Manila Standard - 2017 July 03 - Monday

BRISBANE BLUES: PACQUIAO URGED TO FOCUS ON SENATE JOB

By Christine F. Herrera and Macon R. Araneta

concentrate instead on his legislative duties but others wanted a rematch, saying they were unconLAWMAKERS on Sunday ad- vinced by Pacquiao’s defeat. vised Senator Emmanuel Pac“In spite of the loss, I congratuquiao to retire from boxing and late Manny for doing his best. He

will remain the pride of the country. However, I agree that Pacquiao [should consider] retiring from boxing,” Magdalo Rep. Gary Alejano said.

“Boxing is a dangerous sport

and he is not getting any younger,” Alejano added, referring to the advantage of Pacquiao’s much younger opponent during the bout that made the judges vote unanimously in favor of Pacquiao’s op-

ponent, Australian Jeff Horn.

Alejano said Pacquiao had to admit that “age is catching up on him.”

“He has to take care of his health and maybe focus on his pri-

BLOODIED IN BRISBANE. World boxing champion Manny Pacquiao (left) and challenger Jeff Horn trade punches during a round in their WBO welterweight title match on July 2, 2017 in Brisbane. The former school teacher from Australia won the boxing crown with a unanimous points decision against the boxing icon. Panel below, Filipino fans watch the match at a public park in Manila. AFP

mary job as senator of the republic and of course to be a healthy father to his children.”

PBA Rep. Jericho Nograles said he was upset that Pacquiao had Next page

Bloodied but still the ‘people’s champion’ MARAWI—Millions of boxing fans in the Philippines including those displaced by fighting with Islamist militants walked away in stunned disbelief as national hero Manny Pacquiao lost his world title to Australian Jeff Horn in a major upset on Sunday.

Pacquiao, 38, is an elected senator and a unifying figure in a nation beset by conflict, grinding poverty, and frequent natural calamities.

Residents of a war-torn southern city had hoped for a respite by watching the 12-round fight in displacement camps but their idol’s defeat silenced cheers and prompted many to stand up even before the announcement was over.

“We were expecting his hand to be raised as a winner but you Next page

VOL. XXXI • NO. 139 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Martial law critics warned Rody vows to send oppositors to jail; SC ruling out soon Troops kill

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte threatened to jail critics of his declaration of martial law in Mindanao, days before the Supreme Court is set to rule on its legality this week.

Duterte declared military rule across the region of Mindanao, home to about 20-million people, in late May to quell what he said was a fast-growing threat from the Islamic State group there.

Duterte has insisted he would

ignore the findings of the Court, which has constitutional oversight, vowing only to listen to recommendations from the Armed Forces.

“It’s not dependent on the whim of the Supreme Court. Should I

believe them? When I see the situation is still chaotic and you ask me to lift it? I will arrest you and put you behind bars,” Duterte said in a speech before local officials on Saturday.

“We can talk of anything else and make compromises maybe but not when the interest of my country is at stake.”

He said he saw no problem in declaring martial law when terrorists were killing and beheading Christians and Muslims alike.

“When is the time to lift martial

law?” he said. “I will ask the military and the police, is it safe now?

And then when the chief of staff and the PNP would say, everybody is safe and it’s okay now, then I will lift [martial law],” he said.

Government forces are continuing to battle militants occupying the city of Marawi, with aerial bombardment and ferocious street-to-street combat that has left some 400 people dead and forced nearly 400,000 people in the wider area to flee their homes.

Duterte has faced a backlash

from opposition lawmakers, who last month asked the Supreme Court to reject the declaration of martial law, which they have slammed as unconstitutional.

The 1987 Constitution imposes limits on martial law to prevent a repeat of the abuses under dictator Ferdinand Marcos, who was deposed by a famous “People Power” revolution in 1986.

The charter allows the Supreme Court to review the factual basis for proclaiming martial law, which Next page

Uncertainty in next five years—LP

By Macon RamosAraneta and Sandy Araneta SENATOR Francis Pangilinan said Sunday the next five years of the Duterte administration would be “paved with uncertainty” because of President Rodrigo Duterte’s failure to fulfill some of his promises.

He said the promises that Duterte made during his 2016 presidential campaign and in his first State-of-the-Nation Address “have either remained unfulfilled or have just changed Next page deadlines.’’

AT LEAST 10 terrorist snipers were killed as government forces pushed hard against enemy lines, capturing fortified militant positions during the resumption of search and destroy operations against the terrorists still holed up in Marawi City.

Armed Forces chief of staff, Gen. Eduardo Año said the 10 snipers were killed as hundreds of elite troops engaged the terrorist group in its last bastion covering four villages outside of Marawi City the other day.

Año said the slaying of the snipers was the result of painstaking day-to-day operations to decimate the terrorists while eliminating collateral damage to the civilian populace and property.

“We are eliminating them and everyday they are being reduced,” Año said.

Next page

By Rey E. Requejo nd Rio N. Araja

By Sandy Araneta

Next page

By Francisco Tuyay

Ilocos Six: Governor joins the fray

3 film fest members call it quits THREE members of the Metro Manila Film Festival’s executive committee resigned recently following the official announcement of the first four entries selected for this year’s Main Competition, and allegedly due to the failure to implement reforms in the committee.

They were Ricky Lee, an acclaimed screenwriter, former

10 Maute snipers

BIKE-FRIENDLY CITY. Various biking groups join the Marikina City fun ride on July 2, 2017 as part of a week-long activity dubbed Pedal Faculty—a joint project of Marikina government and SM City Marikina—that is intended to promote the city as bike-friendly. Norman Cruz

ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos said Sunday she was willing to cooperate with the House committee on good government and public accountability in its probe into Ilocos Norte’s allegedly illegal purchase of motor vehicles amounting to P66.45 million that came from its share of tobacco excise taxes.

But Marcos lamented the continued detention of six provincial government employees who were cited for contempt for allegedly refusing to answer questions about the inquiry. ‘‘I have expressed my willingness to cooperate with the Committee on Good Government on the faith that the committee Next page

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MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

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KSAs told to fund Marawi rehab C Brisbane...

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lost the match but that it would be up to the senator if he wanted to give up his career in boxing.

“That is up to Senantor Manny to decide. He is free to make that decision. I think Senator Manny is doing a good job as a senator.

We have 20 plus senators and most people cannot recite all of their names. But most people will remember that Manny is a senator,” Nograles said.

Nograles called for a rematch, however, saying that Pacquiao had a convincing lead.

Davao City Rep. Karlo Nograles, chairman of the House committee on appropriations, agreed with his brother that Pacquiao’s defeat was hard to believe.

“I’m sure everyone will agree that Manny Pacquiao deserved to win that fight. At one point toward the final rounds, the referee even warned Jeff Horn that he was going to stop the fight.

Horn was visibly hurt and was not as strong going into the final rounds,” he said.

Jericho Nograles said Pacquiao, in his many victorious fights, had proven that every time he fought, the country’s crime rate went down.

“On the side, I have a question: Any shots fired in Marawi while Pacman was fighting? I’m curious to know. Usually, crime stops when either the Pope or Pacman is in town. Was there an effect on the fighting in Marawi?” he said.

The Palace said despite the loss, Pacquiao would remain the “People’s Champ.”

“Malacañang thanks our countrymen who gave unrelenting support to Manny Pacquiao during the times of victory as well as loss,” said Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella.

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cannot always win,” provincial government spokesman Zia Alonto Adiong said after helping organize a public viewing in warravaged Marawi city.

“Our morale is at its lowest but Pacquiao remains a symbol of resilience. In the same way that he is already a boxing icon, this crisis does not define who we are.”

Islamist militants who went on a rampage in Marawi on May 23 have triggered intense fighting that has killed more than 400 people and forced nearly 400,000 people to flee their homes.

In Manila, soldiers wounded from the clashes in Marawi watched a bloodied Pacquiao from screens set up in a military hospital.

Pacquiao had bled profusely from cuts to the head high above both eyes, prompting boos from crowds gathered in gymnasiums in the capital.

“Pacquiao lost, but a battle is really like that. He is a true soldier because even if he is wounded he keeps attacking the opponent,” Armed Forces chief Ge. Eduardo Año told reporters.

3 film...

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dean of the University of the Philippines’ College of Mass Communication Rolando Tolentino, and journalist and documentary producer Kara Magsanoc Alikpala.

The news was earlier shared

by Erik Matti on social media regarding the resignations of Lee and Tolentino.

Lee posted on Facebook early on Sunday to explain his decision to leave the committee.

“When I agreed to join, I decided to stay if the reforms which started in 2016 would continue,” Lee said.

“But in the course of what’s happening right now it looks like it will not happen, so there’s also no reason for me to stay.”

The executive committee on Friday released the list of the official entries in the Main Competition, and the films included those featuring Vice Ganda and Vic Sotto in The Revengers and Love Traps #Family Goals, respectively, along with a Panday remake and the romantic comedy Almost Is Not Enough.

“Manny Pacquiao’s loss in Brisbane would not diminish the honors he bestowed on the people and on the flag. ”Nothing will change: Senator Manny Pacquaio will remain our People’s Champ, the National Fist, and national treasure in global sports. Long live Manny!” Abella said.

Pacquiao’s colleagues in the Senate said only he could decide if he should hang up his gloves.

“Let us not interfere in the boxing career decisions of Senator Manny.

He is the only one who knows his body [condition]. Hence, we let him decide,” said Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III, when if Pacquiao should retire from boxing and instead focus on lawmaking after his latest defeat.

Pimentel, who is on official visit in France, said Pacquiao, a party mate at PDP-Laban, is forever his hero and idol.

“When he was at the peak of his boxing career and global popularity, he allowed me to be his friend. And I will be his friend and admirer up to the day I say goodbye to this world,” he said.

Senator Juan Edgardo Angara said Filipinos would always be proud of Pacquiao and what he has done for sports and the entire country.

“What I can say is he has nothing to prove anymore inside the boxing ring. He has long transcended boxing. He is a very popular icon in the international arena. For us, he is a legend already,” he added.

Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III and Senator Richard Gordon, on the other hand, cried foul over what they said was a “hometown decision” in Brisbane.

“Manny fought well. Referee and judges did not deduct the headbutts he sustained. Punches while in headlock were counted for Horn.

It’s called a hometown decision,” said Sotto. With Sandy Araneta Pacquiao, a staunch ally of President Rodrigo Duterte, received huge praise from the presidential Palace.

“Nothing will change: Senator Manny Pacquiao will remain our people’s champ, national fist, and national treasure,” said Duterte’s spokesman Ernesto Abella.

Pacquiao’s rags-to-riches story, from high school dropout to millionaire world boxing champion in an unprecedented eight weight divisions, is a huge source of pride in the Philippines.

In keeping with tradition, many Filipinos watched Pacquiao’s fight, which took place around midday on Sunday in the Philippines time zone, in public places, including in restaurants and watering holes.

However, crowds have gradually become thinner as Pacquiao hits the twilight of a glittering career.

“I don’t think he lost. He was cheated! He still came out a strong fighter,” construction worker Rudy Merano, 30, said in a public square of Manila’s Marikina suburb.

“But I think Pacquiao should retire and just focus on being senator. He is clearly ageing.” AFP

Tolentino on Twitter said discussing his resignation would break a confidentiality clause.

Nevertheless, he said “The results of the script selection speak for themselves.”

Earlier this year, Tolentino said there would be no distinctions made between mainstream and independent movies in the selection process for this year’s festival, but simply that the films chosen must “come with artistic merit and come with a certain kind of popular appeal.”

In another tweet on Sunday, however, he declared, “It proves that during the MMFF script selections, there is no interest in removing the distinction between indie and mainstream. What was removed was indie.

On Sunday, he shared a photo of a folder bearing his official designation in the committee and said, “It’s not in the rules, the decision is in the implementation.”

The MMFF executive committee and the Metro Manila Development Authority have yet to release a statement regarding the resignations.

Malacañang also has yet to comment.

ABINET Secretary Leoncio Evasco Jr. has ordered the Key Shelter Agencies to find a way to use their budgets to help the women and children in Marawi’s evacuation centers.

STANDSTILL. The world comes to a standstill for this crowd in Koronadal City in Cotabato as the live telecast of the Pacquiao-Horn world boxing match warrants their undivided attention. Amiel Cagayan

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is limited to an initial period of 60 days. If a president decides to extend martial law, Congress can review and revoke it.

The Supreme Court is expected to resolve on Tuesday the consolidated petitions seeking to nullify the President’s declaration of martial law.

The consolidated petitions seeking to invalidate the President’s martial law declaration on the grounds that there is no factual basis for it.

The first of the three petitions was filed June 5 by a group of opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman. Two similar petitions filed by local Mindanao leaders led by lumad leader Eufemia Campos Cullamat and a group of women from Marawi led

by Norkaya Mohamad followed shortly afterwards.

This means that the Supreme Court must promulgate its decision by July 5, Wednesday.

A Court insider said some justices have already submitted their opinions, and that the drafts indicated a divided Court.

During oral arguments from

Uncertainty...

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“How serious is the President in addressing the Filipino people’s daily woes? When will the promised positive change be felt? said Pangilinan, president of the former ruling Liberal Party.

He made his statement even as former president and now Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada gave President Duterte a grade of 85 to 90 percent for his first year in office.

He said Duterte should be given ‘‘a more than passing grade’’ because of his unyielding campaign against illegal drugs.

“From me, 85 percent to 90 percent due to his number one program war against drugs, Estrada told reporters.

“He’s new. I’ll give him more than a passing grade, that’s why we should give him our full support.”

Pangilinan said many questions also remained unanswered in relation to achieving peace in Mindanao, pushing for the country’s territorial claims in the West

Ilocos...

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would conduct its current inquiry in accordance with the letter and spirit of Sec. 21, Art. VI of the Constitution―that the inquiry is in aid of legislation and that the rights of persons appearing therein are protected, Marcos said in a statement released by her lawyer, former Solicitor General Estelito Mendoza.

She made her statement even as the same committee suggested on Sunday to put up a permanent detention facility in Congress to accommodate even high-profile and influential personalities, such as the three justices of the Court of Appeals who ordered the release of the so-called ‘‘Ilocos Six.’’ “That is why I’m meeting Speaker [Pantaleon] Alvarez tomorrow. I have already raised it to Representative Rodolfo Fariñas [of Ilocos Norte] that we should construct a deten-

June 13 to 15, the petitioners asked the Court to void the martial law declaration because there was no sufficient factual basis to justify martial law. Information cited in the proclamation, they added, were “false, inaccurate and contrived.”

They also alleged that a key element in act of rebellion—culpable purpose of removing allegiance from the Philippines and preventing the President and legislature from exercising their functions— was not present in the attack of the Maute terrorist group in Marawi City last May 23 that triggered martial law proclamation.

Solicitor General Jose Calida, for his part, defended the martial law declaration before the Court.

Calida argued that the attack of Maute group was not just an act of terror, but was a clear rebellion and actually part of a plot to establish an Islamic State in Mindanao.

He said that elements of rebellion—taking up arms against the government and culpable purpose of removing allegiance from the government—were present in the crisis that required the President to use his power of declaring martial law under the Constitution.

The chief state lawyer cited links between Maute and other rebel groups in Mindanao like

the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters and the Abu Sayyaf.

Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana, martial law administrator, and Armed Forces of the Philippines Chief of Staff Gen. Eduardo Año, martial law implementor, presented confidential information to the justices to justify the need to declare martial law in closed-door session.

In its memorandum, the Office Of The Solicitor General listed 20 terrorist groups in Mindanao with similar ties with Islamic State— apart from the Maute Group—that have already launched attacks in Basilan, Sulu, Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga and Davao and its main objective is to remove the whole Mindanao from its allegiance to the Philippine government.

Calida also said there were already 43 violent attacks by the terror cells consisting mostly of improvised explosive devices, harassments and kidnappings “As the survival of the State hangs in the balance, I implore the Honorable Supreme Court to sustain the constitutionality of Proclamation No. 216, and allow the President to perform his constitutional mandate of protecting the people,” he appealed. Sandy Araneta, Rey E. Requejo, AFP

Philippine Sea, implementing the “overwhelming” number of project proposals and improving the livelihood of Filipinos.

“If mass poverty and gaping inequality still hound the nation, then no administration or President can claim success,” Pangilinan said and noted that the future of the country would not depend on Duterte alone.

“More people must come together to help chart the course of our nation away from violence, death and poverty toward respect for human life, economic prosperity and modernization,” he said.

He also criticized the “bad side” of Duterte’s first year, including his war on drugs that has claimed thousands of lives but no big fish had been brought to justice.

He also said late dictator’s remains now lay at the Libingan ng mga Bayani despite his record of abuse and massive corruption.

“The Marawi crisis is still unresolved despite the imposition of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus in Mindanao,” Pangilinan

said.

“Worse, the aerial bombardment has resulted in the displacement of thousands of families, damage to property and the loss of lives.”

To city dwellers, he said, billions of pesos were still being lost to traffic jams that continued to hound the public every day.

Also, more Filipinos were considering themselves poor compared to the last quarter of December 2016, according to the SWS Survey.

He said political harassment had cut down the democratic space and dissent was not tolerated, as highlighted by the detention of Senator Leila de Lima and the continuing vilification of all critics.

On the good side, Duterte made headway in addressing the plight of Filipino workers abroad, especially those in situations of distress.

To improve the health of Filipinos, he said, Duterte expanded the anti-smoking campaign for the entire country and funded the Reproductive Health Law.

tion area inside Congress,” said Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, the chairman of the committee.

He warned that more resource persons would be arrested if they ignored summonses and refused to attend the congressional inquiry.

Marcos said she had sent two letters to Pimentel’s committee in which she asked to be clarified about the invitation of the House for her to attend the probe as a resource person. ‘‘Even as those letters did not merit any response from the Committee, my commitment to cooperate on constitutional grounds has not changed, Marcos said.

Alvarez on Sunday said Supreme Court Justice Maria Lourdes Sereno could be impeached if she had ordered three Court of Appeals judges to ignore Congress’ show-cause order asking why they must not be cited for contempt.

He said he had information that Sereno ordered the appellate court

to defy the show-cause order.

Alvarez earlier signed a subpoena to compel Marcos to attend the July 25 resumption of the congressional probe.

Pimentel said Marcos’ failure to attend the scheduled committee hearing this month would be enough ground for her to be cited in contempt.

Marcos insisted that the constitutional rights of the people invited to attend House inquiries must still be respected.

She said the judiciary and not Congress was the right body to prosecute as she lamented the fate of the provincial employees, collectively known as the Ilocos Six, who have been detained for more than a month. ‘‘As a former legislator, I also know that the power of legislative inquiry does not give Congress the power to deprive any citizen of constitutionally vested rights such as the rights to freedom of movement and to be presumed innocent until you are proven guilty,” Marcos said.

In a special meeting on June 21, Evasco convened the housing agencies under the Housing and Urban Development Coordinating Council to initiate talks on the government’s reconstruction efforts in Marawi, which was recently devastated by the fighting between the terrorist Maute group and government forces.

It was agreed in the meeting that the rebuilding of the homes and structures in the city would take time, and it was also agreed that the Shelter Agencies would take the initial steps to ease the plight of the Marawi residents living in the evacuation centers.

To achieve that, the funds allocated for Gender and Development from each agency will be used to address the particular needs of the women affected by the conflict.

Republic Act 9710, also known as the Magna Carta for Women, mandates government agencies to allot at least 5fivepercent of their total budget for Gender and Development or GAD programs addressing gender issues and concerns.

Evasco ordered the Key Shelter Agencies to find a way to reallocate up to half of their GAD budgets and all the remaining unused GAD funds from the previous years to provide for the particular needs of the women in the evacuation centers.

The Key Shelter Agencies under HUDCC include the National Housing Authority, Social Housing Finance Corp., Home Development Mutual Fund or the Pag-IBIG Fund, Housing and Land Use Regulatory Board, Home Guarantee Corp. and the National Home Mortgage Corp.

Evasco expressed hope that the other agencies would take the initiative to find ways of using resources to help those affected by the conflict in Marawi.

Sandy Araneta

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By government count, the latest deaths bring to 317 the number of terrorists killed in 39 days of fighting in Marawi City.

Año said the latest fighting erupted within the two square kilometer portion covering four villages in Marawi City where the terrorists are still holed up in concrete structures they occupied following the attack in May 23.

At present, Año said troops are engaging the enemy in buildings, going from house to house, floor to floor, making it difficult to predict when the terrorists will be wiped out.

“We have to secure all the buildings and we will do that no matter or how long in order to protect the civilians and prevent possible harm to the soldiers,” Año said.

He expressed optimism that “it’s just matter of days” before the last terrorist falls.

Año estimated the remaining Maute terrorists inside Marawi City fighting government forces at between 120 to 130 militants.

He said the terrorist position is getting smaller and smaller every day.

In Cotabato City, the military advised Maranaos who have “Maute” or “Romato” as a family name to go to the authorities to get clearance that certifies they are not involved in terroristic activities.

The call was aired by Army Col. Jesus Sarsagat, commander of the 603rd Infantry Brigade, following the arrest of nine persons, four of whom have Maute for a family name on Friday morning. Two were minors.

Sarsagat the Maranaos came to Cotabato City from Marugong Lanao del Sur to have an elder family member see doctor.

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Opinion

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

EDITORIAL

A smoother ride

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte describes his first year in office as a roller-coaster ride. The description certainly captures the often turbulent events of Mr. Duterte’s first 365 days as chief executive.

Some of those events, such as the crisis caused by the terrorist siege on Marawi City, were created by external forces beyond the President’s control. The best he could do in these instances was to react swiftly and decisively, which he did by calling in the troops and declaring martial law in Mindanao.

Other problems were in-

Adelle Chua, Editor

herited from the Aquino administration, which was more interested in political payback than in national programs that would actually benefit the people. Six years of such misplaced priorities left the incoming Duterte administration struggling with problems such as a corrupt bureaucracy, decaying infrastructure and a ramshackle

public transport system that continue to make life miserable for Filipinos today, one year after Aquino left office.

Corruption and neglect by the previous administration also enabled the illicit drug trade to flourish, with drug lords running their businesses out of the national penitentiary. President Duterte, who won the election on the promise of eradicating the drug menace, spent much of his first year pushing a bloody campaign that saw thousands of drug suspects killed even before they saw in the inside of a jail cell. The tough-talking President fueled the per-

ception that the extrajudicial killings were state-sanctioned by saying he would happily execute millions of drug addicts, and that he would protect police officers who carried out his orders.

International condemnation of the President’s bloody campaign led to a war of words in which Mr. Duterte called the US president a “son of a whore,” and refused millions of euros in aid, simply because the European Union expressed concern over the killings.

During his first year, Mr. Duterte also signaled a significant change in the country’s foreign policy, turning away

from its traditional ally, the United States, and leaning toward China and Russia.

Mr. Duterte has declined to assess his first year—and rightly so. That is work for other, perhaps more disinterested parties. Besides, one year will not give us the full measure of what Mr. Duterte can do in six years, as his national programs, including a massive, state-led infrastructure build-up, bear fruit.

The first-year mark, however, is an opportune time to assess what worked and what didn’t, and what might be done better in the next year.

In the area of foreign af-

fairs, for instance, we wonder if it was necessary or particularly wise to antagonize old allies in the hopes of making new friends.

Domestically, too, the administration could benefit from officials who can be professional in communicating the President’s policies with no hubris or nonsense.

Finally, after a year of practice, perhaps even the President might want to hold his tongue once in awhile, all the better to give us a smoother ride in his second year in office. That way, we might get to where we want to go faster, with less turbulence.

Move to the cloud

By Elaine Ou

tive buyers of second or third or umpteenth cars have second thoughts about conspicuous consumption.

The COE can be transferable, as in a holder could sell his to another party. The Land Transportation Office and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board could be looped in for implementing guidelines, so for instance, LTFRB may want to exempt badly needed public transport vehicles.

Singapore, the small citystate with the highest percapita income in Asean, needs to regulate the number of motor vehicles in its streets, while in NCR, even those with subsistence incomes want to own a car.

And then there is the difficult question of what to do with our antiquated jeepneys.

The DTr has already come up with a phaseout program which the affected sectors are

MALWARE has yet again disrupted businesses around the world, just weeks after hackers used leaked National Security Administration tools in a global cyberattack called WannaCry. The ultimate target in both cases may be people’s sensitive information—a troubling reality that should finally motivate organizations to get serious about security.

Last week’s attack was more sophisticated than WannaCry, which took advantage of a Windows exploit to infect more than 200,000 computers in 150 countries (and which cost, by one estimate, more than $4 billion). Microsoft security researchers have traced the initial infection to a Ukrainian software vendor called M.E.Doc, which inadvertently released a malevolent update to its popular tax accounting software. When customers installed the automatic update, a piece of malware obtained passwords that were then used to gain access to other machines. The socalled Petya virus then locked users out of their computers and demanded $300 in bitcoin to get back in.

The attack was hardly lucrative for its instigators. Although it affected thousands of corporate networks, the ransom address accumulated a grand total of only $9,159.

Even the WannaCry ransom amounts to only $130,000 in bitcoin to date. The NSA has reportedly linked the WannaCry cyberattack to North Korea. I suppose $130,000 goes a lot further in North Korea than it does here, but that’s still barely enough for a stick of plutonium.

We’ve talked before about the economics of cyber extortion. Given the overhead costs of packaging and distribution, it’s rarely a profitable venture.

On the other hand, a locked-up computer system presents the perfect cover for attackers to steal sensitive data.

The WannaCry attack targeted National Health Service hospitals in England and Scotland, perhaps because health care records contain irrevocable information that can be used for identity theft. Given that yesterday’s ransomware propagated though a tax accounting

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Gridlock METRO Manila Development Authority Chairman Danilo Lim told a congressional hearing last week that he is thinking of a two-day coding scheme to help mitigate the curse of heavy traffic in the metropolis.

My friend Danny, after having taken on a job that is “thankless” by most accounts, cites the difficulty of fitting in 30 percent of the country’s motor vehicles upon less than five percent of the nation’s road network.

In the few days that I was in Metro Manila from Taipei where traffic flows exceedingly better, and progressively enduring the palpable gridlock in our streets through the years, I can only commiserate with the former Scouts Ranger general who probably finds attacking armed enemies much easier than having to untangle the day-in-andday-out mess in our streets.

To start with, there really are far too many vehicles plying a road network designed for 50-

year old carrying capacity.

Danny should ask the economic managers to first lessen the entry of new vehicles into the NCR grid. This may entail a comprehensive policy far more unpopular than increasing excise taxes on motor vehicles.

Recall that in the so-called Tax Reform Bill now approved by the House and up for Senate deliberation, excise taxes on motor vehicles would be increased depending on classification, not only to raise revenues but more importantly, to act as dampener to the propensity to buy more and more vehicles.

Knowing the Filipino’s aspirational hierarchy, the increase in excise taxes just might not do the trick. The economic managers, along with transportation department officials, may we suggest, should: First, coordinate with the Bangko Sentral and through it,

The toll on the public’s patience, on business downtime and its concomitant costs is incalculably unbearable.

the banking and financial institutions to tighten the credit screws on car loan financing, including raising interest rates and making it more difficult to get approvals. Now this would be certifiably unpopular with the middle class as well as the car distribution companies, but

we must take bitter medicine if we want to put some sanity into our gridlocked system.

After all, the financial institutions are now saddled with unpaid mortgages and their inventory of foreclosed motor vehicles is quite high. Mere storage costs and continued depreciation has become a huge burden. As for the car distributing companies, well, they can take a hit. There is hardly any car manufacturing in the country anyway. We just import and sell, having lost out to Thailand on car manufacturing and even assembling knockeddown parts.

Second, and this is again going to be quite unpopular — follow the Singapore practice of requiring certificates of entitlement payable through a hefty fee before anyone is allowed to buy motor vehicles. The more expensive the brand and model, the higher the COE fee. This will effectively make prospec-

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Opinion

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

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Legitimacy is power AS THE country marks President Rodrigo Duterte’s first year in power, it is clear that he stands to become—if he isn’t already—one of the most popular figures in Philippine political history. Polarizing, too, yes, but there is no denying the unflinching, almost fanatical support that the former long-time Davao City mayor continues to enjoy.

In addition to Duterte’s selffashioning as a political underdog up battling the political giants, many political observers attribute his enduring popularity to the vote that catapulted him to power a year ago, which gave him a rousing, unequivocal mandate. The year 2016 witnessed what was easily the most efficient and credible conduct of the automated elections and, for Duterte, a climactic end to a captivating narrative.

In a Pulse Asia survey, a huge majority—89 percent— of the respondents thought that the results of the election were believable. This was in addition to other positive observations, such as on the speed of the release of the results and the orderliness of the conduct of the polls.

Thus, while there was a sense of volatility during Duterte’s campaign, the legitimacy that

he received following the 2016 polls is beyond reproach. In a sense, therefore, the oftcited 16-million strong who voted for him—and the broad acceptability of the election results—gave him the crucial power to behave the way he does and espouse the kind of politics that he stands for, no matter how intense the criticisms.

And criticize they did. His controversial war on drugs— which some groups say is responsible for up to 12,000 fatalities—has elicited nearwholesale condemnation from the international community.

Photos of bloodied corpses sprawled on Manila’s pavements grace the covers and front pages of foreign publications. However, supporters point out that the campaign has also occasioned the surrender of more than a million drug users and pushers and more than a billion pesos worth of shabu taken off the streets.

Elsewhere, his foreign policy—the much-vaunted severing of ties with the United States and the warming relationship with Beijing and

Moscow— goes against the sentiment of a majority of Filipinos.

He is accused of being soft on the West Philippine Sea row and squandering the moral and legal upper hand in which he began his term after the favorable decision of the International Court of Arbitration.

The usual charges of corruption, ineptitude, and political vendetta continue. Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II has been accused of spreading fake news, the always cameraready PNP Chief Ronald Bato dela Rosa has not been immune to televised gaffes, and some believe that Senator Leila De Lima, one of Duterte’s staunchest critics, is in jail for fabricated charges.

Even so, Duterte cannot be accused of reneging on his key promises. On the economic front, he is lauded for wisely leveraging on the key gains of the administration of Noynoy Aquino via his 10-point Socioeconomic Agenda, foremost of which is continuing the fiscal, monetary, and other macroeconomic policies of Aquino’s economic managers.

A long-overdue tax reform package is also in the works, geared to make taxation more just and equitable. Millions of Filipino taxpayers are envisioned to pay lower taxes under the proposal, while supposedly imposing higher taxes on the rich.

The area of infrastructure is also a rallying call. The administration’s bold and ambitious Build Build Build program is seen to eliminate transportation and trade bottlenecks while creating much-needed jobs. The push toward federalism, or some version of it, has gained the most traction in the last 12 months than the past two decades. Proponents say the structural reform can provide the paradigm shift needed to develop long-ignored regions away from the capital.

And so despite the polarizing character of the one-yearold presidency, it seems to be propped up by, among others, the momentum derived from his overwhelming mandate. To a large extent, that legitimacy has shielded Duterte from debilitating censure and allowed him to persist with his unique brand of Dutertismo politics.

Whether one is for or against him, there is no denying that the rest of his term is bound to be similarly eventful.

Clean coal will always be a fantasy Bloomberg editorial “CLEAN coal,” always dubious as a concept and never proved as a reality, has now failed as business proposition. Southern Co. has decided to stop work on a process that would have captured carbon dioxide emissions from a coal plant in Mississippi.

Giving up on the project, which was nearly $5 billion over budget and three years behind schedule, makes sense for Southern’s customers and shareholders. And giving up on carbon capture makes sense for the energy industry. The technology is too expensive and complicated to be deployed quickly or widely enough to appreciably protect the climate.

The better way to cut back on carbon-dioxide emissions is far simpler: Use less coal. Luckily, that change is already under way.

Carbon capture once seemed promising—even as recently as a decade ago, when coal fueled almost half of US electricity generation. Back then, continued dependence on the dirty fuel looked inevitable, and a strategy to deal with its prodigious greenhouse-gas emissions seemed essential. Hence, utilities embarked on model coal plants that would capture the carbon dioxide before it could enter the atmosphere.

Only a couple have been built, in addition to Southern’s in Kemper County, Mississippi, and none has established an economic case for carbon capture. The Petra Nova facility, in Texas, was reportedly finished on time and on budget, but its construction required a $190-million federal grant, and the carbon-capture unit requires a separate gas-fired

Gridlock...

From A4 understandably opposing. But it is high time we discard ante-diluvian practices and bite the bullet on hard measures.

There are far too many buses crowding Edsa and even Taft Avenue, among others.

Except during peak hours, you see many of these cruising around looking for passengers to at best half-fill empty passenger seats. And if reports are accurate, many of these are “colorum,” operating without franchises or licenses. Surely a general of Danny Lim’s caliber can do something about this unabated malady and flouting of the law.

And do not forget illegally parked vehicles. What would otherwise serve as secondary and alternative routes to the perennially clogged main arteries are instead narrowed by vehicles parked on the streets. The “aspiration” of the middle class (sometimes even the rich) of owning cars when they have no parking spaces inside their property limits must be tamed.

Move...

From A4 package favored by Ukrainian businesses, the most likely victims were financial account controllers doing business in the Ukraine. Notable victims include legal firm DLA Piper and shipping and transport firm A.P. Moller-Maersk.

It’s worth noting that cloud computing services like Google and Amazon, which control vast amounts of data around the world, have yet to be crippled by a ransomware attack or even suffer a known data breach. Google in particular prevents breakins across a global workforce

power plant. Canada’s Bound- of US energy, and that share ary Dam carbon-capture unit, is shrinking. The rest of the meanwhile, has operated much world’s big economies are also less efficiently than expected, shifting to natural gas, wind, suffering multiple breakdowns solar and nuclear power. and requiring expensive repairs.

It would be a mistake to give Unfortunately, such costs and up completely on carbon capture complexities are unlikely to di- technology. It has been used effecminish very much, and few such tively in the chemical and oil infacilities are likely to be built dustries, and it may be able to help worldwide in the next 20 years. reduce emissions from steel plants A new report issued by the Glob- and other industrial sources. But it al Warming Policy Foundation can no longer be viewed as a savior concludes that carbon capture for for coal-fired power plants—or as coal-fired power has “no plausi- a rationale to build new ones. ble economic future.”

The good news is that coal use is already falling fast.

The shale gas boom and the extraordinary drop in the cost of producing solar panels and wind turbines in recent years has steered power producers away from relatively expenAmbassador Del Rosario’s sive coal. Today, the fuel accolumn will resume soon. counts for only about a third

No parking space, no car. This should in fact spawn new investments in rented parking lots, with so many idle real estate properties dotting the metropolis.

Of course these measures can only mitigate the problem, because at the end of the day, Danny and the MMDA’s woes can only be solved big-time if we had an efficient public transport system. Art Tugade’s dreams will, however, take some time before they can be realized.

But the gridlock is a NOW thing. Solutions cannot wait, because the toll on public patience, on business down time and its concomitant costs, not to mention fuel costs, is incalculably unbearable.

And if comprehensive, even draconian solutions cannot be effected in the time of Duterte and Danny Lim, we may never be able to effect solutions to the gridlock. *** Speaking of number-coding, once erroneously called color-coding, I take note that in Taiwan, there are very few vehicles sporting colors other than black, white or grey. Drab though it may seem, Taiwanese are conservative when it comes to choosing colors, be

by implementing a strict provisioning system, in which every device is presumed to be untrustworthy.

Access management is an old-fashioned idea that doesn’t get enough attention in our hyper-connected world. In earlier generations, sensitive information was stored in locked filing cabinets located in separate offices. We’ve since digitized the data without replicating the access management. When organizations migrated from application-specific mainframes to networked personal computers (primarily to cut costs), they turned every single computer into a potential entry point for hackers. It’s like giving every employee a master

they apparel or cars. Just like the Japanese.

Think clothing by Muji, and its lack of color choices.

A well-known car company launched months before a new model intended for the millennial market. Their showrooms were filled with bright green-colored cars, the same color motif echoed in their TV commercials.

Guess what—it didn’t work. Months later, what you see in their showrooms are white and silver-grey cars, no more green.

If we stick to coding, how convenient if all our vehicles were black, white or grey.

Then we can really color-code, instead of traffic aides looking at passing cars plates to apprehend. But maybe that’s wishful thinking in these “fiesta” islands, where everyone wants to be different rather than to conform.

Danny would likely wish he could “command” color choices, being used to the military fold where he was an excellent field marshall. But who would give up fire engine reds, and bright yellows, or neon oranges and electric blues, or even hot pink?

key to the building.

Cloud computing has a lot of similarities to mainframe infrastructure. Users access enterprise software through their internet browsers, much as they used to access the mainframe through dumb terminals. Because individual users aren’t in charge of maintaining critical software on their personal machines, it’s much more difficult for malware to get in. This makes the whole enterprise less vulnerable to breaches.

Stories of crippling ransomware dominate the news, but ensuing data breaches tend not to surface for years. Such breaches primarily affect end us-

ers in ways that may be difficult to trace, so organizations haven’t been terribly motivated to overhaul their security and dump the universally connected computing paradigm.

Perhaps the latest disasters will put more pressure on the industry to get its act together.

Bloomberg

Fr. Aquino’s column will resume soon.

The Duterte phenomenon IT WAS my second time to personally see and listen to President Rodrigo Roa Duterte speak when he addressed the directors and officers of the Philippine Charitable Association on its 140th anniversary, held at the Manila Hotel on Wednesday last week. The first time was in 2016 when I, together with the directors and other officers of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce, took my oath as the legal counsel of PCC before the President.

I noticed stark differences and strong similarities in these two unconnected occasions. The first time I heard him speak, the President was only a few months into his office. As he is wont to do, he did not read a prepared speech but spoke extemporaneously, cracking jokes and spewing colorful language which made his well-heeled audience burst into laughter every so often. Back then, he seemed boyish, mirthful and energetic. His audience, on the other hand, was somewhat reserved although they laughed as the moment called for it. I sensed hopefulness in them but uncertainty too.

In contrast, when I saw the President for the second time last week, after a year in office, he was several notches more serious. And yes, in fact, he look tired, lacking in sleep, and weary. But, when he started addressing the big crowd of Chinese and Chinese-Filipino businessmen, as well as, Filipino elites, he was in his usual energetic and passionate self once again. He set aside his prepared speech and went on to say that he had just come from Clark Air Base to receive the arms and ammunition donated by China to help the Armed Forces in its war against terrorists.

This time, his speech was more emotionally charged than the first time I heard him speak. He expressed a wish that he could already end martial law in MindFilipinos anao. The death toll, he said, was breakwant a decisive, ing his heart. Every mother who lost a strong-willed son and every wife leader whose who lost a husband pained him, he said. heart is in the His heart broke, right place. too, for the civilians caught in the war, especially the women and children. He added that although the tragedy was beyond his control as the ISIS-linked Maute terrorists were a bunch of bandits with no conscience and felt no compunction about killing, he shared the guilt for the loss of lives because the situation and his duty to the greater population of Filipinos pushed his hand into declaring martial law.

Although he looked and sounded serious and sad for the most part, the President still managed to crack jokes and break into occasional rough talk as he explained that it was the intention of the Islamic State to establish a Caliphate in Southeast Asia, with a base in the Philippines. He has not been making public appearances much, he said, because he was going from camp to camp to boost the morale of the soldiers. The audience could not miss sensing his compassion for the fallen men in uniform and their families; we felt his earnest desire to end the war and bring back Marawi to how it was.

Because of this, the audience responded with equal passion by clapping enthusiastically many times during the President’s speech, especially when he lashed out at the people and circumstances causing the country’s sufferings. The crowd cheered even more loudly when he said he was set to fly that same evening to Davao to meet the remains of fallen soldiers, skipping dinner with the celebrating hosts.

In both these occasions I witnessed, the crowd applauded, clapped hands vigorously, and laughed as the President made jokes and hurled colorful words at the objects of his disgust. But more than the clapping and cheering for the President, the crowd at the Philippine Charitable Association’s anniversary last week talked about him long after he had left. They said that we, Filipinos, are lucky to have a President as strong and as good-hearted as Duterte at this time when threats to the country’s security and the rate of crime are rising.

Some went on to say that if we still had Benigno Aquino III as president when the Maute terrorists attacked Marawi, perhaps the entire Mindanao, or worse, the rest of the country, would now be under the terrorists’ control. They also remembered and talked about how former President Aquino preferred to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony of a car manufacturing company rather than meet the remains of the fallen SAF 44 who died needlessly—all because of poorly planned operations personally overseen by the former president. *** This country has never before seen a President who did not care about protocols and defied the so-called appropriate behavior. He has broken all norms by behaving and speaking in an unconventional manner. Yet, by all standards, he remains popular, loved and admired. The international media has judged him poorly yet, 78 percent of the Filipino people continue to approve of his leadership. For decades to come—long after President Duterte has completed his term of office as President—social and political scientists will be studying him and the phenomenon he created.

To my mind, the explanation is simple. The Filipino people have gotten tired of polished and proper but non-performing political leaders. They have also gotten tired of pretentiously well-mannered but corrupt politicians. They want a decisive, strong-willed leader whose heart is in the right place, one who is simple, human and real.

Email: ritalindaj@gmail.com Visit: www.jimenolaw.com.ph

News

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MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

CA overturns Ombudsman on Coast Guard execs’ case T

By Rey E. Requejo

HE Court of Appeals has ordered the suspension for six months without pay of seven officials of the Philippine Coast Guard’s Bids and Awards Committee who have been found guilty of simple misconduct for failure to implement procurement rules and guidelines involving P125 million in allocation for the purchase of rescue equipment and other services.

The CA’s Ninth Divison through Associate Justice Florito Macalino modified the resolution issued by the Office of the Ombudsman on Nov. 30, 2015 finding Commodore Enrico Efren Evangelista, Capt. Noli Casiano, Capt. Ramon Reblora, Capt. Angelito Gil, Cap. Joeven Fabul, Cdr. Teotimo Borja Jr., and Cdr. Ramon Lopez, guilty of grave misconduct and ordered their dismissal from the service.

The appellate court resolved to disagree with the findings of the Ombudsman that the petitioners were guilty of grave misconduct for the alleged bidding irregularities and short delivery of

procured equipment of Special Maritime Advance Rescue Team, giving winners unwarranted benefits through evident bad faith, manifest partiality or gross negligence.

“While this Court accords great respect to the factual findings of administrative agencies that misconduct was committed, we cannot characterize the offense as grave,” the appellate court stressed.

“No substantial evidence was adduced to support the elements of corruption, clear intent to violate the law or flagrant disregard of established rule that must be present to character-

ize the misconduct as grave,” it said.

The case stemmed from the Commission on Audit’s findings that the petitioners violated several rules under Republic Act 9184 (Government Procurement Reform Act) covering the disposition of the P125-million fund allocation.

The CoA report said that observers were not invited during the opening of bids for specific transactions, short delivery of Smart items, inappropriate posting in a tabloid newspaper of the invitation to bid, the winning bidder did not meet the profile of a usual business establishment; the petitioners

sent letters of invitations to suppliers and contractors for the procurement of some equipment, thus, giving them prior information on the subject procurements; and entering into contracts which are grossly disadvantageous to the government.

The CoA report prompted the Ombudsman to conduct an investigation in which the petitioners were found guilty of violating Section 3 e) of R.A. 3019 or the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act for “causing undue injury to any party, including the government, or giving any private party any unwarranted benefits, advantage or preference in the discharge of his official administrative or judicial functions through manifest partiality, evident bad faith or gross inexcusable negligence.”

In modifying the Ombudsman’s findings, the CA held that the absence of observers in the opening of bids will not nullify the BAC proceedings based on its IRR.

IN BRIEF Group lauds implementation of motor vehicle inspection plan

By Macon RamosAraneta and Rio N. Araja WITH more than 80 percent of air pollution in the capital caused by unabated emissions of the threemillion motor vehicles plying the streets of Metro Manila, environmentalists on Sunday lauded a “landmark move” of the Department of Trade and Industry to finally address an 18-year vacuum in the formulation and implementation of the Clean Air Act. Leo Olarte, president of the Clean Air Philippines Movement Inc. said implementing Section 21-D of the law will pave the way for a national motor vehicle inspection and maintenance program to ensure that all motor vehicles are efficient and safe to operate.

With this, Olarte said residents in Metro Manila as well as in other highly urbanized regions may now enjoy cleaner air. Road mishaps will also be reduced, he added.

Solon: Disclose projects under P8.4-trillion infra program

By Rio N. Araja AN OPPOSITION lawmaker has urged President Rodrigo Duterte to issue a full disclosure on the P8.4 trillion worth of new infrastructure projects for implementation in the next five years during his second State of theNation Address on July 24.

Buhay Rep. Joselito Atienza said the President push for “The Golden Age of Infrastructure” is very laudable but stressed the need for transparency on the infrastructure projects in the pipeline.

“We would encourage the President to unwrap the full details of the P8.4 trillion worth of new infrastructure projects that his administration intends to build in the next 60 months,” he said.

DOUBLE TIME. Workers refurbish the Senate session hall in Pasay City ahead of the resumption of Congress session on July 24. Ey Acasio

DoJ powers can be clipped, senator insists

By Macon Araneta CONGRESS has the authority to clip the powers of the Department of Justice to ‘insulate’ it from politics amid Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II’s opposition to calls to curb his authority, according to Senator Francis Escudero.

There is nothing unconstitutional in this move because the Senate and the House of Representatives have the power to

reorganize the government and to create offices or departments based on what it wants to accomplish, Escudero said.

Senate justice committee chairperson Richard Gordon raised the possibility of enacting a law that would remove from the justice secretary the power to review cases and transfer that authority to a retired justice of the Supreme Court.

This came after the Department

of Justice downgraded the criminal charges against policemen led

by Philippine National PoliceCriminal Investigation and Detection Group Region 8 chief, Supt.

Marvin Marcos, involved in the killing of Rolando Espinosa inside his jail, despite the allegation that it was premeditated murder.

Aguirre assailed Gordon’s proposal as “unconstitutional,” saying executive powers could not be diminished.

“I believe that it is unconstitutional. You could not diminish the power of the President as the Chief Executive. One must remember that as the alter ego of the President, I am merely acting for and in his behalf,” Aguirre said.

As this developed, Escudero said he will refile the measure that would “insulate” the country’s justice system from politics.

But instead of transferring the duty to a retired SC justice, he

400 LGUs in need of firetrucks, says DILG

Congress passes measure creating overdue coconut levy trust fund

By Rio N. Araja THE House committee on appropriations has passed a proposed measure seeking to create a coconut industry trust fund.

“It is a very timely and vital measure that would sustain the development of the country’s coconut industry and ensure the welfare of our coconut farmers. After all, it was the coconut farmers who took the burden of the coconut levy. Therefore, they must now reap the benefits of its,” Davao City Rep. Karlo Alexei Nograles said.

He said House Bill No. 5745 was approved by the committee as a substitute bill to the original measures seeking to utilize the coconut levy fund.

He, along with his brother, Puwersa ng Bayaning Atleta Rep. Jericho Nograles, authored HB No. 62 to create a coconut industry trust fund and amend the Coconut Investment Act that established the coconut levy fund.

wants the creation of the Office of the Prosecutor General.

Escudero said a bill was filed in the previous Congress, to the effect that the review or filing of cases should be transferred to the Office of the Prosecutor General, who will sit for a fixed term to be insulated from politics.

He said the intention of that bill is to remove politics from the justice system so it does not depend on the sitting DoJ secretary or president.

A WOMAN'S BEST FRIEND. A tourist takes her pet for a walk along the Manila Yacht Club on Sunday. Ey Acasio

French chocolate maker urged to buy PH cacao

By Macon Ramos-Araneta farming in the Philippines has a lion coconut farmers who earn of beans for its production of preSENATOR Cynthia Villar has urged French chocolate manufacturer Valrhona to get their cacao from the Philippines, which is slowly gaining a reputation for being a source of topnotch beans.

In her visit to the Valrhona headquarters in Train l’Hermitage in France, the senator said cacao

huge market potential in global agri-business.

“Cacao and coffee are strategic crops for us because these could be used for intercropping with coconuts,” said Villar who is the chairperson of the Senate Committees on Agriculture and Food and on Agrarian Reform.

“The Philippines has 3.5-mil-

only $1 a day, so this [planting cacao] could provide a big boost to their income,” she added.

Valrhona, the most prestigious chocolate manufacturer in France, has a selective sourcing policy.

It currently sources cacao from only 18 countries and is actively looking for other possible sources

mium gourmet chocolate.

During the visit, Villar was welcomed by Valrhona officials Veronique Huchede, Matthier Drobniak, and Benjamin Figarede.

Drobniak gave the senator a tour of Valrhona’s chocolate factory, showcasing the entire process of transforming cacao beans to exquisite chocolate.

AROUND 400 municipalities nationwide still do not have their own fire trucks to be able to immediately respond during fire emergencies, according to the Department of the Interior and Local Government.

DILG Officer-in-Charge Catalino S. Cuy lamented that some of these towns could have been the recipients of the 24 new Rosenbauer fire trucks that remain stuck in the Port of Batangas since April.

The 24 units are part of the second batch of Rosenbauer fire trucks from Austria which are now the subject of a pending petition before the Supreme Court, questioning the firetrucks deal.

“With the said firetrucks, these towns should now have been in a much better position to provide timely and efficient fire services to their constituents,” said Cuy. He, however, explained that the department is in active consultation with the Office of the Solicitor General which has advised the DILG to wait until the issue is resolved by the Court before proceeding with the firetrucks distribution.

Sports

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MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Ramirez: Stop asking money if you don’t want intervention This is how PSC chairman William “Butch” Ramirez sees it after the PSC earmarked a total of P350 million for the HE Philippine Sports Commission will continue to country’s involvement in the Games.

Ramirez explained that P247 million exercise its supervisorial and visitorial powers as of the total will be spent for the athletes’ it does its duty of providing financial assistance to preparations, while more than P80 million national athletes and coaches going to the 29th Southeast is for actual participation, “There will always be intervention when Asian Games in Malaysia. money of the government is used. If they And if the PSC’s actions are viewed national sports associations should stop don’t want intervention, they should stop as government intervention, then the asking for asking for assistance. asking for money and we’ll focus on grass-

By Peter Atencio

T

roots sports,” said Ramirez.

According to the list of athletes that was finalized last Wednesday, 497 are seeing action for the Philippines in the Games starting Aug. 14.

Team Philippines will also be represented by 163 coaches and a support group of 70 comprising medical, secretariat and 13 technical officials.

The Philippines will be competing in 37 out of 38 sports disciplines.

Ramirez said the agency is also getting

to help the Team Philippines that will be assembled for the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia and the 2019 Philippines’ SEA Games.

It will not stop there, as assistance to the national delegation to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is also being worked out.

He added that the Philippine Olympic Committee “should be responsible for the elite athletes competing in international games while the PSC will continue to bring sports to the countryside.”

Federer seeks record Wimbledon triumph LONDON—Twelve months after shutting down his season in the wake of a devastating semi-final defeat, Roger Federer returns to Wimbledon as favorite to capture a record-breaking eighth title and become the tournament’s oldest champion.

The evergreen Swiss, who turns 36 in August, has stunned the critics who wrote him off as yesterday’s man when he went down to Milos Raonic in five gruelling sets on Centre Court in 2016.

The loss forced him off tour for the remainder of the year to rest a knee injury, leaving his Grand Slam title count on 17 where it had been since 2012.

Fast forward a year and Federer is poised to break the tie for seven Wimbledon titles he shares with Pete Sampras and take his career tally at the majors to 19.

With eternal rivals Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in slumps of varying degrees, and Rafael Nadal fretting over whether or not his knees will bear the stress of grass courts, it is Federer once again in the box seat.

Federer, who captured a fifth Australian Open in January, will go into Wimbledon buoyed by a ninth title on the grass of Halle and refreshed by skipping the claycourt season.

However, he will not write off his three major rivals with whom he has shared all the Wimbledon titles since his maiden triumph in 2003.

“If Andy is anything close to 100% physically, I consider him one of the big favourites to win. It’s that simple. It’s the same for Novak and the same for Rafa,” said Federer who will start his Wimbledon campaign against Alexander Dolgopolov of Ukraine.

“I think it’s very even when we put it all out on the line. Everybody has their own little story right now.”

For tennis storylines of 2017, Federer

shares top billing with Nadal after the Spaniard defied the doubters to win a 10th French Open.

That took him to 15 Grand Slam titles, one ahead of Sampras and just three behind Federer.

But for Nadal, Wimbledon has always been bittersweet.

He was champion in 2008 -- where he beat Federer in a final widely regarded as the greatest ever played -- and 2010 as well as finishing runner-up in 2006, 2007 and 2011.

Injury forced him to skip Wimbledon in 2009 and 2016 while the years 20122015 saw him lose to Lukas Rosol (world ranked 100), Steve Darcis (135), Nick Kyrgios (144) and Dustin Brown (102).

A fourth round run in 2014 represents his best recent effort.

Nadal admits that if he suffers a new problem with his knees on the Wimbledon Switzerland’s Roger Federer takes part in a training session at Wimbledon tennis club in southwest London prior to the start of the grass, where the lower bounce of the ball tournament. AFP piles more pressure on the legs and joints, then his visit to London may again be short-lived.

- Bittersweet for Nadal preparing for their stint in officials results.

Marestella Torres.

“If I have pain in the knees, then I know

By Peter Atencio the coming Southeast Asian Their clocking shattered In another front, the Philfrom experience that it’s almost imposthe current 40.29-second na- ippines, led by Encho Sersible,” said the 31-year-old.

ANFERNEE Lopena and Games in Kuala Lumpur.

They will try to make their tional mark set by the team rano, absorbed a 14-18 Nadal, who could face Federer in the the national 4x100 team final, opens against John Millman of Auswill lead a seven-man Phil- presence felt in the brand of Eric Cray, Jomar Ud- setback at the hands of Beltralia, added that the first week will be ippine athletics’ delega- new synthetic track at the tohan, Beram and Lopena gium Sunday in the quarcrucial. tion that will see action in Kalinga Stadium in Bhu- in the National Open last terfinals of the 2017 Fiba 3x3 Under-18 World Cup in “If I am able to go through at the beginthe 22nd Asian Athletics baneswar when the meet is March.

This time around, Bagsit Chengdu, China. ning, I think I’m with confidence.”

Championships this week. held from July 5 to 9.

Lopena along with Unso, will not be part of the team.

The Belgians took charge Defending champion Murray is fresh The quartet of Lopena, Olympian Cray is taking following a 6-1 run and then off a first round exit at Queen’s at the Patrick Unso, Archand Beram and Bagsit, settled hands of Australian world number 90 JorChristian Bagsit and Trenten for a runner-up finish when the place of Bagsit and he finished strong to reach the dan Thompson.

Beram recently bagged a sil- they clocked a national will also see action in the semifinals.

They held off a late comeThe world number one, who was also ver medal to the Philippines’ record-breaking 39.96 sec- 400-meter run.

The rest of the team in- back by the Filipinos, whose Wimbledon champion in 2013, has also collection of medals in the onds.

They were second behind cludes triple jumper Mark quarterfinal finish is their best been dogged by a hip problem which 2017 Hong Kong InvitationHong Kong-A in the 4x100 Harry Diones, Ernest John ever since the tournament was left him grimacing in pain in training this al Athletics meet. week. AFP Lopena and company are meter relays, according to Obiena and long jumper first held in 2012. AFP

7-man PH team joins Asian trackfest

Salomon X-trail Run PH now safer, better

By Nathanielle Punay SEVERAL changes are being introduced in the Salomon X-Trail Run Pilipinas 2017 at the Subic Bay Freeport Zone on July 23.

The changes to the trail run, which has the theme “Run the Path of Most Resistance,” were announced during a press launch held at the R.O.X. store in Bonifacio Global City recently.

To ensure an environmental-friendly race, event organizers have disbanded the use of disposable cups during the run, requiring all racers to bring their own water jugs. Water-refilling stations can be found at approximately every 4 kilometers.

The race also aims to promote the indigenous people by cooperating with the Aetas as the trails to be used are the routes they often take when traveling.

Unlike the previous X-Trail Runs, Primer has changed the usual gun start of 3:30 a.m. to 8 a.m.

“It falls down to safety,” said Eric Imperio of Extribe, “you want people to be well-rested before taking an activity that will require seven hours for them to do. If you put it at 3 a.m., then you sleep at 10 p.m. they only have a very few hours (of sleep) and

it’s out of town.”

Imperio also assured that the participants of the trail run, now on its sixth year, would not complain of the heat as more than half of the path is shaded, providing more resting spots to cool down.

The Fun Trail has two kinds of races which are not only meant for beginners but also for the “fun-loving and adventure-seeking” racers. This trail consists of 6-km and 12-km races, which are now out of road bounds to avoid traffic problems and crowd jamming.

On the other hand, the Mountain Trail covers the 24-km and 32-km races featuring different kinds of terrains from rocks to rivers, providing a never-ending challenge to the racers.

However, due to the dangerous nature of the route, participants will be required to bring a medical certificate, a whistle and a hydration pack/belt carrying 500 mL of water.

Salomon has also released the new shoe models to be used in the race, namely S/Lab Sense 6 SG, S-Lab Sense 6, S-Lab Speed and Sense Marin.

While Salomon assures that all mod-

Event organizers and endorsers of Salomon X-Trail Pilipinas 2017 are shown here. They are (from left) Coach Miguel “Ige” Lopez, Janice Ann Tanada (Salomon), Eric Imperio (Extribe), Jessa Runes (Salomon), Nan Enriquez (Extribe) and Coach TJ Isla.

els are lighter and more breathable than last year’s model, S-Lab Sense 6 SG has been designated for damp and muddy routes while S-Lab Sense 6 has its upper mesh more open and lighter than last year’s model.

On the other hand, S-Lab Speed is the most ideal model for fell-runners and

Sense Marin gives a more stylish look while offering the same qualities with the other models.

Registration is ongoing until July 15 at Salomon branches in SM Aura, SM Megamall, SM North EDSA and Glorietta 3. Online listup is also available at www. salomonxtrailpilipinas.com.

Meralco Manila Sparks back on top of PH Football League MATCHES WEDNESDAY (Binan Football Stadium) 4 p.m. Stallion Laguna vs Kaya FC Makati (Cebu City Sports Center) 4 p.m. Global Cebu vs Ceres Negros

PHIL Younghusband scored for the third straight match as FC Meralco Manila returned to the Philippines Football

League summit with a tough 1-0 away win over Ilocos United, while Ceres Negros streaked to a third straight victory at home.

Younghusband beat Baba Sampana from the penalty spot in the 54th minute after a handball infraction on Ilocos inside the box, which turned out to be the the only goal of the match played under the

rain.

The victory puts the Sparks back on top with 20 points from eight matches, although JPV Marikina can regain No. 1 with a triumph over the Davao Aguilas in a match scheduled to be played last night at Rizal Memorial Stadium.

The Busmen flaunted their attacking depth in prevailing

over Stallion Laguna, 5-2, for the second time in the space of four days.

Goals from Stephan Schrock, Jeffrey Christiaens, Iain Ramsay, OJ Porteria and Bienvenido Maranon highlighted a glittering attacking performance by coach Risto Vidakovic’s men, which moved up to third spot with 13 points ahead of Global Cebu

on goal difference.

“It’s not easy to play this level but I think the team did everything,” said Vidakovic, whose side will face rival Global Cebu on Wednesday at Cebu City Sports Center.

“They worked hard in the first half, especially in the first half, it was very hot. I can only congratulate my players for giving 100 percent.”

Horn’s victory...

From A8

“You’d never get away with that anywhere else in the world. You’d be penalised points.

“I don’t have a problem with dirty fighting and that’s what it was, a fight.

You do what you have to to win.”

Two of the judges, Waleska Roldan and Chris Flores, were from the United States while the third, Ramon Cerdan, was from Argentina. The referee, Mark Nelson, was also from the US. Pacquiao did not speak to media at the Suncorp Stadium after the fight but said on Philippines television: “We thought that we won this fight.”

The 38-year-old said he would welcome a rematch against the Australian former schoolteacher.

“Well, it depends, there is no problem with me if there’s a rematch,” Pacquiao said. “It would be better if the rematch would be held in the Philippines.

“To the Filipino nation, thank you for the love and support that you showed me.”

Sports stars like Kobe Bryant and Chauncey Billups, legendary trainer Teddy Atlas, ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith and Hollywood star Samuel L. Jackson also had a thing or two to say about the outcome. AFP

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

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

A8

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

Sports

Horn’s victory bashed on Twitter

BRISBANE—Manny Pacquiao’s camp Sunday slammed the officials after the Filipino great lost his World Boxing Organisation welterweight title in a controversial unanimous decision to Australia’s Jeff Horn on Sunday.

“The referee was sketchy, the judges were crazy,” fumed Pacquiao’s strength and conditioning coach Justin Fortune, who is a former Australian heavyweight champion.

“Manny lost the fight, but Jeff Horn looks like a pumpkin,” Fortune added, referring to Horn who finished the fight with a badly swollen face and needing stitches over his right eye.

The three judges scored the fight 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 to Horn.

“Those scores, that card? It should be the other way around,” said Fortune.

The result that caused dismay on social media among boxing and sporting greats.

“This is what’s wrong with boxing,” tweeted former undisputed world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis.

“Horn was very game but I’m hard pressed to see how he could have won that fight by any stretch!”

American football quarterback Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers was equally forthright.

“Boxing is a joke, and it proves it again tonight. Are you kidding me with those scorecards? #joke #rigged,” Rodgers said on Twitter.

Baseball and NFL legend Deion Sanders said: “@mannypacquiao was robbed! I’m really upset right now.

Really. This is ignorant. God bless u Manny and all u do for your country. #Truth.”

The fight statistics seemed to back the belief that Pacquiao had done more than enough to win.

Broadcaster ESPN said that Pacquiao had landed 182 punches to 82 from the challenger over the 12 rounds in front of more than 51,000 fans in Horn’s home town of Brisbane.

Fortune, who once fought against Lewis and has been with Pacquiao since 2002, said Horn had been allowed to get away with a host of illegal tactics as he brawled his way to victory.

“That’s what you get down here,” he said of the tactics. Turn to A7

A bloodied Jeff Horn of Australia plods on against Manny Pacquiao during their World Boxing Organization bout at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. AFP

Shocker Down Under B

RISBANE—Former schoolteacher Jeff Horn stunned world champion Manny Pacquiao to win the World Boxing Organisation welterweight crown with a unanimous points decision in Brisbane on Sunday.

Given no chance by most observers, the 29-year-old Horn’s ultraaggressive style proved too much for Pacquiao, with the three judges scoring the fight 117-111, 115-113 and 115-113 to the Australian after 12 rounds.

Pacquiao, 38, is an eight-weight world champion considered one of the greatest fighters of his generation. His camp had predicted a “short and sweet” win over Horn, a 2012 Australian Olympian.

But Horn showed no signs of be-

Gadgets & Games

Pentagon-developed prosthetic arms for sale NEW YORK—Fred Downs, a 72-yearold Vietnam war veteran, remembers fighting back tears when he regained the ability to pick up objects with his left arm after a gap of 40 years.

Artie McAuley, a captain involved in a serious car accident, smiles as he talks about being able to once more throw both arms up to celebrate a touchdown while watching American football.

Both men took part in a demonstration of their futuristic prosthetic arms on Friday at a veterans hospital in New York. The third generation device is named the LUKE arm, after the robotic arm Luke Skywalker gets after his fight with Darth Vader in Star Wars.

After years of testing, the first demonstration of the devices—which can grasp an object as fragile as an egg, or as small as a grape, or even allow the user to turn a screwdriver—took place in Washington in May 2016.

Jay Burkholder—who heads the American firm Mobius Bionics that manufactures the limbs—said dozens of units could be made available for sale this year depending on orders.

Each unit would be made to order, Burkholder said, though he did not dis-

close the price.

But Dean Kamen—founder of the Deka company that developed the limbs in collaboration with DARPA, the Pentagon’s research and technology wing —said the tag would come in around $100,000.

Veteran amputees are set to be the first beneficiaries. More than 1,600 American soldiers have lost limbs in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And veterans hospitals treated around 20,000 arm amputees in 2016, according to David Shulkin, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs.

Learning how to use the arms requires practice and can take several weeks.

Movement is linked to foot motions captured by sensors in the wearer’s shoes.

An amputee lifts a foot in order to lift an arm, and vice versa.

“You have to be smart to do this,” McAuley laughed. “Once in a while, I make a mistake!”

Linda Resnik, who is leading a national study of veterans’ amputations needs, told AFP nearly 80 people are currently being trained to use their new arms. AFP

ing overawed by the occasion, taking the fight to the Filipino great from the opening bell.

He moved forward relentlessly, not allowing Pacquiao time to find any rhythm.

“I feel like he couldn’t get a hold of my gap. I was feinting a lot, trying to upset his rhythm and I think that was working throughout the majority of that fight,” said Horn, who stands three-and-a-half inches (9cm) taller than Pacquiao.

Pacquiao did manage to land some

left jabs in the opening rounds to take the early points, but Horn refused to back away and his brawling tactics paid dividends through the middle stages.

“He was quick when he put combinations together but I felt controlling the gap made it easier to see the punches coming,” Horn said.

“The size difference helped too.”

Pacquiao, bleeding profusely from cuts high above both eyes caused by accidental head clashes, launched a savage counterattack in the ninth round and appeared to have Horn in trouble with some massive blows that left the Australian staggering.

“The ref came over (at the end of the round) and said ‘show me something or I’ll stop the fight’,” Horn said.

“I thought, ‘hang on, hold your horses, I’m not that bad, I can keep going for sure’.”

Horn recovered and came out strongly in the 10th. “That was just my heart that kept me going,” he said.

“He got me with a couple of good shots and I did go backwards more in that round than in any other round in the fight, but I still felt good.

“But I came back in the 10th 11th and 12th.”

Both fighters began to tire in the final stages of a contest fought at a relentless pace, but Horn’s early lead proved too much to peg back as he claimed the biggest win of his career.

Pacquiao had been hoping to set up a second big-money showdown with Floyd Mayweather, but it was Horn who called for a fight with the unbeaten American immediately after his win.

Pacquiao did not talk to the media after the fight, claiming he needed treatment on his head wounds. AFP

Vivo V5s now comes in sleek Matte Black VIVO recently launched a new Matte Black color variant to its V5s lineup.

This cool new addition to the perfect selfie smartphone boasts of a cool matte black finish that you rarely see in your usual Vivo phones that come in Crown Gold and Rose Gold.

“We are aware of the Vivo Fans’ clamor for a new color variant. Our new Vivo V5s Matte Black aims to widen our consumers’ options to suit their fashion needs and style preference. We believe that this limited edition color will set the tone for a much more sleek and trendy line of Vivo smartphones,” said Annie Lim, Brand Director of Vivo Philippines.

Like it’s Gold and Rose Gold counterparts, the Vivo V5s Matte Black still The Vivo V5s Matte Black still houses the same 20-megapixel selfie camera with f2.0 aperture.

houses the same 20-megapixel selfie camera with f2.0 aperture, the V5s gives you crystal clear, high-resolution selfies, wherein all the details are astonishingly visible. The light-sensing area is also larger than average at 1/2.78 inch, allowing more light to come in, which in turn enhances photo brightness.

The V5s also boasts of the newest group selfie technology, which allows landscape-panning effects in ‘groufies’ or group shots. This exciting new feature supports both portrait and landscape orientations so that no one is left out in barkada shots.

The V5s likewise features a selfie softlight technology that creates lighting effects similar to those in a professional photography studio. Offered

by other V5 models but updated for the V5s, the selfie softlight has an enhanced night mode for clearer and more fabulous selfies taken at night or in poor lighting conditions.

The V5s’ 20-megapixel front camera is supplemented by a 13-megapixel rear camera with f2.2 aperture and an ultra-high-definition mode that renders stunning ultra HD images of up to 52 megapixels.

Other remarkable features of the V5s include its face beauty mode 6.0, which works like a skincare tool that automatically detects your gender and applies beauty touches accordingly.

For instance, females get softer skin tone, a more delicate face contour, and bigger eyes while males get a more masculine look.

Other Premium Smartphone The Vivo V5s is equipped with 5G capacity for a more stable Internet connection—an upgrade from the 4G capacity of previous V5 units and other phones in the same price range. It also has an OTG feature, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, USB2.0 and GPS for a smooth and fast transfer of files, making it the top choice for social media-savvy millennials and working professionals.

Touting a storage capacity of 4GB RAM, the V5s is perfect for games and applications. Its 64GB ROM is expandable up to 256 GB, allowing a veritable archive of 302 films, 20,000 songs or 26,000 pictures, and other documents. As for speed and performance, the V5s runs on a personalized operating system, Funtouch 3.0, based on Android 6.0.

Solar company offers 5,000 MW B3

Business

Ray S. Eñano, Editor Roderick T. dela Cruz, Assistant Editor business@manilastandard.net extrastory2000@gmail.com MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

B1

Govt keen on selling Pagcor assets

By Julito G. Rada

T

HE Finance Department said it is weighing all possible options on how to proceed with the privatization of state-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. including all its assets.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said over the weekend one option was to sell the assets of the agency.

“If we privatize this, one method would be to sell all the projects... So Pagcor will probably get part of that lump sum payment and hopefully they will invest it in such a way that it will give them a string

of payments in the future,” Dominguez said.

“We are going to discuss those schemes and options with them,” Dominguez said.

Dominguez said Pagcor was essentially a regulatory body, and “this is where you start getting confused... Are you a regulatory body or are you a revenue-generating organization?” he said.

He said the government was not done yet with the valuation of the assets of Pagcor because each asset should be closely scrutinized to figure out what would yield the government the most in the long run.

“By privatizing those assets, and this has been ordered by the President [in] September 2016. In fact it will be done by [fourth quarter this year]. We’ll have to start the process. There are a lot of assets and they are held in different ways, so we have to figure out the most efficient way,” Dominguez said.

Pagcor chairman and chief executive Andrea Domingo said in March she was not op-

posing the government’s proposal to privatize the agency and she was open to a discussion with the Finance Department about the plan.

The Duterte administration said it was open to the idea of undertaking the sale of Pagcor casinos. The sale of casinos operated by Pagcor, a whollyowned government corporation formed in 1977 by a Marcos presidential decree, could earn billions of pesos for the government.

Pagcor posted a record gross income of P55.06 billion in 2016, up 16.6 percent from P47.21 billion in 2015, boosted by higher revenues from gam-

ing, which include table games, electronic games and bingo operations.

Other growth drivers for the record income were fees from licensed casinos and offshore gaming. Domingo said as a result of the bullish growth of the agency’s income, it was able to increase its total contributions to nation-building by 25.45 percent.

San Miguel Corp. president Ramon Ang offered to buy Pagcor for $10 billion in 2010 under the Aquino administration, but the Finance Department said the offer was “too cheap” and said it was not in a hurry to sell.

Meralco expects July rate to climb

Tetangco sees June inflation below 3.2% OUTGOING Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetangco Jr. said inflation rate in June likely decelerated to as low as 2.4 percent from 3.1 percent in May on lower fuel prices and power rates.

Tetangco said based on Bangko Sentral’s estimate, the June inflation could settle within a range of 2.4 percent to 3.2 percent.

“The decline in domestic fuel prices and lower electricity rates in Meralco-serviced areas could lead to lower price pressures for the month,” Tetangco said in a statement over the weekend.

Inflation in May slowed to a four-month low of 3.1 percent from 3.4 percent in April on lower prices of food, beverages and tobacco items. The May inflation was also slower than the 1.6-percent price increase registered a year ago.

This brought inflation in the first five months to 3.2 percent, higher than the midpoint of the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent this year. Tetangco, who served as BSP chief for 12 years, would be replaced by Deputy Governor Nestor Espenilla Monday. Julito G. Rada

Manila Water names new chief

By Alena Mae S. Flores POWER cost may increase this month following the outage of power plants in June and the depreciation of the peso against the US dollar, an executive Manila Electric Co. said over the weekend.

“In the June supply month, we experienced events that placed upward pressure on generation costs. For one, Sual Unit 2 [600 megawatt] went on forced outage beginning June 14, coinciding with the absence of Sta. Rita Module 40 [250 MW], which was on scheduled maintenance,” Meralco spokesman Joe Zaldarriaga said.

The Sual coal-fired power plant is located in Pangasinan while the Sta. Rita natural gas plant is in Batangas.

Zaldarriaga said the 850MW reduction in supply likely affected prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor of electricity.

Power rates at WESM historically go up when supply is tight.

“For another, the peso depreciated in recent days to more than P50 to the dollar versus P49.765 in May. Both factors may have pushed up generation costs that may affect the July generation charge,” Zaldarriaga said.

The Meralco official said this was only an indication of possible rates in July.

“That is just a factor. We still have to wait for the final billings from our suppliers,” he said.

IN BRIEF

BATANGAS SHIP CALL. The Batangas Container Terminal, operated by Asian Terminals Inc., continues to open up more trade opportunities for southern Luzon, handling more ships and cargoes for the booming industries in Calabarzon. It recently welcomed MV Conrad of Royal Cargo Inc. on its maiden voyage into BCT as it delivered over 180 reefer container boxes directly to Batangas from Antwerp, Belgium. Inset shows ATI executive vice president Andrew Hoad (right) handing over a commemorative plaque to Royal Cargo Inc. Group chief executive Michael Raeuber to mark MV Conrad’s maiden voyage to Batangas Port.

Peza asks Malacañang to clear P54-b projects

By Othel V. Campos THE Philippine Economic Zone Authority asked Malacañang Palace to speed up the approval of 40 investment projects worth P54.6 billion.

Peza director-general Charito Plaza said these projects were pending at the Office of the President for nearly a year now.

“This is so uncomfortable for us. Peza has registered so many locators only to be held at

the Office of the President. My frustration is that the president has been aggressive on inviting investors. If we keep doing this, we might lose their [investors] confidence in the Philippines,” Plaza said.

She said the bottleneck was occurring at the Office of the President which was supposed to endorse the projects.

Plaza said Peza sent four letters to Executive Secretary Salvador Medaldea to work on the proclamation. Of the total,

40 projects were submitted for presidential proclamation in the first year of the Duterte Administration while six were submitted in the last few months of the Aquino administration.

The investments included five information technology parks, 27 IT centers, one medical facility, one agriculture project, one tourism estate and 11 manufacturing enterprises.

The three biggest projects pending at the Office of the President were the P16.4-bil-

lion Veris North IT Park along Edsa in North Triangle, Quezon City; the P5.6-billion Philippine Defense Industrial Complex in Bataan; and the P4-billion High Street Corporate Plaza building, an IT center in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig.

“In Peza, we provide investment pledges especially during state visits. These investors, they want to put up industries but they cannot because the proclamation is not released,” Plaza said.

Weak peso good for OFWs FINANCE Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said a “slightly devalued” peso will be good for families of overseas Filipino workers and the business process outsourcing sector.

“A lot of these movement in currency is really dictated from abroad.

It is not so much what we are doing or what we are not doing. The US is the one that’s changed their interest rates. They just raised it one more time recently, [and it] looks like they might do another one within the year,” Dominguez told reporters over the weekend.

“For the economy, is it really bad to have a currency that is slightly undervalued? Just think how much more pesos are coming from both BPO and the OFWs. That is more than $50 billion a year from both of them,” Dominguez said.

Remittances hit a record $26.9 billion in 2016, or 5 percent higher than the 2015 level. It accounted for around 10 percent of GDP last year.

Remittances and BPO receipts to-

gether accounted for around $50 billion annually and supported the country’s external position.

The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expects remittances to reach $28 billion this year, on sustained demand for skilled Filipino workers abroad.

“Some people are not gonna like it but I think the majority are going to benefit,” Dominguez said.

“But you know the important thing is there are no momentum on gains in the peso. That is why it is a free float, it moves up it moves down,” he said.

The peso closed at 50.47 against the US dollar Friday, after hitting a 10-year low of 50.53 on Thursday, as investors sought the safety of the greenback amid Fed rate hike jitters and the International Monetary Fund’s slower growth outlook on the US economy.

The IMF revised its 2017 GDP growth forecast for the US from 2.3 percent to 2.1 percent, citing the inability of the administration of President Donald Trump to implement its economic policies. Julito G. Rada

MEET TAIWAN. The Bureau of Foreign Trade of Taiwan under the Ministry of Economic

Affairs launches Meet Taiwan in the Philippines to introduce Taiwan’s vast incentive travel options; meetings, incentive travel, conferences and exhibitions facilities; and numerous resources to hotel, travel agencies, professional conference and exhibition organizer and event companies. Shown during the launching at the business networking event at Makati Shangri-La Hotel are (from left) Sonia Chang of Welcome Travel Services Co., Jerry Chuang of Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office and Meet Taiwan executive director Lily Su.

MANILA Water Company Inc., the east zone concessionaire of the state-run Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System, named Ferdinand Dela Cruz as the new president and chief executive.

Manila Water made the announcement during the recent Bankers’ Appreciation Night at Tower Club in Makati City, where the company expressed gratitude to key partner banks Dela Cruz will replace Gerardo Ablaza Jr. who thanked the partner banks for recognizing the potential of the company and for believing that Manila Water would be able to deliver on all its promises to customers, investors and equity holders.

“Nothing changes about Manila Water. Tt’s the same excellent company that you can continue keeping your faith in,”Ablaza said.

Dela Cruz also assured the stakeholders that the company would continue on its path to progress. “This is our very first Banker’s Appreciation Night and we guarantee that this won’t be our last.We are happy to note that our customer profile is also changing from national agencies to local government units to business-to-business, real estate developers and industrial parks and our mission is very simple: to be the partner of choice as we grow our portfolio businesses. I am really excited on the challenges that our outgoing president put on to us and we could only do this if we partner with you,” Dela Cruz said.

WB cuts growth outlook to 6.8% THE World Bank slightly reduced its 2017 growth forecast for the Philippines to 6.8 percent from the initial estimate of 6.9 percent on slower public spending in the first quarter.

The bank, however, kept the 2018 growth forecast at 6.9 percent.

“The World Bank projects continued robust growth for the Philippines and expects the country’s economy to expand at 6.8 percent in 2017,” Birgit Hansl, World Bank lead economist for the Philippines, said in an update of the economic outlook for the Philippines for 2017 to 2018.

Hansl said the new and slightly revised 2017 projection considered recent economic trends and compared with the 6.9-percent forecast released in the April edition of the World Bank Philippine Economic Update.

“Reflecting slower public spending in the first quarter, government consumption and investment growth somewhat weakened on an annual basis. However, export and growth of private consumption remained strong,” she said.

She said the actual 6.4-percent growth in the first quarter of 2017 was in line with the bank’s growth projection, given the high base in the first quarter of 2016, when large election-related spending boosted growth. Julito G. Rada

B2

Business

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market likely to move sideways

By Jenniffer B. Austria

S

TOCKS are expected to move sideways at the start of the second half, as the market continues to build its base to support a stronger rise.

Analysts said investors were expected to remain on the sidelines, while waiting for fresh leads on the economy.

Online brokerage firm 2TradeAsia. com said the current market trend could be a good time for investors to revisit specific stocks that had lagged for some time, especially those that would benefit from improved capital expenditures

or investment initiatives.

“Aim for the key story line that will provide a significant boost on corporate earnings. This would include sectors that are poised to benefit from government’s infra-spending rollout,” 2TradeAsia.com said.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index last week rose 0.4 percent to close at 7,843.16 Friday, while the broader all-share index moved up 0.3 percent to 4,692.03. Data showed that since the start of the year, the benchmark gained 14.7 percent while the allshare index rose 12.9 percent.

All sectoral indices also posted gains, with the services sector increasing 29.5 percent.

The PSE said trading activity was also brisk in the first half of 2017, with

daily value turnover registering P8.08 billion, up by 7.5 percent from the same period last year.

The stock market posted a net foreign buying of P22.04 billion in the six month period. Capital raised in the first half amounted to P106.74 billion.

“We are pleased with the overall market performance in the first semester while capital raising activity remains on target. We believe the economy will continue to provide more growth for listed companies and attract more investors in the market,” said PSE president Ramon Monzon.

“The passage of the tax reform bill and the infrastructure program of the government should help sustain the market’s growth momentum in the coming years,” Monzon said.

Calata appealing trading suspension AGRICULTURE company Calata Corp. said it plans to appeal the one-month trading suspension slapped by the Philippine Stock Exchange.

Calata corporate secretary Jose Marie Fabella said in an interview while the company confirmed an “office error” because of non-disclosure of trades conducted by president Joseph Calata, the one-month trading suspension might be “too much” and would be “detrimental to the investing public.”

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS WEEKLY STOCKS REVIEW STOCKS

JUNE 27-30, 2017 Close Volume

Value FINANCIAL 1,366,470.00 20,922,380.50 778,984,623 959,422,291.00 7,950.00 600,340.00 30,135,105.00 1,998.00 910,450.00 262,509,420.00 1,101,446 7,077,850 4,500,780.00 572,170.00 14,192,970.00 605,592,352.00 3,195,140.00 1,497,136.00 402,723.00 19,258,182.50 335,540.00

AG Finance Asia United Bank Banco de Oro Unibank Inc. Bank of PI BDO Leasing & Fin. INc. Bright Kindle Resources China Bank Citystate Savings COL Financial Eastwest Bank Filipino Fund Inc. First Abacus I-Remit Inc. Manulife Fin. Corp.

MEDCO Holdings Metrobank Natl. Reinsurance Corp.

PB Bank Phil Bank of Comm Phil. National Bank Phil. Savings Bank Philbanking Philippine trust Co. PSE Inc. RCBC `A’ Security Bank Sun Life Financial Union Bank Vantage Equities

3.95 55.7 124.00 104.00 4.05 1.26 36.7 9.99 16.3 28.4 8.00 0.69 1.78 835.00 0.700 87.5 0.91 15.5 25.60 66.75 88.05 220 141 243.6 58.5 217 1610.00 85.15 1.36

340,000 383,690 6,377,910 9,179,720 2,000 465,000 820,300 200 56,300 9,125,900 140,400 9,385,000 2,508,000 690 20,528,000 6,957,960 3,410,000 96,800 16,200 286,950 3,810 19,371 5,980 11,300 503,400 1,833,830 520 167,240 8,901,000

Aboitiz Power Corp.

Agrinurture Inc. Alliance Tuna Intl Inc. Alsons Cons.

Asiabest Group Basic Energy Corp.

C. Azuc De Tarlac Cemex Holdings Century Food Chemphil Cirtek Holdings (Chips) Conc. Aggr. ‘A’ Conc. Aggr. ‘B’ Concepcion Crown Asia Da Vinci Capital Del Monte DNL Industries Inc. Eagle Cement EEI Emperador Energy Devt. Corp. (EDC) Euro-Med Lab First Gen Corp.

First Holdings ‘A’ Ginebra San Miguel Inc. Holcim Philippines Inc. Integ. Micro-Electronics Ionics Inc Jollibee Foods Corp.

Liberty Flour LMG Chemicals Mabuhay Vinyl Macay Holdings Manila Water Co. Inc. Maxs Group Megawide MG Holdings Mla. Elect. Co `A’ Panasonic Mfg Phil. Corp.

Pepsi-Cola Products Phil.

Petron Corporation Phil H2O Phinma Corporation Phinma Energy Phoenix Petroleum Phils.

Pilipinas Shell Pryce Corp. `A’ RFM Corporation Roxas and Co. Roxas Holdings San Miguel ‘Pure Foods `A’ SFA Semicon Shakeys Pizza SPC Power Corp.

Swift Foods, Inc. TKC Steel Corp.

Universal Robina Victorias Milling Vitarich Corp.

Vivant Corp.

Vulcan Ind’l.

38.9 8.06 0.85 1.47 29.05 0.260 14.22 7.1 18 165.2 26.5 73.8 85.1 85.4 1.96 5.26 11.98 12.020 15.8 10.00 7.54 6.05 1.68 18.9 70 15.10 13.20 13.3 1.620 204.00 64.00 3.47 3.55 24.95 31.05 18.92 18.68 0.243 260.80 7.24 3.26 9.68 6.21 10.98 1.95 9.50 67.6 7 4.45 2.04 5 316.6 2.34 12.96 5.1 0.145 1.35 162.9 4.12 2.08 33.35 1.01 62

5,929,600 7,627,500 2,058,000 6,034,000 688,200 56,930,000 15,500 10,437,400 10,984,600 350 5,079,700 8,400 30 95,380 2,766,000 208,200 373,900 16,222,100 31,303,200 14,157,400 14,128,700 36,466,700 575,000 4,724,500 267,190 195,300 786,300 10,761,500 7,131,000 2,224,190 15,160 1,061,000 51,000 300 14,857,500 4,785,900 7,667,100 9,820,000 2,966,580 567,100 11,402,000 19,009,200 1,136,300 13,600 12,134,000 3,465,400 9,444,970 1,365,700 926,000 6,000 996,500 37,300 9,923,000 5,199,700 323,200 6,420,000 1,532,000 8,419,980 64,000 40,832,000 24,400 2,290,000

INDUSTRIAL 231,026,350.00 60,188,148.00 1,756,700.00 9,028,570.00 20,046,040.00 15,354,200.00 219,506.00 74,961,344.00 200,494,178 57,820.00 128,971,935.00 626,580.00 2,553.00 8,208,284 5,416,480.00 1,110,274.00 4,449,880.00 197,706,312.00 506,863,694.00 141,899,464.00 107,195,180.00 219,840,466.00 1,038,750.00 89,104,874.00 18,761,646.00 2,966,932.00 10,438,908.00 145,006,746.00 11,831,900.00 461,350,592.00 911,860.00 3,883,590.00 181,840.00 7,400.00 463,033,515.00 91,309,406.00 143,816,940.00 2,404,530.00 776,532,504.00 4,121,696.00 36,457,180.00 186,161,090.00 7,158,156.00 143,086.00 23,324,340.00 47,536,886.50 651,349,215.00 9,509,559.00 4,121,640.00 12,280.00 4,995,258.00 11,824,570.00 23,863,330.00 67,558,152.00 1,668,140.00 943,660.00 2,122,280.00 1,360,576,874 257,130.00 86,519,950.00 778,910.00 2,385,560.00

Abacus Cons. `A’ Aboitiz Equity Alliance Global Inc. Anglo Holdings A Anscor `A’ ATN Holdings A ATN Holdings B Ayala Corp `A’ BHI Holdings Inc. Cosco Capital DMCI Holdings F&J Prince ‘A’ F&J Prince ‘B’ Filinvest Dev. Corp.

Forum Pacific GT Capital House of Inv. JG Summit Holdings Jolliville Holdings Keppel Holdings `A’ Keppel Holdings `B’ Lodestar Invt. Holdg.Corp.

Lopez Holdings Corp.

LT Group Mabuhay Holdings `A’ Metro Pacific Inv. Corp.

MJCI Investments Inc. Pacifica `A’ Prime Media Hldg Prime Orion Republic Glass ‘A’ San Miguel Corp `A’ Seafront `A’ SM Investments Inc. Solid Group Inc. South China Res. Inc. Top Frontier Unioil Res. & Hldgs Wellex Industries Zeus Holdings

0.365 76.15 14.30 1.18 6.30 0.350 0.365 850 1063.00 7.9 14.10 6.2 6 7.90 0.207 1210 7.60 81.00 5.8 5.42 6.13 0.99 7.22 14.7 0.410 6.39 3.2 0.0540 0.950 2.200 2.70 104.00 2.65 803.00 1.43 0.88 303.000 0.2900 0.2100 0.250

6,280,000 5,103,580 19,301,300 398,000 1,010,700 27,480,000 3,840,000 1,444,230 105 5,858,100 54,145,300 37,800 3,000 281,000 350,000 451,765 51,400 7,438,070 132,300 154,100 7,600 9,323,000 10,143,600 11,986,800 1,190,000 120,530,600 9,000 143,560,000 471,000 19,122,000 223,000 518,600 77,000 2,442,890 12,440,000 2,347,000 20,580 7,990,000 1,470,000 340,000

HOLDING FIRMS 2,294,900.00 386,986,606.50 276,677,760.00 470,980.00 6,561,506.00 9,835,150.00 1,399,750.00 1,216,040,805 110,350.00 46,280,032.00 778,452,296.00 233,500.00 18,200.00 2,179,452.00 71,890.00 544,992,200.00 396,520.00 599,876,981.00 757,335.00 853,126.00 41,534.00 9,236,840.00 73,982,788.00 175,899,934.00 513,150.00 766,574,897.00 29,100.00 7,646,290.00 456,770.00 43,348,870.00 595,420.00 53,242,607.00 206,180.00 1,944,417,680.00 19,323,250.00 2,143,740.00 6,237,408.00 2,345,750.00 312,190.00 83,020.00

8990 HLDG A. Brown Co., Inc. Araneta Prop `A’ Arthaland Corp.

Ayala Land `B’ Belle Corp. `A’ CEB Landmasters Cebu Holdings Cebu Prop. `A’ Cebu Prop. `B’ Century Property City & Land Dev. Cityland Dev. `A’ Crown Equities Inc. Cyber Bay Corp.

Double Dragon Empire East Land Ever Gotesco Filinvest Land,Inc. Global-Estate Interport `A’ Megaworld MRC Allied Ind.

6.600 1.31 2.540 1.170 39.750 3.83 5.34 5.27 5.97 5.99 0.550 1.09 1.580 0.185 0.510 47.75 0.710 0.158 1.67 1.25 1.02 4.3 0.400

4,634,700 100,780,000 937,000 27,937,000 41,210,000 5,909,000 41,536,000 165,300 4,200 100,200 408,697,000 1,264,000 23,725,000 130,210,000 9,074,000 1,264,400 6,505,000 350,000 17,753,000 50,248,000 13,579,000 151,003,000 350,070,000

PROPERTY 29,396,079.00 143,580,730.00 2,342,470.00 32,077,410.00 1,632,569,165.00 22,510,450.00 228,331,658.00 875,627.00 23,914.00 551,448.00 231,345,920.00 1,419,240.00 38,608,070.00 24,833,230.00 4,618,410.00 60,685,330.00 4,611,970.00 55,070.00 30,406,680.00 63,868,170.00 14,668,040.00 660,450,700.00 134,183,900.00

706,118.00 2,721,416.00 29,540,856 401,262,980.00 834,200 14,244,493.00 13,508,750.00

Close

JUNE 19-23, 2017 Volume Value

4.1 52 120.60 104.70 3.96 1.30 36.85

297,000 281,810 11,209,510 8,646,160 88,000 430,000 1,547,600

1,211,560.00 14,340,571.00 1,353,453,776 908,068,762.00 348,630.00 558,250.00 57,063,780.00

16.34 29.5

176,100 10,021,500

2,840,778.00 287,344,025.00

0.66 1.7 800.00 0.700 86.95 0.95 15.44 25.05 67.50 89

1,000 44,000 890 18,641,000 6,990,750 10,048,000 189,600 10,100 681,420 6,950

660 74,930.00 724,970.00 13,241,730.00 599,880,798.00 9,671,900.00 2,924,790.00 258,865.00 46,039,182.50 613,527.00

113 243.4 58.9 220.2 1595.00 85.20 1.28

820 22,490 1,311,150 2,910,780 500 307,390 141,000

89,729.00 5,413,632.00 77,154,916 642,667,944.00 809,725 26,190,697.50 180,240.00

39.75 7.96 0.85 1.57 27 0.275 14.16 7.2 18.4 165.3 24 76.55

8,398,200 7,017,100 6,797,000 5,889,000 841,300 25,850,000 25,000 14,000,300 4,462,400 30 11,690,000 5,860

332,534,255.00 56,347,835.00 5,734,820.00 9,090,550.00 23,604,275.00 6,925,650.00 352,738.00 103,662,085.00 81,687,766 4,959.00 277,919,355.00 453,136.00

82 2.03 5.41 11.8 12.340 16.08 9.76 7.47 6.07 1.81 19 70.4 15.20 13.30 13.5 1.770 211.00 61.00 3.86 3.7 24.95 31 19.48 19.08 0.246 261.00 7.45 3.16 9.62 6.32 10.70 1.95 9.45 69.55 6.91 4.45 2.05 5 319 2.52 12.9 5.16 0.148 1.42 161.5 4.24 2.2 32.00 1.07

17,840 7,393,000 113,100 57,800 17,059,200 36,153,900 5,966,800 16,249,900 68,468,600 10,000 5,770,300 295,790 426,800 1,264,100 15,872,400 8,716,000 2,553,010 5,730 1,723,000 154,000 1,800 7,800,700 1,865,200 7,198,500 20,680,000 6,102,390 1,454,000 36,433,000 15,738,600 2,658,800 14,800 61,261,000 3,143,300 4,161,210 7,866,400 457,000 84,000 2,493,300 229,350 19,692,000 10,734,100 593,000 6,580,000 889,000 13,567,580 3,000 102,160,000 4,500 3,374,000

1,375,575 15,153,850.00 619,929.00 667,424.00 206,018,530.00 582,372,760.00 58,415,880.00 117,029,127.00 415,714,962.00 17,400.00 109,498,860.00 20,820,103.00 6,411,998.00 17,097,596.00 211,123,794.00 15,685,380.00 546,921,426.00 353,482.50 6,862,290.00 554,860.00 45,135.00 242,580,600.00 36,124,568.00 67,508,218.00 5,093,920.00 1,606,462,230.00 10,417,348.00 114,696,400.00 151,984,792.00 16,681,876.00 152,776.00 118,461,260.00 29,625,788.00 289,673,410.50 52,804,336.00 2,058,380.00 171,600.00 12,633,268.00 71,973,926.00 50,838,130.00 140,227,746.00 3,042,393.00 972,930.00 1,236,360.00 2,264,381,375 12,710.00 231,307,050.00 143,870.00 3,653,460.00

0.375 75.85 14.54 1.24 6.56 0.355 0.360 840.5

8,440,000 4,729,420 27,472,600 4,217,000 309,700 23,570,000 2,820,000 1,199,880

3,089,700.00 356,059,640.00 391,623,348.00 5,313,510.00 2,000,301.00 8,135,750.00 981,350.00 1,018,094,385

7.89 14.64 6.2

5,277,300 43,340,700 47,400

41,703,011.00 631,641,846.00 293,643.00

7.75 0.207 1206 7.88 79.00 5.92 5.81 6.48 1 7.4 14.48 0.440 6.2 3.2 0.0540 0.950 2.160 2.55 102.60 2.69 783.00 1.62 0.86 303.600 0.2850 0.2150 0.244

116,300 2,120,000 1,213,780 58,200 5,463,850 132,200 210,300 770,400 8,579,000 4,349,900 21,661,200 190,000 63,579,900 13,000 82,620,000 231,000 27,742,000 254,000 583,440 383,000 2,054,450 18,512,000 38,000 32,670 870,000 1,050,000 720,000

886,823.00 428,960.00 1,456,400,085.00 445,459.00 431,654,405.00 751,395.00 1,250,454.00 4,862,062.00 8,617,030.00 32,479,713.00 320,977,136.00 79,250.00 393,433,644.00 41,690.00 4,470,130.00 226,910.00 61,458,010.00 653,080.00 60,831,371.00 1,015,990.00 1,621,068,570.00 28,797,510.00 32,680.00 9,949,650.00 245,900.00 227,130.00 177,180.00

6.080 1.57 2.520 1.140 39.450 3.78 5.65 5.27 5.98

9,802,700 128,145,000 1,455,000 29,802,000 48,899,800 9,031,000 88,271,200 169,200 400

59,188,803.00 203,165,860.00 3,668,380.00 34,522,520.00 1,982,887,685.00 34,907,740.00 500,963,002.00 893,881.00 2,392.00

0.540 1.09 1.470 0.193 0.510 47 0.710 0.158 1.73 1.26 1.02 4.54 0.375

131,842,000 467,000 1,893,000 877,460,000 12,996,000 1,051,000 28,844,000 2,190,000 68,590,000 94,289,000 2,744,000 120,331,000 666,840,000

69,904,150.00 502,780.00 2,698,910.00 172,895,030.00 6,686,150.00 40,367,660.00 20,344,990.00 349,230.00 117,249,900.00 119,321,440.00 2,723,910.00 552,750,890.00 257,255,200.00

STOCKS

JUNE 27-30, 2017 Close Volume

Value

Close

Phil. Estates Corp.

Phil. Realty `A’ Phil. Tob. Flue Cur & Redry Primex Corp.

Robinson’s Land `B’ Rockwell Shang Properties Inc. SM Prime Holdings Sta. Lucia Land Inc. Starmalls Suntrust Home Dev. Inc. Vista Land & Lifescapes

0.3600 0.630 33.85 4.03 24.25 1.75 3.23 33.00 1.02 7.28 0.900 5.810

2,320,000 43,860,000 2,400 1,517,000 9,537,100 674,000 795,000 28,374,200 8,615,000 100 501,000 20,383,800

823,050.00 27,240,050.00 77,295.00 6,397,150.00 229,921,060.00 1,161,130.00 2,542,640.00 939,829,130.00 8,792,970.00 728.00 452,500.00 120,392,071.00

2GO Group’ ABS-CBN Acesite Hotel APC Group, Inc. Apollo Global Asian Terminals Inc. Berjaya Phils. Inc. Bloomberry Boulevard Holdings Calata Corp.

Cebu Air Inc. (5J) Centro Esc. Univ.

DFNN Inc. Discovery World FEUI Globe Telecom GMA Network Inc. Golden Haven Grand Plaza Hotel Harbor Star I.C.T.S.I. Imperial Res. `A’ IPeople Inc. `A’ IPM Holdings Island Info ISM Communications Jackstones LBC Express Leisure & Resorts Lorenzo Shipping Macroasia Corp.

Manila Broadcasting Manila Bulletin Manila Jockey Melco Crown Metro Retail NOW Corp.

Pacific Online Sys. Corp.

PAL Holdings Inc. Paxys Inc. Phil. Seven Corp.

Philweb.Com Inc. PLDT Common PremiereHorizon Premium Leisure Puregold Robinsons RTL SBS Phil. Corp.

SSI Group STI Holdings Transpacific Broadcast Travellers Waterfront Phils.

Wilcon Depot

23.25 42.3 1.57 0.495 0.043 11.28 5.6 9.25 0.0880 2.04 97.9 9.53 8.55 2.31 970 2048 6.15 15.95 13.22 2.86 97.8 3.40 12.68 8.74 0.187 1.4000 3.5 15.74 4.33 1.77 7.10 15.60 0.590 2.34 8.74 4.59 2.610 11.46 5.05 2.91 181.00 10.76 1798.00 0.395 1.550 44.55 87.00 5.98 4.11 1.430 1.97 3.46 0.810 7.940

2,362,700 266,600 2,301,000 1,026,000 169,100,000 42,000 172,300 78,614,600 138,210,000 14,314,000 843,760 400 389,400 77,000 34,170 214,695 558,100 118,600 115,500 7,254,000 10,546,050 174,000 28,100 1,147,000 49,070,000 1,092,000 226,000 18,100 2,908,000 61,580,000 17,353,500 100 4,399,000 319,000 107,941,000 87,702,000 5,580,000 4,500 85,800 29,000 131,600 3,251,600 465,725 4,860,000 170,573,000 8,243,000 3,703,760 8,714,500 200,949,000 149,382,000 10,000 24,534,000 89,828,000 65,484,500

Abra Mining Apex `A’ Atlas Cons. `A’ Atok-Big Wedge `A’ Benguet Corp `A’ Benguet Corp `B’ Century Peak Metals Hldgs Coal Asia Dizon Ferronickel Geograce Res. Phil. Inc. Lepanto `A’ Lepanto `B’ Manila Mining `A’ Manila Mining `B’ Marcventures Hldgs., Inc. Nickelasia Nihao Mineral Resources Omico Oriental Peninsula Res. Oriental Pet. `A’ Oriental Pet. `B’ Petroenergy Res. Corp.

Philex `A’ PhilexPetroleum Philodrill Corp. `A’ Phinma Petro Semirara Corp.

TA Petroleum United Paragon

0.0029 1.72 5.21 14.90 2.1500 2.0700 0.92 0.390 8.50 2.510 0.285 0.179 0.186 0.011 0.0110 1.96 6.4 2.03 0.7000 0.9500 0.0110 0.0110 7.10 9.00 2.98 0.0120 2.8000 160.50 2.88 0.0085

MINING & OIL 3,106,000,000 9,190,100.00 43,486,000 75,013,910.00 1,358,500 6,997,231.00 500 6,770.00 102,000 215,540.00 12,000 24,640.00 13,426,000 12,762,250.00 8,340,000 3,336,700.00 371,700 3,201,742.00 11,919,000 30,098,260.00 230,000 66,450.00 19,870,000 3,556,830.00 12,580,000 2,381,060.00 268,500,000 2,843,400.00 54,200,000 596,200.00 1,981,000 3,850,030.00 29,325,600 189,008,154.00 1,479,000 2,986,660.00 107,009,000 81,052,470.00 1,701,000 1,667,420.00 17,000,000 177,100.00 32,700,000 328,400.00 8,663,900 61,064,796.00 7,059,300 63,251,052.00 2,571,000 7,696,550.00 179,700,000 2,160,800.00 201,000 564,560.00 4,808,430 774,347,753.00 305,000 866,180.00 50,000,000 447,400.00

ABS-CBN Holdings Corp.

Alco Preferred B Ayala Corp. Pref `B1’ Ayala Corp. Pref ‘B2’ DD PREF First Gen F First Gen G FPH Pref C GLOBE PREF P GMA Holdings Inc. GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B Leisure and Resort MWIDE PREF PCOR-Preferred A PCOR-Preferred B PF Pref 2 PNX PREF 3A SMC Preferred B SMC Preferred C SMC Preferred D SMC Preferred E SMC Preferred F SMC Preferred H SMC Preferred I Swift Pref

41.75 105.5 515 523 105.6 112.5 110.3 515 520 5.96 1002 1020 1.07 108 1039 1100 1017 106 77 82 76.15 79 80 78.9 78 1.95

173,500 75,390 250 25,490 25,270 370 147,290 3,000 2,830 5,102,300 11,565 113,010 284,000 1,160 2,350 9,735 4,705 40,500 1,580 328,360 1,600 25,000 71,180 68,700 150,930 3,000

LR Warrant

2.330

449,000

SERVICES 55,380,700.00 11,308,710.00 3,699,600.00 506,565.00 7,452,000.00 454,280.00 945,986 720,705,119.00 12,163,870.00 29,690,790.00 82,702,831.50 3,812.00 3,347,706.00 178,250 33,144,900.00 447,541,575 3,416,524.00 1,888,314.00 1,724,536 21,299,560.00 1,063,304,047.50 591,480 355,600.00 10,066,320.00 9,245,190.00 1,494,840.00 784,770.00 285,260.00 12,609,370 124,207,120.00 116,284,455.00 1,560 2,770,580.00 712,280.00 960,776,788.00 419,401,420.00 14,872,730.00 51,180.00 439,919 84,570.00 22,451,300.00 35,380,894.00 851,134,200.00 1,920,100.00 264,681,150.00 369,956,315.00 324,341,175.00 54,385,445.00 807,687,710.00 223,174,490.00 19,700.00 83,612,360.00 74,665,590.00 523,329,168.00

PREFERRED 7,300,300.00 8,041,940 128,750.00 13,168,540 2,655,141.00 41,325.00 16,211,913.00 1,545,000.00 1,471,600.00 29,996,493.00 11,612,170.00 2,167,550.00 302,120 125,742.00 2,441,650.00 10,687,665.00 4,771,755.00 4,292,500.00 120,890.00 26,565,479.00 121,840.00 1,975,000.00 5,694,400.00 5,395,230.00 11,873,493.00 5,850.00

WARRANTS & BONDS 1,027,070.00 SME 6,978,910.00 1,793,573.00 235,398,115.00

JUNE 19-23, 2017 Volume Value

0.3600 0.630 32.00 4.2 24.10 1.76 3.23 33.20 1.02 7.29 0.910 5.930

2,760,000 67,989,000 1,900 5,064,000 6,186,000 1,536,000 1,981,000 54,899,100 22,048,000 2,600 2,287,000 26,710,100

993,400.00 43,786,390.00 57,600.00 21,132,380.00 152,164,115.00 2,725,020.00 6,352,400.00 1,868,986,030.87 22,463,250.00 17,553.00 2,031,940.00 158,663,500.00

24.6 42.9 1.7 0.495 0.045 10.9 5.55 9.58 0.0910 2.14 97 9.52 8.60 2.52 970 2118 6.13 15.94 13.20 3.05 98.25 3.46 12.66 8.80 0.193 1.3800 3.56 16.32 4.32 1.63 6.35 15.60 0.620 2.34 9.38 4.60 2.630 11.28 5.20 3.08 169.00 11.06 1829.00 0.390 1.560 45.10 87.90 6.80 3.60 1.430 1.86 3.4 0.880 7.900

3,197,900 125,200 2,270,000 4,411,000 420,700,000 25,800 36,400 79,612,000 208,110,000 28,387,000 1,172,560 10,400 1,662,600 32,000 310 192,240 672,800 191,600 27,600 20,209,000 11,064,460 185,000 5,400 1,754,000 93,000,000 601,000 291,000 84,500 3,709,000 15,775,000 25,097,000 1,100 16,359,000 212,000 55,970,600 153,701,000 7,049,000 93,400 246,700 2,000 17,860 6,439,900 471,240 4,520,000 27,589,000 7,371,300 4,175,390 32,131,300 149,428,000 201,257,000 7,000 29,601,000 104,104,000 170,892,600

79,998,710.00 5,418,305.00 3,853,940.00 2,195,545.00 18,526,700.00 282,546.00 201,791 759,689,052.00 18,656,980.00 62,454,850.00 115,261,034.50 100,135.00 14,183,578.00 77,540 300,700.00 407,947,130 4,135,881.00 3,014,762.00 364,320 62,448,800.00 1,119,782,113.00 629,300 67,180.00 15,479,321.00 17,883,930.00 829,720.00 1,013,980.00 1,328,884.00 16,233,950 22,897,590.00 149,330,525.00 17,640 11,845,810.00 484,140.00 535,842,919.00 679,367,500.00 18,369,920.00 1,063,518.00 1,269,899 6,180.00 2,891,354.00 70,876,088.00 869,416,975.00 1,764,400.00 43,131,150.00 333,564,270.00 367,244,345.50 209,665,546.00 533,988,420.00 286,094,050.00 13,060.00 97,668,210.00 94,493,170.00 1,291,554,602.00

0.0030 1.63 5.00 14.98 2.0600 2.2500 0.91 0.400 9.03 2.460 0.295 0.182 0.192 0.011

2,251,000,000 19,927,000 690,500 4,800 248,000 202,000 2,281,000 720,000 90,200 6,325,000 5,820,000 36,730,000 2,300,000 285,000,000

6,565,200.00 32,519,340.00 3,451,542.00 69,320.00 548,510.00 454,540.00 2,056,810.00 283,350.00 819,986.00 15,458,010.00 1,677,250.00 6,611,280.00 441,920.00 3,015,000.00

1.95 6.25 2.05 0.5000 0.9900 0.0100 0.0100 6.03 8.90 2.97 0.0130

994,000 5,568,200 204,000 2,565,000 388,000 84,000,000 45,200,000 939,200 3,097,300 17,089,000 23,200,000

1,897,280.00 34,501,720.00 428,700.00 1,336,875.00 371,570.00 867,300.00 457,000.00 5,591,047.00 27,688,622.00 50,138,830.00 286,000.00

160.40 2.7 0.0088

5,307,490 292,000 8,000,000

850,918,031.00 795,220.00 67,000.00

42.2 105 515 512 105 116.5 114.5 500 520 5.85 1011 1017 1.07 108.8 1020 1129 1013 106 77 80.3 77.8 79 79.55 78.05 78.5

78,700 6,300 10,760 830 242,620 1,060 20,220 39,180 6,640 3,822,500 8,785 170 209,000 60 6,300 315 10,970 196,400 34,950 150,790 22,930 25,350 28,320 306,100 682,000

3,337,870.00 663,325 5,516,245.00 425,255 25,460,056.00 120,675.00 2,324,670.00 19,941,800.00 6,188,800.00 22,294,839.00 8,875,855.00 173,470.00 217,600 6,529.00 6,456,950.00 350,125.00 11,118,565.00 20,730,569.00 2,685,688.50 12,160,570.00 1,753,309.00 2,031,650.00 2,262,518.00 23,979,676.00 53,975,160.00

2.270

1,422,000

3,417,050.00

4.06 6 8.08

1,714,000 1,255,100 12,689,400

6,796,920.00 7,261,562.00 102,844,177.00

Italpinas Philab Holdings Xurpas

3.95 5.94 8.47

1,788,000 304,700 27,683,100

First Metro ETF

118.2

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 52,570 6,226,800.00

117.9

35,370

4,188,129.00

10.48

DDOLLAR DENONIMATED SEC. 2,640 27,671.20

10.5

31,420

329,345.00

USD DMPL A1

WEEKLY MOST TRADED STOCKS Abra Mining Century Property MRC Allied Ind. Manila Mining `A’ SSI Group Philodrill Corp. `A’ Premium Leisure Apollo Global Megaworld STI Holdings

VOLUME 3,106,000,000 408,697,000 350,070,000 268,500,000 200,949,000 179,700,000 170,573,000 169,100,000 151,003,000 149,382,000

STOCKS SM Investments Inc. Ayala Land `B’ Universal Robina Ayala Corp `A’ I.C.T.S.I. Melco Crown Bank of PI SM Prime Holdings PLDT Common SSI Group

VALUE 1,944,417,680.00 1,632,569,165.00 1,360,576,874 1,216,040,805 1,063,304,047.50 960,776,788.00 959,422,291.00 939,829,130.00 851,134,200.00 807,687,710.00

It will also appeal the P300,000 fine imposed by PSE against the company.

“Why sanction the whole company when only one of the officers committed the violation? We will write to the PSE to appeal the penalties,” Fabella said.

The PSE suspended the trading of Calata effective 2:20 p.m. of June 30, 2017, because of alleged multiple violations of the PSE disclosure rules. The suspension will be in effect for one month.

The local bourse said Calata violated the rules of the PSE governing the timely disclosure of the disposition of shares by a company’s directors and principal officers and disclosure of updates of previous disclosures on material information that might affect investor decision.

The PSE said the company also violated the “blackout rule” which prohibited directors and principal officers who had obtained material non-public information to trade their company’s shares within a prescribed period.

The blackout rule is in place to provide a fair market environment to the investing public by disallowing the possible trading of company insiders using non-public information that they may have access to by virtue of their position in the company.

Jenniffer B. Austria

Eagle considers acquiring factories EAGLE Cement Corp., the cement manufacturing unit of businessman Ramon Ang, is on the lookout for acquisitions to expand capacity.

Eagle chief finance officer Monica Ang said the company was conducting due diligence on possible targets.

“Even before our initial public offering, we have been looking and in discussions. We are still on due diligence stage,” Ang said.

Among the factors that the cement firm was considering for an acquisition were the location of the cement plant or proximity to a strategic market and access to raw materials such as limestone.

Ang said the cement plant should have the proper permits from the government agencies and that valuation should be very attractive.

“We have specific qualifications before we make an acquisition,” Ang said.

Eagle president John Paul Ang said the main priority was still the development of a new plant. He said in case of an acquisition, it would only be a single-line production.

Average capacity of a single line is 2 million metric tons.

Eagle expects to sustain the positive momentum in the first quarter, amid strong demand. Eagle booked a 30-percent growth in firstquarter net income, with growth spilling over to the second quarter.

“We are very happy [with] our second quarter. We have the best margins, so we can complete in terms of pricing,” Ang said.

Eagle is set to break ground for a new cement plant in Cebu in the fourth quarter of 2017. The plant, which will have capacity of 2 million metric tons, is expected to start commercial operations by 2019. Jenniffer

B. Austria

Business

B3

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Veco opts for mixed sources of electricity VISAYAN Electric Co., the country’s second biggest power distributor, called over the weekend for a balanced mix of generation sources.

Veco chief operating officer Anton Perdices said over 50 percent of the company’s power supply came from renewable energy but it must maintain a balanced mix of generation sources to provide reliable and competitively priced power to customers, Perdices said renewable energy sources lessened the country’s dependence on imported fossil fuels and helped mitigate the effects of climate change.

“In the long term, RE is cheaper than fossil-based technologies... but the initial investment into RE is high at present,” he said.

He noted that renewable energy had its disadvantages like locations in the case of geothermal and hydro.

Perdices said solar and wind power farms, meanwhile, could not provide base-load power due to reliability issues.

“A balanced mix of renewable and thermal energy sources can address the different levels and patterns of power demand in the most efficient and costeffective way,” he said.

Veco’s peak demand reached 524 megawatts in 2016, with 50 percent supplied by geothermal sources of energy in the Visayas.

Veco, a joint venture of Aboitiz Power and Vivant Corp., distributes electricity to Metro Cebu towns and cities.

The Aboitiz Power Group has a net sellable capacity of 3,954 MW, with 32 percent or 1,263 MW coming from renewable energy.

The company expects its renewable energy capacity to grow further with the completion of the 69-MW run-ofriver Manolo Fortich hydropower project in Bukidnon, the 8-MW Maris Canal hydro in Isabela, and the 8.8-MW biomass facilty in Lian, Batangas through subsidiary Aseagas.

Alena Mae S. Flores

NESTLE CBA. Nestlé Philippines chairman and CEO Jacques Reber and Nestlé Cabuyao Workers’ Union–Philippine Transport and General Workers’ Organization president Jim Malangis (standing, center) lead the signing of the landmark five-year collective bargaining agreement. Standing next to them are Reberare Cabuyao factory manager Val Dizon and lawyer Jacinto dela Rosa Jr. The agreement is the first ever five-year CBA in the company’s history.

Solar company offers 5,000 MW

By Alena Mae S. Flores

S

OLAR Philippines plans to roll out 5,000 megawatts of solar power projects that will lower electricity rates by 30 percent, or equivalent to P100 billion in savings annually.

Solar Philippines said in a statement over the weekend it was interested to replace all planned coal plants with solar battery farms.

It said the planned 5,000-MW plan included details on the locations of the solar farms, integration of batteries for grid reliability and cost of batteries and panels from the company’s factory in Batangas province.

“Our solar costs at least 30 per-

cent less than coal and can save Filipinos P100 billion per year,” Solar Philippines president Leandro Leviste said, adding the company would release the details of the plan at a later time.

The company solar power globally averaged P3 per kilowatt-hour and wents low as 1 per kWh in certain markets, making it cheaper than coal.

It said China’s government recently canceled 120 gigawatts in

planned coal plants, including 54 GW already under construction, while completing 34 GW of solar in 2016.

Solar Philippines said India’s government abandoned nearly 20 GW in coal plants, shut down 37 coal mines and was targeting 100 GW of solar by 2022.

The company also cited a report by Bloomberg which estimateed that only about 18 percent of planned coal plants today would ever get built, resulting in 369 GW of cancelations, in light of low solar costs.

Solar Philippines said cheaper power cost was badly needed in the Philippines, which had one of the world’s highest electricity rates.

The company said the Philippines was one of the only countries where plans for new coal plants were still pushing through because of the perception that solar was expensive.

“We can’t fault coal companies or policymakers for not believing in solar. It’s the solar industry’s fault for not having shown that it can be cheaper and more reliable than coal. Now with our 5,000-MW solar plan, and our first 24/7 solar-battery projects to be completed this year, we see no scenario where most planned coal projects will push through,” Leviste said.

“It is simply a fact that solar with batteries is now the least cost power in the Philippines, and anything else will result in

higher rates to consumers. We encourage the local power industry to consider this before investing billions into new coal, and hopefully they will see, like the Indians and Chinese, that the future is already here,” Leviste said.

Solar Philippines said coal plants were facing critical times and might even face closure if renewables could offer lower costs under the retail competition and open access regime, where large power users could choose their own suppliers.

Leviste said consumers today could already avail of 30 percent savings by installing solar on their rooftops under Solar Philippines’ Save-to-Own zero upfront program.

Let’s talk about ethics WHAT do we think of when related to ethics yearly. But we hear the word ethics? A lot why are there still employees LORENZ MARION may agree that it is the study violating this? Why are there LUARCA of morality. Some may say that still employees losing their it is related to the act of doing and committing REEN IGHT conscience what is right and what is wrong. serious violations which have Well, others will argue that it is basically moral directly affected their own career and lives? principles that act on our lives. Ethics has lots of Promoting an ethical environment definitions, from different kinds of people and esI’m still puzzled on why these employees do pecially experts related to its field. these violations. As much as possible, the trainA definition of ethics that I recently learned is ings provided are very knowledgeable because it that it is the activity of examining one’s moral shows how strictly it wants its employees to be standards or the moral standards of society, and able to follow rules and maximize their discipline. asking how these standards apply to our lives, Its employees are one of its assets. If employees do reasonable or not. As discussed during class, this something that violates its rules, then they become definition tells us that ethics is also the way we act a liability. towards other people. Ethics will always be part of Promoting an ethical environment, especially our society. Its importance is an integral part for for banks, is a must. The money inside all of the companies and business for it maintains its stabil- bank’s branch units is not its own property; it is ity and provides the happiness and satisfaction of from its clients. The responsibility of protecting it its employees. and keeping it safe is the bank’s main focus. Its Relating ethics in banking business would not prosper without its client’s In relating the concept of ethics to my current funds. work experience and as a member of the banking Psychology professor at Santa Clara University industry, the concept of ethics is very significant. Thomas Plante provided the six ways of creating Working for a bank’s branch unit is very critical an ethical culture in any organization: because it is the backbone of the branch. Differ1. Clear expectations for what is okay and not ent kinds of transactions are observed inside the okay; branch unit of the bank, which include the releas2. Modeling desired behavior (especially from ing of paper notes and the deposit of funds. Mem- organizational leaders); bers of the branch unit should be provided with 3. Reinforce the behavior you want, and don’t proper training and handling of money-related reinforce the behavior that you don’t want; transactions to provide quality customer service to 4. Focus on skill building and problem solving; customers.

5. Provide the tools people need to act ethically; So why am I relating the concept of ethics to and my current work experience? It is because ethical 6. Provide corrective feedback issues have been observed in the different branch These ways may help in establishing and prounits of different banks. Unethical acts are being moting an ethical culture and environment inside done; some are reported while others are just be- a banking company. It may or may not be realized ing ignored. at once but with the proper cooperation of its emKnowing proper ethical behavior ployees, improvements and developments will be It is very significant to know the proper ethical seen. behavior especially working for a bank because once you do an unethical act, this may cause you The author is an MBA student at the Ramon V. your job and sometimes your freedom. There is no del Rosario College of Business. This essay is part room for mistake in working for the bank’s branch of a journal he keeps in fulfillment of the requireunit. The proper way of handling our client’s funds ments of the course, Lasallian Business Leaderand providing them with a great customer experi- ship with Corporate Social Responsibility and ence should always be observed.

Ethics. Visit his blog at https://lasallianservant.

There have been issues of unethical acts like wordpress.com/. stealing, conflict of interest, forgery violating the company’s policies and the like which have greatly The views expressed here are the author’s and affected a branch unit of a bank. Banks have been do not necessarily reflect the official position of providing the proper and best-managed trainings DLSU, its faculty, and its administrators.

G

L

‘PAENG AWARDS.’ The RBB Foundation presents to Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Gov. Amando

Tetangco as a memento a framed picture of him with his predecessor and mentor, the late Gov. Rafeal Buenaventura. With him are (from left) foundation treasurer Roberto Panlilio and trustees Antonino Alindogan Jr., Leonilo Coronel, former Prime Minister Cesar Virata and Deogracias Vistan. The Rafael B. Buenaventura Micro Finance Resource Center Foundation (RBB Foundation) and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas launched The Paeng Awards, formally known as the Rafael B. Buenaventura Awards for Microfinance Institutions, in 2013.

DENR gets Mitsubishi electric cars

By Anna Leah E. Gonzales Leones said the department was reau, motor vehicles account for THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources received 10 units of electric and hybrid cars from Mitsubishi Motors Corp. as part of their partnership in promoting clean energy and environmental protection.

The donated cars, consisting of five units of Mitsubishi Innovative Electric Vehicle (i-MiEV) and five Outlander plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV), will be used by the DENR as service vehicles at its central office in Quezon City and regional offices in the cities of Cebu and Davao.

DENR Undersecretary Jonas

supporting the use of vehicles run by renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions in the transport sector.

“We need to encourage the production and consumption of technologies which do not damage the environment,” said Leones.

Mitsubishi will also install quick battery charging systems for the electric and hybrid cars in selected DENR offices.

Carbon emissions from electric and hybrid cars are significantly less than those of a conventional car, which is dependent on fossil fuel.

According to the DENR’s Environmental Management Bu-

88 percent of the total air pollutants in Metro Manila. The rest are attributed to factories and open burning.

The DENR and Mitsubishi in February signed a memorandum of understanding in which the multinational car manufacturer, under its corporate social responsibility program, vowed to support the agency’s environmental projects, including the promotion of electric and hybrid vehicle technology.

Nitsubishi also agreed to establish mangrove and bamboo plantations covering a 100 hectares within a period of four to five years.

Business

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

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MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

Japan nearing trade deal with EU

Samsung bares new Galaxy 7 handsets SEOUL―Samsung Electronics said Sunday it would start selling a refurbished version of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphone this week after an embarrassing recall over exploding batteries rocked the tech giant last year.

The recall of millions of Galaxy Note 7 devices cost the world’s largest smartphone maker billions of dollars in lost profits and hammered its global reputation.

The refurbished device, made of recalled, unsealed Note 7 handsets and unused components are outfitted with new batteries, Samsung said in a statement.

The limited-edition phone― the Galaxy Note Fan Edition (FE)―will hit shelves in South Korea on July 7, Samsung said, adding it would only sell 400,000 units at home.

The firm said it would decide later whether to release the refurbished edition elsewhere, which is priced at 699,000 won ($611) domestically, far lower than the previous version that was nearly $1,000.

About three million Galaxy Note 7 handsets were returned to the firm last year, but campaign groups including Greenpeace have expressed concern that discarding the phones could harm the environment.

“The latest launch of the Galaxy Note FE... has a significant meaning as an environment-friendly project that minimized the waste of resources,” Samsung said in a statement.

The recall―the largest-ever by the South Korean tech giant―was deeply embarrassing for Samsung, but it has just launched a new flagship device, the Galaxy S8, to positive reviews and strong orders.

In April Samsung posted its biggest quarterly net profit in more than three years, although the company has come under pressure on wider fronts.

Lee Jae-Yong, the Samsung group’s vice chairman and heir to its leadership, is on trial for bribery over his role in a massive corruption scandal that brought down impeached former president Park Geun-Hye. Lee is accused of bribing Park and her confidante Choi SoonSil with millions of dollars to seek regulatory favors. AFP

LINE TO BORDEAUX. Passengers site on board of the first official train of the new TGV high speed train line linking Paris to Bordeaux in 2h04 on July 2, 2017 at the Bordeaux-Saint-Jean train station in Bordeaux, southwestern France. AFP

Europe is new hunting ground for US investors

By Luc Olinga

N

EW YORK―After buying big American brands like Apple, Pepsi and Yahoo!, activist shareholders―investors in search of big dividends―now are setting their sights on European companies like Nestle.

“No company is really immune from activism except perhaps for the very largest companies,” says Gregory Taxin, managing director of Spotlight Advisory, a consulting firm for activists.

The favored targets of activists, said corporate attorney David Katz, at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, are “companies that have a lot of cash that haven’t been returned to shareholders.”

In announcing plans last week to buy $3.5 billion of Nestle shares, US billionaire Daniel Loeb revealed the European ambitions of these investors with bulging wallets who say they want to restore power to shareholders.

In addition to cost-cutting, Loeb is asking Nestle to sell its

historic stake in L’Oreal in order to boost the share price and dividends.

“L’Oreal has been a fantastic investment,” Loeb’s spokeswoman Elissa Doyle told AFP. However, it is “a non-core investment for a primarily Food & Beverage and packaged goods business.”

In the wake of Loeb’s move, Nestle announced the acquisition of $21 billion of its own shares, which should boost the stock price.

But Katz said, “I do not know if this will be enough to remove the pressure.”

Loeb is not the first US activist to go after a foreign giant.

His compatriot Nelson Peltz, through his investment fund Trian Partners, holds a stake in the

French yogurt-maker Danone.

And Paul Singer has invested, via his Elliott Management fund, in South Korea’s Samsung, the Australian-British mining group BHP Billiton and the Bank of East Asia.

All want the same thing: quick returns on investment by requiring cost-cutting, asset sales or share buyback programs.

And when they do not succeed, these activists usually engage in high profile media campaigns.

And they often win.

More than 2,900 activist campaigns have been recorded in the United States since 2010, including 645 in 2016 alone, according to FTI Consulting. Most sectors of the economy are affected.

But “the US market remains crowded and generally overvalued, (so) activist investors will continue to focus their sights on foreign jurisdictions, including not only Europe, but Australia and Asia as well,” says Andrew Freedman, co-head of the Shareholder Activism group at the Olshan Frome Wolosky law firm.

“The type of corporate self-

reflection occurring in the US is happening to a much lesser degree in Europe, leaving more opportunities at European companies for activist investors to catalyze value creation.”

Dan Zacchei, one of the leaders of Sloane & Company, a firm advising activists, said Europe is attractive because of friendly laws and many companies do not have deterrent measures against potential predators.

“European companies have less stringent corporate defenses and may be more shareholder (or in this case activist shareholder) friendly,” he said.

The Continent also is in the midst of political stabilization with the start of negotiations on Brexit, while in the United States there remain questions about the major reforms―tax cuts and infrastructure investment―promised by Donald Trump.

To succeed in Europe, however, activists will have to deal with strong trade unions and government interventions, which is rarely the case in the United States. AFP

TOKYO―The European Union’s top trade official said Saturday that a Japan-EU free trade deal was “almost there,” as the two sides look to ink an agreement seen as a push back against rising protectionism.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom was in Tokyo with agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan for two days of talks with Japanese officials.

After four years of negotiations the two sides are working toward signing a deal at the G20 in Hamburg this week.

“We are almost there,” Malmstrom told reporters in the Japanese capital Saturday evening, saying a finalized deal could happen by the “end of autumn.”

“We have sufficient convergence so that our officials can discuss in the coming days and iron out the remaining details.

“I am quite confident that our leaders can agree on their summit decided for next week on a package and give their blessing when they meet on the 6th” of July.

Japan’s foreign minister Fumio Kishida, however, described the talks as “very tough.”

“There was some meaningful progress but important issues still remain that both sides need to iron out,” Kishida said, adding that he may go to Brussels in a bid to find an agreement.

Clinching a deal would be a victory for free-trade advocates after US president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year, dealing a possibly fatal blow to the mooted 12-nation deal.

“The package which we hope to conclude next week will tear down almost all customs duties between us that are worth a lot of money, billions actually,” Malmstrom said.

“EU exports to Japan overall, according to our calculations, could be boosted by one third and that of course means many more possibilities and many jobs.

She added that a deal would send a “strong signal to the rest of the world that the EU and Japan believe in free trade.”

Tariffs on European cheese have been a key sticking point in the talks.

Brussels wants Japan to eliminate its 30 percent tariffs on some EU-made cheese, while Tokyo wants duties cut on cars which it exports to the 28-member bloc.

The EU and Japanese economies combined account for some 28 percent of global GDP. AFP

China taps ‘combustible ice’ for growing energy needs

By Allison Jackson BEIJING, China—China is drilling deep into the ocean floor in the hope of tapping vast deposits of a frozen fossil fuel known as “combustible ice” but it will be years before it is part of the global energy mix.

Gas hydrates are found in the seabed as well as beneath permafrost but experts say extracting methane from the ice crystals is technologically challenging and expensive.

Energy-guzzling China, one of several countries hoping to exploit the hard-to-reach resource to meet growing demand, recently announced a “historic breakthrough” in drilling tests in the South China Sea. In six weeks China extracted more than 235,000 cubic meters (8.3 million cubic feet) of gas hydrate off the coast of Guangdong province, according to a statement on the China Geological Survey’s website.

“China has beaten expectations in completing the trial explorations of combustible ice using local innovations in technology and engineering,” said Ye Jianliang, head of the Guangzhou Marine Geology Survey.

“It marks a historic breakthrough,” he added.

Substantial deposits One cubic meter of gas hydrate, which is also known as “flammable ice” be-

This photo taken on February 13, 2017 shows a semi-submersible drilling platform in the waters off Yantai, in China’s Shandong province. China has joined efforts to tap the world’s vast deposits of natural gas hydrates or “combustible ice,” but it will be years before the fossil fuel is part of the global energy mix. AFP

cause methane can ignite, releases 164 cubic meters of conventional natural gas once extracted, the US Department of Energy says.

Methane is extracted by heating or reducing the pressure inside the well to break down the hydrates.

Estimates for the size of the planet’s gas hydrate deposits vary widely but the US department says it could exceed “the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels.”

Analysts say the substantial resource could be a “game changer” for countries that have limited access to conventional natural gas.

“The perfect example is Japan because they don’t have much conventional gas and for them it could be an important reserve,” said Ingo Pecher, a senior lecturer in the science faculty at New Zealand’s University of Auckland.

Japan is heavily reliant on liquefied natural gas imports, with most of the country’s fleet of nuclear reactors still offline more than six years after the 2011 tsunami disaster at Fukushima.

But Pecher said: “It boils down to economics.”

While known and presumed gas hydrate deposits have been identified from New Zealand to Alaska, the challenge is to find ones that are highly concentrated and accessible.

‘Huge potential’ Several countries are hoping to turn

gas hydrate into a viable source of energy, including Japan which has reported drilling success off its Pacific coast.

The United States, which is also looking into the potential of gas hydrate, has obtained positive results from exploratory drilling in the Gulf of Mexico.

But commercially viable production is “another 10 years” away, said Paul Duerloo, partner and managing director at Boston Consulting Group in Tokyo.

“We know where the resource is, the technology we need to apply but the production rates out of the wells are not commercially sustainable at the current prices,” said Duerloo, noting that shale gas, another unconventional energy source that faced similar challenges, took a long time to “take off.”

China expects to start commercial production of gas hydrate “around 2030,” according to the Ministry of Land and Resources.

Another concern surrounding gas hydrate extraction is the potential for methane—a greenhouse gas—to leak into the atmosphere and fuel global warming, said Xu Yuan, associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s geography and resource management department.

Nevertheless, gas hydrates have “huge potential” if the cost and technological hurdles can be overcome, he added. AFP

Senate workers OK move to Antipolo MOST employees and officers of the Senate of the Philippines answered “yes” to Senate Secretary Lutgardo B. Barbo on the question of transferring the upper chamber’s offices from Pasay City to Antipolo City in a recent forum, officials of the city in Rizal province said.

Antipolo City Mayor Jun Ynares personally attended the forum to present the proposed site of the Senate building in Antipolo.

Ynares offered the 25 hectares of land owned by Antipolo as the new home for the Senate. If the offered lot were chosen by the lawmakers, the Senate will save P 4.148 billion in rent and other fees, the mayor said.

By building its own office, the Senate does not need to pay the annual rent worth P110 million for its current quarters at the GSIS building in Pasay City, nor does it need to buy a 14-hectare lot that costs P1.44 billion from Bases Conversion Development Authority at the Navy Village in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City, Ynares said.

“Due to the free and vast land, the building construction is cheaper,” the mayor said.

“The Senate and Congress can freely build needed facilities like housing, parks, sports center, convention center, and will save up to P2.7 billion.”

The lot offered to the Senate is at the geographical center of Antipolo, which is “safe from calamities” and not a threat from dangerous flood and earthquake, unlike in the Taguig which is near the West Valley Fault System, Ynares said.

The proposed site is accessible not just with the city’s “anti-traffic” program but also with the pending huge infrastructure projects like the LRT 2 Line Extension up to Cogeo in Marikina City, the C6 road from Bicutan to Batasan, and the Land Rizal Eastlake Development (RED) Project.

Interaction between government employees would also be easier due to Antipolo’s geographic location, which is nearer to Quezon City than Pasay. QC hosts the Batasang Pambansa home of Congress and different agencies of the national government.

Government employees will also save money because of the low cost of living in Antipolo, compared to Taguig’s expensive water and apartment rental fees, Ynares added. Kariza Aycocho

LGUs

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

HARVEST FESTIVAL. Senator Cynthia A. Villar, chairman of the Senate agriculture and food committee, leads the harvesting of eggplants planted by the 100 drug surrenderees who completed the 12-week training program sponsored by Villar SIPAG. The senator was assisted in the harvesting, which also include squash, beans and cucumber, by Michael Caballes, president, Allied Botanical Corp., one of the partners of Villar SIPAG in the initiative to help former drug addicts lead a productive life after rehabilitation. The Harvest festival was done during the graduation of the former drug dependents who earlier surrendered to Las Pinas police under the PNP’s ‘Oplan Tokhang.’ Lino Santos

Manila fetes 1k top students

By Sandy Araneta

F

OR being the cream of the crop, over 1,000 public elementary and high school honor students in Manila were recently recognized by Mayor Joseph Estrada and given cash rewards worth more than P7.3 million.

At the awarding rites of the annual “Gawad Pagkilala sa mga Natatanging Mag-aaral ng Maynila 2017” (Grant and Recognition of the Outstanding Students of Manila) at the city hall, Estrada congratulated the students for bringing honor not only to their families but also to the city.

“I am glad to be with the best students of the City of Manila.

We are very proud of your hard

work and dedication. You are the hope of the New Manila.

You are ones who bring pride to our city,” Estrada told the latest batch of 115 awardees, who each received P2,000 cash, medals, and certificates.

Estrada said these bright students from the city’s 73 public elementary schools and 33 high schools are proof the City of Manila is slowly gaining back its

long-lost glory.

“You have shown that you have what it takes to succeed in the future,” he added.

For 2017, Estrada has set aside P7.3 million as cash incentive for the Top 5 percent of the graduating classes and Top 3 percent of current Grades 7 and 6 students, according to Division of City Schools-Manila Superintendent Wilfredo Cabral.

A total of 1,189 students received the cash gifts, including those who graduated last March.

First honor students were given P10,000; P7,000 for 2nd; P6,000 for 3rd; P5,000 for 4th; and P4,000 for 5th honors.

“This is a great incentive for the students for working so hard to be the best in their class. We all saw that the children did their

best,” Cabral said.

More than these cash rewards, Cabral pointed out the students were inspired to study hard because of the support of the city government, such as free school uniforms and supplies, new and renovated classrooms, equipment, and modern facilities that made Manila public schools more conducive to learning.

“These initiatives given by Mayor Estrada helped a lot of students, somehow it adds up to their desire to do better,” he said.

Education is one of Estrada’s priority programs. For 2017, he has allocated more than P2 billion to the city’s Special Educational Fund to finance the construction of additional school infrastructures and other related programs.

Antipolo, DSWD assist street kids STREETCHILDREN of Antipolo and their families recently received a total of P460,000 in cash from City Mayor Jun Ynares during the flag raising ceremony at Sumulong Park.

The city government of Antipolo, with the help of the Department of Social Welfare and Development, distributed the funds to the members of Antipoleño Pamilyang Pilipino Sustainable Livelihood Program Association.

“Giving financial support is a big help for them [streetchildren’s families] to start a small business that will eventually turn out to be the source for their basic needs. Our local government is continuously doing such programs for those who are in need,” Ynares said.

Part of the DSWD’s Com-

prehensive Program for Street Children and Street Families At-Risk on the Streets is to implement such activities in molding the streetchildren’s physical, mental, attitude, emotional, and moral aspects, and to give opportunities for the parents to earn money while still in line with the program’s objective to keep the children off the streets.

Also, 46 parent-members of the association joined the threeday training on Micro-Enterprise Management to gain knowledge about running a business.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,437 streetchildren saved from the Oplan Lingap Kabataan sa Lansangan since 2015 until now are under a similar program by the City Social Welfare and Development Office.

Kariza Aycocho

A QUEZON City councilor on Sunday urged officials of the city’s 142 barangays and the public to “understand the goals” of the ruling Partido Demokratiko Pilipino-Lakas ng Bayan party that is pushing for federalism under the Duterte administration.

District 1 Councilor Peter Anthony “Onyx” Crisologo said “it is the responsibility of everyone to know the objectives of a shift

of government to federalism” from the presidential and unitary form of government.

“The ruling party has been reaching out to the people at the grassroots level to hold a basic orientation to party principles and federalism,” he told the Manila Standard.

As the PDP-Laban president in District 1, Crisologo said he is encouraging people to take an active participation in intelligent discussions and consultations to better understand

In 2016, Estrada constructed and repaired 45 school buildings in various public elementary and secondary schools in the city totaling P2.54 billion to improve the quality of education being given to poor students.

Of the building projects, 13 were new ones worth a total of P828.23 million. The rest were repair and rehabilitation works worth P1.72 billion, according to the Office of the City Engineer.

In 2015, the city mayor also completed 44 school infrastructure projects—32 of which have been completed—with a total project cost of P1.49 billion.

For the two-year period, the city government completed 87 school building projects with total project costs of P4.03 billion.

V’zuela sharpens SWAT training

By Jun David

CALOOCAN STOPS. Caloocan City Mayor Oscar Malapitan poses with the different department heads of the city government after the marking and unveiling of one of the five stations of the PNR North Railway Project that will connect Manila and Clark. Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno looks on. Jun David

QC dad: Learn PDP-Laban’s goals for federalism

By Rio N. Araja

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the benefits of a federal form of government, in a bid to accelerate economic development, address poverty, bring in peace and end the neglect in Mindanao under the unitary system of government.

Last June 30, a stalwart of District 6’s PDP-Laban invited Crisologo to speak in Barangay Sauyo before barangay Chairman Carlos Apo, barangay officials, senior citizens and representatives of some nongovernment organizations.

“I was there to explain the ideology of the PDP-Laban toward good governance, not only for Quezon City but for the entire country,” Crisologo said. “I told them to feel free to ask any question.”

Last June, on the invitation of District 2 PDP-Laban president Angelo Mendoza, Crisologo met with over 800 guests, mostly barangay officials, from barangays Holy Spirit, Batasan Hill, Commonwealth, Bagong Silangan and Payatas, during

the basic orientation to party principles and federalism held at the Ever-Gotesco mall along Commonwealth Avenue.

“I explained the party’s goals as envisioned by President Rodrigo Duterte and how we can all contribute, not by criticizing the government, but by helping and participating through social events, such as this, and engaging in current events and how these affect us and how the government can help,” he said.

IN RESPONSE to the eventuality of criminal and terrorism attacks in different parts of the country, the Valenzuela City Police Station and the city government of Valenzuela conducted a rigorous and aggressive 14-day Special Weapons and Tactics Refresher Training for 27 high-caliber SWAT personnel of the city.

During their training, the participants underwent simulation or mock exercises with scenarios such as hostage rescue operation, active shooter takedown, vehicle takedown, and bomb explosion conducted at some commercial establishments, schools, parks and roads within the city. The participants were also briefed about the Tactical Medics Module, SWAT Modules, and Radio Communication courses.

The specialized training was a test to the participant’s tactical capabilities and mental readiness should a criminal or terrorism attack hit the city.

During their graduation ceremonies last June, Mayor Rex Gatchalian commended the police force for their effort to curb criminality in the city. The local government “will equally match the police training efforts with necessary equipment to safeguard the interest and safety of the citizenry, as well as to boost their morale,” he added.

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LGUs

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

Unified Subic-Clark plan needed C

By Romeo Dizon

LARK FREEPORT, Pampanga — An integrated or unified approach to promote Clark and Subic as major tourism attractions not only in Central Luzon but also in Northern Luzon is needed to attract and generate more tourists in these areas.

This recommendation was made by Ronaldo “Ronnie” Tiotuico, regional director of the Department of Tourism in Central Luzon, who said Clark and Subic are promoting their re-

spective tourism programs as of now.

The former American military installations in the Philippines “should complement and not oppose each other in the

tourism program of the government,” Tiotuico said.

During a media forum here, Tiotuico said Subic has natural attractions like beaches, forests, and theme parks, while Clark has land-based tourist sites, sports activities, an annual balloon festival, and biking events that can be promoted.

“Clark and Subic must be promoted as one major tourist attraction instead of two,” he stressed.

The two former US air force and naval bases are currently under the control of the Bases Conversation Development Authority.

At present, Subic is edging Clark in attracting more tourists because of its natural attractions, Tiotuico added.

The official, who is retiring this month, said the arrivals at Clark have increased from 3.5 million to 4.2 million, mostly overseas Filipino workers from the Middle East and Asean countries.

The others are international tourists like Koreans, Americans, Chinese, Japanese and other nationalities who stay for almost a week and spend $100 a day, DOT data showed.

However, the Koreans still dominate the other nationalities with estimated arrivals of 15,000 a month. This is based on the monthly hotel room accommodations submitted by travel agencies to the department’s regional office, he said.

Tuituico, who started his career in the department in 1977, said his legacy in Central Luzon is the opening of the Mt. Pinatubo crater as a tourist attraction and the holding of the annual balloon festival, which remains the main tourist attraction in the region.

“I had to ask and request several times the late Raymundo Punongbayan, then Phivolcs director, when we can open the crater of the volcano for tourism purpose, until one day he agreed,” he said.

The opening of the crater for tourism has financially benefited the towns of Capas, Tarlac and Botolan, Zambales, which collect fees from tourists.

The annual balloon festival is now a self-generating enterprise, which will be duplicated in the Bicol region next year as requested by Tourism Secretary Wanda Corazon Teo.

Vizcaya elderly get cash rewards

OFF TO MARAWI. Calabarzon Police Chief Supt. Ma. O Aplasca delivers his message to the 241-member regional contingent that is going to Marawi City to reinforce government forces in the battle-torn capital of Lanao del Sur this week. Roy Tomandao

Aritao lauds oldest professionals and politicians

By Ben Moses Ebreo ARITAO, Nueva Vizcaya—This town recently gave recognition and awards to its own professional, politicians and elderlies as part of its weeklong centennial celebration.

“This is our way of honoring the great achievements and contributions of our villagers to our town. We are very proud of them for these contributions,” said Mayor Lucita Tan.

She said the event is also an expression of the centennial celebration’s theme, “Pagbabalik-Tanaw, Pasasalamat at Pagbubunyi” (Recollection, Thanksgiving and Celebration).

Awarded as Oldest Living Professionals were Antonio Fernandez, teacher; Esteban Tucay, schools district supervisor; Ignacio Galindez, elected provincial board member and regional supervisor; Dr. George Gatchalian, medical doctor; lawyer Ed-

gar Poyatos, lawyer; Architect Henry Bungubung, architect; Dr. Sinforoso Rimando, dentist; Leonisa Merced-Malana, nurse; Captain Frali Quezon, pilot; Rebecca Gatchalian, midwife; Clarita Saldivar, social worker; Bartola Bautista, agriculturist; engineer Purita Paringit-Justiniano, chemical engineer; retired General Romeo Calizo, Philippine Military Academy graduate and the town’s first general; Police Senior Supt. Ronaldo Luc-

era Llanera, Philippine National Police Academy graduate; Ship Captain Serafin Bassig, seaman and Forester Mario Bungubung, oldest forester.

Aritao’s oldest living elected officials who served the municipality were also honored, including Guillermo Peros, mayor; Trinidad Mallo, councilor; Dominador Layco, Association of Barangay Captains president; and Dr. Remelina Peros, Kabataang Barangay Federation president.

The municipality’s other professionals who gave pride to Aritao as its “firsts” were also recognized, like Rep. Luisa Cuaresma as first Aritaoeno who became governor and congresswoman; Dr. Cirilo Galindez, who became regional director of the Veterans Regional Hospital; Karole Oy Serapon, who became “Saniata” (beauty) of Nueva Vizcaya; and lawyer Romeo Montefalco Jr., who became director of the Department of Labor and Employment.

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya —At least 37 centenarians here are set to receive P100,000 each from the Department of Social Welfare and Development.

Laura Donato, Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program provincial link officer, said the centenarians are from the towns of Ambaguio, Aritao, Bambang, Bayombong, Diadi, Dupax del Norte, Dupax del Sur, Kasibu, Quezon, Sta. Fe, Solano and Villaverde.

“Validations for the centenarians are ongoing. The fund is already downloaded at our regional office waiting for the complete documents before the scheduled door-todoor delivery [of the funds],” she said.

The centenarians will receive the benefits under the Centenarian Law even after they have received similar perks through the provincial government’s Centenarian Ordinance, which was implemented earlier.

Governor Carlos Padilla also asked DSWD officials to facilitate the required documents for the would-be recipients in the province.

“You can get the original documents similarly submitted by these centenarians to us because we are the first who implemented the law in our province,” he said. Ben Moses Ebreo

Apayao execs pass planning license test

By Dexter A. See

GIFT OF LIGHT. Students of Kinabuksan Integrated School in Cawag, Subic, Zambales show the solar lamps they received from Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., which is building a power plant in the town. Also in photo is RP Energy CSR officer Jason Gavina. Butch Gunio

CPLA chair vows solidarity with leaders

By Dexter A. See BANGUED, Abra—The new chairman of the Cordillera Peoples’ Liberation Army vowed to work with the former leaders of the armed group to strengthen the grant of autonomy to the Cordillera region.

Vice Gov. Ronald Balaw-as said he will consult with the former and present leaders of the CPLA regarding the internal reorganization of the group.

The available positions will be filled up by deserving leaders from the unified factions and for them to start working for the rejuvenation of the organization, Balaw-as added.

“We want to involve as many of the unified CPLA groups to put in place the right persons in sensitive positions to strengthen the organization and make it a strong lobby group for regional autonomy among other prior-

ity concerns for the Cordillera with the national government,” Balaw-as stressed.

He revealed once the group’s reorganization will be completed, they will start reaching out to the national government, particularly the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process.

OPAPP will help in the reiteration of the unfulfilled commitments of the government as contained in the group’s 26-point

demand during its negotiations with the government panel, resulting in the signing of the historic 1986 Mount Data peace agreement.

Balaw-as said three of his grandfathers were part of the Mount Data peace negotiation, and the reason why the present and future generations must recognize and value the sacrifices of the people who fought for the region’s self-governance.

LUNA, Apayao—Seven government employees of Apayao, all working in local planning offices, recently passed the Environmental Planner Licensure Examination held on June 7 to 8.

Four passers work at the provincial government’s Provincial Planning and Development Office: engineer Henry Caluducan, PPDO chief; Arnold Castillo, Planning Officer IV; Leonel Basquez, PO III; and Felipe Abulencia, Project Evaluation Officer III. The other three come from local government units, namely Edward Lactam, Information Technology Officer of Luna; engineer Sonny Butel, PO IV of Flora; and Cristina Rumingquet, PO II of Pudtol.

Caluducan expressed his delight in passing the exam. “You are now called a legitimate environmental planner. You cannot sign a development plan unless you are a passer,” he said.

Caluducan said he understands the predicament of those examinees who did not make it, as their expertise are “based only on limited sectors such as development, environmental work, social institution, and physical infrastructure, to name a few.”

He suggested that the concept of exposure and study of environmental planning should be

more on comprehensive development planning.

“Planning workshop and study should not be ‘sectoralized.’ It must be wholesome and more comprehensive, which includes regional and national planning,” Caluducan said. “If they want to pass, they should start reading books now, not only on the local setting but especially in the regional and national ones.”

Castillo also of the PPDO believes in the necessity of taking the exam, as he considers environmental planning as a highly technical profession.

Although one’s position in the government is protected by the rule on security of tenure, taking the exam is a challenge, he said, and in passing the exam Castillo is satisfied he can now be legally addressed as an environmental planner.

The examination is mandated

by Republic Act No. 10587, the Environmental Planning Act of 2013, as a policy of the State to recognize the importance of environmental planning in nationbuilding and development.

Section 18, Article III of RA 10587 states those who are not graduates of environmental planning, urban/city and regional planning or town and country planning courses or their equivalent, but want to become an environmental planner, shall only be allowed to take the exam in 2018.

World IN BRIEF Troops ordered to tackle dengue crisis COLOMBO―Sri Lanka deployed hundreds of soldiers to destroy mosquito breeding grounds as the country battles the spread of deadly dengue fever that has killed a record 215 people this year, officials said Sunday.

Humid monsoon weather, stagnant water from recent flooding, as well as mounting piles of rotting garbage accumulating in the capital, have combined to create abundant areas for mosquitoes to multiply.

This has caused rates of dengue, a tropical disease that is spread by mosquitoes, to surge to over 71,000 people infected in the first six months of this year, a record figure that far surpasses last year’s total of 55,000.

Troops, backed by police and health officials, have launched an intensive campaign to identify dengue hot spots to be sprayed with insecticides, the military said in a statement.

“Twenty five teams will separately move into the worst-affected areas in and around Colombo and search for dengue breeding spots and other vulnerable areas,” the statement said.

The scale of the spread of the disease has been unprecedented and caught Sri Lankan authorities off guard. Health ministry officials said the 215 deaths in the first six months of this year compared with 78 reported during the whole of 2016.

Authorities have blamed a garbage disposal crisis in Colombo for the spread of dengue.

The country’s main rubbish tip collapsed in April, crushing dozens of homes and killing 32 people.

With nowhere to take the trash, municipal collection has drastically slowed and led to huge piles on the streets which authorities say help mosquito-breeding. AFP

Bangladesh arrests female IS members DHAKA―Bangladesh police have arrested three female members of an Islamist extremist group blamed for the deadly Dhaka café siege, officials said Sunday, as authorities continued to crack down on militant outfits a year after the attack.

The three women were arrested late Saturday following a failed suicide bombing after their hide-out was raided in western Kushtia district’s Bheramara town, 228 kilometers from the capital Dhaka.

Local police chief Nur Hossain Khandker told AFP that one of the suspects wearing a suicide bomb vest tried to blow herself up as she rushed towards authorities after being asked to surrender.

“She failed and we arrested her without any harm. Later she said she couldn’t find the trigger, or else, there would have been many casualties,” Khandker said.

Kushtia police chief Mehedi Hasan said the women were members of Jamayetul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), a local group blamed for the 2016 Holey bakery attack in Dhaka’s diplomatic zone where militants killed 22 people.

Police said one of the women, Tithi Khatun, 30, is the wife of acting JMB chief Ayyub Bacchu who is on the run and allegedly visited the hideout frequently.

“We conducted a clean sweep operation inside the den and found 10 kilos of gunpowder, two armed [suicide] vests and a loaded pistol,” Khandker said.

“Two minor children were also rescued from the hideout,” he added. AFP

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

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Xi warns HK demonstrators H ONG KONG―A landmark visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Hong Kong left little doubt that Beijing views the city as a destabilizing hotbed of unacceptable political dissent that must prove its loyalty, analysts said Sunday.

SHOW. In this picture taken on July 1, 2017, an Indian model presents creations during a fashion show on the second day of the three-day Textile India 2017 exhibition at Mahatma Mandir in Gnadhinagar. AFP

His three-day trip to celebrate 20 years since Hong Kong was handed back to China by Britain culminated Saturday in a 30-minute speech, warning that any challenge to Beijing’s control over the city crossed a “red line”.

That was seen as a salvo against a new wave of activists calling for self-determination or independence for semi-autonomous Hong Kong, concepts intolerable to Beijing.

Throughout the televised address, Xi played up Hong Kong’s role in upholding China’s national security and sovereignty, casting it as a potential breeding ground for instability that must be reined in.

It comes after major political turbulence in recent years that saw mass rallies calling for democratic reform bring parts of the city to a standstill for months in 2014.

Since then, a “localist” movement has emerged promoting Hong Kong’s own separate identity as fewer young people see themselves as “Chinese”. Some in that camp want a complete split from the mainland.

The address laid out a “very strong warning” against dissenters, said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a political science professor at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“Xi’s acting as a schoolmaster, warning there will be consequences if they misbehave,” he added.

Xi also called on authorities to “enhance” education to raise awareness of China’s national history and culture, alluding to the need to bring young people back into the fold.

By putting national security and education front and center, Xi is pushing Hong Kong’s new Bei-

jing-friendly leader Carrie Lam to revisit two potentially explosive catalysts for social and political unrest.

The last attempt to implement a compulsory patriotic curriculum was shelved in 2012 after huge rallies by parents, teachers and students who feared it was Beijing brainwashing. Those protests were led by a then 15-year-old Joshua Wong, now an internationally known pro-democracy campaigner.

A proposed anti-subversion national security law also triggered massive demonstrations in 2003 over concerns it would lead to suppression of rights and freedoms. It has never been implemented.

“If Carrie Lam does what Xi Jinping said, which is to relaunch the national education campaign and to draft a national security law, she’s going to antagonise a lot of Hong Kong people,” said Cabestan.

Xi appeared relaxed, almost disinterested at times, during a visit which included presiding over Hong Kong’s biggest military parade since the 1997 handover.

But his demeanor did not reflect an absence of purpose. The South China Morning Post described his strategy as “speak softly but carry a big stick”, a proverb made famous by United States President Theodore Roosevelt to describe his approach to foreign policy.

Xi avowed his commitment to Hong Kong’s semi-autonomous status as concerns deepen that China is increasingly interfering in the city’s affairs.

Yet Beijing’s foreign ministry on Friday declared the document signed by Britain and China that initiated the handover was “no longer relevant”. AFP

Eastern Europeans bristle at ‘food apartheid’ SOFIA-It looks like Nutella, smells like Nutella and yet doesn’t quite taste like the famous Italian chocolate spread. Eastern European leaders are fuming after tests suggested that big Western brands use cheaper ingredients in food products sold in former communist countries.

While Bulgaria’s burly premier Boyko Borisov has slammed the practice as “food apartheid”, Czech Agriculture Minister Marian Jurecka declared in late February that the east was tired of being “Europe’s garbage can”.

Recent government-backed studies in Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic indicated that many items sold with identical

packaging were of superior quality in richer neighboring European Union countries.

The findings prompted Bulgaria last month to carry out its own tests.

A team of chemists in Sofia spent the last few weeks diligently measuring, filtering and analyzing samples of popular items like butter, cheese, sausages, chocolate, baby puree and soft drinks.

On Wednesday, the national food watchdog confirmed there were discrepancies with at least seven out of 31 products bought from the same food chain stores in Bulgaria, Germany and Austria.

A chocolate dessert had less milk and cocoa than its German

counterpart, for instance, although this did not have a major impact on taste, according to the national food safety agency.

Soft drinks purchased in Bulgarian supermarkets contained sweeteners, while those in Austria were prepared with sugar.

“Many of these deviations are considered minor from the viewpoint of (European Union) regulations,” the agency’s chief Damyan Iliev told Bulgarian media on Wednesday.

“But Bulgarian consumers are being misled in that they believe they are buying the same product when in fact they are not.”

The experts also noted that 16

of the tested products were sold at higher prices in the EU’s poorest member state than in Germany and Austria, with baby purees twice as expensive.

The controversy has struck a raw nerve in the region where Western foods used to be a luxury that could only be bought with foreign currency in special shops.

The issue perfectly encapsulates “the Eastern European anxiety about becoming second-class citizens” in the bloc, Bulgarian political expert Ivan Krastev wrote in the New York Times earlier this month.

It feeds into fears over an emerging “two-tiered Europe”, in which big nations like Germany push

for greater EU integration while ex-eastern bloc members demand more sovereignty, Krastev wrote.

The firms, however, argue that recipes are merely tweaked to suit local palates and point out that the practice doesn’t break any rules.

Under EU directives, companies are free to change a product’s ingredients from one member state to another as long as the they are clearly listed on the packaging.

But that has done little to cool boiling tempers.

“I don’t see how substituting good chocolate for the cheapest local one will adapt better to my taste?” fumed Bulgarian motherof-two Yana Mihailova. AFP

Israel retaliates after stray artillery rounds in Golan JERUSALEM―Israel returned fire at Syrian army forces late Saturday after two stray artillery rounds hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli army said.

“In response to projectiles launched earlier today at Israel from Syria, Israeli forces targeted the Syrian military artillery position that was the source of the previous fire,” a statement said.

Earlier the army warned Syria to expect retaliation after the rounds fell in the Israeli-controlled zone of the strategic plateau, the latest of a string of incidents across the armistice line.

Both of Saturday’s stray rounds were the “result of internal fighting in Syria,” the army said, adding that there were no reports of casualties.

“Israel holds the Syrian regime responsible for any breach of its borders and will act accordingly,” chief military spokesman, Brigadier General Ronen Manelis said.

“Israel maintains a policy of noninvolvement in the Syrian civil war.

However, we will not tolerate any breach of Israel’s sovereignty.”

There has been repeated stray fire across the armistice line for the past week as Syrian troops battle rebels, including hardline Islamists, on the other side.

There have been no casualties on the Israeli side but the Jewish State has responded to every incident by

striking Syrian army positions.

Rebels recently launched an offensive against Syrian government forces in Quneitra on the Syrian side of the armistice line.

Israel has conducted several air strikes in Syria since that country’s civil war erupted in 2011. Most of it has been against arms convoys or warehouses of its Lebanese arch-foe Hezbollah.

The Iran-backed movement is a key supporter of the Syrian regime and is fighting alongside government forces.

In April, Israel shot down what it identified only as “a target” over the Golan, hours after Syria accused it of hitting a military position near Damascus airport.

Israel did not confirm or deny the reported Damascus attack.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he would not tolerate any spillover from the fighting in Syria.

“Our line is clear,” Netanyahu said a Hebrew-language speech during a visit to the Golan.

“We shall not permit radical Islam, led by Iran or Daesh, to open a terrorist front against the state of Israel from the Syrian side of the Golan Heights,” he said using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State Jihadist group. AFP

PARADE. A man with a fancy dress poses during the WorldPride 2017 parade in Madrid on July 1, 2017.

Revelers took to the rainbow streets of Madrid in the world’s biggest march for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights. Carried along by the slogan ‘Viva la vida!’ (Live life!), the parade of 52 floats started partying its way through the center later afternoon in celebration of sexual diversity. AFP

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

Power outages hit Central Americans

World

MILITARY HONORS. The coffin of late former Chancellor Helmut Kohl is carried during a military honors after a mass on July 1, 2017 at the cathedral in Speyer. Kohl, who seized the chance to reunite his country after years of Cold War separation, died at the age of 87 on June 16, 2017. AFP

Nightclub shooting wounds 25 in US MIAMI―Twenty-five people were wounded, two of whom were in critical condition, during a nightclub shooting early Saturday in the southern US state of Arkansas, officials said.

Authorities said three more people were injured by stampeding patrons fleeing the shooting.

The mayor of Little Rock said all of the victims are expected to survive after gunfire broke out inside the downtown Power Ultra Lounge nightclub around 2:30 am (0730 GMT).

“I want to reassure our public that this was not an act of terrorism but a tragedy... It does not appear to be a planned shooting,” Mayor Mark Stodola told a press conference.

A disagreement involving a small number of patrons at the club quickly escalated because of “the presence of rivalries and weapons,” Stodola said.

Authorities did not immediately release any names or information on a suspect or suspects.

However Police Chief Kenton Buckner said some members with the headliner group, including one with a gun, had been stopped by police after trying to enter the nightclub. They appear to have gained access to the club later through a different entry way.

Buckner said the victims ranged in age from 16 to 35, with two in critical condition.

“We have no reason to believe at this time that anyone in the general public is at harm of any incident,” he added.

Authorities are investigating whether a longstanding rivalry between feuding gangs was to blame for the violence, and said they have closed down the club in the wake of the shootings.

“I think when you have a concert venue where you have young people and force these two cities into a small room and some kind of dispute ensues, it was a recipe for disaster,” Stodola said.

“Little Rock’s crime problem appears to be intensifying,” Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson said in a statement, decrying “this senseless violent tragedy.”

He promised state resources to help “support local law enforcement efforts.”

The FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the US Marshalls were working on the case, Stodola said. AFP

SAN JOSE―A huge power outage plunged millions of people across Central America into darkness Saturday, as authorities from Panama to Costa Rica to El Salvador scrambled to restore electrical service.

The blackout affected some five million people in Costa Rica alone, where officials largely had managed to restore service after a nationwide power outage lasting about five hours.

Authorities pinned blame for the power outages on a downed Panamanian transmission line that adversely affected the power supply for much of the region.

Countries in the region, from Guatemala to Panama, are connected by the same power grid, covering an expanse of some 1,800 kilometers.

But that interconnectedness means that the countries of Central America are vulnerable when there are power grid malfunctions in any one.

Chaos reigned in the Costa Rican capital after traffic lights ceased to function, while the main airport in San Jose had to run on backup power until the power system was up and running again.

The blackout was the first experienced in Costa Rica, among the most developed countries in Latin America, since 2001.

Officials said as many as two million people were left in the dark in Panama, with an undetermined number affected in Nicaragua and El Salvador.

Details were not immediately available about how many people were affected by the blackout elsewhere in Central America, or whether they had managed to get their power systems back up and running.

Officials at the Costa Rican Institute for Electricity said power was disrupted throughout the entire country, but was restored in most places by 6:00 pm (0000 GMT).

“ICE is trying to diagnose the problem,” Communications Minister Mauricio Herrera, said earlier Saturday referring to the office by its Spanish acronym. He said that workers succeeded in restoring power to some areas of Costa Rica.

ICE said that the origins of the blackout were outside of the country and urged the public to remain indoors while they try to fix the problem.

In Panama, the ETESA government power authority said via Twitter that the nation had experienced just a “partial blackout” and that workers were trying to restore power to the affected areas.

Much of the power was restored about three hours after the blackout started, officials said.

The blackout in Panama occurred about 15 minutes into a major speech delivered by President Juan Carlos Varela to the country’s legislature.

Nicaragua for a time had to tap the grid in neighboring Honduras to keep the lights on.

AFP

Trump defends Twitter use after attacking the media W

ASHINGTON― President Donald Trump defended his aggressive use of Twitter on Saturday just hours after firing off his latest volley in his escalating feud with US media.

FESTIVAL. Dancers from The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater perform onstage at the 2017 ESSENCE Festival Presented By Coca Cola at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on July 1, 2017 in New Orleans, Louisiana. AFP

Californians take a shine to solar power LOS ANGELES―Jacquie Barnbrook had grown tired of the high electricity bills and her gas-guzzling luxury car when she finally decided to take the plunge last year.

The 52-year-old Los Angeles resident joined an ever-growing number of Californians who are switching to solar power for their energy needs in a bid to not only save money but to also do their part for the environment in a state setting the pace for the rest of the country in that sector.

“At this time of year, my power and water bills usually were around $400 a month,” Barnbrook said. “Right now, it’s $150 a month.”

As for her vehicle, Barnbrook said she ditched it in favor of a hybrid one that she now plugs in

and charges at her house.

“I was previously spending $80 dollars on gas every three or four days and now I haven’t put gas in my new car since the beginning of March,” she noted.

“That’s four months ago!”

Nearly 4.9 million homes are powered by solar energy in California―the nation’s green trailblazer and the most populous state―and that number is expected to continue to grow, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association, a nonprofit trade association.

Even President Donald Trump, an avowed skeptic on climate change, is considering putting solar panels on the wall he plans to build on the Mexican border.

Although solar installations have slowed this year due, in

part, to a record number of people rushing to sign up in 2016 for fear of losing a tax incentive, the market is expected to continue to grow, especially in places like California which has a plethora of sunny days, experts say.

Driving this expansion is the plummeting cost of solar panels―which were traditionally limited to relatively affluent homeowners―and improving technology on batteries to store energy, they add.

“Right now, we’re in throes of rapid change in the solar industry,” said Rajit Gadh, director of the UCLA Smart Grid Energy Research Center. “As people process all the information out there and report their success stories and it starts to become mainstream ... the momentum

will grow.”

He said apart from cost, another reason average consumers have gingerly adopted solar power in recent years was the dizzying number of regulatory hoops they had to go through to get approval from utility companies and a lot of complicated information to process.

Moreover, as demand for the product has surged in the last decade, so have the number of companies―both serious and shady―jostling for a piece of the pie.

“Solar power is confusing and for a long time it really didn’t make a lot of economic sense,” said Ryan Willemsen, CEO and founder of the San Diego-based start-up Solar to the People. AFP

Following an early morning Twitter tirade at CNN, NBC and a morning show host he taunted as “dumb as a rock,” the president then went on the defensive, touting his electoral accomplishments as justification for his increasingly hostile rhetoric.

“The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media - but remember, I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media,” Trump said on Twitter.

“I had to beat #FakeNews, and did. We will continue to WIN!” he posted, before ending the day at a rally in Washington that included a similar anti-media barrage.

In recent days, the US leader has railed against major news organizations as “fake news,” and launched a crude personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who headline the “Morning Joe” program on the left-leaning MSNBC cable network.

“Crazy Joe Scarborough and dumb as a rock Mika are not bad people, but their low rated show is dominated by their NBC bosses. Too bad!” he wrote Saturday, seemingly trying to get in the final word in his clash with the journalists.

Apparently stung by critical coverage on the show, Trump on Thursday had tweeted: “I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don’t watch anymore).

“Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe came to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year’s Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a facelift. I said no!”

The comments sparked a major backlash, as well as condemnation from within Trump’s own Republican Party.

The TV hosts responded on Friday with an opinion piece in The Washington Post titled “Donald Trump is not well,” questioning his “unmoored behavior” and fitness to serve.

Trump also targeted CNN, a frequent punching bag for the president. AFP

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

FOOD

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

D1

A culinary feast FOR ALL SENSES

By Nickie Wang

T

HAT’S how Anders Hallden, a Swedish chef who is now the General Manager of Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino, describes Filipino cuisine, which was once overlooked by the global food community. But amid unfavorable head start, local dishes are now making their way to world food arena in a trailblazing fashion like breakthrough rock artists.

“It’s about time to put Filipino cuisine on the world food map. We are deeply engaged in promoting native Filipino flavors,” Hallden told Manila Standard when he welcomed a group of scribes from Manila at the grand lobby of the hotel in Lahug.

Holding true to its endeavor to training the spotlight on Filipino cuisine, the conglomerate has always prided itself in presenting a host of culinary cultures in many outlets including UNO, The Waterfront Group’s leading international buffet and a la carte café and restaurant.

The leading F&B outlet is hosting a special culinary event, a festival of flavors dubbed “UNO’s Modern Filipino Taste: A Filipino Feast for All Senses.”

UNO’s food festival began on June 8 and will run until the end of August and is extended from the hotel in Lahug to its smaller, yet equally charming, sister right across the Mactan-Cebu International Airport.

“We are also planning to launch similar events in our properties in Manila

and Davao,” Hallden said, adding that they envision the culinary feast to be a nationwide event.

To give “UNO’s Modern Filipino Taste: A Filipino Feast for All Senses” the innovate twist that turned classic Filipino and Cebuano cuisines into contemporary foodie charmers, the restaurant tapped husband-and-wife tandem Chefs Roland and Jackie Laudico’s culinary expertise to put together a special menu of the best of Filipino cuisine in this three-month food fest.

“Waterfront is one of the five-star hotels in the country that is Filipino owned. It serves as an inspiration for us to make this festival extra special,” Chef Lau told us in an interview.

He furthered that ever since he became a professional in the field, his advocacy is to promote Filipino cuisine.

“We’ve been to several countries abroad, we have done several food festivals in different hotels and restaurants

abroad, and it’s always Filipino flavors that we champion,” he shared.

The celebrity chef will be coming back and forth to Cebu to oversee the kitchen and to ensure that the 65 dishes they prepared for this festival will maintain their quality.

“The challenge is you’re working with a team that you have never worked with before. You’re working in the kitchen that is new to you and anything could go wrong, but we’re used to that, that’s what makes our job exciting. Good thing I’m working with other chefs like Chefs Maui, Tristan, and Victor who are all into Filipino traditional way of cooking,” Chef Lau explained.

Their culinary creations include a variety of Cebuano dishes with a twist such as Lechon Kambing, Beef Lechon, Spicy Lechon, Puso Surprise (hanging rice with a special filling inside) and Crusted Salted Fish.

“We did something special for the lechon, specifically. We made it more aromatic by using a special herb, similar to basil, which grows abundantly here in Cebu,” he said.

Guests and food aficionados can taste how he masterfully recreated some of the local appetizers by giving them some seriously interesting twists such as Sisig Baskets (assorted sisig in rice baskets topped with garlic aioli), Palabok Bites (the goodness of palabok topped with Carcar Chicharon) and Sinigang Bites (tamarindspiced kangkong chips topped with bangus mousse).

Ngohiong Cones, Sinigang Bites and Palabok Bites

Queso de Bola Cheese Cake and Tsokolate OH with Peanut Butter Mousse

There are also cold appetizers such as Kinilaw Spoons (fresh fish in spicy calamansi and capsicum emulsion), Danggit Macaroon stuffed with Laing Mousse and Shrimps, and Sushi-Noy (Filipino maki topped with matambaka flakes). Hearty soups include Nilarang Bouillabaisse (a tasty version of the classic Cebuano fish soup) and Pochero Corn Chowder (beef soup with corn puree).

The main entrees, on the other hand, are a lineup of mouthwatering culinary fusions like the Kaldereta Pie (spicy lamb stew topped with potato mash and cheese), Balbacua Uno (slow cooked ox-tail, beef knuckles and skin UNO style), and San Miguel Battered Fish with Buro Cream (Filipino-style beer battered fish served with creamy fer-

Sisig Baskets containing assorted sisig in rice baskets topped with garlic aioli

Sushi-Noy is a Filipino maki topped with matambaka flakes

Palabok Bites seasoned with Carcar Chicharon

Spicy Bellychon

Chef Hiro welcomes celebrants to Kitsho TAKE a break from your usual celebrations and indulge in an all-you-can-eat weekend delight as Chef Mizumoto “Hiro” Masahiro, welcomes celebrants to Kitsho for the entire month of July.

Enjoy an authentic Japanese buffet spread all weekends of this month during lunch and dinner hours when you celebrate important milestones— like birthdays, anniversaries, debuts, wedding pre-nuptials, baptisms, and matrimonial engagements—with family and friends.

To sweeten the deal, for every group of five guests, the 6th enjoys the a la carte buffet for free. Plus, every P500 spent on meals gets a free soft serve ice cream. Lunch is at P1,100++ and dinner at P1,250++, inclusive of bottomless iced tea.

Savor a wide spread of 30 a la carte items accompanied with a bunch of appetizers (mabo tofu, yakisoba, mabo nasu, sauteed vegetables, nagasaki saraudon and gyoza), seafood items (tuna/salmon teppan, shrimp/ oyster/squid/white fish fry, salmon croquette, shrimp/squid tempura and shrimp with chili sauce), assorted sushi and sashimi, meat items (beef/ pork teppan, tonkatsu, meat croquette, chicken katsu, pork saute with ginger, chicken teriyaki, katsuni and

fried chicken), as well as a US prime beef sukiyaki station. And for private reservations for a group above 20, a special buffet set-up can be arranged any day of the week.

Chef Hiro is pretty confident about the food served at the restaurant. “The Embassy of Japan brings guests here frequently. If my taste isn’t authentic, they won’t be coming back as often,” enthused Chef Hiro.

“You have to try our Salmon Sushi, I covered its crispy skin with tempura batter. You’ll simply taste a different texture than what you’re used to. Also try our meat dish of US Rib Eye that we cut into thin strips then wrapped them with Japanese mustard. Our tenderloin has fat layers in it which make them tastier. If I have the ingredients to a dish that’s not in the menu, then I’ll prepare it for guests who request it,” shares the Japanese chef.

Kitsho is open from Monday to Sunday for lunch (11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.) and dinner (6 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.).

Kitsho Authentic Japanese restaurant is located at the ground level of Hotel Jen Manila. For inquiries and advance reservations, call the resto’s hotline via tel. no. (02) 994-36-23 or (02) 795-8888 extension 2312.

mented rice sauce), among others.

With “UNO’s Modern Filipino Taste: A Filipino Feast for All Senses,” the restaurant broadens and enriches its already diverse culinary offerings, thus helping in the further evolution of the Filipino food and cooking culture. The Laudicos’ imagination, creativity and signature flavors find a welcoming venue in the restaurant.

“We really wanted Filipino food to be respected globally. It should have happened many, many years ago. The only problem with Filipino cuisine is convenience products, all that instant crap. We do not only advocate Filipino food, we promote the traditional way of Filipino food. It’s not the cuisine that’s at fault, it’s the person that cooked it,” Chef Lau concluded.

Kitsho offers a wide selection of Japanese fare, perfect for any kind of celebrations

Chef Mizumoto ‘Hiro’ Masahiro invites July celebrants to Kitsho

Life

D2

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

HOME FEAST. Chefs Deejay Santos. Portia Baluyut, and Miko Aspiras cooked (from left) Beef and Veggie Wrap, Prawn and Chorizo Risoni, and Carbonara using Tefal’s newest Titanium Cookware ranges.

Cook a meal LIKE A CHEF

I

N FILIPINO homes, memories are made around the dining table. Whether it’s a glamorous red letter affair or a simple dinner at your family’s house, a delicious feast is always the highlight of every gathering.

Tefal, the world leader in non-stick cookware and other kitchenware innovations, makes sure that your parties and soirees at homes come to life with the help of its newest Titanium Cookware range.

Tefal, along with its renowned culinary ambassadors: Tefal Resident Chef Deejay Santos, Chef Portia Baluyut of Rustic Mornings by Isabelo, and Chef Miko Aspiras of Le Petit Soufflé, share how you can put together a winning party in half the time and less the stress.

Known for his delicious, homey dishes, Chef Deejay whips up two easy appetizers, which every homemaker can do in their own kitchen.

To cook these delectable bites, Chef Deejay used the new Tefal Titanium Pleasure Cookware. This unique collection is reinforced with Titanium Force coating, a multi-layer non-stick, strengthening, and anti-abrasion coating that fortifies a hard titanium base layer for extra

strength and durability. This coating is two times more durable than Tefal’s entry level Powerglide coating.

From bite-sized delights to more hearty meals, Chef Portia shares the secret to perfectly cooked mains. With Tefal Titanium Character Cookware, enjoy the durability of pro-grade cookware that’s easy Whip up a feast using premium pots and pans such as Tefal Titanium Cookware Character range that is made of high quality aluminum and has Titanium Pro coating

to u s e for the everyday cook.

Tefal Character pots and pans are crafted with Titanium Pro coating, which gives you double the durability of the Titanium Force coating. This cookware range is crafted from high quality aluminum, and reinforced with mineral and titanium particles, perfect for any cooking style, including induction cooktops. A must-have for condos and modern homes, the Charac-

ter Cookware brings together the chic expertise of modern cookware and fuss-free, fun cooking.

Finally, renowned dessert chef Miko showcases his two sweet inspirations that he created using Tefal Titanium Expertise Cookware. While built to endure extreme heat and use, Tefal Expertise is also designed masterfully to take on even the most delicate of dishes.

The Tefal Expertise outperforms both the Pleasure and Character ranges thanks to Tefal’s longest lasting coating ever, the Titanium Excellence.

It is an exclusive and patented hard base coating that combines the best non-stick performance with

the strength of its patented hard base coating. The thick Titanium hard base is designed with patented fusion technology—with the new top coat reinforced with Titanium particles. Further defining its strength, Tefal Titanium Excellence coating lasts up to three times longer than Titanium Force coating. This unique technology was developed to resist 12 years of intensive usage for successful cooking day after day, giving you the best looking food with excellent flavor results.

Tefal Cookware is exclusively distributed by Rustan Marketing Corporation and available in leading department stores nationwide.

Japanese cuisine couldn’t be more authentic than this

California Raisins Light Cheesecake Almond Tart is an easy to do treat that children will love

How to introduce raisins to kids

RAISINS are not as appealing to children as Procedure: chocolate chips are. But these treats are actually a Cream butter and sugar until light. healthy sweetener alternative that parents can use Add egg yolk and flour. Divide into nine. to prepare healthier dishes and snacks.

Shape into rings.

“California Raisins are fat and cholesterol free, Bake at 180c (25 minutes) low in sodium, and naturally sweet with no added sugar,” said Richard Lieu, Trade Promotions diCheesecake Layer rector (Southeast Asia) of the Raisin AdministraIngredients: tive Committee.

135g California Raisins (soak in hot water for He added, “California Raisins are versatile 10 minutes and drain) enough to be added as natural sweeteners to vari2pcs egg yolk ous recipes that children can take as baons for 35g sugar school.”

60ml heavy cream Lieu suggested combining raisins with fruits, 30ml milk nuts, and cereals to make quick trail mixes or en1tsp vanilla ergy bars; mix them with chopped chicken, ham, 30g cream cheese or tuna for sandwich spreads they can enjoy with Procedure: wheat bread, bagels, or pita; or toss them with vegMake a crème anglaise. etable or fruit salads, beef stews, menudo, meatPour over cream cheese and blend. loaves, tacos or burritos.

Pour into crust with raisins (2 tbsp per tart).

Here’s a recipe by Chef Jackie Ang Po of Fleur Bake until set at 180 C. (10 minutes). de Lys Patisserie that parents can whip up for their Enjoy this dessert warm or cold. children’s baon or snack.

Sprinkle a very small amount of sugar and place inside the oven toaster with top heat open for bruCalifornia Raisins Light lee effect (or use a torch if available).

Cheesecake Almond Tart

Crust Ingredients: 110g butter 60g powdered sugar 1 egg yolk 170g all purpose flour

Serving: 9 pieces, 40 grams each California Raisins are available in leading supermarkets nationwide. To know more about California Raisins, visit http://calraisins.org/ and www.caraisins.com or like them at Facebook at www.facebook.com/RACASEAN/.

WORLD-class resto-bar-lounge Buddha-Bar-Manila is bringing the best of contemporary Japanese cuisine as Chef Shigeki Iimura, Buddha-Bar’s Japanese Corporate Chef, visits Manila on July 7 for a meet-and-greet with lovers of good food and entertainment.

A night of gastronomical delight will follow on July 8 as the renowned executive chef prepares choice Japanese dishes through a live kitchen demo. The said event, dubbed as “Japanese Serenade,” features Chef Shigeki’s signature Japanese dishes that will be prepared right before a live crowd while a violinist plays a beautiful ensemble.

“We are glad to invite everyone who loves Japanese food for this once-in-a-year event. I know that they will get to enjoy and learn a lot from this spectacular night as Buddha-Bar Japanese Head Chef Shigeki Iimura comes over to showcase his one-of-a-kind dishes,” says Bernadette Castillo, Sales and Marketing head of Buddha-Bar Manila.

For almost 35 years, Chef Shigeki was able to learn the different styles of Authentic Japanese cuisine from Kyoto-style to Kaga and Robatastyle. With this, he achieved a reputation in the

culinary world in Japan as he established a career in a top restaurant in Tokyo. After traveling and working in different parts of the world, he developed a passion for Western cuisine and its flavors.

Shigeki spends most of his time developing exciting, unconventional, and contemporary recipes making him a trendsetter when it comes to Japanese food.

“Chef Shikegi Iimura’s visit in Buddha-Bar Manila is, definitely, one of the best events that we could offer for our customers. With the edgy style found in all of his dishes, we know that it will keep enthralling the taste buds of those who will get to try them. Come and join us here at Buddha-bar Manila to experience the creations of Chef Iimura through our limited offered Japanese Serenade Menu,” enthuses Castillo Chef Shigeki’s Japanese Serenade Menu will be available at Buddha-Bar Manila from July 7 to 23 only.

To know more about the event, as well as for inquiries and reservations, call 856-6719, 856-6859, or 0998-9833918. Buddha-Bar Manila is located at Picar Place, Kalayaan Ave. Makati City.

Boiling Crabs and Shrimps opens Greenhills branch BLUE Post’s Boiling Crabs and Shrimps recently opened its Greenhills Branch located on the second floor of O-Square Bldg in Greenhills, San Juan. The restaurant features the concept of eating with bare hands (although Blue Post’s does provide gloves for those who want them).

Diners may indulge in the restaurant’s specialties like Blue Post’s Boil, Garlic Fried, Sambal, and their new dish Crabs and Shrimps in Garlic Lemon Sauce and Crabs and Shrimps in Salted Egg. For more information, visit their Facebook page at www.facebook. Boiling Crabs and Shrimps owner Anthony Ang with Greenhills com/BluePostsBoiling. branch staff

MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

Celebrating 20 years of JAPANESE FILMS T

‘The Super Parental Guardians’ on Cinema One

Yojiro Takita's "Departures" (2008)

HE Japan Foundation, Manila is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its Japanese Film Festival (JFF), widely known as Eiga Sai.

In a recent event held at the Shang Cineplex, lineup of films was announced including the special guests that will grace the month-long fest.

From July 1, in honor of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month, to Aug. 29, with 20 films of various genres selected for more than 100 screenings across six major cities nationwide, JFF Eiga Sai 20th anniversary edition is set to be the biggest and best yet.

JFF | Eiga Sai 2017 will officially kick off its 20th anniversary in grand style opening night on Thursday, July 6, with the screening of Her Love Boils Bathwater at the Shang Cineplex to be graced by this year’s special guest director Ryota Nakano. The film director is scheduled to hold talks for filmmakers and the general public during his stay in the Philippines.

To commemorate the anniversary, JFF | Eiga Sai 2017 presents a retrospective showcase of a few films.

There will be a special encore screening of Departures, the 81st Academy Award for Best Foreign Language winner and one of the most well-received films in the history of Eiga Sai. Two rare 16mm films screened at the first Japanese Film Festival in 1997: The Sting of Death directed by Kohei Oguri, the Grand Prix du Jury winner at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival, and Memories of You directed by Shinichiro Sawai, were exhibited on July 1 at the birthplace of the Japanese Film Festival, CCP, serving as a prelude to the grand opening night on July 6 at the ShangriLa Plaza.

A long-lasting partnership with CCP and the Japan Foundation’s support towards independent filmmakers brings

forth again the screening of the Japanese independent film: Poolsideman, winner of the Best Picture Award in the Japanese Cinema Splash at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016.

Hirobumi Watanabe, director of the film will also be present at his Philippine premier during the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in August, an allied festival of JFF | Eiga Sai since last year.

Eiga Sai’s 20th edition is part of the Japan Foundation Asia Center’s unified Japanese Film Festival held around Southeast Asia and the Pacific region, and together with the Japan Foundation, Manila, different genres of films from animation, drama, comedy, documentary, to horror, were curated with a total of 20 titles – 17 of which are with English subtitles and three are dubbed in Tagalog, offering Japanese film lovers the chance to experience their favorite genre while discovering something new.

In addition to the cinema partners from last year, JFF | Eiga Sai 2017 is expanding its reach and impact in the wider region by adding cinemas in Bacolod and Iloilo, and extending the festival period till the end of August.

As with the previous years, JFF | Eiga Sai 2017 will also have its provincial run in Baguio, Cebu and Davao.

Screening venues are: CCP Dream Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City (July 1 and Aug. 5, 10 and 11), Shang Cineplex Cinema, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City (July 6 to 16), UP Film Institute, UP-Diliman, Quezon City (Aug. 16 to 19), Abreeza Mall Cinema, Ayala, Davao City (July 21 to

The cast of "The Super Parental Guardians" lead by Vice Ganda and Coco Martin

Ryota Nakano's "Her Love Boils Bathwater" (2016)

23), FDCP Cinematheque-Davao, Davao City (July 26 to 30), Ayala Center Cebu Cinema, Cebu City (Aug. 2 to 6), SM City Baguio Cinema, Baguio City (Aug. 10 to 13), SM City Bacolod Cinema, Bacolod City (Aug. 24 to 27), and FDCP Cinematheque-Iloilo, Iloilo City (Aug. 25 to 29).

Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis, except the screenings at Shang Cineplex Cinema which will be PHP 100 per one film screening.

fellow officers believe that his father is holding him back, while Erin prepares for another court showdown with her lawyer ex-husband.

Despite personal issues at home and at work, Frank has to maintain the balance between running the police department and running his family. If he cannot, he will be placed in a difficult position to choose – to serve the force or to serve his family.

B l u e Bloods Season 7 premieres on July 7 and airs every Friday at 11:35 p.m.

AXN is available on SKYCable Channel 49, Destiny Cable Channel 61, Cignal Channel 121, Dream Satellite TV Channel 20, G Sat Channel 51, and Cablelink Channel 38.

AXN HD is available on SKYCable Channel 247.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Monday, July 3, 2017

ACROSS 1 Tangy 6 Sobbed 10 — Hashanah 14 Accustom 15 Miscalculates 16 GI supply 17 Fibula neighbor 18 Toward shelter 19 “Carpe —” 20 GI tags 21 Bolt for an I-beam 23 Deed 24 Pierre’s head 25 “Me” types 27 Plan 30 Simple task 31 Stumbled upon 32 Most florid 36 Poker stake 37 Manages somehow 38 Nature’s bandage 40 Obsolete 42 Feed the fire 43 — Khayyam 44 Hurled forth 45 Most benevolent 49 Paraphernalia 50 Web habitues 51 “— — a Symphony” 53 Sodom fleer 56 Make public

57 Ally opposites 58 Canine, maybe 60 Volcanic flow 61 Change for a five 62 Lessen 63 Did very well 64 Fjord city 65 “Star Trek” regular DOWN 1 Type of pasta 2 Novelist — Bagnold 3 Long sandwiches 4 Prefix for dent 5 Time for statements (hyph.)

6 Drive recklessly 7 Dashiell’s peer 8 Acted as if 9 Mao — -tung 10 Arm bones 11 Drops 12 Make steel from iron 13 Realty listings 22 “— be my pleasure!”

23 Pith helmet 24 Doctrine 26 Flits about 27 — — woodchuck would...

28 Prohibition (hyph.)

29 “Nutcracker” costume 30 Building manager 32 Turnings around a center 33 Chemical compound 34 Flat boat 35 Have an effect 37 Motor parts 39 Lettuce layer 41 Female rabbits 42 Ancient Greek

also star in this hilarious yet heartwarming family tale.

In an out of the ordinary setup, Arci (Vice Ganda) is given custody of his best friend’s two children, Megan (Awra) and Ernie (Onyok). The kids’ uncle, Paco (Coco), has no choice but to live and get along with Arci.

Expect the craziest adventure as the unlikeliest duo play the roles of momshie and popshie to the kids.

Cinema One is available on SkyCable and Destiny Cable Digital Channel 56, and Destiny Analog Ch. 37. Like Cinema One on Facebook at facebook. com/Cinema1channel to view full schedule.

Kohei Oguri's "The Sting of Death" (1990)

Police and family drama unfold on AXN this July THE Reagan family is back to uphold the law at all costs in the latest installment of the crime drama series Blue Bloods, which premieres on AXN in July.

For years, Police Commissioner Frank Reagan (Tom Selleck) has been at the forefront in fighting criminality in New York City. With the help of his sons, detective Danny (Donnie Wahlberg) and police officer Jamie (Will Estes), daughter Erin (Bridget Moynahan), the assistant district attorney, and a great deal of advice from his father, they face the toughest criminals in the city’s violent underworld.

The new season opens with the Attorney General’s Office getting new evidence against Danny for shooting a serial killer in self-defense. Frank is pressured to back an investigation into police brutality. Jamie has his hands tied as his

THE highest-grossing Filipino film of all time, The Super Parental Guardians, starring the six-time Phenomenal Box Office Star Vice Ganda and Primetime King Coco Martin, made its much-awaited cable TV premiere on Cinema One yesterday.

Aside from its mark in Philippine cinema history with its amazing P598 million earnings, this action-comedy film directed

by Joyce Bernal holds the highest opening day gross of all Filipino films of all time at P75 million.

Today’s child wonders Awra Briguela and Onyok Pineda

44 Coral habitat 45 — Khan 46 Mr. Asimov 47 Brass 48 Great fear 49 Painter’s ground 52 Foot part 53 Crumbly soil 54 Dog in “Beetle Bailey” 55 Those people 57 Rock’s — Fighters 59 Kyoto sash

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com MONDAY, JULY 3, 2017

KRIS BERNAL invades afternoon television as

‘Impostora’ G

MA Network opens the month of July with the remake of the successful TV series, Impostora, on the Afternoon Prime block.

Kris Bernal takes on challenging and daring dual role in the afternoon drama, "Impostora'

By Nickie Wang IN HONOR of the Buwan ng Wika, Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) partners with commercial theaters to exclusively screen Filipino films nationwide from Aug. 16 to 22.

Dubbed as Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino (PPP), the weeklong celebration will feature a dozen of Filipino films vying for the Audience and Critics Choice Awards, which are the only awards that will be given out before the conclusion of the event. “ Our main goal is to give more platforms for films to screen exclusively. We know the competition between foreign films and locally produced ones. So, this festival aims to highlight Filipino films and give them the right amount of exposure they deserve. The awards night will happen on Aug. 19, which coincides with the birthday of Manuel L. Quezon,” FDCP Chairperson Liza Diño told Manila Standard.

Diño added that each film will have a guaranteed screening for three days in 60 screens. So, no film will be pulled out in case it would not perform well in the box office.

She also noted that the new film festival is very different from any other existing festival for local films. First, the festival is going to be a nationwide event backed by the National Cinema Association of the Philippines and SM Lifestyle Entertainment generous support ensuring each entry’s commercial success.

“In a larger scope, we are thinking about this idea since film is a very important part of our cultural development. We hope that the economic aspect of this industry will also be taken into consideration for us to see move

Impostora is the first GMA-produced TV drama adapted abroad. It first aired in Malaysia in 2007. In 2013, the series was adapted by Cambodia Broadcasting Service (CTN) using the title Impostors.

Aside from Malaysia and Cambodia, it was also sold in other territories namely Hawaii, Singapore, Myanmar, Brunei, Ghana, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Korea, US, Romania and the Philippines (Fox Philippines). It is currently airing in Hawaii via Kiku TV. It tells the story of Nimfa, an ugly street vendor who willingly undergoes surgery and complete facial reconstruction to pretend to be Rosette, a wealthy and beautiful but unhappily married wife seeking to escape her husband.The series is headlined by Kapuso versatile leading lady Kris Bernal and playing opposite her is GMA leading man Rafael Rosell.

Kris tackles one of her toughest roles to date as Nimfa/ Rosette, “It’s very different from the last one I did. First time ko na gumawa ng isang dual role. Dito sa soap talaga ako mahahasa, at mag-go-grow. Ito na siguro yung pinakachallenging character ko. Sa Impostora, pabago-bago ako, hindi lang sa acting, sa pananamit din, may prosthetics pa ako and iba’t-ibang makeup at look.”

She feels grateful to her home network for entrusting her this project that’s why she prepared and worked hard for this, “Pinag-aralan ko talaga siya. Sinulat ko yung differences ng dalawang characters. Nag workshop din ako at ang dami kong pinanood na movies. Ganun ka very specific at detailed ang ginawa ko para paghandaan ang roles ko dito.”

Rafael, on the other hand, is honored to be working with Kris for this show, “Working with Kris has been an awesome experience. One of the most professional actresses I’ve worked with in GMA. Walang arte at astig siya. To prepare for our roles, Kris and I had a few workshops together where we got to know each other better.

It’s really important for the dynamics and chemistry.”

Playing equally important roles are versatile actors Ryan Eigenmann as Jeremy, the plastic surgeon who is obsessed with Rosette; Assunta de Rossi as Trina, Homer’s socialite elder sister; Elizabeth Oropeza asDenang, Nimfa’s adoptive mother; Aicelle Santos as Deedee, Nimfa’s confidant; Vaness del Moral as Crisel, Nimfa’s archrival who maltreats her because of her looks;Rita Daniela as Maureen, Rosette’s best friend; Leandro Baldemor as Omar, Crisel’s brother who is a policeman; Sinon Loresca as Maxi, Nimfa’s loyal gay friend; Yuan Francisco as Junic, Homer and Rosette’s youngest son; Dayara Shane as Celine, Homer and Rosette’s rebellious daughter, with the special

participation of James Blanco as Eric, Nimfa’s first love.

Impostora is under the helm of Albert Langitan.

Behind this engrossing drama is the creative team composed of Creative Director Roy Iglesias; Creative block head and concept creator RJ Nuevas; and Headwriter Denoy Punio.

The program is another original creation of the GMA Drama group under the supervision of Senior Vice President for Entertainment TV Lilybeth G. Rasonable; Vice President for Drama Redgie Acuña-Magno; Assistant Vice President for Drama Cheryl Ching-Sy; and Program Manager Anthony Pastorpide.

Catch the highly-controversial story of Nimfa and Rosette in Impostora beginning today. The series airs Monday to Friday, on GMA Afternoon Prime.

Get the latest updates about Impostora from the official Facebook page of GMA Dramawww. facebook. com/GMADrama, Twitter a c c o u n t @GMADrama and the G M A Network websitewww.

GMANetwork.com.

Pista ng Pelikulang Pilipino

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

Bela Padilla and JC Santos in Jason Paul Laxamana's "100 Tula Gerald Anderson takes on a soldier role in “AWOL,” an action thriller film by Enzo Williams Para Kay Stella"

The cast of "Pauwi Na," a movie about faith and family directed by Paolo Villaluna

development,” the FDCP chairman noted.

In a press conference held on Friday, FDCP, led by Diño, formally named the films that will be part of the week-long festival. They are: 100 Tula Para Kay Stella, Ang Manananggal Sa Unit 23B, AWOL, Bar Boys, Birdshot, Hamog, Paglipay (Crossing), Patay Na Si Hesus, Pauwi Na (Pedicab), Salvage, Star na Si Van Damme Stallone, and Triptiko.

“We are very proud and happy to announce this incredible roster of films that we are showcasing for Pista. Thanks to our reputable and highly regarded members of the PPP Selection Committee, we have a diverse set of quality films that I believe our moviegoing public will love,” Diño told the member of the press.

The members of the PPP Selection Committee are Manet Dayrit (editor), Oggs Cruz (film critic), Ricky Lee (screenwriter), Erik Matti (director), Jose Javier Reyes (director), Iza Calzado (actor), and Lee Briones (cinematographer).

“Through PPP, we are pushing the fold and giving the public a different kind of genre films - fresh, engaging, and uniquely Filipino - and those are truly something that we should celebrate,” Diño said.

The finalists are in various genres, ranging from family oriented to comingof-age, romance, horror, and even action films.

PPP is a celebration of Filipino films in partnership with all cinemas nationwide, also in line with the Buwan ng Wika. The public can look forward to national mall caravans and school tours in promotion of PPP starting July.