Manila Standard - 2017 June 17 - Saturday

ISIS CHIEF KILLED IN SYRIA AIRSTRIKE—RUSSIA

‘THE GHOST’. This image grab taken from a propaganda video released on July 5, 2014 by al-Furqan Media allegedly shows the leader of the Islamic State group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, aka Caliph Ibrahim, addressing Muslim worshippers at a mosque in the militant-held northern Iraqi city of Mosul. Right panel shows smoke rising from buildings following an airstrike on a rebel-held area in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, on June 14, 2017. AFP

THE Russian army on Friday said it hit Islamic State leaders in an airstrike in Syria last month and was seeking to verify whether IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi had been killed.

In a statement, the army said Sukhoi warplanes carried out a 10-minute night-time strike on May 28 at a location near Raqa, where IS leaders had gathered to plan a pullout by militants from the group’s stronghold.

“Senior commanders of the military groups of the so-called IS military council, 30 mid-ranking field commanders and up to 300 militants who provided security for them were eliminated,” it said.

“According to information which is being checked through

various channels, the leader of ISIL Ibrahim Abu-Bakr al-Baghdadi was also present at the meeting and was eliminated by the strike,” it said.

ISIL is an acronym for the socalled IS group, also known as ISIS and Daesh.

The US has been informed about the attack, the statement added.

Elusive IS supremo Baghdadi has not been seen in public since proclaiming himself “caliph” in the Iraqi city of Mosul three years ago.

His group has earned global notoriety for imposing a hardline form of Islam that has included stonings, beheadings and Next page amputations.

SC okays Marcos bid Forms 3-man panel to receive evidence in poll protest case

By Rey E. Requejo

T

HE Supreme Court, acting as Presidential Electoral Tribunal, has granted the motion of former senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to designate hearing officers to help the tribunal receive evidence in his election protest against Vice President Leni Robredo.

VOL. XXXI • NO. 123 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Senators ask for Duterte’s state of health

By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATORS on Friday pressed Malacañang to reveal if President Rodrigo Duterte is indeed sick following his absence from public events since the Independence Day celebration on June 12 at Rizal Park.

The President was last seen in public on Sunday, when he visited the wounded soldiers in Cagayan de Oro and paid his last respects to eight slain Marines in Pasay.

Malacañang has said Duterte remains in excellent health despite having a “brutal schedule” that led him to

miss the Independence Day celebrations in Manila.

“It behooves Malacañang to disclose the current state of health of the President,” said Senator Panfilo Lacson, a Duterte ally, saying this would dispel speculation that he is ill.

“The public deserves nothing less,” he said, noting that the health of the President of any country is not his or his family’s private affair, but a matter of public concern.

If the President is sick, Lacson said, the public will surely understand since he is exposed to all kinds of stress and physical exhaustion due to the numerous problems

besetting the country, not to mention the sight of soldiers being transported in coffins by military aircraft with all the grieving families waiting to bring them to their respective provinces.

“That indeed is very stressful,” said Lacson who earlier said absence of the Chief Executive is “no big deal.”

“President Duterte is no exception.

Those who came before him likewise took some days off occasionally because of health issues,” Lacson said.

He said a human body, especially that of a 72-year-old President of the country is not expected to always stay in shape.

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Maute ‘bomber’ a priority, fiscals told

By Rey E. Requejo and John Paolo Bencito JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Friday ordered immediate inquest proceedings against a suspected bomb maker for the Maute terrorist group arrested in Cagayan de Oro City.

The suspect, Mohaamad Maute alias Abu Jadid, 22, a resident of Butig, Lanao del Sur, was arrested by police and soldiers outside the room he rented in a house in Sitio Santa Cruz, Barangay Macasandig on Thursday.

The suspect’s arrested was pursuant to

Arrest Order No. 1 issued and signed by Defense secretary and Martial Law Administrator Delfin Lorenzana dated June 5, for the crime of rebellion.

“The arrest of Mohaamad Maute is a very welcome development in our efforts to bring to justice the perpetrators behind the attacks on the people of Marawi City. Only by successfully prosecuting the responsible parties can we vindicate the people of Marawi City, particularly the innocent victims,” Aguirre said in a statement.

“The perpetrators of the dastardly attacks

on Marawi City must be brought to justice.

I have instructed the panel of prosecutors to immediately conduct the inquest proceedings and to expedite their prosecution and hopefully, their conviction,” he added.

Aguirre also reiterated his request for the Supreme Court to order the transfer to Metro Manila courts the cases against the Maute terrorist group.

The Justice secretary said the arrest of Maute in Cagayan de Oro justified his department’s request that the hearings be transferred out of the city, farther away from Marawi City, where fighting continues.

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Former senator Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.

In a resolution, the PET appointed retired Supreme Court Associate Justice Jose C. Vitug as the chairman of the panel of commissioners, while lawyers Angelito C. Imperio and Irene Ragodon-Guevarra were appointed members.

“The commissioners shall decide unanimously to every extent possible, provided that in the event of failure to reach a unanimous decision, the majority decision shall prevail,” the resolution said.

The tribunal mandated the three-person panel of commissioners to assist in the reception of evidence.

Under the rules, the panel shall set the date for the reception of evidence of all the parties involved in the protest and counter-protest. The same panel will receive the affidavits of witnesses and hear

Vice President Leni Robredo

their direct testimonies as well as their cross, redirect and recross examination.

The hearing commissioners also have the authority to rule on the objects made in the course of the cross-examination subject to review by the PET. After the hearing, the hearing commissioners shall submit all the evidence presented as well as the transcripts of the proceedings before the PET. The resolution said the chairman shall receive a compensation of P15,000 per day of hearing or service while the members shall receive a P10,000 per day of hearing or service. The OVP said it would issue a statement this weekend.

Marcos earlier sought the formation of a panel of hearing officers to expedite the proceedings in his election protest. Next page

Disbar CA justices, says House

Grenfell toll rising; Pinay still missing

By Maricel V. Cruz

FOREIGN Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said Friday the search for the Filipino woman missing in the fire in London on June 14 had so far not been successful.

But he said the Philippine Embassy in Britain would continue to locate Ligaya Moore, a known resident of the 24-story Grenfell Tower that burned down on June 14 and killed at least 17 initially.

“So far, the efforts of the embassy to locate her has been unsuccessful,” Cayetano said in an ambush interview.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Robispierre Bolivar said since the fire incident, the officials of the Philippine Embassy in London had been visiting every hospital in the area to determine if Filipinos were among those being treated for injuries.

“Our embassy in London is currently looking for Ms. Moore,” Bolivar said.

The Philippine Embassy earlier confirmed that some Filipinos were injured in the fire, but it has yet to account for all those who had been affected by it.

“We have exerted all efforts to locate and identify the Filipino victims of the fire by visiting rest centers, reception and drop-off points and hospitals, and by engaging the Filipino community in an information gathering and

SPEAKER Pantaleon Alvarez on Friday threatened to abolish the Court of Appeals, saying the appellate court had no authority to compel the House of Representatives to release the so-called “Ilocos Six” who are detained at the Batasan Complex over an irregularity.

“The CA is not even our co-equal branch. It is merely a creation of Congress. It exists because it was created by Congress,” Alvarez told a radio interview.

“The CA justices had better start thinking because any time, we can Next page dissolve the CA.”

Long weekend marks Eid’l Fitr on June 26

By John Paolo Bencito FILIPINOS will have a long weekend next week after President Rodrigo Duterte declared June 26, a Monday, a regular holiday to mark Eid’l Fitr or the end of the holy month of fasting for Muslims.

In his Proclamation 235 Next page

PROTEST RIBBON. A ribbon calling for the lifting of martial law in Mindanao is displayed during a protest by Filipino college students in

Manila on June 16, 2017. President Rodrigo Duterte on May 23 imposed martial law in the Mindanao region, home to 20-million people, following deadly clashes in a mostly Muslim-populated city involving militants whom he said were trying to establish a caliphate for the Islamic State group. AFP

Agency turns to whistleblowers in anti-trust drive THE Philippines is turning to whistleblowers to energize its struggling campaign against the cartels, an official has said.

The Philippine Competition Commission, or PCC, will recruit whistleblowers to report

anti-competitive practices like price-fixing, Chairman Arsenio Balisacan said in an interview on Wednesday.

The antitrust body is also investigating the power generation and cement industries fol-

lowing complaints of alleged collusion among the sectors’ few players, he said.

He declined to elaborate, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

“We need to coordinate, cooperate and collaborate,” Bali-

sacan said.

The PCC plans to grant individuals immunity from prosecution and exempt them from fines in exchange for information on fixing prices and imposing barriNext page ers to entry, he said.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

ISIS...

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The Iraqi-born world’s mostwanted man has been rumored wounded or killed a number of times in the past.

He has been nicknamed “The Ghost” as he has been reportedly spotted around the Syrian-Iraqi border but his whereabouts have never been confirmed.

US-backed Arab and Kurdish forces broke into the IS bastion of Raqa last Tuesday for the first time since it became a hub of the group’s self-declared caliphate and the scene of its most gruesome atrocities.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it did not have information on the Russian claim yet. The organization collects information from a network of activists on the ground in Syria.

There have previously been unconfirmed reports, including in March 2015 and in June 2016, that al-Baghdadi was seriously wounded in airstrikes carried out by US-led coalition forces.

In March 2017, US defense officials said he left Mosul before Iraqi forces began their offensive there. AFP, Bloomberg

Tourism fires top ad firm T

HE Philippines has fired one of the world’s top advertising firms in a row over alleged plagiarism, adding more misery to its tourism industry already reeling from a war with Islamist militants and a deadly crackdown on drugs.

The Tourism department on Thursday canceled its contract with McCann Worldgroup Philippines and demanded an apology, after deeming its justlaunched promotion for the Southeast Asian nation was too similar to a 2014 South African campaign.

“It is not right that we will be paying for something delivered to us which is fraught with accusa-

tions of being a copycat version,” assistant tourism secretary Reynaldo Ching told reporters.

The ad showed an elderly tourist enjoying his trip to the Philippines and ends with him whipping out a blind man’s walking stick.

It was ridiculed in social media for what netizens described as its uncanny similarity to the “Rediscover South Africa” ad.

“While we regret the decision of the [ministry] to discontinue our partnership, we continue to believe that it is in the best interest of all parties to discuss a sensible resolution to this matter,” a McCann statement said Friday.

McCann, part of the US global ad giant Interpublic Group, had issued another statement earlier in the week saying it stood by the integrity of the campaign.

“We also underscore that there has never been any intention to copy others’ creative work,” it said.

Despite picturesque tropical islands and spectacular mountains, the Philippines lags behind its neighbors as a tourist destina-

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Long...

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dated June 16, Duterte said the entire Filipino nation should have the “full opportunity to join their Muslim brothers and sisters in peace and harmony.”

“In order to bring the religious and cultural significance of the Eid’l Fitr to the fore of national consciousness, it is necessary to declare Monday, June 26, 2017, as a national holiday in the observance and celebration of Eid’l Fitr,” Duterte said.

“Therefore, I, Rodrigo Roa Duterte, President of the Philippines, by virtue of the powers vested in me by law, do hereby declare Monday, 26 June 2017, a regular holiday throughout the country in observance of Eidíl Fitr.”

Republic Act 9177, which was approved by former President and now Pampanga Rep. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in 2002, provides that only the Office of the President may declare the Eid’l Fitr as a regular holiday upon the recommendation of the National Commission of Muslim Filipinos.

The act says the first day of Shawwal or the 10th month of the Islamic calendar is a regular holiday across the country.

Grenfell...

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sharing campaign,” the embassy said in a statement posted on its official Facebook account.

Most of the fire victims were brought to emergency shelters including St. Clement’s Church, St. Francis of Assisi Church and the Portobello Rugby Club on Walmer.

“There were 13 [Filipinos] hospitalized and the others were provided temporary accommodation last night,” Cayetano said.

Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

In recent months the threat from Islamist militants has also spiked.

In April, the government foiled a plot to kidnap dozens of tourists in the central island of Bohol, leading to gun battles that leaving 15 people dead.

Then last month, militants flying the black flags of the Islamic State sgroup rampaged through the southern city of Marawi, leading to clashes that have left nearly 300 people dead and are continuing.

Duterte declared martial law across the southern Philippines, home to 20 million people, in response to the rampage which he said was part of an IS campaign to establish a caliphate there. AFP

SC...

in the Certificates of Canvass .

“We are contesting 36,000 clustered precincts comprising of 30 provinces but we are looking at the numbers and we have seen that these provinces are very significant,” lawyer Vic Rodriguez, spokesperson for the former senator, said.

Rodriguez explained that of the six vice presidential candidates, five trace their roots to Bicol.

“But if you will check the numbers, Senator Francis Escudero only received less than 40,000 votes considering that he ran for public office several times,” he said adding that Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, whose wife is from Albay got 14,601 votes. Senator Antonio Trillanes, who traces his roots to Albay got 11,334 votes while Senator Gregorio Honasan, whose mother is from Sorsogon garnered only 7,005 votes.

He also noted that there are almost 65,000 under votes in Camarines Sur. The three provinces, he said have a total of 300,000 under votes. Under votes are ballots not counted either because the voter did not vote for a certain position or there were unclear markings in the ballot.

“Again what is the significance or relevance of those under votes?

It’s as if there were a seventh candidate for vice president hiding under the undervotes,” Rodriguez said in Filipino.

With respect to Iloilo, Rodriguez pointed out that it is extremely implausible that Robredo obtained 573,729 votes as against Marcos’ 94,411 votes when his running mate, the late Senator Miriam Defensor Santiago, was from the said province and they were warmly received by the Hiligaynons during their sorties there.

Negros Oriental, on the other hand, was chosen because Robredo’s supposed 248,102 votes as against Marcos’ 99,208 votes is dubious considering the fact that Marcos was supported by the biggest political families in the province.

The Marcos camp listed a total of 362 witnesses in the preliminary conference brief who may be called upon to testify and submit supporting evidence, including officials from the Comelec and Smartmatic.

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Disbar...

The Court of Appeals was created by Commonwealth Act 3 in December 1935.

Alvarez said Congress could enact a law that would abolish the second highest court of the land.

Similarly, Congress, having the power of the purse, could give the court a one-peso budget—and that would effectively shut it down.

Alvarez also threatened to file disbarment cases against the three justices from the court’s Special Fourth Division—Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonino-Valenzuela—for granting the habeas corpus petition of the six and issuing a release order allowing them to post bail.

Alvarez earlier tagged the three justices as “idiots,” “rotten,” and “crazy” for compelling the court to explain the detention of the six Ilocos Norte officials over their alleged irregular procurement of P66.45 million worth of vehicles for the provincial government.

“I think the CA justices have no jurisdiction over us,” Alvarez said.

“Who are they to dictate to Congress what to do? We have rights that have been upheld by the Supreme Court a number of times.”

Alvarez also accused the court’s justices of “gross ignorance of the law” for allowing the Ilocos Six to post bail.

“The House leadership will not honor such an order from the CA,” he said.

tion due partly to decades-long Muslim and communist insurgencies, as well as kidnappings

by Islamist militants.

About 5.9 million tourists visited the Philippines last year, compared with 32.6 million for Thailand.

Safety concerns had been exacerbated over the past year partly due to a crackdown on drugs by President Rodrigo Duterte that has seen thousands of people killed and led to warnings by rights groups of a potential crime against humanity.

Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo urged journalists in March to “tone down” their coverage of the drug killings, saying the media was scaring away foreigners.

MINDANAO HOUR. Armed Forces of the Philippines spokesperson Brig. General Restituto Padilla

dispels talk that Maute terror group can launch attacks in other cities like Iligan and Cagayan de Oro during the Mindanao Hour at the New Executive Building in Malacañang on June 16, 2017. Padilla added that the Maute group no longer has the numbers to sow terror. Presidential Photographers Division

Senators...

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Opposition senator Francis Pangilinan said while he accepted Malacañang’s explanation that the President was tired and needed rest, a four-day absence was a concern under the present circumstances.

“Having said that, if the President has a medical condition preventing him from fulfilling his duties as commander in chief and is not simply ‘just resting’ then the public deserves to know the truth,” he added.

Pangilinan, president of the opposition Liberal Party, earlier called on the public to give the President some leeway. “He is after all 72 years old and as he himself has said is not as strong as he used to be. I wouldn’t immediately be concerned that he has been resting for a few days. Even Presidents deserve to take a break,” he said.

Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III said Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea has a duty to inform the public if the

President is sick.

“If he is resting, well, let him rest.

No need to announce the President is resting. What for?” Pimentel added.

“Hence if there is no announcement that he is sick, why do we insist that he is sick? He is resting from the public eye! I see no issue at all,” he added.

Senator Leila de Lima, jailed on drug charges by the Duterte administration, said the Constitution requires that the public be informed of the President’s state of health in case of serious illness.

She said the Palace was taking this provision literally, and waiting until the illness is serious before informing the public.

“We do not need this at a time when the AFP is waging a war against terrorists in Marawi,” said the detained senator.

She insisted that the public needs to be fully informed. Knowing the truth about the President’s state of health is both a matter of public interest and national security, she added.

Maute...

From A1 On June 6, the Supreme Court designated the Cagayan de Oro regional trial court to handle cases hurled against the Maute members.

The Court also assigned the military’s Camp Evangelista in the same city to serve as the detention of the arrested suspects.

Earlier, the Justice department approved the filing of rebellion charges against Ominta Tamano “Farhana” Maute, mother of Maute group leaders Abdullah and Omar, former Marawi City Mayor Fahad Salic and nine others in connection to the ongoing fighting in Marawi City.

Aside from Salic and Maute, also charged in court were Sumaya Bangkit Masakal, Radiea Tugosa Asire, Mariam Ibnu Abubakar, Zafeerah Rosales Musa, Nehreen Macaraya Abdul, Nora Moctar Limgas, Mardiyya Haji Ali, Sumayya Lawi Ali and Noronisa Haji Camal.

All 11 accused were included in the list of over 300 individuals identified as members of the Maute group, the Abu Sayyaf group, and their sympathizers and ordered arrested for the crime of rebellion.

They were indicted after investigating prosecutors found probable cause to file the case in court following inquest proceedings held at

Agency...

From A1 Balisacan, the former economic planning secretary, is taking on the task of dismantling anti-competitive practices in the Philippines, which the

But Senator JV Ejercito said it is not the time to speculate on the health of the President.

“Let us show a united front in the face of the challenges before us. If there is anything we know of President Duterte, it is that he is honest, direct to the point and transparent. I am not worried because I am certain he will address this issue, if there is an issue,” Ejercito said.

Earlier, Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, who represented the President during the Independence Day celebration, assured the public that there was nothing to worry about the President’s health. He said the President was tired following engagements in Cagayan de Oro City and Pasay City on Sunday.

“You know the President has been working 24/7, meeting the troops, meeting the commanders and then late last night, visiting the wounded and the dead. So that’s why this morning, he didn’t feel that well. Nothing to worry about but it’s better for him to rest for now,” Cayetano said.

their temporary detention cell in Camp Evangelista in Cagayan De Oro City.

The military on Friday said the attacks in Marawi City were unlikely to happen in nearby Iligan ity and Cagayan de Oro. Speaking to reporters, Armed Forces spokesperson Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla admitted that some members of the Maute local terrorist group may have already escaped to Iligan City which is an hour away from Marawi and three hours away from Cagayan de Oro. “If there were members of the Maute that are in Iligan, we cannot deny that there might be some who mixed up with evacuees from Marawi City to neighboring cities, such as Iligan and Cagayan de Oro,” Padilla said.

“These individuals, they might have slipped and were not processed when they became members [of the Maute,” he added.

The military spokesperson also said that the military is trying to pre-empt possible attempts “to sow some confusion to sow terror in these areas by small actions.”

“Safe to say, I can tell you, they don’t have the capacity to do what they did in Marawi anymore. Their capabilities have been significantly degraded, and they have specifically targeted Marawi to sow terror, wreak havoc, possibly kidnap people, destroy homes, schools, what have you [witnessed]. And that’s

World Bank has outlined as among the country’s key challenges.

Southeast Asia’s youngest antitrust body is struggling as it faces off against wealthy, politically-connected families that dominate the business landscape.

The commission has been barred by a court from reviewing the sale of San

The first part of Marcos petition was about the Automated Election System . He said the vote counting machines which was one of the components of the automated system supplied by Smartmatic has no “demonstrated capability” nor was it ever successfully used in a prior electoral exercise either in the Philippines or in any other country.

The second part of his petition consists of the more “traditional” modes of cheating like vote buying, pre-shading, intimidation and failure of elections, among others.

He specifically asked for the reopening of ballot boxes in each of the 36,465 clustered precincts in Cebu, Province of Leyte, Negros Occidental, Negros Oriental, Masbate, Zamboanga Del Sur, Zamboanga Del Norte, Bukidnon, Iloilo Province, Bohol, Quezon Province, Batangas, Western Samar, Misamis Oriental, Camarines Sur, 2nd District of Northern Samar, Palawan, Sibugay, Misamis Occidental, Pangasinan, Isabela, Iloilo City, Bacolod City, Cebu City, Lapu-Lapu City and Zamboanga City.

Marcos is also asking the PET to annul the election results in Lanao Del Sur, Basilan and Maguindanao where the ballots had been pre-shaded and to order a recount of 22 provinces and five cities.

The third part of the protest focused on the unauthorized introduction by Smartmatic’s Marlon Garcia of a new hash code (or program) into the Transparency Server as well as the effects brought about by the unauthorized change.

A preliminary conference is scheduled on July 11, 2017.

Marcos on Friday identified three provinces for the pilot manual recount and judicial revision of ballots in connection with his election protest against Robredo.

In his 81-page preliminary conference brief, Marcos identified Camarines Sur, Iloilo and Negros Oriental for the recount or revision because they will clearly show that there are major discrepancies in the votes cast in the ballots and those transmitted by the Vote Counting Machines and reported

what exactly they did,” Padilla said.

“There is a heightened security measure that is employed or enforced now in Iligan and Cagayan de Oro to check and to watch closely any possible movements of suspicious persons so that communities remain safe,” he added.

Intelligence reports said several groups had planned to attack Cagyan de Oro and Liligan as well.

Iligan City Vice Mayor Jemar Vera Cruz earlier said that the military and police intelligence detected the entry of some Maute members in the city.

Chief Information Officer Jose Pantoja meanwhile, said that the city has already tightened its security amid sightings of some 300 armed individuals on Thursday morning in the nearby town of Tagoloan, Lanao del Norte.

“Imagine 300 armed men sighted? So now we are coordinating with the PNP and the military, and the local government,” Pantoja said in a television interview.

Meanwhile, a newly formed “Joint Task Group Ranao” was formed in preparation for Marawi’s rehabilitation, recovery, and reconstruction and rebuilding phase, Padilla said.

Amid reports that some aid packages were barred entry into Marawi City, Padilla urged private aid agencies, Padilla said all relief assistance should be channeled to local government.

Miguel Corp.’s telecommunication assets. The antitrust body in April asked the Supreme Court to lift the injunction against the review.

The extent of the amnesty for whistleblowers will depend on the data and documents provided and the timing of the reporting, Bali-

Padilla also said Friday that the Maute group terrorists had planned their attack for some time before they struck on May 23.

“They have planned for this for a long time and may have laid caches of arms in certain areas that will sustain them as they move into the interiors when they make a retreat or consolidation,” he added.

As of 6 p.m. June 15, the number of Maute group members killed has been placed at 225 with government losses at 59 and civilians executed by the terrorists at 26.

Civilians pulled out or rescued from the danger zone at placed at 1,629 and firearms recovered from the bandits at 208.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, called on the national government to act swiftly in laying the groundwork for a long-term recovery and rehabilitation program to revitalize the war-torn city and help its citizens rebuild their lives.

“When the government finally wins the battle against the Maute group, an even more challenging battle will begin: the fight to rebuild Marawi City. We have to start preparing for this formidable task as early as now,” Gatchalian said.

The firefight between government forces and the Maute terrorist group still rages on in Marawi City. With Macon Ramos-

Araneta, PNA

sacan said. Individuals who disclose information during an ongoing investigation will receive less of a reprieve than those flagging details at the onset.

Possible anti-competitive practices in shipping, toll operations, telecommunications and agriculture will be the focus in the coming months,

Balisacan said.

We’re hoping that businesses will recognize and render respect to the competition authority by complying with the law instead of challenging our acts,” he said.

“They should recognize that it’s in the interest of everyone.” Bloomberg

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

IN BRIEF Trillanes hit on Lascañas’ asylum bid SECRETARY Vitaliano N. Aguirre II on Friday assailed Senator Antonio Trillanes IV for the latter’s pronouncement that retired police officer Arturo Lascañas, who left the country last April for Singapore, may have obtained political asylum abroad.

Aguirre said Trillanes’ statement, if true, sends a wrong message that it is alright to obtain political asylum despite being a self-confessed killer of media personality Jun Pala.

“We should remember that Arturo Lascañas is a self-confessed killer of media personality Jun Pala. There are three warrants of arrest issued against Arturo Lascañas by the Regional Trial Court of Davao City,” Aguirre said in a statement.

“Senator Trillanes should be very careful about his pronouncements that there is a possibility that Arturo Lascañas, the discredited witness he presented before the Senate may have obtained political asylum abroad. It sends a very wrong message to the Filipino people that a person charged with murder and who has several warrants of arrest issued against him by the proper court can escape criminal liability by the mere expediency of seeking an asylum abroad,” he added.

The Justice secretary pointed out that Lascañas is the selfconfessed killer and he himself admitted to it.

“If Arturo Lascañas will be able get an asylum, he will be evading the penal consequences of a criminal act to which he admitted to doing,” Aguirre added.

It was Trillanes who presented Lascañas as witness during the Senate inquiry on the alleged link of President Duterte into the killings carried out by the socalled Davao Death Squad.

Aguirre said the media, both local and international, should oppose the grant of an asylum to Lascañas because the person murdered in cold blood by him is a media personality. Rey E. Requejo

Govt offers prayers for US solon THE Philippine government on Friday offered prayers for the “healing and complete recovery” of Louisiana Representative Steve Scalise after he was shot by a left-wing activist, James Hodgkinson in Alexandria, Virginia field.

“The DFA offers our prayers for the healing and complete recovery of Rep. Steve Scalise and other victims of the shooting incident in the US today, and for their families,” the Department of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

On Thursday evening (Manila time) 25 Republican lawmakers, along with staff and some security personnel were having baseball practice for its annual charity game when Hodgkinson, 66 years old, appeared with a rifle and began firing 50 to 100 rounds.

Scalise, Congressional aide Zachary Barth, and lobbyist Matt Mika suffered gunshot wounds and were taken to the hospital.

Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

HOMELESS PROTEST. A

day after the deadline for the housing boards of uniformed personnel to waive their claims to the thousands of idle homes in Luzon, members of the militant urban group Kadamay stage a protest action in front of the National Housing Authority head office in Quezon City to push for more distribution of idle homes to the county’s poorest and displaced.

Manny Palmero

Cayetano, two other Asean envoys tackle ‘intel’ sharing

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

T

HE Foreign ministers of Malaysia and Indonesia are set to meet with DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano to talk about counterterrorism and how to combat extremists by intelligence sharing and preventing them from entering the country.

Although there are no exact date yet, Cayetano said Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi had suggested that the Philippines host a meeting with her and Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman next week.

“What I can tell you, is that next week, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines Foreign ministers plus top security

personnel, will be meeting on counterterrorism and on fighting extremism,” Cayetano told reporters.

The DFA chief said that they plan to craft a group effort or an “inter-country effort” to be able to fend off extremists by “intelligence sharing.”

“To give you just a clear example. Kapag umalis ka naman ng Syria at Iraq hindi ka naman

mateteleport sa Pilipinas, sa Indonesia or sa Malaysia, hindi ba? May mga pagdadaanan ka.

So sharing this intelligence and coming up with ways to cooperate na maharang, mahuli, maidentify itong mga extemist, malaking malaking bagay for the region. Kung magcocooperate ng husto ang each country,” he explained.

During the meeting, Cayetano said the three officials will discuss enhanced cooperation on how the Association of the Southeast Asian Nations can play a major role in preventing the spillover from Iraq and Syria.

“We will be talking about enhanced cooperation so how we can deal with it tripartite with Indonesia and Malaysia, and how Asean can play a ma-

jor role in preventing the spill over from Iraq and Syria,” Cayetano said.

After the meeting, he assured that they will make themselves available to the media. “But obviously we will be talking about many many things that are either classified, confidential or secret, he added.

It’s been more than three weeks since the Maute group, which claimed to have pledged allegiance to Iraq and Syria Islamic State, attacked the city of Marawi in Mindanao.

Meanwhile, Cayetano said that the Philippine government is ready to provide aid to thousands of victims of the Marawi firefight.

Cayetano said that there are different aid programs that are already operating.

“In terms of our aid program, Mindanao has been our focus the last few years and continues to be our focus. We have different programs that are already operating and we continue to support the Mindanao trust fund.”

Cayetano said that so far, there are no request from the Philippine government for support or assistance from the International communities.

Since the war in Marawi broke out, Cayetano said that the Philippine government has been providing assistance through the “Philippine Red Cross, Canadian Red Cross, and International Red Cross.”

“We are given assistance for dealing with different events so I’m sure some of that money are being used in Marawi City,” he said.

Court affirms AMLAC motion vs Jinggoy RWM must

By Maricel V. Cruz FORMER senator Jinggoy Estrada lost a round in his court battle after the Sandiganbayan Fifth Division affirmed the motion of the Anti-Money Laundering Council denying the petition to junk the subpoena for various documents related to the court’s investigation into the alleged pork barrel scam.

In a resolution, the court division denied the AMLC’s appeal against the court’s Feb. 21 ruling, stating that the release of the documents is important to the plunder case of Estrada.

Estrada earlier asked the court to issue a subpoena for several AMLC reports and memoranda pertaining transactions of the alleged pork barrel queen Janet Lim Napoles involving the lawmakers’ Priority Development Assistance Fund, otherwise known as “pork barrel.”

Apart from being confidential in nature, the AMLC insisted in its motion the requested documents, such as correspondences, communications, Currency Transaction Reports (CTR) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR), were irrelevant to Estrada’s case.

It also said the subpoena was unnecessary and violative of several laws such as the Anti-Money Laundering Act and the Bank Secrecy Law. But the court said that it already resolved in its earlier resolution the arguments the AMLC raised regarding the confidentiality and relevance of the requested documents.

Estrada argued that the AMLC’s claim of the documents’ confidentiality was baseless as the letter did not cite authority for such claim.

“More so, the said documents are relevant to the instant case since these would determine the scope and regularity of the

investigation conducted by the AMLC,” the anti-graft court said.

It added: “Considering that the accused has no access to the documents sought, it is impossible for him to describe or identify the same with particularity.”

The court added that denying Estrada’s request for the documents is denial of his “constitutional right to compulsory process to produce evidence in his behalf.”

“The need for the documents and his right to compulsory process outweigh the claims of the AMLC of confidentiality, irrelevancy, and generality,” Estrada is facing graft and plunder for allegedly pocketing P183.793 million in kickbacks in allocating his PDAF from 2004 to 2012 to Napoles’ alleged bogus nongovernment organizations.

The Sandiganbayan scheduled the graft and plunder trial of Estrada on June 19 and Sept. 4, respectively.

DoJ chief suspends Manila City prosecutor

By Rey E. Requejo

YUMMY EXPO. Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate Agriculture and Food committee, was the guest of honor and Speaker during the opening ceremonies of the 11th Manila Foods and Beverages Expo at the World Trade Center in Pasay City. Held every month of June in a total exhibit area of 25,000-square meters inclusive of over five internet zones, the expo is joined by more than 50,000 visitors, international pavilions from Europe, United States of America, Taiwan, Malaysia, Japan and Korea. MAFBEX, the leading foods and beverage expo in the country, offers a taste of the finest flavors in the land and of its neighboring countries. Shown in photo are (from left): Richard Masselin (Pan Pacific Manila general manager); Bonifacio Pimentel (Illustrado Restaurant president); Angelo Lacson, (dean, DLS-CSB SHRIM Department); Benjamin Ziga (Economic Councilor of Czech Republic Embassy); Eugene Yap (HRAP president); Joseph Ang (MEM founding chairman); Engineer Albert Paredes (Chief of Staff of the Pasay City Mayor); Levi Ang (MEM co-founder); Senator Cynthia Villar; Undersecretary Bernadette Romulo-Puyat (Department of Agriculture); Khankhanit Amphuprapa (Minister Councilor for Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy); Jill Ang (MEM managing director); Tessie Roque (MEM executive director); and Rene Ramos (MEM executive director).

JUSTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has suspended Manila City Prosecutor Edward M. Togonon for 90 days for not complying with his order to release three detainees arrested for illegal drugs, despite the dismissal of cases against them.

Aguirre designated as officerin-charge lawyer Alexander Ramos, who is current director of the Witness Protection Program and a fellow member of Lex Talionis Fraternity where both Aguirre and President Rodrigo Duterte are members.

“He [Togonon] was suspended for not following the D.O. [Department Order] in not releasing three detainees despite the dismissal of the case against them,” Aguirre said in a text message.

Togonon will serve the suspension for 90 days.

On Jan. 4, 2017, Aguirre issued Department Circular No. 004 which provides that a respondent whose case for violation of the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs even if it involves the maximum penalty of reclusion perpetua, or imprisonment of 20 years and 1 day to 40 years shall be immediately released from detention even if the case is pending automatic review before the Department of Justice.

Aguirre reversed the Department Circular No. 022 dated Feb. 12, 2013 issued by former DoJ secretary Leila M. de Lima, with the subject “Guidelines on the Release of Respondents/Accused Pending Automatic Review of Dismissed Cases involving Republic Act No. 9165, Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act.”

face civil liability —Acosta

By Rio N. Araja

APART from the P1-million assistance to the kin of the victim of the Resorts World Manila, the management must still indemnify them in civil damages, the Public Attorney’s Office said Friday.

PAO chief Persida Acosta said that RWM must not only be held criminally liable, but must also be culpable for civil damages.

She said PAO has already stepped into the plan of some relatives of the victims to file a civil suit against the resort casino hotel owner, the Travellers International Hotel Group Inc., and its security provider, the NC Lanting Security.

“At least 10 heirs of the victims have sought our legal assistance and have qualified as indigent litigants,” she said in a radio interview, adding that not all of the victims are from wellto-do families.

“Don’t judge them why they were there. Some of them were employees, while some were relatives or friends of the hotel guests who came there for a visit,” she added.

“RWM must settle the civil aspect. They have the capability to do so. We have included the security agency because of its failure to rescue the victims. There were lapses, that is clear on its part. It should have allowed the Bureau of Fire Protection to go inside and allow firefighters save the victims.”

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Opinion

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

At a glacial pace

T

HAT today is a weekend probably offers a measure of relief, however small, to hundreds of thousands of commuters who use the Metro Rail Transit 3. This is not even a new story—everyone we know has experienced a horror story at some point—except that this week the train ran much more slowly than before, nullifying the reason people would prefer a train over some other mode of transportation.

The Transportation Department apologized Thursday for the inconvenience caused by the MRT’s inconceivable speed of 20 kilometers per hour—some swear it was slower than that. The

axel in one of the bogeys was found broken, officials said, and it would be better to run the very few trains at low speed rather than risk derailment.

Meanwhile, the govern-

ment has advised commuters against taking the MRT during rush hour, deploying some 80 buses on Edsa instead. This was also to avoid the kilometric lines in train stations.

A transport official said they would much rather accept commuters cursing at the department instead of seeing people sustaining injuries or dying.

On Friday, however, there were reports of passengers getting hurt due to a running train suddenly stopping, giving lie to the claim

that passenger safety was top priority.

The MRT problem has become so commonplace that reports of malfunction very rarely make it to the news anymore. This is not enough reason to slack off about it, however.

It has been nearly a year since a new administration took over. Granted that the root causes of the problem took place during a different era, one year is sufficient time to have come up with solutions and prevent further damage

from happening.

Unfortunately for commuters, the weekend only offers a respite. Come Monday, they will again have to brave the rails going to their schools or workplaces— and heaven help them with whatever new misadventures they encounter along the way.

Improvements in public transport have been slow in coming. We cross our fingers that plans to make the train system better are not delayed any further, or worse, derailed altogether.

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

Fake news and related concerns

ing Villamor Airbase. The latest was a report indicating that Duterte had flown back to Davao.

It should be noted that the source of all the recent media reports on the whereabouts and activities of the President is the Palace. Not one among the reported activities was covered live by media, and not one of the reporters covering Duterte has reported a firsthand account of actually seeing the President.

Thus, the questions on Duterte’s condition persist.

The Palace knows that a lot of people are asking. Surely, the President himself, knows. At a crucial time like this when fighting the Maute group in Marawi City still rages, and hundreds have been killed including a good number of our uniformed men, the President, as the Commanderin-Chief, needs to be visible.

At a time when martial law is in effect in the whole of Mindanao and people are jittery about the situation, the President, the

IT IS a postulate in journalism that news reports must be factual, and accurate. Towards this end, reporters go through an exacting process of verifying the source of information, and then ascertaining if the information itself is true. Only when these twin requirements are complied with is the information deemed news which may be disseminated to the public.

News dissemination is imbued with public interest. In a functioning democracy, citizens need to know what is taking place in their government and in society. This way, citizens provide themselves with information they need in deciding who should be voted to or voted out of elective public office. That information—news disseminated by the media—also empowers the people to muster enough public opinion to influence the course of public policies. Without that information, popular sovereignty is reduced to a teasing illusion.

Whatever conclusions the public will arrive at about the news they are exposed to is essentially their exclusive concern. Whether the conclusions they make are correct or erroneous is immaterial because at the end of the day the voter decides, correctly or incorrectly, who ought to lead the nation. After all, the Constitution states that all government authority emanates from the people.

That is why it is imperative that the news must be delivered to the public as is, without commentaries or embellishments—so that the public can decide for themselves.

Many people, however, are not contented with just getting the news. They also want to learn about the views of those in media who have the expertise to provide people with a well-considered perspective of the news. This is where the opinion makers step in. Column writers in the print media and commentators in the broadcast media fill that need.

This is where facts and opinion can co-exist.

Of course, the cardinal rule in journalism is that

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Where is the President?

POWER POINT ELIZABETH ANGSIOCO PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte is MIA—missing in action. The question “Where is the President?” is continuously asked over social media. Expectedly, the President’s absence from the public eye has fueled all sorts of speculations about the status of his health.

His absence was first conspicuously noticed when he failed to attend the 119th celebration of the Declaration of Philippine Independence last June 12. It is a long-held tradition that the sitting president leads this commemoration of a most important day in the country’s history.

Malacañang issued a statement that Digong was resting.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano explained the President’s need for rest due to lack of sleep. Cayetano said that

it is quite difficult to only have two to three hours of sleep on a daily basis.

This need for rest is understandable IF the occasion he missed was not as important as the Independence Day Declaration celebration. I do not know of any other president in our history who missed this most important event. He and his people should have prepared so he was ready for the day. Moreover, the official event lasts only for a few hours. If nothing was seriously wrong, the President should have sacrificed just a bit longer before taking time off for the day.

However, as of this writing, Digong has yet to make a public appearance. He has been uncharacteristically silent for almost four (4) days. For someone who likes to talk long, and lambast and threaten his critics, this is highly unusual.

It is not surprising that speculations were rife about this absence, mostly centering on the

President’s health. People want to know if Digong is well or ill, and if it is the latter, of what?

There are rumors of a heart attack, others are wondering if the absence has to do with the talks about frequent vomiting during a trip, or the reported passing

People need to know that the President is on top of the situation. out some weeks back.

It did not help that on June 14, the Palace’s Communications group put out pictures of the President on social media visiting injured soldiers, and condoling with families of soldiers

killed in Marawi clashes. The captions on these pictures made it appear that those events happened on the same day the pictures were released. Netizens were quick to call out the Communications group saying that those pictures were from events that occurred several days earlier. Again, people continued asking where the President was.

On the 15th of June, Presidential Special Assistant Bong Go released pictures of the President. One had Digong sitting and poring over documents, and the other, a picture of the two of them (Go and Duterte) standing and the president had a slight smile on his face. Go was quoted saying that the pictures were taken just moments before his posting.

This was followed by Chief Presidential Counsel Panelo saying that he spoke with the President on the evening of the 14th and that Digong sounded strong and upbeat. The Palace again released more pictures, this time of the President visit-

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Opinion BACKBENCHER ROD P. KAPUNAN

Not the right person for the job THE Armed Forces of the Philippines was about to celebrate their victory for successfully containing Islamic terrorists attempt to wrest control of Marawi City, but suddenly was aborted by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana’s unauthorized invitation for the US Special Forces to help quell the Maute and ISIS siege. The defeat of the terrorists was anticipated, and all that was awaited was the announcement of AFP spokesman, Brig. Gen. Restituto Padilla, to declare the operation as officially over.

The entry of the US melted fast the euphoria that the administration was about to embark an independent foreign policy. The unauthorized invitation carried deeper implications on our capacity to defend ourselves and to define our own foreign policy. In no moment did the rebels manage to stop the advance of our troops, except for the noise made by the motley Manila-based opposition. The rest of the Filipino people, including the residents in the conflict zone, openly supported President Duterte with the soldiers in the field high in spirit after crushing the enemy.

The Yellows are so desperate in wanting to discredit martial law for fear that if the President succeeds in neutralizing the Maute and ISIS, that could politically marginalize them.

Even if National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon assured that there would no US boots on the ground, that did not matter because the patriotic fervor of our soldiers to defend the country has somewhat been presented

by Lorenzana as false. It was illogical and humiliating for us to seek US assistance when everybody knows it is deeply mired in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is high time for President Duterte to replace Delfin Lorenzana as his secretary of National Defense. Lorenzana is not only his own man, but proved to be disloyal and untrustworthy. He should be charged for leaking confidential information that has a destabilizing effect to the government and for usurping the power of the President without the courtesy of informing him.

Lorenzana’s conduct clearly shows he is serving the interest of the US. He made a mockery of the President’s faith in our soldiers’ capacity to quell any rebellion or terrorist attack. To recall, President Marcos, even at the height of the communist and Muslim secessionist rebellion, did not request for US assistance.

On the contrary, the US purposely withheld the delivery of military supplies under the Military Assistance Agreement.

Even if a military alliance exists between the Philippines and the US, the decision to invite allied troops to participate in combat operations still requires the approval of the President. Like the power to impose martial law, that authority is one that cannot be delegated to anybody, not even to Congress, because such has the consequence of impinging on our national sovereignty. The President is the only person who can implement an executive agreement under the Mutual Defense Treaty. The Secretary of Na-

tional Defense does not possess that mandate.

If Lorenzana believes martial law was not necessary to quell the Maute and ISIS siege, as the principal adviser on security matters, he should have addressed his assessment directly to the President. If the President disagrees, he should be honest and brave enough to tell him that. Lorenzana committed serious acts of disloyalty and betrayal to the Republic. The Supreme Court, which is presided by a partisan Chief Justice who was appointed by an ewan ko President, could well capitalize the leaked information to discredit President Duterte much that it could divide the general public and cause demoralization in the ranks of our soldiers.

Thus, when the President said “nag mukha siyang tanga” when he came to know that US special forces are already operating and providing technical support our troops in Marawi City, he confirmed the truth that his secretary of defense is not his own man.

The unauthorized invitation is just one degree short of intervention because it did not have the approval of the President.

Maybe it is not fair for us to say that 50 percent of our soldiers killed in Marawi was caused by “friendly fire.” But rumors abound that the 11 soldiers died when our own aircraft d r o p p e d their bombs straight to the position of our ground troops as pinpointed by aerial surveillance. If it can be verified that US P-3 Orion and drones were operating to locate enemy positions, then we have a serious problem similar to what is happening in Syria where US continue to play a double-faced game of fighting Islamic terrorism but is in fact supporting them. Some even entertain the belief it was not an accident.

There is much doubt about the role of the US in the worldwide fight against terrorism.

Duterte himself witnessed that when, as mayor of Davao City, he was barred from investigating an injured CIA operative suspected of supplying bombs for the Abu Sayyaf. Many believe US involvement would not hasten the defeat of terrorists. Rather, it could prolong the fighting to give the US their bargaining chips to remind President Duterte to slow down on his independent foreign policy having its ultimate goal of bringing the Philippines back to the fold of US hegemony.

Finally, if the intelligence community has not noticed it yet, the presence of civilian volunteers wearing white helmets in the war-torn areas of Marawi invites suspicion. Many suspect they are providing the possible escape route for the terrorists in the guise of helping evacuate civilians. These volunteers in white helmets have been featured by the US and local mainstream media. Similar white helmeted groups are operating in Syria and they turned out to be sympathetic to ISIS and al Nusra, and even serving as their scouts.

More disturbing is that soon after the US joined the military operation in Marawi City, it was reported that the Maute and the ISIS opened a new

Lorenzana’s conduct clearly shows he is serving the interests of the US.

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

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Martial law and a living Constitution WITH this column, I begin a series on the legal issues surrounding President Rodrigo Duterte’s Proclamation No. 216 where he declared martial law throughout the Philippines. In the proclamation, he cited as rationale for the declaration the events of Marawi City on the week of May 22, 2017 when hostilities started broke out between the Armed Forces of the Philippines and a band of fighters coming from the Maute clan, Abu Sayyaf, and other groups.

The 1987 Constitution was drafted with the Philippine experience of martial law under President Ferdinand Marcos still fresh in the mind of the Constitutional Commission (Concom) members and the public. In fact, some argued then that the President should not be given the power anymore to declare martial law. After all, we have just seen then how that power was abused and how it was enabled a dictatorship that lasted for 14 years. In spite of these misgivings, the ConCom included in the Constitution the power of the President to declare martial law. But such power was severely curtailed and safeguards were instituted to ensure that the Marcos experience will not be repeated.

These constitutional limitations on the martial law power would have been tested for the first time in December 2009, the first time the martial law powers of the 1987 Constitution was exercised. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo had declared martial law in the province of Maguindanao in the aftermath of the Ampatuan massacre. In that case, it was argued that the military was needed to seize control of the civilian government in the province which was controlled by the Ampatuan family whose

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opinionated material must never be passed off as news or facts.

That is why in newspapers, the news pages are separated from the opinion section. This is also the reason why ethical media practitioners frown on propaganda masquerading as legitimate news.

If unverified or inaccurate information does not qualify as news, with greater reason should fake news be considered unacceptable in the profession. By its nature, fake news isn’t news because it is obviously designed to mislead or deceive the public.

The dissemination of information that misleads or deceives the public is not a function of the legitimate news media.

Before the onslaught of social media on cyberspace, not everybody can qualify as a news reporter. To repeat, the news reporter must verify the source of the news, and the authenticity of the news story itself. Anything short of those standards is unacceptable.

In addition, the news story is subject to intense scrutiny by editors, not only for the purpose of verification, authenticity, or even

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leader of this country must be there especially to assuage fears of abuse.

People need to know that the President is on top of the situation.

It is during times such as now when a leader must be seen, heard, and felt. Since Duterte was elected, nothing like this has front, an ominous sign that the fighting could continue. Such observation is easy to deduce because the US is the number one supplier of arms to the num-

patriarch and members were accused of carrying out the massacre of 57 persons from a rival and political family and from media.

Immediately after the Maguindanao declaration, Congress convened a joint session and prepared to vote on revoking or affirming the president’s decision. But this was preempted by the lifting of martial law, less than two weeks after it was imposed. Likewise, the petitions filed before the Supreme Court were later dismissed as moot and academic, although under that case of Fortun vs. Arroyo, the Court said that congressional review was automatic and judicial review was mandatory. In that case, Justice Carpio wisely observed that the Court should have taken the opportunity to lay down guidance on martial law so that future Presidents would be guided.

Today, there are now two sets of petitions before the Supreme Court; one on the validity of the declaration, the other on whether or not Congress should convene to review the declaration of martial law and to revoke it if there is a majority for that option. In both cases, the heart of martial law—what it is not and what it is—are at issue.

Hopefully, this time the Court will establish good precedent on the legal issues at hand. Our institutions and citizens need clarity and assurance about martial law. We need to know that it will work to defeat the problem of terrorism. We need to be comforted that there will be no abuses and our freedoms will not be taken again from us.

Under the 1987 Constitution, martial law can be declared when two conditions concur First, there must be actual case of invasion or rebellion; (2) such declaration is required by public safety. Invasion, as defined in public international law, is an act of aggression committed by one state against another. Thus, even if there might be foreign terror-

ists fighting in Marawi City, that cannot be considered invasion. However, there is a strong case for the acts of the Maute group in Marawi to be considered actual rebellion given the purpose of those acts.

It does not matter how the hostilities actually begun so long as there was this intent to remove, through armed means, this iconic city in Lanao del Sur from the Philippines to make it a province of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS). It seems also that there is no question that public safety was/is seriously threatened in Marawi City, justifying the declaration of martial law. In my view, the argument that there was technically no rebellion in Marawi does not hold water. On a policy level, whether martial law is the best option rather than just the sending out of the armed forces is of course something that can be debated.

The coverage of martial law is a big issue in the first petition on the validity of martial law, filed by several Representatives and individuals led by Congressman Edcel Lagman. There is nothing in Proclamation No. 216 and in Duterte’s report to Congress that establish the two conditions required by the Constitution to justify a martial law declaration: (1) actual rebellion, (2) that created serious threat to public safety that justify martial law.

From a procedural point of view, within 48 hours from the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus, the President is mandated to submit a report in person or in writing to the Congress. He has done that. This was supposed to be followed by both Houses of Congress then convening jointly and if it so desired, by a vote of at least a majority of all its Members in regular or special session, revoke such proclamation or suspension, which revocation shall not be set aside by the President. Unfortunately, for reasons that

is difficult to understand, the leaders of the Senate and the House of Representative have refused to convene, abdicating their constitutional duty. This issue is also now before the Supreme Court through a petition filed by a group of lawyers and individuals led by former Solicitor General Florin Hilbay.

As for the Supreme Court, the Constitution grants it the power to review, in an appropriate proceeding filed by any citizen, the sufficiency of the factual basis of the proclamation of martial law or the suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus or the extension thereof. The Court has been given a deadline of 30 days from the filing of the petition to promulgate its decision.

Finally, the 1987 Constitution is clear what martial law does not do: it does not suspend the Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. It does not allow military court to try civilians (as was done during the Marcos era) except when civilian courts no longer can function; it does not abolish the national and local legislatures. Civilian authority, at the national and local levels (except if the latter collapses), will always reign supreme. What martial law is —whether in fact, as I suspect and has now been affirmed by the Solicitor General and several Justices, it is just an amplified version of the calling out of the armed forces power of the President—will hopefully be defined by the Court in their forthcoming decision.

In the next few columns, I will summarize what we are hearing in the oral arguments in both petitions. And when the decision for the petitions on validity come out in early July, I will of course analyze that to see how a living constitution wrestles with the legal questions that accompanies the declaration of martial law.

style, but also to see to it that, as much as possible, the story will not breach the ethical standards of the profession, which includes a prohibition against violating the laws on libel, obscenity, privacy, intellectual property, and national security. All that scrutiny may require time, industry, and dedication, but that is what news reporting is all about.

The arrival of social media in the mainstream of Philippine life has altered the media scene in terms of ethical considerations. Suddenly, anybody with a computer, or with access to one, can now disseminate information just by pressing a key on the computer.

Early on, the dissemination of information through cyberspace was confined to private, social chatting about personal and mundane matters. Soon enough, bloggers entered the picture and shared their opinions about anything and everything under the sun to whosoever may care to visit their site. Later on, through networks like Facebook, almost everybody had his own site for disseminating his opinion, valid or otherwise. It didn’t take long before many social media users utilized cyberspace for character assassination. Improvements in

mobile phone technology, particularly instant photography, added fuel to the fire.

Almost overnight, social media was awash with unfair and unfounded commentaries which breach every known precept of media ethics which govern the traditional news media. Because the social media can be used through an anonymous name, character assassins and paid hacks found social media an ideal vehicle for destroying people and reputations. Through the social media, users are enticed to say anything they want, and condemn anybody for that matter, even without first ascertaining if their remarks are fair and justified, or not.

An example is provided by the numerous trolls who, before and during the election campaign in 2016, bullied anybody who made a comment on the social media which was not to their liking.

Making secret, unjustifed ill remarks against anybody smacks of treachery and underhandedness, and the sad fact is that the cloak of anonymity provided by social media has encouraged treachery and underhandedness.

Certainly, this is not the ideal way of disseminating and ex-

changing information.

The latest concern in the social media is the proliferation of fake news.

Under ideal circumstances, a person who gets his news from the traditional news media like newspapers, radio, and television will not be easily duped by fake news in the social media, primarily because in a case of conflicting news stories, the traditional news media enjoy the benefit of credibility because of the exacting and demanding requirements imposed on them in the realm of media ethics. Under this arrangement, fake news will have minimal detrimental effect.

Unfortunately, those who obtain their news solely from the social media will be prejudiced immensely by fake news. Because they have no access to the traditional news media, those who are dependent on social media for their news can be easily misled.

The mainstream print and broadcast media recently reported that the National Bureau of Investigation will arrest and prosecute purveyors of fake news. That is good news, indeed, because, for one thing, it did not come from the social media.

happened. People always knew where he was, and media always covered him no matter how late his press conferences are.

Duterte’s health is a national concern because he is the President. The Article VII, Section 12 of the 1917 Constitution is clear.

It says, “In case of serious illness of the President, the public shall be informed of the state of his health. The members of the Cabinet in charge of national se-

curity and foreign relations and the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces of the Philippines shall not be denied access to the President during such illness.”

The public has a right to know the president’s health condition.

If nothing is seriously wrong, it is very easy for President Duterte to stop all these speculations. All he has to do is call for a press conference to be covered live by media and show to the

people that he is well and able. It takes very little to end this issue and I hope Duterte does this as soon as possible.

Unless he is playing some game that we know nothing about, or there indeed, is a problem, President Duterte must already make a public appearance.

BIFF and their wayward brothers like the Maute, the Abu Sayyaf and the local ISIS have their loyalty to Saudi Arabia. It is expected that some of those

acquisition by Saudi Arabia will end up in the hands of Islamic terrorists, and Lorenzana did himself a good job for the US to accomplish its goal.

ber one funder of international terrorism. President Trump recently concluded a $360-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia.

Here the members of the MILF,

Facebook: Dean Tony La Vina Twitter: tonylavs

bethangsioco@gmail.com @ bethangsioco on Twitter Elizabeth Angsioco on Facebook

News

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Ubial encourages youth: Stop smoking cigarettes IN OBSERVANCE of June as the National No Smoking Month, the Department of Health strongly encourages the youth not to smoke cigarettes, said Health Secretary Paulyn Jean Rosell-Ubial She emphasized that there can be no stronger argument on the harmful effects of smoking than on the young population.

“Studies have shown that most young people who smoke regularly continue to smoke throughout adulthood and fall prey to being ‘replacement smokers’ of the tobacco industry. This creates a vicious cycle of young tobacco users and unhealthy future adult population,” Ubial said.

Based on the 2015 Global Youth Tobacco Survey, overall current tobacco users among students of age group 13 to 15 years increased to 16 percent from 13.7 percent in 2011.

The health chief said that the department is confident that the youth knows how and when to say ‘no’ to pressure.

“We know our youth are in control. A single puff may hook you for the rest of your life and chain you to various diseases. Not to mention the several ugly things

smoking can do to your youthful bodies —bad breath, stained teeth, early wrinkles, and poor vision.

By the time you reach adulthood, tobacco will take its toll on you— stroke and heart diseases, lung diseases, and cancer in almost anywhere in your body. Those are risks you would not be happy to be taking,” Secretary Ubial said.

Ubial said that just recently, President Rodrigo Roa Duterte signed Executive Order No. 26 or Providing for the Establishment of Smoke-free Environments in Enclosed and Public Places.

The order aims to provide for the protection of Filipinos, specially the youth, from the exposure of tobacco smoke nationwide.

The law prohibits everyone to smoke in public places and public conveyances such as schools, workplaces, sidewalks and even in jeepneys, buses, and tricycles. Minors are not allowed to smoke, to buy, or to be sold tobacco products.

Likewise, they are prohibited to be ordered or compelled to use, light up, buy, sell, distribute, deliver, advertise or promote tobacco products. Macon RamosAraneta

BOOKWORMS’ CORNER. A project for book lovers called The Book Stop Project, can be found right at the heart of Intramuros, at Plaza de Roma in front of the historic Manila Cathedral. Lino Santos

American DJ gets 2 life terms for drugs

Proposed excise tax on sodas ‘too high’—Senator Angara

By Joel E. Zurbano

By Macon Ramos-Araneta

A MAKATI City judge sentenced to two life imprisonment an American disc jockey who was arrested in 2012 for possession of prohibited drugs worth more than P50 million.

In a nine-page decision, Judge Tranquil Salvador Jr. of Makati City Regional Trial Court Branch 63 found Brian Kevin Hills guilty for violating Republic Act 9165 or the Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2012.

“The Court finds the accused guilty beyond reasonable doubt, with no mitigating or aggravating circumstances and is hereby sentenced to suffer for each of the said two criminal cases the penalty of life imprisonment and to pay a fine of P500,000,” the court decision stated.

Hills was convicted on criminal cases 13-260 and 61 for possessing a total of over 9,384 grams of methamphetamine hydrochloride or shabu.

In 2012, Hills was arrested by the National Police in coordination with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency during a drug sting in Makati.

After searching his unit at The Columns and his Mitsubishi Pajero, aside from the more than 9,000 grams of shabu, authorities also confiscated cocaine, Nitrazepam, Zolpidem and Diazepam.

Last year, Makati City court judges had convicted 23 people, 16 of them sentenced to life imprisonment, a few months after they were arrested and charged with various drug-related cases in 2015.

The city government has commended the city police and members of the Makati Anti Drug Abuse Council for the conviction of the 23 drug offenders who were arrested during separate operations.

Mayor Abigail Binay urged the people of Makati to be vigilant and cooperate with her administration to help the government in its fight against the drug menace in the country.

“It is gratifying to know that our local police are keeping our communities under tight watch for illegal drugs. We urge citizens to be vigilant and cooperate with law enforcement authorities,” Binay said.

She reiterated the city government’s ‘zero tolerance’ policy against drug trafficking and its use.

“We are serious about making Makati a drug-free city. I repeat, there will be no sacred cows under my administration, most especially if it concerns illegal drugs,” the mayor said.

HE proposal to impose a tax of P10 per liter of soda (softdrinks) or sugar-sweetened beverage would be scrutinized by the Senate Ways and Means committee chaired by Senator Sonny Angara even as many see the tax hike as “too high.”

T

“The Senate panel will work with our government agencies and stakeholders to ensure that any anti-poor or unreasonable provisions will not be included,” said Angara.

Angara took into consideration the sentiments of the public who sees the additional tax as very high relative to the actual price which could range from P20-P30.

The tax reform measure recently passed by the House of Representatives includes a provision imposing a P10 excise tax on every liter of sugar-sweetened beverages

containing locally produced sugar, while others will be taxed P20 per liter.

Instead of taxing P10 every liter, Angara is looking into imposing excise tax depending on the sugar content of the beverage.

The senator also noted that a P10 excise tax might be too high, as this would jack up the prices of some sugary drinks by 50 percent.

Based on the latest price survey of the Department of Finance, the retail price of a one liter CocaCola bottle will increase from P22

to P34; sachet prices of powdered drinks Nestea, Tang or Eight O’ Clock will increase from P9 to P20 and 3-in-1 coffee from P5 to P8.

Under the bill, SSB includes sweetened juice drinks, tea and coffee; all carbonated beverage with added sugar; flavored water, energy drinks, sports drinks, powdered drinks not classified as milk; juice, tea and coffee; cereal and grain beverages; and other non-alcoholic beverages that contain sugar.

Angara said he is considering a fairer and more reasonable excise tax on SSB, which would be more effective in curbing the prevalence of diabetes and obesity in the country.

He noted that many countries have adopted similar measures as a health measure to improve the overall well-being of their citizens.

Some beverages curently included are 3-in-1 coffee, some milk products, and powdered drinks.

The senator said this is why he

suggested to the DoF to study a content-based tax which would lead to healthier beverages being produced.

Angara said that right now, coffee and some milk are treated as the same as soda which he believes should not be the case.

The HOR-approved tax reform package aims to lower income taxes of middle income earners, while limiting value added tax (VAT) exemptions and adjusting excise taxes on oil, automobiles, and sugarsweetened beverages.

According to the Philippine Association of Stores and Carinderia Owners, 80 percent of the consumers of these products are low-income earners.

Data from Pasco also showed that 30-40 percent of the income of sari-sari store owners comes from the sale of coffee, juice and carbonated drinks.

Meanwhile, the Beverage Industry Association of the Philippines said

that such move would result to a P20-billion decline in sales of sugar-sweetened beverages.

“While we recognize the health benefits of the proposed sugar tax, this could hurt the poor consumers, the retailers, and the beverage and sugar industries. Lalo na po ang kabuhayan ng ating maliliit na mga negosyante, mga may-ari ng sari-sari stores, mga magsasaka at iba pang mga manggagawa na maaapektuhan dito,” Angara said.

[Especially those who depend their subsistene from sari-sari store owners, farmers and other laborers who would be severely affected by the measure].

Even as the DoF estimates that additional revenue can range from P40 to P47 billion, Undersecretary Karl Chua said that the inclusion of sugar tax is not primarily intended to generate more revenues but as a health measure meant to discourage consumers from buying unhealthy drinks.

NBI arrests notorious drug pusher in Naga

By Sandy Araneta

ENVIRONMENT-FRIENDLY BUSINESSES. Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu discussed the

current thrusts of DENR in helping the business sector to achieve sustainable development during the Membership Luncheon Meeting organized by the European Chamber of Commerce at the Makati ShangriLa Hotel. Among the topics Cimatu discussed are clean energy and its influence over the agency’s role to move forward, facilitating efficient environmental clearances for investors, addressing the issue of landfills and dumpsites through waste-to-energy, and the state of the country’s water resources.

THE National Bureau of Investigation’s Naga District Office arrested one of the notorious drug pushers in Mabolo, in Naga City last June 12, the agency said on Friday.

The NBI identified the suspect as Richard Estrella, alias Chabo, who operates in towns nearby Naga City.

The latest arrest is in line with the continuing anti-illegal drug campaign of the government, the NBI said.

The NBI said Estrella was arrested in his residence in Mabolo, Naga City by virtue of a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court (RTC), Iriga City.

NBI agents also seized several sachets of methamphetamine hydrochloride or commonly

known as shabu and drug paraphernalia, a .38 caliber revolver, several live ammunitions, and bundles of cash believed to be drug money from the sale of the prohibited drug.

Naga City expressed appreciation for the operation of the NBI since the suspect had been a long time problem in their area because of his drug activities.

Also, suspect had been the target of several “tokhang” operations but managed to elude the authorities.

Estrella is currently detained at the NBI Naga District Office and will undergo inquest proceedings before the City Prosecutors Office of Naga City for violation of Section 11, Article II of R.A. 9165 or The Comprehensive Dangerous Drugs Act of 2002.

MMDA suspends tow truck firm for ‘illegal activities’ THE Metro Manila Development Authority has suspended indefinitely the accreditation of one of the units of a towing service company after its crew members allegedly f lagged down and hauled off a closed delivery van last month.

The agency likewise impounded the same unit of Iron Wing Towing Services after an anonymous complainant alleged that the company personnel were involved in illegal towing activities.

Reports showed that crew members of tow truck no. 138 flagged down the victim while on board his closed delivery van that was traversing along G. Roxas Street in Quezon City around 11: 15 a.m. last May 26, 2017.

The crew members reportedly told the driver to alight from the van which was later forcibly taken by the tow personnel.

MMDA Chairman Danilo Lim said he has already instructed his men from the Towing and Impounding Group to summon a representative from the Iron Wing Towing Co. to appear before the agency’s main office in Makati City for initial investigation of the incident.

Lim also enjoined the driver of the van to file a formal complaint against the towing company so that proper administrative action could be taken against the firm and the personnel involved.

“We would act and deal with this kind of

misdeeds and illicit activities swiftly. These erring personnel should not be on the streets a minute longer,” the MMDA chief said, noting that another infraction would mean the cancellation of the company’s entire fleet accreditation.

The revocation of a tow company’s accreditation effectively grounds its operations.

MMDA has the authority to screen, approve, and revoke the accreditation of all towing service providers in Metro Manila.

Previously, MMDA had also indefinitely suspended unit number 145 of Iron Wing Towing Company over a similar complaint of illegal activities from a motorist. Lim also ordered for the immediate impoundment of

the said unit.

The MMDA recently imposed a stricter policy against tow truck operators in a bid to stop extortion and other illegal practices involving towing firms victimizing motorists along major thoroughfares.

Aside from the usual documentary requirements, tow truck operators are now required to have their personnel undergo mandatory drug test, seminar, and diagnostic examination. A smoke emission test would likewise be conducted on all tow trucks.

These procedures are prerequisites for accreditation and would ensure that only qualified and decent people will be allowed to operate tow trucks in the metropolis. Joel E. Zurbano

Sports

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Fowler surges ahead as big names flop at US Open golf E RIN—Rickie Fowler produced a recordequalling low-scoring round to take a oneshot lead at the US Open on Thursday as the big-hitters failed to fire.

Fowler, the world number nine from California, revelled in benign conditions at Erin Hills Golf Course to reel off seven birdies and 11 pars in a superb 65.

The 28-year-old’s sevenunder-par total matched the lowest to par score ever carded in the opening round of a US Open, a record shared by Jack Nicklaus and Tom Weiskopf since the 1980 tournament.

With the picturesque par-72

course set up at a monstrous 7,845 yards, Erin Hills had been expected to live up to the US Open’s billing of being the toughest test in golf.

But heavy rain, which has softened greens and made fairways more forgiving, levelled the playing field dramatically.

Fowler wasted no time in exploiting the conditions after teeing off on the 10th, rattling off four quick birdies to be four under.

Three more birdies on his inward nine took him to seven under and a piece of US Open history.

“It’s cool, but it’s just the first round,” Fowler said afterwards.

“It is always cool to be part of some sort of history in golf. But I’d rather be remembered for something that’s done on Sunday.”

Big-hitters flop Fowler leads by one shot from England’s Paul Casey and lowly-ranked American Xander Schauffele.

Casey carded an eagle and six birdies for a six-underpar 66 while Schauffele, the 23-year-old world number 352 also carded a 66.

Yet while Fowler and Casey thrived, defending champion Dustin Johnson, world number two Rory McIlroy and world number three Jason Day—three big-hitters who had been tipped to thrive—all had a day to forget.

Johnson blamed an errant putter for his three-over-par 75, which included a double-bogey and two bogeys.

“I just didn’t putt very well,” Johnson said. “I missed a lot of really good opportunities. That was the big key for me.”

McIlroy, who is returning to action after a rib injury, opened with an early eagle but was unable to maintain his momentum and

finished with a six-over-par 78.

“Just timing was a little bit off, and that was it,” McIlroy said.

“Just really bad tee shots which led to obviously not being able to give myself many looks for birdies.”

Day meanwhile was left sliding towards an early exit after a calamitous seven-over-par 79.

With Johnson, McIlroy and Day misfiring, it was left to a clutch of unheralded players to dominate the upper reaches of the leaderboard.

Three players—Brian Harman, Tommy Fleetwood and Brooks Koepka—were in the clubhouse on five under, two back from Fowler. AFP

Warriors celebrate with street parade SAN FRANCISCO—The Golden State Warriors celebrated their latest NBA championship on Thursday, waving to the crowd from atop double-decker buses as their victory parade weaved through the streets of downtown Oakland.

The jubilant players hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy and gave high fives to their fans as confetti filled the air.

The parade ended on the shores of Lake Merritt where coach Steve Kerr and the players addressed the crowd during an 80-minute rally.

“We need to enjoy this to the fullest,” star guard Stephen Curry said. “This whole day, this whole atmosphere, is unbelievable.”

The Warriors defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games to win the title, capping a brilliant 15-1 post-season run. It was the second parade in three seasons for the Warriors.

“There is nobody having more fun than me,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob said. “This is the best job in the world.”

The championship was the first of forward Kevin Durant’s career, and the NBA finals MVP took in the moment.

Durant’s decision to depart the Oklahoma City Thunder and join the Warriors was criticized by many, but winning the title provided redemption for the NBA star.

“It means the world for me to win the championship,” Durant told the crowd. “Hopefully we can keep it going. Thank you for the support.

“It has been a crazy year for me. Going through this year was so much fun. You come into work each day and it is more like fun.”

Golden State went 40 years between titles after winning the crown in 1975.

Three of the franchise’s five titles were secured after the team moved to the Bay Area from Philadelphia. AFP

Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors holds on to the Larry ‘O Brien Trophy as the Warriors celebrate their 2017 NBA Championship at The Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center during thier Victory Parade and Rally in Oakland, California. AFP

Volleyball stakeholders PSL, PVL lauded THE Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas, Inc. expressed its gratitude to its two major stakeholders for lending their players to the national team that will compete in a pair of major international tournaments this August.

LVPI acting president Peter Cayco said the formation of a strong national squad would not have been possible without the support of the country’s two biggest club leagues—the Philippine Superliga and the Premier Volleyball League.

Skipper Mika Reyes of Petron banners the players from PSL as national team captain.

She is joined by other Superliga veterans Jovelyn Gonzaga and Rachel Anne Daquis of Cignal, Aiza Maizo-Pontillas and Rhea

Dimaculangan of Petron and Maika Ortiz of Foton.

Also making the 14-woman roster that will be handled by Francis Vicente of Generika-Ayala are Aby Marano, Dawn Macandili and Kim Fajardo of F2 Logistics, Jaja Santiago of Foton, Frances Molina of Petron, Denise Lazaro of Cocolife and Gen Casugod of Generika-Ayala.

Alyssa Valdez of Creamline represents the PVL in the national women’s team that will see action in the AVC Asian Women’s Club Championship in Manila from Aug. 9 to 17 and the 29th Southeast Asian Games in Kuala Lumpur from Aug. 19 to 31.

As a sign of commitment to the national team program, the PSL and its team

owners unanimously agreed to shorten the ongoing PSL All-Filipino Conference up to July 15 to give way for the national team’s training in Japan from July 18 to 26 and China from July 27 to Aug. 2.

“This is our way of showing our support to the national team program,” said Suzara, who is also the chairman of the powerful development and marketing committee of the Asian Volleyball Confederation.

“The league is one with LVPI in forming a very competitive national team and plotting its return to glory. We feel that this lofty goal will only be achieved if club leagues will make some sacrifices like making their players available and synchronizing their calendar with that of the national team.”

WOMEN GOLFERS.

Members of Team Orchard display their trophy and medals after a runner-up finish in the Emerald Division of the 25th Champion Infinity Luzvimin golf championship at Mimosa Golf and Country Club’s Mountainview course in Clark, Pampanga recently.

They are (from left) Betchay Mendoza, Abby Lapid, skipper Marissa Romano, Jo Barredo, Leanne Zuniega, Amy Dy and Maisa Catindig.

KTM inaugurates motorcyle manufacturing plant

The state-of-the-art KTM manufacturing facility at the Laguna Technopark.

KTM Asia Motorcycle Manufacturing Inc., a joint-venture partnership between Adventure Cycle Philippines, Inc., owned by AC Industrial Technology Holdings, Inc., a member of Ayala Group of Companies, and Austrian motorcycle giant KTM AG (Kronreif & Trunkenpolz Mattighofen AG), inaugurates its state-of-the-art manufacturing facility at the Laguna Technopark in Sta. Rosa, Laguna.

The KTM Philippines plant— which assembles four KTM models such as the KTM 200 DUKE, KTM 390 DUKE, KTM RC 200 and KTM RC 390—will have an initial production run of 6,000 motorcycles, with the goal of eventually expanding to 20,000

units annually. Apart from the domestic market, KAMMI plans to export to neighboring Asean markets as well as China, where some 60 million motorcycles are sold per year.

“The inauguration of KAMMI’s manufacturing hub is a prime example of what we are capable of as a company and as a country, a collective group working towards a common vision,” said Arthur Tan, CEO of AC Industrials, which houses IMI and the Ayala Automotive group, in his remarks.

“We want the Philippines to be the place to build something, and this investment is our share in nation building.”

Meanwhile, Dino Santos, Ad-

venture Cycle Philippines Inc. President and COO, extolled the impact the plant’s opening has to Filipinos and the Philippine economy.

“This investment is part of our belief that manufacturing should be a key driver of our country’s inclusive growth going forward,” he explained. “It provides jobs, supply chain opportunities, and helps put the country in the map as a center for innovation and industrialization Gracing the event is Peter Perberschlager, KTM AG Vice President, Sales for Asia Pacific, Africa and Middle East who highlighted the significance of the Philippines as its manufacturing hub in Asia.

Miranda, 52 others reach BWC natl finals VETERAN Raoul Miranda boosted his bid for a second consecutivelocal Bowling World Cup title by gaining a slot in the national finals after the recent first qualifying round.

Miranda rolled a 12-game series of 2430 pinfalls at Coronado (Starlanes) to tow 52 other bowlers—35 men and 17 women —into the national finals set on November 9, 10, 12, 13 and 15.

Joining Miranda in the first batch of finalists are: Men—Rod Salamat, Duke Gregory Gella, Denis Jalandoon, Angel Dilig, Ronnie Javier, Ernesto Jacinto, Dante Molina, Dan Enriquez, Peter Lacanilao, Ralph Jularbal, Rejie Jularbal, Jerry Bugtong, Rudante Unay, Norman Lising, Kurt Mendoza, July Vargas, John Christopher Dee, Raul Imperial, GP Genciana, Weslie Yebra, Nil Buencamino, Andy Sta. Ana, Randal Go, Jason Tubid, Nicco Olaivar, Nestor Anonuevo, Janson “Red” Collantes, Paolo Jimeno, Allen Laigo, Ryan Romero, Marlon dela Cruz, Don Tungala, Edwin Rupido, Mon Camba and Jun Garcia.

Women—Arlena Bucao, Dhel Marquez, Leah Naorbe, Faye Piol, Joanne Bonifacio, Perla Pacheco, Amelyn Sisperez, Rochelle Munsayac, Alyssa dela Rosa, Pure Anselmo, Josefina Barachina, Sharon Lee, Bernadette Ipapo, Mercy delos Santos, Bea Camille Santarin, Jackie Sadua and Tonette Otayza.

Olaivar, a regular campaigner like Miranda, also sparkled in the first qualifying round by shooting 2523 in 12 games.

The second qualifying round is ongoing in 14 centers to determine the second batch of national finalists.

The men’s and women’s champions will earn the right to represent the Philippines in the 53rd BWC international finals slated on September 4 to 12 this year in Hermosillo, Mexico.

However, the winners have to be Philippine passport holders.

Acid test for Manila LEADER Meralco Manila faces its toughest test yet when it battles second-ranked Kaya FC Makati today in what promises to be an explosive Metro Manila derby in the Philippines Football League at University of Makati Stadium.

Getting solid performances from the entire squad, the Sparks have collected 12 points from four matches so far for the early lead. But they are expected to find themselves in a dogfight against a tough Kaya side in their 4 p.m. clash.

Simultaneously at Rizal Memorial Stadium in Manila, JPV Marikina guns for a third straight victory against powerhouse Ceres Negros.

With nine points from five matches, JPV is running third behind Meralco and Kaya, but the Busmen are going into the match, riding high on their 1-0 home win over Global Cebu two weeks ago.

Ceres coach Risto Vidakovic, however, is expected to shuffle his men with midfielders Manny Ott, Kevin Ingreso, Iain Ramsay and Luke Woodland coming off a long trip from Dushanbe after playing for the national team.

JPV has central defender Camelo Tacusalme returning to the side, although he only saw action for the Azkals in the 1-8 friendly loss to China.

The match starts a tough run of games for the Busmen, who will also play in the Singapore Cup on Tuesday.

Sparks skipper James Younghusband is doubtful for the clash due to an ankle injury sustained while on national team duty and it remains to be seen if Meralco coach Aris Caslib will start Phil Younghusband considering that the striker just came off a long trip from Dushanbe after scoring in the Philippines’ 4-3 win over Tajikistan in Asian Cup Qualifying.

“We hope to have a good game against Kaya which is a counter-attacking team,” said Caslib. “If we want to win (the title), we need to get every point.”

LOTTO RESULTS 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0.0 M+ 4 DIGITS 00-00-00-00 3 DIGITS 00-00-00 2 EZ2 00-00

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

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

Long reign looms for Pocari Lady Warriors DESPITE going through the hard way to claim its third straight championship, Pocari Sweat is looking for a longer reign in the country’s premier women’s volleyball league.

With the next Premier Volleyball League conference, the Open, just a couple of weeks away, the Lady Warriors are keeping their champion roster intact while mulling to add two or more hitters to take over the spots of Michelle Strizak and Krystal Rivers.

But like in their first three title conquests, coach Rommel Abella said they’re taking it one game at a time.

“Our mindset has been taking it one game at a time—go to the elims, figure out what we can do, how we can advance. It’s a stepby-step process,” said Abella.

“But for now, we’ll let the players rest first, then go back into training.”

Flaunting their edge in experience, the Lady Warriors hurdled their toughest challenge in nailing a third crown in as many tries, downing the BaliPure Water Defenders in four in their sudden death for the Reinforced Conference of the Premier Volleyball League late Thursday.

“I told the girls that our edge over BaliPure is our experience.

This will get us over the hump since skills-wise, we’re just the same,” said Abella after his wards bucked a shaky opening set stint to fashion out a convincing 20-25, 25-17, 25-17, 25-19 victory.

The result proved to be a big surprise for many which had braced for a down-to-the-wire ending that marked Game Two of the title series which BaliPure snatched in a scrambling backand-forth finish to force a winnertake-all match.

Sports The Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors whoop it up after dismantling the BaliPure Water Defenders in four in sudden death to nail their third straight women’s volley championship.

Texters seek finals’ berth; Kings try to square series

By Jeric Lopez

F

INALS, or never say die?

TNT KaTropa is shoots for a berth in the championship round, while Barangay Ginebra tries to live for another day as the two teams collide yet again in their best-of-five semifinal showdown in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association.

The Texters are up 2-1 and will once again look to break into the finals when they play the rejuvenated Gin Kings in Game 4 at 5 p.m. today at the Cuneta Astrodome in Pasay City.

With its back against the wall, Ginebra banked on its never-saydie mantra to pull off an impressive 125-101 drubbing of TNT KaTropa in Game 3 Thursday night to stay alive in the series

and finally chalk up a win.

Inspired by the presence of living legend Sonny Jaworski, who watched the game live at courtside to give his team a muchneeded boost, the Gin Kings showed up with the requisite sense of urgency to stay alive.

For the first time in three games, everything went right for Ginebra as it took command from start to finish to ensure it remains alive.

“We played better on both ends.

Our shots were falling and we got all the help we can get from him (Jaworski) and our crowd. Now, it’s about the next game. We’re looking for another win,” said Ginebra

coach Tim Cone.

Justin Brownlee also had his best game of the series, scoring 31 points to pace the Gin Kings.

On the contrary, nothing turned out right for the Tropang Texters.

They weren’t able to get their groove and more importantly, they lost import Josh Smith to a sudden foot injury.

The hulking import only logged more than nine minutes of play in Game 3 after suddenly feeling pain in his foot, which caused him to go out of the game for good and head to the hospital for pre-cautionary measures.

While his status is still up in

Team PH dazzles in Thai tournament, bags 3 golds BANGKOK—As if serving notice to its Southeast Asian rivals, the Philippine Team finished strongly in the recent Thailand Open with two new national records, three gold medals, two silvers, and one bronze for a new season’s best.

At the conclusion of the invitational championships, the quartet of Archand Bagsit, Edgardo Alejan, Michael del Prado, and Joan Caido bagged the gold medal in the men’s 4x400m relay, while Aries Toledo took the silver medal and reset the Philippine record in the decathlon by amassing a total of 7127 points and eclipsing Jesson Cid’s 7,069 points.

Other standouts from the national squad who gave remarkable performances are Mark Harry Diones, who bagged the gold medal in the triple jump with a leap of 16.13m; Ronne Malipay, who bagged a bronze in the same event with a personal best of 15.85m; Patrick Unso, who copped silver and became the first Filipino to clock under 14sec in the 110m hurdles with a time of 13.91s, and Janry Ubas, who leapt to a distance of 7.78m for the gold medal to easily secure the top spot in the SEA ranking for long jump.

The bulk of the team who saw action at the Thai Open will head directly to the Hong Kong Sports Institute on June 16 for a four-week intensive training camp just before the Kuala Lumpur SEA Games in August.

They will be joined by US-based national team members Trenten Beram

and Tyler Ruiz.

The next major competitions in the offing for the national squad are the Asian Athletics Championships in Odisha, India from July 6 to 10, the Pre-SEA Games Malaysia Open from July 16 to 18, and the World Championships in London from August 4 to 13.

Eric Cray and EJ Obiena lead the roster of national athletes seeing action at the London world athletics’ tilt.

Upon the return of the members of the national squad from HKSI, the entire athletics’ team is set to integrate and resume training at the PSC training camp in Baguio City.

“The whole idea is to capitalize on the winning momentum generated from all the competitions participated in by the team and the camaraderie built from the months of training together as a team,”said PATAFA president Philip Juico.

The athletics’ chief is upbeat about the RP team’s chances in the upcoming SEA Games.

“We are hoping to equal or surpass our medal harvest from the 2015 Singapore SEA Games. God willing and with the right strategy and discipline, we can do it,”Juico added.

The buildup of the national athletics’ squad is fully supported by the Philippine Sports Commission, and backed by Ayala Corporation, UCPB Gen, and Cherrylume Corrugated Sheets.

So forced to 8th straight chess draw

By Peter Atencio

CEREMONIAL FACE-OFF. Pylons Team Captain Michael Lambert (Canada) and Erich Zwahleh, skipper of Team Ramas (Thailand) are shown doing the ceremonial face-off opening the 2017 International Ice Hockey Tournament at the SM Megamall. They are joined by Francois Gautier, Tournament Director, Philippine Ice Hockey Tournament; Edgar Tejerero, president SM Lifestyle and Entertainment Inc.; and Chris Sy, president, Federation of Ice Hockey League Inc. Lino Santos

Magis, Sentinels fight for life AS the final series of the UNTV Cup Off Season games Executive Face-Off draws near, the six competing teams have high hopes to enter the play offs.

In the second game on Sunday’s triple header, the Judiciary Magis and the Senate Sentinels will exert their full force in their hard court battle.

“The game versus Judiciary Magis is going to be tough. We get to play with Justice Midas’ team and it seems that they are well-practiced, they have the championship experience. So, we will try our best. Hopefully, we could win

three games straight,” said the Senator Sonny Angara of the Sentinels.

Both the Judiciary and the Senate teams have two wins and two losses in the league so far.

The losing team will exit the league, while the winning team will advance to the playoffs.

The Sentinels expect to play with Senator Joel Villanueva on Sunday, as he missed playing in their previous game.

The Magis-Sentinels clash will be aired live on UNTV from the Pasig City Sports Center at 3:30 p.m. with live streaming via www.untvweb.com.

Holm: McGregor can cause Mayweather problems SI NGA POR E —A mer ican MMA fighter Holly Holm backed Conor McGregor to cause Floyd Mayweather problems on Thursday after their cross-over boxing showdown was confirmed.

Ireland’s McGregor will be the heavy underdog against 49-0 Mayweather but Holm knows a few things about upsets, after she ended Ronda Rousey’s unbeaten run with a brutal knockout in 2015.

“I’m one of those who believes

in being able to cross over,” said Holm, a former boxing world champion, ahead of her UFC fight in Singapore on Saturday.

“Boxing is a whole different world... but Conor really believes in himself, and I think he’s going to put up a good fight.”

Mayweather and McGregor —kingpins of their sports—will face each other over 12 rounds at Las Vegas’s T-Mobile Arena on August 26.

Neither has fought this year.

the air, Smith is expected to suit up in Game 4.

Still, the Tropang Texters have their second chance to move forward to the finals and they are looking to capitalize this time around and avoid a dangerous Game 5.

Meanwhile, San Miguel is looking to book the first ticket to the finals as it is trying to repeat over Star in their heated battle in Game 4 of their semis series, as of this report.

The Beermen are ahead, 2-1, and can return to the big stage while the Hotshots are hoping to extend the series to a deciding Game 5 tomorrow.

Mayweather, 40, retired from pro boxing in 2015 after defeating Andre Berto, while McGregor (21-3) beat Eddie Alvarez last November.

Mayweather is the strong favorite but Holm, who will face Brazil’s Bethe Correia in Singapore, said fights can be unpredictable.

“Anything can happen so that’s why I like to watch from the outside, it’s unknown, you don’t know what’s going to

happen,” the American said.

Li Jingliang, a leading Chinese MMA prospect who is also on Saturday’s card, said McGregor had the tools to upset Mayweather.

“It’s a very good opportunity to show an MMA fighter is a wellrounded fighter, they can win in MMA fights, and also in boxing,” Li said through a translator.

“I’ve been watching him, Conor has a reach advantage and he’s more powerful.”

Joe Carr, head of international

and content at UFC—the organization that made McGregor a star—also tipped the Irishman to cause an upset.

“The difference in combat sport is that one punch can change everything and what you need to do is to land that one punch.

“What we know is that Conor McGregor is a huge hitter and he’s been knocking people out for the last few years,” Carr said. AFP

FILIPINO grandmaster Wesley So found a winning opportunity in the 29th move, but American GM Hikaru Nakamura held him to a draw in 35 moves of a Queen’s Gambit Declined in the eighth round.

This gave So his eighth draw in as many rounds last Thursday in the ongoing Altibox Norway Chess 2017 at the Clarion Hotel Energy in Stavanger, Norway.

So, playing black, penetrated the back ran k with a queen move to b2 i n the 29th.

He found a chance to make an attack when Nakamura pushed his pawn to h4, instead of making a better rook d4 move, according to analysts.

Two moves later, So was making a series of checks.

But a repetition of moves by Nakamura forced So to ask for a draw.

So now shares fourth spot with four points with GM Vladimir Kramnik.

On the other hand, Levon Aronian kept his hold on the solo lead after drawing with Viswanathan Anand in in 32 moves of a Queen’s Pawn Game.

He has 5.5 points, half a point ahead of Nakamura, who has five points.

Anish Giri is in third with 4.5 points after he drew with Fabiano Car uana in 67 moves of the Queen’s Gambit Accepted.

Aboitiz cleared to issue P30b in bonds

B2

Business

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

B1

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

SSS payments jumped 43% in Q1

By Julito G. Rada

D

ISBURSEMENT of state-run Social Security System in the first quarter of the year jumped 43 percent to P44.77 billion from P31.30 billion year-on-year, driven mainly by the release of the recently-approved P1,000 additional benefit for pensioners in March.

President Rodrigo Duterte earlier approved the release of the P1,000 across-the-board pension increase in January.

SSS released the amount to over 2 million pensioners in March in three tranches covering the first three months of 2017.

“This jacked up our disbursements for the period by nearly P7 billion,” SSS president and

chief executive Emmanuel Dooc said in a statement Friday.

Dooc said the P1,000 additional benefit disbursed in April was also included in the total expenditures for the first-quarter period. SSS deposits to partner banks the pension benefits onemonth in advance to assure ontime crediting.

Retirement and death benefit payments both increased

50 percent to P24.24 billion and P13.63 billion, respectively. The bulk of the disbursements in the first quarter came from these two major benefit payouts, accounting for almost 85 percent of total expenditures.

Other benefit outlays also increased such as disability grant to P1.51 billion from P1.05 billion a year ago; maternity benefit to P1.63 billion from P1.46 billion; funeral grant to P967.42 million from P859.89 million; sickness benefit to P614.24 million from P589.04 million; and medical services to P3.89 million from P3.35 million.

Only the benefits on rehabilitation services dropped to P69,125 from the P359,033 a year ago.

Meanwhile, total revenues in the first three months of 2017 rose to P48.78 billion from the

P43.5 billion a year ago.

“The increase in our collections for the first quarter of this year is the fruit of our continuing labor in strengthening our collection efforts such as going after delinquent employers through Operation Tokhang,” Dooc said.

Of the total revenue collections, members’ contribution accounted for the bulk of the revenues at P39.55 billion, up 10.9 percent from P35.66 billion last year.

Investment and other income also increased 17.8 percent to P9.23 billion from P7.84 billion last year.

Dooc said SSS took more concrete steps in strengthening the pension fund’s collection and legal enforcement units to reduce and prevent occurrences of delin-

quencies.

The SSS to date has secured 45 employer convictions with a collective delinquency of P52.7 million.

“Over the past several months under the new Commission, SSS relentlessly pursued to engage the full force of the law by convicting and arresting delinquent employer,” Dooc said.

Operating expenses slightly declined by less than 1 percent to P2.18 billion as of end-March 2017 from P2.2 billion a year ago.

Net revenue in the first three months of 2017 dropped to about P4 billion from P12.3 billion as total expenditures surged 43.1 percent, outpacing the 12-percent growth in total revenue collection, primarily due to the increase in benefit disbursements.

BoP set to book a deficit of $500m BANGKO Sentral ng Pilipinas revised the country’s balance of payments position projection this year to a deficit of $500 million from the earlier assumption of a $1-billion surplus because of the subdued outlook for emerging market economies and the possible impact of the policies of US President Donald Trump.

The projected deficit is expected to result in gross international reserves of $80.5 billion in 2017, lower than the previous projection of $84.7 billion.

Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said in a briefing Friday the monetary authorities also considered the upward revision of the global growth this year, recovery of the global trade, China growth outlook which could be at risk with high debt load, and the pace of the monetary policy tightening in the US in the new assumptions.

Guinigundo said global growth this year was seen at 3.5 percent, higher than 3.1 percent in 2016.

But he cited the firming of commodity prices and strong domestic growth prospects. “We hope that the numbers will continue to improve as the year unfolds, especially in the second half of the year,” Guinigundo said.

He said the positive global growth prospects could result in higher exports this year by $5 billion from the earlier assumption of $2 billion. The import growth, meanwhile, was maintained at $10 billion.

The BoP summarizes the country’s economic transactions with the rest of the world, with a deficit indicating that foreign exchange payments exceed inflows.

A BoP deficit affects the value of the peso against the US dollar and eats into the country’s gross international reserves.

Julito G. Rada

THE Philippines will push for the creation of an e-vehicle federation in Southeast Asia to create another growth area for the local automotive sector.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. said in a pre-event briefing Friday for the first Asean Electric & Hybrid Vehicles Summit the private sector was more than willing to support the advocacy for e-vehicles.

“We need other counties to form the federation in the Asean. We could be the catalyst that will urge the rest of the Asean to continue to advocate for greener and more sustainable vehicles of the future,” said Campi president Rommel Gutierrez.

The group recognized the important role of the government as policy maker in supporting the

$24.35m in hot money fled in May

REGISTERED foreign portfolio investments or “hot money” in May posted a net outflow of $24.35 million, a reversal of the $72.81-million net inflow a year ago, driven mainly by the slower growth of the economy in the first quarter and uncertainties arising from domestic and international developments, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Friday.

The May net outflow was also a turnaround from the $51.49-million net inflow a month ago. Gross inflows for the month reached $1.484 billion, lower than $1.784 billion a year ago, while total outflows hit $1.509 billion, down from $1.711 billion a year ago.

This brought hot money in the first five months to a net outflow of $544 million, in contrast to the $178 million net inflow in the same period last year.

Julito G. Rada

Cebu Pacific rules MNL-Sydney route

SSS-NIGERIA AGREEMENT. Some 15 Filipino employees of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will now be covered by the

Social Security System as the two and the Employees Compensation Commission formally sign an agreement that will place them secured under the SS and EC Laws. At the signing of the agreement are (from left) SSS Account Management Group senior vice president and international operations division concurrent officer-in-charge Judy Frances See, ECC executive director Stella Zipagan-Banawis, SSS president and chief executive officer Emmanuel Dooc, Embassy of Nigeria Charge d’ affaires a.i. Hannatu Dankaro-Irmiya, Embassy of Nigeria finance attache Kayode Olajumoke and SSS Makati-Gil Puyat branch head Maria Rita Aguja.

Megaworld sees reservation sales hitting P90b

By Jenniffer B. Austria MEGAWORLD Corp. of tycoon Andrew Tan expects reservation sales to reach P90 billion this year, slightly higher than P87 billion last year, with the launch of more residential projects.

Megaworld senior vice president Jericho Go said in an interview at the sidelines of the annual stockholders’ meeting the company this year would launch P30 billion worth of projects across existing township developments.

“So far we are on track to meet our P90-billion reservation sales target,” Go said.

He said the company planned

PH pushes for e-vehicle group in Southeast Asia

By Othel V. Campos

IN BRIEF

goal of the e-vehicle industry.

Campi will also ask fiscal incentives the government to bring the cost of acquiring an e-vehicle lower.

So far, there are about 2,000 etrikes available in the Philippines, about 200 e-jeepneys manufactured and about 600 hybrid cars.

An e-trike costs about P200,000 to P250,000 a unit while the price of an e-jeepney ranges from P800,000 to P1.1 million. Hybrid sedans and cars with electric component are more expensive from a base price of P2 million up.

Board of Investments executive director Corieh Dichosa said the government was fully supporting the e-vehicle campaign for more a sustainable transportation system, after the agency assisted the industry in the crafting of the e-vehicle road map.

to build more projects outside Metro Manila.

About 30 percent of residential sales come from provincial areas while a big 70 percent are from Metro Manila projects.

Megaworld expects residential projects from provincial areas to account for 40 percent of total residential revenues over the next five years, .

Megaworld plans to spend P10 billion in capital expenditures this year, especially on various projects in Luzon.

These include the construction and completion of more residential, office, commercial and hotel developments in Twin Lakes

PRU LIFE UK AWARD. British life insurer Pru Life UK bags its first Gold Quill Award of Excellence for its 20th Anniversary Customer Engagement Campaign.

Receiving the award during the gala in Washington D.C. are Pru Life UK assistant vice president for segment marketing Cindy Mendoza (left) and AVP for brand and communications Anna Gizelle Camua.

near Tagaytay and Southwoods City in the Cavite-Laguna area, as well as land development in Capital Town in San Fernando, Pampanga and in Eastland Heights in Antipolo, Rizal.

Megaworld within the next few months will start land development in Maple Grove, another new 140-hectare township in General Trias, Cavite.

“There is so much opportunity here in Luzon and we believe that after aggressively expanding in the Visayas and Mindanao, it is time to give focus on our Luzon developments. But of course, we will still simultaneously and continuously develop

our existing townships all across the country,” Go said.

“Aside from our existing developments, we are eyeing on the expansion of our development portfolio, particularly for our new concept of ‘integrated lifestyle community,’ in other Luzon provinces down south and all the way up,” he added.

Megaworld will also start land development in Maple Grove, another new 140-hectare township in General Trias, Cavite, within the next few months.

Go said the company under a five-year spending plan would allocate P122.5 billion in capital expenditures from 2018 to 2019.

CEBU Pacific said it dominated the Manila-to-Sydney route with a market share of 42 percent in the first quarter of the year.

Data from the Bureau of Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Economics of Australia showed that Cebu Pacific carried over 43,512 passengers, representing a 42-percent passenger market share on the Manila-Sydney route, the highest among the three carriers covering this route.

The BITRE report noted that passenger traffic between Manila and Sydney from January to March 2017 totaled 104,446, up seven percent year-on-year.

The growth in passenger traffic was dominated by Cebu Pacific, which carried 16 percent more passengers from the 37,640 reported in the first quarter of 2016.

Load factor for Cebu Pacific for the Manila-Sydney route was at an average 78 percent in the first three months of 2017.

Darwin G. Amojelar

BDO gives advice to card holders

BDO Unibank Inc., the largest lender controlled by tycoon Henry Sy Sr., on Friday said it received reports of potential automated teller machine fraud via card skimming.

“BDO has obtained reports of potentially compromised ATMs following reported losses from cardholders,” the bank said in a statement.

“Customers with unauthorized transactions may reach out to the bank via formal channels so that their cases may be properly investigated and, where confirmed as impacted, may be reimbursed,” it said.

Bank president Nestor Tan said the incident was nothing out of the ordinary, adding that ATMs were compromised every now and then. He said banks take the precautionary measure of disabling cards if there are reasons to believe that they might have been compromised.

Julito G. Rada

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, June 16, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Currency

Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

Japan

Yen

0.009016

0.4465

UK

Pound

1.275600

63.1741

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128180

6.3481

Switzerland

Franc

1.025641

50.7949

Canada

Dollar

0.753693

37.3266

Singapore

Dollar

0.722857

35.7995

Australia

Dollar

0.757600

37.5201

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654069

131.4428

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266695

13.2081

Brunei

Dollar

0.720254

35.6706

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0037

Thailand

Baht

0.029455

1.4588

UAE

Dirham 0.272287

13.4850

Euro

Euro

1.114700

55.2055

Korea

Won

0.000885

0.0438

China

Yuan

0.146843

7.2724

India

Rupee

0.015494

0.7673

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.234467

New Zealand Dollar

0.720600

Taiwan

0.033052

Dollar

49.5250

11.6120 35.6877 1.6369 Source: PDS Bridge

B2

Business

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Stocks drop; GT Capital down

T

HE stock market declined Friday on growing expectations of a hike in US and British interest rates.

The Philippine Stock Exchange Index lost 82.27 points, or 1 percent, to 7,882.22 on a value turnover of P29 billion. Losers beat gainers, 111 to 85, with 50 issues unchanged.

GT Capital Holdings Inc. of tycoon George Ty dropped 3.2 percent to P1,200, while banking unit Metropolitan Bank & Trust Co., the second-biggest lender, fell 1.4 percent to P85.

SM Investments Corp. of tycoon Henry Sy Sr. slumped 3.1 percent to P775, while International Container Terminal Services Inc., the largest port operator, dropped 1.4 percent to P102.

The rest of Asian markets, meanwhile, mostly rose on Friday following a selloff the previous day, while the dollar and pound extended gains.

Equity traders have suffered a fraught week as the crisis engulfing Donald Trump picks up pace, technology firms tumbled from recent highs and energy plays were hammered by plunging oil prices.

But they shifted back into buying mode in early trade, with Tokyo boosted by a surge in the dollar against the yen.

The greenback has rallied around two percent against the yen from lows touched before the Federal Reserve on Wednesday lifted borrowing costs and indicated further tightening of monetary policy.

The central bank also outlined plans to suck cash out of the financial system by scaling back the bonds on its balance sheet.

Tokyo’s Nikkei index closed up 0.6 percent, with the yen weakening after the Bank of Japan refused to alter its accommodative monetary policy.

However, it is facing pressure to provide some guidance on its future plans as the economy improves and concerns grow about a widening gap between US and Japanese rates.

Dealers will be keeping a close eye on BoJ governor Haruhiko Kurada’s news conference later in the day.

Hong Kong added 0.3 percent a day after tumbling more than one percent, while Sydney and Singapore each put on 0.2 percent. Wellington and Taipei also saw healthy gains but Shanghai ended off 0.3 percent. Seoul was narrowly higher.

The pound extended gains after surging on Thursday in response to the surprise news that three out of the Bank

of England’s eight policy board members had voted for a rate hike as inflation continues to rise on the back of increasing import costs.

Sterling had fallen below $1.270 before the decision but bounced to as high as $1.2795 afterwards before edging back slightly. However, it remains pressured by political uncertainty following last week’s election that saw the ruling Conservatives of Prime Minister Theresa May lose their majority.

Analysts said the post financial crisis era of ultra-low rates and easy money was coming to an end as central banks around the world began to tighten the belt.

“The markets continue to digest the latest signals from the Federal Reserve Board who are now actively discussing how and when to pare back the balance sheet,” said Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA, in a note. With AFP

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, JUNE 16, 2017

NAME

OPEN

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 4.17 131,000 50.25 6,510 105 2,151,210 3.95 12,000 122 6,472,190 1.33 100,000 37.1 301,000 9.99 100 16.2 60,600 27.65 520,600 1.72 2,000 840 130 0.74 6,164,000 85 2,679,530 1.02 725,000 15.46 88,200 26 1,000 67 400,860 238 900 110 10 88.05 2,510 56.2 874,630 222.2 4,661,880 1,620 100 85.15 90,050 1.22 11,000

539,820 326,901 225,837,128 47,350 791,652,066 133,900 11,136,400 999 981,750 14,363,585 3,440 106,650 4,535,180 229,487,903.50 739,150 1,366,692 26,000 26,954,167 215,020 1,100 221,055.50 49,872,032 1,035,100,210 162,000 7,669,739 13,320

243,491.50 -33,981,543 -173,801,909 6,689,215 -771,120 7,251,785 -80,600 -3,917,167 24,480 26,000 8,999,249.50 -1,100 880.5 -21,375,304 94,201,576 32,338 -

38.5 7.98 0.81 1.52 29.55 0.265 7.23 17.3 23.6 14.2 77 80 2.05 5.2 11.64 12.12 15.52 9.9 6.95 6.1 18.82 70.4 14.8 13.62 12.7 1.73 212.8 64 4 3.4 25.9 30 18.94 19.2 261.8 0.25 6.4 3.25 9.65 5.68 10.68 1.93 9.43 70 6.42 299 4.5 5.1 2.5 13.42 4.94 0.147 1.36 162.8 4.05 2.09 1.08

INDUSTRIAL 38.5 4,214,600 8.13 1,914,600 0.82 600,000 1.52 838,000 29.6 199,400 0.27 2,050,000 7.29 878,800 17.92 4,697,600 24.15 1,382,100 14.22 5,600 78 2,380 80 520 2.05 178,000 5.34 63,100 11.68 2,000 12.16 3,396,600 15.58 2,898,100 9.91 68,500 6.95 3,648,300 6.1 54,310,900 19 1,864,900 70.55 99,980 14.8 38,800 13.7 177,100 12.7 938,000 1.73 196,000 217 828,030 64 800 4 207,000 3.6 95,000 25.9 100 30 5,319,900 18.96 2,554,200 19.26 321,100 262.6 1,480,480 0.25 6,440,000 6.63 14,700 3.25 197,000 9.7 7,832,200 5.94 341,700 10.68 1,000 1.95 873,000 9.5 561,000 70.7 17,108,350 6.65 1,401,800 304 53,040 4.5 143,000 5.13 217,000 2.52 2,343,000 13.5 578,100 5 22,300 0.147 330,000 1.37 187,000 164 1,418,400 4.05 5,000 2.09 6,800,000 1.09 57,000

162,778,380 15,482,551 496,340 1,281,530 5,976,120 550,050 6,377,731 84,019,356 32,944,620 79,618 184,714 41,600 366,300 336,280 23,352 41,325,356 45,161,396 681,666 25,644,573 333,154,019 35,429,906 7,068,058 577,670 2,425,096 12,045,150 340,770 179,135,880 51,210 871,920 339,590 2,590 161,386,385 48,592,030 6,192,382 389,483,114 1,620,800 95,357 657,170 76,320,491 1,978,662 10,680 1,693,310 5,321,873 1,208,957,407.50 9,316,098 15,966,370 643,500 1,121,315 5,908,390 7,790,872 110,905 48,700 255,100 232,403,075 20,350 14,385,830 62,120

-50,057,175 565,742.00 -153,000 -148,000 -1,331,008 25,642,662.00 -10,119,265 780 20,700 -5,325,106 91,792 244,794 7,747,529 54,822,121 -17,333,882 -3,067,544.50 -658,040 558,886 9,359,708 21,540 -45,327,635 5,285,770 -1,643,344 -244,813,226 25,000 -261,460 -28,866,761 401,193 241,693,129 -141,036 7,124,478 -211,500 1,300,000 6,498,116 -941,921 1,371,670 -

0.365 73.55 14.08 6.24 0.34 850 7.93 14.4 7.59 0.204 1,200 7.5 78 5.25 1 7.2 15.2 6.2 0.053 2.02 105.7 2.66 775 1.41 305 0.285 0.216

HOLDING FIRMS 0.375 2,290,000 73.55 2,647,990 14.14 6,146,500 6.55 2,204,500 0.345 2,330,000 850 547,410 8.1 2,729,200 14.42 10,218,300 7.65 1,000 0.204 40,000 1,200 1,463,955 7.88 82,600 78.9 3,941,660 5.72 80,000 1.01 2,750,000 7.2 721,100 15.22 2,883,400 6.2 52,403,500 0.053 13,530,000 2.02 265,000 106 50,250 2.74 84,000 775 800,000 1.41 235,000 306 3,790 0.285 1,090,000 0.217 330,000

847,350 195,784,516.50 86,939,994 14,280,978 793,700 467,747,555 22,051,239 147,465,784 7,626 8,160 1,759,490,075 644,932 310,777,106.50 434,042 2,802,770 5,263,918 44,160,786 326,632,487 731,010 537,400 5,326,354 225,460 625,029,020 333,130 1,158,626 310,750 71,490

-102,781,003.50 -23,347,624 -31,700 -194,321,185 7,076,880 17,056,536 -174,954,010 -44,753,003.50 -4,100,062 -12,874,460 -98,153,180 -942,367 -173,742,065 1,420 -342,600 -111,150.00 -

14,503,124 6,477,010 3,400 672,280 13,188,670 7,633,171,110 3,524,010 24,969,022 321,103 6,018,160 52,100 239,230 18,078,700 1,785,590 16,013,835 11,785,720 24,960 8,269,380 58,927,890 230,780 8,300 76,436,380 140,494,650 43,950 23,837,760 3,066,210 57,353,205

-13,465,993 -31,770 -28,380 212,150 605,298,815 3,054,230 410,655 -961,960 249,670 -1,020,000 -12,031,025 -9,140,000 -1,504,060 -1,493,350 -9,683,330 1,749,250 -1,480,160 6,139,935

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE 4.2 ASIA UNITED 50.25 BANK PH ISLANDS 105 BDO LEASING 3.92 BDO UNIBANK 123.5 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.35 CHINABANK 37 CITYSTATE BANK 9.99 COL FINANCIAL 16.28 EAST WEST BANK 27.7 IREMIT 1.72 MANULIFE 825 MEDCO HLDG 0.73 METROBANK 86.85 NTL REINSURANCE 1.03 PB BANK 15.5 PBCOM 26 PHIL NATL BANK 67.5 PHIL STOCK EXCH 239 PHILTRUST 110 PSBANK 88.1 RCBC 60.1 SECURITY BANK 220 SUN LIFE 1,620 UNION BANK 85.1 VANTAGE 1.21

4.4 50.25 105.4 4.03 123.6 1.35 37.1 9.99 16.28 27.7 1.72 840 0.75 87 1.04 15.5 26 67.6 240 110 88.1 60.1 222.2 1,620 85.2 1.22

4 50.2 104.2 3.92 122 1.33 36.8 9.99 16.1 27.5 1.72 815 0.73 85 1.01 15.46 26 66.7 238 110 88.05 56.2 218.6 1,620 85.1 1.21

ABOITIZ POWER 38.7 AGRINURTURE 8.11 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.81 ALSONS CONS 1.53 ASIABEST GROUP 29.55 BASIC ENERGY 0.275 CEMEX HLDG 7.28 CENTURY FOOD 17.98 CIRTEK HLDG 24 CNTRL AZUCARERA14.22 CONCEPCION 77.5 CONCRETE A 80 CROWN ASIA 2.07 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.34 DEL MONTE 11.68 DNL INDUS 12.24 EAGLE CEMENT 15.68 EEI CORP 10.18 EMPERADOR 6.96 ENERGY DEVT 6.15 FIRST GEN 19 FIRST PHIL HLDG 71.55 GINEBRA 15.18 HOLCIM 13.62 INTEGRATED MICR 12.96 IONICS 1.73 JOLLIBEE 215.2 LIBERTY FLOUR 64.05 LMG CHEMICALS 4.25 MABUHAY VINYL 3.4 MACAY HLDG 25.9 MANILA WATER 31.75 MAXS GROUP 19.2 MEGAWIDE 19.2 MERALCO 261.8 MG HLDG 0.255 PANASONIC 6.4 PEPSI COLA 3.4 PETRON 9.66 PHIL H2O 5.88 PHINMA 10.68 PHINMA ENERGY 1.95 PHX PETROLEUM 9.52 PILIPINAS SHELL 71 PRYCE CORP 6.44 PUREFOODS 299 RFM CORP 4.5 ROXAS HLDG 5.11 SFA SEMICON 2.55 SHAKEYS PIZZA 13.5 SPC POWER 5 SWIFT FOODS 0.15 TKC METALS 1.37 UNIV ROBINA 165 VICTORIAS 4.1 VITARICH 2.1 VULCAN INDL 1.09

38.9 8.13 0.84 1.55 30.95 0.275 7.29 17.98 24.15 14.24 79 80 2.07 5.34 11.68 12.24 15.7 10.18 7.14 6.21 19.06 71.55 15.18 13.8 12.96 1.75 217 64.05 4.29 3.6 25.9 31.75 19.4 19.38 264.6 0.26 6.8 3.4 9.8 5.94 10.68 1.96 9.53 71 6.65 304 4.5 5.23 2.6 13.58 5.1 0.15 1.37 165 4.1 2.15 1.09

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

0.38 75.85 14.36 6.55 0.35 867 8.1 14.7 7.65 0.204 1,239 7.88 80.7 5.72 1.04 7.7 15.58 6.36 0.055 2.03 107 2.75 800 1.42 306 0.29 0.217

0.38 75.8 14.2 6.24 0.34 867 8.05 14.54 7.65 0.204 1,239 7.5 80.7 5.29 1.03 7.7 15.58 6.34 0.055 2.03 105.9 2.74 791 1.42 305 0.29 0.216

8990 HLDG 6.03 A BROWN 1.47 ANCHOR LAND 6.8 ARANETA PROP 2.6 ARTHALAND CORP 1.22 AYALA LAND 40.9 BELLE CORP 3.99 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.47 CEBU HLDG 5.29 CENTURY PROP 0.51 CITY AND LAND 1.11 CITYLAND DEVT 1.45 CROWN EQUITIES 0.178 CYBER BAY 0.52 DOUBLEDRAGON 48 EMPIRE EAST 0.7 EVER GOTESCO 0.156 FILINVEST LAND 1.65 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.17 IRC PROP 0.99 KEPPEL PROP 4.15 MEGAWORLD 4.58 MRC ALLIED 0.45 PHIL ESTATES 0.375 PHIL REALTY 0.65 PRIMEX CORP 3.9 ROBINSONS LAND 24.65

6.03 1.47 6.8 2.6 1.22 41.15 4 5.49 5.29 0.53 1.11 1.48 0.183 0.52 48 0.72 0.156 1.66 1.24 0.99 4.15 4.64 0.455 0.375 0.68 3.9 25

5.91 1.44 6.8 2.52 1.18 40.3 3.97 5.33 5.29 0.51 1.08 1.44 0.177 0.51 46.8 0.7 0.156 1.64 1.16 0.97 4.15 4.41 0.41 0.36 0.64 3.8 24.5

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

1.72 3.29 34.3 1.03 7.29 0.89 5.71

1.82 3.29 34.5 1.04 7.29 0.94 5.95

1.72 3.23 33.9 1.02 6.36 0.89 5.69

1.77 3.25 34.25 1.04 7.28 0.91 5.95

1,616,000 1,435,000 23,293,600 6,013,000 1,900 3,572,000 10,585,500

2,881,570 4,651,010 797,489,160 6,181,450 13,193 3,296,470 61,422,219

-181,770 97,500 100,458,710 102,200 24,911,261

2GO GROUP 26.65 ABS CBN 43.3 ACESITE HOTEL 1.7 APC GROUP 0.5 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 BERJAYA 5.64 BLOOMBERRY 9.58 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.088 CALATA CORP 2.12 CEBU AIR 101.2 DFNN INC 8.55 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.54 EASYCALL 3.3 FAR EASTERN U 970 GLOBE TELECOM 2,140 GMA NETWORK 6.19 GOLDEN HAVEN 15.94 HARBOR STAR 2.86 IMPERIAL 3.48 INTL CONTAINER 104 IPEOPLE 12.16 IPM HLDG 8.9 ISLAND INFO 0.184 ISM COMM 1.37 JACKSTONES 3.55 LBC EXPRESS 15.46 LEISURE AND RES 4.29 LORENZO SHIPPNG 0.94 MACROASIA 4.84 MANILA JOCKEY 2.37 MELCO RESORTS 9.12 METRO RETAIL 3.88 MLA BRDCASTING 15.54 NOW CORP 2.69 PACIFIC ONLINE 11.5 PAL HLDG 5.3 PHIL SEVEN CORP 160 PHILWEB 11.3 PLDT 1,920 PREMIUM LEISURE 1.58 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.395 PUREGOLD 45.8 ROBINSONS RTL 87.95 SBS PHIL CORP 6.1 SSI GROUP 3.2 STI HLDG 1.31 TRAVELLERS 3.16 WATERFRONT 0.94 WILCON DEPOT 6.7

27 43.5 1.78 0.51 0.044 5.66 9.74 0.091 2.14 101.2 8.56 2.55 3.3 970 2,160 6.19 15.94 2.92 3.48 104 12.66 8.9 0.185 1.41 3.55 15.46 4.29 0.94 5.22 2.37 9.5 3.9 16 2.69 11.5 5.3 170 11.38 1,924 1.59 0.4 45.8 88 6.14 3.45 1.32 3.17 0.98 6.99

25.2 43.3 1.7 0.495 0.042 5.62 9.36 0.088 2.11 99.5 8.54 2.54 3.3 970 2,128 6.12 15.68 2.86 3.41 100.7 12.16 8.89 0.182 1.37 3.46 14.72 4.16 0.93 4.84 2.21 9.01 3.81 15.52 2.59 11.5 5.28 160 10.92 1,861 1.58 0.395 45 86.8 6.1 3.2 1.26 3.06 0.91 6.7

SERVICES 25.7 570,100 43.45 47,300 1.77 247,000 0.5 3,191,000 0.043 15,400,000 5.66 8,700 9.36 11,518,500 0.089 46,110,000 2.13 1,917,000 100.9 216,340 8.56 66,500 2.55 21,000 3.3 4,000 970 130 2,156 719,545 6.16 68,800 15.9 57,100 2.89 878,000 3.41 32,000 102 24,014,950 12.66 15,500 8.89 313,000 0.185 2,960,000 1.37 138,000 3.54 99,000 15.18 18,900 4.18 681,000 0.93 44,000 5.12 7,551,000 2.22 45,000 9.5 14,217,600 3.85 2,884,000 15.52 2,200 2.62 3,011,000 11.5 7,500 5.28 2,300 170 405,000 11.1 1,656,200 1,900 2,482,300 1.59 2,647,000 0.395 1,040,000 45 1,261,200 87.95 2,587,480 6.1 572,300 3.37 31,532,000 1.28 37,407,000 3.06 2,402,000 0.97 37,714,000 6.82 23,392,800

14,668,020 2,052,985 432,550 1,599,735 662,300 49,137 108,996,033 4,106,800 4,070,630 21,790,754 568,610 53,440 13,200 126,100 1,550,387,750 423,299 900,944 2,542,360 109,890 2,449,118,205 192,184 2,782,600 541,940 190,220 346,790 282,822 2,856,860 41,010 38,512,500 101,260 133,453,588 11,145,490 34,226 7,929,480 86,250 12,170 64,914,350 18,347,674 4,712,600,675 4,197,580 412,500 56,804,745 227,227,704.50 3,495,426 106,273,650 48,079,750 7,488,430 35,736,560 160,696,499

-595,975 8,850 405,000 86,000 -31,153,190 5,340 63,900 -4,648,737.50 257,508,920 -146,000 3,410 3,736,873 92,418 91,000 27,792 55,650 -31,150 1,151,696.00 -1,472,520 2,652,610 528 -166,600 1,205,188 525,042,615 -14,320 198,900 11,640,890 23,713,495.50 -152,700 3,718,650 14,896,480 -710,870 2,433,800 35,017,346

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING ATOK 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 OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A PETROENERGY PHILODRILL PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING TA PETROLEUM

0.003 1.66 5.04 14.7 2.25 0.87 0.39 9.03 2.36 0.3 0.18 0.192 0.011 0.011 2 6.17 2.07 0.51 0.97 0.01 6.23 0.012 8.85 3.08 158 2.86

0.0031 1.66 5.09 14.72 2.25 0.88 0.39 9.6 2.45 0.305 0.183 0.193 0.011 0.011 2 6.18 2.1 0.52 0.97 0.011 6.23 0.013 9 3.1 160.3 2.86

0.003 1.61 5.04 13.52 2.25 0.87 0.39 9.03 2.35 0.295 0.18 0.192 0.011 0.011 1.91 6.13 2.03 0.49 0.97 0.01 6.11 0.012 8.85 2.98 158 2.8

MINING & OIL 0.003 717,000,000 1.64 9,008,000 5.09 11,500 14.68 1,600 2.25 4,000 0.87 582,000 0.39 110,000 9.25 9,100 2.4 3,208,000 0.3 310,000 0.181 1,370,000 0.193 2,200,000 0.011 13,800,000 0.011 3,000,000 1.91 360,000 6.14 2,008,400 2.06 212,000 0.49 249,000 0.97 28,000 0.01 20,700,000 6.11 88,000 0.012 16,100,000 9 356,900 3.03 2,802,000 159.9 1,549,510 2.8 9,000

2,152,000 14,707,300 57,965 23,050 9,000 506,560 42,900 84,395 7,701,130 93,100 248,200 422,600 151,800 33,000 698,380 12,344,874 434,600 126,590 27,160 213,400 538,944 194,200 3,189,152 8,457,430 247,716,801 25,380

3,000 594,970 19,500 115,200 13,620 2,694,764 -37,800 -4,894,310 -34,903,807 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 ALCO PREF B DD PREF FGEN PREF F GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B LR PREF MWIDE PREF PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B PF PREF 2 SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

43.4 513 516.5 105.5 105 112.5 520 5.83 1,009 1,021 1.07 107.4 1,040 1,101 1,010 77.95 81.1 76 81 78 78

43.4 513 516.5 105.5 105 112.5 520 5.84 1,009 1,021 1.07 107.5 1,040 1,101 1,012 77.95 81.1 76 81 79 78

43.4 513 516.5 105.5 105 112.5 520 5.83 1,009 1,021 1.05 107.4 1,040 1,100 1,010 77.8 80.95 76 81 77.5 78

PREFERRED 43.4 1,800 513 90 516.5 1,400 105.5 6,730 105 15,000 112.5 400 520 100 5.83 1,096,400 1,009 1,010 1,021 25 1.05 380,000 107.5 12,670 1,040 400 1,100 2,775 1,012 46,060 77.8 400 80.95 15,960 76 500 81 40,000 77.5 26,000 78 386,500

78,120 46,170 723,100 710,015 1,575,000 45,000 52,000 6,392,352 1,019,090 25,525 400,800 1,361,637 416,000 3,052,510 46,521,600 31,171 1,294,234.50 38,000 3,240,000 2,024,270 30,147,000

0 -215,610 50,500 -

LR WARRANT

2.28

2.36

2.27

WARRANTS 2.36 39,000

89,020

-

4.09 6 7.89

4 5.9 7.71

SME 4.06 5.9 7.78

217,320 388,655 3,383,284

-124,060 930

120.6

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 119.2 119.2 3,220

385,245

-

10.48

DDS 10.48

87,508

-

NAME ROCKWELL SHANG PROP SM PRIME HLDG STA LUCIA LAND STARMALLS SUNTRUST HOME VISTA LAND

MS

PROPERTY 6 2,421,400 1.45 4,458,000 6.8 500 2.58 263,000 1.19 11,028,000 41.15 185,756,600 4 884,000 5.37 4,637,300 5.29 60,700 0.52 11,570,000 1.09 48,000 1.48 162,000 0.181 100,050,000 0.52 3,495,000 46.9 340,500 0.7 16,752,000 0.156 160,000 1.65 5,016,000 1.24 48,700,000 0.99 234,000 4.15 2,000 4.41 17,132,000 0.41 323,700,000 0.375 120,000 0.65 36,200,000 3.86 804,000 24.95 2,305,400

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

4.08 6 7.89

FIRST METRO ETF 120.6 USD DMPL A1

10.48

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

25,457,620

INDUSTRIAL

142,889,607

HOLDING FIRMS

110,379,338

PROPERTY

823,960,336

SERVICES

287,957,178

MINING & OIL

795,098,782

GRAND TOTAL

2,186,300,681

10.48

54,000 65,800 434,800

8,350

VALUE 1,926.03 (down) 14.24 2,401,522,227.51 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,042.24 (down) 20.68 3,270,213,040.86 HOLDING FIRMS 7,739.54 (down) 167.10 4,091,228,949.12 PROPERTY 3,716.70 (up) 2.92 SERVICES 1,747.07 (down) 11.82 9,042,743,019.68 MINING & OIL 12,460.24 (up) 73.13 9,960,163,154.44 PSEI 7,882.22 (down) 82.27 300,221,852.344 All Shares Index 4,695.15 (down) 32.41 29,070,466,747.95 Gainers: 85; Losers: 111; Unchanged: 50; Total: 246

Aboitiz cleared to issue P30b in bonds

By Alena Mae S. Flores THE Securities and Exchange Commission initially approved the application of Aboitiz Power Corp. to issue up to P30 billion in fixed-rate corporate retail bonds.

Aboitiz Power said in a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange Friday the Markets and Securities Regulation Department of the SEC favorably considered the company’s application to issue the bonds.

“The bonds will be registered under the shelf registration program of the SEC and will be issued in tranches. The first tranche is equivalent to P2 billion, with an oversubscription option of another P1 billion,” the company said.

It said the final approval of the registration statement of the bonds would be issued upon Aboitiz Power’s compliance to certain conditions, including the submission of certain documents to the SEC. Aboitiz Power announced in March that it would issue peso-denominated bonds amounting to as much as P30 billion this year to finance potential acquisitions and future projects.

The company’s board approved the issuance of pesodenominated fixed-rate retail bonds in the aggregate amount of up to P30 billion (retail bonds) in one or more tranches, depending on market conditions.

“The company intends to list the first tranche of the retail bonds with the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corp.,” Aboitiz Power said.

The board, meanwhile, delegated to management the final determination of the offer price, tenors and other terms and conditions of the retail bonds.

7-Eleven focuses on increasing store sales

By Jenniffer B. Austria PHILIPPINE Seven Corp., the local franchise holder of convenience store giant 7-Eleven, said the company is shifting its focus on expanding same store sales to boost profitability after opening 2,000 outlets.

PSC president and chief executive Jose Victor Paterno said in an interview at the sidelines of the annual stockholders’ meeting that while company was still poised to open 400 outlets this year, it aimed to increase same store sales growth to a high singledigit from the current low single-digit level.

“We now turn our attention to growing same store sales, which we must admit has been lackluster in comparison to international peers over our history as a company,” Paterno said.

He said the company would focus on improving services and expanding product offerings to improve same store sales growth.

Out of the 400 stores slated to open this year, half will be located in Visayas and Mindanao, which are the fastestgrowing markets for the company.

Paterno said there were still opportunities to open more stores in Metro Manila.

The company also plans to start offering some of its corporate stores for franchising for a minimal investment of P300,000, depending on the size of the outlet.

The company has initially offered the plan to existing franchisees and employees that resulted in the conversion of 50 corporate stores into franchise outlets.

Home / Design

B3

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Build it, and they will come Govt, private developers address PH’s low cost housing backlog

P

ROPERTY DEVELOPERS are scrambling to serve the demand for residential products serving the lower segment of the market, but challenges remain to making home ownership more affordable for Filipinos, a Lamudi real estate market report said recently.

The 2017 report showed that “at least 2,600 homes will have to be built every day over the next six years” to tackle the 5.7 million unit backlog before the end of this presidential term.

Mismatch

The main issue facing Filipinos is the lack of low cost and social housing aimed at those who cannot afford the high prices that properties in the Philippines are commanding these days, the report said.

“As the population increases in size, the cost of living increases, and incomes don’t increase with the rising expenditures, [and]

finding an affordable home is becoming a great challenge,” it said.

Julius M. Guevara, head of advisory services at Colliers Philippines, saying that there has been a mismatch in terms of actual demand from the end-user market compared to housing projects developed over the past years.

“The demand is there. The product, however, is still not there.

It’s still quite expensive. A big portion of housing backlog is those that could not afford housing,” Guevara said.

Application for licenses to sell at the Housing and Land

to help quell the backlog. These include providing developers with tax breaks that may entice them to building large social housing projects. If the government can attract developers with Income Tax Holidays, it is likely that developers will be more likely to take on projects which are outside of their usual sphere.

Ricky Celis, newly appointed President of the affordable housing business segment of Century Properties Group Inc. said: “The Philippine government needs to generate and mobilize funds for end-user financing, [to] reinforce what was a predominantly Pag-IBIG Funddependent sector.”

Solutions that won’t break the bank

MINDSET CHANGE. The more jobs created, the affordable houses become.

Use Regulatory Board dropped 14% last year, with the socialized housing segment one of the few bright spots, he said.

“The developers have recognized this given the slowdown in the Metro Manila condominium developments.

They are going out there, looking for areas so they can sustain their revenue growth,” Guevara said.

Ideal financing structure

HOUSING PEOPLE CLOSE TO WHERE THEY WORK.

Infrastructure such as subways will set taxpayers back some $30 billion. KMC MAG’s Michael McCullough suggested building affordable housing in and around the [central business districts], “and traffic is solved.”

Resty Perez, a former business journalist-turned-real estate entrepreneur, pitched in, saying that property developers must work together and produce socialized housing projects in order to help solve the housing backlog.

Perez’ First RGP Land Development Corp. built a low cost housing project worth P470 million in Naic, Cavite last year.

He promised to build more to “change the mindset of other property developers who center their businesses on gaining profit.”

“There is a lot of room for additional projects, but at the highend, there is tough competition,” Perez said. “That’s why we are in the low-end market where there is real demand. There is a four-million-housing backlog, which is growing about 200,00 units per year. So in the housing market, from P500,000 to up to P2.5 million per unit, there is real demand for that.”

Key to addressing the backlog is to “strike the ideal financing structure” for this sector, volunteered Ieyo de Guzman, executive director for investment services at Colliers Philippines.

“If you look at real demand, it’s coming from [the lower segment of the market], the demand for

that is still unmet and I’m not so sure if in my lifetime if it will be met and the reason for that is it is heavily dependent on financing and capability of buyers,” De Guzman said.

Lower interest rates, extended payment terms and relaxed financing requirements from the Home Development Mutual Fund, or Pag-IBIG Fund, will allow more Filipinos to afford homes, Guevara explained.

“We still have a lot to do a lot to increase the capability of those that could not afford housing. The government should step in to help in similar to what other countries are doing,” he said

Government in the mix

The Lamudi report claimed that the government has been coming up with a variety of suggestions

KMC MAG Managing Director Michael McCullough said that there are a lot of solutions backlog that do not cost taxpayers any money.

“There’s a ton of government land in Metro Manila that you can rent to developers or even for free. It’s not that hard to do. I believe that the current president has probably got the will and strength to push something like that through,” he said.

McCullough observed that sending people hundred of miles out of Metro Manila is not going to work because the jobs are here [in Metro Manila].

David Leechiu, CEO of Leechiu Property Consultants recommended creating more jobs. “The biggest problem with the low-cost housing market is that we build all these houses and somebody has to pay for them,” he said. “The buyers cannot afford to pay, they always default so the government steps in and covers that balance and collects from the people.”

TEACHING IS NOT ITS OWN REWARD. Public

school teacher Leonilda Aber shows off the land title of a property she was able to buy through BFS, the mortgage servicer of 52,000 delinquent loans from the National Home Mortgage Finance Corporation.

Aber had been using an adjacent property to her family’s house as a storage room, but always planned to buy it. Through the BFS, she finally purchased the property, securing it from illegal occupants.

BFS offers Balikatan borrowers with different financial options to avoid foreclosure. These include basing resolution amounts on current appraised values instead of outstanding principal balance, and partially condoning penalties and interest.

SOUTHERN COMFORT. PHirst Park Homes®, the first-home division of real estate developer Century Properties Group, Inc., recently unveiled its first development in the municipality of Tanza, Cavite.

The 26-hectare horizontal community is accessible via Governor’s Drive, one of the major highways in Cavite, and is about 3 minutes away from SM City Trece Martires. The first phase comprises 1,000 units that will generate sales of Php1.4 billion, said Ricky Celis, president of PHirst Park Homes®. A 40-squaremeter home at the project starts at Php1 million with a monthly amortization of Php9,000 a month. At the launch were (from left): Piolo Pascual, Century Properties’ brand ambassador; Rebecca Caisip, accounts manager of PHirst Park Homes; Kiyoto Asari, senior manager at Mitsubishi Corp.; Masahiro Nagaoka, deputy manager at Mitsubishi Corp.; Ricky Celis, president of PHirst Park Homes; Amb. Jose E.B. Antonio, chairman and CEO of Century Properties; Keiichi Matsunaga, general manager at Mitsubishi Corp; Jose Marco R. Antonio, chief operating officer of Century Properties and managing director of PHirst Park Homes; Shunsuki Tanaka, head of Mitsubishi Corp.; Loren Sales, VP for marketing and sales of PHirst Park Homes; and Kerwin Amar, technical head of PHirst Park Homes.

LIGHTING UP PASIG CITY. DMCI Homes is

AMAIA IN THE VISAYAS. Amaia Land recently launched the second installment of Amaia Steps

Capitol Central, the South Building, in San Juan Street, Brgy. 8, in Bacolod City. Fuelled by the success of the condominium’s North building, which is now 100% sold, the project’s latest expansion will offer an additional 276 residential units. South building residents will get a panoramic view of the city and access to the lifestyle amenities found in the courtyard. These include a swimming pool, play area for kids, landscaped garden, and a multipurpose hall. Residents will also have access to the Capitol Central’s main park; the Ayala Mall that will soon rise in the area; assorted retail shops; and the Seda Hotel and Capitol Central Corporate Center. Amaia Land offers flexible payment schemes such as cash, deferred cash, and bank financing.

pulling all the stops to market Lumiere Residences, its cosmopolitan project at the corner of Pasig and Shaw boulevards. DMCI promises a unique urban lifestyle for the Lumiere Residences as it turns over units in the first of the project’s three buildings, the East Tower, a year ahead of schedule. East Tower is set to be completed on October 2017. The development’s offerings include one-bedroom units, at 28 square meters with prices starting at Php2.1 Mn.; two-bedroom units, from 49 to 65 sq.m., with prices starting at Php2.8 Mn; and the 83 sq.m. three-bedroom units which are offered starting at Php5.4 Mn. Lumiere Residences will bear all the hallmarks of DMCI Homes’ design and engineering philosophy found in its other resort-inspired condominium communities, including its proprietary Sky Patios and Lumiventt technology that provide ambient air and light inside its buildings.

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B4

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

A TRYST IN THE CLOUD. Ascott’s penthouse suite.

When in Singapore, do the Ascott Shopping, medical checkup, pure staycation chill at tony Cairnhill road expense claim form.

By Joel D. Lacsamana

T

HE next time you’re on a trip to Singapore, no need to flee the highrent belt of Orchard Road for more atmospheric digs in satellite neighbourhoods.

The Ascott group of serviced apartments has ostensibly clung to a tried and true business model of offering upmarket accommodation in central locations.

The Ascott Orchard recently gave the Manila Standard a tour of its latest offering, a mixed-use development by local architects RSP, that straddles Orchard Road and tony Cairnhill Road.

Of the 220 apartments, it’s the eight penthouses that had us reconsidering our check-in options.

Occupying the 20th floor, the penthouses are offered, unusually, in several permutations—studio units and one- and two-bedroom

units—each designed in-house

by Kian Liew and Cher Lynn Tan. Even more unusually, each is furnished by Fendi Casa—a subtle wink to the glittering stable of fashion houses for which Orchard Road is justly famed.

In addition to the Fendi Casa sofa, rugs, armchairs, dining chairs, tables and lamps, the luxury quotient is amplified by Italian walnut veneer wall panels, oak timber floor, Christofle tableware, bathroom fixtures by Patricia Urquiola for Hansgrohe, and silver mink marble with solid bronze trimmings—all of which makes you wonder just how any of this will look on the company

Specialized residences on the rise

“We had our soft opening last December which basically marked the return of the Ascott The Residence brand to Orchard Road after a decadelong hiatus.” said Judy Yong, area manager of the Ascott Orchard. “So far, we’ve gotten a lot of corporate travellers, who comprise 80 percent of our market, as well as leisure visitors from Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand who want to shop, and generally pamper themselves.”

“These clients prefer not to stay at a hotel, but a specialized residence like this one. We believe this market segment is definitely on the rise,” she said.

The 20-storey Ascott Orchard comprises 220 luxury units ranging from 323 sq ft studios to 861 sq ft two-bedroom units.

With a hotel licence, Ascott

Orchard offers both short- and long-term stays.

The online rates for a studio unit for a one-night stay start from $352 a night, excluding taxes. Meanwhile, the twobedroom penthouse suite is going for $1,224 a night.

The eight penthouse suites on the top floor are furnished and fitted out by Fendi Casa, the lifestyle living subsidiary of the Italian high fashion house.

For business, leisure, medical travellers

Ascott Orchard is currently running at about 60% occupancy, two months into operations, according to Winston Lim, operations manager. “There is an equal mix of short- and longterm guests. With its proximity to Orchard Road and world-class medical facilities at Paragon Medical Singapore and Mount Elizabeth Orchard, all less than five minutes away, this serviced residence is ideal for business,

BATHROOM FROLICS. Doing one’s morning ablutions in style. leisure and medical travellers,” he said.

Facilities at Ascott Orchard include a gym, swimming pool and residents’ lounge. Breakfast is served at Kith Café, a favourite haunt among foodies and brunch enthusiasts.

Ascott The Residence ceased its Orchard Road operations about a decade ago. In 2004, The Ascott Group entered

into a conditional agreement with Wheelock Properties, formerly known as Marco Polo Developments, to sell its Scotts Shopping Centre and The Ascott Singapore serviced residence located above the mall. The site is now occupied by Scotts Square, a luxury mixed-use development comprising a fourstorey retail mall and 338-unit freehold apartments.

WORK OUT THE KINKS. Sweat off calories shopping till you drop.

BIKE PLAYGROUND IN ORTIGAS. A new hub for cycling pros and enthusiasts was opened recently by Ortigas & Company with global pump track and bike park creator Velosolutions. The Bike Playground in Circulo Verde is the newest addition to the 10-hectare development, which houses a residential portfolio and emerging retail mix. The facility is composed of the country’s first indoor pump track, a 1-kilometer outdoor trail for both pros and amateurs, and a kids’ track. The playground complements Circulo Verde’s jogging path and open spaces, and is also accessible to the residents of Circulo Verde’s residential towers, namely Majorca, Lleida, Ibiza, and Seville, and its townhouse development, Circulo Verde Garden Homes. It is open everyday with monthly membership cards and 10-day prepaid passes.

Circulo Verde is located along Calle Industria, near Ortigas and C5.

at the gym before

ENTERTAIN, AND BE ENTERTAINED. Get a celebrity chef to whip up a culinary party for your friends at the resident’s lounge.

LGUs

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

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FRUITFUL. Young ‘Nonie’ manages to climb a prolific Bilimbi or ‘kamias’ tree during a visit to his family’s ancestral farm in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya. Ben Moses Ebreo

‘Ready for RW-type attack’

By Sandy Araneta

M

ANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada has assured the public that the capital city is “well protected” from security threats similar to the incident at the Resorts World Manila that left 38 people dead.

During the presentation of the 30 candidates of Miss Manila 2017 at the Manila Hotel yesterday, Estrada said although he cannot predict an attack, the 4,600-strong Manila Police District is ready to respond to any

eventuality.

“Let’s just hope and pray (nothing serious happens). But rest assured Manila is well protected. Our police force is always on alert 24/7,” Estrada told reporters.

Just hours after Islamist militants besieged Marawi City on May 23, Estrada directed the local police to double its security deployment around the capital to prevent a spillover of the attack.

In response, MPD surrounded Malacañang, which is in Manila, with security checkpoints and patrols, while police units were also dispatched to major government installations and commercial districts throughout the city.

The full alert status of the MPD remained in place until today, Estrada said, especially after the Resorts World rampage

of former government employee Jessie Carlos on June 2.

The city police is also finalizing a joint security cooperation with the security officers of commercial and business establishments in the city to frustrate any untoward incident like the Resorts World incident, Estrada added.

Two months ago, Estrada’s administration procured P20-million worth of brand new firearms for MPD operatives to improve the city police’s firepower against armed criminals and terrorists.

As to the Grand Coronation Night of Miss Manila 2017

beauty pageant, the Manila mayor said MPD director Chief Supt. Joel Coronel is discussing security arrangements with the pageant organizers and the security units of the Philippine International Convention Center and the Pasay City police.

The Miss Manila 2017 is the highlight of the weeklong celebration of the 446th Araw ng Maynila on June 24. The pageant was revived by Estrada in 2013 in a bid to cement Manila’s place in the world map of tourism and bring back the old glory and beauty of the capital.

Cloud 300 BPO workers join ‘Brigada’ cleanup banking system for ‘RBs’ MINDORO-BASED Microfinance Maximum Savings Bank Inc., (MaxBank) and Dela O Rural Bank of Laguna recently formalized their partnership with iComputing Solutions Inc. (iCSI) for a cloud-based banking system poised to enhance the banks’ competitive advantage in view of the Asean Integration. iCSI will implement the service through PT Sigma Cipta Caraka (Telkomsigma), a leading integrated end-to-end ICT Solutions company operating in Indonesia for nearly 30 years.

“This platform will not only enhance these firms’ core banking services. It will also allow them to provide safe and stable online services such as digital banking as well as use of credit and debit cards,” explains iCSI president and CEO Emmanuel Ramasola.

“The best part is they do not have to invest so much in setting up and implementing the system. A huge part of the expense is already considered a sunk cost in Indonesia,” he added.

Ramasola said their partnership comes at a time when rural banks or RBs in the country have continued to decrease in number and when a huge majority of people remain unbanked.

He noted that in 2016, about 20 RBs closed. This year, six rural banks have ceased operations owing to various factors, including their inability to meet the requirements of a highly regulated industry.

TELEPERFORMANCE, the worldwide leader in outsourced omnichannel customer experience management services, recently helped rehabilitate several public elementary and secondary schools across the country in support of the annual “Brigada Eskwela” school cleanup program of the Department of Education.

Nearly 300 employees from Teleperformance Philippines volunteered in the renovation of 29 public elementary and secondary school classrooms in various communities in Metro Manila, Baguio, Bacolod, Cebu, Cagayan de Oro and Davao.

The schools visited by Teleperformance include SSS Village Elementary School in Marikina City, Lucban Elementary School in Baguio City, Emilio Lizares National High School in Bacolod City, Tiltilon Elementary School in Liloan, Cebu, Kamakawan Elementary School in Cagayan de Oro City, and Biao Elementary School in Davao City.

The participating Teleperformance employees volunteered a total of 1,769 hours for this year’s Brigada Eskwela program. Through their combined effort, the team was able to repaint a total of 29 classrooms and refurbish 2,500 chairs and 250 tables.

BLESSING. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander F. Balutan (second from left)

and Mayor Gonzalo Moreno (left) of Aliaga, Nueva Ecija, lead the blessing of a brand new ambulance in rites officiated by Rev. Fr. Robert Dela Cruz at the Aliaga Municipal Gymnasium on June 10. The national lottery agency also turned over to Aliaga P66,705 as the town’s share in the Small Town Lottery operations in the area for the month of May. Also in photo is PCSO branch manager Reynaldo Martin.

The teams also used vibrant color schemes in repainting the classrooms and chairs to make them more conducive for learning and to inspire creativity among students who will return to school this June.

This is the fourth year that Teleperformance has partici-

pated in Brigada Eskwela. This company-wide effort was made possible through “Citizen of the World,” the corporate social responsibility arm of the outsourcing firm.

Teleperformance Philippines continues to promote employee volunteerism among its 40,000

employees to support the company’s CSR activities. These include building houses, planting trees, cleaning rivers, conducting blood donation and relief operations, tending to the sick and the elderly, and pursuing other community enrichment programs.

Antipolo offers lot for office to Senate ANTIPOLO City is offering its 64-hectare Government Center as the new home of the Philippine Senate for free, with Mayor Jun Ynares leading a delegation to convince senators to move from its current offices in Pasay City.

Ynares said it would be best for the Senate to move to Antipolo for “geographical, historical and economic reasons.” He said the city’s Government Center is just 30 minutes away from the House of Representatives in Quezon City and 45 minutes away from the de facto national government center at the Quezon Memorial Circle.

Unlike the House of Representatives, the Senate doesn’t have its own building. It currently occupies one of the buildings owned by the Government Service Insurance System in Pasay, but is paying P110 million in rent yearly to the GSIS. Senators were lukewarm to a recent proposal to erect a building at the Bonifacio Global City in Taguig, giving Antipolo an opening to offer its government grounds.

“This will relieve the Senate of some P110 million in rental costs, P1.2-billion savings on land acquisition, and around P4-billion savings for the construction cost of a vertical building, should the Senate opt to buy a site,” Ynares said.

“We offer our Senate not just financial savings, but also the opportunity to help spur the faster economic growth of the eastern corridor of Luzon,” he added.

Senators Vicente “Tito” Sotto III and Gringo Honasan admired the mayor’s presentation.

“We have to admit, I have to admit I am quite mesmerized by your presentation,” Sotto said.

“That was a pretty impressive presentation,” Honasan added. Kariza Aycocho

Stick to Building Code rules, dad tells QC biz At a media briefing, District 1 Councilor Peter Anthony “Onyx” Crisologo said A QUEZON City councilor is batting for the an “important” provision in the Code has full implementation of the National Build- been overlooked for the longest time. ing Code to ensure the “structural health” of He called on developers, building ownhigh-rise buildings and to save a lot of lives in ers and administrators to comply with the case a powerful earthquake hits the city. important implementing rules and regula-

By Rio N. Araja

tions of the law—to install an optic sensor to keep track of the ground shaking or seismic acceleration and structural integrity of any high-rise building once a major quake occurs due to the movement of the West Valley Fault line traversing various parts of Metro Manila, including Quezon City.

“There are compliant tall buildings, but not all,” he told reporters.

Quezon City, which is four times larger than Manila, is home to many high-rise buildings, including those of media giants GMA Network Inc. and ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corp.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK Republic of the Philippines REGIONAL TRIAL COURT National Capital Judicial Region Branch 216, Quezon City ZENAIDA F. FLORES, Plaintiff,

Damages; and to pay litigation expense and costs of the suit.

Such other reliefs that are just and equitable under the premises are likewise prayed for.

LUCIMAR B. REJUSO and REGISTER OF DEEDS OF QUEZON CITY Defendants. x---------------------------------------------x

SUMMONS BY PUBLICATION WHEREAS, on February 1, 2017, upon motion of plaintiffs, through counsel, the Hon. Alfonso C. Ruiz II, Presiding Judge of this Court, issued an Order in the above-entitled case which reads as follows: “At today’s hearing on the Motion for Leave of Court to Serve Summons by Publication, Atty.

Jesus Roberto D. Bernabe, Jr., counsel for the plaintiffs appeard.

Copies of the summons and this Order are likewise ordered sent by registered mail at the last known address of defendant at the expense of the plaintiff. Said defendant is required to file her Answer to the Complaint with the Regional Trial Court, Branch 216, Hall of Justice Building, Quezon City, within ninety (90) days from the date of publication of this summons.

Quezon City, Metro Manila, February 15, 2017.

(Sgd.) ATTY. LUCITA D. MASANGKAY-CRISTI Clerk of Court V

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES Regional Trial Court NATIONAL CAPITAL JUDICIAL REGION Branch 216, Quezon City

Counsel for the Plaintiff Unit 211 2nd Floor Makati Executive Tower 1 Dela Rosa St., Pio Del Pilar, Makati City uyembuscado@gmail.com

By: ELVIS S. UY Roll of Attorneys No. 49767 IBP Lifetime No. 05291-04/12/05-CALMANA PTR No. 4253405/01-24-14-Makati City MCLE Compliance No. IV-0005377/March 29, 2012 Mobile No. 0917.521.1229 Email: elvisuy1229@gmail.com

JESUS ROBERTO D. BERNABE, JR. Roll of Attorneys No. 60596 IBP No. 963860-2/18/13-PPLM PTR No. 2765619/2-17-14-Manila MCLE Compliance No. IV-0019727/May 23, 2013 Mobile No. 0925.8898.654 Email: jr14bernabe@yahoo.com

I, Zenaida F. Flores, Filipino, of legal age, married and a resident of Mahogany Street, Vista Real Subdivision, Quezon City, after having first been duly sworn in accordance with law, do hereby depose and state that: 1. I am the petitioner in the captioned case and I have caused the preparation of the present complaint; I have read and understood the same and the allegations therein are all true and correct of my personal knowledge and based on authentic records; 2. I hereby certify that I have not commenced any other action or proceeding involving the same issues in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or different Divisions thereof, any branch of the Regional Trial Courts, or any other tribunal or agency; and that no such action is pending in the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or different Divisions thereof, or any other tribunal or agency; 3. To the best of my knowledge, no such action or proceeding involving the issuance of owner’s duplicate copy of transfer certificate of title is pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any other tribunal or agency; 4. If I shall thereafter learn that a similar action or proceeding has been filed or is pending before the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals or any other tribunal or agency, I shall notify the Court, tribunal or agency within five (5) days from such notice.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 7th day of January, 2016, in Quezon City.

FMR, bridges to rise in northern Cagayan T

By Jessica M. Bacud

UGUEGARAO CITY, Cagayan—The provincial government announced Thursday the municipalities of Peñablanca and Alcala and Tuguegarao will gain new farmto-market roads and bridges spanning 17.4 kilometers that would improve residents’ access to markets.

Farm-to-market roads will be built in Barangays Namabbalan Norte, Baluiag, Bical, and Cabbo, while bridges will be erected at Bical, Peñablanca and Barangay Baculud, Masin, Agani, San Esteban, Dalaoig, and Pussian, Alcala.

Gov. Manuel N. Mamba led the groundbreaking ceremony for the projects with Mayor Ben-ben de Guzman of Tuguegarao, Mayor Washington Taguinod and Vice Mayor Marilyn Taguinod of Peñablan-

ca, Regional Director Lucrecio Alviar Jr. of the Department of Agriculture, and Pearlita Lucia Mabasa, concurrent Provincial Agriculturist and Provincial Project Monitoring and Implementing Unit Head.

Mamba said the roads and bridges underscore the importance of concreting and rehabilitating road areas, to improve accessibility and farmers’ linkage to the production and marketing zones of dairy products in the province.

“Farm to market roads will boost the production and marketing activities of the province’ and eventually increase the market shares of farmers on other commodities,” Mamba stressed.

Taguinod expressed his gratitude to the provincial government and the Department of Agriculture for the project.

“With this development, it will be easier and more convenient for the farmers to bring their products to the town proper,” he stressed.

Alviar said the P200 million FMR with bridges under the Cagayan Dairy Enterprise project with the I-Build component will give greater accessibility to farmer beneficiaries in Barangays Namabbalan Norte, Baluiag, Bical and Cabbo.

In Alcala town, the government also conducted a groundbreaking ceremony at Pussian for another I-BUILD subproject.

Zenaida F. Flores

SUBSCRIBED AND SWORN TO before me this 12th day of January 2016 in Pasig City, -versus- CIVIL CASE NO. R-QZN-16-00362-CV affiant exhibiting to me her Tax Identification (For ANNULMENT OF DEED OF Number 153-097-441 as proof of her competent ABSOLUTE SALE DATED JANUARY evidence of identity, and I hereby certify that I 6, 2011 AND CANCELLATION OF personally examined the affiant herein and that ADVERSE CLAIM AND DAMAGES) I am fully satisfied that she voluntarily executed LUCIMAR B. REJUSO and the foregoing petition and she understood all the REGISTER OF DEEDS OF allegations herein.

QUEZON CITY, Defendants.

Doc. No. 246 Page No. 51

COMPLAINANT, through counsel and unto this Book No. 13 Honorable Court, most respectfully state that: Series of 2016.

1. Complainant, ZENAIDA F. FLORES, is a Filipino Citizen, of legal age, married to Reynaldo G. Flores, and currently residing at 15 Lauan Drive Vista Real Executive Village, Brgy. Batasan Hills, Quezon City where she may be served with summons and other processes of the Court.

2. Defendant, Lucimar B. Rejuso, is a Filipino citizen, with principal address at No. 76 Calbayog St., corner Libertad St., Mandaluyong City where he may be served with summons and other processes of the Court.

3. Respondent REGISTER OF DEEDS OF QUEZON CITY is a government entity with office address at Office of the Register of Deeds, Quezon City, where it may be served with summons and other Court Processes.

4. On 4 January 2011, Clarissa Rodriguez sold to the plaintiff that certain parcel of land covered by the Transfer of Certificate of Title No. N-293227 of the Registry of Deeds of Quezon City by virtue Deed of Absolute Sale which was duly notarized by Atty.

Dulcisimo G. Hinanay, Jr. dated February 23, 2011 under Notarial Register Doc. No. 215, Page No. 43, Book II, Series of 2011.

By Brenda Jocson

ANNEXES ANNEX A

Photocopies of the Transfer Certificate of Title and the Deed of Absolute Sale are hereto attached and made integral parts thereof and marked as Annexes “A” and “B”, respectively.

5. After paying the purchase price, Clarissa Rodriguez turned over all the necessary documents evidencing the sale including but not limited to owner’s original copy of the Transfer Certificate of Title No. N-293227 and tax declaration. Copy of the Acknowledgment Receipt evidencing full payment of the contract price is hereto attached made an integral part hereof and marked as Annex “C”.

6. Thereafter, after paying the corresponding taxes due thereon, plaintiff successfully transferred ownership under her name sometime on 2013, and is now covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 0042013013357 of the Register of Deeds of Quezon City.

HANDOUTS. Litz Santana, vice president and head of External Affairs of Meralco PowerGen, hands over a set of school supplies to a student of a local school who participated in the RP Energy coastal cleanup in Barangay Cawag, Zambales. Butch Gunio

Dialysis machines for Benguet

ANNEX B

By Dexter A. See

Attached are copies of proofs of payment of documentary tax and capital gains tax as well as issuance of appropriate Certificate Authorizing Registration dated 23 August 2013 made an integral part hereof and marked as Annexes “D” to “F”.

And a photocopy of the Transfer Certificate of Title No. 004-2013013357 evidencing transfer of ownership is also attached and marked as Annex “G”.

ANNEX C

7. Thereafter, to plaintiff’s surprise, there was annotation in the memorandum of encumbrances of the TCT No. 004-2013013357 pertaining to an adverse claim dated October 18, 2012 relative to the execution of an alleged Deed of Absolute Sale by Clarissa Rodriguez in favor of herein defendant.

The annotation of adverse claim at the back portion of the subject title is hereby bracketed made an integral part and sub-marked as Annex “G-1”.

8.

Based on the annotated adverse claim, defendant made it appear that on 6 January 2011, Clarissa Rodriguez entered into the Deed of Absolute Sale in his favor over the property covered by Transfer Certificate of Title No. 293227.

9. Plaintiff wasted no time and made the necessary call to Clarissa Rodriguez.

Clarissa Rodriguez categorically denied any participation, knowledge or whatsoever in the execution of the alleged Deed of Absolute Sale. She likewise denied the authenticity, due execution and has no knowledge or participation in the execution of the alleged Deed of Absolute Sale. To attest truthfulness of the foregoing, she executed her Sworn Statement dated 13 December 2013.

Photocopy of which is hereto attached to form integral part hereof and marked as annex “H”.

10. By the foregoing acts, defendant did not act with justice, observe honesty and good faith, and did no give utmost consideration to the rights of the plaintiff.

11. The Deed of Absolute Sale dated 6 January 2011 should therefore be declared null and void and be annulled by this Court for being spurious.

Consequently, the annotation of adverse claim should be cancelled for lack of any legal basis.

12. Consequently, by virtue of the unlawful act of the defendant, Plaintiff suffered sleepless nights, mental anguish, serious anxiety, wounded feelings, and moral shock as a result of defendant’s wrongful act, he should be liable to pay One Hundred Thousand (Php 100,000.00) Pesos.

13. In order to serve as an example or correction for the public good and to deter the defendant from further committing the same wrongful act and omission, he should be adjudged liable for exemplary damage in the amount of Fifty Thousand Pesos (Php 50,000.00).

14. By respondent’s unlawful acts, plaintiff was constrained to engage the services of counsel to vindicate its violated rights and to protect its interest and agreed to pay the sum of One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) as Attorney’s fee not including appearance fees.

ANNEX D

ANNEX E

ANNEX F

ANNEX G

LA TRINIDAD, Benguet— Benguet will get 10 dialysis machines from the Department of Health to serve the increasing numbers of dialysis patients not only from the province but also from other neighboring provinces.

Gov. Crescencio C. Pacalso said that aside from the five existing dialysis machines given earlier to the Benguet General Hospital, five more machines “will arrive the soonest,” increasing the hospital’s capacity to treat patients.

The dialysis machines at the government-run BeGH are in addition to the existing 10 machines being handled by a private company, which are not sufficient to cater to the growing number of patients with renal problems.

Pacalso said five dialysis machines from the DoH will be installed at the Atok District Hospital, while the others will be given to the Dennis Molintas Memorial Hospital. This would

make the machines easily accessible to patients from the rural areas, he said.

“We are alarmed at the rapid increase in patients who are being diagnosed with renal failure and are recommended to undergo the sensitive and painful dialysis treatment,” Pacalso said.

“We are also studying how we could bring the health facilities in the countryside so that people undergoing the treatment will no longer need to travel to the capital town or Baguio City just to have their treatment,” he added.

The provincial government will also to look into other funds to purchase addition units of the expensive dialysis machines for other health facilities around the province to augment whatever the Health department could provide.

Pacalso said the increasing number of individuals undergoing dialysis treatment in the different hospitals in Baguio and Benguet should serve as a warning for local residents to review their diet and avoid suffering the same fate as their relatives.

Those undergoing the treatment “affect the emotional, social and financial condition of their families,” the governor said.

While he supports the initiative of the Baguio Correspondents and Broadcasters Club calling on the national government to implement a free dialysis program, he said the decision still lies with the concerned government agency.

“The question is whether or not the Health department and other health insurance groups are capable of providing the free treatment to the patients,” he said.

Currently, the Philippine Health Insurance Corp. shoulders the dialysis treatment of renal patients for up to a maximum of 90 sessions annually.

But patients are seeking the implementation of the free dialysis program to lessen the financial burden of their families, who have to shoulder twice or thrice-a-week dialysis treatment in various hospitals in Baguio and Benguet.

LOS BAÑOS, Laguna—The Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, which is hosted by the Philippine government, has named Dr. Cielito F. Habito as the new editor of Searca’s Asian Journal of Agriculture and Development.

Dr. Gil C. Saguiguit Jr., Searca director, said the AJAD is an international refereed journal dedicated to the publication of information and analysis on topics within the broad scope of agriculture and development.

The AJAD was launched in 2004 and is published twice a year as the official publication of Searca.

The Journal specializes in the publication of articles drawn from empirical, policy-oriented, and institutional development studies, as well as articles on perspectives in agriculture and development, political economy of rural development, and trade issues.

A professor of Economics at the Ateneo de Manila University and Senior Fellow at Searca, Habito agreed to join the AJAD Editorial Board in June 2017.

He is the second editor of the journal, succeeding Dr. Arsenio M. Balisacan, who is currently the chairman of the Philippine Competition Commission.

“As such, Searca has the distinction of having two former Philippine Cabinet members, both having served as Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and director-general of the National Economic and Development Authority, at the helm of this prestigious journal,” Saguiguit said.

Habito served as director of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development for 11 years.

Cavite solon inaugurates 68 classrooms

PRAYER WHEREFORE, premises considered, it is respectfully prayed of this Honorable Court that, after notice and hearing, judgment be rendered in favor of the plaintiff: 1. Declaring null and void and the annulment of the Deed of Absolute Sale dated January 6, 2011 for being falsified; 2. To the Register of Deeds of Quezon City to direct cancellation of the annotation of adverse claim; and; 3. To declare defendant to pay the plaintiff the sum of One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) by way of attorney’s fees; One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000.00) by way of Moral Damages; Fifty Thousand Pesos (P50,000.00) by way of Exemplary

“Today marks another milestone as we start another infrastructure project, the Alcala East FMR. Many had been asking in the past if this project will be realized. Our endeavor today answers that question,” Alviar said.

The 13.1-kilometer Alcala East road with bridges, built at a total cost of P198 million, traverses Barangays of Baculod, Masin, Agani, Pussian, Dalaoig and San Esteban and is Cagayan’s third subproject.

“This is indeed a very significant day for us here in Alcala and we are so grateful that this longtime project will be realize,” Mayor Criselda Antonio said.

“I thank the different agencies that have made this project possible, the Department of Agriculture and the provincial government of Cagayan. This project will benefit not only our farmers but the populace here,” Antonio added.

Habito named ‘Journal’ editor

Affiant

ZENAIDA F. FLORES, Plaintiff,

COMPLAINT

TODAY

UY EMBUSCADO LAW

NOW THEREFORE, defendant LUCIMAR B. VERTIFICATION and CERTIFICATION

Let this summons together with the complaint be published at the expense of the plaintiff, in a newspaper of general circulation in Quezon City and throughout the Philippines.

LGUs

Manila

Makati City for Quezon City.

The motion is granted.

SO ORDERED. REJUSO is hereby summoned and required to file her Answer to the Complaint with the Regional Trial Court, Branch 216, Hall of Justice Bldg., Quezon City, within sixty (60) days from the day after the date of publication of this summons, serving a copy thereof upon plaintiff’s counsel, Atty. Jesus Roberto D. Bernabe, Jr. of Uy Embuscado Law Located at Unit 211 Makati Executive Tower 1, Dela Rosa Street, Barangay Pio Del Pilar, Makati City. If you fail to file an answer within the aforesaid period, the plaintiff will take judgment against you by default and demand from this Court the reliefs prayed for in said Complaint.

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

Respectfully submitted. 12 January 2016.

versus R-QZN-16-00362-CV For: Annulment of Deed of AbsoluteSale dated January 6, 2011 and Cancellation of Adverse Claim and Damages

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Standard

ANNEX H

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

(MS-June 10, 17 & 24, 2017)

GENERAL TRIAS CITY, Cavite —Cavite 6th District Rep. Luis “Jon Jon” Ferrer IV recently led the ribbon cutting, blessing and inauguration of five school buildings in this city and Tanza town in a three-day span.

Ferrer, together with his brother General Trias Mayor Antonio Ferrer, Vice Mayor Morit Sison, and city councilors, unveiled the four-story, eight-classroom building in Pasong Kawayan II to add more rooms to PasKaw II Elementary School.

He also turns over the fourstory, 20-classroom building to Mary Cris Elementary School in Pasong Camachile II together with barangay chairman Jessie Fauni.

Ferrer, with Tanza Mayor Yuri Pacumio, Councilors Icel del Rosario and Simon Matro, and Department of Public Works and HighwaysCavite chief Oscar dela Cruz then inaugurated three-story, 12-classroom buildings with a total of 40 classrooms at Tanza

National Trade School in Barangay Paradahan, Tanza.

Earlier, 62 couples pledged their unwavering love to thier partners during the annual mass wedding held Wednesday, June 14, at the General Trias Cultural and Convention Center in Barangay Sampalukan.

The wedding rites were solemnized by Mayor Ony Ferrer, who also acted as godfather along with Rep. Ferrer IV and city councilors, as they joined the newlyweds at their reception and prepared gifts

for the couples.

The mass wedding is an annual project of Mayor Ferrer, together with Team GenTri. The program started in 2005, when then-mayor Ferrer IV assumed office, in line with the town’s commitment to help couples save money.

The LGU also prepared prizes for the oldest couple, youngest couple, and longest live-in partners before they got married.

Thousands of couples have been wed through the 12-year program.

World IN BRIEF Singapore family feud heats up SINGAPORE—A family feud being played out in public between Singapore’s prime minister and his siblings took an acrimonious turn Friday, with accusations their late father’s will had been tampered with.

Tightly-ruled Singapore has been transfixed for days by the bitter row raging among the offspring of revered founding leader Lee Kuan Yew, a family that is the closest the city state has to royalty.

Allegations of cheating, lying and dynasty-building have been hurled, with claims Friday his will had been altered without his knowledge 15 months before he died.

“I continue to have grave concerns about the events surrounding the making of the Last Will,” Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote on his Facebook page. AFP

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Journalists demand justice M

EXICO CITY―Murdered Mexican journalist Javier Valdez’s widow, children and colleagues led protests Thursday to mark one month since he was gunned down in the street, condemning the lack of progress in the investigation.

SPECIA L EVENING. Actress

Berenice Marlohe attends Remy Martin’s special evening with Jeremy Renner and Fetty Wap celebrating The Exceptional at Eric Buterbaugh Floral on June 15, 2017 in West Hollywood, California.

AFP

Valdez, 50, was shot a dozen times in broad daylight on May 15 outside the offices of Riodoce, the newspaper he co-founded in the violent western state of Sinaloa.

A veteran crime reporter, award-winning author and longtime AFP contributor, he is the highest-profile journalist yet to be murdered in Mexico, where more than 100 of his colleagues have been killed since 2000.

The crime drew international outcry and forced President Enrique Pena Nieto to publicly address the issue for the first time.

But one month on, Valdez’s colleagues are unimpressed by the results of the president’s promises to fight impunity, in a country where more than 90 percent of these cases remain unpunished.

One journalist pulled an ambush protest on Pena Nieto as he delivered a speech to media executives on his government’s commitment to a free press.

“Enough bloodshed,” read a banner held up by journalist Alvaro Delgado of the newsweekly Proceso.

Hundreds of journalists and activists held protest marches in Sinaloa’s capital, Culiacan, and Mexico City’s historic center. Smaller protests were held in several other cities around the country.

In Mexico City, protesters carried pictures of murdered and missing journalists and read out the long list of their names.

One group unfurled a large Mexican flag with the green and red replaced by black. Its insignia read: “The state is dead.”

The investigation into Valdez’s death shows little progress.

Speaking at the protest in Culiacan, Valdez’s widow, Griselda Triana, voiced outrage at the authorities’ “incompetence.”

“The few times they’ve approached me to tell me about their progress on the case, the truth is that you can tell they’re useless,” she said.

“I ask myself if I haven’t crossed paths with Javier’s murderers this month in the street,” she told reporters.

“I’m afraid, more for my (three) children than myself, because they’re in a very vulnerable situation now and you realize that in reality there is no government, no authority here.”

State prosecutors initially said they were investigating the case as an auto robbery, before acknowledging Valdez’s journalism was the likely motive.

“There is evidence, there are clues,” lead prosecutor Ricardo Sanchez insisted Wednesday in an interview with the radio station Formula, declining to give further details because the investigation remains open. AFP

Accused stabs policemen in courtroom TOKYO―A Japanese man accused of taking pictures up a woman’s skirt stabbed two court officers Friday as the verdict in his sex pest case was being delivered, a court spokesman and media said.

Seiji Yodogawa, 30, reportedly yelled “what a rotten justice system” as he lunged at the two officers standing in the court gallery and slashed them on their face and back with a hidden knife.

Yodogawa was immediately taken into custody on attempted murder charges, the spokesman added.

The two policemen were sent to hospital with nonlife threatening injuries, Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported.

The courtroom drama erupted just as the judge was delivering a verdict in Yodogawa’s upskirting case.

He had been charged over allegations he secretly took pictures under a female train passenger’s skirt in Sendai, a coastal city north of Tokyo.

The accused man had been out on bail and did not go through a body search when he turned up for the verdict in his case Friday.

The original charge against Yodogawa has been temporarily suspended since the verdict was not fully read, the court spokesman said. AFP

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

Tribe turns to Islam after homelands are devastated BATANG HARI, Indonesia―Indonesian tribesman Muhammad Yusuf believes his conversion from animism to Islam in a government-supported program will eventually make his life easier.

“Thank God, the government now pays attention to us; before our conversion they didn’t care,” says Yusuf, the Islamic name he has adopted.

Yusuf is a member of the “Orang Rimba” tribe. His small community now gathers around a stilt-mounted wooden hut, while children inside wearing Islamic skullcaps and hijabs enthusiastically recite the Koran.

Not far away, other members

of the tribe who remain faithful to the old ways stalk through palm oil trees in a desperate hunt for prey in an area that was once lush Sumatran rain forest.

Stick-thin and wearing only loincloths over their weatherbeaten skin, they brandish homemade rifles as they search for their next meal.

Yusuf’s group converted to Islam, the predominant faith in Indonesia, and gave up their nomadic ways in January in a bid to improve livelihoods that have been devastated by the expansion of palm oil plantations and coal mines into their forest homelands.

Authorities insist the move is positive but critics say it amounts to a last throw of the dice for indigenous groups driven to desperation by the government’s failure to properly defend their rights against rapid commercial expansion.

Indonesia is home to an estimated 70 million tribes people, more than a quarter of the total 255-million population, from the heavily tattooed Dayaks of Borneo island to the Mentawai who are famed for sharpening their teeth as they believe it makes them more beautiful.

But as a nomadic group, the Orang Rimba―whose name

translates as “jungle people”― are a rarity.

The 200 who recently converted in the Batang Hari district of Jambi province―a handful of the approximately 3,500 Orang Rimba―decided to turn to the Muslim faith after being approached by an Islamic NGO, and the social welfare ministry has helped with the process.

Community leader Yusuf conceded the reason they were converting was because food was increasingly hard to find and they were constantly locked in disputes with companies on whose lands they hunt, rather than due to any deeply-held beliefs.

The tribesman also said that he and his family―he has 10 children―wanted to get national identity cards, which would allow them access to public services including education and healthcare. Converting to Islam and settling in one location means they can get the cards.

The decision has meant big changes.

The converts now live in basic wooden huts on stilts and no longer move to a new location every few weeks. They are fully-clothed in items donated by the government and NGOs, having abandoned the simple loincloths and sarongs they wore in the past. AFP

US student suffered severe brain damage CHICAGO―Doctors treating Otto Warmbier, the US student released by North Korea in a coma this week, said Thursday the 22-year-old had suffered severe brain damage, as his father lashed out at the reclusive regime.

Warmbier experienced extensive tissue loss in all regions of the brain, doctors said, but he showed no signs of physical trauma and medical tests offered no conclusive evidence as to the cause of his neurological injuries.

His father, Fred Warmbier, hit out at Kim Jong-Un’s authoritarian state that kept the family in the dark, with little to no news for much of the young man’s imprisonment.

It was only a week ago, after a US diplomatic effort, that they were told he had been in a coma since shortly after being incarcerated in March 2016 for stealing a political poster from a hotel.

“Even if you believe their explanation of botulism and a sleeping pill causing the coma―and we don’t,” Warmbier told a news conference earlier Thursday in the family’s home city of Cincinnati, Ohio, “there is no excuse for any civilized nation to have kept his condition secret and denied him top-notch medical care for so long.”

“I call on them to release the other Americans being held,” he urged, referring to three US citizens still in North Korea.

Doctors at the UC Health University of Cincinnati Medical Center said the young man was able to breathe on his own, but his neurological state was best described “as a state of unresponsive wakefulness.”

“He has spontaneous eye opening and blinking. However, he shows no signs of understanding language, responding to verbal commands or awareness of his surroundings,” neurologist Daniel Kanter said. AFP

CHECKPOINT. Israeli security forces stand facing Palestinians as they make their way through the Israeli Qalandia checkpoint, in the occupied West Bank between Ramallah and Jerusalem, to attend Friday prayers of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque on June 16, 2017. AFP

World

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

Lynching up in Venezuela CARACAS―Swearing in fury, the crowd strips the man naked and stomps on his head as he sprawls on the ground.

“You want things that come easy? Then take this, you bastard.”

In Venezuela, this is what robbers get when they are caught by passers-by.

It is not just the country’s economy and political system that are sick, but society itself, experts say. An epidemic of lynchings is one of the most gruesome symptoms.

AFP journalists filmed a lynching closeup in a busy street in the capital Caracas.

A witness says he stopped the man who had tried to rob a woman at gunpoint in a bakery. Then the mob took over.

“You’re lucky we didn’t burn you,” a voice yells, as police lug the man, limp but still breathing, into the back of their car.

The crowd yells in satisfaction―but not at the man’s arrest. They think they are the ones who have done justice here.

“Their aim is to kill the person before the police arrive,” says Marco Ponce, coordinator of the Venezuelan Social Conflict Observatory.

The body says some 60 people were recorded as killed in lynchings in the first five months of this year alone.

Last year there were 126 such killings―a surge from the 20 reported in the previous year, coinciding with the worsening of political tensions and economic chaos.

“In lynchings, citizens let out their anger in the face of a state that is not defending their right to justice,” says Ponce.

“They think they are dispensing justice, and they do so with anger, so they go as far as killing the person.” AFP

China: Deadly blast a bomb LIGHTING CEREMONY. Thisis a general view of the atmosphere during The City of Los Angeles and DC Entertainment Bat-Signal Lighting Ceremony honoring Adam West at the Los Angeles City Hall on June 15, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

Trump slams reports he is target of Russia probe W

ASHINGTON―President Donald Trump responded angrily to reports that he is under criminal investigation Thursday, deriding a “witch hunt” against him led by some “very bad” people.

He was answering accounts that he is personally being investigated for obstruction of justice with a characteristic scorched-earth defense: claiming mistreatment of historic proportions and calling into question the probity of his accusers.

“You are witnessing the single greatest WITCH HUNT in American political history―led by some very bad and conflicted people!” he said in an early morning tweet.

Trump did not directly address the allegations that he is being probed for possibly obstructing justice―a potentially impeachable offense. Nor did he deny that he has entered the minuscule ranks of sitting presidents who have become subjects of criminal investigations.

“They made up a phony collusion

with the Russians story, found zero proof, so now they go for obstruction of justice on the phony story. Nice,” he wrote.

Trump’s young presidency has been battered by allegations-under investigation both by Congress and the FBI― that Russia interfered to sway the 2016 election in his favor, in possible collusion with Trump’s campaign team.

The FBI probe, now in the hands of special counsel Robert Mueller, shifted its focus to allegations of obstruction in the days after Trump fired the agency’s then-director James Comey on May 9.

The new allegations against Trump center on his own admission that he fired Comey because of the Russia investigation, and suggestions he asked several top intelligence officials for their

help altering the inquiry’s direction.

The Washington Post reported Thursday evening that Mueller’s team is also focusing on the finances and business dealings of Jared Kushner, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law.

The widened Russia probe could have far-reaching repercussions for Trump’s presidency, transforming his closest aides into witnesses and sucking yet more political oxygen out of the West Wing.

An aide to Vice President Mike Pence revealed on Thursday that he was hiring Richard Cullen―a veteran of the IranContra investigation, Watergate and the 2000 vote recount in Florida―as a private lawyer.

The latest White House crisis struck on the evening of Trump’s 71st birthday, after a day in which he had won plaudits for his handling of the shooting of Republican Congressman Steve Scalise.

In an address to the country, Trump struck a notably less partisan tone in response to his first major domestic crisis.

Ditching derogatory rhetoric about the Washington “swamp,” he rallied in support of his fellow politicians and called on the country to pull together.

“We may have our differences, but we do well, in times like these, to remember that everyone who serves in our nation’s capital is here because, above all, they love our country,” Trump said.

But his tweets virtually ensure that the political focus swings back to the Russia scandal.

The president has long vehemently denied any collusion with Moscow.

But as the legal rope has tightened, his allies have gone on the offensive, questioning the credibility of the special investigator Mueller, a respected former FBI director who served under Republican president George W. Bush.

Allies have even floated the idea that Mueller may be fired.

On Wednesday, Trump’s lawyer Marc Kasowitz suggested―without providing evidence―that the FBI had leaked details of the criminal probe. AFP

FENGXIAN, China―The blast that killed eight people and injured dozens outside a kindergarten in eastern China was triggered by a makeshift bomb whose maker was among the dead, authorities said Friday.

The public security ministry said in a statement that the suspect was a 22-year-old man with health problems who rented a room near the kindergarten in Fengxian, where Thursday’s blast occurred.

Police found material to make a homemade explosive device at the apartment, which had the words “die”, “death” and “destroy” written on the wall.

The statement said the man, surnamed Xu, suffered from dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, a disorder that can cause heart and blood pressure problems. He had dropped out of school but was employed.

The motive was not immediately known and police did not say whether the kindergarten was the target.

The explosion in Jiangsu province left victims bleeding and weeping, with images posted on state media showing some had their clothes torn off by the force of the explosion.

A survivor told broadcaster CCTV from her hospital bed that the school gate had just opened for kids to leave, though none had come out when the fireball erupted.

The woman, who was holding a baby during the interview as she sat on her bed, said she blacked out and only woke up while being treated.

The Fengxian county government said class had not yet been dismissed and that no teachers or students were among the casualties.

At least eight people were killed and 65 injured, including eight seriously, according to authorities. Two died at the site of the explosion and six while being treated. AFP

Manhunt snares escaped inmates WASHINGTON―A pair of US convicts who overpowered and killed their guards in a brazen jailbreak in the southern state of Georgia were recaptured Thursday after a two-day manhunt, authorities said.

The felons, Donnie Rowe, 43, and Ricky Dubose, 24, had been described as “dangerous beyond description” by Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, who coordinated the search.

The pair shot to death two prison officers during the escape in the early hours of Tuesday, as they were being moved between two penal facilities.

Rowe, considered a sociopath by authorities, was described as a recidivist with a long list of convictions and was serving a life sentence for armed robbery and other crimes.

Officials said Dubose is also a hardened criminal despite his relative youth, as well as being a member of the notorious “Ghostface Gangsters” white supremacist group.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said on Twitter that they had been captured and the state’s governor indicated that they had been detained in the neighboring state of Tennessee.

“CAPTURED: Fugitives in custody following car chase in TN. More info will be forthcoming,” Governor Nathan Deal tweeted.

The convicts were among 30 inmates being transported by bus when the drama unfolded Tuesday. The rear of the vehicle was equipped with a caged area where inmates were secured, with the guards in a separate compartment at the front.

Somehow, the pair managed to free themselves and force their way into the front of the vehicle, overpowering the guards and killing them with their own firearms. AFP

POSE. From left, Argentinian actress Dolores Fonzi, Argentinian actor Ricardo Darin and Argentinian actress Erica Rivas pose on May 24, 2017 during a photocall for the film ‘La Cordillera - El Presidente’ (The Summit) at the 70th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France. AFP

Life

MERCURY RISING

BY BOB ZOZOBRADO

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

M

ACAU, a Special Administrative Region of China, has always been a fascinating destination for me. Aside from its proximity to Manila, its attractions are quite intriguing.

Where else can you find Catholic churches juxtaposed with Buddhist enclaves?

In fact, I know of some Macau-based Filipino OFWs who go to mass at a Catholic church, then proceed to the nearby Buddhist temple to light an incense. I asked them for an explanation, to which they replied with nonchalance, “It’s better to keep all bases covered.” How can I argue with that?

The city was a territory of Portugal until 1999 when it was handed back to China. Its evolution explains the very strong mix of European and Asian influence in everything about the city. It is now popular for its big and world-class casinos and shopping malls on the Cotai Strip, a parcel of land that connects the islands of Coloane and Taipa, thus the name. Because of these entertainment complexes, Macau is frequently referred to as the “Las Vegas of Asia.”

It is now very easy to travel to Macau from Manila, compared to how it was before when one had to take the 55-minute Turbojet ferry only from Kowloon.

Now, visitors have a choice. They can also take the ferry directly from Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok airport, if they are in a hurry to go to Macau. Of course, the fastest way would be to take any of the direct flights from Manila. Early next year, the bridge between Hong Kong and Macau will be finished, making it even easier for Hong Kong residents and visitors to make a quick trip to the casino city.

So what is there to do and see in Macau? A thousand and one things make any trip to that city worth it. Of course, the food is always good, simply because the two cultures that comprise the city is manifested in the culinary fare’s ingredients. Unique dishes are traced to spice blends that wives of Portuguese sailors assigned to the former colony would use as a substitute for those they had easy access to when they were still in Europe.

The most popular Macanese dishes, which are also my personal favorites, are the Bacalhau (Portuguese salted cod fish), African Chicken, and the Pork Chop Bun, the equivalent to our Chinese Siopao. Of course, for dessert, one should never miss the iconic Lord Stowe’s Egg Tarts. The original bakery, which makes these still stands and continues to sell this worldfamous calorie booster.

There is another dessert that I go crazy for, every time I am in Macau. Serradura, which actually means “sawdust” in Portuguese, is a layered dessert made of sweet biscuits that are crushed into extremely fine particles that resemble sawdust. Added to it are cream, condensed milk and vanilla, then kept frozen and served in that form. Just writing about

isahred@gmail.com SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

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LAS VEGAS OF ASIA. Macau’s skyline shows the Macau Tower on the right and the iconic Casino Lisboa on the left

Where PORTUGAL blends with CHINA This elaborate Opium Bed with its intricate gold embellishments is on display at the Museum of Macau

An adorable Panda, one of many at the Macau Giant Panda Pavilion

Every visitor’s favorite take-home from Macau is Lord Stowe’s Egg Tarts

it makes me crave for it! was razed by a fire during a typhoon in Another very popular attraction is The most famous tourist landmark 1835. The Ruins sits on top of a small the 338-meter Macau Tower, designed in Macau is the Ruins of St. Paul’s Ca- hill with 68 stone steps leading to it. It by Craig, Craig, & Moller, with an obthedral, which dates back to the 16th is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. servation deck and a revolving restaucentury. What rant at its summakes it a famit. It is very vorite spot for popular among photo mementravellers who One day little Johnny was digging a hole in his backyard. The next-door tos is its intrigo for extreme neighbor spotted him and decided to investigate. “Hello, Johnny, what are excitement durcately carved you up to?” he asked. “My goldfish died and I’m gonna bury him,” Johnny ing their trip. façade, which replied. “That’s a really big hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?” asked the neighbor.

The Tower is the only Without missing a beat, Johnny said “That’s because he’s inside your cat!” offers Skything left of the walk X ,which church after it

YOUR SATURDAY CHUCKLE

and first urban Onsen now in Makati

I’M Onsen Spa features a unique carbonated bath with technology from Japan

choose from a wide variety of treatments, from the signature massage treatment that combines Swedish and Shiatsu techniques, to their Ageless Facial by Babor, a renowned German cosmetics house and a pioneer in professional skincare since 1956.

Treatments can be availed in a wide variety of rooms, from spa pods to couple rooms with ensuite jacuzzis or steam rooms, or executive and VIP rooms fit for small exclusive gatherings. Finally, round up onsen experience with complimentary teas in the

relaxation lounge.

A meal in Bloom Restaurant is also included in the treatment. At I’M Onsen spa, prices are all-inclusive and come with access to all the facilities. The spa is open daily from 10 a.m. to midnight and accepts walk-ins.

For more information and booking enquiries, visit www.imonsenspa.com or call (02) 7557 877. Follow I’M Onsen Spa on Facebook at www.facebook. com/imonsenspa, and on Instagram at www.instagram.com/imonsenspa

takes guests on a thrilling walking tour around the tower’s outer rim, as strong winds continuously blowing from all directions heighten one’s level of fear!

Those who opt for an even more adventurous game can do the Bungee Jump, developed by the world-famous AJ Hackett. There is also the Skyjump, a tamer version of the Bungee Jump because the person doesn’t go on a freefall, as his cables control the fast descent to 233 meters below. Nevertheless, it still is the highest Skyjump in the world.

Since almost all travellers to Macau feature the Ruins and the Tower in their blogs or social media postings, I decided to highlight other less popular but very interesting destinations in the city. The Museum of Macau covers an area of 2,800 square meters and is located on the Fortaleza do Monte, a small hill which gives museum visitors a nice view of the city.

The exhibits chronicle the history of this former Portuguese territory.

This was where I saw the most elaborately decorated Opium Bed, a necessary piece of furniture for the wealthy families of China. the owner of the house used he bed when he took a breather from his daily preoccupations (although the rich always had servants to do everything for then) and allowed the opiates in his smoking paraphernalia to take him, either to Fantasyland or Never-never land! The photo on this page will show how much importance was given to this piece of furniture, as shown in its rich embellishments.

I also went to the Macau Giant Panda Pavilion, just to have a closer look Turn to D2

De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde BS-HRIM students (from left) Emilio Ylanan, Luis Serrano, Nasra Insani, Kristina Ongtengco, Arjay Viñas, and Timothy Robles

Largest spa

FOR those seeking to rejuvenate their senses, I’M Onsen Spa is the perfect urban retreat. As the largest urban spa facility in the country, the spa is perfectly primed to ensure utmost relaxation. It also houses the first Onsen in the Philippines, a unique carbonated bath with technology from Japan that injects minerals into the bathwater to mimic the mineral composition of authentic geothermal hot springs in Japan known for their beauty and wellness properties.

Guests at I’M Onsen Spa also get to

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer

Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management hosts Filipino students THE Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management (EAHM), the leading provider of hospitality education in the Middle East, recently hosted several hospitality, culinary, and travel and tourism students of the De La SalleCollege of Saint Benilde for their required internship at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as part of the Dubai Semester Abroad Program.

Fully licensed by the UAE’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the academy has accreditation from the Institute of Hospitality in the United Kingdom and the International Center of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality Education in Australia.

Assigned among the properties such as fabled and most desired Burj al-Arab, the epitome of luxury in re-

sorts Jumeirah Beach Hotel, and the recreation of ancient Arabia Madinat Jumeirah Hotel, were Nathan Bautista Teddy Flores, Luis Serrano, Yeji Park, Seunghye Son, Emilio Ylanan, Melka Quiambao, Rachel Clamor, Aaron Go, Rexter Tan, Daniel Bico, Nasra Insani, Timothy Robes, Kim Ongtengco, and Arjay Vinas.

At the end of their apprenticeship, the interns received offers of employment from the properties and Emirates Airline.

All School of Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management (SHRIM) programs oblige the graduating class to undergo hands-on training, both domestic and abroad, to comply with their course requirements. This immersion familiarized and exposed them to the demands of their chosen fields of expertise.

Life

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SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

I

TS easy-to-carry size isn’t the only reason why your Mastercard is your best shopping companion. This summer, by simply using it when you make purchases overseas or online, you get a chance to win one million Mabuhay Miles that can take you and your loved ones to any Philippine Airlines destination.

Accepted anywhere in the world (from hotels to restaurants, retail stores and transit locations, even taxis and vending machines), the global payment solutions company lets you shop and travel confidently and conveniently across all borders. No scrambling to exchange your pesos to the foreign currency and worrying that your cash might get lost even to a pickpocket. Your transactions are always secure and when you register your card with Zero Liability, you are protected from unauthorized purchases in the case your card is lost or stolen.

Booking with your Mastercard could also allow for reimbursements in the cases of baggage delay or losses, trip cancellations, hotel burglaries, or any accidents and emergencies you encounter on your trip, depending on your card type and issuing bank. You can even get airport lounge access in over 100 countries with Priority Pass, worldwide travel assistance, and exclusive travel experiences and world-class privileges from their iconic Priceless Cities program.

No other card gives you the peace of mind, convenience, and priceless experiences when you travel, and now, Mastercard even gives you more reasons to travel with it: a chance to go to your dream destination, with 1 million Mabuhay Miles from Philippine Airlines.

Mastercard’s Cross-Border Raffle Promo is the global payment solutions company’s biggest and most exciting campaign of the year, open to all cardholders

TRAVEL

and win a million

Mabuhay Miles

CONCRETE JUNGLE. Mastercard lets you go to New York using only 74,000 Mabuhay Miles of credit, debit, and prepaid Philippineissued Mastercard cards. Just make any purchase outside of the Philippines at any time until July 16. Every $50 in a singlereceipt will earn you a raffle entry.

Staying in the country during those dates? You still have a chance to participate.

Purchases from overseas merchants made online are qualified for the promotion.

On July 31, 10 entries will be drawn, with each entry winning a whopping a million Mabuhay Miles from Philippine Airlines.

From the country’s flagship carrier, Mabuhay Miles allow you to travel in style to an extensive range of domestic and international destinations. With one

of the lowest redemption values among airlines, 1 million miles can take you to more than a few dream destinations in your bucket list. 19,000 miles, for example, already gets you to Hong Kong, Macau or Taipei, while 44,000 Miles brings you to Sydney, Brisbane or Melbourne.

New York and Toronto? Only 74,000 Miles away. What’s more, you have the option to upgrade to Business or First Class with a few extra miles to fly luxuriously, or share them to friends and family.

If you are not yet a Mabuhay Miles member, winners can register for the Philippine Airlines Mabuhay Miles frequent flyer program to claim the prizes.

Book your hotel stay

Cosmopolitan living at the center of everything

with Citi ThankYou Rewards WITH your Citi Credit Card, you can travel in style and comfort anywhere in the world and pay with your Rewards Points. What’s more, through Citi ThankYou Rewards, you can go ahead and indulge your wanderlust and enjoy eight percent off hotel bookings all year round.

Citi ThankYou Rewards is a global program designed to give loyal cardholders access to the best lifestyle and travel brands worldwide. This convenient and secure digital customer experience has been offering the most generous deals as a way of giving thanks and showing its appreciation for Citi clients by allowing them to redeem their points or miles for airline flights, hotel stays, electronics, cash credits, and more.

Available to Citi Prestige, Citi PremierMiles, or Citi Rewards cardholders, it’s easy to enjoy these exclusive perks whether you’re travelling for leisure or business. Furthermore, by booking flights and hotels via the Travel Portal, you get additional options and flexibility—plus no black-out dates and no waiting for airline miles to be posted to your account.

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Bring a loved one to your dream destination with Mastercard’s Cross-Border Raffle Promo

Filinvest City’s Bristol at Parkway Place embodies the ultimate in chic convenience where many of life’s necessities are within reach

FOR the rarified few who have achieved the pinnacle of success—living and savoring life at its finest—settling for anything less than the best is never an option: whether in the clothes they wear, cars they drive, and in their investment choices. For them, true cosmopolitan living—being at the center of the action, with many conveniences and luxuries at their fingertips, while enjoying privacy and exclusivity—is an imperative that goes without saying.

For this exclusive set of individuals, there’s Filinvest City’s Bristol at Parkway Place—the unrivaled power address in the South of Manila that embodies everything you look for in cosmopolitan living.

Located at the gateway of Filinvest City, the premier masterplanned metropolis in Alabang, Muntinlupa, Bristol

embodies the ultimate in chic convenience where many of life’s necessities— and luxuries—are all within reach. An elevator ride, or just a short walk away, are restaurants, retail outlets, banks, and other establishments—everything you need practically at your doorstep.

There’s the Festival Alabang for your shopping, dining, and entertainment needs; top-notch schools such as De La Salle Zobel and Paref Woodrose; the members-only sports and recreational facilities of the Palms Country Club; and the Asian Hospital and Medical Center.

Towering at 40 stories high, Bristol comes with generously-sized and beautifully designed one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom residential units—ranging from 53 square meters to 168 square meters—as well as contemporary features and amenities that assure residents of a so-

phisticated lifestyle like no other.

At the ground floor, a vibrant plaza environment with handpicked boutiques and specialty restaurants are available for private retail therapy. Then, there’s the library for quiet reading or for studying. For parties and events, meanwhile, there is a function room available for use. For movie watching with friends, head on over to the media room to catch a blockbuster hit. To relax and recharge, there’s a meditation yoga deck and calming swimming pools set amidst lush landscaped gardens.

Additionally, since Bristol at Parkway Place is set to start turnover in 2018, you can move into your dream home soon with utmost peace of mind.

For those who expect nothing less than the best, Bristol at Filinvest City—the gold standard in urban living—awaits.

Farm tour sites book launched

Citi’s ThankYou Rewards rewards Citi cardholders with discounted hotel bookings

Where...

From D1

at those adorable animals. This fanshaped facility, which covers an area of 3000 square meters, has indoor activity quarters where visitors can enjoy themselves through various diversions, an outdoor yard where the pandas are, and an indoor exhibition area.

Only a glass wall separates the visitors from the pandas, making it very easy for anyone to take good, closeups of these lovable creatures.

There are many other attractions

that make Macau an interesting tourist destination, as the city caters to every visitor’s whim and fancy. As far as I’m concerned, Macau is unique, a class of its own, because it is where two very distinct cultures from opposite points in the globe have fused seamlessly. Portugal has blended smoothly with China, the reason why this city of a little more than half-a-million residents has attracted 30 million visitors last year.

And, these figures are not “Lutong Macau” either!

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com

THE Department of Tourism (DoT) launched a travel guidebook highlighting CALABARZON’s farm tourism destinations.

Secretary Wanda Tulfo-Teo said the travel guidebook, compiled by DoT’s Region 4A office, highlights CALABARZON’s agri-tourism destinations as well as the region’s indigenous delicacies.

CALABARZON stands for Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon, the provinces comprising Region IVA. The book features the 12 MFM exhibitors accredited by DOT as farm tourism sites—Costales Nature Farms, MoCa Family Farm, Terra Verde Ecofarm, Gourmet Farms, Ato Belen’s Farm, Forest Wood Garden, Flor’s Farm and Garden, Kahariam Farms, and Teofely Nature Farms, Nurture Farms, Domingo Permafarms, and Chad’s Nature Farm.

Teo said, “Although CALABARZON is one of the highly urbanized regions in the country, it has a lot of rural areas where tourists could feel the cool breeze and experience the biodiversity of living things.”

“With the region’s natural beauty,

Department of Tourism undersecretary Alma Rita Jimenez with farm tourism site owners during the CALABARZON Farm Tourism Guide Book launch

cultural richness, its vibrant communities there is no doubt that CALABAZARZON is one of the country’s agricultural haven,” added Teo. “We will continue to promote agritourism in the country for this is a unique experience for visitors at farm fields,” she said.

DOT Region IVA Director Rebecca Labit, who initiated book project, cited the importance to educate the non-

farming public about farms and farm products, as well as the preservation of the rural landscape.

Agri-tourism or farm tourism is seen to be an attractive option to usual sun and beach activities and contributor to sustainable source of income for farmers.

“Next time you visit make sure it will be about appreciating the beauty of nature and immersion experience in the farm, which invigorates the senses,” said Labit.

SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

‘Across The Crescent Moon’ premieres in Honolulu THE Filipino action drama Across The Crescent Moon, written and directed by filmmaker Baby Nebrida, made its international debut at the Honolulu Filipino Film Festival on June 9 at the Doris Duke Theater. It was screened again at the same venue on June 15.

Across The Crescent Moon tells the story of a Special Action Force (SAF) agent named Abbas (played by heartthrob Matteo Guidicelli) who investigates a case of human trafficking. Abbas, a Muslim married to a Christian, leaves behind his pregnant wife to fulfill his mission to protect the state.

Across The Crescent Moon features a star-studded ensemble. Apart from Matteo, the cast includes Christopher de Leon, Dina Bonnevie, Gabby Concepcion, Sandy Andolong, Alex Godinez, Joem Bascon, Ivan Carapiet, and Jerico Estregan. It is the first Filipino film with Dolby Atmos sound, the global standard in film audio quality.

“I feel very overwhelmed that our film is well appreciated internationally.

I feel so blessed that there’s a hidden Hand guiding us and our film to travel to numerous places overseas,” director Baby Nebrida says of her latest work.

Across The Crescent Moon was the opening film at the Honolulu Filipino Film Festival and is one of eight Filipino films in the filmfest which runs until today. The others are the full-length features Hele sa Hiwagang Hinagpis, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 1, Ang Babae sa Septic Tank 2, and Ma Rosa, and the documentaries Sunday Beauty Queen, The Sakada Series and Curiosity, Adventure & Love.

In honolulu.org, organizer Honolulu Museum described these films as works that “are unafraid to address political and social issues.” It recognized Across The Crescent Moon for tackling the Philippines’ often overlooked Muslim community. Although the movie is a work of fiction culled from research, Nebrida noted that it is very timely especially in the wake of the conflict in Marawi City.

Nebrida declared, “Our film speaks the truth and shows how everyone is horribly affected by criminality and war of all kinds.”

A day after her film premiered at the Honolulu Filmfest, Ndebrida was interviewed on Hawaii Public Radio where she talked about the audience’s response. She said, “It is good that many people have resonated with the message about the need to respect each other’s beliefs and to co-exist peacefully.”

Ticket discounts for Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Toruk—The First Flight’ in Manila

T

HIS is an exciting time for Philippine entertainment as Globe Telecom, through its original productions arm Globe LIVE, invites audiences to revisit the world of Pandora with Cirque du Soleil’s Toruk – The First Flight.

Toruk – The First Flight, is a theatrical extravaganza inspired by James Cameron’s smash hit Avatar. Audiences will be transported to the breathtaking world of Pandora in a visually stunning live setting, where the Na’vi tribes live in harmony with nature.

“We all fell in love with Avatar when it first came out in 2009. We were captivated by the storytelling, the special effects, and the world that Cameron created in his mind,” shares Senior Advisor for Creative Marketing and Multimedia Business, Joe Caliro. “It’s one that Cirque du Soleil is recreating for Filipino audiences, and one that Globe Live is excited to be a part of.”

Toruk – The First Flight will be staged at the Mall of Asia Arena from June 23 to July 2. Globe Platinum customers get 20 percent discount for the for the first three shows. And as a special treat, all Globe customers get 15 percent discount on tickets.

Narrated by a “Na’vi Storyteller” and populated by unforgettable characters, Toruk – The First Flight is a mythical tale set thousands of years before the events depicted in the film AVATAR, and before any humans ever set foot on Pandora.

Through a riveting fusion of cutting-edge visuals, puppetry and stagecraft buoyed by a soaring cinematic score, Cirque du Soleil applies its unique signature style to James Cameron’s imaginary

MORE viewers are getting hooked on the story of Josie, Sofia, and Marge in the GMA Afternoon Prime’s D’ Originals.

The war is on as Josie (Jaclyn Jose), Sofia (Kim Domingo), and Marge (LJ Reyes) bounce back from the heartaches caused by the infidelities of their respective husbands.

After Josie and husband Lando (Jestoni Alarcon) went their separate ways because of Yvette (Katrina Halili), Lando’s business started dwindling. To save his security agency, he decides to sell the land owned by him and Josie.

But instead of buy-and-sell, a riot takes place between Josie and Yvette. Who will get hurt this time?

Meanwhile, Josie’s boss Greg (Gardo Versoza) seems to be falling for her.

But Lando will not allow Greg’s plans

VIEWERS nationwide watched the first contenders of “Tawag ng Tanghalan” showcase their vocal chops as it returned in It’s Showtime last Monday to kick off the second year of the most exciting vocal battle in noontime.

According to data from Kantar Media, It’s Showtime posted a national TV rating of 18.3 percent and drew more viewers compared to Eat Bulaga (15.7 percent).

Battling contenders from Metro Manila, Visayas, and Mindanao, Cavite musical director John Mark Saga stood out as the competition’s first daily winner and now a second-day defending champion.

On its second year, Kapamilya dreamers from all over the world can soon join the singing competition through auditions online and The Filipino Channel (TFC).

to materialize. It seems jealousy will get ahead of Lando.

It came as a big shock to Sofie (Domingo) when she found out that it was Alice (Meg Imperial) whom Art (Archie Alemania) married first. Art survives the plane crash but comes back with amnesia, remembering only Alice in his life. How far will Sofia go to fight for what is supposed to be hers?

Marge (LJ) also makes a comeback to get even with her sister Cristina (Lovely Abella) and her husband Caloy (Mark Herras). But is her revenge the answer to heal the wounds caused by the people close to her?

D’ Originals airs weekdays after Legally Blind on GMA Afternoon Prime.

A bright future also awaits the next grand champion of “Tawag ng Tanghalan,” who will get P2 million, a house and lot, a brand new car, a ‘negosyo’ package, a music instrument package, appliance showcase, and a recording contract.

While the first “Tawag ng Tanghalan” and “TNT Kids” grand champions Noven Belleza and Jhon Clyd Talili came from Visayas and Mindanao, respectively, from which part of the country will the next grand champion come from?

“Tawag ng Tanghalan” in It’s Showtime airs weekdays and Saturdays on ABSCBN and ABS-CBN HD (SkyCable ch 167).

To watch previous episodes, log in to iWant TV or on skyondemand.com.ph for Sky subscribers.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Saturday, June 17, 2017

57 Cube man 58 Artist’s brush (2 wds.)

61 Burn candles to 62 Psychic power 63 Insurance giant 64 Wined and dined 65 Shoat’s home 66 Lamp-plug part DOWN 1 Closeout 2 Snow remover 3 — vera lotion 4 Two, in Tijuana 5 Cyclops had only one 6 Inquire about 7 Eurasian range 8 The lowdown 9 Discordant 10 Hunches 11 Thief’s need 12 Vamooses 13 Evergreens 18 Carefree adventures 23 Stone worker 24 Impress deeply 25 Apparatus 26 — de mer 27 Neglect 28 Cronyn of “Cocoon” 29 Is a party to 30 Baby beaver

world and “makes the bond” between two kindred artistic visions that capture the imagination.

“Globe Live is about creating unforgettable experiences, and Toruk is our latest initiative in our commitment to bringing international acts for local audiences,” adds Caliro.

This year alone, Globe Live partnered to bring Wicked to the Philippines. Soon, it will bring West Side Story and The Sound of Music. Next month, Globe Live is staging a local adaptation of Disney’s Newsies, a hit Broadway dance musical.

For more information, visit the website at http://go.globe.com.ph/events/2017/may/thenavi-welcome-you.html. Tickets are available now at https://www.smtickets.com/.

The original wives face a series of battles in ‘D’ Originals’

High rating for ‘Tawag Ng Tanghalan’s’ second year debut

ACROSS 1 Ground breaker 6 On the — vive 9 Split second 14 Pewter or steel 15 Tall vase 16 “Hello” singer 17 Autumn drifter?

(2 wds.)

19 Pick up a lease 20 Cheviot mama 21 The younger Guthrie 22 Road rallies 23 Shelley or Pickford 25 Gentle slopes 26 Punk hairdo 29 Similar 31 Causes mirth 32 Safari quest 2 wds.)

36 Prom rental 37 Still 38 Rum-soaked cake 40 Sawbuck (hyph.)

43 Fairy-tale beast 45 Atlas abbr.

46 Rods and cones site 47 Fixation 50 Ruse 51 Eva or Magda 52 Tel — 54 Col. Sanders’ place

Touring entertainment group Cirque du Soleil stages a production inspired by the hit movie "Avatar" at the Mall of Asia Arena

33 Slacken off 34 Star followers?

35 Poet’s black 37 Thither and — 39 Wheel buy (2 wds.)

41 Looked smug 42 “Harper Valley —” 43 Inner motivation 44 Family mbr.

47 Bea Arthur sitcom 48 Monastic head

49 Bete — 50 Popeye’s pal 51 — Zeppelin 52 Does very well 53 Like the sky 54 Green Hornet’s valet 55 Lapp neighbor 56 Jagged rock 59 Pool length 60 “Who sat down beside — ...”

Jaclyn Jose (left) and Katrina Halili in a scene from the sexy afternoon drama, "D' Originals"

THUMBS UP.

ABS-CBN bigwigs in a photo op with "TV Patrol" team during the newscast's Community Caravan covenant signing

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com SATURDAY, JUNE 17, 2017

‘ITO ANG AMING PANGARAP’ music video celebrates 30 years of ‘TV Patrol’ A

BS-CBN celebrated the 30th anniversary of TV Patrol on Independence Day by paying tribute to Filipinos whose resilience and compassion for others inspire ABS-CBN’s flagship newscast to continue delivering news and service to Filipino families.

Featured in the “Ito Ang Aming Pangarap” music video launched last Monday after TV Patrol are Dolores Frando, a housewife who took it upon herself to teach, feed, and bathe street children in her community, and Jefferson del a Peña, who is without legs has persevered to study and follow his passion for skateboarding.

They are joined by husband and wife Cris and Myrna Franco, who have proved that their lack of eyesight cannot hamper their desire to help people with the same condition, and Iah Seraspi who did not let financial difficulties stop her from finishing her studies and topped the 2015 National Teachers Licensure Examinations.

ABS-CBN News head Ging Reyes said people like them give the men and women of ABSCBN News strength and inspiration to continue working hard to gather news and bring service to Filipinos no matter what challenges may lie ahead.

“As long as there is a parent working hard to give his or her family a better life, a child dreaming to finish school,

a community that wants to ensure the safety of everyone, and a country that hopes to be free from fear and poverty, we will continue to work together in “TV Patrol” and care for one another,” she said.

Frando, De la Peña, the Francos, and Seraspi expressed their gratitude for the recognition they received from ABSCBN. Myrna Franci said she hopes this would pave the way for her to inspire people to serve others as well as to reach their own dreams.

She said, “I am very happy and thankful to ABS-CBN for the opportunity to share my story with Filipino viewers.”

De la Peña added he hopes people would believe they coulc do the impossible when they see him enjoy life despite his disability.

People can watch their stories in the music video, which features the voices of Bugoy Drilon, KZ Tandigan, Ebe Dancel, and Gloc-9.

Christian Abuel penned “Ito Ang Aming Pangarap” with music by Thyro Alfaro and Yumi Lacsamana. The video, produced by the ABS-CBN Creative Communications Management division, had Paolo Ramos and Lorenz Roi Morales as directors.

Meanwhile, TV Patrol continues its public service efforts with the “TV Patrol Community Caravan,” which has been to different communities nationwide to conduct job fairs,

Inspiring story of blind couple Chris and Myrna Franco (center) is featured in "TV Patrol" anniversary music video

livelihood seminars, feeding programs, classroom repairs, and relief goods distribution with the help of government agencies, private sector, and nongovernment organizations.

On June 8, a covenant signing was held between ABS-CBN and the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Department of Science and Technology, Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Association of the Philippines, Robinsons Land Corporation, Energy Development Corporation, Carl Balita Livelihood Center, House of David, Republic Biscuit Corporation, and Unilever Philippines to fortify their partnership for the “TV Patrol Community Caravan.”

DOLE Undersecretary Claro A. Arellano said he is glad to partner with ABS-CBN in the project, which was

launched on TV Patrol’s anniversary month in March.

He said, “This is a significant teaming up for the benefit of our countrymen, as it is important that they are informed of these job opportunities.”

Apart from this, TV Patrol also opened its newsroom and studio to students of Journalism and Mass Communications to expose and train them for the industry they would one day belong to.

View the “Ito Ang Aming Pangarap” music video on Youtube at https:// w w w. y o u t u b e . c o m / w a t c h ? v = I _ G0ALiTXG0. Watch “TV Patrol” on ABS-CBN, ABS-CBN HD, and DZMM TeleRadyo on TV and on iwantv.com. ph or skyondemand.com.ph. online.

Follow “TV Patrol” on Facebook (@tvpatrol.abscbn) and Twitter (@ TVPatrol).

Fox Movies’ new look HOME to the most popular will delight audiences and critically acclaimed as they indulge in films in the Philippines, Star a fresher viewing Movies is now Fox Movies. experience.”

The change happened on Movies coming to June 10. the small screen during Fox Movies will show FOX Movies’ 52 movies 52 blockbuster movie titles for 52 nights include: for 52 nights until July 31.

Moana – An instant Tune in for an exclusive Disney classic with nightly line-up of the best dazzling animation Hollywood hits, including 24 and charming musical blockbuster film premieres numbers, introducing airing on the small screen a new generation of for the very first time. brave heroine to the big Fox Movies is the place screen. where viewers can expect Doctor Strange – A the incredible. The channel is new Marvel superhero dedicated to providing firststory that stands out run and exclusive content from the crowd with through an unmatched its stunning visuals entertainment experience. and action-packed, From Hollywood otherworldly sequences. blockbusters, award X-Men: Apocalypse winners, epic franchise to – the thrilling next the biggest hits, Fox Movies chapter of the new brings you everything you Fox Movies presents 52 titles for 52 nights as part of its initiative generation of our want and more. favourite mutants. to position itself as the go-to channel for exclusive contents Lucien Harrington, SVP Miss Peregrine’s Home of Marketing & Communications for FOX Networks for Peculiar Children – A whimsical cinematic journey Group in Asia, says, “Audiences in the Philippines are into a hidden world of magic and mystery; based on the hungry for the latest and greatest content. We can’t think best-selling book. of a better way to celebrate the new Fox Movies than with Independence Day: Resurgence – The long-awaited 52 blockbusters for 52 nights. sequel, offering action film fans non-stop thrills as Earth’s “Fox Movies is the no. 1 Hollywood movie channel [in bravest fight off invaders from outer space.

Singapore / in Malaysia / on NOW TV in Hong Kong / in a The announcement of Fox Movies also coincidex with number of Asian markets], and for more than three years, we’ve the brand new look and feel for Fox Networks Group had the unique distinction of airing seven of the top 10 US box channels, Fox Action Movies and Fox Family Movies, office movies. Fox Movies is not only the home to Star Wars and designed by leading creative agency Gretel.

Marvel, but also the only place where TV viewers will find firstFoX Movies can be seen in mega Manila through our run films from 20th Century FOX, Disney and MGM.” following affiliate partners; Sky Cable carries the channel Charo Espedido, director - head of Content & under assignment numbers 55 and 170 in standard and Marketing for FOX Networks Group Philippines, says, high definition, respectively. Cignal distributes the content “Fox Movies, formerly known as Star Movies, brings the under channel number 55 and 211, while Cable Link strength of a winning global brand to the powerful lineup operates our movies under channel 47 and 300. of FNG channels here in the Philippines. With its upgraded Fox Movies is also available in more than 300 Pay TV aesthetic and heavy blockbuster offerings, FOX Movies operators nationwide!

Pera Sorpresa is a nationwide promo with prizes up to P2 million

Radio GMA’s Pera Sorpresa holds last two weekly draws AVID listeners of Radio GMA (RGMA) still have until June 30 to join Pera Sorpresa, RGMA’s nationwide proofof-purchase (POP) promo.

Pera Sorpresa will have two more weekly draws today (Week 7) and June 24 (Week 8). Twelve winners from each of the 15 RGMA areas (Manila, Tuguegarao, Dagupan, Baguio, Lucena, Naga, Legazpi, Palawan, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod, Kalibo, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, and General Santos) will receive P1,500 while five more winners will win P5,000 to P10,000 each. The weekly draws will be held in all RGMA stations nationwide. All entries sent after the week 8 deadline automatically qualify for the grand draw on July 8.

Since its launch in April, Pera Sorpresa has already given out almost 2 million pesos worth of prizes to over one thousand winners nationwide.

For the grand draw, all non-winning entries will get a chance to become the grand winner of P1 million. A consolation prize of P25,000 will also be given to each winner from

South Luzon, North Luzon, Visayas, Mindanao, and Mega Manila.

To join, simply write down name, age, address, contact number, and signature on a piece of paper and enclose it together with the required proof-of-purchase in a white envelope.

Participants must write “RGMA Pera Sorpresa”, week number, POP/brand attached, and RGMA Station listened to at the back of the envelope.

Participants can drop their entries in designated drop boxes located in selected Petron outlets, RGMA Stations, or via registered mail to RGMA Stations.

Entries will be accepted until June 30.

This season’s participating sponsors are Petron, Tang, Bear Brand Powdered Milk Drink, Bravo Male Supplement, Wellmade, and Sunsilk Co-Creations Shampoo.

For additional details, tune in to Barangay FM and Super Radyo AM stations nationwide, like the promo’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ PeraSorpresaNationwidePromo, see posters, or visit www.gmanetwork.com/ radio.