017, together with government officials of Victoria, the Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Office, and students of Victoria Integrated National High School. See story on D2. Roy Tomandao

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ECIJANO IS FIRST FILIPINO, ASIAN CATHOLIC BISHOP OF SALT LAKE

By Ferdie G. Domingo

S

AN JOSE CITY, Nueva Ecija—A Novo Ecijano assumed his post as the new Catholic bishop of Salt Lake City in Utah, making him the first Filipino and the first Asian bishop in that state.

Bishop Oscar Azarcon Solis, 63, was installed in ceremonies in Salt Lake City’s Cathedral of the Madeleine followed by an evening reception at the Salt Lake City Marriot City Creek Hotel.

Solis succeeded Bishop John Charles Wester, who was appointed to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in April 2015, which left the Cathedral of the Madeleine bishop-less for two years.

The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the appointment is “massively significant” on the national front. It noted that there are around 300,000 Catholics in Utah, including 18,000 Asian Catholics, most of whom are of Filipino heritage.

The HuffPost online website said the Pope’s decision to appoint Solis demonstrates his support for the “immigrant population all over the world.”

Solis was appointed by Pope Francis last January. He is a native of this city

YAKAN...

From D1 The Palipattang derives its patterns from rainbow colors, while the Bungasama takes after the python skin. The Kenna-kenna is patterned after a fish, the Dawen-dawen after the leaf of a vine. Pene mata-mata is inspired by a series of eyes, while the Kabang buddi is a diamond-shaped design.

Anak-Mindanao Rep. Princess Sitti Djalia T. Hataman explains: “Fabric has an extensive importance in our society.

Native textiles are a symbol of cultural identity, family tradition, sense of community, honest work and livelihood.”

“Traditionally, we see indigenous fabrics as practical or sacred, as they are either worn as daily garments or used in rituals. In keeping with the times, our indigenous fabrics have been integrated in art, modern fashion and home décor. Although the tribes still adhere to tradition, their uses will keep evolving.”

The solon adds that although the Yakan fabric is one of the great prides of Basilan, the province also offers other attractions.

Basilan maintains its rural charm.

The beaches along Malamawi island are famous for its fine, white sands and fresh coconut drinks directly plucked

where he was born on Oct. 13, 1953. He was ordained a priest for the Diocese of Cabanatuan on April 28, 1979.

From 1979 to 1984, he held various positions such as rector of the diocesan high school and college seminary, vocations director, professor and on the diocesan priests’ council.

It was the second record established

by Solis who, in 2003, became the first Filipino to be named bishop in the US when he was appointed an auxiliary to the Archdiocese of Los Angeles by Pope John Paul II. In his position, he reportedly visited some 200 churches.

It was reported that Los Angeles bishops gave him a parka, skis, and an Apple Watch as send-off gifts as he headed to Utah.

Solis, who moved to the US in 1984 where he served as parochial vicar of a parish in Union City in New Jersey, and later in parishes in Louisiana, said his appointment was a “tremendous blessing.” from the coconut plantations. Lampinigan is an hour’s drive from the capital Isabela. The rocky coastline opens out to a resplendent ocean view.

There are other must-see places in Basilan that show its multi-ethnicity. The Kaum Purnah Mosque in Isabela City is a museum of the cultures of the different indigenous and Muslim groups.

For Christians, the Cathedral of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal and the Chapel of Peace on Calvario Peak are sanctuaries.

Near the city center, the Cabunbata Falls is a quick escape, surrounded by a jungle of rubber trees. Pusuac Spring Park offers exotic flora and fauna. The other famous beaches include Tenusa Island, Calugusan and Palm Beaches in Lamitan, and Sumagdang Beach in Isabela City.

In cuisine, the Yakan are known for their dulang—molded sticky rice with native chicken, fried fish and vegetables served on a banana leaf. The chicken or kaliya is prayed over before being slaughtered, then is cooked with spices, herbs and powdered rice. The sweet jah panyam pitis is a chunk of sticky purple rice, coconut milk and raw sugar.

Hataman hopes that through the Tumahik Festival, the tribal arts and crafts and tourist attractions of the province will change the perception of an embattled Basilan.

“It is a recognition of the diversity of the Church in America and the universality of the Church,” said Solis, who speaks Spanish.

Solis was said to be key in establishing the National Association of Filipino Priests-USA, per Rev. Alex Aclan, vicar for clergy at the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“He is a major ingredient in the glue that has bonded the Filipino priests together,” said Aclan.

In San Jose, residents rejoiced over Solis’ installation.

Former board member Joseph Ortiz, a lay minister of the Saint Joseph

Diocese here and president of the Parish Pastoral Council, said Solis’ appointment has put San Jose City and the Philippines on the international map.

He said Solis is being looked up to by the people of San Jose City as an inspiration and a role model.

Solis, who traces his roots to Cadhit St., Barangay Canuto Ramos here, has been described by Ortiz as “reserved, humble and has no star complex despite his lofty stature.”

“He may be Bishop Solis but he remains soft-spoken and down-toearth,” said Ortiz of Solis, who came home last January and even held Mass at the local cathedral.

“Everywhere he goes, Bishop Solis is the epitome of a true man of God: humble and not arrogant. You would not think he is a bishop the way he conducts himself,” Ortiz said of the bishop, whose brother Ronald is also a priest based in Rome.

He recalled that one time, the bishop went to a place specially reserved for him. When there was a road obstacle, he went down from his vehicle and removed the road block himself, without asking anyone for assistance.

“There is no condescension in him, though he is a religious icon in his own right,” he added.

BACK TO BASICS. A man cooks on a traditional stove using firewood at his home along Kalayaan Avenue in Makati City on Saturday. Like many Filipinos, he is thinking of ways to not consume electricity, with power rates set to go up by as much as 66 centavos per kilowatthour owing to the maintenance shutdown of the Malampaya natural gas field, which provides most of the fuel for power plants in Luzon. Diana Noche

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PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

INVITATION TO BID SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 838 UNITS SANDO TYPE VESTS Bid Ref. No. 2017-11A 1. The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of FIFTY MILLION TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY THOUSAND PESOS (P50,280,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) for the SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 838 UNITS SANDO TYPE VESTS. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during bid opening.

2. The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the SUPPLY, DELIVERY, AND TESTING OF 838 UNITS SANDO TYPE VESTS. Delivery of the goods is 180 calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II Instructions to Bidders.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm).

5. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on March 6, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of fifty thousand pesos (PhP50, 000.00).

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

6. The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on March 09, 2017, 1:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

7. Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before March 21, 2017, 1:00 p.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on March 21, 2017, 1:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

8. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/o Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting March 6, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082. However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

9. PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to: Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082 (Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-MAR.12, 2017)

Bishop Oscar Solis

INVITATION TO BID ACQUISITION OF PDEA PERSONNEL HEALTH CARD Bid Ref. No. 2017-26

2.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a nondiscretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the 2016 Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Act.” Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183.

4.

5.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during office hours (8:00 am to 5:00 pm).

The Invitation to Bid and Checklist of Requirements may be downloaded from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and PDEA Website at www.pdea.gov.ph, provided that Bidders shall pay the applicable non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

7.

The PDEA-BAC will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on March 09, 2017, 2:00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City 1100 which shall be open to prospective bidders.

8.

Bids must be duly received by the BAC Secretariat at the address below on or before March 21, 2017, 2:00 p.m. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

Bid opening shall be on March 21, 2017, 2::00 p.m. at PDEA Main Conference Room, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Pinyahan, Quezon City 1100. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

11. For further information, please refer to: Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo PDEA-Logistics Management Service PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City Tel No. (632)920-8082 (Sgd) JESUS A FAJARDO, MMOAS Deputy Director General for Administration Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-MAR. 12, 2017)

Name of Contract

ABC (PHP)

Cost of Bidding Documents (Php)

IB No. 2017-148

Printing of Various IEC Materials 12,998,062.00

25,000.00

IB No. 2017-164

Procurement of Radio Placement 15,000,000.00 for Various DOH Programs

25,000.00

TOTAL 27,998,062.00

Single Largest Completed Contract At least Twenty-five Percent (25%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet At least Fifty Percent (50%) of the ABC within the specified period in the Section III. Bid Data Sheet

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-caption projects. Delivery of the Goods as specified in Section VI. Schedule of Requirements. Bidders should have completed, within the specified years from the date of submission and receipt of bids a contracts similar to each of the above-cited procurement projects stated in the Bidding Documents. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the COBAC Secretariat, G/F, Bldg. 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents for each procurement package listed above may be acquired by interested bidders on 13 March 2017 to 03 April 2017 from the address above and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB Resolution No. 04-2012, dated 24 February 2012, in the amount specified above.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders who are interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

Bidding Documents Fee may be refunded in accordance with the aforementioned Guidelines based on the grounds provided for under Section 41 of 2016 Revised IRR of RA 9184.

6.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at the COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which shall be opened to all interested parties on the schedule given below: IB No. IB No. 2017-148 IB No. 2017-164

7.

Name of Contract Printing of Various IEC Materials Procurement of Radio Placement for Various DOH Programs

Activity (Date & Time) Pre-bidding Conference

Submission and Opening of Bids

20 March 2017; 10:00 AM

03 April 2017; 09:00 AM

Bids must be delivered to the address stated below. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated below: Form of Bid Security Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank.

Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter of credit issued by a Universal or Commercial Bank: Provided, however, that it shall be confirmed or authenticated by a Universal or Commercial Bank, if issued by a foreign bank.

Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Insurance Commission as authorized to issue such security.

Bid Securing Declaration

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the BAC Secretariat c/o Ms. Aroceli E Sonido or Mr. Arvin E Sadullo at the PDEA Compound, NIA Northside Road, National Government Center, Quezon City from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM only, Mondays to Fridays starting March 1, 2017 at Tel No. (632)920-8082. However, any queries relative to the contents of the bid documents and the project requirements can only be made by bidders who purchased the bid documents not later than Ten (10) days prior to the Submission and Opening of Bids.

10. PDEA reserves the right to reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

IN COMMEMORATION of World Water Day 2017, Senator Cynthia A. Villar led the Laguna Lake coastal cleanup with the local government of Victoria, Laguna and volunteers from Victoria Integrated National High School in Barangay San Roque on Friday morning.

“Now, we look back on World Water Day, we should maintain bodies of water like Laguna Lake in pristine condition,” said Villar, who chairs the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food and is a member of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources.

Villar said a mandamus issued by the Supreme Court in 2008 commanded 13 government agencies to clean up both Laguna Lake and Manila Bay because the lake flows out to the bay via the Pasig River.

“That was mandamus issued in 2008, and we were given 10 years to clean them, but we only have two years to go,” she said.

As chairman of the Senate environment committee before the chamber’s recent reorganization, she said she allocated funds to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources projects all along the bodies of water.

“We are giving out composting and vermicomposting facilities to help clean the lake, which is overflowing with dirt.

The facilities will help produce organic fertilizers we can then give out to the provinces of Laguna, Rizal, Cavite, Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Tarlac, and Nueva Ecija,” Villar said.

An overgrowth of waterlily plants in the lake can also be harvested and made into compost, organic fertilizer, mats, bags, slippers, and baskets, the senator said.

“This coming March 20 to 21, together with our Villar Social Institute for Poverty Alleviation [SIPAG] Foundation, we will teach residents of Victoria to convert waterlilies into handicrafts, to give extra income to the people in this town,” Villar said.

“This is proven technology, because we tested that in Las Piñas. We have done this for more than 10 years, and because of this we managed to recycle about 75 percent of our waste. We can do this for all the people here in Laguna, so I promoted the project and gave the budget to the DENR,” she added.

Plastic waste recovered from Laguna Lake will be sent to recycling centers to be converted into school chairs for public schools in the provinces, the senator said.

INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS The Department of Health (DOH), through the Continuing Appropriations of 2016 and General Appropriations Act of 2017 intends to apply the sum of Twenty Seven Million Nine Hundred Ninety Eight Thousand Sixty Two Philippine Pesos (PhP27,998,062.00) for the projects listed below. Bids received in excess of each ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening: IB No.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders on March 1, 2017 from the address given below and upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, in the amount of twenty five thousand pesos (PhP25, 000.00).

6.

9.

1.

The Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), thru its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), intends to apply the sum of TWENTY SEVEN MILLION ONE HUNDRED TWENTY THOUSAND PESOS (P27,120,000.00) through General Appropriations Act (GAA) for CY 2017 being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC)for the ACQUISITION OF PDEA PERSONNEL HEALTH CARD. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected during bid opening.

The PDEA - BAC now invites bids for the ACQUISITION OF PDEA PERSONNEL HEALTH CARD. Delivery of the services is 360 calendar days (1 year) upon receipt of Notice to Proceed. Bidders should have completed, within three (3) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders.

By Roy Tomandao

Republic of the Philippines Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

PHILIPPINE DRUG ENFORCEMENT AGENCY BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

1.

SEN. VILLAR LEADS LAKE CLEANUP IN LAGUNA

Amount of Bid Security (Not less than the required percentage of the ABC)

Two percent (2%) Five percent (5%) No percentage required

8.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

9.

The DOH reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior to contract award in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-B Secretariat Department of Health San Lazaro Compound Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830 (SGD) MA. CAROLINA V. TAIÑO, CPA, MGM, CESO IV Assistant Secretary of Health COBAC – B Chairperson (MS-MAR. 12, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

Gadgets & Games

D3

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

LAZADA OFFERS HOTTEST DEALS Bosch FLEXIDOME IP starlight 7000 VR (left) and Sony SNC-EB642R (right)

BOSCH DRIVES FORWARD ITS VIDEO SECURITY WITH SONY

A

FTER the official approval of the antitrust authorities, the business partnership of Bosch Security Systems and Sony Corporation in the field of video security solutions became effective by Feb. 1, 2017—xcept for in China where the partnership will start on April 1, 2017. Both companies will now focus on strengthening their collaboration that was first announced in November 2016.

The partnership entails a both sales and marketing cooperation as well as a technical collaboration. As part of the sales and marketing partnership, Sony’s video security sales and marketing associates joined a newly formed dedicated team within the Bosch Security System organization. Sony`s video security customers, in all markets except Japan, will be served and supported by this sales and marketing team. “We are happy to welcome these experienced colleagues in our organization and are convinced we will further grow the business with Sony’s products by providing excellent support and service to our customers”, says Michael Hirsch, Vice President for Sales and Marketing of the Sony Security Business within Bosch. “We are delighted that Sony’s video security customers are now being supported by Bosch Security Systems. We are moving forward with this partnership which will feature jointly developed

products that fully leverage our industry-leading expertise in video image quality and performance”, adds Toru Katsumoto, Deputy President of Imaging Products and Solutions Sector, President of Professional Products Group, Sony Corporation.

Regarding the technical cooperation, both companies are aiming to set new standards with regard to high resolution video imaging, combined with excellent light sensitivity, complemented by Bosch’s expertise in built-in video analytics and latest bitrate management techniques.

In March 2017, Sony will launch eight new Full-HD (1080p) video security cameras within its sixth generation (G6) range of network cameras, meeting the ever-increasing demand for greater image clarity within the video security market. New G6 cameras’ high sensitivity capabilities ensure that the color integrity of images is maintained even in extreme lowlight situations. At the same time, Bosch is updating its portfolio concerning video

analytics and bitrate management. Starting as of May 2017, all network cameras from the IP 4000 series will be equipped with built-in video analytics as a standard as well as latest bitrate management techniques combined with H.265 video encoding, reducing bitrate by up to 80 percent. Both Sony’s and Bosch’s innovations will be presented at the ISC West 2017 (April 5-7) in Las Vegas, USA. The first jointly developed products are expected to be launched in 2018. “We are looking forward to delivering best-in-class video security solutions to our customers for both existing and new market segments”, says Gert van Iperen, President of Bosch Security Systems.

The Bosch division Security Systems is a leading global supplier of security, safety, and communications products and systems. In selected countries Bosch offers solutions and services for building security, energy efficiency and building automation. About 9,000 associates generated sales of roughly 1.8 billion euros in 2016. Protecting lives, buildings and assets is the major aim. The product portfolio includes video surveillance, intrusion detection, fire detection and voice evacuation systems as well as access control and management systems. Professional audio and conference systems for communication of voice, sound and music complete the range. Bosch Security Systems develops and manufactures in its own plants in Europe, Americas and Asia.

CARRIER INTRODUCES SLIMPAC SERIES

XPower 2

STYLE and function are a lifestyle essential. From clothing to accessories to appliances, the growing preference is for both the sophisticated and functional. With this in mind, Carrier Philippines has given its SlimPac series a makeover with the introduction of the Klarwind and XPower 2 floormounted air conditioners, designed to not only quickly cool its surroundings but also blend in.

Powerful in performance, energy efficient, and alluringly elegant, the

designs of the SlimPac Klarwind and XPower 2 perfectly fit a stylish space, matching the aesthetics of the modern man or woman— whether at a contemporary home or a small office. The new units are the results of Carrier’s never-ending commitment in providing only the best products and a unique experience for its consumers.

No less than two of the most influential lifestyle personalities, Daphne OseñaPaez and Jenni Epperson, at-

test to how the Klarwind and XPower 2 perfectly merge style and function.

“My living aesthetic influences my everyday life. Everything has to be beautifully well-coordinated—it has to make me feel comfortable so I can be most productive and inspired with my work,” shared Daphne Oseña-Paez, who constantly works on fresh ideas for her lifestyle brand. “The Carrier SlimPac Klarwind matches me and my

workplace. It’s not only powerful and efficient; its lipstick-like figure is a work of art.”

The Carrier SlimPac Klarwind is designed to complement modern home & business space aesthetics with its sleek and sexy design measuring 340 mm in waist.

Its innovative 270-degree swivel head motion provides quicker, wider cooling reach. It also has a three-step filter system with its antibacterial, electrostatic and carbon filters.

BEACH bums, are you cam-ready?

Lazada Philippines offers the hottest deals to keep your cool this summer.

When the weather starts to feel humid and the rays of the sun seem to follow you wherever you go, that’s it—you know that summer is fast approaching and it’s about time to hit the beach!

You’ve got your beach bods ready, your out-of-town trips booked, your OOTDs planned, but have you thought about what to use to capture those social media worthy moments?

Lazada Philippines, your favorite one-stop online shopping and selling destination is giving you red-hot deals for as low as 83 percent off on camera and accessory brands such as GoPro, Canon, Samsung, Nikon, and many more: Capture life in a whole new way with the GoPro Hero5 Black. It is the most powerful and easiest GoPro product to use so far, boasts of an advanced video stabilization where you can capture stunningly smooth videos, handheld or mounted on your gear; and is even rugged and waterproof up to 33ft (10m) without housing. Get yours at only P19,999.

You’d really be in for a treat with XiaoMi Yi’s 16MP Sports and Action Camera because it comes with a Kingma Waterproof Case, a Yi Monopod, and a Yi Remote Shutter. It definitely is a higher-end camera with an entry level price at only P5,549.

The S-40 Handheld Stabilizer for Steadicam has a magic carbon fiber stabilizer designed to reduce shake and stabilize videos and a bidirectional base plate which you can use to adjust your camera to any direction. The best part is, this can be widely used with any kind of professional camera or camcorder for only P2,767.

If you’ve only got your mobile phones with you, you can still take great pictures with the VODOOL 3-in-1 Clip which includes a 0.67X wide angle lens that can capture relatively large scenes in a small range, a 10x micro lens that can capture tiny particles clearly, and a 180° fish-eye lens that can expand the scope of the area and give you a good viewing experience. Get all three for only P365.

Birthday Blow-out!

Klarwind

March also marks Lazada Philippines’ anniversary month and the company is set to offer great deals on its Birthday Sale happening on March 21 to 23. Enjoy a birthday blowout of killer deals, massive discounts, unbeatable flash sales, and many more amazing surprises during this three-day shopping extravaganza.

Celebrate with Lazada by visiting Lazada.com.ph or downloading the Lazada mobile app for free today.

BEAT THE SUMMER HEAT WITH LG DUAL COOL AIR CONDITIONERS THE 30-plus degree temperature that sweeps the country on an annual basis is right around the corner, and with the ubiquity of technology nowadays, this scorching season can sometimes be synonymous to a spike in air conditioner usage. This summer, global technology innovator LG Electronics introduces the latest from its energy solutions line—its Dual Cool Smart Inverter residential air conditioners (RACs). With a variety of models from its Dual Cool Standard, Dual Cool Standard (Mosquito) and Dual Cool Deluxe segments, the extensive line-up ticks off every consumer’s boxes in energy saving, powerful cooling, comfort, health care and convenience.

Energy efficiency coupled with powerful cooling

The Dual Cool RAC comes equipped with a Smart Inverter Compressor and Dual Inverter Compressor which reduces energy consumption by up to 70 percent. The Dual Inverter Compressor motor has a wide rota-

By eliminating the humidity and germs left in the RAC, the auto cleaning function removes all substances that might be harmful to human body, keeps the indoor environment odor-less and maintains the cooling performance and longevity of the RAC even after 10 years of usage.

tional frequency and a higher speed cooling range than a conventional compressor, allowing the RAC to cool more quickly, last longer and run more quietly. So no matter how hot it is outside, the RAC distributes cool air immediately to every corner in the room. The unit has a 25 percent larger skew fan which expels powerful blasts of air through its large outlet, optimally designed to fill spaces with cool air faster and farther.

Optimal comfort and health care

Powerful cooling does not come at the expense of the user’s comfort. With just a click of the “Comfort Air” remote button, the Dual Cool RAC adjusts the vane angle to ensure that the out-flowing air does not blow directly to the user and cause sudden drops in body temperature. Disturbance is also not an issue as the RAC operates at the world’s lowest noise level thanks to LG’s unique BLDC motor, skew fan technology and Active Low Vibration Control (ALVC) feature. It also maintains an incredible capacity for de-

Next-level convenience

Dual Cool Premium HS09 ISP

humidification to provide the most comfortable environment.

Health is one of LG’s core considerations when creating new products. The Dual Cool RAC offers top-quality features in favor of the user’s health and sanitation: Plasmaster Ionizer Plus, which disseminates over three million ions to sterilize and deodorize not only the air going through the RAC, but all surrounding harmful substances; LG’s trademark Mosquito Away, which

repels up on 82.7 percent of mosquitoes through an ultrasonic sound which can be activated even when the RAC is not running; Micro Dust Filter, a high-airflow, lownoise filter which employs a strong electrostatic charge on its surface to attract, trap and eliminate harmful microscopic substances and deliver fresh, clean air; and Auto Cleaning, a comprehensive cleaning function which prevents the formation of bacteria and mold on the heat exchanger.

Installation has never been easier with the delicately designed installation elements of LG’s Dual Cool RAC: simple packaging, installation plate improvement, installation support clip, wider tubing space, detachable bottom cover and a quick button for running tests.

“With the launch of our highly developed Dual Cool RAC in the country, which caters to our consumers’ energy saving, cooling, comfort, health and convenience needs, we want to not only help ease the upcoming summer heat for Filipinos, but also keep their homes cool and comfortable all year around,” LG Philippines Air Conditioning and Energy Solutions VP Steve Kim said.

D4

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Gadgets & Games

D-LINK WIFI CAMERA: SEE MORE, STAY CONNECTED

EHP-SL100ARD

ELECOM HEADPHONES FEATURE MASAMUNE DESIGN

The Omna 180 Cam HD provides an easy way for users to monitor their home for extra peace of mind.

D

-LINK, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of networking products, has announced the availability of the new Omna™ 180 Cam HD (DSH-C310) in Apple.com.

HomeKit Camera

The first in D-Link’s Omna family of HomeKit enabled devices, the Omna 180 Cam HD provides an easy way for users to monitor their home for extra peace of mind. Omna’s HomeKit integration allows users to be “always home” and includes advanced security features with end-to-end encryption and authentication between the camera and an iPhone or iPad. When activity is detected, users will receive a rich notification on their lock screen, delivered via the Apple Home

while you are away.1 • 180-Degree Field of View—Omna is derived from the Latin word ‘omnis’ meaning all-encompassing. Most cameras offer a limited 130-degree lens, while D-Link’s unique 180-degree solutions and de-warping technology app, showing a live feed from the allow users to see just about everycamera. Users can even access their where and everything.

Omna remotely to see what’s hap• Dynamic Video Streaming— pening in their home in real time*.

The video bitrate continuously adjusts to ensure optimal perfor“Always Home” mance given the available bandwidth.

Omna’s HomeKit integration al• Two-Way Audio—Listen and lows users to be “always home.” speak using the camera’s built-in Seeing everything through your iOS microphone and speaker, so even device offers extra peace of mind— when users are not at home they can keeping an eye on your baby in the still make their presence known. nursery, checking on an elderly rela• Night Vision—See up to 5 metive, watching your dog in the living ters in complete darkness with infraroom, or checking on your home red night vision.

• Motion Detection—Triggers alerts and automatic video clip recording.

• Local Recording—Record motion detection triggered video clips directly to a microSD2 card up to 128 GB, with remote playback capabilities. Offers pre-event snapshot and recording, with more flexibility on recording video locally to the camera without impacting network or Internet bandwidth. All with no recurring monthly fees.

• Stylish Design—The camera is designed to fit effortlessly into the modern home with an elegant, discreet and stylish design.

The DSH-C310 Omna 180 Cam HD is currently available at apple. com.sg at S$319. The product will be available in the Philippines soon.

BROTHER BOOSTS LINE FOR HOMES, SMALL BUSINESSES BROTHER International Philippines Corporation (Brother Phils.) has launched in the Philippine market its latest entry-level home sewing machine model, the Brother JA-1450NT, to further boost its line of entry-level machines for use in homes and small businesses.

This compact and easy-to-use mechanical sewing machine model has all the basic features homemakers and sewing hobbyists need for their sewing projects and mending needs. Reasonably priced at PHP 9,995, Brother JA-1450NT is also perfect for young designers who want to start their own clothing line and enterprising individuals who want to manufacture customizable merchandise or enter any business for that matter, where they will need a reliable set of sewing machines.

Brother JA-1450NT features include 14 built-in decorative and quilting stitches, automatic (4step) buttonhole, top load bobbin, LED sewing

light, auto threading system and twin needle sewing, with free arm conversion. It also comes with an instructional DVD with bonus sewing projects.

What’s more, Brother Phils. President and chief executive officer Hocson said they also making sure that they are at their customers’ side by offering at no cost a training package with the purchase of the machine, and even train offsite, if needed.

The choice of the brand conscious market, Brother sewing machines’ superb value is largely attributable as well to its excellent and accessible after-sales service.

With Brother’s 13 Sewing and Embroidery Machine Authorized Service Centers with 53 branches nationwide, Hocson said that customers can rest assured that there is a Brother Authorized Service Center nearby to help them maximize the use, as well as maintain their

SMB-Vic Sotto

SMB-Ina Raymundo

and make him you’ve got his back.

Get girls’ attention by embodying smooth and swabe (even if you don’t have six-pack abs) simply by sending a Tom Rodriguez or Joseph Marco sticker.

SMB-JuneMar Fajardo

Bring all the boys to the yard by turning on the charm with the sweet Yassi Pressman or turning up the heat with the smokin’Ina Raymundo.

Let your bros feel your support and appreciation with Curtismith

EHP-SL100M Series for that instant animé fix

“Ghost in the Shell” fans can now effortlessly channel Motoko Kusanagi’s spunky and sexy style with the EHP-SL100M Series Stereo Headphones. The stylish headphones are designed with optimal tuning to deliver anime songs with clear, low and relaxed audio. Users will definitely be whisked away to Niihama City as they listen to “Nightstalker.”

The headphones feature a neodymium magnet for sharp bass and a high-stiffness diaphragm for rich lowfrequency and distinctive high-frequency audio. They can suppress negative sound vibrations and achieve less linear output characteristic distortion.

Designed to fit tightly in both ears, the EHP-SL100M Series Stereo Headphones reduce ambient noise so commuting animé fans can enjoy their favorite soundtracks even during train and bus rides on the way to work or school.

Users can choose from three ear cap sizes to ensure a perfect fit. They can connect the headphones to their phones or audio devices inside their bags with the 1.2-meter cord, which comes with a slider for easy storage.

EHP-SH1000 Series keeps you pumped up

Brother JA-1450NT

Brother sewing machines.

Brother’s other sewing machines model available in the market include the GS-2700 mechanical sewing machine (SRP P10,995) with built-in needle threader, one-step buttonhole, and 27 built-in stitches.

HAVE A VIBE-BEER WITH VIBER STICKER PACK UP for #MahabahabangInuman tonight?

Get the craziness of a Sabado night hang-out with your tropa started on Viber with San Miguel Beer’s new sticker pack featuring Vic Sotto, Ina Raymundo, Tom Rodriguez, Yassi Pressman, Joseph Marco, JuneMar Fajardo, and Curtissmith. Whether you want to amp up the fun, engage in frank real-talk, or simply celebrate #ThirstyThursday (or any day of the week, for that matter) these Viber stickers will be sure to bond your barkada kapag mahaba pa ang gabi.

Got a friend who needs advice about his girl? Get Bossing’s help

ANIME has evolved into a key element of Philippine otaku pop culture. Animé enthusiasts, both young and old alike, follow the stories, characters and even the soundtracks of their favorite animé.

Elecom, Japan’s number one innovative mobile, tablet and PC solutions provider, is giving Filipino animé music enthusiasts a treat as it celebrates its 30th year. It has partnered with Shirow Masamune or Masanori Ota, renowned Japanese manga artist behind “Appleseed” and “Ghost in the Shell,” to design the EHP-SL100M Series and the EHP-SH1000 Series of headphones. Not only do these products satisfy fans’ thirst for animé songs, they also complement their animéinspired street fashion.

SMB-Tom Rodriguez

and JuneMar Fajardo.

Enjoy a virtual #MahahabangInuman by downloading the San Miguel sticker pack on Viber.

Download the latest version of the app on Android and iOS. Follow

viber.com/ViberPH to learn about the coolest stickers and updates.

Our 800 million users worldwide get access to a range of features like one-on-one chats, video calls, groups messaging or updates and discussions with their favorite brands and celebrities. We ensure our users a secure and free environment to share their emotions.

Viber is part of the Rakuten Group, a world leader in e-commerce and financial services.

Join Viber today and enjoy the world’s best communication experience.

For further inquires, contact us at media@viber.com

Animé music enthusiasts will definitely get pumped up listening to Boom Boom Satellites’ “Dive for You” on their EHP-SH1000 Series Headphones. Packed with two dynamic 11.6mm drivers, the headphones deliver high-resolution audio in a wider audio range from low, midrange to the super-high spectrum. A neodymium magnet produces a dynamic low-range sound while a lightweight voice coil improves vibration response and produces clear audio. The headphones have a donut-shaped ball piece for a powerful bass output.

The EHP-SH1000 headphones use a high-rigidity aluminum housing to suppress unwanted vibration and come with two types of detachable cables, a leather case and a cable organizer.

The EHP-SL100M and EHP-SH1000 headphones are available at all Elecom outlets in SM Fairview, SM North Edsa, SM Marikina, SM Southmall and Solenad, and all Urbanize Outlets at U.P. Town Center, Gateway, ShangriLa, Glorietta 3, Uptown BGC, Venice Grand Canal, Kiss & Fly NAIA Terminal 3, Alabang Town Center, The DistrictImus, Solenad and Serin Tagaytay.

EHP-SH1000SV

E1

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor

/

Young Life

Bernadette Lunas, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com.ph

OF FEMINISM

AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

By Bernadette Lunas

E

MMA Watson has been getting a lot of backlash when she posed for a photo partially exposing her breasts.

The said photo taken by acclaimed fashion photographer Tim Walker for Vanity Fair shows the 26-year-old actor and UN Women Goodwill Ambassador wearing a white Burberry bolero jacket with nothing underneath.

Immediately, she was called a hypocrite for “sexualizing” herself while advocating for women’s equal rights.

A British radio presenter and commentator, and a woman herself, Julia Hartley-Brewer took to Twitter to accuse Watson of being hypocritical. “Feminism, feminism... gender wage gap... why oh why am I not taken seriously... feminism... oh, and here are my tits!” she said on her Twitter account.

But Watson, the pioneer of the HeForShe campaign, fired back to critics by reiterating what feminism means.

In an interview with Reuters, she said, in utter bewilderment, how many misconceptions there are about feminism. “Feminism is about giving women choice, Feminism is not a stick with which to beat other women with. It’s about freedom, it’s about liberation, it’s about equality.”

“I really don’t know what my tits have to do with it. It’s very confusing,” she added.

While it is not news that a woman badmouthed or criticized another woman for her choice, it remains startling how females themselves don’t understand that advocating for women’s rights also means letting them make their own choice, embrace themselves, and be who they want to be as long as they are not causing harm to anybody.

Even high-profile feminist Gloria Steinem believes that a feminist is not a bad feminist by revealing her body. “Feminists can wear anything they f****** want. They should be able to walk down the street nude and be safe,” Steinem told TMZ. Coincidentally, this issue came out just before the world celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8. The special day “celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievement of women,” according to International Women’s Day website.

Yet no matter how many achievements Watson has achieved: she starred in hit movies and campaigned for equal women’s rights, among others, a single photo, it appears, has the potential to erase every good thing she has done. And that is just disappointing.

So, do we really need feminism?

In many aspects, women are still left behind. Gender gap is still wide and apparent.

More men are holding government posts than women, with an international average of 21.9 percent of women in national legislature. In the Philippines, for instance, data from the Commission on Election show that more men participate and win in previous election years. In 2013, only 19.92 percent of elected officials were female, a stark contrast from 79.75 percent men.

There are also industries deemed dominated by men, such as engineering where there is about 87 percent gap of applicants between male and female.

Admittedly though, women have come a long way from the time when female have no rights to vote nor work outside of their home. But the journey is not yet over, not with patriarchy, misogyny, and rape culture remaining rampant.

And here comes the importance of feminism. It doesn’t mean that women should overpower or outnumber men, but instead, both genders should have equal rights, equal treatment, and equal opportunity.

15 BADASS QUOTES FROM BADASS WOMEN IT’S not easy being a woman in a world where patriarchy is still a thing. But these strong women have changed the game and made their gender their strength.

Here are their inspiring and empowering words that will make women proud of themselves, and men proud of women.

“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.”

—Madonna

Critics are accusing Emma Watson of being hypocrite for posing for a photo wearing revealing clothes.

Photo from Vanity Fair

“There’s nothing a man can do, that I can’t do better and in heels.”

—Ginger Rogers

“No country can truly flourish if it stifles the potential of its women and deprives itself of the contributions of half of its citizens.”

—Michelle Obama “The point is not for women simply to take power out of men’s hands, since that wouldn’t change anything about the world. It’s a question precisely of destroying that notion of power.”

—Simone de Beauvoir

“I just love bossy women. I could be around them all day. To me, bossy is not a pejorative term at all. It means somebody’s passionate and engaged and ambitious and doesn’t mind leading.”

—Amy Poehler

WHAT A WOMAN WANTS. Equal rights for women

can be truly achieved if the society let them decide whatever they want and whoever they want to be without being judged or dragged down.

Scan this icon to view the PDF

Turn to E2

YOUR NEW COUPLE DRESSING GOALS THIS Japanese couple will put your couple outifts to shame.

The silver-haired husband-and-wife tandem of the Instagram handle @bonpon511 have over 159,000 followers, as of this writing, only 13 weeks since they started posting on their account. Followers are loving their cute and stylish coordinated outfits.

“Bonpon” is a portmanteau of their Christian names, while “511” is their wedding anniversary (May 11, 1980).

The Internet has fallen in love with their impeccable style, as the fashionable over-60 couple always makes sure to wear matching ensemble from head to toe.

Their couple dressing is done in a chic and presentable way—no tacky statement shirt or dull matching outfits here. Instead, they opt for matching prints: gingham, tartan plaid and stripes; same or complementing colors; and coordinated or nearly identical styles.

Bonpon511’s IG fans are complimenting their style: “what a beautiful coordinated couple they are,” one follower wrote. While some are commending their 37-year relationship: “I want to live like them,” a commenter said, “Even no longer young, but still smazing. Relationship goals!” another one added.

This cute couple definitely proves that stylish couple dressing knows no age.

Japanese couple, known as @bonpon511 on Instagram, always makes sure to wear stylish and coordinated outfits.

Young Life

E2

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

15 BADASS...

From E1

KIDS CORNER

COOL STUFF FOR COOL KIDS A

H, to be a kid again! First, they have time for a nap every afternoon (something we hated when we were younger but desperately ask for now that we’re older). Second, they get to do fun activities. And they get to have all the cool and colorful stuff.

Playtime

“I am a Woman phenomenally.

Phenomenal Woman, that’s me.”

—Maya Angelou

“A man told me that for a woman, I was very opinionated. I said, ‘For a man, you’re kind of ignorant’.”

—Anne Hathaway “If you want something said, ask a man. If you want something done, ask a woman.”

—Margaret Thatcher

Toys play an important role of educating kids while they’re having fun—hence it’s important that they are as entertaining as they are educational.

Cool Kids, a brand of Funtastic International Inc., introduces its new lines of toys for children. Young tots will have a fun time with Baby Bliss’s baby toys. Each item in this range is made of non-harmful materials and is fun to use, offering wonderful learning experiences to little children.

Kids who love to make things or have a potential to be our future builders would enjoy Creadough. These dough toys bring out the imagination and creativity in children, as they allow them to use their hands to explore and create amazing shapes and images. The Zigo line of blocks, on the other hand, could help prepare children to be future engineers and architects as they build various structures of their liking.

Check out www.coolkids.com.ph to find out more about these items.

School-time

Make school-time a little less daunting and a bit more exciting with bags featuring different characters: Royal Princesses, Glam Girlz, Forest Fairies, Viron Transformer, Geobot, Aerobot, and Aquabot robots, and Space Rangers, to name a few.

Meanwhile, older kids and teenagers can choose from Latitude’s range of durable and fashion-forward bags. Style won’t be compromised as they carry all their necessary belongings.

Walk time

“We need to reshape our own perception of how we view ourselves.

We have to step up as women and take the lead.”

—Beyonce “Women have traditionally taken secondary roles to men. I want to be the boss not the secretary.”

—Bianca Frazier

“There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”

—Malala Yousafzai “Stop telling girls they can be anything they want when they grow up. I think it’s a mistake. Not because they can’t, but because it would have never occurred to them that they couldn’t.”

—Sarah Silverman

A stroll on the street or a walk on the beach becomes more colorful in the Hopscotch Collection of flip flops for kids by Banana Peel. The latest collection comes in four eye-catching colors: mustard yellow, black, bezique green and pink, to match a child’s personality.

The bright colors of these flip flops can also affect the kid’s cognitive skills. Blue stimulates a cool and relaxing environment, yellow is the color of sunshine and happiness, green invigorates and recharges, and pink is attributed to calmness and kindness.

Go to www.facebook.com/bananapeelflipflops to know more.

FOR KIDS ONLY.

Children will surely love playing the toys from Baby Bliss, Creadough, and Zigo; enjoy going to school with fun and durable bags; and enjoy walking in colorful flip flops from Banana Peel.

FACEBOOK ACCOUNTS THAT ARE SO DAMN RELATABLE

“Bitches get stuff done.”

—Tina Fey “Because women are so clever and flexible and such great communicators, it’s been hard for men to evolve and keep up.”

—Rashida Jones “Above all, be the heroine in your life, not the victim.”

—Nora Ephron

AS YOU were absent-mindedly brows- and shares from users who can relate to ing through your newsfeed on Face- their posts. book, a post, one of your friends shared, One of which is the Facebook caught your atpage Filipino Tweets tention. It was That Matter. Created funny, witty and only on January 30, made you say, 2017, FTTM already “That’s me.” You has 700,000 plus tothen checked the tal page likes, as of page that made this writing. It reposts the original post tweets submitted by and checked its Filipino Twitter users previous entries. that matter to FilipiSome of them nos or that are viral. made you smile, “Boosting the many made you A post by Design Pirate PH page’s name within laugh. Then you a month by featurhit “like” and ing tweets relevant to and became a subscriber. what’s viral (e.g. The Miss Universe This is currently the trend that’s Competition in the Philippines, The sweeping Facebook in the Philippines Jollibee Valentine Series, among oththese days. These FB accounts are rak- ers), FTTM reached 500,000 subscribing in thousands of likes, comments ers on Facebook and 10,000 on Twit-

ter,” the account said on its website on a complementing photo), and curwww.filipinotweetsthatmatter.com. rently boasts over 500,000 page likes.

Most of the recent posts are under The page started with relatable huthe themes of Pigot posts about situnoy culture, crush, ations employees and unrequited experience—such as love. The topworking overtime, ics discussed are being overwhelmed things that young with so many projadults can relate ects and the tedious to, primarily bewaiting game for pay cause most of the day—and has grown featured tweets to tackle other topics are by young like unrequited and Twitter users. lost love, failed fitAnother FB ac- A viral post by Filipino Tweets ness goals, and trafcount, whose That Matter fic problems,among posts are most others. likely being shared These two Faceby your friends recently, is Design Pirate book accounts have succeeded in PH. Founded by Em Martin, the page spreading messages that resonate with has become popular with its hugot the masses, especially the millennial soposters (one or two sentences laid out cial media users.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017

E3

ELLA AND

JULIAN DID IT AGAIN

Music supertars John Legend and Ariana Grande in a duet for Disney's Beauty and the Beast

‘BEAUTY AND THE BEAST’ IS UNBEAUTIFUL

By Nickie Wang

B

ill Condon’s live-action remake of Disney’s animated classic Beauty and the Beast is receiving unfavorable reviews and so is the theme song.

Pop star Ariana Grande and piano man John Legend teamed up to cover the Beauty and the Beast sound track, an update on Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson’s Grammy and Academy Award-winning original.

The song first premiered in the final trailer for the liveaction remake of the classic film, but it’s only after the March 5 release of the song’s full music video on YouTube that people started making nasty comments about the cover version.

One doesn’t have to be a music expert to say that Grande and Legend’s version bastardized the 1991 hit.

Listening to their version is similar to hearing a couple singing in a karaoke room equipped with a terrible sound system. Even the late Howard

Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, March 12, 2017

ACROSS 1 Atomic number 5 6 High-IQ group 11 Talk show hostess 16 Costner or Spacey 21 Drive out 22 Notre Dame Fighting — 23 Sunspot activity 24 Love greatly 25 Steamship 26 Flood barrier 27 Humorous play 28 Dots in the sea 29 NFL scores 30 Spread sand or salt 32 Indian corn 34 “— Girls” 36 Amatol ingredient 37 Parakeet treat 39 Hartford competitor 41 False alarm 43 Rents out 45 Debate topic 47 Fence pickets 49 Actor — Gable 51 Big bother 54 Well-dressed 56 Online activity 57 Long sighs 61 Alligator pear 63 Delayed 64 Stiff 66 Kiddie’s ammo 67 Play stoolie (2 wds.)

68 Garbage container 70 Called 72 Totally dark 74 Model, to begin with 75 Seep 78 Units of work 79 Wake up 80 Gradual 82 Formerly 83 Marilyn’s real first name 85 Stands firm 86 Immature raptor 88 Digress 89 Snoops 90 Meat juices 93 Untamed 94 New Mexico town 95 Edible roots 99 Makes merry 100 Ready to pick 101 Police action 104 Fair-hiring letters 105 Defeat in competition 106 Substitute pitcher 108 Away from the wind 109 Navajo lodge 111 Icy remark?

112 Baffling thing 114 Dog-food brand 116 Smearing 118 Indifferent (hyph.)

120 121 123 124 126 127 129 132 134 136 140 141 143 145 147 148 150 152 154 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163

Inspired poetry Wielding Ankle opposites Mothers and daughters Softened Lower in dignity Ballad part Coil about Mr. Spock’s father River hazard Skirt border Magazine fillers Unshorn Bank vaults NW state Shady place Computer command Baja pal BMW alternative Inflict, as damage Quiets Public Citizen founder Work by Rousseau Singing birds Work hard Overhead honkers Music for couples

DOWN 1 Wallops 2 Rust or patina 3 Remove soap 4 Pamplona yell 5 Uncool one 6 Surroundings 7 Built 8 “The Pink Panther” actor 9 Compass dir.

10 Excuse me!

11 Patrolman 12 Shopping centers 13 Not as common 14 Rainbow shape 15 Dressy shoe 16 Crusty roll 17 Mag. staffers 18 Battery units 19 Sherlock’s lady friend 20 Twiggy abodes 31 Inched forward 33 Gone to bed 35 Delight 38 Music with a beat 40 Horrify 42 Mountain refrains 44 Alias initials 46 Incline 48 Pertinent 50 Cheryl or Alan 51 Listens closely 52 Benefit 53 — voce (softly) 55 Identical 56 Latin American dance 58 Top grade (hyph.)

59 Thieve

60 62 64 65 69 71 73 76 77 79 81 84 85 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 96 97 98 100 102 103 106 107

Overfeeds Reckons Bad, as apples Clinic staffer S&L deposit Usher in Not quiet Parts to be played Diner’s choice Licorice herb Like a basket Mouths, in zoology Put a crease in Oscar or Cornel Brown pigment Summon electronically Roots around Dupe Maintains Motion pictures Eagle’s gripper Sponsorship Signified Tunes Substitute ruler Rafter’s challenge Wed. follower Merry-go-round Hesitate

110 113 115 117 119 121 122 125 126 128 129 130 131 133 135 137 138 139 142 144 146 149 151 153 155

Theater awards Wandering one Strong soap Fully aware — up (confess) Weakest Home annexes Arkansas mountains Swamp vapor Diet-ad caption Serape Land, to Caesar Caution light Ambergris source In reserve Undeliverable mail Teen bane Some are inert Dry wines Masculine principle Husky’s burden Shade tree Uncooked Busch of old movies Tall bird

Ashman, who collaborated with Alan Menken in writing the glorious ballad, could turn in his grave.

Legend and Grande’s powerhouse vocals were not even utilized in the song. They sound lethargic as if they just rushed to the studio and recorded the song sans rehearsal and vocalization.

Its poppy tunes don’t even give justice to the original version’s magical orchestra because it sounds like a midi track or a cheap piano demo.

The music video features appearances by Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the Beast. Performing in a castle tower, Grande, in an elaborate, rose red gown with hair down, joins Legend, who’s at the piano. Their performance happens right in the middle of the film’s stunning ballroom dance scene with Belle and the Beast. And if there’s only one thing commendable about this whole fare is the flawless incorporation of the two singers into the film’s environments through the use of some sophisticated CGIs to produce the music video.

One of the challenges in doing a remake of an exceptional classic song is that people are already familiar with the original, the cover must be equally outstanding. Otherwise it would deal with unforgiving criticism and high expectations. And what’s happening with the 2017 version of the song is a constant reminder that something new doesn’t always mean something better.

Viral babe Ella Cruz with Viva co-artist Julian Trono

YOUNG actress Ella Cruz and singer Julian Trono collaborated in yet another popular dance cover.

The two Viva talents released their dance cover to Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You,” a marimba-fueled song about a budding romance.

Dressed in matching grey and denim outfits, Ella and Julian rocked the dance floor in a three-minute dance cover that features a full choreography of mixed contemporary dance techniques while interpreting Ed Sheeran’s song lyric.

The sexy yet still wholesome number is winning the hearts of netizens since the release of the video on Facebook on March 8. The clip has been viewed almost a million times as of this writing.

The pair first teamed up for their steamy cover of Bruno Mars’s “Versace on the Floor” in January, which trended on social media and gained 2.5 million hits on YouTube.

E4

Showbiz

SUNDAY, MARCH 12, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

LUIS MANZANO SUPPORTS MOM’S CRUCIAL DECISION

WILDFLOWER. Maja Salvador in a sensational one-piece bikini on the cover of Metro Magazine.

Luis Manzano

Luis Manzano with mom and Lipa City Representattive Vilma Santos.

By Nickie Wang

T

V HOST and actor Luis Manzano has expressed his all-out support to his mother, actress-turned-politician, Vilma Santos who is making headlines of late.

The Lipa City Representative and head of the committee on civil service and professional regulation was among those who voted against the widely debated re-imposition of the death penalty in the country’s justice system.

According to the 36-year-old Minute To Win It host, they had a serious talk about it and her mother’s decision to oppose the revival of the death penalty was based on the general consensus of the people in Lipa.

“Even before the members of the House [of Representatives] made their vote a few days ago, she said she’s not going to sell out for any certain position. She told me that with her vote she may lose her position as a chairperson but at least she listened to her conscience,” Luis told Manila Standard in an exclusive interview on Thursday when he was launched as the newest endorser of Century Tuna Chilli Corned Tuna.

The young Manzano furthered that he can only be proud of her mom amid her choice not being the popular one. And even if her mother made a different choice, he would have supported her nonetheless.

“I try to see my mom at least once a week, normally on a Sunday night. So, yes, we’ve talked about it and we have the same position.

I can only be proud as his son,” he exclaimed.

The social media savvy Luis, who is known for his funny-bordering-on-sarcastic posts, is fervent when it comes to voicing out his own opinion on almost anything be it a small or a national issue. And since he’s opened himself using digital platforms like Instagram and Twitter, it’s also inevitable that he encounters

SUMMER is certainly upon us and Maja Salvador seems to have informed everybody that our days on the beach have officially started.

The Wildflower star showed off her beachready figure in a series of clips that now flood social media. The videos were taken while she was being photographed for the March 2017 cover of a local fashion magazine.

“As the temperature begins to rise, we turn to one cool girl to tame the scorching heat. Showing off her summer body is (Maja Salvador)—actress, dance queen, singer— and all around go-go chick, who takes us on a fun road trip to the beach,” the magazine wrote.

In the photo shoot, Maja wears a printed Agua Brazlian swimwear and a Louis Vuitton headscarf with a picturesque beach in the background. The cover story sees the 27-year-old star wearing the trendiest prints of the season.

The article added that the magazine picked the Kapamilya actress to be the cover girl this month because as one “cool girl,” Maja can definitely “tame the scorching heat.”

trolls and bashers that only live to ruin someone’s day online.

Luis admitted that he takes the matters into his own hands, calling out cyber bullies -- in 140 characters or less – because he doesn’t want to tolerate the way they use and abuse social media.

“Mapag-patol ako sa social media. Sa Twitter patola ako sa mga basher, we have to stop living in a society of victims. Some people would say na ‘wag mo nang patulan, but for me they have to learn their lesson,” Luis explained adding that he’s ready to defend his mother for her decision if he’d encounter one bashing her for her unpopular decision.

He furthered that he lives by the quote: “We must always take sides.

Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”

It’s his guiding principle lifted from the speech of Romanian-born American Jewish writer and political activist Elie Wiesel when he accepted his

ANOTHER FIL-AM MAKES IT THROUGH ‘THE VOICE USA’ BLIND AUDITION

Fil-Am singer and The Voice USA contestant Gaby Borromeo.

AFTER Anatalia Villaranda’s trending blind audition in the hit US TV show, The Voice, another Filipino-American made it through the reality singing competition’s blind audition.

In the latest episode, 22-year-old Gaby Borromeo performed Leona Lewis’s “Happy” causing coaches Adam Levine and Blake Shelton to turn their chairs for her.

At the end of her song, the Maroon 5 front man quickly gave the young singer a hug as he went up onstage to commend her performance.

“I’m very surprised this is not a four-chair turn. Correct me if I’m wrong but when you started singing you seemed like you were nervous. But then as the song progressed, you

came through in a way that just blew my mind.

You’re unbelievable and you belong on my team,” Levine commented.

On the other hand, Shelton had similar praise for Borromeo, and even went as far as to agree with his rival coach that Borromeo could win the popular singing contest. “It would be a shame to see somebody screw that up for you like Adam,” Shelton said.

Originally from Seattle before she moved to New York when she was 15 to pursue a career in music, Borromeo expressed her excitement over Twitter after the telecast of her performance. Soon enough, fans started to ask about her nationality.

In one of her responses, Gaby said she is proud to be representing the Philippines.

Maja Salvador flaunts her killer curves in a photo shoot.