Manila Standard - 2017 June 27 - Tuesday by Manila Standard

Attack fizzles, toll rises —AFP

VOL. XXXI • NO. 133 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

By John Paolo Bencito and Francisco Tuyay THE terrorist leadership in Marawi City was “crumbling” as the Maute group fighters and their allies continued to suffer losses, military officials said Monday. Since the terrorists overran Marawi on May 23, 290 of them have been killed, while 70 soldiers and policemen have been slain in the fighting. Twenty-seven civilians have also died. In a briefing in the war-torn city, Task Force Marawi spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-ar Herrera said a victory for the government was now “irreversible” as the terrorists were running out of ammuNext page nition.

BOMB RUNS. Smoke billows after aerial bombings by the Philippine Air Force on Maute militant’s positions in Marawi City on June 26, 2017 after the Maute and foreign terrorists allied with the Islamic State seized parts of the city, sparking bloody battles with government forces. AFP

Money for terror missions Abducted ARMM execs bare offers to embrace ‘black flag of extremism’ priest alive By Nash B. Maulana OTABATO CITY—Terrorists are —military stepping up their recruitment efforts, MARAWI—A Catholic priest abducted by Islamist militants who seized parts of this city has been seen alive, the military said Monday, as troops pressed on with their offensive. Air and artillery bombardment of enclaves occupied by the militants in the largely Muslim city of Marawi resumed after an eight-hour truce Sunday to allow residents to celebrate the end of the Ramadan fasting month. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Jo-Ar Herrera said the militants were deliberately burning houses and using improvised bombs, booby traps and hostages as human shields to delay the troops’ advance, five weeks into the fighting. Hundreds of gunmen flying the black flag of the Islamic State group occupied parts of Marawi on May 23, triggering bloody fighting that has claimed nearly 400 lives according to an official count. Fr. Teresito Suganob, a Catholic priest assigned to Marawi, was taken hostage along with some parishioners early in the siege. Herrera, spokesman for the military forces in Marawi, said the priest had been seen alive on Sunday in a part of the city still in the hands of the extremists. Next page

Ilocos Six presses for habeas bid By Rey E. Requejo THE six employees of the Ilocos Norte provincial government who have been detained at the House of Representatives for almost a month have asked the Court of Appeals to resolve their habeas corpus petition immediately and declare their continued detention as illegal and a form of torture. In a motion ﬁled on June 23 before the CA’s Special Fourth Division, the petitioners Josephine Calajate, Encarnacion Gaor, Genedine Jambaro, Evangeline Tabulog, Pedro Agcaoili Jr. and Eden Battulayan said it was crucial for the protection of their constitutional rights for their case to be speedily resolved. “Four weeks later, with a pending habeas corpus petition Next page

offering potential recruits thousands of pesos as a come-on, peace officials of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao said Monday.

Romeo Sema, chairman of the ARMM’s Regional Reconciliation and Uniﬁcation Commission (RRUC-ARMM), said he received reports that covert recruitment efforts were backed by “tempting offers” to individuals approached by clandestine groups, probably working for local terrorists that have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

Dammang Bantala, president of the Cotabato City State Polytechnic College, told a TV interview that small groups have converged on the school’s campus, “showing a dangerous tendency to embrace the black ﬂag of extemism.” In Pagadian City, authorities arrested ﬁve suspected recruits of the Maute gang, which overran Marawi City on May 23. The

ﬁve told investigators that 10 other members of the terrorist group were being treated for gunshot wounds at a private hospital there, a source privy to the warrantless arrest and subsequent probe, said. An elderly member of a Christian community in Zamboanga Sibugay also said his kin had met strangers offering recruits anywhere Next page

Curses and all, Du30 sticks to his style By John Paolo Bencito

The new panel replaces the National Bureau of Investigation task force created by former Justice Secretary and now detained Senator Leila de Lima that conducted the fact-ﬁnding probe on

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte will not be making any changes to his style one year into the presidency, a Palace ofﬁcial said Monday even as the preparations for his second State-of-theNation Address got under way. Despite his use of expletives against his rivals and critics, Duterte’s manner of speaking had fascinated the foreign media and won the respect of his fellow leaders, Communications Secretary Martin Andanar said in a radio interview. “It has really caught the attention of the international market, media. And now our leader is being respected by other leaders,” Andanar said. He said the President “will continue to be who he is and his style will continue. No one in the Cabinet will stop him from being who he is. “The people has accepted the way he talks. The people voted for him. Sixteen million people.”

$1-B BONFIRE. Cambodian officials torch a pile of drugs during a ceremony to mark the United Nations’ ‘International Day against Drug Abuse and Trafficking’ in Phnom Penh on June 26, 2017. Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand torched nearly $1 billion worth of seized narcotics on Monday, a defiant show of force as police struggle to stem the rising flow of drugs in the Southeast Asian region. In the Philippines, President Duterte has declaredhis own war on illegal drugs that has seen thousands killed since he took office last year. (Story on C4, World) AFP

DoJ task force to reopen probe of ‘pork scam’ By Rey E. Requejo THE Justice Department has formed a special task force to reinvestigate the multi-billion-peso pork barrel scam. Justice Secretary Vitaliano

Aguirre II said Monday Undersecretary Antonio Kho will head the special task force to correct “the miscarriage of justice” in the earlier probe of the diversion of billions of pesos from the Priority Development Assistance Fund

Sing ‘Lupang Hinirang ’ out of tune, end in jail—House THE House of Representatives has approved a bill that seeks to strengthen the rules on the use and display of the Philippines’ national symbols and to spell out the proper rendition of the national anthem “Lupang Hinirang.” The House unanimously approved House Bill 5224, which repeals Republic Act 8491 or the “Flag and Heraldic Code of the Philippines.” HB 5224, or the proposed “Revised Flag and Heraldic Code”, conﬁrms the ofﬁcial design of the

Philippine flag--blue, white and red with an eight-rayed goldenyellow sun and three five-pointed stars--which must be consecrated and honored by the people. The bill mandates that the Philippine flag be hoisted throughout the year in front of government institutions and other places such as Malacañang Palace, the Senate, the House of Representatives, the Supreme Court and the Rizal Monument at the Luneta. The bill declares as Flag Days Next page

conducted by the Aquino administration. “I have already ordered the reorganization of the Task Force on PDAF cases for the purpose of reinvestigation,” Aguirre revealed, in a text message.

A TOUCH OF ITALY.

Mall goers enjoy feeding the pigeons at the Venice Piazza on the upscale Venice Grand Canal Mall in McKinley Hill, Taguig, Metro Manila. Manny Palmero

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Taiwan upbeat on ties with PH By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan

TAIWANESE ofﬁcial said Monday Taipei and Taiwanese businessmen remain optimistic about the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte despite its problems, and particularly the conﬂict in Mindanao.

“We are still optimistic,” said Peter Pan, executive officer of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office. He urged the Philippines to start further cooperating with Taiwan and its “New Southbound Policy.” Taiwan sees the Philippines as one of its potential trading partners in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. In May, Taiwan’s representative

to Manila Gary Lin said Taipei’s New Southbound Policy does not aim to compete with Beijing’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative, which seeks to build a new Silk Road linking Asia, Africa and Europe along with investment of billions of dollars in infrastructure projects. Under its Southbound policy, Lin said, Taiwan aims to further and advance cooperation with the

Philippines in education and research, culture, tourism, trade and investment, agriculture, fisheries, information and communication, climate change and small- and medium-sized enterprises. Lin also urged the Philippine government not to let its One-China policy hinder the development of relations with Taiwan. Pan echoed Lin and said the Philippines’ decision to shift its alliance to China was a welcome move but urged Manila to also seek ties and cooperation with Taipei. The New Southbound Policy initiated by President Tsai Ingwen last year aims to advance relations with 18 countries, including those in Southeast Asia and South Asia as well as New Zealand and Australia. Taiwan was the Philippines’ eight largest trading partner in 2016 while

the Philippines was Taiwan’s 10th largest trading partner. Meanwhile, Taiwan’s senior diplomats are scheduled to officially visit the Philippines from Sept. 2 to 6, 2017 to attend its 9th International Youth Ambassador Exchange Program. The International Youth Ambassadors Exchange Program was initiated by the Republic of China Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 2009. Students from various universities and colleges in Taiwan apply and undergo a very selective competition by demonstrating their talents and fluency in foreign languages to become Taiwan Youth Ambassadors. One of the main goals of this program is to exemplify Taiwan� soft power abroad, to broaden the participants’ international visions and to orient themselves in international affairs.

“The Philippines, as a friendly country and the closest neighbor of Taiwan in the south, has always been the first and foremost country for Taiwan to send Youth Ambassadors to,” Pan said. This year, the Taiwan Youth Ambassadors will do a one-day volunteer work at the Tuloy Don Bosco Foundation in Alabang. The delegation will also present their observations at the “TAIWAN NIGHT” to be held at the University of Santo Tomas on Sept. 5. The Taiwanese youth group will present Taiwan’s vibrant culture and vigor through a 10-minute performance. “They will showcase their talents and the UST choir and symphony orchestra will perform splendid Filipino songs,” Pan said, adding that TECO will host a reception for their delegations in UST.

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“We don’t have details of his health. We were just told that he was sighted alive,” he told reporters, citing accounts from civilians rescued from the battle zone. He also said there were about 100 civilian hostages still in the hands of the gunmen, being used as “human shields,” ammunition carriers and stretcher-bearers. Fighting resumed with renewed fury on Monday, with government fighter jets and other aircraft seen carrying out bombing attacks. “Our offensive operations have resumed and will continue so we can liberate Marawi at the soonest time possible,” Herrera said at a news conference in Marawi. He said the bodies of two militants believed to be from the Middle East because of their physical features were found at the scene of an earlier airstrike, another sign that foreign fighters had joined the battle. “These foreign terrorists involved in the hostilities are bomb experts. They are the ones facilitating the rigging of the buildings and houses with bombs,” Herrera said. Eight foreign fighters, including those from Chechnya, Indonesia and Malaysia, were killed in the early days of the battle, the government has said. Herrera said they were still trying to confirm reports that Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, said to be the leader of the Islamic State group in Southeast Asia, had escaped Marawi despite a military and police cordon. An attempt by troops to arrest Hapilon in Marawi on May 23 triggered the rampage by the militants. Hapilon was indicted in Washington for his involvement in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans in the Philippines. He has a $5 million bounty on his head from the US government and is on its “most wanted” terror list. AFP

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the PDAF scam during the Aquino administration, which led to the plunder indictment of former senators Juan Ponce Enrile, Jinggoy Estrada and Ramon Revilla Jr. and other lawmakers and executive officials before the Sandiganbayan. Aguirre said Kho’s team composed of prosecutors and NBI agents would start their assignment with the affidavit and documentary evidence to be submitted by detained businesswoman Janet Lim-Napoles, the alleged brains of the PDAF scam. “Just like in the previous investigation, the statements and evidence will be validated through records from relevant implementing agencies and the Commission on Audit. But this time, we can assure the public that there will be no selective justice--unlike what happened in the previous administration,” Aguirre said. He said the same task force

STRONG LEADERSHIP. People converse in a house on the breakwater of Manila Bay in Manila. The Philippine economy has sustained one of the fastest growth rates in Asia, ofﬁcial data showed which analysts said signalled strong economic leadership from President Rodrigo Duterte even as he wages a deadly drug war. AFP

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“We have validated reports there are leadership problems inside. They also lack ammunition,” Herrera said. He said some of the Islamist fighters were ready to abandon the fight as their defensive zone continues to shrink due to the government advance. “There is the issue of money, the issue of decision making. Some of them, especially those other groups, would like to get away from the battle zone. They want to leave. However, there are some who want to stay behind to hold their positions,” Herrera said. Herrera said government forces were inching their way into areas still held by the terrorists, clearing 86 buildings they had previously occupied. “We are, inch by inch, moving towards the center of gravity,” Herrera said. “These are the things that are affecting them in terms of morale. They’re weakening.” Herrera said the only obstacles to fully liberating Marawi was the presence of residents trapped in the fighting, and those held hostage by the terrorists. The militants also planted bombs in the battle zone, he said. would handle the fact-finding probe on alleged anomalies in the Disbursement Acceleration Program, the economic stimulus program of the Aquino administration. He said the panel would also meet with Napoles’ lawyer Stephen David and anti-pork advocate Greco Belgica for gathering of evidence. Earlier, Aguirre said Napoles has implicated at least three senators and two former executive officials in the PDAF scam. He said Napoles has tagged Senators Franklin Drilon, Antonio Trillanes IV and Leila de Lima in the anomaly as revealed by David during their meeting last month. He disclosed that Drilon, Trillanes and De Lima as well as several other senators are included in the affidavit to be submitted by Napoles. As for De Lima, who was not a lawmaker when the PDAF scam was carried out, Aguirre said Napoles would explain her involvement in the affidavit.

The government said the military’s eight-hour “humanitarian pause” on Sunday, which was declared in observance of the Islamic celebration of the Eid’l-Fitr, was “generally peaceful.” Herrera said six civilians were rescued during the break in fighting. Armed Forces of the Philippines public affairs office chief Col. Edgard Arevalo said the tide was definitely turning against the remaining Maute group terrorists in Marawi. “Right now the terrorist group is feeling the might of the Armed Forces and [the AFP] is closing in on their positions,” he said. The military official added that with the reduction of Maute group combatants, some civilian hostages were being forced to fight or carry ammunition and supplies for the terrorists with execution as an alternative for those who refuse. Arevalo placed the number of civilians still in the hands of the terrorists at 150 to 200. He added that the military estimated there were some 100 to 120 Maute group fighters left in the city. The AFP official said they also received reports that Abu Sayyaf leader Isnilon Hapilon, the ISIS “Emir” in Southeast Asia, has already abandoned his companions, creating a massive morale problem.

“We were told by those rescued that Isnilon Hapilon has abandoned his companions… This is subject to validation process but we have received that information,” he added. “But if he has indeed left, the AFP will continue to track him and run after him,” Arevalo said. Also on Monday, the Defense Department blasted leftist groups for saying that women in Marawi were afraid of being raped by soldiers battling the terrorists. “While the nation continues to suffer from the havoc wrought by the ongoing rebellion in Marawi and atrocities in various parts of Mindanao, some factions obviously have a lot of free time on matters other than helping improve the stituation,” Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said. Lorenzana said soldiers have undergone a series of gender sensitivity trainings that focus on participation, empowerment, equity and respect for human rights. Women in evacuation centers are separated from male evacuees and are being supervised by various local government agency units, while soldiers guard the facility at the perimeter for protection, Lorenzana said. “To this day, close to 70 soldiers and policemen have already paid the ultimate sacrifice in the defense of Marawi City and our

people, with many more wounded and in need of serious medical attention,” Lorenzana said. “The groups who made the report have just exposed their obvious ulterior motives--for the government to fail in the fight against evil in order to advance whatever selfish reasons they have,” Lorenzana added. “Isn’t this the same group that is blind to the crimes of their comrades in the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army. The same groups, who conveniently forget that their communist-terrorist colleagues continue to loot, murder, rape, and destroy private and public properties in the countryside,” Lorenzana said in Filipino. “Are you not bothered by your conscience?” He challenged the leftist groups to provide evidence of abuses and lodge a complaint in the proper forum. He said the Filipino people have trusted and bestowed confidence on their military, the only Armed Forces of the Philippines. Also on Monday, the Department of Public Works and Highways said it will start clearing the roads and start rebuilding Marawi City as soon as the government military and police clear and remove all improvised explosive devices, landmines and unexploded bombs in the war-torn city.

Ilocos..

On June 1, the CA issued a resolution requiring Congress to file its comment on the case. A day after, the court issued a writ of habeas corpus and ordered House of Representatives Sgt.-At-Arms Lt. Gen. Roland Detabali to produce the detained employees. On June 9, the CA issued another resolution granting the petitioners’ request for provisional release provided they posted bail of P30,000 each. The House has ignored all three orders, a move that observers say undermines the independence of the judiciary and may lead to a constitutional crisis. The petitioners said there was no attempt on their part to refuse to answer the questions of the lawmakers, which resulted in their detention after they were cited for contempt. In their motion, the petitioners told the appellate court that Calajate, in particular, merely asked to be given more time to see the original documents while Gaor and Jambaro admitted not remembering the transactions in question. Tabulog

told the House panel she was ‘‘not so sure’’ if she signed the documents as the logbooks and registry being referred to had already been destroyed. Agcaoili said he does not remember all the transactions as he has handled thousands of procurements, while Battulayan said she does not remember signing a voucher for the cash advance. Isabela Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas has repeatedly threatened the six employees that they may be held in detention until June 2019 or until the lawmakers are satisfied with their answers. Mendoza, who serves as counsel for the Ilocos Six, insisted that their continued detention was tantamount to mental torture. “The detainees are undergoing torture, which is barred by international conventions and barred explicitly under our laws as well,” he said. ‘’We have already filed a writ of habeas corpus. That is more than enough. The writ of habeas corpus should be immediately executory.”

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and a court order for their release, the petitioners still find themselves without any right to liberty, with no reprieve in sight and with no recourse to justice,” the petitioners said through former solicitor general Estelito Mendoza. “The eternal and unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws is nonchalantly waylaid into oblivion by lawmakers in open defiance of the rule of law.” The six were detained on May 29 by the House committee on good government and accountability, which is inquiring into the local government’s purchase of motor vehicles amounting to P66.45 million, which was sourced from its share of tobacco excise taxes. The petitioners, collectively known as the Ilocos Six, said the Court of Appeals had already issued three orders to the House for the writ of habeas corpus as well as their temporary release.

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from P25,000 to P100,000, depending on the level of commitment to participate in terror missions. A statement released by the RRUC-ARMM today said money-baited recruits would then become potential “victims of deliberate misguidance to misrepresent Islam [through] senseless killings, particularly of civilians.” “We call on our brothers and sisters and our own children to resist … tempting offers in terms of financial [rewards] to become [terrorists],” the statement said. Sema said the greatest challenge to Filipino Muslims today is to “sustain [their] own aspirations as a people against the backdrop of widespread propaganda that tend to hijack the Moro struggle for the right to self-determination into the alien framework of the Syrian and Iraqi experiences.” “We call on them to please stop Arabizing the Moro struggle. The Bangsamoro and these Arab nations have had different experiences as peoples distinct [from] each other,” Sema said. Sema said the “conveyors of international fascists’ interest” [are] destroying Islam [using] billions of dollars from the spoils of wars in Syria and Iraq by sending people to sow terror.” He said Philippine Muslim youth and children in the countryside should be “spared from any form of unnecessary exposure to war when they are supposed to be in school seeking knowledge; or elsewhere charting the course of their own future.” “We condemn any movement portraying Islam as a ‘barbaric religion’ that neither teaches nor exercises respect for and tolerance toward other religions,” the RRUC-ARMM statement said. The RRUC-ARMM statement also said it condemns the recent bombing of the Golden Mosque in Talayan, Maguindanao, and the reported desecration of Christian places of worship in Marawi City and in Pigcawayan, Cotabato. “Attack on places of worship of other religions violates the Covenant of the Prophet Muhammad on the rights and protection of Christian citizens, which the Prophet said shall remain unaltered until Judgment Day.”

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In a separate interview, Andanar said preparations were under way for Duterte’s second State-of-the-Nation Address. “The PMS and the PCOO were in-charge of the preparations for the production and messaging,” Andanar said During his first year, Duterte made substantial reforms and attracted investments during his foreign trips, Andanar said.

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the period May 28 (National Flag Day) to June 12 (Independence Day) each year. During Flag Days, all government offices, business establishments, learning institutions and private homes are obliged to display the Philippine flag and observe the proper ceremonies. All government offices and educational institutions will observe the flag-raising ceremony every Monday morning and the flag-lowering ceremony every Friday afternoon. HB 5224 also says the flag will be flown at half-staff as a sign of mourning on the day of the announcement of the death of the following officials: the President or a former President, the incumbent and former Vice President, the Chief Justice, the Senate President and the House Speaker on all buildings and places where the deceased held office. The flag will also be flown at half-staff on the day of the official announcement of the death of an incumbent public school teacher on Department of Education school or district office where the deceased was assigned to teach. PNA

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BI to hire personnel to guard seaports By Vito Barcelo THE Bureau of Immigration will hire new personnel to man rebelinfested seaports and stations in Mindanao to help thwart the entry of illegal aliens, including foreign terrorists, via the backdoor. Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said that a total of 36 immigration border crossing officers will be hired for deployment to six border crossing stations operated by the BI in Mindanao and Palawan. These stations are located in the ports of Brooke’s Point and Balabac in Palawan; Tibanban, Davao Oriental; Batuganding, Davao del Sur; and the islands of Taganak and Bongao in Tawi-Tawi. Foreigners who enter and exit the country via these ports are mostly Malaysians and Indonesians, who are engaged in barter, fishing and other commercial trading activities. Morente said each of these ports will be manned by six additional border crossing officers who will monitor and board and inspect travelers aboard sea crafts that regularly cross the country’s borders with Malaysia and Indonesia. They are also mandated to coordinate with elements of other law enforcement units in their areas, such as the Coast Guard, Philippine Navy and PNP Maritime Group, in the discharge of their duties as border control officers of the government. “Consequently, aside from thwarting the entry of suspected foreign terrorists, these officers are also tasked to monitor and report on the activities of and apprehend human traffickers and illegal recruiters who smuggle their victims in or out of the country via the backdoor.

Oil prices continue downward trend By Alena Mae S. Flores OIL prices continued its downward movement starting today (Tuesday) amid the rising supply of oil prices in the global market. The oil ﬁrms cut gasoline by P0.35 per liter and kerosene and diesel by P0.20 per liter effective 12:01 am today. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp., Seaoil Philippines, PTT Philippines, Eastern Petroleum, Flying V and other oil companies issued price advisories of the latest oil price rollback. “Seaoil will adjust its pump prices per liter effective 12:01am, June 27, 2017 as follows: gasoline, P0.35 per liter rollback; diesel, P0.20 per liter rollback and kerosene, P0.20 per liter rollback. This is to reﬂect movements in the international petroleum market,” the company said. Oil prices remain below $43 per barrel and analysts are not optimistic that oil prices will go up as Libya and Nigeria increases output. US shale production is also on the rise, according to the International Energy Agency. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and nonmember Opec countries have approved extension of production cut for another nine months to support oil prices amid the supply glut but this has failed to make an impact on the ongoing oil supply glut.

RAILWAY PROJECT. Photo shows (from left) Chief Rep. Susumo Ito of Japan International Cooperation Agency, Ambassador Kazuhide Ishikawa Embassy of Japan, DBM Secretary Benjamin Diokno, DPWH Secretary Mark Villar, DOTr Secretary Arthur Tugade, and Neda Secretary Ernesto Pernia pose for photographers during the marking and unveiling of PNR North Tutuban Station on Department of Transportation Philippine National Railways in partnership with Jica on the ﬁve stations of the PNR North Railway Project, the line that will connect Manila to Central Luzon and Manila to Clark Free Port Zone. Photo taken at Tutuban Terminal PNR Manila on Monday. Lino Santos

Importers urge PPA to reject 25% cargo handling tariff By Rio N. Araja

MPORTERS and port stakeholders have widely opposed a petition for a 25 percent hike in cargo handling tariff for international containerized cargo at the Batangas Container Terminal, which is being evaluated by a technical working group of the Philippine Ports Authority. In a recent public hearing, Department of Transportation Assistant Secretary for Maritime Fernando Juan Perez admitted that the planned upward adjustment will lead to higher prices of consumer goods even as he acknowledged the need for the Batangas terminal to survive. “This (tariff) will impact on

the regular Juan dela Cruz as the consignees will just pass this increase to the consumer. The increase is too big for the ordinary layman,” he said. Based on the minutes of the meeting, Fernie Casiño of Suzuki Motorcycle Industries said the increase will jack up prices of motorcycle units.

But Perez noted that the impact of the tariff hike will not just be on motorcycles but on other goods as well such as chicken, rice and ﬂour. Earlier, a PPA technical working group approved a hefty increase in cargo handling tariff for the ManilaNorth Harbour Port Inc. despite a united position of stakeholders rejecting the hike, citing adverse effects of such adjustment on ordinary Filipinos as well as on government efforts to improve business competitiveness. The PPA board last week gave the green light for MNHPI’s request for a 24 percent tariff increase, which will be implemented in three tranches. But clients of the Batangas terminal have rejected the argument of Asian Terminals Inc., which operates the facility, that the upward adjustment was a “cost recovery mea-

sure” since the port terminal’sproﬁt actually increased last year. JR Dayco of MCC Transport/ Maersk raised the issue that ATI enjoyed an increase in volume since 2013. ATI vice president for commercial and marketing Sean James Perez, however, argued that since 2010 when the company started operating the container terminal until 2013, there was “no market or income.” ATI earlier issued a statement announcing that its net earnings rose eight percent last year at P1.91 billion, up from P1.77 billion in 2015 on the back of record volume of cargo handled by its international ports in Manila and Batangas. The company said foreign container throughput handled by BCT also reached nearly 160,000 TEUs, or an increase of 18 percent.

Freddie Naagas, president of 101 Supply Chain Solutions Inc., said if the PPA will approve the proposed tariff hike, it would force cargo owners to transfer their operations to Manila. “In case the 25 percent increase is approved, the freight in Batangas will be higher. Thus, cargo owners and truckers would rather use Manila than Batangas,” he said. JG Summit Petrochemical Corp. assistant manager Sarlie Trinos, for her part, said while they understand the need to adjust the tariff to cover maintenance and provide additional equipment, a 25 percent hike is “really high.” `“The increase should be lower or at least minimal. JGSPC has about 450 containers a month, and with the increase and in case there will be no improvement, we will opt to use Manila,” Trinos said.

‘PH senators’ Paris visit MMDA to implement 3-digit coding By Joel E. Zurbano for climate change’ By Sara Susanne Fabunan FRENCH Ambassador to the Philippines Thierry Mathou on Monday clarified that Senate President Koko Pimentel and eight others will visit France this week not to repair ties with the European Union but to know more about “climate change and Paris’ amendment of the constitution.” Mathou confirmed that Pimentel and eight other senators will visit the French capital of Paris on June 27 to 30. “The idea of this delegations to visit France [is] to know more about our institutions and our constitution and to see to some extent if the Philippines probably [be] inspired by our institution in the course of the amendment of the constitution,” Mathou said. Recently, Senator JV Ejercito, one of the eight senators flying to Paris next week, said that the parliamentary visit will be an opportunity for the senators

to renew ties between the Philippines and the European Union of which France is a member. “We also want to repair, ayusin natin yung relationship natin,” Ejercito had said. However, a diplomat-source who refused to be named said in a separate interview that if the senators would like to renew ties with the EU, they should visit Brussels and not France. Brussels, Belgium is considered the de facto capital of the EU. The President has been throwing rhetorics against the EU after the institution expressed concern over the alleged extrajudicial killing of Duterte’s bloody war against illegal drugs, which had killed at least 12,000 drug users and dealers. In March, EU also raised the same concern before the United Nations Human Rights Council. The Philippines recently decided to refuse receiving aids “with conditions” from the EU citing its alleged interference in the country’s internal affairs.

THE Metro Manila Development Authority, now under the leadership of chairman Danilo Lim, is looking into the possibility of implementing a threedigit number coding scheme to further reduce the number of vehicles on the roads and improve the flow of traffic in the metropolis. The three-digit number coding scheme was first proposed last year but was rejected by members of the Metro Manila Council, the governing board and policy-making body of the MMDA, citing the lack of time and preparation to implement the scheme. The MMC, which is composed of 17 mayors in the National Capital Region, instead suggested that

the MMDA should intensify the road clearing operations against illegally-parked vehicle, basketball courts, sidewalk vendors and other obstructions on both major and secondary roads. Lim, now more than one month as MMDA chief, said that there is need for the government to reduce the increasing number of vehicles in NCR as the number of registered vehicles in the metropolis alone already reached from 2.6 to 2.7 million, more than double the maximum carrying capacity of the road. “Yung kalsada natin dito sa Metro Manila is only ﬁve to six percent of all the national road networks, so you have all the 36 percent ng lahat ng sasakyan nag ipon-ipon lahat dito sa ﬁve percent na mga kalsada,” Lim said. “Napakahirap talaga nitong prob-

lema sa traffic, kailangan mabawasan talaga ang volume [of the vehicles].” Aside from the three-digit scheme, the MMDA is also considering enforcing the odd-even scheme, implemented during the time of the late former President Corazon Aquino, and imposing higher penalty for traffic violations. Last week, Lim got irked when asked by reporters if there’s a timeline when the MMDA would solve the worsening traffic situation in Metro Manila. The former army general said he should not be pressured by the public and should not be tied down with timelines. He pointed out that he is not a “time-bound” official of the government for the public to expect an immediate traffic solution from him.

Muslim leader asks for unity, help By F. Pearl A. Gajunera and Macon Araneta DAVAO CITY—In line with the celebration of Eid Mubarak, Maranao Tribe Deputy Mayor, Randy Usman asked for unity and help for his brothers and sisters in Marawi who were affected with the current war. Usman asked his fellow Filipino people to not judge his tribe since not all Maranaos are members of the ISIS-linked Maute group.

He said that the people in Marawi needs help and understanding from everybody. Usman said that they have set up several evacuation centers for the victims of the Marawi siege who seek refuge here in Davao City. Most of them stay in their relatives for the meantime while the war continues in their place. At least six barangays in the city have received evacuees from Marawi since the war erupted last May. “For those who would like to

help, they can go to their barangay hall to give their donations. Anything will do, foods, clothes and even prayers, we hope for everybody’s understanding and not categorize the Maranaos as terrorist,” he said. City Social Services and Development Ofﬁce head Maria Luisa Bermudo said that their social workers are currently making a master’s list to monitor the needs and whereabouts of the evacuees during their stay here in Davao City.

RALLY FOR AFFORDABLE RICE. Days before President Rodrigo Duterte’s ﬁrst year in ofﬁce, farmers and consumer advocates from Bantay Bigas, an alliance monitoring rice prices, said the government fell short in its mandate and responsibility to ensure affordable and safe rice for consumers during the press conference held in Quezon City. Manny Palmero

Opinion

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

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Adelle Chua, Editor

EDITORIAL

Absence of forthrightness

HE Palace has to stop telling the people that the President’s absence, for days on end, is no big deal. It is.

The first time it happened, right around the Independence Day celebrations which he skipped, President Rodrigo Duterte was not seen in public for five days. This gave rise to speculation about his poor health. He resurfaced on June 17, saying he went out of town for a visit to some

undisclosed place. He had to travel as a private citizen, he said. His spokesmen added, without going into detail, that the President simply had some much-needed rest. Malacañang also released photos showing Mr. Duterte performing his duties and remaining on top of the situation in

Mindanao, which has been under martial law since May 23 because of the Maute attack in Marawi City. Many of the President’s supporters defended his absence by attacking the motives of the people questioning his disappearance. They are probably right, but the question has to be answered anyway, whoever is asking. And now people do not know where Mr. Duterte

is or how he is again. We wonder—why rest some more now, when visibility would do much to assuage people’s fears that about the terror crisis getting out of hand? Instead, like a petulant child, a spokesman for the Palace said Mr. Duterte’s predecessor, Benigno Aquino III, went missing for days on end, too—to play video games. Aquino is a story in his own, of course, and this re-

sponse does not make President Duterte’s unexplained absence more acceptable. Malacañang should realize that questions on the whereabouts of Mr. Duterte are legitimate. They cannot ascribe ill motives to those who are asking, because even those who are not affiliated with the opposition are perfectly within their rights to inquire whether the President

is sick, or busy, or on a mission. Even if the president were not Duterte, we would still be asking; it’s nothing personal. The curiosity comes by virtue of the office he holds. The President’s mouthpieces should stop spewing bitter responses to our questions. Their behavior only fuels conjecture. An anxious nation deserves no less than straight, honest answers.

Duterte’s change is good and bad

The cure for fake news LOWDOWN

JOJO A. ROBLES WHEN I’M asked what the cure for fake news is, I always say: You already have it between your ears. I’ve don’t understand why some people are railing about fake news the way they are doing now. Because if they really wanted to do something about the problem, they should know that passing a law penalizing its spread (like a senator has proposed) or identifying alleged purveyors of fakery in the hopes of scaring people to avoid them (like the Catholic bishops have done) is really not going to do it. But let’s examine these proposals one by one. Let’s start with Senator Joel Villanueva’s call for the passage of a law

that will criminalize the act of spreading reports that are not true. Villanueva last week filed a bill seeking to punish the malicious creation or spreading of fake news. Villanueva’s proposal will penalize violators with jail time of up to three years and a fine of up to P3 million and doubles the penalty if the perpetrator is a public official. My first problem with Villanueva’s plan is that there are already laws that penalize the malicious spread of fake news, including online. These are the current (though much-criticized) laws on libel and slander, including the cybercrime version that takes care of online violations. Why come up with a new law just because spreading fake reports is in vogue again? And, pray tell, how is the new law going to succeed in proving what the existing ones have always had a problem with—the

presence of malice? Indeed, Villanueva seems to have copied the concept of malice from existing laws on legally actionable defamation, which makes the person or entity (in the case of media entities) liable for spreading fake

People need to learn how to discern, which requires education instead of jail terms and eternal damnation. news reports or malicious reporting. But this, to me, means that Villanueva is also quite aware that unless reputations are unfairly—and maliciously

—ruined, he could be going against the constitutional protection of free speech, expression and publication. In the words of the 1987 Constitution: “No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the Government for redress of grievances.” And if malice cannot be established, then any law that abridges that freedom cannot stand. *** As for Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Socrates Villegas, who also holds the position of president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines, his situation is, well, a little more problematic. And not only because he and the his fellow bishops declared that spreading fake news is actually a “sin.” Villegas’ declaration coincided with the release of a

CBCP pastoral letter which condemned fake news as sinful. The online-only news website Rappler reported that the CBCP drew up last January a list of web pages and social media microblogs that were included in the new CBCP “Index” and gleefully released a “partial list” of these that were, by no small coincidence, were supportive of President Rodrigo Duterte. (Apparently, fake news is only proffered by Duterte supporters, which is certainly a piece of fakery, as well. But that’s something for another column altogether.) The Index Librorum Prohibitorum, or List of Prohibited Books, was drawn up by the Catholic Church beginning in the 9th Century to identify publications unsuitable for the faithful, according to their clerics. Why the CBCP wants us to go back to not reading stuff on the say-so of priests— a practice finally discontinued in

FOR two weeks now, I have been giving presentations of my assessment of the Duterte presidency one year after his inauguration. My audiences have been mostly overseas Filipino workers, most of whom are pro-Duterte, as well as more divided groups of academic, diplomatic, media, and similar audiences like the one attending the Ateneo de Manila University School of Government briefing last Thursday in the university’s Rockwell campus. In these presentations, I strive to keep an independent, objective, unbiased, and constructive tone. The title of my talk captures this well: “The age of Duterte: change has come. It’s good and bad.” Following the title, I frame my presentations around a no-frills outline—The Good the Duterte government has done or is doing, The Bad happening, and The Uncertain (like constitutional change and presidential health). I also propose options for citizens - what we can do to correct the bad, support the good and consolidate the gains, and manage the uncertain? I liked that I have both pro- and anti- Duterte people in my audiences. They keep me honest and make me strive to find respectful language that enables dialogue. I start these presentations asking my audience to set aside their political biases, warning them that partisan lens will not allow them to learn from what they will hear. The two most important decisions Duterte has made that will have the biggest positive impact on most, if not all Filipinos—the appointment of a central bank governor and the end of the corrupt rice importation system— have been done right. In these decisions, Duterte resisted political pressure and chose the best option. The tax reform program being proposed to fund the massive infrastructure program that is being designed promises to enable inclusive development while physically modernizing our country. We are so far behind now from our neighbors. I do share a couple of caveats on the fairness of the tax reform package if not properly designed and the corruption that could happen with Build Build Build with Public Private Partnerships approach now set aside in favor of government procurement. Getting immersed in Chinese debt could

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Opinion TO THE POINT EMIL P. JURADO

In contempt SANTA Banana, as I look back my name is now in the archives to my six decades in journal- of the Supreme Court. ism, I cannot forget the fact that *** I hold the record of having been The other instance I was cited cited for contempt twice by the in contempt was when I wrote Supreme Court. The first was when I wrote about a senior justice acceptabout a decision that had yet to ing a favor from a known drug be promulgated. It was on the dealer and smuggler in Binondo. crime of rebellion with murder, They were seen dining together. I was even able to get hold for which Senator Juan Ponce Enrile was arrested and detained of receipts from a trip to Hong during the administration of Kong where that justice went with his children and grandchilPresident Corazon Aquino. I recall that during a wed- dren. There were 17 of them who ding lunch at the Manila Hotel, I stayed at The Peninsula! The saw Supreme Court Justice Ab- drug dealer and smuggler footed dulwahid Bidin and asked him the bill. That was another headwhether the court had arrived at line for Manila Standard. For that exposé, I got another a decision on the case. Bidin said the case had already been decid- notice from the Supreme Court ed, but a female justice close to asking me to explain why I Mrs. Aquino was holding back should not be cited for contempt. The court threatened me with a the promulgation. Bidin did not say his words fine and jail time. Again, I did were off the record, so I felt free not pay and wrote the court that I would rather go to jail. That to write about what he told me. I wrote the story and my edi- ended the story. Through these, Manila tor-in-chief Cip Roxas headlined it. The Supreme Court immedi- Standard stood by me. This is ately said that I should show the reason I have not written for cause why I should not be cited other broad sheets even when I for contempt since the decision had the opportunity to do so. had not yet been promulgated. *** My story got mixed reacI will be 90 in September, and tions from many sectors, including the Integrated Bar of I have never felt so comfortable the Philippines. I was writing in my life. I don’t have to prove anything as a journalist, and not as a anymore. When I visit shopping lawyer. I was then asked to appear be- malls with my wife and daughfore the Supreme Court en banc ter, security guards are always to reveal my source. My lawyers ready to help me alight from my car. People are were Rene Cayalways eager etano and Tony to assist me or Coronel. I remake me comfused to reveal I did not pay fortable. who my source I hate it when was, invoking the ﬁne; I ﬁgured they call me the Sotto Law. I “Lolo,” though. said that if they going to jail Except for the really wanted instead would aches and pains me to reveal that go with old my source, I make me more age, and the could do so in dozen maintea closed-door famous. nance pills that meeting. I saw I take daily, I Justice Bidin believe I am smiling. The court declined my re- still healthy. Others my age have quest for a closed-door meet- gone ahead, or are bedridden. Among my peers at Ateneo, ing, perhaps knowing that one of them was indeed my source. the only ones remaining are After a week or so, the Su- our summa cum laude and valpreme Court came out with a edictorian Ting Roxas, former decision citing me for contempt, senator and vice president Tito not as a journalist but as a law- Guingona, and former Court of Appeals justice Jimmy Lantin. yer and officer of the court. The court also fined me I heard, however, that Jimmy is P10,000 under pain of impris- now bedridden. Only God knows how many onment for an undetermined term. I refused to pay. I figured I years I have left. would become more famous if I *** went to jail. In all my years in journalism, Nonetheless, somebody paid I can say I have walked the corthe fine for me. The case, known as In Re ridors of power and have seen Emil P. Jurado, became a land- the best and worst of presidents. This is why I have decided to mark case that it was even asked as in the Bar under Legal Ethics. write my memoirs. I may not be I believe that the decision was a a celebrity or a politician, but as way for the justices to uphold the a journalist, I have been able to sanctity of decisions that have observe the achievers who all have their fascinating stories to not yet been promulgated. In any case, I feel good that tell.

The cure... From A4 1966, with the advent of the reforms instituted by the Second Vatican Council—is a mystery to me. But what’s really puzzling is that Villegas has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the list reported by Rappler. Villegas has not even said if the “partial” list is accurate. The Rappler list has earned the ire of a lot of people who consider it another instance of the Church encroaching on something that is not really its concern, quite naturally. Is Rappler using Villegas and the CBCP to foist yet another piece of fake news upon its readers? The bishops aren’t saying. Which is amazing because they are in a perfect position to cite the Rappler story as fake news or not, as the case may be. Finally, to get back to my own prescription to combat fake news without resorting to legal measures or Church-dictated lists, it’s this: Use your own coconut. My favorite analogy about news is that of an old-fashioned wet market. You go to a market to check out what’s for sale, but you buy only what you really need and want. The size of the store, the declarations of the vendors as to the virtues of their offerings and the price you pay is really something for you to factor in, if you want. Caveat emptor, as they also used to say. But you will not really get what you want (the truth, in this case) if you don’t check out everything and use your previous experience with the vendors and their products as a guide. You can even produce your own food and do away with going to the market altogether, or become a market vendor yourself. But what people need is to learn how to discern, which requires education instead of the threat of jail terms, fines and even eternal damnation. And teaching requires brains, as well.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

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More remarks about martial law HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA BY NOW, everybody knows that Mindanao is under martial law by virtue of Proclamation No. 216 issued by President Rodrigo Duterte. The power of the president to place the entire country or any part of it under martial law is recognized in Section 18, Article VII of the Constitution. Resort to martial law, however, requires the existence of an invasion or rebellion, and public safety must require it. Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to review and even revoke the proclamation of martial law. Two weeks ago, Congress expressed its support for the measure. Likewise, the Constitution authorizes any citizen to file a petition in the Supreme Court for the purpose of ascertaining the factual basis for the proclamation of martial law. The news media have reported that there are two cases pending in the Supreme Court relating to Proclamation No. 216. One petition wants the Supreme Court to order Congress to convene and review Proclamation No. 216. Since Congress has already expressed its support for the proclamation, that petition appears to be moot and academic and is bound to be dismissed. The other petition wants the Supreme Court to revoke Proclamation No. 216 on the premise that there is no factual basis to warrant it. This peti-

tion still raises a justiciable controversy. That is why the Supreme Court appears to have entertained the petition and has even allowed the parties to be heard in oral argument. In a past essay under this column, it was pointed out that the prevailing jurisprudence regarding any judicial inquiry into the proclamation of martial law provides that the Supreme Court may void the proclamation if the president acted arbitrarily in resorting to martial law. The standard for judicial review regarding martial law, therefore, is not whether the president acted correctly, but whether the president acted arbitrarily, in issuing the proclamation. In other words, if there appears to be good reason for the president to believe that martial law is warranted, then the proclamation meets the constitutional test. To repeat, Proclamation No. 216 already has the support of Congress. Since two elected branches of the national government are in favor of placing Mindanao under martial law, the Supreme Court, which is an unelected branch of the government, may be hard put to disallow Proclamation No. 216, absent an obviously valid reason to warrant otherwise. At any rate, several questions taken up in the course of the oral arguments in the Supreme Court merits discussion. The first is whether or not the entire Mindanao needs to be placed under martial law. One perspective has it that since Marawi City alone, and not the whole of Mindanao, is in a state of turmoil, there is no justification for President Duterte to place the entire Mindanao under martial law. That perspective disregards the realities obtaining during a rebellion. Proclamation No. 216 recognizes

that rebellion is ongoing in Mindanao, Marawi City in particular, on account of the Maute and similarly inclined separatist groups operating in many hot spots in Mindanao. Even if the focus of the fighting is in Marawi City, many rebels and their armed supporters operate from outside Marawi City. Firearms and supplies needed by these rebel groups in Marawi City are not always kept in the city. To avoid their detection and confiscation by the military, the guns and the supplies are kept in secret lairs all over Mindanao, ready for delivery to and use by the rebels who need them. These rebel groups have a common goal—the creation of an independent moro state in Mindanao in violation of the Constitution and existing laws. Belligerents aligned with these separatist groups are not restricted to Marawi City; they are found throughout Mindanao, in sanctuaries for antigovernment groups. Mamasapano in Maguindanao is one of them. In other words, the mere absence of a shooting war in areas of Mindanao outside of Marawi City does not necessarily mean the absence of rebellion. The second anti-martial law sentiment is the possibility that President Duterte will expand martial law to include Luzon and the Visayas if Proclamation No. 216 is sustained by the Supreme Court. That sentiment smacks of pure speculation. Placing the entire country under martial law is always a possibility, regardless of the ongoing rebellion in Mindanao, because it is a power which the Constitution vests in the president. So the mere fact that nationwide martial law is a possibility,

is beside the point. Anyway, if President Duterte does place the entire country under martial law without any legal justification for the measure, Congress and the Supreme Court can always step in, independently of each other, and disallow it. In other words, it makes no sense to ask the Supreme Court to void Proclamation No. 216 for the flimsy reason that the president may get emboldened enough to expand martial law to Luzon and the Visayas, if the validity of the said proclamation is sustained by the High Tribunal. Martial law under the current Constitution is hardly the authoritarian martial law contemplated in the 1935 and 1973 charters. Martial law under the current charter is for a limited duration, and is subject to congressional and judicial review. It simply creates a visible military presence in the area concerned, for the purpose of eliminating the rebellion in the most expeditious possible way, but with due regard for fundamental rights. Despite martial law in Mindanao, no newspaper offices or broadcast stations in the island have been closed down by the military. Trial courts there remain empowered to order the release of anyone whose detention is unwarranted. Moreover, civilian authority remains in force there. Martial law under Proclamation No. 216 is limited to sixty days. Any extension will require the consent of Congress. Even if the Supreme Court decides to sustain Proclamation No. 216, that decision does not prohibit the Supreme Court from reviewing any future extension of martial law. Reservations about martial law? Enough already.

The fourth branch of government is having a moment By Jonathan Bernstein ONE effect of the Trump administration: We’re getting an excellent (albeit unfortunate) education in the dangers and confusions caused by a historically weak president. Today’s example: the rapidly multiplying obvious differences between POTUS and the executive branch departments and agencies. This is not about some malevolent “deep state” scheming against the president. There are numerous examples Trump clashing with his own appointees —some might call them his most senior cabinet members!—who are saying and doing things that he strongly disagrees with. The left hand of executive branch departments and agencies either don’t know or don’t care what the right hand of the president is up to. As an NBC News reporter noted, the Treasury Department sanctioned Russians and State blasted Saudi Arabia this week despite recent statements from Trump himself. His tweet about China and North Koreadoesn’t seem to match up well at all with what State has been doing. Trump deleted the sentence affirming mutual support for U.S. allies from his NATO speech reportedly over the objections of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis. Earlier, Trump more or less declared himself a supporter of Marine Le Pen in the French presidential election, a position not shared by State. Outside of foreign affairs, he’s frequently made claims about health care which not only contradict what Republicans in Con-

gress are trying to do but also with what Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price has said. Without necessarily disagreeing on policy specifics (so far!), Trump announced that Treasury was about to roll out a tax cut plan without giving them advance warning. And of course he’s been bitterly opposed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s decision to appoint an independent counsel, and fired the director of the FBI for continuing that investigation. He still only grudgingly and inconsistently accepts the conclusion of intelligence agencies that Russia interfered with the 2016 election. Dartmouth’s Daniel Benjamin sees the divide as a “bizarre fact” of life right now. “We once had a unified executive branch,” he said, “we now have an agencies branch and a Trump branch.” But how can we distinguish between what is normal and what is a Trumpian aberration? The U.S. has always had a some separation between the “agencies branch” and the presidential branch -- a “branch” that was really just the president for many years but grew, beginning with Harry Truman’s presidency, into a large White House staff and a variety of presidential branch agencies such as the Office of Management and Budget. Indeed, one major reason the presidential branch grew is that it became impossible for the president and a handful of aides to wield influence over the sprawling departments and agencies. The presidential branch gives the president an independent source of policy information,

so for example the Council of Economic Advisers supplies expertise so the president isn’t forced to rely on the bureaucrats in the Treasury or Commerce Departments. The presidential branch also helps coordinate the actions of the whole alphabet soup of agencies. That’s needed because all presidents must compete for influence over the executive branch against both Congress and the agencies themselves. 1 The civil servants who populate the agencies have expertise they believe politicians lack; they often have a long-term commitment to their agency’s purpose (at least as they see it); and they also have an interest in supporting the agency’s budget allocation and independence from oversight. So what’s different now? Trump’s easily the weakest—that is, the least influential—president in the modern era—at least so far. 2 That’s a function of his terrible professional reputation in Washington and his weak popularity. It’s also a function of who he’s hired in the presidential branch— people lacking a track record of cajoling bureaucrats into buying into the president’s program—and the surprising amount of positions he hasn’t yet filled inside the agencies branch. It also can’t help that the president doesn’t really seem to have much interest in achieving policy goals. Ronald Reagan wasn’t exactly a detail-oriented manager, but many of his political appointees have said that they began each day knowing what policies he wanted them to work on. It’s difficult to believe that Tillerson or Mnuchin has any clue

what Trump really wants with regard to Russia. So they’re left on their own, or left relying on their departments’ civil servants. The same is true about domestic policy, from financial regulation to taxes to health care to trade, let alone the things Trump didn’t campaign on. The truth is some conflict between the president and the executive branch isn’t unusual. For example, Richard Nixon entirely bypassed the State Department when planning his opening to China, and Nixon, Reagan, and George W. Bush all had troubles with agencies running New Deal and Great Society programs. What is unusual is how much of it we’ve already seen, and in fairly high-profile policy areas. And, no, whatever you think of Trump’s policy goals (such as they are), this kind of presidential weakness isn’t good for the nation at all -- it will produce chaos that impedes any kind of successful governance as well as giving opportunities to the nations rivals and enemies. The 1970s educational cartoon series Schoolhouse Rock is outstanding, including most of its items on US politics. I know plenty of political science professors who use “I’m Just a Bill” in their college classes because it’s still an excellent basic introduction to legislating. Sorry, but the U.S. Constitutional system in practice has (at least) a four-ring system: Congress, the courts, the presidency, and then a fourth branch, the departments and agencies that makes up the “executive branch.” And right now Donald Trump is having an unusually hard time of influencing that branch. Bloomberg

soon to be brought back to Congress and the NDFP talks to resume in a few months. My wish for the latter negotiations is that they accelerate the process so we can get to a bilateral ceasefire agreement soon. Without such bilateral ceasefire, the peace process will always be hostage to the situation on the ground over which the negotiators have no control of. After highlighting the good done in Duterte’s first year, I then point out the bad that must be corrected and reversed. The war against drugs that victimizes only the poor and allows the drug syndicates and big pushers to continue their trade must be stopped and a new, more effective strategy should be adopted. Aside from the sheer injustice and immorality of it and the impunity, it has compromised the PNP and many of its officers and will likely lead to the indictment of President Duterte and his top law and order officials in the International Criminal Court. The abuse of power of Congress, especially in the House of Representatives—from its treatment of Senator Leila de Lima, railroading of the impeachment dismissal, refusal to do its duty on reviewing martial law, and now its threats to the Court of Appeals—must end. The state of our democracy is bad, the prime example of which

is the vitriol being thrown at Senators De Lima and Risa Hontiveros as well as Vice President Leni Robredo. This is, by the way, not the fault of one group of partisans. In my talk, I always emphasize that the downward slide of politics began in the PNoy years and especially in the run-up to the 2016 elections with the malicious ways GMA, Corona, Binay, and Poe were attacked. In my opinion, Duterte was spared that because at first it was believed his entry into the elections would diminish support for Binay and Poe. The China policy and its terrible consequences for the country’s territorial integrity, coupled with a confused implementation of an independent foreign policy where we alienate old allies, have also been bad for the country. Hopefully, newly appointed Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Cayetano will be able to correct this. Finally, the Marawi siege and the declaration of martial law in Marawi have long-term consequences that will haunt the country. I have written extensively about these in other columns. My final set of points I describe under the category of uncertain. First on my list is constitutional change as the time frame is narrowing even as it is still possible. But the mother of

all uncertainty is of course the health of the President. I hope Malacañang could be more transparent about what is really ailing the President so speculation ends. I also cannot understand why our investigative journalists are not able to report on this with some certainty. In any case, I definitely wish the President well and would encourage him to rest and pace himself better. I certainly praise him for his hard work in traveling so much to reach out to other leaders and OFWs and for his empathy in going to all wakes of fallen soldiers but some prudence might be needed if he is to survive and do well in his term. While Leni Robredo is a good, solid, competent, steel-willed, and visionary leader and will rise up to the occasion if needed, the country would be very divided, even more than it is now if she succeeds in an untimely way. Indeed, it will be a very brutal succession. No one should wish that on Robredo and on the country. I end my talks, stressing that it was important to go beyond Duterte as this age will pass. It always does and the country must move on, learn the lessons, repeat the good but not, never again, the bad.

Duterte’s... From A4 also be problematic. I make sure to praise the departments and agencies led by personalities from the left—DSWD, DAR, NAPC, and PCUP—and the work of Cabinet Secretary Jun Evasco. While there are complaints here and there, mostly personality based and some going back to the ideological battles in the 1980s and 1990, these departments are doing well. At last, we have agencies constantly siding with their constituents and no longer trying to always compromise and look for a false balance. The left can be trusted to govern and they will not make a mess of things. Despite the challenges, I am glad that the peace processes with the Moros and the communists are continuing. Among others, this is because of the exemplary leadership of Secretary Jess Dureza and the chairs he has chosen on the government side—Irene Santiago for the implementation of the MILF agreement, Nabil Tan for the negotiations with Nur Misuari, and Secretary Bebot Bello who leads the talks with the communists. They are backed up by excellent panels and resource persons. Last but not the least, our partners in the negotiating table are also sincere and committed to peace. I am still upbeat that we can complete both peace processes— with the Bangsamoro Basic Law

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‘Spread infra fund evenly’ By Maricel V. Cruz AN OPPOSITION leader in the House of Representatives on Monday said the P8.4 trillion that President Rodrigo Duterte plans to invest in new public infrastructure should be distributed evenly countrywide to foster balanced economic growth across all regions. House deputy minority leader and Buhay party-list Rep. Lito Atienza said that “development planners should see to it that the money is spent prudently, and spread out as fairly as possible so that all Filipinos will enjoy the economic benefits. No region should be left behind.” “We really have to renew our aging infrastructure, so we are all behind the President’s highly aggressively strategy,” Atienza, former Manila mayor, said. He said the huge spending should create new economic opportunities for less developed areas and help stem resettlements in highly urbanized and congested districts. “People will go to where the money is, and to where the jobs are, so every region should get its fair share,” Atienza said. He said the huge investment in new roads, bridges, railways and airport improvements is expected to spur a multitude of recurring construction-related jobs that would immediately benefit lowincome households. “Construction workers come mostly from underprivileged families. They also tend to spend their money in a manner likely to benefit other disadvantaged households,” Atienza said. “Chances are, they will buy their food and other basic necessities from the nearest street vendor, carinderia or sari-sari store, and not from Jollibee or 7-Eleven,” he said. Atienza said the administration’s push for a “Golden Age of Infrastructure” calls for big projects throughout Duterte’s six-year term, including the country’s first underground electric railroad. The proposed P227-billion Mega Manila Subway promises to take commuters from Quezon City to Taguig City in just half an hour, he added.

ERC told to open hearings By Macon Ramos-Araneta SENATOR Win Gatchalian has proposed to the Energy Regulatory Commission to open its deliberations to the general public to guarantee that consumers get fair and reasonable power rates. He also suggested that live internet streaming of the hearings be made available on the ERC website and a transcript of stenographic notes and minutes of the meeting be made available to the public within one week from the date of the open hearing. However, to protect trade secrets and competitively-sensitive information that are strictly confidential in nature, the Senate may hold executive sessions ‘upon a majority vote’ of the Commission and only after the reasons for such confidentiality is identified in an open meeting. Executive sessions will likewise be allowed to “discuss the disciplining or dismissal of complaints or charges brought against a public officer, employee or staff of ERC.” “These reforms will give life to the constitutional rights of our citizens to have access to public information which directly affects the power costs they see in their monthly electricity bills. It’s like a mini-FOI bill which specifically targets the energy regulation sector,” said Gatchalian. These proposals are among the key features of Senate Bill No. 1490, otherwise known as the ERC Governance Act of 2017, which Gatchalian filed in the Senate to ensure transparency and greater accountability in the regulation of the distribution and transmission sector of the country’s power industry. Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Energy, stressed that “the ERC, as the regulator, has a definitive role in safeguarding the interests of the public”, and should therefore, “provide greater confidence that regulatory decisions are made on an objective, impartial and consistent basis, without conflict of interest, bias or improper influence.”

Cameras installed at Naia to monitor all passengers A By Joel E. Zurbano

UTHORITIES have installed cameras in each immigration counter at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport to capture images of all departing and arriving passengers in line with the heightened security measure being enforced at the airport.

The latest measure, initiated by the Immigration bureau, covers all local and foreign passengers, as well as international airline pilots and crews. The captured images of individuals will be automatically transmitted to the immigration servers and will link to international servers for future references or person with derogatory records for possible arrest.

The bureau’s intelligence personnel and experts in profiling of individuals are on stand-by at the arrival and departure immigration areas while Customs agents will help them in providing information about individuals they monitored. The intensified screening on all incoming and departing passengers in all airports and seaports came following reports that

suspected foreign terrorists joined the extremist Maute group, now in armed conflict with government troops in Marawi City, Lanao del Sur and other parts of Mindanao. The Armed Forces of the Philippines also called for stricter immigration procedures after it received information that some members of the Maute allied terrorist groups entered the country via airports. Commissioner Jaime Morente tapped Naia Immigration-Port Operation Division chief Red Mariñas to conduct “double screen” on all passengers coming from countries identified with foreign terrorists. He also ordered the designation of experts in profiling from the Border Control and Intel-

ligence Unit in all international airports in the country for the possible ar rest of foreign ter rorist who would like to enter the country. Mariñas said Commissioner Morente also ordered him to deport passengers with derogatory records and placed them under their blacklist so they will never have a chance to enter the country again. Reports showed that some foreigners who helped the Maute group in Mindanao came from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Chechnya in Russia and Morocco. Last week, the Manila International Airport Authority deployed security personnel armed with assault rifles, machine pistols and bullet proof vest as part of the heightened

security measures. The National Capital Region Police Office also received information that a document was being circulated through social media that a series of bombings would be launched anytime in Metro Manila. Transportation Secretary Arturo Tugade said the security measures in all transport hubs in the country emphasize that public safety is the topmost priority of the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte. He also underscored the need for consistent visibility of security personnel in transport facilities to prevent untoward incidents and to deter lawless elements from conducting activities detrimental to passengers.

Caterer slams blacklist order By Rio N. Araja

TOURISM FORUM. Palawan Gov. Jose Chavez Alvarez answers a query from reporters during a press conference of the 6th United Nations World Tourism Organization International Conference on Tourism Statistics held Monday in Puerto Princesa City. Also in attendance are (from left) Tourism Secretary Wanda Teo and World Tourism Organization secretary-general Taleb Rifai. Teddy Pelaez

Solon seeks probe on Boracay’s ‘decay’ A VISAYAN lawmaker on Monday stressed the need for the government to strictly regulate the development and influx of tourists on some of the country’s major tourism spots such as Boracay to ensure their long-term sustainability. In filing House Resolution 1087, Samar Rep. Edgar Mary Sarmiento has urged the House of Representatives’ committee on tourism to conduct an inquiry “into the roadmap, programs, projects and action plans of the Department of Tourism that aim to regulate tourist spots in order to promote sustainability.” Sarmiento said that while Boracay and other popular tourism destinations in the country are bringing a lot of revenues for the people and the government, there is a need to protect these places from over development and overcapacity which is the main cause

of pollution. As it is, Sarmiento noted that the DOT's thrust only seems to be centered on how to generate tourists but not on how to protect the country's tourist destinations. He noted that when the members of the House of Representatives embarked on the so-called “Western-Eastern National Highway Expedition” which was a brainchild of Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and House Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, he said he realized the rapid degradation of Boracay Island which is one of the country's top tourism spots. “The members of the House have also observed what several news agencies have reported, specifically, that there is an abundance of algal growth which may be related to pollution and the presence of waste matter surrounding the island,” Sarmiento said in his resolution.

Sarmiento expressed concern that overdevelopment and overpopulation is now causing too much stress on Boracay which has attracted 1.7 million visitors in 2016 alone and has long been considered as one of the best islands in the world. “Several studies have shown the detrimental environmental impacts that tourism has cause Boracay, such as poor water quality, beach erosion, and decrease in coral cover. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources also found out that some areas around Boracay are too dirty to swim on,” Sarmiento’s resolution said. “The massive influx of tourists and the explosive population growth in the island places it at the risk of destruction. This is highly detrimental as our citizens are reaping numerous benefits from the thriving tourism industry in the

area. Moreover, the environmental degradation is a proof of the State’s failure to preserve our natural resources,” Sarmiento added. Sarmiento said that to save Boracay from turning into a wasteland, there is a need for DOT and the DENR to immediately adopt policies and practices that would stop the island’s rapid environmental decline. He also stressed the need for Congress to come up with a law that would clearly define policies in managing tourist destinations such as Boracay to promote tourism while ensuring the protection of the environment. In the case of Boracay, Sarmiento said that the DOT should start setting up specific parameters in terms of capacity and start limiting the number of resorts and inns that are coming out like mushrooms even in interior areas. Maricel V. Cruz

THE food caterer for the inmates at the National Bilbid Prison questioned on Monday the Bureau of Corrections' blacklist order against it. Alvin Navarro, Mang Kiko Catering Services Inc. president, maintained that his company did not do anything wrong when they changed their menu from ser ving pork meat, instead of beef meat, saying they only wanted to ensure that the food served to the inmates were safe and had met the quality s t a n d a r d s based on the evaluation of company nutritionists and dietitians. He said the change in the menu was within the provisions in its contract with the government. “It was ironic that in our effort to protect the safety of the inmates, we were even blacklisted,” he added. He hit out at director general Benjamin delos Santos, saying Mang Kiko had been “singled out and discriminated” since he assumed office in January, and that Mang Kiko was even accused of food poisoning. Last May 27, 900 inmates at the national penitentiary suffered from diarrhea and two of them died. The Department of Health, however, blamed the incident on the deep well water from where the inmates drank. In the past 11 years, Mang Kiko has been supplying food to 40,000 inmates at the NBP and four regional penal colonies. On May 15, Mang Kiko wrote President Rodrigo Duterte, informing him about the irregularities at BuCor. Mang Kiko won the December 2016 bidding to cater food for July to December this year, but BuCor’s bids and awards committee canceled its award and ordered a rebid.

Filipinos’ creativity showcased at the Cannes Lions 2017 THE Philippine advertising industry achieved another milestone when McCann Worldgroup Philippines took home a Radio Lions haul at the recent Cannes Lions 2017. The agency won a Gold Lion for its “Lives 1 of 4 ‘Frank’, Lives 2 of 4 ‘Hanna’, Lives 3 of 4 ‘Nicky’” campaign series for Fully Booked, and a Silver Lion for the “Dim Dads ‘Rufus’” and “Dim Dads ‘Pedro’” series for Nestlé Philippines’ Maggi Magic Sarap in the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity Radio category last Saturday, June 24, 2017. They took three bestselling books and turned them into mini-audiobook synopses aired over the radio, complete with pagination.

“Lives 1 of 4 ‘Frank’” was a synopsis of Mary Shelley’s classic “Frankenstein”, “Lives 2 of 4 ‘Hanna’ featured Young Adult novel-turned-Netflixseries “13 Reasons Why” by Jay Asher, while “Lives 3 of 4 ‘Nicky’” featured Gillian Flynn’s “Gone Girl”. The ads ended with a line from Fully Booked saying, “with a book, you’re not just living a page, you’re living a whole ‘nother life.” Aside from bagging the gold medal, McCann Worldgroup Philippines snatched a Silver Lion campaign for its “Dim Dads ‘Rufus’” and “Dim Dads ‘Pedro’” series for Maggi Magic Sarap. The two ads were funny and witty anecdotes of two men who try their best to cook

but ends up with dishes no one wants to eat. Luckily, Maggi Magic Sarap comes in to save the dish. Both campaigns were headed by chief creative officer Raul Castro, executive creative director Joe Dy, and creative director Maan Bautista. This is the fifth time the Philippines has won a Gold Lion at Cannes. The first was when J. Walter Thompson Manila won the country's first Gold Radio Lion with a radio campaign for Lotus Spa. In 2013, the same agency earned gold in Outdoor Lions for its Energizer Schick Icons poster campaign. The year 2013 also saw Ace Saatchi & Saatchi take home two Gold Lions for PLDT Screen Age Love Story.

PCSO ASAP DESK. Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander F. Balutan (second from left) and Makati Mayor Marlen Abegail Binay-Campos seal the Memorandum of Agreement for the implementation of the PCSO ASAP/DESK Delivery system at the Ospital ng Makati wherein patients need not to come to the charity agency office. They can file their financial request to the PCSO ASAP/DESK in the hospital under the Individual Medical Assistance Program. With them are PCSO Charity Assistant Department Manager Rubin Magno (left) and Ospital ng Makati Medical Director Dr. Vergel Binay. The signing of MOA was held on June 23, at the Makati City Hall.

Sports

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Bunker chip-in brings Spieth th Travelers’ title, his 10 in PGA

ASHINGTON—Jordan Spieth sank a bunker shot on the ﬁrst playoff hole Sunday to defeat US compatriot Daniel Berger and win the Travelers Championship for his 10th career US PGA title. Sixth-ranked Spieth, the 2015 Masters and US Open champion, fired a final-round par 70 to finish 72 holes level with Berger on 12-under 268 at TPC River Highlands near Hartford, Connecticut. On the par-4 18th hole in the playoff, Spieth hit a tree off the

tee but the ball bounded into the fairway. His approach went into a greenside bunker. But then he blasted out and the ball bounced twice on the green and rolled three feet into the cup. “For the bunker shot to go in, that was awesome,” Spieth said.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever have a moment like that again.” Spieth helped quiet a cheering crowd as Berger had a long putt from off the green to extend the playoff but Berger could not match Spieth’s stunning feat and the celebration began in earnest moments later. “It’s just Jordan doing Jordan things,” Berger said. “I played great today. Obviously I wanted to win. I’m just speechless right now.” Spieth, 23, won earlier this year at Pebble Beach and after completing a wire-to-wire victory in his Travelers debut became the second-youngest

player to win 10 PGA titles, trailing only Tiger Woods. “That’s incredible,” Spieth said. “It feels like I’ve been out here a long time. I feel very lucky.” Berger, who had been five back of Spieth at one stage, led last year’s Travelers by three strokes after 54 holes only to lose. New Zealand’s Danny Lee and American Charley Hoffman shared third on 270, one stroke ahead of England’s Paul Casey and Americans Patrick Reed and Boo Weekley, who managed his first top-25 finish of the season.

Deadlocked with Berger at 11-under down the final holes of the round, Spieth sank a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-4 15th hole to reclaim a one-stroke edge. Berger answered with a sevenfoot birdie putt at the par-4 17th to match Spieth on 12-under. Both players parred 18 to set up the playoff, each finding a greenside bunker then blasting out to three feet and making the par putt. “It was a great up and down in regulation,” Spieth said. “It was a battle. Got off to a great start. The putter let me down most of the round.” AFP

Baguio CC braces for staging of ladies’ golf THE Baguio Country Club hopes to provide a different kind of challenge for the women of the tour when it hosts the P1 million ICTSI Baguio Ladies Classic beginning Wednesday (June 28) in Baguio City. The short par-61 course is expected to test the compact field’s endurance with its arduous up-and-down layout, and mental toughness with its tight pine tree-lined fairways and elevated, tricky greens. Emphasis will also be on accuracy and short game with the BCC, kept in tip-top shape all year-round, tipped to punish a slight mishit or miscue or even an aggressive play. This marks the first time in five years that the Ladies Philippine Golf Tour will hold a leg at the BCC although it had staged tournaments twice at the nearby Camp John Hay in 2013-14. That should make the chase for the top P250,000 doubly interesting with Pauline del Rosario headlining the field in the 54-hole event that continues to lure a slew of Thai shotmakers. Tiranan Yoopan, Chatprapa Siriprakob, Ananya Vitayakonkomol, Supakchaya Pattaranakrueang, Chayuda Singhsuwan and Numa Gulyanamitta all go all out to foil the local aces’ bid in the tournament sponsored by ICTSI and organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments Inc. Korean Choi Soo Min, Fil-Am and former leg winner Cristina Corpus and Japanese amateur Kelly Marutani are also in the fold, all hoping to contend in the fifth leg of the eight-stage circuit culminating in the Ladies Philippine Masters late in the year.

PSA Forum tackles PVL

Champion colt Sepfourteen (foreground) and jockey John Alvin Guce held their own in the thrilling stretch battle to the ﬁnish to emerge victorious the 2nd leg of the 2017 Philracom Triple Crown Series and move just a win away from the coveted racing grand slam.

PSL goes to Baliwag Star Arena Games Today

(Baliwag Star Arena) 5 p.m. – Cherrylume vs Cocolife 7 p.m. – Generika-Ayala vs Cignal

BALIUAG, Bulacan—The quarterfinal pairings have been set, but intense action is still expected when Cignal collides with Generika-Ayala in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference Tuesday at the Baliwag Star Arena here. Riding the crest of their gigantic conquest of Petron last week, the HD Spikers clash with the Lifesavers at 7 p.m., hoping to shut down their campaign in the preliminaries of this tourney bankrolled by Rebisco, Belo and Gold’s Gym, with TV5 as official broadcast partner on a high note. Prior to that, Cocolife tests Cherrylume at 5 p.m. for a victory that would serve as a fitting prelude to the quarterfinals of this prestigious women’s volleyball league that also has Senoh, Mikasa, Mueller, Asics and Grand Sport as technical sponsors. Despite surrendering to the Blaze Spikers in five sets in Batangas City over the weekend, league-leading Foton will still assume the top seed in the crossover quarterfinals due to its superior quotient over Cignal. The Tornadoes will battle winless Cherrylume in the do-or-die quarters due to the Iron Lady Warriors’ inferior quotient to the Asset Managers. Other quarterfinal pairings will feature Cignal against Cocolife; Petron against Sta. Lucia; and Generika-Ayala against F2 Logistics. Quarterfinal action kicks off this Thursday when the league rolls back to Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan. Meantime, all eyes will be on Cignal, a team bannered by the powerful triumvirate of Rachel Anne Daquis, Honey Royse Tubino and national team stalwart Jovelyn Gonzaga.

Sepfourteen eyes Triple Crown sweep Ahomiro gets

RACING phenom Sepfourteen is on the cusp of racing greatness as he attempts to sweep this year’s championship series for 3-year-olds and become only the 11th winner of the local Triple Crown on July 30 at the Santa Ana Park in Naic, Cavite. Fresh off his recent narrow victory in the second leg of the series, the handsome chestnut colt is expected to go all out for the coveted crown in what has now become an exciting grand finale set over a classic distance of 2,000 meters. Interestingly, the connections of the main protagonists of this year’s championships are all horse racing and breeding associates who have developed a common passion for thoroughbreds over the past years. Locked in friendly competition are Oliver “Jojo” Velasquez of SC Stockfarm, breeder and owner of Sepfourteen and Brilliance; Joseph “Joey” Dyhengco of Cool Sum-

mer Farm, breeder-owner of Hiway One and Raymund Puyat of RB Farm, breeder of Smokin Saturday, winner of the Triple Crown Hopeful Stakes. “Despite the fact that our horses compete against one another, we only leave the competition at the track and have become better friends over the years, regularly attending bloodstock sales abroad and supporting each other’s breeding programs,” according to Velasquez. In fact, Velasquez’ Brilliance, is sired by Dyhengco’s stallion Keep Laughing (by Distorted Humor) out of a mare he purchased at the US Keeneland Sales which they regularly attend with Raymund Puyat, who also purchased Smokin’ Saturday’s dam (Smokin) at the same sale. “Based on our experience, we have come to realize that US-pedigreed runners have a distinct advantage in our local tracks, being

TOP officials of the Philippine Volleyball League grace the weekly Philippine Sports Association Forum on Tuesday to talk about its second offering for the season—the Open Conference. Expected to be at the Golden Phoenix Hotel (along Macapagal Ave. Sunrise Drive) in Pasay City are Sports Vision chairman Moying Martelino, president Ricky Palou, tournament director Tonyboy Liao, and general manager Ramon Martelino. The other part of the session aired live over DZSR Sports Radio 918 and presented by San Miguel Corp., Golden Phoenix Hotel, Accel, and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. will have the Philippine Floorball Association that is set to compete in the Asia-Oceania Floorball Cup in Bangkok, Thailand from July 1 to 6 and San Beda team manager Jude Roque.

more adept at dirt racing, compared to other breeds who are better suited for turf or racing on grass,” noted Dyhengco. All three friends maintain US-bred stallions in their farms and have retained breeding rights in each other’s prized breeders, as well as, of those of other racing colleagues. “Just like Sepfourteen, who is sired by US-bred stallion Consolidator (by Storm Cat) standing at Manny Santos’ Jade Bros Farms, we have also retained breeding rights to the said stallion, who is also an accomplished racehorse or Grade 1 winner in the US,” explained Puyat. Although the outcome of the third and final leg of the local Triple Crown is still a good month away, the three racing buddies are optimistic that they will equally share the glory of Sepfourteen’s victory and carry the hope that they also be blessed with a once-in-a-lifetime runner from their future breeds.

Retired Colonel Ariel Querubin poses for a group picture with athletes bound for the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei City and participants to the FISU Conference in Taipei City and FISU Volunteer Leaders Academy in Kazan, Russian Federation.

Delegation head Querubin boosts student athletes’ morale RETIRED Colonel Ariel Porfirio Querubin, the General Manager of the Philippine delegation to the 29th Summer Universiade in Taipei City, Taiwan, gave an inspirational advice to a number of student-athletes taking part in the prestigious biennial games. “I acknowledge the tough competitions ahead, with prominent university athletes and future Olympians from more than 180 countries seeing action. But first and foremost, you all can be ambassadors of goodwill in your own way,” said Querubin, who also is the deputy secretary general of the Federation of School Sports Association of the Philippines, the sole university sports federation in the country that is recognized by the International University Sports Federation.

“Just go out and play the game, love the game. Whatever the results are is secondary. Winning is not everything.” San Miguel Corporation, through the efforts of its amiable chief executive Ramon S. Ang, is represented by Col. Ariel Querubin, who has been supporting the FESSAP in its participation in the Summer Universiade since 2011. Through the years, San Miguel Corporation has been a major proponent of sports development in the country through its various sponsorships of local and foreign sporting events. Among the student-athletes who attended the pep talk included those from athletics (who were led by former national team coach Joseph Sy), badminton, lawn tennis,

Taekwondo, and table tennis, including those student-athletes who will attend the FISU Conference in Taipei City and FISU Volunteer Leaders in Kazan, Russia. The Taipei Universiade is expected to attract more than 180 countries from around the globe, including sports powerhouses United States, Russia, People’s Republic of China, Japan, Great Britain, France, Korea, Germany, Canada, Italy, Australia, Brazil, Uruguay, Serbia, New Zealand and other nations from South America and Africa and Europe. Once called the World University Games, the biennial Summer Universiade is a widely-publicized multi-sports event that is considered by most as the Olympics at the university level. World-class student-athletes vie for top

honors before eventually ascending to the quadrennial Olympic Games. FISU, the international governing for university sports, sanctions and organizes the Summer Universiade, Winter Universiade and World University Championship in the various sports. The FESSAP is taking part in the Summer Universiade for a fourth straight edition. In the Taipei Games, it is sending a 180-plus strong delegation that features the top university athletes nationwide. Recognized by the FISU since 2009, the FESSAP debuted in Summer Universiade in 2011 in Shenzhen, People’s Republic of China and won a silver medal through taekwondo jin Samuel Thomas Harper Morrison. Graham C. Lim

to play on new volley ruling THE Premier Volleyball League has recently amended its rule on permanent foreign residents, paving the way for former Ateneo star Amy Ahomiro to see action for the Perlas Lady Spikers in the PVL Open Conference starting this Saturday. Ricky Palou, president of the organizing Sports Vision, said the league will still allow players with Alien Certificate of Residence to see action in the upcoming tournament provided they have been residents for at least 10 years. Ahomiro studied high school at Brent School before suiting up for the Lady Eagles where she was part of their two UAAP champion teams. “Our next conference is an Open Conference, not All-Filipino,” said Palou. “This is so because we will allow foreign nationals who are residents of the Phl and holders of an ACR to play in our league. “However, we have put a restriction as only foreign residents and ACR holders for 10 continuous years will be allowed to play in Open Conference,” he added. The rule change, however, would bar Pachari Sangmuang from suiting up for the Power Smashers. The Thai power hitter has an ACR but she has been a resident here for just the last three years. “Yes, Kiwi (Ahomiro) will play this conference,” said Charo Soriano, one of the Perlas managers and co-founder of Beach Volleyball Republic. Ahomiro will thus re-join a talented crew of former State U standouts Kat Bersola and Nicole Tiamzon, Ateneo libero Gizelle Tan, Ella de Jesus, Jam Ferrer, Suzanne Roces, Mae Tajima and Ryssabel Devanadera. Perlas, however, will miss seasoned attacker Dzi Gervacio, who has taken a leave of absence to study in the US. Perlas clashes Air Force in the main game of the two-match opener at 6:30 p.m. with Creamline battling Adamson-Akari at 4 p.m. at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan. The other participating teams are Hapee Toothpaste, BaliPure, Power Smashers and defending champion Pocari Sweat.

LOTTO RESULTS 6/55 00-00-00-00-00-00 6/45 00-00-00-00-00-00 4 DIGITS 0-0-0-0 3 DIGITS 0-0-0 2 EZ2 0-0

P0 M+ P0 M

Sports

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

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

PBA Finals reaching boiling point By Jeric Lopez MAKE no mistake about it, there is no shortage of fireworks on and off the court in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Commissioner’s Cup finals. San Miguel Beer is up 2-1 in its intense best-of-seven championship showdown with TNT KaTropa, but this hotly contested duel is far from over. In fact, it’s only heating up. Through three games, the Beermen and the Tropang Texters are showing everyone that there’s indeed no love lost between them after several heated confrontations and encounters already. In third quarter of Game 2, TNT hotshot rookie Roger Pogoy hit SMB veteran Arwind Santos below the belt in a sneaky low blow that resulted to his ejection and to a P30,000 fine. That incurred the ire of the former league Most Valuable Player. The physicality on the court was just the start. As for last Sunday’s Game 3, a commotion took place between some team members of both teams during halftime. Reportedly, TNT Governors’ Cup import Michael Craig and stand-by import Mike Myers got in a verbal tussle with several SMB players and team officials as they were all headed to their dugouts after the first 24 minutes. Also, guards Chris Ross and Ryan Reyes also engaged in their own personal trash talking as well. With things heating up, PBA commissioner Chito Narvasa was forced to meet with officials from both teams to keep things under control. Still, don’t expect the temperature to lower as the series moves forward. San Miguel Beer coach Leo Austria acknowledges that the series is reaching its boiling point. “Nagkaka-labasan na ng intensity ‘yung mga players to the point na medyo nagkakaroon na ng konting kaguluhan sa court,” he said. “We just have to stay focused lang and relax but also, we can’t back down din. Balance lang talaga for us.”

World Boxing Organization welterweight defending champion Manny Pacquiao (left) of the Philippines is shown with Australian contender Jeff Horn during a promotional press conference at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. Horn has a 10-point plan to upset the legendary Filipino in their July 2 WBO world welterweight title fight, his trainer said. AFP

Aussie boasts of 10-point plan to bring Pacman down B RISBANE—Australian challenger Jeff Horn has a 10-point plan to upset legendary Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao in their World Boxing Organization welterweight title fight, his trainer said Monday. Pacquiao (59-6-2, 38 knockouts) is one of the greats of his generation and a strong favourite to overcome the unbeaten Horn at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium on Sunday. But trainer Glenn Rushton said he has watched hours of the “Pac Man’s” previous fights and is confident of having the blueprint to cause a major upset. “I have no doubt this is going to be a much better fight than we’ve seen against (Floyd) Mayweather, even

(Jessie) Vargas and (Timothy) Bradley,” Rushton told reporters. “I think we’ve eliminated all of the problems that a lot of these fighters have had. “I’ve got a 10-point plan and Jeff is the only person who has that 10-point plan. I said to him, follow the plan and we win the fight, simple as that.” Former schoolteacher Horn, 29, who has won 16 of his 17 bouts with one draw, said he has been going over Rushton’s plans and knew them al-

most off by heart. “It’s a plan I’ve heard him speak to me about 1,000 times. It’s perfectly worded,” he said. “Reading over it is just like listening to him talk to me in the ring. What he’s written down is spot on and I can get the job done if I follow it 100 percent. “He only sent it to me on the weekend and just said to read it over a few times and make sure I’ve got it clarified, what I need to do.” ‘Fired up’ Pacquiao, who briefly retired last year before making a successful comeback against Vargas in November, said after arriving in Australia at the weekend he was confident of taking out Horn before an expected crowd of 50,000. “I have been fighting and training with brawler fighters, tough fighters,” he said.

“I consider Horn a tough opponent. I never underestimate an opponent. He’s undefeated and young. He has a big right hand. He has good amateur experience.” The eight-weight world champion has said he is using the bout as an opportunity to prove he remains a global force at the age of 38 as he juggles boxing with a fulltime job as a senator in the Philippines. “In all my years of boxing, I have never been as motivated and fired up as this fight,” he said. “My team is very happy with my preparation. I am looking forward to this and I will be going home as world champion.” He added that he knows how Horn will be feeling. “I remember when I was starting out. I would lie awake at night and dream of winning a big fight. I know how Jeff Horn is feeling this week.” AFP

Pirates show maturity, confidence in pre-season By Peter Atencio THE Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates showed maturity and confidence in their off-season preparations. Pirates’ coach Topex Robinson made this observation as the team gets ready for the 93rd National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball season set July 8 at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. “Right now, we’re really focusing on the now. Wherever our winning takes us is really going to be a blessing for us,” said Robinson. Transferee CJ Perez, a journeyman who hopped

from San Sebastian College to Ateneo before landing in the Pirates’ camp in recent years, is in the squad. “We’re really working hard and having guys committed to really win. CJ is there to really help us,” said Robinson. Perez is expected to lend his experience with Cameroonian Mike Harry Nzeusseu and the talented twins Jaycee and Jayvee Marcelino. Nzeusseu is a 6’5” forward, who played college ball from Cebu before bringing his act to the Pirates last year. The Olongapo-based Marcelinos are combo guards, who came in from

Adamson. With their presence, the Pirates are expected to have an energetic season. And this is good for a team which has never placed as high as sixth since it joined the league six years ago. Their talented roster has observers tagging them this early as a legitimate contenders. LPU also got sweetshooting Spencer Pretta, who came in from San Sebastian. They will complement an already seasoned roster composed of team captain Jasper Ayaay, Wilson Baltazar and Reymar Caduyac.

PH team smashes 4x100 PH mark

BADMINTON CHAMPS. Members of the Philippine Sports Commission team,

headed by Commissioner Arnold Agustin (second from left), are shown after claiming the overall title in the badminton championship of the 116th Filipino-Chinese Friendship Day at the Rizal Badminton Center. The event is jointly organized by the PSC, FilipinoChinese Amateur Athletic Federation, headed by William Gosiaco and the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Inc., led by Domingo Yap.

Colegio de San Lorenzo crowned champ

The newly crowned MBL champions CdSL-V Hotel are shown with MBL vice chairman Jimi Lim, People’s Tonight sports editor Ed Andaya and commissioner Anthony Sulit, who represented MBL chairman Alex Wang.

COLEGIO de San Lorenzo-V Hotel brought down top favorite Far Eastern University-NRMF-Gerry’s Grill, 87-85, in their heart-stopping title showdown to complete a Cinderella story in the 2017 MBL Open basketball championship. Soulemane Chabi Yo, a prized find from the French-speaking West African nation Benin, made the big difference in the Griffins’ fairy-tale finish against the heavily-favored Tamaraws. The 6’6” Chabi Yo exploded with 28 points against the tight defense of FEU imports Moustapha Arafat and Kareem Abdul to power the Griffins of CdSL president Rina Monique Balgan, executive director Dr. Pedro Lora, manager Jimi Lim and coach

Boni Garcia to the title in their first MBL appearance. The African import, who was voted as Most Valuable Player, highlighted the big night with his high-flying moves to the baskets and monster slam dunks to the delight of the predominantly FEU crowd that included school owner Nino Reyes. Dominic Formento, Jon Gabriel, Charles Callano and Argie Baldevia provided ample scoring support for CdSL, which finished with a 9-1 winloss record in the tournament sponsored by Smart Sports, Star Bread, Dickies Underwear, Ironcon Builders and Gerry’s Grill. Formento, the smallest man on the court, finished with 19 points, including four triples.

“This is another big achievement for the team,” said Garcia, who also led the Griffins to the NCRUCLAA title early this year. Jhaps Bautista carried the fight for FEU-NRMF with 18 points, but committed two crucial turnovers in the final minute. Arafat and Christian Manalo added 11 points apiece, while Fil-Canadian Clay Crellin contributed nine points. Ex-PBA star Jerwin Gaco was thrown out of the game for an abovethe-shoulder hit on Gabriel right in the firsf quarter. Actually, the Pido Jarencio-clached Tanaraws fell behind by as many as 20 points in the second period but came charging back to keep the game interesting.

THE quartet of Anfernee Lopena, Patrick Unso, Archand Christian Bagsit and Trenten Beram added a silver to the Philippines’ collection of medals in the 2017 Hong Kong Invitational Athletics’ meet last Sunday. The foursome clocked a national record-breaking 39.96 seconds to place second behind Hong Kong-A in the 4x100 meter relays, according the officials results. Their clocking shattered the 40.29-second national mark set by the team of Eric Cray, Jomar Udtohan, Beram and Lopena in the National Open last March. Hong Kong B settled for the bronze in 40.3 seconds. It was also Bagsit’s second medal after he took the gold in the 200-meter run in 22 seconds, finishing ahead of Li Chau Hsuan and Li Yili. Bagsit clocked a faster 21.76 seconds in the heats, though. Eloiza Luzon took the gold in distaff side in 24.94 seconds, prevailing over Chen Ka Yi (26.55) and Julian Rueven (26.75). Meanwhile, Katherine Kay Santos leapt 6.06 meters in the women’s long jump for the gold. Janry Ubas, on the other hand, took the men’s gold in 7.67 meters, outperforming Chan Ming Kai’s 7.5 and Wong Kan’s 7.25. Peter Atencio

BoC eyes unibank license

IN BRIEF

NIA to complete P13-b project by 2020

THE National Irrigation Administration expects the P13.37-billion second phase of the Balog-Balog Multi-purpose Project to be completed by 2020. “The Balog-Balog is a multipurpose project wherein it is a source of power, irrigation and for drinking. Hopefully we can ﬁnish that by 2020 and we are trying to have the groundbreaking next month. We are inviting the president to do the groundbreaking,” said NIA administrator Ricardo Visaya. The project, when fully completed, will irrigate 34, 410 hectares and will serve at least 23,000 farmers. It is projected to increase the cropping intensity within the service area from 24 percent to 200 percent which will directly improve the crop production and farmers’ income. “ This will be the biggest dam that will constructed here in the Philippines. We are now on phase 2. The pre-construction conference is on-going,” said Visaya. Anna Leah E. Gonzales

Business

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

DTI seeks lower price for modern jeepneys By Othel V. Campos THE Trade Department wants automotive assemblers to produce modern jeepneys at a cost of less than P1 million under the public utility vehicle modernization program. “A million peso is expensive for a mass-based commercial transport vehicle. The price range should be lower than what is currently available,” said Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez. The Trade Department said it was willing to rechannel financing support from the unused portion of the incentives given to the Comprehensive Automotive Resurgence Strategy incentives program to the PUV modernization program. About P9 billion worth of fiscal and non-fiscal incentives should have been awarded to a third player under the Cars program. So far, only Toyota and Mitsubishi qualified as Cars participants. The PUV modernization program is a multi-agency program led by the Transportation Department. More than 200,000 units of modern jeepneys will be manufactured under the program to replace aging and polluting jeepneys withmodern, emission-compliant and safe and comfortable jeepney for the riding public.

Villar infusing P3b in bank unit By Jenniffer B. Austria

HE Villar Group is investing P3 billion to roll out at least 20 branches of thrift banking unit Optimum Bank.

Former senator and Vista Land & Lifescapes Inc. chairman Manuel Villar said in an interview Optimum Bank would primarily service the needs of the Villar Group and its customers. Optimum Bank, headquartered in Mandaluyong City and formerly known as Capitol Development Bank, has 10 existing branches.

“We had a license before. It has been a dormant and we just revived it,” Villar said. Villar said the bank branches would be located mostly within the group’s malls developments. “We plan to have 20 branches. We already have ten and then double it. But we are still feeling our way,” Villar said. “This will service the needs

of the group and the whole system,” Villar said. The Villar family recently ventured into the telecom business initially via ﬁxed broadband services in a bid to offer the public a better alternative to what is currently being provided by existing telecommunication companies. Streamtech Systems Technologies Inc. recently applied for congressional franchise “to construct, install, establish, operate and maintain telecommunications systems throughout the Philippines.” Meanwhile, Vista Land plans to grow its tourism and hospitality business and industrial es-

tate developments. “We’re venturing into tourism, and eventually, we’ll probably have some of industrial also,” said Vista Land president Manuel Paolo Villar. Villar said the group wanted to build hotels and tourism-related projects within its mixeduse developments. “We’re looking at the next three years for hotels,” said Villar. “We’re very bullish on tourism. As you know the Chinese has been more open to come to the Philippines. I think there have been more and will be more Chinese tourist arrivals in the Philippines, so you’re looking at the big growth in

tourism,” Villar said. Villar said the hotels would be a combination of company managed brands and joint ventures. Vista Land, which currently owns Mella Hotel, earlier said it planned to build four hotels across the country. These are located in Boracay, Las Piñas, Tagaytay and Bataan. The company is also looking at industrial estate developments. “We are looking at a little industrial projects, economic zones, in some of our bigger cities. We are also looking for potential partners for that,” Villar said.

DOTr asks China to fund Bicol rail project

Govt debt declines to 34.6% of GDP

FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said the share of the general government debt to gross domestic product dropped to 34.6 percent in 2016 from 36.2 percent in 2015, an indication of the country’s robust economy. Dominguez said in a statement the improved government debt-to-GDP ratio, one of the closely-watched indicators by international rating agencies, came despite the rise of nominal debt to P5.016 trillion from P4.829 trillion in the previous year. Data showed that of the total government debt, about 58 percent or P2.933 trillion was sourced from the domestic market while the remaining 42 percent or P2.084 trillion came from offshore markets. “Despite the increase in level, general government debt-to-GDP ratio continued to improve on the back of careful cash and debt management as well as sturdy economic growth,” Dominguez said. General government debt covers the outstanding obligations of the national government, the Central Bank Board of Liquidators, social security institutions and the local government units but excludes the intra-sector debt holdings of government securities including those with the Bond Sinking Fund. Dominguez said the rise in the nominal debt was due to the 3.8-percent increase in the consolidated national government debt (net of the Bond Sinking Fund) to P5.456 trillion from P5.256 trillion

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

By Darwin G. Amojelar

NEW DBP BRANCHES. State-run Development Bank of the Philippines intensiﬁes its drive towards ﬁnancial inclusion with the opening

of new branches in Talisay City, Cebu and Guagua in Pampanga, expanding its network to 120 branches. Shown cutting the ribbon during the inauguration of DBP Talisay is DBP senior vice president for marketing Antonio Owen Maramag (left) and Fulgencio Revalde of DBP-supported FDR Group. With them are DBP directors Miguel Abaya and Rolando Metin.

World Bank unit starts Malampaya arbitration By Alena Mae S. Flores THE International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, a unit of the World Bank, designated the team that will hear Shell Philippines Exploration B.V.’s arbitration case against the Philippine government on Malampaya gas project’s corporate income tax issue. ICSID said in a status report, the tribunal was constituted with VV Veeder appointed president and Horacio Grigera Naon (appointed by claimants) and Brigitte Stern (appointed

by respondents) as arbitrators. “The tribunal holds a prehearing organizational meeting with the parties by telephone conference on June 16, 2017,” the report said. Spex, operator of the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan, ﬁled the arbitration case with ICSID on July 27, 2016 pursuant to a bilateral investment treaty between the Philippines and the Netherlands. Spex registered the arbitration case at ICSID under the subject dispute heading of “hydrocarbon concession, taxa-

tion.” The oil and gas ﬁrm is represented by King & Spalding (USA) and Romulo Mabanta Buenaventura Sayoc and De Los Angeles while the government is represented by the Ofﬁce of the Solicitor General and Arnold & Porter. The case stemmed from the Commission on Audit’s issuance of a notice to charge to the Energy Department to collect around P151 billion from the Malampaya consortium for the period 2002 to end June 2015. COA said in a tax interpretation that corporate income tax

should not form part of the government’s share in the Malampaya project. Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi said he wanted COA to honor the sanctity of contracts of the Malampaya gas project in northwest Palawan due to its impact on foreign investor sentiment. Cusi wrote COA saying that “the foremost consideration in the mind of foreign investors in deciding where to invest is the predictability, certainty and consistency of investment rules and regulatory regime of a country.”

THE Transportation Department is seeking financial assistance from China to finance a major railway project from Manila to the Bicol region. “We would like to have partnership with countries using their own technologies. What the economic cluster decided [was] that the group of Luzon will go to the Japanese government and that group of Bicol hopefully will go to the Chinese government,” Transportation Secretary Arthur Tugade told reporters. The P134-billion PNR South Commuter under the first phase will run from Manila to Los Baños in Laguna and is expected to have a daily ridership of over 300,000 in its opening year. The project will cut travel time between Manila and Calamba by more than half, from over two hours today to under one hour, once the railway was fully operational. The agency targets to start construction of the project by 2018 and complete it by 2021. The Chinese government will also finance the P151-billion PNR South Long Haul, a 581-kilometer standard-gauge railway from Laguna to Legazpi City. Meanwhile, Tugade said the government expected to complete the PNR North or Manila-Clark Railway project by 2020. Clark Railway is funded by Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Calaca plant expansion expected to start in 2018 ST. RAFAEL Power Generation Corp., a joint venture of Semirara Mining and Power Corp. and Meralco PowerGen Corp., expects to sign the contract for the engineering, procurement and construction of the 700-megawatt coal plant expansion in Calaca, Batangas in the second half. Energy Department data showed that St. Rafael wanted to start the construction of the expansion project next year. “Target notice to proceed [is] first half 2018. Target financial close first [is] half 2018,” the documents showed. The St. Rafael coal project is one the indicative power projects identified by the department to support rising demand. The department said the project’s commercial operation would be anchored on the completion of the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines’ Calaca-Dasmarinas transmission line expansion project. The project’s connection to the grid would also depend on the completion of the New Calaca substation “and final project economics dependent on ERC’s [Energy Regulatory Commission] decision on the PSA [power supply agreement] which impacts financing.” Semirara Mining and Meralco PowerGen, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manila Electric Co., formed a joint venture to develop the power plant. Meralco, the country’s biggest power distributor, has a pending application with the ERC for the purchase of up to 400 megawatts of electrical output from the St. Rafael power plant. Alena Mae S. Flores

LATTE ART CHAMPION. Jolly Cow Fresh Milk is the ofﬁcial milk for this year’s Philippine National Latte Championship where 20 baristas from various coffee shops in Metro Manila competed in a friendly Latte Art throw down at Fly Ace Corporate Center. Shown are (from left) judge Henry Magalona, Lotus Biscoff product assistant Christine Reyes, judge Desmond Chua, Allegro Beverage Corp. sales manager Bernie De Leon, Jolly Cow Fresh Milk assistant product manager Ersanti Regi Santos, World Latte Artist 2016 champion Michael York Lopez, Allegro Beverage Corp.’s Christoper Tapang, judge Ernie Mesina and 2017 Philippine National Latte Art champion Adrian Bocalan.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Business

Espenilla asks banks to submit documents BANKS and their ofﬁcials will face stiffer sanctions if they fail to submit on time important information required by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas. Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr., who will succeed Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. on July 3, said the regulator would soon come out with a circular on reporting governance, which was already approved by the policymaking Monetary Board. “There’s a new circular on reporting governance. It’s actually a very important circular. What it does is it lays down the framework for improved preparation and submission of supervision reports to the BSP by banks,” Espenilla told reporters in an interview. “It makes it very clear whose responsibility it is all the way to the board to make sure that the data being submitted to the BSP is accurate and based on the requirements of the BSP,” Espenilla said, adding that the data mostly required serve as the foundation for policy making. He said banks were obliged to report these information in a timely manner and they might be sanctioned if they continuously failed to meet the reporting timelines, which could also mean more sanctions. “It basically strengthens the framework for high-quality data submission to the BSP. That’s going to be issued already, and that’s already approved by the MB,” Espenilla said. Espenilla said a number of banks were usually late in submitting vital information required by BSP, saying those might be the lenders who did not appreciate the importance of the data, while others were really challenged to produce high-quality data. Julitio G. Rada

STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT. Experts from the Department of Energy and Access to Sustainable Energy Programme engage industry participants in a two-day public consultation for the Particular Product Requirements for LED lamps, air-conditioners and refrigerators at F1 Hotel in Taguig City. The consultations aim to develop a national energy efﬁciency standard for household appliances.

BoC seeking unibank license By Julito G. Rada

ANK of Commerce, the 17th largest bank controlled by San Miguel Corp., is seeking a universal bank license to expand services and strengthen its presence amid Asean integration. BankCom president and chief executive Roberto Benares said the bank would soon increase its capitalization. “It is imperative that we get bigger, stronger and better in the face of Asean integration and the rigid competition that we expect from it. A unibank status will afford us the ﬂexibility we need to expand our services and grow our presence here to achieve

scale,” Benares said in a statement Monday. He said with a universal banking license, BankCom would be able to participate in upcoming debt and equity capital fund raising. Banares said the private sector would need to raise funds in the coming years to ﬁnance capital expenditure in infrastructure and capacity expansion led by a fast

growing Philippine economy. He expressed conﬁdence that BankCom along with other local banks could compete against bigger potential new entrants from the region and beneﬁt from a regional market of some 600 million potential customers. The government further liberalized the domestic banking industry in mid-2014, which paved the way for the entry of nine Asian banks in the country. Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas earlier said more Asian lenders expressed interest to enter the industry because of the big potential for growth in the country. Bank of Commerce traces its origins to the Overseas Bank of Manila, which was incorporated

in December 1963. San Miguel Corp., through San Miguel Properties Inc. and the San Miguel Corporation Retirement Fund, signed a 34.3-percent subscription agreement with Bank of Commerce in October 2007, which was approved by the Monetary Board in May 2008. San Miguel via property arm San Miguel Properties Inc. and San Miguel Retirement fund signed another subscription agreement with Bank of Commerce giving the combined stake in the bank to 51.1 percent in May 2009. San Miguel Properties Inc. acquired 7.16-percent interest in the bank in 2011, thereby increasing the San Miguel Group’s stake to 58.2 percent.

Ro-Ro lifts household earnings near ports By Darwin G. Amojelar THE implementation of the roll-on/roll-off or Ro-Ro transport system raised household income in municipalities near ports, according to a study by Philippine Institute for Development Studies. Former PIDS research analyst Kris Francisco, in her paper “The Impacts of RollOn/Roll-Off Transport System in the Philippines,” found that the Ro-Ro program of the government had increased “household income by about 7 percent in municipalities near the Ro-Ro ports.” Francisco said this was due to the “reduced cost of inter-island shipping and travel time” which stimulated both agriculture and nonagriculture-related activities. Citing a previous study of the Asian Development Bank, she said the Ro-Ro policy was “able to cut the travel time between Mindanao and Luzon by 12 hours” and lowered the “cost of freight and passenger transport by about 30 percent and 40 percent, respectively.” It also expanded the scope of regional markets by introducing new inter-island connections. Aside from improving their income, the study also showed that the Ro-Ro policy “was able to generate a relatively long-term impact” as opportunities gained by households from the Ro-Ro port operation were extended to their children “in the form of human capital investment”. Francisco said about 83,2017 males and 74,637 females were able to study because of the Ro-Ro port operations.

ISO CERTIFIED. Toyota Abad Santos, a dealer under the Toyota Manila Bay Group, receives its ISO 14001 certification, making its the first ISO 14001-certified automotive dealership in Metro Manila. The Anglo Japanese American Registrars confersthe certification to TAS, which attests to the dealership’s adherence to ISO’s high standards in Environmental Management Systems. Shown during the awarding of the certificates are (from left) TAS Safety officer Eula Anonuevo, TAS first vice president Ko Nakayama, TAS general manager Ronnie Arriola, Toyota Manila Bay Group president Yoshinori Hattori, AJA Registrars vice president Paul Bagatsing, TAS pollution control officer Faith Bendecio, TMP technical department assistant vice president Jeff Matsuo and TMP marketing regulation and certification manager Benjie Dionela.

PSE wants to retain public float of new offerings By Jenniffer B. Austria THE Philippine Stock Exchange wants to keep the existing rules on the minimum public ﬂoat of companies that plan to conduct initial public offerings based on the size of market capitalization. This is one the major comments submitted by the local bourse to the Securities and Exchange Commission in response to the corporate regulator’s proposal to increase the public ﬂoat of IPO-bound companies to 20 percent from the current 10 percent. “It should be unitary but based on market capitalization of the company,” a PSE source said. The source said in most

exchanges, the minimum public offering of IPO-bounded companies was based on market capitalization. This means that companies with higher capitalization can have lower public ﬂoat. The source, citing an example, said a company planning to raise P500 million should ﬂoat at least 33 percent of its shares to the public. However, companies that plan to generate over P10 billion in proceeds should offer at least 10 percent of its shares to the public. The source said the reason behind this was that the market might not be able to absorb the offering of large IPOs. Under the SEC’s proposed amendments to minimum

public offering rule, the corporate regulator will require all companies with intention to list their shares in an exchange to float at least 20 percent of their issued and outstanding shares. The source said while PSE wanted to retain the existing rule on IPOs, it was also amenable to the SEC proposal to gradually increase the public float of existing listed firms to 15 percent by end 2018 to 20 percent by 2020. “We are okay with that,” the PSE source said. The SEC earlier said 68 publicly-held firms companies needed to sell more shares to the public to comply with the planned imposition of a 20-percent minimum public

ownership. SEC director for market securities and regulations Vicente Graciano Felizmenio said in a presentation during a public consultation that 39 companies would be affected by the imposition of a 15-percent public float by end-2018 and 68 firms by the 20-percent public float requirement by end-2020. The SEC said assuming all 68 companies complied with the new requirement, a total of P130 billion worth of funds would be raised through the equities market. The SEC said the market could absorb the amount given the ample liquidity in the financial system. Minimum public float is currently at 10 percent of all shares.

BSP clears 110 new branches of banks THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas approved 110 applications for new banking offices in the first quarter, as banks continue to expand their coverage nationwide to seize growth opportunities in the provinces. Data showed that applications from universal and commercial banks approved by the regulator reached 24 in January to March, followed by 12 from thrift banks and 74 from rural and cooperative banks. Among universal and commercial banks, BDO Unibank Inc. of retail tycoon Henry Sy submitted eight applications in the period. These are located in Antipolo City, Cainta in Rizal, Davao City, Gerona in Tarlac, Gumaca in Quezon, Taguig City, Talavera City in Nueva Ecija and Taytay, Rizal. China Banking Corp. also had eight applications approved. These are located in Cabanatuan City, Dinalupihan in Bataan, Iligan City, Las Piñas City, Mariveles in Bataan, Olongapo City, Tarlac City, and Taytay, Rizal. The lone application of state-run Land Bank of the Philippines is located in Hagonoy, Bulacan. Meanwhile, Philippine National Bank’s three applications approved are all located in Davao City. The three applications of Security Bank Corp. are in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu, Makati City and San Fernando City in Pampanga. Bangko Sentral data also showed that a total of 111 new bank branches were opened in the first quarter this year. Bulk of these were opened by universal and commercial banks (47), followed by thrift banks with 37, and rural and cooperative banks with 27. Bangko Sentral officials earlier urged banks to continue expanding in the countryside to seize the growth opportunities there and contribute to the financial inclusion efforts of the government. Julito G. Rada

Business

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

UK turns to poor countries for trade

Chairman and CEO of Japanese airbag maker Takata Corp., Shigehisa Takada, bows at the end of a press conference in Tokyo on June 26, 2017. Japan’s crisis-hit car parts maker Takata said it ﬁled for bankruptcy protection on June 26, after deadly faults in its airbags triggered the auto industry’s biggest ever safety recall. AFP

BRITAIN is turning to the world’s poorest countries to shore up trade as Brexit puts existing deals on an uncertain footing. The government promises improved access to UK markets for the world’s poorest countries and to maintain existing dutyfree access for “everything but arms” for 48 countries including Bangladesh, Sierra Leone and Haiti, according to an emailed statement from the prime minister’s ofﬁce. Britain will also seek to expand relationships with nations including Jamaica, Pakistan and Ghana. After decades of access to the European Union’s single market, the UK now has to strike out alone, following the 2016 vote to leave the bloc. In the Brexit negotiations that began June 19 in Brussels, the EU is demanding clarity on the future of its citizens living in Britain before talks on a post-EU trading relationship begin. Trade Secretary Liam Fox has been in discussions with countries including the US and India to lay the groundwork for new deals, since the government is barred from completing talks while still part of the EU. “Our departure from the EU is an opportunity to step up to our

commitments to the rest of the world, not step away from them,” Fox said. The announcement “shows our commitment to helping developing countries grow their economies and reduce poverty through trade.” The UK currently imports around 20 billion pounds ($25.6 billion) a year from developing nations including Bangladesh and Sierra Leone, the government said. Almost 80 percent of the country’s tea comes from the “least developed” nations, and slightly less than a quarter of all coffee imports. The pound, meanwhile, rose for a fourth day versus the dollar before Prime Minister Theresa May gives more details on her plan to preserve the rights of European Union citizens living in the UK after Brexit. Sterling advanced against all except one of its Group-of-10 peers before publication of the 15page policy document, that could go further than her ﬁrst pitch on the topic last week, which was criticized for costing people rights. A comprehensive and generous package could pave the way for more open negotiations and a better chance of getting a good deal with the world’s largest trade bloc. Bloomberg

Airbag giant Takata is bankrupt By Shingo Ito

OKYO―Japan’s crisis-hit car parts maker Takata ﬁled for bankruptcy protection Monday and said its chief executive would quit after a deadly airbag crisis that triggered the auto industry’s biggest ever safety recall. The company is facing lawsuits and huge costs over a defect blamed for at least 16 deaths and scores of injuries. The scandal affected almost every major global automaker, including

Toyota and General Motors. US-based auto parts maker Key Safety Systems (KSS) will buy Takata for an estimated $1.58 billion. Takata’s chief executive

Shigehisa Takada, whose grandfather started the company in 1933 as a textile maker, said he would resign once the takeover was complete. “I apologize from the bottom of my heart for causing trouble for everyone concerned,” Takada told a press brieﬁng. News reports have said Takata’s liabilities would exceed one trillion yen ($9 billion) in what is the biggest bankruptcy ﬁling for a Japanese manufacturer. Trading in Takata shares was suspended Monday after a week of wild volatility. The stock will

be delisted from the Tokyo bourse late next month. Little-known outside Japan, Takata evolved from a small factory into an automotive parts giant in the eighties. It has dozens of plants and ofﬁces in 20 countries, including the US, China and Mexico. The airbag division has accounted for more than a third of total annual revenue around 663 billion yen, with seat belts and steering wheels among its other key products. Jason Luo, president and chief executive of KSS, which is owned by China’s Ningbo Joyson

Electronic, voiced conﬁdence in Takata’s rehabilitation. “Although Takata has been impacted by the global airbag recall, the underlying strength of its skilled employee base, geographic reach, and exceptional steering wheels, seat belts and other safety products have not diminished,” he said in a statement. There were no immediate plans to reduce Takata’s 46,000-employee headcount or close factories as part of the deal, he added. However, operations linked to the defective airbags will not

become part of the combined company, and will later be wound down. Takata shares soared more than 40 percent on Friday after collapsing over the week as traders made bets on its likely bankruptcy. Analysts attributed the upsurge on Friday to speculative trading among short-term investors hoping to proﬁt from wild swings in the share price. Some 100 million airbags produced for some of the largest automakers are being recalled, including about 70 million in the US. AFP

2018 National Budget: Questions needing answers SCRUTINIZING the spending plans of the national government is one of the principal activities of a legislature on the performance of its Constitutional role as the keeper of the purse, and in order to be able to do a good job it wants as much time as possible for review of the annual national budget. That is why Congress expects Malacañang to submit the proposed national budget as early as possible during the year preceding the twelve-month period covered by the budget. Before mid-year is usually the time when Malacañang sends the proposed national budget to Congress. The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte has just transmitted to Congress its nationalbudget proposal for 2018. The government is proposing expenditures totaling P3.84 trillion next year. That figure represents a 14.6-percent increase on this year’s national budget. Economists will argue about its economic development aspects—which parts of the national economy should be accorded priority in the allocation of funds—but a budget is essentially about money. More precisely, it is about adequacy of money. The revenues projected by the makers of most national budgets either match the projected expenditures or fall short thereof. For 2018 the Department of Budget and Management, which prepares the national budget, projects a deficit of P532 billion. This is the amount by which the P3.44 trillion of expenditures are expected to exceed the P2.91 trillion of revenues. Three of the four principal sources of government revenues—Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs and Bureau of the Treasury—are projected to produce P2.0 trillion, P507 billion and P55 billion, respectively, for the national coffers in 2018. Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation) is another major source of government revenue. Fiscal ratios are among the yardsticks that analysts look for when assessing the economic health of a country. Two of the most important fiscal ratios are the ratio of the budget deficit to GDP (gross domestic product) and the ratio of total government revenues to GDP. A budget deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3.0 percent is acceptable, and the fiscal authorities of this country have sought to keep the ratio at this level. Projected 2018 total revenues will be 15.3 percent of GDP. For the needed additional revenue the Duterte administration is looking to the Comprehensive Tax Reform Package, which has been transmitted to the Senate by the House of Representatives. Tax measures must originate from the House of Representatives. The projected budget deficit will have to be

financed. The key policy decision that has to be made with regard to the budget deficit’s financing is whether it should be done entirely with domestic resources or whether external financing should be availed of on a partial basis. Both approaches to deficit financing involve a risk. By relying entirely on domestic resources to finance a budget deficit, the fiscal authorities risk crowding out privatesector borrowers from the financial markets, and by engaging in external borrowing to finance a budget deficit, a country runs the risk of over borrowing and thereby endangering the stability of its currency. The government has for some time adhered to an 80:20 formula—80 percent domestic resources and 20 percent external resources—for deficit financing. 80-20 is a sound formula. The P532 billion deficit in the 2018 national budget will be financed on an 80-20 basis. DBM can attempt to explain the whopping (P490 billion) increase in the 2018 budget by pointing to the substantial growth in the national population and the persistent shortfall in government spending on physical and social infrastructure. But legitimate and necessary questions that were directed at the budget makers in past years are again being directed at them. How much fat is embedded in the 2018 budget? Have the underspent Aquino-administration appropriations been incorporated into it? Should credence be accorded to the Secretary of Budget and Management’s affirmation that the 2018 budget does not embody ‘pork’ (allocations under the Constitutionally prohibited Priority Development Assistance Fund)? And why must there be several humongous and non-auditable funds at the disposal of the President of the Philippines? From the purely financial standpoint, the success of a budgetary exercise will depend on the availability of funds sufficient to cover the budgeted expenditures—i.e., on whether the budget will prove to be financially balanced. Borrowing, with all of its negative consequences, will have to be resorted to if it proves to be otherwise. The CTRP, which is about to face Senate scrutiny, is banking on a net positive change (increases minus decreases) of more than P200 billion in 2018 government revenue. On the correctness of this projection will the outturn of next year’s national budget largely depend. E-mail: rudyromero777@yahoo.com

This picture taken on May 25, 2017 shows a woman standing next to the debris of demolished houses and her makeshift hut next to a catchment lake near Lianghekou. AFP

China’s mega-dam drowns mountains By Becky Davis YAJIANG, China―Towering walls of concrete entomb lush forests on mountainsides in southwest China as workers toil on the dry riverbed below to build the country’s latest mega-dam. The colossal construction site in Sichuan province swallows three rivers, providing another display of China’s engineering prowess but also of the trauma it inﬂicts on people and nature along the way. Once completed in 2023, the 295-meter behemoth will be the world’s third tallest dam, producing 3,000 megawatts of energy. But for the communities around the massive project― some as far as 100 kilometers (60 miles) upstream―the Lianghekou dam will drown ancestral homes, revered Buddhist monasteries, fertile crops and sacred mountains. Beijing is building hydropower at a breakneck pace in ethnically Tibetan regions as part of an ambitious undertaking to reduce the country’s dependence on coal and cut emissions that have made it the world’s top polluter. China had just two dams in 1949, but now boasts some 22,000―nearly half the world

total―in all but one of the country’s major waterways. ‘We have no land’ Mountains and rivers are revered as sacred in Tibetan Buddhism, and the extensive construction, which began in 2014, has alarmed locals who believe they can only live peacefully if the nature around them is protected. “Last year, people said that a big forest ﬁre happened because they blasted a road into the holy mountain, and it took revenge,” said villager Tashi Yungdrung, a farmer with red thread wound through her thick braid who tends a small herd of yaks in the pastures above her stone, squarewindowed home. Most would not dare remove so much as a single stone from the mountain Palshab Drakar, an important pilgrimage site, she said. Villagers are bracing for mass relocations, an experience that has previously caused havoc elsewhere in China. Beginning in the 1990s, more than a million were moved for the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest in terms of capacity, with thousands still mired in poverty. Plans posted at the Lianghekou construction site showed that 22 power plants will be built along

the Yalong, a Yangtze tributary, collectively capable of generating 30 gigawatts of electricity― a fifth of China’s current total installed hydropower capacity. Li Zhaolong, a Tibetan from Zhaba village, said he received 300,000 yuan ($44,000) in government compensation to build a new home on higher ground, where he will move next year. But the 28,000 yuan moving fee his family received per person will not last long once their crops are submerged and they have no other sources of income. “Before we were farmers, and now we have no land,” said Li. “We can’t move to a township, because we are uneducated and there will be no way to make a living there.” Some 6,000 people across four counties will be relocated, according to a state-affiliated energy website. Five monasteries have been or will be rebuilt on higher ground, but their spiritual importance will be diminished as the communities they serve are displaced, a lama named Lobsang said. “The government is very big, and the valley is very small. So much is lost, but we cannot resist or fight,” he said. “When you say something and try to protect your place, the government gives you another name: separatist.” AFP

Business

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

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

Thai Airways set to buy 30 aircraft THAI Airways International Pcl said it plans to modernize its fleet by replacing almost 30 older aircraft over the next five years, adding to the climbing demand for planes in Asia. The state-run airline is seeking new generation aircraft offering greater comfort and fuel efficiency, and is talking with both Airbus SE and Boeing Co., Chairman Areepong Bhoocha-Oom said in an interview with Bloomberg Television’s Haslinda Amin. “The portfolio of our airline will have new aircraft almost 100 percent,” Areepong said. It’s the right step for Thai Airways partly because fuel costs could be volatile in future even though they are low currently, he said. Thai Airways’ purchases would add to the hundreds of aircraft worth billions of dollars ordered by Asian airlines, such as AirAsia Bhd. and IndiGo in India, amid a surge in the number of people traveling by air in the region. Boeing forecasts a $6.05-trillion jetliner market in

the next two decades globally. The Bangkok-based carrier is trying to turn around performance after posting losses in three of the past four years. The company’s shares fell as much as 5.6 percent Monday, the most in more than a month, and are down about 75 percent from a high in 1999. The stock has eight sell recommendations, nine holds and one buy rating, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Concerns that the aircraft purchases could weigh on Thai Airways’ ﬁnancial health appear to have hurt the stock Monday, according to Siam Tiyanont, an analyst at Phillip Securities (Thailand) Co. in Bangkok. “The airline’s ﬁnancial status has recently improved after years of challenges,” Siam said. “The plan for new aircraft purchases may be too early and could result in a jump in debt.” The shares slid 4.7 percent as of 11:46 a.m. in Bangkok, compared with a 0.4 percent climb in the benchmark SET index. Bloomberg

ALL-NEW LEXUS. Photographers and journalists look at an all-new Lexus LS equipped with newly developed prevention safety technologies during a press conference in Tokyo on June 26, 2017. The luxury vehicle by Japan’s auto maker Toyota will be released this autumn. AFP

Italy pledges $19b to rescue banks By Sonia Sirletti and Alexander Weber

TALY will commit as much as 17 billion euros ($19 billion) to clean up two failed banks in one of its wealthiest regions, the nation’s biggest rescue on record.

The intervention at Banca Popolare di Vicenza SpA and Veneto Banca SpA includes state support for Intesa Sanpaolo SpA to acquire their good assets for a token amount, Finance Minister Pier Carlo Padoan said Sunday after an emergency cabinet meeting in Rome. Milan-based Intesa can initially tap about 5.2

billion euros to take on some assets without hurting capital ratios, Padoan said. The European Commission said it approved the plan. The lenders will be split into good and bad banks, and the ﬁrms will be open on Monday, Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said. Intervention was needed

because depositors and savers were at risk, he said. The northern region where they operate “is one of the most important for our economy, above all for small- and medium-size businesses.” While an additional 12 billion euros will be available to cover potential further losses, Padoan said, the Italian Treasury estimates the fair value of the losses at about 400 million euros. That amount is already included in the funds provided to Intesa. “Under current terms, this is a good deal for Intesa as it would increase earnings and market share at seemingly no cost to capital,” said Alexander Pelteshki,

a fixed-income investment manager at Kames Capital Plc. Intesa rose as much as 4 percent in Milan trading, the most in two months, and was up 3.6 percent at 2.71 euros as of 9:03 a.m. The stock has gained 11 percent this year. The government tried for months to find a way to keep the banks afloat, including an appeal to wealthy businessmen in the region to contribute to a rescue. Those efforts ended Friday when the European Central Bank said the two banks are failing or were likely to fail and turned the matter over to the Single Resolution Board in Brussels for disposal.

The SRB, in turn, passed the issue back to Italian authorities to allow the banks to be wound down under local law. Intesa agreed to purchase the assets of the two banks for 1 euro, the lender said in a statement Monday. The intervention will safeguard jobs at the banks as well as the savings of about 2 million households and the ﬁnancial interests of 200,000 businesses, it said. The agreement gives Intesa the right to return to the liquidators at-risk performing loans with a face value of 4 billion euros should their quality deteriorate. The Bank of Italy appointed

Madoff: ‘I always wanted to please everybody’ By Erik Larson BERNARD Madoff has had eight years in prison to think about what went wrong. He’s concluded that a few of his investors were partially to blame for his fall from a legitimate securities trader to the biggest Ponzi schemer in US history. He blames the “Big Four,” his earliest and richest clients. They were Norman Levy, a New York real estate broker, Jeffry Picower, a Florida accountant, Stanley Chais, a Beverly Hills money manager, and Carl Shapiro, a Boston philanthropist. Shapiro, 104, is the only one still alive. In April, Madoff was questioned for three days as part of a lawsuit that seeks to force a group of his investors to return their proﬁt to his ﬁrm’s receiver. The cases hinge on Madoff’s claim that he was an honest trader until 1992, when the alleged greed of the Big Four forced him into a Ponzi scheme. Madoff went into great detail about his rise and fall and his relationship with The Big Four. The deposition testimony, a transcript of which is in court records, shows how Madoff sees things now: On his relationship with the Big Four: “I had a...very special relationship with the Big Four clients, all right, particularly, you know, with Carl Shapiro and Norman Levy and Stan Chais. Picower was a little bit different...And all of these clients, I was like a son to them and they were like surrogate fathers to me.” “I was a little guy with nothing...Carl Shapiro always

Bernard Madoff, founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, leaves federal court in New York, U.S., on Tuesday, March 10, 2009. Madoff, 70, will plead guilty on March 12 that he directed a fraud that totaled as much as $64.8 billion, the largest Ponzi scheme in U.S. history, his lawyer Ira Sorkin said in a court hearing today. Madoff, free on $10 million bail, faces life imprisonment. Bloomberg

tells this story famously. When he gave me $100,000, people thought he was crazy. I was this little kid from Brooklyn, didn’t go to Harvard.” He risked $1 billion covering the Big Four’s shorts: “I’m not proud that I did what I did, you know. I spent a lot of hours with a psychologist here trying to analyze why I did what I did.” “They didn’t want to give up their returns and I made the mistake. What I should have said to them was look, this is the agreements you have.” “In hindsight now it looks like a stupid thing to do and it was ... I always wanted to please everybody.” On whether the Big Four knew

his secretary backdated trades: “They were aware of it. They instructed her to do it.” On whether it was fraud not to report short positions: “Well, depends upon how you define fraud.” On whether he sought victims to cover redemptions: “No. The firm was in a position that we were always turning away investors. We never― never solicited, you know, new monies coming in. As a matter of fact, we tried to return monies at times but met resistance with clients.” On his lack of concern for European investors: “...first of all, they really weren’t my customers. They were customers of hedge funds.”

On convertible bonds trade windfalls during ’87 crash: “So the guys that were doing convertible bonds, they thought I was a goddamned codiﬁed genius.” On the Big Four’s offer to indemnify him: “They didn’t want to screw me either, generally, because number one, we had a close, familytype relationship. And also I made them a lot of money. They didn’t want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.” On losses in Big Four trading accounts from 1987 to 1992: “I don’t know how many billions of dollars it was at the time, but you have to take that into consideration, you know.” “So when the crash came in

’87 and these guys panicked on me, which is not a surprise in hindsight because the one thing every one of them was, which is everybody in the industry is, they’re greedy. All right. So they all panicked.” On honesty in the securities industry: “I know it sounds strange coming from me, all right, but when I went into business the ﬁrst thing I learned from both Cy Lewis (former Managing Partner of Bear, Stearns & Co.) and Gus Levy (former senior partner at Goldman Sachs) is they said to me, Bernie, whatever you do, you know, in this business, never break your word because there was no such thing as written contracts in the securities industry.” “In 50 years that I was in business, I never, ever had anyone not honor their contract. You never thought about it. It was something that, you know, if you’re in this industry, your word was your bond literally, and that was it. You trusted everybody. And that’s the way the industry operated and for the most part still operates that way today, but not as much.” On why anyone should believe he was honest until 1992: “I have nothing to lose now.” William Zabel, the Picower family’s lawyer, said Madoff wasn’t truthful, offering “up one more self-serving lie about someone who passed away eight years ago and cannot defend himself.” Attorneys for the other three didn’t return calls. The Big Four, or their estates, paid settlements to a trustee for Madoff’s ﬁrm ranging from Levy’s $220 million to Picower’s $7.2 billion. None of the four were accused of criminal wrongdoing. Bloomberg

administrators for the two banks, including former Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA Chief Executive Ofﬁcer Fabrizio Viola. Since the ECB’s decision Friday, Italy rushed to assemble the measures to carry out the plan because a local regulatory framework was required to allow the banks to open Monday. The deal crafted over the weekend is in line with the bloc’s state-aid rules. Shareholders of the two banks as well as holders of subordinated debt “fully contributed” to the plan, limiting costs of the Italian state, EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said in a statement. Bloomberg

Asian stocks climb HONG KONG―Energy firms rose in Asia on Monday as another increase in oil prices chipped away at last week’s hefty losses, but investors are getting tetchy as Donald Trump struggles to pass his healthcare bill, raising concerns about his economic agenda. Crude jumped more than one percent, extending gains into a third straight trading day after being pummeled to 10-month lows Wednesday on fears that output cuts by Opec and Russia will fail to avert another global supply glut. The drop had led to a sell-off in regional energy firms but the slight recovery provided some relief Monday, with Tokyo-listed Inpex rallying 1.81 percent, while Woodside Petroleum in Sydney and CNOOC in Hong Kong also advanced. Adding to the upward pressure for oil is the crisis in the Middle East, where a Saudi-led blockade of Qatar has fueled concerns of possible conflict. On Asian equity markets Japan’s Nikkei ended 0.10 percent higher. Tokyo-listed airbag maker Takata was suspended after the crisis-hit firm filed for bankruptcy protection. The company faces lawsuits as well as massive costs after deadly faults in its airbags triggered the auto industry’s biggest ever safety recall. Hong Kong added 0.7 percent in the afternoon and Shanghai closed up 0.9 percent. Sydney put on 0.1 percent and Seoul was 0.4 percent higher. There were also healthy gains in Taipei, Wellington and Bangkok. AFP

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QC dad: ‘Ensure mental health’

Jimbo Owen Gulle, Editor Roger M. Garcia, Assistant Editor jimbo.gulle@gmail.com mslocalgov@gmail.com TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

By Rio N. Araja A QUEZON City councilor on Monday pushed health centers to ensure the mental health awareness of residents in their area. District 1 Councilor Peter Anthony “Onyx” Crisologo said the city must ensure the community-based mental health program of 2015 is implemented in the absence of a national mental health law. The city’s health centers, he said, must be able to provide mental health care, services, guidance or medicine to help patients, and help them “have productive, quality and livable lives.” On Oct. 29, 2015, the councilor passed the CommunityBased Mental Health Program Ordinance to promote a shift from a hospital-based system to a strengthened communitybased mental health-care delivery system. The ordinance aims to integrate mental health in the general health-care system, to pinpoint a multisectoral joint network to identify and prevent mental illness or disability, and the management of mental health problems among vulnerable groups in the population. The measure includes those affected by overseas employment, children, adolescents, elderly, and those who need special protection, like survivors of extreme life experiences and violence. Crisologo said mental health concerns and awareness must be an open issue to better prepare one to deal with traumatic experiences, stressful situations and even violence. He called on those who may need mental health care to come out and seek professional help. The city’s health officer, Dr. Verdades Linga said the community-based mental health program underscored the importance of developing a system and mechanism designed to provide an efficient and effective delivery of mental health-care to city’s three million constituents, especially the poor.

SALVAGE EFFORT. Papaya vendors along the national highway in Poblacion Tupi, South Cotabato salvage what they can from their bunkhouse when a 20-year-old narra tree fell on it in the wake of a tornado on Monday. Amiel M. Cagayan

Top Manila taxpayers feted E By Sandy Araneta

XPRESSING his sincerest gratitude to the city’s taxpayers, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada has bestowed honors to exceptional Manilans and top companies whom he said greatly helped the city rebound from its lost pride and deep financial crisis.

During the awarding ceremonies for Outstanding Manilans and Top Business Taxpayers of 2016 at the Manila Hotel on Friday as part of the celebration of the 446th Araw ng Maynila, Estrada said the city “is grateful for the opportunity to express its gratitude to those who have

been instrumental in helping us rise from the ashes of the past.” From a bankrupt city government in 2013 when he assumed office with unpaid debts of P5.5 billion, the mayor said Manila is now financially stable, and actively implementing infrastructure projects that will be “the

backdrop of its future.” “To a great extent, we accomplished this because we had generous cooperative partners from the private sector, whose taxes have laid the groundwork for many of our most important projects and programs,” Estrada said. As to the Outstanding Manilans, he said these Manileños went on to do great things but never forgot the city of their birth. “Their deeds have brought much honor to Manila, and inspired our young people to reach for their dreams as well.” Leading the awardees for Outstanding Manilans was the late Tondo-born architect Juan Arellano, who designed the Metro-

politan Theater, the Legislative Building that now houses the National Museum, and the Manila Central Post Office Building. He died on Dec. 5, 1960 at the age of 72. His son Jose Arellano and Estrada’s childhood friend accepted the prestigious Gawad Gat Andres Bonifacio, the city’s highest award. “I’m confident and without any doubt that my father, Architect Juan Arellano, wherever he might be now, is very happy and proud, at nagpapasalamat kay Mayor Erap,” Arellano’s son said in thanking Estrada and the organizers. The other Outstanding Manilans awardees are veteran ac-

Foundation trains farmers, ‘4P’ families in Puerto PUERTO PRINCESA, Palawan—Cristie Angeles (pictured left), SM Foundation assistant vice president for Livelihood and Outreach Programs, recently addressed the 139th Batch of SM Foundation Inc.’s Kabalikat sa Kabuhayan Farmers’ Training Program participants at the Palawan Research and Experimental Station (PRES) in Barangay Sta. Monica here. The orientation program drew farmers and 4Ps (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program) beneficiaries from 22 barangays (pictured right). Angeles gave the participants an overview of the program and set the expectations for the participants from the training. Harbest Agribusiness president Arsenio Barcelona and field instructor Conrad Calderon were present to answer technical questions from the farmers. The season-long training program aims to ensure food sufficiency and empower marginal farmers to become entrepreneurs. Through the training program, they learn the latest farming technologies, enabling them to in-

tress Boots Anson Roa, president of the Movie Workers Welfare Foundation (Mowelfund); fashion designer Ben Farrales; Ramon Orlina, architect and “Father of Filipino Glass Sculpture”; creative writer and linguist Patrocino Villasan Villafuerte; Auraeus Solito, filmmaker and advocate of indigenous people’s rights in Palawan; National Bookstore founder Socorro Ramos; Amelia LapenaBonifacio, Grand Lady of Philippine Puppet Theater; and Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara. Leading the Top 10 Business Taxpayers for 2016, on the other hand, is the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), which paid a total of P149.56 million in taxes last year.

DoLE: 4 NV groups get aid By Ben Moses Ebreo

crease their yield and improve the quality of their produce. Librada Fuentes, officer-incharge of the PRES, delivered the welcome remarks. Inspirational messages were given by Zyrille Sespene, SM City Puerto Princesa Palawan Building Administration Officer; Tito Murcia, City Agriculture Office Supervising Agriculturist; Kenneth Garcellano, PSWD 4Ps CityLink Representative; and City Councilor Victor Oliveros, Chairman on Agriculture, Food and Fisheries.

SM Foundation AVP Cristie Angeles (left, inset) talks to farmers and 4Ps beneficiaries from 22 barangays in Puerto Princesa City during the KsK Farmers’ Training Program in the Palawan capital.

‘KKK’ seminar in Batangas

Cemex Philippines Foundation’s KKK Program benefited residents of Barangay Soro-Soro in Batangas City.

BATANGAS CITY—Residents of Barangay Soro-soro here recently participated in and benefitted from Cemex Philippines Foundation’s “Kalusugan. Kaligtasan. Kahandaan.” Program. Under the Found a t i o n’s “Build a Safe and Healthy Citizenry” cluster, the program is

composed of a lecture and workshop on disaster preparedness, first aid, nutrition, and family planning. The Foundation also donated medical equipment to the community such as digital infant weighing scale, mobile blood pressure monitor, and fetal doppler, among others. Cemex previously implemented the program at Barangay Simlong, also in Batangas City. The activity was organized by Cemex Philippines Foundation in partnership with the local barangay council, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and Cemex logistics team.

KASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya—The Department of Labor and Employment recently gave more than P1.4 million in assistance to four livelihood organizations in this town to start their projects. Engineer Joseph Sales, DoLE officer-in-charge here, said the recipients were the Malabing Literacy Credit Organization (MALCO), Watwat Abot Palad Association (WAPA), Lupa Ayangan Tribe Association (LATA) and the Lupa Ibaloi Tribe Association (LITA). MALCO was given P430,000 to enhance their Citrus Wine Production, WAPA got P377,060 for their Root Crops Processing Project, and P650,000 will be shared by the LATA and LITA for their Agri-Farm Supply Project. The livelihood funds were coursed through the local government unit as accredited co-partner of the DoLE and the recipients. Sales said MALCO earlier received P50,000 in 2009 as livelihood formation fund and initial assistance for their Citrus Wine Production Project, with a total cost of P756,000. “MALCO and the LGU shared their counterpart fund amounting to P300,000 and P26,000, respectively,” he said. Sales said the livelihood funds will benefit more than 200 villagers in this town who are mostly indigenous people.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

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Manila

Standard

TODAY TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

Vizcaya towns end boundary dispute By Ben Moses Ebreo BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya—Two towns here recently resolved their boundary dispute in a bid to develop their economic alliance on tourism and agricultural development. Provincial Board Member Roland Carub said the provincial government has already resolved the dispute between Solano and Ambaguio towns, particularly between the latter’s Barangay Dulli and Barangay Comonal of the former. “We are very thankful for the generosity of the local government unit of Ambaguio after they heeded our appeal to give us a huge portion of the area within our boundary dispute zone. This will pave the way

for upcoming developments between our municipalities,” Carub said. Carub said with the dispute resolved, Solano town’s land area—now at 10,135 hectares— is now enough in its bid for cityhood status. He said the resolution will bring in further development and economic benefits between the two towns through their inter-tourism alliance. Upland Ambaguio town serves as an alternate entry point to Mt. Pulag National Park in Benguet province—a mountaineers’ attraction and adventure interest. The premier commercial town of Solano, meanwhile, serves as the resting place and nightlife hub for local and foreign tourists.

SPONSORSHIP. Cavite Rep. Strike B. Revilla (right) delivers his sponsorship of House Bill 2235, which seeks to prohibit unattended children in motor vehicles, during a public hearing of the House Committee on the Welfare of Children. His bill intends to raise public awareness about the dangers of leaving unattended children inside motor vehicles, leading to deaths, injuries, and accidents. ‘These are predictable and preventable by simply not leaving children without any competent companion inside vehicles,’ Revilla said. Lino Santos

Miner turns over HS building K By Abe Almirol

ASIBU, Nueva Vizcaya—Asia-Pacific miner OceanaGold on Friday turned over a new school building with 16 classrooms and two laboratories to the Eastern Nueva Vizcaya National High School of the Department of Education here. The senior high school facility in Barangay Didipio marks an era where students in this district would face what observers noted as a “reversal of fate.” High school students in Didipio used to walk 44 kilometers weekly to attend classes at the Malabing Valley National High School in Barangay Wangal. Today, students entering senior high school from nearby villages and towns may study at the ENVNHS to finish the K-12 program.

Apart from the P43-million building cost, the company donated another P10 million for laboratory equipment and other educational materials, of which P7 million in equipment and materials went to the ENVNHS and P3 million to other high schools in Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino. “If a high school like this was present during my time, I could have been a professional today,” said Didipio village councilor Henry Guay, as he opened the inauguration ceremony.

“I could be walking tall today despite my severe deficiency in height,” he jested, eliciting thunderous laughter from the crowd. With the completion of the three-story building, the ENVNHS is the best-equipped DepEd campus in the district in terms of classroom, laboratory and equipment so far. The building was wholly funded by the “We Care” program of OceanaGold Philippines Inc., the embodiment of its corporate social responsibility or CSR. The building donated by OGPI would augment three smaller buildings accommodating about 400 students. The school is now ready to accommodate 800 more students at 50 students to one classroom ratio. “It was a community investment program that was aligned with the needs, values and priorities of our community,” said David Way, the general manager

of OGPI’s Didipio Operations. When OceanaGold’s predecessor company discovered a large deposit of gold and copper in Didipio, those who endorsed the mining project asked for the establishment of a high school building as one of the preconditions in giving their consent. “Just like any other parent, our dream for our children is for them to have a good education,” barangay captain Alfredo Pugong Jr. said. “We gambled our future when we gave our consent to allow the mine to operate. But what choices do we have? This village could never have a school like this have we listened to the detractors,” Guay explained. Community relations workers of a mining company during the exploration period helped Didipio locals establish the twoclassroom Green Valley Institute in the early ‘90s.

Due to financial difficulty, the school was eventually converted to a public high school named Eastern Nueva Vizcaya National High School, by virtue of Republic Act No. 10221 authored by then-Rep. Carlos M. Padilla during the 15th Congress. Padilla, now the governor of Nueva Vizcaya, has been critical of the operation of the Didipio mine. Vice Gov. Lambert Galima represented him in the inauguration ceremony. “Development projects should always open the way for a partnership,” Galima said in his speech. OGPI takes pride in investing millions of pesos in roads, irrigation, public buildings, support to cooperatives, and livelihood projects around the Didipio mine. “Structures are not our greatest legacies. Our greatest legacy will be the lives we have touched, your lives,” Way said in his speech.

A Sure Bet for Progress in Gaming, Entertainment and Nation Building

InvItatIon to BId for the Supply and delIvery of eMployeeS’ MealS and SnaCKS for SIx (6) MonthS under ItB no. pB17-014anG-06 The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) is inviting all interested bidders in its forthcoming public bidding for the Supply and Delivery of Employees’ Meals and Snacks for Six (6) Months under ITB No. PB17-014ANG-06. Brief Description

Delivery Schedule Approved for the (ABC):

Budget Contract

Lot 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

Descriptions Meat Products Poultry / Chicken Fresh Fish Vegetables and Fruits Grocery Items Tube Ice Rice LPG Processed Foods

Within six (6) months from the date of receipt by the winning supplier of the Notice to Proceed The total ABC is the amount of Ten Million One Hundred Eighty Nine Thousand One Hundred Fifty Pesos (P10,189,150.00), VAT-Exclusive, Zero-Rated Transaction. Lot 1 : Meat Products - One Million Seven Hundred Ninety Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Pesos (P1,790,250.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 2 : Poultry/Chicken – One Million Twenty Thousand Nine Hundred Pesos (P1,020,900.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 3 : Fresh Fish – One Million One Hundred Fifty Two Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Pesos (P 1,152,750.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 4 : Vegetables and Fruits – One Million Nine Hundred Fifty One Thousand Nine Hundred Ninety Two Pesos (P1,951,992.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 5 :Grocery Items – Two Million One Hundred Fifty Three Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight Pesos (P 2,153,668.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 6: Tube Ice – Ninety Two Thousand One Hundred Ninety Pesos (P92,190.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction

Source of Funds:

Lot 7: Rice – Nine Hundred Twenty Four Thousand Pesos (P 924,000.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 8: LPG - Four Hundred Ninety Five Thousand Pesos (P495,000.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Lot 9: Processed Meat- Six Hundred Eight Thousand Four Hundred Pesos (P608,400.00), VAT Exclusive, Zero Rated Transaction Corporate Budget for CY 2017

For several lots, please add “NOTE: Bidders may bid on one or both/all lots.” Otherwise delete Bidders should have completed, within the last three (3) years before the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instructions to Bidders. 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”. 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. PAGCOR will hold a Pre-Bid Conference, which shall be open to prospective bidders. All particulars relative to Pre-Bid Conference, Detailed Evaluation of Bids, Post-Qualification and Award of Contract shall be governed by the pertinent provisions of R.A. 9184 and its IRR. The schedule of bidding activities is listed, as follows: 1. 2. 3. 4.

Activities Issuance of the Bidding Documents Pre-Bid Conference Deadline for the Submission and Receipt of Bids Opening and Preliminary Examination of Bids

Date, Time and Venue June 27, 23017 to July 18, 2017 July 05, 2017 (Wednesday), 2:00 p.m. July 18, 2017 (Tuesday), 2:00 p.m. July 18, 2017 (Tuesday), 2:00 p.m., onwards

Interested bidders may obtain further information from the Procurement Section (PS), acting as the BBAC Secretariat, of PAGCOR and/or inspect the Bidding Documents at Mezzanine Floor, Casino Filipino – Angeles, Mac Arthur Highway, Balibago, Angeles City during office hours of PAGCOR from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The new Eastern Nueva Vizcaya National High School (clockwise from top): a panoramic view of the senior high school building donated by OceanaGold Philippines, Inc.; Department of Education officials receiving the symbolic key from Alfredo Pugong Jr., the barangay captain of Didipio; and senior high school students who are all smiles during the inauguration of the fully furnished classrooms and laboratories. Fitzgerald Chilagan

ROYAL Cargo, a leading global specialized logistics solutions company, officially makes its foray into the shipping business with the arrival of its first-ever container vessel at Batangas Port last June 13. The vessel has the capacity to run at a max speed of 20 knots, with a

deadweight tonnage of 13.751 and max container capacity of 1,118 20foot equivalent units (TEU). The company also expects to invest in an additional vessel to expand its coverage before yearend. Royal Cargo’s ship will be ready to engage in trade once the company has approval from the Maritime

Industry Authority (MARINA). “We are banking on the combined support of government to meet the local market’s growing capacity demands,” said Michael Kurt Raeuber, CEO of Royal Cargo Group. According to Philippine Ports Authority, cargo volumes rose by

Cost of Bidding Documents (in Philippine Pesos) 500.00 1,000.00 5,000.00 10,000.00

Prospective bidders may also download the Bidding Documents free of charge from the following websites: www.pagcor.ph and www.philgeps.gov.ph and may be allowed to submit bids provided that bidders shall pay the applicable fee of the Bidding Documents not later than the deadline for the submission and receipt of bids. Prospective bidders should present to Finance Section located at the Mezzanine Floor, Casino Filipino – Angeles, Mac Arthur Highway, Balibago, Angeles City either the Fee Slip which may be secured from PS or a copy of this ITB in effecting payment for the Bidding Documents. Bidders shall bear all costs associated with the preparation and submission of his bid, and PAGCOR will in no case be responsible or liable for those costs, regardless of the conduct or outcome of the bidding process. Bidders should note that PAGCOR will accept bids only from those that have paid the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents. All Bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18. Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the venue of the bid opening. Late bids shall not be accepted. PAGCOR assumes no responsibility whatsoever to compensate or indemnify bidders for any expenses incurred in the preparation of their bids. In accordance with Government Procurement Policy Board (GPPB) Circular 06-2005 - Tie-Breaking Method, the Branch Bids and Awards Committee (BBAC) shall use a non-discretionary and non-discriminatory measure based on sheer luck or chance, which is “DRAW LOTS,” in the event that two or more bidders have been postqualified and determined as the bidder having the Lowest Calculated Responsive Bid (LCRB) to determine the final bidder having the LCRB, based on the following procedures: a) b)

In alphabetical order, the bidders shall pick one rolled paper. The lucky bidder who would pick the paper with a “CONGRATULATIONS” remark shall be declared as the final bidder having the LCRB and recommended for award of the contract.

PAGCOR 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 in accordance with Section 41 of RA 9184 and its IRR, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders. Please address all communications to the Branch Bids and Awards Committee thru PS, Mezzanine Floor, Casino Filipino – Angeles, Mac Arthur Highway, Balibago, Angeles City, Tel No.: 892-5073 local 401. (SGD) GLECY B. DANGA Chairperson BRANCH BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE (BBAC)

(MS-JUNE 27, 2017)

By Kariza Aycocho

THE war on poverty and the quality of life of indigenous people residing in remote areas of Antipolo City were the issues discussed recently during the Convergence Building Zero Extreme Poverty PH 2030 seminar at Antipolo City Hall. Mayor Jun Ynares headed the seminar and mentioned that Barangay Dumagat-Remontado on Canumay, Libis, and Tayabasan are some IP communities suffering from lack of education, livelihood, resources, health and tourism. Ynares said everyone should unite in making the community and the city progressive. “The equal development of these places mirrors solidarity and the importance of each citizen living in the area,” he said. It also exemplifies how big or little things can contribute to development, because the local government “will make sure all parts of the city are prosperous and has a decent community while preserving the culture and tradition of the IP,” Ynares added. With the help of Smart Telecommunications, Center for Conservation Innovations, Department of Public Works and Highways, Philippine Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation Inc., Peace and Equity Foundation, City Planning and Development Office, City Social Welfare and Development Office at City Tourism Office, the seminar considered concrete plans for the development of the IP community in Antipolo.

Cargo firm deploys new ship in Batangas

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be acquired by interested Bidders upon payment of the applicable fee for the Bidding Documents, pursuant to the latest Guidelines issued by the GPPB, based on the following matrix: Approved Budget for the Contract 500,000.00 and below More than 500,000.00 up to 1 Million More than 1 Million up to 5 Million More than 5 Million up to 10 Million

Antipolo aims to improve IP lives

Royal Cargo’s new vessel can run at a top speed of 20 knots, with a deadweight tonnage of 13.751 and maximum container capacity of 1,118 20-foot equivalent units (TEU).

11.6 percent from 223.67m tons in 2015 to 249.57m tons in 2016, largely driven by a 12.6-percent increase in foreign cargoes to 151.6m tons. Meanwhile, domestic cargo shipments escalated by 10 percent from 89.05m tons to 97.96m tonnes over the same period. Setting its sights on the Philippines’ potential to become a major logistics hub by 2020, Royal Cargo Group “is making strategic capital investments to answer demands and spur business and economic growth,” Raeuber added. Royal Cargo recently commenced the construction of its sixhectare solar-powered Cargo City North Hub in Plaridel, Bulacan as part of its logistics capacity expansion in the Philippines. “We are committed towards providing highly differentiated logistics solutions to address our local market’s staggering needs. Expanding our vessel capacity in handling shipping operations will definitely position us as a well-rounded and reliable logistics partner and help us penetrate the market better,” said Elmer Francisco U. Sarmiento, president of Royal Cargo.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF Rescuers ordered to evacuate BEIJING―Rescuers searching for more than 90 people missing following a huge landslide in southwest China were ordered to evacuate Monday due to the risk of another collapse, state media reported. Thousands of emergency workers have been digging through rocks and earth since Saturday when a landslide entombed 62 homes in Xinmo, a mountain village in Sichuan province. At least 10 people have been conﬁrmed dead and 93 are still missing after heavy rain brought down a side of the mountain. Only three survivors―a couple and their one-monthold baby―have been found. The onslaught of rocks struck the once-picturesque village in the early morning when most people would have been inside their homes. Some 3,000 workers were taking part in the search, while excavators and bulldozers were being used to clear debris at the base of the slope. The Sichuan provincial work safety bureau ordered rescue workers to be evacuated from the disaster zone on Monday morning after monitoring equipment picked up “moving and deformation of the hillside”, the ofﬁcial Xinhua news agency said. Xinhua said there were “risks of a secondary landslide”. Geological monitoring was continuing, the Maoxian county government said on its Weibo account. Saturday’s landslide blocked a two-kilometer stretch of river and 1.6 kilometers of road. Landslides are a frequent danger in rural and mountainous parts of China, particularly at times of heavy rains. At least 12 people were killed in January when a landslide crushed a hotel in the central province of Hubei. AFP

Grim Eid after oil tanker fire kills 153 BAHAWALPUR―Pakistan began Eid in mourning Monday as the death toll in an oil tanker explosion rose to 153, with scores injured after they were caught in a fireball while scooping up spilled fuel. Dozens of relatives were waiting outside hospitals in Bahawalpur, the nearest major city, to claim the bodies of their loved ones as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived early Monday to visit victims after cutting short a visit to London. The explosion ignited early Sunday as crowds ignored warnings to stay away from the tanker that had overturned on a main highway from Karachi to Lahore, spilling some 40,000 liters of fuel. Police have said details remain unconfirmed, but cited witnesses who said the tanker’s tire had burst. The accident quickly drew scores of people from a nearby village, many armed with whatever containers they could carry to scavenge the spilled fuel despite warnings from the driver, who survived the crash and was later taken into custody, and motorway police, to stay away. Minutes later the tanker exploded, engulfing the crowd as well as dozens of other vehicles in a massive fireball that sent a plume of thick smoke into the sky. “The death toll has climbed to 153, and many are in critical condition in various hospitals in Bahawalpur and Multan,” Javed Iqbal, chief of Victoria hospital told AFP. State television aired images of Sharif arriving in Bahawalpur, and said he will visit victims at the hospital after being briefed on the incident. AFP

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

Barrier reef ‘too big to fail’ S

YDNEY―Australia’s under-pressure Great Barrier Reef is an asset worth Aus$56 billion (US$42 billion) and as an ecosystem and economic driver is “too big to fail”, a study said Monday.

EID FESTIVAL. A young Indian Muslim looks on during Eid al-Fitr prayers in Bangalore on June 26. Muslims around the world are celebrating the Eid festival, marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. AFP

The World Heritage-listed reef is the largest living structure on Earth and its economic and social value was calculated for the ﬁrst time in the Deloitte Access Economics report commissioned by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Using economic modeling, it said the reef―bigger than Britain, Switzerland and the Netherlands combined―was worth Aus$29 billion to tourism, supporting 64,000 jobs. The “indirect or non-use” value―people that have not yet visited the reef but know it exists― was estimated at Aus$24 billion, with recreational users such as boaters making up the rest. The study, based on six months’ analysis, comes as the reef suffers an unprecedented second straight year of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change. It is also under pressure from farming run-off, development and the crown-of-thorns starﬁsh, with the problems compounded this year by a powerful cyclone pummeling the area. Great Barrier Reef Foundation director Steve Sargent said the study showed that no single Australian asset contributed as much to international perceptions of “Brand Australia”. “At $56 billion, the reef is valued at more than 12 Sydney Opera Houses,” he said. “This report sends a clear message that the Great Barrier Reef― as an ecosystem, as an economic driver, as a global treasure―is too big to fail.” Commenting in the report, US presidential candidate turned conservationist Al Gore said the study was a “much needed, holistic view of the incredible economic value and opportunities provided

by the Great Barrier Reef”. “Any failure to protect this indispensable natural resource would have profound impacts not only to Australia but around the world,” he added. The study included a survey of 1,500 Australian and international respondents from 10 countries that found people value the reef for a range of reasons -– due to its importance for tourism but also the belief that Australia would not be the same without it. Lead author, Deloitte Access’s John O’Mahony, said it was clear the reef was “priceless and irreplaceable”. “But we’ve been able to look at it as an ‘asset’ that has incredible value on multiple fronts -- from its biodiversity and job creating potential to its support for critical industries and standing among international visitors to Australia,” he said. Australia last month hosted a summit of more than 70 of the world’s leading marine experts to work on a blueprint on how best to respond to the threats facing the reef. Options explored included developing coral nurseries, strategies to boost culling of crown-ofthorns starﬁsh, expanding monitoring systems and identifying priority sites for coral restoration. Key to the talks was the need to slash greenhouse gas emissions to prevent warming sea temperatures. Canberra in 2015 narrowly avoided UNESCO putting the reef on its endangered list, and has committed more than Aus$2.0 billion to protect it over the next decade. But it has been criticized for backing a huge US$16 billion coal project by Indian mining giant Adani near the reef, which environmentalists warn would harm the natural wonder. AFP

Russian pagans revive old solstice celebration GLUBOKOVO, Russia―A young girl with a garland of flowers in her hair sings to the setting sun before a group of women join in nearby. “We give our thanks to you, oh sun,” they chant. In the tiny village of Glubokovo, some 80 kilometers east of Moscow, several hundred people gathered to mark an ancient pagan ceremony to celebrate the summer solstice. Women sang in circles as men collected firewood for a gigantic bonfire that formed a blazing centerpiece for the festivities. The pagan ritual is believed to be one of the oldest in the world

and marks the shortest night of the year. But while it may have its roots in Russia’s ancient past, the celebration has made something of a modern comeback in recent years as more people have become interested in the country’s pagan history. Self-proclaimed priestess Lada Korneyeva told AFP that the practice has been growing in popularity since the early 2000s as it struggled out from under a ban during Soviet times. “More and more people are looking for meaning, because they are not satisﬁed with what they see on television,” she said.

“In the Communist era it was simple: the authorities told you that you were soviet. Then we started saying: you are Russian, you are not. But what does it mean to be Russian?” “Some people have found the answer here in their history and their roots.” But while Korneyeva insists that the search for spirituality is driving more people to paganism, the small community still faces some hurdles from suspicious authorities. Russia’s inﬂuential Orthodox Church frowns upon their practices and “anti-terror” legislation from 2016 placed some curbs on

the pagans who fear they could be punished for spreading their beliefs. As the sun sets over the participants the high-priest gathers those present with the beat of drum and addresses them. “Look at what is around you my friends: our father the sky, our mother the Earth. Today, remember that you are part of nature,” he intones. The priest then leads the believers to four wooden totems that represent the major pagan gods of love, war, fertility and water, where he offers a blessing. “When I am in Moscow I am a very rational person,” says believ-

er Alexander Mayarov. “But here, I forget logic. I listen to the wisdom of my ancestors.” The ceremony lasts several hours and culminates in the lighting of a the bonfire which all the participants then dance around. As they looked into the flames other participants said that they had turned to paganism after failing to find enough spiritual succor from the faiths in which they were raised. “I have the feeling that our beliefs are more pure than religion,” Elena Volkova, who was christened Orthodox, said, as her six-year-old daughter ran by the flames. AFP

Hong Kong activists stage protest ahead of Xi’s visit HONG KONG―Hong Kong prodemocracy protesters on Monday draped a black flag over a statue symbolizing the city’s return to China by Britain, days before a visit by President Xi Jinping to mark 20 years since the handover. High-profile student campaigner Joshua Wong and a dozen demonstrators attached the black cloth to the giant golden bauhinia flower on Hong Kong’s harbor front in an early morning protest as security tried to stop them climbing on the famous tourist attraction. The sculpture of the bauhinia, which became the emblem of Hong Kong after the handover, was a present to the city from China in 1997 and stands outside the convention center where Xi will attend anniversary events during a three-day visit starting Thursday. Police were called to take the flag down while the protesters chanted “democratic self-determination for Hong Kong’s future” and “one country, two systems has been a lie for 20 years”, referring to Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status. A guard shouted at them: “You are insulting our country! You are Chinese!” The “one country, two systems” deal made when Britain handed

Hong Kong back to China in 1997 allows the city rights unseen on the mainland, including freedom of speech. But there are increasing concerns Beijing is trampling the agreement by interfering in a range of areas, from politics to education and media. Campaigners like Wong are calling for democratic reforms, promised in the handover deal, to change a system where the city leader is still chosen by a pro-China committee and the legislature is weighted towards Beijing. Wong led mass Umbrella Movement rallies calling for fully free leadership elections in 2014, but they failed to win concessions. Since then calls for self-determination or even full independence from China have emerged for the ﬁrst time. Wong’s party Demosisto wants a public referendum on Hong Kong’s future in 2047, the year the handover agreement guaranteeing the city’s way of life and liberties expires. “The protest action aims to express our anger and disappointment against the administration for the major political blunders since 1997,” Demosisto said in a statement. AFP

CAST. The adult cast of ‘The New Edition Story’ and the original members of New Edition are seen backstage at the 2017 BET Awards at Microsoft Theater on June 25, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

World

FESTIVAL. Indian Hindu devotees pull the chariot of Lord Jagannath (Krishna) during the Rath Yatra festival in Ahmedabad on June 25, 2017. AFP

Russia says Telegram app used in bombing MOSCOW―Russia’s FSB security agency on Monday said the Telegram messaging service was used by those behind the Saint Petersburg metro bombing, the latest salvo by authorities after they threatened to block the app. “During the probe into the April 3 terrorist attack in the Saint Petersburg metro, the FSB received reliable information about the use of Telegram by the suicide bomber, his accomplices and their mastermind abroad to conceal their criminal plans,” the FSB said in a statement. They used Telegram “at each stage of the preparation of this terrorist attack,” it said. Fifteen people were killed in the suicide bombing, which was claimed by the littleknown Imam Shamil Battalion, a group suspected of links to Al-Qaeda. Telegram is a free Russiandesigned messaging app that lets people exchange messages, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000. It has attracted about 100 million users since its launch in 2013. But the service has drawn the ire of critics who say it can let criminals and terrorists communicate without fear of being tracked by police, pointing in particular to its use by Islamic State jihadists. The FSB charged that “the members of the international terrorist organizations on Russian territory use Telegram”. The app is already under ﬁre in Moscow after Russia’s state communications watchdog on Friday threatened to ban it, saying the company behind the service had failed to submit company details for registration. Telegram’s secretive Russian chief executive, Pavel Durov, who has previously refused to bow to government regulation that would compromise the privacy of users, had called that threat “paradoxical” on one of his social media accounts. He said it would force users, including “high-ranking Russian ofﬁcials” to communicate via apps based in the United States like WhatsApp. The 32-year-old had previously created Russia’s popular VKontakte social media site, before founding Telegram in the United States. AFP

S. Korea’s Moon heading to US SEOUL―South Korea’s dovish new President Moon Jae-In― who backs engagement with the nuclear-armed North―heads to Washington this week for talks with his hawkish US counterpart Donald Trump as Pyongyang defies international sanctions to accelerate its missile program. Center-left Moon suggested on the campaign trail that as president he would be willing to go to Pyongyang before Washington, but he is making the US his first foreign destination since he was sworn in last month after a landslide election win. Washington is the South’s security guarantor and has more than 28,000 troops in the country to defend it from its neighbor, which has been intensifying missile tests―including five since Moon’s inauguration―as it seeks to develop nuclear-capable ballistic missiles that could reach the continental United States. US Pentagon chief Jim Mattis has labeled North Korea as “the most urgent and dangerous threat” while Trump has made halting Pyongyang’s weapons program a top foreign policy priority. There have been misgivings about the first tete-a-tete between Moon and Trump, who is pushing for tougher sanctions against Pyongyang to curb its nuclear ambitions and whose administration has said military action was a possibility. That would put Seoul on the front line of any retaliation from the North. But analysts say their first encounter is likely to be low on drama with the two getting a sense of each other, rather than displaying jarring differences. Trump’s policy of “maximum

pressure and engagement” has a wide range from diplomacy to sanctions, allowing for an “overlap” with that of Moon, who has never denied the need for sanctions even while seeking dialogue, said John Delury, a professor at Yonsei University. “So there doesn’t have to be a train wreck over North Korea policy,” he told AFP. Also high on the agenda is likely to be a controversial US missile defence system that has been installed in South Korea to guard against missile threats from the North. Though parts of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system are already in place, Moon suspended further deployment following a furious campaign of economic sanctions and diplomatic protests by Beijing against the US missile shield, dealing a blow to Washington’s regional security policy. Ofﬁcially, the delay is to allow for a new, comprehensive environmental impact assessment, but analysts say the move is a strategic one by Moon to delay the tricky diplomatic situation he inherited. Earlier this year Moon raised many eyebrows when he said in a new book that Seoul should learn to say “no” to Washington. But analysts say the South Korean leader―whose parents were refugees evacuated from the North by US forces―will endeavor in Washington to portray their decades-old alliance as intact. “Moon will seek to smooth rufﬂed feathers in Washington and give an impression that there is no daylight between the two allies,” Sejong Institute analyst Hong Hyun-Ik told AFP. AFP

Southeast Asian nations burn $1b worth of drugs Y

ANGON― Myanmar, Thailand and Cambodia torched nearly $1 billion worth of seized narcotics on Monday, a defiant show of force as police struggle to stem the rising flow of drugs in the region.

SUNRISE. A woman takes pictures of the Eiffel tower from the Human Right square as the sun rises on June 26, 2017, in Paris. AFP

Mongolians to pick president after campaign ULAN BATOR―Mongolians cast ballots on Monday to choose among a horse breeder, a judoka and a feng shui master in a presidential election rife with corruption scandals and nationalist rhetoric. From its sprawling steppes to its capital and even in yurts serving as polling stations, people began to vote in the landlocked country sandwiched between Russia and China that was once viewed as an oasis of democracy full of economic promise. Nomadic herders ﬁled into a yurt in the city of Erdene Sum, 100 km (60 miles) east of the capital Ulan Bator to cast their ballots, wearing the traditional deel coat, fedoras and boots. “As a voter I believe justice is the most important thing for Mongolia,” said Dendev Boris, 63, who unlike others showed up in a

business suit. “There must be justice in every industry,” he said. “I haven’t taken the corruption allegations too seriously because they have not been proven.” The resource-rich nation of just three million has struggled in recent years with mounting debt and low voter turnout. The next president will inherit a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout designed to stabilize its economy and lessen its dependence on China, which purchases 80 percent of Mongolian exports. But voters have heard little from the three candidates about unemployment and jobs―their top concerns in the opinion polls―as campaigns have instead focused on their opponents’ allegedly shady pasts.

Among the accusations are a 60 billion tugrik ($25 million) scheme to sell government posts, hefty offshore accounts and a clandestine donation from a member of a South Korean church -- all of which the candidates have denied. The campaign was also marked by moments of anti-Chinese sentiment, with candidate Mieygombo Enkhbold of the parliament-ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) publishing his family tree to rebuff claims that he had Chinese blood. “[The election] is truly testing the nerves of voters,” Gerel Orgil, a Mongolian public opinion analyst, told AFP. “It’s been like watching a bullﬁght.” Enkhbold, a horse breeder and former mayor of Ulan Bator, is considered the establishment candidate.

He faces brash businessman Khaltmaa Battulga of the outgoing president’s opposition Democratic Party, a property tycoon and former head of the judo association. The third candidate is Sainkhuu Ganbaatar of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, a former independent who once headed a feng shui practice. While Enkhbold and Battulga are considered the main contenders, Ganbaatar is expected to garner enough votes to trigger the country’s ﬁrst ever run-off. Several voters described the campaigns as “dark” and accused the candidates of using smear jobs to distract from real issues. “Ganbaatar is the only one who speaks the voice of the regular people of Mongolia,” said Zundui Gombojav, a 60-year-old unemployed disabled man. AFP

The burnings, to mark the UN’s world anti-drugs day, follow another year of record seizures of narcotics from the remote borderlands of Myanmar, Laos, southern China and northern Thailand. Myanmar in particular remains one of the world’s great drug-producing nations, a dark legacy of decades of civil war in its frontier regions where troops and ethnic rebel forces have vied for control of the lucrative trade. Armed gangs churn out vast quantities of opium, heroin and cannabis and millions of caffeine-laced methamphetamine pills known as “yaba” which are then smuggled out across Southeast Asia. An estimated $385 million was burnt in three official ceremonies around Myanmar on Monday, according to a senior police officer in the capital Naypyidaw. At the biggest bonfire in Yangon, huge clouds of smoke filled the sky as authorities set fire to stacks of opium, heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine tablets worth almost $230 million. “We burnt a record amount of drugs today... because police have seized more in recent years,” drug enforcement officer Myo Kyi told AFP. On an industrial estate on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thai authorities incinerated some $589 million worth of drugs including 7,800 kilograms of yaba pills and 1,185 kilograms of the more potent crystal methamphetamine. And in Cambodia, officials burned 130 kilograms of drugs estimated to be worth some $4 million. The huge seizures are often touted as proof these countries are making inroads into the vast regional drug trade. AFP

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

Painting is a discovery. Every time you make a mark on canvas, all sorts of possibilities pen up and all sorts of problems to which you have to find the solutions. When you take a brush to canvas, you never know exactly the result paint is going to make. The tension of always trying to push yourself over the edge, of testing the limits of your imagination, in the hope of creating impressions distinctly your own and quite beyond anything you ever expected when you started out. Therein lies the continual challenge and beauty of the act of painting for me. - Edwin Wilwayco

Life CULTURE & MEDIA

The works and life of abstract painter Edwin Wilwayco are told and celebrated in a coffee table book that aims to show to the public his panoramic achievements

Four decades of EDWIN WILWAYCO T

HE publication of a coffee table book, itself a museum without walls, devoted to the lifetime body of works by a single artist, is always a cause for celebration. For artist Edwin Wilwayco, it is an affirmation of all that he has worked for; for the reading public, it is an opportunity to view and appreciate the panoramic achievements of one of the country’s leading abstractionists. It took more than four years for the Fatima University Gallery Foundation, Inc. to conceptualize and coordinate, and finally publish and launch the book simply entitled, Edwin Wilwayco. Authored by award-winning critic Cid Reyes, the book brings to fore the struggles of a young artist, early deciding that abstraction was the idiom through which he could best express himself, despite his facility and fluency in representational art. Absorbing the inevitable

‘My Soul’s Sanctuary I’ from the Birth of the Blues series

influences of his college mentors, and enlightened by the entire history of abstraction, from Wassily Kandinsky down to Jackson Pollock and Willem de Kooning, Wilwayco synthesized, distilled, and drew, from his own experimental alchemy, his own trademark characteristics of brushstrokes, gestural marks, floral motifs, and vibrant chromatics. The book also traces the progression of his many thematic series, each one a rich exploration of ex-

pressions reflective of local culture, nationalism, spirituality, the varying seasons, music, geometric symbolisms, and the mysterious gifts of nature. These are all manifested in harmonious but inexplicable array of designs and patterns. Down to his years of maturity and seniority, Wilwayco has never wavered from the restless enrichment of his vocabulary of form and color. Lavishly arranged by Aman Santos, coordinated by Alec Ramos, with numerous photographs by Randy Rodriguez and Lovella Uy of Photoholict, culled from nearly a thousand works in different media, the book is distinct evidence of Wilwayco’s prolific production, proving that inspiration comes not from thin air, but from passion, determination, and commitment to the vocation which Wilwayco has dedicated his life to: painting. The book is sold at Leon Gallery. A special ex-

‘Mga Kataga ni Tu Fu’ from the Whispering Winds series

‘Edwin Wilwayco’ authored by Cid Reyes

hibition of carefully selected works from each of Wilwayco’s series coincided with the book launch. It was held at Leon Gallery, G/F Eurovilla 1, Legazpi corner Rufino Sts., Legazpi Village, Makati City, from April 24 to 29. For more information about Edwin Wilwayco, please call Leon Gallery at (02) 856-2781 or email info@leon-gallery.com.

‘Merge’ from Images of Exuberance series

How circus changes lives MALLGOERS had the rare opportunity to watch an amazing show by the French National School of Circus and see how it transforms lives in Metamorphosis at the SM Mall of Asia Music Hall recently. This was in celebration of the 20th Anniversary of Cameleon, a French Filipino NGO providing protection and rehabilitation to young Filipino girls who have suffered abuse—towards the realization of their dreams of going to school and having a brighter future. It was founded in 1997 by Laurence Ligier, a French National based in Iloilo. The event was in partnership with SM Mall of Asia with support from SM Cares, and the Zonta Club of Makati Ayala. In Metamorphosis, Cameleon presented a unique and incredible circus show with nine excellent foreign circus artists coming from France and Canada. They performed different acts like cyr ring, aerial ring, aerial silk, Chinese pole, hand to hand, acrobatics, tight wire, and Hula hoop. Cameleon girls joined the show to present their talent in contortion, diabolo, and unicycle. Luc Richard (stage director) and Patrick Mattioni (circus teacher) created and organized the circus show hosted by celebrity advocate KC Concepcion. Joining the show were third placer in France Got Talent 2016 Alienette Coldfire and popular French actor Sabrina Ouazani. Metamorphosis also showed how circus could be a tool for therapy and professional integration. Since the visit of the French Zanzibar Circus in 2004, circus has been fully integrated into the rehabilitation program of Cameleon, thanks to strong partnerships with the French National Circus School (ENACR) and

Every year, in the context of the partnership with Cameleon, circus professionals and students from ENACR come to the Philippines as volunteers

Cameleon founder Laurence Ligier and Shaline Gamala, one of Cameleon Association’s success stories

worldwide circus companies from Peru, Canada, and Cambodia. Circus is part of the girls’ therapy as it allows them to come out their shells, feel well, trust others as well as have fun and to build a positive image of themselves. Over the last 13 years, circus activities helped the girls in rebuilding themselves. Circus is a “school of life,” developing values such as solidarity and responsibility. Circus promotes physical wellness; it increases body awareness, circulation, focus, balance, strength, and flexibility. On emotional health, circus promotes turn taking, leadership, communication, empathy, self-expression and trust. Engagement to circus activities also provides distraction from one current state of stress or mental instability. Circus is also a professional integra-

tion tool for some of the Cameleon’s beneficiaries; 15 girls have become circus trainers and now give circus training sessions every weekend in the center in Passi (Iloilo) for 60 girls. One of them became the official circus teacher This unique program in the Philippines has already shown its positive impact on girls who demonstrate outstanding progress and more autonomy. Thanks to this partnership, the skills of the girls improved. Four of them went to Peru and France for a one-year training and 15 became regular circus trainers. We can help Cameleon Association in their advocate for children’s rights and build a solid path together to protect women and children against violence by donating in cash or in good. All donations are tax deductible.

Metamorphosis is a unique and incredible circus show with circus artists from France and Canada

Casa De Memoria holds Age of Exploration auction CASA De Memoria, the country’s premier auction house for international fine and decorative art, is holding its seventh auction on July 1. Carrying the “Age of Exploration” theme, the auction will feature pieces—paintings, furniture, porcelain, ivory, and other trinkets—from the golden age of trade between Europe and the Oriental dynasties.

The auction will be held at Casa De Memoria gallery at the corner of Jupiter St. and Comet St. in Bel-Air, Makati. Auction will start at 2 p.m. with previews as early today and tomorrow. For more information, visit CasaDeMemoria.com, or follow @CasaDeMemoria on Instagram and @TheCasaDeMemoria on Facebook.

Life

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

MUSIC THEATER

Meet the ‘Kinky Boots’ angels

SPLASHY, highenergy, drag queencentric musical like Kinky Boots deserves angels that are no less than professional dancers who can gracefully bust a move and kick up the show notches higher in, what else but, high-heeled boots.

Presented by Atlantis Theatrical Entertainment Group together with Metrobank Card Corporation, Kinky Boots is Cyndi Lauper’s Tony and Grammy Award winning Best Musical whose plot revolves around a struggling shoe factory Charlie Price inherited from his father. As Charlie seeks ways to save the factory, he met the fabulous entertainer and drag queen Lola, along with her squad of six drag dancers known as the “Angels,” who helped him breathe new life to the business. Much of the color, glitter, and glamour of Kinky Boots can be attributed to the dazzling performances of the Angels, which will be portrayed by AddLib dancer Mark Pineda, freelance singer and actor Gerhard Krysstopher, and G-Force dancers Ritz Beltran, Jazztin Cacayan, Michael Jahnke, and Jorge Jahnke.

discover new training routines both as a dancer and an actor. Like Pineda, what he particularly found challenging was dancing in heels. “It’s my first full-on drag role, too,” he quips adding “our dancing for this production also entails storytelling more than just choreography. The dancing, as much as it is a spectacle, also provides meaning and showcases the many symbols the show carries and would like to share with the audience.” Having the highly skilled G-Force dancers on board is likewise a definite advantage, and it’s exciting to see the flavor each of them will bring onstage. Beltran, who’s trained as a jazz and hip-hop dancer, was part of the Ateneo Dance Club and has been dancing since he was 14. A versatile dancer—who had formal trainings in jazz, ballet, contemporary and hip-hop styles of dancing—Jazztin became a teacher and a choreographer at the young age of 16. The Jahnke brothers make up the famous GForce Asian Twins known for their intense and fierce dance moves; Michael was a member of the UST Salinggawi Dance Troupe while Jorge was a member of the FEU Cheering Squad. More than the interesting plot of Kinky Boots, its incredibly entertaining, aweinspiring dance performances also make ANGELS AND QUEENS. The six Angels who will help Lola breathe new life to Charlie Price’s shoe business in the musical ‘Kinky Boots’ it a high-heeled hit that will surely make the audience feel like dancing even bePineda may have had experiences as a little training in jazz, coming from after a couple of practices. Not to men- yond the end of the show. a theater actor, but training as one of a street dance background, I found the tion, dancing in heels(?)!” Tickets are now available at Ticketthe Angels still proved to be challeng- dancing style to be really challenging. It Krysstopher, meanwhile, said that world at 891-9999 or visit www.ticketing. He shares, “Even though I’ve had felt weird at first but I made it through being cast as an Angel allowed him to world.com.ph.

ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS

Get ‘Interior Inspirations’ from the web

Sign language and deaf awareness are highlighted in the four-day workshop

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Filipino sign language in Pangasinan THIRTY private school professors together with parents from various La Salle schools in Metro Manila volunteered for a four-day workshop in Pangasinan to train teachers and parents in Filipino Sign Language (FSL) for deaf students. In the past, lecturers and pupils had to travel to Manila to learn FSL. The entire activity delved on sign language with a deaf awareness seminar plus arts and dance at Escuela de Nuestra Señora de La Salette in Tapuac District in Dagupan City. Four faculty members and nine undergraduates from De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB)’s School of Deaf Education and Applied Sciences (SDEAS) facilitated the activities. Ma. Fe Andrea Faustino, Leadership and Involvement Program coordinator of SDEAS Center for Deaf Esteem and Formation, says, “The participants were very happy that for the first time they had a deaf awareness workshop. They learned the importance of sign language, even if they had no relations who are deaf.” Faustino hoped the lessons helped the teachers address the needs of deaf students, as well as foster awareness on their needs within the local community.

FSL workshops help address the needs of deaf students

“As in many places around the country, this lack of awareness often meant giving less priority for the requirements of the deaf.” she explained. She added that the workshop provides the locality with material to build on for future FSL lessons.

Professors from various La Salle schools in Metro Manila hold a workshop on Filipino Sign Language (FSL) for teachers and students in Pangasinan

HOMEOWNERS who are decorating their space no longer need to feel like they are fresh out of ideas, with Interior Inspirations, a web series shot at The Magnolia Residences that gives viewers ideas for creating a beautiful space. Hosted by freelance interior designer and Raffles Design Institute instructor Nikki Laurel, every episode in the five-episode series is short but chock full of easily doable home hacks and design tips and tricks that can turn a bland space into an inviting home bursting with charm and personality. Each of the episodes focuses on a different theme. The first episode, “Hang in There,” tells viewers how to create an eye-catching wall gallery, a project, which can sometimes be tricky for DIYers. The episode shares a foolproof process on laying out and setting up the gallery. It also shares some tips on making the gallery more visually interesting – for instance, choosing frames of different sizes and shapes to add a more eclectic feel. The second episode, “Say it with Succulents,” shows viewers how a touch of green brings an otherwise boring space to life. The episode tells viewers how to arrange the low-maintenance plants and seamlessly incorporate them into the overall décor of the space. Episode three, “Girls Night In,” gives tips on how to become the hostess with the mostest by preparing your space for a dinner party. The episode goes beyond just choosing a color scheme for your party, but actually suggests some design ideas that will not only make your space look good, yet make guests feel special and comfortable. Episode four, “My Shelf and I” tackles one omnipresent feature in every home: the bookshelf. The episode shows how you can transform your bookshelf from being just a messy pile of books to a statement piece that displays not just your beloved tomes but also interesting art pieces. The last episode, “Double Duty Finds” shares how homeowners can maximize not just their spaces, but also their pieces, by making them serve more than one purpose. With a little out of the box thinking, the episode shows how a chair can be more than just a chair, and a coat rack can be both functional and decorative. The episodes can be viewed on Robinsons Residences Facebook Page. With each episode not lasting more than two minutes, Interior Inspirations is definitely one of the quicker and more fun

Low maintenance plants can freshen up the space Double duty finds save up space while being stylish at the same time

ways to get design ideas. The series features spaces at The Magnolia Residences, a four-tower master-planned development of Robinsons Residences located in New Manila, Quezon City. The condominium community is the epitome of modern upscale living as it is in one of Metro Manila’s oldest classy neighborhoods. The Magnolia Residences has spacious residential units that make the perfect canvas to try out the design how-tos in the web series. Fully equipped with amenities and green open spaces, it gives its homeowners the enough space not just to live, but to enjoy a lifestyle. A fitness center, jogging path, swimming pool, and badminton court promote health and wellness. A zen garden and Jacuzzi provides space for relaxation and unwinding. A game room, playground, and tree house gives the young and young at heart more options for fun. And an al fresco barbecue

Amp up your book shelf with frames and interesting art pieces to create a bold statement

pit, sundeck, and gazebo gives residents even more space to enjoy the company of their family and friends. The Magnolia Residences is also just a few steps away from Robinsons Magnolia Mall, which puts both convenience and entertainment within arms’ reach for homeowners. Trendy residents can enjoy being neighbors with the biggest global brands that have a space at the mall, while families will love the endless dining options that the mall offers. The Magnolia Residences truly is the best way to live in the city – having all the conveniences of a central location, while still enjoying the exclusivity and privacy that every home should have. And with design ideas at the ready thanks to “Interior Inspirations”, anyone can have a piece of the truly beautiful lifestyle that The Magnolia Residences offers. For more information, call 636-0888, (0925)333-3333 or visit www.robinsonsresidences.com.

Design your own table arrangements with the use of accessories and neutral colors

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

‘Soundtrip’ sails on new season

40 BEAUTIES in Miss Philippines Earth 2017 Miss Philippines Earth 2017 ofﬁcial delegates pose for the press during the welcome dinner at the Carousel Mansion Gardens in Mandaluyong "Soundtrip" host Stefano de Medici (right) with singers Christian Bautista (left) and Kris Lawrence (center)

THE rolling, rollicking ship of Pinoy pop pulls away from the shore once more on another epic voyage. Soundtrip Season 4 on E! Philippines airs 10 p.m. Mondays with boatloads of fun and jam sessions with the biggest artists in Filipino music. Sailing on smooth waters for three seasons with rock superstar Rico Blanco, it’s now lifestyle connoisseur Stefano de Medici‘s turn to steer it, but this time, with co-host and Asia’s romantic balladeer, Christian Bautista. “We’re so happy to be returning for a new season”, shares De Medici, who now juggles hosting stints for three other travel and lifestyle shows championing Filipino ingenuity and tourism. “We had so much fun with Rico on the show, but I’m equally excited to be working with another amazing Pinoy talent in Christian Bautista.: “Rico is a music hero who knows the industry really well and has the backstory on almost every artist out there”, says Marnie Manicad, the show’s director. “He is also gifted with a sly sense of humor that made our conversations engaging. Christian, on the other hand, brings a different vibe to the show. He’s articulate, full of energy, curious, funny, and it should be interesting to watch the dynamics play out between him, Stefano and our guests during the interviews”. Christian Bautista is no stranger to the Soundtrip set because he was among the first to drop anchor on the show’s first season, alongside A-list musicians Aiza Seguerra, Sam Concepcion, The Company, Karylle, and Barbie Almalbis. “I had so much fun doing the show, I begged them to let me stay,” Bautista says in jest, adding he doesn’t feel ill at ease filling the shoes of Blanco. “The chance to sit down with my fellow artists, ask them questions, and get to know them on a different level was just too good for me to pass up.” After more than a decade in show business, Bautista’s soothing voice has graced a good number of local and international hits, and has pushed himself creatively beyond singing – taking on modeling, acting, and

hosting assignments with equal skill and passion. Christian is also poised to become a hit among E! viewers in the region, with his enormous popularity and fanbase in Asia. “We’ve had Jose Mari Chan and Ogie Alcasid sing live on the ship. Raimund Marasigan got on board and played our drinking game. We’ve had a blast with Kyla, Jaya, Yeng Constantino, Charice and so many other Pinoy musicians in the past”, says Manicad. “We felt we had to keep up the momentum this season with a new lineup of stars to keep the party fun and entertaining.” Soundtrip celebrates Filipino music by shining the spotlight on the artists behind today’s most popular songs. The show also takes the music stars on board a cruise ship to chat and perform live, combining the joy of travel with the relaxed vibe of a night out with friends. “When 2GO Travel and our team set out to do the show, all we wanted was to showcase Pinoy music in a program that reaches international audiences through E!,” says Manicad. “We have been so fortunate to get positive feedback from our viewers and enjoy good ratings throughout our run”. Soundtrip has become the toprated series on E! Philippines, in 2016, with a sizeable viewership across key demographics. Working on the show’s production is Team MMPI – the same crew behind innovative program concepts such as Turbo Zone, Home Base, The Working Class, FoodTrip and TriPinas – the country’s hottest travel show, also hosted by De Medici. In July, the company is set to roll off two more new shows – The Global Filipino and AgriPreneur. MMPI also prides itself in its international and awardwinning productions including the Emmy-nominated National Geographic documentary Inside Malacañang, the Patrick Bergin-Dingdong Dantes movie Dance of the Steel Bars based on Cebu’s famous dancing inmates, and 2 Degrees: Panahon Na, a climate change documentary that earned a special citation at the Catholic Mass Media Awards in 2016. Soundtrip airs on E! Philippines 10 p.m. Mondays.

HE 2017 Miss Philippines Earth pageant kicked off its search with a welcome dinner for the 40 official candidates at Carousel Mansion Gardens on Ideal, Mandaluyong City. Earlier, Carousel Productions announced that a pre-judging would be held on three separate occasions; figure & form, beauty of face and poise; and intelligence category, from which the 12 finalists would be chosen and crowned on July 15 at Mall of Asia Arena and telecast on ABS-CBN 10 a.m. on the following day. Judges in each category would be personalities from related fields of expertise. Early favorites for the title include Samantha Viktoria Acosta, 19, (Pulilan, Bulacan)

HBO’s new original series produced by the Duplass Brothers, Room 104, debuts same time as the U.S. on July 29 at 11.30 a.m. with a same day primetime encore at 10 p.m. exclusively on CINEMAX. The series will also be streaming on HBO GO. The 12-episode, half-hour anthology series is set in a single room of an average American motel and tells a different story of the assorted characters who pass through it in each episode. The cast include Hugo

DOWN 1 Large country residence 2 Total fool 3 Snorkeler’s sight 4 Raise 5 Med. staffers 6 El Dorado loot 7 “The Plague” novelist 8 Alter to fit 9 Beaver’s home 10 Red-faced 11 Not barefoot 12 Soften 13 Mellowed 21 “— Beso” 23 Enjoy a book 25 Plenty, to a poet 27 River into the Seine

Armstrong, Davie-Blue, Melonie Diaz, Jay Duplass, Veronica Falcon, Adam Foster, Ellen Geer, Keir Gilchrist, Philip Baker Hall, Sarah Hay, Poorna Jagannathan, Orlando Jones, Ethan & Gavin Kent, Amy Landecker, Konstantin Lavysh, Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris, Keta Meggett, Natalie Morgan, Ross Partridge, Karan Soni, Dendrie Taylor, Tony Todd, Will Tranfo, James Van Der Beek, Mae Whitman, and Nat Wolff.

New season of ‘The Night Shift’ on Sony THE lives of the men and women who work the graveyard shift at a Texas hospital are once again put in harm’s way in the new season of the absorbing medical drama The Night Shift premiering tomorrow on Sony Channel. At the San Antonio Memorial Hospital, former army medic Dr. TC Callahan (Eoin Macken) lead a team of exarmy doctors who face a challenging environment in the midst of all the medical madness that happens when the day ends and their shift begins. Callahan and company deal with

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

61 Bother 62 Take down — — 63 Willis or Springsteen 65 By oneself 66 1492 caravel 67 Ice hut 68 Sailors’ patron saint 69 Football eleven 70 Mountain range in Wyoming 71 Open-handed blow

Sherlyn Doloriel, Elizabeth Amahan, Danna Rose Sacaoco, Carmella Quirog, Pamela Grace Janson, Celine Mae Pangan, Nellza Bautista, Kristal May Rubiano, (Canada) and Alexis Amor Nevalga (Florida, USA). The Miss Philippines Earth pageant, produced by Carousels Productions, headed by Ramon Monzon, president, Lorraine Schuck, EVP, and Peachy Veneracion, VP for External Affairs, is now on its 17th year. The raison d’etre of the search is the promotion of environmental preservation and protection. The Miss Philippines Earth winner will serve as environment ambassador and the Philippines’ representative to the annual Manila-based Miss Earth pageant. The current Miss Philippines Earth is Kiara Giel Gregorio who inherited the crown from the outspoken Imelda Schweighart after she resigned following controversies caused by her comments on Miss Earth 2016 Katherin Espin of Ecuador. –Eton B. Concepcion / Photos: Melvin Sia

‘Room 104’ debuts on July 29 on Cinemax

CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1 Weakness 5 Close by 10 Cruising 14 Rock star, say 15 Museum in Madrid 16 Catch a fly ball 17 Onetime Trevi Fountain coins 18 Tent dweller 19 Wet down 20 Bread units 22 Installed a new version 24 Map collection 25 Honor 26 Animated character 28 Sponsorship 32 Actor — Cronyn 35 Winter Games org. 37 Summing up 38 Do — — say 39 Hindu sage 41 Kindled 42 Tranquil 45 Big bankroll 46 Makes doilies 47 — donna 48 Put on 50 Scents 54 Nutritional supplement 58 Nabbed

entrepreneurship student at University of Asia and the Pacific; Anne Krishia Antonio, 22, (Porac, Pampanga); Karen Ibasco, 26, (Manila), medical physicist and former UST math/ physics teacher and Bb. Pilipinas 2016 candidate; Jessica Rose McEwen, 20, (New Zealand), semi-finalist at Miss World Philippines 2015; and Vanessa Mae Castillo, 21, (Lobo, Batangas). The rest of the candidates are Korin Frances Dizon, Agnes Mygelle Tolentino, Kim de Guzman, Allana Coronel, Abigail Libre, Nikkie Maria Elizalde, Mary Cheene Pastoral, Rianne Charlotte Kalaw, Shaina Louise Kim, Princess Pusing, Sadrine Stoelzaed, Lea Audrey Laano, Jessica Marasigan, Rheena Rae Ferrer, Marie Sherry Ann Tormes, Klaidel Hope Concepcion, Sofia Jane Panapanaan, Tammy De Roca, Daniella Anthea Mayo, Adalynn Dumlao, Cheysen Capuno, May Adel Ahmed Salman, Madelle Estaya, Catherine Tabaniag, Vivian Wladkowski,

29 Large lizard 30 Monogram pt. 31 Some NCOs 32 Briefcase closer 33 Opportunist 34 Dress length 36 Harsh cry 37 Candy striper 40 Gullets 43 Dental filling 44 O’Hara estate 46 Poet’s hair 49 Affirmative 51 Shuttle course 52 Join forces

53 Mature 55 Ring-shaped island 56 Novelist — Lagerlof 57 Crowd in 58 Tilt 59 Mayberry lad 60 Actress — Olin 61 Laborer 64 Imitate a dove

one medical crisis after another while treating more veterans and military personnel using their battleﬁeld-tested knowhow. Despite encountering a good deal of conﬂict with hospital policies, they have only one mission in mind – in order to save the day, they have to save lives. The Night Shift Season 4 airs every Wednesday at 8:50 p.m. same week as the U. S. S o n y Channel is available on SKYCable Channel 35, Destiny C a b l e Channel 62, Cignal Channel 120, G Sat Channel 48, and Cablelink Channel 39.

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com Actor Richard Yap (fourth from left) ﬂanked by his business partners during a recent company event held at the Valkyrie Club in Taguig City.

TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 2017

RICHARD YAP

businessman first, actor-singer second Richard Yap continues with his other business interests with the launch of the trading company he called Cole & Ash

E HAD the chance to join Richard Yap, who everyone knows as and refers to as Ser Chief (from the character he played in the long-running daytime ISAH V. RED series Be Careful with my Heart that teamed him up with Jodi Sta. Maria on ABS-CBN), during the launch of his new business venture called Cole & Ash International Systems Corporation at a club in Bonifacio Global City recently. Yap said when we sat down with him for a brief chat on his new business venture (on other, among several, is the Chinese bistro called Wang Fu), he founded Cole & Ash last year (he named it after his two kids, Dylan Cole and Ashley Sandrine, a boy and a girl) after his former colleagues in a company that deal with similar products egged him relentlessly to start the same business. “I have the knowledge and the connections, so, why not?” he asked. “And I can help some of my friends who want to continue doing the same when they left their previous employments, right?” Cole & Ash International Systems Corporation is a trading company engaged in the distribution, supply and installation of ofﬁce systems, ﬂooring, and storage, among others.

“I worked for a family friend who was in the furniture industry, so du’n na nag-start. And I worked for them for about 20 to 22 years,” he shared. He also has a background in interior design, something he learned from their family business. “So, du’n nahasa ’yung mga idea ko on tiles, toilet parts, fixture and all that,” he said. “Dahil nandu’n na ’yung expertise, that’s the industry we came from, so sabi namin we might as well go into to that industry again.” Cole & Ash is guided by the principle H.I.G.H.E.R. which means Honesty, Integrity, Good Heart, Expertise, and Reliability. “We offer the products like office furniture, flooring system, aluminum customization and designs like storage cabinets and also the seating, the chair,” he maintained. “So how does he balance

his time doing everything,” we asked. “That’s why I have (business) partners, meron na akong mga tao. Like (pagdating sa) operation, so sila na ang bahala sa day to day operation,” he shared. Asked how his late father would have reacted on his success, he said, “Most father for sure would be proud, kasi merong sariling business ’yung anak niya.” Yap said he isn’t turning his back on show business. “Sa ngayon, mayroong nilulutong series, pero hindi ko pa pwedeng sabihin. ABS-CBN hasn’t made any announcement,” he explained. Richard renewed his contract with the network last February. He has been appearing as guest in various shows, like Nasaan Ka Nang Kailangan Kita, FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano and My Super D.

The actor also appeared in Regal Films’ Filipino-Chinese drama Mano Po 7: Chinoy last year. Add to those following his singing engagements, he released his eponymous debut album in 2013, and the album with Richard Poon called Richard X Richard: The Chinito Crooners. “We did the mall tours early this year and okay naman ’yung response,” he said. *** GMA Network through its subsidiary and digital arm GMA New Media Inc. and the world’s most popular online video platform, YouTube, have signed a partnership that will allow viewers everywhere to watch full episodes of GMA programs online. Brought about by the great demand online for clear,

complete, and high quality videos of GMA-produced programs, the partnership not only supports the anti-piracy efforts of the Philippine entertainment industry, but more importantly addresses millennial video viewing habits. This partnership enables netizens to watch quality videos uploaded by GMA Network on YouTube, which reaches over a billion users each month in 88 countries around the world on screens big and small. With YouTube’s unparalleled infrastructure and user experience, GMA can deliver its video content across devices and to every corner of the globe using the latest technology. GMA New Media Inc. will add full episodes of the most soughtafter GMA content every month as well as mid form versions of their upcoming shows. Furthermore, Kapuso viewers will be given bonus behindthe-scene videos, bloopers, and other related content exclusive to YouTube, which will not be aired on television. “The accessibility of GMA programs is our gift to Kapuso supporters all over the world. Because of our partnership with YouTube, netizens may now watch their favorite programs whenever they want and wherever they may be,” says Felipe L. Gozon, GMA Network CEO and Chairman. Gautam Anand, director of Content and Operations, YouTube Asia Paciﬁc shares this alliance with GMA is a great example of how a television and technology company can work together to create new solutions and experiences for users in the digital age. To watch full episodes of your favorite GMA shows, visit www. gmanetwork.com/fullepisodes.

Mesmerizing Talent for ‘Asia’s Got Talent’ HEAD spinning, deathdefying, magical and breathtaking: aspiring stars emerged from all corners of Asia in May as AXN’s producers embarked on their search to discover the next generation of super stars for Asia’s Got Talent. The leading entertainment giant held open auditions in six major cities including Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, the Philippines, Bangkok, Taipei and Jakarta. Over 5000 performers attended the auditions for their chance to take the spotlight on the world’s biggest talent show and for a shot at the grand prize of $100,000. Talented hopefuls also applied via an online audition at AXN-Asia.com with some electing to do both to ensure maximum visibility in front of

AXN’s producers. “Asia’s Got Talent is the only series in the world that can unite such a culturally diverse region in a celebration of performing arts. We set out to discover the most inspiring talent of any age and with any dream, and we got all that and so much more. “We were also struck by the richness of the personal stories that emerged during the auditions. Everyone has a story, and while the journeys may differ, the big dream remains the same,” said Virginia Lim, senior vice president and head of Content, Production and Marketing, Sony Pictures Television Networks, Asia. In the Singapore leg, one troupe of Malaysian acrobats queued from 4 a.m.; while in Manila, a father and son

travelled overland for eight hours to perform a duet. Performers auditioned in the hope of winning the prize to help with family medical bills; while others, who came along as a support, decided to spontaneously audition on the spot. “AXN is the home of original productions and Asia’s Got Talent continues our commitment to deliver premium content that engages and captivates our viewers with edge-of-your seat entertainment,” said Virginia. The record-breaking series returns to AXN later this year, entertaining viewers with 10 episodes comprising five judges’ auditions, three semifinals, the finale and the results show where the winner will be revealed.

TALENT POOL. Pinoy hopefuls patiently wait for their turn to perform during the Manila leg of "Asia's Got Talent" open audition