Manila Standard - 2017 April 10 - Monday

VOL. XXXI • NO. 59 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Veterans assured of P6-b pay, benefits

By Sandy Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte vowed Sunday that his administration will give priority to the entitlements of war veterans as he led the commemoration of the 75th Araw ng Kagitingan in Bataan.

“I assure our veterans [and] their families that we are prioritizing your entitlements,” Duterte said in his speech at the Mt. Samat National Shrine on Sunday, April 9.

The President instructed the Department of Budget and Management and the Department of National Defense to expedite the release of the Next page

A DAY TO REMEMBER. President Rodrigo Roa Duterte walks past honor guards upon his arrival at the Dambana ng Kagitingan in Bataan on April 9, 2017 for the 75th commemoration of the Araw ng Kagitingan and Veterans Week. Inset shows veterans and retirees rejoicing after the commander-in-chief in a speech orders the release of their pension. Presidential Photo

Du30: War not worth it Seeks peaceful end Palace: Ex-Usec against rice farmers to dispute with China

By Sandy Araneta THE Palace on Sunday said President Rodrigo Duterte sacked Undersecretary Chiara Halmen Reina Valdez of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary because she insisted on allowing private traders to import rice, a move that would hurt farmers.

“Proceeding with importation would prejudice the farmers’ interests, aside from implying other considerations. Hence, he exit,” said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella.

“Continued elaborations on the matter implicating others are bordering on the malicious and should now be laid to rest,” Abella added.

Valdez on Saturday accused Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol and National Food Authority Administrator Jason Aquino of “making it appear there is a shortage of rice” so they could push a government-to-government deal instead—an allegation that Piñol swiftly denied.

Valdez on Saturday accused Piñol of interfering in the busi-

ness of the National Food Authority Council (NFAC), and said Aquino was no friend to Filipino farmers because he was pushing for a government-to-government rice importation deal to build up the NFA buffer stock instead of buying rice from local farmers.

Valdez also said she only cast the vote of Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco to continue private rice importation.

“Being a mere alternate of the Cabsec, I only cast the vote of my principal. I am not a member of the NFAC,” Valdez said.

She also insinuated that the Special Assistant to the President, Christopher Go, was blocking documents from the NFAC, so that they “failed to reach” Duterte.

“The NFAC members have also long been requesting for a dialogue with the President, again, through OSAP. This leads us wondering, how come Jason Aquino and Emmanuel Piñol, were able to get direct access to the President, when the Cabsec has been trying to get through Next page

DoJ sets ruling on Tadeco land deal

By Rey E. Requejo THE Justice department will this week come up with a legal opinion on whether or not the joint venture agreement between the Bureau of Corrections and Tagum Agricultural Development Co. involving the lease of 5,300 hectares of the Davao Prison and Penal Farm is grossly disadvantageous to the government.

“This week before the Lenten break, I believe we will have a legal opinions on the matter,” Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said.

Aguirre earlier formed a legal team to look into the regularity of Corrections’ 25-year joint venture agreement with Tadeco.

He ordered a review of the contract at the request of House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, who wants the contract canceled claiming it is very disadvantageous to the government.

Alvarez claims that Tadeco is paying only a guaranteed P5,000 per hectare for the 5,‎308-hectare penal land, which amounts to P26.541 million per year or P663.525 million from 2003 to 2028.

He claims that plantations with the same development scale would fetch as much as P200,000 per hectare, and that Next page

By Sandy Araneta

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Sunday called for the resolution through peaceful means of its dispute with China over the West Philippine Sea, saying declaring war over the area was never worth it.

“No matter the spoils, war is never worth it. The reasons of aggression against the occupation of nations should not be countenanced,” Duterte said during the 75th commemoration of Araw ng Kagitingan and Veterans’ Week at the Mt. Samat National Shrine in Pilar, Bataan.

“This is why the Philippines continues to articulate our principled position that disputes should be settled in a peaceful manner,” Duterte said.

Among the guests were Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana; Japanese Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa; US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Michael Klecheski; members of the diplomatic corps; Bataan Gov. Albert Garcia; Commissioner and OIC chairman of the National Historical Commission Rene

Escalante; Mayor Alicia Pizarro; AFP Chief of Staff General Eduardo Año and other service commanders; officers and members of the various veteran organizations and government workers.

“As responsible members of the international community, this is our sacred duty,” Duterte said.

He said this was also why the Philippines was the strongest advocate for the positive transformation of relations.

He said the Philippines and Japan emerged from a benighted period into a bright era of an expanding space for an unprecedented partnership.

In these modern times, Japan and the Philippines were new allies for peace, development and the rule of law in the region, he said.

Next page

Unnamed fault stirs Batangas tremblor

By Rio N. Araja and Sandy Araneta IN DEMAND. Sculptor John Yumul rushes to finish his wood carving as he tries to cope with the rising demand for Jesus Christ images on Sunday. Manny Palmero

Billionaire solon tagged as ‘flight risk’

By Christine F. Herrera FUGITIVE congressman and billionaire Michael Romero has been tagged a flight risk because he is a high-ranking officer of a local affiliate of budget carrier AirAsia.

Prosecutors said Romero, in hiding for three months now, was vice chairman of AirAsia Philippines and could easily leave the country to escape prosecution.

They asked the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 11 to issue a hold-departure order against the

missing lawmaker, who has evaded arrest since the warrant was issued against him on Jan. 6.

Romero is wanted in connection with a P3.4 million embezzlement case involving his family-owned Harbour Centre Port Terminal Inc. Manila RTC Branch 11 Judge Cicero Jurado Jr. earlier issued an arrest warrant against Romero, along with former HCPTI chief operating officer Edwin Jeremillo and cashier Felicia Aquino, for allegedly conniving to steal the

money from the company.

Once the motion is approved, the court will order the Bureau of Immigration to put Romero, Jeremillo and Aquino in its hold departure list.

“From the moment that the order of arrest was issued, accused Michael Romero has not reported for work, and despite diligent efforts on the part of the private complainant to locate his whereabouts, with the help of the Philippine National Police, he could Next page

THE Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology has discovered a new fault that triggered the series of earthquakes in Batangas.

Erlinton Olevere, an agency’s science and research specialist, said the fault is still unnamed.

“This is different from the West Valley Fault. We can see a fault at the Mabini Peninsula moving.

As of now, it still has no specific name,” he told radio dzBB. The fault runs along the Mabini Peninsula but does not have a history of a powerful quakes or surface manifestations, he said.

Phivolcs has not yet identified the exact location of the fault.

Olevere said the two quakes that struck the town of Mabini on Saturday were just aftershocks

of magnitude 5.5 quake located five kilometers south of Tingloy, Batangas on April 4.

On Saturday afternoon, the first significant quake was measured at magnitude 5.6, followed by a magnitude 6 at 3:07 p.m. and 3:09 p.m.

“No threat of destructive tsunami waves is expected because the magnitude range of these events is not enough,” the Phivolcs bulletin read.

A third quake was recorded 20 minutes later at 3:29 p.m. with a magnitude 4.1 southwest of San Luis, Batangas. Another quake with magnitude 4.7 followed at 4:36 p.m. northwest of Mabini.

The Palace said the administration has more than P1.16 billion on standby for the victims of the earthquake in the Calabarzon area, where the calamity hit hardest on Saturday.

Next page

A2

News

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IS ties with PH recruiter probed

By Rey E. Requejo

A

UTHORITIES are investigating the links of the recruitment firm tapped by the Kuwaiti government to hire Filipino workers to the Islamic State terrorist group, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said Sunday.

He said they will investigate the involvement of Winston Q8 Certifications Solutions Inc. with the arrested couple from Kuwait and Syria who are said

to be IS members.

The couple were arrested by Immigration agents on March 25 and presented to the public on Thursday.

Aguirre said the Kuwaiti government had confirmed that the two were active members of IS and had requested their deportation.

Winston Q8 is based in Bonifacio Global City in Taguig. The Health department recently ordered the closure of eight health clinics it accredited to exclusively issue medical clearances to Kuwait-bound Filipino workers.

This time, Winston Q8 is being investigated for the entry into the country of Husayn Al-Dhafiri and Rahaf Zina who arrived in the country on Jan. 28 from Qatar.

It was discovered, however, that Al-Dhafiri, a Kuwaiti national, had already arrived last year through a tourist visa before returning with Zina earlier this year after both secured a working visa.

“The investigation will continue to determine if there are other people involved or liable for the entry of these undesirable foreigners,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre said Al-Dhafiri was working for Winston Q8 based on information gathered by immigration authorities.

Last year, the House of Repre-

sentatives investigated the firm over its alleged illegal recruitment operations.

Earlier this year, Winston Q8 figured in another controversy over the allegedly monopoly of its eight health clinics in providing medical services to all migrant workers bound for Kuwait in violation of the Migrant Workers’ Act. The clinics have sought relief from the Court of Appeals and denied their alleged monopoly.

They said they were listed by Winston Q8 because they had been confirmed by the company

in compliance with the directive of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Health.

Aguirre said probers were also studying the possibility that there were IS members who were able to enter the Philippines apart from the couple.

“There is a possibility that they were able to link with local groups like the Maute or recruited members, so that is being investigated by our intelligence service,” he said.

He cited records showing that the couple had earlier flown to Cebu and Davao.

Du30:...

Billionaire...

From A1

From A1

Duterte said that, as chairman of the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations on the 50th anniversary of the group’s establishment, the Philippines resolved to do its part in regional community building.

“We will work hard to achieve greater peace, progress and prosperity. We will work with the interests and well-being of the Asean people at the very core,” Duterte said.

“We owe nothing less than this solemn pledge for all those who sacrificed the most for our country’s freedom. Our veterans went through one of the darkest chapters in world history for the benefit of our generation and generations after us.

“We must never forget that they endured a war for the sake of the future. We must remember we are the future that they fought for. For us and for the world, they are rightly our heroes.”

Duterte said Filipinos are drawn together each year on sacred ground to honor the gallant men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the nation, for the people and for the future.

He said some 75 years ago, the last stand was taken in Bataan and Corregidor.

Bloodied yet unbowed, men and women stood their ground to defend “our Inang Bayan and the values we hold dear.”

“We were a young democracy then transitioning from colonial rule. But in that war we fought shoulder to shoulder with a country that is now the Philippines’ only defense treaty ally, the United States of America.”

This shared juncture in the past should be the firm basis for moving the country’s relations forward.

“As we fought together to stave off the enemy then, so should we help each other to address the threats that confront our societies, our region and our world,” Duterte said.

“Where before the lines of duties where clearly drawn, now the menace of terrorism, violent extremism and transnational crimes has called into question the efforts to uphold the responsibility to defend the interests of the common good.

“We know where we stand.

We know what we should do.

We will be undeterred in our efforts to secure for the citizens the future they deserve based on the mandate reposed on us by laws.”

Unnamed...

From A1

The Presidential Communications Operations Office said Social Welfare Secretary Judy Taguiwalo had sent a message to their office giving updates on the relief operations, including the status of prepositioned resources, stockpiles and standby funds.

In the initial response to the earthquake in Batangas, the agency said it has distributed 30 tents, 600 blankets, 400 bottles of water in Mabini; 15 tents, 200 blankets and 100 bottles of water in Tingloy, and some 20 tents to hospitals.

PEACENIKS. Norwegian Ambassador to The Netherlands Martin Sorby (left) chats with Presidential Peace Adviser Jess Dureza of the Philippine contingent at his residence in The Hague. Raul M. Francia

Veterans...

From A1

Armed Forces of the Philippines retirees’ pension credentials from 2008 to 2013 in the amount of P6.42 billion.

The government has settled the backlog in disability pensions and made the management of almost 200,000 pension accounts more efficient, the President said.

In addition, veterans with conditions and their dependents can be assured of free health care at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center and 152 veterans-accredited hospitals, Duterte said. He also said he

Palace:...

From A1

the President from the gatekeeper [OSAP], but to no avail?” she added.

In a statement issued Sunday, Piñol said he was against rice imports, whether these were done by private traders or the government.

In the peace and quiet of my farm in Kidapawan City, Cotabato, I was bombarded today with text messages from concerned friends and inquisitive journalists asking for my reaction to the allegations of a dismissed Malacañang Undersecretary that I am conniving with the National Food Authority Administrator “to create an artificial shortage” to justify the importation of rice by the agency.

“I and the Department Of Agriculture And Fisheries and our stakeholders are against the unregulated entry of imported rice,” Piñol said, noting that any

has instructed the hospitals to further improve their services and accessibility.

On top of this, the government has subsidized the education of more than 2,500 dependents of war veterans under the Iskolar ng Bayan program, Duterte said.

“These entitlements do not compare to the sacrifices that you have made. But we want you to know, our nation and our people are grateful to you for what you have done and we will do better,” he said.

“No matter what we do, we can never do enough to repay you.

But I would like for you to know that your government is doing much, much more,” he added.

The President then urged the younger generation to recognize the sacrifices of war veterans and treat them with much respect and a deep sense of gratitude.

“We must never forget that we owe them a deep debt of gratitude. We owe them our life,” he said.

“Our surviving veterans have suffered much. They should not suffer more. In the twilight of their years, they deserve a better life,” said Duterte.

Before the speech, Duterte, Ambassador of Japan to the Philippines Kazuhide Ishikawa, and Charge d’ Affaires of the United States Michael Klecheski offered a wreath at the Dambana ng

Kagitingan in honor of the fallen soldiers of the World War II. “Let Araw ng Kagitingan remind us all that Filipinos are capable of tremendous feats of heroism. Let this monument be a beacon for all to be brave in the midst of challenges and uncertainties. Let today be an occasion to reaffirm our vow: We will never waver in our efforts to secure what is best for the greatest common good of our nation,” Duterte said.

“This is the sacrifice for our generation. This is our burden to bear. This we have to take on so we can say: We deserve the ultimate sacrifice paid in [our] name and our nation’s posterity,” said Duterte.

importation at this time would hurt local farmers.

Piñol also said he had personally recommended to President Duterte not allow the government-to-government deal pushed by Aquino to go through because of the record harvest of paddy rice in the first quarter.

“For the first time in the history of the country, the national average yield per hectare is now at 4.15 metric tons per harvest, up from 3.9-metric tons,” Piñol said. “The first quarter harvest is also 210,000-metric tons more than the same period last year. It is the position of the department and mine as well that any importation at this time will result in the collapse of the buying price of paddy rice to the disadvantage of the farmers. In fact, I publicly proposed that NFA instead buy the produce of the farmers this season if its intention is to stock up buffer rice stocks.”

Piñol also denied he was meddling in the NFA Council,

even though by law, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries is suppose to sit in the group.

“The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries and I, as secretary of Agriculture, do not participate in the decisionmaking on whether to import or not and when to import. But since it will be the Filipino rice farmers who will be affected by the decision, the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries from time to time shares its views on the issue. That is definitely not meddling with the functions of an agency that is not under the DAF but simply performing our functions as a department involved in producing food and protecting the farmers and fishermen,” he said.

Piñol also said he had no quarrel, either with Evasco or Aquino.

“I am against the position of Secretary Evasco that the private sector be allowed to import rice now not only as it will affect the prices of local paddy

rice but also because most of the private sector importers are also traders who play with the rice market once they have the imported stocks,” he said. “I also do not agree with the proposal of Administrator Aquino that NFA should import rice for its buffer stocks now because of the bountiful harvest during the first quarter of 2017. Instead, I am proposing that the NFA buys the local produce of the farmer to protect them from being manipulated by the rice traders instead of bringing in imported rice.”

“The differences that I have with Secretary Evasco and Administrator Aquino on the issue of importing rice by the private sector or the NFA do not mean that I have a quarrel with them.

I am just embracing the position of the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries on the issue... based on the sentiments of the country’s rice farmers during the national consultations conducted late last year,” Piñol said.

not be located,” the motion filed by private prosecutors Dennis Chan, Christian Chan, and Paolo Sicangco and public prosecutor Jesse Tiburan, read.

Romero has been marked absent since Congress resumed sessions on Jan.16. Congress again went on a six-week-long Holy Week break on March 17. Congress will resume its sessions on May 2.

“It must be noted that prior to the issuance of the order of arrest, accused Romero has been very active in the House of Representatives and is a member of 15 committees, even chairing some of them. However, after the order of arrest was issued, he has not attended any session and he is nowhere to be found,” the motion said.

Earlier, House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas and House Speaker Pataleon Alvarez said the House could not guarantee parliamentary immunity to Romero as it would have to respect and abide by the orders of the court.

“The immunity from arrest applies only while the Congress is in session ‘in all offenses punishable by not more than six years imprisonment.’

Since [the order] stated that no bail has been recommended, it is obviously for an offense not covered by the immunity,” Fariñas said.

The Court of Appeals has also already upheld the validity of the arrest order against Romero, Jeremillo and Aquino.

The lawmaker has been embroiled in a bitter and protracted legal battle with his own father, businessman Reghis Romero II, for the control of HCPTI, which operates the Manila North Harbor terminal.

Jerome Canlas, the corporate secretary of Romero’s father, has accused the estranged son of conspiring with Jeremillo and Aquino in stealing corporate funds by issuing 18 checks— each bearing the amount of P200,000 for a total of P3.4 million—supposedly for “marketing expenses” and payable to the “National Food Authority and/or Felicia Aquino.”

The three were charged with qualified theft for issuing the checks on April 27, 2007 to nonexistent payees.

It was Romero and Jeremillo who signed and issued the checks, which in turn were cashed not by the NHA but by Aquino herself.

In January, Romero was also barred by a Quezon City Regional Trial Court from claiming ownership of HCPTI, a move that exposed possible challenges in the ownership of the Manila North Harbor Port Inc., which has been taken over by conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

Quezon City Branch 222 Judge Edgar Santos also ordered Romero and his affiliates, as well as their agents, employees and successors-in-interest to stop acting on behalf of HCPTI as shareholder or member of the board of directors of MNHPI. SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang said their group now controls a 78.33-percent interest in the contested port terminal firm.

Before the transaction, MNHPI was 65-percent owned by HCPTI and 35 percent by San Miguel-owned Petron Corp. SMC eventually acquired an additional 43.44-percent stake.

DoJ...

From A1

means Tadeco should be paying P1.061 billion per year or P26.525 billion for the 25-year contract.

Based on his estimates, he claims that the government would lose a total of P25.464 billion.

The family of Rep. Antonio Floirendo Jr., who recently figured in a controversial conflict with Alvarez involving their “girlfriends,” owns Tadeco.

News

A3

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

De Lima open to IPU visit at her cell

By Macon Araneta

PALM SUNDAY RITES. Cardinal Luis Antonio Tagle leads the Sunday mass and blessing of palm fronds at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros. Norman Cruz

Advance in talks elates Norway

By Raul M. Francia THE HAGUE, The Netherlands—The Royal government of Norway extended its congratulations to the negotiating panels of the Philippines and the National Democratic Front for moving ahead in seeking an end to the armed conflict following the signing of an agreement that will lead to a permanent cessation of hostilities.

Ambassador Martin Sorby, the Norwegian envoy to The Netherlands, said his government was very much elated with the advance of the peace talks as both panels signed a pact that set off mechanisms for a joint ceasefire between state forces and the New People’s Army.

“We are very happy with the outcome of the talks,” Sorby told the Philippine and NDF delegations who met with him at ambassador’s residence here shortly after the Agreement on a Joint Interim Ceasefire was sealed on Wednesday on the second day of the 4th round of formal talks at the Radisson Blu Palace in the cold shoreline town of Noordwijk aan Zee, about 50 kilometers southwest of Amsterdam.

He said the Norwegian government remains steadfast in its support for the peace efforts in the Philippines.

The Royal Norwegian Government has been facilitating the talks between the GRP and the NDF since 2001.

On invitation of Sorby, the two contingents were accompanied to the residence of the Norwegian ambassador by Elisabeth Slattum, Norway’s special envoy to the peace process.

The Philippine delegation to the meeting was led

by Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza and peace panel member Rene Sarmiento while the NDF team was represented by its political consultant Jose Ma. Sison and negotiating panel head Fidel Agcaoili and Luis Jalandoni.

Dureza thanked the Royal Norwegian Government for hosting the formal talks in The Netherlands and for its full support being the third party facilitator of the peace talks. Jalandoni also extolled Norway for its efforts in the peace process.

Also present during the meeting were Secretary Rafael Mariano of the Department of Agrarian Reform, Representatives Henry Ong of Leyte and Ruby Sahali of Mindanao, and Undersecretary Adora Navarro of the National Economic Development Authority.

Summer jobs eyed for out-of-schoolers

By Macon Araneta

S

UMMER jobs under the government program are not just for students but for out-of-school youth, according to Senator Juan Edgardo Angara.

Angara is encouraging outof-school youth to take advantage of the new law that included them among the beneficiaries of the government’s Special Program for the Employment of Students (SPES).

The program provided under Republic act 10917 provides short-term job opportunities to help the out-ofschool youth pursue and con-

tinue their education.

RA 10917 aims to strengthen the government’s employment program for students to include not only poor but deserving students, but also out-of-school youth, dependents of displaced workers, and would-be displaced workers due to business closures or work stoppages, or natural calamities,

who intend to enroll in any secondary, tertiary or technical-vocational institutions.

The SPES was instituted in 1992 under RA 7323, and was amended by RA 9547 in 2009. It aims to help poor but deserving students in pursuing their education by encouraging establishments and government agencies to employ them during summer and Christmas vacations.

“To strengthen the program, the new law mandates that outof-school youth and those enrolled in the tertiary, vocational or technical education may be employed at any time of the year. High school students, on the other hand, shall be employed only during summer

Naia walkway opens April 18 A CONVENIENT jump-off point from Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 3 in Pasay City to reach other parts of the metropolis will soon be completed.

“Finishing works is currently in progress at Runway Manila, a 220-meter modern pedestrian bridge project that will connect Naia-3 to the Newport City in preparation for its opening within this April 18,” Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar said.

“Runway Manila, which constructed 17.8 meters above Andrews Avenue will allow the average person to walk the distance between the airport and Newport City in less than ten minutes,” he added.

The P1.5-billion facility was initiated and financed by the Travellers International Hotel Group Inc. as part of the private sector commitment to spur Philippine tourism.

“About 2,000 persons at any time may soon use for free 24/7 the fully air-conditioned walkway equipped with elevators and walkalators designed to accommodate elderly and persons with disabilities,” Villar said.

Committed not only to reduce vehicular traffic congestion but also to ensure mobility and liveability in the city, Runway Manila will improve the Naia-3 arrival and departure experience and will contribute immensely in boosting the image of the Philippines as a travel destination.

“With the solid support of the government, it is indeed our pleasure to unveil this great convenience to all who will use it,” said Kingson Sian, president & CEO, TIHGI. “It is a major leap forward in our quest to help the government establish the Philippines as a popular tourist destination not just in the region, but in the world.”

and/or Christmas vacations,” said Angara who sponsored the new SPES law that was enacted in August last year.

Angara, vice chairman of the Senate labor committee, explained that RA 10917 further raised the age limit of the program’s beneficiaries from 15 to 25 years old to 15 to 30 years old, and extended the SPES employment period from 52 days to 78 days or three months.

To qualify, the combined net income of the beneficiary’s parents, including his/her own income, if any, should not exceed the latest annual regional poverty threshold level for a family of six.

SENATOR Leila de Lima has welcomed the plan of the InterParliamentary Union to visit her at her detention cell and examine the drug-trafficking charges that the Duterte administration has filed against her.

In her reaction to the resolution adopted at the 136th IPU Assembly on April 5, De Lima said the planned visit of the members of the IPU Committee on Human Rights of Parliamentarians would provide an unbiased view of her case.

“The IPU’s resolution to send a fact-finding mission to the Philippines in order to get a clearer view of my case is indeed a welcome development,” De Lima said.

“The Senate President has likewise welcomed this, and I hope that this will happen at the soonest time.

“I trust that the IPU will be able to render an objective and fair assessment not only on my case but also, most importantly, on the human rights violations committed under the government’s murderous war on drugs.”

The IPU has expressed deep concern over De Lima’s arrest and detention in Camp Crame.

The group says it does not make sense that the Philippine government charged De Lima with illegal drug trafficking when, as Justice secretary, she took a lead role in stopping the illegal drug trade inside the New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa City.

The group says De Lima has been very vocal in criticizing the Philippine government’s war on drugs, which has resulted in the unprecedented rise of summary killings in the country.

De Lima, who initiated a Senate probe into the spate of summary killings in the government’s all-out war on drugs, says the IPU’s resolution strengthens her arguments that her case is a clear example of political persecution.

“I thank the IPU for its concern through its resolution,” De Lima said.

“I am hoping that the Philippine government will allow their unhampered visit so that they can observe and assess the real human rights situation in the country.”

Manila-Madrid food fest boosts PH tourism profile

By Sandy Araneta AS THE third edition of Madrid Fusion Manila (MFM) draws to a close, the Department of Tourism said it was certain that the Philippines has raised its profile as a competitive culinary destination.

Tourism Secretary Wanda TulfoTeo said MFM remains an important event for the country in its aim for a larger slice of the fast growing 150billion-dollar food tourism industry, citing a 2015 study by the World Food Travel Association.

Beyond revenue for the country, “it is our desire to enhance the food that we are offering to significantly raise the quality of our tourists’ overall experience, and therefore improve our competi-

tiveness as a travel destination,” Teo emphasized.

“We want to ensure that for the huge chunk of their budget, everything our tourists will spend on in the country will have value for money,” Teo was quoted as saying at the closing ceremony of MFM 2017 that was held Saturday in SMX, Pasay City.

She believes that food is an important medium of expression of Filipino culture and traditions.

“As we all know, gastronomy is a vessel of our social and economic history. Through their culinary experiences, our tourists are able to have more intimate engagements with our locals and learn from their stories and understand their culture.”

Pinpoint ‘tourism gaps,’ local executives prodded

By Rio N. Araja PROVINCIAL governors, town mayors and other local officials must help the Department of Tourism identify “tourism gaps” within their communities, Camarines Sur Rep. Luis Ray Villafuerte said on Sunday. Even the Tourism department saw the need for the local government units to help every region bridge the gap between what the market would expect and what tourist destinations could offer to visitors, he said.

“Domestic Tourism will let regions unleash their economic potentials, and thus help them gird up for the planned switch to the federal form of government,

where they would have a greater say on how they should chart their economic growth paths, and use the revenues they generate to fund their development programs,” he said.

The local officials play a key role in developing and ensuring a sustainable tourism industry, he added.

Apart from the identification of gaps, the local officials may also coordinate with DoT in the development of an expanded tourism database that would include information about a community’s tourist destinations, type of visitors they attract, what tourists do, length of their stay, and how much they spend, Villafuerte raised.

A4

Opinion

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

EDITORIAL

Public bickering

W

E EXPECT a certain amount of tension in a Cabinet where competing interests and even ideologies are represented, but the bickering that marks President Rodrigo Duterte’s official family—not yet a year old—is worrisome.

The latest blowup came after the President fired Undersecretary Chiara Halmen Valdez of the Office of the Cabinet Secretary over a disagreement over rice imports. Valdez represented her boss, Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr., on the NFA

Adelle Chua, Editor

Council, which sets policy for the National Food Authority.

Valdez wanted to continue the policy of the Aquino administration for which she first worked to allow private traders to import rice, in opposition to the stated direction of both

Duterte and Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol, who favored self-sufficiency in rice and governmentto-government imports to build up the country’s buffer stock.

Valdez, however, did not go quietly, and in a statement accused Piñol and NFA Administrator Jason Aquino of simulating a rice shortage so they could push through with a governmentto-government importation deal.

It is unclear how much of this conflict extends to Evasco, who earlier defended private rice imports and castigated the NFA admin-

istrator, Aquino, for refusing to approve it.

Evasco said Aquino’s failure to implement the order to allow private rice imports was “compromising the country’s food security,” suggesting the Cabinet secretary is at odds, too, with the administration’s stated agricultural policies.

Similar clashes have erupted over the administration’s policies on the mining industry, with Environment Secretary Regina Lopez butting heads with Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez over her drastic moves to close down large

mining companies, and the impact this will have on thousands of workers and the economy.

We also see a brewing conflict between Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, who wants the Bureau of Immigration to set its house in order by cutting excessive overtime, and Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, who wants to retain the old system— opaque and prone to abuse—by which Immigration commissioners could receive two-and-a-half times their regular pay in overtime.

Debate within the Pres-

ident’s official family, to a certain extent, is a healthy process by which the best ideas will win the day. However, when these debates spin out of control and spill out into the media with accusations of graft and corruption, it erodes public confidence and damages the credibility of the entire administration.

All this suggests that it is time President Duterte put an end to the public bickering among his Cabinet members, who really ought to speak with one unified, responsible voice—or not speak at all.

Lines

The Gospel is in the details THE evangelists were not chroniclers. They did not consider themselves bound by the precepts of fair and accurate reportage that, even today, are not consistently observed. This is not to say that they spun fibs, because the numerous similarities in their accounts of the Passion of the Lord make it clear that they were working with the same historical material. Almost any child who has received adequate catechetical instruction will be able to recount the main episodes—and often the result will be what is known as “conflation,” writing one story by merging the four accounts of the four evangelists. The result is that you have such a thing as “The Passion according to Franco Zeferelli” (one of my favorites) and “The Passion according to Mel Gibson.” But the evangelists were men of faith (as far as we can tell, we can discern no woman’s hand—although in Luke’s Gospel, particularly,

women figure prominently!) writing for communities of faith, and they professed their faith in the narratives they wrote. Each Gospel is better thought of as an extended homily, rather than as a chronicle of events. Each— Mark, Matthew, Luke and John—is a consummate artist in his own way and what each produces is a portrait of the Jesus of his faith and that of the community, emerging from the fertile soil of the apostles’ encounter with the historical Jesus! And the Gospel we many times be found in the details of their narratives.

Preparing for his entry into the holy city of Jerusalem, Jesus commands his disciples to go ahead, to a house where they will find a tethered colt and an ass. And when the owner is to ask them what they think they are doing with his animals, all they are to answer is: “The Master has need of them.” More frequently, we

In those days, you ate meals only with people you loved, cared for and trusted.

are asked to ponder the meekness of Jesus who, rather than astride a horse, enters Jerusalem on a lowly animal. But the very answer Jesus prompts his disciples to give the owner—“The Master has need of them”—makes clear the messianic undertone: Jesus is asserting nothing less than kingship. Sequestering animals for transport and carriage was a prerogative of rules and conquerors, much like commandeering

vehicles is a state prerogative under our laws. Jesus exercises this power. No further explanation needed —“The Master has need of them.”

“He to whom I give this morsel, he will betray me.”

It was a very quaint way of identifying the traitor, but there was a message in it for all of us now. He who is fed by the hand of Jesus betrays him. And then, of course, one will stop naming Judas alone but think also of oneself, and all the nurturing one has received from the Lord, and rue all the betrayal and the perfidy. A variant of the narrative has Jesus saying “He who dips his hand into the dish with me.” The traitor is one who enjoys table-fellowship with Jesus.

In those days, you ate meals only with people you loved, cared for and trusted. And Jesus identifies his betrayer as one who ate with him. Does that not mean me to?

Et erat nox...And It was night.

This is what John says after Jesus identifies his betrayer and tells him to go about his dastardly business quickly. Judas left the room...and it was night. Treachery always brings nightfall. But it is also the nightfall of the world. Nocturnal, sepulchral, sinister: These are usually associated. But it was night too when the angel of death passed through Egypt’s streets, visited death on the first-born of the oppressors and passed over the houses of God’s people. It was night when the people of bondage became people of freedom. All that richness of sacred history and theology is suggested by that very brief remark: “And it was night.”

“Pilate brought Jesus out and sat [him] down on the judgment seat...” The ancient texts actually make possible two variant readings: first, that it was Pilate who sat on the judgment seat; second, that Pilate made Jesus do so. The first of course, is the more probable, but the accepted Turn to A5

IN THE last two foreign trips I have made, I noticed that the lines in Immigration counters were quite long. About a month ago, I thought that it was just a case of several flights coming in at roughly the same time.

The second time, I knew that there were only two arrivals, but the lines were still quite long. Foreign visitors were quite fidgety because they had to stay in line for long, long minutes. Their luggage was already swirling in the carousel, but they had yet to clear Immigration.

One of the advantages of being a senior citizen is the presence of a dedicated line for seniors, the disabled and the pregnant. I did not see that dedicated counter the first time, and had to suffer the long, long line along with others.

The situation is clearly punishing, be it for foreign visitors or local residents.

Whatever is wrong?

We are told that the DBM has disallowed the payment of overtime allowances to Immigration personnel manning the airport counters beyond a certain limit.

That previous to this, Immigration personnel were getting overtime payments three or four times their monthly salaries, which made them understandably happy, but when dipping into the fund sourced from fees collected from foreigners staying longer in the country was disallowed, being contrary to law, the Immigration personnel “revolted,” sort of.

They filed leaves of absence, some purportedly to seek other employment, because subsisting on their regular salaries of some 14 to 15 thousand pesos a month, plus 50 percent overtime pay limits, was unacceptably unrewarding.

What is incomprehensible is that such a blatant violation of legal pay limits has been allowed for the past several years, until DBM Secretary Ben Diokno, the eagle-eyed comptroller of the Philippine government’s spending, cried foul and ordered a halt.

Reprehensible though (even if one understands that it is extremely difficult to subsist on 15,000 monthly pay with a 50-percent overtime allowance after receiving three times more in the past) is the attitude of public servants to deliberately cause undue vexation and imperil visitor arrivals in order to protest the removal of benefits previously enjoyed because their superiors looked the other way around to conveniently give them benefits beyond what the law allows.

Turn to A5

Rolando G. Estabillo Publisher Published Monday to Sunday by Philippine Manila Standard Publishing Inc. at 6/F Universal Re Building, 106 Paseo de Roxas, corner Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. Telephone numbers 832-5554, 832-5556, 832-5558 (connecting all departments), (Editorial) 832-5554, (Advertising) 832-5550. P.O. Box 2933, Manila Central Post Office, Manila. Website: www.thestandard. com.ph; e-mail: contact@thestandard.com.ph

can be accessed at: thestandard.com.ph

Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez Former Chief Justice Reynato S. Puno

Philippine Press Institute The National Association of Philippine Newspapers

Anita F. Grefal Baldwin R. Felipe Edgar M. Valmorida

MEMBER

PPI

Chairman Board Member & Chief Legal Adviser Treasury Manager OIC-Ad Solutions Circulation Manager

Ramonchito L. Tomeldan Chin Wong/Ray S. Eñano Francis Lagniton Joyce Pangco Pañares

Managing Editor Associate Editors News Editor City Editor

Emil P. Jurado

Adelle Chua Honor Blanco Cabie Romel J. Mendez Roberto Cabrera

Chairman Emeritus, Editorial Board

Opinion Editor Night Editor Art Director Chief Photographer

Opinion

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Making the Syria strikes count Bloomberg editorial IN THE span of just a few days, United States President Donald Trump appears to have met both his first true foreign policy crisis and his most challenging bilateral summit more smoothly than many had feared he might.

Whether this turns out to be anything more than a symbolic victory, and whether it has an effect in the fight against terrorism and the effort to rein in North Korea, will depend on what he and his administration do next.

Trump was clearly justified in Thursday’s decision to order cruise missile strikes on Syria’s Shayrat airbase, from where the regime had launched a sarin gas attack on civilians earlier in the week. As a somber Trump noted, the world could not let such a violation of the Chemical Weapons Convention—not

to mention civilized norms— go unpunished. The strikes themselves were targeted and proportional; the US military says that Russian personnel at the airbase were warned ahead of time to avoid sparking a wider clash. Allies welcomed the move, and it should go some way toward deterring any future use of chemical weapons on the Syrian battlefield.

More broadly, the strikes should bolster US credibility in dealing with other threats, including Iran and North Korea. Whatever one thinks of the previous administration’s decision not to bomb Syria after its earlier use of chemical weapons, it was widely read as a sign of weakness. The leaders of both North Korea and its sponsor China—Chinese President Xi Jinping happened to be at dinner with Trump moments before the strike—must now consider more

seriously the possibility that the US could use force on the Korean Peninsula if its red lines are crossed.

The US reportedly reminded the Chinese on Friday that they would go their own way if China chose not to be more helpful with North Korea. It would be better for everyone if both sides instead worked out a coordinated strategy, with the burden on China to tighten the sanctions noose around North Korea until it returns to the negotiating table in a more amenable frame of mind. At that point, the US should be willing to discuss a freeze of the North’s weapons programs, even if it doesn’t lead immediately to full denuclearization. Trump has learned the value of missiles.

He should know their limits, too.

Yet the strikes haven’t

changed one thing. The US still lacks a strategy for achieving its stated goals in Syria: defeating Islamic State, ending the civil conflict and easing Assad from power. Further pinprick attacks will achieve little, while deeper US military involvement would be widely unpopular in the US— and arguably illegal without congressional authorization.

Russia, Syria’s most powerful backer, knows this well.

When he visits Moscow this week, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will need to present a credible plan not only to eradicate the Islamic State threat, but to create a limited safe zone for Syrian civilians and accelerate Assad’s transition from power. Tillerson’s mission will be to convince Putin that any hope of a US-Russia rapprochement will depend on how helpful the latter proves to be in Syria.

How to build China’s city of the future

By Adam Minter ON APRIL 1, real estate prices in rural Xiongxan County, roughly 80 miles south of Beijing, spiked as much as 37 percent; highways jammed as speculators rushed to the obscure district. That morning, the Chinese government had announced that at the direction of President Xi Jinping, 800 miles surrounding Xiongxan would be developed into a city meant to serve as a model for China’s development over the “next millennium.”

Expectations are high: The government has placed the Xiongan New Area on equal footing with China’s two great successes in government-directed urban development, Shenzhen and Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, calling it an area of “national significance.” Xi is following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaopeng, who presided over the rise of Shenzhen and laid the groundwork for Pudong. Whether the ambitious plan succeeds, though, depends on whether Xi learns not just from Deng’s successes, but from the many failures that followed.

Conditions in China have changed drastically from Deng’s time. Over 55 percent of China’s population now lives in cities; in 1978, less than 18 percent did.

Back then, the most pressing question for urban planners was how to encourage rural Chinese

—in effect, excess labor ideal for factory jobs—to move to the city.

The answer was to create Special Economic Zones with distinct geographical borders, where foreign investment would be encouraged and protected via tax breaks, legal safeguards and other incentives.

The idea of creating trade zones to encourage foreign commerce is centuries old, of course. But the first SEZs were unique in seeking foreign investors and allowing them to operate in a wide range of sectors. The new districts were meant to test policies that would eventually spread throughout the country, where the Communist Party’s more restrictive rules still held sway. In 1978, China sanctioned four of the SEZs, including Shenzhen.

Despite latter-day mythologizing about turning rice paddies into factories, the early history of SEZs was troubled.

In 1981, 72 percent of foreign investment in Shenzhen went into real estate, not factories.

It was only after several finetunings—including pruning the bureaucracy and reforming labor laws to eliminate lifetime guarantees of employment—that foreign manufacturers and other investors began to take a serious interest in Shenzhen and it bloomed into China’s manufacturing and innovation hub. Shanghai’s Pudong New Area, established in

1993, supplemented the Shenzhen model by consciously seeking to attract financial services. Today, its soaring, futuristic skyline is visual shorthand for China’s promising future.

Many Chinese provinces and municipalities have since established their own trade zones. None have succeeded quite like Shenzhen and Pudong, and indeed, far more have failed due to bad geography and other problems. For example, Shantou, one of the original four SEZs established with Shenzhen, could never compete with the latter’s proximity to Hong Kong’s port and ready-to-deploy capital. (Shantou’s reputation for corruption didn’t help.)

Other trade zones fail because they can’t make a compelling case for factories and labor to move to them. While the decade-old Dalian Changxin Island Zone in northern China is blessed with proximity to a busy port, rising incomes and living standards in the countryside have made factory life far from home a tougher sell than before.

Meanwhile, manufacturers aren’t likely to set up shop in a new zone unless they’re sure that labor will follow.

Early indications suggest Xiongan should be able to avoid most of these problems. It’s located in the midst of Jing-JinJi, the name given to the giant megalopolis of 130 million

people the government hopes to create by merging Beijing and surrounding cities and connecting them with a hub-and-spoke rail system. (China’s state-owned rail car manufacturer announced last month that its first high-speed commuter trains were rolling off the production line.) Among other benefits, the location will integrate Xiongan into what was already shaping up to be the world’s biggest-ever labor market. Wary employers should thus have good reasons —beyond tax breaks—to set up shop in the formerly remote area.

And Chinese leaders aren’t waiting to populate the new city; the government is expected to relocate large sections of Beijing’s bureaucracy to Xiongan.

Inevitably, the many Beijing-area companies that depend on close access to government officials will follow, further concentrating an educated, affluent workforce in the city.

That leaves the question of whether Xiongan can avoid the pollution, traffic, and social inequality that plague so many Chinese cities. The fact that it’s meant to be devoted to highend industries that generate less pollution should help. The speculators certainly seem to have faith. With good planning, and a bit of luck, they might turn out to be right.

Bloomberg

The Gospel...

From A4

Lines...

From A4

thority Council, and the administrator is tasked to implement the same.

This is why the administrator sits as vice chairperson of the NFAC, whose chairman could either be the Secretary of Agriculture or someone designated by the Office of the President.

There will be times when the administrator disagrees with the decisions of the NFAC, but as a matter of law and a basic principle of governance, he has to follow and implement policies set collegially.

During my watch, I did not believe that rice self-sufficiency could be achieved within the timeline set by the chairman of the NFAC, then the DA secretary, but I had to go along. I appealed to the Office of the President, disputing the glowing projections the then secretary of DA told the chief executive. The numbers, I maintained, did not add up. But the president pronounced that rice self-sufficiency by 2013 was a cornerstone goal of his administration, and that was that.

Neither did I agree with the policy of giving so much import allocations to farmer cooperatives that the DA secretary wanted under the private-sector financed import policy which the economic managers maintained then (as they do now) over big government-to-government imports. I told the Council chairman that the farmer cooperatives could be used as fronts by big traders, as in the past under the Arroyo administration.

But the chairman wanted a policy that was politically correct, and again, the Council deferred to him.

Still and all, we at the NFA, and I must recognize the good staff support I received, both from career employees and the few co-terminus assistants I

brought in, managed to maintain stable rice prices and year-round availability, even during stressful calamities. This despite drastic reductions in import levels through G-to-G (direct government purchases) which brought down NFA’s clearly unsustainable debt levels from P178 billion to P143 billion in less than two years.

NFA will always be a difficult agency to manage because the mandate is essential to food security, and therefore national security, and worse, because it has to grapple with policy contradictions that have yet to be resolved with some degree of finality by the economic managers and the presidency itself.

The indubitable timeline faces the rice sector and food security come June 30, 2017, when the WTO waiver known as quantitative restrictions on rice importation expires. This probably explains why there is a dispute between the administrator who wants to import immediately on a G-to-G basis, as against the NFAC position weighing in favor of private sector-led imports.

Suffice it to say that data fed to the economic managers and the President should always be correct. By and large, agricultural statistics in this country have been reliable enough. It is a matter of balancing the correct projections of rice productivity versus the predictable consumer demand.

Always, always, the Office of the President and the economic managers who are represented in the NFA Council by highly knowledgeable experts, must be fed the right information. Numbers are numbers.

Once the numbers are incorrect, for whatever reasons, we will have long lines of poor people queuing for rice. That happened in several junctures

rule of exegesis is to prefer the more unlikely reading, because the more likely the reading, the easier it is to have been the result of emendation.

On this reading, Jesus is really the Judge. And this is exactly how John portrays the Lord throughout the trial before Pilate. Even if it looks like it is Pilate, as governor, who is presiding over the hearing, it is Jesus who declares without equivocation: “My kingdom is not of this world.” Sino ang baliw? asks a Filipino pop tune. That is the same question John’s story of Jesus before Pilate asks: Who is truly the judge?

And when the moment of death comes, John writes “Et tradidit spiritum eum”...and he handed over his spirit. “Handing over” is not the same thing as “giving up.” In John’s theology, then, the moment of Jesus’ death is also the moment that he pours his spirit forth into the world—hands it over to a world parched by its own sinfulness.

This is further dramatized by the flow of blood and water from the side of Jesus “struck” by a lance...a verb so reminiscent of Moses striking the rock from which water gushed that quenched the thirst of God’s people.

May the Crucified Lord bear all our pain and suffering with him, and make us walk with him in the path of the Resurrection! rannie_aquino@csu.edu.ph rannie_aquino@sanbeda.edu.ph rannie_aquino@outlook.com

Dura lex, sed lex, Diokno maintains, and President Duterte approves. And a public servant is sworn to serve the public, which should be incontestable.

Meanwhile, the long, long lines continue, and no excuses are acceptable to an angry public. It’s Holy Week, and many Filipinos, the new middle class included, are traveling and they risk missing their flights unless, they get to the airport four hours before their scheduled flights.

Only in the Philippines. *** Top of the news in the past week were the sudden dismissal of the soft-spoken and unassuming Secretary Mike Sueno of the DILG, followed two days later by a relatively obscure undersecretary in the Office of the Cabinet Secretary who was delegated to represent her superior in some agencies, more particularly the National Food Authority.

Being out of the country for some time, this writer knows just about as much or as little as the news reader, of the reasons behind the President’s angry decisions. There are certain sensitive matters you would rather not know details about, especially when it involves people you personally know or agencies you have served in the past.

There are certain facts that we need to establish, insofar as the issues hounding the National Food Authority which is principally mandated to ensure that there is enough affordable rice available to the consumer at all times.

Being a GOCC, policies of the NFA are decided upon collegially by the National Food Au-

A5

open thoughts orlando oxales

Hybrid PPP A 2014 STUDY in the UK found a link between commuting and personal well-being. Each additional minute someone spends on the road, the study said, affects a person’s anxiety, happiness, and overall wellbeing. In Manila, where thousands line up for hours to take the train and a sudden torrential downpour can spell instant “carmageddon,” citizens don’t need to be told this. It is a truth that they know intuitively.

Aside from the P3 billion or so that the economy loses everyday due to traffic, it is perhaps the daily suffering of millions of commuters that is the best argument to find a decisive and long-term solution to the capital’s crumbling transportation infrastructure. It is impossible to account for all the wasted man hours lost to gridlock, precious time that could have been spent either in productive work or in quality time with families and loved ones.

The solutions can’t come quickly enough. The Duterte administration’s trumpeting of a “Golden Age of Philippine Infrastructure,” indicates that the president’s economic managers understand the gravity of the problem and the centrality of infrastructure in uplifting the lives of millions of suffering Filipinos. The administration targets to roll out 17 Public-Private Partnership, or PPP, projects by the end of the year. A total of 53 others are in the pipeline.

Policy experts, in the last Stratbase ADRi roundtable discussion on Dr. Epictetus Patalinghug’s special paper on “Infrastructure and Economic Growth: The Philippine Experience” saw the potential of the proposed “Hybrid PPP (Public-Private Partnership)” being recommended by Department of Budget and Management Secretary Ben Diokno as a viable option to address the urgency of the country’s gargantuan infrastructure woes. Following this strategy, the government completes a project then transfers it The direct to the private sector for maintenance, operarelationship tions, and marketing.

The logic is quite between simple. The government has a distinct compara- infrastructure and tive advantage during economic growth the construction stage; it has the means to bor- had long been row at lower rates via official development settled. assistance from foreign governments or lowinterest loans from multinational lenders, and it doesn’t have to consider return on investment in computing project costs. “We don’t even need to borrow money abroad because we have excess liquidity,” Diokno was quoted as saying. The private sector, on the other hand, has the comparative advantage in project management and marketing, areas in which it has demonstrated key expertise.

Lessons from two PPP projects support taking on the Hybrid PPP strategy. The Daang Hari Tollway Project, now referred to as the Muntinlupa-Cavite Expressway, was completed beyond schedule due to the rigorous process of the interagency Investment Coordination Committee, or ICC. It would have been completed earlier if it was handled by the Department of Public Works and Highways.

The Department of Education’s public school infrastructure projects have been criticized by a government official and even infrastructure economists within the National Economic Development Authority for being too expensive. For the same quality of project, a DPWH-commissioned construction company could have built the buildings at a much cheaper rate.

Aside from pricing and speed, the proposed Hybrid PPP also guarantees that the projects are pursued based on the government’s infrastructure plan and at the same time minimize unsolicited proposals that build the most profitable projects instead of the most pressing ones that ensure network connectivity, something that is crucial when the goal is to remedy a capital’s transportation woes.

The direct relationship between infrastructure and economic growth had long been settled. For the Philippines, especially relative to its neighbors, the infrastructure gap has long been identified as one of the major stumbling blocks to a sustainable growth. Decades of underinvestment have resulted in the lamentable state of Manila’s roads, airports, seaports, and rail facilities, among others.

But beyond the numbers, the urgent need to start building now is perhaps best underscored by the daily scene at North Avenue Station of the MRT, where the line stretches for multiple blocks and thousands queue for hours, only to squeeze themselves in cramped coaches that periodically break down. This daily hell for many of our countrymen needs to stop. in our history, most recently in 1995 (FVR) and 2008 (GMA). And prices of rice, which constitute 8.92 percent of the basket of goods and services that determine the price index, could jump up drastically, as in 2014, which prompted President Aquino to remove NFA, along with NIA and PCA from Alcala’s DA to his own office, where it remains to this date.

Long lines and long faces. Short patience and short rice supply (real or manipulated).

Let us all be forewarned of the consequences of inaction or wrong actions.

Ambassador del Rosario’s column will resume on Monday.

Atty. Jimeno’s column will resume next week.

A6

News

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

South tollways gear up for Holy Week traffic jam HOLY Week traffic on the South Tollways is expected to increase 12 percent more than the usual daily average of 330,000 vehicles that run to and from places and provinces south of Metro Manila. T h e Skyway O&M Corp., Manila Toll Expressway Systems Inc. and Star Tollway Corp., operators of Skyway/Naia Expressway, South Luzon Expressway System and Star Tollway, respectively, vowed to exert extra efforst to keep traffic moving and motorists safe at all possible times.

Southbound traffic on toll roads usually peak on April 12, 13 and 15 (Holy Wednesday, Maundy Thursday and Black Saturday) and northbound traffic on April 16 and 17 (Easter Sunday and Easter Monday) on return trip to Metro Manila.

The South Tollway operators will implement Oplan Ligtas Biyahe: Semana Santa 2017, in coordination with the Philippine National Police-Highway Patrol Group, the Toll Regulatory Board, other concerned government agencies and local government units.

Support While said Oplan officially starts on April 12, Somco, MATES and STC are prepared to handle the influx of motorists who opt to travel before the Holy Wednesday and during the nonpeak days for faster and more comfortable trip.

A view of the Skyway

UN, Health deliver RUTF for ailing kids T

HE Department of Health and UN children’s agency Unicef joined hands to help save the lives of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM).

Nutrition supplies such as ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) are finally being delivered to priority provinces to treat up to 50,000 children who are severely malnourished. These supplies were procured through Unicef’s global supply and logistics network, ensuring high quality and good value through fair and open procurement.

“It is very important that these RUTF and other nutrition-related commodities reach infants and young children who have severe acute malnutrition. We cannot afford to lose the lives of these children. We need everybody’s cooperation and support especially from our local chief executives to achieve our Philippine Health Agenda and Zero SAM. Let us make it happen for our children,” Health Secretary Dr. Paulyn Jean B.

Rosell-Ubial of DoH said.

Malnutrition remains a significant public health concern in the Philippines with a staggering 3.4-million children who are stunted (short for their age) and more than 300,000 children under five years who are severely wasted (thin for their height) concentrated in Regions IVB, ARMM, Eastern Visayas and Bicol Regions. Children who have severe wasting—also known as severe acute malnutrition or SAM—are nine to 12 times at risk of dying.

Wasting continues to be a serious child health problem with the Philippines being highly disaster-prone. In the 2016 Global Nutrition Report, the Philippines was identified as one of the top 40 countries in the world with the highest prevalence of wasting at 7.9 percent. In the Unicef Global Nutrition Database, the Philippines ranks 10th in the world with the highest number of children under five who are moderately or severely wasted. The risk of wasting increases in the aftermath of emergencies.

“Good nutrition is the foundation of a child’s survival, health and development.

Identifying severely malnourished chil-

dren early, feeding them therapeutic food and giving them routine medications before any complications develop are key to saving their lives,” Unicef Philippines Deputy Representative Julia Rees says.

With technical support from Unicef, DoH began scaling up SAM management services in 17 initial provinces in 2016.

This includes the development of standard training modules on the management of Severe Acute Malnutrition and a series of capacity building sessions for early detection. DoH, for the first time, was also able to procure ready-to-use therapeutic food, therapeutic milk and other essential commodities. The supplies are enough for an estimated 50,000 children with additional stocks prepositioned for emergency situations.

This is a significant step forward to achieve one of the keystones of DoH’s Philippine Health Agenda and Unicef’s strategy to improve Child Survival and Early Childhood Care and Development.

They both emphasize the importance of the First 1,000 days of life, which hopes to end malnutrition and give every child the best start in life.

Duterte rating drop no damper for Erap

By Sandy Araneta MANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has shrugged off the sudden drop in President Rodrigo Duterte’s trust rating, saying it will not undermine his all-out support to the chief executive’s advocacies.

Estrada believes that Duterte’s national trust rating, which slid from 83 percent in December 2016 to 76 percent last month, will still go up.

“It’s just natural, it’s just the way it is. It’s even high,” Estrada told reporters at the sidelines of the city government’s “Kalinga ni Erap” medical outreach program at Tondo Sports Complex last Friday, April 7, when asked about the latest poll of Pulse Asia Research Inc. on Duterte.

“This will still go up since his advocacy is good,” he said of Duterte’s hardline policies against illegal drugs. “Illegal drugs is our ‘Number One’ enemy. That’s the biggest problem. The worst crime.”

“We should be united in fighting this crime,” he added.

Despite the President’s dwindling trust rating, Estrada stressed that he trusts Duterte more than

ever: “I trust him more since he is more confident. His advocacy against drugs and corruption is continuous.”

Asked about his support to Duterte, he replied: “It’s continuous all the way.”

A known supporter of Duterte, and later becoming “ninong” or godfather of Duterte’s newest grandson, Estrada earlier called on the public to stand behind the President and crush the impeachment complaint filed against him by Magdalo party-list Rep. Gary Alejano.

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

“I’m asking people to support President Duterte. He has the good intention. We should support President Duterte so that illegal drugs would be eradicated.

Drugs is our number one enemy .

I support him all the way,” he had said earlier.

Based on the results of a survey conducted by Pulse Asia from March 15 to 20, Duterte’s national trust rating dipped to 76 percent from 83 percent in December 2016, a seven-percentage point drop.

Second HIV center opens in Mimaropa

NUTRITION PACKAGE. Felicita Burata, nutritionist/ dietician from the Department of Health Region 8, inspects ready to use therapeutic food from Unicef at the DoH warehouse in Palo, Leyte.

THE second HIV/AIDS Satellite Treatment Center in the Mimaropa (Oriental/Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon, Palawan) region was formally opened inside the Occidental Mindoro Provincial Hospital in Mamburao, Occidental Mindoro.

The opening was led by Department of Health—Mimaropa Regional Director Eduardo C. Janairo together with the provincial health officials of Occidental Mindoro.

Janairo said they are targeting to establish one treatment center per province so that anyone who wishes to be tested can freely visit any testing center located in his/her province.

“This is one of our government’s thrusts of bringing health services closer to the vulnerable sector of our society,” Janairo said during the opening of the treatment center.

“With this facility in place, we can provide immediate free treatment services to HIV patients in the province. Knowing one’s HIV status, whether positive or not is the key to prevent the spread of the virus in the community. There is still no cure for the virus and it is dangerously transmissible,” he added.

Sports

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Lomachenko beats Sosa via 9th-round technical KO

It’s final: Horn is Pacman foe SYDNEY—Philippine world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao’s fight with Australia’s Jeff Horn was confirmed by promoters Sunday, ending lengthy speculation about the bout.

The 38-year-old Filipino’s camp announced last week in Manila that the “PacMan” would get into the ring with Horn on July 2 in Brisbane, but it was not backed by Australian promoters.

“After months of speculation, I am pleased to say we’re finally all in the ring for this fight to go ahead,” Queensland state Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said.

“Up to 55,000 boxing fans from across Australia and the world are expected to fill Suncorp Stadium (in Brisbane) to see the local teacher taking on one of the biggest names in boxing history, on his home turf.”

Pacquiao, who has parlayed his sporting fame into a career in politics, is a veteran of 67 fights with 59 victories.

His record easily dwarfs that of Horn, 29, who hails from Queensland, who has notched up only 17 fights with 16 wins.

Horn’s promoter Duco Events described the bout as a “once in a lifetime event” and a “rare opportunity” to host a fight outside the US and Europe. AFP

GOLF CHAMP. Tony Lascuña (center) holds his trophy as he poses with ICTSI Public Relations head Narlene Soriano (left) and Eastridge

Golf Club general manager Erwin Temena after edging Jay Bayron by one to capture the ICTSI Manila Masters crown in Binangonan, Rizal over the weekend.

Rose, Garcia tied for lead

A

UGUSTA—Sergio Garcia, winless in 73 prior majors, shook off a Masters legacy of third-round setbacks Saturday to match Rio Olympic champion Justin Rose for the lead entering the final round.

Garcia has gone a combined 38-over par to average 75 in 13 prior Masters third rounds. But this time he fired a two-under par 70 to match the best of those rounds from 2002 to join England’s Rose in Sunday’s final pairing with a great chance at a long-sought dream.

“Got to go out there and believe in myself again as much as I’ve been doing, be patient and don’t freak out even if I do something wrong,” Garcia said.

Rose, the 2013 US Open winner, birdied five of the last seven holes to shoot 67 in ideal con-

ditions to join the 37-year-old Spaniard, this week’s only player with three sub-par rounds, on six-under 210 through 54 holes at Augusta National.

“I liked my confidence on the greens. They were rolling perfectly,” Rose said. “I just stayed with it and everything began to click into gear on the back nine.

“You’ve got to be aggressive at times, but this is a course where you’ve got to pick your moments.

That game plan worked well for me today and I’m sure it will again tomorrow.”

Garcia could end his major

drought Sunday on what would have been the 60th birthday of his idol, the late Spanish legend Seve Ballesteros.

“Hopefully he will help me a little bit,” Garcia said. “His help is always welcome. Hopefully he helps a little bit tomorrow from up there and tomorrow we’ll have something good to celebrate.”

Asked what advice he thought he might get from Ballesteros, who died of brain cancer in 2011 at age 54, Garcia replied, “Believe in yourself, try to enjoy as much as possible, try to have fun and do your best.”

Eighth-ranked American Rickie Fowler, one stroke back in third after a 71, hopes to win the first green jacket awarded since the death of his idol, Arnold Palmer, last September.

“It would be special,” Fowler said. “We’re going to go out and give it our all for him.”

- ‘You have to go for it’ Jordan Spieth, the 2015 Masters champion whose back-nine Sunday meltdown last year cost him a repeat crown, fired a 68 to share fourth on 212 with fellow Americans Ryan Moore and Charley Hoffman, a co-leader until finding the water at the par-3 16th and making double bogey.

If Spieth wins after an opening 75 that had him trailing by 10 shots, it would be the best 54-hole

victory fightback in Masters history.

“After the first round, I couldn’t ask for much better than this,” Spieth said. “If you have a chance you have to go for it and pull off the shot. Those are the kind of moments people who win this tournament have on Sunday.”

Australia’s Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters winner, was seventh on 213 with 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel of South Africa another stroke adrift with England’s Lee Westwood and Belgium’s Thomas Pieters on 215.

World number two Rory McIlroy, a four-time major champion, shot 71 to stand on 216 and was not confident of a victory that would complete a career grand slam. AFP

Tough campaign awaits PH triathletes MEMBERS of the Philippine triathlon team, led by 2015 Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Nikko Huelgas and Claire Adorna, will face their first acid test of the year as they engage with several crack triathletes from overseas in the fast approaching NTT ASTC Subic Bay International Triathlon which will commence on April 29 and 30 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone.

Their teammates John Chicano, Mark Hosana, Edward Macalalad, 2015 SEAG silver medalist Kim Mangrobang and Kim Kilgroe will be facing off with several entries from Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Australia, Slovakia, Macau, Singapore, Korea, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Malaysia in the 1.5-kilometer swim – 40 Km bike – 10 Km run Elite contests supported by the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Finis, Century Tuna, Philippine Star, Gatorade, Standard Insurance, The Lighthouse Marina Resort and ACEA Subic Bay. The Philippine elite entries are all aspiring to qualify in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games triathlon event the selection of which will happen between late May and early June.

After the event in Subic Bay, they will each resume their high-performance training in different parts of the world with the financial support of the PSC. Similarly the Junior (16-19) and Youth Olympic Games contests on April 29 also supported by supported by Subictel, Foton, PTT, Moonbay Marina The Villas and Asian Center for Insulation, Subic Bay Traveler’s Hotel (official hotel), Subic Holiday Villas, Subic International Hotel and media partners Raceday Triathlon, SBR.ph, Trilife Magazine and AsiaTRI.com, will also attract many of the region’s best youth triathletes.

Shown here are the Kazakhstan-bound Filipino athletes. They are, front row, from left: Jade Ashley Carno, Chelsea Xen Tacay, Daphne Ching, Maria Aljana Erece, Lee Robiegayle Navales and Aidaine Krishia Laxa. Middle row, from left: Justin Kobe Macario, Ezra Balingit, Abigail Faye Valdez, Florence Mae Chavez, Beatrice Kassandra Gaerlan, Rryshell Jasmine Ramirez and Shane Jeremy Benavente. Back row, from left: Patrick King Perez, Justin Carlo Mendoza, Jessie Daniel Ignacio, Harley Vincent Santos, Napoleon Dagdagan Jr., Rani Ann Ortega, Tem Igor Mella, Alvin Taraya, Sturdy Jay Gilbuena, Carlo Dominic Dionisio, Alvaro Joaquin Aranton and Raymundo Alombre III.

PH jins vie in Asian Jr Taekwondo tourney TWENTY-SEVEN Filipino athletes will make a bid for another successful international taekwondo compete when they compete in the 2017 Asian Junior Championships on April 19-21in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

Sixteen jins – nine males and seven females – will carry the Meralco/MVP Sports Foundation colors in the kyorugi (free sparring) competition while 11 others five males and six females – will banner PLDT Home Ultera/MVP Sports Foundation in the Poomsae (forms) event.

The Filipino competitors are: Kyorugi (Male) – Gabriel Elpidio Lamarca (-45kg), Dinneson Wilrej Caneda (-48kg), Raymundo Alombro III (-51kg), Carlo Dominic Dionisio (-55 kg), Sturdy

Jay Gilbuena (59kg), Harley Vincent Santos (-63 kg), Gabriel Salaknib Soria (-68 kg), Mark Arby Gariega (-73 kg) and Alvaro Joaquin Aranton (-78 kg); (Female) – Ezra Balingit (-42 kg), Abigail Faye Valdez (-44 kg), Laizel Angela Abucay (-46 kg), Rryshel Jasmine Ramirez (-49 kg), Beatrice Kassandra Gaerlan (-55 kg), Florence Mae Chavez (-59 kg) and Laila Delo (-63 kg).

Poomsae (Forms) Male – Patrick King Perez, Justin Carlo Mendoza, Jesie Daniel Ignacio, Justin Kobe Macario and Shane Jeremy Benavente. Female – Jade Ashley Carno, Chelsea Xen Tacay, Daphne Ching, Maria Aliana Erece, Aldaine Krisha Laxa and Lee Robiegayle Navales.

Five officials are accompanying the team. They are Tem Igor Mella (head of delegation), Alvin Taraya and Napoleon Dagdagan Jr. (Kyorugi coaches), Rani Ann Ortega (Poomsae coach) and Jeordan Dominguez, Poomsae trainer).

The prestigious Asian Junior Championships will be participated in by 39 other countries like Korea, Iran, China, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Thailand.

The Philippines has always been considered among the top contenders in international taekwondo competitions.

Last month, SMART/MVP Sports Foundation jins bagged 16 medals, including five golds, in the 2017 ASEAN Championships in Perlis, Malaysia.

FEU banks on Fil-German to crush Victoria Sports, 89-57 DEFENDING champion FEUNRMF-Gerry’s Grill unveiled another solid, all-around player in Fil-German Glenn Gravengard to turn back Victoria Sports-MLQU, 89-57, at the start of the 2017 MBL Open basketball championship at the EAC Sports Center in Ermita, Manila.

Gravengard, the 6-1 guard who played for the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in 2011-12, scat-

A7

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

tered 18 points while quarterbacking for FEU-NRMF of coach Pido Jarencio and manager Nino Reyes.

The 27-year-old Kinesiology graduate, who once worked at the Steve Nash Fitness Clubs, had his finest moment in the second quarter when he scored 11 points on drives and mid-range jumpers.

Wang’s Ballclub-AsiaTech also debuted in style, beating last year’s runnerup Emilio Aguinaldo College, 82-81,

in the tournament supported by Smart Sports, Dickies Underwear, Star Bread and Gerry’s Grill.

Gravengard’s smashing debut in the league mirrored the eye-popping start of his half-brother Clay Crellin for the same Fairview, Quezon City based team in the MBL eight months ago.

Gravengard and Crellin have the same Filipina mother now based in Canada.

Crellin, who earned MVP honor

while leading FEU-NRMF to the MBL title last December, finished with 12 points despite battling foul trouble.

Veteran Erwin Sta. Maria also scored 14 points, including three triples, while ex-PBA star Jerwin Gaco added 10 points to lead the Tamaraws’ charge.

PBA D-League veteran Jason Grimaldo carried the fight for the Stallions of manager Jomar Acuzar and coach Rainier Carpio with 11 markers.

WASHINGTON—Vasyl Lomachenko easily retained his WBO junior lightweight title on Saturday, with a dominating boxing display over Jason Sosa, whose corner pulled the plug at the end of the ninth round.

The 29-year-old Ukrainian cemented his status as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world with a ninth round TKO in just his ninth pro fight.

“I came into the ring to do my job. I think I did my job really well,” said Lomachenko.

Lomachenko used his speed, skill and power to improve to 8-1 by outclassing American Sosa who wouldn’t quit despite taking a beating from the opening round.

In the fifth round, Lomachenko mocked Sosa by pretending to hold out a cape as if he was a matador toying with an angry bull in the ring.

Sosa’s trainer stopped the fight after the ninth round, first removing his boxer’s mouthpiece in the corner then motioning to the referee.

Sosa was not supposed to be in this fight, coming in as a 25-1 underdog, and it showed.

He was a willing participant but was Lomachenko’s third choice after the others declined.

But he did manage to bait Sosa into this one and no amount of banderillas or mounted picadors could save Sosa from the inevitable.

Lomachenko’s inability to get anyone to fight him in the 130-pound division has him seriously considering moving up in class to 135. AFP

28th TBAM Open starts on April 16 THE Tenpin Bowling Affiliation of Makati, Inc. will hold the prestigious 28th TBAMBoysen Easter Open Bowling Championship and 2017 TBAM Juniors-Prima Pasta Challenge on April 16 to 23 at Superbowl, Makati Cinema Square in Makati City.

Organized by the TBAM board of directors, headed by its President Dante Fuentes, the annual tournament will have eight categories: Mixed Open, Men’s Graded, Men’s Associate, Men’s Seniors, Ladies’ Seniors, Mixed Ladies, Mixed Youth and Mixed 15-and-under.

The kegfest, sponsored

by Boysen Paints and Prima Pasta, will commence with an Easter Sunday mass celebration at Superbowl on April 16 at 11 a.m.

Defending champions Benshir Layoso (Mixed Open Masters); Abbie Gan (Mixed Ladies); Kenzo Umali (Youth); JD Campos (Men’s Graded); Orlean Batistil (Men’s Associate); Manny Laurel (Men’s Seniors); and Offie Marino (Ladies’ Seniors) are ready to defend their titles.

Total prizes worth P600,000 in cash prizes and trophies will be given away to the winners of the competition, sanctioned by the Philippine Bowling Federation.

Veteran national bowlers Krizziah Tabora, Kenneth Chua, Alexis Sy, Liza Del Rosario and world campaigners Biboy Rivera and Paeng Nepomuceno will lead this year’s tournament, which is expected to draw more than 300 participants.

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

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

A8

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Sports

Kayla breaks 400-m mark

By Peter Atencio KAYLA Richardson, who wants to keep her slot in the national team, broke the Philippine national record in the women’s 400-meter run.

The 17-year-old Richardson finished with a time of 54.06 seconds last Saturday in the finals of the Battle on the Bayou athletics meet in Louisiana.

According to the event’s official website, Richardson landed ninth place overall, with Kendall Ellis winning the gold in 50.98 seconds.

Cameron Pettigrew and Travia Jones took the silver and bronze in 52.11 and 52.25 seconds.

Richardson’s clocking eclipsed the national mark which used to belong to Zion Corrales-Nelson, who clocked 54.18 seconds in the British Columbia championships two years ago.

Richardson is currently training under University of Southern California coaches Carol Gilbert and Quincey Watts, the 1992 Olympic 400-meter champion.

Kayla’s dad, Jeffrey Richardson, wrote in a Facebook message her daughter is in good shape to defend her 100-meter title in the coming Southeast Asian Games. He believes that with her good performances in the 400-meters, she will be able to go below 54 seconds in the in the coming days.

This will also help prepare Kayla when the time comes that she lowers her distance to 100-meters in her training.

Kayla skipped the 2017 Ayala-Philippine National Open in Isabela because of school commitments.

So nears US chess crown WORLD no. 2 Wesley So is all set to become the first Filipino woodpusher to conquer the United States Chess Championship’s men’s division.

So closed in on the title after he drew with five-time champion Gata Kamsky in 53 moves last Saturday at the Chess Club and Scholastic Center of Saint Louis in St. Louis, Missouri.

The 23-year-old So used the Slav variation of the Queen’s Gambit Declined in posting his seventh draw in 10 games.

But two others, Varuzhan Akobian and Alexander Onischuk, are also in contention for the crown.The two have 6.5 points after Akobian drew with Ray Robson in 50 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined and Onischuk stopped Jeffrey Xiong in 52 moves of a Gruenfeld Opening.

Two former champions, Fabiano Caruana (2016) and Hikaru Nakamura are behind with 5.5 points.

The 2822 ELO-rated So, who posted his first win over Kamsky last year in round 1, took note of his foe’s decision to make an e6 pawn push in the 6th move. The black-playing Kamsky’s move immobilized his lightsquared bishop at c8. Peter Atencio

TNT’s Donte Greene attacks the basket, unmindful of the pesky defense put up by Mahindra’s Keith Wright in a PBA game won by the Texters, 86-84.

Texters edge Floodbuster, notch 3rd straight victory Koronadal City goes for 3 Guinness bikers’ record

KORONADAL City Mayor Peter B. Miguel In line with President Duterte’s call to boost is embarking on another mission, this time Mindanao’s sports and eco-tourism, Miguel breaking not only one Guinness world record promised to give his level best to make the but three. event very memorable and colorful.

In what could be a fitting highlight to the “We in Koronadal City are not selfish, so 23rd National Federation of Motorcycle Clubs we want to show the culture and landmarks of Annual Convention, Miguel other towns and let the particihopes to gather the biggest pants experience the hospitalimotorcycle enthusiasts, inties of other mayors of South cluding the “big bikers,” in the Cotabato. They are now all weeklong event starting on excited,” said Miguel.

April 22.

Miguel said theme “Ride “Isa ‘yan sa mabigat na for Culture, Ride for Peace” is gagawin namin during the the answer to Duterte’s call to event, we’ll try to break the advertise Mindanao as a safe Guinness World Record,” place and a haven for tourists. said Miguel in a recent press If not busy, Miguel said conference at the Ropali President Duterte may visit Mayor Peter B. Miguel Classics in Pasig City.

Koronadal City being a “big “The current Guinness World Record bike” fanatic. holder is India – about 1,700 riders. We’re Boxing hero, Sen. Manny Pacquiao, who is looking at some 2,500 riders. A few years from General Santos City, is likewise expectago we saw some 1,400 riders gather at the ed to join thousands of riders from different Mall of Asia.” regions as organizers already set entry points They hope to establish the new Guinness in various places in Mindanao. records -- largest parade of motorcycles, most Miguel, who belongs to the motorcycle engines started simultaneously and most mo- group called T-Nalak Riders, said it is torcycle horns sounded simultaneously -- on too early to tell how many riders would April 29 in the event backed by the Depart- converge in the event, but he is expecting ment of Tourism, Petron, BMW, Ducati, Ka- some 100 motorcycle clubs from all over wasaki, Suzuki and KTM. the country.

“The parameters set by Guinness World ReAlso the city has already made proper cord ay medyo mabusisi, pero kami ay ready,” coordination with the Philippine National added Miguel, who is also the president of the Police and the Philippine Army to ensure Federation of Motorcycle Clubs of the Philip- the safety of the participants, sponsors and pines, Inc. as wells the spectators.

By Jeric Lopez

S

TREAKING TNT KaTropa won its third straight game, flexing its muscles down the stretch to trip ailing Mahindra, 86-84, and continue its rise in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup and the 42nd Anniversary of the League at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City on Sunday.

Donte Greene, despite a so-so shooting from the field, produced a steady game, leading the Tropang Texters with a double-double of 24 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.

He got help from spitfire Jayson Castro, who had 10 points, four rebounds and seven assists in a complete game as well.

The Tropang Texters were forced to deliver in crunch time and they did.

From a 78-all standoff with eight minutes left, TNT KaTropa turned in a key 5-0 run in a slow five-minute stretch in the middle of the fourth to carry an 83-78 lead into the final minutes of action.

Mahindra kept in step and came to within a single possession. It was only down by two or three points several times in the last two minutes on multiple occasions down the stretch, but TNT KaTropa prevented the Floodbuster from scoring a huge basket that would’ve made a difference.

Instead, the Tropang Texters held their ground to keep their winning streak alive.

TNT KaTropa is now tied with Alaska at 4-1 for fourth place in the standings.

Though TNT continued the wins, Castro still wasn’t satisfied on one aspect of his team’s game.

“Sa defense namin, marami pa kaming kailangan ma-improve. Marami kaming naging mistakes and miscommunications pero masaya at nanalo pa rin,” said the TNT star.

The Floodbuster fell to 1-5 in the standings for 10th place. It needs to pick up some wins along the way to enhance its chances of making the top eight.

It was a roller-coaster first half for both teams, with neither being able to take charge at the start.

They exchanged short runs and leads through most of the first two quarters, until the TNT KaTropa unleashed a critical 15-3 surge to end the first half, giving it a 47-38 lead at the turn and control of the game heading to the second half.

PH boxers to gain from Singapore’s budding combat scene

By Randy Caluag

Come-backing Filipino boxer Jun Talape (third from left) is shown after scoring a lopsided unanimous decision against Heri Andriyanto (beside him), with his teammates at Vanda Boxing Club in Singapore. Alexander David (extreme right), whose mother is a Filipina, is also another local favorite in Singapore.

PROFESSIONAL boxing in Southeast Asia is alive and kicking as promoters and stakeholders in Singapore take big steps to join the big boys in the sport.

The Singapore Fighting Championship, one of the most prominent fight promotions in the progressive City State, has been successfully putting up Mixed Martial Arts and boxing in every promotion.

Most of the Southeast Asian boxers coming to Singapore are Thais and Indonesians and now, more Filipino boxers are seen to benefit from the active promotions in the state.

SFC has been getting Filipino MMA teams in its promotions and vows to invite Filipino boxers soon.

“Lagi kaming invited dito ‘pag may MMA events kaya maraming opportunities sa mga fighters natin dito,” said Filipino MMA coach Monith Pabroa of D Elements and Cerberus Fight Club.

On Saturday night at the Foochow Building, SFC’s Arvind Lalwani made pro boxing the main event in the mixed card, featuring Singapore’s Muhamad Ridhwan and Waldo Sabu of Indonesia fighting for the World Boxing Association Asia super featherweight title.

Ridhwan, nicknamed The Chosen Wan, fought hard against the game Sabu in the first round before getting the perfect combo to dispose of the Indonesian

via knockout victory.

Won Kim of WBA Asia was on hand to award the belt to Ridhwan, who is being lined up for bigger fights in other world boxing bodies like the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation, one of the oldest boxing organizations in the world.

Also in the card was come-backing Filipino boxer Filipino Jun Talape, who has been living in Singapore for more than two years working as a trainer at Panda Boxing Gym. Talape, packing a powerful left, succeeded in sowing terror against his opponent Heri Andriyanto right in the first round and treated him as punching bag on the way to a unanimous decision win in their six-round, lightweight bout.

“I have been promoting MMA and boxing for two years now. There is a big prospect for combat sports here in Singapore because we also have great fighters,” said Lalwani, who owns the Juggernaut Fight Gym. Aside from Ridhwan, who is now undefeated in seven professional fights, Singapore has another top prospect in women’s boxing, Nurshadidah Roslie, who logged her sixth victory in seven fights with a second round stoppage of Thai Nongoum Por Niramon in their Ridhwan was recently included in the Orient Pacific Boxing Federation at rank no.

15, while Roslie became the top contender for the women’s super featherweight post.

Southwoods golf draws big field THE Southwoods Invitational, Manila Southwoods’ premier member-guest tournament, gets going on April 19 to 22 with another full-packed roster of club champions and their guests plus a slew of amateur stars clashing for top honors in various categories at the Legends and Masters courses in Carmona, Cavite.

Yuto Katsuragawa, spearhead of Southwoods’ title romps in the PAL Interclub and Fil-Am Invitational, and partner Yoshokazu Hino are expected to lead the huge cast, raring to defend their overall gross title while Claire Ong and Gabby Gaston set out for their defense of the overall net crown in the 36-hole tournament spread over four days.

To accommodate the big number of participants, organizers will use daily shotgun starts at 7:30 a.m. at Legends and at 8 a.m. at Masters on April 19 and 21 and April 20 and 22. Play will be Best Ball for one round at Masters and Aggregate at Legends for the other. Both formats will the Stableford scoring system with handicaps where a net double bogey is worth 0, a net bogey 1 point, net par 2 points, net birdie 3 points, net eagle 4 points, net double eagle 5 points and natural hole-inone six points.

Other titles to be disputed in the event, backed by Platinum sponsors Mitsubishi Motors Phils. Corp./Diamond Motors Corp., Royal Caribbean/Baron Travel, Mit Air and The Turf Co., are Divisions I, II, III and IV and sponsors and guests.

The maximum score for a team in Aggregate play is 82 points and 43 points for individual.

PH ready to implement Jica grant worth P803m B3

IN BRIEF Middle East firms to invest $650m in PH

THE Philippines expects to secure 18 investment agreements worth $650 million during the state visit of President Rodrigo Duterte to the Middle East on April 10 to 16.

The investments, brokered by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority, involves 10 projects from Qatar worth $175 million, 7 from Saudi Arabia valued at $465 million and a lone investment of $10 million from the United Arab Emirates.

Peza director-general Charito Plaza said the Philippines would negotiate the projects in an advance trade and investments mission to the Middle East.

“Peza will be the advance party. We’ll arrive a day ahead of the official state visit of the President,” she said.

Investments coming from Qatar include four retirement villages with combined investments of $158 million. The biggest of the proposed retirement haven projects with tourism component will require a minimum investment of $90 million to set up operations in Tagaytay, Boracay and Cebu. The facilities are expected to be at least 5 to 8 hectares each, with employment reaching 1,250 workers.

Othel V. Campos

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@thestandard.com.ph extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

B1

Govt confirms tax amnesty plan

By Julito G. Rada

T

HE Finance Department is studying the declaration of tax amnesty “sometime in the future,” or once the government identifies and successfully prosecutes tax evaders.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III told reporters over the weekend it was important that people took seriously the government’s campaign against tax evasion.

“I said we will consider the tax amnesty sometime in the future. You know there is a psychological effect here. If you declare a tax amnesty and they are not afraid of you, they will not give you any money right?” Dominguez said.

“So here, they have to know that we are capable

of going after people who are tax cheats. So that’s when we will announce the tax amnesty, if we feel that people are taking us seriously,” Dominguez said.

He said the declaration of a tax amnesty could be done either by legislation or through an executive order. He did not say who could qualify for the tax amnesty program.

Dominguez said a tax amnesty in the Philippines could be different from that of Indonesia which had a lot of money abroad estimated around 40 percent of its GDP, and that one way of bringing back the money stashed overseas was to declare tax amnesty.

“The Indonesians have a different problem. Our people just have not paid taxes,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez also said any declaration of tax amnesty could be done “by piecemeal” and the target sectors would depend on the laws that would be passed.

Dominguez said Bureau of Internal Revenue and Customs would always be at the lookout for tax

evaders. “We are always looking. I cannot give you a name, any targets,” he said.

He said it was important that enough evidence would be gathered to make any case filed airtight, adding the DOF, DOJ, BIR and Customs were serious in doing their jobs.

“Of course, the DOF is supporting them but again it is teamwork between Finance and our two units BOC and BIR and of course with the DOJ. So it is a teamwork and we are going to make sure that the cases are airtight.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue filed a P9.6-billion criminal complaint against local cigarette firm Mighty Corp. before the Department of Justice on March 22 for unlawful possession of articles subject to excise tax without payment of the tax, and for possession of false, counterfeit, restored or altered stamps.

The use of fake tax stamps was uncovered during a series of surprise BOC inspections on warehouses storing cigarette brands belonging to Mighty Corp.

February factory output likely up 8.7%

MANUFACTURING output in February likely expanded 8.7 percent from a year ago, even as some companies were watchful of risks to growth, particularly the rising oil prices.

Moody’s Analytics, a division of Moody’s Corp., said in a report over the weekend that industrial production growth was expected to have “remained strong in February despite slowing slightly from January’s 9.3-percent increase.”

“The domestic economy continues to drive the rapid increases in manufacturing output as infrastructure projects and rising incomes support demand,” it said.

Moody’s also said that global conditions became more supportive of manufacturing, as evidenced by the improvements in merchandise exports from the Philippines that began in 2017.

The government is scheduled to release the industrial production data for the month of February on Tuesday.

Manufacturing sustained growth in January as the volume of production index expanded 9.3 percent.

The National Economic and Development Authority said the increased production of basic metals, transport equipment, petroleum products and food manufactures continued to drive manufacturing output in January. Julito G. Rada

ICT experts ask police to buy latest technology

INFORMATION communications technology experts expressed concern over the plan of the Philippine National Police to procure communications equipment featuring outdated technology.

ICT industry sources said the PNP had issued tenders to procure communications equipment worth almost P1.2 billion, split into two separate bids with an approved budget for the contract of P360 million and P820 million, respectively, using the so-called Digital Mobile Radio Standard.

DMR Standard is a digital radio standard specified for business mobile radio users developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

Experts said the PNP’s selection of the DMR Standard was a retrograde move as it was not appropriate as a mission-critical communications system that could be used even in times of disaster.

Being a digital radio standard specified for business mobile radio users, the DMR – even at its highest level―is still far off from the regular functionalities of the more advanced technologies available today, experts said.

ASEAN MINISTERS. The Asean Economic Ministers led by chairman and Philippine Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez (front row, right) meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (center) and Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshige Seko (left) during the AEM Roadshow in Japan to discuss the initiatives of Asean, the Philippines and Japan to stimulate continuing globalization and freer trade by limiting protectionism. Lopez, along with the other Asean Economic Ministers, also pushed for liberal regional trade through the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership to spur a bigger market for Asean companies.

C3 Expressway needed to ease Manila traffic

By Darwin G. Amojelar THE Metro Pacific Group is supporting the proposal of conglomerates Ayala Corp. and SM Group to build the C3 Elevated Expressway, despite the objection of San Miguel Corp.

Rodrigo Franco, president and chief executive of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., said the 8.6-kilometer C3 Expressway from Sta. Mesa, Manila to Makati and then to SM Mall of Asia complex would complement existing toll roads in easing traffic congestion in the metropolis.

MPTC is the builder and operator of Manila Cavite Expressway. It also operates North Luzon Expressway and Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway.

“MOA is near Cavitex. Certainly it will interconnect with Cavitex so that’s good. There will be connection, so it’s complementary,” Franco said.

C3 Expressway aims to provide an alternative to congested Edsa and improve access to the Manila Bay development areas, the Makati central business district and the cities of Mandaluyong, San Juan and Manila. It will have interchanges in Sta. Mesa, the Circuit Makati, Ayala-Gil Puyat, Roxas Boulevard and MOA. The elevated toll road will run about 8.6 kilometers, linking Sta. Mesa, Manila to the Mall of Asia complex in Pasay City.

“I don’t think there will be competition. It will give motorists option on

which alignment to take. As traffic continues to grow, all others will have their own users,” Franco said.

San Miguel president Ramon Ang earlier opposed the P26-billion unsolicited proposal to build C3 Expressway because it could affect the viability of the Naia Expressway, which a unit of San Miguel built.

Ang also said San Miguel had submitted another proposal to the Public Works Department and Toll Regulatory Board for the extension of Skyway.

The Skyway Buendia extension proposes to put up an elevated structure traversing Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue, which will start at the Gil Puyat Interchange along Osmeña Highway and

end at Diosdado Macapagal Boulevard.

When asked if the Ayala-SM group’s proposal could affect San Miguel’s expressway project, Franco said, “maybe a little bit because they are both going to the south.”

“But if you look at it positively, there will be additional traffic in the long term. It gives you access to other areas,” he said.

“Actually there’s no exclusivity if the government allows them, there’s nothing we can do. We just find a way to interconnect with them,” Franco said.

MPTC is also constructing Cavite Laguna Expressway, NLEx Connector Road and Cebu-Cordova Bridge Project.

Eagle likely to hike IPO size

By Jenniffer B. Austria

DEL MONTE LISTS $200M. Del Monte Pacific Ltd. concludes a $200-million follow-on public offering of its US

dollar denominated Series A-1 preference shares with a listing ceremony at the Philippine Stock Exchange. Shown are (from left) DMPL group head for marketing Eileen Michele Asuncion, treasury head Augusto Cesar Garcia, chief compliance officer and secretary Antonio Eugenio Ungson, chief financial officer Parag Sachdeva, chief corporate officer Ignacio Carmelo Sison, executive director Edgardo Cruz Jr and chief operating officer Luis Alejandro, PSE chairman Jose Pardo, president and chief executive Hans Sicat, treasurer Omelita Tiangco, directors Emmanuel Bautista and Alejandro Yu and chief operating officer Roel Refran.

EAGLE Cement Corp., the country’s fourth largest cement-maker owned by businessman Ramon Ang, may have to increase the size of its planned initial public offering, once the Securities and Exchange Commission issues a new ruling requiring all IPOs to have a minimum public float of 15 percent.

SEC chairman Teresita Herbosa said in an interview the corporate regulator was speeding up the release of the new order, which might be released before the end of April.

The SEC several years ago planned to impose the 15-percent minimum public float requirement for companies conducting an IPO. The SEC said last month it would finally impose the new regulation by the second quarter of 2017.

Herbosa said once the new order on minimum public ownership was approved by the SEC, pending IPOs should comply with the requirement.

“If there is an IPO application, the reckoning date is the date of the approval of the registration statement and whatever conditions we put

there will apply,” Herbosa said.

Among the pending IPOs for approval, only Eagle Cement has a proposed public float of less than 15 percent. Based on an IPO application filed with the SEC, Eagle Cement planned sell up to 575 million common shares at an offer price of up to P16 per share.

Post-IPO, Eagle Cement will have a public ownership of 11.5 percent and a market capitalization of P80 billion. The cement firm plans to hold an IPO in May. Eagle Cement said in an earlier interview the company would sell up to a 11.5-percent stake equivalent to P9.2 billion―an amount needed to fund expansion plans.

The cement firm said it had sufficient cash of P9 billion while its 10-year loan was only P11 billion.

Other pending IPOs with the SEC were Xeleb Technologies Inc., AudioWav Media Inc. and Cebu Land Masters Inc. Eagle Cement will be the third cement company to be listed with the Philippine Stock Exchange. The two others are Holcim Philippines Inc. and Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc., which conducted an IPO in 2016.

B2

Business

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stock index to stay above 7,500

By Jenniffer B. Austria

T

HE benchmark stock index is expected to stay above the 7,500-point level in this week’s shortened three-day trading period, amid the positive outlook on the domestic economy.

“We expect local participation to dominate as most fund managers take their Lenten break.

Seize on dips to position and hunt for stocks with good upsides. Immediate support is 7,500, resistance 7,650 to 7,670,” F. Yap Securities said.

Economic planners said the domestic economy likely expanded 6.5 percent to 7 percent in the first quarter on strong consumer spending and investments.

“While inflation ticked higher last month, it is worth to note consumer prices are still within single-digit, with no near-term threat for the economy to overheat in in the first half of 2017. Fund managers’ cognizance of higher infra budgets will support improved investment spending, and boost corporate earnings in turn,” stock brokerage company F. Yap Securities Inc. said.

Analysts said despite the favorable developments in the local front, investors would continue to watch closely the recent geopolitical headlines, including the US government’s military strike order on a Syrian air base following the Syrian government’s chemical attack on civilians.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, jumped 3.7 percent over last week’s five-day market trading to close at 7,583.75 on April 7, as foreign funds returned to the local market.

The broader all-share index also went up 2.8 percent to 4,524.16.

All sectoral indices ended in the green, led by property which jumped 5.9 percent, financials which advanced 4.3 percent and holding firms which rose 2.5 percent.

Foreign investors were net buyers last week

by P8.3 billion, reversing the previous week’s net selling of P6.6 billion. Total foreign buying reached P29.6 billion while foreign selling amounted to P21.3 billion.

Top gainers last week were Megaworld Corp. which jumped 16.5 percent to P3.94, Metrobank which rose 9.1 percent to P87.30 and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. which climbed 9.1 percent to P6.56.

Heavy losers were LT Group Inc. which dropped 3.2 percent to P15.50, Wilcon Depot Inc. which declined 3.2 percent to P5.16 and Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures Inc. which retreated 2.9 percent to P13.20.

PLDT brings fiber optic to Mindanao

By Darwin G. Amojelar PLDT Inc. said it rolled out fiber-to-the-home facilities in General Santos City to support the growing demand for data in southern Mindanao.

The company said the FTTH roll-out, undertaken in partnership with General Santos local government, would benefit the growing data connectivity needs of the whole Soccsksargen region which covers the vibrant provinces of South Cotabato,

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

APRIL 3-7, 2017 Close Volume

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI China Bank BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources Citystate Savings COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

3.17 48.5 120.60 105.30 41.45 3.95 1.22 8.52 16.2 20.7 7.74 0.66 1.63 820.00 0.690 87.3 0.7 14.76 25.20 57.30 86.8 118 242.4 39.4 213.2 1720.00 79.60 1.21

151,000 203,600 19,374,570 11,698,270 2,103,200 146,000 396,000 1,000 3,594,500 3,421,000 11,700 10,000 39,000 30 44,998,000 22,773,970 510,000 354,900 10,000 358,120 21,180 330 3,740 451,600 4,065,710 735 172,520 4,000

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Asiabest Group Basic Energy Corp.

Bogo Medelin C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) EEI Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide Mla. Elect. Co `A’ MG Holdings Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petron Corporation Phil H2O Pilipinas Shell Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Phoenix Semiconductor Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas and Co. Roxas Holdings San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ Shakeys Pizza SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

42.2 5.3 0.8 1.41 19.3 0.255 96.55 14.44 7.59 16.8 170.1 90 23.5 67 1.99 5.96 12.02 12.660 6.26 6.10 9.55 1.77 21.55 72.9 12.14 15.06 7.77 1.610 210.40 71.00 5.09 3.8 31.05 25.6 18.22 278.00 0.245 7.20 3.7 8.77 3.64 73.95 11.42 2.15 8.33 1.90 4.88 4.85 2.02 2.74 299.8 13.2 4.75 0.147 1.44 165 4.22 1.56 32.45 1.01

5,864,400 5,036,100 1,113,000 1,538,000 68,200 11,540,000 120 21,500 163,156,700 9,268,200 410 3,420 840,600 50,690 915,000 199,700 183,000 22,101,800 18,821,100 49,187,100 31,773,100 94,000 9,833,500 1,807,160 35,500 805,900 23,610,100 3,291,000 4,982,830 1,600 5,883,100 612,000 8,892,800 1,340,100 30,352,500 1,081,890 46,690,000 2,083,700 5,242,000 23,077,800 7,000 4,213,120 32,800 19,726,000 29,785,300 2,897,000 267,000 12,549,000 72,000 316,000 218,740 5,492,300 339,000 16,020,000 846,000 8,907,350 187,000 7,543,000 22,400 265,000

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `A’ Keppel Holdings `B’ Lopez Holdings Corp.

Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

MJCI Investments Inc. Pacifica `A’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.380 74.50 13.60 1.15 6.32 0.480 0.550 863 8.52 12.00 5.41 7.80 0.181 1173 6.21 80.55 4.48 5.49 5.26 7.97 1.05 15.5 0.410 6.56 3.55 0.0560 1.170 0.056 1.95 106.00 2.71 738.00 1.42 0.87 280.000 0.3000 0.1850 0.247

5,060,000 4,438,410 173,254,200 151,000 251,000 497,390,000 179,940,000 1,019,140 5,758,200 108,779,800 2,500 234,900 1,340,000 1,123,015 40,400 14,205,220 15,000 14,600 500 4,144,300 16,183,000 18,817,300 230,000 230,028,600 10,000 380,410,000 4,000 36,234,000 4,905,000 1,411,740 581,000 3,191,510 1,571,000 3,000 51,510 1,960,000 440,000 310,000

8990 HLDG Anchor Land Holdings Inc. A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ Cebu Holdings Cebu Prop. `B’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Global-Estate Filinvest Land,Inc. Interport `A’ Megaworld

6.790 6.48 0.97 2.290 1.320 35.400 3.91 5.1 5.5 0.500 1.03 1.260 0.158 0.540 54.2 0.700 0.180 0.98 1.65 1.18 3.94

2,365,300 5,300 5,121,000 325,000 44,378,000 42,842,300 20,461,000 526,800 28,500 37,860,000 52,000 214,000 37,150,000 7,731,000 2,121,110 2,574,000 24,610,000 10,172,000 35,199,000 360,000 297,797,000

Value FINANCIAL 473,040.00 9,858,230.00 2,338,680,126 1,235,152,599.00 86,665,270.00 760,860.00 482,760.00 8,520.00 58,231,250.00 71,196,190.00 90,671 6,690 63,900.00 23,800.00 31,500,520.00 1,924,176,001.50 358,010.00 5,215,744.00 252,000.00 19,853,920.00 1,832,819.00 38,940.00 901,930.00 17,484,740 854,321,332.00 1,264,725 13,744,394.50 4,840.00 INDUSTRIAL 245,067,195.00 26,388,669.00 892,470.00 2,188,140.00 1,250,098.00 2,849,520.00 12,160.00 312,468.00 1,200,084,414.00 155,250,160 70,502.00 303,835.00 19,667,920.00 3,347,064 1,819,750.00 1,212,688.00 2,218,272.00 143,816,790.00 114,741,683.00 297,187,416.00 291,908,524.00 159,440.00 213,922,515.00 129,949,049.00 440,736.00 12,022,558.00 183,209,365.00 5,117,730.00 1,001,726,312.00 119,931.50 31,394,151.00 2,424,290.00 274,271,785.00 34,565,035.00 535,339,920.00 299,285,490.00 11,653,320.00 15,030,330.00 19,326,940.00 201,784,206.00 25,320.00 304,207,751.00 373,578.00 42,467,650.00 252,660,427.00 5,501,300.00 1,440,064.00 59,169,130.00 145,320.00 871,060.00 64,932,564.00 73,766,818.00 1,598,600.00 2,332,680.00 1,175,570.00 1,492,744,027 785,150.00 11,716,560.00 65,600.00 266,150.00 HOLDING FIRMS 1,889,600.00 331,809,353.50 2,266,364,754.00 167,130.00 1,546,046.00 229,977,700.00 86,081,800.00 886,912,910 49,035,541.00 1,287,617,576.00 14,705.00 1,836,534.00 241,910.00 1,283,759,025.00 253,751.00 1,138,922,019.00 66,200.00 76,668.00 2,634.00 32,731,878.00 16,507,170.00 299,330,270.00 95,050.00 1,440,599,993.00 34,500.00 21,334,020.00 4,540.00 4,313,250.00 9,591,800.00 147,591,635.00 1,563,270.00 2,315,742,195.00 1,899,520.00 2,600.00 14,132,674.00 564,400.00 82,000.00 80,000.00 PROPERTY 16,103,784.00 32,234.00 5,770,500.00 743,190.00 58,360,170.00 1,493,986,940.00 80,611,440.00 2,699,849.00 157,050.00 19,126,450.00 54,350.00 262,420.00 5,854,220.00 4,113,940.00 115,525,412.50 1,698,340.00 4,328,350.00 9,891,520.00 57,842,030.00 431,350.00 1,114,289,390.00

MARCH 27-31, 2017 Close Volume Value 3.33 47.15 117.60 101.20 40.7 3.96 1.24 10 16.2 20.6

91,000 36,800 13,912,020 5,775,110 1,119,300 16,000 403,000 500 2,165,300 1,791,000

285,190.00 1,791,630.00 1,661,446,007 580,875,563.50 45,961,695.00 63,350.00 483,260.00 5,000.00 35,042,170.00 36,438,467.00

0.73 1.62 780.00 0.650 80 0.72 14.7 25.20 55.30 87 118 239.2 38.4 202 1740.00 79.65 1.21

20,000 103,000 980 10,052,000 30,416,150 891,000 60,200 15,700 920,170 6,390 1,390 22,210 1,494,400 3,734,490 835 214,850 10,000

14,600 167,150.00 781,250.00 6,619,440.00 2,331,850,032.50 633,170.00 884,942.00 396,330.00 50,977,743.50 558,688.50 160,315.00 5,330,934.00 57,419,200 752,636,409.00 1,436,475 17,109,577.00 12,100.00

41.75 5.35 0.82 1.42 19.48 0.243 103.9 15.18 7.03 16.9 193 88.1 23.7 62.5 1.97 6.09 12.1 12.720 6.04 6.02 8.27 1.7 20.95 71.8 12.90 15.10 7.3 1.520 197.50 70.10 5.18 3.92 30.8 26.3 17.5 274.00 0.240 6.88 3.72 8.90 3.7 72 11.04 2.21 8.40 1.89 4.9 4.80 2 2.76 288 13.6 4.5 0.145 1.38 163.5 4.49 1.5 31.75 1.08

9,658,500 5,253,100 1,225,000 2,064,000 8,300 17,620,000 210 89,500 54,181,000 9,274,200 150 650 1,151,700 44,090 5,964,000 404,200 97,600 18,535,100 31,759,300 62,499,000 8,575,400 138,000 11,991,000 415,970 107,900 304,300 11,128,700 1,112,000 6,117,810 600 11,970,300 70,000 8,381,000 1,160,600 23,691,400 860,060 61,580,000 474,100 12,160,000 9,464,000 1,000 5,071,890 155,100 4,483,000 28,597,600 4,882,000 247,000 4,610,000 2,000 154,000 144,690 5,657,200 518,000 1,210,000 1,266,000 4,764,510 29,000 4,397,000 500 315,000

404,439,425.00 27,882,619.00 983,200.00 2,897,020.00 158,786.00 4,383,470.00 20,727.00 1,364,384.00 398,217,236.00 157,373,440 26,090.00 59,355.00 26,962,115.00 2,774,475 11,885,660.00 2,383,290.00 1,188,924.00 236,100,016.00 191,271,772.00 378,288,078.00 70,011,474.00 234,600.00 263,820,435.00 29,759,349.00 1,338,012.00 4,621,276.00 80,305,385.00 1,679,520.00 1,154,440,477.00 43,420.50 63,866,748.00 269,140.00 258,464,645.00 30,441,380.00 410,558,904.00 236,654,848.00 15,380,460.00 3,142,559.00 45,304,770.00 84,063,620.00 3,700.00 373,102,640.00 1,761,156.00 9,960,030.00 233,812,761.00 9,088,930.00 1,206,750.00 22,157,470.00 4,000.00 428,370.00 41,127,380.00 76,841,054.00 2,281,200.00 173,300.00 1,755,090.00 774,497,740 124,780.00 6,662,580.00 15,775.00 331,560.00

0.375 74.45 12.68 1.11 6.10 0.325 0.315 845 8.48 11.40 5.4 7.90 0.189 1145 6.39 81.35

6,150,000 4,744,500 26,038,700 83,000 137,000 3,760,000 3,050,000 2,088,660 3,073,900 92,078,000 6,000 140,700 100,000 597,735 65,900 8,461,800

2,279,750.00 355,697,754.50 328,329,444.00 91,520.00 826,626.00 1,184,800.00 946,000.00 1,749,674,525 26,622,562.00 1,069,654,244.00 32,400.00 1,117,935.00 18,450.00 698,530,940.00 409,038.00 692,959,466.00

5.22

300

1,566.00

7.71 1.02 16.02 0.400 6.02 3.4 0.0540 1.100 1.980

3,589,700 15,294,000 39,525,600 210,000 284,351,800 54,000 282,010,000 38,000 1,482,000

28,245,401.00 15,526,930.00 638,233,822.00 85,950.00 1,724,251,023.00 190,420.00 15,324,920.00 40,860.00 2,920,730.00

104.00 2.68 697.00 1.46 0.86 274.000 0.2950 0.1900 0.260

1,089,820 1,614,000 3,260,550 1,999,000 100,000 40,270 4,210,000 1,000,000 270,000

112,345,221.00 4,249,650.00 2,251,839,465.00 2,786,090.00 86,000.00 10,999,766.00 1,192,850.00 186,410.00 67,000.00

6.800 6.49 0.96 2.300 1.240 33.050 4 5.14

2,558,500 2,300 4,263,000 2,661,000 61,135,000 66,166,500 20,666,000 163,400

17,397,153.00 14,927.00 4,055,250.00 6,024,560.00 79,295,350.00 2,238,102,270.00 81,059,850.00 834,199.00

0.490 1.07 1.250 0.157 0.540 53.65 0.690 0.166 0.96 1.64 1.18 3.38

19,400,000 30,000 348,000 36,770,000 13,504,000 1,376,520 1,008,000 11,790,000 12,616,000 27,219,000 330,000 130,020,000

9,565,300.00 32,100.00 428,890.00 5,828,790.00 7,176,610.00 74,856,097.50 681,600.00 2,000,580.00 12,137,150.00 45,119,770.00 399,260.00 449,777,810.00

STOCKS

APRIL 3-7, 2017 Close Volume

MRC Allied Ind. Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’ Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

0.275 0.3200 0.640 28.00 4.63 24.10 1.77 3.34 29.85 1 7 0.870 5.200

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp.

Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

Discovery World DFNN Inc. Easy Call “Common” FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IP E-Game Ventures Inc. IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Wilcon Depot

11.5 45.95 1.42 0.510 0.044 12.1 5.49 8.35 0.0730 2.11 97 10 2.63 8.35 4.50 998 2070 6.80 15.88 14.04 3.35 89 3.58 12.8 0.0091 9.00 0.180 1.3400 3.58 15 4.37 1.01 4.68 16.98 2.47 6.74 3.75 2.990 11.52 5.45 3.05 160.00 7.92 1730.00 0.425 1.610 43.60 78.95 5.92 2.21 1.080 2.15 3.21 0.400 5.160

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Benguet Corp `A’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Semirara Corp.

TA Petroleum United Paragon

0.0034 1.50 5.34 11.50 1.8000 1.9500 0.63 0.400 9.00 2.700 0.250 0.180 0.194 0.011 0.0110 1.82 6.17 2.12 0.4500 0.8700 0.0120 0.0120 4.19 8.50 3.29 0.0140 150.80 2.93 0.0084

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ Alco Preferred B DD PREF First Gen F First Gen G GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF B Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred A PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred G SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I Swift Pref

46.5 528.5 525 107.1 104.6 103.9 117.9 525 6.19 1045 1.04 107.7 1075 1149 1019 105 76.3 80.5 77 78.5 79 78 78.1 78.5 2.13

LR Warrant

2.380

Makati Fin. Corp.

Italpinas Philab Holdings Xurpas

2.93 3.71 6.65 10.48

First Metro ETF

126.2

MARCH 27-31, 2017 Close Volume Value

Value

1,296,500,000 4,150,000 121,257,000 2,300 1,940,600 19,523,700 1,556,000 18,000 77,761,100 28,667,000 2,000 294,000 15,222,900

339,635,480.00 1,269,500.00 75,744,640.00 64,310.00 12,797,880.00 462,905,045.00 2,788,630.00 59,560.00 2,301,077,750.00 28,751,960.00 14,566.00 256,610.00 77,648,231.00 SERVICES 27,814,900 347,947,175.00 316,400 14,570,670.00 869,000 1,257,260.00 10,104,000 5,344,430.00 869,786,400 37,990,300.00 9,400 107,508.00 16,400 88,725 63,583,600 525,536,977.00 197,570,000 14,152,380.00 7,795,000 16,300,370.00 1,769,680 170,523,945.00 5,000 50,020.00 40,000 103,840 142,800 1,203,149.00 142,300 648,706.00 330 322,580.00 391,615 812,608,720 9,440,000 64,374,214.00 295,900 4,811,332.00 800 11,808 13,856,000 47,080,520.00 16,532,990 1,209,559,150.50 494,000 1,767,590 5,700 70,816.00 97,000,000 889,300.00 1,574,300 14,166,297.00 18,410,000 3,364,980.00 1,919,000 2,459,520.00 466,000 1,647,500.00 181,100 2,703,406.00 8,062,000 35,309,830 71,000 71,310.00 17,247,000 75,248,850.00 2,600 43,502 2,214,000 5,511,300.00 51,322,600 345,986,242.00 9,903,000 36,170,030.00 8,295,000 24,534,760.00 14,500 166,958.00 116,200 623,966 317,000 969,870.00 458,130 73,550,560.00 5,596,300 44,677,376.00 900,995 1,545,113,090.00 7,640,000 3,281,850.00 155,579,000 248,765,390.00 16,197,300 711,753,010.00 3,156,580 243,097,510.50 403,000 2,424,395.00 4,404,000 9,740,470.00 25,424,000 27,461,550.00 1,089,000 2,325,710.00 2,616,000 8,377,250.00 1,440,000 564,000.00 146,668,600 773,082,494.00 MINING & OIL 853,000,000 2,760,500.00 35,674,000 53,087,780.00 623,100 3,253,799.00 11,000 126,360.00 60,000 106,830.00 51,000 93,730.00 21,484,000 12,707,220.00 3,180,000 1,267,300.00 48,000 425,516.00 24,053,000 66,851,030.00 1,370,000 339,770.00 13,610,000 2,433,140.00 4,180,000 819,060.00 75,600,000 831,800.00 32,700,000 360,100.00 567,000 1,007,990.00 18,905,900 115,637,490.00 248,000 517,750.00 60,000 27,300.00 471,000 415,350.00 34,400,000 389,100.00 9,100,000 108,200.00 184,000 741,990.00 4,943,700 41,169,088.00 12,000,000 40,896,250.00 831,100,000 10,951,800.00 5,486,340 837,678,051.00 922,000 2,713,250.00 49,000,000 413,300.00 PREFERRED 54,100 2,524,715.00 3,760 2,004,005.00 4,000 2,109,315 79,220 8,486,316 5,790 608,503.00 100 10,390.00 31,210 3,584,139.00 4,000 2,100,000.00 4,428,500 27,396,615.00 10,220 10,534,150.00 250,000 260,000 22,370 2,411,314.00 16,590 17,489,050.00 15 17,235.00 2,020 2,059,360.00 11,010 1,160,184.00 8,160 621,858.00 129,260 10,377,332.00 29,700 2,295,790.00 4,100 321,850.00 57,610 4,578,800.00 11,210 869,640.00 248,260 19,399,846.00 170,390 13,371,181.50 45,000 98,830.00 WARRANTS & BONDS 3,395,000 8,067,020.00 SME 8,000 23,440.00 894,000 3,249,660.00 743,100 4,947,149.00 10,855,200 112,728,510.00 EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 157,080 19,532,126.00

0.216 0.3000 0.580 27.70 4.79 23.00 1.76 3.39 28.30 0.97

576,780,000 5,550,000 173,894,000 2,000 3,826,000 9,376,900 1,973,000 324,000 67,282,000 36,717,000

129,635,160.00 1,739,700.00 109,092,470.00 55,425.00 17,219,500.00 217,836,560.00 3,470,860.00 1,093,820.00 1,916,026,930.00 26,178,040.00

0.860 5.080

496,000 32,561,100

434,830.00 161,804,929.00

9.5 46.6 1.46 0.530 0.045 11.9 5.59 7.95 0.0740 2.07 93.9 9.81 2.58 8.45 5.55 1000 2032 6.56 16.50 15.00 3.16 89.9 3.63 12.46 0.0094 9.00 0.179 1.3000 3.67 14.98 4.17 0.95 3.83 16.50 2.5 6.68 3.60 2.900 11.48 5.48 3.06 170.00 7.70 1646.00 0.435 1.570 43.70 77.00 5.99 2.14 1.100 1.75 3.2 0.380 5.330

5,617,600 41,900 34,000 676,000 416,700,000 14,800 30,500 80,621,300 548,850,000 14,910,000 4,511,100 66,700 50,000 127,200 212,400 40 272,865 11,537,300 353,700 600 11,993,000 13,168,400 182,000 126,000 10,000,000 1,713,200 23,600,000 3,062,000 808,000 56,800 8,471,000 22,000 3,819,000 7,200 4,769,000 59,596,200 12,904,722 8,924,000 1,012,700 731,400 533,000 172,770 1,105,900 640,180 14,570,000 129,078,000 6,915,800 2,910,410 1,124,600 6,754,000 8,296,000 19,000 5,441,000 870,000 201,325,500

52,979,333.00 1,939,150.00 49,640.00 352,000.00 19,657,980.00 177,550.00 168,346 624,643,019.00 42,968,020.00 31,211,800.00 424,540,801.00 697,430.00 125,100 1,086,382.00 981,586.00 40,000.00 549,209,825 75,560,338.00 5,772,446.00 9,000 38,272,260.00 1,159,214,988.50 667,090 1,559,050.00 92,500.00 15,440,386.00 4,252,780.00 3,967,880.00 2,917,310.00 844,790.00 35,330,820 21,030.00 14,742,120.00 109,828 12,399,380.00 386,129,347.00 50,181,410.00 26,032,130.00 11,624,836.00 4,037,621 1,643,670.00 30,152,361.00 8,737,605.00 1,035,999,375.00 6,448,550.00 200,493,560.00 301,814,000.00 222,974,899.50 6,649,967.00 14,487,460.00 9,208,670.00 31,890.00 17,322,650.00 344,400.00 1,064,501,830.00

0.0032 1.47 5.30

145,000,000 52,593,000 686,900

465,300.00 83,112,170.00 3,650,621.00

1.8000 1.7900 0.57 0.400 9.30 2.860 0.250 0.181 0.191 0.012 0.0120 1.7 6.08 2.1 0.4550 0.8600 0.0110 0.0120 4.01 8.38 3.34 0.0140 147.60 2.7 0.0086

46,000 110,000 14,443,200 1,860,000 4,200 21,759,000 760,000 34,270,000 2,210,000 115,500,000 10,100,000 987,000 13,825,300 106,000 80,000 100,000 84,000,000 10,300,000 83,000 3,914,600 13,002,000 840,100,000 5,686,860 46,000 5,000,000

82,050.00 198,400.00 10,274,030.00 750,900.00 38,562.00 59,606,430.00 189,250.00 6,212,680.00 422,610.00 1,271,600.00 121,200.00 1,696,930.00 86,405,606.00 226,360.00 36,400.00 87,440.00 953,400.00 123,600.00 332,980.00 33,200,247.00 43,490,280.00 11,720,600.00 837,080,175.00 122,070.00 43,100.00

47 537 528 107.5 105.1 103.6 113.6 525 6.04

826,300 20 2,020 6,780 52,720 50,000 55,000 100 10,007,100

38,452,510.00 10,740.00 1,066,680 725,560 5,566,195.00 5,240,000.00 6,259,550.00 52,500.00 60,544,239.00

1.04 107.7 1075 1149 1019 106 76 80.05 78 78.5 80 78 78 78.5 2.1

837,000 5,600 240 3,845 13,695 6,000 870 185,220 121,540 11,300 119,420 72,820 141,240 239,520 35,000

870,480 603,380.00 257,050.00 4,391,115.00 13,959,760.00 636,000.00 67,255.00 14,917,615.00 5,589,670.00 889,800.00 9,553,600.00 5,650,540.00 11,019,926.00 18,934,626.00 77,030.00

2.180

1,921,000

4,462,020.00

2.93 3.64 6.75 10.04

27,000 796,000 1,675,200 18,110,900

79,130.00 2,903,330.00 11,302,874.00 182,022,075.00

121.3

17,100

2,065,934.00

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS MRC Allied Ind. Apollo Global Abra Mining Philodrill Corp. `A’ ATN Holdings A Pacifica `A’ Megaworld Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

Boulevard Holdings ATN Holdings B

VOLUME 1,296,500,000 869,786,400 853,000,000 831,100,000 497,390,000 380,410,000 297,797,000 230,028,600 197,570,000 179,940,000

STOCKS Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. SM Investments Inc. SM Prime Holdings Alliance Global Inc. Metrobank PLDT Common Ayala Land `B’ Universal Robina Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

DMCI Holdings

VALUE 2,338,680,126 2,315,742,195.00 2,301,077,750.00 2,266,364,754.00 1,924,176,001.50 1,545,113,090.00 1,493,986,940.00 1,492,744,027 1,440,599,993.00 1,287,617,576.00

Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.

“GenSan’s robust export industry and burgeoning medium to large enterprises, as well as its growing and diverse population, fits the profile of a Fibr City,” PLDT first vice president and head of Home business Oscar Enrico Reyes Jr. “PLDT Home Fibr will provide GenSan’s residents with the platform, the power and the connection they need to take advantage of the vast opportunities in these rapidly evolving digital times,” he said.

Reyes said the roll-out would be a part of the company’s ongoing expansion plan with the end goal of giving Filipinos all over the country access to the strongest connections at home.

Residents in the city can now experience equal upload and download speeds of up to 1 Gbps.

PLDT earlier completed its first ever “Fibr City” project with the roll-out of FTTH facilities in Toledo City, serving the fast-growing city’s residents and its mining and tourism industries.

“PLDT envisions to increase the number of Smart homes and Fibr cities nationwide which will result in the Philippines being a Smart nation,” said PLDT chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan.

Sicat set to step down as PSE head PHILIPPINE Stock Exchange president and chief executive Hans Sicat is set to end his term next month, after spearheading reforms in the local bourse that resulted in improved liquidity and increased participation from investors.

PSE said in a statement independent director Ramon Monzon who also heads the PSE audit committee was nominated to replace Sicat for the top post.

The change in the leadership in the PSE will officially take place during the annual stockholders’ meeting of the company in May. PSE chairman Jose Pardo cited the invaluable contributions made by Sicat to the growth of the PSE and the development of the Philippine capital markets.

“The PSE has been fortunate to have Mr. Sicat lead the organization for the past years. The exchange has accomplished many major milestones under his leadership as president of the PSE, including recognition in both local and globals scene various products services and programs, the company introduced during this period,” Pardo said.

Among the programs that were introduced under Sicat’s term as president and CEO were the extension of trading hours, the establishment of the capital markets integrity corp., growth in online investors and listed companies and the introduction of new products in the exchange.

Sicat was named PSE president and CEO in January 2011.

“I am truly honored and extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity to head the PSE in the past six years. I look forward to reaching in the coming years,” Sicat said. Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

B3

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

ENTREPRENEUR SEARCH.

The search for the 2017 Entrepreneur Of The Year Philippines is launched with the signing of the memorandum of agreement among its co-presenters at the Philippine Stock Exchange Inc., Makati City.

The EOY Philippines program was established by the SGV Foundation in 2003 to recognize the country’s best entrepreneurs. Shown during the launch are (seated, from left) ANC special projects head Rely de Guzman; Philippine Business for Social Progress executive director Reynaldo Laguda; Philippine Stock Exchange president and CEO Hans Sicat; SGV chairman Cirilo Noel; Trade Undersecretary Zenaida Maglaya; and BusinessWorld editor-in-chief Roby Alampay.

10JICA.RTF

By Julito G. Rada

PH ready to implement

THE government will shortly implement development projects funded by the Japanese government

PNB offers again P3b worth of time deposits PHILIPPINE National Bank, the sixth-largest lender in terms of assets, is offering P3 billion worth of long-term negotiable certificates of time deposits to raise funds as part of its liquidity management program and to support operations.

The bank said in a statement to the stock exchange Friday the issuance was the second tranche of the planned P20-billion LTNCDs approved by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in October 2016.

“We wish to inform the Exchange that the Philippine National Bank is offering a second tranche of Long-Term Negotiable Certificates of Time Deposit due October 2022,” it said.

PNB in December 2016 issued the first tranche of LTNCDs amounting to P5.38 billion with an interest rate of 3.25 percent a year and a tenor of 5.5 years.

The offering period for the second tranche was set from April 6 to 20, 2017, with an issue date of April 27 and maturity of Oct. 27, 2022.

LTNCDs are time deposits that have a maturity of at least five years. The LTNCDs will be

insured with Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp. for up to the maximum insurance coverage and subject to PDIC’s applicable rules and regulations.

Upon issuance, the LTNCDs will be listed for trading through the facilities of Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.

PNB tapped the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp.

Ltd. and ING Bank N.V., Manila branch as joint lead arrangers and bookrunners of the issue.

The selling agents for the offering are PNB, HSBC, ING, and Multinational Investment Bancorporation.

PNB’s net income in 2016 rose 14 percent to P7.2 billion from P6.3 billion in 2015, driven by a steady improvement in core businesses.

Net interest income grew 11 percent to P19.6 billion, accounting for nearly two-thirds of total operating income. Net interest margin was maintained at 3.2 percent, despite the decline in asset yields. It as this was compensated by the 12-percent growth in low-cost deposits combined with the redemption of its P6.5-billion lower Tier 2 unsecured subordinated notes in June 2016. Julito G. Rada

in support of the government’s campaign against illegal drugs and promotion of agribusiness investments in Mindanao.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, in a recent meeting in Tokyo with

PH ready to implement Jica grant worth P803m

By Julito G. Rada

T

HE Philippines will shortly implement development projects funded by the Japanese government in support of the campaign against illegal drugs and promotion of agribusiness investments in Mindanao.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, in a recent meeting in Tokyo with top officials of the Japan International Cooperation Agency, said the Philippine government was expecting to immediately begin construction of drug rehabilitation centers through a Jica grant amounting to 1.85 billion yen.

Another Jica-funded initiative—Harnessing Agribusiness Opportunities through Robust and Vibrant Entrepreneurship Supportive of Peaceful Transformation, or Harvest, Project in Mindanao—is now on the final stages of securing all the requirements necessary to formalize an agreement between

The universality of human rights ARMANDO HUMBERTO EVANGELISTA

GREEN LIGHT

HUMAN rights are a hot issue today. For most people, the concept of human rights is centered only on violations with regards to the rights of suspected criminals. For them, the concept is centered only on the right to due process and the right to life.

I remember months ago, at the height of Operation Tokhang where there were heated arguments online regarding the role of the Commission on Human Rights in Philippine politics and law enforcement.

Some argue that CHR coddles suspected criminals as it rarely raises public attention for other human rights violations such as heinous crimes committed by drug-fueled criminals and rebel groups. Others argue that per CHR’s mandate, its only role is to protect those who feel that their right to due process is being violated and the ‘outrage’ for victims of violent crimes falls is the work of government law enforcement agencies.

Concern for all dimensions I found that statement about the CHR’s real mandate very disturbing. My understanding of human rights is that it covers not only the right to due process and the right to due suffrage, but also the right to humane living conditions. I believe that real rights, for it to be universal, should also cover the right to live in a safe environment, the right to be able to go to school, the right to be treated humanely at work and among other things,

the right to the necessities of life. Human rights, in my opinion, should not only concern itself with only a few dimensions but on all dimensions.

To forget that human rights must concern itself with all dimensions is to forget the rights of the poor. The poor have the right to healthy bodies, safe homes and humane living conditions just as anyone else.

The right to humane jobs and safety The residents of Barangay Damayang Lagi, for example, have the right to live free from the fear of flood and fire. They have the right to be able to live in humane spaces and not be exposed to disease every day. I am happy that the local government officials in the barangay act as opposites of the stereotypes of typical Filipino politicians and do their part to ensure that the people in Barangay Damayang Lagi are always safe.

We forget that people like those living in Barangay Damayang Lagi also have rights to humane jobs that pay enough for them to support their families. However, it is sad that these rights are almost always forgotten.

The right to proper representation and participation I remember that they live cramped in stacked houses.

I wonder sometimes if their rights are considered every time the local or the national government decides about budget allocation, taxes or public utility revamps. For example, there may be new laws or coding standards regarding housing. I wonder if when the government

decides such, do they consider those living lives the way the people in Damayang Lagi do?

These residents don’t have that much resources as most of us do, so they live off with what they can. Do their rights have proper representations or are they only secondary to the concerns of others?

An issue everyday Human rights should also consider the lives of people who are continually dragged through the mud due to corruption and our lack of empathy to their plight as a society. Human rights should be an issue every day for all of us and not just when there is political or social capital to be gained when championing for it.

Only when we forego our affiliations and observe the rights of others on the simple basis that they are human can we truly say that the declaration of human rights is truly universal. This is something we can reflect on during this holiest of seasons.

A blessed holy week to all!

the Department of Finance and the Land Bank of the Philippines, which will implement the project.

“We are grateful that Japan is also supporting our campaign against illegal drugs by providing a Jica grant to the Department of Health for the treatment and rehabilitation of illegal drug users,” a department statement over the weekend quoted Dominguez as saying in the meeting with Jica officials.

“We hope to immediately implement the 1.850 billion yen grant to construct drug rehabilitation centers,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said the grant, equivalent to $16 million, “is the first of its kind from Japan to the Philippines that is of a budgetary support in nature.”

The 1.85-billion yen grant forms part of the 3.8-billion yen ($33 million) Jica grant to support President Rodrigo Duterte’s programs to win the war against illegal drugs, improve public security and its counterterrorism efforts, and forge lasting peace and development in Mindanao.

On the Mindanao-Harvest Project, Dominguez told Jica “we are now finalizing the LBPDOF memorandum of agreement and we ex-

pect to secure all requirements for the MOA to take effect by middle of next month.”

The LandBank and the Japanese government signed a loan agreement worth almost 5 billion yen to fund the five-year Harvest project in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao and other conflict areas in the southern Philippines during the official visit of Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the Philippines in January.

The 4.93-billion yen loan deal for the Harvest project was signed by LandBank president and CEO Alex Buenaventura and Jica chief representative to the Philippines Susumu Ito. The Jica loan will mature in 25 years, inclusive of a seven-year grace period with an interest rate of 1.4 percent a year.

On top of the proposed loan, Jica plan to provide a technical grant of about $6 million (about P290 million) to support the capacity building of eligible beneficiaries of Harvest and LandBank’s management of the project.

Harvest, which will be implemented by LandBank from 2017 to 2022, aims to open a lending window for agribusiness ventures and other related investments in ARMM and other conflict areas in Mindanao.

Regulation of e-cigarettes backed APPROPRIATE regulation of electronic cigarettes, or vapes, can help prevent serious sickness in and the premature death of millions of cigarette smokers in the Philippines, according to a leading expert on tobacco harm reduction and e-cigarettes.

Dr. Konstantinos Farsalinos urged the Philippine government to create a regulatory framework for e-cigarettes that is reasonable, proportionate and realistic.

“It must be different from regulation of tobacco cigarettes; otherwise, people may be deceived into thinking that e-cigarettes are the same as tobacco cigarettes,” he said.

Farsalinos said an appropriate e-cigarette regulatory framework was important to ensure product quality, pro-

mote harm reduction products only to intended populations, maintain a competitive advantage for harm reduction products compared to smoking and promote research to monitor population use and develop better products.

“The average lifespan of a smoker is 10 years shorter than a non-smoker. According to the World Health Organization, there are around 20 million Filipino smokers, half of whom will die prematurely due to smoking-related diseases. Effective tobacco harm reduction approaches must be made available to Filipino smokers through the creation of an appropriate local regulatory framework for e-cigarettes,” said Farsalinos, a research fellow at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center and

University of Patras in Greece.

Farsalinos spoke during a media briefing on April 5, 2017 at the Holiday Inn Glorietta in Makati City.

He said tobacco cigarettes were the most harmful nicotine delivery system ever developed.

Nicotine is the drug in tobacco that causes addiction to smoking. Its stimulant effect adds to the addictive properties of tobacco smoking.

Nicotine is the reason why quitting smoking is very difficult, Farsalinos said. Smokers who stop smoking suddenly and completely often relapse.

At least eight out of 10 smokers fail to quit with currently approved smoking cessation methods, which include nicotine replacement therapies and oral medications.

The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. del Rosario College of Business. This essay is part of a journal he keeps in fulfillment of the requirements of the course, Lasallian Business Leadership with Corporate Social Responsibility and Ethics. Visit his blog at https:// businessethicsbyarmando. blogspot.com.

The views expressed here are the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official position of DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

PLDT ENTERPRISE PARTNER. PLDT Enterprise, through its micro, small and medium enterprise arm

PLDT SME Nation, formally signs a partnership agreement with Francorp Philippines to bring the local franchising industry to new heights in the coming years. Sealing the deal are (from left) PLDT SME Nation head of community engagement and partnerships Francis Oliva, PLDT first vice president and head of SME Nation Mitch Locsin, Francorp Philippines CEO Ma. Alegria Sibal-Limjoco and Francorp Philippines managing director Manuel Siggaoat.

Business

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

B4

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Greece accepts reform demands

London upbeat on Brexit trigger LONDON―The outlook for London’s financial sector has improved since Brexit was triggered, insists the man charged with its policy, even as banks remain set to move some jobs abroad.

Mark Boleat, who spoke on Thursday to AFP after British Prime Minister Theresa May activated the process for Britain’s EU exit, nevertheless urged speedy trade talks to minimize disruption.

The signing of Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty late last month has kick-started a twoyear countdown to Brexit.

“On the whole, I think things are looking rather better,” Boleat said when asked about the impact on London’s financial sector, otherwise known as the City.

“We would hope that the negotiations go quickly and go well,” he said.

If early agreement could be reached on the terms for exit and on the rights of EU nationals, “there will be the minimum of disruption to business and consumers in this country― and in Europe,” said Boleat, who steps down next month as policy chairman of the City of London Corporation.

Bank of England chief Governor Mark Carney on Friday warned of sector-wide consequences of leaving without a trade deal, but was optimistic for an agreement.

In the run-up to last year’s Brexit referendum, the business community threw its weight behind the failed Remain campaign, arguing it would prompt large-scale City job losses.

So far, HSBC has stated it would likely shift 1,000 jobs to Paris, where the banking titan already has a significant operation.

US player Goldman Sachs will meanwhile move 1,000 staff from London to Frankfurt.

Boleat sought, however, to calm jitters over banks shifting jobs to other major European hubs.

“Banks have had contingency plans since before the Brexit referendum in some cases. They have known there is a possibility that Britain will not be in the single market―that has now been confirmed.” AFP

MOST EXPENSIVE. Customers look at the newly arrived Apple’s iPhone 7 at an electronic store in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on April 07, 2017. Apple’s iPhone super-phones returned to stores in Argentina, after six years of absence, but with the most expensive prices in the world, according to market sources. AFP

US unemployment falls but job creation falters

By Douglas Gillison

W

ASHINGTON―The US unemployment rate fell in March to 4.5 percent, its lowest level in nearly 10 years, but job creation tumbled unexpectedly, underscoring the challenges President Donald Trump faces to fulfill his 25-million-job pledge.

After months of pumping out new jobs at a steady clip, the world’s largest economy added only 98,000 net new positions last month, the Labor Department reported Friday―a figure far below analyst expectations.

Central bank policymakers have been split over the amount of slack in labor markets and the dangers of inflation.

The March data could support the views of some Federal Reserve members who say the United States is at or near full employment.

Adult women, whites and Hispanics saw employment

gains while other major worker groups saw little change. Growth in hourly wages slowed for the month but continued to rise, adding five cents, or 0.2 percent.

The monthly job creation figure was nevertheless the weakest since May 2016 and blunted the surging numbers seen in January and February, when unseasonably warm weather helped push job creation well above the 200,000 mark.

Rob Martin of Barclays called the March result “a weak report with no silver linings in the details.”

Analysts had expected a far smaller dip in March job creation

to 180,000 net new positions, on the back of the public sector hiring freeze put in place by the Trump government and a powerful storm that hit the US northeast last month.

Having campaigned on an “America First” agenda of economic nationalism and revival of manufacturing, Trump has pledged to create 25 million new jobs over 10 years and return the US to annual growth of as much as four percent―goals economists say are unrealistic.

With March’s result, the monthly average of jobs created for the first quarter fell to 178,000.

Ian Shepherdson of Pantheon Macroeconomics said that Fed policymakers were likely to expect a rebound in April but that the unemployment rate, now below even the central bank’s fourth-quarter forecast, was another matter.

“It shows no sign of bottoming,” he wrote in a client note.

“For the Fed, the unemployment rate is the ultimate arbiter of the tightness of the labor market,

and the prospect of the rate continuing to fall towards four percent will be very disconcerting.”

Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed, or those without work for more than 26 weeks, has fallen by 526,000. In the same period, the number of people working parttime but who wanted full-time work also fell, by 567,000.

Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute said however that a 4.5 percent jobless rate was no guarantee the United States had actually reached full employment.

“Remember that the economy sat at roughly 4.0 percent for two solid years in 1999 and 2000 without sparking inflationary pressure,” she wrote in a statement.

Fed forecasts say that to stave off mounting inflation, the central bank expects to raise its benchmark interest rates twice more this year after hiking twice since December, ending the decadelong post-crisis policy of easy money. AFP

VALLETA, Malta―Greece gave in and accepted a tough set of reforms with its eurozone creditors on Friday in hopes of unlocking bailout cash in time to avert a looming debt default.

Eurozone finance ministers meeting in the Maltese capital of Valletta said Athens agreed in principle to the new reforms and technical teams would visit Greece as soon as possible to seal the deal.

“The big blocks have now been sorted out and now we just have the final stretch,” Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem said after the talks.

Heavily-indebted Athens and the EU and IMF which handle the bailout, have been deadlocked over reforms for months amid disagreements on debt relief and budget targets.

The deal is needed in order to prevent the country defaulting on its creditors as early as July, when Athens owes about seven billion euros ($7.4 billion) in debt repayments.

The eurozone is under heavy pressure to end the feud in order to avert a chaotic default and inflicting damage on an already stalled Greek recovery.

Despite projections for growth, the Greek economy actually stalled in 2016 and recent data show that after some stabilization, it has begun to falter again amid uncertainty triggered by the row.

“Greece needs this; we must end the uncertainties that are scaring investors,” EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said.

Dijsselbloem said the Greek government accepted to reduce pensions in 2019 and lower tax breaks in 2020 in return for a bailout payment despite widespread public opposition to the new measures.

Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos said the commitments would pass through parliament as soon as possible, although the gamble relies on his Syriza party’s razor-thin majority.

Tsakalotos said his eurozone counterparts had also agreed that Greece could boost social spending if budget targets were met, and that debt relief would also come back to the table.

“We will be ready for all the pieces of the puzzle to fit in for the discussion on debt,” said Tsakalotos, for whom debt relief is a key demand.

“I think we will have (a solution) well before summer,” he added.

The accord was a victory of sorts for Dijsselbloem who visited Brussels and Berlin ahead of Friday’s talks in hopes of finding a compromise.

Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had until now refused to accept reforms beyond the term of Greece’s current bailout that is due to end in 2018. AFP

From shabby to chic, downtown Los Angeles gets a facelift

By Jocelyne Zablit LOS ANGELES―Once a bleak neighborhood of deserted streets and halfempty office buildings, downtown Los Angeles is experiencing a stunning revival as restaurants, businesses and new residents pour into the city.

From luxury lofts and hotels to trendy bars and cutting-edge art galleries, the area is getting a new lease on life and casting a shadow over posh Beverly Hills and Hollywood, which have traditionally drawn visitors to the sprawling city.

Dilapidated office buildings that sat empty for decades are now buzzing with activity while beautiful Art Deco structures and theaters are being refurbished to their historic splendor.

“When I was growing up, the downtown area was pretty much a ghost town, really derelict and a place you would always drive past,” said Brigham Yen, 35, a realtor who has chronicled the area’s revitalization on his Downtown LA Rising blog.

“But over the last 10 years and especially since 2013, there has been a shift and the story here is we are creating a city―a city within a city.

“We are doing this block by block and downtown Los Angeles is becoming a destination.”

Carol Schatz, the longtime head of the Central City Association and a Los Angeles native, said the defining date for the start of the city’s renaissance was 1999, when local officials adopted an ordinance that made it easier for de-

velopers to convert historic buildings downtown into housing.

The stars aligned Financial investors initially shied away from the area, and the 2008 economic crisis didn’t help. But in recent years the stars seem to have finally aligned in favor of the city’s rebirth.

Construction cranes that crowd the downtown skyline attest to the revival, as do the tall buildings that are gradually replacing parking lots that once dotted the area.

“At the time we started this effort, the second largest city in America had about 18,000 people living downtown,” Schatz said. “Fast forward and we now have about 69,000 people living there.”

She said since 2000, investors have poured $30 billion into the downtown area. She believes the money will continue to flow as the city buries its gritty past.

“I think this is unstoppable,” Schatz said. “We are at the beginning .. and there is a recognition among the general population that our city finally has a vibrant center.”

Chinese investors are involved in some of the biggest projects, including Metropolis, comprising a hotel and three residential towers that will be the largest mixed-use complex on the West Coast once it is completed in 2018.

Yen said as demand for housing has increased in recent years so have prices, which have more than doubled in some areas.

“A studio rental in some buildings will cost at least $2,300 a month when in

People eat at The Pie Hole, one of the first upscale restaurants to open in the downtown Los Angeles Arts District, March 31, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. Once a bleak and rundown neighborhood filled with half-empty office buildings and deserted streets, downtown Los Angeles is experiencing a stunning revival as scores of restaurants, businesses and new residents pour into the city. AFP

2013 it was probably $1,700,” he said.

Bigger businesses & developers Nowhere is the downtown LA rejuvenation more apparent than in the Arts District, where international designers, trendy shops, art galleries and even media and tech companies are snapping up converted warehouses and industrial lots at a dizzying pace.

Warner Music Group next year plans to move hundreds of employees from the Burbank suburbs to a former Ford Factory auto plant in the neighborhood.

“I have been here three years and in the last 12 months I’ve seen a drastic change,” said Victor Go, store manager at Poketo, which sells housewares, jewelry and art products.

“More and more, we’re seeing bigger businesses and developers come in.”

But while the district’s transformation has been good for business, it has also put an end to the cheap housing and warehouse space that first attracted artists to the area, Go said.

“The change is great for people with

privilege... but for those who inhabited the city it’s been less so,” he said.

Gentrification has also put a spotlight on Skid Row, a 50-block sliver of downtown that is home to one of the largest concentrations of homeless people in America.

Yen said that while the homeless encampments are shocking and in stark contrast to the nearby recovery, the responsibility for all that misery lies squarely with local officials who for years ignored the issue.

“Before people moved into downtown, no one cared about the homeless,” he said. “If you didn’t see them, they didn’t exist.”

Shatz said some investors had been turned away by the infamous homeless neighborhood, but the vast majority recognized efforts being made by city officials to build affordable and temporary housing.

“I think it’s extraordinarily important that we have achieved this measure of success in the second largest city in the country, that people have a newfound pride in their city,” she said.

Roya Moharrami, a resident of Culver City, located west of Los Angeles, said she rediscovered the downtown area in the last years and now keeps coming back for more.

“I used to come downtown and there was nothing here,” said the 47-year-old jewelry designer. “It’s amazing how they have refurbished it.

“I like the vibe. It’s cool, it’s artsy and young,” she added. “It’s becoming a city.” AFP

Biñan begins ‘Oplan Salikop’ BIÑAN CITY, Laguna— “Illegal drugs and criminality are not welcome in Biñan!”

This was the emphatic message the city government led by Mayor Walfredo R. Dimaguila Jr. sent out to all concerned sectors and key stakeholders, as it recalibrated its own “Oplan Salikop,” the local counterpart of “Oplan Tokhang” now being implemented by the Philippine National Police.

“Our goal is to eradicate crime and illegal drugs in Biñan’s 24 barangays through an intensified lockdown operation or what we call Oplan Salikop,” Dimaguila explained.

“Oplan Salikop is actually a three-way partnership that involves the Office of the City Mayor, the PNP, and local barangay officials.”

Initially, Oplan Salikop was implemented in January this year in Barangay Malaban where high-value drug personalities once proliferated and peddled their illegal trade with impunity.

But with the setting up of strategic police and barangay outposts, which is a major feature of Oplan Salikop, in nine major areas, including entry and exit points to and from this coastal barangay, Malaban has been declared drug-free.

“This is a major achievement for all the parties involve because it only goes to prove that the drug problem, at least in Biñan, can be solved without firing a shot or shedding blood.

We are slowly hitting our targets against criminal elements one barangay at a time,” the mayor points out.

For his part, Biñan Police Chief Supt. Serafin Petalio II reveals that out of 26 operations that began two months ago, 32 pushers and drug personalities have surrendered or been captured and are now in police custody.

The city government has also put in place a comprehensive rehabilitation and livelihood training program for all former drug dependents through community-based initiatives together with the City Health Office, the Department of Health, and other concerned institutions.

Today, Oplan Salikop is moving into high gear as local city, police, and barangay officials in Biñan prepares to replicate the Malaban success story in the entire City of Biñan which is composed of 24 barangays.

With its high-tech Command Center as well as a brand-new fleet of police cars and mobile patrol vehicles, the City of Biñan is keen on upping the ante of its own Oplan Salikop campaign, particularly in terms of optimized police and barangay visibility and its corresponding overall quick response and crime-fighting capability.

After all, it was Mayor Dimaguila himself who openly declared that illegal drugs and criminality are not welcome in his beloved Biñan. Roy Tomandao

LGUs

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

C1

Holy Week lockdown starts

By Sandy Araneta

M

ANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada on Sunday commanded the Manila Police District to start stepping up security measures in the city to ensure the safe and secured travel of motorists and commuters this coming Lenten season.

The MPD’s top priority, Estrada said, is to maintain peace and order throughout the Holy Week and during the entire two-month summer holiday.

“We can’t let our guard down, we do not have such luxury when protecting the safety of our constituents,” Estrada pointed out amid the earlier confirmation made by the Philippine National Police that a terrorist cell from the Maute

group in Lanao Del Sur is currently operating in Metro Manila.

After meeting with Estrada, MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel said they have activated their “Oplan Sumvac” (short for summer vacation) operational plan starting with the deployment of 760 policemen to different churches in the city starting Palm Sunday.

The 760-strong security

contingent is part of the 1,680 MPD lawmen that were assigned to security and counter-terrorism missions in the capital under Oplan Sumvac, Coronel said.

“By the start of the month of April, we are already implementing our operational plan Sumvac 2017 and part of that is our Semana Santa preparations,” Coronel said.

Uniformed and non-uniformed policemen, Coronel

said, will be deployed to bus terminals, seaports such as Manila North and Manila South harbors, and other areas of public convergence.

“There will be no traffic rerouting since Maundy Thursday and Good Friday are holidays,” Coronel said.

In Quezon City, Mayor Herbert Bautista has also placed on alert mode all police, traffic, rescue and barangay personnel to ensure the orderly and peaceful observance of the Holy Week.

Bautista’s directive calls for heightened police visibility in all bus terminals and other passenger holding areas in the city, including terminals of the Metro Rail Transit, to de-

ter criminal activities and other lawless acts.

To secure bus terminals and MRT stations, the QCPD was ordered to set up police assistance centers and conduct 24/7 foot, mobile and motorcycle patrols.

Bautista also ordered the deployment of patrol cars along residential areas and in places holding “cenaculo and “pabasa.”

The mayor said the 50 patrol cars acquired recently by the city government for the QCPD can be used for this purpose.

Even with the heightened police visibility, Bautista said it is imperative for city residents to observe extraprecautionary measures for their personal security and

safety especially if they go out-of-town during the Holy Week.

The mayor also instructed the QC department of public order and safety to coordinate closely with the QCPD for the Holy Week security and law enforcement operations.

The city’s rescue team, on the other hand, has been mobilized to respond to any emergency that may arise during the Lenten season.

Bautista has also enlisted the support of the city’s barangay security development officers in the peace and order effort.

The Lenten break starts on April 13, Maundy Thursday.

PALMS GALORE. Decorative palm fronds are in the hands of the faithful at the St. Catherine’s Parish Church in Bambang, Nueva Vizcaya, as they wait for the priest’s blessing in the Catholic observance of Palm Sunday across the country. Ben Moses Ebreo

NV board member pushes for ‘people’s council’ creation

By Ben Moses Ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—A lawmaker here is pushing for the creation of a People’s Council as an umbrella organization of people’s organizations, civil society organizations and nongovernment organizations.

Provincial Board Member Elma LejaoPinao-an said her proposed creation of the

People’s Council will further strengthen the partnership of the provincial government and its people towards progress and development.

Dubbed as “The Nueva Vizcaya People’s Participation Ordinance,” the proposal covers the membership of POs, CSOs and NGOs accredited by the provincial board.

The provincial board accredits various

legal organizations in the province so that they can become sectoral representatives to the local government unit’s special bodies and the Provincial Development Council as required by Local Government Code.

Pinao-an said the PDC will be involved in the conduct of research and data banking for sectoral concerns, profile community initiatives and best practices, networking, partnerships and links with

other agencies and assists the provincial government in the conduct of regular and timely information and education program on local policies, programs, projects and activities, among others.

“This will reinvigorate our various organizations in the province so that they can be strengthened and institutionalized as such for progress and development,” she said.

Agri worker puts farmers on top BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Numerous awards continue to pour in for Noralyn Busa, evidence of her passion, dedication and commitment in her work.

But for the 57-year-old of Purok 1, Bintawan Road, barangay Lactawan in Solano town, helping farmers to be productive without putting public health and the environment at risk is her utmost concern.

An Agricultural Engineer of the Office of the Provincial Agriculturist, Busa’s services and assistance to farmers and agricultural organizations also gave these recipients various national and regional awards and recognitions.

“While we provide agricultural services to improve the income of farmers, we should also ensure that the food we produce will contribute to the overall health of our consumers, free of contamination and safe to the environment. This is my inspiration to serve,” she said.

Busa said she has been advocating organic agri-

culture program of the government for farmers in Nueva Vizcaya through the promotion on the use of indigenous materials as alternative for chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

For her passion to push organic agriculture, she was awarded as outstanding and dedicated and hardworking implementer of the Postharvest Development Program in support to the Rice and Corn Industry and the Organic Agriculture, with emphasis on postharvest losses, reduction and prevention of aflatoxin towards soil and water conservation, increase in income of farmers, environmental protection and sustainable agriculture development.

These are given by the Department of Agriculture, such as the Outstanding Postharvest Specialist Network from 2003 to 2006 by the Bureau of Postharvest Research and Extension, Outstanding Agricultural Extension Worker for National Rice Achievers Award in 2012, Outstanding AEW for the National Quality Corn Achievers Award in 2014;

KIDS’ DAY. Children enjoy playing at the color slides in the Manila Playground of Rizal Park on Sunday.

Manny Palmero

Airlines advise passengers on country’s peak travel season ALL airline passengers must allot ample time to check-in, go through security and immigration checks, and process pre-departure requirements, to avoid long queues at the check-in and immigration counters, carriers Cebu Pacific and Cebgo reminded the public

over the weekend.

CEB Domestic Check-in counters are open three hours before the scheduled time of departure and four hours for International flights. All check-in counters close 45 minutes before the scheduled time of flights, except those exiting the

1

Middle East (one hour) and Shanghai (50 minutes).

To cut the waiting time, CEB and Cebgo passengers are encouraged to use the following check-in options: CEB Mobile Check-in. Download the official Cebu Pacific Mobile App on the

App Store or Google Play and tap on the Check-In option. CEB Mobile Check-in is available from seven days to four hours before an international flight, and up to one hour before a domestic flight.

CEB Web Check-in. Visit the Manage Booking section of the Cebu Pacific

website (http://www.cebupacificair.com).

For international flights, web check-in is available from seven days up to four hours before scheduled flight departure. Those taking domestic flights can do web checkin up to one hour before their scheduled departure.

LGUs

Manila

Manila Manila Standard Standard MONDAY, TODAY APRIL 10, 2017

C2

CYAN MAGENTA MAGENTA YELLOW YELLOW BLACK BLACK CYAN CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

TODAY TODAY

Ceza cleanup drive starts

By Brenda Jocson

T

UGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan — To help stop marine pollution and ensure the preparedness of the local industry with the influx of visitors this summer season, a coastal and highway cleanup drive was launched in the tourist destination economic zone in Santa Ana town.

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority kicked off its cleanup drive last week in partnership with the Palaui Environmental Protectors Association, PalauiSan Vicente Motorboat Association or Pasamoba, Reef Rangers, Island Guides, among others.

Joyce Marie Jayme-Calimag, Ceza public relations chief, said the Saharra Santa Ana,

CITY LOCKDOWN. The City Government of Biñan in Laguna conducted over the weekend a massive campaign of anti-illegal drugs and criminality led by City Mayor lawyer Wilfredo R. Dimaguila Jr., Vice Mayor Angelo Alonte, barangay officials, the Laguna Police Provincial office and the Biñan Municipal Police Station to support the city’s ‘Oplan Salikop’ (Lockdown) started last week. (See story on C1.) Roy Tomandao Republic of of the the Philippines Philippines Republic Republic of the Philippines Department of of Health Health Department Department of Health CENTRAL OFFICE OFFICE BIDS BIDS AND AND AWARDS AWARDS COMMITTEE COMMITTEE CENTRAL CENTRAL OFFICE BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE INVITATIONTO TOBID BID INVITATION INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENTOF OFVARIOUS VARIOUSGOODS GOODS PROCUREMENT PROCUREMENT OF VARIOUS GOODS 1. The The Department Department of of Health Health (DOH), (DOH), through through the the General General Appropriations Appropriations Act Act CY CY 2017 2017 intends intends to to apply apply the the sum sum of of Sixty Sixty Nine Nine Million Million Six Six 1.

1.

The Department of Health (DOH), through the General Appropriations Act CY 2017 intends to apply the sum of Sixty Nine Million Six Hundred Thirty Thirty Five Five Thousand Thousand Two Two Hundred Hundred Eighty Eighty Seven Seven Philippine Philippine Pesos Pesos (PhP69,635,287.00) (PhP69,635,287.00) for for the the projects projects listed listed below. below. Bids Bids Hundred Hundred Thirty Five Thousand Two Hundred Eighty Seven Philippine Pesos (PhP69,635,287.00) for the projects listed below.

Bids receivedinin inexcess excessof ofeach eachABC ABCshall shallbe beautomatically automaticallyrejected rejectedat atbid bidopening: opening: received received excess of each ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening: Costof ofBidding Bidding Cost Cost of Bidding IBNo. No. Nameof ofContract Contract ABC(PHP) (PHP) SingleLargest LargestCompleted CompletedContract Contract IB IB No. Name Name of Contract ABC ABC (PHP) Single Single Largest Completed Contract Documents(Php) (Php) Documents Documents (Php) Atleast leastTwenty TwentyFive FivePercent Percent(25%) (25%)ofof of IB No. 2017-108 Procurement of Dengue Rapid Test 50,215,287.00 50,000.00 At At least Twenty Five Percent (25%) IB IBNo. No.2017-108 2017-108 Procurement ProcurementofofDengue DengueRapid RapidTest Test 50,215,287.00 50,215,287.00 50,000.00 50,000.00 theABC ABCwithin withinthe thespecified specifiedperiod periodinin inthe the the the ABC within the specified period the IBNo. No.2017-217 2017-217 Procurement Procurementofof ofMalaria MalariaCombo ComboRDT RDTTest TestKit Kit 19,420,000.00 19,420,000.00 25,000.00 SectionIII. III.Bid BidData DataSheet Sheet IB IB No. 2017-217 Procurement Malaria Combo RDT Test Kit 19,420,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 Section Section III. Bid Data Sheet TOTAL 69,635,287.00 TOTAL TOTAL 69,635,287.00 69,635,287.00 2. The The DOH DOH now now invites invites Bids Bids from from eligible eligible Bidders Bidders for for the the procurement procurement of of the the above-caption above-caption projects. projects. Delivery Delivery of of the the Goods Goods as as specified specified inin in 2.

2.

The DOH now invites Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-caption projects.

Delivery of the Goods as specified SectionVI. VI.Schedule Scheduleof ofRequirements.

Requirements. Bidders Biddersshould shouldhave havecompleted, completed,within withinthe thespecified specifiedyears yearsfrom fromthe thedate dateof ofsubmission submissionand andreceipt receiptof of Section Section VI. Schedule of Requirements.

Bidders should have completed, within the specified years from the date of submission and receipt of bidsaaacontracts contractssimilar similarto toeach eachof ofthe theabove-cited above-citedprocurement procurementprojects projectsstated statedinin inthe theBidding BiddingDocuments.

Documents.The Thedescription descriptionof ofan aneligible eligiblebidder bidder bids bids contracts similar to each of the above-cited procurement projects stated the Bidding Documents.

The description of an eligible bidder iscontained containedinin inthe theBidding BiddingDocuments, Documents,particularly, particularly,inin inSection SectionII.II. II.Instructions Instructionsto toBidders.

Bidders. isis contained the Bidding Documents, particularly, Section Instructions to Bidders.

3. Bidding Bidding will will be be conducted conducted through through open open competitive competitive bidding bidding procedures procedures using using aaa non-discretionary non-discretionary “pass/fail” “pass/fail” criterion criterion as as specified specified inin in the the 3.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified the ImplementingRules Rulesand andRegulations Regulations(IRR) (IRR)of ofRepublic RepublicAct Act(RA) (RA)9184, 9184,otherwise otherwiseknown knownas asthe the“Government “GovernmentProcurement ProcurementReform ReformAct”.

Act”.

Implementing Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding isis is restricted restricted to to Filipino Filipino citizens/sole citizens/sole proprietorships, proprietorships, partnerships, partnerships, or or organizations organizations with with at at least least sixty sixty percent percent (60%) (60%) interest interest or or Bidding Bidding restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstandingcapital capitalstock stockbelonging belongingto tocitizens citizensof ofthe thePhilippines, Philippines,and andto tocitizens citizensor ororganizations organizationsof ofaaacountry countrythe thelaws lawsor orregulations regulationsof ofwhich which outstanding outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of country the laws or regulations of which grantsimilar similarrights rightsor orprivileges privilegesto toFilipino Filipinocitizens, citizens,pursuant pursuantto toRA RA5183 5183and andsubject subjectto toCommonwealth CommonwealthAct Act138.

138. grant grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4. Interested Interestedbidders biddersmay mayobtain obtainfurther furtherinformation informationfrom fromthe theCOBAC COBACSecretariat, Secretariat,G/F, G/F,Bldg.

Bldg.6, 6,Department Departmentof ofHealth, Health,San SanLazaro LazaroCompound, Compound, 4.

4.

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

6, Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Sta.Cruz, Cruz,Manila Manilaand andinspect inspectthe theBidding BiddingDocuments Documentsat at8:00 8:00AM AMto to5:00 5:00PM, PM,Monday Mondayto toFriday.

Friday.

Sta. Sta. Cruz, Manila and inspect the Bidding Documents at 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, Monday to Friday.

5. AA Acomplete completeset setof ofBidding BiddingDocuments Documentsfor foreach eachprocurement procurementpackage packagelisted listedabove abovemay maybe beacquired acquiredby byinterested interestedbidders bidderson on10 10April April2017 2017to to 5.

5. complete set of Bidding Documents for each procurement package listed above may be acquired by interested bidders on 10 April 2017 to 02May May2017 2017from fromthe theaddress addressabove aboveand andupon uponpayment paymentof ofaaanonrefundable nonrefundablefee feefor forthe theBidding BiddingDocuments, Documents,pursuant pursuantto tothe thelatest latestGuidelines Guidelines 02 02 May 2017 from the address above and upon payment of nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issuedby bythe theGPPB GPPBResolution ResolutionNo. No.04-2012, 04-2012,dated dated24 24February February2012, 2012,inin inthe theamount amountspecified specifiedabove. above. issued issued by the GPPB Resolution No. 04-2012, dated 24 February 2012, the amount specified above. mayalso alsobe bedownloaded downloadedfree freeof ofcharge chargefrom fromthe thewebsite websiteof ofthe thePhilippine PhilippineGovernment GovernmentElectronic ElectronicProcurement ProcurementSystem System(PhilGEPS) (PhilGEPS)and andthe the ItItItmay may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the websiteof ofthe theProcuring ProcuringEntity, Entity,provided providedthat thatBidders Bidderswho whoare areinterested interestedto toparticipate participateshall shallpay paythe theapplicable applicablefee feefor forthe theBidding BiddingDocuments Documents website website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders who are interested to participate shall pay the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents notlater laterthan thanthe thesubmission submissionof oftheir theirbids. bids. not not later than the submission of their bids.

Bidding Documents Documents Fee Fee may may be be refunded refunded inin in accordance accordance with with the the aforementioned aforementioned Guidelines Guidelines based based on on the the grounds grounds provided provided for for under under Bidding Bidding Documents Fee may be refunded accordance with the aforementioned Guidelines based on the grounds provided for under Section41 41of of2016 2016Revised RevisedIRR IRRof ofRA RA9184.

9184.

Section Section 41 of 2016 Revised IRR of RA 9184.

6.

The DOH will hold a Pre-Bid Conference and the Submission and Opening of Bids at the COBAC Conference Room, G/F, Building 6, 6.

6. The The DOH DOH will will hold hold aa Pre-Bid Pre-Bid Conference Conference and and the the Submission Submission and and Opening Opening of of Bids Bids at at the the COBAC COBAC Conference Conference Room, Room, G/F, G/F, Building Building 6, 6, Department of of Health, Health, San San Lazaro Lazaro Compound, Compound, Rizal Rizal Avenue, Avenue, Sta. Sta. Cruz, Cruz, Manila, Manila, which which shall shall be be opened opened to to all all interested interested parties parties on on the the Department Department of Health, San Lazaro Compound, Rizal Avenue, Sta. Cruz, Manila, which shall be opened to all interested parties on the schedulegiven givenbelow: below: schedule schedule given below: IBNo. No. IB IB No. IBNo. No.2017-108 2017-108 IB IB No. 2017-108 IBNo. No.2017-217 2017-217 IB IB No. 2017-217

Nameof ofContract Contract Name Name of Contract Procurementofof ofDengue DengueRapid RapidTest Test Procurement Procurement Dengue Rapid Test Procurementofof ofMalaria MalariaCombo ComboRDT RDTTest TestKit Kit Procurement Procurement Malaria Combo RDT Test Kit

Activity(Date (Date&& &Time) Time) Activity Activity (Date Time) Pre-biddingConference Conference Submissionand andOpening Openingof ofBids Bids Pre-bidding Pre-bidding Conference Submission Submission and Opening of Bids 18April April2017; 2017;10:00 10:00A.M. A.M. 02May May2017; 2017;09:00 09:00A.M. A.M. 18 18 April 2017; 10:00 A.M. 02 02 May 2017; 09:00 A.M.

7. Bids Bidsmust mustBids Bidsmust mustbe bedelivered deliveredto tothe theaddress addressstated statedbelow. below.All AllBids Bidsmust mustbe beaccompanied accompaniedby byaaabid bidsecurity securityinin inany anyof ofthe theacceptable acceptableforms forms 7.

7.

Bids must Bids must be delivered to the address stated below.

All Bids must be accompanied by bid security any of the acceptable forms andinin inthe theamount amountstated statedbelow: below: and and the amount stated below: Amount of Bid Security Amount AmountofofBid BidSecurity Security Formofof ofBid BidSecurity Security Form Form Bid Security (Notless lessthan thanthe therequired requiredpercentage percentageofof ofthe theABC) ABC) (Not (Not less than the required percentage the ABC) Cashier’s/manager’scheck checkissued issuedby byaaaUniversal Universalor orCommercial CommercialBank.

Bank.

Cashier’s/manager’s Cashier’s/manager’s check issued by Universal or Commercial Bank.

Bankdraft/guarantee draft/guaranteeor orirrevocable irrevocableletter letterofof ofcredit creditissued issuedby byaaaUniversal Universalor orCommercial CommercialBank: Bank: Bank Bank draft/guarantee or irrevocable letter credit issued by Universal or Commercial Bank: Twopercent percent(2%) (2%) Provided, however, however, that that ititit shall shall be be confirmed confirmed or or authenticated authenticated by by aaa Universal Universal or or Commercial Commercial Two Two percent (2%) Provided, Provided, however, that shall be confirmed or authenticated by Universal or Commercial Bank,ifififissued issuedby byaaaforeign foreignbank. bank.

Bank, Bank, issued by foreign bank.

Surety bond callable upon demand issued by a surety or insurance company duly certified by the Five percent (5%) Surety Suretybond bondcallable callableupon upondemand demandissued issuedby byaasurety suretyor orinsurance insurancecompany companyduly dulycertified certifiedby bythe the Five Fivepercent percent(5%) (5%) InsuranceCommission Commissionas asauthorized authorizedtoto toissue issuesuch suchsecurity. security.

Insurance Insurance Commission as authorized issue such security.

BidSecuring SecuringDeclaration Declaration Nopercentage percentagerequired required Bid Bid Securing Declaration No No percentage required

A NON-GOVERNMENT organization for the protection of Filipino seafarers has voiced its apprehension of the neglected maritime security in the country, saying the “long list of maritime mishaps” transpiring before and now in the country must be acted on by the government, or it should “be ready to face another catastrophe at sea, may it be an act of terrorism or sea tragedy.”

In a statement, Association of Marine Officers and Rating Inc. Seaman president Crescenciano “Butch” Elaba Jr. said it is true maritime security in the country “is being mistreated” and reiterated it is the pivotal reason why the Philippine maritime security is now “crashing down.”

“Have we learned before the past accidents that transpired in our Philippine waters? Did the government never learn in the ac-

(MS-APR.10, 10,2017) 2017) (MS-APR. (MS-APR. 10, 2017)

Section I.I. I. Invitation Invitation for for Rebidding Rebidding Section Section Invitation for Rebidding Republic of of the the Philippines Philippines Republic Republic of the Philippines Philippine Rural Rural Development Development Project Project Philippine Philippine Rural Development Project Invitation for for Rebidding Rebidding of of the the Invitation Invitation for Rebidding of the Construction of of Bridge Bridge at at Bagong Bagong Silang-Macatoc Silang-Macatoc FMR FMR Construction Construction of Bridge at Bagong Silang-Macatoc FMR Identification No. No. PRDP-IB-R04B-ORM-005-000-000-2014-R1 PRDP-IB-R04B-ORM-005-000-000-2014-R1 Identification Identification No. PRDP-IB-R04B-ORM-005-000-000-2014-R1 Loan No. No. 8421-PH 8421-PH Loan Loan No. 8421-PH 1.

1.

1.

2.

2.

2.

3.

3.

3.

4.

4.

4.

5.

5.

5.

6.

6.

6.

7.

7.

7.

8.

8.

8.

9.

9.

9.

April 10, 10, 2017 2017 April April 10, 2017 The Government Government of of the the Philippines Philippines (GoP) (GoP) has has received received aa a Loan Loan from from the the World World The The Government of the Philippines (GoP) has received Loan from the World Bank towards towards the the cost cost of of Philippine Philippine Rural Rural Development Development Project Project and and ititit intends intends Bank Bank towards the cost of Philippine Rural Development Project and intends to apply apply part part of of the the proceeds proceeds of of this this Loan Loan to to payments payments under under the the contract contract for for the the to to apply part of the proceeds of this Loan to payments under the contract for the Construction of Bridge at Bagong Silang-Macatoc FMR /PRDPIB-R04BConstruction Construction of of Bridge Bridge at at Bagong Bagong Silang-Macatoc Silang-Macatoc FMR FMR /PRDP/PRDP- IB-R04BIB-R04BORM-005-000-000-2014-R1.

ORM-005-000-000-2014-R1.

ORM-005-000-000-2014-R1.

The Provincial Provincial Government Government of of Oriental Oriental Mindoro, Mindoro, implementing implementing partner partner of of The The Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro, implementing partner of the Department Department of of Agriculture, Agriculture, now now invites invites bids bids for for the the Construction Construction of of Bridge Bridge the the Department of Agriculture, now invites bids for the Construction of Bridge at Bagong Silang-Macatoc FMR. Completion of the Works is required by 270 at at Bagong Bagong Silang-Macatoc Silang-Macatoc FMR. FMR. Completion Completion of of the the Works Works is is required required by by 270 270 calendar days. days. Bidders Bidders should should have have completed, completed, within within the the last last five five (5) (5) years, years, aa a calendar calendar days.

Bidders should have completed, within the last five (5) years, contract similar similar to to the the Project.

Project. The The description description of of an an eligible eligible bidder bidder is is contained contained in in contract contract similar to the Project.

The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. the the Bidding Bidding Documents, Documents, particularly, particularly, in in Section Section II. II. Instructions Instructions to to Bidders.

Bidders.

Bidding will will be be conducted conducted in in accordance accordance with with relevant relevant procedures procedures for for open open Bidding Bidding will be conducted in accordance with relevant procedures for open competitive bidding bidding as as specified specified in in the the IRR IRR of of RA RA 9184, 9184, with with some some amendments, amendments, competitive competitive bidding as specified in the IRR of RA 9184, with some amendments, as stated in these bidding documents and is open to all bidders from eligible as as stated stated in in these these bidding bidding documents documents and and is is open open to to all all bidders bidders from from eligible eligible source countries countries as as defined defined in in the the applicable applicable procurement procurement guidelines guidelines of of the the World World source source countries as defined in the applicable procurement guidelines of the World Bank. The The contract contract shall shall be be awarded awarded to to the the Lowest Lowest Calculated Calculated Responsive Responsive Bidder Bidder Bank.

Bank.

The contract shall be awarded to the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who who was was determined determined as as such such during during post-qualification. post-qualification. The The Estimated Estimated (LCRB) (LCRB) who was determined as such during post-qualification.

The Estimated Project Cost Cost for for this this project project is is Twelve Twelve Million Million Eight Eight Hundred Hundred Sixty Sixty Eight Eight Project Project Cost for this project is Twelve Million Eight Hundred Sixty Eight Thousand Pesos, Php 12,868,000.00.

Thousand Thousand Pesos, Pesos, Php Php 12,868,000.00.

12,868,000.00.

Interested bidders bidders may may obtain obtain further further information information from from the the Bids Bids and and Awards Awards Interested Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Bids and Awards Committee of of the the Provincial Provincial Government Government of of Oriental Oriental Mindoro Mindoro and and inspect inspect the the Committee Committee of the Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Mondays Bidding Bidding Documents Documents at at the the address address given given below below from from 9:00am 9:00am to to 4:00pm, 4:00pm, Mondays Mondays to Fridays.

Fridays. to to Fridays.

A complete complete set set of of Bidding Bidding Documents Documents may may be be purchased purchased by by interested interested Bidders Bidders A A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from April April 10, 10, 2017 2017 –– – May May 9, 9, 2017 2017 from from the the address address below below and and upon upon payment payment of of from from April 10, 2017 May 9, 2017 from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable non-refundable fee fee for for the the bidding bidding documents documents in in the the amount amount of of Five Five Thousand Thousand aa non-refundable fee for the bidding documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (PhP5,000.00).

(PhP5,000.00).

Pesos Pesos (PhP5,000.00).

It may may also also be be downloaded downloaded free free of of charge charge from from the the website website of of the the Philippine Philippine ItIt may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Electronic Procurement Procurement System System (PhiIGEPS) (PhiIGEPS) and and the the PRDP PRDP website website Government Government Electronic Procurement System (PhiIGEPS) and the PRDP website (http://www.daprdp.net) provided provided that that bidders bidders shall shall pay pay the the non-refundable non-refundable fee fee (http://www.daprdp.net) (http://www.daprdp.net) provided that bidders shall pay the non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids. for for the the Bidding Bidding Documents Documents not not later later than than the the submission submission of of their their bids. bids.

As part part of of the the transparency transparency measures measures being being instituted instituted by by the the Department Department of of As As part of the transparency measures being instituted by the Department of Agriculture (DA) (DA) the the bidders bidders can can virtually virtually visit visit the the site site of of the the above-described above-described Agriculture Agriculture (DA) the bidders can virtually visit the site of the above-described subproject at http://www.daprdp.net where geotagged base photographs of subproject subproject at at http://www.daprdp.net http://www.daprdp.net where where geotagged geotagged base base photographs photographs of of the bridge bridge and and track track are are viewable. viewable. The The DA, DA, however, however, requires requires that that all all potential potential the the bridge and track are viewable.

The DA, however, requires that all potential contractors who who will will be be awarded awarded contract contract under under the the project project shall shall have have undergone undergone contractors contractors who will be awarded contract under the project shall have undergone geotagging training training provided provided by by the the PRDP PRDP Project Project Support Support Office.

Office. geotagging geotagging training provided by the PRDP Project Support Office.

The Provincial Provincial Government Government of of Oriental Oriental Mindoro Mindoro will will hold hold aa a Pre-Bid Pre-Bid Conference Conference The The Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro will hold Pre-Bid Conference on April April 28, 28, 2017 2017 at at 10:00 10:00 AM AM at at the the 2nd 2nd Floor Floor Governor’s Governor’s Office Office Conference Conference on on April 28, 2017 at 10:00 AM at the 2nd Floor Governor’s Office Conference Room, Provincial Provincial Capitol Capitol Complex, Complex, Camilmil, Camilmil, Calapan Calapan City, City, Oriental Oriental Room, Room, Provincial Capitol Complex, Camilmil, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro, which which shall shall be be open open to to all all interested interested parties. parties.

Mindoro, Mindoro, which shall be open to all interested parties.

Bids must must be be delivered delivered on on or or before before May May 10, 10, 2017 2017 at at 10:00 10:00 AM AM at at the the BAC BAC Bids Bids must be delivered on or before May 10, 2017 at 10:00 AM at the BAC Office, Provincial Provincial Capitol Capitol Complex, Complex, Calapan Calapan City, City, Oriental Oriental Mindoro.

Mindoro. All All bids bids Office, Office, Provincial Capitol Complex, Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro.

All bids by a Bid Securing Declaration or bid security in the amount must be accompanied must must be be accompanied accompanied by by aa Bid Bid Securing Securing Declaration Declaration or or bid bid security security in in the the amount amount of Php 258,000.00 in the form of Cash or Cashier’s/ Manager’s check or Bank of of Php Php 258,000.00 258,000.00 in in the the form form of of Cash Cash or or Cashier’s/ Cashier’s/ Manager’s Manager’s check check or or Bank Bank Guarantee issued issued by by aa a universal universal or or commercial commercial Bank Bank Guarantee Guarantee issued by universal or commercial Bank Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to Bids Bids will will be be opened opened in in the the presence presence of of the the bidders’ bidders’ representatives representatives who who choose choose to to attend at at the the address address below. below. Late Late bids bids shall shall not not be be accepted. accepted. attend attend at the address below.

Late bids shall not be accepted.

The Provincial Provincial Government Government of of Oriental Oriental Mindoro Mindoro reserves reserves the the right right to to accept accept or or The The Provincial Government of Oriental Mindoro reserves the right to accept or reject any any bid, bid, to to annul annul the the bidding bidding process, process, and and to to reject reject all all bids bids at at any any time time prior prior reject reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or to to contract contract award, award, without without thereby thereby incurring incurring any any liability liability to to the the affected affected bidder bidder or or bidders. bidders. bidders.

For further further information, information, please please refer refer to: to: For For further information, please refer to: ENGR. ELMER ELMER V. V. DlLAY DlLAY ENGR. ENGR. ELMER V. DlLAY Chairman, Bids Bids and and Awards Awards Committee Committee Chairman, Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee Provincial Capitol Complex, Calapan City City Provincial Provincial Capitol Capitol Complex, Complex, Calapan Calapan City (043) 286 7144 (043) (043) 286 286 7144 7144

(MS-APR.10, 10,2017) 2017) (MS-APR. (MS-APR. 10, 2017)

cidents, mishaps in the past? We need a proactive approach rather than heedless approach, or acting and saving people only after the accident or terror attack such as piracy took place,” said Elaba, a seasoned seafarer.

Elaba made the statement after chief engineer Laurencio Tiro of Super Shuttle RoRo 9, a cargo vessel operating in Mindanao and Visayas, was snatched last March 23 by alleged Abu Sayyaf bandits together with ship captain Aurelio Agac-ac.

Agac-ac escaped from his abductors, while Tiro was rescued by the Armed Forces of the Philippines last March 27.

“Imagine being snatched inside a vessel while performing their jobs? This might have been avoided if a maritime security plan is intact on that ship. These incidents might have been avoided.”

(SGD) ENGR. ENGR. ELMER ELMER V. V. DlLAY DlLAY (SGD) (SGD) ENGR. ELMER V. DlLAY Chairman, Bids Bids and and Awards Awards Committee Committee Chairman, Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee

said Elaba.

He reiterated that the mere adoption of the International Maritime Organization-International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, SOLAS XI-2 as amended

by IMO and the ISO 28000 standards, in which the country is a contracting party, are solutions to these problems of piracy, terror attack, accidents, among others.

“Ships will not sink, no lives will be taken, and drugs will not proliferate if ports and ships are well guarded and checked,” Elaba added.

“In fact, in 2013, I even asked the government of then President Benigno Aquino III to come up with the ‘International Summit for Anti-Piracy’ but we were turned down for unknown reasons. That summit is a perfect venue to address the maritime security concerns, but we don’t know what

happened,” he said.

He revealed that in a news report in 2015, then-Transportation secretary Joseph Emilio A. Abaya admitted the government sees several loopholes in maritime laws, and the implementation of maritime safety and security programs in the country “is not enough,” given the unstable situation of the Philippine seas.

“The Philippines is committed to pursuing innovations and initiatives to promote the safety and security of its ships. Being an archipelagic nation, our people are dependent on ships for the carriage of passengers, cargoes and services between our islands.

Ships and shipping services are important to our economic survival as a people and as a nation,” Abaya said in a statement during a press conference arranged by the Maritime Industry Authority.

Hotel kicks off PH Spanish food season

By Khris Marc Ronquillo

Republic of of the the Philippines Philippines Republic Republic of the Philippines CITY OF OF PARAÑAQUE PARAÑAQUE CITY CITY OF PARAÑAQUE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP PARTNERSHIP SELECTION SELECTION COMMITTEE COMMITTEE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP SELECTION COMMITTEE NOTICE OF OF INVITATION INVITATION FOR FOR COMPARATIVE COMPARATIVE PROPOSAL PROPOSAL NOTICE NOTICE OF INVITATION FOR COMPARATIVE PROPOSAL (SWISS CHALLENGE) CHALLENGE) (SWISS (SWISS CHALLENGE)

(SGD)NESTOR NESTORF.F. F.SANTIAGO, SANTIAGO,JR, JR,MD, MD,MPHC, MPHC,MHSA, MHSA,CESO CESOIII III (SGD) (SGD) NESTOR SANTIAGO, JR, MD, MPHC, MHSA, CESO III AssistantSecretary Secretaryof ofHealth Health Assistant Assistant Secretary of Health COBAC---CC CChairperson Chairperson COBAC COBAC Chairperson

part of Ceza’s efforts to also protect and maintain the beautiful beaches of the Cagayan Freeport, as well as the marine life and the tourism industry that highly depend on the area’s natural attractions,” Calimag added.

She said that in the five Asian countries listed by USOC, only about 40 percent of garbage is properly collected and that trash is often piled up in communal dumps where stray bits are swept up by the wind and cast into the ocean.

“At Cagayan ecozone, want to be part of Asia’s garbage pickers called the unsung heroes of conservation who brave filth and disease to root through trash and extract plastic that can be sold to recyclers for a little cash,” Calimag said.

Ceza was created under Republic Act 7922 or the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995 signed by then President Fidel Ramos to manage and supervise the development of the 54,118-hectare Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Santa Ana town that includes the islands of Fuga, Barit and Mabbag in Aparri town.

Maritime mishaps loom, group warns

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

Late bids shall not be accepted. accepted. accepted.

8.

The DOH reserves the right to accept or reject any and all bids, declare a failure of bidding, or not award the contract at any time prior 8.

8. The The DOH DOH reserves reserves the the right right to to accept accept or or reject reject any any and and all all bids, bids, declare declare aa failure failure of of bidding, bidding, or or not not award award the the contract contract at at any any time time prior prior to contract contract award award inin in accordance accordance with with Section Section 41 41 of of RA RA9184 9184 and and its its IRR, IRR, without without thereby thereby incurring incurring any any liability liability to to the the affected affected bidder bidder or or to to contract award accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. bidders. bidders.

8. For Forfurther furtherinformation, information,please pleaserefer referto: to: 8.

8.

For further information, please refer to: COBAC-CSecretariat Secretariat COBAC-C COBAC-C Secretariat Departmentof ofHealth Health Department Department of Health SanLazaro LazaroCompound Compound San San Lazaro Compound Sta.Cruz, Cruz,Manila Manila Sta. Sta. Cruz, Manila Tel.Nos. Nos.651-7800 651-7800local local1625 1625to to1627; 1627;1650 1650to to52 52 Tel. Tel. Nos. 651-7800 local 1625 to 1627; 1650 to 52 FacsimileNo.: No.:741-9775; 741-9775;740-6830 740-6830 Facsimile Facsimile No.: 741-9775; 740-6830

an association of hotels, resorts and restaurants, and this town’s barangay units have also joined the cleanup.

“The cleanup involves removal of trash from the shore, cleaning of highways, loading of the collected garbage and disposing them to the designated disposal area,” Calimag said.

Calimag cited studies made by the United States Ocean Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit organization, showing tons of garbage—made of plastic and other materials that take long period of decomposition making it very hazardous to marine life— end up in the oceans every year.

USOC claims that China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam are spewing out as much as 60 percent of the plastic waste that enters the world’s seas.

The organization fears that at this rate, there will be one ton of plastic for every three tons of fish in the oceans by 2025 which is “an unthinkable number with drastic economic and environmental consequences.”

“Our cleanup activity at the ecozone is

Public notice notice is is hereby hereby given given that that the the City City Government Government of of Parañaque, Parañaque, through through its its PublicPublicPublic Public notice is hereby given that the City Government of Parañaque, through its PublicPrivate Partnership Partnership Selection Selection Committee, Committee, received received and and accepted accepted the the Unsolicited Unsolicited Proposal Proposal Private Private Partnership Selection Committee, received and accepted the Unsolicited Proposal of QPax Traffic Systems, Inc., the original proponent for the development, management and of of QPax QPax Traffic Traffic Systems, Systems, Inc., Inc., the the original original proponent proponent for for the the development, development, management management and and operation of of the the NO NO CONTACT CONTACT TRAFFIC TRAFFIC SAFETY SAFETY PROGRAM. PROGRAM. After After completing completing detailed detailed operation operation of the NO CONTACT TRAFFIC SAFETY PROGRAM. After completing detailed negotiations, the the City City is is now now ready ready to to accept accept comparative comparative proposals proposals negotiations, negotiations, the City is now ready to accept comparative proposals This project project is is being being undertaken undertaken by by the the City City under under aa a joint joint venture venture arrangement, arrangement, which which is is aa a This This project is being undertaken by the City under joint venture arrangement, which is modality under underOrdinance Ordinance No. No.1313-06, 06,Series Seriesof of2013, 2013,otherwise otherwise known knownas as City Cityof ofParañaque Parañaque modality modality under Ordinance No. 1306, Series of 2013, otherwise known as City of Parañaque Integrated PPP Code.

Integrated Integrated PPP PPP Code.

Code.

Interestedbidders biddersmust mustsubmit submittheir theirnotarized notarizedexpression expressionof ofinterest interestto tosubmit submitcomparative comparative Interested Interested bidders must submit their notarized expression of interest to submit comparative th proposals on on or or before before April April 18, 18, 2017 2017 at at the the Office Office of of the the City City Administrator, Administrator, 44 4thth Floor, proposals proposals on or before April 18, 2017 at the Office of the City Administrator, Floor, Floor, City Hall, Hall, Parañaque Parañaque City.

City.

City City Hall, Parañaque City.

The notarized notarized expression expression of of interest interest with with supporting supporting documents documents must must contain contain the the following: following: The The notarized expression of interest with supporting documents must contain the following: 1.

1.

1.

2.

2.

2.

3.

3.

3.

4.

4.

4.

5.

5.

5.

6.

6.

6.

The challenger challenger is is aa a Filipino Filipino citizen citizen or or partnership partnership wholly wholly owned owned by

by Filipino Filipino The The challenger is Filipino citizen or partnership wholly owned by Filipino citizens or or aa a Filipino Filipino corporation corporation at at least least 60% 60% of of its its capital capital owned owned by

by Filipino Filipino citizens citizens or Filipino corporation at least 60% of its capital owned by Filipino citizens. citizens. citizens.

The challenger challenger is is financially financially and and technically technically capable capable to to undertake undertake the the The The challenger is financially and technically capable to undertake the Project and and is is capable capable to to post post the the required required proposal proposal security security bond. bond.

Project Project and is capable to post the required proposal security bond.

The challenger has an existing road rules enforcement contract with a The The challenger challenger has has an an existing existing road road rules rules enforcement enforcement contract contract with with aa Local Government Government Unit Unit in in The The Philippines Philippines or or abroad. abroad.

Local Local Government Unit in The Philippines or abroad.

The challenger shall undertake to adhere to all applicable City Ordinances, The The challenger challenger shall shall undertake undertake to to adhere adhere to to all all applicable applicable City City Ordinances, Ordinances, laws and and policies policies and and qualification qualification criteria criteria set set by by the the City.

City. laws laws and policies and qualification criteria set by the City.

The challenger challenger must must be be able able to to comply comply to to the the terms terms and and conditions conditions stated stated The The challenger must be able to comply to the terms and conditions stated in the the Terms Terms of of Reference Reference (TOR).

(TOR). in in the Terms of Reference (TOR).

The challenger challenger shall shall not not in in any any manner manner prevent prevent the the Award Award of of the the Project Project The The challenger shall not in any manner prevent the Award of the Project and the the carrying carrying out out the the project. project. and and the carrying out the project.

Those who who filed filed their their notarized notarized expression expression of of interest interest on on or or before before April April 18, 18, 2017 2017 may may Those Those who filed their notarized expression of interest on or before April 18, 2017 may obtain from from the the Office Office of of the the City City Administrator Administrator the the Terms Terms of of Reference Reference upon upon payment payment of of aa a obtain obtain from the Office of the City Administrator the Terms of Reference upon payment of non-refundable fee of ₱25,000.00.

Only those who filed their NEOI on time and purchased non-refundable non-refundable fee fee of of ₱25,000.00. ₱25,000.00. Only Only those those who who filed filed their their NEOI NEOI on on time time and and purchased purchased copies of of the the Terms Terms of of Reference Reference shall shall be be allowed allowed to to participate participate in in this this competitive competitive selection selection copies copies of the Terms of Reference shall be allowed to participate in this competitive selection procedure. procedure. procedure.

The following following schedule schedule of of activities activities shall shall be be strictly strictly observed: observed: The The following schedule of activities shall be strictly observed: 1.

1.

1.

2.

2.

2.

3.

3.

3.

4.

4.

4.

5.

5.

5.

6.

6.

6.

7.

7.

7.

8.

8.

8.

9.

9.

9.

10.

10.

10.

11.

11.

11.

12.

12.

12.

Publication of of Notice Notice of of Invitation Invitation for for Comparative Comparative Proposals Proposals in in two two (2) (2) Publication Publication of Notice of Invitation for Comparative Proposals in two (2) newspapers of of general general circulation circulation ::: April April 33 3& & 10, 10, 2017.

2017. newspapers newspapers of general circulation April & 10, 2017.

On the first date of publication of the invitation for comparative proposal, On On the the first first date date of of publication publication of of the the invitation invitation for for comparative comparative proposal, proposal, the Private Private Sector Sector Proponent Proponent (PSP) (PSP) or or Original Original Proponent Proponent (OP) (OP) the the Private Sector Proponent (PSP) or Original Proponent (OP) shall post post the the proposal proposal security security or or bid bid security security equivalent equivalent to to 2% 2% of of the the shall shall post the proposal security or bid security equivalent to 2% of the development cost cost of of the the project project –– – in in cash, cash, manager’s manager’s check check or or bank bank draft draft development development cost of the project in cash, manager’s check or bank draft or 5% 5% ififif surety surety bond. bond. or or 5% surety bond.

Posting of of Notice Notice of of Invitation Invitation at at the the City City Government’s Government’s website website (www. (www.

Posting Posting of Notice of Invitation at the City Government’s website (www. parañaquecity.gov.ph) and and in in conspicuous conspicuous places places within within the the City City ::: April April parañaquecity.gov.ph) parañaquecity.gov.ph) and in conspicuous places within the City April 3, 2017.

3, 3, 2017.

2017.

Submission of Notarized Expression of Interest at the Office of the City Submission Submission of of Notarized Notarized Expression Expression of of Interest Interest at at the the Office Office of of the the City City Administrator ::: on on or or before before April April 18, 18, 2017.

2017.

Administrator Administrator on or before April 18, 2017.

Eligibility Check to short list qualified Private Sector Proponent (PSP) Eligibility Eligibility Check Check to to short short list list qualified qualified Private Private Sector Sector Proponent Proponent (PSP) (PSP) ::: April 19-21, 19-21, 2017.

2017.

April April 19-21, 2017.

Sending notice notice of of eligibility eligibility or or non-eligibility non-eligibility to to PSP PSP ::: April April 24, 24, 2017.

2017.

Sending Sending notice of eligibility or non-eligibility to PSP April 24, 2017.

Release of of Terms Terms of of Reference Reference --- April April 24, 24, 2017 2017 to to April April 28, 28, 2017 2017 upon upon Release Release of Terms of Reference April 24, 2017 to April 28, 2017 upon payment of of the the amount amount of of ₱25,000.00 ₱25,000.00 in in cash, cash, manager’s manager’s check check or or bank bank payment payment of the amount of ₱25,000.00 in cash, manager’s check or bank draft. draft. draft.

Pre-Selection Conference conducted by the PPP-SC at Room 310, 3rdrdrd Pre-Selection Pre-Selection Conference Conference conducted conducted by by the the PPP-SC PPP-SC at at Room Room 310, 310, 33 Floor, Legislative Legislative Building, Building, Parañaque Parañaque City City Hall Hall ::: May May 3, 3, 2017 2017 at at 10:00 10:00 Floor, Floor, Legislative Building, Parañaque City Hall May 3, 2017 at 10:00 A.M. A.M. A.M. Submission of of Comparative Comparative Proposals Proposals (CP) (CP) at at the the Office Office of of the the City City Submission Submission of Comparative Proposals (CP) at the Office of the City Administrator ::: on on or or before before May May 18, 18, 2017.

2017.

Administrator Administrator on or before May 18, 2017.

Opening and Evaluation of Comparative Proposals (CP) : May 19, 2017 at Opening Opening and andrdEvaluation Evaluation of of Comparative Comparative Proposals Proposals (CP) (CP) :: May May 19, 19, 2017 2017 at at Floor, Legislative Legislative Building, Building, Parañaque Parañaque City City Hall.

Hall.

Room 310, 310, 33 3rdrd Floor, Floor, Legislative Building, Parañaque City Hall.

Room Room 310, Within five (5) days from Opening and Evaluation of Comparative Proposals, Within Withinfive five(5) (5)days daysfrom fromOpening Openingand andEvaluation Evaluation of ofComparative Comparative Proposals, Proposals, the Original Original Proponent Proponent (OP) (OP) can can exercise exercise the the Right Right to to MATCH MATCH the the superior superior the the Original Proponent (OP) can exercise the Right to MATCH the superior or more more advantageous advantageous comparative comparative proposal. proposal. or or more advantageous comparative proposal.

Issuance of NOTICE OF AWARD. Issuance Issuance of of NOTICE NOTICE OF OF AWARD. AWARD.

If no no notarized notarized expression expression of of interest interest or or comparative comparative proposal proposal is is submitted, submitted, the the Project Project IfIf no notarized expression of interest or comparative proposal is submitted, the Project shall be be awarded awarded to to the the Original Original Proponent Proponent (OP).

(OP). shall shall be awarded to the Original Proponent (OP).

Further, pursuant pursuant to to the the above-mentioned above-mentioned Ordinance, Ordinance, the the Original Original Proponent Proponent (OP) (OP) shall shall be be Further, Further, pursuant to the above-mentioned Ordinance, the Original Proponent (OP) shall be given the the right right to to match match the the superior superior offer offer or or more more advantageous advantageous offer offer to to the the City.

City. given given the right to match the superior offer or more advantageous offer to the City.

Finally, the the PPP-SC PPP-SC reserves reserves the the right right to to (1) (1) reject reject any any and and all all applications applications for for qualification qualification Finally, Finally, the PPP-SC reserves the right to (1) reject any and all applications for qualification and eligibility eligibility found found not not in in conformity conformity with with aforesaid aforesaid Ordinance Ordinance or or with with the the requirements requirements and and eligibility found not in conformity with aforesaid Ordinance or with the requirements above-mentioned without incurring any liability to the affected Private-Sector Proponent; (2) above-mentioned above-mentioned without without incurring incurring any any liability liability to to the the affected affected Private-Sector Private-Sector Proponent; Proponent; (2) (2) waive any any minor minor defect defect therein; therein; and and (3) (3) accept accept the the offer offer ititit deems deems most most advantageous advantageous to to the the waive waive any minor defect therein; and (3) accept the offer deems most advantageous to the City Government.

City City Government.

Government.

CONTACT INFORMATION: INFORMATION: CONTACT CONTACT INFORMATION: PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP-SELECTION PARTNERSHIP-SELECTION COMMITTEE COMMITTEE (PPP-SC) (PPP-SC) PUBLIC-PRIVATE PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP-SELECTION COMMITTEE (PPP-SC) c/o Atty.

Atty. Rommel Rommel A. A. Frias Frias c/o c/o Atty.

Rommel A. Frias PPP-SC Secretary & City Legal Officer PPP-SC PPP-SC Secretary Secretary & & City City Legal Legal Officer Officer Sgd. FERNANDO FERNANDO C. C. SORIANO SORIANO Sgd. Sgd. FERNANDO C. SORIANO PPP-SC Chairman Chairman PPP-SC PPP-SC Chairman

(MS-APR.3/10, 3/10,2017) 2017) (MS-APR. (MS-APR. 3/10, 2017)

THREE Centuries of Spanish Influence has left indelible marks on the Filipino language, faith and cuisine. Locals revisited the authentic taste of Spain in Diamond Hotel Philippines’ Exquisita Comida Española the Spanish Food Festival at the Hotel’s premiere dining destination, Corniche, starting April 3.

This year’s Spanish food festival opening was ushered in by a mesmerizing performance of the Fundacion Centro Flamenco. The intensity and flair of the dancers, dancing to live guitar accompaniment, set the mood for an afternoon of Spanish festivities.

Experience unparalleled gastronomic delights, rich tastes and delicate aromas enchant the palette from the most refined ingredients of Spain. Filipinos one may think that we know what Spanish food is and that’s what makes the Fiesta so visually welcoming and appetizing, but nothing is at it seems.

Excite your taste buds with a sumptuous line up delectable Spanish dishes at the elegant Corniche dining hall of Diamond Hotel Philippines. Lunch and dinner is available for P2,380 nett per person. Go beyond the ordinary and sample the Paella Negra served with Aioli then try the Gambas Al Ajillo, a serving of juicy prawns, sautéed with garlic in olive oil.

If Lechon is more to your liking upgrade your roast pork experience with the Cochinillo Asado, a whole roasted suckling pig, stuffed with the gentle buttery flavor of truffle infused rice and served with a rich liver pate.

Sample the widened spectrum of flavors offered by the large assortment of chorizo on the grill and cold cuts like the Jamon Iberico with a side of the bold Queso Manchego, and NOTICE OF OF CLOSURE CLOSURE NOTICE black is indeed beauThis is to inform the public and all This This is is to to inform inform the the public public and and all all tiful when you sample interested parties parties that that COLLABERA COLLABERA the Chipirones En Su interested interested parties that COLLABERA SOLUTIONS PRIVATE PRIVATE LIMITED LIMITED with with Tinta, stuffed squid in SOLUTIONS SOLUTIONS PRIVATE LIMITED with COMPANY REG REG NO. NO. FS201113584 FS201113584 has has black ink sauce.

COMPANY COMPANY REG NO. FS201113584 has If you are more a decided to close its branch located at decided decided to to close close its its branch branch located located at at 301 Rufino Rufino Pacific Pacific Building, Building, 6784 6784 Ayala Ayala creature of the night 301 301 Rufino Pacific Building, 6784 Ayala Avenue cor. cor. V. V. A. A. Rufino, Rufino, Makati Makati City City you may also try to visit Avenue Avenue cor.

V. A. Rufino, Makati City on July July 30, 30, 2015 2015 pursuant pursuant to to aa a Board Board the sky-high bar of the on on July 30, 2015 pursuant to Board Resolution passed passed in in the the meeting meeting of of the the Hotel, the Bar 27 which Resolution Resolution passed in the meeting of the Board of of Directors Directors of of Brillio Brillio Technologies Technologies opens from 8-11 p.m.

Board Board of Directors of Brillio Technologies where you can indulge Private Limited Limited held held on on July July 6, 6, 2015.

2015.

Private Private Limited held on July 6, 2015. bottomless Sangria and (MS-APR.3,10 3,10&& &17, 17,2017) 2017) (MS-APR. (MS-APR. 3,10 17, 2017) all-you-can-eat Pintxos Republic of of the the Philippines Philippines the Civil Civil Registrar Registrar General General and and Republic Republic of the Philippines the the Civil Registrar General and the Administrator Administrator of of the the National National with friends for only REGIONALTRIAL TRIAL COURT COURT the the Administrator of the National REGIONAL REGIONAL TRIAL COURT Statistics Office Office to to amend amend the the P1,380 nett per person.

National Capital Capital Judicial Judicial Region Region Statistics Statistics Office to amend the National National Capital Judicial Region record of of petitioner petitioner with with regard regard to to Branch 92, 92, Quezon Quezon City City record record of petitioner with regard to Branch Branch 92, Quezon City To add to the alher civil civil status status and and reflect reflect therein therein her her civil status and reflect therein the divorce decree obtained by her the the divorce divorce decree decree obtained obtained by by her her ready stunning sights, IN RE: PETITION FOR THE IN IN RE: RE: PETITION PETITION FOR FOR THE THE alien spouse from Kentucky, USA. alien spouse spouse from from Kentucky, Kentucky, USA. USA. ENFORCEMENT OF OF FOREIGN FOREIGN alien sounds, and flavors, ENFORCEMENT ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN Let the the Initial Initial Hearing Hearing of of this this DECREE OF OF DIVORCE DIVORCE AND AND ITS ITS Let Let the Initial Hearing of this DECREE DECREE OF DIVORCE AND ITS REGISTRATION IN IN THE THE OFFICE OFFICE petition petition be be set set on on June June 20, 20, 2017 2017 guests were treated to REGISTRATION REGISTRATION IN THE OFFICE petition be set on June 20, 2017 OFTHE THE CIVIL CIVIL REGISTRY REGISTRY (Tuesday) at at 1:30 1:30 in in the the afternoon afternoon OF OF THE CIVIL REGISTRY (Tuesday) (Tuesday) at 1:30 in the afternoon a cooking demonstraat the the Session Session Hall Hall of of Justice Justice of of at at the Session Hall of Justice of ROSARY KRISTINE I. ANIDO, ROSARY ROSARY KRISTINE KRISTINE I.I. ANIDO, ANIDO, this Court, Court, Ground Ground Floor, Floor, Room Room tion of the hotel’s newthis this Court, Ground Floor, Room Petitioner, Petitioner, Petitioner, 125, Hall Hall of of Justice, Justice, Quezon Quezon City.

City.

125, 125, Hall of Justice, Quezon City. est Spanish Executive Anyone who who has has any any objection objection to to Anyone who has any objection to -versus- R-QZN-17-01806-CV R-QZN-17-01806-CV Anyone -versus-versusR-QZN-17-01806-CV the instant instant petition petition may may file file on on or or Chef Francisco Coque, the the instant petition may file on or before the the scheduled scheduled hearing hearing his/ his/ CIVIL REGISTRAR REGISTRAR GENERAL GENERAL before before the scheduled hearing his/ the genius behind all CIVIL CIVIL REGISTRAR GENERAL her opposition opposition with with aa a statement statement AND ENRIQUE ENRIQUE MARTIN MARTIN GOMEZ GOMEZ her her opposition with statement AND AND ENRIQUE MARTIN GOMEZ of the the grounds grounds relied relied upon upon for for the the the exquisite dishes.

POMAR, of of the grounds relied upon for the POMAR, POMAR, Respondents. opposition. opposition.

Respondents.

Respondents. opposition.

Hailing from Gran x-----------------------------------------x x-----------------------------------------x x-----------------------------------------x Let this this Order Order be be published published at at Let Let this Order be published at ORDER Canaria in Spain, he ORDER ORDER the expense of the petitioner once the the expense expense of of the the petitioner petitioner once once This is is aa a verified verified Petition Petition for for aa a week week for for three three (3) (3) consecutive consecutive first joined a 3 MicheThis This is verified Petition for week for three (3) consecutive Judicial Recognition of Foreign weeks in a newspaper of general Judicial Judicial Recognition Recognition of of Foreign Foreign weeks weeks in in aa newspaper newspaper of of general general lin Starred restaurant in Divorcefiled filedby bythe thepetitioner petitionerdated dated circulation circulation in in Metro Metro Manila.

Manila.

Divorce Divorce filed by the petitioner dated circulation in Metro Manila.

February 6, 6, 2017.

2017. Considering Considering February February 6, 2017.

Considering Let also a copy of this Order and Guipuzcoa, San SebasLet Let also also aa copy copy of of this this Order Order and and that the object of the action is the that that the the object object of of the the action action is is the the a copy copy of of the the petition petition be be furnished furnished copy of the petition be furnished tian in 1997. From there recognition of of the the Foreign Foreign Divorce Divorce aa recognition recognition of the Foreign Divorce the Office Office of of the the Solicitor Solicitor General, General, the Office of the Solicitor General, Decree, which which according according to to Corpuz Corpuz the Decree, Decree, which according to Corpuz National Statistics Office and the the he went on to become National National Statistics Statistics Office Office and and the vs.

Sto. Tomas, G.R. No. 186571, vs. vs. Sto. Sto. Tomas, Tomas, G.R. G.R. No. No. 186571, 186571, respondent respondent Local Local Civil Civil Registrar Registrar of of Local Civil Registrar of Chef de Partie in the August 11, 11, 2010 2010 and and Co Co vs. vs. Civil Civil respondent August August 11, 2010 and Co vs.

Civil Quezon City City who who have have fifteen fifteen (15) (15) Quezon City who have fifteen (15) Register of of Manila, Manila, G.R. G.R. No. No. Quezon Register Register of Manila, G.R. No. days from their respective receipts days days from from their their respective respective receipts receipts fine dining restaurant 138496, February 23, 2004, may 138496, 138496, February February 23, 23, 2004, 2004, may may of of this this Order Order or or from from the the last last day day this Order or from the last day of a 5 star luxury hotel be made made in in aa a proceedings proceedings under under of be be made in proceedings under of its its publication publication within within which which to to file file of its publication within which to file Rule 108 108 of of the the Rules Rules of of Court, Court, of Rule Rule 108 of the Rules of Court, their respective opposition. in London and since their their respective respective opposition. opposition. the instant action is treated by the the the instant instant action action is is treated treated by by the the SO ORDERED. ORDERED. then has been workCourt as as aa a Special Special Proceedings Proceedings SO SO ORDERED. Court Court as Special Proceedings under Rule Rule 108.

108.

Quezon City, City, Metro Metro Manila, Manila, under under Rule 108.

Quezon Quezon City, Metro Manila, ing in several Michelin February 23, 23, 2017.

2017.

The petitioner through counsel February February 23, 2017.

The The petitioner petitioner through through counsel counsel star establishments and prays that after due notice, (Sgd.) ELEUTERIO L. BATHAN prays prays that that after after due due notice, notice, (Sgd.) (Sgd.) ELEUTERIO ELEUTERIO L. L. BATHAN BATHAN publication and and hearing, hearing, issue issue Presiding Judge Judge exploring the flavors of publication publication and hearing, issue Presiding Presiding Judge an Order directing the Office of an an Order Order directing directing the the Office Office of of (MS-Apr.3, 3, 10 10 && & 17, 17, 2017) 2017) Spain.

(MS-Apr. (MS-Apr. 3, 10 17, 2017)

CYAN MAGENTA MAGENTA YELLOW YELLOW BLACK BLACK CYAN CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF Police destroy bomb-like device in Oslo OSLO―Norwegian police said Sunday they had destroyed a suspect “bomb-like” device in the capital Oslo and made one arrest, on the heels of a deadly truck attack in neighboring Sweden killed four people.

“Bomb disposal officers carried out a controlled explosion overnight Saturday,” a Norwegian police statement said.

Police cordoned off part of the busy Gronland district and evacuated local bars and restaurants after the crude device -- described as having the capacity to cause only limited damage -- was discovered Saturday evening.

Norway’s PST police security agency is investigating.

There were no immediate further details.

The device was discovered a day after four people were killed and 15 injured after a truck rammed into shoppers in Stockholm. Swedish police have detained a 39-year-old Uzbek man in connection with that incident.

AFP

Bomb kills 9 policemen in Afghanistan MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanstan―A roadside bomb killed nine policemen and wounded four others outside their checkpoint in northern Afghanistan, officials said Sunday, in the latest casualties ahead of the spring fighting season.

The bomb exploded Saturday when police entered a Taliban stronghold they had retaken in Chimtal district in Balkh province following an operation led by the powerful provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion, but it comes amid rising insecurity in Afghanistan. The Taliban are soon expected to announce their annual spring offensive.

“Nine local policemen were martyred and four others sustained injuries in an IED explosion in Chimtal district,” local police spokesman Shir Jan Durrani told AFP. “All the victims were taken to the hospital in the city of Mazar-iSharif,” Durrani said.

Noor Mohammad Faiz, head of the civilian hospital in Mazari-Sharif, confirmed the casualties.

The country is bracing for an intense fighting season in the spring after the failure of repeated government attempts to launch peace negotiations with the Taliban. AFP

C3

Veterans fight deportation C

HICAGO―Miguel and Esperanza Perez stood outside Chicago’s immigration courthouse, clutching an American flag folded into a triangle in a gesture of respect.

US soldier killed in Afghanistan KABUL―An American special forces soldier has been killed while conducting operations against the Islamic State group in Afghanistan, the US military said.

The US-backed Afghan military has vowed to wipe out the group in its strongholds in the eastern province of Nangarhar as IS challenges the more powerful Taliban on its own turf.

“A US soldier was killed in action while conducting operations against ISIS-Khorasan in [Nangarhar] Afghanistan,” US Navy Captain Bill Salvin said on Twitter, referring to a regional affiliate of the jihadist group.

The identity of the soldier, killed late on Saturday, was not revealed.

“On behalf of all of US Forces - Afghanistan, I offer our deepest condolences to the family and friends of our fallen comrade,” General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

“We will always remember our fallen comrades and commit ourselves to deliver on their sacrifice,” Nicholson added.

Nangarhar, which borders Pakistan, is a hotbed of IS militancy.

US forces have conducted a number of air strikes on jihadist bases in the area since August last year.

IS, notorious for its reign of terror in Syria and Iraq, has been making inroads into Afghanistan in recent years. It has attracted disaffected members of the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban as well as Uzbek Islamists.

But the group has been steadily losing territory in the face of heavy pressure both from US air strikes and a ground offensive led

by Afghan forces. AFP

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

SELFIE. A woman takes a selfie as she rides a rented bicycle on the main square of Jakarta on April 9. AFP

The flag once flew over a US military base in Afghanistan, where the couple’s son Miguel Perez Jr served two tours in a Special Forces unit.

The 38-year-old was now jailed, and at the mercy of an immigration judge inside the courthouse.

The military veteran, a legal permanent resident, was subject to deportation after being convicted of a drug crime.

Had he been a citizen, he simply would have served his prison time and been released. But now he was trying to avoid becoming one of the hundreds of US military veterans, all honorably discharged, to be similarly deported.

Perez thought he had automatically become a naturalized citizen when he joined the military-a common misconception among immigrants enlisted in the US armed forces.

Enlistees qualify for expedited naturalization, but they still have to apply and go through the process.

Some are unaware of the requirements, and others cannot comply -- because they are serving in foreign lands. Still others have been victims of bureaucratic bungling.

Convicted in 2010 for the manufacture or delivery of more than two pounds of cocaine, Perez was sentenced to 15 years in jail.

He was remanded in custody by immigration authorities last year after being granted early release from prison.

In Perez’s case, his family hoped their son’s military service would mitigate his crime and convince the judge to let him stay.

“I hope today I bring home my son,” Esperanza Perez said before a cluster of television news cam-

eras outside the courthouse.

“My son is my hero, is your hero.”

She was optimistic that the judge would consider the mental scars of war that drove her son to drug use, and the potential dangers he could face in Mexico, with its drug cartels.

But it would take weeks for the judge to rule in March and for the Perezes to learn whether their son could come home.

On the other side of the USMexico border, Hector Barajas lives the life Miguel Perez Jr is trying to avoid.

Barajas, a 40-year-old US Army veteran, was deported to Mexico in 2004. He had pleaded guilty to shooting at a car.

When he first arrived in Mexico―a country he had not seen since he was seven―Barajas said his first thought was that his “life is over.”

“You have to come to grips with the reality,” he said.

Barajas now runs a group home in the border city of Tijuana to help other deported veterans.

About 30 of them have lived there at one time or another, most in their 60s and 70s.

“Part of our job here is to support them, help the guys get their IDs, help them find jobs, so that they can adjust to their lives down here,” Barajas said.

The vets are waging legal battles to return to the US-a process that can take years, with no guarantee of success.

“A lot of them have had a hard time coping,” Barajas said. “It’s very hard to accept the reality that we might be here for a very long time.”

US laws, perversely, allow deported veterans to return when they are dead―for burial in a US military cemetery. AFP

Protesters clash with police in Venezuela CARACAS―Protesters hurling rocks clashed with police firing tear gas Saturday in Venezuela’s fourth demonstration in a week against President Nicolas Maduro and his government.

The rally was marked by anger over a ruling from the leftist government banning opposition leader Henrique Capriles from office for 15 years. Around 4,000 people attended the demonstration.

Capriles narrowly lost the 2013 presidential election that brought Maduro to power following the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez -- father of Venezuela’s “socialist revolution.”

The government move, which the 44-year-old Capriles announced on Friday, effectively prevents him from running against Maduro in next year’s general election.

Saturday’s violence broke out when protesters who had gathered in the east of the city changed course at Capriles’s request and headed downtown toward the government ombudsman’s office.

The district―home to many government offices―is a proMaduro bastion and the president’s supporters were holding a “cultural, sporting and recreation-

al rally” there.

National Guard police fired tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets to force protesters back.

Masked demonstrators threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at police, said AFP reporters on the scene. At least two police officers were hit by the flaming bottles.

The initial tally of injuries stood at 17, according to the mayor of one of Caracas’s districts.

According to Capriles the building where he carries out his political activities was “attacked with bombs” shortly after the demonstration.

“What is the order of Maduro?

To kill us? If something happens you know who is responsible and what must be done!” he wrote on Twitter.

Capriles was among the leaders behind mass demonstrations against Maduro earlier this week that triggered clashes with police.

One protester died.

“This thing that they just did to Capriles is the product of tyranny,” said Adel Rincones, 61, who clutched a sign that read “Venezuela is wounded in the heart with hunger, misery, corruption, dictatorship.”

Others at the rally held pictures of Capriles.

“People are tired of so much corruption, hunger and poverty,” said Vanessa Garcia, 37, an optometry student.

Protests also erupted in several other cities, including unrestprone San Cristobal in the west, where masked gunmen reportedly set off explosions, causing demonstrators to flee.

In Caracas, the violent clashes went on for about three hours before demonstrators dispersed.

Intelligence Services chief Gustavo Gonzalez said some leaders of a “fascist terrorist cell” were taken into custody for fomenting Saturday’s unrest. AFP

Poachers shoot dead rare one-horned rhino K AT H M A N D U ― P o a c h e r s have shot dead a one-horned rhinoceros at a national wildlife park in Nepal, officials said Sunday, spotlighting the threat faced by the rare animals.

Officials on Saturday found the male rhino with its horn gouged out in Chitwan National Park, the country’s biggest rhino conservation area.

“We performed a post-mortem and found that it had been hit by a bullet on its head,” the park’s spokesman Nurendra Aryal told AFP. Aryal said a team had been set up to investigate the incident and security had been tightened at the district borders.

In September last year a rhino died weeks after poachers shot it in the same park, the first of the rare animals to be killed in the country in over two years.

Thousands of one-horned rhinos once roamed the plains of Nepal, but their numbers have plunged over the past century due to poaching and human encroachment on their habitat.

The population decline was particularly dramatic during Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil war, when soldiers on anti-poaching

duties were redeployed to fight the Maoist guerrilla insurgency.

But the country has since made rapid progress in combating the poachers who kill the animals for their prized horns, drawing praise from conservation groups and activists.

The horns fetch huge prices in some Asian countries where they are used for medicines and jewelry.

Nepal is home to about 645 rhinos, out of which about 600 live in Chitwan National Park.

The park is in the process of relocating five rhinos to another conservation area in far-west Nepal to boost their population.

Shant Raj Jnawali, a rhino expert at WWF, said the latest death highlighted the vulnerability of the animals despite anti-poaching efforts from the community, park wardens and army.

“We hope that the investigation will help us devise new strategies to strengthen protection for these animals,” Jnawali said.

Rhino poaching carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a 100,000-rupee ($1,000) fine. AFP

SOUND CHECK. Abby Price, left, Amelia Bajilia, center, and Regan de la Cruz of the Noisemakers smile after the sound check with Portugal, The Man at the Jannus Live on April 8, 2017, in Saint Petersburg, Florida. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

C4

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

World

PALM SUNDAY. Pope Francis leads the Palm Sunday mass on April 9, 2017, at St Peter’s square in the Vatican. Palm Sunday is the final Sunday of Lent, the beginning of the Holy Week, and commemorates the triumphant arrival of Jesus Christ in Jerusalem days before he was crucified. AFP

Foreigners line up for Pyongyang marathon PYONGYANG―Hundreds of foreigners lined up in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung Stadium on Sunday for the city’s annual marathon, the highlight of the tourism calendar in isolated North Korea.

The 40,000-plus capacity ground was packed for the event, the crowd warmly applauding as the runners gathered on the artificial pitch, with portraits of the North’s founding father Kim Il-Sung and his late son and heir Kim Jong-Il smiling down benignly from the roof.

The event is part of the commemorations for the anniversary of Kim Il-Sung’s birth on April 15, 105 years ago, and a row of dignitaries sat in a VIP section― at least four of them in military uniform.

Nearly 2,000 people entered the event, more than half of them foreigners―mostly Europeans and other Westerners.

They took part even though the North is under multiple sets of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, and Washington is diverting a carrier strike group towards the Korean peninsula as tensions mount.

“It’s a bit surreal, where we are,” said Irishman Richie Leahy, 35, who likes holidays that are “more of an adventure”.

“This just ticked all the boxes,” he told AFP. “I took part in a sporting event in North Korea: it’s not something that everyone can say.”

Soon after the start the course passed an obelisk declaring “The great leaders Kim Il-Sung and Kim Jong-Il will always be with us”.

The runners made their way past city landmarks including Kim Il-Sung Square and Mansu hill, where giant bronze statues of the two men gaze out over their capital.

Local runner Pak Chol, 27, established a commanding lead in the men’s race several kilometers out and recorded his third victory in the event in 2 hours 13 minutes and 56 seconds. His compatriot Jo Un-Ok was the first woman across the line in 2:29’23”.

Despite the geopolitical tensions-only last week the UN Security Council condemned the North’s latest missile launch― knots of spectators gathered along the route, cheering the runners on and exchanging highfives with them. AFP

US strike group leaves for Korea WASHINGTON―The US Navy said Saturday it had sent a carrier-led strike group to the Korean peninsula in a show of force against North Korea’s “reckless” nuclear weapons program.

The move will raise tensions in the region and comes hard on the heels of a US missile strike on Syria that was widely interpreted as putting Pyongyang on warning over its refusal to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

North Korea denounced Thursday’s strike as an act of “intolerable aggression” and one that justified “a million times over” the North’s push toward a credible nuclear deterrent.

“US Pacific Command ordered the Carl Vinson Strike Group north as a prudent measure to maintain readiness and presence in the Western Pacific,” said Commander Dave Benham, spokesman at US Pacific Command.

“The number one threat in the region continues to be North Korea, due to its reckless, irresponsible and destabilizing program of missile tests and pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability,” he told AFP, in an unusually forceful statement.

Originally scheduled to make port calls in Australia, the strike group―which includes the Nimitz-class aircraft super carrier USS Carl Vinson―is now headed from Singapore to the Western Pacific Ocean.

Pyongyang is on a quest to develop a long-range missile capable of hitting the US mainland with a nuclear warhead, and has so far staged five nuclear tests, two of them last year.

Expert satellite imagery analysis suggests it could well be preparing for a sixth, with US intelligence officials warning that Pyongyang could be less than two years away from developing a nuclear warhead that could reach the continental United States.

North Korea on Wednesday fired a medium-range ballistic missile into the Sea of Japan ahead of a US-China summit.

In February the North simultaneously fired four ballistic missiles off its east coast, three of which fell provocatively close to Japan, in what it said was a drill for an attack on US bases in the neighboring Asian country.

Last August Pyongyang also successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile 500 kilometers towards Japan, far exceeding any previous sub-launched tests, in what the North’s leader Kim JongUn hailed as the “greatest success.”

A nuclear-capable SLBM system would take the North’s threat to a new level, allowing deployment far beyond the Korean peninsula and a “secondstrike” capability in the event of an attack on its army bases.

On Thursday and Friday, US President Donald Trump hosted his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for talks during which he pressed Pyongyang’s key ally to help curb the North’s nuclear weapons program.

Trump has threatened unilateral action against the hermit state, a threat that appears more palpable after Thursday’s strike on a Syrian airfield following an apparent chemical attack.AFP

Swedes to hold vigil after attack as probe deepens S

TOCKHOLM―Thousands of people were to gather in central Stockholm on Sunday for a “Lovefest” vigil against terrorism, as police pursue their investigation into this week’s deadly truck attack.

MASKS FOR SALE. Venetian masks are on sale in a shop in Venice on April 8, 2017. AFP

Islamists to hang after their pleas rejected DHAKA―A top Islamist extremist under sentence of death has lost his last hope of avoiding the gallows after Bangladesh’s president rejected a mercy plea, an official said Sunday.

Bangladesh’s highest court last month upheld a 2008 death sentence on Mufti Abdul Hannan and two associates for an attack on a shrine that left three people dead and injured the British high commissioner at the time.

Last month the trio wrote to President Abdul Hamid seeking clemency.

“But the president has rejected all three mercy petitions,” his press secretary Joynal Abedin told AFP. Jail authorities would now go ahead with the executions, deputy inspector general of prisons Touhidul Islam told AFP.

Authorities have not announced a date but the executions are expected sometime this month.

Hannan headed the Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islami (HuJI) group. The attack on the British ambassador in 2004 was among the most high-profile of a series of assaults by the group across Bangladesh in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The decision to reject clemency comes just weeks after militants attempted to free Hannan by hurling bombs at police vans as police transferred him between prisons.

By the time Hannan was arrested in late 2005 more than 100 people had been killed in attacks by HuJI on a church, secular gatherings and mosques used by Islam’s minority sects.

Bangladesh has suffered a spate of

attacks on secular activists, foreigners and religious minorities in recent years.

Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State group have claimed responsibility in some cases but Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s secular government has pinned the blame on local outfits.

There has been a resurgence of Islamist extremist attacks in recent weeks, with at least three being claimed by IS. The fatalities included the head of intelligence of an elite security force tasked with tacking Islamist militancy across the Muslim-majority country.

Police and army commandos have arrested scores of suspected extremists and killed more than 60 people since an attack on a Dhaka cafe last year that left 22 dead. AFP

Shocked by Friday’s attack that left four dead and 15 injured―for which a 39-year-old Uzbek man is in custody―Stockholmers mobilized on Facebook, organizing a vigil for 2:00 pm (1200 GMT) at the Sergels Torg plaza near where the truck rammed into shoppers.

Sweden has been trying to get back on its feet this weekend after what authorities termed a terror attack, the motive for which was still unknown.

The method however was similar to previous attacks using vehicles in Nice, Berlin and London, all of them claimed by the Islamic State group.

There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the Stockholm attack―the third in Europe in two weeks, coming on the heels of the car and knife assault outside London’s parliament and the Saint Petersburg metro bombing.

Police have not named the suspected driver of the truck, whom they arrested on Friday evening, but authorities said he was known to Sweden’s intelligence service for undisclosed reasons.

The man is suspected of speeding a stolen beer truck several hundred metres down the bustling pedestrian street Drottninggatan in the heart of Stockholm.

The vehicle mowed down shoppers before slamming into the facade of the busy Ahlens department store.

“There is nothing to indicate that we’ve got the wrong man. On the contrary, the suspicions have strengthened,” Swedish police chief Dan Eliasson said Saturday.

He said police found a suspect device in the cab of the truck.

“A technical examination is ongoing, we can’t go into what it is right now... whether it’s a bomb or a flammable device.”

The attack deeply shocked the usually tranquil Scandinavian nation, which prides itself on its openness and tolerance.

All day Saturday, crowds milled behind the security fences blocking off the scene of the attack, laying flowers on the ground or poking them into the fence.

Several police cars parked near the scene were also covered in flowers by Swedes, who widely praised the emergency crews’ speedy response to the attack.

“Maybe something good will come of this,” Inger Morstedt, 75, told AFP, expressing hope that her fellow Swedes would become “even more open and welcoming”.

“In some ways it’s unreal,” said 40-year-old Johan.

“I’ve come here to honor the victims and the society in which we live.” AFP

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Life FOOD

Chef Mon Urbano demonstrates the proper way to cook the 1920s adobo recipe by Isidra Guevarra

D1

NOT YOUR USUAL ADOBO. The postcolonial chicken adobo is a golden-fried dish whose meat is crispy outside and moist and juicy inside.

A taste of 1920’s

Chicken Adobo

By Nickie Wang

T

HE taste of the humble adobo differs on who cooks it and how it is cooked. The quintessential dish also has numerous versions depending where the person who prepared it comes from.

Bibingka made with coconut meat, Star Margarine, and Magnolia Cheezee

Hearthealthy goodness in a drink

In Aurora, an ancestral house-turned restaurant in the town of Santa Cruz, Laguna, business partners and chefs Mon Urbano and Day Salonga recreated a post-colonial recipe by Isidra Guevarra (wife of former Senator Pedro Guevarra).

In a cooking demo, Chef Mon heated up his stove and gave the heirloom recipe a modern twist. In a pot, he put half a dozen of chicken wings, poured a cup of water, and added vinegar, pepper, and salt.

“Let us wait for 20 minutes to let it simmer until the water is gone,” he beamed to the curious crowd and gave them a second look, “Yes, no soy sauce.”

He set the pot aside, and just like what we see in live cooking shows, the kitchen master came up with a bowl of cooked chicken wings in one hand and a bowl of flour in the other. On the counter, he proceeded to demonstrate how to coat the chicken thinly with flour.

“The secret of this recipe is to make the chicken look golden brown, that’s when you know it’s going to be crispy,” the chef says while dipping the flourcoated chicken wings into the boiling oil.

Each bottle of Welch is made of 100 percent Concord grapes; more than 40 of those grapes go into an 8oz. glass of the juice

REGULAR exercise and eating the right types of food are the keys to a healthy heart. When it comes to choosing fruits that are good for your heart, go beyond the usual red and opt for the dark purple variety. Research has shown that berries like Concord grapes can help promote heart health because it contains polyphenols, which are natural antioxidants not found in other fruits. These plant nutrients stimulate blood circulation and keeps energy flowing throughout the body.

A simple yet effective way of getting your dose of heart–healthy antioxidants is by drinking grape juice.

Welch’s has been known as the best choice for grape juice for generations, serving goodness to families for over 140 years. A product of the USA, each bottle of Welch’s is made of 100 percent Concord grapes grown and harvested by about 1,000 family-farmer owners in vineyards found across the United States. More than 40 Concord grapes go into an 8oz. glass of Welch’s so you can be sure of getting the natural freshness of grapes with each sip.

Welch’s 100% Grape Juice is also available in other variants: Welch’s 100% Grape Juice with Calcium and Welch’s 100% Grape Juice with Fiber. Staying healthy with Welch’s is also convenient because it comes in a variety of sizes (64oz, 46oz, 16oz and 10oz) that makes it easier to share with friends and family.

Welch’s is distributed by Fly Ace Corporation and is available in all major supermarkets nationwide, Mercury Drug, Watson’s and all convenience stores. For more information, email welchsph@gmail.com and follow Welch’s PH on Facebook.

Minanok is banana heart cooked in burnt coconut cream and served with maruya

After frying the chicken, he plated it and topped it with toasted garlic, “And that’s how you cook a post-colonial adobo,” he exclaimed with pride.

True enough, the chicken was crispy outside, the meat moist and juicy with just a little hint of saltiness and sourness. If you had not seen how it was prepared you’d think you were sinking your teeth into a specially marinated chicken fried to perfection.

Just like its signature chicken adobo, Aurora promotes Southern Tagalog cuisine highlighting the unfamiliar yet worth discovering Laguna way of cooking that can put the province on the culinary map apart from our favorite Espasol and Buko Pie. Culinary journey In a recent gastronomical and historical tour organized by San Miguel Pure Foods Culinary Center, Aurora was one of the noted places visited by food and travel writers. It’s the tour’s second stop.

At the restaurant, dinner was served and the entrée included fresh alamang sauté with chunky Monterey Pork pieces; Crispy Adobong Tadyang na Bakang Angus, Pancit Chami (stir-fried fresh egg noodles).

The meal was capped off with Minanok (banana heart cooked in burnt coconut cream served with maruya) and Tinuto (minced shrimps and coconut meat wrapped in taro leaves with rich coconut cream sauce).

The first pit stop was the charming town of Pila, which a lot of tourists refer to as “The Vigan of Laguna.” While many parts of the country have foregone the past in exchange for rapid advancement, Pila has preserved its historical structures. The town plaza, surrounding structures, and centuries-old houses owned by pioneering clans of the town were declared by the National Histori-

Cafe Lago’s bestselling dish Buttered Chicken, made special with Star Margarine and Pako Salad

cal Institute as a National Historical Landmark in May 2000.

One of these houses is the Corazon Rivera House being maintained by her granddaughter Cora Relova. The amiable host welcomed guests with local snacks such as Puto with Kesong Puti, Maja Blanca, and fresh buko juice.

She also gave a tour of the houses and other structures around the town plaza, including the Diocesan Shrine of Saint Anthony.

The scribes’ third stop in their itinerary started at Sulyap Gallery Cafe in San Pablo City, a charming bed and breakfast that served as the participants’ residence for their night in Laguna before they embarked on another day of culinary journey.

The second day of the tour began with breakfast. There was a Magnolia Pancake station; a Magnolia Egg station; a buffet consisting of Sulyap’s fried Bangus and Pork Taper, sauteed Purefoods Corned Beef; and deep-fried Purefoods Honeycured Bacon. San Mig Coffee’s different variants (Barako and Strong Sugar-free) were also served to energize participants for the activities ahead.

After breakfast, the tour brought the participants to the scenic Sampaloc Lake, the largest of seven lakes in San Pablo City. Refreshments and snacks were served at Cafe Lago, a quaint cafe that gives a magnificent view of the lake, not to mention a cool breeze because of its elevation. Its owners, siblings Tony and Mandy Marino, are advocates of the lake’s rehabilitation and named their cafe after the Italian word for lake, lago.

According to Tony, it was actually friends who prodded the siblings to start a restaurant in their ancestral home near the lake seven years ago while the rehabilitation was in full swing. Although hesitant at first, they gave in and started Cafe Lago which serves not only as their culinary venture but also a place that allows guests to appreciate the beauty of the lake.

For lunch, Cafe Lago served their best-seller—Buttered Chicken made special with Star Margarine and pako salad. The participants were also treated to fried halo-halo topped with Magnolia Vanilla Ice Cream. Laguna’s version of bibingka made with coconut meat, Star Margarine, and Magnolia Cheezee was served on our way home.

Cucina’s new signature dishes SAVOR a new and delightful culinary experience with Cucina’s new signature dishes that will surely satisfy your deep cravings.

Calling all meat-lovers, the new line up of signature specialties definitely brings a whole new surprise to everyone’s palate. Setting up a different kind of fusion featuring the tropical fruit pineapple, enjoy the Filipino favorite Crispy Pata with a different twist―stuffed with foie gras and topped with pineapple salsa. Opt for a dairy and ocean-fresh filling with Braised Beef Roulade Stuffed with Cream Cheese, Shrimp, Fish, and Shellfish Meat. Taste the best of both worlds with the Surf and Turf Blanket, featuring Salmon and Minced Beef with Sundried Tomato.

Cucina offers a versatile dining experience complemented by a well-curated spread of interna-

tional cuisine that are heavy on flavors and is made from superior ingredients. From the Seafood Station, Asian Noodles and Pasta, Carving, Cheeses and Cold Cuts and Desserts, Cucina promises to be a one-stop-shop for all the finest flavors that diners’ palates are looking for.

From the usual symphony of taste, Cucina is consistently seen in bringing something new to the table with these new buffet signature dishes, bringing incredible flavour and tenderness, prepared to perfection.

For more information, contact (02) 720-7777 or book online via www.marcopolohotels.com or email: manila@marcopolohotels. com. Visit facebook.com/MarcoPoloOrtigasManila or follow @ MarcoPoloManila on Twitter or Instagram.

Life

D2

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

Discover

Chicken

Deli

Chicken Deli, which offers authentic Bacolod chicken inasal among other dishes, welcomes award-winning actor Dennis Trillo to its family as the brand’s new endorser

AWARD-WINNING actor, model, and recording artist, Dennis Trillo, is popularly known for the various romantic roles he has given life to as GMA-7’s “Drama King.”

Dennis has channeled love, passion, courage, and a whole range of emotions through notable characters in television shows like Etheria, Darna, Majika, Gagambino, Temptation of Wife, My Husband’s Lover, My Faithful Husband, Juan Happy Love Story, and Mulawin vs. Ravena. Then, on screen, he has made his mark for notable performances in films like Aishite Imasu 1941, Blue Moon, My Neighbor’s Wife, You’re Still The One, Felix Manalo, and Bakit Lahat Ng Gwapo May Boyfriend?

But beyond the limelight, Dennis has discovered a new “love.” Lured by the aroma wafting from the grill, he followed his appetite to the place where his heart gains true satisfaction. From legs, thighs, breasts, and wings, Dennis has embraced Chicken Deli.

This is actually not the first time that Dennis was exposed to the Bacolod style of chicken inasal. He explains that his dad, Abelardo Leslie Ho, is from Dumaguete City. He would often go to Bacolod and mention Chicken Deli when talking about his trips.

Dennis remembered those stories when he had the opportunity to travel to Bacolod. While in the City of Smiles, he got his fill of inasal. His taste buds

EASTER DEALS

Hoppy Easter Join Diamond Hotel Philippines’ Hoppy Easter Party, and spend Easter Sunday hopping from one activity to the next on April 16 from 10 a.m. to p.m. at the Diamond Ballroom.

It’s fun and games galore for kids and kids-at-heart.

Hop into the Easter playground and enjoy the Easter bunny game plan which includes: face and egg painting, cupcake decorating, photo booth, glimmer tattoo, kids’ salon, live musical entertainment and a magic show. Have your photos taken with giant pastel-colored eggs and adorable bunnies at the upper lobby and expect special cartoon character guest appearances— definitely worth posting on your favorite social media app. Also, kids and adults alike can indulge and enjoy an assortment of sweets, from chocolate eggs to fluffy cotton candy, and mini cupcakes that will be available for sale along with other delightful snacks from the hotel. Bring the whole family, be amazed and explore all the treats enchantingly prepared for you. Children in Easter-inspired costumes will get a chance to win exciting prizes from the hotel and sponsors.

In the Grand Raffle Draw, kids will get a chance to win Beats by Dr. Dre headphones and speaker.

Ticket price is at P1,000 nett per person inclusive of a take home snack box. Diamond Indulgence Cardholders will get P100 off on the price, maximum of four tickets only for purchase.

For inquiries call 528-3000 ext. 8461. *** Make Easter more fun with Villa Del Conte’s Ovicinis. Take your Easter egg hunting extra special and yummier with Villa Del Conte’s luscious Ovicinis.

Delight your kids with these lavish giveaways wrapped in a cute bunny pouch, which contains eight pieces of candy coated, dark chocolate with hazelnut cream filling. Made from premium chocolates from Padova, Italy, these Villa Del Conte’s Ovicinis are definitely the perfect treats for kids and kids-at-heart this Easter.

Grab these sweet and indulgent chocolates at all Villa Del Conte stores in Greenbelt 5, Century City Mall, Shangri-la Mall, Resorts World, SM Megamall, and Robinsons Magnolia.

For bulk orders and to know more, contact 893-2575 or 621-6101, or visit www.villadelcontecioccolato.com.

memorized every flavor and tasty nuance, hoping that such delicious servings would be available in Metro Manila.

His wish was granted when Chicken Deli established its first Metro Manila branch in 2011. And by a stroke of serendipity, he would be tapped to become its endorser.

At first bite of Chicken Deli, all memories of that delicious inasal came flooding in. “Naisip ko talaga yung original recipe ng inasal,” Dennis reveals. “Kasi marami nang iba’t ibang klaseng lumabas na inasal; meron yung parang barbecue lang, tapos meron naman yung parang sweet. Pero nung natikman ko ito, sabi ko ito yung authentic na Bacolod recipe. Dito nagsimula talaga yung inasal kaya parang pag unang bite mo pa lang, alam mo nang authentic ang recipe.”

As far as chicken parts are concerned, Dennis confesses to being a breast man himself. But his preference for chicken breast, he clarifies, is when he is on a strict diet and has to watch his calorie intake. Otherwise, he likes to sink his teeth into dark meat, especially when covered with chicken skin. He grins as he admits, “Masarap din yung may malutong na balat, eh. Nandun yung flavor. Gusto ko talaga may balat kasi nandun yung lasa.”

Apart from chicken inasal, Chicken Deli serves other Pinoy favorites like Lechon Kawali, Beef Kare Kare, Sini-

gang na Bangus, Pork Sinigang, Pork Sisig, Chicken Sisig and Pork Liempo.

There are Chicken Deli-cious Meals: individual servings of grilled chicken, pork, beef, and fish, all accompanied by free soup and kanin-all-you-can.

End the meals with panghimagas, like the original Halo Deli and its new version of Pinoy Halo-halo, Turon Sticks, Sago’t Gulaman, Leche Flan, and piping hot Piyaya baked especially on site.

Dennis has already scanned the menu and vows to try the Chicken Sisig next.

To truly enjoy the inasal experience, it is recommended that diners eat the chicken with their hands. No problem for this timeless leading man, who says “Mas masarap kumain ng inasal pag kinakamay.” Even on a romantic date?

“Sure!” he exclaims.

Light moment aside, Dennis is thrilled about being an ambassador for Chicken Deli: “Excited ako na maging part ng Chicken Deli family. Kasi marami pa ang hindi nakakakilala sa Chicken Deli and gusto ko, kahit papaano makatulong ako bilang instrument para ma-share ko sa iba at matikman nila yung original at makapagbigay ng saya sa kanila habang kumakain.”

Chicken Deli now has over 50 branches nationwide.

For franchising inquiries, call 09173028180, 09328489957 or (02) 9030108 or email at franchising@ chickendeli.com.ph or visit the website www.chickendelibacolod.com.

Indulge in guilt-free dishes on Holy Week

San Marino canned fish products offer a nourishing and tasty food alternative during the Holy Week

Canned tuna brand San Marino is providing Lent devotees a selection of fish products that they can eat guilt-free as we observe Holy Week from April 9 to 15.

During this solemn period of spiritual reflection, Christians often find themselves looking for food options that won’t be against the seven-day abstinence and fasting. Many Filipinos strictly complies to this practice where we forego a week of pork, beef, and other meats as form of penance and sacrifice.

But this act does not mean setting aside nutrition and health. San Marino products are rich in Omega-3, a heart friendly oil that helps lower bad cholesterol and reduces risk of cardiovascular disease, thus making them a nourishing food alternative.

San Marino Corned Tuna, the brand’s flagship product, has less oil and more tuna giving consumers a value for their money. San Marino’s Hearty Line, features tender cuts of first class blue mackerel in San Marino Blue Mackerel Steak and lean tuna in San Marino Tuna Fillet.

For those who crave Filipino dishes, there are San Marino Tuna Embutido and San Marino Tuna Laing viands. The former has the same texture as real embutido, while the latter features the same creamy coconut milk and dried taro leaves familiar to Bicol Region’s famous delicacy.

San Marino Tuna Paella is a mix of tuna and Spanish cooked rice, and San Marino Spanish Sardines is made of fresh herring and spices.

But for the classic among classics, you will never go wrong with San Marino Tuna Flakes which comes in hot and spicy flavor and flakes in oil.

MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

Easter weekend family movie

MTRCB inspects bus terminals

F

ROM the studio that brought you Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, and Madagascar comes DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby, a hilarious family comedy about how a new baby’s arrival impacts a family, told from the point of view of a delightfully unreliable narrator—a wildly imaginative seven-year old named Tim. The most unusual Boss Baby arrives to Tim’s home in a taxi, wearing a suit, carrying a brief case and speaking with the voice and wit of Alec Baldwin. The sibling rivalry between the two brothers is reluctantly cast aside when Tim discovers that Boss Baby is actually a spy on a secret undercover mission, and only he can help. An outrageous adventure ensues as the pint-sized partners prepare to thwart a dastardly plot involving an epic battle between puppies and babies.

Inspired by the best-selling picture book

by Marla Frazee, this riotous comedy for all ages features the voices of Baldwin as Boss Baby, Steve Buscemi as the villainous Francis E. Francis, Jimmy Kimmel and Lisa Kudrow as Tim and Boss Baby’s

Alec Baldwin voices the lead character in the American computer-animated comedy film 'The Boss Baby'

unsuspecting parents, Miles Bakshi as Tim, and Tobey Maguire as the film’s narrator.

Maguire (Spider-Man trilogy, The Cider House Rules) narrates the movie.

“Tim is a happy seven-year-old with two loving parents, who is initially an only child, but when he gets the news that he is getting a little brother, he is not too pleased that he has to share the love and time of his parents,” explains Maguire. “He is struggling with the transition, so he has kind of created all these things about Boss Baby because he has a very strong imagination.”

Maguire points out that Tim’s relationship with his brother is very contentious. “Tim is very suspicious of his new baby brother because he’s like a little man who’s got an agenda, and he would like to expose him so he can get the attention of his parents back. But then they have to join forces and help each other fight Francis and stop his plot to destroy Baby Co.” When the baby’s mission is accomplished, and he has to go away, Tim thinks he’s happy, but he’s

grown really fond of his little brother, and he ultimately doesn’t want him to go away.” The talented actor says he finds the movie quite funny and very relatable. “The movie’s themes are demonstrated through fantasy—through this really fun idea of essentially Alec Baldwin being a Boss Baby, which is a blast. But it’s also relatable because if you’ve been in any of these roles, as a sibling or a parent, it’s certainly something you have probably experienced.”

Maguire is also quick to point that he has had a great time working with Tom McGrath and the rest of his creative team. He notes, “He has been great and very easy to work with, but I really admire his creativity.

He’s really imaginative, and very funny. I just think he has found such a charming and unique tone for this movie.”

An ideal Easter weekend movie for the whole family, The Boss Baby opens April 15 (Saturday) in cinemas nationwide from 20th Century Fox to be distributed by Warner Bros.

THE Movie and Television Review and Classification Board (MTRCB) will conduct an inspection and information drive on passenger buses and various bus terminals today and tomorrow.

Board Members will tour several bus terminals on Edsa-Cubao today and tomorrow in relative to the Holy Week rush of Metro Manilans to the provinces.

The activity aims to ensure that buses only exhibit films with General Audience (“G”) or Parental Guidance (“PG”) classification to lessen the exposure of children on board to films not appropriate for their age.

The inspection is in support of the agency’s information dissemination campaign among bus operators to check their compliance with the rules and regulations of the MTRCB, and for the bus commuters to be informed of their right to responsible, ageappropriate, and value-based media while traveling on board vehicles showing films or TV shows.

From 8 until 11 a.m. today, the MTRCB team will be in Cubao and will inspect terminals at Araneta Center and of Baliwag Transit, Genesis Transport, and JAM Liner.

Tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., the team will move to Sampaloc, Manila and inspect terminals of Fariñas Transit, G.V. Florida Transport, Dalin Liner, and Victory Liner.

GABBY-SHARON MOVIE depends on actor’s schedule HIS busy work schedule currently is the reason Gabby Concepcion can’t totally commit to his supposedly reunion movie opposite former wife Sharon Cuneta.

“It would all depend on my schedule if I could still accommodate doing a film at this moment. Personally, I’ve no problem with the idea.

I’m open to do any good movie offer. But as I’ve said earlier, my schedule is full as of now, so let’s see.”

At present, the handsome actor is a contract artist of GMA-7 and is the male lead in the top-rating afternoon drama Ika-6 na Utos opposite Sunshine Dizon and Ryza Cenon.

“Apart from the said soap, which I’m happy about because of its consistently high ratings and generally positive feedbacks, I’m also part of the Derrick Monasterio starrer Tsuperhero and about to tape for Eugene Domingo’s Uge. That eats up much of my time and it would be hard to do a movie simultaneously.

“I’ve signed a two-year contract with the Kapuso and from time to time, they field me in promotional tours or events for their shows. Of course, they’re my priority. That’s understandable. They’re the ones giving me projects, right?”

Despite this, Gabby is not closing his door on the possible movie with Sharon.

“Anytime, as long as my work schedule permits. Actually, I did an indie project titled Under the Crescent Moon and after that, several offers came. I just couldn’t attend to them because of my workload on GMA. As the film with Sharon, my foremost consideration is the script. It has to be really good since it will serve as a grand comeback vehicle for our screen tandem,” he ends. ******** Janno Gibbs sheds light on the rumor that because he is

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Monday, April 10, 2017

ACROSS 1 Happy-hour letters 5 Singer — Brickell 9 Makes a collar 13 River in France 14 — Rica 16 State positively 17 Kooks from a Carnival?

(2 wds.)

19 Peat — 20 Moose kin 21 Aykroyd or Quayle 22 Twang or drawl 24 What never to tell (2 wds.)

25 Gourmandize 26 Just as soon 29 They’re classified (2 wds.)

33 Place 34 Clonk 35 — — move on!

37 Winery feature 38 Wildlife refuges 39 House site 40 Amateur opposites 42 Whit 43 Jet jockey 45 Strong, as feelings 47 Complaint

48 Unhatched fish 49 Woods insect 50 Farewells 53 Hwy. 54 High-tech scan 57 Goat-man 58 Got through 61 Remnant 62 Fend off 63 Lowdown joint 64 Many NYC homes 65 Climb a pole 66 Grills, maybe DOWN 1 Option for Hamlet (2 wds.)

2 Barrette user 3 Ms. Dinesen 4 Hat or city 5 Cream puff 6 Metaphysical poet 7 Ames inst.

8 Wonder Woman’s friend 9 Luggage attachment (2 wds.)

10 Bard’s river 11 Kindest regards 12 Almost grads 15 Uses a ladder 18 Laid off 23 Purring pet 24 So! 26 Host’s plea

27 Video-game pioneer 28 Wyoming range 29 Snowy 30 Atmosphere 31 Ms. Reese 32 Waited in line 34 Art colony town 36 Courtroom fig.

38 Police procedures 41 Guitar features 43 Harness-racing horse 44 Genre

46 Fair-hiring abbr.

47 Woolen item 49 Fountain in Rome 50 Senior cit. group 51 Four-handed piano piece 52 Cliques 54 Rockies, briefly 55 Smell strongly 56 Time to beware 57 D.C. vitamin monitors 59 Slangy negative 60 APB datum

currently seen in the top-rating prime time show Meant To Be, he’s back on GMA. “For the record, I’m still with TV 5!” he avers.

“This is just one project in which I asked permission from the management and I’m glad they allowed me.

I got excited when I heard that GMA was planning to have me as a guest in Meant to Be, so I talked to my Kapatid bosses right away.”

Many say he’s lucky that despite the fact that he left the Kapuso stable, they still got him for a guest stint, which doesn’t happen to every star.

“Perhaps, one huge factor there is that I’ve been with GMA for 30 solid years. I can say that I’m one of their longest-serving and original talents. I’ve done a lot of hit shows with them. My loyalty to them is proven, so to speak.

“Before I moved to TV 5, I talked to the management. I asked permission to try working for the Kapatid network since that time I still didn’t have a new show with them. I guess, that gesture was very important to them. So I can say I left without burning the bridge between us. There was no bad blood.”

Speaking of TV 5, Janno says he doesn’t have any regret with his transfer even if some say that the station is not doing much shows of late.

“The contract that I’ve signed with them is for two years. I don’t have any single regret because the management is kind and accommodating. It’s just that at this point, they are diverting direction, trying and experimenting new stuff, which I understand. At the end of the day, it is still business.”

When his contract with TV 5 ends, many ask if he’ll consider going back to GMA. “If I’m still welcome, why not?” states Janno.

Paolo Contis celebrated his birthday with the abandoned and orphaned kids of Boys Town in Marikina City on March 8

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017

'Meant To Be' star Sef Cadayona gave back on his special day by donating electric fans to Wawa National High School in Rodriguez, Rizal

The JOY of giving Bianca Umali spent her 17th birthday with the children beneficiaries of World Vision organization

G

BACK

MA Artist Center stars Bianca Umali, Paolo Contis and Sef Cadayona play their parts in spreading love by celebrating their birthdays with their chosen charities.

As the newest World Vision Youth Ambassador, Umali flew all the way to Cebu on March 7 to share the love for learning.

She enjoyed the get together dancing. with the children beneficiaries Umali believes learning can of the organization through hand be both work and play, which painting, gift giving, as well as is what she wants the children

to realize. “It’s nice to see them have fun and learn at the same time. I want to encourage the children to read and gusto kong maranasan nila ‘yong childhood na creative through reading.”

Paolo Contis considers having the opportunity to help as the

biggest gift he received this year. He spent a day with the abandoned and orphaned kids of Boys Town in Marikina City on March 8. The touching stories of these children made him commit to this advocacy.

“I’ve been meaning to see my

own kids, but they are currently in Cebu so I really have to plan when to visit. In the meantime, I’m glad to have met these children, kasi parang nakalaro ko na rin ang mga anak ko,” the Kapuso star shared.

Meanwhile, the students of Wawa National High School in Rodriguez, Rizal welcomed Meant To Be star Sef Cadayona with screams as he entered the campus on March 14.

The students claimed they are avid fans of the primetime show. Cadayona expressed his gratitude for the support they’ve been getting from the viewers.

As an annual practice, Cadayona celebrated his birthday by giving back, and this year he donated electric fans to the school. “Naisip ko lang na these students can focus easier if they are comfortable in class.

Para rin may maibigay naman ako o may mai-contribute naman ako sa pag-aaral nila.

Our weather condition can be a serious concern for the students, so I hope makatulong talaga ito,” he explained.

These Kapuso stars experience fulfillment in giving back.

They hope that their followers see them as a good example and inspire others in their compassion for other people.

Hop aboard the world’s

MOST MUSICAL RIDE HOW do you make a TV show go viral?

For talk show host James Corden, what he did was invite famous personalities for a ride, tape sing-alongs and duets, and share the videos via social media for the world to see.

Thus, “Carpool Karaoke” in The Late Late Show was born.

“Carpool Karaoke” has featured the likes of Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Selena Gomez, One Direction, Adele, and former First Lady Michelle Obama. These and other acts have taken the digital world by storm, turning what started as a TV show segment into a global phenomenon.

With each guest guaranteed to deliver a hit performance, here’s a wish list of celebrities we want to make an appearance on the segment: Meryl Streep The three-time Oscar Winner received her 18th Academy Award nomination for Florence Foster Jenkins, a biopic portraying the life of an American soprano who drove audiences wild with her horrible singing. The character required Meryl to do some artful bad singing, but the artist is never behind in pulling off musical acts like her performance in Into the Woods.

Emma Watson Emma Watson’s journey from Harry Potter sweetheart to feminist fighter has endeared her to countless fans the world over. She sparked so much excitement and nostalgia after announcing that she will star in the live-adaptation of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. Now the world is on a countdown to witness her ‘Carpool Karaoke’ debut.

Former President Barack Obama The 44th President of the United States has been out of office for three months, but a lot of people already miss him for his humor, wit, and charm. Should the dream appearance happen soon, viewers will want the

former president to exceed another performance of his that made headlines: dancing to the tune of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” during a backstage moment at the Democratic National Convention last year.

The X Factor UK Judges What might we expect if topnotch music executives plus a Broadway singer come together in James Corden’s car? A powerhouse performance no less!

Former Pussycat Dolls lead Nicole Scherzinger, talent manager Louis Walsh, and music manager Sharon Osbourne made their comebacks last year as judges at The X Factor UK, where they are still trying to best cojudge Simon Cowell. Will they be able to outshine him in a “Carpool Karaoke” ride?

Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling The La La Land stars put on a brilliant chemistry on-screen that earned them critical acclaim and accolades, including an Academy Award for Emma and a Golden Globe for Ryan. We’re not over the duo’s performance and we want their magic to sweep us off our feet again.

Beyoncé Iconic is perhaps an understatement when describing the future mom who already bagged 22 Grammys and 24 MTV Video Music Awards. Beyonce’s millions of fans include no less than Michelle Obama who sang and danced to “Single Ladies” in another episode of “Carpool Karaoke.” We hope Queen B gets to deliver a jaw-dropping duet with James Corden that will surely go viral.

The Late Late Show airs at 11:45 p.m. on weekdays, express from the US, on RTL CBS Entertainment available on SKYcable channels 53 (SD) and 196 (HD), Destiny Cable channel 53, Dream Satellite channel 17, and Cablelink channels 37 (SD) and 313 (HD).

Ever Bilena CEO and founder Dioceldo Sy with children (from left) Kirsten, Demiee, Dianne, Denice and Daniel

Beauty brand founder’s star-studded birthday party SIXTY is the new 40 for Ever Bilena CEO and founder Dioceldo “Deo” Sy who remains young at heart with his appreciation for beauty and his never-ending drive to learn more about the industry he works in.

As he celebrated his 60th birthday at the Forbes Ballrooms of the prestigious Hotel Conrad Manila, the man of the hour had many well wishers both from the government, business, and show business sectors.

Spotted in the ballroom chatting with Sy were Robina Gokongwei-Pe of Robinsons Retail Holdings Inc., Herbert Sy of Shoe Mart Retail Food Group, Hans Sy of SM Prime Holdings and Department of Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar.

Also present for the festivities were entertainment industry friends including Patricia Javier, and brothers Rayver and Rodjun Cruz, as well as brand ambassadors like Daiana Meneses, Christian Bautista, Max Collins, Derrick Monasterio and Andrea Brillantes.

Feasting over a Chinese banquet, Deo’s family and closest friends gathered together to share heartwarming anecdotes and trivia about the CEO. “Deo was like a father to us because he took care of us as we were growing up,” shared younger brother and Ever Bilena’s COO Siliman Sy saying, “He influenced us in many ways. That is why a big part of who we are is because of him.”

Likewise, sports analyst and commentator Quinito Henson shared details about Deo, notably his passion for basketball and his treatment of the Blackwater Elite Team staff as close family members.

But the afternoon wasn’t only about the birthday celebrant. Another cause for celebration was Deo’s second daughter, Denice’s announcement of her engagement to Jacob Muñez Muñez, with their upcoming nuptials slated in

February 2018.

Indeed, it was a memorable event for the God-fearing boss with so many reasons to celebrate – reaching his diamond jubilee year, the engagement of his daughter, the love and support he continues to receive from family and friends, and the continuous growth of his cosmetics empire.

To know more about Ever Bilena, visit www. everbilena.com.ph and follow www.facebook.com/ everbilenacosmetics

Rodjun and Rayver Cruz