Manila Standard - 2017 July 22 - Saturday

VOL. XXXI • NO. 158 • 4 SECTIONS 20 PAGES • P18 • SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 • www.manilastandard.net • editorial@thestandard.com.ph

Rody insists extended ML must to stem war spillover

By John Paolo Bencito and Macon Ramos-Araneta

‘GREATLY EXAGGERATED.’ New People’s Army guerrillas, led by Ka Oris, stand in formation, in this file photo taken during the 46th anniversary of the Communist Party

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday insisted that martial law needs to be extended to keep the conflict in Marawi from spilling over to other parts of the country, a day before Congress votes on his request to prolong military rule in Mindanao until the end of the year.

In a chance interview with reporters at Davao City, Duterte said the arrest of top leaders and members of Islamic State-inspired groups has been hampered by Mindanao’s porous boundaries.

Martial law, he said, could contain the spillover, he said.

Duterte reiterated that he will only lift martial law once the IS-inspired groups have been mopped out of Mindanao.

“Well, if there is no more ISIS doing its thing, there is no more rebellion. What am I supposed to do with martial law? I get my salary with or without a martial law.

It doesn’t really bother me anymore,” he said.

He also said the five-month extension he was requesting was based on military recommendations.

Earlier, Senate President Aquilino Pimentel III on Friday said he sees no issue on how Congress will vote when senators and congressmen meet today in a joint session to tackle Duterte’s request for an Next page

of the Philippines, in Barangay Mahaba in Martihatag, Surigao del Sur. Ka Oris came out recently to belie reports he had died after he stopped communication with the media.

(Inset) President Rodrigo Duterte awards a Wounded Personnel Medal to S/Sgt. Gerry Torsal during the President’s visit at Camp Panacan Station Hospital in Davao City on Thursday. Lance Baconguis/Presidential Photo

LTFRB loses Grab, Uber documents THE Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board admitted Friday that it lost the accreditation papers of transport network companies Uber and Grab.

LTFRB board member and spokesperson Aileen Lizada said the documents were nowhere to be found in their offices.

“Ever since we assumed office last year, we tried to locate the accreditation folders of both Uber and Grab. However after searching the office of the executive director and the chairman, they are nowhere to be found,” Lizada said in a text message to reporters.

Lizada said the accreditation papers are supposed to be under the safekeeping of Next page

Duterte tells ‘Reds’: Stop talks, let’s fight

By John Paolo Bencito and Francisco Tuyay

P

RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte on Friday said he will no longer talk peace with the communist rebels and ordered the military to train its guns on the New People’s Army after it has retaken Marawi City from Islamist terrorists.

The President said Communist Party of the Philippines founding chairman Jose Maria Sison was “100 percent correct” when he said talking peace was unnecessary because of Duterte’s “obsession with martial law and mass murder,” and vowed to “bully” communist rebels for years to come.

“I can fight for another 50 years. Let us agree to fight. And let us be ferocious with each other,” Duterte said. “No quarter given, no quarter asked. That’s the way it should be.”

Responding to a communist complaint that he was bullying the National Demo-

cratic Front to accept terms of surrender, Duterte said in Filipino: “You’re not mistaken—I’m really bullying you.”

“Let us stop talking. I’m tired. It’s a great expense to be sending people there for nothing. So I might as well just use the money for whatever. Let’s start fighting, stop talking … I will not talk, I will not even whisper,” he added.

In a chance interview, Duterte said that the government will be abandoning the peace talks along with the supposed backchannel talks, saying that the NDF was no longer interested in pursuing talks amid its continued criticism of some of

House all set for Sona; ‘no more major hitches’

SWS: Less Pinoys say they’re poor

By Maricel V. Cruz and Joel E. Zurbano

By John Paolo Bencito

THE House of Representatives is ready for the second State of the Nation Address of President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday, July 24, during which he is expected to present his administration’s accomplishments and push support for his legislative priorities, a House official said Friday.

House secretary-general and

FOR the first time in nearly three quarters, the percentage of Filipinos who believed they were poor dropped by six points, according to the latest survey by Social Weather Stations.

The poll also revealed that poverty eased in Balance Luzon and Metro Manila sharply increased in the Visayas and Mindanao.

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US solons told to help stop killings

his policies and the NPA’s relentless attacks on state troops.

He also ordered the arrest of all NDF consultants who were given temporary freedom to hold talks with the government.

“They have to surrender or we will hunt them down,” Duterte said, then addressed the consultants directly.

“Do not resist, surrender—because our agreement is that I will release you conditionally so that you can participate in the talks and make it successful.... That was the original idea for releasing you,” he added.

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task force Sona 2017 chairman Cesar Strait Pareja said the House had addressed all matters pertaining to internal and external security and safety, protocol arrangements, reception, media coverage, parking and other things to ensure a safe, secure and orderly holding of the Sona this year.

“We are very much prepared for the Sona. So far, there are no major hitches in the Sona preparations,” Pareja said.

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DRUG SUSPECT. Residents carry rhe body of an alleged drug dealer killed during a major anti-drug raid by the police in a slum community in the capital. President Rodrigo Duterte has pledged he would wiped out the country’s illegal drug trade within three to six months after his oath of office on June 30 last year. AFP

By John Paolo Bencito

EU concerned over EJK, prolonged ML

HUMAN rights activists told US lawmakers that they should urge President Rodrigo Duterte to stop extrajudicial killings that have accompanied his war on drugs.

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EUROPEAN Union lawmakers on Friday expressed concern over the killings in President Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs and his possible extension of martial law.

Duterte, 72, won elections last year on a promise to kill tens of thousands of criminals to prevent the Philippines from becoming a narco-state.

Since then police have said at

least 3,200 people were killed during their anti-drug operations.

Thousands more people, some of them described by the authorities as drug users, have been killed by unknown attackers. Next page

MARAWI-INSPIRED FASHION. Sketches of the outfits to be worn by President Rodrigo Duterte and common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña for Monday’s SONA as revealed by Davao-based fashion designer Bonie Adaza. According to the designer, Avanceña’s gown is the same dress she wore during the Asean summit held early this year. www.news.tv5.com.ph

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Du30 vows to resolve mining issues

By John Paolo Bencito

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RESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Friday to resolve issues and concerns raised by different stakeholders concerning the mining industry.

He issued the vow as he called on mining companies to come up with a ‘fair’ arrangement on how to deal with the negative effects of their operations to the environment.

In his speech before Davao businessmen, Duterte stressed the need to “rearrange” the issues concerning the industry and address concerns of those who “suffer” from illegal mining op-

erations.

Duterte said: “I will call all the stakeholders in the mining industry. The militants and the communists and all...people who are under the influence of the left, they will be marching tomorrow and mag-Sona. I am inviting the left to do just the talking and I’ll just sit there and hear you out.

“After all, we in government know what’s wrong and what ails

Duterte...

From A1

operations against the military and the police and stopping all their extortion activities.

Meanwhile, in a speech before government troops fighting the Islamic State-inspired extremists, Duterte, who once raised hopes of ending the decades-long communist insurgency, said Thursday he would unleash security forces against the NPA after the government liberates Marawi City.

“There is a strong resurgence, the NPA is coming back again. After we have crushed terrorists in Marawi, we will reorient and target the NPA,” he said.

“While the Duterte administration remains committed to peace, it will not tolerate armed groups that undertake terroristic acts against government soldiers and civilians,” National Security Adviser Hermogenes Esperon said.

Esperon said that while there are real and imminent threats in Mindanao, government forces will also not allow other terroristic acts against civilians by the New People’s Army.

The National Security Adviser also defended Duterte from Sison’s tirades, saying that he is not obsessed with martial law but with good governance, developing Mindanao, and serving the people.

LTFRB...

From A1

ily puts on hold the order as the LTFRB seeks to resolve the appeal and come out with a ruling within the next 15 days.

Meanwhile, Insurance Commissioner Dennis Funa reminded transport network companies Uber and Grab to comply with the mandatory insurance coverage under the Passenger Personal Accident Insurance Program.

Funa’s statement came after data submitted by Passenger Accident Management and Insurance Agency Inc. showed that there were only 21,353 certificates of insurance coverage issued for vehicles operating under Uber and only 6,719 certificates for vehicles operating under Grab.

“If based on the earlier reports that there are a total of 50,000 Uber and Grab active drivers and assuming that each driver corresponds to one vehicle, only 56.18 percent of the total Uber and Grab vehicles plying on the roads are covered by the mandatory passenger insurance,” Funa said.

PNA with Julito G. Rada

House...

session. We can adjust things. By Sunday, we will resume work and finish what else needs to be done for Sona,” Pareja said.

He said last-minute repair work and other finishing touches will be completed by Sunday. The House will also allow the entry of caterers and the staff of RTVM and private media networks who will set up their equipment on Sunday.

Also to be allowed entry are the security staff of the House and other concerned agencies who will be coordinating, manning and securing the House premises, the engineering staff and the staff of the Office of the secretary-general.

Also to be finished before the Sona are the new parking structures at the North Wing and South Wing that would give the House additional parking slots of more than 300. Newly constructed also is the new South Wing Annex Roadway which could accommodate 52 vehicles. The roadway was inaugurated last Tuesday.

Pareja said being on top of the Sona preparations had been a big challenge to him, and especially because of the security issue and the bulk of the work involved.

“Definitely, it’s a heavy responsibility because the head of our government will be here as well as the heads of all agencies. Being the host of the special event, the House has to look after the guests and attend to their requests,” Pareja said.

To ensure that the Sona preparatory activities are properly coordinated and executed, Pareja said, they had started the coordination meetings as early as January this year.

The Office of the Solicitor General earlier asked the Supreme Court and several regional trial courts handling the cases against the communist leaders to recall the bail grant earlier given to them, after backchannel talks were called off Wednesday amid the renewed attacks by communist rebels, including one against members of Duterte’s security detail.

Five officers of the Presidential Security Group were wounded in an NPA ambush in Arakan, North Cotabato on Wednesday while NPA rebels in Palawan province also gunned down two members of the Marines and bombed a military truck the day before.

In his meeting with members of the government peace panel led by Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III late Tuesday night, Duterte ordered the suspension of the fifth round of talks with the communists, which was supposed to resume by August.

Peace Process Secretary Jesus Dureza then said that the resumption of formal talks would depend on the rebel group’s commitment to follow certain guidelines for a possible ceasefire deal with government—including the suspension of

former executive director Roberto Cabrera but his staff said they were not holding the documents.

The LTFRB is set to convene its technical working group that will tackle various concerns such as accreditation and pending applications, accountability and dynamic pricing.

In its order dated July 11, the board imposed a fine of P5 million each for Uber and Grab for their violations and ordered them to deactivate more than 40,000 illegal Transport Network Vehicle Service drivers.

Starting July 26, Grab and Uber drivers without franchises will be fined P120,000 and their vehicles will be impounded for three months should they continue to operate.

Both TNCs filed their separate motions for reconsideration Thursday to stop the LTFRB order ,which bans TNVS units without certificates of public convenience or provisional authority to operate.

The filing of the MR temporar-

From A1 He made his statement even as fashion designer Bonie Adaza of Chardin Davao said Duterte and his common-law wife Honeylet Avanceña will be wearing Marawiinspired creations during the Sona.

Adaza said the President’s barong will be simple with touches of the okkil or okir pattern, which is distinguished by the flowing geometric forms found in Maranao art works.

Separately, the Metro Manila Development Authority on Friday advised motorists to avoid at least five major thoroughfares in Quezon City that will be affected by a traffic rerouting scheme to be imposed during the SONA. The MMDA advised the motorists using Commonwealth Avenue (west-bound) to turn right on Fairlane going to Dalia, then left on Chestnut and then straight to Sauyo Road to Mindanao Avenue.

The motorists coming from SM Fairview and Robinsons Mall should take Quirino Highway and straight to Mindanao Avenue, while those coming from Fairview and Mindanao Avenue should take Jordan Plains straight to Quirino Highway to Mindanao Avenue.

Pareja said the holding of a special session today, Saturday. for Congress to discuss the President’s request for a martial law extension in Mindanao will not derail the House preparations for the Sona.

“We will temporarily halt the remaining preparatory work on Saturday to give way to the special

the system. We know that.”

Duterte told the mining companies: “Come up with an arrangement where it is fair for everybody. We cannot stop mining because there is a mining law that regulates the industry.”

Duterte said, however, that he was well-aware of the negative effects to the environment and some of the people there because of some mining operations.

“It’s good that we’ll be frank at this. So... I will call you all. I will then say, you see. Look at the slides about good practices of mining,” the President said.

“Then I will ask everybody to focus on that. Then we will look at the slides...we’ll see.”

The President reiterated that

the taxes paid by miners would not suffice for the loss of jobs and livelihood of those living in mined areas.

“And so what am I supposed to do? Just leave it that way because the mining industry pays government something like 70 billion [pesos] a year? Five percent lang ang tax,” he said.

“What about the people who are not in the corporate world?

Not connected with your business. What will happen to them?

Inadequate food. Cannot grow anything anymore as they are suffering.”

But he called on mining companies to come up with a plan how to replace the loss of livelihood and jobs in mining areas.

“Fair is fair, whether I collect taxes, increase the tax so I can think of something to replace what they have lost, the people there or you agree with the people there affected or hard hit by mining,” he said.

“Good mining means no people are really in pain. So that should be the equation. Good mining equals there is no agony on the people. Otherwise, I will have to think about something,” he added.

Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier said his department expected to release by the end of July the results of the assessment of the appeal made by mining companies which former Environment secretary Regina

PO2 Alvin Paul Bulandres, PO2 Alfred Dunque and PO1 Abines Silvano.

The identity of the slain civilian, the driver of the municipal councilor was not immediately available.

Two other policemen were wounded in the attack and were taken to a hospital in Dumaguete City.

Early last week, NPA rebels struck in four separate areas in Luzon and Mindanao killing two Marine soldiers in Palawan and wounding of five members of the Presidential Security Group in Cotabato.

The NPA rebels also wounded an army soldier in a roadside explosion in Bataraza, Palawan.

In Davao City, Mayor Sara Duterte-Carpio said she was drafting an executive order for localized peace talks with communist rebels, even as negotiation on the national level were put on hold.

In Congress, the leftist partylist group Anakpawis expressed its dismay over the cancelling of backchannel talks with the communists.

Senator Panfilo Lacson expressed his full support for the President’s decision to call off backchannel talks with the NPA. “It’s a no-brainer decision,” said Lacson, a former chief of the Philippine National Police who belongs to the majority bloc in the Senate.

“How can the government talk peace when the other party by their action, is not willing or at least not sincere? “ said Lacson.

Presidential Security Group spokesman Col. Mike Aquino said communist rebels, posing as members of Davao Task Force and wearing military uniform, fired upon a two-vehicle convoy bringing along 10 members of the PSG en route to Cagayan de Oro City at a fake checkpoint placed by rebels.

Lacson also underscored the need to reassess the government peace initiatives and consider looking at a localized forms or levels of peace negotiation.

“It might work if we allow LGU’s to initiate under clear and strict guidance and supervision from the national government as to the parameters,” said Lacson.

Gregorio Honasan said the government must not give up on the peace process, but agreed with the suspension of the peace talks.

“We can’t talk and fight at the same time,” said Honasan, former army colonel who mounted coup attempts during the time of the late President Ferdinand Marcos.

“If we have no control over attacks against government troops and installations, we must condemn them,” he said, referring to the NDF.

Rody...

From A1

diers who are laying their lives on the line in Marawi City.

But he said the Liberal Party will question the need to extend martial law until the end of the year, which they believe is not justified.

“Likewise, we believe that the coverage of the whole Mindanao cannot be justified under our Constitution,” Drilon said.

LP President Senator Francis Pangilinan said that both the duration and scope of martial law will be debated during the joint special session.

Senator Grace Poe also said the issue of the duration of martial law will be raised and what the administration plans to accomplish during the period of extension.

“I expect a lengthy debate,” Poe said.

Senator Francis Escudero said he expects the debates to focus on the justification and basis of martial law in general and the extent and duration of the extension.

Senator JV Ejercito, a staunch supporter of Duterte said he will not raise any issue because he is convinced of the need to extend martial law.

But opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros insisted on the need for all legislators to be properly briefed of the real and current situation in Marawi and how martial law was implemented in the said area before Congress extends it.

“While I look forward to the joint session that Congress will convene on this matter, the process should not be rushed,” she said.

She emphasized asking for an extension is not just like ordering from Jollibee. “Congress is not a

fastfood restaurant.”

She said the public has the right to transparent, thorough and deliberative proceedings within which they can be informed of the factual bases of the declaration of martial law in Mindanao and its possible extension.

On Friday, opposition lawmakers led by Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman asked the Supreme Court to reverse its decision upholding the constitutionality of Duterte’s martial law declaration.

In the motion for reconsideration, Lagman said the justices abdicated their special jurisdiction to fully review the factual sufficiency of President Duterte’s proclamation of martial law.

Lagman and his other petitioners said they believed there was no actual rebellion in Marawi City and in the rest of Mindanao.

The petitioners described the Court’s ruling as “flawed and tainted” because it weakened its power of judicial review.

They also said the Court accorded the President “undue concessions” by claiming a lack of competence to determine the facts on the ground.

But Solicitor General Jose Calida expressed confidence that the appeal would be denied.

“I see the motion for reconsideration on the martial law decision having two chances: Nil and none,” Calida said.

Earlier, the Supreme Court said it found sufficient factual bases for President Duterte’s proclamation placing the entire Mindanao under martial law. With Rey E. Requejo

From A1 Before a hearing of the US House committee on foreign affairs, iDefend spokesperson Ellecer Carlos and Human Rights Watch deputy director for Asia, Phelim Kine, said the US Congress should make a clear statement against the killings and violence.

“Foreign pressure works and that’s something the United States can bring to bear in spades,” Kine said, adding that he supported a US Senate bill that would restrict firearms sales to the Philippines.

Carlos told lawmakers that the Duterte administration was threatening human rights defenders, and said at least six people from iDefend were listed as persons of interest by the Armed Forces of the Philippines and the Philippine National Police.

Amnesty International senior crisis advisor Matthew Wells, meanwhile, said the US should help the Philippine government reorient its drug policies to “a model based on protection of health and human rights rather than a punitive approach.”

“As one of the oldest and most important allies of the Philippines, the US has a unique position of influence,” he said.

US lawmaker James McGovern (D-MA) said the war on drugs was “not necessary” and said he opposed Duterte’s planned visit to the White House in October.

“President Duterte does not seem to have high regard for human rights. I certainly believe, very strongly, that a man of a human rights records like Duterte should not be invited to the White House,” he said.

The Palace on Friday said the US bi-partisan commission that was holding a hearing on the human rights situation in the Philippines was taken in by the propaganda against President Duterte.

Responding to the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission’s probe on the country’s war on drugs, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Salvador Panelo played down allegations of an “economy of murder” amid the lack of accountability for vigilante-style deaths happening as a result of Duterte’s war on drugs.

“The problem is that they’re listening and believing propaganda against the President,” Panelo said in a television interview. “They’re not even here to validate if what they’re hearing and reading about is the truth.”

Panelo challenged interested parties to come to the Philippines and investigate the issue even without an invitation from the Philippine government.

“All of the allegations against the President are unfounded,” Panelo said.

SWS:...

poor,” which was three points below the 35 percent or 8.1 million families in the previous quarter.

SWS noted that when President Rodrigo Duterte rose to power in June 2017, the self-rated poverty was 45 percent and then fell to 42 percent by the end-September quarter and had since risen for two consecutive quarters: 44 percent by the end-December quarter and 50 percent in the first quarter of this year.

SWS attributed the six-point decrease in self-rated poverty nationwide to the easing poverty, which declined by 16 points in Balance Luzon at 34 percent and slipped eight points in Metro Manila at 28 percent.

Self-rated poverty, however, rose by seven points in the Visayas at 64 percent and climbed four points in Mindanao at 57 percent.

The respondents said that, for them not to be considered poor, they needed at least P10,000 in monthly budget and that families still lacked P5,000 to meet that monthly threshold.

The median threshold, which refers to what the poorer half of the poor need for home expenses, differed across the regions: P20,000 in Metro Manila, P15,000 in Balance Luzon, P10,000 in the Visayas and P10,000 in Mindanao.

“These values are higher in the June 2017 survey compared to their

March 2017 counterparts, meaning families are in need of more money and lack more money to escape food poverty,” SWS said in its report.

Presidential Spokesman Ernesto Abella said Malacañang was “pleased” with the survey results.

“The Duterte administration’s overarching goal is to bring comfortable life for all,” Abella said.

“Much has been accomplished in one year as people have started to feel some improvement. However, we have to do more, and with the support of business, civil society and other vital stakeholders, we can achieve our target to bring down poverty to 14 percent at the end of the President’s term.”

EU...

constructive discussions expressed its concern about the high number of extrajudicial killings in the context of the war against drugs and the possible extension of martial law,” an EU statement said on Friday.

Duterte declared a 60-day martial law on May 23 over the Mindanao region to crush pro-Islamic State militants who occupied the southern city of Marawi.

He has since called on Congress to allow him to extend martial law there till the end of the year.

The EU delegation also expressed “strong concern” over efforts to restore the death penalty and lower the age of criminal responsibility to nine.

The four MPs from Sweden, Hungary, Austria and Denmark also visited Senator Leila de Lima, a

jailed critic of Duterte and met with various Cabinet members and human rights groups.

Duterte’s bloody anti-drug campaign was also the subject of a hearing by the US Congress’ Human Rights Commission in Washington, where various human rights groups on Thursday criticized the rash of killings.

AFP with John Paolo Bencito

In a statement, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana expressed support for the President’s decision, saying communist rebels only reciprocated government’s sincerity with “double talk and treachery.”

“We are all for peace. Who would not want our country to be peaceful?

But we can only talk about peace when both sides mean what they say,” Lorenzana said.

Lorenzana also blasted rebel attacks amid the ongoing siege in Marawi City, where more than 500 have died and roughly 400,000 have been displaced in the conflict zone and nearby areas.

“As our security forces continue to fight terrorists in Mindanao and as the government gets ready to start the recovery, reconstruction, and rehabilitation of Marawi City, the treacherous communist terrorists have once again shown their utter lack of empathy towards our suffering countrymen,” he said.

NPA gunmen killed six policemen in an ambush in Negros Oriental, one day after Duterte canceled backchannel talks with the communists.

Reports reaching Camp Crame identified the slain policemen as Supt. Ariel Arpon, the chief of police of Guihulngan City; SPO2 Necasio Tabilon, PO3 Jordan Balderas,

extension of martial law in Mindanao to the end of the year.

“We are senators. When the Constitution says voting jointly, then we follow. We are lawmakers, hence we should follow the supreme law,” Pimentel said in response to some questions about how voting will be conducted during the special session.

Senator Panfilo Lacson on Friday noted that no rules have yet been set for the special session, and called on the leaders of both chambers of Congress to address the issue.

“To avoid conflict situations… there must be rules, the rules must be clearly understood and they must be followed,” Lacson said.

Earlier, administration allies Senators Richard Gordon and Joel Villanueva said voting on the martial law issue should be done separately and not jointly. They insisted that the manner of voting should be deliberated.

But Senate President Pro Tempore Ralph Recto and Senate Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III believe that the voting should be done jointly.

Recto said a joint session and voting jointly is mandated by the Constitution. “There’s nothing to debate on. Everyone knows that,” he said.

Sotto said they are bound by the Constitution’s rules on resolving the martial law issue—that should be in a joint session and the lawmakers voting jointly.

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said they support the Armed Forces of the Philippines and sol-

From A1 The Second Quarter 2017 Social Weather Survey, conducted among 1,200 respondents, showed that selfrated poverty was at 44 percent or an estimated 10.1 million families. This was six points lower than the 50 percent or 11.5 million families that rated themselves poor in March 2017.

The decline in self-rated poverty in the three months ending June broke two successive quarters of increases.

The June 2017 survey also reported that some 32 percent or 7.3 million families rated themselves “food-

From A1 Rights groups have warned that Duterte and the police may be overseeing a crime against humanity.

The EU lawmakers expressed their concern following a visit to the Philippines this week.

“The delegation in frank and

Lopez shut down.

Lopez earlier ordered a review on the operations of all operating metallic mines in the country.

Following the audit, the former Environment chief announced that 23 mining operations would be up for closure and five more would be suspended. Twelve mining companies passed the audit.

Lopez also announced the government would cancel the mining contracts of 75 mining projects which were found within or near watersheds.

She also ordered a ban on prospective open-pit mines.

Mining companies, however, questioned the decision and filed their appeal with the Environment department.

US...

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

China vows to help PH’s anti-drug campaign

By Macon Aranetta BEIJING, China—Despite some of their own citizens’ involvement in the smuggling and operations of illegal drugs in the Philippines, Chinese anti-narcotics officials have renewed China’s commitment to help the country combat transnational crimes, including drug trafficking.

Officials of China’s Ministry of Public Service AntiDrug Department told visiting foreign journalists that both the Chinese and the Philippine government have agreed to boost exchange of intelligence, know-how and technology-sharing in fighting against drug-induced crimes, preventive education and rehabilitation during President Duterte’s state visit to China last year.

To further strengthen the efforts to fight against illicit drugs, China and the Philippines had agreed to establish operation mechanism for joint investigation on special cases and intelligence collection purposes.

Chinese drug officials also said they are willing to train anti-narcotics operatives from the Philippines on the innovative mechanism to reduce drug recourse, including mechanism on drug interruption.

They said that illegal drugs are not only found in the railways, airways and buses, but also online.

So far, 400 Chinese websites have signed up with the Chinese government in the fight against illegal drugs with focus on propagating a significant decline in drug transactions or to totally prevent illegal drug activities.

The Drug Control in China 2017 report showed that 5,459 drug trafficking groups were totally eliminated in China the previous year.

Chinese narcotics officials admitted that the situation of online drug-related cases in their country has remained grim as evidenced by the rampant ordering and selling of illegal drugs via the internet, disseminating process, exchanging experience of drug abuse and payment and transfer of drug-related money, among others.

Additionally, the report indicated that drug manufacturing activities in China are brisk.

In 2016, 583 drug manufacturing cases were uncovered and 438 drug clan labs were destroyed. This included 338 shabu laboratories and 93 ketamine laboratories Approximately, 62 tons of homemade drugs were seized, taking up 74.5 percent in the total of drugs confiscated. They said that the Chinese government attaches great importance on drug control led by the State Council in the Central government.

They acknowledged, however, that the anti-drug activity needs the participation of the entire community aside from the drug preventive education activities.

RISK REDUCTION. Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista and Quezon City Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Office head Karl Michael Marasigan inspect some of the

state-of- the-art equipment acquired by the city government intended for disaster risk reduction shortly after the QC mayor delivered his welcome remarks during a local forum on the inclusion of PWDs, LGBT and senior citizens for disaster risk reduction held in Quezon City on Friday. Manny Palmero

Jardeleza is richest, Leonen poorest SC magistrates

By Rey E. Requejo

A

SSOCIATE Justice Francis H. Jardeleza remains the richest magistrate, while Associate Justice Mavic Leonen still the poorest, according to a Supreme Court summary report of the Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth of the 15 magistrates of the high court for the year 2016.

In his SALN, Jardeleza reported a net worth of P252.16 million, upped by P2.4 million from P249 million last 2015.

His real properties amounted to P58.9 million, while his personal property is P193.2 million with no liability. He

jointly filed his SALN with his wife Concepcion.

As the poorest among the SC justices, Leonen reported a net worth of P2.4 million, with an increase of P220,045 from P2.2 million last 2015. His real properties are worth P3.4 mil-

lion, while his personal property amounted to P2.6 million with liabilities of P3.6 million.

The next richest SC justice is Justice Mariano Del Castillo who has a net worth of P138.9 million. His net worth is about P3.8 million higher than in 2015. His SALN included the assets of his wife, former Ateneo Law Dean Cynthia Roxas-Del Castillo.

The third richest magistrate is Associate Justice Alfredo Benjamin S. Caguioa with a net worth of P121.5 million, followed by Senior Associate Justice Antonio T. Carpio who has a net worth of P82.6 million; Associate Justice Estela M. Perlas-Bernabe, with a net worth of P78.2 million; Associate Justice Bienvenido L. Reyes, with P77.8 million; Associate Justice

Diosdado M. Peralta, with P43.5 million; Associate Justice Jose C. Mendoza, with P41.4 million; Associate Justice Lucas P. Bersamin, with P41.2 million; Chief Justice Maria Lourdes P. Sereno, with P24.2 million; Associate Justice Presbitero J. Velasco Jr., with P17.7 million; and Associate Justice Teresita Leonardo De Castro, P17.7 million.

The two newest magistrates— Associate Justices Samuel R. Martires and Noel G. Tijam —have net worth of P40.7 million and P15.7 million, respectively.

The SC has released the SALNs of justices to the public since 2012, but only upon official request from interested parties subject to the approval of the full Court.

In 2012, the high bench ap-

Assessment of transport system sought

By Macon Ramos-Araneta FOLLOWING the controversial move of the transportation department and its attached agencies to restrict Grab and Uber services and phase out old jeepneys, Senator Sonny Angara has called for an assessment of the country’s mass transport system to ensure that transport policies ultimately promote the welfare of the riding public.

“We must look into the state of public transportation first to ensure that it is efficient, dependable, safe and affordable,” said Angara, chairman of the senate committee on ways and means.

He said the public should not be burdened in commuting everyday as he cited the complaints of commuters on the transportation system.

“I am appealing that the ride-hailing services should not be lost. They also plan to get rid of jeepney, the cheapest and most accessible public transport,” said Angara who filed a resolution calling for an inquiry into the country’s mass transport system.

The Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has ordered Grab and Uber to deactivate more than 50,000 so-called colorum drivers.

Commuters, however, rallied behind Grab and Uber, saying that the ride-sharing applications offer better service, safety, convenience, and courtesy that other transportation services such as regular taxis fail to provide.

“Law and rules must adjust and be interpreted to favor new technologies which make people’s lives more convenient,” said Angara.

The senator led the Senate investigation last year on the alleged overcharging by airport taxis. As a result, Grab and Uber were allowed to enter Naia to drop off and pick up passengers.

Meanwhile, the newly launched jeepney modernization program was met with protests from transport groups, which called for the deferment of its implementation, saying that small jeepney operators do not have enough money to finance the conversion of

jeepneys to solar-powered vehicles.

“While PUV modernization is integral to the traffic management solution of the country, we must allay the fears of the vulnerable members of our public transport sector by ensuring that adequate social protection measures are in place,” Angara said.

The country’s rail transit system, on the other hand, has come under intense public scrutiny in recent years with commuters regularly complaining of long waiting lines, passenger congestion, defective coaches, and poor maintenance.

Traffic and congestion problem in the country have also been identified by the current administration as a “crisis that impedes the mobility of people, goods and services and threatens the livability of our cities.”

“Mobility has been a key concern of our country. We should fast-track our projects on improving and modernizing our public transport system so that Filipinos will have a viable transportation option,” Angara said.

Ex-solon, ex-DWSD chief indicted over graft raps

By Rio N. Araja

EYE CARE. Dr. Willie Angbue-Te, department chairman of the Ospital ng Makati examines the eyes of Makati Mayor Abigail Binay using Yag Laser during the Ospital ng Makati Eye Center inauguration and office blessing in Makati City. Lino Santos

THE Office of the Ombudsman indicted on Friday a former lawmaker in Northern Samar and a former Department of Social Welfare and Development secretary for 19 counts of graft in connection with their alleged involvement in a P62-million pork barrel fund scam in 2007 to 2009.

Ombudsman Conchita Carpio Morales also found probable cause to file 12 counts of malversation through falsification of public documents and seven counts of malversation against former congressman Emil Ong and former social welfare secretary Esperanza Cabral before the Sandiganbayan.

Named co-accused were former DSWD undersecretary Luwalhati Pablo, former assistant secretary Mateo Montaño, former director Deseree Fajardo, and for-

mer staff members Joselita Enciso and Leonila Hayahay.

Morales directed the inclusion in the charge sheet the representatives of the National Livelihood Development Corp. namely, Gondelina Amata, Emmanuel Alexis Sevidal, Chita Jalandoni, GregoriaBuenaventura, Ofelia Ordoñez, Sofia Cruz and Filipina Rodriguez; National Agri-Business Corp. personnel Alan Javellana, Rhodora Mendoza, Victor Roman Cacal, Maria Ninez Guañizo and Romulo Relevo; and non-government organizations’ Roberto Solon of the Economic and Social Cooperation forLocal Development Foundation Inc., Margie Luz and Ma. Cristina Vizcarra of Gabaymasa Development Foundation Inc., Rowena Adriano and Nestor Serdeña of Interactive Training Opportunity Needs Alleviations Movement Inc.

proved the release of the SALNs of justices after the ouster of former Chief Justice Renato Corona in May 2012 due to millions of assetsnot de claredi nhi sS ALN. In a resolution in June 2012, the SC said that only copies of the latest SALNs, personal data sheets and curriculum vitae of justices should be released.

It added that request for previous records should be granted only under justifiable grounds as specified under Republic Act 6713 or the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials.

The SC said that the conditions set for the release of the SALN and other personal documents of the justices are necessary to protect their members from harassment.

Priority bills top Senate’s agenda

By Macon Araneta THE comprehensive tax reform package being pushed by the Duterte administration and the proposed shift to a federal form of government topped the list of priority bills that the Senate are expected to tackle when it returns for the second Regular Session of the 17th Congress on Monday, July 24.

The most attractive feature of the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) is the lower tax rate for fixed income earners starting Jan. 1, 2018.

Under the measure, the government will no longer impose personal income tax of employees earning less than P250,000 annually, even as an incremental tax will be imposed on personal income over P250,000.

Thirteen (13) other bills have also been endorsed by Neda chief Ernesto Pernia as chairman of Legislative-Executive Advisory Council to President Rodrigo Duterte as “urgent” bills in Congress. They are as follows: 1) Unified National Identification System Act, 2) Security of Tenure Bill (End of “Endo” or Contractualization), 3) Bill on utilization of the Coconut Levy Fund, 4) National Transport Act to address transport traffic crisis, 5) Budget Reform Act, 6) National Land Use Act, 7) Bill on Rightsizing of the National Government 8) Amendments to the Anti-Cybercrime Act, 9) Amendments to the Agricultural Tariffication Act of 1996, 10) Amendments to the National Irrigation Administration Charter to allow for free irrigation, 11) Amendment to Public Service Act, 12) Ease of Doing Business Act/Fast Business Permit Act, 13) and Amendments to the Government Procurement Reform Act.

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Opinion

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

mst.daydesk@gmail.com

EDITORIAL

Adelle Chua, Editor

Extending martial law

M

ARTIAL law declared over Mindanao in response to the siege in Marawi City ends today, July 22.

After 60 days, government forces have neither liberated the city nor contained the threat that terror would spread to other places in Mindanao, even to the rest of the country.

Hundreds have died and thousands have been displaced, but it appears the terrorists are just too difficult to contain.

Whether this is a testament to their might, or our military’s inadequacy, or both, is difficult to tell. What is

certain is a common desire —shared by Filipinos from President Duterte to the common office employee stuck in Metro Manila traffic or a mother in an evacuation center in Iligan City—for the government to end the siege and snuff out all terror elements that threaten to disrupt our way of life, difficult as it already is.

Recent polls say most Filipinos support martial law, and earlier this month the Supreme Court decided the

declaration had legal and factual basis. And so today Congress convenes on whether martial law should be extended, and if so, how long that extension shall be.

We would not take any suggestions from politicians who want martial law until the end of President Duterte’s term. We do see the need, however, for the task to be completed. So yes, grant Mr. Duterte’s request for an extension until the end of the year, because the terrorists need to be stopped before they get even stronger.

In the meantime, we need to identify what we did

wrong or inadequately during the first 60 days. What do we have to do differently? What have we not tried before? Are there additional risks and external factors that make the job more difficult by the day?

The government has already embarrassed itself by missing self-imposed deadlines for when the Maute group would be defeated. It will be another embarrassment if nothing remains accomplished at the end of the year.

Then again, embarrassment should be the least of Mr. Duterte’s concerns.

Think of lives lost by the

day, displaced families, school and business distractions. The longer the fighting continues, the harder it will be to recover.

“A lot more needs to be done,” President Duterte said, justifying his request for an extension. We take liberty with his words and urge the administration to get these terrorists once and for all, because the business of governing is not confined to extinguishing the fighting in Marawi.

Precisely, a lot more needs to be done to move Mindanao, and the rest of the nation, forward.

HAIL TO THE CHAIR VICTOR AVECILLA

SkyCable monopoly is a nightmare

Proclamation No. 216 and the President’s Report to Congress do not contain any such evidence, pointing out that the Proclamation itself admits that only “this part of Mindanao” is the subject of separation from Philippine sovereignty by the rebels. In fact, for the senior justice, the President’s Report did not mention any other city, province or territory in Mindanao, other than Marawi City, that had a similar public uprising by a rebel group, an element of actual rebellion. He also emphasizes that the fear that the rebellion in Marawi City will spread to other areas in Mindanao is a mere danger or threat and may not even amount to an imminent danger or threat. Thus, to allow a state of martial law and suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in the rest of Mindanao where there is no actual rebellion is a violation of the Constitution.

For him the argument that the

SKYCable has a virtual monopoly of the cable television business in Metropolitan Manila and its suburbs. As in all monopolies, the best interests of the subscribers of SkyCable have taken second priority to the vested commercial interests of SkyCable’s owners.

That is, however, getting ahead of the story.

Community antenna television is the technical name of cable television. The first commercially viable cable television service in the Philippines was Sining Makulay, Inc. It was launched in 1978

by Roberto S. Benedicto, a close political ally of then President Ferdinand Marcos.

Presidential Decree No. 1512 served as Sining Makulay’s franchise.

Under the decree, Sining Makulay, Inc. was authorized to provide cable television service to households that were willing to subscribe to its two channels. Its programs consisted mainly of past and current Hollywood motion pictures, foreign news, and popular American TV programs. Being a pioneer industry, subscribers of Sining Makulay, Inc. were limited to selected villages in the metropolis.

The 1986 Edsa Revolution spelled the end for Sining Makulay, Inc. Because Benedicto was seen as an enemy of the administration of the new president, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, Sining Makulay Inc. eventually closed its operations by the end of 1986.

Seeing a commercial opportunity in the closure of Sining Makulay, Inc., the Lopez family-owned ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation entered the cable television business through its sister company, Central CATV Corporation, which later changed its name to SkyCable Corporation.

Soon thereafter, other cable television service providers entered the scene, two of which became tough competitors of SkyCable. One competitor of SkyCable even offered subscribers a free television set if they availed of its

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A warning on martial law ASSOCIATE Justice Antonio Carpio is one of the four justices who dissented from the majority opinion sustaining the validity of President Duterte’s declaration of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus throughout Mindanao. As is characteristic of this Senior Associate Justice, the longest serving in the Supreme Court, Carpio’s dissenting opinion is an exemplar of brilliance, perspicacity, clarity, depth, and practical wisdom. Once again, Justice Carpio comes out of the case the defender par excellence of the Constitution. His voice is sober. But make no mistake – he sounds an alarm that we should all listen to.

At the outset of his dissent,

Justice expresses his disagreement with the Office of Solicitor General’s (OSG) conclusion that the “appropriate proceeding” referred to in Section 18, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution is a special civil action for certiorari under Rule 65 of the Rules of Court. He subscribes with the view that the “appropriate proceeding” referred to is a sui generis petition not falling under any of the actions or proceedings in the Rules of Court on three grounds: first, any citizen can be a petitioner; second, the Court is expressly authorized and tasked under paragraph 3, Section 18, Article VII of the 1987 Constitution to be a trier of facts in the review petition; third, the Court must decide the case within 30 days, not within 24 months in ordinary cases, from the date of filing of the petition.

Continuing with the preliminary considerations, Carpio is

of the view that, contrary to the position taken by the OSG, the burden of proof to show the sufficiency of the factual basis of the declaration of martial law being sui generis is on the

Justice Carpio’s voice is sober, but it sounds an alarm that we should all listen to. government and that the quantum of proof is probable cause.

In his words, “Hence, to place the burden of proof on petitioners pursuant to the doctrine of “he who alleges must prove” is to make this Constitutional

checking mechanism a futile and empty exercise. The Court cannot interpret or apply a provision of the Constitution as to make the provision inutile or meaningless.”

On the main issues, Carpio is of the belief that there is actual rebellion and that public safety requires the declaration of martial law and suspension of the privilege of the writ in Marawi City, but not elsewhere. Proclamation No. 216 thus enumerates the belligerent acts of the Maute-Hapilon armed fighters within Marawi City on 23 May 2017. There is no question that widespread killings with the destruction of government and private facilities deprived the whole population in Marawi City of basic necessities and services, endangered the public safety in the whole of Marawi City. However, he disagrees with the majority that actual rebellion exists outside Marawi.

According to Justice Carpio,

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Opinion BACKBENCHER ROD P. KAPUNAN

Demarcating our national boundary Part II THE archipelagic doctrine is an arbitrary redefinition of the country’s national boundary. The Philippines, and lately Indonesia, have adopted this doctrine because of the geographical fixture of the islands. The implication is, even if the body of water that separates the two islands is beyond the 12-mile limit but within the jurisdiction of that state and there are alternative routes to which vessels could pass, that body of water shall be treated as “internal water.” The Treaty of Paris has impliedly recognized this doctrine. Accession by other states to the Treaty Paris has elevated this doctrine as part of international law.

Under international law, the right of innocent passage is accorded to foreign vessels and warships to pass through internal waters because the passageway is narrow where the territorial sea of one or two states adjacent to each other overlap to make it necessary to allow foreign vessels to pass provided: one, there is no other way for the ship to pass; and two, the passage would not interfere in the peace and security of the burdened state/s. This applies to the Strait of Sunda in Indonesia, Strait of Malacca between Singapore and Indonesia, Suez and Panama Canals. In the Montreux Convention of 1936, warships not exceeding 15,000 tons are allowed to cross the Straits of Dardanelles and Bosporus from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean.

This is differentiated by the freedom of navigation invoked by the US navy in the South China Sea. Freedom of Navigation refers to a big body of water where a great portion is an open high sea because the expanse exceeds the 12mile limit from the outermost baseline of the coastal state.

Vessels or warships are free to navigate the open sea but not within the 12-mile limit to violate the territorial sea of the coastal state. Here, China is not preventing US warships from exercising the freedom of navigation but is warned not to violate the 12-mile limit including the air space above it.

Our adoption of the archipelagic doctrine, however, has narrowed our territorial seas because the 12-mile limit follows the contours or sinusitis of the islands around, between and connecting the archipelago. We unilaterally amended the coordinates agreed in the Treaty of Paris to justify our enclosure of that body of water separating the two islands. For us to affirm our right to declare those bodies of water as “internal waters” would consequently reduce our territorial sea under the Treaty of Paris.

When the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea was formally ratified in 1982 and came into force and effect in 1994, the 200-mile limit demarcated as exclusive economic zone unavoidably included the Panatag Shoal.

However, even if we take it that the Spratly or Kalayaan Group of Islands falls within

the EEZ, we could not stretch our boundary to what the US has bequeathed to us under the Paris Treaty.

When President Marcos issued P.D. No. 1596 making the Kalayaan Group of Islands a municipality of the Philippines, that did not assuage the truth that the islands are outside what have been demarcated in the Treaty of Paris.

This author is inclined to believe that P.D. No. 1596 virtually retouched the coordinates agreed in the Treaty. To quote: “Section 1. The area within the following boundaries: KALAYAAN ISLAND GROUP From a point [on the Philippine Treaty Limits] at latitude 7º40’ North and longitude 116º00’ East of Greenwich, thence due West along the parallel of 7º40’ N to its intersection with the meridian of longitude 112º10’ E, thence due north along the meridian of 112º10’ E to its intersection with the parallel of 9º00’ N, thence northeastward to the intersection of parallel of 12º00’ N with the meridian of longitude 114º30’ E, thence, due East along the parallel of 12º00’ N to its intersection with the meridian of 118º00’ E, thence, due South along the meridian of longitude 118º00’ E to its intersection with the parallel of 10º00’ N, thence Southwestwards to the point of beginning at 7º40’ N, latitude and 116º00’ E longitude; including the seabed, sub-soil, continental margin and space shall belong and be subject to the sovereig nt y of the Philippines. Such area is hereby constit uted as a distinct and separate mu nicipalit y of the Province of Palawan and shall be known as “Kalayaan.”

Because the Kalayaan Group of Islands is proximate to Sulu, Mindanao and Palawan and contiguous to the continental shelf that forms the Philippine archipelago, President Marcos assumed that the islands do not belong to any state or res nullius. The decree states that “while other states have laid claims to some of these areas, their claims have lapsed by abandonment and cannot prevail over that of the Philippines on legal, historical, and equitable grounds.”

However, this presumption is false. Renunciation of sovereignty does not result in those islands becoming res nullius because it means the islands were never owned by anybody from the very beginning. Notably, the islands were occupied

by France up to 1930 until they were subsequently acquired by Japan. Japan’s renunciation of sovereignty over those islands under the San Francisco Treaty on Dec. 8, 1951 was by reason of its defeat in World War II. Article 2 (f) states to quote: “(f) Japan renounces all right, title and claim to the Spratly Islands and to the Paracel Islands.”

Similarly, China has far more superior rights over the Spratly islands: First because the San Francisco Treaty specifically mandated Japan to renounce its rights, title and claims over the Spratly and Paracel Islands, and invariably that means Japan

It is doubtful whether the US will faithfully stand by its obligation to defend us.

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

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Japan’s struggles aren’t so unique

By Daniel Moss VICTORY in Japan’s battle with too-low inflation looks as elusive as ever. On Thursday, the Bank of Japan pushed back its estimate of when it’ll hit its two-percent inflation target; the goal now won’t be reached until the year beginning April 2019, according to Governor Haruhiko Kuroda. The delay would seem to confirm that Japan remains subject to a unique “deflationary mindset” that’s nearly impossible to eradicate.

In fact, what’s interesting isn’t how singular Japan’s problems are, but how common.

While they may vary in degree, they’re increasingly shared by policymakers across the developed world.

With no one predicting a change in interest rates at the conclusion of the BOJ’s twoday policy meeting, the quarterly forecasts were always going to be what garnered attention.

The stickiness of anemic inflation must be especially galling to Kuroda and other officials, given that Japan’s economic recovery is picking up a little bit of steam.

Quick Take Abenomics Japanese consumer prices are now in positive territory

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cable TV service.

During this period of intense competition, SkyCable subscription rates were affordable —a little more than one thousand pesos for every quarter provided a household with numerous cable TV channels. The low rates were possible because SkyCable did not have a monopoly in the cable TV business back then.

SkyCable, however, had a built-in advantage over its competitors. Its sister company, Meralco, had electric light posts all over the metropolis and in the suburbs. SkyCable conveniently used those electric posts for its cables either for free or for a small sum. That wasn’t much of a problem because of the common business interests SkyCable and Meralco shared.

As for the competition, Meralco charged them virtually prohibitive rates because in just a few years, SkyCable’s competitors gave up and sold their businesses to SkyCable.

By the 1990s, SkyCable enjoyed a monopoly in the cable TV business in the national capital region and its adjacent areas.

At first, the effects of the

A warning...

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rebels could flee in other parts of Mindanao is also wrong because the rebels outside Marawi could also be issued arrest warrants even without martial law or the suspension of the writ. He reasons that neither sporadic bombings outside Marawi or in other parts of Mindanao constitute armed popular uprising amounting to actual rebellion to justify its declaration.

Today, Congress convenes jointly to consider the extension of martial law up to December 2017, purportedly because of the challenges an evolving urban warfare threat has brought.

I oppose such extension, especially the longer period and its scope which is still full of Mindanao. I fear it is a dress rehearsal for nationwide martial rule for an indefinite mind. As our representatives and senators deliberate on this crucial decision, I hope they will bear in mind the final word of Justice is duty-bound to return those islands to China. Second, the Kalayaan group of islands or Spratly is beyond the boundaries agreed by Spain and the US in the Treaty of Paris.

This explains why the US

—rising 0.4 percent in May —and gross domestic product has grown for five quarters, the longest uninterrupted spell since the global financial crisis.

The unemployment rate, helped by a shrinking population, has hovered around three percent for a year.

Even the BOJ forecasts that kick the two-percent inflation target into the long grass expect the current economic expansion to continue for a couple more years. Surely then, the models suggest, wage pressures must kick in meaningfully at some point, especially given how tight the labor market is. And that, in turn, should push inflation back to two percent.

But the models have been wrong to this point—and not just in Japan. In the euro zone, where things are looking better economically than they have in years, the rebound hasn’t translated into a surge in inflation. While the European Central Bank is likely to reduce its stimulus accordingly in coming months, it’s likely to do so very gradually.

In the US, where the Federal Reserve has increased interest rates twice this year, a string of inflation misses is similarly giving some policymakers

pause over how fast to proceed.

Lael Brainard, an influential Fed governor, told an audience at Columbia University last week she wants “to assess the inflation process closely before making a determination on further adjustments to the federal funds rate in light of the recent softness.’’ Charles Evans, president of the Chicago Fed, has discussed the need to assure Americans that the Fed isn’t just a bunch of “conservative central bankers who view our inflation target as a ceiling.’’

Few policymakers around the world would claim to have a handle on what’s happening here. It’s not a uniquely US or German or Japanese phenomenon. Some Fed officials have mused in recent months about whether changes to cell-phone pricing and the cost of prescription drugs help explain inflation’s retreat since hitting two percent in February. But even if they’re right, that doesn’t explain how widespread the problem is globally.

The trend could reflect the lingering after-effects of the global financial crisis. Or perhaps consumers outside Japan have succumbed to what one might call a “disinflationary mindset.” Some people blame

cheap imports resulting from expanded global trade, although that’s been a process underway for decades.

That’s not to say Japan doesn’t face some unique challenges. Its rapidly shrinking population, coupled with technological advances that keep retail prices in check, may be too big a hurdle for Kuroda, or any BOJ governor, to overcome. BOJ officials feel let down by labor unions that, they complain, haven’t been anywhere near aggressive enough in annual wage negotiations with employers—hardly a problem in the West.

Kuroda also does have to contend with a national psychology that can’t seem to shake the idea of ultra-low inflation or, even worse, the notion of a return to deflation.

At least policy doesn’t need to be loosened again anytime soon, Kuroda said at Thursday’s post-meeting press conference.

And he may not have to wrestle with this conundrum much longer. His term ends in April, and no BOJ leader has been reappointed since the bank gained independence in the late 1990s.

Given how widespread and intractable these challenges are proving to be, he may well find that statistic a relief. Bloomberg

monopoly were not well-felt by SkyCable subscribers. In time, however, the baneful consequences of a monopolized business on the consumers became pronounced.

First, SkyCable increased its subscription fees. Today, it costs more than a thousand pesos each month for an ordinary subscription service from SkyCable.

Second, SkyCable’s highly touted service began deteriorating. Many of its service personnel became rude and incompetent. Complaints were referred to a telephone call center, the lines of which are almost always busy. If one is fortunate enough to be attended to by an operator, one gets the run around by someone who obviously does not know anything.

Third, SkyCable started inserting its company’s commercials in what should be the commercial segment of its foreign cable television channels. The actual commercials on Travel Channel, for instance, are often replaced by SkyCable’s own commercials.

More often than not, the SkyCable commercial eats into the time alloted for the Travel Channel commercial, so when the subsriber is returned to Travel Channel, the subscriber misses out on several seconds of the ac-

tual program. That’s a rude disservice by any standard.

The commercial insertions done by SkyCable also prejudice the sponsors of the foreign cable channel concerned. For instance, a foreign company that places a commercial on say, an animated cable TV channel, expecting that its commercial will be seen by everyone watching that particular cable TV channel, does not realize that its commercial will not be seen by Philippine audiences who subscribe to SkyCable because its commercial will probably be replaced by a SkyCable commercial. Where is the fairness in that?

Fourth, SkyCable changes cable TV channels indiscriminately. Star Movies used to be available, until it was replaced with Fox Movies.

Fifth, the broadcasts of competitor conventional TV networks like ABC TV 5 and GMA TV 7 (and their affiliate channels) suffer from frequent technical interference. In contrast, broadcasts of the ABS-CBN channels are clear and crisp.

Sixth, many international programs on SkyCable have a synchronization problem – the audio often does not match with the video. Many programs on the National Geographic Channel and the History Channel suffer from this problem.

Seventh, many cable programs do not have a synopsis, despite the touted service.

Eighth, SkyCable saturates its cable service with repeated materials promoting the motion pictures of another sister company, Star Cinema. Tax lawyers are asking – are those promotional materials aired for free, or are they paid for?

If they are aired for free, isn’t that unfair competition prohibited under the new Competition Act? If they are paid for, are taxes on those advertisments paid as well?

Ninth, many subscribers to SkyCable are complaining that since June 2017, the get choppy transmissions. SkyCable personnel tell them that the service will improve if they get the company’s black box, and if they pay an additional sum of about P200 a month over and above the existing bill.

Cable television service providers are subject to regulation by the National Telecommunications Commission. Some subcribers of SkyCable should start complaining there about this abusive monopoly.

Under the Constitution, Congress has the power to regulate or prohihit monopolies in commercial mass media when the public interest so requires. Its time Congress exercised that power.

Carpio in his dissent, a warning to the Court, to Congress, and all citizens: “Immediately after issuing Proclamation No. 216, President Duterte announced to the entire nation and to the world that his martial law “will not be any different from what Marcos did. The Court must take this public and official statement seriously for this is no trivial matter. When President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law in 1972 under the Constitution, he abolished Congress, shut down media, imprisoned leaders, the political opposition, packed the Supreme Court with his law school classmates and loyalists, and ruled by decree—thereby making himself a dictator for over 13 years until the people ousted him from power in 1986.

The review power of the Court, as well as the Legislature, on the President’s exercise of his Commander-in-Chief powers was precisely written in the 1987 Constitution as a

checking mechanism to prevent a recurrence of the martial law of Marcos. The 1987 Constitution further mandates that a state of martial law does not suspend the operation of the Constitution. It is apparent that President Duterte does not understand, or refuses to understand, this fundamental principle that forms part the bedrock of our democracy under the 1987 Constitution, despite his having taken a solemn oath of office to preserve and defend the (1987) Constitution.

The Court cannot simply gloss over this presidential mindset that has been publicly broadcasted to the nation and to the world. Any sign or acquiescence by the Court to this Presidential mindset could be fatal to the survival the 1987 Constitution and our democracy. The Court cannot play with the fire of martial law which could turn into ashes the very Constitution that members the Court are sworn to preserve and defend, a tragic event that once befell the

Court in 1972 and brought the Court to its lowest point in its history. The Court must never allow the 1972 debacle to be ever repeated again. With this wisdom from hindsight, the Court must now stand firm and apply the clear letter and intent the 1987 Constitution without fear or favor, for the nation and history demand no less from every member the Court.

The decision of the Court in the present petitions has far reaching ramifications on the future of our civil liberties and our democratic society under the rule of law. For in deciding the present petitions, the Court prescribes the fundamental rules governing the exercise of the Commander-in-Chief powers under the 1987 Constitution not only for the incumbent President but also for all future Presidents. The Court should not mercilessly inflict on the Filipino people the constant fear of a recurrence of the nightmarish martial law of Marcos.”

having these islands returned to China though at that time was represented by Taiwan.

This now makes the position of Roilo Golez and Justice Antonio Carpio ridiculous. It is doubtful whether the US will

faithfully stand by its obligation to defend us much that it was the one that handed over the disputed islands back to China.

cannot openly support our claim over these disputed islands much that it was instrumental and even acted as the principal broker of the San Francisco Treaty. The US cannot now make a disclaimer for

rpkapunan@gmail.com

News

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

Peace movement rejects emergency extension

By Sandy Araneta THE All-Out Peace movement, a broad network of peace advocates and civil society groups, on Friday welcomed the submission by the 21-member Bangsamoro Transition Commission of the new draft of the Bangsamoro Basic Law to President Rodrigo Duterte.

The new draft of the BBL was submitted on July 17.

“We see this positive development for the new BBL as a fresh opportunity and a significant step to end our long and exhaustive search for a just and enduring peace in Mindanao,” AOP said.

“However, while we applaud this monumental initiative by the present government on the Bangsamoro peace process, AOP is gravely concerned over the continuing crisis in Marawi including the plan by the government to extend the implementation of martial law in the whole of Mindanao,” the group said.

With more than a month of armed skirmishes since martial law was declared on May 23, the conflict in Marawi has left scores dead, the number of internally displaced persons have soared to hundreds of thousands and a significant part of the city literally pulverized into rub-

ble due to sustained aerial strikes that have also deeply traumatized its citizens, AOP said.

“We believe that extending the implementation of martial law is fundamentally incoherent with the government’s strong support for the peace process,” they said.

“While we condemn in the strongest terms the terror and violence committed by the so-called Maute group and their cohorts against the people and defenseless communities of Marawi and its spillover effect to the entire island and country, we do not see a prolonged martial law or a mere military solution as a viable and sustainable formula to address armed insurgency in Mindanao,” they said.

AOP said the government and the armed forces have both affirmed this and have enough power in their hands to address this peace and order situation without resorting to this draconian step.

More concretely, the group said they were worried that the extension or possible expansion of martial law might have some serious implications not only to human rights but to the whole peace process itself.

AOP stressed that if the government was indeed sincere in bringing real peace to Mindanao—and the

NO EXTENSION. Muslim traders residing in Metro Manila link arms during a news conference in Mandaluyong City Friday to show force while calling on President Rodrigo Duterte not to extend the emergency imposed in Mindanao following the attack on Marawi City by terrorists on May 23. Manny Palmero

Runway repair forces 12 Cebu Pac flights off

By Joel E. Zurbano

T

HE Cebu Pacific Air has canceled 12 domestic flights following the temporary closure of MactanCebu International Airport due to scheduled maintenance work and pavement repairs of its runway on Friday.

The canceled July 21 flights include 5J 561 / 5J 554 Manila-Cebu-Manila, 5J 586/5J 551 Cebu-Manila-Cebu, 5J 562 / 5J 553 Cebu-Manila-Cebu, 5J 563/ 5J 564 Manila-Cebu-Manila, 5J 608 CebuClark, 5J 611 Davao-Cebu and DG 6588/ DG 6589 Cebu-Ormoc-Cebu.

“Cebu Pacific has canceled the following flights due to the temporary closure of the runway at the Mactan Cebu International Airport from 2:30 am to 8:30 am on July 21, 2017, Friday, due to scheduled maintenance work and pavement repairs,” the airline stat-

ed in its advisory.

The Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines on Thursday released a Notice to Airmen regarding the six-hour closure at the airport, which will affect timings of some Cebu Pacific flights in Manila.

Affected passengers of the cancelled flights were advised to avail any themselves of the following options without penalties: Rebook their flights for travel within 30 days from original departure date; or option for full refund or travel fund.

Also as a result of the temporary runway closure, according to Cebu Pacific Air management, a number of do-

mestic and international flights to and from the following destinations on July 21 might be delayed: Domestic: Clark (CRK), Bacolod (BCD), Busuanga (USU), Butuan (BXU), Cagayan (CGY), Caticlan (MPH), Camiguin (CGM), Davao (DVO), Dipolog (DPL), Dumaguete (DGT), Iloilo (Iloilo), Kalibo (KLO), Legazpi (LGP), Ormoc (OMC), Ozamiz (OZC), Pagadian (PAG), Puerto, Princesa (PPS), Siargao (IAO), Surigao (SUG) and Tacloban (TAC).

International: Hong Kong (HKG) and Taipei (TPE) “We sincerely hope for our passengers’ understanding, as this situation is beyond our control,” the airline stated.

House ad hoc body hears ‘Smokey’ strife THE House ad hoc subcommittee on Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation this week conducted a hearing on the long-standing dispute involving the Smokey Mountain Development and Reclamation Project to determine whether a settlement to the prolonged dispute was possible.

Rep. Rodel Batocabe (Party-list, Ako Bicol), ad hoc subcommittee chairman, explained during the hearing the body had been tasked to conduct a review, in aid of legislation, of the Smokey Mountain controversy and determine whether a settlement among the parties to the prolonged dispute could be arrived at.

In a press statement, Batocabe mentioned the National Housing Authority, Home Guarantee Corp., R-II Builders Inc., and the Commission on Audit as among the parties to the dispute.

Batocabe said the ad hoc panel conducted seven hearings on the Smokey Mountain project during the previous Congress and came up with several findings and recommendations, which it submitted to the mother committee, the Committee on Housing and Urban Development.

First, an amicable settlement of the controversy must not be an option but an urgent necessity considering the public interest involved, said Batocabe.

Litigation is no longer a viable option, taking into account the endless lawsuits, expenses, and time wasted by the parties, said Batocabe.

“Amicable settlement is the most viable option, provided that it is validated by the CoA and considered advantageous to the government,” said Batocabe.

Second, the ad hoc body directed the CoA to take a more active role in the resolution of the dispute, by providing recommendations that can help achieve an amicable settlement.

“The ad hoc committee directed the CoA to not only audit the property and validate the documents submitted by the parties but give judicious recommendations that can help achieve the objectives of settlement,” Batocabe explained.

Third, the ad hoc committee underscored that the main function of the Home Guarantee Corp. is not to develop, manage, or operate its acquired assets but to dispose of its properties the soonest in order to ensure its liquidity and thereby provide guarantee.

Rep. Manuel Luis Lopez (1st District, Manila) said that although he lauded the housing project for the Smokey Mountain residents, he highlighted the need for providing them with livelihood programs. PNA

PAYOFF DRIVE. Candidates of Mr. and Ms. Chinatown, with Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada (not seen in the picture), lead the cleanup drive at the new Rizal Park Hotel, the erstwhile Army Navy Club, aimed at rekindling public support in restoring Manila Bay’s coastline. Norman Cruz

Legarda hopeful of budget review A SENATOR on Friday expressed hope the Senate could get an early start in reviewing the proposed 2018 budget of P3.767 trillion as soon as its second regular session resumes next week.

“When the budget is approved early, it allows for a more efficient delivery of services by the government,” Senator Loren Legarda, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, said in a press statement.

Legarda made this statement as President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to submit to Congress the 2018 National Expenditure Program during his second State of the Nation Address on Monday.

She pointed out that the early submission of the NEP would allow the Senate to start early in reviewing the proposed 2018 budget.

“We hope we can also approve the budget ahead of the usual schedule to ensure continuity of ongoing programs and immediate implementation of new ones by government agencies,” she added.

Legarda, meanwhile, gave assurances that like the 2017 budget, the 2018 budget would remain “pro-people,” “socially inclusive,” “gender sensitive,” and “climate adaptive,” among others.

The senator also vowed that the Senate would not waste time and ensure that “people’s money is judiciously used for the common good.”

The Department of Budget and Management earlier said the proposed 2018 budget prioritizes education and infrastructure development, particularly for the government’s infrastructure program, “Build, Build, Build,” and the provision of social services to the people. PNA

OFW ID project comes under serious criticism

By Sara Susanne D. Fabunan THE proposed OFW ID card of the Department of Labor and Employment has come under fire from another policy advocate, the Lilac Center for Public Interest.

Lilac said the OFW ID card was a ‘half-baked’ project that needed to be returned to the drawing board for further serious technical and social study.

“All the signs point to the OFW ID as a ‘rushed’ concoction, so much so that it elicits more questions than it provides answers,” Lilac Center president Nicon Fameronag said.

The Lilac Center official said the DoLE’s pronouncement that the OFW ID was free was dubious, as an unofficial DoLE document pointed to the card to cost more

than the present Overseas Employment Certificate that the OFW ID Card sought to replace.

An OEC costs only P100 for returning workers and P200 for newly-hired OFWs. The unofficial document is an annex to a Memorandum of Agreement that details the roles and obligation and responsibilities of the DoLE, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Development Bank of the Philippines, DBP Data Center Inc. APO Production Unit Inc., Philippine Postal Corp., and the Bureau of Immigration, the institutional parties to the MoA. The MoA looks like it is a final document ready for signing.

Under Annex A of the MoA, the APO Production Unit Inc. will

charge P40.00 for printing of each card; the DBP to charge P20; while the DBP Data Center, Inc. will charge P440, a total of P500.

In addition, the PhilPost, whose responsibility is to deliver the OFW ID Cards in the Philippines and abroad, will charge P7.00 per card for “letter shopping” service, which refers to “collating, inserting, labeling, and sealing,” as well as “insertion of odd-sized mail pieces.”

This will be on top of the mailing, which varies depending on the weight of the mail to be delivered; local destination; mode of delivery, i.e., either by domestic registered mail, express mail, or international registered or express mail; zone; and country of destination.

“On the average, the cost of mailing an OFW card by domestic registered mail is P35.75; by domestic ex-

press mail, P106.33; by international registered mail, P166.75; and by international express mail, P1,348.57.

These costs, if the DoLE delivers all the cards by mail, will be enormous.

How can it recoup these delivery costs by not passing it on to the card payor?” Fameronag asked.

Another cost that is seemingly benign is the standard channel fee, the amount that domestic and overseas payment channels, such as banks, online banking systems, mobile wallets, bayad centers, credit and debit cards, etc., charge to users.

“If the OFW, or whoever pays for the ID card, pays using these channels, naturally, they pay the standard channel fees just like when they remit money. That’s another expense that will increase the cost of the card,” he said.

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 sports_mstandard@yahoo.com

Sepfourteen guns for TC sweep

A

CASH windfall is at stake when the Philippine Racing Commission (Philracom) holds the third leg of its Triple Crown Series on July 30 (Sunday), with Sepfourteen going for a historic sweep at the Saddle & Clubs Leisure Park, in Naic, Cavite.

The winning tandem of Sepfourteen and jockey John Alvin Guce made it two in a row in the Triple Crown series at the San Lazaro Park last month, putting the threeyear-old colt of SC Stockfarm in a position to make history in the third leg of the series offering a guaranteed total prize of P3 million, with P1,800,000 going to the winner.

If Sepfourteen completes a

an elite cast, headed by Brilliance, Golden Kingdom and Smokin’ Saturday. Also joining the fray in the 9-horse field are Batang Poblacion, Greatwall, Hiway One, Mount Pulag and Pangalusian Island.

Three stakes races, two charity races and eight rating-based races comprise Philracom’s racing exsweep of the Triple Crown and travaganza at the Philippine Racwins the third leg set over a longer ing Club’s track. The rating-based distance of 2,000 meters, he’ll join races are a result of the Philrathe greats such as Fair and Square com’s membership with the Interin 1981, Skywalker (1983), Time national Federation of HorseracMaster (1987), Magic Showtime ing Authorities, whose mission is (1988), Sun Dancer (1989), Strong to promote good regulation and Material (1996), Real Top (1998), best practices on international Silver Story (2001), Hagdang Bato matters pertaining to the sport.

(2012), and Kid Molave (2014).

The charity races for one have Standing in Sepfourteen’s way is a guaranteed P300,000 in prizes,

with P180,000 going to the winner. In the rating-based races, a guaranteed prize of P130,000 is allocated to the winner, sponsored by the PRCI. Added prizes in the rating-based handicapping system are a minimum of P180,000 to Class 1 races and P150,000 to Class 2. Classes 3 to 5 will get a minimum of P120,000, P90,000 and P60,000, respectively.

Also on tap on Sunday is the Philracom Hopeful Stakes Race offering P1 million in total prizes and the Philracom 3YO Locally Bred Stakes Race, with P500,000 at stake.

Bossa Nova, Cerveza Rosas, Metamorphosis and Stockholm will be dueling in the Hopeful Stakes

Race, while Battle Chacha, Caloocan Zap, Kingship, Lemonada, Oceanside, Puwerto Prinsesa, Salt and Pepper, Sikat, Stravinsky and Temecula comprise the 3YO Locally Bred Stakes.

The three-leg series is patterned after the United States’ Triple Crown, with its three legs comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes, also with progressively longer distances.

“We have prepared a solid lineup for our racing aficionados to enjoy. And I’m sure the increase in prize money will be highly appreciated by horseowners, too, ” Philracom Chairman Andrew A. Sanchez said.

Durant to host clinics in India NEW YORK—NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant will visit India next week, hosting a clinic for 5,000 children, donating two basketball courts to a school and instructing top youth players.

Durant sparked the Golden State Warriors to their second NBA crown in three seasons last month.

The 28-year-old star forward won his first NBA crown in his first season after leaving Oklahoma City for the Warriors.

“I’m excited to travel to India to help promote the game of basketball and meet the prospects at the NBA Academy India,” Durant said. “I’ve wanted to visit India for a long time and I can’t wait to experience the country’s unique culture and share my knowledge with the kids there.”

Durant, who also helped the US Olympic team capture gold in 2012 at London and last year in Rio, will travel to New Delhi next Thursday.

He will donate two courts to the Ramjas School as part of his charity foundation’s court renovation program, then visit the NBA Academy India in Noida, becoming the first active NBA player to appear at the school, where he will provide a master class in shooting, passing, dribbling and defensive drills.

Later at the academy, Durant will lead a larger-scale clinic for 5,000 youth, 1,000 in the facility and 4,000 other boys and girls through a satellite link from locations in Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad and Kolkata.

“We’re thrilled to host 2017 Finals MVP Kevin Durant in India,” NBA India managing director Yannick Colaco said. “Having one of the very best players in our league interact with the basketball playing youth of India will serve as great inspiration to the next generation of players here.”

Durant, an eight-time NBA All-Star and the 2014 NBA Most Valuable Player, averaged 25.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.6 blocked shots and 1.1 steals a game last season for the Warriors. AFP

OFF TO WORLD SERIES. Members of Team Manila Philippines left yesterday for Hemet, California USA to see action in the 2017 PONY International U-18 Girls Softball World Series after qualifying to represent the Asia Pacific Region. The Big City Softbelles, backed by Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada and the International Container Terminal Services, Inc., are shown at the Century Seafood Restaurant with delegation head and Manila Councilor Laris Borromeo (middle), Boy Tingzon of Philippine Tot Baseball (left) and Manila Softball president Engr. Rafael “Che” Borromeo (right).

Cavaliers adding Rose to backcourt NEW YORK—Derrick Rose, the youngest player to win the NBA Most Valuable Player award when he took the trophy in 2011, is talking over a one-year deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers, ESPN reported Thursday.

The oft-injured 28-year-old point guard would add a backcourt spark for the Cavaliers as they try to mount a tougher challenge to Golden State, which beat Cleveland in two of their three NBA Finals matchups over the past three seasons.

The offer to Rose from Cleveland is a minimum contract for $2.1 million, according to ESPN. If Rose joined the Cavaliers, it would mean that between them, Golden State and Cleveland would have every NBA MVP from 2009 through 2016.

Cavs star LeBron James won the award in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Golden State forward Kevin Durant won it in 2014 while with Oklahoma City and Warriors guard Stephen Curry was the 2015 and 2016 MVP. Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook won this year’s MVP award last month.

Rose, the top pick in the 2008 NBA Draft by hometown club Chicago, has met with several teams this month, including Milwaukee and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Rose averaged 18 points, 3.8 rebounds and 4.4 assists on 47 percent shooting over 64 games for the New York Knicks last season after being traded from Chicago in June of last year. His season ended April 2 after a left knee injury that required the fourth knee surgery of his nine-year NBA career.

Rose’s time with the Bulls is marred by a series of knee injuries, the first of them being torn left knee ligaments in the opening game of the 2012 playoffs. He missed the entire 2012-13 season and played less than a month into the 2013-14 campaign before a season-ending right knee injury.

He missed 20 games in the 20-1415 season after another right knee operation. AFP

BaliPure, Perlas-BanKo eye semis playoff Sta. Rosa hosts BALIPURE and Perlas-BanKo square off today (Saturday) in a key match for at least a playoff for the last semifinal berth as the Final Four race heats up in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

The Water Defenders, runners-up to the Pocari Sweat Lady Warriors in the recent Reinforced Conference, face a must-win outing against the Perlas Spikers after a roller-coaster win-loss-win-loss ride midway through the single round elims of the mid-season conference of the league organized

by Sports Vision.

Games today

10 a.m. – Sta. Elena vs Mega Builders (men’s) 1 p.m. – Cignal vs Air Force (men’s) 4 p.m. – BaliPure vs Perlas (women’s) 6:30 p.m. – UP vs Creamline (women’s)

They remain at fourth but the Perlas Spikers are just a shade behind at 2-3, wheeling back into contention with a four-set victory over the UP Lady Maroons last Wednesday.

That makes their 4 p.m. duel a match to watch with BaliPure coach Roger Gorayeb expected to go through his main core led by Grethcel Soltones, Risa Sato, Aiko

Urdas, Jerrili Malabanan and ace playmaker Jasmine Nabor.

But Perlas-BanKo mentor Nai Muhammad remains hopeful of his ward’s backdoor bid with former UP stalwarts Kathy Bersola and Nicole Tiamzon tipped to sustain their form along with veteran Sue Roces and Ella de Jesus along with top setter Jem Ferrer.

Meanwhile, semifinalist Creamline tries to extend its win run to six as it plays back-to-back with UP in the 6:30 p.m. main game.

Despite their 1-4 card, the Lady Maroons, along with the idle Power Smashers, still have a mathematical chance to force a playoff

for the last Final Four seat with a sweep of their last two games and hope that two from Air Force, Pocari, Perlas-BanKo and BaliPure won’t over three wins.

Mega Builders also seeks a sixth win in a row against Sta. Elena at 10 a.m. in the first of two matches in the men’s side of the tournament backed by Mikasa and Asics.

Cignal tries to recover from its setback to Mega Builders as it battles Air Force in a duel of title contenders at 1 p.m.

All matches can be viewed via livestream on www.sports. abs-cbn.com/livestream/pvl.

Ex-NBA coach Theus headlines Gatorade NBA Training Center Text and photo by Kevin San Pedro FORMER NBA Coach and AllStar Reggie Theus joined this year’s Gatorade NBA Training Center to share his knowledge and expertise to fellow enthusiasts.

“I’m eager to work with the athletes and coaches on fitness and conditioning, and share my coaching expertise on the game,” said Theus.

When asked what lured him to join the annual clinic, the twotime NBA All-Star was quick to say that it was the passion Filipinos have for basketball that he’d always heard of.

The Gatorade NBA Training Center is an exclusive basketball

clinic with invitations extended only to select college basketball athletes and coaches resulting in its elite clientele.

The Gatorade NBA Training Center is a part of NBA FIT which is a health and wellness platform that encourages healthy lifestyles while also promoting the values of the games through its threepoint advocacy, “Be Active, Eat Healthy and Play Together.”

This year’s event, held last Thursday (July 20) at the Gatorade Hoops Center in Mandaluyong City, commemorates its fourth consecutive year of imparting invaluable insight into the sport through discussions and live exhibitions centered around

game mechanics as well as fitness. With NBA’s partnership with Gatorade, the event also added proper nutrition and hydration into the mix.

“As the world leader in sports hydration, Gatorade will always actively support initiatives to empower the Philippines’ next generation of basketball superstars,” said PepsiCo Philippines Marketing Manager for Hydration, Tony Atayde.

PepsiCo is the current manufacturer of Gatorade.

“We’re grateful to work with NBA on this campaign, and we look forward to spreading our message of hydration to more athletes nationwide,” Atayde added.

Reggie Theus

S+A airs La Salle-Ateneo’s Battle of the Rivals FIERCE rivals Ateneo Lady Eagles and the De La Salle Lady Spikers delivered another five-set classic when they clashed for a cause in last Sunday’s “Battle of the Rivals” event, which will have a primetime telecast this Saturday at 6 p.m. on S+A and S+A HD. Former and current players of the Lady Spikers and the Lady Eagles led by national team captain Mika Reyes, Alyssa Valdez, Kim Fajardo, and Jia Morado relived their collegiate rivalry in front of a mammoth crowd of over 13,000 people at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, who were there to support the teams’ goal of raising funds for scholars of the Ateneo De Manila

University Foundation, the De La Salle University Foundation, and the Rebisco Foundation Inc. De La Salle went firing off the bat, racing to a two-nil set lead thanks to Aby Marano, Stephanie Mercado, and Michele Gumabao. However, Ateneo, refused to give up and staged a furious comeback for an epic come-from-behind win, led by no less than the volleyball phenom Valdez, who scored 36 points, and her fellow Cool Smasher Morado, who was named the Most Valuable Player of the game from Ateneo with 58 excellent sets. Marano, who led her team in points with 16, was named MVP for DLSU.

The captains of the two squads, Cha Cruz for La Salle, and Valdez for Ateneo, agreed that meeting on the court after quite some time felt invigorating, especially as they are doing it for a good cause.

“It’s a great feeling to play with friends especially after recalling the hard-fought battles we had in the past. At the end of the day, we are all friends and getting reunited for a good cause is what it’s all about. Plus, there’s nothing like seeing green and blue on the same court,” Cruz said.

“Rivalry brings out the best and that extra excitement in us. We are now giving a whole new meaning to the word rival in the sense that it isn’t something negative,

but something that excites people and fuels us to play our best not just for ourselves but for our team and what we represent as a whole,” Valdez added.

Aside from the much-awaited faceoff, fans also got to enjoy and appreciate the games more as a select group of volleyball stars and fans teamed up for an exciting Skills Challenge that tested their abilities in service, digging, and attacking. There was also an exhibition match featuring the Philippine national men’s volleyball team.

For updates log on to ABS-CBN’s sports hub sports.abs-cbn.com, or follow @ABSCBNSports on Facebook and Twitter.

PPS age-group tennis tourney

THE Palawan Pawnshop-Palawan Express Pera Padala holds its first age-group tennis tournament in Sta. Rosa, Laguna with another huge field clashing for top honors in various divisions at the Sta. Rosa Sports Tennis Club.

The Group 2 tournament presented by Slazenger actually got underway yesterday (Friday) with close to 200 entries disputing the crowns in boys and girls 12-, 14-, 16- and 18-and-under divisions along with the 10-unisex diadem.

“It has been our commitment to expand the base of our talent-search and by tapping new venues, we are giving these young, aspiring players the chance to test their mettle and gain exposure in ranking tournaments,” said Palawan Pawnshop president/ CEO Bobby Castro.

The PPS-PEPP has linked up with Rep. Arlene Arcillas, Mayor Dan Fernandez, Councilor Ina Cartagena, GSO head Celso Catindig, Sports Department head Roy Lazaga, SRTC president Romy Adato, SRTC VP Butch Padilla, Libjo Mining Corp., Mar Capacio, Ed Nacnac and Mely Purificacion to stage the four-day tournament through local organizer SRTC tournament committee members Paul Tardeo, Mel Dizon, Ernie Carandang, Abet Rivera and Franco Dilao.

Focus will be on the 10-unisex side with Kean Enriquez and Alexi Jarata bannering the 32-player draw that also includes siblings Frank and France Dilao, Tim Tayer and Freya Pre. Denise Bernardo, meanwhile, gains the top seeding in both the girls’ 16- and 18-U classes with Laurenz Quitara emerging as the player to watch in the boys’ 16- and 18-U categories.

Meanwhile, action shifts to Dasmariñas, Cavite next week for the PPS-PEPP Orchard leg tournament, another Group 2 event, at the Orchard Golf and Country Club on July 27-31.

Listup is ongoing. For details, call, call PPSPEPP sports program development director Bobby Mangunay at 0915-4046464.

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

Sports

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

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

Que extends ICTSI golf lead to 4 shots with 66 LIPA CITY—Angelo Que stumbled with another closing bogey but still hiked his lead to four over Clyde Mondilla with a six-under 66 as he moved 18 holes away from nailing the ICTSI Classic crown at Mt. Malarayat Golf and Country Club here yesterday.

Que actually took a six-shot lead to the par-5 18th after another brilliant eagle-spiked round but dumped his second shot into the hazard and settled for that six-under card and a four-shot lead as Mondilla gained on a twoshot swing with a third straight birdie on the last hole for a 67 in sunny but still windless day at Mt. Lobo and Mt. Makulot nines.

But despite going four-up with a 17-under 199 total, the former three-time Asian Tour winner, toughened up by his stint in the Japan PGA Tour, still opted to downplay his chances for the top P360,000 purse and another impending victory at the Mt. Malarayat’s composite layout.

“I need to stay relaxed and focused. No room for complacency. It’s just a four-shot lead and anything can still happen,” said Que, seeking a follow-up to his runaway triumph at Anvaya Cove Invitational last February and a third straight win here after winning in 2008-09.

Three-up after 36 holes of the P2 million event organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc., Que shook off Mondilla’s birdiebirdie charge from No. 2 with an eagle-birdie-birdie counter to close out the frontside then sustained his assault at the back with three more birdies before that second straight bogey finish gave Mondilla some semblance of hope for a final round fightback.

The Del Monte ace looked headed to fading out after that early birdie binge as he mixed three bogeys with two birdies in the next six holes. But the Southwoods and Philippine Masters champion bounced back with four birdies at the back to stay in second at 13-under 203.

James Ryan Lam, who fired the tournament-best 64 Thursday, bucked a bogey on No. 2 with five birdies in an eight-hole stretch from No. 5 and ended up with a 68, moving to far joint third at 208 with Jerson Balasabas, who carded a 69.

Nathan Park, the third player in the featured group, failed to match Que and Mondilla’s sustained charge as the Aussie bet bogeyed the last two holes and hobbled with a 73 to drop to joint fifth at 209 with Frankie Miñoza and Omar Dungca.

Miñoza, who outlasted Miguel Tabuena in a record five-hole playoff in Bacolod last year, gunned down five birdies in the last 10 and shot a 67 while Dungca birdied the last for a 70.

Three superb rounds put Angelo Que closer to another ICTSI crown

PH drops SEA Games; funding goes to Marawi rehabilitation

By John Paolo Bencito

T

HE Philippines has officially dropped its hosting of the 30th South East Asian Games to be held in Davao City in 2019 to re-channel government resources in favor of the rehabilitation efforts for the beleaguered city of Marawi.

In a letter by Philippine Sports Commission Chairman William Ramirez to Philippine Olympic Committee President Jose “Peping” Cojuangco, the government announced that it shall no longer proceed with the country’s hosting of the SEA Games amid the ongoing siege in Marawi City.

“The government [has] accepted the chairmanship of the ASEAN 2017 to be [the] world’s partner of change with great enthusiasm and eagerness. It is in [this] manner [that] it showed interest in hosting the 2019 30th SEA Games,” Ramirez said.

“However, due to the current situation in Mindanao

and the problem of terrorism and atrocities, we regret to inform you that we will no longer [push] through with the hosting of the biennial event.

It has been resolved, that Government resources be focused in the rehabilitation and rebuilding of Mindanao specially Marawi,” he added.

In 2015, the Philippines expressed its interest to host the games after its original host, Brunei, which is supposed to host the 2019 edition, earlier declined citing the country’s lack of sporting facilities, accommodation, and preparation of their athletes.

The main host city, meanwhile, was moved from Manila to Davao City after a pro-

country has already stabilized.

“Further, when all is clear and peace and order had improve[d] after 2020 Olympics and in the future, we are positive and willing to host the SEA Games or any other international sporting events,” he added.

The government has allotted more than P20 billion, to be released within three years to rehabilitate and rebuild the city of Marawi, wherein Islamic State-inspired terrorists laid siege since May 23.

President Rodrigo Duterte likewise placed the entire island of Mindanao under military rule for 60 days and is seeking for another five month extension to completely rid the island of extremists.

Meralco 5 dismantles Blackwater, 107 to 78

Cavite, Butuan, Batangas make GSM cage finals THREE more teams advanced to the National Finals of the 2017 Ginebra San Miguel 3-on-3 Basketball Tournament.

Squads from Cavite, Batangas, and Butuan defied the odds and joined the seven others who have earlier made it to the final dance as Ginebra San Miguel continues its search for the best 3x3 basketball unit in the country.

Team Tenorio, bannered by John Cantimbuhan, Jeoffrey Acain, Cliford Castro, and Edward Villadarez, reigned supreme over Team Aguilar to rule the Cavite leg at Patio Medina, Brgy. Poblacion 3, in Silang, Cavite.

The Batangas leg implemented at Padre Garcia in Batangas City, meanwhile, was for Team Aguilar, as the crew of Ponju Mabuyo, Justine Nocete, Jio Aldrin Lopez, and Ronel Africa bested Team Tenorio in the regionals.

Team Aguilar also emerged victorious to represent Butuan City in Brgy. Libertad, as Chuckie Inocencio, Brian Bataluna, Limuel Monton, and Jaime Paray Jr. edged Team Tenorio in the Finals.

Six more slots are up for grabs in the next regional tournaments to complete the 16-team field for the National Finals.

The best 3x3 crew in Quezon Province will be named in Computer Systems Technological College Gym in Brgy. Poblacion 4 in Sariaya on July 22.

Another leg will be held in the Municipality of Calabanga in Camarines Sur, the third-biggest town in the third district, on July 28, where Vice President Leni Robredo will grace the occasion to crown the best team of Bicol..

Then, the regional tournaments roll on to La Union, Davao, Cebu, and Tacloban in August for the final legs of the search before the champions move on to the knockout National Finals on Sept.

1, to be held at SM Megamall Activity Center.

The last two teams standing will proceed to the championship game to be played on Sept. 3 before a Ginebra game at Smart Araneta Coliseum, with the 2017 Ginebra San Miguel 3-on-3 National Champion taking home the P50,000 cash prize, a trophy, and Ginebra San Miguel products.

For more updates, check Ginebra San Miguel’s Facebook page or log on to ginebrasanmiguel.com.

posal made by Cojuangco in 2016 and later on approved by President Rodrigo Duterte.

The Philippines’ last hosted the games in 2005 in Manila, wherein the country emerged as the overall champion.

Despite the setback, Ramirez assured that the government will “always support our national athletes in its quest for medals and honors” as preparations are currently ongoing for the 29th SEA Games to be held in Kuala Lumpur this August and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The PSC chair likewise said that the country is willing to host future editions of the biennial games once the peace and order situation in the

By Jeric Lopez

SPORTS PARA SA BAYAN. Globe launches TM Sports Para sa Bayan

together with Malaysia’s Astro via its subsidiary Tribe. In photo are (from left) Iskandar Samad, Tribe CEO; Joenard Erojo, shortlisted football program candidate; Maui Rabuco, Brand Manager for TM; Princess Lovely Magbago, shortlisted candidate; Deeg Rodriguez, Assistant Manager of Green Archers United; Rofil Magto; Manager, Globe Citizenship; and Cesar De Torres Jr., shortlisted candidate. Lino Santos

NOT even close.

Meralco sent a loud message to the league after it debuted emphatically, mercilessly dismantling helpless Blackwater, 107- 78, in its first game in the 2017 Philippine Basketball Association Governors’ Cup at the Smart Araneta Coliseum last night.

Allen Durham is back in harness and back to work as usual, producing 18 points and 21 rebounds for a monster double-double, while Baser Amer was as impressive, shooting 9-of-12 for a team-high 20 points, five rebounds and

San Beda’s 3rd-quarter assault keys win over Emilio Aguinaldo DEFENDING champion San Beda whipped up a third-quarter storm as it overpowered Emilio Aguinaldo, 81-69, yesterday to boost its stock in the 93rd NCAA basketball tournament at the Filoil Arena in San Juan City.

Jomari Presbitero came through with a career-high 16 points and conspired with Clint Doliguez and Fil-Am Davon Potts in the third canto when the Lions dominated the Generals to turn a single-digit lead at the break to a 19-point advantage at the end of third period.

“I didn’t realize I had a career high because I was just playing my game and following our game plan,” said Presbitero, who spiked his effort with three

Games Tuesday (July 25)

8 a.m.- Mapua vs EAC (jrs) 10 a.m.- AU vs LPU (jrs) 12 noon- Mapua vs EAC (srs) 2 p.m.- AU vs LPU (srs) 4 p.m.- San Beda vs Letran (srs) 6 p.m- San Beda vs Letran (jrs)

assists and two steals.

Cameroonian Donald Tankoua came off the bench to scatter 12 points, his best effort of the season back from a torn MCL (medial collateral ligament) he sustained late in the second round of elimination a season ago.

EAC was into it in the first half and closely stuck with San Beda like a leech and trailed, 3238, at halftime.

But Presbitero, Doliguez and Potts presided over a series of

furious runs in the third quarter where the Lions outscored the Generals, 24-11, to seize a commanding 62-43 upperhand at the end of the third canto.

It was garbage time from there as EAC could only come as close as 10 points.

The Generals, who were led

by Francis Munsayac’s 21 points, fell to 1-3.

In the second game, Jose Rizal University drew strength from Jed Mendoza as it turned back Letran, 65-62, to improve to 2-2.

Mendoza, a proud 21-yearold son of Bataan, dropped a career-best 17 points and had a crucial steal in the dying seconds to preserve the win.

The Knights slid to 1-2.

eight assists in a complete game for the Bolts.

It didn’t took Meralco long to create the separation and break the game wide open right away.

Just nine minutes into the game, last season’s runner-up already detonated a huge bomb, starting the game with a 22-point bubble right away, 30-8, with Amer leading the charge.

Meralco’s eight triples in the first 24 minutes helped its bid to quickly put the game to rest.

The Bolts further pushed their lead to a whopping 32-point cushion, 61-29, with exactly three minutes left before halftime.

Blackwater was never in

it as Meralco was totally in the zone and hardly broke a sweat.

The Bolts joined Phoenix and NLEX into the winning column.

As of this report, Rain or Shine and GlobalPort are making their debut against each other, hoping to also get an early win.

Next up for the Bolts is the defending champion Barangay Ginebra tomorrow as they figure in a finals’ rematch from last year.

Trevis Simpson had a game-high 25 points for Blackwater, but didn’t get much help from his teammates.

The Elite next face Star also on Sunday.

Volley team to train in Korea PREPARATIONS for the 29th Southeast Asian Games next month shifts to high gear as the national men’s volleyball team flies to Suwon, South Korea for a twoweek training camp on Saturday.

Bannered by skipper Johnvic De Guzman, the Sammy Acaylarmentored squad is set to leave at 2:35 p.m. via Philippine Airlines flight 468 to Incheon before taking another few hours of land travel to the enchanting and historic city of Suwon, north of the South Korean capital Seoul.

In Suwon, a tight and hectic schedule—including a number of tune-up games—awaits the Nationals in their training camp based in Sungkyunkwan University serving as the highlight of their preparation for the biennial meet slated from August 19 to 31.

“Pagdating namin sa Korea may three days sila na tatlong beses

mag-e-ensayo. Then another three days na may twice a day practice for morning and afternoon,” said Acaylar. “Kumbaga, Monday, Wednesday, Friday three times of practice sessions. Then Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, two times.”

The team will use the facilities of SKK University for most of its training and tune up matches while some practice games will be at Hwasung volleyball court and Suwon Indoor Gym. The Nationals will test their mettle against club team Hwasung City, the Korean national U-19 team, Korean Universiade national squad and against SKK University squad.

Acaylar wants to sharpen and develop the squad’s speed and floor defense as well as whipping setters Geuel Asia and Relan Taneo into top caliber playmakers under the tutelage of a Korean mentor.

Century sells 860 houses in Cavite

B2

Business

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

B1

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

Meralco, Aboitiz eye AES assets

By Alena Mae S. Flores

M

ANILA Electric Co. and Aboitiz Power Corp. expressed interest in acquiring the power assets in the Philippines of American firm AEC Corp.

“We’re prepared to look at it.

We’ll be interested to look at it,” Meralco president Oscar Reyes told reporters. Meralco, the country’s largest power retailer, is now also involved in operation of power plants through Meralco PowerGen Corp.

A local banking executive

confirmed that AES Philippines was selling its entire 51-percent stake in Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., which owns the 630-megawatt Masinloc coalfired power plant in Zambales and the 335-MW expansion in the same area due for completion in 2019.

“I think they are offering 51 percent stake. I assume they are looking for one buyer. AES is an existing, operating generating company. In a sense, you already have something that is potentially cash and income [generating] to the business,” Reyes said.

Reyes, however, said Meralco still needed to conduct due diligence on the power assets.

“We have to do all the necessary due diligence. But it is a well-recognized. The process hasn’t been started,” he said.

Aboitiz Power chief executive Erramon Aboitiz said the company would also wait for the advice

from AEC, including the issuance of a process letteon the sale of the Masinloc power assets.

“We participated before, we studied it before. I think we’ll study it when it comes out,” Aboitiz said.

AES sold its 45-percent interest in Masinloc to Electricity Generating Public Co. Ltd. or Egco of Thailand for $453 million in September 2014.

The sale included indirect stakes in the 630-MW Masinloc coal plant in Zambales; expansion of the existing Masinloc facility; and approximately 60 MW of potential energy storage proj-

ects in advanced development.

AES acquired the Masinloc coal plant from the government in 2008 for $930 million. The plant began operating in 1998 and consists of two 300-MW units that can run on coal from different sources.

AES, a Fortune 200 global power company, is present in 17 countries. The company recorded $306 million in net income in 2015.

Egco is the first independent power producer in Thailand. It is not clear whether Egco has a right of first refusal over the remaining stake owned by AES in Masinloc.

Imported car sales rose 6% in 1st half

By Othel V. Campos SALES of imported motor vehicles delivered by the Association of Vehicle Importers and Distributors increased 6 percent in the first half to 48,348 units from 45,470 units it sold in the same period last year.

“Avid delivered 48,348 vehicles nationwide for the first semester of the year, improving 6 percent from the same period in 2016. To sustain this positive trend, Avid will continue on its quest to innovate its products and services in response to the ever-changing customer needs,” said Avid president Ma. Fe Perez-Agudo.

The group said on a quarteron-quarter basis, sales closed the second quarter with 25,031 units, up 7.35 percent from 23,317 units in the first quarter.

The continued growth in sales was a testament to the burgeoning demand for imported vehicles in the Philippines, said Agudo.

The passenger car segment saw a 13-percent increase to 18,773 units in the first half from 16,644 units a year ago.

Hyundai, holding the lion’s share of the segment, sold 12,039 units or 64 percent of total Avid passenger car unit sales in the first half.

Demand was also upbeat for light commercial vehicles which grew 6.3 percent to 48,348 units in the six-month period from 45,470 units a year earlier.

Ford led the volume in this segment with 16,209 units sold.

Agudo said the positive feedback from financial institutions and the manageable inflation level would sustain strong demand for automobiles.

The automotive industry is optimistic that 2017 sales will hit 450,000 vehicles, including those sold by other industry groups.

IN BRIEF Smart teams up with Starmobile

Star Telecom Alliance Resources Inc., the Filipino manufacturer of mobile phone brand Starmobile, teamed up with Smart Communications Inc. to offer Voice-over-LTE-capable handsets to the local market.

“This is a momentous event and Starmobile is proud to be part of this pioneering effort,” Starmobile chief operating officer Michael Chen said.

“Today, high quality voice calls like you never thought possible is now a reality. With the new and affordable Starmobile FeatureSmart Evo 1, we are making this worldclass, cutting-edge technology accessible to our fellow Filipinos,” he said.

PLDT-Smart chief technology and information advisor Joachim Horn said VoLTE would be the platform of the future in terms of improving the quality of mobile phone voice service.

“We are excited to partner with Starmobile to start bringing VoLTEcapable handsets to the Philippine market,” Horn said.

VoLTE, unlike regular calls made on existing 2G or 3G networks, uses 4G LTE connectivity to send and receive voice data. This means that apart from static-free calls, VoLTE is capable of ‘Fast Call Setup’ thus eliminating the usual 5- to 10-second wait time users experience when placing a call. Darwin G. Amojelar

Code of Conduct to secure Asean trade

JOB FAIR. The Board of Investments holds a job fair at the Philippine Trade Training Center in Pasay City. Trade Undersecretary and BOI managing head Ceferino Rodolfo (third from right) underscored the role of the various industries and sectors in creating job opportunities and fueling economic growth. With Rodolfo during the ribbon-cutting ceremony are (from left) BOI officer-in-charge for international relations division Ma. Katrina Rivera, Pubic Employment Service Office manager Filipinas Sampang, BOI manufacturing industries service director Evariste Cagatan, BOI governor Lucita Reyes, BOI executive director for industry development services Ma. Corazon Halili-Dichosa, BOI international investments promotion service director Angelica Cayas and BOI director for legal and compliance service Marjorie Ramos-Samaniego.

Metrobank’s stock slides 5% after fraud report

By Julito G. Rada THE share price of Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, the country’s second largest lender, tumbled Friday, after the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said it is investigating an alleged P900-million internal fraud perpetuated by an executive of the bank.

Metrobank’s share price fell 5 percent Friday to P86.9, while most other stocks advanced. The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 1.1 percent Friday.

Reports said a vice president of Metrobank was arrested for diverting between P900 million and P2.5 billion in bank funds.

Bangko Sentral Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. downplayed any significant impact of the in-

ternal fraud in Metrobank on the banking industry.

“These things happen.

They’re isolated. And banks, as I’ve said, are well capitalized that’s why banks have controls so that these kind of things can be mitigated and withstood,” Espenilla said.

“No system is perfect but the bank is expected to be resilient to these things. And I have no concern that the bank can’t handle these things. This is a large bank.

It made more than P16 billion last year, so I mean this is very unfortunate but they have to deal with it,” Espenilla said.

Espenilla said Bangko Sentral was already looking into the circumstances and facts about the incident.

“Our concern is on bank supervision matters. So potentially

a crime may have been committed, so that’s a police matter and that’s really where the NBI [National Bureau of Investigation] plays a role. They have their own role and we have our own from a banking supervision view,” Espenilla said.

Metrobank said it immediately caused the arrest of the individual involved in the case, who was detained Monday.

“The bank is reinforcing its commitment to the highest standards of integrity and upholds the protection of its customers as its main priority. No customer has been affected in this incident.

In the context of the bank’s P1.9 trillion financial resources, rest assured that we continue to operate business as usual for the bank and our customers,” Metrobank said.

The Bankers Association of the Philippines expressed confidence that Metrobank would quickly resolve the reported theft, saying the incident appeared to be an isolated one.

“Such incident is quite unfortunate but we wish to reiterate that banks have established internal controls and systems and instituted separation of functions designed to help prevent crimes of this nature from happening,” BAP said.

“Suffice it to say, Metrobank assures the public that none of its customers have been affected by this incident as it reinforces its commitment to the highest standards of integrity and uphold the protection of each and every one of its customers,” the group said.

BSP to release new coins before yearend THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas will start distributing the first batch of new-generation coins before the end of 2017, Deputy Governor Diwa Guinigundo said Friday.

“The rollout target for the new generation coins is before the end of the year,” Guinigundo said.

The 10-centavo coin will be dropped from the set of new generation coins, he said. The new set will consist of one-centavo, 25-centavo, one-piso, five-piso and 10-piso coins.

He said the coins would carry electro-magnetic security features to set them apart from counterfeits and be easily recognized by vending machines.

Guinigundo earlier said the manufacture of new coins was meant to accompany the new set of bills currently circulating in the financial system, or those called new-generation currency.

The Bangko Sentral did not extend the deadline for the demonetization of old banknotes belonging to the new design series circulating in the financial system, making June 30, 2017 the last extension for the demonetization of old bills.

The old bills lost their value and could no longer be replaced by the new banknotes after the deadline lapsed.

The new design series bills were launched in 1985 by the old central bank. The new generation currency bills, on the other hand, were launched by Bangko Sentral in January 2016, with more security features to avoid counterfeiting. Julito G. Rada

A binding Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea will not only help ease tensions in the heavily disputed territory, but will also establish a more secured environment for regional trade and commerce, an international think tank said.

“The Code of Conduct can serve as a springboard for cooperation and unity among nations in the region not only politically but also economically,” said Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADR Institute.

Some estimates show that up to $5 trillion worth of goods and logistics annually pass through the shipping lanes of the West Philippine Sea, one of the world’s busiest, Manhit said.

Some 40 to 60 percent of the world’s traded goods, including half of oil-tanker shipments traverse the vital sea route. The valuable traffic also includes more than half of the world’s annual merchant fleet tonnage and a third of all maritime traffic worldwide.

Oil transported through the Malacca Strait en route to East Asia via the West Philippine Sea is triple what passes through the Suez Canal and 15 times the volume that transits the Panama Canal.

This accounts for some two-thirds of South Korea’s energy supplies, nearly 60 percent of Japan’s and Taiwan’s, and 80 percent of China’s.

“These are staggering figures, and the cost of escalating conflict and hostility in the region, if they result in blocking this vital sea route, can be as high,” Mahit said.

Rerouting oil tankers via the Lombok Strait and east of the Philippines can cost up to $600 million per year for Japan alone. Australia can be in a similar bind with its shipments, the reroute of which can cost up to $20 billion worth of cargo a year.

Stratbase earlier called on the Duterte administration to restart talks around adopting a Code of Conduct in the West Philippine Sea, a year after the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague gave the Philippines a decisive legal victory in the ongoing sea row.

“A Code of Conduct will unite the region in reaffirming the common benefits of the ruling in terms of bolstering political peace as well as economic activity,” Manhit said.

As the Philippines holds this year’s chairmanship of Asean, the country has the prime opportunity to steer the discussion on the Code of Conduct, he said.

Despite forging warmer relations with Beijing, the Philippine government can still uphold the 2016 ruling as a legal precedent for Asean claimant-states to further clarify their respective maritime entitlements and boundaries.

“The award should not be seen as mere beneficial to the interest of the Philippines but to all claimants in the region with common interests in freedom of navigation for trade and other legitimate activities,” Manhit said.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Friday, July 21, 2017

F OREIGN E XCHANGE R ATE

FEED-A-CHILD PROJECT. Homegrown appliance manufacturer Hanabishi joins GMA Kapuso Foun-

dation’s Feed-A-Child project, as they continue their mission to sustain every Filipino home with practical and quality products. The 120-day Feed-A-Child project helps keep children nourished in school, their second homes. The latest project of the partnership involves Hanabishi’s donation of electric fans and water dispensers to the Malaya Elementary School in Pilillia, Rizal, for the benefit of over 1,000 students.

Currency

Unit

US Dollar

Peso

United States

Dollar

1.000000

50.8830

Japan

Yen

0.008937

0.4547

UK

Pound

1.297800

66.0360

Hong Kong

Dollar

0.128041

6.5151

Switzerland

Franc

1.051414

53.4991

Canada

Dollar

0.794407

40.4218

Singapore

Dollar

0.731957

37.2442

Australia

Dollar

0.795700

40.4876

Bahrain

Dinar

2.654491

135.0685

Saudi Arabia

Rial

0.266695

13.5702

Brunei

Dollar

0.729288

37.1084

Indonesia

Rupiah

0.000075

0.0038

Thailand

Baht

0.029700

1.5112

UAE

Dirham

0.272279

13.8544

Euro

Euro

1.163300

59.1922

Korea

Won

0.000893

0.0454

China

Yuan

0.147973

7.5293

India

Rupee

0.015535

0.7905

Malaysia

Ringgit

0.233100

11.8608

New Zealand

Dollar

0.739900

37.6483

Taiwan

Dollar

0.032853

1.6717 Source: PDS Bridge

B2

Business

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 extrastory2000@gmail.com

Market rebounds; AEV up S TOCKS rebounded Friday, after the Asian Development Bank upgraded its 2017 and 2018 growth forecasts for the Philippines in line with the improving economic prospects in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, jumped 85 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 7,989.73 Friday, as all six major sectors advanced.

The bellwether was also up 16.8 percent since the start of the year.

The heavier index, representing all shares, gained 32 points, or 0.7 percent, to settle at 4,771.64, on a value turnover of P7.9 billion. Losers outnumbered gainers,

121 to 82, while 53 issues were unchanged.

Thirteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc. which went up 4.1 percent to P75.70 and SM Prime Holdings Inc. which gained 3.7 percent to P34.80.

Ayala Corp. rose 2.9 percent to P880.

BDO Nomura Securities Inc., the joint venture company between BDO Unibank and Nomura Holdings of Japan that offers an online stock trading service, said it was expecting the benchmark index to hit the 8,500-point level over the next 12 months, as the Philippine economy is expected to sustain above-trend growth.

BDO Nomura head of research Dante Tinga Jr. said in a news briefing the prospects for the Philippine stock market would even get better with the passage of the tax reform program and the infrastructure rollout.

“Implementation of government plans

for tax reform and infrastructure rollout are potential ‘game changers’. The market is closely tracking progress on both,” Tinga said.

“If the government is able to execute its infrastructure projects and tax reform programs, Philippine share prices would be re-rated upwards,” he said.

Tinga, however, said Philippine stocks continued to trade at a premium compared to regional peers. This makes the market vulnerable to profit taking.

Global equities have continued hitting fresh highs this week amid corporate results that have reinforced faith in earnings and the economy.

While it’s early in the US reporting season, some 83 percent of companies have topped estimates on the bottom line. Asian shares are up more than four percent in the past two weeks, with markets in Japan and Hong Kong near

two-year highs.

Meanwhile, most Asian equity markets slipped into the red on Friday, with profittaking also acting as a drag after a healthy July so far.

Tokyo ended down 0.2 percent, Hong Kong slipped 0.2 percent in the afternoon following a nine-day rally while Shanghai also closed 0.2 percent off.

Sydney eased 0.7 percent and Taipei shed 0.6 percent, while Manila and Jakarta also retreated. Seoul and Singapore rose, however.

But while the investigation continues to drag on market sentiment, upbeat earnings and a positive global economic outlook have kept investors broadly upbeat, with all three main New York indexes sitting around record highs.

In early European trade London rose 0.1 percent, Paris was flat and Frankfurt eased 0.2 percent. With AFP, Bloomberg

MANILA STANDARD BUSINESS DAILY STOCKS REVIEW THURSDAY, JULY 21, 2017

NAME

OPEN

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

FINANCIALS 3.99 4,000 59.5 89,850 107 1,577,680 123.9 2,872,740 36.5 325,200 16.14 11,200 32 891,600 8.3 2,800 0.66 100,000 1.7 195,000 900 20 0.69 1,424,000 86.9 16,378,280 0.83 237,000 16.26 80,000 24.95 300 67.55 39,540 244.8 230 116.9 1,740 89.95 240 58 1,376,740 227.8 268,110 1,690 145 86.35 52,710 1.36 51,000

15,330 5,305,342 167,260,855 348,366,084 11,840,215 180,556 28,636,685 23,194 66,040 332,140 18,000 985,760 1,427,310,218 194,940 1,300,172 7,485 2,667,639.50 56,154 190,959 21,588.50 79,849,701.50 59,785,624 246,050 4,540,402.50 69,360

2,999,478.50 133,906,286 -67,373,599 9,547,220 -8,259,225 18,630 -409,466,184.50 12,300 162,251 4,900 -900 8,733,663 20,704,052 -2,543,670.50 -

39.3 8.84 0.87 1.42 31.6 0.265 190 7.2 18.7 29 15 69.6 75.1 82 2 5.3 11.5 12.38 15.58 12.48 7.76 5.85 1.68 18.4 66.9 14.7 13.32 15.2 1.95 215 62.05 4.03 3.4 22.1 31.6 19.72 18.4 271.2 0.245 9.12 3.15 7.65 9.6 6.99 10.2 1.93 11.76 66.6 6.6 304 4.5 5.1 2.92 12.94 4.5 0.144 1.35 160.6 4 2.09 1.03

INDUSTRIAL 40.2 958,000 8.99 1,967,700 0.88 33,777,000 1.43 835,000 31.6 8,600 0.265 5,140,000 191 870 7.28 2,330,000 18.76 1,618,700 29.45 596,100 15.66 67,900 70 428,820 75.1 1,720 85 170 2.04 131,000 5.31 20,000 11.5 31,700 12.5 1,398,800 15.64 1,130,300 12.62 905,900 7.78 2,601,600 5.99 5,027,500 1.69 5,000 18.5 2,423,500 67.1 196,320 14.7 16,800 13.4 116,600 15.52 5,710,200 1.98 1,725,000 221.8 349,660 62.05 470 4.05 305,000 3.45 43,000 23.45 4,200 32 104,500 19.72 251,400 18.62 1,932,000 277 605,050 0.245 1,840,000 9.49 42,700 3.18 615,000 7.66 589,900 9.73 3,166,400 7.2 562,400 10.3 21,300 1.95 988,000 11.98 1,801,700 66.9 701,410 6.72 37,800 305 103,150 4.54 402,000 5.1 412,700 2.97 7,302,000 12.94 1,101,200 4.57 73,000 0.148 610,000 1.38 80,000 161 1,260,430 4.09 243,000 2.1 13,684,000 1.03 185,000

38,125,755 17,617,296 31,028,100 1,189,550 273,715 1,380,650 180,200 16,969,234 30,530,000 17,756,565 1,042,860 29,887,693.50 133,087 14,680 263,910 106,570 364,956 17,413,814 17,663,276 11,437,902 20,288,763 29,944,891 8,430 44,871,676 13,194,702.50 247,960 1,560,364 87,882,658 3,429,970 76,592,708 29,180.50 1,237,700 148,230 94,790 3,337,915 5,006,548 35,861,226 165,753,394 451,380 408,380 1,954,000 4,571,143 30,470,450 3,991,613 219,164 1,916,170 21,551,334 47,014,515.50 251,540 31,375,750 1,822,350 2,108,591 21,796,240 14,334,936 330,990 88,240 108,450 202,902,991 973,970 29,522,670 191,090

-3,366,830 1,622,075 -182,500 14,200 24,300 4,002,070 11,297,196 453,820 23,423,955.00 2,304 -3,342,466 1,835,470 2,903,302 16,693,423 3,281,278 -23,202,348.00 -12,008,991.50 2,940 -267,284 7,784,090 12,060.00 17,004,356 -709,020.00 511,666 -3,207,248 35,972,242 -195,880 -272,233 -13,465,743.00 3,500 -2,837,450 -33,105,998 60,000 -25,800,360 -95,020 1,317,840 1,461,920 4,325,480 86,670 2,880 -65,377,049 588,000 435,380 -

0.375 75.7 14.18 1.15 7.14 0.335 0.33 880 7.93 15.68 7.7 6.19 0.236 1,230 8.4 78.45 5.29 5.41 1.03 6.99 17.94 6.75 0.052 1.02 2.18 103.1 2.92 800 0.87 1.59 220 303.8 0.29 0.25

0.365 72.65 13.92 1.14 7 0.33 0.33 853 7.87 15.2 7.67 6 0.207 1,187 8.24 76.5 4.97 5.41 1 6.75 17.14 6.62 0.051 1.02 2.15 102.6 2.7 782.5 0.87 1.55 190 303.4 0.285 0.201

HOLDING FIRMS 0.37 1,820,000 75.7 1,327,490 14 7,183,300 1.15 159,000 7 57,600 0.33 2,870,000 0.33 800,000 880 179,050 7.9 288,200 15.6 8,428,700 7.7 28,900 6 27,300 0.229 5,860,000 1,195 354,780 8.24 46,100 77.5 2,204,490 5 10,000 5.41 1,800 1.01 1,882,000 6.99 4,738,600 17.48 2,300,100 6.65 25,815,400 0.051 22,270,000 1.02 1,000 2.17 508,000 103.1 82,660 2.75 2,319,000 800 257,260 0.87 69,000 1.58 843,000 190 250 303.8 13,880 0.29 440,000 0.23 22,900,000

668,650 98,612,749 100,424,360 181,320 406,095 947,150 264,000 155,249,685 2,275,508 129,580,324 222,410 165,720 1,302,480 423,720,845 382,060 170,794,197 50,621 9,738 1,900,920 32,438,479 40,504,352 171,638,982 1,138,750 1,020 1,096,850 8,505,837 6,274,060 204,308,535 60,030 1,321,290 48,400 4,216,640 126,100 5,407,570

21,194,198.50 7,052,290 -175,596 45,584,800 -646,807 64,156,150 44,000 5,966,770 -65,357,443.50 -2,630,921 -19,952,808 -72,600,162 51,000 -64,800 -122,124 -17,763,135 331,200 -1,616,216 -24,850

5.97 1.52 6.02 2.36 1.12 42.15 3.74 5.3 5.34 5.99 0.62 1.26 1.56 0.192 0.53 47.2 0.79 0.184 1.87 1.58 1.08

5.94 1.43 6.02 2.31 1.1 41.8 3.68 5.19 5.28 5.72 0.57 1.19 1.52 0.188 0.52 46.7 0.77 0.176 1.8 1.5 1.06

1,020,850 18,926,410 2,408 780,930 4,500,000 579,187,775 6,454,550 16,958,978 7,998 9,778 65,960,120 1,204,550 446,520 3,517,480 1,937,720 2,786,800 2,835,820 1,420,280 85,072,680 33,549,130 756,850

-782,565 57,700 307,357,315 -184,200 -232,843 -6,066,220 190,700 -1,256,320 658,440 1,722,470 -2,151,450 1,897,010 -54,000

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

AG FINANCE 3.78 ASIA UNITED 59.05 BANK PH ISLANDS 105.2 BDO UNIBANK 122.1 CHINABANK 36.5 COL FINANCIAL 16.12 EAST WEST BANK 32.85 FILIPINO FUND 8.27 FIRST ABACUS 0.67 IREMIT 1.78 MANULIFE 900 MEDCO HLDG 0.7 METROBANK 87.15 NTL REINSURANCE 0.84 PB BANK 16.2 PBCOM 24.95 PHIL NATL BANK 67.5 PHIL STOCK EXCH 244 PHILTRUST 113 PSBANK 90 RCBC 58 SECURITY BANK 219 SUN LIFE 1,700 UNION BANK 86.4 VANTAGE 1.36

3.99 59.6 107 123.9 36.5 16.14 32.85 8.3 0.67 1.78 900 0.7 88 0.84 16.3 24.95 67.6 245 117 90 58 227.8 1,700 86.4 1.36

3.78 58 104.3 120 36.3 16.12 31.9 8.27 0.66 1.7 900 0.69 86.4 0.81 16.2 24.95 67.4 243.6 108 89.95 57.9 217 1,690 85.75 1.36

ABOITIZ POWER 40 AGRINURTURE 8.98 ALLIANCE SELECT 0.94 ALSONS CONS 1.44 ASIABEST GROUP 32 BASIC ENERGY 0.27 BOGO MEDELLIN 210 CEMEX HLDG 7.28 CENTURY FOOD 18.7 CIRTEK HLDG 29.85 CNTRL AZUCARERA16.08 CONCEPCION 69.6 CONCRETE A 83.9 CONCRETE B 82 CROWN ASIA 2 DAVINCI CAPITAL 5.3 DEL MONTE 11.58 DNL INDUS 12.5 EAGLE CEMENT 15.68 EEI CORP 12.92 EMPERADOR 7.85 ENERGY DEVT 5.94 EUROMED 1.68 FIRST GEN 18.74 FIRST PHIL HLDG 70 GINEBRA 14.8 HOLCIM 13.62 INTEGRATED MICR 15.8 IONICS 2.03 JOLLIBEE 220 LIBERTY FLOUR 62.1 LMG CHEMICALS 4.11 MABUHAY VINYL 3.46 MACAY HLDG 22.75 MANILA WATER 32.05 MAXS GROUP 20 MEGAWIDE 18.66 MERALCO 272 MG HLDG 0.248 PANASONIC 9.81 PEPSI COLA 3.16 PETROENERGY 7.9 PETRON 9.68 PHIL H2O 7.15 PHINMA 10.32 PHINMA ENERGY 1.99 PHX PETROLEUM 12.1 PILIPINAS SHELL 67.9 PRYCE CORP 6.76 PUREFOODS 305 RFM CORP 4.52 ROXAS HLDG 5.15 SFA SEMICON 3.08 SHAKEYS PIZZA 13.18 SPC POWER 4.56 SWIFT FOODS 0.145 TKC METALS 1.37 UNIV ROBINA 162 VICTORIAS 4.01 VITARICH 2.17 VULCAN INDL 1.04

40.2 9.1 0.98 1.44 32 0.275 210 7.35 18.92 30 16.08 70.35 83.9 87 2.04 5.35 11.58 12.52 15.7 12.92 7.85 5.99 1.69 18.74 70 14.8 13.62 15.8 2.03 221.8 62.1 4.11 3.46 23.45 32.05 20 18.66 277 0.248 9.81 3.2 7.98 9.8 7.2 10.32 1.99 12.2 67.9 6.76 305 4.55 5.23 3.08 13.18 4.57 0.148 1.38 162 4.09 2.22 1.04

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

0.375 74 14.18 1.14 7 0.33 0.33 864 7.93 15.46 7.7 6.19 0.209 1,230 8.39 78.05 5.04 5.41 1.03 6.85 17.5 6.68 0.052 1.02 2.18 102.6 2.9 790 0.87 1.57 220 303.8 0.285 0.21

8990 HLDG 5.96 A BROWN 1.52 ANCHOR LAND 6.02 ARANETA PROP 2.36 ARTHALAND CORP 1.11 AYALA LAND 41.95 BELLE CORP 3.73 CEB LANDMASTERS 5.29 CEBU HLDG 5.28 CEBU PROP B 5.72 CENTURY PROP 0.61 CITY AND LAND 1.21 CITYLAND DEVT 1.55 CROWN EQUITIES 0.191 CYBER BAY 0.52 DOUBLEDRAGON 46.9 EMPIRE EAST 0.79 EVER GOTESCO 0.181 FILINVEST LAND 1.87 GLOBAL ESTATE 1.55 IRC PROP 1.07

VOLUME

HIGH

LOW

CLOSE

VOLUME

VALUE

NET FOREIGN BUYING/(SELLING), PHP

KEPPEL PROP 4.12 MEGAWORLD 4.73 MRC ALLIED 0.355 PHIL ESTATES 0.395 PHIL REALTY 0.63 PRIMEX CORP 4.79 PTFC REDEV CORP 34.25 ROBINSONS LAND 24.5 ROCKWELL 1.8 SHANG PROP 3.24 SM PRIME HLDG 33.7 STA LUCIA LAND 1.03 STARMALLS 6.67 SUNTRUST HOME 0.94 VISTA LAND 5.75

4.12 4.74 0.36 0.58 0.64 4.8 34.25 24.8 1.81 3.24 34.8 1.03 7.38 0.94 5.75

4.12 4.6 0.34 0.385 0.62 4.7 34.2 24.2 1.79 3.21 33.3 1.01 6.67 0.9 5.53

4.12 4.7 0.36 0.51 0.64 4.74 34.2 24.8 1.8 3.24 34.8 1.03 7.38 0.9 5.75

3,000 30,626,000 93,840,000 135,450,000 5,834,000 1,393,000 600 829,600 138,000 22,000 5,177,200 3,250,000 900 249,000 6,005,100

12,360 142,081,020 33,072,200 67,608,050 3,676,330 6,585,970 20,535 20,373,695 247,960 71,080 177,459,480 3,295,270 6,102 224,750 33,857,178

12,439,790 139,500 -1,029,700 41,580 89,950 7,705,810 -50,250 64,444,640 -4,669 -16,366,375

2GO GROUP 23.75 ABS CBN 42.9 ACESITE HOTEL 1.77 APC GROUP 0.495 APOLLO GLOBAL 0.043 BERJAYA 5.32 BLOOMBERRY 9.22 BOULEVARD HLDG 0.081 CEBU AIR 97.8 CENTRO ESCOLAR 9.61 DFNN INC 10.1 DISCOVERY WORLD 2.22 EASYCALL 3.23 GLOBE TELECOM 2,018 GMA NETWORK 6.28 GOLDEN HAVEN 15.3 GRAND PLAZA 13.2 HARBOR STAR 3.04 IMPERIAL 3.49 INTL CONTAINER 108 IPEOPLE 12.14 IPM HLDG 8.65 ISLAND INFO 0.187 ISM COMM 1.4 JACKSTONES 3.24 LBC EXPRESS 16.16 LEISURE AND RES 4.94 LORENZO SHIPPNG 2.3 MACROASIA 9.79 MANILA BULLETIN 0.62 MANILA JOCKEY 2.3 MELCO RESORTS 8.4 METRO RETAIL 4.16 MLA BRDCASTING 18 NOW CORP 2.57 PAL HLDG 5.3 PAXYS 3.2 PHIL SEVEN CORP 176.5 PHILWEB 10.38 PLDT 1,660 PREMIUM LEISURE 1.57 PRMIERE HORIZON 0.43 PUREGOLD 46.5 ROBINSONS RTL 87.35 SBS PHIL CORP 6.05 SSI GROUP 4.88 STI HLDG 1.56 TRANSPACIFIC BR 1.88 TRAVELLERS 3.67 WATERFRONT 1.34 WILCON DEPOT 8.92

23.75 42.9 1.88 0.5 0.043 5.32 9.46 0.082 98 9.61 10.46 2.22 3.23 2,048 6.28 15.68 13.2 3.06 3.49 108 12.58 8.65 0.187 1.4 3.3 16.16 4.94 2.32 9.9 0.62 2.37 8.91 4.16 18 2.6 5.3 3.2 176.5 10.5 1,700 1.6 0.445 47 87.65 6.13 4.9 1.56 1.96 3.69 1.34 9.01

22.9 42.5 1.69 0.49 0.042 5.32 8.95 0.081 96.5 9.57 9.61 2.22 3.23 2,006 6.24 15.2 13.2 3 3.38 105 12.14 8.46 0.184 1.36 3.24 15.4 4.81 2 9.3 0.6 2.25 8.3 4.01 16.22 2.55 5.1 3.2 167 10.04 1,655 1.57 0.43 46 86.5 6.05 4.53 1.48 1.88 3.64 1.22 8.59

SERVICES 23.4 196,200 42.85 22,300 1.88 1,103,000 0.495 1,151,000 0.043 21,200,000 5.32 2,000 9.46 11,438,400 0.081 54,200,000 97.75 95,890 9.57 3,500 10.24 1,344,900 2.22 26,000 3.23 6,000 2,028 23,935 6.25 86,200 15.58 18,000 13.2 100 3.03 719,000 3.38 57,000 106 1,196,370 12.58 2,000 8.54 291,100 0.186 5,230,000 1.39 1,951,000 3.3 16,000 15.52 10,500 4.9 2,288,000 2.23 8,037,000 9.5 2,252,000 0.6 210,000 2.37 30,000 8.9 5,749,000 4.04 7,992,000 16.22 5,100 2.55 760,000 5.1 41,100 3.2 1,000 167 1,300 10.2 1,860,700 1,700 156,295 1.6 5,309,000 0.44 2,350,000 46.5 1,023,000 86.5 340,150 6.07 322,300 4.65 11,220,000 1.49 15,583,000 1.96 7,000 3.67 3,324,000 1.25 55,396,000 8.85 5,817,700

4,526,175 952,460 1,966,660 566,185 897,900 10,640 104,957,497 4,406,780 9,317,351 33,619 13,617,550 57,720 19,380 48,490,260 538,914 276,972 1,320 2,174,340 193,590 126,973,466 25,116 2,512,300 966,800 2,682,090 51,960 162,886 11,158,030 17,329,220 21,585,493 126,030 69,390 49,989,088 32,390,830 91,266 1,950,900 209,866 3,200 217,736 18,960,322 262,404,905 8,441,000 1,030,650 47,471,880 29,550,291 1,974,094 52,140,250 23,394,470 13,640 12,180,380 70,057,240 51,355,833

494,500 -2,950 -10,350,367 -2,370 545,031.50 -4,687,564 23,040,520 60,288,921 23,902 -106,000 3,143,541 -45,690 -5,399,160 -5,553,450 114,750 3,200 -7,055,982 7,128,605 -20,410 13,350 -3,656,305 9,998,151.50 -10,621,180 3,150 3,194,260 278,660 -12,573,500

766,300 4,167,860 980,676 1,990 25,920 10,098,470 442,750 214,752 9,100,060 1,117,700 993,130 34,570 321,400 12,800 5,074,390 6,939,071 1,449,800 380,500 1,439,700 863,500 50,000 873,600 393,970 5,732,999 1,668,070 231,599,450 33,400

-45,000 50,100 -9,227 11,500 40,890.00 13,250 88,500 -11,000 -1,712,019 29,700 1,229,373 -18,240 88,580,387 -

NAME

OPEN

MS

PROPERTY 5.95 171,400 1.45 13,073,000 6.02 400 2.36 337,000 1.1 4,083,000 42.15 13,779,500 3.72 1,746,000 5.25 3,253,900 5.34 1,500 5.99 1,700 0.6 111,806,000 1.26 983,000 1.56 290,000 0.191 18,630,000 0.53 3,718,000 47.2 59,500 0.78 3,652,000 0.183 7,880,000 1.8 46,737,000 1.54 21,972,000 1.08 706,000

ABRA MINING APEX MINING ATLAS MINING BENGUET A BENGUET B CENTURY PEAK COAL ASIA HLDG DIZON MINES FERRONICKEL GEOGRACE LEPANTO A LEPANTO B MANILA MINING A MANILA MINING B MARCVENTURES NICKEL ASIA NIHAO OMICO CORP ORNTL PENINSULA ORNTL PETROL A ORNTL PETROL B PHILODRILL PHINMA PETRO PX MINING PXP ENERGY SEMIRARA MINING UNITED PARAGON

0.0031 1.67 5.13 1.99 2.01 1.15 0.385 8.49 2.72 0.3 0.185 0.193 0.011 0.011 2.18 6.4 2.01 0.6 1.23 0.01 0.01 0.012 2.63 9.07 3.05 165.3 0.0084

0.0031 1.68 5.2 1.99 2.01 1.21 0.385 8.89 2.74 0.3 0.186 0.193 0.012 0.012 2.24 6.49 2.01 0.61 1.23 0.011 0.01 0.012 2.63 9.2 3.07 168.2 0.0084

0.003 1.66 5.1 1.99 1.96 1.12 0.385 8.49 2.62 0.295 0.184 0.192 0.011 0.011 2.06 6.34 1.94 0.6 1.14 0.01 0.01 0.012 2.6 9.02 3.04 165 0.0083

MINING & OIL 0.0031 252,000,000 1.68 2,497,000 5.13 191,200 1.99 1,000 1.96 13,000 1.21 8,617,000 0.385 1,150,000 8.53 24,600 2.64 3,428,000 0.3 3,740,000 0.186 5,370,000 0.192 180,000 0.012 28,900,000 0.012 1,100,000 2.06 2,376,000 6.49 1,079,500 2 739,000 0.6 634,000 1.18 1,231,000 0.011 86,300,000 0.01 5,000,000 0.012 72,800,000 2.6 151,000 9.13 629,000 3.05 548,000 168 1,390,070 0.0083 4,000,000

ABS HLDG PDR AC PREF B1 DD PREF GMA HLDG PDR GTCAP PREF A GTCAP PREF B PCOR PREF 2A PCOR PREF 2B PNX PREF 3A SFI PREF SMC PREF 2B SMC PREF 2C SMC PREF 2D SMC PREF 2E SMC PREF 2F SMC PREF 2H SMC PREF 2I

43 516 104.7 6.01 1,011 1,020 1,036 1,100 105.9 2 76.5 81.75 76.2 78 80.55 78.05 78.9

43 516 104.7 6.05 1,011 1,020 1,036 1,100 105.9 2 76.5 81.75 76.2 78 80.6 78.05 79

43 516 104.5 5.97 1,011 1,019 1,036 1,100 105.9 2 76.5 80.5 76.2 76.55 80.55 78.05 78.6

PREFERRED 43 29,200 516 28,000 104.6 76,670 6 344,900 1,011 1,000 1,020 13,170 1,036 2,000 1,100 600 105.9 430 2 1,000 76.5 540 80.9 213,880 76.2 10,500 78 60,870 80.55 27,300 78.05 150 78.6 98,540

1,255,600 14,448,000 8,020,498 2,072,663 1,011,000 13,430,230 2,072,000 660,000 45,537 2,000 41,310 17,246,641.50 800,100 4,747,367 2,199,115.50 11,707.50 7,773,628.50

1,105,100 -4,181,209 -734,502 -10,196,830 161,200 -

LR WARRANT

3.04

3.04

2.88

WARRANTS 2.98 1,402,000

4,136,880

59,000

3.89 6 8.04

3.85 5.8 7.86

SME 3.86 5.82 7.86

433,000 61,500 1,739,200

1,673,100 358,427 13,731,796

-831,260 1,903,782

120.9

118

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS 120 176,440

20,826,980

59,800

ITALPINAS PHILAB HLDG XURPAS

3.89 6 8

FIRST METRO ETF 120.9

TRADING SUMMARY

SHARES

FINANCIAL

26,425,058

INDUSTRIAL

108,599,792

HOLDING FIRMS

116,768,667

PROPERTY

535,793,391

SERVICES

232,731,420

MINING & OIL

484,106,818

GRAND TOTAL

1,506,835,294

VALUE 1,965.01 (up) 8.71 2,193,472,494.74 FINANCIAL INDUSTRIAL 11,236.33 (up) 37.32 1,086,552,042.386 HOLDING FIRMS 7,927.93 (up) 76.54 1,805,119,146.26 PROPERTY 3,790.97 (up) 62.15 SERVICES 1,693.04 (up) 12.66 1,324,004,432.16 MINING & OIL 12,991.06 (up) 107.66 1,073,424,837.91 PSEI 7,989.73 (up) 85.39 284,798,057.195 All Shares Index 4,771.64 (up) 32.81 7,861,433,766.58 Gainers: 82; Losers: 121; Unchanged: 53; Total: 256

Century sells 860 houses in Cavite

By Jenniffer B. Austria PROPERTY developer Century Properties Group Inc. said Friday reservation sales of its maiden affordable house and lot development in Tanza, Cavite reached P1 billion, on strong demand for quality housing projects.

Century Properties said in statement that of the 3,000 units that would be built in the 26-hectare project, some 860 house and lot units were already sold as of mid-July.

PHirst Park Homes, the first-home division and brand name of Century Properties, attributed the strong takeup of its house and lot project to market’s demand for quality housing in the price range of P1 million to P3 million.

PHirst Park Homes president Ricky Celis said buyers mostly from the Calabarzon area (Cavite Laguna, Batangas and Quezon) accounted for 60 percent of the presales, followed by Filipinos working overseas.

Mostbuyers are end-users looking for a home to raise their family, or to retire in.

“We are optimistic that the sales momentum will be sustained as we are set to open the second phase of the Tanza property soon,” Celis said.

Monthly amortization for a 40-square meter townhouse or single-attached unit with a perimeter fence and gate, finished ceiling, flooring and bathrooms starts at P9,000.

The development offers amenities that provide opportunities for health, fitness and community bonding activities. It also offers Wi-Fi zones and a shuttle system.

Basic eyes solar projects in Japan

By Alena Mae S. Flores BASIC Energy Corp. raised 50 million yen (P22.673 million) to start due diligence work on Solmax Power Ltd., a Hong Kong-based company with solar projects in Japan.

“Basic has signed the investment term sheet and has remitted a refundable earnest deposit to Solmax in the amount of 50 million Japanese yen to trigger the due diligence work to be conducted by Basic on Solmax,” Basic said in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Friday.

Basic Energy earlier announced that it was looking at solar investment opportunities in Japan through Solmax.

“Solmax is a company incorporated in Hong Kong. In the immediate future, we will be undertaking due diligence on Solmax and its solar projects in Japan,” Basic Energy senior vice president Anthony Cuaycong said.

“We will have more info during the time we will be undertaking due diligence but for us to undertake, or be given opportunity to look at Solmax and its projects, we need to give refundable deposit…If we are satisfied, our deposit will be turned into equity. If it is not, it will be returned,” Cuaycong said.

Basic Energy announced last year it was looking for joint venture opportunities for solar and geothermal power projects in the pipeline.

Basic Energy president Oscar De Venecia Jr. earlier said the company wanted to develop renewable energy projects that could bring short-term revenue in the company.

The company also signed a partnership agreement with solar power developer Nv vogt Singapore Pte, Ltd. for the development of solar power projects in San Fabian and Bolinao, Pangasinan.

Home / Design

B3

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 mst.daydesk@gmail.com

MASTERPIECES OF ITALIAN DESIGN. Italian brand Boffi is celebrating its second year in the Philippine market, dishing out

innovative kitchen installations and storage systems. Boffi’s kitchens are well known in the world of interior design and found in the most upscale homes around the world including in the Philippines, where the Italian manufacturer made its market debut two years ago through Focus Global, Inc., Boffi’s exclusive distributor. Boffi occupies a showroom at the ground floor of The Residences at Greenbelt, Makati City. Shown here are the Antibes Boffi storage system by Piero Lissoni, and the Xila kitchen by Luigi Massoni. The former is a modern storage system with a wide range of internal accessories – from drawer units, trouser holders, shirt trays, shoe shelves in metal and glass, and open compartments; the latter is an iconic handle-less kitchen system.

NEW KID ON AN ICONIC BLOCK. The Connor should fit well with the bucolic, suburban bustle at the corner of Club Filipino avenue and Eisenhower street.

Ortigas...

From C4 redevelopment’s upcoming phases,” he said.

Lifestyle communities Several developments are likewise underway in the 10-hectare Capitol Commons project, such as the expansion of the shopping mall component, Estancia, through the addition of cinemas and office spaces, making the property a “complete lifestyle community.”“Capitol Commons has started to actually become an ‘in’ place and we are reaping the benefits of that through continued sales we actually get from three existing projects: Royalton, Imperium and Maven. We will have a couple more residential towers that we will develop on that space,” Ysmael said.

“These will enrich the company’s available gross leasable area for office spaces with four projected buildings, with the Frontera Verde development targeted to cater to a number of office locators,” Ysmael said.

“The continuously growing number of information

technology-business process management (IT-BPM) locators in the country is pushing Ortigas to further shape Frontera Verde as a choice location for IT-BPM operations in the Ortigas-Pasig area,” he explained.

Frontera Verde, an 18.5-ha project in Pasig City, is already home to several BPO companies, with Tiendesitas, owned and managed by Ortigas, as its anchor locator.

“We will tweak the model a little bit to make it a destination place,” Ysmael said.

The company has certain parcels of land in the Ortigas business district, as well as reversal rights to a portion of Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo, along the country’s busiest highway EDSA. The Ortigas chief cautioned, however, that all these developments and re-developments will take a while as new projects need to be in synergy with existing ones.

“We want to cause as minimal disruption as possible.

But in the end, it will all be worth it,” he promised.

‘FLATS’ IS WHERE THE HEART IS. Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) recently launched a ‘dormitory concept’ development called The Flats. These are affordable and accessible ‘for lease-only’ residential options that address young professionals’ needs for living spaces at the center of the country’s business districts. The Flats are scalable developments that can be replicated in all of ALI’s estates. They allow professionals to live close to their place of work, and are designed to provide accommodations that provide all the benefits of urban living. ALI already begun construction of a 15-storey building set to rise at Amorsolo corner Dela Rosa streets in Makati City. The development will tap into the estimated 500,000-strong BPO population in the city and its neighboring areas. The Flats Amorsolo will offer 22 square meter residential units that can accommodate a maximum of four occupants.

WATCHING THE ‘RIVER’ RUN. CDC Holdings, Inc. recently turned over River Green Residences’ new South Tower units to its residents.

Elsie Chua, the company’s president and CEO, welcomed the new homeowners to the two-tower, 30-storey development, nestled along busy Pedro Gil Street in Sta. Ana Manila. The new unit owners will soon be living in units that boast views of the city and the historic Pasig River.

At the turnover were homeowners Neil Nepomuceno, Jessica Nomorosa, CDC Holdings COO Charlene Chua-Sy, CDC CEO Elsie Chua, Leonila Ventura, and Singapore-based Foreland Realty president Hirota Keisuke. “Like with all our developments, we strive to deliver a home that you can be proud of,” said Chua. “But I think in River Green Residences, we outdid ourselves.”

DELIVERING AHEAD OF TIME.

DMCI Homes will complete 19 buildings in various projects in 2017, 16 of which are slated ahead of time while three will be delivered as scheduled. In 2016, DMCI Homes completed almost a dozen buildings, shoring up its commitment to deliver quality homes on, or ahead of time, For the first half of 2017, DMCI Homes projects with completed buildings include one building in Verdon Parc in Davao City, and two buildings in the following properties: The Birchwood (Taguig City), Mirea Residences (Pasig City) and Asteria Residences (Paranaque City). A total of 12 buildings will be completed in the remaining half of next year. These include the Viera Residences, (Quezon City) the South Tower of Sheridan Towers (Pasig City), the East Tower of Lumiere Residences (Pasig City), and South Tower of Zinnia Towers (Quezon City); two buildings in The Birchwood and three more buildings for both Mirea Residences and Asteria Residences. Shown in photo is the Mirea Residences.

Joel D. Lacsamana, Editor jdlacsamana@gmail.com

B4

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

ON POINT. Full steam ahead for Greenhills’ much-awaited

redevelopment.

Ortigas spruces up Greenhills with P60B upgrade Launches new tower, the ‘Connor’

By Joel D. Lacsamana

M

ORE than two years after the Ayala, Sy and Ortigas groups banded together to manage land-rich Ortigas & Co., this upscale property developer is now deep into the redevelopment of existing and new mixed-use projects, further pushing the envelope to creatively use its 52-hectare land bank.

Fierce competitors in the areas of banking and real estate, the Sy and Ayala groups have proven they can work together following a decision to develop the Ortigas family’s property company in 2014.

“Now on its third year, we’ve seen that the partnership works,” declared Jaime E. Ysmael, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of Ortigas & Co. in a press briefing this week. ,”When we first came in, the leadership team started implementing our masterplan to unleash the full potential of the firm’s assets by expanding out retail and residential spaces.

Ysmael acknowledged that the company “tweaked the masterplan a bit over the last

two years”, but the business template remains: continue to develop current projects while redeveloping existing ones in line with strengthening its retail, residential and office building strategies.

Focus on townships Township communities, Ysmael said, offer a better value proposition for developers like Ortigas.

“Gone are the days when the Filipino dream was to own a house in the suburbs and commute to work in the city,” he said. “Condominium-living is becoming more acceptable, and this is fuelling a housing boom, as well as a change in lifestyle where people want to live, work and play in the same mixed-use township. We want to take

STRONG BACKING FOR ‘BUILD, BUILD, BUILD’. Jaime E. Ysmael, president and CEO, and Thomas Mirasol, senior vice president and COO, flesh out Ortigas & Company’s look-ahead strategy. “The Ortigas business district’s opportunity is that we can price our products competitively, and still offer the same features and amenities as our competitors,” Ysmael told the Manila Standard. “But infrastructure-wise, we cannot do it alone: we have to work with the national, and local governments.” advantage of this trend: this drives our growing portfolio.”

Ysmael did acknowledge that competition among local developers to build such townships is keen. But he expressed confidence that Ortigas’ deliberate masterplan to distinguish their projects

from others by creatively allocating land for education, healthcare, entertainment, and recreational uses; intensify efforts in terms of strategic land banking; redevelop properties, and build flexible office spaces to accommodate BPO occupants, “would see them through.”

IN CEMENT WE TRUST

Republic Cement group will be investing $300-million to boost the capacity of all its integrated plants in Luzon and Mindanao, both milling and clinker production, by 2019. This would just be the first phase of planned capacity development activities of the joint venture between Ireland-based CRH and local conglomerate Aboitiz Equity Ventures. These investments, which will increase cement production capacity by 3 million tons per annum, assures continued supply of cement for the local construction sector in light of the strong demand for commercial and residential spaces and the current administration’s infrastructure plans. Republic Cement recently shared its expansion plans with the DTI Board of Investments (BOI). Present were (from left to right): Dr. Ceferino Rodolfo, undersecretary, DTI, ; Peter Buckley, chief operating officer, CRH Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.; Renato Sunico, president, Republic Cement & Building Materials, Inc.; Sec. Ramon Lopez of the DTI; Peter Edwards, chief operating officer, Republic Cement Services, Inc., Roman Azanza III, first vice president, Aboitiz InfraCapital, Inc.; Reinier Dizon, vice president, strategy & business development, Republic Cement Services, Inc.

Connor launch Ysmael said that Greenhills Shopping Center is currently undergoing a multi-phase redevelopment.

“The redevelopment, costing some P60 billion, will see the largely retail-based center mixed with residential, office, and hotel spaces,” he said.

On the retail front, “a bigger, refurbished Unimart will open to shoppers soon, and a two-level interconnected basement parking will link the whole development, providing even more parking options to shoppers.”

Ysmael revealed that on the heels of this redevelopment plan will be the launching of a new residential tower, the Connor.

The 55-storey tower to rise on the intersection of Club Filipino Avenue and Eisenhower Street is envisioned to inject a fresh take on the iconic estate, which is now being transformed into a complete shop-work-play-live destination.

Thomas Mirasol, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Ortigas & Co., said Connor is is targeted to break ground in the last quarter of 2017.

The captain of the company’s residential and mixeduse developments, namely

Circulo Verde, Frontera Verde, Capitol Commons, Greenhills Shopping Centre and select projects within the Ortigas Central Business District, told reporters that Connor is their second foray in the vertical residential development in Greenhills. The first was the the Viridian, the 53-storey residential condominium at the heart of Greenhills, which opened late last year “Connor is going to be our next focal project in Greenhills,” he said. “We are tapping into the market of second generation Greenhills residents and other Metro Manila residents who are looking for an investment or a home that is centrally located within the city as well as situated in a mixed-use setting.”

‘Tiangge’ to stay Mirasol added Ortigas & Company will beef up the Greenhills redevelopment with the construction of a new mall.

The project will have another ‘tiangge’, or bazaar, to add to the existing one. A department store will also be put up to augment Greenhills’ retail strengths, along with a new boulevard and cinemas.

“We are looking to add more office buildings and residential towers for the Turn to C3

LGUs

Estrada leads cleanup of Bay

By Sandy Araneta DETERMINED to bring back Manila Bay to its former state, Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Friday led another extensive cleanup of the waterway’s coastline to rekindle public support to restore the now polluted waterway.

Estrada lamented that nine years after the Supreme Court issued a writ ordering the cleanup of Manila Bay, significant results have yet to be achieved because of the lack or absence of cooperation from the people.

“We have not received the public’s complete cooperation in our initiatives to clean up this vital waterway,” Estrada said. “But I have not lost hope, that someday, we will be able to bring back cleanliness and beauty of Manila Bay.” “We have one objective here, and that is to return Manila Bay to the way it was: Clean, green, and litter-free,” Estrada added.

On Dec. 18, 2008, the high tribunal issued a writ of continuing mandamus directing 13 government agencies to clean up, rehabilitate and eventually preserve Manila Bay. They were given 10 years to do it.

In the City of Manila, Estrada said “we take the Supreme Court’s order very seriously.”

“As you all know, Manila has always been a tourist magnet with our beautiful spots and historical and cultural sites. But unfortunately, this once beautiful city became a victim to indifference and lack of political will,” Estrada said.

The Manila Bay cleanup was organized by the management of Rizal Park Hotel, the former historic Army Navy Club in Roxas Boulevard, as part of its corporate social responsibility program to beautify the City of Manila, Rizal Park Hotel Chairman Simon Paz said.

Oceanville Executive Vice President Mark Brian Paz extended the company’s gratitude to the city government of Manila, saying it was an honor to take part in this activity and be a partner in the efforts to bring back the City’s old beauty and glory.

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

LOCAL GOVERNMENT UNITS

ARMM cassava for Nestlé

By Nash B. Maulana

C

OTABATO CITY—The Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao will produce quality cassava to supply the raw material requirements of the P2-billion Nestlé Protomalt Processing Plant in Lipa, Batangas for one of its health food drinks.

In a statement, the ARMM’s Regional Board of Investments on Friday said the region was a “strong contender” for Nestle’s potential demand for cassava.

Lawyer Ishak Mastura, PROI-ARMM chairman and

managing head, said ARMM tops most other regions in producing the root crop. In 2016, ARMM recorded the highest production level of cassava in the country at 423,650 MT, which constituted 55.6 per-

cent of the country’s total cassava output.

Nestlé has said its new protomalt processing plant will use barley and cassava as major raw materials for the production of the malt extract.

Malabang in Lanao del Sur is home to the country’s top producers of cassava. Established in 1928, the Matling Industrial and Commercial Corp. runs one of the country’s biggest cassava plantations, the oldest cassava flour mill.

Nestlé chairman and CEO Jacques Reber has since announced in an online statement the ongoing construction of the

MILO malt plant at the Nestlé Lipa factory.

“We have discussed with the ARMM economic cluster agencies that the ARMM has a great economic opportunity with the planned establishment of the Nestlé protomalt plant, whose main ingredient is cassava, because we are the country’s biggest producer of cassava,” said Mastura.

ARMM Regional Gov. Mujiv Hataman said that appropriate agricultural support, the government can even help lower the cost of production in the so-called “scale economy,” by which cassava farmers would be

LOCAL enforcers in Taguig have started implementing the smoking ban in public places and conveyances in the city, in line with the government’s program to protect non-smokers, particularly pregnant women and children, from second-hand smoke that can cause lung cancer and other ailments.

“What we want is a healthier environment for everyone.

Smoking has always been a

risk to the health of not only the smoker but also to non-smokers.

To make this advocacy effective, we are firmly implementing this policy to ensure that every life is protected from the hazardous effects of smoking,” said Mayor Laarni Cayetano.

Cayetano reiterated the city government’s directive for the people to strictly comply with the Anti-Smoking Ordinance, which absolutely prohibits smoking in centers of youth activity; elevators and stairwells; locations in

which fire hazards are present; within the buildings and premises of government institutions, offices, and units; public conveyances and places; and in food preparation areas.

In public areas where smoking is allowed in designated areas, establishments are required to put up signage delineating such restricted area.

To give more teeth to the ordinance, the city’s Anti-Smoking Task Force composed of the Sanitation Office, Solid Waste

Management Office, City Environment and Natural Resources Office, Traffic Management Office, Business Permits and Licensing Office and Market Management Office will be active in issuing citation tickets to violators.

A fine of up to P1,000 will be imposed on first-time offenders, while an amount of P3,000 is meted out to second-time offenders.

At the third offense, violators will pay a fine of P5,000.

Owners of establishments who

violated the ordinance for the third time will also pay a fine of P5,000, and will face cancellation of their business permits.

The city government also released a memorandum dated last November 2016, which directed its employees to strictly comply with the 2007 Revised Anti-Smoking Ordinance of the city that absolutely prohibits smoking “within the premises of buildings, offices, and facilities owned, leased, used, or managed by the Taguig City government.”

Caloocan gains 2 child, labor plums

By Jun David CALOOCAN City Mayor Oscar Malapitan has commended the hardworking city government officials and employees for reaping two major awards in child protection and public employment office.

Malapitan conveyed his congratulation to officers and staff of the Caloocan City Social Welfare and Development Office, led by Jan Christine Bagtas, and action officer Roberto Quizon and the other members of the Caloocan Council for the Protection of Children for their success in raising their standards for the city to acquire the Seal of Child-Friendly Local Governance.

The mayor encouraged all the local employees concerned including the CCPC to continue with their programs and projects aimed at promoting the welfare of children and the youth.

able to “increase their production profit.”

“While cassava will initially be imported from Thailand, Nestlé is now actively looking at using cassava sourced from farmers in Philippines to create shared value, a move that is expected to help improve livelihood, further boost agriculture, and uplift the cassava industry in the country,” the Nestlé statement said.

“The company has started to qualify cassava farmers in Mindanao, and hopes that more farmers will take up cassava planting to supply Nestlé’s requirements in the long term.”

BLOODLETTING. Nueva Vizcaya Gov. Carlos Padilla (standing, second from left) and Dr. Edwin Galapon, provincial health officer (left), check the situation of donors during the First Provincial Blood Olympics at the Convention Center in Bayombong town. The activity, sponsored by the provincial government, public hospitals and the Philippine Red Cross, seeks to draw 1,000 blood bags for the needy. Ben Moses Ebreo

Taguig starts enforcing smoking ban, too

By Joel E. Zurbano

C1

Meanwhile, Malapitan also congratulated the Caloocan Public Employment Service Office of the Labor and Industrial Relations Office after winning first runner-up in the National Capital Region’s Search for 2016 Best PESO, besting 16 other cities and municipality in Metro Manila.

The local PESO garnered an overall rating of 93 percent.

The simple awarding ceremony was led by Regional Director Johnson Cañete, which was held in Diaspora Farm, Bacolor, Pampanga that was well-attended by different local government units.

The competition aimed to commend the contribution of PESO on employment facilitation programs and to recognize its outstanding achievements.

Malapitan was also awarded a Certificate of Recognition for his continuous support and commitment to the city’s PESO.

INAUGURATION. Noveleta Mayor Dino Reyes Chua (second from left) and Vice Mayor Donnie Torres (left)

lead the ribbon-cutting of the new school building at Ambrosio Robles Elementary School in Barangay San Jose, Noveleta, Cavite.

Navotas ex-addicts complete treatment ELEVEN former drug users have graduated from Bidahan, a community-based treatment and rehabilitation program led by the Navotas Anti-Drug Abuse Council.

Under Bidahan, participants undergo a three-day seminar where they learned how illegal drugs affect their mind and body, and how to avoid getting addicted to it.

They were also taught proper grooming, healthy lifestyle, as well as how to value themselves and their loved ones and work on their spiritual renewal.

For six months, participants also engaged in twice-a-week counselling sessions conducted

by Narcotics Anonymous.

“Drug addiction is considered an illness. Drug users, more aptly called persons with substance use disorder, need the love and support of their family and community for them to be able to fully recover,” said Nadac chairperson and Mayor John Rey Tiangco.

“Let us give them the chance to change their ways. Let us help them in their struggle to redeem themselves and become responsible and productive citizens,” Tiangco added.

The Bidahan program started in October 2016 and has since had seven batches of participants.

Tiangco awarded certificates to the 11 participants who completed the program. Jun David

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

LGUs

Manila

Standard SATURDAY, C2 TODAY JULY 22, 2017

TRAIN is ‘most egalitarian’ bill T

HE proposed Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act, the government’s centerpiece tax reform package recently passed by the House of Representatives, “is the most egalitarian legislation the country will have in 70 years,” according to Albay Rep. Joey Sarte Salceda, a noted economist.

The measure, contained in House Bill 5636, is projected to deliver a P354-billion impact annually, P170 billion of which rep-

country’s personal income tax system, expand the value-added tax base, ensure bigger internal revenue allotments to local governments to enhance their development capabilities, and resolve the income inequality between the poor and the wealthy.

“Nowhere in the past 70 years, or since the country’s First Congress was convened in 1945, could resents direct transfer of funds we find a legislation as egalitarian from the elite to middle income as TRAIN, which delivers such huge monetary impact to address and poorest households.

TRAIN seeks to overhaul the the gross inequality between the

elite and marginalized Filipinos,” Salceda stressed.

It is considered the most ambitious and significant reform initiative by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte, who certified the bill as urgent.

The House overwhelmingly approved the measure with a 246-9 vote with one abstention last May 31. The Senate will tackle it when Congress resumes session later this month. Its lead proponents expect the bicameral committee to eventually enact it

by September.

HB 5636 consolidated Salceda’s original HB 4688, Quirino Rep. Dakila Carlo Cua’s HB 4774, and several other proposals. It adopted the title and most provisions of Salceda’s bill, including the conditional cash transfer system, and the proposals of the Department of Finance.

Cua and Salceda are chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Government information teams

coordinated by the DoF have been fielded to engage various sectors and ensure proper and accurate understanding of the measure and its value.

Some 107 such meetings have been held, mostly with transport groups, civil society organizations, people’s organizations, youth groups, and local government units around the country.

Salceda, who actively participates in the meetings, said he has answered and explained the most asked questions about the measure.

AUG overseas education free study seminar set THE Aused United Group Manila will hold its “Jumpstart Your Career With AUG” Philippines overseas education fair this Sept. 9 at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel for all Filipino students and graduates desiring to upgrade their global standards in learning.

It will also conduct Free Study Seminars on Saturday (July 22) from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. at the AUG Manila Student Services at the Ground Floor, E-Square Bldg., 416 Ortigas Avenue, Greenhills, San Juan City.

SCN FORM NO. 1 (R.A. NO. 9139)

any incurable contagious disease. The country of which I am a citizen or subject is not at war with the Philippines and grants to Filipinos the right to be naturalized citizens or subjects thereof.

001488

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON NATURALIZATION

SCN CASE NO. x------------------ x

PETITION Pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No. 9139, petitioner hereby submits a petition for naturalization to become a citizen of the Republic of the Philippines and respectfully declares: 1. My full name is ROSABEL ANN TAN LIM, but I have also been known since childhood as N/A or I have been judicially N/A . authorized to use the alias name(s) 2. My present place of residence is No. 237 CALACHUCHI ST., VILLA PERPETUA SUBD. City/Municipality of TARLAC CITY Province of TARLAC and all my former places of residence are (please indicate periods of residence) 84 WEST, 6TH AVENUE, CALOOCAN CITY FROM BIRTH TO JUNE 2008 3. I was born on DEC. 31 1994, in CALOOCAN CITY, Philippines. I have been a resident of the Philippines since birth. At present, I am a citizen or subject of CHINA. 4. My father's name is ERNESTO LIM and he was born on 18 JUNE 1944, in CHINA. He is a citizen or subject of CHINA. My mother's name is MARY ROANNA ANG TAN and she was born on 17 SEPT 1965 in CEBU CITY. She is a citizen or subject of CHINA. 5. My trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is EMPLOYEE and from which I derive an average annual income of P 398,380.00 , inclusive of bonuses, commissions and allowances. My wife's/husband's trade, business, profession or lawful occupation is N/A and from which she derives an average annual income of P N/A .

(Where the above does not apply): I am exempt from the requirement of lucrative trade or occupation and from submitting income tax returns for the past three (3) years because I am a college degree holder [please state (1) degree obtained:BSBA , (2) name of school: COLLEGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT and (3) years graduated: 2016 who cannot practice my profession (the practice of which requires a government licensure examination) by reason of my citizenship.

6. My civil status is S, I was married on N/A in N/A. My wife's/husband's name is N/A and she/he was born on in N/A. She/he is a citizen or subject of N/A and presently resides N/A 7. I am legally separated from my spouse; my marriage was annulled, per decree of legal separation/annulment dated N/A granted by N/A. (please indicate the particular court which granted the same). I am a widower/widow and my spouse died on N/A in N/A. 8. I have NO child/children, whose names, dates and places of birth and residences are as follows:

Date of Birth

Place of Birth

N/A

Place of Dates of School Study N O R T H E R N R I Z A L CALOOCAN 2004 to 2008 YORKLIN SCHOOL CITY BAYANIHAN SCHOOL TARLAC CITY 2008 to 2012 COLLEGE OF THE HOLY TARLAC CITY 2012-2016 SPIRIT

15. Attached hereto as annexes and made part of this petition are the duplicate originals or certified photocopies of the following documents (please check the appropriate box): [ / ] a. Petitioner's birth certificate [ / ] b. Petitioner's alien certificate of registration (ACR) [ ] c. Petitioner's native-born certificate of residence (NBCR) [ ] d. Petitioner's marriage certificate, if married [ ] e. Death certificate of his/her spouse, if widowed [ ] f. Court decree annulling his/her marriage or granting legal separation, if such was the fact [ ] g. Birth certificates of petitioner's minor children [ ] h. ACRs of petitioner's minor children [ ] i. NBCRs of petitioner's minor children [ / ] j. Affidavits of financial capacity by the petitioner, duly supported by bank certifications, passbooks, stock certificates, or proof of ownership of other properties [ / ] k. Affidavits of at least two (2) credible witnesses who must be Filipino citizens of good reputation in petitioner's place of residence [ / ] l. Medical certificate from a government hospital stating that petitioner is not suffering from mental alienation or a user of prohibited drugs or otherwise a drug dependent and that he/she is not afflicted with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), or any incurable contagious disease. [ / ] m. School diploma and transcript of records of the petitioner from the school/s he or she attended in the Philippines [ ] n. Certifications stating that petitioner's minor children are enrolled in public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the DECS, where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality [ / ] o. Petitioner's income tax returns for the past three years [ / ] p. Petitioner's receipts of payment of income tax for the past three years 16. Other documents submitted by the petitioner in support of his/her petition: NBI, POLICE, PROSECUTOR, RTC, MTC AND BARANGAY CLEARANCE PRAYER WHEREFORE, it is respectfully prayed that petitioner be conferred Philippine citizenship pursuant to the provisions of Republic Act No, 9139.

Dated at Makati City, Metro Manila, this 20 day of MARCH, 2017.

SHOOTING CHALLENGE. Police Senior Supt. Randy Q. Peralta, Batangas provincial director, delivers his message to

participant of the First Provincial Director’s Invitational Shooting Competition held at the JMA Firing Range in Barangay Gulod Labac, Batangas City. Guest of honor and speaker was Chief Supt. Ma. O R. Aplasca, regional director of PRO Calabarzon, for the Level II sanction match. Roy Tomandao

Solon says Cebu LRT ‘now a must’ CEBU CITY—The Cebu Light Rail Transit project has become “absolutely indispensable” on account of the national government’s decision to construct new bridges interconnecting the four provinces of Cebu, Negros Oriental, Guimaras and Iloilo, Cebu Rep. Gerald Anthony Gullas Jr. said Friday.

“The integration of the four provinces is bound to spur more people to migrate to Metro Cebu in search of greener pasture, so we will definitely need those fast-moving elevated trains to move people around,” Gullas, a deputy majority leader, said.

“Metro Cebu needed the LRT system years ago—long before we dreamed of putting up two to 10-kil-

Highest Grade Completed ELEMENTARY HIGH SCHOOL COLLEGE

ROSABEL ANN TAN LIM Name and Signature of Petitioner Address: 237 CALACHUCHI ST., VILLA PERPETUA SUBD., TARLAC CITY Telephone Number: 0927-4319977

Executive House LGU Compond, Poblacion, Baleno, Masbate 5413 Philippines

BIDS AND AWARDS COMMITTEE ========================================================= Invitation to Apply for Eligibility and to Bid CONSTRUCTION OF TWO-STOREY MUNICIPAL HALLBUILDING AT POBLACION, BALENO, MASBATE 1. The Local Government Unit of Baleno, Masbate, through the DBPLOAN 2017intends to apply the sum of Twenty-nine MillionFive Hundred Sixtythree Thousand Four Hundred EightyPesos& 45/100 (Php29,563,480.45) being the Approved Budget for the Contract (ABC) to payments under the contract CONSTRUCTION OF TWO-STOREY MUNICIPAL HALL BUILDING at Poblacion, Baleno, Masbate. Bids received in excess of the ABC shall be automatically rejected at bid opening.

2.

The Local Government Unit of Baleno, Masbate now invites bids for Construction of Two-Storey Municipal Hall Building at Poblacion, Baleno, Masbate. Completion of the Works required is Four Hundred Eighty-three (483) Calendar Days. Bidders should have completed, within ten (10) years from the date of submission and receipt of bids, a contract similar to the Project. The description of an eligible bidder is contained in the Bidding Documents, particularly, in Section II. Instruction to Bidders.

3.

Bidding will be conducted through open competitive bidding procedures using non-discretionary pass/fail criterion as specified in the Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Republic Act 9184 (RA 9184), otherwise known as the “Government Procurement Reform Act”.

Bidding is restricted to Filipino citizens/sole proprietorships, partnerships, or organizations with at least seventy five percent (75%) interest or outstanding capital stock belonging to citizens of the Philippines.

Right Thumbmark of Petitioner

4.

Interested bidders may obtain further information from Local Government Unit of Baleno, Masbate and inspect the Bidding Documents at the address given below from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

5.

A complete set of Bidding Documents may be purchased by interested Bidders from the address below and upon payment of a nonrefundable fee for the Bidding Documents in the amount of Twenty-five Thousand Pesos (Php25,000.00).

Petitioner's signature and right thumbmark

10. I am able to read, write and speak Filipino and/or any of the following dialects of the Philippines: 11. I have enrolled my minor children of school age in the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philipine History, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

Name of Child N/A

Name and Place of School N/A

Date of Enrollment N/A

12. I shall never be a public charge. I am of good moral character. I believe in the principles underlying the Philippine Constitution. I have conducted myself in a proper and irreproachable manner during the entire period of my residence in the Philippines in my relations with the constituted government as well as with the community in which I am living. I mingled socially with Filipinos and have evinced a sincere desire to learn and embrace the customs, traditions and ideals of the Filipino people. I have all the qualifications and none of the disqualifications under Republic Act No. 9139.

ometer bridges coupling the four provinces. Now that the Department of Public Works and Highways has resolved to build those bridges, we need those overhead commuter trains all the more,” Gullas said.

He said people from as far as Panay Island will be encouraged to come to Cebu to look for jobs and other opportunities to earn a living.

“This is because we have the fastest-growing economy in the Visayas, and our P366 daily minimum wage for non-farm workers in the private sector is the highest outside Metro Manila, Calabarzon and Central Luzon,” he pointed out.

A greater number of students are also likely to troop to Cebu’s higher

Republic of the Philippines Province of Masbate MUNICIPALITY OF BALENO

Residence

9. I received my primary and secondary education from the following public schools or private educational institutions duly recognized by the Department of Education, Culture and Sports (DECS), where Philippine history, government and civics are taught and prescribed as part of the school curriculum and where enrollment is not limited to any race or nationality:

Name of School

13. It is my true and honest intention to become a citizen of the Philippines and to renounce absolutely and forever all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty, and, particularly, to CHINA of which at this time I am a citizen or subject. I will reside continuously in the Philippines from the date of the filing of this petition up to the time of my admission to Philippine citizenship.

14. My character witnesses are ARLENE JOY P. BITARA and BENITO CHUA III both Filipino citizens, of legal age, and residing at VILORIA ST., SAN PABLO, CASTILLEJOS, ZAMBALES and 21 DON GREGORIO AVE., SAN SEBASTIAN VILLAGE, TARLAC CITY respectively, who have executed sworn statements attached hereto in support of my instant petition, together with: (a) brief biographical data about themselves; (b) detailed statements on the dates they first came to know me, the circumstances of our initial acquaintance and the reasons and extent of our continuing familiarity; and (c) the number of times they have acted as character witnesses in other petitions for naturalization.

IN THE MATTER OF THE PETITION OF ROSABEL ANN TAN LIM to be naturalized as Filipino citizen pursuant to Republic Act No. 9139.

Name

Free tokens of appreciation will be given to all students apart from the free counselling, consultation and services. A waiver of school application fees for those whose applications are received on the same date will apply.

Considered the leading international onestop education consultation center, AUG offers free impartial and complete services on studying in Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia.

It may also be downloaded free of charge from the website of the Philippine Government Electronic Procurement System (PhilGEPS) and the website of the Procuring Entity, provided that bidders shall pay the fee for the Bidding Documents not later that the submission of their bids.

REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES) CITY/MUNICIPALITY OF MANILA) S.S. I, ROSABEL ANN TAN LIM of legal age and a resident of 237 CALACHUCHI ST., VILLA PERPETUA SUBD., TARLAC CITY after being duly sworn, depose and say that I am the petitioner herein, that I have read the foregoing petition and know the foregoing petition and known the contents thereof, and that the same is true of my own knowledge.

6.

The Local Government Unit of Baleno, Masbatewill hold a Pre-Bid Conference on 2:00 PM of July 27, 2017 at SB Session Hall, LGU Compound, Poblacion, Baleno, Masbate, which shall beopen only to all interested parties who have purchased the Bidding Documents.

7.

Bids must be delivered to the address below on or before August 8, 2017 2:00 PM at SB Session Hall, LGU Compound, Poblacion, Baleno, and Masbate. All bids must be accompanied by a bid security in any of the acceptable forms and in the amount stated in ITB Clause 18.

ROSABEL ANN TAN LIM Name and Signature of Petitioner

SUBCRIBED AND SWORN to before me at MANILA, this 20 day of MARCH 2017.

Bids will be opened in the presence of the bidders’ representatives who choose to attend at the address below. Late bids shall not be accepted 8.

Period of availability of Bid Documents is from July 18-August 8, 2017.

9.

The Local Government Unit of Baleno, Masbatereserves the right to accept or reject any bid, to annul the bidding process, and to reject all bids at any time prior to contract award, without thereby incurring any liability to the affected bidder or bidders.

10. For further information, please refer to:

I am not opposed to organized government or affiliated with any association or group of persons who uphold and teach doctrines opposing all organized governments. I am not defending or teaching the necessity or propriety of violence, personal assault or assassination for the success and predominance of one's ideas. I am not a polygamist nor a believer in the practice of polygamy.

I have not been convicted of any crime involving moral turpitude. I am not suffering from mental alienation or from

JOEL G. ESTEVEZ Head, BAC Secretariat LGU Compound, Licup St., Baleno, Masbate Cell No. 09194717358 / 09282897994 bac.lgubaleno@gmail.com

(MS-JULY 22, 29 & AUG. 5, 2017)

(Sgd) Engr. LIBRADO T. ELNAS Chairman, Bids and Awards Committee (MS-JULY 22, 2017)

institutions of learning, according to Gullas.

The feasibility study for the Cebu LRT project has already been completed, and is now awaiting the evaluation and approval of the Department of Transportation, according to Presidential Assistant for the Visayas Michael Dino.

“Cebu is ready for the LRT system. It is not that we want it. We need it,” Dino told members of the Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Gullas, for his part, acknowledged that the LRT project has gained traction under President Duterte’s administration, largely through Dino’s efforts.

Dengue cases in Pampanga fall to just 2k

By Romeo Dizon SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga—The government’s health and sanitation efforts are paying off, as the cases of dengue in Pampanga has decreased, with 2,006 cases reported as of July 2017.

Jolly G. Garcia, provincial dengue and malaria coordinator, said there were 9,950 cases of dengue reported in 2015, which dropped to 6,625 last year.

As of July 2017, Garcia said fewer cases were received by his office, “which is an indication that we are meeting the target of 50 percent reduction within a few years.”

However, during the same period, a total of 41 persons died due to dengue, as reported by the provincial health office.

Garcia attributed the decrease in dengue cases to the health and sanitation programs of the provincial government, where a bulk of budget was spent on human development like health, education, and employment.

The efforts where the stakeholders like the Dengue Task Force, which was responsible for the awareness and education of the people on the dangers of dengue fever, contributed to the decrease.

The task force is composed of barangay captains, health workers, school principals, and other community leaders.

“The stakeholders including communities health workers are very active in the campaign by monitoring mosquito breeding grounds in their areas under the seeks and destroy strategy of the program,” Garcia said.

Also, a total of 12,290 public school students, mostly Grade 4 pupils, recently received dengue vaccination.

Ching Layung, provincial coordinator for the Expanded Program on Immunization, said the program started last April 2016 and will end this year.

CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK

World IN BRIEF Bottle of Aussie red sells for $41,000 SYDNEY―A rare bottle of first vintage 1951 Penfolds Grange has been snapped up at auction for A$51,750 (US$40,825), officials said Friday in one of Australia’s most expensive wine sales.

It is believed fewer than 20 bottles of the 1951 vintage still exist, with a handful in private ownership and the rest in the Penfolds Museum.

“It is very unusual to get that sort of money, but this particular bottle is part of Australian wine history,” Nick Stamford, owner of MW Wines that auctioned the bottle in Melbourne on Wednesday, told AFP. “We believe it is one of the most expensive wines sold in Australia.”

Penfolds, which has been producing since 1844, is known for its Grange―Australia’s most famous wine.

It was created by chief winemaker Max Schubert as an experiment in 1951 after studying how Bordeaux was made in France, but the first vintage was never commercially available, with much of it given away to family and friends.

Since then, the heavy shiraz has grown in stature and each vintage is in high demand by collectors.

The bottle that was sold to an unnamed Melbourne enthusiast had Schubert’s signature on the label, Stamford added. AFP

China urges talks on Gulf crisis BEIJING―China’s foreign minister has called on Qatar and four Arab nations to resolve their diplomatic crisis through talks within the Gulf Cooperation Council, state media reported on Friday.

Wang Yi made the remarks after meeting with his Qatari counterpart in Beijing on Thursday, a day after he held talks with a top official from the United Arab Emirates, one of the nations at odds with Doha.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5, accusing the country of ties with Iran and of funding Islamist extremist groups. Doha denies the claims.

“All sides should continue restraint and conduct face-to-face talks as soon as possible, so as to avoid escalation of the situation, send out a positive signal in addressing the crisis through political and diplomatic means, and reassure the role of the GCC,” Wang was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.

Wang said China supports Kuwait’s mediation in the dispute and stands ready to play a constructive role in promoting peace through talks if necessary.

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, said his country is willing to launch constructive talks on the basis of respecting sovereignty, non-interference in domestic affairs and complying with international law, according to Xinhua.

Wang met with UAE minister of state Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber on Wednesday and called for the crisis to be resolved through diplomatic means, Xinhua had reported this week.

The UAE and the three other Arab nations have imposed a slew of sanctions on Qatar, including the closure of its only land border.

The Gulf crisis is the worst to hit the region since the establishment of the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981. AFP

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

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Kermit and creator honored N

EW YORK―Jim Henson, the relentless innovator who gave the world Kermit the Frog and “The Muppet Show,” is getting a permanent tribute in New York, nearly 30 years after his death.

ONSTAGE. From left, Country Trio Runaway June Hannah Mulholland, Naomi Cooke and Jennifer Wayne perform at Country Thunder In Twin Lakes, Wisconsin on Day 1 on July 20, 2017. AFP

Killing of Cecil the lion’s cub mourned JOHANNESBURG―A trophy hunter in Zimbabwe has shot dead a cub of Cecil the lion whose death in 2015 caused worldwide outrage, researchers tracking the pride confirmed Friday.

Xanda, a six-year-old lion fitted with a radio collar, was killed on July 7 in northwest Zimbabwe, close to where US dentist Walter Palmer shot Cecil with a high-powered bow and arrow two years ago.

“Xanda was shot by a trophy hunter on a legally sanctioned hunt in a hunting area outside Hwange National Park,” Andrew Loveridge from Oxford University’s zoology department told AFP. “As researchers we are saddened to lose a well-known study animal we have monitored since birth.”

In 2015, Cecil’s killing triggered fierce controversy as he was a popular attraction for visitors to the famed Hwange National Park.

Both Cecil and Xanda wore electronic GPS tracking collars in a project run by Oxford University’s wildlife

conservation research unit.

But they had strayed out of the park boundaries and into a legal hunting area.

The trophy hunter has not been named, but many hunters are from the United States, Europe or South Africa, often paying tens of thousands of dollars for the opportunity to kill lions and other wild animals.

Pro-hunt groups say hunting provides an essential economic incentive to promote long-term conservation and that the income pays to safeguard wildlife and catch poachers.

Britain’s Daily Telegraph newspaper named the hunt’s professional expedition leader as Zimbabwean Richard Cooke, and said that the hunt was legal as Xanda was six years old.

It added that Cooke had handed in the collar after discovering it on the dead animal, who was the head of a pride with two lionesses and several cubs.

“This shows once again that the world must urgently act to protect animals in the wild,” Tennyson Williams,

of the World Animal Protection action group, said, describing the killing as “senseless and cruel”.

“Trophy hunting often leads to prolonged suffering and fuels demand for wild animal products, leaving them open to further exploitation.”

Palmer, who shot Cecil, a 13-yearold male, was hounded on social media and went into hiding after demonstrations outside his dental practice.

He was reported to have paid $55,000 for the hunt, in which Cecil was at first badly injured and then killed the following day.

No charges were brought against Palmer or the local guide as the hunt was also found to be legal.

Scientists, who say that Hwange has a healthy population of about 550 lions, are lobbying for a five-kilometer hunting exclusion zone to protect lions who wander outside the park’s boundaries.

Cecil had at least 12 surviving cubs last year, according to the Oxford research project. AFP

If rarely seen on camera, Henson lived and breathed television, hooking adult Americans on puppets, turning puppetry into prime-time entertainment and for 25 years gave life to Kermit, the world’s most famous puppet.

Not only did he create “The Muppet Show” and several of Kermit’s contemporaries, he gave birth to Elmo, Big Bird, Bert and Ernie of “Sesame Street” fame, “Fraggle Rock” and movies “Dark Crystal” (1982) and “Labyrinth” (1986).

On Saturday, the Museum of the Moving Image in Queens opens a permanent exhibition exploring Henson’s work, challenging visitors to look beyond his most famous creations at the astonishingly breadth of his career.

The exhibition brings together more than 300 objects, among them a Kermit the Frog, and more than 180 items bequeathed to the museum by the Henson family.

When Henson came to see puppetry as a serious art form, inspired partly by a trip to Europe in 1958, puppets at that time in America were for children, said Barbara Miller, curator of “The Jim Henson Exhibition.”

“The work and the projects that he developed -- they were always fighting against this notion that puppets are just for kids,” she said. “’The Muppet Show’ was obviously the most successful way that he broke that barrier. It was programmed as prime time on Sunday nights. It was family hour so it was everybody.”

Merging comedy, fantasy, poetry, music and song, it was a surprising blend of weekly US television show which ran from 1976 to 1981, defined a generation and inspired eight featurelength films from 1979 to 2014.

But unusually, Henson walked away when the show was still in its prime, although he continued to give voice and movement to Kermit until his sudden death from pneumonia aged 53 in 1990.

“He was worried he was going to start repeating himself. The last thing my dad would want is that Kermit just keeps doing the same thing,” son Brian explained in a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

“My dad’s number one thing was don’t repeat yourself. Innovate. Do something new.”

Henson demonstrated that innovation time and again with short, Oscar-nominated 1965 surrealist film “Time Piece,” then with “Dark Crystal”, “Fraggle Rock” and “Labyrinth” starring Davie Bowie.

Each time, he created a new universe made possible by advances in technology.

The purpose of the exhibition is not only to showcase his work but to illustrate “how things happened and what the creative processes were,” Miller said.

“I wanted people coming in with an idea of who Jim Henson is and leaving with a more complex idea of who he is and maybe more questions than they had when they came in,” she explained.

A traveling version of the exhibition is on view at the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle and will travel the United States and the world over the next five years. AFP

Mosul’s Christians face dilemma after IS defeat ARBIL, Iraq―The jihadists may have been ousted from their Iraqi hometown of Mosul but many Christians like Haitham Behnam refuse to go back and trade in the stability of their new lives.

“There’s no security, no protection for Christians back there,” said the former resident of the largest city in northern Iraq.

“It’s better for us to stay here and keep our mouths shut,” said the man in his 40s who resettled in the Iraqi Kurdish capital of Arbil in 2014 after the Islamic State jihadist group seized control of Mosul.

“They came to see us in our shops. They told us: ‘We have nothing against you. If we’re bothering you, tell us.’ A week later, it was ‘Christians out!’” recalled Behnam, who used to deal in ready-to-wear clothing.

Under the brutal rule of IS, Mosul’s Christian community of around 35,000 was handed an ultimatum: convert to Islam, pay a special tax imposed on nonMuslims, or risk being executed unless they leave town.

Since the Iraqi authorities on July 10 announced their recapture of Mosul after a battle that raged for several months, tens of thousands of Christians who have rebuilt their lives in the

past three years face a dilemma.

“We couldn’t go back even if we wanted to,” said Behnam, who fondly remembers “a paradise-like life” before Mosul fell under jihadist control.

His polo shirt and trousers are smeared with grease from his new life as a mechanic working in an Arbil suburb, a change he has had to undergo in order to put food on the table for his wife and two children.

“There’s no security [in Mosul]. People were brainwashed over the past three years,” said Behnam, a Catholic.

“Even the children have become Daesh, they’ve been taught to slit throats,” he said using a pejorative Arabic name for IS. A customer at the small workshop that Behnam rents was quick to agree.

“If I was a Christian, I wouldn’t go back to Mosul until its residents prove to me that they’re ready to accept me,” said Omar Fawaz, a Muslim from the east of the city.

Once the battle for Mosul was over, his parents had returned, only to find their home occupied by the victorious security forces.

“Neighbors told us to take the house of a Christian who used to live four doors down,” said the 29-year engineer. AFP

NEW ALBUM. Singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey performs for a Spotify event some songs from her new album ‘Lust For Life’ at No Vacancy in Los Angeles, California. AFP

World

Cesar Barrioquinto, Editor

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2 killed in strike against Maduro

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

UN says North Korea faces worst drought in 15 years S EOUL―North Korea is facing severe food shortages after being hit by its worst drought in more than 15 years, the UN said, calling for urgent food imports to stop children going hungry.

A severe lack of rainfall in the first half of this year has badly damaged vital harvests in a country where malnutrition is already widespread, according to the report by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Seasonal rainfall has dropped below 2001 levels and could cause “a sharp deterioration in food security conditions of a large part of the population,” said Vincent Martin, FAO Representative in China and North Korea.

“Immediate interventions are needed to support affected farmers and prevent undesirable coping strategies for the most vulnerable, such as reducing daily food intakes,” Martin added.

The North has periodically been hit by famine in recent decades, with hundreds of thousands of people dying in the midto-late 1990s during a period known in the country as the Arduous March.

Even in good years, more than 40 percent of the population is categorized by the UN as undernourished.

But rainfall in the first half of this year has been far below the levels of 2001, when a particularly bad drought caused the country’s cereal crop production to hit unprecedented lows.

In some key agricultural provinces, rainfall from April to June was 50 per cent below average.

Mismanagement is widely blamed for the food shortages in the impoverished country, while critics point to the nation’s vast expenditure on its nuclear and missile programs at the cost of investment in agriculture.

International food aid, especially from South Korea and the United States, has been drastically cut over the past decade amid the soaring tensions over the missile programs.

Frequent floods and droughts, as well as a lack of quality soil, seeds, fertilizer and equipment, are also to blame.

The FAO, which maintains a permanent office in North Korea, said that more than 50,000 hectares of farmland had been severely affected by this year’s prolonged dry spell, particularly crops of rice, maize, potatoes and soybean.

Production of 2017 early-season crops has plunged by over 30 percent, from the previous year’s level of 450 000 tons to 310, 000 tons, the FAO report said.

Women, children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to food shortages, with malnutrition a major cause of maternal and child mortality. Some 28 percent of North Korean children under the age of five are stunted. AFP

PROMOTIONAL EVENT. Indian Bollywood actresses Athiya Shetty, left, and Ileana DíCruz attend a promotional event for their coming Hindi film ‘Mubarakan’ in Mumbai. AFP

CARACAS―Two people were killed in clashes Thursday in Venezuela during a nationwide strike against President Nicolas Maduro’s plans to re-write the country’s constitution.

Thursday’s 24-hour stoppage affected areas of the capital and other regions, including the country’s second-biggest city of Maracaibo, with businesses shuttered, public transport stalled and streets often deserted.

Riot police and soldiers fired tear gas and buck shot at protesters, who blocked streets with debris in parts of Caracas and set a police booth on fire. Street blockades continued overnight.

Prosecutors said a 24-year-old man was killed on the outskirts of Caracas and a 23-year-old man was killed in the city of Valencia. They did not say who was responsible for the deaths.

This brings to 99 the death toll in anti-government protests since April.

“I wish this strike were indefinite until this dictatorship leaves,” said Coromoto Garcia, 48, who was at a street blocked by protesters in eastern Caracas.

Protesters also hurled rocks at workers with VTV state television, who were rescued by riot police.

Nearly 370 protesters were arrested in Caracas and four other states, the NGO Foro Penal reported.

“It doesn’t matter losing a day’s work if we’re losing the country,” said one striker, a 34-year-old owner of a small Caracas construction firm who only gave his first name, Omar.

“I’m joining the strike to rescue the little remaining for us, to increase pressure” on Maduro, he said.

In pro-government parts of the capital, however, life went on as normal.

Some workers in public offices were reluctant to take part, scared it would cost them their jobs.

“If I don’t go to work, they’ll fire me,” a 39-year-old public worker who gave her name as Carolina told AFP. Maduro seized on the areas of normality to claim victory over the strikers, saying key sectors were “100 percent” unaffected by the strike.

Maria Francis, a 53-year-old worker in the Caracas metro system, called it an “absurd strike.”

The opposition, she said, “wants the United States to come in and take over the country.” AFP

‘Saigon’ brings exiles’ loss and longing to the stage AVIGNON, France―A hugely moving debut drama about exile set in a Vietnamese restaurant has become a surprise hit at the world’s biggest theater festival, with standing ovations every night and the audience in tears.

“Saigon” by Caroline Guiela Nguyen― whose family fled what is now Ho Chi Minh City in 1956―has been hailed for shining a light on the suffering and sacrifice of Vietnamese emigres, whose fate has long been enveloped in silence in the United States and France.

Despite playing in a small venue at the Avignon Festival in southern France, the near four-hour family saga has had critics reaching both for superlatives and their

handkerchiefs.

“This is a play like no other,” the French daily Le Monde said, comparing its bitter-sweet melancholic nostalgia to Wong Kar-wai’s classic film “In the Mood for Love”.

“The play ends with the line, ‘This is the way we tell stories in Vietnam; with lots of tears.’ Well, we love these tears that French theater has been so long deprived of,” it added.

“Saigon” tells the story of the heartbreak and longing of Vietnamese who were torn between France and their homeland when French colonial rule collapsed in the wake of military humiliation at the hands of the

nationalists and communists of the Viet Minh at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu. “The play is framed by two dates―1956 and 1996,” Nguyen told AFP. “1956 was when the last of the French soldiers and colonists left Vietnam.

But many Vietnamese who had French nationality left with them [below decks in steerage]. They were called the ‘Viet kieu’, literally the foreign Vietnamese,” she said.

They would not be allowed back for another 40 years, having to wait until 1996 when the US lifted its embargo against Hanoi. When the teenage Nguyen went back a few years later with her mother she began to see the depth of her

loss.

Bargaining with some fruit sellers in a Ho Chi Minh City market, the women could not stop laughing at the quaint way her mother spoke. Her Vietnamese no longer existed, a relic of an all but forgotten past.

Like every one of her 17 cousins who grew up in France, Nguyen does not speak Vietnamese. “Our parents so wanted to integrate that teaching their children Vietnamese was for them going backwards. They were afraid it would hold up our French.”

She remembers the divisions in her own extended family about whether to return or not. AFP

Ex-PM enters final stage of case BANGKOK―Toppled Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra was mobbed Friday by wellwishers, many bearing red roses, as she arrived for what could be the final hearing of a trial for criminal negligence that carries a 10-year jail term.

She is accused of failing to stop corruption in a rice subsidy policy that funneled cash to her poor, rural farming base but cost the Thai exchequer billions of dollars.

Her supporters say the case is driven by the junta that overthrew her government in 2014 and is determined to expunge her super-rich clan from Thailand’s political scene.

Her brother Thaksin, who heads the Shinawatra family, was toppled as premier in a 2006 coup and fled the coun-

try over corruption convictions.

Yingluck’s case is the first time a Thai premier has faced charges for the outcome of an economic policy in a country where populist handouts are commonplace and military spending passes without serious scrutiny.

She wiped away tears as she embraced supporters and posed for pictures with the crowd of some 500 supporters massed outside of the Bangkok court, holding roses and balloons.

“I want to thank all of the media and people who came here to support me,” she said in a brief comment to the press.

If the remaining witnesses are heard, Friday could see Yingluck give a final defense statement.

Once the trial is over judges

have a month to deliver a verdict.

Thailand’s first female prime minister was impeached for abuse of power and banned from politics in the wake of the coup.

But she remains a galvanizing force among her supporters, with the trial turning her into something of a martyr for a democracy movement that has withered under junta rule.

“People love the Shinawatra family because they helped small people get money and make a living,” said Wachiraporn Laongnual, who said she travels two hours to attend every court hearing.

The farmers among the crowd outside the court defended Yingluck’s rice policy, which saw the government pay nearly twice the market price for paddy. AFP

TRAIN TO HAMBURG. Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, arrive at the Central Station in Berlin to take a train to Hamburg. AFP

By Honor Blanco Cabie

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ALLAS, Texas—Nearly 54 years after the assassination of John Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, thousands of locals and others from different states and countries still continue to visit the JFK Museum: beyond doubt a window through history.

The youngest man ever elected Chief Executive of the US and the first Roman Catholic to win the office, Kennedy, heir to a legend, would have been 100 on May 29, which coincided with Memorial Day in this North American nation.

The Kennedy Museum—also described as just JFK for his initials—is on the 6th floor of the Dallas County Administration Building in downtown Dallas overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets.

Dealey Plaza has been dubbed since 1963 as the “front door of Dallas” – given that it was in the area where the popular and loved Kennedy, then a year into a possible re-election for the highest post was assassinated by 23-year-old Lee Harvey Oswald, a resident of Irving, Texas.

The six-foot-tall Kennedy, who played enthusiastically as a 170-pounder touchfootball before his back trouble, gained national attention as an author and was celebrated as a war hero before entering politics in 1946.

Jack, his nickname, failed physical exams for the officer candidate schools of both the Army and Navy before asking for his father’s help, after the program which saw 1,024 volunteers reduced the number to only 50 spots but where family connections made the difference.

But he eventually showed real courage as the commander of PT (patrol torpedo) 109 in the South Pacific, where he and his crew were assigned to the largest PT operation to the Blackett Strait.

Fast forward to Nov 22, 1963, a Friday, the President was scheduled to address the Dallas Citizens Council and was on his way to Dallas Trade Mart – where hundreds of influential local citizens were eating Kansas strip steaks and baked potatoes while they awaited his arrival.

The motorcade started from Love Field shortly before noon and wound through the city’s suburbs and downtown section for about eight miles (almost 13 kms) before the shooting occurred.

Kennedy, who stood up to Nikita Khrushchev of the Soviet Union during the Cuban missile crisis, was greeted by enthusiastic crowds despite predictions that the city, a center of right-wing Republicans, would receive coldly the popular President.

School children waving flags, partisan Democrats with signs and thousands of people just plain curious lined the streets every foot of the route.

Jacqueline Kennedy, who was sitting to the left of her husband at the time, was not injured.

The Kennedys were with Texas Gov. John Connally Jr., riding immediately in front of JFK in the blue official Lincoln limousine, who was wounded in the right chest and the right hand.

Kennedy was in Dallas with Vice President and Mrs. Lyndon Johnson, the Connallys and Sen. Ralph Yar-

Life

Isah V. Red, Editor Bernadette Lunas, Writer isahred@gmail.com

TRAVEL AND LEISURE

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

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JFK Museum:

A window through history The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza is on the sixth floor of the Dallas County Administration Building in downtown Dallas, Texas, overlooking Dealey Plaza at the intersection of Elm and Houston Streets

The museum’s exhibition area uses historic films, photographs, artifacts and interpretive displays to document the events of the 1963 assassination, the reports by government investigations that followed, and the historical legacy of the US national tragedy.

Author, with Maria Rosa and their tour guide, Dallas resident Joyce Marly Narciso.

The JKF Museum Gift Shop at the ground Floor of the old Texas School Book Depository.

borough on a scheduled stop as part of a two-day political tour he was taking in Texas.

Johnson was, soon after Kennedy’s death, sworn in as President inside the Presidential suite of Air Force 1, the Presidential jet at Love Field in Dallas.

The museum, where picture taking is prohibited by the Kennedy family, examines the life, times, death and legacy of Kennedy – the fourth President to be assassinated in office after Abraham Lincoln (1865), James Garfield ((1881), and William McKinley (1901) – is located at the very spot where Oswald, according to government probers, shot and killed him.

The museum’s exhibition area uses historic films, photographs, artifacts and interpretive displays to document the events of the assassination, the reports by government investigations that followed, and the historical legacy of the national tragedy.

Officials say the museum, rented from the Dallas County Historical Foundation, is self-sufficient in funding, relying solely on donations and ticket sales, and opened its doors on Presidents’ Day, Feb 20, 1989.

A museum webcam features a live view from the sniper spot at the 6th floor, where a restricted room is enclosed in glass walls containing cartoons, purportedly containing the fingerprints of Oswald and used as seat and rifle rest before the shooting occurred.

Former President Dwight Eisenhower, who served under Gen. Douglas MacArthur when the latter was in the Philippines, shared, after he was informed of Kennedy’s death, “a sense of shock and dismay that all Americans must feel at the despicable act that resulted in the death of our President.”

President Charles de Gaulle of France, in the language of a military Turn to D2

Tread lightly in New Zealand’s five best forests CENTURIES-old and primeval forests can’t help but inspire awe and reverence. With their towering tree trunks and otherworldly sense of eternity, old growth forests are places where Filipinos should go if they want to experience nature in its deepest and most immaculate sense.

New Zealand offers such varied places of marvel. Here are a few expansive sites to give travellers that quintessential forest experience.

are found nowhere else in the world – and inhabited by high numbers of rare and endangered bird species.

4. The Goblin Forest - Taranaki

The southern slopes of Mount Taranaki are home to many walks, but the Kamahi Track through what is known as the Goblin Forest, is a firm favorite.

Like a scene from a fantasy movie, the Goblin Forest is filled with kamahi trees, which perch on the trunks of other trees wrapping their own trunks and branches through and around the existing trees.

This distinctive forest of gnarled and twisted forms is dripping with hanging mosses, liverworts and ferns, adding to the mystical, filmic scenes.

1. Waipoua Forest - Hokianga Northland

Of all New Zealand’s kauri forests, none is more famous than the Waipoua Forest. As the largest remaining tract of native forest in Northland, Waipoua is an ancient green world of huge trees and rare birds. Here travellers pay respects to Tane Mahuta, a jaw-dropping giant estimated to be 2000 years old. Known as the ‘Lord of the Forest,’ this is the largest living tree in New Zealand.

Local Māori guides also offer walks through the forest at twilight – a truly magical experience providing both a cultural and environmental understanding of this unique ecosystem.

2. Whakarewarewa Forest (known as The Redwoods) Rotorua

There are many types of trees found in the Rotorua Whakarewarewa Forest but the most impressive are the Californian Coast Redwoods. To best experience the

5. Curio Bay’s Petrified Forest - Catlins

Wilkies Pools Goblin Forest Walk on Mt. Taranaki (Photo by Rob Tucker)

forest, activities include walking tracks, mountain biking, fitness trails and horse riding. The newest experience is the Redwoods Tree Walk which opened in 2016. At 12 meters above the ground, the Tree Walk offers a great daytime experience to see the forest from on high,

but is also something else by night when protected for everyone to enjoy. It is one the lights go on. of the world’s last prehistoric rainforests - a world-class example of a unique po3. Whirinaki Forest - Bay of Plenty docarp environment that’s barely changed Whirinaki Forest, inland from Rotorua, since dinosaurs roamed under the canopy. was one of New Zealand’s most famous Colossal trees stand 60 metres high – conservation battlegrounds but today it is rimu, totara, kahikatea and matai which

In the southern South Island, The Catlins coast has a variety of features which make it unique. Rugged, remote and endowed with large tracts of native rainforest fringed by high cliffs and golden beaches, with spectacular waterfalls such as the often-photographed tiered Purakaunui Falls, and the dramatic petrified forest which appears at low tide from the sand in Curio Bay – one of the world’s largest and least disturbed examples of a Jurassic-age fossilised forest.

Each forest mentioned has a guided tour designed to make the forest walk both memorable and educational, giving travellers a chance to experience New Zealand’s unique ecology.

Life

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017 isahred@gmail.com

Crazy Over Travel I

MERCURY RISING

BY BOB ZOZOBRADO

T ALL started six years ago when two icons of our local travel industry, Ark Travel President Pat Alberto and Horizon Travel Vice-President and General Manager Raymond Tee, put their heads together to think of ways to encourage a bigger chunk of our population to travel. This potentially valuable sector shied away from traveling because of its prohibitive cost.

The idea of offering super bargains from major components of the industry surfaced after that. With their convincing power always on “full batt,” both of industry leaders were able to entice most, if not all, of the industry suppliers to market their products and services with significantly generous discounts. Needless to say, the project clicked.

So, the once-dormant greater part of the population who usually regarded travelling either by plane or by cruise ship as farthest thing from their minds, found themselves queuing up for the attractive offers made by airlines, hotels, cruise lines and resorts. That was how Travel Madness was born, getting everyone crazy over the pleasurable benefits of travelling, while making it easy on the pocket. New local and foreign destinations became popular overnight!

Travel Madness is the only Travel Expo on the second half of the year, making it ideal for people to shop around for big bargains, in preparation for their Christmas Holiday break or, for those in the academe on their semestral break. The craze-over-these travel bargains are evident every time this yearly event reels off at the SMX Convention Center. People would line up outside the venue as early as 6 a.m. even if the venue opens at 10 a.m. just to be sure they have first access to the best bargains that normally run out or get fully booked towards mid-day.

Hundreds of these eager discount-seekers take the time to go through the long queues outside the venue before opening time, as they brace themselves for gobbling up any and all of those super discounted travel packages that are not available any other time of the year.

A good example is Philippine Airlines’ Sale of the Day, where it offers a double discounted ticket to a certain destination (this changes every day), which, however, must be booked, paid for and tick-

ed with those of the airlines.

The Style Zone had 31 hotels and resorts, ranging from three-star to five-star. Small wonder why the ordinary Juan de la Cruz can now stay in those luxurious, de luxe properties which, because of their prohibitive rates, used to be frequented only by the rich and famous. The Ship Zone featured nine cruise line companies that have made cruising a buzzword among first-time travelers.

There were also 11 booths representing national tourist organizations of various countries, giving guests an insight into the cultural, natural and historical attractions that each of them offers. I also saw booths of three theme parks, 15 retail establisheted on the same day it is ments, 14 food and beveroffered. On the first day of YOUR SATURDAY age suppliers, five insurance this year’s Travel Madness, CHUCKLE companies, and one bank. people went crazy over the What made the organizers national carrier’s offer of On the street strolls a lovely grinning ear-to-ear was this only $155 to Ho Chi Minh young lady dressed with fur from year’s gate receipts which in Vietnam, a ticket which head to toes. Near her, an old tallied a total of more than normally costs $800+ any lady stops and says to her: “Do 44,000 visitors during the other time of the year. you know how many animals they three-day event. What made This year, a total of 173 had to kill for that coat you’re travel bugs even happier is the exhibitors sold their wares wearing?” The bright-eyed chick fact that, with Travel Madin the cavernous halls countered, “I’m sure not as many ness, they now have a yearly of the SMX Convention as the animals I had to sleep with source of travel bargains, cerCenter, which was divided just to have this!” tainly a big help when one is into several zones. The intent in ticking off items in Sky Zone had 24 domestic his bucket list. and international airlines, I’m excited at the prospect of having new, exwith long, winding queues in those offering the best fares. The Star Zone had 47 travel agencies tremely affordable destinations unveiled before and tour operators, the queues of which compet- me in this yearly event, which poses this question

The brains behind Travel Madness, Ark Travel’s Pat Alberto and Horizon Travel’s Raymond Tee

in my mind---When will they sell a round-trip ticket to the moon? Now, that’s really pushing this travel craze to a higher, galactic level! Anybody coming along?

For feedback, I’m at bobzozobrado@gmail.com.

The colors of the Thailand booth made it eye candy for visitors who didn’t waste time to have photo opportunities (left) The winding queues outside the Cebu Pacific booth was an indication of the air ticket bargains available that day (right)

Visit and discover Ethiopia ETHIOPIA has been chosen as one of the world’s top tourist destinations for a few years now, but a lot of Filipinos have yet to discover its wonders. The best way to get there is via Ethiopian Airlines, which flies from Manila to Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, three times weekly.

In 2015, Ethiopia was recognized as such by the European Council Tourism and Trade (ECTT) and earlier this year by Lonely Planet. Lauded for its extraordinary beauty, rich culture, and phenomenal landscapes, Ethiopia will really sweep visitors of their feet.

Recognizing the Filipinos love for Instagram-worthy travel photos, Ethiopian Airlines shares with us top three must-see mystical locations and beautiful landscapes to visit in Ethiopia.

These locations are UNESCO World Heritage Sites, important locations legally protected by the United Nations.

Lalibela. The first thing you remember when you hear about Ethiopia would probably be the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela. This 13th-century ‘New Jerusalem’ remains a place of Ethiopian Christianity, highly respected for pilgrimage and devotion.

Gondar. Among Ethiopia’s most memorable and thought-provoking destinations is Gondar, the “Camelot” of Africa. Structures built by kings during the 17th century, Gondar is an iconic testament of what once was a strong African Empire. Within its walled city is the Royal Enclosure, otherwise known as Fasil Ghebbi. Composed of beautiful stone castles and banquet halls, it a place where princes and princesses once strolled, its future seeing no less than 44 astonishing churches and a number of monasteries and other buildings built by succeeding emperors.

Among these components include the Castle of Emperor Fasilides, the

My Emirates Pass gives customers special discounts at restaurants and hotels in Dubai

Explore Dubai for less with ‘My Emirates Pass’ Ethiopia is home to the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela

Castle of Emperor Iyasu, the Library of Tzadich Yohannes, the Chancellery of Tzadich Yohannes, the Castle of Emperor David, the Palace of Mentuab, and the Banqueting Hall of the Emperor Bekaffa.

Axum. For travelers around the world, Axum is truly a sight to see.

Among the most sacred destinations in the world, it is said to house the Ark of the Covenant, containing the Ten Commandments or Tablets of Law, significant biblical symbols in Christian religion. Ruled by Christians since the 4th

The Ark of Covenant is said to be housed in Axum

century, it is known to be the historical and religious heart of Ethiopia.

Visit these beautiful locations this 2017! Ethiopian Airlines now offers online booking services for flights between USA, UK and all online points in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. Flying three times weekly from Manila to Addis Ababa, passengers can easily begin their dream African adventure with Ethiopian Airlines.

For more information, please visit www.ethiopianairlines.com or call (02) 848 0978 or (02) 522 4869.

The Castle of Emperor Fasilides is one of the structures in Gondar

EMIRATES’ customers can explore more of Dubai by enjoying exclusive offers and discounts across the city with My Emirates Pass, which turns the Emirates boarding pass into an exclusive membership card.

Those flying to or through Dubai between now and Aug. 31 can take advantage of a range of offers at some of Dubai’s best known hotspots by simply showing their Emirates boarding pass and a valid form of identification. Special fares to Dubai start from $729.

My Emirates Pass gives customers special discounts at over 120 worldclass restaurants and hotel dining outlets in Dubai. Exclusive offers are also available on a range of leisure activities

including visits to championship golf courses, thrilling theme parks or luxury spas across the city. To see all My Emirates Pass offers, please visit www.emirates.com/emiratespass.

Those traveling with children can take advantage of the extensive family offering from priority boarding across all airports to special kid’s meals, dedicated children’s entertainment on ice and exclusive toys and Lonely Planet Kids activity bags on board.

Emirates is the only airline to operate an all Airbus A380 and Boeing 777 fleet, further elevating the passenger experience on board through a modern, state-of-the-art wide-body fleet.

JFK...

expressed his “own shock and greatest sympathy to the American peoples” through US Ambassador Foy Kohler.

Available records showed Oswald, eventually shot dead by Jack Ruby while the former was being escorted by police to his hearing, had just been hired as an orderly (stock clerk) at the Texas Book Depository Building in October, a little over a month before the assassination.

Missing after police cordoned off the building minutes after the assassination, Oswald was captured at the Dallas Texas Theater, following a tip, with police quoting him as shouting “it’s all over now.”

Many speculations remain whether Oswald acted alone or with others.

But the JFK Museum at the 6th floor continues to be a window through which history, some visitors said, may be read.

From D1

man who had seen a comrade fall, said Kennedy “died as a soldier, under fire, for his duty and in the service of his country...I salute this great example and tis great memory” The austere, eloquent tribute from a man who himself survived three assassination attempts in leading his country – and who differed often with Kennedy – set the tone of shock and grief through the world upon which Kennedy had so much impact as a man as a leader.

Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, who had faced Kennedy in cold-war talks ranging from the missile crisis to improved East-West relations,

SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

T

HEY were one of the last American groups that came out with a hit before the British Invasion in the ‘60s, with their song “Rhythm of the Rain” considered as one of the most performed songs in the 20th century.

This year, John Claude Gummoe and The Cascades return to Resorts World Manila (RWM) on Aug. 3 to once again take audiences down memory lane.

Apart from the catchy and melodic vibe of “Rhythm of the Rain”, the group is also known for their vocal harmonies that turned such favorites as “For Your Sweet Love”, “The Last Leaf” and “Shy Girl” into hit singles.

After their last RWM performance in 2015, The Cascades with original lead singer Gummoe, is slated for another memorable night of music at RWM’s Newport Performing Arts Theater (NPAT) with special guest, former The Lettermen vocalist Mark Preston to add nostalgia to the concert.

The Lettermen was a vocal pop group who generated hits including “When I Fall In Love”, “The Way you Look Tonight”, “Going Out Of My Head/Can’t ON ITS 50th anniversary, REP is partnering with Ayala Land’s Circuit Makati in a joint effort to make the arts more accessible to different communities.

A re-run of Repertory Philippines’ The Glitter Trap will be staged for the kids and families of Makati’s barangays.

The show, to be held on Aug. 19, 3 p.m. at Circuit Makati’s Power Mac Center Spotlight, will be free of charge to selected youth and kids from the neighboring Makati barangays.

“REP continues its efforts of making an impact in the lives of different people with the shows that we produce,” says REP President and CEO Mindy Perez-Rubio. “This partnership with Ayala Land has given us the wonderful opportunity to share that with the Makati community, particularly, its youth.”

Well-deserved break for Pinoys in Saudi The Cascades' John Claude Gummoe (left) and The Lettermen's Mark preston (right) in concert at the Resorts World Manila

THE CASCADES’

enduring love affair

WITH PINOYS

Take My Eyes Off You”, and “Hurt So Bad” among others.

Through the years, both Gummoe and Preston have brought their respective groups’ cherished love songs to audiences all over the world, and one of their favorite stops has always been in Manila, where they even give some Tagalog songs a twist of their trademark American candy pop for their Filipino fans.

Gummoe, who will be celebrating his 79th birthday a day before their NPAT

performance, still has the moves and music in him that captured the attention of music fans during the ‘60s. He had come out of retirement 12 years ago and answered his second calling to perform live in 2005.

In the country, he had already toured Cebu, Davao, Baguio, Clark, Bacolod, Tacloban, Olongapo, Iloilo, Cagayan de Oro, Tagaytay, Roxas, Ormoc, Iligan, Butuan, Legazpi, La Union, and Tagum, showing much love for his music fans in

the Philippines.

Roll down memory lane with a set of classics from some of the main movers of ‘60s American pop. Catch The Cascades featuring John Claude Gummoe with special guest Mark Preston on Aug. 3; 8 p.m. at the NPAT. Tickets are now available at the Resorts World Manila Box Office and all Ticketworld outlets. Visit www.rwmanila. com or call the Tourist/Visitor Hotline at (632) 908-8833 for more details.

need for them to help. And you don’t have to ask them. ‘Yung initiative is there.”

The two Kapuso talents consider their four-day stay in Saudi a fun and enlightening adventure. “Nakakataba ng puso dahil kami ni Betong ang pinili na pumunta dito,” said the Haplos actor. “Maraming aral para sa’min, at mas naappreciate namin ngayon ang mga ginagawa ng mga Kapuso natin [sa Saudi]. We are humbled by this experience.”

Betong reveled in the smiles that greeted him from the moment of his arrival leading up to the event. “Sobra akong masaya kasi sobrang warm ang pagtanggap [ng mga Kapuso natin sa Saudi].

Naramdaman namin na parang hindi kami bago dito sa lugar,” said the Bubble Gang mainstay.

Kalayaan, Kantawanan, at Kasiyahan sa Gitnang Silangan was made possible by nonprofit organization Kaagapay ng Bawat OFW in partnership with Philippine Consulate Jeddah. GMA Pinoy TV is the exclusive media sponsor for the event.

REP and Ayala Land stage free show for Makati’s barangays

The cast of “The Glitter Trap,” a production of Repertory Philippines

According to Ayala Land, Inc. Assistant Vice President Mel Ignacio, “We and REP have many shared values, and making the arts accessible to more people

is our common objective for this initiative. We hope to inspire the whole community, and help the young audience develop an appreciation for theater with

the meaningful story we show them.”

The Glitter Trap will have another run on Aug. 20, with the same talented cast of actors, directors, and choreographers.

Get your tickets early and help fund a show for the kids of Makati.

For inquiries, call REP at 843.3570, and Ticketworld at 891.999 or log on to www. ticketworld.com.ph.

For updates and show schedules, log on to www. repertoryphilippines.ph, like and follow repertoryphilippines on Facebook and Instagram, and follow @repphils on Twitter.

Physics professor crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2017 KAREN Ibasco bested 39 other candidates to win the Miss Philippines Earth 2017 title during the coronation finals held Saturday night at the Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City.

Representing Manila, the 26-year-old beauty with a master’s degree in applied physics at the University of Santo Tomas, earned the judges’ nod with her smart answer to the final question asked all of the five finalists, “The government’s motto is Change is Coming. What particular change in terms of environmental policies would you want to see?”

“In terms of environmental policies, everyone is experiencing climate change. The whole world is experiencing climate change and I’m just grateful that the Philippines signed the Paris Treaty. What I want to see is to pass a carbon tax (law). In that way, we would invest in renewable energy to help our world be a better place, greener and habitable for the whole humanity,” the 5-foot-7, former Bb. Pilipinas candidate answered.

Earlier, in the top 10 Q&A portion, Ibasco picked the hashtag on the issue of Fake News. “Nowadays,

EARTH WARRIOR. Newly crowned Miss Philippines Earth 2017 Karen Ibasco, 26, from Manila

a lot of people distribute fake news but one of the most important mediums (sic) is social media. We have to learn to use it for social good. We have to learn to disseminate and also to filter the right information not just for yourself, but also for the people in your circle of influence,” the UST professor said.

Ibasco was crowned by Loren Artajos who assumed the title from resigned Miss Philippines Earth 2016 Imelda Schweighart. Ibasco will compete in this year’s Miss Earth 2017 pageant.

Ibasco’s elemental court of honor, all in equal ranking, to serve as ambassadors on environmental protection, were Miss Eco-tourism Vanessa Mae Castillo of Lobo, Batangas; Miss Philippines Fire Nellza Bautista of Villanueva, Misamis Oriental; Miss Philippines Water Jessica Marasigan of Caloocan City; and Miss Philippines Air Kim de Guzman of Olongapo City.

The coronation night was hosted by Robi Domingo with Miss Philippines Earth 2009 Sandra Seifert and telecast on ABS CBN the following morning.

Eton B. Concepcion

CROSSWORD PUZZLE Saturday, July 22, 2017

ACROSS 1 Sell 5 Boys and men 10 Bagpipes player 14 Bewildered 15 Disconcert 16 The item here 17 “Elephant Boy” star 18 Handbag logo 19 Place for skating 20 Attendances 22 Speckles 24 Mao — -tung 25 Ancient colonnade 26 Gray and hard 29 Gridders, often 33 merson’s middle name 34 Valhalla host 36 Tool set 37 Sorbet 38 Fetch 39 NW state 40 Brief engagement 41 S&L conveniences 42 Mushrooms, in botany 44 Fashionable 47 Swift 48 Black-and-white snack 49 — — matter of fact

GMA Pinoy TV paved the way for Rocco Nacino andn Betong Sumaya to team up for back-toback performances in Kalayaan, Kantawanan, at Kasiyahan sa Gitnang Silangan in Saudi Arabia on June 30.

Guests at the Philippine Consulate Jeddah were visibly thrilled when Nacino channeled his inner suave crooner, serenading the crowd with a mix of OPM and foreign love songs.

Meanwhile, Betong turned up the fun meter with upbeat songs that had the people grooving along.

Before rocking the stage, the two Kapuso celebrities actively met members of the Filipino community. They paid a courtesy call on Consulate General Imelda Panolong, who gave them some insights on Filipinos in Saudi and explained why the event was timely. “The community here really deserves this break. They are really hardworking, hindi lang sila tumutulong sa pamilya nila sa Philippines, [pati na rin] sa kapwa nila community members na nangangailangan.

Tumutulong din sila sa [Consulate] every time there is a

50 Flotsam and — 53 Trails 58 Sheriff Taylor’s kid 59 Rousseau novel 61 With, to monsieur 62 Lascivious look 63 More accommodating 64 Coolidge or Hayworth 65 Nugent and Danson 66 Wrist-radio wearer 67 Check manuscripts DOWN 1 Far-flung 2 Hairy twin 3 Omaha’s st.

4 Disheartened 5 Tequila cactus 6 Just touch 7 Insect resins 8 Computer key 9 Changing gears 10 Lightning flash 11 Snazzy 12 Sty noise 13 Reproving clucks 21 Norwegian port 23 — cit. (footnote abbr.)

25 Scrapes, as a

knee 26 Drinks heartily 27 Not spelled out 28 Melancholy poem 30 Scraping by 31 Narrow crest 32 Priggish 34 “Right” prefix 35 Gloomy 38 Cellar 42 Mackerel or bass 43 In the dark 45 Bad bets 46 Novelist —

Levin 47 Thin 50 Sudden impact 51 Fencer’s weapon 52 Even 53 Type size 54 Sir — Guinness 55 Hungry for more 56 Himalayan legend 57 Skedaddle 60 Cosmonaut’s station

Rocco Nacino and Betong Sumaya (center) in a fun photo with members of the Filipino community in Jeddah

Isah V. Red, Editor Nickie Wang, Writer isahred@gmail.com SATURDAY, JULY 22, 2017

Kapuso stars take the viewers along for the ride in GMA Network's newest travel show, "Road Trip"

WANT TO GO ON

A ROAD TRIP

with the stars of GMA?

A

PART from relaxing and escaping from their busy schedules, celebrities take time off to somehow mend themselves.

Beginning tomorrow, you can join some of today’s hottest celebrities as they travel and reflect on themselves and life in GMA Public Affairs’ latest travelreality program Road Trip.

The hour-long TV series promises to be your newest Sunday afternoon viewing habit as each episode shows the featured celebrities’ adventures and life realizations.

Every week, Road Trip will follow either a couple or a group of celebrities as they get out of their own little corners and embark on a journey they will not forget. Against the picturesque scenery of some of the mustvisit destinations, celebrities will take viewers along a fun-filled excursion.

As travelling is also a means of self-discovery, stars will also share their “hugot” lines and thoughts, showing viewers that just like any normal human being, they, too, have issues and conflicts that need resolving.

For its two-part pilot episode, the Legaspi family goes on a Road Trip to the “Last Frontier of the North”—Batanes.

Carmina Villaroel and Zoren Legaspi, together with twins Mavy and Cassy, will give viewers a peek at how they are as a family.

Road Trip airs this Sunday before 24 Oras Weekend on GMA-7. *** Today in Sarap Diva, find out Pekto Nacua’s love story as Super Tekla and Lovely Abella play the lovebirds. This has been Nacua’s well kept secret.

Meanwhile, Regine VelasquezAlcasid will attend a mass

wedding to regale the couples.

Learn how to cook a simple Ilonggo dish –Pinamalhang Bangus.

All these and more in Sarap Diva only on GMA 7, Saturday mornings after Maynila. *** They say every girl dreams of being a beauty queen. And for Mary Ann Mungcal, that dream became a reality when she was crowned Miss Global Philippines 2017 besting 21 other beauties on June 24 at the Newport Performing Arts Theater in Resorts World Manila.

Mungcal, when she was jus a student, had joined pageants in Arayat, Pampanga. Miss Global is her first national pageant where she bagged the major awards, including Best in Swimsuit and Best in Long Gown during the preliminaries.

Her life has been a whirlwind since then. She is undergoing intensive preparation, courtesy of the Kagandahang Flores pageant experts, for the upcoming

Miss Global International pageant 2017.

Details of the international ISAH V. RED pageant have yet to be firmed up, but Pauline Sofia Laping, CEO/National Pageant director of Miss Global Philippines, says it will be held in either Cambodia or Vietnam sometime in the last quarter of the year.

“Mary Ann is very confident about her walk and everything, and we are currently training her to improve her speaking skills,” reveals Laping.

The young pageant director happily announces that Mungcal had been signed to endorse a Malaysian beauty and wellness brand called Akero, so at the time of interview, she was at the Department of Foreign Affairs office getting her passport so she could travel that weekend to Kuala Lumpur for the signing.

Mungcal, having won other awards, will also be busy doing her endorsement commitments for a number of other beauty brands here.

Miss Global Philippines is a tourism-oriented pageant known

Songbird Regine Velasquez (third from left) welcomes her special guests in today's episode of “Sarap Divas”

Fitness buddies Isabelle Daza and Raymond Gutierrez

Miss Global Philippines Pageant Director Pauline Laping

for its tagline, “Empowering women, embracing culture.”

The pageant is open to “both single and single mothers who possess not just beauty, but also the passion to serve and the commitment to make a difference for the Philippines and its people.”

“Mary Ann is our fourth Miss Global Philippines queen. The first was Catherine Almirante in 2014. She placed second in the international competition. She is now married and is based in Copenhagen. In 2015, which we hosted here in the Philippines, it was Candice Ramos. She placed fourth in the international pageant.

She was recently in the TV show Fiercest of Them All. In 2016, Camille Hirro won first place in the pageant won by Miss Ecuador Angela Bonilla,” relates Laping.

*** Another exceptional episode is up for the viewers of Celebrity Bluff with Kapuso hunks and comedians as celebrity guests tonight.

Who among the teams of Divine Aucina and Jak Roberto; Moi Bien and Rodjun Cruz; and Cai Cortez and Ivan Dorschner will be able to answer Eugene Domingo’s tricky questions?

Will one of them be able to get help from Master Bluffer Edu Manzano and comedians Boobay and Isko “Brod Pete” Salvador and bring home the whopping half a million pesos?

Celebrity Bluff airs after Magpakailanman on GMA. *** Television host and new health advocate Raymond Gutierrez shares the benefits of having a

workout buddy as he and close friend Isabelle Daza demonstrate their fitness routine in Sports U on ABS-CBN. Dyan Castillejo joins the fashionable duo while they workout together to stay fit and healthy despite their busy work schedules.

Also, meet billiards viral sensation Jonacris Bandillo and find out why polo is considered a sport that can even be more difficult than motorsports in another fun and inspirational episode of Sports U, 6:30 a.m. on S+A. You may also view it via streaming on www.iwantv.com. ph and www.skyondemand. com.ph. Follow their Facebook page at http://facebook.com/ SportsUtv and official Twitter account (@SportsUTV) for more updates.

Mary Ann Mungcal, (center) and her Miss Global Philippines2017 court

‘La Luna Sangre’ turns netizens into vampire hunters LA LUNA Sangre fans can now immerse in the world of werewolves and vampires beyond television as the hit primetime series welcomes them to the Moonstone Universe online and on mobile.

“Moonstone Universe was thought of as a fan service project. Star Creatives wants fans to be part of the story of La Luna Sangre. We want them to be part of the world they helped us build, which we are now expanding into different formats and platforms so that we can tell more stories and reach more people,” said Ays De Guzman, creative manager of Star Creatives.

First up is the Moonchasers website where they can be part of Tristan’s (Daniel Padilla) mission and become a member of the group.

Just register an account via www.moonchasers. ph and help them locate werewolves and vampires through the various cases they have filed online.

Netizens can also let their imaginations go wild by uploading their own vampire or werewolf sightings. These may even be used by Tristan as clues to his quest.

Fans can look forward to watching an online series and follow a new vampire hunt adventure

with new characters in “Youtopia” that will be available exclusively on iWant TV and TFC. tv. The web series is topbilled by Axel Torres together with newcomers Kate Alejandrino, Jal Galang, Joy Apostol, Gabby Padilla, and Larissa Alivio.

They can soon subscribe to the group conversations of the Moonchasers via “The Hacks” on ABS-CBNmobile.

The Moonstone Universe adds to the growing list of digital properties of ABS-CBN, which is rapidly transforming into an agile digital company with the biggest online presence among

media networks in the Philippines.

Super fans of La Luna Sangre can further extend their experience by purchasing the exclusive merchandise such as notebooks, t-shirts, pillows, novelties, jewelries, scents, and many more at the ABS-CBN Store sa ABS-CBN or online via www.abscbnstore.com.

Keep watching La Luna Sangre, weeknights on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida, and join the growing community of Moonchasers in the Moonstone Universe online. To catch up on the show’s past episodes, log on to iWant TV or skyondemand.com.ph for Sky subscribers.