Manila Standard - 2017 June 22 - Thursday

MANILA, JAKARTA, KL JOIN FORCES VS TERROR

By Sara Susanne Fabunan and Vito Barcelo

VOL. XXXI • NO. 128 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

FOREIGN ministers of the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia will meet today to intensify defense and intelligence collaboration in preventing the extremists to establish operational bases in the Southeast Asian region.

The recent attack of the IS-affiliated Maute group in Marawi prompted the three countries to start discussing plans for intense trilateral cooperation aimed at pre-

venting extremists from establishing operational bases in the Southeast Asian region.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said top security and intelligence from Indonesia and Malaysia will also participate in the meeting. ‘‘The aim is to make a team effort, rather than each country fending off extremism by themselves,” Cayetano said.

The meeting was suggested by Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi.

The Philippines will host a meeting with Next page

BIFF raids Cotabato village Moro rebels burn school, take students hostage

By Nash Maulana and Francisco Tuyay

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IGCAWAYAN, North Cotabato– Some 200 to 300 members of the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters attacked a military detachment in Barangay Malagakit, taking elementary students hostage and torching the school as fighting spread to populated areas of this town.

mote and mountainous southern islands, told AFP. “Some of my wounded colleagues, they were losing hope and getting rattled. Some were crying.”

Benitez, 34, said he was mostly calm throughout the ordeal, except for when he watched a rocketpropelled grenade kill one of his friends who had enlisted with him.

“When you see your classmate die, sir, you can’t help but shed a tear,” he said.

Benitez said his unit had been deployed in the evening to try and capture one of the militants’

Authorities said the BIFF first attacked a military detachment manned by few Army personnel and members of the village patrol in Malagakit.

Pigcawayan Mayor Eliseo Garcesa Jr. said residents fled after the attack started 4 a.m., but an undetermined number of them were held hostage.

Mashod Hadji Ibrahim Salik, a volunteer of the local Ceasefire Watch, said his group has received reports that the attackers had killed eight civilians and burned down the school before withdrawing but this information could not be confirmed.

Capt. Arvin John Ensinas, spokesman of the Army’s 6th Infantry Division, said the BIFF took 12 students from the nearby Malagakit Elementary School to use as human shields before withdrawing after security forces retaliated.

Minutes after the BIFF struck, members of the 34th Infantry Battalion immediately reinforced the village watchmen and engaged the BIFF attackers in fierce fighting.

A Civilian Armed Auxiliary was wounded in the clash.

As fighting spread, several hundred civilians fled their homes. Encinas said his troops had difficulty getting to the BIFF guerrillas because they held civilians.

BIFF spokesman Abu Misri claimed responsibility for the attack, but said his men took civilians “to protect them from the crossfire.”

He said they would be freed in due time.

A local official confirmed that the BIFF guerrillas set the

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HEROES’ WARD. Army soldiers, wounded in the ongoing conflict with

Islamist militants in Marawi, recuperate at a military hospital known as ‘Heroes’ Ward.’ Right panel shows President Rodrigo Roa Duterte comforting one of the wounded soldiers confined at Camp Edilberto Evangelista Station Hospital in Cagayan de Oro City on June 20, 2017. AFP and Presidential Photo

Digong snipes at LP: They want me dead

By Sandy Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday slammed Liberal Party members, saying they are pretending to be concerned about his health when he felt they were more interested to know if he had died.

Duterte referred LP president Senator Francis Pangilinan and detained Senator Leila de Lima, who had earlier urged Malacañang to disclose the real state of Duterte’s health after the Presi-

dent decided to skip the Independence Day rites and stayed out of the public eye until June 17.

“De Lima said I should tell the truth [about] where I have been for two days. She said, I should not lie to the nation. De Lima is only interested to hear about my dying or death. She does not care if I live. She just wants to wait [to hear] ‘Duterte died’ [and she will] be jumping inside her cell,” he told reporters in Cagayan de Oro City.

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Maute recruiter’s house raided; two sons missing

By Nash B. Maulana DATU ODIN SINSUAT, Maguindanao—Authorities raided Tuesday the residence of an alleged recruiter for a local terrorist group said to be responsible for the ongoing Marawi siege.

Municipal police director Chief Inspector Achmad Alibonga identified the house owner in Baran-

gay Semba as Nasser Dilangalen, 55, a government employee.

Authorities had earlier arrested Dilangalen at his workplace. His place of detention has not been disclosed to his kin.

An investigator, who did not want to be named for lack of authority to speak to reporters, said an ongoing probe also centered Next page

At ‘heroes’ ward,’ tales of horror

By Cecil Morella INSIDE the “Heroes’ Ward” at a hospital in Manila, wounded soldiers read the Bible and recount horror stories of an unprecedented urban war against fighters linked to the Islamic State group.

A month of combat in the southern city of Marawi has claimed the lives of 62 troops and injured hundreds of others, while raising fears the Philippines has suddenly become a favorite new battleground for IS. At the crowded hospital ward, soldiers give harrowing examples

of how the Philippine military― with little experience in urban warfare―were caught unprepared for their enemy’s tactics and brutality in house-to-house combat.

Marine Sergeant Sandy Benitez said he survived a battle that cost 13 other troops their lives by crawling for nearly five hours along a short stretch of street while trading fire with snipers, after a rocket-propelled grenade pierced his left foot.

“That was the worst firefight I’ve ever been in,” Benitez, a 13year veteran who had previously battled Islamist militants on re-

Duterte EO curbs sale of firecrackers

New rules on ‘distracted driving’ in play on July 6

By Darwin G. Amojelar

By Sandy Araneta PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte has issued an executive order regulating the use of firecrackers and other pyrotechnic devices.

He signed Executive Order 28 on Tuesday that says the use of firecracker will be confined to community fireworks displays “to minimize the risk of injuries and casualties.”

The EO says there will be a community fireworks display during a special occasion or as Next page

SKIMMING DEVICE. Banker Tomas Victor Mendoza (left) demonstrates to Senator Francis Escudero how a skimming device works during a Senate hearing on the alleged ‘glitch’ or data processing error that caused banking clients to lose money through unauthorized withdrawals. Lino Santos

THE Transportation Department on Wednesday issued revised rules against distracted driving in a bid to lessen road accidents.

The rules take effect on July 6.

The Anti-Distracted Driving Law under Republic Act 10913 describes “distracted driving” as the motorists’ use of their mobile communication devices, electronic entertainment and computing gadgets while their vehicles are in motion or temporarily stopped by a traffic light in an intersection.

According to the Implementing

Rules and Regulations, making or receiving calls, writing, sending or reading text-based communications, playing games, watching movies, performing calculations, reading e-books, composing messages, and surfing or browsing the internet are prohibited while driving.

“A motorist holding a mobile communications device or an electronic entertainment or computing device in a motor vehicle in motion, or temporarily stopped at a traffic light or any intersection, shall be prima facie presumed Next page

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THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Ilocos 6 lawyer denounces torture

By Rey E. Requejo

F

ORMER Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza on Wednesday denounced as “torture” the continued detention of the six employees of the provincial government of Ilocos Norte by the House of Representatives despite the Court of Appeals’ order to have them released.

Mendoza, the lead counsel of the so-called “Ilocos Six,” said they must be released as soon as possible because the writ of habeas corpus issued by the appellate court was immediately executory.

And Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez Marcos on Wednesday expressed hope that the leadership of the House of Representatives and the committee

on good government would be able to release the Ilocos Six soon. “...it is not power but the milk of human kindness that make us godly, not influence or privilege or pride, for true greatness is wrought by love―love for the small and helpless...,” Mrs. Marcos said in her letter to Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel,

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who linked up with local terrorists in Marawi City originated. ‘‘Those who have questionable documents or doubtful purposes in coming to the country should be excluded and booked on the first available flight to their port of origin,” Morente said.

He also said that it is not easy to assess and establish if an arriving foreign visitor is a suspected terrorist, especially if the latter is completely documented and is able to satisfactorily answer questions from an immigration officer. ‘‘That is why we have in our database the names of thousands of suspected international terrorists that were given to us by the different law enforcement and intelligence agencies here and abroad,” he said.

He said that a foreign passenger whose name and description matches the person appearing in their derogatory list will be immediately turned back and barred from entering the country.

Mariñas has issued a similar directive to immigration officers assigned to the southern seaports and border crossing stations in the South. ‘‘They were instructed to coordinate with the military and police authorities in their areas in conducting border screening formalities for foreigners arriving in their respective ports,” he said.

Mariñas, however, added that given the country’s long and porous shorelines, he believes most of the foreign jihadists now involved in the Marawi siege entered the country through the backdoor and did not pass inspection by immigration authorities.

Lorenzana previously announced that at least two Indonesians were among the eight foreigners killed in Marawi City as government troops continue to pursue thee pro-ISIS Maute group.

Also on Wednesday, the President said he would not declare martial law over the entire country for now. ‘‘Whether or not I expand [martial law] to cover the entire Philippines is something else.

And at this time, it is not called for,” Duterte said in an interview in Cagayan de Oro City.

Former President and Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Wednesday brushed aside reports circulating on social media that the Islamist Maute group was planning to stage a series of bomb attacks in Metro Manila. ‘‘The likelihood of an imminent threat is very, very minimal here in the City of Manila, so there’s nothing to worry about,” Estrada said.

her and Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato’ Sri Anifah Aman.

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

It’s been more than three weeks since the Maute group, who pledged allegiance to ISIS, attacked the city of Marawi, Mindanao.

On Monday, the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia also held trilateral maritime operations to fight transnational crimes and terrorism in the Sulu Sea in Tarakan, North Kalimantan, Indonesia.

The Trilateral Maritime Patrol was inaugurated in the Tarakan Naval Base in a ceremony attended by Department of National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, Indonesian Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu and Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

As security concerns threaten the robust economic growth of the region, countries are forging a collective effort against terrorism and extremism.

As the crisis in Marawi City drags on, President Rodrigo Duterte is scheduled to talk with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, after his defense minister said there were 1,200 ISIS fighters in the Philippines, a figure that the military disputes.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella confirmed the scheduled conversation during the Mindanao Hour in Malacañang on Wednesday. ‘‘I’m sure they’ll be talking security matters, but we don’t have the details of the plans for that conversation,” Abella said.

Meanwhile, Immigration officers at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and other international airports and seaports nationwide were placed on alert and ordered to be more strict in allowing the entry of foreign visitors to prevent possible entry of suspected foreign terrorists linked to the Islamic State.

Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente also instructed BI Port Operations chief Marc Red Mariñas to assign intelligence agents from the border control and intelligence unit at the airports to monitor and watch for suspected foreign terrorists who might attempt to enter the country.

Morente said immigration officers should thoroughly screen foreign passengers from countries where the foreign jihadists

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either in bed or traveling incognito.

Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella, meanwhile, laughed at a column written by former senator Francisco Tatad saying that Duterte had a mild stroke.

“He stood up. He showed himself. Kit Tatad may just be creating fantasies,” he said.

Abella also denied Tatad’s claim that Cabinet Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. briefed the Cabinet officials about Duterte’s health condition last Friday.

“Pangilinan also. What do they really care if I die today or tomorrow? If I get sick or tired?

Your only interest is to know where I am and whether or not I am dying or dead! I don’t believe they are concerned about me,” Duterte said.

Apart from De Lima and Pangilinan, Senator Panfilo Lacson earlier appealed to Malacañang to disclose the state of Duterte’s health.

“Kit Tatad must be sourcing Duterte had insisted that dur- something that nobody knows ing his one-week rest, he was about,” he said.

the panel chairman.

At the resumption of the committee’s probe into the allegedly anomalous purchase of motor vehicles worth P66.45 million for Ilocos Norte, Pimentel’s panel refused to release the Ilocos Six for their refusal to answer questions on the issue.

The Ilocos Six said they would testify before the panel only if their preferred lawyers were with them during the congressional probe.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno and Court of Appeals Presiding Justice Andres Reyes expressed hope that the House would reconsider its show-cause order against Associate Justices Stephen Cruz, Edwin Sorongon and Nina Antonio-Valenzuela of the appellate court’s Spe-

cial Fourth Division, saying the House could avail of speedy legal remedies provided to it under the Constitution.

Sereno and Reyes said the House still had available administrative remedy if it felt aggrieved by the actions taken by the appellate court on the writ of habeas corpus case filed by the Ilocos Norte executives.

“Without inquiring into the merits of the issue currently pending before the Special Fourth Division and subject of the House committee’s inquiry, we note that the House of Representatives is not without any speedy legal remedy that is consistent with the separation of powers should it disagree with the action of the Court of Appeals, such as an appeal,” Sereno and Reyes said in a joint statement.

On Tuesday, the House committee issued a show-cause order requiring the CA justices to explain why they should not be cited for contempt for ordering the release of the so-called Ilocos Six. The show-cause order against the three justices, according to Oriental Mindoro Rep. Reynaldo Umali, is intended to “equalize” the House situation, where it was earlier required by the appellate court to explain why it should not be cited for contempt for defying the writ it earlier issued to present the Ilocos Six before the Court.

With the continued detention, Mendoza said, the Ilocos Six were suffering undue emotional and psychological anguish not to mention the pitiable detention conditions. With Maricel V. Cruz

ON THEIR TOES. Army soldiers patrol a road at Pigkawayan, a farming town about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Marawi city, on north Cotabato, in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on June 21, 2017. Islamic militants occupied a primary school and took hostages in a village on Wednesday, a few hours drive from a city where other jihadists were fighting a month-long war, authorities said. Hundreds of gunmen initially attacked a lightly guarded military outpost at dawn, with many withdrawing but about 30 then taking over the school and using civilians as human shields, the military said. AFP

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school building on fire, but could not say if initial reports that a number of residents were locked inside one of the classrooms was true.

Government troops pursued the fleeing BIFF fighters.

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From A1 on the alleged disappearance of Dilangalen’s two sons, who authorities believe have joined the Maute jihadists in Marawi.

On Tuesday, police said they recovered 40 mm live mortar ammunition, cellular phones and a cal.45 pistol with magazines.

Meanwhile, Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II replaced the chairman of the panel of prosecutors handling the rebellion cases against the Maute group terrorists who attacked Marawi City.

Mangontawar Gubat will be replaced by Celso M. Sarsaba, deputy city prosecutor of Iligan City.

In a separate department order, Aguirre ordered five additional prosecutors--three from Cagayan de Oro City and two

A police contingent was also deployed on the periphery of Pigcawayan to augment the military’s dragnet.

Later reports said the same group of BIFF fighters ransacked Baragay Simsiman, an old Moro settlement in Pigcawayan.

The attack could be a diversionary tactic to ease pressure on the militants in Marawi,

local police commander Chief Inspector Realan Mamon said in a radio interview.

Malagakit is a peaceful neigborhood populated by fewer than 1,000 people, both Muslims and Christians. On any given weekend, however, the population swells as tourists flock to the Malagakit Lake Resort, a popular destination. With AFP

from Misamis Oriental—to help the current team.

On Tuesday, 12 suspected members of the Maute terrorist group who were arrested June 16 in a hospital in Pagadian City, underwent inquest proceedings for rebellion in Cagayan de Oro city.

Justice Undersecretary Erickson Balmes said originally 13 suspects would have to undergo the proceedings but one of them died in the hospital while undergoing treatment.

On Wednesday, an organization of local investors in Mindanao called on the government and the private sector to help rebuild Marawi City and heal the wounds of war when the siege is over.

At a news conference in Quezon City, Abdulgani Macatoman, Bangsa Moro Federal Business Council Inc. chairman, however, said he believed

the Marawi battle would soon be over.

“Of the 96 barangays in Marawi, only four of them are under the control of the Maute-Islamic State. The way I see things are, the siege will end before the holy month of Ramadan ends,” he told reporters.

“Nothing is left. What happened to Marawi is too painful,” he said.

“We appeal to the government to provide the residents with available jobs to rebuild the place once reconstruction begins,” he said.

He called on the Duterte administration and the business sector to accelerate and intensify the rehabilitation, recovery and reconstruction of Marawi City, and address the possible outbreak of diseases brought about by the decomposing bodies of those killed in the battle.

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From A1 to be engaged in distracted driving,” the law says.

Motorists, however, are allowed to apply hands-free functions or applications in the use of such devices or gadgets so long as these do not interfere with their line of sight.

Aside from public and private vehicles, the law also covers wheeled agricultural machineries, construction equipment and other forms of conveyances such as bicycles, pedicabs, trolleys, “habal-habal”, “kuligligs”, wagons, carriages and carts that may either be human-powered or pulled by an animal―as long as the same are operated or driven in public thoroughfares, highways or streets.

With Rio N. Araja

This law takes exemption when motorists use their mobile phones in making or taking an emergency call from/to: a law enforcement agent/agency to report a crime or prohibited act, accident, natural calamity, bomb threat, terrorist activities and the like; a government or nongovernment medical or health care provider on emergency and rescue situations; or to a fire department in cases of fire or explosion.

Violators will be fined P5,000 for the first offense, P10,000 for the second offense, and P15,000 for the third offense with a three-month suspension of their driver’s license.

After the third offense, a driver will be fined P20,000 and his license will be revoked.

Owners and operators of Public Utility Vehicles and commercial vehicles found in violation of the law will both be held liable.

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“But they threw gasoline at us, molotov bombs. They created fires, so they had visual on us as well,” he said.

The Philippine military has decades of experience battling Islamic militants and communist rebels, with those conflicts claiming tens of thousands of lives.

But those wars have been largely waged in rural and mountainous settings.

The nation’s military chiefs and front-line troops such as Benitez say they have relatively little experience in the type of fighting being waged in Marawi, a city of 200,000 residents.

It began when hundreds of militants rampaged through Marawi, the most important Islamic city in the mainly Catholic Philippines, on May 23, taking civilians hostage and then posting images online of the Christians they said had been executed.

They have since defied a relentless, US-backed bombing campaign that has seen entire districts destroyed, with their snipers based in homes and mosques continuing to pick off ground forces, and civilians being used as human shields.

“If the fight was held in a mountain without its share of civilians roaming around the battleground it would have been very simple,” national military spokesman Restituto Padilla told reporters last week.

A military commander overseeing the battle in Marawi who has fought many wars in the southern region of Mindanao, but who asked not to be named to speak candidly, said most of the troops were learning on the job.

“We have a shallow pool of highly trained people for this specific situation,” the commander told AFP as he described soldiers spending two days trying unsuccessfully to clear a single house and threats such as trip-wire bombs.

Authorities say the militants are mainly from various small local hard-line groups opposed to the peace agreements that the main Muslim rebel organizations are pursuing, and that they have united behind IS. Foreign fighters from places such as Chechnya and Libya have also joined, urged on by IS propaganda messages to descend on the Philippines, according to the military.

Soldiers have reported a newfound steel in their enemy in Marawi, with the militants staying and fighting for longer compared with previous battles in which fighters used more traditional guerrilla tactics and escaped quickly after carrying out attacks.

At the military hospital in Manila, Army Corporal Benie Flores, 30, was sitting on a bed with his left shin snapped in two from a sniper bullet that hit him on the third day of the conflict.

Flores said he had never been injured during his seven years as a soldier, which included many battles against the Abu Sayyaf, a USlisted terrorist group that is based on Basilan―one of the remote southern islands made up mostly of mountains and jungles.

“The difference is Basilan is full of trees while Marawi is full of rooms and civilians,” he said. AFP

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From A1 part of a celebration, competition or similar event held in a venue apart from a residence.

The display will be conducted under the supervision of a trained person with a license from the Philippine National Police.

The concerned municipality or city will specify the date, time and area of the display in a permit.

The head of the Philippine National Police is tasked to determine the prohibited fireworks and pyrotechnic devices within 30 days. ‘‘All fireworks falling under such criteria may not be manufactured, sold, distributed or used even as part of a community fireworks display,’’ the EO says.

The PNP is also tasked to coordinate with the Department of Health, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and the Bureau of Fire Protection on the rules and regulations of the executive order.

These agencies are expected to enforce the EO, which takes effect immediately, and to inform the public about it.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

‘Human error caused glitch’

By Macon Araneta OFFICIALS of the Bank of the Philippine Islands and Banco De Oro-Unibank on Wednesday told the Senate hearing on technical glitches that hit the country’s two biggest banking institutions that no money was lost from their clients and preventive measures were done to avoid a recurrence of the case.

Testifying before the Senate committee on banks, financial institutions and currencies, BPI executive vice president for enterprise services group Ramon Jocson told the Senate panel chaired by Senator Chiz Escudero that the “system error” that hit the bank, which affected 2.9-million transactions and 1.5-million depositors was “100 percent not a hack.”

He added that what happened was a closed system IT where there was an error.

“One hundred percent, di ito hacked,” said Jocson adding that there was no involvement of an internet or third party in the processing error. He said the error was caused by a programmer who was processing transactions in a rush.

Jocson said the glitch occurred after one of the bank’s top technicians entered a wrong date while trying to update a report from the internal system.

“On June 6, we needed to reconcile a report from May 26 to 29. Ang na-enter niya sa online system namin was April 27 to May 2,” he said.

This, he said, updated the balances using transactions from April 27 to May 2 instead of June 6.

Asked by Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon if this was a case of an error in judgment of a programmer, Jocson said yes. He said this particular person has been with BPI and has always the zeal to do things faster.

When Drilon asked if the programmer’s action was malicious, Joscon it was an innocent error and nothing was malicious in the error in processing.

Jocson said that the programmer, who belonged to the top of her class, has no links to syndicates or groups.

Jocson also reiterated that none of their clients lost money.

Drilon later said after the hearing that the issue is now “under control.” He said there’s no reason to worry since the case was a “glitch, human error, no malice.”

“The important thing is the bank is able to respond.”

Jocson also said the glitch that caused unauthorized postings of deposits and withdrawals only affected transactions via automated teller machines, cash acceptance machines, and point of sale systems. This means that BPI accounts briefly reflected incorrect figures following a glitch on June 6, but they were already fixed. It also disabled electronic transactions for two days.

SAVING THE BAY. Senator Cynthia Villar, chairman of the Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, asks questions to Reynaldo Velasco (center) MWSS administrator, who attended the hearing together with Edgardo De Mayo, Senior Deputy Administrator of LWUA during the Senate public hearing on strategies and measures being prepared or undertaken by the concerned government agencies mandated to clean up, rehabilitate and preserve Manila Bay and restore its waters to make it fit for swimming, skin diving and other forms of contact recreation pursuant to the Writ of Continuing Mandamus Issued by Supreme Court held at the Senate Office in Pasay City. Lino Santos

Aguirre ready to face Senate on Espinosa ‘homicide’ case

By Rey E. Requejo and Macon Ramos-Araneta

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USTICE Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II on Wednesday said he is willing to appear before a Senate inquiry on the Department of Justice’s decision that downgraded to homicide the murder charges against the policemen involved in the killing of Albuera, Leyte mayor Rolando Espinosa and another inmate inside the sub-provincial jail in Baybay, Leyte last year.

“If invited to appear before the Senate, I will appear out of respect for a co-equal branch of government and of a distinguished and a hallowed institution,” Aguirre said.

At the same time, however, Aguirre insisted that he has nothing to do with the resolution lowering the charges to homicide, a bailable offense, against the policemen led by former

PNP-CIDG Eastern Visayas chief, S upt. M arvin M arcos.

Aguirre said he was not the one who resolved the matter.

“I did not have any hand in the drafting of the resolution being referred to by some senators. I was not the one who resolved the matter. I was not the one who wrote it. I was not the one who signed it.

In a resolution last March, the

DoJ ruled that Marcos and the other respondents conspired with each other to kill Espinosa and Raul Yap inside their detention cells.

Marcos and 10 of his men- S/ Insp Deogracia Pedong Diaz III, C/Insp. Calixto Canillas Jr., Insp.

Lucresito Candelosas, SPO2s Benjamin Dacallos and Antonio Docil, SPO1 1 Mark Christian Cadilo, PO3 Norman Abellanosa, PO2s John Ruel Doculan and Jaime Bacsal, and PO1 Jerlan Cabiyaan—were charged with two counts of murder.

Four other police officers were charged for the killing of Espinosa—Supt. Santi Noel Matira, C/ Insp.Leo Daio Laraga, SPO4 4 Melvin Caboyit and PO3 Johnny Abuda Ibañez—while four others for the murder of Yap—S/ Insp. Fritz Bioco Blanco, SPO4 4 Juanito Duarte, PO2 Lloyd Ortiguesa and PO1Bernard Orpilla.

Abellanosa, Laraga and witness Paul Olendan were also indicted for two counts of Article 129 of Revised Penal Code for malicious-

ly obtaining search warrants.

The murder charges against Insp. Eric Constantino and SPO2 Alphinor Serrano, however, were dismissed for lack of probable cause.

The DoJ then discovered that the killings of Espinosa and Yap were also attended by treachery and the respondents used stealth to carry out the raid and that they clearly outnumbered and outarmed the victims.

After the issuance of the March 2 resolution, Aguirre said the indictment only goes to show that the government will not tolerate any misdeeds of its officers.

During a Senate inquiry on the issue, Aguirre expressed the opinion that the killing might have been premeditated, as he noted it was unusual to serve a search warrant on the wee hours of the morning considering that Espinosa was already detained inside a government jail facility.

The National Bureau of Investigation also disputed the police’s claim that Espinosa and Yap were

killed in a shootout inside their detention cells saying that what happened was a rubout.

However, the DoJ in a resolution dated May 29 granted the petition for review filed by the respondents and downgraded the murder charges saying there was nothing on record to prove that there was evident premeditation—one of the elements of murder i n t he c rime.

Aguirre also said that even if he does attend the hearing, only the courts, and not the Senate, has the authority to overturn any resolution of the DoJ. This means that the Senate can reverse the DoJ resolution downgrading the charges filed against the policemen.

“They cannot investigate the resolution. They could investigate the circumstances in the issuance of the resolution, but I believe the Senate has no power to overturn any resolution coming from the Department of Justice,” he said.

BoC to hold more consultations on draft order Senate

By Vito Barcelo CUSTOMS chief Nicanor Faeldon said he will continue to conduct consultations with various stakeholders before implementing a widely criticized draft order that seeks to establish temporary storages for overstaying and abandoned cargoes at Port of Manila and Manila International Container Port.

But a disgruntled representative of a cargo company which attended the June 8 forum said it would be cheaper for businesses to pay fines to the Philippine Ports Authority and the Bureau of Customs for their overstaying containers.

He warned that the draft Customs Administrative Order, which will implement Section 307 of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act enacted two years ago, will trigger

a price increase for consumer goods.

But Faeldon said he would take into consideration the position of the key stakeholders who have raised concerns over the proposed CAO. “The Commissioner is still in the consultation stage with various customs stakeholders and the next public consultation on the Customs Facilities Warehouses has been scheduled for June 22,” a Customs official said.

Among those who attended the June 8 forum were representatives from Cargohaus Inc., DHL Express, ICTSI, Paircargo, UPS, Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan, Association of Petrochemical Manufacturers of the Philippines, Asian Terminals Inc., Association of International Shipping Lines, PricewaterhouseCoopers Philippines, and Philippine Skyland-

ers International Inc. The stakeholders questioned the provisions of the proposed CAO, in particular the designation of Customs Facilities and Warehouses which shall bear the brunt of establishing and maintaining the temporary storage facilities.

“The provisions contained in the draft CAO are asking for too much and what should be the BoC’s responsibility is unreasonably being transferred to the business sector,” said one of the representatives who attended the forum.

“We are all alarmed at the misguided steps being taken in the guise of modernization.”

The draft CAO, he said, erodes the foundation of the Philippine Ports Authority, which has supervision over port terminals that may be designated as CFWs.

Ex-AFP official indicted for misuse of funds

By Rio N. Araja

FIRST RESPONDERS. Members of the first responders team from the Philippine National Police attend the continuation of the inquiry on the circumstances behind the tragic incident in the Resorts World Manila at the House of Representatives. Manny Palmero

THE Office of the Ombudsman disclosed on Wednesday the conviction of a former high ranking Armed Forces of the Philippines official for misuse of over P24 million in soldiers’ contributions to the AFP Retirement and Separation Benefits System 25 years ago.

The Sandiganbayan convicted former AFP-RSBS president (ret.) general Jose Ramiscal Jr. of two counts of violation of Section 3(i) of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act or Republic Act No. 3019.

He was sentenced to suffer a jail term of six to 10 years for each count, with perpetual disqualification from holding public office.

In 1992, the AFP-RSBS and DM Wenceslao and Associates Inc. entered into a joint venture to establish the Bay Resources Development Corp. for the pur-

pose of acquiring and developing a 10-hectare property in the Manila-Cavite coastal road and reclamation project.

During the Dec. 29, 1995 trial, the Ombudsman prosecutors testified that the corporation sold and transferred the property to AFPRSBS with the pension fund footing the payment of taxes.

On the other hand, Ramiscal approved the payment and release of P24,198,070 to the corporation without any board approval. The cash advances between the AFPRSBS and BRADCO were earlier placed under scrutiny in a Senate investigation on the utilization of the pension funds.

“As the vendor, it is clearly BradCo’s sole responsibility to pay all the taxes, including the documentary stamp taxes due on the properties sold to the AFP-RSBS. Thus, it is highly anomalous for the AFP-RSBS to advance the payments thereof,” the decision read.

to give SSS more powers

By Macon Araneta THE Senate Committee on Government Corporations and Public Enterprises conducted a hearing on bills seeking to amend Republic Act No. 8282 to give the state-run Social Security System more powers to enable it to grow their funds.

Senator Richard J. Gordon, committee chairman, noted that the fund life of the SSS was shortened by 10 years due to the across the board increase in pension fund payment of P1,000/month. Thus, there is a need for the SSS to find ways to ensure continuous pension fund viability to serve members in perpetuity.

“Aside from being more aggressive in getting more members, the SSS should be given the leeway to invest its funds in worthwhile endeavors so it can generate more resources so that our people will receive more than a paltry amount when they retire or when they die. I think this is one of the legacies that any country should aim for,” he said.

Gordon said the hearing also aims to determine compulsory coverage for overseas Filipino workers and the appropriateness of providing unemployment insurance benefit for covered employees.

“The volatility of the working conditions of OFWs make them more vulnerable to the contingencies sought to be guarded against by the SSS. Thus, compulsory social security coverage should be extended to the OFWs,” the senator explained.

A4

Opinion

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Like it is

S

CARY words have come out of President Rodrigo Duterte’s mouth, but his pronouncement Tuesday that civil war might erupt in Mindanao if Christians take up arms against militants who style themselves after the global terror group Islamic State may give Filipinos the wrong idea—or the right one.

The terrorists, who laid siege in Marawi City nearly a month ago, were believed to be planning attacks in other areas of Mindanao. And indeed on Wednesday, at least two villages in Pigcawayan town in North Cotabato

were attacked by armed men.

Already, however, airports and seaports nationwide are on alert status, supposedly to prevent the entry of foreign terrorists.

There are also reports that malls, public transport terminals and other crowded places could be the next target of terror groups. Months ago, separate blasts in Quiapo, Manila prompted talk of terrorism reaching the capital, even as police played these down as incidents arising out of personal conflict.

“Just because the fighting has stopped in Marawi doesn’t mean we are safe,” the President said.

“If this becomes a civil war, people will really kill each other. In Mindanao, there are a lot of Christians who also own high-powered guns. They have stockpile

of arms. A communal war will be dangerous for everyone...”

Is the President correct to fan the flames of fear among the people and even invoke the Christian-Muslim rivalry to tell us how bad the situation could go?

Or is this, as some quarters suspect, a way of conditioning the minds of Filipinos so that the extension or expansion, maybe both, of martial law will be more acceptable?

We believe the answer lies in balance.

Good leaders tell it like it is—no embellishments, and no dismissiveness. We assume that as commander-in-chief, the President has full access to intelligence reports that should give him good basis for what he says.

Mr. Duterte should speak only out of respect for Filipinos who want to know

exactly what is going on. Any other reason—giving them false reassurances on one hand, or painting the grimmest of scenarios on the other, will not do.

His depiction of Christians versus Muslims might also be sweeping, as we have read and heard many poignant stories from Marawi about how Muslims went out of their way—even risked their lives—to protect their Christian friends.

More importantly, while we expect our officials to give us an honest account of the conflict raging in Marawi and that which may erupt anywhere in the country anytime soon, we expect them even more to have a clear idea of what they would do with this knowledge. Only this can assure us that our government is able to protect us, and prevent terrorists from having their way.

DUTY CALLS FLORENCIO FIANZA

Tax reform

Spilling over LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES THOSE who are still claiming that the declaration of martial law on the entire island of Mindanao was a case of overkill had better revise their positions.

In what has been described as an opportunistic, diversionary move by extremist Islamic terrorists, upwards of 300 armed jihadists yesterday attacked a school in Pigkawayan town, North Cotabato province, withdrawing only after being repelled by security forces but taking with them an unknown number of civilians whom they apparently intend to use as human shields against pursuing troops.

A spokesman for the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom

Fighters, a splinter group of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, claimed responsibility for the latest attack. It was the first known “spillover” incident, almost a month after the Islamic State-inspired Maute terrorist group took over Marawi City and started the war with the armed forces that continues to this day.

The BIFF, like the Maute gang and the Abu Sayyaf bandit group, are among the extremist armed Muslim groups that are actively seeking the support of the IS. Reports of the North Cotabato attack remained sketchy as of late yesterday afternoon, with various sources claiming that one militiaman was reported wounded so far.

The armed forces would not confirm or deny that the BIFF attack was intended to divert the attention of the military away from the fighting in Mara-

wi. But the fact that casualties have been negligible speaks volumes about the readiness of the troops in Mindanao, who have so far been successful in capturing important players in

We can only pray that the President’s fears of a bigger war are mistaken.

the Marawi battle who might have otherwise escaped, had the checkpoints and patrols all over over island not been in place.

President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier warned of an escalation of the conflict into a

“civil war” involving Christian groups, whom he said are now arming themselves, on one side, and Muslims, on the other, if Marawi is not taken back from the Maute terrorists. After Duterte’s many statements on the gravity of the terrorism in Mindanao have mostly been proven correct, I wonder if his warning of a much larger conflict on the island is not coming to pass, as well.

As usual, the Manila-based anti-Duterte politicians who have criticized the declaration of martial law all over Mindanao are being proven wrong.

We can only pray that the President’s fears of a bigger war— which has until yesterday been confined to Marawi—are mistaken, as well. *** These days, of course, the anti-martial law cries of Duterte’s critics have ratcheted down

considerably. As the Marawi conflict drags on, there have been fewer and fewer opposition leaders and their supporters in the media and elsewhere who have been demanding that Duterte and the military scale down their efforts to retake the city.

Even the usually critical Commission on Human Rights has declared that there have been no reports of abuses by the military on the ground so far, something that has silenced the usually noisy bleeding-heart liberal opponents of Duterte, both here and abroad. The silence of Duterte’s critics in Europe, which is hard-put dealing with terrorist attacks in their own backyard, is particularly eloquent.

Except for some unbelievably dense politicians like Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman and Senator Turn to A5

EVERY time the government talks of tax reform, it usually means collecting more taxes from Filipinos. I have never seen a tax reform law that will in the end collect less taxes from the already overburdened Filipino taxpayers.

This is true with House Bill No. 5636 or TRAIN—Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion—that was recently passed by the House of Representatives. We are already one of the highest, if not the highest taxed, citizenry in this part of the world. It is only perhaps the Scandinavian countries that tax their people higher than our government does us. But at least in those countries, they take care of their citizens from cradle to grave. This is perhaps one of the reasons why the Nordic countries always rank at the top of the happiest people index in this planet.

Not so here. We still have to take care of our own education and health care. We have to save for our retirement because any benefits we will receive will likely not be enough. We also have the highest electricity rates, pay more to take public transport and pay a lot more to buy vehicles that we can use because of the unreliability of our public transportation system.

In the Southeast Asian region, we have one of the most expensive vehicles next to Singapore. To give an example, the top-of-the-line Toyota four-wheel drive Fortuner would cost us roughly the equivalent of the X3 BMW SUV in the United States. If bought here, this same vehicle would cost twice than the price in the US. Like everyone else, I would like to see the day when Congress can pass a law that will mandate a more efficient way of collecting taxes to increase government revenues because there is so much wastage, principally as a result of corruption.

Yes, the House of Representatives have been very quick to point out that in Turn to A5

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ManilaStandard

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

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Opinion Japan gains ground on wasteful workaholics

By Noah Smith FIRST, the good news: Japan has finally begun to wrestle with its endemic problem of long, unproductive working hours.

Japanese companies are famous for forcing their employees to work unpaid overtime long into the night. Workers are afraid that if they leave early, they’ll be passed over for promotions and be ostracized by their colleagues.

Companies are reluctant to let employees take work home with them, often citing data security concerns. As a result, in many Japanese families it has long been commonplace for men not to see their families on weeknights—and now that Japanese women have entered the workforce in large numbers, the strain of long hours on family life is even more severe.

Worse, those long hours are killing Japanese productivity—research suggests that at about 60 hours a week, working more doesn’t result in getting more done. Those extra hours tire people out in body and mind, making every other hour of the day less productive.

Japan has major productivity problems—its output per hour worked is only about 60 percent of US levels—so eliminating overwork is an important priority.

Fortunately, the government and large corporations are addressing the issue, using a mix of policy and new workplace norms. Some companies are letting employees do more work from home, while others are turning off their office lights at a certain time.

Government agencies are doing the same, and leaders are taking some symbolic steps to spread the idea of work-life balance. Meanwhile, companies that overwork, underpay and otherwise exploit their workers are now often vilified in popular culture. The longterm impact of these efforts can’t be known yet, especially since unpaid overtime is by its nature hard to measure. But the problem is certainly being recognized and addressed, and that’s a very good thing for Japan.

But now for the bad news about Japan’s labor market.

Excess working hours may be falling, but wages aren’t yet rising. From looking at macro data, Japan ought to be experiencing rising pay, as the US is. Japan’s unemployment rate has fallen to a two-decade low of 2.8 percent: And the labor force partici-

Spilling...

From A4 Risa Hontiveros, most critics of martial law and the continuing military action in Marawi and the rest of Mindanao have not been heard from in the past few days. Even the justices of the Supreme Court who have been vocal about their reservations concerning Duterte’s Proclamation 216 have not been airing their anti-Duterte biases.

As for the ordinary Filipinos, I think they have long been convinced that there is no other way to deal with the Marawi situation but with an iron hand and an unrelenting military counter-offensive. As the entire world already knows, mostly through sad first-hand experience, there is simply no negotiating with terrorists, especially the particularly virulent and violent strain that pledges its allegiance to the IS. The Pigcawayan attack can only galvanize the nation further against IS-inspired terrorism. The entire citizenry must now rally behind the military and the Duterte administration, as it puts down the terrorists

pation rate has increased, resulting in a record high primeage employment-to-population ratio. The country’s demand shortage has ended, even as record numbers of women have entered the labor force.

Given such a tight labor market, it’s a mystery why household incomes for workers aren’t going up: Interestingly, some people from the Bank of Japan have a theory that reduction of overwork is actually causing wage stagnation. The idea is that if unobserved work hours are being cut, employees might be producing less overall, even as they produce more per hour.

That could cause wages to stagnate. It could also make companies hire more workers in order to maintain the same level of production, which would be consistent with rising employment rates.

But this explanation seems unlikely to explain stagnant wages. Japanese employees are so overworked that cutting excess hours should probably leave them producing roughly the same amount each month.

That means that falling unemployment should still be exerting upward pressure on wages.

It could be that as Japan employs the very last few available workers in the country, aggregate productivity is being held back, because the last workers to get hired are also likely to be the least productive. They tend to have less experience, and perhaps other characteristics that prevented them from getting jobs before.

Since these workers couldn’t demand wages as high as those who had been working for a long time, this would act to hold down pay.

It could also be that Japan is suffering from a decline in labor’s share of national income.

The US has been experiencing this since at least the turn of the century, and there are many theoriesabout the cause —globalization, automation, increasing market concentration and a rise in land values.

So far, economists haven’t solved the mystery. But all four of these factors may well be operating in Japan. So whatever has been holding down labor’s slice of the economic pie might also be causing Japanese wages to flatline.

So while wage stagnation is a concern, it’s probably not being caused by the reduction in excessive working hours. Japan shouldn’t deviate from its course—raising labor productivity and giving workers back their lives should remain the focus of policy. Bloomberg who want to tear the country apart and establish an outpost of the fundamentalist Islamic caliphate on our shores.

We are not the first nation confronted with the threat of IS-style territorial takeover.

But despite our own experience with extremist groups in the past, we have not seen this new strain of kill-crazy, possibly drug-fueled rebellion that will not surrender even in the face of insurmountable odds.

What should we, the ordinary citizens do? Well, we can support our troops and trust in our government, both of whom have given us the only viable option for dealing with the Maute group and its fellow ISfollowing groups.

And we can refuse to listen to politicians like Lagman and Hontiveros and their sympathizers, who, like terrorists, only seek to tear the nation apart with their opportunistic actions. At least the Maute, ASG and BIFF can be easily identified; the terroristic politicians, because they claim to have the country’s interest at heart, are sometimes harder to pinpoint.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

A5

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

When security is at stake OVERSIGHT DANILO SUAREZ BANKS are probably the most important financial institutions that we regularly deal with. Besides having savings through cash deposits, banks also enable us to do other transactions such as money transfer, bills payment, and loans. Many workers also receive their salaries through bank-issued automated teller machine cards, as this is believed to be more secure and hassle-free.

According to the National Baseline Survey on Financial Inclusion conducted by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas in 2014, 43.2 percent of Filipino adults have savings either in banks or cooperatives. Out of this number, 32.7-percent deposit their money in banks. Same survey also showed that two percent of Filipino households have credit cards.

Based on BSP’s 2014 Con-

sumer Finance Survey, only two out of 10 Filipino households have savings in banks. Eightysix percent of Filipinos have no bank deposits for several reasons such as not having enough money to deposit and lack of trust in banks.

In traditional banking, one goes through long queues and transacts by the counters manned by tellers. While this system is still in place, the emergence of modern banking technologies such as ATM deposit and withdrawal machines, online banking (through a website), mobile banking (through a mobile app), and phone banking have made bank transactions faster, easier, and more convenient.

We expect that new technologies would make our bank deposits and other transactions more secure. However, there have been recent reports on technical glitches and fraud issues involving two of the country’s top banking companies, which alarmed many Filipinos who have entrusted their money to these banks.

On the night of June 6, many irate clients flooded the social media accounts of the Ayalaled Bank of Philippine Islands, claiming losing up to thousands of pesos from their savings accounts, while some have gained more than their actual balance.

The online accounts, through the mobile app and website, were also inaccessible. The following day, BPI notified its clients about an internal data processing error, wherein transactions between April 27 to May 2 had been double-posted, resulting in the change in the balance of their clients’ accounts. Thus, BPI temporarily suspended access to all electronic channels while they fixed the system glitch.

More than a week later, the Sy-led Banco de Oro advised its customers to report unauthorized transactions in their accounts. It had received reports of alleged ATM fraud. It was later found out that the compromised ATMs were caused by a localized card skimming hack. Cloning devices were installed by criminal foreign syndicates at

selected BDO ATM terminals, which captured the identity and account information of the customers who used the said terminals.

Such events are unfortunate, most especially for people who do not have much money but still choose to save them through banks, with the hopes of either earning interest or simply keeping their money secure. These banking glitches, whether due to a system error or fraud, are really alarming and should not be set aside. With all that are happening, instead of being at ease that our money is safe, we only end up worrying. Something must be done.

The Senate is already probing the said incidents. And while they are at it, I also call on BDO, BPI, and all the other banks to improve their services, most especially in terms of the safety and security of their clients. Regardless of the amount each depositor has, everyone should be given equal importance, because the true and top priority here is everyone’s security.

The challenges of transphobia AS SOCIETY struggles with gender issues and understanding what these entail, it is inevitable that there would be those who are uncomfortable with exploring the topic.

It is when “awkward” and “unaware” become “inconsiderate” and “hurtful” that such instances need to be called out.

A line is crossed when banter becomes bullying.

Esquire Magazine Philippines posted a seemingly innocuous article about singer Charice Pempengco’s recent announcement of name change to “Jake Zyrus.”

The lauded performer came out as transgender male some years ago, changing his appearance and clothing to reflect this decision. The name change, announced on his Instagram, is the latest move in a gradual process of sharing his identity with the public.

The Esquire PH article, written by editorial assistant Miguel Escobar, is titled “Jake Zyrus and the Challenges of Personal Reinvention.” The headline was interesting; I thought it would be a look into transgender individuation and the ways this may be accomplished.

I was wrong.

Tax...

From A4 this new tax reform bill, income taxes for those earning P250,000 or less will be abolished. That is the carrot. The kicker, however, is that the new law if passed as crafted by the House, will collect a lot when one buys a liter of kerosene, gasoline, diesel and vehicles.

For all intents and purposes, this will make it harder for citizens to buy their first dream cars.

These new taxes are in addition to the 12-percent value-added tax already being collected by the government every time we buy anything, from medicine, clothing and food. Effectively, these bring the VAT to about 20 percent.

I heard a high government official explaining in a live TV interview that the abolition of income taxes of certain income brackets will expand the middle class. He did not explain, however, who those belonging

It turned out to be a meanspirited and contemptuous mockery of the new name Pempengco chose.

After explaining about the name change, the writer goes on to say: “We’re happy for Jake Zyrus. We really are. It took courage to come out, to transition…” In my experience, the phrase “we really are” signals the opposite of what the writer has just declared.

“It is, after all, Jake Zyrus’ choice, and no one else’s. And hell, we dare say it took balls to make that choice.” Indeed.

“But while we stand in full support of Jake Zyrus’ decision, his new identity, and the right of every transgender person to identify with a name of his or her choosing, we can’t help but feel that Charice could have picked a better name than Jake Zyrus.”

There it is—the “but.” Why? After acknowledging that it’s “every transgender person’s right” to pick their own name, Escobar derides the singer’s choice.

“Charles, maybe. Or Chandler. Chandler Pempengco has a nice ring to it, right? Anything but Jake Zyrus.” Miguel, perhaps?

These remarks are so elitist, the entire article not only galls but infuriates. This diatribe against a name reminds me of “coño kids” back in school who mocked classmates with less than patrician monickers. It’s

hegemon versus jejemon.

But no, Escobar wasn’t done.

He went further. If this were a movie this is the point where the viewer would scream, “Don’t go there!” But he does.

He continues: “Jake Zyrus” sounds like it could be the name of a vampire hunter who vanquishes his foes using two automatic rifles and a machete that’s glazed with the blood of a newly slaughtered elf. “Jake Zyrus” sounds like the name of a character that Keanu Reeves would play in an R-13 movie that your 11-year old cousin really wants to see. “Jake” and “Zyrus” sound like they could be the names of Blue Ivy’s new twin siblings.”

This sounds like those school bullies going “nya, nya, nya.”

Escobar ends with a sop: But “Jake Zyrus” is the name that Charice chose—and goddammit, he’ll use it if he wants to.”

After trampling all over the name. Right. Sarcasm much?

The vast majority of comments about the article were negative: “Judgmental!” “Why ridicule someone’s name? #transphobic.” “Tasteless and very ignorant.” And, a blow to the writer (and it should sting): “Poorly written na nga, insensitive pa.”

Several commenters urged Esquire Mag PH to take down the article. As of presstime, they have not.

There are many risks—physical, mental, emotional—asso-

ciated with coming out. Many young people still fear revealing their true sexual orientation, particularly if they belong to families where being noncisgender is something to be ashamed of.

My daughters have friends who agonize about how to tell their family they’re gay or trans. Some of those who have come out, instead of being accepted by those closest to them, have been scolded, ostracized, beaten, ignored, or met with other sorts of negative reaction.

For Esquire Mag PH to post this article in the first place, and refuse to delete it after the scathing comments, shows their stance on the issue.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. However, this article has a prejudicial character to it that cannot be overlooked.

It was unkind. It was mean. It was unnecessary.

And it is when commentaries like this are normalized and given value through exposure on a high-profile magazine website that a disservice is done, in this case to the LGBTQ community.

Jake Zyrus, congratulations on your new name! Esquire PH, your move—and may you do the right thing.

to this so-called middle class would be. I take it that those are the people earning P250,000 a year or less.

The problem is that we do not really have credible official figures on how many middleclass families there are in this country. I have long thought that our middle class disappeared long time ago and that we now only have two groups: The rich who are becoming richer and the poor who are becoming poorer. There is nothing in between.

This new tax reform bill will only make it harder for people transitioning to middle-class status to achieve their cherished goal of getting out of poverty. House Bill No. 5636 will only make the rating agencies happy.

Right now, there seems to be little protest coming from the general public. But the people are not stupid. They will eventually realize the huge bite the new taxes will take from their incomes and hopefully

vent their frustrations on their representatives come election time. It is really difficult to fathom that just when people are beginning to earn more, and be able to buy other things aside from basic necessities, the government steps in.

Let us look at motorization.

For the first time in our history, people are really beginning to buy more cars. But what does the government do? Instead of making it easier for people to buy vehicles, the government is making it more difficult to do so. It is the complete opposite of what they should be doing.

At the turn of the 20th century, when the United States was starting to transition from horses to vehicles, cars were very expensive. Motor vehicles were the toys of the rich until 1903 when Henry Ford introduced the affordable Model T. With this model, the price of the car went down, making it affordable to ordinary people. By 1927, 15 million of this

model were produced. The rest is history. Motorization hastened the industrialization of the United States and became the biggest car market in the world for the whole of the 20th century until overtaken recently by China.

Maybe our finance people do not realize that every time someone buys a car, this individual helps to create a job and other related industries.

With cars, people can in fact improve traffic because they can live far from city centers thereby decongesting crowded cities. The government must really rethink this practice of bleeding the Filipino white with unreasonable taxation.

We should learn from the Chinese. Be happy with a small return of investment so long as the income is continuous rather than aim for bigger return but very irregular. And this is perhaps the reason why of all our billionaires on the Forbes list, almost all of them are ChineseFilipinos.

Dr. Ortuoste is a Californiabased writer. FB: Jenny Ortuoste, Twitter: @jennyortuoste, IG: @artuoste

News

A6

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

PH couple in Dubai appeal deportation

By Sara D. Fabunan

COMPANY OF SKATERS. Thousands of skateboarders parade along a road to mark the Go Skateboarding Day in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, June 21. Skateboarders around the world celebrate Go Skateboarding Day to raise awareness and accessibility of skateboarding. The holiday was created by the International Association of Skateboard Companies and is observed every June 21. Norman Cruz

A FILIPINO couple is appealing a three-month prison sentence and deportation after the Dubai government found out that they had sex before marriage.

The Filipino couple, who were convicted in April, filed an appeal before the Dubai Misdemeanors Court to junk the case.

Dubai authorities discovered the couple's supposed violation when the woman, 28 years old, was rushed to the hospital in December due to pregnancy-related pains.

According to a report by Dubai daily The Gulf News, a medical staff asked for the baby's father, a 27-year-old Filipino but the woman told the staff that she and the man were engaged and not married.

Her partner was then arrested after the hospital notified the authority about their status.

The woman later miscarried the baby even before she was rushed to the hospital.

The Department of Foreign

RWM security chief faked his name, House probe bares

By Maricel V. Cruz

T

HE Resorts World Manila has begun investigating its chief security Armeen Gomez following his admission that he faked his name.

This was revealed as the House joint committees on games and amusements, public order and security, and tourism resumed Wednesday its probe into the June 2 hotel-casino tragedy that killed 37 people and injured several others.

During the hearing, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. chairperson Andrea Domingo also said she already told RWM president Kingson Sian to formalize their request so that the suspension order against the gaming agency will be lifted.

Lawyer Georgina Alvarez, RWM lawyer, told the joint panel that the investigation against Gomez has been conducted and discovered

that Gomez used the name of his brother, Armeen, instead of his real name Armenio to get employed at RWM six years ago.

“In accordance with our code of conduct, he was properly given a notice to explain. He is entitled to due process, we are awaiting the submission of his answer whether or not the company should take action on the misrepresentation that he has committed if it is true and based on that, there will be an administrative hearing and a judgment will be rendered by the company,” Alvarez said.

Parañaque City Rep. Gus Tambunting, House committee on games and amusements chair-

person, asked confirmation from Gomez himself if he has a brother working in Naga City whose name is also Armeen Gomez which the chief security responded in the affirmative.

“My real name is Armenio Gomez Jr. I was orphaned at 9 years old, your honors. I made lapses in judgment but I studied.

But for the last six years, I have been a professional. My lapses were 20 years ago, and I would like to invoke my right against self-incrimination,” Gomez said.

Gomez earned the ire of lawmakers for the supposed late emergency response of the RWM management, the police and fire department in the RWM tragedy.

Gomez earlier lied before the joint panel for flaunting his supposed Bachelor of Science in Business Management degree but admitted later on that he did not finish college.

“We have hired Armeen [here] based on his professional record.

He was not a fresh graduate. He was experienced, and he had a very good recommendation from these character references. It was only during the congressional inquiry when we came to know about the misrepresentation of Mr. Gomez,” Alvarez told the joint panel.

But still, Alvarez said Gomez did well in responding to the unfortunate RW incident.

“The June 2 incident is a completely different legal process with misrepresentation case. He was able to trigger the necessary protocol, called for the police and the BFP [Fire Bureau] that enabled a timely response from the authorities. At the end of the day, Mr. Gomez’s performance in June 2 has nothing to do with the misrepresentation that he might have committed six years ago,” Alvarez said.

But Tambunting said the past issue concerning Gomez must not be taken for granted.

“This is important because

if your Chief of Security is top notch, he would have been able to pool in the emergency response quickly,” said Tambunting.

This developed as investigators and hotel-casino officials were clueless on the “looting” of the valuables of the fatalities, including Elizabeth Panlilio Gonzales, wife of Pampanga Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr., during the June 2 bloody RW incident.

Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel raised the issue as he asked about the authorities which first entered the RWM premises—if the Philippine National Police or Bureau of Fire Protection.

He said he is convinced that the bodies of the other victims were looted.

“I am asking this question because this is very important.

This representation has received reports that there were some looting on the valuables of the victims,” Pimentel said.

Group urges LTFRB to summon Uber execs

By Rio N. Araja

THIRD ALARM. Firefighters train their hoses to control a fire on Wednesday in a residential area in Barangay Uno, F.B. Harrison in Pasay City. The Bureau of Fire Protection said the fire reached the third alarm. Norman Cruz

FOLLOWING the resignation of US-based Uber Technologies Inc. chief executive and founder Travis Kalanick, a group of lawyers asked on Wednesday the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board to immediately summon Uber representatives in the Philippines to report their business status which they said may impact the firm's extension petition to operate.

Lawyer Ariel Inton of the Lawyers for Commuters Safety and Protection appealed to LTFRB chairman Martin Delgra to inquire into the business issues of Uber and how the resignation of Kalanick could affect its operation under the transportation network vehicle service (TNVS) program.

He raised concern over the "shareholder revolt" within Uber at the wake of scandals involving its culture and policies.

Kalanick stepped down as head of the San Francisco-based company over strong pressure from five major investors.

A week ago, Inton, a former LTFRB board of director, aired strong suspicion that Kalanick’s leave of absence due to the death of his mother in a boating accident was just a defense to cover up the trouble in the internal affairs of Uber.

"LTFRB must observe caution and exercise due diligence in the examination of Uber's petition for extension of its TNVS license," he said.

He said the conflict in the Uber mother company could trigger adverse impacts on the welfare of the Filipino commuters as well as the job security of Uber partners in the Philippines, reportedly numbering about 15,000.

"It is important to know what is actually happening with Uber as the parent company of Uber in the Philippines," he said, saying that the management rift could fuel other serious problems.

The determination of Uber's financial status could give the LTFRB an opportunity to review the firm's TNVS extension petition, he said.

Govt makes repatriation of sick workers easier

By Vito Barcelo THE government has eased the processing in the repatriation of sick overseas Filipino workers which cause considerable inconvenience to their families while processing their travel and health clearance documents, Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III said.

Bello said a more cohesive and synchronized procedure for the medical repatriation of overseas Filipinos is now assured with the

signing of a Joint Memorandum Circular among concerned government agencies.

“The goal of JMC is to set in place an integrated system and process flow on medical repatriation among involved agencies and parties to ensure proper, timely and well-coordinated delivery of assistance and services to overseas Filipinos, whether documented or undocumented,” Bello said.

“With this joint agreement, we will now be able to harmonize our

policies, processes, and procedures; define our roles and responsibilities in medical repatriation, and institute a standard reporting and monitoring system,” Bello said.

Apart from DoLE, the other agencies involved in the joint memorandum circular are the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Health, Department of Social Welfare and Development, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Manila International Airport

Authority, and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

“The joint circular strengthens our interdepartmental efforts in protecting the rights and promoting the welfare and interests of our overseas Filipinos, including migrant workers,” Bello said.

Under the JMC, the DOLE, through the Philippine Overseas Labor Office and other partner agencies, will be in charge in coordinating and facilitating the medical repatriation.

Among these activities include coordination with families or next-of-kin regarding the medical condition; securing of medical clearance or certificate of fitness to travel; medical reports; and logistics arrangement, including provision of transport assistance from host country to the Philippines.

“We can now better address the issue of medical repatriation, which was ignored in the last few years,” Bello added.

Affairs has yet to comment on the case, but said that it would gather the information first before they can provide necessary consular assistance.

Pre-marital sex is illegal in the United Arab Emirates.

During the hearing, the couple told Dubai Court of Appeals judge Adnan al Farra that they were married at the time of the incident.

Their lawyer, Eisa Bin Haider presented to the court the couple’s marriage contract.

The legal counsel then asked the court to adjourn until the couple can present a notarized marriage contract.

In her testimony, the Filipina said she and her husband came from the same province in the Philippines, knew each other for eight years, and lived in her partner’s residence at Dubai Gardens.

She added that she did not know of her pregnancy until a few days before her medical emergency.

The couple’s trial will continue at a later date, the report said.

Go visit PH, says UNWTO official

By Sandy Araneta SECRETARY-GENERAL Taleb Rifai of the United Nations World Tourism Organization has said all the world’s people must go visit the Philippines at one time or another.

“You haven’t lived if you have not experienced the Philippines,” Rifai told delegates at the opening ceremony of the 6th UNWTO International Conference on Tourism Statistics on Wednesday at the New Port Performing Arts Theatre of the Resorts World Manila.

“We are here, ladies and gentlemen, to tell the world to come to the Philippines and make no mistake about it. Anybody who tries to present any other version of the story should come and see with your own eyes. All of the countries of the world that have experienced difficulties have come back and have shown their best and their beauty comes out,” Rifai added.

The UNWTO head said the year’s gathering is a “homecoming” and a milestone since Manila last hosted the WTO conference in 1980.

“The world is lucky to have the Philippines. Culture, nature, upbeat people give the country so much life. The Philippines is a country to travel and respect, and its greatest gift is its people,” Rifai said.

The opening ceremony was attended by Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, Department of Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo, Tourism Ministers from Thailand, Cameroon, Costa Rica, Fiji, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Seychelles, and 721 international and local delegates.

Meanwhile, Teo has continued to push sustainable tourism on a global level by urging leaders to support tourism-related policymaking.

“We hope that the Manila Call for Action will be adopted at this forum to demonstrate our common resolve to create a better world for our children and future generations,” she said.

In a statement, President Rodrigo Duterte also thanked UNWTO for choosing the Philippines as the venue for the conference.

“More than just a proof that the Philippines remains a safe destination for meetings, conferences, and other tourism activities, it also affirms the Philippines’ effort to promote tourism as a vehicle for a nation’s sustainability and inclusive progress,” he said in a statement read by Teo. Pimentel likewise assured the delegates that the situation in Mindanao is temporary.

“I am confident that once this crisis is over, we will have peace and security in that region that will result in more tourists visiting Southern Philippines,” said Pimentel.

Sports

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THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Tornadoes eye firmer hold on Superliga volley lead

Confidence crisis for Murray L

FOTON tries to tighten its solo hold on the lead, while Cignal and Petron renew their heated rivalry in another explosive pair of matches today in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Still unbeaten in four starts, the red-hot Tornadoes tackle Generika-Ayala at 5 p.m., while the HD Spikers and Blaze Spikers collide in the 7 p.m. encounter of this prestigious women’s club tourney bankrolled by Belo, Rebisco and Gold’s Gym with TV5 as official broadcast partner.

Action will be shown live on AksyonTV and Hyper and will be livestreamed over Sports5.ph.

After posting a massive fourset conquest of erstwhile-unbeaten Cignal over the weekend, the Tornadoes have occupied the ceiling of the leaderboard, giving them an edge in their match against the Lifesavers, who are still fresh from a four-set loss to Petron last Tuesday, 25-21, 2426, 25-21, 25-18.

On the other hand, the HD Spikers and the Blaze Spikers are sharing the second spot with a 3-1 win-loss card, making their battle royale very crucial as their standing in the second round will ultimately determine their ranking in the crossover quarterfinals.

Petron coach Shaq Delos Santos said facing Cignal would not be a walk in the park, especially after the HD Spikers dominated them in a four-set encounter in the first round.

In that match, the veteran triumvirate of Rachel Anne Daquis, Jovelyn Gonzaga and Honey Royse Tubino attacked relentlessly while blockers Cherry Vivas and Maica Morada as well as seasoned liberos Jheck Dionela and Sha Torres did superb jobs at the defensive end.

“It’s going to be a tough match,” said Delos Santos, looking forward to another dogfight against the wards of former Petron tactician George Pascua.

“They have the firepower and they have good blocking.

We have to prepare hard for this battle. I’m sure they will be ready as well.”

Delos Santos noted that they would be marching in full force with the return of Bernadeth Pons from a one-game absence and the recovery of Sisi Rondina from a mild sprain.

Murray crashed to one of the worst defeats of his glittering career on Tuesday as Australian world number 90 Jordan Thompson ended his reign as Queen’s champion with an astonishing 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 first round victory.

Making the 30-year-old’s humiliation even worse, Thompson, originally beaten in the qualifying rounds, was only playing as a last

ONDON—Andy Murray admits he will have to improve dramatically to mount a successful defence of his Wimbledon title after the world number one suffered an embarrassing Queen’s Club exit.

minute replacement for the injured Aljaz Bedene.

It was the worst possible preparation for Wimbledon, with the grass-court Grand Slam set to get under way on July 3.

Having reached the French Open semi-finals earlier this month, Murray must have hoped he was back on track after his poor run during an injury-plagued first

half of the season.

But instead the three-time Grand Slam winner plans to go back to the practice courts with coach Ivan Lendl in a lastditch bid to find a solution to his struggles.

“I said before the tournament there was still a lot of work to be done, and after the French Open I knew that I was still quite far from where I needed to be,” Murray said.

“One tournament doesn’t change all of what had gone on just beforehand. So that’s why I got back on the practice court quite soon after the French.

“But I was certainly feeling

better in the build-up here than I was going into the French. I would have expected to have played and done a bit better.”

Murray has now failed to get past the second round in three of his last four tournaments. and has lost before the quarter-finals six times this year.

It is a remarkable crisis for a player who just eight months ago was sitting on top of the world after a golden year that including titles at Wimbledon, the Olympics and the ATP Tour Finals.

Confidence factor Murray looks bereft of form and focus at present and he conceded a lack of confidence

Skateboarding Day 2018 set

By Peter Atencio

Circulo Verde’s The Bike Playground houses the first indoor pump track in the Philippines, designed by Velosolutions

The Bike Playground in Circulo Verde: A haven for cycling pros, enthusiasts IN A bid to solidify its stature as the new active lifestyle haven in Quezon City, Ortigas and Company recently introduced The Bike Playground in Circulo Verde.

This new hub for cycling pros and enthusiasts is developed 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 dynamic residential portfolio and emerging retail mix.

The Bike Playground aptly pushes Circulo Verde’s thrust to be the new go-to for urban dwellers seeking the active, alternative lifestyle. The bike 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 for the young ones.

Ortigas envisions The Bike Playground to enrich the living environment of Circulo Verde’s residents, and to serve as a new hotspot for thrill-seekers. With facilities that cater to bothbiking pros and newbies, The Bike Play-

ground is shaping up as a new must-visit destination for both friends and families especially this summer.

The Bike Playground complements Circulo Verde’s jogging path and tranquil open spaces, perfect for both relaxation and play that is also accessible to the residents of Circulo Verde’s slate of residential towers, namely Majorca, Lleida, Ibiza, and Seville, and its townhouse development, Circulo Verde Garden Homes.

Industria, Circulo Verde’s retail complex, also houses neighborhood establishments for post-

bike grub: Markus Patisserie and Bistro, The Washery and Cafe, Chef & Brewer, Infinitea, and Kambal Pandesal.

The Bike Playground is open everyday at Circulo Verde.

Monthly membership cards and 10-day prepaid passes are now available for only P1,500 and P650, respectively.

Circulo Verde is conveniently located along Calle Industria, near Ortigas and C5. For operating hours and updates please visit The Bike Playground’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ thebikeplaygro und/

Boosters, Magis seal Final 4 cast

Brigadier General Gener Del Rosario drives strong to the hoop. The AFP Cavaliers will be enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage in the Final 4 playoffs of the UNTV Cup Off Season: Executive Face-Off.

THE Department of Justice is headed to the UNTV Cup Playoffs after beating the BOC Transformers, 90-48, on Sunday, marking the first time that the Justice Boosters have advanced to the semifinals of the UNTV caging.

“Nagpapasalamat ako sa mga players ko na talagang nagtitiyaga sa practice para makapasok kami sa semis.

Sobrang saya ng team,” DOJ Justice Boosters’ John Agbayani Jr. said.

Meanwhile, the Judiciary Magis completed the Final Four cast as they eliminated the Senate Sentinels out of the UNTV offseason games.

Judicial Supervisor Jeovanni

Villanueva and Supreme Court Attorney VI Romulo Paras were hailed as the Best Players of the Game.

Court Administrator Midas Marquez also made an outstanding performance, sinking five 3-point field goals.

“Ang game plan kasi namin, look for the open man lang, mabilis ang bola. Kung sino libre, tumira para bumuka ‘yung depensa nila at mabigyan ‘yung big man namin sa ilalim,” Judiciary Magis Head Coach Joey Yabut explained.

In the main game, Colonel Jonathan Abutin and Colonel William Gonzales led the AFP Cavaliers past the PNP Responders.

“Prepared sila, talagang praktisado, kaya maganda rin laro ng AFP,” said NCRPO Chief PDir. Oscar Albayalde.

For this, the soldiers secured the no. 1 seed entering the semis.

“I have to give credit to my players, ‘yung game plan na running game, nagawa namin. Pero siyempre, hands up din kami sa PNP, pinahirapan nila kami,” said AFP Cavaliers Head Coach CPL Sonny Manucat.

The PNP Responders are ranked no. 2, followed by the DOJ and the Judiciary based on the rules of the games.

The top two teams have a twice-to-beat advantage in the playoffs, which begin on June 25.

Sta. Elena, Villamor share women’s golf Eagle Ridge honors STA. ELENA bounced back from two mediocre stints with a victory and a runner-up finish while Villamor pressed its bid for the overall lead in the third leg of the WGAP Circuit at the Eagle Ridge Golf and Country Club in Cavite last Monday.

Former WGAP president Rio Co fired 39 Stableford points while Marit Yuchengco added 37 and Therese Dabao and Carina Ricamonte each shot 35 points for Sta. Elena, which assembled a 146 and nipped Tagaytay Highlands in the countback for the Class A crown.

The Highlanders drew 40 points

was a factor.

“I don’t feel like loads of my game has changed, but obviously right now I’m not playing as well as I was 12 months ago,” he said.

“Most of that comes down to confidence in matches. It’s not so much that I have changed my serve or my technique.

“It’s just when you’re playing a lot of matches and winning consistently helps you make better decisions at important moments.

“Hopefully I get enough time on the court to work on some things, because I’m going to need to.

“If I play like that, I certainly won’t win Wimbledon, but I can play better than that.” AFP

from Grace Jung, a 39 from Rebecca Albert and 35 and 32 from Sofia Kim and Bernadette Wong, respectively, while Villamor, with Kristine Torralba carding 37 points, wound up third with a 143.

Meanwhile, Cangolf Class B player Evelyn Villar, using a 7-iron, stole the spotlight when she scored a hole-in-one at the 110-yard No. 14 of Norman course in the company of Tess Yap of Alabang, Sta. Elena’s Mary Jane Ishihara and Nitz Salivio of Aguinaldo.

Also sharing top honors were Eden Hernandez of Eagle Ridge, Forest Hills’ Ma. Consuelo Conti

and Evelyn Alcantara, also of Forest Hills, who all scored 40 points to claim the individual titles in Classes A, B and C, respectively.

The win and its second place finish in Class C netted Sta. Elena five points in a big rebound from its two-point production on a couple of third place efforts in Class A after the first two legs at Wack Wack and Valley Golf.

Tagaytay and Forest Hills kept the 1-2 spots in the overall race with 14 and 12 points, respectively, while Valley remained at third with 10 and Sta. Elena moved up to fourth with seven points heading to

the fourth leg of the eight-stage circuit at the Orchard’s Palmer course in Cavite on July 10.

Villamor, which posted a win and a runner-up finish in the first two legs of the annual circuit organized and conducted by the Women’s Golf Association of the Philippines, topped Class B with a 150 as Bea Tronco sizzled with 43 points, Marie Guerrero shot a 39 and Mary Ann Reyes and Marthy Fernando backed them up with 35 and 33 points, respectively.

Forest Hills totaled a 147 and nipped Tagaytay in the countback for second while Eagle Ridge

placed fourth with a 141 followed

by Alabang (140), Canlubang (138), Sta. Elena (134), Camp Aguinaldo (128), Orchard (119) and Wack Wack (100), respectively.

Canlubang also got 43 points from Lea Suarez while Therese Enriquez, Mercediline Magno and Detsy Laurel added 39, 37 and 36 points, respectively, as it romped off with the Class C title with a 155, 14 points ahead of Sta. Elena, which scored a 141. Forest Hills came in third with a 136 followed

by Villamor (130), Tagaytay (128), Alabang (122), Camp Aguinaldo (121) and Eagle Ridge (120).

ON HIS third time in Manila, street skateboarder Cyril Jackson hopes to inspire more young Filipino enthusiasts to get into the sport and love it.

“I skate competitively. But, I don’t want to.

I like it more on the streets with the homeys.

It’s fun,” said Jackson, who talked about his love for skateboarding during a meet-andgreet at the DC Store inside SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City.

The 27-year-old Jackson has been skating for 13 years and has been in the country in 2013 and 2014.

He’s here now with Australian skateboarder Alex Lawton and renowned American enthusiast Chase Webb.

They hope to connect with fans in the DC Go Skateboarding Day 2018.

DC, a leading global brand in skateboarding lifestyle outfits and gear, is looking forward to having 1,000 skateboarders attending the event.

The Quirino Grandstand will serve as assembly point and official starting point of the event, with Circuit Makati being the end point.

Jackson said he’ll be around, skating for fun while Filipino fans converge in an effort to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The last time a record was attempted was back in 2011, when the largest skateboarding parade was held in Los Angeles, California with 498 participants.

There will be competition categories for the Core Competition that will include the first-ever DC invitational, Highest Ollie, Longest Gap, Best Grind, and Skate Submit, a contest which will give away an award to the skater with the best trick video.

Jackson, Webb, and Lawton will do a skate demo and conduct a free skate session.

The DC GSD 2017 event is co-presented by Mountain Dew and sponsored by Grind, Go Pro, 360 Production, Dans, and Jeep. Venue partners are Mountain Dew Skate Park, Circuit Makati, and the City of Makati.

Diliman College, V Hotel stay alive Games today:

(FEU-NRMF gym) 6 p.m. • CdSL-V Hotel vs. PCU 7:30 p.m. • Diliman-JPA vs. FEU-NRMF

DILIMAN College-JPA Freight Logistics and Colegio de San Lorenzo-V Hotel let it all out against their twice-to-beat opponents and lived to fight another day.

Diliman-JPA rallied from the depth of a 20-point deficit to stun defending champion FEU-NRMF-Gerry’s Grill, 90-84, in overtime while CdSL-V Hotel proved steadier at crunchtime to edge Philippine Christian University, 82-79, in the 2017 MBL Open basketball tournament at the FEU-NRMF gym in Fairview.

The twin victories set up a pair of sudden death matches today for the two finals berths in the eight-team tournament sponsored by Smart Sports, Star Bread, Dickies Underwear, Ironcon Builders and Gerry’s Grill.

Joseph Brutas and import Adama Diakhite stood at the helm of the victory for the Rensy Bajar-coached Dragons, who are seeking to capture their second MBL title in three years and complete a grandslam of sorts by winning three preseason tournaments this month.

Brutas played one of his best games ever with 21 points, including five three-point shots while outhustling his more-experienced counterparts from FEU-NRMF.

LOTTO RESULTS

6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M+ 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 P0 M 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

Sixers like Fultz, Lakers eye Ball as draft nears

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

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THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

Sports Top draft prospect Markelle Fultz poses for a selfie at the Empire State Building in New York City. AFP

PH Sports Commission gives indigenous games a boost

By Peter Atencio

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ANAUE, Ifugao Province—There are many obscure games played by ethnic tribes that need to be appreciated.

Philippine Sports Commissioner Celia Kiram said this after she and officials of the PSC travelled yesterday to the Province of Ifugao to witness firsthand how indigenous games are played in a competitive setting.

GlobalPort to sign NBA D-League veteran GLOBALPORT is hoping to sign up NBA D-League veteran and former Georgetown University star Jabril Trawick in the seasonending PBA Governors’ Cup starting next month.

The 6’5” Trawick suited up for the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the NBA D-League that saw him average 13 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.7 assists in 37 games last season.

GlobalPort Governor and AirAsia executive Erick Arejola is hoping they will succeed in getting Trawick, believing he’s got the talent they are longing for.

“We’re still finalizing the details, only the minor ones,” said Arejola.

In his senior stint with the Hoyas, Trawick averaged 9.1 points with 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists.

He also emerged as the team’s top three-point shooter after making 40.7 percent of his shots.

One of his teammates during his senior year at Hoyas was current TNT reinforcement Joshua Smith.

Trawick will join GlobalPort’s talented backcourt of Terrence Romeo and Fil-Am Stanley Pringle under coach Franz Pumaren, whose team hopes to follow up their quarterfinal playoff stint in the Commissioner’s Cup.

This will be the first time officials of the PSC will see these under the watch of Chairman William “Butch” Ramirez.

“Makikita natin ang laro ng ating mga kapatid na Ifugao.

It’s high time that these games

are popularized, traditional games na dapat ma-replicate ng mga kabataan,” said Kiram, who added that she is eager to find out what they are and appreciate their nature.

She will have a chance to do so when the two-day Gender and Development Indigenous Games in the municipality of Lagawe get going Friday.

“Makikita natin ang mga katutubong laro na hindi pa natin nakikita. It’s time for us to

take note of these games,” said Kiram.

Twelve games played by ethnic tribes in the Province of Ifugao will be showcased during the affair.

The batawel race, a palaycarrying contest, and the stilt walking competition of akkad, will be among the team competitions that will be seen during the Games set on June 23 and 24.

The competitions will be held at the provincial capitol plaza

starting at 1 p.m. on Friday.

Guyyudan, or tug-of-war, among elementary and secondary students will kick off the start of activities.

A wrestling match called hinukting will be next on tap, followed by the batawel race, and the bangngunan, or leg wrestling.

There will also be competitions in akkad, followed by the ab-abba, or the man-carrying race.

NEW YORK—Markelle Fultz is expected to become the number one pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft after the Philadelphia 76ers swung a deal for the top choice after watching his private workout.

The 19-year-old point guard, who played at the University of Washington last season, would become the club’s fourth top overall pick and follow 2016’s first overall pick by Philly, Australian forward Ben Simmons.

Bryan Colangelo, the 76ers president of basketball operations, played coy about the pick even after swapping the first and third picks with Boston and giving up a future number one pick to get the first choice of unclaimed talent.

“I feel that within the top 10, there are probably five or six sure-fire All-Stars. There may be one or two franchise-level players,” Colangelo said. “On Thursday night, hopefully we make a decision that results in one of those franchise-level players being here.”

Fultz averaged 23.2 points, 5.9 assists, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 steals over 25 games last season for a Washington Huskies team that was 9-22.

He would join a young squad that features Simmons, who missed all of last season with a foot injury; Jahlil Okafor and 2017 NBA Rookie of the Year finalists Joel Embiid and Dario Saric. That young core of talent could provide a base to rebuild the team.

Since 2003, the 76ers have won only one playoff series and they have only one winning season since 2005. The Sixers went 28-54 last season.

“We have a core of young players that will be significantly stronger once the draft selection is made,” Colangelo said.

“We felt like we were in the right position to make a deal.

We felt the value of adding the one pick now was the right thing at the expense of only losing one of four going forward.”

Croatian forward Saric was asked on Twitter about the young group melding into a championship team and replied, “It will be hard but I hope with young team we got big chance to be dominant.” AFP

Villacencio takes charge with a 65 ANTIPOLO—Veteran Arnold Villacencio blitzed the backside with four birdies and sizzled at the finish for a six-under 65 as he wrested a twoshot lead over young Ira Alido at the start of the ICTSI Forest Hills Championship at the Forest Hills Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Villacencio, whose game took a downswing after scoring his maiden win at Summit Point in 2014, surprised the field with his hot start then capped his big surge with two birdies in the last four holes to string a 33-32 card and set the pace in a day of changing fortunes despite benign condition at the Nicklaus layout.

“I played a fantastic round.

Ever ything was in place, including my putting,” said Villacencio, who

also flashed a near-impeccable short game where he rescued pars in seven times that he went out of regulation to seize control in the P3 million event sponsored by ICTSI. But he expects the rest to make their move in today’s second round where the top 40 plus ties will advance to the final 36 holes of the tournament staking a whopping P550,000 to the winner on Saturday.

“Hopefully, I maintain my game and win,” said Villacencio, out to end a long title spell and string of missed cut stints.

Clyde Mondilla best typified the sudden shift of fates in scorching heat as the two-leg winner threatened to dominate the field with an eaglespiked five-under 30 start. But the

back-to-back winner at Southwoods and Villamor lost his touch and focus at the back, dropping two strokes on the par-5 No. 10, reeled with three straight bogeys from No. 13 then holed out with a double-bogey on the 18th.

From the top of the 73-player heap, the Del Monte ace tumbled to joint 26th at 73, eight shots off the pace in the early going of the 72-hole championship organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Alido also eagled the reachable par-5 No. 6 and birdied No. 8 to shoot a 67 in another impressive start for the rookie pro out to atone for his failed bid at Orchard last May where he co-led in the first round with a 68 but missed the cut with a second round 85.

NCAA host promises tight security SECURITY will be tight whenever games are held inside any of the seven participating campuses of the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

Management Committee chairman Fr. Glynn Ortega, OAR, of host San Sebastian College, said this as the league gets ready for Season 93’s opening on July 8.

This will keep untoward incidents that involve fights among fans and students from rival schools from erupting.

This also means establishing safe zones where athletes can mingle and limiting the number of visitors from other

schools from coming into the homecourt of the hosts and Seven schools will initially hold games inside their campuses.

Host San Sebastian College will be among those which have Friday games inside their campuses, but it will take place in their Cavite campus.

Arellano University in Legarda, Manila is another venue, along with Letran College in Intramuros, Manila, and Emilio Aguinaldo College in San Marcelino, Manila.

There will be games at the University of Perpetual Help campus

in Las Piñas.

For the elimination round, Ortega explained that they will adopt a 3-on-3 format, with three games on each of the three playdates of Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Games on Tuesdays and Thursdays are still going to be at The Arena in San Juan.

Opening day games at the Mall of Asia Arena will have host San Sebastian College going up against defending champion San Beda at 2 p.m, followed by the duel between last year’s runner-up Arellano University and Mapua at 4 p.m. Peter Atencio

Arnold Villacencio reacts after canning in a birdie putt on No. 18.

Akira, Hapee join Premier Volley League cast AKARI and Hapee Toothpaste have signed up for the Premier Volleyball League, making it an eight-team cast when it holds the Open Conference beginning July 1 at the San Juan Arena.

Akari, the top lighting and technology firm, is linking up with Adamson while Hapee will be backstopped by aces from the University of the Philippines when they make their respective debuts in the country’s premier

women’s volley league.

Jemma Galanza, formerly of Creamline, and AdU coach Airess Padda will spearhead Akari’s title campaign while Lady Maroons Issa Molde and Diane Carlos will join UP coach Jerry Yee in the Hapee side as they slug it out with the league’s mainstays Pocari Sweat, Creamline, Air Force, Perlas, BaliPure and the Power Smashers.

Pocari remains the marked team in the upcoming tournament with

the Lady Warriors, headed by Myla Pablo and Gyzelle Sy, gunning for a fourth championship in as many stints in the league organized by Sports Vision.

Meanwhile, the league will no longer allow players with Alien Certificate of Residence (ACR), thus blocking the stints of Amy Ahomiro and Thai Pacharee Sangmuang.

Sports Vision president Ricky Palou yesterday said the board voted against the “ACR rule” during their

meeting last Tuesday night, disallowing foreigners who are permanent residents in the country and ACR holders to see action.

Ahomiro, a Kiwi national and a former Ateneo stalwart, and Sangmuang, a permanent resident the last three years, were set to play for the Perlas Spikers and the Power Smashers, respectively. The new PVL ruling thus paves the way for the staging of an all Filipino tournament.

“The rule has been changed about foreigners holding ACR. Teams voted that it should be AllFilipino and that players should be Philippine passport holders,” said Palou.

Power Smashers coach Nes Pamilar announced over the weekend that they are fielding Sangmuang, who last played as an import for Air Force in the recent Reinforced Conference a few weeks back.

Electronics group opposes 5% VAT B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

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Peza expects P872-b investments

By Othel V. Campos

T

HE Philippine Economic Zone Authority expects investment approvals to jump 300 percent this year to P872.7 billion from just P218.2 billion in 2016, after more foreign companies expressed interest to invest in the country.

Peza director-general Charito Plaza said the investment expectation was much faster than the first-quarter investment growth of 51 per-

cent.

“We’re more than quadrupling the growth for four quarters this year. The crisis in the Middle East did not

affect the interest of foreign companies to locate in the Philippines,” Plaza told reporters at the sidelines of the 14th Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition 2017 at SMX Convention Center in Pasay City.

Peza assumed the optimistic forecast following a 26-percent drop in investments in 2016 to P218.2 billion from P295 billion in 2015.

Plaza said investors from the US, Saudi Arabia, Qatar,

Japan and the United Arab Emirates had started the selection process for investment locations and registered their companies with the incentivegiving body.

Investments approved by Peza in the first quarter jumped 50.5 percent to P51.335 billion from P34.107 billion in the same period last year.

Japan was the biggest source of investments in the first quarter and accounted for 30 percent of the total.

Electronics and semicon-

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE Unit

US Dollar Peso

United States Dollar

1.000000

50.0640

Japan

Yen

0.008975

0.4493

UK

Pound

1.263200

63.2408

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128195

6.4180

Switzerland

Franc

1.025641

51.3477

Canada

Dollar

0.753920

37.7443

Singapore

Dollar

0.719891

36.0406

Australia

Dollar

0.757900

37.9435

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654491

132.8944

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266695

13.3518

Brunei

Dollar

0.717309

35.9114

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.029446

1.4742

UAE

Dirham 0.272279

13.6314

Euro

Euro

1.113500

55.7463

Korea

Won

0.000876

0.0439

China

Yuan

0.146424

7.3306

India

Rupee

0.015495

0.7757

Malaysia

Ringgit 0.233536

New Zealand Dollar

0.723900

Taiwan

0.032841

Dollar

By Julito G. Rada

11.6917 36.2413 1.6442 Source: PDS Bridge

Peso falls to 50.29 per dollar THE peso weakened further against the US dollar Wednesday, falling to its lowest level in almost three months as the likelihood of another interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve increases.

The peso lost P0.19 to close at 50.29 Wednesday from 50.10 Tuesday. It was the local currency’s weakest level since it settled at 50.325 on March 24, 2017. Total volume turnover reached $727 million, lower than $1.155 billion Tuesday.

“We still have three more Fed speakers for the rest of the week, and I think the US dollar will remain supported at these current levels,” Security Bank Corp. said in its daily market report.

The peso breached the 50-adollar level this week, dragged down by the hawkish statement of New York Fed president William Dudley that the US central bank might continue to gradually tighten its monetary policy.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said the peso’s weakness was a reaction to external developments particularly the hawkish statements of Fed officials.

“So all regional currencies have responded the same way.

We are just moving with other regional currencies,” Tetangco said. He, however, said that Bangko Sentral’s policy was not to go against the fundamental trend and minimize the sharp fluctuation and volatility.

Reports quoted Dudley, a close ally of Fed Chair Janet Yellen, as saying that US inflation was a bit low but should rise alongside wages as the labor market continues to improve, allowing the Federal Reserve to continue gradually tightening US monetary policy.

The peso closed at 49.72 to a dollar on the last trading day of 2016. It posted its weakest level in 10 years at 50.40 per greenback on March 3, 2017.

The Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee kept the peso-dollar exchange rate this year at 48 to 50 a dollar. Julito G. Rada

Direct employment in the sector also increased 2 percent to 349,662 people from 333,849.

Data from Peza showed that of 3,985 companies operating in economic zones, 469 or 1.8 percent were electronics and semiconductor enterprises as of March 2017.

“We are looking for a very bullish year for Peza. We see total exports growing, since 80 percent of the country’s exports comes from Peza,” Plaza said.

Security Bank reports system posting delay

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Wednesday, June 21, 2017 Currency

ductor investments in the first quarter climbed 85.19 percent to P7.64 billion from P4.12 billion in the same period in 2016. Semiconductor exports by Peza locators also increased 11.5 percent to $5.7 billion in the first quarter from $5.1 billion a year ago.

Electronics and semiconductors accounted for 17.7 percent of manufacturing gross value added and 51 percent of total Philippine exports last year.

PANASONIC’S LATEST TV. Panasonic Manufacturing Philippines Corp. launches the latest HD

TV lineup of Panasonic at Marriott Hotel in Pasay City. Shown during the launching are (from left) PMPC vice president for sales and marketing Masaru Toyota, PMPC president Shinichi Hayashi and Panasonic Appliance Marketing Asia Pacific director of AV merchandising division Nobuhide Saito.

Manny Palmero

IN BRIEF Govt to spend P700m to rehabilitate Sangley

THE Transportation Department is spending up to P700 million to upgrade and rehabilitate Sangley airport in Cavite province to accommodate the operations of general aviation and small commercial aircraft.

“We have the go signal. We will be spending about P600 million to P700 million. It’s just the military base and there will be no reclamation and no seaport,” Transportation Undersecretary for aviation Manuel Antonio Tamayo said.

The department earlier said the removal of general aviation at Ninoy Aquino International Airport would increase the capacity of the terminal by 18 percent to 21 percent.

There are currently 5,100 scheduled commercial weekly flights per week at Naia, according to OAG data. This equates to an average of 365 takeoffs and 365 landings per week. Movements are now capped at 40 per hour.

Naia accounts for nearly 90 percent of all domestic passengers in the Philippines and more than 80 percent of all international passengers. It handled 39.5 million passengers in 2016, including 20.6 million domestic and 18.9 million international passengers.

Darwin G. Amojelar

PLDT data centers meet safety standards

TWO data centers of ePLDT Inc. received the ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 3 design certificates.

The unit of PLDT Inc., with its ongoing efforts to push for business resilience through its network of data centers, said its two flagship Vitro data centers in Makati City and Clark, Pampanga became the first and only in the country to receive the ANSI/TIA-942 Rated 3 design certificates.

The standard is based on all physical infrastructure like site location, fire safety, architectural, electrical, mechanical, security, telecommunication and other critical data center requirements.

The guidelines set by ANSI/TIA-942 emphasized the redundancy design of the data centers to ensure the highest availability during unplanned maintenance and infrastructure expansion.

This means that ePLDT’s data centers in Makati and Clark have a concurrently maintainable site infrastructure where each of its components―including all the circuit breakers, panel boards and power strips―can be removed, replaced or serviced without affecting the operations of colocation customers.

“Choosing the right data center that supports the growth trajectory of local businesses is a critical decision for owners,” said ePLDT group chief operating officer Nerisse Ramos.

Malampaya project set to undergo repair

THE Malampaya natural gas platform project in northwest Palawan will undergo maintenance works for two days in the second half of the year, the Energy Department said Wednesday.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella told reporters the planned Malampaya maintenance would be conducted on July 15 to 16. He assured that power supply would remain stable during the period.

Fuentebella said the two-day maintenance works during that weekend was in preparation for the scheduled pigging in August of the 504-kilometer subsea pipeline which connects the offshore platform to the onshore gas plant in Batangas.

The “pigging” procedure also intends to eliminate accumulated deposits, which affect the overall productivity of the facility, he said.

The pigging process, which was named after “pigs” or devices and instruments used for the method, will clean the pipeline which originates from the Malampaya platform.

Fuentebella said that during the two-day shutdown in July, one unit of Sta. Rita (250 megawatts) would not be supplied with natural gas for two days and another unit of Sta. Rita (250 MW) was expected to be on planned shutdown.

“Schedules of this maintenance work were timed to coincide with planned shutdowns of First Gas; also these are weekends so demand for power is anticipated to be low,” Fuentebella said. Alena Mae S. Flores

SECURITY Bank Corp., the country’s fifth-largest bank in terms of assets, said it experienced a delay in posting banking transactions in its system Tuesday.

The bank, however, said in a statement the incident would not impact the financial integrity of its customers’ accounts.

“Yesterday, we encountered a delay in posting banking transactions on our systems. We continue to perform system maintenance activities to address this and expect our systems to be fully updated by close of business today,” Security Bank said.

“While some services were affected, the delay did not prevent our customers from accessing their funds,” it said.

Security Bank apologized for the inconvenience the delay might have caused its customers. It said all bank branches and customer service representatives were ready to attend to and accommodate any and all transactions as necessary.

Security Bank extended banking hours until 7 p.m. on June 21.

Meanwhile, a Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said Bank of the Philippine Islands could face sanctions if investigations showed that it violated regulations on the banking laws after an electronic glitch affected some of its accountholders early this month.

Bangko Sentral assistant governor Chuchi Fonacier, representing the supervision and examination sector, said at the sidelines of a Senate hearing Wednesday, the imposition of any sanction “would also depend on how the bank [BPI] took action or responded to the problem.”

“It would warrant a sanction if there were really violations of regulations on the banking laws. But as I said, it would also depend on how the bank took action on the problem. So those things need a really holistic assessment of the situation,” Fonacier said.

B2

Business

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

LBC to issue $50-m notes to Asian fund

By Jenniffer B. Austria LOGISTICS and money transfer service provider LBC Express Holdings Inc. is raising $50 million from the issuance of convertible notes.

LBC Express made the announcement after it failed to secure the Securities and Exchange Commission’s approval to hold a P1.2-billion share sale to fund expansion.

LBC Express said in a disclosure to the stock exchange its board of directors approved the issuance of $50 million worth of convertible notes to CP Briks Pte. Ltd. CP Briks is a special purpose vehicle owned by Crescent Point, which is a China, Southeast Asia and Australia-focused private equity and special situations investment firm. It is focused on consumer-related businesses, including apparel,

retail, services, healthcare, wellness tourism and finance.Crescent Point also invests in geographies or industries when high-quality assets are available at attractive prices.

“The proceeds of the convertible instrument will be used to fund the growth of the business of the company, including capital expenditures and working capital,” LBC Express said.

The notes are convertible to shares of the company, to be issued out of the unissued portion of the company’s authorized capital stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Philippine Stock Exchange earlier rejected the P1.2-billion follow-on offering of LBC Express after it failed to disclosure material information, particularly regarding legal proceedings against its controlling shareholders.

Market extends losses; Bloomberry, Wilcon up

S

TOCKS fell for a second day, amid another sell-off in energy firms in Asian markets that tracked hefty losses on Wall Street as oil prices tanked.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, shed 31 points, or 0.4 percent, to close at 7,886.37, as four of the six major sectors declined. Despite the loss, the bellwether was still up 15.3 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, also dropped 10 points, or 0.2 percent, to settle

at 4,708.79, on a value turnover of P8.1 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers, 107 to 94, while 41 issues were unchanged.

Eight of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by developer Cebu Landmasters Inc. which climbed 5.6 percent to P5.90 and gaming firm Bloomberry Resorts Corp. which advanced 3.3 percent to

P9.70. Wilcon Depot Inc. sustained its gain, with a 2.8-percent rise to close at P7.79.

Meanwhile, Shanghai was the shining light in Asia, ending up 0.5 percent after MSCI’s decision to include mainland-listed firms in a key index.

Crude prices sank more than two percent on Tuesday on increasing fears of a global supply glut, as continued production in the US and elsewhere offsets an OPEC output cut deal.

The fall also came despite a drop in US inventories.

“Oil prices have officially entered a bear market [and] plummeted two percent after reports of rising output from

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21, 2017

NAME

OPEN

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 4.02 24,000 50.55 35,120 105.7 1,849,030 4 30,000 120.4 2,109,750 1.29 13,000 37 260,400 16.2 24,300 28 1,244,200 1.7 13,000 0.71 5,257,000 84.9 2,247,570 0.94 2,045,000 15.42 69,900 25.05 200 67.65 197,050 243.6 1,450 89 130 58.95 156,610 221 639,400 1,650 70 85.2 85,540

97,090 1,771,234.50 194,777,627 119,100 253,364,805 16,770 9,630,015 391,198 34,865,340 21,650 3,705,200 191,093,811 1,922,010 1,080,026 5,010 13,286,035 352,588 11,561 9,234,381 141,041,854 113,700 7,288,019.50

1,215,226.50 -42,723,339 -41,747,162 9,018,430 4,979,370 8,250 74,900 -77,144,342.50 -94,100 4,880,011.50 24,380 4,974,650.50 28,474,760 -81,300 28,118

39.2 7.92 0.83 1.55 28 0.265 114 7.31 18.22 23.35 14.2 75.15 78 2.02 5.41 11.4 11.98 16.1 9.81 7.01 5.96 1.71 18.96 70.3 14.5 13.58 13.3 1.74 214 61.5 3.94 3.6 25 30.75 19.38 19.08 262.4 0.245 6.92 3.06 9.52 6.1 10.4 1.93 9.3 68.25 6.55 312 4.55 4.9 2.51 13 5.12 0.146 1.36 166.5 2.2 1.07

INDUSTRIAL 39.65 1,474,700 7.93 1,180,800 0.84 1,661,000 1.57 814,000 28.05 238,200 0.27 3,830,000 114.7 100 7.45 3,316,700 18.3 1,645,800 24 3,809,300 14.2 2,700 78 3,610 78.5 1,240 2.05 1,098,000 5.41 32,200 11.5 11,100 12.06 3,039,300 16.1 13,327,100 9.82 118,800 7.15 960,000 6.03 12,712,900 1.71 5,000 18.98 1,245,100 70.45 119,070 14.6 79,900 13.6 303,900 13.66 5,124,400 1.79 2,530,000 215.4 677,910 61.5 500 3.98 1,224,000 3.6 20,000 25 1,000 30.75 1,035,800 19.46 255,900 19.1 4,063,400 262.8 307,180 0.245 3,760,000 6.92 24,300 3.09 402,000 9.65 5,070,900 6.14 325,700 10.7 7,600 1.98 2,411,000 9.35 526,400 69 855,560 6.97 2,667,000 319.8 29,630 4.6 75,000 5 279,000 2.53 4,360,000 13.04 2,685,700 5.2 294,300 0.146 100,000 1.39 284,000 168 2,403,890 2.29 17,887,000 1.07 225,000

58,278,990 9,489,218 1,398,370 1,278,520 6,714,755 1,015,400 11,421 24,740,449 30,087,588 90,450,590 38,340 281,523 96,830 2,254,030 176,632 127,234 36,584,226 217,771,668 1,170,047 6,813,116 76,569,149 8,550 23,651,736 8,391,444 1,160,370 4,136,664 69,946,398 4,564,810 145,927,558 30,760 4,884,150 72,000 25,000 32,068,570 4,979,414 77,622,390 80,860,388 926,390 168,552 1,242,320 48,827,999 2,015,188 79,070 4,751,280 4,915,344 58,695,866.50 17,977,740 9,397,998 341,500 1,391,820 11,359,580 35,069,164 1,516,880 14,600 391,730 402,743,643 40,628,590 242,950

-16,442,345 95,000 483,000 -18,550 5,100,953 27,107,544 -38,059,710 6,008,558 32,753,278.00 762,167 2,035,772 -2,239,909 4,295,442 4,570,935 -3,390,966 687,736 646,350 14,322,668 187,210 -18,000 -5,401,130 401,242 -61,925,672 -23,929,500 -323,680 23,236,671 77,600 599,563 9,893,479.50 -553,611 1,256,930 318,500 -69,050.00 403,140 10,700,534 812,504 185,629,125 1,671,590.00 -108,000

0.36 74.2 14.06 1.18 6.35 0.33 0.335 837.5 7.9 14.38 7.59 0.197 1,199 7.5 78 5.28 5.19 5.22 0.99 7.38 14.86 0.395 6.15 3.19 0.053 0.93 2.1 104.8 2.63 787.5 1.42 305 0.28 0.243

HOLDING FIRMS 0.37 3,730,000 75.8 1,379,120 14.1 4,608,700 1.29 944,000 6.35 34,800 0.335 7,120,000 0.335 1,010,000 841.5 438,960 7.9 367,500 14.52 10,603,600 7.7 21,500 0.206 520,000 1,200 540,770 7.78 11,600 79.5 1,794,710 5.72 84,800 5.35 14,000 5.22 152,000 1.01 3,388,000 7.44 1,232,100 14.9 3,014,800 0.395 100,000 6.2 13,052,500 3.19 2,000 0.054 14,810,000 0.93 84,000 2.21 7,478,000 104.9 148,110 2.63 59,000 791 340,490 1.44 359,000 305.6 3,040 0.28 70,000 0.243 400,000

1,365,500 104,187,725 64,997,804 1,202,810 223,953 2,378,000 339,000 370,370,130 2,915,907 153,820,106 163,315 103,170 649,123,765 87,028 142,240,132.50 476,835 73,680 1,019,176 3,399,830 9,167,181 44,980,402 39,650 80,904,860 6,380 794,550 89,670 16,217,270 15,558,601 155,570 269,036,385 514,260 928,960 19,600 97,390

32,850 25,555,697.50 -265,704 167,500 -128,347,930 -1,214,670 80,213,976 -38,152,575 -8,740,669 20,400 -5,956,835 -9,466,050 -772,642 10,600 3,236,430 1,737,707 46,679,815 4,300 -464,514 -

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE 4.05 ASIA UNITED 50.45 BANK PH ISLANDS 105 BDO LEASING 3.95 BDO UNIBANK 120.7 BRIGHT KINDLE 1.29 CHINABANK 36.8 COL FINANCIAL 16.06 EAST WEST BANK 28.1 IREMIT 1.72 MEDCO HLDG 0.71 METROBANK 85.9 NTL REINSURANCE 0.96 PB BANK 15.46 PBCOM 25.05 PHIL NATL BANK 67.5 PHIL STOCK EXCH 243 PSBANK 88.1 RCBC 59 SECURITY BANK 220.6 SUN LIFE 1,620 UNION BANK 85.2

4.08 50.55 105.7 4 121 1.29 37 16.2 28.2 1.72 0.72 85.9 0.96 15.46 25.05 67.7 243.8 89 59.05 221 1,650 85.3

4.02 50.2 104.9 3.95 118.8 1.29 36.8 16.06 27.9 1.65 0.7 84.6 0.93 15.42 25.05 67.1 243 88.1 58.75 217.8 1,620 85.2

ABOITIZ POWER 39.6 AGRINURTURE 7.92 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.87 ALSONS CONS 1.56 ASIABEST GROUP 28.75 BASIC ENERGY 0.265 BOGO MEDELLIN 114 CEMEX HLDG 7.31 CENTURY FOOD 18.28 CIRTEK HLDG 23.5 CNTRL AZUCARERA14.2 CONCEPCION 78 CONCRETE A 78.5 CROWN ASIA 2.1 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.5 DEL MONTE 11.6 DNL INDUS 12 EAGLE CEMENT 16.22 EEI CORP 9.96 EMPERADOR 7.14 ENERGY DEVT 6.11 EUROMED 1.71 FIRST GEN 19 FIRST PHIL HLDG 70.5 GINEBRA 14.5 HOLCIM 13.68 INTEGRATED MICR 13.34 IONICS 1.84 JOLLIBEE 215 LIBERTY FLOUR 61.55 LMG CHEMICALS 4.07 MABUHAY VINYL 3.6 MACAY HLDG 25 MANILA WATER 31 MAXS GROUP 19.6 MEGAWIDE 19.12 MERALCO 265 MG HLDG 0.246 PANASONIC 6.93 PEPSI COLA 3.08 PETRON 9.68 PHIL H2O 6.19 PHINMA 10.4 PHINMA ENERGY 1.98 PHX PETROLEUM 9.34 PILIPINAS SHELL 68.95 PRYCE CORP 6.55 PUREFOODS 312 RFM CORP 4.6 ROXAS HLDG 4.9 SFA SEMICON 2.75 SHAKEYS PIZZA 13.18 SPC POWER 5.2 SWIFT FOODS 0.146 TKC METALS 1.37 UNIV ROBINA 168 VITARICH 2.34 VULCAN INDL 1.1

39.8 8.13 0.87 1.59 29.4 0.27 114.7 7.6 18.36 24 14.2 78 78.5 2.1 5.5 11.6 12.1 16.56 9.96 7.15 6.11 1.71 19.06 70.7 14.8 13.68 13.96 1.87 215.8 61.55 4.08 3.6 25 31.15 19.66 19.18 265 0.25 6.94 3.11 9.7 6.35 10.7 2 9.4 69.7 6.98 320.2 4.6 5.18 2.78 13.18 5.2 0.146 1.39 168.1 2.34 1.1

ABACORE CAPITAL 0.365 ABOITIZ EQUITY 75 ALLIANCE GLOBAL 14.16 ANGLO PHIL HLDG 1.23 ANSCOR 6.4 ATN HLDG A 0.35 ATN HLDG B 0.35 AYALA CORP 856 COSCO CAPITAL 7.91 DMCI HLDG 14.62 FILINVEST DEV 7.59 FORUM PACIFIC 0.2 GT CAPITAL 1,214 HOUSE OF INV 7.5 JG SUMMIT 78.35 JOLLIVILLE HLDG 5.28 KEPPEL HLDG A 5.19 KEPPEL HLDG B 5.95 LODESTAR 1 LOPEZ HLDG 7.38 LT GROUP 14.94 MABUHAY HLDG 0.4 METRO PAC INV 6.16 MJC INVESTMENTS 3.19 PACIFICA 0.053 PRIME MEDIA 1 PRIME ORION 2.1 SAN MIGUEL CORP 106 SEAFRONT RES 2.65 SM INVESTMENTS 793.5 SOLID GROUP 1.42 TOP FRONTIER 305.8 UNIOIL HLDG 0.28 ZEUS HLDG 0.244

0.375 75.8 14.16 1.3 6.58 0.35 0.35 856 8 14.62 7.74 0.206 1,214 7.78 80 5.75 5.36 7.46 1.03 7.47 15 0.4 6.25 3.19 0.055 1.12 2.21 106 2.65 793.5 1.45 305.8 0.28 0.244

8990 HLDG 6.25 A BROWN 1.66 ARANETA PROP 2.56 ARTHALAND CORP 1.18 AYALA LAND 41.1 BELLE CORP 3.89 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.62 CEBU HLDG 5.28 CENTURY PROP 0.52 CITY AND LAND 1.12 CITYLAND DEVT 1.41 CROWN EQUITIES 0.18 CYBER BAY 0.52 DOUBLEDRAGON 46.95 EMPIRE EAST 0.71 FILINVEST LAND 1.69 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.23 IRC PROP 0.97 MEGAWORLD 4.6 MRC ALLIED 0.375 PHIL ESTATES 0.355

6.25 1.71 2.57 1.2 41.1 3.94 5.92 5.28 0.54 1.12 1.45 0.184 0.53 47 0.71 1.69 1.25 0.97 4.6 0.39 0.37

6.11 1.62 2.55 1.12 40.2 3.89 5.54 5.27 0.52 1.08 1.41 0.179 0.51 46.1 0.7 1.65 1.23 0.96 4.51 0.36 0.35

VOLUME

OPEN

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

PHIL REALTY 0.65 PRIMEX CORP 4.12 PTFC REDEV CORP 32 ROBINSONS LAND 24.6 ROCKWELL 1.77 SHANG PROP 3.24 SM PRIME HLDG 34.6 STA LUCIA LAND 1.02 SUNTRUST HOME 0.89 VISTA LAND 5.9

0.66 4.12 32 24.95 1.79 3.27 34.6 1.03 0.9 6.06

0.65 4.05 32 24.4 1.75 3.19 34.2 1 0.88 5.89

0.66 4.11 32 24.95 1.75 3.27 34.35 1.03 0.9 6

6,180,000 304,000 300 820,400 72,000 1,012,000 11,401,900 10,404,000 751,000 8,793,300

4,031,010 1,243,240 9,600 20,361,025 126,520 3,244,160 391,558,090 10,528,610 664,900 52,513,116

-3,170 -7,814,280 21,110 32,000 77,352,395 -5,352,020 -9,864,796

2GO GROUP 25.5 ABS CBN 43.4 ACESITE HOTEL 1.65 APC GROUP 0.495 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.042 BERJAYA 5.51 BLOOMBERRY 9.48 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.089 CALATA CORP 2.28 CEBU AIR 99.4 CENTRO ESCOLAR 9.6 DFNN INC 8.45 EASYCALL 3.01 GLOBE TELECOM 2,134 GMA NETWORK 6.14 GOLDEN HAVEN 15.62 HARBOR STAR 3.2 IMPERIAL 3.39 INTL CONTAINER 104 IPM HLDG 8.89 ISLAND INFO 0.19 ISM COMM 1.4 JACKSTONES 3.5 LBC EXPRESS 16.38 LEISURE AND RES 4.44 MACROASIA 5.69 MANILA BULLETIN 0.69 MANILA JOCKEY 2.3 MELCO RESORTS 9.79 METRO RETAIL 4.55 MLA BRDCASTING 15.6 NOW CORP 2.61 PACIFIC ONLINE 11.5 PAL HLDG 5.17 PHIL SEVEN CORP 169 PHILWEB 11 PLDT 1,859 PREMIUM LEISURE 1.56 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.39 PUREGOLD 45.45 ROBINSONS RTL 88 SBS PHIL CORP 6.46 SSI GROUP 3.69 STI HLDG 1.41 TRAVELLERS 3.17 WATERFRONT 0.87 WILCON DEPOT 7.6

26.1 43.45 1.7 0.5 0.043 5.51 9.75 0.091 2.28 100.9 9.6 8.5 3.01 2,140 6.17 15.96 3.26 3.39 104 8.89 0.193 1.4 3.55 16.38 4.44 6.18 0.7 2.34 9.93 4.7 15.6 2.66 11.5 5.18 169 11.14 1,859 1.57 0.395 45.45 88.1 6.48 3.7 1.46 3.27 0.95 7.98

24.75 43 1.65 0.495 0.042 5.45 9.48 0.088 2.17 99.1 9.6 8.43 3.01 2,090 6.13 15.62 3.06 3.38 100.8 8.88 0.187 1.37 3.47 16.38 4.33 5.69 0.64 2.21 9.75 4.39 15.52 2.58 11.44 5.1 169 10.8 1,814 1.56 0.385 45.2 87.05 6.25 3.41 1.39 3.17 0.87 7.58

SERVICES 24.8 820,400 43.1 23,900 1.67 202,000 0.5 1,460,000 0.043 53,400,000 5.45 9,300 9.7 18,397,400 0.09 48,010,000 2.17 7,334,000 100 172,220 9.6 1,700 8.5 700,000 3.01 1,000 2,100 39,575 6.13 111,100 15.8 56,500 3.12 5,135,000 3.39 68,000 101.4 1,305,810 8.88 265,000 0.187 21,420,000 1.37 200,000 3.55 29,000 16.38 1,400 4.35 693,000 6.18 5,518,000 0.67 1,429,000 2.34 3,000 9.92 7,526,300 4.64 26,298,000 15.52 500 2.62 2,152,000 11.44 22,500 5.1 141,200 169 110 11 961,900 1,825 194,470 1.57 1,721,000 0.385 930,000 45.3 2,029,400 88 463,550 6.35 1,858,200 3.42 27,093,000 1.46 26,705,000 3.26 6,661,000 0.91 16,985,000 7.79 36,525,100

20,797,245 1,032,190 338,250 728,000 2,245,300 51,125 178,255,734 4,272,340 16,228,720 17,214,746 16,320 5,943,980 3,010 83,140,400 683,220 885,840 16,196,380 230,510 133,042,927 2,353,251 4,079,000 277,060 102,390 22,932 3,019,160 32,994,431 957,650 6,850 74,171,764 120,288,480 7,768 5,593,460 257,884 720,545 18,590 10,590,340 355,509,955 2,693,020 360,550 91,815,890 40,779,198 11,790,547 95,277,770 38,120,620 21,521,330 15,503,750 286,578,692

1,631,725 9,900 67,200 99,875,293 272,460.00 -1,749,098.50 -3,192,550 -18,966,770 382,430 6,780 20,786,184 -401,100 -221,850 2,542,993 21,704,059.00 -1,392,710 -16,900 -679,464 14,250,685 -112,120 34,407,790 4,588,759 -5,341,700 2,265,000 17,074,860 3,253,260 20,850 6,163,075

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

0.003 1.66 5 14.5 0.92 0.39 9.47 2.45 0.295 0.181 0.193 0.011 1.9 6.17 2.14 0.475 0.95 0.01 5.9 8.99 3 160.4 2.71 0.0081

0.003 1.66 5.02 16 0.92 0.395 9.47 2.47 0.295 0.181 0.193 0.011 1.97 6.29 2.14 0.51 0.96 0.011 5.93 9.05 3 160.6 2.8 0.0081

0.0029 1.62 4.96 14.5 0.92 0.385 9.05 2.42 0.28 0.179 0.192 0.011 1.89 6.15 2.05 0.475 0.95 0.01 5.84 8.91 2.84 159.8 2.7 0.0081

MINING & OIL 0.003 104,000,000 1.63 3,892,000 5 117,000 15 3,100 0.92 20,000 0.395 180,000 9.35 3,200 2.47 1,307,000 0.29 4,060,000 0.18 5,170,000 0.193 620,000 0.011 10,600,000 1.97 98,000 6.15 2,138,400 2.06 11,000 0.5 97,000 0.96 39,000 0.01 11,200,000 5.93 305,200 9.05 534,300 2.91 9,366,000 160.6 853,120 2.8 66,000 0.0081 3,000,000

310,500 6,364,470 582,522 46,898 18,400 69,950 29,949 3,201,590 1,158,850 928,760 119,410 116,600 187,210 13,275,915 23,070 48,100 37,130 116,800 1,800,463 4,805,592 27,181,900 136,759,605 178,940 24,300

60,000 194,770 -252,496 -57,000 48,000 -45,830 -2,005,022 773,613 -19,462,580 64,412,745 -5,400 -

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 AC PREF B2 DD PREF FGEN PREF G GLO PREF P GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A LR PREF PCOR PREF 2A PF PREF 2 PNX PREF 3A PNX PREF 3B SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2G SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

42.5 513 512 105 117.8 515 5.81 1,011 1.07 1,030 1,015 105.7 113.5 77 80.25 77.25 79 78.5 78 79.4

42.5 513 514 105 117.8 515 5.82 1,011 1.07 1,030 1,015 106 113.5 77 82 77.25 79 78.85 78.05 79.4

42.2 511 512 104.7 117.8 515 5.81 1,011 1.07 1,020 1,013 105.7 113.5 76.5 80.25 77.25 79 78.5 78 79.2

PREFERRED 42.2 40,400 511 170 514 70 105 80,280 117.8 600 515 6,000 5.81 751,100 1,011 3,875 1.07 8,000 1,020 4,940 1,013 5,025 105.8 95,980 113.5 100 76.5 20,830 80.3 82,950 77.25 1,000 79 5,350 78.7 17,500 78.05 49,200 79.2 56,700

1,710,335 86,910 35,940 8,419,174 70,680 3,090,000 4,363,892 3,917,625 8,560 5,062,300 5,092,335 10,173,449 11,350 1,598,495 6,698,550 77,250 422,650 1,375,625 3,838,060 4,490,660

-745,030 540,330 302,542.50 -

LR WARRANT

2.45

2.45

2.33

WARRANTS 2.38 107,000

252,960

-

1,214,130 2,445,604 57,949,949

274,280 -635,262

NAME

MS

PROPERTY 6.14 479,500 1.64 32,930,000 2.55 72,000 1.13 11,479,000 40.5 9,394,700 3.89 960,000 5.9 34,320,500 5.28 16,000 0.53 23,059,000 1.09 100,000 1.44 158,000 0.182 19,550,000 0.52 2,647,000 47 368,300 0.71 3,594,000 1.69 5,434,000 1.25 12,921,000 0.97 295,000 4.54 18,430,000 0.38 153,450,000 0.36 660,000

SME

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

FIRST METRO ETF 119.8 USD DMPL A1

2,946,765 54,607,630 184,100 13,166,840 379,846,185 3,764,250 196,816,355 84,424 12,241,530 109,780 227,370 3,529,230 1,371,880 17,171,710 2,527,340 9,136,750 16,075,130 284,910 83,808,140 57,411,700 234,650

-578,622 5,894,160 86,610.00 -53,714,940 532,570 19,808,278 -2,336,640 -102,030 328,060 -2,550 -5,927,495.00 -775,320 -763,250 29,760 37,509,190 3,774,350 -

3.99 5.56 7.88

10.48

TRADING SUMMARY

3.99 6.3 8.38

3.9 5.56 7.88

119.8

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 118.6 118.9 5,440

646,705

32,130

10.48

DDS 10.48

10,480

10,480

10.48

3.9 6.04 8.1

SHARES

VALUE

FINANCIAL

17,304,147

969,5354,354.26

INDUSTRIAL

111,056,864

1,687,346,166.59

83,640,891

2,166,605,473.46

HOLDING FIRMS PROPERTY

370,163,173

1,348,337,794.07

SERVICES

326,276,965

1,706,246,383.391

MINING & OIL

157,756,489

197,410,434.4792

GRAND TOTAL

1,074,004,801

8,137,740,494.45

310,000 404,500 7,085,800

1,000

FINANCIAL 1,922.73 (down) 3.27 INDUSTRIAL 11,154.03 (down) 0.43 HOLDING FIRMS 7,809.99 (up) 9.73 PROPERTY 3,707.73 (down) 30.14 SERVICES 1,726.38 (down) 19.45 MINING & OIL 12,497.26 (up) 4.06 PSEI 7,886.37 (down) 31.49 All Shares Index 4,708.79 (down0 10.45 Gainers: 94; Losers: 107; Unchanged: 41; Total: 242

Nigeria and Libya—both Opec members exempt from the production cut deal,” said Stephen Innes, senior trader at Oanda.

The crude sell-off, which means the commodity has lost a fifth of its value from recent highs, saw energy firms drag Wall Street down, with all three main indexes ending deep in the red.

And while both main contracts stabilized on Wednesday, Asian energy firms followed their US counterparts.

Rio Tinto sank 2.9 percent and BHP dived close to four percent in Sydney, while Hong Kong-listed CNOOC was 0.7 percent off and Inpex fell 1.2 percent in Tokyo.

Broader markets were also well down. Tokyo’s Nikkei fell 0.5 percent, Hong Kong gave up 0.5 percent in the afternoon, Sydney sank 1.6 percent to its lowest close since early February and Seoul dipped 0.5 percent.

Singapore tumbled 0.7 percent, Wellington eased 0.8 percent and Manila fell 0.6 percent.

But Shanghai bucked the trend to end up 0.5 percent after the US-based MSCI finally approved mainlandlisted stocks, or A-shares, for inclusion in its emerging markets index.

With AFP, Bloomberg

MMPC’s vehicle output hit record

MITSUBISHI Motors Philippines Corp. said production in May soared to its highest level since it started operations in 1964.

The company said from an average monthly output of 3,000 units at the start of 2017, its manufacturing plant in Laguna produced 1,703 units of Adventure, 1,577 units of L300 and 1,043 units of Mirage models for a total of 4,323 units in May. It said the commendable production performance was achieved through the involvement and commitment of the management and sector members in improving operational efficiency in men, machines, materials and methods.

“This is a step ahead towards improving our production performance and also a great opportunity to increase confidence that we can attain our production target” said MMPC executive vice president for manufacturing Yasuhiro Maruyama.

MMPC president and chief executive Yoshiaki Kato said the remarkable production volume was achieved through the collective efforts of MMPC employees and business partners. He also noted that MMPC would like to keep this momentum as it enters a new stage of production volume.

MMPC production group head and first vice president Johnny Miaral said the company would upgrade its production processes and controls for easier planning and monitoring.

For the past decades, the local production of the Adventure and L300 models has generated jobs for hundreds of Filipino workers and supported the business of local parts suppliers. To date, the Adventure and L300 models have the highest number of locally-sourced parts in the automotive industry.

Business

B3

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Electronics group opposes 5% VAT

By Othel V. Campos

E

LECTRONICS and semiconductor companies oppose the imposition of a 5-percent value-added tax on locallysourced materials under the proposed tax reform measure.

The Semiconductor and Electronics Industry of the Philippines Inc. said the 5-percent VAT, if imposed, would hurt the local suppliers and micro, small

and medium entrepreneurs reliant on the sector.

“This will make importation for multinational locators inside economic zones a lot cheaper.

BPI survives glitch and nasty rumors A BIG universal bank like Bank of the Philippine Islands literally underwent a stress test early this month after a widespread glitch in its computer system fanned wild rumors that the bank suffered illiquidity or was about to go bankrupt.

Many BPI clients, fearing the worst, expressed their apprehensions in social media on June 6 when they failed to do their regular transaction with the bank. Some social media users thought of switching their funds to other banks following the internal system error experienced by BPI. But many clients stuck with the bank, confident enough that the country’s third largest lender would weather the storm.

Danilo del Castillo Domingo, a long-standing BPI client, called his branch the morning of June 7, inquiring about the issue spreading over the news and on social media.

His branch manager assured him, “It’s an internal system error, and BPI is already correcting the double posting.”

Domingo visited his branch on June 9, remarking about how the incident has been widely covered and checking on the branch staff.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Everything is fixed already. I’m giving you my assurance that BPI is still strong and stable,” the manager told him.

“I trust BPI. [The incident] will not be the reason for my family and I to leave BPI. I’ll stay with BPI, even if we have accounts in other banks, this is the bank that I trust with most of my funds,” Domingo replied.

It may take a lot of convincing before clients like Domingo change their banks. His relationship with BPI already spans decades, starting with BPI Family Bank in Novaliches, Quezon City before he was married. He is confident about the bank’s capabilities. “It is a big company with vast capitalization.”

“The BPI staff in my branch know me, especially now that I transact with them often,” he says. “I’ve been with them for a long time, and even if branch managers change, I would be endorsed to the succeeding branch manager. BPI is like family to me.”

“I never believed that the incident was as big as it was made to be. It was just one glitch, and BPI is bigger than that,” he adds.

Exaggerated news Another BPI client since 1998 visited his branch on June 7, asking for statements for his two passbook accounts. While being assisted for his transaction, another client seated next to him noted: “What’s happening with BPI is scary. I’m considering getting my money.”

The other client quickly defended the bank: “It’s not BPI’s fault. It was just a system error, and BPI will quickly fix it.”

The exchange prompted one BPI personnel to explain what really happened.

Another BPI client, who has been with the bank since 2002, visited her BPI branch on June 8 and inquired about the situation. When the matter was explained to her, she noted, “The reports are exaggerated. BPI has been there for a long time. Don’t tell me that issue can’t be fixed.”

This BPI client also understands that no money was lost during the incident. “In the BPI system error, there was no money involved. Other people are easily swayed, but we are sticking with BPI.” A client of the BPI Rockwell branch noted that her relationship manager went to great lengths to ensure clients’ needs are addressed.

“The RM took my call as early as 7:30 a.m. and provided the official advisories, which we circulated internally,” the client wrote. “This flow of information minimized worries and further panic among [our] employees. What amazed me was then when I visited the branch that morning to make an overthe-counter withdrawal for my boss, I was surprised to see the RM herself at the door of the Rockwell branch, assisting bank clients.”

Not hacked Incoming Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Nestor Espenilla found no evidence the system was hacked.

BSP’s head of financial consumer protection Pia RomanTayag also said in a radio interview “no one really lost money” as BPI assured, because it was a human error that simply resulted in the wrong posting of April 27 to May 2 transactions, which the system read instead of the June 6 transactions.

The misreading affected the debit and credit accounts of clients. With the correction, the wrong postings and charges were immediately reversed, at hardly any cost to the clients.

“And amounts in the accounts remained intact, no transactions were made and money didn’t move,” Pia RomanTayag said.

For all those glitches and cyberbullying, BPI endured the stress test with a well preserved capital.

E-mail: rayenano@yahoo.com or business@manilastandard.net or extrastory2000@gmail.com

The tendency for them is to import all their requirements since importation will be more cost effective compared to local sourcing. That will kill our local suppliers,” SEIPI president Dan Lachica said in a news briefing during the 14th Philippine Semiconductor and Electronics Convention and Exhibition.

Part of the incentives given to economic zone locators include vat-exempt sourcing of local materials.

Lachica said the 5-percent VAT would go against the local policy of helping MSMEs reach a higher level of competence by increasing the local content of products for export.

“We will support the government initiatives but our campaign really is ‘please let us not kill the local suppliers’,” he said.

Former SEIPI president and Fastech Synergy president Saturnino Belen said that despite the Finance Department’s guarantee of VAT refund, elec-

tronics and semiconductor companies were wary of the proposed measure.

“I cannot understand why the government will impose tax that it vows to refund within 90 days.

In the first place if the industry is not here, the situation is revenue neutral. It’s the same thing if the industry and its VAT-exempt which is status quo,” he said.

“If the items we’re talking here, are produced for local consumption, by all means subject them to the same tax,” he said.

Belen said the government should “not paint all electronics and semicon companies with the same brush,” as most of them were posting marginal sales due to competition and lack of value-adding.

Belen said the measure would compromise the country’s position as a preferred investments destination.

The sector grossed $28.8 billion in exports, but $22 billion were spent on imports.

Cebu Landmasters starts 38-story tower

By Jenniffer B. Austria CEBU Landmasters Inc. started the construction of a New York City-inspired 38-story condominium tower at the 1.1-hectare Cebu IT Park.

CLI said in a disclosure to the stock exchange the project called 38 Park Avenue was already 50-percent sold out since it was launched in March.

The tower will offer 745 units, comprising of 440 studio units, 211 one-bedroom units, 75 twobedroom units, 11 three-bedroom units and eight penthouse units.

The project is slated for completion by December 2020.

Aside from the residential component, the 1.17-hectare mixed-use development will also include an office tower and retail boulevard.

The project will be under El Camino Developers Cebu

Inc., a consortium of five Cebu homegrown companies that include Cebu Landmasters Inc., Acrissor Development Corp., 12 Sika Holdings Corp., RKD Property Holdings Inc. and Gothong Southern.

CLI, which owns a 35-percent stake in the project, will manage the whole development.

The 38 Park Avenue is the second high-rise development started by the Cebu-based property developer since it was listed in the Philippines Stock Exchange on June 2.

The company also recently acquired a P150-million property in Bacolod City where it plans to develop a master planned mixed-use project.

CLI raised P2.9 billion through the sale of 580 million shares during the IPO. It plans to use the proceeds to finance expansion in the Visayas and Mindanao.

BATAAN’S COLD STORAGE.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol (seventh from right) leads the ground-breaking ceremony for an ice plant with cold storage facility in Barangay Batangas II, Mariveles, Bataan. The P21million facility funded under the Philippine Rural Development Authority will offer accessible and adequate supply of block ice at a lower price to the local fisherfolk to keep their catch fresh until it is sold.

A Brown, Russian group sign cooperation deal

By Alena Mae S. Flores A BROWN Company Inc. signed a cooperation agreement with Rusatom International Network or Rain of Russia for a possible joint projects on atomic energy and nuclear technologies, applications and impact.

“A Brown welcomes this new opportunity to come up with more diverse solutions toward the improvement of the lives and livelihoods of Filipinos,” A Brown president Roel Castro said.

“This cooperation agreement with Rain is very much in alignment with President Rodrigo Duterte’s government platforms,

as well as our company’s commitment to constantly explore business avenues that would facilitate nation-building,” he said.

Castro said that with the agreement, the two parties could look forward to developing various projects for a stronger, more economically robust Philippines.

Castro and Rain president Alexander Merten signed the agreement on June 20, 2017 at the International Forum AtomExpo 2017 in Gostiny Dvor where the parties plan to develop economic, scientific and technical cooperation on the peaceful use of atomic energy, as well as to jointly explore possible areas of application

of radiation technologies in industry, agriculture and medicine.

The parties also intend to implement a series of activities for enhancing public awareness about nuclear technologies and their application in the Philippines.

Merten said the MOU was one of the first steps in implementing the agreements reached between the two countries during the meeting of President Duterte and Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 25, 2017.

“It opens up great prospects for mutually beneficial cooperation in the development of innovative technologies in the nuclear field,”

he said.

A Brown is a key player in real estate and agribusiness in southern Philippines with investments in mining, infrastructure and energy, including the 2 by 135-megawatt coal-fired Palm Concepcion Power Corp. in Iloilo and the 55MW bunker-fired Peakpower Energy Inc. serving various electric utilities in General Santos, Agusan del Sur and part of Bukidnon.

Hydro Link Projects Corp. is developing a hydropower plant in Surigao del Sur. AB Bulk Water Company, Inc. is a bulk water supply project in Opol, Misamis Oriental in partnership with the local government.

Demonetizing currency and a BSP governor

DURING the next few weeks two major events related to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will be taking place. One event, to take place on June 30, will be the taking out of circulation of this country’s current supply of paper currency. The other event will be the stepping down of the present governor of the BSP, Amando Tetangco Jr. The process of retiring, or taking out of circulation, BSP-issued currency is called demonetization, As a result of demonetization, the currency being demonetized ceases to be legal tender, which is legally defined as money that a creditor is obliged to receive in settlement of legal obligations. Only until June 30 – the original date was Dec. 31, 2016 – can today’s domestic paper currency be considered legal tender.

In a sense, the stepping down of a BSP governor – and the succession of a new governor – may be regarded as a kind of demonetization. Currency being demonetized loses its value; a retiring governor loses his authority. Thus, Mr. Tetangco can be said to be on the verge of being demonetized.

There are differences, though, between the two demonetizations. One is mandated by law; the other is discretionary.

Under the New Central Bank Act of 1995, a governor has a term of six years, extendible by the President of the Philippines for another term, and, unless he sooner leaves office for whatever reason, a governor has to step down after six years – or twelve years, if he is fortunate enough to be

granted a second term – after entering into the governorship. Amando Tetangco Jr. was granted a second term by President Benigno Aquino III. Whereas a BSP governor is demonetized by virtue of the appointment power of the President of the Philippines and the provisions of the pertinent law – in this case the New Central Bank Act of 1995 – currency is retired, or taken out of circulation, by the BSP in the exercise of the currency-management responsibility placed upon the Monetary Board by the said Act. Why does a central bank periodically undertake a currency-demonetization exercise? After introducing new currency on the mid-1980s, why is the BSP again revising the configuration of the existing paper currency? There are several reasons for demonetization.

When the value of the national currency has undergone very sharp change as a result of war, hyperinflation or some other extreme occurrence, a central bank may, in order to realign the currency with the new monetary realities, withdraw the existing notes and coins from circulation and replace them with new ones. Prime candidates for demonetization were the currencies of three of World War II’s losing countries Germany, Japan and Italy.

Given this country’s astronomical inflation rate, a decision by the Zimbabwean monetary authorities to undertake a demonetization of that southern Africa’s currency would be perfectly understandable. The economic life of a country would be made far more simple if notes and coins with a total value of 1,000 Zimbabwean currency units were demonetized and replaced with a single 1-unit rate. It goes without saying that such a move has a great calming effect on inflationary sentiment.

Another reason for which a currency demoneti-

zation is undertaken is related to a country’s drive against illegal activity and criminality. The operative phrase here is ‘flush out’. Because of the deadline for replacing to-be-demonetized notes with new-series ones, banks and other financial intentions have to account for the deposits and other asset holdings of criminals and tax-evading individuals. The banks necessarily provide the BSP with indications of the existence of such holdings when they present the old notes for replacement with new ones. Indeed, demonetization is arguably the best means for a government bent on pursuing a drain-the-financial-swamps campaign. AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) is undoubtedly foursquare behind the current demonetization exercise.

A third reason for undertaking a demonetization exercise is not as weighty as the ones just discussed. A country’s monetary authorities may decide to take existing currency out of circulation and replace it with new currency – notes and coins – with better aesthetics in mind. After all, why shouldn’t currency look and feel great?

Truth to tell, some foreign currencies can do with some sprucing up. Better design, superior paper, improved visual features, greater security – these are sufficiently valid considerations to support the withdrawal of existing currency and its replacement with new currency.

A demonetization exercise is a costly affair, but the attendant benefits – especially the flushing out or financial assets originating from criminal and tax-evasion activity – usually make it well worth the cost and effort.

Back to our demonetized governor. Like many Filipinos, I wish Mr. Tetangco good fortune and good health as he prepares to depart from the BSP. E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

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

B4

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

Business

Oil drops further into bear market

O

RAMADAN SALE.

Indonesians purchase shoes from discount shops in Jakarta, on June 21, 2017, ahead of Eid al-Fitr festival as a mark of the ending of holy month of Ramadan. AFP

Oppo eyes world market after toppling rivals DONGGUAN, China―With its army of salespeople and vast network of outlets, a relatively new smartphone maker has exploded in popularity to overtake global giants Apple and Samsung in China’s market―and now it has its eye on the West.

Oppo began life selling DVD players in the southern manufacturing hub of Dongguan a little more than a decade ago and only broke into the handset market in 2011.

But with an aggressive marketing strategy and concentration on bricks-and-mortar stores in small and medium-sized cities―rather than relying on online customers―sales have soared.

Last year it had a market share of 16.8 percent making it the China market leader and while a

slip in the first three months of 2017 put it just behind local rival Huawei, according to market analyst IDC, it remains well ahead of Apple and Samsung.

Globally it ranks fourth behind Samsung, Apple and Huawei.

While its rivals focus on the premium end of the smartphone market in major cities and online, Oppo makes relatively cheap devices―its latest model is less than half the price of an iPhone 7.

Oppo also sells them in actual shops. It has 200,000 outlets across China―less than 10 percent of its purchases are made online―while retailers are offered generous commissions in exchange for promoting the brand.

“In small cities, consumers un-

Gulf states prepare for VAT amid crisis DUBAI, United Arab Emirates―Oil-rich Gulf countries, which for decades have attracted millions of foreign workers thanks to their reputation as taxfree havens, aim to introduce value-added tax in 2018 to plug budget gaps.

On top of administrative and technical hurdles, however, the project now faces an unprecedented diplomatic crisis after Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on June 5 severed all ties with Qatar, their partner in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar are due to introduce VAT in early 2018, with the other three GCC members―Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman―following at a later date.

In case of a prolonged crisis, Qatar would have to replace imports from Saudi Arabia and UAE, valued at $4.55 billion annually, with “costlier” non-GCC goods, said M.R. Raghu, head of research at the Kuwait Financial Centre (MARKAZ).

“Implementing VAT in such a scenario would lead to inflationary pressures, especially in food-related items,” he said.

“If the crisis is prolonged, then Qatar might want to delay the implementation of this envisaged tax reform to balance any spike in prices of commodities in the local markets.”

If it goes ahead as planned, VAT is unlikely to tarnish the GCC reputation as a low-tax re-

gion or reduce its appeal to expatriates, according to Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank.

An introductory rate of five percent “looks to balance raising government revenue and still having a very attractive business environment, both for expatriates and corporations,” she said.

“We believe the UAE and the Gulf will still overall be seen as a low-tax environment on a global basis.”

VAT, a tax paid by the consumer, is also unlikely to deter businesses from setting up operations in the Gulf region, according to Jeanine Daou, indirect tax leader at PwC Middle East.

“From a business perspective, VAT should be neutral. What businesses are required to do is to collect tax on behalf of the government on their sales... It is not a corporate tax,” she said.

She said that five percent would be “one of the lowest VAT rates across the globe.”

But in Dubai’s old souk, a wholesale trader disagreed, expressing fear of having to bear the VAT cost due to low profit margins.

“I think five percent will be too much,” said Obaid Tahiri sitting in his household appliances shop.

“For wholesale, we don’t have five percent profit. Clients will not pay... I cannot increase the price for the customer.” AFP

familiar with smartphones need to see and touch the devices and to have salespeople there to help them,” said Yi Jun, Oppo’s international sales director.

At the company’s factory in Guangdong province, Oppo handsets are submitted to a series of durability tests including one-meter drops and temperature changes ranging from -40 degrees Celsius to 85 degrees Celsius.

“Technology is essential for meeting consumers’ expectations,” Yi said, pointing to Oppo’s fast-charging ability, highdefinition camera lens and sleek design.

Now Oppo’s rivals are starting to follow suit.

Chinese brand Xiaomi, which lost significant market share in 2016, has been relying on the

web for sales of its top-of-therange smartphones.

But in February it announced plans to go back to old-fashioned selling techniques with plans to open 1,000 stores by 2020 in the hope of reversing its fortunes.

As competitors play catch up, analysts warn Oppo must maintain its momentum to stay on or near the top.

It needs to continue expanding its sales network and offering competitive products, said Mo Jia, an analyst at technology research firm Canalys.

Oppo has also been boosting its sales abroad, including emerging markets in Southeast Asia where its share more than doubled to 13.2 percent last year―by far the biggest increase among its rivals, IDC data shows. AFP

IL slid further into a bear market as rising global supply is countering efforts

by Opec and its allies to drain a glut.

Futures fell as much as 1.1 percent in New York after front-month prices closed Tuesday more than 20 percent below their February peak. Libya, exempt from the Opec-led output cuts, is pumping the most in four years while oil stored on tankers reached a 2017 high this month. US crude inventories dropped by 2.72 million barrels last week, the American Petroleum Institute was said to report.

Oil has returned to levels before the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia decided in November to cut production to drain a global glut. Relentless supply gains in the US and renewed output from Libya are putting those efforts to boost prices in jeopardy. American drillers have added rigs to fields for 22 weeks, the longest run in 30 years, according to Baker Hughes Inc. “There is no bullish catalyst for oil to be seen at the moment and thus it is drifting lower,” said Bjarne Schieldrop, chief commodities analyst at SEB AB in Oslo. “It will be hard for Saudi and Russia to keep cutting production in the face of a strong rise in US crude production and output in Libya.”

West Texas Intermediate for August delivery was at $43.17 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 34 cents, at 8:40 a.m. in London. Total volume traded was about 3 percent above the 100-day average. The July contract expired Tuesday after dropping 97 cents,

or 2.2 percent, to $43.23, the lowest close since Sept. 16.

See also: Goldman’s Currie Says Global Oil Demand Is ’OK’ Brent for August settlement traded at $45.63 a barrel, down 39 cents, on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract lost 89 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $46.02 on Tuesday.

The global benchmark crude traded at a premium of $2.43 to WTI. Government data due Wednesday is forecast to show a US crude stockpiles dropped by 1.2 million barrels, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg.

Gasoline inventories rose 346,000 barrels and distillate stocks increased 1.84 million barrels last week, according to people familiar with API data.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman replaced his cousin as heir to the throne, a shock announcement that consolidates the 31-year-old leader’s power in the world’s biggest oil exporter. He is expected to continue the kingdom’s current oil policies.

Mexico is expected to increase gasoline imports from the US with Pemex’s biggest refinery out of service for at least two weeks. Oil companies risk wasting $2.3 trillion of investments should demand peak in the next decade as the world works toward its goal of limiting global warming, according to a report from Carbon Tracker.

Bloomberg

Prison-cell flats in Hong Kong show limits of policy

By Alfred Liu, Fion Li and Paul Panckhurst SOMETIME later this year, Hong Kongers may be able to pay for the privilege of living in apartments so small they’re comparable to prison cells.

Then, a local developer is due to start signing tenants for a project in the Happy Valley district where most flats could have a “usable floor area” of about 61 square feet, or 5.7 square meters, according to a pre-construction filing with the Buildings Department.

That’s slightly less space than Stanley Prison, a 30-minute drive across the Hong Kong island, affords its inmates.

Cramped living spaces in the world’s major cities are nothing new. But few places have reached such extremes as Hong Kong, where housing affordability has become a defining political issue two decades after its handover to China. Among the array of initiatives the government has unleashed to cool prices, a key one is boosting the supply of new homes. That’s happening to some extent, although not in the way officials might have hoped.

As soaring prices put homes out of reach for most buyers, developers have been chopping new projects into ever-smaller units―the tiniest category, below 200 square feet, is commonly referred to as “nano flats.”

Demand has been overwhelming, with projects often selling out in as little as hours.

A general view of a subdivided housing unit is seen in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, June 10, 2017. Bloomberg

‘Hilariously Absurd’ The overall impact has been not so much cheaper housing as skyrocketing per-square foot prices and rising profits for Hong Kong’s developers, whose shares trade close to all-time highs. “This situation is really hilariously absurd,” independent lawmaker Paul Tse said in Hong Kong’s legislature in December during a housing policy debate.

Tse lambasted the administration of outgoing Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying for “bragging” about promoting new supply when “the reality is that property prices continue to rise, but the size of flats continues to shrink.”

Earlier this month, Leung touted an estimated 96,000 private housing units that will come to market over the next three to four years.

Chances are many of those will be tiny: The share of new apartments in Hong Kong mea-

suring below 431 square feet jumped from 5 percent in 2010 to 27 percent in 2016, and is forecast by the government to hit 43 percent next year.

Snail Homes Housing crunches tend to generate their own vernacular.

In the US,“tiny homes” evoke images of minimalist living.

In Chinese slang, people who live in the smallest apartments in Hong Kong are in “snail homes” and those who can’t afford to buy are “snails without shells.”

Some experts have started raising concerns about the psychological toll of living small.

Susan Saegert, a professor of environmental psychology at City University of New York, said children who grow up in tiny homes tend to have more difficulty focusing in school and score lower on standardized tests, while lack of space impairs adults’ ability to cope with

stress. Hong Kong is “pushing things to the extreme,” she said.

Cramped living conditions are certainly nothing new to Hong Kong, home to some of the most densely populated areas on Earth. Newspaper headlines have long featured the “coffin cubicles” of the poorest citizens―small spaces within subdivided dwellings―and the often woeful conditions for women from Indonesia and the Philippines who work as domestic helpers.

But nowadays, even whitecollar professionals who earn much more than your average worker are choosing micro living.

‘Quite Ridiculous’ For Wu Tung, a 41-yearold marketing manager, a 160 square-foot flat in North Point has been home for more than three years at a monthly rent of about HK$7,300 ($936).

He grew up in a Hong Kong home that was bigger than 1,000 square feet, and later in a three-story house in Canada that measured about 3,000 square feet.

Wu, who makes more than double Hong Kong’s median income, is proud of how efficient his place is, with a double bed, a kitchen, his electric piano, and a projector instead of a TV. At the same time, he says the fact that such cramped living has become the norm for many people is “quite ridiculous, isn’t it? Just because you’ve been in Hong Kong for so long, you forget how ridiculous it is.”

Bloomberg

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

C1

LGUs LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

BALLOON PARTY. Marissa Lim Aguirre (fourth from left), president of the Du30 Cabinet Spouses Association, and members of the Metro Manila Mayors Spouses Foundation Inc. release balloons into the air as a sign of their coordination with the office of Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan in ensuring the national government’s free blood typing project ‘Type ng Bayan’ will be fully implemented in the city. Malapitan’s wife Edna (third from left), the foundation’s auditor, hosted the event. Jun David

‘Move stalls, goods or we will burn them’ S

By Joel E. Zurbano

TALLS and merchandise of illegal vendors in the area of Balintawak in Quezon City will be burned if they will continue defying the government’s anti-road obstruction policy.

This was the warning to the vendors on Wednesday of Metro Manila Development Authority chairman Danilo Lim, who said they were one of the reasons why Balintawak was on the list of most critical areas along Epifanio de los Santos Avenue with the worst traffic situation.

“These things, if they come back, will be burned,” said Lim, telling his men and a barangay official present during a surprise inspection in the area Wednesday morning.

During the inspection, Lim and other MMDA officials observed the presence of several vendors and illegal terminals of public utility jeepneys, motorized pedicabs and tricycles in the area.

Some motorists said the volume of vehicles on the road is not the reason why motorists and commuters continue experiencing monstrous traffic in Metro Manila, particularly along Edsa, but the failure of the government to clear road

obstructions.

Former Public Works secretary Rogelio Singson made the same observation. He said local government units and the police are partly to blame for the traffic mess in the metropolis for not implementing a policy authorizing them to clear public places in Metro Manila of illegal structures and obstructions.

Singson said the presence of vendors and other obstructions of business establishments on sidewalks along major thoroughfares caused road congestion.

In 2002, the government approved a resolution authorizing the MMDA, the Philippine National Police and the LGUs to clear the sidewalks, streets, avenues, alleys, bridges, parks and other public places of all illegal structures and obstructions to

effect the smooth flow of traffic in Metro Manila.

The resolution was signed by then-MMDA chairman Bayani Fernando and members of the Metro Manila Council, the agency’s policymaking body.

The Council made the resolution after observing that public places in Metro Manila “are not properly utilized by the road users due to malpractices of some unscrupulous individuals, who want only to utilize these areas for displaying and vending their goods, as well as utilizing the same in erecting some structures for commercial and advertising purposes.”

The resolution stated that “such use of sidewalk applies even to cases involving the use or lease of public places under permits or licenses issued by competent authority.”

Makati changes CBD traffic route THE Makati City government announced Wednesday a new policy to solve the traffic problem in the city’s Central Business District.

City traffic enforcers are now implementing a one-way traffic scheme at the northern part of the financial district that has entailed the declaration of major streets as “No Parking Zones,” particularly the entire stretch of South Avenue, Ayala Avenue Extension, Hippodromo Street, A.P. Reyes Street, Zapote Street, and Kamagong Street.

The traffic measure came after members of the Sangguniang Panlungsod approved City Ordinance No. ‪2017026 last February.

Mayor Abigail Binay directed the city’s Public Safety Department to strictly enforce the ordinance, which includes the implementation of the new “South Avenue-Zapote One Way Loop.”

“These additional traffic

Fires hit KTV bar, orphanage in Manila

Restaurant shuttered over sanitation woes THE Makati City government has padlocked a Chinese restaurant found defying a closure order for not complying with the city’s sanitation policy.

The food house—Tsing Tao Garden, located along Urban Avenue corner Gil Puyat Avenue in Pio del Pilar Village— was shackled by enforcers of the city’s Business Permit Office on Tuesday, the city’s public information office said.

The city government also ordered Raymund Tang, the owner and operator of the establishment, to pay a fine of P5,000 for continuing his operation despite the closure order served by the BPO on May 25.

During their routine inspection last month, BPO inspec-

tors found out the restaurant was operating with a poorly maintained and unsanitary plumbing and drainage system and with no grease trap installed, which they said was a clear violation of the Revised National Plumbing Code of the Philippines.

Late last year, the city government also ordered the closure of 58 business establishments after they were found operating without permits and violating the fire code.

City Business Permits officials said most of the establishments were found operating without Mayor’s Permit, in violation of Section 4A.01 of the Revised Makati Revenue Code, or City Ordinance No. 2004-A-025. Joel E. Zurbano

100 DAYS. Philippine International Trading Corp. president and CEO Dave Almarinez shows a photo with President Rodrigo Duterte in the background as he delivers an inspirational speech in an event marking his 100 days in office at the NDC Building in Makati City. He then joins officers and staff of PITC in a ‘groufie’ (inset). Roy Tomandao

QC fires down 27.7 percent over 5-month span FIRES in Quezon City have gone down by 27.77 percent from January to May this year compared to the same period in 2016.

Senior Supt. Manuel Manuel, the city’s fire marshal, said records at the Bureau of Fire Protection showed there were 463 fire incidents recorded in Quezon City, which is 178 less than

the 641 posted in the same fivemonth period last year.

“Our proactive approach in instilling fire safety consciousness among residents did the trick,” Manuel said during the recent local peace and order council meeting.

The significant drop in fire incidents in the first quarter of

rules and measures are necessary to ease traffic congestion in identified chokepoints in the area. These are also intended to address increased vehicular volume expected to be generated by emerging growth centers outside the central business district,” Binay said.

The policy stated that South Avenue is designated as one way for northbound traffic while Zapote Street is one way for southbound traffic.

Binay urged motorists to obey traffic rules in Makati to avoid being apprehended and fined for traffic violations.

“Our traffic enforcers are under strict orders to apprehend and penalize motorists who disobey traffic rules and regulations under the Makati Traffic Code, as well as subsequent ordinances enacted to address specific concerns affecting traffic management in the city,” she said.

2017 is the result of a successful information campaign the Bureau of Fire Protection implemented nationwide, he added.

During the first meeting of the city’s peace and order council in January, Mayor Herbert Bautista directed the Quezon City Fire District to implement fire safety patrols.

He said the tactic was used by the New York Fire Department.

“In New York, you can see firetrucks going around the city even when there’s no fire just to make the people conscious of the need to be on alert at all times,” Bautista added.

Upon the mayor’s directive, the city firefighters were

ordered to conduct house-tohouse information campaign, distribute pamphlets and flyers about fire prevention techniques, and teach the proper handling of electrical appliances, the right way to operate and handle fire extinguishers, and other fire safety measures.

Rio N. Araja

TWO fires hit a KTV bar and an orphanage in Manila within minutes of each other early on Wednesday.

The first fire broke out at a KTV restaurant-bar along Rizal Avenue in Sta. Cruz, Manila at a little past midnight.

The other fire broke out at the orphanage along Arlegui Street in Quiapo, Manila. No one was hurt in either incident.

Employees of the KTV bar ran out of the building as the fire raged through the second floor.

Ronel Bonifacio, a witness, said he was outside the establishment when he saw “sparks or some sort of electrical discharge” that could have set off the blaze.

Sr. Insp. Reden Alumno, San Lazaro Fire Station commander, said the fire may have started on the second floor where the sound system was located.

The fire, which reached the first alarm, quickly spread through the building as it was made of light materials.

Alumno said initial damage was estimated at P100,000.

Sandy Araneta

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

Standard THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 C2 TODAY Manila

Santa Rosa officials support Calax S

ANTA ROSA, Laguna–Government officials of this city showed their support to the Cavite-Laguna Expressway project as they attended the groundbreaking of the Laguna segment of the project on Tuesday at the Nuvali Spine Road, Barangay Don Jose.

Republic of the Phillippines Department of Health National Capital Regional Office VALENZUELA MEDICAL CENTER BIDS AND AWARD COMMITTEE Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City Tel. No. 294-6711 Telefax No. 291-4295 Email addressvmc_bac@yahoo.com InvItatIon to BId Procurement of maGnetIc reSonance ImaGInG (mrI) PuBLIc BIddInG no. vmc-2017-013 1. The Valenzuela Medical Center (VMC), through the General Appropriations Act/ Income CY 2017, intends to apply the sum of Philippine Currency: Seventy Million Pesos Only (PhP 70,000,000.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments for the Procurement of maGnetIc reSonance ImaGInG (mrI) under PB No. VMC-2017-013. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2. The VMC now invites sealed Bids from eligible Bidders for the procurement of the above-captioned package. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II, entitled “Instructions to Bidders”.

3. Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using a non-discretionary “pass/fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act” and is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or corporations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to Republic Act No. 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

4. Only Bids from Bidders who passed the eligibility check will be opened. The process for the eligibility check is described in Section II of the Bidding Documents entitled, “ITB”. The Bidder with the Lowest Calculated Bid (LCB) shall advance to the post-qualification stage in order to finally determine the responsiveness of the bid submission to the technical and financial requirements of the project. The contract shall then be awarded to the Lowest Calculated And Responsive Bidder (LCRB) who was determined as such during the post-qualification procedure.

5. Interested bidders may obtain further information from the VMC and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 9:00am-11:00am and 2:00pm-4:00pm (Monday to Friday) starting June 22, 2017.

6. The VMC will hold a Pre-bid Conference for this bidding activity on June 30, 2017, 10:00am at the Valenzuela Medical Center, Padrigal St., Karuhatan, Valenzuela City. Only those who have purchased the bidding documents shall be allowed to participate in the Pre-Bid Conference. Those who have not purchased the bidding documents may act as observers and submit written queries, subject to the guidelines as stated in the IRR of RA 9184.

7. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee in the amount of Twenty Five Thousand Pesos Only (P25,000.00). The method of payment will be in cash or manager’s check. The Bidding Documents shall be received personally by the prospective bidder or his authorized representative. It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity; Provided, that Bidders shall pay the non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

8. Bids and eligibility requirements must be delivered to the address below on or before July 12, 2017, 10:00am, at the VMC BAC Secretariats’ Office.

9. Bid Opening and Eligibility Check will be on July 12, 2017 at 10:00am. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late submission of bids will not be entertained. All bids must be accompanied by a Bid Security in the prescribed form, amount and validity period.

10. The Valenzuela Medical Center reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all Bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

For further information, please refer to: BAC Secretariats’ Office, Valenzuela Medical Center, Annex Building, 2nd Floor, Padrigal St., Valenzuela City Telefax No. 294-4625 (SGD) JOSEPH T. NOCOM, MD, FPOA Chairperson Bids and Awards Committee

(MS-JUNE 22, 2017)

Department of Environment and Natural Resources National Capital Region REGIONAL BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE INVITATION TO BID PROCUREMENT OF POTTING MEDIA, SEEDS AND FERTILIZERS The DENR-NCR, through the GAA-CY 20171 intends to apply the sum of THREE MILLION NINE HUNDRED NINETY TWO THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED PESOS (PhP3,992,500.00) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract for “Procurement of Potting Media, Seeds and Fertilizers”. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

The DENR-NCR now invites all interested Phil-GEPS registered contractors, manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, authorized franchised dealers to submit Letter of Intent (LOI) and to Bid for the following project, to wit: Purchase Request (PR) No. 2017-144 (Item No. 1)

2017-144 (Item No. 2)

2017-144 (Item No. 3)

Quantity

Approved Budget for the Contract (PhP)

Description

Potting Media 2,000 • Rice Hull (50kg/bag) Sub-total 50 50 50 50 500 500 500 100 100 100,000

PhP200,000.00 PhP200,000.00

Seeds • Palawan Cherry (kilo) • Golden Shower (kilo) • Dwarf Caballero (Kilo) • Molave (kilo) • Desmodium rensonii (kilo) • Narra (kilo) • Bignay kalabaw (kilo) • Fleminga congesta (kilo) • Banaba (kilo) • Madre de agua (propagules)

Fertilizers • Complete Fertilizer 14-14-14 (50/bag) • Slow Release Fertilizer-Osmocot (50/bag) • Liquid Fertilizer-Foliar (liter) • Soil Conditioner-lime (25/kg/sack) • Organic Fertilizer-chicken manure (50/ bag) • Pesticides (50/pack) 500 • Insecticide (liter) 50 • Fungicide (kilo) 100 Sub-total 250 250 100 100 100

TOTAL

PhP25,000.00 25,000.00 25,000.00 25.000.00 225,000.00 600,000.00 500,000.00 45,000.00 100,000.00 500,000.00 PHP2,070,000.00

PhP 375,000.00 1,250,000.00 35,000.00 50,000.00 35,000.00 100,000.00 17,500.00 60,000.00 PHP1,922,500.00 PhP4,192,500.00

Interested bidder may bid in whole project or per item. Delivery of the Goods is required as indicated in the Bid Data Sheet of the Bidding Documents. Bidders should have completed a contract similar to the project in the last five (5) years. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedure using a non-discretionary “pass/ fail” criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act (RA) 9184, otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least sixty percent (60%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines, and to citizens or organizations of a country the laws or regulations of which grant similar rights or privileges to Filipino citizens, pursuant to RA 5183 and subject to Commonwealth Act 138.

Interested bidders must submit their Letter of Intent from June 20, 2017 to June 27, 2017 and may obtain further information from and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below during 8:00 -5:00 P.M. A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders on June 20, 2017 to July 07, 2017 from the address below and upon payment of a non-refundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Five Thousand Pesos (Php5,000.00).

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that Bidders shall pay the nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents not later than the submission of their bids.

The DENR-NCR will hold a Pre-Bid Conference on June 28, 2017, 2:00 o’ clock in the afternoon, at the Conference Room, 4th Flr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City which shall be open to all interested parties.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before of 10:00 a.m. of July 10, 2017. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in the Bidding Documents.

Bid opening shall be at 10:30 a.m. July 10, 2017 at the Conference Room, 4th Flr., DENR-NCR Bldg., National Ecology Center, East Avenue, Quezon City. Bids will be opened in the presence of the Bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted.

The DENR-NCR reserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

thousands of Filipinos—the Laguna Technopark Inc., Greenfield Auto Park, Santa Rosa IT Park, and Toyota Special Economic Zone.

As the top “Next Wave City” of the Philippines, Santa Rosa also hosts business process outsourcing firms, including INFONXX/KGB, Convergys and Teletech, among others.

According to the project brief, the Laguna segment of the CALAX is an 18-kilometer construction project. It is part of the 45-kilometer closed system modern tolled expressway connecting the Cavite Expressway or CAVITEX and the South Luzon Expressway or SLEX. The project starts from CAVITEX in Kawit, Cavite and ends at the SLEX-Mamplasan In-

SDSG backs Du30 anew A “HIGHLY-SPIRITED” group from the country’s various regions recently issued a manifesto supporting President Rodrigo Duterte’s platform for “genuine reform,” particularly his anti-poverty programs and the fight against corruption, illegal drugs and criminality.

The Solid Duterte Supporters Group, now referred to as the SDSG D’Originals, are organized and led by Mar Masanguid, who was also elected as its national president.

It supports Duterte’s declaration of martial law in Mindanao “as a means to quell the clear and present danger of terrorism in the country.”

Masanguid, a barangay captain in Davao and a close ally of the President, is remembered as the organizer of the Rodrigo Roa Duterte for 2016 President Movement, long before Duterte

ever contemplated running for President.

The movement subsequently generated popular and overwhelming nationwide support for the longtime Davao mayor’s presidential bid.

Launched a week ago at the Shangri-La North Edsa in an event attended by local and national government officials, the private sector, students and ordinary workers, SDSG issued a manifesto of support for the President during the organizational meeting of its Marikina chapter on June 18 at the Marikina City Hall.

The manifesto was signed by more than 50 pioneering members of its Marikina Chapter led by Greg Conde and Harry FM Singh, chapter chairman and vice chairman, respectively, and city councilors Bojie Bernardino and Jojo Banzon.

1598 M.H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets Malate, Manila Tel. Nos. 522-0000, 551-2200 connecting all departments

INVITATION TO BID The Land Bank of the Philippines (LANDBANK), through its Bids and Awards Committee (BAC), invites consultants/ suppliers/manufacturers/distributors/contractors to bid for the hereunder projects: Items ITB - GS-20170531-03 Supply and Delivery of 90 Units CISCO One - ISR 2901 Router

ITB - GS-20170606-01 One (1) Lot Supply and Installation of Single Phase, 60Hz, 240 VAC Uninterruptible Power Supply at Various LANDBANK Field Units and Offices, as follows: • 150 Units 6 KVA • 50 Units 10 KVA

Approved Budget Bidding for the Contract Documents Fee (ABC)

Delivery Period

P 46,400,000.00

P

23,200.00

Within forty five (45) calendar days after receipt of Notice to Proceed

P 12,098,375.00

P

6,100.00

Within sixty (60) calendar days upon receipt of Notice to Proceed

Prospective bidders should have experience in undertaking a similar project within the last five (5) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, with an amount of not less than 50% of the ABC. The Eligibility Check/Screening as well as the Preliminary Examination of Bids shall use non-discretionary “pass/fail” criteria. Post-qualification of the lowest calculated bid shall be conducted.

All particulars relative to Eligibility Statement and Screening, Bid Security, Performance Security, Pre-Bidding Conference(s), Evaluation of Bids, Post Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRRs).

The schedule of activities are as follows: ACTIVITIES 1. Issuance of Bid Documents 2. Pre-Bid Conference

4. Post-Qualification 5. Notice of Award

BAC Secretariat Procurement Section, 3rd Flr, DENR-NCR Bldg.

National Ecology Center East Avenue, Quezon City Tel. 3740091

The project will further boost the status of Santa Rosa as the “Lion City of South Luzon,” he added.

Santa Rosa hosts the headquarters of some major corporations in the Philippines like Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines, Inc., Monde Nissin Corp., and Enchanted Kingdom. It is also home to three master-planned communities – Nuvali, Eton City and Greenfield City.

Santa Rosa is also known as the Motor City of the Philippines for housing Toyota Motors Philippines, Honda Cars Philippines, Univation Motor Philippines, Inc., and Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp.

The city also serves as home to four Philippine Economic Zone Authority-registered industrial estates that provide employment to

SCHEDULE June 22 to July 13, 2017 June 29, 2017 - 2:00 PM Bidding Room, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila July 13, 2017 - 11:00 A.M. Procurement Department, 25th Floor, LANDBANK Plaza Building 1598 M. H. Del Pilar corner Dr. J. Quintos Streets, Malate, Manila July 14 to 20, 2017 July 25, 2017

Bid documents will be available to prospective bidders upon payment of the applicable Bidding Documents fee to the LANDBANK Cashier.

June 19, 2017.

(SGD) AIDA E. ESGUERRA Vice-Chairperson, Regional Bids and Awards Committee In the case of National Government Agencies, the General Appropriations Act and/or continuing appropriations; in the case of GOCCs, GFIs, and SUCs, the Corporate Budget for the contract approved by the governing Boards; in the case of (LGUs, the Budget for the contract approved by the respective Sanggunian. (Section 5(a), R.A. 9184) (MS-JUNE 22, 2017)

terchange in Biñan, Laguna.

The project will have four interchanges in Laguna: Silang East, Sta. Rosa-Tagaytay Road, Laguna Blvd., and Technopark. Its objectives include reducing traffic congestion in existing major roads and improving competitiveness of the CALABARZON Region as an investment hub.

The project was awarded to MPCALA Holdings, Inc. of the Metro Pacific Group. Its officers were also present during the groundbreaking such as Manuel V. Pangilinan, Chairman of Metro Pacific Investments Group; Rodrigo Franco, President of Metro Pacific Tollways Corp., and Jose Luigi Bautista, MPT South President. Roy Tomandao

NEW HALL. Tagaytay City Mayor Agnes D. Tolentino and Cavite 7th District Rep. Abraham N. Tolentino led the celebration of the city’s 79th Founding Anniversary on June 21. With Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II as guest of honor, the occasion was highlighted by the inauguration of the new Hall of Justice and Legislative Building (pictured), which will house the Municipal and Regional Courts and other agencies under the Department of Justice. The celebration was capped with the blessing of new school buildings and the State of the City Address delivered by Mayor Tolentino.

3. Submission / Opening of Bids

For further information, please refer to:

1

City officials joined their national government counterparts in the event led by Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade, Public Works and Highways Secretary Mark Villar, and Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno.

Santa Rosa Mayor Danilo Ramon Fernandez and Vice Mayor Arnold Arcillas attended the event along with First District Rep. Arlene B. Arcillas and officials from adjacent cities in Laguna and Cavite.

“Our presence in this event signifies our support to the project, as we share the belief that roads will bring more opportunities for people in terms of economic and social development,” said Fernandez.

LANDBANK reserves the right to (a) reject any and all bids at any time prior to the award of the contract; (b) waive any minor formal requirements in the bid documents; (c) accept such bids, it may consider advantageous and beneficial without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

IN BRIEF Kalinga governor meted 6-month suspension TABUK CITY, Kalinga—Gov. Jocel C. Baac voluntarily stepped down from office last Friday to serve a six-month suspension meted him by the Office of the Deputy Ombudsman for Northern Luzon after allegedly manhandling a provincial official inside his office in May 2015.

The Ombudsman found merit in the complaint filed by the Kalinga provincial board, which accused Baac of grave misconduct, oppression, abuse of authority and conduct unbecoming of a public officer for allegedly punching board secretary Mathew Matbagan.

Baac had invited Matbagan to his office to inquire on the words that were used in a resolution regarding the operation of a hospital, which the governor found “not appealing to him,” per the Ombudsman report.

Marlo Iringan, Cordillera director of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, served the suspension order and installed Vice Gov. James Edduba as acting governor until the expiration of the six-month period.

Senior board member Shirlynne Dasayon-Alunday was installed as the province’s acting vice governor for the duration of Baac’s suspension. Dexter A. See

Albay Maharlika traffic getting worse LEGAZPI CITY—The vaunted road widening of the Department of Public Works and Highways here has instead become a headache to motorists passing the Albay Maharlika route, and is now hampering delivery of goods to Manila from Visayas and Mindanao via the roll-on roll-off transport pier in Matnog, Sorsogon.

Former Legazpi vice mayor Luis Adornado complained Wednesday that going to nearby Ligao City, which normally takes motorists 40 minutes from Legazpi, has become an “exorbitant discomfort” of three hours via the relatively short three-kilometer BanagBusay route in Daraga town as a result of the ongoing DPWH road widening.

Albay 3rd District Rep. Fernando Gonzalez said adding to the massive road widening woes are the heavy cargo trucks stranded for days along the province’s second and third district routes bound for the Visayas and Mindanao.

For unknown reasons, these trucks do not immediately get accommodations on the RORO vessels in Matnog.

Manilyn B. Ugalde

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF Researchers welcome winter solstice SYDNEY―Antarctic researchers welcomed the winter solstice with an exhilarating plunge into icy waters Wednesday as they look forward to brighter days after weeks of darkness.

The expeditioners stationed at Australia’s Davis station marked midwinter’s day by taking a chainsaw to the ice, cutting a small pool and taking a dip in water with a temperature of -1.8 degrees Celsius (28.76 Fahrenheit).

Davis station leader Kirsten le Mar said it was the halfway point for those wintering on the continent and a highlight of the Antarctic calendar.

“After three weeks of darkness, today marks the beginning of longer days in Antarctica, although it will still be 19 days before the sun starts to peek above the horizon here at Davis,” she said.

One of those who took the plunge was electrician Bryce Daniels, who described his quick swim as “amazing”.

“There is the briefest of briefest moments where you slightly feel warm and then you work out that you are actually freezing instead,” he said.

The winter solstice is the shortest day of the year and celebrations to mark the start of longer days date back over 100 years of exploration on the continent.

Many of the 68 researchers working for Australia’s Antarctic program joined in with the chilly festivities, which also included a sea-ice golf competition and theatrical performance.

Several countries have territorial claims on Antarctica―viewed as a potential future source of huge mineral resources―although under a 1949 agreement the frozen continent is designated a scientific preserve.

About 30 nations operate permanent research stations on the continent. AFP

Official sacked over mass fish kill in Vietnam HANOI―A senior Vietnamese environment official has been fired for negligence over a toxic waste dump that killed tons of fish in a major environmental crisis last year, according to officials and state media.

Luong Duy Hanh, director of Vietnam’s Environment Protection Management Department, is the latest official to be punished over the toxic leak, which was blamed on a multi-billion-dollar steel plant run by the Taiwanese firm Formosa.

Formosa was fined $500 million for the waste dump and Vietnam has vowed to punish 11 officials over the country’s worst-ever environmental disaster.

“The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has carried out disciplinary action by sacking Mr Luong Duy Hanh,” according to an online statement from Vietnam’s environment ministry published Tuesday.

State media reported Wednesday that Hanh was sacked because he failed to properly oversee the Formosa project.

He was blamed for not “consulting and supervising the implementation of the environmental protection unit during the construction and pilot operation” of the plant, according to state-controlled Thanh Nien newspaper.

A deputy director of the Environment Agency has already been fired over the mass fish kill, and four former officials have been stripped of their Communist party positions.

The Formosa steel plant was still under construction at the time of the disaster in April 2016. AFP

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

C3

The Hong Kongers who left H

ONG KONG―In the years leading up to the return of Hong Kong to China by Britain in 1997, thousands of residents fearful of the future under Beijing jumped ship to start a new life abroad.

PRESS PARTY. Ellen Warren attends the Kat Von D Beauty Fragrance Launch Press Party #SAINTANDSINNER in Hollywood. AFP

Luanda dethrones HK as costliest city PARIS―Angola’s capital Luanda has overtaken Hong Kong to become the costliest city in the world for expatriates, Mercer’s annual survey said Wednesday.

Dethroned last year by the Chinese city, Luanda regained the dubious honor despite the depreciation of the local kwanza currency against the dollar, according to the survey by the Mercer consulting group.

While Hong Kong bounced back down to second place, it remains the most expensive Asian city “because of its currency’s link to the dollar, a factor which makes local housing more expensive,” the report said.

After topping the Cost of Living report for three consecutive years, Luanda was pipped by the Asian city in 2016, owing to

a stronger Hong Kong dollar.

This year Tokyo completes the podium, moving up from fifth place last year because of the yen’s appreciation and “the dynamism of the housing market” in Japan.

The survey compares the cost of over 200 items in over 200 cities, including housing, food, transport and entertainment.

It takes New York (in ninth place this year) as its base for comparison and measures currency movements against the dollar.

The study is closely followed by governments and international businesses that take the rankings into account when they calculate the costs of sending their em-

ployees abroad.

Some Russian cities leaped up the table in the new survey, with Moscow reaching 14th place from 53rd last year and Saint Petersburg leaping to 36 from 116 “under the twin effects of the rise in the ruble and the cost of goods and services”.

Main cities in Australia, Brazil and India also marched up the expat costs list.

Lots of European cities were on the way down, particularly in Britain due to the weakness of the pound. Paris, Vienna and Rome also became less expensive for the expat purse.

At the bottom of the table were the Macedonian capital Skopje, Kyrgyzstan capital Bishkek and Tunisia’s capital Tunis. AFP

As the semi-autonomous city prepares to mark 20 years since the handover and fears grow that China is tightening its grip, those who left are reflecting on their decision to abandon the home they loved.

Philip Fok moved to Australia in 1992 with his wife and two children because he felt unsure of what would happen after July 1 1997.

Fok says China’s history under the Communist Party, including the Cultural Revolution which saw purges of political opponents in the 1960s and 1970s and the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, played on people’s minds.

Working as a mime artist at the time, he felt particularly vulnerable because of his need for freedom of expression.

“To be free, to the artist, is very important,” the 69-year-old explains.

Before he emigrated, he performed a mime show at Hong Kong’s City Hall theater called “The night before and after,” dealing with pre-handover uncertainty.

Fok went to Sydney where he already had relatives, but says life was hard―he struggled to get a visa, had very little English and lived on benefits for two years.

However, he eventually managed to set up a successful painting studio, which he ran until last year, and hosts a weekly Cantonese radio show in Sydney’s north west, where he lives.

Fok says his worst fears for Hong Kong have not materialized and argues the city is freer now than in colonial times.

But he has no regrets about leaving.

“In Australia nobody cares about your dress, nobody cares about your money,” he says, adding that artists there are held in higher regard.

In contrast to the densely packed expensive high-rises of Hong Kong, Fok lives in a four-bedroom house and is proud of the vegetable patch in his backyard.

“If I have space I can think. If I have no space I can’t think. I love Australia like that,” he muses.

There are no official emigration figures, but government estimates show hundreds of thousands leaving Hong Kong between 1990 and 1997, with the annual figure hitting 61,700 in 1990 and peaking at 66,200 in 1992.

Australia, Canada and the United States were the top destinations and are still home to thriving Cantonese communities.

While emigration has dropped dramatically, the numbers have recently risen again, from 6,900 in 2014―the year of major prodemocracy rallies―to 7,600 in 2016.

Herman Fu, 58, believes the political divisions and lack of opportunities for young people, with increased competition for jobs and salaries outpaced by the cost of living, make the situation “worse than he thought” it would be when he left.

He moved to Toronto in 1987 with his wife and two-year-old son, launching a window covering business, dealing in curtains, blinds and shutters.

Fu originally planned to return once he had gained Canadian citizenship.

But the Tiananmen crackdown changed his mind.

“My idea of the Chinese government was too optimistic and I had to rethink my decision of going back,” he says. AFP

Brazil’s crisis messier following graft proof

CEREMONY. This photo taken on June 20, 2017 shows people watching on fishing boats during the open

harbor ceremony marking the end of the spring fishing ban and the opening of the fishing season on Poyang lake, in China’s central Jiangxi province. The ceremony dates back 400 years and has been re-enacted in recent years in an effort to preserve ancient customs. Poyang lake is China’s largest freshwater lake. AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazil’s federal police Tuesday said it had solid evidence embattled president Michel Temer received bribes, a legal development that could see him suspended from office.

In a report, the Federal Supreme Court said Temer―who was away in Russia―benefited from bribe funds, even if he did so using someone else to collect or deposit the bribes.

Temer has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.

But Brazil’s top court said it had accumulated enough evidence of bribes being paid to merit an investigation into Temer for “passive corruption.”

Prosecutor Rodrigo Janot will use the report as the foundation of the corruption case against the conservative president.

“Faced with silence from the president and his former assistant, there is irrefutable evidence... showing strongly that passive corruption [on Temer’s part] took place,” the document said in part.

The report referred to the president’s relationship with sus-

pended lawmaker Rodrigo Rocha Loures, who is in jail.

Rocha Loures was filmed with a suitcase stuffed with a 150,000-dollar payoff from a JBS executive.

The court’s report alleges that Rocha Loures accepted bribes from JBS on Temer’s behalf.

Three years of investigations known as “Car Wash” have uncovered systemic corruption in the political and business elite, leaving Latin America’s biggest country seething.

“We are at war against a faceless enemy,” Janot said late Monday.

The main battle in that war features Janot’s allegation that Temer took bribes―and attempted to buy the silence of a senior politician jailed for corruption.

Temer is “the head of the most dangerous criminal organization in the country,” according to meatpacking billionaire Joesley Batista, who secretly recorded the alleged hush money discussion as part of a plea deal to escape prosecution over his own corruption charges. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

C4

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

‘North Korea drones a grave provocation’

World

Train station bomber in Brussels identified B RUSSELS―Belgian security forces have identified the man who set off an explosion at one of Brussels’ busiest train stations before he was shot and killed, in the latest attack to hit Europe, authorities said Wednesday.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the attack Tuesday evening could have been much worse because the “big explosion did not happen,” adding more details about the device would be released shortly.

Witnesses said the suspect shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is Greatest) before setting off the blast, which triggered a small but intense fireball in the station’s underground hall.

“The terrorist’s identity is known. We have been able to identify him,” Jambon told RTBF radio and television without giving further details.

Jambon indicated that police had carried out searches once the

attacker’s identity was known.

There were no other casualties apart from the suspect, who was confirmed dead by prosecutors hours after the attack.

Prime Minister Charles Michel is to hold a meeting with his top security advisers shortly, with a press conference expected afterwards.

Crying rail passengers fled the station after the explosion, with memories still fresh of last year’s metro and airport suicide attacks in the city that hosts the EU and NATO headquarters.

The busy Central Station in the heart of Brussels, which sits just beside the Grand Place, one of the city’s main tourist attractions, reopened around 8:00 am

(0600 GMT) Wednesday, railway authorities said.

“This is considered as a terrorist attack,” federal prosecutor’s office spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt said at a news conference outside the station late Tuesday.

The blast came a day after a man mowed down Muslims near a mosque in London, and a suspected Islamist on a terror watchlist rammed a car laden with weapons into a police vehicle in Paris.

Brussels has been on high alert since suicide bombers struck Zavantem Airport and the Maalbeek metro station near the EU quarter in March 2016, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds more.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attacks, which were carried out by the same Brussels-based cell behind the November 2015 suicide bombings and shootings in Paris which left 130 dead.

Initial reports said the blast at Central Station could have come

from an explosive belt but subsequent accounts suggested it may have been a suitcase on a trolley.

Van Der Sypt said that at about 1830 GMT there was a “small explosion”.

“The suspect has been neutralized by the military that were present at the scene immediately after the explosion,” he said.

The incident happened well after rush hour, but hundreds of passengers were still evacuated from one of Belgium’s busiest stations.

The nearby Grand Place was also cleared.

“There were people crying, there were people shouting,” said Elisa Roux, a spokeswoman for the Belgian rail company SNCB. “There was a movement of panic.”

Hours after the incident the suspect’s body remained at the scene as bomb squads searched the area. An AFP journalist reported that a controlled explosion was heard several hours after the attack. AFP

SEOUL―Suspected North Korean drone surveillance is a “grave provocation” that violates the Korean War truce, Seoul said Wednesday, demanding a United Nations probe into a drone that crashed near the border.

A drone, which had been photographing a controversial US missile defense shield, was discovered early June after it crashed close to a sensitive military installation along the heavily fortified border, Seoul’s military said.

“The latest action by the North... is a grave provocation and a wanton violation of the armistice,” Jeon Dong-Jin, first deputy director of the South’s Joint Chief of Staff, told reporters, referring to the treaty which ended the 1950-53 war.

A full investigation into the drone’s wreckage discovered its planned itinerary and confirmed that it had taken off from the North before capturing more than 500 photos of the South’s territory, the defense ministry said.

“We strongly condemn the North’s series of drone provocations and urge it to stop all such provocations immediately,” Jeon said, vowing “strong retaliation” against any further actions by Pyongyang.

The South has requested an investigation by the UN Command that is in charge of supervising the armistice, which ended open conflict between the two sides, but has never been replaced with a final peace treaty.

Seoul’s military said it was

beefing up the country’s defense against potential spying activities―or even future attacks―by North Korean drones, adding more border surveillance radars and antiaircraft guns to shoot down drones.

Photos retrieved from the latest drone include several overviews of the site for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system in the southeastern county of Seongju, according to the military.

The powerful US anti-missile system was installed this year to guard against the growing missile threats from the nuclear-armed North.

South Korea in recent years has repeatedly accused the North of flying suspected spy drones across the tense border bisecting the peninsula.

In 2014, crashed drones equipped with cameras containing images of South Korean military facilities were found at the border region. The South’s military blamed the North for the incursions.

A year later, South Korea triggered an anti-aircraft warning and sent an attack helicopter and fighter jet to track down a drone that crossed the border.

In January last year, South Korean soldiers fired warning shots at a suspected North Korean drone that flew across the western part of the border.

South Korea’s new President Moon Jae-In this month urged the military to establish a system to efficiently deal with the North’s drones. AFP

Officials meet under North Korea cloud WASHINGTON―Senior US officials will meet their Chinese counterparts Wednesday to seek a tougher line on North Korea’s nuclear ambitions―despite President Donald Trump implying this is already a lost cause.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis are to meet top Beijing diplomat State Councilor Yang Jiechi and General Fang Fenghui, chief of Chinese army staff, at the State Department.

US officials said the first and main item on the agenda would be persuading China to lean on Kim Jong-Un’s North Korea regime, in order to halt its provocative missile and nuclear plans.

But, just hours before the talks began, Trump sent a tweet implying that China’s President Xi Jinping had already tried and failed to rein in Pyongyang.

“While I greatly appreciate the efforts of President Xi & China to help with North Korea, it has not worked out. At least I know China tried!” Trump tweeted.

Trump did not elaborate on what might happen next, and US diplomats insisted the talks would go ahead as planned, and with the same agenda.

In April, Trump hosted Xi at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, glossing over his harsh campaign comments against Beijing and― after apparently successful talks―hailing the dawn of “a very, very great relationship.”

Last month Beijing and Washington signed a limited deal to open new markets for each other’s exports, and a long-standing friend of the Chinese leadership, Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, was confirmed as ambassador.

But tensions remain―particularly over China’s building of artificial islands in disputed South China Sea waters, and Washington’s strong desire to get Beijing to rein in Kim Jong-Un’s isolated North Korean regime.

Susan Thornton, acting assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said that the first meeting of the new “USChina Diplomatic and Security Dialogue” on Wednesday would focus on North Korea.

“We continue to urge China to exert its unique leverage as North Korea’s largest trading partner, including by fully implementing all UN Security Council sanctions,” she said.

Despite international condemnation and sanctions, North Korea has a small nuclear arsenal and is developing nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that threaten Japan and South Korea -- and one-day could even hit some US cities.

Washington has some 28,000 troops deployed in South Korea and a naval armada in the region.

Last week, the release of a detained US tourist in what initially seemed a gesture of goodwill by Pyongyang turned sour when it was revealed that 22-year-old Otto Warmbier had been in a coma for some time.

Warmbier died on Monday after returning to his hometown in Ohio, triggering outrage in the United States.

Trump’s White House has made halting the nuclear threat its number one foreign policy priority, putting aside concerns over trade and currency manipulation to seek Beijing’s help in facing down Kim. AFP

SUMMER SOLSTICE. Revelers watch the sunrise as they celebrate the pagan festival of Summer Solstice at Stonehenge in Wiltshire, southern England, on June 21, 2017.

The festival, which dates back thousands of years, celebrates the longest day of the year when the sun is at its maximum elevation. Modern druids and people gather at the landmark Stonehenge every year to see the sun rise on the first morning of summer. AFP

Heir to Saudi throne holds power beyond his years RIYADH―Saudi Arabia’s hard-charging Mohammed bin Salman, named crown prince on Wednesday, holds unusual power for a man of just 31, so much so that diplomats nickname him “Mr Everything”.

The son of King Salman has risen to become Saudi Arabia’s most influential and prominent figure since being named second-in-line to the throne in early 2015.

He symbolizes the hopes of a youthful local population, more than half of which is under 25.

Prince Mohammed is the main proponent of a wide-ranging plan, dubbed Vision 2030, to bring social and economic change to the oil-dependent economy of a country where women’s rights are among the most restricted in the world.

He also holds the post of defense minister more than two years into a Saudiled military intervention in neighboring Yemen.

Born on August 31, 1985, the prince

amassed “extraordinary power and influence very quickly” after his father ascended the throne in January 2015, said Frederic Wehrey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

“He’s clearly very bright, very intelligent, ver on top of all his briefs” and has significant influence on the 81-year-old monarch, one Western diplomat said.

Among his most prominent positions is chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs, which coordinates economic policy. Mohammed also chairs a body overseeing state oil giant Saudi Aramco.

As defense minister, the prince supervises the Saudi-led coalition’s operations in support of the Yemeni government against Shiite rebels who control the capital Sanaa.

In a profile last year, Bloomberg Businessweek said the prince works 16-hour days and draws inspiration from the

writings of wartime British prime minister Winston Churchill and Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”.

It was one of many interviews in which the prince has spoken at length about his economic plans for the kingdom, where officials are traditionally tight-lipped.

In a rare press briefing in April last year, he seemed relaxed as he took questions from the domestic and international press for about 50 minutes.

Wearing typical Saudi attire―sandals, a crisp white robe and headdress― he leaned on a white podium and sometimes rubbed his eyes, replying in Arabic to questions posed in English.

A law graduate from Riyadh’s King Saud University, the dark-bearded prince with a receding hairline is the father of two boys and two girls and― unlike other members of the royal family―has married only once.

He told Bloomberg that although Is-

lam allows for multiple marriages, modern life does not leave the time.

Mohammed spent years working for his father when he was governor of Riyadh and when he was crown prince from 2013 to 2015.

“He has a reputation for being aggressive and ambitious,” Bruce Riedel, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer who directs the Brookings Intelligence Project in Washington, has said.

Observers had pointed to an emerging power struggle between Mohammed bin Salman and his cousin crown prince Mohammed bin Nayef, 56, whom he replaced as heir to the throne and interior minister on Wednesday.

At his 2016 press conference, Mohamed was self-effacing about a comment that his name would be “remembered in the future”.

“I am one of the Saudi citizens, and the Saudi citizens too will be remembered in the future,” he said. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

HEALTH & WELLNESS

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

D1

Boyet with Ephpheta founder and president Rev. Fr. Jesus Vazquez Fernandez

SEEING THE LIGHT.

Fashion designer Angelino Boyet Fajardo is a living testament that miracles do happen when he gained his eyesight back after a P2,000 laser treatment.

Boyet Fajardo with Dr. Minguita Padilla—the doctor who treated his eyes

Designer Boyet Fajardo’s

DIVINE INSPIRATION

M

ANY perceive “fashion” as something reserved for a chosen few, or only for those deemed fit to grace a magazine: celebrities, models, or those living the so-called “high life.”

However, to designer Boyet Fajardo—now a successful household name in Filipino fashion design—his work in fashion is a way to make lives better for more people. As a recipient of miracles himself, he desires nothing less than to be one to others.

A big hit

He pioneered Plus Size fashion in the Philippines. He says that before, women who were on the bigger side were not thought of as deserving to wear something as beautiful as their smaller counterparts. Or, they were given awful euphemisms.

“Before, when you ask, ‘where is the big size?’ you are pointed to the dark corner where there are nothing but dusters (house dress). And we called those who asked “matrona, donya, lola.” There are so many words for them, which were really bad. It’s as if they have no right to wear something nice! And no designer would dare to touch plus size clothing.

Big women were relegated to nothing but dark colors, three-fourth sleeves and closed necks. “God—they were like suman! So my line was really a big hit!” A big hit indeed, also for Robinson’s who had enough foresight to sign him up immediately.

As a designer for plus size clothing, Boyet not only made a mark in the industry, he made his first considerable fortune. He was also able to make better clothes available for those whom society excluded from the fashion world.

“I won’t lie that I didn’t make a fortune. That was the time when success came into my head. I was really making millions and millions. It became a necessity for the plus size people because my clothes are complete, very well done and I was the cheapest. That’s why they (other designers) were so angry with me!”

Quality and affordability became the key drivers of his RTW business.

for Persons with Disability (PWD) and works with Ephpheta Foundation for the blind. He has a special heart for people who have this disability, because he himself was born with it.

“There are so many people who are blind simply because of poverty! What can I do? My heart breaks because of them. They go blind because they can-

cap, is borne out of understanding firstThe second time had cinematic prohand how it felt like to be maltreated portions. “It was dawn. I was brought because of disability. He himself strug- to a farm. They told me it would at least gled with a descent into darkness. allow me to breathe fresh air. Little did I know it was there that they wanted me Going blind to die.” He tried to escape his dire situIt was sudden, he recalls of the mo- ation by trying to have himself killed ment when he lost his sight. “All of a on the highway, as the rain kept poursudden, both eyes went blind! I could ing. However, thankfully his loyal asno longer see. I was unable to take care sociate, Bing, had found him before he of myself. I had to be bathed and fed. I could do himself harm. could only see shadows and figures. No Looking back on that unfortunate colors or details” night, he was so thankful to Bing for A designer, for whom his eyes were protecting him. one of the most important tools of the But that was not the end of his suftrade, was now legally blind. fering. He swears he went mad, even

Boyet with the Inocencio Magtoto Memorial Foundation for PWD

not afford a simple cataract or a simple glaucoma operation. So this involvement with Ephpheta, who does outreach for the blind, I helped them by investing in a machine that could help restore sight to the afflicted,” he beams.

He received an award for his efforts with the PWD (Inocencio Magtoto Memorial Foundation), as he extended his outreach even to those who could not walk and to the PWD who would not be accepted into jobs simply because of their handicap.

These, to him, seem to be not just Seeing the need CSR efforts on the side, or the cliché of Fajardo sees the needs of the market, “giving back to society.” His using his arguably even beyond the usual de- gifts for those less privileged or those signer. Now, he also has an advocacy marginalized because of their handi-

He thought he could rely on his family to take care of him. However, they saw this as a chance to make a play for his money, to the extent of making him sign documents he, of course, could no longer see. “What made me so angry with my family was that they knew I had enough money anyway, they could have brought me to a hospital. But they never did. And what I found out was this was because they were killing me softly!”

It just kept getting darker for Boyet.

Not only because of the blindness, but because of the shadows of depression.

He attempted suicide twice. “First, I tried shooting myself. But I couldn’t see because I was blind.”

smashing his own head on walls. And if not for the intervention of Bing and those around him who put a towel on his head, he would have broken his head, and what was left of his spirit.

He felt so forlorn that he asked God, “Lord, saan ako nagkamali? Why did he allow these things to happen to me?”

In the course of his blindness, he went to different sources for treatment: doctors, faith healers, and in his desperation to take away the darkness plaguing his life, he even went to exorcists. Then the light came. And he attributes it to nothing short of divine intervention.

He suddenly then became the beneficiary of a treatment that cost no more than

2,000 pesos. He recalls the doctor (Dr. Minguita Padilla) asking him, “Are you willing to undergo laser now?”

“Doktora kayo na po ang bahala.

Kahit anong gusto niyo, bahala na po kayo,” he replied. Then as if it was so simple after all, the doctor said, “Tara, let’s go to the eye center.”

“Maybe she thought I didn’t have money, so she asked ‘Do you have P2,000?’ To which I replied, ‘Meron po.’ “The doctor then said, “O sige, P2,000 ang charge ko sa’yo”.

He recalls being stunned, “I had already spent millions over the course of the two and a half years, but here she was offering redemption for only P2,000. He didn’t fully believe in the effectiveness of the treatment at first, because, after what he’d been through, could a simple P2,000 really solve his eye problem?

“In about 10 minutes, I had gained my sight back in one eye! That was the first miracle of God. I could see!” He was so ecstatic he ran to the lobby of St. Luke’s Medical center and shouted with joy. “Nagtatatalon ako at nagsisisigaw. I just went wild there, that’s why they probably won’t forget me! I could see!” He even finally got to see the plate number of the car, which he had bought when he was still blind.

Then the second miracle came when he gained sight in his other eye. He was given an eye transplant that turned out to be very successful. Full vision could not be recovered, however, because of other internal damages, but he’s willing to take what he can. “Even those doctors who said that there’s no miracle, now I want to write to them. To tell them that God exists.”

A new perspective

When he was finally seeing out of both eyes anew, he cut cloth, created an outfit, and gave it to Dr. Minguita Padilla who soon became a true friend in life. This doctor who was giving a talk abroad was able to tell the audience, “This was made by a patient who was blind. Now, he can see.” Amazing grace told through a designer’s life.

While his vision is not back to the perfect 20-20 (from a 20-100, it can get to 20-50 after another treatment), he definitely sees life in a perspective much clearer than ever. He dedicates his life to God and service of others. This, Turn to D2

Life

D2

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

Snore-free sleep

key to happy marriage

S

O YOU vowed to honor and cherish her in sickness and in health, for richer, for poorer, till death do you part. But have you factored in sleepless nights because she snores like a jumbo jet?

Some husbands (and wives) have not.

So what starts out as a fairy tale could end a nightmare.

In China, a 30-year-old woman divorced her husband because she claimed spending sleepless nights lying next to a heavy snorer. The judge granted the divorce.

The Associated Press reports that a newlywed Iranian filed for divorce after his bride admitted drugging him on

the sly to keep him from hearing her snore.

Snoring can wreck a marriage because sleep deprivation brings out the worst in us. When a sleepless partner is cranky, tired, and irritable, the other responds by being just as difficult. Sex drive takes a nosedive. Work suffers because you can’t think clearly.

Snoring can keep away friends and relatives you stay with in an overnight

trip to a beach resort because they can’t stand your snoring when they need a good night’s sleep after all that running, swimming and playing outdoors.

Why do people snore? Mayo Clinic cites the following causes: Physical reasons. A low, thick soft palate can limit the airway. So, too, can the extra tissues at the back of the throat of overweight individuals.

Alcohol. This relaxes throat muscles and reduces “natural defenses against airway obstruction.”

Nasal troubles. Perennial congestion in the nose or “a crooked partition between your nostrils” can cause the problem.

Snoring are caused by various reasons such as alcohol and nasal troubles among others

The AntiSnor Acupuncture Ring, worn on the little finger of left hand, helps reduce or prevent snoring using finger massage on acupressure points

Sleep apnea. The condition is serious because “throat tissues partially or completely block your airway,” thus keeping you from breathing.

All is not lost. The AntiSnor Acupressure Ring helps reduce or prevent snoring using Western and Eastern medical philosophies. The ring, worn on the little finger of the left hand, applies pressure on nerve points. This, in turn, stimulates muscles controlling your upper airway to help reduce or prevent snoring.

The AntiSnor ring treats common

Bond with kids

HEALTH BULLETIN

with Smart Bro’s iPad Mini 2 Plan 599

Details about diabetes DIABETES is one of the most common illnesses in the Philippines, affecting 5.1 percent of Filipino adults in 2013 according to Philippine Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Despite this, did you know that you can have diabetes and be unaware of it?

“Poorly managed diabetes can lead to severe health complications such as heart disease, blindness, kidney failure and amputation. That is why it’s vital to learn more about diabetes and if needed, seek proper treatment immediately,” emphasizes MediCard president and CEO Dr. Nicky Montoya.

Here’s what you need to know about diabetes: What is diabetes? It’s a health complication wherein the pancreas can’t produce insulin (Type 1) or the body does not use insulin properly (Type 2). Insulin is a hormone that enables the body to use glucose that is found in food for energy.

What are the symptoms? People with diabetes experience frequent urination, excessive thirst, constant hunger, irritability, blurry vision, extreme and unexplained fatigue, wounds or cuts that are slow to heal, weight loss despite of eating, and tingling or numbness or pain in the hands and feet.

What are its complications? Those diagnosed with the disease are more prone to infections. High glucose levels and high blood pressure can also lead to cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, nerve disease, and eye diseases, among others. Regular monitoring and maintenance of blood glucose levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol can help avoid complications.

How is it treated? Eating healthy and engaging in physical activities will help the body break down insulin bet-

ailments using finger massage on acupressure points.

Users report reduced snoring, better sleep quality, less fatigue, improved breathing and others. All these, minus the use of invasive procedures like an operation to solve nasal anatomy problems.

The ring comes in three sizes – small, medium and large. Or you may expand the ring to fit your little finger.

Hypoallergenic and drug-free, Anti Snore is available in more than 100 Watsons stores nationwide.

ter and convert glucose into energy. Some, depending on condition, need to take insulin injections and oral agents pills, which help diabetics produce more insulin and utilize insulin better.

How to prevent it? Having a regular exercise routine like 30 minutes of walking a day greatly helps in reducing risk of diabetes. Dr. Montoya recommends reducing consumption of alcohol and processed sugars such as candies and sodas while adding more food rich in monounsaturated fats in your diet.

***

Why wear multi-coated lenses?

WHEN you visit the eye doctor to get prescription glasses, “Wearing just any kind of glasses is not enough,” points most likely, you spend more time choosing the frame that out Dr. Emelita Roleda, general manager of ophthalmics opsuits your face shape and personal style than considering the tics company Essilor Philippines. “It is important to choose lenses that will be used for it. the right lens to get the best protection.”

Dr. Roleda explains the two kinds of lenses: uncoated and multi-coated. According to her, uncoated lenses are prone to damage and don’t provide protection against elements that threaten healthy vision. Multi-coated lenses, meanwhile, enhance the performance, quality, and life of glasses.

Multi-coated variant is more advanced and tightly controlled due to computer processes. These lenses are evenly layered, can withstand high temperature, and offer more improved performance.

“Invest in high quality lenses as it will really pay off in the long run, in terms of benefits to one’s eyesight,” says Dr. Roleda.

Essilor offers Crizal Prevencia, a multi-coated lens made with smart technology that filters out harmful blue-violet and UV lights emitted by the sun, gadgets, LED TVs, LED lights and fluorescent lights. On top of preventing long-term vision damage, it allows good light that helps regulate sleep and mood, and boosts brain activity.

TURN your kid’s favorite gadget into your best ally when it comes to raising your child in the digital world.

There is a universe of untapped potential in getting to know the technology children appreciate. Gadgets are here to stay. The choice to evolve with your children’s interests is something parents have power over. In fact, for those moms and dads who already discovered that gadgets and the internet provide a big window into their children’s lives, the benefits are limitless.

With Smart Bros’s iPad Mini Plan 599 both parents and children get the change to bond like never before. Apps like iflix Kids, Disney Crossy Road and Disney Story Central, children expose children to a world of fun and learning while at the same time parents are given the opportunity to use technology to connect with their kids.

“Our children will always be exposed to technology one way or the other. With or without a gadget, they will have access to the internet through their friends, through school so it’s important that we provide them with tools that we can monitor ourselves,” said Oscar Reyes, Jr., FVP for PLDT Home Business and Head of Smart Bro. Powered by Smart’s network, the fastest internet in the Philippines according to UK’s Open Signal, Smart

Bro’s iPad Mini Plan 599 allows the parent supervised content and usage while strengthening the bond between parent and child.

Smart Bro is the most affordable option to experience the country’s fastest internet connection with Smart’s highspeed LTE network. Plus, Smart Bro’s iPad Mini plan 599 comes with a huge 3.5GB of monthly data allocation, an LTE sim and the iPad Mini 2 that’s perfect for your children.

“The iPad is no longer just a modern pacifier. With the growing number of child-friendly contents and apps, parents can maximize the benefits of learning, entertainment and creating bonding moments with their kids. With the iPad Mini 2 under Smart Bro’s Plan 599, you open communication lines like never before between parents and children in a way that children understand and appreciate,” said Pam Santiago, AVP & Head of Broadband Marketing.

While your child enjoys faster internet speed, he or she gets to maximize the learnings and advantages of being online.

For as low as P599 per month, play together, learn together and bond like never before with your child’s first gadget.

Designer...

tional walls of fashion design so that more people will benefit.

“I talk about plus size fashion and how this is fashion discrimination too.

I want these beautiful women to come out in the open and say, ‘Ano ba’ng kaya ng mga sexy na hindi natin kaya. Discrimination stemming from plus size fashion is no different from discrimination felt by the PWD!” He dispels the notion that he is into an advocacy just to get money. Rather, it is now about giving. “I’ve come a long, long way, now I praise God. Now I practice all his teachings. This advocacy is not for me to ask for money, this is for me to be able to give more to a lot more people.”

To him, it’s about designing a way to help others more. And to him and those whose lives he touched, these miracles will always be in fashion.

From D1

to him, is not just an empty platitude, but a conviction from a core that has been touched by the Divine. “That’s a miracle, I can attest to that!”

Now, he does not want to compete, but inspire. “I’m into a new life. I don’t want to talk about competition because my purpose now, after what happened to me, it changed me, the whole of me.

The reason why I’m still here is because God has purpose for me. Now I am here to spread awareness specifically for the PWD, and also for those aspiring designers who want to go into this kind of business, and to keep their feet on the ground.”

That is why from Plus Size Women to the PWD, he tears down the tradi-

To subscribe, visit any Smart store nationwide or go to www.smart.com.ph.

THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

T

‘Trolls Sing-Off’ GRAND FINALS

HE world’s first and only Dreamworksinspired interactive play space DreamPlay recently held the grand finals of the first “Trolls Sing Off,” a singing competition based on the Trolls movie sound track.

‘Harry Styles Concert’ tickets gone in 52 seconds GLOBE Telecom has broken yet another record with Tuesday’s pre-registration for Harry Styles Live on Tour concert set for May 1, 2018 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

“We thank customers for their incredible reception of the Harry Styles Live on Tour concert.

Exclusive Harry Styles tickets allotted for Globe customers for pre-registration were closed within a minute, surpassing even that of Coldplay,” said Issa Cabreira, Globe SVP for Consumer Mobile Business.

This pre-registration qualifies Globe customers to reserve a maximum of two tickets on a first- come-first-served basis by just sending GLOBEHARRYSTYLES to 2363. They will be able to purchase and claim during the pre-sale on June 18, one day before the tickets officially go on sale.

“We assure our customers that they can continue to purchase tickets at any SM Ticket outlet” added Cabreira.

After bringing Coldplay A Head Full of Dreams Tour concert earlier this year, Globe is set to create more wonderful experiences for its customers by copresenting Harry Styles Live on Tour concert with MMI Live, in his first solo performance in the country.

Ten-year old Kristel Angelique Belo topped eight other talented finalists at Chaos Manila, City of Dreams.

Belo did a heartwarming and powerful rendition of “Sound of Silence,” captivating the audience. A resident of Batangas, she previously joined The Voice Kids Philippines Season 2 and made it to the battle rounds.

As the “Trolls Sing-Off” grand champion, Belo was awarded with P20,000 in cash, a year of unlimited pass to DreamPlay, a DreamPlay plaque of recognition, DreamShop and Chez Gingy vouchers worth P3,000 each, a gift certificate of an overnight stay with breakfast for two at Nobu Hotel Manila and a photo op with the DreamWorks characters.

She is also given the opportunity to perform in select DreamPlay events.

The panel of judges included City of Dreams Manila General Manager for Non-Gaming Operations Marlon Hirsh, City of Dreams Manila Director of Public Relations Romina Gervacio, The Voice of the Philippines Season 2 finalist Bradley Holmes and theatre actor and singer Franco Laurel.

The “Trolls Sing Off” event was also filled with exciting performances

FRENCH HIP-HOP SHOW

at SM Aura Premier The "Trolls Sing-Off" Grand Champion Kristel Angelique Belo (center) with celebrity judges Franco Laurel (fourth from left) and Bradley Holmes (fourth from right) and City of Dreams Manila and DreamPlay executives

from the DreamPlay team and guest artists. DreamWorks characters Puss in Boots, Alex the lion, and King Julien together with DreamPlay’s

Dreamers dance group showed some fancy moves and the audience were roused to dance along with them.

Before the end of the program,

Acoustic singer Marc Richmond Co rendered some sweet melodies and Bradley Holmes sang a dance hit to sustain the lively momentum.

Japan’s surprise hit in Manila "OTWOL" lead characters Leah and Clark played by Nadine Lustre and James Reid

JaDine’s ‘OTWOL’ on Jeepney TV THE show that became a hit among Filipinos worldwide, On the Wings of Love with James Reid and Nadine Lustre, is set to bring back kilig and excitement as it makes its journey to cable channel Jeepney TV starting June 26.

The 2015 ABS-CBN romantic comedy primetime series directed by Antoinette Jadaone and Jojo Saguin consistently obtained high TV ratings all throughout its run. The audiences here and abroad became certified Otwolistas. Its finale scored an all-time high national TV rating of 27.8 percent according to data from Kantar Media, and had almost four million posts on Twitter.

Critics, celebrities, and fans alike also commended how the hit show properly captured and depicted OFW issues and made them relatable.

Viewers and fans caught up with missed episodes on marathons hurling the show into iWant TV’s list of most watched programs.

The story is about simple but determined Leah (Nadine) whose dream is to continue her late mother’s “American dream” and lonesome but hardworking Clark (James) who grew up in America after his mother died when he was little.

The unlikely two marry in order to legally stay and continue working in the United States.

Apart from the JaDine tandem, the show’s cast includes Cherry Pie Picache, Joel Torre, Nanette Inventor, Albie Casiño, Bianca Manalo, Nico Antonio and Paulo Avenilo.

Relive Clark and Leah’s story in On the Wings of Love, airing Monday to Friday, 6:30 p.m. beginning June 26.

Jeepney TV is on SkyCable channel 9, Destiny Cable Analog 41 and Digital 9.

JAPAN’S recent sleeper hit and highlyacclaimed movie In this Corner of the World opens in Philippine cinemas on June 28.

In producing the film, director Sunao Katabuchi with the rest of the team turned to crowd funding and in no time was able to start production on the film from the help of the fans and public that strongly supported the film. From the initial 63 theaters in Japan, it eventually played in 195 screens and has so far reached more than $ 19 million in boxoffice receipts in Japan alone.

A coming-of-age story, In this Corner of the World is based on the original Manga by Fumiyo Kōno set during World War II where a young bride named Suzu Urano moves to a new town to live with her new family in Kure. All starts well after her marriage but the war against the US brings dark clouds that would soon cover Suzu’s corner of the world. After marrying Shuusaku Houjou—a young clerk who works at the local naval base, Suzu becomes essential to the running of the household and creatively prepares meals during the tough wartime conditions while also carrying out daily housework. In 1945, intense bombings by the U.S. military finally reach Kure with devastating effect to the townsfolk and their way of life. Suzu’s life is changed irrevocably, but through perseverance and courage, she manages to continue to live life to the fullest.

The movie has also

amassed a slate of high-profile local awards including the 40th Japan Academy Award for Best Animation Award, the 90th Kinema Junpo Best Ten Japan Film Best 1 and Director Award, 71st Mainichi Film Concurs Japanese Movie Excellence Award and Ofuji Nobushiro Prize, 59th Blue Ribbon Award Director Award, Hiroshima Peace Film Award during the 3rd Hiroshima International Film Festival, and the Best Film during the 38th Yokohama Film Festival. It has also been selected to premiere at the LA Film Festival.

Variety‘s Maggie Lee said in her review, “Dwelling more on culinary feats with food rations than on the unutterable horror of the atomic bomb, Japanese period anime, In This Corner of the World is a wistfully nostalgic time capsule of civilian life under the catastrophic tide of war.”

A deeply moving story, In this Corner of the World is presented by Rafaella Films and distributed by Axinite Digicinema.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Thursday, June 22, 2017

ACROSS 1 That girl 4 Den piece 8 Legless animal 12 Obtains 13 IRS employees 14 Toward the future 16 Dog-food brand 17 Sentry’s command 18 In force 19 Boxing win 20 Combative 22 Computer networks 24 Region 25 Forum hello 26 Experts 28 Quiet sound 31 Soft 34 Dirt 35 Breezy greeting 36 Running wild 37 Stoops 38 Burden of proof 39 Garden tools 40 Fasten a shoe 41 Band instrument 42 Tennis stroke 43 Foul 44 Coolidge nickname 45 Thames school 47 Crossing a river 51 Evening singer

55 Library abbr.

56 Put on a pedestal 57 Willy or Shamu 58 Roman’s V 59 Male vocalist 60 Made fast 61 Campus VIP 62 Kitten’s comments 63 Singer — James 64 Seek information DOWN 1 Pouting 2 Flu shots 3 Paul Anka’s “— Beso” 4 Program of action 5 Australian minerals 6 Mountaineer’s risk 7 — spumante 8 Becomes unsteady 9 Chicago airport 10 Setting free 11 Principal 12 Some vampires 15 Insect killer 20 Flock 21 Liverpool lockups 23 Vats

26 Explorer — de Leon 27 Take a taxi 29 Transport by truck 30 Flexible tube 31 Arlene of old films 32 Melville work 33 Glum 34 Zoo barker 35 Was able 37 Thin pancakes 41 In the raw 43 They’re often

polled 44 Pina — 46 Hurl 47 Gem surface 48 Some vines 49 Kim of “Vertigo” 50 Valley 51 Columnist — Hentoff 52 Footnote word 53 Short letter 54 Pluck 58 Vitamin monitors

SHOWBIZ DARLING. Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 2017

MAINE

After being in the entertainment business for two years, Maine Mendoza still remains as one of the most soughtafter product endorsers and TV stars

MENDOZA Two years in the biz, still uncomfortable in it

F

ROM a virtual unknown to one of the country’s biggest stars, Maine Mendoza now reigns supreme in daytime television.

“Sobrang bilis talaga ng mga nangyari sa amin ni Alden (Richards),” says the other half of the phenomenal love team, Aldub, “Lalo na po sa akin. Two years pa nga lang ako, ganito na, sunod-sunod.”

It’s only been two years but TV’s Yaya Dub still has to get used to all the fame and fortune.

“Parang hindi ko pa rin ma-fathom kung ano ba ang meron. Bakit ako?” she admits humbly.

Until now, she still has no idea what it is about her that people love and trust. “Honestly, hindi ko po alam. Parang isang question sa akin yun na hindi ko po masasagot.”

But all the success, she generously credits to her countless followers. “Siguro po, dahil na rin ito sa mga sumusuporta sa amin ni Alden na very supportive sa mga ine-endorse namin.

Kapag nakikita na may bago akong endorsements, talagang sinusuportahan.”

Proof of this is her partnership with CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino, which is now the top selling and most loved tocino in the Philippines today.

“Quality alone, sobrang okay ang CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino, iba rin po yung feeling na nagiging part ka ng success nila ‘di ba?” she affirms.

“Nakakatuwa po kasi patuloy pa rin silang nagtitiwala sa akin. First year ko pa lang sa showbiz, nakuha na nila ko. Hanggang ngayon. Parang isa siya sa mga unang endorsements ko at nagtiwala sa akin.”

The truth is, Maine confesses, she absolutely loves CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino and has no problem endorsing it being her family’s favorite for breakfast, lunch and dinner. “Before po kasi, hindi ko lang alam kung anong brand ng tocino ang kinakain namin. Before, pansin ko lang, matigas and mahirap lutuin. Yun ang napansin kong difference. Ang CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino, very soft and perfect yung sweetness.

Hindi katulad nang kino-consume namin before, matigas at parang bubble gum na siya. Sobrang daling lutuin pa kasi no need to boil siya. Imagine kung sobrang buys mo, no need to worry na kung anong kakainin mo.”

More and more mothers from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao have made the switch to the no.

1 tocino in the land. Because it’s made from 100 percent young pork, and not from the inahing baboy, it’s super juicy and delicious and need not be boiled, making it very convenient for many mothers to prepare and serve it to their families.

In her latest campaign for her favorite CDO Funtastyk Young Tocino, Maine has been teasing everyone about having found her forever. Her social media messages and big billboards all over the metropolis lent even more mystery and kept everyone guessing as to what it was that had her saying, “iba talaga pag forever young.”

Well, wonder no more as she finally reveals her secret in the latest CDO FUntastyk Young Tocino commercial. “Very unique ng concept. Parang ilolaunch nila na very mysterious sa tao. Kung ano nga ba ‘to, anong klaseng beauty product na bandang huli, malalaman nila na tocino pala, pagkain. I think, it’s very fresh for the consumers and for the viewers to see this kind of campaign.”

It is campaigns like this that has brought CDO and Maine to the top and they intend to stay there forever.

“Parang sa lahat naman po ng bagay ‘di ba, once na reach mo ang top, siyempre po, mas gusto mo na i-maintain ang ranking.”

But Maine is also a realist and knows that show biz is not forever. Unlike fame, which is fleeting, she believes in being young and staying young and stress-free. “Kasi po, hindi ko naman pinangarap na mapunta sa ganitong posisyon. Kasi, akala po siguro ng iba, madali siya, very relaxed. Akala po siguro nila, puro glitz and glamour, walang paghihirap sa ganitong buhay. Siyempre, meron din po siyang downside ng pagiging artista.”

She understands the rules of the game and keeps her feet planted firmly on the ground, “Siguro ito yung isang bagay na hindi ka dapat malunod. Kasi, panapanahon lang din naman po

ISAH V. RED

‘yan. Ang sa akin na lang, habang nasa ‘yo, enjoy mo,” she smiles, “Pero sa tocino po, may forever kasi, CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino. Forever Young lang talaga.”

Discover the secret to forever young and stay updated with CDO Funtastyk Young Pork Tocino happenings through their Facebook page. ***

To celebrate the joys and pains of motherhood, award-winning director Brillante Mendoza brings us another cinematic masterpiece on TV with Anak,, a gut wrenching and heartwarming episode of Brillante Mendoza Presents which airs on TV5 on June 25 right after Lakbai.

The story revolves around a childless couple who decided to go to the famous Obando Fertility Rites to petition for a child.

Brillante Mendoza with his cinematic genius reminds us once more of the beauty and pain that entails raising a family and of what adversities childless couples are willing to endure and struggle through to fulfill their dream of bearing a child. It also highlights the Pinoy religious fervor as reflected by strong faith and trust in miracles and divine intervention.

Playing the lead roles of this episode is the real-life couple Romnick Sarmenta and Harlene Bautista in their first collaboration with the well-lauded filmmaker.

This is yet another brave television masterpiece by the award winning Brillante Mendoza and is a reflection of TV5’s strong commitment to be the TV network that provides differentiated entertainment. *** “Ryza Cenon is no longer being managed by GMA Artist Center. Though her management contract has expired early this year, she is still part of GMA’s very successful afternoon prime series Ika-6 na Utos,, which has been extended several times already. We wish Ryza well in her future endeavors.”

This is the statement we received from Gigi Santiago – Lara, senior assistant vice president for Alternative Productions of GMA Network and also one of the officers of GMA Artist Center.

While many may think Cenon’s decision to move out of GMA Artist Center and join another management group can expand her horizon as an actor, others also think that it may have been too late for her to do that, as many younger girls are populating the screens of both networks. Perhaps she’s ready to take on more villainy roles or at worse…young mother roles. Well, at least she will have work. Or, she could concentrate on her upstart artistic endeavors. But that’s even a harder field to break.

How ‘KAPUSO MO,

JESSICA SOHO’

introduces Filipino stories to the world

TOP-RATING and award-winning news magazine program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho continues to bring meaningful and entertaining episodes to viewers here and abroad.

In fact, international news magazine television program 60 Minutes Australia recently picked up a story that was produced

by KMJS—the segment about Filipino-Australian Joel de Carteret’s search for his biological mother. In April, Liam Bartlett, one of 60 Minutes Australia’s hosts, interviewed Soho about the team’s determination and Australia perseverance to help Joel find his mother. The show also depicted Soho as “Philippines’ answer to Oprah.”

This is not the first time that international programs and news sites took notice of stories that were featured in KMJS. In February, New York-based social news and entertainment company BuzzFeed posted an article featuring Soho’s exclusive interview with Miss Universe 1994 Sushmita Sen Sen. Also in April, American daily newspaper The New York Times posted an article discussing the breakthrough research and scientific study about giant shipworms in the Philippines. The article mentioned that the international scientists knew about the existence of shipworms after watching it on YouTube last 2010. The YouTube link led to the uploaded segment of KMJS about giant tamilok or shipworms in the province of Sultan Kudarat.

These recognitions all happened within the first half of 2017 and they speak about the world-class standards of the stories being featured in KMJS. KMJS is also a consistent top-rater in Philippine television.

And with almost seven million followers in its Facebook Fan Page, KMJS maintains its strong hold in social media by consistently topping the trending list in the Philippines every Sunday night, and by uploading viral social videos, including the video of conjoined twins in Palawan which acquired more than 18 million views as of press time.

Last Sunday, June 18, Soho had an exclusive interview with Richard Gomez and Lucy Torres’ only daughter, Juliana Gomez. The episode also looked into the “Doobi Doobi Dapp Dapp” craze; the truth behind the alleged mermaid that was captured on cam at the Lusok Cave in Calayan Group of Islands; the inspiring story of a mother who saved thousands of pesos worth of coins which she used for her daughter’s enrolment; the romantic story of a widow who found a new love in her textmate; and some rainy day comfort food. Last, but not the least, KMJS celebrated Father’s Day with a moving story of an OFW who surprised his children.

Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho airs every Sunday night, after Daig Kayo ng Lola Ko on GMA-7.