Manila Standard - 2017 March 21 - Tuesday

EU told: Mind your own business

By John Paolo Bencito NAY PYI TAW, Myanmar—President Rodrigo Duterte described European lawmakers as “crazies” in a salty-tongued rebuttal to criticism of

his deadly drug war, while vowing again that all traffickers will be killed.

Duterte fired his broadside in a latenight speech Sunday in Myanmar after the European Parliament issued a resolution last week condemning “the

high number of extrajudicial killings” swear words and other abusive lanin Duterte’s drug war. guage against his critics.

“I don’t get these crazies. Why are “Why do you have to f--- with us, you trying to impose on us? Why God damn it.” don’t you mind your own business,” Duterte has overseen a ruthless said Duterte, who frequently uses Next page

PRESIDENTIAL PLEA. President Rodrigo Duterte, visiting Myanmar for the

VOL. XXXI • NO. 39 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 • www.thestandard.com.ph • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

first time as the country’s chief executive, appeals to his countrymen in a speech Monday before the Filipino community at the Horizon Lake View Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw to be more assertive of their rights and proactive in reporting corruption in his government. Malacañang Photo

Rody: Leni an enemy House urged to back oust-Robredo bid

Chides Magdalo men for being ‘cowards’

By John Paolo Bencito

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Monday branded Vice President Leni Robredo as an enemy who was in a hurry to claim the presidency and described Senator Antonio Trillanes IV as “a barking dog” who turned out to be a coward.

HER TURN. Supporters of President Rodrigo Duterte participate in a protest rally Monday infront of the Office of Vice President Leni Robredo in

New Manila, Quezon City, demanding her to resign and be impeached, which coincides with a statement from the Volunteers Against Crime and Corruption it is looking into the possibility of filing a disbarment case against her. Lino Santos

By Christine F. Herrera, Maricel V. Cruz and Macon Ramos-Araneta A SERIAL accuser who has filed impeachment complaints against two presidents on Monday took aim at Vice President Leni Robredo and urged House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez to endorse his prepared impeachment complaint against her.

Taking his cue from Alvarez, who threatened to file an impeachment complaint against Robredo, lawyer Oliver Lozano was joined by the nuisance senatorial candidate Melchor Chavez to submit their six-page complaint.

With a cover letter that explained why Robredo had to be removed from office.

“We respectfully request that you endorse the attached com-

plaint for impeachment against Leni Robredo. She is the termite of the government. Her unfaithfulness has extended to the betrayal of the public trust and culpable violation of the Constitution,” said Lozano and Chavez, in a letter that was received by the speaker’s office at 4:40 p.m.

Monday.

While Lozano and Chavez were apparently trying to im-

Murder raps vs 19 cops in Espinosa case

By Rey E. Requejo A SUPREME Court magistrate has laid down a five-point strategy to handle China’s renewed incursion into the Scarborough Shoal, including the filing of a formal protest against China’s plan to install a radar station on it.

Associate Justice Antonio Carpio said Monday President Rodrigo Duterte had the constitutional duty to defend Scarborough Shoal from China’s incursions.

He pushed his five-point strategy following reports that China planned to install a radar station in the disputed shoal.

He said Scarborough or Pana-

THE Justice department has filed murder charges against 19 policemen for the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa and inmate Raul Yap inside a sub-provincial jail in November 2016.

In a resolution, the Justice department found probable cause to file murder charges against 19 members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, led by Supt. Marvin Marcos before the Baybay City, Leyte Regional Trial Court.

Marcos and 10 of his men were charged with two counts of murder for Next page

By John Paolo Bencito PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte said Monday he was studying the suggestions to name his close ally, former President and Pampanga Representative Gloria Macapagal Arroyo to lead the body that will shift the form of government to federal from unitary.

Duterte opened the possibility of Arroyo leading the 25-member consultative Next page

dered to the police. What he did was to steal all the towels in the Peninsula, the bedsheets and the silverware. He didn’t fire one shot.

You’ve seen how he bahaves— like [Senator Leila] de Lima,” he said in Filipino.

Duterte also chided Alejano for saying he had “secret deals” with China and said the lawmaker— also among the mutineers that Trillanes led—should go to the disputed waters and fight the Chinese.

“If he wants to fight in China, he could lead… I would be glad to send him as the first batch of Filipinos who want to take the Spratlys and all of these occupied [territories] now—go ahead. Be the first,” Duterte said in Filipino.

Duterte hit Alejano’s Magdalo party-list, accusing them of doing nothing for the country apart from mounting failed coups d’etat.

Next page

SC justice floats 5-point plan to deal with China

By Rey E. Requejo

Arroyo eyed for Con-Com

peach Robredo as vice president, the two accusers never addressed her as Vice President in their draft impeachment complaint.

They simply addressed her as Leni Robredo.

Lozano had tried to impeach former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo five times and former President Benigno Aquino III twice, Next page but to no avail.

Speaking before the Filipino community in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar on Sunday night, Duterte tore into his critics.

“Ang mga kalaban ko ... si Leni apurado masyadong maging presidente [Among my enemies, Leni (Robredo) is in too much of a hurry to become president],” Duterte said.

Duterte also mocked Senators Trillanes and Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano, who filed an impeachment complaint against the President.

Duterte said Trillanes robbed a hotel during the Manila Peninsula takeover in 2007.

“Look at them. Trillanes is a barking dog. He’s just a ... you know, this guy... who was behind a mutiny. Remember what happened in Makati,” the President said.

“Look at this idiot. He launched a mutiny then cowardly surren-

IN MOURNING. The tricolors

is flown at half staff at the Senate following the death Monday of former Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani due to colon cancer. She was 87. Prior to her stint in Congress, she was also the Deputy Minister for Philippine Affairs, Ambassador to Australia and SecretaryGeneral of the World Conference on the United Nations Decade of Women in Kenya. (Story on A2) Ey Acasio

tag Shoal was part of the national territory under Republic Act 9522 or the Philippine Baselines Law, and should be defended to “preserve for future generations of Filipinos their national patrimony in the West Philippine Sea.” Carpio said since the Philippines could not match China’s military power, Duterte might opt for other actions to defend the country’s sovereignty over the shoal and fulfill his duty.

He suggested the filing of a formal protest over China’s incursions in Panatag Shoal.

“This is what the Vietnamese did recently when China sent cruise tours to the disputed Parcels,” Carpio said.

Next page

1m quit smoking—DoH

By Macon R. Araneta THE number of Filipino smokers fell by 1.1 million to 15.9 million in 2015 from 17 million in 2009, and mainly as a result of the higher taxes on tobacco products, The Health department said Monday.

Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial cited the 2015 Philippines’ Global Adult Survey that said the

prevalence of tobacco use among Filipinos 15 years and above had dropped to 23.8 percent in 2015 from 29.7 percent in 2009.

“One million Filipinos have quit tobacco use, the biggest decline we have seen in Philippine history, and we can do more to stop the suffering caused by this epidemic,” Ubial told reporters at Next page

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News

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Shahani’s death a big loss’ S She was 87.

Shahani’s daughter Lila Shahani, secretary general of the Philippine National Commission to Unesco, said her mother passed away at 2:40 a.m.

“Mom left the body, by the awful grace of God, at 2:40 a.m. this morning, just a few hours after my 50th birthday,” the younger Shahani wrote in her Facebook post.

“Bereft and full of grief, but still strangely peaceful in the knowledge that she is now free from all suffering,” Lila added.

The senators, some of whom worked with the late senator and diplomat, described Shahani as a “shining example of a public servant whom our present and future leaders must strive to emulate.”

Shahani had three children with the late Ranjee Shahani, a former

professor and writer. She won as senator in the 1987 elections and served the Senate until 1998. She was chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Relations, Senate president pro-tempore, and chairperson of the Committee on Education, Arts, and Culture, among others during her term.

As senator, Shahani authored and sponsored various laws covering culture, education, agriculture, foreign service, women’s rights, and animal rights.

She was in the foreign service for 20 years and served as the United Nations Secretary general for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs. She worked in the UN Division of Human Rights from 1964 to 1968, and chaired the Commission on the Status of Women in 1974.

She became the Philippine ambassador to Australia, Roma-

nia, Hungary and West Germany before she was appointed undersecretary of Foreign Affairs and chairperson of the National Commission on Women.

Senator Franklin Drilon hailed Shahani as “a celebrated legislator, diplomat, writer and academician, Shahani represented the very best of Filipina skill, intelligence and determination.”

“She is also credited for initiating and advocating for the Moral Recovery Program, which is aimed at integrating ethical values into nation building and government,” Drilon added.

“As a neophyte senator back in 1995, I have had the honor of serving with Senator Ramos-Shahani in the halls of the Upper Chamber.

I remember her as a determined and hardworking lawmaker, who tirelessly championed the passage of key legislation that benefit and positively influence the lives of our people up to this day,” said Drilon.

“I will be forever proud that during my time as Senate president in the 16th Congress, I led the chamber in honoring the life and works of Senator RamosShahani with Senate Resolution No. 87, which she personally received from us,” he added.

While we are saddened by her passing, her legacy will continue to

EU...

seeing crimes against humanity, with police allegedly running anonymous death squads.

Duterte has insisted he has not asked his security forces to break the law, although on other occasions he has called for millions of addicts to be killed and vowed to pardon police officers found guilty of murder.

On Sunday he warned many more people would be killed.

“More people will die. I said I will not stop. I will continue until the last drug lord in the Philippines is killed and the pushers

[are] out of the streets,” he said.

Duterte welcomed the prospect of the International Criminal Court putting him on trial over his bloody war on drugs, saying he would not be intimidated by these threats.

“I will not be intimidated and I shall not be stopped just by what? International Criminal Court? Impeachment? If that is part of my destiny, it is my destiny to go,” Duterte said, adding that his foreign critics did not understand the Philippine situation.

By Macon Ramos-Araneta and Sandy Araneta

ENATORS on Monday expressed their condolences to the family of former senator Leticia Ramos-Shahani, younger sister of former President Fidel V. Ramos, who succumbed to cancer at the intensive care unit of a Taguig hospital early Monday morning.

From A1

campaign to eradicate illegal drugs that he says are threatening to turn the Philippines into a narco-state.

Police have reported killing more than 2,500 people, while rights groups say there have been more than 7,000 other deaths linked to the drug war.

Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have warned Duterte may be over-

Murder...

From A1

allegedly being involved in the killings of Espinosa and Yap. The other accused facing two counts of murder include Senior Insp. Deogracia Pedong Diaz III, Chief Insp.

Calixto Canillas Jr., Insp.

Lucresito Candelosas, Senior Police Officers (SPO) 2 Benjamin Dacallos and Antonio Docil, SPO1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO2 John Ruel Doculan and Jaime Bacsal, and PO 1 Jerlan Cabiyaan.

Four other police officers were charged for the murder of Espinosa—Supt. Santi Noel Matira, Chief Insp. Leo Daio Laraga, SPO4 Melvin Caboyit and PO3 Johnny Abuda Ibanez - while four others for murder of Yap - Senior Insp. Fritz Bioco Blanco, SPO4 Juanito Duarte, PO2 Lloyd Ortiguesa and PO1 Bernard Orpilla.

Abellanosa, Laraga and witness Paul Olendan were also indicted for maliciously obtaining search warrants.

The Justice department filed the case after the panel of prosecutors led by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Lilian Doris Alejo found that the killings of Espinosa and Yap inside the Baybay jail were attended by treachery and the respondents used stealth to carry out the raid.

The prosecutors said the CIDG men were armed and

1m...

From A1

the Bayleaf Hotel in Intramuros, Manila.

She said the decline meant at least a million Filipinos now had a lower risk of developing cancer, heart ailments, asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

She said the increase in the prices of tobacco products due to the imposition of heavier taxes starting in 2013 caused the decline in tobacco use, which would likely reduce the P188 billion in losses annually from tobacco-related hospitalization and lower productivity.

clearly outnumbered the victims.

They was also found out that evident premeditation was also present since the attack was well planned, with the execution of the killings under the deception of implementing a search warrant.

The cases were filed in court last week.

Baybay City RTC branch 14 Judge Carlos Arguelles already issued arrest warrants against the accused last March 16.

The Justice department said all accused were already under custody of the Philippine National Police Region 8 and were undergoing booking procedures before the CIDG regional unit where they surrendered.

“Upon completion of the booking procedure, which include fingerprinting, documentation, mugshot and medical examination, the warrants of arrest will be returned to the RTC Branch 14, and a corresponding commitment order is expected to be issued by the court for the custody of the respondents,” the DoJ said in a statement.

The DoJ filed the case upon receiving a complaint filed by the National Bureau of Investigation and Espinosa’s son Kerwin, a confessed drug lord now under government custody.

Citing testimonial and forensic evidence, the bureau alleged that Espinosa and Yap were killed in a rub-out and not a shootout as claimed by the policemen who conducted the raid. With Francisco Tuyay “The GATS Philippines 2015 data also indicated that the proportion of Filipino smokers with intent to quit has become higher,” Ubial said.

She said the number of victims of second-hand smoke at home had dropped to 34 percent in 2015 from 54 percent in 2009, and in the workplace to 21 percent in 2015 from 32 percent in 2009. .

But the survey said exposure to second-hand smoke remained high at 86 percent in bars and nightclubs and at 33.6 percent in restaurants.

Ubial said the Sin Tax Law or Republic Act 10351 made cigarette products inaccessible to the public, especially to the poor and the youth. With PNA

Arroyo...

From A1

body that would study the 1987 Constitution.

“Maybe, maybe, maybe,” Duterte said.

He earlier signed Executive Order 10 creating a consultative body tasked to review the 1987 Constitution.

EO 10, signed on Dec. 7, created a 25-member committee to be composed of presidential appointees.

The committee will “study, conduct consultations and review the provisions of the 1987 Constitution including but not

House...

From A1

The two accusers wanted Robredo ousted for alleged culpable violation of the Constitution and betrayal of public trust after her video message sent to the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs criticizing the extrajudicial killings was deemed “acts of injustice.”

They said the vice president was duty bound to promote truth, justice and common good.

“But Leni Robredo has committed acts of injustice prejudicial to the nation and public welfare which constitutes culpable violation of the Constitution,” said the two accusers, who identified themselves as officials of the Volunteers for Good Government.

“She betrayed the people by shaming the nation with her dishonest message to the United Nations.

[She] is duty-bound to act within the framework of the Constitution, but her acts of dishonesty and moral bankruptcy breached the bounds of the fundamental law,” they said.

Alvarez refused to comment on the accusers’ request for his

SC...

From A1

The government could also send the Philippine Navy to patrol the shoal, he said.

“If the Chinese attack Philippine Navy vessels, then invoke the Philippine-US Mutual Defense Treaty which covers any armed attack on

inspire our nation and our people.”

Senator Sonny Angara noted that Shahani, even out of the Senate, was a credible voice of those and many other issues.

He said the late senator served the government well, first as a diplomat at the DFA and then as a two-term senator who passed several laws on education, culture and women’s rights.

Senator Grace Poe said that “today, we have lost a formidable advocate of women’s rights, a staunch environmentalist and a seasoned diplomat.”

Poe said Shahani demonstrated how public service should be: sincere, dynamic and exemplary.

“She is an inspiration to generations of women because of her steadfast principles and decisive actions,” said Poe. Senator Loren Legarda said Shahani was “one of the finest and distinguished legislators we ever had.”

“As a legislator, diplomat, environmentalist, educator, culture and women’s rights advocate, she fervently pushed for women empowerment both here and in the international arena, Legarda said.

“Manang Letty, thank you for your untiring service to the Filipino nation. You will be missed greatly, she added.

Senator Miguel Zubiri said he will miss Shahani as a lady who doesn’t know the word retirement, much less retreat.

“She is made of true genuine Ilocano stuff of kasipagan, katipiran at kagitingan. Up to her last years she was active in her farming endeavors,” said Zubiri.

Zubiri said Shahani once sought him out to improve farm productivity and increase the incomes of farmers in Pangasinan.

“She knew age-old problems needed modern solutions which she applied in Pangasinan and the rest of the Philippines. She headed the Senate Committees on foreign Affairs, on Education, Culture and Arts and on Agriculture and Food, to which she came home to as a champion of farmers and of the dairy industry.”

He added that before she was elected senator, Shahani was into poverty alleviation.

“Long before we heard the term inclusive growth, Madam Shahani was already in on the germination of this idea in the 21st century as then UN Assistant Secretary General for Social and Humanitarian Affairs.

“She is irreplaceable for her noble causes and her humility despite her intellectual and political stature,” also said Zubiri.

“The drive against corruption, criminality and drugs will resume and it will continue and it will be brutal,” he said.

Reacting to criticism that his drug war targeted the poor, Duterte said he had to “destroy” small-time street peddlers as well as the big-time drug lords.

In its resolution, the European lawmakers also called for the UN Human Rights Council to launch a probe into Duterte’s drug war, and expressed “deep alarm” at Duterte’s plans to bring back the death penalty.

To highlight his portrayal of a clash of cultures, Duterte referred to a recent Time magazine cover article on gender and sexuality to highlight what he insisted was blanket Filipino opposition to same-sex marriage.

“That’s their culture. It does not apply to us. We are Catholics and there is the civil code which says that you can only marry a woman for me [and] for a woman to marry a man,” he said.

“You stay where God assigned you. Do not mix us all up.” With AFP

limited to the provisions on the structure and powers of the government, local governance and economic policies.”

The 25-member constitutional commission, which has yet to be formed, will work with lawmakers who will convene as a constituent assembly to rewrite the Constitution.

Duterte, who earlier worked for Arroyo’s release from detention, said he couldn’t see Arroyo working for the Executive branch under his watch.

“No. I don’t think she will accept it. She cannot be working under a President when she was already a president,” Duterte said.

“That will be quite a tall order for her to do that. But representing the people of the district of her own province would be somehow acceptable to even everybody.”

Duterte is seeking charter change to shift the country’s form of government to a federal system to spread political power and government resources to the countryside.

Duterte had earlier ruled out any other government post for Arroyo, who was ousted as deputy speaker for voting against the death penalty.

Duterte earlier shot down speculations that he would appoint Arroyo as governor of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

endorsement. “I have not seen the draft,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Alvarez said in a television interview that he was “seriously studying” the filing of an impeachment complaint against Robredo, whom he tagged as being behind the impeachment complaint filed last week by Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano against President Rodrigo Duterte.

Alvarez had said he was convinced Robredo was behind the impeachment because “she would benefit once the President was ousted.”

Alvarez also said he did not recognize Robredo as the country’s second highest official in the land and would not even call her vice president because he was “not yet sure if she indeed won the vice presidency.”

He said he would wait for the results of the proceedings being undertaken by the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, which would rule on whether or not she won in the recount sought by former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. House Deputy Speaker Miro Quimbo, a Liberal Party member allied with the supermajority of Alvarez, said: “The House of

Representatives should not spend a single second on this baseless complaint. It’s a mere scrap of paper that is supported not by any evidence but by mere erroneous conclusions of law. Congress will only end up wasting time better spent on much needed legislation including those on tax reform, criminal justice overhaul, traffic crises act as well as those that seek to make economic gains more inclusive.

“Congress should not allow itself to be used by these recidivist impeachers who trivialize this deeply sacred accountability measure enshrined in our Constitution. We must not allow Congress and its members to be dragged into their petty political charades,” Quimbo said.

“Ginagawa nilang dalawa singko ang impeachment [They are cheapening the act of impeachment]. It’s a travesty to our political institutions if we are to allow these people to cheapen this process,” Quimbo added.

House Deputy Minority Leader Harry Roque said the administration has the numbers to impeach Robredo but that the words of the vice president were insufficient by themselves to prove betrayal of public trust. With PNA

Philippine Navy vessels operating in the South China Sea,” Carpio said.

He said the government may ask the US to declare the shoal as part of Philippine territory and accept the standing US offer to hold joint patrols in the South China Sea for that purpose.

He advised Duterte to “avoid any act, statement or declaration that expressly or impliedly

waives Philippine sovereignty to any Philippine territory in the West Philippine Sea.” Carpio earlier warned that the installation of a radar in Panatag Shoal would complete China’s air defense identification zone in the South China Sea. He made the statement after Duterte said China could not be stopped from building a radar station in the shoal.

Rody:...

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“What has this group done?

What have you done for the country? Nothing, except to make noise and that really happened during your mutiny. You were forgiven by a president... and you enjoy your freedom now because of one man. But what you did to the country was really something... And you have the nerve to be proud?

What are you so proud about?”

“You had your chance to show your bravery. Do not s*** with me. There were times when you should have fought, but your balls got stuck in your throats, and you call that bravery. Then you should have fought. Take a stand. If I were you, I’d stop boasting about bravery and all of these things.

You are incapable of doing it.

You had your chance to show to the Filipinos. Your bravery was tested and you failed miserably. So do not talk about bravery... You are actually a shame. The government put you through school, and this is what you did to the country.”

Alejano, Trillanes and other rebel junior officers, collectively known as the Magdalo, tried to oust former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo over corruption allegations during the 2003 Oakwood mutiny and the 2007 Manila Peninsula siege.

The mutineers spent seven years in jail but were granted amnesty by President Benigno Aquino III. Duterte also took shots at De Lima.

“She says she is a political prisoner. Since when?... It was the secretary of Justice herself trafficking drugs,” he added.

Before leaving for a threeday official visit to Myanmar and Thailand, the President said he would not be surprised if Robredo were behind last week’s impeachment complaint against him, but said he never asked any government official to move against her, nor was he involved in attempts to impeach her.

Robredo, who released a scathing attack on the Duterte administration’s drug war through a video prepared for a United Nations meeting in Vienna, has denied any involvement in the impeachment complaint against Duterte.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez on Sunday said he would work to impeach Robredo, saying her criticism of the government to an international body was a betrayal of public trust.

Alvarez on Monday said the impeachment complaint filed against Duterte would be dismissed outright for lack of substance.

Alvarez, secretary general of President Duterte’s PDPLaban, said the complaint filed

by Alejano might comply with the requirements of form but not for sufficiency in substance.

“We all know that all these charges are fabricated, they seem to believe their own lies,” Alvarez said.

But Alejano said the Magdalo have “testimonial and documentary” evidence to support their accusation of extrajudicial killings of more than 7,000 drug suspects, as well as Duterte’s alleged involvement with the Davao Death Squad vigilante group when he was still mayor of Davao City.

Alejano said the Commission on Human Rights would have documents backing up the testimonies of retired SPO3 Arturo Lascañas and Edgar Matobato, both self-confessed assassins who said they were part of the DDS. Ousted President and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada, meanwhile, recalled his own impeachment and called on Filipinos to stand behind Duterte to crush the complaint.

Estrada said the country is lucky to have a President like Duterte “who has that conviction, [and is] willing to risk his life” in the fight against illegal drugs.

“What happened during my time, they ganged up on me,” Estrada said of his impeachment trial in December 2000 and January 2001.

“Now they are doing it to President Duterte,” he said.

With Sandy Araneta

News

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF Oil firms roll back prices effective Tuesday THE country’s oil firms implemented a hefty price rollback of as much as P1.20 per liter effective 6 a.m. Tuesday to reflect the movement of world oil prices.

The oil firm cut the price of kerosene by P0.120 per liter, diesel by P1.10 per liter and gasoline by P0.80 per liter.

Melita Obillo, Energy department director for the Oil Industry Management Bureau, said there was ample supply of oil products in the global market.

“Ample supply. Gasoline in excess supply and limited demand. There is a growing shale production in the US,” Obillo said.

Other factors that led to the rollback includes high compliance of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ to production cuts at 95 percent in February from 91 percent in January, increase in US oil rig count, among others.

“Petron will implement the following price rollbacks effective 6 a.m. March 21: P0.80 per liter for Blaze 100 Euro 5, XCS, and Xtra Advance, P1.10 per liter for Turbo Diesel and DieselMax and P1.20 per liter for kerosene,” the country’s biggest oil player said.

Alena Mae S. Flores

DENR clarifies report regarding mining audit THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources clarified Monday that mining companies were furnished with the mining audit reports.

DENR made the statement following reports mining audit reports were being kept by Secretary Regina Lopez and a handful of her consultants.

DENR Undersecretary for Legal Affairs Maria Paz G. Luna clarified the reports and the respective show-cause orders were immediately provided to all 41 affected mining firms.

“Beginning October up to November last year, each mining firm was sent a copy of the individual report through registered mail, informing them of the findings and recommendations of the audit team,” said Luna.

Luna said attached to the report was the show-cause order.

She added in the cover letter, the mining firms were also told that any explanation and/ or comment to the said report should be submitted to the Office of the Secretary within seven days from receipt of the report.

“As proof of their receipt, all 41 responded to the report which then became one of the basis [sic] of the evaluation and decision to either close or suspend their operations,” Luna said.

Luna said the audit reports were public records, and everyone could get a copy as long as they follow the procedure in the DENR Freedom of Information Manual, citing media and the House Committee on Good Government and Public Accountability as among those given out copies of the mining audit report.

Anna Leah E. Gonzales

POST-FROST HARVEST.

Summer always brings good harvest of fresh vegetables from Baguio City and the nearby Benguet areas following the frost and heavy rains which affected the supply. Prices have sliughtly gone up but there are vegetables whose prices have remained steady and vegetable vendors in the streets of Makati City still enjoy brisk sales. Diana Noche

Evasco: No forced eviction for Kadamay members

By John Paolo Bencito

C

ABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco on Monday said there would be no forced eviction for now for Kadamay members who illegally occupied housing units in Pandi, Bulacan.

In a radio interview, Evasco said he would raise the concerns over the housing industry’s bottlenecks before the Cabinet to ensure the ongoing stand-off

would not be repeated.

“There won’t be any forced eviction [for the illegal settlers] for now,” Evasco told radio dzMM.

Evasco said the police would be forced to take drastic measures only when the other methods have been exhausted.

“They are trying to make us evict them with violence, but we will not do that,” he added.

Evasco said he had tasked National Anti Poverty Commission lead convenor Liza Maza to have a dialogue with Kadamay to resolve issue.

“Housing units in Pandi already have waiting occupants,” he said in Filipino.

In a separate press briefing, Evasco said he would issue a

memorandum on creating a composite team to monitor and follow up on issues raised by the housing industry.

“This composite team will follow up all the issues and concerns tackled during the summit,” Evasco said in Davao City Sunday.

Also on Monday, the National Housing Authority on Monday gave assurances the 2018 national budget would include funds for the construction of houses for thousands of “walkin” applicants in dire need of housing.

48 tax cases vs Petron execs junked

By Maricel V. Cruz THE Sandiganbayan has dismissed all charges against former top executives of Petron Corp. involving fraudulent transfer of P700.742 million worth of tax credit certificates to the oil firm.

In two separate resolutions dated March 2, 2017, the Sandiganbayan cleared of any crimimal liability Celso Legarda, former Petron vice president and general manager who had been charged by the Office of the Ombudsman over the issue.

Associate Justice Geraldine Faith Econg penned both rulings. Associate Justices Alex Quiroz and Reynaldo Cruz concurred.

The anti-graft court also cleared of 18 counts of graft former Petron president Monico Jacob, former VP for refinery Apolinario Reyes and former senior marketing executive Rafael Diaz Jr. involving P86.055 million worth of TCCs. The court also dismissed cases filed against former Petron official, Reynaldo Campos, following his death on Jan.

20, 2013.

However, charges against former Finance Undersecretary Antonio Belicena and former deputy director Uldarico Andutan remain active in court.

In ordering the dismissal, the Sandiganbayan said the cases against accused Petron Corp officials may no longer be tried under the principle of res judicata which bars litigation involving issues that were already resolved with finality and may not be pursued further by the same parties..

Petron lawyers used as defense the Supreme Court pronouncements in the 2010 case of Pacifico Cruz vs. Sandiganbayan involving P131.2 million worth of TCCs that were allegedly issued illegally by the Department of Finance–One-Stop Shop Inter-Agency Tax Credit and Duty Drawback Center (One-Stop Center) transferred to Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp represented by former Pilipinas Shell-Treasury and Taxation Department general manager Pacifico Cruz.

In the said ruling, the SC ordered the San-

diganbayan to dismiss the cases against Cruz on the ground that Pilipinas Shell, which he represented, was a “transferee in good faith and for value of the TCCs” and that neither the oil firm nor Cruz was a party to the fraudulent issuance and transfer of the TCCs. Should the TCCs be questionable, the High Court said the irregularity happened only at the level of the processing by the DOF-One Stop Center wherein Pilipinas Shell had no participation whatsoever.

Since the cases against Pilipinas Shell are similarly situated with the charges against Petron Corp officials, the Sandiganbayan said the SC pronouncements should likewise apply to the latter.

The Court said: “The Court believes that the jurisprudence or case law laid down by the Supreme Court in Cruz applies to these cases.

“Petron, represented by the accused-movants, was found not to be a party to the fraudulent issuance and assignment of the TCCs, and was therefore considered as a transferee in good faith and for value.”

Alvarez bill to amend ‘conjugal assets’ share

By Maricel V. Cruz

ENFRANCHISING WOMEN. Presidential Communications Office Assistant Secretary Ana Marie Banaag (left) and Department of Justice Assistant Secretary Aimee Neri separately field newsmen’s questions in Monday’s Samahang Plaridel Kapihan sa Manila Hotel forum on ‘Women Empowerment.’ Ey Acasio

SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez has filed a bill that seeks to address bitter property feud between estranged couples.

Observers immediately commented the proposed measure might even deter marriage for money.

In filing House Bill 5268, Alvarez seeks to amend Article 75 of Title IV of the Family Code, mandating that in the absence of a marriage settlement—better known as “pre-nuptial agreement”—all properties brought into the marriage, including those acquired during the period, shall be governed by the system of absolute community or co-owned by

the couple in equal shares.

Alvarez said while at first glance, the provision of the law seems to be a testament to the integrity of the Filipino family, it does not address the complicated realities facing marriages or relationships on the rocks.

“The State must recognize that these realities are, in fact, burdensome and detrimental to the relations of less-than-ideal families and marriages. The contestation of property in the face of a growing rift only breeds resentment,” Alvarez said.

To address these problems, the bill proposes to replace the regime of absolute community with that of total separation of property.

Around 49,000 walk-in applicants for housing units not covered by their regular, annually-funded projects were requesting for shelters from the government, the NHA spokesperson said.

On Sunday, the National Housing Authority said it would be serving an eviction notice to some 5,000 members of the Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) who have illegally occupied government housing units in Bulacan intended for families of military and other uniformed personnel.

PH, Russia to protect each other’s nationals

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan THE Philippines and Russia are one step closer to forging an agreement that would contribute to the protection of the rights and welfare of Filipinos in Russia, the Philippine ambassador to Moscow Carlos Sorreta said on Monday.

During his meeting with Consular Services Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs director Evgeny Ivanov, the two officials agreed to reinvigorate their efforts to finalize a draft to help protect the rights and welfare of Filipinos living and working in Russia and vise versa.

“One of the first things we did after I assumed my post here in Moscow in 2015 was to propose this agreement, given the importance we place on protecting our nationals here in Russia,” Sorreta said, adding the signing may be held this year.

Sorreta said the agreement would reinforce the Philippine Embassy in Moscow to help Filipinos in need of assistance.

“With increased protection, it is our hope that people-to-people exchanges will also be enhanced, particularly in the areas of trade, investment, tourism, education and culture,” he said.

Ivanov, for his part, assured Sorreta the Russian government saw the agreement positively and it was set to formally respond with its own version soon.

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Opinion

TUESDAY, MACRH 21, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Unconditional support

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WENTY members of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group in Eastern Visayas surrendered after a trial court in Baybay, Leyte issued a warrant for their arrest.

Supt. Marvin Marcos led his men in surrendering after the court found probable cause to indict them for the killing of Albuera, Leyte Mayor Rolando Espinosa inside his jail cell in November.

Espinosa surrendered in August after his name figured in President Rodrigo Duterte’s list of narcopoliticians.

The CIDG members, however, insisted they merely served warrants

on Espinosa following reports he and a cellmate were keeping firearms in their cells.

The Senate, in a committee report, also said Marcos and his team killed Espinosa premeditatedly and that they were guilty of abuse of authority.

The chief of the Philippine National Police, Director General Ronald dela Rosa, fired Marcos for alleged links to the illegal

drug trade; the allegations were made during the Senate hearings on Espinosa’s death. Espinosa’s son, Kerwin, who fled the country but was arrested in the United Arab Emirates, testified that some members of the Marcos raiding team were under their payroll.

Soon after Dela Rosa’s action, however, an “influential friend” called him up

and asked him to reinstate Marcos. It was later revealed that the friend was no less than President Rodrigo Duterte, who said he would stand by police officers implementing his campaign against illegal drugs.

This promise of unconditional support may have emboldened cops to do as they pleased, even if it meant abusing their authority for their own gain. This was evident in the first version

of Oplan Tokhang, and it remains the fear even with the so-called improved version of the campaign.

The eventual prosecution, more than the actual surrender, of Marcos and his team should serve as an example. Not even men in uniform should do as they please even with a blanket authority from the President to achieve an end through whatever means.

The AI report

Digital karma for Leni?

LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES THE best-laid plans of the Yellows have a tendency to blow up in their faces. This time, the blast threatens to cause real and lasting damage to their bid to seize power once again.

The people behind the plot to embarrass President Rodrigo Duterte before the international community certainly got more than they bargained for.

Their champion and presidentin-waiting, Vice President Leni Robredo, will herself soon face an impeachment complaint—the first who held that office to be seriously threatened with removal from office.

Please don’t bother parroting the line of the enemies of Duterte that recent events do not prove that there is a conspiracy against the incumbent. Allow me to give

a brief rundown of the activities by the Yellows who may not be out to remove the president, but who certainly want to pressure his government in the form of coordinated attacks from the general direction of Western Europe.

First, the lawyer of discredited witness Edgar Matobato said he would go before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands to file charges of crimes against humanity against Duterte. Then, right before the close of Congress’ sessions last Thursday, the fellow coup-plotter of Duterte foe Senator Antonio Trillanes, Rep. Gary Alejano, filed an impeachment case against Duterte – the legal basis that the Matobato case supposedly needs to merit the attention of the ICC, which requires the exhausting of available remedies for a Philippine president immune from suit.

Then, Robredo sent a videotaped speech that was shown on the sidelines of a conference by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs in

Vienna, during which she accused Duterte of ordering the killing of more than 7,000 people and allowing a strange new “palit-ulo” scheme to be employed—with no real evidence in both instances—

I’ve never really understood this need on the part of the vice president to keep sniping at Duterte. to hostage family members of drug suspects. The video of a smiling Robredo detailing the killings was shot with the seal of the vice presi-

dent’s office and a Philippine flag in the backdrop, giving it an air of official sanction, even if an actual representative of the country (who didn’t know about the tape) was attending the event officially.

Finally, at the end of last week, the European Parliament issued a resolution calling on Duterte to release Senator Leila de Lima, who is detained on drug charges, calling her a “prisoner of conscience.” The Yellows immediately warned of economic sanctions on the Philippines from the European Union if De Lima was not freed, even as they ignored the damage that Robredo had already done in Vienna with her ill-advised taped speech.

But the Yellows and their European partners in their weeklong efforts didn’t count on the snowballing move to impeach Robredo, as well, for her involvement in all of this. And unlike the Duterte impeachment bid, which nearly everyone realizes will not even get the required one-third vote of the Lower House, the

case that will be filed against Robredo may make her the first vice president impeached and removed from office. *** In Myanmar, Duterte noted that Robredo just can’t seem to wait for her turn at the presidency. I’ve never really understood this need on the part of the vice president to keep sniping at Duterte, but maybe that’s just how she rolls.

Now she will reap the whirlwind that is the result of her impatience. Already, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Solicitor General Jose Calida have expressed support for an impeachment complaint that may be filed against the intemperate Robredo.

And most analysts I’ve talked to consider the chances of an impeach-Leni complaint getting the required 98 approving votes in the House (a third of the membership) that will automatically transmit the docu-

AMNESTY International’s special report, “If you are poor you are killed”: Extrajudicial Executions in the Philippines’ “War on Drugs” provides details on how “police have systematically targeted mostly poor and defenseless people across the country while planting “evidence,” recruiting paid killers, stealing from the people they kill and fabricating official incident reports.” I wrote about the findings in this report a couple of weeks; in this column, I reflect on the process that AI underwent to produce its report, some additional findings, and the recommendations that are proposed by the reputable international organization.

During the conduct of the field interviews for this excellent report, AI observes that several witnesses declined to talk to Amnesty International, citing concerns for their safety or that of their family. Some witnesses and relatives of victims initially agreed to be interviewed but changed their minds, fearing reprisal by the police or other suspects involved in the killings. In Davao City, even lawyers and human rights defenders did not want to be interviewed, lest they are perceived as speaking against President Duterte’s violent anti-drug campaign. Further, the Report adds, “several witnesses and families who did speak to Amnesty International asked that their identities be concealed. Many relatives said they did not plan to file a complaint over the killing of their loved ones. As they struggle to make ends meet, the process of pursuing justice is both a scary notion and a costly endeavor. Local human rights defenders repeatedly cited the same issues—fear and cost—as the biggest obstacles for people who would otherwise seek justice for drug-related killings.”

Some more salient features of the AI Report delve on the conduct of police officers of drugrelated operations, health hazards, the so-called voluntariness of surrenderees, and finally, its recommendations to key institutions related to the drug campaign.

AI found that in the conduct of drug-related operations to the processing of crime scenes, police officers routinely act as if they are above the law. They are emboldened by the President’s promises to protect security forces from prosecution. Even the so-called vigilantes responsible for thousands of unsolved killings appear similarly unconcerned with prosecution.

The Report also notes the difficulties which human rights defenders encounter in investigating

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Opinion

WE HEAR a lot about impeach- amount of so-called destabilizament these days—first, a com- tion attempts will succeed withplaint against President Rodrigo out the support of the Armed Duterte for alleged culpable Forces.

But here is a question: If the violation of the Constitution, betrayal of public trust, bribery, Vice President is impeached and hidden wealth and what-have- convicted by the Senate, who you, and then, against Vice Pres- will be Vice President?

Section 9 of Article VII of the ident Leni Robredo for betrayal Constitution provides: “Whenof public trust, even treason.

The impeachment case against ever there is a vacancy in the Ofthe President is about the more fice of the Vice President during than 7,000 deaths in relation the term for which he was electto his administration’s war on ed, the President shall nominate drugs, and on the killings by the a vice president from among the Davao Death Squad when he members of the Senate and the House of Representatives who was still mayor of Davao City.

The complaint against Ro- shall assume office upon confirbredo, on the other hand, was mation by a majority of all memthe aftermath of her message at bers of both Houses of Congress, an event of the United Nations voting separately.”

Note well that the ConstituCommission on Narcotic Drugs where she portrayed the Philip- tion will not confer the title of pines as a failed state. Adding vice president to former Senator flavor to her claims, Robredo Bongbong Marcos automatically even talked about “palit-ulo” unless the Presidential Electoral —whenever a target for illegal Tribunal decides in his favor in drugs was not around, the po- his electoral protest against Rolice would target the relatives bredo.

There are two members of the instead.

Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez House of Representatives I’d has called Robredo’s message to like to commend for their conthe UN a betrayal of public trust. viction and competence.

The first is former President, Impeachment originates at the House of Representatives, and now Rep. Gloria Macapagal our Congress is now dominated Arroyo, who lost her position as deputy speaker for Central by the so-called supermajority.

So as to the complaint against Luzon because she opposed the President Duterte, filed by Mag- death penalty bill.

She knew she would lose her dalo Rep. Gary Alejano (remember that Magdalo was led by now deputy speakership, yet she voted the way she Senator Antonio did, anyway.

Trillanes IV, a Another known Duterte House member critic), I am cerI would like tain it will not She should to congratueven pass the late is Mindoro committee lev- have known Rep. Josephine el. If the lower Ramirez-Sato House can rail- better. for her manner road the death of questionpenalty bill, it ing during the can very easily dismiss an impeachment com- Commission on Appointments’ confirmation hearing of former plaint against the President.

It will be the opposite case for Foreign Affairs Secretary PerRobredo. Even as I write this fecto Yasay and Environment column now, there are moves in and Natural Resources Secretary Congress to push the impeach- Regina Lopez.

Sato was responsible for the ment complaint. The endorsement of Solicitor General Jose CA’s rejection of Yasay. It was her questions that led to the Calida does not hurt.

I heard Robredo’s message to revelation that Yasay was lying the UN body. My immediate about his citizenship. The quesreaction was that it was a stupid tions she threw at Lopez also thing for a vice president to do. convinced CA members to byIt is just one person’s opinion, of pass the latter.

It’s likely Lopez’s appointcourse, but she is the vice president of the republic! She is a ment would be rejected when lawyer—she should have known Congress resumes its session on May 3. better.

I listened to what happened All things considered, Alvarez should now make good on during the confirmation hearings his threat to file an impeach- of Yasay and Lopez. I never ment case against Robredo for doubted Sato’s competence. She that stupid message to the UN. is an excellent member of both Robredo and the Liberal Party the Philippine Bar and California should realize the futility of the Bar. destabilization campaign they *** are attempting on the Duterte adI was in Subic almost two ministration.

The allies of President weeks ago, and it did not surDuterte should not talk of any prise me that the freeport is as destabilization attempts, either. clean as it should be.

Subic Freeport surroundThey know that the President still enjoys the support of the ings are garbage-free. Trees are majority of Filipinos.

The trimmed. The people I know economic growth is being sus- there all say that the combination tained so there is no cause to of Martin Diño as chairman and lawyer Wilma Eisma as adminisoust him.

As I have been writing, no trator make a good combination.

ment to the Senate and convene it into an impeachment court headed by the Supreme Court chief justice as good to excellent. The grounds for the complaint, which I heard will focus on the charge of betrayal of public trust (for disparaging her own country abroad, during a UN conference) are also much more solid than the ones used to remove Chief Justice Renato Corona in 2012 for failing to declare his assets.

The Senate, of course, will be a different battleground altogether, with the law requiring two-thirds of the chamber voting to impeach in order to remove Robredo from office. That means a total of 16 senators of the 24-member Senate.

By the way, the prime mover of the Corona impeachment in the Senate five years ago, Senator Franklin Drilon, has already

FORMATION GARY OLIVAR THE world veered off course just last week onto a road less travelled, at the annual meeting of the G20 finance ministers in Baden Baden, Germany.

For the first time in a decade, the collective managers of the developed world’s finances abandoned their traditional defense of free and open global trade, at the instigation of the newly appointed US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Mnuchin, a former hedge fund manager and partner at Goldman Sachs, said that he wanted to “review certain agreements,” such as Nafta and some other older trade pacts, as well as some WTO rules.

This was clearly at the behest of his boss, who campaigned against Nafta and who’s also pulling the US out of what might have been the largest-ever free trade pact, the Trans Pacific Partnership. *** Now I’m old enough to remember when “fair and balanced trade,” Mnuchin’s new slogan, was recognizable as coded language for opposition to free trade. After all, real freedom is rarely fair, or balanced. It’s what we say to our kids when they’re bullied in the playground, or lose to a taller basketball team, or get dumped in romance: Life just isn’t fair.

The whole point of free trade is to specialize in what you’re naturally good at making, to compete on that basis, and then spend

thrown his considerable weight behind the belief that there is no basis to accuse Robredo of betrayal of public trust. I beg to disagree with Drilon, especially if the group now busy drafting the proposed impeachment complaint can prove that the vice president has been engaging in a non-stop campaign to vilify Duterte and has merely taken her roadshow abroad, when she shouldn’t have.

But that’s life, I guess. If De Lima is now suffering the fate she and her former boss Noynoy Aquino decreed for former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, I think it’s just right for Robredo to feel what Corona must have felt during his own kangaroo impeachment trial.

As the young people say, karma has gone digital. How quickly the wheel has turned for the Yellows.

what you earn in order to buy the other stuff you need from people who make that other stuff better than you do. Because of that efficiency, both you and the other guys end up keeping more for your/themselves.

I know that lately we’ve become enamored of the idea that the Philippines is such a big market, with 100-plus million individual consumers and producers, that we don’t really need to trade with anyone any more. But just because we might be able to make everything that we need, doesn’t mean we’ll be doing it at the least cost for the quality we want. Consider: We’ll probably never be able to match the cost of rice produced in Thailand and Vietnam, which is half our own cost. Both countries are large contiguous areas naturally irrigated by the Greater Mekong river delta. Our harvest yield is actually already higher than Vietnam’s, but we’re still the region’s largest rice importer.

We’ve pushed the technology envelope pretty far, but our archipelago simply doesn’t have enough irrigable land available.

Malaysia finds itself in a similar quandary and has accepted a rice self-sufficiency target of only 8085 percent.

Our textile mills shut down a long time ago, beaten down by high-volume mass production in capital-intensive economies like the US. Where we might still have a chance is in the downstream production of garments, but even there it’s difficult to match the low labor costs in neighbors like Bangladesh.

The niche that we’re now exploring is in upscale clothing where the premium is on design and quality.

Success in this niche relies, not on cheap capital or labor, but on creativity and imagination. It’s part of our strategy to excel in what Neda calls the “knowledge economy.”

And it will succeed only if other countries keep their borders open to what we’ll be creating.

The jury is still out on whether or not it may already too late for us to build a fully integrated steel industry. Almost every other Asian country already has an integrated steel mill, so the barrier to us in this case may be just lateness to market.

Some say the fact that we’re among the world’s top five shipbuilders ought to argue for selfsufficiency in steel. But the argument actually runs the other way: Given the current global slump in shipbuilding, and the fact that it’s actually the Koreans who run most of our shipyards, the cost (and quality) advantage of steel imported from mature steel industries abroad will likely resonate louder with shipbuilders who (rightly) care more about competing than cheerleading.

directions towards less savings and more consumption by their people.

At the same time they can leverage this openness into greater access to the labor and natural resources of their trading partners.

The Chinese are also putting their new regional development bank, AIIB, under the same governance rules as other more-established institutions like the WB and ADB, such as prohibited dealings with short-listed rogue suppliers and borrowers. They recognize that the ability to finance your own trade and investment deals with other countries is critical to bagging those deals in the first place.

And lately, the Chinese have even been taking a more measured and conciliatory tone on issues over which they used to fly into a rhetorical rage, such as accusations of currency speculation or land-grabbing on international waters. In the case of the Philippines, the sweet talk goes over well with China’s pledge to import nearly two billion dollars of agricultural goods, minerals and chemicals from us, and to invest more billions of dollars in highly visible infrastructure projects throughout the country.

At this point, our longstanding partnership with America on regional security—through mechanisms like Edca—is hanging by a thread that gets ever thinner. With US protectionism resurgent, at some point that thread may come down to just sentiment, Hollywood, and Fil-Ams. And that, in an unfair world, may no longer be enough.

*** I suspect that Trump’s crew may have to eat a lot of their words soon.

Already the Chinese are pitching themselves as an alternative anchor around whom the TPP, or something similar, can be built.

This means they’re offering up their vast home market, as well as more market flexibility with their chronically undervalued currency, Readers can write me at gboliin order to satisfy their new policy var1952@yahoo.com.

A new anomaly in Bistek City HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA CITIZENS of Quezon City, also known as Bautista City by those suffering from the abuses of its city officials led by Mayor Herbert “Bistek” Bautista, are in for another piece of shocking news. Over the past few days, the very expensive and ostentatious ceramic tiles lining the wide sidewalks of Tomas Morato Avenue are being removed and replaced with a ceramic tiles designed to remind everyone who the city mayor is. To state the obvious, the original tiles and their more expensive replacements were purchased with government funds.

Bautista’s latest adventure at the expense of Quezon City’s taxpayers is reminiscent of those awful ceramic tiles bearing the letters HB (obviously pertaining to the mayor’s initials) which were installed at numerous road islands all over the city a few years ago. Those tiles can still be seen along Kalayaan Avenue near city hall, and along nearby Visayas Avenue.

The late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago criticized that wasteful expenditure and called the ceramic pieces Bautista’s vanity tiles. Other critics said that if Bautista wants to praise himself as city mayor, he should do it at his own expense. Indeed, vanity and access to public funds make a bad combination as far as the public interest is concerned.

Since the original tiles on Morato

The AI...

From A4

Digital...

From A4

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mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Free trade

TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Leni impeachment likely

TUESDAY, MACRH 21, 2017

the increasing drug related killings because of the scarcity of witnesses and complainants who are willing to pursue a case in court or cooperate in the investigations. An investigator with the Commissioner of Human Rights (CHR), for example, told Amnesty International that witnesses at times give statements but then never return to sign them; in other cases, witnesses refuse to even engage with the CHR. On the health hazards brought about by the drug war, the AI notes that—Since “surrendering” under Oplan Tokhang started, the majority of people who use drugs have indeed been processed through local programs. But existing interventions at the community level do not appear to be evidence-based, bringing into question the quality of the healthcare services they render. X x x The scarcity of needed health services is not only in viable treatment and rehabilitation facilities and programs, but also in trained specialists. Those who surrender are meant to undergo

are still in good condition, there is no reason to replace them with more expensive ones—unless, of course, some people in city hall are expecting hefty kickbacks.

The money used for the latest Herbert Bautista vanity tiles should have been spent for the needs of other districts of the city. Several city streets near Balintawak do not have street signs to identify the streets. The vanity tile fund could have solved that problem. Squatters remain in the large tract of government land located at the northeast portion of the East Triangle in Diliman. Money from the vanity tile fund could have relocated them elsewhere, as Bautista repeatedly promised in past election campaigns.

Observers say that Bautista will never relocate those squatters because they deliver the votes the city’s politicians depend on during each election.

What is the Department of the Interior and Local Government doing about the manifest wastage of public money for those vanity tiles along Morato?

Ex-DILG and Liberal Party stalwart Mar Roxas lacked the political will to take remedial measures against wastage of local government funds during his incumbency.

Hopefully, the current DILG chief will not be a clone of Roxas.

For the past several months, parking has been a nightmare in the city hall area because Bautista converted a public parking lot into an exclusive parking section for city hall officials.

That measure forces motorists who have business to transact with city hall to scout around for parking space in nearby streets. This ultimately

leads to more traffic congestion in what is already a crowded part of the city. It also shows that in Bautista City, the city officials are the real masters, while the taxpayers are the servants.

The Quezon City government is required by law to clear the city’s sidewalks of obstacles. Despite this legal mandate, Bautista’s city hall allows many business establishments to convert the sidewalks into private parking lots. Just look at the following streets during the commercial hours of the day, and even well into the night—Sgt. Esguerra Avenue, Timog Avenue, West Avenue, Katipunan Avenue, to name a few.

Because the sidewalks are blocked, pedestrians are compelled to walk on the streets. This reduces road space for motorists, and leads to further traffic congestion.

It will be recalled that a couple of years ago, Bautista beat up, infront of live television cameras, a Chinese national arrested by his cops near the Philcoa junction for alleged possession of narcotics. Bautista apparently wanted to project the image that he was a man of swift action. In his desire to be in the news, however, Bautista forgot that beating up a suspect is a criminal act. Perhaps, Bautista likewise forgot that he was no longer a movie actor (he was a comedian) performing for a captive audience.

Apparently, clearing the sidewalks is not among Bautista’s prime concerns because it does not generate the same publicity that beating up a drug pushing suspect on live television is able to attract.

Bautista’s brand of instant justice made a complete about-face last year

when his younger brother, city councilor Hero Bautista, publicly confessed to being a drug user. Instead of getting a public scolding from the mayor, his subservient city council allowed Hero Bautista to go on leave to undergo rehabilitation.

In his last speech in the council, Hero Bautista conveniently claimed he was a victim of the drug menace.

What hogwash! That excuse is credible if Bautista was a mental retardate.

As a member of the city council and the head of its powerful infrastructure committee—which approves construction permits in Quezon City—Hero Bautista must have been in a position to discern between right and wrong.

Having hid his drug dependency from his constituents, Hero Bautista deceived the people of Quezon City.

That should have been enough reason to cause his immediate ouster from the city council. Moreover, how Hero Bautista’s drug dependency escaped the notice of his brothermayor remains a big mystery. It took the President’s anti-drug campaign to compel Hero Bautista to confess his drug habit.

Corruption remains a big problem in Bautista’s city. Criminal charges are currently pending in the Sandiganbayan against certain city councilors identified by the Ombudsman as coddlers of ghost employees in city hall.

Quezon City is virtually the richest city in Metropolitan Manila, and yet it has the highest taxes in the region. Sadly, because the city’s treasure chest is awash with public money, city funds are repeatedly wasted by the city’s officials, to the prejudice of the people of the city.

a first screening by barangay health workers. Experts question to what extent the process is carried out efficiently and whether staff even have the relevant medical knowledge.

AI also finds that when a person “surrenders,” the affidavit they sign states that this is a “voluntary surrender as a (pusher/user) of dangerous drugs.” It authorizes laboratory services to take urine samples and “conduct physical/medical examination for any purpose that may serve the Agency.” It further commits a signatory to being subjected to random drug testing and states, “I am willing to voluntarily submit myself for treatment and rehabilitation.”

Despite the affidavit’s repeated use of the words “voluntary” and “voluntarily,” none of the people who use drugs, relatives of victims, experts, and activists interviewed by Amnesty International described “surrendering” and associated health testing—or even the community Zumba programs—as an act of free will. Given the widespread drugrelated killings and climate of fear created by police actions and President Duterte’s rhetoric, many people who use drugs feel forced to submit

to drug treatment, rehabilitation and testing. Such coercive measures constitute a violation to the rights to enjoy the highest attainable standard of health, to privacy and to bodily integrity, as well as to freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.

Amnesty International expresses deep concern that these deliberate and widespread killings, which appear to be systematic, planned and organized by the authorities, may constitute crimes against humanity. In any case, there is sufficient evidence to demonstrate that crimes under international and domestic law have been committed, including murder and extrajudicial executions, and thus that the state has an obligation to investigate, prosecute and punish those responsible for these crimes under international law and for other gross violations of human rights.

By way of recommendation, the AI offers a list directed to: President Duterte—which includes, among others, the immediate end to all police operations involving unnecessary or excessive use of force, in particular the use of lethal force during the arrest of suspected drug offenders; among others.

The Senate and House of Representatives—which includes the urgent

resumption of the Senate inquiry into human rights violations associated with the government’s anti-drug campaign, including related to extrajudicial executions; the links between the police and unknown armed persons; police payments for fatal shootings; and the impact on the right to health and other human rights, among others.

The PNP and other law enforcement agencies—including, among others, the revocation or radical revision of Command Memorandum Circular No. 16—2016 and any other circulars or official documents that, at minimum, encourage or allow human rights violations in the context of anti-drug operations. Remove, in particular, all references to the “neutralization” of alleged drug offenders, and any other euphemisms that might be taken as a “license to kill.”

More recommendations are given to the Department of Justice, including the National Bureau of Investigation and the Office of the Prosecutor, the Department of Health, the Dangerous Drugs Board and international donors.

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News DoJ starts probe of car rental scam

By Rey E. Requejo

DIE-IN. Members of the urban poor group Kadamay picket the National Housing Authority in Quezon City to protest a notice evicting them from occupying vacant NHA housing units in Pandi, Bulacan. Lino Santos

THE Department of Justice on Monday commenced its preliminary investigation on the criminal charges filed against suspects implicated in a car rental scam that preyed on hundreds of car owners in Central and Southern Luzon.

However, Rafaela Anunciacion, the alleged architect of the scam, did not show up during the first hearing or even send a lawyer.

This prompted the DoJ’s panel of prosecutor headed by Senior Assistant State Prosecutor Rosanne Balauag to issue another subpoena on Anunciacion’s second address.

Anunciacion was arrested last March 2 by members of the Philippine National Police Regional Highway Patrol Unit 4-A’s special operations team upon warrant for estafa issued by Judge Francisco Pano of San Pedro, Laguna Regional Trial Court Branch 93. But she was granted bail because the estafa case against her is bailable.

Some of her alleged agents —Tychicus Nambia, Anastacia Cauyan, Sabina Torrea, Eliseo Cortez, Eleanor Constatino, Marilou Cruz, Jhennelyn Berroya, Ana Borlon and Lea Rosales—appeared before the prosecutors to receive

NPA told to control units T

HE Armed Forces of the Philippines urged the National Democratic Front to help ensure the success of the peace negotiations at The Netherlands by exerting tighter control over its field units.

AFP public affairs office chief Col. Edgardo Arevalo said such control is needed to prevent rebel elements from making unprovoked attacks against civilian and military targets just like what happened last February.

During that month, the New People’s Army made a series of attacks against military personnel and civilian businesses, killing six soldiers in the process, causing the abduction of

three troopers, and causing millions of pesos in damage to property.

This prompted President Rodrigo Duterte to suspend the peace talks last Feb. 4 and ordered a massive retaliatory campaign against rebel forces.

“While the AFP sees that the NDF continues to push for the resumption of the peace negotiations, it is clear that they are also losing hold of their men on the ground.

The NPA, with their twisted ideals are attacking innocent civilians, extorting money or burning private properties,” Arevalo stressed.

As of this posting, the NPAs have already conducted 62 terroristic activities since the start of the year.

These include abduction, burning or arson, extortion, ambush and harassment against both civilians and military members.

“On our part, we will continue to conduct combat operations against the terrorist NPAs until we receive an official communication from the Office of the President suspending the all-out-war. Our surgical, deliberate, and intelligencedriven operations have so far

resulted to the neutralization of 129 NPAs, of which 23 were killed, 19 were arrested and 87 surrendered,” the AFP public affairs office chief stressed.

“At present, the operations against the NPA already yielded 83 firearms from the NPA —22 were surrendered while 61 were recovered during operations. The casualties on our side are now at 53, of which 14 were killed in action, 36 were wounded, and three were abducted,” he added.

Last week, the military began using its Korean-made FA-50 Golden Eagles in making bombing runs on communist lairs in Abra province, spurring the NPA’s leftist supporters to complain of human

rights abuses and state terrorism.

The bombing runs were done in the valleys of Marag, Paco and Zinundungan where the Golden Eagles dropped 500-pound bombs on communist lairs.

The FA50 jets are the newest aircraft acquisitions of the Armed Forces of the Philippines from the manufacturer Korean Aerospace Inc. of South Korea. The AFP bought a dozen of the aircraft worth P18.9 billion.

But Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate condemned the bombings by the Philippine Air Force as part of its intensified counterinsurgency operations following the collapse of the peace talks between the Duterte administration and the communists. PNA

PCA chief defies board’s suspension PHILIPPINE Coconut Authority administrator Avelino Andal on Monday insisted he will continue to discharge his duties and functions at the agency despite a board resolution on his preventive suspension.

“I hate corruption from the very first day… I would like to really like to help the government, I would like to help President Duterte to achieve his goals—no corruption, no drugs, no crimes, no insurgency and no poverty,” he said in a press briefing.

He believed that President Duterte appointed him to the post because of his “record of honesty and competence.”

Andal said he was informed Friday night about the so-called PCA Governing Board Resolution No. 027-2017 on his preventive suspension pending investigation over alleged corruption.

He stressed he will not follow an order stipulated just by a board resolution, noting that procedural due process should be applied.

“I will continue to perform my functions, my duties and responsibilities as the duly appointed administrator of the PCA. I will only follow legal orders from the authorities or from the courts,” he added.

Andal further said the resolution on his preventive suspension has yet to be confirmed during the PCA board regular meeting on March 22, thus making it still invalid.

“Well, it’s a good opportunity for me to rebut all the allegations and for the accuser to show proof that I am involved in corrupt activities, that the activities of my people are my activities too, [and] that the corruption allegations against them are my activities too. That has to be proven,” he added. PNA

THE left-leaning Makabayan bloc on Monday condemned the aerial bomb operations of the military at a peasant community in Malibcong, Abra which started last March 16.

Anakpawis Rep. Ariel Casilao urged President Rodrigo Duterte to order a stop of the aerial bombing operations carried out by the 24th Infantry Battalion under the 7th Infantry Division of the Philippine Army.

“The bombings affected the economic life of the people, safety and security in the villages of Lat-ey and Bangilo, Malibcong, Abra. These even Department of Education [DepEd] officials were compelled to cancel classes in the area,” Casilao said.

Casilao said the bombings resulted the destruction of properties and livelihood. It is in fact inhumane act and violates various agreements signed by the gov’t and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines such as the Comprehensive Agreement in Human Rights and the International Humanitarian Law. In addition, last March 18, soldiers of 24 IBPA arrested Joshua Gumatay and Antonio Ambalneg Jr., members of Kabataan Party-list in Malibcong, and accused as with link to the New People’s Army in the area, Casilao noted.

“We call on the immediate releases of the arrested youth activists,” Casilao added. Maricel V. Cruz

IN BRIEF PNP names new officials POLICE Deputy Director General Ramon Apolinario is now the second highest official of the Philippine National Police following the retirement of Deputy Director General Francisco Uyami Jr., PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said Monday.

Dela Rosa also announced the appointment of Deputy Director General Fernando Mendez Jr. who will fill the position vacated by Apolinario as deputy director general for Operations.

Director Archie Gamboa will serve as the chief of The Chief Directorial Staff while Director Ramon Purugganan will also move as chief of the PNP Directorate for Comptrollership.

On the other hand, Director Rene Aspera will serve as the chief of the Directorate for Personnel Records and Management. Director Joel Garcia is the new director of the Police Security and Protection Group. PNA

QC hospital holds forum

REHAB MEDICINE. Physician Gloria Arroyo-Coronel, head of the rehabilitation and sports medicine center of the De Los Santos Medical Center, discuss the services provided by her unit while orthopedic surgeon Jose Fernando Syquia, head of the arthritis center, talked about osteoarthritis, its symptoms, and treatment options.

377 light trucks cited over ban

By Joel E. Zurbano

Leftist congressman hits bombing of Reds

copies of the complaints.

The respondents were given until the next hearings set on March 27 and 31 to answer the charges for swindling and syndicated estafa under Article 315 of the Revised Penal Code and Presidential Decree 1689 and submit their counter-affidavits.

The DoJ has already placed Anunciacion and other respondents under the Immigration lookout bulletin earlier.

The Philippine National PoliceHighway Patrol Group and several sets of victims of the scam from Bulacan, Laguna, Angeles City, Batangas and Nueva Ecija filed the criminal complaints against Anunciacion and others.

The victims in the first batch of complaints also attended the DoJ hearing to affirm their respective affidavits.

Investigators said the suspects enticed car owners to buy cars via bank loans and rent them out for P35,000 to P45,000 a month.

Once the owners agreed, their vehicles would never be returned to them and apparently either mortgaged or sold to different persons without their knowledge.

The car rental scam has reportedly victimized some 500 people.

TRAFFIC enforcers apprehended a total of 377 truck drivers on Monday, the first day of full implementation of the light truck ban on Epifanio de los Santos Avenue and the entire stretch of Shaw Boulevard, which traverses the cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig.

“On the first day of the full implementation of the uniform light trucks ban, our traffic constables apprehended a total of 377 violators from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. on the southbound of Edsa,” said acting chairman Thomas Orbos of the Metro Manila Development Authority.

Most of those apprehended were light delivery and pickup trucks.

The ban, according to Orbos, is being enforced in the following areas: • Southbound lane Edsa (from North Avenue in Quezon City to Magallanes in Makati City) and whole stretch of Shaw Boulevard (cities of Mandaluyong and Pasig)

from 6 a.m.-10 am.

• Northbound lane of Edsa (from Magallanes to North Avenue) and whole stretch of Shaw Boulevard (Mandaluyong and Pasig) from 5 p.m.-10 p.m.

Orbos said the MMDA came up with the measure after members of the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s governing board and the policy-making body, composed of the 17 local chief executives in the metropolis, approved a resolution banning light trucks from plying the two major thoroughfares to improve the traffic situation.

Under the resolution, trucks which have a gross capacity weight of 4,500 kgs. and below will not be allowed to pass Edsa and Shaw Boulevard from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.

The uniform light trucks ban will be enforced from Monday to Saturday except Sundays and holidays, the resolution stated.

It added that light trucks carrying perishable goods are exempt-

ed but they still need to apply for exemption.

Also exempted from the light trucks ban are government and emergency vehicles such as firetrucks and ambulances.

Under the resolution, violators will be slapped with a P2,000 fine.

Orbos said there is a necessity to regulate the light trucks on the roads which have also contributed significantly to traffic congestion in the metropolis.

“This is only one of the several measures that has been approved by the local executives during the meeting in an effort to further improve traffic condition in Metro Manila,” Orbos said.

Aside the light truck ban, there is also a total ban for heavy trucks on the entire stretch of Edsa from Magallanes to North Avenue except Sundays and holidays.

The total truck ban is being imposed by virtue of the Special Traffic Committee Resolution Number 03 Series of 2015 approved by the MMC.

FOLLOWING the success of the first Sama-Sama Laban sa Rayuma support group activity, De Los Santos Medical Center had its second forum last March 3, 2017 at the hospital’s presidential lounge which focused on osteoarthritis and rehabilitation of patients with osteoarthritis.

“We often hear that pain in the joints [specifically hip and knee joints] is because of old age, however, there might be more to that,” according to orthopedic surgeon Jose Fernando Syquia, head of the hospital’s Arthritis Center.

For her part, Gloria ArroyoCoronel, head of the hospital’s Rehabilitation and Sports Medicine Center, stressed De Los Santos Med is equipped with rehabilitation equipment for patients with osteoarthritis and patients who underwent hip or knee replacement.

She explained the role of physical and occupational therapists and the different equipment like continuous passive motion unit, exercise equipment and a walking/running track that can help the patients in their journey towards full recovery.

The audience also had the pleasure of hearing stories from some of Syquia’s patients who underwent successful hip and knee replacement. They shared how what it was like before and after the surgery.

For joint pains, call the De Los Santos Med’s Arthritis Center at 89-DLSMC (35762) ext. 8310 or visit them at the 3rd floor of the hospital’s Medical Arts Building. They are open from Mondays to Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Sports Federer captures 5th Indian Wells title INDIAN WELLS—Roger Federer claimed a record-equalling fifth ATP Indian Wells Masters title on Sunday, continuing his career resurgence with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Stan Wawrinka.

Federer, sidelined some six months after knee surgery last year, returned to win his 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in January.

With Sunday’s triumph in the all-Swiss final, Federer joined Novak Djokovic as the only men to win five Indian Wells titles, adding to those he won in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2012.

At 35, Federer is the oldest ATP player to win one of the elite Masters titles, supplanting Andre Agassi who was 34 when he won in Cincinnati in 2004.

“It’s been just a fairytale week once again,” said Federer, who missed Indian Wells last year because of injury.

“I’m not as surprised as I was in Australia, but still this comes as a big, big surprise to me, nevertheless, to win here again and beating the players that I did and the way I did.

“I couldn’t be more happy. It’s an absolute, huge start to the year for me. Last year I didn’t win any titles. I don’t think I was in any finals except maybe Brisbane last year. The change is dramatic, and it feels great.”

The speedy progress means 10th-ranked Federer will have to reassess his 2017 goals. Prior to the Australian Open his aim was to get his ranking to as high as eighth by the time Wimbledon was over.

“The goals are clearly changing after this dream start,” Federer said.

While Federer had won 19 of 22 prior meetings with Wawrinka—including a semi-final win in Melbourne—he noted that his compatriot would be no easy mark as he played his first tournament in America since winning the US Open in September.

But Federer claimed a tightly contested first set with a break in the 10th game, pushing Wawrinka into a forehand error to end a tense rally for a set point, on which Wawrinka sent another forehand long.

Wawrinka responded immediately with a break to open the first set—after Federer had held all 42 of his service games in the tournament to that point. AFP

Fernandez, rugby execs at PSA Forum SPORTS commissioner and cage great Ramon Fernandez graces today’s session of the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at Golden Phoenix Hotel along Diosdado Macapagal Ave. Sunrise Drive in Pasay City.

Representing chairman William ‘Butch’ Ramirez, Fernandez is expected to tackle the Philippine Sports Institute program of the government sports agency, the coming staging of the Philippine National Games, sports caravan, among others, during the session presented

by San Miguel Corp., Golden Phoenix Hotel, Accel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

Joining Fernandez in the public sports program aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918 are officials behind the coming Manila 10 Rugby Festival and the Capiz Triaksyon International Triathlon spearhead by chairman Greg Atienza.

PSA president Riera Mallari of the Manila Standard enjoins all members to attend the session which starts at 10:30 a.m.

Dame’s 49 points lift Blazers M IAMI—Damian Lillard carried his team on his back Sunday, scoring a season-high 49 points as the Portland Trail Blazers stopped the Miami Heat 115104 at AmericanAirlines Arena.

The 26-year-old point guard from Oakland, California made 12 free throws and nine three-pointers, the same number the entire Heat team did. His 49 points was just four fewer than the Miami starting lineup.

“That was one incredible performance,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “There may be less than five players in this league that you have to do something different on your pick-and-roll coverage. Lillard is one of those guys.

“Once he got going, there haven’t

been many shooting performances like that in the league this year. He was outstanding.”

Despite playing on back-to-back nights, Lillard showed no signs of fatigue, making 14 of 21 shots from the floor.

It was Lillard’s 13th game this season with 30 or more points and his fourth with 40 or more. He started the night seventh in NBA scoring with an average of 26.5 points.

Lillard got help from Jusuf Nurkic, who had 21 points and 12 rebounds as Port-

land improved to 32-37 on the season.

CJ McCollum added 18 points as the Trail Blazers won their third game in a row and are now one game behind the Denver Nuggets for the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

Blazers coach Terry Stotts said he hopes his players remain focused during their final 13 games, 10 of which are at home.

“Being at home doesn’t guarantee anything,” Stotts said. “Certainly, it’s an advantage, but we can’t let down our guard.”

In Los Angeles, Kyrie Irving scored 46 points as the Cleveland Cavaliers rolled over the Los Angeles Lakers 125-120 at Staples Center.

Irving connected on 15 of 21 shots from the floor for the Cavaliers, who increased their lead over the Boston Celtics for first place in the Eastern Conference to 2 1/2 games.

LeBron James tallied 34 points, seven assists and six rebounds, and Kevin Love added 21 points and 15 boards for Cleveland, who improved to 46-23.

Elsewhere, JJ Barea tallied 11 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter as the Dallas Mavericks went wire-to-wire to beat the Brooklyn Nets 111-104.

Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki led Dallas with 23 points, including 20 in the first three quarters when the Mavericks took an 82-72 lead. He also became the sixth NBA player to score at least 31,000 career points.

UE scores 7-game sweep of Rexona tilt

TEAM CLOUDFONE WINS CHAMPIONSHIP. Members of Team Cloudfone, which recently won the Grace Sports Alumni League

Championship via an 8-0 season sweep, from elims to finals, are shown here. Members of the team are Team Owner Eric Yu, Team Manager Albert Fedillaga, Edwin Herrera (Finals MVP), Emerson Dee, Andrew Co, Roderick Chua, Albert Chua, Erwin Lim, Irvin Ong, Beynedict Chan, Ethan Casares, Schyler Wong, Lanz Tan, Matthew Ong, Charlton Lee, Coach Steven Tan and Coach Lester Ong.

Madis, Velez top PPS Davao tennis tourney TENNIELLE Madis racked up three wins while John David Velez posted two victories and a runner-up finish as they captured the MVP honors in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Davao leg regional age-group tennis circuit at the GSIS Tennis Club yesterday.

Madis crushed Joji Taketomi, 4-0, 4-0, to run away with the 10-unisex crown then the rising star from Mlang took the girls’ 12-U diadem with an equally lopsided 6-0, 6-1 triumph over Jillian Manangking. She later teamed up with Sanchena Francisco and edged Taketomi and Shaun Globasa, 8-5, for the 10-unisex doubles title in the Group 2 event backed by

the Philippine Sports Commission and presented by Slazenger.

Velez, on the other hand, came away with a 6-1(ret.) win over Andre Sing for the boys’ 14-U plum then partnered with Cedric Pamplona and held off Kurt Haro and Sing, 8-5, for the 14-U doubles crown. The young local ace, however, fell short against second seed Klyde Lagarde from Gen. Santos City, 7-6(6), 4-6, 10-7, in the 16-U final of the tournament sanctioned by Philta and held in conjunction with the Araw ng Dabaw celebrations.

Counting his victories in Butuan and Cagayan de Oro stops of the nationwide circuit put up by the country’s leading pawnshop and remittance cen-

ter, Velez clinched a three-month training stint in Australia under the Mac’s Crankit Tennis Academy.

“John Velez has been vigorously campaigning in the circuit in pursuit of ranking points and at the same time to improve his craft.

His stint in Australia should inspire other young players to strive harder,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/CEO Bobby Castro.

The MCTA has allotted four slots (one each from each side in the 14- and 16-U sections) for Visayas and Mindanao players with three victories in any grouping in the ongoing PPS-PEPP circuit.

Other winners in the five-day event, hosted by LTFRB chairman Atty.

Martin Delgra III, also the president of the GSIS Heights Tennis Club, and held as part of the PSC’s commitment to support youth sports through chairman Butch Ramirez, were Davao’s Patricia Velez, Danna Abad and Sing, and Minette Bentillo and Vince Tugade from Sultan Kudarat.

Patricia Velez routed Nicole Bautista, 6-1, 6-2, to cop the 18-U title; Abad upended top seed Carlyn Guarde, 6-2, 6-4, for the 16-U crown; Sing stunned No. 1 Reyman Saldivar Jr., 6-2, 6-2, to snare the boys’ 12-U plum; Bentillo captured the girls’ 14-U diadem with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Ma. Angelica Novis; and Tugade held off Lagarde, 6-1, 6-4, in the boys’ 18-U final.

UNIVERSITY of the East-Cherrylume completed a seven-game sweep of the 1st Rexona Women’s Invitational Tournament elims with a 69-58 win over Discovery Sports recenly at the Buddhacare gym in Quezon City.

Chack Cabinbin sizzled for 26 points, spiked by four triples for the Lady Warriors, who used a big second quarter assault to take control of the game and finish the elims unbeaten.

Janine Pontejos, who scored 23 in the team’s 75-67 win over Air Force last Saturday, knocked down two triples and finished with 17 points in the event presented by Rexona and organized

by PCABL. Reigning UAAP champion National University recovered from a shock defeat to UE last week with an 80-48 drubbing of Adamson-Mighty Sports—thanks to the 16-point and 13-rebound performance of Rena Itesi.

The Lady Bulldogs, who registered a record 48-game winning streak in the UAAP, finished second with a 6-1 mark, while Air Force wound up third with a 5-2 card following a thrilling 73-68 win over Far Eastern University.

Meanwhile, Centro Escolar University clinched the fourth and last twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals after downing University of the Philippines, 66-58.

The Lady Scorpions ended up tied for fourth to fifth places with the Lady Tamaraws at 3-4, but it was the Morayta-based squad who took the last bonus due to the winner over the other rule.

Leishman holds off Rory to win Bay Hill golf crown

CCN IN THE PHILIPPINES. Mark Julius Bonzo (with scissors) prepare to cut the ribbon

to open CCN’s first cycling apparel shop in the Philippines at No. 34C Kamuning Road in Quezon City. CCN is a Hong Kong-based brand of cycling apparel which also has outlets in the US and Taiwan. The brand sponsors 20 continental and club teams in the US, Europe, Asia and New Zealand. Also in photo are (from left) Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Alfie Catalan and his son Achilles Troy, national cyclist John Mier, Le Tour de Filipinas project director Sunshine Joy Mendoza, CCN outlet co-owner Eder Atanacio, Matet Bonzo, Tina Bonzo, Fe Bonzo Sison, Le Tour de Filipinas organizer Donna Lina, junior rider Joshua Gile Vizmanos and national cyclist George Oconer. Bonzo is the son of the late Tour champion Romeo Bonzo and nephew of another champion, Modesto Bonzo.

Taekwondo program nears CALLS from martial arts enthusiasts have flooded the Philippine Taekwondo Association office as the opening of the twomonth 2017 SMART/MVP Sports Foundation Taekwondo Summer Program nears.

Supported by PLDT, Meralco, TV5, Philippine Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission and Milo, the summer event will kick off on March 27 and end in the first week of June.

The much-awaited program

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

will be conducted in all PTA branches in Metro Manila, regions 1 to 12, CAR, ARMM, CARAGA, PNPA and AFP. Those who have yet to sign up or inquire about the different program venues in the National Capital Region and other parts of the country may contact PTA at tel. nos. 522-0518/522-0519/5240457. They may also email philippinetaekwondo@gmail.com/ philtkd@gmail.com.

In addition to the training,

students will also be taught by instructors or coaches the “tenets” of taekwondo, namely, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control and indomitable spirit which they can apply not only in gyms but also in their daily lives.

The PTA is affiliated with the World Taekwondo Federation and the Philippine Olympic Committee and recognized by the Philippine Sports Commission.

MIAMI—Australia’s Marc Leishman sank a 51-foot eagle putt on the 16th hole Sunday and held off a charging Rory McIlroy and two others to capture the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

One-putting the last four holes at Bay Hill, the 33-year-old Aussie surged late to claim his first US victory since 2012.

“It just all came together,” Leishman said. “To do it here is really good. It was just an unbelievable day.”

Leishman fired a finalround three-under par 69 to stand on 11-under 277 for 72 holes at the famed Orlando, Florida, layout in the first event since the death of tournament namesake Palmer, the golf legend who had hosted the event annually.

“Mr. Palmer was a very special guy,” Leishman said.

“To win it in honor of him was huge.”

Americans Kevin Kisner and Charley Hoffman, co-leaders entering the final round, each fired 73s to share second on 278 with McIlroy and England’s Tyrell Hatton sharing fourth on 279 and Canada’s Adam Hadwin on 280.

McIlroy will jump past Australia’s Jason Day to become world number two on Monday with American Dustin Johnson still atop the rankings, but a closing bogey ended his title bid in what became a four-man shootout down the final holes.

“Around here, things can change so quick,” Leishman said. “You’ve just got to stay right in it, not think about what’s the end result, just focus on what you’ve got to do. I was focused on my putts and luckily they all went into the hole.”

Leishman’s first victory in front of his family was

Participants in last year’s SMART/ MVP Sports Foundation summer program are shown as they began their training in one of Metro Manila’s venues

enough to qualify him for the Masters in three weeks at Augusta National, where he shared fourth in 2013.

His only prior US PGA victory had come in the 2012 Travelers Championship.

His lone European Tour title was at the 2015 Nedbank Challenge, although he was a British Open runner-up in 2015, losing in a playoff to Zach Johnson.

McIlroy comes up short McIlroy tapped in for birdie at the par-5 16th to join Hoffman one off Kisner’s lead, but Kisner found the rough at the par-3 14th and missed an eight-foot par putt, leaving the trio deadlocked in front as the drama unfolded.

Leishman, who was one adrift, jumped into the lead at the par-5 16th when he reached the green in two and then sank his eagle stunner to leapfrog the leaders and take the top spot at 11-under. AFP

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

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

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Tight race for La Salle, UST booters in UAAP Matches Thursday: (Moro Lorenzo Field) 2 p.m. – NU vs AdU (Men) 4 p.m. – UP vs UE (Men)

UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas and La Salle, after blasting separate foes Sunday, are now locked in a tight race for the No. 4 slot in the UAAP Season 79 men’s football tournament at the Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Growling Tigers overwhelmed Adamson University, 4-1, while the Green Archers blanked University of the East, 2-0.

On Saturday, Ateneo subdued National University, 1-0, to remain on top of the table with 23 points, while defending champion University of the Philippines bested Far Eastern University, 1-0, to level its victims in second place with 18.

UST moved up to 13 points in fourth spot, two clear of De La Salle, which now has 11.

Renz Gumban, Marvin Bricenio and rookie Conrado Dimacali scored their second goals of the season, while Darryl Regala also found the back of the net for the Tigers, who now have two victories in the second round.

Kim Bardaje averted a shutout for the Falcons with a late second half goal.

Marcus Garcia and Jose Montelibano struck in the 26th and 53rd minute, respectively, as the Archers posted their second consecutive clean sheet in the second round.

Jarvey Gayoso netted his leaguebest sixth goal of the season in the 11th minute as the Blue Eagles maintained their unbeaten record.

Raphael Resuma produced a 65th minute strike as the Fighting Maroons prevailed in the clash between the last two league champions.

The Bulldogs dropped to sixth with 10 points, while the Falcons and the Red Warriors stayed at five and three points, respectively.

CHAIRMAN’S CUP CHAMPS. Philippine Constitution Association President Martin Romualdez (third from left) and wife Leyte Rep. Yedda Marie Romualdez award the trophies to champions (from left) Alfie Araneta, Inigo Zobel, Marty Romualdez and Anthony Filamor of the Green Team, which ruled Sunday’s High Goal polo game of the Chairman’s Cup 2017 at the Enrique Zobel Field of the Manila Polo Club in Makati City. With them are Mrs. Juliet Romualdez and Bella Romualdez. Ey Acasio

Palaro host Antique gets P10-million aid from PSC Adamson, D UST start AVAO CITY—The Philippine Sports Commission Board recently approved a P10-million cash assistance to the Province of Antique to beef up its hosting of the 2017 Palarong Pambansa slated April 23 to 29.

PSC Commissioner Charles ties in the countryside.

Raymond A. Maxey bared this He added that Antique, beover the weekend after gracing a Palaro host first-timer, ing the Directional Meeting needs all the help it can get for with local government units a successful hosting of the anin Mindanao held Thursday at nual school-based sportsfest the Pinnacle Hotel and Suites for elementary and secondary here. athletes.

“The PSC Board is giving Maxey was keynote assistance to Antique provspeaker of the Davao Reince to help defray operational gion Athletic Association expenses being a first-time (Davraa) Meet 2017 opening host of the 60th edition of the ceremonies held at the Mati Maxey Palaro,” Maxey said.

Centennial Sports Complex The commissioner from in Mati City, Davao Oriental Davao City also said that Antique’s host- Sunday afternoon. ing is a welcome development since the Meanwhile, Philippine Sports Institute administration of President Rodrigo R. national deputy training director Henry Duterte also pushes for equal opportuni- Daut said that they have yet to wait for the

confirmation of Department of Education sports development head Dr. Cesar Abalon on the conduct of Sports Mapping Action Research Talent Identification (Smart ID) testing among Palaro 2017 medalists.

“Dr. Abalon, during our evaluation in Antique, was also interested in holding the Smart ID testing in the Palaro. We have yet to hear from him if it pushes through. We are just preparing if and when it continues as planned,” Daut said, adding that they might only conduct the Smart ID testing for two days after the games so as not to disrupt the focus of the athletes.

Daut added: “Hindi kasi puwedeng ma-stress ang mga bata. Maganda rin kung maituloy ang plano para magkakaroon tayo ng point of comparison o barometer sa mga batang i-tetest sa mga regions.”

PSI recently launched its Smart ID Train the Trainers Program in Mindanao last month in Tagum City.

PNP, Malacañang dispute crown

The PNP Responders’ defense in Game 2 has limited the production of Malacañang Kamao’s Game 1 heroes Christian Luanzon (#33) and Eric Dela Cuesta, which had a crucial impact in PNP’s victory that tied the series.

SEASON 3 runner-up PNP Responders face the Malacañang Kamao in the deciding Game 3 of the UNTV Cup 5 Finals today, 7 p.m. at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

The winning team will bring home P4,000,000, while the runner-up gets P2,000,000. The prizes will be donated to the team’s chosen charity or beneficiaries.

Malacañang Kamao has chosen a group of cancer patients and Millennium Sports Support System Association Inc., while the PNP Responders picked Police Community Relations Group “Drug Reha-

Game Tuesday 8 p.m. PNP Responders vs Malacañang Kamao

bilitation Program.”

Malacañang Kamao took Game 1, 82-81, while the PNP Responders bounced back in the second game, 67-61.

Malacañang Kamao admitted the team was bothered by PNP’s tight defense in Game 2.

“I give credit sa defense ng PNP, medyo na-off talaga ‘yung rhythm namin.

They had a good game plan,” Kamao’s Louie Gonzales said.

Kamao’s Best Players in Game 1 in Christian Luanzon and Eric dela Cuesta, scored only 15 and a point, respectively, in Game 2 after making 29 and 23 in the first game.

Meanwhile, UNTV Cup Finals Game 3 entertainment will be provided by Kakai Bautista and Tawag ng Tanghalan finalists Marielle Montellano, Rachel Gabreza, Gidget Dela Llana, Karl Malone Montecido and Jex De Castro. The Most Valuable Player will also be announced.

There will be a delayed telecast of the game at UNTV, which will air the game at 9 p.m.

Football for Better Life wins big in sports, PR FOOTBALL for a Better Life, the grassroots football program of Spears Activation and PR Co., was given a citation at the recent Philippine Sportswriters Association Awards and received an Anvil Gold at the annual Anvil Awards.

FABL won a special citation from the PSA for its efforts to promote the sport nationwide by conducting football clinics with top coaches and national players since 2015. It was also given the Anvil Gold award, the highest symbol of excellence bestowed by the Public Relations Society of the Philippines, which described the FABL as one that champions grassroots sports development.

The PRSP praised organizer Spears Activation and PR Co. “for opening windows of opportunity to underprivileged children and the benefits it brings to them.”

The PSA Awards is the oldest and most prestigious sports award-giving body in

the country, while the Anvil Awards honors the most outstanding public relations practitioners, programs and tools as carefully chosen by selected PR professionals and a distinguished multisectoral jury.

Spears Activation and PR Co.’s President Albert Almendralejo and PSA’s Mr. Football Misagh Bahadoran accepted the trophy at the PSA Awards.

Meanwhile, Filipino-British footballer Graham Caygill and goalkeeping coach and Kaya Makati FC player Reffix Cuaresma accepted the Golden Anvil from the PRSP. Bahadoran, Caygill and Cuaresma, are all Spears football ambassadors and FABL facilitators, together with Phil Younghusband, James Younghusband, Chieffy Caligdong, Simone Rota, Amani Aguinaldo.

Since 2015, FABL has visited 20 cities and provinces to conduct clinics and agegroup tournaments. More than 20,000

Filipino kids have benefited from the program that makes use of football as an education tool. FABL gives young footballers a chance to be scouted and given scholarships at Metro Manila high schools.

Last year, FABL toured Gingoog in Misamis Oriental, Dumaguete, Dipolog, Tarlac, Laguna, Tagum in Davao del Norte, Pagadian in Zamboanga del Sur, Subic and the National Capital Region. It was also in 2016 that FABL launched a financial wellness component to the program wherein participants were given a short seminar on how to save.

Together with its partners, the Azkals Foundation, Pru Life UK, the Philippine Sports Commission, local government units, and the provincial football associations, FABL is planning to expand the program further to include more areas and have training for the local football coaches.

SPEARS President Albert Almendralejo and Philippine Sportswriters’ Association’s Mr. Football Misagh Bahadoran with the PSA trophy.

softball title duel Games today

(Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium) 8 a.m. – AdU vs UST (Softball Finals) 12 noon – ADMU vs UST (Baseball Finals)

UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas may have the bragging rights as the only team to beat Adamson University during its dominating six-year reign that featured a riveting 73game winning streak.

But coach Sandy Barredo remains cautious on the Tigresses’ chances against the Lady Falcons when the UAAP Season 79 softball championship series begins at 8 a.m. today at the Rizal Memorial Baseball Stadium.

“Mahirap magsalita ng magsalita. Depende sa kundisyon ng mga bata,” said Barredo.

“Pero pag na-hold ni (pitcher Mary Ann) Antolihao, it only takes one run to win.”

All eyes will be on Antolihao, who hopes to play well in front of a national TV audience this time to neutralize the Lady Falcons’ hitting.

“Sana ma-overcome niya lahat nu’ng weaknesses niya and sana maging big help sa kanya ‘yung exposure. Si (Adamson) coach Ana (Santiago), medyo ninenyerbos ‘yan,” said Barredo.

The Tigresses, who dropped a 3-5 decision to the Lady Falcons in the Season 78 championship decider, also have a bevy of hitters in Mallows Garde, CJ Roa, Celestine Palma, Sheila Mae Perales and Lealyn Guevarra.

UST is eyeing its first crown since the Aiza dela Torre-led squad emerged triumphant in the 2009-10 season.

Adamson University, a 15time champion, will rely on Angelie Ursabia, the league leader in homeruns with four, Delyrose Covarrubias, Florabele Pabiana, Krisha Cantor and pitcher Rifalayca Basa.

Meanwhile, UST and Ateneo will also begin their bestof-three series for the baseball crown at 12 noon.

The Blue Eagles are seeking their fourth title in the last five years, while the Growling Tigers are gunning for a record 24th crown and the first in six years.

Foreign investments likely to grow—BSP

B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

B1

Employers agree to ‘endo’ rules IN BRIEF Robinsons Retail earned P4.85b in ’16 ROBINSONS Retail Holdings Inc., the retail holding company of the Gokongwei group, said net income in 2016 grew 11.6 percent to P4.85 billion from P4.34 billion in 2015, on aggressive store expansion and recent acquisitions.

RRHI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange 2016 consolidated revenues jumped 15.9 percent to P105.3 billion from P90.9 billion a year ago, on strong same-store sales growth and sales contribution from 72 newly opened stores in 2016.

The retail holding firm said the samestore sales growth across the company stood at a record 6.7 percent, exceeding its target of 3 percent to 5 percent for the year due to election-related spending.

The recent acquisitions made the company, including the purchase of Savers Appliances, The Generics Pharmacy, De Oro Pacific Home Plus and Chic Centre also helped boost sales in 2016.

RRHI operated a total of 1,578 stores as of end-2016 and expanded its gross floor area of 7.3 percent to hit slightly over one million square meters of floor space.

This is on top of the 1,912 stores with the acquisition of The Generics Pharmacy. Jenniffer B. Austria

By Othel V. Campos

T

HE Employers Confederation of the Philippines said Monday it will support the Labor Department’s new order banning labor-only contracting and end-ofcontract or ‘endo’ scheme.

Ecop chairman Edgardo Lacson said his group was hoping the recentlysigned Department Order 174 would create a positive synergy between employer’s profitability and the employees’ right to proper compensation.

“We will follow the law.

We do not question the process. It has undergone almost nine months of tripartite meetings,” he said.

The order signed by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III banned labor-only contracting and prohibited “endo” or

the end of contract scheme but regulated lawful contractual arrangements.

Lacson said while the new department order was more restrictive than the previous law, “employers will try to comply with the law.”

“We will also consult with policy makers if there are corners workable where employers maybe allowed some form of respite,” Lacson said.

He said the order had several “vague provisions” that needed clarification such as the definition of “real jobs that will be affected.”

“We will give it six months to one year compliance but if and when the impact will be untenable to business, if businesses start to hurt, we have to bail out,” said Lacson.

Ecop president Sergio Ortiz-Luiz said the order could aggravate the unemployment problem in the Philippines.

The January 2017 Labor Force Survey showed that unemployment rate rose to 6.6 percent in January 2017 from 5.7 percent in January 2016, as more than a million jobs were lost over the past 12

months.

Ortiz-Luiz said the 58,000 workers who were upgraded as regulars employees did not add to the workforce. He said no added employment was announced.

“In fact, the aggravating result of all of these [new labor order and mine closures] is that unemployment will certainly rise. With what the mining sector is going through, who will give the displaced workers jobs. Certainly not the DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources,” Ortiz-Luis said.

PSE COMPOSITE INDEX Closing March 20, 2017

8000 7600 7200 6800 6400 6000

7,316.57 28.45

Phoenix Petroleum supports tax reforms LEADING independent oil company Phoenix Petroleum Philippines said it is willing to pay taxes in advance to support the government’s proposed tax reform program.

“We support the administration’s plan on tax reforms,” Phoenix Petroleum president and chief executive Dennis Uy said during the annual stockholders’ meeting on March 15.

“One of the ways we can support the government’s revenue-generating efforts is to pre-pay the excise taxes for imported fuel and petroleum products for a period,” Uy said.

The proposed tax reform program is seen to increase government revenues, improve the business environment and sustain economic growth.

The Finance Department proposed adjusting excise taxes on automobiles and petroleum products, implementing fuel marking and reducing personal income taxes as part of its comprehensive tax reform package.

It also assured that industries would continue to grow and consumers would benefit from higher take-home pay through lower income taxes.

Phoenix Petroleum is the fastestgrowing and number one independent oil company in the country.

BoP incurs $436-m deficit THE Philippines posted a wider balance of payments deficit in February that pulled down the peso to a 10-year low, data from Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.

The BoP deficit widened to $436 million in February from a $9-million gap in January, triggered by both external and domestic developments that affected financial markets.

It was also higher than the $251-million deficit registered a year ago. This brought the balance of payments in the first two months to a deficit of $445 million.

The peso closed at 50.21 against the US dollar on Feb. 28, near a 10-year low amid expectations of an interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

It recovered slightly in March to settle at 50.09 against the greenback on Monday.

Foreign portfolio investments yielded a net outflow of $409 million in February, a reversal from the $58-million net inflow a year ago. The February net outflow was also a turnaround from the $301-million net inflow recorded in January.

Bangko Sentral said the factors that caused foreign funds to flee from domestic financial markets were the “concerns on trade and immigration policies under the Trump administration, and the closure order for several mining companies all over the country.” Julito G. Rada

PESO-DOLLAR RATE

Closing MARCH 20, 2017 45.00 46.50 48.00 49.50

P50.090 CLOSE

51.00

HIGH P50.090 LOW P50.190 AVERAGE P50.145 VOLUME 441.300M

P496.00-P756.00 LPG/11-kg tank

MADRID FUSION’S SUPPORTER. San Miguel Pure Foods Company Inc. teams up with the Tourism Department for the third year in a row to support Madrid Fusion Manila, which aims to boost tourism and promote the Philippines as a center of culinary excellence in Asia. Shown signing the agreement are (from left) Department of Tourism officer-in-charge for market development group Verna Buensuceso, Philippine Association of Convention / Exhibition Organizers and Suppliers Inc. president Jing Lagandaon, San Miguel Pure Foods president Francisco Alejo III, Great Food Solutions vice president and general manager Helene Pontejos and San Miguel Pure Foods vice president for corporate affairs office Oscar Sanez.

Govt clears 12 power plants for impact studies

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Energy Department cleared a dozen power generation projects, with a combined capacity of over 1,900 megawatts, to proceed to the next stage of development involving grid impact studies.

Data from the agency showed the department approving a planned 660-megawatt coal plant in Bataan, a 500-MW pumped storage hydro plant in Benguet and 10 renewable energy projects for grid impact studies as of March 20.

A grid impact study involves assessing the impact of a power project’s new or added capacity on the national electricity transmission grid.

The biggest project is Zestopower Corp.’s planned 660-MW

plant in Mariveles, Bataan. One of Zestopower’s main shareholders is businessman Alfredo Yao. The department also approved the grid impact study of the 500MW Kibugan pumped storage hydro plant of Coheco Badeo Corp. in Benguet.

Other approved projects for grid impact study are the 100MW Lal-lo solar power plant and 100-MW Maasim solar power plant of Natures Renewable Energy Corp.; and 150-MW Talisay wind project, 140-MW Talim wind project and 80-MW Calatagan wind project of Currimao Solar Energy Corp.

The agency also cleared Neoenergy Corp.’s 100-MW Magsingal solar power plant, Monte Solar Energy Inc.’s 54-MW Montesol wind

project, Phinma Energy Corp.’s 21.6-MW Ilog hydro power project, Total Power Inc.’s 5-MW diesel power plant and King Energy Generations Inc.’s 8.433-MW diesel plant.

Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi earlier said the country’s energy mix would primarily focus on developing baseload power plants to support the country’s rising power requirements.

“We are also in a situation that our energy supply is not that sufficient. We are still having an intermittent supply. We are experiencing, yellow, red, brownout,” Cusi said.

Cusi said the Duterte administration’s energy mix would involve 70 percent baseload power, referring to power plants that are

able to run 24 hours; 20 percent mid-merit; and 10 percent peaking plant or those plants that can run during peak hours.

Cusi said baseload power plants would serve as the foundation of the economy.

“If your baseload is not efficient, then you will have an intermittent supply. So [we] need to have a strong baseload so we can prepare for industrialization,” he said.

Cusi said he would not put a cap on the the use of coal. “There is an energy mix. It has always been there….We want it to be competitive so we don’t want a quota…We want an energy mix where there will be competition so coal, gas, geothermal, hydro or nuclear can compete in that 70 percent baseload,” he said.

P39.40-P48.09 Unleaded Gasoline P28.05-P33.95 Diesel

OPRICES IL TODAY

P32.85-P41.15 Kerosene P20.75-P21.75 Auto LPG Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Monday, March 20, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.1540

Japan

Yen

0.008875

0.4451

UK

Pound

1.238900

62.1358

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128859

6.4628

Switzerland

Franc

1.002506

50.2797

Canada

Dollar

0.749400

37.5854

Singapore

Dollar

0.713674

35.7936

Australia

Dollar

0.769200

38.5785

Bahrain

Dinar

2.657666

133.2926

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266667

13.3744

Brunei

Dollar

0.711136

35.6663

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.028694

1.4391

UAE

Dirham

0.272301

13.6570

Euro

Euro

1.073400

53.8353

Korea

Won

0.000887

0.0445

China

Yuan

0.144865

7.2656

India

Rupee

0.015279

0.7663

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.225530

11.3112

New Zealand

Dollar

0.701000

35.1580

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032778

1.6439 Source: PDS Bridge

ABS-CBN’s income jumps 39% to P3.5b

By Darwin G. Amojelar BROADCAST company ABSCBN Corp. said Monday net income jumped 39 percent in 2016 from a year ago, boosted by higher advertising revenues.

The country’s leading media and entertainment company said it posted a net income of P3.5 billon last year, up from P2.5 billion in 2015.

“We are very pleased to have exceeded our earnings guidance for 2016,” ABS-CBN chief financial officer Aldrin Cerrado said.

It also represented the top end of the company’s profit guidance of P3.2 billion to P3.5 billon.

ABS-CBN said revenues rose 9 percent last year to P41.6 billion from P38.3 billon in 2015.

“Full-year growth in advertising revenues, boosted by election-related spending, was about

11 percent,” Cerrado said.

Advertising revenues increased 15 percent year-on-year to P27.4 billon in 2016. Election-related spending reached P2.8 billion last year, up from P2.4 billion in 2010, when the previous presidential election was held.

ABS-CBN adopted the cost per individual rating point pricing scheme in 2015, which rewarded the company an increase in ratings. Last year marked the scheme’s first full year of implementation.

“Our continued strong leadership in national audience share was also a key contributor to our record performance because improved ratings now translate to increased revenues,” said Cerrado.

“We have also been able to manage our costs and expenses efficiently,” he said.

PUEBLO’S CONNECTION. A 500-hectare integrated township development in Roxas City called Pueblo de Panay signs an agreement with PLDT Inc. to establish telecommunications infrastructure to provide faster connectivity and seamless business operations within the modern mixed-use property.

Shown are (from left) PLDT head of enterprise Rexilito Dalisay, PLDT assistant vice president Ronaldo Mendoza, PLDT Alpha assistant vice president and head of corporate relationship business Jimmy Chua, PLDT Alpha VisMin head of corporate relationship management Benedicto Perez, Pueblo de Panay Inc. chief executive Jose Nery Ong, Pueblo de Panay executive vice president Perfecto Doroja and Pueblo de Panay director Vicente Ong III.

B2

Business

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market drops; Cemex, PLDT up Filinvest Land books S record profit of P5.3b tocks retreated Monday to end a two-day advance, following losses on Wall Street as investors took a step back to digest the US Federal Reserve’s latest pronouncement.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, fell 28 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 7,316.57, as five of the six sectoral indices ended in the red. Only holding firms posted gains.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also dropped 12 points, or 0.3 percent, to settle at 4,404.34, on a value turnover of P7 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 111 to 64, while 59 issues were unchanged.

Five of the 20 most actives stocks ended in the green, led

by Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. which climbed 3.3 percent to P7.75 and conglomerate GT Capital Holdings Inc. which rose 1.6 percent to P1,170.

PLDT Inc. rose 1.2 percent to P1,530.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets also slipped Monday following last week’s broad advances, with the dollar suffering fresh selling pressure after the Federal Reserve hinted at a slower-thanexpected pace of interest rate hikes this year.

With few events to drive buy-

ing, investors took a step back following a recent rally across global trading floors while there is a nagging fear that President Donald Trump’s promised tax cuts and spending splurge could come later than hoped.

“Positive catalysts to further moves higher appear to be lacking at the moment,” said Greg McKenna, chief market strategist at AxiTrader, in a note.

“The delay on the details of [Trump’s] tax plan is a risk for stocks if US data starts to disappoint,” McKenna said.

Wall Street provided a damp lead with the Dow and S&P 500 ending lower Friday.

In Asian trade, Hong Kong rose 0.7 percent to levels not seen since August 2015 and Shanghai edged up 0.4 percent but Sydney shed 0.4

percent, Seoul also gave back 0.4 percent and Singapore was 0.5 percent lower.

Wellington tumbled 1.4 percent, hit by a 10-percent dive in market giant Fletcher Building, which cut its profit forecast citing huge losses on a key construction project.

Japanese markets were closed for a public holiday.

In foreign exchanges, the dollar was down against most other currencies after the Fed on Wednesday lifted borrowing costs as expected but pointed to another two rises this year, confounding talk of a possible three or four.

The greenback retreated against the yen and euro as well as most other high-yielding currencies including the Australian dollar, South Korean won, Thai baht and Indonesia’s rupiah. With AFP, Bloomberg

By Jenniffer B. Austria FILINVEST Land Inc., the property unit of the Gotianun family, said Monday it booked a record net income of P5.35 billion in 2016.

Filinvest Land did not provide comparative figures for 2015, but previous filings with the Philippine Stock Exchange showed it registered a P5.1-billion profit in 2015.

Filinvest Land said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the record net income was achieved

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW MONDAY, MARCH 20, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.2 22,000 48.7 47,200 100 660,720 4.06 11,000 124 1,974,150 1.22 45,000 40.35 252,400 15.8 159,100 20.45 44,200 1.63 5,000 0.69 832,000 80 8,193,940 0.72 336,000 14.72 700 56.5 79,010 241.8 440 115 40 39.5 9,200 201 614,310 1,730 600 79.65 75,760

69,750 2,282,595 66,200,642.50 44,540 244,426,903 55,150 10,165,860 2,533,748 907,935 8,170 577,460 652,894,772.50 242,020 10,304 4,465,659 105,626 4,600 363,130 123,467,342 1,040,500 6,033,391

1,442,035 17,917,802 -62,991,063 5,088,895 -1,028,960 -27,730 -20,307,144 -632,196.50 359,180 -46,922,956 459,200 1,168,238

42.75 5.19 0.8 1.37 20 0.265 7.48 16.84 23.1 14.6 57.05 91.2 2.1 5.86 12 12.76 7.8 6.38 5.95 22.45 72.2 15.7 6.75 1.54 192.8 66.5 4.86 3.8 30 26.55 16.1 290 0.255 6.82 3.7 9.06 3.7 2.26 7.43 1.94 72.4 4.9 270.6 4.96 2 2.8 14.1 4.4 0.145 1.45 160.2 1.55 31.45 1.01

INDUSTRIAL 43 1,711,300 5.4 1,292,900 0.81 78,000 1.37 413,000 20 2,700 0.265 4,280,000 7.75 48,748,600 16.9 4,716,400 23.5 174,400 14.6 15,900 60.45 409,320 91.2 40 2.1 2,045,000 5.86 467,900 12.12 34,900 12.84 1,463,200 7.85 763,500 6.38 1,068,400 6 8,462,000 22.7 1,085,800 73 44,680 15.78 19,100 7.1 5,681,000 1.6 886,000 192.8 346,930 72.55 1,070 5.03 4,464,600 3.93 153,000 30.35 820,300 26.6 757,300 16.3 3,624,800 291 157,060 0.255 1,030,000 6.82 102,300 3.73 1,743,000 9.13 6,245,500 3.7 11,000 2.27 235,000 7.5 3,245,600 1.97 927,000 75.75 954,820 5 2,500 277 79,250 4.96 1,013,000 2 13,000 2.8 12,000 14.26 1,179,700 4.4 107,000 0.145 380,000 1.53 898,000 161.5 1,924,620 1.56 849,000 31.45 200 1.01 63,000

73,480,635 6,929,177 63,150 566,760 55,120 1,136,200 376,614,938 80,017,576 4,081,120 237,588 24,558,966.50 3,676 4,408,660 2,774,037 422,424 18,760,688 6,033,402 6,823,277 50,783,631 24,560,715 3,250,441.50 300,046 39,777,454 1,417,780 67,068,351 76,934 23,503,134 604,670 24,928,835 20,344,340 59,178,430 45,694,820 264,800 701,524 6,536,350 56,993,519 41,870 532,350 24,401,463 1,843,260 70,725,967 12,400 21,772,448 5,024,480 26,080 33,600 16,882,124 470,960 55,280 1,366,790 311,690,911 1,323,530 6,290 63,730

-52,698,405 449,396 10,350 -132,500 -24,363,992 6,494,314 -4,700 150,390 -6,000,000 23,290 10,005,186 -1,974,092 1,233,479 26,825,707 11,948,855 -342,117 -95,770 977,156 -330 -52,262,992 -237,363 79,350 13,055,260 -29,650 -15,458,600 -982,488 551,910 -16,739,772 367,120.00 -397,480 33,486,538 4,900 -791,210 -94,240 7,014,284 7,250.00 -29,125,318 -

0.39 74.4 12.72 1.16 6.31 0.37 840 8.89 12.02 7.93 0.189 1,179 6.5 83.1 5.34 1.19 7.97 15.28 0.415 6.49 3.79 0.058 1.98 104 3 670 0.86 1.47 272 0.186 0.25

0.375 73.2 12.6 1.11 6.31 0.35 815.5 8.65 11.84 7.93 0.179 1,164 6.21 80.5 5.34 1.13 7.84 15 0.415 6.25 3.5 0.055 1.97 101.8 2.87 656 0.86 1.46 269.6 0.186 0.24

HOLDING FIRMS 0.385 1,130,000 74.3 940,150 12.7 2,271,500 1.16 3,000 6.31 1,500 0.37 560,000 830 122,060 8.67 1,520,200 11.86 10,560,000 7.93 800 0.181 120,000 1,170 94,710 6.25 19,400 80.95 1,686,550 5.34 2,800 1.13 5,552,000 7.9 70,400 15.08 5,206,700 0.415 300,000 6.34 67,272,800 3.79 6,000 0.055 187,110,000 1.98 323,000 103.4 202,370 2.93 257,000 659 875,990 0.86 1,000 1.47 165,000 272 8,460 0.186 40,000 0.246 970,000

427,300 69,470,962 28,813,814 3,410 9,465 198,900 100,897,440 13,252,313 125,350,284 6,344 21,950 110,812,290 122,569 137,349,992 14,952 6,367,660 556,809 78,472,092 124,500 425,979,003 21,830 10,511,330 636,370 20,797,477 748,540 581,204,085 860 242,520 2,297,738 7,440 241,440

14,808,143.50 8,992,112 -15,423,290 7,848,759 -44,489,728 -18,751,130 51,005,464.50 868,500.00 458,440 -14,185,026 -74,191,640 69,990 -4,565,472 -12,795,770 -27,024 -2,450

6.98 0.94 2.44 1.43 36.45 3.77 5.01 0.5 1.08 0.161 0.56 55 0.7 1.71 0.98 1.21 3.63 0.193 0.295 0.63 4.55 24.3 1.74 3.41

6.69 0.9 2.4 1.37 35.95 3.65 5.01 0.495 1.03 0.159 0.55 54.05 0.7 1.68 0.97 1.18 3.58 0.186 0.295 0.6 4.37 23.65 1.66 3.32

633,053 716,590 200,150 15,473,660 154,603,285 22,792,890 501 5,037,230 69,070 388,840 556,080 18,704,326 30,800 3,074,070 74,700 239,600 50,075,820 12,673,000 2,950 7,703,930 2,683,080 18,303,340 549,070 783,680

-82,802 -219,540 -38,247,280 -11,711,310 -482,150 -1,012,741.50 573,260 -17,779,700 902,300 -372,000 1,965,580 -

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

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

3.09 48.9 103 3.94 124.8 1.23 40.25 16 20.65 1.65 0.71 80 0.73 14.72 56.6 241.8 115 39.2 201 1,740 79.65

3.23 48.9 103 4.06 125.1 1.23 40.35 16.2 20.65 1.65 0.72 80.25 0.73 14.72 57 241.8 115 39.5 203 1,740 79.7

3.09 48.2 99.5 3.94 122 1.22 40.25 15.7 20.3 1.63 0.68 79.2 0.72 14.72 56.45 238 115 39.2 200.8 1,730 79.15

ABOITIZ POWER AGRINURTURE ALLIANCE SELECT ALSONS CONS ASIABEST GROUP BASIC ENERGY CEMEX HLDG CENTURY FOOD CIRTEK HLDG CNTRL AZUCARERA CONCEPCION CONCRETE A CROWN ASIA DAVINCI CAPITAL DEL MONTE DNL INDUS EEI CORP EMPERADOR ENERGY DEVT FIRST GEN FIRST PHIL HLDG HOLCIM INTEGRATED MICR IONICS JOLLIBEE LIBERTY FLOUR LMG CHEMICALS MABUHAY VINYL MANILA WATER MAXS GROUP MEGAWIDE MERALCO MG HLDG PANASONIC PEPSI COLA PETRON PHIL H2O PHINMA ENERGY PHX PETROLEUM PHX SEMICNDCTR PILIPINAS SHELL PRYCE CORP PUREFOODS RFM CORP ROXAS AND CO ROXAS HLDG SHAKEYS PIZZA SPC POWER SWIFT FOODS TKC METALS UNIV ROBINA VITARICH VIVANT VULCAN INDL

43.4 5.4 0.81 1.38 20.5 0.265 7.5 17 23.3 14.62 57.05 94 2.17 5.98 12.1 12.86 7.9 6.48 6.05 22.45 72.7 15.7 6.75 1.57 193.2 71.8 5.4 3.94 30.3 27 16.5 290 0.265 6.85 3.71 9.1 3.89 2.28 7.49 1.97 73.5 4.9 270.6 4.96 2.02 2.8 14.28 4.43 0.145 1.45 165.7 1.57 31.45 1.02

43.4 5.43 0.81 1.39 20.8 0.27 7.87 17.2 23.5 15.12 60.45 94 2.23 6 12.48 12.88 8 6.48 6.05 22.8 73 15.78 7.11 1.63 195 72.55 5.58 4.14 30.75 27 16.54 292 0.265 6.94 3.78 9.16 3.9 2.28 7.59 2.03 75.95 5 279 4.96 2.02 2.8 14.48 4.43 0.147 1.57 165.7 1.58 31.45 1.02

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

0.385 73.8 12.7 1.11 6.31 0.36 838 8.89 11.86 7.93 0.189 1,165 6.21 81.05 5.34 1.15 7.97 15 0.415 6.49 3.6 0.058 1.97 104 2.96 660 0.86 1.47 272 0.186 0.24

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

6.98 0.92 2.42 1.41 36.45 3.66 5.01 0.495 1.08 0.16 0.55 54.5 0.7 1.68 0.97 1.18 3.6 0.189 0.295 0.62 4.55 24 1.66 3.33

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

29.2 1 0.91 4.8

29.2 1.01 0.91 4.8

28.6 0.98 0.9 4.67

28.65 1 0.9 4.7

5,469,800 4,842,000 8,000 4,276,000

157,626,485 4,813,370 7,250 20,133,890

-70,303,765 10,900 -10,156,330

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

8.38 46.65 1.47 0.52 0.051 12 5.21 7.57 0.074 2.2 93.6 8.84 2.41 3.8 1,910 6.15 15.98 15.04 3.6 3.72 86.9 0.0093 9.05 0.19 1.33 3.25 14.4 3.72 0.96 3.75 2.4 5.79 3.76 17.98 3 5.33 3.21 165 8.7 1,542 1.52 0.43 45.75 81.9 6.25 2.21 1.14 3.14 0.375

8.38 46.65 1.47 0.52 0.051 12.1 5.28 7.58 0.075 2.24 94.3 8.84 2.45 5.18 1,921 6.18 15.98 15.04 3.61 3.74 89.95 0.0098 9.05 0.19 1.34 3.49 14.4 3.72 0.96 3.85 2.41 5.82 3.78 17.98 3.1 5.35 3.29 165 8.81 1,542 1.52 0.43 45.8 82 6.25 2.22 1.14 3.22 0.385

8.01 46 1.47 0.52 0.047 12 5.21 7.38 0.071 2.16 92.7 8.6 2.41 3.8 1,890 6.1 15.8 15 3.55 3.7 84 0.0093 9 0.185 1.32 3.24 14.4 3.56 0.96 3.75 2.31 5.66 3.71 17.98 2.96 5.22 3.21 165 8.6 1,502 1.5 0.415 44.6 80.6 6.17 2.19 1.12 3.1 0.375

SERVICES 8.3 46 1.47 0.52 0.048 12 5.28 7.56 0.075 2.18 93 8.8 2.45 4.7 1,901 6.12 15.84 15 3.56 3.74 85.45 0.0093 9.01 0.186 1.34 3.45 14.4 3.68 0.96 3.76 2.4 5.82 3.73 17.98 2.98 5.35 3.29 165 8.7 1,530 1.52 0.42 45.2 81 6.17 2.2 1.13 3.11 0.385

27,900 16,800 1,000 89,000 200,570,000 3,200 4,300 1,717,800 44,890,000 2,241,000 463,440 50,500 41,000 590,000 41,790 172,600 12,400 1,500 1,704,000 69,000 8,785,430 77,000,000 305,000 2,240,000 256,000 54,000 3,100 1,682,000 12,000 341,000 56,000 2,194,500 585,000 200 3,038,000 1,700 9,000 5,010 220,200 52,215 9,160,000 920,000 1,399,000 1,982,960 64,400 1,423,000 2,207,000 398,000 190,000

228,900 777,665 1,470 46,280 9,818,180 38,510 22,501 12,870,386 3,276,950 4,931,670 43,228,521.50 445,578 99,250 2,776,430 79,463,640 1,056,020 197,312 22,508 6,099,910 255,770 774,759,855 729,400 2,747,710 417,650 339,990 184,430 44,640 6,156,430 11,520 1,285,670 131,390 12,727,960 2,183,300 3,596 9,230,370 8,935 29,370 826,650 1,899,499 79,696,740 13,858,690 386,150 63,222,895 161,185,374 401,931 3,133,560 2,486,350 1,240,620 72,550

5,720 -29,400 -4,156,187 66,000 6,750,006.00 -117,670 -35,096,225 3,710 -365,545,491 -3,777,010 -282,480 1,175,790 -381,400 90,710.00 0 276,060 -35,079,530 14,563,970 -45,785,341.50 -524,500 -681,670 -836,940 -

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

0.0034 1.66 5.68 1.83 1.81 0.45 0.42 9.39 2.38 0.255 0.182 0.2 0.011 0.011 1.78 6.4 2.15 0.88 0.011 4.05 0.013 8.95 3.1 144.5 2.77 0.0091

0.0034 1.66 5.68 1.83 1.98 0.45 0.42 9.45 2.39 0.26 0.186 0.2 0.012 0.011 1.78 6.48 2.16 0.88 0.011 4.05 0.014 8.95 3.1 147.2 2.8 0.0091

0.0032 1.58 5.35 1.83 1.81 0.45 0.42 9.01 2.37 0.255 0.178 0.192 0.011 0.011 1.78 6.38 2.1 0.87 0.011 4.05 0.013 8.79 3 144.5 2.61 0.0088

MINING & OIL 0.0033 162,000,000 1.62 2,311,000 5.41 26,500 1.83 1,000 1.81 13,000 0.45 10,000 0.42 10,000 9.35 7,200 2.37 927,000 0.26 20,000 0.179 16,530,000 0.192 1,320,000 0.012 400,000 0.011 300,000 1.78 58,000 6.41 1,341,600 2.16 5,000 0.88 62,000 0.011 7,800,000 4.05 2,000 0.014 54,100,000 8.89 321,400 3.06 938,000 144.9 796,740 2.61 158,000 0.0091 7,000,000

533,700 3,710,490 147,140 1,830 23,840 4,500 4,200 67,398 2,204,440 5,150 2,984,430 261,770 4,500 3,300 103,240 8,604,441 10,720 54,430 85,800 8,100 703,600 2,840,907 2,854,860 115,692,816 433,190 63,100

-1,028,720 -50,876 -740,790 9,600 -2,241,131 -254,729.00 15,150.00 -39,874,952 17,600

ABS HLDG PDR DD PREF FGEN PREF F FGEN PREF G GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A SFI PREF SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

46 105.5 112 118 5.86 1,035 1.04 105.3 1,065 1,130 1,019 105 2.34 80.3 76.5 78.5 79.65 79.5 79 78

46 105.5 112 118 5.86 1,035 1.04 105.3 1,069 1,130 1,020 105 2.34 82 76.5 78.5 79.65 79.5 79.5 78

46 105.1 112 118 5.86 1,035 1.04 105 1,065 1,130 1,018 105 2.1 80 76.5 78.35 79.65 79 78.1 78

PREFERRED 46 390,600 105.1 49,560 112 180 118 16,630 5.86 472,000 1,035 10 1.04 70,000 105.2 45,020 1,069 1,040 1,130 590 1,020 6,040 105 17,900 2.1 11,000 82 366,300 76.5 185,360 78.5 26,600 79.65 13,400 79 213,020 78.1 149,020 78 2,000

17,967,600 5,208,900 20,160 1,962,340 2,765,920 10,350 72,800 4,727,304 1,108,680 666,700 6,154,830 1,879,500 23,340 30,008,280 14,180,040 2,088,025 1,067,310 16,864,802 11,780,822 156,000

-17,719,200 -20,160 -2,765,920 402,500 2,838,150 -

LR WARRANT

2.1

2.13

2.06

WARRANTS 2.06 34,000

71,460

-

750,710 461,209 18,459,580

4,413,353

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 6.69 0.92 2.4 1.37 35.95 3.68 5.01 0.495 1.08 0.159 0.55 54.8 0.7 1.7 0.97 1.21 3.59 0.193 0.295 0.6 4.43 23.95 1.7 3.37

92,300 783,000 83,000 11,136,000 4,283,600 6,175,000 100 10,168,000 64,000 2,430,000 1,008,000 341,800 44,000 1,808,000 77,000 203,000 13,935,000 66,630,000 10,000 12,534,000 608,000 765,800 317,000 232,000

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.91 6.99 9.75

4.01 7.08 9.86

3.8 6.66 9.62

FIRST METRO ETF

122

122

121

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

13,6999,542

INDUSTRIAL

159,652,091

HOLDING FIRMS

322,980,439

PROPERTY

150,605,011

SERVICES

368,274,585

MINING & OIL

256,626,407

GRAND TOTAL

1,273,992,407

3.8 6.98 9.7

SME

193,000 67,500 1,889,200

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 121 4,550

552,493

6,085

VALUE 1,845.94 (down) 15.64 1,158,134,641.394 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,018.85 (down) 43.79 1,772,955,342.69 HOLDING FIRMS 7,348.01 (up) 5.34 2,049,639,547.64 PROPERTY 3,250.66 (down) 33.99 1,488.72 (down) 0.61 556,685,541.31 SERVICES MINING & OIL 11,946.19 (down) 58.87 1,325,983,646.19 PSEI 7,316.57 (down) 28.45 141,425,341.165 All Shares Index 4,404.34 (down) 21.86 7,025,048,801.054 Gainers: 64; Losers: 111; Unchanged: 59; Total: 234

on the back of a 7-percent increase in revenues to P19.5 billion from P18.3 billion in 2015.

Rental revenues rose 15 percent last year to P3.38 billion, following the completion of new office buildings.

Rental income accounted for 40 percent of the property firm’s net income.

Filinvest Land completed three new buildings in the fourth quarter of 2015 and started to generate revenues in 2016.

The company also completed two new buildings last year year, including Filinvest Cyberzone Bay City 1 & 2 in the Bay area, with 37,000 square meters of gross leasable area . These buildings were fully leased out.

Filinvest Land now operates 21 office buildings with gross leasable area of 312,000 sqm, a 50-percent increase over the last two years.

The property firm recently opened a 28,000-sqm community mall in Molino, Cavite and is slated to complete another 48,000-sqm meter mall in Tagaytay in April.

Filinvest Land said it was on track to hit its 1 million sqm target for office and retail GLA by 2019, with a 50-50 income mix between rental and trading businesses.

Filinvest Land said on the residential side, it planned to invest an additional P5 billion in the next three years in Mindanao to build economic housing and affordable condominium portfolios in South Cotabato and Davao City.

SMC prices P15-b bonds CONGLOMERATE San Miguel Corp. set at 5.1923 percent per annum the interest rate for the planned 5-year bond offering worth P15 billion.

San Miguel said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the bond offering would be on March 21 to March 27.

The bonds will be listed with the Philippine Dealing & Exchange Corp. on April 7.

San Miguel is issuing P10 billion worth of fixed-rate bonds with an oversubscription option for another P5 billon. The bonds represent the second tranche of bond offering under the company’s P60-billion shelf registration approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Proceeds from the bond offering will be used to settle the conglomerate’s $300-million loan with the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. maturing in November.

San Miguel tapped BDO Capital & Investment Corp., BPI Capital Corp., ING Bank, RCBC Capital Corp., SB Capital Investment Corp. and Standard Chartered Bank.

San Miguel raised P20 billion in February to finance dollar-denominated debt. It raised P6.9 billion for the 5-year Series A bonds due 2022 with an interest rate of 4.8243 percent per annum, P7.3 billion for the 7-year Series B bonds due 2024 with interest rate of 5.2840 percent interest rate per annum and P6 billion for the 10-year Series C bonds due 2027 with fixed interest rate of 5.7613 percent per annum.

The latest bond offering was assigned an issue credit rating of PRS Aaa, with a stable outlook by Philippine Rating Services Corp.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

B3

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

WESM electricity prices at low levels

By Alena Mae S. Flores

MERALCO-MAKATI PARTNERSHIP. Makati City signs an agreement with Manila Electric Co. under the utility’s Energizing Partnerships Program. The agreement seals Meralco’s full commitment to work with Makati City to meet the city’s energy requirements. Shown at the signing ceremony are Mayor Mar-len Abigail Binay and Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communications Alfredo Panlilio (seated, third and fourth from left). They are joined by (seated from left) Makati City administrator Claro Certeza; Vice Mayor Monique Yazmin Lagdameo; Meralco SVP and head of networks Ronnie Aperocho; and Meralco assistant VP and head of home and micro business Redel Domingo.

Ayala taps Uber in mall tie-up

Foreign investments likely to grow—BSP

By Jenniffer B. Austria

By Julito G. Rada

AYALA Malls The 30th, the newest community mall of Ayala Land Inc. in Pasig, has teamed up with Uber to provide riders additional means to reach their favorite shopping destination.

Ayala Malls The 30th general manager Mariana Zobel de Ayala said the partnership would provide mall goers safe, reliable and convenient transportation options.

“We want to provide reliable transportation options for our shoppers, which is why we pursued this partnership with the world’s leading ride-sharing app, Uber. Through the uberHOP service, shoppers can easily get to and from Ayala Malls The 30th and other central business districts, with the peace of mind that they are safe and that they are conscientiously helping ease traffic in the metro by sharing a ride,” said Zobel de Ayala. uberHOP is a service that travels the metro through predetermined routes during peak hours and introduces additional routes with new pick-up and drop-off locations at Ayala Malls The 30th.

For a flat fare of P70, riders can conveniently gain access to Ayala Malls The 30th to and from the business hubs of Makati and Bonifacio Global City. With uberHOP, mall-goers can enjoy the benefits of a comfortable, safe and affordable transport option, while at the same time easing traffic congestion.

“One of the best ways to reduce traffic is to work together with companies and organizations. We are honored to share this vision with Ayala Malls the 30th, not just in providing easily accessible and reliable transport options, but more importantly in promoting ridesharing to ease traffic congestion,” said Uber Philippines general manager Laurence Cua.

B

ANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas will likely revise upward its net inflow target of $7 billion this year for foreign direct investments after the 2016 figure reached a record $7.9 billion, a senior official said.

“The surge of FDI last year showed investors’ more confident attitude towards the Philippines,” Bangko Sentral Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo told reporters.

“Their decision to continue to invest here also showed the steady strong fundamentals of the Philippine economy.”

“We will continue to see higher FDI for 2017. If you look at the way the economy and business policies of the Trump administration, it’s clear

that there are yet no policies that will restrict the coming in of American investors in the Philippines,” he said.

Guinigundo expressed optimism FDI inflows would not be affected by Trump’s policies, including those in the business process outsourcing industry, which remained one of the growth drivers of the economy.

“We have not seen any evidence that the Trump administration has restricted businesses from coming to

emerging markets including the Philippines,” Guinigundo said.

The FDI net inflow of $7.9 billion last year surpassed the target of $6.7 billion. The 2016 figure was also 40.7 percent higher than a year-ago level of $5.72 billion net inflow.

FDI net inflow in December amounted to $669 million, more than double the $272 million recorded year-on-year.

More than half, or $415 million, of the net inflows during the month were non-resident affiliates’ net placements in debt instruments issued by resident affiliates (or intercompany borrowings).

Net equity capital infusion reached $206 million, as equity capital placements of $294 million more than offset the $88-million withdrawals. Equity capital placements came mostly

from Hong Kong, Japan, the United States, Singapore and Belgium.

These were channeled mainly in arts, entertainment and recreation; financial and insurance; manufacturing; real estate; and professional, scientific and technical activities.

Meanwhile, reinvestment of earnings amounted to $47 million during the month.

“FDI inflows remained robust, supported by strong investors’ confidence in the country’s solid macroeconomic fundamentals,” the regulator said.

Net availment of debt instruments rose 68.6 percent to $5.2 billion from $3.1 billion in 2015. Equity capital investments, meanwhile, posted net inflows of $2 billion, 12.1 percent higher than $1.8 billion recorded last year.

ELECTRICITY customers secured 23 percent of their requirements from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the highest exposure since December 2006.

Philippine Electricity Market Corp., operator of the WESM, said low rates resulted in increased customer confidence, with buyers getting an average of 6 percent to 7 percent of their requirements.

PEMC said mitigating measures in place that addressed price spikes such as lowering of price cap to P32 per kilowatthour from P62 per kWh and the imposition of secondary price cap mechanism resulted in an all-time low settlement spot prices at the WESM. Spot prices reached their lowest in January at P1.90 per kWh since January 2011.

Effective settlement spot prices refer to the average prices paid by wholesale customers for energy procured in the WESM. PEMC president Melinda Ocampo said it was hard to predict if prices would continue to remain low for the rest of the year.

She cited mitigating measures in the market that would lessen the impact of higher rates.

“This is actually a traders’ behavior, depending on demand and supply, but there are mitigating measures to avoid sudden spike,” Ocampo said.

PEMC has implemented market reforms and developments at the WESM, leading to transparency and competition in the electric power industry.

The WESM is a platform for electricity trading that provides the mechanism for the scheduling of generation and pricing of electricity. The reform ignited transformation in the Philippine electricity industry as transparency kicked in and changed the landscape that cultivated accountabilities to all industry players.

ICTSI’s Laguna depot gets Customs status

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Bureau of Customs has certified the dry port container handling facility of International Container Terminal Services Inc. in Calamba City, Laguna, as an authorized OffDock Customs Facility.

The OCF certification enables Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal Inc. to offer faster and seamless services to businesses and industries in Southern Luzon, specifically locators in economic zones using ICTSI’s flagship Manila International Container Terminal as their trading gateway.

“The OCF status allows us to have the Bureau of Customs hold their functions and activities inside the LGICT dry port. As an OCF, LGICT officially becomes an extension of the seaport, and, in our case, an extension of the MICT,” LGICT general manager Carmela Rodriguez, said.

“With this, we will be able to

serve the requirements of importers, exporters, forwarders, third party logistics providers, or locators in the economic zones in the region,” she added.

Rodriguez said the company would open its gates to customers in April.

LGICT has ongoing activities that will make the dry port a fully compliant OCF, including the installation of a one-stop-shop housing BoC and Philippine Economic Zone Authority offices, and in the near future the revival of the multimodal service via rail.

LGICT has allocated five hectares of yard space as customs area, which can accommodate 5,000 twenty-foot equivalent units at any one time.

LGICT clients would benefit from the efficient cargo movement between points, cost rationalization and the development plans of LGICT itself, which could bring in new businesses for clients and industry stakeholders.

Laguna Gateway Inland Container Terminal Inc. officials pose with the authorized Off-Dock Customs Facility certificate of the Bureau of Customs. Shown (from left) are Manuel Mayo, safety and pollution officer; Airene Calaluan, finance head; Annie Magsino, administration and human resources head; Carmela Rodriguez, general manager; Michelle Mendoza, accounting officer; and Mike Santos, sales and marketing manager.

Bringing jobs back to the US DURING the 2016 US Presidential election campaign Donald Trump charged that the US economy continued to lose jobs because the US was getting a raw deal from its international trade involvements and because foreign countries were engaging in unfair trade practices, such as keeping wages artificially low and manipulating foreign exchange rates. If elected, Trump said, he would work to bring jobs – especially manufacturing jobs – back to the US and to stop further employment losses to other countries.

True to his promise, Trump right after his election ordered the US’s withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), ordered a review of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), threatened to impose a

twenty percent (20%) tariff on all imports from Mexico and accused China of manipulating the exchange value of the yuan to gain an unfair competitive advantage for Chinese exports to the US. These and similar moves are intended to bring about fulfillment of Mr. Trump’s promise to “bring jobs back to America.”

Are they likely to achieve that goal? If pursued forcefully, they are likely to do so, but only temporarily. There are three reasons for this.

The first and most obvious reason is that countries at the receiving end of US tariff-easing action are not going to sit back and do nothing. They will retaliate.

The Mexican government has let it be known that it is readying higher tariffs against US goods in the event that the Trump administration makes good on its threat to raise US tariffs on Mexican

exports to the US. These reciprocal actions will hurt American-Mexican trade seriously, considering that the US and Mexico are major trade partners of one another. Neither country will be able to claim a victory.

Autarchy, or economic isolation, was never a sound strategy for economic policymakers to pursue, and by being deprived the benefits of international competition, the US economy would soon become flabby and inefficient.

American goods and services would not be able to test themselves against foreign-made goods in international markets. There would be no way of effectively determining whether American goods and services were still competitive vis-à-vis their competitors.

The third reason why a policy of autarchy would be bad for the US

economy is that international trade gives Americans access to lowerpriced foreign goods and services and that American consumers would be deprived of that benefit if the US government chose to stay out of trade arrangements – regional and bilateral – and to engage other countries in tariff wars. Generally speaking, imports tend to have a beneficial effect on consumers’ purchasing power and is thereby antiinflationary.

US companies establish manufacturing plants overseas for operating-cost reasons in order to be able to operate in close proximity to their foreign customers, which makes their products competitive with the products made in the host countries. Foreign companies like Toyota, BMW and Nestle put up manufacturing plants in

the US for exactly the same operational reasons that American companies put up manufacturing plants in the UK, France and China.

Those reasons revolve mainly around taxes, transportation and inventory management. Wages are particularly important. Comparatively lower wages in developing countries make it compete with host-country producers and to contribute to headoffice profit.

Can Donald Trump make good on his campaign promise to “bring jobs back to America?” Yes, if his administration is prepared to subsidize the differences in taxes and wages paid by US companies at home and the taxes and wages that they pay overseas. Otherwise, no.

E-mail: rudyromero777

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

B4

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

Business

Lotte family owners go on trial

S

EOUL―Four members of the family who control South Korea’s troubled retail giant Lotte, including its 93-year-old founder, went on trial Monday for embezzlement, tax evasion and fraud.

The proceedings against company chairman Shin Dong-Bin, 61, his brother, sister and father―plus the patriarch’s mistress nearly 40 years his junior―come as the South’s fifth-biggest conglomerate endures a barrage of condemnation from China.

The company provided land to Seoul to host a US missile defense system, infuriating Beijing, and nearly 90 percent of its Chinese Lotte Mart stores have since been forced to close by either authorities or angry

demonstrations.

The trial is the latest blow to the reputations of the familycontrolled conglomerates, or “chaebols,” that powered South Korea’s economic growth in past decades.

More recently they have increasingly become the focus of public anger over inequality and corruption, as in the scandal that saw president Park GuenHye removed from office earlier this month.

Lotte chairman Shin is accused of costing the

firm 175 billion won ($155 million) through a series of tax evasions, financial scams and irregularities.

He has been also charged with negligence for awarding lucrative deals or paying “wages” worth millions of dollars to relatives who made little contribution to management.

“I am sorry for causing concern. I will cooperate with the trial sincerely,” Shin told reporters, bowing briefly before entering the courtroom Monday afternoon.

Similar charges were leveled against his older brother Shin Dong-Joo, his older sister Shin Young-Ja, as well as their father Shin Kyuk-Ho. It was not clear whether the nonagenarian founder was in court, but he did not pass through

the gauntlet of reporters packing the entrance to the court building in Seoul.

His 57-year-old mistress was also charged with embezzlement for pocketing large sums in “wages” although she had little role in management.

The five were formally indicted by prosecutors in October.

Their alleged offenses are not directly connected to the scandal that brought down Park.

The Seoul-based group, founded in Tokyo in 1948, has a vast network of businesses in South Korea and Japan with combined assets valued at more than $90 billion.

The decision by Seoul to deploy the US Terminal High Altitude Defense (THAAD) system to guard against threats from the nuclear-armed North

Italy has healthiest people in the world WHEN it comes to living a long life, Italy is the place to be.

The high-heeled boot surrounded by five seas is ranked the healthiest country on Earth in the Bloomberg Global Health Index of 163 countries.

A baby born in Italy can expect to live be an octogenarian.

But 2,800 miles south in Sierra Leone, the average newborn will die by 52.

While Italy is among the most developed countries, growth has stagnated for decades, almost 40 percent of its youngsters are out of jobs and it’s saddled with one of the world’s highest debt loads relative to the size of its economy.

Yet, Italians are in way better shape than Americans, Canadians and Brits, who all suffer from higher blood pressure and cholesterol and poorer mental health.

Italy also has “an excess of doctors,” said Tom Kenyon, a physician and CEO of the global relief organization Project Hope. Case in point, one of the country’s most watched and long-running television shows is called “A Doctor in the Family.”

Then there is the diet, rich in vegetables and drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Adam Drewnowski, director of the Center for Public Health Nutrition at the University of Washington, has written about the importance of consumers having access to fresh produce, fruit, lean meats and fish.

Each country in the index was graded based on variables such as life expectancy, causes of death and health risks ranging from high blood pressure and tobacco use to malnutrition and the availability of clean water.

Iceland, Switzerland, Singapore and Australia rounded out the top five most-healthy countries in the index.

The developed world isn’t without its risks―obesity among them. The US placed No. 34 with a health grade of 73.05 out of 100. Its ranking for prevalence of overweight people is 67.3―tipping the scale as one of the world’s heaviest nations.

The poorest states―Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and West Virginia―are heaviest with more than 35 percent of their populations considered obese, according to US Centers for Disease Control.

Bloomberg

angered China, which fears it would undermine its own military capabilities.

The first parts of the THAAD system arrived in the South two weeks ago after Lotte signed a land swap deal to provide a golf course in the southern county of Seongju to host the missile batteries.

Since then officials have shut down dozens of Lotte retail stores in China, ostensibly over “safety issues” as angry protestors hold demonstrations across China denouncing the group and other South Korean businesses.

Lotte, focused on food, retail and hotel businesses, has invested more than $8 billion in its Chinese operations and has more than 120 outlets in the country, with 26,000 local employees. AFP

Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao (right) shakes hand with chairman of India’s Aditya Birla Group Kumar Mangalam Birla during a news conference in Mumbai on March 20, 2017.

British mobile phone giant Vodafone’s Indian unit will merge with Idea Cellular to create India’s largest telecoms operator, the firms said Monday, as they combine to fight the rise of Reliance Jio. AFP

Vodafone forms big telco firm in India MUMBAI, India―British mobile phone giant Vodafone will merge its Indian unit with Idea Cellular to create the country’s largest telecoms operator, the firms said Monday, as they combine to fight a price war sparked by the country’s richest man.

The confirmation ended months of speculation that the two operators were ready to sign a deal to help fend off the Mukesh Ambani-backed Reliance Jio, whose recent arrival has shaken up India’s ultra-competitive mobile network market.

“Vodafone Group Plc and Idea Cellular today announced that they have reached an agreement to combine their operations in India,” they said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

“The combined company would become the leading communications provider in India with almost 400 million customers, 35 percent customer market share and 41 percent revenue market share,” the statement added.

Jio launched in September with an audacious free service for the rest of 2016, followed by vastly cheaper data plans and free voice calls for life, forcing rivals to dramatically slash their tariffs.

It also left competitors scrambling to match the deep pockets of Jio, which is backed by India’s hugely wealthy energy-to-chemicals conglomerate Reliance Industries, and caused a rush towards consolidation in the multi-billion-dollar sector.

The combined VodafoneIdea company will overtake Bharti Airtel as India’s largest network provider.

Shares in Idea initially soared following the announcement but then tanked almost seven percent, with reports saying investors were worried the deal undervalued Idea.

Vodafone will hold 45.1 percent of the merged entity after it transfers a 4.9 percent stake to Idea backers for 39 billion rupees ($579 million) in cash.

Idea will hold 26 percent in the combined company and the merger will take up to two years to complete.

The agreement excludes Vodafone’s 42 percent stake in Indus Towers. AFP

Community in chaotic Jakarta goes green to fight eviction

By Megan Sutherland JAKARTA―Brightly colored wooden and brick houses line a clean riverside path amid trees and vegetable gardens, a tranquil scene in the normally chaotic Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Residents have transformed the “kampung,” as traditional neighborhoods are known in Indonesia, into a model of clean and green living in an effort to fight off the threat of eviction.

Tongkol kampung was once much like many other down-atheel riverside communities found across the overcrowded, trafficchoked metropolis of 10 million, blighted by dilapidated housing and strewn with rubbish.

But a series of controversial evictions of waterside neighborhoods in the past two years, aimed at getting houses away from the capital’s rivers to combat annual flooding, spurred the residents into making major changes.

“We want to prove that poor people can bring about change, change in their environment,” said Gugun Muhammad, a resident and one of the people behind the initiative to transform the kampung.

The project, which began in 2015, involved launching a major clean-up by sending rafts onto the stretch of river running through Tongkol to remove mountains of trash, putting up bins around the kampung and signs to remind residents not to litter.

The most drastic part of the facelift saw residents taking sledgehammers to their own houses to remove sections that previously went right up to the water’s edge, with poor families sometimes demolishing entire

rooms.

They wanted to ensure the buildings were at least five meters (16 feet) from the river to lessen the risk of flooding and allow road access, something required by local authorities.

By doing so, they hope to prove they have already taken measures to stop the community being inundated every rainy season and prevent the local government forcing them out.

Riot of color They built new walls for their houses and painted them in greens, yellows and blues, creating a riot of color in a city notorious for being a drab concrete jungle dominated by dreary tower blocks.

Vegetable and herbs are cultivated abundantly in specially constructed growing boxes; papaya, mango and banana hang from

trees; and composting organic waste is now second nature to the 260 families that make up the small community.

Septic tanks have also been fitted to some houses to reduce the amount of raw sewage being pumped directly into the river.

While some residents are still in the bad habit of littering, and not all mindsets have been altered, it is a stark contrast to how the kampung looked a few years ago.

The piles of rubbish that once lined the riverbanks are gone and the floods that used to inundate the neighborhood every wet season are a thing of the past.

“I wouldn’t say it’s a success just yet―but it’s far better than before,” said Muhammad, 30, who also works for an civil society group called the Urban Poor Consortium.

The community financed the

overhaul themselves but also received help from local environmental groups.

The residents decided to take matters into their own hands as they feared being forced from their homes in the eviction drive spearheaded by Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama.

The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute, which helps people facing eviction, estimates over 8,000 families were forced from their homes in 2015 alone, and sent to apartment blocks often far from the communities where they had lived for generations.

While forced evictions have always taken place in Jakarta, the number has increased dramatically over the past two years.

Purnama has defended the campaign, saying it will prevent the annual floods that inundate poor neighborhoods in the rainy season

In this photograph taken on January 31, 2017, trees are seen along the riverbanks of the Tongkol kampung in Jakarta. Brightly colored brick and wooden houses line a clean riverside path amid trees and vegetable gardens, a tranquil scene in the normally chaotic Indonesian capital Jakarta. Residents have transformed the “kampung,” as traditional neighborhoods are known in Indonesia, into a model of clean and green living in an effort to fight off the threat of eviction. AFP

by allowing rivers to be widened.

‘Eviction no option’ As the government drive gathered momentum and authorities threatened Tongkol kampung with eviction in 2015, transforming the neighborhood took on an urgency for a community that has existed for half a century.

“To build a new life is scary―being evicted is not an option,” Puji Rahayu, a 43-yearold Tongkol resident, told AFP. The land that Tongkol stands on belongs to the government and the residents do not claim to own it. It is not clear whether the kampung’s efforts will be enough to save it, with authorities still insisting the evictions are part of a long-term plan to overhaul riverside communities.

“The priority in that area is to reorganize the riverbanks by relocating the people,” said Jakarta government spokesman Christian Anthony.

Still, the eviction drive appears to have slowed down for now as the Christian governor’s focus has shifted to fighting a high-stakes election overshadowed by allegations he insulted Islam, which led to him being put on trial for blasphemy.

Muhammad said the kampung is trying to live day by day and not focus on the ever-present threat of losing their homes.

And he has a favorite analogy about their efforts to convince authorities that Tongkol is a model neighborhood.

“If I were to propose, I would wash and tidy myself up so I look respectful, so you know I am serious about this,” he said.

“This is the same thing.” AFP

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

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LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

RIVER NIGHTMARE. A worker on a boat collects garbage from the Marilao River in Bulacan on Saturday. Pure Earth, formerly known as the Blacksmith Institute, named the river as one of the 30 dirtiest places in the world in 2007. The non-government organization works to solve pollution problems in the developing world. AFP

STL set to launch in Bicol provinces

By Manilyn B. Ugalde

L

EGAZPI CITY—The state-sponsored Small Town Lottery is set to be launched in the six provinces of Bicol Region, including the supposedly juetengfree Catanduanes.

Expected to be launched be- STL operations in Camarines fore the end of March are the Sur and Camarines Norte, to

be followed by Albay in a week, according to Albay Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office manager Nelly B. Loyola.

Despite the controversy over the lottery, which critics say is similar to the two-number jueteng game, Loyola clarified the STL franchise in Sorsogon has not been ordered suspended, since the PCSO granted its franchise during the previous administration.

Loyola said it’s definite the revitalized STL will also be launched in the island provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate.

A PCSO branch will also open in Catanduanes to serve the province’s charity-dependent residents needing medical assistance, whose requests and claims are still being handled by the Albay branch.

Religious officials and anti-

illegal gambling groups here fear the relaunching of the STL operation under the Duterte administration will open the floodgates for jueteng and illegal bookies.

The government claims the revitalized STL will kill other illegal numbers games, one of the three campaign priorities of President Rodrigo Duterte apart from to drugs and corruption.

Loyola said STL operators are

5-year ‘ludong’ fish ban pushed

Benguet Corp sets ‘green mine’ rehab BENGUET Corp. has proposed to Baguio City and the municipality of Itogon in Benguet province to undertake the final rehabilitation of one of its Antamok Open Pits, located in Itogon, with a project that will involve an Engineered Sanitary Landfill that will also lead to a Renewable Waste to Energy Project.

The pit has a capacity of 535,400 cubic meters and could easily handle the disposal of the expected daily volume of 150 to 200 metric tons, not only from Itogon and Baguio but also the surrounding areas of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay.

In a memorandum of agreement to cooperate with Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan and Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan signed on Jan. 6, 2017, and a further letter to the Baguio City Council, Benguet Corp. executive director Isidro C. Alcantara said all the necessary project feasibility stud-

ies will be done in consultation with the local government officials to ensure all their concerns will be addressed.

Initial findings show that the ESL could provide a solution to the garbage disposal problem that can run indefinitely, since it will provide and recycle bio-degradable raw material input to the WTE project that is estimated to generate as much 25 megawatts.

Additionally, the landfill at Antamok will avoid any potential health related issues that may arise from the ill effects of insufficient handling of garbage in a major city.

Currently, Baguio sends its garbage to Capas, Tarlac—a distance of 155 kilometers—and spends about P80 million yearly for it.

The proposed Antamok Site is only 18.5 kilometers from Baguio and Itogon, of which 12.5 kilometers is on a concrete allpurpose road, while only 2.5 kilometers needs to be widened Turn to C2

By Ben Moses Ebreo

NEW SCHOOL LAB. Navotas Mayor John Rey Tiangco (center) witnesses the turnover of the carpentry and welding laboratory and the audio-visual room to the San Rafael Technological and Vocational High School donated by Aboitiz Power. The rooms cost a combined P3.4 million and is part of Aboitiz Power’s corporate social responsibility. Andrew Rabulan

Perpetual student tops physicians’ board exam

Karl Emmanuel Mercader

KARL Emmanuel Mercader of University of Perpetual Help System Dalta-Jonelta School of Medicine has topped the 2017 Physicians’ Board Examinations held on March 5, 6, 12, and 13 in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cebu, and Zamboanga.

Mercader, 30, scored 88.58 percent to grab the top post for Perpetual out of 1,317 board examinees, with 813 passers as

announced by the Professional Regulatory Commission last March 16.

The third of five siblings, Mercader graduated in 2015 and took his internship at the University of Perpetual Help Medical Center in Las Piñas City, where the family lives.

His father Perfecto is a tricycle driver at BF Resort Village despite being 71 years old, in part

to sustain his son’s studies.

Mercader is Perpetual Help’s first Top 10 physician’s board passer. He had worked as a call center agent in the last two years after he nearly quit medical school, admitting he collapsed under the stress of his previous internship at another hospital.

Alvin Villas of Fatima University placed second with an 87.17 rating, and Nigel Cu-

nanan of University of the East-Ramon Magsaysay was third at 87.08.

University of the Philippines-Manila got a 100-percent passing rate, while University of Perpetual Help System Dalta posted an 88.89-percent passing rate, ahead of Far Eastern University-Nicanor Reyes Medical Foundation, which got 88.20 percent.

Killers on motorcycle shoot Manila policewoman dead A FEMALE police officer was shot to death by two unidentified motorcycleriding suspects in Sta. Cruz, Manila, late Sunday night.

The Manila Police District said PO1

under contract with the PCSO to pay a minimum income to be remitted daily and direct to the agency.

In turn, PCSO will remit to local government units their share of the state-sponsored numbers game.

In the past, STL operators remitted directly to the LGUs their share of the operation, but Loyola said the amounts may go beyond the prescribed ceiling, based on sales duly covered with receipts.

Jorsan Marie Alafriz was driving her car along Recto Avenue and was on her way to work at the Barbosa Police Community Precinct when two suspects drove up to her car and shot her at close range.

Alafriz crashed her car into several passenger tricycles after the shooting. She was rushed to the hospital but was declared dead on arrival, sustaining multiple gunshot wounds to the face and chest.

Police officials said Alafriz was new to the Barbosa Precinct, as she was assigned to it just five months earlier. MPD investigators recovered over a dozen 9-mm casings from the crime scene. Sandy Araneta

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—The imminent extinction of the rare “ludong” fish species, also known as the lobed river mullet, depends on the proactive moves of local government units hosting the fish’s habitats and their support of the fishery sector in Cagayan Valley.

Dr. Evelyn Ame, Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources research division chief and project leader of the Ludong Preservation Project, said a five-year ban on catching the fish is being pushed, while the bureau is rallying support from the LGUs through the enactment of ordinances and resolutions.

The closed season for “ludong” fishing would be enforced during its migration run from October to December every year, to enable the endangered species to reproduce, Ame said.

The proposed five-year ban would be “a sufficient period to revive the stable population of the fish species” and was conceived after extensive research, the BFAR official added.

Ludong is herbivorous, eating only the filamentous algae that live on rocks and boulders in and near river rapids, according to the bureau. A mature fish weighs from 250 grabs to 2 kg and costs P4,000 to P5,000 a kilo, making it the most expensive fish in the Philippines.

It commands a very high price in the market because it grows seasonally and is difficult to catch. It migrates to the ocean to breed, then returns to its freshwater upstream ponds, the BFAR said.

THIS IS TO INFORM THE PUBLIC THAT GYRON CREW INC. HAS CHANGE TO QUNCREW INC. 7/F FERGUSON PARK TOWER M.H. DEL PILAR COR. A. FLORES ST. ERMITA, MANILA. TEL: 526-20-50/51

Republic of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT National Capital Judicial Region Branch 117, Pasay City

email us at advertise@ thestandard.com.ph or call us at 832-5547

All persons having an interest in the subject property are hereby directed to appear on the scheduled hearing and file such claim as they may have before this Court.

Let this Order be published, prior to the hearing, once a week for three (3) consecutive weeks in a newspaper of general circulation for all concerned to appear, oppose and/ or contest said petition. Likewise, let this Order and copy of the petition be posted at the main entrance of the Pasay City Hall, the Bulletin Board of the Hall of Justice, Pasay City, LRC Case No. R-PSY-17-24879-CV the Office of the Register of Deeds of Pasay City and at the place where the subject property is located at least fifteen (15) days immediately MARK H. NAGTALON, preceding the aforesaid hearing. The Petitioner. publication and posting shall be at the x--------------------------------------x expense of the petitioner.

IN RE: PETITION FOR THE ISSUANCE AND/OR REPLACEMENT OF SECOND OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 15253

ORDER

RESERVE YOUR AD SPACE NOW!

On January 4, 2017, a verified petition was filed and raffled to this Court for the ISSUANCE AND/ OR REPLACEMENT OF SECOND OWNER’S DUPLICATE COPY OF TRANSFER CERTIFICATE OF TITLE NO. 15253 of the Registry of Deeds for Pasay City, covering a parcel of land located in Pasay City, Metro Manila, consisting of Four Hundred Fifty (450) square meters, more or less, registered in the names of Spouses Augusto Bautista, Jr. and Purita Baker-Bautista.

Furnish copy of this Order together with a copy of the petition the Register of Deeds of Pasay City, the Office of the Solicitor General, the Office of the Land Registration Authority, the Land Management Bureau, as well as Augusto Jewel A. Bautista III and Sultan Huzur R.S. Rusulla. Furnish also the petitioner and his counsel copy of this Order.

The Register of Deeds of Pasay City may file comment/opposition to the subject petition within fifteen (15) days from receipt of this Order.

SO ORDERED. It appearing that the petition is sufficient in form and substance, let Pasay City, Metro Manila, January the hearing thereof be set on April 4, 2017 at 1:30 o’clock in the afternoon 11, 2017. before this Court located at Rm. 406, (Sgd.) EUGENIO G. DELA CRUZ 4th Floor, Hall of Justice, F.B. Harrison Presiding Judge St., Pasay City.

(MS-Mar. 21, 28 & Apr. 4, 2017)

NOTICE TO SHAREHOLDERS OF BRIGHT KINDLE RESOURCES & INVESTMENTS, INC. (FORMERLY BANKARD, INC.) RYM Business Management Corporation, Caulfield Heights, Inc., Mr. Anthony M. Te and Mr. Macario U. Te (the “Bidders”) acquired a total of 1,375,459,989 shares of common stock of Bright Kindle Resources & Investments, Inc. (formerly Bankard, Inc.) (“BKR”) (the “BKR Sale Shares”) registered in the names of, and/or beneficially owned by, Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation and RCBC Capital Corporation. As of the same date, the BKR Sale Shares represented approximately 89.9891% of the issued and outstanding capital stock of BKR. In relation to the conditions for the acquisition of the BKR Sale Shares and pursuant to the requirements of the Philippine Securities Regulation Code (“SRC”) and its implementing rules and regulations, the Biddersare implementing a tender offer to acquire the 257,145,011 common shares currently held by the public, representing approximately 16.82% of the issued and outstanding capital of BKR (the “BKR Public Shares”) from the owners thereof (the “BKR Public Shareholders”), subject to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”)(“Tender Offer”).

The Bidders shall purchase BKR Public Shares which are tendered (the “Tender Offer Shares”) by the BKRPublic Shareholders (the “Tendering Shareholders”), at the price of P0.8575 per share (the “Tender Offer Price”), payable in cash (before deductions for customary selling charges of0.61% of the total transaction valueor P0.8523 after deducting the customary selling charges).The customary selling charges that will be deducted by the Bidders do not include the selling broker’s commission payable by the Tendering Shareholder, which is subject to mutual agreement between the Tendering Shareholder and its/his/her broker, and the taxes on the commission.

Each BKR Public Shareholder as of any date during the Offer Period is entitled to sell its/his/her BKR Public Shares to the Bidders in accordance with and subject to the Terms of the Tender Offer, which is Annex A to the Application to Tender Common Shares in Bright Kindle Resources & Investments, Inc. (formerly Bankard, Inc.) to RYM Business Management Corporation, Caulfield Heights, Inc., Mr. Anthony M. Te and Mr. Macario U. Te (the “Application”).

The Tender Offer will commence at 9:00 a.m. on 20 March 2017 and end at 5:00 p.m. on 19 April 2017.The Bidders reserve the right to extend the Tender Offer with the approval of the SEC. Scrip shareholders (i.e., shareholders who hold stock certificates) of BKR who wish to sell their shares to the Bidders should complete the Application in triplicate and submit the same with the following attachments to Lucky Securities Inc. (the “TO Agent”) at the address set forth below, not later than the end of the Tender Offer Period: Lucky Securities Inc. 1902B West Tower, Philippine Stock Exchange Center, Exchange Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City a.

Original BKR stock certificates duly endorsed; to be verified by the TO Agent as valid and authentic certificates. For those whose stock certificate/s is/are lost: (i) one (1) original of a duly notarized affidavit of loss; (ii) copy of the affidavit of loss as published in a newspaper of general circulation (in substantially the form of Annex E to the Application which is Exhibit A to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the SEC); (iii) affidavit of publication (of affidavit of loss); and (iv) bond in the amount of P0.8595 covered by a lost stock certificate. b.

For Individuals:

c.

d.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 Standard C2 TODAY Manila

(i)

For shareholders acting through an attorney-in-fact, a duly notarized Irrevocable Power of Attorney (in substantially the form attached as Annex B to the Application, which is Exhibit A to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the SEC). For married individuals who are Philippine citizens, their respective spouses must sign the space provided in the Irrevocable Power of Attorney to indicate marital consent to the sale of the Tender Offer Shares.

(ii)

Photocopies of two (2) valid identification cards showing the Applicant’s signature and photograph, i.e., driver’s license, tax identification card, Social Security Services/Government Services and Insurance System card, or passport.

(iii)

Duly accomplished signature card containing the specimen signature of the Applicant and verified by the Applicant’s broker or by an officer of the bank at which the Applicant maintains an account (the signature card must specify the name of the broker and the broker’s signatory or the name of the bank and the bank’s signatory, as the case may be).

For Corporations: (i)

Notarized Board Resolution (in substantially the form of the Secretary’s Certificate attached as Annex C to the Application, which is Exhibit A to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the SEC) authorizing the sale of the Tender Offer Shares, designating signatories for the purpose and indicating the specimen signatures of those signatories.

(ii)

Copy of SEC Certificate of Incorporation or equivalent constitutive document certified as true copy of the original by the Corporate Secretary or equivalent person having official custody of company records.

(iii)

Copy of latest Articles of Incorporation and By-laws of the Applicant or equivalent constitutive document certified as true copy of the original by the Corporate Secretary or equivalent person having official custody of company records.

(iv)

Duly accomplished signature card containing the specimen signature of the Applicant’s designated authorized signatories and verified by the Applicant’s broker or by an officer of the bank at which the Applicant maintains an account (the signature card must specify the name of the broker and the broker’s signatory or the name of the bank and the bank’s signatory, as the casemay be).

For Partnerships:

Zubiri’s Ombudsman case spills over to FB C

By Lance Baconguis

AGAYAN DE ORO CITY—A Facebook post upholding the decision of the Ombudsman to suspend Bukidnon Gov. Jose Maria Zubiri Jr. was meant to misinform his constituents, his camp said over the weekend.

According to the post, the Office of the Ombudsman denied Zubiri’s motion for reconsideration on a complaint filed by a former provincial government employee against him. The post also showed the copy of the Ombudsman’s order.

Contrary to the social media post

by Zubiri’s perceived detractors, “the governor respects the rule of law and he has high regards and faith in the justice system and its process,” his camp’s statement said. “[That is] precisely why he filed a Petition for Review at the Court of Appeals. He respects the decision of the Office of the Ombudsman, at the same time, the governor does not agree with its decision,” it added.

Zubiri’s camp said his political opponents “have no respect for the process of the law, and they are misleading and misinforming the people.”

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by Carlos Ycaro, a retired worker of the Bukidnon Provincial Capitol who used to head its general services department. He accused the governor of refusing to sign his clearance and his request for commutation.

A copy of the Ombudsman’s decision, dated Nov. 11, 2016, was posted on Facebook on Saturday.

In his affidavit, Ycaro accused Zubiri of abuse of authority, conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service, grave misconduct, and for violations of Republic Acts 10154 and 6713.

RA 10154 pertains to the early release of retirement benefits of public officials, while RA 6713 is the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for public officials and employees.

Last year, the Ombudsman ordered Zubiri suspended for six months for refusing to approve Yca-

By Ben Moses Ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya— OceanaGold Philippines Inc. has poured in funds to improve the quality of education among villagers in Quirino and this province.

David Way, OGPI Didipio operations manager, said they have

donated P43 million so far for the construction of the Eastern Nueva Vizcaya National High School in Barangay Didipio in Kasibu town as part of their social investment in the community.

“This is now 97 percent completed and we hope to finish the project early this year,” Way said of OGPI, which operates the gold-

ERRATUM

(i)

Copy of SEC Certificate of Registration or equivalent constitutive document certified as true copy of the original by the Partnership Secretary or equivalent person having official custody of the partnership records.

(ii)

Copy of the latest Articles of Partnership of the Applicant or equivalent constitutive document certified as true copy of the original by the Partnership Secretary or equivalent person having official custody of the partnership records.

(iii)

Notarized Partnership Resolution (in substantially the form of the Partners’ Certificate attached as Annex D to the Application, which is Exhibit A to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the SEC) authorizing the sale of the Tender Offer Shares, designating signatories for the purpose and indicating the specimen signature of the signatories.

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:

Duly accomplished signature card containing the specimen signature of the Applicant’s designated authorized signatories and verified by the Applicant’s broker or by an officer of the bank at which the Applicant maintains an account (the signature card must specify the name of the broker and the broker’s signatory or the name of the bank and the bank’s signatory, as the case may be).

Scripless shareholders (i.e., shareholders of BKRwhose shares are lodged with thePhilippine Depository and Trust Corporation (“PDTC”) who wish to accept the offer must complete the Application in triplicate and submit the same with the attachments referred to in item (b), (c) or (d) above (as applicable to the TO Agent at the address set out above no later than the end of the Tender Offer Period. In addition, such scripless shareholders must instruct their brokers to electronically transfer their Tender Offer Shares to the TO Agent. The member broker(s) of the PSE who hold(s) theTender Offer Shares, should, upon receipt of the notice of the Tender Offer, immediately notify the relevant shareholder that should the shareholder wish to sell its/his/her shares in BKRto the Bidders, the shareholder must instruct said participating broker to electronically transfer its/his/her shares to the TO Agent, as custodian for such shares, not later than 5:00 p.m.on19 April 2017. When tendering shares, the participating brokers are required to submit the letter to the TO Agent (in the form of Annex 1 to the Instructions to Participating TO Agents, which is Exhibit G to the SEC Form 19-1 filed by the Bidders with the SEC) not later than 5:00 p.m. on 19 April 2017as well as the duly completed Application.

The terms of the Application (including the Representations and Warranties) shall form integral parts of the Terms of the Tender Offer, which in turn form integral parts of the Application.

The Tender Offer Shares shall be deemed accepted by the Bidder on 21 April 2017subject to the conditions that the TO Agent has determined that the Tendering Shareholders shall have submitted the required documents and obtained all the required approvals and authorizations to enable it to transfer the Tender Offer Shares to the Bidders before the expiration of the Tender Offer.

Acceptance of Applications is subject to the terms hereof. The Bidders, through the TO Agent, at its sole discretion, shall have the right to reject any Application that does not qualify and accept qualified Applications at any time before the Tender Offer Shares are sold to the Bidders through the facilities of the PSE. Applications (i) received after the Tender Offer Period, or (ii) that are not properly completed, or (iii) lack any of the required attachments, will be rejected.

The TO Agent will accept Applications on the condition that it is able to verify the signature/endorsement on BKRstock certificates by verifying the signature on file with BKR’s stock transfer agent, if such is available. The TO Agent will rely on the signature affixed on the Application and on the supporting identification documents or board resolution when it verifies the endorsement of the relevant BKRstock certificates. The TO Agent shall not be required to make further inquiries into the authenticity of the signature. If the TO Agent is unable to verify the signature on the Application or the endorsement of the BKRstock certificate, the TO Agent will also reject the Application.

Tendering Shareholders whose Applications have been rejected, in whole or in part, shall be notified of such fact by the TO Agent on or before 21 April 2017.

All Applications shall be accepted only in the Philippines.

Rejected shares shall be returned in the same form they were received to the Tendering Stockholder’s broker (for scripless shares) or to the Tendering Stockholder (for certificated shares) within three (3) trading days from the end of the Tender Offer Period. Any and all costs and expenses incurred in connection with the return of the rejected shares shall be borne by the Tendering Stockholder.

The accepted Tender Offer Shares are intended to be crossed at the PSE on 26 April 2017(the “Cross Date”), subject to the approval by the PSE and subject further to any extension of the Tender Offer Period with the approval of the SEC. Any change in the Cross Date shall be announced by the Bidders in Manila Standard and Philippine Daily Inquirer The settlement date shall be within three (3) trading days from the date the accepted Tender Offer Shares are crossed at the PSE (the “Settlement Date”), subject to any extension of the Tender Offer Period with the approval of the SEC. All accepted Applications shall be settled only in the Philippines.

The TO Agent will act as agent for the Tendering Shareholders for the purpose of receiving the check payments from the Bidders and transmitting the check payments to such Tendering Shareholders. The check payments to be issued to Tendering Shareholders shall be made available by the TO The TO Agent will act as agent for the Tendering Shareholders for the purpose of receiving the check payments from the Bidders and transmitting the check payments to such Tendering Shareholders. The check payments to be issued to Tendering Shareholders shall be made available by the TO Agent for pick-up by the Tendering Shareholders starting on Settlement Date at its offices.

When collecting payment, the Tendering Shareholders shall present the “Applicant’s Copy” of the Application as well as proper identification (e.g., driver’s license, driver’s license, tax identification card, Social Security Services/Government Services and Insurance System card, or passport). Duly authorized representatives shall be required to present an authorization letter from the Tendering Shareholders.

Tendering beneficial owners of Tender Offer Shares are advised to consult with their custodian, fiduciaries, or other similar agents on the manner by which they may collect payment from such agents.

In any event, no payment shall be made without the TO Agent having timely received the duly accomplished Application, the stock certificates evidencing the Tender Offer Shares and other documents required herein.

Any payment not collected within thirty (30) trading days from the Cross Date shall be dispatched via registered mail, to the address of the Tendering Shareholder indicated in the Application, at the risk of the Tendering Shareholders.

Tendering Shareholders shall have the right to withdraw any Tender Offer Shares at any time during the Tender Offer Period but only up to 19 April 2017 at 5:00 p.m., by submitting a written request for the withdrawal of the Tender Offer Shares to the TO Agent with a copy of the “Applicant’s Copy” of the Application issued by the TO Agent. If tendered Tender Offer Shares are not accepted by the Bidderson or before 21 April 2017,Tendering Shareholders may likewise withdraw their tendered shares.

For withdrawal of the tendered shares to be effective, a written notice of withdrawal must be received by the TO Agent before 5:00 p.m. on19 April 2017at the address set forth herein. The notice must specify the name of the Tendering Shareholder and the number of Tender Offer Shares to be withdrawn. If the stock certificates evidencing the Tender Offer Shares have been delivered to the TO Agent, the serial numbers shown on such certificates must be submitted to the TO Agent prior to the physical release of such certificates. No request for withdrawal of fractions of Tender Offer Shares will be considered. The TO Agent shall have the right in its sole discretion, to determine the form and validity of the notice of withdrawal, including the time of receipt thereof.

All expenses incurred by the TO Agent in respect of withdrawal of Tender Offer Shares shall be for the account of the shareholder making the withdrawal.

The terms set out in SEC Form 19-1 filed with the SEC on 01 February 2017shall form integral parts of the Terms of the Tender Offer. Copies of the SEC Form 19-1 are attached to the Notice of Tender Offer distributed to the shareholders of BKR. Any shareholder who wishes to obtain a copy of the said form may do so at the office of the TO Agent.

For inquiries regarding the Tender Offer, the number of shares and stock certificates, please contact the following: Lucky Securities Inc. Contact Person: Ms. Bee F. Ang Telephone Number: 634-6786 Telephone Number:634-5382

RYM BUSINESS MANAGEMENT CORPORATION Represented by Mr. Remegio C. Dayandayan, Jr.

CAULFIELD HEIGHTS, INC. Represented by Mr. Isidro C. Alcantara, Jr.

MR. ANTHONY M. TE MR. MACARIO U. TE (MS-MAR. 20,21 & 22, 2017

ro’s terminal leave application.

But Zubiri said he was not yet the provincial governor at the time Ycaro applied for leave, and pointed to then-governor Alex Calingasan as the right person to approve such documents.

Zubiri reasoned that Ycaro was not cleared due to his alleged failure to account for chairs owned by the provincial government amounting to P3.25 million, and the electrification, installation and supply of equipment worth a total of P8.1 million, of which only P868,472 was accounted for.

In its recent ruling, however, the Ombudsman upheld its June 7, 2016 decision of ordering the governor’s suspension for being

Miner funds education projects in NV

There was an error in the Department of Health (DOH) Invitation to Bid re Procurement of various goods. In item No. 6 the table for the activity for Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids was omitted. Item No. 6 should have read as:

(iv)

Zubiri

“administratively guilty of grave abuse of authority amounting to oppression.”

Despite the Ombudsman upholding its previous ruling, Zubiri said he managed to secure legal remedies from the Court of Appeals-Mindanao Station based in this city.

“While it is true that the Motion for Reconsideration filed by Gov. Zubiri was denied by the Ombudsman, [he] has timely filed a Petition for Review before the Court of Appeals Cagayan de Oro City in relation to the case filed

by Carlos Ycaro,” said a statement posted by Zubiri’s office on Facebook on Saturday.

“In fact, the governor has secured a Temporary Restraining Order and Writ of Preliminary Injunction, issued by the CA,” it added.

A source at the provincial government on Sunday said Zubiri obtained the TRO and writ from the appellate court in January this year.

The governor’s statement added the case Ycaro filed against Zubiri, for violation of RA 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act, was dismissed by the Ombudsman for lack of legal basis, but the case filed by the governor against the former is still pending in the same office.

Activity (Date & Time) IB No.

Name of Contract

IB No. 2017-199 IB No. 2017-200 IB No. 2017-201 IB No. 2017-202 IB No. 2017-145

Procurement of Auto-Disable Syringes 0.5ml with Needle Procurement of Auto-Disable Syringes 0.05ml with Needle Procurement of Mixing/Reconstitution Syringes with Needle

And not as published.

Procurement of Ultra Low Volume Aerosol Spray Procurement of Office Cabinet and Industrial Fan

Pre-bidding Conference

Submission and Opening of Bids

28 March 2017; 10:00 A.M.

11 April 2017; 09:00 A.M.

copper mine in Didipio.

He also said OGPI is assisting 205 scholars since last year, and donated P5.6 million to universities in north Luzon for the promotion of quality education.

About P3.8 million of the fund, meant to support the development of mining technologies and geosciences, went to the Mining Engineering Laboratory of the Saint Louis University in Baguio City.

The agriculture and biosystems laboratory of Quirino State University also received P599,000, and P1.2 million went to the geodetic engineering and mine survey equipment of the Nueva Vizcaya State University in Bayombong town.

Last year, it produced more than 147,150 ounces of gold and 21,123 tons of copper, with gold sales of 149,663 ounces and 21,413 tons of copper sales.

Itbayat airport now named after Abad ITBAYAT, Batanes—The only operating airfield in this island—the northernmost town in the country’s northernmost province—has been renamed Jorge Abad Airport, through a resolution recently passed by the local council here.

The change is in honor of Jorge Abad, the former secretary of Public Works back in 1955 and the first Ivatan (the indigenous people of the island) member of Cabinet, the resolution stated.

The father of former congressman and former Budget secretary Florencio “Butch” Abad was said to be instrumental in sourcing funds for the construction of the airstrip.

Ivatan historians claim the airstrip was also created in collaboration with the locals, who leveled the hilly site manually, using crowbars and hoes, as no contractors and heavy equipment could reach Batanes at the time.

Batanes has another airport in Basco, about 40 kilometers south of Itbayat, on the main island of the provincial group of islands.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines classifies Itbayat Airport as a community airport.

Itbayat is a fifth-class municipality with a population of just 2,867 as of the 2015 census. It is just 200 kilometers from the southernmost tip of Taiwan. Jessica M. Bacud

Benguet...

From C1

ment Bureau, Mines and Geosciences Bureau, and Goldrich.

The TWG will assess and choose the technology, craft the corporate structure, and address the public interest requirements for the project. The final proposal will be presented for approval of the mayors and their respective town councils prior to implementation.

Upon conclusion and acceptance of the Project Feasibility Study, Benguet Corp. and the LGUs will formally submit the proposal to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the MGB as the amendment of and approval of the Final Mine Rehabilitation and Decommissioning Program for Antamok.

“It is hopefully expected the DENR and MGB will support the proposals, which are both Recycling and Renewable Energy Projects currently being espoused by the DENR,” Alcantara said.

He added the proposed ESL and Waste to Energy Projects “fall exactly within their guidelines of creating and converting mine sites and their rehabilitation into socio-economic zones to benefit the surrounding communities that will result in new ‘green economy’ jobs.”

and improved to access the ESL site, the company said.

Expected savings for Baguio alone could be as much as P45 million annually, Benguet Corp. added. An encouraging factor is that the project can then be launched very quickly without any funds spent for land acquisition, road building, and with minimal site development.

Benguet Corp. will assign in perpetuity the 42-hectare open pit site. A joint venture with an industrial partner and developer, Goldrich Natural Resources Exploration and Development Inc., will be formed, which will construct and develop the ESL at no cost to Baguio and Itogon.

Another project proponent using the latest renewable energy technology is being invited to put up the waste-to-energy project, and Baguio and Itogon are expected to receive economic benefits from the WTE company.

A Technological Working Group and Assessment Team has been created, composed of representative from the two LGUs, Benguet Corp., the Regional Environmental Manage-

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF Hindu marriage bill signed into law ISLAMABAD―The president of mainly Muslim Pakistan has signed into law a bill allowing the Hindu minority to register their marriages for the first time since partition from India in 1947.

The bill, signed by President Mamnoon Hussain on Sunday, will “safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Hindu families”, a government statement said.

It will also allow Hindus to file for divorce and remarry, and will protect the financial security of women and children after divorce.

Ramesh Kumar Vankwani, head of the Pakistan Hindu Council, told AFP Monday the legislation would solve many problems faced by the community in Pakistan, where discrimination and violence against religious minorities is commonplace.

“This law is a welcome step ...

It will remove all difficulties for the registration of Hindu marriages,” he said.

Following the end of British rule in South Asia in 1947, the sub-continent was partitioned into mainly Hindu India and Pakistan, triggering widespread religious bloodshed in which hundreds of thousands were killed and millions displaced.

Since then, Pakistani Hindus -who number around 8.2 million in the country of an estimated 180 million people -- have been unable to acquire the legal documentation needed to register marriages and annulments. AFP

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

Somalis fleeing famine cloaked in rags and dust B

AIDOA, Somalia―Mariam Ibrahim, her seven children and two neighbouring families were the last to leave their village in southwestern Somalia.

Six planes grounded after near-disaster SYDNEY―A regional Australian airline on Monday grounded six planes from its fleet after a propeller fell off one of them as it approached Sydney airport.

The near-disaster happened on Friday, with the crew shutting down the right-hand engine on the Saab 340 plane after “abnormal indications” before the propeller sheared off.

Despite the scare the twinpropeller Regional Express (Rex) plane carrying 16 passengers and three crew landed safely.

The airline said that while investigations were underway, it would remove from service all planes using similar propeller gearboxes and shafts, accounting for six planes from its fleet of 55.

“This is an extremely rare event and the only other recorded similar event was in 1991 when US carrier Comair’s aircraft also landed safely after a separation of its propeller,” said Rex chief operating officer Neville Howell.

“The Saab 340 aircraft is designed to climb, cruise and land on one engine, with appropriate levels of redundancy to cope with these contingencies.”

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau has started an investigation.

Regional Express is Australia’s largest independent regional airline, operating some 1,500 weekly flights to 58 destinations throughout Australia. AFP

10 killed in drought-hit Kenya NAIROBI―At least 10 people have been killed in the latest clashes in drought-hit Kenya between rural communities fighting over pasture to graze their animals, police said Monday.

Herders from the Borana and Samburu communities fought a gun battle on Sunday in an area in the center of the country called Kom, where both groups had taken their livestock to graze, said Charles Ontita, police chief of the town of Isiolo.

He said 10 people were killed in the confrontation and two wounded, “but we have deployed more officers there”.

The deaths come a week after 13 people were killed in the western Baringo region when Ilchamus and Pokot herdsmen clashed over grazing at an area called Mukutani.

On Sunday in Mukutani, four police officers were wounded when suspected Pokot herdsmen fired on their vehicle as they escorted members of the Ilchamus community to safety, according to Baringo police.

In response to the spreading violence in both parts of the country President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday announced the deployment of troops to Baringo and Laikipia regions. AFP

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WAGGY AWARDS. Pug Nation Rescue’s Bella the Pug onstage at The Tailwaggers Foundation 2017 Waggy Awards at the Taglyan Cultural Complex on March 19, 2017, in Hollywood, California. AFP

FBI director to testify over alleged wiretap WASHINGTON―The directors of the FBI and NSA are to give keenly awaited testimony before Congress Monday on what ties President Donald Trump may have with Russia and his explosive allegation that he was wiretapped by his predecessor Barack Obama.

Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey and Mike Rogers of the National Security Agency will speak publicly for the first time about two issues that have riveted the American public for weeks and further divided the country’s two ever-at-odds political parties.

The stakes for the tycoon-turnedworld-leader could hardly be higher.

Comey will testify before the House Intelligence Committee at a hearing aimed at probing Russia’s interference in the 2016 election campaign. Rogers is also scheduled to testify.

Trump and his entourage’s possible

ties with the Russia of President Vladimir Putin have been the subject of much speculation since before he was elected on November 8.

US intelligence agencies in January took the extraordinary step of stating publicly that they had concluded that hackers working for Russia broke into the email accounts of senior Democrats and released embarrassing ones with the aim of helping Trump defeat Hillary Clinton.

Even since then, the question of whether Trump and company were or are somehow in cahoots with Russia has dominated the national conversation.

A congressional panel so far has found no evidence that Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia, its chairman said Sunday.

Based on “everything I have up to this morning -- no evidence of collusion,”

by Trump’s team and Moscow, Repre-

sentative Devin Nunes, chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, told Fox News.

“Was there a physical wiretap of Trump Tower? No, but there never was, and the information we got on Friday continues to lead us in that direction,” Nunes stressed.

Moscow has denied involvement in the hacks, and Trump has denounced the tumult over alleged Russia connections as a “total witch hunt.”

Monday’s hearing was also expected to address a second explosive issue: Trump’s unsubstantiated accusations that the Obama administration wiretapped his phone at Trump Tower in New York during the campaign. AFP Trump on March 4 tweeted that Obama had “tapped” his phone -- a charge that has consumed political debate in the US capital. AFP

They loaded their combined belongings -blankets, cooking pots, sleeping mats, jerry cans, clothes -- onto a hired donkey cart and walked beside it for 20 kilometers to Baidoa, the closest city.

“There is nobody left now,” said the 28-yearold.

She joined thousands of others who are arriving in Baidoa each day, staggering from the parched countryside into the garrison city, cloaked in rags and dust.

Clusters of stick and cloth domes are appearing across the outskirts of Somalia’s regional capital.

Somali and Ethiopian soldiers -- part of an African Union force -- secure the town against the AlQaeda-aligned Shabaab militants whose control begins just 15 kilometres away.

Successive seasons of poor rains and failed harvests have left farming families like Ibrahim’s destitute and on the brink of famine.

The United Nations is warning of an unprecedented global crisis with famine already gripping parts of South Sudan and looming over Nigeria, Yemen and Somalia, threatening the lives of 20 million people.

For Somalis, the memory of the 2011 famine that left a quarter of a million people dead is still fresh.

But Ibrahim said what is happening now feels worse.

First the food ran out, then the wells emptied.

And the little water that remains is brackish or diseased. So when her village of Aliyow Mumin suffered an outbreak of cholera in late January, Ibrahim decided to leave.

Muslima Kusow was born into famine 25 years ago and survived 2011, but it was this year’s drought which forced her to abandon her home for the first time.

She left the farming village of Roobey in early March, trekking four days northwards with her six children to Baidoa.

Asked why, Kusow feathers four slender fingers down her throat to mime swallowing, then holds out an empty hand: “Thirst. Hunger.”

Her youngest child, two-year-old Asiba, is skinny and pale, lacking the strength to hold her head upright.

At the Deeg-Roor Medical Organization—the name means “first rains”—Abdirahim Mohamed says new outpatients are registering for the UNICEF-backed feeding program at an exponential rate.

In February, 75 children were admitted to the clinic, more than double the number in January and a figure he predicts will double again in March.

The worst cases—youngsters too weak to feed, or those suffering from outbreaks of cholera that have killed 286 and infected over 11,000 nationwide this year—are taken to the city hospital.

Inside, cholera patients lie on blankets on the concrete floor or on metal bed frames, attached to intravenous drips.

Tuk-tuks race in disgorging new victims. Visitors are sprayed with chlorine on the way out.

In the intensive care unit of the hospital’s malnutrition center, nine beds are tightly packed into a hot, dim room. All but one are occupied by mothers with their slowly recovering children.

Hamsia Ibrahim, 32, swirls breast milk in a plastic bowl before trickling it into a syringe and feeding it, through a nasal tube, into the stomach of her seven-month-old daughter Shamso. AFP

Abe’s approval rating slumps over scandals TOKYO―Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s approval rating has fallen sharply, an opinion poll showed Monday, as scandals erode public confidence in a government now in its fifth year.

Abe took power in December 2012 on the back of widespread frustration with the previous administration’s handling of the 2011 nuclear disaster and perceived mismanagement of ties with key ally the United States.

He vowed to revive the world’s third-largest economy by ending years of on-and-off deflation and pursue his pet project of amending Japan’s post-war pacificist constitution that bans it from using force except in the strictest sense of self-defense.

But for weeks now he has been forced to deny connections with a nationalistic school operator whose purchase of state land to build a primary school at a huge discount has drawn allegations of shady dealings.

Abe has said he had no role in the transaction and has more than once vowed to resign if any con-

nection is found.

But new twists to the scandal, which has also engulfed his defense minister, keep emerging, ensuring it remains on newspaper front pages.

The latest survey by the topselling Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper shows approval for Abe’s cabinet has dropped by 10 percentage points to 56 percent.

Though that still remains high, the daily said it marked the biggest monthly fall since he took office. Other recent polls have also shown declines.

Some 64 percent of the more than 1,000 respondents to the Yomiuri survey, conducted at the weekend, said they were not convinced by Abe’s denials.

Yasunori Kagoike, the school operator, last week claimed he received a one million yen ($8,800) donation from Abe for the primary school, plans for which now have been put on ice.

Abe’s wife, Akie, had been named honorary principal of the school but stepped down last month as the land scandal swirled. AFP

THE FIXER. An Iraqi man fixes bicycles at the Sadriya market in Baghdad on March 20, 2017. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

Soaring home prices lock homeless out

World

Diplomat expelled as probe stymied WELLINGTON―A US diplomat has been expelled from New Zealand after Washington refused to waive diplomaticimmunity so police investigating a serious crime could question him, officials said Monday.

Details of the alleged crime have not been revealed but local media reported the diplomat left the South Pacific nation last week suffering a broken nose and a black eye.

Prime Minister Bill English labeled the US knockback on immunity regrettable and said he expected American authorities to carry out their own investigation.

“We expect all diplomats here to obey our law and if it’s broken we’d expect our police to investigate,” English told reporters.

“We regret that they didn’t give us a waiver on immunity but they didn’t and now it’s in the hands of their authorities.”

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully said he was “disappointed” at the US refusal and in response had asked for the man at the centre of the police investigation to be withdrawn from New Zealand.

He said Wellington’s ambassador in Washington had raised the issue with US officials.

Police said they were called to an incident in Lower Hutt, on Wellington’s outskirts, in the early hours of March 12, which “involved an individual from the US embassy in Wellington”.

By the time they arrived the person had left the scene and no arrests were made.

Attempts to further investigate hit a diplomatic brick wall, however police said they still regarded the case as active. AFP

6 Bosnian Croats appeal conviction THE HAGUE―UN war crimes judges on Monday open the appeal hearings for former Bosnian Croat leader Jadranko Prlic and five others in one of the court’s “largest and most complicated cases.”

Prlic was sentenced by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in 2013 to over two decades in jail on charges of murdering and deporting Muslims during Bosnia’s 1992-1995 war.

Five other Bosnian Croat military and political leaders were also handed heavy prison terms by the tribunal based in The Hague after being found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

All six are now appealing against the convictions rendered for their roles in the conflict which was part of the greater Balkans wars that broke out in the 1990s amid the disintegration of Yugoslavia.

The Bosnian war left 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million were displaced.

Judges at sentencing said Prlic, now 57, “made a significant contribution to a joint criminal enterprise and to a criminal purpose to drive out the Muslim population,” from Bosnia in a bid to create a “greater Croatian state.”

Prlic was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, while his five accomplices were handed between 20 and 10 years in prison.

A former president and later also prime minister of the selfproclaimed Bosnian Croat state of Herceg-Bosna, Prlic has been on trial before the Hague-based ICTY since 2006. AFP

MEETING. Dutch Health minister Edith Schippers welcomes newly re-elected Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, leader of the

right-wing Liberal, in her role of scout (verkenner) in The Hague on March 20, 2017. Schippers will sound out the parties about the make-up of the next coalition after meeting the political leaders of all parties. AFP

SYDNEY―Homelessness is on the rise in Australia, experts warn, with a growing number of people failing to benefit from the nation’s stellar economy as it readies to mark a record 26 years without a recession.

The unprecedented economic expansion -- fueled by a massive mining investment boom -- has boosted house prices and lined the pockets of many citizens.

But it has also led to the country’s biggest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, being ranked second and 10th on a list of the world’s least affordable housing.

The soaring prices have placed further pressure on those already struggling to afford a roof over their heads, with a public outcry on housing affordability sparking action by federal and state governments to fund more social and inexpensive residential projects.

“Australia is a wealthy country and so it shouldn’t have the levels of homelessness that it does have,” Homelessness New South Wales (NSW) chief Katherine McKernan told AFP. “If you compare it to London and New York, the numbers of people seeking homelessness support are comparatively higher. We think that homelessness is increasing in Sydney and Melbourne due to the lack of affordable housing.”

Australia’s agency for health and welfare statistics AIHW said demand for homelessness services reached a record high of 279,000 people in 2015-16, led by those affected by domestic and family violence, a 33 percent jump from 2011-12 when the data was first collected.

More than 100,000 people were reported homeless in the 2011 national census, with welfare groups expecting the most recent survey held last year to show an increase.

Rough sleepers are more visible in cities, with Melbourne’s Herald Sun describing a homeless camp outside a major train station during the Australian Open tennis Grand Slam in January as a “grand slum”.

In downtown Sydney, Lanz Priestley has set up a “safe space” for the homeless, offering 24/7 access to free food just meters from the Reserve Bank of Australia, shiny office towers and the NSW state parliament. AFP

Travel ban wreaking havoc L OS ANGELES-As President Donald Trump battles to reinstate his controversial revised travel ban, one overlooked effect has been the havoc wreaked on legal Americans with family abroad.

Across the United States, citizens not directly targeted by plans to halt entries from six majorityMuslim nations are nevertheless finding their lives disrupted and families torn apart.

Iranian-American Madhis Keshavarz, whose father died on February 16 with relatives unable to visit him in his US hospital bed, is one such victim of the uncertainty.

“They stole from my father the chance to say goodbye to the ones he loved the most,” the Los Angeles resident told AFP, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Trump has said a travel ban is needed to preserve US national security and keep out extremists.

His first effort, in January, banned travelers from seven majority-Muslim countries and all refugees but was blocked by a court in Washington state on the grounds that it violated the constitution’s prohibition of religious discrimination.

That block was upheld on appeal, and the administration said it would revise the ban to better adhere to the law.

It aims to close US borders to nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days, and all refugees for at least 120 days. Iraq was on the original ban but removed in the revision.

But the new executive order has run into the same problems in Hawaii and Maryland.

In the confusion over the initial executive order, Keshavarz’s uncle, a German citizen who has visited the US some 30 times, found himself unable to get a visa to attend his brother’s death bed, despite having his papers in order.

“My father was an organ donor.

Some American is now walking around breathing because of him, and he was denied the basic right to say goodbye to the ones he loved the most,” said Keshavarz, a media strategist.

One of her close friends, a Briton who has dual Iranian nationality but has not been there in more than a decade, encountered similar problems when she decided to come to the US to support her grieving friend.

As a British national she didn’t need a visa but sought advice anyway from US consular officials in London.

“They said to her you need a visa. They took her British passport and kept it to review it. She had to wait to get her passport back, so missed her flight,” Keshavarz said.

Other members of her family have also seen their lives disrupted.

“My young cousin who is engaged to be married hasn’t been able to see his fiancée since the end of last year,” Keshavarz said.

“She’s been waiting for a visa to come and it’s on hold. Her status has been floating with no indication of it changing, despite a number of calls to all sorts of people, so all the planning of the wedding is suspended.”

She acknowledges that some of this bureaucracy already existed under the previous administration but adds that at least people knew the procedure, whereas “now embassies have no idea.”

Some 400,000 people of Iranian origin, often with dual citizenship, live in and around Los Angeles, among more than one million in total in the US. AFP

DAY 14. Actress Charlize Theron attends the women’s and mens finals during Day 14 of the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 19, 2017, in Indian Wells, California. AFP

‘China aiming advanced missiles at Taiwan’ TAIPEI―China is aiming advanced medium-range ballistic missiles at Taiwan as part of a growing military threat towards the island, Taipei’s defence minister said Monday.

The announcement came after Taiwan said for the first time last week that it is capable of launching missiles at China as it warned of an increased invasion risk.

China still sees Taiwan as part of its territory to be brought back

into its fold, by force if necessary, even though the island has been self-governing since the two sides split after a civil war in 1949.

Ties have worsened since Beijing-skeptic President Tsai Ingwen took power last year, ending an eight-year rapprochement.

The DF-16 (Dongfeng 16) is capable of precise strikes against Taiwan and has been deployed by the Rocket Force of the People’s Liberation Army, defence minister

Feng Shih-kuan said.

Feng told lawmakers the development comes as China “strengthens its weaponry modernization and military hard power”.

He did not say how many missiles had been deployed or where.

Taiwan has said China is targeting the island with around 1,500 missiles -- this is the first time the defense ministry identified the DF-16 as among them.

Beijing has severed all official

communications with Taipei since Tsai became leader in May and has been accused of blocking the island’s political representatives from attending international events.

China is highly suspicious of Tsai, whose Democratic Progressive Party is traditionally pro-independence.

Taiwan has never formally split from the mainland and China has warned of military consequences if it did.

Feng added that China’s six recent drills in the Western Pacific and sending its sole aircraft carrier through the Taiwan Strait were designed to “pressure Taiwan to follow its plans in the development of cross-strait relations”.

China displayed the DF-16 among a variety of short- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles at a military parade in Beijing in 2015 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Japan’s World War II defeat. AFP

Life

This exquisite paper celebrates the Year of the Rooster

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

CULTURE & MEDIA

The Chinese art of paper cutting

S

MAISON at the Conrad welcomed the Year of the Rooster with the Jianzhi - the Chinese Art of Paper Cutting exhibit at the mall’s atrium, in a program highlighted by traditional lion and dragon dances. A joint project of S Maison and Association for Philippines-China Understanding, the exhibit gives mallgoers the rare opportunity to view these elegant and exquisite art works up close.

Paper cutting or jianzhi is one of the oldest and most popular folk arts in China. Symbolizing luck and prosperity, the artworks are usually made of red paper, and used on celebrations like the Spring Festival, weddings, childbirth, and the New Year.

The art of paper cutting may date back to the second century CE since paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty in China. As paper became more affordable, paper cutting became one of the most important types of Chinese folk art.

The art of paper cutting in China can be geographically divided into a northern and southern style. The southern style, represented by the works of Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province and Leqing in Zhejiang Province, features ingenious and beautiful designs, exquisite carvings, and interesting shapes. The northern style, on the other hand, mainly from Yuxian and Fengning in Hebei province, highlights exaggerated shapes, vigorousness, vivid depictions, and diverse patterns.

During the Tang Dynasty, the skills of this handcraft became more mature, becoming more like a work of art. In the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1912), folk paper cutting reached its peak development in both range and artistry. Paper cuts were part of a leisure activity especially among women, who passed on this traditional art style to their children, and were used to decorate doors, windows, and walls as a symbol of happiness and celebration.

Chinese paper cut continues to thrive to this day. It recently received worldwide recognition of the highest prestige,

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Fu Koi Fish, a feng shui symbol for abundance

Traditional lion and dragon dances welcome the Year of the Rooster at S Maison at the Conrad

Yin Yang Dragon

The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China Culture Officer Jiang Haitao, the Association for Philippines-China Understanding (APCU) President Dr. Gabriel Lopez, and Chairman Jesus Cham shared honors during the launching of the ‘Jianzhi – the Chinese Art of Paper Cutting’ exhibit.

Joining them are floral architect Rachy Cuna, Atty. Josie Joya-Baldovino, SM Supermalls AVP for Operations Premiere 3 Perkin So, and SM Senior Vice President for Marketing Communications Group Millie Dizon.

with inclusion in the representative list of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The values, ideals, and aesthetic pursuits of Chinese people from

different ethnic backgrounds are embedThe art form has spread to other parts ded and preserved in the imagery that of the world, with different regions paper-cuts depict, conveying the elements adopting their own cultural styles inof folk legends, literature and history. cluding the Philippines.

Delicate Chinese woman paper cut

Hand painted Chinese paper cut of bird

Panday Pira mounts 30th anniversary exhibit ISSUES on poverty, capitalism and illegal drugs, among others, are tackled in Pandayan ng Pilipinong Kultura’s (Panday Pira) 30th anniversary exhibit, dubbed XXX. The group show, presented by University Center for Culture and the Arts (UCCA) of the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP), gathered members of Panday Pira Professional to present their artworks under the four themes “Ang Kalye,” “Ang Bansa,” “Ang Altar,” and “Ang Kapayapaan.”

For “Ang Kalye,” regular people and scenarios on the street are highlighted in Jof Nachor’s oil on canvas titled “Dangkal,” Retinal Renan Ortiz’s pen and ink on paper “Nanay Mameng,” Randy Valiente’s “Maynila,” and Christopher Zamora’s painting “A punk and a pedestrian.”

Panday Pira founder and Manila Standard art director Romel Ismit Mendez presents his published editorial cartoons, done using Wacon pen tablet on Adobe Photoshop, featuring national issues of the Philippines.

Fierce criticisms on various societal issues are the focus on “Ang Bansa.” Capitalism, imperialism, neo-liberalism and human trafficking are tackled through the paintings of Mendez (Infobesity), Boyet De Mesa (Gera at Kultura), Iska Venger (Aanak ti daga, Salakniban di daga), Resty Flores (Untitled), and Nachor (Fought to Loose #2).

Bogie Bobis, Andrew Florentino and Amel Sabangan pay homage to victims of the administration’s war on drugs through their pieces “Sa Pagkagat ng Liwanag,” “TINAPA (Tinaniman, Nanlaban, Pinatay),” “Roleta ng Kapalaran,” and “Necropolitics.” While the fight and purpose of an artist is illustrated by Venger’s paintings.

The third part of the exhibit, “Ang Altar,” composed of works by Rica Reyes-dela Cruz, Michael Beltran, Bridge Perez-Florentino, Bobis and Sabangan, memorializes the lives lost to extra-judicial killings and Oplan Tokhang.

Finally, “Ang Kapayapaan” symbolizes the nation’s call for peace and justice, featuring works of young artists who will inherit the future.

‘Dangkal’ by Jof Nachor

‘Necropolitics’ by Amel Sabangan

(Front row, fourth from left) UCCA Director Bely Ygot, Vice President for Student Affairs Herminia Manimtim, Mendez, (eighth from left) Front-of-house Manager Arlene Sandel, and PUP Theater House Manager Davidson Oliveros with Panday Pira members during the opening of ‘XXX’ exhibit

Panday Pira founder and Manila Standard art director Romel Ismit Mendez poses beside his published editorial cartoons

Ateneo Class ’77 marks ruby jubilee ATENEO de Manila University Class ’77—the first batch to go co-ed in an institution that had been famously an all male bastion—marks its 40th Ruby Jubilee with a year-long round of activities.

The celebration kicks off on March 26, the same date the class graduated, with mass at the Immaculate Conception Chapel inside the Church of Gesu, Ateneo de Manila Loyola campus, followed by lunch at the Aerie Room of Cervini

Lounge. Registration takes place at 11.00 am at Gesu and after the Mass, at Cervini.

The female students, who took their place beside their male counterparts in 1973, comprised about six percent of the total student population numbering about 2,000 and some 25 percent of the freshmen group.

Batch ‘77’s female members went on to high powered careers, among them Susan Zamora-Prado, EVP

and CFO of Development Bank of the Philippines; Evelyn Tang-Uy, three-term mayor of Dipolog City under whose watch it received an APEC Model City Award; Cynthia Concepcion-Baga, one of only three Papal awardees in the Philippines to receive the Cross of Honour; Marissa Fernan, vice-president at SM Prime Holdings, Region VII; Maria Aggie J. Angeles, former EVP of Planters

Development Bank and an active Jaycees International figure.

The boys also went on to excel, notably Luis Antonio Tagle, one of three summa cum laude recipients that year and now Archbishop of Manila and trusted lieutenant of Pope Francis; bank executives Alfonso L. Salcedo Jr., president and CEO of Security Bank and Justo Ortiz, chairman and CEO of Union Bank of the Philippines; as well as

shipping boss Tony Moraza, president and CEO of Aboitiz Power Corp.

The graduation of Batch ’77 also marked the centennial of national hero Jose Rizal’s graduation from the Ateneo (Ateneo de Municipal as it was known then) in 1877, finishing at the head of his class with the distincton of sobresaliente.

For more details, contact the Ateneo Alumni Office at tel 426-6001.

Life

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TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

By Pablo A. Tariman

M

ANILA is lucky to have heard the three tenors who are no doubt the opera icons of the century.

Placido Domingo sang Cavaradossi (Tosca) at the CCP in 1979 and Luciano Pavarotti and Jose Carreras debuted in the Philippines at the PICC in March and November 1994, respectively.

The three were well received with Pavarotti providing the pre-concert drama when he cancelled because of bad cold and reset it two days later.

With his good looks and equally passionate singing, Carreras was the ultimate winner.

The big drama of Carreras’ life was that he was fighting leukemia.

The idea of the Three Tenors concert was conceived by Italian producer Mario Dradi in 1990 in Rome to raise money for Carreras’s foundation, the José Carreras International Leukemia Foundation. For Domingo and Pavarotti, it was their way of welcoming Carreras back into the world of opera after undergoing successful treatment for leukemia.

The rest of course is music history for the three tenors.

In 2007, Pavarotti died at age 71 leaving the remaining two tenors pursuing their individual singing careers.

Ten years after Pavarotti’s death, Carreras and Domingo will pay tribute to Pavarotti 10 years after his death.

The homage concert will take place at the Arena di Verona on Sept. 6.

This year, Carreras announced a series of farewell concerts announced in Australia.

Filipino conductor Julian Quirit conducted in Australia Pavarotti and Carreras. Qurit was the first concertmaster of the Philippine Philharmonic.

Like it not, the Carreras farewell concerts will signal the complete dissolution of the Three Tenors collaboration.

The Three Tenors concert phenomenon would have observed its 27th anniversary this year when it debuted with a performance at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome on July 7, 1990.

They were accompanied by the orchestras of Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma

The rise and dissolution of The Three Tenors The Three Tenors: Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras

Carreras, Pavarotti and Domingo just before the 1998 World Cup, wherein they performed a concert under the Eiffel Tower in Paris Pangasinan congresswoman Rosemarie Arenas with Luciano during the tournament.

Pavarotti during his 1994 Manila debut

under the baton of Zubin Mehta who had Cecile Licad as his soloist in the latter’s New York Philharmonic debut in 1981.

In his recent face book posting, Carreras noted that on March 1, 1997, the Three Tenors gave their only concert in Australia at Cricket Ground in Melbourne, exactly 20 years ago, this year.

It may be noted that the Three Tenors success led to world-wide imitations

with Manila having its unlikely Three Tenors in the persons of former Marikina mayor and MMDA chief Bayani Fernando, former senator Joey Lina and the late general Angelo Reyes.

Real tenors soon joined the fray with Nolyn Cabahug, Lemuel de la Cruz and Robert Sena. Three Baritones series soon followed with the late singers Elmo Makil, Gamaliel Viray, and Emmanuel Gregorio.

Studies in vocal durability are the remaining two tenors who remained active in the world-wide opera and concert circuit.

At age 76, Domingo is active as concert soloist and conductor and singing baritone roles in Simon Boccanegra, Rigoletto and Traviata (as Germont), and Nabucco, among others. He is in the recent Met productions of The Enchanted Island. Before 2013 ended, Do-

mingo has sung 144 different roles. His motto as seen in his face book: to rest is to rust.

At age 70 Carreras will sing his last on the concert stage. Earlier, he sang his new opera, El Juez - Los niños perdidos (The Judge - Lost children). The world premiere took place at the Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao on April 26, 2014 with him in the title role.

Two Filipino pianists – Rowena Arrieta and Jovianney Emmanuel Cruz – are prizewinners of the Jose Iturbi piano competitions named after pianist Iturbi who was the conductor when Carreras debuted in a Barcelona opera house as El Trujiman and narrator in the De Falla Master Peter Puppet show.

A son of a traffic policeman and a hairdresser, Carreras told this writer during his 1994 Manila visit that he was inspired to take up singing when at the age of around 6 or 7; his family watched a film called The Great Caruso starring Mario Lanza. “At that time, I was instantly fascinated by the personality and charisma of Lanza. I think that film had a tremendous impact on me because from that moment on, I was obsessed with becoming a singer.”

The only member of the Three Tenors who has moved on, Pavarotti sang in Manila in 1994 and created a stir when the late former senator Blas Ople said the lowest ticket price (P3,000) for the concert was already the equivalent of the monthly pay of a government janitor. Other ticket prices ranged from P15,000 to P25,000.

The organizers were Bert Nievera and his wife, with Rosemarie Arenas as the concert executive producer.

During his first and last presscon in Manila, Pavarotti told this writer he was just retracing the footsteps of his teacher, Arrigo Pola, who sang in Manila in the mid-50s with notably with soprano Remedios Bosch Jimenez, also known as the mother of impresario and arts patron and now Pangasinan congresswoman, Rosemarie “Baby” Arenas.

When this writer told him that other great Italian tenors like Ferrucio Tagliavini and Franco Corelli had already sang in Manila before him, Pavarotti replied, “Tagliavini and Corelli are the greatest tenors of all time and if I am able to do at least half of what they have achieved in their time, I would be very happy.”

Asked by newshen Jullie Yap Daza if he considered himself the world’s greatest tenor, Pavarotti replied with a firm “no.” “But if you insist, what can I do.”

Architecture, design lecture series

Caisa Borromeo as Sabrina Daldry

Giannina Ocampo plays Catherine Givings

Cara Barredo as Elizabeth

Joshua Spafford portrays Dr. Givings

Tami Monsod as Annie

Hans Eckstein as Mr. Daldry

Jef Flores as Leo Irving

STAGE

The Vibrator Play at Onstage REP’s provocative and hilarious The Vibrator Play runs starting March 24.

Catch Repertory Philippines, more popularly known as REP’s anticipated staging of In The Next Room or The Vibrator Play from March 24 to April 23 at the Onstage Theater in Greenbelt 1 Makati. The provocative and brilliant comedy about the vibrator, written by multi-awarded playwright Sarah Ruhl, gets you laughing and leaves you moved with genuine emotion, too.

Starring Joshua Spafford and Giannina Ocampo as the gynecological and hysterical disorder expert and his unhappy wife, respectively. The Tony-nom-

inated production explores the realities of marriage, the nature of intimacy, passion, true love and yes, orgasms. Also in the cast are Caisa Borromeo, Hans Eckstein, Jef Flores, Cara Barredo, and Tami Monsod. Watch this daring show that’s sure to give you, as double entendres go, a pleasurable experience.

For inquiries, you may call REP at 843-3570, and Ticketworld at 891-9999 or log on to www.ticketworld.com.ph.

For updates and show schedules, log on to www.repertoryphilippines.ph, like and follow repertoryphilippines on Facebook and Instagram, and follow @ repphils on Twitter.

SOME artists celebrate life. Others celebrate beauty.

Architect Francisco “Bobby” Mañosa celebrates being Filipino and that, for him, is life and beauty combined.

For more than six decades, Mañosa has inspired artists and creatives to champion Philippine architecture and design. “I design Filipino, nothing else,” is his mantra as a celebrated architect. This set him apart from the rest.

From conceptualizing the Coconut Palace, to creating the EDSA Shrine, to designing Amanpulo, Pearl Farm, the LRT and other iconic Filipino landmarks, Mañosa has always taken his country and his craft seriously – to the point of turning down potentially lucrative projects simply because they were not in line with his philosophy that “Architecture must be true to itself, its land and its people.”

To celebrate his life, philosophy and legacy, an exhibit, Mañosa: Beyond Architecture, runs until May at the National Museum of the Philippines.

The exhibit showcases over 50 landmark projects from Mañosa’s prolific career, including original drawings and models never before seen by the public. Archived photographs, samples of vernacular materials, furniture, and interior elements, are also featured. The exhibition also explores Mañosa’s other creative pursuits as a jazz musician, toy designer, and designer of craft.

To further inspire new and upcoming generations of Filipino architects and designers, a lecture series runs concurrently with the exhibit, on selected Saturdays until May 6, 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the National Museum Auditorium.

“Our father always enjoyed interacting with architecture and design students, whom he called his barangay,” says Bobby’s son Dino, CEO of the Mañosa Group’s real estate development arm, Mañosa Properties. “It was important to him to mentor and inspire the youth to think Filipino and be proud of their culture. Unfortunately, his health no longer permits him to give lectures himself, so our Tukod Foundation – which produced both the exhibit and lecture series – invited like-minded individuals – renowned experts in their respective fields – to do the lectures instead.”

The “Mañosa: Beyond Architecture” lecture series includes topics on art, architecture and design, Philip-

The exhibit ‘Mañosa: Beyond Architecture’ at the National Museum of the Philippines celebrates the life, philosophy and legacy of Filipino architect Francisco ‘Bobbby’ Mañosa

pine textiles and building materials, Filipino culture and identity, nationalism and nation-building. It features such distinguished speakers as former NCCA Chair Felipe de Leon; Architects Gerard Lico, Paulo Alcarazen, Christian Salandanan, Ning Encarnacion-Tan, Markel Luna, Rino Fernandez, Rosette Santos and Dan Lichauco; art historian Patrick Flores; author and artist Elmer Nocheseda; design creatives Leo Almeria, Medilen Singh, and Len Cabili; performance artist Joey Ayala; and the custodians of Bobby Mañosa’s legacy – his three children, Dino, Bambi and Ar. Gelo Mañosa.

Each lecture can only accommodate 150 students. Admission is free.

For updates on the “Mañosa: Beyond Architecture exhibit and lecture series, visit www.facebook.com/ franciscomanosa.exhibit or email exhibit@manosa.com

TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

March MYX celebrity VJ K

Alarming expose´

APAMILYA sweetheart, also ASAP BFF5 member, Kira Balinger is in several MYX shows as celebrity VJ for March.

Kira is in Mellow MYX until March 25 and My MYX from March 26 to 31.

More music is coming your way as The Voice of the Philippines\ alumnus Jason D, takes center stage as the MYX Headliner of the month while Kaye Cal takes on the Myx Spotlight.

Catch the performance on MYX Live of iconic rapper Andrew E. on March 22.

MYX also gives you your monthly dose of foreign artists concert experience on MYX Presents! Relive classic tunes in Journey Live in Las Vegas (March 23), and rock out to five Australian boys in 5 Seconds: Up close & Personal (March 30).

MYX is targeted to youth audiences with music videos as its primary content. The MYX megabrand has become the ultimate youth brand on TV, online via MYXph.com, and social media.

It remains as one of the most followed local media outfits on Twitter and Facebook.

MYX, the no.1 music channel in the country, is on Skycable channel 23.

For more information on the channel, log on to www.myxph. com, follow Myx on Instagram (@myxph) and Twitter (@ MYXPhilippines).

FLAVOR OF THE MONTH. Star Magic artist Kira Balinger takes the VJ duties on Myx for the whole month.

A million thanks RADIO station Wish 107.5 says a million thanks for the 1M Subscribers in Wish 107.5 to Hold Thanksgiving Celebration on March 18.

On March 11, Wish 107.5 officially hit one million YouTube subscribers, making it the first FM radio station in the country to have achieved the prestigious feat.

To celebrate this milestone, Wish 107.5 held a thanksgiving celebration on March 18, at the Open Park in Eastwood Mall, Quezon City.

The event entitled A Million Thanks for the 1 Million Subscribers featured OPM royalties JayR and Kris Lawrence, Luke Mejares, Ely Buendia’s Apartel, Tippy Dos Santos, Sam Mangubat, Lucky Robles, Kath Loria, 5th Gen, Jay Kent, JBK, and DJ Robin Nievera and his band among others.

The station gave back to its avid followers via granting of wishes of selected Wishers.

The Wish 107.5 Bus at the Eastwood Central Plaza at 4 p.m. for the live broadcast of the program Roadshow.

In only over two years since its launch, the Wish YouTube page now ranks among giant entertainment and broadcast networks included in the list of local content creators that have reached the massive figure. As of writing, the roster is only composed of eight channels.

Wish 107.5’s YouTube Channel is a digital treasure

trove of a variety of WISHclusive performances staged by established, emerging, local and international acts. The site’s high-definition and frequent viral videos featuring top-notch audio quality helped attract music enthusiasts across the globe.

According to YouTube Philippines’ year-end report, Wish was 2016’s fastest-growing local channel after it obtained a 236% increase in its number of subscribers.

The Wish 107.5 YouTube Channel is just one of the innovations introduced by the all-hits radio station.

With the mission of breaking the traditional FM radio broadcast experience, Wish is also known for the groundbreaking Wish 107.5 Bus, which is capable of staging live, ticketless concerts with its state-of-the-art facilities.

As what its name implies, Wish 107.5 further sustains a wish-granting advocacy that aims to touch the lives of its listeners.

Meanwhile, its annually held Wish 107.5 Music Awards is the station’s way of honoring the country’s homegrown music in a grandiose scale. For its sophomore year, the event revolved around the theme “Your WISHclusive Gateway to the World” to celebrate its ascent from being a young FM station to becoming an able, global ambassador of exceptional musicality and artistry.

The Wish 107.5 Bus tours the metro giving fans access to their music idols' exclusive performances

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Tuesday, March 21, 2017

ACROSS 1 Flu symptom 5 Repair-bill item 10 Beach sidler 14 Capricious notion 15 Buoy up 16 Theater box 17 Walk favoring one leg 18 Triumphant 20 Make a small adjustment 22 Tom Sawyer’s fence 23 Hard sells, maybe 25 Lacking in bodily strength 26 Erase 27 Moved quickly 28 Auction site 32 Rise up on the hind legs 33 Movers and shakers 35 Terrible 36 “Little Women” name 37 Get the gold 38 Scale meas.

39 Made a fast exit 41 Shampoo-bottle word 43 — gin fizz 44 Amateur 45 Annapolis grad

46 Garden favorites 48 — -ho (zealous) 50 Welcomes warmly 51 Conundrum 54 Beatrice’s admirer 55 Exploit 57 Earnest request 61 Cat’s prey 62 Down the road 63 Finished last 64 Melodramatic cry 65 Garden dwellers 66 Quiz DOWN 1 Cobbler’s tool 2 Windy City, breezily 3 That fellow 4 More bare 5 Used dynamite 6 Pen name 7 Support 8 Hall-of-Famer Mel — 9 Resumes doing business 10 Hit it off 11 Black bird 12 Fit of shivering 13 Second to none 19 Narrow inlet 21 Squishy

23 Proper 24 Type of piano 25 Alerts 26 Pub order 27 Bridle parts 29 Military lodging 30 Trellises 31 Oui and ja 34 Unpaid 40 Pooches 41 French car maker 42 Breadwinners 43 Bell tower 47 Embed

49 Out caller 50 Like some communities 51 — Watson of the “Harry Potter” films 52 Fasten permanently 53 Andes empire 54 Statistics 56 Thai language 58 Smoked salmon 59 NASA counterpart 60 Midnight teller

THE expose of colleague and friend Jobert Sucaldito on Cornerstone management outfit is truly alarming.

It said about a lot of things, like staff members’ counter-offering a promoter’s deal when there is an existing deal with an original booker; an alleged item on some artists’ practices to get favors; the reported ‘cornering’ of “Tawag ng Tanghalan” contestants whom they encouraged to sign up with them; and others.

All these allegations were shouted out in papa Jobert’s Facebook account via a blind item though 99 percent of those who had read it, including this writer, have something common in mind and that is Cornerstone.

We tried to get in touch with a friend who is associated with the management outfit, but she just requested us to speak directly to the managers, if not Erickson Raymundo, the company’s head honcho.

We also tried to get in touch with Showtime management to get its side of the story, but until press time, no one has responded.

In this industry where artists and their managers/handlers and press friends are supposed to work hand in hand to achieve the essence of entertainment in its high form, things like this happen.

And we could not blame papa Jobert as we ourselves experienced similar incidents of being ignored, snubbed and being used even by these so-called artist-friends.

Among the artists being handled and managed by Cornerstone included “Tawag ng Tanghalan’s” jury members Kyla, Jaya, Erik Santos, Yeng Constantino and Karla Estrada. Others are Angeline Quinto, KZ Tandingan, Richard Poon, and several singers. Sam Milby is the agency’s prized actor. **** In the spirit of fairness, we personally would like to thank Erickson’s company for allowing KZ to replace in the last minute Marion Aunor during our birthday concert on March 10 at the Teatrino in Greenhills.

Although this company has snubbed us for years now (unlike in their infancy stage in the industry when they made us feel we were “their close friend.”), we felt thankful and grateful when Erickson answered our plea for help.

KZ showed us nothing but professionalism and shared her great singing talent to the hilt. No visitor or crowd member in that birthday concert would complain of her being a prima diva or “maarte’’ as she displayed but greatness in all aspects, even if her call time to perform was delayed. **** Speaking of the said birthday concert that served as our “kick-off event” for our future projects for the year, we wish to thank those who came and enjoyed.

Our big sponsors, like the Philippine Air Lines (PAL), PLDT Home and San Miguel Beer Corporation, sent their representatives and since they enjoyed the show, promised to support our endeavors on sports, tourism, health, education and other note worthy advocacies.

We also want to say big thanks to artist-friends Michael Pangilinan, Kiel Alo, Ezekiel, Shem Pilapil and Meg Imperial and Marlo Mortel for making the show a night of good songs and music. Wowowin Dancers gyrated as if they were having zumba classes with the audience.

Stand-up comic Boobsie of Wonderland was hilarious and entertained the audience of all ages, while our dear friend Asia’s Diva Dulce literally brought down the house with her very powerful rendition of upbeat numbers.

Although Bayani Fernando who is part of our group QUATRO Kantas was abroad then, the trio of ours who were left was also well received. Former Senator Joey Lina who came all the way from the airport from an out of town engagement proceeded directly to Teatrino and belted out his “This Is The Moment”, while Dr. Carl Balita gave us his heartfelt “I Dream A Dream” number. Yours truly shared “What I Did For Love” followed by our trio number of Beatles’ “The Long and Winding Road.” Of course, my son Neeyong added drama and fun to the show as he sang a duet with me.

The night was also filled with some emotional and funny video messages from our friends since way back like Albert Martinez, TJ Manotoc,Dominic Almelor, directors Maryo J. delos Reyes, Joel Lamangan and Cathy Garcia-Molina, with Kuya Ricky Lee, Sarge Colambo, Joy Buensalido, Prof. Armi Santiago, Columbia Picture’s Doris Torres, former Araneta VP Gogoy Avelino, sports icons Benjie Paras, Allan Caidic, Kieffer Ravena, Wesley Gonzales and our dearest friends from high school and college.

The show was also sponsored by Mr. Atong Ang, Atty. Caroline Cruz and family, the Dimayuga family, Tita Thelma Zuniga Rodriguez, with Congressmen Joey Salceda and Strike Revilla, Faces and Curves, Pervil Magic Cream, Hammerhead, Fernando’s Bakery and Aficionado Germany.

It was hosted by Gretchen Fullido and MJ Felipe.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, MARCH 21, 2017

A

FTER a seven yearhiatus from ISAH V. RED recording, Vina Morales is back and celebrating three decades in the industry. She has just launched a commemorative album, Vina XXX, for Star Music.

According to the singer-actress, it is her way of thanking her fans who continue to support her singing and acting career.

“I’m grateful and inspired that I reached 30 years in the business. To reach 30 is a milestone. I never would have made it this far if it weren’t for the people who helped me,” said Vina.

“And now I’m inspired more than ever to work some more and looking forward to giving back to my supporters through my album.”

The album has seven original tracks, a revival and minus one versions, including “Eres Mio” written by Rox Santos, and “Laro” by Edwin Marollano. It also includes a revival track, “Lagay ng Puso” by Raizo Chabeldin and Rox Santos originally sang by Brian Termulo.

Another must-hear for fans is a mother-daughter duet entitled “Pag-ibig Na Walang Hangganan,” written by Jungee Marcelo, which Vina sang with her seven-year-old daughter Ceana.

“My latest album is a dream come true because I was able to record a song with my daughter,” shared Vina. “She was shy at first but was able to sing her part very well.”

When asked if she’d want Ceana to follow in her footsteps, Vina said, “She will have my full support, but of course she needs to finish her studies.”

Completing the track list are Chie Floresca and Jonathan Manalo’s “Maghihintay Kailanman,” Jamie Rivera’s “I Want Love To Stay,” Atty. Loreto C. Ata’s “To Live For Each Other,” and a Theo Remix of Roque “Rox” B. Santos’ “Eres Mio.” Vina XXX is now available at record bars nationwide for only P299. Digital tracks can also be downloaded via online music stores such as ABS-CBN Store, iTunes, Mymusicstore.com.ph, Amazon.com, OneMusic.ph, and Starmusic.ph.

For more information, visit Starmusic.ph or follow Star Music’s official social media accounts at Facebook.com/ starrecordsphil, Twitter.com/starrecordsph and Instagram.com/ Starmusicph. *** Pambansang Bae Alden Richards will have his first solo concert entitled Upsurge produced by GMA Network and GMA Records on May 27 at the Kia Theatre.

With his bestselling albums for GMA Records, Wish I May and Say It Again, topping the charts and getting sold out in both digital and physical format, Alden is excited to perform live in front of his fans this coming May. Under the stage direction of GB Sampedro, Upsurge promises a lot of visual surprises that fans should look forward to. It features Alden’s most requested songs, with Marvin Querido’s musical direction.

For more details, follow #AldenUpsurge on all the official social media accounts of GMA Network and GMA Records. *** The former Miss World 2013 and Kapuso star recently flew to New York City and signed a five-year talent agency contract with the New York-based Innovative Artists Agency As part of her contract, Megan Young will be assured of career growth, training, guidance, as well as promising opportunities and challenging projects to further hone her acting prowess on television or the silver screen.

Megan’s manager Arnold Vegafria, who accompanied her during the trip, is very optimistic about her latest conquest.

“With Megan’s talent and this company’s stewardship, we are optimistic that she will soon penetrate Hollywood, the rest of the United States, and maybe Europe as well,” he says.

According to its website’s profile, Innovative Artists Agency was established in 1982. They have expanded “into the areas of voiceover, commercials, beauty, comedy and hosting, and speakers; always affirming the company’s initial vision of aggressive service from highly experienced agents in an intimate setting. The company has offices in New York and Los Angeles. Among its current talents are Amanda Seyfried and Ashley Greene.

Present during the contract signing were Megan’s manager and ALV Talent Circuit president Arnold Vegafria, Innovative Artists Agency Executive Vice President Maury DiMauro, Megan, and Innovative Artists talent agent/producer Scott Kenyon.

Miss World 2013 Megan Young (second from right) inks a talent management contract with Innovative Artists Agency in New York

VINA MORALES

marks 30 years with album Strength of selfless teens ignite in ‘Power Rangers’ BASED on the unendingly popular legend of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers comes the rollicking, action-packed modern chronicle of how the famed color-coded crew of teen warriors first transformed from a band of smalltown outcasts into a united team of mighty superheroes in the new Power Rangers movie.

The re-imagined story of Saban’s Power Rangers comes to the screen on a thrilling scale that amps up the, action, effects and creative design. A fresh young cast from around the world joins with Bill Hader, Bryan Cranston, and Elizabeth Banks in a non-stop adventure that puts ordinary teens to the test in the most extraordinary situation imaginable: transcending a 21st Century pressure cooker of cyber-bullying, alienation, peer pressures and family issues to become nothing less than the world’s only chance to survive.

“Recent research shows that most of us are born with what is termed as a ‘selfless gene’,” says Matt Suzana, co-writer of the Power Rangers movie. “Daily selfless acts include donating blood, helping blind people cross the street, giving alms, and the list goes on.” he continues. “These selfless people share a common gene variation that is linked to the receptor for Oxytocin, often referred to as the ‘love hormone.’ Oxytocin plays a vital role in the formulation of social bonds and relationships, impacting a person’s capacity for empathy.”

“With this in mind, we imagined 5 selfless youths chosen to become Power Rangers. We want the characters to be real and believable, and that they are really selfless people in this world who risk their lives, their jobs, and their future to help other people and yet expect nothing in return. In the case of these young people, their heroic acts are truly believable and most of us can identify with them.

Standing up for those in need is a selfless way to live, everyone benefits. To exhibit altruism is to elevate our entire species to the next level,” reveals Suzana.

The script honed in on exploring the five Power Rangers as 21st Century high school students, each going through his or her own epic coming-of-age battle – and confronting today’s issues of social media, cyberbullying, peer pressure, family pressure and

Beast and Belle in the live action remake of Beauty and the Beast

Disney and Spotify’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’ experience Becky G and Elizabeth Banks' fight scene in "Power Rangers"

the uncertain future – all while learning to deal with superhuman strength and a heroic destiny that is thrust upon them without much warning.

Adds screenwriter John Gatins, “We wanted our Power Rangers to reflect more of what teenagers are going through right now – so we married more realism to the original concept. For each of our Rangers, there is something inside they have been wrestling with and trying to overcome.”

Indeed, each Ranger-to-be has hit a form of adolescent rock bottom. Jason, the Red Ranger, is a former football star who inadvertently made a career-ending mistake; Kimberly, the Pink Ranger, is a Queen Bee who fell from grace; Billy, the Blue Ranger, is a super-smart but socially challenged kid who has never been able to make a single real friend; Trini, the Yellow Ranger, is a rebellious loner who never fits in; and Zack, the Black Ranger, is a tough-guy secretly in an even tougher family situation.

It is only when this quintet of outcasts all land together in school detention that fate takes over – and they suddenly find themselves attached to strange, glowing coins that seem to be bringing them inexplicable strength. Now, they have to figure how to control their mysterious abilities even as they face all the emotions and drama of finding their identities… and try to save the world to boot.

Pioneer Films-released Power Rangers opens in cinemas nationwide tomorrow.

FROM today, Spotify users can step inside the magical world of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Castle and enjoy a world of music and content within.

Users of Spotify’s free tier will see video advertising, which will direct them to the Beauty and the Beast Castle, but anyone can visit the Castle from today at http://sea. beautyandthebeast-spotify.com.

Spotify users who visit the castle will first have their Spotify listening profile analyzed.

Once the musical analysis is complete, they will be directed to the room of the castle which best matches their musical taste. The rooms in the castle include The Rose Room, The Ballroom, Belle’s Bedroom, The Beast’s Bedroom, The Dining Room, The Library and The Dungeon.

Each of the rooms has a bespoke curated playlist and features beautiful photography of the film.

The Beauty and the Beast microsite also features exclusive ‘behind the scenes’ interviews with the cast and crew of the film, including interviews with vocal artists John Legend and Ariana Grande during the recording of the classic Beauty and the Beast theme song.

Macro Bertozzi, VP of Europe, Sales for Spotify, said, “Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is one of the most charming and beautifullydesigned campaigns ever launched in partnership with Spotify. It takes music fans on a magical journey through an enchanted castle, linking music with every room and exploring the themes from the film through each of the rooms. These kinds of collaborations bring the very best of sound and vision together on the Spotify platform to deliver a beautiful and engaging experience for music and movie fans.”