Manila Standard - 2017 May 03 - Wednesday

VOL. XXXI • NO. 78 • 5 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

DENR chief chided for arbitrary decision

By Macon R. Araneta

LAST TIME. Environment and Natural Resources Secretary-designate Gina Lopez answers questions by members of the powerful Commission on Appointments while facing Tuesday the panel for the third and last time on the eve of the scheduled voting today for her confirmation as DENR secretary. Ey Ecasio

MEMBERS of the Commission on Appointments, including a staunch ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, on Tuesday questioned Environment Secretary Regina Lopez about her bias against the mining industry, criticizing her for her “arbitrary” decisions that has led to a halt in the operations of several mining firms.

Senators Alan Cayetano and Panfilo Lacson, as well as San Juan City Rep. Ronaldo Zamora, raised the issue during the resumption of her confirmation hearing.

“We want to confirm you Ma’am, but we want to make sure we will not have an arbitrary DENR [Department of Environment and Natural Resources],” Cayetano said, noting that the country could use investments to develop its $1 trillion worth of natural resources.

“Is there some kind of mining that’s okay, or are all mining inherently evil? It seems under your administration, you focused

on the negative, and for people to stay away from these industries,” the senator added.

Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato also questioned a memorandum order issued by Lopez in January requiring suspended mining firms to place P2 million into a trust fund for every hectare affected by their operations.

“I do not question the reason for that memorandum circular but I question the basis for you asking or requiring mining operations to pay that P2 million. What was the basis of you imposing this requirement?” Sato said.

Lopez replied that imposing the P2-million fund was her “prerogative.”

“From my point of view, the fact that we should take care of our farmers was enough reason for me,” she added.

Cayetano also asked Lopez if the DENR has a program to promote responsible mining to potential investors.

“Do you have a promotional video to show the rest of the Next page

Gina’s 55 ‘ghosts’ bared Pinoys distrust China, Russia—Pulse Asia CoA: Consultants had

By John Paolo Bencito MOST Filipinos said they distrust China and Russia despite efforts by President Rodrigo Duterte to build better relations with the two countries, the latest Pulse Asia survey released Tuesday revealed.

Filipino’s distrust towards China (63 percent) and Russia (56 percent) hardly changed from the December 2016 survey.

The same nationwide survey of 1,200 respondents found that the

majority had a high level of trust towards the United States (79 percent), Japan (75 percent), Australia (69 percent) and the UK (53 percent).

Distrust in the prevailing sentiment toward China in every geographic area (from 53 to 70 percent) and all socio-economic classes (from 63 to 69 percent), while Russia recorded majority distrust in the Balance Luzon (60 percent), the Visayas (62 percent), and all socioeconomic classes (54

to 61 percent) while it posts a bare majority trust score (51 percent) in Metro Manila and Mindanao.

The United Nations and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations garnered trust ratings of 82 percent and 81 percent, respectively.

The high ratings for the United States, Australia, the UK and the UN were unaffected by President Duterte’s tirades against them for criticizing his bloody anti-drug Next page campaign.

‘no particular outputs’

By Christine F. Herrera

T

HE Commission on Audit has ordered Environment Secretary Regina Lopez to justify the hiring of 55 highly-paid “ghost employees” receiving up to P120,000 a month or more than twice the maximum salary rates “with no particular outputs, deliverables or services.”

President Rodrigo Duterte

Trump looks Sea code of conduct seen in August forward to By John Paolo Bencito and Francisco Tuyay Du30 visit US PRESIDENT Donald Trump underscored his eagerness to meet with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte despite international condemnation of the Asian leader’s violent crackdown on drug addicts and dealers.

“The Philippines is very important to me strategically and militarily,” Trump said Monday in an Oval Office interview with Bloomberg News, two days after he invited the Philippine leader to Washington.

“I look forward to meeting him. If he comes to the White House that’s fine.”

A White House statement after the April 29 call said the two leaders discussed “the fact that

THE 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations is optimistic that it can complete a working framework for a Code of Conduct of Parties in the South China Sea with Beijing by August, the Foreign Affairs Department said Tuesday.

“There will be another meeting this month and everyone is optimistic that we are going to have

this framework in the middle of this year. So there is a good progress. We are hoping by August this year, we can have some positive developments that we can announce publicly,” said the department’s executive director for Asean affairs, Zaldy Patron, in a Palace briefing.

“At least there is some agreement on the items that will be included in the framework. This is very different, whereas before China and Asean member states

did not even want to start a discussion on the framework of the Code of Conduct,” he added.

Unlike his predecessor, President Rodrigo Duterte has taken a soft stance towards the Chinese, and has not used Manila’s arbitration victory over Beijing as leverage.

Patron said that it was under Duterte’s chairmanship of Asean that there has been active discussion on the Code of Conduct.

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Of the 55 consultants, 14 have claimed salaries amounting to P3.29 million without outputs and without proof that they reported for work, state auditors said in a memorandum to Lopez dated March 3, 2017.

In a 7-page Audit Observation Memorandum, a copy of which was obtained by Manila Standard, COA state auditors Aurora Caramat and Jesusa Gauang directed Lopez to submit her basis for the rates given to the contractuals and consultants.

“Of the 55 contracts of service [COS] hired by Lopez, six were contracted with salary exceeding the maximum salary rates, 11 for

By John Paolo Bencito and Sandy Araneta

Anti-drugs crackdown stepped up

By Joel E. Zurbano

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Palace vows to kill Ang’s illegal game

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THE government’s crackdown on drug dealing in the country will continue with the goal of catching the protectors and financiers of the illegal drug trade, an official said Tuesday.

In a forum in Ortigas, Quezon City, Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency Director General Isidro Lapeña said the PDEA, the Philippine National Police and other law enforcement agencies were now coordinating to

positions not listed in the same salary tables and 14 as consultants with no particular outputs, deliverables or services requiring highly specialized or technical expertise in the field of special knowledge or training,” the state auditors said.

The CoA said the contracts of the two technical assistants Sarah Jane Bulan and Celina Therese Rotea were given rates more than twice the rate as specified under the DENR memoranda at P57,500 each instead of the regular P15,000 a month.

Bulan and Rotea also did not stipulate the submission of approved daily time record for salary

TURNOVER CEREMONY. Philippine Navy personnel stand in formation on board the Indonesian-made naval warship for the Philippine Navy BRV Davao del Sur during a turnover ceremony Tuesday at a shipyard in Surabaya. The warship was built by a state ship building firm and is the second vessel ordered by the Department of National Defense at a cost of $90 million. AFP

MALACAÑANG on Tuesday said that it will not allow gambling operator Charlie “Atong” Ang to continue with his illegal gambling operations outside of the permits given to him inside the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority.

“Under the Duterte administration, there are no sacred cows,” Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said.

Abella also said the proper authorities would “make sure that Mr. Ang will comply” with President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order No. 13, prohibiting any action for the assignment, sharing, lease, transfer or selling of online gambling licenses in the country.

Under the EO, all online gambling operators who wish to operate outside the jurisdictions of Next page

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Impeach Robredo’ fails S

UPPORTERS of President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday failed to file an impeachment complaint against Vice President Leni Robredo because no lawmaker would like to endorse it.

Lawyer Bruce Rivera, one of the complainants, said his group had been coordinating with a potential endorser but refused to disclose who it was.

“I do not want to preempt [when the lawmaker is going to endorse the complaint],” he told reporters.

Georgina Hernandez, Robredo’s spokeswoman, said they were

not surprised by the impeachment complaint planned to be filed by a group of lawyers against Robredo.

“In fact, they had threatened to file such in the past few weeks.

They waited for such a long time [to file],” Hernandez said.

“Really, they do not have the evidence. This is just one fishing expedition.”

She made her statement even as Robredo on Monday paid before the Supreme Court the cash bond for her counter-protest against former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in their vice presidential race last year.

Accompanied by supporters, Robredo deposited with the high court, sitting as the Presidential Electoral Tribunal, the P8 million that she claimed she was able to raise by borrowing from the relatives of her late husband, Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo.

Rivera said the potential endorser of their impeachment complaint was Rep. Jericho Nograles, but he denied having

Gina’s... claim, which was a violation of provisions in the CoA circular.

“Considering that the functions to be performed by these technical assistants are clerical and administrative in nature and they were not contracted for a specific job that requires the submission of a specific output, they have to work on a regular basis and submit approved DTR when claiming their salaries,” the state auditors said.

Lopez, they said, also contracted 11 people for positions not listed in the salary tables such as project

management specialist, financial management adviser, development communication consultant, communication specialist, social safeguards specialist, project coordinator, rural infrastructure specialist, management information system specialist, media relations consultant, special assistant to the secretary on environmental law enforcement and special assistant to the secretary that were getting from a low of P42,652 to a high of P100,000.

The CoA said the hiring for these positions not listed in the salary table was not coursed through the chief of the personnel division for review.

“Hence, the positions and corresponding salaries were not evalu-

ated by said division, as prescribed under the DENR memorandum,” the CoA auditors said.

The state auditors said the contracts of 14 consultants were found not to contain stipulation requiring the submission of particular outputs, deliverables or of services that demand highly specialized or technical expertise.

The highly-paid consultants performed functions that involved “ordinary functions, which can be provided by the regular staff of the agency, or is within the optimum inhouse capability.”

The CoA recommended that Lopez hire COS in accordance with the set guidelines issued by the department

and use the salary table in assigning rates to qualified contractual personnel for uniformity in application.

Lopez was also told to evaluate the qualifications and technical expertise of the consultant to be hired and specify in the contract the particular outputs and deliverables expected from the consultant.

“Claims for salaries of the 14 consultants and two technical assistants in the total amount of P3,291,599.87 were erroneously recorded under consultancy services, thereby overstating said account and understating the other professional services account, both by same amount,” the state auditors said.

“We recommend that management require the accounting section to ad-

just the error in recording the cost of services of 14 consultants and two technical assistants and subsequently, observe the recording of the cost of services of COS with no particular outputs to its proper account,” said Caramat, CoA audit team leader, and Gauang, CoA supervising auditor.

Arturo Valdez, special assistant to the secretary on the environmental law, who was getting a salary of P100,000 a month, has so far received a gross amount of P500,000 in salaries, CoA records show.

The CoA auditors warned that should Lopez fail to justify the errors in salary rates and their functions and performance, these will be disallowed in audit.

Pinoys...

DENR...

Commenting on the survey findings, Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said Filipinos have long been conditioned to distrust China and Russia, but the President was working to change that perception.

“Lets just say that’s par for the course. After all these years, we are made to think that these are the enemies. The President is breaking free as a disruptor,” he said.

The survey, conducted from March 15 to 20, has a sampling margin of error of ±3 points at the 95 percent confidence level.

world that if [you’re into] responsible mining, you are welcome here?

[That] you can invest in mining?”

Lopez answered: “Of course not, we have no promotional videos for mining.”

Senator Emmanuel Pacquiao Jr. said there is a 50-percent chance that Lopez may lose her confirmation vote.

“It’s still a 50-50 chance for Gina,” he said.

After three hearings, the 25-member CA committee on environment and natural resources chaired by Pacquiao ended the

deliberations on Lopez’s appointment Tuesday.

A decision is expected May 3 on whether Lopez—whose appointment has been opposed by 23 parties—will be confirmed.

As a member of the majority bloc, Pacquiao added, he would vote for her confirmation.

During the hearing, Lopez also defended herself against Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez’s claim that she failed to comply with due process in ordering the closure of 23 mines and the suspension of five others. “They passed judgment on me,” she said.

Asked by Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV if she was an extreme person, Lopez said she did not know

what that meant.

“I love my country and I love the people and I’m non-negotiable on my principles,” she said.

“I’m a very out of the box person. I work with the NPA [New People’s Army], I work, I work with the MILF [Moro Islamic Liberation Front], I work with the mining companies so I’m very out of the box so I can do anything and everything but my nonnegotiable commitment is to our people and the principles of integrity. I’m never gonna budge there because something in me will die,” she said.

“But in terms of possibilities of what can happen, my God! My other favorite song is I Believe I Can Fly…so I wanna fly and then

just fly and then fly with everyone and work with everyone like every single person here in this room has a dream…”

A video of Lopez singing “I Believe I can Fly,” has been making the rounds of social media, where it has been greeted with disbelief and ridicule.

Lacson, for his part, said the hearing was intended to give Lopez an opportunity to answer the issues raised against her by Dominguez and 23 other parties that opposed her confirmation.

Duterte reappointed Lopez after she was bypassed by the CA twice.

Under CA rules, she may no longer be reappointed if she is bypassed again.

Palace...

Sea...

Patron also disputed the claim of critics that the watered down chairman’s statement issued by the Philippines was a lost opportunity.

“We don’t think [that it was a lost opportunity],” Patron said. “The arbitral award is there. It is part of international jurisprudence. It is part of international law. We can invoke it anytime we want.”

“That’s what the President has said that at the right time, he will make reference to it,” he added.

Patron denied that China was able to pressure the Asean into excluding stronger language on the South China Sea dispute.

“As far as we know, the leaders— Asean exercised their independence,” he said. “They should be free from any interference from any countries. We take it to mean that they made their decisions independently. We don’t see any factor coming from any dialogue partner.”

Beijing on Tuesday lauded Manila’s softer stance, as reflected by the chairman’s statement at the end of the Asean summit.

In a news briefing at Beijing, Chi-

nese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang did not directly answer a question on whether China had exerted pressure on the Asean members.

“Since last year, with the joint efforts of China and Asean countries including the Philippines, temperatures in the South China Sea situation have gone down and things have eased up. I think this accords with the interests of countries in the region,” Geng told a daily news briefing.

“The relevant situation at this Asean summit again fully shows the positive changes in the South China Sea situation and that the joint wish of countries in this region is to seek stability, promote cooperation and seek development, and this should be respected and supported by all sides.”

The Asean dropped references to “land reclamation and militarization” from its chairman’s statement this year at the end of its summit in Manila.

The Department of Foreign Affairs, meanwhile, disputed a Chinese statement that reinforcement of structures in the Kalayaan Island group, including Pag-asa, was illegal, saying that

those territories are an integral part of the Philippines under a law defining the country’s archipelagic baselines.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Robespierre Bolivar said that Pag-asa Island and the larger Kalayaan islands (Spratlys) have been under the province of Palawan, adding that any activity in them are perfectly legal.

“Any visit of activity we undertake there are part and parcel of our constitutional mandate to ensure the safety, well-being, and livelihood of our citizens living in this municipality,” the DFA official said.

Kalayaan is a sixth-class municipality in the province of Palawan. It is composed of only one barangay, Pagasa, and has a 1.3-kilometer airstrip that is used both by the military and civilians. Most of the Filipino residents there are fishermen.

Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Brunei and Malaysia have territorial claims in the area.

All Spratlys claimant countries have troops in the region, except for Brunei. With PNA

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government authority must apply for separate licenses before they could operate in other parts of the country.

The same EO said that no licensed online gambling operator shall provide direct or indirect betting outside of the territorial jurisdiction where it is physically located.

In a radio interview, Ang admitted that his Meridian Vista Gaming Corp. is operating jai alai and virtual jai alai games outside of the Ceza, but they can do this as long as they can secure permits from the municipal or city mayor wherein they want to put up gaming operations.

“Yes. As long as we have permits from the mayor on which we will operate, we can continue,” he said.

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II, whom Ang accused of wanting him dead, said however, that the Supreme Court has already decided to reject his petition to allow Meridian to operate outside of Ceza.

“The Supreme Court has decided to deny his motion for reconsideration and the temporary restraining order that he got from his friends who were judges which stressed that Meridian can operate online gaming and gambling operations outside of Ceza,” Aguirre told radio dzMM. The Justice secretary has launched an investigation to look into Ang’s possible criminal liabilities, including tax evasion and his alleged links to destabilize the Duterte administration, following the recent raids on his gambling dens in Northern Luzon.

Last week, Ang accused Aguirre and National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon of plotting to kill him through the National Bureau of Investigation to eliminate the gambling operations of his Meridian Vista Gaming Corp. to be able to expand government’s small-town lottery.

Aguirre denied the allegation, calling it a “demolition job” in conspiracy with those out to stabilize the Duterte administration.

He said Ang was retaliating for the government raid on the Fontana Leisure Park that busted a billionpeso illegal online gambling operation conducted by Ang’s friend, Jack Lam. The NBI also denied Ang’s allegations.

NBI Director Dante Gierran said the alleged threat against Ang was baseless and without merit and is just a product of Ang’s imagination.

“Under the Philippine leadership, we have seen a lot of movement in the discussion. China has already made announcement that it is also supportive of having a framework of the COC so that is something that we would like to take advantage of. It’s a step forward to having a full and effective COC,” he said.

Patron said there were still “certain elements” that had to be negotiated with China, including guidelines to avoid tension in the South China Sea. He added that Asean leaders seemed determined to enact the framework of the Code of Conduct for the disputed South China Sea by the end of the year.

“It is to everyone’s interest that we all have an effective Code of Conduct,” Patron said.

“If you have the arbitration in one hand, [and] the COC in the other... then you have legal instruments you can refer to in the future,” he added.

Anti-drugs...

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But he refused to name the alleged protectors and financiers, saying “We have the names but we can’t divulge it right now. We are working on it.”

Lapeña said the problem of illegal drugs in the country will continue unless drug users are treated and cured of their addiction.

He said the government had signed an agreement with China to solve the alleged drug supplies coming from the mainland.

“We are hopeful that this MOA [memorandum of agreement] will be a big help in addressing the country’s drug problem,” he said.

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the Philippine government is fighting very hard to rid its country of drugs.”

Trump also committed to taking part in a summit with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations hosted by Duterte in November.

In other developments: • The New York Times again made a stinging editorial critical of President Rodrigo Duterte, this time saying Duterte was “obviously not a man who should be welcomed to the White House.”

“Though the Philippines is an ally and a democracy, Mr. Duterte is neither a democratic leader nor a worthy ally. For about two decades as mayor of Davao,

anything to do with it.

“Do I know you? Have we ever met?” said Nograles, a member of the House committee on justice that deliberates on impeachment complaints.

“I was surprised to see my name in the complaint,” Nograles said, adding that he immediately asked Bruce’s group to leave his office.

Among the members of the Impeach Leni Movement are Tom Berenguer and Ahmed Paglinawan, political science professor Antonio Contreras and Trixie Cruz-Angeles.

Interior Assistant Secretary Epimaco Densing III was said to have been involved in the crafting

of the complaint.

But Rivera, who served as a lawyer for “pork barrel queen” Janet Lim Napoles, admitted that President’s call for his allies to abort plans to unseat Robredo could be the main reason why the lawmakers were hesitant to file the complaint.

The Impeach Leni Movement wants Robredo impeached for alleged betrayal of public trust following her video message to the United Nations in which she talked about the victims of the administration’s brutal campaign against illegal drugs.

Lapeña said shabu, marijuana and ecstasy were the top three narcotics being manufactured by the drug syndicates in China, Taiwan and Mexico and distributed in the country with help from corrupt government officials.

Records showed that around 65,000 drug suspects were arrested during the joint operations of law enforcement agencies from July 1, 2016 to April 20, 2017.

Officials conducted 53,503 anti-drug operations in which 1,266,966 suspects surrendered and 2,692 died.

But observers claim that the suspects arrested were mostly poor drug dependents or small-time street dealers.

Lapena said the drug menace would continue unless the four million victims or drug users were treated and cured of their addiction.

he was accused of allowing death squads to roam the city and kill freely,” the paper said in its editorial titled “Donald Trump Embraces Another Despot, which was published on May 1.

“Most victims were poor drug users and low-level criminals, but bystanders, children and political opponents were also caught up in the bloodshed.”

• Detained Senator Leila de Lima on Tuesday described Duterte as an “old man” at the helm of the government but had the “EQ of a six-yearold” disregarding the constitutional principle of press freedom.

She also slammed Duterte for allegedly disregarding the democratic governance of a professional civil service corps to satisfy his need for vengeance.

“This is classic Duterte where the personal becomes public policy,” said

Maricel V. Cruz, Rio N. Araja and Rey E. Requejo

Oligarchs told: Give back lands to the poor

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY―President Rodrigo Duterte has asked the “oligarchs” to give their land back to the Filipino people in the next three months or he will tell the people to occupy their land.

Duterte, speaking in front of the thousands of labor workers here during Labor Day on Monday, said it was time that the oligarchs returned the land to the Filipino people.

He said the oligarchs should not be claiming all the land in the country without sharing it with the Filipino people who truly owned it.

“Within the next three months, I will tell the owners or those people claiming government land that you are not paying your taxes amounting to billions and you are using the land of the government,” Duterte said.

“It was unclear how you got that.

If you won’t return the land to the government, then I will ask the Filipino people to occupy the land.”

Duterte said that, during his nine months in office, the economy had boomed since many foreign investors were entering the country.

He said that during his visit in China last year he opened up the exportation of Philippine bananas in that country.

He said the Chinese government told him that the problem was not the quality of Philippine bananas but had something to do with geopolitics.

“Right now we are short of bananas because were have been exporting them to China,” he said.

Duterte also said employment in the country had increased since there were several foreign investors entering the Philippines.

He asked the people to give the government time to fulfill his campaign promise of ending contractualization in the country.

He said that the Department of Labor and Employment was now doing something to help seasonal workers.

“I stand firm in my conviction to end endo. The labor code guarantees all workers the right to security of tenure,” Duterte said.

DAR defies SC—RCBC

He said the estimated P120-billion trade in illegal drugs in the Philippines supplying around 4 million addicts could only be eliminated once these individuals were treated and cured of their addiction.

He said the drug problem could now be classified as a national security threat.

Police officials during the forum brushed aside the reports that 7,000 people were killed during antidrug operations.

But they admitted there were 9,432 homicide cases under investigation, and of that number about 1,847 were drug-related and 1,894 not.

Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa assured the public that the PNP would continue the campaign against drugs, adding that they will use all available resources to finally eradicate crime and illegal drugs in the country. With PNA

RCBC says its 300-hectare industrial property is not covered by land reform (CARP) as DAR itself ordered its conversion in 1996 from agricultural. The property was acquired from its previous owner, Luisita Industrial Park Corp., in 2004.

The validity of the conversion was upheld by the Supreme Court with finality in 2012, RCBC said in a statement.

Clearly, the order issued by DAR Secretary Rafael Mariano last February reversing DAR’s conversion order of 1996 and classifying the property as agricultural again directly violates the Supreme Court decision issued five years ago, the bank said.

DAR has no authority to revoke the conversion order and overrule the Supreme Court, RCBC said adding that Mariano’s order completely lacks legal basis.

Assuming DAR has the authority, it denied RCBC due process by unilaterally acting to revoke the 1996 conversion order.

RCBC said it has already filed a motion for reconsideration with the DAR to call its attention to its absolute lack of jurisdiction to issue the order, but its inaction on the matter has encouraged the eruption of violence in the area.

Rule of law must prevail to keep the peace. In this case, it starts with respect for the orders of the highest court of the land, RCBC said as it vowed to explore all legal remedies to protect its interest.

Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement Monday.

“President Duterte has overseen the illegal killing of thousands of his own people in the Philippines. By welcoming Duterte to meet with him in the White House, Trump risks giving Duterte’s actions―and his brutal human rights violations―an American stamp of approval.”

While US-Philippine relationship dates back to the Asian nation’s position as a US colony in the late 1800ssand includes a mutual defense treaty―those ties were strained last year as Duterte hurled insults toward Washington during and after his successful campaign for the presidency. At one point, he told then-President Barack Obama in a speech to “go to hell” for opposing his drugs war, announced a

“separation from the US” during a trip to Beijing and called then-Secretary of State John Kerry “crazy” following a meeting just weeks after taking office.

“Clearly he’s a colorful guy,” Obama said ahead of a September meeting between the two men, which was eventually canceled.

The 72-year-old Philippine leader, whose populist appeal and unconventional approach to politics has drawn comparisons with Trump, has since softened his tone as he seeks continued US support for security and cooperation in the disputed South China Sea. “Our relationship with the US is strong and vibrant,” Acting Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said in an interview last month. AFP, with John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

De Lima who has been detained for her alleged drug links.

Duterte first gained global prominence as well as criticism for his aggressive and violent war on drugs as mayor of Davao City. Human rights groups say that, as President, his narcotics crackdown has led to more than 7,000 extrajudicial killings.

“He’s been very, very tough on that drug problem, but he has a massive drug problem,” Trump said in the interview.

Trump’s invitation to Duterte was denounced by human rights advocates and democratic lawmakers for overlooking the abuses.

“President Trump weakens American values when he fails to stand up for human rights,” Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, a member of the Senate

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF ‘Survey should not be taken at face value’ A HOUSE leader on Tuesday said the recent Social Weather Stations survey showing majority of Filipinos were for death penalty should not be taken at face value.

Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting said while Congress had yet to pass the bill reimposing death penalty on heinous crimes, the government must work hard to provide the policemen with state-of-the- art equipment and similar upgrades to improve their crime busting operations.

The SWS released earlier the result of its March 25-28 survey showing that 61 percent, or three in five Filipinos, were for the revival of death penalty, one of the priorities of the Duterte administration.

“Like all statistics, this finding must be studied carefully.

What it shows we believe is that Filipinos want swift and decisive action against crime,” Tambunting said.

He said the government must be able to come up with “a multi-pronged approach” to fight crimes pending the enactment of the death penalty bill. Maricel Cruz

CamSur mayor dismissed by Ombudsman THE Office of the Ombudsman dismissed on Tuesday a “veteran” mayor in Camarines Sur for a questionable lease deal in 2014.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales ordered the dismissal from the service of Baao Mayor Melquiades Gaite for grave misconduct and conduct prejudicial to the best interest of the service.

She directed the Department of the Interior and Local Government to implement the dismissal order.

“In case of separation from the service, the penalty shall be converted into a fine equivalent to respondent’s salary for one year,” the order read.

Results of the investigation showed that in May 2014, Gaite entered into a 25-year lease contract with Lamvert Consolidated Complex Development Corp. over a portion of the Baao public market building covering 1,704 square meters.

Gaite failed to present evidence that the lease deal was made with the prior authorization of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.

Citing the Local Government Code of 1991, the Ombudsman said “no contract may be entered into by the local chief executive in behalf of the local government unit without prior authorization by the sanggunian concerned.”

“The act of respondent, a veteran local chief executive with almost two decades of experience, in entering into a contract of lease for a period beyond that in Municipal Ordinance No. 03 amounts to a transgression of some established and definite rule of action more particularly unlawful behavior or gross negligence by a public officer,” Morales said in a resolution. Rio Araja

COURTESY CALL. San Juan City Mayor Guia Gomez (left) meets Tuesday Maria Teresa Bernardo (2nd from left), most outstanding Overseas Filipino Worker and a cancer survivor, during the latter’s courtesy call on the chief executive at the City of San Juan Government Center at the Pinaglabanan Shrine complex. Manny Palmero

Du30 asks labor groups to draft EO to end ‘endo’

By Vito Barcelo

T

HE labor group Association of Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said Tuesday President Rodrigo Duterte had asked labor groups to draft an executive order that would put an end to abusive middlemen contractualization work arrangements and return to the norm of direct hiring by principals and employers.

ALU-TUCP spokesperson Alan Tanjusay said the President asked them in a dialogue in Malacañang for time because he had to deal with cer-

tain processes.

He said President Duterte gave the labor groups within the week to finish the draft order and set the date to meet

again on May 10.

“The President was sincerely asking for our patience when he asked us to give him time to end contractualization. He was candid enough to allude to vested interest groups lobbying against the end of contractualization,” Tanjusay said.

“We told him that workers were not happy with controversial Department Order 174 precisely because it does not carry out his commitment to end contractualization. We emphasized that .DO 174 just bans the already previously banned Labor-only contracting and ‘cabo’ system and does nothing to significantly advance the regularization of millions of

contractual workers,” the ALUTUCP officials said.

“The President said he understood what the workers want and suggested that we assert our public interest power to ensure a just transition to help him meet his promise to the nation,” the labor group said.

The group said with the eradication of middlemen, including manpower service cooperatives, workers see an executive order that would mandate principal employers directly hiring workers, and no longer employing middlemen contractors to avoid paying their social obligations to workers and to avoid the exercise by workers of their Constitutional right to organize unions and

bargain for a better deal.

“I stand firm on my conviction to end ‘Endo.’ Just give us time. The Labor Code guarantees all the right to security of tenure.

This has to be strictly enforced.

Labor laws must be enforced against Endo and labor-only contracting,” the labor group quoted Duterte as saying during the closed-door meeting with labor leaders.

Duterte admitted there was “resistance and objections” from some members of his Cabinet and interest lobby groups on his decision to ban contractualization.

“But the President said he has no sympathy for oligarchs,” Tanjusay added.

Malacañang: Resolve intra-corporate disputes ASG leader,

By John Paolo Bencito MALACAÑANG on Tuesday told parties in the anomalous sales of shares in the Manila North Harbor Port Inc. to resolve the bitter intra-corporate disputes immediately amid concerns from exporters for a repeat of the crippling port congestion problem experienced few years ago.

In a chance interview, Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said while there was a need to “carefully consider” the merits on the ownership issues surrounding port operator MNHPI, it must be resolved immediately to avoid another disruption of services within the public utility.

“Definitely, that’s part of the [process]... the President wants it to be done quickly,” Abella said.

In a 14-page paper sent to the Ombudsman last Monday, SEC Company Registration and Monitoring Department director Ferdinand Sales admitted deliberately ignoring letters of a former majority stakeholder Harbor Center

Port Terminals Inc. seeking to prevent the increase in authorized capital stock that led to the anomalous sale of shares of the Manila North Harbor Port Inc. HCPTI, with a previous majority share of 65 percent, urged the SEC to stop the application for capital increase as it would dilute the former’s shareholding in favor of San Miguel Holdings Corp.

Last January, the Quezon City Regional Trial Court issued an order preventing fugitive 1-Pacman party-list Rep. Michael Romero from claiming ownership of his family-owned HCPTI, exposing challenges in the ownership of MNHPI that had been taken over by conglomerate San Miguel Corp.

The country’s international trade practically ground to a halt due to logistical problems surrounding Manila’s congested ports, experienced a few years ago.

Reghis Romero, Michael’s father, sued him for falsifying documents to claim ownership of the family-owned HCPTI, operator of the 10-hectare Manila Harbor Center Terminal.

The younger Romero lost the case to his father and even went into hiding when an arrest warrant was issued against him in January.

According to Sales, he received the letter on Dec. 15, 2015 from the HCPTI before the application for increase in authorized capital stock and the amendment of the articles of incorporation of MNHPI. “Respondent (Sales) receives several such letters in a day and in the course of a month’s time, sometimes they could reach around a thousand or more. It was therefore beyond his capability to monitor all such letters, more so where these letters were filed prior to the filing of an application,” he said.

The letter was actually sent on Dec. 15, 2014, and not in 2015, Sales told the Ombudsman.

Mark Roy Boado, HCPTI nominee to the MNHPI board of directors, and HCPTI stakeholder Nathaniel Romero filed a complaint against against Sales, and attached the Dec. 15, 2014 letter.

Villar orders road safety audit of all PH roads

By Ferdie G. Domingo

HEALTH ADVOCATES. Mental health advocates (from left) Jerika Ejercito, Antoinette Taus and 2016 Niss International Kylie Versoza join Senator Risa Hontiveros in pushing for the passage of the proposed Mental Health Law shortly before the celebrities attended Tuesday the resumption of the Senate session to support the bill’s passage. Ey Acasio

SAN JOSE CITY—Public Works Secretary Mark Villar has ordered a road safety audit of all national roads amid last week’s deadly road accident in Carranglan, Nueva Ecija that claimed the lives of 34 passengers and injured scores of others.

DPWH Region 3 director Antonio Molano said the order was made by Villar to all district engineers when they met during the recent convention of the District Engineers’ League of the Philippines.

Molano said the road portion leading to Dalton Pass in Sta. Fe, Nueva Vizcaya was the first to be covered by the order.

He said George Santos, dis-

trict engineer of northern Nueva Ecija, had been tasked to undertake the road safety audit.

Molano said the DPWH would also put up a continuous, 20-meter long concrete barrier in Barangay Capintalan, Carranglan where the ill-fated bus fell into a ravine after the driver lost control of the steering wheel.

“After inspecting the site, it has been determined that what we should put up is a continous concrete barrier, not a segmented one,” he said.

At the same time, Molano said he could not say if the contractor that built the three-meter concrete barrier in the accident site was criminally liable as there was a gap in the barrier, leading to the accident.

follower surrender to military

By Francisco Tuyay

AN ABU Sayyaf Group subleader and his lone follower, claiming they were terribly exhausted eluding military pressure, have surrendered to authorities, belated military reports said.

Brig. Gen. Cirilito Sobejana, commander of Joint Task Force Sulu, identified the ASG sub-leader as Udon Hashim and his follower as Haidal Kimar, who gave themselves up to the military Monday at the vicinity of Barangay Jinggan, Panglima Estino, Sulu Monday.

Sobejana said the two surrendered two armalite rifles (M14 and M16) with four magazines for M16; three magazines for M14; 46 live ammunition for M16; 27 live bullets for M14 and 2 bandoliers.

The surrender, Sobejana said, was facilitated by Misbar Harun, barangay chairman of Jinggan through the efforts of the Task Force.

Quoting the declaration of the two ASG bandits during a military debriefing following their surrender, Sobejana said they were forced to surface as they were already severely exhausted eluding security forces hunting them down.

“They are already tired running. They are also disgusted with the manner being done by their members and the members are also disorganized and they don’t know what to do,” Sobejana said.

A4

Opinion

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Talking heads

L

ESS than a month ago, the fourth round of peace talks between the government and the communist National Democratic Front drew to a close in Noordwijk in The Netherlands with guarded optimism.

The panels agreed to work on the guidelines and ground rules of an interim joint ceasefire that would pave the way for a comprehensive settlement of the 48-year insurgency that has claimed more than 30,000 lives and continues to sap our energy and resources that could clearly be put to better, more productive use.

Both parties also moved to conclude provisions on a draft Comprehensive Agreement on Social and Economic Reforms, which aims at addressing the root causes of the armed conflict.

The ceasefire was to take effect as soon

as the guidelines and ground rules were approved.

The guidelines were to cover the presence of armed groups in local communities and the creation of buffer zones; prohibited, hostile and provocative acts including the collection of revolutionary taxes; and the undertaking of joint socioeconomic projects.

But recent unprovoked attacks by the New People’s Army have called into question not only the sincerity of the communist rebels in seeking peace, but also the authority by which the NDF claims to speak on their behalf.

In the most recent attacks, at least 50 NPA rebels stormed a police station in the town of Maddela in Quirino province, killing one policeman.

In President Rodrigo Duterte’s own hometown of Davao City, rebels torched a box and plastic manufacturing plant belonging to the Lapanday Food Corp., an attack that had the hallmarks of a classic

communist extortion racket that they call a “revolutionary tax.”

The unprovoked attack gave Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana the ammunition to paint the communist rebels as “anti-progress, anti-development and antipeople” and to call into question the credentials of the NDF peace negotiators.

Lorenzana observed that the rebels were continuing their heinous acts even while their companions in the NDF were negotiating for peace.

“With each passing day, it is becoming clear to the Filipino people that what these communist terrorists want is to cow the entire nation into subservience by sowing fear and violence,” Lorenzana said.

“The attacks in Davao and other crimes done by the NPA also make the Filipino people question the sincerity of the entire communist movement to push for peace, since it seems everything is just lip service and double talk. It also brings to light the

disconnect and lack of communication between the NDF, the Communist Party of the Philippines, and its cadres on the ground.”

“We cannot stress enough that for the peace talks to succeed, the government must be talking to the real representatives of the communist movement,” Lorenzana said.

“There must be an assurance that we are dealing with the actual leaders of their organization and not just some figureheads who are devoid of any control or influence.”

This raises two possibilities, neither of which is particularly palatable. First, the communists might be seen as being insincere, waging war while talking peace. Second, and just as bad, the negotiators in the NDF have no real control or even influence over the fighters on the ground, which begs the question of why we should continue to talk to them.

More and more, it is beginning to appear that the NDF negotiators are mere talking heads who have no real power over the guerrilla forces on the ground.

VIRTUAL REALITY TONY LOPEZ

Agri vs infra

‘Trumping’ Duterte LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte, it appears, has been “Trumped.”

Now the anti-Trump American media has discovered that it can attack both Duterte and their own president in a single blow, something like getting two for the price of one—and who could resist such a bargain?

But first, I find it amusing to hear Ruben Carranza, the very Yellow US-based lawyer of the International Center for Transitional Justice, inflate the number of the alleged victims of extrajudicial killings all by his lonesome, to a new high of 9,000.

Carranza blurted out the figure to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who quite naturally had no way of fact-checking the number.

In the Philippines, we’re still debating if the 7,000 people in the “kill list” originally reported by online news outfit

Rappler is based on more than just guesswork, since there have been no real efforts to analyze or even break down official figures on drug-related killings under the Duterte administration.

And yet, the inflationary tally of those who would want to portray the Philippine president as a mass murderer keeps escalating.

Of course, the narrative of the supposed unabated mass killings perpetrated in the Philippines goes well with the US media’s conclusion that President Donald Trump was inviting a killer to the White House (as CNN reported) when he reached out to Duterte over the weekend. Conflating President Rodrigo Duterte’s alleged role in the killings with the apparent lack of sophistication in foreign affairs of the error-prone US president makes for a compelling story—never mind if truth is the first real casualty in the unfounded tale.

CNN was not alone in treating Trump’s invitation to Duterte to visit the US as an endorsement of the supposed killings, which

the news channel, from all indications, did not even attempt to verify. The New York Times quickly cobbled together yet another anti-Duterte editorial—the third in a series in recent weeks

A friendly gesture by a US president to his counterpart in the Philippines is used as an opportunity to attack both.

—upping the ante with the headline “Trump embraces another despot.”

“Like so much else under President Trump, though, [the] idea [that the United States should provide a moral com-

pass to the world] has now been turned on its head and people are worried about the very survival of the values on which America built its reputation and helped construct an entire international system, including the United Nations,” the newspaper said. “The latest example is Mr. Trump’s decision to invite Rodrigo Duterte, the president of the Philippines, to the White House.”

I honestly don’t care what the Times thinks of Trump. But I have a real problem with the newspaper believing that it can insult the people of another independent, sovereign state by saying that its citizens have a ruler exercising absolute power in a brutal and oppressive manner, the standard definition of a despot.

And unlike anything that Duterte has done to anger the Americans and their media, aided by people like Carranza and the rest of the US-based remnants of the Washington-friendly Yellow regime, the Philippine president clearly had nothing to do with

creating this situation. This was entirely Trump’s initiative—and now Filipinos everywhere who support Duterte have to suffer a fresh round of abuse from the anti-Trump press.

Of course, even if Trump hadn’t invited Duterte, the NYT and the rest would probably still have found something to hit Duterte with. It’s just sad that a friendly gesture by a US president hated by the media in his own land to his counterpart in the Philippines would be used as an opportunity to attack both. *** Senator Leila de Lima, detained on drug-related charges in Camp Crame, wants to electronically participate in Senate deliberations. Never mind if, according to established Senate rules on imprisoned members, she should just stay in jail and (hopefully) never be heard from until her release.

De Lima apparently believes that the administration she worked so hard for as justice secretary is still in power.

CONVENTIONAL wisdom says that for a government to lick poverty, it must provide for the basic needs of the poor— food, education, health, and cheap utilities.

These are the items that constitute up to 80 percent of the consumer basket. Food alone is 55 percent of the poor man’s consumer price index. Utilities, basically telephony and transportation, add another 20 percent. Nationwide, 38.98 points of the Philippine CPI’s 100 points is food, 22.47 utilities, 7.81 transportation, 2.26 communications, and 3.36 education.

If these basic services are readily available at reasonable cost, then inflation will be under control, resulting in increased purchasing power for the poor.

Increased purchasing power means additional income for the poor. Additional income means higher level of standard of living.

And a better standard of living means eradicating poverty.

With 55 points of the CPI for the poor being food, shouldn’t the Duterte administration be focusing more on food production, rather than infra? After all, together—utilities at 22.47 points, transpo at 7.81, and communication at 2.26 points constitute only 32.54 percent of the consumer basket, or 60 percent of what the poor allocate for food. In 2016, agricultural output fell by three percent.

Sadly, the administration’s bright boys are involved in a bitter power struggle on the issue of importing rice. One group wants to import rice to bring down prices or inflation.

Another group, supported by the President himself, does not want to import rice because it will hurt the farmers. Rice in the Philippines costs twice as much as imported rice. That is why half of the poor’s money, or whatever is left of it, goes to food. Food for the poor is just too expensive. That is why the poor remains poor. There are more than 25 million such poor Filipinos.

The Duterte administration seems to believe that to lick poverty, the government must invest heavily in infrastructure—roads, bridges, railways, schools, power plants, airports and ports. These big-ticket items cost money and only the rich and powerful can afford to bankroll them. Of course, the government can also bankroll these projects but it could mean higher taxes on goods and services—exactly the scheme proposed by Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez under his socalled TRAIN—Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion.

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

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

Lopez should go I WATCHED the Commission on Appointments hearing of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez yesterday.

Santa Banana, from what I heard on the questions asked of the Lopez clan heiress, she has really become the elephant in the room—as taipan Manny Pangilinan had once described her. She is indeed going all-out to make the mining industry an endangered species.

This is why I have been wondering why President Duterte keeps on reappointing her, considering what she has done against the mining workers and the poor. And she says her heart bleeds for them.

Let’s enumerate the reasons why Lopez must not only bypassed, and which would means that the President can no longer reappoint her.

First, she suspended some 28 mining firms despite the recommendations of her own audit team just to impose fines on the mining firms concerned, and to warn them that their permits to operate would be revoked for repeated violation of mining laws.

The aftermath of her unilateral act led to her picking a fight with Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea. Did she not realize that as executive secretary, all appeals to the President for reconsideration of her acts have to pass through the ES? And then, Lopez even wanted the New People’s Army to help her in her fight against the mining industry. Isn’t that enough reason why the President should just make her resign? The NPA is an enemy of the state.

Now, Lopez is at it again with the creation of a P9.4-billion backyard industry for charcoal making that would exclusively benefit the private company Biochar, which is owned by her trusted Undersecretary Philip Carmen. My gulay, if that is not graft and corruption, I don’t know what is!

And didn’t Lopez even work for her French friend’s permit from the Department of Energy? For that she and her entourage got an all-expenses paid trip to Paris.

In fact, it was the person who arranged her trip who charged her with graft and corruption before the Ombudsman. I cannot understand why she would do such a thing. Isn’t she affluent?

Come to think of it, at the rate President Duterte is lambasting the Lopez-owned ABS-CBN for biased reportage, shouldn’t Lopez just resign if she has any self-respect left? *** The many raids by the New People’s Army on businesses

all over the country, and the burning of transport buses for not paying “revolutionary taxes,” can only validate what I have been asking President Duterte. Why does he still trust these communists?

My gulay, the very fact that the NPAs raided some establishments right in Davao City, the President’s turf, was meant to embarrass Mr. Duterte and show the world they are still a force to reckon with. Hence, they seem to say, the President should submit to their demands!

The National Democratic Front and the Communist Party of the Philippines are demanding so many things from the government. This in itself is a message they are sending.

It’s all about sincerity and trust!

Mr. Duterte should know by now that the communists cannot be trusted at all. They are duplicitous. *** President Duterte’s bland Asean statement at the end of the Asian Summit is u nder st a ndable. That’s what I said in an earlier column when he failed to take the opportunity, as Asean chairman, to include in that statement the fact that the Philippines won an arbitral ruling against China over the South China Sea dispute.

I said that the arbitral ruling against China’s incursion into the South China Sea would not be respected anyway by China, and would only create tension over the SCS dispute with members of Asean.

But while I could understand the hesitation of President Duterte to create tension with China, he should not go overboard in accommodating it, either. He needs to show the world that the country still maintains an independent foreign policy.

It should be enough that President isn’t rocking the boat over the SCS dispute.

The Chinese may be providing us with investments and trade. But this does not mean we should be its vassal. *** President Duterte should now think twice, or even thrice about his boy, PNP chief Ronald dela Rosa. Is Dela Rosa really good for the administration, and the fight against illegal drugs?

Dela Rosa sometimes acts like a comedian!

His latest gambit was trying to defend the secret cell in a police station in Tondo. The cell was discovered by the Commission on Human Rights.

The matter should be investigated. Are there more secret cells we should know about?

‘Trumping’...

From A4

unspecified electronic means, without physically leaving her place of detention. This appeal to technology, however, doesn’t sit will with Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, who notes that De Lima’s lawyers should work very hard to convince the courts that the presence of her disembodied face and voice are really necessary for the chamber to function properly.

But if I were one of De Lima’s lawyers, I’d tell her to focus on her defense instead of insisting that she has to still make her presence felt electronically, as if she was just a Filipino overseas worker communicating with the family through Skype or Facebook Messenger. That would be time better spent for her, as she comes to the realization that she will no longer receive the special treatment she had gotten used to as a member of the untouchable Yellow royalty.

And I mean go, not get bypassed.

Meaning, of course, that the rules apply to others, but not to her and those of her rejected political persuasion.

The senator need not look very far to discover that Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr., both incarcerated with her in the custodial center of the camp, were never allowed to participate in any Senate deliberations even if they remained senators. Even Senator Antonio Trillanes, who visited De Lima with her Liberal Party colleagues over the weekend, can tell her that he, too, was prevented from participating in sessions while he was detained for attempting to oust the government in an armed uprising.

The only thing new about De Lima’s plan is that she plans to be present in the Senate through

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

A5

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Conservatives’ new climate argument fails

By Faye Flam A NEW argument has started to crop up in debates over climate change. It goes like this: Science couldn’t predict the outcome of the last election, or the bumps in the economy, so why should we believe scientists when they try to predict the future of Earth’s climate?

For example, a recent New York Times column—the first from new op-ed writer Bret Stephens—starts with a cautionary tale about the failure of data analytics to guide Team Clinton to victory in 2016, then segues into a discussion of climate-change skepticism. Given the “inherent uncertainties of data,” Stephens argues, doubters have a right to distrust “overweening scientism.”

He writes: “We live in a world in which data convey authority. But authority has a way of descending to certitude, and certitude begets hubris. From Robert McNamara to Lehman Brothers to Stronger Together, cautionary tales abound.”

But to put this in context, science makes all kinds of predictions that do hold up. Consider last year’s finding of gravitational waves: Scientists reported that they’d detected ripples in spacetime generated by a collision of two black holes some 1.3 billion light years away. The invisible waves were predicted by Einstein’s theory of general relativity a century ago.

Even if someone later finds this individual claim was in error, it’s part of a body of knowledge.

If physics weren’t on reasonably good footing, we wouldn’t be walking around with devices that talk to satellites to pinpoint our

locations. If not for a general trust in physics, airlines would have to drag people kicking and screaming to get them on their planes.

Why, then, can some areas of science predict invisible spacetime ripples, but others can’t predict elections? I’ve been talking to scientists, philosophers and historians about this situation for months. There are, it turns out, some common characteristics of scientific pursuits that make good predictions.

One is the tradition scientists in some fields have of submitting to peer review, and making their procedures transparent so other people can reproduce their results.

This creates an interconnected body of knowledge. Great science combines great minds. Einstein himself wavered over whether his theory predicted the existence of the gravitational waves. Other scientists realized that it did, and they dreamed up a creative way to detect them.

Fields of science with good track records for prediction often work by discerning patterns and insights that explain the world.

The better the insights, the better the predictions—on subjects ranging from eclipses to chemical reactions to the behavior of ants to the existence of black holes.

In contrast, many data-driven algorithms developed by private companies and used to, say, predict election results, are opaque.

They aren’t peer-reviewed. Their claims aren’t subject to replication. They don’t reveal insights or explanations that others can test.

Established fields of science also gain predictive power by requiring scientists to quantify their uncertainties. For some, this isn’t just good practice but part of the

very definition of science. When scientists graph their measurements, they draw vertical lines— error bars—which indicate how inherently imprecise their measurement systems are.

There are good cautionary tales about failure to use error bars. One comes from forensic science—the use of fingerprints, hair analysis and the like to solve crimes. A group of scientists looking into forensics for a recent government report concluded that it shouldn’t be considered a science at all, because people are doing such a poor job of calculating error bars. Expert witnesses mislead juries with statements about “matches” when all they have are probabilities.

So it’s important to look closely at climate science and make sure they’re not making the same mistakes. And investigations by the National Academy of Sciences and others don’t reveal the kinds of problems that plague forensics.

Climate science grew out of physics and chemistry—disciplines with explicit rules for dealing with uncertainty. The first climate model came from the calculations of Swedish chemist Svante Arrhenius in 1896. The basic principles behind his model have been tested in laboratory experiments and used to predict temperatures on Venus and Mars.

Earth is more complex than its neighbors because it’s covered in water. Atmospheric temperatures affect the state of the water—ice, liquid or vapor—which in turn affects the temperature. But that’s okay—scientists are allowed to deal in complex phenomena as long as they do a good job of calculating their uncertainties.

Individual scientists make mistakes, like everyone else, but if

you really want a cautionary tale that’s relevant to climate change, it should involve a whole field misleading the public and being used to make harmful policy. It’s hard to find a better example than the now-discredited belief that dietary fat is killing people. As journalist Gary Taubes described it in Science in 2001, and later in the New York Times Magazine, the idea had political appeal with those on the left who were upset by consumption, cruelty to animals and the environmental toll of raising animals for meat.

As Taubes tells it, scientists were in disagreement and lacked the kind of long-range health data they needed to understand the effects of dietary fat. The National Academy of Sciences investigated and was blasted for failing to approve the anti-fat belief. Back in the labs, scientists were coming across evidence that different fats had different physiological effects, some quite beneficial. But demand was growing for a simple recommendation. “Once politicians, the press, and the public had decided dietary fat policy,” Taubes wrote, “the science was left to catch up.”

If there are lessons to be learned from the fat debacle, it’s that the press and policy makers shouldn’t get ahead of scientific consensus.

Scientists do make mistakes, but scientific methods in many fields your guard against unwarranted certainty. (Science can make some predictions with near-certainty —that solar eclipse will certainly happen on Aug. 21.) And of course, there is a consensus on climate change. Scientists shouldn’t be trusted blindly, but stubborn distrust in the face of evidence defeats the purpose. Bloomberg

Effective governance key to improving the quality of Asia-Pacific economic growth

By Shamshad Akhtar THE Asia-Pacific region’s high and steady economic growth has been an anchor of stability for the struggling world economy in recent years. Developing economies of the region now account for almost a third of global GDP, slightly less than the combined output of the developed economies of North America and Western Europe.

If the region continues to grow at the current pace, it would account for more than a half of world economic output by the year 2050. With its increasing importance, the role of traditional ‘success factors’ such as education, high investment and savings rates, reliance on world markets through exports, is likely to evolve as well. Future economic growth will need to rely more on productivity gains which, in turn, require effective institutions and better governance, in both public and private spheres.

Importantly, the policy focus will have to be more on the quality of economic growth, to cater for social and environmental aspects as well. Decades of rapid Asia-Pacific economic growth have come at a high cost to people and the planet in the form of rising inequalities and environmental degradation.

The bulk of countries in the region still have significant poverty levels, with a heavy concentration

Agri...

From A4

With P156 billion in tax revenue a year, TRAIN is the greatest wealth transfer ever attempted by the government under President Duterte. It will bring unprecedented purchasing power to at least 40 million of 104-million Filipinos.

The 40 million are currently at the fringes of society. They are cashless. TRAIN’s author, Albay Congressman Joey Salceda estimates 80 percent of Filipino families effectively will get unconditional cash transfers, at a yearly rate of P5,600 for the lower 30 percent of families, to P39,000 for middle class families. The rich, meanwhile, will lose income, at the rate of P10,000 to P2.2 million yearly.

Not bad for the super rich in terms of social equity or preventing a revolution.

The Duterte administration has lined up an ambitious infrastructure program that will spend P8.4 trillion over the next five years, 2017-2022. Of the P8.4 trillion, the total investment requirement is P3.6 billion. It is not clear what to call the remaining P4.79 trillion; it may be the budget for schools, which the government counts as infra.

In his 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, President Duterte envi-

of wealth at the top. The majority of its population is not yet “middle class” but rather “transitional class,” and therefore vulnerable to falling back into poverty. Wide income inequality undermines social cohesion, and hurts long-term economic growth by reinforcing inequality of opportunities.

On average, developing AsiaPacific economies use twice as many resources per dollar of GDP than the rest of the world.

Environmental degradation and carbon emissions, not captured in GDP, undermine the sustainability of economies and affect intergenerational equity.

This is why, in the second year of the adoption by world leaders of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ESCAP is calling for a sharper focus on the quality of regional economic growth by addressing simultaneously, the economic, social and environmental challenges that are at the core of the 2030 Agenda.

The ESCAP flagship report, Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2017 (Survey 2017) launched today advocates effective governance as critical for the quality of economic growth. Specifically, it identifies fiscal management as the transmission mechanism through which governance can support achievement of the 2030 Agenda.

The role of governance in effective mobilization and efficient

allocation of fiscal resources for productive investments in infrastructure, social protection and resource efficiency. The quality of governance affects the composition and efficiency of public expenditure and the tax morale.

Moreover, effective governance can reduce intra-regional development gaps by enabling poorer countries to benefit more from regional economic cooperation and integration.

Fiscal policy can tackle inequality, both in the short term, through redistributive policies and provision of social protection, and in the medium and long run, by reducing inequality of opportunity. The quality of governance is vital for ensuring fiscal sustainability through comprehensive tax reforms and effective debt management.

Governance quality is also crucial for undertaking successful productivity-enhancing structural reforms to complement fiscal policy. Given the diversity of economies in the region, a sequential targeting of the binding constraints to productivity is a more prudent approach than a ‘one-size-fits-all’ and ‘big bang’ approach.

Effective governance can reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases in the Pacific, promote economic diversification in North and Central Asia and creation of decent jobs in South and South-West Asia, re-

duce development gaps in SouthEast Asia and accelerate ecological innovation in East and North-East Asia.

How societies invest, innovate, and ensure that no one is left behind is largely dependent on the quality of governance, and by how much trust and confidence people have in their institutions.

Governance is crucial for effective resource mobilization, public expenditure efficiency and structural reform. When institutions are weak, inequalities tend to increase and the pace of poverty reduction declines. The quality of governance is also important for environmental outcomes, as reflected, for instance, in the capacity to make and apply environmental rules and safeguards.

As countries in Asia and the Pacific continue to undergo large structural transformations, the region is on the cusp of providing global leadership towards a more holistic and transformative development. Effective governance will play an increasingly important role in ensuring that region’s tryst with its future is not hampered by growth that is not inclusive and sustainable in the long-run.

sioned the reduction of poverty from 21.6 percent in 2015 to 13 percent -15 percent by 2022.

Among the reforms that will drive this Agenda is the acceleration of infrastructure and the development of industries that will yield robust growth across the archipelago, create jobs and uplift the lives of Filipinos.

Among the big-ticket projects are: Bonifacio Global City-NAIA Bus Rapid Transit, to be completed in 2021; Clark International Airport Modernization (2019); the P32-billion Phase One of the Mindanao Railway (from Tagum, Davao del Norte to Digos, Davao del Sur, (2021); Subic-Clark Cargo Railway (2020); Philippine National Railway from Manila to Clark (2021); PNR South Railway from Manila to Bicol (2022); and the Mega Manila Subway, Phase One, from Quezon City to Taguig City (2024).

These are ambitious and herculean projects. Duterte’s boys promise to finish all seven of them (or least some usable portions), plus 48 others, by the time the President’s term ends in 2022. The 55 projects will cost P612 billion.

Please note that under the six years of President Benigno Simeon Cojuangco Aquino III, there were also huge projects under his socalled Public-Private Partnership

projects. None of them took off or were completed, except for a fourkm Daang Hari extension of the South Luzon Expressway called MCEX, done by the rich Ayala family, for four years at a cost of P2 bilion. Great achievement, indeed.

“Our program of infrastructure build-up will entail trillions in economic investments. We need to undertake these investments for the sake of the next generation of Filipinos—or else they will remain in the same poverty trap that we found ourselves in,” Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said during the forum on “Dutertenomics.”

Dutertenomics is supposed to bring the Philippines to middleincome status by 2022, with Filipinos having a per capita income of $5,500, from the present $3,500. This makes the Philippines an upper middle-income country, says Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia, secretary-general of the National Economic and Development Authority.

“Our program of infrastructure build up will entail trillions in economic investments,” Pernia said at the April 18 forum.

For 2017, the Duterte administration’s infrastructure spending will amount to P847 billion or 5.3 percent of gross domestic product.

This is higher than the 2.6 per-

cent of GDP average infrastructure spending for the last six administrations, Pernia pointed out. Infra spending rises to P1.13 trillion by 2018.

According to Pernia’s calculations, spending 7.4 percent of GDP on infrastructure will increase economic output by five percent and would generate 1.7 million more jobs.

Neda targets a GDP growth of between 6.5 percent and 7.5 percent this year, and seven percent to eight percent from 2018 to 2022.

For his part, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez said the government’s infrastructure investment would be funded by official development assistance and tax collections.

Meanwhile, Transport Secretary Arthur Tugade said the agency is set to sign by November a deal with the government of Japan to build a P227-billion Mega Manila Subway Project.

“This is one of the very ambitious projects of the Duterte administration. We call it the Mega Manila Subway project, and this [will be] the first subway in the Philippines,” the DOTr chief said.

Tugade promised to start the project by 2019 and will be completed by fourth quarter of 2024.

Dr. Shamshad Akhtar is an Undersecretary-General of the United Nations and the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

biznewsasia@gmail.com

News

A6

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Purge of ‘anti-death’ solons to continue

By Maricel V. Cruz THE leadership of the House of Representatives will continue the revamp of its members who voted against the death penalty bill last March, Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said on Tuesday.

“The revamp will proceed,” Alvarez said when asked if his leadership will still declare vacant the positions of other majority allies who failed to support the administration measure.

The Speaker implemented the overhaul immediately after the House voted on House Bill 4727, the proposal seeking to reimpose the death penalty on drug-related cases. The ruling coalition declared seats vacant for specific positions and committee chairmanships.

Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the former president, and other anti-death penalty lawmakers was removed from their posts. Arroyo was House deputy speaker for Central Luzon.

But Alvarez said his leadership would respect the constitutional provision where a party has the right to nominate a representative to the Commission on Appointments, after Occidental Mindoro Rep. Josephine Sato—a member of the 12-man House contingent to the powerful CA—of the Liberal Party voted against death penalty.

Meanwhile, the death penalty bill is not likely to be enacted during the first regular session of the 17th Congress that will end in June.

IN BRIEF DoT ‘not surprised’ with ranking drop BEING fully aware of “the challenges faced by the tourism sector during the last decade,” and which the Department of Tourism has painstakingly addressed in the last nine months, the agency “does not find surprising” the slight drop of the Philippines’ ranking in the latest Travel and Competitive Report.

Notably, the DoT said Tuesday the perennial issues prevailed when the country’s rating fell eight places in the Report released by the World Economic Forum, from 86th spot down to 94th, a year into the previous Aquino administration’s term in 2011.

A similar trend transpired in 2009 when the Report ranked the country 86th, down from 81st in 2008, the DoT said.

Nevertheless, the department said it “took cognizance” of the 2017 WEF Report released this week as a “significant study, a useful resource in planning and prioritization.”

“It should be pointed out that the Report’s research work refers to data gathered from the period of 2015 and 2016,” the DoT said in a statement.

“It is also worthwhile to note that the country achieved the official target of 5.9-million international visitor arrivals for 2016 under National Tourism Development Plan for 2016 to 2022,” the department headed by Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo added.

Things are looking up for the tourism sector, the department said, as the DoT’s “professional and dedicated staff, a team-up of new blood and DoT veterans constantly and consistently address urgent issues at hand.”

Sandy Araneta

This came after Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas, the House Majority Floor Leader, identified 14 measures to be approved by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before its sine die adjournment next month.

“These bills will be approved by both chambers until May 31. This is a joint agreement between the House and the Senate,” Fariñas told reporters.

The death penalty bill that was approved by the House of Representatives last March was not included in the list.

While the House managed to approved the death penalty bill, contained in House Bill 4727 and principally authored by Speaker Alvarez, the Senate was cold to the proposal and did not include the bill in its priority agenda.

Besides Rep. Arroyo, removed from their positions last March were Sorsogon Rep. Evelina Escudero, chairman of the House committee on basic education; Batangas Rep. Vilma Santos Recto, chairman of the House committee on civil service and professional regulation; Dinagat Islands Rep. Kaka Bag-Ao, chairman of the House committee on people participation; Gabriela party-list Rep. Emmi de Jesus, chairman of the House committee on poverty alleviation; ACT party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, chairman of the House committee on public information; Anak Mindanao party-list Rep. Sitti Hataman, on Muslim Affairs; Buhay Hayaang Yumabong party-list Rep. Mariano Michael Velarde, on overseas workers affairs.

SHOW OF FORCE. Navymen and other personnel of the Armed Forces of the Philippines stand in attention at a flag raising ceremony along the service road of the Baclaran district in Parañaque City. The event was organized by the Metro Manila Development Authority, which earlier sought the authorities' help to clear the stretch usually clogged by ambulant vendors near the famed Baclaran Church. Norman Cruz

Senate, House to pass 14 priority bills before break B

OTH chambers of Congress have agreed to pass 14 priority measures before going on sine die adjournment on June 3, House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas said on Tuesday.

Fariñas made the announcement following a meeting among House and Senate leaders, who identified the priority bills that both chambers will approve this month.

“These bills will be approved by both chambers until May 31.

This is a joint agreement between the House and the Senate,” Fariñas said.

Among the 14 priority bills are the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act; Free Higher Education Act; Philippine Men-

tal Health Act; amendments to the Philippine Passport Act; Revised Penal Code Indexation; Occupational Safety and Health Standards Act; a proposal for community service in lieu of imprisonment for the penalty of arresto menor; a proposal on the refusal of hospital and medical clinics to administer medical treatment in emergency cases; The Free Irrigation Services Act; the Enhanced Universal Healthcare Act; the extension of Driver’s License Validity; the Agrarian and

Agricultural Credit Condonation Act; the inclusion of Casinos in Anti-Money Laundering Act coverage; and a measure prohibiting the conversion of irrigated land.

Fariñas, however, said the comprehensive tax reform bill will not be passed by June “due to lack of material time.” This is contrary to the target of House Committee Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dakilo Cua of Quirino, who hoped to pass the bill in the lower chamber before the sine die adjournment.

The tax reform bill is still being fine-tuned by a technical working group headed by Cua. Under the bill, workers earning no more than P250,000 annually will be exempted from paying personal income taxes or PIT.

Senators Risa Hontiveros, Sonny Angara, Sonny Trillanes, Bam Aquino, Loren Legarda and Joel Villanueva, was approved with 19 affirmative votes, zero negative votes and no abstentions.

“This is a historic day for all of us. After being one of the few countries left without a mental health policy, we are now closer to realizing a national mental health law to comprehensively address the Filipinos’ mental health needs and ensure that our rights as persons with mental health concerns are protected and secured,” said Hontiveros, sponsor of the bill.

The Philippines is one of the very few countries that did not have a mental health law, added Sotto, a co-sponsor of the measure. PNA

with Macon Ramos-Araneta

Bam seeks probe on secret jail cells

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

PPCRV dismayed over low turnout THE Parish Pastoral Council for Responsible Voting expressed dismay on Tuesday over the low turnout of the voter’s registration conducted by the Commission on Elections for the village and Sangguniang Kabataan elections scheduled on Oct. 23 this year.

PPCRV vice chairman for internal affairs Johnny Cardenas said the low turnout shows that many Filipinos, particularly the youth of today, “are disregarding the importance of choosing their leaders through elections, even to the lowest level of community groups.”

Cardenas said the Comelec recorded 2,174,601 new voters, less than half the expected five million new and reactivated voters.

“It did not even reach the 2.5 million expected voters for the village and SK elections,” Cardenas said in a radio interview.

The SK and barangay elections, originally set for Oct. 31, 2016, were reset to Oct. 23 this year.

In stressing the PPCRV’s disappointment, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said in order to make democracy effective “we must be an active group of participants, not simply observers. One who does not vote does not have the right to complain. Voting is one the most fundamental civil duties.” Vito Barcelo

To compensate for the revenue losses from the lowering of PIT rates, some of the offsetting measures include increasing excise tax rates on all petroleum products and automobiles; expanding the value added tax base by limiting exemptions to raw food and other necessities; and taxing Philippine Charity Sweepstakes numbers’ game and lotto winnings.

Meanwhile, the Senate approved yesterday on third and final reading Senate Bill No. 1354 or the Mental Health Act of 2017, which seeks to integrate mental health services into the national health system to make it more accessible, affordable and equitable.

The bill, authored by Senate Majority Floor Leader Tito Sotto and

WORRIED LOOKS. Ambulant vendors near the Baclaran Church in Parañaque City cannot hide their concern over where to set up shop next after the Metro Manila Development Authority traffic force cleared their usual selling places along the service road of Roxas Boulevard in Parañaque City, also to give way for the Asean meetings the country hosted over the long Labor Day weekend. Norman Cruz

SENATOR Bam Aquino has filed a resolution seeking to investigate the operation of a secret jail cell discovered in a police station in Manila, as he called on the Philippine National Police to clean up its ranks to bring legitimacy to the government’s drug war.

“As the government’s enforcement arm in its war against illegal drugs, the PNP should safeguard the public’s trust by ensuring that abusive policemen are investigated and punished accordingly,” Aquino said in Senate Resolution No. 348.

The senator stressed an upstanding police force must go hand-in-hand with the administration’s war against drugs to earn public trust.

“The police should give importance to public trust especially that the priority is the drug war. Any abuses like the secret jail discovered inside the police station is unac-

ceptable,” Aquino said.

The secret jail cell was discovered by a team from the Commission on Human Rights inside the Raxabago Police Station in Tondo, Manila. Twelve persons were inside the hidden cell, where they were detained for at least 10 days even without the filing of proper charges.

The CHR also discovered the arrests of the 12 detainees were not recorded. Also, families of the detainees claimed that elements of the PNP Drug Enforcement Unit were asking for money, ranging from P40,000 to P100,000, in exchange for their release.

Aquino said the probe is aimed at ensuring that the rights of those under custodial investigation or detention by the PNP are protected.

Earlier, the lawmaker called on the government not to treat with kid gloves erring policemen who were behind the secret jail cell, insisting they should be held accountable for their actions.

Drilon: Revised Penal Code punishments to be updated THE punishments under the 87-yearold Revised Penal Code would soon be updated after the Senate passed today on third and final reading the proposed measure that seeks to address its outdated penalties.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin M. Drilon, sponsor and author of Senate Bill No. 14, said the bill sought to address the “outdated” penalties for certain crimes, which were based on the economic standards since the Revised Penal Code first took effect in 1930.

The bill, co-authored by Senator

Leila de Lima and co-sponsored by Senator Richard Gordon, was approved with 21 affirmative votes, zero negative votes and no abstention.

He said the bill essentially sought to “update the value of the damages used in determining the extent of liability and imprisonment; and adjust the amount of fines,” using a formula adopted from the Department of Justice.

“The application of the DoJ formula yields adjusted rates that are more appropriate for the objectives of the law—one, to avoid the impo-

sition of cruel and excessive punishment, and two, to make imposable fines an effective deterrent to crimes,” Drilon said.

For instance, Drilon said, a person found guilty of estafa today involving an amount of P250 would suffer a jail term or would be imprisoned for up to two years and four months.

Under the proposed measure, the imposable penalty for such an offense involving the same amount “would be reduced to four months of imprisonment.”

In contrast, Drilon said a P5 fine

imposed under the present Revised Penal Code “would be increased to P1,000.”

According to the bill, imposed fines on high crimes such as treason and rebellion will increase from P20,000 and P8,000 to a maximum of P4 million and P1.6 million, respectively.

The bill also seeks to update penalties for maltreatment of prisoners, unlawful arrest and indirect assault from P500 to P100,000, while penalties for falsification of documents will rise from P5,000 to P1 million.

Drilon said the proposal would have a retroactive effect, and was expected to benefit about 54,189 mostly poor inmates.

“Not that they will be immediately released, but their sentences will be equitably reduced, corresponding to today’s value of the property stolen, not the values set in 1930,” he stressed.

“We truly believe that the threat of injustice created by an outdated instrument of justice is real, and thus requires immediate legislative action,” said Drilon.

Macon Ramos-Araneta

Sports

A7

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Shootout looms in ICTSI golf

T

ARLAC—The $60,000 ICTSI Luisita Championship unwraps today (Wednesday, May 3) with a promise of an early shootout among an elite international field headed by local aces Tony Lascuña and Miguel Tabuena and their foreign counterparts led by Steve Lewton of England and Micah Shin of the US at the Luisita Golf and Country Club here.

But it could also be an early test of survival as they slug it out under extreme summer heat although the absence of the wind could also lead to torrid scoring at one of the country’s challenging courses which hosted the Philippine Open in 2015.

Whatever, focus will be on Lascuña as he sets out for a title

repeat, while Tabuena and Shin seek to relive their glory days at Luisita and Lewton shoots for another major local championship after nipping American Johannes Veerman in a playoff to nail the Philippine Open crown at The Country Club last March.

The rest of the starting 107-player field is also going

all out for a strong start and the needed momentum in this kind of top-notch competition tipped to be tight and fierce from tee-off.

“This is going to be tough. The course remains as challenging as ever and the heat will surely be a factor especially in the final day,” said Lascuña, who ruled this event by six last year to snap his long spell at Luisita.

“I would like to win again here but I have to play solid and steady and I hope my putting will click. I’m focusing on Miguel since he’s in top shape,” added Lascuña, who drew fellow local Edward Reyes and Japanese Joichiro Kawada in the 8:10 a.m. flight on No. 1.

While Lascuña wound up at

joint 22nd in last week’s Yaengder Heritage in Taiwan, Tabuena put in a strong tied for fifth effort, making him the player to watch in this 72-hole championship sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc. “I always have the confidence playing in the country, especially here at Luisita. I think I have the edge because I am so familiar with the course,” said Tabuena, who won the CAT (Central Azucarera de Tarlac) Open here then clinched his first Phl Open championship both in 2015.

The 22-year-old shotmaker, who will play alongside Jay Bayron and Elmer Salvador at 11:25 a.m., also on the first hole, is also wary of the heat factor (38

degrees), stressing the need to hydrate from time to time since he just came from Taiwan and Japan (12 degrees).

Shin topped last year’s CAT Open for his breakthrough win on the Philippine Golf Tour with the young shotmaker raring to flash the same form against Mhark Fernando and Orlan Sumcad at 7:50 a.m. on No. 1.

Lewton is also eyeing a strong start against Americano Nicolas Paez and local bet Benjie Magada at 11:05 a.m., also at the front, with the power-hitting Englishman all set for a follow-up to his Phl Open feat with a victory in this event backed by BDO, KZG, Custom Clubmakers, Meralco, Sharp, Champion, Summit Mineral Water and PLDT.

2 Cebuana net titles to Suson MARC Nicole Suson from Cebu City continued his domination of the 16-under and 18-under boys’ categories at the recent 19th leg of the 2017 Cebuana Lhuillier AgeGroup Championship Series held in Bais City in Negros Oriental by taking both titles and beating the same opponent.

Suson swept Dipolog City bet Stephen Zion Guia, 6-4, 6-4, in the finals of the 16-under, then repeated in the 18-under finals, 6-3, 6-2, against the same foe in the tournament, now on its 11th year of discovering and producing champions from the provincial regions.

The netfest is also supported by Dunlop as the official ball .

“This young player will definitely make his mark soon at the national level. He has been one of the most dominant players in the series,” said sportsman-businessman Jean Henri Lhuillier, President/CEO of the sponsoring Cebuana Lhuillier.

Meanwhile, local bets Jacob Diago and Diana Fe Perez gave reasons to the host city to celebrate as they ruled their respective divisions in the tournament, with Diago taking home the 12-under boys’ crown at the expense of Siquijor’s Francis Samson, whom he beat 6-3, 1-6, 105, and Perez sweeping Sheynna Yu from Dumaguete, 7-5, 6-0, in the finals of the girls’ 14-under.

Boholano John Kenneth Jumamoy went home with two titles, beating Faith Khiarrah Banico 5-3, 2-4, 4-2, for the 10-under crown before teaming up with Krist Aaron Banico in a 4-2, 4-1 win over the tandem of Jade Ann Catulong and James Zyril Romadia for the 10-under doubles’ title.

Popoy Juico (PSL chairman, left) is shown with Belo-PSL Beach Volley belles Patty Orendain of Foton, Danika Gendrauli of Sta Lucia, Abby marano of F2, Ces Molina of Petron, Biamca Tivolli of Parpetual, Wesh Tiu of Generica ayala, and Jovelyn Gonzaga of Cignal HD. Roman Prospero

Gonzaga, new pal try to defend PSL tiara

By Peter Atencio JOVELYN Gonzaga is coming back to defend her crown But this time, she will have a new partner when action in the Belo-Philippine Super Liga Beach Volleyball Challenge Cup starts this Thursday at the Sands By the Bay in the Mall of Asia.

Veteran Maica Morada has signed up to join Gonzaga for Cignal HD-A. Gonzaga, formerly with RC Cola Army, has parted ways with longtime teammate Nene Bautista, who is undergoing military training.

Last year, Gonzaga and

Bautista turned back Foton Toplander spikers Cherry Rondina and Patty Orendain, 21-18, 18-21, 15-13, in the finals.

The 25-year-old Gonzaga said she has been working with the her partnership with Morada over the last three days.

“It’s getting along well,” said Gonzaga during a PSL presentation at the Center Stage in the Mall of Asia.

Gonzaga and Morada are expected to get challenged by Cherry Rondina and Bernadeth Pons, who will play for Petron Sprint 4, along with the seasoned duo of Orendain

and Ceballos, who will banner Generika-Ayala A. Orendain was Rondina’s teammate last year. Ceballos, a seasoned campaigner, saw action with Orendain two years ago.

Other players in the tournament are Cyd Demecillo and Fritz Gallenero of F2 Logistics A; Aby Marano and Cha Cruz of F2 Logistics B; Rosalie Pepito and Kathleen Arado of Generika-Ayala B; Janine Marciano and Mylene Paat of Cignal HD B; Wensh Tiu and Abie Nuval of Cocolife; Marichu Medalla and Bianca Tripoli of Perpetual Help; Danika Gendrauli and Jacki-

lyn Estoquia of Sta. Lucia and Kathleen Barrinuevo and Cherylyn Sindayen of Foton.

In the men’s side, the participants are Erickson Ramos and Edmar Bonono for Cignal HD, Rey and Relan Taneo for Perpetual Help A, Jayjay Solamillo and Gilbert Balmores for Perpetual Help-B. IEM-A will field in Arjay Saledo and Romnick Samson, IEM-B will banner Michael Zamora and Carlito Delito, while TVM will have Arjay Onia and Geraint Bacon.

Emmanuel Gamat and Conrad Cabrera will play for Wayuk, while Anthony Arbasto teams up with Calvin Sarte.

PH bags 8 medals in Asian tilt THE Philippine taekwondo athletes made the country proud again by collecting eight medals—five silvers and three bronzes—in the recent Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships in Atyrau, Kazakhstan.

Competing in free sparring, the Meralco/MVP Sports Foundation jins brought home four of the silver medals and one bronze, while the PLDT Home Ultera/MVP Sports Foundation team bagged one silver and two bronzes in the poomsae (forms) event.

Carlo Dominic Dionisio,

Rryshel Jasmine Ramirez, Beatrice Kassandra Gaerlan and Florence Mae Chavez produced silver s while Abigail Faye Valdez earned a bronze in the free sparring competition.

In poomsae, Justin Kobe Macario won the freestyle individual men’s silver while Patrick King Perez, Justin Carlo Mendoza and Jessie Daniel Ignacio took the men’s freestyle and Aidaine Krishia Laxa, Chelsea Xen Tacay, Jessie Daniel Ignacio, Justin Kobe Macario and Shane Jeremy Benavente got the

freestyle team bronzes.

The Filipino lady jins were quite impressive as they finished fourth overall in a tough field of 25 countries including, Korea, Iran and China.

The junior team was supported by Smart Communications Inc., Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Olympic Committee.

A month earlier, another Philippine taekwondo group chalked up five gold, seven silver and four bronze medals in the 2017 Asean Championships held in Perlis, Malaysia.

Members and officials of the Philippine taekwondo team are shown after the awarding ceremony. Kneeling, from left, are: Shane Jeremy Benavente, Daphne Ching, Maria Aljana Erece, Aidine Krishia Laxa, Chelsea Xen Tacay, Jade Ashley Carno and Justin Kobe Macario. Seated: Sturdy Jay Gilbuena, Gabriel Elpidio Lamarca, Beatrice Kassandra Gaerlan, Laizel Angela Abucay, Abigail Faye Valdez, Ezra Balingit, Florence May Chavez, Rryshel Jasmine Ramirez, Laila Delo, Raymundo Alombro III and Dinneson Wilrej Caneda. Standing: Mark Arby Gariega, Harley Vincent Santos, Gabriel Salaknib Soria, Alvaro Joaquin Aranton, Napoleon Dagdagan Jr., Jeordan Dominguez, Tem Igor Mella, Rani Ann Ortega, Alvin Taraya, Carlo Dominic Dionisio, Jessie Daniel Ignacio, Patrick King Perez and Justin Carlo Mendoza.

Volcanoes ready for Asian meet

Philippine’ Volcanoes rugby players Jake Robrigado Letts (center) is flanked by teammates Edlen Cortez Hernandez (right) and Kevin Sysu Gordon during their appearance at the PSA Forum in Golden Phoenix Hotel on Tuesday. Ey Acasio

THE Philippine Volcanoes, fresh from their remarkable finishes in two international tournaments, are all set to leave for Ipoh, Malaysia to vie in the tougher Asia Rugby Championship.

The Volcanoes will face three other teams in the rugby 15s event that serves as qualifying for the 2019 World Cup set in Japan.

Only the winning team in Ipoh will move on to next year’s World Cup qualification round.

Volcanoes Jake Letts, Kevin Gordon and Edlen Hernandez graced yesterday’s Philippine Sportswriters Association Forum at the Golden

Phoenix Hotel in Pasay City, and expressed their readiness to face Sri Lanka on May 14, host Malaysia on May 17 and the United Arab Emirates on May 20.

“This will be a very tough level of competition for us,” said Letts during the forum supported by San Miguel Corporation, Accel, Pagcor and Golden Phoenix Hotel.

The Volcanoes, now fully backed by global nutrition company Herbalife, are also gearing up for the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur in August.

“This is all part of our preparation and the selection of the team for the SEA Games,”

added Letts, who was with the team that ruled the Asian Rugby 7s in Doha, Qatar last February and placed third in the Southeast Asia Sevens in Singapore last month.

Letts said the Volcanoes are fielding a solid lineup in Ipoh, including Oliver Saunders and the comebacking Justin Coveney.

The forthcoming event will carry a single-round robin format with each of the four teams playing three matches with corresponding points.

“We are looking to win all three matches,” said Letts, adding sweeping their assignment is the only way to guarantee the championship.

2 Filipino boxers win in Tashkent TASHKENT, Uzbekistan —With temperatures swinging from 7 to 23 degrees, the ABAP Philippine National Boxing Team tried to steer a steady course as they snagged two victories in three outings on the second day of the ASBC Asian Elite Men’s Championships at the sprawling Uzbekistan National Sports Complex.

Rio de Janeiro Olympian Rogen Ladon, seeded number 2 in the 49 kilogram light flyweight division, decked his opponent Hassan Naser in the second round with a left hook that sent the Iraqi tumbling to the canvass. Uzbek referee Alexandra Khamidov gave him the 8-count.

Naser survived the knockdown and gamely finished the bout, but was no match for the 23-year-old Bago City native, who was given the nod by all five judges. Four of them gave Ladon a 30-27 count while the judge from Azerbaijan saw it 30-26, also for the Filipino.

Zamboanga City native Eumir Felix Marcial, now a hulking middleweight after starting off as a flyweight with ABAP in 2011, lured Japanese Makoto Takahashi into a brawl and got the Uzbek crowd applauding as he time and again unloaded power combos on his hapless foe.

“In fairness, he was tough”, acknowledged the 21-year-old PAF airman in Pilipino.

“He ate a lot of my punches but never backed down. He just kept coming. I give him credit for that. He’s a strong, courageous boxer.”

At the end of three rounds the final tally was 5-0 for Marcial, all judges returning 30-27 cards.

Ocat, Repollo score big in PPS Tacloban TOP seeds Allain Ocat and Lyra Mae Repollo came away with a pair of emphatic victories each to dominate their respective sides and share the MVP honors in the Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala Tacloban leg regional age group tennis tournament at Tacloban Tennis Courts in Leyte yesterday.

Ocat, one of the rising stars from Ormoc City, lived up to the hype in the boys’ 12- and 14-and-under divisions, beating Russel Manlimos twice, 6-2, 6-1, and 6-2, 6-2, respectively, while Repollo ripped Hazel Coderos, 6-4, 6-1, in the 14-U final then the Naga City, Cebu ace trounced Bless Coderos, 6-3, 6-0, to pocket the 16-U diadem.

Joining the leg MVPs at center stage were Vhon Tudtud, Drenzen Bernales, Ghian Rabor, Noeus Beronio and Bless Coderos, who notched a victory each in the Group 2 tournament serving as part of the PPS-PEPP Visayas summer tour sponsored by Palawan Pawnshop and presented by Slazenger.

Tudtud, also from Naga, survived Ken Mejia, 3-6, 6-0, 11-9, to clinch the 18-U plum; Bernales, from Catbalogan, stunned top seed Carlo Olo, 6-2, 6-2, in the semis then held off Cedrix Bravo, 6-4, 7-6(1), to snare the 16-U title; Rabor, also from Ormoc, took the 10-unisex crown with a 4-1, 4-0 romp over Andrex Veloso; Beronio, from Sogod, Leyte, thwarted Rica dela Cerna, 6-4, 6-3, for the girls’ 12-U plum; and Bless Coderos foiled Repollo’s three-title bid with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the 18-U final.

Repollo actually went home with four titles as she teamed up with Hazel Coderos to crush Selena Olo and Beronio, 8-3, for the 14-U doubles plum and then partnering with Bless Coderos to subdue Rose Salamida and Trexre Sumapig, 8-2, for the 18-U title in the event backed

by Asiatraders Corp. and the new Unified tennis group, led by PPS-PEPP, Cebuana Lhuillier, Wilson, Toby’s and B-Meg. Ocat, on the other hand, teamed up with Bravo to outlast Henri Faelnar and Reinzo Olo, 8-5, for the 14-U boys’ doubles title while Tudtud and Kent Mejia ran away with the boys’ 18-U doubles crown with an 8-0 rout of Charlie Uy and Arclester Labastida, and Rabor and Zole Dulfo rapped Kate Dayandayan and Beau Arcuino, 8-2, for the 10-unisex doubles crown.

LOTTO RESULTS

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

P0.0 M+ P0.0 M+

Lady Spikers outlast Ateneo

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

A8

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

Sports Houston Rockets guard James Harden (13) protects the ball against against a pair of San Antonio Spurs defenders during Game One of the Western Conference Semifinals of the 2017 NBA Playoffs on May 1 at AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. AFP

Rockets stun San Antonio; Cavaliers trounce Raptors W

ASHINGTON—LeBron James sparked defending NBA champion Cleveland over Toronto while James Harden powered the Houston Rockets to an epic rout of San Antonio in second-round playoff openers on Monday.

Spurs 126-99 to start their best-ofseven Western Conference series.

“It’s just one win,” Harden said.

“It’s a good win but we’ve got to be ready for game two. They’ve got a lot of fight in them. We missed a few shots. We’ve got to play better in game two.”

The Rockets sank a team playoff record 22 3-pointers on 50 attempts, inflicting the most 3-pointers allowed by the Spurs in playoff history.

San Antonio trailed by as many as 39 points in the team’s largest game-one defeat in playoff history.

The Spurs 69-39 half-time deficit was their worst in playoff history.

“We lost and they won and they played better,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We competed but I don’t think we executed in a very wise manner.”

The Spurs and Rockets, in their first playoff meeting since 1995,

were two of the three winningest teams in the NBA this season, both trailing Golden State, which opens the second round Tuesday against Utah.

A 15-2 run to open the second quarter put Houston ahead 49-25.

The Rockets had 30 assists on 40 baskets, their passing and fast pace humbling the veteran Spurs.

“There are no individual efforts here,” Harden said. “I’ve been proud of that all year.”

The Rockets went 12-of-27 from 3-point range in the first half, already hitting more shots from beyond the arc than in any firstround contest.

Kawhi Leonard led San Antonio with 21 points and 11 rebounds but the Spurs made only 31-of-84 shots from the floor.

In Cleveland, the Cavaliers scored 10 consecutive points to grab a 22-11 edge and stretched it

James scored 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Kyrie Irving added 24 points and 10 assists and Kevin Love had 18 points and nine rebounds as the Cavaliers ripped the visiting Raptors 116-105 in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference matchup.

“The energy was phenomenal,” James said. “We pushed the ball, passed the ball like we wanted.”

Four-time NBA Most Valuable Player James hit 13-of-23 shots from the floor and 7-of-8 from the free throw line while Tristan

Thompson contributed 11 points and 14 rebounds for the Cavaliers, who James warned will be better in game two.

“I feel like I’ll be a lot better on Wednesday,” James said. “Little bit of rhythm here and conditioning there, I think a lot of our mistakes we were able to cover up for because our energy level was high.”

Harden had 20 points and 14 assists while Trevor Ariza scored 23 points and Clint Capela contributed 20 points and 13 rebounds as the Rockets dumped the host

So takes third place

Fury wants shot at Joshua

By Peter Atencio WESLEY So drew his final game against Indian grandmaster Pentala Harikrishna to finish third in the Shamkir Chess-Gashimov Memorial 2017.

So split his point with Harikrishna in 45 moves of a King’s Indian Attack in the final round.

Shakhriyar Mamedyarov, who ranked no. 10 in the FIDE ratings, took the crown with 5.5 points after he drew with Veselin Topalov in 41 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined.

According to the official website, Vladimir Kramnik beat Pavel Eljanov in 63 moves of a Catalan Opening.

Kramnik finished in a threeway tie with So and Topalov for second to fourth.

But Kramnik finished at no.

2 on a better tiebreak record.

Topalov is at fourth.

So stayed at no. 2 in the world rankings and he has an ELO rating 2812, which is down by 2.8.

Kramnik inched closer to So with 2809.9, followed

by Fabiano Caruana with 2807.3.

In other games, Sergey Karjakin drew with Teimour Radjabov in 42 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined to finished with a share of fifth to seventh positions with 4.5 points.

LONDON—Tyson Fury taunted Anthony Joshua on Monday by insisting he could beat the world heavyweight champion with “one arm tied behind my back”.

Shortly after his thrilling 11thround stoppage of Wladimir Klitschko at London’s Wembley on Saturday, Joshua ‘called out’ fellow British heavyweight Fury by saying: “Fury, where are you at, baby?”

While Joshua and Ukrainian veteran Klitschko retained a respectful tone towards one another both before and after their epic fight, the same cannot be said of Joshua’s relationship with Fury which has been marked by a series of back-and-forth taunts.

Fury dramatically beat Klitschko on points in a world title fight in November 2015 and once held both the British boxer Anthony Joshua speaks during the weigh-in ahead of International Boxing Federa- the world heavyweight title unification bout against Ukrainian boxer tion (IBF) and World Boxing Wladimir Klitschko won by the former. AFP

to 38-20 early in the second quarter. Up 62-48 at half-time, they led by as many as 25 points on the way to victory.

“I thought they were the quicker team and we have to match that,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said.

Irving scored 16 first-half points while James had 13 and Love 11.

“We want to continue to move the ball, share the ball and make everybody feel comfortable with what we’re trying to do,” James said.

The Raptors, who fell to 1-12 in playoff series openers, were led by 20 points from Kyle Lowry and 19 from DeMar DeRozan.

“They get big spurts and we fight back. We have to find ways to eliminate the spurts,” Lowry said. “We know they are going to be a high-flying team that likes to get up and down. But we have to find a way to not let them get going.” AFP Association (WBA) belts now held by Joshua.

But he hasn’t boxed since, with mental health problems forcing him to relinquish his titles, while his license to box was subsequently suspended by the British Boxing Board of Control.

Fury, however, could have his license returned at a hearing next week and if Klitschko does not want a rematch with Joshua or terms for one cannot be agreed, the momentum behind an all-British clash for the world heavyweight title could prove hard to stop.

“Styles do make fights but I am sure I can beat AJ [Joshua] with one arm tied behind my back,” Fury said in a Sky Sports interview from his training base in Marbella, on Spain’s south coast.

“I have been out of the ring as long as Klitschko but the difference is, I am not 41, I am 28.”

IT’S not how you start. It’s how you finish.

De La Salle University Lady Spikers survived the blockbuster start by the Ateneo Lady Eagles to post a scrambling 2125, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20 victory and take a 1-0 lead in their bestof-three championship during UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball finals held Tuesday, May 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Ateneo took the first set, 2521, but the Lady Spikers, relying on their steady blocking at the net, won the next two, 29-27 and 25-22.

Ateneo seemed in command in the middle of the fourth set as the Lady Spikers trailed, 14-16, but the Lady Eagles lost their hold on the game after consecutive errors by Jia Morada and Jhoana Maraguinot.

La Salle’s veteran setter Kim Fajardo then took over the match.

Fajardo caught the Ateneo defense flat-footed as she dropped the ball to the backline to push La Salle to a 22-19 lead. Fajardo then unloaded a service ace to hike the score to 23-19 for La Salle. The Lady Spikers brought the game to the brink on another spiking attack, 24-19.

Michelle Morente stopped the bleeding briefly, 24-20. But Fajardo engineered the final quick attack to end the match.

Fajardo set the ball two feet above the middle of the net.

Kim Dy then hammered the volleyball into the left sideline to end the match.

Meanwhile, the Ateneo Blue Eagles survived a furious rally

by National University, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13, to move within a win of a third consecutive UAAP men’s volleyball crown.

The Blue Eagles almost squandered a 13-8 edge in the final set but recovered in time to post the win. Three-time MVP Marck Espejo scored the point which pushed Ateneo to match point before Rex Intal blocked Fauzi Ismail’s attack to clinch the match.

Espejo scored 29 points, Tony Koyfman had 18, Josh Villanueva chipped in 14 and Intal had 11.

The Blue Eagles had to work off some rust accumulated after three weeks of inactivity and found themselves trailing by a set, 1-2.

The second match of the bestof-three playoff is on Saturday.

For NU Ismail scored 22 points, Bryan Bagunas had 19 markers, skipper Francis Saura added 11 and Kim Malabunga chipped in 10.

Reflecting on the Wembley epic, Fury, who labelled Joshua a “pumped-up weightlifter”, said: “It was an excellent fight, very entertaining and enjoyable and I was screaming for AJ to smash him.

“I wonder what people would be saying today if Klitschko had done him in the sixth.

“I was screaming, pulling my hair out—or what little hair I’ve got left—because I was worried it would cost us millions!

“He [Joshua] showed he can get dropped and come back, which is what champions are made of. He showed he can recover from taking big shots.”

However, Fury added: “There’s only one fight out there, the biggest fight in the world and everyone knows that. It is the heavyweights, it is me and AJ, no one else.

“I am here, I am the lineal champion, I am still number one in the world and everybody knows that.” AFP

Bolts battle dangerous Fuel Masters

By Jeric Lopez THE Meralco Bolts shoot for a berth in the quarterfinals even as three teams in the bottom half gun for a win at the resumption of the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup following the league’s All-Star break.

Having a stellar campaign so far, the rejuvenated Bolts (6 wins, 1 loss) can earn the first of eight tickets to the quarters as they shoot for their third straight win when they play dangerous Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters (3-4) 7 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

This is an equally important game for both teams as the race for the top eight intensifies.

In the appetizer, two lower-tier teams Blackwater Elite (1-6) and NLEX Road Warriors (0-7) fight each other for an elusive win.

With import Alex Stepheson jelling well with teammates, Meralco has found the consistency it was looking for.

As a result, it is now on the brink of being the first team through to the next round.

Still, Meralco coach Norman Black is hoping that his players retain their edge despite the long layoff.

“I hope we haven’t lost our focus after that long break. We’re looking to come out sharp,” said Black.

For the inconsistent Fuel Masters, a victory is essential for them to keep in step with the teams in the middle.

A victory over the Bolts will certainly help their cause.

While still winless NLEX is already out of the conversation for a berth in the playoffs. Blackwater still has an outside shot of making the top eight.

However, it needs to sweep the remainder of its games and hope that it can create a tie to force a playoff.

Meralco Bolts import Alex Stepheson (33) barrels his way past San Miguel Beer counterpart Charles Rhodes. Stepheson will try to lead the Bolts past the Phoenix Petroleum Fuel Masters tonight.

Semirara allots B3 P5b for expansion

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

49.9000

Japan

Yen

0.008942

0.4462

UK

Pound

1.288700

64.3061

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128559

6.4151

Switzerland

Franc

1.003915

50.0954

Canada

Dollar

0.730994

36.4766

Singapore

Dollar

0.716076

35.7322

Australia

Dollar

0.752300

37.5398

Bahrain

Dinar

2.652590

132.3642

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266667

13.3067

Brunei

Dollar

0.713521

35.6047

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.028910

1.4426

UAE

Dirham 0.272279

13.5867

Euro

Euro

1.090000

54.3910

Korea

Won

0.000880

0.0439

China

Yuan

0.144991

7.2351

India

Rupee

0.015567

0.7768

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.230468

11.5004

New Zealand

Dollar

0.690400

34.4510

Taiwan

Dollar

0.033118

By Darwin G. Amojelar

1.6526 Source: PDS Bridge

IN BRIEF Peso depreciates to 49.99 per dollar

THE peso fell to a one-month low against the US dollar Tuesday as investors preferred the greenback on expectations of another interest rate hike by the Federal Reserve.

The peso breached the 50-a-dollar level before closing at 49.99, or four centavos weaker than 49.95 on April 27.

The peso opened at 50.10 and at one point touched 50.11 a dollar. The last time the peso settled beyond the 50-level was on April 7, 2017 when it closed at 50.08.

East West Bank president and chief executive Antonio Moncupa Jr. said it appeared the peso “is affected by the prospects of expected more robust US growth as the final outcome of the Trump tax cut proposal, on balance, is seen to lead to higher corporate profits and more investments in the US.” “The effect is stronger currencies for countries with current account surplus and weaker for those currencies which do not have substantial current account surpluses,” Moncupa said in a statement. Julito G. Rada

Cemex’s net income drops 24% to P350m

CEMENT manufacturer Cemex Holdings Philippines Inc. said Tuesday net income in the first quarter dropped 24 percent to P350 million from P460 million in the same period last year on lower volume and prices.

Cemex Holdings said in a disclosure to the stock exchange first-quarter revenues dropped 15 percent to P5.36 billion from P6.32 billion a year ago, as sales volume declined 9 percent and cement prices eased 7 percent.

“The first-quarter sales performance has been challenging, but we are encouraged by improvements in cement volumes versus the prior quarter and a strong sales performance in March which was the highest in the last 17 months. As a result, our revenues also increased by 2 percent versus the prior quarter,” Cemex president and chief executive Pedro Jose Palomino said.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Expresspay readies IPO to raise P528m

EXPRESSPAY Inc., a company that develops IT solutions for the financial sector, plans to raise P528 million through an initial public offering next month.

A registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed ExpressPay would sell 193.453 million common shares at P2.73 per share.

The company will list its shares under the small, medium and emerging board of the Philippine Stock Exchange. Post IPO, ExpressPay will have a public float of 26 percent. Unicapital Inc. is the sole issue manager and underwriter for this IPO. Offer period was tentatively set on June 5 to June 9 while listing date was set on June 19. Jenniffer B. Austria

PLDT rolls out fiber in Naga City

PLDT Inc. rolled out its fiber-to-thehome facility in Naga City, transforming the urban center in Camarines Sur the third “Fibr City” in the county.

“We are doing this FTTH rollout in partnership with the Naga City government. This will benefit not only our PLDT Home subscribers but also help business and commerce in this leading urban of the Bicol region,” said PLDT first vice president and head of Home Business Oscar Reyes Jr. said.

Naga City is the latest leg in PLDT Home’s aggressive nationwide FTTH expansion program.

Earlier this year, PLDT completed its first-ever “Fibr City” project in Toledo City in Cebu which was followed

by General Santos, the first “Fibr City” in Mindanao.

“Strong partnerships are key to the growth of any major city, and we are honored to have PLDT, the Philippines’ telco leader on our side. Naga City is proud to be Fibr-powered,” Nelson Legacion, Naga City vice mayor said.

Darwin G. Amojelar

B1

Air talks with UAE bog down

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Tuesday, May 2, 2017 Currency

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

Land Bank of the Philippines puts up a P1-billion credit facility for the pilot project that will cover the replacement of an initial 650 public utility jeepneys at P1.4 million to P1.6 million per unit. It is a part of the “politically challenging” plan of the Duterte administration to modernize some 220,000 PUJs across the country. Shown during the signing of the memorandum of understanding are (from left) Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Martin Delgra III, Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Finance Secretary and LandBank chairman Carlos Dominguez III and LandBank president Alex Buenventura.

LandBank allots P1b for electric jeepneys

By Julito G. Rada

S

tate-run Land Bank of the Philippines put up a P1-billion credit facility for a pilot project covering the replacement of an initial 650 public utility jeepneys with electric vehicles costing P1.4 million to P1.6 million per unit.

Finance Secretary and LandBank chairman Carlos Dominguez III signed a memorandum of understanding with Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade for the jeepney modernization program. LandBank president Alex Buenventura and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board chairman Martin Delgra III witnessed the signing.

Dominguez said the jeepney modernization program of the government would require public diplomacy to convince drivers, operators and the riding public that it was

time to replace the old vehicles with cleaner, healthier, safer and more fuel-efficient electric cars. He said around 220,000 PUJs across the country needed to be modernized.

“We will try to replace 220,000 aging and inefficient jeepneys nationwide with new vehicles. The replacement vehicles will help clear the air literally, make commuting safer for the public and contribute to a more rational public transport system,” Dominguez said during the signing ceremony in Davao City.

Dominguez said the government should carry out the difficult task of convincing PUJ drivers and operators as well as the riding public that the “well-loved” Philippine jeepney has become an “inefficient dinosaur” that “must now be relegated to the museum.”

He said that in the past, there were several attempts to modernize the country’s public transport system, among them a plan by the Development Bank of the Philippines 10 years ago to replace passenger buses plying Edsa with new ones running on liquefied natural gas.

All the other previous efforts although

financially feasible for the bus companies were met with resistance.

“There will be political resistance, no doubt, from those who do not wish change.

We will have to conduct effective public diplomacy to raise the acceptance of this program. We must convince the jeepney drivers and operators that this is the way to go. They must understand the financing package will make the shift affordable,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said he was “confident the government agencies participating in the program have the political will to see this program through.”

“It will be an important contribution to fighting climate change. It will help decongest our exhausted roads. It will make commuting a more pleasant activity for our bedraggled commuters,” he said.

Dominguez said the three agencies primarily involved in the jeep modernization program―the DoF, DOTr, and LandBank― pooled their talents and resources to realize the goal of bringing the country’s public transport system to the 21st century.

TALKS to revise the air service agreement between the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates bogged down, even as congestion at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport hampered the country’s ability to accommodate more flights to the capital.

“The talks ended in a deadlock. The parties were close to agreeing to some exchanges, including the commitment of Emirates to operate to Davao and additional flights to Manila, but the details could not be resolved as of yet,” Civil Aeronautics Board executive director Carmelo Arcilla said.

“So the parties would meet again in the future to resume the discussions,” he said.

The air talks were held in Cebu on April 26 and April 27.

The Philippines and the UAE expanded air rights entitlements to 70 flights a week between Manila and Dubai and Abu Dhabi in 2012 and 2015, respectively.

Local airlines earlier opposed the requests of Middle Eastern carriers to expand flights to Manila. The routes between Manila and cities in the Middle East have become highly profitable, given the presence of millions of Filipinos working in those areas.

An industry source earlier said the Philippine government should not grant the request of the UAE airlines for more flights to Manila.

“It would be inconsistent and discriminatory for the government to now take a different approach and allow UAE airlines to expand to Manila.

Congestion will be worsened, not just in terms of runway movements but also more passengers coursing through Naia’s overburdened terminals,” the source said.

The UAE-Philippine aviation market is currently served

by Emirates, Etihad Airways, Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific.

Air Arabiya, RAK Airlines, Air Philippines, Philippines Air Asia and other airlines may also avail of the negotiated entitlements.

Century Pacific Foods acquires Hunt’s license from URC

By Jenniffer B. Austria CANNED food manufacturer Century Pacific Foods Inc. said Tuesday it is acquiring the Philippine license of Hunt’s, the country’s leading pork and beans brand, from Hunt-Universal Robina Corp. for an undisclosed amount.

HURC is a 50-50 joint venture between URC of the Gokongwei Group and ConAgra Foods, one of North America’s leading packaged food companies, which will continue to own the Hunt’s trade-

mark globally.

Century Pacific said in a disclosure to the stock exchange it would purchase the rights to manufacture, sell and distribute Hunt’s branded products in the Philippines The acquisition will also include the transfer of manufacturing assets and inventory related to HURC’s Hunt’s product lineup, including pork and beans, tomato-based spaghetti sauce, tomato sauce and marinade sauce.

“We are excited about expanding our portfolio with brands

and products that resonate with Filipino consumers. Hunt’s is a welcome addition with its local dominance in pork and beans, its emerging presence in condiments and its potential to be another source of growth for us,” said Century Pacific president and chief executive Christopher Po. “This will be an accretive acquisition for us and we see a number of potential synergies.

These include synergies in the supply chain, distribution, manufacturing, and marketing,” Po said.

URC said in a separate disclosure to the stock exchange the sale of Philippine license for Hunt’s was in line with the company’s thrust to focus on core businesses which are snack foods and beverages “We have recently conducted a strategic review of our portfolio and have shifted our focus on our core categories namely snack foods and beverages which are geared towards convenience and on-the-go occasions,” URC president and chief executive Lance Gokongwei said.

“Given this shift, URC and our joint venture partner, ConAgra have decided to spinoff the Hunts brand to Century Pacific Food.We believe that their strength in the grocery category can further add value and take the Hunt’s business to new levels of growth in the years to come,” Gokongwei said.

Hunt’s maintains an expanded product portfolio, which includes other tomato-based culinary sauces and dominates the readyto-eat canned beans category with an 86-percent market share locally.

Bank loans jumped 20% to nearly P6.2t in March BANKS loans jumped nearly a fifth in March from a year ago, amid robust demand for financing among companies and households, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas show.

Preliminary data from Bangko Sentral showed that outstanding loans of commercial banks, net of reverse repurchase placements with the BSP, grew 19.7 percent in March to P6.16 trillion, faster than the 18.1-percent expansion in February.

Bank lending including RRPs expanded 18.4 percent in March, also stronger than the 17.5-percent growth registered in the previous month.

Bangko Sentral said on a month-on-month seasonallyadjusted basis, commercial bank lending for loans net of RRPs and loans inclusive of RRPs increased 1.7 percent and 0.9 percent, re-

spectively.

Loans for production activities grew 18.5 percent in March to P5.46 trillion while household loans went up 23.6 percent to P490 million.

“Loans for household consumption increased by 23.6 percent in March from 24.6 percent in February due to the growth across all types of loans for household consumption namely, credit card loans, auto loans, salary-based general-purpose loans and other household loans,” Bangko Sentral said.

“Going forward, the BSP will continue to ensure that the expansion in domestic credit and liquidity conditions proceeds in line with overall economic growth while remaining consistent with the BSP’s price and financial stability objectives,” it said.

Julito G. Rada

MICRO-ENTREPRENEURS. Two winners and one finalist of the Citi Microentrepreneurship Awards take to the stage at the Rizal Hall of Malacañang Palace to receive awards as outstanding entrepreneurs.

Shown during the awarding ceremony are (from left) presidential adviser for entrepreneurship and Go Negosyo founder Joey Concepcion, 2015 Luzon regional winner Ester Shiela Vitto, 2016 national winner Honie Navor and Citi Philippines chief executive Aftab Ahmed.

B2

Business

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rebounds; Puregold rises Security Bank posted S P2.8-b net profit in Q1 tocks rose Tuesday, after a four-day break, as global markets reopened with investors focusing on stronger corporate earnings.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, gained 42 points, or 0.6 percent, to close at 7,703.10, as five of the six major sectors advanced. The bellwether was up 12.6 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also climbed 25 points, or 0.6 percent, to settle at 4,604.57, on a value turnover of P7.3 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 119 to 84, while 39 issues were unchanged.

Thirteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by MRC Allied Inc. which

surged 8.3 percent to P0.455 and Puregold Price Club Inc. which jumped 3.7 percent to P43.25.

SM Prime Holdings Inc. gained 3 percent to P30.70.

Meanwhile, most Asian markets traded higher Tuesday as investors focused on earnings that have helped power global stocks to a record, with tech shares outperforming.

Equities have also rallied since Emmanuel Macron emerged as the front-runner over Marine Le Pen in the French presidential race. A tentative deal by the US Congress to avert a government shutdown eliminated another

concern this week, while worries about North Korea have lessened.

US President Donald Trump said that if the circumstances were right, he would meet with leader Kim Jong Un. Eyes are now on a Federal Reserve meeting and the release of US jobs data later in the week.

Another record close on Wall Street’s Nasdaq index provided some early buying impetus. However, there was some disappointment in figures last week showing that growth in the US, British and French economies all came in below expectations.

Tokyo ended 0.7 percent higher, with a weaker yen boosting exporters. The greenback is pushing back above 112 yen, having fallen last month on worries about Donald Trump’s ability to push through his

pro-growth agenda.

Hong Kong was 0.1 percent higher in the afternoon and Seoul added 0.7 percent by the close, while Wellington, Singapore, Taipei and Manila all posted healthy gains.

However, Shanghai slipped 0.4 percent after official data at the weekend showed the pace of growth in China’s factory activity slowed last month. A separate private reading on Tuesday revealed activity at its slowest pace in seven months.

Sydney was 0.1 percent off.

Traders were given a positive lead from Wall Street, where the Nasdaq ended at another record high, while Trump looked to ease tensions with North Korea by saying he would be “honored” to meet the country’s leader Kim Jong-Un under the right circumstances.

With AFP, Bloomberg

By Julito G. Rada Security Bank Corp., the country’s fifth-largest lender in terms of assets, said net income in the first quarter declined 6.7 percent to P2.8 billion from P3 billion a year ago, on lower non-interest income and trading gains.

Security Bank said in a disclosure to the stock exchange net interest income increased 27 percent in January to March to P4.4 billion from P3.5 billion a year earlier, offsetting the decrease in non-interest

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW TUESDAY, MAY 2, 2017

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.08 30,000 49 39,500 104.6 1,223,650 3.97 54,000 121 4,066,500 1.25 1,000 35.35 1,030,400 16.54 53,800 22.8 4,831,100 7.7 6,300 0.66 417,000 820 10 0.67 2,106,000 85.45 2,369,350 0.73 163,000 16 37,600 25.05 2,500 64 1,560,710 240 19,440 88 5,510 54.45 485,280 214.8 532,540 1,720 10 80 78,180

90,920 1,932,415 127,651,019 217,210 489,712,641 1,250 36,430,235 885,572 109,114,605 48,606 277,590 8,200 1,426,080 200,221,813 115,930 603,720 62,645 100,427,728.50 4,670,256 487,662 26,404,456 114,486,644 17,200 6,266,166.50

1,816,675 -74,989,834 16,800 7,279,972 1,250 5,764,515 -39,393,785 -4,020 -15,702,504 17,650 54,312,490.50 -740,284 72 -6,967,577.50 19,112,608 242,133

41.8 5.71 0.81 1.42 18.68 0.26 103 7.16 16.5 23.3 14.12 67.95 84.5 1.89 11.9 12.82 10.08 6.3 6.07 21.2 72.2 12.5 15.12 7.7 1.58 213 54.3 4.84 3.75 24.35 31.6 23.3 18.5 278.8 0.249 6.3 3.7 9.15 11.36 2.14 8.3 1.96 72 5.4 295.2 4.82 2.77 13.6 0.148 1.35 172.8 1.63 31.5 1

INDUSTRIAL 42 1,854,500 5.92 2,997,600 0.81 87,000 1.43 547,000 18.68 15,500 0.27 16,000,000 109.7 130 7.23 14,905,200 16.66 1,928,200 23.35 1,242,100 14.4 3,700 71 47,080 84.5 30 1.92 554,000 11.9 36,600 13 8,306,400 10.24 5,168,600 6.4 7,178,100 6.1 12,980,200 21.3 1,199,800 72.5 114,980 12.5 400 15.12 110,300 7.83 1,830,100 1.59 214,000 215.8 954,730 54.3 100 4.89 749,000 3.8 38,000 28 2,300 32 3,305,100 23.6 70,700 19 1,512,000 279 255,050 0.25 8,600,000 6.4 61,900 3.7 74,000 9.26 10,724,600 11.4 34,500 2.14 11,787,000 9.15 6,507,700 2.04 774,000 73.1 1,278,580 5.62 946,400 300 12,440 4.88 68,000 2.77 25,000 13.9 1,633,300 0.15 1,280,000 1.38 325,000 173.7 1,785,340 1.66 2,483,000 32.95 900 1.03 82,000

78,178,770 17,552,356 70,480 785,400 294,360 4,333,850 13,457 107,702,553 32,079,172 28,977,120 53,188 3,347,640.50 2,570 1,049,930 437,308 108,088,406 52,864,612 45,912,823 79,237,573 25,652,675 8,319,226.50 5,000 1,694,564 14,336,056 339,890 205,623,116 5,430 3,685,870 144,450 62,920 105,827,585 1,653,320 28,715,506 71,266,154 2,160,850 394,918 274,870 99,095,952 392,590 25,338,930 56,932,837 1,560,760 93,199,996.50 5,365,203 3,731,672 330,470 69,970 22,621,962 192,050 443,930 311,168,068 4,101,650 28,655 82,070

5,048,650 1,461,404 57,700 29,150 -51,878,689 18,411,874 2,556,105 -5,648 -2,775,817 9,600 9,390,300 2,808,256 -36,332,077 32,277,526 -905,035 4,490,866 -1,432,380 4,416,782 148,954,232 545,200 -14,359,725 -1,463,285 17,947,118 -34,078,202 91,600 -3,810 9,012,488 31,824 21,499,560 -1,459,375 -133,320 50,903,090 382,460 121,850 3,427,612.00 -43,800 6,850 32,464,627 -706,900 6,590 5,000

0.38 77.9 14.8 1.14 6.23 0.43 0.435 870 8.35 13.02 7.98 5.41 0.21 1,272 6.47 84.45 4.68 1.03 7.72 16.28 0.41 6.67 0.058 1.05 1.9 110 2.84 745.5 0.9 1.4 300 0.305 0.208 0.26

0.37 75.1 14.18 1.14 6.12 0.415 0.42 864.5 8.19 12.84 7.85 5.41 0.202 1,245 6.45 83.75 4.68 0.99 7.49 15.96 0.405 6.55 0.056 1.05 1.88 108 2.76 735 0.89 1.38 293.6 0.29 0.191 0.25

HOLDING FIRMS 0.37 2,110,000 76.65 1,434,380 14.32 8,516,100 1.14 1,000 6.12 15,500 0.42 8,140,000 0.42 2,530,000 867 230,030 8.35 5,641,900 13 6,620,200 7.96 4,600 5.41 31,000 0.202 970,000 1,248 232,125 6.45 107,600 83.95 1,610,480 4.68 2,000 1.01 3,555,000 7.51 1,156,200 16.26 4,089,400 0.41 40,000 6.65 32,858,200 0.057 18,150,000 1.05 5,000 1.88 175,000 109.5 112,830 2.83 12,000 740 433,460 0.9 38,000 1.4 662,000 300 6,320 0.29 1,010,000 0.208 580,000 0.255 450,000

786,450 109,848,867 123,165,884 1,140 96,130 3,424,550 1,069,550 199,384,920 46,327,263 85,719,258 36,374 167,710 198,880 290,532,315 694,092 135,278,008 9,360 3,610,030 8,696,711 66,110,762 16,350 218,299,022 1,025,270 5,250 331,200 12,282,909 33,790 320,734,450 34,000 916,560 1,884,416 297,550 118,640 116,500

-39,424,770.50 -47,509,602 210,000 -16,586,990 -3,731,853 31,299,980 1,570 -8,080 -11,796,830 -645,000 -11,371,266.50 19,800 1,118,318 7,160,222 -4,050 8,608,569 5,130 -5,240,475 149,671,290 -230,566 42,000 -8,200 -78,000

6.96 1.15 2.34 1.41 35.65 4.29 5.29 0.51 1.01 1.42 0.163 0.54 52 0.71 0.182 1.77 0.98 1.06 4.13 0.46 0.385 0.63

6.81 1.08 2.28 1.36 35.25 4.09 5.22 0.495 1 1.35 0.158 0.52 51.7 0.7 0.173 1.73 0.97 1.04 4.06 0.425 0.355 0.6

237,518 5,417,180 331,030 25,780,880 314,973,845 39,883,440 584,253 7,965,200 167,210 316,700 4,638,550 859,790 11,956,611 219,810 351,360 13,974,400 1,372,670 931,550 98,606,270 122,938,750 2,726,200 4,112,090

-21,310 359,000.00 -32,563,905 -7,908,290 -263,500 -693,250 -30,200 -28,000 322,000 3,393,079.50 6,773,010 19,600 230,800 -28,969,320 -8,500,650 25,350 31,720

NAME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE ASIA UNITED BANK PH ISLANDS BDO LEASING BDO UNIBANK BRIGHT KINDLE CHINABANK COL FINANCIAL EAST WEST BANK FILIPINO FUND FIRST ABACUS MANULIFE MEDCO HLDG METROBANK NTL REINSURANCE PB BANK PBCOM PHIL NATL BANK PHIL STOCK EXCH PSBANK RCBC SECURITY BANK SUN LIFE UNION BANK

3 48.8 104.2 4.2 119.9 1.25 35.45 16.3 21.7 7.75 0.67 820 0.67 84.55 0.71 16.2 25.1 65.1 239.2 89.5 54.45 216.8 1,720 79.75

3.08 49 104.6 4.2 122 1.25 35.45 16.54 23 7.75 0.7 820 0.69 85.45 0.73 16.28 25.1 65.1 242 89.5 55 216.8 1,720 81

3 47.35 104 3.97 118.8 1.25 35.3 16.2 21.7 7.7 0.66 820 0.67 83.8 0.7 16 25.05 63.25 239.2 88 54.3 213.2 1,720 79.75

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

42.45 5.71 0.82 1.43 18.98 0.275 103 7.25 16.52 23.35 14.12 74 88 1.93 12.18 12.94 10.1 6.3 6.1 21.5 72.5 12.5 15.4 7.7 1.6 213.4 54.3 4.94 3.8 24.35 32 23.3 18.5 280 0.26 6.35 3.7 9.15 11.4 2.15 8.5 1.99 73.45 5.5 295.2 4.82 2.77 13.72 0.148 1.37 175 1.63 31.55 1

42.55 5.92 0.82 1.45 19.14 0.285 109.7 7.3 16.9 23.5 14.5 74 88 1.93 12.18 13.14 10.26 6.43 6.13 21.65 72.5 12.5 15.5 7.86 1.6 216 54.3 5.04 3.81 28 32.45 23.6 19.1 282.8 0.265 6.4 3.77 9.27 11.4 2.16 9.15 2.05 73.45 5.8 301.6 4.88 2.84 13.92 0.151 1.38 176 1.67 32.95 1.03

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

0.37 77.5 14.6 1.14 6.23 0.42 0.43 867 8.3 12.96 7.98 5.41 0.202 1,265 6.47 84.2 4.68 1.01 7.72 15.96 0.405 6.6 0.057 1.05 1.9 109 2.8 736 0.89 1.39 294 0.305 0.204 0.26

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

6.96 1.15 2.28 1.41 35.3 4.12 5.22 0.495 1 1.35 0.162 0.53 52 0.7 0.18 1.73 0.98 1.04 4.06 0.425 0.37 0.62

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PRIMEX CORP PTFC REDEV CORP ROBINSONS LAND ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

4.6 27.5 26 1.78 3.25 29.8 1.01 0.9 5.28

4.62 27.5 26.4 1.78 3.35 30.9 1.01 0.9 5.29

4.5 27.5 25.7 1.76 3.25 29.65 0.99 0.9 5.23

4.5 27.5 25.85 1.77 3.34 30.7 0.99 0.9 5.28

127,000 700 1,335,200 319,000 226,000 11,319,100 2,766,000 50,000 5,146,700

578,380 19,250 34,722,345 564,910 755,130 346,514,085 2,743,100 45,000 27,120,972

-2,959,410 201,000 80,416,960 -1,055,737

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

13 45.5 1.44 0.53 0.044 11.5 9.09 0.095 1.97 108.1 10.3 8.79 3.53 2,090 6.21 16.02 3.34 3.62 89.05 0.0093 12.68 9.01 0.182 1.4 3.7 15.54 4.22 0.98 4.9 2.53 7.36 3.65 17.2 2.86 11.7 5.5 3.07 7.73 1,768 1.56 0.415 41.7 79 6 2.29 1.07 2.07 3.29 0.49 5.44

15.24 45.5 1.53 0.53 0.045 11.5 9.18 0.099 2.01 110 10.32 8.79 3.53 2,094 6.27 16.5 3.47 3.73 89.35 0.0097 12.68 9.01 0.185 1.4 3.79 15.66 4.22 0.98 4.9 2.53 7.55 3.7 17.2 2.86 11.74 5.5 3.07 7.8 1,768 1.56 0.415 43.25 79 6 2.29 1.08 2.07 3.3 0.56 5.45

13 43 1.44 0.51 0.044 11.5 9.04 0.09 1.9 106 10.3 8.79 3.53 2,046 6.16 16.02 3.31 3.56 87.95 0.0092 12.06 8.99 0.181 1.36 3.59 15.5 4.1 0.97 4.7 2.38 7.33 3.63 17 2.77 11.62 5.5 3.07 7.72 1,740 1.49 0.415 41.65 78.55 5.92 2.25 1.06 2 3.26 0.485 5.34

SERVICES 15.2 44.4 1.53 0.52 0.044 11.5 9.11 0.092 1.92 109.9 10.32 8.79 3.53 2,046 6.18 16.5 3.4 3.61 88.8 0.0094 12.06 8.99 0.185 1.36 3.76 15.5 4.19 0.97 4.8 2.39 7.36 3.65 17 2.8 11.72 5.5 3.07 7.76 1,740 1.5 0.415 43.25 78.85 5.92 2.28 1.06 2 3.28 0.51 5.36

2,538,600 100,900 6,000 513,000 24,400,000 1,100 10,033,000 505,830,000 9,418,000 295,520 300 11,100 2,000 103,915 246,700 104,500 4,170,000 38,000 1,468,460 99,000,000 1,300 268,000 6,820,000 423,000 94,000 30,000 2,796,000 10,000 213,000 21,000 4,501,000 605,000 1,300 3,570,000 5,500 3,600 1,000 118,000 103,230 10,391,000 880,000 2,587,700 1,343,900 107,700 877,000 2,281,000 24,000 623,000 11,930,000 6,243,400

36,177,566 4,475,975 9,090 266,330 1,084,600 12,650 91,356,255 48,162,200 18,280,900 32,025,246 3,092 97,569 7,060 213,932,420 1,531,969 1,715,192 14,157,340 137,820 130,424,311 939,600 16,298 2,409,510 1,242,120 585,410 352,400 466,798 11,616,240 9,770 1,015,720 50,920 33,437,728 2,215,570 22,180 9,970,730 64,290 19,800 3,070 912,994 180,658,540 15,820,140 365,200 110,457,155 105,935,532.50 642,049 1,989,780 2,436,820 48,280 2,045,890 6,294,450 33,514,048

-4,317,700 1,440 10,686,101 439,440 235,270 16,738,263 -65,565,030 -52,050 65,181,329.50 72,800 62,160 430,600 -6,006,978 -282,250 33,080 550 -774 -8,186,160 1,567,380 66,400 4,926,750 73,308,286 99,520 482,740 -820,000 -349,500 8,907,616

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

0.0034 1.5 5.35 13.48 1.72 1.7 0.91 0.42 8.8 2.55 0.255 0.183 0.196 0.011 0.011 1.76 6.27 2.14 0.88 0.012 4.06 0.013 8.8 3.15 149 2.72

0.0035 1.59 5.4 13.48 1.8 1.7 0.91 0.43 8.8 2.73 0.255 0.191 0.2 0.012 0.012 1.97 6.68 2.15 0.92 0.012 4.06 0.013 9.14 3.15 152.4 2.76

0.0033 1.5 5.31 13.48 1.7 1.7 0.89 0.415 8.41 2.55 0.25 0.183 0.196 0.011 0.011 1.76 6.27 2.11 0.88 0.012 4.06 0.012 8.79 3.05 148.8 2.72

MINING & OIL 0.0035 1,291,000,000 1.59 8,879,000 5.31 52,700 13.48 100 1.8 104,000 1.7 1,000 0.9 7,797,000 0.43 660,000 8.8 6,000 2.73 2,932,000 0.255 390,000 0.19 23,480,000 0.2 1,910,000 0.012 174,000,000 0.012 27,300,000 1.97 1,473,000 6.64 9,985,400 2.15 75,000 0.91 503,000 0.012 900,000 4.06 50,000 0.012 111,100,000 9.14 2,438,100 3.08 1,306,000 151.1 907,280 2.76 18,000

4,390,500 13,762,320 283,846 1,348 180,900 1,700 7,018,040 282,050 52,600 7,816,380 99,400 4,435,750 380,650 1,934,400 300,600 2,751,830 65,143,442 160,850 452,990 10,800 203,000 1,339,000 22,052,780 4,009,530 136,598,070 49,320

533,800 479,400 -14,346 -3,286,600 2,642,170 -10,250 -29,940 -367,000 -24,719,896 21,500 3,900 791,419 177,060 15,982,114 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF FGEN PREF G GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 SFI PREF SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

45.6 530 108.4 105.5 115.5 5.75 1,024 1,045 108.5 1,145 1,020 2.1 80.5 81.1 79.9 78.95 78.5 78.3

45.6 530 108.4 105.5 115.5 5.81 1,024 1,045 108.5 1,145 1,020 2.1 80.5 81.1 80.4 79.5 78.5 78.3

44.2 530 108.4 104.5 115 5.75 1,024 1,045 108.5 1,142 1,020 2.1 80.5 80 79.9 78.95 78.35 78.3

PREFERRED 44.3 188,600 530 100 108.4 2,000 104.5 230 115 30,000 5.8 638,600 1,024 20 1,045 800 108.5 280 1,142 2,380 1,020 105 2.1 3,000 80.5 16,000 80 70 80.4 6,440 79.5 49,900 78.5 31,200 78.3 2,000

8,364,220 53,000 216,800 24,248 3,450,550 3,703,225 20,480 836,000 30,380 2,717,990 107,100 6,300 1,288,000 5,666 515,882 3,957,480 2,449,132.50 156,600

-3,561,310 1,045 3,054,690 -

LR WARRANT

2.28

2.32

2.25

WARRANTS 2.3 217,000

490,850

-

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.85 6.62 9.38

4.15 6.71 9.39

3.85 6.61 9.05

4.11 6.61 9.05

6,544,040 474,544 29,351,528

-20,550 1,960,025

FIRST METRO ETF

127.2

127.3

127.1

460,629

-

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 6.82 1.1 2.29 1.36 35.4 4.28 5.24 0.5 1.01 1.42 0.158 0.54 51.7 0.7 0.182 1.77 0.97 1.06 4.1 0.455 0.355 0.61

34,600 4,909,000 144,000 18,729,000 8,897,200 9,499,000 111,100 15,940,000 166,000 226,000 29,130,000 1,623,000 230,560 314,000 1,940,000 7,964,000 1,414,000 883,000 24,063,000 277,010,000 7,270,000 6,717,000

TRADING SUMMARY FINANCIAL

SHARES

19,115,173

INDUSTRIAL

134,306,304

HOLDING FIRMS

105,048,510

PROPERTY

458,470,458

SERVICES

724,492,787

MINING & OIL

1,667,495,287

GRAND TOTAL

3,113,852,799

SME

1,629,000 71,600 3,217,000

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 127.3 3,620

VALUE 1,897.36 (up) 10.26 1,221,598,273.02 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,400.18 (up) 92.59 1,690,968,577.31 HOLDING FIRMS 7,838.81 (up) 24.81 1,690,859,530.45 PROPERTY 3,373.82 (up) 47.57 SERVICES 1,606.88 (down) 8.42 1,149,321,161.925 MINING & OIL 12,433.80 (up) 363.08 1,185,240,207.94 PSEI 7,703.10 (up) 42.09 273,740,540.278 All Shares Index 4,604.57 (up) 25.37 7,248,571,680.98 Gainers: 119; Losers: 84; Unchanged: 39; Total: 242

income.

Non-interest income including securities trading gains declined to P1.8 billion from P2.4 billion a year ago.

“We’re pleased with the loan and deposit growth which has sustained net interest income growth. The bank has been able to manage the cost-to-income ratio in the midst of heavy investments in branch network, information technology and people. These are investments for the future which will allow us to scale up the business,” Security Bank president and chief executive Alfonso Salcedo Jr. said in a statement.

The bank’s loan book grew 28 percent year-onyear to P305 billion. Wholesale loans increased 26 percent while consumer loans grew 51 percent. Net interest margin was maintained at 3.1 percent.

Asset quality remained healthy, with net non-performing loan ratio at 0.14 percent, lower than 0.29 percent a year ago. NPL reserve cover remained high at 197 percent versus 171 percent a year ago.

Deposits increased 34 percent to P379 billion, and low-cost deposits grew 19 percent.

Total assets hit P729 billion. The cost-to-income ratio remained at an efficient 47 percent. Operating expense growth rate, excluding provisions for probable credit losses and impairments, was at 18 percent.

Italpinas bares P1-b share sale GREEN building developer Italpinas Development Corp. plans to issue preferred shares that can raise up to P1 billion in proceeds to finance landbanking activities and pay debt.

Italpinas chairman and chief executive Romulo Nati said in a news briefing the company aimed to issue the preferred shares between June and August this year.

The board of Italpinas approved the reclassification of 100 million unissued common shares into 100 million preferred shares in preparation for the planned equity raising program.

The reclassification of the shares will be subject to shareholders approval during the general meeting on May 31.

The board of Italpinas approved the increase in the company’s authorized capital stock to P377.9 million from P177.9 million and the declaration of 100 million stock dividends.

Meanwhile, Nati said the company planned to expand product offerings by venturing into horizontal developments and micro township developments.

Nati said the company was now in an advanced stage of negotiations to acquire two properties for micro township developments that would have various components including vertical and horizontal housing developments.

Italpinas will start preselling its mixed-use development projects in Sto. Tomas, Batangas called Miramonti.

Phase 1 of the project will offer 374 units mostly studio units costing less than P3 million each.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Business

B3

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Pernia unveils P157.4b worth of infra projects

By Julito G. Rada

CREATIVE ECOSYSTEMS. Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez (third from left) leads the launching April 26 of the Asean Creative Cities Forum and Exhibition at the Bonifacio Global City Arts Center. Lopez stresses that the design, creative and innovation dimension of any location, product or services add the greatest to its value or income. With Lopez are Trade Undersecretary Nora Terrado (second from left), DCP executive director Ma. Rita Matute (righ) and Team Manila creative director Jowee Alviar (leftmost).

A TOTAL of 1,313 region-specific infrastructure projects worth P157.44 billion included in the Three-Year Rolling Infrastructure Plan (TRIP) 2018-2020 will be rolled out in the next three years in five regions that have the highest poverty rates, the government said Tuesday.

“This is in line with the country’s National Spatial Strategy in the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022,” National Economic and Development Authority director-general and Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said.

“We want to set the country’s direction of future growth to one that strongly involves the regions and maximize this connectivity of sustainable urban and rural communities,” he said in a statement.

He said out of the 4,895 projects amounting to P3.6 trillion included in TRIP 2018-2020 revealed during the Dutertenomics Forum, 4,498 are region-specific (P935.55 billion), 158 are interregional (P1,848.02 billion), and 239 are nationwide in scale (P824.47 billion).

Among the regions, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, the country’s poorest with 48.2 poverty rate among families in the 2015 Philippine Poverty Statistics, will have 955 projects amounting to P50.71 billion.

Caraga (Region XIII), also included in the poorest regions, will have 66 infrastructure projects amounting to P28.81 billion, while Eastern Visayas (Region VIII) will have 147 infrastructure projects amounting to P19.8 billion. Soccsksargen (Region XII) will have 28 projects amounting to P 7.8 billion and Northern Mindanao (Region X) will have 117 projects amounting to P50.32 billion.

“These numbers only include the region-specific projects.

These areas are also expected to benefit from the interregional and nationwide infrastructure that will form efficient network of engines of economic growth all over the country,” said Pernia.

For the region-specific projects, 2,857 infrastructure projects amounting to P524.48 billion will be built in areas outside the National Capital Region, compared with 293 projects amounting to P180.37 billion to be built in the NCR.

Semirara allots P5b for expansion

By Alena Mae S. Flores

S

emirara Mining and Power Corp. is allocating P5 billion to increase the production capacity of its Antique coal mines to a maximum of 16 million metric tons in the next two to three years, its top official said Tuesday.

“We got permission to do 16 million MT in two to three years’ time,” Sem-Calaca chairman and chief executive officer Isidro Consunji told reporters after the annual stockholders’ meeting.

The company has received approval under its amended environmental compliance certificate, allowing a maxi-

mum coal production of 16 million MT. The company plans to use the higher production capacity to supply the increasing domestic demand from coalfired power plants, which are due for commissioning and commercial operation from 2017 to 2020. The company produced 12 million MT of

coal last year.

“Our plan to increase coal mining capacity is in line with the government’s thrust for power stability, optimal pricing of electricity and intensified infrastructure development,” Consunji said.

The company is moving in additional mining equipment to accommodate the increase in production, double the conveyor line, lengthen the pier and expand the coal storage area. The current facility can only accommodate 12 million MT. Consunji said the company would spend P2 billion this year and P3 billion next year for the increased production.

“This year we are aiming 13 million MT but if we get 14 MT, we will be very happy because the weather is projected to be a little bit wet,” Sem-Calala president and chief operating officer Victor Consunji said.

The company’s expansion program will require the approval of the Energy Department.

The company is the biggest coal miner in the Philippines, accounting for over 97 percent of the total country’s production both for local consumption and exports.

Sem-Calaca supplied 5.8 percent of the total system demand for Luzon and Visayas.

The company, through wholly-owned subsidiary Southwest Luzon Power Corp, meanwhile, declared commercial operations for its 300-megawatt coal plant expansion in Calaca, Batangas last year.

Sem-Calaca owns the existing 600-MW coal plant that it acquired from the government. It is also pursuing a 700-MW coal plant expansion in joint venture with Meralco PowerGen Corp.

Sem-Calaca recorded net income after tax to P12.05 billion in 2016, up from P8.49 billion in 2015.

Company officials expect higher income in 2017 due to

Heart IT IS the first week of May. In the Philippines, the first day of May is Labor Day, which this year, fell on a Monday. This week follows the weekend of the Philippine hosting of the 30th ASEAN Summit, marking the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN with the theme of “Partnering for change, engaging the world.”

Nearer to home, a group of students from the Asian Institute of Management (AIM) Master in Entrepreneurship (ME) program headed back to Manila last Friday from a week-long China trip.

It is, I suppose, fitting that the week that was capped off by the 30th ASEAN Summit was kicked off for some of our Entrepreneur students by a visit to the Canton Trade Fair. While the ASEAN ministers reaffirmed their support of the ASEAN Community’s Vision 2025, which seeks inclusive, innovation-led growth and the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, our students were busy examining the most recent offerings of what many scholars call the world’s factory.

Community The country’s hosting of the ASEAN summit follows its 2015 hosting of the APEC Summit. Unlike the APEC, which is very clearly labeled an economic cooperation, the group of nations in the ASEAN have labeled themselves a community. The ASEAN’s thematic priorities

reflect its particular regional situation and priorities. In addition to inclusive, innovationled growth, they include: a people-oriented and people-centered ASEAN, peace and stability in the region, maritime security and cooperation, ASEAN resilience, becoming a model of regionalism and being a global player.

In this list of priorities, it is quite easy to spot the matters that have been and continue to be thorny for ASEAN. Being home to countries that are constantly battered by crises, both natural and man-made, resilience and cooperation are particularly important for the region. In a region which includes emerging economies, inclusion and innovation are key to growth with peace and stability.

Perhaps most telling is the region’s clear focus on being a global player and partner for change. In fact, parallel to the ASEAN summit and the other meetings between ASEAN members are meetings with ASEAN dialogue partners. This year, these dialogue partners included eight other countries: China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, USA, India, and Russia.

For the Philippines, currently expected to be one of the fastestgrowing economies not only in the ASEAN but in the world, it is a time for looking forward and working together.

Growth The ASEAN, like many simi-

lar organizations, essentially focuses on development goals.

While many of these goals are non-economic, it should be clear to everyone that very few of the non-economic goals can be met if the economic ones are not met.

This is especially true of emerging economies.

This is a challenge that entrepreneurs feel in the marrow of their bones. This, over and over again, is the lesson that every entrepreneur has to grapple with.

Many goals must be juggled in the building of a thriving enterprise but, in the end, an enterprise that never learns to grow profitably will either stagnate or die.

For those in the business of helping entrepreneurs, one things has always been clear. Enterprises and entrepreneurs are most vulnerable in the early years and during growth transitions. It is the moment of inflection, that moment when the enterprise is poised to make the transition to high growth, however, that is most critical. It is that moment that can turn a fledgling start-up into a major player. It is that moment of great opportunity that can also be the moment of most danger. In studies of enterprises and entrepreneurs, the difference between success and failure at the moment of transition often boils down to a single matter: management capability. That gap, that moment – that is what the AIM Master in Entrepreneurship is designed to address.

Bridges In the AIM ME, we say that entrepreneurs learn best by doing. Like other similar programs, such as the MBA or the executive MBA, ME students have to read articles and cases. They must attend class. However, in addition to all of this, they must also continue to run the business and, in the ME. They are expected to apply what they learn to their business.

In this program, one of the most important things students learn is that their community of classmates, who are also owners and general managers, forms part of one of their most important resources – their social network.

They learn that economic capital is only one of their resources.

Time, personal energy, inspiration, knowledge and a network of contacts is just as important.

Hence, when one of our students proposed to organize a trip to China for factory visits and to go to the Canton Trade Fair, I was very supportive.

One of the challenges of entrepreneurs is the management of their time and their energy.

It is easy to fall into the trap of trying to do too much operationally. The problem with being too immersed in operations is that this then leaves no time for other things – things such as examining what else is out there and widening their social network.

I am certain our students took home many lessons from our China trip. My favorite one was

a story from Alan LI, Chairman and founder of TK holdings. In answer to my question about how he got started, he said this: “I literally swam from mainland China to Hong Kong. I only finished secondary school. No money. No social network. So, my advice for you young entrepreneurs - Don’t worry about all the things you do not have.

What is important is you have the heart.” Building a company culture that has this heart is what Chairman Li believes will ensure his firm’s future. He echoes what James Leung, another entrepreneur we met explains about the real value of a business education: “The most important thing you get from an MBA education is an attitude of never giving up.

That is what you learn in business school. There is always a way.”

In these days when we are looking at brighter prospects for our nation, that is a good thing to keep in mind. Instead of looking at all the things we don’t have, perhaps we should look for ways.

••• Please visit me.aim.edu for more information about the AIM Master in Entrepreneurship program. Readers can email Maya at integrations_manila@yahoo.com. Or visit her site at http://integrations.tumblr.com. For academic publications, Maya uses her full name, Maria Elena Baltazar H errera.

the higher price of coal, increased production capacity, bigger cement demand and new coal markets.

Sem-Calaca last year embarked on a three-year life extension program to increase the generation capacity of Unit 1 by 50 MW to 70 MW using 100 percent Semirara coal. The program also extended the life of the power units by around 20 years.

Sem-Calaca has shipped coal to Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan and China. It counts Petron Corp., Filinvest Development Corp. and Eagle Cement as among its new domestic customers.

Salazar invokes his right as CEO ENERGY Regulatory Commission chairman and chief executive officer Jose Vicente Salazar again invoked his right to issue appointments and directed the directors to comply.

“This appointing power was granted by the EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001) solely to the head of the ERC, when it designated the chairman and CEO of ERC as the CEO of the Commission, a phrase absent in Executive Order No. 172, which created the Energy Regulatory Board, or even the latter’s previous iteration, the Board of Energy,” Salazar said.

Four commissioners of the five-man commission issued a resolution dated April 19 nullifying the appointments of Salazar. The resolution was signed by commissioners Geronimo Sta. Ana, Alfredo Non, Josefina Asirit and Gloria Taruc.

“By specifically providing that only the ERC Chairman and CEO shall serve as the CEO, the EPIRA stressed the chairman and CEO’s position as the top executive who is solely responsible for the ERC’s overall well-being in terms of operations and performance,” Salazar’s memorandum said.

“This administrative power organically includes the power to determine the personnel who should be part of the organization. Had the intent been otherwise, there would have been no need to provide for a “Chief Executive Officer”, i.e. the legislature would have left things as they had been and omitted any mention of a Chief Executive Officer,” it said.

Ray S. Eñano, Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

Business

Greece moves closer to debt relief G REECE resolved the latest impasse over the terms of its bailout program with international creditors in the early hours of Tuesday, unlocking the way for debt-relief talks and the disbursement of the next tranche of emergency loans.

Greeks stocks and bonds rallied after the late-night breakthrough that ends months of negotiations with the euro area and the International Monetary Fund. The Greek government yielded to a number of demands including pension cuts and a lower tax-free threshold of

around 5,700 euros ($6,221) to 6,000 euros from 8,636 euros now. The agreement will also allow more shops to open on Sundays in various parts of the country.

“The discussion for an agreement that secures Greek debt’s sustainability now

begins,” Greek Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos told reporters in Athens after the meeting.

Seven years after Greece applied for outside aid, triggering a debt crisis that rippled across the euro area, the country remains heavily indebted and in need of bailout loans. In the latest standoff, Greece needs an installment of about 7 billion euros in aid to repay lenders in a few months, yet some euro-area governments, notably Germany, refuse to pay out until the IMF comes on board. The IMF has said it won’t join the latest bailout program until Greece’s

debt burden is eased, in addition to the reforms agreed to earlier Tuesday.

The set of measures now agreed “should allow Greece to receive the funds it needs to stay afloat over the summer,” said Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg Bank.

“Both Greece and its creditors are de facto buying time before talks, including those on the details of debt relief, can advance after the German elections later this year.”

Stocks and bonds jumped in early Athens trading. Yields on 2019 Greek government notes dropped 28 basis points as of

10:35 a.m in Athens, while the benchmark Athens Stock Exchange general index rose 1.5 percent.

If Greece beats its targets, the government will be able to implement a number of offsetting measures to ease the austerity burden, according to an official in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s government who asked not to be named while discussing the program. They include subsidies for rent of as much as 1,000 euros per year, as much as 250 million euros in child support and lower contributions to medication for those of lower

income. Collective bargaining for Greek employees will be reinstated starting September 2018, the official said.

Creditor officials are now due to leave Athens to craft the compliance report for a meeting of euro-area finance ministers scheduled for May 22. The report will allow the disbursement of the next tranche of Greece’s 85 billion-euro loan, while the country’s debt-relief measures are expected to be discussed during that meeting. Greek lawmakers will vote on the measures agreed with creditors before the report is completed. Bloomberg

Infosys to hire 10,000 US workers in 2 years INDIA’S Infosys Ltd. said it plans to hire 10,000 Americans in the next two years, following criticism from the Trump administration that the company and other outsourcing firms are unfairly taking jobs away from US workers.

Infosys which employs about 200,000 people around the world, will expand its local hiring in the US while adding four hubs to research technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning. The first location will open in Indiana in August 2017 and is expected to create 2,000 jobs for American workers by 2021, the company said.

The moves come after India’s outsourcing firms have come under attack for allegedly displacing American workers with employees from overseas. Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at overhauling the work visa programs that Infosys and other firms use to bring overseas workers into the US. “In the fast-changing world of today, we need the ability to be local. We need to be trusted by our customers as being local,” said Chief Executive Officer Vishal Sikka in an interview from Indiana.

“To work with a mix of global and local talent is absolutely the right thing to do.”

The US administration has taken several steps to reform the work visa programs that outsourcers have used to bring in workers from overseas. Last month, the Justice Department warned employers applying for the visas not to discriminate against US workers, while the Citizenship and Immigration Services agency issued a memo laying out new measures to combat what it called “fraud and abuse.” In signing the executive order, Trump said there had been “widespread abuse” and directed federal agencies to find ways to reorient the program.

In that context, Infosys’s hiring may be a useful move politically, even if it increases labor costs in the US. “This is positive in one aspect and negative in another: Increasing local hiring is important for Indian IT firms to retain ongoing projects in the US, as well as secure new ones. The downside is that the costs will rise,” said Urmil Shah, Mumbai-based analyst at IDBI Capital Market Services Ltd. Sikka has come under particular pressure. The Trump administration’s clampdown has hit his company’s stock. In addition, a group of Infosys founders publicly accused the board of corporate governance violations and questioned hefty pay raises given to Sikka and his deputy. Bloomberg

Canberra developing 2nd airport in Sydney SYDNEY, Australia―The operator of Sydney’s main airport Tuesday ruled out involvement in building a second major airport for the city, citing financial risks and leaving the Australian government to develop the project.

Last December Canberra announced plans for another airport in Sydney, ending decades of indecision over a facility that will initially handle 10 million passengers a year.

Badgerys Creek in the western suburbs had already been selected as the site.

It is scheduled to open in 2026, easing pressure on Sydney’s Kingsford Smith Airport―the main gateway into Australia―which is reaching capacity.

The listed Sydney Airport Group, owner of Kingsford Smith, had the right of first refusal to build and operate the new multi-billion dollar Western Sydney Airport but declined.

“Despite the opportunities that WSA will present, the risks associated with the development and operation of WSA are considerable and endure for many decades without commensurate returns for our investors,” the company said in a statement to the stock market.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the government would instead take on the project, with details set to be revealed in next week’s federal budget.

“The airport will be a major catalyst for jobs and economic growth in Western Sydney, injecting more than Aus$1.9 billion ($1.43 billion) into the economy during the construction phase alone,” he said.

“It is expected to deliver 9,000 new jobs to Western Sydney by the early 2030s, and 60,000 in the long-term.”

The first stage will see one runway constructed, able to handle Airbus A380s and 10 million people each year, with a second expected to be needed by 2050.

Kingsford Smith Airport, which is eight kilometers (around five miles) from the city center, handled 39.7 million travelers in 2015 and is reaching its limit. Passenger numbers through Sydney are forecast to more than double in the next 20 years.

It is also subject to flight restrictions between 11 p.m.-6 a.m.

Badgerys Creek, 45 kilometers west of Sydney’s central business district, is expected to be curfew-free given that fewer people live nearby.

Badgerys has been a potential site since 1986, with the government buying about 1,800 hectares (4,446 acres) in the area and the surroundings kept largely free of development since then. AFP

SLOWEST PACE. An elderly woman (left) buys vegetables at a stand in a street in Beijing on May 2, 2017. China’s manufacturing activity expanded at its slowest pace in seven months in April, as output and new orders rose at softer rates, according to a private survey. AFP

All-cash business a headache for marijuana stores

By Veronique Dupont LOS ANGELES―America’s cannabis industry may be booming, but its entrepreneurs are finding the all-cash business a logistical, security and administrative headache as they try to manage all the money they’re making.

Legalized for medical purposes in 29 states and recreational use in eight, the drug remains illegal under federal law.

Most banks therefore refuse to have anything to do with the industry, forcing marijuana dispensaries across the country to operate only in cash, keeping bagfuls of dollars in their heavily guarded backrooms and employing discreet couriers.

“It’s a very serious issue,” says Steve DeAngelo, a leading cannabis activist and founder of California’s Harborside Center, a medical marijuana dispensary company.

The same is true for marijuana growers, says Justin Calvino,

who grows cannabis in northern California’s so-called Emerald Triangle and complains that entrepreneurs like him also have no choice but to work almost exclusively in cash.

“As farmers, we are all cash and it’s probably the most inconvenient thing,” he said.

Innovative solutions Only 300 banking institutions―mainly regional banks and financial cooperatives―of nearly 12,000 in the United States agree to work discreetly with clients in the sector, according to the Standard and Poor’s ratings agency.

And although small and medium-sized enterprises are increasingly managing to find banks or online institutions willing to do business with them, they run the risk of being shut down any time.

Any significant cash deposit can draw the attention of the tax authorities, something Calvino found out over $3,000.

“I’m on my sixth bank account in the last five years,” he

said.

Michael Katz, who heads Evoxe Laboratories―which makes cannabis vaporizers and aromatherapy oils mixed with cannabis―said he had $13,000 frozen for 19 days by Square, a digital payment system.

But entrepreneurs say they’re finding innovative ways to survive the restrictions and deal with the large amounts of cash, some that seem straight from the TV series “Breaking Bad.” One marketing manager says she once received a message from Venmo, a popular payment system, asking that she no longer uses its services.

She turned to Paypal, hoping her company’s description of its cannabis-infused oils as “health products” won’t be scrutinized.

Other cannabis operations have turned to the virtual currency Bitcoin while still others have developed intricate financial schemes.

“People set up different entities, not directly related to the cannabis legal entities, as busi-

A young woman smokes in Paris on April 29, 2017, during the 16th annual Marche Mondiale du Cannabis to call for the legalization of cannabis. AFP

ness management service companies,” Katz said.

The Obama administration largely chose not to enforce federal laws on marijuana and in 2014 gave the banking sector the green light to do business with the industry in states where the drug is legalized.

But it’s still unclear whether President Donald Trump― whose attorney general, Jeff Sessions, is an outspoken opponent of legalization―will maintain the status quo or crack down on the industry.

Stringent security Given the uncertainty, many growers and entrepreneurs stick to cash as much as they can.

“It is dangerous and you have to keep multiple options,” Katz said. “For many people, this cash is just hidden or kept in storage.”

One cannabis grower in southern California who did not want to be identified says he keeps thousands of dollars in a safe under round-the-clock surveillance.

The risks are obvious.

One of Calvino’s employees made off with “$40,000 from underneath our bed and that really hurt,” he says.

At Harborside, accessing any of the company’s buildings is like trying to get into Fort Knox.

Photo identification and clearance by security guards are required for entrance.

“We have approximately 50 surveillance cameras,” DeAngelo said. “My employees have their fingerprints taken and as they enter, they have to have their fingerprints read by a reader to go through the door.”

His workers painstakingly count wads of money by hand in a vault and transport some $100,000 in cash each month as tax to the city of Oakland.

“There’s a lot of space just taken up by small coins wrapped up in rolls,” he said.

But industry experts say change is surely on the way. AFP

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

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LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

NOT A SPACEMAN. A gold-furnace worker spends quality time with his daughter during the Family Day and Labor Day celebration at OceanaGold Philippines’ Didipio Mine in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya. The annual event brings thousands of relatives and friends of mine workers to Didipio. Since 2013, this event has helped raised awareness on responsible mining. Abe Almirol

Manila public market rebuild in full swing M

By Sandy Araneta

ANILA Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada has set aside more than P100 million to refurbish seven old and dilapidated public markets in the city, just after he ordered the P150-million renovation of Quinta Market in Quiapo.

Estrada expects the simultaneous repair works on the markets to be completed this year, even as he vowed to renovate the rest of Manila’s public markets under a modernization program.

“All 17 public markets in the city will soon be modernized, just like what I’ve promised.

This year, seven more will be rehabilitated, they will be like new,” Estrada said.

The seven public markets undergoing major facelifts are Obre-

ro Public Market in Blumentritt Street, at a cost of P16.97 million; Pampanga Public Market in Pampanga Street, Tondo (P10.44 million); Dagonoy Market in Onyx Street, San Andres (P47.70 million); Wagas Market in Wagas Street, Tondo (P12.85 million); Baseco Market in Baseco Compound, Port Area (P8.35 million); Bambang Market in Bambang Street, Tondo (P7.87 million); and Pandacan Market (P8.24 million).

Estrada has set aside a total of

P104.21 million for these projects, part of a multimillion-peso public market rehabilitation program.

The renovation works include repainting; rewiring and installation of new lightings; construction of new drainage, water, and sewer lines; installation of floor tiles; refurbishment of toilets; installation of brand new rollup doors and windows; and replacement of roofs, among other works, according to City Market Administrator Annie Balboa.

Of the city’s 17 public markets, five more—the Arrangue, Divisoria, New Antipolo, Pritil, and Central markets—will also be renovated soon, according to Balboa.

“Gone are the days that public markets here in Manila were known to be dirty and smelly. We are close to achieving our goal of

modernizing our public markets, just like modern shopping malls,” Estrada pointed out.

On his 80th birthday last April 19, Estrada reopened the modernized Quinta Market, the latest local public market to undergo complete reconstruction.

Through a joint venture agreement with a private developer, and at no cost to the city government, the Quinta Market now has modern wet and dry sections and stalls, air-conditioned restrooms, a food court, fast food restaurants, parking area, security cameras, and even free Wi-Fi connections.

A fish port and a ferry terminal were also constructed near the two-storey market to serve traders and passengers coming from other cities and nearby provinces through the Pasig River.

Estrada gets tough on illegal parking PARKING in front of churches, hospitals, schools, and even near fire hydrants is now strictly prohibited in Manila, Mayor Joseph “Erap” Estrada warned on Tuesday.

Estrada has directed the Manila Traffic and Parking Bureau to implement this new rule immediately, to serve as a lesson to irresponsible vehicle owners.

“All vehicles we see parked or blocking the entrances and exits of schools, churches, and hospitals will be towed away immediately, and of course those blocking access to fire hydrants,” the mayor said.

Estrada recounted a few occasions where he personally saw vehicles parked right at the sidewalk and blocking fire hydrants. This, he said, is a dangerous practice because it prevents firefighters from easily accessing the water sources during fires.

“You can’t park near a fire hydrant for safety reasons,” Estrada stressed.

“Leaving free and clear access to a fire hydrant minimizes the time required to respond to

PH agri leaders hold 5th congress

Davao police slay suspect with IED

By F. Pearl A. Gajunera DAVAO CITY—A suspected terrorist carrying an improvised explosive device was killed during an encounter with operatives of the Davao City Police Office early Tuesday morning.

The unidentified suspect, believed to be a member of the Abu Sayyaf Group, engaged in a firefight with the intelligence and SWAT team of DCPO at 3 a.m. in Magtuod, Maa district here.

Police spokesperson Senior Inspector Ma. Therisita Gaspan said the DCPO’s intelligence branch was alerted about men riding in tandem in Bangkal district around 6 p.m. on Monday.

Davao police director Senior Supt. Alexander Tagum then

tasked the operating team to track down, monitor and possibly apprehend the suspects on a motorcycle.

Gaspan said the suspect was on a motorbike when the authorities chased him.

“The suspect disembarked from the motorcycle when flagged down by the authorities, then pulled a firearm and fired at the operatives,” she said.

Gaspan said the cohort of the unidentified suspect escaped during the gunbattle.

Authorities found a.38 cal. pistol, a 60mm mortar shell, a detonation cord and two blasting caps on the suspect.

Tagum said the unexploded IED recovered from the suspect is similar to the explosive device used in the Roxas Night Market bombing last Sept. 2.

BOOKS FOR KIDS. MoneyGram International, in partnership with The Asia Foundation, continues to support early childhood education in the country by donating school supplies and books on art, mathematics, literature, and science for the benefit of the University of the Philippines Integrated School. Pictured at the back are MoneyGram Philippines Country Manager Alex Lim and MoneyGram Ambassador Robin Padilla, who hold up a symbolic paintbrush to commemorate the day’s activities. They are accompanied by (from left) Reynald Ocampo, Program Coordinator for Books for Asia of The Asia Foundation, MoneyGram Marketing Head for APAC Sabrina Chan, members of the UPIS academe, and MoneyGram Senior Marketing Manager Joseph Consul.

Councilors’ League meeting to tackle drug war DUMAGUETE CITY—A threeday national gathering of the Philippine Councilors’ League will be held in this city this week and will tackle the government’s war against illegal drugs.

Also to be discussed are concerns and issues related to disaster management, as well as how to develop and promote a locality

as an economic zone to boost its local economy, the PCL-Negros Oriental branch said.

Miguel Dungog, president of PCL-Negros Oriental who sits as ex officio member of the Provincial Board, said Tuesday at least 120 PCL members from the different provinces were expected at the league’s national strategic

a fire. The first priority for fire fighters is the protection of human life,” he also said.

The MTPB has since been putting up “No Parking” signs around the perimeters of schools, hospitals, places of worships and in every available fire hydrant in the city, according to traffic bureau chief Dennis Alcoreza.

The immediate vicinities of these institutions and similar establishments frequented by a huge number of people should be cleared at all times to enable firefighters, police, and other emergency units to respond faster to any eventuality, Alcoreza explained.

Signs like “No Parking, Fire Hydrant” will also be hung on all fire hydrants, he added.

Following intensified antiillegal vendor and road clearing operations last year, Estrada has ordered MTPB to enforce a citywide anti-illegal parking campaign, from major and secondary roads up to barangay streets, to address the city’s worsening traffic problem. Sandy Araneta

planning of executive officers and the national board.

The activity will be held on May 4 to 6 at a local hotel in the city, Dungog said.

Dungog said 80 of the 120 expected participants have confirmed their attendance as of Tuesday.

Luis Crisologo “Chavit” Singson, who was elected PCL national pres-

ident last March, will be planing in on Thursday, Dungog added.

As of Tuesday, confirmed guests to the PCL national gathering are Director Derrick Arnold C. Carreon, CESE and Edward A. Castillejos of the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency, Aletha Nogra of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management

Council, and Jonathan Malay to represent Sen. Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel, Dungog said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Catalino Cuy, who is currently in Bohol for the Asean 2017 meetings, is also expected to attend the national convention, although he has not yet confirmed, Dungog added. PNA

NAGA CITY—The Philippine Association of Agriculturists Inc., the accredited professional organization for the agriculture sector by the Philippine Regulatory Commission, will be conducting its 5th National Congress and 2017 Philippine Agriculturists’ Summit on July 17 to 18 at the Villa Caceres Hotel here.

Around 500 professional agriculturists from local government units, the academe, national government agencies, and the private sector from all over the country, who are members of the association, are expected to participate in this event.

This Summit has the theme, “Enhancing the Agriculture Profession Towards a Resilient and Sustainable Agriculture in the Global Community.”

It provides a venue for participants to discuss issues and updates on the agriculture profession, as well as crosscutting technologies on resilience and sustainability to increase food security, competitiveness and product safety in the light of the present Asean regional integration and globalization.

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

LGUs

9 GenSan villages on dengue alert G ENERAL SANTOS CITY—Health personnel here are closely monitoring at least nine barangays due to the noted clustering of suspected dengue cases since last month.

Dr. Mely Lastimoso, head of the City Health Office’s epidemiology and surveillance unit, said Tuesday their latest monitoring showed that an average of three cases of dengue have emerged in the affected barangays in the last three weeks.

Lastimoso said these are in Barangays Fatima, San Isidro, Lagao,

Calumpang, Labangal, Bula, Katangawan, City Heights and Baluan.

The Department of Health’s National Epidemiology Center defines clustering as the emergence of three or more cases of the disease in a barangay in consecutive weeks.

Based on a report released by the CHO, nine dengue cases were

recorded during the period in Barangay Fatima, eight in San Isidro, six each in Lagao and Calumpang, five each in Labangal and Bula, four in Katangawan and three each in City Heights and Baluan.

Since Jan. 1, the CHO already recorded a total of 1,044 suspected dengue cases within the city’s 26 barangays.

Lastimoso said such figure is 207 percent more than the reported cases in the same period last year, which only reached 340.

She said all of the patients were admitted in local hospitals, with 22 confirmed as dengue cases based on laboratory test results.

Barangay Calumpang posted the most number of cases with 146, followed by Lagao with 128 and Fatima with 113, she said.

The official said they also recorded six confirmed deaths due to dengue, two more than the cases in the same period last year.

The fatalities were from Barangays Buayan, Labangal, Olympog, San Isidro, Tambler and San Jose, she said.

Citing the confirmed dengue cases, Lastimoso said seven were classified as strain or serotype 4, 10 as serotype 3, two as serotype 2, and three as serotype 1.

She said the confirmatory

results were provided by the department of virology of the DoH’s Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Alabang, Muntinlupa City.

“The test specimens were randomly collected from patients confined in two local hospitals,” she said.

Lastimoso specifically cited the city government-run Dr. Jorge P. Royeca Hospital and the private-owned St. Elizabeth Hospital.

CHO had warned residents on the emergence in the area of dengue serotypes 3 and 4, which are considered as more severe and

dangerous strains and caused most of the recorded dengue deaths.

In the previous years, she said they only monitored cases of dengue strains 1 and 2, which are characterized by its common symptoms like high fever, emergence of skin rashes and bleeding.

Lastimoso said the detection of dengue strains 3 and 4 means that the disease is now more potent and dangerous.

She advised residents to continue with the regular cleanup of their households and surroundings of possible breeding places of dengue-carrying mosquitoes.

PNA

Tabuk water group lauded

COASTAL CLEANUP. RP Energy CSR officer Jason Gavina and Marife Castillo, Olongapo Cenro, join village folk and volunteers in cleaning the coast at Barangay Cawag, Subic during the launching of the energy company’s ‘Protect the Bay Initiative’ (See story below). Butch Gunio

DPWH 3 high-value drug targets fall in Laguna works in Leyte on track TACLOBAN CITY—The Second Leyte Engineering District of the Department of Public Works and Highways has completed 13 of its 74 target infrastructure projects going into the second quarter of this year.

With a budget of P766.16 million, the 74 infrastructure projects are all lined up for 2017. Thirteen of the projects have been completed, eight ongoing, and 53 have yet to start.

DPWH 2nd LED District Engineer Carlos Veloso said projects that have yet to start as of May 2 were still on predetailed engineering activities.

Some were for bidding, while others have contract documents still being processed.

However, Veloso assured these pre-construction activities would be undertaken and all projects would be completed on time.

These projects are mainly road widening, reblocking and flood control projects. Bridge widening projects, to expand bridges to more than two lanes, are also slated this year.

These bridges include those in Calbasag, Bocog, Balocawe, Bawon, and Balire along the Maharlika Highway. PNA

CAMP VICENTE LIM, Laguna— Three high value targets tagged by police for illegal drugs – two of them in the Top 10 HVT list for the province of Laguna – were arrested in three separate operations here over the weekend.

In a report to Laguna Provincial Director Senior Supt.

Cecilio R. Ison Jr., arrested was Randy Patricio, No. 10 on the drug watch list for the provincial

level police “Double Barrel Reloaded” operation Patricio was arrested by the Calamba City Police drug enforcement team in a buy-bust operation at Purok 6, Barangay Dos in the city on Monday, Labor Day. Confiscated from him was five sachets of suspected shabu.

Calamba City Chief of Police Senior Supt. Fernando Ortega said they also arrested Alberto

Patricio, No. 4 in the city’s top 10 drug personalities. He was likewise arrested in a buy-bust operation, also at Purok 6 in Barangay Dos, about an hour after authorities picked up Randy.

Police retrieved seven sachets of shabu from Alberto Patricio.

Another buy-bust at New Years Drive, Barangay GSIS, San Pedro City led to the arrest of Arvin Lizarda.

IN BRIEF Binmaley stands out in 2017 Banca Parada

FROM THE RUINS. This is what remains of a condemned classroom building at Macasandig Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro City, which SM Foundation has promised to replace with a two-story, four-classroom structure in time for the opening of classes this year. Juris Soliman-Umali, SM consultant for Corporate Affairs and SM Foundation’s head for its School Building program, recently joined Engineer Jeff Paulo Villanueva, DepEd Cagayan de Oro’s Dr. Jean Loquillano, school PTA head Roger Lacsi, Barangay Macasandig Capt. Bong Edrote, and school principal Rosemarie Dullente in inspecting the site, which was cleared with the help of the Philippine Army’s 52nd Engineering Brigade.

Coastal cleanup starts ‘Protect the Bay’

By Butch Gunio SUBIC, Zambales—Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., or RP Energy, launched its “Protect the Bay Initiative” program here on Saturday with a coastal cleanup activity in Barangay Cawag, with about 200 residents and community leaders participating.

“Aside from promoting environmental awareness, we also aim to curb illegal fishing activities and create livelihood for

San Pedro City Chief of Police Supt. Harold Depositar said 50 grams of shabu, with a street value of P120,000, cash amounting to P101,650, one caliber .45 pistol with bullets, and a Mitsubishi Montero with plate number NOQ 595 were confiscated from Lizada.

Cases for violation of Section 5 and 11 Artucle II of RA 9165, RA 10591 are being prepared against the suspects. Roy Tomandao

TABUK CITY, Kalinga—The Department of AgricultureBureau of Soils and Water Management has named the Tanggal Swip Small Impounding Dam Association Inc. of Turod, Bulo in this city as the Most Outstanding Small Water Impounding System Associations for Luzon.

The SWISA, along with Outstanding Provinces, Outstanding Cities/Municipalities and Outstanding Irrigators’ Associations, are the four categories of the 2016 Search for Rice Achievers Awards given by the DA. Based on the project validation conducted by the national evaluation team on March 16, the TSSIDAI utilizes a land area of 84 hectares, owned by 64 members.

Blesilda Concepcion, BSWM representative, said the SWISA category is for all registered SWISAs, which are beneficiaries of the small scale irrigation systems funded by the DA through the BSWM, DA-RFOs and local government units.

Sharing the national accolade were the San Jose Lamak Irrigators Association of Barangay San Jose, Mabini, Bohol, and the Hinapoyan Farmers Cooperative of Barangay Hinapoyan, Carmen, Surigao del Sur for the Visayas and Mindanao area, respectively.

Dexter A. See

village people of Cawag,” said Jason Gavina, RP Energy Corporate Social Responsibility officer in explaining the activity.

“In line with this is our ‘Basura Palit Gamit Eskwela’ program, where Cawag folks, especially students, can exchange with us the recyclable trash they collected for school supplies,” Gavina said. “We will also set up signages for keeping the coastal areas clean.”

For the livelihood of Cawag

residents, RP Energy will introduce mussel culture and fish drying, he added.

Sacks of recyclable, biodegradable, and residual trash were collected from the coast of Sitio Kinabuksan in Cawag by mostly village folk, who started the cleanup as early as 6 a.m. The company provided the cleaning implements.

Marife Castillo, Community Environment and Natural Resources officer of Olongapo who joined the cleanup, lauded

the energy company for initiating the program and stressed the need for everyone to be environment stewards.

The staff of the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority Public Relations Department headed

by Armie Llamas, the Philippine Coast Guard Olongapo Substation, DepEd Subic, Calapandayan Fisherfolk Coop, Subic Municipal Health Office, and Cawag officials participated in the activity.

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Artistically-fashioned fluvial float entries from Binmaley town stood out in this year’s “Banca Parada” of the Pistay Dayat celebration.

Bagging the top plum and a P25,000 cash prize in the fluvial parade’s barangay category was Dulag, Binmaley, while Binmaley’s local government unit prevailed in the municipal/city LGU/National Government Agency/Non-Government Organization category.

Runners-up in the barangay category were Lomboy, Binmaley and Capandanan, all in Lingayen, which received P20,000 and P15,000, respectively.

For the LGU/NGA/NGO category, runners-up were Cenpelco and Bayambang LGU, which also received P20,000 and P15,000 in prizes, respectively.

From the staging area in sitio Bantayan, Pangapisan in Lingayen, the fluvial parade sailed along the Limahong Channel of Agno river, crossing underneath the Domalandan bridge in Lingayen to reach the parade’s culmination area under Bugallon bridge. Dexter A. See

‘Break for a Cause’ billiards tourney set OLONGAPO CITY—Media practitioners in Central Luzon and Metro Manila get a chance to display their pool table skills for a worthy cause when the “Break for a Cause—2017 National Media 10-Ball Billiard Tournament” gets under way on May 4 to 5 at two venues here.

The two-day tournament, an annual gathering of media practitioners who are also billiards enthusiasts, is exclusive for the members of the working press, and primarily seeks to foster camaraderie and goodwill among the journalists.

This year’s event, however, is more significant, as it aims to raise funds for a colleague suffering from stage-four cancer.

Cash prizes and trophies will be given to the top three winners in two categories. The rest of the event’s proceeds will benefit the cancer-stricken mediaman, whose identity was not disclosed for the beneficiary’s privacy.

About 35 participants from various print, radio and TV networks are expected to join this event, which will be hosted by Mango’s Resort and Midnight Rambler Bar along the National Highway in Barangay Barretto, Olongapo City. Entrance fee is P500 and registration ends on May 3. The tournament will start promptly at 5 p.m. Butch Gunio

World IN BRIEF Trump, Putin to speak by telephone WASHINGTON―US President Donald Trump will speak with Russia’s Vladimir Putin by phone Tuesday as the two leaders look to make headway on ties in the face of deep rifts over Syria and alleged hacking.

Both the White House and Kremlin confirmed the leaders will hold their third call since Trump took office but did not give details on the topics of discussion.

The talks are scheduled for 1630 GMT. Trump’s rise to power sparked hope in Moscow that US-Russian relations would improve after they slumped to a post-Cold War low over the Kremlin’s 2014 seizure of Crimea from Ukraine.

But expectations have waned that Trump will make good on pledges to resurrect ties as allegations Putin spearheaded a hacking and influence campaign to get him elected have made the issue politically toxic in Washington.

The US leader further infuriated the Kremlin by launching a missile strike last month in Syria against the forces of Russia’s ally Bashar al-Assad over an alleged chemical weapons attack.

Trump has already spoken by telephone twice with Putin since taking office in January, with the two leaders discussing ways to combat Islamic State group jihadists.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met Putin in Moscow last month amid reports that the two sides are looking to line up a meeting between their leaders in the coming weeks.

US ties with Russia are under scrutiny after US intelligence agencies said hackers directed by the Kremlin accessed the Democratic National Committee networks ahead of the election that put Trump in the White House.

The FBI is probing any links between Trump campaign associates and the Russian government.

The Pentagon is probing Trump’s former national security adviser, Michael Flynn, over payments received from Russian governmentlinked firms. AFP

Park’s lawyer deny charges against her SEOUL―Lawyers for ousted South Korean President Park Geun-Hye denied all the charges against her at a hearing Tuesday before she goes on trial.

Park, 65, was sacked by the country’s top court in March over a wide-ranging corruption scandal and has been held in custody for more than a month.

She faces 18 criminal counts -five of bribery and 11 of abuse of power, plus one each of coercion and leaking government secrets.

“We deny all the charges,” Park’s top lawyer Yoo Young-Ha told the Seoul Central District Court.

Park’s attendance at the hearing was not mandatory and she stayed away from the court.

In South Korea, a preliminary hearing is to review the charges brought against a suspect and determine future proceedings.

Yoo said the defense had been overwhelmed by the prosecution’s 120,000 pages of investigation records and needed more time to go over them.

The court decided to hold another session next week and open full proceedings a week later.

The scandal centers on Park’s longtime friend Choi Soon-Sil, who is already on trial.

When indicting Park last month, prosecutors asserted that Park, in collusion with Choi, took or was promised bribes totaling 59.2 billion won ($52 million) from three South Korean companies, Samsung, Lotte and SK, in return for policy favors.

She has also been charged with coercing 18 large firms to “donate” a total of 77.4 billion won to two dubious foundations controlled by Choi.

Park, daughter of the late dictator Park Chung-Hee, spent nearly two decades living in Seoul’s sprawling presidential palace before the corruption allegations engulfed her presidency late last year.

The scandal sent her oncebulletproof approval ratings to record lows with millions taking to the streets for months calling for her ousting, though she also had a loyal following from groups of mainly older rival protesters.

Park’s downfall has given the left-leaning Democratic Party the upper hand in the May 9 presidential election. AFP

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

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Constitution under pressure T OKYO―Japan’s Americanwritten “peace constitution” has survived unchanged for 70 years, but nationalists seeking an overhaul are gearing up for a major new push as concerns grow over North Korean belligerence.

PROTEST. Protesters strikethe paper mache heads of US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin during May Day demonstrations in Chicago on May 1, 2017. AFP

Trial to open over Kate’s topless photos PARIS―Six media representatives will go on trial Tuesday over the publication of long-lens photographs of Prince William’s wife Kate sunbathing topless in France that caused a scandal in Britain.

The case relates to the photos printed in the glossy French magazine Closer and regional daily La Provence in September 2012.

The royals were vacationing in southern France at the time at a chateau owned by Viscount David Linley, the son of Princess Margaret, the late sister of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II. One of the most intimate shots shows the Duchess of Cambridge topless and having suncream rubbed into her buttocks by husband William.

Laurence Pieau, the editor of Closer in France, Ernesto Mauri, chief executive of the Mondadori group which owns the magazine, and Cyril Moreau and Dominique Jacovides, two Parisbased agency photographers suspected of having taken the topless photos, will appear on charges of invasion of privacy and complicity.

The royal couple are not expected to attend the trial in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre.

The case has already been delayed for four months after the lawyer for the agency photographers was granted more time to prepare their defense.

Prince William’s Kensington Palace office refused to comment when contacted by AFP. Pieau defended her publication’s actions at the time of the initial scandal, saying the pictures were not in the “least shocking”.

Police said two paparazzi were confirmed to be near the chateau at the time of the royal couple’s stay after combing through lists of hotel guests and telephone numbers.

But both photographers have denied taking the photos, despite evidence that both received substantial payoff amounts after the images’ publication.

The magazine however has always refused to divulge the identity of the photographer who took the topless pictures.

A week before Closer published the shots, other images of the couple from a different angle were printed in La Provence.

The paper’s publishing director at the time, Marc Auburtin and photographer

Valerie Suau will also go on trial Tuesday over those photos.

Suau has been charged over taking photos of Kate in a swimsuit in the same place, but the publication has denied that the photographer took any topless images.

The grainy snaps triggered a furious reaction from the British royal family and a furore in Britain where several newspapers had rejected an offer to buy the pictures.

The angry royal couple launched legal proceedings soon after they were published, with their lawyer arguing that the photos were particularly distressing for the couple as it brought back painful memories of William’s late mother Princess Diana’s death in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.

French authorities sided with the couple by banning any further reproduction of the pictures before launching a probe into how the snaps were obtained.

But the topless photos still appeared in several other European publications in Italy’s Chi, which, like Closer, is owned by Mondadori, in Ireland’s Daily Star and sister magazines in Sweden and Denmark. AFP

Conservatives have long called for the document they see as a national humiliation to be amended, but current political alignments and growing security concerns suggest they now have their best chance of success.

“The time is ripe,” Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Monday in a speech to the supporters of change.

“We will take a historic step towards the major goal of revising the constitution in this milestone year.”

The constitution, which took effect 70 years ago on Wednesday, renounced Japan’s sovereign right to wage war. It has been championed by progressives as a pacifist symbol born out of the country’s World War II defeat.

Supporters argue the document is a bulwark against any repeat of Japan’s World War II aggression, and warn attempts to revise it risk whitewashing the country’s modern history.

But nationalists deride it as an alien charter forced on the country by an occupying power―the United States―bent on imposing its own Western values.

And they see those who defend its emphasis on peace as dangerously out of tune with geopolitical realities, such as North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.

“The fault lines of Japanese politics very much run through the constitution,” said Kenneth Ruoff, professor of modern Japanese history at Portland State University in the United States.

Abe has long vowed to bring it more in line with what conservatives see as Japanese values, such as greater emphasis on obligations rather than rights, and on the family not the individual.

While unlikely to seek the complete removal of the popular and war-renouncing Article 9, they advocate changes to its wording, such as recognising the country’s self-defence forces as a military and clarifying Japan’s right to defend itself.

Pro-amendment parties can now muster the twothirds majorities necessary in both houses of parliament to pass changes, though they would be subject to a national referendum for final approval and that is seen as the biggest hurdle.

The constitution has never been amended, but governments such as Abe’s have interpreted it in ways that have effectively loosened some of its constraints.

In 2015, for example, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its allies rammed legislation through parliament enabling Japan to engage in “collective security”―the defense of troops from its US ally and other friendly nations―if it was seriously threatened.

That triggered a backlash from legal scholars and lawyers―who argued the changes violated the constitution―and sparked demonstrations outside parliament.

On Monday, Japan dispatched its biggest warship since World War II to escort and protect a US supply vessel in the first such action under the new security laws as tensions mount in the region over North Korea.

While pro-revisionists now have their “greatest chance” to make changes, it may still be hard for them to amend the document, which would require a consensus, Ruoff said.

“Everybody has to agree and that’s not so easy,” he said. AFP

Maduro calls for new charter amid protests CARACAS―Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro called for a new constitution Monday as he fights to quell a crisis that has led to more than a month of protests against him and deadly street violence.

The opposition immediately rejected the idea because the body drafting the new charter would not be the result of a popular election but rather be composed of workers and farmers.

Maduro’s announcement, to thousands of supporters in Caracas marking May Day, came as security forces sprayed tear gas and water cannon at anti-government demonstrators elsewhere in the capital.

It was likely to sharpen international concerns over Venezuela’s adherence to democracy and fears it was slipping over a precipice to civil conflict.

The opposition slammed the tactic as a “coup d’etat” and urged protesters to “block the streets” from Tuesday. It said it was organizing a “mega protest” for Wednesday.

“People, into the streets! You must disobey such lunacy!” opposition leader Henrique Capriles said on Twitter.

The leader of the oppositionheld Congress, Julio Borges, said: “What Maduro is proposing in his desperation is that Venezuela never again manages to have di-

rect, free and democratic voting.”

Maduro said he was invoking his power to create a 500-member constituent assembly representing a “working class base” and local councils to rewrite the constitution -- cutting out the Congress.

The decree was needed to “block the fascist coup” he said threatened the country, repeating terms portraying his Socialist government as the victim of a US-led capitalist conspiracy.

The new constitution-writing entity would be “a citizen’s constituent body, not from political parties -- a people’s constituent body,” he said, adding the National Electoral Council would start work on the process on Tuesday.

Maduro’s move mirrored that of his late Socialist predecessor Hugo Chavez, who in 1999 had a 131-member Constituent Assembly of various representatives draw up Venezuela’s current constitution. The text was overwhelmingly passed by a referendum.

Back then, though, the charismatic Chavez enjoyed enthusiastic public support. Maduro, in contrast, is disapproved of by seven in 10 Venezuelans according to pollsters Venebarometro.

Political analyst Nicmer Evans said that with his new proposal Maduro is “playing for time at all cost, in order to stay in power”.

AFP

ARRIVAL. Katy Perry arrives for the Costume Institute Benefit on May 1, 2017 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. AFP

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

US wants IS’ Afghan unit eliminated

World

He would be ‘honored’ to meet N. Korea’s Kim W ASHINGTON― US President Donald Trump said Monday he would be “honored” to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un under the right conditions, in comments that contrasted with his earlier threats of military action.

As Pyongyang threatens to carry out a sixth nuclear test that would further inflame tensions, Trump appeared to offer the prospect of a diplomatic offramp.

“If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him I would, absolutely. I would be honored to do it,” Trump said in an interview with Bloomberg.

“If it’s under the, again, under the right circumstances. But I would do that,” Trump said.

South Korean analysts said the US president was “groping for an exit” after weeks of heightened tensions over the North’s weapons ambitions.

In recent weeks Trump has threatened and berated the regime, fearing it may be months away from marrying nuclear and long-range missile technology―making a strike against the western United States possible.

Trump’s main gambit has been to encourage China to use its leverage to pressure Pyongyang―a strategy that has failed to produce results in the past.

The Republican president has also said he is ready to act alone in the standoff, however―and on Monday signaled that this could involve face-to-face talks with Kim, who has yet to meet a foreign leader since taking power.

“Following weeks of huffing and puffing, Trump is apparently groping for an exit,” said Hong Hyun-Ik of Sejong University in Seoul.

“True to his mentality as a businessman, he has driven the situation close to the edge but stopped short of pushing it over the cliff in order to get the upper hand in future negotiations.”

In the latest rhetoric to fuel jitters across the region, North Korea―which has carried out five nuclear tests in the last 11 years―warned Monday that it was prepared to carry out another test “at any time and at any location” set by its leadership.

The regime would continue bolstering its “preemptive nuclear attack” capabilities unless Washington scrapped its hostile policies, a spokesman for the North’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the state-run KCNA news agency.

“The DPRK’s measures for bolstering the nuclear force to the maximum will be taken in a consecutive and successive way at any moment and any place decided by its supreme leadership,” the spokesman added, apparently referring to a sixth nuclear test and using the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Pyongyang intensifies its warnings every spring, when Washington and

GALA. Doutzen Kroes attends ‘Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between’ Costume Institute Gala - O at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2017 in New York City. AFP

WASHINGTON―After dropping a monster bomb on its fighters, then targeting its leader, the US military is looking to destroy the Islamic State group’s Afghan branch before battle-hardened reinforcements arrive from Syria and Iraq.

While US and Kabul government forces have mainly been combating Taliban fighters since 2001, IS’s local offshoot―also known as Islamic State-Khorasan, or ISIS-K―has a stronghold in eastern Afghanistan.

First emerging in 2015, ISIS-K overran large parts of Nangarhar and Kunar provinces, near the Pakistan border, but their part in the Afghan conflict had been largely overshadowed by the operations against the Taliban.

Many Americans first heard of ISIS-K last month when the US dropped the “Mother Of All Bombs” on its Nangarhar bastion -- an aerial munition that the Pentagon said was the biggest nonnuclear weapon it had ever used in combat.

US and Afghan forces then raided a compound last week close to the site of the bombing, with the Pentagon saying it believed it had killed ISISK’s leader Abdul Hasib during the operation.

Captain Bill Salvin, spokesman for US ForcesAfghanistan, said the local IS presence peaked at between 2,500 to 3,000 but that defections and recent battlefield losses had reduced their number to a maximum of 800.

“We have a very good chance of destroying them in 2017, making it very clear that when the ISIS fighters are destroyed elsewhere around the globe that this is not the place for you to come to plot your attacks,” Salvin told AFP. US-backed fighters also appear to have IS on the ropes in Syria and Iraq, where an operation to wrest back control of the major northern city of Mosul has been ongoing since October.

But both the military and analysts acknowledge there is a danger of IS fighters heading to Afghanistan if they are forced out of Iraq and Syria.

Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, said that while IS should ultimately be defeated in Afghanistan, the Pentagon’s time line may be overly optimistic.

A definitive victory could take “a long time due, partly [due] to the proximity of Pakistan as well as the possible flow of fighters” from the Middle East as the “group loses sanctuaries there,” O’Hanlon told AFP. The Taliban, which first emerged in the mid1990s in southern Afghanistan, managed to conquer most of the country before its 2001 ouster with the help of a range of foreign jihadists, including Pakistanis, Saudis and Chechens.

Analysts say that as well as Afghans, ISIS-K includes disaffected Pakistani and Uzbek Islamists among its ranks who used to fight for the Taliban.

It first emerged as a significant player in Afghanistan in early 2015 when its fighters overran the Taliban in parts of the east and has subsequently claimed responsibility for a string of bomb attacks.

ISIS-K’s defeat would be an important victory for the US, which has struggled to boast of clear wins after forcing the Taliban out of Kabul in 2001 in the initial aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Bill Roggio, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and editor of the Long War Journal, said ISIS-K had “withstood multiple US-backed offensives over the past two years.” AFP But while their defeat would be a boost to the US, Roggio said the Taliban and their long-time Al-Qaeda allies were still a much bigger challenge. AFP

Airline reaches settlement with family over MH17 KUALA LUMPUR―Malaysia Airlines announced Tuesday it had reached a settlement with an Australian family who lost four family members on Flight MH17.

Perth couple Anthony Maslin and Marite Norris lost their children Evie, 10, Mo, 12, and Otis, 8, along with their grandfather on the Boeing 777 that was shot down over Ukraine in 2014.

The airline said in a statement it had reached “an amicable and confidential settlement with the Maslin family and therefore the suit has been withdrawn”.

It said it would not “disclose any further details on this suit or about the details of the settlement in respect to the privacy of the family”.

Malaysia Airlines also said that, to date, a “substantial number” of next-of-kin had reached settlements with the airline while others were “still seeking compensation and are pursuing their claims in their respective jurisdictions”.

A lawyer representing the families of six Malaysia Airlines crew members on MH17 told AFP the airline had offered to settle for an

undisclosed amount in June last year, but the families had rejected the proposed sum.

“There was another offer in January and we’re still considering,” lawyer Saw Wei Siang said Tuesday.

The Malaysian lawsuit in June last year came two weeks after a suit by 33 next-of-kin from Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia was filed against Russia and against President Vladimir Putin in the European Court of Human Rights.

MH17 was shot down over

eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with the death of all 298 on board, most of them Dutch citizens.

A Dutch-led criminal investigation into the attack concluded in September last year that a BUK missile, transported from Russia, was fired from a field in a part of war-torn Ukraine then controlled by pro-Russian rebels, and hit the plane.

But it stopped short of saying who pulled the trigger.

The Dutch-led investigation did

not directly accuse Moscow of supplying the BUK missile and its transporter system―and the Russian government has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Malaysia Airlines said it was flying over unrestricted airspace and had complied with all regulatory requirements.

In its statement the airline said “it has always been its priority that all next-of-kin are fully compensated fairly and equitably... and this is not in any way tantamount to an admission of liability of guilt”. AFP

Girl barred over ‘seductive’ dress KUALA LUMPUR―A 12-year-old girl was barred from a Malaysian chess tournament over her “seductive” dress, her coach has claimed, igniting public outrage against the organizers of the competition in the Muslim-majority nation.

The Malaysian Chess Federation on Tuesday said it would investigate and denied that religious sensitivities had prompted the decision to exclude the young player, as it sought to curb the public backlash.

In a widely-shared Facebook post, trainer Kaushal Khandhar said his pupil felt “harassed and humiliated” after being forced to withdraw in the middle of the National Scholastic Chess Championship on April 14.

The girl had been told her knee-length dress was “seductive and a temptation from a certain angle far, far away”, he said in the post on Thursday, demanding an apology from the organizers.

His remarks sparked a flurry of furious responses on social media, with the commenters expressing indignation at the incident and questioning how organizers could have deemed the clothing inappropriate.

Malaysia is generally regarded as a moderate Muslim country, but fears have grown in recent years that it is becoming increasingly conservative.

“I am shocked and disturbed that her dress is a problem,” Sieh Kok Chi,

former secretary-general of the Olympic Council of Malaysia, told AFP. “She is just 12 years old.

No one has the right to impose self-made rules. The chess officials should resign,” he said.

The executive secretary of the chess body, Nik Hishamuddin Nik Mustapa, told AFP that the dress code had been implemented because the competition was played in a public school, which has stricter dress codes than other venues.

“We will call for a meeting of all the parties involved to resolve the matter amicably,” he added. “We lack chess talent in Malaysia. We want to see the emergence of good players.” AFP

SEASIDE PROMENADE. This picture shows a dog eating by the seaside promenade in the Mediterranean city of Haifa in northern Israel on April 28, 2017. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

FASHION & BEAUTY

D1

Kenneth Cole’s summer collection—for both men’s and women’s footwear—is inspired by ruralization of city living, work wear, and finding calm in the chaos

CALM in the CHAOS F

OR summer, Kenneth Cole was inspired by three trends: the ruralization of the city (bringing rural elements into an urban environment), the rehabilitation of work wear (the rekindling of functional elements and handiwork), and the pause philosophy (finding the calm in the chaos and using technology to free us, not cage us).

It’s all about living in the city in a less chaotic way. Natural influences, like vertical fields and city farming, soften the concrete and steel structures we call home; a refreshing mindset frees us from our constantly on-the-go lifestyles; and we enjoy the ultimate luxury of time to recharge, rediscover, and redefine. It’s about escaping the city without actually leaving it.

While there is a focus on sturdy textiles and robust detailing, there is also a fresh and relaxed construction to these collections. Think engineered ease and minimalist structure—inspired by natural liberation, cultural discovery, and relaxed retreat.

THIS summer, Gucci launched a series of bag designs that includes several brand new models and fresh versions of three classic styles. All feature the type of decorative treatment that the house has made its own – an eclectic mix of motifs, materials, and graphics.

In keeping with creative director Alessandro Michele’s fascination with animals, the key bag design for the season, the Broche, features a shiny brass fox head, with eyes of Swarovski crystal, or pearls.

All versions have a distinctive, rich, shiny gold-finished metal chain shoulder strap. A top handle model in shiny, smooth calf leather has a Gucci bamboo handle, referencing a historical feature of the house, and a reptile-skin detail on the flap. Brass studs outline the entire shape. Another top handle version is characterized by a bi-color petal design on the flap and comes in both snakeskin and GG Supreme material. In addition, lobsters and helm French wire embroidered patches stand out on the surface of this style creating an unexpected complement to the fox heads.

Finally, there is a smaller, white shoulder bag with a chain strap and a flap decorated with the petal design, which is here enriched with details in snakeskin. This style features an additional torchon strap.

Undoubtedly, backpacks are enjoying a renaissance at the moment. Gucci launches the techpack—a backpack in the purple Rinascimento brocade featuring a feline head and the House web. Additional models include a small flat drawstring backpack with torchon shoulder strap and frontal pocket in green glazed Rinascimento brocade, embellished with a rich bow covered with yellow Swarovski crystals, and, in a larger size, backpacks that combine different brocades and the application of text reading ‘modern future’. All drawstring backpacks are provided with leather top handles.

As well as new styles, Gucci continues to evolve its classics: the Dionysus comes as a chain bag trimmed with exotic snakeskin and a top handle with bamboo handle and floral motif in stripes; the Sylvie top handle comes in a surprising green jacquard brocade with multi-coloured flowers, and a mini version in white leather with an extra blue-red-white torchon shoulder strap; the GG Marmont now comes as a large briefcase and medium-sized shoulder bag in quilted jacquard brocade, and, in the briefcase style, a quilted leather featuring a trompe l’oeil print.

In the Philippines, Gucci is located at Greenbelt 4 and Shangri-La Plaza East Wing.

Follow @ssilifeph on Instagram for more information.

Gucci welcomes summer with colorful series of bags that features eclectic mix of motifs, materials, and graphics. The Techpack offers a classy take on drawstring backpacks, while fresh versions of the Dionysus, the Sylvie, and the GG Marmont are also part of the Spring/Summer 2017 collection

In the women’s footwear, the colors reflect the varying shades you find in urban green spaces, like the High Line and Promenade Plantée in Paris. There are neutrals in suede and nubuck, materials in soft pinks and greens, and vibrant reds and cobalt blues—the colors of the sky just before sunset. With a focus on natural elements, there is the infusion of woods in stacked heels, blonde woods in the wedges, and cork in the uppers and foot beds. Foliage also comes into play with the all-over black-and-white foliage-printed Kam, as well as embroidered and embellished floral on wedges, slip-ons, and sneakers. Silver and gold materials and the sparkle of jewels pay homage to urban

Ne w fo h r s an um db m ag er s

metals, city lights, and the reflection of the sun off the buildings.

In the men’s footwear, the dominant theme is peace, relaxation, and comfort.

Washed suedes, natural canvas, and mixed materials complement the tranquility. To take a moment to breathe, there’s ventilation with a knitted upper on a cup sole construction. Woven leather uppers and natural leather welt details rest gently on comfort rubber soles. A bold reaction to the serenity, there are rich and vibrant colors in saturated reds, navy, and mimosa. More calming moments come from neutrals in grey leathers with burnished finishes, and suede in taupe and slate blue.

In the Philippines, Kenneth Cole is at C1 Bonifacio High Street Central, Power Plant Mall, Rustan’s Makati, Alabang Town Center, B7 Bonifacio High Street, TriNoma, SM Mall of Asia, and Abreeza Davao.

Visit facebook.com/KennethCole or follow @ssilifeph on Instagram for more information.

Life

D2

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

G

LOBE Telecom lent its support to Mindanao Tapestry, a modern ethnic fashion show presented by Mode Devi that showcased the talents of Filipinos through fashion, music, and dance.

It highlighted the major weaves of the island and gave recognition to the artistry of the region’s indigenous communities and weavers.

Featuring the designs of Philippine fashion icon Renee Salud, Mindanao Tapestry presented a neo-ethnic collection of dresses to enhance one’s appreciation of Philippine cultural heritage particularly that of the South. The grand fashion show gave a peek into the beauty of Mindanao through the use of indigenous materials to create fashion statements, which combine international appeal with a distinct “Philippine look.”

Among the fabrics used by Salud were those made of natural Indigo dye and fibers that weavers from Maguindanao, Bukidnon (Higaonon) and South Cotabato (T’boli) are known for. The textiles were supplied by CustomMade Crafts Center (CMCC), the integrated design and marketing arm of Non-Timber Forest Products — Exchange Programme (NTFP-EP), which Globe is working with to provide livelihood opportunities to indigenous populations.

“Globe adheres to the practice of sustainability and has committed to support at least nine of the United Nations

Telco supports local indigenous communities and weavers at Mindanao Tapestry event

Renowned fashion designer Renee Salud successfully blends contemporary and traditional Filipino designs in his neo-ethnic collection of evening gowns made of natural fabrics and indigo dye

Sustainable Development Goals. By providing underserved communities with sustainable livelihood programs and promoting the use of natural dyes and fibers within and outside the Philippines, we hope to offer viable economic opportunities that could uplift the lives of our weavers,” said Yoly Crisanto, Globe SVP for Corporate Communications and Chief Sustainability officer.

Globe currently provides NTFP-EP with information and communications technology tools such as Internet connectivity and mobile credit card payment facility as well as capacity building support and market access to assist the weavers.

At the same time, the company helped establish natural indigo dye powdering facilities in Zamboanga, Bukidnon and other areas in the country.

NTFP-EP’s “The Indigo Project” promotes the development and implementation of environmental and social standards in hand-woven textiles production. It aids in the production and sourcing of environmentally friendly natural dyes and fibers, establishes eco-friendly product standards, and scales production of eco-textiles.

VA N I T Y C O R N ER

10 Beauty Treasures BEHIND the pretty frontages of a typically Parisian street, Nuxe has hidden mini versions of 10 of its finest treasures. Treat yourself to this limited edition beauty box and enjoy a beautiful countdown to marvelous skin.

From face care to body care, and from the cult favorite Huile Prodigieuse Beauty Oil and Rêve de Miel, to pre anti-aging Crème Prodigieuse and antiaging Nuxellence, this gift set is truly a much-coveted treasure chest.

The cult favorite, Huile Prodigieuse Beauty Oil is the multi-usage head to toe must-have that nourishes, repairs, and softens skin, and beautifies your face, body and hair. Its shimmer counterpart Huile Prodigieuse Or brings all the benefits of the original Huile Prodigieuse Beauty Oil with golden pearly particles for an instant sun-kissed glow.

Nuxellence youth and radiance revealing anti-aging care is designed for all ages. Nuxellence Eclat gives your skin an energy shot that re-plumps and illuminates the complexion for a radiant and youthful-looking skin while Nuxellence Detox smoothes, regenerates and revives dull complexion as if you slept two extra hours.

For the perfect skin, scrub once or twice a week. You’ll enjoy the Gentle Exfoliating Gel with Rose Petals which gently cleanses your face as it soothes, softens and scrubs with 100 percent botanical exfoliants of lychee and walnut. Specifically developed for sensitive skin, the Rose Petal range contains allergen-free fragrance and is a good alternative to dermatologically prescribed facial scrubs.

Rêve de Miel ultra-comfortable products with honey and sunflower, nour-

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser cleans the skin while leaving it soft and smooth

Enjoy beautiful, nourished skin with the help of face care and body care products of Nuxe, available in a box set exclusively available at Zalora

Miel Hand and Nail Cream brings you the power of honey to your hands and nails, ideal for dry and sensitive skin, as it repairs, nourishes, and protects.

Crème Fraîche de Beauté is a 24hour soothing and 24-hour moisturizing cream with eight botanical milks, a unique buttery texture and an irresistible orange blossom fragrance, specifically designed for sensitive and dehydrated skin. Crème Prodigieuse is an anti-fatigue daily moisturizing cream which protects your skin against oxidative stress, the main Nuxe’s limited edition The 10 Beauty factor responsible for skin aging, a Treasures Box true skin rescue product for normal to ishes dry and sensitive skin. Rêve de combination skin.

Miel Face Cleansing and Make-Up Removing Gel, gently removes makeup The 10 Beauty Treasures Box is now and deeply cleans your face without made exclusively available at Zalora stripping off your skin’s natural lipids, with a special price of P1,550, from its keeping it soft and smooth. Rêve de original price of P2,150.

Family-friendly skincare THEY say men are from Mars and women are from Venus. We all acknowledge that each person has his or her own little quirks. Just as our fingerprints are different, so are our personalities and needs. But the good news is, despite our uniqueness, we can all trust just one skincare line to respond to all our different skin types. The Cetaphil line of skincare products employs the Science of Gentle.

They are non-comedogenic, fragrance-free and moisturizing. This means each product is mild and leaves your and your family’s skin smooth and soft. It moisturizes effectively but does not leave any poreclogging residue.

It turns out that skincare that responds to your teenager’s breakouts, your daughter’s sensitive skin, your husband’s hardy skin constitution and

your own thirsty skin can be found in just one line. That means: no more guessing and especially, no experimentation that can leave indelible results on your skin. We’ve all experienced products that dry out our skin or moisturizers that cause too much oil and shine. Cetaphil even soothes some skin problems with its dermatologically tested formula.

“Cetaphil is non-soap, non-alkaline and clinically proven safe for all skin types. It is all your family needs to have healthy skin,” says Catherine Palma-Dilanco, Cetaphil Brand manager.

Use the entire line of Cetaphil products for best results: Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion, Cetaphil Daily Facial Moisturizer, and Cetaphil Moisturizing Cream.

Cetaphil is available in drugstores, department stores, and supermarkets nationwide.

Flair and care for your hair MANY hesitate coloring their hair at home because of fear of uneven color and damage. Japan’s number one hair color brand Liese Creamy Bubble Hair Color addresses these concerns with a formula that’s nourishing and easy to use.

While traditional cream-type hair color products require partitioning of hair which makes it difficult to apply product on hard to reach areas, Liese Creamy BHC’s bubble foam technology allows ease of use. In three steps: (1) mix the solution in the bottle with the foamer cap, (2) pump out foam and massage solution thoroughly on hair, (3) and rinse off with water after 30 minutes, you can step out with evenly colored hair with flair.

Meanwhile, Liese’s Royal Jelly that moisturizes and Hydrolized Silk that protects hair are responsible for making tresses softer and smoother after use. Its technology matched with its hair-nourishing properties makes it possible for everyone to get a chic hair color sans the damage.

Liese is available in selected supermarkets, department stores and beauty stores nationwide.

* * *

Bedtime routine against skin aging PREMATURE aging is caused by many factors, most commonly by prolonged sleep deprivation. Aside from getting enough hours of shuteye, experts suggest following a routine that boosts skin’s regenerative processes during sleep. Kojie San DreamWhite’s Breathe. Enrich. Dream. (B.E.D) Ritual is a pre-sleep regimen composed of anti-aging products that help maximize the benefits of sleep.

“Breathe” starts with relaxing in a quiet and comfortable spot in the bedroom, then proceeding to cleanse and let the skin breathe by washing the face with DreamWhite Anti-Aging Soap.

Follow it up with the rehydrating, whitening, and nourishing DreamWhite Anti-Aging Facial Toner with Collagen.

“Enrich” by revitalizing face and neck with DreamWhite Anti-Aging Overnight Cream to prepare the skin for a night of rejuvenation. “Dream” by unplugging from the world, turning of the lights, and tuning out distractions to get a restful sleep.

Kojie San’s DreamWhite B.E.D Ritual line also includes DreamWhite Blemish Correcting Cream that reduces skin imperfections and lightens dark facial spots, and DreamWhite Anti-Aging Cream with Sunscreen that protects skin against the harmful effects of sun exposure.

The active ingredients in Kojie San DreamWhite are Hydrotensil Complex that accelerates cell regeneration, Milk Peptide Complex that helps prevent accelerated skin aging, Sodium Hyaluronate that keeps skin moist and supple, and Kojic Acid that brightens skin complexion and lightens skin pigmentation.

Kojie San DreamWhite products are available in leading supermarkets, department stores, drugstores, and beauty stores nationwide.

* * *

Feel fresh under the summer sun SUMMER means exploring the world and basking under the glorious sun. But it can also mean sweat and odor as you go about your adventures. Avon Feelin Fresh comes to the rescue.

The direct-selling company’s line of deodorant now has stronger formulation that provides longerlasting, 48-hour sweat and odor protection. It now also works quicker, deeper, and more efficient with its upgraded Dry Pore Protection Technology.

Feelin Fresh is available through local Avon representatives nationwide.

WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

I An audienceoriented film festival . FDCP Chairman and CEO Liza Diño

IT’S a fact that a lot of local filmmakers have alternatives ideas and they can produce so much content, which beg to be seen by a wider audience. But commercial theaters, however, aren’t exactly the venue, which can help them exhibit their works.

Probably, this is the same exact challenge identified by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) that’s why the lead agency for local films is very keen on staging another festival solely dedicated to Filipino made movies.

In honor of the Buwan ng Wika, FDCP is partnering with commercial theaters to exclusively screen Filipino films nationwide from Aug. 16 to 22. Dubbed as Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino, the weeklong celebration will feature a dozen of Filipino films vying for the Audience Choice Award, which is the only recognition that will be given out before the conclusion of the event.

“The awards night will happen on Aug. 19, which coincides with the birthday of Manuel L. Quezon,” FDCP Chair and CEO Liza Diño told Manila Standard, “We will conduct an audience survey to select three films that will win the Audience Choice trophy.”

Diño explained that the new film festival is very different from any other existing festival for local films. First, the festival is going to be a nationwide event backed by the National Cinema Association of the Philippines and SM Lifestyle Entertainment generous support ensuring each entry’s commercial success.

“Our main goal is to give more platforms for films to screen exclusively. We know the competition between foreign films and locally produced ones. So, this festival aims to highlight Filipino films and give them the right amount of exposure they deserve,” Dino explained.

Asked whether or not the film festival is the answer to a clamor to bring back the old format of Metro Manila Film Festival and create a separate festival for independent films, the FDCP chair replied: “This materialized even before we had our execom for MMFF. At that time, I didn’t know the direction it’s going to. This was born out of FDCP’s proposal for a national film month. And this very different from any other existing festivals because first of all it’s a nationwide event and we’re talking about more than 700 screens all over the country.”

FDCP wanted to create an equal footing for all participating movie outfits by selecting just one entry per production company. And apart from being an audience-oriented film fest, it will also cater to varied film genres.

Diño furthered that the selection committee has a very clear direction in terms of choosing the films that will be part of the weeklong event. She cited acclaimed directors Joey Reyes, Erik Matti, Manet Dayrit, and screenwriter Ricky Lee as part of the jury.

“We are looking for films with outstanding audience appeal, films with universal theme that will not just appeal to local audience but also to international audience as well. We are looking for genre films.

We want to feature film of various themes. This is the answer to the imbalance of the kinds of films we see commercially. We are very heavy on romantic comedy, drama…and our producers do it because it’s very safe. This is the testing ground to encourage our producers to be more courageous in terms of the films that will produce,” Diño said.

The FDCP chairman furthered that the agency is pursuing its goal to help local films to start earning so that film workers would see sustainability in the industry.

“In a larger scope, we are thinking about this idea since film is a very important part of our cultural development. We hope that the economic aspect of this industry will also be taken into consideration for us to see move development,” the FDCP chairman noted.

The film fest is open to all Filipino filmmakers who may submit films on or before June 15. Ten to 12 films will be selected by a Selection Committee headed by the FDCP with genres ranging from family-oriented, to romantic comedy, horror, fantasy, and even historical films that emulate Filipino sensibilities and culture. Each film will be screened at a minimum of 60 theaters.

In addition to the screenings, Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino will include caravans, audience surveys and forums to maximize the participation of film stakeholders, especially for the audience.

FLIX, the world’s leading subscription video on demand (SVoD) service for emerging markets has acquired exclusive rights in the Philippines, for the third installment of the critically-acclaimed series Fargo.

The season three premiere of the award-winning limited series is now available to stream or download, with subsequent episodes every Thursday, available exclusively on iflix.

Set in 2010, the third installment of Fargo centers on “Emmit” and his slightly younger brother Ray Stussy (Ewan McGregor).

Emmit, the parking lot king of Minnesota, sees himself as an American success story, whereas Ray is more of a cautionary tale.

Forever living in his more successful brother’s shadow, Ray is a balding and pot-bellied parole officer with a huge chip on his shoulder about the hand he’s been dealt – and he blames his brother. Their sibling rivalry follows a twisted path that begins with petty theft but soon leads to murder, mobsters and cutthroat competitive bridge.

Carrie Coon stars as Gloria Burgle, the steady chief of the local police department. A newly divorced mother, Gloria is trying to understand the new world around

MARLA Alforque, 2017 Sinulog festival queen was crowned this year’s Reyna ng Aliwan in colorful, glittering ceremonies recently.

Heavy favorite Apriel Smith, who was earlier named Best in Swimsuit and Best in Evening Gown, was first runner-up representing for the Utanon festival of Dalaguete, Cebu.

Jointly sharing the award for second runner-up were Arielle Jazmine Roque (representing the Tuna festival of General Santos City), Ma. Ahtisa Manalo (representing the Niyogyugan festival of Quezon Province), and Venisse Charm Costibolo (representing the Sangyaw festival of Tacloban).

It was the eighth time that a Sinulog festival queen won the Reyna ng Aliwan crown, and the first time that the province of Cebu had three entries to Aliwan Fiesta’s search for festival queen.

Alforque, from Carcar, is a BSE graduate who used to teach secondary school. She currently works in the legal division of the Department of Public Works and Highways in Cebu.

Alforque also took second place in the festival costume competition won by Patricia Kate Gonzales of Antipolo.

Ahtisa Manalo was named Miss Photogenic, while Cherry Rose Fernandez of Bagui0 was voted by fellow candidates as Miss Friendship.

Wednesday, May 3, 2017

(2 wds.)

55 Oola’s guy 56 Swear to 57 Mark’s successor 58 Love in Venice 60 Revenuers 61 Shock the schnoz 62 — Cristo 63 Heavy hydrogen discoverer 64 JFK landers, once 65 Asked a question DOWN 1 Charley horse 2 Macho sort 3 Girder (2 wds.)

4 Flow back 5 Infield 6 — -ski party 7 IOU 8 Potluck choice 9 Butchers’ knives 10 Caught a wave 11 Jumbo shrimp 12 From Rangoon 13 Singer — Tucker 22 Rescue squad mem.

23 Floating flower 25 Cronies 28 Dwindles 29 Provokes 30 Hearty laugh

31 Spleen 32 U.K. part 33 To the — (fully) 34 Grand Teton st.

35 Aleta’s son 36 Right, to Dobbin 38 Influence peddlers 39 Prospector’s quest 41 Interpret tea leaves 42 Night owl need (2 wds.)

43 Lethargic 44 Butter up

her, where people connect more intimately with their phones than with the people around them.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead stars as Ray’s girlfriend, Nikki Swango, a crafty and alluring recent parolee with a passion for competitive bridge. David Thewlis stars as V.M. Varga, a mysterious loner and true capitalist who delivers Emmit the bad news that the parking lot king of Minnesota has just become partners with his employers, whose business interests lay outside the law. iflix members can now catch every episode of Fargo’s anthology series, as a part of iflix’s extensive slate of award winning, exclusive shows, including Mr. Robot, The Magicians, Younger, Black Sails, Emerald City and many more.

James Bridges, iflix Global head of Content Partnerships said, “Noah Hawley is one of the most exciting storytellers in television today and iflix is thrilled to be the exclusive home of Fargo in Southeast Asia. Ewan McGregor heads yet another incredible cast in the grittiest installment yet of TV’s most compelling drama.”

With more than five million members across the region and over five billion minutes streamed since launch, iflix has established itself as the clear market leader in video streaming.

Now available in 10 territories across Southeast Asia, including recent launches in Pakistan, Vietnam and Myanmar, iflix additionally announced its joint

venture with Zain, iflix Arabia, to make its world-class service available in the MENA region.

Offering consumers, a vast library of top Hollywood, Asian regional, and local TV shows and movies including many first-run exclusives and award-winning programs, each subscription allows users to access the service on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets and television sets, for viewing wherever, whenever.

For new subscribers, iflix offers a complimentary one-month trial with full access to its service, features and content. Go to www. iflix.com, or download the app from the Google Play or Apple App Store to register.

Reyna ng Aliwan crowned

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Uttered loudly 6 “Hells Bells” band 10 Falling-out 14 Synagogue leader 15 Donahue of TV 16 Cato’s bear 17 Slide sight (var.)

18 Ascend 19 Gullywasher 20 Business deg.

21 Compromise (2 wds.)

24 Old-fashioned curtain trim 26 Austrian capital 27 Cookout crasher 28 Brandish 30 Traffic sign 33 Ike’s predecessor 34 Greet, as a dog 37 Samovars 38 Golf course 39 Ancient harp 40 Toga-party order 41 Cameos, maybe 42 Pioneer Daniel — 43 Car loans 44 Get spliced 45 Sacred beetle 48 Mice and squirrels 52 Intelligent

A scene from the latest season of the comedy crime drama

45 More than a boo-boo 46 Nightclub charge 47 Shack or mansion 48 Chess castles 49 High times?

50 Flourless cake 51 Burn up the road 53 Hires a lawyer 54 Stew over 59 Meadow plaint

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2017

Jennylyn Mercado whips up some budgetfriendly recipes

JENNYLYN MERCADO

F

RESH from the commercial and critical success of his two-night benefit Valentine concert, Love In Motion, at The Shangri-La at The Fort, and his memorable stint as one of the celebrity jurors in ABSCBN’s phenomenal celebrity musical competition, Your Face Sounds Familiar Kids, Gary Valenciano opens the second quarter of the year with the highly anticipated season finale of Gary V Presents…, Directed by his son, Paolo,, whose credits as a director also include the hit concerts of Sharon Cuneta, Sarah Geronimo, Toni Gonzaga, Sponge Cola, and Sam Concepcion, among others; and musical direction by Mon Faustino, Gary’s musical director for over 28 years, the season finale of Gary V Presents… is the very first major event that marks Gary’s 34th anniversary in show business.

“Finally we have Gary! We have been waiting for Gary to perform at The Theatre at Solaire for a long time and we are very excited about this run,” remarked Solaire Entertainment Director Audie Gemora who used to be managed by concert producer Manila Genesis Entertainment and Management Inc., which is also celebrating the tail end of its 30th year.

Conceptualized by Gary and the Manila Genesis team with son Paolo. Gary V Presents’ main objective is to provide a platform for artists who Gar feels deserve a bigger and wider venue to showcase their immense and formidable talents in the different genres that each of them represent – pop, soul, R&B, jazz, world music, and classical among many others.

The maiden run of Gary V Presents… … was staged for two nights in November 2015 and the concert franchise series has since spawned three more runs due to insistent public demand: a repeat in December 2015 in Manila and a special run in Dipolog City, and a two-night run in July 2016 in Quezon City, making the season finale its fifth and grandest staging ever as it is set to dazzle and enthrall fans of all ages.

For this season finale, fans can look forward to the show-stopping production numbers of Gary with The Voice Of The Philippines alumni Mitoy Yonting, Janice Javier, RJ Dela Fuente, and Tim

Pavino; Allan Silonga of the all-male vocal group Daddy’s Home and Suklay Diva and online sensation Katrina Valerde of The X-Factor Philippines; classical-pop singer Lara Maigue of Philpop; theater actress and former star of Miss Saigon in London, Carla Guevara-Laforteza; theater actor and R&B singer Jimmy Marquez of the second season of Search For The Star In A Million; indie artist Bullet Dumas of the annual Elements Songwriting Camp; and it-girl, certified hit-maker, and singersongwriter Kiana Valenciano. As an added treat, Jason and Joshua Zamora – two of the original members of The Manoeuvres and the Addlib Dancers will join the entire gang for the season finale.

It was heartwarming to see audiences cheer for Dumas whose unique musicality endeared him to the crowd and his coperformers. Most of them were catapulted to mainstream recognition after they became part of different talent competitions on national TV. Gary chose them to be part of the concert on the basis of their individual achievements as solo artists as they are rapidly conquering the fields of recording, live shows and local bar circuits, theater, and television.

“We are calling this run of Gary V Presents… a season finale because the series will feature a different set of artists when it returns in the future,” says Gary.

“I would like to continue my advocacy to provide artists with a bigger platform to showcase their music to a wider audience

back in GMA News TV’s ‘Everyday Sarap with CDO’

"Gary V Presents" is the major event that marks Mr. Pure Energy's 34th anniversary in show business

and I’ll be on the look out for a new set of artists. But of course, the original cast of Gary V Presents… will always have a special place in my heart.”

Gary received standing ovations for this concert and stunned the public with his amazing dancing skills and vocal gymnastics which has continued to prove that he indeed is one of the greatest music performers in Philippine entertainment history and is now being called the King Of OPM. An advocate of various causes despite his medical challenges, Gary is definitely a living miracle despite 39 years of having Type 1 diabetes. The concert series is for the benefit of the diabetes and scholarship programs of the Shining

Light Foundation.

Soon after the season finale of Gary V Presents…, Gary will gear up for his very first North American concert tour this 2017 and together with special guest Katrina Velarde, he is set to perform at M Resort, Las Vegas.

For tickets call TicketWorld (891-9999) or visit www.ticketworld.com.ph and/or contact +639189212812 and +639175413389.

For more of Gary check his YouTube site Gary V TV and for more information like Gary Valenciano Official on Facebook and follow @GaryValenciano1 on Twitter and @garyvalenciano on Instagram.

ULTIMATE Star Jennylyn Mercado is once more ready to share her kitchen escapades in the second season of GMA News TV and CDO Foodsphere, Inc.’s Everyday Sarap with CDO. Learn how to make delicious and budget-friendly dishes from recipes for the whole family using new CDO products including CDO Ulam Burger, CDO Idol Cheesedog, CDO Liver Spread and Danes Cheese Block.

Mercado shares her excitement now that she’s back hosting the program. She is very pleased and thankful with the warm support of viewers and CDO through the years.

“I feel happy na madami ang nag-enjoy sa show and grateful ako sa CDO na kinuha nila ako ulit kasi naramdaman ko na mahal nila yung show.”

While sharing her secrets in cooking healthy, unique and satisfying meals, She promises that this new season is filled with more enjoyable conversations as she will be accompanied by guest Kapuso stars who will help her in preparing specialty dishes.

“Now that I am more creative in making dishes, mas madami kaming recipes na lulutuin at definitely mas madaming kwentuhan at chikahan ang mapapanuod sa aming second season,” she said.

Jennylyn likewise takes her cooking expertise to a whole new level as she shares more food facts and trivia to the viewers.

Under the helm of Noel Anonuevo, Everyday Sarap with CDO airs Monday to Friday, 11:00-11:10 a.m., 3-3:10 p.m. and 7-7:10 p.m.. It is also seen Saturdays at 1:15-1:25 p.m., 3-3:10 p.m. and 6:05-6:15 p.m.; and on Sundays at 12:45-12:55 p.m., 4:50 to 5 p.m. and 5:30-5:40 p.m..

Kapamilya brand of publ ic service AS HE would every weekday, broadcast journalist Ted Failon reported for boardwork.

Ted and Chacha were there for the fourth leg of “DZMM Kapamilya Day,” the AM radio station’s latest offering that tours different barangays in Metro and Mega Manila to bring joy and public service to Filipinos in celebration of the 10th year of DZMM TeleRadyo on television.

Julius Babao and Bernadette Sembrano’s Lingkod Kapamilya sa DZMM kickedoff the caravan on March 10 at Barangay Sta. Ana, Pateros, whose residents were able to air their concerns, and benefited from DZMM TLC’s medical mission.

A major part of “DZMM Kapamilya Day” is to bring a DZMM program to a barangay and air it live via satellite. This allows the anchors to bond and interact with more Kapamilyas,

Radio and TV news anchor Ted Failon during DZMM Kapamilya Day

and focus on the specific concerns in their communities.

Dos Por Dos partners Anthony Taberna and Gerry Baja listened to sentiments of residents at Brgy. 162, Pasay City over chichirya at local sarisari store on March 17.

At the event’s third leg in

Barangay Molino 2 in Bacoor, Cavite on March 24, Pasada Sais Trenta anchors Karen Davila and Vic Lima tackled the traffic problems of the province, and helped provide immediate solutions by organizing a sit-down between the local government, the Cavite Road

Bernadette Sembrano and Julius Babao with one of the patients assisted by Lingkod Kapamilya caravan

Safety Division, and local PUV drivers.

“Pumunta tayo dito para makialam at tumulong na makarating sa mga kinauukulan sa provincial and even national level (ang problema ng mga tao dito sa trapiko). Kaya kami sa DZMM ay umaasa na

sana magpatuloy ang DZMM Kapamilya Day mula dito sa Luzon hanggang sa Visayas at Mindanao,” says Vic de Leon Lima.

DZMM’s bonding with the people would continue off the air, as it conducted a special program in every community with Zumba

sessions and parlor games led

by Mismo anchor Ahwel Paz. Moreover, various public service activities were held like medical mission and livelihood seminars.

To add excitement, residents celebrating birthdays were given a special treat and raffle prizes were drawn.

“Importante na makita natin sila at malaman ang problema nila at malaman nila na mahal natin sila,” says Karen Davila.

DZMM will continue bringing the Kapamilya brand of genuine public service and heartfelt ‘malasakit’ to Filipinos with “DZMM Kapamilya Day” heading to more barangays until June.

For news and public service, stay tuned to DZMM 630 on AM radio or DZMM TeleRadyo on cable TV and ABS-CBN TVplus. For updates, follow @ DZMMTeleRadyo on Twitter and Facebook.