Manila Standard - 2017 April 23 - Sunday

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VOL. XXXI • NO. 68 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

BUSINESS/ C1

HK MAG NAMES BEST FILIPINO CEO

MOTHER OF FESTIVALS. Performers from Guimaras island rehearse Friday their number at the bayside Quirino Grandstand for the annual Aliwan Festival, which started in 2003 and which gathers different cultural festivals wherein contingents from the different regions compete in dance parade and float competitions. Norman Cruz

CHINA PROTESTS 'VISIT' TO PAGASA PROBES SHOOTING OF FILIPINO BOAT BEIJING—China has said it will look into reports that Filipino fishermen have been driven away allegedly by the Chinese Coast Guard from Union Bank in the South China Sea, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday. ”I honestly do not know anything about what you said. You yourself mentioned that the vessels are unidentified, and all sides are in the process of verifying the situation. China also needs to check on that,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang told a news conference.

The Philippines’ foreign affairs and national defense departments are still confirming media reports on the harassment of the Filipino fishermen.

Lu said China would continue to work with the Philippine side to “properly” resolve the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea maritime and territorial dis-

pute under the leadership of President Rodrigo Duterte. ”Our position on the South China Sea issue is consistent and clear. We would go on working with the Philippine side to properly deal with relevant maritime issues and create favorable conditions for the sound and steady development of bilateral relations,” he said.

He reiterated the bilateral relations between the Philippines and China have turned around and started to improve quickly “with all-around cooperation moving forward steadily.”

Five months after his election, President Duterte visited China in October last year at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Duterte is scheduled to return to Beijing next month to participate in the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

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A SUB-LEADER of the Abu Sayyaf Group, who served as guide during the ASG’s first incursion into Bohol last April 11, was killed during a firefight with government security forces in the hinterlands of Clarin, Bohol on Saturday.

Joselito Melloria, the alleged local contact of the ASG bandits who landed on Inabanga town, was identified by Bohol Provincial Police office Chief Supt.

Felipe Natividad.

The firefight was ongoing at press time and started around 12 noon in Sitio Lagising, Barangay Bacane, Clarin town, police and military officials said.

Melloria, also a member of the ISlinked terror group Ansar Khalifa Philippines who had converted to Islam, joined the ASG in infiltrating Inabanga, Bohol, police and military officials said.

Police were also probing the possible ties between the ASG and an elderly couple, Constancio and Crisanta Petalco, who were killed during the Clarin firefight.

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PINOY CHAMP RETAINS O.N.E. TITLE

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EIJING—China has lodged representations with the Philippine side following a visit by the Filipino defense and military officials in Pagasa Island, according to the spokesman of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

”Gravely concerned about and dissatisfied with this, China has lodged representations with the Philippine side,” Lu Kang said in a press statement posted on China’s Foreign Ministry Affairs website.

Last Friday, Philippines Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Eduardo Año, along with other military officials, visited Pagasa Island, a Philippine-occupied territory that is part of the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea or West Philippine Sea. Lu said the move of the Philippine defense and military officials had negated the important consensus reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. ”This move runs counter to the important consensus reached between the two leadership, which is to properly deal with the South China Sea issue,” Lu said.

Lu said China was hoping the Philippine government would continue to cherish a 42-year-old China-Philippines bilateral rela-

tions which rejuvenated under the leadership of President Duterte.

The Philippines and China forged diplomatic ties in 1975 during the term of President Ferdinand Marcos, who opened formal links a year later with at the time the Soviet Union and other socialist countries. ”We hope that the Philippine side could faithfully follow the consensus reached between the two leadership, maintain general peace and stability in the South China Sea, and promote the sound and steady development of ChinaPhilippine relations,” Lu said.

Since President Duterte’s China visit last year, Lu said China and the Philippines had been keeping good communication to properly manage and resolve the maritime disputes in the South China Sea. ”We hope that this momentum can continue,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry official said.

In media reports, Lorenzana described the trip to Pagasa Island as a “normal visit within our territory.”

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ANOTHER SAYYAF MAN KILLED IN BOHOL CLASH

By Francisco Tuyay and Florante Solmerin

SPORTS / C3

DOBRO POZHALOVAT’ NA BORT. President Rodrigo Duterte is assisted by Capt.

Alexsei Ulyanenko, commanding officer of the visiting Russian Guided Missile Cruiser Varyag when he was given the privilege to use the captain’s deck while being toured on the Russian warship docked at Pier 15 at the Port of Manila Harbor on Friday for a four-day goodwill visit. Malacañang Photo

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BUS CRASH VICTIMS ASSURED OF AID PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has approved the grant of financial assistance to the families of the victims of the Leomarick bus crash that killed at least 34 people in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija last April 18.

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board’s spokesperson Aileen Lizada said the financial aid was worth P20,000 for each casualty and P10,000 for each of the injured.

At least 34 people, including the driver, were killed when the Leomarick bus traveling from Isabela to Ilocos Sur fell into a ravine in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija.

Authorities believe that overloading was the cause of the accident as the bus was carrying 77 persons when its capacity was only up to 45 passengers.

The LTFRB has ordered a 30-day preventive suspension against Leonardo Patulot, operator of Leomarick Bus Trans, which operates the Bangued, Abra to Ilagan, Isabela route and vice versa.

The operator was invited to appear in a hearing scheduled on May 2.

Failure to appear before the board on the scheduled hearing shall be considered a waiver on his part and the case will be subject to resolution, according to the LTFRB. Senior Supt. Antonio Yarra, Nueva Ecija police director, said the LTFRB hearing, which would be held at the agency’s main office in Turn to A2

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US JET PILOT BAILS OUT 'UNHARMED' WASHINGTON—A pilot preparing to land on the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson, heading for waters off Korea, was forced to eject on his final approach, the Pentagon said.

The unidentified pilot of the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet was picked up by helicopter from waters of the Celebes Sea, between Indonesia and the Philippines, according to a statement from the US Seventh Fleet.

It said there were “no apparent injuries.”

The Navy said the plane had been conducting “routine flight operations during a transit in the Celebes Sea.” The body of water is north of Indonesia and south of the Philippines.

The supercarrier Vinson is the heart of a naval strike group that US officials said on April 8 was being sent toward Korea, amid soaring tensions there.

The navy admitted Tuesday that the ships initially sailed in the opposite direction on an earlier mission before eventually turning north.

US President Donald Trump earlier said the US was sending an “armada” toward North Korea.

Trump’s National Security Adviser, H.R. McMaster, said it was “prudent” to send the strike group to the Korean peninsula.

“North Korea has been engaged in a pattern of provocative behavior,” McMaster said. AFP

COVERUP IN MRT 'MISHAP' BARED

By Maricel V. Cruz

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PARTY-LIST lawmaker on Saturday accused the Metro Rail Transit-3 management of a cover-up on a near-fatal train mishap at North Ave. station on Tuesday.

Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta party-list Rep. Jericho Nograles said reports reaching his office showed that the incident was not reported to the public in an apparent effort to hide the negligence and inefficiency of maintenance provider Busan Universal Rail Inc. Nograles said at around eight in the evening on Tuesday, a train’s gearbox broke and snapped, causing a derailment in MRT-3 opera-

tions.

“This is equivalent to car’s axle which holds the wheels together,” he said.

“This is the first case of derailment on MRT-3’s whole service history and this is a very serious sign that the system is now in a state of serious disrepair and could already be unsafe for the riding public,” Nograles added.

MRT-3 commuters, the lawmak-

er said, were spared from harm as the incident took place after the train offloaded passengers on the North Avenue Station.

“The management could only claim that the train system suffered a glitch. It turns out that this was more than a glitch because one of its trains was actually derailed due to a serious systems malfunction,” Nograles said.

“It took the MRT at least four hours to put the wheels back on the track,” he said.

Nograles said had it happened while the train was filled with passengers and was on a cruising speed, the result could have been disastrous.

“We were still fortunate that the train contained no passen-

gers and the speed was slow. It could have had disastrous consequences if it was derailed while it was still filled with passengers,” Nograles said.

Nograles recalled that almost three years ago, at least 38 passengers were injured when an MRT-3 train overshot the tracks at the Taft Avenue station due to apparent brake failure.

“What happened last Tuesday is more serious than what happened in 2014 when an MRT train overshot its tracks because the train was literally removed from its tracks. A lot of deadly scenarios can happen if the train was running on normal speed and was filled with passengers,” Nograles said.

PROBES...

From A1 ”Overall, both sides are able to build upon the consensus of the two leaders and manage maritime issues through negotiations and coordination,” Lu said.

In Manila, a party-list lawmaker on Saturday said the Philippine government has a “sovereign duty” to assist Filipino fishermen allegedly attack by Chinese coastguard elements on the Princess Johann boat was reportedly occurred near a Chinese-occupied section of the Spratly archipelago on March 27.

Kabayan party -0ist Rep. Harry Roque, a House deputy minority leader, said the Philippines had an obligation under international law to exert all efforts to settle territorial disputes peacefully.

“But the Philippine government also has an international legal obligation as a sovereign nation to protect the interests of its nationals,” Roque, an international law expert, said.

Roque stressed that a long-term solution to the issue was for the Philippines to establish a development authority over the territories in the Spratly islands claimed by the Philippines.

The Philippine Coast Guard said the Filipino-owned vessel was fishing in waters belonging to the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone when the attack happened.

No one was reported injured in the incident.

Roque said that international law had always recognized that States, in the recognition by the international legal system of sovereign and territorial rights of states, have concomitant obligations to the protection of the rights of people subject to its jurisdiction. “[Princess Johann] was reportedly fired upon seven times by a Chinese speedboat with seven Chinese coast guards on board,” the Philippine Coast Guard statement said.

Quoting Max Huber, the Dutch arbitrator in the landmark 1928 Las Palmas arbitration, Roque said: “Territorial sovereignty, as has already been said, involves the exclusive right to display the activities of a State. This right has a corollary, a duty: the obligation to protect within the territory the rights of other States, in particular their right to integrity and inviolability in peace and in war, together with the rights which each State may claim for its nationals in foreign territory.”

“Ironically, this was the case where the Philippines lost to Indonesia the island of Las Palmas. In recent years, Indonesia has used the island to plot the reaches of its own EEZ, eating up large swathes of fishing grounds for Philippine fishing vessels,” Roque added.

Roque said the Philippines has the exclusive right to the use of marine resources found in its EEZ, to the exclusion of other states.

“At the very least, the Philippines should file a diplomatic protest with the Chinese Embassy in Manila for the attack,” he said.

“We have a constitutional duty to protect these resources for the future generation of Filipinos.”

Roque also said international precedents had ruled that the use of force by one state against an unarmed civilian vessel was a violation of international law, citing another landmark case, decided by the International Tribunal of the Law of the Sea in 1999, the M/V “Saiga” case. PNA and Maricel Cruz

SURVEYING THE SEASHORE. Philippine Coast Guard personnel survey the seashores near Thitu Island with Chinese-claimed Subi reef (background) during a visit by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana and other top defense and military officials in the disputed Spratlys archipelago on Friday. Filipino fishermen have accused Chinese coast guard of shooting at their vessel in the area. AFP

BUS...

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Diliman, Quezon City, is the administrative aspect of the case the bus firm Leomarick Bus Trans is facing in connection with the tragic accident.

On April 24, police would be assisting the victims and their families in filing civil cases for damages at the Regional Trial Court in San Jose City, in this province with the help of the Public Attorney’s Office (PAO) and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Nueva Ecija Chapter (IBP-NE), he said. Yarra said the police would help the victims

in all stages of the case.

Meanwhile, the LTFRB, ordered Leomarick’s bus operator Leonardo Patulot to explain why his certificate of convenience (COC) should not be revoked.

Among the documents LBT was asked to present are: roadworthiness inspection to be conducted by the Land Transportation Office, road safety seminar of the drivers, compulsory drug testing of the drivers and conductors, LTO certificate of

CHINA...

ability of the bus operator since the driver, Rolando Mangaoang, who might have faced criminal negligence, died in the accident.

Mangaoang tested negative of illegal drugs, police said.

A urine sample taken from his body showed no traces of metamphetamine and THC-metabolites, both dangerous drugs based on the examination conducted by the Regional Crime Laboratory Office 1. F. Tuyay and PNA

ANOTHER...

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”We believe and we know that this is our territory and I am just visiting to look at the conditions of our people here,” the top Filipino defense official said.

Pagasa Island was occupied by the Philippines in the late 1960s and is categorized as a fifth-class municipality of Palawan province.

Lorenzana has revealed a plan to set aside at least P1.6 billion to develop Pagasa Island and a proposal by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources to build a fish port in the area.

Meanwhile, specialized construction and engineering troops from the Philippine Navy and Air Force will play a key role in upgrading various facilities in Pagasa Island, Lorenzana said Friday.

This is especially true when it comes to building facilities involving ship docking and unloading of cargoes.

“We must first construct the socalled beaching ramp because if that facility is not yet ready, then we cannot bring in LSTs [landing ship tanks]

registration and officials receipt (latest OR-CR), video clippings of the roadworthiness, road safety seminar and drug testing; Installation of Global Navigation Satellite System, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation and barangay clearances of all drivers, system of hiring and conductors (201 files) and proof of payment from its insurance company.

Yarra said investigators were still trying to determine the criminal li-

From A1

to bring in building materiel due to lack of docking facilities. So the beaching ramp is the first priority. The Navy already has a plan to build that and use their Seabees [Naval Construction Brigade] in constructing and completing that project before July,” Lorenzana added in Filipino.

Engineering battalions from the Air Force could be deployed if needed.

He disclosed that once the beaching ramp was completed, construction activities could continue even in the most adverse weather as building supplies and engineering equipment could be stockpiled safely and easily.

Construction projects eyed for Pagasa Island include concreting the 1.2-km. Rancudo Airstrip, development of ports, installation of additional solar panels and generator sets, desalination plants, new quarters for military personnel, the establishment of a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources marine research and shelter center, and an ice plant for storing fish caught by the islanders. PNA

Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesman Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla confirmed the death of Melloria.

However, Padilla said “We could not yet provide other details of Melloria’s killing as the gunbattle is still raging with six other ASG members who are on the run.”

Padilla said the troops recovered the M16 (folding stock) rifle of Melloria.

The April 11 Inabanga fireight also known as the botched Bohol raid resulted in the death of five ASG members, three soldiers and a policeman.

Among those killed in the April 11 encounter was Abu Sayyaf sub-leader Maumar Askali, alias Abu Rami, Chief Supt. Noli Talino, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 director, said.

Abu Rami, the military claimed was behind the beheading of two Canadian nationals---John Ridsdel and Robert Hall last year and German hostage Jurgen Kantner in Febuary this year.

Three soldiers and a cop were also killed during the bloody encounter that triggered security alarm for visiting

foreign dignitaries attending the forthcoming Asean Summit in the country next week.

Foreign government, including the United States and Canada,had issued travel warning on their citizens to avoid visiting Bohol and other areas in Central Visayas following the gunbattle.

Padilla said the distribution of ASG photos among the residents of Inabanga and nearby towns could have facilitated the quick tracking down of the movement of the fleeing ASG members.

Earlier, President Rodrigo Duterte offered P1 million for the capture dead or alive of each ASG terrorists.

The military, meanwhile, said there was no failure of intelligence about the ASG incursion into Bohol.

“We knew where they [ASG] were. We knew they were coming,” Padilla said.

ASG, who keeps 20 foreigners and seven locals as hostages, are also believed to be targetting Cebu and Siquijor Island, both tourism spots, intelligence sources said. With PNA

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MAJORITY OF FILIPINOS REMAIN POOR–ALU-TUCP

By Vito Barcelo

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ORE than 30 million minimum wage earners, half of them hired on contractual schemes, remained working poor as the value of purchasing power of their daily wage remained below the standard poverty threshold level, the labor group Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said.

Labor spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said despite the much ballyhooed report of the country’s consistent high economic growth, majority of Filipinos remained poor.

“These minimum wage earners helped build the country’s high economic wealth but still many are living way below the standard poverty line,” he said.

Tanjusay said the chances to get out of poverty by way of job regularization and security of tenure on employment were forever shut by the recent

issuance of Department Order 174.

Rather than prohibiting contractualization, DO 174 of the Department of Labor and Employment ‘legalizes’ and perpetuates contractualization, he said.

Aside from having no security of tenure because they work for less than six months, contractual workers are forever tied to minimum wage.

The National Economic and Development Authority set the Poverty Threshold Level or the standard amount needed by a family of five for them to survive in a month in the year 2015 was P9,064 or P393 a day.

In a monitoring by the ALU-TUCP on the behavior of workers’ purchasing power vis-a-vis cost of living, the real value of Endo (the slang for end of contract) workers’ nominal P491 daily minimum wage in Metro Manila fell to P361.30 in January 2017 which is equivalent to P8,671.20 a month, according to data from the country’s wage board the National Wages and Productivity Commission.

The average real wage amount in regions outside National Capital Region, on one hand, is P250 a day or equivalent to P6,000 per month.

Thus, the buying powers of minimum wages P361 in Metro Manila and P250 in regions outside NCR are inadequate, compared with the P393 amount needed by a family to survive in a day.

It means, minimum wage workers need at least P32 more and P143 more on top of their daily

pay for workers within and outside Metro Manila, respectively, to stay within the threshold and considered not poor.

Tanjusay said: “There has been no inclusive growth for MWEs because the buying power of minimum wage is going downward amid rising prices of basic necessities and cost of services.

“Because they have no savings and inadequate government support programs, minimum waged workers are so vulnerable that if they get sick, if they get late or absent from their work, or any small price hike shocks, they fall deeper and deeper into poverty.”

The ALU-TUCP has offered various measures toward helping workers cope with growing inflation, but the government should ban contractualization, provide a minimal cash amount by way of monthly subsidy while reinforcing government’s enforcement of compliance to labor and price regulations.

Employers, on the other hand, could help their employees cope with poverty by voluntarily providing across-the-board wage increase and implement in-house programs providing their employees with cash and non-cash benefits, Tanjusay said.

Government defines poverty threshold as the minimum income required to meet food and nonfood needs of a family of five including clothing, housing, transportation, health and educational expenses.

OFWS TOLD NOT TO TAKE MED EXAMS IN 8 CLINICS THE Philippine Overseas Employment Administration has warned overseas Filipino workers applying for the required medical examinations not to take their medical exams at eight DoH-accredited medical clinics due to the government’s suspension order.

Recruitment group agency spokesperson Emmanuel Geslani said the eight were under investigation by the National Bureau of Investigation for alleged links with a Kuwaiti national suspected to be a member of the Islamic State (ISIS).

Geslani said OFWs applying for jobs abroad were warned by the POEA from taking their medical exams from the eight medical clinics identified as Bartholome Medical Clinic, Agoncillo Medical Clinic, Abacus, St. Rita, Orion, Our Lady of All Network, One Health, Global and San Marcelino clinic.

He said the medical clinics were suspended by the Department of Health last March 9, 2017 pending the investigation.

“The eight clinics were involved in the WinstonQ8 Certification system which was discovered by NBI and BI agents to be the front of Aldafiri, reportedly a bomb maker for the ISIS whose identity was exposed by the Embassy of Kuwait to police authorities and requested his deportation to Kuwait to face several charges from the Kuwait government,” he said.

He urged the health department to revoke the licenses of the eight medical clinics, which he feared could still be used by the international terror group to earn money to fund their terror acts around the world.

Vito Barcelo

MMDA HOPES TO CLEAN UP ALL CLOGGED WATERWAYS

By Joel E. Zurbano

MARCH FOR SCIENCE. Members of the science activist group Agham-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People lead the Philippine leg of the Global Science March on Earth Day Saturday, highlighting the state of Filipino science and technology and calling on the Duterte administration to begin crafting solutions to develop the country’s science and technology sector. Andrew Rabulan

PH REMAINS COMMITTED TO CLIMATE CHANGE

By John Paolo Bencito MALACAÑANG on Saturday said the government remained committed to climate change obligations as the world celebrated Saturday the international observance of Earth Day. “This occasion is a good reminder of the Philippines’ commitment to the global call to fight climate change and uphold climate justice

as well as our country’s solidarity to the rest of the world in spreading that while we pursue economic development programs, we continuously aspire for sustainable, climate change-resilient living,” Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said.

Last March, voting 22-0, the Senate concurred with the ratification of the Paris Agreement despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s earlier misgivings.

Duterte had earlier threatened not to honor the Paris pact, saying it would only hinder the country’s economic growth but later changed his mind after his Cabinet members unanimously voted for its ratification.

Following the ratification, the Philippines would have an access to the Green Climate Fund—a mechanism under the accord where developed nations, known as the

world’s biggest carbon emitters —and would be obliged to pool together $100 million annually to support vulnerable countries.

The international agreement aims to keep the average global temperature to “well below two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.”

MANGCUCANG, 94 WORLD War II veteran, athlete and music enthusiast Antonio Los Baños Mangcucang died Thursday after receiving the last sacrament, surrounded by his family. He was 94.

Born and raised in Marinduque, Tonying, as he was fondly called in life, was a devout Catholic and a lone survivor of a sea mishap many years ago.

His children and wife Florifida Ramiro Lincallo(+); Myrna and Gabriel Factora, Meynardo Antonio (+) and Cerelina, Edgardo and Nenita (+), Marivic and Edgar De Ausen, Jocelyn (+) and Alberto Garcia, Chingkee, Cheeney and Rene Eugenio, and Chingbee and Willie Fernandez, grandchildren, great grandchildren, relatives, and friends request readers to pray for his eternal rest.

His remains lie in state at the Santuario de San Antonio Chapel, Forbes Park, Makati City from April 21 to 23.

Interment will be at the Loyola Memorial Park, Sucat today after the 1:30 p.m. Mass.

DRAGON FRUIT. Senator

Cynthia Villar says the project Villar Sipag is providing a six-month training course on dragon fruit production and cultivation in the hope Filipino farmers will take advantage of the commercial value of dragon fruits and eventually increase their income.

THE Metro Manila Development Authority continues to undertake preemptive anti-flood measure in the National Capital Region with the goal of completing its cleanup operation of all clogged creeks and open waterways before the rainy season begins.

The latest “Estero Cleanup” operation was conducted by the MMDA Flood Control and Sewerage Management Service team Saturday morning at the Ermitanio Creek in San Juan City.

“Our priority is not just about traffic.

Flood control and clearing all the esteros in Metro Manila is also one of our mandates,” said MMDA general manager and acting chairman Thomas Orbos.

He said the cleanup operation in San Juan was made in cooperation with personnel from the departments of Health, and Environment and Natural Resources and local officials in the city headed by Mayor Guia Gomez.

The MMDA resumed the campaign in cleaning up clogged creeks and open waterways to prevent severe floods in the metropolis in the run up to the rainy season in June.

Among the clogged creeks and open waterways identified and are scheduled to be cleared by the agency from March to July are: Pasig River Basin in Port Area, Manila; Estero de San Miguel, Estero de Quiapo, Estero de Magdalena, and Estero de Maypajo also in Manila; Lapu-Lapu/Spine Open Canal and Letre Open Canal in Malabon City; Pasong Malapad Creek and the lagoon in Caloocan City; Waling-Waling Creek and Tanque Creek, Sta. Lucia Creek and Villa Creek in Quezon City; Pinagkatdan Creek in Pasig City; Balanti Creek in Marikina City; Pinagsama Creek in Taguig City; Sto. Rosario-Silangan River in Pateros; Estero Tripa de Gallina–Buendia Outfall in Makati City; Sto. Nino Creek in Pasay City; Dahlig Creek in Las Piñas City; Pasong Diablo River in Muntinlupa City; Coastal Open Canal in Parañaque City; and Libertad Retarding Pone in at Libertad Pumping Station in Pasay City.

Armed with heavy equipment, such as crane, dump trucks and spider backhoe, the MMDA men have started cleaning up the creeks.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017

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SHABU-SNIFFING COP OUT ON BAIL

By Joel E. Zurbano

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HE police officer caught sniffing shabu late last month was released from detention after a Las Piñas City court judge allowed him to post bail on Friday.

Southern Police District chief information officer and spokesperson Jenny Tecson said Police Supt. Lito Cabamongan, who was arrested at the height of the government’s crackdown on drug dealing, posted P240,000 bail for his temporary liberty.

“Judge [Lorna] Domingo of RTC [Regional Trial Court] Branch 201, Las Piñas City approved the applica-

tion for bail and release order of Supt.

Cabamongan by posting a bail of P240,000,” said Tecson.

Cabamongan, who was also found positive for illegal drug use following the results of a laboratory examination early this month, is the highest police officer nabbed for illegal drug use so far as the Philippine National Police continued its campaign against suspected drug

pushers and dependents in the country upon the directive of President Rodrigo Duterte.

The authorities initially filed charges of violations of Sections 13, 14, and 15 of Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002 against Cabamongan.

Section 13 refers to the possession of dangerous drugs during parties and meetings, which is non-bailable, Section 14 refers to the possession of paraphernalia, equipment, instruments of drugs and Section 15 refers to the use of dangerous drugs.

But the court downgraded the cases filed to Section 12 which refers to the possession of drugs and paraphernalia, and Section 15 which are both bailable criminal offenses.

The court also denied the government prosecutors’ prayer to consider Cabamongan’s status as a highranking policeman as an aggravating circumstance that would deny his application for bail.

Cabamongan, 50, formerly head of the Crime Laboratory-Southern District Satellite Office in Muntinlupa City, and suspected drug pusher Nedy Sabdao, 44, were arrested after being caught sniffing shabu in a house inside Everlasting Homes in Barangay Talon IV, Las Piñas City late last month.

After the arrest, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa rushed to the Las Piñas City Police Station to reprimand the suspect. He said Cabamongan’s arrest clearly showed there are no sacred cows in the PNP’s war on illegal drugs.

EARTH DAY. Environmental groups gather to unveil a mural depicting environmental awareness at the Lapu-Lapu monument in Rizal Park as the world celebrates Earth Day on April 22, an event aimed to encourage people to be more responsible for the environment. Norman Cruz

HOUSE BATS FOR MUSLIM TRADE AND CULTURAL CENTER

By Maricel V. Cruz THE House of Representatives will soon enact a measure seeking to establish a Muslim Trade and Cultural Center in the City of Manila to generate better awareness and appreciation of the Muslim character and showcase the diverse Muslim culture through their traditional songs and dances.

This developed as the House committee on Muslim affairs, chaired by Rep. Sitti Djalia Turabin-Hataman of AMIN party-list, has endorsed for ple-

nary approval unnumbered bill titled “Muslim Trade and Cultural Center of the Philippines Act of 2017,” to substitute House Bill 2623 authored by Rep. Jose Atienza of Buhay party-list.

The measure, which was approved earlier by Turabin-Hataman’s panel, was in consonance with the State policy to promote and advance the culture of every part of the country. Likewise, the bill declares the State recognizes the people’s need for cultural understanding and tolerance, and for knowledge of local customs and products.

Atienza said the measure is very timely since the Duterte administration has made known its intention to sit down with the different armed groups and pursue a lasting peace in Mindanao.

“Differences in cultural, religious beliefs and practices should not be a hindrance in the pursuit of peace in a region that has long been plagued by armed conflict,” said Atienza.

Atienza said he filed a similar measure in 2013, House Bill 2949, which aimed to help address the continuing rift between Muslims and Christians

brought about by differences in culture and religion, among other things.

The substitute bill to HB 2949 was subsequently approved in February 2016 by the House committees on Muslim affairs and on appropriations, he said.

“We believe that with this proposal, we will be able to generate better awareness and appreciation of the Muslim character as well as to showcase the diverse Muslim culture through their traditional songs and dances,” said Atienza.

MOTORBIKE USED BY MOSQUE BOMBERS RECOVERED COTABATO CITY—Authorities recovered a motorcycle seen used by a riding in tandem, who threw grenades at the Talayan Mosque in Maguindanao, wounding a former mayor and eight other worshippers emerging from a Friday noon Muslim congregation.

Police said former Talayan mayor Hadji Ali Midtimbang was rushed to a hospital in Central Mindanao, along with his son Nathaniel Midtimbang, also mayor of neighboring Datu Anggal town.

Both were treated for shrapnel wounds.

Authorities have yet to establish possible motives, and as to whether the Friday explosion on Talayan’s Golden Mosque could be deemed a terror attack.

Also injured were eight others, two of them seriously. Police identified some of those wounded as Anang Mupak, Sandy Aron, Manap Balaumol and three others named only as Kasim, Marcos and Makaanga.

Senior Superintendent Agustin Tello, Maguindanao Police Office director, said the attackers fled on two motorcycles, one of which was recovered later along the national highway.

Midtimbang, who had served as mayor of Talayan, sustained multiple shrapnel wounds in both legs.

Talayan Mayor Tungkang Midtimbang said there was not only one but two grenades were thrown at a large group of people as they, including his father Hadji Ali, walked their way out at the mosque’s plaza. Luckily, he said, the other grenade did not explode.

Residents who pursued the attackers, said two of the four men abandoned their motorcycle, and that a white Toyota Innova with no service plate fetched the two.

Relatives of the victims said Gov. Mujiv Hataman of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, had both officials airlifted to Davao City for a better secured environment and advanced medical treatment.

They said Hataman had personally instructed ARMM police director, Chief Superintendent Reuben Theodore Sindac, to push further investigation on the grenade attack.

In the past weeks, authorities have defused explosive devices believed planted roadside by extremists along the Cotabato-Isulan Highway.

Nash B. Maulana

SSS SLAMS ABS-CBN FOR 'ERRONEOUS REPORTING'

HOUSING PROJECT. Calmarland Development Corp. was formally open to the public at the Promesa Pila in Barangay Bagong Pook, Pila, Laguna. Photo shows the ceremonial unveiling of the project led by (from left) ) Jose Allan Bacalandra, Laguna branch, Calmarland head; Bobbit Pablo, national sales head; Engineer Reynaldo Calayan, president and CEO; Dennis Villavecer, from the office of the governor; Raymundo Alonso, COO, and Florentino Vergara, barangay chairman. Lino Santos

THE Social Security Commission, the governing body of Social Security System, over the weekend, took umbrage over the erroneous news reporting of ABS-CBN’s Balitang Global on the pension fund’s proposal for the mandatory SSS coverage of overseas Filipino workers.

“The malicious innuendos in the commentary following the erroneous news report is unfair to SSS which is pushing for the mandatory coverage

of OFWs which is for their own good and benefit.

Contribution collections of SSS is used for members’ benefits,” said SSC chairman Amado D. Valdez.

The SSC threatened to sue ABS-CBN’s Balitang Global over the erroneous report and irresponsible commentary.

SSS issued the statement after an erroneous report came out at Balitang Global, a news program for OFWs in Middle East hosted by

Henry Omaga Diaz and Zen Hernandez, aired on April 16 at The Filipino Channel (TFC) and on ABSCBN News Channel (ANC) on April 17.

The news program incorrectly reported in the introduction of the news report of Mye Mulingtapang about the mandatory coverage for OFWs pushed

by SSS that SSS president and chief executive officer Emmanuel F. Dooc himself flew to Italy to personally explain and discuss the

proposal to OFWs. Since his assumption in office in November 2016, Dooc has never left the country for any official business trip.

SSS already called the attention of the hosts, writers and producers of the show and immediately admitted their mistake through an official letter.

The SSC is still deliberating whether to continue to file the case against ABSCBN’s Balitang Global or to accept the apology.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Adelle Chua, Editor

Opinion

Joyce Pangco Pañares, Issue Editor

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

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EDITORIAL EDITORIAL

By Leonid Bershidsky

E

A LEAKED European Union paper outlining the bloc’s initial negotiating position in Brexit talks hints at a clever zero-sum strategy. The EU’s main goal is to deter other potential exiters and offload all the anxiety about the truly important issues in the divorce on the United Kingdom alone.

The paper (actually called a “nonpaper” in EU parlance because it’s still a draft) makes it clear that the EU wants to negotiate Britain’s departure in stages. Just two contentious issues are to be addressed in Stage One: the treatment of EU citizens now living in the UK and the bill to be settled by the departing country. Essentially, the UK will be told that if it wants any kind of closure on a trade deal, it first needs to take care of the EU migrants and agree to pay a large sum of money (in euros, please) to honor previous commitments and move London-based EU agencies elsewhere.

At the same time, the initial EU position makes agreement on both issues as difficult as possible. For the 3.5 million EU citizens living in Britain, including more than 900,000 Poles and more than half a million other eastern Europeans, the bloc wants a lifelong right to live and work in the UK on the same basis as locals; these EU citizens would also retain the right to claim UK benefits for children living in other countries, bring over relatives and confer resident status on third party nationals through marriage. And they would also be subject to the jurisdiction of European courts.

That won’t be easy for Prime Minister Theresa May to swallow, even if she gets a decisive mandate in the June election. Immigration was a major issue for voters who backed Brexit. The government may argue that “grandfathering” the immigrants already in the UK is the lesser evil, but to the anti-foreigner voters this means the current situation—the one that angered them in the first place—will be frozen for decades.

In the letter May sent EU leaders when activating the Brexit procedure she, too, stressed the need for an early deal on EU citizens in the UK, and UK citizens in the EU—about 1.2 million people, many of them retirees in Spain and France. But the divergent nature of the two groups of migrants makes the EU’s demands far weightier than the UK’s. EU workers in the UK are young, often needy and far more numerous, especially taking into account possible family reunification.

There is no easy compromise to be reached, and that suits the EU fine.

As the bigger trading partner that stands to lose less if there is no resulting trade deal, time is on its side.

Concerning the exit payment, the EU paper also lays out an extreme position: The bloc is going for a onetime pay-out big enough to anchor the expectations of other countries that may try to leave the union; and there’s no mention of handing over its share of EU assets. No future campaign based on promises to invest in health care instead of contributing to the EU budget will fly if negotiators attain this goal.

There is also no reason for EU negotiators to compromise here. Though Brexit leaves a hole in the union’s budget, no political constituency important to the negotiators will be seriously hurt. A strong deterrent to more renegades is more important.

There’s nothing expressly malicious in the bloc’s initial negotiating position. The union is confidently laying its cards on the table; its position will likely be highly public throughout the process (there’s hardly a choice given the many potential sources of

ONE HOME

VERY 22nd day of April since 1970, countries of the world have commemorate Earth Day—a tribute to the planet we live in. Numerous activities across hundreds of countries are organized to emphasize the need to care for it, and arrest its deterioration.

There are global movements with different focuses: protecting forests, advocating green cities, preserving species, and, these days, climate change.

In an encyclical released two years ago, Pope Francis, the head of the Catholic Church, said the earth was our common home and as dwellers in this home we have relationships and accountabilities between and among each other.

This notion of the earth not just being our home, but our common home, one we share with billions of other humans, is a good way to honor the earth this year and every year.

After all, when we think of home, we think of comfort. We come to it after a long day at work or school. We rest at home, think, recharge, nurture our personal spaces and also connect with loved ones.

And when we share our home with others we show our respect and consideration both to the people we live with and the home itself that shelters us.

We don’t clean out our room and dump the trash on our housemate’s space. We clear the table after we eat and make sure the dishes are in a location and condition where the next user will likely find them.

If inhabitants of the home live lazy, don’t pick up after themselves, the home will be in disarray, will be infested with insects, will be an eyesore, will depreciate faster than it is supposed to. It will need frequent repairs and might just cause problems when the housemates least expect it.

All these, seen in a much grander scale, can be said of how we make use of and should nurture the planet that houses us. These days, the main concern is whether countries of the world can do enough soon enough to reverse a runaway heating of the planet that will breed stronger, more frequent and more erratic weather patterns— not that we are not seeing and feeling them already.

Celebrating Earth Day does not require us to be scientists who explain complex weather patterns or activists who take to the streets and denounce practices that harm the world.

Everyone can simply be a consistently conscientious, considerate inhabitant of this home we all share.

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A WINDOW FOR PUNISHING WIKILEAKS

By Noah Feldman THE US Department of Justice under Attorney General Jeff Sessions, according to news reports, is re-evaluating whether to charge WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange for publishing leaked classified material in 2010. This raises a First Amendment

flag. The department previously decided it wouldn’t proceed because it couldn’t distinguish WikiLeaks from the New York Times or the Washington Post. So what, really, is the difference between unlawfully leaking information to the press and publishing it directly to the public? If one is unlawful, why can’t the other be?

The answer can’t be derived from the language of the First Amendment itself. Only the late Justice Hugo Black has ever come close to saying that the Constitution bars Congress from any kind of restriction of on free speech.

Instead, the legal part of the answer needs to come from the body of

Supreme Court interpretation of the amendment.

The most famous relevant decision is the 1971 Pentagon Papers case, New York Times v. US Daniel Ellsberg, the granddaddy of more recent leakers, was working as an analyst for the Rand Corp. with access to classified documents, including an internally

commissioned Department of Defense history of the US involvement in Vietnam.

Ellsberg photocopied what would come to be called the Pentagon Papers and gave them to the Times. After the Times published its first article based on the material, Richard Nixon’s administration sought a court Turn to B2

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order to prohibit further publication, and the issue went to the Supreme Court.

In deciding in favor of the newspaper, the justices said remarkably little about the fact that the Pentagon Papers were obtained unlawfully. Instead the various opinions—one by each of the nine justices in a 6-3 split—focused on the legality of the government prohibiting the press from publishing something before the fact, a form of censorship that lawyers call “prior restraint.”

Thus, although the Pentagon Papers case is an influential example of the court refusing to bar publication of classified documents that were obtained illegally and then passed to the press, it isn’t a definitive precedent protecting Assange or WikiLeaks from prosecution.

The issue in such a prosecution wouldn’t be prior restraint, but rather the distinct question of whether it can be a crime to publish information that you know was obtained unlawfully.

A version of that question was addressed more directly by the Supreme Court in 1991 in Bartnicki v.

Vopper. There were no national security concerns or classified information in that case. Instead, it arose after someone intercepted a cellphone call between union leaders during a heated teachers’ union negotiation with a school board in eastern Pennsylvania.

After the negotiations were over, a local talk show host broadcast the overheard communications.

A federal law prohibited disclosure of the contents of an illegal wiretap. That put the Supreme Court in the position of having to decide whether the First Amendment protects a publisher of information who “obtained the information in question in a manner lawful in itself but from a source who has obtained it unlawfully.”

Justice John Paul Stevens wrote the opinion for the majority. He decided the case by weighing privacy against the public significance of the disclosure.

And he said that “in this case, privacy concerns give way when balanced against the interest in publishing matters of public importance.”

On the surface, this might look like a controlling precedent for Assange and WikiLeaks. Provided they didn’t actively participate in the theft of the classified documents, the government’s security concerns might seem to be outweighed by the public’s interest in knowing.

But that’s not so clear—because of the nature of the balancing test.

Remember that the overheard phone conversation wasn’t classified, and that no one was physically injured as a result of its disclosure.

Some classified information is so important and potentially dangerous that it might outweigh the public interest. As my Harvard Law colleague Charles Fried, a former US solicitor general, put it to me, a newspaper might not be able to publish leaked troop movements in wartime if that would endanger lives.

In a concurrence to Stevens’s opinion, Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, wrote separately to say that the majority opinion should be read narrowly in the light of its particular circumstances and did not “imply a significantly broader constitutional immunity for the media.”

Breyer insisted that the court had not created “a ‘public interest’ exception that swallows up the statutes’ privacyprotecting general rule.”

It emerges that prosecuting Assange and WikiLeaks isn’t clearly excluded by this precedent. The so-called New York Times problem—that prosecuting WikiLeaks would allow prosecuting a newspaper—is to some degree more a policy concern than a definitive constitutional one. Bloomberg

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THE EARTH’S RISING FEVER, AND WHY IT’S BAD NEWS FOR ALL OF US

By Pecier Decierdo IN A previous article, I wrote about link between our burning of fossil fuels and climate change. We humans burn fossil fuels to produce energy. We use this energy mainly to generate electricity and power modern transportation such as cars and airplanes.

This burning of fossil fuels also results in the emission of carbon dioxide, which leads to more asphyxiant gas in the atmosphere.

Since carbon dioxide can trap heat in the atmosphere, this leads to a rise in the average temperature of the world, or what is known as global warming.

Indeed, scientists are seeing an increase in both atmospheric carbon dioxide and the average temperature of the Earth over the years. All lines of evidence point us to humans as the culprits of this observed global warming.

How much global warming are we experiencing right now? According to latest measurements, 2016 was 0.94 degrees Celsius warmer than the average of the 20th century.

That makes it the warmest year on record, beating 2015 (0.90 degrees), which in turn beat 2014 (0.74 degrees).

In fact, all years since 1977 were

warmer than the 20th century average, with the years 2001 through 2016 all being in the top 17 warmest years (1998 is ranked number 7).

The world, as they say, is experiencing a fever, and the fever is only rising. In fact, a fever is a good analogy.

The usually stated normal body temperature ranges from 36.5 to 37.5 degrees Celsius. That depends on many factors, such as a person’s age, exertion, and sex.

It even depends on the time of day.

When we sleep, most of us have a body temperature close to 36.3 degrees C. The moment we wake up, it goes to 36.4. By the time we’re fully awake and going about our daily activities, it goes up to 37.5. When we perform strenuous physical activities such as exercise, it goes further up.

Another thing to note about our bodies’ temperature is that it depends on which body part you are measuring. Some body parts are slightly warmer than others. If you put the thermometer in your armpit, the reading would be slightly different than when you put it in your mouth or when you place it on the palm of your hand.

Your normal body temperature is therefore an average over you entire body over time.

The same goes for the

temperature of the Earth, except the variations in temperature are greater than for the body.

Some parts of the Earth are quite hot while others are freezing cold.

For example, temperature in the Lut Desert, Iran can go as high as 70.7 degrees Celsius during some days, while the temperature in the South Pole can go as low as – 89.2 degrees Celsius during winter.

In the Philippines, the hottest temperature was recorded in Tuguegarao City, Cagayan at 42.2 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the temperature in Baguio dropped to 7.3 degrees Celsius in the morning of Feb. 15, 2017.

The temperature at a given place on Earth also varies throughout the day and year. For example, temperatures in Manila can range from 22 degrees Celsius during some nights in January to 37 degrees during some days in April. Meanwhile in Davao the temperature usually ranges from 24 degrees Celsius (nighttime January) to 33 degrees Celsius (daytime April).

Just as in measuring our bodies’ temperature, we are talking about averages when measuring the temperature of the planet.

The average is both over entire Earth and over the course of a year.

If the normal human body temperature is somewhere

close to 37 degrees Celsius, the average temperature of the Earth during the 20th century (1900s) is 13.9 degrees Celsius.

The Earth’s temperature has not, until very recently, strayed far away from this average over the entire existence of human civilization. Scientists think the relative stability of the world’s temperature in the last 10,000 years is what allowed human civilization to flourish.

The last few decades have strayed dangerously far from the average of thousands of years. The latest one, 2016, was 0.94 degrees warmer. If such a temperature difference from the average were found on a person, the doctor would say that person’s having a fever. It seems that fever is only going to get worse.

As with human fevers, global warming does not mean all parts of the Earth will get hotter by the same amount. What makes a high fever worrying is its disruption of the delicate balance we call health. Similarly, global warming is dangerous because it disrupts the delicate systems that have made Earth favorable for human life and civilization.

Decierdo is resident astronomer and physicist for The Mind Museum.

EARTH DAY AND THE SCOURGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE EVERYMAN

By Heherson T. Alvarez TODAY is Earth Day. Organized through the initiative of Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin in 1970, countries around the world bond to celebrate Earth Day on this day to remember and appreciate the life-giving abundance and promote the beauty of the Earth.

On April 4, 1990, a sense of immense hope was raised when our Senate adopted a resolution that I filed urging President Corazon Aquino to declare April 22, 1990 as Earth Day. The resolution was meant to reflect our growing commitment to the conservation of our environment.

That was 27 years ago. Today, however, Earth Day has become an observance of all 194 countries to save Mother Earth from the ultimate disaster—Climate Change—unless mankind can reduce and finally remove carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.

The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change pointed out a concentration of 3,100 billion metric tons of GHGs in the atmosphere that brought about the overheating of the whole Earth to an average 1.3˚C higher than before the industrial revolution. This overheating is melting the polar caps, the ancient glaciers of the Himalayas, causing the rising of the oceans, and the severe and more frequent typhoons and

storms, and great droughts.

The global environment that we sought to enhance has deteriorated—much to the anguish of leaders causing the suffering of populations across the world. Increasing carbon emissions, the result of uncontrolled use of coal and hydrocarbons, are creating climate impacts that are catastrophic.

In Bolivia, Lake Poopo—which used to cover an area of 1,000 square kilometers—has dried up.

In Africa, Lake Chad has shrunk by more than 90 percent since 1963.

Prolonged drought and extreme temperatures are taking terrible tolls on food crops. In sections of Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran, a three-year drought has led to enormous crop failures and the loss of livestock. We have suffered intermittent droughts in Mindanao and the Cagayan Valley.

Deforestation, removal of vegetation, and exploitative agriculture had degraded lands, turning these into deserts. In China, the deserts have expanded by 21,000 square miles since 1975, crowding out cropland and producing devastating sandstorms. In our own country, this has led to typhoons and tropical storms that are becoming more intense, with higher loss to lives and properties.

As we observe Earth Day 2017, let us recognize that climate change is a threat multiplier. It is undermining economic and political stability of nations. And ecological disasters are wreaking turmoil in many societies to the point where huge numbers of people are being displaced, becoming

“environmental migrants” or “climate refugees.”

Earth Day must be a consciousness awakening to protect life, to reduce CO2, to reduce the overheating of the Earth. Rapid carbon cuts will curb the severe climate change. Governments, communities, individuals, must all join hands to reduce CO2.

We appeal to our people to keep their communities clean, to stop the pollution of our rivers and lakes, to grow trees or mangroves along our coastal areas, and to teach our children to love and protect our environment.

Our government could now ramp-up the transition to a climate economy with our ratification of the Paris Accord that takes effect today (Earth Day). It could begin to promote a systematic shift to alternative fuels mix, and create the infrastructure necessary to encourage and connect a wide range of climate actions.

Unless we reduce CO2 the overheating of the Earth will continue and if it reaches 2˚C mankind cannot stop this heating anymore. It could mean the gradual destruction of our life-support system and inevitably, the human civilization.

Earth Day must be a day to raise consciousness to love and protect Mother Earth, and to save the generations of man! Earth Day must be a celebration of life!

Alvarez is a former secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and chairperson of the Climate Change Commission.

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leaks), while the UK, under more pressure to make compromises, isn’t likely to be as forthcoming.

The longer that game goes on, the better for the EU’s cause of maintaining unity and discouraging further secession. With 27 member states, there’s always a big election somewhere: In France right now, in Germany later this year, in Italy sometime soon. For proEU forces running in these elections, the more uncomfortable Brexit looks, the better.

A temporary extension of the UK’s membership, explicitly mentioned in draft negotiation guidelines the European Commission has written up for the bloc’s Council of Ministers, would be a godsend to these centrist political forces: It would show that leaving is a cumbersome process that’s far easier to initiate than to pursue, and that the two-year time frame that exists for it is unrealistic. A transition arrangement that drags on and becomes semi-permanent doesn’t cost the EU anything, but it will likely hurt May’s government badly.

If the EU knows how to do anything, it’s to draw out inconclusive negotiations. That can be a useful skill.

Bloomberg

PRODUCE GLOBALLY-COMPETITIVE FILIPINOS AS WE brace for this era’s Fourth Industrial Revolution (FIRe), the Philippines must rethink certain regulations on employment and modernize social security systems to enable a generation of globallycompetitive talent, policy experts in a roundtable discussion said.

Dr. Vicente Paqueo and Dr. Aniceto Orbeta Jr., research fellows of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, stressed that this candid continuation of the 1st to 3rd industrial revolution would be a combination of digital, physical, and biological upheavals.

As the phenomenon cited will “fundamentally alter the way we live, work, and relate to one another,” the Philippines, an emerging economy, is likewise at risk of its unescapable impact.

In their special study “Unlocking the Filipino People’s Potential in

the Next Six Years and Beyond,” a series of researches commissioned

by Philippine-based think tank Stratbase ADR Institute, Paqueo and Orbeta said policymakers should prioritize revving up areas of employment, human development, and social security.

This way, Manila will be able “to achieve rapid and inclusive economic growth that will drastically reduce poverty and allow disadvantaged people to enjoy the benefits of economic and technological progress.”

The experts said it’s now time to adapt with radical advances in science and technology which are siding more on the innovation of efficient labor-saving technologies.

The phenomenon means workers will frequently move from one job to another, thus the need to be highly trainable the same way economies

would also need to be more flexible.

Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADRi, commented that unlike its Asian neighbors, the Philippines has adopted a less competitive regulatory environment.

In the past months, labor unions and their political allies have clamored for an increase in the legal minimum wage, and that the same LMWs are applied to all regions.

“Huge increases in LMWs could make the employment of workers less attractive and labor-intensive enterprises less competitive,” Manhit explained.

Meanwhile, there are also demands to end all forms of contractualization.

Ironically, Paqueo and Orbeta said “this could have unintended consequences, including an increased unemployment rate, reduce transition rate from temporary

to permanent employment, and reduced efficiency in the use of human resources.”

To dodge negative impacts, what needs to be reconsidered is the replacement of job tenure with income security concepts and wage subsidies. To sustain this, there must be a mechanism to effectively assist the poor and near-poor so they may survive difficult transitions and even thrive under FIRe. In perspective, Paqueo and Orbeta said both government and the citizens should “critically vet controversial policy ideas to avoid unintended consequences that are detrimental to the poor and vulnerable groups.” Through this and the emphasis of the three core issues, the experts appeased that we can survive globalization in the next six years and beyond.

World CHINA’S FIRST CARGO SPACECRAFT DOCKS WITH SPACE LAB BEIJING, China—China’s first cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-1, successfully completed docking with an orbiting space lab on Saturday, the Beijing Aerospace Control Center said.

The Tianzhou-1 was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province Thursday evening and began to approach the space lab, Tiangong-2, Saturday morning.

It made first contact with the space lab at 12:16 pm on Saturday and docking was completed at 12:23 pm.

Cargo ships bring supplies and fuel into orbit, and the independent development of one is a “crucial step” toward China’s goal of having its own crewed space station by 2022, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The Tianzhou-1 is a tube-like craft which measures 10.6 metres in length and can carry over six tonnes of cargo as well as satellites, Xinhua said.

It will also conduct experiments in space, including one on non-Newtonian gravitation, and will dock two more times with Tiangong-2 before falling back to Earth, Xinhua said.

Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rise and of the Communist Party’s success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

In 2011, the US Congress ruled that Chinese astronauts would not be allowed on the International Space Station because of national security concerns. AFP

IS CLAIMS DEADLY ATTACK ON RUSSIA’S SPY OFFICE WASHINGTON, United States—The Islamic State jihadist group has claimed responsibility for a deadly attack Friday on an office of Russia’s main domestic intelligence agency, the FSB, in the country’s far east, a US-based monitoring group said.

Amaq News Agency, an IS propaganda arm, made the claim in a brief report in Arabic distributed on the social media application Telegram that cited a “security source.”

According to the text translated into English by the SITE monitoring group, the source said an IS “fighter” attacked an FSB office in Khabarovsk, killing three people and wounding others.

Russian officials say two people were killed in the incident -- an FSB employee and a civilian. One other person was reported wounded.

The assailant was shot dead, the FSB said, adding: “There is information about his belonging to a neo-Nazi group.”

The Amaq report came one day after the Islamic State group claimed an attack in Paris that left a policeman dead and two other officers wounded. AFP

SEX PRANK GETS CANADIAN OFF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON, New Zealand – A Canadian man sent out invitations to a fake swingers’ sex party in a desperate attempt to get himself removed from a New Zealand golf club’s mailing list.

Ian Campbell from Toronto was accidentally added to the email list for a Friday group at the Russley Golf Club in Christchurch because he has a similar email address to a namesake member.

Campbell, who runs a home meal service for the elderly in his home city, told the New Zealand Herald newspaper that once he was on the list he couldn’t get off despite several attempts.

“I e-mailed them three times to tell them I wasn’t the right Ian Campbell but kept getting email updates,” he said.

After doing some research, Campbell came across Tawse Manor on the outskirts of Christchurch which advertises itself as an “adult-themed” alternative accommodation venue.

He duly wrote an invitation to a party at the manor and hit “reply all.”

“Just a quick note to our ‘Russley Rounders’; as we did this time last year, a few of us will be meeting up at Tawse Manor around 7pm,” Campbell wrote.

“Last year we had a lot of trouble squeezing 14 people into only two rooms, so this year we have reserved all four rooms and will have the whole manor to ourselves (with the exception of the Play Room from 11pm to 2am, when it is reserved for the Tawse Kink group). AFP

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

SOKOR OUTRAGED OVER TRUMP’S CHINA COMMENT

S

eoul, South Korea—Buffeted by the currents of diplomacy, South Korea is sometimes described as a “shrimp between two whales”, and US president Donald Trump has touched nerves with remarks that the peninsula “used to be part of China”.

The comments came after Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida.

As the pair discussed ways to curb North Korea’s nuclear ambitions amid mounting tensions, Trump told the Wall Street Journal, Xi “went into the history of China and Korea.

“And you know, you’re talking about thousands of years... and many wars. And Korea actually used to be a part of China,” Trump went on.

Beijing is Pyongyang’s sole major ally and Washington wants it to do more about the North’s nuclear and missile programmes, while the US has a security alliance with Seoul and stations more than 28,000 troops in South to defend it.

The exact details of what Xi said and whether Trump accurately rep-

resented him are not known, but South Koreans are wary of Chinese expansionism, and politicians, historians and citizens have been outraged.

The Korean peninsula has been heavily influenced by China politically and culturally for centuries.

But while its ruling kingdoms sometimes paid tribute to their giant neighbour, South Korean historians stress they did not come under its territorial control, despite repeated invasions.

Seoul’s foreign ministry spokesman countered: “The fact that Korea was not part of China for thousands of years... is a clear historical fact acknowledged by the international community.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang declined to confirm the details of Xi’s wording, saying

that: “The Korean people should not be worried about it.”

But Seoul’s major JoongAng Ilbo daily said South Koreans had been “dumbfounded” by the Chinese leader.

“If Trump really conveyed Xi’s words correctly, it is nothing but a grave challenge to the identity of the Korean people,” it said.

South Korean historians and activists rallied outside the Chinese embassy on Friday to protest against Xi’s “absurd remarks”, Yonhap news agency reported.

Seoul and Beijing are at loggerheads over the deployment of the US missile defence system THAAD to the South to guard against threats from the North, infuriating China, which sees it as weakening its own capabilities.

Beijing has imposed a series of moves including a ban on group tours to the South and suspensions of South Korean businesses in China, which are seen by Seoul as economic retaliation.

South Korea’s top-selling Chosun newspaper turned on both leaders, castigating Xi for his “premodern expansionist view” and Trump for a lack of awareness of diplomatic sensitivities.

“The fact that Trump publicly disclosed such a remark (by Xi) demonstrates that he is completely ignorant about the history of the Korean peninsula,” it said in an editorial Friday. the row came after South Koreans were dismayed by the revelation that the US aircraft carrier Carl Vinson and a supporting battle group were still thousands of kilometres (miles) from the peninsula, despite the White House saying it was dispatching them to the area as tensions mounted with the North.

Trump had described the vessels as an “armada” and “very powerful” and the revelation drew jeers and disappointment.

“What Mr Trump said was very important for the national security of South Korea,” conservative South Korean presidential candidate Hong Joon-Pyo told the Wall Street Journal.

“If that was a lie, then during Trump’s term, South Korea will not trust whatever Trump says.”

The series of missteps demonstrate lack of communications within Trump’s nascent administration, said Bong Young-Shik, analyst at the Yonsei University’s Institute for North Korean Studies. AFP

This image obtained from the US Navy shows the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (L) leading the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy (C) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain in the Indian Ocean on April 14, 2017.

The US supercarrier Carl Vinson will arrive in the Sea of Japan in days, US Vice President Mike Pence said in Australia on April 22, 2017, amid high tensions with North Korea. AFP

VENEZUELA BRACES FOR NEW PROTEST IN WAVE OF UNREST

WEED LOVER. Payaso, of Lamar, Colorado, holds a bag of marijuana with his teeth during the Denver 420 Rally at Civic Center Park in Denver, Colorado. The rally, held annually, is a celebration of both the legalization of cannabis and cannabis culture. Colorado is one of twenty-six U.S. states along with the District of Columbia that has legalized the use of cannabis either recreationally or medically. AFP

CARACAS, Venezuela—Venezuela braced for new marches Saturday against President Nicolas Maduro, after the death toll climbed to 20 in three weeks of violence at protests demanding the leftist leader’s ouster.

The opposition called for protesters to march in silence to the Catholic Church’s episcopal seats nationwide in a show of condemnation of Maduro’s government.

It will be a test of the authorities’ tolerance for peaceful protests, after days of running battles pitting riot police and pro-government vigilantes against protesters hurling stones and Molotov cocktails.

The last protests, on Thursday, descended into a night of riots and looting that left 12 people dead in Caracas.

After Saturday’s show of silent defiance, the center-right opposition plans to return to a more confrontational strategy on Monday, when it is calling for Venezuelans to block roads in a bid to grind the country to a halt.

The two sides blame each other for the unrest.

The government accuses the opposition of hiring armed agitators to sow violence, while the opposition says it is the government using hired thugs and ordering the police and army to repress peaceful protests.

Vice President Tareck El Aissami ac-

cused the opposition of sponsoring a “spiral of terrorism” to trigger a coup.

Senior opposition leader Henrique Capriles fired back that the government’s “savage repression” was causing the violence.

-Fourth week on edge Protesters blame Maduro -- heir of the leftist “Bolivarian revolution” launched by the late Hugo Chavez in 1999 -- for an economic crisis marked by severe shortages of food, medicine and basic goods.

Maduro says the protests against him are part of a US-backed coup plot.

Pressure on the socialist president has been mounting since 2014, as falling prices for Venezuela’s crucial oil exports have sent the once-booming economy into a tailspin.

The crisis escalated on March 30, when the Supreme Court moved to seize the powers of the legislature, the only lever of state authority not controlled by Maduro and his allies.

The court partly backtracked after an international outcry. But tension only increased when the authorities slapped a political ban on Capriles on April 7.

According to pollster Venebarometro, seven in 10 Venezuelans disapprove of Maduro, whose term does not end until 2019.

The opposition is demanding elections to exit the crisis. AFP

B4

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

World

/ Joyce Pangco-Pañares, Issue Editor

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

TALIBAN KILLS OVER 100 IN AFGHANISTAN M

azar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan—More than 100 Afghan soldiers were killed and wounded in a coordinated Taliban attack on an army base in northern Afghanistan, the country’s defence ministry said Saturday.

It is the latest in a string of deadly assaults against Afghan military sites, which underscores rising insecurity as Afghanistan braces for an intense spring fighting season.

The ministry did not give a breakdown of the casualties in the attack near Mazar-i-Sharif city on Friday, which lasted several hours and targeted soldiers at a mosque and dining facility.

The US military has said that “more than 50” Afghan soldiers were killed in the assault, while an Afghan army source who was on the base at the time put the death toll as high as 150, with dozens more wounded.

Two of the attackers blew themselves up in the raid, which was claimed by the Taliban late Friday.

All were dressed in Afghan army uniforms and arrived in military

vehicles, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity and adding that no civilians were killed.

The defense ministry said Afghan forces had killed all the attackers, without specifying how many there were. Earlier it had said one of the assailants had been detained.

The military source at the base said there were at least 10 attackers, adding that the soldiers were “young recruits who had come for training”.

The toll could change, the defence ministry said in a statement, adding it would provide more information once an investigation was completed.

Afghan officials have been known to minimise casualty figures in some major attacks on mili-

tary sites, such as in early March when gunmen disguised as doctors stormed the country’s largest military hospital in Kabul, killing dozens.

Afghan officials put the death toll in that attack at 50, but security sources and survivors told AFP more than 100 were killed in the brazen and savage assault.

Military targets General John Nicholson, the top US commander in Afghanistan, praised Afghan commandos for bringing the “atrocity to an end”.

Afghan security forces, beset by killings and desertions, have been struggling to beat back insurgents since US-led NATO troops ended their combat mission in December 2014.

According to US watchdog SIGAR, casualties among Afghan security forces soared by 35 percent in 2016, with 6,800 soldiers and police killed.

The attack on the Kabul hospital in March came a week after 16 people were killed in simultaneous Taliban suicide assaults on two security compounds in the capital.

More than a third of Afghanistan is outside government control and many regions are fiercely contested by various insurgent groups, as Kabul’s repeated bids to launch peace negotiations with the Taliban have failed.

Nicholson in February told the US Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington that he needed “a few thousand” more troops to help train and assist the Afghan forces.

The US has around 8,400 troops in the country with about another 5,000 from NATO allies assisting a much larger Afghan force in the war against the Taliban and other Islamist militants.

Earlier this month the US military dropped its largest non-nuclear bomb on Islamic State group hideouts in eastern Afghanistan, killing nearly a hundred militants.

The attack triggered global shockwaves, with some condemning the use of Afghanistan as what they called a testing ground for the weapon, and against a militant group that is not considered as big a threat as the Taliban. AFP

Afghan security personnel arrive at the site of an ongoing attack on an army compound in Dihdadi District of Balkh province on April 21, 2017.

At least eight Afghan soldiers have been killed and 11 wounded during an ongoing Taliban attack on their base in northern Afghanistan, the defence ministry said.†”Gunmen wearing Afghan army uniforms have launched a complex attack on an army compound in the outskirts of Mazar-eSharif”,capital of Balkh province, ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri told AFP. AFP

FRANCE ON EDGE AS PRESIDENTIAL VOTE LOOMS

FOR SCIENCE’S SAKE. Supporters of science and research gather for the March for Science protest in Sydney on April 22, 2017. Thousands of people rallied in Australia and New Zealand on April 22 in support of science, the first of more than 500 marches globally triggered by concern over the rise of “alternative facts”. AFP

PARIS, France—France was on edge Saturday on the eve of its most unpredictable presidential election in decades, which will take place under heightened security after the jihadist killing of a policeman.

The Islamic State-claimed slaying of the officer on Paris’ Champs Elysees avenue thrust questions of security to the fore of campaigning after nine months of relative calm.

Analysts say Thursday’s attack could shake up the four-way contest between far-right leader Marine Le Pen, centrist Emmanuel Macron, conservative Francois Fillon and Communistbacked firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon.

The top two vote getters in Sunday’s poll will head to a run-off on May 7.

Authorities in Paris have offered additional guards for hundreds of polling stations in the capital, which will come on top of an already major security plan across the country.

“An extra guard or reinforcement of staff will be provided to any polling station that needs it,” Paris town hall official Colombe Brossel said.

On Sunday, around 50,000 police and 7,000 soldiers will be deployed to protect voters across France.

Until now, surveys showed the French to be more concerned about jobs and the economy than terrorism or security, though analysts warned Thursday’s shooting could change that.

A note praising IS was found next to the body of 39-year-old gunman Karim Cheurfi, who shot dead an officer and wounded two others before being killed in a firefight that sent tourists on the Champs Elysees rushing for cover.

Le Pen has moved quickly to present herself as the strongest defender against Islamist radicals in a country scarred by a string of attacks that have claimed 239 lives since 2015.

The 48-year-old leader of the antiimmigration National Front (FN) called for France to “immediately” take back control of its borders from the European Union and deport all foreigners on a terror watchlist.

“This war against us is ceaseless and merciless,” she said, accusing the Socialist government of a “cowardly” response to the threat.

Fillon and Macron also hastily convened televised briefings in which they vowed to protect the country. AFP

US NAVAL ARMADA TO ARRIVE IN SEA OF JAPAN IN DAYS SYDNEY, Australia—The US supercarrier Carl Vinson will arrive in the Sea of Japan in days, Vice President Mike Pence said in Australia Saturday amid high tensions with North Korea.

The Trump administration has been trying to clear the waters after sending out confusing messages concerning the whereabouts of the Vinson carrier group that supposedly was steaming toward North Korea last week.

“Our expectation is that they will be in the Sea of Japan in position in a matter of days, before the end of this month,” Pence told reporters in Sydney. “(What) the regime in North Korea should make no mistake about, is that the United States has the resources, the personnel and the presence in this region of the world to see to our interests and to see to the security of those interests and our allies,” Pence said. AFP

MAN HELD FOR KILLING MISS HONDURAS CLAIMS INSANITY TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras— A man suspected of the 2014 murder of Miss Honduras and her sister -- his girlfriend at the time -- declined to testify in a Tegucigalpa court on Friday on grounds of mental illness.

Plutarco Antonio Ruiz, 34, appeared to act oblivious to court proceedings once he was led in by police, court officials said.

He did not respond to questions directed to him in the Supreme Court, as the mother and a sister of the victims looked on.

Prosecutors accuse Ruiz of killing his 24-year-old girlfriend, Sofia Trinidad Alvarado, and her 19-year-old sister, Miss Honduras beauty queen Maria Jose Alvarado, on November 13, 2014.

The women’s bodies were found buried on the banks of a river six days later -- on the date Maria Jose was meant to have flown to London to compete in a Miss World pageant.

Prosecutors believe Ruiz fatally shot the sisters in a jealous rage and then buried them with the help of accomplices. AFP

VIETNAM VILLAGE FREES HOSTAGES HELD OVER LAND DISPUTE HANOI, Vietnam—More than a dozen police and officials held hostage by Vietnamese villagers over a land dispute were released Saturday, state media reported, ending a week-long standoff that had gripped the country.

The rare act of defiance in My Duc, a suburban district of capital Hanoi, was sparked last week by clashes between authorities and villagers who said their farmland was being illegally seized for a military-owned telecoms firm.

After authorities detained a number of local residents protesting the seizure, including an 82-year-old man, villagers retaliated by taking 38 police officers and officials hostage.

Following a week of tension, Hanoi’s mayor Nguyen Duc Chung was welcomed into the community on Saturday. It had been sealed off by barricades made from logs, sandbags and bricks.

After the negotiations “villagers led a working team to the community house to release the 19” remaining hostages, state-run Tuoi Tre newspaper reported. AFP

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017

Business

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

ZALORA SUPPORTS ASIAN DESIGNERS

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By Othel V. Campos ZALORA’S Private Label marks its third year with strong collaboration with Asian designers.

Zalora Asia head of marketing Rayne Reid says the electronic commerce market of the Philippines and other Southeast Asian countries experiences a growth in “online transactions across the region” that drives Zalora’s reach.

“We move very fast in fashion.

That is always an interesting part of the Private Label. We’re very committed about our customers across Southeast Asia. We try to bring the latest fashion and also familiar favorites,” she says.

By familiar favorites, Reid is referring to global fashion brands that consumers grew up with and mid to expensive fashion labels that found a home in the Zalora platform.

IP PROTECTORS. The Philippines celebrates the National Intellectual Property Rights Month in April. Leading the celebration are (from left) US Embassy Manila trade officer Brian Breuhaus, Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director-general Josephine Santiago, Philippine Association of the Record Industry Inc. chairperson Marivic Benedicto and iflix country manager Sherwin dela Cruz.

MOBILE APPS RESCUE PH MUSIC INDUSTRY

M

medicine.

OBILE applications are giving music and entertainment pirates a dose of their own

A music industry executive says mobile apps have come to the rescue of the Philippine music and entertainment industry from digital pirates by offering a strong price point at P129 a month for an unlimited access to songs and movies, beating the cost of pirated items.

“I think embracing innovation is really the key to defeating piracy,” says Philippine Association of the Record Industry Inc. chairperson Marivic Benedicto, who is also the head of Music Publishing and New Media for Music at ABS-CBN Film Productions Inc. Benedicto says mobile platforms Spotify, Youtube and iflix are giving the music and entertainment industry a second wind and an opportunity to recoup the amount it is losing to pirates or intellectual property thieves.

“With Spotify and Youtube, and eventually Facebook being monetized, we are looking at going back to where the record industry was, in terms of investing in new artists and song writers,” Benedicto says in a news briefing in Makati City during the celebration of the World Intellectual Property Day. “I think Spotify has reduced music piracy by 95 percent,” she says, adding that Spotify is now the preferred music platform of millennials, because of its mobile-first design and multiple-screen features.

The key, she says, is the P129-a-month price point.

“That is a good start. Iflix followed with P129-amonth offering. It seems to be an effective price point.

Now, the Philippines is the fastest growing market for Spotify. We also rank No. 14 among Spotify markets in the world,” says Benedicto.

Benedicto says Spotify gives about 70 percent of its earnings to content providers, which is shared by the record label, composers and song writers. She says Youtube also gives out 55 percent of its earnings to content providers.

“What’s P129 versus buying four DVDs for P100.

You pay P129 a month and you get 21,000 hours of content on iflix and thousands of songs on Spotify.

In a CD, there are only 100 songs or MP3s. And there is no parallel between pirated experience and legitimate source,” she says.

Benedicto says Spotify particularly changed the industry and gave Filipinos a legitimate platform to access music digitally. “People now don’t bother to go to pirate sites, because Spotify is also free, although it has a premium model at P129 a month.

With Spotify having no borders and published worldwide, the Filipino music has been discovered in other territories. We have a few artists who are being listened to in countries like Taiwan and Malaysia.

Of course, it is not yet like the 1980s, but we are already starting to get back the revenues, get back the investments. Record labels are having more courage to develop, to invest in new genres. It is helping artists a lot, because it is a borderless platform. You can get discovered everywhere,” she says.

“Last year, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry declared there was no longer music piracy. Of course, there still is, but it is no longer a significant issue, because everybody is now on the legitimate platform like Spotify and Youtube,” Benedicto says.

Sherwin dela Cruz, the country manager of iflix, says the subscription video-on-demand service also changed the consumption of entertainment content and gives people a better viewing experience than those offered by pirate sites.

“We really had to pinpoint a good pricing so that we can really scale. For us, the price we offer in the Philippines is P129,” says dela Cruz, adding that the subscription fee gives users 21,000 hours of high-

resolution content on iflix, compared to P100 for just three or four DVDs of pirated movies.

“I am happy to announce that so far, we had 1.2 billion minutes streamed on the site,” dela Cruz says.

“I firmly believe that we can offer a better service, we can offer more choices, we can offer more content at a price that people do not really mind. Piracy is not actually free. People actually pay for it, like in the cost of CDs. It is just going to the wrong pockets,” says dela Cruz.

Benedicto, however, concedes that composers would never be able to experience what they had in the 1980s. “A gold record used to be 90,000 units in the late 1990s. Now, it is down to 7,500 units. We now have one legal replicating plant in the Philippines.

There used to be four. SM has already removed the record bars in its department stores,” Benedicto says.

Data from the Philippine Association of the Record Industry Inc. show that the Philippine music industry had total sales volume of 791,310 with trade value of P159.916 million in 2016.

Benedicto says the industry began to accept that the way people consume music is changing. She says this is why players in the music industry cooperated and gave Spotify a try in 2014. “We talked and agreed to their terms to see how it works and take it from there. Spotify offered a minimum guarantee for the country which at first was very small. After two years, the minimum guarantee they are offering now is 15 times that amount. You can see how the market grew in the last two years,” says Benedicto.

“We were skeptical at first, but we saw how it could help address the problem of piracy. We are number 14 now in the world in terms of the number of subscribers at Spotify. The Spotify model was so successful because it was not very far removed from the experience of the consumer. They were getting it for free, and it is 100-percent legal,” she says.

Wilson Tieng, president of Solar Entertainment Corp., says IP thieves still make millions from Turn to C2

HONG KONG PUBLICATION NAMES BEST FILIPINO CEO Globe Telecom president and chief executive Ernest Cu is recognized the best CEO in the Philippines.

GLOBE Telecom president and chief executive Ernest Cu was recognized as the Philippines’ best CEO by FinanceAsia, a Hong Kong-based magazine.

Globe also ranked as the third Best Managed Company in the country and was cited in several other categories.

FinanceAsia, a leading publisher of financial news in the Asia Pacific region, said Cu bagged the top spot in the Best CEO category with 23 points. Globe also placed third in Best at Investor Relations, fourth in Best at Corporate Social Responsibility and sixth in Most Commitment to Corporate Governance.

The citations were based on a survey

conducted by FinanceAsia involving investors on their views on which listed companies around Asia they consider to be best managed, with the best senior executives. FinanceAsia received responses from 180 portfolio managers and buy-side analysts from around the world. FinanceAsia is a member of the Haymarket Media Group and covers investment banking, capital markets and strategic corporate finance.

“The host of citations from FinanceAsia underscores our commitment to achieve remarkable results not only in terms of financial performance but also in adhering to the principles of good corporate governance, corporate social responsibility and investor

relations. I am deeply honored that Globe has been recognized for our remarkable efforts in the industry,” said Cu. Cu said the recent success of Globe was at the heels of the company’s purposeled transformation to become a better organization ready for the future. Anchored on its corporate vision of leading a Philippines where families’ dreams come true, businesses flourish and the nation is admired, the company defined its purpose moving forward to treat people right by creating a Globe of Good.

Globe aspires to be an industry leader with purpose, helping customers discover new ways to enjoy life.

Zalora Asia head of marketing Rayne Reid At the second Philippines Zalora Style Awards Night, Reid discussed how Zalora managed to merge more than 10 instore brands into six uniquely different styles for women and two for men, forming the core fashion basics of the Private Label.

The core labels are Zalora Women label and Zalora Men label. There is also a trendy and hip vibe for the young adults called Something Borrowed.

Private Label operates in six markets—Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines.

“We try to cover all of these markets in different and interesting ways for the fashion customer. In Southeast Asia, we always have summer time and the subtropical vibe. Whether it is through our styling or our fabrication or through having constant color and prints, we can really make a difference for our customers. We also focus on specific fit in Southeast Asia, basically a petite market especially for women,” she says.

“Fashion right now is all about opu l e n c e — e m b e l l i s h m e nt s , beadings, color stories that are vey rich. We’re loving right now all the textures of velvet, embroidered meshes as well as simplified lines coming through tailored silhouettes easy for everyone to wear,” Reid says.

Zalora has an exclusive design studio in Singapore, with a mix of all nationalities between Americans and Europeans and a strong group of Southeast Asian designers from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

Reid is excited over the prospect of getting on board Filipino designers. “We have Filipino buyers in the buying team. We manufacture across the region— China, Indonesia and Malaysia.

We’re always looking for new vendors. We believe strongly in vendor development. Where we see good partnership either with the brand or the manufacturers.

We’re always s eeking t hos e opportunities. We spoke with the Philippine team about the strong brand relationships that Zalora has created here. And how that strong partnership brings the brand to Filipino customers,” she says.

Business

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 business@thestandard.com.ph

FILIPINO TECHPRENEUR FINDS SUCCESS IN SILICON VALLEY Cavite 2nd District Rep. Strike Revilla

SOLON WANTS EMPTY LOTS TAXED HIGHER A LAWMAKER has filed a proposed bill seeking higher taxes on empty lots to encourage owners to cultivate or develop these properties for productive use.

Cavite 2nd District Rep. Strike Revilla filed House Bill No. 1683 seeking to amend Section 236 of the Local Government Code of 1991 by increasing the ceiling tax on additional ad valorem tax on idle lands from the current 5 percent to 10 percent.

Revilla says he filed the measure amid the continuing non-cultivation and nonutilization of lands, given the relatively minimal tax burdens on idle lands.

He says the Philippines has a total land area of 30 million hectares classified into forest lands and alienable and disposable lands. Fore lands cover 15.8 million hectares, while 14.2 million hectares are alienable and disposable lands. Of the total alienable and disposable lands, 93 percent or 13 million hectares are classified as agricultural lands.

“Should these large agricultural lands be efficiently utilized, there will be higher agricultural productivity, therefore greatly addressing problems in food security,” he says.

HB 1683 provides that a province, city or municipality within Metro Manila may levy an annual tax on idle lands at the rate not exceeding 10 percent of the assessed value of the property which shall be in addition to the basic real property tax.

“Our idle land tax remains largely unutilized by our local government units as a revenue source. Increasing the rate shall provide them more flexibility in its imposition and shall serve as a better source of revenue,” Revilla says.

MOBILE...

From C1

stealing creative content from computers and mobile devices. “Criminals, operating individually or in groups, bait visitors by the prospect of gaining access to creative content. When baited, they use spywares and bots to access and/or control their victims’ devices remotely and steal their data, which may be used for identity theft and other malicious scams. These criminals make millions of dollars this way,” Tieng says.

“Users might not think much of the pop-ups, toolbars, ads, fake prompts and files downloaded covertly in the background as soon they visit the site, but these expose them to great online security and personal risks. We highly encourage Filipinos to use legitimate subscriptionbased content streaming services that provide safer access to a wide selection of content,” says Tieng.

Intellectual Property Office of the Philippines director-general Josephine Santiago says President Rodrigo Duterte signed Proclamation No. 190 declaring April as the national intellectual property rights month.

“An effective intellectual and industrial property system is vital to the development of domestic and creative activity, facilitates transfer of technology, attracts foreign investments and ensures market access for our products. IP also serves as a tool for improving the lives of people as well as promoting public good,” Santiago says.

The Philippines has been out of the US Trade Representative Special 301 watch list for three consecutive years now. Last year, Filipino authorities confiscated P6.5 billion worth of pirated or counterfeit goods. Santiago is hopeful the Philippines will remain out of the watch list when the USTR discloses its next annual report on April 30.

Brian Breuhaus, trade officer of the US Embassy Manila, says countries with strong innovation and IP rights protection also perform well economically. He says 52 percent of goods exports of the US and 38 percent of its gross domestic product are tied to IP. Industries with IP products also employ over 45 million Americans and hundreds of millions worldwide, he says.

Santiago thus urges all Filipinos to “join us in our advocacy of defending the rights of creators, innovators and inventors and in fighting infringement, piracy and other forms of IPR violations.”

Roderick T. dela Cruz

V

eem, a money remittance company established by Filipino techpreneur Aldo Carrascoso, has recently received an additional $24 million in new funding.

The sum of investments f r o m N a t i o n a l Au s t r a l i a Bank, GV (formerly known as Google Ventures), Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers, SBI Investments Co. Ltd., and Silicon Valley Bank will be allotted for expansion into more countries and addition of new products.

The money remittance company formerly known as Align Commerce processes several hundreds of millions of cross border businesses including overseas Filipino worker payments in over 60 countries. Veem has offices in three continents.

Founded by Carrascoso in 2014, the reliable and real-time system of sending and receiving payments via email is designed to replace the complex and costly telegraphic transfers, wire systems and Swift, by bypassing the banks, or the middlemen.

“I didn’t like the way traditional remittance companies preyed on OFWs and small business. The only choices they had charge large fees, make the process harder and more complicated,” Carrascoso says. Veem uses a combination of proprietary multirail payment systems and the blockchain, described as one of the fastest growing areas for tech investment.

“We started in my garage in Westlake, Daly City,” says Carrascoso, who recalls creating his first line of code when he was in fourth grade. “Technology has always been a passion. I was born in a very tech forward family where technology was part of our everyday lives. I have always been fascinated by technology and how it affected people around me,” he says.

Recognizing that people is crucial to growing businesses, Carrascoso took up Psychology at the Ateneo de Manila University before flying to Boston for the Babson Entrepreneurship program.

“One of my key deliverables for grad school was a tech startup, that was when my first venture started, which was verego.com, a matchmaking service, a tinder for companies,” he says.

His other startup, Jukin Media / Jukin Technologies is now one of the largest usergenerated licensing platforms in the world, currently in 221 markets, servicing nearly every major television network with content, and has over 35 billion

Filipino techpreneur Aldo Carrascoso views online.

“What has guided me consistently was my purpose, which is improving the lives of people through technology.

All my startups were always about making the process easier for large trends that were taking place,” he says.

Throughout all his business dealings in the US, Carrascoso says that he would constantly find ways to refer to his ties to the Philippines, whether by mentioning the country in his speaking engagements or by hiring Filipinos as employees.

“Filipinos have the creative chops so my vision for the Philippines is for it to be a global hub for creative innovation, for it to be the first to come to mind when creative technological innovation is needed,” he says.

He is very eager to share what he

has learned in Silicon Valley with young Filipinos who want to enter the tech industry. He is active in the Science & Technology Advisory Council in Silicon Valley which seeks to elevate Philippine-based start-ups and try to give them real-world Silicon Valley type of training.

He also works with Philippine local organizations to promote entrepreneurship and bring the Silicon Valley type of thinking to the Philippines. Furthermore, he is in collaboration with a number of universities on various curriculum, mentoring and workshop programs.

Speaking from experience, Aldo reveals that Silicon Valley investors are always very, very busy. They know if you are wasting their time and you will be destroyed if you do that. “We all practice

something called OHD – open, honest and direct. A lot of them are former technologists and very specialized. They know the ins and outs of the topic you are trying to pitch so they can smell B.S. a mile away,” he says.

But Aldo assures that the investors are very active in helping the businesses succeed and will open a lot of doors.

“Oh and they dress down big time. In hoodies, usually. So people often say that if you walk into Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers offices in a suit, you’re a newbie,” he says.

His tips to anyone who wants to do a startup: “Focus on execution, vet and form the right team, do large disruption rather than incremental improvements and surround yourself with a good support system of mentors and investors.”

PAMPANGA-BASED FIRM EMPLOYS INTERNATIONAL BENCHMARKS INNOVATION and quality are two attributes that can make or break any commercial enterprise. For RDF Feed, Livestock & Foods Inc., the same attributes have catapulted its agri-food business into what it is today.

RDFFLFI is the leading companyowned and company-operated agri-food system enterprise in the P h i l ippi n e s . Un l i k e ot h e r m e at distributors, RDFFLFI breeds and processes its own livestock, runs its own feed mills, stores and distributes meat products and operates retail outlets and restaurants to make foodstuff readily available to the market.

To ensure that its extensive network runs smoothly, RDFFLFI has streamlined its operations to include advanced technology and solutions. Dr. Robert Lo, the company’s chairman and chief executive, says RDFFLFI employs five to six consultants who propose the best food technologies and methods. In addition to

RDF Feed, Livestock & Foods Inc. chairman and chief executive Dr. Robert Lo (fifth from left) receives a trophy during the 6th Meralco Luminaries Awards. this, the company is staffed with a strong research and development team who are encouraged to think out-of-the-box.

“Our passion to innovate and make things better has propelled our position in the market. RDFFLFI customers have

very exacting demands and it is our job to not only meet but exceed our markets’ needs,” says Lo. “We make it a point to benchmark against international brands and observe if there are certain food systems we can adopt here. But, we don’t just adopt the technology, we always seek to improve its use in our systems, So far, the technologies and procedures we have applied here fared exceedingly well,” he says.

With this corporate mindset, RDFFLFI was recognized for its pioneering spirit and drive for excellence to make things better, brighter and richer for the people at the 6th Meralco Luminaries Awards.

The award underscores the company’s resilience and ability to thrive despite the challenges faced in the industry. It also highlighted RDFFLFI’s adeptness in optimizing energy resources in an efficient manner.

“We are honored to be given this

recognition as it is a testament to the company’s passion for excellence in ensuring safe and fresh meats for our consumers. Through this award, consumers are doubly assured that the meat processed at our facilities are climate controlled, clean, safe, and still fresh when they receive it,” says Lo. From its humble beginnings of producing and selling quail eggs 28 years ago to full-scale commercial feed and livestock production, fresh and processed meat retail operations, and restaurant and food delivery service, RDFFLFI has proven that it is poised to capture a bigger share of the agri-food systems market.

With bold visionaries like Dr. Lo at the helm and his 1,800-strong staff following his lead, RDFFLFI introduces another novel food and food delivery concept that will make high-quality food more accessible to Filipinos.

Sports

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017

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reuelvidal@yahoo.com

FOLAYANG HUMBLES BRASH TING TO RETAIN ONE TITLE

By Reuel Vidal

F

EARSOME inside the cage yet humble in victory.

Eduard Folayang had just spent the past 25 minutes outfighting dangerous challenger Ev Ting to retain his ONE Championship Lightweight world crown.

Instead of rejoicing in his skill and proclaiming his greatness the first words from Folayang were to thank his opponent Ting and to express gratitude to God for all the blessings that he has received.

“I would like to thank Ev Ting, he really came prepared for this fight. We came to give the fans a good fight, and that’s what we have done. This is the essence of martial arts, five rounds to show how much we’ve prepared for a long time,” said Folayang.

He then expressed his gratitude to God for all the blessings he has received including serving as a role model for his countrymen especially the poor and the underprivileged who see in him an assurance that hard work and perseverance will ultimately be rewarded.

Folayang later acknowledged his checkered ONE Championship career. Prior to his victory over Ting, Folayang had won hard fought decisions over Tetsuya Yamada and Adrian Pang before his spectacular conquest of Japanese MMA legend Shinya Aoki which earned him the ONE Lightweight world title.

Folayang recalled his last bout at the Mall of Asia Arena where he was knocked out with a flying knee by Timofey Nastyukhin.

“This fight means a lot. A lot of you (fans) were discouraged the last time I was here. I slept on that mat. I rose up from my circumstances. I needed to train a lot to improve a lot. This is it on my shoulder,” said Folayang while clutching the ONE Championship belt. “Thank you for your support.”

Ting was fast on his feet as he threw jabs and kicks while continu-

Gina Iniong

INIONG’S PATIENCE REWARDED

BY ONE ONE Lightweight champion of the world Eduard Folayang (left) unloads a roundhouse kick which challenger Ev Ting barely deflects with his elbows during their ONE Championship fight at the Mall of Asia Arena. ONE Championship

ing to dart in and then out to stay out of range of Folayang’s own counter attacks. Ting had the quicker hands and feet but Folayang was the harder more devastating striker.

Folayang was stung several times

by Ting’s quick hits but by the third and fourth rounds Folayang’s heavier, more telling blows were taking their toll. Ting was flat on his feet by the fourth round.

By the fifth Ting had lost all ability to move around with speed. In frustration he dared Folayang to stand in the center of the ring and fight. Folayang was wise to Ting’s desperate ploy and continued to hit from afar to post

ONE Lightweight champion of the world Eduard Folayang (right) and challenger Ev Ting trade haymakers at the center of the cage during their championship fight at the Mall of Asia Arena. ONE Championship

Confetti rains down on ONE Lightweight champion of the world Eduard Folayang (center) who is flanked by Filipino boxing icon Manny Pacquiao and ONE Championship President and CEO Victor Cui. Folayang successfully defended his ONE Championship crown against challenger Ev Ting at the Mall of Asia Arena. ONE Championship

the decisive victory.

Folayang, thanks in large part to coach Mark Sangiao, executed a perfect winning strategy to beat Ting.

Folayang relied on his world class Wushu stance to strike from afar with kicks to go along with punches.

Ting was quicker but Folayang completely negated Ting’s faster strikes through his longer, more lethal kicks and spinning back fists.

Folayang didn’t always connect but his length when striking with hands and feet kept Ting on his heels

and unable to attack effectively.

After five rounds, the audience had to wait a few more minutes for the decision of the judges. But there was really no mystery. Folayang’s victory was total and everybody in the arena, including Ting himself, knew who had won the bout.

The judges then announced Folayang’s unanimous victory. A primal roar and cheer erupted from the audience of 20,000 at the Mall of Asia Arena as the Filipino champion’s hands were raised in triumph.

PATIENCE is its own reward.

Gina “Conviction” Iniong found out that this was true as she finally saw action in ONE Championship after years of trying to break into Asia’s premier mixed martial arts organization.

The 27-year-old Filipina finally achieved her dream when she saw action at ONE: Kings of Destiny at the Mall of Asia Arena last Friday, April 21. Iniong dominated Natalie “The Kilapino” Gonzales Hills en route to a unanimous decision victory to put the cherry on top of her ONE debut.

Iniong was introduced to martial arts in high school when she was recruited

by Mark Sangiao to join the University of the Cordilleras Wushu squad. She led her school to victories in national tournaments and it was only logical that she eventually turned to MMA as a member of Team Lakay.

Inong was aggressive from the start and put Hills on the defensive. “The Kilapino” landed some solid hits in the early going. She even caught one of Iniong’s leg kicks, but the Team Lakay product pushed Hills against the fence and hit her with some sharp knees.

Iniong then threw Hills across the cage with a suplex.

Iniong let her hands fly even more in round two. The 29-year-old Hills unloaded jabs and kicks but Iniong parried her attacks and countered with powerful combinations. Iniong then caught Hills with a stinging right hand which sent “The Kilapino” to the cage wall. Iniong then pinned Hills against the cage and then unloaded with more strikes.

Desperate for a win Hills tried to take the initiative with strikes. She even tried to take Iniong down but the Team Lakay veteran proved too elusive and continued to pepper Hills with strikes.

Iniong earned the victory by unanimous decision and improved her overall MMA record to 5-2. Hills suffered her fifth consecutive loss as her recorded skidded to 1-5.

BANARIO KOS CZECH WITH ONE PUNCH FORGET Manny Pacquiao’s one-punch knockout of Ricky Hatton which has served as the highlight reel as one of the most devastating knockouts ever.

Honorio Banario delivered an even more impressive one-punch demolition when he flattened Czech Republic’s Jaroslav Jartim in the second round of the ONE: Kings of Destiny undercard at the Mall of Asia Arena last April 21, Friday.

Jartim had just unloaded a kick with his right leg which was caught by Banario. As Jartim tried to retreat, Banario lunged forward and smashed a left hook into his face.

Jartim was out cold as soon as the punch connected. Limp as a doll he fell backwards and landed on the canvas flat on his back with his head bouncing on the floor a few times.

The knockout was total and Banario didn’t even move forward for a ground and pound attack.

Jartim was still out cold and flat on his back long minutes later. He was out of for so long the organizers didn’t have time to wait for him to wake up and stand beside Banario. Breaking protocol the announcer proclaimed Banario the winner by knockout with Jartim still lying on his back.

A feared striker who is slowly developing his ground game, Banario actually announced before the fight that he’d like a submission victory. Things didn’t go as planned for the man they call “The Rock.”

But Banario was hardly in a position to complain.

“Things happen. Instead of implementing my game plan of submission, my hand connected. That is what I always dream, you know? I always dream of a finish. I have become more refined. I’ve become stronger,” Banario said.

Banario, with Wushu as his core combat skill, has always been a fearsome striker.

But this is his most devastating victory by strikes.

Jartim, who was riding a three-fight win streak, was a last-minute replacement for “Ruthless” Rob Lisita. He took on the fight on less than two weeks notice. His record fell to 8-6.

Banario started the contest with quick strikes. But he soon abandoned his upright stance to try to submit Jartim. Banario grabbed Jartim then slammed him to the canvas just one minute into the fight.

Jartim was quick to fend off Banario’s submission attempts. The two then grappled on the cage with Banario controlling the ebb and flow of the fight in the first round.

Banario continued to control the fight and again brought Jartim to the ground early in the second. The Czech wiggled free and then unloaded a right kick at Banario who countered with a left hook which ended the fight. Reuel Vidal

Jaroslav Jartim (left) moves backward as he tries to avoid the left hook by Honorio Banario which knocked him out cold to end the bout. ONE Championship

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Sports

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor / Reuel Vidal, Issue Editor / Randy Caluag, Issue Editor

sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

UA 3X3 CEBU LEG FINALS GET GOING Milo Rivera and Joyce Pring, hosts of new TV show Garahista

MOTORSPORTS FOR ALL

By Randy Caluag

T

HERE is a perception that motorsports is just for the elite, those with money and rubber to burn.

Garahista will change that notion.

“We want to show what motorsports is since the perception of people on motorsports is that it is for the rich, so we want to try to change that perception.

Racing is for everybody especially for people who love cars,” said Milo Rivera, host of the first realitybased motorsports show on Philippine TV. Named Garahista, derived from the words garahe (garage) and karerista (racer), this half-hour show, which premiered on primetime last Thursday on ABSCBN Sports + Action after the NBA playoffs, features teams from different walks of life as they build and race their vehicles in different racing platforms.

Garahista director Cesar Marquez and Rivera granted Manila Standard an interview at the Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum last Tuesday at the Golden Phoenix Hotel, where they promoted their TV show.

Marquez revealed that for the first season of Garahista, seven teams from all walks of life are given a second-hand, stock car to tinker with and

transform into racing machines with the use of just P30,000. The teams worked 30 hours non-stop and are now preparing to race their “builds.”

“There are shows like this abroad, but this is the first of its kind on Philippine television, and I’m sure car and racing enthusiasts will be elated to have this show just for them,” said Marquez in the forum backed by San Miguel Corp., Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., Accel and Golden Phoenix Hotel.

“Our racers get limited money and limited time.

After their build, magda-drag race sila, magsa-slalom sila under the supervision of the AAP (Automobile Association of the Philippines), so hindi ito bastabasta karera na nagbuo ng race car at kinarera na lang basta,” added Marquez. “Garahista is about us.

It is about our sincere desire to excel, to achieve our dreams despite the limitations and challenges. No matter what is given us, we will be determined to finish the race that has been set before us.”

Rivera, who is co-hosting the show with DJ, Vlogger and Racer Joyce Pring, said Garahista is their means to spread to the world that motorsports is for everyone, not just for the elite.

“This is a good avenue to promote motorsports. It will be held in mall parking lots so that people coming out from the department stores and groceries can watch something as they go out or before they go in,” said Rivera, a World Gymkhana Racing Champion.

“You have people, you have teams, you have drivers, mechanics from all walks of life. ‘Yung iba mga ex-race car drivers na tumigil because of financial constraints. You have car dealers and playstation enthusiasts, gusto nila to feel the excitement of an actual race. You have people from everywhere put together in one competition. One thing that is common about them is they love cars.

Given the concept of the show, they try to put out something out of nothing because of limited budget and time. It’s really nice to know that ‘ganoon lang ang ginawa nila, ganoon na katulin?’ I’m all for it because we pursue something that we love,” added Rivera.

Garahista is held under the supervision of the Automobile Association of the Philippines and is backed by Dunlop, Rota Wheels, Tru Health, Fontana, Back Stage, Solaire, Palawan International Circuit, Batagas Racing Circuit, Carmona Race Circuit, Clark International Speedway, AeroMed, WalterMart Taytay, United Auctioneers, Dad and Mom’s Family Restaurant, Rosario Cars and Brembo Brakes.

The show’s pilot episode aired last Thursday to good reviews from car and motorsports enthusiasts, but director Marquez vows there is more to expect in the succeeding episodes.

“Gagalingan pa namin ang paggawa. Actionpacked segments start on episode 3. Ang first two kasi profiling pa lang ng mga racers,” said Marquez.

FIERCE BATTLE UP AS XTERRA DANAO UNWRAPS

Titleholder Bradley Weiss (seated, fourth from left) of South Africa poses with the other triathletes vying in the elite pro event of XTERRA Danao.

DANAO, Cebu—Bradley Weiss goes all-out for a repeat, Ben Allen seeks redemption while the rest vow to spring a surprise or two in what promises to be an exciting, punishing XTERRA series firing off here today (Sunday, April 23).

The heat and the new but exacting course featuring unfamiliar terrains are expected to add up to the challenge for the compact 15-man field, including 11 in the premier men’s side, guaranteeing a spirited battle fir the top purse of $15,000, ranking points and the bragging rights as the first champion of the country’s premier Off-Road

Triathlon in Danao.

“I am sure it will continue to be a thrilling battle right until the final race of the series,” said Weiss days before the 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run event organized and produced by Sunrise Events, Inc. headed by general manager Princess Galura.

Weiss rallied from behind to surprise Allen in the last XTERRA series in Albay. But the South African expects to have his hands full in his title-retention bid with Allen raring for a payback and the rest hoping to get a crack at the coveted crown.

“My biggest rivals will be Sam Osborne from New Zealand and

Allen, who are both currently ranked higher than myself in Asia Pacific Tour,” said Weiss.

Allen also can’t wait to get back at Weiss and see what the new venue could offer.

“Both Jacqui (Slack-Allen) and I are very excited to race in the Danao region. Cebu is the heart of triathlon in the Philippines and it’s the perfect location for people to visit and enjoy an active and healthy lifestyle,” said Allen.

Japanese Takahiro Ogasawara, Taylor Charlton, Kieran McPherson, Brodie Gardner, Olly Shaw, Alex Roberts, Dan Brown, Will Kelsay and local bet Joseph Miller.

THE Cebu leg finals of the Under Armour 3x3 Southeast Asia 2017 blasts off today (Sunday) with the top winners getting the ticket to the Manila national finals slated for April 28-30 at the BGC in Taguig City.

A total of 70 teams from different schools in Cebu registered for the event, all hoping to make it to Manila and all the way to the Asia championship.

The winners in the Manila final will get the chance to become part of the national team.

Tournament organizers said Under Armour is giving each competitor the opportunity to make it to the national 3x3 team who will compete in the FIBA 3x3 U18 Asia Cup from May 26 to 28 at the Cyberjaya Gem in Mall in Malaysia.

The lucky team will to play for the Philippines in the competitions, while also having their flights and accommodation fully paid.

The selection of winning teams that will join the national contingent will be made by the Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas.

Under Armour recently announced that it is sponsoring 50 percent of the team’s registration fee to encourage more U18 teams to join the competition.

In addition, Under Armour also created an Open Category for passionate basketball players, local or nonresident, aged 19 to 50 as they also get the opportunity of pitting their skills against different teams.

The Open Category will have a men’s and women’s division and winners get the chance of winning cash prizes and medals.

The event is supported by supported by PDI and Business Mirror, with event partners Gatorade.

Wilson, Crystal Clear, De Los Santos Medical and Innewvation.

Visit www.ua3x3.com for more information about the Under Armour 3x3 Southeast Asia 2017 Tournament.

PNP CHIEF DELA ROSA IS BIG MMA FAN

By Randy Caluag

PHILIPPINE National Police chief Ronald Dela Rosa, who recently challenged vigilantes to a gun duel, can also put away his gun and engage any one in a handto-hand combat.

After all, the burly top cop is also a martial arts expert.

“I trained in judo, karate and boxing,” revealed Dela Rosa, wearing a specially designed Team Lakay shirt in support of the Filipino fighter Eduard Folayang.

Dela Rosa was at cageside and rooted for Benguet pride Folayang, who successfully retained his ONE Championship lightweight title against tough Malaysian challenger Ev Ting on Friday night at the Mall of Asia arena.

“Support natin ito para kay (Eduard) Folayang,”

Dela Rosa told a small group of reporters as they briefly interrupted the fans who lined up to have their pictures taken with the popular police officer.

Dela Rosa admitted he is a big fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and intently followed the sport since its beginning in the 80s era of Brazilian jiujitsu master Royce Gracie.

Dela Rosa, who watched the ONE Championship for the first time, and the full-house crowd were treated to a night of thrilling actions as Folayang led Team Lakay’s onslaught against their foreign foes.

There were other VIP guests who cheered for the Filipinos but Dela Rosa maintained a low-profile presence.

Boxing senator Manny Pacquiao, a ONE Championship shareholder, was with some politician friends. He later went inside the cage to award

the belt to Folayang.

In the co-main event, Folayang’s Team Lakay teammate Kevin Belingon demolished Toni Tauru on the way to a submission victory via verbal tapout in round one.

Other Lakay fighters who shone bright were Honorio Banario, who knocked out Jaroslav Jartim with a single left hook at 1:31 minutes of round 2 in their bantamweight bout; Danny Kingad who dominated Muhammad Aiman in their flyweight clash and Gina Iniong, who decisioned Natalie Hills in their women’s atomweight bout.

Robin Catalan defeated Jeremy Miado by Split Decision (SD) after 3 rounds of their all-Filipino tussle. The only Filipino casualty of the night was Eugene Toquero who bowed to Indonesian Tefer Rahardian.

PNP General Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa posing the patented Duterte fist.

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017

Jimbo Gulle, Editor

Roger Garcia, Issue Editor

LGUs

Local Gov’t Units

mslocalgov@gmail.com

CAPISSAAN: VIZCAYA’S WORLD-CLASS CAVE SYSTEM

By Ben Moses Ebreo

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SUNKEN CEMETERY.

A banca loaded with tourists uses a zipline to lead it straight to the cross that marks the Sunken Cemetery in Camiguin, one of the island-province’s many attractions. It’s a popular snorkeling spot for local and foreign visitors alike. Lance Baconguis

CAMIGUIN: A ‘TINY DOT’ PACKED WITH POTENTIAL

By Lance Baconguis

C

AGAYAN DE ORO CITY —Camiguin Island, the country’s second-smallest province, may just be a tiny dot on the map, but this island is packed with adventure ecotourism that has made it the fifth-most visited province in the Philippines.

Five hours away from Northern Mindanao’s capital of Cagayan de Oro, Camiguin is the getaway capital of the region, and has drawn 578,364 tourists in 2015 and 629,613 in 2016.

In 2014, at least 300,000 tourists visited the province, Department of Tourism records show.

Camiguin, with a circumferential road of just 64 kilometers, offers a lot of ecotourism sites— from the ice-cold spring of Santo Niño and the Bura Natural Soda Spring in Catarman town to the still-undeveloped Macao Spring in Mambajao town and the hot water of Ardent Spring.

The island sits under the shadow of four volcanoes, which heats the water to its springs.

Travelers on a budget can find decent accommodations in Mambajao, the capital of the island province.

Mambajao Mayor Jurdin Jesus Romualdo said they are expanding the town’s available rooms to accommodate the rising influx of tourists.

The provincial government is continuing its

investments on infrastructures to tourism sites, opening new routes and roads that lead to tourist destinations.

What is striking about Camiguin’s tourism approach is that it is practically communitymanaged, in that the communities participate in almost every aspect of the tourism activities.

“We let people take ownership of the tourism sites, providing services directly to the tourists with much autonomy,” Romualdo added.

For instance, the pump boat terminals going to White Island, the famous mile-long sandbar 10 minutes away from Mambajao, and the Mantigue Island pump boat terminal in Mahinog, are managed by their residents. The communities also rent out snorkeling gear to visitors.

“The local government only collects environmental fees, which is very affordable,” Romualdo said.

Diving rates are regulated, so are motorcycle and other vehicles, so pump boats are offered with the same rental rates.

At the Sunken Cemetery in Catarman, locals like Carl Michael Naluan have learned to how to take creative pictures for the tourists.

He learned by observing other photographers. “What we offer is that we take pictures using our guest’s camera or cellphones, and we direct them so they can have the most memorable photos here,” Naluan said.

Tourists can pay them “for whatever amount they want,” Naluan added. They can also serve as snorkeling guides for tourist to see the cemetery below the waters. Bancas are also available for tourists to rent so they can go to the cross.

At the entrance of the Sunken Cemetery, other young people are involved in creating

and selling crafts for souvenirs.

“We want to diversify our tourism portfolio by providing new avenues, activities for tourists to come and enjoy,” Mayor Romualdo said.

Part of that is the new night observatory on top of Mount Hibok-hibok, which has telescopes installed that tourists can view the night sky with, without much of the light “pollution” experienced in the city.

Camping at the Night Sky Observatory is now open for tourists, while guided night tours are done on weekends.

The island can now also host sporting events, as it has fully completed its sports center with an Olympic-sized swimming pool, football field, track oval, tennis courts. A gymnasium will be built within the year.

Mayor Romualdo said part of the program is creating new tourism products to make their local industry competitive with other regional tourism destinations.

Camiguin Island’s bed capacity is roughly 2,000, and to cater to more tourists, the provincial government has initiated a Home Stay program that would initially benefit 100 homes.

“What we have done is identify, capacitate, trained homeowners to accept tourists to augment our bed capacity. That way, tourists can have a direct connection and impact on the local economy,” Romualdo said.

Camiguin Gov. Maria Luisa Romualdo said such preparation needs the cooperation of residents to open their homes to tourists, as this will enhance their income.

“Home stay programs are very popular in other tourist destinations, so why not introduce it here, it can surely help the people,” she said.

TRAVEL AGENCIES GROUP SEES STRONG TOURISM POTENTIAL IN CATANDUANES

PTAA vice president for inbound Danilo Cerdeña (third from left) stands with Catanduanes Provincial Board Member and SP Committee Chairman on Tourism Vincent Villaluna (second from left) during the association’s familiarization tour of the province. Joining them were PTAA assistant treasurer Jhaytee Wong (right) and Provincial Tourism Officer Carmel Garcia (left).

THE Philippine Travel Agencies Association is projecting the province of Catanduanes to become a major tourism destination in the country in the next two years.

PTAA vice president for inbound Danilo Cerdeña said they will work closely with the local government units and the Department of Tourism to drum up tourism in the province.

“It is largely an untapped tourism destination. Travelers are hesitant to visit the province because it has the reputation of being the entry point of typhoons into the country. But during our familiarization tour, we have seen

the vast potential of Catanduanes,” Cerdeña said.

“What we can do initially as an association is for our members to individually promote the province to their respective markets and come out with tour packages for Catanduanes and its eco-tourism destinations,” he added.

Cerdeña said they will also invite the province LGUs and its tourism offices to its events and activities, including the annual Travel Tour Expo. They will also provide slots for the province’s tourism stakeholders to the association’s various trainings and seminars.

KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya—During his childhood days, Ifugao Richie Angcuna could only wonder what lay beneath the cave in his native village of Capissaan in this town.

Little did he know the cave was home to endless wonders of nature Ifugaos and locals can be proud of.

“We only catch fruit bats a few meters inside its entrance, we did not know what really lies beyond the resting place of the bats,” said Angcuna, now a 23-year-old cave guide.

For years, the cave served as a regular place for migrant Ifugaos to catch fruit bats as a native delicacy, not knowing it has more to offer than food on their table.

The fruit bats, locally known as “Kaliputo,” acted as mere guards to keep the ordinary eye from seeing the beauty inside the caves, which is now touted as one of the world-class tourism destinations of the country, Angcuna said.

It was in the late 1990s when a group of mountaineers and spelunkers of Sang-at Salug Outdoor Club and GAIA Mountaineering Club stumbled upon its beauty while on an adventure, searching for alternative tourist attractions in the province.

Their discovery buried the setback of the province’s tourism industry after the 1990 earthquake led to the tragic demise of the Salinas Salt Springs, the once worldrenowned attraction in Bambang town that was considered one of the eight natural wonders of the world.

Its untimely death, however, led to the new life for local tourism in the Lion-Alayan cave system, which can be reached through a four- to five-hour ride from either Bambang or Solano towns.

Turn to D2

SBMA HEAD ASSURES SAFETY OF PUBLIC

By Butch Gunio SUBIC BAY FREEPORT—“Our concern here is for the good of the many. This is bigger than all of us.

This is not about Ocean Adventure. This is about Subic Bay Freeport as a whole.”

This was the statement of Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Administrator Wilma Amy T. Eisma, as she assured that a commitment to peace and order is still the top priority in the Freeport following the recent incident involving top officials of the Subic Bay Marine Exploratorium Inc. “There’s a lot more at the Subic Bay Freeport for everybody to appreciate and enjoy. There are lots of things to do here in Subic Bay,” Eisma said, adding that the clash between rival claimants of the Ocean Adventure property is an isolated case.

“I already endorsed to the [SBMA] Board that we have to file an action with the courts, possibly, an interpleader to ask the court to resolve this because we cannot let the Freeport suffer,” said Eisma, a lawyer by profession.

The SBMA administrator also condemned the opposing parties’ use of undue force in resolving their intra-corporate dispute, saying the actions taken by both sides “were clearly not in accordance with proper and lawful procedures that are strictly being enforced in Freeport.”

She said it is sad the image of the Freeport is being dragged down because it paints a bad picture of what Subic Bay Freeport is very well-known for—a safe tourist destination.

LGUs

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SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PHILEX, 3 VILLAGES SIGN P83-M SDMP PACT TUBA, Benguet—Philex Mining Corp. has signed individual agreements with three of its five outlying mining communities on the implementation of social projects for this year amounting to almost P83 million.

The agreements provide for each host and neighboring barangay to field a representative as part of a team that would monitor and assess the social projects.

Represented by Roy Mangali, assistant resident manager of the miner’s gold-and-copper operations in Padcal, and the mine’s manager for Community Relations Aurora Dolipas, Philex Mining signed April 10 the memoranda of agreement with the three communities in the host mining towns of Tuba and Itogon.

Philex Mining’s Padcal mine has Tuba’s Camp 3 and Ampucao, in Itogon, for its host barangays, while its neighboring barangays consist of Camp 1 and Ansagan (both in Tuba) and Dalupirip (Itogon). These five barangays are collectively called outlying communities.

Camp 1, Camp 3, and Dalupirip signed their respective MOAs with Philex Mining, while Ampucao and Ansagan are set to sign their separate agreements with the miner later.

“Regular monitoring activities— monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual —shall be jointly conducted by the parties and corresponding reportorial requirements by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau-Cordillera Administrative Region are religiously compiled with for periodic audit purposes,” the MOA states.

Mayors Victorio Palangdan and Ignacio Rivera, representing Itogon and Tuba, respectively, the barangay chairmen present, and Remy Ortega, community affairs officer of MGB-CAR, all described Philex Mining as one of the most responsible miners in the region, citing its religious implementation of social and environmental projects and timely tax payments.

“I was the barangay captain of Camp 3 [in Tuba] for 20 years, and I witnessed how Philex Mining had been helping the communities by implementing various projects on education, health, livelihood, and public infrastructure,” Rivera said in a speech during the formal ceremonies.

The signing, held at the covered court of Camp 3 Elementary School along Kennon Road in Tuba, also marked the turnover of the recently finished projects.

Palangdan, who announced his intention to run for Benguet’s lone congressional seat in the 2019 elections, noted Philex Mining’s good governance, particularly its up-to-date payment of taxes, “which have helped tremendously in community development.”

For 2017, Philex Mining paid a total of P15.3 million in local business taxes to Itogon and Tuba. In compliance with the towns’ respective revenue codes, Tuba received almost P8 million, or 44 percent of 1 percent of Philex Mining’s gross receipts for 2016, while Itogon got P7.4 million (41.25 percent).

Dolipas earlier said P82.9 million had been set aside by Philex Mining for its 2017 Social Development and Management Program for the five barangays.

The amount has ballooned to P110.5 million to include the P16.6 million intended for the Information, Education, and Communications campaign, and P11 million dedicated to the Development of Mining Technology and Geosciences program. Dexter A. See

DOT TO PROMOTE INDIGENOUS TOURISM IN MOUNTAIN PROVINCE

By Dexter A. See

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ONTOC, Mountain Province —Tourism Undersecretary Falconi Millar assured the people of this province that the Department of Tourism will help in aggressively promoting Mountain Province as one of the preferred destinations for cultural tourism, in recognition of its rich culture, traditions, and heritage that were preserved over the past several decades.

Millar, who was given the name “Farnatan” or “team leader” when he was named an adopted son of the province, said scenic tourist spots and low-cost leisure experiences are not sufficient to attract local and foreign visitors. What is important now, he said, “is

the emotion that goes with the industry, which is found in the province’s rich culture and traditions.”

“Mountain Province has been identified as a potential ecotourism and cultural tourism destination because of its existing natural scenic tourist spots and the presence of its rich culture and traditions that remain unblemished,” Millar stressed.

The DoT official pointed out the province must maximize its tourism potential by enticing more local and foreign visitors who can contribute to economic growth in the countryside.

He commended the indigenous peoples of the province for their sustained efforts to preserve and protect their rich culture and traditions that now serve as one of the major tourist attractions patronized by nature lovers and visitors who appreciate the beauty of local culture.

Millar said the DoT managed to feature the Cordillera in one of its major promotional activities in Pasay City last month, and the agency will continue to support the promotion

of tourist destinations to achieve the government’s goal of enticing more visitors to go around the country’s beautiful spots.

As one of the adopted sons of Mountain Province, Millar said he will remain committed to the aggressive promotion of the tourist spots in the province in both the national and international scenes.

Aside from the famous Sagada caves, Maligcong rice terraces, and Mainit hot springs, Mountain Province is known for its towering and majestic mountains, various waterfalls, and river systems in its 10 municipalities.

Millar said the country’s tourism industry remains vibrant following the mileage generated by the country’s hosting of the 2016 Miss Universe beauty pageant.

Gov. Bonifacio Lacwasan Jr. expressed his gratitude to Millar for his assurance that Mountain Province will be included in the aggressive promotion of various tourist destinations in the country. He said the implementation of major infrastructure in the province over the past several years made tourist areas accessible to local and foreign visitors.

NO TOYING AROUND. Social Security System Chairman Dean Amado Valdez points at a show-cause order posted by the state pension fund against a toy shop in Batangas on Thursday, April 20. Valdez warned all delinquent employers to fulfill their obligations and regularly remit the SSS contributions of their employees. Butch Gunio

DAVAO’S POOREST GAIN 20-KILO SACKS OF TAIWAN RICE A TOTAL of 2,711 indigent families received 20-kilo sacks of Taiwan rice for the first time during a distribution organized by the Tzu Chi Foundation Philippines’ Davao chapter on April 9. The distribution was held in two sessions at the Davao Chong Hua High School.

The event, which is the first relief activity for the Tzu Chi Davao chapter, was spearheaded by local volunteers Jun Herrera and So Peng Kee. Despite the manpower shortage, local Tzu Chi volunteers efficiently used their time to carry out the program, starting from the home visits to the actual rice distri-

bution.

Twelve Tzu Chi volunteers from Manila also pitched in help on the day of the distribution, while 83 local volunteers from the Davao area contributed their time and manpower to ensure the event’s success.

Tzu Chi volunteer Herrera said: “This rice distribution here in Davao has gotten our fellow Davaoeño volunteers excited.

They’re very prepared for the event; even if they have businesses and families of their own to take care of, they set aside their time to join our activity on the whole day.”

During the relief program,

Davao third district Councilor Dr. Bernard Al-ag addressed the crowd, inspiring them to share their blessings with their neighbors, and to spread the spirit of giving.

“What we want from the people of Davao City is to be generous, and to share what they have. So, when you get home after the rice distribution, if you have any neighbors that did not receive any rice, share some of your rice with them.

Afterwards, take a few moments to observe how you feel, you’ll notice a positive change within you if you share your blessings [with others],” said Al-ag.

One of the residents touched by Councilor Al-ag’s words is Haniya Osani, who took the lead in providing for the four families that live under her roof. With close to a dozen mouths to feed—consisting of her children and grandchildren— finding both rice and a viand is a daily challenge for Osani and her fisherman husband.

Upon coming home from the morning session of the rice distribution with her 20-kilo sack of Taiwan rice, the families she takes care of couldn’t help but rejoice at the fact that at least for a little while, the burden of putting food on the table has been lessened.

CAPISSAAN:...

From D1

verse its four-kilometer length.

Part of the multi-chambered cave network are the Lion and Alayan Caves, measuring 4.2 kilometers.

To reach barangay Capissaan, tourists who choose to ride a bus bound for Tuguegarao City must endure a six- to seven-hour travel time before reaching the towns of Bambang or Solano, where they can ride a jeepney bound for the barangay.

It takes about five hours to reach Barangay Capissaan from Manila because of its rough roads.

In 2001, the 1st National Caving Congress Manila was held in Standard NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC this provTODAY Notice is hereby given that Mr. Akihiro Kashiwagi ince, parresigned as Director of Fil-Star Maritime Corporation. He ticularly in was replaced by Mr. Masafumi Odagawa effective June 30, B a r a n g a y 2016 Capissaan, where the Meantime, Mr. Raezon Abner Ballesteros and C/E cave sysArnel M. Gonzales resigned from their post effective tems were February, 2017 earlier disThis notice is in compliance with Revised POEA c o v e r e d Rules and Regulations, Section 12, Rule II, Book H. and gained national

It is touted as the fifth-longest cave system in the country and is ranked among the best geologists’ paradise.

Marichelle Costales, supervising tourism officer for Nueva Vizcaya, said the Capissaan cave is now the major tourist site in the province, attracting young and old tourists alike from here and abroad.

Each year, hundreds of tourists marvel at its beauty—its varying rare calcite formations and unique stalagmite and stalactite features include a subterranean river that adds as a satisfying adventure for one aiming to tra-

(MS-APR. 23, 2017)

recognition.

Tourism officials here said they have placed rules and regulations for tourists looking to visit and trek the cave systems, to protect its natural formations from indiscriminate human activities. Some villagers were also tapped as cave guides to provide employment and livelihood opportunities in the area.

Aggressive information education and communication campaigns are also being conducted among the villagers of Barangay Capissaan and its adjacent areas, to instill environment awareness and protection within the cave system.

The provincial and national governments are pushing to promote the cave as an eco-tourism attraction, Costales said, and one of their major projects is the ongoing completion of the concreting of the road leading to the cave system, making it easier for local and foreign tourists to reach it.

The government of Kasibu is also developing amenities and facilities near the area to provide comfortable and convenient accommodation for tourists.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

EARTHQUAKE AID. Volunteers load relief goods onto a motorized sea vessel for distribution in Tingloy, an island town in Batangas, which was the beneficiary of the recent Operation: Tulong Express mounted by SM Foundation. Just off the southwest coast of the Batangas mainland, Tingloy was the epicenter of the quake that occurred on April 4, and can only be reached through motorized bancas from Batangas City.

SM Foundation, in partnership with SM Malls, SM Markets, Philippine Coast Guard, PDRRM and the Tingloy local government team, assisted earthquake victims by providing 1,452 water and food relief packs (inset picture). The local government of Tingloy said 3,357 families were affected in 15 of the municipality’s barangays.

Included in the relief distribution was Barangay Sta. Clara in Batangas City, which was also affected by the earthquake. It received 348 relief food packs.

Gadgets & Games

D3

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

RADEON RX 500 SERIES: A BALANCE OF FEATURES, PERFORMANCE

Over 8,000 units were sold in concept and dealer stores nationwide since the debut sale last April 1, marking a new era in mobile photography.

T

STRONG START FOR OPPO F3 PLUS IN PH HE groufie revolution has officially begun with the recent three-day tour of OPPO’s flagship dual selfie phone, the F3 Plus.

Over 8,000 units were sold in concept and dealer stores nationwide since the debut sale last April 1, marking a new era in mobile photography.

“The F3 Plus was developed to make it easier to take the best group photos during special occasions or those little moments with friends and family,” OPPO Philippines Brand Marketing Manager Stephen Cheng said. “The success of our three-day

sale tells us that our newest Selfie Expert answers the growing need for perfect groufies.”

The tour was held simultaneously in SM City Baguio, SM Mall of Asia, SM City Cebu, and GMall Davao. At the Manila leg of the tour, lucky guests were able to catch Gretchen Ho, Ella Cruz, and Ronnie Alonte during the first day of the sale.

O-fans in Cebu also got the chance to take groufies with Ja-

nine Gutierrez, while those based in Davao were thrilled to join Kris Bernal as she demonstrated the new dual selfie camera phone.

The three-day road show welcomed O-fans with fun-filled activities that allowed them to give the F3 Plus a try.

Adding to the 16MP selfie-focused main camera, the 8MP subcamera showed guests how easy it was to take groufies without a selfie stick through its wide, 120-degree angle design.

O-fans were also able to test the built-in Smart Face Recognition feature which prompted them

to switch to “Group Selfie” mode whenever more than three people were detected. OPPO’s Beautify 4.0 photo editing software further made it easy to smoothen out blemishes for flawless results.

Photography enthusiasts in the crowd had their share of excitement after trying out the rear camera. Customized with a Sony IMX398 sensor, the 16MP back camera let O-fans take shots that looked like they were taken by a professional.

For more details about the OPPO F3 Plus, visit https://www.facebook. com/OPPOPH/ or log on to http:// www.oppo.com/ph/index.html.

MULTI-COATED LENSES FOR A MULTI-SCREEN LIFESTYLE MULTI-TASKING is perfect for getting chores done much faster at home.

However, when there is technology involved, you might want to think twice before spending long periods of time in front of multiple screens.

Research from Essilor, the world’s leading ophthalmic optics company, share that one in four kids spend more than three hours a day on gadgets. These studies also show that two in five Millennials, one in three GenX-ers, and one in four Baby Boomers spend at least nine hours between TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices each day. All this eyeballing comes at a cost as more and more people suffer from eye irritation, dryness, blurry vision and even back and neck aches—all symptoms of digital eye strain.

“Digital eye strain can cause discomfort in short term and potential danger to vision in long term,” states Dr. Emelita Roleda, general manager of Essilor Philippines.“It can be made worse with the use of small font size on devices, the increase of amount of blue light emitted by digital

screens, and the total time spent staring at monitors. “ According to further research done by Essilor, continuous absorption of toxic blue light over long periods of time can lead to progressive degeneration of visual cells. It can cause serious vision problems such as cataracts and Age-related Macular Degeneration or AMD. With that in mind, Essilor presents long-lasting eye protection in the form of Crizal® Prevencia multi-coated lenses.

Crizal® Prevencia’s light scan technology selectively filters bad blue light and significantly reduces retinal cell death that causes vision problems. At the same time, it lets in good light that regulates sleep and mood and boosts brain activity. It also benefits from the best Crizal® technology, which protects the wearer from glare, smudges, scratches, dust and water, guaranteeing clear vision in all circumstances.

Given the increased dependence on using digital devices for both business and leisure, exposure to harmful

Two in five Millennials, one in three GenX-ers, and one in four Baby Boomers spend at least nine hours between TVs, computers, smartphones, tablets and other devices each day.

blue light is inevitable. However, what can be done is to prevent the onset of vision problems.

“It is better to be cautious and be preventive than face the consequences later on,” remarks Dr. Roleda.

“With Crizal® Prevencia, you minimize

the risk of digital eye strain, can still be able to connect to your digital devices, and maintain a healthy vision.”

Learn more about Crizal® Prevencia by visiting your preferred eye doctor or leading optical shop nationwide, or by logging on to www.essilor.com.ph.

AMD recently introduced the Radeon™ RX 500 series, a new line of graphics cards featuring a powerful combination of improved game performance, higher clock speeds, and a refined 2nd generation Polaris architecture, giving PC gamers the best reasons yet to upgrade their graphics.

The Radeon RX 500 series was designed specifically for system upgrades, catering to the 9 out of 10 PC gamers today who are hindered by outdated technology and aren’t able to enjoy optimal experiences in modern games, smooth VR experiences, or the latest display technologies.1,2 Radeon™ RX 500 series graphics cards feature a variety of the most compelling new technologies and features including: • Optimized DirectX® 12 and Vulkan® gaming—The Radeon™ RX 500 series was engineered using the 2nd generation Polaris architecture. It was specifically designed to perform exceptionally well with low-level, next-generation APIs like DirectX 12 and Vulkan and it supports asynchronous compute for outstanding game and VR experiences.2 Radeon RX 500 series GPUs have been further refined with higher clock speeds, improved idle and multi-monitor efficiency, and the fine-grained controls gamers need to fine-tune their hardware. Combined with Radeon™ FreeSync Technology, gamers can enjoy smooth framerates in virtually every game released, without the frustration of screen tearing and input lag3 • Improved response times, more efficiency, and cooler operation with Radeon™ Chill—Radeon Chill is an advanced framerate controller for the Radeon™ RX 500 series that works automatically in the background (when enabled) to dynamically regulate framerates in today’s most popular games based on the speed of mouse movements and the gamer’s activity in a scene4 • Awesome streaming, sharing, and gameplay capture with Radeon ReLive— The Radeon™ RX 500 series supports the industry’s most revolutionary solution for capturing, customizing, and sharing gameplay. The Radeon ReLive software suite lets gamers enjoy smooth gaming and recording simultaneously, even on entry-level systems, with support for recording at 4K resolution at 30 and 60 FPS using HEVC and H.264 codecs5. Radeon ReLive also integrates with the most popular game streaming platforms around the world “Radeon RX 500 series was built on the promise that PC gaming isn’t an elite club— that all gamers can enjoy the most advanced graphics technologies.

Our launch today of the Radeon RX 500 series doubles down on that effort. With higher clock speeds, revolutionary gameplay capture software, latency-reduction technology, aggressive Day 0 driver support, open and affordable standards like Radeon FreeSync, and innovative features like Radeon Chill, we know gamers who have been patiently waiting to upgrade will have more than enough reasons to now,” said Scott Herkelman, corporate vice president and general manager, Radeon Technologies Group.

A wide range of Radeon™ RX 500 Series cards will be available to meet the needs of the overwhelming majority of gamers: • Radeon™ RX 580: For smooth 1440p gaming—The Radeon RX 580 delivers up to an average of 57% better performance compared to the Radeon™ R9 380X in testing, delivering smooth gaming in leading AAA games and stunning immersive VR experiences for the Radeon™ RX 580 8GB GDDR 5 graphics card and Radeon™ RX 580 4GB GDDR5 graphics card an SRP starting at Php 12,000 with vat. On shelf on 4/18.

LG DEVELOPS NANO CELL TV TECHNOLOGY WITH WIDER VIEWING ANGLES LG Electronics has published research to identify and analyze consumers’ viewing habits when they watch TV at home.

This research was conducted in cooperation with global market and opinion research company IPSOS. The study revealed that only an average of 4 percent of viewers in the United States and France watch TV sitting directly in front of the screen.

Furthermore, the study goes on to show that more than half of respondents are viewing at angles greater than 15 degrees off-center. In addition, 55 percent of respondents noticed a decrease in picture quality when they moved to a different viewing position.

IPSOS conducted the study on a sample of 100 households in the United States and France

SUPER UHD TV (SJ95)

from January 18th to 31st, 2017.

All households that participated in the study had more than three family members and owned LCD TVs with a screen size of

40-inches or larger.

According to the survey, 55 percent of par ticipants noticed shifts in image quality depending on the angle that

the screen was viewed from.

Respondents used an average T V viewing distance of less than five meters, with nearly 60 percent of viewers watching from a distance between one to three meters.

Many TV reviewers and experts agree that a TV’s viewing angle can have a significant impac t on pic ture quality.

Although the latest high-end LCD TVs deliver enhanced colors, deeper blacks and greater contrast, viewing angle capabilities vary greatly from product to product due to gaps in technological capability and the panels used in the TV. For example, LG’s 2017 Nano Cell SUPER UHD TVs offer the exact same picture to viewers at up to 60 degrees off-axis. In contrast, conventional Quantum Dot LCD

TVs suffer from a color gamut that can be as much as 58 percent smaller when viewed from 60 degrees off-axis, according to tests conducted by LG. The results of IPSOS’ latest study confirms and reinforces the findings of previous research done in Japan and the United States, in regards to the importance of TV viewing angles, by the Japan Ergonomics Society[1] and CBS Vision[2], respectively. “ This new study on consumer viewing habits highlights an important aspect of picture quality in LCD TV technology— wide viewing angles,” said Kim Sang-yeol, senior vice president and head of the TV Product Planning Division at the LG Home Entertainment Company.

“Today, wider viewing angles

are key to creating the best possible viewing experience, as manufacturers are closing the gap in color representation and contrast thanks to enhanced display technologies. This new study underscores our commitment for making every seat the best seat in the home with LG’s Nano Cell SUPER UHD TVs. We will also continue to work on other related technologies until we put an end to the battle over LCD TV sweet spots once and for all.”

Ideal for large, high-resolution TVs, LG SUPER UHD TVs with Nano Cell technology delivers consistent colors at wider viewing angles with virtually no color difference for viewers. LG’s Nano Cell SUPER UHD TVs will be available locally by the last week of April 2017.

D4

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Riera U. Mallari, Editor rumallari@thestandard.com.ph

Gadgets & Games

DISASTER READINESS STRENGTHENED THE Sharp Easy Smart Collection

SHARP EASY SMART: SIMPLE PLEASURES OF TV Smart has been actively coordinating with concerned groups to beef up the Digital Public Safety Emergency Response Systems designed to help LGUs level up their capabilities to respond quickly, efficiently, and accurately to emergency calls from within their city or municipality.

T

HE recent spate of earthquakes that affected various parts of the country underscored the need for preparedness especially for local government units.

Efforts to help improve the preparedness of LGUs on safety and emergency response through communications and digital solutions are being sustained by Smart Communications.

Together with parent PLDT, Smart has been actively coordinating with concerned groups to beef up the Digital Public Safety Emergency Response Systems designed to help LGUs level up their capabilities to respond quickly, efficiently, and

accurately to emergency calls from within their city or municipality.

PLDT and Smart were represented at the recent General Assembly of the League of Municipalities of the Philippines, which gathered over 1,400 municipal mayors in the country, to showcase its various communications solutions to LGUs. Smart also participated in the 10th Philippine Councilors League National Congress, where it highlighted its satellite communications solutions

as the last line of communications during emergencies, particularly during disasters with scale and extent of damage similar to Typhoon Yolanda.

Smart satellite services are deployed to areas where traditional fixed and mobile communications are not available or have been affected by natural and man-made disasters.

“To ensure connectivity even during the most challenging circumstances, we provide mobile and broadband satellite solutions to help our kababayans, particularly those in remote or isolated areas, to get the word out about their situation and seek immediate assistance,”said Joel S. Lumanlan, head of Smart’s Global Access and International Services.

Smart has been providing satellite

services since 2001, and remains the only Philippine telecommunications company to provide mobile and broadband satellite services to date.

It also provides thousands of Filipino seafarers worldwide with satellitebased services, including Marino Link Plus and Marino Phone Pal, which allow them to stay connected with their families even while at sea.

Smart’s mobile satellite solutions were very useful to the government, military and humanitarian organizations during Typhoon Yolanda. As an advocate of disaster preparedness, Smart has made its satellite solutions an integral component of all its preparedness and emergency response programs.

GOSIENGFIAO AMBASSADOR FOR LENOVO LEGION

Ashley Gosiengfiao

FOR Lenovo Philippines, no other celebrity can better represent the hip gaming community than Ashley Gosiengfiao—a top social media influencer, musician, photographer, and most of all, a passionate gamer.

Lenovo today announced the signing of Ashley as its ambassador for Legion, Lenovo’s dedicated brand of gaming PCs that boast powerful processors, high-definition graphics, and stylish, portable design.

As PC gaming continues to grow in popularity throughout the country, Lenovo Legion aims to meet the needs of the increasingly discerning gamer community through empowering them

with powerful and adaptable products that are co-created with gamers. Legion offers a perfect balance between plug & play PC gaming and DIY fl exibility that will keep gamers one step ahead of the competition.

“Ashley is the perfect example of how we see the Lenovo brand.

She’s exceptional, versatile, competitive, and in tune with her audiences,” says Michael Ngan, Country General Manager of Lenovo Philippines. “Her cheery disposition, adventurous spirit, and the drive to share many of her talents, make Ashley an inspiration to all avid gamers in the Philippines and beyond.”

Ashley shares how lucky and

blessed she feels to be part of the Lenovo Legion family. “I am grateful to Lenovo Philippines for this opportunity and I look forward to representing the Legion brand with pride and enthusiasm. As a gamer and entertainer, I’ve always been a fan of Lenovo products, and I can’t wait to start meeting more gamers out there, and sharing with everyone all the inspiring products and innovations from Legion!”

Ashley graced the launch of Lenovo Legion last January 2017 when she played a game of League of Legends along with other celebrity-gamers.

Watch out for Ashley Gosiengfiao at Lenovo Legion’s upcoming events and activities.

A SUMMER TO REMEMBER WITH HP ORIGINAL INKS GOING on a summer trip— whether on a bike, car, boat, or airplane—or taking a muchneeded vacation in one’s home province, or exploring a new and remote destination always has their share of memorable moments because of the excitement and adventures that they offer.

And to keep the memories of these road trips, island-hopping activities, mountain treks, town fiesta celebrations and beach parties alive long after summer has ended; families and friends never fail to capture the moments through their cameras.

Thankfully, HP enables

people to reinvent memories that never fade and share these through pictures printed using HP printers and Original HP Ink cartridges.

To ensure that summer smiles and colors as vibrant as the sun, will truly last a lifetime when printed on HP Photo Paper, the company has invested more than 500 years of combined experience to develop an innovative ink cartridge technology that uses 36,000 drops of ink per second.

HP Ink’s superior ink quality also boasts of accurate, vibrant colors in permanent ink,

so photographs printed using Original HP cartridges remain fade resistant and free from smudges and streaks, to make your summer adventures— from scuba diving to skydiving, and mounting biking to mountain climbing—truly look vivid and remarkable even on paper, years after.

With its unmatched reliability, the Original HP Ink is designed to work the first time, every time so there are no wasted photos of such exciting moments as reaching the summit of a mountain, your son building his first sandcastle, or your daughter parading

in the local Santacruzan. Its fastdrying and anti-curling properties also prevent costly and inconvenient paper jams.

Original HP Ink’s affordability also allows for more prints at a lower cost so you don’t have to worry about printing hundreds of the wonderful digital images that you snapped during your summer vacation.

Its recycling program also enables HP to make sure its Original HP cartridges will not go to a landfill to help sustain the environment and ensure your family will still get to enjoy the great outdoors next summer.

LIVING the modern life is what most people seem to aspire to nowadays. Especially for the young working force, having the latest gadget or being part of the current trend in fashion, art, or music is an important aspect of their life. And trends, including the advancement of technology, have already weaved their way even in the unlikeliest of industries such as home appliances and the audio-visual category.

While before, home appliances and television sets were considered a basic and practical purchase, today, the category now prides itself as an industry booming with innovations that not only help with the everyday functions of the household, but also amplify the quality of life. From wireless audio devices to automatic and self-cleaning refrigerators and washing machines, the industry is thriving.

It is also no wonder though how rapidly these appliances change and upgrade their features, consistently promising something that is bigger and better all the while unmindful of the products’ tendencies to feel exhausting, confusing, and excessive. Ultimately, instead of making life simple, it further inspires an unmanageable lifestyle.

In this vast world of impressive but expensive technology, going back to basics is sometimes just the key. And there is a new entertainment partner to consider amidst this innovation outburst—the Sharp Easy Smart Collection.

Sharp Easy Smart TVs are complete with the three most basic features of a smart TV: Web Browser, YouTube, and Netflix—visual entertainment and information access in their finest and yet most simplistic.

The line-up boasts no-nonsense apps that only aim to give the best of entertainment and deliver it in the easiest and quickest way. No more multiple log-ins, no more external devices, and no more fumbling with the remote control.

The Easy Smart Collection is also available in Full HD and 4K Ultra HD resolutions, allowing first row access to the visual delights any hit TV series or movies could offer.

While most smart TVs get carried-away with the possibilities of technology, the Easy Smart Collection brings back what was once so great about television: watching in the company of a comfortable couch, a bowl of popcorn, and a fizzy drink—all without the extra fuss of failed wireless access or additional plug-ins.

Start smart and make the easy choice with Sharp’s Easy Smart Collection—smart TV made simple.

Visit the nearest authorized Sharp dealer to know more about the Sharp Easy Smart Collection or visit the Sharp official website www.sharp.ph, Sharp Philippines on Facebook, and @sharp.ph on Instagram.

E1

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor

/

Young Life

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

SLANG WORDS

OF TODAY’S YOUTH CAN’T seem to keep a conversation with someone young or young-ish? Did they, at one point, say something which you were pretty sure was grammatically incorrect or mistakenly used a word or just talked strange English?

The advent of texting and social media paved the way for new ways to communicate: various abbreviations have sprung up, some words have gotten a different meaning, and phrases from memes have become acceptable in regular conversations.

Update your vocabulary with some of the latest slangs used online and offline:

af

FROM WALLS TO DISNEY TO FB

Definition: (adv.) Abbreviation of “as fuck”, used to describe something—usually a condition or feeling—that is extreme How to use: “I am tired af”

rn Definition: (adv.) Abbreviation of “right now”, used to describe something that’s happening at the very moment or to suggest urgency How to use: “We’re having so much fun rn” / “You need to come here rn if you want to join us”

Scan this icon to view the PDF

By Bernadette Lunas

M

UCH like many of today’s illustrators, Niccolo Balce started from scratch. His first project as a kid was crayon drawings of F1 cars—inspired by Atari game Pole Position—on the walls of their house.

Seeing his potential, his architect dad supported him by giving him proper equipment and sketchbooks, which he filled with drawings influenced by his ‘80s childhood.

With a goal to become an illustrator, Balce took up Bachelor of Fine Arts major in Visual Communications at the University of the Philippines and taught himself Photoshop, Illustrator, and Flash on the side.

Years later, the kid who used to draw on the walls have become an illustrator whose works have been published in several comic book publications and magazines (Viper Comics and Xbox Nation Magazine), were featured in art books (Exotique 4), trading cards (Street Fighter), mobile and social games (Disney Interactive), and have won him major recognition (1st Place in Wizard’s “Bayonetta Re-envisioned” Competition).

His creations were even pirated in France, something that made him feel terrible and flattered at the same time. But “I’ll probably seek legal action the next time it happens,” he told Manila Standard.

At 36, Balce, also known as Robotnicc (a play on Sonic The Hedgehog 2 villain Dr. Robotnik and his nickname “Nicc”), has built himself pretty impressive credentials to back him up as he progresses into the industry and makes a name in California, where he and his wife Jamie are currently based.

For three years (2011-2013), Balce worked his own magic at Disney where he was a senior artist for Disney Interactive. He was responsible for concept and production art for the graphics used in Armies of Magic and Pirates of the Caribbean: Isles of War. During his Disney stint, the Filipino artist shared how he felt a “happy disbelief” working for something he only dreamt of as a kid.

“Never thought I’d actually get in but it happened and it’s done,” he enthused.

Balce then worked for mobile gaming company RockYou, drawing environments for Kitchen Scramble.

He is currently a contract illustrator for Facebook, while doing many other personal projects on the side.

Always ready to evolve and aim for higher goals, Balce said he now dreams of doing visual development for an animated TV series or an animated film.

“In my free time I’m taking up workshops and doing personal work that would hopefully take me there,” he related.

With ample experience, impressive talent, and right attitude, there is no telling what Balce would be drawing next. One thing’s certain, though, we would be looking forward to watching an animated TV series or film featuring a Robotnicc creation.

Check out Niccolo Balce’s drawings on his Instagram account @robotnicc.

Extra Definition: (adj.) Something that is over the top, too much, or overly dramatic How to use: “She sews her own wedding dress. She’s so extra!” / “You’re being extra not accepting his apology”

Fam DRAWN TO DRAWING.

Filipino artist Niccolo Balce, also known as Robotnicc, is making a name for himself in the US as an illustrator. (Photos, from top: Landscape sketch, 1st place winning entry for Wizard Competition, and The Escape from Apartment IA are courtesy of Niccolo Balce)

Definition: (noun) Short for family; used to refer to close friends or squad How to use: “Let’s match our OOTDs, fam!” / “My fam is going to the club tonight” Turn to E2

PRETTY IN PASTELS BEAT the summer heat with chic ensembles in soft and bright color palettes that are cool in the eyes.

Dainty details come together in this ensemble

Smart casual sophistication Pretty laidback Mix and match formal and informal pastel For busy days, opt for comfortable and stylish pieces to get a look that’s perfect for an event- essentials like a cropped top-denim skirt-sneakful yet easy Sunday. Punctuate your look with a ers combination. pair of white sneakers accented with gold details.

Dainty details Mix dainty feminine elements in light colors Sunny daze chill for a no-frills OOTD. A pleated dress combined Embrace the summer sunshine by rocking with a pair of crochet sneakers, and finished a bright patterned dress and a pair of white with elegant clutch and accessories is an ensneakers (to balance the look) that are as chillax semble that can take you from Monday errands to Sunday brunch. as Sunday or any other day.

Chill in bright dress and white sneakers combination

Young Life

E2

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

SLANG...

From E1

It me Definition: (phrase) Started from a meme that is usually accompanied by a photo or quoted text and is used as punch line to a joke.

Low key Definition: (adj.) Refers to something that is casual or secret in nature; something that you don’t want many people to know about; guilty pleasure How to use: “Those two are low key dating” / “I low key listen to Backstreet Boys on the reg”

Salty Definition: (adj.) Someone who is angry, agitated, mean, or upset; bitter about something How to use: “I am salty because another girl is wearing the same outfit I’m wearing”

Slay Definition: (verb) To dominate something; to be impressive or amusing How to use: “Pia Wurtzbach slayed again in her latest photoshoot”

Shook Definition: (adj.)

Terribly shocked or surprised; something that you can’t believe you’re seeing or experiencing How to use: “Oh my goodness!

Ticket prices to Britney in Manila concert are so expensive. I’m shook!”

Woke Definition: (adj.) Enlightened or socially aware; knowing what’s going on in the community How to use: “Stay woke. Millions are still suffering from poverty”

MORE WORK, LESS PLAY? BUSY SCHEDULE DECREASES LEISURE TIME

I

T SEEMS like the “work hard, play hard” mantra does not ring true to everyone.

As everyday life becomes increasingly busy in today’s society, the amount of leisure time people have is diminishing, according to The World Play Shortage Report, which asked 10,100 people from 22 countries.

The study, commissioned by home appliance brand Beko, found that the global average leisure time of a person in an average week is less than 21 hours, shorter compared to 24 hours of older generation.

When it comes to free time, nearly 30 percent of adults have less than 10 hours per week, and 36 percent have less than two hours per day, “as the demands of modern life start to eat into free time.”

It also revealed that young people in the early years of their careers are particularly affected by their busy lives, as the study found that those 22 years old are the most likely to cancel evening leisure plans due to work, at 42 percent.

The consequence of this practice however comes back after a few years as people aged 38 crave the chance to have more play time in their lives, with 63 percent wishing they had more leisure time rather than money.

“The World Play Shortage Report stands as a powerful source for how modern life shapes our wellbeing and highlights the lack of play time,” says

Beko group head of Communications Zeynep Özbil. “The report shows people lead busy and often unplanned lives and this has a critical negative impact on our leisure time.”

With leisure time increasingly under threat, spending time with family has become more important with two in three or 64 percent of respondents choosing this as their favorite activity. This is followed by relaxing at home at 62 percent, and socializing with friends at 46 percent.

Meanwhile, a staggering 70 percent of those surveyed do not rank playing sport or going to gym or exercising as one of their favorite leisure time activities, and nearly a third or 30 percent admit they never exercise.

As the official premium partner of FC Barcelona, Beko launched “The Official partner of play” campaign that highlights the shared values of play between the club and the brand.

“We understand people’s everyday needs and provide meaningful time-saving solutions, so that they can simply enjoy their unpredictable, busy lives. We do hope these findings will actually remind us all how we need to ‘play’ to live our lives to the fullest,” emphasizes Özbil.

Respondents of this survey were from Algeria, Australia, Austria, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Jordan, Morocco, Norway, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Uruguay.

WORK HARD. The World Play Shortage study by appliance brand Beko found that the increasingly busy lives of people decreases the amount of time they have for leisure.

YOUNG PH ENTREPRENEURS ON FORBES‘30 UNDER 30’ASIA 2017 PINOY youth did it again. Four Filipino and one Philippine-based Iranian entrepreneurs made it to the coveted “30 Under 30” Asia 2017 list of business magazine Forbes.

The second annual list recognizes 300 influential Asians in 10 categories, including Consumer Technology; Enterprise Technology; Enter-

Maricor Bunal, 29 The chief operating officer of Growthsolutions, whose website Loansolutions.ph, has helped 2,000 lenders with an average loan amount of $2,220.

tainment and Sports; The Arts; Finance and Venture Capital; Industry, individuals pushing the boundaries for innovation.

Manufacturing and Energy; Healthcare and Science; Social Entrepre“It’s fascinating to see how these millennials are using technolneur; Media, Marketing and Advertising; and Retail and Commerce. ogy to disrupt their industries, empower their communities, and Forbes Media senior digital editor Rana Wehbe says this year’s overcome cultural barriers,” enthuses Wehbe. list highlights the diversity in the Asian region, what with under-30 Get to know the Filipinos who were chosen:

Matthew Cua, 28 The founder of SkyEye Analytics, a startup which started as a university project in 2013, that designs its own drones to perform aerial surveys and produce maps or models for customers.

Gian Scottie Javelona, 24 The founder of OrangeApps, a cloud-based platform that allows schools and universities to manage student enrolment, grades, HR and payroll, among others.

Carl Ocab, 23 The founder of his eponymous Internet marketing firm which quickly became one of the highest-ranked sites on Google in the Philippines for its keywords “make more money.”

Shabab Shabibi, 21 The Iranian co-founder of Machine Ventures, a Philippine-based incubator providing financial support and management guidance to people trying to start their own businesses in the country.

Showbiz

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017

E3

KOREAN STARS ENLIST IN MILITARY SERVICE...

From E4

Teen star Bea Binene enjoying the sun in Subic

2PM’s Taecyeon and Jun. K The six-member boy band might have to take a break after its members have expressed their intention to finally render military service. Taecyeon is keen on his plan to pushing through with his military enlistment this year, in fact, he has already given up his US green card so he could serve in the Korean army. Meanwhile, updates surrounding Jun.K’s enlistment are yet to be announced. Jun. K fractured his elbow and one of his fingers when he fell off the stage during 2PM’s concert last month.

Seo In Guk The singer-actor returned from mandatory military service four days after he quietly made his way to Yeoncheon County’s 5th division in Gyeonggi Province to start training on March 28. The 29-year-old star, who starred in a series of top rating drama on MBC and tvN, was ordered to take his leave due to medical concerns on a fractured ankle. His fans can still rejoice as he wasn’t supposed to return to his military duties until December 2018.

Jang Geun Suk Best known for starring in the television dramas Beethoven Virus (2008), You’re Beautiful (2009), Mary Stayed Out All Night (2010), Love Rain (2012), Pretty Man (2013) and Jackpot (2016), the 29-year-old singer-actor admitted that he feels anxious every time his military enlistment is the topic. For consolation, since every South Korean man will go through the same challenge once in their life, he thinks that it’s just a natural thing to feel nervous. His enlistment though has not been confirmed yet.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Sunday, April 23, 2017

ACROSS 1 Insects in an army 5 Delay 11 Grab 17 Rolaids target 21 Enthralled 22 Quick check (hyph.)

23 Crunchy stalk 24 Onetime Trevi Fountain coins 25 Lady of the haus 26 Short-straw drawers 27 Plundered the fridge 28 Ever and — 29 Ambled 31 Notes played together 33 Discreet 35 More judicious 36 Burglar’s “keys” 37 Face warmer 38 Refrain syllables 41 Groovy, today 42 Some suits 43 Nile god of pleasure 44 Drew a bead on 48 Spinning 50 Nut tree 51 Nick or scratch 52 Weather maker (2 wds.)

53 Sun-shielded 54 Get the lead out?

55 Business deals 57 Top NCO 58 Caesar and others 59 Dendrites’ counterparts 60 Walter of “Funny Girl” 61 IOU 62 “Xanadu” rockers 63 Wide cravat 64 Corner folds (hyph.)

65 Travel choice 66 Yesterday’s single 68 Abner’s radio buddy 69 “C’est la —” 70 Put on a sari 71 Kind of tradition 72 Like some excuses 73 Is able to 74 Fill to the — 75 Garbo’s homeland 78 Even so 79 “Arabian Nights” bird 80 Got a peek 84 Winslet et al.

85 In a snowball fight 87 Massey of old movies 88 Blue or green 89 Pizzeria’s need 90 They lean right 91 Moved furtively 92 Greedy sorts 93 White wine aperitif 94 Money-grubbing 95 Operated a ferry

96 Cinema’s Sal 97 Natural 99 Hydrocarbon suffix 100 In front 101 Packing a wallop 102 Spit out 103 Filmmaker — Lee 104 Run in the wash 105 Harmful 106 Vintage auto 107 Oohed and — 109 Turf grabber 110 Actress Sophia — 112 Left a mark 115 Muggers 116 Exotic corsages 120 Soy product 121 Dry up 123 Sugar cane rodent 125 Gray wolf 126 October’s stone 127 Heir, often 128 Wonton morsel 129 Hubbard of sci-fi 130 As it — 131 Fixes the alarm 132 Flung 133 Somber evergreens DOWN 1 Pound sounds 2 Tourist center of Japan 3 Priestess of the planet Vulcan 4 Floors 5 Ailing avian?

6 At anchor 7 Tough question 8 Was very thrifty 9 Film-set VIP 10 Get cozy 11 Young haddocks 12 Closes in on 13 Put — — on it!

14 Spreads hay to dry 15 Light pancakes 16 Nine-headed serpent 17 Genie’s master 18 Motion picture 19 Taconite yield 20 Soup-can flaw 30 Linger 32 Towering 34 Part of Asia’s border 36 Wind-borne silt 37 Folies — 38 California volcano 39 For some time 40 Follow 42 Inclined, in London 43 Shopper’s delight 45 Minor accident 46 Auto need 47 Speckled 49 Badges 50 Mope 51 Rescue helicopter

52 54 55 56 59 60 61 63 64 65 67 68 70 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83

FLAUNTS SUMMER FIGURE

AFTER taking a cool break in Seoul before March ended, teen star Bea Binene headed to a sunny beach vacation in Subic and teased her fans with “Instagramable” photos wearing a pink bikini top.

Just like her co-stars in the Kapuso youth-oriented drama Tween Hearts, Binene is shedding her usual sweet image and proudly flaunted her curvy figure and showed off some serious cleavage while frolicking on the beach.

In an interview with 24 Oras on Tuesday, the young

Kim Soo Hyun The handsome alien in My Love from the Star has mentioned his military enlistment multiple times last year.

He says he’ll enlist after his much anticipated film Real premieres. Now, according to CJ E&M Corporation, the entertainment company that produced the action thriller, the movie is set to premiere in June. So, it seems that Kim Soo Hyun in the next K Drama star to join the military after Lee Min Ho. Big Bang’s Taeyang and G-Dragon Is Big Bang going to be disbanded soon? It is quite likely especially if there will be no members to record music for the band and go on tours. After T.O.P’s enlistment, G-Dragon and Taeyang are expected to enlist in late 2017, followed by Daesung in 2018 and Seungri in 2019.

According to YG Entertainment, the boy band’s talent agency, the two K-pop stars will release solo albums before they leave for the army. At least, their fans have something to look forward to while they’re gone.

BEA BINENE

Homophone for urn Break a record Russian jet Dawn goddess Lake Nasser’s dam Lap dog, for short Vise Actor Lew — Big flop — donna Water-repellent wool Trellis Enjoy a pint Talking up Gear Light-headed?

Chicago suburb Rippling Forever, to Keats Kind of sale (hyph.)

Hosp. workers Stuck together Black eye Dramatist — O’Neill Mississippi discoverer (2 wds.)

85 “Harper Valley —” 86 Glacier component 87 Old war story

90 91 92 94 95 96 98 100 101 103 104 105 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 122 124

— been robbed!

Frozen rain Quarry Flower oil Game bird Clothes horse Usually (3 wds.)

Without — — to stand on Danced all night Roman official Says impulsively Genie’s home Ax wielder Pirate’s burial It follows Matins Nice- — (prig) Load cargo Handle problems Out of range Quaker pronoun Romantic murmurs Knights of — What the cast takes (2 wds.)

Boys and men NFL 6-pointers Gunk

actress said that her figure was the result of diet and gym workouts.

“Dati nagpopost ako, laging nakatalikod. So, this is the first time na nakaharap ako and marami namang natuwa dahil nag-lose na ako ng weight,” she said.

The 19-year-old Kapuso actress is taking a break before embarking on her role as Anya in Mulawin vs. Ravena, which also stars Dennis Trillo, Heart Evangelista, Derrick Monasterio, and Carla Abellana.

E4

Showbiz

SUNDAY, APRIL 23, 2017 Isah V. Red, Editor / Nickie Wang, Issue Editor isahred@gmail.com

LEE MIN HO

CONFIRMS MILITARY ENLISTMENT

TOO HOT FOR SUMMER. Gerald Anderson, Paolo Avelino, and Matteo Guidicelli in the latest Century Tuna TVC

GERALD, PAOLO AND MATTEO

COOK UP SOMETHING SEXY FOR SUMMER

By Nickie Wang

I

MAGINE Gerald Anderson, Paolo Avelino, and Matteo Guidicelli behind the kitchen counter half-naked while preparing your meal for the day. Hot, right?

That’s what just happened in a recent event in Makati where the three Kapamilya stars were introduced as celebrity ambassadors of a popular tuna brand’s summer campaign. Gerald, Paolo and Matteo presented their kitchen skills before some members of the press wearing nothing on top but their aprons.

The trio recently collaborated for a TV Commercial that promotes healthy eating and clean lifestyle. The ad features the hunky actors as “hot cooks” as they respectively present their favorite recipes to a sexy, healthy bod.

“Breakfast for me is very important. And I wanted a dish that’s a healthier take on the typical Pinoy breakfast so I came up with this super delicious Tuna Silog,” shares Gerald.

The first PBB Teen Big Third Placer took a time off to participate in the event being an advocate of active lifestyle. He recently competed in the

Ironman 70.3 in Subic then later participated in in the Los Angeles marathon.

Just like the sport he’s currently passionate about, Gerald will play a role of a triathlete in the upcoming primetime series Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin. The drama, which also stars Jake Cuenca, is Gerald’s reunion project with Kim Chiu.

“I’m always on the go. I love having a lean sandwich because it’s easy to prepare just like my Tuna Egg Salad Sandwich on wheat bread which is healthy yet very satisfying,” Matteo shares.

The singer-actor, who’s also a decorated karting racer, has been an effective celebrity endorser of the popular tuna brand. Like Gerald, Matteo is into triathlon, too (hence his chiseled physique).

He had his first triathlon two years ago.

“Tuna Pancit Canton is the ultimate, yummy comfort food – something you can make in a jiffy,” Paulo declares.

Although he’s not into triathlon yet, Paolo enjoys wall climbing and jogging. He said one does not have to go to a gym to keep fit. He makes time to work out even during his tapings by doing a few push-ups and sit-ups in between takes.

“Like Gerald, Mateo and Paulo, Century Tuna is very versatile. You can use it in different dishes, allowing you to be creative in creating your own recipe to sexy,” relates Greg Banzon, Century Pacific Food, Inc. VP & General Manager during the event.

Matteo Guidicelli

Paolo Avelino

KOREAN superstar Lee Min Ho, popular among Filipinos for his role as Gu Jun Pyo in the hit series Boys Over Flowers, will be out of the limelight for two years to start his mandatory military service next month.

Earlier this year, rumors circulated that Lee Min Ho would be enlisting in March or April, but his agency MYM Entertainment denied this by saying they had not received the actor’s enlistment letter. But on Tuesday, the talent agency confirmed that that Lee Min Ho will begin service on May 12.

Military service is mandatory for every South Korean male between the age of 18 and 35.

They are required to perform two years of military service, with the rationale being the continued threat from North Korea. When the men enlist, they receive four weeks of basic military training and serve for 21 months at an army base, which is usually located in a rural, secluded area.

The marines serve for 23 months, and air force for 24 months.

Lee Min Ho will be assigned at Gangnam-gu office as a public service officer. The talent agency said that 29-year-old actor has been assigned to a noncombat position due to an injury sustained in a 2006 car accident with fellow actor Jung Il-woo.

Following Lee Min Ho’s military enlistment, we are counting down the hottest South Korean celebrities who are turning 30 this year and who are likely to go on showbiz hiatus to fulfill their duties as citizens of The Land of the Morning Calm.

Continued on E3

Gerald Anderson

KATHNIEL FILM IS

BIGGEST SUMMER MOVIE

BEHIND THE SCENES. Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla get chummy while shooting their summer movie, "Can't Help Falling in Love"

IN JUST 4 days, Star Cinema’s Can’t Help Falling in Love starring the love team of Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, breached the P100million mark in terms of box office sales.

The romantic comedy also made a record-breaking P33 million firstday gross on Black Saturday when it opened in more than 200 screens nationwide.

In the film, Kathryn plays Gab who is set to wed her longtime boyfriend Jason (Matteo

Guidicelli).

But her world ). suddenly turns upside down when she discovers that she is already married - but to a total stranger named Dos (Daniel). As she figures out with Dos how this unlikely incident happened between them, Gab starts breaking her own rules to survive their crazily confusing situation.

According to Star Cinema, the film will have international screening in the Middle East, Canada, US, Italy, Spain and the UK.

Korean superstar Lee Min Ho joins the Korean military's noncombatant unit